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Component manufacturers continue to develop increasingly miniaturized bulkhead filter capacitors that also offer increased current capacity, voltage, and operating temperature ranges. This post looks at the details of this miniaturization in order to help aerospace systems designers satisfy stringent size and weight constraints and further improve system performance.

Verifying the modulation profile of SSC has historically been challenging because it involves a frequency shift as a function of time. Mike Hertz explains that by tracking the frequency measurement parameter, an oscilloscope can display the SSC modulation profile as a function of frequency versus time. Read on to see how it’s done.

Designers pushing the limits in their application can run into situations where the XO performance is inadequate for their next design due to the way it reacts to the noise and ripple in the power supply. To achieve optimal performance, they most likely will find they will need to do more than a simple datasheet evaluation to select their next XO. Read on for details on a PSNR test method to help select an optimal XO.

SIJ technical editor, Eric Bogatin, shares his picks for great watches or reads for this month.

The principles underlying SI, PI, and EMC are not magic, and they are not about mysterious energy flows in the space between conductors. They are firmly rooted in the fundamental properties of electromagnetic fields, with a 160 year long rich history. Embrace it!

The Ig Noble Prizes are awarded every year for an individual or group who “did something that makes people laugh and then think.” In our time of increased stress what a perfect combination of activities for engineers to participate and experience: laughing and thinking.

SIJ technical editor, Eric Bogatin, has spent many hours lately watching online training and webinars. He’s launching a regular column to share the ones he thinks are particularly worth watching. Here are his first two picks.

When you need a specialized expert or an assistant for overflow engineering design or analysis work, it’s always a challenge finding a qualified consultant. I get asked for a recommendation for a consultant at least once a week. I tell them to check out the List of SI PI and EMI Consultants on the SI Journal web site, recently updated.

Do students really understand transmission lines? Do YOU really understand transmission lines? Here is a problem I may give my students, if I am feeling particularly cruel

Here’s the dilemma every hardware engineer faces at one time or another. Your new circuit board just came back from the assembly shop, you turn it on, and it doesn’t work. You have to debug it to find the root cause of the bug(s). How are you going to do this? Turns out, there’s an app for that. Eric Bogatin explains.