This web site is subject to copyright ©. The technical content is not be to used by people or organizations for commercial gain. Equally, the technical content and associated ideas presented here are placed in the public domain and intended to be of general use and scientific or mathematical interest. As such, I hope the material I present here will be informative, educational, useful and interesting.
I am happy to make a few (I think quite reasonable) concessions however,
 | Educational organizations are free to copy and distribute these web pages for educational purposes but not to achieve commercial gain directly from the sale of this web material (for example by selling the material directly). I am extremely supportive of any educational initiatives and welcome any opportunity to contribute towards such ventures. |
| All intellectual property contained in this web site belongs to the author. Some intellectual property presented here will have patent application potential. I do not intend to pursue any patent applications as the material presented in my web site is intended to be freely available. I do not place restrictions on people using parts of this web material in their own intellectual property claims providing that these parts so utilized remain freely available to others (in other words, so that the material and technology content I make freely available remains freely available). |
| People and organizations may use the technical concepts for commercial purposes, such as product development, providing that such use does not restrict similar use, in any way, by other people and organizations pursuing similar activities. For example, if a company uses a circuit or derivation of a circuit described in these web pages, then this use does not restrict similar use of such source circuits and associated circuit ideas by any other person or organization also pursuing commercial applications. |
| I may concede however to protecting the commercial interests of people or organizations that may seek to use part, or all of any technical ideas that I have described, or will develop further on their behalf, providing that suitable permission has been sought from me. For example, a company may have commercial interest in using Direct Conversion RF-IQ technology and associated IQ error correction algorithms. I prefer that these concepts remain in the public domain but a specific implementation intended for commercial purposes may require IP protection. I am happy to respect non disclosure of specific implementations that have been sought from me. |
I hope this arrangement is seen as fair. I believe that technology is fascinating and should be made as freely available as possible. It can be unfortunate that commercial pressures may place restrictions on the distribution of ideas. Where these ideas directly relate to commercial gain, and that such commercial gain could be compromised by such distribution, it could be argued that free distribution would be inappropriate. However the ideas and concepts I present here remain available here for educational use.
This is a non profit making web site, not intended for commercial purposes.
If people with commercial interests wish to make use of the material I present here, or require further development particular areas of interest then I can be contacted by email at
In most cases I'll be happy to allow such usage and may expand on the content if requested. Any additional information I provide free of charge will however remain as my personal intellectual property, although such property may be used for commercial purpose. I appreciate the commercial sensitivities of protecting specific implementations and will respect such concerns if requested to do so.
My web site does use external material in a promotional and beneficial way. My intention is to "give credit where credit is due" so I would like to acknowledge these contributors in this web section.
Modern electronic components have made meteoric strides over the period of this current industrial revolution. New component technologies have blossomed, emerging from a background of poor repeatability and almost accidental discovery to a refinement phase of tightly controlled parameter tolerances and cost effective manufacturing methodology. Equally, software development provides many excellent simulation, analysis and synthesis tools for electronic design.
A large number of component manufacturers ride the wave of such progress and I hope these will accept the "free advertising" my web site provides. I therefore wish to acknowledge the prime innovators of the component examples I have referenced in these web pages for educational and informative purposes. The companies listed combine superior electronic components that exhibit continual performance and functional advances providing highly competitive, cost effective solutions.
| Maxim-ic http://www.maxim-ic.com - Highly innovative development of a wide range of semiconductor component technologies including audio, RF, microwave, optical, digital, mixed-signal (ADC, DAC) and switch-mode discrete and integrated offerings. Maxim also has an excellent web site containing many excellent application notes and is well worth a visit, especially for people beginning any new development project requiring active electronic components. |
| Infineon http://www.infineon.com/cms/en/product/index.html - An excellent source of superior SMD NMOS and PMOS devices for medium power switch-mode voltage conversion and electrically protected FETs for automobile applications, high performance RF Bipolar and MOSFET components (Originator of the BFP620 SiGe Bipolar with FT = 70 GHz), RF power LDMOS and high speed optical devices. |
| Analog Devices http://www.analog.com/en/ - A good supplier of high performance semiconductor devices intended for infrastructure applications |
| Linear Technology http://www.linear.com/ Very progressive component developer in RF, power and mixed signal semiconductor devices. |
| National Semiconductor http://www.national.com/ - Well respected innovator in audio and switch mode semiconductor technologies. |
| Murata http://www.murata.com/ - An industry standard in ceramic capacitors, resonators and composite ferrite-ceramic components for EMI suppression. Murata continually pushes the bounds in passive components that are well suited to high volume consumer applications. |
| Coilcraft http://www.coilcraft.com/ - Well recognized leader in passive inductors. Coilcraft offers an excellent range of performance oriented inductors for RF, EMI and switch-mode power applications at very attractive prices. |
