Category Archives: Electronics

I was reviewing a test report today for an optical receiver with an integrated power measurement sensor. This sensor is not particularly accurate -- its accuracy was specified as within ± 3 dB of true. This is not good at all. As I looked at our test data, I immediately noticed that I could calibrate the sensor to get a much more accurate result. But as I continued to think about the problem, I decided not to calibrate the sensor. The decision was driven by the cost of calibration versus the value of a more accurate result to the customer. Let's look at how I made this decision -- no magic here -- just a common engineering tradeoff. Continue reading →

I am doing some self-training on electronic thermal analysis. As part of my self-training ritual, I often work through vendor application notes. This post will show how I work through an application note using Mathcad. I chose the Apex SA57 evaluation board (Figure 1) because Apex had the most complete worked example that I have seen. Continue reading →

Quote of the Day The time to reef the sails is before the storm is upon you. — Old sailing aphorism Introduction I am doing some work with international phone circuits and I noticed that the Australian government has test … Continue reading →

Quote of the Day Ability is of little account without opportunity — Napoleon Bonaparte Introduction I was asked a question today about how to design a two-resistor thermistor linearization circuit. This very brief post is intended to provide the background … Continue reading →

Quote of the Day Being defeated is often a temporary condition. Giving up is what makes it permanent. — Marilyn vos Savant In my previous post, I provided some definitions of thermal resistances and thermal characteristics. In this post, I … Continue reading →

I am an electrical engineer and not a mechanical engineer. As such, I depend on electronic packaging professionals to provide me answers to my thermal questions at work. However, I am curious about how the packaging folks estimate the temperatures of my parts because it affects how my team designs products. This blog post documents my early self-education on how the thermal analysis of electronic components is performed. This post will provide the background necessary for more detailed posts in the future. Continue reading →

Quote of the Day The odds are good, but the goods are odd. — Statement made by an Alaskan woman after she told me that there were 1.6 men for every woman in her town. Introduction I was reading an … Continue reading →

Things are starting to get cold now in Minnesota and all nature's creatures are looking for a nice warm place to stay for the winter -- including me. Today's photo shows a frog who found one of my optical network … Continue reading →

Sometimes all it takes is to use a histogram maker to create a graph, for example, to help provide you the clue you need to solve a mystery. Currently, I am working on reducing the failure rate of Avalanche Photo-Diodes … Continue reading →