Introduction The world of digitally controlled switchmode power supplies has always held a certain allure for me: the idea that you could sample things like output voltage and current, apply some DSP techniques, and then based on that output a gate drive signal in real time, giving you whatever response you want out of your buck/boost converter just seems so… insanely cool. That being said, a lot of times these require a good understanding of the control loop architecture and parameters of switchmode power supplies to be able to properly stabilize, which has proven to be quite the barrier to entry....

Introduction I started off this project when I realised that the official Discovery BNC adapter board has too high an input capacitance to be used with generic scope probes, which usually have a compensation range of 5-35pF ish. Using scope probes is really necessary in some cases where low loading is desireable, since the quoted 1MΩ || 24pF input impedance of the Analog Discovery 3 loads down sensitive analog circuits quite significantly....

Before reading on, please refer to the previous part/MK1 of this project, otherwise some of the stuff here might seem a little odd. Schematic <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="no"?> SVG Image created as AD3 Front End Amplifier-CH1.svg date 2023/12/18 09:48:42 Image generated by Eeschema-SVG C207 C207 1u 1u -2V5 -2V5 1 1 2 2 SW201 SW201 AC/DC AC/DC C203 C203 1u 1u V- V- 2 2 V+ V+ 5 5 1 1 + + 3 3 - - 4 4 U202 U202 C201 C201 10n 10n -2V5 -2V5 +2V5 +2V5 C208 C208 1u 1u R207 R207 402 402 R201 R201 1k 1k R208 R208 22 22 V- V- 2 2 V+ V+ 5 5 1 1 + + 3 3 - - 4 4 U201 U201 D201 D201 R202 R202 1M 1M C205 C205 1u 1u C204 C204 1u 1u R203 R203 100 100 R204 R204 402 402 R206 R206 402 402 +2V5 +2V5 C206 C206 1u 1u R205 R205 22 22 C202 C202 10n 10n 1 1 2 2 J201 J201 CH1 CH1 COM COM 1 1 NO NO 2 2 V- V- 3 3 IN IN 4 4 V+ V+ 5 5 IC201 IC201 TS12A4516DBVR TS12A4516DBVR OUT+ OUT+ OUT- OUT- V+ V+ V+ V+ V- V- U202 U202 V- V- 2 2 V+ V+ 5 5 1 1 + + 3 3 - - 4 4 -2V5 -2V5 SW201 SW201 AC/DC AC/DC 1 1 2 2 -2V5 -2V5 U201 U201 V- V- 2 2 V+ V+ 5 5 1 1 + + 3 3 - - 4 4 C206 C206 1u 1u IC201 IC201 TS12A4516DBVR TS12A4516DBVR COM COM 1 1 NO NO 2 2 V- V- 3 3 IN IN 4 4 V+ V+ 5 5 D201 D201 Check out the design files here Compared to the MK1 design, the gain stage is essentially identical....

As makers, random serendipity is very precious to us, as it represents an excellent opportunity to broaden our horizons by trying stuff that otherwise would not have crossed our minds. This project was spawned by a chance encounter with an art museum curator during my stint in Edinburgh. The idea was to create a tool to generate Secret Portraits , also known as Anamorphosis , to make some cool merch that would support the operations of the museum....

This is a tool I developed to assist us at the Cambridge University Spaceflight Club to design a patch antenna for telemetry. It is intended only as a very crude estimate, as I have absolutely no idea how accurately I selected the underlying formulae. Input Parameters: Dielectric Constant: Dielectric Thickness: mm Target Frequency: Hz kHz MHz GHz Target Impedance: Ω Conductor Thickness: μm Velocity Factor: % Results: Patch Width: Patch Length: Feed Methods: Inset Fed: Inset Length: width length qwt_ Probe Fed: Probe Distance from Center: width length dpf Edge Fed: Edge Impedance: Impedance Required for Quarter Wave Transform: Required Trace Width for Quarter Wave Transform: Required Trace Length for Quarter Wave Transform: 50Ω Impedance Microstrip Transmission Line Width: References Patch Antennas for the impedance formulae Quarter Wave Transformer Microstrip Width Calculator for microstrip formulae DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF A CONFORMAL OMNIDIRECTIONAL MICROSTRIP ANTENNA ARRAY ON CYLINDRICAL SURFACE Study of a conformal UWB antenna designed on various non-planar surfaces Design and Studies on Non-planar Conformal Patch Antennas for Air-borne Vehicles

To Do: Look into Average vs RMS also Plot some graphs yay

Why I bought it in the first place The Analog Discovery 3 seemed like a band-aid solution to an ongoing problem I have been facing here at Cambridge: how do I get my own oscilloscope so that I can get back in to doing electronics without having to rely on the few shared scopes at the Dyson Center (the Dyson Center is sort of like a makerspace for engineering students, it isn’t great though…)...