January2009 www.nutsvolts.com
Features
50 Power MOSFETs ■ By Gerard Fonte
Part 1 will cover the theory behind these
useful devices that have a lot of overlooked
features.
54 A Touchof Spice ■ By Peter Stonard
This month, make discoveries about IC circuits
that are well-known and learn more about the
concepts of sub-circuits and macromodels.
60 How To: Surface Mount Soldering
■ By Robert Doerr
Get over your fear of working with these
tiny components.
Page 44
Page 40
Projects Columns
34 Instrumentation for Model Rocketry
12 TechKnowledgey 2009
Incorporate additional instrumentation to a flight recorder
Events,Advances,and News
to measure a rocket’s rate of roll, relative altitude, and
booster-stage separation detection. ■ By Michael Bessant
Topics covered include reconnecting brain
●●●● Advanced Level
cells, a new unified storage appliance, don’t
mix headphones and pacemakers, plus more.
40 16x16 Tri-Colored LED Matrix —
Real Time Clock for the Parallax SX52
This project allows the user to create their own scrolling
display to show the time (or other messages) in multiple
colors. ■ By Timothy Gilmore
●●●● Advanced Level
44 The Proto Buddy
Take proto circuit building to the next level with this
device that allows you to expand your existing board
so you can create all kinds of circuits. ■ By Jim Stewart
●●●● Intermediate Level
Departments
08 DEVELOPING
PERSPECTIVES
31 NEW PRODUCTS
32 SHOWCASE
66 ELECTRO-NET
86 NV WEBSTORE
90 CLASSIFIEDS
92 TECH FORUM
96 AD INDEX
15 Personal Robotics
Understanding,Designing&Constructing
Robots
Robo resolutions for 2009.
18 Stamp Applications
Puttingthe Spotlighton BASICStamp
Projects,Hints&Tips
Control from the couch — redux.
26Q &A
Reader Questions Answered Here
High impedance preamp, audio to LED
display driver, FM shutdown problem, more.
68 Getting Started With PICs
The Latestin Programming Microcontrollers
I2C communication.
72 The Design Cycle
Advanced Techniquesfor Design Engineers
Chatting up a thumbdrive.
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6 January 2009
80 Smiley’s Workshop
An AVRCProgramming Series
A menu navigator.
