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When I was first presented with the idea of creating a marketplace where electronic designers could trade and reuse hardware and software designs, scripts or tutorials, and collaborate and exchange their valuable IP, it sounded like a pretty daunting task and a little overwhelming. When I was first presented with the idea of creating a marketplace where electronic designers could trade and reuse hardware and software designs, scripts or...

It's one thing to make great components, but it's quite another to make them easy to find. With reusable components, ui component, software engineering and various component based development, things can be complicated to hunt down. In this blog I explain how we handle component parameters, why they are important, and how we kick off our component development process. Looking at the discussion spawned from my first two blogs, I’ve a feeling...

I recently worked with a customer who had to generate a nonstandard pick and place file because his assembly house was using antiquated equipment and could not accept a standard Altium pick and place file. I though it might be helpful to show how to use the Bill of Material generator within Altium to create a custom report to meet such needs. The procedure is quite simple. The first step is to open the Bill of Materials dialog and drag the...

Following the recent initial release of Altium Vaults our efforts are now concentrated on fostering large scale adoption. Enhancements will focus on technology maturity, efficiency improvements, and adaptability to a wider range of organization profiles. The next update initiates this second phase by delivering key improvements in the domains of supply chain management, design reuse and enterprise systems integration. Community contribution...

A recent BugCrunch item (Power input vs output) raised the long standing issue of power management in Altium Designer®. PCB fabrication can be a complicated process when considering all of the items that go into it. Between the vias, solder mask, and solder, things can get messy. To ensure we are all on the same page, I have some opinions on PCB assembly before work gets started. As always, I will be very interested in your thoughts and...

You just completed your last design review, got that needed approval signature, and the finish line has never been closer, or so you think. Even after your components are sourced and your board is laid out perfectly, the biggest challenge is yet to come - ensuring that all those months of design and team effort don’t go to waste when it comes time to communicate design intent to manufacturing. But how do you navigate this stage of your post...

Our design processes have failed us. All over the world, engineers are struggling every day with the simple process of communication between electrical and mechanical design teams. What plagues us is not the lack of power in our tools, but their inability to adapt to what is an entirely different product design workflow than what was required a decade ago. Our design processes have failed us. All over the world, engineers are struggling...

Read about a new extension for Altium Designer® that allows you to efficiently optimize your at design time. With digital designs continuing to increase in density and complexity, it’s more difficult and critical than ever to fully understand the impact of design decisions on your Power Distribution Network () voltage and current performance. Rather than treating issues as a post-design afterthought in a physical prototype, you need a way...

  As PCBs become increasingly miniaturized, engineers are commonly faced with incorporating multiple power planes on the same layer. While this design practice introduces coupling issues, the real question is whether they can be resolved without a dedicated PDN analysis tool. Read on to find out. DC Analysis of a PDN: Essential for the Digital Designer Is there enough copper? DC analysis of a power delivery network (“PDN”), commonly...