Technology has pervaded our lives and almost everything seems to be getting smaller and slimmer perceptibly except the big LCD screens. The recent enhancements in the digital electronic circuitry have enabled superior functions and a respectable cutback in size of the products. But, the problem still exists with the older analog circuits, which haven’t seen such a tremendous progress like the digital circuits thereby wearing more power and accounting for other tailbacks in improved consumer electronic devices.
But now, a new ray of hope has been shown by the MIT engineers who have created new type of analog circuits dubbed ‘comparator-based switched capacitor circuits (CBSC)’. Since analog circuits process real-world sounds and signals, they are no doubt an integral part of the most of the electronic systems.
How Analog signals differ from digital signals?
Analog circuits are employed to amplify, process and filter analog signals and convert them to digital signals and vice versa. This is due to analog circuits that the electronic devices communicate to the real world signals. While digital signals have specific or distinct values, the analog signals are incessant and they show a discrepancy in size.
Why analog circuits are not being paid attention?
•Currently, Analog circuits are pricier and they consume a lopsided amount of power compared with digital circuits.
•Improvements in fabrication technology to improve digital circuits have had an off-putting impact on analog circuits.
•There is no surety whether traditional operational amplifier-based circuits can be employed to emerging technologies such as carbon nanotube devices and molecular devices.
Owing to these two bottlenecks, range of the analog signal has been reduced while being used in electronic devices. So, analog circuits drain much more power from batteries in order to compensate for the first two limitations.
Dave Robertson, high-speed converter product line director at Analog Devices Inc. commented:
The new work coming out of MIT offers the intriguing possibility of eliminating operational amplifiers by proposing an architecture that relies on circuit blocks that are much more readily implemented on supply voltages of 1 volt or less.
It is anticipated that the new comparator-based switched capacitor circuits might allow for high-performance analog circuits in budding technologies since it would be easier to put into practice comparators than operational amplifiers in these technologies.
via: Physorg
