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See Where You are Going with Your PCB Power Distribution Network Design

Electric Distribution Systems and PCBs: Power Distribution Network Design For those of you who have only experienced the brilliant high power of LED, Xenon, or Halogen headlights in today’s modern cars, you may not realize how fortunate you are. My first car was old enough that its headlights could have been candles. One year I received Halogen fog lights for my birthday, and the difference at night was amazing. Not only could I now see what was next to the car in the dark but the fog lights almost out-distanced the Read Article

Manage Embedded Software through Design Rules for a No-Line PCB Design

Manage Embedded Software through Software Architecture and Design Rules for a No-Line PCB Design Recently, Amazon opened its first grocery market where one of its main points was its refusal of lines. Of course, its first-day publicity was a line of people outside waiting to try it out. I’m sure that as the newness diminishes it will be able to fulfill its promise of no lines; however, for now, I am mostly hoping that the store still had some rules in place in-case there was a line. After all, if one of your basic premises is to avoid lines Read Article

Help Your PCB Design Process with CAD Tools that are Designed to Work Together

Help Your PCB Design Process with CAD Tools that are Designed to Work Together I’ve never quite understood how in all of our technological developments as humans, we haven’t yet developed a better grounding for playgrounds. When I was still small enough to swing, instead of sinking the whole swingset, I remember being so frustrated that our playground had rocks and mulch for us to run around on. That has always seemed a bit counterintuitive to me; designate an area as a play area for children but line it with hard or Read Article

Take the Fear out of PCB Form Factors with These Four Considerations

Take the Fear out of PCB Form Factors with These Four Considerations Throughout the early 2000’s, we were blessed with an array of new and exciting products, shows, music, and technology. Myspace was just coming into view as one of the top social networking sites of its time, Livestrong bracelets were the most fashionable accessories around, and who could forget the launch of the very first iPod. However cool and hip all these things were, there was one that clearly stood out among the rest: the NBC show Fear Read Article

How is Your Design Affected by PCB Edge Clearance?

How is Your Design Affected by PCB Edge Clearance? We are often tasked with fitting a plethora of things into a small window of space. Whether it be cramming loads of info into our heads moments before a final exam, doing all twenty sightseeing activities into an eight-hour “vacation day,” or strategically stacking our Thanksgiving plates full of deliciousness, we must be aware of the boundaries given, and how each unique item interacts with the items surrounding (heaven forbid the mashed Read Article

Modern DFM, Princeton University, and Uniquely Shaped PCB Design OnTrack Newsletter January 2018

Modern DFM, Princeton University, and Uniquely Shaped PCB Design OnTrack Newsletter January 2018 On Track Newsletter VOL. 1 No 8 Happy New Year and welcome to the January edition of the Altium^® On Track Newsletter! In Designer Spotlight, we bring you a fresh perspective on DFM and prototyping with industry veteran Dirk Stans, owner of Belgium-based PCB manufacturer Eurocircuits. In Next Gen Innovators, we give you a glimpse under the hood of another impressive Formula SAE contender, Princeton University’s Racing Electric team. In the On Read Article

Seamless Project Collaboration

Seamless Project Collaboration Language English Sub Title: Redefine your engineering workflow with easy-to-use collaboration technology that enables clear communication across projects. Video: Vidyard: Features: Managed Projects In-Editor Collaboration Design Commenting Views Benefits: Managed Projects Work confidently with trusted design assets that are centrally secured and available for use by your entire design team. In-Editor Collaboration Get designs done faster than Read Article

Thermal Adhesive Options: Thermal Paste vs Thermal Pads

Thermal Pads vs Thermal Paste: The Best Choice for Mounting Your Heatsinks I used to work as a construction assistant, where my primary responsibility was to level properties before the heavy concrete trucks lay down a level foundation. It was a tedious and taxing job, but something that is quite crucial for a building for it to withstand years of use and abuse. I would run through a spit of land with nothing more than a shovel ensuring that the ground is flat and level within an inch tolerance. One inch leaves very Read Article

