The many work-related applications that electrical/electronics engineers use on their iPads, iPhones, and Android phones can be organized into a few representative categories. At the top of the list are the focused test and measurement apps and the comprehensive calculator apps with extensive unit conversion capabilities. Next come the various reference guides covering everything from industrial wiring codes to op-amp bias current specs and foreign language translations of technical terminology. Making up a third group are various types of utilities that allow you to take notes or assess the health of your local network or manipulate a desktop on a remote PC. You even can search recruitment sites for a new job.
Nevertheless, the vast majority of the hundreds of thousands of available apps do not fall into these categories. Instead, they relate to other nonelectrical/electronic disciplines, provide new ring tones, reformat videos so they can be viewed on a mobile device, or are games.
Test and Measurement Apps and Comprehensive Calculators
Tektronix recently launched three apps that enable remote oscilloscope control and waveform viewing via an Android phone. Oscillo Connect allows you to select channels and measurements along with commands such as run/stop and single. Waveforms also can be scaled and repositioned on the phone independent of their appearance on the actual scope.
Oscillo Analyzer (Figure 1) uses an Android device’s scroll and zoom functions to view .CVS files from the device’s memory card. Records up to 100k samples in length are supported. The final app, Oscillo Triggevent, enables an Android device to notify you if a predefined event such as an out-of-bounds measurement or a fault occurs.
Figure 1. Analysis Functions Supported by Oscillo Analyzer App
Courtesy of Tektronix
These three apps from Google Play Store represent Tek’s initial support for technicians and engineers on the move. However, in the company’s press release announcing the apps, Mike Flaherty, general manager, oscilloscopes, said that the company saw significant opportunities to help customers improve day-to-day productivity via mobile devices.
iCircuit from Krueger Systems ($9.95) is an electronic circuit editor and simulator with what appears to be a comprehensive library of components. Originally available for iOS devices, it recently was released for the Android platform as well. Version 1.4 has been upgraded to include dependent sources, which often appear in complex semiconductor models. In addition, now you can modularize your designs and create custom elements.
Andrew Smith has developed the $19.95 Audio Tools suite for iOS devices, featuring a sound pressure level (SPL) meter, a real-time analyzer, a generator, a two-channel audio scope, and a calculator. With this array of capabilities, you can perform FFT-based acoustic analysis with up to 32,876 points. Alternatively, the detail can be smoothed by 1/24, 1/6, 1/3 or full octave filters.
The polarity of a speaker connection can be determined as well as the time delay to the speaker. Sine waves, square waves, and both white and pink noise are available as test inputs. You can record the test response in mono or stereo with either .WAV or compressed formats.
And, for true audiophiles, a range of optional modules supports more extensive testing such as determination of a sound system’s transfer function, energy-time curve, and impulse response. You can plot the second-by-second SPL value for up to 24 hours and determine a speaker driver’s THD+n.
Epitiro has introduced the ipQ AT50M Broadband Measurement app as a way to bring the benefits of QoE measurement directly to your tablet or laptop. As claimed on the company’s website, “Using bespoke technology to actively test fixed and wireless networks 24x7x365 in more than 170 countries, we are the leading provider of ‘customer experience’ network performance intelligence for broadband service providers and government regulators.”
The free mobile app measures service quality directly from Android and iOS smartphones, providing statistics on LTE 4G, 3G, and Wi-Fi performance as it happens (Figure 2). Measurements are made during drive testing, walk testing, and static monitoring and forwarded to a central database, ready for real-time viewing. Data from one or hundreds of phones is available to help assess network performance.
Figure 2. ipQ AT50M Broadband Measurement App Local Display
Courtesy of Epitiro
The DSAMobile app from JDSU, which requires iOS 5.0 or later, enables cable installers to operate JDSU DSAMs having XT hardware from as far away as 300 feet via an iPad. The DSAM can be connected to one point in the network and the iPad app used to view test results at several other locations. More than just a viewer, the app provides DSAM control through a separate user interface. In addition, the app includes access to application video clips for training purposes.
DSAM capabilities incorporate analog and digital carrier level verification, digital carrier quality measurement, upstream physical verification, DOCSIS and Ethernet testing, and RF network verification among others.
