Automation and Control is the predecessor of Robotics. A Jump Start, Practical and standard reference for Process Control is at at Omega Technical Reference.
A Control system is made of Sensors sending acquired data to a Controller which operates Actuators to manage the process in Real Time. Starting from a Bimetal Thermostat to a SCADA, the controller has grown from mechanical — electrical — analog — digital devices to microcontroller-computer based equipment.
Both in Control Systems and Robotics the Collaboration between Robots or Control Units, leads to the development of wireless network of Interactive, Intelligent and Distributed Self Governing Systems. The outcome is Web Process Automation, Web Applications based Solutions in Monitoring, Analyzing and Configuring these Sophisticated Networked Systems.
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Electronics Product Design
When you wish to Begin to learn Electronics, first a short study of Physics is essential, secondly some Electronics theory. In the third stage build simple and small gadgets to learn Practical Electronics. Lastly to make your own product designs, a fundamental knowledge of Analog and Digital Electronics is the foundation for your next steps into Engineering a Design.
Applications and Components
The basic building blocks for most circuits are Chips or ICs. You can acquire considerable knowledge by studying Application notes of National Semiconductor and Texas Instruments to start with. When you want to build Embedded Microprocessor projects, you can study the documents at Atmel and Microchip to begin. The Specifications and Behavior of Passive Components like inductors, capacitors and Resistors; Discrete Semiconductors; Power Devices and RF Components have to be understood well, in order to design sturdy industrial grade products.
Advanced Engineering
The Technology related to the equipment used for Testing, Troubleshooting and Calibration is called Test & Measurement, Here we use Test Instruments like Oscilloscopes and Digital Multimeters. Medical Electronics and Military Designs require more meticulous, robust and dedicated designs with higher reliability and accuracy. In Medical electronics product safety is vital, Consumer products should be affordable without compromising Human Safety factors. Then you need to look into Usability or Ergonomics, which is a science that helps us develop practical and cost-effective products, which have an optimum Man-Machine Interface. EMI, ESD, RFI are other important aspects that deals with Electromagnetic, Electrostatic and RF; Noise and Interference; in the Stable performance of products in Real World Harsh Environments or the Reliable Transmission of data.
Zelscope Sound card oscilloscope
Zelscope is a Windows software that converts your PC into a dual-trace storage oscilloscope and spectrum analyzer. It uses your computer’s sound card as analog-to-digital converter, presenting a real-time waveform or spectrum of the signal - which can be music, speech, or output from an electronic circuit.
Zelscope features the interface of a traditional oscilloscope, with conventional gain, offset, timebase, and trigger controls. As a real-time spectrum analyzer, Zelscope can display the amplitude and phase components of the spectrum.
