Designer III Blog,

Where do your projects show up at

Posted by Bob Paddock: I'm always interested in seeing where my projects end up, and how they are used. I just noticed that our old Circuit Cellar Online Noise/Chaos paper was referenced on Arab-Eng , in this thread .
Tags: circuit cellar, noise chaos. Comments: 0.

Q: Why does my FET, IGBT, SCR keep going up in smoke A: Spot Heating

Posted by Bob Paddock: A common problem I see in message boards is that someone's circuit failed, and went up in smoke. People in the more esoteric realm's blame this on things like "Subtle Energy" overload and other such minutia. Here is the far more realistic explanation: The very old "GE SCR Manual" goes into all of the Gorey details of what is happening inside
Tags: circuit failure, magic smoke. Comments: 0.

plug-in electric vehicles save resources like Palladium

Posted by Bob Paddock: A third (see flaw-I and flaw-II ) flaw in the myth: [Electric Vehicles] mostly still rely on energy from coal-fired power stations, so the CO2 source is merely moved, not eliminated. Right now each and every car out there has to carry the weight of its own pollution control system around. That takes energy in and of itself. What is more
Tags: pollution control system, palladium. Comments: 0.

Another flawed argument against plug-in electric vehicles

Posted by Bob Paddock: To follow up on our previous blog entry , something else most always over looked in the discussion of hybrid vehicles just moving the pollution form the tail pipe to the smoke stack, is Regenerative Braking . In both conventional and hybrid/electric vehicles energy is used to get the vehicle moving, in other words the fuel is converted in to
Tags: regenerative braking, coal power plant. Comments: 0.

Flawed argument against plug-in electric vehicles

Posted by Bob Paddock: The US House passed last night (June/26/2009) the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 , in a close [404 Check: was link to http:/ / www. google. com/ trends/ hottrends q=cap and trade vote results and amp;date=2009 -6 -27 and amp;sa=X, anchor: vote] . You can read H.R.2454 here . Section 121 covers the electric vehicle infrastructure.
Tags: cap and trade, carbon capture sequestration. Comments: 0.

Is there a rule of thumb for estimating the cost of getting circuit boards assembled

Posted by Bob Paddock: A reoccurring theme I see on message boards is why does it cost so much to have some electronic widgets manufactured. Here is some background for you that might help explain that, from a thread I wrote on an other list. "Is there a rule of thumb for estimating the cost of getting circuit boards assembled " In a past life I worked for a large
Tags: contract manufacturer, non recurring engineering. Comments: 0.

Why is my AVR baud rate wrong

Posted by Bob Paddock: Recent AVR-LibC FAQ submission of mine: Why is my AVR baud rate wrong Some AVR datasheets give the following formula for calculating baud rates: (F_CPU/(UART_BAUD_RATE 16L)-1) Unfortunately that formula does not work with all combinations of clock speeds and baud rates due to integer truncation during the division operator. When doing
Tags: avr baud rate, interger truncation. Comments: 0.

Why are some address of the AVR EEPROM corrupted Usually address zero.

Posted by Bob Paddock: Recent AVR-LibC FAQ submission of mine: Why are some address of the AVR EEPROM corrupted Usually address zero. The two most common reason for EEPROM corruption is either writing to the EEPROM beyond the datasheet endurance specification, or resetting the AVR while a EEPROM write is in progress. EEPROM writes can take up to tens of
Tags: avr eeprom, eeprom endurance. Comments: 0.

May Dr. Dobb s Rest In Peace

Posted by Bob Paddock: After 30 years, the February 2009 issue of Dr. Dobb's Magazine was the last . They have now become Dr. Dobb's Report as part of Information Week . As I have an almost complete set of the magazines, I find that a bit sad. The original title reflected a simpler fun time: Dr. Dobb's Journal of Tiny BASIC Calisthenics and amp; Orthodontia:
Tags: dr dobbs, infoweek. Comments: 0.

Solving pressure and condensation build up in your embedded system.

Posted by Bob Paddock: Have you ever had a problem with pressure build up or condensation in one of your embedded devices Gore-Tex vents are a good solution today, but I thought you mind find The Rest Of The Story interesting. What follows is slightly edited version of a message exchange of mine from the gEDA-User mailing list . On Thu, Jan 1, 2009 at 5:07 PM,
Tags: embedded systems, gore tex. Comments: 0.

PLD Design Line

Posted by Bob Paddock: Clive "Max" Maxfield just posted some of my comments in his PLD Design Line blog under the "All sorts of cool stuff heading, December/18/2008. Max covered my comments on the Space-Shuttle General-Purpose Computers (GPCs) in field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) and application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), as well as my comments
Tags: pld design, tree power. Comments: 0.

