Circuits & Schematics - Measurement

When probing digital logic levels on a circuit board, locating the indicator of the logic level near the probe tip is convenient, so that you can keep both the indicator and probe tip constantly in sight. When using a handheld DVM or oscilloscope ...

Tachometry, the measurement of the speed of spin of rotating objects, is a common application. Some of those objects, however, have quirky aspects that make them extra interesting, even scary. One such category includes outdoor noncontact sensing ...

A previously published Design Idea describes a practical gadget that has the potential to save a lot with little investment ( Reference 1 ). However, the circuit uses 120 V line voltage and, as such, it is not that convenient for many applications. ...

When designing devices with microcontrollers (MCU), I like to use some of the analog-to-digital converter (ADC) inputs to measure onboard voltages along with all the required sensors inputs. This means I often run out of ADC inputs. So presented ...

A colleague asked for the measured jitter number on a single-supply comparator design based on the LM359 IC ( Ref. 1 ). He wanted to know how the jitter performance of the discrete comparator compared to an IC comparator, which was used with an ...

Dual precision comparators are needed in many designs, such as for industrial and instrumentation applications, to generate accurate pulse-width modulated (PWM) waveforms with very high ( 99%) and very low ( 1%) duty-cycle percentages. This design ...

This modular resistor load bank uses a unique topology to reduce the number of switches and resistors while providing the maximum number of steps. An array or bank of load resistors is often required for testing power products, characterization of ...

Famous analog designer and author Jim Williams published an awesome design in 1986 for a 100-MHz voltage to frequency converter ( Ref. 1 ). He named this high-climber (picture it on the roof of the Empire State building swatting biplanes out of the ...

RTDs (resistance-temperature detectors) are the preferred sensor choices for designs requiring precision. Although RTDs are approximately linear over the limited temperature range of 0 to 100 C, these sensors exhibit a slight but progressively more ...