#Low-current clock oscillators

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Low-current clock oscillators, Abracon timing device, microprocessor crystal

ABS06-107 Series 32.768 kHz ±20 ppm 4 pF -40 to +80 °C SMT Low ESR Crystal

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Principles of anti-interference design for printed circuit boards

Principles of anti-interference design for printed circuit boards

Layout of power cord:

1. According to the current size, try to widen the wire routing as much as possible.

2. The direction of power and ground wires should be consistent with the direction of data transmission.

3. A decoupling capacitor of 10-100 μ F should be connected to the power input terminal of the printed circuit board.

Layout of secondary ground wire:

1. Separate digital from analog.

2. The grounding wire should be thickened as much as possible, and at least 3 times the allowable current on the printed board should be passed, generally up to 2-3mm.

3. The grounding wire should form a dead loop as much as possible, which can reduce the potential difference of the grounding wire.

Three decoupling capacitor configuration:

1. The input end of the printed circuit board power supply is connected to an electrolytic capacitor with a temperature of 10-100 μ F. It would be even better if it could be greater than 100 μ F.

2. A 0.01~0.1 μ F ceramic capacitor is connected across the VCC and GND of each integrated chip. If space does not allow, a 1-10 μ F tantalum capacitor can be configured for every 4-10 chips.

3. Devices with weak anti noise capabilities and large changes in turn off current, as well as ROM and RAM, should have capacitors indirectly decoupled at VCC and GND.

4. Install a 0.01 μ F decoupling capacitor on the reset terminal "RESET" of the microcontroller.

5. The lead wires of decoupling capacitors should not be too long, especially for high-frequency bypass capacitors that cannot have leads.

Four component configuration:

1. The clock input terminals of the clock generator, crystal oscillator, and CPU should be as close and far away from other low-frequency devices as possible.

2. Try to keep low current circuits and high current circuits as far away from logic circuits as possible.

3. The position and orientation of the printed circuit board in the chassis should ensure that the components with high heat generation are located above.

Separate the wiring of five power lines, AC lines, and signal lines

Power lines and AC lines should be arranged on boards different from signal lines as much as possible, otherwise they should be routed separately from signal lines.

Six other principles:

1. Adding a pull-up resistor of around 10K to the bus is beneficial for anti-interference.

2. When wiring, try to have all address lines of the same length and as short as possible.

3. The lines on both sides of the PCB board should be arranged vertically as much as possible to prevent mutual interference.

4. The size of the decoupling capacitor is generally taken as C=1/F, where F is the data transmission frequency.

5. Unused pins can be connected to VCC through pull-up resistors (around 10K) or connected in parallel with the used pins.

6. Heating components (such as high-power resistors) should avoid devices that are easily affected by temperature (such as electrolytic capacitors).

7. Using full decoding has stronger anti-interference ability than line decoding.  

To suppress the interference of high-power devices on the digital element circuits of microcontrollers and the interference of digital circuits on analog circuits, a high-frequency choke loop is used when connecting the digital ground to the common ground point. This is a cylindrical ferrite magnetic material with several holes in the axial direction. A thicker copper wire is passed through the holes and wound one or two times. This device can be regarded as having zero impedance for low-frequency signals and as an inductor for high-frequency signal interference Due to the high DC resistance of inductors, they cannot be used as high-frequency chokes

When signal lines outside the printed circuit board are connected, shielded cables are usually used. For high-frequency and digital signals, both ends of the shielded cable should be grounded. For low-frequency analog signals, it is better to ground one end of the shielded cable.

Circuits that are highly sensitive to noise and interference, or circuits with particularly severe high-frequency noise, should be shielded with a metal cover. The effect of ferromagnetic shielding on high-frequency noise at 500KHz is not significant, while the shielding effect of thin copper skin is better. When fixing the shielding cover with screws, attention should be paid to the corrosion caused by the potential difference when different materials come into contact

Seven good decoupling capacitors

The decoupling capacitor between the power supply and ground of an integrated circuit has two functions: on the one hand, it serves as the energy storage capacitor of the integrated circuit, and on the other hand, it bypasses the high-frequency noise of the device. The typical decoupling capacitance value in digital circuits is 0.1 μ F. The typical value of the distributed inductance of this capacitor is 5 μ H. A 0.1 μ F decoupling capacitor has a distributed inductance of 5 μ H, and its parallel resonance frequency is approximately 7MHz. This means that it has a good decoupling effect on noise below 10MHz and almost no effect on noise above 40MHz.

Capacitors with 1 μ F and 10 μ F have a parallel resonance frequency above 20MHz, which results in better removal of high-frequency noise.

Every 10 or so integrated circuits require the addition of one charging and discharging capacitor, or one energy storage capacitor, with an optional range of around 10 μ F. It is best not to use electrolytic capacitors. Electrolytic capacitors are made by rolling two layers of thin film together, and this rolled up structure appears as inductance at high frequencies. Use tantalum capacitors or polycarbonate capacitors.

The selection of decoupling capacitors is not strict, and can be based on C=1/F, that is, 0.1 μ F for 10MHz and 0.01 μ F for 100MHz.

When welding, the pins of the decoupling capacitor should be as short as possible, as long pins can cause the decoupling capacitor to self resonate. For example, when the pin length of a 1000pF ceramic capacitor is 6.3mm, the self resonant frequency is about 35MHz, and when the pin length is 12.6mm, it is 32MHz.

Eight experiences in reducing noise and electromagnetic interference

Principles of anti-interference design for printed circuit boards

1. The method of connecting resistors in series can be used to reduce the jumping rate of the upper and lower edges of the control circuit.

2. Try to make the potential around the clock signal circuit approach zero, circle the clock area with a ground wire, and keep the clock line as short as possible.

3. The I/O driver circuit should be located as close as possible to the edge of the printed board.

4. Do not hang the output terminal of the unused gate circuit, and the positive input terminal of the unused operational amplifier should be grounded, and the negative input terminal should be connected to the output terminal.

5. Try to use 45 ° polylines instead of 90 ° polylines for wiring to reduce the transmission and coupling of high-frequency signals to the outside world.

6. The clock line perpendicular to the I/O line has less interference than parallel to the I/O line.

6. The pins of the components should be as short as possible.

8. Do not trace wires under the quartz crystal oscillator and under components that are particularly sensitive to noise.

9. Do not form a current loop around the ground wire of weak signal circuits and low-frequency circuits.

10. When necessary, add ferrite high-frequency choke coils to the circuit to separate signals, noise, power, and ground.

A via on the printed circuit board causes a capacitance of approximately 0.6pF; The packaging material of an integrated circuit itself causes a distributed capacitance of 2pF~10pF; A connector on a circuit board with a distributed inductance of 520 μ H; A dual in-line 24 pin integrated circuit socket with a distributed inductance of 4 μ H~18 μ H.

Layout of power cord:

1. According to the current size, try to widen the wire routing as much as possible.

2. The direction of power and ground wires should be consistent with the direction of data transmission.

3. A decoupling capacitor of 10-100 μ F should be connected to the power input terminal of the printed circuit board.

Layout of secondary ground wire:

1. Separate digital from analog.

2. The grounding wire should be thickened as much as possible, and at least 3 times the allowable current on the printed board should be passed, generally up to 2-3mm.

3. The grounding wire should form a dead loop as much as possible, which can reduce the potential difference of the grounding wire.

Three decoupling capacitor configuration:

1. The input end of the printed circuit board power supply is connected to an electrolytic capacitor with a temperature of 10-100 μ F. It would be even better if it could be greater than 100 μ F.

2. A 0.01~0.1 μ F ceramic capacitor is connected across the VCC and GND of each integrated chip. If space does not allow, a 1-10 μ F tantalum capacitor can be configured for every 4-10 chips.

3. Devices with weak anti noise capabilities and large changes in turn off current, as well as ROM and RAM, should have capacitors indirectly decoupled at VCC and GND.

4. Install a 0.01 μ F decoupling capacitor on the reset terminal "RESET" of the microcontroller.

5. The lead wires of decoupling capacitors should not be too long, especially for high-frequency bypass capacitors that cannot have leads.

Four component configuration:

1. The clock input terminals of the clock generator, crystal oscillator, and CPU should be as close and far away from other low-frequency devices as possible.

2. Try to keep low current circuits and high current circuits as far away from logic circuits as possible.

3. The position and orientation of the printed circuit board in the chassis should ensure that the components with high heat generation are located above.

Separate the wiring of five power lines, AC lines, and signal lines

Power lines and AC lines should be arranged on boards different from signal lines as much as possible, otherwise they should be routed separately from signal lines.

Six other principles:

1. Adding a pull-up resistor of around 10K to the bus is beneficial for anti-interference.

2. When wiring, try to have all address lines of the same length and as short as possible.

3. The lines on both sides of the PCB board should be arranged vertically as much as possible to prevent mutual interference.

4. The size of the decoupling capacitor is generally taken as C=1/F, where F is the data transmission frequency.

5. Unused pins can be connected to VCC through pull-up resistors (around 10K) or connected in parallel with the used pins.

6. Heating components (such as high-power resistors) should avoid devices that are easily affected by temperature (such as electrolytic capacitors).

7. Using full decoding has stronger anti-interference ability than line decoding.  

To suppress the interference of high-power devices on the digital element circuits of microcontrollers and the interference of digital circuits on analog circuits, a high-frequency choke loop is used when connecting the digital ground to the common ground point. This is a cylindrical ferrite magnetic material with several holes in the axial direction. A thicker copper wire is passed through the holes and wound one or two times. This device can be regarded as having zero impedance for low-frequency signals and as an inductor for high-frequency signal interference Due to the high DC resistance of inductors, they cannot be used as high-frequency chokes

When signal lines outside the printed circuit board are connected, shielded cables are usually used. For high-frequency and digital signals, both ends of the shielded cable should be grounded. For low-frequency analog signals, it is better to ground one end of the shielded cable.

Circuits that are highly sensitive to noise and interference, or circuits with particularly severe high-frequency noise, should be shielded with a metal cover. The effect of ferromagnetic shielding on high-frequency noise at 500KHz is not significant, while the shielding effect of thin copper skin is better. When fixing the shielding cover with screws, attention should be paid to the corrosion caused by the potential difference when different materials come into contact

Seven good decoupling capacitors

The decoupling capacitor between the power supply and ground of an integrated circuit has two functions: on the one hand, it serves as the energy storage capacitor of the integrated circuit, and on the other hand, it bypasses the high-frequency noise of the device. The typical decoupling capacitance value in digital circuits is 0.1 μ F. The typical value of the distributed inductance of this capacitor is 5 μ H. A decoupling capacitor with 0.1 μ F has a distributed inductance of 5 μ H, and its parallel resonance frequency is approximately 7MHz. This means that it has a good decoupling effect on noise below 10MHz and almost no effect on noise above 40MHz.

Capacitors with 1 μ F and 10 μ F have a parallel resonance frequency above 20MHz, which results in better removal of high-frequency noise.

Every 10 or so integrated circuits require the addition of one charging and discharging capacitor, or one energy storage capacitor, with an optional range of around 10 μ F. It is best not to use electrolytic capacitors. Electrolytic capacitors are made by rolling two layers of thin film together, and this rolled up structure appears as inductance at high frequencies. Use tantalum capacitors or polycarbonate capacitors.

The selection of decoupling capacitors is not strict, and can be based on C=1/F, that is, 0.1 μ F for 10MHz and 0.01 μ F for 100MHz.

When welding, the pins of the decoupling capacitor should be as short as possible, as long pins can cause the decoupling capacitor to self resonate. For example, when the pin length of a 1000pF ceramic capacitor is 6.3mm, the self resonant frequency is about 35MHz, and when the pin length is 12.6mm, it is 32MHz.

Eight experiences in reducing noise and electromagnetic interference

Principles of anti-interference design for printed circuit boards

1. The method of connecting resistors in series can be used to reduce the jumping rate of the upper and lower edges of the control circuit.

2. Try to make the potential around the clock signal circuit approach zero, circle the clock area with a ground wire, and keep the clock line as short as possible.

3. The I/O driver circuit should be located as close as possible to the edge of the printed board.

4. Do not hang the output terminal of the unused gate circuit, and the positive input terminal of the unused operational amplifier should be grounded, and the negative input terminal should be connected to the output terminal.

5. Try to use 45 ° polylines instead of 90 ° polylines for wiring to reduce the transmission and coupling of high-frequency signals to the outside world.

6. The clock line perpendicular to the I/O line has less interference than parallel to the I/O line.

6. The pins of the components should be as short as possible.

8. Do not trace wires under the quartz crystal oscillator and under components that are particularly sensitive to noise.

9. Do not form a current loop around the ground wire of weak signal circuits and low-frequency circuits.

10. When necessary, add ferrite high-frequency choke coils to the circuit to separate signals, noise, power, and ground.

A via on the printed circuit board causes a capacitance of approximately 0.6pF; The packaging material of an integrated circuit itself causes a distributed capacitance of 2pF~10pF; A connector on a circuit board with a distributed inductance of 520 μ H; A dual in-line 24 pin integrated circuit socket with a distributed inductance of 4 μ H~18 μ H.

Anti interference design of digital circuits and microcontrollers

In electronic system design, in order to avoid detours and save time, it is necessary to fully consider and meet the requirements of anti-interference, and avoid errors

After the design is completed, proceed with anti-interference remedial measures. There are three basic elements that form interference:

(1) Interference source refers to the components, equipment or signals that generate interference, described in mathematical language as follows: du/dt, di/dt is large ground

Fang is the source of interference. For example, lightning, relays, thyristors, motors, high-frequency clocks, etc. can all become sources of interference.

(2) The propagation path refers to the pathway or medium through which interference propagates from the interference source to the sensitive device. The typical interference propagation path is through

The conduction of wires and radiation in space.

(3) Sensitive devices refer to objects that are easily disturbed. For example: A/D, D/A converters, microcontrollers, digital ICs, weak signal amplifiers

Equipment, etc.

The basic principle of anti-interference design is to suppress interference sources, cut off interference propagation paths, and improve the anti-interference performance of sensitive devices.

