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:

• Using aerospace design and manufacturing techniques, a small company hopes to make it big in the wheelchair business:
  “Industry Focus: Medical — Rethinking the Wheelchair,”
  Machine Design , May 22, 2008
• The next generation of motor-powered appliances and industrial machines will be energy misers thanks to new electronics and speed controls:
  “Motors Move Toward More Efficiency,”
  Machine Design , April 10, 2008
• The history of our industry is a productive mix of theory and pragmatism:
  “Historical Highlights of Microwaves,”
  Microwave Journal , July 2008
• It took a long time, and it was not the four equations we know today:
  “Twenty Three Years: The Acceptance of Maxwell’s Theory,”
  Microwave Journal , July 2008

Elementals:

• Take a system-level approach to planning, analyzing, and implementing a PDN layout to meet a target impedance:
  “Floorplanning A Power Delivery Network With Spice,”
  Electronic Design , July 24, 2008
• You can use gaussmeters, teslameters, fluxmeters, and magnetometers to measure magnetism, priced from pennies to hundreds of thousands of dollars:
  “Magnetic measurement tools attract attention,”
  EDN , July 24, 2008
• Characteristics such as noise and distortion interact to affect the dynamic range of a spectrum analyzer:
  “Dynamic range unraveled,”
  Test & Measurement World , August 2008

Previous Editions:

• September 22, 2008
• September 15, 2008
• September 8, 2008
• September 1, 2008
• August 25, 2008
• August 18, 2008