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PCB Design
How to Use Test Points on PCB | Altium Designer
Maybe it’s because of the old memories of pop quizzes in grade school, but it seems like no one really likes the idea of “testing”. Just as the school children in “A Christmas Story” reacted badly to having to write a theme , people all over the world usually react just as negatively to the idea of taking a test. And yet, if you are going to be a circuit board designer, you are going to have to learn how to use a PCB test point. The good news is
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Don’t Worry Over Your PCB Layout Files ASCII Dance, Waltz with Unified Tools
Although competitive partner dancing looks complicated, the technique behind the art is precise. It is nothing like the PCB layout files ASCII dance. Dancers move their feet uniformly in intricate patterns set to the musical beat. If the technique is flawed, steps are missed, and feet collide, ruining the dance. Error messages are indications of missing steps in PCB layout software. When placing and routing components in the software, error
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Ease the Pain of Your PCB Supply Chain Management with Intuitive Design Tools
Have you ever been writing something and can’t figure out how to spell a word so you rephrase the entire sentence in order to use a different word? As much as replacing a word can kill your creativity in writing, it is much worse when you have to replace a component while designing electronic circuits. It happens a lot though when you aren’t connected to your supply chain management design. Problems like these can kill your creativity and cause
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Computer Fault Finding Checklist: Troubleshoot a Faulty Embedded System in Your PCB
Kids these days are much smarter than we were. When I was six, all I cared about was watching Sesame Street every evening. My son, on the other hand, regularly searches for his favorite cartoons on Youtube and asks for the correct phrases to type in to receive the exact results he’s looking for. Even at such a young age, he understands that asking smart questions leads to quicker, and more efficient, solutions. Although finding the right terms to
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Embedded System Implementation and Testing Before Commission
Embedded systems and PCBs in these systems need to be thoroughly tested before deployment.
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How to Become a Freelance PCB Designer and What You Need to Know to Thrive
If your career as a hardware engineer is getting stagnant, you may be tempted to switch careers or turn into a freelancer. After all, the major difference between working full-time and freelancing is not having the 9-to-5 routine and being able to work on projects while sipping a piña colada at the beach. When you’re equipped with the top-notch design skills and knowledge of a hardware designer, what could go wrong? Freelancing as a PCB designer
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First Impressions Migrating to Altium Designer 18
Updating a software package is risky business – and not just because of new bugs that could be added. It’s also possible that a perfectly working new feature looks like a bug from the perspective of your workflow. I’ve recently upgraded to Altium Designer
®
(AD18) and released a new design with it, finding a few nuances. And not just the new color scheme (FYI: AD18 doesn’t support the legacy skin colors, but may in future versions). Overall, the
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37:07
Benefits of Spread Glass for Printed Circuit Board Manufacturing [OnTrack Podcast]
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Soothe PCB Schematic Library Management Pains with Straightforward Software
Outdated schematic library management processes cause a large bottleneck for the design group. These processes are often based on tools that are not up-to-date with current design methodologies and technologies and are therefore limited in what they can do. In the same way that a compact car isn’t going to be able to pull a heavy trailer, using an outdated library management system isn’t going to be able to handle the heavy work-load either
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Ducks in a Row: Process Control and Document Traceability in One Place
Louis Pasteur captured the essence of complicated endeavors when he stated that “fortune favors the prepared mind.” Don’t miss opportunities for excellence when faced with complex tasks. Designing and building printed circuit boards and their assemblies is a complex task, made up of many meticulous endeavors. You could say that unified PCA documentation and communication favors successful outcomes when building products. Document types and
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Keep the Petals on: Optimizing Daisy Chain Wired Communication
As a child, I was fascinated by trains. I remember staring down an empty railway for hours, simply waiting for a train to pass by. From my youthful perspective at the time, it was magical how the train never fell off the track despite essentially being a moving chain consisting of many . Although I eventually outgrew my obsession with trains, I became enamored by the daisy chain style of wiring for communication in electronics. As my career as an
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DC Power Supply Protection from Unexpected Damage and Inconvenience
When it comes to parenting, I might not be the best role model. This isn’t because I don’t take good care of my only son; it’s because I’m the stereotypical overprotective dad. I fuss over tiny bruises and rush for a digital thermometer at the slightest hint of a fever. Unable to stop worrying about how my son will adapt and get along with other preschoolers, I even become an occasional nuisance at his nursery. Over time, I’m starting to realize
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Collaborative Design Software: Create PCB Schematic Symbols for any Component
We’ve all been knee deep in a schematic capture session when we are suddenly hard-walled by a missing component in our project library. You check other libraries to see if the part exists but find everything except success. What do you do? Thankfully, these situations are mitigated by Altium Designer’s software solutions. With tools designed for you to work as intuitively and efficiently as you can, you will be cruising in no time. Creating your
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How to Use Altium Designer for Quick PCB Component Placement
“A place for everything, everything in its place” are profound words by the incomparable Benjamin Franklin that are especially applicable when applied to component placement on PCBs and in your Altium library loader. Let’s see how to use Altium Designer to put these words into action for your PCB design Placing Components Directly with no Schematic Whether you are creating a relatively simple printed circuit board or adding to an existing design
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The Anniversary Edition OnTrack Newsletter April 2018
OnTrack Newsletter April 2018 VOL. 2 No 1 Welcome to the one-year anniversary edition of the Altium
®
OnTrack newsletter! In celebration, our team decided to make this the reader’s choice edition by sharing the top three most read articles from Rock Stars and Superheroes and Makerspace for this past year. We also have a brand new video by Ben Jordan on Multi-board: Partitioning and Planning, and a fresh batch of Brain Food and Regional News below
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How to Interface an LED With an 8051 Microcontroller: Processes and Applications
When my professors saw my first electronics project, they weren’t too hopeful about my future as a design engineer. With hundreds of jumper wires clumsily soldered onto a prototyping board, my feeble attempt at making a ham radio barely passed as a joke. I was learning about the dot matrix, pic microcontroller, and RGB LED lights. Everyone has to start from the beginning! Thankfully, I’ve come a long way since those days. If you’re starting your
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Power Consumption Tips: What are Ways to Reduce Power Consumption in an Embedded System?
For years, I always forgot to turn off the lights and fans at my house. Despite initially denying that constantly using these appliances significantly increased my electricity usage, I eventually broke my bad habit and began turning off every little switch. After all, being more prudent about my electricity usage reduces my monthly bills and promotes a greener earth. Unfortunately, minimizing system power consumption in an embedded system
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