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Push your receiver bandwidths past 1-GHz in high-end applications
** This is the 11th post in an Analog Wire RF-sampling blog series. **I discussed the benefits of the radio frequency (RF) sampling architecture for wide-bandwidth systems in a previous post, however,...
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Signal integrity demystified
I have written several articles on high-speed signaling, including a short blog post called “Everything is Part of the Circuit,” published in 2013. In that post, I suggested thinking differently about...
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Issues with jitter, phase noise, lock time or spurs? Check the loop-filter...
As one of the most critical design parameters, the choice of loop bandwidth involves trade-offs between jitter, phase noise, lock time and spurs. The loop bandwidth that is optimal for jitter, BWJIT,...
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How rotary position sensing lifts aerospace designs to new heights
As a little kid, I loved claiming the window seat of an airplane. Watching the city shrink as we took off was fascinating, and I was captivated by the castles of clouds that seemed within arm’s reach....
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Disentangle RF amplifier specs: output voltage/current and 1dB compression point
This is the third post in a series of blog posts comparing non-radio frequency (RF) vs. RF amplifier specifications. In my previous two posts, I discussed noise and two-tone distortion. Today, we will...
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Eye doctor: Why too much equalization boost is bad for your serial link health
Welcome to the “Eye Doctor” series! This post will walk through challenges that signal integrity and hardware engineers face when designing or debugging multi-gigabit per second links. Whether you are...
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Inductive sensing: WEBENCH® Coil Designer now designs stacked coils for...
In my last post, I showed step by step how WEBENCH® Coil Designer can produce the sensor computer-aided design (CAD) files for inductive-sensing applications. This method works well for single-coil...
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Why should you care about overcurrent protection in your system?
Everywhere we go, new electronic devices are popping up to make life easier or more efficient. As we come to rely on these devices, it becomes imperative that they just “work” – regardless of the...
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HDMI 2.0: How to generate cleaner signals over long traces, connectors and...
Signals that traverse through transmission media are subject to the effects of noise, distortion and signal loss. While you can typically preserve signal integrity and fidelity at low bit rates and...
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Blast past interference using digital-down converters in RF sampling receivers
** This is the 12th post in an Analog WireRF sampling blog series. **Radio frequency (RF) sampling receivers capture large signal bandwidths; in fact, I discussed how RF sampling analog-to-digital...
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When to use an amplifier with rail-to-rail inputs – and what to watch out for
Early in my graduate school education, I was working on a project that needed a unity-gain operational-amplifier (op-amp) buffer for a monitoring circuit in our thin film deposition system. As soon as...
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7 things to know about spacecraft subsystems before your next trip to Mars
When I was young, as most aspiring engineers do, I dreamed of going to outer space, specifically Mars. And I thought the only way to get there was aboard the NASA space shuttle. The cancellation of the...
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USB Type-C audio: Do I need to buy a new pair of headphones?
For a recent trip to New Orleans, I invested in a quality pair of noise cancelling headphones to help me drown out the chatter. I am thrilled with my new purchase but I’m concerned I won’t be able to...
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How to reduce jitter and improve signal integrity in source and sink system...
As graphic processing units (GPUs) and other system-on-chip (SoC) devices migrate to lower-geometry complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) processes, the distance between these SoC devices and...
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What to do when your PLL does not lock
Have you ever been frustrated just trying to get your phase-locked loop (PLL) to lock? Premature assumptions can make the debugging process much longer and more tedious than necessary. By following the...
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How to use a fully differential amplifier as a level shifter
Many signal paths are direct current (DC)-coupled, and this can lead to challenges when different portions of the signal path require different operating conditions. Many portions of a signal path are...
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What’s the fuss about noise in RF sampling converters?
** This is the 13th post in an Analog Wire RF sampling blog series. **What is all the fuss about noise? Engineers are generally aware of noise in electrical circuits. Interestingly, each engineering...
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Four ways to design an amplifier without a rail-to-rail op amp
My colleague Xiyao Zhang wrote a post last month about changing to a rail-to-rail device after encountering a problem with a circuit. However, what a lot of signal chain designers do not realize is...
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Inductive sensing: prototype side-by-side coils in four easy steps
In my last post, I introduced the LDC0851 differential inductive switch. In this post, I’ll show you how to take readily available Evaluation Modules (EVM) to prototype a side-by-side coil...
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RS-485 basics: When termination is necessary, and how to do it properly
Many signal integrity and communication issues with RS-485 networks stem from terminations, either from a lack of termination or improper termination. In this installment of the RS-485 basics series,...
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