If your first car was anything like mine, it probably lacked sensor modules such as cameras, radar and lidar, which make the safety features of modern advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) like blind-spot detection, park assistance and collision avoidance possible. Because the data collected by these sensor modules directly correlates with passenger safety, it’s important that they work properly over time. Unfortunately…

Everyone agrees that seeing clearly on the road is essential while driving a car. This truth becomes even more critical when implementing technologies such as autonomous driving. The “eyes” of an autonomous vehicle are called light detection and ranging (lidar) technology, which provides precise images of what surrounds the vehicle. Lidar systems use a light source and…

Incorrect output behavior can occur when large negative input voltages in comparators violate the input common-mode voltage range. In cases where it’s not possible to avoid a negative input voltage, it’s important to protect the input pins of the comparator and prevent a phenomenon called phase reversal, also known as phase inversion, from occurring.

In this article…

With advances in medicine and health care, the average life expectancy of humans continues to increase. Virtually every country in the world is experiencing growth in the size and proportion of the elderly in their populations, with the total number of people aged 65 years or older projected to double to 1.5 billion in 2050. Concurrently, in-home care or nursing facilities must…

To reliably capture high-frequency signals and fast transient pulses, wide-bandwidth data acquisition systems like oscilloscopes and active probes require high-performance analog front-end (AFE) signal chains that must be able to:

• Support 1 V_PP signals (at least) to ensure a high signal-to-noise ratio.
• Support DC to 500 MHz of high input-impedance (Hi-Z) to prevent loading of the…

 Andrew Wallace contributed to this article

In a previous article, “What is a smart AFE?,” I discussed smart analog front ends (AFEs) and how they represent the most recent advancement in closed-loop control. Many of the applications discussed in the previous article covered broader applications in the automotive and industrial markets. In this article, I’ll explore one industrial…

The Euro New Car Assessment Program (NCAP) recently updated their standards for radar to improve driver assistance features in new cars.

NCAP standards vary by region; in the U.S., our NCAP is governed by the National Highway and Traffic Safety Administration a.k.a. NHTSA and the Global NCAP is a centralized organization. However, all organizations have the same goal: to set standards…

(Co-authored with Dave Duncan) True 4K ultra high definition (UHD) technology reveals stunning detail in a variety of applications. But what is “true” 4K UHD? The Consumer Technology Association (CTA) defines 4K UHD as a screen display of...

Thermopiles are useful noncontact sensors for measuring not only temperature but also detecting select gases. Since thermopiles may have relatively high series impedance, they present numerous challenges to circuit designers trying to obtain absolute precision across a wide temperature range while meeting required minimum resolutions. The low output voltage…

The world is a noisy place – and power supplies are no exception. In the pursuit of higher efficiency, power converters switching at faster and faster speeds create unintended issues, including increasing the system’s susceptibility to transients and noise.  It’s important to consider this susceptibility when choosing how to design your power supplies, and what…

If you’re a designer working on a new product that will use an Arm®-based processor, you’re probably already comfortable working with integrated circuits (ICs) that have four to 48 pins. You may occasionally use a device with more pins, even though it takes a considerable amount of time to read the data sheet and make sure that everything is wired up correctly.

But…

As automotive original equipment manufacturers develop vehicles with increasing autonomy, automating the act of parking continues to evolve. These parking systems include park assistance (where a driver’s participation is still necessary) and automated parking (where hands-free operation is possible).

Today’s automotive parking systems use ultrasonic and camera sensors.…

Developers have more flexibility and configuration options than ever with the Bluetooth Special Interest Group’s (SIG) release of version 5.3 of the Bluetooth Core Specification in July 2021. With this release come three updates to Bluetooth® Low Energy that can improve performance, reduce power and cut down on latency for devices. These improvements are relevant for all sorts of Bluetooth Low Energy applications…

Recent trends to miniaturize industrial products have created new challenges for precision data-acquisition systems. Designers must balance solution size and power consumption of the overall system while enabling more precise signal measurements at higher bandwidths – while making trade-offs along the way.

In this article, I’ll discuss these challenges in…

The input common-mode voltage range (commonly abbreviated as V_CM or VICR) is a term that’s widely recognized in the analog world but misunderstood in the comparators world. For an amplifier, V_CM is defined as the average voltage applied to both inputs. But for a comparator, it has an entirely different meaning.

The normal operation of a comparator implies two inputs crossing…

The classic analog signal chain comprises inputs, processing and outputs. The inputs are received by an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) or comparators. A microcontroller (MCU) with control software handles the processing. Finally, the analog outputs are produced by digital-to-analog converters (DACs) or pulse-width modulation (PWM).

In this article, I’ll introduce a new type of…

The increasing number of electronic circuits in vehicles is placing greater demand on the amount of power consumed from the battery. The battery supply remains on even when the car is parked or turned off, in order to support such features as remote key entry and security.

Since all vehicles run on a finite battery supply, it’s important to find a way to…

Battery packs have enabled a new generation of personal electronics. Products with demanding power requirements like power tools, e-bikes, and electric vehicles have been redefined by advancements in high performance battery technology. Today, batteries must be safer, more efficient, and smarter than ever before. The increased demand for intelligent battery pack systems…

A common definition of quiescent current (I_Q) is the current drawn by an integrated circuit (IC) in a no-load and nonswitching but enabled condition. A broader and more useful way to think about it is that quiescent current is the input current consumed by an IC in any number of its ultra-low-power states.

For battery-powered applications, this…

Ground projection around vehicles has made great strides in recent years with the addition of logo projectors. Auto makers have used logo projection to enable vehicle owners to customize their car while still providing some functionality by lighting the ground around the doors. However, these systems are currently only able to display a single pattern and do not support any features…

(Co-authored by Wenhao Wu)

Effective ways to implement backup power from supercapacitors

Many modern, smart Internet-of-things (IoT) devices that run from line power need backup power to safely power down or to perform last-gasp communication in the event of an unexpected power outage. For example, an electricity meter could share details about the time, location…

(Co-authored by Alex Pakosta)

Lithium thionyl chloride (LiSOCI₂) batteries are popular in smart flow meters because they provide higher energy density and a better cost-per-wattage ratio than battery chemistries such as lithium manganese dioxide (LiMnO₂). One disadvantage of LiSOCl₂ batteries is poor response to peak loads, which can result in a decrease of the usable battery capacity…

Comparators are fundamental analog components found in nearly every application. One way to describe comparators is that they are 1-bit ADCs: They have two inputs, with one typically used as a voltage reference and the other an input voltage signal. Depending on which input is the reference and what the input voltages are, the comparator output will toggle…

Other Parts Discussed in Post: TMS320F280039C With the usage of servers and data centers growing globally, the need for stable and efficient power supplies has become an essential part of supporting the rise in power consumption. The utilization of p...

Other Parts Discussed in Post: DLP2000, DLP160CPYou’re integrating an on-demand projection display into a next-generation appliance, autonomous robot or augmented reality (AR) glasses. Or maybe you’re designing a smartphone accessory that...