Discussing Pulse Width Modulation

Pulse-width modulation. It probably sounds a little confusing if you’re new to electronics. Kindof a word mashup, really. What do pulses, width, and modulation have to do with each other anyway? I remember first learning about PWM during my freshman year of college at RPI.

I was in a pilot course called “Foundations of Engineering” under the excellent instruction of Professor Kevin Craig (whom I later worked for). I remember thinking later, “Hey, this PWM stuff is pretty clever!” So let’s take a look at PWM and see what we can learn.