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The Union Cabinet approves two more semiconductor projects under the India Semiconductor Mission (ISM) with an investment of more than Rs. 3936 Crore. India’s first commercial Mini/Macro LED display; the facility is based on GaN(Gallium Nitride) Technology and a semiconductor facility. These two approvals are expected to generate more than 2,230 employment opportunities for skilled professionals in Gujarat.

Crystal Matrix Limited (CML) will establish a compound facility semiconductor fabrication. The annual capacity for Mini/Micro-LED display panels is 72,000 sq. meters, and for Mini/Macro LED GaN Epitaxy Wafers is 24,000 sets of RGB wafers. Primarily, these products will be used in large displays for TVs and signage/commercial displays, medium-sized displays for tablets, smartphones, car displays, and Micro displays for Extended Reality(XR) glasses and smart watches.

Suchi Semiconductor Private Limited (SSPL) will set up an Outsourced Semiconductor Assembly and Test(OSAT) facility in Surat, Gujarat, with a production capacity of 1033.20 million chips per annum. The aim is to include power electronics, analog ICs, industrial systems, automotive, industrial automation, and customer electronics.

These two approvals are enhanced by infrastructure support from 315 academic institutions and 104 start-ups across the country. Two projects have already initiated the commercial shipment, and two more are expected to start soon. It would add to the growing world-class chip manufacturing in India.

The post Union Cabinet Authorises Two New Semiconductor Units With an Incremental Investment of Rs. 3,936 Crore appeared first on ELE Times.

Bought a 24GHz radar module to tinker with and, after a few tests and experiments, ended up designing this board to make further testing a bit easier with the eventual aim of designing my own radar system or close! Has been a really enjoyable learning experience so far. Time to start writing some 1’s and 0’s now! submitted by /u/No-Fun1654 [link] [comments]

Ultra-wideband (UWB) has moved well beyond research labs. Driven by IEEE 802.15.4z standardization and integration into smartphones from Apple, Samsung, and Xiaomi, UWB now underpins industrial real-time locating systems (RTLS), consumer keyless entry, and asset management platforms across multiple verticals.

For most of this adoption, time-of-flight (ToF) ranging has been sufficient, delivering approximately 10 cm accuracy in line-of-sight environments by measuring signal round-trip time. But system architects are increasingly moving to angle-of-arrival (AoA) techniques, which resolve the angular direction of a tag without requiring additional anchor nodes. AoA unlocks more efficient infrastructure layouts and opens new use cases in worker safety, autonomous robotics, and automotive access.

The shift exposes a hardware bottleneck that no amount of signal processing can fully compensate for: antenna isolation. AoA positioning relies on comparing the phase of a UWB pulse arriving at two closely spaced antennas.

If those antennas are mutually coupled—that is, insufficiently isolated—their signals contaminate each other. The resulting phase corruption introduces systematic angular errors that propagate directly into positioning accuracy.

Three design challenges facing UWB AoA antenna engineers

1. The –25 dB isolation threshold

Qorvo’s Application Note APH511—the widely referenced industry guide for AoA antenna integration—sets two non-negotiable requirements. Inter-antenna isolation must reach at least –25 dB across the full operating band, and physical antenna separation should be approximately 0.45 times the signal wavelength (λ).

For UWB Channel 9 (centred at ~7.987 GHz), that spacing equates to roughly 16.87 mm. Even at this theoretically optimal separation, raw isolation without dedicated decoupling structures typically falls short. The shortfall allows mutual coupling to corrupt the phase difference of arrival (PDoA) measurement on which AoA computation depends—and angular errors compound with distance.

2. Broadband impedance matching and pulse fidelity

UWB systems transmit sub-nanosecond pulses spanning hundreds of megahertz of bandwidth. An antenna that appears well-matched at a spot frequency can still distort pulse shape if its phase response is non-linear across the band.

