Computing

gate system

Remote Operated Gate Control System

/
0 Comments
Introduction This project began life in 2017 when the author had just begun experimentation with GPIO pins on a Raspberry Pi 3. At that point in time…
digital audio guide

Hybrid AI Video Codecs and Modern Streaming Techniques

/
0 Comments
Introduction AI and Hybrid Codecs Modern Video codecs are all based on similar principles. Recently, these have been complemented by AI techniques,…
digital audio guide

Sinc Function & Upsampling in Digital Audio Explained

/
0 Comments
Introduction This elaborates some of the claims in my insights article on digital audio. The Sinc Function Upsampling and Zero Insertion The first link…
digital audio intro

Modern DACs, Dither, DXD & High-Res Audio Explained

/
0 Comments
Introduction First, we need some background in Digital Signals. This can be mathematically quite advanced, but since I would like this article to be accessible…
Milli-Ohm

The Poor Man’s Milli-Ohm Meter

/
0 Comments
Introduction In a previous article on measuring battery internal resistance, a simple technique for low-resistance measurement was outlined. In this article,…
chatgpt-reliable

Why ChatGPT Is Unreliable: Design Limits and Misconceptions

/
138 Comments
ChatGPT's reliability I'll start with the simple fact: ChatGPT is not a reliable answerer to questions. Wolfram's explanation To try to explain why from…
ATmega8A

Program ATmega8A with Arduino: Step-by-Step Guide

/
2 Comments
Introduction If you are interested in programming and electronics, you probably do not need an introduction to Arduino. If you want to make your Arduino…
pvsnp

P vs. NP and what is a Turing Machine (TM)?

/
1 Comment
P or NP This article deals with the complexity of calculations and in particular the meaning of ##P\stackrel{?}{\neq}NP## Before we explain what P and…
cpu programming

Parallel Programming on a CPU with AVX-512

/
1 Comment
This article is the second of a two-part series that presents two distinctly different approaches to parallel programming. In the two articles, I use different…
programming gpu

CUDA Regression Line: GPU Parallel Programming Guide

/
1 Comment
Overview This article is the first of a two-part series that presents two distinctly different approaches to parallel programming. In the two articles,…
setup raspberry pi cluster

Raspberry Pi Cluster Guide: Parts, MPI & Slurm Tips

/
9 Comments
INTRODUCTION As a long-time computer programmer and almost as long a High-Performance Computer (HPC) user, I didn't know anything about how these machines…
python sympy module

Python’s Sympy Module and the Cayley-Hamilton Theorem

/
0 Comments
Two of my favorite areas of study are linear algebra and computer programming. In this article I combine these areas by using Python to confirm that a…
LCEVC 8k tv

LCEVC and EVC: Efficient Video Encoding Guide for 8K

/
4 Comments
Introduction Background: H.264 and H.265 First, for background, here is an overview of the most common video compression standard in use today, H264:…
android ringtone

Android Ringtone Picker with RingtoneManager (Java)

/
3 Comments
Android Ringtone Picker using RingtoneManager In article, I will show you how to create a ringtone picker using the RingtoneManager class in Android.…
c++ guide for beginners

Beginner C++ Tutorial — Compiler, Types & I/O Basics

/
0 Comments
ContentsGetting a C++ Compiler and Compiling Your First Program Simple Datatypes and Declarations Operators and Expressions Input and Output…
android rooting

Android Rooting & Magisk Guide: Systemless Root Tips

/
9 Comments
Android Rooting & Magisk Guide: Systemless Root Tips Overview What you can learn from this article:What is meant by rooting an Android phone …
bloatware android phones

Debloating Android Phones: Risks, Myths and Safe Tips

/
2 Comments
What is bloatware? Stock firmware and preinstalled apps When you unbox a new phone, it comes with Android pre-installed by the manufacturer. This is…
recursion in programming

Recursion in Programming and When to Use or Not to Use It

/
38 Comments
What is recursion? Recursion is quite simple. It's a subroutine calling itself. It's surprising but some problems that look quite hard can be trivial using…
Camera Lens Physics

Evaluate Camera Lens Performance Using an LCD Display

/
2 Comments
Introduction I've done plenty of imaging performance testing on a variety of systems, from millimeter wave to UV. Until very recently, such testing required…
Renewable Energy Power Grid

When Renewable Energy Meets Power Grid Operations

/
55 Comments
Introduction The electric power industry faces much turmoil in the coming decades.  The business model of the electric utility company (public or private)…
AVX-512 Programming subtotals

AVX-512 Programming: Extracting Column Subtotals from a Table

/
1 Comment
In this Insights article I'll present an example that shows how Intel® AVX-512 instructions can be used to read a whole row of data in a single operation,…
AVX-512 conclusion

AVX-512 Assembly Programming: Opmask Registers for Conditional Arithmetic Conclusion

/
1 Comment
In the first part of this article (AVX-512 Assembly Programing - Opmask Registers for Conditional Arithmetic), we looked at how opmask registers can be…
AVX-512 registers

AVX-512 Assembly Programming: Opmask Registers for Conditional Arithmetic

/
2 Comments
This is the second installment in a continuing series of articles on Intel AVX-512 assembly programming. The first installment is An Intro to AVX-512 Assembly…
AVX-512 Assembly Programming