| Minicircuits http://www.minicircuits.com/ - Well known for low cost diode based mixers and other RF processing components covering DC to 20 GHz. Minicircuits also provides ancillary test equipment such as RF attenuator pads and can supply in low volume (e.g. to amateur science and electronic hobbyists) as well as high volume for product manufacturers. |
| Farnell http://www.farnell.com/ - Although Farnell does not manufacture its own components, this company does stock a wide range of components from many suppliers and provide an excellent component supply service to experimenters and companies involved in R&D product development. |
| Spectrum Software http://www.microcapsoftware.com/index.shtm Arguably a supplier of one of the best software circuit analysis tools today - Microcap 9 provides AC, DC, Transient and FFT analysis of circuits. I have dedicated a large amount of my web space to demonstrate Spectrum's analysis and simulation tool in action. I am particularly impressed with Spectrum Software as they offer a free, time unlimited evaluation package to anyone that applies on-line. This philosophy demonstrates virtue and greatly benefits educational activities whether at a personal level or within a wider group context. It also engenders familiarity with designers in a commercial setting who, given previous opportunity to "play freely" with the tool may well become motivated to seek for their organization to apply for a full (paid for) version. This philanthropic approach is praiseworthy and I hope more companies would include some altruist component to their business model! |
| Wikipedia http://www.wikipedia.org/ - Definitely the best web encyclopedia known to man. Wikipedia provides excellent, well research and reviewed articles on any topic and seeks inputs from anybody capable of writing clear and concise material. |
| Mathsoft http://store.ptc.com/store/ptc/DisplayCategoryProductListPage/categoryID.5321800 Mathsoft's MathCAD is my favorite mathematics software package and is easy to use, provides many advanced mathematical functions (vector, matrix, complex variable, FFT, IFFT etc), in addition to simple, convenient graphing routines. It uses a word document based User Interface suitable for technical reports. Unlike script based math packages, MathCAD is "fault tolerant" - for example syntax mistakes in computations executing in one area generally don't interfere with computations made in other areas (MathCAD just highlights them and carries on). Also, MathCAD is "multi-media" friendly and you can cut and past pictures and objects such as sound files into its pages. |
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I apologize if I have missed any contributors out. Please email me at ian.scott@xtra.co.nz so I can correct this oversight.
Equally, if you have components or software tools that you believe may benefit people on my web site, please email me with your suggestion and I may elect to write a web chapter demonstration a suitable application for other web visitors.
I don't believe that technology should be presented in a "stuffy" manner. Instead, I like to combine technical web content with attractive art and other pleasing associations. Technology advances, after all, require imagination, wonder and thought and any suggestion that science and mathematics should be rigid and boringly dull is simply absurd.
Dull and boring people cannot create new and interesting concepts. History attests to many highly creative individuals with unique and impressive personalities. Mozart, for example, was certainly not just a music scribe; instead he was energetic, down to earth and loved fun! Many contemporary investigators involved, for example, in paranormal research have similarly intriguing backgrounds. Whilst there is a need for formal presentation, as in an IEEE submission, much of this work involves microscopic detail on ever decreasing areas of technical hair-splitting. There is simply no way anyone could present such articles on, say, a radio talk show as it would bore the audience to death (and man, have I witnessed some ultra boring papers presented at various forums - it must take massive effort to suck the life out of otherwise intrinsically interesting topics!)
I do not want my web site to ever fall into such a category. I intend it to appeal to a wide audience, either for casual interest or for direct application. I expect the audience will be diverse, having a wide range of formal education and informal life experience. Some of my web chapters demand a high level of mathematical aptitude, others can be understood by lay people and use familiar words and commonly accepted concepts. Perhaps some visitors may want to adopt science and mathematics as a career choice resulting from this experience. Anything that portrays science and technology as dull, already done, boring or irrelevant represents an ill-informed persuasion; instead I hope that people will see magic and beauty in such subjects and educate those that can not.
I would therefore like permission to include some of my favorite cartoon characters, especially those that demonstrate a connection with technology (especially if they're "goofy"). These include
| My Life As A Teenage Robot - MLaaTR - An excellent cartoon series by Rob Renzetti for Frederator Studios http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Life_as_a_Teenage_Robot about a robot girl XJ9 "Jenny" who wants to be a normal teenage girl but is also a super hero planet saver. |
| Kim Possible - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kim_possible - A high school chair leader with science oriented parents that make super-science tools for her fight to save the world. |
| Spongebob Squarepants - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SpongeBob_SquarePants - Well what can I say. Stephen Hillenburgh is a great artist with an equally great sense of humor! |
| Power Puff Girls - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_Puff_Girls - Three super powered girls invented by a scientist "father" also saving the world |
| The Simpsons - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Simpsons - A perennial favorite for all less than serious occasions. |
I hope that these images serve to promote the artists and organizations that develop them and that my usage of these images is seen as beneficial to their cause, complementary to their creators and certainly not detrimental in any way.
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© Ian R. Scott, 2008