Published time-domain evaluations indicate that group delay variation beyond approximately 1 ns degrades ranging accuracy even when return loss (S11) looks clean. Engineers must validate not just impedance matching, but pulse fidelity and group delay flatness—metrics that add complexity to an already demanding design process.

3. Size constraints vs. isolation performance

Industrial IoT tags, wearables, access cards, and consumer devices impose tight dimensional budgets. Conventional approaches to achieving strong inter-antenna isolation rely on enlarged ground planes or external RF filtering networks; both of which are incompatible with compact form factors. The result has been a persistent trade-off: high isolation or small size, but rarely both.

Chip antenna purpose-built for AoA

LK1820201 is an SMD chip antenna engineered specifically to address these barriers. Key specifications are summarized below.

Source: Leankon

Proprietary decoupling architecture

The central innovation is a proprietary decoupling structure that achieves inter-antenna isolation better than –25 dB between two co-located UWB antennas. In practical validation, a dual-antenna AoA array using the LK1820201 and its decoupling element measures –26 dB of isolation across the complete UWB Channel 9 band, confirming that performance holds across the full 6.0–8.5 GHz operating envelope, not just at a single center frequency.

This directly meets—and in practice exceeds—the Qorvo APH511 threshold, providing a solid electrical foundation for phase-coherent AoA computation.

• Ultra-low 0.5 mm profile

At 0.5 mm in height, LK1820201 is among the lowest-profile UWB antennas available in SMD chip format. This enables integration into slim wearables, access badges, compact industrial tags, and consumer devices without compromising mechanical design. Standard SMD reflow mounting eliminates the need for bespoke assembly tooling, reducing manufacturing entry barriers.

• Radiation pattern and power efficiency

Counter-intuitively for positioning applications, a lower peak gain paired with high radiation efficiency is generally preferred over a high-gain directional pattern. High efficiency distributes signal energy across a wide spatial angle, improving coverage at anchor installations and reducing dead zones for tags moving through complex indoor environments.

The antenna’s efficient radiation characteristic also reduces the transmit power burden on the UWB chipset—extending battery life in tags and wearables that must operate over weeks or months between charges.

Application areas

Centimetre-accurate UWB AoA positioning, enabled by high-isolation antenna pairs, is opening deployments across several industries.

• Industrial RTLS and worker safety: In manufacturing plants, logistics hubs, and construction sites, AoA allows a single anchor to resolve not just distance but the angular direction of a tag. This reduces the anchor infrastructure required for full coverage, lowering deployment cost for geofencing, collision avoidance, and emergency mustering systems.
• Healthcare asset tracking: Hospitals require continuous visibility into the location of mobile medical equipment—from infusion pumps to crash carts. UWB delivers the accuracy to track assets to the correct bay or room, without the ambiguity of Bluetooth RSSI-based systems.
• Automotive keyless access: Digital car key implementations use PDoA and AoA to determine whether a smartphone is inside or outside a vehicle—a security-critical distinction that RSSI cannot reliably make. Multi-channel support and high isolation performance are prerequisites for meeting the phase measurement accuracy demands of these deployments.
• Autonomous mobile robots: UWB AoA enables infrastructure-light follow-me navigation on autonomous mobile robot (AMR) platforms. By resolving both range and angle to a worker’s tag from a single onboard antenna pair, a robot can track a target in real time without requiring a fixed anchor network.

Design enablement and engineering support

Selecting a datasheet-compliant antenna is only the starting point. PCB stack-up decisions, ground plane geometry, feed trace routing, and antenna placement relative to metallic enclosures all interact with measured RF performance. Leankon supports the LK1820201 chip antenna with a design enablement program that covers:

• PCB layout recommendations optimized for isolation performance
• Antenna performance simulation services for pre-layout validation
• Mechanical design assistance for antenna placement within enclosures
• Fast prototyping services to accelerate design verification cycles
• Pre-test support for FCC, CE, and regional certification processes

This end-to-end support model reduces the engineering risk of adopting a high-performance UWB antenna and shortens the path from concept to production-qualified hardware.

