Bench Talk

Related Posts

• Facebook Redefines Time as “Flicks.” Is the World Ready?

  Some might define “time” as the fourth dimension or, perhaps, as an arbitrary set of numbers that divides each of our days into 24 hours, 1,440 minutes, and 86,400 seconds. Periods of time smaller than the second are generally expressed as fractions of a second, but these small intervals create challenges when trying to sync virtual reality and gaming environments.

• Battling the Bouncing Button

  Mechanical buttons and switches can present unintended input trouble for embedded electronics projects. There’s an undesired effect known as “bounce.” What is bounce? When you press a button it sometimes does not cleanly change states. There is some electrical noise generated as the button rapidly oscillates between states immediately after a button is pressed but before it settles. Think of it like pulling a mass-spring system downward, letting go, and waiting for it to settle at equilibrium. Switches and buttons oscillate similarly, though the time to settle is measured in milliseconds.

• Extend Battery Life with an Ultra-Low Power GPS Solution

  One of the biggest challenges in adding GPS capability to battery-powered devices such as vehicle trackers, asset trackers, or IoT sensors is the shortened battery life. Learn how to extend battery life with an ultra-low-power GPS solution.

• Protect Embedded Interfaces with These Clamps and Crowbars

  Protecting interface connections from overvoltage conditions and transient events is more important than ever with the proliferation of embedded electronics. Bourns clamp and crowbar protection is effective at protecting circuit interfaces in silicon and ceramic electronic components.

• Timing is Everything:  A Look at Oscillators, Clocks, Buffers and Redrivers

  In the space it takes us to blink an eye (300 to 400 milliseconds is the average) a modern embedded core can perform millions of operations. It’s almost unfathomable for us to perceive such tiny fractions of time, especially since the evolution of timekeeping began with sundials and water clocks, with the first (fairly) accurate clock arriving in 1656. Modern digital technology operates very comfortably at these breakneck speeds because of decades of advancements in timing technologies such as crystal oscillators and clock generators.

• Samsung’s 60-GHz Wi-Fi Announcement Deciphered

  Perhaps, lost amid the recent uproar about new smartphones and phablets for the holidays, was Samsung’s announcement that it has revolutionized Wi-Fi by operating at 60 GHz. That and the enhancements Samsung says it has made allow performance using the IEEE 802.11ad protocol to deliver massive speed increases over existing Wi-Fi –transferring a 1-Gbyte file in less than 3 seconds. This obviously sounds like a Samsung-only accomplishment, and in some ways, it is. But it helps to get the whole picture.