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No, I Don’t Want to Make a U-turn: Guidelines for PCB Trace Routing

No, I Don’t Want to Make a U-turn: Guidelines for PCB Trace Routing Watching your old town grow up can be a lot like watching your favorite television shows ending, or watching a sequel years after a good movie was released. The town I grew up in was laid out on a grid with streets so wide you didn’t even have to parallel park downtown. It was a town so small that traffic jams were caused by two people in different cars stopping to talk more often than accidents. When I go back to visit, the town has grown; the Read Article

Preventing Critical PCB Contamination: There Goes the Boom

Preventing Critical PCB Contamination: There Goes the Boom Ensuring chemical compatibility isn’t always as straightforward as avoiding throwing oil on a fire. When I was an undergrad, I worked in a lab with a heavy emphasis on etching. Processing steps use a range of chemicals, and sometimes these chemicals would not be compatible. One day, a student coworker of mine was hearing weird sounds while etching. After a few minutes, he pulled the fume hood shut and encountered a small explosion from Read Article

Azevedo the ITAndroids: Humanoid Robot Soccer Team

Azevedo the ITAndroids: Humanoid Robot Soccer Design Team Judy Warner: How long has the ITAndroids team been in existence, and how did it get started? Arthur Azevedo: The ITAndroids team was created in 2005 by Jackson Matsura. Back then he was a masters student, now he is a professor in the electronics department. Two undergraduate students and another master’s student joined the team. They won the Latin America RoboCup (LARC) 2D Soccer Simulation that year. They quickly became one of the Latin American Read Article

Take Your Shoes Off: Modular Design Tips for Obsolescence Management

Take Your Shoes Off: Modular Design Tips for Obsolescence Management I’ve noticed that there are two kinds of people in the world: those who have a large armoire full of lightly-used shoes to choose from for their daily activities, and those who have a few (too) well-worn pairs of shoes that they are squeaking out until the toe-holes become intolerable. I am among the latter, and unfortunately for my current pair of sneakers - it is getting time to replace them. But there’s always a golden period to replace old Read Article

Give Them No Quarter: Preventing PIC Microcontroller Code from Being Duplicated

Give Them No Quarter: Code Protection in PIC Microcontrollers for Duplication Prevention Copying, from all understandings, seems like a disingenuous and sub-par strategy for any solution you need; from taking a test in school, to catching up with your friends, it is rare to find a moment where you would be rewarded for simply copying a message or answer. Imitating, on the other hand, is an encouraged practice in most professional industries - follow the guidelines and roadwork laid out before you so as to avoid the tedious work of Read Article

Design Tips For Incorporating GSM Modules into an Embedded System

Design Tips For Incorporating GSM Modules into Embedded Systems As loving and rewarding as a family is, sometimes they can be a pain. My aunt, for example, refuses to communicate with my grandfather. They live less than thirty minutes apart; however, refuse to see each other. This makes coordinating visiting my family unnecessarily difficult as, often, I need to make separate day plans in order to see each so-to-speak faction. But what’s most stressful, is that often it leaves the middleman communication role Read Article

Untangle Yourself with an SD Card Bootloader

Untangle Yourself with an SD Card Bootloader Like Ray LaMontagne, I’ve got trouble. Smartphone trouble, trouble, trouble, trouble. I can figure out the apps I want, and I’ve got the games I need (wait, I might have those priorities backward), but transferring all my images and data is a bit more of a pain. There always seems to be music that gets left behind or images that, for whatever reason, refuse to back up. I consider myself pretty savvy, but when I got a new smartphone I was starting Read Article

Following the Recipe for PCB Design: The PCB Fabrication Drawing

Following the Recipe for PCB Design: The PCB Fabrication Drawing A few years ago I surprised my wife by making her crème brûlée for her birthday. She was stunned—the extent of my cooking at that time was limited to boiled eggs and burnt toast. Before attempting it, I spent some time finding a recipe with clear instructions to follow. With the recipe holding my hand every step of the way, I cooked my way into being a hero for the day. In hindsight, there wasn’t much to lose if I messed it up; we’d be Read Article