Why AoA now

UWB angle-of-arrival positioning is a technically compelling evolution from range-only systems, but its precision depends fundamentally on solving the antenna isolation problem. For years, that barrier has limited AoA adoption to designs with generous PCB real estate or expensive external RF filtering.

Chip antenna changes the equation. By achieving better than –25 dB isolation from a 0.5-mm SMD package, supporting all major UWB frequency allocations from a single component, and simplifying BOM complexity for global deployments, it removes the principal hardware barrier to AoA in compact, cost-sensitive devices.

For IoT hardware engineers, RTLS platform developers, and device makers targeting precise indoor positioning, this antenna represents a technically meaningful step toward aligning hardware capability with the precision that modern UWB applications demand.

Chris Zhong, engineering manager at Leankon, leads the global antenna R&D team, overseeing both RF and mechanical design. With over 15 years of antenna design expertise, he specializes in 4G LTE, Bluetooth, 5G and mm-Wave, UWB, NFC, LoRa, and Wi-Fi technologies.

Related Content

• Trends in UWB technology
• Inside UWB design: A tutorial
• UWB simplifies portable design
• Ultra-wideband antenna arrays–The basics
• Ultra-Wideband Radar in Healthcare: A New Era of Non-Contact Sensing and Monitoring

The post UWB: Why angle-of-arrival positioning hinges on antenna isolation appeared first on EDN.

Op amps tend to make analog design easy. Maybe sometimes too easy?

Don’t get me wrong.  I like operational amplifiers.  Some of my best friends are op amps.  They embrace such a wide range of varied capabilities, including low noise, high power, micropower, zero-drift, RRIO, high speed, etc., that they’re easy to love.  They tend to make analog design easy.  Maybe sometimes too easy?

Wow the engineering world with your unique design: Design Ideas Submission Guide

This design idea applies the ΔVbe temperature measurement principle to make any cheap 3¾ digit digital multimeter with a 300mV range into an accurate, linear, 0.1°C resolution digital thermometer.  As a (hopefully) entertaining exercise, this time it does it without incorporating any op amps.  Here’s how it works.

ΔVbe temperature measurement is described and applied in an app note written by the famed analog design guru Jim Williams. See page 7 (PDF). Williams explains that the ΔVbe/°C effect depends solely on the ratio of applied currents, independent of their absolute magnitudes, and has an amplitude of 198μV per °C per current decade.  198uV=1V/5050, so 198μV/°C per current decade works out to ΔVbe/°C = Log10(Current-ratio)/5050.

Therefore, for any chosen ΔVbe/°C, the required Current-ratio = 10^(5050 Vbe/°C). So if we want ΔVbe/°C = 1mV, the solution couldn’t be simpler.  We “only” need to set Current-ratio = 10^(5050 * 1mV) = 10^(5.050) = 316,228:1.

Yikes!

The challenge, of course, is to achieve such an extreme current ratio. If the high side current were 1mA, then the low side would have to be very (very!) low indeed…like 1mA/316,228 = 3.2nA low.  This would involve Gohm current-setting resistors and circuit impedances in the multi-Mohm range.  So it’s not so simple after all and in fact is very likely impractical—without op amps, that is.

But consider this.  If it’s impractical to get enough ΔVbe signal from a single junction, why not wire N junctions in series and let their signals add up?  For example, if N = 5, then to get the required 1mV/5 = 0.2mV, we only need Current-ratio = 10^(5050 * 200uV) = 10^(1.01) = 10.23.  That ratio is highly practical.  It’s exactly what Figure 1’s circuit does, in fact:

Figure 1 Switch U1a and current mirror Q2Q3 apply an excitation current ratio of 10.23:1 to the 5 sensor transistor series array.  This creates a 5 x 200uV/°C = 1mV/°C AC signal synchronously rectified by U1c.

