Ey reader! Most of the times, we take for granted the complexity of things we use every day. One example is Near-Field Probes There are many out there, from 10 € to 2000 €. They all seem to work in the same way: Connect them to an oscilloscope or a Spectrum Analyzer Place them close to an alternate source of Electromagnetic Energy Measure and extract conclusions Easy, right? What if I ask you to build one or two from scratch? ... Not that easy, right? That exactly happened to me when I...
4 months ago • 1 min read
Hardware Startups have it 10x harder to sell a hardware product Why? First, they have the typical challenges of a Startup Limited amount of resources: you cannot build a 1M laboratory the first week. The stereotype photo of the first days of a Startup has their founders working long hours in the garage of one of them. You need to build something great with the tools you have around and if you are lucky, with some tools you receive from generous donors. Pressure from investors to get high...
6 months ago • 1 min read
It is the moment to change our approach In the previous issue, we talked about the need for tools. You can read it, and all the other issues, here. We want to go to the moon, and Mars, make space trips as regular holidays We want to have fully autonomous cars and have 0% accidents We want to watch HD Netflix from any remote village But We use our grandpa´s multimeters We keep old versions of our CAD tools We follow the waterfall project management process And we are surprised that... We will...
6 months ago • 1 min read
Give tools to your team Every manager has one directive: do your best while spending the least. The problem? Spending the least can prevent your team from doing their best. If you are a founder with a software background, hardware might seem prohibitively expensive to you. Wise managers think, What is the minimum I can spend to enable my team to perform their best? If they ask their technical team, they will receive a long list of tools and gadgets, each justified as indispensable.Some of...
7 months ago • 1 min read
One of the most common questions I get when talking about certifications and selling devices in the European Union is: — “Ignacio, how do I know which requirements apply to my device?” To be fair, the information out there is often blurry—if not outright contradictory and confusing. As a manufacturer, you should focus on the Radio Equipment Directive (RED). Navigating the RED directive Why is it needed? The Radio Equipment Directive (2014/53/EU) regulates the placement of radio equipment on...
8 months ago • 2 min read
Hi there, You might know, I have been working on a new guide about Near-Field probes. Learnings so far Writing long content requires time, a lot of time It is hard to fight the impostor syndrome until one day you say "Screw it", I am publishing it now There are a lot of popular assumptions (i.e. Near-Field probes are easy to use) that, once you scratch the surface, they are not true What it is in for you You can directly download the guide using this link: download Near-Field Probes guide...
9 months ago • 1 min read
Hi! Today´s email is the email sequence that new subscribers receive when they sign-up. You are already subscribed, so it would not be fair to leave you without it. What is in? EMC should not be difficult and boring Why bother with EMC (Electromagnetic) Energy comes and go EMC should not be difficult and boring Since my first job in electronics, I have been told that Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC) is hard. And that’s it. No more details, no more explanations. When digging more, what I...
10 months ago • 4 min read
Hi reader, Your interest in the content I prepare makes me very happy. The last week I went to the EMC Europe, in Belgium, and I got very positive feedback. Making things simple pays off, so I am planning the next experiments on conducted and radiated emissions. Today´s chapter is very short. I wanted to share a few points with you. Downloadable guide The guide on current probes can be now downloaded in PDF format. You can get it from the downloads website. Can you make me a favor? If we have...
10 months ago • 1 min read
The shopping list for DC Conducted Emissions pre-compliance testing by Ignacio de Mendizabal, 14/8/2024 Hello Reader, Happy to have you here Today, we will prepare everything we need to measure DC conducted emissions using Line Impedance Stabilization Networks (LISN). We will use two of the most affordable models and you will eave this chapter with a shopping list with all the components. Standards There are many different standards defining the test set-ups, limits and frequency bands. For...
11 months ago • 4 min read