Although radios have become less and less of a household commodity due to television, Internet, and media players, they are still used on a daily basis by millions of people worldwide. We tend to take these little devices, which we find in our cars, offices, or homes, for granted, but rarely think about how they actually …
A thyristor is a solid state semiconductor device that consists of four alternating layers of N-type and P-type material. Many sources consider thyristors to be the same as Silicon Controlled Rectifiers (SCRs). In some cases they are defined as a large group of devices – the eligibility criterion being that the device should consist of …
The feedhorn is the part of a satellite dish system which gathers the reflected signal from the dish and focuses it towards the LNB. It is a type of horn antenna that is deployed to convey radio signals between the transceiver and the reflector antenna. Horn antennas basically effect a transition between waves propagating through …
A BUC (Block Upconverter) is a device that converts radio signals from a lower frequency to a higher frequency. BUCs are used in satellite uplink transmissions in order to transfer data from a ground based unit to a satellite in orbit that will then be redirected to another ground based unit in separate location. Likewise, …
BGA (Ball Grid Array) is one type of packaging for surface-mounted integrated electronic circuits (integrated circuits whose components are actually ‘mounted’ or affixed on the surface of the printed circuit semiconductor board). A BGA package simply looks like a thin wafer of semi-conducting material that has circuit components on only one face. The Ball Grid …
A clock generator is a type of circuit that produces a continuous, synchronized electrical signal for timing purposes in a wide variety of devices. Because many high end electronic equipment require that electrical signals and mechanical devices work together in an efficient manner, clock generators are often a necessary component in many devices in order …
Voltage is the measurement for the electrical force between two points that drives the current. More specifically, voltage is the measure of the energy per unit charge that is equal to the electrical potential difference between two measured points. Volts are normally measured by a voltmeter. Voltage drop is the reduction in voltage in an …
The term wire gauge refers to a measurement of what the diameter of a wire is. This measure can then be used to determine what the electrical resistance, weight per unit of length, and the amount of current that can safely be carried by the wire. There are two internationally accepted measures for wire gauge, …
An opto isolator is an electronic device that prevents high voltages from components in one side of a circuit from damaging or interfering with components on the other side of the same circuit. Opto isolators regulate voltage levels by converting electricity into a beam of light. This prevents voltage spikes from impacting more than a single …
Backward Error Correction, also known as an “Automatic Repeat Request” is an error correction technique in which a receiving device sends a request to the source device to re-send information. Backward Error Correction is used in situations where some of the transmitted data has been lost or corrupted during transit and the transmitting device must …