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Analog basics: Beginner knowledge and veteran refresher
As a former college instructor who regularly lulled his students to sleep with a traditional lecture format, I’m excited to announce that TI is offering a “Hands-OnAnalog Basics” workshop at Design...
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IAC or DIY? No, these aren’t stock tips!
IAC is what I call integrated analog circuits, some prefer AFE (analog front ends) while others would say IS (integrated solutions.) Whereas DIY has a universal meaning, “do it yourself!”So the...
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Supercapacitors to the rescue
Monitoring the charging current of a supercapacitor application is very important. Without a precision current limiter, the charging current can overshoot when the voltage of the supercapacitor...
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DAC Essentials: Static specifications & linearity
In my last post, “DAC Essentials: The pursuit of perfection,” I explained the concept of the ideal DAC and established the key idioms of its performance. Now we’ll explore how real devices deviate from...
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Commandments of RS-485
At TI, we often get questions about whether there are any quick tips or tricks to keep in mind when designing with RS-485. So, we've put together a comprehensive list of the top commandments to...
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Turn up the heat
More and more electronics are needed for very harsh environments, which then results in the need for multiple electronic components. For instance, oil and gas drilling, where temperatures reach up to...
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Current feedback amplifier...how do I make it work for me?
Current feedback (CFB) amplifiers mostly belong in the realm of high speed amplifiers. There are lot of good application notes developed over the years that describe the operation and the main issues...
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DAC Essentials: String Theory
No, I'm not actually going to talk about particle physics today - though that would be cool...instead we'll be discussing the theory of the string DAC architecture. String theory!The string DAC,...
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Addressing those pesky European power consumption rulings
This January, the European Commission implemented legislation to limit the power consumption in line-powered products when they are deemed in "standby" and "Off" mode.Traditionally, home audio products...
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Being negative can still be positive
The first operational amplifiers (op amps) used what is commonly called split power supplies, meaning the power for the amplifier was symmetrical around ground with both positive and negative...
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Let’s take this driver out for a spin
Before I suggest a suitable op amp to drive an ADC, I look at the application. This steers me toward one of two categories: low voltage or high voltage.If the system requires a low voltage operation,...
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Filter for thought
Have you ever wondered how engineers designed active filters before the birth of software? They were able to do it using nomographs - but before we talk about what these are, let’s refresh our memory a...
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RS-485 - Who says you can't teach an old dog new tricks?
Would you agree that RS-485 has turned out to be one of the most versatile communication standards when it comes to industrial applications? It’s very reliable for long distance communication and very...
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Cable equalization 101 – Automating your design
Judging by the number of views on a post related to numerical cable equalization, on the High Speed E2E forum (more than 3,700 at last count!), I would guess that it’s a pretty interesting topic for...
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This amplifier doesn't exist...now what!?
Sometimes it’s impossible to find an amplifier with the right input and output characteristics, but a signal chain approach described in my previous blog posts on high gain, high bandwidth works well....
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DAC Essentials: The Resistor Ladder
In my last post, I discussed the string DAC architecture and its tendencies― if you missed it you can view that post here. This post will focus on two very similar architectures, the R-2R DAC and the...
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Ditch the NTC thermistor: use an analog temp sensor
NTC thermistors and analog temperature sensors are two commonly used temperature sensing solutions that can be used for most electronic applications. Deciding which technology is the best fit for your...
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Cable equalization 101 - Simulating the design and improving stability
In “Cable Equalization 101 - Automating your design,” we saw how a spreadsheet like Excel can be used to generate an equalization design rather painlessly, and we obtained the design in Figure 1 below....
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Engineering the world through Analog
Our lives are surrounded by analog everywhere we go. That’s not news to the Analog Wire audience, but it may surprise some that in this age of digital electronics, analog technology is more pervasive...
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This amplifier doesn't exist...now what?! - Part 2
In Part 1 of this post, we looked at the theory involved in making a composite amplifier, but we had yet to replace the ideal amplifier with a real component. Here we will discuss the physical...
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