Soup-Up Your CAD Tools as a 64-Bit PCB Designer

Soup-Up Your CAD Tools as a 64-Bit PCB Designer For all the hazards that come along with older cars—rips in their vinyl, paint missing, smoking, rusted frames, and oil leaking—I will admit they are fun. I owned a 1969 Chevy Impala and for all the bad, one thing going for it was that it had been built to go fast. Even though it had a 4 barrel Quadrajet carburetor on a 350 cu in small block driving 350 horses into a Muncie 4 speed transmission, it still would only carry 6 people (well, and the Read Article

Learning Current Density: Don’t Pop the Balloon

Learning Current Density: Don’t Pop the Balloon One area of PCB design that probably does not get the attention that it deserves is current density. Current density in a PCB trace is much like the pressure in a balloon. You want to squeeze as much air into the balloon as you can, but if you put too much: boom! The same is true of PCB traces many times. We want the traces to be as small as possible yet carry the most current possible, and if the trace carries too much: boom! For PCBs, that boom Read Article

Not That Much Force: Software for Updating PCB Layouts

Not That Much Force: Software for Updating PCB Layouts and Avoiding Redesigns The other night I went to see the new Star Wars movie, “The Last Jedi," and although I really enjoyed the movie I found myself laughing out loud during one sequence. I wasn’t laughing because of the humor of the movie, or a silly looking alien—there were plenty of those to go around already. Instead I was laughing because for one brief sequence they showed some electronic circuitry that appeared to be composed of what looked like thru-hole Read Article

The Best PCB Component Placement Software Helps You to Efficiently Finish Your Placement

The Best PCB Component Placement Software Helps You to Efficiently Finish Your Placement Remember when we were kids and our parents gave us permission to do something fun but first we had to finish our chores? Now, taking out the garbage, folding clothes, and mowing the grass I’d prefer compared to budgeting for vacations or renovating bathrooms. Getting the chores completed lets me move on to something that is at least significantly more convenient and in many cases more fun. When I’m designing, I have similar chore preferences and Read Article

No More Wrong Ports: Implementing USB Devices In Your Hardware Design

No More Wrong Ports: Implementing USB Devices In Your Hardware Design I keep having what I like to call “Grouchy Old Man Thoughts” (GOMT). You know the type: “Why do I have to learn this new thing if what I have works for me?” or, “I wonder what it’d be like to have a conversation without them being on their phone half the time.” Well, my most recent GOMT has been that I think anyone born after the 90s is pretty lucky, technologically. They didn’t have to go through the painstaking phase before Universal Serial Read Article

The Best PCB Routing Software Helps You to Finish Your Design on Time

The Best PCB Routing Software Helps You to Finish Your Design on Time When my first child was young, my wife and I didn’t have a lot of income. It took everything that we had to pay the rent and put food on the table. When it came time for Christmas I really wanted to buy my boy a present, but I didn’t have any extra money to spend. That was a really humbling moment when I couldn’t even afford an extra couple of bucks for a toy. Fortunately, my wife had been saving money all along in preparation for Christmas. When Read Article

9:06 What are Embedded Passives/Actives and how to use them? In this Episode, John Magyar is talking about Embedded Components and the Differences between SMT Passive, SMT Active, Embedded Passive and Embedded Active. Learn more about Embedded Components and how to use them. Please leave your comment and share this video with fellow Engineers. See All OnTrack Newsletters here. Watch Video

Don’t Just Resolve Your New Year, (PCB) Design It

Don’t Just Resolve Your New Year, (PCB) Design It History contains many valuable lessons to learn, but this is the time of year when many people consider the future. You deserve some congratulations for going through your 2017: you learned new designs, tackled challenges, and did everything in your power to make 2017 your most successful year yet. The only thing left for 2018 is reaching higher and accomplishing even more. Don’t let yesteryear’s success limit your current ambition; keep pushing Read Article

Order Up! Finding Your Chef Voice in Mixed Voltage PCB Design

Order Up! Finding Your Chef Voice in Mixed Voltage PCB Design I was watching a cooking program on television the other day when I noticed how chefs always seem to be yelling whenever they need something or are demanding another kitchen staff to do something. It started to dawn on me how much of a mixture a kitchen has to be: there have to be all sorts of people who are both capable of being quiet and listening, and being loud and giving orders when something needs to get done. When you stop to consider all Read Article