KI4MCW

Member Since: November 18, 2007

Country: United States

  • The IEEE's best practices committee was not amused by Tim's attempt at prop comedy.

  • Remember, heat the desk, not the solder.

  • Gonna have to disagree with you there. I had a lovely avatar here once, but the "old avatar" link shows nothing. I don't remember where I got the picture, so I guess I'll be an Atari gremlin. Bummer.

  • Ahem, that's cop a squat. Not pop.
    Pretty Woman FTW.

  • Wow, between this article and the one on using accelerometers to measure seismic activity, it seems like now would be a great time to throw down a tute (or even links) on =making sense= of this kind of real-world data. Specifically, some guidance on design, config, and analysis, especially for real-time embedded applications.
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    I have to imagine there are a whole lotta SF customers who buy these kinds of sensors thinking they are going to get smooth data that makes logical sense... and instead they are either overwhelmed by the noise seen in the rocket's logs, or underwhelmed by an earthquake barely registering on the sensor.
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    For example, what information about the dynamics of the rocket flight can be teased out of that data set? How high did it go? How fast was it going when it hit the neighbor's roof? More broadly, how can a smart layman start with twitchy data and get to that kind of information? How would you go about doing the same calculations on an 8-bit microcontroller, so that the flight computer itself knows that it's falling too fast?
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    Juicy stuff, and a golden opportunity to share the next few steps.

  • Wow - now carrying bags of 100 for $20? You guys are fantastic!

  • Alright folks, before you pooh-pooh this idea too smugly, consider: real world engineering is full of these kinds of design challenges. For example, if you are the system integrator for a Mars rover, you certainly do not get to launch test vehicles to Mars over and over again, retrieve them, fix a bug or two, and re-deploy. On a smaller scale, if your new game console goes out the door with a date-specific bug that renders it unusable (ahem), you'd better hope that it either fixes itself or can be resolved remotely, or you'll be losing a lot of money to ship and/or replace customers' gear.
    No, the development strategy here is very simple - the design must be broken down into isolated pieces and can be tested independently of each other. You test the cookie dunking and milk spilling engine (CDMSE) and its side of the interface as one action, and reset / patch / re-compile as many times as you need to. You then test the self-immolation module (SIM) and =its= side of the interface as a separate activity. Only at the time of the competition (or a high-cost dress rehearsal) to you marry the CDMSE to the SIM.

  • So this same line of supah-brite LEDs in red and green run $0.95 each in unit quantities, or $0.32 each in bags of 25. The yellow ones are out-of-stock right now (I seem to be really lucky like that), but when they return, are the yellow LEDs also available in bags of 25?
    Also, a very obscure question. The datasheet claims a wavelength of 585 - 590 nm. If I'm reading the CIE color matching tables right, this would mean that some units (on the 590nm end) fall into the SAE / US DOT definition of "amber" (e.g. for a turn signal) without any filtering, while others (at the 585nm end) do not. There's no mention in the DS - does the manufacturer make any claim of compliance to the SAE/DOT standard?
    Cheers!

  • Out-of-stock red ball
    Silently flipping me off
    Please turn to green, please?
    Arduino shield
    Awaits your six connections
    For more circuitry.
    Ordering on hold
    Credit card is on stand-by
    I'll buy you some beer...

  • Plus one. Let me know how/where I can contribute to the legal defense fund.

No public wish lists :(