Each week, the Planet Analog section of the print version of EETimes features two small text boxes, entitled “Also of Interest” and “Elementals”, in addition to one or two feature articles, an editor's column, and new products. Each of these boxes cites items from publications outside the Planet Analog and EETimes portfolio. The first box highlights a few items of general interest to the engineer, while the second highlights some basic and tutorial electronic-engineering material.

In this week's print edition (December 3, 2007) you'll see these items (note: there are also links to previous weeks' editions, at the bottom):

Also of Interest

• Closed-loop controllers help stop the overheating that kills shape-memory-alloy actuators:
  “SMAs don’t like it hot,”
  Machine Design , September 27, 2007
• Robust sensors now handle the heat, pressure, and vibration found in deep-well oil drilling and other harsh environments:
  “Sensors take the heat,”
  Machine Design , September 27, 2007
• The EV battery is back and faces tough cost and safety challenges. Its mission, however, is less daunting than it was a decade ago:
  “Battery Makers Ratchet Up for New Electric Vehicle Effort,”
  Design News , September 3, 2007

Elementals

• To avoid damage, engineers must minimize backdrive currents and their length of time on a circuit:
  “The backstory on backdriving,”
  Test & Measurement World , September 2007
• New specifications and tests for moisture and reflow sensitivity yield more reliable ICs and PCB assemblies:
  “IPC standard helps reduce component defects,”
  Test & Measurement World , October 2007
• Spread-spectrum communications uses a higher-rate pseudorandom sequence unrelated to the information sequence to multiply with incoming data input:
  “Principles of spread-spectrum communications,”
  RF Design , August 2007

Previous Editions

• November 26, 2007