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Where can I find electronic circuits classified by “difficulty level”?

AlissonOliveira17 — Wed, 14 Jan 2026 18:13:45 GMT

Greetings. I am a researcher currently developing a study on the measurement of difficulty/complexity in electronic circuits. I am looking for books, scientific articles, instructional materials, or datasets that present sets of electronic circuits accompanied by some indication of difficulty, complexity level, or pedagogical classification, even if such indication is subjective or approximate. Any reference would be welcome, including classic textbooks, lecture notes, datasets, academic repositories, or materials used in technical or university-level education. If you are aware of works that organize circuits by difficulty level, or that could be used as a basis for comparative analysis, I would greatly appreciate your help and recommendations. On my ResearchGate profile, I have published some works on complexity measurement in other domains, such as industrial property patents and C programming language source code, which may help contextualize my research approach. Thank you in advance for any help or references you may be able to share.

RE: Where can I find electronic circuits classified by “difficulty level”?

rsc — Thu, 15 Jan 2026 14:53:49 GMT

I would agree to what doug said, and add the fact that difficulty is a relative measure that assumes a baseline understanding. The more experienced or skilled a person is in a particular subject, the less difficult projects in that subject will be.

RE: Where can I find electronic circuits classified by “difficulty level”?

dougw — Thu, 15 Jan 2026 14:23:08 GMT

I'm not sure what you are referring to when you say complexity or difficulty. Schematics are just simple diagrams showing what components are connected together. In that sense complexity is mostly related to how many connections are made in the schematic.

If you are referring to how hard it is to understand what a circuit is supposed to do, it could be approximated by determining how much reading and study is required to understand each component and its interaction with other components. One way to characterize this is how many pages of datasheet are needed to explain every component.

If you are talking about the complexity of circuit boards, their complexity is proportional to several factors:

The denser the component layout, the harder it is to achieve
The higher the frequencies on the board are, the harder it is to calculate parasitic influences of the board and other components (which are seldom detailed in datasheets)
The more power required in the circuit the harder it is to manage thermal performance

etc.

It is often hard to separate software from the discussion of circuit complexity, since a lot of circuit functions are actually performed in software these days.

Some poorly documented circuits require a lot of knowledge and experience to decipher. For well documented circuits the size of the description document is an indicator of complexity.

RE: Where can I find electronic circuits classified by “difficulty level”?

AlissonOliveira17 — Thu, 15 Jan 2026 11:26:14 GMT

Hello, Here is my researchGate link: www.researchgate.net/.../Alisson-Oliveira-17

RE: Where can I find electronic circuits classified by “difficulty level”?

michaelkellett — Thu, 15 Jan 2026 10:58:19 GMT

Thanks cstanton - I found a couple of papers in English by working back from that link.

RE: Where can I find electronic circuits classified by “difficulty level”?

cstanton — Thu, 15 Jan 2026 10:28:40 GMT

[quote userid="121623" url="~/challenges-projects/design-challenges/f/forum/56594/where-can-i-find-electronic-circuits-classified-by-difficulty-level/233056"]

I tried to look that up but didn't get anywhere - entering Alisson Oliveira into the ResearchGate search bar does not lead any where useful.

[/quote]

www.researchgate.net/.../Alisson-Oliveira-Lab-3 for context.

Edit: there's a better link here: RE: Where can I find electronic circuits classified by “difficulty level”?

RE: Where can I find electronic circuits classified by “difficulty level”?

michaelkellett — Thu, 15 Jan 2026 09:53:57 GMT

[quote userid="518673" url="~/challenges-projects/design-challenges/f/forum/56594/where-can-i-find-electronic-circuits-classified-by-difficulty-level"] On my ResearchGate profile[/quote]

I tried to look that up but didn't get anywhere - entering Alisson Oliveira into the ResearchGate search bar does not lead any where useful.

Some links to actual papers in English would be more helpful.

I'm interested that you appear to associate complexity and difficulty without a definition when the two are at best loosely correlated and both are very context dependent.

It would be interesting if you were to explain the purpose of your research in rather more detail.

