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PCB Librarians and SMART PCB Component Management PCB Librarians and SMART PCB Component Management In the 1972 classic movie “The Candidate”, Bill Mckay, played by Robert Redford, ran for the State Senate. Although he was a long shot and an underdog, McKay ends up surprising everyone with an incredibly close win. After the concession speech of his opponent, a vast mob surrounds McKay. He fights through the crowd, trying to reach his campaign Manager Marvin (played by Peter Boyles). Finally reaching him, he pulls him aside into a hotel room Read Article
How to Establish a PCB Library for Your Design Practice How to Establish a PCB Creator Library for Your Design Practice When we think of a library, we first think of a building which holds materials of some kind. In April of 1800, when the seat of the government moved from Philadelphia to Washington, one of President Monroe’s first acts was allocating $5,000 to purchase books for Congress to use. Once established, the Library of Congress originally held a total of 740 books and three maps. Now, it contains 32 million cataloged books and other print materials in Read Article
Parametric Information and PCB Data Management Parametric Information and PCB Data Management In the words of Tim O'Reilly, the founder of O'Reilly Media and a major proponent of Open Source & Software Development, “We're entering a new world in which data may be more important than software.” I tend to disagree with that; I believe that data is enhanced by software especially when we are talking about data related to PCB Management. I’m a long-time user of Altium software and very pleased with the way the software has evolved. So get Read Article
How Can You Make Sure PCB Design Data Is Both Accessible and Secure? How Can You Make Sure PCB Design Data Is Both Accessible and Secure? As a grandfather, one of the great joys of my life is to play with any of my five grandchildren. On top of their fun list is to play on the teeter-totter at the playground. They usually enjoy it until grandpa gets on one side and they try to lift me. Then the poor little tykes get a harsh lesson in leverage, balance, and just how heavy grandpa is. In PCB Design, it is all about balance. IPC-2221 reminds us that the design process comes with its Read Article
Operational Process Improvements and PCB Data Management Operational Process Improvements and PCB Data Management Is it practical or indulgent to look at exactly how the principles of good PCB Data Management can and should change our normal PCB Design processes? It is practical and necessary for operational processes to benefit from continual improvement. Let’s explore how to do so with PCB data management. Root Causes You need to allow specific PCB Data to change your operational processes so you can analyze and find the root causes of problems. However Read Article
Printed Circuit Assembly and Design for Cost Printed Circuit Assembly and Design for Cost The design process for an electronic system requires decisions that will influence the cost and performance of the printed circuit assembly (PCA). General Principles There is value in being able to quickly estimate the impact of design on cost. Because of the increasing pressure to shorten time to market, design engineers may not have the luxury of using trial and error and price quotes to fine-tune a new design. In addition, the further down the Read Article
High-Speed PCB Design: Just How Fast Is Fast? High-Speed PCB Design: Just How Fast Is Fast? As noted in several previous blogs, these days, “high-speed PCB” is pretty much ubiquitous in our industry. And, as cited, we always say that regardless of the end product or implementation every PCB is high speed by virtue of the IC technology incorporated in it. A few years back, we started saying that what was important was the edge rates of the components, or more specifically, the interconnections between the component edges and the boards Read Article
Comparing Static and Dynamic Flex PCB Design: Mechanical Considerations Comparing Static and Dynamic Flex Design: Rigid Flex PCB Bend Radius and other Mechanical Considerations Static and dynamic flex PCB design is as much mechanical as it is electrical. Here are some design tips for both types of PCBs. Read Article
Embedded System Power Supply Guidelines for Power Integrity Embedded System Power Supply Guidelines for Power Integrity Embedded systems design and development is a broad area of electronics, spanning from developing code for an Arduino to designing custom computing systems with huge I/O count. On the more advanced end, where we see complex embedded systems for imaging, radar, modular computing, and edge computing, power regulator module design is a major determinant of system performance as it must ensure power integrity and signal integrity. These systems are Read Article
The Rough Journey of a Hardware Engineer and Assembly Options The Rough Journey of a Hardware Engineer and Assembly Options Life, for a hardware engineer, is a continuous battle. Every day, every single decision, circuit, connection, net, trace, VIA or pad is a fight between Physics and the demanding, albeit important requirement that has been thrown on the desk by the archenemy of the poor hardware engineer: the colleague working for the marketing team. A good (and at the same time sobering!) thing is that Physics always wins. The task of the hardware engineer is Read Article