Preventing Ground Loops in Your PCB Design I think we’ve all been there. You buy that awesome stereo system only to hear that familiar humming sound in the background. When you take it back to the store the clerk blames the manufacturer. What components are to be considered a problem? The decoupling capacitor or ground wire? How about the bypass capacitor or PCB ground loop design interference? The stereo manufacturer will blame the component manufacturer and the component manufacturer Read Article Understanding 2-Layer PCB Ground Planes Like many designers, my first board was a 2-layer board, and it didn't use a PCB ground plane. It wasn't very elaborate, just an amplifier with some connectors and a connection to a DAQ module that interfaced with a LabVIEW app. When you're designing with through-hole components on a copper-clad perfboard, there's no way to create a solid ground region anywhere on the board, and your grounding strategy will suffer for it. If you watch the Read Article Cave Markings and Circuit Boards: How to Read PCB Layout Assembly Drawings “The devil is in the details.” Ever think about the meaning of that phrase? It tells us about the importance of details and that overlooking details will cause problems. Such a brief sentence also speaks to us about how to read a PCB assembly drawing and how to read a circuit board. Accurate component placement makes the PCB layout easier. If we gloss over the small details, many different problems can damage circuit performance. PCB assembly Read Article Introduction of 3D Technology in PCBs: 3D Printing and PCB Design Early experimental jets from the design table to wind tunnel tests of models to actual piloted flight at a rapid rate. During the 1950s, aircraft designers relied on slide rules and blackboard mathematics rather than computer processing and virtual simulations. When a test pilot climbed into a cockpit, he climbed into an untested prototype. Some flights went very well and set speed and altitude records, while other flights… didn’t. As with Read Article PCB Design and CAD Software: Know What Governs Your Designs Every now and then, the phrase “rule of law” becomes part of conversations about how countries govern. Going all the way back to the 13th century Magna Carta, the “rule of law” speaks about the development of peaceful and equitable societies—and the need for basic human rights. Individuals living under the “rule of law” enjoy Equality under the law The transparency of law An independent judiciary and Access to legal remedy. Without rules for Read Article With RF Circuit Impedance in Mind Your Designs Won't Look Bird-Brained Several years ago, scientists compared the aerodynamic characteristics of several bird species with different species of bats. Feathered bird wings become inactive during the upstroke and maintain lift. Every downstroke increases thrust, lift, and flight speed. In contrast, bats have membranous wings that produce lift during the upstroke. Regardless of their methods, birds and bats overcome weight and drag to achieve flight efficiency. Two Read Article IoT Security Best Practices Printed Circuit Boards for IoT systems require special attention. Everyone knows how vulnerable IoT can become without the right security measures in place to ensure safety and compliance with regulations. Discover best practices to help avoid issues and vulnerabilities during board development and learn about security gateways, design options like IoT self-testing, and authentification. Click the PDF above to read more about IoT Security Best Read Article Flex Cost Drivers, Solar Car Drivers and DFM OnTrack Newsletter March 2018 On Track Newsletter March 2018 VOL. 1 No 12 Welcome to the March edition of the Altium® OnTrack Newsletter. We have some exceptional content for you this month—so read on! In Design Like a Girl, I interview PCB fabrication veteran and flex expert Tara Dunn of OMNI PCB who will share some insight into cost drivers for flex and rigid-flex circuits. In Next Gen Designers, I interview the Sunswift Solar-Electric team from the University of New South Read Article Milling Artwork in Copper: PCB Router Bit Diameters and Other Tools to Get the Job Done Spring is a busy time of year in the garden. The yard brings chores, but with the right tools, time passes easily and pretty soon I’m enjoying my lawn chair. One of those chores is picking up all the dead leaves left from Autumn that remain in places they fell, blanketing areas of shrub beds and cement patio. For shrub beds, I use rake and hands to pick up leaves and throw them in the compost. For the patio, I fire up the pressure washer and Read Article Oh the Boards You Will Make: Tips for Beginners in Design & Electronics If there was ever a time to begin thinking about beginning your career as an electrical engineer, the time is right now! With the rise of so many electronics hardware startups, the advancements in circuitry and pcb design software, and the emergence of Internet of Things (IoT) devices, you’ve found yourself on a large and fast wave of industry. With the upbringing of so many companies and possibilities, the job market is very hot and yields Read Article Design for Manual Prototyping and Throw Off Your Restraints Learn to design a PCB for manual prototyping and hand assembly. Read Article Why Startup Transition is a Concern for Embedded Systems Do you have a morning ritual? I can barely function without mine. My brain has a hard time operating without a big breakfast, some piping hot coffee, and five minutes browsing through my inbox even when there are zero unread emails. Having a morning ritual for your embedded system is helpful too. While you don’t need to serve any coffee to your PCB’s microcontroller, you do need to ensure that it efficiently handles the transitional state during Read Article How Integrated PCB Libraries Can Lower Development Costs Editorial credit: MikeDotta / Shutterstock.com I’m pretty stubborn when it comes to developing new recipes for my kid. Just last week, I insisted on preparing the bolognese sauce from scratch as I tried to whip up a decent pasta dish. I ended up taking more time than I should have, as my son grew in frustration and hunger by the minute. That’s when I decided to just buy off-the-shelf pasta sauce next time. When I started working on electronics, I Read Article How to Create a PCB Schematic | Altium Designer There’s an important step in creating your PCB layout: How to make a schematic? You might feel overwhelmed with all of the options, but don’t worry! Whether you’ve got decades of experience in your pocket or just starting your design or engineering career, your PCB design begins with schematic capture. Below is a schematic capture tutorial in Altium Designer, covering everything from component access to wiring parts together into circuits. A PCB Read Article Better PCB Routing - How Altium Highlight Nets Regardless of how many PCBs I design, I always find myself having to regularly review network paths on the schematics layer and Altium highlight trace routes on PCBs. The complexity reminds me of a maze where only one path is the right one for a particular network. All the connections must be accurate as errors made here will come back to haunt you later in the form of redesigns. The best way to ensure network accuracy is by isolating it so that Read Article Starting Out in PCB Design with the Right Board Layout Software Recently my daughter-in-law posted a picture of my grandson’s feet along with the following statement: “I wonder where these feet will lead you in life my son, you are so full of curiosity and determination already.” As his grandfather, I already know for a fact that he is destined to become the most brilliant person ever to ever walk the face of the earth. Seriously though, wondering where our paths will take us in life is something that we will Read Article High Density Interconnect Boards and How They Can Benefit Your Design In the world of PCB design, high-density interconnect boards are among the fastest growing designs that are surfacing. Offering lighter weight, faster transmission times, more real estate to place components, and a reduction in signal loss there are few downsides to implementing these designs into your device. In any industry, the push for better, faster, stronger is usually a consumer-driven force. It is no different here. The push for devices Read Article Pagination First page « First Previous page ‹‹ Page151 Current page152 Page153 Page154 Page155 Page156 Next page ›› Last page Last » Load More
