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Your PCB Bill of Materials Report Can Be So Much More Than a Simple Statement Your PCB Bill of Materials Report Can Be So Much More Than a Simple Statement I just finished going through my bank balances and I am very grateful for the online utilities that my bank provides. It used to be that you could only get an account statement in the mail from your bank that you had to reconcile with your checkbook. Today’s online banking systems are far superior with different utilities to help you track and organize your finances. With these tools you can move money around, create and monitor budgets, as do Read Article
Backroads or Highway: Managing PCB Power Distribution with a PDN Analyzer Backroads or Highway: Managing PCB Power Distribution with a PDN Analyzer Who hasn’t been caught daydreaming out the window, overlooking the lines of cars on the freeway at a standstill, wondering about easier or more effective ways of getting to your job on time? And even then, sometimes the alternate routes aren’t always the fastest—there could be road construction, or an event going on which makes you have to re-route even more. At that point, most tend to throw all hopes for getting to work on time out the window Read Article
No Icebergs Here, Captain! Board Rule Checking for Bill of Materials Management No Icebergs Here, Captain! Board Rule Checking for Bill of Materials Management You know the story of RMS Titanic and how just before midnight on April 14th, 1912, it struck an iceberg in the Atlantic Ocean and sank. What you may not know though is how one small item may have saved the ship from sinking. During the inquiry, one of the surviving crew members who was a lookout reported that they did not have a pair of binoculars to use in the crow’s nest. When asked if having the binoculars would have made a difference or not Read Article
Don’t Get Caught Sleeping: Resolve PCB Power Distribution Problems Don’t Get Caught Sleeping: Resolve Symptoms of Bad PCB Power Distribution in Networks and Designs I’ve got a heating problem at the moment—after 30 years of service to the various owners of this house, my furnace is finally throwing in the towel and no longer providing heat. Unfortunately, this has come at a, let’s say, inopportune time with it hovering just under freezing lately, and with nights being even more frigid. We installed an ad hoc heating system comprised of the gas fireplace and several space heaters; however, this is not a long Read Article
Don't Stay in the Tower: BOM System Communication and Component Pricing Costs Don't Stay in the Tower: BOM System Communication and Component Pricing Costs Once upon a time, way back in the dark ages of the 20th century, there were three kingdoms: design, manufacturing, and purchasing. The royal design engineer’s process would look like this: they’d design the product, take their carriage to the manufacturing department kingdom where the designer would submit the design quickly and leave, trying to minimize as much chatter and cross communication as possible. The manufacturing engineers who receive Read Article
Cross-Probing Electronic Components in PCB BOM Software Cross-Probing Electronic Components in PCB BOM Software with a 1968 Bel Air I have a friend who once bought a 1968 Bel Air that was in immaculate condition inside and out. There was one problem though: the engine ran really rough. Since my friend was pretty good at working on cars, he bought it for a very low price thinking that he could simply tune it up. It didn’t work though, and my friend came to realize why this beautiful car had come with such a cheap price tag. Then he took a closer look under the hood and was Read Article
Old Wisdom: Best Schematic Software Simplifies Schematic to PCB Synchronizing Old School Wisdom: Best Schematic Software Simplifies Schematic to PCB Synchronizing You’ve heard it said: “there’s no school like the old school.” Is that always true though? When I was a kid my “old school” taught me to type on a typewriter, not a word processor. If I was using that old school typewriter today, it would take me significantly longer to write this article. I wouldn’t have access to spell checking or any of the other helpful utilities that I’ve become accustomed to. I wouldn’t be able to easily backspace and re Read Article
pcb layout checklist before manufacturing Your PCB Layout Checklist: What’s The Difference Between DRCs & MRCs? When you're working your way through a complex PCB layout, there is a large number of important design features to keep track of. Will it be high speed? What about the vias and solder mask? Your PCB layout can be quite complex, and your layout will have to conform to multiple design guidelines to ensure it will function properly once manufactured. Your layout will have to go through multiple design rule checks (DRCs) to spot electrical errors and Read Article
Electronic Parts Obsolescence Management, It's Your Move Electronic Parts Obsolescence Management, It's Your Move I started playing chess a bit more seriously a few years ago and have since become quite capable of planning out moves several turns in advance with an accurate prediction of how my opponent will react to them. I wouldn’t even consider competitive with my chess skills, but there are professionals who can predict moves and match outcomes between 60 and 100 moves in the future. While it’s a strong practice to get into, being able to predict moves Read Article
The Wheel Keeps Turning: Advanced Bill of Materials for PCB Design The Wheel Keeps Turning: Advanced Bill of Materials for PCB Design At a young age, my grandfather was trained in the repair and construction of wooden wheels, which was a necessary skill on the rural farm where he was raised. When modern times finally found Eastern Missouri, that highly skilled confluence of woodworking and blacksmithing was totally replaced by modern technology, save for the occasional historical re-creation. The change had been inevitable, so my grandfather proactively added machining Read Article
IoT Security Vulnerabilities and Buffer Overflow Internet of Things Security Vulnerabilities: It's All About That Buffer Overflow I follow a bunch of animal and nature publications, and recently the phrase ‘zombie ants,’ kept popping up in my feed. I decided to do a little digging and discovered that there’s a type of fungi - Ophiocordyceps - whose life cycle involves infecting ants that walk across its spores with fungal cells that infiltrate the ant’s central nervous system and essentially take over the ant. Once they have the ant "under its control", the fungus-infected Read Article
Finding the Perfect World for Multilayer PCB Design Finding the Perfect World for Multilayer PCB Design and Fabrication I have always been a huge Clint Eastwood fan. Dirty Harry always seemed to be a little too quick on the draw for an urban twentieth-century environment, but The Man with No Name—he was perfect for the ruggedness and lawlessness of his time. Obviously, I always rooted for him to beat up the bully, outdraw the outlaw, or get the girl, but the most intriguing thing was that he was usually quick to make a decision. Of course, the results varied Read Article
Is Cloud Data Storage a Gold Rush for Remote Access to BOMs in PCB Design? Is Cloud Data Storage a Gold Rush for Remote Access to BOMs in PCB Design? Imagine yourself as a dusty miner, fresh to the erratic outlands of the west in the 19th century. You tell yourself you’re going to make it rich, and that there’s gold in the hills, the rivers—everywhere. Now, obviously the trip has been heralding and there isn’t any particularly effective, high-speed transportation available, so you won’t be able to take whatever gold you find very easily, or very quickly to wherever you want to go. There might Read Article
Sayonara Input Errors: PCB Component Management Software and Tool Commonality Sayonara Input Errors: PCB Component Management Software and Tool Commonality I will confess that I can be just a little OCD, but my son has me beat. One year I installed some CO2 detectors in my house that ended up being crooked. It wasn’t worth the effort to re-install them so I left them as they were. While I was on vacation my son found the crooked detectors, took a picture of them, and texted the picture to me demanding to know why I would allow this. If his shower had the misaligned tile that you see in the picture Read Article
Finishing Strong with PCB Drawing Software and Manufacturing Data Files Finishing Strong with PCB Drawing Software and Manufacturing Data Files I have a great admiration for people who run. Since I am not a runner myself I can’t necessarily identify with their desire to run, but I can sure appreciate their determination. I find the runner’s tenacity to finish a long, grueling race a very motivational quality; even when they are running on empty, you will see that look of resolve on their faces as they push hard to “finish strong.” We as printed circuit board designers need to “finish Read Article
Instructions Are Easy When You Write Them: The PCB Assembly Drawing Instructions Are Easy When You Write Them: The PCB Assembly Drawing learn about the basics of assembly drawing. 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