OnTrack: The PCB Design Podcast: Recent Episodes
Judy Warner, Altium
On this episode of the Altium OnTrack Podcast, host Zach Peterson talks with Ben Dannan, founder of Signal Edge Solutions and DesignCon Engineer of the Year, and Tyler Huddleston, SI/PI engineer, about a problem every high-speed designer knows too well: DDR compliance simulation that can take 24 hours to several days per interface. They walk through why the traditional Keysight ADS Memory Designer compliance flow is so slow, how false positives creep into JEDEC compliance results, and why running corners across fast, typical, and slow for a full DQ and command/address bus can balloon into nine-plus simulations and weeks of waiting.
Ben and Tyler then demo their new tool, MEM Check Pro, which ingests the raw HDF5 waveform data you already generated and returns full DDR4, DDR5, and LPDDR compliance results in under a minute — live on camera. Along the way the conversation digs into the real signal integrity and power integrity challenges behind modern data-center and aerospace hardware: thick backplanes and backside power delivery, managing loop inductance and PDN-to-PDN crosstalk, IBIS model quality, advanced laminate systems, and choosing the right decoupling capacitors. It's a practical look at how to trade days of simulation for seconds without giving up confidence in your results.
📚 More from this Episode:
- Signal Edge Solutions: https://www.signaledgesolutions.com/
- Ben Dannan on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/benjamin-dannan/
- Keysight PathWave ADS: https://www.keysight.com/us/en/products/software/pathwave-design-software/pathwave-advanced-design-system.html
💡 Watch Next:
- xSignals for DDR3 and DDR4 in Altium Designer | High-Speed Design: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JJ8652UozI
- Capacitor Self Resonance | Power Integrity in PCB Design: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvWHQmSML-4
- How to Route High-Speed Designs in Altium Designer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KuESxLS2Lno
💡 Stay Connected:
Don't forget to like, comment, and subscribe for more in-depth tutorials and tips from @AltiumAcademy Share your thoughts and questions in the comments below!
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Don't forget to follow us on social to stay up-to-date on the latest Altium Academy content.
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👉 Follow Altium on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/altium/
👉 Follow Altium on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AltiumOfficial/
The Altium Academy is an online experience created to bring modern education to PCB Designers and Engineers all across the world. Here you can access a vast library of free training and educational content covering everything from basic design to advanced principles and step-by-step walkthroughs. Join industry legends as they share their career knowledge, review real-life design projects, or learn how to leverage one of Altium's leading design tools. No matter your level of experience, the Altium Academy can help you become a better Designer and Engineer!
About Altium LLC
Altium LLC (ASX:ALU), a global software company based in San Diego, California, is accelerating the pace of innovation through electronics. From individual inventors to multinational corporations, more PCB designers and engineers choose Altium software to design and realize electronics-based products.
altium #signalintegrity #ddr
How does a region build a semiconductor and electronics workforce from the ground up? In this episode of the Altium OnTrack Podcast, host Zach Peterson sits down with Nasska Medrano, Global Program Manager at Altium Education, and Professor Johan Estrada of the Autonomous University of Yucatán (UADY) to unpack the Mayan-on-Chip initiative—a collaborative workforce development program training highly skilled talent in electronics, embedded systems, and semiconductors in southeastern Mexico. They cover how the first cohort exceeded expectations, why coordinated effort among academia, industry, and government is essential, and how Mexico's national semiconductor plan is reshaping engineering education.
👉 Resources from this video:
- Connect with Nasska: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nasska-perea-medrano-80585b6a/
- Connect with Johan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johan-estrada/
- Andrew Hubert Episode: https://youtu.be/_SnIiOQWn9g
- Rea Callender Episode: https://youtu.be/B0LMgTXjYqQ
- Altium Education: https://education.altium.com/
💡 Stay Connected:
Don't forget to like, comment, and subscribe for more in-depth tutorials and tips from @AltiumAcademy Share your thoughts and questions in the comments below!
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Don't forget to follow us on social to stay up-to-date on the latest Altium Academy content.
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👉 Follow Altium on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/altium/
👉 Follow Altium on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AltiumOfficial/
The Altium Academy is an online experience created to bring modern education to PCB Designers and Engineers all across the world. Here you can access a vast library of free training and educational content covering everything from basic design to advanced principles and step-by-step walkthroughs. Join industry legends as they share their career knowledge, review real-life design projects, or learn how to leverage one of Altium's leading design tools. No matter your level of experience, the Altium Academy can help you become a better Designer and Engineer!
About Altium LLC
Altium LLC (ASX:ALU), a global software company based in San Diego, California, is accelerating the pace of innovation through electronics. From individual inventors to multinational corporations, more PCB designers and engineers choose Altium software to design and realize electronics-based products.
semiconductors #pcbdesign #altium
In this episode of the Altium OnTrack Podcast, host Zach Peterson sits down with Rob Barton, Head of Platform API at Altium, for a deep dive into how programmatic access is transforming PCB design and electronics development. Rob traces the evolution of Altium's API—from the early disconnected SDKs and the launch of Nexar, through Octopart supply data, all the way to the new Platform API that exposes design data, supply chain intelligence, and manufacturing services through a single, federated GraphQL schema. If you've ever wanted to connect Altium 365 and Altium Designer data directly into your own systems, this conversation maps out exactly where the technology is heading.
Through two live demos, Rob shows how to query live Octopart supply data—pricing, availability, RoHS compliance, and BOM resolution—then navigates the Platform API down to individual PCB layers, nets, and track coordinates. The discussion also explores API-first design philosophy, why discoverable APIs now matter for AI agents and MCP servers, and the upcoming Altium Developer Center that will open this platform to engineers, enterprises, and third-party developers. Whether you're a procurement professional, a PCB designer, or building AI-enabled tools on top of electronics data, this episode is a clear look at the future of open, programmatic hardware design.
👉 Resources from this episode:
- Leigh Gawne on the Launch and Significance of Altium 365: https://youtu.be/sxI6j5s1P_4
- Connect with Rob: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rob-barton/
- Interested in the closed beta? Drop a comment and let us know!
💡 Stay Connected:
Don't forget to like, comment, and subscribe for more in-depth tutorials and tips from @AltiumAcademy Share your thoughts and questions in the comments below!
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Don't forget to follow us on social to stay up-to-date on the latest Altium Academy content.
👉 Follow Altium on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@altiumdesigner
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👉 Follow Altium on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/altium/
👉 Follow Altium on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AltiumOfficial/
The Altium Academy is an online experience created to bring modern education to PCB Designers and Engineers all across the world. Here you can access a vast library of free training and educational content covering everything from basic design to advanced principles and step-by-step walkthroughs. Join industry legends as they share their career knowledge, review real-life design projects, or learn how to leverage one of Altium's leading design tools. No matter your level of experience, the Altium Academy can help you become a better Designer and Engineer!
About Altium LLC
Altium LLC (ASX:ALU), a global software company based in San Diego, California, is accelerating the pace of innovation through electronics. From individual inventors to multinational corporations, more PCB designers and engineers choose Altium software to design and realize electronics-based products.
Altium #PCBDesign #API
Code-based PCB design is reshaping how engineers build hardware, and in this OnTrack Podcast episode, host Zach Peterson sits down with Ioannis Papamanoglou and Narayan Powderly, co-founders of atopile, to explore their code-first, AI-driven approach to PCB design. Drawing on backgrounds at Tesla and across the electronics industry, the founders explain why hardware has lagged behind software tooling and how capturing engineering intent in code can unlock automation across the entire design process — from requirements capture to schematic capture and layout.
You'll learn why the real bottleneck in AI for PCB design is tooling and orchestration rather than raw model capability, how deterministic and nondeterministic layers work together, and why the designer's role is shifting toward system architecture as low-level boilerplate disappears. The conversation also covers test board generation, the Jevons paradox effect on engineering resources, supply chain and firmware integration, and a live demo showing atopile working alongside Altium Designer. Whether you're a PCB designer, hardware engineer, or curious about AI in electronics, this episode offers a grounded look at where code-based hardware design is headed.
💡 Stay Connected:
Don't forget to like, comment, and subscribe for more in-depth tutorials and tips from @AltiumAcademy Share your thoughts and questions in the comments below!
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Don't forget to follow us on social to stay up-to-date on the latest Altium Academy content.
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👉 Follow Altium on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/altium/
👉 Follow Altium on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AltiumOfficial/
The Altium Academy is an online experience created to bring modern education to PCB Designers and Engineers all across the world. Here you can access a vast library of free training and educational content covering everything from basic design to advanced principles and step-by-step walkthroughs. Join industry legends as they share their career knowledge, review real-life design projects, or learn how to leverage one of Altium's leading design tools. No matter your level of experience, the Altium Academy can help you become a better Designer and Engineer!
About Altium LLC
Altium LLC (ASX:ALU), a global software company based in San Diego, California, is accelerating the pace of innovation through electronics. From individual inventors to multinational corporations, more PCB designers and engineers choose Altium software to design and realize electronics-based products.
Altium #PCBDesign #ai
EMC testing is one of the toughest hurdles in PCB design, with industry pass rates often falling below 50% and every failure triggering expensive respins. In this OnTrack Podcast episode, host Zach Peterson sits down with Andy Eadie—owner of EMC FastPass and founder of Engentica—to unpack why so many products fail electromagnetic compatibility testing on the first attempt, and what designers can do to get it right up front instead of budgeting for inevitable rework.
The conversation digs into the growing role of AI in hardware design: where machine learning genuinely accelerates simulation, signal integrity, and power integrity work, and why a fully generative "design my circuit board" tool is still a long way off. Andy also demos Engentica, an AI-powered design co-pilot that runs compliance-focused checks on schematics and layout, lets engineers investigate EMC risks in natural language, and scales hardware design expertise across an organization. Whether you're a hardware engineer, EMC consultant, or software founder building your first custom PCB, this episode is packed with practical insight on respins, pre-compliance testing, and the future of electronics design.
👉 Resources from this episode:
- Get access to Engentica: engentica.com
- Check out EMC FastPass: https://emcfastpass.com/
- Connect with Andy: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andyeadie/
💡 Stay Connected:
Don't forget to like, comment, and subscribe for more in-depth tutorials and tips from @AltiumAcademy Share your thoughts and questions in the comments below!
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Don't forget to follow us on social to stay up-to-date on the latest Altium Academy content.
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👉 Follow Altium on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/altium/
👉 Follow Altium on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AltiumOfficial/
The Altium Academy is an online experience created to bring modern education to PCB Designers and Engineers all across the world. Here you can access a vast library of free training and educational content covering everything from basic design to advanced principles and step-by-step walkthroughs. Join industry legends as they share their career knowledge, review real-life design projects, or learn how to leverage one of Altium's leading design tools. No matter your level of experience, the Altium Academy can help you become a better Designer and Engineer!
About Altium LLC
Altium LLC (ASX:ALU), a global software company based in San Diego, California, is accelerating the pace of innovation through electronics. From individual inventors to multinational corporations, more PCB designers and engineers choose Altium software to design and realize electronics-based products.
Altium #EMC #PCBDesign
Altium Develop unites your design, sourcing, and manufacturing teams in one cloud platform so EMC and layout problems get caught long before your board ever reaches the test house: https://www.altium.com/develop?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=ontrack-podcast&utm_content=70-of-pcbs-fail-emc-testing-and-ai-is-making-it-worse
EMC testing failure rates are climbing toward 70%, and on this episode of the OnTrack Podcast, host Zach Peterson sits down with EMC expert Dr. Anton Tishchenko to unpack why — and what role AI is really playing in modern PCB design. They cut through the AI hype, explaining why large language models will confidently hand you a bad PCB layout, why setting up constraints is "garbage in, garbage out," and why hardware is heading for the same reckoning software already faced. If your boards keep failing radiated emissions, this conversation explains where the real problems start.
Anton also demos his web-based EMC analysis tool (pcb4emc.com), an EMC design rule check that works directly from Gerber files — no schematics, no NDAs, no sensitive data required. You'll see how it evaluates ground plane quality, differential and single-ended impedance, return paths, and crosstalk risk using the 3W rule, plus a frank discussion of coplanar waveguides, stackup awareness, and where AI genuinely helps engineers (datasheet summaries, literature reviews, and simulation enhancement) versus where it falls flat. Essential viewing for any PCB designer serious about EMC compliance.
🔗 Try the tool: https://pcbforemc.com/
🔗 Connect with Anton: https://www.linkedin.com/in/antontischenko/
💡 Stay Connected:
Don't forget to like, comment, and subscribe for more in-depth tutorials and tips from @AltiumAcademy Share your thoughts and questions in the comments below!
👉 Subscribe for more electronics design reviews: https://www.youtube.com/@AltiumAcademy?sub_confirmation=1
Don't forget to follow us on social to stay up-to-date on the latest Altium Academy content.
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👉 Follow Altium on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/altium/
👉 Follow Altium on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AltiumOfficial/
The Altium Academy is an online experience created to bring modern education to PCB Designers and Engineers all across the world. Here you can access a vast library of free training and educational content covering everything from basic design to advanced principles and step-by-step walkthroughs. Join industry legends as they share their career knowledge, review real-life design projects, or learn how to leverage one of Altium's leading design tools. No matter your level of experience, the Altium Academy can help you become a better Designer and Engineer!
About Altium LLC
Altium LLC (ASX:ALU), a global software company based in San Diego, California, is accelerating the pace of innovation through electronics. From individual inventors to multinational corporations, more PCB designers and engineers choose Altium software to design and realize electronics-based products.
Altium #EMC #PCBDesign
Signal integrity engineers working on high-speed serial links, Ethernet, USB, PCI Express, and DDR memory interfaces need powerful simulation tools, but commercial software licenses can be cost-prohibitive. In this episode of the Altium OnTrack Podcast, host Zach Peterson sits down with David Banas, Solutions Engineer at Keysight, to explore three open-source Python packages that are transforming how engineers approach serial link simulation, IBIS-AMI model testing, and channel operating margin analysis. David walks through PyBERT, his most popular tool, demonstrating live how it handles eye diagrams, bathtub curves, jitter analysis, and equalization techniques like CTLE, DFE, and TX de-emphasis.
The pair explore PyIBIS, a Python tool for IBIS-AMI model developers, demonstrating its capabilities in analyzing signal transmission parameters. They look at how it helps debug models and apply equalization techniques to address signal distortion. Understanding this tool is crucial for effective data transmission analysis and ensuring signal integrity, especially when working with complex designs in Altium Designer or Cadence Design Systems.
💡 Stay Connected:
Don't forget to like, comment, and subscribe for more in-depth tutorials and tips from @AltiumAcademy Share your thoughts and questions in the comments below!
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Don't forget to follow us on social to stay up-to-date on the latest Altium Academy content.
👉 Follow Altium on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@altiumdesigner
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👉 Follow Altium on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/altium/
👉 Follow Altium on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AltiumOfficial/
The Altium Academy is an online experience created to bring modern education to PCB Designers and Engineers all across the world. Here you can access a vast library of free training and educational content covering everything from basic design to advanced principles and step-by-step walkthroughs. Join industry legends as they share their career knowledge, review real-life design projects, or learn how to leverage one of Altium's leading design tools. No matter your level of experience, the Altium Academy can help you become a better Designer and Engineer!
About Altium LLC
Altium LLC (ASX:ALU), a global software company based in San Diego, California, is accelerating the pace of innovation through electronics. From individual inventors to multinational corporations, more PCB designers and engineers choose Altium software to design and realize electronics-based products.
SignalIntegrity #PyBERT #OpenSource
In this episode of the OnTrack Podcast, Zach Peterson sits down with Gabriel Guglielmi, VP of Global Product Management at Infinite Electronics, to explore one of the most disruptive shifts in electronics today: the rise of unmanned systems. From group one commercial drones to group five collaborative combat aircraft, Gabriel breaks down how the same revolution that transformed the space industry through SpaceX is now reshaping aerospace, defense, public safety, and consumer delivery. Learn why interconnect technology has become just as critical as semiconductor performance, and how a new generation of startups is compressing decades-long development cycles down to mere months.
The conversation digs deep into the supply chain challenges facing US and allied drone manufacturers, the FCC's part 108 regulations, the Department of War's Drone Dominance program, and why companies like Neros and Infinite Electronics see massive opportunity in rebuilding a friendly-nation supply chain. Gabriel also shares his thoughts on humanoid robotics, counter-drone systems, drone racing, agricultural applications, and the emerging low-altitude economy that could rival the internet revolution of the 1990s. Whether you design RF systems, work in aerospace and defense, or just want to understand where electronics is headed, this episode delivers a clear-eyed view of an industry being born in real time.
👉 Resources from this episode:
-
Connect with Gabriel: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabrielguglielmi/
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Infinite Electronics: https://www.infiniteelectronics.com/
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Infinite's Drones: https://www.l-com.com/military-drone-connectivity-solutions &
https://www.pasternack.com/pages/Featured_Products/military-drone-connectivity-solutions.html
💡 Stay Connected:
Don't forget to like, comment, and subscribe for more in-depth tutorials and tips from @AltiumAcademy Share your thoughts and questions in the comments below!
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Don't forget to follow us on social to stay up-to-date on the latest Altium Academy content.
👉 Follow Altium on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@altiumdesigner
👉 Follow Altium on Twitter: https://twitter.com/altium
👉 Follow Altium on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/altium/
👉 Follow Altium on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AltiumOfficial/
The Altium Academy is an online experience created to bring modern education to PCB Designers and Engineers all across the world. Here you can access a vast library of free training and educational content covering everything from basic design to advanced principles and step-by-step walkthroughs. Join industry legends as they share their career knowledge, review real-life design projects, or learn how to leverage one of Altium's leading design tools. No matter your level of experience, the Altium Academy can help you become a better Designer and Engineer!
About Altium LLC
Altium LLC (ASX:ALU), a global software company based in San Diego, California, is accelerating the pace of innovation through electronics. From individual inventors to multinational corporations, more PCB designers and engineers choose Altium software to design and realize electronics-based products.
Drones #UnmannedSystems #Altium
The PCB industry has long relied on manual microsectioning to verify board quality — but as densities increase and skilled labor becomes harder to retain, that process is breaking down. In this episode of the Altium OnTrack Podcast, host Zach Peterson welcomes back Geoffrey Leeds, founder of SCAN Labs, for his third appearance on the show. Geoffrey breaks down what he calls the "metrology gap" — the widening divide between the precision measurement capabilities available to semiconductor manufacturers and those available to PCB fabricators — and explains why this gap is becoming a critical problem for high-reliability industries like defense, aerospace, medical, and automotive.
SCAN Labs is addressing this gap head-on with a heavily automated, third-party inspection and test laboratory that specializes in microsectioning for electronics verification. Geoffrey walks through the company's serialized grinding and imaging system, which can produce a fully analyzed IPC coupon roughly every six minutes, generating high-confidence metrology data at scale. The conversation also covers the role of AI and LLMs in electronics manufacturing, the limits of current non-destructive inspection methods, and Geoffrey's vision for standardizing metrology data reporting in collaboration with IPC — so that as-built data can feed directly back into design and simulation tools.
👉 Resources from this Episode:
-
Connect with Geoffrey: https://www.linkedin.com/in/geoffrey-leeds-63389773/
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Learn more about SCAN Labs: https://www.linkedin.com/company/scan-laboratories/
💡 Stay Connected:
Don't forget to like, comment, and subscribe for more in-depth tutorials and tips from @AltiumAcademy. Share your thoughts and questions in the comments below!
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Don't forget to follow us on social to stay up-to-date on the latest Altium Academy content.
👉 Follow Altium on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@altiumdesigner
👉 Follow Altium on Twitter: https://twitter.com/altium
👉 Follow Altium on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/altium/
👉 Follow Altium on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AltiumOfficial/
The Altium Academy is an online experience created to bring modern education to PCB Designers and Engineers all across the world. Here you can access a vast library of free training and educational content covering everything from basic design to advanced principles and step-by-step walkthroughs. Join industry legends as they share their career knowledge, review real-life design projects, or learn how to leverage one of Altium's leading design tools. No matter your level of experience, the Altium Academy can help you become a better Designer and Engineer!
About Altium LLC
Altium LLC (ASX:ALU), a global software company based in San Diego, California, is accelerating the pace of innovation through electronics. From individual inventors to multinational corporations, more PCB designers and engineers choose Altium software to design and realize electronics-based products.
Altium #PCBManufacturing #Metrology
What does it take to design interconnects for AI data centers pushing 112G, 224G, and even 448G? In this episode of the Altium OnTrack Podcast, host Zach Peterson sits down with Matt Burns, Director of Technical Marketing at Samtec, to unpack how connector technology has evolved to meet the demands of modern high-speed systems. From co-packaged copper and optics to near-package interconnects, Matt walks through Samtec's product families and explains why choosing your connector early in the design cycle is no longer optional at these speeds.
The conversation also explores how these same high-speed design principles are trickling down into embedded systems, where physical AI and edge computing are creating new demands for smaller, faster, denser interconnects. Matt shares insights from DesignCon, OFC, and Embedded World, painting a picture of an industry at an inflection point — one where robotics, AI accelerators, and open embedded standards are driving the next generation of connector innovation. Whether you're a PCB designer, systems architect, or just curious about what's happening at the bleeding edge of interconnect technology, this episode is packed with practical insight.
👉 Resources from this episode:
-
More about Samtec: https://www.samtec.com/
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Connect with Matt: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-burns-samtec
💡 Stay Connected:
Don't forget to like, comment, and subscribe for more in-depth tutorials and tips from @AltiumAcademy Share your thoughts and questions in the comments below!
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Don't forget to follow us on social to stay up-to-date on the latest Altium Academy content.
👉 Follow Altium on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@altiumdesigner
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👉 Follow Altium on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/altium/
👉 Follow Altium on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AltiumOfficial/
The Altium Academy is an online experience created to bring modern education to PCB Designers and Engineers all across the world. Here you can access a vast library of free training and educational content covering everything from basic design to advanced principles and step-by-step walkthroughs. Join industry legends as they share their career knowledge, review real-life design projects, or learn how to leverage one of Altium's leading design tools. No matter your level of experience, the Altium Academy can help you become a better Designer and Engineer!
About Altium LLC
Altium LLC (ASX:ALU), a global software company based in San Diego, California, is accelerating the pace of innovation through electronics. From individual inventors to multinational corporations, more PCB designers and engineers choose Altium software to design and realize electronics-based products.
Altium #HighSpeedDesign #PhysicalAI
What if you could parse your Altium project files from the command line, generate a full BOM in seconds, extract net lists as AI-readable JSON, and spin up a 3D HTML viewer with zero dependencies — all without ever opening Altium? In this episode of the OnTrack Podcast, host Zach Peterson sits down with Eli Hughes, principal at Wavenumber LLC, to dig into a suite of open-source tools he's built around Altium file formats. Eli walks through the Altium Cruncher toolset, including Mega Maid (a vacuum-cleaner-style data extractor), a 3D PCB visualizer, and a schematic viewer with animated net tracing — all self-contained HTML files requiring no install or cloud connection.
The conversation goes far beyond visualizers. Eli reveals how he feeds parsed net lists directly into Claude and Codex for AI-assisted design reviews, power tree analysis, and even automatic Zephyr device tree generation — completing in minutes what used to take a full day. He also lays out his vision for a next-generation PDM system: an AI-queryable knowledge store that ingests decades of schematic history, EVK reference designs from TI, Renesas, NXP, and more, and supply chain data — so engineers can stop reinventing the wheel and start building on proven, procurable circuits. If you care about PCB workflow automation, AI-assisted hardware development, or the future of design reuse, this episode is essential viewing.
👉 Resources from this Episode:
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Connect with Eli: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wavenumber/
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Learn more about Octopart Discover: https://www.altium.com/company/newsroom/press-releases/octopart-introduces-octopart-discover-part-search-solution
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Check out Wavenumber LLC: https://www.wavenumber.net/
💡 Stay Connected:
Don't forget to like, comment, and subscribe for more in-depth tutorials and tips from @AltiumAcademy Share your thoughts and questions in the comments below!
👉 Subscribe for more: https://www.youtube.com/@AltiumAcademy?sub_confirmation=1
Don't forget to follow us on social to stay up-to-date on the latest Altium Academy content.
👉 Follow Altium on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@altiumdesigner
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👉 Follow Altium on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/altium/
👉 Follow Altium on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AltiumOfficial/
The Altium Academy is an online experience created to bring modern education to PCB Designers and Engineers all across the world. Here you can access a vast library of free training and educational content covering everything from basic design to advanced principles and step-by-step walkthroughs. Join industry legends as they share their career knowledge, review real-life design projects, or learn how to leverage one of Altium's leading design tools. No matter your level of experience, the Altium Academy can help you become a better Designer and Engineer!
About Altium LLC
Altium LLC (ASX:ALU), a global software company based in San Diego, California, is accelerating the pace of innovation through electronics. From individual inventors to multinational corporations, more PCB designers and engineers choose Altium software to design and realize electronics-based products.
Altium #PCBDesign #OpenSourceHardware
Is FPGA engineering the best career path for electronics engineers today? In this episode of the Altium OnTrack Podcast, host Zach Peterson sits down with Adam Taylor — founder of Adiuvo Engineering and the FPGA Horizons conference — to explore the full landscape of FPGA development. From how Adam accidentally fell into FPGAs as a new graduate to building one of the UK's most talked-about technical conferences, this conversation covers what it really means to build a career around programmable logic. Adam shares why he believes engineers should cultivate broad skill sets, how FPGAs have evolved from simple glue logic into advanced compute platforms, and what the future holds for FPGA professionals in an AI-driven world.
The episode also dives into the growing intersection of FPGA development and PCB design, the collaboration challenges that arise when hardware teams work in silos, and how AI tools like agentic coding assistants are beginning to change the way engineers write RTL. Adam also gives an inside look at FPGA Horizons — his community-driven, vendor-neutral conference now expanding to the US through a partnership with PCEA at PCB East. Whether you're a seasoned FPGA engineer, a board designer looking to understand programmable logic better, or a student weighing your career options, this episode is packed with practical insights and honest takes from someone with 26 years in the field.
👉 Resources from this Episode:
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Connect with Adam: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-taylor-8a991713/
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Adiuvo Engineering: https://www.adiuvoengineering.com/
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FPGA Horizons: https://www.fpgahorizons.com/
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PCB East: https://pcbeast.com/
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The Altium Academy is an online experience created to bring modern education to PCB Designers and Engineers all across the world. Here you can access a vast library of free training and educational content covering everything from basic design to advanced principles and step-by-step walkthroughs. Join industry legends as they share their career knowledge, review real-life design projects, or learn how to leverage one of Altium's leading design tools. No matter your level of experience, the Altium Academy can help you become a better Designer and Engineer!
About Altium LLC
Altium LLC (ASX:ALU), a global software company based in San Diego, California, is accelerating the pace of innovation through electronics. From individual inventors to multinational corporations, more PCB designers and engineers choose Altium software to design and realize electronics-based products.
Altium #FPGA #PCBDesign
Altium Develop gives your entire team real-time visibility into PCB designs, supply chain data, and manufacturing feedback — so thermal and power decisions never get made in isolation: https://www.altium.com/develop?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=ontrack-podcast&utm_content=ipc-2221-vs-2152-the-truth-about-pcb-trace-current-ratings
If you've ever sized a PCB trace using the IPC 2221 charts or relied on a 10°C rise rule of thumb, this episode of the OnTrack Podcast is essential viewing. Host Zach Peterson sits down with Mike Jouppi — the engineer behind IPC 2152 — to unpack decades of misunderstood standards, flawed assumptions, and what designers should actually be doing when it comes to conductor sizing and thermal management.
Mike walks through the critical differences between IPC 2221 and IPC 2152, explains why the internal trace data in 2221 was never derived from actual in-board testing, and reveals how adding copper planes to your design can dramatically increase power dissipation even while keeping temperature rise "within spec." If you're designing power-carrying traces without thinking in terms of power loss budgets, this conversation will change how you approach every future layout.
👉 Resources from this episode:
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High Power PCB Design: Pushing the Limits with Caleb Buck: https://youtu.be/aYi080GbV08
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Eric Bogatin on Signal Integrity, Oscilloscope Mastery & More: https://youtu.be/k88xgF8_jpk
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Connect with Mike: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mike-jouppi-a6547034a/
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Dive Deeper into IPC 2221: https://resources.altium.com/p/ipc-2221-calculator-pcb-trace-current-and-heating
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Explore IPC 2152: https://resources.altium.com/p/using-ipc-2152-calculator-designing-standards
💡 Stay Connected:
Don't forget to like, comment, and subscribe for more in-depth tutorials and tips from @AltiumAcademy Share your thoughts and questions in the comments below!
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👉 Follow Altium on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/altium/
👉 Follow Altium on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AltiumOfficial/
The Altium Academy is an online experience created to bring modern education to PCB Designers and Engineers all across the world. Here you can access a vast library of free training and educational content covering everything from basic design to advanced principles and step-by-step walkthroughs. Join industry legends as they share their career knowledge, review real-life design projects, or learn how to leverage one of Altium's leading design tools. No matter your level of experience, the Altium Academy can help you become a better Designer and Engineer!
About Altium LLC
Altium LLC (ASX:ALU), a global software company based in San Diego, California, is accelerating the pace of innovation through electronics. From individual inventors to multinational corporations, more PCB designers and engineers choose Altium software to design and realize electronics-based products.
Altium #PCBDesign #IPC2152
Altium Develop gives your entire electronics team — engineers, procurement, and manufacturers — real-time visibility into your PCB designs and supply chain, all in one platform: https://www.altium.com/develop?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=ontrack-podcast&utm_content=greenpak-for-automotive-reliability-integration-real-world-demos
Renesas' Automotive GreenPAK is a configurable mixed-signal IC that's changing how engineers approach component integration in vehicle electronics. In this episode of the Altium OnTrack podcast, host Zach Peterson sits down with Michele Deviato, Senior Product Marketing Manager at Renesas, and Oleh Saphia, Applications Engineering Manager at Renesas, to break down what truly separates automotive-grade components from their industrial counterparts. Spoiler: it's far more than just temperature range. AEC-Q100 qualification, vibration-resistant packaging, minimum pin pitch requirements, and rigorous reliability testing all play a critical role — and GreenPAK is built to meet every one of them.
Beyond the spec sheet, this episode dives into why Automotive GreenPAK is gaining rapid adoption across OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers — and even into space technology applications. Michele and Oleh walk through how GreenPAK consolidates entire boards of discrete components into a single reconfigurable IC, reducing BOM cost, board area by up to 90%, and failure rates all at once. Oleh then takes viewers through a live Go Configure Software demo, building a real LED animation circuit in minutes — no firmware required.
👉 Resources from this episode:
- Dima's Previous Episode: https://youtu.be/2b4TWE5zlB4
- Learn More about Automotive GreenPAK: https://www.renesas.com/en/products/programmable-logic/greenpak-programmable-mixed-signal-products/automotive-greenpak-programmable-mixed-signal-ics
- Go Configure: https://www.renesas.com/en/software-tool/go-configure-software-hub
- Learn More about Renasas: https://www.renesas.com/en
- Conenct with Michele: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michele-deviato/
- Connect with Oleh: https://www.linkedin.com/in/oleh-sapiha-505557197/?originalSubdomain=ua
💡 Stay Connected:
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👉 Follow Altium on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AltiumOfficial/
The Altium Academy is an online experience created to bring modern education to PCB Designers and Engineers all across the world. Here you can access a vast library of free training and educational content covering everything from basic design to advanced principles and step-by-step walkthroughs. Join industry legends as they share their career knowledge, review real-life design projects, or learn how to leverage one of Altium's leading design tools. No matter your level of experience, the Altium Academy can help you become a better Designer and Engineer!
About Altium LLC
Altium LLC (ASX:ALU), a global software company based in San Diego, California, is accelerating the pace of innovation through electronics. From individual inventors to multinational corporations, more PCB designers and engineers choose Altium software to design and realize electronics-based products.
Altium #GreenPAK #AutomotiveElectronics
In this episode of the Altium OnTrack Podcast, host Zach Peterson sits down with Stephen Newberry, Victor Kronberg, and Ching-Ping Wong from Chipletz — a fabless advanced packaging company pushing the boundaries of die-to-die interconnect technology. The team shares their background, their work on chiplet-based package design, and the technical paper they presented at DesignCon, which introduces the wallstrip transmission line: a novel interconnect structure designed to improve insertion loss, manage crosstalk, and enable higher data rates in chiplet packages without the need for a silicon interposer.
The conversation dives deep into the signal integrity challenges of advanced packaging, including how the wallstrip structure compares to traditional microstrip and stripline configurations, the role of the UCIE standard in enabling chiplet interoperability, and the long-term potential for an open chiplet marketplace. Whether you're a PCB designer curious about making the leap into IC packaging or an SI/PI engineer tracking the cutting edge of high-bandwidth interconnect design, this episode offers rare, expert-level insight into one of the most exciting frontiers in electronics engineering.
👉 Resources from this Episode:
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Connect with Chipletz: https://www.linkedin.com/company/chipletz/posts/
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Connect with Victor Kronberg: https://www.linkedin.com/in/victorkronberg/
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Connect with Ching-Ping Wong: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ching-ping-wong-21883286/
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Connect with Stephen Newberry: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stnewberry/
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Learn more about Chipletz: https://www.chipletz.com/
💡 Stay Connected:
Don't forget to like, comment, and subscribe for more in-depth tutorials and tips from @AltiumAcademy. Share your thoughts and questions in the comments below!
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Don't forget to follow us on social to stay up-to-date on the latest Altium Academy content.
👉 Follow Altium on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@altiumdesigner
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👉 Follow Altium on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/altium/
👉 Follow Altium on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AltiumOfficial/
The Altium Academy is an online experience created to bring modern education to PCB Designers and Engineers all across the world. Here you can access a vast library of free training and educational content covering everything from basic design to advanced principles and step-by-step walkthroughs. Join industry legends as they share their career knowledge, review real-life design projects, or learn how to leverage one of Altium's leading design tools. No matter your level of experience, the Altium Academy can help you become a better Designer and Engineer!
About Altium LLC
Altium LLC (ASX:ALU), a global software company based in San Diego, California, is accelerating the pace of innovation through electronics. From individual inventors to multinational corporations, more PCB designers and engineers choose Altium software to design and realize electronics-based products.
Altium #ChipletDesign #AdvancedPackaging
Altium Develop connects your entire electronics product team — from design to supply chain to manufacturing — in one unified platform: https://www.altium.com/develop?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=ontrack-podcast&utm_content=violet-labs-the-integration-hub-solving-hardware-data-chaos
Hardware engineering teams have long struggled with disconnected software tools — CAD systems that don't talk to PLMs, PLMs that don't sync with MES platforms, and engineers spending hours manually copying BOM data between systems. In this episode of the Altium OnTrack Podcast, host Zach Peterson sits down with Lucy Hoag, founder and CEO of Violet Labs, to explore how her company is tackling this pervasive problem. Lucy shares her journey from astronautical engineering and satellite design to building a no-code integration platform that acts as a centralized hub for all the disparate tools hardware teams rely on every day.
Violet works like a "Zapier for hardware engineering" — connecting mechanical CAD, electrical CAD, PLM, MES, ERP, project management tools, and more through a single middleware platform. Lucy and Zach dig into why native integrations between major software vendors remain rare, the regulatory constraints that have stalled innovation in aerospace, and how Violet's no-code approach removes barriers for non-software engineers. They also discuss Violet's newly launched MCP server, the role of AI in responsible data orchestration, and what's next on the product roadmap.
👉 Resources from this video:
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Learn about Violet Labs: https://youtu.be/or7okfDOyv8
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Connect with Lucy: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lucyhoag/
💡 Stay Connected:
Don't forget to like, comment, and subscribe for more in-depth tutorials and tips from @AltiumAcademy. Share your thoughts and questions in the comments below!
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👉 Follow Altium on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/altium/
👉 Follow Altium on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AltiumOfficial/
The Altium Academy is an online experience created to bring modern education to PCB Designers and Engineers all across the world. Here you can access a vast library of free training and educational content covering everything from basic design to advanced principles and step-by-step walkthroughs. Join industry legends as they share their career knowledge, review real-life design projects, or learn how to leverage one of Altium's leading design tools. No matter your level of experience, the Altium Academy can help you become a better Designer and Engineer!
About Altium LLC
Altium LLC (ASX:ALU), a global software company based in San Diego, California, is accelerating the pace of innovation through electronics. From individual inventors to multinational corporations, more PCB designers and engineers choose Altium software to design and realize electronics-based products.
Altium #HardwareEngineering #PCBDesign
The hardware startup landscape has transformed dramatically since 2020, and investors are finally paying attention. In this episode of the Altium OnTrack podcast, host Zach Peterson sits down with Mihir Shaw and Benji Chia, co-founders of Hardware FYI, to explore why hardware companies are becoming attractive investment opportunities again.
From PCB fabrication innovations to manufacturing automation startups, discover how a new generation of engineers is disrupting traditional industries and building companies that venture capitalists can no longer ignore.
Mihir and Benji share their unique perspectives as both hardware industry insiders and startup investors, discussing the companies making waves in aerospace manufacturing, on-demand fabrication, and automated PCB design. Learn how their popular newsletter grew from zero to 20,000 engaged readers by delivering first-principles technical content that traditional publications overlook.
👉 Resources from this episode:
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Building a hardware startup? Altium Develop streamlines your path from schematic to fabricated boards with integrated manufacturing quotes and project management: https://www.altium.com/develop?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=ontrack-podcast&utm_content=hardware-startups-investable-again
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Connect with Mihir: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mihirmshah8/
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Connect with Benjamin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bjchia/
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Learn more about Hardware FYI: https://www.hardwarefyi.com/
💡 Stay Connected: Don't forget to like, comment, and subscribe for more in-depth tutorials and tips from @AltiumAcademy Share your thoughts and questions in the comments below!
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Don't forget to follow us on social to stay up-to-date on the latest Altium Academy content.
👉 Follow Altium on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@altiumdesigner
👉 Follow Altium on Twitter: https://twitter.com/altium
👉 Follow Altium on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/altium/
👉 Follow Altium on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AltiumOfficial/
The Altium Academy is an online experience created to bring modern education to PCB Designers and Engineers all across the world. Here you can access a vast library of free training and educational content covering everything from basic design to advanced principles and step-by-step walkthroughs. Join industry legends as they share their career knowledge, review real-life design projects, or learn how to leverage one of Altium's leading design tools. No matter your level of experience, the Altium Academy can help you become a better Designer and Engineer!
About Altium LLC
Altium LLC (ASX:ALU), a global software company based in San Diego, California, is accelerating the pace of innovation through electronics. From individual inventors to multinational corporations, more PCB designers and engineers choose Altium software to design and realize electronics-based products.
HardwareStartups #PCBDesign #Altium
In this episode of the Altium OnTrack podcast, host Zach Peterson sits down with Karen Burnham, chief engineer and founder of EMC United, to explore why electromagnetic compatibility remains one of the most challenging aspects of product development. Karen shares her journey from physics to NASA Johnson Space Center and eventually into EMC consulting, offering invaluable insights into why so many engineers struggle with compliance testing and what they can do about it.
Whether you're a new designer facing your first EMC test or a seasoned engineer looking to refine your approach, this conversation covers critical topics including common misconceptions about ground plane splits, the dangers of blindly following data sheet recommendations, requirements management pitfalls, and cost-effective pre-compliance strategies. Karen also discusses the evolving role of simulation and AI in EMC design review, upcoming changes to CISPR standards, and her practical seminars designed to help engineers avoid costly failures.
👉 Resources from this Episode:
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Struggling with EMC compliance? Altium Develop gives you access to expert-led courses on design for EMC, helping you avoid costly test failures before your first prototype: https://www.altium.com/develop?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=ontrack-podcast&utm_content=karen-burnham
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Connect with Karen: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karen-burnham-42104425
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Check out Todd Hubing's Interview: https://youtu.be/7PJGPDiA31Q
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Check Out EMC United: https://www.emcunited.com/
💡 Stay Connected: Don't forget to like, comment, and subscribe for more in-depth tutorials and tips from @AltiumAcademy Share your thoughts and questions in the comments below!
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👉 Follow Altium on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/altium/
👉 Follow Altium on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AltiumOfficial/
The Altium Academy is an online experience created to bring modern education to PCB Designers and Engineers all across the world. Here you can access a vast library of free training and educational content covering everything from basic design to advanced principles and step-by-step walkthroughs. Join industry legends as they share their career knowledge, review real-life design projects, or learn how to leverage one of Altium's leading design tools. No matter your level of experience, the Altium Academy can help you become a better Designer and Engineer!
About Altium LLC
Altium LLC (ASX:ALU), a global software company based in San Diego, California, is accelerating the pace of innovation through electronics. From individual inventors to multinational corporations, more PCB designers and engineers choose Altium software to design and realize electronics-based products.
EMC #PCBDesign #Altium
In this episode of the Altium OnTrack podcast, host Zach Peterson sits down with Todd Hubing, president of LearnEMC. With over 40 years of experience in electromagnetic compatibility starting at IBM in 1982, Todd brings unparalleled expertise to some of the most misunderstood topics in PCB design. This conversation dives deep into grounding myths, decoupling capacitor placement, stack-up strategies, and common mode currents, challenging long-held assumptions that many designers take for granted.
👉 Resources from this Episode:
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Connect with Todd: https://www.linkedin.com/in/toddhubing/
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Check out LearnEMC: https://learnemc.com/
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Effective Strategies for Choosing and Locating Printed Circuit Board Decoupling Capacitors: https://cecas.clemson.edu/cvel/pdf/EMCS05-632.pdf
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Check out the latest from Altium Develop: https://www.altium.com/develop?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=ontrack-podcast&utm_content=todd-hubing
💡 Stay Connected: Don't forget to like, comment, and subscribe for more in-depth tutorials and tips from @AltiumAcademy Share your thoughts and questions in the comments below!
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Don't forget to follow us on social to stay up-to-date on the latest Altium Academy content.
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👉 Follow Altium on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/altium/
👉 Follow Altium on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AltiumOfficial/
The Altium Academy is an online experience created to bring modern education to PCB Designers and Engineers all across the world. Here you can access a vast library of free training and educational content covering everything from basic design to advanced principles and step-by-step walkthroughs. Join industry legends as they share their career knowledge, review real-life design projects, or learn how to leverage one of Altium's leading design tools. No matter your level of experience, the Altium Academy can help you become a better Designer and Engineer!
About Altium LLC
Altium LLC (ASX:ALU), a global software company based in San Diego, California, is accelerating the pace of innovation through electronics. From individual inventors to multinational corporations, more PCB designers and engineers choose Altium software to design and realize electronics-based products.
EMC #PCBDesign #Grounding
Quantum computing is no longer confined to research labs—it's entering the commercial space, and electrical engineers are uniquely positioned to contribute. In this episode of the OnTrack Podcast, host Zach Peterson sits down with quantum hardware designer Šimon Marek to explore the fascinating world of superconducting quantum chips. From transmon qubits and Josephson junctions to control electronics and FPGA-based systems, Šimon breaks down the engineering principles that make quantum computers work, revealing how familiar microwave and RF design concepts translate directly into this cutting-edge field.
Whether you're a PCB designer curious about quantum technology or an engineer looking for your next challenge, this conversation offers a practical roadmap for understanding quantum hardware. Šimon shares his journey from Arduino projects to quantum chip design, walks through actual chip layouts and simulation workflows, and discusses the fabrication processes that bring these devices to life. Discover why quantum computing might be more accessible to traditional electronics engineers than you think.
👉 Resources from this episode:
- Šimon's website: https://simonmarekquantum.com/
- Connect with Šimon: https://www.linkedin.com/in/simonm-054ba325b/
- Paper w/ Quantum Chip: https://arxiv.org/pdf/1704.05018
- Paper w/ Theory: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2005.12667
💡 Stay Connected:
Don't forget to like, comment, and subscribe for more in-depth tutorials and tips from @AltiumAcademy! Share your thoughts and questions in the comments below!
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Don't forget to follow us on social to stay up-to-date on the latest Altium Academy content.
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👉 Follow Altium on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/altium/
👉 Follow Altium on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AltiumOfficial/
The Altium Academy is an online experience created to bring modern education to PCB Designers and Engineers all across the world. Here you can access a vast library of free training and educational content covering everything from basic design to advanced principles and step-by-step walkthroughs. Join industry legends as they share their career knowledge, review real-life design projects, or learn how to leverage one of Altium's leading design tools. No matter your level of experience, the Altium Academy can help you become a better Designer and Engineer!
About Altium LLC
Altium LLC (ASX:ALU), a global software company based in San Diego, California, is accelerating the pace of innovation through electronics. From individual inventors to multinational corporations, more PCB designers and engineers choose Altium software to design and realize electronics-based products.
QuantumComputing #PCBDesign #ElectricalEngineering
Explore AI's role in the future of electronic design and hardware development with Avinash Harsh, co-founder of Wizerr AI. Discover how AI can help engineers make better decisions, reduce design risks, and unlock unprecedented creativity in PCB and electronic component design.
In this revealing Altium OnTrack podcast episode, Harsh challenges the notion that AI will replace engineers, instead presenting a vision of AI as a collaborative "teammate" that enhances human capabilities. Drawing from his background in electronics engineering and software development, he explains how AI can streamline complex tasks like component selection, risk assessment, and design optimization, potentially revolutionizing how hardware engineers approach product development.
👉 Resources from this Episode:
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Avinash on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aviharsh/
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Wizerr AI: https://www.wizerr.ai/
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OpenELX: https://www.openelx.org/
💡 Stay Connected: Don't forget to like, comment, and subscribe for more in-depth tutorials and tips from @AltiumAcademy! Share your thoughts and questions in the comments below!
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Don't forget to follow us on social to stay up-to-date on the latest Altium Academy content.
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👉 Follow Altium on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/altium/
👉 Follow Altium on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AltiumOfficial/
The Altium Academy is an online experience created to bring modern education to PCB Designers and Engineers all across the world. Here you can access a vast library of free training and educational content covering everything from basic design to advanced principles and step-by-step walkthroughs.
About Altium LLC
Altium LLC (ASX:ALU), a global software company based in San Diego, California, is accelerating the pace of innovation through electronics. From individual inventors to multinational corporations, more PCB designers and engineers choose Altium software to design and realize electronics-based products.
AIinEngineering #PCBDesign #HardwareTechnology
Join host Zach Peterson for an illuminating journey through the pivotal moments in PCB design and electronics manufacturing in 2025. This year-end review explores critical industry developments, from global trade restructuring to the dramatic expansion of Ultra High-Density Interconnect (UHDI) production capabilities in the United States and beyond.
Discover insights from expert guests who dissect the year's most significant trends: the impact of tariffs on global supply chains, the strategic reshoring of manufacturing, and the technological advances pushing the boundaries of PCB design. Learn how industry leaders are navigating challenges in electronics production, from complex substrate technologies to the intricate world of solder paste innovations.
👉 Watch any of the interviews featured in this video:
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Sean Kincade: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOUqu7yXUhw
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David Schild: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJepDxzNcyo
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Tyler Richards: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O95FQHBhlKI
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Greg Papandrew: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9YTZUn1EnVg
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Simon Hinds: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3JN2AHzfXQ
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Sasan Hashemi: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03419M-E4WE
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Timon Ruban: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6SzF8kZBpE
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Nemanja Jokanovic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1YZXUW36tzo&pp=2AYB0gcJCTwKAYcqIYzv
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Tom Rein: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=laQM-fS5NfQ
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Michael Corr: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNmKUVPn3ws
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Ari Mahpour: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40ca5N_TB4E
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Yuriy Shlepnev: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_fcpgeEE-8
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Tony Lentz: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0PgBWvz-wf8
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Paul Cooke: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ni78M7D3AvI
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Gene Weiner: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrPf2pWoKRc
💡 Stay Connected:
Don't forget to like, comment, and subscribe for more in-depth tutorials and tips from @AltiumAcademy! Share your thoughts and questions in the comments below!
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The Altium Academy is an online experience created to bring modern education to PCB Designers and Engineers all across the world. Here you can access a vast library of free training and educational content covering everything from basic design to advanced principles and step-by-step walkthroughs. Join industry legends as they share their career knowledge, review real-life design projects, or learn how to leverage one of Altium's leading design tools. No matter your level of experience, the Altium Academy can help you become a better Designer and Engineer!
About Altium LLC
Altium LLC (ASX:ALU), a global software company based in San Diego, California, is accelerating the pace of innovation through electronics. From individual inventors to multinational corporations, more PCB designers and engineers choose Altium software to design and realize electronics-based products.
PCBDesign #ElectronicManufacturing #electronicsengineering
Join Zach Peterson in an insightful conversation with Jay Patel, CEO of Amtech, as they dive deep into the world of electronics manufacturing. Discover the critical challenges in PCB production, from supply chain complexities to design for manufacturability (DFM) strategies that can make or break a product's success.
Learn about the evolving landscape of electronics manufacturing, including the shift towards reshoring, the importance of quality control, and the potential game-changing impact of standardized data formats like IPC-2581. Jay shares valuable insights from his extensive experience, offering a behind-the-scenes look at what it takes to transform a prototype into a production-ready electronic product.
👉 Resources from this Episode:
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Connect with Jay Patel: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jayrpatel/
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More about Amtech: https://buildamtech.com/
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Learn more about Octopart: https://octopart.com/
-
Check out our PCB West Interview Series: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL3aaAq2OJU5HRgjqtXCsbyHdbHn_SdWGa
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PCBManufacturing #ElectronicEngineering #ManufacturingInnovation
Dive into the revolutionary Altium Requirements Portal, a groundbreaking solution transforming how engineers manage complex project documentation. Hear from Marco Witzmann, Head of Requirements Portal at Altium, as he shares insights on simplifying document management, streamlining requirements tracking, and solving the long-standing challenges of engineering documentation.
Learn how this innovative tool helps engineers compile, organize, and verify requirements across complex projects, from aerospace to electronics design. Discover how technology can reduce document chaos and improve collaboration, making engineering workflows more efficient and transparent.
👉 Resources from this Episode:
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Learn about the Requirements Portal: https://www.altium.com/capabilities/requirements/b
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Connect with Marco: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcowitzmann/?originalSubdomain=de
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The Altium Academy is an online experience created to bring modern education to PCB Designers and Engineers all across the world. Here you can access a vast library of free training and educational content covering everything from basic design to advanced principles and step-by-step walkthroughs. Join industry legends as they share their career knowledge, review real-life design projects, or learn how to leverage one of Altium's leading design tools. No matter your level of experience, the Altium Academy can help you become a better Designer and Engineer!
About Altium LLC
Altium LLC (ASX:ALU), a global software company based in San Diego, California, is accelerating the pace of innovation through electronics. From individual inventors to multinational corporations, more PCB designers and engineers choose Altium software to design and realize electronics-based products.
AltiumDevelop #EngineeringInnovation #ProjectManagement
Dive into the cutting-edge world of AI-powered signal integrity design with Yuriy Shlepnev, founder of Simberian. In this exclusive Altium OnTrack podcast episode, discover how large language models are revolutionizing PCB design workflows, enabling unprecedented automation and intelligent decision-making in electronic engineering.
Learn how Simberian's latest breakthrough – the AI agent system in Simbeor 2025.01 – is transforming the way engineers approach signal integrity challenges. From automated stackup analysis to AI-driven optimization, this conversation reveals the future of intelligent design tools that can think and adapt like never before.
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Dive into the world of intelligent electronics manufacturing with Nemanja Jokanovic, VP of Breadboard. Learn how cutting-edge platforms are transforming Bill of Materials (BOM) management, bridging the gap between design engineers and procurement professionals. Discover how automation and smart tools can streamline your electronics design workflow, reduce costly respins, and optimize your supply chain processes.
Uncover the innovative solutions that are revolutionizing how teams collaborate, quote, and procure components more efficiently than ever before. Whether you're a design engineer, procurement specialist, or electronics industry professional, this insider look will give you valuable insights into the future of manufacturing technology.
👉 Resources from this Episode:
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Connect with Nemanja: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nemanja-jokanovic-7693557b/
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Learn More about Breadboard: https://www.breadboard.com/
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Learn More about Octopart: https://octopart.com/
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👉 Follow Altium on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AltiumOfficial/
The Altium Academy is an online experience created to bring modern education to PCB Designers and Engineers all across the world. Here you can access a vast library of free training and educational content covering everything from basic design to advanced principles and step-by-step walkthroughs. Join industry legends as they share their career knowledge, review real-life design projects, or learn how to leverage one of Altium's leading design tools. No matter your level of experience, the Altium Academy can help you become a better Designer and Engineer!
About Altium LLC
Altium LLC (ASX:ALU), a global software company based in San Diego, California, is accelerating the pace of innovation through electronics. From individual inventors to multinational corporations, more PCB designers and engineers choose Altium software to design and realize electronics-based products.
ElectronicDesign #BOM #ManufacturingTechnology
Dive into the dynamic world of printed circuit board manufacturing with Mike Buetow, President of PCEA, in this exclusive, final interview from PCB West 2025. Discover the latest trends, the growing diversity of the industry, and the exciting influx of young talent reshaping the technological landscape.
👉 Resources from this Episode:
- Watch all of our PCB West 2025 Interviews: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL3aaAq2OJU5HRgjqtXCsbyHdbHn_SdWGa
- Connect with Mike: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mike-buetow-a373401/
- Learn More about PCB West: https://pcbwest.com/
- Learn More about PCB East: https://pcbeast.com/
- Learn More about PCEA: https://pcea.net/
- Learn More about FPGA Horizons: https://www.fpgahorizons.com/
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PCBManufacturing #TechInnovation #ElectronicDesign
Join Mohammad Matin, Technical Sales Solution Architect at CELUS, as he reveals a groundbreaking approach to electronic design that leverages AI to streamline circuit development. Discover how CELUS is transforming the PCB design process by reducing complexity and empowering engineers to prototype faster.