RE: Where can I find electronic circuits classified by “difficulty level”?

olivia_49 — Wed, 14 Jan 2026 20:04:03 GMT

You could look at textbooks like The Art of Electronics or Microelectronic Circuits, or university lab exercises and MIT OpenCourseWare, which often indicate circuit difficulty. Open-source sites like CircuitVerse sometimes tag circuits by complexity, too.

Seeking Feedback for Kit on Upcoming LED Design Challenge

rscasny — Fri, 14 Feb 2025 18:57:33 GMT

Hi All.

As the new year moves on, so does element14's scheduling of new Design Challenges. That's what I want to talk to you about today. Specifically, an LED-focuses challenge.

We haven't done much with lighting/LEDs (although Tariq may have when he managed Project14), but I have a sponsor who is interested in such a challenge. So, I'm exploring here how to make it work, both in terms of your interest in this activity, a propose challenge kit, as well as any theme it would cover.

In this discussion, I wanted to do a few things. For starters, to share with you the parts the challenge's sponsor would like to see in the design. Now, that does not limit us from adding parts to the kit. The next thing I want to do was flesh out the challenge's objective. Let me start with the parts. There's just a few of them:

1315050930002 LED, AlInGaP, InGaN, Red, Green, Blue, SMD, 120 °, Round, R 13mA, G 13mA, B 13mA

[embed:ad4490ac-0ce8-4f2d-a04c-9285646d5689:66d8384e-c598-4242-9c7e-bd2fef201a44:text=More%20Info&style=link&farnell=4420411RL&newark=03AM8417&cpc=&avnetemea=&avnetema=&avnetasia=&comoverride=&cmpoverride=&AreaInteracted=rte-content&bom=]

1313210530000 LED, AlInGaP, InGaN, Red, Green, Blue, SMD, 120 °, Dome, R 5.5mA, G 5.5mA, B 5.5mA

[embed:ad4490ac-0ce8-4f2d-a04c-9285646d5689:02ccc252-21bd-4cba-aa46-e2a3ab33655c:text=More%20Info&style=link&farnell=4420407RL&newark=03AM8416&cpc=&avnetemea=&avnetema=&avnetasia=&comoverride=&cmpoverride=&AreaInteracted=rte-content&bom=]

1312020030000 LED, AlInGaP, InGaN, Red, Green, Blue, SMD, 120 °, Square, R 5.5mA, G 5.5mA, B 5.5mA

[embed:ad4490ac-0ce8-4f2d-a04c-9285646d5689:7052a5f2-0d20-4ce7-87bf-ba28510c624e:text=More%20Info&style=link&farnell=4420406RL&newark=03AM8414&cpc=&avnetemea=&avnetema=&avnetasia=&comoverride=&cmpoverride=&AreaInteracted=rte-content&bom=]

1312121320437 LED, AlInGaP, InGaN, Red, Green, Blue, SMD, 110 °, Square, R 20mA, G 20mA, B 20mA

[embed:ad4490ac-0ce8-4f2d-a04c-9285646d5689:0ea863ed-66ea-48b8-9276-0157498d7ef3:text=More%20Info&style=link&farnell=4420409RL&newark=03AM8415&cpc=&avnetemea=&avnetema=&avnetasia=&comoverride=&cmpoverride=&AreaInteracted=rte-content&bom=]

Click on this link to see the manufacturer's documentation for these products.

Here's a dual wire diagram for the product:

So, the above is kind of bare bones. I expect that there will be much more in the kit depending what the challengers would like to do. Now, what element14 would also include in the challenger's kit would depend on what you would want to do. A few random thoughts about it are:

Creative Lighting
LED Indication
LED Alerting
LED Alarming

The sponsor calls out what they see as the leading applications of their LEDS. They are:

Appliances
Industrial Control
Smart Lighting
Gaming
Decorative Lighting

Now is a good time for a poll:

