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You need to test, we're here to help.

30 April 2018

Investigating IoT Wireless Signals (Part II)

This screen capture depicts frequency demodulation and subsequent Manchester decoding of the bit stream
Figure 1: This screen capture depicts frequency demodulation
and subsequent Manchester decoding of the bit stream
Internet of Things (IoT) devices must communicate with their peers--other IoT devices--as well as with the host system that governs their activities. In our previous post, we examined how to perform amplitude and frequency demodulation of RF bursts, such as Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) advertising bursts. We'll continue with other methods of analyzing RF signals.

23 April 2018

Investigating IoT Wireless Signals

Figure 1: Many IoT devices accept
wireless antennas using U.FL
connectors
Many IoT devices use wireless methods to communicate with other devices or with host systems. Just as with DC power-rail signals, probing of RF signals should be done with as little noise and as non-invasively as possible and with the best possible signal fidelity. Effective probing opens the door to Wi-Fi and Bluetooth signal analysis with RF demodulation, vector signal analysis, and spectrum analysis.

19 April 2018

IoT Digital Power Management and Power Integrity

The half-bridge output current from each DC-DC phase is known as the inductor current
Figure 1: The half-bridge output
current from each DC-DC phase
is known as the inductor current
An Internet of Things (IoT) device derives its power either from a 12-V DC supply or from a battery. In either case, power is fed to one or more power rails that operate at different voltages. These rails power the CPU and other functional blocks on the PC board. In this post, we'll take a look at how to examine an IoT's power supply for proper digital power management implementation and for power integrity.

16 April 2018

Anatomy of an IoT Device

IoTs include SOCs, DDR, DPM ICs, wireless, and MCUs
Figure 1: IoTs include SOCs, DDR,
DPM ICs, wireless, and MCUs
There's already more Internet of Things (IoT) devices deployed than there are humans on Earth. That gap will increase radically in coming years, and the explosion in IoT devices means a commensurate explosion in the need for debugging tools. So what's in an IoT device to debug, anyway?

04 April 2018

Debugging the IoT

Chances are you're already using the IoT in various ways
Figure 1: Chances are you're already
using the IoT in various ways
By now, we're all familiar with the phrase "Internet of Things" (IoT); some of you may be directly involved with that concept on some level as a designer/technologist. Here, we'll begin a series of posts on the IoT with some broad discussion of what it's all about, and then segue into how oscilloscopes and related hardware/software are among the best tools available for design and debug of IoT-related devices.