electronics on Bald Engineer

A new series on AddOhms, Electronics basics, starting with: Voltage, Current, and Power Explained.

Sat, 13 Jul 2013 00:53:31 +0000

Starting with this new AddOhms TutorialCast series, we are taking a look at Electronics Basics. The first topic is on the differences between Voltage, Current, and Power. The twist on this explanation is that we are not using the usual “electricity is like water” analogy engineers seem to love. Instead, we just use plain language to explain the difference between these concepts. From a production point of view, I am really having fun with these videos. Using some green card stock, imagination, and easy to use tools, I am able to achieve some pretty cool effects. Well, I think they are pretty cool. Check out this screen shot from Final Cut Pro X.

One million ARM cores to simulate brain at Manchester

Fri, 08 Jul 2011 14:22:28 +0000

The lead hardware designer of both the original ARM core and the BBC Micro Computer, Professor Steve Furber, is leading an effort to simulate the human brain with ARM cores. Custom chips with 18 cores each will be used. Check out the story at Electronics Weekly for more information: One million ARM cores to simulate brain at Manche`ster - 7/8/2011 - Electronics Weekly.

Diodes adds 5V capability to Glue Logic

Thu, 23 Jun 2011 14:16:11 +0000

These days it is pretty rare to see a press release from a semiconductor company touting 5V TTL capabilities. Diodes is upgrading their 5V TTL logic as reported by Electronics Weekly. While the 5V operating will easily appeal to hobbyist, the package sizes may not. They are not through-hole components. However, the 74ACHT series will provide you surface mount solutions for AND, NAND, OR, NOR, XOR, Inverter, and Schmitt trigger glue logic.

Apple A5 vs A4 Floorplan Comparison

Wed, 16 Mar 2011 15:02:11 +0000

Apple’s latest magic trick was upgrading their previous A4 chip into a dual core variant, the A5. This chip powers the recently announced iPad 2 and is likely to be in the upcoming summer release of the iPhone 5 (4s?) The folks at Chipworks have done some reverse engineering (which may be using actual magic) to see what the inside of the A5 looks like… all 2.9Million gates of it.

EW: Single-chip GPS IC

Thu, 10 Feb 2011 07:13:14 +0000

Coming Q3 of 2011, ST-Micro will begin selling a Single-Chip GPS IC called the Teseo II. It has an ARM core integrated into it, which should help reduce the time it takes to get a fix, and simplify integration into any hardware project. Pricing is set at $6 in volumes of 500k, so for hobby work it may be a cost/time trade-off. ST selling single-chip GPS IC. - 1/27/2011 - Electronics Weekly.

Purdue Boilermakers are MAKERS!

Thu, 14 Oct 2010 15:46:07 +0000

George at nbitwonder caught this outside the Armstrong Hall of Engineering Purdue while walking to class. The signs read: I think work should be about making things work. Better. Faster. Smaller. Smarter. So I build bridges between what’s known and what’s not. I tinker. I toil. I write poetically in an abundance of languages (including code). I hack. I dissect. I have an insatiable desire to un-complicate the complicated. I am easily inspired. I believe that just because it hasn’t been thought of doesn’t mean it won’t be. Potential is my thrill ride. Imagination is my most-used tool. I am a maker, and I am what moves the world forward.

EDN: ICs could run on heat waste

Thu, 30 Sep 2010 20:05:39 +0000

Joseph Heremans and Roberto Meyrs at the Ohio State University have been studying materials that could be used to turn heat from ICs into electricity. The research is focused on thermo-electricity and spintronics. In theory, this could mean mutual benefits to heavy processing: more effective heat removal from processors while generating the electricity they need to operate. “All of the computers we have now could actually run much faster than they do, but they’re not allowed to - because if they did, they would fail after a short time,” Myers said in the statement. “So a huge amount of money in the semiconductor industry is put toward thermal management.”

EW: True Random Numbers from a handful of gates

Wed, 22 Sep 2010 02:54:27 +0000

Random numbers are a relative concept. In general, random numbers used in digital electronics are called Psuedo-Random sequences. There is a defined algorithm that is used to generate the sequence and does not actually occur in nature. In applications like Flashing a LED, this method is fine. However, for any level of encryption this is unacceptable. Steve Buch at Electronics Weekly writes about how researchers Dr. Marie O’Neill and Dr. Jiang Wu at the University’s Institute of Electronics and Communications Information Technology (ECIT) has developed methods to generate true random bits digitally.

Inside the iPhone 4 Gyroscope

Wed, 30 Jun 2010 15:10:58 +0000

One of the major feature updates for the iPhone 4 included a gyroscope. There are two applications that a gyroscope can be used for: keeping an object in balance and providing precise positioning data. Obviously, the intended application in an iPhone is improved positioning and control of software objects. One of the questions I had about the iPhone 4 was whether there was something (very tiny) spinning inside of the iPhone or if the device was solid state. Until now, I had no idea that solid state gyroscopes existed. Engineers at iFixIt, with help from Chipworks’s Electron Microscope, have done a teardown of the iPhone 4’s MEMS based Gyroscope.

Lighting up fiber with Darkness

Wed, 30 Jun 2010 14:43:25 +0000

Electronic communications systems are made up of three basic components: a transmitter, a receiver, and a transmission medium. Use a video game system with a wired controller as an example. The controller is a transmitter, while the console is a receiver, and the wire that connects the two is the transmission medium. This wire is typically made up of copper. The distance from a couch to your tv is relatively short compared to the distance two continents separated by an ocean. For this distance fiber optic cables are used. Instead of electrical signals being transmitted, lasers are used to generate light across fibers of glass.

Row Your Boat, Part 1

Thu, 26 Mar 2009 02:28:39 +0000

This pattern is called Row Your Boat. As one of the strips starts to get brighter, a nearby strip will join in the fading. After completing a fade cycle, they start switching colors. There is a random strobe thrown in there as well. The first 10 seconds are with a diffuser (piece of paper), the last 10 seconds are without. The final panel will use a diffuser. The colors have no correction yet, so red is really dim and green is really bright. It looks like one of the channels of my TLC5940 is going bad. The center LED strip’s blue is very dim. I’m not going to look much into it right now though. Instead, I will wait until I fab a PCB for the 5940 (this weekend?)

LED Strip Fun, First Try

Sun, 01 Mar 2009 15:28:33 +0000

Initially I tried to get a LCD screen working with my Illuminato based Arduino. After a couple of attempts I realized two things: 1. The Iluminato is not ready for prime time. and 2. I burned out the LCD. So I decided to move on to the LCD strips I have from Sparkfun. The program is pretty simple since I am using the PWM outputs. The first video is with the lights off and the second is with the lights on. I need work out the min / avg / max for the different colors. The next step is to create two columns (or rows) of LED strips, using a buffer chip.