Design World

You have hundreds of different data acquisition (DAQ) devices to choose from, each with a variety of compatible buses. It can be difficult to select the right bus for your application needs. Each bus has different advantages and is optimized for throughput, latency, portability, or distance from a host. This podcast examines the most common PC bus options and outlines the technical considerations to keep in mind when choosing the right bus for your measurement application.

Design World Editorial Director Paul J. Heney discusses all things sensors with Jim Schwartz, CompactDAQ Product Marketing Engineer for National Instruments. Schwartz explains the types of sensors available, what they do, common measurements that they take and what kind of signals are created for each. In addition, he talks about some of the issues that engineers sometimes have in selecting the right sensor, as well as exploring some of the resources available.

Design World Senior Editor Evan Yares speaks with Chris Delvizis, Product Manager for National Instruments, about how to choose the right DAQ hardware for your measurement system. Delvizis explains about the different type of DAQ devices that are available, and talks about the important factors you need to understand, including signal conditioning, sampling rate, resolution, and accuracy.

The Quadshot is a remote-controlled aircraft combining the stability and control of a helicopter with the speed and maneuverability of an airplane. The creative minds behind the innovative technology just won a Proto Labs Cool Idea! Award.

Ikon Semiconductor’s integrated circuit (IC), for the dimmable LED retrofit market, is designed to meet cost and performance standards for today’s LED lighting products, while enabling greater design simplicity for bulb manufacturers and OEMs. Its IC solutions match the efficiency of comparative two-stage architectures, but with up to 25 percent fewer components. With broad dimmer compatibility and a compact size, the IC has a better fit for LED bulb retrofits than larger, more complex solutions. An advantage of the Ikon’s solution is that it eliminates the need for opto-couplers and electrolytic capacitors – standard components that add complexity to the module and can hinder reliability. Moreover, OEMs can decide the optimum trade-off between the amounts of PFC (power factor correction) needed and the amount of ripple the design can tolerate.

Conor McAuliffe, Ikon Semiconductor’s CEO, discusses Ikon’s technology in this podcast moderated by EE editor, Natasha Townsend.

McAuliffe has 25 years in semiconductor industry, is a Mixed Signal Technical Director at Parthus (now CEVA), and Founder of Silansys (Frontier-Silicon).

Design World editors sit down to discuss the evolving programmable world we’re living in and how the “Internet of Things” is impacting design. To watch the video, click here.

Design World editors sit down to discuss the number of young engineers versus companies’ demand for them. To watch the video, click here.

Gallium nitride (GaN) is one of the technologies that could well displace silicon MOSFETs in the next generation of power transistors. As silicon approaches its performance limits, GaN devices conduct better and switch faster.

But GaN devices don’t behave the way silicon power devices do. That’s the reason for the recently published textbook GaN Transistors for Efficient Power Conversion, 2nd Edition. Written by power industry veteran Dr. Alex Lidow along with Johan Strydom, Michael de Rooij, and David Reusch, this book serves as a practical guide for understanding basic GaN transistor construction, characteristics, and applications.

In this short podcast, Alex Lidow talks about areas where engineers have trouble grasping the differences between GaN and silicon power devices.

Alex Lidow is CEO and co-founder of Efficient Power Conversion Corporation (EPC). In 1977 he joined International Rectifier as an R&D engineer. In 1978 he co-invented the HEXFET power MOSFET, a power transistor that launched the modern power conversion market. Lidow finally became International Rectifier’s CEO and held that position for 12 years. Dr. Lidow holds many patents in power semiconductor technology, including basic patents in power MOSFETs as well as in GaN FETs. In 2004 he was elected to the Engineering Hall of Fame. Dr. Lidow earned his Bachelor of Science degree from Caltech in 1975 and his Ph.D. from Stanford in 1977.

"Open innovation" techniques are getting a lot of attention because they promise to drastically speed up the process of bringing new products to market. But is OI just the buzzword of the week? Is it a fancy way of saying "outsourcing?" In this short podcast, product development expert Brad Goldense of the Goldense Group Inc. explains what open innovation really is and how it can help design engineers get their job done.