How much horsepower is produced by the flashy sports car you saw advertised online with power quoted in kW? Can you accurately express your latest experimental results in units of furlongs/fortnight to impress your boss? These and thousands of similar problems are handled by the Engineering Unit Conversion app from ActiveMinds Software. There are 77 unique categories and more than 700 units in total. The app costs $0.99 and needs iOS 5.0 or later to operate.
Do you need an EM field solver to design a transmission line? Maybe you should run the numbers through one before committing to production, but Xuan Chen’s Transmission Line Calculator app (iOS 3.0 or later and costing $1.99) from Apple’s iTunes is a good substitute when mobility is important. According to the iTunes description, “The Transmission Line Calculator calculates characteristic impedance, effective dielectric constant, and time delay per unit length of microstrip line, strip line, offset strip line, coupled microstrip line, coupled strip line, and coplanar waveguide.”
Reference Guides
How accurate is your resistor color-code recognition these days? Does green come before or after orange? Where’s the decimal point go when there are four or more bands? ElectroDroid handles these vexing questions as well as inductor design, voltage drop calculation, and PBC trace width resistance estimation. Further reference items include network connector port pinouts, a list of standard value resistors and capacitors, wire sizes, and circuit schematic symbols. This app is free for Android.
ELECTRICAL FORMULATOR PRO ($3.99 for iPad/iPhone) adds 135 charts to the formulas previously available in the ELECTRICAL FORMULATOR app. It also contains the first few chapters of the Minnesota Electrical Code (based on the National Electric Code.)
A series of at least 11 Ray Tools is available from MEA Mobile via iTunes. Raymond Seymour gained 37 years of engineering experience at GE, was granted more than 60 patents, and now is developing engineering apps for iOS. The series includes the 555 Timer Simulator, AC Impedance Simulator, AC Input Operational Amplifier Simulator, Compression Spring Design, Gear Design, Inverting Operational Amplifier Simulator, Non-Inverting Operational Amplifier Simulator, Output Driver Devices Simulator, Sensor Input Devices Simulator, Vector, and Ohm’s Law.
Although these apps could be considered utilities, they provide an interactive learning experience as well as basic engineering solutions so have been listed in the reference section.
The Elektor RF & Microwave Toolbox app is an Android calculator with extensive capabilities aimed at RF and microwave professionals. In addition to all the tools in Elektor’s Analog Toolbox, PCB Trace Calculator, and Resistor Color Code Calculator, this product deals with specialized topics such as Wilkinson dividers, amplifier noise figure, microstrips and striplines, and filter design. A Lite version is free from Google Play; the full version is $9.99.
Thomas Gruber’s Electronics Engineering Toolkit Pro for iPad, available from iTunes for $3.99, claims to contain “a massive collection of very useful calculators, simulators, and circuit and application examples covering lots of different areas in the field of electronics engineering.
Convert2 is more than a clever name, with thousands of unit conversions across multiple disciplines. The conversion factors are consistent with the official values in NIST Special Publication 811 Guide for the Use of the International System of Units. Convert2 ($0.99) has been developed for iPad and iPhone use.
The stereotypical engineer would far rather deal with a few triple integrals than write a coherent sentence. For those so challenged, the Microsoft Manual of Style for Technical Publications, at $7.99 for iPad/iPhone from iTunes, may offer help. The new, fully revised version includes sections on usage, grammar, punctuation, tone, formatting, and style. Most importantly, the manual provides extensive examples.
Utilities
Thanks to the MegaPhase app, specifying and building RF cable assemblies have become more straightforward. MegaPhase supplies a wide range of cable types and connectors/adapters suitable for frequencies to 40 GHz and beyond. Products include flexible and phase-stable test cables, semirigid cables such as found within RF switch assemblies, low-loss cables for broadcast towers, and very rugged cable used by the military.
The MegaPhase app provides complete product datasheets and descriptions as well as converters to help you work in dBm or watts, consider return loss or VSWR, and calculate the dB loss per pound of cable. In addition, the cable builder, cable browser, and cable specification assistance routines ensure that the cable you end up with has been well designed and can be built with available parts. It is available free at the Apple iTunes store.
