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Time-to-digital Converter
In electronic instrumentation and signal processing, a time-to-digital converter (TDC) or time digitizer (TD) is a device for recognizing events and providing a digital representation of the time they occurred. For example, a TDC might output the time of arrival for each incoming pulse. Some applications wish to measure the time interval between two events rather than some notion of an absolute time, and the digitizer is then used to measure a time interval and convert it into digital (binary) output. In some cases, an interpolating TDC is also called a time counter (TC). When TDCs are used to determine the time interval between two signal pulses (known as start and stop pulse), measurement is started and stopped when the rising or falling edge of a signal pulse crosses a set threshold. This pattern is seen in many physical experiments, like time-of-flight and lifetime measurements in atomic and high energy physics, experiments that involve laser ranging and electronic re ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Electronics
Electronics is a scientific and engineering discipline that studies and applies the principles of physics to design, create, and operate devices that manipulate electrons and other Electric charge, electrically charged particles. It is a subfield of physics and electrical engineering which uses Passivity (engineering), active devices such as transistors, diodes, and integrated circuits to control and amplify the flow of electric current and to convert it from one form to another, such as from alternating current (AC) to direct current (DC) or from analog signal, analog signals to digital signal, digital signals. Electronic devices have significantly influenced the development of many aspects of modern society, such as telecommunications, entertainment, education, health care, industry, and security. The main driving force behind the advancement of electronics is the semiconductor industry, which continually produces ever-more sophisticated electronic devices and circuits in respo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Phase-locked Loop
A phase-locked loop or phase lock loop (PLL) is a control system that generates an output signal whose phase is fixed relative to the phase of an input signal. Keeping the input and output phase in lockstep also implies keeping the input and output frequencies the same, thus a phase-locked loop can also track an input frequency. Furthermore, by incorporating a frequency divider, a PLL can generate a stable frequency that is a multiple of the input frequency. These properties are used for clock synchronization, demodulation, frequency synthesis, clock multipliers, and signal recovery from a noisy communication channel. Since 1969, a single integrated circuit can provide a complete PLL building block, and nowadays have output frequencies from a fraction of a hertz up to many gigahertz. Thus, PLLs are widely employed in radio, telecommunications, computers (e.g. to distribute precisely timed clock signals in microprocessors), grid-tie inverters (electronic power converters used ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Clock Signal
In electronics and especially synchronous digital circuits, a clock signal (historically also known as ''logic beat'') is an electronic logic signal (voltage or current) which oscillates between a high and a low state at a constant frequency and is used like a metronome to synchronize actions of digital circuits. In a synchronous logic circuit, the most common type of digital circuit, the clock signal is applied to all storage devices, flip-flops and latches, and causes them all to change state simultaneously, preventing race conditions. A clock signal is produced by an electronic oscillator called a clock generator. The most common clock signal is in the form of a square wave with a 50% duty cycle. Circuits using the clock signal for synchronization may become active at either the rising edge, falling edge, or, in the case of double data rate, both in the rising and in the falling edges of the clock cycle. Digital circuits Most integrated circuits (ICs) of suffi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vernier Scale
A vernier scale ( ), named after Pierre Vernier, is a visual aid to take an accurate measurement reading between two graduation markings on a linear scale by using mechanical interpolation, which increases resolution and reduces measurement uncertainty by using vernier acuity. It may be found on many types of instrument measuring length or measuring angles, but in particular on a vernier caliper, which measures lengths of human-scale objects (including internal and external diameters). The vernier is a subsidiary scale replacing a single measured-value pointer, and has for instance ten divisions equal in distance to nine divisions on the main scale. The interpolated reading is obtained by observing which of the vernier scale graduations is coincident with a graduation on the main scale, which is easier to perceive than visual estimation between two points. Such an arrangement can go to a higher resolution by using a higher scale ratio, known as the vernier constant. A ver ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Analog-to-digital Converter
In electronics, an analog-to-digital converter (ADC, A/D, or A-to-D) is a system that converts an analog signal, such as a sound picked up by a microphone or light entering a digital camera, into a Digital signal (signal processing), digital signal. An ADC may also provide an isolated measurement such as an electronic device that converts an analog input voltage or Electric current, current to a digital number representing the magnitude of the voltage or current. Typically the digital output is a two's complement binary number that is proportional to the input, but there are other possibilities. There are several ADC hardware architecture, architectures. Due to the complexity and the need for precisely matched electronic component, components, all but the most specialized ADCs are implemented as integrated circuits (ICs). These typically take the form of metal–oxide–semiconductor (MOS) mixed-signal integrated circuit chips that integrate both Analogue electronics, anal ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Distributed Amplifier
