A Butterworth filter is a signal processing filter that has an extremely flat frequency response in the passband. It is referred to as a maximally flat magnitude filter and is commonly used in both analog and digital audio crossover filters in home, commercial, and car stereo systems. Who Invented the Butterworth Filter? British engineer, Stephen …
An electrical shunt is a component used to transfer currents away from parts of a circuit. Components used as shunts include the resistor, capacitor, diode, and gas discharge tube. The main uses for electrical shunts are to reduce current load in meters, filter out high frequencies, and protect circuits from surges. The term shunt is …
MSK (Minimum Shift Keying) is a type of continuous frequency shift modulation that is used to transfer radio signals from satellites and radio broadcasting to mobile devices and vice versa. Unlike other forms of frequency modulation, MSK produces a half sine wave that limits problems associated with non-linear distortion. What is GMSK? GMSK (Gaussian Minimum …
Mobile Satellite Service (MSS) is a type of mobile telephone service that depends on portable terrestrial satellites rather than fixed terrestrial satellites that are also known as cell phone towers. Portable terrestrial satellites are similar to cell phone towers, but can be mounted on moving vehicles such as cars, ships, and airplanes, and individual users …
An isolation transformer is made of two copper coils that are wound around each other and are each supplied by their own power source. While the term “isolation transformer” technically refers to any transformer, it is specifically a transformer that isolates a circuit from an alternating current. An isolation transformer does this by separating two …
FCC ID stands for Federal Communications Commission Identification. An FCC ID is the number found in all computer hardware components. FCC ID numbers, usually found on the circuit boards, are helpful in finding information about the manufacturers of the hardware devices. An FCC ID has 2 elements. The first is a three-character Grantee Code which …
Uplink refers to a transmission of data in which data flows from a ground-based transmitter to an orbital satellite receiver. Uplink is used to send data to a satellite in Earth’s orbit in order to make changes to the way the satellite functions or simply redirect data to another ground-based receiver. Uplink is used in …
A galvanic isolator is any device that connects two circuits together without allowing electricity to flow directly from one circuit to the other. Instead of transferring electricity through direct contact, galvanic isolators use other means, such as electromagnetism, mechanical devices, optical systems, or acoustic systems to convert the electricity into another form of energy, transfer …
Junction gate Field-Effect Transistor (JFET) is also known as JUGFET. The JFET is the most simple type of field effect transistor currently in use and has either voltage controlled resistance or an electronically controlled switch. When using a JFET, the electric charge flows in a semiconducting channel that is located between the source and drain …
A spark-gap transmitter is a mechanism for producing radio signals. It has been the primary radio transmission device during the early years of radio technology. It was soon superseded by other transmitters due to its discontinuous radio wave production and widely varying frequencies. How a Spark-Grap Transmitter Works A spark gap transmitter is basically composed …