(Similar to the prevention of infectious diseases)

1. Suppress interference sources

Suppressing interference sources means minimizing their du/dt and di/dt as much as possible. This is the top priority and most important principle in anti-interference design, often achieving twice the result with half the effort. Reducing the du/dt of the interference source is mainly achieved by paralleling capacitors at both ends of the interference source. Reducing the di/dt of the interference source is achieved by connecting an inductor or resistor in series with the interference source circuit and adding a freewheeling diode.

The common measures to suppress interference sources are as follows:

(1) Add a freewheeling diode to the relay coil to eliminate the back electromotive force interference generated when the coil is disconnected. Adding only a freewheeling diode will cause a delay in the disconnection time of the relay, while adding a voltage regulator diode will allow the relay to operate more times per unit time.

(2) Connect a spark suppression circuit (usually an RC series circuit, with a resistance of several K to tens of K and a capacitance of 0.01uF) in parallel at both ends of the relay contact to reduce the impact of electric sparks.

(3) Add a filtering circuit to the motor, paying attention to keeping the capacitor and inductor leads as short as possible.

(4) Each IC on the circuit board should be connected in parallel with a high-frequency capacitor of 0.01 μ F to 0.1 μ F to reduce the impact of the IC on the power supply. Pay attention to the wiring of high-frequency capacitors. The connection should be close to the power supply end and as thick and short as possible. Otherwise, it will increase the equivalent series resistance of the capacitor, which will affect the filtering effect.

(5) Avoid 90 degree creases during wiring to reduce high-frequency noise emissions.

(6) Connect RC suppression circuit at both ends of the thyristor to reduce the noise generated by the thyristor (which may cause breakdown of the thyristor in severe cases).

According to the propagation path of interference, it can be divided into two categories: conducted interference and radiated interference.

The so-called conducted interference refers to the interference that propagates through wires to sensitive devices. The frequency bands of high-frequency interference noise and useful signals are different, which can be cut off by adding filters on the wires to cut off the propagation of high-frequency interference noise. Sometimes, isolation optocouplers can also be added to solve the problem. The harm of power noise is the greatest, and special attention should be paid to handling it. The so-called radiation interference refers to the interference that propagates to sensitive devices through space radiation. The general solution is to increase the distance between the interference source and the sensitive device, isolate them with a ground wire, and add a shield on the sensitive device.

The common measures to cut off the interference propagation path are as follows:

(1) Fully consider the impact of power supply on the microcontroller. If the power supply is done well, the anti-interference of the entire circuit is solved by half. Many microcontrollers are sensitive to power noise, and it is necessary to add filtering circuits or voltage regulators to the microcontroller power supply to reduce the interference of power noise on the microcontroller. For example, a π - shaped filtering circuit can be composed of magnetic beads and capacitors. Of course, when conditions are not high, a 100 Ω resistor can also be used instead of magnetic beads.

(2) If the I/O port of the microcontroller is used to control noisy devices such as motors, isolation should be added between the I/O port and the noise source (by adding a π - shaped filtering circuit). Control noise components such as motors, and isolate them between the I/O port and the noise source by adding a π - shaped filtering circuit.

(3) Pay attention to the crystal oscillator wiring. The crystal oscillator and microcontroller pins should be as close as possible, and the clock area should be isolated with a ground wire. The crystal oscillator housing should be grounded and fixed. This measure can solve many difficult problems.

(4) Reasonable partitioning of circuit boards, such as strong and weak signals, digital and analog signals. Try to keep interference sources (such as motors and relays) as far away as possible from sensitive components (such as microcontrollers).

(5) Isolate the digital area from the analog area with a ground wire, separate the digital ground from the analog ground, and finally connect to the power ground at one point. The wiring of A/D and D/A chips is also based on this principle, and the manufacturer has considered this requirement when allocating the pin arrangement of A/D and D/A chips.

(6) The ground wires of microcontrollers and high-power devices should be separately grounded to reduce mutual interference. High power devices should be placed at the edge of the circuit board as much as possible.

(7) The use of anti-interference components such as magnetic beads, magnetic rings, power filters, and shielding covers in key areas such as microcontroller I/O ports, power lines, and circuit board connection lines can significantly improve the anti-interference performance of the circuit.

3. Improve the anti-interference performance of sensitive devices

Improving the anti-interference performance of sensitive devices refers to minimizing the picking up of interference noise from the perspective of sensitive devices, as well as methods for recovering from abnormal states as soon as possible.

The common measures to improve the anti-interference performance of sensitive devices are as follows:

(1) When wiring, try to minimize the area of the loop to reduce induced noise.

(2) When wiring, the power and ground wires should be as thick as possible. In addition to reducing pressure drop, it is more important to reduce coupling noise.

(3) For idle I/O ports of microcontrollers, do not hang them in the air. They should be grounded or powered on. The idle terminals of other ICs can be grounded or powered on without changing the system logic.

(4) The use of power monitoring and watchdog circuits for microcontrollers, such as IMP809, IMP706, IMP813, X25043, X25045, etc., can significantly improve the anti-interference performance of the entire circuit.

(5) On the premise that the speed can meet the requirements, try to reduce the crystal oscillator of the microcontroller and choose low-speed digital circuits as much as possible.

(6) IC devices should be soldered directly onto the circuit board as much as possible, with less use of IC sockets.

Let me first share my experience in this area:

In terms of software:

1. I am used to clearing all unused code space to "0" because it is equivalent to NOP and can be reset when the program runs away;

2. Add a few NOPs before the jump instruction, with the same purpose of 1;

3. When there is no hardware WatchDog, software simulation of WatchDog can be used to monitor the operation of the program;

4. When dealing with the adjustment or setting of external device parameters, in order to prevent errors caused by interference, the parameters can be resent at regular intervals, which can help the external devices recover as soon as possible;

5. Anti interference in communication can be achieved by adding data check bits and adopting a 3-to-2 or 5-to-3 strategy;

6. When there are communication lines, such as I ^ 2C and three wire systems, we have found that setting the Data line, CLK line, and INH line to high normally results in better anti-interference performance than setting them to low.

In terms of hardware:

1. The grounding and power lines are definitely important!

2. The disconnection of the route;

3. Separation of numbers and models;

4. Each digital component requires a 104 capacitor between ground and power supply;

5. In applications with relays, especially at high currents, to prevent interference from relay contact sparks on the circuit, a 104 and diode can be connected between the relay coils, and a 472 capacitor can be indirectly connected between the contacts and the starting point. The effect is good!

6. To prevent crosstalk between I/O ports, I/O ports can be isolated using methods such as diode isolation, gate circuit isolation, optocoupler isolation, electromagnetic isolation, etc;

7. Of course, the anti-interference ability of multi-layer panels is definitely better than that of single panels, but the cost is several times higher.

8. Choosing a device with strong anti-interference ability is more effective than any other method, and I think this should be the most important point. Because the inherent shortcomings of devices are difficult to compensate for through external methods, but often those with strong anti-interference ability are more expensive, while those with poor anti-interference ability are cheaper, just like Taiwan's Dongdong is cheap but its performance is greatly reduced! It mainly depends on your application scenarios  

Printed circuit board (PC8) is a supporting component for circuit components and devices in electronic products. It provides electrical connections between circuit components and devices. With the rapid development of electrical technology, the density of PGB is getting higher and higher. The quality of PCB design has a significant impact on its anti-interference ability. Therefore, when designing PCBs, it is necessary to follow the general principles of PCB design and meet the requirements of anti-interference design.

[poojanegi99945]

Automated Grid Trading Bots in Forex: Exploring the Future of Trading

In the rapidly changing landscape of Forex trading, automated systems have emerged as a transformative force. Grid trading bots, in particular, have gained widespread recognition for their precision in managing market volatility. In this blog, we’ll explore the concept of automated grid trading bots in Forex and examine how advancements in Crypto Grid Trading Bot Development are further refining these strategies.

Understanding Grid Trading Bots

A grid trading bot is an automated tool designed to place a series of buy and sell orders at predetermined price levels, creating a "grid" of orders. The main objective of this strategy is to take advantage of price fluctuations within a defined range, enabling traders to earn profits from both rising and falling trends. The bot automatically executes trades as the market price crosses the grid levels, ensuring no trading opportunities are overlooked.

How Grid Trading Bots Work in Forex

In Forex trading, grid bots are programmed to set up multiple buy and sell orders at fixed intervals around the current market price. These intervals, or grid levels, are defined by the trader based on their strategy. For instance, if a trader sets grid levels at every 10 pips, the bot will place buy orders every 10 pips below the market price and sell orders every 10 pips above it.

This method is particularly effective in range-bound markets where the price fluctuates within a certain range without a clear trend. The grid bot capitalizes on these price oscillations by continuously buying low and selling high, generating profits as the market moves back and forth within the grid.

Benefits of Automated Grid Trading Bots in Forex

1. Continuous Operation: 

The Forex market operates 24 hours a day, five days a week. An automated grid trading bot can monitor and trade the market continuously, ensuring no potential profit opportunities are missed, even when the trader is not actively monitoring the market.

2. Reduced Emotional Influence: 

A key benefit of using a grid trading bot is its ability to eliminate emotions from the trading process. The bot adheres to a set strategy, making trades based on logical rules rather than emotional reactions, which can frequently result in poor decisions.

3. Adaptability to Market Conditions: 

Grid trading bots can be fine-tuned to suit different market conditions. Traders can adjust the grid intervals, order sizes, and risk management settings to optimize the bot’s performance for various trading environments.

4. Backtesting and Strategy Optimization: 

Traders can test their grid trading strategies on historical market data to evaluate their effectiveness. This backtesting allows for the optimization of grid settings and the development of more robust trading strategies.

The Role of Grid Trading Bot in Forex

While grid trading bots have traditionally been associated with Forex, the rise of Crypto Grid Trading Bot Development has brought new possibilities to the table. Cryptocurrency markets share similarities with Forex in terms of volatility and round-the-clock trading, making grid bots an excellent fit for both markets.

Developments in Crypto Grid Trading Bot Development have introduced advanced features that are now being adopted in Forex trading as well. These include:

- Cross-Market Trading: 

Modern grid bots can be programmed to operate across both Forex and cryptocurrency markets, offering traders the ability to diversify their portfolios and hedge against market risks.

- Enhanced Analytics: 

Advanced crypto grid bots come equipped with real-time analytics and performance tracking, enabling traders to monitor the effectiveness of their strategies and make data-driven adjustments.

- Customizable Parameters: 

With the advancement of Crypto Grid Trading Bot Development, traders now have greater control over grid settings, allowing for highly customized trading strategies that cater to specific market conditions and individual trading goals.

Challenges of Grid Trading Bots

Despite their advantages, grid trading bots are not without challenges. Traders must carefully manage risk, especially in trending markets where the price may break out of the grid range, leading to potential losses. Additionally, selecting a reliable and secure trading platform is crucial to avoid issues related to execution speed, slippage, and security.

Conclusion

Automated grid trading bots have revolutionized the approach to Forex trading, offering a systematic and disciplined way to capitalize on market movements. The integration of features from Crypto Grid Trading Bot Development has further enhanced these bots, making them more versatile and effective in navigating the complexities of both Forex and cryptocurrency markets.

As technology continues to evolve, the future of trading will likely see even more sophisticated grid bots, providing traders with powerful tools to optimize their strategies and maximize their returns. Whether you’re a Forex trader or involved in cryptocurrency, understanding the capabilities and limitations of grid trading bots is essential for leveraging their full potential.

[teardownit]

How does logic work? CD4060 Binary CounterHow does logic work? CD4060 Binary Counter

In the previous post (How does binary logic work? Shift registers), we controlled the CD40194 shift register modes by applying logical ones and zeros, high and low voltage levels, to its two control inputs, S1 and S0.

To do this, we assembled a simple circuit of two synchronous JK flip-flops on the CD4027 chip, which sequentially divides the frequency in half. In other words, it counts pulses in the binary number system.

What is a JK trigger, you may ask? We are familiar with the D flip-flop. It is synchronous; it reads the input state and saves it as the output state at the edge of the clock pulse.

And the RS flip-flop is asynchronous: a one at the reset input sets its output to zero, and a one at the specified input sets its output to one. When both inputs are zero, the output state does not change.

The JK flip-flop is synchronous and is similar to the RS flip-flop. It reacts to the input states only at the edge of the clock pulse. A high level at input J sets the flip-flop output to one, at input K to zero. At both inputs, J and K, it reverses the trigger state, dividing the clock frequency in half. And if the logic levels at both inputs are low, then the output state does not change.

Each press of the button switches the circuit from the previous state to the next one: 00 → 01 → 10 → 11 → 00, and so on.

So, the resulting circuit counts pulses! If one converts binary numbers to the decimal system, one gets 0 → 1 → 2 → 3 → 0...

If we'd like to count from 0 (000) to 7 (111), we'll need a third flip-flop; to count from 0 (0000) to 15 (1111), four flip-flops will be required, and so on. One flip-flop corresponds to one binary digit.

Our circuit has four familiar D flip-flops of two CD4013 microchips forming a four-bit binary counter.

This counter is clocked not by pressing a button but by a pulse generator on the NE555 integrated timer.

Our third example will be two music boxes with lighting effects assembled according to the same circuit diagram. See how interesting this is! The algorithm for switching lights is the same. Still, you can take LEDs of different colors, place them in different ways, and get completely different effects!

The CD4060 binary counter chip is used here. The basis of its internal structure is a chain of 14 flip-flops forming a 14-bit counter. Pin outputs of the chip are not available for all the digits, only from the fourth to the tenth and from the twelfth to the fourteenth.

So, the CD4060 chip allows one to divide the frequency into 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 512, 1024, 4096, 8192, and 16384. Huge numbers, right?

The CD4060 can be clocked from an external source via pin 11. But the chip also has a built-in clock generator. To enable it, just connect a capacitor and two resistors to pins 9, 10, and 11. This is exactly what is done in our diagram.

The oscillation period of the clock generator is set by a stage of capacitor C1, series-connected resistor R1, and potentiometer R3, allowing one to adjust the clock frequency and, subsequently, the speed of changing the lights.

The bases of transistors are connected to the outputs corresponding to frequency division by 32, 64, and 128, and these transistors toggle groups of LEDs. But should we connect the transistor's base directly to the microcircuit's logical output without a series resistor?

