Everything You Wanted to Know About LFSRs (But Were Too Afraid to Ask)

I don’t really recall when I first ran across the concept of the binary. I think I must have been around six years old. I remember getting a lined pad and pencil and starting to capture the sequence: 0, 1, 10, 11, 100, 101, 110, 111, 1000… until I’d filled the entire pad. I also remember being surprised that I hadn’t “reached the end” of the binary count sequence (it was some … Read More → "Everything You Wanted to Know About LFSRs (But Were Too Afraid to Ask)"

A 10-cent RISC-V microcontroller from China? Why not?

Just as I was finishing my previous article about a new TI microcontroller that was smaller than a grain of white rice and sold for 16 cents in thousand-unit quantities, I learned of another new microcontroller based on a proprietary implementation of the 32-bit RISC-V processor ISA that sells for 10 cents (presumably in volume). This new microcontroller from WCH, aka Nanjing Qinheng Microelectronics, a Chinese chip and IP … Read More → "A 10-cent RISC-V microcontroller from China? Why not?"

Embedded Software Academy: How Beningo is Educating the Next Generation of Embedded Developers

Embedded Software is the name of the game this week my friends! My podcast guest is Jacob Beningo of the Beningo Embedded Group. Jacob and I chat about what the three elements of embedded software Jacob believes everyone should know and how each of these elements can affect development. We also explore what motivated Jacob to develop the Embedded Software Academy and where Jacob sees embedded … Read More → "Embedded Software Academy: How Beningo is Educating the Next Generation of Embedded Developers"

Quantum Simulations of New Materials for the 21st Century

We are surrounded by a multiplicity of materials, from metals and alloys to crystals, glasses, and ceramics; from polymers and plastics to organic and living-derived substances; and let’s not forget natural materials like stone and exotic materials like aerogel.

The amazing thing to me is that all these materials are formed from different combinations of the same small group of elements. For … Read More → "Quantum Simulations of New Materials for the 21st Century"

TI says its MSPM0 is the world’s most teeny, tiny 32-bit microcontroller. It’s smaller than a grain of white rice and costs 16 cents.

Today, I want to discuss the incredible shrinking microcontroller. Early microcontroller vendors packaged their offerings in 40-pin DIPs. They were physically small for what you got then, but huge now. These microcontrollers shared several common features: a lame and very proprietary 4- or 8-bit processor architecture designed more to fit on the die than to deliver much performance, a trivial amount of RAM (64 bytes, 128 bytes if you … Read More → "TI says its MSPM0 is the world’s most teeny, tiny 32-bit microcontroller. It’s smaller than a grain of white rice and costs 16 cents."

Programmable PMICs and Cutting Edge Power Management with AnDAPT

This week my podcast guest is Giovanni Garcea, President of AnDAPT. Giovanni and I discuss the details of AnDAPT’s field programmable PMIC and how engineers can take advantage of AnDAPT’s programmable power solution that it designed with AI called PMIC.AI. Also this week, I check out a new fluid battery that can take any shape developed by researchers at Linköping University. … Read More → "Programmable PMICs and Cutting Edge Power Management with AnDAPT"
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featured chalk talk

ROHM Current Sense Amplifiers
In this episode of Chalk Talk, David Doan from ROHM Semiconductor and Amelia Dalton explore the what, where, and how of current sense amplifiers. They also examine the role that topology and common-mode voltage play when selecting a current sense amplifier and the variety of benefits that ROHM Semiconductor current sense amplifiers bring to the table.   
Mar 30, 2025
33,228 views

featured paper

How Google and Intel use Calibre DesignEnhancer to reduce IR drop and improve reliability

Sponsored by Siemens Digital Industries Software

Through real-world examples from Intel and Google, we highlight how Calibre’s DesignEnhancer maximizes layout modifications while ensuring DRC compliance.

