Relative humidity (RH) sensors are specialized sensors with an open cavity to measure water vapor present in the air. Relative humidity is a critical measurement, as humidity in the air can have a direct effect on system reliability (corrosion) or product longevity since humidity in a storage environment can have a direct impact on perishables.

One of the challenges with RH sensors…

Within the last decade, manufacturers of wearable technologies such as smartwatches have made significant advancements in enabling users to track their personal health and fitness in real time. It’s now possible to leverage a wealth of statistics, such as step count, heart rate, oxygen saturation, workout duration and more, and track progress toward fitness goals in a variety of ways…

The proliferation of 48-V battery systems in vehicles has created a need for high-precision, multidecade current measurement to maximize the efficiency of the battery management system (BMS). In this article, I will discuss the challenge when measuring up to five decades of current and analyze methods to solve this challenge. I will also discuss how additional diagnostic…

The constant push for more component integration and greater power density, on top of demanding project schedules, can leave engineers in difficult situations when designing a system power architecture. Looking specifically at test and measurement or optical module applications, the problem statement is no longer limited to the area (x-axis and y-axis) of the design; rather, it…

Other Parts Discussed in Post: CC1352P7, CC2652P, CC1352P, MIOTYOmdia expects low-power wireless microcontroller (MCU) shipments to double over the next four years to more than 4 billion units. This massive influx of MCUs will result in more opportun...

There are many approaches to designing low-voltage systems in motor-driven building automation and grid infrastructure applications such as smart meters, smart locks, Internet Protocol (IP) network cameras and video doorbells, as shown in Figure 1.

 

Figure 1: Battery-powered systems: a video doorbell, smart utility meter and electronic smart lock

Common challenges when designing…

A high-voltage circuit design requires isolation in order to protect human operators, enable communication to lower-voltage circuitry and eliminate unwanted noise within the system. Digital isolators provide a simple and reliable way to achieve high-voltage isolated communication in industrial and automotive applications.

Maintaining the integrity of a signal across an…

As embedded application developers, the last thing you want is for customers to run across latent bugs in your application code – especially when those bugs occur in portions that were not covered by your testing. Measuring code cove...

Other Parts Discussed in Post: AWR1843AOPMillimeter-wave (mmWave) radar is a highly accurate sensing modality for automotive and industrial applications that provides insightful object information such as distance, angle and velocity, enabling smarte...

Automotive emissions standards are becoming more stringent every year, making it challenging for internal combustion engine (ICE) car manufacturers to keep up. One of their efforts to reduce emissions involves electrifying the drivetrain, either partially or fully, to improve the effective efficiency of the engine, partially disable the engine or eliminate the engine completely (see Figure 1).

Of course, this electrification…

If you’re designing with controllers for industrial equipment, you’ve likely asked yourself such questions as:

• “What voltage levels do I need?”
• “Do I care about the current level?”
• “What frequency does the controller need to run at?"
• “Will this device need to withstand high temperatures and magnetic immunity?”

Some of…

What do you think of when you hear the word “gateway”? The literal definition, “an opening that can be closed by a gate” or “a means of access or entry to a place,” makes sense in the context of electronics and our connected world, where a gateway provides a local network with access to another network or to the internet. In this article, I’ll explain some…

A Hall-effect sensor, also known as a Hall sensor, monitors magnetic fields with high accuracy, consistency and reliability. Why is that important? Because it enables you to sense the position and movement of objects in a system. In this article, I’ll explain what a Hall-effect sensor is, its basic building blocks and functionality, and common use cases for Hall-effect sensing products.

Matter, formerly known as Project Connected Home over IP (CHIP), is a royalty-free connectivity standard developed within the Connectivity Standards Alliance, formerly the Zigbee Alliance. Matter runs on Thread and Wi-Fi® network layers and uses&...

If you design automotive systems, you may feel tremendous pressure to redefine vehicle powertrain systems to meet the reduced greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions goals established by initiatives in the European Union, United States, China and Japan, just to name a few. To meet these targets, some automobile manufacturers are implementing 48-V systems for mild hybrid electric vehicles…

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, there were 2.8 million nonfatal workplace injuries in 2018. As design engineers, we often think about our world – or more specifically, the applications we develop – in binary code: 1s an...

For athletes to perform at their highest level – to run a mile in less than five minutes or leap into the air and dunk a basketball – they need strong muscles. The heart supplies blood through the veins to the muscles to enable movements such as gripping an object with your hand or moving a finger when your brain instructs it to. But without muscles, these spectacular…

Smart speakers have become ubiquitous in homes, raising the bar for consumer audio quality standards in household items. New audio features are popping up in unlikely places: digital voice assistants in coffeemakers that announce a fresh brew, or digital thermostats that can tell you the weather while playing your favorite jazz album (Figure 1). As consumer reliance on smart home…

When you can create automotive applications that do more with fewer parts, you’ll reduce both weight and cost and improve reliability. That’s the idea behind integrating electric vehicle (EV) and hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) designs.

What is powertrain integration?

Powertrain integration combines end equipment such as the onboard charger (OBC), high-voltage DC/DC (HV DCDC), inverter and power distribution…

Imagine a design where you can reduce the number of analog components and shrink your board size. A design where you can customize features for your specific application and optimize your system for performance, power, size, and cost. Did you know th...

For years, passive infrared sensors and lasers have sensed remote objects or measured range in applications such as robotics, level sensing, people counting, automated doors and gates, and traffic monitoring. But with demand for higher precision and resiliency against environmental influences such as bad light, harsh weather conditions and extreme temperatures…

Electronic systems in industrial, automotive and personal computing applications are becoming increasingly dense and interconnected. To improve the form factor and functionality of these systems, diverse circuits are packed in close proximity. Under such constraints, reducing the effects of electromagnetic interference (EMI) becomes a critical system design…

(Note: Thomas Foster and Esteban Garcia co-authored this technical article.)

In 1976, National Semiconductor (now TI) introduced the LM2904, one of the most popular operational amplifiers (op amps) worldwide. It was a time when 8-track tapes played your favorite tunes in the car, a vehicle could get you an average of 14.22 miles to the gallon, and people used…

Radiation-hardened low-dropout regulators (LDOs) are vital power components of many space-grade subsystems, including field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), data converters and analog circuitry. LDOs help ensure a stable, low-noise and low-ripple supply of power for components whose performance depends on a clean input.

But with so many LDOs available on the market, how do…

(Gavin Bakshi co-authored this technical article.)

The technical article, “What is a smart DAC?” explained what a smart digital-to-analog converter (DAC) is and how it can bring value to many applications. Smart DACs can improve design efficiencies by reducing the burden of software development, and they provide many useful functions that would…