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The Pros and Cons of Different LPWAN Networks for Your IoT Application The Pros and Cons of Different LPWAN Networks for Your IoT Application Right now, IoT is like a gladiator battle in the coliseum of market forces and public opinion. There are constant rankings of what protocol or stack to use, which IoT products are useful ( or not), and who’s going to win each element of the burgeoning IoT ecosystem. The best part is that each of these little battles is also a decision that you must face or plan for in your next IoT design. Awesome, right? Lucky for you, I’ve already considered Read Article
Design Release Management and Communicating Intent Design Release Management and Communicating Intent We know that designing and releasing a product involves a multidisciplinary chain of command. Prior to its release, the ECAD side often goes through a series of adaptations to capture the incremental changes to the design. During this stage, the ECAD data is a moving target, which can impede the flow of communication to invested parties. Failure to effectively communicate these changes can have significant consequences on the design release Read Article
How to Design Micro SD Power Circuits Without Destabilizing the On-Board Voltage Supply How to Design Stable Micro SD Card Power Circuits in PCB Layouts PCB designers often have the tough job of balancing perfection in design and keeping costs down. For PCB designs dealing with storage medias, like micro SD, neglecting simple terms like “hot insertion” or “inrush current” can result in a prototype that imperfect and costly. My philosophy is to keep my hardware designs simple. I am quick to discard any components that seem superficial in my design. Unfortunately, I learned the hard way that Read Article
Migration Guide Making the Switch from PADS to Altium Designer Migration Guide Making the Switch from PADS to Altium Designer THE ALTIUM DESIGNER PHILOSOPHY At the core of Altium Designer® is one central theme - a unified approach to PCB design software. You’ll find that our tool differs from many conventional alternatives in its approach to design. Our workflow unifies all of the separate yet connected elements required to successfully complete a PCB design. As an existing PADS user, you are likely used to having multiple tools and interfaces for each stage of your Read Article
PCB Design Guidelines for High-Frequency Circuits in Car Radar & 5G Applications PCB Design Guidelines for High-Frequency Circuits in Car Radar & 5G Applications One of the latest evolutions in next generation of 5G PCB design guidelines is being driven by two emerging technologies, 5G networks and advanced driver assistance system (ADAS) enabled cars. Both of these technologies use something long feared by PCB designers, the extremely high-frequency (EHF) band. Read on and prepare your boards for a high-frequency future. This morning I saw a very strange sight while walking down my street. A long Read Article
Why Would Anyone Migrate from Xpedition Enterprise to Altium Designer? Why Would Anyone Migrate from Mentor Xpedition Enterprise to Altium Designer? Many users of Xpedition Enterprise didn’t choose it: it was inherited in an acquisition or packaged in a bundle with other products. Now they find they have expensive support costs and many features that they never use. Plus, the tool UI are old and tired, making design more time consuming than it should be. Moving to Altium Designer® gives you a modern, efficient and unified UI, fast and efficient routing, and superior data management. A few Read Article
Which IoT Protocol Is Best Suited to Your Design Requirements Which IoT Communication Protocols Are Best Suited to Your Design Requirements For IoT products, the interoperability question depends on the communications protocol you use, since most products can’t communicate with systems using a different protocol. The protocol you choose will also affect your hardware. For example, transmission distance will determine your available IoT modules, power requirements, and shape the network configuration for your system. There are a huge number of protocols to choose from. New versions Read Article
FIRST Robotics Competition Makes STEM Students into Superstars FIRST Robotics Competition Makes STEM Students into Superstars Over 25 years ago, FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) founder and prolific inventor, Dean Kamen, envisioned a high school robotics competition that rivaled the energy and excitement of the Super Bowl. An event that would turn science students into superstars and infect them with an unshakeable passion for STEM activities and careers. Chris Jennings has an infectious enthusiasm for the FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC), as well as a rich history with Read Article
PCB Designer Cherie Litson: Accomplished BSEE and Master CID Instructor PCB Designer Cherie Litson: Accomplished BSEE and Master CID Instructor Cherie Litson is an accomplished BSEE and Master Instructor for CID and CID+ training at Eptac. She has enjoyed a long career as a PCB design professional and now spends her days training and certifying other designers. Here she shares how she became a designer, her thoughts on differences between men and women in business approach, and what advice she would offer to others thinking about a PCB design profession. Warner: Cherie, can you tell us Read Article
How Low Power Wide Area Networks Are Enabling IoT Systems How Low Power Wide Area Networks Are Enabling IoT Systems LPWANs can enable something like a “smart” city. What do civil engineers love, but electrical engineers hate? Concrete. This thing that makes up the base of our physical world often confounds the electrical signals that are the foundation of our digital world. Parking decks, malls, and underground structures all suffer from bad signal coverage. Without some kind of window or repeater, you’ll rarely get good coverage in these areas. That’s Read Article
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