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DRCs in PCB Design: How They Can Save Your Design from Sinking DRCs in PCB Design: How They Can Save Your Design from Sinking For many years I owned a small boat which gave me hours of fun on the water, but there are a few critical rules that have to be obeyed. One of those rules is that you MUST install the drain plug before putting your boat in the water. It’s a lot cheaper to go for a swim intentionally, rather than unexpectedly in order to retrieve your new boat. Everyone knows that rules are there for our protection. But sometimes, whether accidentally or on Read Article
Considerations for Designing a High Voltage PCB Considerations for Designing a High Voltage PCB I used to think that high voltage applications were only used in power engineering. Since I had no desire to work at a power plant or transformer station, I was safe from having to learn high voltage PCB design considerations. Alas, my interest in space applications proved me wrong and forced me to confront my laziness. It turns out high voltage applications show up in almost every industry, from manufacturing and power plants to medical and Read Article
Internet of Things Hardware Platforms Are Becoming Flexible IoT Hardware Boards and Platforms Are Becoming Flexible Do you remember all the fads and obsessions you had when you were a kid? When I was younger everyone was going crazy for Pokemon and whatever electronic gadgets they could get their hands on. These two crazes eventually combined into one ultimate trend, the Tamagotchi. It was a huge hit, building on the portable electronic fever and children’s love of tiny unrealistic animals. Recently two fads in the PCB world have combined, flexible electronics Read Article
Designing Controller PCBs Designing General PCB Controller for your Circuit Board Layout I always thought that to be successful you need to emulate the success of others. When I started my career, there weren’t any single board computers like Raspberry Pi, and no one took Arduino seriously for industrial applications. You can imagine how bad it was the first time I did maintenance on a general purpose controller that I designed. It was a fire alarm controller that had over 50 wires manually screwed onto it. I had to replace a faulty Read Article
PCB Circuit Products: Should You Design for Repair? PCB Circuit Products: Should You Design for Repairing? As an engineer, I always feel like it’s a personal failing when I have to call someone else in to fix my stuff. Whether it’s electronics or the occasional bit of haphazard woodwork, I can’t ask for help until I’ve tried to sort it out. Plumbing, however, is another story. Then I call for help immediately. The problem with the impulse to fix your own stuff is that a lot of companies don’t actually want you to. I can’t count the number of times Read Article
Fashionable and Functional Wearable Technology for Senior Citizens Senior Citizens Wearable Technologies that are Fashionable and Functional Have you checked the year on your smartwatch recently? It’s the year 2017 and while I see a lot of young people walking around with wearable technology for elderly, I don’t see many of that age bracket with them. That represents an opportunity as the US population is aging and many more people will enter the elderly demographic in the next several years. Older adults need wearables for different reasons than their younger compatriots. They’re Read Article
What Causes Ringing on a PCB and How to Solve It PCB Ringing: What Causes and How to Reduce Ringing In Circuit Boards Digital circuits are particularly sensitive to ringing effects. Editorial credit: Dikiiy / Shutterstock.com In my very first electrical engineering lab, we built a printed circuit to debounce the output of a switch. I remember seeing the original jumpy signal and then the debounced output on the screen of an oscilloscope. I felt a profound sense of unease that something so innocuous in our lives could be so...messy. It’s a good thing that my Read Article
How Smart Technology Eases Parkinson's Disease How Smart Tech Electronics Is Used for Combat Against Parkinson's Disease This past week I went home to Toronto to visit my parents. My grandfather, who is 87-years-old was recently diagnosed with old age dementia and had his driver’s license taken away. While my family was relieved to have him off the road, he was devastated by the loss of independence. That, however, changed one day when I went to pick him up from his house. I arrived to find the house empty, but his car was still in his driveway. It turns out that Read Article
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
