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Issue #221 December 2008
2008 I/O
by C. J. Abate
When any good engineer worth his solder finishes a long-term project, he immediately begins assessing what he accomplished in an effort to prepare for future endeavors. We like to do the same thing. So, after finishing this issue, we reviewed our 2008 editorial endeavor—publishing 12 fresh issues of Circuit Cellar—for the purpose of noting our accomplishments and planning what is to come.
In late 2007, we set five major goals for 2008. We achieved them all. The way I see it, we put a lot in and you got a lot out. Let’s review.
1. We planned to highlight Circuit Cellar’s 20th anniversary. We did so by publishing Ed Nisley’s retrospective article, “That Was Then, This Is Now” (Issue 210), and introducing a new front cover layout. We also reinstated an old fan favorite, the EQ section. Many thanks to Dave Tweed!
2. We set out to incorporate articles from the most diverse set of engineers to date. We achieved this by running stellar articles by talented engineers from such distant places as Dallas, Texas (Ben Smith, Issue 210), Bogota, Colombia (Diego Mendez Chaves, et al, Issue 211), Tokyo, Japan (Yoshiyasu Takefuji, Issue 213), Gorizia, Italy (Carlo Tauraso, Issue 216), North Olmsted, Ohio (James Blackwell, Issue 218), and Pune, India (Mandar Bagul, Issue 221).
3. We aimed to publish useful articles about renewable energy resources. This year, we ran five articles on the subject in the Intelligent Energy Solutions section of the magazine. We hope to continue publishing such articles in 2009, but we need your help. It’s up to you to start planning the next batch of articles about energy-efficient applications. Send article proposals to cj@circuitcellar.com.
4. We promised to continue running useful graphics-related articles even though we were removing the Graphics & Video issue from the editorial calendar. We came through by publishing several graphics-related articles. James Blackwell’s article titled “Content Collection and Display” (Issue 218) is an excellent example.
5. We resolved to challenge readers to work on articles about programmable logic-related topics. This month, we deliver an article by Kareem Matariyeh about the Verilog language and programming FPGAs and CPLDs (p. 78). More will follow in 2009.
To make this issue more memorable, we packed it with articles about real-world applications and handy new design tools. Starting on page 14, John Peterson describes an expandable platform for light and animation. Design, program and rearrange! Turn to page 24 for Tom Cantrell's useful introduction to Altium's Designer and Nanoboard. To learn about another handy tool, check out Jeff Bachiochi's article "Component Control" (p.62). On page 32, Mandar Bagul begins an article about an affordable mobile data storage solution. On page 38, Ed Nisley covers the topics of NiMH charging and designing a three-pack charger. If you want to build an electronic identification system, check out Jan Szymanski’s description of his MCU-based badge project (p. 44). Robert Lacoste demystifies the topic of proportional integral derivative (PID) control on page 54. On page 69, Martin Courtney introduces two beamforming techniques: adaptive and fixed.
We will run dozens of thought-provoking articles in 2009. You can e-mail me an article proposal or submission at any time. Our calendar is now available at www.circuitcellar.com/submissions/editorialcalendar2009.html.
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