Articles
Performing battery run-down tests
Of all of the specifications of a battery-powered device, the battery run time is key. Every user wants their device to run longer on a charge. Therefore, to know the run time of your device is important, not only to represent the device to the end user, but as a means of knowing if improvements in power management within the device are successful at increasing battery run time.
[ + ]Plasmonics promises superfast computers
With its promise of superfast computers and ultrapowerful optical microscopes among the many possibilities, plasmonics has become one of the hottest fields in high technology.
[ + ]Software development - a lot more than programming: Part 3
As microprocessors get increasingly more powerful, so does the appetite for additional software functionalities. Size of embedded systems software increases every year, bringing new types of problems. This is the final part of a three-part series.
[ + ]Software development - a lot more than programming: Part 2
As microprocessors get increasingly more powerful, so does the appetite for additional software functionalities. Size of embedded systems software increases every year, bringing new types of problems.
This is the second part of a three-part series.
[ + ]Fibre getting the better of coaxial
FTTx is the all-inclusive term that covers a number of possibilities for fibre-optic networking. Fibre to the home (FTTH) is probably the first one that comes to most people’s minds. It is also called fibre to the premises and fibre to the building. Terms less often heard are FTTN and FTTC.
[ + ]‘Nanoscoops’ may lead to better vehicle batteries
A type of nanomaterial developed at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in the US could be the next generation of high-power rechargeable lithium (Li)-ion batteries for electric vehicles, as well as batteries for laptop computers, mobile phones and other portable devices.
[ + ]Future power could come from body movements
After six years of effort, scientists are reporting development of the first commercially viable nanogenerator, a flexible chip that can use body movements - a finger pinch now en route to a pulse beat in the future - to generate electricity.
[ + ]Back to the basics of electrical measurements
Accurate measurements are central to virtually every scientific and engineering discipline, but all too often measurement science gets little attention in the undergraduate curriculum. Even those who received a thorough grounding in measurement fundamentals as undergraduates can be forgiven if they’ve forgotten some of the details.
[ + ]Solar array powering ahead
The University of Queensland’s $7.75 million solar power system at St Lucia has reached a milestone, with installation completed on one of the project’s most visible components.
[ + ]Low noise oscilloscope improves test accuracy
Engineers instinctively trust oscilloscopes and rely on a scope’s measurement accuracy as the ultimate authority for problem resolution. Choosing which oscilloscope to use often comes down to basic specifications such as bandwidth, sample rate and memory depth.
[ + ]Improving solar cells with the microelectronics toolbox
To make solar energy generation cost-effective, the PV industry has to reduce its manufacturing costs well below 1 euro/Wp. This holds for all PV technologies.
[ + ]Software development - a lot more than programming: Part 1
As microprocessors get increasingly more powerful, so does the appetite for additional software functionalities. Size of embedded systems software increases every year, bringing new types of problems.
[ + ]Tri-Gate transistor set to storm industry
Intel has announced what it calls a significant breakthrough in the evolution of the transistor, the microscopic building block of modern electronics.
[ + ]Hybrid spintronic chips come closer
Researchers have created what is claimed to be the first electronic circuit to merge traditional inorganic semiconductors with organic ‘spintronics’ - devices that use the spin of electrons to read, write and manipulate data.
[ + ]Understanding and comparing IGBT module datasheets
This might sound somewhat overdone but comparing IGBT modules using datasheets is not as easy as it might appear. A rough comparison can, of course, be made using the component blocking voltage (VCES, eg, 1200) and the nominal current (ICnom = 100, 200 A …).
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