How Component Placement and Routing Helps Protect Your PCB from ESD How Component Placement and Routing Helps Protect Your PCB from ESD I organize certain things with a reportedly alarming neuroticism. In grad school, there was a line of demarcation between the edge of my side of the desk and the pile of sample containers and papers that began on my neighbor’s side. This same tendency, though annoying to deskmates and boyfriends, especially since it doesn’t extend to bathrooms, makes me an ace at optimizing component placement on PCBs. Not only does this keep things neat, it also Read Article
The Correct PCB Routing and PCB Layout to Help Protect Your Board From ESD The Correct PCB Routing and PCB Layout to Help Protect Your Board From ESD When I started running, I went with a friend who had finished several ultramarathons. She would run miles from her house, do a short loop with me, and then carry on without me. When I got faster, instead of getting to go home sooner, she made our loop longer. She was tricky about it, too. She always planned a route where it would be boring for me to turn around early, or on new trails so I’d get lost trying to take a “shortcut” back. As an urban Read Article
Requirements and Implications of ASPICE Auto Software Developer Certification Auto Software Developers: ASPICE Certification and What it Means to You Software developer certification is necessary to guarantee functional safety and quality software products in the automotive industry. The ASPICE auto software developer certifications tell customers if a developer’s products work to specification, if the developer is able to provide support for its products, and how efficiently the developer operates. In college, a few friends and I got our first taste of embedded systems programming during our Read Article
High-Speed PCB Design Principles: Keep Traces Short and Direct High-Speed PCB Design Principles: Keep Traces Short and Direct Your signals travel at the speed of light, and so does their EMI. As you know, high-speed PCB design can often have issues with EMI. This EMI risk can come from long traces that form transmitting or receiving antennas. Longer traces also cover more distance, which increases the chances that sensitive circuits are affected along the way. Using short traces that take direct paths will help reduce EMI risk from both antennas and trace proximity. I Read Article
SpaceX to Launch Modular Falcon Rocket with Reused Engines SpaceX to Launch Modular Falcon Rocket with Reused Engines Modular, reusable design is a design methodology that demands serious consideration. SpaceX have put the associated advantages to work with their Falcon family of spacecraft. The Falcon Heavy long-range heavy payload rocket, their latest effort, is built from existing Falcon models. Moreover, the Falcon rockets are engineered to land in a controlled manner, so that they can be reused for future missions. In their next mission, SpaceX will launch Read Article
Embedded Active Components Are Enabling Independent Smartwatches with Smartphone Capabilities Embedded Active Components Are Enabling Independent Smartwatches with Smartphone Capabilities The innovation that most clearly signals the potential of the smartwatch is the LG Watch Sport’s ability to make phone calls and receive data without needing to be near enough to an anchor smartphone to connect. This turns the question “why would I need a smartwatch when I have a smartphone?” on its head. How about: “why would I need a smartphone when I have a smartwatch?” Read on to find out more! I live in one of the more tech-savvy cities in Read Article
How Proper PCB Layout Can Help You Avoid Adding Heat Sinks to Your Design How Proper PCB Layout Can Help You Avoid Adding Heat Sinks to Your Design Having to recall products, like faulty computer monitors, is a financial burden that can be avoided How does PCB Layout help to Avoid Adding Heat Sinks to Your Design? Everyone knows that excessive heat can kill components or drive them out of spec, but sometimes it isn’t obvious when heat will be a problem. Heat mitigation issues may appear over time, like a solder joint that fractures due to thermal expansion and contraction over numerous heat Read Article
Advances in Printed Circuit Board Design: Fitbit Takes Fitness from Clunky to Cool Advances in Printed Circuit Board Design: Fitbit Takes Fitness from Clunky to Cool When Fitbit was first developed neither of its creators had PCB design or manufacturing experience, and they immediately ran into major problems. They ultimately wanted a product that comes in a small package, which meant that proper PCB layout was critical for success. For his birthday, my nephew got a Fitbit. To my astonishment, instead of rolling his eyes and muttering a thank you to the floor, he held it above his head and started jumping Read Article