Is an Unresettable Real Time Clock (RTC) just as good as a Write Only Memory

Posted by Bob Paddock: In Jack Ganssle's Embedded Muse 169 sponsored by Netrino , Jack printed a very short summery of a message exchange we had, about new Maxim's High-Performance Secure RISC Microcontroller with the Unresettable Real Time Clock (RTC). Here is the full text of my message to Jack: Is an Unresettable Real Time Clock just as good as a
Tags: maxim, security via obscurity. Comments: 0.

Present and receive business cards with two hands to do business in China

Posted by Bob Paddock: With the rising China economy, and increased interest in doing business with China, I thought the article 3 Ways to Kill a Deal in China: Why should you fight over the bill during a Chinese business dinner was worth bring to your attention. This what-not-to-do guide will help you when negotiating your Chinese market entry. Then feel free to
Tags: business in china, business cards. Comments: 0.

Digital MEMS Accelerometers will not work with AVR ISP using SPI

Posted by Bob Paddock: If you happen to be thinking of hooking up some of the new MEMS Accelerometers, like the LIS302DL or MMA7455L , or similar device, to a Atmel AVR , as a SPI slave, don't do it I had to explains the problem of AVR to MEMS Accelerometer that I ran into, in excruciating detail, below for the manufacture to "get it". Replace "Accelerometer"
Tags: avr isp spi, mems accelerometers. Comments: 1.

Reproducible Research #8211 Studies in Open Source Hardware Design

Posted by Bob Paddock: I came a across a nice plug for gEDA , the schematic and circuit board layout program I prefer to use over Protel/Altium . "Reproducible Research and #8211; Studies in Open Source Hardware Design" By John Blyler "Dr. Gary Ray, associate technical fellow at the Boeing Corporation, sat down to discuss his personal views with System-Level
Tags: geda, pcb. Comments: 0.

The noise of Opportunity knocking on the door

Posted by Bob Paddock: In the a span of a week I won a free entry to Renesas Developer's Conference 2008 plus air fair discount in San Diego CA, in October, and I was asked if I was interested in speaking at the [404 Check: was link to http:/ / www. cmp -egevents. com/ web/ esv/ home, anchor: 2009 Embedded Systems conference] in San Joes, CA. Alas I had to decline
Tags: matrices, matrix. Comments: 0.

Matrix Math to solve Wireless Sensor Routing Problems

Posted by Bob Paddock: In Embedded Systems you occasionally run up against a problem that involves Matrices. A short, and old (1972), book by Digital Equipment Corporation BASIC Matrix Operations presents the subject in an understandable fashion and gives understandable explanation of why you would want to square and cube a Matrix to solve todays Wireless
Tags: matrices, matrix. Comments: 0.

What are your favorite funny or odd datasheets

Posted by Bob Paddock: In issue #163 of Embedded Muse (August 11, 2008) , sponsored by Netrino , Jack Ganssle reprinted one of my messages about the plummeting quality of datasheets today. Jack has also requested that you sent him or I your funnest or oddest datasheet find. ---------- Sick of incomplete and erroneous datasheets They've been a problem ever
Tags: avr attiny167, netrino. Comments: 0.

Analog Dialog publishes my comments on our Location Challenge

Posted by Bob Paddock: Analog Dialog , a publication of Analog Devices , has published my Letter To The Editor about our Location Challenge . Summary of Letter . Complete Letter with ideas on using Gravity Waves, and locating escaped convicts, drug smugglers, etc. Analog Dialog has been published since 1967. It is not well known outside of Electronic
Tags: miner tracking, analog dialog. Comments: 0.

Conformal coating is not a Hermetic Seal

Posted by Bob Paddock: A very common misconception is that Conformal Coating is a Hermetic Seal. It is used a lot in the Coal Mines, and the Electronic Industry in general, to keep the caustic dust off circuit boards. As Conformal Coating is not a hermetic seal, what real happens is the impurities in the water are kept away from the circuit, but the water itself
Tags: conformal coating, hermetic seal. Comments: 0.

There ain t no more up

Posted by Bob Paddock: Picture Kentucky Coal Miner on the phone to the maker of their Man-Hoist ("Coal Miner" for open air elevator, beats any Amusement Park ride, only next to the 'Man-Trips', the Roller-Coaster like ride that takes you into the Mine, where you may lose your head at any moment). Our Hoist only goes up. We've run out of cable, it is all on the
Tags: main hoist, coal miner. Comments: 0.

Our Software Safety site made the print issue of Dr. Dobbs Journal, July 2007

Posted by Bob Paddock: Our Software Safety site made the print issue of Dr. Dobbs Journal , in the July 2007 issue, see Nisley's Notebook .
Tags: software safety, dr dobbs journal. Comments: 0.

Welcome to our new Blog

Posted by Bob Paddock: Keep up to date with our adventures in Embedded System Design , and Software Safety . Bob Paddock - American Society for Quality - Certified Software Quality Engineer. [404 Check: was link to http:/ / www. dso. com, anchor: Device Software Optimization (DSO) Expert] ( Executive Reader Introduction ).
Tags: embedded systems, software safety. Comments: 0.