Click here for more information

discussion
Posted on Apr 29 at 5:33am by Steven Leibson
The ESP32 offerings are truly low-cost products packed with capabilities.
Posted on Apr 28 at 5:50pm by macemoneta
You can always pick up an ESP32-C3 development board, which is RISC-V for <$5 in the US. It's supported by Tasmota off-the-shelf open source firmware as well, if you're not interested in Assembly programming.
Posted on Apr 25 at 6:24am by Max Maxfield
Hello my sycophantic friend -- I was sure someone was reading my articles -- now I know who it is LOL (my mom will be so proud to hear I finally have a friend :-) Like you, I am amazed by the things achieved by modern science and technology. Growing ...
Posted on Apr 24 at 9:46am by RedBarnDesigner
Hi Max, Thank you for this little gem - you can certainly mine the gold nuggets! This is truly awesome engineering/science/technology. I am amazed by what modern science and technology can achieve. I was chatting on Tuesday with a friend who was amazed by the technology of creating ...
Posted on Apr 23 at 6:23am by Max Maxfield
To be honest, this website seems a bit "thin on the ground" -- the links to things like "Team" and "History" just return you to the home page and there's only one item in the store without any specs (sad face).
Posted on Apr 22 at 11:33pm by steff
I found a perfect device at nightAssist.com.au
Posted on Apr 15 at 1:41pm by Max Maxfield
I must admit that this one left me confused -- it was hard to pin anything down -- on the one hand, it's claimed that various groups in the US government are using this technology, which is impressive until you start to think about who we have forming the US ...
Posted on Apr 15 at 1:07pm by jackganssle
The Basic compiler referred to in this article was called MTBasic (for Multitasking Basic). Rather like the HP Basic Steve mentioned, when you entered a line of code it was tokenized and stored. After hitting "Run" the code was compiled to machine code. It was a one-pass compiler (for speed) ...
Posted on Apr 15 at 6:02am by Steven Leibson
Thanks traneusee. After doing some online research, I'm not clear how Dartmouth BASIC was compiled. In some explanations, it appears to work like the tokenized interpreters we implemented at HP in the 1970s for HP BASIC and HPL, where the typed line of code was immediately tokenized into calls to ...
Posted on Apr 14 at 5:41pm by traneusee
Thanks for this article. Dartmouth Time Sharing System DTSS BASIC compiler worked the same way as Jack's 1982 Basic compiler.
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featured blogs
Apr 23, 2025
Just when I thought the day was as strange as it could get, I ran across this video'¦...
How to Choose the Right Battery Charger
Sponsored by Mouser Electronics and MEAN WELL
In this episode of Chalk Talk, Thrax Cui from MEAN WELL and Amelia Dalton explore how you can choose the right battery charger for your next design. They investigate the battery charging principles of lithium ion and lead acid batteries, the steps involved in choosing a battery charger, and how MEAN WELL battery charging solutions support the charging needs of a wide variety of applications.
Apr 29, 2025
5 views
AC-DC Introduction
In this episode of Chalk Talk, Mitch Van Ochten from ROHM Semiconductor and Amelia explore the what, where and how of AC/DC controllers and converter ICs. They investigate the benefits of ROHM’s non-isolated AC/DC buck converters, AC/DC control ICs and AC/DC flyback converters and how you can utilize these solutions in your next design.
Apr 25, 2025
774 views
Solutions for General Precision Location Tracking
In this episode of Chalk Talk, Arnaud Le Lannic from u-blox, Greg Makar from the YAGEO Group and Amelia Dalton explore the benefits of GNSS for general precision location tracking. They investigate the biggest challenges associated with these kinds of designs, the solutions best suited for vehicular asset tracking and the mounting options available for these solutions.
Apr 21, 2025
6,880 views
Fiber Optics for Embedded Computing
In this episode of Chalk Talk, Anders Thelin from TE Connectivity and Amelia Dalton explore the benefits that TE Connectivity connector solutions can bring to fiber optic embedded designs. They also investigate the various VITA standards utilized for these kinds of designs, and how optical fiber routing and active optics solutions from TE Connectivity can be used to further enhance the performance of your next design.
Apr 21, 2025
8,194 views
Voltage Translators: An Architecture for Every Application
Sponsored by Mouser Electronics and onsemi
In this episode of Chalk Talk, Bob Card from onsemi and Amelia Dalton explore the multitude of benefits of voltage translators. They investigate the challenges associated with I/O voltage disagreement, the voltage translator architecture for every IC-to-IC protocol and how you can take advantage of onsemi’s Treo Analog and Mixed Signal Platform for your next design.
Apr 21, 2025
7,825 views
Using NXP’s FRDM Ecosystem to Break Down ML Complexity
In this episode of Chalk Talk, Michael Pontikes from NXP and Amelia Dalton explore the details of the FRDM ecosystem from NXP. They explore the scalability component of this ecosystem, the details of the FRDM i.MX 93 Development Board and how the machine learning software and tools of this ecosystem will streamline and simplify your next machine learning enhanced design.
Apr 17, 2025
8,099 views