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Bench Talk for Design Engineers

Bench Talk

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Bench Talk for Design Engineers | The Official Blog of Mouser Electronics


Steven Keeping gained a BEng (Hons.) degree at Brighton University, U.K., before working in the electronics divisions of Eurotherm and BOC for seven years. He then joined Electronic Production magazine and subsequently spent 13 years in senior editorial and publishing roles on electronics manufacturing, test, and design titles including What’s New in Electronics and Australian Electronics Engineering for Trinity Mirror, CMP and RBI in the U.K. and Australia. In 2006, Steven became a freelance journalist specializing in electronics. He is based in Sydney.


Connected-Home Tech Falls Short but the Future is Bright
On January 24, 2019 in All, IoT, Lighting, RF, Sensors, Wireless by Steven Keeping
Steven Keeping
While smart-home devices are gaining traction, the truly connected home remains a dream. Engineers are working on interim solutions to meld disparate wireless technologies, with some success, but a single smart-home solution is far in the future.
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5567 Views
Tagged With: Bluetooth Low Energy, Cloud, Connected home, Internet of Things, Mesh networking, Thread, Wi-Fi, Wireless connectivity, Zigbee, Z-Wave
Move Over LEDs, Electric Motors Will Save the Planet
On November 30, 2018 in All, Industrial, Motor Control, Power, Wide Bandgap by Steven Keeping
Steven Keeping
LEDs save energy, but efficient electric motors can save much more. Now a new generation of GaN transistors promises new power-supply breakthroughs to help the units become even greener.
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6114 Views
Tagged With: Electric motor driver design , Electric motors, GaN, High power-density electric motor, High-frequency inverters, Power supply design
Writing the Rules for Autonomous Vehicles
On November 5, 2018 in All, Automotive, Computing, Sensors by Steven Keeping
Steven Keeping
Autonomous vehicles are coming. But adapting them to drive safely on roads dominated by conventional vehicles is proving tricky. A better solution would be to design the transport system from scratch. It could be a long wait.
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6176 Views
Tagged With: Autonomous vehicles, Car design, Computer hardware, Self-driving vehicles, Sensors, Software engineering
Multi-Sensor Modules Ease Indoor Agriculture Design Challenges
On October 5, 2018 in All, IoT, RF, Sensors, Wireless by Steven Keeping
Steven Keeping
Multi-sensor modules, such as TE Connectivity’s AmbiMate, are simplifying the engineering involved in the global enterprise of controlled-environment agriculture (popularly known as vertical farming).
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9099 Views
Tagged With: Agribusiness, AmbiMate, Arable land, CEA, Cloud connectivity, Controlled-environment agriculture, Crops, Farm, Harvest, IIoT, Industrial Internet of Things, Land, Mesh network, MS4 series, Multi-sensor modules, Plants, Sensors, TE Connectivity, Technology, Traditional farming, Vertical farming, Wireless
Wireless Tech Helps Protect Healthcare Budgets
On September 17, 2018 in All, IoT, Low Power, Medical, RF, Wireless by Steven Keeping
Steven Keeping
An aging population is increasingly suffering from chronic diseases, and frequent hospitalization puts an additional load on stressed healthcare budgets. However, wireless technology is enabling good symptom management, keeping seniors safe at home and protecting budget concerns.
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5454 Views
Tagged With: BLE, Blood pressure, Bluetooth low energy, Bluetooth SIG, Bluetooth Special Interest Group, Diabetes monitoring, Disease management, Healthcare, Heart rate monitoring, Internet of Things, IoT, Medical, Sensors, Thread, Vital signs, Wearables, Wi-Fi, Wireless technology, ZigBee
Li-ion Batteries Overcome Renewable Energy Uncertainty
On July 19, 2018 in All, Power by Steven Keeping
Steven Keeping
Renewable energy (RE) promises much, but it has yet to make a significant impact on world demand. Variability and uncertainty make it impossible to guarantee RE resources will be available when peak demand occurs. However, pilot operations have demonstrated that energy storage using Li-ion batteries could provide a solution to RE variability and uncertainty by smoothing the differences between supply and demand.
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5797 Views
Tagged With: Li-ion batteries, RE, Renewable energy, Smart grid
Smart Monitoring Counters VOC Concerns
On July 11, 2018 in All, Industrial, IoT, RF, Sensors by Steven Keeping
Steven Keeping
Volatile organic compound (VOC) pollution is on the rise. Certain illnesses and cognitive impairments reveal a link to these chemicals, and modern energy-efficient buildings are making the problem worse. Miniaturized sensors offer a solution by indicating when concentrations breach safety levels.
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4794 Views
Tagged With: Air pollution, Airpocalypse, Internet of Things, IoT, Sensors, Smart buildings, VOCs, Volatile organic compounds
Lithium, Cobalt, and Lithium-Cobalt Prices, Demand Drive EVs
On March 21, 2018 in All, Automotive, Power by Steven Keeping
Steven Keeping
The price of Lithium has tripled since 2016 as electric vehicle batteries compete with mobile consumer electronics for the material. But the escalating price, driven by a threat of shortage of supply, is unlikely to dampen EV demand. Cobalt, another vital ingredient of Li-ion batteries, is another matter, and researchers are working hard to find cheaper alternatives, including Lithium-cobalt.
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4735 Views
Tagged With: Battery technology, Electric vehicles, EVs, Lithium-Cobalt cathode, Lithium-ion cell, Lithium-Iron cathode, Portable power, Power electronics
Biometrics Address Password Flaws
On March 2, 2018 in All, Computing, Security, Sensors by Steven Keeping
Steven Keeping
Password security is flawed—as Hawaiians recently found to their cost—because it relies on humans to create a memorable yet tough-to-hack secret phrase. Biometrics, pioneered by the smartphone’s fingerprint scanner, offers a better alternative.
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5307 Views
Tagged With: biometrics, Cyber security, fingerprint scanners, iris scanners, passwords, smartphone design
Collaborative Robots: Combining Machine Muscle with Human Dexterity
On February 26, 2018 in All, Automation, Industrial, Robotics, Sensors by Steven Keeping
Steven Keeping
While industrial robots dominate—as the best option for low-volume, high-mix assembly in mass-manufacturing—in comparison to human dexterity, a new generation of lightweight robots promises to marry the best of man and machine.
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8421 Views
Tagged With: automation, cobots, collaborative robots, Industrial robots, machine design, occupational health and safety, robot design, workspace ergonomics

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