Circuit details include the D1R6 dummy load that serves to balance the currents passed by the two sides of the U1a switch, thus equalizing Ron voltage losses.  Current mirror aficionados (I’m looking at you, Ashu) will probably wonder how the Q2Q3 mirror, consisting of unmatched transistors with no emitter degeneration, can possibly have an accurate gain ratio?  The answer, of course, is: it doesn’t.  But that’s okay. It doesn’t need one.

Remember that Jim Williams said that the ΔVbe/°C effect depends solely on the ratio of applied currents, independent of their absolute magnitudes.  So the mirror’s gain can vary as it pleases without significantly affecting temperature measurement accuracy. Multivibrator U1b provides ~7kHz timing for synchronous sensor excitation and rectification with a ~33% duty factor.  This takes advantage of the 10x lower sensor array impedance at the high-current side of the excitation square wave.

If a more usual temperature readout in Celsius rather than Kelvin is desired, just plug the minus lead of the DMM into Figure 2 instead of ground, to offset 273K to 0°C:

Figure 2 This precision voltage reference converts Kelvin to Celsius.

Speaking of variations that don’t spoil accuracy, the V+ supply, for example, can vary from 5 to 6 volts without affecting accuracy.  Output impedance is roughly 2k, so variation of output loading by a typical 10M DMM input won’t impact accuracy, either. Who needs op amps, anyway?  (Not a serious question!)

Thanks, Jim!

Stephen Woodward‘s relationship with EDN’s DI column goes back quite a long way. Over 200 submissions have been accepted since his first contribution back in 1974.  They have included best Design Idea of the year in 1974 and 2001.

Related Content 

• ΔVbe + DMM = Celsius, Kelvin, Fahrenheit, and Rankine thermometer
• BJT is accurate sensor for absolute temperature in Kelvin and Rankine
• Temperature compensation with a simple resistance temperature detector
• A temperature-compensated, calibration-free anti-log amplifier

The post ΔVbe thermometer outputs 1mV/°C without calibration or op amps appeared first on EDN.

So this is my latest draft for a railsplitter with low noise that is ment to be an accessorie fir my 60V 5A power supply. You could add 1uF film+100nF ceramic between Q5 and Q6 Collectors, and 100pF on Q1 base to Q1 emitter for lower transients and risk for oscillation. If you parallel 2 tip35c + tip36c you could go around 8-10A unbalanced load with propper cooling. As long as the load is symmetrical then this circuit should be able to handle several amps (Atleast 10A). It might be hard to see but i added a 1000uF 80v electrolytic capacitor 1 uF film 100v and 100 nF ceramic 100V at the input for more stability. Can't say for sure that this works like it's intended as i haven't simulated or built it yet, I just now finnished the schematic, will post the results once i am finnished with it. If it works like intended then it could be a good way to be able to run amplifiers using single rail PSU. And the Voltage/Ampers is limited by what components you use. If you switch the small signal bjt's/drivers to over 100V+ and use mosfets as power stage you could theoretically drive ±50V and 50+ Amps. submitted by /u/Whyjustwhydothat [link] [comments]

Підвищуємо безпеку кампусу КПІ ім. Ігоря Сікорського разом із компанією SHERIFF kpi ср, 05/06/2026 - 13:40

Arrow Electronics (NYSE: ARW) today announced the launch of Digital Test Drive, a cloud‑based remote engineering service that helps technology developers evaluate hardware faster, reduce costs and improve productivity.

Through a secure, private web link, individual users and distributed teams can instantly connect to a pre-set up virtual machine and connect via cloud directly to physical development boards hosted in Arrow’s engineering labs. Users can remotely control evaluation kits, access software environments, run tests and view results in real time. Workshops, training, product demonstrations and live support from Arrow’s technical experts are available.

Digital Test Drive simplifies early‑stage testing and collaboration by helping eliminate common barriers such as kit availability, shipping delays, customs paperwork, platform comparisons, complex setup and software installation, which helps businesses shorten the development cycles and accelerate decision‑making.

