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The TS1800 platform root of trust controller and TS50x secure boot controller expand Microchip’s TrustShield portfolio of post-quantum cryptography (PQC)-ready devices. These ICs address emerging cybersecurity mandates, including the European Cyber Resilience Act (CRA) and Commercial National Security Algorithm Suite 2.0 (CNSA 2.0), across data center, compute, defense, and infrastructure systems.

Designed for external platform root of trust in multi-component systems, the TS1800 provides secure boot, secure firmware updates, attestation, and certificate handling using hardware-accelerated PQC. An Arm Cortex-M4F processor operating at up to 192 MHz provides up to 2× the processing power of previous generations to support the increased computational demands of PQC workloads. The controller also supports Open Compute Project (OCP)-compliant implementations, enabling firmware integrity validation and lifecycle management.

The TS50x series provides PQC-based secure boot for systems that do not require the full OCP-based platform root of trust feature set offered by the TS1800. With a simpler architecture, it focuses on signature verification using both PQC and classical cryptography for firmware stored in SPI flash. The controller holds the main chipset in reset until verification completes. This hybrid approach enables retrofitting existing ECC-based designs with PQC.

TS1800 and TS50x controllers and evaluation boards are available as part of Microchip’s early adopter program. 

TS1800/TS50x product page

Microchip Technology 

The post Controllers bring PQC to boot and root of trust appeared first on EDN.

This engineer no longer has a bulbous monitoring device attached to his chest. He’s transitioned to a svelte successor, in the same location but this time placed subcutaneously.

Thanks to all of you who wrote in expressing concern and well wishes subsequent to the publication of my previous two posts in this series, focusing on my recent cardiac issues. I’m happy to report that I successfully made it through the 30-day regimen with a function-tailored smartphone in my pocket and a monitor stuck to my chest . I’m also happy to report that my cardiologist’s analysis of the collected data revealed no serious ongoing concerns. That said, I’m not yet completely “off the hook”, therefore the topic of today’s follow-up writeup.

What the 30-day results did reveal were a few brief episodes of tachycardia, i.e., elevated heart rate and intensity sequences, albeit with a still-regular cadence:

As my cardiologist explained (and I now paraphrase), my heart seemed to be trying to go back into irregular rhythm but (thankfully) didn’t succeed. As such, he was of the opinion that I still should proactively have a cardiac ablation, but I’ve declined that option, at least for now.

During my mid-November episode, while the bulk of my arrythmia rhythm was classified as atrial flutter, which has a near-100% success rate even after only a single ablation procedure:

my heart also occasionally transitioned into atrial fibrillation (AFib), whose single-procedure success rate is lower, due in part to the larger number of impulse sites that typically need to be severed (subsequent repeat procedures bolster the chances of a successful eventual outcome):

Instead, what I proposed (and he eventually agreed to) was a more conservative approach, at least initially. I’d remain on rhythm-stabilizing beta blockers. And he’d embed a miniature leadless cardiac monitor, with three-year operating life, subcutaneously in my chest to enable ongoing logging of any further heart rate abnormalities. He’d then automatically receive a report from the service provider each month. If there was no further detected AFib or atrial flutter after the monitor’s integrated battery eventually died, I could declare an “all clear”, with the now-inert monitor potentially remaining in me for the rest of my life. And if any recurrence of irregular arrythmia did occur, we could revisit the potential ablation scenario.

Tiny but mighty

The system I’m now artificially augmented with—just call me Steve Austin—is from Medtronic. Specifically, it’s the first-generation Reveal LINQ, which has been in widespread use for more than a decade at this point. At its nexus is the model LNQ11 ICM (insertable cardiac monitor), now in residence in my chest, which required only a local anesthetic (lidocaine) and sub-1 cm incision for installation, along with a couple of internal dissolvable stitches and some glue to temporarily hold the incision flaps together for the first two weeks while it healed.

