Designer’s Notebook

Tips for better communication and preparation.

The PCB designer is often the recipient of a file or series of files that provide the working parameters of the board. These documents will come from a physical designer who does the mechanical engineering for the project. In some cases, the PCB designer wears that hat themselves.

When the PCB outline is straightforward, do it yourself. One-off test jigs come to mind. We’re probably working with a rectangle that provides ample real estate for the intended circuit. There will be room to grow and iterate, but also space for plenty of text to ease setup and debugging. Put a hole in each corner so standoffs can be installed to raise the board above the test bench.

Read more: PCB Outline Transfer

At 5GHz, take additional care with transmission lines.

Cutting the cord has been a liberating step for we the people. Wireless technology under the aegis of the IEEE 802.11 specification has been around for some time now. It's been so long, in fact, the standards body has adopted more protocols than there are letters in the alphabet. One by one, standards have been improved or regionalized to the point where the newer technology gets two initials instead of just one. For Wi-Fi, 802.11a/b/g/n (FIGURE 1) is a typical combination of different standards, while 802.11ac refers to a single standard. That's the one you're likely to find in a new mobile device if there is only one type on board. There's a lot to unpack here so let's get started.

Read more: A PCB Designer's Guide to Wi-Fi

The quarantine may have created the biggest shift in how PCB design works.

As a career PCB designer, I’ve seen a lot of waves break over the electronics industry, but not since the very foundation of electronic computer aided design (ECAD) have I seen such a significant paradigm shift in our work practices. From the mid-20th century onward, computers have become involved with our design efforts. Aerospace and automotive industries led the way along with universities; about the only places where computers were available in those days.

Read more: Home Design

Aligning signals to attain perfect synchronicity.

Clocks are essential gatekeepers of the digital domain. Setting the pace for all that follows the clock can be a single trace or a partnership of two traces that carry complementary signals. Either way, the function of a clock is to switch from high (a logical 1) to low (0) up and down continuously; on, off, on, off, all day long. Signals controlled by the clock switch only when activated by the code, meaning that other signals do not change their state with every cycle of the clock.

Read more: It’s About Time: Clocking a PCB Design

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