“Digital Test Drive helps remove the delays and complexity that slow product development,” said Murdoch Fitzgerald, chief growth officer of global services for Arrow’s global components business. “There’s no shipping, no setup and fewer up‑front costs, just instant access to the tools engineering teams need to work more efficiently.”

Digital Test Drive complements Arrow’s existing Test Drive program that allows customers to borrow physical hardware for on‑site evaluation for up to 28 days.

More information:
Digital Test Drive – Remote Hardware Testing

About Arrow Electronics
Arrow Electronics (NYSE: ARW) sources and engineers technology solutions for thousands of leading manufacturers and service providers. With 2025 sales of $31 billion, Arrow helps enable innovation across major industries and markets. Learn more at arrow.com.

The post Arrow Electronics Launches Web-based “Digital Test Drive” to Streamline Hardware Testing appeared first on ELE Times.

A really good space for me and my projects. Worth noticing is the home made ESD gun that can deliver 7-8kV discharge, and a really primitive compressed air tank made of an old fire extinguisher connected to a small airbrush compressor. Perfect since it's non oil tech. Use it mainly for my hot air soldering station. Below the blue compressor there is a homemade heat chamber for temperature tests. Really bad pic but it can be seen on the overview picture. Also my latest project that i'm working on, that i have named USBpwrMe connected to the bench power supply output. Enjoy :):) submitted by /u/KS-Elektronikdesign [link] [comments]

❤️ Запрошуємо долучитися до особливої справи — донорства крові для поранених військових! kpi ср, 05/06/2026 - 11:55

Photonic quantum computing company Xanadu Quantum Technologies Ltd of Toronto, ON, Canada, and EV Group of St Florian, Austria — a supplier of wafer bonding and lithography equipment for semiconductor, micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) and nanotechnology applications — have announced a strategic partnership to develop critical heterogeneous integration and wafer bonding processes to facilitate the scalability of photonic quantum systems...

Epitaxial deposition and process equipment maker Veeco Instruments Inc of Plainview, NY, USA has received orders totaling more than $250m from multiple customers for its Spector ion beam deposition (IBD), Lumina metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) and its WaferEtch wet processing systems. Driven by momentum in silicon photonics, these orders support the manufacturing of indium phosphide (InP) lasers, with deliveries beginning in 2026 and significantly accelerating in 2027...

In an exclusive interview with ELE Times, Shrikant Acharya, CTO and Co-founder of Excelfore, outlines how vehicles are evolving from simple update-driven systems to intelligent, data-centric platforms. He explains the distinction between OTA updates and data aggregation within a unified lifecycle pipeline, while highlighting innovations such as adaptive delta compression and distributed architectures. Acharya also explores the growing role of Ethernet, AI, and scalable system design in shaping software-defined vehicles, positioning India as a key market in this transformation. 

ELE Times: Could you elaborate on OTA updates and how they differ from in-vehicle data-related processes? Also,  what differentiates your OTA solution in this evolving landscape?

Excelfore:
It is important to distinguish between OTA updates and data aggregation. OTA primarily refers to a one-way process—delivering updates from infrastructure to the device. In contrast, extracting data from the device back to the infrastructure is better described as data aggregation. When viewed as a unified pipeline, both functions contribute to lifecycle management. Updates are deployed to improve or fix device functionality, while data is retrieved to evaluate performance, detect issues, and validate those updates through analytics.

From a technical standpoint, OTA updates are asynchronous, involving large data transfers—often several gigabytes —owing to their bulk, especially in systems like Android-based infotainment. Conversely, data retrieval is typically synchronous or near-real-time, requiring smaller, segmented packets to ensure continuity and responsiveness, thereby maintaining the real-time nature of the aggregation. In essence, while both operate within the same pipeline, OTA updates and data aggregation serve fundamentally different purposes—one enables corrective action, while the other supports monitoring and analysis.

