Altium Vault

How NASA Plans to Use 3D Printed Circuit Board Technology

How NASA Plans to Use 3D PCB Technology and Designs for Space Missions Editorial credit: Tony Craddock / Shutterstock.com Have you noticed how a 3D model has become a phenomenon? People seem to want to 3D print anything they can now. Maybe the 3D printing craze will collide with the Internet of Things and we’ll get a printed smart fork. While other people are writing about the 50 best things you can make with them and then throw away, I’m going to tell you how NASA hopes to use 3D printing. Between a rocket Read Article

The Most Important Features for PCB Layout Software Comparison: PCB Design Tips Tricks - Altium Audio Bites

The Most Important Features for PCB Layout Software Comparison: PCB Design Tips Tricks - Altium Audio Bites Altium Audio Bites, giving you bite-sized information that's easy to digest and apply to your everyday design tasks. From our PCB Design Tips & Tricks audio series here is: The Most Important Features for PCB Layout Software Comparison. All our audio series are from real PCB designers in the field, detailing their day to day problems and experiences. We hope you can learn from this as much as we have. Give it a listen and let us know what you Read Article

Important Features to Consider When You're Comparing PCB Design Software

Important Features to Consider When You're Comparing and Recomparing PCB Design Software Anyone who knows me knows that I hate shopping. This is as true for lab equipment and software as it is for clothes and cars. At my lowest of lows I’ve had meltdowns in the mall, and had to call a cab while my friends were still going strong. Now when I shop, I like to get something as close to perfect for me as possible, so that I don’t have to repeat the experience for a long time. So, if I’m looking for ECAD software, what features and support Read Article

Advanced PCB Design Solutions Require Short and Long Term EDA Software

Advanced PCB Design Solutions Require Short and Long Term EDA Software My grandfather taught me to always use the right tool for the job. He told me that because I broke one of his screwdrivers while using it as a pry bar. Sorry grandpa. You might not break something by using the wrong apparatus, but you are guaranteed to take too long finishing your work. The same principle applies to PCB design. As boards becoming increasingly complex, designers need more advanced tools to build them. You can try working with the Read Article

Altium Vault Design And Library Migration Guide

Altium Vault Design And Library Migration Guide LIBRARIES AND DATA This guide provides insight into design project migration into Altium Vault. Library Management in Altium Vault is inspired by modern data management systems. Rather than simply lists of components, their designs are enriched by revisions, lifecycle management and traceability of relationships between models, components, library files, and projects. Altium Vault Design and Library Migration Guide Centralization is also improved Read Article

The Most Important Features for PCB Layout Software Comparison

The Most Important Features for PCB Layout Software Comparison Have you ever gone to a used car dealership and tried to get a good deal on a car? It’s nearly impossible for anyone but a mechanic. When I went I ended up with a choice between two cars that seemed nearly identical to me, except for their price. I picked the cheaper one and took it to a local shop, and found out that I’d chosen a jalopy. Sometimes choosing PCB design software can feel the same way. You use a free program or spend some money on Read Article

Why Increasing Design Complexity Requires the Best Professional PCB Design Software

Why Increasing Design Complexity Requires the Best Professional PCB Design Software Didn’t everything seem so simple when you were a kid? No job to work at, no mortgage to pay, and no kids of your own to wrangle. My main occupation was to run around outside and try not to get too dirty while playing. Now life is certainly better, but also quite a bit more complicated. Similarly, the PCB industry is also growing up and become more convoluted. Gone are the days of large, simple boards. Now everything has to be small, sleek, and Read Article

Should You or Your Manufacturer Specify Every Aspect of PCB Construction?

Should You or Your PCB Contract Manufacturer Specify Every Aspect of Construction? I was finally taking a trip to China; something I had been planning for years. I was about halfway through the flight when all of a sudden, my vacation excitement turned to dread. I realized that back at home, where I am PCB assembling, there might have been a critical board mistake during assembly. I was regretting not specifying that reflow profile. Then again, maybe I was regretting over specifying it? Any mistakes on my board were made days Read Article

Altium Vault Evaluation Guide

Altium Vault Evaluation Guide To learn more about this topic please see the full solution - Evaluating Altium Vault - at Altium.com. Read Article

Data Management in Four Steps

Data Management in Four Steps When it comes to electronics design, data management is at the bottom of most engineers’ priority list. When you first enter the engineering field, you don’t learn about all the tiny details you need to keep track of during the design process. These minute details build up into the mountain that is data management. Something as simple as finding a previously used part can mean spending your day fumbling between spreadsheets, approved lists, and Read Article

Design Data: Organize to Optimize

Design Data: Organize to Optimize You’re Only as Strong as Your Weakest Link As engineers, we tend to focus on the end technology and forget about the important ECAD design data that actually makes up our designs. The links between technology and design data create something greater than the sum of their . We often overlook the benefits of establishing solid links between our design technology and our design data. The truth is data management provides organization, traceability Read Article

Professional PCB Design Data

Professional PCB Design Data Your PCB design is like a novel. The words of that novel are the buildings blocks you use. You wouldn’t write a novel without defining the language structure; you need syntax, grammar, organization, and diction. You know everything that you want to place in your design, you just have to define it. Once you define the in your ECAD environment, keeping them all organized in libraries can be a challenge. We tend to focus on the end product of our Read Article

Complete Component Library Management for PCB Design Data

Complete Component Library Management for PCB Design Data Complete Management Components are the basic building blocks of designs and even the slightest discrepancy can derail your whole design process. If one bad footprint makes its way through manufacturing, the rest of your design can be invalidated with necessary layout changes. Worst of all, you’ll have to identify everywhere a bad component has been utilized across several designs. The work required to change your layout grows exponentially the Read Article

The Pros and Cons of Different LPWAN Networks for Your IoT Application

The Pros and Cons of Different LPWAN Networks for Your IoT Application Right now, IoT is like a gladiator battle in the coliseum of market forces and public opinion. There are constant rankings of what protocol or stack to use, which IoT products are useful ( or not), and who’s going to win each element of the burgeoning IoT ecosystem. The best part is that each of these little battles is also a decision that you must face or plan for in your next IoT design. Awesome, right? Lucky for you, I’ve already considered Read Article

Design Release Management and Communicating Intent

Design Release Management and Communicating Intent We know that designing and releasing a product involves a multidisciplinary chain of command. Prior to its release, the ECAD side often goes through a series of adaptations to capture the incremental changes to the design. During this stage, the ECAD data is a moving target, which can impede the flow of communication to invested parties. Failure to effectively communicate these changes can have significant consequences on the design release Read Article

48:37 Vault Webinar Watch Video

Which IoT Protocol Is Best Suited to Your Design Requirements

Which IoT Communication Protocols Are Best Suited to Your Design Requirements For IoT products, the interoperability question depends on the communications protocol you use, since most products can’t communicate with systems using a different protocol. The protocol you choose will also affect your hardware. For example, transmission distance will determine your available IoT modules, power requirements, and shape the network configuration for your system. There are a huge number of protocols to choose from. New versions Read Article