PCB007 Magazine

JUNE 2024 I PCB007 MAGAZINE 91 Later, in graduate school, I took an advanced analytical instrumentation course in which we had to build 25 different chemical analytical sensors/analyzers and their electronics from the LEGO-like modular components. e use of operational amplifiers as differentiators, integrators, and comparators was crucial to the electronics that ran these devices (and the basic components of the analog computer). Suffice it to say, the poor chemists in this course had a very hard time duplicating my setups as they did not have any of the electronics background that I had. Analog Computers Are Coming Back An article in the IEEE Spectrum magazine 2 has highlighted that analog computers are having a comeback, including the new semi- conductor analog memory devices. As most of the real world is analog, digital computers first must convert analog signals into digital data (with associated error and distortion) and then back to analog outputs. e new analog IC chips are far faster and more accurate than digital techniques. Germany has been a hotbed of continuous analog computer research, and a company there has created the first new analog com- puter since the 1960s. is unit is called THAT, manufactured by Anabrid Gmbh (Figures 4a, 4b). It is currently selling for about $513. Summary It's remarkable how technology recycles. I never expected to see an analog computer again, yet here they are. e THAT computer and new AC ASICS (especially the new IBM chips) herald the comeback. It is with delight that I can witness all my engineering associates learning about how to use analog computers to solve differential and integral equations. It gives my control theory heart a new beat. PCB007 References 1. Computer History Museum 2. "Try This Brand-new Analog Computer," by Ste- phen Cass, IEEE Spectrum, December 2023. Happy Holden has worked in printed circuit technology since 1970 with Hewlett-Packard, NanYa Westwood, Merix, Fox- conn, and Gentex. He is cur- rently a contributing technical editor with I-Connect007, and the author of Automation and Advanced Proce- dures in PCB Fabrication, and 24 Essential Skills for Engineers. To read past columns, click here. Figure 4: a) The Analog Thing (THAT) is a modern analog computer available from Anabrid Gmbh; b) Illustration of the components of the THAT analog computer 2 . a b

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