Powering up a blue laser diode to 500mW
Note how it acts like a poor LED until 150mA, at which point the laser process fires

The 505B is an accurate, adjustable current source which allows for external modulation input.

It’s designed for low-noise (<1.5uA RMS) and it has a photo diode input, so with a calibrated light sensor, you can achieve constant power regulation.

Last but not least: it’s designed for maximum safety with two interlock circuits, one with a physical key.
Its internal design has a complex redundant output circuit, which ensures that the laser will NEVER illuminate unintended and it will NEVER exceed the chosen power setting.

A fancy current source indeed, a laboratory grade instrument

This video was shot wearing the appropriate safety glasses, be VERY CAREFUL when experimenting with lasers. Even a short duration reflection at this power level WILL damage your vision

Switching gears back to Ember for a bit, I'm updating the emulator and debugger with changes since my last round of blog posts on the Project Ember implementation, including adding rudimentary syntax highlighting to the debugger disassembly display!

Got my hands on this little gem recently, they’re hard to find in a decent state at a decent price tag. Got lucky though so now I have a dedicated laser diode driver in my lab
Not super high power, it maxes out at 500mA, but it’s enough for a whole range of experiments and it has a lot of nice safety and control features
It’s surprisingly complex inside, but nicely built and very clean. Doubt it’s seen many hours usage, the fan is just fine
#electronicsengineering #laser #testandmeasurement

Embedded C Language

Join yours Educational open Source community

Learn and Grow with Us - https://piembsystech.com/embedded-c-language/

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.piembsystech&pcampaignid=web_share

Adding parallel circuit allows for the Lambda Diode to oscillate at a frequency determined by the LC resonance frequency. The result is an absolutely beautiful sine wave

Note how the oscillation starts, once the supply voltage crosses where the current starts to decrease, ending up at the ‘negative resistance’ portion of its characteristic.

This is likely the easiest and most clean oscillator I ever built I wonder if you can use a crystal or crystal f it would get damaged from the drive level
Maybe one of those vintage ones..

@va3db

Circuit board bodge of the day: Socketzilla!

I had some of the pins off by 1, so needed to shift them...

What is a Bootloader in Microcontroller? Why Do You Need It?

Learn more at: https://piembsystech.com/boot-loader/

Success! I am now able to boot and POST the Apple I Replica Board using the SmartyKit firmware written by Sergey Panarin.

Back to work after a long overdue several weeks off sailing! This week we look at the memory map of the Ember design...

The Ember Console — System Architecture Design: Memory Map
https://www.iaritech.com/post/the-ember-console-system-architecture-design-memory-map

Stumbled across an article describing the ‘ADALINE’ #perceptron emulator, an analogue circuit, made entirely by a resistor and potentiometer network.

Being from the early 60’s, there’s not much information to be found these days on the device, but I managed to build it pretty much the way it was - at least I think so

It’s quite fun to train and test with different patterns - units like these are the vintage foundation of modern neural networks, AI and language models.

Understanding the Microprocessor – The Brain Behind Every Smart System!

more at https://piembsystech.com/microprocessor/

#Piembsystech #Microprocessor #EmbeddedSystems #OpenSourceLearning
#EngineeringBlog #ControlUnit #MemoryUnit #RegisterArray #ALU
#TechEducation #CareerInTech #IoT #LearningPlatform #TechBlog
#StudentEngineers #WorkingProfessionals #ElectronicsEngineering
#SkillDevelopment #FutureEngineer #DigitalLearning #EngineeringConcepts

New to my network or missed this? We're hiring an Electronics Engineer in Margate, Kent! Join a cutting-edge R&D team,. A fantastic full-time role in #Electronic product development. Analogue and Digital Design. Apply via Senex Recruitment #Electronicsengineering #jobs #kent #Hiring

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From designing circuits to building communication systems—find out what ECE professionals actually work on in the real world.
Click here: https://www.engineersheaven.org/forum/topic/153?title=What-do-electronics-and-communication-engineers-do?
to visit our website and read the full article.

Confused between Electrical and Electronics Engineering? Discover how they differ in principles, applications, and career paths.
Click here: https://www.engineersheaven.org/forum/topic/6?title=Whats-the-difference-between-electrical-and-electronics-engineering?
to visit our website and read the full article.

Understanding 8085: A Gateway to Embedded Mastery
At Piemb Systech, we go back to the roots of embedded system design by exploring one of the most iconic microprocessors ever created – the Intel 8085.

Explore now:https://piembsystech.com/8085-microprocessor/

Switching topics to I/O and game controller support, this week we look briefly at the PIA for Project Ember

The Ember PIA — Initial Design Part 1: Peripheral Interface Adapter
https://skicat.medium.com/21f7f4abb2e8

So when you have a bunch of jellybean JFETs (2N5457), time to burn, and a handful of 1uF bipolar capacitors…
What to do..

I decided to build a simple amplifier Although many find JFETs aren’t quite as intuitive as a regular BJTs, they’re not THAT scary and they’re easily biased, using a megaohm sized resistor from the gate to ground.

To be able to do some more accurate calculations, I decided to measure the maximum drain current, IDSS, and the negative Gate-Source cut-off (pinch off) voltage, as they can vary significantly even between devices even from the same batch.

A fun evening in the lab

This weekend was special: yesterday the baltic countries: Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia, disconnected from the Russian/Belarus 50Hz power grid, going ‘island mode’, controlling the 50Hz grid frequency themselves.

After more than a day of different stability tests, this afternoon, just before 13:00 CET, a connection to the European grid was established via Poland, so now the the three countries are in 50Hz sync with Europe.

I observed a small, undramatic, ‘burp’ in the frequency at the time of the event, and my wall socket is now in full sync with the measurement in Estonia, provided by #sympower️

Occasionally you come across a rescue scenario: it was literally me or the dumpster… So I adopted it, I now have a 20GHz frequency counter…

The 5361B was never made for normal RF use, its primary application is analysis of pulsed radars. It does, however, fully support CW measurements, so although somewhat bulky, it’s a nice instrument to have around in the lab

#Easterquiz, what is this?

Correct answer and a demo will follow one of these days