Column: Embedded design


and I am met with a volley of emails from their development team, each more aggressive than the last, stating that the original design was defective and subject to excessive amounts of frequency driſt. Tis was a mystery, since the circuit


uses a 1ppm accuracy TCXO, and the reported driſt is over a magnitude higher. Finally, an email arrives with a


photograph of the device under test, and in the background I can see the equipment being used to measure the frequency. It’s a budget, “educational” type spectrum analyser of a type (according to its user manual) with an internal reference accuracy of ±10ppm.


Here are a few more little ‘gems’: Clients who agree on a fixed quote for work, then later try to add additional deliverables. A client demanding on-site support –


under a fully remote working contract. Customers expecting day-long


meetings, but who will not pay for the time taken. Fixed price contracts with open-


ended support clauses. “I can get this from China for a


dollar”. “Please quote for this completely new


requirement. We need it by Friday!”. Product specifications with


technologically impossible requirements.


And lastly, this classic, again: “I need a range of 100m ... underwater!” Of course, all these examples are pure


fiction: no real client could ever have actually come up with anything like this. If you recognise something familiar,


I assure you that it is an absolute coincidence.


Tis column on embedded design prepared by Myk Dormer continues in the next month’s edition of Electronics World.


16 February 2026 www.electronicsworld.co.uk


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