You should definitely avoid it if the transistor is connected to a circuit with a common emitter. Here, we have PNP transistors S9012 with the emitter circuit load. That means we have a circuit with a common collector. Such a circuit does not need a resistor to limit the base current of the transistor.

The LED groups will light up with a logical zero at the base of the transistor and turn off with a logical one.

The sequence of logical levels and lighting up groups of LEDs, numbered according to transistors Q1-Q3, is as follows: 000 → 001 → 010 → 011 → 100 → 101 → 110 → 000 321 → 32 → 31 → 3 → 21 → 2 → 1 → 321

Case 111, when none of the LEDs light up, is impossible in this circuit. More precisely, it happens so briefly that it's hard to notice.

Diodes D1–D3 and resistor R4 together form an OR logic element. As long as at least one of the outputs Q5, Q6, or Q7 is logic low, the reset input of the CD4060 chip is pulled to ground through one or more diodes.

As soon as the counter reaches logic ones on all three outputs we use, the diodes stop shunting the reset input, a high logic level appears on it, and the microcircuit resets all its flip-flops to a low level.

Then, a logical zero appears again at the reset input, and the counter restarts again.

We could've saved three diodes and a resistor by simply connecting Q8 to the reset input. Or just never use the reset input at all and let the counter tick from 0 to 32767 and then from zero again.

But then, after the sequence reaches phase 110 with just the group of LEDs connected to transistor Q1 lit, all the LEDs will go out until the counter reaches 1000, and if a reset occurs.

Our magic musical lantern won't be so beautiful working in such a way. Therefore, the developers added a 3OR gate with a resistor and three diodes.

The BJ1552 is a digital music chip in a transistor package, referred to as just a transistor in the diagram for simplicity's sake. A melody is saved in memory and played whenever the chip is powered on.

Transistor Q5, which serves as an audio amplifier, unlike Q1-Q3, is an NPN-type connected in a common-emitter circuit. A resistor is needed here to limit the base current, and it is built into the BJ1552 chip.

We have already encountered the CD4060 when assembling an electronic clock with a digital display. That circuit used the CD4060's ability to operate with a crystal frequency regulator.

In this case, a clock quartz is used; its resonant frequency is 32768 hertz, 2 to the 15th power. One needs to divide this frequency in half 15 times to get one pulse per second.

The CD4060 bifurcates the frequency only 14 times, so we needed an additional synchronous D-trigger U12A of the CD4013 chip for the fifteenth frequency division.

The SN74HC161N chip, on which the registers of our homemade microprocessor are built, is also a counter. But unlike the CD4060, it's only 4-bit, not 14.

But SN74HC161N is not just a counter but a synchronous latch register with a counter feature. Or, in other words, a counter with the ability to input the desired value.

If we wanted to write a value to the CD4060, we would need to reset it and apply the number of clock pulses equal to the value we want to write to the counter. And the SN74HC161N supports synchronous parallel writing over four wires.

Another thing is that the SN74HC161N has no built-in clock generator, so we've made a clock generator on two inverting Schmitt triggers of the SN74HC14N chip.

This generator is designed in the same way as the one built into the CD4060, and in the same way, it requires a timing capacitor and two resistors.

As you can see, there are many different digital chips, each with a unique set of useful functions. We can choose those chips that are best suited for our task. And if some function is missing, you can always find a way to implement it.

[g-nicerf]

LoRa LLCC68 module: Industrial-grade crystal oscillator +combined with advanced LoRa technology, achieving stable long-distance communication

The LoRa LLCC68 is a wireless RF module designed based on Semtech's LLCC68 RF chip. It adopts the new generation LoRa spread spectrum modulation technology for ultra-long-distance spread spectrum communication. The module features small size, ultra-low receive power consumption, strong anti-interference capability, and longer transmission distance compared to traditional modulation methods, making it suitable for various wireless communication applications in the Internet of Things (IoT) field. The LLCC68 module boasts a maximum sensitivity of -129dBm@LoRa, ultra-low receive current and sleep current, and the transmission power can be configured through software, with a maximum power of up to +22dBm. Compared to traditional modulation technologies, LoRa™ modulation technology has significant advantages in anti-blocking and selectivity, addressing the issue of traditional designs being unable to simultaneously balance distance, anti-interference, and power consumption.

Advantages of the LoRa LLCC68 module:

Increased communication range: The LLCC68 utilizes advanced LoRa modulation and demodulation technology, which may achieve greater communication range under similar conditions. This makes the LLCC68 more suitable for scenarios requiring long-distance communication.

Lower power consumption: The next-generation LLCC68 module features advanced low-power design, maintaining low power consumption while enabling long-distance communication. Through optimized power management and communication protocols, it achieves lower power consumption levels at the same transmission distance.

Higher data rates: The LLCC68 module supports higher data transmission rates compared to traditional options. In LoRa mode, it offers data rates ranging from 1.76kbps to 62.5kbps, while in FSK mode, it supports a maximum data rate of 300kbps. This higher data transmission capability is advantageous in applications requiring faster communication speeds.

Industrial-grade crystal oscillator: The LLCC68 module is equipped with an integrated 64kHz crystal oscillator combined with a high-precision crystal, providing a stable clock frequency to generate a reliable reference clock signal. This feature is essential for synchronizing data transmission and adjusting communication frequencies, thereby enhancing system stability. Additionally, it enables timed wake-ups of microcontrollers in low-power scenarios.

Compact size: The LLCC68 module boasts a small form factor, making it easy to integrate into various devices. With its rich interface options, developers can swiftly build wireless communication systems based on LoRa technology, enhancing versatility and flexibility.

Cost-effective: Despite its advanced features and performance, the LLCC68 module is competitively priced, offering excellent value for money. Its affordability enables developers to obtain high-quality wireless communication solutions at a lower cost, making it an attractive option for budget-conscious projects.

More communication frequency bands: The LLCC68 module typically supports a broader range of operating frequency bands (433/490/868/915 MHz, customizable from 150-960 MHz), allowing it to comply with regulations and spectrum requirements in different regions, providing greater flexibility.

Core technical advantages:

LLCC68 supports both LoRa mode and FSK mode simultaneously.

Compared to traditional small wireless products, LLCC68's FSK mode has higher sensitivity.

LLCC68's LoRa mode offers more comprehensive performance and solutions.

The LoRa Core LLCC68 can meet various wireless transmission needs in the market, including:

Existing FSK small wireless market

LoRa-based smart home applications

Industrial control scenarios requiring anti-interference, long-distance, and real-time communication

Choosing LLCC68: When projects demand higher performance in terms of communication range, power consumption, data rate, etc., especially in long-distance transmission applications requiring extended communication ranges.

For details, please click：https://www.nicerf.com/products/ Or click：https://nicerf.en.alibaba.com/productlist.html?spm=a2700.shop_index.88.4.1fec2b006JKUsd For consultation, please contact NiceRF (Email: sales@nicerf.com).

[chandupalle]

Oven-Controlled Crystal Oscillator (OCXO) Market Size, Share, Industry Report, Revenue Trends and Growth Drivers

The OCXO market is projected to grow from USD 464 million in 2023 to USD 528 million by 2028; it is expected to grow at a CAGR of 2.6% from 2023 to 2028. The expanding telecommunications industry and widening application scope of OCXOs are among the factors driving the growth of the OCXO market.

Driver: Expanding telecommunications industry

The telecommunications industry significantly drives the OCXO market. Precise timing and synchronization are crucial for developing wireless networks, implementing 5G technology, and faster data transfer. Oven-controlled crystal oscillators are essential in satellite, telecom, broadcast, and other space applications. 5G is expected to connect people, things, data, applications, transport systems, and cities in smart network communication environments. It can transfer large volumes of data swiftly, establish reliable connections between devices, and process massive volumes of data with minimal delay. 5G technologies are expected to support applications such as smart homes and buildings, smart cities, 3D video, work and play in the cloud, remote medical services, virtual and augmented reality, and massive machine-to-machine communications for industrial automation. Various crystal oscillators such as VCXOs, TCXOs, and OCXOs help easily design customer circuits and improve quality performance for high-speed networks and next-generation wireless telecommunication systems. Hence, the rising development of the 5G network is expected to drive the OCXO market, owing to its robust, reliable, and proven temperature-sensing capabilities.

Restraint: Higher power consumption of OCXOs

OCXOs often use more power than other oscillator categories because of the temperature-controlled oven functions. The higher power consumption of OCXOs may restrict their use in situations where power efficiency is important, such as battery-operated devices or low-power systems. Moreover, excess power consumption frequently leads to increased heat generation, particularly in small form factor devices or systems with constrained heat dissipation capacities. To control the heat produced by OCXOs, manufacturers may need to take additional steps, such as using heat sinks, thermal pads, or cooling systems, which can add complexity and expense. Hence, higher power consumption acts as a key roadblock for the manufacturers of OCXOs, thereby restraining market growth.

Opportunity: Growing need for high-precision timing and frequency stability due to network densification

The telecommunications network is shifting toward next-generation network connectivity and currently uses 4G/5G small cells and synchronous Ethernet to increase network data capacity, resulting in impending network densification. This drives the rapid deployment of end-use devices in uncontrolled environments, which will introduce added stressors on the systems, such as dynamic temperature changes, thermal shock, unpredictable airflow, and vibration. These dynamic conditions affect component performance, especially the stability of legacy quartz timing devices. Applications requiring highly precise and stable frequency frequently use OCXOs. The growing need for precise timing in several industries, including telecommunications, aerospace & defense, and scientific research, is expected to drive the OCXOs market. In aerospace & defense applications, OCXOs keep precise time references across many devices and networks, such as atomic clocks, time servers, and synchronization systems.

Download PDF Brochure: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/pdfdownloadNew.asp?id=93038075

Challenge: High manufacturing costs compared with other oscillators

OCXOs are typically more expensive than other types of oscillators. Higher manufacturing costs are due to the requirement for precise temperature management and the inclusion of a temperature-controlled oven. The higher cost can be a reason for the low adoption of OCXOs, particularly in price-sensitive applications. Additionally, the increased cost of OCXOs may provide the potential for other oscillator technologies to gain market share. Users looking to balance price and performance may find lower-cost alternatives, including temperature-compensated crystal oscillators (TCXOs) or MEMS oscillators. As a result, there may be more rivalry, which could affect the OCXO market growth.

About MarketsandMarkets™

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The B2B economy is witnessing the emergence of $25 trillion of new revenue streams that are substituting existing revenue streams in this decade alone. We work with clients on growth programs, helping them monetize this $25 trillion opportunity through our service lines - TAM Expansion, Go-to-Market (GTM) Strategy to Execution, Market Share Gain, Account Enablement, and Thought Leadership Marketing.

Built on the 'GIVE Growth' principle, we work with several Forbes Global 2000 B2B companies - helping them stay relevant in a disruptive ecosystem.Our insights and strategies are molded by our industry experts, cutting-edge AI-powered Market Intelligence Cloud, and years of research.The KnowledgeStore™ (our Market Intelligence Cloud) integrates our research, facilitates an analysis of interconnections through a set of applications, helping clients look at the entire ecosystem and understand the revenue shifts happening in their industry. To find out more, visit www.MarketsandMarkets™.com or follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook.

[abekiyo]

Fail over circuit

Found good example in internet

Let me introduce an improved version of a blackout alert beeper, which is, in fact, a low-cost mains failure alarm designed to help protect stock and equipment. This device, extremely useful when you are away and need to be alerted, can be used in all types of domestic and commercial applications as it sets off a noticeable

alert when the electricity fails. For example, it can be either wall- or pole-mounted to protect your incubator so that you can avert an accidental loss of fertile eggs and chicks, but it is also useful in keeping an eye on your farm security system like the electric fence!

Circuit Description The core component of the design given here is one revered 14-stage ripple-carry binary counter/divider and oscillator CMOS IC — CD4060BE (IC1). As shown in the schematic, components R3 and C2 set the clock frequency of IC1 close to 10 Hz, and there’s a blue indicator (LED1) to show the clock activity. The Q4 output (Pin 7) of IC1 drives an active piezo-buzzer (PZB1) and a red indicator (LED2) through a small NPN transistor S8050 (T1). The circuit also includes a standard, on-rechargeable, 6F22 9-V battery (BAT) in power supply and a low-voltage slide switch (S1) as the master power on/off switch.

The front end of the design is a simple AC230V mains presence sensor built around one popular photocoupler PC817B (OC1). The output of OC1 is routed to the “master-reset” terminal (Pin 12) of IC1 to disable its clock operation when the AC mains supply is available (standby mode). There are so many ways to convert an AC voltage into a DC voltage required by a photocoupler, and traditionally, this has been done with a step-down transformer. However, a low-cost alternative — capacitive power supply — is employed here because it’s more cost-effective and significantly smaller. In the AC mains presence sensor, a 100-n/250-V AC capacitor (C5) is the key element, and the 100-Ω resistor (R3) is to limit inrush current. The remaining components include a rectifier (D2), buffer (C4), and a protector (ZD1). The 5.1-V Zener diode (ZD1) is added intentionally to deter the blowup of C4 in case of an open-load condition at the output of the capacitive power supply (all resistors are ¼-W type).

As you might have observed, there’s a two-way jumper (JP1) in the circuit for “normal—latch” mode selection with “normal” as the default. In default mode, LED1 starts winking instantly if there’s a blackout, and PZB1 (LED2 as well) beats rhythmically (~0.6 Hz) for a short time (eight cycles). Thereafter, only LED1 remains lit until the input is reinstated. Nonetheless, LED1 and PZB1(LED2 too) wakes up instantly in “latch” mode while there’s a blackout but remains steady until the input is reinstated (watch my quick test video).

Construction Note A flake of perforated circuit board is enough for construction of the entire electronics. Remember to not only make it fit perfectly in a prototype enclosure but to isolate the high-voltage and low-voltage areas in the circuit board well with a fairly large headroom. The finished circuit board must be mounted in such a way that it’s not in direct contact with the enclosure even if the enclosure is a hard-plastic (ABS) type (plastic standoffs will be helpful). This is the enclosure model for reference — see below:

It’s also possible to connect a weatherproof external siren to the system by any two-core low-voltage cable. This allows the alert sounder to be installed outside the location being monitored to increase the effectiveness of sound travel. Fortunately, low-voltage/low-current–type electric hooters (~120 dB) are now easily available through many online sellers (the prototype was tested with an old 9-V/88-dB PCB-mount buzzer).