[embed:33ecb077-39b7-4078-9b1e-dc3f977a690b:43291943-246d-4bc4-a202-60a77fc05968:question=What%20LED%20application%20most%20interests%20you%20for%20this%20challenge%3F&description=&pollOptions=%5B%7B%22OptionId%22%3A%22d1a1f6dd-1637-4d69-84e4-0c1a8fbeb2bc%22%2C%22Option%22%3A%22Appliances%22%2C%22Ordinal%22%3A0%7D%2C%7B%22OptionId%22%3A%22dd80b626-1526-404f-9259-43068cd5612a%22%2C%22Option%22%3A%22Industrial%20Control%22%2C%22Ordinal%22%3A1%7D%2C%7B%22OptionId%22%3A%224d9a1ecb-9753-4713-bc2e-a430236d94b0%22%2C%22Option%22%3A%22Smart%20Lighting%22%2C%22Ordinal%22%3A2%7D%2C%7B%22OptionId%22%3A%226202931e-20e5-4a51-83b6-cf0421383162%22%2C%22Option%22%3A%22Gaming%22%2C%22Ordinal%22%3A3%7D%2C%7B%22OptionId%22%3A%22e38db68e-5875-4585-84ed-27274b8d914c%22%2C%22Option%22%3A%22Decorative%20Lighting%22%2C%22Ordinal%22%3A4%7D%2C%7B%22OptionId%22%3A%22fcfa7bee-074c-4de0-ad2e-e5ec7259516a%22%2C%22Option%22%3A%22Other%3B%20please%20leave%20a%20comment%22%2C%22Ordinal%22%3A5%7D%5D&ShowResultsConfiguration=1%2C1]

So, I've offered a lot of information to chew about.

Just for myself, I think it would be fun to do something along the lines of Creative or Decorative Lighting. I would need to include prototyping gear, as well as a kit of support components. Enclosures I would probably not provide since many of you have 3D printers and have that capability; I also would probably not offer any test equipment as part of the kit, but you can always wish for it! I'd probably like to see some PCBs designed and built, with whatever solution you have available.

Now, if you were more interested in something more practical, the designs would require a larger and probably more extensive kit. I'm thinking industrial control panels etc.

Thanks you for participating in the element14 Communities activities.

What Do you think? If you have the time, please vote in my poll and/or leave a comment.

RE: Seeking Feedback for Kit on Upcoming LED Design Challenge

beacon_dave — Wed, 19 Feb 2025 18:07:49 GMT

Dangly earrings then ? 🙂

3V 50mAh Lithium Pin Cell Battery - CR435
https://www.farnell.com/datasheets/650640.pdf

RE: Seeking Feedback for Kit on Upcoming LED Design Challenge

scottiebabe — Tue, 18 Feb 2025 21:49:04 GMT

I have seen cr435 fishing lure batteries

RE: Seeking Feedback for Kit on Upcoming LED Design Challenge

beacon_dave — Tue, 18 Feb 2025 18:47:03 GMT

You mean you haven't got the 12V eJewel power outlet behind the ears yet ? 🤷

Perhaps could work them into some sort of small bag which has enough room for the power pack.
Use them as an alternative to rhinestones to add a bit of animated sparkle.

Could perhaps still do jewellery in the form of a brooch, which then attaches to the outside of the bag and clips onto a power source inside the bag.

The smaller size would probably work quite well for edge highlighting or for decorative flourishes.

The square form factor might work against some applications as it is often easier to drill or punch a clean round hole than a square one.

RE: Seeking Feedback for Kit on Upcoming LED Design Challenge

rsc — Tue, 18 Feb 2025 15:57:03 GMT

These seem extremely similar to Adafruit NeoPixel or DotStar 5050 LEDs

RE: Seeking Feedback for Kit on Upcoming LED Design Challenge

scottiebabe — Tue, 18 Feb 2025 15:40:50 GMT

Sadly the quiescent current on most addressable LEDs is pitiful, a whole mA.

RE: Seeking Feedback for Kit on Upcoming LED Design Challenge

dougw — Tue, 18 Feb 2025 14:12:44 GMT

I can think of a cool application for the unusual 1313210530000 part, but it needs over 150 devices.

