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29:51 Efficient Polygon Practices Creating, deleting, and modifying the polygon pours on your board is something you do every day, but are you doing Watch Video
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
Integrate Your ECAD Tools with Mechanical Design Software Integrate Your ECAD Tools with Mechanical Design Software Communication between ECAD and MCAD teams can be like a game of telephone Ever play a game of telephone as a child? Once the message gets back to the sender, successive miscommunication along the way causes the original message and idea to be completely modified. This is the same thing that happens when mechanical and electrical design teams are siloed into different groups. Collaboration breaks down and communication becomes difficult. The Read Article
ECAD/MCAD Co-design for PCB Manufacturing with 3D Printing ECAD/MCAD Co-design for PCB Manufacturing with 3D Printing It is ironic that PCB design has helped drive the adoption of new technology in all industries, including manufacturing automation, yet PCB manufacturing processes themselves have not seen radical innovation for many decades. Some innovative companies are looking to change this and are driving PCB manufacturing into Industry 4.0. 3D printing is already driving new manufacturing methodologies in every industry, such as “lights out” and digital Read Article
Growth and the PCB Design Learning Zone Growth and the PCB Design Learning Zone The phone rang at my desk. Tracy was on the other end. It had been several weeks since she had surgery for her implant. I could tell from the tone of her voice that she had exciting news. “Do you think you might be able to get an afternoon off?”, she asked. “Sure, how come what’s up?” I responded. “Well, it’s been 5 weeks since my surgery, and everything is completely healed up. I wanted to ask.” She hesitated for a moment, “Wanted to know if you Read Article
High-Quality, Reviewable PCB Component Libraries Mastering PCB Design: Best Practices for Developing Accurate and Reliable Component Libraries Over many years, I have seen many elaborate PCB Library systems. The best ones were not based on the size, but rather on the quality of the information. The old axiom is “not Quantity but rather Quality.” I recently sat with a VP of Engineering, and I asked what he thought of his PCB Library. He thought for a moment and said, “I believe it is pretty good.” I asked my question another way, “But do you know?” There is a difference. If I tell you Read Article
Smart Architecture for Successful PCB Component Libraries Smart Architecture for Successful PCB Component Libraries Organizing is what you do before you do something so that when you do it, it is not all mixed up. - A. A. Milne Architecture is the specific structure that governs our collected data. It determines how we store, arrange, and utilize the data in the system. In a way, the architecture of your PCB library is like the architecture of a building. You need to have it completed before you build your library so you don’t wind up with a virtual Hotel Del Read Article
In-House Manufacturing for Electronics Projects In-House Manufacturing for Electronics Projects The news media like to embellish the advances and proliferation of affordable 3D printers, sometimes calling them ‘a factory in your home’. While this concept of being able to avoid buying products at a store and building them at home sounds ideal, I personally don’t believe we’re anywhere near it being a reality. I purchased my first 3D Printer in 2012, built my first CNC router in 2007 and purchased my first CO2 laser cutter in 2014, so I have Read Article
EIPC: A European Community of PCB Technology Professionals EIPC: A European Community of PCB Technology Professionals and Manufacturers In mid-June, I had the great pleasure of attending my first EIPC Conference in Leoben, Austria (pictured above). EIPC (European Institute for the PCB Community) is an organization that has been around for over 50 years and serves the European Electronics Industry and supply chain while maintaining activities that involve the global industry. In this article, I speak with Tarja Rapala, the technical director for EIPC to discuss the purpose Read Article
Engineers Embrace Failure on the Way to Success Engineers Embrace Failure on the Way to Success I'm sure you have worked on a project where you have spent days or weeks trying to make a solution work and at the end wish you had changed directions. I'm a big fan of the 'Fail early, fail fast' concept from software engineering, but I took many years to apply it consistently to electronic design. Some professional environments discourage failure, and unfortunately, many educational settings only offer the option of right or wrong. Changing Read Article
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