The ICM has dimensions of approx. 44.8 x 7.2 x 4 mm, translating to (at ~1.3 cubic cm) roughly 1/3 the volume of a AAA battery, and weighs around 2.5 grams. Here are some stock shots:

Wireless diversity

The ICM communicates with a standalone AC-powered patient monitor which receives transmissions from the ICM and passes them along to a “cloud” server over a cellular data link:

Here are the meaningful perspectives of the outer packaging I received post-ICM installation:

Opening up the box, there was (obviously) no longer an ICM inside; it had already been relocated to my skin’s underside, at the left pectoral region of my chest, to be precise:

The patient monitor is variously described as needing to be no further than either 2 or 3 meters away (depending on the literature piece being referenced) from the ICM-toting patient in order to ensure reliable data transfers:

The system manual (PDF) accessible (along with other useful info) via the patient portal provides detailed information on the divers spectrum swaths used for various ICM-to-patient monitor and patient monitor-to-cloud functions, along with their associated modulation schemes. The companion ICM manual (PDF) translates these technical specifications into “for the masses” cautions and broader recommendations for cardiac monitor operation in EMI-rich environments (motors, arc welders, radio transmitters, etc.) along with the information you should share beforehand with MRI scanner operators as well as airport and other security personnel (I carry a Medtronic-supplied info card in my wallet for situations such as these).

Speaking of spectrum swaths, the FCC certification ID for the ICM is LF5MEDSIMPLANT1; I encourage you to check out the FCC site for more interesting information on the device, including a set of teardown images. Even more interesting info can be accessed by punching other FCC IDs, found on product labels both above and below this point in the writeup, into the independently developed and maintained FCC certification website search engine.  And further to the spectrum swath topic, I’ll note that Medtronic has subsequently introduced the LINQ II ICM, similar in size (45.1 x 8 x 4.2 mm) and per my online research making several notable enhancements to the first-gen implementation:

• Like the 30-day cardiac monitor I described in my previous writeup, it communicates with the data receiver device over Bluetooth low energy (BLE), not the proprietary protocols leveraged with the first-generation ICM. As such, again as with the 30-day monitor I previously used, it can connect to a conventional smartphone versus requiring my dedicated bedside patient monitor device.
• Its BLE and smartphone intermediary foundations also enable it to be remotely reprogrammed by the cardiologist for settings fine-tuning purposes, versus necessitating an office visit for the patient.
• Estimated battery life is now 4.5 years.
• And the LINQ II is FDA-cleared for pediatric use with patients 2 years and older.

Selective storage and transmission

My previous cardiac monitoring device was bulky and required recharge every five days or so. How on earth, then, does this comparatively tiny ICM run for 3 years on a much smaller and non-rechargeable cell? Selectivity is one key differentiator; while the prior cardiac monitor was constantly logging heartbeat information, the ICM (automatically, at least; keep reading) only captures a data sequence when it senses there’s a potential arrhythmia event occurring, and cloud-based AI algorithms further weed out “false positives” before passing the information on to the cardiologist.

The ICM only houses enough onboard storage for 27 minutes’ worth of this auto-logged information. It’s what’s known as a “loop recorder”, overwriting old data with new, operating under the assumption that the old data has already been transferred to the patient monitor. Yes, this means that, as with my CPAP machine, I also need to travel with the patient monitor and its AC power adapter.

What happens if I’m symptomatic, suggestive of an in-process cardiac event; palpitations, dizziness, light-headedness, etc.? The answer to that question depends on whether my patient monitor is nearby. You may have already noticed in the earlier set of photos that the patient monitor appears to consist of two pieces, with the smaller portion sitting atop the larger base unit. Kudos on your insight: you’re right:

If the patient monitor is nearby when you find yourself in distress, you can detach the “reader” portion (which, perhaps obviously, contains an embedded rechargeable battery), place it on your chest directly above the implant area, and transfer the captured and “flagged” data for analysis by the cardiologist (who can also proactively reach out to you for an ad-hoc transmission of this same way, by the way, if he or she sees something awry in the auto-captured monthly report data).

And if you’re away from your patient monitor? That’s where the pocketable “patient assistant”, accompanied in the following photos by a 0.75″ (19.1 mm) diameter U.S. penny for size comparison purposes, comes into the picture:

Place it on your chest atop the ICM, punch the “record” button, LED light-confirm that the two devices are communicating and, later, that a successful sample has been captured, and the next time you’re nearby the patient monitor it’ll be priority-tagged and transmitted. The ICM contains additional storage sufficient for 30 minutes total (variously segmented) of patient-activated recordings, beyond the earlier-mentioned 27 minutes of auto-logged data.