Learn how AI can help you quickly create block diagrams, generate schematics, and minimize manual design work. Whether you're a seasoned engineer or a curious innovator, this interview provides insights into the future of electronic design automation.
Resources from this Episode:
-
Watch all of our PCB West 2025 Interviews: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL3aaAq2OJU5HRgjqtXCsbyHdbHn_SdWGa
-
Connect with Mohammad: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mohammad-matin/
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Learn More about CELUS: https://www.celus.io/
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CELUS #AIDesign #PCBDesign
Dive deep into the world of international PCB manufacturing with Tristan Ren from TapRen Solutions. Learn how innovative companies are navigating complex global supply chain challenges, from tariffs to international production logistics. Discover insider strategies for securing high-quality, cost-effective electronic manufacturing across borders.
In this exclusive interview, Zach Peterson sits down with TapRen's director of operations to unpack the intricacies of overseas PCB production. Uncover the secrets to managing international manufacturing, understanding export controls, and delivering zero-defect products with lightning-fast turnaround times.
👉 Resources from this Episode:
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Connect with Tristan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tristan-ren-a50322279/
-
Learn More about TapRen: https://www.tapren.com/
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In this first installment of our interview series live from the floor of PCB West, 2025, we are joined by Lawrence Romine, who reveals Altium's exciting new approach to product development with Altium Develop. Discover how this innovative solution brings the company back to its core mission of serving individual engineers and small teams. Learn about the strategic thinking behind creating a product that balances accessibility, functionality, and user-friendly design.
👉 Resources from this video:
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Learn more about Altium Develop: https://www.altium.com/develop
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Learn more about PCB West: https://pcbwest.com/
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Learn more about PCB East: https://pcbeast.com/
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Connect with Lawrence: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lawrence-romine-2808544/
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Discover how Circuit Mind is revolutionizing electronic design with AI-powered automation that transforms block diagrams into fully functional schematics in record time. Learn how engineers can dramatically reduce design complexity and accelerate their development process with this groundbreaking platform.
Join Tomide Adesanmi, CEO of Circuit Mind, live from the floor of PCB West 2025, as he reveals how their innovative technology helps engineers optimize circuit design, handle complex constraints, and generate schematic designs with unprecedented speed and precision.
👉 Resources from this Episode:
-
Connect with Tomide: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomide-adesanmi-6394b8105/?originalSubdomain=uk
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Learn more about Circuit Mind: https://www.circuitmind.io/
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PCBDesign #AIEngineering #ElectronicDesign
Discover how Altium is revolutionizing PCB design software with solutions tailored to teams of all sizes. In this exclusive interview from PCB West 2025, Justin Sears breaks down the key differences between Altium Develop and Altium Agile, helping you choose the perfect design platform for your organization.
Learn how these innovative solutions can streamline your PCB design process, enhance collaboration, and unlock new possibilities for electrical and mechanical engineers. Whether you're a small startup or a large enterprise, Altium has a solution that fits your unique needs.
👉 Resources from this Episode:
- Learn more about Altium Develop: https://www.altium.com/develop
- Learn more about Altium Agile: https://www.altium.com/agile
- Connect with Justin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justinsears
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PCBDesign #Altium #EngineeringTools
Discover how Renesas GreenPAK revolutionizes mixed-signal design by combining analog and digital blocks into a single programmable IC. In this comprehensive tutorial from the OnTrack Podcast, Dima Mymrikov demonstrates how to design, simulate, and program custom logic circuits in minutes using the intuitive Go Configure software—no coding required.
Learn how GreenPAK replaces multiple discrete components with one tiny, low-cost chip. From window comparators and power sequencing to level shifters and I²C expanders, see real-world examples of consolidating complex circuits into a 2x3mm package. This is the perfect solution for engineers looking to reduce board space, lower power consumption, and accelerate prototyping without the million-dollar investment of traditional ASIC development.
👉 Resources from this Episode:
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Watch the Demo on YouTube: https://youtu.be/2b4TWE5zlB4
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Learn More about GreenPAK: https://www.renesas.com/en/products/programmable-logic/greenpak-programmable-mixed-signal-products
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Connect with Dima: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dima-mymrikov-88133431/
-
Check out Octopart: https://octopart.com/
-
Go Configure Software Hub: https://www.renesas.com/en/software-tool/go-configure-software-hub
💡 Stay Connected:
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👉 Follow Altium on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AltiumOfficial/
The Altium Academy is an online experience created to bring modern education to PCB Designers and Engineers all across the world. Here you can access a vast library of free training and educational content covering everything from basic design to advanced principles and step-by-step walkthroughs. Join industry legends as they share their career knowledge, review real-life design projects, or learn how to leverage one of Altium's leading design tools. No matter your level of experience, the Altium Academy can help you become a better Designer and Engineer!
About Altium LLC
Altium LLC (ASX:ALU), a global software company based in San Diego, California, is accelerating the pace of innovation through electronics. From individual inventors to multinational corporations, more PCB designers and engineers choose Altium software to design and realize electronics-based products.
GreenPAK #ProgrammableLogic #MixedSignalDesign
Dive deep into the hidden world of counterfeit electronic components with Elijah Miller, VP of Operations at The Lab Worldwide (TLW) in this episode of the OnTrack Podcast, hosted by Tech Consultant Zach Peterson. This comprehensive discussion reveals the sophisticated methods counterfeiters use to infiltrate the electronics supply chain, from remarked chips and harvested components to elaborate re-topping schemes. Learn how third-party testing laboratories authenticate components, the difference between franchise distributors and gray market sources, and the critical testing procedures that protect mission-critical applications. Whether you're a design engineer, procurement professional, or electronics enthusiast, this conversation provides invaluable insights into component authentication, quality assurance, and supply chain risk mitigation strategies.
Discover the shocking truth about component counterfeiting rates, the role of testing standards like AS6171 and AS6081, and advanced detection methods including C-SAM imaging and Raman spectroscopy. Elijah shares real-world examples of counterfeit incidents, explains how legitimate parts end up on the gray market, and offers practical advice for protecting your projects from fake components. This episode is essential viewing for anyone involved in electronics design, manufacturing, or procurement who wants to understand the realities of component authentication in today's complex supply chain.
👉 Resources from this Episode:
- Connect with Elijah: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wwepdo/
- Learn More about The Lab Worldwide: https://thelabww.com/
💡 Stay Connected:
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👉 Follow Altium on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AltiumOfficial/
The Altium Academy is an online experience created to bring modern education to PCB Designers and Engineers all across the world. Here you can access a vast library of free training and educational content covering everything from basic design to advanced principles and step-by-step walkthroughs. Join industry legends as they share their career knowledge, review real-life design projects, or learn how to leverage one of Altium's leading design tools. No matter your level of experience, the Altium Academy can help you become a better Designer and Engineer!
About Altium LLC
Altium LLC (ASX:ALU), a global software company based in San Diego, California, is accelerating the pace of innovation through electronics. From individual inventors to multinational corporations, more PCB designers and engineers choose Altium software to design and realize electronics-based products.
ComponentTesting #Electronics #SupplyChain
Discover The Occam Group's process, a revolutionary approach to PCB assembly that eliminates solder while improving reliability, reducing costs, and simplifying manufacturing. Ray Rasmussen, Managing Partner at The Occam Group, explains how this innovative methodology embeds components and builds copper-to-copper connections using existing fabrication equipment—no massive capital investment required.
Learn how the Occam opportunity could transform electronics manufacturing by offering embedded components, superior signal integrity, and a pathway for US fabricators to compete globally. From DoD testing to potential applications in high-density interconnect and semiconductor packaging, this conversation explores the future of PCB assembly and why industry leaders are taking notice.
👉 Resources from this Episode:
-
Connect with Raymond: https://www.linkedin.com/in/raymond-rasmussen-7b98b08/
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Learn More about The Occam Group: https://theoccamgroup.com/
💡 Stay Connected:
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👉 Follow Altium on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AltiumOfficial/
The Altium Academy is an online experience created to bring modern education to PCB Designers and Engineers all across the world. Here you can access a vast library of free training and educational content covering everything from basic design to advanced principles and step-by-step walkthroughs. Join industry legends as they share their career knowledge, review real-life design projects, or learn how to leverage one of Altium's leading design tools. No matter your level of experience, the Altium Academy can help you become a better Designer and Engineer!
About Altium LLC
Altium LLC (ASX:ALU), a global software company based in San Diego, California, is accelerating the pace of innovation through electronics. From individual inventors to multinational corporations, more PCB designers and engineers choose Altium software to design and realize electronics-based products.
PCBAssembly #Occam #ElectronicsManufacturing
Join Zach Peterson as he speaks with Sasan Hashemi, founder and CEO of Tset, about revolutionizing product cost management in electronics manufacturing. Discover how modern companies are moving beyond Excel spreadsheets to sophisticated data-driven platforms that integrate technical, commercial, and market data for comprehensive total cost of ownership analysis.
In this insightful conversation, Sasan explains how Tset's platform combines internal data from PLM and ERP systems with external market intelligence from partners like Nexar to provide a complete 360-degree view of product costs. Learn about the challenges of managing carbon footprint calculations, supply chain risk quantification, and the future of AI-powered cost analysis in manufacturing.
👉 Resources from this episode:
- Connect with Sasan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sasan-hashemi/
- Learn More about Tset: https://tset.com/
- AI-Powered PCB Supply Chain Management with Luminovo's Timon Ruban: https://youtu.be/F6SzF8kZBpE
💡 Stay Connected: Don't forget to like, comment, and subscribe for more in-depth tutorials and tips from @AltiumAcademy! Share your thoughts and questions in the comments below!
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👉 Follow Altium on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/altium/
👉 Follow Altium on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AltiumOfficial/
The Altium Academy is an online experience created to bring modern education to PCB Designers and Engineers all across the world. Here you can access a vast library of free training and educational content covering everything from basic design to advanced principles and step-by-step walkthroughs. Join industry legends as they share their career knowledge, review real-life design projects, or learn how to leverage one of Altium's leading design tools. No matter your level of experience, the Altium Academy can help you become a better Designer and Engineer!
About Altium LLC
Altium LLC (ASX:ALU), a global software company based in San Diego, California, is accelerating the pace of innovation through electronics. From individual inventors to multinational corporations, more PCB designers and engineers choose Altium software to design and realize electronics-based products.
SupplyChain #CostManagement #Manufacturing
University of Minnesota students share their journey designing custom PCBs for the Bright Manufacturing Challenge. Watch as electrical and mechanical engineering students Ethan Chung, Kevin Vo, and Alexander Wan discuss their line-following robot project, from initial schematics to flex-rigid PCB manufacturing. This inspiring episode of the OnTrack Podcast reveals how young engineers learn PCB design through hands-on competition experience.
Discover the challenges these students faced when transitioning from theoretical schematics to real-world printed circuit board layouts. Learn about their innovative flex-rigid PCB solution for encoder positioning, power management strategies, and the valuable lessons learned from their first manufacturing attempt. Their story demonstrates that diving into PCB design with determination and the right resources can lead to impressive engineering achievements.
💡 Stay Connected:
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👉 Follow Altium on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/altium/
👉 Follow Altium on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AltiumOfficial/
The Altium Academy is an online experience created to bring modern education to PCB Designers and Engineers all across the world. Here you can access a vast library of free training and educational content covering everything from basic design to advanced principles and step-by-step walkthroughs. Join industry legends as they share their career knowledge, review real-life design projects, or learn how to leverage one of Altium's leading design tools. No matter your level of experience, the Altium Academy can help you become a better Designer and Engineer!
About Altium LLC
Altium LLC (ASX:ALU), a global software company based in San Diego, California, is accelerating the pace of innovation through electronics. From individual inventors to multinational corporations, more PCB designers and engineers choose Altium software to design and realize electronics-based products.
PCBDesign #electronicsengineering #engineeringstudent
Join host Zach Peterson as he sits down with industry veteran Dan Beaulieu, founder and president of DB Management Group, to explore the dramatic transformation of the PCB manufacturing landscape. With over 30 years of experience working with hundreds of companies, Dan provides unique insights into how the industry has evolved from 1,300 North American PCB shops in 2005 to just 130 today, with 90 of them under $5 million in revenue.
In this compelling discussion, Dan shares his perspective on the consolidation wave reshaping the industry, the challenges facing smaller "mom and pop" PCB shops, and the critical role of venture capital in driving growth and technological advancement. He also delves into emerging opportunities in substrate manufacturing and microelectronics, the importance of superior customer service as a competitive differentiator, and strategies for attracting and training the next generation of PCB professionals.
👉 Resources from this Episode:
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Dan's I-Connect article: https://iconnect007.com/article/146612/lessons-from-a-thousand-columns-dan-beaulieu-on-writing-selling-and-staying-the-course/146609/pcb
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Connect with Dan on LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/danbbeaulieu/
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Learn More about DB Management Group: https://www.dbmanagementgroup.com/
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👉 Follow Altium on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AltiumOfficial/
The Altium Academy is an online experience created to bring modern education to PCB Designers and Engineers all across the world. Here you can access a vast library of free training and educational content covering everything from basic design to advanced principles and step-by-step walkthroughs. Join industry legends as they share their career knowledge, review real-life design projects, or learn how to leverage one of Altium's leading design tools. No matter your level of experience, the Altium Academy can help you become a better Designer and Engineer!
About Altium LLC
Altium LLC (ASX:ALU), a global software company based in San Diego, California, is accelerating the pace of innovation through electronics. From individual inventors to multinational corporations, more PCB designers and engineers choose Altium software to design and realize electronics-based products.
PCBManufacturing #ElectronicsIndustry #PCBDesign
Join host Zach Peterson on this episode of the OnTrack Podcast as he speaks with Caleb Buck, PCB Design Electronics Engineer at Nidec Aerospace, about the critical considerations for high power PCB design. From guitar pedal prototypes etched in his kitchen to aerospace systems handling 500+ amps, Caleb shares his journey and expertise in designing life-critical electronics. Learn about voltage isolation requirements, current distribution challenges, thermal management strategies, and the pitfalls that can lead to melting connectors and component failures.
Discover practical approaches to high power design including IPC 2221 vs IPC 2152 standards, material selection for reliability, and how PCB layout dramatically affects current distribution in parallel switching circuits. Whether you're designing power electronics for automotive, aerospace, or industrial applications, this conversation provides valuable insights for pushing the boundaries of what's possible on a PCB.
👉 Resources from this episode:
-
Connect with Caleb: https://www.linkedin.com/in/caleb-buck-809b6a256/
-
Learn More about PCB West: https://pcbwest.com/
💡 Stay Connected: Don't forget to like, comment, and subscribe for more in-depth tutorials and tips from @AltiumAcademy! Share your thoughts and questions in the comments below!
Don't forget to follow us on social to stay up-to-date on the latest Altium Academy content.
👉 Follow on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@AltiumAcademy?sub_confirmation=1
👉 Follow Altium on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@altiumdesigner
👉 Follow Altium on Twitter: https://twitter.com/altium
👉 Follow Altium on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/altium/
👉 Follow Altium on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AltiumOfficial/
The Altium Academy is an online experience created to bring modern education to PCB Designers and Engineers all across the world. Here you can access a vast library of free training and educational content covering everything from basic design to advanced principles and step-by-step walkthroughs. Join industry legends as they share their career knowledge, review real-life design projects, or learn how to leverage one of Altium's leading design tools. No matter your level of experience, the Altium Academy can help you become a better Designer and Engineer!
About Altium LLC
Altium LLC (ASX:ALU), a global software company based in San Diego, California, is accelerating the pace of innovation through electronics. From individual inventors to multinational corporations, more PCB designers and engineers choose Altium software to design and realize electronics-based products.
ElectronicsDesign #PCBDesign #PowerElectronics
Join host Zach Peterson on the Altium OnTrack Podcast as he interviews Tyler Richards, founder of uFab, who is revolutionizing PCB manufacturing with chemical-free production technology. Discover how Tyler's innovative PCBee system can print multi-layer circuit boards in just 4 hours without using traditional chemical etchants like ferric chloride or cupric chloride.
From his early days as a high school freelancer on Upwork to founding a company that's changing desktop PCB fabrication, Tyler shares his journey and the technology behind uFab's game-changing approach. Learn about their laser-based manufacturing process that supports everything from FR-4 to flex materials, Rogers substrates, and even ceramic boards - all with feature sizes down to 2 mil and via sizes as small as 7-8 mil.
💡 Stay Connected: Don't forget to like, comment, and subscribe for more in-depth tutorials and tips from @AltiumAcademy! Share your thoughts and questions in the comments below!
Don't forget to follow us on social to stay up-to-date on the latest Altium Academy content.
👉 Follow Altium on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@AltiumAcademy?sub_confirmation=1
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👉 Follow Altium on Twitter: https://twitter.com/altium
👉 Follow Altium on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/altium/
👉 Follow Altium on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AltiumOfficial/
The Altium Academy is an online experience created to bring modern education to PCB Designers and Engineers all across the world. Here you can access a vast library of free training and educational content covering everything from basic design to advanced principles and step-by-step walkthroughs. Join industry legends as they share their career knowledge, review real-life design projects, or learn how to leverage one of Altium's leading design tools. No matter your level of experience, the Altium Academy can help you become a better Designer and Engineer!
About Altium LLC
Altium LLC (ASX:ALU), a global software company based in San Diego, California, is accelerating the pace of innovation through electronics. From individual inventors to multinational corporations, more PCB designers and engineers choose Altium software to design and realize electronics-based products.
PCBManufacturing #PCBPrototyping #ElectronicsManufacturing
Join Zach Peterson as he sits down with Keven Coates, Senior Electrical Engineer at Novium Designs, for an in-depth preview of his upcoming PCB West presentations. This conversation covers essential topics every PCB designer needs to master, from signal integrity fundamentals to thermal management and design for manufacturing best practices.
Discover why silicon company data sheets shouldn't be taken as gospel, learn about common assembly pitfalls that can kill first-run yields, and understand the critical importance of working with your fabrication and assembly partners early in the design process. Keven shares decades of experience from his time at Texas Instruments and offers practical insights that can save you months of rework and costly mistakes.
👉 Resources from this episode:
- Connect with Keven: https://www.linkedin.com/in/keven-coates-tamu/
- Learn more about PCB West: https://pcbwest.com/
💡 Stay Connected: Don't forget to like, comment, and subscribe for more in-depth tutorials and tips from @AltiumAcademy! Share your thoughts and questions in the comments below!
Don't forget to follow us on social to stay up-to-date on the latest Altium Academy content.
👉 Follow Altium on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@altiumdesigner
👉 Follow Altium on Twitter: https://twitter.com/altium
👉 Follow Altium on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/altium/
👉 Follow Altium on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AltiumOfficial/
The Altium Academy is an online experience created to bring modern education to PCB Designers and Engineers all across the world. Here you can access a vast library of free training and educational content covering everything from basic design to advanced principles and step-by-step walkthroughs. Join industry legends as they share their career knowledge, review real-life design projects, or learn how to leverage one of Altium's leading design tools. No matter your level of experience, the Altium Academy can help you become a better Designer and Engineer!
About Altium LLC
Altium LLC (ASX:ALU), a global software company based in San Diego, California, is accelerating the pace of innovation through electronics. From individual inventors to multinational corporations, more PCB designers and engineers choose Altium software to design and realize electronics-based products.
PCBDesign #SignalIntegrity #ThermalManagement
Meet Tom Rein, the youngest entrepreneur ever featured on the Altium OnTrack podcast and founder of Tom's Aerial Vehicles. At just 18 years old, Tom is revolutionizing American drone manufacturing with AI-powered development processes and proprietary hardware designs. In this compelling interview, discover how this young innovator is building police drones "for Americans, by Americans" while addressing critical national security concerns and manufacturing gaps.
Tom shares his remarkable journey from collecting light bulbs as a child to building a six-figure speaker company, and now developing modular drone systems that could reshape the industry. Learn how AI has reduced his development costs from $10 million and 25 engineers to a $30 ChatGPT subscription, and why American manufacturing needs to catch up to China's ecosystem advantages. This episode explores the intersection of entrepreneurship, technology innovation, and national security in the rapidly evolving drone industry.
👉 Resources from this Episode:
-
Find Tom on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomrein1/
-
Find Tom on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TomReinYT
💡 Stay Connected: Don't forget to like, comment, and subscribe for more in-depth tutorials and tips from @AltiumAcademy! Share your thoughts and questions in the comments below!
Don't forget to follow us on social to stay up-to-date on the latest Altium Academy content.
👉 Follow Altium on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@altiumdesigner
👉 Follow Altium on Twitter: https://twitter.com/altium
👉 Follow Altium on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/altium/
👉 Follow Altium on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AltiumOfficial/
The Altium Academy is an online experience created to bring modern education to PCB Designers and Engineers all across the world. Here you can access a vast library of free training and educational content covering everything from basic design to advanced principles and step-by-step walkthroughs. Join industry legends as they share their career knowledge, review real-life design projects, or learn how to leverage one of Altium's leading design tools. No matter your level of experience, the Altium Academy can help you become a better Designer and Engineer!
About Altium LLC
Altium LLC (ASX:ALU), a global software company based in San Diego, California, is accelerating the pace of innovation through electronics. From individual inventors to multinational corporations, more PCB designers and engineers choose Altium software to design and realize electronics-based products.
AmericanManufacturing #DroneIndustry #YoungEntrepreneur
Join host Zach Peterson as he sits down with David Schild, Executive Director of the Printed Circuit Board Association of America (PCBAA), fresh from their annual Washington D.C. meeting. Discover how the organization is advocating for critical legislation like H.R.3597, the Protecting Circuit Boards and Substrates Act, and why American PCB manufacturing dropped from 30% to just 4% of global production. Learn about the workforce challenges, private investment opportunities, and the strategic importance of domestic microelectronics manufacturing for everything from F-150s to F-35s.
This in-depth episode of the OnTrack Podcast unpacks the policy battles happening behind the scenes as PCBAA works to secure tax incentives and federal support for American PCB manufacturers. David shares insights from their recent congressional meetings, explains why major OEMs like RTX (Raytheon) are joining the fight, and discusses the organization's mission to educate lawmakers about the critical role circuit boards play in national security and commercial applications.
👉 Resources from this episode:
-
H.R.3597: https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/3597
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PCBAA: https://www.pcbaa.org/
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David Schild: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidschild/
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"Chip War" by Chris Miller: https://a.co/d/7CDUpI2
-
Forbes Article about US Manufacturing: https://shorturl.at/psnwM
-
Happy Holden OnTrack Episode: https://youtu.be/exh5p4G6cy8
-
Blake Moore OnTrack Episode: https://youtu.be/xU80guGtMWc
💡 Stay Connected: Don't forget to like, comment, and subscribe for more in-depth tutorials and tips from @AltiumAcademy Share your thoughts and questions in the comments below!
Don't forget to follow us on social to stay up-to-date on the latest Altium Academy content.
👉 Follow Altium on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@altiumdesigner
👉 Follow Altium on Twitter: https://twitter.com/altium
👉 Follow Altium on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/altium/
👉 Follow Altium on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AltiumOfficial/
The Altium Academy is an online experience created to bring modern education to PCB Designers and Engineers all across the world. Here you can access a vast library of free training and educational content covering everything from basic design to advanced principles and step-by-step walkthroughs. Join industry legends as they share their career knowledge, review real-life design projects, or learn how to leverage one of Altium's leading design tools. No matter your level of experience, the Altium Academy can help you become a better Designer and Engineer!
About Altium LLC
Altium LLC (ASX:ALU), a global software company based in San Diego, California, is accelerating the pace of innovation through electronics. From individual inventors to multinational corporations, more PCB designers and engineers choose Altium software to design and realize electronics-based products.
PCBManufacturing #AmericanManufacturing #PCBDesign
Discover how artificial intelligence is transforming Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) systems in this insightful conversation with Michael Corr, CEO and founder of Duro. From eliminating PLM horror stories to streamlining hardware development workflows, learn how modern cloud-based PLM platforms are revolutionizing the way engineering teams manage data from design through manufacturing.
Michael shares his journey from electrical engineer to PLM innovator, revealing the critical pain points that plague traditional PLM systems and how AI-powered solutions are solving decades-old data management challenges. Explore how intelligent automation is reducing manual processes, improving supply chain integration, and enabling hardware teams to focus on what they do best - designing innovative products.
👉 Resources from this Episode:
- Connect with Michael: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelgcorr/
- Get Duro: https://durolabs.co/
💡 Stay Connected: Don't forget to like, comment, and subscribe for more in-depth tutorials and tips from @AltiumAcademy! Share your thoughts and questions in the comments below!
Don't forget to follow us on social to stay up-to-date on the latest Altium Academy content.
👉 Follow Altium on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@altiumdesigner
👉 Follow Altium on Twitter: https://twitter.com/altium
👉 Follow Altium on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/altium/
👉 Follow Altium on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AltiumOfficial/
The Altium Academy is an online experience created to bring modern education to PCB Designers and Engineers all across the world. Here you can access a vast library of free training and educational content covering everything from basic design to advanced principles and step-by-step walkthroughs. Join industry legends as they share their career knowledge, review real-life design projects, or learn how to leverage one of Altium's leading design tools. No matter your level of experience, the Altium Academy can help you become a better Designer and Engineer!
About Altium LLC
Altium LLC (ASX:ALU), a global software company based in San Diego, California, is accelerating the pace of innovation through electronics. From individual inventors to multinational corporations, more PCB designers and engineers choose Altium software to design and realize electronics-based products.
PLM #HardwareDesign #ArtificialIntelligence
0:00 Intro
0:56 Introduction to Michael Corr and Duro PLM
3:16 Why PLM over other software solutions?
5:03 What is PLM and why do hardware teams need it?
7:42 PLM horror stories and configuration challenges
12:39 Duro's approach to simplifying PLM complexity
22:37 Simplifying PLM onboarding and configuration
24:16 I integration in PLM systems
27:57 AI opportunities in DFM and hardware optimization
30:00 Nexar and Octopart integration benefits
33:40 PCB procurement and vendor integration
37:30 Future features and manufacturing expansion
Discover how artificial intelligence is revolutionizing PCB supply chain management in this fascinating conversation with Timon Ruban, founder and managing director of Luminovo in this episode of the OnTrack Podcast. From his electrical engineering background at Stanford to building Europe's leading electronic supply chain platform, Timon shares insights on solving complex procurement challenges, automating PCB quoting, and the future of AI in electronics manufacturing.
Learn how Luminovo helps contract manufacturers and OEMs streamline their sourcing processes, manage supply chain risks, and get instant PCB quotes through advanced Gerber file analysis. Timon discusses the evolution from manual Excel-based workflows to AI-powered automation, strategic supplier management, and the exciting roadmap ahead including LLM integration for data ingestion and decision support.
👉 Resources from this Episode:
- Email Timon: timon@luminovo.com
- Timon's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/timon-ruban/?originalSubdomain=de
- Luminovo's Site: https://luminovo.com/
💡 Stay Connected: Don't forget to like, comment, and subscribe for more in-depth tutorials and tips from @AltiumAcademy! Share your thoughts and questions in the comments below!
Don't forget to follow us on social to stay up-to-date on the latest Altium Academy content.
👉 Follow Altium on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@altiumdesigner
👉 Follow Altium on Twitter: https://twitter.com/altium
👉 Follow Altium on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/altium/
👉 Follow Altium on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AltiumOfficial/
The Altium Academy is an online experience created to bring modern education to PCB Designers and Engineers all across the world. Here you can access a vast library of free training and educational content covering everything from basic design to advanced principles and step-by-step walkthroughs. Join industry legends as they share their career knowledge, review real-life design projects, or learn how to leverage one of Altium's leading design tools. No matter your level of experience, the Altium Academy can help you become a better Designer and Engineer!
About Altium LLC
Altium LLC (ASX:ALU), a global software company based in San Diego, California, is accelerating the pace of innovation through electronics. From individual inventors to multinational corporations, more PCB designers and engineers choose Altium software to design and realize electronics-based products.
SupplyChainManagement #PCBManufacturing #PCBDesign
Dive deep into the complex world of medical device supply chains with supply chain executive Simon Hinds. This comprehensive episode of the OnTrack Podcast explores the unique challenges of bringing life sciences products from development to market, including regulatory compliance, global sourcing strategies, and risk management in an increasingly complex geopolitical landscape.
From tier-one to tier-three supplier relationships to the critical importance of traceability in medical manufacturing, Simon shares real-world insights on how companies navigate everything from tariff risks to pandemic-induced disruptions. Learn about the stark differences between pharmaceutical supply chains and other industries like automotive and consumer electronics, and discover why medical device companies face uniquely high barriers to entry when implementing global assembly strategies.
👉 Resources from this Episode:
- Read Simon's Content on the Altium Blog: https://resources.altium.com/experts/simon-hinds
- Connect with Simon on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/simon-hinds-7b7a2315/?originalSubdomain=au
👉 Exclusive 15 Days Free Altium Designer Access: https://www.altium.com/promotions/altium-academy
Don't forget to follow us on social to stay up-to-date on the latest Altium Academy content.
👉 Follow Altium on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@altiumdesigner
👉 Follow Altium on Twitter: https://twitter.com/altium
👉 Follow Altium on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/altium/
👉 Follow Altium on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AltiumOfficial/
👉 Ready to try the industry's best-in-class design experience yourself? Download it today and get started! https://www.altium.com/downloads?
utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=yt-sponsor&utm_content=altium-academy
The Altium Academy is an online experience created to bring modern education to PCB Designers and Engineers all across the world. Here you can access a vast library of free training and educational content covering everything from basic design to advanced principles and step-by-step walkthroughs. Join industry legends as they share their career knowledge, review real-life design projects, or learn how to leverage one of Altium's leading design tools. No matter your level of experience, the Altium Academy can help you become a better Designer and Engineer!
About Altium LLC
Altium LLC (ASX:ALU), a global software company based in San Diego, California, is accelerating the pace of innovation through electronics. From individual inventors to multinational corporations, more PCB designers and engineers choose Altium software to design and realize electronics-based products.
SupplyChain #MedicalDevices #LifeSciences
Join us for an in-depth conversation with Lukas Henkel, co-founder of Open Visions Technology, as he shares exciting updates on his cutting-edge open source hardware projects. From modular Linux-based smartwatches to Framework laptop modifications, discover how advanced PCB design techniques are pushing the boundaries of what's possible in open source electronics.
In this episode, Lukas reveals the engineering challenges behind creating a fully modular smartwatch that runs Linux, complete with custom SIP (System in Package) design using HDI PCB technology. Learn about the innovative approaches to packaging multiple modules in an ultra-compact form factor, including the use of specialized low-DK substrates from Thintronics for achieving optimal signal integrity.
👉 Resources from this episode:
-
Connect with Lukas: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lukas-henkel-ovt/?originalSubdomain=de
-
Lukas on Altium: https://resources.altium.com/p/lukas-henkel
👉 Exclusive 15 Days Free Altium Designer Access: https://www.altium.com/promotions/altium-academy
💡 Stay Connected: Don't forget to like, comment, and subscribe for more in-depth tutorials and tips from @AltiumAcademy! Share your thoughts and questions in the comments below!
Don't forget to follow us on social to stay up-to-date on the latest Altium Academy content.
👉 Follow Altium on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@altiumdesigner
👉 Follow Altium on Twitter: https://twitter.com/altium
👉 Follow Altium on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/altium/
👉 Follow Altium on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AltiumOfficial/
👉 Ready to try the industry's best-in-class design experience yourself? Download it today and get started! https://www.altium.com/downloads?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=yt-sponsor&utm_content=altium-academy
The Altium Academy is an online experience created to bring modern education to PCB Designers and Engineers all across the world. Here you can access a vast library of free training and educational content covering everything from basic design to advanced principles and step-by-step walkthroughs. Join industry legends as they share their career knowledge, review real-life design projects, or learn how to leverage one of Altium's leading design tools. No matter your level of experience, the Altium Academy can help you become a better Designer and Engineer!
About Altium LLC
Altium LLC (ASX:ALU), a global software company based in San Diego, California, is accelerating the pace of innovation through electronics. From individual inventors to multinational corporations, more PCB designers and engineers choose Altium software to design and realize electronics-based products.
opensourcehardware #pcbdesign #altiumdesigner
Join us for an in-depth conversation with Ari Mahpour, Embedded Systems Engineer at Rivian, as he reveals how AI is revolutionizing embedded development and testing workflows on this episode of the OnTrack Podcast.
From voice-controlled Arduino programming to automated hardware-in-the-loop testing, discover cutting-edge techniques that are transforming the industry. Learn about embedded DevOps, Cloud-driven testing infrastructure, and how AI agents can write, compile, and test code autonomously.
Explore the intersection of hardware and software development, from NASA's space missions to modern automotive systems. Ari shares practical insights on bridging the gap between electronics design and software development, implementing CI/CD pipelines for embedded systems, and leveraging AI for everything from data sheet analysis to automated test generation.
Resources from this episode:
-
Check out the Octopart YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@Octopart
-
Browse all of Ari's Tutorials on Octopart: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtZurp7-0DcVXIR-fvnjVU0UyxgVSgSYu&si=kXqnNeSoAkGEh6oz
-
Connect with Ari here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/arimahpour/
👉 Exclusive 15 Days Free Altium Designer Access: https://www.altium.com/promotions/altium-academy
💡 Stay Connected: Don't forget to like, comment, and subscribe for more in-depth tutorials and tips from @AltiumAcademy! Share your thoughts and questions in the comments below!
Don't forget to follow us on social to stay up-to-date on the latest Altium Academy content.
👉 Follow Altium on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@altiumdesigner
👉 Follow Altium on Twitter: https://twitter.com/altium
👉 Follow Altium on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/altium/
👉 Follow Altium on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AltiumOfficial/
👉 Ready to try the industry's best-in-class design experience yourself? Download it today and get started! https://www.altium.com/downloads?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=yt-sponsor&utm_content=altium-academy
The Altium Academy is an online experience created to bring modern education to PCB Designers and Engineers all across the world. Here you can access a vast library of free training and educational content covering everything from basic design to advanced principles and step-by-step walkthroughs. Join industry legends as they share their career knowledge, review real-life design projects, or learn how to leverage one of Altium's leading design tools. No matter your level of experience, the Altium Academy can help you become a better Designer and Engineer!
About Altium LLC
Altium LLC (ASX:ALU), a global software company based in San Diego, California, is accelerating the pace of innovation through electronics. From individual inventors to multinational corporations, more PCB designers and engineers choose Altium software to design and realize electronics-based products.
EmbeddedSystems #AITesting #DevOps
0:00 Intro
00:45 Introduction to Ari Mahpour and his background
03:36 What is an embedded systems engineer?
6:50 Understanding DevOps and its applications
10:30 Embedded DevOps methodology explained
15:30 Hardware-in-the-loop testing automation
17:44 Managing hardware and software alignment
29:01 AI applications in embedded development
40:50 Model Context Protocol (MCP), AI guardrails & misconceptions
48:30 Future of AI in embedded testing
In this insightful episode of the Altium OnTrack Podcast, host Zach Peterson sits down with Kirsch Mackey, founder of HaSofu, to explore the evolving landscape of PCB design education. Kirsch reveals how his educational platform bridges the critical gap between academic theory and industry requirements, sharing his unique journey from physics enthusiast to electronics education innovator.
Discover how HaSofu is revolutionizing hardware design education and learn about the potential and limitations of AI in PCB design workflows.
👉 Resources from this Episode:
-
Connect with Kirsch: https://www.linkedin.com/in/knmackey/
-
The 8051 Microcontrollers & Embedded Systems: https://www.amazon.com/8051-Microcontrollers-Embedded-Systems/dp/8131710262/ref=sr_1_1
-
STM32 Arm Programming for Embedded Systems: https://www.amazon.com/STM32-Arm-Programming-Embedded-Systems/dp/0997925949
👉 Exclusive 15 Days Free Altium Designer Access: https://www.altium.com/promotions/altium-academy
💡 Stay Connected:
Don't forget to like, comment, and subscribe for more in-depth tutorials and tips from @AltiumAcademy! Share your thoughts and questions in the comments below!
👉 Subscribe for more: https://www.youtube.com/@AltiumAcademy?sub_confirmation=1
Don't forget to follow us on social to stay up-to-date on the latest Altium Academy content.
👉 Follow Altium on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@altiumdesigner
👉 Follow Altium on Twitter: https://twitter.com/altium
👉 Follow Altium on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/altium/
👉 Follow Altium on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AltiumOfficial/
👉 Ready to try the industry's best-in-class design experience yourself? Download it today and get started! https://www.altium.com/downloads?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=yt-sponsor&utm_content=altium-academy
The Altium Academy is an online experience created to bring modern education to PCB Designers and Engineers all across the world. Here you can access a vast library of free training and educational content covering everything from basic design to advanced principles and step-by-step walkthroughs. Join industry legends as they share their career knowledge, review real-life design projects, or learn how to leverage one of Altium's leading design tools. No matter your level of experience, the Altium Academy can help you become a better Designer and Engineer!
About Altium LLC
Altium LLC (ASX:ALU), a global software company based in San Diego, California, is accelerating the pace of innovation through electronics. From individual inventors to multinational corporations, more PCB designers and engineers choose Altium software to design and realize electronics-based products.
PCBDesign #ElectronicsEducation #HardwareDesign
0:00 Intro
1:2 Kirsch's background and journey into electronics
4:25 Evolution of AI and machine learning in engineering
6:15 Realistic expectations for AI in PCB design
9:30 Introduction to HaSofu educational platform
11:41 Topics covered at HaSofu's electronics courses
16:53 Bridging academic-industry knowledge gaps
29:32 Future of AI in hardware design education
32:29 Edge computing and hardware development trends
37:49 Future plans for HaSofu courses
40:22 Critical warning about AI in hardware design
50:17 Closing remarks
Explore PCB East 2025 with Zach Peterson and Ethan Pierce as they break down this year's conference highlights, technical sessions, and emerging AI trends in PCB design. Discover why this industry event provides unparalleled networking opportunities with vendors, fabricators, and industry leaders that can transform your career in electronics design.
PCB East offers something for everyone in the electronics industry - from design engineers to operations personnel. Learn about the latest AI tools on display, how fabricators are handling tariff challenges, and why attending specialized conferences can provide valuable face time with executives that larger shows simply can't match.
👉 From this episode:
- PCB East: https://pcbeast.com/
- Connect with Ethan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pierceethan
👉 Exclusive 15 Days Free Altium Designer Access: https://www.altium.com/promotions/altium-academy
💡 Stay Connected:
Don't forget to like, comment, and subscribe for more in-depth tutorials and tips from @AltiumAcademy Share your thoughts and questions in the comments below!
Don't forget to follow us on social to stay up-to-date on the latest Altium Academy content.
👉 Follow Altium on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@altiumdesigner
👉 Follow Altium on Twitter: https://twitter.com/altium
👉 Follow Altium on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/altium/
👉 Follow Altium on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AltiumOfficial/
👉 Ready to try the industry's best-in-class design experience yourself? Download it today and get started! https://www.altium.com/downloads?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=yt-sponsor&utm_content=altium-academy
The Altium Academy is an online experience created to bring modern education to PCB Designers and Engineers all across the world. Here you can access a vast library of free training and educational content covering everything from basic design to advanced principles and step-by-step walkthroughs. Join industry legends as they share their career knowledge, review real-life design projects, or learn how to leverage one of Altium's leading design tools. No matter your level of experience, the Altium Academy can help you become a better Designer and Engineer!
About Altium LLC
Altium LLC (ASX:ALU), a global software company based in San Diego, California, is accelerating the pace of innovation through electronics. From individual inventors to multinational corporations, more PCB designers and engineers choose Altium software to design and realize electronics-based products.
PCBEast #ElectronicsDesign #PCBDesign
In this enlightening episode of the Altium OnTrack Podcast, Tech Consultant Zach Peterson sits down with Jordan Danko, founder of FC Design Services, to explore the challenges and strategies of growing an electronics design consultancy.
Jordan shares his journey from electrical engineer to business owner, revealing how he transitioned from corporate employment to entrepreneurship and the lessons learned while scaling his team. Discover valuable insights on managing client relationships, balancing design work with business development, and adapting to supply chain disruptions.
👉 Resources from this episode:
- Connect with Jordan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jordan-danko-5148b5125/
- Learn More about FC Design Services: https://fcdesignservices.com/
👉 Exclusive 15 Days Free Altium Designer Access: https://www.altium.com/promotions/altium-academy
💡 Stay Connected:
Don't forget to like, comment, and subscribe for more in-depth tutorials and tips from @AltiumAcademy! Share your thoughts and questions in the comments below!
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The Altium Academy is an online experience created to bring modern education to PCB Designers and Engineers all across the world. Here you can access a vast library of free training and educational content covering everything from basic design to advanced principles and step-by-step walkthroughs. Join industry legends as they share their career knowledge, review real-life design projects, or learn how to leverage one of Altium's leading design tools. No matter your level of experience, the Altium Academy can help you become a better Designer and Engineer!
About Altium LLC
Altium LLC (ASX:ALU), a global software company based in San Diego, California, is accelerating the pace of innovation through electronics. From individual inventors to multinational corporations, more PCB designers and engineers choose Altium software to design and realize electronics-based products.
ElectronicsDesign #PCBDesign #Engineering
0:00 Intro
1:19 From mechanical to electrical engineering career path
3:03 Starting and growing FC Design Services
6:50 Challenges of selling PCB design services
9:02 Moving beyond just PCB design to full product solutions
12:55 The impacts of AI on the engineering field
16:11 Advice for young engineers wanting to start a business
22:20 Challenges of Scaling
25:41 Supply chain issues and tariffs affecting the industry
31:30 Undercutting & Markup Challenges
39:52 IP protection concerns with overseas manufacturing
44:48 Final thoughts and contact information
Dive into the cutting-edge world of high-current power distribution networks with Ben Dannan, founder of Signal Edge Solutions and DesignCon's Engineer of the Year. Ben shares invaluable insights on designing, modeling, and validating 2,000 amp power supplies for data center applications, exploring the challenges of current density requirements exceeding 100 amps per square centimeter, and the industry debate between vertical versus horizontal power delivery approaches.
Learn how package design, embedded capacitance solutions, and accurate modeling are revolutionizing power integrity for today's demanding AI processors and data center ASICs. Ben also reveals his upcoming measurement-based model library that promises to transform large-signal simulation capabilities for PDN design.
👉 Exclusive 15 Days Free Altium Designer Access: https://www.altium.com/promotions/altium-academy
👉 Resources from this Episode:
-
Connect with Ben: https://www.linkedin.com/in/benjamin-dannan/ or info@signaledgesolutions.com
-
NVIDIA Blackwell Platform Arrives to Power a New Era of Computing: https://nvidianews.nvidia.com/news/nvidia-blackwell-platform-arrives-to-power-a-new-era-of-computing
-
Signal Edge Solutions: signaledgesolutions.com
💡 Stay Connected: Don't forget to like, comment, and subscribe for more in-depth tutorials and tips from @AltiumAcademy Share your thoughts and questions in the comments below!
Don't forget to follow us on social to stay up-to-date on the latest Altium Academy content.
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👉 Ready to try the industry's best-in-class design experience yourself? Download it today and get started! https://www.altium.com/downloads?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=yt-sponsor&utm_content=altium-academy
The Altium Academy is an online experience created to bring modern education to PCB Designers and Engineers all across the world. Here you can access a vast library of free training and educational content covering everything from basic design to advanced principles and step-by-step walkthroughs. Join industry legends as they share their career knowledge, review real-life design projects, or learn how to leverage one of Altium's leading design tools. No matter your level of experience, the Altium Academy can help you become a better Designer and Engineer!
About Altium LLC
Altium LLC (ASX:ALU), a global software company based in San Diego, California, is accelerating the pace of innovation through electronics. From individual inventors to multinational corporations, more PCB designers and engineers choose Altium software to design and realize electronics-based products.
PowerIntegrity #electronicsdesign #PCBDesign
In this insightful OnTrack Podcast episode, Zach Peterson sits down with Kristen Aguiar, Training Developer at Altium, to tackle one of the most persistent challenges in PCB design: component libraries. Discover practical approaches to library management, learn about common pitfalls in footprint creation, and gain valuable insights on standardization from Kristen's extensive industry experience.
From the complexities of managing library data to implementing effective processes and handling the "people problem," this conversation offers invaluable guidance for designers and engineers struggling with CAD libraries. Kristen also shares her thoughts on third-party CAD sources and her upcoming presentations at PCB East.
👉 Resources from this episode:
-
Connect with Kristen: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristen-aguiar-b3867527/
-
Learn more about PCB East: https://pcbeast.com/
👉 Exclusive 15 Days Free Altium Designer Access: https://www.altium.com/promotions/altium-academy
💡 Stay Connected:
Don't forget to like, comment, and subscribe for more in-depth tutorials and tips from @AltiumAcademy! Share your thoughts and questions in the comments below!
Don't forget to follow us on social to stay up-to-date on the latest Altium Academy content.
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👉 Follow Altium on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/altium/
👉 Follow Altium on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AltiumOfficial/
👉 Ready to try the industry's best-in-class design experience yourself? Download it today and get started! https://www.altium.com/downloads?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=yt-sponsor&utm_content=altium-academy
The Altium Academy is an online experience created to bring modern education to PCB Designers and Engineers all across the world. Here you can access a vast library of free training and educational content covering everything from basic design to advanced principles and step-by-step walkthroughs. Join industry legends as they share their career knowledge, review real-life design projects, or learn how to leverage one of Altium's leading design tools. No matter your level of experience, the Altium Academy can help you become a better Designer and Engineer!
About Altium LLC
Altium LLC (ASX:ALU), a global software company based in San Diego, California, is accelerating the pace of innovation through electronics. From individual inventors to multinational corporations, more PCB designers and engineers choose Altium software to design and realize electronics-based products.
PCBDesign #Altium #ComponentManagement
Discover how to design innovative 3D structural electronics using Altium Designer with product manager Jack Henriques. Learn about printed electronics, 3D-MIDs, functional surfaces, and how to create circuits on three-dimensional substrates beyond traditional flat PCBs.
Explore the toolset that lets you place components on curved surfaces, route traces along contours while maintaining consistent width, and develop complex multi-layer printed electronics. This episode of the OnTrack podcast demonstrates how Altium Designer enables revolutionary form factors for next-generation electronic devices.
👉 Exclusive 15 Days Free Altium Designer Access: https://www.altium.com/promotions/altium-academy
💡 Stay Connected:
Don't forget to like, comment, and subscribe for more in-depth tutorials and tips from @AltiumAcademy! Share your thoughts and questions in the comments below!
Don't forget to follow us on social to stay up-to-date on the latest Altium Academy content.
👉 Follow Altium on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@altiumdesigner
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👉 Follow Altium on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/altium/
👉 Follow Altium on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AltiumOfficial/
👉 Ready to try the industry's best-in-class design experience yourself? Download it today and get started! https://www.altium.com/downloads?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=yt-sponsor&utm_content=altium-academy
The Altium Academy is an online experience created to bring modern education to PCB Designers and Engineers all across the world. Here you can access a vast library of free training and educational content covering everything from basic design to advanced principles and step-by-step walkthroughs. Join industry legends as they share their career knowledge, review real-life design projects, or learn how to leverage one of Altium's leading design tools. No matter your level of experience, the Altium Academy can help you become a better Designer and Engineer!
About Altium LLC
Altium LLC (ASX:ALU), a global software company based in San Diego, California, is accelerating the pace of innovation through electronics. From individual inventors to multinational corporations, more PCB designers and engineers choose Altium software to design and realize electronics-based products.
StructuralElectronics #AltiumDesigner #3DPCB
Inconsistent PCB libraries can lead to costly manufacturing errors and project delays. In this episode of the Altium OnTrack podcast, our guest Elizabeth Bustamante shares her expertise on PCB library standardization challenges and practical solutions for design teams.
Join host Zach Peterson as he discusses with Elizabeth the importance of understanding library standards, verification processes, and how to properly evaluate third-party library sources. Learn valuable insights for maintaining consistency across your PCB design libraries.
👉 Exclusive 15 Days Free Altium Designer Access: https://www.altium.com/promotions/altium-academy
💡 Stay Connected:
Don't forget to like, comment, and subscribe for more in-depth tutorials and tips from @AltiumAcademy! Share your thoughts and questions in the comments below!
Don't forget to follow us on social to stay up-to-date on the latest Altium Academy content.
👉 Follow Altium on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@altiumdesigner
👉 Follow Altium on Twitter: https://twitter.com/altium
👉 Follow Altium on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/altium/
👉 Follow Altium on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AltiumOfficial/
👉 Ready to try the industry's best-in-class design experience yourself? Download it today and get started! https://www.altium.com/downloads?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=yt-sponsor&utm_content=altium-academy
The Altium Academy is an online experience created to bring modern education to PCB Designers and Engineers all across the world. Here you can access a vast library of free training and educational content covering everything from basic design to advanced principles and step-by-step walkthroughs. Join industry legends as they share their career knowledge, review real-life design projects, or learn how to leverage one of Altium's leading design tools. No matter your level of experience, the Altium Academy can help you become a better Designer and Engineer!
About Altium LLC
Altium LLC (ASX:ALU), a global software company based in San Diego, California, is accelerating the pace of innovation through electronics. From individual inventors to multinational corporations, more PCB designers and engineers choose Altium software to design and realize electronics-based products.
PCBDesign #ElectronicsEngineering #AltiumDesigner
Discover the complex landscape of PCB manufacturing in this insightful interview from the OnTrack Podcast with Greg Papandrew, Managing Director of DirectPCB. Learn how recent tariff changes are impacting the industry, why balancing cost and quality remains critical, and what options exist beyond China for PCB sourcing.
Greg shares valuable strategies for navigating global supply chains and offers practical advice for designers looking to optimize their PCB designs for better manufacturing outcomes.
This episode of the Altium OnTrack podcast explores the evolving PCB manufacturing ecosystem, examining how geopolitical factors are reshaping where and how circuit boards are produced.
👉 Resources from this episode:
-
Connect with Greg: https://www.linkedin.com/in/greg-papandrew-5025834/
-
Learn More about DirectPCB: https://www.directpcb.com/
👉 Exclusive 15 Days Free Altium Designer Access: https://www.altium.com/promotions/altium-academy
💡 Stay Connected:
Don't forget to like, comment, and subscribe for more in-depth tutorials and tips from @AltiumAcademy Share your thoughts and questions in the comments below!
Don't forget to follow us on social to stay up-to-date on the latest Altium Academy content.
👉 Follow Altium on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@altiumdesigner
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👉 Follow Altium on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/altium/
👉 Follow Altium on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AltiumOfficial/
👉 Ready to try the industry's best-in-class design experience yourself? Download it today and get started! https://www.altium.com/downloads?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=yt-sponsor&utm_content=altium-academy
The Altium Academy is an online experience created to bring modern education to PCB Designers and Engineers all across the world. Here you can access a vast library of free training and educational content covering everything from basic design to advanced principles and step-by-step walkthroughs. Join industry legends as they share their career knowledge, review real-life design projects, or learn how to leverage one of Altium's leading design tools. No matter your level of experience, the Altium Academy can help you become a better Designer and Engineer!
About Altium LLC
Altium LLC (ASX:ALU), a global software company based in San Diego, California, is accelerating the pace of innovation through electronics. From individual inventors to multinational corporations, more PCB designers and engineers choose Altium software to design and realize electronics-based products.
PCBManufacturing #ElectronicsSupplyChain #PCBDesign
Discover how the Printed Circuit Engineering Association (PCEA) is revolutionizing electronics education through innovative training programs and university partnerships. In this episode of the OnTrack Podcast, Host Zach Peterson interviews PCEA President Mike Buetow shares insights on their mission to bridge the skills gap in PCB design, their partnership with Wayne State University, and the launch of the new PCB Detroit show.
Learn about PCEA's certified training curriculum, their vision for AI in PCB design, and how they're preparing the next generation of designers. This enlightening conversation reveals how PCEA is making PCB design knowledge more accessible through chapter-based local communities, professional certifications, and university collaborations. Mike also discusses the challenges of integrating AI into the design process and shares his perspective on the future of PCB design tools and education.
👉 Exclusive 15 Days Free Altium Designer Access: https://www.altium.com/promotions/altium-academy
👉 Connect with Mike Here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mike-buetow-a373401/
💡 Stay Connected:
Don't forget to like, comment, and subscribe for more in-depth tutorials and tips from @AltiumAcademy Share your thoughts and questions in the comments below!
Don't forget to follow us on social to stay up-to-date on the latest Altium Academy content.
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👉 Follow Altium on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AltiumOfficial/
👉 Ready to try the industry's best-in-class design experience yourself? Download it today and get started! https://www.altium.com/downloads?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=yt-sponsor&utm_content=altium-academy
The Altium Academy is an online experience created to bring modern education to PCB Designers and Engineers all across the world. Here you can access a vast library of free training and educational content covering everything from basic design to advanced principles and step-by-step walkthroughs. Join industry legends as they share their career knowledge, review real-life design projects, or learn how to leverage one of Altium's leading design tools. No matter your level of experience, the Altium Academy can help you become a better Designer and Engineer!
About Altium LLC
Altium LLC (ASX:ALU), a global software company based in San Diego, California, is accelerating the pace of innovation through electronics. From individual inventors to multinational corporations, more PCB designers and engineers choose Altium software to design and realize electronics-based products.
PCBDesign #ElectronicsEducation #PCEA
IPC APEX 2025 is bringing unprecedented opportunities for electronics industry professionals to shape the future of manufacturing. In this exclusive interview, IPC President & CEO Dr. John Mitchell reveals how this event combines standards development, technical innovation, and powerful networking opportunities under one roof. Learn why both seasoned professionals and emerging engineers should attend this transformative industry gathering.
