Each week, the editor of Planet Analog finds items of interest and then features them in two sections, entitled “Also of Interest” and “Elementals”. Each cites items from publications outside the Planet Analog and EETimes portfolios.

It's an extension of our belief that engineers are interested in on-going tutorial on obviously relevant topics, as well as the serendipity of exploring topics which are not directly related to their jobs, but which will broaden their knowledge and sometimes spurs innovative and creative approaches. The first box highlights a few items of general interest to the engineer, while the second highlights some basic and tutorial electronic-engineering material.

Among the publications we check are IEEE Spectrum , Machine Design , Design News , Laser Focus World , EDN , Electronic Design , NASA Tech Briefs , Portable Design , and Physics Today , among others.

Consider these items as “online-only” extras, and worth a look! (Please note: there are also links to the previous weeks' editions, at the bottom).

Also of Interest:

• Good engineers aren't necessarily good interviewees:
  “Careers: Why Should I Hire You?,”
  Machine Design , July 10, 2008
• Successful commercialization of LED products for general illumination will depend on a number of factors, such as cost, lifetime, intensity, luminous efficacy and color quality:
  “Color Quality and Spectra,”
  Photonics Spectra , July 2008
• Separate laser beams can be combined to increase power by matching their phases to generate a single coherent beam or by merging beams of different wavelengths. But getting it right is tricky.:
  “Photonic Frontiers: beam combining – Combining beams can boost total power,”
  Laser Focus World , July 2008, Year
• Recent legislation forces motors to use electricity in a more miserly way:
  “Green Technology: More-Efficient Motors,”
  Machine Design , June 19, 2008

Elementals:

• Active noise cancellation can bring considerable benefits to handsets, too:
  “Active Noise Cancellation Comes to Mobile Phones,”
  Portable Design , June 2008
• This efficient and flexible Volterra-based adaptive predistortion technique can be used to achieve high linearity in broadband RF power amplifiers.:
  “Digital Predistortion Linearizes Broadband PAs,”
  Microwaves & RF , July 2008
• A modified commercial chamber shields devices from unwanted signals during temperature tests.:
  “Modified thermal chamber cuts EMI,”
  Test & Measurement World , May 2008
• Thermal analysis used to be an afterthought, but now many designers must consider it up front:
  “Without Thermal Analysis, You Might Get Burned,”
  Electronic Design , July 10, 2008

Previous Editions:

• September 8, 2008
• September 1, 2008
• August 25, 2008
• August 18, 2008
• August 11, 2008
• August 4, 2008
• July 28, 2008