Inside Frequency Control

Without further adu, here is our list of engineering thought leaders that you should be following on Twitter.

As electronics and RF systems have become increasingly complex, the need to catch and fix errors during the design phase of a project has become increasingly important.

Catching an error during the design phase is orders of magnitude less expensive to fix than catching it during the manufacturing or test phases.

Drones have officially begun to constantly fly through the minds of society.  The technology advances in flight technology, flight modes, and controls along with the advancements in portable photography and video technology have caused an explosion with amateur and professional photographers and videographers. 

Welcome to the new world of CubeSat Manufacturers! These small satellites are becoming more and more popular in today’s new space industry. Their increasing popularity is mostly because of their small, lightweight, and inexpensive designs. The standard 1U Cube Satellite is 10cm x 10cm x 10cm in size. However, since their inception in 1999, new Cube Satellite companies have developed more variations in size to meet desired payload levels. A 1.5U, 2U, 3U, 6U, 8U, 12U etc. are now offered to meet customer's growing specifications. 

RF engineers would love to get their hands on ideal crystal oscillator circuits. That is, a quartz crystal oscillator that transmits at the designated frequency for the entire life of the device without any frequency deviation. Unfortunately, that ideal circuit world is a mathematical fantasy.

There are many factors that contribute to quartz oscillator stability and frequency drift issues. To prevent these problems as much as possible, having a firm understanding of precise frequency stability will help give you the tools to keep your applications performing optimally. But there's another problem...

The U.S Department of Homeland Security considers 13 of the nation’s 16 critical infrastructure sectors to be ‘critically dependent’ on PNT technology. Also, a loss of PNT would cost the U.S an estimated $10 BILLION a day. Not only do many everyday consumers use PNT & GPS on a daily basis, it's also crucial for military and intelligence operations. Other industries that strongly rely on GPS based PNT include

• Radio communications
• Network synchronization
• Intelligence systems
• Information gathering
• Cruise missiles
• Weapons systems
• Electronic warfare

What is a Swept Quartz Crystal?

Like many other things, radiation can impact a crystal oscillator's frequency. This is because radiation physically alters the quartz crystal inside the oscillator (changes position of weakly bound compensators that change the elastic constants of quartz). In some cases, radiation can even impact the crystal series resonance. The increase of resonance can be serious enough to cause the oscillator to stop oscillating if the crystal isn't radiation resistant. When a quartz crystal is manufactured to be radiation resistant, the crystal is referred to as a swept quartz crystal.

There are 7 key factors of understanding successful crystal oscillator circuit design. These include

1. Series circuit
2. Load Capacitance
3. Parallel Circuit
4. Drive Level
5. Frequency vs mode
6. Design Considerations
7. Negative Resistance

Is it too early to start thinking about holiday gifts? Absolutely not! The holiday season is approaching quickly, so we wanted to help you start thinking through some great gift ideas for the engineers in your life (or soon to be). We also wanted to make this your not-so-average gift idea post that doesn't include your typical (boring) engineering mug or neck-tie gifts. Without further ado, here's 10 unique holiday gifts for engineers.

What if I told you that specifying more Electronic Frequency Control (EFC) than you need could actually be hurting your pocketbook? Well, it very well may be! Paying attention to whether your supplier is using AT cut vs SC cut crystals will help you save money in the long run with OCXOs.