From evolving workforce development initiatives to cutting-edge technical sessions on AI, advanced packaging, and EV power electronics, discover how IPC APEX 2025 is addressing the industry's most pressing challenges. Dr. Mitchell shares insights on new features like the Learning Lounge and explains how attendees can maximize their experience across standards meetings, professional development courses, and the exhibition floor.
📚 Related content mentioned in this episode:
-
Watch our previous conversations with Dr. Mitchell: https://youtu.be/CW9E3kYy4vU
-
Learn more about "Fire Your Hiring Habits" by Dr. John Mitchell: https://www.ipc.org/news-release/ipc-president-and-ceo-dr-john-w-mitchell-releases-new-book-fire-your-hiring-habits
-
Learn More about IPC: https://www.ipc.org/
-
Register for IPC Expo: https://www.ipcapexexpo.org/
-
Connect with Dr. Mitchell: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnwmitchell/
👉 Exclusive 15 Days Free Altium Designer Access: https://www.altium.com/promotions/altium-academy
💡 Stay Connected:
Don't forget to like, comment, and subscribe for more in-depth tutorials and tips from @AltiumAcademy Share your thoughts and questions in the comments below!
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Don't forget to follow us on social to stay up-to-date on the latest Altium Academy content.
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👉 Ready to try the industry's best-in-class design experience yourself? Download it today and get started! https://www.altium.com/downloads?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=yt-sponsor&utm_content=altium-academy
The Altium Academy is an online experience created to bring modern education to PCB Designers and Engineers all across the world. Here you can access a vast library of free training and educational content covering everything from basic design to advanced principles and step-by-step walkthroughs. Join industry legends as they share their career knowledge, review real-life design projects, or learn how to leverage one of Altium's leading design tools. No matter your level of experience, the Altium Academy can help you become a better Designer and Engineer!
About Altium LLC
Altium LLC (ASX:ALU), a global software company based in San Diego, California, is accelerating the pace of innovation through electronics. From individual inventors to multinational corporations, more PCB designers and engineers choose Altium software to design and realize electronics-based products.
ElectronicsManufacturing #IPCAPEX2025 #PCBDesign
Join Tech Consultant Zach Peterson as he chats with Tony Lentz, Chemist and Field Application Engineer with FCT Assembly, about the latest innovations in solder paste for ultra-high density interconnects (UHDI) and the challenges of working with smaller solder powder sizes. The pair also discusses the role of AI in electronics manufacturing and the future of PCB assembly.
Tony brings his deep knowledge of materials science and the chemistry of electronics to this insightful discussion, providing valuable perspectives on industry trends and advanced packaging techniques. Tune in to learn about the exciting developments shaping the future of electronics manufacturing.
👉 Connect with Tony Lentz: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tony-lentz-a14a0b64/
👉 Exclusive 15 Days Free Altium Designer Access: https://www.altium.com/promotions/altium-academy
Don't forget to follow us on social to stay up-to-date on the latest Altium Academy content.
👉 Watch this Episode on Our YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@AltiumAcademy
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👉 Follow Altium on Twitter: https://twitter.com/altium
👉 Follow Altium on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/altium/
👉 Follow Altium on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AltiumOfficial/
About Altium LLC
Altium LLC (ASX:ALU), a global software company based in San Diego, California, is accelerating the pace of innovation through electronics. From individual inventors to multinational corporations, more PCB designers and engineers choose Altium software to design and realize electronics-based products.
UHDI #electronicsmanufacturing #AI
Discover the ideas behind the next generation of electronics engineers and the groundbreaking innovations they are driving. From designing circuits for space exploration to tackling challenges in PCB manufacturing, this video explores the journey today's young engineers undergo as they attempt to make their mark on advanced electronics.
Join Paul Cooke, Director of Application Engineering at AGC Multi Materials, as he chats with host Tech Consultant Zach Peterson. Among other topics, the two explore:
- Insights into the future of electronics design.
- Workforce development challenges in the industry.
- The role of cutting-edge materials in Ultra HDI (UHDI) manufacturing.
Key Takeaways:
- Why young engineers should be excited about the electronics industry.
- The impact of innovation on industries like aerospace and AI.
- Strategies to thrive as an engineer in a high-tech world.
👉 Resources from this Episode:
- Connect with Paul: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulcooke1730/?originalSubdomain=ca
- Learn more about AGC Multi Materials: https://www.agc-multimaterial.com/
👉 Exclusive 15 Days Free Altium Designer Access: https://www.altium.com/promotions/altium-academy
Don't forget to follow us on social to stay up-to-date on the latest Altium content.
👉 Follow Altium on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@altiumdesigner
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👉 Follow Altium on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/altium/
👉 Follow Altium on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AltiumOfficial/
About Altium LLC
Altium LLC (ASX:ALU), a global software company based in San Diego, California, is accelerating the pace of innovation through electronics. From individual inventors to multinational corporations, more PCB designers and engineers choose Altium software to design and realize electronics-based products.
Altium #PCBdesign #techpodcast
Explore the revolutionary advancements of Ultra HDI in PCB design and manufacturing. In this episode of the Altium OnTrack Podcast, Zach Peterson sits down with Tara Dunn, Director of Training and Education at SMTA, to discuss how UHDI is reshaping the PCB industry.
Gain insights into its impact on design, fabrication, and assembly, and learn how to stay ahead in this rapidly evolving field.
Highlights:
- The future of Ultra HDI in PCB manufacturing
- Challenges and opportunities for PCB designers
- SMTA’s role in fostering innovation and collaboration
👉 Resources from this Episode:
- SMTA website: https://Smta.org
- SMTA Knowledge Base: https://smta.org/page/technical
- SMTA Events: https://smta.org/events/event_list.asp
- SMTA Conferences: https://smta.org/events/event_list.asp?show=&group=&start=1%2F13%2F2025&end=&view=&cid=20781
- SMTA Chapter Expos: https://smta.org/events/event_list.asp?show=&group=&start=1%2F13%2F2025&end=&view=&cid=20781
- SMTA Membership: https://smta.org/page/membership
- Ultra HDI Symposium: www.smta.org/uhdi
👉 Exclusive 15 Days Free Altium Designer Access: https://www.altium.com/promotions/altium-academy
Don't forget to follow us on social to stay up-to-date on the latest Altium content.
👉 Follow Altium on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@altiumdesigner
👉 Follow Altium on Twitter: https://twitter.com/altium
👉 Follow Altium on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/altium/
👉 Follow Altium on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AltiumOfficial/
About Altium LLC
Altium LLC (ASX:ALU), a global software company based in San Diego, California, is accelerating the pace of innovation through electronics. From individual inventors to multinational corporations, more PCB designers and engineers choose Altium software to design and realize electronics-based products.
Altium #PCBdesign #Electronics
Welcome to Altium's OnTrack Podcast! In this episode, host Zach Peterson speaks with Sean Kincaid, President of K & F Electronics, about the complex realities of reshoring electronics manufacturing.
Explore why reshoring is about more than just production and delve into the challenges of materials, equipment, and supply chain dependencies. Sean shares his firsthand experience with PCB manufacturing and insights into America's manufacturing industry.
🌟 Topics Covered:
- Why IC reshoring alone isn’t enough
- The critical role of materials like copper foil
- Challenges of competing with overseas markets
- Sean’s journey with K & F Electronics and adapting to changes
- Potential strategies to revitalize U.S. manufacturing
USManufacturing #PCBDesign #techpodcast
💡 Resources from this Episode:
- Learn More about K & F Electronics: https://www.circuitboards.com/
- Connect with Sean Kincaid: https://www.linkedin.com/in/circuit-boards/
- Check out the D-Code Podcast: https://the-d-code.podbean.com/
👉 Exclusive 15 Days Free Altium Designer Access: https://www.altium.com/promotions/altium-academy
Don't forget to follow us on social to stay up-to-date on the latest Altium Academy content.
👉 Follow Altium on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@altiumdesigner
👉 Follow Altium on Twitter: https://twitter.com/altium
👉 Follow Altium on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/altium/
👉 Follow Altium on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AltiumOfficial/
About Altium LLC
Altium LLC (ASX:ALU), a global software company based in San Diego, California, is accelerating the pace of innovation through electronics. From individual inventors to multinational corporations, more PCB designers and engineers choose Altium software to design and realize electronics-based products.
In this episode of the Altium OnTrack Podcast, host Zach Peterson sits down with Keith Hanna, an Independent Consultant in CAE/PLM, to discuss the evolution of cross-disciplinary integration in engineering software, focusing on CAE (Computer-Aided Engineering) and EDA (Electronic Design Automation) industries.
The conversation explores themes like AI's role in the future of engineering, recent trends in mergers and acquisitions, and the broader implications of these changes for engineers and developers. Keith shares his insights from decades of experience, providing a deep dive into the challenges and opportunities within these rapidly converging fields.
👉 Resources from this Episode:
- Connect with Keith Hanna: https://www.linkedin.com/in/keith-hanna-685b792/
👉 Exclusive 15 Days Free Altium Designer Access: https://www.altium.com/promotions/altium-academy
Don't forget to follow us on social to stay up-to-date on the latest Altium content.
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👉 Follow Altium on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AltiumOfficial/
About Altium LLC
Altium LLC (ASX:ALU), a global software company based in San Diego, California, is accelerating the pace of innovation through electronics. From individual inventors to multinational corporations, more PCB designers and engineers choose Altium software to design and realize electronics-based products.
Altium #PCBdesign #Podcast
How does Denpaflux simplify EMC testing? In this episode of the Altium OnTrack Podcast, host Zach Peterson interviews Reinhard Neureiter, CEO of Denpaflux, to explore their groundbreaking AI-powered tools for tackling EMI and EMC challenges. Learn why 70% (or maybe more) of designs fail EMC testing and how Denpaflux helps engineers fix critical issues faster, from optimizing board stackups to pinpointing high-priority EMI risks.
Discover how this platform combines human expertise with AI to make EMC consulting accessible, effective, and efficient. Whether you’re a seasoned engineer or just starting out, Denpaflux offers insights and tools to streamline your workflow and reduce costly delays.
Don't miss this deep dive into the future of EMI/EMC solutions and the innovative technologies reshaping PCB design.
Component Sense is tackling the e-waste crisis head-on by redistributing excess, unused stock from major companies before it becomes waste.
In this episode of the Altium OnTrack podcast, we talk with Kenny McGee, founder and CEO of Component Sense, about the hidden issues of electronic component disposal. Discover what happens to stockpiled electronics, why companies over-purchase components, and the innovative solutions that companies like Component Sense are implementing to reduce e-waste.
Kenny shares insights from years in the electronics distribution market, the challenges of moving unused inventory, and the environmental impacts of traditional disposal methods. This conversation highlights the importance of responsible component management and the potential to create a sustainable future in electronics. Tune in to learn more about the environmental and ethical implications of e-waste, and see how you can contribute to positive change in the industry.
In this special episode of the Altium OnTrack Podcast, filmed live at PCB West 2024, Tech Consultant Zach Peterson chats PCB design and manufacturing challenges with Neil Chamberlain, Product Specialist at Polar Instruments. Neil shares his expert insights into the evolving landscape of PCB design, discussing critical topics like substitute materials, copper roughness, and the benefits of using tools that bridge the communication gap between designers and fabricators.
Discover how Polar Instruments has been leading the way for almost 50 years, and learn valuable tips to optimize your PCB designs.
In this episode of the Altium OnTrack Podcast, Tech Consultant Zach Peterson and Phillip Gulley, co-founder of @cofactr chat about the critical topics of counterfeit detection and supply chain risks in the electronics industry. Recorded live at PCB West 2024, Phillip shares Cofactr’s approach to managing procurement, logistics, and ensuring the authenticity of electronic components.
Discover how Cofactr is helping companies tackle supply chain vulnerabilities by implementing rigorous counterfeit inspection methods, kitting solutions, and seamless integration with Altium 365.
Unlock the power of Altium 365 with automated requirements management! In this episode of the Altium OnTrack Podcast, host Zach Peterson sits down with Louise Linblad, VP of Product for Systems Engineering, and Gonçalo Ivo, Head of Product for Requirements & Systems Portal, to explore the revolutionary new tool for automating requirements within the Altium ecosystem.
Discover how the Requirements & Systems Portal is designed to streamline workflows, reduce errors, and bring innovative solutions to life faster than ever before. Learn about the seamless integration of Valispace, and how this new feature is helping engineers connect requirements directly to CAD tools, enhancing collaboration and design accuracy.
Whether you're a product manager, system engineer, or electronic engineer, this episode is packed with insights on boosting your engineering efficiency with Altium 365.
In this episode of the Altium OnTrack Podcast, Mike Tucker explores the world of HDI and manufacturing clashes and shares invaluable insights from his years of experience as Director of Engineering and Technology at Millennium Circuits. If you’re a PCB designer facing challenges with HDI design, manufacturing processes, or transitioning your prototypes to high-volume production, this video is packed with expert advice just for you!
Mike and host Tech Consultant Zach Peterson discuss the most common clashes between HDI design and manufacturing, how to avoid costly errors, and why understanding fabrication processes is crucial for your PCB success. Whether you're dealing with Class 2, Class 3, or beyond, Mike Tucker offers practical solutions to streamline your design-to-production journey.
Design for AI is at the forefront of the PCB design education revolution, driving a new era of innovation in how we approach electronics. In this episode of the Altium "OnTrack" podcast, Technical Consultant Zach Peterson sits down with John Watson, Altium's technical engineer and professor at Palomar Community College, to explore how AI is transforming the landscape of PCB design.
Discover how partnerships, like the one between Altium and Mouser, are playing a pivotal role in educating a new generation of PCB designers across the globe. John and Zach discuss the integration of AI into PCB design education, its impact on students and professionals alike, and what the future holds for the industry.
Explore how Altium Education is empowering the next generation of hardware designers in India and across the globe. In this episode of the Altium OnTrack podcast, host Tech Consultant Zach Peterson explores scholarship opportunities, free training programs, and the partnership with Mouser Electronics to support students, particularly women, in the field of PCB design.
Guests in this Episode:
Rea Callendar, VP of Education at Altium, is a highly motivated results-oriented executive with an extensive background in educational leadership, strategic corporate development, and a passion for driving innovation in the education sector.
Connect with Rea here: recallender
Watch Rea's Previous Episode: Master the Basics of PCB Electronics
Megha Kurup, HR VP for Asia-Pacific at Mouser, is a results-oriented professional with high productivity and strong desire for success with broad regional and global HR experience to help support Organizations expanding business across Asia-Pacific.
Resources from this Episode:
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Altium Student Labs: https://www.altium.com/education/students
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Altium Education Center: https://www.altium.com/education/educators
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India Student Page: https://www.altium.com/in/education/students
Exclusive 15 Days Free Altium Designer Access:
https://www.altium.com/promotions/altium-academy
Join Tech Consultant Zach Peterson in this interview with Kris Moyer, an esteemed IPC instructor and seasoned PCB design expert. The pair cover a wide range of topics including IPC courses, PCB design practices, and advanced materials. Discover how IPC courses can elevate your PCB design skills, learn about best practices in high-speed digital design (as well as a few other types of design), and explore the challenges of working with advanced materials in the PCB industry.
Key Topics Covered:
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The importance of IPC courses for PCB designers
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Best practices in PCB design and signal integrity
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Overcoming challenges with high-speed digital design
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Understanding and utilizing advanced materials in PCB manufacturing
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Kris Moyer's career journey and industry insights
PCBDesign #IPC #signalintegrity
Join us on the Altium OnTrack podcast as Zach Peterson sits down with Eliyahu Davis, the lead engineer at Deepview AI. The two explore the future of AI vision systems in manufacturing. Discover how Deepview AI is revolutionizing factory automation with advanced deep-learning cameras.
Key Takeaways:
-The role of sci-fi-inspired vision systems in manufacturing.
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Insights into Deepview AI’s groundbreaking products.
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The impact of AI on factory automation and efficiency.
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Eliyahu Davis’s background and contributions to the field.
FactoryAutomation #DeepLearning #ComputerVision
Discover how software-defined vehicles are revolutionizing the automotive industry!
Join Tech Consultant Zach Peterson in this episode of the OnTrack Podcast as he chats with Lenora Clark, Director of Autonomous Driving and Safety Technology at MacDermid Alpha Electronics Solutions. The pair explore the latest advancements in autonomous driving, advanced automotive electronics, and the incredible technologies that are shaping the future of cars. From human-machine interfaces to EV charging infrastructure, this interview covers it all!
Key Topics:
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The evolution of software-defined vehicles
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Autonomous driving technology
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Integration of advanced electronics in modern cars
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The future of automotive innovations
Welcome to the Altium "OnTrack Podcast," hosted by Zach Peterson. In this episode, we're joined by Joost Brilman, an EMC consultant and creator of the EMI Buster weekly email. Joost and Zach discuss the common pitfalls in electronics design, particularly with pre-certified modules, and how they can lead to EMI issues. Joost shares valuable tips for troubleshooting and preventing EMI problems, as well as insights into a career in EMC consulting.
Key Topics:
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Why pre-certified modules might not be foolproof workarounds for ELECTROMAGNETIC INTERFERENCE.
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Common EMI PITFALLS in electronics design
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Practical EMI TIPS for EMC COMPLIANCE
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EMI CAREERS and career advice for aspiring EMC consultants
About Joost Brilman: Joost is an EMI buster. He reduces and prevents electronic interference as EMC consultant. He assists many hardware development companies in passing EMC requirements. Previously active as an electronics developer with a background in Power Electronics, causing a lot of EMI.
EMIPitfalls #EMCTips #ElectronicsDesign #EMCConsultant #JoostBrilman
Welcome to the Altium OnTrack Podcast! Today, we are joined by Ethan Pierce, founder of Dodec Labs. He and host Zach Peterson explore the intricacies of thermal management in PCB design. If you’ve ever faced issues with overheating PCBs or want to enhance your PCB thermal design skills, this episode is a must-watch!
Episode Highlights:
- Importance of early thermal problem identification
- Effective PCB THERMAL DESIGN and simulation techniques
- Real-world examples and lessons from PCB East
- Strategies for optimal heat dissipation and management
- THERMAL DESIGN OPTIMIZATION Insights from industry experts
Don't miss out on these valuable tips and tricks to ensure your PCB designs run cool and efficiently.
Explore the fascinating evolution of signal integrity in PCB design with industry expert Donald Telian. In this episode of the Altium OnTrack podcast, Donald delves into the differences between modern and old school signal integrity, sharing invaluable insights from his illustrious career. Learn about IBIS modeling, high-speed design, and the critical advancements that have shaped the industry.
In this episode of the Altium OnTrack podcast, host Tech Consultant Zach Peterson explores the fascinating world of Edge AI and how Large Language Models (LLMs) fit into the picture with Jan Jongboom, co-founder of Edge Impulse. The two discuss the evolution from GPT-2 to GPT-4, the importance of edge computing, and the hardware requirements for running AI on edge devices. Discover how reducing the size of LLMs enables efficient deployment on edge devices, gain insights into the practical applications of AI in various industries, and learn about EDGE IMPULSE.
More resources:
- Getting started w/ Edge Impulse on Renesas platforms
- Connect with Jan on LinkedIn
- Learn more about Edge Impulse
- Check out a recent video from Edge Impulse: Using GPT-4o to train a 2,000,000x smaller model (that runs directly on device)
- Exclusive 15 Days Free Altium Designer Access
Learn about the complexities of dielectric anisotropy and its implications for high-speed PCB designs in this week’s OnTrack podcast episode. Don't miss this engaging and informative discussion.
Key Takeaways:
- Learn about the different dielectric constants in PCB materials.
- Discover how anisotropic properties affect transmission line modeling in PCB LAMINATES.
- Gain practical knowledge for achieving better signal integrity in your PCB designs
- The critical aspects of signal integrity in modern electronics
More Resources:
- Lansim Enterprises: http://www.lamsimenterprises.com/
- Connect with Bert on LinkedIn
- Check out this article the importance of Signal Integrity for High Speed Designs
- Check out this article about PCB Material Selection
In this episode of the Altium OnTrack podcast, host Zach Peterson sits down with Lukas Henkel from Open Visions Technology to explore two groundbreaking open source projects: an open source laptop and an alternative to the Raspberry Pi CM4 module.
Discover the latest advancements in OPEN SOURCE hardware and learn how these innovative projects are pushing the boundaries of DIY computing.
Episode Highlights:
- Webcam Design: challenges and innovations in designing an open-source webcam for laptops.
- Laptop Design Challenges: key obstacles faced during the development of an open-source laptop.
- Lessons Learned from Laptop Project: insights and takeaways from working on the open-source laptop project.
- Advice for Taking On This Kind of Project: recommendations and guidance for individuals looking to start similar projects.
- Open Source Raspberry Pi Overview and Demo: overview and demonstration of using Raspberry Pi in open-source projects.
More Resources:
- Check out our previous podcast episode with Lukas Henkel
- Open Source Laptop Project
- Pi.MX8 Project
- Follow Lukas on LinkedIn
- Follow Open Visions on LinkedIn
- Exclusive 15 Days Free Altium Designer Access
Welcome to the OnTrack Podcast! In this episode, we dive deep into the vibrant electronics culture with special guests Inga Woods-Waight and Joel Higgins from the Circuit Pulse Show. Discover how they are making ELECTRONICS CULTURE and tech fun and accessible, engaging younger audiences, and revolutionizing educational content in the electronics industry. If you're passionate about electronics design and want to stay updated on industry trends, this episode is a must-watch!
Key Takeaways:
• PCB design insights and tips
• Engaging content for the electronics community
• The rise of educational electronics videos
• Inga and Joel's journey and success stories
More Resources:
- Follow Inga Woods-Waight on LinkedIn
- Octopart's YouTube Channel
- Check Out Full Episodes of the Circuit Pulse Show
- Interested in the topic of electronics culture? Check out this past episode of OnTrack on the topic of microelectronics.
- Exclusive 15 Days Free Altium Designer Access
Join host Zach Peterson on The OnTrack Podcast as he has a fascinating conversation with Greg Bailey, President of GreenArrays, Inc. Discover the innovative ways technology is advancing towards a more energy-efficient future. In this episode, we explore the impact of IoT and AI on energy consumption, the challenges of power management in tech, and the solutions that are shaping a sustainable world.
Episode Highlights:
- The role of IoT in leading toward an ENERGY EFFICIENT TECH FUTURE.
- Insights into AI's impact on power usage across industries.
- Greg Bailey's expert take on supervisory control systems and their benefits.
- Strategies for reducing energy waste in everyday tech applications.
More Resources:
- Learn More about GreenArrays, Inc
- Learn More about Charles Moore
- Connect with Greg Bailey: greg@greenarraychips.com
- Exclusive 15 Days Free Altium Designer Access:
Join Tech Consultant Zach Peterson on this episode of the Altium OnTrack podcast where EMC troubleshooting expert Min Zhang explores the complexities of measuring ground in electronic systems using both voltage and current methods. With his profound expertise and practical insights, Min provides a comprehensive breakdown of the techniques and tools necessary for accurate measurements, especially in high-power applications.
Episode Highlights:
- In this episode you'll learn:
- The impact of frequency on the cost and selection of multi-gigahertz probes.
- Detailed explanations of VOLTAGE TESTING and MEASURING GROUND techniques in EMC applications.
- Insights into the challenges and solutions for measuring high-frequency transient events.
- What the technical challenges are in measuring GROUNDING SYSTEMS using differences between circuit points.
- The importance of selecting the right probe based on voltage levels and measurement environment.
- Techniques to minimize noise and ensure accurate readings in noisy industrial environments.
Further Resources:
- Connect with Min Zhang on LinkedIn
- EMC and Compliance International is the UK's premier independent trade show specializing in every facet of electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) and compliance. It features exhibitors from a variety of sectors such as electronics, electrical, industrial, aerospace, medical, and military. Check out their website here.
- Information on EMC and Compliance International's Training Program
- Exclusive 15 Days Free Altium Designer Access
On this episode of the OnTrack Podcast, Tech Consultant Zach Peterson welcomes Anton Tishchenko, aka Dr. EMC on YouTube. The two explore the intricacies of EMC design, certification, and compliance.
They chat about various aspects of EMC testing, common mistakes in PCB design, AI-integration, and how modules and antennas play a huge role in EMC compliance. Anton also shares his journey into EMC, how to approach design testing effectively, and insights into his fascinating PhD research.
Key Highlights:
• Strategies for effective EMC compliance
• Common mistakes in PCB design and how to avoid them
• The role of AI in PCB design checks
• EMC testing has a 50% failure rate on first attempts.
• Comprehensive design strategies can prevent costly EMC failures.
• Modules and antenna setups can greatly impact EMC compliance.
More Resources:
- Learn More about Anton's PCB Tool
- Connect with Anton on LinkedIn
- Check Out the Dr. EMC YouTube Channel
- Anton's university page
- Exclusive 15 Days Free Altium Designer Access
In this episode of the Altium OnTrack Podcast, host Zach Peterson sits down with Jan Vardaman, president and founder of TechSearch International. With decades of experience in semiconductor packaging, Jan shares her expert insights into the global semiconductor industry, focusing on the shift away from Asia for advanced manufacturing and the critical need for an integrated supply chain in the U.S.
This episode not only highlights the technological and industrial shifts in semiconductor packaging but also discusses the economic and policy dimensions affecting the sector.
Key topics covered include:
- The transition of high-end semiconductor packaging from Asia to other regions like Taiwan and Korea.
- The impact of new facilities in Malaysia on the global supply chain.
- The role and challenges of the National Advanced Packaging Manufacturing program in the U.S.
- Detailed discussions on substrate manufacturing and advanced assembly operations outside China.
- The significance of workforce development in sustaining local manufacturing initiatives.
- Future trends and strategies for semiconductor fabrication and assembly in North America.
More Resources:
- Follow Jan on LinkedIn
- Learn More about TechSearch International
- Exclusive 15 Days Free Altium Designer Access
In this information-packed episode of the OnTrack Podcast, Tech Consultant Zach Peterson explores PCB simulation with Yuriy Shlepnev, the President and Founder of Simberian Inc. This detailed discussion focuses on how modern simulation tools are revolutionizing the industry and includes an exclusive Simbeor® demo that you won't want to miss.
To begin, Yuriy shares his extensive knowledge of electromagnetic analysis and signal integrity, exploring how these critical factors influence PCB design in today's high-speed electronics. The episode then covers various aspects of PCB simulation, including the challenges designers face and the innovative solutions provided by the latest software developments - all before diving into the demo.
Key Highlights:
• The importance of accurate electromagnetic simulations in achieving optimal PCB design. Insights into Simberian's approach to simplifying complex simulations for designers of all skill levels.
• Techniques to enhance signal integrity and reduce design iterations.
• Future trends in PCB technology and how to stay ahead in the industry.
• Yuriy's Simbeor® demo, showing practical applications and tips for both novice and experienced engineers.
Further Resources:
- Connect with Yuriy on LinkedIn
- Learn More about Simberian
- Exclusive 15 Days Free Altium Designer Access
In this captivating episode of the OnTrack Podcast, host Tech Consultant Zach Peterson chats about storytelling in electronics design with Benjamin Kitzinger, the visionary Producer and Director behind @AltiumStories .
Zach and Ben explore the heartbeat of innovation by detailing stories of engineers and innovators who've shaped the electronics industry with their passion and perseverance. Discover how a hacker mindset led to groundbreaking technological advancements and hear firsthand accounts of how tech pioneers navigated challenges, celebrated triumphs, and fueled their creativity to make a tangible impact on the world through electronics design.
Don't forget to subscribe for more stories of innovation, interviews with industry leaders, and explorations into the technology that shapes our future.
Key Highlights
- Corporate Storytelling with Impact: Altium Stories redefines corporate storytelling by focusing less on product promotion and more on showcasing the real-world impact of engineering solutions.
- Exploring Unique Personalities: Highlighting individuals like Joe Grant, known for his hacker mindset, Altium Stories delves into the personal journeys and unique perspectives of engineers, creating captivating narratives.
- Educational and Inspirational Content: Through interviews and deep dives, the series aims to educate and inspire viewers, particularly engineers, by sharing the challenges, triumphs, and innovations within the field of electrical engineering.
- Humanitarian and Technological Impact: From groundbreaking technological advancements like optical computing to humanitarian projects like Project Vive, Altium Stories showcases the diverse ways engineering can positively impact lives.
- Authenticity and Evolution: Despite being a corporate initiative, Altium Stories maintains authenticity and evolves over time to continue providing valuable content, aiming to educate, inspire, and celebrate engineering accomplishments while staying true to its essence.
Further Resources
- Connect with Ben on LinkedIn
- Check Out Altium Stories on YouTube
In this episode of the OnTrack Podcast, host Tech Consultant Zach Peterson explores the revolutionary world of Ultra HDI with Chrys Shea, President of Shea Engineering. The two unveil the future of PCB soldering and miniaturization, shedding light on the intricate challenges ahead and breakthroughs just on the horizon. Chrys, renowned for her expertise, shares invaluable insights into developing test vehicles for soldering and navigating the complexities of Ultra HDI assembly. This conversation promises a deep understanding of the cutting-edge advancements shaping the future of electronics manufacturing.
Don't miss out on the expert guidance and innovative strategies presented by Chrys Shea, a leading voice in the SMT assembly and PCB design world.
Key Highlights:
- Introduction of Chrys Shea, president of Shea Engineering, discussing her involvement in developing test vehicles for soldering, particularly focusing on Ultra High-Density Interconnect (UHDI).
- Discussion on the importance of having a plan upfront, particularly in terms of addressing defects and DFM (Design for Manufacturability) considerations.
- Chrys Shea's background as an SMT (Surface Mount Technology) assembly process engineer and her transition to independent consulting, specializing in soldering.
- Overview of the test vehicle developed for solder paste printing and its evolution to accommodate various soldering processes and component sizes, including BGAs, QFNs, and smaller passives.
- Introduction of the new test vehicle for UHDI assembly, highlighting the increased density and challenges such as off-axis placements and the leading edge effect in stencil printing.
Further Resources:
- Connect with Chrys on LinkedIn
- Learn More about Shea Engineering Services
- Read this article to learn about the assembly process for minaturization and Ultra HDI Technology
- Exclusive 15 Days Free Altium Designer Access
In this episode of the OnTrack Podcast, host Zach Peterson speaks with Cory Blaylock, Director of Workforce Partnerships at IPC, in a profound discussion on the looming generational gap within the PCB design and electronics manufacturing spaces, as well as what those industries might be able to do about it. As one generation of seasoned experts nears the end of their careers, the urgency to cultivate a new wave of talent becomes ever more critical. This episode delves deep into the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead in bridging this divide.
Key Highlights:
- The Generational Shift: Explore the evolving landscape of PCB design and how the departure of experienced professionals is creating an urgent need for fresh talent.
- IPC's Role: Discover how IPC is spearheading initiatives to develop the workforce of tomorrow through innovative apprenticeship programs approved by the US Department of Labor.
- The Journey from Classroom to Industry: Cory shares his unique transition from education to a pivotal role in workforce development, shedding light on the path that lies ahead for aspiring PCB designers and manufacturers. - Future-Proofing the Industry: Learn about the measures being taken to ensure the sustainability and growth of the electronics manufacturing sector amidst these changes.
Further Resources:
- Follow Cory Blalock on LinkedIn
- IPC Apprenticeship Information:
- IPC Information for employers
- IPC News releases
- Check out this article about working with IPC compliant Footprint Models
In this episode of The OnTrack Podcast, Tech Consultant Zach Peterson chats with the co-founders of Valispace, Louise Lindblad and Marco Witzmann. Valispace is revolutionizing the engineering world by transforming system design tools, making them more efficient, connected, and capable of handling the complex requirements of today's engineering challenges.
Learn how, from satellite engineering to the intricate demands of aerospace and beyond, Valispace's unique approach empowers engineers to build better, more innovative products by bridging the gap between requirements, design, and implementation.
Key Highlights:
- Louise & Marco's Backgrounds: Introduction of Louise and Marco, highlighting their professional backgrounds and expertise.
- Valispace Background & Intent: Overview of the origins of Valispace, including the initial purpose and intentions behind its development.
- Spreadsheet Pains: Discussion on the challenges and limitations associated with using spreadsheets for engineering and project management tasks.
Further Resources:
- Connect with Louise and Marco on LinkedIn
- Watch this webinar to learn more about the Altium 365 requirements manager powered by Valispace
- Exclusive 15 Days Free Altium Designer Access
In this enlightening episode of the OnTrack Podcast, host Zach Peterson chats with Kunal Shah, PhD., President of liloTree. The two have a detailed conversation about the burgeoning field of Ultra High-Density Interconnects (UHDI) and its impact on the future of electronics.
Kunal shares his insights on the latest in UHDI innovation, including its challenges and solutions in electronics manufacturing, especially in high-reliability applications such as defense and medical electronics.
With a focus on the upcoming SMTA panel discussion, this episode is a must-watch for anyone interested in the cutting-edge technologies shaping our world. Don't miss out on this deep dive into UHDI!
Key Highlights:
- Overview of the various of Developments in UHDI
- Discussion of "Traditional" Plating Materials
- Nickel Vs. Copper
- Overplating Compensation?
- Can silver be an UHDI Alternative?
More resources:
- Learn More about liloTree
- Check out this article about Ultra HDI PCB capabilities
- Exclusive 15 Days Free Altium Designer Access
Explore the intersection of technology and sustainability with Tom Raftery, an independent consultant and host of the Climate Confident and Sustainable Supply Chain podcasts, on this episode of the OnTrack Podcast with Zach Peterson.
Dive deep into the evolving world of ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance), exploring how advancements in IoT, AI, and sustainable practices are reshaping supply chains and business strategies. Join Tom and Zach as they explore the critical role of transparency, auditability, and regulation in driving forward sustainable innovation and corporate responsibility.
Key Highlights
- Tom Raftery's Introduction: Gain insights into Tom Raftery's expertise and perspective on sustainability.
- Corporate Concern: Explore the question of whether companies are genuinely demonstrating concern for sustainability.
- Procurement & Sourcing: Delve into the critical role of procurement and sourcing in sustainability efforts.
- Transparency Importance: Understand the significance of transparency in sustainable practices and corporate operations.
- Driving Forces of Sustainability: Explore the real motivations behind sustainability initiatives and their impact on businesses.
Resources
- Listen to the Climate Confident Podcast
- Learn More about Sustainable Supply Chain
- Tom Raftery’s website
Explore the intersection of Global Innovation Policy and the CHIPS Act with Stephen Ezell, VP of Global Innovation Policy at the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF), in this insightful episode of the OnTrack Podcast.
Hosted by Tech Consultant Zach Peterson, this discussion delves into the complexities of navigating the Chinese market, the principles of comparative advantage, and the critical role of policy in fostering technological self-sufficiency. Discover how the CHIPS Act aims to bolster the electronics industry and innovation within the global tech landscape.
Key Highlights:
- ITIF's Role and Background: Explore the foundation and mission of ITIF, shedding light on its significance in policy discourse.
- Hardware vs. Software in Policy: Delve into the nuances of hardware and software considerations for policymakers, shaping discussions on technological advancement and regulation.
- CHIPS and Science Act: Examine ITIF's involvement in the CHIPS and Science Act, emphasizing its implications for innovation and industry development.
- Global CHIPS Act Comparisons: Compare the CHIPS Act with similar initiatives worldwide, providing insight into its effectiveness and relevance on a global scale.
- Policy Perspectives on Economic Dynamics: Analyze key questions surrounding industrial policies, including the CHIPS Act's role, potential handouts, and the broader implications for economic strategies like onshoring and friendshoring, in the context of China's economic evolution.
On this episode of the OnTrack Podcast, we welcome Phil Marcoux, Advisor to the Printed Circuit Engineering Association (PCEA). Phil is gearing up for a fascinating webinar on AI in the electronics industry, so we thought we'd chat with him about what sees as the most potentially transformative aspects of this revolution in the electronics space.
Listen/watch to discover how Innovations in AI are transforming the electronics industry, reshaping everything from design to production. Phil and host, Tech Consultant Zach Peterson, explore real-world applications, the importance of data for AI's success, and how the industry is moving towards a more interconnected and intelligent (pun intended) future.
Key Highlights
- AI & Electronics Design: Explores the symbiotic relationship between artificial intelligence and electronics design, highlighting how AI is revolutionizing the field.
- Are We in an AI Bubble?: Raises critical inquiry into whether the current surge in AI development constitutes a bubble, prompting reflection on the sustainability and potential pitfalls of AI advancement.
- AI Can't Read Your Mind: Discusses the inherent limitations of AI in deciphering human thoughts and intentions, emphasizing the distinction between AI capabilities and human cognition.
- Trends from the Early Days of AI: Examines trends emerging from the early stages of AI development, providing valuable insights into its evolution and predicting potential future trajectories.
- A Potential Role for AI: Speculates on the future landscape of electronics design with AI integration, envisioning potential applications and transformative impacts on the industry.
Further Resources
- Sign up for Phil's FREE Webinar
- Connect with Phil Marcoux
- Check out more episodes of the OnTrack Podcast
- Take advantage of exclusive 15 Days Free Altium Designer Access
Today we're diving head-first into Altium's New Constraint Manager with Andy Critcher, Director at Total Board Solutions. This revolutionary feature is designed to streamline and optimize the process of applying design constraints across multiple nets, making it easier and more intuitive than ever.
If you're dealing with high-voltage designs, complex multi-layer boards, or simply looking to enhance productivity, the new Constraint Manager offers a suite of tools that promise to elevate your design workflow.
Join Andy and host Tech Consultant Zach Peterson as they chat the ins and outs of this innovative feature, including industry responses, practical applications, and a detailed exploration of how it can simplify your design process.
Key Highlights:
- Andy's Background: Insight into Andy's experience and expertise in the industry.
- Advice for Young People Entering the Industry: Key advice for newcomers navigating the field.
- Fusion of EE and PCB Layout Positions? Discussion on the evolving roles within the industry.
- Eye-Opening Fab Facility Visits: Experiences and revelations from visiting fabrication facilities.
- Altium Designer's New Constraint Manager Overview: Overview and benefits of Altium Designer's Constraint Manager update.
Links & Resources:
- Follow Andy on LinkedIn
- Learn more about Altium Designer's New Constraint Manager
- Interested in becoming a PCB designer? Read this article to learn more about entering the field.
- PCB Library Management from Total Board Solutions
In this episode of the OnTrack Podcast, we chat with Dr. Preeya Kuray, a renowned material scientist at AGC Multi Materials. Dr. Kuray and Tech Consultant Zach Peterson explore some of the latest developments in the PCB industry, as well as a few material science innovations. Dr. Kuray shares her insights on the evolving landscape of printed circuit boards and the groundbreaking material science developments shaping the future of electronics.
From discussing AGC's pioneering work in low-loss copper-clad laminates and RF materials to exploring the potential of glass in chip packaging, this episode offers a glimpse of where the industry is headed.
Check out this episode for discussions on the synergy between PCB design and material science, the impact of legislative measures like the CHIPS Act on the industry, and the future projects AGC is spearheading to drive technological advancements.
Scott McMorrow, Strategic Technologist for Signal Integrity Products at Samtec Inc. who's well-renowned for his expertise in signal integrity, discusses revolutionary techniques in PCB design on this episode of the Altium OnTrack podcast.
We delve into Scott's journey in the electronics industry, his approach to overcoming complex PCB layout challenges, and his predictions for the future of signal integrity in PCBs. Learn how Scott's methods are transforming the way designers approach PCB layouts, ensuring optimal performance and reliability.
Join host Zach Peterson as they explore Scott's influential work at Samtec, his experience in consulting, and the innovative strategies that earned him a nomination for Engineer of the Year at DesignCon.
In this episode of the OnTrack Podcast, we explore the innovative BOM Portal in Altium 365, a cutting-edge tool transforming PCB design and electronic development. Tech Consultant Zach Peterson sits down with Ananth Avva, General Manager at Altium's Cloud Platform, and Damir Khayrutdinov, Product Manager at Altium, to discuss the tool.
Altium's BOM Portal, compared to ActiveBOM, offers a seamless and efficient approach to managing bill of materials (BOM) throughout the product lifecycle. We dive deep into the capabilities and features of the BOM Portal, including its integration with various CAD tools and its role in streamlining design-to-realization processes. Learn from our guests about the trends and challenges in electronics development and how Altium Designer 24's BOM Portal addresses these issues.
Key Highlights* Discussion on trends in electronics development * Reasons for building the BOM Portal on Altium 365 * Challenges in BOM management and how the BOM Portal addresses them * Insights into the relationship between ActiveBOM and the BOM Portal, how it works, customer response, future developments, multi-board systems, and the future vision for Altium 365
Resources and Links* Follow Ananth Avva and Damir Khayrutdinov on LinkedIn * Learn More about BOM Portal Here * How to 'Shift Left' and Connect Procurement and Engineering? Altium 365 BOM Portal Step-by-Step * BOM Portal Webinar
TranscriptZach: Some of the features that you just mentioned sounds a bit like ActiveBOM in Altium Designer and I think the more experienced Altium Designer users out there will notice this. So, how exactly does this new tool compare with ActiveBOM? Does it replace it or does it complement it?
Damir Khayrutdinov: Yeah, it's a good question. ActiveBOM is a BOM tool what was designed to help engineering team release design BOMs with all needed information and capabilities such as adding alternates, line numbers, custom lines, et cetera. And seems it works well based on level of adoption and user feedback. However, it's embedded into the design tool, Altium Designer.
Zach: Hello, everyone. Welcome to the Altium OnTrack podcast. I'm your host, Zach Peterson. Today, we're talking with Ananth Avva, General Manager of Altium's cloud business and Damir Khayrutdinov, Product Manager at Altium. We're gonna be discussing one of the new features in Altium Designer 24 and that feature is the BOM Portal. I got to see a short demo of it before this episode and so I'm very excited about this new feature and I hope all of you will be as well. Damir and Ananth, thank you so much for joining me today.
Ananth Avva: Yeah, likewise. Great to be here, Zach.
Zach: So, what are some of the trends and problems that you're seeing in the electronics development space, Ananth?
Ananth Avva: Yeah. So, I think the common root cause is the velocity of the actual development process continues to accelerate and the proliferation of electronics as everyone probably listening to the podcast, they're no stranger to that. But I think that's the root cause but the symptoms show up and I would say in three different areas. The first one is, sort of, mapping requirements and intent to the actual design. So, when you start going from functional to physical to actually the layout, are you actually bringing those requirements all the way through, right? The second one, while in the post Covid era, we've seen supply chain, et cetera, settle down. Supply chain, and also just compliance for components 'cause that's still about 40% to 70% of what you're building is a big area of focus especially as we're getting into whether it be geopolitical tensions in the Red Sea, all the way to trying to understand your actual full traceability of where the components coming from down to the fabrication plant. So, that's a very big area of focus, especially for our aero military customers. The third area, I would say, is getting into some of these emerging themes like sustainability and getting down to what is the footprint of what I'm making and 80% of, sort of, the sustainability aspects is done in design. And so, bringing some of those thoughts, especially when you're thinking about your BOM and you're thinking about, sort of, orchestrating your entire supply chain, that's come up and starting to come up, especially with DPP requirements coming in Europe. And lastly, it's the collaboration with manufacturing. So, we deal a lot for obvious reasons with designers and that handoff process and making sure that the manufacturers and the components that they're selecting versus what was in design and then people are moving lockstep. That continues to be a big focus. But all of these four areas are sort of the symptoms but the root cause is, again, just the velocity with which development's happening.
Zach: Well, given the velocity that you've mentioned, it sounds like that was part of the motivation behind building a lot of these new features in Altium Designer 24. So, what was the motivation behind building the BOM Portal on Altium 365?
Ananth Avva: Yeah, I think with Altium Designer, I mean that's obviously where we have our design audience, but we wanted to build a front end where other folks can come in and start collaborating and very specifically, your component, sort of, manufacturing personnels or even the masses where they're able to actually get that visibility. I think of, sort of, that BOM as the first, sort of, physical manifestation where the design is actually born, right? You're in the design to realization space, that's the first front end that everyone can actually look at and collaborate on. And so, the motivation for doing this in the cloud and basically having this sort of abstraction layer out of AD because one of the key things is, the BOM Portal, while, you know, it's highly functional and highly integrated into Altium Designer, it's mixed CAD. So, we'll actually work with all the CAD tools. And so, we really wanted to make sure that we have that one front end where it's not just for designers but it's also for all of the other satellite professionals that they touch and they're able to come in and collaborate to ensure all the issues that we just talked about in the electronic development process. We have a way to mitigate those risks and have those participants come in and basically get that view and also basically get the ability to edit and collaborate on the design itself.
Zach: So, since we're here to learn a bit more about the BOM Portal tool, Damir, maybe you can tell us what are some of the BOM management challenges that you've seen across the industry that inspired your team and the development of this new tool?
Damir Khayrutdinov: In addition to the standard challenges and BOM and supply chain management for electronics such as chip shortage and second sourcing, we noticed that the processes and tools used for that are mostly from 90s. Most still use Excel files and emails for that. So, to get the PCB BOM ready for ordering, the procurement team works with exported Excel BOMs. This process typically involves four, five emails with collaboration about three or four contributors who are responsible to make decision. Yeah. So, this takes time to interact and because of the friction happens later in the process, cost of the work, time and money wise, is more expensive. Of course, there are companies who well adopted with POM MRP and the ERP systems, but even the company implemented such systems, the level of its adoption is different. So, we track the cases when engineering use POM PDM, but procurement still works with Excel, shared drives, et cetera. Another common problem is fragmented approach to accessing and analyzing technical specifications, compliance information and supply chain data. Typically, procurement expert quality engineers and compliance specialists have to navigate through multiple platforms to gather necessary details about parts. The result in scattered data, yeah, manage it across different systems, often leading to limited access to all of these team members. And we can talk also about product teams and OEM specifically. For such teams, the BOM management is not finished once the BOM is released. You should be aware of the manufacturability of your released PCB BOM during the end customer warranty period or product production cycle, which might be not just a few weeks or years. So, for such teams, BOM management is an interactive process that is time consuming and error prone due to constantly changing supply chain. For such teams, the manufacturability is a function of a time. So, the release BOMs needs to be constantly monitored. And in order to manage that, most of the teams still use manual processes for that which is not so effective. So, I would highlight these three common challenges which are at across the industry.
Zach:Yeah, you mentioned Excel files and emails. I will admit I'm guilty of that one, but I think it's because of the lack of anything better and everybody else does it. So, you're kind of shoehorned into doing this because there just hasn't been anything better really. So, given all of those issues that you brought up, how does BOM Portal help solve some of those challenges?
Damir Khayrutdinov: Yeah. In short, the BOM Portal helps to take advantage of rich parts and supply chain information to scrap BOM and identify risks from multiple angels. It might be availability, it might be cost, it might be compliance, second sourcing, et cetera. Next is the collaboration aspect, which is, I would say, one of the core features of the A 365 platform. So, with the BOM Portal, you can get the advantage of constant platform for engineering and procurement team in one, so no exported files without context anymore and you have a common collaboration process in one. And third, I would say that we didn't really use it, but it's a parts watchdog feature which is currently in the closed beta, but it helps to deduce supply chain risk and ensures continuous production by proactively tracking and providing warnings for supply chain issues, prompting timely action to avoid any disruptions. Of course, we still offer parts traceability or we call it very usage which simplifies the identification and assessment for potential absolute issues. So, these three things.
Zach: You know, some of the features that you just mentioned sound a bit like ActiveBOM in Altium Designer and I think the more experienced Altium Designer users out there will notice this. So, how exactly does this new tool compare with ActiveBOM? Does it replace it or does it compliment it?
Ananth Avva: Yeah, it's a good question. ActiveBOM is a BOM tool what was designed to help engineering team release design BOMs with all needed information and capabilities such as adding alternates, line numbers, custom lines, et cetera. And seems it works well based on level of adoption and user feedback. However, it's embedded into the design tool, Altium Designer. And ActiveBOM has a strong dependency on the design data. So, in order to use it for procurement, you need to share design, all design and provide access to the design tool. Next is that it helps on the design stage but not beyond it. For example, you can create the ordering from multiple PCBs which need to be assembled. It's also not effective to use in a production stage. For example, in order to add additional alternates suggested by your contract manufacturer, you need to release the wall design in ActiveBOM. The BOM Portal is designed to support BOM management in all electronic product lifecycle stage. So, in addition to the generic BOM tool capabilities for scrapping, it includes capabilities need to control obsolescent for the released boards, compliance management and part search capabilities, especially for alternate search. So, it's definitely not just a BOM tool, not just a BOM editor as ActiveBOM is.
Zach:So, if we could, let's dig into how the BOM Portal works. Can you make this a bit more tangible for our listeners.
Damir Khayrutdinov: As I mentioned, the BOM Portal provides benefits for the different roles and support BOM management in all lifecycle stage. We can start from the early design stage where BOM Portal can speed up the process of prototype BOM scrubbing and preparing it for purchasing. I can share my screen and just share how it works.
Zach: So, we're looking at Altium 365 right now and I see a bunch of projects you have on screen.
Damir Khayrutdinov: So, I have this proto design. It has just version 1.1. If I open it, it'll open it in a separate tab. I believe you still see it. And here is a viewer, online viewer, which is available in A 365. There is schematic viewer, PCB viewer and of course, bill of material. And as you can see, engineering was focused only on critical parts. So, there is no any part numbers specified for generics such as capacitors or resistors, et cetera. And in order to prepare it for purchasing, we have the capability to create a managed BOM from the design and scrap it without touching of engineering data, which might be critical for some cases. Yeah. So, once I click to create a managed BOM from design, procurement is able to select what ORM should be used. We also support it. And once the bill of material will be created, it'll be stored at the same folder as original design. So, it takes a minute. Yeah. So, we can refresh the page and here is my BOM which I just created. If I click on the original design, you will see that now I have a child BOMs and link to this procurement BOM created from the design. So, let's open this bill of material. And what we see? We see exactly the same bill of material what was created by engineering, but for the part numbers which are not specified, we see this lamp icon which means that exact map is not defined and it's true. We don't have exact part number for this BOM line, but BOM Portal try to analyze all information about this BOM line, about this component, and it has some suggestions. So, if I click on this lamp, you see that BOM Portal suggested multiple parts which has parameters specified in BOM line and they are colored with green. In order to see all parameters, we can switch to the advanced parametric search and we see what data is actually was analyzed and used in order to help engineering work with procurement actually find parts. So, you will see that BOM Portal analyzed designator and description and track that this is capacitor. The capacitance is 100 nanofarad. We detected voltage rating, we tracked the case package and we have suggestions. As a procurement, I will pick up just a component which is in stock with minimum order quantity which is also shared here and in stock. Yeah. I would pick up this one. No, it's not a good because we have not recommended for new design. I will pick up this one and click Use. In this manner I can scrap all my BOM and also, I can even improve it. You see that there is one part which was specified by engineering has obsolete lifecycle state. Maybe it's good for the prototyping because this part is in stock et cetera. But as procurement I will try to find alternate and just notify engineering that there is another component available in the market. And how I will do this and how BOM Portal help me is that we have try alternate search mode which provide alternates specifically found for this original part number and we have confidence core which means that from this information, you can understand how this part is compatible with the original one. So, this is how BOM Portal can speed up the process on BOM scrubbing for proto BOMs. And other case, what I would like to share with you is prepare BOM for production run. For this, I have this bill of material which is available in my- Yeah, I just exported it to Excel file. It has just a few columns, designator, quantity, manufacturer and MPN and some of the BOM lines have alternates defined. So, let's upload this Excel file into the BOM Portal and see how it will work with it. So, one second. Demo version 5. Yeah. Once this BOM file will be uploaded into the BOM Portal, it'll be automatically under the version and revision control as any other managed design, which is also a benefit for data management things. So, I have these BOM file uploaded. I open it in BOM Portal. BOM Portal ask me if there are alternates is defined? I will say yes because we don't know what exact means these lines which means designators. And here is it. So, we enrich. What BOM Portal did? It enriched the data which was available in the original BOM file. You see, the same four columns. But additionally, you can see all data provided by our data provider. So, in my case, I use pro-level subscription with SiliconExpert integration and I can use both of them in my BOM scrubbing. So, you can see that I have two lifecycle columns, one is getting from IHS Markit, another one from SiliconExpert. And for some cases, it's quite useful. For example, for this part, IHS Markit doesn't know about any- There is no any information about lifecycle, but SiliconExpert has it. Another example is with one of the challenges on scribing BOM for production run is adding alternates, is adding alternates to non stop production run on your contract manufacturer. And the BOM Portal has this capability to add alternates from different sources. For example, for this case, we will use alternates defined in my library, which means that it's company approved alternates. So, they were previously tested and approved to be used in my company. So, I will just click on add additional, add alternate online and we'll see all alternates, a little bit for this BOM line for this component. I see alternates from my library and I also see additional alternates which is coming from data providers. So, I will use this one. Next is, that usually, production run is not going for one or multiple BOMs. Yeah, you can have a production run with a thousand of boards and we can check is there any issues related to the production run to the number of production quantity. Yeah. Let's put 10,000 and check what we'll have. In issue step, I see that we have supply chain issues that some of the BOM lines have insufficient stock which might be also a problem for my production run. And how can I fix that? I have favorite suppliers and I see estimated BOM coverage coverage. So, I will just use additional suppliers here and we'll see that some of the problems have gone after that. So, right now, I see that out of stock only one part or insufficient stock only two. So, in this manner, we can scrap and prepare BOM for production run, and once it'll be ready, we can release it. And next, we can do comparison with original BOM files. So, these capabilities, it's not allowed in just in ActiveBOM tool. Yeah. And the last one what I would like to mention is how the BOM Portal can help for obsoleteness teams or quality teams. So, as I mentioned previously, we have this used parts report or parts watchdog, which is currently on beta. But what it can do? So, it grab all parts used in all my PCB BOMs and share risk information in one simple page. So, for example, I can be focused only for the critical parts and... One second. Yeah. I have this filter by component type. So, right now, I see all used parts in my workspace. I can filter out them by, for example, ICs and easily see what the status is for IC components in my workspace, in my products. One I see has discounted lifecycle states, and here, I also see in what projects, so I easily can identify what projects affected by this issue. So, this is how BOM Portal can help and speed up process on BOM scrubbing and help to mitigate supply chain risks.