The term decibel (dB) and the dB scale are used worldwide for the measurement of sound levels. It is very important to realize that the term “dB” can have different meanings and the value depends on the context in which it’s used. Here is an example (only for reference) of different sound intensities as expressed in decibels hearing level (dB HL):

0 dB: Softest sound we can hear 60 dB: Ordinary conversation 120 dB: Rock band

Finally, two random shots of the muddy prototype, from my workbench!

Note: This circuit deals with high voltage, AC circuits. If you are not experienced in working with these circuits, please understand that they can cause bodily harm in the case of mishandling or not following proper safety practices.&n- bsp; Please do not attempt to manufacture this circuit unless you have taken the proper safety precautions.

https://www.electroschematics.com/mains-power-failure-alert-circuit/

It's often necessary to power a low voltage circuit such as a microcontroller with HV AC line current. For example, most fire alarms are powered this way. In these situations, a transformer is both bulky and expensive especially if the device is a consumer product. The solution is to use a reactance to limit the current, rectify the voltage with a diode, regulate the voltage with a zener, and use a large electrolytic capacitor to filter out the ripples.

The main disadvantage of transformerless supplies is that they don't offer isolation from the HV line and present more of a safety issue.

We present four circuits which use this principle and a calculator which determines the power capability for the circuit. These circuits are based on the www.microchip.com App Note AN954.See the application note for the equations upon which the calculator is based.

Supply Type Pros and Cons

Capacitive Higher cost than resistive, more efficient than resistive. The zero crossing is delayed. Resistive Lowest cost, least efficient. The zero crossing is not delayed. Bridge Highest cost, but highest current capacity and efficiency. The output voltage isn't referenced to line or neutral so TRIAC control isn't possible.

[shopionlinebay]

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overheats The updated PELONIS 16'' Swaying Platform Fan highlights movable level with clock and controller for adaptable choices in your home or office. Three speed settings permit you to alter the wind current you want, it's likewise calm and energy proficient. The fan level can be changed from 3. 5 to 4 feet and you can shift the head to coordinate the wind stream where you want it. The fan has a 7 hours shut off clock. A simple to-utilize multi-utilitarian control board has influence, clock, and fan speed buttons. Outstanding in its field for over 25 years nevertheless pressing onward, is has been producing probably the best little home machines that cash can buy !Newly redesigned strong engine and excellent sharp edges conveys an uncommonly solid airflow. This Platform Fan with 7 hour shut off clock works at a low commotion in any room in your home. This standing fan with 3-speed settings permit you to redo your cooling needs. The 85°wide swaying point and 24° slant point of fan head. he Recently PELONIS 16'' platform fan 3-speed wavering flexible 16-Inch stand fan with clock and remote gives adaptable choices to home or office use, it's really tranquil and energy proficient. Three speed settings permit you to redo the breeze you want. The fan level can be changed from 3. 5 to 4 feet. The fan has a 7 hours shut off clock. An simple to-utilize multi-practical control board has power, clock, swaying, and fan speed

[thetechnorc]

Exploring the World of 74HC Series Integrated Circuits

Integrated circuits (ICs) are the backbone of modern electronic devices, from smartphones and computers to cars and medical equipment. ICs are small and powerful electronic components that perform a variety of functions, such as amplification, logic operations, and data storage. In this blog, we will discuss three different types of ICs: the 74HC4060 14-Stage Binary Ripple Counter IC, 74HC540 Octal 3-state Inverting Buffer IC, and 74HC132 Quad 2-Input Schmitt Trigger IC.

74HC4060 14-Stage Binary Ripple Counter IC

The 74HC4060 is a high-speed binary ripple counter IC that has 14 stages of counter and oscillator circuitry. It is commonly used in frequency division applications, such as in clocks and timers. The IC has an input frequency range of up to 10MHz and can divide a frequency by any power of 2 from 2 to 2^14. It has a built-in oscillator and can also be used as a standalone oscillator with an external crystal or resistor-capacitor (RC) network.

74HC540 Octal 3-state Inverting Buffer IC

The 74HC540 is an octal 3-state inverting buffer IC that is used to drive bus lines or buffer memory address registers. It has eight independent input/output pins and can be enabled or disabled using a control pin. When disabled, the IC's output pins are in a high-impedance state, which prevents the buffer from interfering with other devices on the bus. It operates at a voltage range of 2V to 6V and can handle a maximum output current of 35mA.

74HC132 Quad 2-Input Schmitt Trigger IC The 74HC132 is a quad 2-input Schmitt trigger IC that is used in digital logic circuits to convert noisy signals into clean digital signals. It has four independent Schmitt trigger inputs, each with two input pins and a single output pin. The Schmitt trigger inputs have a hysteresis voltage that allows the IC to differentiate between high and low input signals with a noise margin. It operates at a voltage range of 2V to 6V and has a maximum output current of 5.2mA.

[tracybirds]

I can officially switch the status of Being Known from “stuck” to “WIP” again :) It’s been over a year since the last update for various reasons but I’m very excited to go back to this one and provide a new chapter!

For those new to the story, this was prompted by @kenzie-running-free in March 2020 and slightly got out of hand 😅 I’ve never stopped thinking about it and I bit the bullet and deleted the entirety of Chapter Four a few days ago and let myself rewrite it from scratch.... and it WORKED!!! (use technique with caution... scariest thing I’ve ever done.....)

Anyway...

A ‘what-if’ story based on “The Man From TB5” where the Hood recognized John in the scene when he makes himself known (instead of John stuttering).... and then he gets kidnapped :)

[Part 1] | [Part 2] | [Part 3]

-----------

Darkness bled into John’s line of vision and he scrubbed desperately at his aching eyes. Time collapsed around him as he worked, the abruptly extinguished bulb the only hint of night. And every new day seemed to bring new weariness as he jolted awake by the sudden onslaught of light which interrupted the deepest part of sleep.

Just another tactic to keep him from gathering his wits together.

This morning, if it was morning, the brightly burning bulb was coupled with the scraping sound of a breakfast tray being shoved through the small slot that had been crudely and hastily carved in the door after he’d lain in wait and brought the tray down over one of the guard’s head. He’d left the man stunned on the floor and made it all the way to the end of the corridor before another guard had grabbed him from behind and thrown him bodily back into the room.

He’d woken to security footage of a fire ravaging a building, his own family on screen.

“They’re not looking for you,” sneered the Hood as he swept from the room.

No guards came in anymore.

Two days later, he’d been savagely poked in the eye when he’d tried to look through the new slot that had been hastily added to his door.

He spent hours every day, searching for a way to send out a message, or even create another receiver. Any link to the outside world would do. But it soon became apparent that the Hood had done one thing right in giving him access to an isolated system, keeping the holomonitor he’d been provided with separate even from his own devices.

One thing right among many.

John peered at the screen with his good eye, wincing at the torn skin that pulled over bruised muscle. His head spun as he stared at the endless commands, trying to replicate the spark of life no-one had ever found before EOS.

Not even him.

And that was the rub of it all.

John didn’t know, not after all his time studying EOS and her abilities, just how she’d been born of code and logical absolutes. How she could grow and change and evaluate her own mind in a way that not only seemed human, but was unquestionably so.

He glanced at the clock he’d created from scratch, counting the oscillations in the electrical current and spitting back a digital time at him. This ‘morning’ truly did correspond with the morning, and that meant the Hood would be paying him a visit for an update.

He wasn’t sure how much more time he could stall for until things got truly desperate.

How much time he had until he had to conclude that he was truly on his own.

*                            *                            *

“Scott, the floor’s unstable there!”

“I know what I’m doing, Alan.”

“Yes, but I have the numbers,” Alan replied, his voice cracking as he spoke. He spun the holo in his hands, checking and double checking the analysis that was running under his fingertips.

“Then the numbers are wrong.”

“They can’t be!”

“Alan,” said Scott, patiently. “I need you to check the parameters over again. I’m seeing two trapped vehicles, with no sign of ground stress, both much larger than me and more importantly containing passengers. I need to get them out of there.”

“Yes, but hang on–”

“There’s no time!”

Alan watched in horror as his big brother barrelled forwards. He crouched low as he ran, grabbing at nearby pylons for support. The ground heaved beneath his feet, but still Scott moved forwards steady and sure. Always with his eyes on the scared little boy in the back seat and a gentle smile on his face.

An alert ticked over into the red.

“Jump, Scott!” he yelled, watching the model floor cave in a split second before a real sinkhole opened beneath Scott’s feet.

“Alan, what’s happening up there?” came Virgil’s urgent voice, bound for home with Gordon from their own rescue.

Alan flipped the channel, realising in his hurry he’d accidentally broadcast his message to everyone.

“He’s fine,” he said, eyes still wide as he watched Scott shakily stand on the other side of the chasm. “The floor went.”

“What?”

“He’s fine, he’s fine!”

“Didn’t you run the simulation?”

“I did,” said Alan, pressing the heels of his hands against his eyes. “He wouldn’t listen.”

Silence fell over the space station.

“Hey Alan, can you pilot Thunderbird One over to us? Got my hands full here.”

Scott’s voice rang out loud and clear. Five clear thermal images were standing around him, including one in his arms.

Alan fumbled for the call button.

“F.A.B. Scott.”

“I’ll talk to him, Alan,” said Virgil. His eyes were focused beyond him, but Alan could read the quiet fury beneath the clear focus on his own piloting.

“I can’t do it, Virgil,” whispered Alan. “I must have done something wrong, there must have been something he could see that I couldn’t.”

“You’ve done nothing wrong,” interrupted Virgil.

“He never would have done this to…”

Alan’s voice failed him.

Twenty-two thousand miles below, Virgil choked back his own distress. Gordon was chewing at his lip, staring anxiously at Alan. He leaned forward so he was in view of the holo.

“Hey, Allie,” he said. “John’s gonna be okay. And he’ll be giving Scott hell for ignoring the modelling like that soon enough.”

“You don’t know that.”

“Absolutely, I do,” said Gordon, cracking a grin. “No way, John would let Scott get away with that crap. Not even if he had to haunt him for the rest of his life in ghostly fury to do it.”

“Is he wrapping up now?” asked Virgil, eyes still pinched.

Alan looked down at the display.

“Yeah, he’s on his way home.”

“Right. EOS?”

“Virgil?” Her quiet voice was sullen and more than a little distracted.

“Got room in your processors for another task?”

EOS’s lights flashed suddenly, and Alan’s blood ran cold at the sight. Three weeks he’d been stationed on board Thunderbird Five and he still found himself walking on eggshells around EOS. Her frustration at turning up nothing in the holonet that could lead them closer to John morphed quickly from long, silent sulks to short outbursts of flying bagels and spinning gravity rings. He’d never forgotten the sight of John floating limply like a rag doll that had been torn apart one too many times by a playful, thoughtless, destructive child.

An angry EOS felt too close to losing his brother for good.

“Will it help, John?”

“It’ll keep his brother alive, and that will make it more likely for us to find him.”

“What can I do?”

“Lock Scott out of his controls, Order TB2-5711FR. Make sure Alan gets to Tracy Island before him. Redirect all calls to local authorities in the first instance, follow Protocol 24.”

“I’m not leaving,” argued Alan. “Don’t pull me from duty, I can do better.”

“No arguments.”

Alan wilted, knowing he had no choice but to follow Virgil’s instructions.

“This is done, Virgil,” said EOS, blankly.

“Thank you, EOS,” said Virgil, his manner still stiff and terse. He shifted his gaze from the open ocean in front of him to Alan, his expression softening. “You haven’t done anything wrong, Alan. If Scott takes his life into his own hands, that’s not on you. But we can’t have him in the field like that, cutting corners to get back to finding John. So, we need you down here in his place.”

“You can’t pull Scott,” said Alan, his eyes wide. “What would… well, what would Scott say?”

“We’re doing him a favour,” remarked Gordon with a sarcastic twist of his lips that made a mockery of his usual grin. “He wants to find John, we all do, but if he’s willing to risk lives and rescues to do it then he should put his energy into searching and we shouldn’t stop him.”

Alan swallowed, his eyes filling with tears that he angrily swiped away.

“Does he think we’re not looking just as hard?” he asked. “We haven’t forgotten him. Have we?”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Alan,” said Virgil, firmly. “John would have our heads before we put the possibility of finding him above the certainty of ignoring people who need our help.”

“So, we keep going out there,” agreed Gordon. “And when, when Allie, Kayo and Lady P and Parker find something, and they will, we’ll be right there without a moment to lose.”

“I just don’t want him to think we’ve forgotten him.”

“John’s too smart for that,” said Gordon. “Promise you, Allie.”

*                            *                            *

He’d worked it out. Every time he did something to anger the Hood, innocent people paid for it in blood. There was no point in harming him directly, not when what the Hood wanted was inside his mind, ripe for extraction. But his heart and spirit could be broken, as a video feed periodically forced itself over his work to make him watch. Earthquakes, landslides, tidal waves, anything that would get International Rescue on the scene and off his scent.

Senseless destruction and despair epidemic across the world because he couldn’t make an AI fast enough.

But senseless destruction that he could use.

There was no doubt in his mind that his family knew the natural disasters were anything but, he could see it in the determined fury in Scott’s face, in the tense draw of Virgil’s shoulders, in the sardonic mockery in Gordon’s smile as he quietly pocketed yet another piece of equipment.

He didn’t see Alan, and he thought of his baby brother up in space often. None of his brothers had any real idea of the full extent of his contribution, no matter how grateful they were for his guidance, and he hated to know Alan would be forced into that knowledge.

He also suspected that when Alan did spill the beans, he’d find his own rotations scrutinised with a lot more care.

Still, the limited glimpses of his brothers did nothing to discourage him, and he found himself contemplating a plan of escape well into the long, cold nights.

He needed more information.

He needed access to an external holonet connection. And the only way he’d get near one was with a working AI.

Or something that could pass for a few minutes as one.