OTA has evolved significantly—from early implementations in industrial systems to its adoption in automotive environments. Initial solutions, such as those derived from mobile update frameworks, were primarily suited for infotainment systems and can be considered first-generation approaches. At the same time, our solution represents a more advanced, third-generation architecture. A key innovation lies in its plug-and-play capability. Devices entering the network authenticate themselves through certificates and register dynamically. The client system acts as a generic dispatcher without embedded knowledge of the vehicle or environment, enabling deployment across diverse ecosystems.

Another major advancement is the distributed architecture. Complexity is intentionally removed from the communication pipeline and instead distributed between the server and device. This approach ensures scalability, simplifies integration, and allows seamless accommodation of legacy systems. OEMs can retain existing device management frameworks while selectively adopting newer capabilities.

Agents within devices handle updates, ensuring structured execution while maintaining flexibility. This modular and distributed design is central to our differentiation, which also helps OEMs to preserve legacy. 

ELE Times: Could you explain the concept and significance of adaptive delta compression? How does this approach optimize bandwidth and system performance?

Excelfore:
Traditionally, software updates required transmitting the entire payload. Delta compression improves efficiency by sending only the differences between software versions, significantly reducing bandwidth usage and update time. However, managing these differential files over time creates a substantial IT burden for OEMs. Our approach shifts this responsibility to the server-client system. The server dynamically determines when and how to generate and transmit delta updates, eliminating the need for OEMs to manage them manually.

Also, if one doesn’t want to use the main channel to send these large files, you only give them a reference to the URL for that payload, and then the agent sets up an independent connection and puts it down. Also, the “adaptive” aspect introduces intelligence into this process. The system evaluates multiple parameters—such as device memory, processing capability, network interface (CAN, LIN, Ethernet), and connection speed—to determine the most efficient compression strategy.

Additionally, large payloads are handled via separate channels, ensuring that the primary communication pipeline remains responsive for critical operations such as authentication and command execution.

Regarding optimization, it is achieved by tailoring data packets to device constraints. For instance, if a device has limited cache capacity, the system ensures that data units fit precisely within that space. This avoids inefficiencies caused by partial data processing and repeated memory access. Beyond cache considerations, factors such as network speed and interface type are also evaluated. The system assigns weighted parameters to these variables and generates an optimal data transfer strategy, ensuring efficient utilization of bandwidth while maintaining system performance.

ELE Times: With the rise of SDVs and advanced features, how do you see networking technologies evolving?

Excelfore:
Ethernet has emerged as the dominant in-vehicle networking standard due to its scalability, cost efficiency, and high bandwidth capabilities. Earlier technologies like FlexRay served as transitional solutions but have largely been superseded.

While legacy systems such as CAN will continue to exist due to installed base constraints, advancements like 10 Mbps multi-drop Ethernet are increasingly capable of replacing them.

Time-Sensitive Networking (TSN) plays a crucial role, particularly in time synchronization and deterministic data transmission. Combined with Quality of Service (QoS) mechanisms, it enables efficient bandwidth utilization—often achieving up to 85–90% channel efficiency compared to significantly lower utilization without traffic management.

ELE Times: How are SDVs reshaping vehicle architecture and OEM strategies? How do you view the evolution of SDVs and connected vehicles in India?

Excelfore:
The term SDV is often used loosely, but its true definition involves a standardized hardware platform whose functionality can be dynamically reconfigured through software.

Architecturally, the industry has evolved from domain-based systems to zonal architectures with centralized computing. Zonal controllers process localized data, which is then transmitted to central compute units for decision-making.

This shift introduces challenges, particularly in thermal management, as high-performance compute systems generate significant heat. Cooling solutions have thus become a critical component of system design.

For India, it presents a unique opportunity, having bypassed several legacy stages of technological evolution. This allows for a more forward-looking approach, with fewer constraints from outdated systems. There is a strong willingness to adopt advanced technologies based on value and functionality. This mindset, similar to what was observed in China during its rapid technological growth phase, creates a favorable environment for innovation.