Fiberizer is a mobile OTDR app developed by OptixSoft and available from Apple for iPad/iPhone. With the app, you can view and analyze previously acquired OTDR traces from fiber-optic cable installations. It complies with the Telcordia GR-196 and SR-4731 *.sor format and works with data files stored with cloud providers such as Google Docs and DropBox. The app provides two markers and supports analysis including reflectance, optical return loss, and attenuation.
Dassault Systèmes eDrawings for iPad ($1.99) is a mobile app version of the popular eDrawings Viewer. To use the app or the viewer, you first must convert your SolidWorks, AutoCAD, Autodesk Inventor, and similarly formatted drawings into eDrawings files through the eDrawings Publisher. With the app installed on your iPad, you can view drawings from file storage sites such as DropBox or an email or via iTunes File Sharing.
The free AutoCAD WS app allows you to access DWG and DXF files from your iPad, iPhone, or Android device. In addition to viewing, you also have the capability to change the drawing by adding lines, objects, and text. Files can be shared for collaborative working, and the edits made by other team members happen in real time.
Collaborative project management is the buzz phrase behind Clarizen’s project management products, specifically Clarizen for iPhone and Android. Although there can only be one project leader, sharing comprehensive views of tasks, activities, and responsibilities across the entire project team as well as management levels helps to further collaboration. Nevertheless, in the company’s Collaborative Project Management white paper, the point is made that technology can be overvalued while undervaluing the process of project management. Regardless of the usefulness of immediate information sharing, the paper also notes that the effects of cultural differences among members of a geographically diverse group cannot be overlooked.
How difficult is it to keep track of the scribbles you jot down during meetings? Or maybe you’re a touch-typist with stenography experience, and using your computer to keep up with the conversation is no problem. For those of us more digitally challenged, Evernote’s Penultimate ($0.99) may be the solution. With it, you can write on your iPad; import drawings and sketches; organize the material into notebooks; and edit, print, and share pages. Several “paper” styles are available, and the company claims that the “ink” display looks better than real ink on real paper.
Wouldn’t it be great to have access to network folders from your iPad/iPhone? With FileBrowser from Stratospherix ($4.99), you can. According to the description from iTunes, “FileBrowser is like having Windows Explorer or Mac Finder on your iPad/iPhone to access network folders on Macs, Windows, Linux, and NAS drives, and now Box, Dropbox, and SkyDrive also are supported.”
According to the Fluke Networks website, the company’s AirMapper app “is the most accurate and complete heat map, Wi-Fi network designs, and deployment solution available on the Android platform.” Perhaps you didn’t stumble when reading heat map, but I did. A heat map simply is a two-dimensional application of temperature- or color-grading that oscilloscopes use to highlight frequently repeated samples within persisted waveforms.
A good way to describe signal strength or user quality of experience as a function of position within a building or cell area would be to plot a range of colors on a floor-plan view of the building or cell area, as shown in Figure 3. Red might indicate the highest signal strength and dark blue the lowest. That’s a heat map.
Figure 3. AirMapper Throughput Local Display
Courtesy of Fluke Networks
With the AirMapper app, a company’s IT staff can ensure the best Wi-Fi throughput across the entire site. A version with reduced capabilities can be downloaded free. The full-featured Professional version costs $199.
The MathWorks’ MATLAB Mobile app allows you to connect to MATLAB on your computer or in the cloud from your iOS or Android device. You can view MATLAB figures and have command-line access to MATLAB. You must have a current MathWorks account, an up-to-data license, and a MathWorks Software Maintenance Service contract. To access MATLAB already running on your computer, you must first install the MATLAB Connector program, downloadable free from the MathWorks site. Both the iOS and Android apps also are free, available from iTunes or Google Play, respectively.
The company’s online description of this app includes the usual features and benefits section but also alerts users to limitations. MATLAB Mobile “does not support MATLAB apps such as Curve Fitting or Signal Analysis, MATLAB Editor, Simulink graphical environment (but the sim command is supported at the MATLAB Mobile command line), Interaction with 3-D figures, and Custom keyboard on Android devices.”