I'm writing this during a technical session at the 2008 IEEE EMC Symposium in Detroit. This year, the Symposium added  a spectial session called "Recent Advances of Jitter and BER Analysis in High-Speed  Serial Links." The  session, which includes six papers, is in addition to the recently added sessions on signal integrity (SI has two technical session this year). The papers presented in the jitter session shows how digital phenomena now affects a product's EMC. EMC engineers may not realize that data patterns can affect EMC, and the presenters have shown that using something that EMC engineers understand: a spectrum scan. A plot clearly showed the difference in emissions when different data patterns in communication links occur.

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At last week's NCSL International Workshop and Symposium, Chris Grachanen was awarded the NCSLI Education & Training award (*) for his contributions to metrology education. Grachanen, Master Engineer/Operations Manager, Houston Metrology Group at Hewlett-Packard (Houston, TX) has been outspoken in his advocacy to make metrology, the science of measurement, a standard occupation by the U.S. Government and to point out the shortage of trained metrology and calibration people.

On Tuesday, August 5, Grachanen chaired a techical session on calibration training at the NCSLI Symposium. That session brought to light the reasons that the metrology community is facing a shortage of qualified people. Richard Brenia of Southern California Edison noted that the mility isn't training as many calibration technicians as in the past. Technicians with calibration training use their ski...Read More

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The August print issue of T&MW features a new column called "Test Ideas." For this first test idea, I took one that was submitted to our sister publication, EDN. The idea is "Sync sine waves over three decades" and it shows you how to design an audio-frequency sine wave generator with three ICs. The author had submitted the circuit for publication in EDN's popular "Design Ideas" column.

Because of publishing schedules, I've had to use two more circuits submitted to EDN Design Ideas as Test Ideas for the September and October issues. In fact, I need to edit a test idea for November soon. Because of the nature of Design Ideas, submissions always involve schematics and often, source code. But, I don't want Test Ideas to look like an exten...Read More

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While visiting a company for an upcoming T&MW print article, I heard an engineer talk about high-end oscilloscope probes as being "disposable." Now, oscilloscope companies march through the T&MW offices on a regular basis, showing their latest and greatest. Often, the companies introduce probes for their oscilloscopes, especially the high-bandwidth models. These probes are expensive (in the thousands of dollars) and, according to this engineer, easily broken. "We don't treat oscilloscope probes as capital expenditures because they don't last three years," he told me. He considers probes  as consumables, like pencils but more expensive.

Do you regularly break probes or other expensive items? What else do you regularly discard? WHat about low-end equipment such as multimeters, are they disposable? What can others do to prevent breakages and...Read More

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Here's more proof that engineers use technology long after it's out of fashion. A participant in the Agilent VEE e-mail user group mentioned that he had just upgraded several test systems from Windows 98 to Windows XP. I assume that his company has a site license for XP, given that Microsoft won't sell it anymore.

I used my Windows 98 PC at home for seven years. I still keep it as a backup computer. Win98 was perhaps Microsoft's best operating system (second edition, that is).

Are you still running Windows 98? If you are, good for you.

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It its latest newsletter, Symmetricom has listed its choice for the top ten time-travel movies. Naturally, you'd expect "Back to the Future" on the list and it is. You'll also find "Star Trek IV--The Voyage home."

Perhaps no series has overused time travel more than Star Trek. How many times did captains Kirk, Picard, Sisko,  and Janeway travel through time? So many times that there's even a DVD set of just the time-travel episodes. The set doesn't include the time-travel movies "The Voyage Home" with the original crew and "First Contact" with the Next Generation crew.
Which other movies would you put in your top-ten time-travel list?

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The other day, a reader e-mailed me about his oscilloscope frustrations. "I use my oscilloscope once in a while," he wrote, "and I can't remember how to use its functions beyond those that have dedicated buttons." Now, the oscilloscope makers have been telling me about user frustrations for years and they claim have made many changes to their user interfaces to address the problem, but I suspect it remains for many engineers. So, I'm thinking of taking the reader's suggestion to heart and researching the issue. To do that, I'd like your input. Please ...Read More

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Beginning in the T&MW August print issue, we’ll replace the “Project Profile” column with “Test Ideas.” Test Ideas will focus on how an engineer solved a test and measurement problem. For the first few issues, we’ll use content submitted to our sister publication EDN for the “Design Ideas” column that have some test application. For example, the August issue will feature a three-chip circuit that lets you generate a low-distortion audio-frequency sine wave. 

While we have a few circuits that we can use to get the series going, we need to hear from you. Feel free to submit your ideas for how you solved a test or measurement problem. Your ideas need not involve building a circuit at the component level...Read More

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I just received a press release from one of those companies that analyzes industries. This one is about test and measurement, oscilloscopes in particular. Here's how the release starts. I quote:

"July 8, 2008 – Increased adoption of high-speed serial standards and technological advancements in communications and computer end-user segments contribute to the continued growth of the world oscilloscopes market. Furthermore, the expansion of the Internet, broadband and wireless communication devices results in the need for faster and more complex electronic signals. Testing these signals requires oscilloscopes with high sample rates and long memories to perform the required analysis."

Really? Do you think that high-speed serial buses ha...Read More

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In early June, the temperature prematurely rose into the to about 95^oF for four straight days. In New England, three or more days of 90+ temperatures qualifies as a heat wave. Knowing that the heat wouldn't last long, I hesitated installing the air conditioner in my home office. On the second day of the heat wave, my desktop PC sounded louder--much louder--than ever. I thought that perhaps the hard drive was failing, but I remembered that the noise started just after the temperature rose. A day after the outside temperature dropped into the 80s, the PC's sound returned to normal. Something had clearly expanded in the hot weather, causing the noise.

That was two weeks ago and I still haven't installed the air conditioner.

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Nobody wants to be involved in a product liability lawsuit. The best way to prevent them is to design and build for safety.

That was the advice of attorney Edward Butt, Jr. to members of the Northeast Product Safety Society at the organization's May 22 annual dinner. Butt, an Illinois-based attorney, represents companies in cases regarding product liability. "Make your product as safe as it can be," he said. "No injuries means no lawsuits."

In designing for safety, Butt recommended that you keep accurate documentation on all design decisions. Focus on how a product might fail and how to prevent it. You should be able to explain why an engineering decision was made regarding safety. Remember that a plaintiff will use engineer witnesses to question that you should have done in a design. You should be ab...Read More

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In my January 11 posting, "Tell your Bill and Dave Stories," I asked if the HP Way still exists and if so, where. Several people resopnoded, though some contected me directly. One such person is John Minck, a longtime HP/Agilent employee who wrote Inside HP: A Narrative History of Hewlett-Packard from 1939–1990 and was quoted in the book Bill & Dave, which I reviewed. Minck's comments were so extensive thay they're worthy of their own posting. John's words appear below (with his permission).

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