For technology providers, this openness enables deeper collaboration and the deployment of cutting-edge solutions, positioning India as a promising market for SDVs and connected vehicle ecosystems.

ELE Times: What role do you see AI playing in OTA and SDV ecosystems?

Excelfore:
AI adoption in vehicles is constrained by cost and computational limitations. As a result, the focus is shifting toward domain-specific, lightweight models rather than large, generalized AI systems.

While generative AI will primarily reside in the cloud, vehicles will utilize smaller models tailored to specific functions—such as diagnostics or object detection. One practical application is the digitization of vehicle manuals, enabling intelligent interpretation of diagnostic codes and user-friendly outputs.

However, monetization will be a key factor. Advanced AI-driven features are unlikely to be offered free of cost and will likely be delivered as subscription-based services.

ELE Times: How do you ensure safety and integrity in OTA updates, especially for critical systems?

Excelfore:
Data integrity is ensured through mechanisms such as SHA-256 hashing, which verifies that transmitted data remains unaltered. If discrepancies are detected, updates are rejected.

Authentication is enforced באמצעות digital certificates, establishing both device identity and software origin. Additionally, encryption ensures that only the intended device can decode and execute the update.

A critical vulnerability lies in key management during manufacturing. Protecting private keys is essential, as any compromise at this stage can undermine the entire security framework.

The post From Updates to Intelligence: How OTA, Data, and Ethernet Are Reshaping Vehicles appeared first on ELE Times.

Hello everyone! About 2 months ago on a whim I ordered 6x of these IV-11 VFD tubes from eBay, and decided I wanted to design and build my very own VFD tube clock! After getting good tips and feedback on reddit, prototyping everything on a breadboard, designing a custom PCB, and soldering it all together, here's the finished result! This is my first real personal project as a new EE major and I'm thrilled with how it turned out. The clock runs on an Arduino Nano Every with 6x daisy-chained 74HC595 shift registers and UDN2981A high-voltage source drivers, one pair per tube. The anode and grid rails run at 25V from a boost converter, and the filament runs at 1.5V from a buck converter, all from a single 5V USB supply. A full writeup covering design decisions, schematic, and PCB layout is on my GitHub Repo. Stars are appreciated! :) submitted by /u/MrGuccu [link] [comments]

The UK Semiconductor Centre (UKSC) has appointed its first chief executive officer to deliver on its vision of establishing the UK as a global leader in semiconductors by accelerating scale-up, investment and commercial growth across the sector...

На Факультеті інформатики та обчислювальної техніки КПІ відсвяткували Day F kpi вт, 05/05/2026 - 22:24

Work in progress! I was inspired by numerous #Minecraft inspired IRL compass and the fact i could not buy it was the driving force to develop one. The needle animation works fine; it is the first step in order to make the final product. I built it from ground up (Custom LED matrix, 3d printed housing), if anyone needs more details on the hardware or anything related to the project feel free to comment and ask away. P.S. It is still a prototype so it's a little a little janky and the custom PCB is held by some tape. submitted by /u/Own-Zombie-1503 [link] [comments]

Power Integrations Inc of San Jose, CA, USA (which provides high-voltage integrated circuits for energy-efficient power conversion) has appointed Michael Balow as senior VP, worldwide sales. He joins the executive management team with responsibility for leading the global sales organization, channel strategy and growth initiatives...

Misbehaving buffer pointers, whose effects threatened to create a fatal project setback, were identified via a clever software subdivision technique.

In the 1990s, I was working as a motion control engineer for the Giant Meter Wave Radio Telescope Project (GMRT). The radio telescope consists of 30 giant meter wave antennas, each a parabolic dish 45 meters in diameter. The motion control electronics (i.e., the control computer and power electronics) were located inside a control room within the supporting tower below each antenna. The servo computer received motion control coordinates from a master computer situated in a central building via an optical fiber link.