Zach: So, you mentioned earlier one of the very interesting features is grading of alternates or replacements. And I have to be honest, that is something where I have spent a lot of time trying to find either an alternate source through a broker when something is out of stock or just a totally replacement part. And it's really hard to find something that will work sometimes that won't force you to go back in and change the PCB layout before you start producing something. So, I have to ask, are the replacements being graded based on pin compatibility or are there other dimensions that are being used to grade the replacements?
Damir Khayrutdinov: So, we utilize the supply chain data and parts data provided by allowed data providers. So, here we currently have Octopart, IHS Markit, SiliconExpert and soon, also Z2Data will be also supported. So, the confidence score provided by Octopart and IHS is just a basic rating from one to zero on how well a component will work as an alternate. SiliconExpert, however, provides a detailed grading system that evaluates component based it on various parameters. For example, rating A means that it's a pin to pin compatible replacement with exact electrical features. So, my answer is that depends on the data providers supported in your workspace, you will be able to use data providers, you will be use data provided by data providers uploaded to your workspace and alternates is also shared by these data providers. So, we have confidence score from our partners. So, it's not a data which was calculated on the file for example.
Zach: So, I have to ask what are customers saying about the BOM Portal?
Damir Khayrutdinov: One of the comments we have gotten from some customer is that BOM Portal allows them to replace their homegrown systems that needs custom development and maintenance. This shows us that we are really on the right track. Our customers already invested a lot to have their common custom solutions done. Still, this is not their core competency. Here, we are coming with as an electronic focused company with long history of successful software development. Another comment is that they want more meaning that we covered single BOM use case pretty extensively and now people wants to get multi-BOM use cases. We're working on the actively sought part reports I just shared with you and now we started project called Consolidated BOM which will allow users to optimize procurement for a given product, not just a single PCB board. Also, we would like to stress that we are really counting on customers feedback. We are proud to develop solutions to get positive feedback from our customers. It's not to say that we are fully bottom up as we do have a vision where we want to take the product, but we are bottom up enough to give our users flexibility they need. So, please to try BOM Portal and provide feedback so we can take this to the next level.
Zach: So, regarding your vision for this tool, what are some of the future developments that are planned for it?
Damir Khayrutdinov: The top end request is ability to work on a level of multiple BOMs versus a single board BOM. I already mentioned that we started project called Consolidated BOM. Another area is integration with ERP and POM, which is requested mostly by enterprise guys. And pretty constantly, we are getting requests about BOM review workflow. This is another example where our customers start developing their own solutions as there is nothing flexible enough on the market available.
Zach: Just to clarify something, you said multiple BOMs. Would that be for, like, a multi-board system?
Damir Khayrutdinov: Yeah. But I would just highlight that there is a case called consolidated BOM for ordering, when procurement expert needs to order parts for multiple BOMs which might be not used in one product. Yeah. You have separate PCBs just needs to be assembled. But another case is multi-board BOM, which is a part of the product. And this is a kind of next thread and it also in our roadmap, but it'll be implemented with a multilevel and multi-PCB BOM approach.
Zach: So, I have another question here for Ananth. We've spent a lot of time talking about and learning about the BOM Portal, but, of course, it is part of Altium 365. So, if you could, could you talk about the future vision for Altium 365 more broadly?
Ananth Avva: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I think in the opening of the podcast, we talked about some of the areas of challenge and I think the goal for Altium 365 is to basically bridge the idea to realization processes, right? As evidenced by the BOM Portal, one of the first areas that we're focused on is bringing data and the right data in context. So, bringing the requirements in, so capturing the intent is going to come up here pretty quickly where we're going to have requirements tool that's specifically built for electronics. Those requirements then will automatically not just map into design but also start going into supply chain decisions. So, one of the questions that you had asked, Zach, on, well, is it going to a pin level? If that's a key requirement, we can actually make that as a trigger or a rule in the BOM Portal. And then, the next step is, obviously, then going into EMSS and tightening, sort of, our collaboration layers with EMSS where they can come in and engage. So, I think the first step that we're doing is building the right front end to have the common data layer that traverses, sort of, the decisions that are being made from start to the finish. The second is building a system of engagement on top of that system of record. So, what do I mean by that? All of these co-pilot/suggestion style interfaces that you're seeing with BOM Portal where we're reducing the cognitive load on whether you're a procurement professional or whether you're an engineer and actually ensuring that cognitive load is symmetrical, like, meaning just because I'm going to make a change or an engineer makes a change in the design, having the ability to either put cost constraints on them or vice versa, right, because you had to do something at the PCB level and the procurement team needs to know that now, the overall cost of the particular board has changed. Bringing those types of decision support tools and making this a system of engagement where people are actively collaborating to an outcome as opposed to just, sort of, for the sake of collaboration where you're getting visibility. That's something that we're working on and we're already seeing where for every, sort of, PCB designer that we have or for every two to three PCB designers. We have one non PCB designer coming into 365 and engaging. And this is everywhere from software engineers to mechanical engineers, to component folks, to procurement folks, to manufacturing engineers. So, bringing all those roles and bringing the right context in which they can engage, that's the second piece. And then the last piece is we have the system of record and you have the system of engagement. That's where context based AI applications become incredibly powerful, right? So, obviously, some of the things that we're looking at is, can you look at the data sheet and can you mine, sort of, the parametric information. The data sheet in terms of the quality assurance that Damir said where, yeah, there's third party tools like SiliconExpert that are doing it, but what about the right type of winning combinations, right? So, if you're going into a system level modular design, maybe, as you're building out the BOM and now that we understand the layout map, that we understand the functional requirements, we're now able to actually give you a suggestion on here's the right winning combinations, "that give you the best performance at the best cost" from a particular component manufacturer. So, a lot of what we're doing right now is, sort of, foundational to start building that system of engagement where folks are coming in and servicing the right front ends and reducing the cognitive load. And once we understand the behaviors and once we understand what's happening, we'll obviously bring more "AI based applications" that will continue to accelerate that.
Zach: So, this all sounds very exciting and I'm excited to see it all develop. Damir, how can anyone who is interested in all of this learn more about the BOM Portal and try it for themselves?
Ananth Avva: Yeah. The best way is try it yourself. Everyone is invited to a free evaluation by going to our BOM Portal webpage and the free three hour is on top of this page. You just put your email and get evaluation. We also have a BOM Portal webinar on January 24th in Europe and on January 25th in the United States where we will talk in greater detail about BOM Portal and give you a demonstration of the use cases we discussed today. So, welcome to our webinar.
Zach: Yeah. And anyone who's interested, make sure to take a look at the show notes and you'll see some links where you can learn more about the BOM Portal and access some great resources. Thank you both so much for being here today and discussing this. In my opinion, this is a really exciting feature and I think it's gonna be a great productivity booster for engineering teams. To everyone that's out there listening, we've been talking with Damir Khayrutdinov, Product Manager at Altium, and Ananth Avva, General Manager of Altium's cloud business. Make sure to check out the show notes. You'll find some links to some great resources where you can learn more about the BOM Portal. If you're watching on YouTube, make sure to hit the subscribe button and hit the like button. You'll be able to keep up with all of our podcast episodes and tutorials as they come out. And last but not least, don't stop learning, stay on track, and we'll see you next time. Thanks, everybody.
In a captivating 2023 year-end review, Zach Peterson hosts a compelling discussion with Gene Weiner, President of Weiner International Associates, exploring the dynamic landscapes of manufacturing in Mexico, India, and the burgeoning field of Ultra High-Density Interconnects (UHDI). Discover the nuances of electronics manufacturing in China, where resources seamlessly integrate into the supply chain, contrasted with Mexico's DIY approach and India's promising advancements fueled by resolutions and government backing, ultimately surpassing Mexico in certain aspects.
Key Highlights:
- Insights into Trade and Manufacturing in Mexico: Delve into the intricate details of Mexico's manufacturing landscape, exploring the unique challenges and opportunities in this key region.
- Exploring Broader Trends in India: Gain a comprehensive understanding of the evolving trends shaping the electronics manufacturing sector in India, highlighting key developments and advancements.
- Comparing India's Model to Chinese and Mexican Approaches: Analyze the positioning of India in the global manufacturing landscape, drawing parallels and distinctions between the Chinese and Mexican models.
- Unraveling the Challenges Faced by Chinese PCB Countries: Investigate the factors contributing to the challenges faced by Chinese PCB countries and the implications for the broader electronics manufacturing industry.
- Insights into M&A Activity and Future Trends: Explore the dynamics of mergers and acquisitions in the electronics manufacturing services (EMS) sector, with a forward-looking perspective on continued consolidation and vertical integration in the industry.
Listen to the latest episode of OnTrack to hear a round up of the key PCB design trends from 2023. Explore themes such as evolving manufacturing dynamics, including shifts closer to the United States and Europe, influencing future innovations. Dive into the world of packaging design advancements and emerging trends such as robotic vision and new tools shaping the future of PCB design and the broader electronics market.
Explore the world of harness design with Michał Topolski, product manager at Altium, in this episode of the Altium OnTrack podcast. Learn about the two main aspects of harness design—multi-board and harness design itself—and how they are interconnected. Michał delves into the integration with MCAD tools, the importance of data integrity, and the positive user reactions during the open beta phase. Discover the features and improvements in harness design and get a sneak peek into what the future holds for this tool.
Key Highlights:
- Multi-Board & Harness Design: Explore the synergy between multi-board and harness design, unraveling the interconnected world of these crucial aspects.
- Harness Design Overview: Gain insights into the fundamentals of harness design, delving into the significance of BOM and the development rationale.
- Hands-On with Harness Design: Take a closer look at the practical aspects of harness design, understanding its physical dimensions and the seamless integration with Altium Designer.
- Altium Designer Harness Design Integration: Discover the efficiency gains by eliminating back-and-forth processes through Altium Designer's integrated harness design features.
- User Reaction and Workflow Improvements: Hear about the overwhelmingly positive user reactions during the open beta phase and explore the workflow improvements that redefine the design experience.
Transcript
Zach Peterson: So with a harness design, I think people might think of that as like probably two possible things. One might be like a custom cable assembly, one might be a custom connector housing or maybe an off-the-shelf housing that has custom wiring that is built into it. Maybe it's hand assembled, maybe it's factory assembled. But you probably have a bunch of wires spanning between two or more connectors. And then you need to integrate that into the project somehow. Is that correct?
Michał Topolski: Yes, that's precisely it. And we support both of these ways. So you can just have a off-the-Shelf cable connection and you can have it listed in BOM as a single item or you can have your own harnessing wiring drawn and have have it manufactured custom.
Zach Peterson: Hello, everyone and welcome to the Altium OnTrack podcast. I'm your host Zach Peterson. Today I'm talking with Michal Topolski, the product manager here at Altium. As I said in a previous episode, it is that time of the year where AD is coming out with a new version and we get to learn about all the cool new features that are gonna be in the latest version of Altium Designer. So I'm very happy to have Michal with us here today. Thanks for joining us.
Michał Topolski: Yeah, hello. Thank you. Thank you for a brief introduction. Hello to everybody. Yes, yes, as you mentioned, we are now launching briefly AD 24, which is obviously the next version, the next big version count and that's always a good moment to have new features introduced.
Zach Peterson: So one of the themes I've been noticing with the new group of features has been really twofold. One is collaboration and then another is in kind of multi-disciplinary design and really I guess focusing more on product design. And you're working more in the second area. So maybe tell us which feature it is you're overseeing.
Michał Topolski: Yes, thank you for this introduction. So yes, I'm working on electronic product design and part of this of it is a multi-board and the other part is harness design. And these two are very much correlated. So as I believe every electronic engineer knows, there are many elements to the electronic product and obviously, PCBs are the base of it, but then you have to have connect them somehow. So that's when the harnessing comes in. So that's wiring, cabling. We have different names and they obviously mean some other things for some people, but we generally, we call it in Altium Designer, we call it harness design.
Zach Peterson: So with a harness design, I think people might think of that as like probably two possible things. One might be like a custom cable assembly, one might be a custom connector housing or maybe an off-the-shelf housing that has custom wiring that is built into it. Maybe it's hand assembled, maybe it's factory assembled. But you probably have a bunch of wires spanning between two or more connectors. And then you need to integrate that into the project somehow. Is that correct?
Michał Topolski: Yes, that's precisely it. And we support both of these ways. So you can just have a off-the-shelf cable connection and you can have it listed in BOM as a single item or you can have your own harnessing wiring drawn and have it made, have it manufactured custom.
Zach Peterson: So when you say it can be part of the BOM, this could be like a mechanical element that appears in the BOM, is that correct?
Michał Topolski: No, actually harness design is a separate project on its own. So it's like you have schematic and you have PCB, then you have a separate PCB project.
Michał Topolski: Right?
Zach Peterson: Gotcha.
Michał Topolski: And harness design in Altium Designer is a separate harness project, which means it has its own BOM. So yeah, well, technically these elements are mostly mechanical or electro-mechanical if you're concerned with some items. But they are in a different space right now. In the future, we'll connect these two spaces in probably one consolidated BOM in multipart. But that's speaking about the future.
Zach Peterson: So I have to ask, and I think some other people have probably asked this question themselves, why did Altium decide to develop a harness design feature? Altium, obviously known for PCB design software, and then more recently, a lot of the cloud management tools that have really helped propel enterprises to be more productive. But harness design seems a little out of left field to me.
Michał Topolski: To me, it's very complementary. So if an engineer has ever been designing a more complex design, he would notice at some point that there are electrical connections between boards and without Altium Designer, the history is quite the same. So initially, it was obviously, as you mentioned, a PCB design tool, which is very successful in this field. But then we decided that we need to grow because the modern electronic products are not just single PCBs, even very complex, like 16 layers or more, whatever. It's just so much more. So then we created multi-board and when you have this multi-board environment and you have different PCBs and models and electro-mechanical devices in that system, then obviously, you need to connect them somehow. And this is where the harness design comes in. So we've been asked by customers, okay, but I have my PCBs here and here but how do I draw my connections between them? So harness design model is a direct answer to that need and solves this problem. And yes, this is our very first approach to this area. As you mentioned, it might be a bit off in terms of PCB design that Altium's famous for but I think that when our users, and users from the outside that are willing to use Altium projects in the future, we'll see how it's implemented, how it's seamless to use. They'll notice that this is not just another harnessing tool from the electrical world because that's what our competition mostly is. Like, these tools are not tailored for the electrical engineers, electronic engineers. They're tailored for electrical work, like with the big machines and big industry and stuff like that. And in Altium, it's tailored to the needs of creating electronic products.
Zach Peterson: The most recent instance where I needed to do any type of custom interconnect design to go between multiple boards was using actually a flex connection. So doing kind of like a harness design approach, but doing it on a flex ribbon so it could bend and twist and do whatever you needed it to do. So with that type of system, you're really selecting the mating connectors and then you're designing a PCB to then connect everything and then you match up the pinouts. With a harness design, you're actually using wiring. So you're not really using a PCB layout tool to draw out those interconnects. So what does that look like for the user in order to create the physical design, not just the logical design, but the actual physical design?
Michał Topolski: I would say it's very similar to what we have in PCB. So there's this logical layer which is schematic in PCB and we have wiring diagram. You can draw the individual wires and connect splices to them and just route them in the proper way. But then you have the layout drawing and this is something like a PCB in PCB projects. So this is a place where you actually draw the topology. It seems very much like schematic, but it has different objects in Altium. So it uses bundles. So we can draw not just individual wires, but you can route them inside how they are bundled, how they go together. Obviously, we have objects like connection points, which are used to rout these bundles, to assign splice points to these connection points. And yeah, if you look at it, it's very obvious. I may share a sample project so I can show for a second. So this is wiring drawing, a wiring diagram where you can draw individual wires as I mentioned.
Zach Peterson: Well, for those listening on audio, we're looking in the Schematic Editor right now. For those watching on YouTube, you're getting the full view, but on audio, it looks like we have a bunch of boxes drawn out that would typically represent components and then you have the wires drawn between them. So it looks a lot like a schematic and I think it's really familiar for a lot of users.
Michał Topolski: Exactly, and that was our goal 'cause we're in Altium and schematic is a well-known environment, so it's very seamless to learn how to use harness design model because, essentially it looks very much the same at this point. But then we go to layout, which also kind of looks like schematic, but we can route our wires, well, actually route bundles and the wires are routed inside. So it's automatic. When the whole net is defined properly in the wiring diagram, and when the bundles are connected properly in the layout, then the wires inside are routed automatically. So then when in your BOM, you generate your wiring list from two table, which defines from which point the wire goes, and where it ends is defined automatically and generated automatically.
Zach Peterson: So what we're seeing here in this layout, like you said, it looks a lot like a schematic, but we actually see pictures and graphics that show the connectors and then we see what looks like lines drawn to represent the different wiring bundles that go between each of the connectors.
Michał Topolski: I just want to emphasize that these graphics, as you said, they're not just graphics, they are full 3D models of components. So we can actually generate different views in design. So you don't have to pre-prepare these images as you would do in many tools. They're not just simple graphics. They are interactive, sorry. And you can, for instance, have a wireframe view, you can look from different angles. So it's very flexible in that term.
Zach Peterson: So you said there's a wireframe view. Can you describe that for us?
Michał Topolski: Sure, so what you see here right now, it's a full shaded view of a component but in some cases, it's not the best one because some details might not be visible. So we would like to go into pure black and white line mole, which only limits the contours of the component, and this is it. For those who watch us, you can see that, for instance, I have just dynamically changed this shaded model to a wireframe model just like that just because as I said, this is all generated in design. It's not pre-prepared images or graphics.
Zach Peterson: Yeah, I've had to draw out wiring diagrams in the past and I will admit I have had to go onto Google images and search for an image of that connector or find a image on DigiKey or something and copy it into a PowerPoint. So I think it's very convenient that you can automatically create a lot of these assets directly inside of Altium Designer. So this is all really interesting and one thing I, of course, have to ask is was this something that was in really high demand with users?
Michał Topolski: It was in high demand, especially among those users that were multi-board adopters, that were using multi-board previously because they have noticed the need. And this is also an endless cycle because if we get more people that are using multi-board, they get to use harness and then the other way, they also use more of the multi-board. So that's good, that's good for us and that's also good for users because then we get more attention, which means we get more development on that and we can improve it faster. So yes, we're listening very carefully to all feedback about multi-board and harness very much these days because I think the tool is very good and we have many voices of our customers that are happy with what it is. But we also know that there's a long road ahead of us, and yes, we're trying to catch all the voices. It might take some time, just be warned but in the end, I think we're gonna make it a really seamless tool for everybody that's interested.
Zach Peterson: And so this is gonna be included with all the standard multi-board design tools? This isn't like an external feature that you have to purchase or anything like that?
Michał Topolski: No, but it's where we're emphasizing that. As you mentioned, this is part of multi-board. So product design suite and this is Pro and Enterprise license level. It's not standard. Unfortunately, harness design right now, it's not standard but it's Pro and Enterprise and while harness design can be used as a standalone project, so we don't need to have a multi-board project to actually have a harness project. They can be separate project, that's no big deal. But we encourage people to use multi-board project first because if you define your connectivity inside multi-board, then it goes into the harness design. So they are interconnected this way and we plan for this connection, this strict connection between these two environments to really bloom in the future. We would like to have end-to-end connectivity checks and stuff like that. So brace yourselves. I think some interesting things are coming in this environment. But coming back to licensing, I also wanted to mention that while A365 is not necessary for using harness design but to use harness-specific library components, like wires and cables, we actually need A365 because this is a cloud-enabled feature. So you can have your wires and cables inside harness design but if you want to store them in the library, you're gonna need the A365.
Zach Peterson: Sure, that makes sense. So you brought up things like wiring and storage in the library. I guess that begs the question, what sort of information is needed to input into a design in order to use everything successfully? I ask that because obviously, we're talking about wiring harnesses. So you need wires. You need connector body. You probably also need something like, I don't know, crimp contacts. And maybe if it's gonna be hand assembled, there's gonna be a special tooling that's needed. What's the complete suite of information that someone would need in order to create a project and then pass the documentation off to their assembler who can then make this design into a physical object?
Michał Topolski: Harness designing work is not very standardized. So I would say it very much depends on individual process of the company that is using it. I've been speaking to many customers and some of them just limit to drawing connectors but very generic. They don't even have to use models. They don't care very much about the lengths and margins, production margins about how many twister are and stuff like that. They just leave it to their manufacturers because they outsource it. And then you obviously need some lower level detail. But then some of these companies also are manufacturing samples or even small batches inside their facilities and then they need complete information because they use it directly like a flow below. So yeah, I would say it very much depends. But the basic set would be obviously to have some connectors that you would like to use. But again, if you utilize multi-board, you can define mating connectors in there and then they will be brought to wiring diagrams. So you wouldn't start from scratch. You would have them in there. Then you also have to draw wires but you don't necessarily need to have them predefined. You can always change properties and like components inside the design. So you can think of wires that you have as a generic components idea that we have in schematics. So we just place generic component, generic wire and then you can assign a component or assign properties to it, whatever you would like to do. And well, I'd say that basically that that's it 'cause then other things are purely your design. So you define splices, you define the topology and from that, you can bring these drawings to Draftsman and generate your manufacturing drawings.
Zach Peterson: So as far as like what the wiring is concerned, there are some properties that you could assign as I think what you said. So that could be like wire gauge, strip length, number, you said number of twists, which which would make sense. Number of strands if it's stranded wire, those kinds of things.
Michał Topolski: Yes, exactly, exactly. Color, gauge. These are very basic stuff. And one thing that maybe it's worth mentioning at this point is as I've been showing this layout, drawing, some may have noticed, this is a 2D, so two-dimensional drawing, it's flat only. And many complex harnesses are needed to be routed in 3D environment. And this is right now not possible inside Altium but we have CoDesigner feature, which has been with us for many years now and I think many Altium users are familiar of that. We right now have tests with Creo regarding current design integration, which means that you can take your wiring diagram and direct the information stream directly to MCAD, so you then get connectors, you get the connectivity, you get it from to table inside Creo and then you can route the design in 3D in there and then get back with the information, which is most crucial, which means lengths. And with these lengths, you can create your BOM and your lengths, wires and stuff like that. So this is a flow that many customers has been asking about and right now, as I said, this is Creo but we intend to also support our other environments, which CoDesigner already supports for PCBs.
Zach Peterson: So that's really interesting. It sounds like someone can take the import from the harness design in terms of let's say the connections, connector bodies and what's involved in terms of wiring. The mechanical engineer can then place those, move them around to where they need to be inside an enclosure and then that information can get pushed back into the harness design. Is that the correct way to think about it?
Michał Topolski: Right now, it's less about positions, especially in three-dimensional space. We don't support that yet inside harness design. It's more about the pure length because there's a difference if you route a cable or wire in between two points and you do not take into consideration how they're routed in 3D space because they might go around some elements that you have and if you don't account for that, then the wire would be just too short. You just draw it on plane surface. So this is actually the goal here right now, but there are some plans to bring the 3D model of harness design that you design in MCAD to a multi-board assembly environment. So then you have this represented inside our Altium environment and as I mentioned before, 'cause we own the connectivity that you defined in multi-board, we can also show point-to-point connections in the future obviously. So yeah, this is our goal here.
Zach Peterson: So this is interesting because I think normally, someone might use an MCAD application to try and model a wiring harness. I know that there are specialty applications that are out there that are specifically for wiring and cabling and stuff. But I think as you said, they're for larger machines, industrial settings, that kind of thing. It sounds like the real difference with an MCAD application is that the MCAD application has the ability to give the information back to the PCB designer so that they can quickly generate an entire bill of materials for every part in their system. So each of the PCBs, the cable, cable assembly, all of that.
Michał Topolski: Exactly, exactly. That's the way we see it. And this is a place where actually starting harness design, not in MCAD but in Altium Designer and harness design model can be superior to just purely MCAD. Obviously, there are some components that we don't have in Altium, which would be like fasteners and some mechanical parts. And obviously, the enclosure, so it has to be designed in MCAD environment and about that, this is the way to do it. But then, I think in the end, at least this is what I've learned, there are many, many engineers that would like to own this information inside Altium and generate, as you mentioned, this unified documentation from Altium Designer.
Zach Peterson: So if you were starting in the MCAD side and then going into defining the constraints for the PCB, essentially the MCAD user would have an opportunity to possibly select some of those connectors on the front end and then just pass that information onto the designer, rather than having the designer receive the board and the enclosure information and then try to fit connectors within that. Then it has to get passed back again to get verified. And so you eliminate some of that back and forth if the MCAD user could start first. Would you agree?
Michał Topolski: Yes, yes, that's perfectly the goal. I think it's not yet supported exactly the way you described it. This is the ultimate goal. Right now, we usually start with the information from harness design, but I think it's like a new feature if we do that 'cause right now, we're very much focusing on the integrity of the data, so there is no corruption happening. That's the most crucial for us. And all these improvements, like starting in MCAD, defining connectors there, other parts, obviously, it's coming as well.
Zach Peterson: Okay, but at at least someone could start an MCAD and at least have kind of a paper doll model and then say these are your three connectors, copy and paste into a Slack chat or something and then the designer can just take that, put it in their BOM and then they're off and running. So I think you mentioned two other tools within Altium Designer where there's an integration with harness design that was Draftsman and then exporting to the BOM, is that correct?
Michał Topolski: Harness design is a standard BOM, as you know from PCB projects, and standard Draftsman, as you know, from PCB projects. And I think this is the only way to do it actually in Altium. So they have this unified environment. This is our goal. This is still one Altium design. There is no separate harness design software. It's part of our suite. So it's only only natural for us to utilize the same environments. And I think it's very, very useful. I've heard these kind of voices that having wiring diagram and layout drawing in the same drawing, in the end, is something that not many tools in the market can do and can be beneficial. And also our active BOM and our connection to the Octopart and having lifecycle statuses and all that, that's also very, very useful to engineers to not design something that will be obsolete in a month or so. That would be very bad.
Zach Peterson: So inside of Draftsman, for example, since this is all its own project, essentially, you're just placing the region where you want the wiring harness drawing to appear in Draftsman, right click, import and then bam, your drawing appears there.
Michał Topolski: And when you make changes to one of these drawings, wiring or layout, you just have to again click the magic import button and it updates. That's it. That's all we need.
Zach Peterson: Very cool. Very cool. So I think we have time for one more question, which is really about the user reaction. I know that earlier I asked you if it was in high demand and now that it's been in beta for a little bit, I have to ask, what's been the user reaction? What are people saying, positive or negative?
Michał Topolski: Yes, thank you very much for this question. User reaction was largely positive, very positive. And I want to emphasize that when we launched into open beta in January, that was after a few months of development with some very, very engaged customers that were helping us to get through the MVP process. So when we launched, well, it was a newborn obviously. But I think the dynamics of the team that is developing the tool and all the people that are involved in the process, especially customers and everyone that's helping is really helping us to learn this baby to walk very fast and then ride a bike very soon also. So the reactions are very positive and this dynamic is also very visible to people. I've heard reactions like, "Oh, we have not seen this tool for three months 'cause we're exploring and now we're exploring again 'cause we have a project that we need harness for and it's a different tool now. It's so much better." So yeah, that's like genuinely the reaction I've had and I hope that this will persist in future. So that's the message to everyone that has been exploring Altium harness design in January this year and has dropped it since. And please, try again. If not now, then in January in '24 when the tool will to go out of open beta. You'll notice that the tool has changed a lot. It has become much more stable and there are many features that were missing, the big ones, but also the small ones, you know, the quality of life improvements, all that. I think it's very important. Especially in last months, we were very focused on improving all these tiny little things that are very useful in everyday life of every engineer. So just to reduce the count of clicks and all these things that make us bored and nervous at some point. So yes, and I also would like to encourage everyone that has touched the tool, but not only harness design, I mean about Altium Designer to go to forum if you have not done it and express your voice because this feedback really matters. We would like to hear that. I am one of the people that would like to hear it, we listen to it. And then we react to these voices when creating the tools for you.
Zach Peterson: Yeah, we'll include a link to the forum in the show notes. So final question before we let you go. You alluded to some potential improvements on the workflow, like starting from MCAD, going back to PCB. Are there any other interesting nuances or feature upgrades or improvements to this tool that are on the horizon that you can reveal? Or are people just gonna have to subscribe to the channel if they wanna learn more?
Michał Topolski: I'll just generally say that we seek for improvements, some big improvements in the management of components, how they are linked in between and there are also some improvements coming in terms of how you can define models inside multi-board. But I don't want to go into details right now 'cause as you know, deadlines are dangerous. I should not be showing any details about these. So just please stay tuned and if you are interested in some very particular features that you would like to see or have heard about from somebody, then just please contact us directly and we'll have a chat.
Zach Peterson: Sounds great, and I guess as all of this rolls out and slowly improves over time, we'd love to have you back to talk about this more.
Michał Topolski: Thank you very much.
Zach Peterson: Thank you very much. To everyone that's been listening on audio or watching on YouTube, We've been talking with Michal Topolski, product manager at Altium who is overseeing the harness design rollout. If you are watching on YouTube, make sure to hit the Subscribe button, hit the Like button. You'll be able to keep up with all of our tutorials and feature announcements as they become available. And last but not least, don't stop learning, stay OnTrack and we will see you next time. Thanks, everybody.
Explore the transformative world of 3D MID design in the OnTrack Podcast as Altium's Jack Henriques and Harting's Michael Mross discuss Altium's cutting-edge 3D routing tool. Gain insights into the vast potential of molded interconnect devices (MIDs) across industries and stay updated on the future of PCB design.
Dive into the future of collaborative PCB design with Altium's latest feature, the PCB CoDesign tool in AD24! In this exciting episode of the Altium OnTrack Podcast, our host, Zach Peterson, sits down with Wojciech Łaś, Product Manager at Altium, to explore the ins and outs of this innovative tool.
Discover how the PCB CoDesign tool allows multiple designers to work on the same PCB layout simultaneously, extending Altium's version control system. Learn about the compare and merge tool, a game-changer for detecting, comparing, and resolving conflicts in PCB layout files. Wojciech shares insights into the challenges of coordinating work among multiple designers and strategies to optimize the collaborative workflow.
Get a sneak peek into the future roadmap, including upcoming features like merge requests and improved conflict prevention. Find out how Altium's approach differs from real-time collaboration tools and the advantages of asynchronous collaboration.
Whether you're a seasoned Altium user or exploring the world of collaborative PCB design, this podcast provides valuable insights and a glimpse into the future of electronic design.
Show highlights:* PCB CoDesigner Overview * Unique Features of the PCB CoDesigner Tool * Strategies for Collaborative Design * Layer-Stack Locking and Rules System * Future Developments: Merge Requests and On-Premise Availability
Links and Resources:* Learn more about PCB CoDesign Coming Soon in Altium Designer 24
In this episode of the Altium OnTrack Podcast, join host Zach Peterson as he sits down with Lorenzo Conti, Founder and Managing Director of Crover. Discover how Crover is making waves in agriculture with their pioneering locomotion technology in granular materials.
From swimming through bulk solids to monitoring grain storage conditions, Lorenzo sheds light on how Crover's robot is transforming the grain storage market. Learn about the social and environmental impact, reducing losses, preventing infestations, and improving the overall efficiency of the grain supply chain. If you're interested in the intersection of robotics, hardware, and agritech, this episode is a must-listen. Tune in to explore the future of sustainable agriculture and the exciting innovations happening at Crover.
Watch this episode here
Show Highlights:
- 0:00 Intro
- 0:59 What Crover Does
- 2:33 Background in Farming?
- 3:48 Why Pursue Robotics in This Area?
- 6:11 Bad Storage and Losses
- 7:50 Other Markets and Food Products
- 8:58 Huge Potential
- 9:26 Larger Items?
- 11:15 How Do Farmers Receive Data?
- 13:21 What the Data Attempts to Predict
- 15:04 How Farmers Use the Data
- 16:37 How Technical Do the Users Want the Data?
- 18:27 Smaller Farmers?
- 19:38 Farmers in Developing Countries?
- 21:36 Working with Government or Nonprofits?
- 22:39 Overall User and Investor Response?
- 24:23 Scaling Challenges
- 27:14 Investor Relations
- 30:09 Cost of Deploying in Developing Countries
- 32:48 Where Does Crover Go Next?
- 35:03 Outro
Join us on this episode of the Altium OnTrack Podcast as we sit down with David Schild, Executive Director of the Printed Circuit Board Association of America (PCBAA). In this insightful conversation, David shares the mission of PCBAA, its role in advocating for domestic printed circuit board manufacturers, and the unique challenges and opportunities in the industry.
Discover the fascinating world of printed circuit boards and substrates as David talks about the diverse members of PCBAA, ranging from woven glass producers to drilling equipment manufacturers. Get a glimpse into the innovative world of PCBAA through David's discussion of the association's impactful business cards and the importance of physical materials in conveying industry priorities.
Explore the conversation about the state of the industry, workforce challenges, and the need for sustainable growth. David sheds light on the role of automation in manufacturing facilities and the vital connection between education, advocacy, and legislation in shaping the future of the electronics industry.
Whether you're a seasoned professional or just curious about the world of printed circuit boards, this podcast provides valuable insights into the heartbeat of modern electronics. Tune in to learn more about the industry's past, present, and the exciting possibilities that lie ahead.
Don't miss out on this engaging discussion that brings the world of electronics to life. Watch the video on YouTube to see the impressive business cards and gain a visual understanding of the technology driving innovation in the electronics manufacturing sector. If you're passionate about technology, manufacturing, or simply intrigued by the inner workings of the devices we use every day, this podcast is a must-watch!
Watch this episode here
Show Highlights:
- Intro
- What David Does for PCBAA
- David's Background
- What Should the US Market Share in Microelectronics Manufacturing Be?
- Government Subsidies & a Race to the Bottom
- What Role Does Automation Play in Price Competition?
- Encouraging Young People to Get Into the Industry
- Electronics & Popular Awareness
- Is the Messaging Getting Through?
- How to Educate the Masses about Microelectronics
- PCB-7?
- It's Going to Take Time
- Impressions about PCB West
- Increased Visibility at Trade Shows
- Learn More about PCEA & PCBAA
In this episode of the OnTrack Podcast, our host Zach Peterson sits down with Geoffrey Leeds, the founder of Leeds Engineering and Data Science. If you've ever wondered how production managers react to integrating data science into production operations, or if the term "data-driven decision-making" has piqued your interest, you're in for a treat.
Geoffrey shares his journey from his time at Insulectro to venturing out to help companies embrace data science. The discussion dives deep into the challenges and opportunities of applying data science in manufacturing, with a focus on improving decision-making and efficiency.
In a candid conversation, Geoffrey and Zach explore the misconceptions and hurdles faced by production managers when introduced to the world of data science. From the fear of complexity to concerns about cost and implementation, they tackle the real-world issues that arise when trying to bridge the gap between manufacturing and data science.
Whether you're a seasoned professional in the field or just starting to explore the possibilities of data-driven decision-making, this episode offers valuable insights and perspectives. Join Geoffrey Leeds and Zach Peterson as they navigate the intersections of manufacturing, data science, and the exciting potential for innovation in the industry.
Don't miss out on this engaging and informative episode of the Altium OnTrack podcast! Subscribe now and stay tuned for more discussions with industry leaders and innovators.
Watch this episode here
Show Highlights:
- Intro
- Return of Data Science
- Bad Data & Improper Recommendations
- Automated Process Solutions
- Capturing Data
- IIoT
- Onshoring & the Winds of Change
- A Plethora of Processes
- PCB Packaging
- 49:25 Manufacturing is Fun & Challenging Again
- 52:42 New Data Solutions
Today we are joined by Mohamed Badawy, Founder & CEO of Scalvy Inc. He and Zach have a fascinating conversation about Modamed's company, Scalvy, and its innovative powertrain technology. As a part of this chat, the two cover how long it takes to introduce new concepts to the market, how Scalvy's tech works, AI integration, and much more.
Watch this episode here
- 0:00 Intro
- 0:55 Mohamed & Scalvy's Background
- 2:35 Mohamed's Research
- 8:14 It Takes Time to Explain a Concept
- 10:47 Modularization & Competitive Advantage
- 13:41 Safety, Reliability, & Auto Makers
- 19:05 Automotive Powertrain Standardization?
- 22:27 Creating the Powertrain Standard
- 23:15 Maintenance Costs?
- 25:00 What Happens with the Powertrain
- 27:08 AI Integration?
- 30:33 Aerospace Industry
- 34:14 Marine and Agricultural Vehicles?
Today we are joined by Dan Beaulieu, founder and owner of Db Management Group. He and Zach chat about the PCB industry's broad marketing trends including how it's stuck in the past, the declining trade show industry, how sales reps can stay relevant, and much more.
Watch this episode here
- 0:00 Intro to Dan Beaulieu
- 5:48 Sales & Marketing Stuck in the Past
- 9:14 Impacts of the Domestic PCB Base
- 12:59 Is the Trade Show Method Going Away?
- 16:45 How do Reps Stay Relevant?
- 19:27 Focusing on Younger Designers
- 24:30 How Manufacturers Stand Out from the Competition
- 28:42 Designers and Board Shop Conflicts
- 31:42 Importance of Touring Shops
- 33:36 Capital Investment and PCB Shops
- 38:51 Focus on the Customer's Need, Then Provide It
Today we are joined by Paul Durand-Estèbe, Lead Electronic Developer at Metyos. He and Zach have a fascinating conversation about how Metyos is contributing to the future of wearable medical devices. They focus on Metyos's groundbreaking wearable glucose monitoring tech, the medical field's emergent wearables trend, and much more.
0:00 Intro
1:33 Intro to Paul and Metyos
2:56 A Lesser Invasive Glucose Monitoring Device
5:08 Better Monitoring Faster
8:14 Bad Glucose Monitoring Leads to Disastrous Results
10:52 Potential Chronic Health Monitoring Systems
13:33 Why Start with Kidney Disease?
16:36 From Monitoring to Administering Medication?
18:01 Scaling Challenges (Cutout a minute before this)
22:36 Proving the Effectiveness of the Device
26:54 What Does the Manufacturing Look Like?
31:37 Initial Response to Metyos
35:56 Doctors Receiving Real-time Data
In this episode of the OnTrack Podcast, we have a chat with Benjamin Dannan, a defense & aerospace contractor. We talk about power integrity, high amps, quality reports, vendor models, the importance of verification, and much more.
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Episode Highlights:
- Intro
- Ben's Background
- Power Integrity Considerations
- Vendor Models Quality & Accuracy
- Trust & Verify
- File Density Challenges
- Die (integrated circuit) Models & Packages
- "It's Easy to Miss Things."
- Lost in the Translation
- Ask for Quality Reports
- 2,000 Amp Challenges
Links and Resources:
- Watch Recent Related Episodes
- PCB Packaging & the Future of Manufacturing
- The Impact of the Defense Sector in the Electronic Industry Ecosystem
- Read Related Articles:
- Designing for Military and Aerospace Embedded Systems Applications
- Advantages of Flexible Circuits for Space Applications
- Connect with Benjamin Dannan on LinkedIn
- EDI CON Online 2023
Today we have a fascinating conversation about PCB manufacturing, reshoring, testing, and much more with Cody Endlich, Head of Strategic Sourcing at MacroFab. He and Tech Consultant Zach Peterson discuss the latest trends in manufacturing, procurement, and supplier dynamics. This is a wonderful convo for anyone interested in the future of PCB sourcing and manufacturing.
- 1:00 Cody's Background
- 2:59 Internalizing the Broker Process
- 4:51 What's Different about MacroFab
- 8:25 Where Are MacroFab's Partners?
- 10:17 Reshoring Efforts
- 12:35 Copycats?
- 16:09 The Sourcing Picture
- 20:43 How MacroFab Tests
- 23:42 Bringing the Process In-House
- 26:16 Turning Heads
- 29:12 A Solid Supplier Relationship
- 34:54 Will Mexico's Trading Role Persist
- 38:13 MacroFab's Biggest Growth Area
- 39:32 Going Forward
Links and Resources:
- Watch Related Episodes:
- Macrofab: Modern EMS Solutions in North AmericaRead Related
- Data Security, 5G and Onshore PCB Manufacturing with Dr. Rob Spalding
- Achieving Diversified Electronics Supply Chain
- Connect with Cody Endlich on LinkedIn
- Visit MacroFab website
Today we have a chat with Daniel Kagerbauer, CTO and co-founder at Inmox. This is a fascinating conversation regarding Inmox's aim to change how industrial maintenance is done and, while their initial focus is on gearboxes, the implications for their software and sensor developments may be broadly applicable across the entire industrial landscape. The two talk about monitoring industrial systems, materials challenges, industry-specific applications, and much more.
If you're interested in advancements in the industrial space, this is the episode for you.
Show Highlights:
- Introduction to Daniel Kagerbauer CTO and co-founder of Inmox. Inmox is part of the Altium startup program called Launchpad
- Inmox is currently developing industry ready prototype and moving towards heavy industrial applications
- Commercial automotive and even the racing industry is a better fit for Inmox’s gearbox monitoring system
- Daniel describes in detail what their product look like, from a sensor oil screw that can monitor the vehicle’s lubrication system, installing T-tube and wiring local ethernets
- Data are being collected where the wear particles are present, and the oil screw with the lubricant have quite good access to essential stuff that needs measuring
- Smaller systems are more automative focus while bigger systems are applicable for wind energy versions such as a helicopter, moreover safety is utmost important
- Certification challenges can involve finances, redesigns and weight optimization
- How does the real-time particle analysis works?
- Daniel talks more about distinguishing between ferromagnetic, non-ferromagnetic, and the good old electro magnetism
- Inmox is currently in negotiation with potential customers and doing interviews with mentors from different industries
- Body vibration monitoring is more precise and reliable
- Inmox longterm vision is to promote extended lifespan to machines and pushing mechanical engineering in a more sustainable path
Links and Resources:
- Leap your start-up to the next level. Learn more about Altium Launchpad, a program designed to support early stage start-ups launch their product to the market, fast!
- Read related articles:
- PCB Manufacturing Startup Costs: Budget for Tests and Success
- The Startup's Guide to PCB Manufacturing
- Electronic Hardware Startup Tips: From Idea to Manufacturing
- How to Build a Hardware Startup: Beginning to Realize Your Electronics Dreams
- Visit Inmox website
- Connect with Daniel Kagerbauer on LinkedIn
Today we're chatting with Jeff De Serrano, President of the American Division of PCB Technologies. We had a fascinating conversation about the changing nature of the PCB Manufacturing industry, focusing on aerospace, automation, AI, education, and much more. This is a wonderful episode for anyone interested in manufacturing and where the industry might be headed.
Watch this episode here.
Show Highlights:
- Intro
- Intro to Jeff & PCB Technologies
- PCB Technology's Broad Reach in Aerospace
- Faster Packaging Times
- Packaging Advantages at PCB Technologies
- 2D, 2 ½D, or 3D?
- You Need the Know-How, Not Just People
- Broad Capability Won't Happen Overnight
- Semiconductor Companies Packaging?
- Workforce Challenges
- Automation Pipedream?
- Getting Students into Manufacturing
- Manufacturing is Totally Different Now
- AI Has a Long Way to Go
- Growth Areas in Electronics?
Links and Resources:
-
Check the recent related OnTrack Podcast episodes:
- PCB Manufacturing Reshoring, Automation, and Sustainability with Alun Morgan
- Plug and Play Industrial Automation? It's Only a Matter of Time
- Learn more about Altium 365®, Where the world designs electronics
- See how Octopart help you search for electronic parts. It is the most accurate and comprehensive electronic part data search engine right at your fingertips
- Connect with Jeff De Serrano on LinkedIn
- Visit PCB Technologies website
In this episode of the OnTrack Podcast, we are pleased to host a thought-provoking conversation between Tech Consultant Zach Peterson and Dr. Philip Voglewede, Professor and Associate Chair of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Marquette University and Director at the Omron Advanced Automation Lab.
Zach and Phil have a very intriguing conversation about the role of automation in the current and future industrial landscape. Anyone interested in the current state of industrial automation, manufacturing, or labor trends won't want to miss Phil's insights, many of which are rooted in his work for the ground-breaking Omron Lab.
Show Highlights:
0:00 Intro 1:03 Phil & Omron Advanced Automation Lab 2:13 Pushing to Fail 5:27 A Space to Play 7:28 Omron's Early Achievements 11:26 De-Siloing & Student Response 16:37 Companies Noticing Student Skills 17:47 Students Handling Complex Problems 19:39 Grappling with the Role of Automation 23:05 Where Do We Get ROI? 25:18 Management is Adapting 27:14 The TOTAL Dollar Amount of Manufacturing Costs 29:33 Industrial IoT is the Achilles Heel 33:22 Plug & Play is the Goal 35:24 Make It Like Starbucks 37:13 Who Will Lead the Needed Standardization? 39:06 Will the Big Manufacturers Cooperate to Standardize? 41:15 Standardization is Only a Matter of Time
There's a new workflow offering coming soon as a result of the collaboration between Altium and ANSYS. And today, we are joined by Joao Beck, Altium's Director of Enterprise Technical Marketing, to give us all the details. This new workflow is yet another step in Altium's quest toward a digital ecosystem, acting as an important bridge between ECAD and simulation Make sure to watch the entire episode so you can fully understand what's coming your way soon.
Show Highlights:
- 0:00 Intro
- 0:50 Altium's New Workflow Offering
- 4:53 MCAD CoDesigner in Simulation?
- 7:28 A Full Suite of Capabilities
- 8:20 What the Workflow Looks Like
- 10:40 What's in the Revision History
- 12:47 The Report
- 14:14 Version Control & Rolling Back Simulations?
- 16:16 Simulation to Altium & Vice Versa
- 21:43 Mechanical Simulation?
- 23:00 The Digital Bridge Ecosystem
- 25:38 Broader Access?
- 26:42 Who's This For?
We're joined today by the Technology Ambassador at Ventec and President of the European Institute for the PCB Community (EIPC), Alun Morgan. He and host Zach Peterson have a broad, thoughtful conversation centered on PCB manufacturing.
They chat about emerging manufacturing markets, potential for supplier buyouts, reshoring, automation, and much more. This is a fascinating conversation for anyone looking to get a current view on the international manufacturing market, as well as valuable insights into where it might be headed.
Show Highlights:
0:00 Intro
0:40 Current Manufacturing Trends in Europe
9:20 Growth in Packaging
14:49 Producing at Scale
21:31 Up and Coming International Manufacturing Markets
23:52 Big Manufacturers Getting Bigger?
29:21 Return to Buying Out Suppliers?
31:36 Variable Costs, PCB Manufacturing, & Reshoring
34:30 Pricing Pressures & Automation
40:39 Automation: Prices, Reliability, & Sustainability
45:04 Wrap-Up
Links and Resources:
- Watch more of Alun Morgan:
- Materials Science 101 with EIPC Chairman Alun Morgan
- Alun Morgan on the History of FR-4
- Alun Morgan On PCB Base Materials
- Alun Morgan On Glass Fibre Production
- Connect with Alun Morgan on LinkedIn
- Visit Octopart.com, The electronic part search engine
We have a very interesting topic today! The impact of the defense sector on the electronic industry.
Our guest Nathan Edwards, an Executive Director, U.S. Partnership for Assured Electronics (USPAE) will share with us what goes in a Defense Electronic Consortium (DEC) and how all of these impact the electronics eco-system. We will also touch a little about supply chain diversification and onshoring efforts here in the US.
Watch through the end, this is a very special episode you don’t want to miss.
We have a very interesting topic today! The impact of the defense sector on the electronic industry.
Watch this episode here
Show Highlights:
- Introduction to Nathan Edwards
- Nathan briefly share his background in the electronic industry in both government and commercial sector
- What is United States Partnership for Assured Electronics (USPAE) and what is its involvement in the Defense Electronic Consortium (DEC)?
- Nathan explains what goes on DEC
- Small and medium size electronic companies could benefit in participating in the government ecosystem
- A study shows that 86% of 649 manufacturing firms receive less than 10% of their revenue from defense
- Electronics in the banking industry, from the tamper-proof electronics, security, authenticity, and some reliability and recovery
- Is something similar to the US Defense Electronics Consortium exist in different countries?
- Nathan discusses about the recent policy chain in the Defense Production Act, Title II
- Electronic supply chain diversification and onshoring in the United States
- A policy that will go in to effect in 2027 under the National Defense Authorization Act states that semiconductors, printed circuit boards and interconnects cannot be produced by some of the companies in China
- Nathans thoughts regarding production of electronic components in Latin America, especially Mexico
- Nathan volunteers to mentor emerging talents at his school district’s high school and middle school and get them involved in electronics sector
- The electronics industry requires a full depth of STEM from chemist, manufacturers, mathematician, designers and more
- Career Technical Education (CTE) offers biomedical tech, STEM, IT, and it is sponsored under the State Department of Educations as well as the Federal Department of Education
- Two critical things to a successful onshoring are reliable, skilled workforce, and capital to invest in the state-of-the-practice equipment
Links and Resources:
- Reinventing the business of electronics. Nexar puts your business ahead of the curve, learn more here
- Watch related, previous episodes:
- The NEXAR Ecosystem
- Overcoming Technological Challenges in the PCB Industry
- The Emerging Role of Mexico in the Electronics Supply Chain
- Achieving Diversified Electronics Supply Chain
- Connect with Nathan Edwards via LinkedIn
We are very fortunate to have Dr. Eyal Weiss for today’s episode. He is the CTO and founder of Cybord, an AI tool for detecting counterfeit hardware and electrical components.
This is a very exciting conversation. We will talk about a better, practical applications of AI in the electronics industry, outside of design.
Watch through the end and make sure to check all the additional links and resources below.
Watch the episode here.
Show Highlights:
- Introduction to Dr. Eyal Weiss, CTO and founder of Cybord an AI tool for detecting counterfeit hardware and components
- Dr. Eyal Weiss's company is using AI-based component inspection services to detect counterfeits and ensure component quality.
- The system utilizes images of individual components taken during the placement process, leveraging big data and deep learning technology.
- The software integrates seamlessly with existing pick-and-place machines' internal vision systems, making it a plug-and-play solution.
- AI plays a crucial role in understanding and processing the vast diversity of component types, enabling accurate identification and fingerprinting of individual components.
- Most component failures are due to component-level issues, not board-level failures, making it crucial to focus on component quality.
- The traditional industry approach treats components as bulks, similar to handling grains, without addressing them individually.
- AI and big data technology now enable the ability to address components as individuals, allowing for better traceability and targeted recalls.
- Dr. Eyal Weiss's company uses AI and image analysis to examine individual components, providing detailed information about quality, authenticity, and potential defects.
- By analyzing individual components using AI-based inspection, manufacturers can conduct more targeted and efficient recalls based on specific fingerprint information.
- AI-driven analysis can also identify mismatches in traceability information, preventing wrong recalls and improving recall precision by targeting smaller groups of components.
- The AI system uses image recognition and natural language processing to interpret component markings and extract relevant data for traceability.
- The individual component level traceability is recommended in the latest IPC standard (IPC-1782B) and can provide the highest level of traceability with minimal additional cost.
- The AI system's feedback allows OEMs and CMs to improve their processes and make informed decisions on recalls, ensuring a win-win situation for both parties.
- Dr. Weiss wishes everyone success and a lifetime of no recalls ;)
Links and Resources:
-
Read related articles:
- The Path Forward for Embedded AI
- Bringing AI to Market the Easy Way
- Connect with Dr. Eyal Weiss on LinkedIn
- Visit Cybord website
- Learn more about the IPC-1782
- Visit Octopart.com, the Electronic Parts Search Engine
Sustainability in electronics encompasses environmental, social, and corporate governance aspects, and IPC aims to make it easier for companies by providing standards, education, and advocacy to navigate these complex issues.
In this episode, we are very pleased to have Kelly Scanlon of IPC to enlighten us about the importance of sustainability in the electronics industry and how you can contribute as a PCB designer.
Watch this episode here.
Show Highlights:
- Introduction to Kelly Scanlon, the Lead Sustainability Strategist at IPC
- Kelly talks about her role at IPC and her background before landing her current position
- Kelly explains that sustainability covers environmental, social, and corporate governance
- The European Union (EU) has been leaders in producing policies that have real opportunities for environmental change, in the space of sustainability
- What are the ways can companies prove their compliance to sustainability?
- Environmental sustainability in the electronics industry has well-defined processes and regulations, like the RoHS (Restriction of Hazardous Substances in Electrical and Electronic Equipment) and REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals) making it easier to manage and communicate compliance
- Social sustainability poses greater challenges as there is no clear process and requires multidimensional teams to address issues like worker health, labor practices, and corporate governance
- Vendor checklists and assessments are used to vet suppliers, but there is a need for increased transparency and honesty in supply chains
- Companies rely on policies and regulations to ensure compliance throughout the supply chain and are pushing for accountability and reliability from their suppliers
- Kelly Scanlon emphasizes the need for a strong community and collaboration to address environmental, social, and governance sustainability in the electronics industry.
- Designers play a crucial role in driving sustainable practices by incorporating conscientious and intentional lifecycle management in their design decisions, and by advocating to manufacturers to prioritize sustainability
- Designers can make their voices heard by reaching out to IPC and participating in workshops, case studies, and events focused on sustainability
- IPC formed its Sustainability for Electronics Leadership Council, a team with diverse geographic background and diverse supply chain background that come together sharing their insights and expertise
- Designers and manufacturers are encouraged to connect with Kelly, ask questions, contribute your expertise, and to actively advocate sustainability efforts in the electronics industry
Is there a need for a photonic iPhones and smartphones? We have a very interesting topic today with our guest Daniel Pérez López, the CTO and Co-Founder of iPRONICS, programmable photonics.
