Abstract: This invention relates to a method of manufacturing electrical connectors with an improved grounding configuration so that the potentially harmful effects of ESD currents are minimized. In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, D-sub connectors are modified to include a central grounding strip between rows of pin openings in a manner that is highly effective in grounding ESD events and, in particular, more readily qualify such a modified connector to meet strict ESD testing requirements.

Abstract: This invention relates to a system and method for economically locating an ESD event with a reasonable degree of accuracy. It performs this function using a binary approach in which one or more binary ESD locator boxes are used. Each of these binary ESD locator boxes incorporates two antennas and performs the function of determining which of these antennas receives the ESD signal first. This determination establishes the ESD event as occurring to one side of a planar surface. By incorporating one or more additional binary ESD locator boxes, the system can determine whether an ESD event occurred within a two dimensional area or within a three dimensional area.

Abstract: An automated method and apparatus for determining whether a ball in a sport has contacted the ground in or out of bounds as well as where along the boundary the impact occurred. A pair of conductors run adjacent to and beneath the boundary lines of the sport court or field. The two conductors are electrically separated by an insulator, but will contact each other at the point of impact and thereby create an electrical short when a force, such as is caused by the impact of a ball, is applied to the boundary line. The short causes two counter-propagating voltage pulses to travel out from the location of the short towards a detector which detects the pulses and the time delay between receipt of the pulses. The fact of whether pulses were detected is indicative of whether the ball was in or out of bounds, while the time delay between the pulses is indicative of the location along the boundary line where the ball struck the ground.

Abstract: Determining the location of an ESD event is achieved through the use of an envelope detector or absolute value comparator which identifies the arrival of an electromagnetic waveform generated by an ESD event at each of a plurality of antennas. Arrival times are compared to determine the location of the ESD event. A plurality of N antennas are employed, and each antenna is coupled to a corresponding envelope detector, threshold discriminator, switch, and register. The output of a clock is coupled to the switches, and a microprocessor is coupled to the registers. When an antenna receives a waveform corresponding to ESD, the envelope detector extracts an envelope signal related to the envelope of the waveform and couples the envelope signal to the threshold discriminator. When the envelope signal has a value above a specified threshold, the threshold discriminator sends a signal to latch the current count of the clock into the corresponding register.