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Long before my youngest son became a teenager, we already knew that in everything that he did he worked at turning the situation around to best benefit himself. At one point he was doing something that he shouldn’t be doing, and I told him that if he continued down that path that I would ground him. Instead of backing off as I expected, he instead had a contemplative look on his face as he asked me; “for how long would I be grounded?” I couldn...

You know how cooking can get complicated when you aren’t in your own kitchen? Since they aren’t “right where you left them”, you have to hunt for a pan or utensil that will work for what you are doing. It takes more time and possibly burning some eggs while you are looking for a spatula. And that’s just cooking something simple for breakfast; imagine trying to prepare a complicated meal. Situations like this are what help the restaurant...

The whole reason we build prototypes of a PCB is to test the functionality and reliability of the product. Functional testing often seems easy: simply plug in the product, let it power up, and check that it works as intended. Is it really that simple? Of course, the answer is a solid “no,” it’s not that simple. Functional testing is part of prototype testing, but there is another aspect of prototype testing related to reliability. Simple...

When my oldest boy bought his first car I was worried that he might have made a mistake. Sadly my worries turned out to be true and he was stuck with a lemon. I believe that his exact words were; “It seemed like such a good deal at the time”. He thought that paying less money for an older car would be a benefit, and of course, his actual experience was the exact opposite. The old expression of “count the cost” before you buy applies to...

The product development process for printed circuit assemblies is highly dependent on complete Bills of Material. Complete Bills of Material list the PCB along with all components soldered or adhered onto the board to make the assembly. Components are unavailable early in the product development cycle because EDA libraries are antiquated and lack current parts information when circuit designers are drawing schematics. To stay on the development...

In the world of hardware engineering, board re-spins are costly, time-consuming, and often avoidable with proper planning. Hunter Scott, Director of Hardware Engineering at Reach Labs, shared valuable insights on "Design for Hacking" (DFH) at Altium Live 2018 - strategies that make PCB modifications easier when inevitable design changes arise. Three Core Principles Scott organizes his approach around three fundamental techniques: 1. Isolate...