Feed aggregator

AngstromIO is one of the smallest devboards out there, barely longer than a USB-C connector, based on the ATtiny1616 MCU (16kB flash). It comes with 2 Addressable RGB LEDs, and 2 GPIOs as well as I2C lines are broken out. I made a dual CH340 programming board too, both for UPDI programming and debugging (one way Serial Communication). (not related, but I also designed a breadboard friendly, experimentation board for the CH32V003, with a 5x4 charlieplexed LED matrix. This way I ordered all the designs on one PCB panel) The ATtiny1616 may not be the most powerful MCU, but it has really attractive advantages too: It's cheap (70 cents), comes in a small QFN20 package, doesn't need any external components, has excellent power consumption (200nA in PWR down mode), and can be programmed with the Arduino IDE, thanks to SpenceKonde megaTinyCore library (via UPDI) This devboard is minimalist, and I kept it simple, so it's applications might be limited (the USB C is only for power, no data), but I think it's a really cool tiny devboard for small projects where some basic logic is required (handling I2C sensors, getting a visual feedback (2x RGB LEDs), toggling GPIOs), but in a space constrained design, I'm thinking for example of using this board, like you would do with a USB-C PCB breakout board in a 3D enclosure: Instead of just providing 5V, it already comes with 2 LEDs, GPIOs and some computational power. The Programmer is an all in one module, that will make debugging with the Serial monitor while programming easy: one board for both. I hope you'll enjoy, and don't hesitate to check out the Github 😉 https://github.com/Dieu-de-l-elec/AngstromIO-devboard/tree/main submitted by /u/Dieu_de_l_elec [link] [comments]

k-Space Associates Inc of Dexter, MI, USA — which produces thin-film metrology instrumentation and software — says that Dylan James Scientific (DJS) will serve as its new sales representative for Europe...

In booth #1935 at the IEEE Applied Power Electronics Conference (APEC 2026) in San Antonio, TX, USA (22–26 March), Efficient Power Conversion Corp (EPC) of El Segundo, CA, USA — which makes enhancement-mode gallium nitride on silicon (eGaN) power field-effect transistors (FETs) and integrated circuits for power management applications — has introduced the EPC91121 motor drive inverter evaluation board, built around the Gen-7 EPC2366 40V eGaN power transistor...

SemiQ Inc of Lake Forest, CA, USA — which designs, develops and manufactures silicon carbide (SiC) power semiconductors and 150mm SiC epitaxial wafers for high-voltage applications — has launched the QSiC Dual3, a family of 1200V half-bridge MOSFET modules for motor drives in data-center cooling systems, grid converters in energy storage systems, and industrial drivers...

Renesas Electronics Corp of Tokyo, Japan has expanded its suite of AC/DC and power adapter solutions with a new gallium nitride (GaN)-based half-wave LLC (HWLLC) platform that supports 500W-or-higher operation across IoT, industrial and infrastructure systems...

КПІшники — переможці Чемпіонату Києва з шахів серед студентських команд 2026! kpi пн, 03/23/2026 - 17:45

When a bathroom scale gives you multiple different weight-measurement results from consecutive usage attempts, is it cheating if you pick the lowest outcome of the lot?

Two years ago (with publication following a few months later), I took apart my wife’s fancy bathroom scale, which measured not only weight but also body mass index and fat percentage:

but whose LCD had gone AWOL and had subsequently been replaced by a simpler successor. Speaking of simple, this time we’ll look at the insides of my first digital bathroom scale, which replaced a traditional mechanical forebear. It’s Innotech’s model ID-767, the black-colored variant to be exact, which I’d bought on sale for $14.99 from Amazon in spring 2018.

Simpler vs. better

Stock images to start:

No, I didn’t keep mine next to the bed:

Hey loser, don’t you want to be a weight “losser” too?

Consistent inconsistency

About those “error-free readings within 0.2 lb” and “accurately weighs up to 400 lb” claims…

There was much to like about the Innotech model 767. It was svelte and light, with long battery life. It responded quickly when I stepped on it. And I liked its looks, too. Accuracy, on the other hand, was not its strong suite. I very well might have had a bad unit. But if I stepped on it, read the display, then stepped off and repeated the procedure, my second result would be consistently inconsistent, varying from the first by several pounds (albeit always down). And I never knew which reading to believe. The saying “you get what you pay for” perhaps applies?

