New Electronics Technology Articles

First things first: Don't leave placement of the antenna until the last moment

Demand for machine to machine communications – M2M – is growing rapidly and that is pushing more companies to include wireless functionality in their products. Colin Newman, sales and marketing director for antenna specialist Antenova, said: "Eighteen months ago, many products weren't wireless enabled. Today, companies are looking to include it. While some have technical knowledge, many of the companies we typically deal with have little rf expertise."

Lithium sulphur cells set to change the battery landscape

Since the invention of the battery by Volta in the early days of the 19th Century, users have been looking for more performance. Volta's device was superseded in 1859 by the lead acid battery – a device still in widespread use today. By the end of the 19th Century, the nickel cadmium battery had been developed.

New system offers solution to No Fault Found

The problem rejoices under the catch-all of NFF – No Fault Found – and covers intermittent faults that cannot be traced when the serious business of looking for them starts. Other names for the problem include 'Cannot Duplicate' or 'Cannot Reproduce Fault' or even 'No Trouble Found'. Whatever the name, it is a problem that affects operation and maintenance in every type of electronics equipment, and it also has an impact on design engineers.

Pi in the sky? Having sold 1million devices worldwide, the Raspberry Pi Foundation looks to the future

Since its launch in February 2012, Raspberry Pi – the credit card sized computer – has been something of a phenomenon. Demand for it has crashed websites and those who have since got their hands on one are exploring all manner of potential applications.

Power verification is just as important as functional verification for complex SoCs

SoCs are getting smaller and faster, but smaller node geometries leak more current and higher speed circuitry consumes more power. Yet everyone wants to reduce power consumption.

Should you think about using Android in your embedded product?

Android is a sophisticated, graphically based operating system (OS) for embedded products. It delivers a set of features that make it easy for manufacturers to deliver highly functional, professional looking devices to market quickly. In addition, Android devices can take advantage of a massive library of specially written third party applications (apps).

Special report: Is PXI a suitable platform for the design engineer?

PXI has taken the world of automated test by storm. In its 16 years of existence, it has grown to dominate manufacturing test for a host of reasons – cost, flexibility, performance being the principal ones. A Frost & Sullivan report from 2011predicted that PXI will be a $1billion market by 2017.

Special report: New interface assembly expands applications for PXI in the ATE environment

The concept of using modular instrumentation at the heart of functional ATE systems was quickly established following the introduction of the VXI platform in 1987. Back then, defining a system interface was a simple matter of selecting your preferred interconnect receiver and connecting the instruments to it with cables. Aside from the inevitable noise and crosstalk issues always associated with cable harnesses, this process worked well.

Special report: PXI ensures power supplies are shipped in working order

Power supply devices, whether applied to general use or industrial computers, play an extremely important role in ensuring operational stability of entire systems. During manufacture of power supply units, quality validation is required before shipping, such that manufacturers must conduct strict testing, targeting a variety of technical parameters, such as turn on delay, overshoot, and rise time, to ensure product compliance with necessary standards.

Special report: PXI matures nicely into adulthood

There have been many changes in PXI during those sixteen years. It has grown from a handful of very basic modules with limited performance objectives to a stage where there is now a wide breadth of products with steadily improving performance objectives and a philosophy of continuing to do more in the same space.

Special report: PXI Show 2013 preview

Nearly 70% of respondents to the New Electronics PXI reader survey cited lack of knowledge as the main reason why they didn't use PXI. In manufacturing test and automation PXI has become established as a popular and useful platform, but design engineers remain either uneducated or unconvinced.

Special report: The role of the PXI Systems Alliance

Beyond his role as president of the PXI Systems Alliance (PXISA), Loofie Gutterman, pictured, is also president of Geotest Marvin Test Systems, one of seven sponsor members of the Alliance. Gutterman explained how Geotest was one of a number of companies looking for a cohesive solution to emerge in industry.

Special report: Will the future of PXI be defined by software?

Software always has been a pivotal aspect of modular instrumentation platforms. From the drivers that talk to the hardware, to the application software in which code modules are written, to the test executive that sequences that code, the importance of software is evident. And over the coming years, the impact of software will become even greater.

3D printing allows designers to think outside the box

The first thing to clarify is that 3d printing is really the buzzword that has captured the imagination – a better description that includes a broader set of processes is additive layer manufacturing (alm), and these processes are rapidly gaining widespread acceptance.

Plug and play front end deals with high and wide ranging voltages

Many industrial sensors have high or wide-ranging analogue output voltages and so the industrial control and automation applications they serve often require isolation, high resolution and support for a wide range of input voltages.

Power consumption is a primary consideration in smart transmitter design

Designing loop powered field instruments with a 4 to 20mA analogue output and a HART (Highway Addressable Remote Transducer) interface within the required power budget can be challenging.

The days of 8bit microcontrollers are numbered as the Cortex-M0 and M0+ wagon gains momentum

When ARM launched the Cortex-M0 core in February 2009, it had a particular market sector in mind.

The kilogram is the last SI unit to be represented by a physical artefact. But not for long.

A Century ago, two of the basic units of measurement – length and mass – were calibrated against physical artefacts.

All British satellite project nears completion

Proving technology in space is not a cheap business. 'Heritage' technology – that which has been flown successfully in space before – is essential for companies requiring guaranteed performance when their own technology is committed to space. The nature of space is that you just can't afford to get it wrong.

Atomic force microscopy set to answer fundamental questions in a range of fields

The microscope is one of science's oldest tools for examining nature, going back at least to the late 16th Century, with Galileo being its most famous pioneer – he called it the 'little eye'.

Built in crypto functions help to combat the prevalence of counterfeit components

The counterfeiting of electronic components continues to rise alarmingly. IHS iSuppli reported that, in the first eight months of 2012, more than 100 incidents of counterfeiting were reported each month. In the past six years, more than 12million parts have been discovered to be fakes.

Requirements management software helps to keep safety critical projects on track

Whenever you embark on a design project, you need to know what it is you're creating and who you are creating it for. You also need to know the relative importance of the constituent parts.

Small scale programmable logic devices offer numerous benefits

In the world of programmable logic, the phrase 'ultra low density' stands out starkly. The reason? Over the years, the trend has to been to create devices with ever more features on ever smaller manufacturing processes. While the devices themselves may not be getting smaller, their density has increased dramatically.

Testing eCall systems: how to benefit from synergies with existing GSM test platforms

The automotive eCall (emergency call) system is an emergency cellular communication service that will become mandatory in vehicles introduced in Europe after 2014.

Circuit protection as a forethought for design engineers

Smaller, faster, prettier – these are the main criteria for today's electronics. A profitable lead for manufacturers, but also quite challenging for design engineers, that have to fit everything together in a much smaller environment.