“When we refer to programmable photonics, we are referring to the ability of first being able to integrate light signals into a semiconductor chip that is widely known as integrated photonics, integrated optics.” -Daniel Perez Lopez Watch this episode here.
Show Highlights: * Tune in now and watch through the end, you wouldn’t want to miss this! * introduction to Daniel Perez Lopez Co-founder and CTO of iPronics * What are programmable photonics? * The photonic field or the integrated photonic field, is mainly limited to two key volume driven market segments that are transceivers and data centers * One of the growing benefits of photonics is to ability to configure systems, real-timebases on the specific environmental condition and specific performance * Photonics technology as a complimentary technology to electronics * Daniel describes the structure of iPronics’s photonics processor and how it functions * iPronics has figured out miniaturization, they believe that reducing the form factor is a way to open their product to the bigger market * Is there a need for a photonic iPhones and smartphones with pure photonics processor? * Daniel enumerates the various photonics applications including in RF systems * Cointegration of lasers with with the photonics integrated circuits is no longer rocket science * Enhanced technology, sooner than later; integrating high performance photo ejector in the chip is no longer a challenge * Lasers sound cool, but miniaturization or focusing on the form factor and delivering high performing systems are more of a priority * Is there any iPronics product currently available off the shelf for integration? * iPronics is focusing on communications space for optical based communications and management for RF communications and the processing intra data center communications
Links and Resources: * Read Related Articles: + Silicon Photonics Integration Challenges in PCB Design + Quantum Computing Electronics vs. Photonics: New Chips Will Shift the Balance + Optical Interconnects in PCB Design: Progress in 2020 and Beyond * Connect with Daniel Pérez López on LinkedIn * Visit iPronics website
Better thermal efficiency, how to do better power efficiency, how to reduce losses, how to help people handle those thermal losses? This episode is a real treat.
Our guest Steven Schnier, Systems Engineer for Power Management at Texas Instruments generously shares the different strategies for designing better thermal and power efficient PCB.
Watch through the end, this episode is sure have great tips and strategies that you don’t want to miss.
Watch this episode here.
Show Highlights:
- Introduction to Steven Schnier, Systems Engineer for Power Management at Texas Instruments
- Steven shares that Texas Instrument is currently focusing on better thermal efficiency, how to do better power efficiency, how to reduce losses, how to help people handle those thermal losses
- What is the best strategy in regulating the LDO?
- Eliminating the LDO to lower the noise, but keep in mind that LDO does not solve all the noise issues
- Steven briefly explains the difference between low noise, ripple, and EMI
- Using a ferrite bead filter is one of most common ways to suppress noise and switching frequency
- Steven dives in the details on the appropriate use of ferrites and shares about Texas Instrument’s integrated ferrite bead filter
- Where would you add damping in that pie circuit that you might be putting on the output of that buck converter?
- Steven shares a tip on how to reduce output voltage ripple
- Ferrite beads help with EMI concerns, crosstalk concerns, and transmission line effects, but ultimately to kill the noise and the output ripple
- Steven generously shares different strategies for designing for better thermal and power efficiency
- Various ADC (analogue-to-digital converter) products at Texas Instruments
- When does a multi-phase converter applicable to use?
- Steven talks about the Texas Instruments’ TPS series module equivalents
- BGA vs QFN, when to use what?
- Texas Instruments is going with higher power density, so expect more progress on that
Links and Resources:
- Read Power Integrity related articles
- Read: The Beginner's Guide to PCB Power Integrity: From Board to Package
- Watch related videos:
- Ferrites in Power Delivery Networks - Part One
- Ferrites in Power Delivery Networks - Part Two
- LDOs Vs. Switching Regulators - Power Regulation in PCB Design: Part One
- LDO Deep Dive - Power Regulation in PCB Design: Part Two
- Connect with Steven Schnier via Linkedin
- Visit Texas Instrument Website
Lukas Henkel, our guest in this episode was already into electronic engineering at age 10.
He will share with us what made him interested in designing electronics, some details about the development of his Open-source laptop project, and will even give us a sneak peek of the actual design development on Altium Designer.
You don’t want to miss this! Watch through the end and be sure to check the additional resources below.
Watch this episode here
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Episode Highlights:
- Lukassz Lawrocki, Technical Marketing Manager at Altium makes a special appearance to explain Altium’s new initiative that encourages and supports electrical engineers to create open-source projects
- The open source Laptop project by Lukas Henkel is the first project to be supported by this new initiative
- Introduction to Lukas Henkel
- Lukas talks about his background and his first electronic project at age 10
- Robert Feranec and the Altium OnTrack Podcast are just a couple of Lukas’s inspirations for discovering his interest in electronics and PCB design
- Lukas chose a laptop for his open-source project because of its composition—a variety of components working together
- Electrical vs mechanical, which one did Lukas find more challenging?
- The laptop project will have a full aluminum body, which is a cheaper choice for producing prototypes in a smaller volume
- Lukas talks about why the flex part of the enclosure is one of the challenging parts of his project
- While there are commercial and open-source tools to help with high-speed signal optimization, complex optimization problems are best solved through a manual process — comparing solutions and comparing the impact of each domain
- Lukas shares his transition from working with Semikron to his own company, OV Tech
- Zach and Lukas exchange experiences in running their companies - challenges, projects, and clients
- Lukas encourages everyone who is interested to learn more about his open-source laptop to follow him on LinkedIn for development updates
- Design Demonstration via Altium designer
- Watch for Lukas's next project, the Open Source Smartwatch
Links and Resources:
- Connect with Lukas Henkel via LinkedIn
- Subscribe to Robert Feranec Youtube Channel
- Watch all previous Altium OnTrack Podcast episodes
- Watch related episodes:
- Robert Feranec and IoT Security
- Open Source Ventilator Project (OSV) Combats Ventilator Shortage
- Seven Design Guidelines to Break Bad Habits from Using Open-Source Designs
Read: Open Source Hardware & PCB Projects in Altium Designer
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The globalization of the electronics supply chain has been a widely discussed topic, and having Andrew Hupert, an esteemed supply chain consultant, in this episode is incredibly timely.
In this insightful discussion, Andrew sheds light on Mexico's distinctive edge in electronics production. Furthermore, he provides us with a comprehensive comparison of the logistical aspects between Mexico's and China's production processes.
Key Highlights:
- Introduction to Andrew Hupert, professor at Holt University and Supply Chain Consultant
- Andrew talks about his career in cross-cultural negotiation. From China to Thailand, Vietnam, and now to Mexico
- Compliance costs are becoming unmanageable, and logistics becoming more unpredictable, these are just a couple of the challenges in the electronics supply chain
- NAFTA (North America Free Trade Agreement ) aka USMCA, the US, Mexico, and Canada agreement puts Mexico on top of the list as far as production sites for large-scale factories
- US trade agreement with Columbia, is it possible?
- Guadalajara is in the process of becoming the software center in Mexico
- Andrew describes the challenges of sourcing electronics products from Mexico
- In China, one person knows people who can give you all the necessary connections to start and finish a project, meanwhile in Mexico, people will keep their mouths shut
- The level of workmanship in Mexico is high, however, project management is very poor
- The auto industry is the kind of business that is built for Mexico. American automakers have been producing automobiles in Mexico for over 70 years
- Mexico has EMEC which allows companies to bring in equipment, materials, raw materials, or components, all of it duty-free provided they ship it out or export it and not for sale in Mexico
- Andrew gives his insight on what the supply chain will look like
- Only a certain percentage of the electronics production will move out of China to Mexico
- Sophisticated design based in the US such as Texas, Arizona, California, and Mexica can handle the assembly
- Apple is moving its production to India
- “India is a tough one”, Andrew explains the challenges in producing electronics in India
- GM (General Motors) moved all their electric vehicle manufacturing to Mexico
- It’s hard to get business intelligence on Mexico, Andrew encourages companies to plan their transition or hire a project manager to do the legwork
Today we're thrilled to be joined by John Watson, Customer Success Manager at Altium. He and Tech Consultant Zach Peterson chat about the importance of education for designers, what it's like working with students, and what new opportunities there are for PCB designers in today's market.
Watch this episode here.
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Key Highlights:
- Introduction to John Watson, Altium Customer Success Manager
- John talks about his teaching profession at Palomar College in San Marcos, California where he teaches Basic and Advanced PCB design
- The Middle College Program at Palomar College was created for junior and senior high school students to give them a head start in taking college courses
- The demand for PCB designers is driven by a lack of interested individuals in the industry
- An increasing number of young engineers are drawn to computer science and software development, while the fields of hardware, electrical engineering, and PCB design are experiencing a declining interest
- John elaborates on the content covered in his comprehensive 32-week course, encompassing both fundamental and advanced aspects of PCB design
- Companies are losing their talent every single day through retirement. Now more than ever, there is a huge need to fill the pipeline
- John shares his early days as an electrician on the kitchen floor with a screwdriver in the toaster
- John finds Ai concerning, and he doesn’t allow it in his class
- John describes the kind of students he has in his class
- Overanalyzing is a typical problem for electrical engineers
- PCBs are works of art
- Zach describes a PCB designer as a “constraint manager”
- John works with different organizations to give the students a leap towards their next step after they finished his 32-week course
- From a janitor to a PCB designer, a winning moment to one of John’s students
- Give back no matter what level we’re at, this is John’s message to his peers and everyone in the electronics industry
- There are 25 spots available in John’s PCB design course, those who will not make it will be on the waiting list. You can check more information here.
Links and Resources:
- Connect with John Watson on LinkedIn
- Visit the Palomar College Website
- Check out John Watson's PCB design course outline here
- Read John Watson's Blogs
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Making wearable smart devices smarter, is one of the heavily invested research in the tech industry today.
Our guest Henry Crandall, a National Science Foundation graduate research fellow and Ph.D. candidate at the University of Utah talks about his electrical research applied to human health monitoring and diagnosis. He will also briefly talk about his involvement in the IEEE, BioHive Utah, and his exciting role as a student board member in the IPC.
Show Highlights:
- Introduction to Henry Crandall, his research, and involvement with IPC
- Henry’s research focuses on the intersection of electrostatic and biology. How electrical applications can help diagnose disease and monitor health care condition
- How Henry’s research relates to Elon Musk’s “Neuralink”
- What is Neural Engineering?
- Bioimpedance and non-invasive sensor products are already available through wearable health devices just like the smartwatches
- Henry explains briefly the difference between surface measurement and penetration depth
- Photoplethysmography is what you called the green lights on the back of your smartwatches, it uses light to monitor the cardiovascular system
- Henry’s current research in a nutshell: a Bioimpedance sensor to monitor blood pressure
- One of Henry’s goals in his research is to collect as much data and come up with an algorithm that will help smart devices to become even smarter
- Major tech companies are investing heavily in research that could help make wearable smart devices gather actual clinically relevant data
- Henry talks about his involvement in the IPC as a student member of the IPC Board of Directors
- Both Zach and Henry share their experience with the IEEE
- As a student member of the IPC board of directors, Henry gets involved in decision-making regarding governance, the strategy, and the financial sides of the organization
- IPC has definitely prioritized and put a lot of effort to attract the youth to engineering
- Henry with a health tech focus start-up called BioHive Utah
Links and Resources
- Connect with Henry Crandall on LinkedIn
- Meet Henry Crandall: New IPC Student Board Member
- Learn More About BioHive
- Read: Henry co-authored IoMT-enabled stress monitoring in a virtual reality environment and at home
Quality and reliability are a big deal when designing PCB for assembly. Our guest Tony Lentz, Chemist and Field Applications Engineer at FCT Solder will bring us to the PCB manufacturing space while tackling solder beyond basic thermodynamics and composition.
Listen or watch through the end. This is a great opportunity for PCB designers to learn about soldering products that are used for printed circuit board assembly.
Episode Highlights:
- Introduction to Tony Lentz, his background, and role as a Chemist and Field Applications Engineer at FCT Solder
- Tony talks about how they work with their clients to achieve best quality when manufacturing their PCBs
- Diving into the chemistry side of things, Tony tackles about how the blending of different metal alloys, additives, and different inter-metallics to that solder joint composition, the pads, and the components can affect the overall reliability of the PCB
- With the automotive industry’s growing electronic demands, thermal testing cycles are expanding aggressively. Recently between negative 40C to 175 C!
- Tony briefly explains the different worlds involving PCB manufacturing and assembly: solder company, plating company, components manufacturing, board manufacturing, assembly and the list goes on
- What is tombstoning?
- Head on pillow on a BGA is another difficult defect to get rid of, Tony explains what can cause this problem
- Expert Tip: A rule of thumb for large thermal pads is to cut it down somewhere between 60 and 80% of the total area covered with solder paste and then break that deposit up with some window pane type openings going through it
- Are hybrid solder reliable?
- The stability of solder alloys can differ based on the different kinds of metals, components and PCB surface finish
Let’s walk down memory lane and discover how circuit boards are being manufactured back in the 50s.
In this episode, we have the pleasure to have Gene Weiner, a true gem in the industry! This is a rare opportunity to learn from an expert who has helped shape the electronics industry for more than 60 years now.
Watch through the end, and make sure to check out the show notes and additional resources below.
Watch this Episode.
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- Introduction to Gene Weiner and a glimpse of his illustrious career in the electronics industry beginning in 1956
- Gene retrospects vividly how they used to do 3D printing and additive back in the 50s
- What would interest a young man to go down the path of electronics manufacturing back in the 50’s? Gene shares his career experience and what sparked his interest in electronics
- 1975 marked the beginning of electronic manufacturing automation development outside the US
- Captive operations versus outsourcing — a lot of electronics companies chose cost reduction over maintaining their own manufacturing operations
- Gene gives his insight about moving some manufacturing facilities to Latin American countries like Mexico and Columbia
- What does it take to bring manufacturing back to the US?
- Just building chips in America without building the rest of the supply chain here just lengthen the supply chain. Gene stresses that volume, demand, incentives, and continuous government programs are necessary to make anchoring a success
- Gene suggests that partnering is better than hiring. Partner with talents who share a mutual vision with the company, and share benefits together
Links and Resources:
- Connect with Gene Weiner on LinkedIn
- Visit Weiner International Associates' website
- Watch the related OnTrack episodes
- A Lookback to the Evolution of the PCB Industry with Happy Holde
- Achieving Diversified Electronics Supply Chain
- Overcoming Technological Challenges in the PCB Industry
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Pierce Design’s Ethan Pierce will share his insight into reverse engineering with printed circuit assemblies. We will also discuss firmware reverse engineering.
Watch this episode.
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Show Highlights:
- Introduction to Ethan Pierce and a quick preview of his upcoming webinar with the PCEA regarding reverse-engineering
- How to acquire reverse-engineering skill sets?
- Retrofitting a system versus creating a net new ecosystem of products
- Is reverse engineering cost-effective?
- Ethan advises designers to keep records and documentation as much as possible. “take as many pictures, take as many pictures, photos, notes.”
Links and Resources:
- Connect with Ethan Pierce on LinkedIn
- Visit Pierce Design's website
- Register for Ethan Pierce's Webinar: Reverse Engineering PCBs: How to Recreate a Lost Design
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In this OnTrack episode, we are very excited to bring you Tim Wang Lee, a Signal Integrity Application Scientist and the High-Speed Digital Application Product Manager at Keysight.
Tim will share his early days as a prodigy with Dr. Eric Bogatin. We will also discuss the importance of simulation and measurement to achieve signal integrity for your PCB design.
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Watch this episode here
Show Highlights:
- Tim Wang Lee Introduction
- Tim talks about Dr. Eric Bogatin as his mentor, the knowledge about simulation and signal integrity especially rule number nine
- A favorite phrase GIGO (garbage in garbage out) according to Tim is his way of understanding his intentions and asking questions before diving into a project
- Tim with Mike Russo, initiated simulation and measurement workflow seminars and webinars to help educate the importance of measurements and simulation to back it up
- What is a Virtual Prototype?
- Where to start with a system-level qualification in simulation?
- Tim explains what an EP Scan (Electrical Performance Scan) does
- Keysight is also now focusing on Power Integrity and Heidi Barnes is one of the leading experts in the Power Integrity ecosystem
- Next step for Keysight is to aid PCB designers in not only generating results but also fixing the issues
Links and Resources:
- Connect with Tim Wang Lee on LinkedIn
- Visit the Keysight Website
- Read Tim Wang Lee’s articles on SI Journal
-
Watch Related Podcast Episode:
- Pathological Design Features: Eric Bogatin on PCB Design
- Power Integrity and Simulations with Heidi Barnes
- Picotest’s Water-Cooled Probe with Steve Sandler
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IPC continues to develop resources to bring awareness about the electronics industry to the young generation.
In this episode, we are very fortunate to have Charlene Gunther, the Senior Director of the IPC Education Foundation. We will talk about IPC’s efforts to involve students in engaging activities that will introduce the electronic industry to them as early as high school.
Join us and watch through the end. We added some great resources below so be sure to check them out.
Watch this episode here
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Episode Highlights:
- Charlene Gunther introduction and a brief overview of her role as the Senior Director of the IPC Foundation
- Charlene talks about the IPC three pillars: awareness, engagement, and connections
- The IPC launched the website www.careersinelectronics.com which aims to attract students and job seekers within the electronics industry
- The IPC student chapter plays a big role to attract and involving students in skill development training and networking
- IPC is hosting annual STEM outreach and partners with Title I schools and private institutions to expose high school students to hands-on activities, connecting them with industry, allowing them to solder, to design, to learn about assembly
- Other departments of the IPC that work towards improving accessible education are the Education Department led by Vice President David Hernandez and Chris Mitchell the VP of Advocacy and Government Relations
- The universities’ response to IPC programs has been very positive and they have become more proactive in integrating electronics and manufacturing-related courses into their curriculum
- Be in the loop with the latest IPC Education Foundation announcements, visit www.careersinelectronics.com , subscribe to their newsletter, and follow their social media pages. Students, parents, and employers are encouraged to visit the website
Links and Resources:
- Connect with Charlene Gunter on LinkedIn
- Visit the IPC website
- Visit the Careers in Electronics website
- Learn more about IPC Education Foundation
- Watch related episodes:
- The Challenging Role of a Process Engineer
- IPC CEO John Mitchell on the Supporting American Printed Circuit Boards Act
- Hands-on Learning for PCB Design Students with Sid Deliwala
- Learn Printed Circuit Board Design
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In this episode, we will learn so much about embedded CAN bus, for automobile security and performance straight from the water host, Ken Tindell the CTO of Canis Labs.
A lot of interesting facts about cyber security and automobile hacking that you would not want to miss! Watch through the end and make sure to check the additional resources below.
Watch this episode
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Show Highlights:
- Ken Tindell’s background and how he got started with CAN bus and CAN security
- Ken worked with Motorola on designing the MS CAN—the first CAN controller that did all the buffer scheduling correctly
- Ethernet and CAN coexist in autonomous vehicles’ architecture, Ken explains how
- There are two types of major attacks on the CAN bus: attacking the physical wiring and attacking the computer that has access to the wiring. Zac and Ken talk about the mind-blowing advanced techniques of hacking automobiles
- Story of irony. A friend of Ken in automobile cybersecurity had his car stolen
- The biggest car-hacking horror would be through the cloud — cloud-based APIs to phone and at the same time CAN bus protocol hacking on the transceiver pins
- CAN HD, an augmentation for high speed and guarding the CAN bus
- Canis Labs is in the works to provide real solutions for security on CAN bus
Links and Resources:
- Connect with Ken Tindell on LinkedIn
- Visit Canis Automotive Labs' website
- Check out Ken’s Github Page
- Watch related podcast episodes:
- Better Performance and Enhanced Reliability in the Automotive Electronics industry
- Electronics Manufacturability and Reliability with QA Guru Cheryl Tulkoff
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In this episode, we continue the discussion on diversifying the electronic supply chain. Our guest Case Engelen the CEO of Titoma shares his insight about moving some of the manufacturing to other Southeast Asian countries and South America.
Watch this episode now and check out the show notes and additional resources below.
Show Highlights:
- Case Engelen introduces himself and his company Titoma
- Offshoring, onshoring, and diversifying supply chain, why do the majority of components manufacturing may stay in China for 5 more years?
- Building prototypes and optimizing your design following the factory’s specifications
- Case talks about the importance of component architecture early during the design phase
- The difference between how US and Chinese market their product and their selling strategies
- Diversifying manufacturing in Southeast Asia and South America, Taiwan is a little more expensive than China, but Columbia is more competitive when it comes to cost
- The advanced manufacturing capabilities in China are quite hard to beat
- What is “bifurcation”?
- What does the future of electronics production and sourcing and procurement look like?
Links and Resources:
- Connect with Case Engelen on LinkedIn
- Visit Titoma Website
- Watch the Previous Related Episodes:
- Mastering Your PCB Design Tool as the Industry Evolves with Stephen Chavez
- Mitigating Risk Factors for PCB Manufacturing Lead Times
- Data Security, 5G and Onshore PCB Manufacturing with Dr. Rob Spalding
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Happy Holden, a legend in the PCB Industry and one of our favorite Altium Industry Expert contributors gives us a trip to his 53 years of experience in the industry. From a chemical engineer, and PCB manufacturing expert to an educator with his countless contribution to the PCB industry’s wealth of knowledge through his books, column, and keynote presentations.
Watch this episode now
Show Highlights:
- Introduction to Happy Holden and an overview of his career in the PCB Industry
- What drove the PCB manufacturing off-shore? The printed circuit industry has been all over the map, to begin with
- Happy shares his early years in printed circuit manufacturing
- Comparing CAD tools from the 80s and the present – computers, calculators, and software
- Happy talks about photonic circuits back in 1998 and how it is a hundred thousand times more capable than electronic communication and have no signal integrity issue
- HP’s first notebook computer
- Happy retired from HP and moved to Taiwan
- Happy started working at Gentex Michigan
- The beginning of offshoring the PCB manufacturing and fabrication
- In Asia, the printing circuit board is like printing money. It is the most profitable industry in the region
- Globalization took over the industry – emphasis on profit versus jobs
- Diversifying the supply chain. How to bring some of the manufacturing sides of the industry back to the US?
- The $52 Billion budget (CHIPS Act 2022) is just a downpayment to bring the 30 years that were lost
- Would companies start manufacturing their own products?
- How did HDI technology come about?
Links and Resources:
- Connect with Happy Holden on LinkedIn
- Read Happy Holden’s Articles on Altium’s Resource Page
- Read Happy Holden’s Biography on HPMuseum.org
- Buy Happy Holden’s Printed Circuits Handbook, Seventh Edition
- Download FREE Ebook I-Connect007 Publishes Automation eBook by Happy Holden
- Watch the Previous Episode with Happy Holden: The Father of HDI PCBs
Functional testing is when you power up an electronic device for the first time and then perform voltage rail checks and programming of processors, and more. And this is exactly what FixturFab offers their customer.
In this episode, Zach is talking with the co-founders of FixturFab, Duncan Lowder and Joe Selvik. They will have a chat about automated test fixtures and turnkey systems that aid low to medium electronic production to deliver successful devices.
Watch this episode here.
Show Highlights:
- Jow Selvic and Duncan Lowder introduction and engineering backgrounds
- What is FixturFab’s test fixture? Duncan briefly explains how it works – the mechanical, electrical, and software aspects of it
- A turnkey test system designs and delivers specific test cases and dives into detail about how a circuit board was designed and gathers reports
- Bolina an IIOT device deployment engine allows the management of Test Fixtures remotely
- An ideal customer for FixturFab is anyone who designs or manufactures their hardware, the best time to initiate the testing is before finalizing the board layout or during the prototyping phase
- Currently, FixturFab caters to low to medium-volume production, but they definitely are looking forward to eventually being in an automated SMT (Surface Mount Technology) line
- Coming next is the Test System in a Box, the IKEA or the “protolab” for test fixtures
Links and Resources:
- Connect with Joe Selvik on LinkedIn
- Connect with Duncan Lowder on LinkedIn
- Visit FixturFab website
- Read: Generating an Altium Test Point Report
- Watch related episodes:
- Electronics Manufacturability and Reliability with QA Guru Cheryl Tulkoff
- Mitigating Risk Factors for PCB Manufacturing Lead Times
In this episode, we are fortunate to have two key personalities at Luxonis, a hardware, firmware, software, AI, and simulation company. Erik Kokalj, director of application engineering at Luxonis, and Bradley Dillon, CEO of Luxonis discuss how and who can benefit from AI technology.
Tune in and make sure to check out the show notes and additional resources below.
Show Highlights:
- Introduction to Luxonis and its founding on April 2019
- The liDAR and radar as an imaging technology, Erik briefly explains the technology behind it
- Bradley shares why they decided to open-source some aspects of their platform and design
- Luxonis’s AI training, AI conversion, and AI deployment onto hardware are all open-source, for their customers can quickly develop their own model and then deploy it on the device itself
- Future design updates, miniaturization, and thermal management
- What are some of the industrial applications that are utilizing the Luxonis imaging technology? Beekeeping was unexpected!
- Robotic applications on robotic cars, Zach and Erik talk about action recognition on top of object recognition
- Bradley talks about series 3 products and what’s coming in terms of capabilities – processing power, more AI inference
Resources and Links:
- Connect with Bradley Dillon on LinkedIn
- Connect with Erik Kokalj on LinkedIn
- Checkout Luxonis Website
- Watch Luxonis featured on Altium Story: How Luxonis uses Altium 365 to innovate AI Vision systems faster
- Connect with Zach Peterson on LinkedIn
In this episode, we are very excited to have Jesus Zozaya, CEO of Voltera, and Matt Ewertowski, product manager at Voltera. We will discuss pushing the boundaries in electronics design through printed electronics.
Join us and together let’s discover the many benefits of printed electronics from expedited prototyping, proof of concept, and academic research.
Show Highlights:
- Introduction to Jesus Zozaya, CEO of Voltera, and Matt Ewertowski, product manager at Voltera
- Jesus takes the lead in explaining what Voltera does, and introduced their first product – V-one
- Matt explains the difference between Printed Electronics and additive manufacturing process
- Electronics printer pushes the limits and welcomes new possibilities and opportunities for new materials in the electronic design space
- Voltera designed NOVA (their second product) with users in mind, they created a tool that all electrical engineers can utilize regardless of their skills in material science
- Can you do stack-ups using printed electronics?
- Jesus talks about a customer who created heaters directly on the drone’s wings to melt the ice when flying in cold temperature
- A Voltera customer printed electronics directly on a textile (face mask) that will allow a smartphone app to track the level of CO2 on the face mask
- Mark dives deep into the capabilities of NOVA
- Who is the target market for V-one and how does it differentiate from NOVA
- The V-one is seen to be utilize more for prototyping, meanwhile NOVA is popular with academic and R and D research
- Printed electronics do not replace traditional marketing, but it aids to expedite the process of getting the proof of concept done
Links and Resources:
- Connect with Jesus Zezoya on LinkedIn
- Connect with Matt Ewertowski on LinkedIn
- Visit Voletra’s website
- Related Podcast Episodes:
- 3D Printed Circuit Boards for Fast Prototyping
- The Promising and Challenging Future of 3D Printed Electronics
- Materials Science and Manufacturing of Better PCB
- Connect with Zach Peterson on LinkedIn
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Having Steve Sandler in this episode is such a treat! He talks about his presentations at the upcoming DesignCon 2023 in Santa Clara. He gives us a deep dive into some very complex engineering topics, including measuring the PDN Flatness and the state space model.
Download this episode
Show Highlights:
- Steve Sandler is in the running for Engineering of the Year along with Ken Wyatt
- Steve is doing a two-and-a-half-hour tutorial on PSMR, PSOR, and PSMR testing at the DesignCon. Molex and Tektronix are both participating in the live demonstration
- He s also doing a presentation with Heidi Barnes, Bandanin, and Ben Denon
- A lot of conferences are going virtual. The reach is undeniably great, however, what are the pros and the cons? What is valuable to who?
- Steve talks about the conception of Picotest in the US
- Picotest made the very first water-cooled probe which he will be showing at the DesignCon
- Innovative solutions can take decades from conception to fruition, Steve shares his PdD thesis from 2011 that got him ahead of the curve
- Steve deeps dive into the water-cooled probe, how it works, and the problems it eliminates
- 21:34 Power supply stability is critical in space,
- 23:28 What does it mean to quantify the flatness of the PDN? Steve co-authored a paper with Scott Witcher which will be presented at the DesignCon
- 26:25 Steve Sandler wrote a paper in 2015: Target Impedance Limitations and Rogue Wave Assessments on PDN Performance
- 31:29 FACTS! Computers in Space Station are being reset every 40 minutes
- 33:13 Steve stresses the importance of simulation and gives engineers a tip: “Start out with proven models and you'll get there. Get enough confidence.“
- 34:39 Steve explains why it is necessary to find the “Q” to measure PDN Flatness
- 43:19 Innovation could have happened earlier, Steve talks about the typical economic problems that could be hindering technological advancements
- 47:51 Steve gives us a brief deep dive into the “state space model” and what it’s attempting to quantify
Links and Resources:
- Connect with Steve Sandler on LinkedIn
- Visit Picotest website
- Check out Steve Sandler's Books
- Register to DesignCon 2023
One of PCEA’s (Printed Circuit Engineering Association) goals is to provide accessible education, affordable to everyone in the electronics industry.
In this episode, we are fortunate to have two passionate educators in the industry, Mike Buetow and Mike Creeden. We will talk about the PCEA’s efforts to use all possible platforms to promote educational programs for design engineers.
PCEA, it's an international network of engineers, designers, fabricators, assemblers…anyone who is involved in printed circuit development. And we promote Printed Circuit Engineering as a profession. We're looking at trying to take information, new design concepts, get them down into the manufacturing side, and then also to communicate those manufacturing constraints and make sure that they are communicated back to the design side. -Mike Buetow
Watch the episode here
Show Highlights:
- Introduction to PCEA and updates on its acquisition of key assets of UP Media Group
- Mike Buetow talks about the PCB East conference reboot
- Who can benefit from PCEA’s educational initiatives?
- Mike Creeden emphasizes the importance of in-person learning. “Online is good, but it lacks some retention…but in-person learning, you retain more,” he explains.
- To collaborate, educate and inspire is what’s behind PCEA educational efforts
- PCEA is a volunteer-driven organization
- Mike Creeden will be at the https://www.ipcapexexpo.org/in San Diego
- Mike Creeden debunks misconceptions about PCB manufacturing facilities, the skills involved, the compensation, and more
- There are some issues in design education around packaging, the Insulectro booth at IPC Apex 2023 will offer valuable knowledge about packaging
- PCEA membership is free, you can register here
- Mentorship programs are something to look forward to
- Currently, PCEA has chapters in Europe, Mexico, Canada, Australia, and across the United States
Links and Resources:
- Visit PCEA’s website
- Connect with Mike Creeden on LinkedIn
- Connect with Mike Buetow on LinkedIn
- Watch Previous Related Episodes:
- New Printed Circuit Engineering Course: PCE EDU
- Mike Buetow on PCB West
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Expedite your transition from prototype to scale with the help of an experienced PCB broker! In this episode, a returning guest joins us to discuss everything that involves cost-effective PCB manufacturing. Greg Papandrew, a PCB buying and selling expert, gives us a comprehensive understanding of PCB cost drivers and tips on a good supply chain strategy.
Watch this episode here
Show Highlights:
- The process of buying and selling, Greg Papandrew is a PCB broker with 30 years of experience in the industry
- Greg emphasizes the importance of quoting smartly, learning when, where, and how to save money without sacrificing the PCB quality
- What is a good supply chain strategy?
- Greg dives deep into his role as a PCB broker, and his involvement in the decision making involving specs, materials, cost, and more
- Sending too much information can be problematic, and it involves the vulnerability of intellectual property
- Good communication with the PCB manufacturer and fabricator can go a long way; asking the right questions can help with the production of high-quality products with a fair pricing
- What is the anatomy of a complete data package?
- What's in a File list and a README file
- Greg answers, at what stage of the process does a PCB designer or manufacturer approach a PCB broker?
Links and Resources:
Connect with Greg Papandrew on LinkedInWatch a previous episode with Greg Panandrew: How to Buy PC Boards From a Board ShopWatch Greg’s video: How to Avoid Self-inflicted PCB CostsVisit DirectPCB - Better Board Buying websiteConnect with Zach on LinkedInVisit Nexar websiteVisit Octopart website
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If you look at the way people have used FPGAs, they are a miracle product in many ways. -Mark Oliver
Our guest Mark Oliver, VP of marketing at Efinix talks about the evolving role of FPGAs in the industry beyond prototyping. Mark will give us a very insightful use of FPGA as an efficient custom silicon solution and will go deep on the importance of RISC-V for processor designs.
Watch this episode here
Show Highlights:
- Introduction to Efinix, an FPGA company
- Mark starts off by addressing the inefficient ways designers use FPGAs and how this has helped them develop a product that can be utilized from prototyping and straight to high-volume manufacturing
- Efinix FPGAs are cost-effective, low-power, and small-form efficient for custom silicon solution
- The common FPGAs integration including the SIP (Session Initial Protocol) implementation
- FPGA market is set to explode because it is going in the same direction as the current industry growth
- they are designed as mid-volume production solutions with the potential for scalability
- Given that the industry is dominated by software engineers Efinix moves its course to RISC-V processor integration
- What is RISC-V and why it is so important for processor design, specifically for FPGAs?
- FPGAs already offer great benefits and there will be more to come
Links and Resources:
- Connect with Mark Oliver on LinkedIn
- Visit Efinix website
- Read Related Articles:
- How to Start an FPGA PCB Layout For Your Embedded System
- Designing for the FPGA Pin Mapper
- SoC FPGA Boasts RISC-V Processor
- Watch Related Altium Academy Videos:
- FPGA Pins Explained!
- FPGA and BGA PCB Power Delivery Best Practices
- Connect with Zach on LinkedIn
- Full OnTrack Podcast Library
- Altium Website
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Join us as we reflect on the best moments and the coolest guests we've had on the OnTrack podcast this year. 2012 has been a whirlwind year for the electronics industry–chip shortages, and a supply chain crunch. Altium has passed several milestones, as well as releasing an education program. And there have been some groundbreaking reports from industry groups highlighting the need for workforce training and development, and workforce shortages coming on the horizon.
Watch the episode here
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Show Highlights:
- One of Altium’s Milestone is the Altium Education Program
- In most of the episodes, the issue of automotive chips shortage comes up coupled with the passing of the PCB Act
- PCB Packaging, and production of integrated circuit substrates
- Most requested repeat guests and new faces
Links and Resources:
- Watch all the OnTrack Podcast Episode
- Register at Altium Education for Free
- Connect with Zach on LinkedIn
- Visit Nexar website
- Visit Octopart website
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Young blood in the PCB industry, Christopher Bonsell talks about process engineering–the chemical involved in the PCB, etching and encouraging the young generation to the “cool-tech” aspects of PCB design and manufacturing.
Watch this episode through the end, and check the show notes and additional below.
Watch this episode here
Show Highlights:
- Chris Bonsell published articles on i-Connect007
- What kind of services does Chemcut offer related to PCB manufacturing and the role of a process engineer
- Chris talks about his career journey and how he landed his position in Chemcut
- Misconception about the circuit board industry, does it belong to tech industry?
- The grand challenge – the Moorse Law
- What is the Peri Etch Process?
- The lack of interest in the chemistry of circuit boards might be what’s blocking the PCB industry from moving to the next level of processing capability
- The US is 20 years behind in the PCB industry
- Is fully additive circuit board could be the big game changer in the industry?
- Workforce shortage industry – how to involve students and the younger generation to become interested in the PCB industry?
- Chris explains etching uniformity
Links and Resources:
- Connect with Christoper Bonsell on LinkedIn
- Visit Chemcut website
- Read Chris’s articles on i-Connect007
- Connect with Zach on LinkedIn
- Visit Nexar website
- Visit Octopart website
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Let’s take a glimpse into a life of a young process engineer. In this episode, our guest Paige Fiet talks about her career path in the world of PCB manufacturing. She will also share how she landed her role as the Student Liaison in the IPC.
Watch this episode through the end or listen on the go. We hope to inspire young engineers to become more motivated to jump into the PCB industry.
Show Highlights:
- Paige shares her story and her exciting career path before she landed her role as a process engineer at TTM Technologies
- Zach and Paige exchange college experiences, they talk about the courses and curriculum then and now
- Paige briefly talks about her experience in getting the role of the IPC Student Liaison
- She also talks about how interested engineers can become involved in the IPC and encourage them to invest in a membership and attend other industry-related trade shows and conferences
- Participating in committees can be a rewarding and fun experience
- Paige had her eyes on TTM from the very beginning. She summed up her role as a process engineer as working on improving processes' efficiency and quality on a daily basis
- Preventing mistakes before they happen is one of the challenging but exciting parts of the job
- There are so many opportunities in the industry and the next generation’s industry expert has a huge room to fill
- Manufacturing misconceptions, Zach and Paige emphasize the exciting opportunities in the PCB manufacturing Industry and encourage young engineers to explore this space
Links and Resources:
- Connect with Paige on LinkedIn
- Visit TTM Technologies website
- Watch Paige Interview: IPC Student Board Member Liaison
- Watch a related episode: IPC CEO John Mitchell on the Supporting American Printed Circuit Boards Act
Connect with Zach on LinkedIn
Visit Nexar website
Visit Octopart website
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It’s that time again to have Altium’s VP of Marketing, Lawrence Romine, the bearer of good news when it comes to Altium Designer’s latest features. We will discuss what’s coming in Altium Designer 23 which includes multi-board and harness design capabilities.
You don’t want to miss this one. Watch through the end and be sure to check the show notes and additional resources below.
Watch this episode here
Show Highlights
- Altium Designer®’s regular and reliable updates are incomparable in the industry, stay on top of the monthly updates through the OnTrack newsletter
- There are 3 major themes to come in Altium Designer 2023
- Multi-board systems and harness design – empower PCB designers and electrical engineers to design harnesses
- Collaboration and teamwork
- Make Altium Designer a necessity for every PCB designer – the world's greatest and most elegant design experience
- Code Designer, coming soon – the ability to work natively in Altium Designer and in Mcad tool of choice
- Multi-board and harness design capability, Altium Designer is fully supported through Altium 365
- It's never too soon to involve the other stakeholders in your PCB design
- Altium 365 releases commenting capability to both bombs and draftsman documents
- New power analysis capability powered by Keysight, anybody that can design a printed circuit board can now do some power analysis
- Altium Designer users are encouraged to check out all of the extensions, especially the new power analyzer
Links and Resources:
Connect with Lawrence Romine on LinkedIn
- Stay on top of Altium Designer versions updates
- What’s new in Altium 365
- Read: Come See the New Power Analyzer by Keysight in Altium Designer 22.9
- Connect with Zach on LinkedIn
- Visit Nexar website
- Visit Octopart website
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Materials Science and how this can level up your PCB manufacturability.
In this episode, our guest Geoffrey Leeds the product manager at Insulectro talks about how material science can help solve the unique manufacturing challenges fabricators are dealing with HDI designs.
Listen through the end and check the additional resources below.
Watch this episode here
Show Highlights:
- Geoffrey Leed’s role as a product manager at Insulectro, a material science distributor
- What is material science and how does it relates to PCB manufacturing
- Ultra HDI designs present unique manufacturing challenges to PCB fabricators
- How are your material choices impacting your design performance?
- Geoffrey explains why having lower CTE materials could be a double-edged sword
- Perfect is the enemy of good enough! You must accept some level of tolerance when your product moves into production and goes out into the real world, It can be the material tolerance or the electrical performance
- The PCB industry has been walking in the packaging industry's footsteps for quite some time and the CHIPS act has become one of the drivers of this movement
- Would a set of alphanumerical rules help designers with HDI designs? Geoffrey answered with the phrase “curse of the easy button”
- Geoffrey recognizes IPC’s effort as the governing body in the standardization of PCB design and manufacturability- heterogeneous
Links and Resources:
Connect with Geoffrey Leeds on LinkedIn
Follow Insulectro on LinkedIn
Visit Insulectro’s website here
Watch Related Episode: Mike Creeden on Empowering PCB Engineers through PCE-A
Connect with Zach on LinkedIn
Visit Nexar website
Visit Octopart website
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This is a very interesting episode, especially for hardware engineers. Duncan Haldane, the CEO, and co-founder of JITX joins us to share a very interesting approach to PCB design. JITX is a way for hardware engineers to write code to design circuit boards.
I know you are excited to hear more! Watch this episode or listen on the go. Be sure to check out the show notes and additional resources below.
Watch this episode here
Show Highlights:
- Duncan talks about the Series A funding from Sequoia Capital and the general availability of JITX as an actual product.
- Duncan's path to engineering started in robotics
- How can an electrical engineer benefit from JITX? Duncan explained in detail
- JITX is very well integrated with Altium, it works natively with the existing designs and libraries
- Hardware-generated code transforms the job of an engineer a little bit so that they don't have to manually look through all of the different specs for every component that they need
- JITX is a Nexar partner and uses Octoparts data, in addition, they built a different type of database that's meant for part optimization.
- Reusable expert hardware engineering knowledge is one of JITX’s ultimate goals
- They are building full automation for boards, new kinds of routing algorithms, new kinds of placement algorithms, and checks for physical geometry
- The future is optimization
- Zach and Duncan excitedly talked about AI, and how it can be used to drive some parameters to create new designs
- Electrical engineers’ job is secure, automation can help with the shortage, but will not replace electrical engineers’ jobs
- What the future looks like for JITX
Links and Resources:
Connect with Duncan Haldane on LinkedIn Visit JITX website Read JITX Launches General Availability And Announces $12M Series A From Sequoia Capital
Connect with Zach on LinkedIn Visit Nexar website Visit Octopart website
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Electronic parts shortages coupled with inflation has been affecting the electronic industry globally. Chris Cain our guest for today’s episode is a supply chain consultant and former VP at Keysight working on supply chain and supply chain products.
Chris will share with us his 37 years of experience and strategies to overcome electronic part shortages.
Watch this episode here
Show Higlights:
- Chris Cain briefly describes what supply management is, and his role as a consultant.
- Chris explains what it means to tap into the “scale for the larger ecosystem” of electronic providers
- Find alternatives and make some design adjustments where is possible
- Look for parts that are very scalable like memory parts and FPGAs
- Modular approach or designing for modules may also allow designers to have some flexibility
- If you can't get the parts, you can't ship your working design–having an insight into what’s coming in the supply chain could help designers in their decision making
- It pays to spend a little time keeping up with groups like IPC which does the groundwork of looking up the industry and what they think is coming
- Chris warns designers about silk-screened sand, he added “never pay, until you verify”
- Moving towards an open source model, Zach mentioned a recent article on All About Circuits which talks about companies transitioning their chip architectures to RISC-V to help them overcome some of these supply chain issues
- What is supply chain resilience?
- Fuel costs push up the cost of everything else it's related to and it's essentially an inflation driver
- Avoid buying three year supply of parts, it’s smarter to focus on design flexibility and overall sourcing flexibility
- What are the challenges involved with raw materials supplies for assembly?
- The dark scenarios, the dark side, the disaster scenarios
Links and Resources:
Connect with Christopher Cain on LinkedIn Watch a related Podcast episode: The Benefits of Diversifying PCB Industry Supply Chain Read Chris Cain’s Latest Article: Maximum Usage to Improve Supply Chain Resiliency
Connect with Zach on LinkedIn Full OnTrack Podcast Library Altium Website
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Ben Nibali, founder and President of Aptus Design Works, with Connor Richardson, the Electrical Designer, are our guests in this episode. We will discuss how you can plan the cost and lead times to successfully launch your product in the market.
Ben and Connor share some excellent advice for designers and companies to streamline their product development process from prototyping to manufacturing.
Show Highlights:
- Aptus is a design and engineering company, and they’ve been around for about 15 years
- They handle initial concept development, mechanical development, controls, and mechanical prototyping and help their clients through the launching and manufacturing of their products
- Expecting and avoiding pitfalls comes with experience; in addition, working with trusted vendors and suppliers is huge when honoring set schedules or timeline
- The natural state of every project is over budget and behind schedule. Ben Nibali stresses the importance of effort and discipline to have complete control of the process and deliver on time
- Some unrealistic expectations by Aptus’s clients typically involve defying the law of physics
- Other challenges include expectations from not knowing the process and cost expectations based on the higher volume of current products that really can’t be met in a US market-based launch scenario
- Clients need to realize that there is a proper “cost of engineering”
- There are also misconceptions about 3D printing–in reality, it takes days to print 3D objects
- You can’t have fast, cheap, and high quality at the same time
- Software guys may often misunderstand that modifications on hardware are not as simple to execute as they will be on software
- The “minimum viable product” is a great idea and works exceptionally well in software because you can add, modify, change, and grow something slowly after you deploy. In hardware, it is an entirely different cost structure to make changes once you start making anything physical.
- “Proof of concept” is often neglected when companies want to launch their products immediately
- Connor Richardson shares the most complex and fun project they did at Aptus
- Another exciting prototype they created is the cow-milking robot
- Ben gives designers and companies a piece of advice on how to plan cost and lead times when launching their products
- The most important factor is market research, understanding what this thing that we're going to sell is? How are we going to sell it? Who's going to buy it? What features matter?
- The better the client understands the world they're going to try to sell into and how they're going to sell it, the more valuable our work will be and the higher likelihood that they'll make a profit
- Creating high-quality products could mean years of planning
Links and Resources:
Connect with Ben Nibali on LinkedIn Connect with Connor Richardson on LinkedIn Visit Aptus Design Works website Watch How APTUS Designworks uses Altium 365 and Altimade to reduce cost and move more quickly Altium Story presents Breaking down the barriers to progress - APTUS Designworks
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Matt Kelly is the Chief Technologist at IPC. In this episode we will discuss all about the technological challenges the industry is facing. Matt will help us understand the “ecosystem” involving the semiconductor industry, advanced packaging, and IC substrates.
Watch this episode here
OR listen on the go!
Check the show notes and additional resources below.
Show Highlights:
- Matt Kelly’s role as the Chief Technologist at IPC
- The Moore's Law is continuing, but it is economically becoming difficult to maintain, this has become the driving force behind heterogeneous integration
- What does the CHIPS Act really mean for manufacturers?
- Production of semiconductors is an expensive business–one fabrication infrastructure can cost an average of 20 billion dollars
- Matt stresses the need in the industry to use, and understand the “ecosystem” involving the semiconductor industry, advanced packaging, and IC substrates
- The US has a 20-year market leader, knowhow gap, weak sub-tier supply, skilled workforce shortage, and lack of raw materials
- The industry needs to spend time looking at the big picture, take the bigger messages, and convert them into actual change
- A significant shift in the workforce–PCB designers are a scarce commodity. In the near future, printed circuit board designers may have to double as IC substrate designers
- The global supply chain is alive and well, a change to a regional and global mindset is necessary to overcome most of the industry challenges
- Matt shares the same scenario with produce shoppers in the summertime, you try to buy your fresh fruits and vegetables locally from your local farmers or whatever, but yet you still go to the grocery store
- IPC’s focus is on increasing workforce skills development in the areas of design and assembly
- IPC is sponsoring the Advanced Packaging Symposium, Building the Substrate and Packaging Assembly Ecosystem in Washington, DC, on October 11th and 12th
Links and Resources:
Follow Matt Kelly on LinkedIn Learn more about the IPC’s Advanced Packaging Symposium, Building the Substrate and Packaging Assembly Ecosystem Watch related podcast episode: The Benefits of Diversifying PCB Industry Supply Chain IPC CEO John Mitchell on the Supporting American Printed Circuit Boards Act What is in the PCB Bill? Connect with Zach on LinkedIn
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Our guest Phil Marcoux is very well-known in the advanced electronic packaging community and currently working as a business mentor in the electronics industry.
Phil is labeled as the father of SMT by the IPC. He is a Charter member of SMT Council, granted the IPC President's Award, past owner of over 40 integrated circuit packaging and camera module-related patents, and consultant on numerous heterogeneous designs and standards, just to name a few of his excellent achievements.
Today we will tackle the pros and cons of heterogeneous electronic assemblies and what we can do as an industry to move forward with it.
Show Highlights:
- Learn about Phil Marcoux and his upcoming panel discussion at PCB West
- The panel will discuss “How Heterogeneous Integration Affects the PCB Industry.”
- Phil is looking forward to promoting PCEA and the need to embrace education
- PCB designers must recognize what compromises they will have to make to utilize that chiplet
- One of the challenges is to encourage companies to work together and to agree to a standardized chiplet format
- The funding from the federal government may motivate companies to embrace the heterogeneous type of format and the chiplet format.
- Many defense contractors, military products, and advanced electronic products are now rapidly depending on the need for heterogeneous designs
- Other significant drivers in the market include medical devices, telecommunications, and 5G products
- Most design software are fully capable of handling heterogeneous integration
- PCB designers can very quickly jump in. Many structures in a printed circuit board, especially in HDI designs, are also used in advanced packages.
Links and Resources:
- Follow Phil Marcoux on LinkedIn
- Learn more about PCB West 2022
- Visit PCEA website
- Full OnTrack Podcast Library
- Altium Website
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In this episode, our guest Joe Dickson, tells us about the cutting-edge technology implemented in advanced packaging at Wus Printed Circuit International.
Watch the episode here
Show Highlights:
- Joe Dickson talks about what they do at Wus, a printed circuit manufacturing company
- He shares about their efforts to bring PCB technologies farther up by introducing advanced packaging options
- He briefly describes what printed circuit-like materials are, also known as the vertical interposers or PCIe
- Zach explains how a pre-packaged chip can be mounted on a board
- What are the reliability and signal integrity challenges that come with assembling different packages on a board
- Off-the-board solutions start to become more and more desirable
- The flexibility of design and components is what driving the market to use more integrated packaging
- Speed is everything! When will the industry move on from copper and go to optical?
- Knowing what's going on in simulations is very important; it opens opportunities to try new things
- Joe explains a way of using Faraday cages with cable connections on the surface
- Examples of the large market using the PCIe method are Xilinx and NVIDIA
- How far is silicon photonics from becoming mainstream as an interconnect technology?
- Standardazion versus innovation
- The future of PCB assembly is hybrid. Some will use the off-shelf, best-in-class products from Intel, AMB, NVIDIA, Xilinx, and get creative with them.
Links and Resources:
- Connect with Joe Dickson on LinkedIn
- Visit Wus Printed Circuit International website
- Watch the related episode:
- Eliminating Nuances in the PCB Manufacturing Processes with Amit Bahl of Sierra Circuits PCB
- Connect with Zach on LinkedIn
- Full OnTrack Podcast Library
- Altium Website
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Performance and reliability are big in the automotive industry, especially now that electronically powered and automated vehicles are starting to become more popular.
In this episode, we will learn so much about automotive electronics and the reliability of electronics systems that goes in the vehicle. Our guest Lenora Clark, the director of autonomous driving and safety technology at ESI automotive will share with us the importance of material choices for your PCB can affect the reliability and performance of your vehicle’s system design.
Show Highlights:
-
- Lenora is Chemist by education. She joined MacDermid, now MacDermid Alpha Electronic Solutions, as a bench top chemist, developing chemicals for PCB manufacturers - Her focus was on surface finishing helping PCB fabricator improve their process from a chemical standpoint to enhance the performance and reliability of PCBs - From working with surface finishing, she worked her way up and became the project manager, product line director for surface finishing, and later the Director of OEMs - She is now a director at ESI automotive
- Chips don’t float, they are anchored to a PCB to work
- Lenora briefly described her role and emphasis on enhanced reliability to meet the end users' needs
- There is so much happening in the automotive space towards reinventing themselves and keeping up with the amount of innovation that's happening right now
- One of the challenges in the industry is extreme miniaturization
- Miniaturization is not just the board itself and the packaging but also feature density
- Other than the heat, electromagnetic shielding is also a concern with enclosure designs
- Lenora emphasizes that her current role is to make recommendations based on a material perspective, both for liability and for enhanced function
- ECUs (Electronic control unit) manages data transmission between different parts of the vehicle
-
I think the future of the vehicle architecture is not completely defined yet. I do think it will be less complex than what we see today - Lenora Clark
- Collaborators like Mobileeye by Intel are working with makers to bring an entire system where there are different, sensors and a central computing unit to help make the decision – autonomous driving
Links and Resources:
Connect with Lenora Clark on LinkedIn
Visit ESI Auto website
Related Podcast Episode:
How to Select the Best Surface Finish for your PCB
Electronics Manufacturability and Reliability
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Let’s talk about Electronics reliability with the QA guru Cheryl Tulkoff.
In this episode Cheryl and I will talk about risk assessment, planning for not only success but also a failure, and understanding the difference between quality and reliability. This discussion is going to be very informative for every PCB designer who wants to get ahead of their game. Watch through the end, and make sure to check the additional resources below.
Watch this episode here
Show Highlights:
- Cheryl shares her rewarding career experience in the electronics industry
- She worked at IBM where she was immersed in electronic manufacturing from beginning to end
- She also worked at DfR Solutions and National Instruments where she learned all the skills and knowledge in electronics manufacturability, quality & reliability consulting
- To produce a successful electronic product it is important to have the awareness to resolve every problem, from the chip level, board level, system level, and the environment level
- Cheryl explains why unique or non-aligned standards exist in the industry – no one size fits all
- A great piece of advice for all PCB designers is to know what you are designing and who you are designing it for, look at the risks, and then manage them appropriately
- Planning for success may also include celebrating failures. Budget for failure analysis is often disregarded due to the “success-driven roadmap” mentality
- Failure should be part of design management
- Cheryl and Zach talk about the “Startup Culture”
- Software reliability and hardware reliability go hand in hand
- What rate of failure is tolerable? Defining what is quality and reliability separately for the product you are designing
- Manufacturers can not ensure reliability for you
- Cheryl shares her experience being involved in litigation as an expert witness
- Redundancy practices in the industry, is it typical?
