The Evolution of Electronics
If you read my previous article “Bringing Old-Style Electronics Back” you will note the reflection on old style values we place on modern electronics – gone are the days of just using a soldering iron and general sucker to remove components or conduct a repair using a few simple components. We no longer see tags or wire wrapping – we look on in awe at surface mount and the immense sophistication of modern ICs and microcontrollers and data processing chips. Yet the end result is the same – a working slab of solder, components and electron flow until we get to how fast things happen! We focus on the end user in this article and not industry.
In Memory of our Elders – True Craftsmen
I am going to write this article in memory of my late father whom passed away in November 2010. No, nothing sentimental. You see, the old chap had a great sense of humour and was an astute man, like his father who was a plumber with a very technical mind. We are after all focusing on our technical ability which we all should have in various degrees – some just master it better than others, some earlier, some later. His dream was to build a talking clock. The problem was that in those days this would have been quite an achievement – it was on the cusp of switching over to our digital age and sadly many of our older experimenters couldn’t get their heads around it. A talking clock is something that is now old hat. In fact we synchronise automatically with atomic clocks in this digital age and to make things even easier it’s not even done manually.
Machinery aboard USS Abraham Lincoln
The problem with latter day experimentation was the ‘how to’ principle. Anything that could be designed we thought had been designed – until the microcontroller. In the 60s this was out of reach for most electronic buffs. Even in the 70s certain components were costly but with the evolution of electronics in the digital field this changed and changed very, very quickly. Now what we could not achieve easily or cheaply is at our fingertips and a few dollars in your pocket.
They say the information from a computer is only as good as the information put into it. I’ll add to this by saying the computer is only as good as what we do with it. They also say that if you don’t know, ‘Google it’!
Boxing and Computers: Punching and Data Input
Most of us office workers punch in data and extract the same data in the form of reports and charts. We use a computer to store data, change data and extract data. A good programmer designing a database ensures that the GUI (graphic user interface) is user friendly. He also ensures that there is error trapping so the user (and the programmer) knows whether the input is invalid or not e.g. character into numerical fields, he ensures there is an audit, he ensures that tables are properly indexed and retrieving data is fast, reports are accurate and can be exported into many different usable formats. There’s possibly 30 or more definites and non-negotiables to good database design. This is all done by the programmer. He follows a set of rules as defined within the programmer’s bible.
Millions of people use databases every day without thinking about either what they are doing or why they are doing it. It’s just there and they are doing it. Programs (and now apps) have become part of our life. There is an untapped part to this which should make us wonder. What else can the computer do?
The Evolution of Electronics – Useful Tools – Input, Save, Output …. Loop: Input, Save, Output
The lottery programmer: Doing the same thing over and over again getting different results every time….
The computer in it’s ‘natural habitat’ is seen as a useful tool in that it can be used to enter data and extract data – we can save documents, input output data and play games. It can be used for going on to the internet. It can be used for watching videos. In fact the most important part to a computer which we rarely think about is it’s ability to do other things. What we do on the computer is normally seen on the screen or through a printout, either laser or ink. The computer can take the data from a document scanner in the form of 0’s and 1’s, save it and then print what you want out on to paper. All using 0’s and 1’s. The first truly electronic computer was ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator And Computer) used for calculating artillery firing tables. Data in – data out. Financed during the war we can only dread what that must have cost.
Modern day Intel and ARM processors have millions of transistors, the processor instructions run at hundreds of thousands times the speed of ENIAC but the basic principle remains the same. Simple it may sound but this is where our forefathers had their greatest stumbling block. Why develop something where the brain was so much faster doing certain tasks and possibly be better than the computer…?
The ENIAC was designed with a purpose in mind. A computer was not only designed to write documents and play movies. The programmer makes it do this.
The Evolution of Electronics – tin whisker diode to nano second switches
Evolution of electronics – Processors – courtesy Monoar_CGI_Artist
As a mere calculator a computer will in most cases always be much faster than our human brain even using relays and thermionic tubes. Micro-controllers, SMD, multi-layered boards, instructions in GHz and cheap RAM. The semiconductor evolution bears testament to how far we have moved ahead in just 50 years. We have different laws at play, one depicts that the speed of a microprocessor doubles every two years, another that double the amount of transistors are used in the same sized chip and another where the power is halved for the same power every two years. All interesting theories but none so important as to where is this leading us?