An Intro to AVX-512 Assembly Programming

/
10 Comments
History In 1998, the Intel Corporation released processors that supported SIMD (single instruction, multiple data) instructions, enabling processors to…
Data Structures Programming

Intro to Data Structures for Programming

/
11 Comments
Introduction In the first part of this series, I talked about some fundamental notions in the world of algorithms. Beyond the definition of an algorithm,…
unity orbital mechanics

Simulating Orbital Mechanics in Unity for AR Apps

/
2 Comments
Orbital mechanics can be simulated in the Unity game engine by replacing its built-in single-planet gravity with a custom force calculation applied to…
algorithms

Intro to Algorithms for Programming

/
28 Comments
Many threads here at PF include some questions about how to learn to program. This is asked by Physics students who want to learn programming to help their…
circuitanalysis

The What and Why of Circuit Analysis Assumptions

/
15 Comments
Probably everyone reading this article already has education on elementary circuit analysis (CA) and many of us are much more advanced. Typically, the…
processing

The Joy of Processing

/
11 Comments
In the early days of the personal computer revolution, computers were small, simple, and easy to operate. It was always great fun to write BASIC games…
computerlanguages

Machine Code to IDEs: A Guide to Programming Language Types

/
67 Comments
Computer languages fall into a small number of core types: machine language (raw binary instructions), assembly language (human-readable mnemonics for…
tripods

Tripod Guide: Parts, Types, and Uses for Photographers

/
1 Comment
Click for complete series Part 1: Introduction Part 2: Compact Point and Shoot Part 3: DSLR Part 4: TripodsWhy use a tripod? …
digitalcamera3

Digital Camera Buyer’s Guide: Bridge Cameras

/
5 Comments
Click for complete seriesPart 1: Introduction Part 2: Compact Point and Shoot Part 3: DSLR Part 4: TripodsWho this guide is for This…
digitalcamera2

Ultimate Digital Camera Buyer’s Guide: Compacts, DSLR and Tripods

/
2 Comments
Introduction Who this guide is for First, congratulations! Camera technology has advanced to the point where a complete novice, using an entry-level…
digitalcamera1

Digital Camera Buyer’s Guide — Choose the Best Camera

/
75 Comments
Complete seriesIntroduction Overview First, congratulations! Camera technology has advanced so much that a complete novice using an entry-level camera…
qualitycontrol

Hardware, Software, and C Programming Quality Tips

/
6 Comments
On Hardware Quality Designing Quality vs Testing It is impossible to test quality into a product. Quality must be designed into the product. Production…
softwarenotperfect

Why Your Software is Never Perfect

/
52 Comments
Introduction We occasionally have students ask for help on software, "My software is perfect, but it doesn't work!" Your software is never perfect. My…
acpoweranalysisp1

Intro to AC Power Analysis: Learn System Basics

/
13 Comments
 Instantaneous PowerThe formula for power is: ##P=V\cdot I## , power= voltage*current.   We call that, instantaneous power.   Even…
pet_scan

How PET Scans Work: Positrons in Medical Imaging Explained

/
7 Comments
Practical applications of fundamental theoretical physics Positron Emission Tomography (PET) Less often, people ask about potential applications of anti-matter.…
tcp_ip

TCP/IP Protocols for Plug-and-Play Industrial Automation

/
10 Comments
Background: Ethernet vs Fieldbus in the 1990s The 1990s saw the widespread adoption of network technology on two fronts: Office automation and factory…
Ethernettime

Network Time Synchronization Guide: NTP vs IEEE 1588

/
18 Comments
Overview of Synchronization Needs Now and then you come across measurement problems that are tightly associated with the notion of synchronicity, meaning…
computermath

Why Can’t My Computer Do Simple Arithmetic?

/
46 Comments
The first computer I owned was an Apple IIe computer, with a CPU that ran at slightly over 1 Megahertz (MHz), and with 64 Kilobytes (KB) of RAM, together…
pythondebug2

Simple Python Debugging with Pdb: Part 2

/
2 Comments
This Insight article is the continuation of the first article, Simple Python Debugging with Pdb: Part 1.In this article, let's look at another important…
pythondebug1a

Learn Simple Python Debugging with Pdb

/
6 Comments
I'm pretty new to Python, so I was looking around for some debugging tools. At first, I dismissed Pdb (Python debugger) as being too primitive, but after…
atoms

Can We See an Atom?

/
11 Comments
Introduction In this article I discuss how images of atoms are made, what exactly we are looking at, and what it means to "see" an atom. Over the decades…
modulation

Mixing vs Beating: Superheterodyne & Beat Frequency

/
36 Comments
Mixing vs. Beating: a brief history A long time ago I read a paper in the IEEE Proceedings recounting the history of the superheterodyne receiver. Overall…
matlab errors

5 Common MATLAB Error Messages and How to Fix Them

/
4 Comments
MATLAB error messages like "Inner matrix dimensions must agree" or "Index exceeds matrix dimensions" almost always trace back to five common mistakes:…
amplifier

Digital Modeling Amps Explained: DSP Tone Simulation Guide

/
0 Comments
Digital modeling gear uses digital signal processing (DSP) to approximate the tone and dynamic response of analog amplifiers and effects. Examples include…