[lockedstuck]

beyond our fury and our silences

2021, 04/17 - Sollux Captor

You envy the patients on the unit who have a “normal” to return to. You never have, and never will. You’ve had periods of more gentle oscillation, like high school as opposed to the jagged highs and equally disruptive lows of your undergraduate years. However, you haven’t been “normal” in terms of psychopathology since you were a kid.

Dr. Vandayar suggests that perhaps your childhood years did a number on your sanity, though not word for word. He’s way more polite about it. You kind of want to hit him for it.

Your dad did his absolute best to raise you, all seventy hour weeks to afford summer camp for gifted kids and SHSAT prep classes. So did your mother, teaching you math and history, even if she was psychotic, even when her mental landscape frequently shifted like sand on the beach. 

Once, when you were maybe ten, she came home an hour late from a quick run to the grocery store five blocks away. She explained, gentle yet adamant, that people had decided to follow her home, and she did not want them to know where she was going. What if they’d decided to rob her? Your dad sighed. He pressed a kiss to her forehead.

She sat at the dining room table later, repeatedly drawing pictures of seashells. When you sat down next to her, and pulled your chair close so that you could see her work, she started to explain the Fibonacci sequence to you. It wasn’t hard to understand adding the sums of the two previous numbers together. She launched into another explanation of the not unrelated golden ratio, and you just sat there and let her go on for a while, even when you didn’t quite understand. 

She took out a nautilus shell that she had fashioned into a necklace, showed it to you, and wound up giving it to you. When you asked her why, she smiled and shrugged. You continue to wear it underneath your clothing. 

Perhaps you’ll give it to Feferi when she gets discharged, given her love of all things aquatic. At this rate, she’ll probably get out before you do, what with the nine ECT treatments you still have to complete.

Out of nowhere, Roxy walks over to you, and you glance up at her. You know by now that whatever comes out of her mouth will be either offensive, amusing, or both.

“Aradia’s on the phone for you, Lispy! Hey, could you tell her something for me?”

You stand up and stretch, fingertips toward the ceiling. “What is it?”

“Tell her that her voice is really cute, but that she’s way cuter in person,” she replies. “Wait, hold up. Tell me she’s not straight. Is she straight? I don’t want to make her uncomfortable.”

You don’t know whether or not to answer truthfully. You should probably ask Aradia about that beforehand. You walk over to the pay phone, and put the receiver to your mouth.

“Ray? Is that you?”

“Hey, Sollux,” she says. Then, a pause that stretches into infinity, or ten whole seconds at the very least. “Is it okay if I visit tonight instead of tomorrow? One of my students is actually attending my office hours, which--”

“--overlap with my visiting hours,” you finish. Maybe you should have let her complete her sentence. 

You’re tetchy and impatient, the first thing having been induced by your session with Dr. Vandayar, and the second by the fact that next week will mark one whole month since you arrived at this hospital, and what precisely do you have to show for it? 

Roxy’s almost completely weaned off methadone and will probably leave next week, to go to inpatient rehab. June is going home the Monday after next. Feferi got here the same day as you and will most certainly be gone the same week as June. Eridan will be gone before you finish out your ECT treatments, since his conclude next week, as will Karkat, Porrim, and probably even Calliope. The only person who may not leave before you is Latula, and although she’s perfectly kind, you don’t know her very well. 

You didn’t realize how long you’ve stewed in your thoughts until you hear Aradia ask, “Are you still there?”

“Yeah. You said you wanted to come tonight as opposed to tomorrow. That’s fine.”

“And what about you?” she asks.

You shrug.

“What about me?”

“Are you fine?”

The only person you suck at lying to more than Aradia is your father, and your dad is only leading by a narrow margin. That may be why you signed a HIPPA release so that your treatment team could talk to both of them.

“I had a weird therapy session today. Normally I get along with my therapist, but today I almost wanted to punch him in the face.”

Aradia asks if you’d like to talk about it, and your kneejerk is to say, “hell no”, but during another therapy session a couple of days ago, Dr. Vandayar stressed the importance of not being unwilling to depend on one’s support team. As vaguely annoyed as you still are at him, you did concede the point on Monday afternoon.

“I guess it was because… well… fuck, I don’t know how to explain this without sounding like an asshole. He didn’t actually say anything that wasn’t true, but maybe it was the way he said it? I don’t know. I’m sorry, Ray, I’m rambling all over the fucking place.”

“Don’t worry about it. Go on.”

“He pretty much said that my situation with my parents could have contributed a lot to why I’m all fucked up in the head. Not currently, but like, before, when I was a kid. I was like, where exactly does this guy get off making that kind of judgment? And then I was like, dude, you weren’t there, you didn’t see it, so how do you know? ‘Cause my parents, they did the absolute best they could with what they had. I mean, I didn’t say that to him, but I felt it. And I felt angry at him about it.”

A long silence, one that you feel sink down to the pit of your stomach.

“Well.”

“Well, what?”

“I get that you’re upset, but Sollux, it’s not like this is something you’ve never said to me.”

“But Aradia, that’s different. I was there. So were you, for parts of it. You’ve met my parents a billion times. But aside from a few conversations with you and Baba, Dr. V barely knows anything about my life. For him to say it like that… I don’t like it. I don’t know why, but I don’t.”

“Because it seems like he’s judging people and events he hasn’t had the opportunity to witness first-hand.”

“Yes! Exactly! That’s it!”

It feels like an indictment against your family, and if you are anything to a fault, you are loyal to Mituna and your parents. All of them came together for you, the youngest, the most successful. Even being here, unable to provide for them both emotionally and financially, feels like the worst blow in the world. 

You shouldn’t be here getting the memory zapped out of you in some last-ditch effort to quell your mania and depression. You should be outside working, seeing to the needs of someone besides yourself. You should be meeting Aradia at her apartment every other night, helping her clean out her apartment, which quickly devolves into chaos, ashtrays full of spent cigarette butts, and dishes piling up in the sink, as she scrambles to finish up her master’s thesis.

Because if there’s one thing you’ve learned from your father, it is that you are what you contribute, and being here, seemingly unable to contribute anything, might just be the worst sensation in the world.

You’re alone with yourself here, face to face with everything you hate about yourself, with all your aspirations and all your neuroses, and you hate it, you hate it, you hate it, you want out so badly. But what if they don’t let you leave and you end up at your mother’s worst fear - involuntary status? If four weeks of hospitalization seem like hell, what about sixty days, your fate handed down via court order?

What if that knee-jerk desire to 72 hour letter yourself away from thrice weekly therapy sessions is just another trap? What if you leave and try to slit your throat again? What if you actually succeed this time around? Who the fuck is going to take care of your family?

It all comes down to that.

You’d rather like to bang your head against the wall until you either make things clearer or knock yourself out. 

“I’ll be there tonight, Sollux,” Aradia says, suddenly. Not for the first time, you wonder if she can read your mind and tell when you’re starting to decompensate more than usual.

Aradia gets there long before six o’ clock. In fact, you notice her tell-tale garnet-colored blazer, as you look through the small rectangular window in the door of the main unit, sometime around 5:20. A woman in a small black dress stands not far away from her, and once you notice her carefully coiffed blonde hair, you walk over to the women’s side of the unit and loudly knock on Roxy’s door.

“And what can I do for you?” she asks, removing the headphone radio that has all but been surgically attached to her head. “Do you have news about Aradia’s sexual orientation?”

You roll your eyes at her, more to keep up appearances than an actual rebuke.

“Your mom’s here,” you reply.

Roxy seems to consider this, then picks up her stuffed cat from her bed and pads into the hallway. Calliope waves at you, the light on their side of the room switched on so they can write. You wave back, then follow Roxy back to the main door of the unit, to resume your little vigil.

You stand without word or gesture, a good six feet away from the door so the night staff doesn’t bitch. They seem to have given up on Roxy, who stands only two feet away from the door and jumps up and down as she waves to her mom. Her mom waves back, though in a more sedate fashion than her child. 

You rather like Ms. Lalonde, honestly. It’s hard to dislike a family member who comes so often. According to Roxy, she only misses Mondays for work related reasons. You think the only person who has her beat in terms of visiting is June’s dad, who has yet to miss a day of seeing his daughter, at least during your stay here.

After about ten minutes of furious waving, Roxy starts doing the YMCA with her arms. Her mother actually returns the motions. 

Aradia glances at her, cracks up, and giggles helplessly, which makes you smile.

When they finally start letting visitors in, Aradia steps behind Ms. Lalonde without a word. Aradia signs the book after her, and then Mr. Egbert signs after that.

Maybe he smuggled a whole ass lemon meringue pie onto the unit. You’d probably kiss him if he did that, and you’re pretty sure macking on your friend’s hot dad is frowned upon in most situations.

Aradia walks into the unit, and it’s only a moment before you’ve scooped her up into your arms. You’re so skinny that Karkat calls you a walking skeleton comprised of caffeine and spite, and Aradia has more curves than a parametric equation. You still manage to pick her up so her toes momentarily leave the ground, pull her close, and kiss her forehead before you let her go. 

She interlaces your fingers with hers.

“What table are we sitting at tonight?” she wants to know, gazing at the sea of round wooden tables in the dining room.

“The one by the window, in the corner,” you decide, after a moment’s thought. The chairs are heavy, so they can’t be thrown across the unit by angry patients you suppose, but you pull out your chair and sit down easily enough. It occurs to you that maybe you should have pulled hers out, but she gets the job done. 

You sit right beside her, and before you can think on it, you let her pull you close. Your head on her shoulder, and your arm thrown around her back. It’s not the most comfortable position, but she smells like lilies, cocoa butter, cigarettes, and home. 

You bring to mind all the animal skulls on her shelves, all the volumes of dead poets stacked haphazardly around them. Everything has been arranged to display her fixation on things that have shuffled off this mortal coil, for the exception of the flourishing plants on her terrace. 

Her arms come up around your shoulders, and she scoots over so the position is more comfortable for your lanky ass. She presses a kiss to your temple, and then to the shell of your ear. You smile in spite of yourself.

 It occurs to you that you have not had a self-loathing thought since she arrived.

It’s easier to not hate yourself when someone who would either try to refute or talk you through your issues sits beside you, singing softly.

“Tastes like strawberries on a summer evening. And it sounds just like a song...”

You snort. “I had no idea you were so fond of Harry Styles.”

She stops singing for the moment, but you’ve already started to hum the next part of the song, while she explains where she first heard it.

“My neighbor used to like to sit on her balcony and listen to the radio while I talked to my fig tree. It was on constant replay on Z100. And it’s catchy. So I sang it. A lot.”

You imagine Aradia as she sings, the long dark curls of her hair unpinned the way they usually are when she’s at home, moving along to the music as she waters her plants. It’s a nice mental image, the kind you wouldn’t mind getting lost in.

Here is one way you might safeguard yourself from the impulses and the dorco razor-blades. 

You can’t watch Aradia bustle around her apartment if you’re not alive. You can’t help her, or your dad in their gardens - why do so many of your loved ones have an affinity for plants when you can barely keep a cactus alive - if you’re six feet under.

You also cannot remind her of her own neglected tasks - “Aradia, c’mon, you have to wash these dishes, there’s fuckin’ fruit flies here, I hate fruit flies.” - and then watch as she makes a meal with the newly washed dishes just so that she knows you’ve eaten that day. 

You think she’d give an approving nod to your thoughts.

“Hey, Sollux,” she says. You glance at her face, the anxiety written across it.

That won’t do. You never liked seeing her worried about anything.

“Yeah, Ray? What’s going on?”

“When you get out of here, after all your treatments are finished, I was wondering…”

“Wondering what?”

She exhales slowly. She takes your hand in hers. You let the warmth suffuse through you. 

“Would you like to move in with me? I know you need to be close to your family, but it’s just the F to the 7 train to get to Flushing.”

You consider this. You’ve known Aradia since the sixth grade, and you are now twenty-seven, which adds up to something like sixteen years of friendship. Aradia knows you like nobody else. Not even your father.

She’s handled your weird mood shit and chronic suicidality with more skill than some clinicians you’ve had. In return, you’ve kept her alive - her parents coddled her to a fault, and she had next to no idea how the world outside academia functioned - and helped her through her occasional bouts of clinical depression.

“You’ll take me to Essex Market and get me that bougie vegan cheese?” you ask. 

There are more questions, several in fact, that you need answered before you give her a decision, but you’ll start with the inanities and work your way up to the logistics.

“When have I not?” she replies. 

You snort.

“How much am I going to pay in rent, for one?”

Aradia seems to consider this for a moment.

“For now, nothing, since you’re not working, and I’m already covering my rent with my job,” she says. “But once you get a job, I’d like you to kick something in. Not too much.”

“Where would I even sleep?”

“The couch in the main room is a pullout. And even If you wanted to sleep in my room, I think I have enough space for another bed.”

You think it over, and some traitorous part of your brain bristles at what is essentially charity from her. Her family - comfortably upper middle class - must be helping her with rent. There is no way in hell that she scored a one bedroom near Bowery on her salary as an adjunct professor. You don’t know what they’d think of letting you live there, or maybe you do, and that’s why you’re hesitant to accept this. They’ve come to actually like you, but you’re not eager to test out how far that goes.

She must sense your hesitation. She once more interlaces her fingers with yours, and lets out a small sigh.

“At least think it over, Sollux.”

“You know I will.”

“I think we function better when we’re in the same place than when we’re not.”

You grin. “You know it.”

The other thing that gives you pause consists of your own confusing feelings about her. 

Some days you want to kiss her senseless, peel her out of that red jacket, the black tank top, the long gray skirt. You want to see her, and only her. You want to shed your t-shirt and skinny jeans and have her see you. You want to hold her, press against her, and have her return the gesture. Your longing to be as close to her as humanly possible sweeps over you like a wave, and you have never been known for any particular skill at swimming.

Other days, you just want to sit next to her and make fun of her when she sings Watermelon Sugar. Or like the time she forgot her umbrella at home, a torrential downpour decided to strike and you had to run to the Second Avenue F train station and hope you got there in time to catch her. Still, more recently, the pair of you playing video games and swearing at each other with a giant container of mapo tofu between you. You want the easy rhythm of your close friendship, something familiar, and easy to navigate.

Most of all, you’re afraid. You’re afraid that if you take the plunge and alter the parameters of your relationship, that you’ll lose her entirely if things don’t pan out. And where the hell would you be without her?