- What can designers do to mitigate failures?
- Understanding what you are designing and who you are designing it for
- Collect as much feedback as possible – from users, industry experts, and professional organizations
Links and Resources:
- Connect with Cheryl Tulkoff on LinkedIn
- Read Cheryl Tulkoff articles on Research Gate
- Checkout Cheryl Tulkoff book Design for Excellence in Electronics Manufacturing
- Connect with Zach on LinkedIn
- Full OnTrack Podcast Library
- Altium Website
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You would not want to miss this informative, knowledge-packed conversation with Dr. Kunal Shah. Dr, Kunal generously gives us all a crash course on surface finishes and understanding different types of materials that could affect signal integrity, reliability and electronic shelf life. He will also tackle in detail the pros and cons of various types of nickel-free finishes.
Watch this podcast episode now or listen on the go. Make sure to check the notes and additional resources below.
Show Highlights:
- PCB Designers must be knowledgeable of various manufacturing processes and materials
- One of the things that makes liloTree unique is its innovation in materials development and ensuring better and robust reliability of the electronic assembly
- liloTree offers eco-friendly solutions (organic surface finishes) that enhance reliability and offer better performance in terms of signal integrity
- Dr. Kunal shares his background and how he founded liloTree
- Manufacturers are trying to find alternatives for ENIG (Electroless nickel immersion gold) due to nickel causing signal integrity loss in the high-frequency application
- There are several nickel-free surface finish, but designers must understand selection criteria – pros and cons of each types of materials
- immersion tin does have higher insertion loss
- OSP (organic solderability preservatives) is an organic-based surface finish. It provides good signal integrity, but has low shelf life issues
- Hard Gold has good signal integrity but very costly
- Electro-less palladium, immersion gold or autocatalytic gold it includes cumbersome process and need to babysit it
- A PCB must have both good signal integrity, great performance, and extended shelf life
- Designers must realize the impact of the supply chain issues on the PCB manufacturing life cycle
- Shelf life is critical. Boards are getting manufactured in one part of the world and it may take a few months before they get assembled in another side of the world
- LiloTree has developed the best nickel-free option, specifically designed from a signal integrity perspective, reliability perspective, and cost effectiveness perspective
- Another challenge of nickel based finishes is overplating and the skip plating in the PCB pads that could lead to micron scale level failures
- The liloTree nickel free solution includes a “barrier layer” which has multiple benefits including slower growth of intermetallics, delaying of natural embrittlement and eventually an extended shelf life
- How to overcome multiple reflow issues?
- Dr. Kunal explains the different ways they offer their solution to the market
- They offer their prototype lab where manufacturers and OEM can apply liloTree technology to evaluate and test it
- PCB manufacturer from OEM or assemblies feedback, the solution will be shipped directly to the manufacturer and set it up in their existing plating line
- Sending the boards to liloTree’s in-house plating line
Links and Resources:
Connect with Dr. Kunal Shah on LinkedIn Visit liloTree website Connect with Zach on LinkedIn
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In this episode, Representative Moore, one of the co-sponsors of H.R.7677, the Supporting American Printed Circuit Boards Act of 2022, will give us brief but insightful details about the bill.
Show Highlights:
- Representative Blake Moore explains the reasons behind the efforts to push the Supporting American Printed Circuit Boards Act of 2022
- Rep. Moore briefly touches on the topic of material sourcing and potential environmental challenges
- A potential roadblock concerning raw materials is overcoming challenges coming from the energy and commerce committee
- What is the ideal market share for the US in the PCB manufacturing industry?
- The CHIPS Act and defining industrial policy
- Initiatives in developing a qualified workforce that can fill the new manufacturing jobs and all of the other jobs that come along with it to support the industry
- Sign up for the Electronic Design to Delivery Index to help guide you through supply chain turmoil
Links and Resources:
Sign up for the Electronic Design to Delivery Index Learn more about the Supporting American Printed Circuit Boards Act of 2022 Learn more about the CHIPS Act Watch the related episodes: Data Security, 5G and Onshore PCB Manufacturing with Dr. Rob Spalding IPC CEO John Mitchell on the Supporting American Printed Circuit Boards Act The Benefits of Diversifying PCB Industry Supply Chain
Connect with Zach on LinkedIn
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The business development manager of J.A.M.E.S., Alexandre Schafer talks about the organization’s vision to push the Additively Manufactured Electronic technology to become more accessible to the industry.
Show Highlights:
- What is J.A.M.E.S. and how did Alexandre become involved in the organization?
- J.A.M.E.S (Jetted Additively Manufactured Electronic Sources) is an online community of professionals, stake holder, manufacturers who share the same vision of accelerating the AME technology
- Alexadre’s AHA moment was seeing a drone’s PCB created through AME process
- The current technology readiness level is currently between experimental and demonstration pilot phase
- Introducing new technology to the industry has it’s challenges:
- Influencing engineers’ mindset
- Which design tool to use? In an ideal world a tool with both ECAD and MCAD design capabilities is necessary–a fully working 3D auto router will be amazing
- Design standards are inexistent at the moment
- On another note, the lack of design standards opens up to wider creative possibilities. Standardation is the enemy of freedom -Zach Peterson
- Moving forward to future plans: Scaling up, manufacturing of the equipments and creation of additive process design rules
- Availability of resources and current efforts to educate PCB designers through AME Academy
Links and Resources:
Follow J.A.M.E.S on LinkedIn
Connect with Alexandre Schafer on LinkedIn
Access Register to AME Academy
Visit J.A.M.E.S website
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We are very delighted to have Dr. Min Zhang in this episode. Min is an independent EMC consultant based in the UK. Today, we'll be talking about EMC, both on board and off the board. It will be a very interesting discussion because we will look a little bit deeper at the system level of the board.
Show Highlights:
- Zach met Min at EMCLive 2021
- Let’s hear more about Min’s background and his early exposure to EMI issues
- Earlier in his career, he worked with big companies as a motor drive engineer and power electronics design engineer for 10 years
- He started his engineering consulting business, Mach One Design EMC Consultants 2 years ago
- His first experience dealing with EMI issues was at the university while doing research for his PhD
- The lack of education in the university in regards to EMI issues is one of the reasons that sparked Min’s interest in EMI
- The university he went to specializes in motor and power converter design, but did not offer any solutions in fixing the EMI issues
- Min recalls being fascinated by his first time seeing an EMI diagnosis kit composed of the spectrum analyzer, lots of ferrites, and cable shooting copper tape in a suitcase
- It was his first time seeing a step-by-step diagnosis and troubleshooting EMI issues - checking the grounding, checking the bonding, and applying ferrites at the right place, performed by his friend’s father who was then a principal engineer in the European Space Agency
- Min’s recommendation to design engineers solving EMI issues is to understand the fundamentals – “only when you understand the fundamentals, understand the basics, and the first principle, then you can really design a system” - Min Zhang
- What happens when EMI problems exist off the board and they interfere with the system or create so much noise that the system is never going to pass EMC?
- Min answers by recommending Rick Hartley's famous YouTube video about grounding
- He continues with his answer with an example involving a three-phase brushless DC motor drive
- How to deal with cables connected to another system that is outside of the shielding?
- Shielding is a good solution, but understanding fundamentals are necessary to avoid increased cost, weight, and also the bending ratio would be affected
- Min shares a recent video he did with Robert Feranec which discusses the topic of EMI troubleshooting on immunity
- 70% of the EMI issues are somehow related to resonance
- For high-speed design, PCB designers really need to understand how the wave propagates
- Ferrite is not a 100% inductive component
- Min recommends the book by Douglas Smith – High Frequency Measurements and Noise in Electronic Circuits which focuses on the test and measurements in terms of high-speed design
- Other experts to learn from in terms of EMI troubleshooting and high speed designs are Eric Bogatin, Steve Sandler and Heidi Barnes
Links and Resources:
Learn more about Min Zhang and his company Mach One Design EMC Consultants Watch Min’s Keynote at EMCLive 2021 Watch How a Few Components Make a Big Difference in EMC/EMI with Min and Robert Feranec Read Min Zhang’s article on SI Journal Great book recommendation: High Frequency Measurements and Noise in Electronic Circuits Watch Rick Hartley's famous YouTube video about grounding Watch previous episodes with EMI and High-speed experts: Eric Bogatin Debunks Common Misconceptions About Transmission Lines Secrets of PCB Optimization with Rick Hartley Being Right Matters! When, Why and What to Simulate with Steve Sandler Power Integrity and Simulations with Heidi Barnes
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How to deal with nuances in PCB design and manufacturing? In today’s episode, Dave Young the owner of Young Circuits Design and founder of BlueStamp Engineering, and I will discuss mitigating risk factors early in the stage of electronic design.
Dave will also tell a story about his path to entrepreneurship as an engineer and his inspiration behind founding BlueStamp Engineering, a hands-on engineering program for high school students to design and create technology projects that they get to keep, from scratch!
Listen, watch enjoy, and make sure to check the additional resources below.
Show Highlights:
- Dave’s background, and the early days of his now 12-year designing firm
- He learned most of his skills from his previous position as a Senior Design Engineer at Keithley Instruments
- The world of innovative electronic design and hardware – the software, firmware, and hardware
- Expectations vs. reality in manufacturing
- Designers must know what’s going on in PCB manufacturing, know what’s reasonable to ask your manufacturer
- How to deal with nuances in PCB design and manufacturing? Not only identifying risks but also mitigating all the risks
- How to deal with hardware level risk?
- Dave’s insight on the extent a manufacturer could step up and modify the design to make it manufacturable
- Zach recalls his conversation with Kelly Dack regarding the solder mask being modified by the manufacturer to ensure accurate assembly
- An electrical engineer’s path to entrepreneurship
- Dave shares that he found his happy place working with small teams
- Career challenges for engineers coming from academia
- Zach emphasized the focus on the “value you can create” as an engineer
- Is freelancing the classic route to enter the PCB design industry
- The best path to entrepreneurship – start doing it!
- A risk mitigating tip in PCB design – review all parts and address where you messed up (right away)
- There is no fool-proof footprint
- Challenges of CM (contact manufacturer) overseas
- What should be manufactured domestically?
- Educational programs such as BlueStamp Engineering could help address the workforce shortage in the Electrical Engineer Industry
- How do engage the next generation of engineers to become more involved and interested in innovation and creating new things?
- Firmware vs. software engineering – the good, the bad, and the headaches
Links and Resources:
Connect with Dave Young on LinkedIn
Visit Young Circuit Designs Website
Learn more about the BlueStamp Engineering programs
Related podcast with Kelly Dack: How to Panelize Your PCB Design with EMS Expert Kelly Dack
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I am very honored to have Bert Simonovich, a very well-known expert in the signal integrity community, in today’s episode. Bert developed the "Cannonball-Huray" model used for transmission line loss modeling, which has been adopted in several popular EDA tools.
We will be discussing several topics relating to copper roughness, including different approaches to ensure signal integrity in your PCB design.
Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics
Watch the video, click here.
Show Highlights:
- Bert shares his background and experience
- He did his microprocessor systems back in the late '70s and later worked at Bell-Northern Research in Ottawa, Canada
- In the 90s he transitioned to Nortel from where he specialized in backplane design and signal integrity
- He founded Lamsim in 2009
- Bert retrospects using photo tools which is now the photo plotting with Gerbers. His experience helped him understand the mechanics of PCB construction
- A client’s demand led to extensive research involving dielectric material comparisons and foil roughness
- With various PCB surface roughness models, how to determine which process to move forward with?
- Bert explains the Design Feedback Method
- Cannonball technique is a roughness modeling approach which Bert also described as a heuristic method
- Checkout Bert’s articles on SI Journal
- Bert gives a detailed explanation of how copper is being used in PCBs
- HDP user group international published a research paper Smooth Copper Signal Integrity in 2016
- Bert and Zach agree that PCB construction is complicated and it is highly recommended for PCB designers and SI engineers to learn more about the fabrication process
- What does reverse treated foil means, and how does it relate to the power layer?
- Read Bert’s DesignCon Paper: A Practical Method to Model Effective Permittivity and Phase Delay Due to Conductor Surface Roughness
Links and Resources:
Connect with Bert Simonovich on LinkedIn
Follow Lamsim Enterprises Inc. on LinkedIn
Visit Lamsim Enterprises Inc. website
Read Bert’s Articles on SI Journal
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Making electromagnetic analysis accessible to anyone in the industry is what inspired Yuriy to create SIMBEOR® Electromagnetic Signal Simulator.
Yuriy Shlepnev is the founder and president of Simberian. In this episode, he will tell us about Simbeor simulation capabilities, and briefly educate us on rise times, signal integrity, and solving EMI. He will also show us the simulator in action and how it can be a lifesaver to PCB designers like you.
Tune in, enjoy and don't forget to check the additional resources below.
Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics
Watch the video, click here.
Show Highlights:
- uriy talks about his background in computational electromagnetics and how he got started working on simulations for PCBs and magnetic analysis
- He realized that the byte rates and data rates were increasing, and everything was getting into the microwave domain
- In 2006, Simberian was founded as a project to make electromagnetic analysis accessible to anyone in the industry
- SIMBEOR® was created to make electromagnetic analysis mainstream
- Simulation capabilities accessible to lower data rates, Yuriy discusses rise times, signal integrity, and solving EMI simultaneously
- SIMBEOR® 2022 includes three simulation modes, and one of them is the Fast SI which uses more approximate models for pins, pads, and vias. It is a full wave, but not 3D. It allows simulations to run faster for more mass, included
- Simbeor SDK, a built-in software development kit in Altium Designer’s stackup manager. It uses the SFS solver for cross-sectional analysis, and that benefits Altium customers
- Yuriy shows us the 3D field solver in action
- Simulation of fiber weave effect on PCBs, is it possible?
- Coming soon in Simbeor SDK is the ability to build your own simulation tools
- Monte Carlo analysis is a perfect way to convert numeric model variations into a probability distribution
- What is the future of SIMBEOR® that designers can use to help them expedite important analyses for high-speed and RF designs?
Links and Resources:
Connect with Yuriy Shlepnev on LinkedIn Visit Simberian website and learn more about SIMBEOR® Electromagnetic Signal Integrity Software Read Yuriy’s Articles in SI Journal Watch a related podcast episode: Simberian’s 3D Field Solver in Altium Designer
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When you hear about 10-ounce copper PCBs, high current and high voltage come to mind. In this episode, we will have a deep dive discussion on designing heavy power boards with Mario Strano. Mario is the senior PCB designer at Nikola and also president of ECAD Central. He will share with us his 16 years of experience in PCB design and the migration services he provides through ECAD Central.
Watch this episode or listen on the go. We’ve touched on many other interesting topics, such as setting up clearance and creepage rules and a 57-ounce copper board.
Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics
Watch the video, click here.
Show Highlights:
- Mario’s background and professional path as PCB Designer and Component Engineer
- He is currently the only PCB designer at Nikola
- His expertise includes but is not limited to designing 10-ounce copper boards, real heavy power boards, HMI boards, human-machine interface boards
- Setting up creepage and clearance rules for heavy copper was a challenge to Mario during his transition from SQL Semiconductor to Avnet
- Mario and Zach discuss more 10-ounce copper PCBs
- Zach was amused to hear about Taiyo Kogyo’s 57-ounce copper
- The Japan-based company developed proprietary processes that allow them to do things like Bus Bar Embedded PCB
- Mario briefly shares his experience as a component engineer at Avnet for six years
- The two discuss the tantalum capacitor shortage in 2018 and compare it to the current semiconductors shortage, which started in 2020
- How is the supply chain shortage affecting PCB designers, and how are they working around it?
- ECAD Central, an Altium 365, Concord Pro, and Altium NEXUS Database service provider – setup and configuration, database migration
- Mario compared migrating data to “like moving mountains”
- Is mirroring parts between two systems possible? Mario explains what can be done. Definitely not a simple drag and drop operation, though!
Links and Resources:
Connect with Mario Strano on Linkedin Visit the ECAD Central website Learn More about Taiyo Kogyo and their 57-ounce copper boards Watch related podcasts: Easily Find Electronic Components for Your Next PCB Design The Benefits of Diversifying PCB Industry Supply Chain
Connect with Zach on LinkedIn Full OnTrack Podcast Library Altium Website
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In this OnTrack episode, Zach and Phil of Phil’s Lab Youtube channel exchange ideas on how they can stay on top of their PCB design game or learn new things. Phil Salmony, a successful youtube creator with 64.6K subscribers, shares with us how he was introduced to PCB design, his early career, and what got him to start his own Youtube channel. This is a fun episode. Watch it through the end and check out the additional resources below.
Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics
Watch the video, click here.
Show Highlights:
- Whiteboard – an essential piece for PCB design-related content
- PCB design education from the university, theories, and ideologies versus PCB design for the real world
- Phil shares that DSPs (Digital signal processors) are the coolest thing, and he has a dedicated section of them on his channel
- Zach and Phil exchange opinions about their consultation and PCB design jobs
- How do you go about learning new things? Zach and Phil have their share of different ways to acquire information to help them better their skills
- Learn through well-documented samples or PCB design projects and reverse engineer
- Seminars with experts and attending conferences
- Taking online courses like the IPC - CID (Certified Interconnect Designers) and PCEA CPCD course
- Youtube videos and keynote presentations, e,g, How to Achieve Proper Grounding By Rick Hartley
- One of the most asked questions in PCB design is about grounding. Phil and Zach suggested a couple of books supplement for PCB design
- Electromagnetic Compatibility Engineering by Henry Ott
- Grounds for Grounding: A Circuit to System Handbook by Kai-Sang Lock
- Phil talks about how he got started with PCB design
- Designs and chip shortages and supply forecast, what to expect in the next few years?
- The value of connecting with your (youtube channel) audience for content ideas
- Altium Academy and Phil’s Lab history on Youtube and future projects
Links and Resources:
Subscribe to Phil’s Lab YT Channel
Connect with Phil on LinkedIn
Visit Phil’s Lab Website
How to Achieve Proper Grounding By Rick Hartley
Watch Podcast Episodes with Rick Hartley
- Rick Hartley on EMI, Noise Reduction
- Secrets of PCB Optimization with Rick Hartley
Electromagnetic Compatibility Engineering by Henry Ott
Grounds for Grounding: A Circuit to System Handbook by Kai-Sang Lock
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Supply chain security and having access to trusted manufacturers in the US would be an ideal outcome of the Printed Circuit Board Act.
IPC President and CEO John Michell talk about how the organization helps shape the current bipartisan proposal to help bring back PCB manufacturing in the US and how this can contribute to a globally resilient supply chain.
Watch the podcast here
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Show Highlights:
- John Mitchell briefly talks about his background and dives right into the topic, the Supporting American Printed Circuit Boards Act
- John emphasizes the role of the IPC as the voice of the electronics industry
- Supply chain security and having more trusted PCB manufacturers in the US would be a great outcome of the Printed Circuit Board Act
- Adapting the existing legislation on manufacturing defense products to broader use, especially with electronics
- Raise awareness of the different aspects of the electronics supply chain shortages and other issues related to it
- Eradicate the notion that PCBs are just a piece of plastic, but an essential piece in every electronic
- The IPC's influence on shaping laws relating to the electronics
- John explains IPC's role and involvement, which includes solving industry problems related, but not limited to, the workforce, supply chain, and advanced packaging issues
- The IPC SEA Tools: Standards, Education, and Advocacy
- John stresses that having manufacturers in different regions is a key to a resilient supply chain
- Identify what electronic products to manufacture where
- The Printed Circuit Board is a 60 billion industry globally, and only 3-5% of volume comes from the US
- John explains the impact of the changing administrations in the US on the current progression of different bills and legislations relating to the electronic industry
Links and Resources:
Connect with John Mitchell on LinkedIn Visit the IPC website here Learn more about the Supporting American Printed Circuit Boards Act of 2022 Watch John Mitchell’s previous episodes:
- IPC CEO John Mitchell on the Impact of COVID-19 on the Electronics Supply Chain
- John Mitchell, CEO of IPC, Visits The White House to Participate in the Pledge to America’s Workers
Watch a recent related episode: The Benefits of Diversifying PCB Industry Supply Chain
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In this episode, a returning guest Gabriel Goldstein shares the electronics behind the thrills in escape rooms. He also generously gives some valuable advice on finding your niche and starting your own electronics business.
Gabriel was the former owner of Anidea Engineering and Escape Room Tech. Listen to this episode and be inspired by how he married two industries together and become the master of this very unique niche.
Watch the episode here
-
- Gabriel’s background, he is the former owner of Anidea Engineering and Escape Room Tech
- The business of producing low-volume products - his first big project is an ARM9 with 16 mb of RAM, a PDA style learning device
- The fascinating technology in the escape room includes off-the-shelf surveillance cameras, keyboards, and maglocks. Gabriel describes the technology behind the “magic doors”
- They use RFID and developed their RS45-based networking system
- A successful escape room requires an extreme collaboration of multiple skill sets that include electronics guys, theater guys, and game theory team just to name the least
- The escape room industry is a marriage of electronics and haunt industry
- Creating a small, showpiece project could be a gateway to a PCB design career
- Software engineers have GitHub, while PCB designers have Arduino and Raspberry Pi
- Gabriel wrote blogs to educate his customers about the business of producing products that sell
- He became Mr. Networker hanging out at the Angel Forum groups and the venture capital groups
- For about 6 years he was out there in the community to help out, give back and help build a business
- He recommends a book from Martin Gerber – Awakening the Entrepreneur Within
-
“If you're going to take off the engineering hat and try to turn this into a business, please learn how to run a business because it's a completely different skill set”
- Ending the conversation with a little anecdote from Gabriel, an inspiration to be in the business mindset and going for the American Dream
Resources:
Connect with Gabriel Goldstein on LinkedIn
Visit Escape Room Techs website
Read Martin Gerber’s Awakening the Entrepreneur Within
Watch the previous episode with Gabriel Goldstein - How to Build a New Data Management System
Read Gabriel Goldstein’s Blog Articles on LinkedIn
Connect with Zach on LinkedIn
Full OnTrack Podcast Library
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Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics
Have you heard of assembly without solder? In this episode, Joseph (Joe) Fjelstad, founder and president of Verdant Electronics, talks about the Occam process.
Let’s hear about Joe’s 50 years of experience in the electronics industry and how he got started with solderless assembly for electronics.
Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics
Watch the video, click here.
Show Highlights:
- Joe talks about his background and previous roles in the industry, including his position as the educational director in the IPC and Kurchatov Institute of Atomic Research in the Soviet Union
- “Assembly without solder” Joe recollects how he arrived at the idea of a better way to build electronics – build a component board and put circuits on it.
- Joe shares how he came up with the Occam process and its benefits “It absolutely doesn't need to be for everything, but it can be for a lot of things, and it can make products that will be at once cheaper, better performing, lighter, more environmentally friendly.”
- Download Joe’s book for free: Solderless Assembly for Electronics: The SAFE Approach
- More about the Occam Process
- Did Joe coin “Design with Manufacturing”? He shares his efforts in promoting solid work relationships between PCB designers and manufacturer
- Occam Process vs. 3D printing, could 3D printing bypass solderless assembly? Read Joe’s article Putting 3D interconnection technologies into perspective from chip to system
- Joe commended the microvia technology, “they know how to build these things”
Links and Resources:
Connect with Joseph Fjelstad on LinkedIn Visit Verdant Electronics website Read Joe Fjelstad Interview: Breaks Down His Occam Process Download Joe’s book for free: Solderless Assembly for Electronics: The SAFE Approach Connect with Zach on LinkedIn
Full OnTrack Podcast Library Altium Website Download your Altium Designer Free Trial Learn More about Altium Nexus
Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics
To develop a resilient ecosystem, understanding the root cause of the PCB industry supply chain shortages is a must.
In this episode, Travis Kelly, president and CEO of Isola Group will help us understand what is going on with the current supply chain in the electronics industry. Travis will also give us his insight into the new legislation introduced in the US Congress: Bipartisan Bill to Bring Electronics Manufacturing to America and Strengthen Supply Chains.
Tune in, or listen on the go. Stay up to date with the latest discussion in the PCB Industry.
Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics
Watch the video, click here. t
Show Highlights:
- Travis's introduction and a brief overview of PCB manufacturing and fabrication in the United States
- About 20 years ago, the US produced roughly 26% of the world's PCBs; today, that number is down to 4%
- There used to be over 2000 fabricators in the late 1990s and early 2000 to less than 140 today
- What are the main drivers of the PCB industry supply chain shift?
- The industry recognizes the benefits of working in a global economy; Travis explained the need to diversify manufacturing capabilities in certain regions
- Identify what makes sense to have a robust supply chain domestically, e.g., 5G, 6G, medical, aerospace, obviously defense, banking infrastructures
- Travis stresses that there are ways to reduce the overall cost of PCB and electronics production and still manufacture domestically
- Looking at the entire ecosystem and pointing out vulnerabilities outside of just chips and advanced packaging, how to address each one?
- Focus on a balanced approach, not over-indexing; strategically, where does it make sense to build brick and mortar to have a resilient, robust, and trusted supply chain?
- What does it mean to bring manufacturing onshore?
- Building a strategic and competitive PCB industry ecosystem requires more than just automated facilities; it’s also essential to invest on:
- Workforce development – hiring and building up a talented workforce domestically
- Promote STEM in schools
- Create awareness of PCB industry design and manufacturing as part of the sought after career in tech
- Travis gives insight into the new legislation introduced in the US Congress: Bipartisan Bill to Bring Electronics Manufacturing to America and Strengthen Supply Chains
- He emphasizes the importance of understanding the root cost of the imbalanced supply chain vs. addressing just the symptoms
- Continue to educate the Whitehouse on understanding the issue extensively and not just focusing on the semiconductor shortages
- Considering the cost of the end products (for consumers) when navigating and drawing solutions
- The role of the Printed Circuit Board Association of America (PCBAA) in the industry: educate, advocate and legislate
Links and Resources:
Connect with Travis Kelly on LinkedIn Follow PCBAA on LinkedIn Visit Isola Group’s website Eshoo & Moore Introduce Bipartisan Bill to Bring Electronics Manufacturing to America and Strengthen Supply Chains Connect with Zach on LinkedIn
Full OnTrack Podcast Library Altium Website Download your Altium Designer Free Trial Learn More about Altium Nexus
Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics
What is the current state of the electronic industry? Dan Schoenfelder joins us today to discuss the most extreme problems the PCB design industry is currently facing: supply shortages, particularly the semi-conductor products and microcontrollers.
Tune in, or listen on the go. Learn how to keep up with the industry challenges through Nexar and Octopart.
Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics
Watch the video, click here.
Show Highlights:
- Dan shares his background and role his role at Octopart and now as the Head of Nexar sales
- Problems with the supply chain continue; how are companies coping with the shortages in semi-conductor products and microcontrollers?
- What is lean manufacturing, and what drives an inflexible supply chain?
- The effect of the pandemic on manufacturing facilities is still very apparent and may continue through 2013
- Dan discusses the many benefits of utilizing Octopart to find and access electronic components data easily
- Octopart is the search engine for electronics and makes a great tool to integrate into PCB design workflows
- Dan shares Octopart’s new features, including the ability to filter and search by specs
- How does the Nexar API help with democratizing information in the electronics industry?
- Ability to obtain information through the Nexar API programmatically and incorporate that into native workflows inside the users’ businesses
- Nexar works with the RAI to ensure that all data collected can be trusted
- Dan talks about the Electronic Design to Delivery Index (EDDI), which is meant to provide users with free insight into what's happening in the electronic space in general
- Supply Chain Resilience tools – help designers build thoughtful designs and build BOMs (Bill of Materials) that are resilient to unforeseen challenges
- What’s coming next for Nexar?
Links and Resources:
Connect with Dan Schoenfelder on LinkedIn Search electronic parts, visit Octopart.com Design with the PCB Community, learn more about the Nexar ecosystem Learn more about the Electronic Design to Delivery index (EDDI) Watch Previous Episode with Dan Schoenfelder: Supply Chain Intelligence from Octopart Connect with Zach on LinkedIn
Full OnTrack Podcast Library Altium Website Download your Altium Designer Free Trial Learn More about Altium Nexus
Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics
Learn by doing is what Bill Kolicoski, the creator of Taste the Code Youtube Channel advises everyone who wants to jump into the electronic design. Bill is a software developer passionate about making electronics design and engineering fun.
Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics
Watch the video, click here.
Show Highlights:
- Bill shares how he got started with his Youtube Channel, Taste the Code
- Bill recognizes that designing and building electronics is a perfect way to understand software or coding – making the code more tangible
- Making electronic design accessible for everyone is one of Bill’s missions in creating his channel
- Jumpstart to electronics design through learning by doing
- Software and hardware coexist–a software engineer should have an understanding of how hardware works
- It’s the eureka moments that help students understand how things work
- Understanding what happens in the code and the chip to make things come to life
- Bill emphasizes improving your design skills by exploring all possibilities how you can improve your finished product
- Reference design for hardware developments and reverse engineering is a great way to make electronics and hardware more understandable
- Bill shares what drove him to pursue software vs. hardware
- Software is a lot easier to outsource
- Location/ country can be a determinant of pursuing a specific career in tech
- Having fun doing electronics
- Getting hands dirty and jumping right into the design process; this and more tips from Bill on how to get into the electronics design and how you can improve your skills
- Search for videos with a specific solution
- Invest time in building projects
- Make your work public and get feedback from the community and professionals
- Rubber Duck Debugging is a software jargon meaning explaining a challenging scenario to yourself to develop a solution
Links and Resources:
Subscribe to Bill’s Channel Taste to Code Making electronic design easy, visit Upverter website Register at Altium Education for Free Altium Designer Free Student License Connect with Zach on LinkedIn
Full OnTrack Podcast Library Altium Website Download your Altium Designer Free Trial Learn More about Altium Nexus
Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics
This episode will learn how a childhood dream can turn into reality through hard work, determination, and networking. Andrew Hartnett dreamt of working with NASA at a very young age. He will share with us exactly how he landed his Computer Engineer position in this very sought-after agency.
Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics
Watch the video, click here.
Get Your First Month of Altium Designer® for FREE Show Highlights:
- Andrew’s background, from his 3rd-grade drawing and high school robotics team to landing a co-op internship program at NASA’s Johnson Space Center (JSC)
- He joined The First Robotics Team in high school
- A lot of networking and determination is what helps him land the co-op internship program
- He started working full-time in January 2010
- Briefly discuss Upverter and the benefits of having high-school level educational programs for aspiring PCB designers
- What is NASA’s co-op internship program? Andrew describes the advantages of the co-op program over a typical internship
- Get exposure to things you don’t get at school
- Experience designing and actual assembly of PCB
- Andrew talks about electronic design standards at NASA and shares details about testing, reliability, and the challenges of sending electronic devices to the space
- Addressing devices’ heat, and vibration in space
- Andrew talks more about First Robotic Competition and stresses the importance of hands-on experience for high school kids or younger
Links and Resources:
Visit NASA’s JSC website Learn more about JSC’s Internship Program Making electronic design easy, visit Upverter's website Register at Altium Education for Free Altium Designer Free Student License Connect with Zach on LinkedIn
Full OnTrack Podcast Library Altium Website Download your Altium Designer Free Trial Learn More about Altium Nexus
Get Your First Month of Altium Designer® for FREE
Continuing our discussion on PCB design education, in this episode, joining us is Fergus Downey. Fergus is a Ph.D. student and research assistant at Curtin University in Western Australia (WA) and is currently involved in the Binar Space Program. Today, we will tackle the education and opportunities related to Mechatronic Engineering and a little overview of CubeSat.
Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics
Watch the video, click here.
Show Highlights:
- Fergus's background and how he landed on the Mechatronic Engineering path
- How is the space industry in Australia driving the students to pursue an electronics-related career?
- Exposure to CAD tools and manufacturing processes helps students understand circuit design better
- Some projects the students in Western Australia like to work on
- Camera PCBs, radiation center PCB, CanSat PCB design, and more
- What are the main challenges involved in designing CubeSats, and how do Altium Designer® and Altium 365 make a great design tool for these projects?
- Electronic design and redundancy–redundant systems in limited space like in spacecraft
- Fergus talks about his team winning the second place in the #PCBetheChange design competition in 2021 with their entry Swan River Clean Up
- Fergus talks about the Mechatronics Engineering Computer Science degree being offered at Curtin University
- Checkout the Binar Space Program website and connect with Fergus on LinkedIn
Links and Resources:
Connect with Fergus Downey on LinkedIn Binar Space Program website Learn more about the Mechatronics Engineering Computer Science at Curtin University Check out the #PCBeTheChange Student Design Competition Winners Register at Altium Education for Free Connect with Zach on LinkedIn
Full OnTrack Podcast Library Altium Website Download your Altium Designer Free Trial Learn More about Altium Nexus
Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics
In this episode, we will talk about the importance of engaging and exposing the PCB Design students to today’s real-world industry demands. Our guest Sid Deliwala is the Director of Lab Programs in the Electrical and Systems Engineering Department at the University of Pennsylvania. Sid will share with us how he makes Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) fun and meaningful for our future innovators.
Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics
Watch the video, click here.
Download your Altium Designer Free Trial
Show Highlights:
- Sid talks about his background and his advocacy for hands-on training
- Tinker and play – learn the fundamentals, try new things and take risks
- Making the Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) major meaningful
- Everything in the circuit world, in the hardware world, is also very data-driven
- End to end experience for students, holistic understanding of Software, hardware, and PCB design
- Preparing students to work in a multidisciplinary engineering environment
- If the cloud, the analog world, and all the digital circuitry that's needed to make things work rolled into one, it'll certainly be a very, very exciting time for all the future innovations
- You don't have to be an expert on everything, but you should at least have been exposed to everything in engineering
- Sid talks about the Penn Electric Racing – every year they participate in FSAE annual competition
- The problem with offshore PCB manufacturing – students have to wait for at least 3-weeks to receive their PCB for their project
- Importance of DFM and the difference it will make for students if they get the chance to visit the manufacturing company
- The supply chain and semiconductors shortage is real, the students experience current industry problems first-hand
- Sid expresses his sentiments toward a completely optimized system, it has some disadvantages
Links and Resources:
Sid Deliwala’s Director Profile, University of Pennsylvania Podcast with Eric Bogatin: Pathological Design Features Read Altium’s Newsletter: Staying on Top of the Supply Chain with Altium Full OnTrack Podcast Library Altium Website Download your Altium Designer Free Trial Learn More about Altium Nexus
Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics
In this episode, we are very pleased to have Dr. Rob Spalding. He is a retired Brigade General at the US Air Force and now the CEO of SEMPRE (Secure EMP-Resistant Edge), a tech company based in Washinton DC that provides military-grade 5G and high-performance edge computing infrastructure for telecom operators, first responders, government and enterprise customers.
Today, Rob and I will talk about all things security! Rob will tackle the importance of being proactive when it comes to protecting your data, and his advocacy to bring a better understanding of technology and innovation in Washington, DC (White House).
Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics
Watch the video, click here.
Show Highlights:
- Rob’s background and career before he became the CEO of SEMPRE
- What is SEMPRE? What are the problems it solves and the solutions it offers?
- Rob clarifies what’s written in his 5G report, which was taken out of context in 2018
- He emphasizes building enough spectrum into the network to take full advantage of the 5G technology
- Rob’s take on PCB manufacturing, and semiconductor manufacturing onshore
- Onshore manufacturing has its advantage in controlling and protecting intellectual property
- Most corporations are making decisions on the basis of, what's my margin?
- TSMC has built itself up to be the best chip company in the world because they own the manufacturing line
- Hardware-level security in base stations
- Ability to zerorize crypto–shutting infrastructure down, and shut that thing down physically destroy certain things
- SEMPRE uses FPGAs as a security advantage
- It's data that really drive value in the economy
- If we can’t protect our data, then we can't protect the integrity of who we are as individuals and who we are as a nation
- Rob demonstrates how vulnerable is the public from being spied on
- A recent survey reveals that there will be a talent shortage in the PCB design and manufacturing industry in the next 15 years
- Rob suggests allocation of budget to sponsor American kids through four-year degree programs in STEM
- During the Cold War, the US had initiated education for national security–a lot of scientists and engineers in the space race were educated through this initiative
- The advantages of bringing the manufacturing back to the US
Links and Resources:
Connect with Dr. Rob Spalding on LinkedIn Visit SEMPRE website Read about the shortage of talents in the PCB industry in 15 years: In an Unpredictable World, PCB DESIGN ENGINEERING Stays Steady US Government Calls for Revitalizing American PCB Manufacturing Connect with Zack on LinkedIn Full OnTrack Podcast Library Altium Website Download your Altium Designer Free Trial Learn More about Altium Nexus
Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics
What a very insightful discussion with Heidi Barnes of Keysight. In this episode, we will discuss all things simulations and power integrity in detail. We will dive into EM simulations, capacitor placement, Z, Y, and S parameters correlation measurements, and more! You will learn a lot from this episode!
Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics
Watch the video, click here.
Show Highlights:
- Heidi’s background and her 30 years of experience in the PCB design Industry
- When she was only 17, she did an internship at Bill and Dave in Santa Rosa, which is now the Hewlett Packard (HP)
- She got into the solar industry and aerospace
- She is currently passionate about signal integrity and power integrity
- Heidi stresses the importance of simulation tools and mentions the need for having reasonable rules of thumb and have an understanding of what to expect before you jump into a simulation tool
- The Keysight’s PathWave ADS ( Advanced Design System) environment, what does it offer?
- Running an EM simulation and getting results through the pro environments– PiPro (power integrity pro), SiPro (signal integrity pro)
- On top of the DC analysis, it features a lot of great asymmetric tolerances analysis, current density, and thermal heat up effects analyses
- Heidi talks about capacitor placement–lowering the path inductance, allowing a higher frequency, and giving a broader power delivery from the printed circuit board.
- Capacitor Placement paper presented at DesignCon
- Addressing specific peaks that are exceeding the target impedance in a problematic PCB
- Heidi’s take on using ferrites
- Steve Sandler has a great video about How to Design for Power Integrity–how to select a regulator
- Z, Y, and S parameters–understanding simulation to measurement correlation
- Heidi wrote a paper on SI Journal website: Power Integrity Fundamentals: Impedance vs. Frequency
- She also tackles the “two-port shunt impedance measurement”
- Watch for another episode with Heidi Barnes, tackling subjects related to all things SI and especially getting into measurement issues, coming soon!
Links and Resources:
Check out Heidi Barne’s articles on SI Journal website Visit Keysight website Read a previous interview with Heidi Barnes: Heidi Barnes, Senior Application Engineer and Power Integrity Product Owner Watch Heidi Barnes Altium 2022 Presentation: What is Target Z and Why is Power Delivery AC Not DC? - AltiumLive 2022 Connect with Zack on LinkedIn Full OnTrack Podcast Library Altium Website Download your Altium Designer Free Trial Learn More about Altium Nexus
Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics
The Hacksmith proves that everything is possible through science, one project at a time.
In this episode, Ian Hillier, the COO, and Co-founder of Hacksmith Industry, will share with us what it is like to create a fully working prototype of the coolest and most fascinating objects we see in the movies, comics, video games. He will also talk about how he transitioned from a full-time mechanical engineer to a full-time youtube content creator. Watch or listen through the end! You will hear everything, from the fun, failures, and the success of recreating futuristic, fictional objects.
Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics
Watch the video, click here.
Show Highlights:
- Ian talks about his mechanical engineering background and how he and his friend James Hobson founded Hacksmith Entertainment Ltd
- James has been publishing his engineering projects on his blog and videos on Youtube for 16 years and decided to do it full-time in 2015 when he reached about 70k subscribers
- Ian quit his job and joined James just six months before getting married
- The duo focused on getting more views by posting viral videos, one of which was the Captain America Shield project
- Hacksmith’s growing team
- From 70k subscribers, they immediately grew to 100k in 2016 and now 12.4 million and still growing
- Their team now consists of 24 full-time members, which includes mechatronics and electrical engineers, videographers, and the merchandise team
- From creating simple, fun projects to upscale mind-blowing lasers, Hacksmith’s bread and butter are turning fictional objects in movies and games, portrayed through special effects, into a working prototype. Some of their coolest projects are:
- Thor’s Hammer in Real Life
- Lightsaber
- Hacksmith's goal as an organization is to encourage future generations of engineers.
- How does Hacksmith operate as a team?
- Each project is assigned to a team, and they can bring additional resources as needed.
- They create and customize everything in-house; their shop is equipped with all the machines and toys they need
- Ian talks about their most extreme and powerful project, the Hoverboard
- Ian’s favorite projects include high current electronics. His personal favorite is the Rebar Crossbow–it pumps 2000 amps through the rebar until it glows red hot, and then you shoot it
- A retractable Lightsaber created with a modified oxy-propane torch
- Ian explains how designing their PCBs contributes to the success of their projects
Links and Resources:
Visit Hacksmith Youtube Channel to watch more of their mind-blowing engineering projects. Connect with Ian Hillier on LinkedIn Connect with Zack on LinkedIn Full OnTrack Podcast Library Altium Website Download your Altium Designer Free Trial Learn More about Altium Nexus
Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics
In this episode, we will continue with the topic of Design WITH Manufacturing, and joining us is Mike Vinson, the Chief Operating Officer at Averatek. Mike will help us understand Averatek’s advanced PCB manufacturing processes, including the technology and chemistry behind A-SAP and 3D printing.
Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics
Watch the video, click here.
Show Highlights:
- Mike Vinson's background
- Mike explains what is an Additive Process
- A-SAP–a semi-additive process used to make very fine features for high definition, and high density interconnects on print circuit boards.
- The ability to add metalization other than copper, such as platinum, gold, palladium
- 3D printing–a fully-additive process where all of the material is just added on, and nothing is subtracted away
- Averatek’s business’s scope
- Licensing the technology and selling the chemistry
- The current clientele is North America
- Efficient and secure prototyping
- Is the 3D surface solderable?
- MIDs or molded interconnect devices, are cool, but are they affordable?
- Tara Dunn, Averatek’s VP in Marketing, is the primary point of contact for licensing
- Tara is also one of Altium’s Industry Expert contributor
- What’s in the Averatek’s IPC Paper
- What does the economy look like for A-SAP technology? Will it be accessible, and cost-effective?
- Mikes talks about the scalability of materials set in A-SAP technology
- How can PCB designers take advantage of the A-SAP capabilities so that they can create more compact, smaller features, more advanced products?
- How about a transparent substrate? Averatek has worked with transparent polyimides and has done some other transparent substrates
- What are the things to look forward to in additive processes and the additive manufacturing realm in general?
Links and Resources:
Connect with Mike Vinson on LinkedIn Visit Averatek's website Check out Tara Dunn’s Articles on Altium Resource Hub Watch Previous Episode Mike Vinson: Sub-25 Micron Traces with Averatek ASAP Technology Semi-Additive Process Technology at Averatek Connect with Zack on LinkedIn
Full OnTrack Podcast Library Altium Website Download your Altium Designer Free Trial Learn More about Altium Nexus
Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics
EMIStream is now available as an Altium Designer® extension. TechDream CEO Yoshi Fukuwa will tell us how EMIStream can be a lifesaver when addressing EMI issues in your PCB design. Watch through the end, and check out Yoshi’s recent presentation at AltiumLive Connect.
Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics
Watch the video, click here.
Show Highlights:
- Yoshi founded his company TechDream in Silicon Valley in 2002. Techdream offers EMC, EDA, and PCB solutions. They also carry EDS simulation tools and PCB materials from Oak-Mitsui technologies
- EMIStream was developed by NEC Solution Innovators in Japan about 25 years ago; they tapped TechDream to sell the technology in the United States to help engineers with their EMI problems
- 150 design rules to solve EMI problems narrowed into 15 most important EMI data and rules implemented in EMIStream
- Yoshi Maruyama from NEC Solution Innnovtor is the main guy developing EMIStream in Japan
- EMIStream’s EMI design rule check and plane resonance analysis are available in the Altium Designer environment
- Yoshi explains the two features in EMIStream
- EMI Design Rule Checker
- Plane Resonance Analyzer
- Field Solver approach vs. SPICE approach
- 3D field solver is very good and accurate, but it takes longer to analyze
- EMIStream’s SPICE approach is 20 times faster than a standard SPICE engine
- What do you need to know about embedded capacitance materials?
- Yoshi reveals the number one problem in PCB design during a survey at AltiumLive
- The benefits of SPICE net format in EMIStream
- Catch Yoshi at DesignCon 2022. He will be joining the FaradFlex booth
Links and Resources:
Connect with Yoshi Fukawa on Linkedin Watch Yoshi’s AltoiumLive 2022 Connect Presentation: Eliminate EMI Problems at Design Stage, Robust EMI Design Rule Check & Plane Resonance Analysis Visit TechDream Website Learn More About EMIStream
Full OnTrack Podcast Library Altium Website Download your Altium Designer Free Trial Learn More about Altium Nexus
Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics
Let’s talk about the future of printed circuit board prototyping. Sean Patterson, the President of Nano Dimension USA is here to introduce the technology behind DragonFly IV®, the multi-material 3D printer for electronics fabrication. He will walk us through its current capabilities, what it can do and what we may expect from it in the future.
Sit back, relax and enjoy this episode. Make sure to listen through the end and check the show notes with the additional resources below.
Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics
Watch the video, click here.
Show Highlights:
- Sean talks about the growing company.
- They have 39 members in the US, and 500 globally. There are still plenty of roles available, visit Nano Dimension’s website here
- Started as an additive manufacturing company, specifically for circuit boards to now multi-material, and multi-layer 3D printing option for electronics through
- Sean excitedly shares all the exciting things that the DragonFly IV can do.
- Faster electronic prototyping and proof of concept
- Environmental and sustainability advantages
- A manufacturing plant in the office
- An electromechanical structure that's functionally, mechanically, and electrically, to solve a problem
- The evolution of electronic manufacturing offers a solution that works–there are many better ways, weight reduction, and size reduction
- Nano Dimensions is helping the electronics industry ecosystems systems get prepped now, to support the adoption of this technology
- DragonFly IV uses FR4-like, and the conductive ink is a silver nanoparticle
- What’s the future look like for Nano Dimensions?
- What materials will be available in the future?
- What will be the ultimate capability of the DragonFly?
Links and Resources:
Connect with Sean Patterson on LinkedIn Visit Nando Dimension’s website here
Connect with Zack on LinkedIn
Full OnTrack Podcast Library Altium Website Download your Altium Designer Free Trial Learn More about Altium Nexus
Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics
Altium launches a new curriculum into the college in university space called Altium Education. In this episode, Rea Callender, Altium’s Vice President of Education tell us what is in the curriculum, who is it for, and how it will help PCB designers and aspiring designers advance into their career.
Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics Watch the video, click here.
Show Highlights:
- Altium launches Altium Education, which aims to educate anyone who knows nothing about printed circuit board design, to learn the skills to create a printed circuit board, and send it off to manufacturing
- Students can still apply for Free Altium Designer® license
- Altium is taking the lead in PCB Design Education
- Teaching the process of circuit board design
- Modular approach with 16 units that college professors can use to supplement their course
- Student can take the curriculum for free and take it as a self-phase learning tool
- Altium Education have received positive feedback from college professors prior to its launch
College professor - excellent response
- There is currently no curriculum similar to Altium Education, it is a supplemental course, it's not meant to displace anything
- Pcdandf survey reports that in 15 years, approximately 78% of the workforce to retire which may lead to the talent shortage
- Altium Education will help attract talent to the field
- It will equip the students with proper skills in PCB design
- It is designed for High School students, College students, and Professional
Links and Resources:
Register to Altium Education for Free
Connect with Leah Callender on LinkedIn
Yoshi Fukawa Episode - Coming Soon
Altium Designer Free Trial
Connect with Zack on LinkedIn
Full OnTrack Podcast Library
Altium Website
Download your Altium Designer Free Trial
Learn More about Altium Nexar
Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics
It's a privilege to have another well-known YouTube Creator GreatScott. He is creating electronics projects, tutorials, and everything in between. He makes electronics education fun with his experience, skills, and practical approach. This is going to be an exciting discussion so make sure to watch through the end and check out the additional resources below.
Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics Watch the video, click here.
Show Highlights:
- How GreatScott started in the electronics industry and his interest in creating fun videos
- He started in 2013, at the age of 18, and created his first circuit project the next year
- First job application and the task was in the field of electrical power engineering
- GreatScott’s practical approach with his projects as implemented on his recent vacuum project, Every Device should have this Upgrade! (Endless Battery Run Time)
- The trajectory of GreatScott's career path–what brought him up into power engineering
- Followed his mother's advice to go for renewable energies and took a renewable energy course at a University in Germany
- GreatScott recommends courses in Electronic Engineering and joining an internship program at the same time—duales studium or dual studies, for those looking for a career or interested in electronics
- GreatScott YouTube Channel showcases about 50 Electronic Basics Video Series
- Interesting and funny videos GreatScott recently created
- Testing circuits I found on the Internet: Inverter! It does work, BUT…
- DIY LiPo Supercharger! (Charge, Protect, 5V/12V Boost V2)
- Planning to do the 3rd on the series (free energy schematic circuit designs)
- ElectroBOOM YouTube Channel is also creating fun and engaging electronics videos
- What to expect on the DIY or Buy video series on the GreatScott channel
- Tear down doesn't fit for Scott - his goal for his videos is to create, unique and practical projects
- Engineers improve their skills through mistakes and criticisms
- GreatScott's plan in the future
- Continue making fun and educational videos
- Learn to weld
- Include a wider assortment of projects and topics
- Launch an upcoming video for his two circuit boards creation (aluminum printed circuit board)
Links and Resources:
GreatScott YouTube Channel
Follow GreatScott on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook
GreatScott Altium Designer Affiliate Page
Connect with Zack on LinkedIn
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Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics
In this episode, Carl Bugeja, an Electronics Engineer and a well-known Youtube Creator, talk about his experience designing electronics, how he started, and his fascination with inventing new things. He will also share some exciting robotics projects he is currently working on. Watch through the end, and make sure to check out the additional resources below.
Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics Watch the video, click here.
Show Highlights:
- Carl's background in PCB and electronics design 02:02
- A startup with a friend, Carl designed cool stuff such as drones, bluetooth, and alarm techs
- He created and and documented his electronics projects which he started sharing on Youtube
- Carl first started using Altium Designer® when he was in his third year in the University, and love using it since then
- Carl shares his design process, and his approach to PCB design
- The first project that Carl shared on YouTube is a PCB Motor 04:28
- How PCB Motor project got started 06:39
- Soft robotics
- The benefits of using flexible PCBs 09:36
- There’s nothing you can’t do with a flexible PCB
- An opportunity to play around and create a new concept
- Trial and error is Carl’s way to learning and improving his skills with creating flex PCBs 10:41
- One of Carl’s most challenging project and most viewed video on Youtube is his Jumping PCB 13:12
- Check out Carl's recent projects 18:46
- Ping-Pong RGB Ball with 242 LEDs
- Bendable Heater Sticker
- PCB Robot In-Wheel Rotor Optimisation
- Carl's firmware writing skills is acquired from his actual projects and work experience 17:00
- The importance of building a good relationship with your manufacturer 22:38
- Check out Carl Bugeja’s YouTube Channel here
Links and Resources:
- Watch Carl talks about why he love using Altium Designer®
- Connect with Carl Bugeja on LinkedIn
- Carl Bugeja’s YouTube Channel
- Carl Bugeja’s Hackaday Page
- Altium Designer Free Trial
Connect with Zack on LinkedIn Full OnTrack Podcast Library Altium Website Download your Altium Designer Free Trial Learn More about Altium Nexar
Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics
Clearing up the confusion about the IPC 2152 with Mike Jouppi, the “Thermal Man''. Mike originally sat on one of the IPC task groups working on standards for thermal management. He will help us be enlightened about thermal management on PCB, which will be very useful to apply to your next PCB design project.
Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics Watch the video, click here.
Show Highlights:
- Storytime! Mike's background in PCB design and involvement in IPC task groups
- He worked in the Airforce as Missile Maintenance Specialist and later had an internship at Hughes Aircraft in Tucson, Arizona, where he did a thermal analysis
- The TQM mindset—total quality management is what kept him moving forward
- What does it mean when “Power was Negligible”; this led to Mike's first encounter with the IPC document
- How to take a vacuum environment into consideration? This is the question that leads Mike to start research and develop testing methods
- Mikes received funding from Lockheed to do internal research and perform testing to understand trace heating
- Mike shares his journey to seek funding for testing and how he ended up setting up his lab in his basement
- He developed 68 different charts, 13 of those were raw data, and the remaining ones were all analytical creations with the thermal model
- Mike started working with IPC in 1999, IPC 2152 came out in 2009
- Mike wrote a chapter in Happy Holden’s Printed Circuits Handbook
- Clearing up confusion over what IPC 2221 and IPC 2152 represent, Mike emphasizes using the documentation as a baseline
- Another storytime! How did Mike come up with the name “Thermal Man”? The story involved measuring the thermal properties of an egg. Visit thermalman.com to check out Mike’s website
- More research was performed involving flex, heating vias, and microvias
- Discovery of the original data to the charts that are in IPC 2221 documented in the National Bureau of Standards report from 1955ish
- Mike has the data to prove that copper planes and copper pour affects thermal management
- The major players in terms of temperature response of the trace:
- Influence of the copper planes
- Mounting configuration
- Before the IPC took over the industry standards in electronic design, the National Bureau of Standards (the government) handled the management and documentations
- Check out more videos and courses about Thermal Management on Altium Academy Youtube Channel
Links and Resources:
Connect with Mike Jouppi on LinkedIn Visit Mike Jouppi’s Electronics Thermal Management LLC website OnTrack Episode with Isvan Novak: DesignCon 2020’s ‘Engineer of the Year’ Talks Power Integrity, Picosatellites, and Simulation Tools Read Happy Holden’s Article on Altium Resource Hub IPC Website IPC 2221 and IPC 2152
Connect with Zack on LinkedIn Full OnTrack Podcast Library Altium Website Download your Altium Designer Free Trial Learn More about Altium Nexar
Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics
It’s a privilege to be sitting down with Didrik Beck, CEO of Elmatica, the world’s oldest PCB broker company and now part of the NCAB group and CAB group. Together we will dive into exciting topics surrounding cybersecurity, compliance, and supply chain and his upcoming presentation at IPC Apex. Didrik has some interesting insights on supply chain Cybersecurity management in the PCB design and manufacturing industry. Make sure to watch through the end and check out the additional resources below. This episode will be an insightful one!
Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics Watch the video, click here.
- Dedrick Bech introducing Elmatica
- World's oldest PCB broker
- Recently acquired by the NCAB group
- Securing PCBs for different partners in the PCB supply chain
- A quick summary of what was going to be in the IPC Apex paper that Dedrick is presenting
- Different levels of compliance and to what extent does this apply in the PCB design and manufacturing
- Controlled Unclassified Information (UCI)
- Every country has a different view on it
- Two possible aspects of greater focus on compliance
- Intellectual property
- Cybersecurity concerns
- How to get IT and compliance strategy come back and get implemented together
- Data security awareness - some tips and practical steps
- Is it worth it to invest for a data security software and team
- More ways companies can do to help guarantee compliance and prevent data to be copied
- Formalized packages for a high level of compliance - how deep does this have to go for small companies
- Compliance and Cybersecurity differs from country to country and depending on:
- the company
- the country’s regulations
- where the PCB is produced
- There is a room for improvement in creating some compliance hazards for designers
- Start with a good communication with the supply chain team
- Gather data ahead of time
- Misconception about sharing data
- Securing supply chain for large subcontractors
- The importance of reading and understanding Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) regulation
- AltiumLive Connect was successful! Watch the exclusive recorded sessions here
Links and Resources:
Connect with Didrik Bech on LinkedIn Visit Elmatica’s Website here National Institute of Standards and Technology Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) Watch AltiumLive 2022 Connect Recorded Sessions Here ALTIMADE Design to Manufacture, Made Easy | Request Access Now
Full OnTrack Podcast Library Altium Website Download your Altium Designer Free Trial Learn More about Altium Nexus
Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics
Welcome to the very first podcast of the year! Altium has been very serious about designing WITH manufacturing, and so our guest for today is Amit Bahl, the director of sales and marketing at Sierra Circuits. We will talk about his passion about promoting the level of sophistication in the PCB manufacturing floor. Watch or listen on the go, this will be fun!
Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics
Watch the video, click here.
Show Highlights:
- Amit first exposure in the PCB industry
- He grew up around printed circuit board (PCB)
- First to install a DFM tool called Valor
- First to install a LDI machine or a laser direct imaging machine
- PCB is the backbone of electronics
- The PCB designer must see a pcb factory. Sierra offers a virtual tour of the PCB factory.
- The PCB manufacturing level of sophistication, and high standards are driven by customers
- PCB designers must push the envelope and to be more courageous with their design, while understanding the maximum capability of their manufacturers to receive better products
- Equipment vendors need more motivation to make improvements
- Sierra Circuits offers PCB Fabrication, Assembly, & Components
- Connecting the dots in technological and logistical standpoint
- Semi-automated Customer portal - a real time feedback to customer on how to improve their designs
- DFA and DFM starts when complete data is on hand
- The most common feedback or mistakes in the PCB manufacturing floor
- Aspect ratio of plating a via - what is the fabricator’s capability?
- Drilling copper - where do you drill? Optimizing the drill to the material movement.
- A good fabricator will know the best material to use
- Getting the available stackup early on - knowledge base of the standard materials on stocks
- Manufacturing tools and resources for designers
- 99% success rate - eliminating nuances
- Impedance tool
- PCB Manufacturing Pro tip: Talk to your fabricator and understand the details - take the time!
- Sierra Circuit’s new website and good knowledge base
- AltiumLive Connect was successful! If you miss it, you can still sign-up to virtually attend the AltiumLive EMEA here
Links and Resources:
Connect with Amit Bahl on Linkedin Visit Sierra Circuits Website here Experience Sierra Circuits Virtual Factory Tour Register to Join AltiumLive Connect EMEA ALTIMADE Design to Manufacture, Made Easy | Request Access Now
Full OnTrack Podcast Library Altium Website Download your Altium Designer Free Trial Learn More about Altium Nexus
Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics
The aerospace industry has driven the high-reliability design in the center focus. Juan Frias, our guest for today, is a very experienced PCB designer who has designed for Aerospace, Military, Industrial, Semiconductor, Communications, Medical, and Automotive; he will be sharing the tips for a successful design for manufacturability. We will also tackle Flex and Rigid-Flex design. This conversation will be fun and insightful, so watch through the end and make sure to check the additional resources below.
Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics
Watch the video, click here.
Show Highlights:
- High-Reliability Design WITH Manufacturing, how did the Aerospace industry influence this focus?
- The advantages of working closely with the manufacturing team
- Focus on improving the design process and eliminating back and forth communication and miscommunications
- Understanding what will work BEST for your manufacturer
- Working with flex and rigid-flex designs
- Space savers
- Reliability and stability advantages
- Choosing between flex versus a rigid-flex board, what are the considerations?
- Can you use BGA on Flex?
- How does the manufacturer influence the material selection
- Board-spin on existing design–the systemized process of ordering materials that are running low
- The design preparation process for fabrication
- What do designers need to know about stiffener
- The importance of creating a prototype to save time and money
- PCB Validation, test and Inspections, who does what?
- Typically the customers are the only ones who can do a test with the product because they have the entire system on their end
- PCB designers perform the electrical tests and control impedance lines
- Identifying a good designer to do business with–-local vs. overseas
- See you at the AltiumLive 2022. Register here
Links and Resources:
AltiumLive 2022 Connect: Now open for registration E-Book: Navigating PCB Manufacturing: Part 1 Three Common PCB Design Mistakes You Can Spot in Your Gerbers How to Successfully Design a BGA Connect with Zach Peterson on LinkedIn Watch Zach’s latest Altium Academy courses on Youtube Read Zach’s articles on Altium’s resource hub
Full OnTrack Podcast Library Altium Website Download your Altium Designer Free Trial Learn More about Altium Nexus
Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics
In this episode, Zach chats with Lawrence Romine, Altium’s VP of Marketing. AltiumLive 2022 Virtual Summit is fast approaching, and we wanted to deliver to you some important information and reasons why you should not miss it. Lawrence gives an exciting overview and details about AltiumLive 2022’s new immersive experience!
Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics Watch the video, click here.
Show Highlights:
- AltiumLive 2022 connecting the ‘User Community’ (Designers and Engineers)
-
2 Events in the Calendar
- AltiumLive 2022 Connect Americas: Wednesday, January 26th to Friday, January 28th
- AltiumLive 2022 Connect EMEA: Wednesday, February 2nd to Friday, February 4th
-
FREE registration and remote accessibility worldwide
- This year’s AltiumLive is in collaboration with Institute for Printed Circuits (IPC), the Association Connecting Electronics Industries
- Adapting the hybrid model (full virtual event) to get the whole world to connect and get involved
- Bringing some of the finer points of the upcoming IPC Apex Expo
- NEXAR Partnerships
- What NEXAR Ecosystem can bring to the participants
- Altium 365, bringing the rest of the industry at large
- Altium’s real focus on the user community and its uniqueness with other CAD companies
- The real mission and purpose of AltiumLive 2022
- A non-commercial event
- All about Learning, Connecting, and Getting inspired
- Industry expert, Eric Bogatin will be one of the speakers at AltiumLive 2022
Links and Resources:
AltiumLive 2022 Connect: Now open for registration
AltiumLive 2022 Connect Americas
AltiumLive 2022 Connect EMEA
IPC, the Association Connecting Electronics Industries
IPC APEX EXPO 2022
NEXAR
Previous Podcast Episodes with Eric Bogatin
- Signal Integrity Evangelist Eric Bogatin, our Expert Insider to DesignCon 2020
- Why You Should Stop Hanging on to Legacy Design Rules
- Bogatin’s “Practical Guide to” Book Series
- Pathological Design Features
Connect with Lawrence Romine on LinkedIn
Connect with Zach Peterson on LinkedIn
Watch Zach’s latest Altium Academy courses on Youtube
Read Zach’s articles on Altium’s resource hub
Full OnTrack Podcast Library
Altium Website
Download your Altium Designer Free Trial
Learn More about Altium Nexar
Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics
“One of the fundamental things that I'm very passionate about is continuous development.” - Stephen Chavez
We are thrilled to have Stephen Chavez on the podcast again! He is one of the respected Electrical Engineers in the electronics industry. Stephen is the chairman of the Printed Circuit Engineering Association (PCEA) and oversees the design team of a renowned military aerospace company. In this episode, Stephen will generously share his work experience and how he sees the evolution of the electronics industry. This is a not-to-be-missed episode as it will give you enough courage and motivation to keep on learning to become a successful electronics and design engineer of today’s generation!
Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics
Watch the video, click here.
Show Highlights:
- Stephen and Zach’s best advice on how to get on top of things as the electronics industry evolves
- Stephen’s career progress in the electronics industry and his affiliation with PCEA (Printed Circuit Engineering Association)
- The need for cross-collaboration as designing changes and gets complex
- Altium 365 offers seamless collaboration in the cloud
- Digital thread or model-based design
- How’s the process today?
- The evolution of toolsets
- The difference between the tools of today and the past
- Taking advantage of the tool you’re using versus the manual approach
- The importance of tool training
- PCEA’s mission for the next generation engineers
- Secrets of PCB Optimization with Rick Hartley
- What do you need to consider when designing circuit boards
- Designer’s triangle
- Layout solvability
- Performance
- Design for Manufacturing (DFM)
- Intricate details that go into designing a PCB
- What it takes to fabricate and assemble a printed circuit board especially for young engineers
- Mike Creeden on Empowering PCB Engineers through PCEA
- Manufacturing aspect - filtering your suppliers
- Mistakes engineers make when choosing the materials for design
- Balancing success in circuit design
- Engineering learning practices in the past vs today
- MCAD, CAD for tool collaboration
- Autorouting in RF designs
Links and Resources:
Previous Podcast Episodes with Stephen Chavez
- Stephen Chavez Calls on PCB Designers to Get Involved
- Is IPC-CID Certification Really Important to Your Career?
- Stephen Chavez on Staying out of Your Comfort Zone
- Judy Warner and Stephen Chavez on the Approachability of the Pros
Printed Circuit Engineering Association (PCEA) AltiumLive 2022 Connect: Now open for registration Connect with Stephen Chavez on LinkedIn Connect with Zach Peterson on LinkedIn Watch Zach’s latest Altium Academy courses on Youtube Read Zach’s articles on Altium’s resource hub
Full OnTrack Podcast Library Altium Website Download your Altium Designer Free Trial Learn More about Altium Nexus
Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics
Not all engineers think like hackers, and not all hackers think like engineers. - Joe Grand
Let’s jump into a contemporary engineering topic – security and privacy! Today’s guest is Joe Grand, a computer engineer, inventor, teacher, device security expert, and an AltiumLive alum. I am very excited to be talking about IoT and hardware-level security with an engineering celebrity! Together we will dive into the processes and challenges of building hardware security. There are many details discussed so make sure to watch through the end and check out the additional resources below.
Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics
Watch the video, click here.
Show Highlights:
- Jumping from Protel Easytrax to Altium
- Nostalgic coincidence, the beginner's project – first circuit board was an amplifier based board
- OpAmp board -- the first board that Joe created and sold
- Bringing the hackers perspective in the engineering world
- What it means to be a good hacker
- Think ahead, what hackers are going to do to your system?
- What can designers do to implement basic barebones like hardware-level security?
- Understanding the different angles and levels of (hacking) attack
- Joe walks us through his hacking process, the engineer way
- Information gathering is huge, from product documentation, patents, company profile and more
- Tearing up a product and examining the circuitry and component identification
- Using standard engineering tools for hacking
- Looking at chip-to-chip communication
- What is a “threat model”
- Your device’s power supply may be a target for hacking, Joe explains “fault injection”
- Electronic badge for DefCon 27, the world's largest hacker conference Joe created
- Collaborative effort to tighten the device security, Altium 365 offers a secure space for all stakeholders
- Patch Tuesdays and Exploit Wednesdays -- a never-ending cycle to keep the system secured
- Security through obscurity for your PCB, what is it?
- Joe answers, Is there any way to design a device so that if you do try and access it, you actually eliminate all the data or just destroy the critical parts of the device?
Links and Resources:
- Previous Podcast Episodes with Joe Grand: Joe Grand on Hacking, Badgelife and AltiumLive
- Joe Grand Talks About When Hacking and Engineering Collide - AltiumLive Keynote
- Joe Grand’s Altium Customer Success Story
- Meet Joe Grand aka Kingpin - Altium OnTrack Insight
- AltiumLive 2022 Connect: Now open for registration
- Connect with Zach Peterson on LinkedIn
- Watch Zach’s latest Altium Academy courses on Youtube
- Read Zach’s articles on Altium’s resource hub
Full OnTrack Podcast Library Altium Website Download your Altium Designer Free Trial Learn More about Altium Nexar
Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics
Dr. Eric Bogatin, Dean of Signal Integrity Academy, is back for some awesome discussion about bad PCB design guidelines. How to spot them to avoid ruining your design? This is going to be fun and insightful! Make sure to check the show notes and additional resources below. Watch until the end. Our favorite Dean has some perks for our listeners.
Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics
Watch the video, click here.
Show Highlights:
- Eric’s AltiumLive Presentation
- Pathological Design Features
- Demonstration of the 2D Field Solver built-in for free in Altium Designer
- Your intuition + PCB design tool can make or break your PCB design performance
- Most Common Sources of Noise
- Ground bounce as an extreme case of crosstalk
- Design structures that can strongly contribute to EMI failures
- Eric Explains “transparent interconnect”
- Best measurement practice and routing correctly
- Is an Arduino board really for beginners?
- EMI Problems caused by split planes—the trifecta, you get reflection noise, you get crosstalk noise, you get EMI noise out of it
- Eric Bogatin, Steve Sandler, and Larry Smith debunked PCB design myths and legends—the Myth of Three Capacitor Values
- Power integrity becoming Signal Integrity
- What is Rad-hard?
- Reliability concerns in aerospace technology and automotive systems
- Fiber in vehicle and fiber base radar could be the solution
- Eric answers, What do you think about right-angle traces?
- 3 Month Signal Integrity Academy Subscription, use promo code ALT21
- AltiumLive Connect, register now!
Links and Resources:
- Article: The Myth of Three Capacitor Values
- Signal Integrity Journal
- Laboratory for Atmospheric Space Physics
- Should You Worry About 90 Degree Bends in Circuit Board Traces?
- Previous Podcast Episode with Eric Bogatin
- Why You Should Stop Hanging on to Legacy Design Rules
- Eric Bogatin Debunks Common Misconceptions About Transmission Lines
- Signal Integrity Expert Eric Bogatin on Best Measurement Practices
- AltiumLive 2022 Connect: Now open for registration
- Connect with Zach Peterson on LinkedIn
- Connect with Eric Bogatin on Linkedin
- Watch Zach’s latest Altium Academy courses on Youtube
- Read Zach’s articles on Altium’s resource hub
Full OnTrack Podcast Library Altium Website Download your Altium Designer Free Trial Learn More about Altium Nexar
Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics
Zach Peterson, our guest host, interviews Lawrence Romine, Altium’s Vice president of Marketing, about the exciting future of PCB Design. In this episode, Lawrence will share Altium’s mission in creating an ecosystem that helps PCB designers and engineers be the best they can be and give them access to collaboration and sharing tools.
Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics
Watch the video, click here.
Show Highlights:
- What makes Altium designer a cutting-edge PCB designer software
- Design challenges and solutions, saving PCB designers 70-90 percent of potential problems
- Design with your manufacturer, addressing extinct manufacturing methods,
- Bringing the primary and secondary stakeholders in the PCB design Industry together through the cloud
- Building a solution that allows anybody with a PCB design background to design
- The benefit of Partnership vs. Acquiring
- For the Designers - accessibility to tools and capabilities where users could select what best fit their needs
- For the partners - allows them to access Altium's user base and make them aware of the design solutions that they would not have known existed
- More about Nexar, users will have access to:
- Frontend engineering tools
- Simulation tools
- Data management features
- Supply chain intelligence
- IHS Markit data
- A brief overview of Lawrence career background and experience before Altium
- NEXAR embed features
Links and Resources:
- Previous Podcast Episode: What is NEXAR?
- NEXAR website
- AltiumLive 2022 Connect: Now open for registration
- Connect with Zach Peterson on LinkedIn
- Connect with Lawrence Romine on Linkedin
- Watch Zach’s latest Altium Academy courses on Youtube
- Read Zach’s articles on Altium’s resource hub
Full OnTrack Podcast Library Altium Website Download your Altium Designer Free Trial Learn More about Altium Nexus
Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics
The OnTrack Podcast team is very excited to have Zach Peterson as a guest host for the next six weeks. Zach is Altium’s Technical Consultant and Expert PCB Design Instructor on the Altium Academy Youtube channel. Today he will share with us some details about what to expect in the coming weeks.
Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics
Watch the video, click here.
Show Highlights:
- Judy’s focusing on AltiumLive Planning for the next six weeks
- Zach to take over as the podcast’s guest host
- Update on Zach’s video series and the feedback he’s been receiving, and what’s coming up
- Q&A Sessions
- Discussion on how to work with your manufacturer, ie. RF Design
- Eric Bogatin has been confirmed as a Keynote speaker at AltiumLive
- Will Zach present at AltiumLive?
- Potential guests during Zach’s takeover
- DuPont Acquires Rogers Corporation
- AltiumLive 2022 registration is now open with a 20% early bird discount
- Check out Zach’s Articles on Altium’s Resources hub
Links and Resources:
Altium Academy YouTube Channel (Zach’s videos) To Ask Zach Questions for upcoming Q&A on YouTube: Submit questions to Youtube@Altium.com DuPont Acquires Rogers Corporation AltiumLive Registration is Open. Get a 20% early bird discount by registering now!
Full OnTrack Podcast Library Altium Website Download your Altium Designer Free Trial Learn More about Altium Nexus
Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronic
Our guest today is John Coonrod, the Technical Marketing Manager at Rogers Corporation. John will generously share with us today a glimpse of his recent keynote presentation at PCB West 2021, Advancements in Prepreg Enabling New Applications for Millimeter-wave and High-Speed Digital.
Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics
Watch the video, click here.
Show Highlights:
- Quick overview of High-Speed Design Overview & relationship to RF designs
- Slide: RF System - overview of insertion loss and return loss
- Slide: Millimeter Wave
- Slide: Sine Waves
- Slide - I diagrams
- Quick RF and MMw overview by John: Loss issues and issues that arise with High-Speed Digital Designs
- The impact of low-loss materials
- Glass weave
- What is Rogers 1200? BISCO® HT-1200
- PPE material
Links and Resources:
Rogers Technology Support Hub Rogers Advanced Electronics Solutions Website John Coonrod’s LinkedIn Profile AltiumLive CONNECT | Registration is now open!
Full OnTrack Podcast Library Altium Website Download your Altium Designer Free Trial Learn More about Altium Nexus
Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics
Everything that goes to making a board works against signal integrity...physics screw things up. -Bill Hargin
Avoid getting your design “skewed”! Today’s guest is Z-Zero’s Founder and CEO, Bill Hargin. Together we will dive into the cause of getting skews in your board. There are many details, and many questions answered, so make sure to watch through the end and check out the additional resources below.
Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics
Watch the video, click here.
Show Highlights:
- Introduction, a brief overview of Z-Zero and Bill’s background
- Hardware Manager at Boeing (Electronic cooling and CAD design)
- He became the Director of Sales and Marketing at Hyperlynx
- High-speed marketing and five years in laminate space
- Sharing his deep knowledge of signal integrity - travel around the world doing workshops
- 2018 - full time at Z-Zero, a software company he founded. Z-Zero is an EDA start-up that offers solutions for stackup design, field solver, automation, library
- Bill presents every year at the PCB West on topics of stackup design and material selection
- Bill offers more resources through webinars and blog articles on z-zero.com
- What are Skews, and why is it’s a problem?
- Comprehensive overview and solutions
- Deterministic solutions
- Stochastic Solutions
- Comprehensive overview and solutions
- What is a Glass-weave skew (GWS)?
- Prepreg glass types, what is spread glass?
- Bill’s deterministic solutions to avoid skew
- Angled routing
- Rotating artwork 10 degrees (waste about 15% of the material, higher cost)
Links and Resources:
Bill Hargin on LinkedIn Z-Zero Website Who Should Be Concerned about the Fiber-Weave Effect?
Read the blogs: How to Avoid Getting Totally Skewed – Part 1 How to Avoid Getting Totally Skewed, Part 2 How to Avoid Getting Totally Skewed, Part 3 How to Avoid Getting Totally Skewed, Part 4
Watch the Webinars: Glass-Weave Skew - Part 1 - Who Cares? Glass-Weave Skew - Part 2 - Mitigation Methods
Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics
Most PCB Designers wear many hats, and one of them is to solve EMC problems.
Ken Wyatt, the EMC expert, talks about his passion for sharing his knowledge on addressing the most common EMC problems with PCB designers. Why is it important to troubleshoot it during the design process, and how can you acquire this skill that is not offered in the university? Watch now or listen on the go!
Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics
Watch the video, click here.
Show Highlights:
- Ken Wyatt’s background and career transitions.
- Ken’s inspiration for writing his books:
- Addressing basic design issues
- Challenges of not having full-time EMC experts
- Focus on PCB designers
- Ken’s book series (available on Amazon):
- Create your Own EMC Troubleshooting Kit
- Workbench Troubleshooting EMC Emissions
- Workbench Troubleshooting EMC Immunity
- What is immunity? The product should not affect the environment and the environment should not affect the product
- Radiated Immunity, one of the biggest issues product designers face when complying with immunity
- The rise of IOT, industry observation.
- Expectations vs Reality when hiring university graduates for EMC-related positions.
- Ken will be a Keynote at IEEE EMC Conference Minneapolis on September 23, 2021
Links and Resources:
EMC Seminars Website Ken Wyatt’s Author Page on Amazon Workbench Troubleshooting EMC Immunity (Volume 3) Ken Wyatt’s LinkedIn Profile Chasing the Light (Lighthouse Photography) by Ken and Sheila Wyatt Full OnTrack Podcast Library Altium Website Download your Altium Designer Free Trial Learn More about Altium Nexus
Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics
In this episode, Altium’s Technical Consultant, Zach Peterson will share his insights about the availability and accessibility of education related to PCB design for high school and university students.
Zach will also talk about the inspiration behind “Design Secrets,” his new series available on Altium Academy Youtube Channel.
Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics
Watch the video, click here.
Show Highlights:
- Introduction, from academia and Ph.D. in Physics, how did he land in the world of PCB?
- On Altium Academy YouTube channel, Zach offers basic PCB design courses. that are not frequently available, even to professionals.
- Zach’s experience in university: Observations, Knowledge Gaps, what are the main focuses?
- Zach thoughts on why are PCB design courses are not the main focus of education in college and university
- The challenges in semiconductor industry
- Focus on digital and analog design
- Zach’s Industry “awakening”—noticed the “graying of PCB design expertise demographic”
- Industry Problems: De-siloing, systems-based thinking—tools, engineering and the rise of digitization
- Need for the industry to “step up” to help equip and prepare for next-gen engineers
- How can companies educate next-gen design engineers in an ecosystem-based context
- Industry de-siloing leads to educational de-siloing
- Zach and his company’s contribution to these efforts?
- Checkout Zach’s Blogs in Altium’s Resource hub
- What is Upverter education and watch for the future university content
- Altium full-time education team, free licenses, IPC, PCEA
Links and Resources:
Zachariah Peterson Video series on Altium Academy YouTube Channel Upverter Education Website Signal Integrity Journal--Zachariah Peterson Articles How to Achieve Proper Grounding
PCBeTheChange Design Contest | Upverter Education
Full OnTrack Podcast Library Altium Website Download your Altium Designer Free Trial Learn More about Altium Nexus
Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics
AltiumLive 2022 and IPC Apex 2022 are joining forces to bring together all stakeholders in the PCB industry.
We have two executives joining us in this episode. Our very own Chief Ecosystem Officer and head of Altium Nexar, Ted Pawela; and IPC’s Vice President of Standards and Technology, Dave Bergman. They will share with us some exciting news about the most anticipated exhibits in the PCB community.
Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics
Watch the video, click here.
Show Highlights:
- Introductions:
- Ted Pawela, the Chief Ecosystem Officer and Head of Cloud (Nexar) Business Unit at Altium
- Dave Bergman, the Vice President Standards and Technology at IPC
- IPC and Altium Live conferences co-locate
- Uniting the stakeholders: PCB Design, PCB Manufacturing, PCB Supply Chain
- IPC leadership role in the industry— providing standards and educational foundation
- Bringing and exposing the PCB Designers to additional valuable education
- Dates of conferences and where overlap opportunities will be offered
- IPC Apex 2022: January 25th - 27th in San Diego with the theme “Digital Transcendence”
- AltiumLive 2022: January 26th - 28th in San Diego with the theme: “Connect”
- The intersection between the 2 conferences
- The relevance and synergies of ecosystems and community engagement
- Education strategies from Altium, IPC, and places of interest to intersect
- Understanding what’s beyond the tools
- Advancing the PCB designers’ careers through education
- IPC serves as a validation of the designers’ skills and talent through CID and CID+ training.
- IPC Foundation
- Why should you attend, what opportunities are there for you?
- User-centric
- Learn from the pure hard work of subject matter experts
- Improve design skills and connect with the people in the community
- Experience the biggest and the best, see you in January 2022
Links and Resources:
AltiumLive 2022 Website IPC Apex Expo 2022 IPC CID Training (Eptac) Altium Academy YouTube Channel IPC Edge Educational Resources
Full OnTrack Podcast Library Altium Website Download your Altium Designer Free Trial Learn More about Altium Nexus
Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics
A Silicon Valley rising star advocates higher efficiency in electronics manufacturing.
In this episode, Andrew Scheuermann, CEO, and Co-founder of Arch, shares his company’s mission to drive digitization and sustainable innovation in electronics manufacturing. He will discuss Surface Mount Technology machine optimization and how factories can benefit from advanced analytics.
Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics
Watch the video, click here. [link to website live page]
Show Highlights:
- Introduction to Andrew and the founding of Arch Systems
- Understanding the founders, Andrew Scheuermann and Tim Burke’s experimentalist and theoretical personas, respectively
- The key to finding their niche
- Starting Startx - top 5 startup in the world
- Platform mindset - software and hardware technology that could be deployed to any kind of machine
- Become a world expert in Surface Mount Technology (SMT) machines
- Industrial Automation, how does software makes the world go round?
- Opportunity identified for SMT industrial control automation and useable, meaningful data
- Data-driven, smart manufacturing
- In-depth analytics-getting data out of legacy machines
- Digital Proof of concept, why is this valuable?
- 20 - 40 or even 60 percent improvement in manufacturing efficiency
- Predicted quality, 99% OK what do you do with the 1%?
- How do you get data out of the machine and translate them into meaningful solutions?
- Universal translation, aggregation, data security
- Andrew explains ArchFX broker being deployed on-premise
- The benefits of advanced analytics - Improved Quality, reliability, speed, better-increased margins, Informed CapX spend
Links and Resources:
Arch Systems Website Arch Systems Overview Video The ArchFX Platform: The Proven Fast Track to Transformation
Full OnTrack Podcast Library Altium Website Download your Altium Designer Free Trial Learn More about Altium Nexus
Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics
The dean is in!
In this episode, Eric Bogatin, the Dean of Signal Integrity Academy is here to talk about empowering PCB designers to become their own experts. Eric shares the inspiration behind his new book, PLUS you may have a say in what he will be writing next.
Watch now or listen on the go, and make sure to drop a comment on our YouTube channel here, to vote on which topic Eric should tackle in his next book.
Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics Watch the video, click here.
Show Highlights:
- Out of this world (literally) storytime, Eric shares facts about the Crab Nebula Supernova
- Two Books from Artech, the inspiration behind Eric Bogatins “Practical Guide To...”
- Bogatin’s Practical Guide to Transmission Line Design and Characterization for Signal Integrity Applications
- Bogatin's Practical Guide to Prototype Breadboard and PCB Design
- What does it take to successfully build a prototype
- The important focus in Eric’s classes and books
- the introduction to the signal integrity of switching noise
- how do you design circuit boards for connectivity
- “I don’t like throwing rules” - Eric Bogatin
- Quick Poll, which book do you want Eric to write?
- Compilation of All Eric's Rules of Thumb
- Hacking interconnects using S-parameters
- How to Use an Oscilloscope
- Check out more resources authored by Eric on Signal Integrity Academy and Signal Integrity Journal
- What is a Turbo Encabulator?
- OnTrack Virtual Bookclub
- News about AltiumLive 2021
Links and Resources:
Bogatin’s Practical Guide to Transmission Line Design and Characterization for Signal Integrity Applications New Book (Pre-order): Bogatin's Practical Guide to Prototype Breadboard and PCB Design Join our “Virtual” OnTrack community Book Club on Amazon! Eric’s Author page on Amazon.com Subscribe to Signal Integrity Journal
Full OnTrack Podcast Library Altium Website Download your Altium Designer Free Trial
Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics
“Software guys, stop blaming the hardware guys for messing up the boards” - Ari Mahpour
What is Hardware-in-the-loop testing and how it can save you time and resources when designing your board? In this episode, our guest Ari Mahpour, an engineer with broad experience in designing, manufacturing, testing, and integrating electrical, mechanical, and software systems. He will talk about how you can perform automated hardware testing in the comfort of your home without using any expensive or complex test equipment.
Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics
Watch the video, click here.
Show Highlights:
- Introduction and Ari’s background in the military and aerospace industry
- What is a Hardware-in-the-Loop testing and the inspiration behind it
- Taking a costly testing infrastructure to the comfort of your home lab
- Headstart up to 75% of your board testing
- The problem around the prevailing way of designing and testing—retesting every step of the way using expensive testing equipment, and takes more time for your design engineer, plus the back and forth can blow up your cost quickly
- The importance of designing and testing simultaneously and proactively—design engineers have to be part of the test process
- The impact of Covid-19 on product development and testing
- The need for software-based approach to the hardware development design
- Maker movement and hobbyist around the world contributes to less expensive and accessible test solutions (plug-and-play)
- Design board, prototype, and watch it fail
- Rework the board
- Run test in 3 minutes in couple hundreds of bucks
- Ari explains how the software in the embedded system works
- Ari shares complete details of automated low-cost testing in his article: Low-Cost Solutions for Automated Hardware-in-the-Loop Testing
- The concept is to use a simple device that can drive analog signals, read analog signals, generate various protocol serial streams, and analyze waveforms.
Links and Resources:
Ari’s article on Low-Cost Solutions for Automated Hardware in the Loop Testing Read all Ari’s Industry Expert articles on Altium Resource Page Book: Test-Driven Development for Embedded C Ari Mahpour on LinkedIn Email Ari Mahpour
Full OnTrack Podcast Library Altium Website Download your Altium Designer Free Trial
Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics
“Engage your suppliers early on the design process” - Ed Becze
Everyone wants a lower price, and often the “real cost” is not realized until it’s too late. In this episode, Ed Becze of Pegmatis, a highly experienced R&D company with end-to-end product development capabilities, joins us to help start-ups and design engineers like you avoid electronic product development failures.
Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics Watch the video, click here.
Show Highlights:
- Introduction and the interesting origin of Pegmatis’s company name
- Ed explains the foundation of a good product development process
- A thoughtful development plan mitigates risk early on—engage vendors and suppliers early on the design process (understand parts, availability, vendor capabilities aligned with your product)
- Holistic understanding of electronic product development: strategy, cost, and your design team’s experience level
- Start-up challenges, how to prevent failures:
- Understanding the risk of “development by demo”
- Address the lack of system-level design experience (use external expertise if needed)
- Don’t trust the data sheets—only 5% of chipset providers give adequate design rules to follow. The rest, you are on your own.
- Manufacturing test is absolutely critical—test equipment and test development are often overlooked
- Engage early on the design process. Ed stresses the benefits of nurturing your relationships with your vendors and manufacturers.
- Successful product development relies exclusively on your network—find capable vendors
- Supply chain intelligence, plan ahead when coping with supply challenges
- Cost reduction—do it, but follow the process that is within the constraints of what you intended to create.
- What are the costs of NOT thoughtfully designing? It’s huge! Money and time. Delays inTime to market are extremely expensive.
Links and Resources:
Pegmatis Website Ed Becze on LinkedIn
Full OnTrack Podcast Library Altium Website Download your Altium Designer Free Trial
Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics
Copper roughness has an impact on high-speed digital designs. Choose your copper wisely!
In this episode, circuit materials expert John Coonrod of Rogers Corporation shares his extensive knowledge on copper roughness. Watch this episode or listen on the go; it will help a PCB designer make a sound decision about picking the most suitable copper to use on your next design.
Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics Watch the video, click here.
Show Highlights:
- Introduction, John Coonrod’s role, expertise, and experience in the Rogers lab
- How the two basic types of copper are made (Rolled and ED) electric deposit (check out the slide)
- Copper overview
- Surface Roughness, the rougher the copper, the more the bond area
- Copper Treatments
- What is a reverse treat? The benefits, thermal properties, and adhesion
- IPC classifications of Low Profile (LP), Very Low Profile (VLP)
- Surface roughness for different types of copper and different types of surface roughness measurement units (check out the slides)
- Best practices when selecting a material
- Normal variations of copper for thickness, roughness, and etching differences
- Copper roughness impact on high-speed digital designs
- Copper roughness impact on RF concerns
- Future MMW 9 micron copper
Links and Resources:
Rogers Advanced Connectivity Solutions Website
Rogers (Free) Technology Support Hub
DesignCon 2021 August 17-19, San Jose, CA
PCB West 2021 October 5-8, Santa Clara, CA
Copper Foils for High-Frequency Circuit Materials
Different Copper Foils for Different Reasons
Choosing Copper Foils for High-Frequency PCBs
Materials for High Speed Interconnects: Physics & Chemistry of Copper Clad Laminates
How Copper Properties Impact PCB RF and High-Speed Digital Performance
Full OnTrack Podcast Library
Altium Website
Download your Altium Designer Free Trial
Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics
High-density designs, simplified. Averatek offers a disruptive solution for complex electronic design.
We are very fortunate to have the powerhouse executive team from Averatek Corporation, a company that develops and licenses advanced manufacturing processes for a variety of electronic products including very high density printed circuit boards, semiconductor packaging, and RF and millimeter-wave electronics.
Haris Basit, Averatek’s CEO together with Mike Vinson the COO, and Tara Dunn the VP of Business Development and Marketing will share with us some exciting breakthroughs in miniaturization technology.
Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics
Watch the video, click here.
Show Highlights:
- Introductions, and Averatek Technology Overview
- Founded out of SRI in Silicon Valley
- PCB Industry in North America is ripe for disruption
- Definitions: MSAP, ASAP and Subtractive processes
- ASAP is Averatek semi-additive process and is achieved with a liquid metal ink catalyst and plated up from the seed layer
- PCB design benefits of Averatek technology
- Simplify the design
- Reduction in number of layers and lamination cycles
- Increased density and miniaturization
- Signal integrity improvements
- Applications are military, medical and communications
- Material suitable for ASAP high-performance design:
- Epoxy-based substrates
- High-frequency materials (including Teflon)
- High-speed materials
- Some flex materials
- Thin materials
- Shorten the learning curve for PCB designers with Tomas Chester design project in partnership with Averatek coming soon on Altium Resource Hub
- Example design optimization:
- Smaller footprint, increased panel usage
- 12 layer board became 8 layer board
- 3 lamination cycle to 1 lamination cycle
- Simplified design, increased reliability, significantly lower costs
Links and Resources:
Averatek Website Fabricators offering Averatek:
- Calumet Electronics
- American Standard Circuits (ASC)
- FTG Circuits
Full OnTrack Podcast Library Altium Website Download your Altium Designer Free Trial
Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics
Octopart, the premier data platform for electronic components, handles at least 5 million unique searches every month. In this episode, together with Daniel Schoenfelder, head of Octopart, we will dive into the importance of having reliable access to electronic part data.
We specialize in democratizing electronic component data and helping engineers, designers, and buyers make better decisions faster. - Daniel Schoenfelder, head of Octopart
Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics
Watch the video, click here.
Show Highlights:
- Introduction. The impact of the pandemic on Octopart
- Octopart’s vision: “Democratization of Information”
- New features: BOM tool in Octopart and Altium 365
- Embeddable Experience
- Global Price and Availability
- Inventory alerts
- Comprehensive Part Data - Core User Experience
- Lifecycle on Octopart.com
- CAD Models
- Lead time
- How Octopart fits into NEXAR—underpinnings of what’s available in the supply domain
- Shortages, State of Industry—saturation and duration
- Search Volume: 20 million unique users’ search on Octopart
- Learn more about Nexar—Octopart is a core component of Nexar
- What is on the horizon?
- Centralized community—very curated and engaged user community
- Solving industry-wide problems
- Octopart.com a destination for CAD
Links and Resources:
Dan’s LinkedIn Profile Octopart.com EDS Show August 2021 in Las Vegas at the Mirage Semiconductor Industry Association Website (SIA) Podcast: What is Nexar? Nexar Website
Full OnTrack Podcast Library Altium Website Download your Altium Designer Free Trial
Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics
“Working to reduce risk and provide a better customer experience in electronics manufacturing.” - Chris Church
Macrofab offers a better electronics manufacturing experience for the customer, from PCBA manufacturing to complete product assembly, testing, and fulfillment. Chris Church is here to explain the inspiration behind Macrofab, the solution it offers to design engineers, and the value they add to get your product out fast and efficiently.
Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics
Watch the video, click here. [link to website live page]
Show Highlights:
- Chris Introduction and overview of Macrofab (“Pool of Capacity”)
- The how and why of Macrofab’s innovation and the value proposition to the electronics hardware market:
- Macrofab offers seamless solutions to electronics manufacturing challenges
- “AWS” of manufacturing. A fully managed marketplace
- Technological capabilities and faster turnarounds
- Customer demographic and addressable market (North America, Engineering and Purchasing professionals, small to medium enterprise companies in Industrial, IoT, Communications and Robotic markets)
- Meeting the needs of design engineers and purchasing without breaking company policies
- Proactive vs. Reactive--cost drivers and availability
- Providing amazing customer experience
Links and Resources:
Macrofab Website Macrofab Podcast Chris Church, LinkedIn Profile Press Release: Shared Transformation Vision, Altium Investment
Full OnTrack Podcast Library Altium Website Download your Altium Designer Free Trial
Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics
Learn any issues upfront before sending your board design to manufacturing.
In this episode, we are honored to have both Anaya Vardya and John Bushie of American Standard Circuits, Inc. They will share the inspiration behind their popular technical Ebook series that help design engineers to design a manufacturable circuit board.
Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics
Watch the video, click here.
Show Highlights:
- Introduction and overview of American Standard Circuits, Inc (ASC)
- The eBook series answers the frequently asked PCB design questions
- Four Books overview:
- Fundamentals of PCB Technologies
- Flex and Rigid-Flex Fundamentals
- Thermal Management: A Fabricator Perspective
- Fundamentals of RF/Microwave PCBs
- Creating manufacturable circuit boards, more than once
- Technical Webinar series
- Lifelong learnings that will benefit every PCB designer
Links and Resources:
Anaya Vardya on LinkedIn
John Bushie on LinkedIn
Free eBooks on ASC Website
Technical Webinar Series (Free and On-demand)
Altium Website
Download your Altium Designer Free Trial
Full OnTrack Podcast Library
Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics
Joining us in this episode is Greg Wood of IHS Markit, a global information company serving financial, automotive; energy and engineering; product design and manufacturing industries.
Greg will share his 20 years of experience in the electronic parts management space to help design engineers like you cope with the current electronics components shortage. Stay tuned for tips and ideas to expand your opportunities to acquire inventory.
Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics
Watch the video, click here.
Show Highlights:
- Daily Distribution/Manufacturing information provided to IHS (Audit/Clean up reports)
- Aggregate counts lead times remaining for active parts for part types
- Average lead times for counts, regular basis—since covid
- Presentations: spreadsheet, graphs, trends
- Monthly report on lead times, pricing, inventory quantities (products this summer)
- Webinars
- What’s driving component shortage?
- “The Crazy” Findings, learnings, stories—use cases.
- Coping strategy for design engineers
- Impact on overall business: previous post acquisitions. previous versions cross-reference, replacement reduce time by at least 50%
- Significant impact on automotive industries—shocking impact!
- Where are we now
- Big move to fabrication
- TSMC: Agreed to 100 Billion to increase capacity
- What do I need to do NOW?
- Procurement advise
- Pay close attention to available products
- Heavy investment on infrastructure: 50 Billion in incentives
Links and Resources:
IHS Markit Webinar Page IHS Website Electronic Components Shortages, Insights from John Watson Design Survival Guide in a World of Parts Shortages SnapEDA Google for Electronic Components with Natasha Baker Full OnTrack Podcast Library
Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics
In this Ontrack episode, Altium’s Chief Ecosystem Officer, Ted Pawela, and Altium’s Chief Software Architect, Leigh Gawne, join us to give us information about the launching of Nexar. Who is Nexar for? What’s the vision behind it and the strategy (the Why) of this new business unit? They explain how Nexar addresses critical needs for design engineers and delivers direct and frictionless access to the entire ecosystem of electronics tools and service providers.
Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics
Watch the video, click here.
Show Highlights:
- The first year of Altium 365: adoption trajectory, feedback, latest advancement, and plans
- Launching of Nexar: What is Nexar? (Open Ecosystem, zero cost)
- Nexar ties together with Altium 365, APIs released April 30th (Octopart), and Partner Dashboard. What can be expected in the following weeks and months?
- Types of partners, goals for those partners, and access to users/Octopart
- Benefits and opportunities for both users and partners
- Mcad slide (workspace)
- What’s in it for users and Industry at large?
- Electronics is still in its infancy.
- Ecad: Walled Garden.
- Cloud is an enabling force to bring electronics into this century and make transformation a reality.
- One of the drivers of this technology is smart and connected devices (cloud-enabled)
- Cloud Security: AWS, the most secure platform, continual improvement
- Work with top experts in cloud security (bank safe vs. bed mattress)
Links and Resources:
Nexar Website Nexar Official Press Release Altium 365 Open Source Ventilator (30 days to realization with Altium 365) Transitioning a global team to Altium 365 during Covid Lockdown
Full OnTrack Podcast Library
Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics
Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics
Watch the video, click here.
Show Highlights:
- Understanding Semi Additive Process (SAP) and Modified Semi Additive Process (MSAP)
- MSAP isn’t new, but it’s growing to adoption, what’s driving that?
- What makes MSAP especially applicable now?
- Benefits of Laser Direct Imaging (LDI) for PCB designers and manufacturers
- What are the design implications and benefits? What exactly can you do with it?
- The methods/materials used for this technology?
- Chemical Technology, Averatec
- Ultra-thin copper, Insulectro
Links and Resources:
Insulectro Webinar on MSAP Insulectro Website (Insulectro Webinars Library available near the bottom of their homepage) Chris Hunrath LinkedIn profile Averatek Podcast on Additive Manufacturing
Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics
EMC expert Ken Wyatt joins us in this episode to answer frequently asked EMC questions—a sneak peak to his EMC Book Series.
Watch the video, click here.
- EMC book series: Volume I: Create your own EMC Troubleshooting Kit
- What inspired you to write this book and why is this information important to your clients?
- Will you share some examples of common “blindspots” you observe with your design engineering clients relative to EMC?
- Can you share a few specific use cases?
- Volume II: Radiated and Conducted Emissions book will soon be published. What can readers expect to learn in this latest release?
- If you could share 1-2 tips for our listeners about radiated and conducted emissions, what would they be?
- Where can listeners find this book?
- Volume III: Immunity Testing
- What is Immunity Testing and why is it important?
- What are your plans for publication for this book?
- Will you come back again when volume 3 comes out?
- Wrap up.
Links and Resources:
Wyatt Technical Services (EMC Seminars) Ken Wyatt’s author page on Amazon.com Other EMC Articles and Resources from Altium DesignCon 2021 IEEE EMC Society Henry Ott’s Amazon Author Page (EMC Expert)
Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics
Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics
Watch the video, click here. [link to website live page]
Show Highlight - Pro Tips!
- How do you build a new data management system?
- Build templates and defaults (files) and remember to always do this FIRST - copy the Altium defaults and set them up from there. Please review all the parameters and learn how they flow. Then check in to Concord / Altium365.
- Review and organize your categorization system. Make templates. Don't make it more complicated than it needs to be. Restrain yourself from over-organizing.
- Build up a test project and test it out.
- Bonus: Use the drafting system; it is awesome.
Show Notes:
- Why did you start using Altium 365 Pro?
- Flat data model is dead
- Database and programmable access to a managed data system
- Version control within the new data management system
- Part availability and shortages and crosses
- Better than Digi-key in some cases :)
- What solutions/benefits did this offer to the organizations you are involved in?
- Digging into the details: Advice for your peers and those considering this solution:
- Maybe prototype and implementation should be different
- Migrating to Altium 365...go slow and don’t jump into the migrator right away.
- The templating system is great...USE IT! (if Pro)
- Sample data is a nice place to start, but hardly a perfect plan
- Directories are a good start, but data quality varies and is inconsistent
- Highly recommend the pro version
- Concord Pro for DoD work (on-premises)
- Plan it out, figure out what really matters. I wasted a lot of time on what didn't matter.
- I ultimately wrote an entire document with footprint names/IDs, formatting of the descriptions, etc. After making a mess.
- Rs and Cs were the hardest. Use Excel to build tables. (John Watson’s tip)
- Lot's of little details which are not readily apparent how they work together.
Links and Resources:
Escape Room Tech Anidea Engineering Altium 365 Concord Pro (On premise) Altium 365 Pro Subscription (includes Concord Pro for Data Management)
Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics
Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics
Watch the video, click here.
Show Highlights:
- Background, Avishtech
- Featured tools: Gauss stack 2D, Gauss stack
- There are many simulation tools, what makes Avishtech’s offering standout?
- First product ever endorsed by industry Signal Integrity Expert, Lee Ritchey. (PCB stackup simulation, PCB dimensional stability and warpage)
- What pain points exist and how does Avishtech address these?
- What’s been the early feedback? Share use cases.
- What’s coming: Roadmap
Links and Resources:
Avishtech Website Avishtech Webinar Kashev Amla’s LinkedIn Profile Tarun Amla’s LinkedIn Profile
Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics
Today's guests are Rick Hartley and Mike Creeden
Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics
Watch the video, click here.
Show Highlights:
- Introduction, Rick Hartley and Mike Creeden
- Printed Circuit Engineering Course: PCE EDU
- Why not PCB-EDU
- Who is this course for?
- What is contained in the course, and the inspiration behind it?
- Who authored the course and where can Design Engineers sign up?
- How will this course be proctored for certification purposes?
- PCE EDU will be offered in universities
- Closing remarks
Links and Resources:
Eptac PCE EDU Course page PCEA (Printed Circuit Engineering Association) Rick Hartley’s LinkedIn Profile Mike Creeden’s LinkedIn Profile
Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics
Listen to this episode with Gerry Partida.
Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics
Watch the video, click here.
Show Highlights:
- Introduction to Gerry Partida and Summit Interconnect
- Why knowing and following IPC standards are critical for Design Engineers
- AABUS: What is it, and when to use it (Edge clearances)
- Removing non-functional pads
- Watch for 3.5 mil minimum dielectric rule IPC 2221. Work around
- How to access standards, talk to your fabricator: IPC Expertise
- CTA: Follow Gerry on LinkedIn for tips and tricks
- Summit Interconnect Website
- IPC website
Links and Resources:
Gerry’s LinkedIn Profile Summit Interconnect Website IPC Website DFM Article: PCB Front-End Engineering
Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics
“Don't get your ground plane, there's never really a good reason to do that.” - Dr. Todd Hubing
Dr. Todd Hubing debunks the EMC myth. Dr. Hubing has authored or co-authored over 200 papers and presentations on electromagnetic modeling, electromagnetic compatibility (EMC), and the design of reliable electronic systems. In this episode he shares with us 30 years worth of knowledge, tested and proven facts about EMC.
Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics
Watch the video, click here.
Show Highlights:
- Introduction. Get to know Dr. Todd Hubing.
- Learn EMC, Resources and Courses
- EMC question of the week from 2017 - 2020 compiled in a book, available now.
- EMC design guidelines: Top 4
- Solid ground planes should be gapped between analog and digital circuits.
- The decoupling capacitor should be located as close as physically possible to the IC’s power pin.
- On multi-layer boards, the best stack-up is ...
- To suppress common-mode noise, the power input on a circuit board should have a common-mode choke.
Links and Resources:
- Learn EMC Website (Resources and courses)
- EMC Resource Page on the Learn EMC Website
- Book: EMC question of the week: March 2017-December 2020. Now available.
- EMC Design Guideline Collection (including the top 4, with over 30 years worth of wisdom here!)
- Find Learn EMC and Dr. Todd Hubing on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook
Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics
More than 15 million components to choose from to design your board, where do you begin?
Today’s guest is John Watson, a seasoned PCB designer with 40 years of experience in the electronic industry and now Altium’s Customer Success Manager. He will talk about everything you need to know about library management and how you can successfully keep it organized and functional for your PCB design needs.
Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics
Watch the video, click here.
Show Highlights:
- John Watson, 40 Years in Electronics, 22 Years in PCB Design, 5+Years PCB Design Manager for a global team of 65 Design Engineers
- What is Data Management and who are the stakeholders that use it?
-
It’s the management of part data throughout the entire process of PCB design and manufacturing.
- Part Choices (Electrical Engineers-Circuit Designers, Schematic)
- MCAD (Mechanical Engineers)
- Procurement (Purchasing and Material Management)
- EMS Supplier (Suppliers)
-
Recent data management webinar: Office Hours - Component and Data Management , Part Two: Follow up session and Homework
- Octopart part numbers: 15.1 Million!!
- “Eating the Elephant” Start with the item right in front of you. Full explanation on webinar
- Cost of doing it wrong, or benefit for doing it right: Time, Money, Delays, TTM, safety, job security
- The importance of accurate footprints, pin #1, orientation
- How do you stay ahead of component supply chain issues such as end of life, obsolescence, and shortages?
Tools that help: Active BOM, Octopart, IHS, Concord Pro
Links and Resources:
PCB Design 007 Magazine: Footprints Chris Denney Podcast: 5 Things your EMS Company wants you to avoid Octopart Website Webinar Series: Avoid BOM stock cost and lifecycle surprises as you design
Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics
How can we become more efficient as an industry? Kent Balius is here with us to discuss the importance of automating Front End Engineering processes. His company EPIC Front End Engineering promotes intelligent processing by reducing human interactions and eliminating labor-intensive administrative processes.
This episode is all about smart engineering. Learn how an automated process can help increase your profits and revenues.
Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics
Watch the video, click here.
Show Highlights:
- About Kent Balius:
- 35 years of front-end engineering at PCB fabricators
- Viasystems/TTM, Global standardization plant-to-plant Data Package Collaboration between OEM designs and Fabricators (Seamless Global Transfer)
- EPIC Turn unstructured Data and convert it to Intelligent Data-Driven Processes
- IPC-2581 Adoption and drive automation
- What are the current challenges in the Industry: archaic, manual, intensive administrative process
- Dumb-data: Gerbers
- Effects on Revenues and Profitability: cost and time implications
- Design for Manufacturing (DFM): Reduce human interaction and error. Increase reliability!
- Move toward digitization, IPC-2581, EPIC Front End Engineering
Links and Resources:
EPIC Website Column in PCD&F Magazine (coming soon) IPC-2581 Consortium Webpage TTM Julie’s Ellis podcast: Seamless Global Transfer
Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics
Where are we going in these crazy times? Mike Buetow, an exceptional journalist in the electrical engineering space, gives us the state of the industry—what to look out for, the current trends, and what will help you be a better design engineer in 2021.
This is an episode full of valuable information about major industry trends. Make sure to check the extra resources below, and watch the full episode or listen on the go on any of your favorite podcast apps!
Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics
Watch the video, click here.
Show Highlights:
- What lasting effects will the pandemic have on Trade Shows?
- PCB East and PCB West: Game On! in Massachusetts and California
- 3 Major Industry Trends to watch for:
- Component Shortages, Caps, Resistors, Memory, and Microchips
- Smart Manufacturing: Offshore Giants like Universal Scientific have achieved Industry 4.0 in scale
- Geopolitical Impacts: Keep your eyes on Taiwan!
Links and Resources:
PCB East PCB West TTI Market Eye ESD Alliance (EDA market stats) Circuits Assembly Article: Lights-Out Factory at USI (Universal Scientific, Inc)
Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics
Tomas Chester is back for a Part 2 episode. This time he shares the importance of being involved in the PCB design community through organizations like the Printed Circuit Engineering Association™ (PCEA). He will also explain how the Materials Library in Altium Designer will benefit you as a designer and other stakeholders, including your fabricator.
Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics
Watch the video, click here.
