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.

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.