- The one topping the list will always be to kill people – the military
- The one second on the list – to save people’s lives – medical research
- Big brother is watching – Policing, Banking and Life Insurance
- Entertainment
Ironic isn’t it?
However, for the better part of our lives we have always used computers to store data and retrieve the same data. Ships at sea rely on weather patterns going back possibly more than a hundred years to predict the movement of a tropical depression. With the assistance of Cray computers we now get this data very much faster. Sometimes they are even accurate. Data in – data out.
Natural events and predictions
Computers to this day cannot predict natural events, neither can they tell you when you will die. Using data from DNA analysis, genetic profiling and where you live is changing this. Medical science is no longer just quackery. (some may disagree).
Horsepower and torque curves are becoming more interesting as we apply computer science to engine controllers, engine design and the way you drive. Again data in – data out.
A Computer is not that Sharp
A computer on it’s own remains a simple, stupid device. Years back to develop a talking clock we had to have a bank of chronologically sequenced switches, each one triggering a magnetic tape or a synchronised punched disk. Not so today – it’s all 0’s and 1’s. Again, the computer needs the input data, possibly through the programmer to run the routine. Modern electronics and computer design is changing. Look at Google and their mapping. Cars are being designed to park unaided, Google has partially unmanned vehicles doing mapping and more and more aircraft can land without the aid of human intervention at the cockpit controls. One thing you can be rest assured of though is that the computer has more than enough input data to facilitate this. This very input data in many, actually in most cases is coming from output data from other computers. Computers are still just as dumb as ever – they still rely on input data. Herein lies a question mark. How clever are we? From infancy we get input data. Don’t touch the hot plate. Don’t touch the insecticide. Don’t touch the neighbour’s daughter. (or son). We used to think we are clever but in fact we are only relying on what we have experienced or warned of before.
Evolution to our electronic landscape Binary Bits – image courtesy geralt pixabay
AI and emotions
We have emotions, computers don’t. We don’t follow the rules of rigid logic. This will change because scientists have developed computers that can portray emotion – remember it’s all about input and your programming ability. Hurt – cry. Happy – laugh. Sort of hurt – sort of smile. If, then, else.
Now we move on to what we do with all this input. An aircraft’s landing without assistance from a pilot – but the computer had to know where to land. Input GPS, beacons and traffic controller. Output rudder, ailerons, elevators and landing gear. Don’t try this at home. The talking clock – synchronise with atomic clock, does it talk every minute or every hour. Cheap alarm clocks have snooze – all digital. More expensive, programmer input – on the minute past a known hour in 0’s and 1’s – digital output give the time. If, then else.
Along came a Robot and His Merry Men
Along came the robot. Stuff science fiction is made of. Or is it? Science fiction writers many years ago foresaw the rationale behind using robots for certain tasks. Mixing unstable nitro-glycerine may have been one. Movie robots were moving creatures, steel and with angular features. Limbs that moved in a rather suspicious manner but totally acceptable for the movie buff. Time has moved so swiftly that what we see now are beautiful women speaking without the electronic intonation, movement is almost natural and terrifyingly lifelike and thought processes and output actions are based on logical. Go back 20 years. Go back to the 50’s. Something tells us that we are no longer looking at the impossible but the totally plausible.
Don’t look back and reminisce. Sure it’s nice to have a Kenwood amplifier made from real wood, real transistors and aluminium knobs. We are now once again moving into the switch-over from thermionic tubes to semiconductors to microprocessors. The interest here becomes something different. We now make electronics and especially computer science work for us. Certainly, manufacturers have been doing it for ages but it’s now become affordable to the end user. 3D printers in their infancy but in 5 years? That robot that gets dad a beer is now within everyone’s grasp and in ten years time, within financial reach. We are finally moving into the second phase of electronic technology – making the computer work for us.
It’s only a matter of time before this get’s replaced by cells, micro and nano-particles of superior technology. Right now we can at least program our kin to know the difference between right and wrong, drive us home safely and not spank the baby while we are out.