Do you have a memorable experience solving an engineering problem at work or in your spare time? Tell us your Tale

After the first two prototype antennae were commissioned, the radio astronomers started using them for their observations. Whenever a celestial object is to be observed, the antenna has to move in opposition to the earth’s motion in order to remain focused on the object under observation. After a few weeks I received a phone call from the security guard manning one of the antennas. “The antenna was dancing madly,” the guard said. “I had to shut off the power supply! Please come down and investigate.” I reached the project site only to discover that the problem could not be reproduced.

This story repeated itself every few days, for both antennae in turn. The control system development team blamed the “dancing behavior” on erratic fluctuation with the rural electricity grid, suggesting that “if your grid bus voltage dances madly, the antenna will do the same.” However, I couldn’t “buy” this explanation. If it had been true, a repeated power on/off sequence could have reproduced the problem. But it didn’t.

The developers then handed me a 2,500 page printout of the source code, which was written in Turbo Pascal. Since I instead suspected a control software bug as the culprit, I was tasked with finding it. But how could anyone debug such a voluminous amount of software, written by multiple development team members, none of them myself? And what debugging tools could I use to track down an issue that occurs only once a few weeks? The situation appeared hopeless.

I decided to make use of the three LEDs located on the front panel of the servo computer, Each LED can have three states: on, off and blink. So we have cube of three combinations, 27 possible combinations in total. I divided the program into 27 different parts. A specific combination out of the 27 was therefore illuminated on the LEDs each time the associated code portion was being executed. I then asked the security guard to record the LED pattern being displayed every time the antenna was “dancing”, before he shut down power.

After only two or three iterations of the “dancing antenna event”, the culprit area of the program was identified, located within a two-page portion of the original 2,500-page source code printout. I was admittedly thrilled at the seeming magic of my debugging technique. The culprit program segment implemented a 128 byte circular communication buffer. When the master computer was issuing commands, the buffer would store them until the servo computer could execute them. Occasionally, however, the motion trajectory was so fast that the buffer would also rapidly begin to fill up.

In the worst-case scenario, the entire 128-byte buffer would become full. The buffer management routine maintained two pointers: a read pointer to the next command to be executed and a write pointer to the last location written. The pointers normally circularly wrapped around after reaching the 128th location. However, in this particular situation the read pointer was erroneously advancing to an invalid 129th location instead. No wonder it would then read a junk motion control command, resulting in the antenna “dancing” erratically!

I corrected the bug, to the delight of the other team members. The antennae had been running the risk of falling down during the “dancing”, leading to a fatal setback for our project. After more than three decades of development work, I have accumulated enough experience (and experiences) to come up with “life-saving” countermeasures for bugs such as these:

• Motion control software needs to carry out a “sanity check” before executing any motion command. Such a huge amount of inertia cannot be given a violent added acceleration beyond a reasonable threshold. Any command breaking this rule can be safely ignored, with an error subsequently flagged.
• A simple checksum for every command bit stream could have identified a “junk motion command” situation such as the one described here.

Our project received a prestigious IEEE Milestone Award a few years ago. Needless to say, if this difficult-to-find bug had not been identified and rectified, the project would not have even seen the light of the day, far from basking in the global good reputation it has achieved over the years among the international radio-astronomer research fraternity.

Vishwas Vaidya is a graduate of the Indian Institute of Technology in Delhi, India. Currently, he is self-employed as an engineering consultant and industry faculty member in the field of embedded systems for global automotive clients and high-repute academic institutions. Vishwas’ articles and research reports have appeared in many worldwide engineering publications.

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The post The curious case of the dancing antennae appeared first on EDN.

КПІ отримав відзнаку Platinum Educational Partner від SoftServe kpi вт, 05/05/2026 - 13:19

For first quarter 2026, AXT Inc of Fremont, CA, USA — which makes gallium arsenide (GaAs), indium phosphide (InP) and germanium (Ge) substrates and raw materials at plants in China — has reported revenue of $26.9m, up 17% on $23m last quarter and 39% on $19.4m a year ago, and slightly above the forecasted $26m as export permits came in slightly better than guidance...