Eric Bogatin

Jan 7, 2025 | signalintegrityjournal.com | Eric Bogatin

Our economy is both fueled and limited by energy sources. Before the Industrial Revolution, human strength and ability were supplemented by animals. We still retain a measure of power in terms of the ability of a horse. One horsepower (hp) is equivalent to about 750 W, which is about 5x what one person can deliver. The Industrial Revolution, which began in 1760, was distinguished by the introduction of energy sources that offered even more power than a horse.

Nov 21, 2024 | signalintegrityjournal.com | Eric Bogatin

If an engineer stops learning, their knowledge can become obsolete in just a few years. This means engineers need to be lifelong learners. Luckily, there are many free resources available to learn new engineering principles, migrate to new fields, and keep up with the latest technology solutions and best design practices.

Nov 4, 2024 | signalintegrityjournal.com | Eric Bogatin

While many of us witnessed the Christmas launch of the James Webb Space Telescope as excited public, one engineer in our community saw 20 years of his life being launched into space. His personal story, through his eyes, is now available for the rest of us to experience. John McCloskey, Chief EMC engineer with Goddard Space Flight Center, shown in Figure 1, spent almost half of his career working on the JWST, solving and troubleshooting EMC and RF issues, amongst other test challenges.

Oct 29, 2024 | signalintegrityjournal.com | Eric Bogatin

I recently received a note from an engineer who asked about a paradox that is often used in prelim exams to trip up EE PhD students. We start with two identical capacitors, one charged to 2 V and the other starting at 0 V. Then we connect them together. This circuit is shown in Figure 1.   The first question is, what is the voltage on each after they are connected together? Of course, the voltages become 1 V on each. Now comes the trick question.

Aug 20, 2024 | signalintegrityjournal.com | Eric Bogatin

Learning does not end when we leave school and start our professional careers. The only thing that changes is the direction of the money flow. When we are students, we pay to learn and work on projects. When we are professional engineers working in industry, we are paid to learn and work on projects. In this respect, we are all lifelong learners. While we can passively absorb information from live courses, books, articles, or videos, there is no substitute for hands-on learning.