Essential PCB Design Tips: How to Implement a Watchdog Timer in Your PCB Design When you work from home there are some perks of the job. You can make your own meals, slot in some laundry over lunch, and drink all the tea you want. I use a stove-top kettle to boil water for my tea, so when I get in the writing zone, I rely on its high-pitched whistle to tell me when it’s done. Sometimes when I’m careless, I don’t fit the lid on properly. As a result, the kettle remains silent despite the fact that the liquid water inside of Read Article The Top Reasons Why PCB Design Software with Auto Routing Can Save You Time I’ve been designing printed circuit boards long enough that my family has sadly grown accustomed to me spending more time at work than at home. When deadlines are looming, everyone knows I’ll be working late nights at the office. Modern PCB design software with auto-routing tools can help you cut down your routing time, but not everyone is a fan of these features. I know all the arguments against using an auto-router because I’ve been using them Read Article PCB Design: An Optocoupler Tutorial for Your PCB Layout Are you guilty of hitting the snooze button at least twice before you reluctantly wake up from your blissful sleep? My wife claims that I probably have the world record time for hitting the snooze button since I do it without even opening my eyes. But there are times when the third snooze alarm mysteriously doesn’t go off and it is a losing battle to get my day started on time. In electronics, embedded systems often rely on optocoupler circuits Read Article PCB Thermal Relief Pad Guidelines for PCB Layout and Design I once read that young Eddie Rickenbacker got pranked by his older co-workers when they sent him around to ask for a tool that doesn’t exist. Later on, Rickenbacker would become a race car driver in the 1900’s, an automotive designer, an American air ace in World War I, a government consultant, and eventually the head of Eastern Air Lines. Yet as a junior apprentice in that automotive shop, he had to learn the basics of his trade the same as the Read Article 3D PCB Design 3D PCB Design takes board design to the next level, especially when it comes to Multi-board system design. Learn tips and techniques to approach 3D PCB design that will help you take your unified design process to the next level. Being able to properly visualize your spacing, sizing, and layout is crucial to success. Learn more from this 3D PCB Design presentation, and click the PDF above to read more in this presentation overview. Or view the Read Article PCB Layout Become an expert in PCB Layout when you use Altium Designer software. Benefits to the Unified Data Model Approach include not just time savings, but the potential of simultaneous design that is available with the integrated schematics and PCB layouts offered in Altium Designer. Simultaneously consider the big picture and the very details that impact your projects' success. Click the PDF above to read more about PCB Layout in this presentation Read Article Protect Your PCB From ESD From computers and televisions, to automobiles and kitchen appliances, PCBs are found in nearly every aspect of our lives-- many of our devices would not be possible without them. They are the brains of our electronics, and as such, it is of the utmost importance to do everything in our power to ensure our designs are protected from potentially catastrophic threats. Proper routing and schematics, component placement, and special attention to Read Article How PCB Software Performance Affects Power Planes and Ground Planes Positively and Negatively The detective on your favorite police television show will often be looking for the plain facts of the case. In PCB design tools, we have some “plane” facts to look for. One of those would be getting a better understanding of what it takes to create a power plane and a ground plane. As designers, we know that planes provide power and ground to the components on our boards. We also know how to manipulate our tools in order to create those planes Read Article The Different Types of Support for Circuit Building Software My 10-year-old son came to me a couple of weeks ago with a problem that he needed my help with. His bicycle wouldn’t shift out of the upper gear and therefore he wasn’t able to ride it. As it turned out, all I needed to do was to straighten a bent derailleur and add some lubricate. A few minutes later my son was pedaling happily down the street to meet with the rest of his friends. That got me to thinking, the help that my son needed from me is Read Article PCB Design Tips: Should You Include an External or Internal Watchdog Timer (WDT) in Your Board Design Would you invest in an external mouse, keyboard, and a high-definition monitor when your laptop comes equipped with these features? It’s a personal choice, especially when you want to turn your laptop into a portable workstation. My girlfriend, who’s starting her career as a professional accountant, dismissed my choice as a waste of money. In electronics, deciding whether to include an external watchdog timer (WDT) in your PCB design can be an Read Article Altium Evaluation Guide For PADS Users To learn more about this topic please see the full solution - Evaluating Altium Designer for PADS Users - at Altium.com. Read Article Why You Should Include Mechanical Parts in Your Bill of Materials Template Have you ever put together a project where there weren’t enough to finish the job? I have, and I know how frustrating it is to have to wait for the missing to be replaced. Meanwhile, that partially completed bookshelf or bicycle just sits there mocking you. You can’t use the bookshelf, and nothing in life hurts worse than the scolding face of an 8-year-old who can’t ride their new bike. This problem can also happen during the manufacturing of Read Article Microcontroller Failure Modes: Why They Happen and How to Prevent Them I owe much of my design success to my college. Not because of the lab experiments where we learned what might accidentally blow up a capacitor, but because we learned that Murphy’s Law can strike when you least expect it to. Since I spent a lot of time playing Warcraft and struggling to finish up endless assignments, I relied on my computer to function at all times. Back then, computers were pretty limited and it wasn’t uncommon to see the Read Article Considerations for PCB Circuit Design: Why PCB Labels are Important Checklists are an important part of life. Airline pilots use them to make sure that they’ve put the wheels down before landing. Shoppers use them to make sure that they don’t forget to buy the eggs. We all use checklists in different ways, and many of us would be lost without them. Here’s another good use for a checklist; making sure that we don’t forget to include important elements on our PCB design. It’s not likely that we will forget to place Read Article PCB Designer Responsibilities: How to Manage Engineering and Manufacturing Expectations My wife works at an elementary school, and the thing she dislikes the most is when she has to put herself between two kids in an argument. Being caught in the middle like that is frustrating for her because it is often difficult to turn it into a “win” for both sides of the argument. We as PCB designers are often in the same position when we have to mediate the needs of electrical engineering and mechanical engineering. Trying to negotiate a “win Read Article Global PCB Designers and Innovators: OnTrack Newsletter October 2017 On Track Newsletter October 2017 VOL. 1 No 7 Welcome to the October 2017 issue of Altium’s On Track Newsletter. This month we celebrate a few unique engineers and designers from our global user community. The first is Omer Mahgoub from South Africa who is designing boards for the Square Kilometre Array (SKA). The SKA will be the world’s largest radio telescope ever built, spanning two continents and providing unprecedented views of space. Next Read Article PCB Design Software Features To Consider Before making a decision on buying a home, you would probably ask a lot of questions. Is it close to the facilities and services that are important to you? Is it in a good and safe neighborhood? Will the layout of the house satisfy your needs? These are all important questions that need to be answered before you commit to living there. In the same way, buying new PCB design software deserves the same level of scrutiny. You will want to find out Read Article Pagination First page « First Previous page ‹‹ Page160 Current page161 Page162 Page163 Page164 Page165 Next page ›› Last page Last » Load More