[illshowyourhurricanes]

Number 3 image with our beloved Billy Russo

Thanks for requesting this, lovely! I had an absolute blast writing this for you (and apologies that it took on a mind of its own!) I hope you enjoy!

Trigger warning: some smut, mentions/potential use of weaponry

Chasing Losses

Image prompt 3: Billy Russo (season 1) x reader

Rating: MA, trigger warning above as well as language

Word count: 3284 (Write drabbles, I said. I’ll be able to do it, I said.)

Tag list: @dylanobrusso @obscurilicious @the-blind-assassin-12 @something-tofightfor @ms-delos @lexxierave @madamrogers @yannii04 @gollyderek @madamrogers @carlaangel86 @bicevans @maydayfigment @thisisparadisemylove @ladyofnaps @malionnes @thesandbeneathmytoes @crushed-pink-petals-writes

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If you’d like to be added to/removed from my tag list, please just send me an ask!

Special thanks to @something-tofightfor for help by answering my endless questions, and to @the-blind-assassin-12 for being the best beta reader.

                                      ***     ***     ***     ***There were perks that came with being the CEO of a corporation. There was a lot of bullshit that came along with it, but the perks evened the playing field. Billy’s foolproof analogy was that of the oscillation of a swinging pendulum: back and forth, clockwise and counter-clockwise, chaos swinging around the equilibrium. Billy didn’t favor one over the other, the pandemonium and the calm. One perk of being CEO of Anvil Security was that he could choose his own assignments, and he preferred to be in the thick of it, involved, making no room for potentially fatal mistakes for himself or his crew. 

Covert operations that allowed Billy the ease of keeping his normal routine he kept as CEO–alarm clock blaring before the sun was completely hanging over the horizon, morning rituals of dressing in one of his custom-made suits before placidly drinking his coffee and heading to the office– these were the assignments that Billy took on often. Routine was what Billy thrived on; it was something that was essential in the military, and Billy had lived under strict discipline, no room for error, over a span of fifteen years. He was quick on his feet, gears in his mind never slowing, ready to react to havoc or upheaval even during sleep. The Marine Corps had created stability for a man who had none in his life. It gave him control. With a combination of the two under his thumb, Billy was unstoppable. 

Another skill he’d gained overseas was that of patience. Suffer patiently, patiently suffer. Those four simple words from Special Forces training were words that never left Billy’s mind, words that never failed him. Words that were perfectly applicable for this particular assignment. 

The basis was elementary: wait, watch, assure no senator or affiliate was threatened or harmed while money flew and cocktails flowed. It was a basic personal protection plan, and Billy likened it to the frequent waiting for higher-ups– he’d always have fucking higher-ups– to combat their logistics or command indecision. In his current case, the waiting, the watching, the act of assurance was done while laying low– another rich fuck in an expensive suit spending government money in a ritzy casino as far as anyone else knew— lasted as long as the senators stayed. It was one of the simplest jobs Billy had entertained, though mind-numbing.

And then, he spotted you. 

He was leaning on the bar in the VIP lounge,  just to the side of the third leather- upholstered swivel chair from the right. Left hand casually in his pocket, he held in his right  a glass tumbler half-filled with some kind of overpriced bourbon poured over ice. His dark eyes roaming over those crowded around the table games– blackjack, craps, three-card poker– the wandering of his eyes froze into a stare, and what a view they captured. 

Your dress fit you like a second skin. It was meant to command attention, first to your legs. They seemed infinite, both from the illusion your stilettos created and the hemline of that dress barely grazing your mid-thigh. It clung to every curve, the incredible roundness of your ass, the hourglass shape of your waist and hips. The back of your dress delved low, skin exposed just shy of your shoulder blades.  Your hair down and curled loosely, you’d pull it all around to your front only for tendrils to escape and caress your shoulders again. Long-sleeved and with a high neckline, the design was simple, but the entirety of the fabric was embellished in green sequins reminiscent of a peacock’s plumage. Standing there in that dress, your eyes trained on the roulette wheel, Billy made several discoveries, but one stood out to him more than the others: you were utterly bored. 

You played the interested and intrigued role well– eyes trained on the wheel and widened in interest, but if anyone cared to look close enough to your expression in lieu of your legs or that ass Billy could practically feel in his hands, they’d notice you were staring just past the game of roulette. You were paying about as much attention to the game than he was, and as a cacophony of excited chatter erupted from those you joined, your eyes came to life, and your lips quirked up into a picture-perfect, stunning grin. Billy was keenly interested, hungry, and you were the only one he could imagine at that moment who could satiate him. 

As if on cue, your eyes glanced away from the game once more just to land on a tall, impeccably well-dressed vision of a man. He had a head full of coal black hair slicked back, drawing more attention to his perfectly symmetrical face. His strong, angular jawline was peppered with short, neatly-trimmed stubble. Your attention was drawn to his lips as his tongue darted out to moisten them before leisurely taking a drink. He’d noticed you as well, and his eyes didn’t leave your face as you blatant appraised his own. You finally met his gaze, drinking in his eyes and how startlingly dark they were. 

His eyebrows quirked upward, and he pushed himself from the bar, walking your way with purpose. He knew he was attractive, knew you found him to be, and had a high amount of assurance in the way he walked. 

You were in for a treat. 

Billy stepped so close to you, his shoulder brushed yours feather-light as he passed right by you. You kept your expression neutral, steady, and felt his presence behind you. If it wasn’t for the palpable sense of arrogance he held, you’d have never sensed the man there behind you. He was silent on his feet. Unable to keep your chin from tilting upward just slightly, your face held an almost unreadable air of triumph. Yes, you were in for quite a treat. 

You were absolutely intoxicating. Billy made no sound of inhaling deeply, just as he made no sound as he stepped behind you. He was so close, the scent of your perfume was overpowered by the one of your shampoo: a scintillating mixture of citrus and spice with a hint of mint. Though he could feel the beginning of an arousal, he kept his composure, glancing around the entirety of the room one last time before speaking, low and close to your ear. 

“Are we betting on luck or chance here?” His voice was smooth like velvet, but rough around the edges: he was a New Yorker. You bit the inside of your cheek, both from the excitement of the situation alone as well as the devastatingly handsome man’s question. He had a brain in that head of his as well. Luck and chance were two very different animals, and you didn’t hesitate for a moment before answering. 

“If it were a game of luck, I’d be playing,” you replied. You barely turned your head to the side in order for him to hear you, your line of vision still glued to the wheel, the optical illusion of bright red and inky black spinning before your eyes as you imagined the expression on the stranger’s face. 

You couldn’t see Billy from the way you stood, but a shadow of a smirk tugged at his lips, eyes tinged with amusement. You were bold, and that was a turn on. The melting ice in his glass of bourbon clinked as he took another drink, taking his eyes off the deliciously smooth skin of your back in order to check his watch. His replacement would be arriving shortly. Perfect timing. “Mmm,” he mused, “Why is it you’re not taking a chance then?”

After a short beat of time, you spun to face him. You were struck again by how tall he was, and once again you appraised his features, still just as flawless as they seemed from across the room. Meeting his eyes with confidence of your own, you gave a soft shrug of your shoulders, several chunks of curly, silky hair falling past your shoulder. “It’s not my style. And you?”

“Not my style either,” Billy replied. “It’s not why I’m here.”

“Why are you here?” you asked, a lilt of curiosity in your tone. 

Billy let out a breath of a laugh, lifting his arms away from his sides, palms up. “Why are you here?” His question wouldn’t be considered one of interest as much as it was a challenge. 

A raucous roaring came from the men around the wheel once again, and you leaned in to speak into his ear. You knew with certainty that your lips would brush against his ear at least once, and it was entirely purposeful. “Franklin,” you purred, waiting for a reaction “Benjamin Franklin.” There was no blush crawling upward from his collar, not a single goosebump on his skin. As the noise died down, you pulled back to finish your answer to his question. “Old money.”

With a bitter laugh, Billy knocked down what remained of his bourbon, setting the glass on a mirrored console table behind him. “Old money,” he repeated, surveying you from head to toe. With a slight shake of his head, Billy’s hands slid into his packets. “Playing it safe for someone so lucky.” He sniffed, rolling his shoulders before lowering his voice. “Try something not so cloaked in certainty. I suggest a more avant garde approach.” 

Bingo. You raised your brows and dipped your chin. A familiar warmth built up in your abdomen, and you almost ached from sheer desire. You craved the weight of man over you, the satisfaction of being filled, the sheer headiness of pleasure of a tongue teasing the most sensitive of places. This man in particular seemed like as close to a perfect candidate you could get. “Do you have any suggestions?”

The door to enter the VIP lounge opened, and it walked Billy’s overnight replacement. The man was capable, former military, and chosen for the graveyard shift assignment for good reason. Almost immediately, Billy’s eyes were back on you and his arousal was building. “I suggest we get the hell outta here.” His eyes bored into your own, the inky blackness of his dilated pupils showing you what you already knew. His tongue darted out to wet his lips, and his head nodded sideways toward the door. One second later, and he was walking toward the exit, another nod that could pass as a greeting to his employee, signaling everything had gone smoothly as he walked out the door. 

Billy strode through the crowded lounge of people, making eye contact with no one as he headed straight for the corridor lined with elevators. As he waited, he rolled his shoulders, tilted his head side to side and felt the satisfying cracking of his neck. Not two minutes later, Billy watched you, a goddamn knockout in that green dress, strut your way through the lounge, noticed almost every man in the room abandon any concentration on a table game or slot machine to watch you: the way you carried yourself, your seemingly endless legs–legs that would soon be wrapped around Billy’s waist, heels digging into his lower back– and your exquisite specimen of an ass that he was quite prepared to grab and squeeze and, according to your preferences, perhaps more. He jabbed at the button to call an elevator and just as you reached the entrance to the corridor, a set of doors opened. Billy stood in the hall, reached a hand to steel the doors open if necessary, and stepped into the elevator just as you vanished inside. He immediately pushed the button indicated to close the doors, pressed the one next to the 18th floor, and made his way straight to you, his companion for the next few hours. 

You were standing against the back wall of the elevator, and as it began to rise, Billy took two steps toward you, pressing his hands against the mirrored wall behind you. His body was pressed against yours, the swell of your breasts touching his toned chest, and you met each other halfway for a kiss. He coaxed your mouth open with his tongue; you could taste the bourbon he’d drank as he explored your mouth, one kiss melting into another, urgency building. You could feel his erection, his length hard against your thigh and when the elevator dinged its signal that you’d reached his floor, he stayed put for a moment as the doors opened, not caring who saw the way he nipped and tugged at your bottom lip before he broke the kiss, pushing himself away from the wall and allowing you to exit first, thoroughly enjoying the view you provided him with as he followed you. 

His suite was at the end of the hall, and as he slid his keycard into the slot to unlock his door, he pushed it open to reveal a stunning view. Billy didn’t give it a second glance. It was no more impressive than the view from his own penthouse. The breathtaking view, however, was stepping in behind him, closing the door with a soft click, and if you were the last thing Billy saw in his lifetime, he’d be satisfied. 

With one slight lift of his chin, you obliged and closed the distance between yourself and Billy, lips and tongues seeking each other hungrily. You wanted to devour him and it was evident that he felt the same way about you. 

The one difference between the two of you, however, was paramount. You knew his name, even if he had never formally introduced himself. You also knew that your name was a mystery to Billy. Basic information like that didn’t matter to Billy Russo, but your tits and ass and legs piqued his interest just like you’d known they would. That, for once and unbeknownst to him, was what mattered. 

Smirking against his lips, you pulled away after one last tug with your teeth to whisper in Billy’s ear. “I’m so wet for you,” you purred, hot breath over the shell of his ear. You smoothed your hands over Billy’s shoulders and to his chest, going for the button that held his suit jacket together. 

He groaned at your words, digging his teeth into his lower lip. Your hands roaming over his body, Billy couldn’t help himself from taking things further. His hands slid down your back, gripping your ass, squeezing as he relished in the handfuls of flesh beneath that dress that was a both blessing and a curse; you were dangerously gorgeous in it; he needed you out of it. 

Billy grabbed at your wrists, pulling your hands from his suit jacket. With one arm around your waist, he spun you to press your back to the wall. Raising his chin, he ground his hips into yours, making certain you felt every inch of him and how hard he was for you. Your chest was heaving with every breath, you were already moaning, and Billy’s own groan mixed with yours. He dipped his head to suck on the soft skin where your neck curved into your shoulder. 

Your body was on high alert but Billy was a master at his game. You felt the heat between your legs swell, were aware of that ache to be filled, and Billy allowed you enough space from the wall to snake his arms around you, unzipping your dress —just enough room for you to slip your arms from your sleeves and let the fabric fall to your waist. 

Billy’s eyes were inky black, heavy-lidded, and he had your bra off just seconds after the top of your dress. He allowed the black lace bra to fall to the floor as he drank in the sight of your chest, the perfect shape of your breasts before looking back up at you. He flashed a blinding smile, his eyes ravenous. Teasing you, he brushed his palms over your breasts, out and down over your waist. Your nipples were taut and he took one into his mouth, circling it with his tongue as he teased the other with his thumb. He loved how you were conceding to him, allowing him to do to you what he’d been imagining doing since he set his eyes on you.

Even so, Billy was also surprised at your cooperation, surprised that as brazen as you were downstairs, you hadn’t taken charge of the situation. He enjoyed the upper hand, the power. He knew what was coming within minutes, and he was ready. You pawed at his suit jacket again, and he distracted you by grinding his hips into yours again. You couldn’t help but reciprocate, and Billy didn’t fight you as you first unbuttoned and then unzipped his pants. He was dying for your touch, but had to play it smart, and he reached between the two of you, stroking his length as he nipped and licked at your collarbone and back down to your chest. He groaned, the noise low in his throat. 

Billy almost wished he could prolong things—almost. 

His unoccupied hand slipped down beneath the fabric pooling at your waist, long fingers flattening over your abdomen before delving down deeper. You wore nothing under that dress from the waist down.

“Fuck,” he hissed under his breath. Without warning, you pulled his hand away from his length, gripping him tightly with your hand and stroking more urgently. His thumb circled your clit and you almost faltered. 

