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Explore content from blog posts to technical white papers gathered together for your convenience. All written by Altium's community of PCB design experts.

Is It Hot In Here Or Is That Your PCB Shorting - Common Causes of Shortages As an undergrad, I once had classes cancelled because of an electrical fire in a neighboring building. Even funnier was that I was actually in a junior-level electrical engineering course when we were dismissed. Several students wanted to go check the fire out; their reasoning was that we were electrical engineers, and thus electrical fires fell under our purview. In this class we’d had quite a few labs ending with blue smoke (and even one small Read Article
Internet of Things Security Best Practices: Passwords, Patches, and Portals If you’ve ever created devices for military applications you’re probably used to designing with security in mind. If you’re more like me, and just build the odd Internet of Things (IoT) doodad, that’s probably the last thing on your mind. However, recent cyber attacks are highlighting why engineers like us should be a little more concerned with security. These design best practices will show you how you can safeguard your systems. Why Secure the Read Article
How the Right Tools in Your PCB Toolkit Can Help Your Next Design When my sons were young, it was a joy for me to introduce and show them how to use tools for repair or construction. They would ask questions about the different tools in my toolkit, and my pair of old Channellock pliers really seemed to catch their interest. To tell the truth, those Channellocks are my favorite too. I inherited them from my dad, and still use them. They’re the first tool in my kit that I look for when I need to solve a problem Read Article
High-Speed Design Techniques: Trace Tuning for Routing Length Matching The first time I heard someone talking about “tuning” their high speed design techniques, the memory of my middle school band came to mind. Back in those days, “tuning” meant taking kids who lacked experience and who used tired old instruments and trying to turn it all into something that blended together. As you would expect, our first attempts at being in tune were not very successful. After some work learning about signal integrity, the ground Read Article
How to Setup and Route A Differential Pair in CircuitStudio This video will cover how to create, setup rules, and route differential pairs. Read Article
How Multi-Level BOMs Can Organize Your Next System Design If only packing for vacation were as simple as it sounds: figure out what clothes you need, throw them in a suitcase, and you’re ready to go—wrong! Here’s the more realistic vacation planning scenario: pack your clothes, pack your children’s clothes, and then pack all the other personal necessities such as diapers, games, etc. Next you need to pack the food followed by whatever gear your particular vacation requires including tents, fishing Read Article
How Component Placement can Make or Break Your Manufacturing Budget With each new PCB design, there comes a time when you must make decisions based on more than performance alone. Physical space is easily overlooked in the world of equations, schematics, and oscilloscopes—we'll often focus on signal integrity over such mundanities as component volume. In the days of room-filling computers, we didn’t have to be deliberate with our space. However, cost, time and space requirements have obviously changed. There is Read Article
Introduction to High Speed PCB Design: Signal Paths Have you ever planned an airline trip where there isn’t a direct flight to get you to your destination? I have, and as you probably already know, it isn’t a problem. I use the travel planner on my airline’s website and let it figure out every detail of the trip for me. All I have to do is plug in my origin and destination, and the planner determines my itinerary—with enough time to make my connections. It’s a piece of cake. Can you imagine how Read Article
How Schematic Design Reuse Can Help Your Next PCB Schematic Layout In the town where I live there is this lady who is a magician with a sewing machine. She is in charge of the wardrobes for the high school musicals and is a whiz at taking costumes from old shows, and reusing them for new productions. Sometimes she alters the older costumes, and sometimes she simply uses them the way they already are. In the show this year, the evil queen is wearing a flamboyant dress that is actually an altered version of a Read Article
Using Obsolescence Management Software to Avoid Surprises with Obsolete Parts Recently I helped with a plumbing problem at my mother-in-law’s house. A fixture had started to leak and water was going everywhere. As she thought about it for a while, mom realized that she had been living there for 25 years and had never replaced this fixture. The old part had now failed though, and needed to be replaced. However, trying to find a modern replacement part that would fit turned out to be an even bigger problem. It’s one of those Read Article
Intelligent Routing Features In PCB Design Software Let You Work Smarter, Not Harder Everybody has those lazy moments, trying to figure out how little one can do while still completing a task. In my first job, I created a software where I can automatically launch my favorite applications through voice command. Later, I found a new level by coding a special program to email reports, close applications, and shut down my computer with one click of a button. My first PCB designs took place on the early versions of PCB design software Read Article
The Advantages and Disadvantages of Active and Passive RFID Technologies When I’m designing a new PCB or product one of the hardest parts for me is choosing exactly which components I should use. It seems like every technology out there now has a different configuration to achieve the best performance. Even when you’re dealing with a fairly straightforward technology like radio frequency identification (RFID) circuit board there are a lot of flavors to choose from. While every type of RFID design label uses an active Read Article
OnTrack Newsletter November 2017 On Track Newsletter November 2017 VOL. 1 No 8 Welcome to the November edition of Altium’s On Track Newsletter. This month in Rock Stars and Superheroes we feature a who presented a talk at AltiumLive 2017: ANNUAL PCB DESIGN SUMMIT in San Diego. Not only is he a very talented , he is a leader and advocate for regional Altium® User Groups and shares how to start and build your own. In Space you’ll meet an impressive young man who decided to learn Read Article
Using Bill of Material Management to Prevent Problems with Moisture Sensitive Devices Up here in the Pacific Northwest we are once again in the rainy season. My family doesn’t like it, my friends don’t like it, and even my dog doesn’t like it. The other night I had to pull the ladder out of the garage to unclog a gutter during a rainstorm. That was definitely not on my list of fun things to do, especially at 11:00 at night. We are used to the rain though. We know how to direct the water run-off so that it doesn’t pool up, we have Read Article
Embedded Systems Design From embedded design rules to how to reduce power consumption, read more about optimizing your embedded systems design. Consider the technologies available and different use cases that impact your cost per unit. Click the PDF above to read more about Embedded Systems Design in this presentation. Or read the original, full-length content here: Optimize Component Power Ratings with Embedded Design Rules How to Reduce Power Consumption in Embedded Download PDF
Embedded Systems Memory and Real-World Applications In embedded systems, we’re often concerned about speed, especially when your software is running a vehicle. However, we’re also worried about energy usage. We all know that computations can burn through energy, but memory operations also have a significant effect. This presentation will discuss multiple ways good design can help manage embedded systems memory and the real-world applications and challenges of using this technology. Click the PDF Download PDF
PCB Design Techniques to Reduce EMI Do you want to reduce EMI in your PCB designs? This Ebook will discuss multiple ways good PCB design can help manage EMI interference on your board. It covers tips and tricks like using EMI cans for shielding, proper grounding techniques, trace length, isolating AC and DC signals and differential pair routing. Click the PDF above to read more about PCB design techniques to reduce EMI in this Ebook. Or view the original content here: EMI/EMC Download PDF