And then it decided to take a spontaneous swan dive off the counter (where I’d placed it while cleaning the bathroom one day) to the tile floor below, resulting in my not liking its looks as much as before:

You’ll have to trust me when I tell you that its measurement inconsistency predated the dent!

So, I decided to retire it; more accurately, replace it (meh):

and turn it into a teardown candidate.

Incriminating reflections

Here are some overview shots to start. I have no idea who that is reflected in the first one…and speaking of weight, I’d also appreciate no snide comments about that poor person’s bulbous soft waistline, please:

The short URL printed on this sticker, as-usual accompanied by a 0.75″ (19.1 mm) diameter U.S. penny for size comparison purposes, is presumably intended to redirect here but no longer works, at least when I tried it:

This switch, when repeatedly pressed, toggles between the “3 weight units” featured in one of the earlier-seen stock photos: pounds, kilograms and rarely-seen stones:

A widely available AAA triple-battery power source (my kitchen scale, conversely, takes CR2032 coin cells, I was reminded the other night when I replaced one of the pair) is a nice touch:

Time to dive inside. Underneath each of the rubber “feet” is, to the “4 weighing sensors” highlight in one of the stock images, a strain gauge load cell. I discussed them in detail back in July 2024 so I’ll spare you the repetitive prose; check out my earlier teardown for all the details.

It’s delightfully wiggly ( and yes, admittedly, I’m easily amused):

But underneath…nope, no screw heads:

So, I redirected my attention to the scale’s sides, a decision which ended up leading to success:

Voilà:

Minimalist construction

Boring part first; here’s the inside of the lower half of the scale:

Next, the good stuff:

The first things you probably noticed were the four load cells in the corners (or maybe you saw the display-plus-PCB, in which case, please stand by; your patience is appreciated). Here they are in clockwise order, starting with the one in the upper left (upper right when the scale is in its normal usage orientation):

Here’s the first one again, being removed:

and now flipped upside down (the strain gauge structure is presumably underneath the glue):

Now for the stuff in the center (see, your patience was quickly rewarded!), the PCB, with this side showing nothing notable save for the weight-unit toggle switch:

and the next-door LCD:

Remove a few screws, and they’re free!

Now flip both 180°:

Dominating the landscape on this side of the PCB is…a blob, unfortunately obscuring the identity of the control chip. Generally speaking, considering the price tag therefore the bill-of-materials cost constraints, this design is impressively sparse in response:

The backside of the display backlight strives to redirect the aggregate glow toward the front:

where it’s further diffused by another peel-away-able layer:

Here’s the LCD itself:

As you may have already noticed, a red/black two-wire pair within the broader wiring harness powers the backlight. What about power (not to mention control) between the PCB and the LCD? That’s handled by an elastomeric strip with multiple embedded conductors, pressing against the PCB’s counterparts, an approach which we’ve seen plenty of times before:

Weighing in

For grins, in closing, I decided to put it back together and see if it still worked. Success!

Booting:

And ready and waiting to deliver additional impermanent results:

That’s all I’ve got for you today! As always, please share your thoughts in the comments.

—Brian Dipert is the Principal at Sierra Media and a former technical editor at EDN Magazine, where he still regularly contributes as a freelancer.

Related Content

• Dissecting a feature-enhanced digital bathroom scale
• Shipping Scale Converted from Bathroom Scale
• What good is 17.24 bits of flicker-free res?

The post A scale that tells inconsistent-weight tales appeared first on EDN.

В ім'я України, її народу та мови Інформація КП пн, 03/23/2026 - 13:00

Silicon photonics-based chip-to-chip optical connectivity firm Ayar Labs of San Jose, CA, USA — which is pioneering co-packaged optics (CPO) for AI scale-up — and Wiwynn Corp of Taipei, Taiwan, a cloud IT infrastructure provider for data centers, have announced a strategic partnership to deliver optically connected, rack-scale AI systems that support next-generation hyperscale AI workloads...

At the Optical Fiber Communication Conference and Exhibition (OFC 2026) in Los Angeles (15–19 March), photonic application-specific integrated circuit (PASIC) chip designer and manufacturer OpenLight of Goleta, Santa Barbara, CA, USA (which launched as an independent company in June 2022, introducing the first open silicon photonics platform with heterogeneously integrated III-V lasers, modulators, amplifiers and detectors) showcased multiple technology breakthroughs, including demonstrating its latest advances in high speed photonic integrated circuits (PICs) with integrated lasers, electro-absorption (EA) modulators, and amplifiers. The demonstrations showed next generation optical architectures designed to meet the performance, efficiency and scalability demands of AI, cloud and hyperscale data-center networks...

