Looking for expertise in the power for processors and FPGAs arena? Visit TI’s Power for Processors microsite for open access to video, product offerings, reference designs and more.
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New developments that lower the cost and simplify the design of chopper-stabilized operational amplifiers mean that these low offset-voltage, low 1/f-noise alternatives to conventional op-amps now fit many more applications in industrial-control, medical and automotive systems. To learn more about what’s new, how they work, and how to understand their specs, check out this Design FAQ’s sponsored by Intersil.
This application note will help the designer of a high-performance
multichannel, simultaneous-sampling data-acquisition system (DAS). It
explains how to select the proper components and place them on the PCB
to achieve optimum performance. Maxim's MAX1308, MAX1320, and MAX11046
simultaneous-sampling ADCs are featured. Test data illustrate the
benefits of following the guidelines.
Based on the amount of e-mail I received after Part 3 of this series, many of you have already guessed that an incremental integrator is really just a delta-sigma modulator (DSM). Well, you’re right! It actually is a continuous-time delta-sigma modulator.
Read more... - John Edwards
Maxim Integrated Products has teamed up with Varioptic to pioneer a complete package for digital still and video camera and cell-phone makers that want to replace powerhungry, noisy hard lenses with liquid lenses.
Read more... - Don Tuite
In many industrial, scientific, and medical (ISM) band wireless applications, receiver sensitivity greatly limits the range and reliability of the radio link. One way to get greater sensitivity is to add more gain. But that works well only if the noise figure is good enough. The Maxim Integrated Products MAX2634 solves that problem for some applications. This low-noise amplifier (LNA) for the 315- and 433-MHz ISM bands improves receiver sensitivity and offers an ultra-low 1.25-dB noise figure.
The Texas Instruments ADS5400 analog-to-digital converter (ADC) provides a 1-Gbit/s sample rate with a resolution of 12 bits. With its superior signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and spurious-free dynamic range (SFDR), it’s ideal for extra-needy wireless applications like receivers for radar, electronic intelligence and jamming, and super-highspeed data acquisition. The ADS5400 offers an excellent SNR of 59 dBFS and 75-dBc SFDR in first...
Back about 1965, when I was at Philbrick, we were doing some business with Amelco Semiconductor. I had designed a good hybrid op amp (the Q85AH) and Amelco was trying to build it, but they had some test problems, and some yield problems... so I flew out to help find and solve their problems. The first morning, I put in an hour looking at their test setup. Nothing showed up right away. So we went over to their cafeteria for a cup of coffee. Several engineers ...
What is the most critical performance characteristic for clock chips used with high-performance data converters? The clock signal’s phase noise (or jitter— the time-domain representation of phase noise) is the most critical spec. But also, pay attention to the band over which the jitter has been integrated. Phase noise limits signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). For converter applications, broadband RMS additive jitter is a good...
A good general view of field-oriented control (FOC) can be found in Texas Instruments’ 1998 white paper, “Field Orientated Control of 3-Phase AC Motors”, which can be downloaded for free. For a more recent treatment, though its references go back at least as far as 1980, readers can check out “A Seamless Whole Speed Range Control of Interior PM Synchronous Machine without Position Transducer” by Filka, Balazovic, and...
Regardless of their primary field, sooner or later, most designers have to deal with motor controls. Broadly speaking, there are two methods to incorporating these components in your design. First, designers can start with one of the many choices of microcontrollers that are available and then address the challenges of making the control do what they want. Or second, designers can start at the other end and examine the interaction between motors and...
Many solutions exist to supply Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) Revision 2, Level 1 and Level 2 digital encryption.1 However, Levels 3 and 4 require monitoring of the environment. Level 3 could be implemented with tamper switches, but they can be bypassed with jumpers or a paper clip. More sophisticated switch sensors require some filtering and deglitching. Level 4 requires monitoring of the supply voltages and temperature. For best...
No frills here—just inexpensive functionality. This circuit activates a cooling fan when the temperature of a target high-power-dissipation device, such as a processor chip, exceeds a predetermined limit. The key element in the design is the Epcos PTC Temperature Limit Sensor (see the datasheet at www.epcos.com/inf/55/db/ptc_03/01900191.pdf), which cost about $0.50....
While creating an infrared beam intrusion detector system, the need for a beam-focusing method became evident. Parts from a modified Genie garage door Safe-T-Beam system, purchased at the local home improvement store, proved to be perfectly suited to the application. The main reason for choosing the Genie unit is that the IR transmitter and receiver housings each contain a plastic lens inside a short plastic tube molded into the housing. The tube and lens...
Most switching power-supply controllers provide non-latching fault protection. Satisfying a requirement for a latchoff response to a fault often requires the addition of excessive and redundant circuitry. For power-supply controllers with an external soft-start pin, however, a simple circuit can be added to convert its non-latching fault protection into one with latched protection. For typical controllers, the startup sequence begins by charging the VDD...
An earlier Idea for Design described LED “candles” that you could blow out just like normal birthday candles (“Electronic Birthday Candles ‘Blow Out’ One At A Time”). A thermistor and heating resistor combination detected air blown over the thermistor. The control circuit incorporated an 8-bit shift register, a quad op amp, and driver transistors, allowing up to eight ...
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