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high speed pcb design guidelines High Speed PCB Design Guidelines: An Overview for Getting Started One of the most common questions I receive from new designers and new hardware developers relates to the differences between high-speed digital designs and any other circuit board. Everyone naturally assumes the clock frequency defines the limit where we consider a design to be operating at high speed, but this is not the whole story. High speed designs can be identified by the presence of two common characteristics: The presence of standardized Read Article
Virtual Prototyping Versus Traditional Product Development Methods Virtual Prototyping Versus Traditional Product Development Methods Best-in-Class companies who utilize simulation and virtual prototyping are notably outperforming their peers who continue to use more traditional methods of product development. By discussing the three primary methods used to predict product performance (physical prototyping, manual calculation, and virtual prototyping software) this article demonstrates how simulation software is the superior choice for successfully addressing the increasingly Read Article
How to Optimize Your Design for Product Serviceability How to Optimize Your Design for Product Serviceability Have you ever gone into a situation thinking that you’re totally prepared, only to come out of it feeling like you are totally clueless? Unfortunately, I have experienced this more times than I would like to recount. This was especially the case when I started designing products for serviceability or design for repair. There are many factors to consider before you decide whether your product should be designed for serviceability, and you should Read Article
The SpaceX Hyperloop Pod Competition: Growing the Next Generation of Electronics Designers The SpaceX Hyperloop Pod Competition: Growing the Next Generation of Electronics Designers In 2013, when Elon Musk unveiled the concept of the Hyperloop as a future form of transportation, he immediately challenged private industry and universities from around the world to develop the technology and pods. (After all, he has his hands full these days!) Since that time, SpaceX has hosted two Hyperloop pod competitions consisting of university teams at their headquarters in Torrance, CA. These events afford three lucky teams the chance to Read Article
PCB Design Guidelines for Designing Solar Powered Embedded Systems PCB Design Guidelines for Designing Solar Powered Embedded Systems Have you ever gone on a vacation and felt like you needed another one immediately after? I sure do, my last beach holiday was completely ruined by constant thunderstorms. Unpredictable weather always is always a dilemma when I’m planning ahead for my next vacation, especially if it involves outdoor activities. I take the same cautious approach when I’m designing solar-powered embedded systems intended for outdoor applications. It is a totally Read Article
How to Find the Best PCB Layout Help for Your Specific Design Questions How to Find the Best PCB Layout Help for Your Specific Design Questions Have you ever heard stories about the gamblers in the Wild West pulling an ace out of their sleeve in order to cash in with the winning hand? Even though it’s not the most moral example I’ve ever used, the principle here is still a good one. Always make sure that you have something in your pocket that you can draw from when you need it. And this is just as important for us as designers as it is in everyday life. At some point, everyone needs help Read Article
High Voltage PCB Design for Arc Prevention: How to Manage Pads and Traces High Voltage PCB Design for Arc Prevention: How to Manage Pads and Traces Growing up, I’d work obsessively on jigsaw puzzles with my grandmother. Like, skipping dinner obsessively. She was a grandmaster of puzzles; you only got to look at the picture once when you took the pieces out. If you needed more than your memory and pattern recognition, that was cheating. Instead of facing the shame of looking at the box, I learned to focus on the shapes of the pieces, and how each fit with its neighbors. That way, not knowing Read Article
How to Reduce Power Consumption in Embedded Systems With Deep Sleep Mode with SRAM How to Reduce Power Consumption in Embedded Systems With Deep Sleep SRAM Editorial credit: DFree / Shutterstock.com One of my favorite musical groups is the French DJ duo Daft Punk. One of the quirks of Daft Punk is that they pretend to be robots and perform all their shows in awesome robot costumes. In 2013 they released their album Random Access Memories, or RAM, to play on the robotic theme. However, they failed to specify exactly which kind of RAM. You and I know that in the world of embedded systems the type of Read Article
3D PCB Design: Why You Need It and How It Will Help You 3D PCB Design: Why You Need It and How It Will Help You The other day I watched as a young father was entertaining his one-year old son on his shoulders. Securely held by his dad, the boy would constantly move from side trying to get different views of his father. In an overload of cuteness, he would first look at his dad over the left side of his face, then play with his hair, move over to the right side, then go back to where he started from. I thoroughly enjoyed watching this precious moment, but Read Article
Fiducial Marker Placements and PCB fiducial size Are Fiducial Marker Placements on PCBs Still Necessary with Modern Manufacturing Capabilities? In PCB design, a fiducial marker is a rounded shape of copper that acts as a reference point for pick and place assembly machines. Fiducial PCB markers help machines recognize the orientation of the PCB as it passes through SMT. Based on the PCB orientation and the prior orientation of components on reels, the machine can be programmed to rotate components by specific amounts to ensure accurate placement on their land patterns. Placement of Read Article
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