Photonic application-specific integrated circuit (PASIC) chip designer and manufacturer OpenLight of Goleta, Santa Barbara, CA, USA (which launched as an independent company in June 2022, introducing the first open silicon photonics platform with heterogeneously integrated III-V lasers, modulators, amplifiers and detectors) has announced continued progress in its ecosystem partnership with Suzhou TFC Optical Communication Co Ltd (a provider of optical sub-assembly integrated solutions and advanced optoelectronic package manufacturing services), building on the collaboration first announced in 2025 to fast track the back-end process for silicon photonics production and optical communication systems...

We’ve come to expect the U.S.-based global positioning system (GPS) to be available and ubiquitous for the countless military, commercial, and consumer applications dependent on it. Its diverse uses represent a huge leap from its original military-centric objective for determining an object’s precise location (positioning), chart its path to a destination (navigation), and manage its movement along that path (guidance)—usually summarized as PNG.

Applications that were not even conceived, let alone doable, are now enabled by tiny GPS ICs and systems that provide amazingly accurate and precise results—you can make your own list here.

If you want some insight into the people who made GPS happen despite severe technical and bureaucratic obstacles, check out Pinpoint: How GPS Is Changing Technology, Culture, and Our Minds by Greg Milner. Though somewhat dated now in its discussion of social implications, this fascinating book from 2016 tells the story of GPS from its conceptual origins as a bomb guidance system to its presence in almost everything we do.

Despite the sense that GPS is everywhere, the reality is that it was never the situation. Underwater, tunnels, indoor sites, and similar RF-blocked locations simply can’t receive enough of the relatively weak satellite signals to provide a viable result.

Now, we’re seeing many more situations where GPS signals are also being “denied” due to deliberate interference or spoofed via false signals by players with various motives. Some of the consequences are modest (lost dogs can’t be found), but others have more serious implications.

One possible solution is to increase the power of the transmitted signals, but that’s technically difficult and won’t happen for years even if and when it does—and doing so will still not help in many of these cases.

Alternatives to GPS

There’s a significant amount of research and product development toward devising ways to provide PNG using non-GPS, non-RF techniques driven by sensors for which jamming or signal access is not an issue. All of them require a considerable amount of computation to make sense of the sensed signals and transform data into results; none of them provide the performance of a GPS-based system—at least not yet. Much of the R&D work is being done by startups and innovators, in addition to traditional sensor vendors.

Among the non-GPS possibilities are:

• Inertial sensing

This is not new, of course, and has been used for decades, beginning with gyroscopes and accelerometers. Both sensors are now reduced to small, low-power MEMS devices that are orders of magnitude smaller, lighter, and lower-power than their electromechanical predecessors of just a few decades ago and even compared to the laser and fiber-optic versions that leverage the Sagnac effect and interferometry. Still, their accuracy is not as good as a high-end GPS system, but it’s improving.

For example, ANELLO Photonics has developed a silicon photonics optical gyroscope—dubbed SiPhOG—that uses an on-chip waveguide manufacturing process, integrated with a patented silicon photonic integrated circuit (Figure 1). Together, they claim these offer fiber-optic gyro performance with a standard silicon manufacturing process.

Figure 1 This silicon photonics optical gyroscope uses an on-chip waveguide manufacturing process that is integrated with a patented silicon photonic IC. Source: ANELLO Photonics

• Magnetic sensors

The Earth’s magnetic field is pervasive, ubiquitous, and unjammable. It’s also uneven, with highly localized variations due to differences in the Earth’s outer-crust and under-crust layers as well as deeper causes (literally) from flows of conducting material within the Earth (Figure 2).

Figure 2 This geomagnetic map of part of the Northern hemisphere is a starting point for more detailed, higher-resolution images and variations, and changes that must be captured for effective magnetic navigation. Source: Geomag

Using supersensitive quantum-based magnetic sensors based on optically pumped, cesium-based, split-beam scalar magnetometers, which have an absolute accuracy between one and three nanoteslas, it’s possible to read that field with high precision. The Earth’s core field has values ranging from 25 to 65 microtesla (that’s 0.25 to 0.65 gauss) at the surface while magnetic anomaly field of interest typically varies by just hundreds of nanotesla.

