The 50-ohm impedance is standard in RF design, while 75 ohms is also used, so it’s important to understand the attributes of each and not confuse them. One of the issues that beginning electronic engineers must grasp is the concept of impedance and impedance matching, especially concerning transmission lines, cables, and connectors. This FAQ will […]
Signal integrity can’t kill the breakout box
Just when you thought the trusty breakout box would fall victim to high-speed digital signals, it lives on
Getting one wire to do more, Part 4 – headphone wire as antenna
Using one wire in two very different roles is widely done, requiring some simple circuity and basic components. Using a headphone wire as an FM antenna The earliest portable AM/FM portable radios used two antennas: an internal long wire wound on a ferrite core for the lower-frequency AM band (550-1600 kHz), and a “whip” antenna […]
Getting one wire to do more, Part 3 – Powering the antenna LNA
Using one wire in two very different roles is widely done, requiring some simple circuity and basic components. Providing DC power to an antenna amplifier via an RF coaxial cable In most applications where the antenna is located at a distance from the radio receiver front end, it is desirable or necessary to add a […]
Getting one wire to do more, Part 2 – Phantom power for the microphone
Using one wire in two very different roles is widely done, requiring some simple circuity and basic components. Powering microphones over the audio cable A classic engineering objective is to figure out a way to get one set of wires to provide a second function at little cost. This second part in the series looks […]
Simple double-duty: How to get one wire to do more, Part 1: The rationale
Using one wire in two very different roles is widely done, requiring some simple circuity and basic components. It makes a lot of sense to use an individual single copper cable and its connection between two points to do more than it initially intended, especially if that additional function is aligned with the primary function […]
Single-Pair Ethernet addresses industrial priorities, Part 2: hardware realization
For applications driven by sensors more than high-speed data, the IEEE 802.3cg standard offers single-pair Ethernet connectivity with far lower cable costs and bulk. Part 1 looked at the context and standard defining Single-Pair Ethernet, some variations, and how it fits into the IIoT application area. This part will look at the physical hardware that […]
Single-Pair Ethernet addresses industrial priorities, Part 1: The IEEE 802.3cg standard
For applications driven by sensors more than high-speed data, the IEEE 802.3cg standard offers single-pair Ethernet connectivity with far lower cable costs and bulk. Ethernet has come a long way in adoption and speed from its humble inception, driven in the early years by a team led by Robert Metcalfe at the Xerox Palo Alto […]
