Newsletters

5 Noteworthy Women in PCB Design

5 Noteworthy Women in PCB Design Women in technology is a hot topic, especially how to get more women involved in technology-related fields. What I find most interesting about this subject is what motivates people to pursue a career in technology in the first place. In general, there are a lot of men in this field and, as a woman in tech myself, I think attracting new people to the industry is always positive. I encourage people to pursue careers in technology, no matter their Read Article

PCBs from Space to Snow Plowing OnTrack Newsletter February 2018

PCBs from Space to Snow Plowing OnTrack Newsletter February 2018 On Track Newsletter February 2018 VOL. 1 No 11 Welcome to the February edition of the Altium^® On Track Newsletter. There is justifiable concern in our industry about where the next generation of PCB designers will come from. Estimates show that in approximately ten years, 50% of currently working PCB designers will be retiring—which is an alarming statistic! Since joining Altium exactly one year ago, I have seen overwhelming evidence from around Read Article

Left Hand Robotics Autonomous Snowbot

Left Hand Robotics Autonomous Snowbot Judy Warner: Shane, so nice to meet you. Before we get started, I just had to ask what the story is behind your unique name? Shane Zinner: In this area, there was an American Indian Chief Niwot or Left Hand (-ed) (c. 1825–1864) who was a tribal leader of the Southern Arapaho people and played an important part in the history of Colorado. Many 'Left Hand' things, such as Left Hand Canyon, Left Hand Brewery, and the town of Niwot, Colorado were Read Article

James MacKinnon’s Career Path to NASA

James MacKinnon’s Career Path to NASA Judy Warner: James, please share a little bit about your academic background and how you learned to design PCBs. James MacKinnon: In my junior and senior year at the University of Florida I had some classes where we were required to do some fairly simple PCB design. Basically, if you don't pass those classes, then you don't graduate. And since it's an EE-type class, they want you to create a PCB. They were simple circuits for junior design Read Article

Modern DFM, Princeton University, and Uniquely Shaped PCB Design OnTrack Newsletter January 2018

Modern DFM, Princeton University, and Uniquely Shaped PCB Design OnTrack Newsletter January 2018 On Track Newsletter VOL. 1 No 8 Happy New Year and welcome to the January edition of the Altium^® On Track Newsletter! In Designer Spotlight, we bring you a fresh perspective on DFM and prototyping with industry veteran Dirk Stans, owner of Belgium-based PCB manufacturer Eurocircuits. In Next Gen Innovators, we give you a glimpse under the hood of another impressive Formula SAE contender, Princeton University’s Racing Electric team. In the On Read Article

9:06 What are Embedded Passives/Actives and how to use them? In this Episode, John Magyar is talking about Embedded Components and the Differences between SMT Passive, SMT Active, Embedded Passive and Embedded Active. Learn more about Embedded Components and how to use them. Please leave your comment and share this video with fellow Engineers. See All OnTrack Newsletters here. Watch Video

Expert Dirk Stans Bridging Gaps in PCB Manufacturing

Expert Dirk Stans Bridging Gaps in PCB Manufacturing Judy Warner: Dirk, please give us a brief overview of your career path and history in the electronics industry. Dirk Stans: As an electronics engineer, I started my career at DISC which became Barco Graphics just one year after I joined the company. From day one I was active in the sales of Computer Aided Manufacturing (CAM) systems for the PCB industry in Europe. It was there that I gained insight into the evolution of the European and global Read Article

6:17 IPC Standards for Your PCB Design - OnTrack Watch Video

Drones, Robots and Thermal Management: OnTrack Newsletter December 2017

Drones, Robots and Thermal Management: OnTrack Newsletter December 2017 On Track Newsletter December 2017 VOL. 1 No 9 Welcome to the December issue of Altium Designer’s On Track Newsletter. In celebration of our far reaching global community, we are shining the spotlight on an impressive PCB designer from Norway this month. Tor-Anders Lunder designs boards for a startup company called Staaker which makes a tracking drone with a camera mount for sports enthusiasts. In Maker Space, we highlight a group of Brazilian 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

Meet PCB Designer Tor-Anders Lunder and the Self-tracking Drone He Helped Develop at Staaker

Meet PCB Designer Tor-Anders Lunder and the Self-tracking Drone He Helped Develop at Staaker Judy Warner: Tor-Anders, will you please share a little bit about your journey to becoming a PCB and how you ended up at Staaker? Tor-Anders Lunder: Sure. After my master’s degree at Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in Trondheim I had already been doing some projects involving PCB design and was curious about the whole process from design to assembly, and wanted to learn more in this Read Article

17:51 Creating Layer Numbers and Stacking Stripes in Altium Designer Click to download the PCB Library files. Watch to see exactly how you can create layer numbers and stacking stripes in Altium Designer, in this episode of OnTrack with Altium. In this Episode, Chris Carlson is demonstrating how to create Layer Numbers and Stacking Stripes in Altium Designer and answering questions from several users from another recent episode. We hope this answers your questions and please feel free to connect and let us know Watch Video

6:46 Make your Product Fit that Unusual Shape John Magyar, an expert in complex PCBs, highlights how new Challenges in the Electronics Industry dictate new ways of designing PCBs. Learn more about efficient PCB design tools at: https://www.altium.com See All OnTrack Newsletters here. Watch Video

OnTrack Newsletter November 2017

OnTrack Newsletter November 2017 On Track Newsletter November 2017 VOL. 1 No 8 Welcome to the November edition of Altium’s On Track Newsletter. This month in Rock Stars and Superheroes we feature a who presented a talk at AltiumLive 2017: ANNUAL PCB DESIGN SUMMIT in San Diego. Not only is he a very talented , he is a leader and advocate for regional Altium^® User Groups and shares how to start and build your own. In Space you’ll meet an impressive young man who decided to learn Read Article

12:00 Thermal Management Part 3: PCB Heat Transfer In this episode, Chris Carlson shows how to calculate PCB Heat Transfer. An expert in PCB design, Chris is a wealth of information for the novice and experts in PCB design. Get the most effective information on PCB design and Electronic Design Automation. If you find this video interesting, please like and share with your fellow PCB designers or let us know if you have any questions in the comments. Links to the Datasheets: Voltage Regulator Watch Video

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

Randy Clemmons, PCB Designer at Ingenu, Leads San Diego Altium User Group

Randy Clemmons, PCB Designer at Ingenu, Leads San Diego Altium User Group Judy Warner: Could you tell us briefly about your career path and where you work now? Randy Clemmons: I'm currently working at Ingenu where we are developing Internet of Things (IoT) networks and end point applications. Altium Designer^® is our tool of choice. I started my electronics career at age 19 after volunteering for the U.S. Navy's advanced electronic program. After 10 years of service in the Navy I went to work for 1 year at Litton Read Article