Embedded PCB Design

Image Processing Embedded Systems with Modular Hardware

Image Processing Embedded Systems with Modular Hardware Image processing embedded systems can be deployed quickly thanks to modular design tools With advances in industrial automation, automotive technology, remote sensing, and much more, image processing is taking center stage in many embedded systems. Image processing with older video systems was difficult or impossible due to the low quality of many imaging systems with perpetual uptime. As a result, older camera systems could be developed for Read Article

Continuous Deployment: An Implementation Using Altium Designer

Continuous Deployment: An Implementation Using Altium Designer In Continuous Integration and Deployment in ECAD we discussed the concept of Continuous Deployment within a build system. In this article, we will take a deeper look at how to set up continuous delivery and deployment systems so your team and vendors can enjoy a continuous stream of updated ECAD packages for review. Continuous Deployment/Delivery: Revisited In Continuous Integration: An Implementation Using Altium Designer we went through the Read Article

How Modular Design Helps Hardware Startups Launch and Grow

How Modular Design Helps Hardware Startups Launch and Grow Hardware is hard... those three words best describe how difficult it can be to break into the hardware market and launch a new electronic product. This may be difficult to accept, but between PCB and enclosure design, planning for production, prototyping and testing, redesigns, and challenges sourcing semiconductors, launching a new hardware product can be a major ordeal. Pebble, one of the most anticipated success stories in the hardware Read Article

Agile Embedded Software Development: The Best of Both Worlds

Agile Embedded Software Development: The Best of Both Worlds You might want to use agile development to build this embedded system As unique hardware platforms that provide computing power in a variety of applications, embedded systems combine the best of every techie’s dreams: hardware design and software development. Design processes for simpler embedded systems tend to be linear, and the hardware and embedded software may even be developed in parallel by different design teams. As systems become more Read Article

Continuous Integration: An Implementation Using Altium Designer

Continuous Integration: An Implementation Using Altium Designer In a previous article, Continuous Integration and Deployment in ECAD, we discussed the concept of Continuous Integration while testing within a build system (leveraging Git). In this article, we will take a deeper look at how to set this up and run these “tests” against one’s PCB design project. Continuous Integration Tests: Revisited In Software Engineering, the purpose of implementing Continuous Integration into a workflow is to prevent one’s Read Article

Embedded System Power Supply Guidelines for Power Integrity

Embedded System Power Supply Guidelines for Power Integrity Embedded systems design and development is a broad area of electronics, spanning from developing code for an Arduino to designing custom computing systems with huge I/O count. On the more advanced end, where we see complex embedded systems for imaging, radar, modular computing, and edge computing, power regulator module design is a major determinant of system performance as it must ensure power integrity and signal integrity. These systems are Read Article

Continuous Integration and Deployment in ECAD

Continuous Integration and Deployment in ECAD Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment have become widely adopted practices within the software world. The concept of Continuous Integration and Deployment don’t need to be limited to just software - they can be extended into the ECAD world as well. In this article we will address both concepts and how they can be leveraged in ECAD tools. Continuous Deployment Designers will frequently make changes to their code and check it into the Read Article

Implications of Embedded Software Everywhere

Embedded Software Is Everywhere: Potential Implications The amount of smart, connected products is increasing faster than ever. It was only very recently that IoT technology jumped from our phones and computers to our refrigerators, our lighting systems, and our vacuum cleaners. It's starting to seem like nothing is excluded from this extensive digital overhaul. In 2016, the smart home market was worth about $24 billion. By 2022, it's expected to reach $53 billion. Smart homes and robots are no longer Read Article

Datasheet Reliability with Ben Jordan

Datasheet Reliability with Ben Jordan In this OnTrack episode Judy Warner and Ben Jordan discuss about Datasheet Reliability. Can you trust them? And what does “Gilded” mean? This & more about verifying app notes. Watch the full episode. Read Article

Flattening Your Workflow: A Guide to “Flat” Style Project Management

Flattening Your Workflow: A Guide to “Flat” Style Project Management As flat organizations become more popular so do the methods and processes that come along with them. This blog discusses not the flat organizational structure itself but how a flat organization functions within the project management arena. The principles of project management learned from a flat organization can be adopted in the flattest companies to the most hierarchically structured organizations. Being “flat” is hip but why should I do it Read Article

Tips for High Frequency PCB Design in Embedded Systems

Tips for High Frequency PCB Design in Embedded Systems Today's high-speed embedded systems incorporate diverse functionality, components, digital interfaces, and of course, wireless/RF signaling. If you're designing embedded systems with any level of computing power that also includes an analog front end, then you have multiple mixed-signal design challenges to overcome. Whether it's a simple sub-1 GHz radio connection, Wifi/BLE, or multi-gigabit Ethernet, embedded systems need some way to interface Read Article

What You Need to Know About Choosing Embedded Modems for IoT

What You Need to Know About Choosing Embedded Modems for IoT IoT enables you to control devices over the internet. If you grew up in an era where the Internet existed without Google, you may be as amazed as I am to see how far technology has evolved. It would have been beyond my wildest imagination to think about machines conversing intelligently on the Internet without much human intervention. Back when I was introduced to the online world, it took several minutes to simply load a single page of sports Read Article

Layout Guidelines for Embedded Power Supplies

Layout Guidelines for Embedded Power Supplies I don’t get out to raucous parties as much as did in my 20’s. The thought of yelling over other people just to have a conversation is about as enticing as getting a tooth pulled. Crosstalk doesn’t just kill the mood at a party, it can ruin the functionality of electronic systems. Most PCB designers worry more about crosstalk between signals traces, but your power supply and power components can have an even greater impact. Thankfully, some simple Read Article

Analog Meets Digital: How Converters Can Make or Break Signal Performance

Analog Meets Digital: How Converters Can Make or Break Signal Performance We are born into a world of purely analog signals. The sound of a stream running through a mountain meadow, the brown color of dirt, that screaming baby next to you; all of these ‘signals’ are of an analog nature. Yet, we grow up and seem to spend most of our time attempting to turn these signals into a reproducible ‘digital’ copy so we can perceive them through a digital device. Analog and digital signal performance is necessary to keep in mind Read Article

Embedded System Implementation and Testing Before Commission

Embedded System Implementation and Testing Before Commission Embedded systems and PCBs in these systems need to be thoroughly tested before deployment. Read Article

Design Medical Devices for Internet of Things and Your Hardware Capabilities

Design Medical Devices for Internet of Things and Your Hardware Capabilities It seems like everyone I know has a smartwatch or fitness tracker. I gave mine to my mother when I felt like it was making me act weird (I sometimes put my laundry away one item at a time instead of using a laundry basket to get those extra step counts). There are days when I still covet graphs informing me of my status sleeping, walking, and eating. Fitness trackers barely scratch the surface of capabilities for medical IoT, though. Medical IoT Read Article

Putting Constraints to Work for You in Your Circuit Routing Software

Putting Constraints to Work for You in Your Circuit Routing Software When I was a kid, my parents had a 1955 Oldsmobile Super 88 Holiday. What a great car. As an eight year old though, the main thing that stood out to me was that it had a decorative rope that stretched horizontally across the back of the front seat. Sitting in the back with my brother one day, we informed our parents that with the fancy rope in place we no longer needed to use our seat belts. I saw my dad wink to my mom, and then at a very slow Read Article