Bringing his hand further downward,  he teased at your center and If he didn’t have business to take care of, he’d be fucking you within seconds. You were slick with desire, and he craved the taste of you. Instead, he kept his eyes on yours and allowed your hand to drop to your side as he slipped one finger inside you, pumping it in and out a few times before bringing in a second. That was when you made the fatal mistake of moaning his name.

You realized your slip up immediately but were too slow for Billy. He ripped your dress off the rest of the way one-handed, exposing the blade you wore on your right thigh. Grabbing your wrist, his fingers were hurting you. Then, you heard a click. With a flick of the wrist, Billy held a cold blade at your throat. 

You looked up at him with a sneer of contempt, but there was no hiding the fear in your eyes. Billy’s eyes, however, were a stark, startling change from the way they’d appeared just minutes before. They were empty; they held nothing. 

“A tidbit of advice?” he spat, eerily calm and composed. “War taught me that life is just a game of roulette with higher stakes, the prize being your life.” With one swift movement, he pulled the knife from its holster and tossed it to the bed. He wouldn’t be needing it, and neither would you. “It’s not chance that we end up in the circumstances we do. It’s the forces at play.” He applied more pressure to the knife he held at your throat. “Still deluded by the idea of luck, Y/N?”

His eyes flashed then, suddenly coming to life and burning with arrogance and pride. Billy Russo did not half-ass things; just another attribute he learned in the Marines and held steadfast to as CEO. Still as a statue, you were trembling with fear. “Please,” you began, “Don’t–”

You were interrupted by Billy, staring you down, daring you to say another word. “I haven’t decided what to do with you yet. Don’t fuck it up.” He moved his head to the left, then the right, cracking his neck. “The deuce is wild.”

[autowahn]

777 9311 Hours of Work – Restoring the First Digital Drum Machine

I’ve always been a huge fan of Prince. His trademark sound owes a lot to the Linn LM-1, the first digital drum machine ever, designed by Roger Linn in California in 1979. Only around 500 were made and Prince actually had three of them at Paisley Park studios. Here’s the story of my #315 made in 1981.


I never expected to find a LM-1 for sale ever. Despite its scarcity in early 2009 I tracked down a LM-1 on a second-hand music gear website in Germany. The seller confessed it had for years served as a cellar door stopper in a Swiss recording studio. It was serviced by Bruce Forat (a former Linn Electronics employee) in the US — who reportedly was not able not fix it 100 %. But we’ll come to that in a minute.

She Blinded Me With … Magahony


LM1 #315 looked amazing, quite impressive in size. Perfect layout, orange print on black powder coated steel, luxurious mahogany side panels. 12 glorious 8 bit samples at 28 khz plus analogue CEM 3320 filters for bassdrum and toms/congas.


The CEMs are adjustable internally via trim pots, which was only introduced on revision 2. As in revision 3 though, there was no external sync on this LM-1 originally and no clock rate switch in the back. But it had a low output jack which was supposably removed on revision 3. All that makes my LM-1 some kind of revision 2 and a half, technically. The clock input was retrofitted at some point in the past.


That’s it for the basics. The rest turned out to be pure esoterics. 


I never figured out when or when not it would work. Sometime I had to turn it up 20 times, before it would run. On some occasions, it would just go berserk in the middle of a programming session, preferably while messing with complex rythms and before I saved it that pattern of course. Faders where performing poorly, too. And only recently I found out it was also sensitive to room temperature … and maybe the axial tilt of the earth?

All that called for a checkup pretty early in my ownerhsip, but who’d do it if even Bruce Forat had turned it down? And why would I keep that four decades old piece of early digital gear with little to no documentation at all? 


The answer is simple: Nothing sounds like the LM-1!

Bring the Beat Back


I introduced Alex, a talented friend of mine with a masters degree in electronics, to the quirks and features of the LM-1, and then we started off restauration.

First, I got new faders from synthpatchers in Canada for a whopping 239 $. That’s a lot of money for a de facto 99 ¢ mouser.com fader. (The original faders are Mexico 112 1002 94, the same as used in ARP synths.) The only problem is to find out which of the thousands available fit into the LM-1, because the sockets are said to be different from the stock one, but I can’t verify that.


You either have to take the stock ARP ones and modify them, use other faders and built an adaptor yourself — or just go with the synthpatchers.com parts that will just work as designed (the original faders were performing very poorly so cleaning was no option either).

The faders arrived after four weeks and another whopping 80 € for shipping plus customs. Globalization doesn’t work for everyone …

According to the service sheets and schematics, the LM-1 power supply runs on 15 volts. Actually, it’s a 12 volt Power-One HTAA-16W power supply with a little “power boost” that did not provide equal current anymore. We were unsure how long the power supply would still work correctly after 40 years. Since it’s a crucial component and we wanted to avoid future consequences for the rest of the circuitry, instead of recapping it we simply replaced it with a modern switch power supply running stable on exactly 15 volts.

Those rechargeable batteries were also replaced along with a few rotten voice board capacitors (see white circle). Some display pins had also gone loose and were fitted back in.

It turned out the startup issue was a consequence of a glitch in the power supply and the display pins. When you switch on the LM-1, the OS boots within seconds and if that initial current is incorrect, it won’t boot at all.

More Light

This is a historic piece of gear, so any restoration is of course also a question of philosophy. Do you want a museum piece, maybe not working 100 %, but 100 % original? Or do you want to use it the way Roger Linn designed it — as a musical instrument, ready to perform? I decided on the latter.

Repairs aside, any non-reversable modification was not an option for me. But an easily removeable and musically justifiable mod – why not?

After Alex had figured everything out, the LM-1 worked perfectly. Since it’s a revision 2 with three unused holes covered by blank jacks in the back, we were going through possible reversable modifications to the circuitry and having them controlled with pots sitting in those unused holes.

We decided on a filter cut-off and resonance mod. One that allowed for both the bassdrum CEM and toms/congas CEM to be controlled from the back.

To achieve cut-off change one resistor had to be slightly decreased in value, so the internal trim pot would cover the entire filter range, not just half of it like in the factory setting (it was not intended to be changed as a “sound feature”). For resonance Alex soldered in two extra resistors. Then he took two pots with two dual caps as CV source and wired them to the filters (see photo below; new switch power supply also installed).

Finding a musically usefull range for resonance took a bit of fiddling. Due to a missing VCA, self oscillation did not make sense (you would just get a constanc hum) and also VCF envelope modification, though theoretically possible, was turned down due to irrelevant results (the samples are just too short).

It was important to me to have the factory VCF and resonance setting available at any time, because that’s the sound the LM-1 is famous for. The new dual pots are set in exactly that way: at 12 o’clock it’s the factory sound, to the left and right you can now either enhance or erase high frequencies and artefacts — for the VCF.

For resonance, the setting is slightly different, because resonance wasn’t used in the original design at all: for resonance amount zero (factory spec) the pot is turned far left. As you turn it up, resonance increases.

That’s it! A total nerd topic, but I hope someone will find this usefull because documentation, as I said in the beginning, is pretty rare on this machine.

I’ll leave you with the greatest LM-1 beat ever made:

[fs-technology]

A detailed explanation of the principles of radio frequency circuits

The radio frequency circuit is the RF circuit, which refers to the radio frequency current, which is the abbreviation of a high-frequency alternating electromagnetic wave. When the alternating current of the circuit changes less than 1000 times per second, it is called low-frequency current, and when it is greater than 1000 times, it is called high-frequency current, and radio frequency refers to high-frequency current.

A radio frequency circuit refers to a circuit in which the electromagnetic wavelength of the processing signal is on the same order of magnitude as the circuit or device size. At this time, due to the relationship between the size of the electronic device and the size of the wire, the circuit needs to be processed with the relevant theory of distribution parameters. This type of circuit can be considered as a radio frequency circuit, and there is no strict requirement for its frequency, such as the AC transmission line for long-distance transmission (50Hz Or 60Hz) Sometimes it is also dealt with by the relevant theory of RF.

Next, FS PCBA takes the mobile phone RF circuit as an example to introduce the principle of the RF circuit in detail.

The structure and working principle of the radio frequency receiving circuit:

When the mobile phone is receiving the signal, the antenna converts the electromagnetic wave sent by the base station into a weak alternating current signal. After filtering and high-frequency amplification, it is sent to the intermediate frequency for demodulation, and the received baseband information (RXI-P, RXI-N, RXQ-P, RXQ-N) is obtained, which is sent to the logic audio circuit for further processing.

Circuit Analysis - Circuit Structure:

The receiving circuit is composed of antenna, antenna switch, filter, high-amplification tube (low noise amplifier), intermediate frequency integrated block (receiving demodulator) and other circuits. Early mobile phones had primary and secondary mixing circuits, the purpose of which was to lower the receiving frequency before demodulation.

The structure and working principle of the transmitting circuit

When transmitting, the transmitting baseband information processed by the logic circuit is modulated into the transmitting intermediate frequency, and the frequency of the transmitting intermediate frequency signal is changed to 890M-915M (GSM) frequency signal by TX-VCO. After being amplified by the power amplifier, it is converted into electromagnetic waves by the antenna and radiated out.

Circuit Analysis - Circuit Structure:

The transmission circuit is composed of transmission modulator, transmission phase detector, transmission voltage-controlled oscillator (TX-VCO), power amplifier (power amplifier), power controller (power control), transmission transformer and other circuits inside the intermediate frequency.

The structure and working principle of the local oscillator circuit (local oscillator circuit, phase-locked loop circuit, frequency synthesis circuit)

The circuit generates four sections of local oscillator frequency signals (GSM-RX, GSM-TX, DCS-RX, DCS-TX) without any information, and sends them to the IF. The baseband information is modulated and transmitted phase-detected.

Circuit Analysis - Circuit Structure: There are four circuit pcb assembly structures in the mobile phone local oscillator circuit:

a) Composed of frequency synthesis integrated block, receiving voltage-controlled oscillator (RX-VCO), 13M reference clock, and preset frequency reference data (SYN-DAT, SYN-CLK, SYN-RST, SIN-EN)

b) Integrate the frequency synthesis integrated block inside the intermediate frequency, combined with an external RX-VCO (multi-purpose for mid-term phones and Nokia phones)

c) Integrate the frequency synthesis integrated block and the receiving voltage-controlled oscillator (RX-VCO), called the local oscillator integrated block (multi-purpose for mid-term and Samsung phones)

d) Integrate the frequency synthesis integrated block and the receiving voltage-controlled oscillator (RX-VCO) inside the intermediate frequency (multi-use for new models and miscellaneous brands).

It is worth noting that no matter what kind of structural mode is adopted, only the generated frequency is different, and its working principle, direction and function of the generated frequency signal are the same.

Application of radio frequency circuit

RF technology is widely used in many fields, such as: TV, radio, mobile phone, radar, automatic identification system, etc. The term RFID (radio frequency identification) refers to the application of radio frequency identification signals to identify objects. RFID applications include:

1. ETC (Electronic Toll Collection)

2. Railway rolling stock identification and tracking

3. Container identification

4. Identification, authentication and tracking of valuables

5. Object management for commercial retail, healthcare, logistics services, etc.

6. Access control management

7. Animal identification and tracking

[e-energyit]

[Weekly Chip Hot List] Hot Chip Top 10 is out! What models are so popular (2022.10.31-11.6) | E-energyIT

Ranking Model Brand 1 STM32F103CBT6 STMicroelectronics 2 LM358 TI 3 TJA1044T/1Z NXP 4 ADXL345BCCZ-RL7 ADI 5 BAT54CW,115 Nexperia 6 PIC18F4520-I/PT Microchip 7 AZ431BZ-ATRE1 Diodes 8 RS2057XC6 Runic 9 CYPC357(C-TP) OCIC 10 R60ABD1 Micradar

STM32F103CBT6   The STMicroelectronics STM32F103CBT6 is a mainstream enhanced Arm® Cortex-M3 MCU with 128 KB Flash, 72 MHz CPU, motor control, USB and CAN.

  Key applications: motor drives, application control, medical and handheld devices, PC and gaming peripherals, GPS platforms, industrial applications, PLCs, inverters, printers, scanners, alarm systems, video intercoms, HVA

LM358   The Texas Instruments LM358 is an industry standard dual op-amp. The LM358B and LM2904B devices are the next generation versions of the industry standard op-amps LM358 and LM2904 and include two high voltage (36V) op-amps. These devices offer excellent value for cost-sensitive applications with features such as low offset (300µV, typical), common mode input range to ground and high differential input voltage capability.

  The LM358B and LM2904B op amps simplify circuit design with enhanced features such as unity gain stability, lower offset voltage (3mV maximum; 2mV maximum for the LM358BA and LM2904BA) and lower quiescent current (300µA per amplifier, typical). High ESD (2kV, HBM) and integrated EMI and RF filters support the use of the LM358B and LM2904B devices in more demanding and environmentally challenging applications. The LM358B and LM2904B amplifiers are available in miniature packages such as SOT23-8, as well as industry standard packages including SOIC, TSSOP and VSSOP.

  Key applications: suitable for a wide range of applications

TJA1044T/1Z   The NXP Semiconductors TJA1044T/1Z is part of the Mantis family of high-speed CAN transceivers. It provides the interface between the Controller Area Network (CAN) protocol controller and the physical two-wire CAN bus. The transceiver is designed for high speed CAN applications in the automotive industry and provides differential transmit and receive functionality (for microcontrollers with CAN protocol controllers).

  Main application: High-speed CAN applications in the automotive industry

  

ADXL345BCCZ-RL7   The ADXL345BCCZ-RL7 is a small, thin, low power triaxial accelerometer that provides high resolution (13-bit) measurements of acceleration up to ±16g. The digital output data is in 16-bit binary complement format and can be accessed via SPI (3 or 4-wire) or I2C digital interfaces. the ADXL345BCCZ-RL7 is ideally suited for mobile device applications. It can measure static gravitational acceleration in tilt detection applications as well as dynamic acceleration due to motion or shock. Its high resolution (4 mg/LSB) enables measurement of tilt angle changes of less than 1.0°.

  Main applications: mobile phones, medical instruments, gaming and pointing devices, industrial instrumentation, personal navigation devices, hard disk drive (HDD) protection

  

BAT54CW,115   The Ensysta BAT54CW,115 is a planar Schottky barrier diode with integrated protection ring for stress protection, packaged in a very small SOT323 (SC-70) surface mount device (SMD) plastic package.

