Tales from the Cube: One Small Step for Synchronization

In this latest installment of EDN's "Tales from the Cube" series, electrical engineer Larry Baxter recounts his experience as a neophyte circuit designer for a numerical display on the Apollo 11 project and how it helped decades later when working on a dielectric-paper photoprinter circuit. It involves a high-voltage signal generator and the importance of synchronizing system processes to minimize noise and facilitate testing. A lot of good lessons are crammed into this one example of how being creative and having the ability to get the job done on your own is a good thing, but having access to and heeding the learned guidance of senior engineers can save a lot of trouble down the line and result in a superior product to boot. My interest, of course, was immediately piqued to the Apollo program, but the story is very much worthwhile reading for any designer.

Posted December 16, 2013

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RF Cafe began life in 1996 as "RF Tools" in an AOL screen name web space totaling 2 MB. Its primary purpose was to provide me with ready access to commonly needed formulas and reference material while performing my work as an RF system and circuit design engineer. The World Wide Web (Internet) was largely an unknown entity at the time and bandwidth was a scarce commodity. Dial-up modems blazed along at 14.4 kbps while tying up your telephone line, and a lady's voice announced "You've Got Mail" when a new message arrived...