The readings are then matched to pre-existing maps of Earth’s field. This scheme has the disadvantage of not being very accurate compared to GPS, partially because the Earth’s magnetic field is not static and matching maps need constant updating.

Despite these challenges, companies such as SandboxAQ have developed a navigation technology (AQNav) that leverages proprietary large quantitative models (LQMs) and powerful quantum sensors to make use of the Earth’s crustal magnetic field. By combining high-sensitivity magnetometers with AI algorithms to identify unique magnetic patterns and locate position in real time, it’s possible to determine position in that field. The sensing is entirely passive, so users remain undetected.

• Visual matching

This uses a simple concept of matching what a camera sees to the verified landmarks on a map. Visual terrain-following has been used for decades in cruise missiles which follow a precise terrain-image pattern. Orders-of-magnitude improvements in imaging quality and the associated algorithms needed to process and match the observed image to the map now make this technology even more precise.

One vendor pursuing this approach is Vermeer Corp. Their system uses between one and four electro-optical/infrared camera feeds simultaneously to map real-time video to a locally stored 2.5D or 3D map database to generate an accurate location signal.

• Celestial navigation

This classic approach to navigation now uses modern, automated versions of the transit, celestial charts and precise clocks, aided by computerized calculations. This is a case of “back to the future” but in a new form and implementation.

• E-LORAN

LOng-RAnge Navigation was a hyperbolic radio navigation system developed by the United States during World War II. The third iteration, LORAN-C, was initiated in the late 1960s, but the stations and system were decommissioned in the 1990s due to the availability and performance of GPS.

It uses the differences in timing of received signals from multiple high-power transmitters in the 100-kHz band (yes, that’s kilohertz) to developed positioning information.

Enhanced LORAN is a standard which builds on the now obsolete LORAN system by putting more information into the modulation of the carrier as well as adding a data channel. Like LORAN, E-LORAN offers some benefits such as near-impossibility of jamming and spoofing, but it also requires many high-power transmitters and many of these need to be in inhospitable or remote locations which are difficult to support (Figure 3).

Figure 3 Like its predecessor LORAN, the enhanced LORAN system will require an extensive physical infrastructure located around the world. Source: UrsaNav

While E-LORAN proponents are eternally hopeful, the project has had difficulty getting traction and support due to technical challenges (primarily at the transmitter side), very high up-front infrastructure costs, and best-case accuracy of about 50 to 100 meters (although there are proposed ways to improve that number).

The realities of dealing with a GPS-unavailable world

Many of these alternatives are being enabled by advances in quantum-based sensors. Some may even require supercooled arrangements with all the obvious downsides of that requirement. Each of them offers the virtue of not being jammable or denied.

At the same time, none offers the amazing accuracy and simplicity of GPS for the user. No single technology offers anything close to GPS. A viable alternative, even with reduced accuracy, will require advances in sensors and gigabytes of support data such as maps. Any GPS alternative will also require tight fusion and merging of unrelated sensor technologies and outputs, huge datasets, and extensive use of AI and machine learning to create useful results.

It will be fascinating to see which one of these, if any, takes a dominant role in non-GPS settings, or will it be a balanced fusion? Perhaps some unexpected physical phenomenon will come from behind, as has happened so often in the past. As they say, “predictions are very hard to make, especially about the future.”

Related Content

• When your sensors mislead you
• Sensors Without Wires, But Not “Wireless”
• Navigating without GPS requires advanced sensors, intensive analog
• Sophisticated Sensors, Extreme Conditioning, Advanced Algorithms Yield Amazing Geolocation Results

The post GPS-free systems to spur highly advanced sensors, fusion appeared first on EDN.

Took the laser PCB process a bit further and pushed this one to a fully working board. The vias are drilled with a sub-mm bit and stitched manually with wire to tie the planes together. It’s basically sewing the board to keep the return path tight. Main goal here was reducing loop inductance as much as possible since this is driving a SiC switching stage. Not trying to replace fab boards, but for fast iteration this is actually way more capable than I expected. Still experimenting with how far this approach can go in terms of switching performance vs a proper manufactured board. submitted by /u/Intelligent_Raise_40 [link] [comments]

Hey, I built a Bluetooth audio amp based around the TPA3110. The QCC5125 uses differential audio signals for the TPA. I had to cut some ground lanes on the PCB for it to work because those cheap TPA boards use the same ground. USB trigger board for a 12V linear reg to an isolated 5V converter. Works really good; I only hear a quiet noise about 2-3cm in front of the speaker. I have 2x 15W 4-ohm speakers. What do you think? Anything to add, or just finish it with a case? submitted by /u/Busy-Amphibian-4317 [link] [comments]