  Main applications: ultra-high speed switching, voltage clamping, line termination, reverse polarity protection

  

PIC18F4520-I/PT   The PIC18F4520-I/PT is an enhanced flash microcontroller with 10-bit A/D and nanoWatt technology in the PIC18F4520 family. A range of features that can significantly reduce power consumption at runtime The PIC18F4520 devices include an internal oscillator block that generates two different clock signals, one of which can be used as a clock source for the microcontroller. This eliminates the need for an external oscillator circuit on the OSC1 or OSC2 pins.The PIC18F4520 microcontroller can be serially programmed in the end application circuit. This requires only two wires for clock and data and three additional wires for power, ground and programming voltage.

  Main applications: Embedded design and development

  

AZ431BZ-ATRE1   The Midai AZ431BZ-ATRE1 is a three-terminal adjustable shunt regulator with guaranteed thermal stability over the entire operating range. Its sharp on-state characteristics, low temperature coefficient and low output impedance make it an ideal alternative to Zener diodes in applications such as switching power supplies, chargers and other adjustable regulators.

  Main applications: chargers, voltage adapters, switching power supplies, graphics cards, precision reference voltage sources

RS2057XC6   The Runestone RS2057XC6 is a single blade double throw (SPDT) analogue switch designed to operate over a voltage range of 1.8 V to 5.5 V. The RS2057XC6 can handle both analogue and digital signals. It has a high bandwidth (300 MHz) and low on-resistance (4.5 Ω TYP).

  Main applications: wearables, battery-powered devices, signal gating, chopping, modulation or demodulation (modems), portable computing, mobile phones

   CYPC357(C-TP)   Zuorui CYPC357(C-TP) is a small form factor SMD photocoupler device suitable for surface mount production.CYPC357(C-TP) is a photocoupler consisting of a GaAs light emitting diode and a phototransistor, which is smaller than DIP and suitable for high density surface mount applications such as programmable controllers.

  Main applications: switching power supplies, smart meters, industrial controls, measuring instruments, office equipment: e.g. photocopiers, household appliances: e.g. air conditioners, fans, water heaters, etc.

 

R60ABD1   The R60ABD1 is a 60G millimetre wave radar module for human respiratory heart rate sensing and sleep assessment. The module is based on the FMCW radar system and is designed to report the sleep status and history of a person in a timely manner by combining long term sleep posture and body movement acquisition with the respiratory heart rate frequency output of the person in a specific situation.

  The module is based on one transmitter and three receiver antennas: the wide beam radar module is mainly suitable for top-mounted mode, and can accurately scan the whole body's movement layer analysis by controlling a certain angle range through algorithms; it realises sleep detection and respiratory heart rate acquisition in different postures during human motion and static.

  Main applications: sleep detection applications: sleep monitoring (history of sleep state changes), respiratory heart rate detection applications: respiratory rate monitoring, heart rate monitoring

Prepare your supply chain

Buyers of electronic components must now be prepared for future prices, extended delivery time, and continuous challenge of the supply chain. Looking forward to the future, if the price and delivery time continues to increase, the procurement of JIT may become increasingly inevitable. On the contrary, buyers may need to adopt the "just in case" business model, holding excess inventory and finished products to prevent the long -term preparation period and the supply chain interruption.

As the shortage and the interruption of the supply chain continue, communication with customers and suppliers will be essential. Regular communication with suppliers will help buyers prepare for extension of delivery time, and always understand the changing market conditions at any time. Regular communication with customers will help customers manage the expectations of potential delays, rising prices and increased delivery time. This is essential to ease the impact of this news or at least ensure that customers will not be taken attention to the sudden changes in this chaotic market.

Most importantly, buyers of electronic components must take measures to expand and improve their supplier network. In this era, managing your supply chain requires every link to work as a cohesive unit. The distributor of the agent rather than a partner cannot withstand the storm of this market. Communication and transparency are essential for management and planning. In E-energy Holding Limited, we use the following ways to hedge these market conditions for customers:

Our supplier network has been reviewed and improved for more than ten years.

Our strategic location around the world enables us to access and review the company's headquarters before making a purchase decision.

E-energy Holding Limited cooperates with a well -represented testing agency to conduct in -depth inspections and tests before delivering parts to our customers.

Our procurement is concentrated in franchise and manufacturer direct sales.

Our customer manager is committed to providing the highest level of services, communication and transparency. In addition to simply receiving orders, your customer manager will also help you develop solutions, planned inventory and delivery plans, maintain the inventory level of regular procurement, and ensure the authenticity of your parts.

Add E-energy Holding Limited to the list of suppliers approved by you, and let our team help you make strategic and wise procurement decisions.

[clientsearch]

History of Roblox, 2003-2006

This post will be updated over time as more information is found.

2003

Roblox, Dynablox, and Goblox domains are registered by Jim Stevens.

2004

Up to July

Erik Cassel, Keith, and David Baszucki are Roblox’s primary developers.

Builds of roblox from this time were most likely attached* to the browser. The 3D view would show some general information, but build tools were contained in an html panel on the website.

*full ability to use the program required input from buttons on the roblox website, rather than in a UI hardcoded into the exe. Think of how the oldschool Toolbox worked: it was a webpage rendered inside the game window that could send special function calls to the program to insert content, use certain building tools, manipulate bricks, etc. This technique was abandoned by 2006 at the latest.

Surfaces and Joints existed. “Bumps”, a surface type resembling studs but later superseded by Glue, would create raised square bumps on the entire face of any surface it was applied to. To this day, trying to set a part’s surface to “Bumps” will instead turn it into a Glue surface.

Cards - A section of properties for parts and models. Would display in the upper right-hand corner of the screen whenever a part or model with set cards was selected. The text could be set by the user. The properties were Title, Description, Color, Image, Row0, Row1, Row2, Row3, and Row4.

Early evidence of planning for humanoids and multiplayer - Humanoids in the form of ‘PhysicalCharacter’, a subInstance of Models intended for models such as the red/blue figures, with support for Posing (sit, stand, and climb) and Control.

Roblox Website and forums are created. Client could be installed from the website.

In-game camera controlled by arrow keys, right mouse button, and scroll wheel.

2005

Up to the patent build (May)

Builds at this time, while not known if standalone or still required use of the browser, did not rely as much on build tools in an html side panel. All tools used for manipulating the level were contained within the 3D view, as well as a toolbox on the bottom of the screen for inserting parts and models, changing part colors, adding hopperbins, applying ControllerSchemes, and changing surface types. On the top of the screen were six drop-down menus: File, Edit, View, Insert, Format, and Run. A panel on the Left-hand side of the screen Contained basic build tools, from top to bottom: Go, Drag, Axis Drag, Resize, Rotate, Tilt, Group, Ungroup, Duplicate, and Delete. A Camera control cluster in the Lower right-hand corner of the screen could be used to tilt, zoom, pan, and focus the camera.

The property “className” was instead called “Keywords”.

Surfaces worked differently - each face of a part had 5 sub-properties: Type - the type of surface that face would use (Smooth or Bumps), Constraint - the type of rotating joint that would be used if any (Hinge, Motor, None, or SteppingMotor),  SurfaceInput - the InputType for any rotating joints (LeftTread, RightTread, Steer, Throtle, Updown, Action1-5, Sin, and Constant), ParamA -the first parameter for any rotating joints, and ParamB - the second input for any rotating joints.

A mysterious surface called “Spawn”  existed until early 06, used in models such as “Electron Gun” and “Figure with spawn gun.” Presumably, it would regularly respawn any object attached to it at intervals set by ParamA/ParamB. The cursor used when applying the ‘Spawn’ surface to a part is still in content/Textures up through at least 2008.

Motors were applied in a different way - one could choose from “LeftHandMotors” or “RightHandMotors” which would automatically set the surface’s input parameters to “LeftTread” or “RightTread” respectively. Another option, “OscillateMotor”, would set the input parameter to “sin”, allowing the motor to oscillate back and forth rather than constantly rotating. The tools for applying these motor types are, apparently, still in modern builds of studio.

Another, now long gone, service named “Level” with the following properties: SplashHTML - an unknown feature, though likely a window or text that would appear when a level was loaded to provide instructions, DragExtents - a constraint on where parts could be placed in the level, Messages - WinMessage and LoseMessage respectively, which would be displayed when the game reached either a win state or an end state, HighScoreIsGood - presumably to determine whether it’s better to have a low or high score (think golf), RunOnOpen - determined whether the game would being immediately upon being opened, InitialTimerValue - the amount of time the user would have to complete the level, InitialScore - the score the user would start with, TimerUpAction - what would happen if the timer ran out (Draw, Lose, Nothing, Pause, or Win), and TimerAffectsScore - how the timer would change the score (Decrease, Increase, or NoChange).

Parts had some more properties, too: HasOnTouch - a boolean to set whether the part would perform some action when touched, Color - still exists though hidden in the properties menu up until modern builds of Roblox - contains the Color3 value of the part’s BrickColor, Offset/RotVel - older names for “Position” and “RotVelocity” respectively, CanSelect - older name for “locked”, CanUngroup - sets whether the part/model can be ungrouped, NameShown - sets whether the name of the part/model would be displayed above it in the 3D space (code likely later reused for humanoids), Action - the action to be done when touched if HasOnTouch is set to true (Draw, Lose, Nothing, Pause, or Win), Sound - the sound to be played when touched if HasOnTouch is set to true (Boing, Bomb, Break, Click, Clock, NoSound, Page, Ping, Slingshot, Snap, Splat, Step, StepOn, Swoosh, or Victory), ChangeScore - the amount to be added to/subtracted from the score if touched when HasOnTouch is set to true,  ChangeTimer - the amount to be added to/subtracted from the timer if touched when HasOnTouch is set to true, SingleShot - a boolean to set whether the OnTouch events can be triggered more than once, KeywordFilter - sets whether the part should look for all parts with a certain Keyword or without a certain Keyword (Exclude, Include) and Keyword - the Keyword to look for, TouchesToTrigger - the amount of times the part has to be touched to trigger the OnTouched actions, and UniqueObjects - How many unique objects have to touch the part to trigger the OnTouched actions.

Hopperbins were contained in the Hopper service and were not scriptable. Instead, users could select from the following “commands”: Clone, Grab, and Hammer. Grab could drag entire models or single ungrouped parts, and instead of displaying the chassis/yellow brick it does now, it simple displayed the click cursor with the blue text “grab”. Artifacting from this text is still slightly visible in current versions of the icon. Hopperbins could be added to a Level if building was required in order to complete it. HopperBins also had two other properties: “Cost” - the score the play would have to achieve before being granted the ability to use that HopperBin, and “Quantity” - unknown.

Chase and Follow ControllerSchemes.

Camera control keys possibly changed from Arrow cluster to UHJK, as the two known ControllerFlag schemes from this time were WASD and the Arrow cluster. Plausible that the behavior of Format>Camera View at the time was such that using WASD when the camera was focused on a model would not break that focus, thus allowing KeyboardLeft to be used without interfering with the camera.

Addition of the ability to view Properties of instances - a Properties window could either be shown by selecting it from the drop-down “View” menu or would appear whenever a part of model was double-clicked.

Undo function added.

Cards deprecated(?)

Up to the Morgan McGuire builds (October)

“Run” menu removed.

2006

Up to march

The 3D view for edit mode was placed into a Visual-Studio styled IDE initially referred to as the “roblox developer’s environment.” Build tools were removed from the in-game UI and relocated to the topbar, as well as the 5 dropdown menus. An explorer window was added to view the child hierarchy of the entire Level (now referred to as “game”) and the Property of any instance currently selected would display below that. 

Humanoids are added, allowing for models (specifically player models with a certain structure) to be controlled by ControllerFlags without the use of motors. In conjunction with this, the “Player” ControllerScheme is added, as well as the Players service, and the Player instance. This occurred during Fall 2005. Mike Rayhawk was commissioned to make designs for characters that were ultimately never used, though he did design the bulk of Roblox’s classic badge Icons.

A Lua virtual machine was incorporated with its own API specifically for interacting with roblox, resulting in the addition of scripts and scriptable hopperbins. An output and command bar were added for better interaction with the Lua VM. This occurred during Fall 2005.

Explosions are added, and display as big red orbs. The hopperbin gets another four pre-scripted options: Rocket, Slingshot, Laser, and GameTool.

The UHJK ControllerScheme is added, and the studio camera is again controlled via the arrowkeys. It is unknown when WASD becomes an option for controlling the camera.

When the surface tools were added to the topbar, the motor tool was taken from the old “Right-Hand Motor tool”, resulting in all motors being automatically given the “RightHandTread” surface input.

At this time the lighting service is now visible (might always have been, unknown), and has the following properties: TopAmbient2 - how the areas of parts facing toward the sun will be shaded, BottomAmbient2 - how the areas of parts facing away from the sun will be shaded, Spotlight2 - the color of sunlight, and ClearColor - the color to be displayed in lieu of the skybox if the quality level is too low to render it.

Up to June

All or most 04/05-era properties of parts and other instances, such as the “Level” service, are removed or renamed, leaving them more or less as they are until 08.

Multiplayer was added, bringing with it the NetworkServer and NetworkClient services, as well as the chat bar and chatlog. Early multiplayer games were hosted on dedicated roblox servers and user-made games were restricted to singleplayer.

Telamon joins the roblox team, becoming their fourth engineer. He gives humanoids the ability to jump and begins working on AI.

Up to October

User-made games, now called “places”, may be played in multiplayer. 

Beyond

In January of 2007, ‘Hopper’ is renamed to ‘StarterPack’ to better reflect its intended purpose, and a dummy ‘Hopper’ class is added purely to ensure that, when loading older levels with HopperBins stored under ‘Hopper’, they would all be dumped into the StarterPack. The dummy class would then delete itself.

In May of 2009, Controllers were rewritten - the ‘Player’ ControllerType was hard-coded into whatever model was set as the Player’s character, and all the Controller functionality involving motors was reworked into VehicleSeats, resulting in some loss of functionality, as individual Hinges/Motors could no longer be set to rotate with specific inputs.

-DirtPiper