RE: Seeking Feedback for Kit on Upcoming LED Design Challenge

embeddedguy — Mon, 17 Feb 2025 16:42:44 GMT

It's a good topic. Better would be to design some PCB based on these parts of LEDs. There are many things one can do with these LEDs both in software and hardware.

Some example application would be like

>> Air Q indicator

>> Smart traffic control indicator

>> Night room for kids with stars shining

>> A flying kite for the night (hahaha)

And many more.

RE: Seeking Feedback for Kit on Upcoming LED Design Challenge

balajivan1995 — Mon, 17 Feb 2025 13:34:40 GMT

Something like this.

www.xvxchannel.com/.../xvx-spider-web-version-pattern-oem-profile-imd-tech-keycap-set

RE: Seeking Feedback for Kit on Upcoming LED Design Challenge

beacon_dave — Sun, 16 Feb 2025 19:24:00 GMT

Loads of possibilities there.

Might work for my infinity mirror Xmas tree bauble idea 🙂

There are also jewellery applications as demonstrated by mitxela:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3evnh9lT9k

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHoGIvOi-jw

RE: Seeking Feedback for Kit on Upcoming LED Design Challenge

scottiebabe — Sun, 16 Feb 2025 18:59:10 GMT

One of their LEDs is a 1616, that's not very big.

What would you do with a 1010 addressable LED

Tiny!

RE: Seeking Feedback for Kit on Upcoming LED Design Challenge

scottiebabe — Sun, 16 Feb 2025 13:52:30 GMT

Lots of dI/dt on a string of LEDs, the Ws2812 style LEDs are constant current.

Still neat product.

RE: Seeking Feedback for Kit on Upcoming LED Design Challenge

beacon_dave — Sun, 16 Feb 2025 12:26:25 GMT

I was thinking more along the lines of pre-mounted to a carrier board something a bit like this:

5050 LED breakout PCB - 10 pack
https://www.adafruit.com/product/1762

but say ≈10 prewired together into a LED pixel strip or matrix that can be snapped apart at each LED something a bit like:

Breadboard-friendly RGB Smart NeoPixel - Sheet of 25
https://www.adafruit.com/product/1558

but with the data and power pre-wired across the snap points which then allows you to use it for testing as is but with the ability to snap it apart to use it with breadboard/protoboard or as part of a LED pixel wire string something a bit like this:

Breadboard-friendly RGB Smart NeoPixel - Pack of 5
https://www.adafruit.com/product/1312

to be able to incorporate it into the final project which may require different spacings.

RE: Seeking Feedback for Kit on Upcoming LED Design Challenge

vmate — Sun, 16 Feb 2025 11:34:58 GMT

They have a Lighting Development Kit, which has PCBs kind of like what you described, along with driver boards.

RE: Seeking Feedback for Kit on Upcoming LED Design Challenge

Gough Lui — Sun, 16 Feb 2025 07:30:37 GMT

That is interesting, but I suspect the current gain 12-bit value is intended for use in white point colour balancing or global array dimming applications, while the PWM level 12-bit value should be the actual image data.

I suspect the 12-bit gain + 12-bit PWM doesn't net you 48-bits of resolution since some of those values would likely overlap in terms of the effective current delivered. For example - 100% bright at 0% PWM is the same as 0% bright at 100% PWM, or 50% bright at 50% PWM is the same as 100% bright at 25% PWM, or 25% bright at 100% PWM.

- Gough

RE: Seeking Feedback for Kit on Upcoming LED Design Challenge

beacon_dave — Sat, 15 Feb 2025 16:35:55 GMT

You might make the challenge more accessible if you can provide some pre-mounted on an evaluation board. Strips of say 10 that can be used as is as a strip or be snapped off into into singles that can be used in breadboard/protoboard or soldered into wire strings.

RE: Seeking Feedback for Kit on Upcoming LED Design Challenge

rscasny — Sat, 15 Feb 2025 15:23:02 GMT

Interesting info. Thanks for commenting about it. Right now, I'm getting the clear idea that the challenger kit will need to include a lot of LEDs.