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Bench Talk for Design Engineers | The Official Blog of Mouser Electronics

Michael Parks, P.E. is the co-founder of Green Shoe Garage, a custom electronics design studio and embedded security research firm located in Western Maryland. He produces the Gears of Resistance Podcast to help raise public awareness of technical and scientific matters. Michael is also a licensed Professional Engineer in the state of Maryland and holds a Master’s degree in systems engineering from Johns Hopkins University.

Beyond Top Secret: The Tech Behind Santa’s Sleigh

On December 20, 2019 in All, RF, Sensors, Wireless by Mike Parks

Santa Claus has got to be one of the most tech-savvy people in the world. Surely his sleigh is packed with cutting-edge electronics to ensure his success. While the exact specifications of his mobile command center are safely locked away at the North Pole, we can make some assumptions about the tech onboard.

Tagged With: 5G, autonomous vehicle, drones, FLIR, GNSS, GPS, imaging sensors, Intel, LIDAR, Neural Compute Stick 2, NSC, Santa sleigh, V2I, V2V

A Look at Space Stations of the Past, Present, and Future

On April 19, 2019 in All by Mike Parks

The exploration and long-term settlement of our solar system will be entirely different from European colonization. The extreme environment of space, the vast distances, lack of indigenous resources, and the act of leaving Earth’s surface will present challenges unique to our “star-ward” journeys.

Tagged With: Harsh Environments, Space

Edge Computing and the Internet of Things

On November 30, 2018 in All, IoT by Mike Parks

Edge computing enables IoT systems to not only reduce the amount of data they need to process but also be more judicious in what data is transmitted to the network.

Tagged With: AI algorithms, Edge Computing, Field Programmable Gate Array, Fog computing, FPGA, Internet of Things, IoT, ML algorithms

RESTful APIs and Moving Data Across the Internet of Things

On November 29, 2018 in All, IoT by Mike Parks

RESTful APIs are rapidly becoming a preferred method for IoT devices to communicate given that they are highly flexible, scalable, portable, capable of handling multiple data interchange formats, arguably easier to develop with, and offer better performance than some alternatives.

Tagged With: Application Programming Interface, Internet of Things, IoT, Representational State Transfer, REST, REST based IoT, REST technology, RESTful APIs

Wi-Fi Mesh and the Internet of Things

On November 28, 2018 in All, IoT by Mike Parks

Using Wi-Fi mesh networking to support seamless, decentralized communication in IoT and IIoT could remove many of the roadblocks to achieving Industry 4.0.

Tagged With: IIoT, Industrial Internet of Things, Industry 4.0, IoT, Mesh network, Wi-Fi Mesh, Wireless mesh networking

Pull Up Your Pins: How to Size Pull-up Resistors

On October 31, 2018 in All, Circuit Protection by Mike Parks

Whether to prevent floating I/O pins on an MCU or to provide an interface between two circuits, pull-up resistors are a necessity. But what size resistor should you use?

Tagged With: Open drain, Open drain applications, Open drain topology, Pull-up resistors, Resistors

Mouser’s STEAMy Summer: Part 3

On October 19, 2018 in All, Dev Tools, Maker, Sensors, STEAM, Student Central, Summer Fun by Mike Parks

For part 3 of “Mouser’s STEAMy Summer” series, we will go through each step to build the circuit and program the Arduino MKR1000 for your ultraviolet (UV) monitor and alert project so that you and your young, aspiring engineer can protect your family when you’re out enjoying the sun.

Tagged With: Arduino MKR1000, Bill of materials, BOM, Breadboard, Cloud, Google Sheets , Li-Po battery, Lithium polymer, Sensors, Si1145, Silicon Labs, TDK Corporation, Ultraviolet radiation, UV monitor and alert project

Mouser’s STEAMy Summer: Part 2

On October 17, 2018 in All, Dev Tools, STEAM, Student Central, Summer Fun by Mike Parks

In part 1 of our STEAMy summer blog, we talked about the resources available for parents and kids to explore STEAM topics so that they can develop hands-on embedded electronics skills through project-based learning. Now in part 2, we will dive into designing and coding an UV monitor and alert buzzer.

Tagged With: Arduino, BeagleBoard, Bill of materials, BOB, BOM, Breadboard, Breakout board, Dev boards, DIY, Do-it-yourself, Embedded electronics, LaunchPad, Li-Po battery , Lithium polymer battery, Maker projects, Mouser apps, Nucleo, Sensors, STEAM, STMicroelectronics, Summer project, Sun, TI, Ultraviolet radiation, USB drivers, UV radiation

Mouser’s STEAMy Summer: Part 1 of 3

On August 22, 2018 in All, Dev Tools, Maker, Open Source, Sensors, STEAM, Student Central, Summer Fun by Mike Parks

This STEAM-inspired three-article series will explore the available resources to assist you and your kids on a maker’s adventure and walk you through an embedded electronics project. We will cover the design, build, and code for the project as well as discuss how the data from the project can be useful to develop analytical and critical thinking skills.

Tagged With: Arduino, Art, BeagleBoard, Bill of materials, BOB, BOM, Breakout board, Connectors, Development boards, DIY, EagleCAD, Embedded electronics, Engineering, GPIO pins, Hardware, Input/output voltage, KiCAD, LaunchPad, Maker projects, Mathematics , Microcontroller platform, Microsoft Office Add-ins, Mouser app, Mouser apps, Mouser Part Search Add-in, Mouser.com, Nucleo, Open source, Science, Sensors, Software, STEAM, STMicroelectronics, Summer project, Technology, TI, Universal Serial Bus, USB drivers, Windows

Digital Twinning and the Future of Transportation Safety

On April 24, 2018 in All, Computing, Industrial, IoT, Quality, Sensors by Mike Parks

The tragedy that befell Southwest Flight 1380 in April 2018 is thankfully a rare event in modern air travel. Digital twining is a promising new technological concept that could soon help the transportation industry hone safety measures.

Tagged With: AI, Digital twin, Harsh environment, Microfracture, Predictive maintenance, Real-time monitoring, Southwest Airlines flight 1380, Transportation safety, What-if analysis

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