PCB Design

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Conducted Emissions Test Equipment and Reduction Guidelines One of my classes in college was so difficult that the professor would give us the test questions a week in advance. Even knowing exactly what to study for the exam, lots of students still failed. Conducted emissions analysis for electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) is similar. Devices need to be checked to see if they’re putting too much noise back into the grid through their power supply. Otherwise, the FCC will think you’re disrupting utility Read Article

How FRAM Memory Simplifies Embedded System Data Logging I’ve always found it easier to make decisions when the options were clear cut. Choosing between black or white, right or wrong, you could make your decision and never regret it. However, decisions that involve picking black, white or one of many shades of gray really stress me out. I was happy abiding by my binary logic until Ferromagnetic Random Access Memory (FRAM) came on the commercial market and I was forced to embrace one of the shades of Read Article

Advantages of Massive MIMO for 5G Cellular Infrastructure Editorial credit: PureRadiancePhoto / Shutterstock.com Even though I ended up here in southern California, I was originally born in Texas. We have a saying that you probably have heard, “everything’s bigger in Texas.” That turned out to be true for me, as I’m the tallest member of my extended family. I’d like to think that the minds behind massive multiple input multiple output (MIMO) antenna arrays were also born in Texas. MIMO has been around Read Article

The RS485 Interface in a Wireless World I am a huge fan of the Nokia 3310 that made a comeback in the mobile phone industry a few years ago. If you’ve never used one in your life then you’re missing out on one of the most reliable and durable mobile phones in recent history. Unlike the early 2000’s, it’s not easy to find mobile phones that can double as a hammer or fall into the Grand Canyon and survive. In the world of electrical design, RS485 communication offers a similar robustness Read Article

IoT Storage Technologies: Ultra Low Power CBRAM Do you remember using those old floppy disks back in the day? I remember my computer had two floppy disk drives. You’d put the disk with your program in one and a disk for the data in the other. Eventually, the incredible invention that is the hard drive came about and storage space exploded. Our memory capacity is still increasing, but now size is becoming less of a factor. When it comes to the Internet of Things (IoT) energy usage is the next Read Article

Wearable Technology in the Future Will Be Seamless and Convenient When I was younger I was a bit of a nerd, and I guess I still am. The most visible sign of my nerdiness was my fashion sense or lack of it. Tall socks, cargo shorts, and a brown Pacman hoodie that I wore in every season, except summer, made up my daily wardrobe. I was simply more interested in gizmos and gadgets than I was in looking good. I’m still more interested in electronic devices than clothes, but the line between the two is beginning to Read Article

The IoT is Developing New Technologies for Aging in Place My grandmother has lived down the street from my parents for the past 7 years. She moved down there after it became apparent she had Alzheimer’s disease and my parents realized she couldn’t live alone anymore. However, technology has allowed her to live a semi-independent life. My mother uses nanny cams to make sure my grandma is safe and happy and goes down to the house whenever grandma needs help. This arrangement has kept my grandmother out of Read Article

AltiumLive 2017: ANNUAL PCB DESIGN SUMMIT Rarely does a PCB design conference come along that is focused wholly on training content designed to make YOU a more knowledgeable and effective designer. That’s why Altium decided to create one--fully centered on designers...and presented by expert PCB designers. This Fall, AltiumLive 2017: Annual PCB Design Summit is coming to North America and Europe. We will host a 2-day PCB design conference like no other. You will hear from industry Read Article

Impressive Next Gen PCB Designer Nicole Pacino Mike Creeden, Founder of San Diego PCB, with his daughter Nicole Pacino With the median age of today’s PCB being 48 years old, it’s always refreshing and encouraging to see a young sprout up amongst the design community ranks. One such young is Nicole Pacino of San Diego PCB. Nicole is the daughter of Mike Creeden, founder of San Diego PCB, who is also an IPC Master Trainer and IPC ’s Council executive board member. As you can imagine, Nicole was Read Article

How to Plan Your PCB Layout for a High Voltage Design I used to trail run with a friend who is an urban planner. As part of her devious plan to get me to run further before I was too tired and bored, she’d tell me about the various considerations that go into the zoning and construction in a town. There were also a lot of shenanigans with local politics that provided a juicy distraction. Although my friend would disagree, a high voltage PCB layout have some similarities to complex urban planning. In Read Article

PLC vs Embedded System: When You Should Choose a PLC Despite the Higher Cost per Unit Have you ever gone out to a well reviewed, luxurious restaurant for dinner? I’m sure you paid a pretty penny for it. However, if fine dining is a passion of yours and you enjoyed it then it’s worth the expense. On the other hand, it’s hard not to feel silly paying $20 more than you’re supposed to for a sandwich at an average local restaurant. In this situation, you’re much better off putting that money towards cooking lessons and becoming your Read Article

How a Single Ground Connection Messed up 100 Units of MP3 Players Technology is pretty great and it has definitely made certain things in life easier. However, when you’re juggling parenting, coding, electronics design and occasionally writing an article like this. Sometimes even the coolest apps can’t mitigate the stress we experience in a day. For example, this morning I accidentally mistook salt for sugar and mixed it into my child’s favorite porridge. One small mistake on my part and suddenly my 5-year-old Read Article

Google Glass Enterprise Edition Breaks Into Workplace Market Editorial credit: Peppinuzzo / Shutterstock.com Do you ever wonder what it’s like to be the first to do something? It must be a grand feeling to go where no man has gone before, whether that place is a mountain or the moon. There are also a lot of risks that come with maiden voyages. You can plan all you want, but the only way to find out what lies on the edge of the horizon is to go there. Google, now Alphabet, has long been a pioneer in the Read Article

How Google Glass Technology Works and What Makes It Tick Arthur C. Clarke once said, “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” If that’s the case then Google must employ a lot of witches and warlocks. They’ve been pushing the tech envelope for years and many of their ideas are now coming to fruition. Products like their self-driving cars are here, and I’m personally hopeful about a smart sensor platform that Google helped fund. By far the coolest take we’ve been waiting Read Article

Why You Should Follow These Best Practices In Real Time Clock Design Have you ever been late for school because your alarm clock decided to stop at 3.15 AM? In high school, my alarm clock wasn’t very pleasant sounding, but the sound of my mom shouting at me was worse. I knew that my clock had stopped because its battery was dead. However, had I paid closer attention, I would have noticed that my clock ran slower as the battery drained off. That way I could have changed it in time and avoided rising to my mom’s Read Article

Semiconductor Fiber Could Replace Fiber Optic Cable Transmission Lines The Internet is a strange and wonderful place. I grew up at the end of the age of dial up Internet when chat rooms were all the rage. Now, I occasionally enjoy using the Internet to play some online games, which was impossible back then. My telephone router and its copper network could barely support enough bandwidth to load an image. Now our networks have been upgraded with blazing fast fiber optics. While these communication systems are Read Article

How to Prevent Hairline Short Circuits in Your PCB Circuit Design In most cases, locating a hairline short is nearly impossible until it’s too late. What’s worse than finding a strand of hair in your pasta when you’re out on a dinner date? Finding it after it has ended up in your mouth. There are two ways to avoid awkward scenarios like this. For one, you can keep a close eye on your food and make sure it is hair free before it enters your mouth. The second is to ensure that there is no chance of a hair ending Read Article