I wish I had been smart and careful enough not to use a freerouter. submitted by /u/nemo_o_ [link] [comments]

submitted by /u/liamkinne [link] [comments]

I'm honestly so happy I finally got it to work. I'm new to his but I love figuring out the ins and outs. submitted by /u/kittenkween12 [link] [comments]

submitted by /u/AutoModerator
[link] [comments]

Not sure how you all feel about LLMs, but I have been letting Claude get involved in my electronics projects recently. After a great deal of experimentation using Rigol DS1054Z over LAN with Claude Code, I've built a small MCP server that lets Claude fully drive the scope. It exposes things like: configuring channels / trigger / timebase running measurements (Vpp, frequency, etc.) downloading waveform data with basic heuristics for Claude to plan around capturing screenshots that Claude can view It's just SCPI with Python, but wrapping it as MCP tools makes it surprisingly usable for iterative diagnosis! Repo: https://github.com/erebusnz/rigol-mcp Curious if anyone else is using Claude for their electrical engineering. Claude is surprisingly good. Example use: Here's a real example with a frequency generator + LCR connected to Channel 2 but with Channel 1 set up (incorrectly). Claude was able to get the waveform visible and correctly guess what it was seeing. using my rigol scope figure out how to get a clean measurement ● rigol.idn RIGOL TECHNOLOGIES,DS1104Z,... ● rigol.get_scope_state CH1 active, 10x probe, 1V/div, DC Scope STOPped Trigger level: 0V Channel offset: ~1.68V → Trigger mismatch → unstable/dirty capture → Running autoscale... ● rigol.autoscale → Signal detected on CH2 (not CH1) → Trigger locked (TD) on CH2 ~0V ● rigol.measure(CH2, FREQUENCY) 1.298701e+06 Hz ● rigol.measure(CH2, VPP) 5.08 V ● rigol.measure(CH2, VRMS) 0.723 V ● rigol.screenshot [captured] ✓ Clean measurement achieved Results: Frequency: ~1.30 MHz Vpp: ~5.08 V Vrms: ~721 mV Waveform: Step response with damped ringing → square wave exciting an LC resonance submitted by /u/stigm [link] [comments]

Since i'm planning to build a bigger batch of USBpwrMe i actually need to test each unit in a fast and repeatable way. Therefore i have designed a test jig that will measure all functions. There are 2 voltage regulators that will supply the test jig itself with 5V but also a 6V regulator to be able to make a test of an over voltage circuit with a threshold of 5.6-5.7V. INA139 will monitor the current of the DUT thru a shunt of 0.5 ohm or less. This will be optimized depending on what the DUT will actually consume. On the test jig board a PIC Mcu will control and manage the whole test and test instructions and results will be presented on a 2x16lcd display. The test is not high tech but the DUT must be manipulated with external resistors and voltages to be tested. This is mostly handled by 3 relays. Connection to the DUT will be easy using the banana connectors and the USB outputs which has corresponding mating connectors on the test jig. Following steps will be performed 1 It will measure the current consumption of the board to see if there is excessive power consumption 2 It will change polarity on the DUT and measure if there is any voltage on the output. 3 It will will apply resistors on the D+ and D- lines och the USB-A connector and measure so that expected voltage appears. 4 It will apply resistors on the CC1 and CC2 line for the USB-C connector. Vbus1, Vbus2, CC1 and CC2 are measured. If negotiation is correct it will enable Vbus. 5 It will change input voltage from 5V to 6V and test so that the OVP protection works. 6 Finally it will test the OVP mode switch by telling user to turn of OVP. And measures that Vbus goes on. The test will hopefully test a unit under 5s. The Gerber files are already sent to manufacturer and are in production. Now you might wonder why a choose a to small board that won't fit the display. Well at first i did. And when i uploaded the gerbers files it was around 40Usd to get it manufactured and shipped. By reducing the height of the board with 3cm the cost was 12Usd. Since it's only a testjigg and will be put into a casing i rather save some money!!! The PCB has 4 layer stack up. Not really needed but it's much easier to route the signals and takes less time. The schematic and routing took around 5hours. Funny thing is that the test jig is way more advanced than the product it is itended to test :) :) submitted by /u/KS-Elektronikdesign [link] [comments]