Designing a User Database for Card Access Systems

Designing a User Database for Card Access Systems How long does it usually take for you to unpack your clothes and organize them after you move? If you’re anything like me, they might slowly move from your suitcases and boxes to a dresser over a healthy span of weeks. In the interim, I have to develop an internal logic of where, in all the clutter, certain clothes are located: dress shirts in the box at the foot of the bed, socks and underwear tucked in front of the dresser. Even my logic fails Read Article

The Best Flash Memory Storage Solutions: Is NOR or NAND Ideal for Your Project?

The Best Flash Memory Storage Solutions: Is NOR or NAND Ideal for Your Project? I must admit that I’m pretty ignorant when it comes to wine: should I get a white wine for my dinner, or would a red be more appropriate? And don’t test me on the differences between different whites or different reds. I know that there are some guidelines for which variety to pair with various foods and flavors, but I have no idea what these recommended pairings are. Just like red and white wines, NOR flash and NAND flash memory storage solution Read Article

Internet of Things Security Best Practices: Passwords, Patches, and Portals

IoT Security Best Practices: Passwords, Patches, and Portals If you’ve ever created devices for military applications you’re probably used to designing with security in mind. If you’re more like me and just build the odd Internet of Things (IoT) doodad, that’s probably the last thing on your mind. However, recent cyber attacks are highlighting why engineers like us should be a little more concerned with security. These design best practices will show you how you can safeguard your systems. Why Secure the Read Article

Intelligent Routing Features In PCB Design Software Let You Work Smarter, Not Harder

Intelligent Routing Features In PCB Design Software Let You Work Smarter, Not Harder Everybody has those lazy moments, trying to figure out how little one can do while still completing a task. In my first job, I created software where I can automatically launch my favorite applications through voice commands. Later, I found a new level by coding a special program to email reports, close applications, and shut down my computer with one click of a button. My first PCB designs took place on the early versions of PCB design software Read Article

Frank Duggan: Micro Architecture and Aspiring to MIT

Frank Duggan: Micro Architecture and Aspiring to MIT Judy Warner: What first got you interested in developing your own microarchitecture using discrete logic? Frank Duggan: Without really knowing the specifics, it was something I'd wanted to do since I was little. I was obsessed with my Snap Circuits electronics kit, and liked to challenge myself to build circuits that do various things. At some point, I decided that building a computer was the ultimate challenge. This was probably because I found Read Article

How to Use a Random Number Generator to Create Uncertainty in PCB Design

How to Use a Random Number Generator to Create Uncertainty in PCB Design My high school peers knew me as a predictable person—always the first one to show up anywhere—on time, every time. Since they didn’t seem as concerned with keeping their schedules and promises, sometimes I waited hours for my friends. That uncertainty would mess up my schedule, but engineering was a place where I found uncertainty was rarely a problem. Unsurprisingly, I developed a deep interest in physics and engineering, where the results are Read Article

PCB Technology Trends: The Benefits of Internet of Things Security Gateways

PCB Technology Trends: The Benefits of Internet of Things Security Gateways Do you ever like to take a break from social situations for a few days and spend some quality time with your television? I do that maybe a little more often than I should, and last week I spent that time binge-watching the new season of Stranger Things. If you haven’t seen the show, it’s about a girl with psychic powers who opens a portal to another dimension (the Upside Down) filled with creatures. The gateway to that world lets monsters loose Read Article

Beginner’s PCB Design for Manufacturing Guidelines

Beginner’s PCB Design for Manufacturing Guidelines We’ve compiled some of the most important design for manufacturing guidelines for beginner engineers. Read Article

Essential PCB Design Tips: How to Implement a Watchdog Timer in Your PCB Design

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