How the Fiber Weave Effect Influences High Frequency Signal Integrity Orienting traces and choosing the right weave style can help compensate for the fiber weave effect. Watch out for resonances at high frequencies. Learn more in this latest PCB design blog. Read Article Pros and Cons of Orthogonal Trace Routing in Multilayer PCBs What would limit your use of orthogonal trace routing? Like most design questions, it depends on your signal speed and stackup, as well as placement in the PCB layout. Read this latest PCB design blog by expert Zachariah Peterson to learn more. Read Article Say "Hello" to the LogiSwitch Workbench The LogiSwitch Arduino Uno Workbench Proto-Extender Kit (Image source: LogiSwitch.net) As the Indian novelist Savi Sharma once said, "Everyone has a story." While this is undoubtably true (my mother certainly has lots of them), it's also true that some peoples' stories have more richness and complexity than others. Take my chum, Mike Pelkey, for example. If you perform a Google Search on "BASE Jumping" -- that is, parachuting from a fixed Read Article Steaming Hot Steampunk in Palmer, MA Bruce Rosenbaum astride the Hendrick's Gin Grand Garnisher (Image source: ModVic.com) There is an ever-increasing interest in steampunk these days, and a lot of people dabble in various flavors of this genre, but it's rare that you run across someone who makes a living creating steampunk artifacts. Before we proceed, perhaps we should take a step back and remind ourselves that steampunk started out as a subgenre of science fiction or science Read Article Reflecting on Your Design—What are Reflections and What Do They Do to a Signal? Part One In describing what happens when an electromagnetic field or wave is traveling on a transmission line, we often talk about the various things that can disrupt that wave. Among the most common of these things are reflections. Part 1 of this article will describe what reflections are and how they are caused. The second part will discuss what they do to a signal. Then, a separate article will address how reflections are controlled by terminations Read Article Concord Pro and ECAD to MCAD Integration Altium Concord Pro™ as a standalone product and brand name has been discontinued and the capabilities are now available as part of our Altium enterprise solutions. Learn more here. Introduction Back in September, I did a blog called PCB Design is a Team Sport, in which I specifically examined the different roles involved in the PCB Design Process. One of my conclusions was that the most important role involved in the whole design process is the Read Article Stubs On Transmission Lines—What Do They Do And How Do You Keep Them From Happening? In other articles we have written PCB Design For Test Structures And Tests Performed, Part 2, and How to Control Switching Signals with Terminations for Best Signal Quality, we have described how to properly account for all the various factors that impact the design of high-speed signals. Within those topics, we’ve noted that stubs along a net may have an adverse effect on the quality of those signals. But, we have not thoroughly addressed stubs Read Article The Evolution Of Automotive Electronics Design The number, functionality, and complexity of today’s automotive electronics has grown beyond leaps and bounds over the past several years. Certainly, the flagship of this technology is the Tesla automobile. But, even for those of us who can’t afford a Tesla, there is an increasingly widespread utilization of this technology in mid-range and even lower-end new cars. This article will describe the design environment represented by this technology Read Article The Fundamentals of High Speed SerDes Design High speed SerDes design goes far beyond computer peripherals The challenges in high speed SerDes design filter right down to the PCB level and are all about backplane/daughtercard design, transmission line layout, selecting proper equalization schemes, and much more. This even gets down to the fundamentals, where stackup and power integrity become critical when driving transmitters and receiver ICs. If you’re designing a PCB as part of a SerDes Read Article Some Pre-layout Power Spectrum Analyzer PCB Tips in Altium Designer Take advantage of your simulation tools before test and measurement. Here I want to expand a bit on the power spectrum analysis features in Altium Designer®. In a previous post, we looked at working with simulations involving a frequency modulated signal fed into a nonlinear component (an NPN transistor). In this simulation, we ended with the Fourier spectrum at the load resistor for various values of base voltage/current. In the time-domain Read Article DDR5 PCB Layout, Routing, and Signal Integrity Guidelines Release of the DDR5 standard was announced in July 2020, about 18 months after the announced development of the first RAM module following the proposed standard. The standard allows peak speeds in excess of 5200 MT/sec/pin (compare that to 3200 MT/sec/pin with DDR4), with JEDEC-rated speeds up to 6400 MT/sec/pin and channel bandwidth increased up to 300 GB/s. Demand for this new generation of memories with 8, 16, and 32 GB capacities should Read Article Linux and Android: What’s the Difference When purchasing an off-the-shelf module or designing a customized module of your own using a design tool like Upverter (previously known as Geppetto), you have to select an operating system. Often, you have a variety of choices. Two popular open source software (OSS) platforms are Linux and Android. If you’re new to design, how do you know which one you want to use? There are complicated, highly technical answers to this question. However, if you Read Article Open Source Software - A Moving Target Open Source Software (OSS) is an attractive alternative to proprietary software platforms. There’s a lot to love about OSS. Lower cost is a primary decision driver for many companies. Others want to enjoy the freedom and flexibility to modify the software to their particular application requirements. Some companies don’t want to be at the mercy of the direction—or lack of direction—of proprietary software roadmaps. There’s also a lot to fret over Read Article Crowdsourced Voice Recordings: A Wearable AI Voice Recorder Is Shipping Use a Senstone and never miss a flash of creative genius again (Image source: Senstone.com) Were you ever a fan of Star Trek: The Next Generation (TNG)? If so, you may recall that the Starfleet officers and enlisted personnel wear small communicator badges on their left breast. These devices are presented in the shape of the Starfleet insignia and are activated with a light tap. They also incorporate a universal translator, which comes in handy Read Article OnTrack Newsletter: Cloud-based Design, RF and Design Tips OnTrack Newsletter December 2019 Vol. 3 No. 7 Altium 365: The New Frontier of Collaborative Cloud-Enabled Electronics Realization In this interview, we talk with Leigh Gawne, Chief Software Architect at Altium, to learn about Altium 365 and the impact he foresees that Cloud-enabled electronics realization will have on design engineers and the entire industry. (To see Leigh Gawne and team collaboratively design a board LIVE in Altium 365 at this Read Article Isolated USB Connection Project While working heavily with microcontroller projects in the past, I learned that computer USB ports can be fragile things. Simply shorting dozens of volts across the port just kills them dead—and there are so many other creative ways to destroy USB functionality on a motherboard! I’ve seen USB isolation devices on the market which solve precisely these sorts of problems (developers doing bad with their devices), however, I never really got around Read Article Ben and Judy 2019 Wrap-Up In this OnTrack Podcast Judy and returning guest Ben Jordan discuss everything from routing engines and signal integrity to what we can expect from 2020 and beyond. Watch full episode now. Read Article Pagination First page « First Previous page ‹‹ Page91 Current page92 Page93 Page94 Page95 Page96 Next page ›› Last page Last » Load More
