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

Warner: What​ ​is​ ​your​ ​favorite​ ​and​ ​least​ ​favorite​ ​part​ ​of​ ​designing​ ​PCBs?

Lunder: My favorite part of PCB design is the art of place and route. I look at it as a complex game of tetris, where all the electrical design rules must be taken into account. This is where I turn up the music, since much of the critical brain work has been done in the schematic layout. My least favorite part of PCB design has been the documentation. However, preparing templates upfront and using Draftsman^® in Altium has made this much easier and faster than what I have been accustomed to with other ECAD tools. So, the least favorite part is not that painful anymore. 

Warner: Who​ ​were​ ​your​ ​professional​ ​mentors,​ ​and​ ​what​ ​role​ ​have​ ​they​ ​played​ ​in​ ​your​ ​career? 

Lunder: I learned a lot from my first boss at Chipcon who hired me directly from the University in 2000. His knowledge in all aspects of PCB design and assembly was very helpful when starting to learn the details about the design processes and how to adapt them to design rules in the ECAD tool. He later started his own company, Radiocrafts in 2003, and I joined his team in 2007 and continued to learn from him. This experience served me well when I continued my own path as a hardware at Staaker.

Warner: What​ ​advice​ ​would​ ​you​ ​give​ ​to​ ​a​ ​​ ​just​ ​getting​ ​started​ ​in​ ​the​ ​field?

Lunder: To be a good PCB you should invest some time in understanding the PCB production process and what documents fabricators actually need. Avoid redundancy and information not needed. Start with the design rules in your ECAD tool and set them according to your selected fab requirements. If you do not understand a specific design rule, find out what it means and adjust accordingly.

Warner: Any​ ​final​ ​thoughts​ ​you​ ​would​ ​like​ ​to​ ​add?

Lunder: I believe that if you have the design rules sorted out upfront and tuned to the PCB factory you will use, the probability of failure will greatly decrease. If you have mismatch between your ECAD design rules and the PCB fab spec, they will adjust your design to comply with the factory process. Some even make changes without asking. What I really miss is an easier integration of design rules between PCB factories and ECAD systems. Design rule import is already supported in most ECAD tools, but the challenge is to get a design rule file from PCB fabricators that include all design rule parameters or is compatible with the ECAD tool.

Warner: That is always a challenge that the industry is trying to address with things like IPC-2581, but we’re not completely there yet! Thank you very much for taking the time to share your expertise with our readers. Good luck with the ongoing success of Staaker! 

Lunder: It has been my pleasure. Thank you.