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The most powerful, modern and easy-to-use PCB design tool for professional use

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Weekly Digest: Design Data Management

Stephanie Hardman

| May 24, 2019

Dive deep into design data management this week with expert articles and VP of Marketing Lawrence Romine on the OnTrack Podcast. Learn all about the modern, streamlined experience that Concord Pro offers and the performance enhancements in Altium Designer 19.1 in this discussion between Romine and Judy Warner. New this week we also have Mark Harris, creator of the Celestial Database library, joining on as expert contributor to share his wisdom and experience. John Watson shares more about Data Management and Cherie Litson has contributed a comprehensive list of ways to approach building a clean and consistent PCB data library. For an inspirational story, read about award-winning student Piotr Lazarek who shares his idea and inspiration behind an autonomous device that is changing the way soil conditions are monitored.

Articles from PCB Design Experts

Read the latest articles published this week by experts in the field:

IPv6 and the Internet of Things - by Mark Harris
Why PCB Data Management is Important - by John Watson
PCB Designers Motivated by Data Quality - by John Watson
How to Build a Clean and Consistent PCB Data Library - by Cherie Litson
Budgetary Quote Early in the Design Process - by Tara Dunn
PDS Design For Ultra Low Power Implementations - by Kella Knack
Benchmarking Practices and Process for PCB Designers - by Happy Holden
Clearing Up Trace Impedance Calculators and Equations - by Zach Peterson
Passive Intermodulation in PCBs for 5G Systems - by Zach Peterson
Culture Shock: Agile and Individual Engineering Accountability - by Chad Jackson
Autonomous Device for the Preventive Measurement of Soil Condition - by Piotr Lazarek

For those who enjoy a little weekend reading, there’s never a shortage of informative articles on the PCB Design Blog. Click to explore and while you’re there please leave a comment with any questions or feedback.

The OnTrack Podcast with Judy Warner

The OnTrack Podcast dissects relevant topics and issues for pcb designers from schematic capture all the way to the manufacturing floor. On the design side, everyone has a need for a reliable library and component management tool. Learn about Concord Pro from Altium’s VP of Marketing Lawrence Romine in this episode of the OnTrack Podcast.

Did you miss last week’s episode? Find out what was covered with guest John Coonrod in these quick Youtube clips:

The OnTrack Podcast brings you tips, information and guidance from industry leaders such as John Watson, Lee Ritchey, Rick Hartley, Eric Bogatin and more. You can listen to or watch the podcast on all your favorite podcast apps including Podbean, iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify, TuneIn, Youtube, PlayerFM and if you can’t find us, let us know!

Altium Videos on YouTube

Stop by the Altium or Altium Designer Youtube Channels and keep up to date with videos and clips to help you in your PCB design career. While you’re there, please remember to subscribe!

New videos on the Altium Youtube Channel:

Lets Get Social on Altium Instagram - Follow Us

Have you seen the Altium Instagram account? Follow us to see the latest clips from the podcast, tips on how to use Altium Designer and more. Send us a DM or tag us if you have something to share related to electronics engineering.

If you’ve got burning questions, let us know, and remember to tag us on social media if you’d like to share your projects!

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most recent articles

This is the DRC You Need to Add I was impressed that, right out of the box, the stock Design Rule Checks (DRCs) in my copy of Altium 20 pretty much covered all the bases on how to make a “standard” Printed Circuit Board (PCB). Altium defaults to “10 mil” rules, which means that the standard spacing and widths of copper tracks is 10 mils. What's more, most of the other spacings also default to 10 mils; pads to tracks, through-holes to other pads or vias. The exceptions being the Read Article

Know the Power Dissipation Understanding power dissipation of an individual component, an electrical block, or even the whole electronics system is essential for electronics engineers. It is important not only to avoid exceeding the maximum limits of components but also to calculate unknown parameters in input or output sides because power dissipation is related to system voltage and current. In this article, I describe my practices for analyzing power dissipation in Read Article

Insertion Loss is a Complex Issue: John Coonrod is Here to Explain It The OnTrack Podcast welcomes John Coonrod back to the show. John is Technical Marketing Manager at Rogers Corporation and a senior engineering professional with a rich background in PCB design, fabrication, processing, and modeling. John also has extensive experience with circuit materials, making him the ideal candidate for the topic of today’s podcast: insertion loss. Listen to the Podcast: Download this episode (right click and save) Watch the Read Article

US Department of Transportation Seeking Alternatives to GPS GPS-capable devices range from your phone to your smartwatch; simply type in your destination and follow the directions. Simple, right? According to the Washington Post, we should all stop using GPS as it’s ruining the navigation centers of our brains. Despite the neurological effects on perception and judgment, the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) aims to find alternatives to GPS to provide redundancy. What started as a defense initiative Read Article

Low Noise, Low EMI Voltage Regulator A couple of months ago, I purchased an entry-level cinematography camera: the Black Magic Ursa Mini Pro 4.6K G2. I'm planning to use it for project videos, factory tours, and trade show interviews with it mostly being mounted on a shoulder rig. In addition to the camera itself, this requires a surprising number of devices to be powered. To save having lots of batteries to keep track of, I want to run everything off the main camera battery Read Article

Voltage and Current waveforms on a Series - Terminated Transmission Line In both of our books, Right the First Time, A Practical Handbook on High Speed PCB and System Design, Volumes 1 and 2, as well as in our on-site and public courses, we talk about the value of a series-terminated transmission line. With this type of transmission line, no power is being used unless the line is being charged up. This enables a lot of computing with a minimum of power. But having a clear understanding of how this type of line Read Article

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