HPE 01 - The Nuts and Bolts of High Power Pulse Generators

What it takes to switch serious voltage, fast. Covers high power pulse generator architectures, key specifications, load matching, and safe operating practice for demanding pulsed-power applications.

Course•By David Brown

HPE 02 — High-Voltage Amplifiers and High-Power Pulse Applications

Where the pulses go: driving real loads with the BNC-DEI high-voltage amplifier and pulser line, from mass spectrometers and Pockels cells to bioelectrics and fusion drivers. Sequel to HPE 01, The Nuts and Bolts of High Power Pulse Generators.

Course•By David Brown

MRF 01 - RF Boot Camp

The essentials of RF, without the intimidation. Frequency, power, impedance, transmission lines, and the instruments that measure them, presented as a fast working foundation for engineers and newcomers alike.

Course bundle•By David Brown

MRF 02 - Demystifying Phase Noise Measurements

Phase noise separates a good signal source from a great one. Learn what phase noise really is, why it matters in radar and communications, and how to measure it correctly the first time

Course•By David Brown

MRF 03 - An Introduction to Radar Principles (New Version)

Radar is round-trip timing done seriously. A transmitter fires a pulse, a receiver waits for a whisper of it to come back, and everything else in the discipline exists to squeeze range, bearing, and velocity out of that faint echo. This course opens with Maxwell, Hertz, and Hulsmeyer, then the echo principle, the block diagram of a primary radar, and the PPI display. The quantitative core follows: deriving the radar range equation, walking the loss budget, and covering PRF, duty cycle, and dwell time. A tour of frequency bands from HF to W-band explains why weather, surveillance, and fire-control radar live where they do, before pulse, CW, and FMCW architectures tie it to real systems. The final chapters open the hardware: antennas, phased arrays, and monopulse, then transmitters, pulse compression, and the vacuum devices, klystrons, TWTs, and magnetrons, that still anchor high-power radar. For engineers, technicians, and students who want the principles under the acronyms.

Course•By David Brown

MRF 04 - Introduction to RF Power Measurements

Course•By David Brown

MRF 05 - Real-Time Spectrum Analysis in Practice

The signals that matter most today are the ones a swept analyzer never sees. Frequency-hopping radios, radar chirps, drone links, and interference bursts live for microseconds, and a sweeping receiver looks at any one frequency for only a sliver of that time. A swept trace gives you a beautiful average of a signal that was never average. This course starts with that problem and builds the instrument that solves it: the real-time spectrum analyzer, from the RF front end through the ADC, the FFT engine, and the persistence and waterfall displays that turn gap-free capture into something your eye can read.

Course•By David Brown

MRF 06 - Vector Signal Generation and Arbitrary Waveforms

From DAC staircase to IQ constellation: how to generate, sequence, and trust real-world test signals.

Course•By David Brown

NUC 01 - Nuclear Radiation 101

Start here if radiation is new to you. This course covers the fundamentals: what alpha, beta, gamma, and neutron radiation are, how they interact with matter, and how we detect and measure them safely. A practical foundation for every course that follows.

Course•By James McQuaid

NUC 02 - The Fascinating World of Scintillation Detector Technology

How does a crystal turn a gamma ray into data? This course follows the light: scintillation materials, photomultipliers, and the electronics that convert faint flashes into usable spectra. Ideal for anyone selecting or operating scintillation-based instruments.

Course•By James McQuaid

NUC 03 - Identifying Special Nuclear Material (SNM)

Special nuclear material has telltale signatures, if you know where to look. Learn the physics behind SNM detection, the challenges of shielding and masking, and the techniques instruments use to separate real threats from innocent alarms.

Course•By James McQuaid

NUC 04 - Thermal Neutron Detectors and Detection

Neutrons play by different rules than gamma rays. This course explains thermal neutron detection: moderation, capture reactions, detector types, and where neutron measurement fits in security and research applications.

Course•By David Brown

NUC 06 - The Art of Compton Suppression

Compton scattering buries weak peaks in background. Suppression systems dig them out. Learn how guard detectors, coincidence logic, and careful geometry combine to clean up gamma spectra and reveal what standard systems miss.

Course•By James McQuaid

NUC 07 - Nuclear Radiation Basics and Worker Safety

A grounded introduction to radiation safety for people who work around sources. Covers dose, exposure limits, ALARA principles, monitoring instruments, and the daily habits that keep radiation workers safe.

Course•By James McQuaid

QC 01 - The Nuts and Bolts (and Qubits) of Quantum Computing

A plain-language tour of how quantum computers actually work: qubits, superposition, entanglement, gates, and the control and measurement hardware that ties it all together. No physics degree required, just curiosity about the machines behind the headlines.

Course bundle•By Edgar Guzman

QC 02 - Quantum Computing Instrumentation in Use Today

A cursory look at some of the R&D tools for quantum computing.

Course•By David Brown

SDR 01 - Hands-On Software-Defined Radio: SDR++ and SoapySDR

Install, plumb, and drive a software-defined receiver with SDR++ and SoapySDR, from first device probe to defensible measurements, and know exactly where a real-time spectrum analyzer takes over.

Course•By David Brown

TMI 01 - Precision Timing Terminology and Fundamentals

Jitter, skew, delay, resolution: timing has a vocabulary all its own. This course builds the foundation, defining the terms and concepts behind precision timing so you can specify, compare, and use timing instruments correctly.

Course•By David Brown

TMI 02 - Advanced Pulse Generation and Precision Timing

Multi-instrument synchronization, jitter and stability, overlap-proof timing budgets, and SCPI automation, the systems-level sequel to TMI 01.

Course•By David Brown

UNT 01 - SAM 945 / RD-120 User Training

Hands-on training for the SAM 945 and RD-120: setup, daily operation, alarm disposition, and real-time response in the field. Built for the people who carry these instruments and have to make the call.

Course•By Mark Slattery

UNT 02 - SAM 950 User Training

Operator training for the SAM 950 isotope identifier: startup, screens and settings, source identification, and best practices for reliable measurements in the field. Everything a new operator needs to run the instrument with confidence.

Course•By James McQuaid