Besides the more tongue in cheek and less technical jargon mentioned above we can now safely move on to why we should no longer be looking at the electronics of old and focus on the new.
zzzzZZZZZ ing with an Ex
Maybe you knew that the computer programs of old, the Commodore and ZX Spectrums especially, used to have many functions which could be used to control a ‘robot’. Yes, from train set controllers to Scalextric. Toys, mere toys. Yet, electronic enthusiasts love toys, photography and now robotics. (Astronomy and gas guzzling engines as well). Robotics was never an interest of mine. It was out of reach financially and certainly I had never worried about whom makes the coffee in the morning. You see, we have opened up a brand new avenue, proper automation, the affordable variety. Over the last year the CNC and G-Language community has grown in leaps and bounds. Yes, it has been popular before but now we can buy cheap good quality Chinese steppers and servos. In the 80’s a marine gyro compass put you back at least 10 000 U$ and more. They were ultra reliable, they had to be. They ran hot, they still do. They weren’t efficient. Often they cannot be. Do you know that the same technology that went into a gyro compass is used in hard drives at a fraction of the price. Here I am talking about very fast reliable motors.
Most stepper motors are of the 1.8 degree variety – 200 revolutions = 360 degrees. They are now cheaper and stronger. Power supplies are now also cheaper and stronger. Controllers are still expensive but now the electronics enthusiast has a larger variety to choose from – build your own, buy or look at second hand on eBay. Tools are cheaper. Manufacturing is cheaper. Raw materials are more expensive but look around – scrap aluminium is in abundance, so is sheet metal. CNC has become a catch phrase. Open source G-language and the affordable Mach 3 software is becoming very popular. Robotics is not around having your garage swept or getting hot coffee in the morning. We are going into the DIY home manufacturing business using milling machines, lathes and common tools. Over the next five years there is going to be an explosion in this market with regards to 3D modelling machines and maybe we will have coffee making robot maids and nappy changing robots. We will have self parking and driver-less vehicles by 2020. We will finally be putting computers to good use and not just using it for typing letters and extracting useless data.
We used to open up old radio and electronic boxes to see what was inside. Electronics nowadays is a marvel. It’s reliable and cheap. So we can buy it (controllers and motors) whole on eBay or at your local store, so we don’t need to use a soldering iron anymore, so we don’t need to know what a FET, tube or semiconductor diode does – why should that matter when now we use electronics to achieve the ultimate goal; to innovate, invent and accomplish goals at the flick of a switch.
Lies and True Statements
Although the statements previously are mere opinion there have been numerous articles written on robotics, written by experts in the field. As a youth I saw robotics as nothing more than automation – I still hold this view. When one purchased a high torque stepper motor ten years ago it was normally for a repair, not a hobby – it cost that much. This is no longer just a hobby, modifying lathes and milling machines to CNC has become a lucrative business. One of the fastest growing industries currently in the electronics business is the manufacture and sale of 3D printers. It is ironic that 3D printers are going to become the backbone of the manufacturing industry while the true pioneer has always been the machinist, that guy with the big hands and spirit whom turns a block of iron into a thousand carats. It is not ironic that true tradesmen are worth their weight in gold and hopefully get paid accordingly. I, like most wannabes can only marvel at the unbelievable God-given talent that these people have. My dad’s father was one and I do believe, so was my father.
Tying up Loose ends with the evolution of electronics…
Computers are wonderful devices and have made the world a much easier place to world in, or has it? We live in a paperless society but we still waste thousands of tons of paper every year. The computer was not only engineered to take data and transform this data into reports or easy to read graphs. In it’s most primitive form it can do this. CGI is just one instance where we can start realising the awesome power of the modern day desktop computer.
Electronic components today are smaller, faster, quieter (electronic noise) and more efficient than every before. And cheaper. Modern electronics can monitor input data at millions of pulses per microsecond, no longer seconds. The faster a device can act on information the faster it can start mimicking the human brain. We have already surpassed this. An internal combustion engine running at 12 000 RPM is child’s place for any modern computer to monitor and make the necessary changes to performance, even one using a Celeron based processor.
As electronics has evolved from Fleming’s first vacuum tube to micro electronics we now encounter the next phase of our journey, our own redundancy and nanoparticles. Electronics is now no longer just a part of life, mankind now depends on it to evolve. Next will be AI or artifical intelligence – IMDB