Analog Devices AD5933 and AD5934 Impedance Converter / Network Analyzer
A pair of small I2C-attached impedance measurement chips from Analog Devices, used in lab instrumentation and industrial sensing to characterize the electrical impedance of materials, sensors, or biological samples across a frequency sweep. They are typically found on evaluation boards and embedded in niche test, measurement, and process-monitoring equipment.
recommendation
Worth keeping but documenting its niche because Analog Devices still sells the AD5933 as a production part in 2025 and the kernel code received real bug-fix work as recently as April 2025. Deployments are narrow — mostly instrumentation and research rigs — and the code has lingered in the staging tree for years, so the main action item is to either finish moving it out of staging or note clearly why it remains there.
repository signals
sources
- lkml.org
Public 2025 patch thread shows active upstream bug-fix work on ad5933 rather than removal discussion.
- analog.com
ADI lists AD5933 as PRODUCTION and offers sample/buy and an evaluation board, indicating new hardware remained on sale in 2025.
- cateee.net
LKDDb shows CONFIG_AD5933 still present through current kernel heads and bound to AD5933/AD5934 IDs in this staging driver.
codex reasoning notes (technical)
Local inspection via exec_command of ad5933.c identified the driver as I2C support for AD5933/AD5934 (module + OF matches). Local git log via exec_command showed multiple substantive 2021-2025 touches, with latest in 2025-05, indicating maintenance. URLs were obtained by web search: lkml.org patch thread (turn3search0) for current lore-style activity, Analog Devices product page (turn0search1) for market status, and LKDDb (turn0search0) for in-tree coverage. Conclusion: hardware is still sold but is a narrow industrial/instrumentation part, so deployments are low; no clear replacement driver exists, and active fix traffic argues against deprecation/removal, though its long-term staging status merits annotation.