I just want to report the progress in our development. About a year ago I raised question that whether it is realistic to achieve 150 dB dynamic range in the measurement. The discussion is here:
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After a year of development, we made an instrument that can measure up to 130dB to 140dB. See:
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for product details. We are
10~20dB less than what we planned. But it is is still a satisfactory result. 130dB means that in the same frame of data capture, we can see signal clearly as high as 10Vpk, or as small as 10uV. With this improvement, no gain setting for the front end is needed any more.
190+ dB is possible, but things start to get expensive...
Best regards, Spehro Pefhany
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speff@interlog.com Info for manufacturers: http://www.trexon.com
Embedded software/hardware/analog Info for designers: http://www.speff.com
I didn't find any specifications for the temperature coefficients of the precision or accuracy of the measurements. For DC or near DC measurements, this could be a significant limitation on the ability to fully use the 130 dB of dynamic range.
Nice bit of kit!. I've had 130dB but only at a fixed I.F. and piss poor 30k B.W. For your type of job I'd be thinking maybe 2 off 24 bitters running in parallel, one running at x100. Results stitched together. Anywhere near?.
Thanks for the patent number. Tried a search on "Crystal instruments patent" but got nothing. It -nearly- went into some kit a couple of years ago to improve the 10 bit dynamic range of a PIC ADC. I'm lazy though and couldn't be arsed with the number crunching, so fitted an external 16 bit A/D :). The marvellous AVR Mega32 I'm playing with, surprisingly has switchable gains and diff' inputs on the ADC, spawning a couple of teasing, 'what ifs?'. (I'll keep my head down.)
Ye-but, this could only be reasonably argued if I filed away historical evidence such as dated logbooks, a magazine article, emails discussing the idea, or even a post to a newsgroup such as here. If I ever get so anal as to marking dates on 'logbook' things or even thinking the stuff I do has worth, then please pass me a Stanley knife and I'll cut my wrists. It's anti-gravity or nothing. In a free world, first come first served. Crystal have made a lot of effort with their product, it's reasonable that they protect their 'edge'. These things though are basically just ideas and electronic engineering seems (uniquely?) one area where decent ideas are there for the picking.
What's worries me though, is the vast number of truly vacuous ideas given patent protection. At one time I thought electronic 'invention' was just part of the due process of designing things, until that is, I read the first Jim Williams book and noted Bob Pease? had patented a VCO design. Until then I hadn't know that circuit arrangements could be so protected. The knock on, is that it could badly affect me, as a simple, hack, designer of kit. A design I did for a company earlier this year, needed a couple of circuit arrangements 'inventing' to dig myself out of a technical hole (of my own making!). In total the 'fixes' took an hours work, nice but nothing special. Problem is they may be already patented. And if not then probably will be. Ffs, it's absolutely crazy out there.
Having just read through that patent, I'm left wondering how that could even be patentable... I mean it's not some new idea - it's just common sense. I bet that's implemented in thousands of circuits already in wide use. The state of the patent system these days just makes me sick.
Still, what is it worth having a piece of circuit patented? Patent law clearly states that as a holder of a patent you'll need to actively search for patent violations. In case of electronics it would mean opening up and thouroughly analyzing every piece of equipment that hits the market and see if any patent is being violated. If you don't do this, you are basically allowing others to use your invention and the patent becomes useless.
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They may have another reason. If they are trying to sell the company, patents add value to the company if they are selling to investement groups. Of course, patents look good on your CV. Reminds me of the silly patent someone brought up a few years ago where they patented a way of breaking a gyrator. Message-ID:
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