A variety of analog front-end functions typically assist ADCs to do their jobs. These include instrumentation amplifiers (INA), digitally programmable gain (DPG), and sample and holds (S H). The circuit in Figure 1 is a bit atypical in merging all ...
An electronic dice is always an enjoyable project, which is easy to implement with some lines of program code on a microcontroller, or with a few digital components. However, implementing an electronic dice in analog technology is more of a ...
Piezoelectric actuators (benders, stacks, chips, etc.) are excellent fast and precise means for generation and control of micro, nano, and even atomic scale movement on millisecond and faster timescales. Unfortunately, they are also excellent ...
Let’s imagine that you need to add a power switch to something that’s battery-powered but processor-free; perhaps it must also be waterproof and thus membrane-sealed. Or perhaps you just want to use a shiny modern push-button rather ...
It is common practice to power a MOSFET with a comparator and with an unregulated voltage and to power the comparator driving it from a regulated one (Figure 1). Many loads are insensitive to driving voltage, so it would be a waste of money and ...
Frequent contributor Nick Cornford recently published a delightfully clever design idea ( Reference 1 ) using a platinum RTD calibrated to output a 1 mV/ C signal that’s perfect for direct readout via a standard DMM I thought Nick’s ...
Before shipping moving-coil meters, manufacturers may short-circuit the meters' terminals with a length of wire, which provides effective electromagnetic damping and results in better immunity to external mechanical vibration and shocks that ...
In recent EDN design ideas, we’ve seen thermostat designs that meld the functions of sensor and heater into a single device: FET, BJT, or even a simple length of fine gauge copper wire. A virtue inherent in thermostat designs that use a ...
There are many applications where an ADC needs to process a small differential input signal in the presence of a large common-mode signal. Traditional instrumentation amplifiers (in-amps) are not commonly used in these applications, due to their ...
A silly simple and ubiquitous circuit network is a variable resistance consisting of the series connection of a manually adjusted rheostat-connected pot and fixed resistor shown in Figure 1. Figure 1. Classic variable resistance with the series ...