I’ll pass along any other notable aspects of my “bionic augmentation” experience via this blog if/as I encounter them in the coming months (and years). For now, I welcome your thoughts in the comments on what I’ve shared so far!

—Brian Dipert is the associate editor, as well as a contributing editor, at EDN.

Related Content

• Wearables for health analysis: A gratefulness-inducing personal experience
• Cardiac monitors: Inconspicuous, robust data collectors
• Adventures with a remote heart monitor
• Heart rate monitor using a programmable SoC

The post Cardiac flutter(ing): Long-term monitoring appeared first on EDN.

Keysight Technologies today announces a new PCIe 7.0 Receiver (RX) Test application, growing its PCIe 7.0 portfolio to enable end-to-end transmitter and receiver validation. The receiver’s test application targets the emerging challenge of receiver validation performance at 128 GT/s for next-generation computers, AI, and data centre applications.

PCIe base specification releases continue to shorten and the PCIe 7.0 standard moves towards adoption. Engineers face rising challenges in validating receiver performance. These challenges are caused by a lack of test equipment for receiver testing, along with the increasingly complex stress signal calibration requirements.
At 128 GT/s, PCIe 7.0 receiver validation has become a defining hurdle for the industry. Reliable validation testing ensures the least risk and interoperability as the ecosystem scales. Keysight’s receiver test solution enables engineers to validate devices with confidence.

The combination of M8050A BERT family, M8042A 120 Gbaud pattern generator and M8043A error analyser forms the receiver dress testing. This enables accurate signal generation and analysis for ASIC validation.

Complimenting the hardware, the new N5991PB7A software helps in accelerating the receiver validation process by simplifying the calibration and control of PCIe 7.0 receiver stress signals. Advanced automation capabilities enable accuracy in ASIC receiver characterisation.

Combining the hardware and the software formulates a comprehensive PCIe 7.0 receiver test solution that aligns the validation workflow and improves measurement accuracy with ASIC development reliability in common clock mode.  

The Key benefits of the new receiver stress calibration for PCIe 7.0 : 

• Accelerates Receiver Bring-Up and Validation: Automated PCIe 7.0 RX workflows reduce manual setup and enable faster results.
• Reduces Compliance Risk at 128 GT/s: Specification-aligned, stressed-signal generation exposes receiver weaknesses initially, minimising last-stage rework.
• Compliments End-to-End PCIe 7.0 Test: When combined with Keysight’s PCIe 7.0 TX test solution, engineers gain comprehensive transmitter and coverage.

The post Keysight Expands PCIe® 7.0 Test Portfolio with New Receiver Stress Calibration appeared first on ELE Times.

The Vishay Semiconductor VETH100A1DD1 ESD has successfully passed IEEE 10BASE-T1 compliance testing. It confirms suitability for use in a one-pair Ethernet (OPEN) bus architecture.

The VETH100A1DD1 meets all three OPEN Alliance EMC Test Specifications for ESD Protection Devices. Which supports 100BASE-T1S , and 1000BASE-T1 applications. 10BASE-16 is an automotive data bus which is designed to connect eight nodes over a single twisted-pair cable with lengths of up to 25 meters. The standard nominal data rate is 10 Mbit/s using baseband transmission over one twisted pair in short-range operations. Ethernet connects 100BASE-T1, 1000BASE-T1 , and 10BASE-TS in a multidrop bus topology. It protects automotive Ethernet networks.

10BASE-T1S network includes an ESD protection device at each node; very low capacitance is critical to maintain signal integrity across the bus. The VETH100A1DD1 is specially designed to meet this requirement, offering a capacitance below 1 pF as described in the 10BASE-T1S test specification, making it well-suited for 10BASE-T1S applications while remaining compatible with higher-speed automotive Ethernet standards.

Vishay manufactures one of the world’s largest portfolios of semiconductors and electronic components that are essential to create innovative designs in automotive, industrial, computing, consumer, telecommunications, military, aerospace, and medical markets.

 

The post VETH100A1DD1 ESD Protection Diode Passes IEEE 10BASE-T1S Compliance Tests appeared first on ELE Times.

Man one month of waiting for the pcb only for me to fuck up the footprint, what a jolly... submitted by /u/Space_Nerde [link] [comments]

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