Michael Wylie's Blog

An Interesting Find

michaelwylie — Thu, 24 Mar 2016 06:15:39 GMT

I work with Fiber Optics these days (fiber sensing to be precise). I'd just come back from a survey and I was hooking up the field systems for testing back at the office when I found this bulkhead adapter on the front of a circulator box. Look cl...(read more)

Ever Open Something and ...

michaelwylie — Mon, 21 Mar 2016 04:53:23 GMT

You know the joy. Something is broken, and it's time to open it up! In this case, however, you open it up and decide "Yep, this one is going in the garbage". I wasn't around when this broke, but it's the base to one of those che...(read more)

Trying Out the CodeBug

michaelwylie — Mon, 23 Nov 2015 06:12:15 GMT

I got a CodeBug about a month ago with the intent of cloning the game Simon. I quickly found out the device is severely limited, but very easy to use. This, of course, is the old "Ease of Use" vs "Flexibility" issue for any new de...(read more)

Batteries Die, or do they?

michaelwylie — Thu, 19 Mar 2015 04:17:50 GMT

Disclaimer: I'm not a battery expert yet, it's my first day! After graduate school I entered industry designing hand-held and portable particle counters and gas meters. That was almost two years ago, and as part of my designs I must consider Lit...(read more)

Losing Time ...

michaelwylie — Wed, 06 Aug 2014 23:29:33 GMT

I have been given some advice in the past with regard to purchasing components. Be wary of cheaper components. They are likely counterfeit, repurposed (se...(read more)

Unpacking a New Toy?

michaelwylie — Sat, 02 Aug 2014 04:40:51 GMT

So, today a package was waiting for me when I got home. I enlisted some help to open it. Here's to creating education videos. I'm loving this! Thanks Element14!(read more)

Successful RoadTest Applications

michaelwylie — Tue, 15 Jul 2014 20:10:28 GMT

I've thought about it for some time, and I think it is appropriate to reproduce my successful RoatTest applications here as I've seen some ask to see successful applications. Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to say "Hey look at me and my successful...(read more)

Distributed Fiber Optic Sensing - The Sensing Mechanism

michaelwylie — Wed, 07 May 2014 03:56:37 GMT

Alright, here it is, the day has finally come; the mechanism is light scattering in the form of Raman, Brillouin, or Rayleigh scattering! I guess ... we're done? We'll ... maybe not so much. Scattering seems to be a topic I've found a lot...(read more)

Distributed Fiber Optic Sensing - Beyond Temperature

michaelwylie — Wed, 30 Apr 2014 06:13:05 GMT

In my last blog post I talked about what a distributed sensor is, using a fiber optic cable as a distributed temperature sensor, and a little about spatial resolution. This blog post will talk about going beyond temperature, in fact, it's about measu...(read more)

Distributed Fiber Optic Sensing - A Taste of What's to Come

michaelwylie — Wed, 23 Apr 2014 03:56:32 GMT

Over the last 30 years or so, a lot of research has made distributed fiber optic sensors a viable option in the commercial market. This blogpost will discuss the idea of distributed sensing in general with regard to temperature. Our cars tell us the ...(read more)