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September 2009
Ethernet Network Debug
Wednesday, 30 September 2009 6:51 P GMT-06
I'm working on a software project where a PC application communicates with an embedded system over ethernet. In order to verify some changes I made to the software, I had to monitor the network traffic on the Ethernet network. A tool
Category: Software Design
Metal Casting Project Begins
Wednesday, 23 September 2009 10:04 P GMT-06
The weekend before last, I finally began the home metal casting project that I started almost exactly two years ago. Actually I had purchased supplies for it and started construction right after I wrote that article in 2007, but it has sort of
Category: Home Projects
Via Tuning
Wednesday, 23 September 2009 9:39 P GMT-06
Via tuning is the design process of optimizing the geometry of a printed circuit board via (plated hole that connects routing on one layer to another) to minimize the impedance discontinuity that the via presents in the transmission channel path.&nbs
Category: High Speed Digital Design
Signal Integrity Reference Books - Multigigabit Channel Modeling and Power Integrity
Wednesday, 23 September 2009 9:27 P GMT-06
There are plenty of well known signal integrity books that cover the basics. Recently I have started to see some books become available on more advanced topics. Here are some that I have discovered, although I don't have any of these
Category: High Speed Digital Design
Outdoor Fire Pit Project - Part 2
Monday, 21 September 2009 9:22 P GMT-06
This is a continuation of the fire pit project. This past week I visited some local brick yards to get the materials. At two of three brickyards I was told that fire brick was not appropriate for an outdoor fire pit because it does not ho
Category: Home Projects
Fluorescent Light Bulb Experiment Part 16
Monday, 21 September 2009 6:38 P GMT-06
Yesterday a 65W indoor flood light in our upstairs hallway burned out. I decided to replace it with a compact fluorescent flood light.Philips Energy Saver 65 Reflector Flood R3016W750 Lumen light output8000 hour lifeOne unique thing about this
Category: Home Projects
Security Challenges for Wireless Medical Products
Monday, 7 September 2009 9:18 P GMT-06
There was an article in the July issue of IEEE Communications magazine describing the design challenges for security in wireless medical products, specifically geared toward implantable devices. The article was actually an interesting discussio
Category: Digital System Architecture
Floating Point Numbers on 16 Bit Processors and Digital Number Systems for DSP
Monday, 7 September 2009 8:57 P GMT-06
I came across an interesting paper in the July edition of IEEE Communications Magazine. The article describes some of the challenges of doing DSP style calculations with number systems [1]. I didn't take time to fully understand every
Category: Digital System Architecture Software Design
Outdoor Fire Pit Project - Part 1
Monday, 7 September 2009 8:50 P GMT-06
My in laws have been doing some upgrades at their trailer by the lake which have lead to the need to move the fire pit. I decided that a fun project would be to make a masonry fire pit. I did quite a bit of web searching and found a pictu
Category: Home Projects
Bottom Bracket Bicycle Repair
Thursday, 3 September 2009 9:48 P GMT-06
About 3 years ago I decided that running was not a good form of excersize for me due to chronic leg issues, so I decided to switch to biking. I proceeded to buy the coolest looking $70 bike I could find at Fleet Farm. It was a mountain bi
Category: Home Projects
PID Control in an FPGA
Thursday, 3 September 2009 8:01 P GMT-06
I am working on an application that requires PID control. The design is an enhancement of a design that already has PID control implemented in a processor. There is already an FPGA in the design that provides glue logic and IO expansion f
Category: Digital System Architecture