Distributed amplifiers are circuit designs that incorporate transmission line theory into traditional amplifier design to obtain a larger gain-bandwidth product than is realizable by conventional circuits. History The design of the distributed amplifiers was first formulated by William S. Percival in 1936. In that year Percival proposed a design by which the transconductances of individual vacuum tubes could be added linearly without lumping their element capacitances at the input and output, thus arriving at a circuit that achieved a gain-bandwidth product greater than that of an individual tube. Percival's design did not gain widespread awareness however, until a publication on the subject was authored by Ginzton, Hewlett, Jasberg, and Noe in 1948. It is to this later paper that the term ''distributed amplifier'' can actually be traced. Traditionally, DA design architectures were realized using vacuum tube technology. Current technology More recently, III-V semicondu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
CMOS
Complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor (CMOS, pronounced "sea-moss ", , ) is a type of MOSFET, metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET) semiconductor device fabrication, fabrication process that uses complementary and symmetrical pairs of p-type semiconductor, p-type and n-type semiconductor, n-type MOSFETs for logic functions. CMOS technology is used for constructing integrated circuit (IC) chips, including microprocessors, microcontrollers, memory chips (including Nonvolatile BIOS memory, CMOS BIOS), and other digital logic circuits. CMOS technology is also used for analog circuits such as image sensors (CMOS sensors), data conversion, data converters, RF circuits (RF CMOS), and highly integrated transceivers for many types of communication. In 1948, Bardeen and Brattain patented an insulated-gate transistor (IGFET) with an inversion layer. Bardeen's concept forms the basis of CMOS technology today. The CMOS process was presented by Fairchild Semico ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Prescaler
A prescaler is an electronic counting circuit used to reduce a high frequency electrical signal to a lower frequency by integer division. The prescaler takes the basic timer clock frequency (which may be the CPU clock frequency or may be some higher or lower frequency) and divides it by some value before feeding it to the timer, according to how the prescaler register(s) are configured. The prescaler values, referred to as prescales, that may be configured might be limited to a few fixed values (powers of 2), or they may be any integer value from 1 to 2^P, where P is the number of prescaler bits. The purpose of the prescaler is to allow the timer to be clocked at the rate a user desires. For shorter (8 and 16-bit) timers, there will often be a tradeoff between resolution (high resolution requires a high clock rate) and range (high clock rates cause the timer to overflow more quickly). For example, one cannot (without some tricks) achieve 1 μs resolution and a 1 sec maxi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ring Counter
A ring counter is a type of counter composed of flip-flops connected into a shift register, with the output of the last flip-flop fed to the input of the first, making a "circular" or "ring" structure. There are two types of ring counters: * A straight ring counter, also known as a one-hot counter, connects the output of the last shift register to the first shift register input and circulates a single one (or zero) bit around the ring. * A twisted ring counter, also called switch-tail ring counter, walking ring counter, Johnson counter, or Möbius counter, connects the complement of the output of the last shift register to the input of the first register and circulates a stream of ones followed by zeros around the ring. Four-bit ring-counter sequences Properties Ring counters are often used in hardware design (e.g. ASIC and FPGA design) to create finite-state machines. A binary counter would require an adder circuit which is substantially more complex than a ring cou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Crystal Oscillator
A crystal oscillator is an electronic oscillator Electrical circuit, circuit that uses a piezoelectricity, piezoelectric crystal as a frequency selective surface, frequency-selective element. The oscillator frequency is often used to keep track of time, as in quartz clock, quartz wristwatches, to provide a stable clock signal for digital data, digital integrated circuits, and to stabilize frequencies for radio transmitters and radio receiver, receivers. The most common type of piezoelectric resonator used is a quartz crystal, so oscillator circuits incorporating them became known as crystal oscillators. However, other piezoelectric materials including polycrystalline ceramics are used in similar circuits. A crystal oscillator relies on the slight change in shape of a quartz crystal under an electric field, a property known as inverse piezoelectricity. A voltage applied to the electrodes on the crystal causes it to change shape; when the voltage is removed, the crystal generates ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Counter (digital)
In digital electronics, a counter is a sequential logic circuit that counts and stores the number of positive or negative transitions of a clock signal. A counter typically consists of flip-flop (electronics), flip-flops, which store a value representing the current count, and in many cases, additional logic to effect particular counting sequences, qualify clocks and perform other functions. Each relevant clock transition causes the value stored in the counter to increment or decrement (increase or decrease by one). A digital counter is a finite state machine, with a ''clock'' input signal and multiple output signals that collectively represent the state. The state indicates the current count, encoded directly as a binary number, binary or binary-coded decimal (BCD) number or using encodings such as one-hot or Gray code. Most counters have a ''reset'' input which is used to initialize the count. Depending on the design, a counter may have additional inputs to control functions suc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