Show Highlights:
- Why Tomas is using the Altium Designer Materials Library
- Access to Tomas’ Materials Library
- Using Simberian's 3D field solver Embedded in Altium Designer
- Printed Circuit Engineering Association™ (PCEA) is addressing challenges in the Industry
- PCEA Tri-Chapter Kickoffs
Links and Resources:
Tomas Chester on LinkedIn Chester Electronic Design Access to Tomas's Materials Library PCEA website PCEA Membership
Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics
“Those who get to choose, choose Altium Designer.” - Lawrence Romine, Altium VP of Corporate Marketing
In this episode, Lawrence Romine is with us to reveal some exciting news about the new Altium Designer Multi-Plan Subscription Programs. He explains the three components that make up the subscription program and how a designer like you can benefit from each option.
Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics
Watch the video, click here.
Show Highlights:
- Introduction of the new Multi-plan Subscription Plan (Includes cloud solution Altium 365 and service and feature-specific choices.
- What’s the difference between “maintenance” and “subscription”?
- Altium making a shift towards Saas (Software-as-a-service), allowing for choosing best-fit solutions
- Definition Standard vs. Pro subscription plans
- Perpetual and on-premise subscription remain available
- Altium 365 enables an unparalleled ability to collaborate across engineering disciplines and with supply chain partners.
Links and Resources:
Subscription Levels Webpage
Altium Designer 21: What’s New?
Altium 365 Webpage
Lawrence Romine’s LinkedIn Profile
Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics
Get out (or online) and learn! This episode with Tomas Chester is all about engaging and contributing to the design community. He shares with us his motivation to self-educate and how he invests in his career through a dedicated effort to connect with the engineering community. Tomas shares how to make the most of your learning style and utilize educational resources.
Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics
Watch the video, click here.
Show Highlights:
- Tomas shares the challenges, opportunities, and what motivates him to contribute to the design community in forums and social media.
- Get to know your learning style and design style.
- The welcome road to becoming an Altium Designer Beta group contributor and an Altium Certified Instructor
- Essentials vs Advanced Course. Utilizing available resources such as Altium Academy and YouTube Channel, free training, Altium documentation on the website.
- “Playing” with your tools, and learning from your coworkers
- Time constraints crowd out time for education but carve out time anyways
- Always explore available resources: PCB West, Design Con, Embedded World, YouTube, EIPC, Trade associations, PCEA
- AltiumLive: Tool Training and Principles-based
Links and Resources:
Tomas Chester on LinkedIn Altium Designer 21: What’s New Webpage Chester Electronic Design Website Altium Forum Altium Training Resources (Worldwide) Altium Webinars
Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics
What’s in your soft skill toolbox? Eli Hughes is a true full-stack hardware engineer and a co-founder of Tzero Brew. He joins the OnTrack podcast to share his insights on how to foster innovation, manage upstream failure, build trust with your fellow engineers and stakeholders, and develop your soft skills—and other non-technical skills we use to communicate with each other and solve problems effectively.
Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics
Watch the video, click here.
Show Highlights:
- Intro to Eli
- Meeting the challenges of working remotely
- A lesson in engineering from a kindergartener
- ”Soft skills for hardware”; humanity in engineering
- Timing and Perception: Shifting targets as customer needs change
- Too easy to be negative; finding positivity in global challenges
- How constraints foster innovation
- Wants vs Needs: building trust with fellow developers
- Jeremy Blum’s take on ‘Empathic Engineering’
- You make it, you fix it: managing upstream failure
- Believing in the Mission: how ordinary people do extraordinary things
- The Part vs the Whole: Lee Ritchey’s homemade Apollo 11 boards
- Elon Musk & Tony Stark: the power of unification
- Expanding your sphere of influence by thinking holistically
- How students at TU Delft is helping paraplegics walk again
- Mining Sci-fi and fantasy reading for soft skills
- Now is the time: get out of your comfort zone!
Links and Resources:
Eli Hughes AltiumLive Presentation: Crossing the Chasm AltiumLive 2020 Presentations Jeremy Blum AltiumLive 2018: Empathic Engineering OnTrack Insight with Lee Ritchey Altium Stories: Project March (Exoskeleton) Eric Bogatin Amazon Author Page OnTrack Insight Videos Article: 5 Essential Soft Skills for a Successful Career in Engineering
Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics
The OnTrack Podcast welcomes Hans Klos, founder and CEO of Sintecs, a simulation service provider and developer of the HyperLynx® Connector tool. HyperLynx® Connector is a freeware application which seamlessly bridges the gap between Mentor Graphics’ HyperLynx and Altium Designer.
Join us as Hans and Judy discuss the HyperLynx Connector tool, their upcoming webinar collaboration, and common signal integrity pitfalls.
Work from Anywhere. Connect with Anyone. Share and Collaborate. Everything in One Place.
Watch the video, clickhere.
Show Highlights
- Hans Klos, founder and CEO of Sintec
- Rethinking Frequency and Rise and Fall times
- Common signal integrity pitfalls
- The problem with blindly trusting reference boards
- The Benefit of Simulation vs. Design & Measure
- The shift toward board level issues
- Why IoT devices are driving the need for simulation
- Sintecs’ HyperLynx Connector
- How design engineers can access Hyperlinx affordably
- Syntecs’ free training videos
Resources:
- Hans Klos on LinkedIn
- Signal Integrity Related Articles on AltiumⓇ Resource Hub
- Sintecs Website
- Hyperlynx SI/ALT Bundle Offer
- Hans Klos LinkedIn Profile
Work from Anywhere. Connect with Anyone. Share and Collaborate. Everything in One Place.
On May 16, 1994, the Signal Integrity List (SI-List) was founded, with just 30 members on its charter email list. Today, there are more than 4,000 members worldwide, and the list includes Signal Integrity gurus like Istvan Novak, Todd Hubbing, Steve Weir, and Scott McMorrow.
In this episode of the OnTrack Podcast, one of those world renown SI gurus, Scott McMorrow, CTO of Samtec Inc.’s Signal Integrity Group, connects with Judy Warner to discuss signal integrity concerns, and especially Samtec’s Webinar series, gEEk spEEk.
Work from Anywhere. Connect with Anyone.
Watch the video, click here.
Show Highlights
- Scott McMorrow, CTO of Signal Integrity Group at Samtec Inc
- A quick overview of Samtec
- What is gEEk spEEk?
- Learn something in 60 minutes; gEEk spEEk’s online content
- How to sign up for gEEk spEEk
- Using gEEk spEEk for internal training
- How Signal Integrity List got its start
- Judy’s big question: “When did you know you were gonna be an engineer?”
Resources:
- Scott McMorrow on LinkedIn
- gEEk spEEk Webinars (On-demand)
- Samtec Website
- Making Connections! Scott McMorrow, on Building Relationship with Samtec as a Connector Supplier
Work from Anywhere. Connect with Anyone.
OnTrack welcomes Natasha Baker, CEO of SnapEDA. Natasha is an electrical engineer with fourteen years of experience who founded SnapEDA after seeing a need for a ‘Google of electronics components’. SnapEDA is, the world’s first electronics design search engine, currently serves more than a million professional engineers, and supports the development of more than 400,000 unique hardware products every year.
Natasha joins us to discuss the origin of SnapEDA, its free automated part builder, Instabuild, and what transparency means to engineering.
Altium Designer, Uncompromising PCB Design Experience
Watch the video, click here.
Show Highlights:
- Introducing Natasha Baker, CEO of SnapEDA
- SnapEDA: an origin story
- What SnapEDA is and what it does
- PCB Librarians and ‘rogue libraries’
- Consistency and transparency: Managing IPC compliance
- Additional benefits of using SnapEDA
- Broader implications of SnapEDA’s platform population
- What attracted Natasha Baker to engineering?
- How to access the SnapEDA APIs, plugins, and tools
- Instabuild: an automation tool
- Transparency in the engineering environment
- Meeting challenges in the absence of universal file formats
- SnapEDA’s post-coronavirus resilience
- Natasha on engineering trends and where it goes from here
Links and Resources:
- Natasha Baker on Linkedin
- Main SnapEDA website: www.snapeda.com
- InstaBuild: www.snapeda.com/instabuild
- Plugins (including a brand new Altium plugin!): www.snapeda.com/plugins
- An interview with Natasha Baker on Youtube
Work from Anywhere. Connect with Anyone.
Chris Denney is CTO of Worthington Assembly and cohost of the ‘Pick, Place, Podcast’ podcast. He joins OnTrack to tell us about his talk, which is titled “Your Manufacturer Is Stupid - Help Them”. Learn the five tentpole problems your manufacturers have to deal with, and how avoiding these simple issues will speed your projects through assembly.
Work from Anywhere. Connect with Anyone.
Watch the video, click here.
Show Highlights:
- Humble beginnings; intro to Worthington Assembly CTO Chris Denney
- Chris Gammel and the Amp Hour podcast
- The story behind “Your Manufacturer is Stupid - Help Them”
- No. 1: Identifying polarity of components
- No. 2: Silkscreen legibility (avoid incurring extra costs)
- No. 3: Panelization (why it matters)
- No. 4: PCB properties (use a template)
- No. 5 Specific manufacturer’s part numbers
- Bonus tip: Plated Through-hole sizes
- Worthington, Circuithub,and the Pick, Place, Podcast
Links and Resources:
- Chris Denney on Linkedin
- Worthington Assembly Blog (Includes Chris’s presentation from Kicon 2019)
- CircuitHub Website
- Design With Manufacturing Panel from AltiumLive 2020
- Pick, Place, Podcast
Work from Anywhere. Connect with Anyone.
According to the World Health Organization, 2 billion people across the globe rely on contaminated water sources. Dr. Cody Friesen, founder of SOURCE and Fulton Engineering professor saw this problem, and developed the SOURCE® Hydropanel, a device which can extract water vapor from ambient air to create clean, potable water using the power of the sun.
Cody Friesen joins the OnTrack podcast to discuss materials science, entrepreneurship, the ASUIO competition, and how he came to develop the hydropanel.
Work from Anywhere. Connect with Anyone.
Watch the video, click here.
Show Highlights:
- Cody Friesen and materials science
- SOURCE and the search renewable water
- Alarming statistics: clean drinking water and foodborne illness
- SOURCE Hydropanels: how they work and what they do
- Why hydropanels are a massive multidisciplinary problem
- The worldwide impact of SOURCE Hydropanel technology
- ECEDHA (The Electrical and Computer Engineering Department Head Association)
- Entrepreneurship and the ASUIO competition
- Apples, Soundskrit, and chip-scale LIDAR
- Trends in PCB Design amid the rise of Electrical Engineers
- EEs and cross disciplinary synergy
Links and Resources:
- Cody Friesen on Linkedin
- Source Global on LinkedIn
- www.Source.co
- Apply to the 2021 ASU Innovation Open
- Who is Source Water?
- Cody Friesen featured on BBC Video Spotlight Future Innovators
Work from Anywhere. Connect with Anyone.
The AltiumLive Virtual Summit is just around the corner! So in a unique episode of OnTrack, we share clips of Robert Feranec, motherboard designer and founder and CEO of Fedeval Academy, speaking on such topics as IoT device security in an increasingly connected world, the pitfalls of underestimating the complexity of your fellow stakeholder’s job, and the value of attending AltiumLive. This is a short and impactful episode you shouldn’t miss.
Work from Anywhere. Connect with Anyone.
Watch the video, click here.
Show Highlights:
- Introduction to Robert Feranec, Founder of Fedevel Academy
- From design engineer to educator: Robert’s career trajectory
- Learn, Connect, Get Inspired: Robert on the value of AltiumLive
- ”It’s never simple”: the illusion of simplicity in other stakeholders’ jobs
- Security and the rise of security of IoT devices
- Altium 365 and cloud security: Amazon Web Service’s Dave Pellerin’s AltiumLive keynote
Links and Resources:
- Register for FREE: AltiumLive 2020 Virtual Summit
- Connect with Rober Feranec. Join the conversation on Discord
- Robert Feranec on LinkedIn
- Robert Feranec on How to Implement The PCB Design Process
Work from Anywhere. Connect with Anyone.
Dugan Karnazes (Velocity Research), Rob Cooke (Calumet Electronics), and Chris Denney (Worthington Assembly) join the OnTrack podcast to relay their experiences while working on the OSV (Open Source Ventilator) project. The OSV project is a global coalition formed entirely of volunteer engineers, corporations, manufacturers, and hospital systems which helped alleviate world-wide ventilator shortages at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Learn how Dugan, Rob, and Chris helped the Open Source Ventilator project design, manufacture, and supply ventilators in record time.
Watch the video, click here.
Show Highlights
- Introduction to Dugan Karnazes, Rob Cooke, and Chris Denney
- When engineering projects go viral: How the OSV (Open Source Ventilator) Project began
- ”30 minutes I’ll never forget”—How Chris Denney joined the OSV project
- ”Let’s just make this thing happen”—Why OSV isn’t your everyday engineering project
- How Rob Cooke joined the Open Source Ventilator project
- “Using Altium 365 is like engineering with cheat codes”—coordinating the OSV project
- Chris Denney on how Altium 365 eliminated needless delays
- How software like G Suite and Altium 365 are fundamentally changing the future of design
- The biggest thing we can do to impact our industry
- How the industry is streamlining design by making geography irrelevant
Resources:
- Register for AltiumLive 2020: Virtual PCB Summit (Free)
- Leigh Gawne on the historic launch of Altium 365
- Dugan Karnazes Podcast about OSV
- Rob Cooke Podcast OSV collaboration beyond Gerber Files for Fabricators
- Innovators Around the Globe Contribute to Coronavirus Intervention
- Rising to the Occasion with Altium Designer + Altium 365
- Velocity Research Website
- Calumet Electronics Website
- Worthington Assembly Website
- Dugan Karnazes on LinkedIn
- Rob Cooke on LinkedIn
- Chris Denney on LinkedIn
Now you can get the ultimate PCB design productivity with the easiest platform for PCB design. Easily communicate design changes to your team with Altium 365.
Work from Anywhere. Connect with Anyone.
Get ready! AltiumLive 2020 is just around the corner, and Dave Pellerin has joined the roster. Dave is Head of Worldwide Business Development for Infotech/Semiconductor at Amazon Web Services (AWS), and a former Director of Marketing for FPGA Design Products at Altium. Dave has also authored five Prentice Hall books on topics from FPGA programming (Field Programmable Gate Arrays) to design automation.
Dave joins us on the OnTrack podcast to bring his uniquely qualified perspective to bear on topics like cloud security and secure collaboration in a disaggregated market, and FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Arrays) and their applications in the cloud, as well as to give us the details on the upcoming AWS (Amazon Web Services) re:Invent conference.
Work from Anywhere. Connect with Anyone.
Watch the video, click here.
Show Highlights:
- Meet Dave Pellerin and AWS (Amazon Web Services)
- Cloud security and supply chains: recent trends toward secure collaboration environments
- How Amazon’s acquisition of Annapurna Labs spurred its interest in secure collaboration
- FPGAs (Field Programmable Gate Arrays) and their broad applications in the Cloud
- ”We take care of all that heavy lifting”: AWS IoT Core and advice to users of IoT (Internet of Things) devices
- A quick look at Dave’s upcoming contribution to AltiumLive 2020
- Why Amazon is seeking to connect with Altium users
- Coming Soon... Amazon’s annual AWS re:Invent conference and other exciting upcoming AWS events
Links and Resources:
- AltiumLive 2020 FREE Registration Here
- Dave Pellerin on LinkedIn
- Amazon AWS Website
- Amazon Reinvent Conference
- AWS Semiconductor/Electronics Webpage
Work from Anywhere. Connect with Anyone.
Altium’s VP of marketing, Lawrence Romine, returns to the OnTrack Podcast to discuss his goals for AltiumLive 2020 and beyond
Work from Anywhere. Connect with Anyone.
Watch the video, click here.
Show Highlights:
- Reintroducing Lawrence Romine, Altium’s VP of Marketing
- Lawrence’s goals for the future of AltiumLive
- Why AltiumLive focuses on substantive content and not marketing
- ”It’s because you gave them a voice...”; Altium’s history of supporting the underdog
- The Pros and Cons of going virtual with AltiumLive
- How Eli Hughes and TZero revolutionized brewing by letting brewers ‘hear the beer’
- ”If you like beer and you like engineering…”: Tin Whiskers Brewing
- The privilege of bringing Eric Bogatin and other rock stars of the industry to AltiumLive
- Garbage in, garbage out; vetting quality content in a complicated blogosphere
- ENTER Amazon: Altium 365 and the AWS (Amazon Web Services) platform
- ”No safety net”: Why AltiumLive does software demonstrations live
- Velocity Research’s Open Source Ventilator and other user feedback
- How Altium 365’s users seamlessly transitioned to remote work during the quarantine
Links and Resources:
- AltiumLive Virtual Summit: Register here for FREE
- Lawrence Romine on LinkedIn
- AltiumLive Virtual Summit: Meet the Speakers
- Previous Episode with Lawrence Romine:
- Altium 365: Work from Anywhere, Connect with Anyone
- Altium VP, Lawrence Romine on Altium Designer 20
- Altium VP on New Library and Data Management Tool Concord Pro
Work from Anywhere. Connect with Anyone.
Robotics, undersea vehicles, space science, and Professor Of Electrical Engineering... Eli Hughes has led an interesting career. Now an acoustics guru and co-founder of Tzero, he joins OnTrack to discuss guitar pedals, the secret of overcoming imposter syndrome, and his company’s surprising approach to beer fermentation monitoring.
Eli will be speaking during AltiumLive 2020’s three-day event on ‘the Road to Becoming a Full Stack Hardware Engineer’, and gives us a preview of other topics he’s got in store.
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Watch the video, click here.
Show Highlights:
Show Highlights:
Introduction to Eli Hughes, CEO of Tzero. Tzero’s innovative solution to fermentation monitoring. Eli’s AltiumLive topic and ‘the Road to Becoming a Full Stack Hardware Engineer'. Dismantling imposter syndrome. From guitar pedals to a graduate degree in Acoustics. Check your ego at the door and stay curious: Sage advice to engineers. A preview of the topics Eli will cover at AltiumLive 2020.
Links and Resources:
- AltiumLive2020: Register Here For Free
- Eli Hughes on LinkedIn
- Tzero on LinkedIn
- Visit Tzero website here
- Checkout Eli Hughes latest DIY PCB design project: The “Mini Monkey” Board – Using the LPC55S69 in the VFBGA98 Package
Now you can get the ultimate PCB design productivity with the easiest platform for PCB design. Easily communicate design changes to your team with Altium 365.
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He’s back! Signal integrity expert Eric Bogatin returns to the OnTrack podcast to give us a preview of his upcoming AltiumLive 2020 panels, discuss his ongoing quest to impart best design practices to the next generation of engineers, and teach us all how to avoid problematic ‘legacy design rules’ that no longer apply to today’s technology.
Dr. Bogatin is Signal Integrity Evangelist at Teledyne LeCroy, and adjunct professor and lecturer at University of Colorado Boulder. You can also find his Webinars at Be the Signal.
Altium 365 Podcast Listener Discount
Watch the video, click here.
Show Highlights:
- Reacquainting with Eric Bogatin
- Jedi Master Yoda and the origins of common design myths
- ’Legacy design rules’ and the dynamics keeping common myths in place
- Eric’s Signal Integrity Journal article, “The Myth of Three Capacitor Values”
- Do your own analysis: the archeology of truth in the age of the search engine
- Istvan Novak, Steve Sandler, Heidi Barnes, and more: upcoming AltiumLive panel(s)
- Best measurement practices: Eric’s Webinars and where you can find them
- Eric’s ebook: Bogatin’s Practical Guide to Transmission Line Design and Characterization for Signal Integrity Application
- Register for FREE: AltiumLive Virtual Summit
Links and Resources:
- Eric Bogatin on LinkedIn
- Webinar: Be the Signal
- Journal Article: The Myth of Three Capacitor Values
- EBook: Bogatin’s Practical Guide to Transmission Line Design and Characterization for Signal Integrity Application
- Recent Podcast Episodes with Eric:
- Eric Bogatin Debunks Common Misconceptions About Transmission Lines
- Signal Integrity Evangelist Eric Bogatin, our Expert Insider to DesignCon 2020
- Seven Design Guidelines to Break Bad Habits from Using Open-Source Designs
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Rick Hartley is former senior principal engineer for L-3 Avionics Systems and current principal of RHartley Enterprises, where he serves as an international consultant on signal integrity and EMI issues. With more than 50 years of experience in the industry, the majority of Rick’s career has been spent working in aircraft avionics, telecommunications, and PC boards, and specializing in suppressing noise in analog, RF, and digital circuits.
Rick joins Judy on the OnTrack podcast to discuss everything from copper balance and sizing your boards for maximum producibility and minimum cost, to his upcoming presentation at AltiumLive 2020 and his contribution to PCB West’s upcoming virtual conference.
Best not to miss this one!
Work from Anywhere. Connect with Anyone.
Watch the video, click here. [link to website live page]
Show Highlights:
- Who is Rick Hartley? A brief introduction.
- More than 120 books; Rick’s response to the challenges of decreasing rise times.
- Rick’s upcoming live presentation at AltiumLive 2020.
- Sizing your board for maximum producibility and minimum cost.
- One engineer’s extreme reaction to an unexpected cost minimization measure.
- Hard learned lessons in copper balance.
- Accounting for communication disconnects between fabricator and engineer.
- Quantity vs Quality: the importance of taking control of your fabricator choices.
- The impact of footprints on the ability to assemble.
- How and why the PCEA (Printed Circuit Engineering Association) was formed.
- What you can expect from PCB West’s upcoming virtual conference.
- It’s free, free, free! Details on AltiumLive 2020.
Links and Resources:
AltiumLive 2020 Virtual Summit PCEA Website PCB West Kelly Dack’s Podcast about Panel Spacing Rick’s Top 12 Engineering Books Previous Episode with Rick: PCB Stack-up Design Best Practices with Rick Hartley
Now you can get the ultimate PCB design productivity with the easiest platform for PCB design. Easily communicate design changes to your team with Altium 365.
Work from Anywhere. Connect with Anyone.
Steve Sandler, electronics simulation and PI guru, prolific author, AEi Systems founder, and president of Picotest, joins the OnTrack Podcast for a “hold onto your seats” discussion of how he came to simulate the International Space Station for NASA, the intricacies of the James Webb Space Telescope, his flash of insight while improving WEBENCH®, modern board level issues, and his secret life as a pizza chef.
Steve will have a significant role in the virtual edition of AltiumLive coming up in October 2020. So get to know him, his new company Picotest, connect with him on LinkedIn, and even take a virtual tour of his lab!
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Watch the video, click here.
Show Highlights:
- The essential need for simulation: Steve Sandler and his upcoming role in AltiumLive 2020
- “...to be useful, it has to be fast”: key takeaways from the circuits simulation effort
- How the James Webb Space Telescope demonstrates the necessity of simulation
- Understanding why and what you’re simulating
- ”A whole new set of problems”: today’s board level issues
- Europa satellite; ground bounce in the printed circuit board
- Altium’s Ben Jordan’s go-to SPICE simulation book
- The ISS experiences a solar eclipse every 90 minutes: NASA, AEi Systems, and Steve’s most difficult simulation
- A brief history of the SPICE engine (Simulation Program with Integrated Circuit Emphasis)
- Brainstorm!—How Steve used a behavioral model to fix WEBENCH®
- Designers After Hours: from PI to (PI)zza; Steve’s secret life as a pizza chef
- ”I got bored…”: coming out of retirement to start Picotest
- Sandler on LinkedIn: take a virtual tour of Steve’s laboratory!
Links and Resources:
- Steve Sandler on LinkedIn
- Steve Sandler the Pi Guy. Watch his DIY Pizza.
- LOOK! Steve Sandler shared a video of his Home Lab.
- Picotest on LinkedIn
- Picotest website
- AltiumLive Registration Page
- Steve Sandler Amazon Author Page
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Signal integrity expert, Dr. Eric Bogatin, has a new book whose mission is to establish a solid educational foundation in the essential principles of signal interaction with transmission lines. The multimedia eBook, Bogatin’s Practical Guide to Transmission Line Design and Characterization for Signal Integrity Application, is currently available from Artech House and can also be found on Amazon.
Dr. Bogatin is Signal Integrity Evangelist at Teledyne LeCroy, a leading provider of oscilloscopes, protocol analyzers, and test and measurement solutions. He joins the OnTrack Podcast to discuss his book and give us a sneak peak of his upcoming AltiumLive panel with Istvan Novak, Heidi Barnes of Keysight, and Steve Sandler of Picotest.
Altium 365 Podcast Listener Discount
Watch the video, click here.
Show Highlights:
- In addition to so much else, Eric Bogatin is a science fiction author! Check out his books Shadow Engineer, and S is for Space
- An overview of Eric’s new multimedia eBook, ‘Bogatin’s Practical Guide to Transmission Line Design and Characterization for Signal Integrity Application’
- ”I think the most confusing topic out there...is transmission lines”; how Eric’s book builds a solid foundation for anyone seeking clarification on transmission lines.
- Clarifying engineering’s most confusing issues
- Teledyne LeCroy’s new TDR calculator
- The practical nature of transmission lines: common misconceptions among engineers
- Embedded videos, demos, and calculations: how Eric’s multimedia book provides an interactive experience
- Hard copies, soft copies, ALL the copies: how and where to find Eric’s book(s)
- AltiumLive announcement
- The plain truth about split ground planes: Eric provides a sneak peak of his upcoming AltiumLive panel with Istvan Novak, Heidi Barnes of Keysight, and Steve Sandler of Picotest.
- ”There’s one case where you wanna use a split ground plane...”: Eric previews his upcoming demo on crosstalk reduction
Links and Resources:
Eric Bogatin on LinkedIn Bogatin’s Practical Guide to Transmission Line Design and Characterization for Signal Integrity Applications Artech House Publishers Eric Bogatin Author Page on Amazon Shadow Engineer (Fiction Scifi book by Eric Bogatin) S is for Space (2nd Scifi book by Eric Bogatin) Teledyne LeCroy Website Signal Integrity Journal Podcast Episode: Signal Integrity Evangelist Eric Bogatin, our Expert Insider to DesignCon 2020
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The OnTrack Podcast welcomes John Coonrod back to the show. John is Technical Marketing Manager at Rogers Corporation and a senior engineering professional with a rich background in PCB design, fabrication, processing, and modeling. John also has extensive experience with circuit materials, making him the ideal candidate for the topic of today’s podcast: insertion loss.
Watch the video, click here.
Show Highlights
- 01:45—Clarifying terms: a quick overview of Microstrips vs Striplines
- 02:20—Exploring laminates, multilayered circuits, and plated through-holes
- 06:42—Applying electromagnetic fields: a prerequisite for understanding insertion loss
- 09:25—The four components of insertion loss
- 13:10—RO4350B™; a friend to all fabricators?
- 15:10—Pros and Cons of electroless nickel immersion gold (ENIG)
- 18:13—John’s advice to design engineers on modeling for ENIG’s performance range
- 21:33—Navigating the relationship between solder masks and insertion loss
- 24:20—A call to viewers and listeners: Got a copper-related topic you’d like to hear John and Judy discuss? Submit your requests!
Resources:
John Coonrod on Linkedin
Rogers Corporation Website (Advanced Connectivity Solutions)
Rogers Technology Hub
(Includes Coonrod’s corner videos, data sheets, calculators and more)
Autonomous driving Resource Page (Guides, Videos and Material selection)
Rogers 5G Resource Page
Rogers ACS YouTube Channel
ROG Mobile App (Resources accessible from your smartphone or tablet)
White Paper High Performance PCBs: Judy Warner, Chris Savalia, Michael Ingham
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Angus Thomson is Senior Electronic Engineer and founder of CircuitBuilder, a brand new platform for simplifying the development of custom electronics out of Suffolk, England. Angus joins the OnTrack Podcast to share his experiences as CircuitBuilder’s founder, and to discuss the fine points of CircuitBuilder’s evolving business model, which has so far proven immune to the challenges of the global pandemic.
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Watch the video, click here.
Show Highlights
- Introduction to Angus Thomson
- ”I thought: there’s a better way to do this”—Angus’ road to entrepreneurship
- How CircuitBuilder utilizes Altium 365 to provide customers with realtime 3D views of their designs
- The CircuitBuilder growing network of engineers
- CircuitBuilder’s successful, lightweight recruitment process
- Proving it out in your own backyard: Angus on expanding market reach
- Transparency: How Altium 365 pushes CircuitBuilder beyond the errors of the past
- Design, Manufacture, or both? CircuitBuilder’s evolving business model
- The secret of CircuitBuilder’s resilience during the coronavirus health crisis
- Angus offers his insight on the future of design in a post COVID-19 world, and on CircuitBuilder’s role in that future
Resources:
- Angus Thomson on LinkedIn
- Circuit Builder on Linkedin
- Circuit Builder Website
- Circuit Hub Website
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Istvan Novak, Principal Signal and Power Integrity Engineer for Samtec Inc. and winner of the DesignCon 2020 Engineer of the Year Award joins the OnTrack podcast to talk picosatellites, simulation tools, and the rising importance of power integrity.
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Show Highlights
- Introduction to Istvan Novak
- A brief look at Samtec Inc., the successful computer equipment manufacturing company headquartered in Indiana.
- Istvan’s path to becoming a Power Integrity expert
- CubeSats and the students who make them
- The challenges of dimensionality: has power integrity become more important than signal integrity?
- When Power Integrity is an afterthought
- The value of expert disagreement
- “Regardless of what we want to simulate, we can find good simulation tools to do it”: Good design and the challenges of modeling and simulation
- Closing thoughts; the first working Picosatellite; and the first electrosmog map of the globe
Resources:
- Istvan Novak on LinkedIn
- Samtec: gEEk spEEk SI Webinars.
- Samtec Silicon-to-Silcon Solutions Website
- The SI-List Archives
- Istvan Novak: DesignCon 2020 Engineer of the Year Award
- BUDAPEST UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY AND ECONOMICS Picosatellite
- Istvan Novak’s Electrical Integrity Website
- Picotest Website
- Signal Integrity Journal
- Design 007 Magazine, See pg. 38 Do You Really Need That Ferrite Bead in the PDN?
- First Electrosmog Map of the globe
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The town of Calumet, with a population of barely seven-hundred, was once the booming epicenter of Michigan’s upper peninsula mining industry. When the industry began to fail, unemployment skyrocketed, and the townspeople sought local solutions for creating jobs that could sustain the town’s families.
Rob Cooke, Director of Engineering Services at Calumet Electronics Corp, joins the OnTrack podcast to discuss the Open Source Ventilator project, his experiences implementing Altium-365, and the radical decision business owners in that small town of Calumet, Michigan made more than 50 years ago, which led to the rise of Calumet Electronics Corp.
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Watch the video, click here.
Show Highlights
- Intro to Rob Cooke: how he got involved with Dugan Karnazes and the Open Source Ventilator Project.
- From copper ore to copper pours: Calumet, Michigan’s fascinating backstory.
- So what’s the hold-up? The right tool for avoiding excessive holds and other barriers to expedient design.
- Reality transcends the map: Altium-365 demos vs firsthand experience.
- The impact and implications of sudden hyper-efficiency at the designer, fabricator, and assembler level.
- The shock of realtime: “This is what can happen when things don’t go on hold!”
- Rob offers some final thoughts on the purchasing and quoting paradigm.
Resources:
- Rob Cooke on LinkedIn
- Calumet Website
- Open Source Ventilator Video
- AltiumLive 365 Demo
- Altium 365 product page
- Open Source Ventilator Project (OSV) Combats Ventilator Shortage
- Previous Episode with Rob Cooke: How to Conquer Data Package Problems
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Jim Brown of GreenSource Fabrication joins to discuss microvia reliability issues that so many people struggle with. GreenSource has been making great strides in this direction so listen now to learn how they’ve handled microvia reliability.
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Watch the video, click here.
Show Highlights
- Introduction to Jim Brown and GreenSource Fabrication
- A Brief History of GreenSource—becoming an open market supplier of PCBs in two phases
- ”Make it as automated as possible”—How GreenSource eliminates yield issues
- ”A well known issue”—exploring anomalies arising from stacked microvias
- Challenges presented by laser-drilling vias
- Virtual Meeting with ICP on July 15th and 16th
- Accelerated testing and the most reliable way of determining microvia reliability
- IST vs OM tester, which is preferred and what do they do
- Why GreenSource committed to OM testing
- Where to learn more about Jim Brown and GreenSource
- Outro and goodbyes
Resources:
- Jim Brown on LinkedIn
- Greensource Fabrication Website
- June OnTrack Newsletter
- The IPC Warning About Microvia Reliability for High Performance Products an article by Happy Holden
- IPC Microvia Reliability Summit Webinar on July 15-16, 2020
- Microvia Reliability in Ultra-High Density Interconnect Designs
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Jeremie Waller, Sr. Electrical Engineer at Quantel Laser, visits the OnTrack podcast to talk about infrared lasers, microplasma bursts, transitioning to Altium 365, and setting up user groups.
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Watch the video, click here.
Show Highlights
- An introduction to Jeremie Waller and Lumibird.
- Shock and awe: Class IV lasers and Lidar applications.
- A video demonstration: microplasmic bursts in the lab with the Merion C—a 100 millijoule 400Hz infrared laser.
- ”Going to the cloud just sounded like the right thing to do.” How Jeremie and his team became Altium 365 beta users at the outset of the pandemic.
- eedback on the transition to Altium 365 from Firmware Engineers, Material Managers, and
- Fabricators.
- Learn, connect, and get inspired: Adopting Altium and the importance of review meetings and training.
- Lost in Translation: working in a global work environment.
- Adventures in setting up Altium Live user groups.It takes less time than you think. Run by you, the users; and run your way.
Resources:
Quantel Lasers by Lumibird website
Introduction to Lumibird (Video)
Jeremie Waller LinkedIn profile
Altium 365 website
Judy Warner LinkedIn Profile
To Learn more about starting an Altium User Group:
judy.warner@altium.com
jwaller@quantelusa.com
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The renowned global trade association known as IPC has put together a network of printed board design engineering affiliates under the name IPC Design. IPC Design’s affiliates are comprised of PCB design engineers across the globe who are working to advance the art and science of printed design engineering.
IPC Design’s Patrick Crawford and Teresa Rowe join the OnTrack Podcast
Work from Anywhere. Connect with Anyone.
Watch the video, click here.
Show Highlights
- What is IPC Design, and what is its primary mission?
- Increased global presence and participation: How IPC is molding its future.
- IPC Design’s worldwide buy-in, its fresh new participants, and how the quarantine has affected participation.
- Has productivity gone up since quarantine?
- Lessons in remote working and the importance of taking time for yourself.
- Between January 2020 and now.
- What’s in store for the future: IPC’s collaborative content model.
- America, Europe, and Asia: IPC’s leadership group and global design committee.
- IPC Design is looking to fill a leadership role in Asia.
- What’s in it for you, the designer? Teresa and Patrick count the ways designers will benefit from IPC Design.
- ”Let’s start up a chapter!”: How individuals, student groups, and companies can get affiliated with IPC Design.
- Translators of the world, connect! How IPC Design can serve and collaborate with STEM groups all over the globe.
Resources:
Teresa Rowe on LinkedIn Patrick Crawford on LinkedIn IPC Website Link to IPC Design webpage Link to IPC Design enrollment page Patrick Crawford’s video presentation on IPC Design Realtime with IPC IPC CEO John Mitchell on the Impact of COVID-19 on the Electronics Supply Chain
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A leading research and advisory company, Gartner, Inc., found that nearly 75% of the 317 CFOs and business finance leaders they surveyed planned to move at least 5% of their formerly on-site workforce into permanently remote positions even after the COVID-19-related quarantines have ended.
Zach Peterson, prolific technology content writer, scientist/engineer, and owner and CEO of Northwest Engineering Solutions, joins the OnTrack Podcast to examine the implications of this finding, and to share best practices for creating a viable and productive remote working environment from both a manager’s and employee’s perspective.
Work from Anywhere. Connect with Anyone.
Watch the video, click here.
Show Highlights
- The business case for remote teams, and a worldwide freelancing network’s shocking statistic about the future of remote work
- Suggestions for managers and employees that will ensure their remote teams remain viable and productive
- The importance of setting clear expectations for your remote team
- Why you shouldn’t “babysit” your remote workers; the importance of allowing workers to work within their comfort zones
- Setting clear boundaries: how remote working can upset our work/life balance, and what steps one should take to cultivate it
- Tackling the myth of slackers in the remote work environment
- Ideal tools for the remote working environment
- “Engage earlier rather than later”—tips for maintaining the relationship between design engineers and manufacturers in a remote environment
Resources:
Zach on LinkedIn
Zach’s Technical Articles on Altium.Com
How to Manage a Remote Team for Electronics Design
Signal Integrity Article Coronavirus Shows how Quickly Electronics Supply Chains Can
Change
Work from Anywhere. Connect with Anyone.
Work from Anywhere. Connect with Anyone.
Colin Keogh PhD, CEO & Founder at The Rapid Foundation, has been on the front lines of the effort to combat ventilator shortages ever since a Facebook group called Open Source COVID-19 Medical Supplies (OSCMS) first presented the problem.
As cofounder of Open Source Ventilator (OSV) Ireland and a member of its core team, Colin offers his uniquely qualified perspective on open source innovation: its obstacles, its advantages, and its impact on world governments and regulatory bodies both now and in the future.
Watch the video, click here.
Show Highlights:
- Racing a pandemic: How Open Source Ventilator (OSV) Ireland turned a single Facebook post into an enterprise-scale organization composed of hundreds of engineers around the world.
- Silver linings in the time of COVID-19: evaluating the role of innovators in an epidemic, and how the lines separating government bodies and open source innovators become blurred in times of need.
- What young engineers are bringing to the table, and how the contributions of open-source innovators compare to that of Fortune 100 companies of today.
- ‘Fail fast and break things’ vs. the traditional approach to engineering: reconciling the two faces of modern innovation.
- Slack, Zoom, and Altium: the collaborative tools OSV Ireland used to produce solutions quickly while managing its unprecedented explosive growth.
- Welcome aboard; solutions are required: How OSV turned the usual medical design process on its head.
- ‘The provision of information is gonna be very important’: How the pandemic has affected the navigation of medical device regulation from country to country, and what innovators can expect from regulatory bodies in the future.
- How new revelations brought about by the pandemic will affect the interaction of medical device developers and regulatory bodies in the future.
- Colin’s delivers his unique perspective of the overall impact of COVID-19 on the world, and how engineers will use this experience to continue to overcome the obstacles ahead.
Links and Resources:
Colin Keogh on LinkedIn Open Source Ventilator Website OSV on Twitter OSV on Linkedin Fundraiser by Dugan Karnazes : Open Source Ventilator Watch: Engineering Together to Save Lives
Work from Anywhere. Connect with Anyone.
Work from Anywhere. Connect with Anyone.
Altium 365 is here, and its CAD-aware approach to cloud-based design is already cutting lead times down by orders of magnitude. How will this affect designers, and how will it affect the electronics industry as a whole? Leigh Gawne, Chief Software Architect at Altium 365, answers these questions and more. Get an exclusive look inside the impact Altium 365 is having on the electronics industry and learn more about this powerful new tool.
Watch the video, click here.
Show Highlights:
- Up until this point, ECAD has been confined to the desktop. Leigh explains how Altium 365 breaks this trend, allowing anyone with an internet-enabled device to interact and collaborate in the design process—directly from a web browser.
- No download necessary: Altium 365 ditches the software download for manufacturers and other stakeholders.
- Is the Google Drive comparison accurate? Leigh demonstrates how Altium 365’s approach to ‘CAD-awareness’ pushes its capabilities far beyond the reach of ordinary cloud-based design tools.
- Is this design manufacturable? Resolving essential questions with the click of a button in Altium 365, allowing designers to instantly share designs as a live view or as a snapshot.
- Never lose a comment thread again. Leigh explains how Altium 365’s ‘contextual commenting’ feature allows designers to attach comment threads right to relevant features in the design.
- Customers, procurement personnel, and project management: How Altium 365 facilitates seamless interaction with secondary stakeholders.
- Altium 365’s option for browser-driven design review minimizes mistakes and pulls more stakeholders into the chain.
- Supply chains are dynamic and are often subject to radical, unexpected changes, especially in a pandemic. Leigh breaks down Altium 365’s “baked-in” Octopart capability, which allows designers to monitor their supply chains in real-time.
- Navigating the ‘new normal’: Leigh examines Altium 365’s important and powerful role for product design in the post-coronavirus age.
- Out the door in 30 days: Reviewing Altium 365’s integral role in the Open Source Ventilator Project’s incredible success story.
- Success all around: How Altium 365 makes it trivial to duplicate another company’s achievements.
- Leigh looks at the future of the electronics in the wake of this powerful new tool.
Links and Resources:
Exclusive Sharable Listener Discount Link Altium Designer-Altium 365 Altium 365 Customer Stories Videos: Skyship, Arduino, Project March Altium 365 Webpage Altium 365 LIVE Demo from AltiumLive 2019 with Leigh Gawne Open Source Ventilator Podcast with Dugan Karnazes
Now you can get the ultimate PCB design productivity with the easiest platform for PCB design. Easily communicate design changes to your team with Altium 365.
Work from Anywhere. Connect with Anyone.
Altium 365 has launched in the midst of a worldwide quarantine effort—a time when companies have drastically reduced the in-office workforce, and financial constraints and travel restrictions have never been tighter.
Altium’s VP of marketing, Lawrence Romine, joins the OnTrack Podcast to explain how Altium 365 removes the obstacles presented by the lockdown effort, why it’s the perfect tool for the post-coronavirus environment, and how the launch timing couldn’t be more serendipitous.
Work from Anywhere. Connect with Anyone.
Watch the video, click here.
Show Highlights:
- Altium 365 has launched on schedule; a brief look at why the timing couldn’t be more perfect.
- Working remotely. The Altium 365 cloud based platform which Altium Designer and Concord Pro run on.
- Seamless integration: the symbiotic relationship between Altium Designer and Altium 365.
- Arduino, SkyShips, and you: the various types of Altium 365 users, and how the addition of new features addresses their individual needs.
- Flattening the curve: Altium’s conscientious approach to the learning curve when adding new features.
- Design Reviews in a pandemic—a use case: How Altium 365 removes the obstacles presented by a remote work environment.
- Some users describe the experience of Altium 365’s cloud-based real-time collaboration as “similar to working in Google Docs”. Lawrence elaborates.
- It’s as easy as sending a link: How Altium 365 frees up budgets by eliminating excessive travel, phone calls, and emails.
- “Simplicity is the ultimate expression of sophistication”: Lawrence recalls an automotive experience from his life in praise of Altium 365’s design ethic.
- As simple as using a web browser: How sales personnel are utilizing Altium 365 as a demonstration tool for prospective clients.
- Lawrence’s predictions about the farside of the COVID-19 calamity.
Links and Resources:
Exclusive Sharable Listener Discount Link Altium Designer-Altium 365 Altium 365 Customer Stories Videos: Skyship, Arduino, Project March Altium 365 Webpage AltiumLive: Altium 365 Altium 365 Security
Now you can get the ultimate PCB design productivity with the easiest platform for PCB design. Easily communicate design changes to your team with Altium 365.
Work from Anywhere. Connect with Anyone.
Gerry Partida is a 36 year veteran of the PCB industry, and spent twenty of those years working in boardshops. He is currently a Senior Field Application Engineer for Summit Interconnect, where he and his colleagues have made a fascinating discovery about the reliability of multiple stacked microvias. Gerry and his team are still collecting data on this finding, but he joined us on OnTrack to share a firsthand account of what he knows!
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Watch the video, click here.
Show Highlights:
- Gerry shares his industry background and introduces Summit Interconnect, the second largest printed circuit board manufacturer in North America.
- What is a microvia? A manufacturer’s perspective.
- The first step is recognizing there’s a problem: a brief overview of the issue with multiple (more than two) stacked microvias.
- To boldly go where no one has gone before: In the absence of an IPC standard, Gerry shares the recommended distance between stacked microvia and mechanically drilled holes.
- Gerry’s advice on how to avoid overloading your designs.
- Gerry discusses IPC-6012E and the need for performance testing in the absence of adequate scopes (over 500x).
- OM testers: What are they, how prevalent are they, and how can they add value to your company?
- OM testing: Reflow simulation and thermal shock testing—its value and its scope.
Links and Resources:
Gerry Partida on LinkedIn Summit Interconnect IPC-6012E
Now you can get the ultimate PCB design productivity with the easiest platform for PCB design. Easily communicate design changes to your team with Altium 365.
Work from Anywhere. Connect with Anyone.
Ben Jordan drops in to share details on Altium’s central hub for online education resources: hands-on video, feature documentation, and tips and tricks for navigating and mastering Altium’s software. Ben is a Computer Systems and PCB Engineer with more than 20 years of embedded systems, FPGA and PCB design. See why we’re now calling him “the Dean of Altium Academy”. Here’s another podcast you can’t afford to miss!
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Watch the video, click here.
Show Highlights:
- Altium’s free webinar series: Why Altium is doubling down on webinars, where to find them, and how to use them to your advantage.
- Zig Ziglar and the secret of success.
- The Altium Academy YouTube channel: hands-on video, feature documentation, and tips and tricks for navigating Altium’s software.
- On providing an easy-to-find central information resource hub on the Altium domain—where your questions about all Altium products can be answered in detail.
- How the complexity of CAD software speaks to the nature of engineering work
- Ben offers users some insider info—a reason Altium users should check out Altium Academy’s YouTube Channel right now.
- Who is in charge of the public health? Ben offers an eye-opening perspective on the role of engineers in society.
- Ben discusses new challenges being faced during the Covid-19 epidemic.
- Judy revisits how Dugan Karnazes was able to coordinate a worldwide engineering team’s spin-up of an early Open Source Ventilator design within 24-hours.
- Ben describes his visit to General Atomics’ tokamak.
- The importance of staying connected: Ben and Judy offer closing statements and advice for all of us as we weather the Covid-19 crisis.
Links and Resources:
Ben Jordan on Linkedin Altium Academy Virtual Sessions jedec.org
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The OnTrack Podcast is pleased to welcome Ken Wyatt (also known as the ‘EMC Doctor’). Ken began his career as a designer in the aerospace industry, and later worked for Hewlett Packard, where he found that his background in RF and Microwave engineering helped prepare him for his role as an Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC) Engineer. His work has since taken him all over the world, where he develops and provides in-house training and delivers presentations and live demonstration; definitely unique among presenters!
Retiring early in 2008, Ken has since become a prolific author, co-authoring three books, including his latest, in which he identifies why products fail to meet EMI/EMC regulatory standards: ‘EMI Troubleshooting Cookbook for Product Designers’.
Ken currently provides seminars on a variety of EMC related topics—touching on subjects not often taught at the university level. He also provides EMC consultation, EMC compliance and precompliance testing, design reviews, and training services for commercial, military/aerospace, scientific, consumer, and computing industry sectors.
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Watch the Video, Click Here.
Show Highlights
- Ken lays out his career path, from his beginnings in the aerospace industry, to his current role as a consultant.
- ‘EMI Troubleshooting Cookbook for Product Designers’—a quick look at the book Ken co-authored with Patrick G. André.
- Addressing the prevailing trends in stackups and board design in general.
- Old habits die hard: Why the PCB is the heart of most EMI and EMC issues today, and pitfalls to avoid to move past these issues.
- Signals as the flow of electrons in copper traces and wires: How our education may have left out the whole story with respect to high frequency design.
- How simultaneous trends toward diminishing device size and the Internet of Things contributes to desensing and other issues on PCBs.
- Staying “in the know”: Keeping up with our evolving understanding of the physics of PC boards and signal propagation is always challenging. Ken lays out some ways designers can stay up to speed.
- Why Electromagnetic Compability programs at the university level are few and far between, and how Missouri University of Science and Technology stands out among them.
- Case Studies: The trouble with dog trackers and blood transfusion machines. Ken discusses some challenges he’s come across in the field.
Resources:
www.emc-seminars.com
Ken Wyatt’s EMC blog
The EMC Blog (EDN)
Interference Technology Blog
Short video on the book with co-author Patrick André
Amazon author’s page
Ken Wyatt on LinkedIn
Ken Wyatt on Twitter: @emc_guru
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The Novel Coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) epidemic appears to be slowing in countries practicing social distancing measures, but we’re not out of the water yet. Serious medical equipment shortages continue to dog hospitals around the world, and officials are bracing for worst-case scenarios: medical triage.
Here’s how one entrepreneur channeled his concern for a high-risk family member into action, using his training and resources to aid the fight against equipment shortages. Dugan Karnazes, founder and CEO of Velocity Research, joined the Open Source Ventilator project (OSV), a world-wide effort to develop and design a simple, low-cost emergency-use ventilator to aid in the treatment of COVID-19 patients.
Karnazes joined Judy Warner on the OnTrack Podcast to discuss these efforts, and detailed how he and the OSV project were able to enlist the help of hundreds of engineers and medical professionals, as well as support from corporations like Ford, Worthington, CircuitHub, DigiKey, and Altium.
Show Highlights
- Dugan Karnazes discusses his background in Physics and Electrical Engineering and his career in R&D.
- A small team with a broad skill set: Dugan on starting Velocity Research, and the value building teams with diverse technical backgrounds.
- Dugan shares a personal account of how the threat of COVID-19 affects him, and how he turned heartbreak into motivation to join the front-lines in the fight against equipment shortages during the COVID-19 crisis.
- Open Source Ventilator project (OSV) and how it is addressing the worldwide ventilator shortage.
- How the Open Source Ventilator project (OSV) became a massive collective of worldwide contributors.
- Casting a wide net: How Dugan helped to draw in more than 800 engineers worldwide to offer their skills to the OSV project.
- Altium responds to the OSV project’s call.
- The Open Source Ventilator project turns to Altium 365: How Dugan leveraged Altium’s software to add hundreds of engineers to the Open Source Ventilator project, and went from having a need to having a distributed solution within 24 hours.
- Dugan explains how collaboration (and a bit of synchronicity) between Altium, Circuithub, Digi-Key, and Worthington helped reduce critical OSV development cycles from weeks to mere hours.
- Enter the medical professionals: Dugan’s contact at Spectrum Health Innovations sets up a team of pulmonary specialists, respiratory therapists, and other medical industry professionals to provide live feedback on OSV project developments.
- Ford Motor Company joins the fight—shares resources with the OSV project and commits to making 50,000 ventilators: How the automotive giant is leveraging existing hardware and supply chains to help the OSV project while developing their own ventilators.
- Dugan discloses the sobering prediction that Michigan was 5-10 days away from hitting capacity on ventilators, and details the horrifying medical triage decisions this would entail for medical professionals.
- Dugan shares diagrams and photographs of the OSV project’s ventilator prototype!
Fundraiser by Dugan Karnazes : Open Source Ventilator
Resources:
Dugan Karnazes on LinkedIn
Velocity Research website
Velocity Research on LinkedIn
Look, the ventilator is coming together! Dugan shares 3D rendering and an actual photo.
OSV on Twitter
OSV on Linkedin
A $2 trillion coronavirus relief bill was signed into law on Wednesday, March 25th. The bill will, among other things, send money directly to American citizens, small businesses, and troubled corporations, all of which have been greatly affected by COVID-19 and the resulting lockdowns.
In this podcast, Dr. John Mitchell, president and CEO of the IPC trade association, discusses the effects of the SARS-CoV-2 crisis on the electronics industry, enumerates the IPC’s efforts at mitigating those effects around the world, and elaborates on IPC’s Roadmap to Economic Recovery.
The IPC has been helping the electronics industry navigate dramatic changes since 1957. Here, Dr. Mitchell demonstrates why the current coronavirus pandemic is no different.
Show Highlights
- Dr. John Mitchell provides a brief description of the trade association known as IPC, and elaborates on its role in ensuring the collective success of the electronics industry as a whole, both in the past and during the current COVID-19 crisis.
- IPC’s relationships with world governments, and its advocacy efforts since the advent of the COVID-19 epidemic.
- John delivers some encouraging news out of China.
- Manufacturers have stepped up to address the pressing need for ventilators and masks: how IPC works with government to direct those efforts.
- Coronavirus, the $2 trillion stimulus package, and IPC’s Roadmap to Economic Recovery.
- Have manufacturing jobs returned to the U.S.? How recent U.S. tariff restrictions have affected the electronics industry and the world.
- Your work is essential: Shelter-in-Place orders and IPC’s response.
- A quick rundown of IPC’s ‘COVID-19 (Coronavirus): Economic Impact on Electronics Manufacturing Industry Webinar’.
- Online ‘Live Training’ and the advent of virtual-proctoring: John reveals how COVID-19 is affecting IPC’s online education and training, and what the organization has done to adapt.
- How the shutdown has hastened progression toward industry standards.
Resources:
IPC Coronavirus Updates - New info added daily
IPC Online Learning in PCB Design
IPC Global Advocacy Update Reports
John Mitchell on LinkedIn
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Jason Ellison is a Signal Integrity Engineer and graduated from Penn State University with a Master’s of Science in Electrical Engineering. He currently develops high-speed interconnects, and calibration and automation technology for Amphenol out of Dillsburg, Pennsylvania. Jason has also written a number of articles for Altium’s PCB Design Blog and is a DesignCon technical program committee member, as well as an active IEEE member.
Show Highlights
- Form, Fit and Function: Jason expands on the demands driving connector technology relative to high speed.
- With regard to signal integrity, connectors have their own issues—reflection, insertion loss etc. Jason reviews the challenges these constraints introduce at the board level, and tells us how to deal with them.
- Why you should let the PCB houses tell you what you need to do to make your board work, instead of vice versa.
- The importance of knowing what your PCB houses are capable of.
- Recurring issues in Signal Integrity and how to mitigate them.
- Jason shares details of his secret weapon for generating consistently correct results for differential impedance calculations.
- As chips become more dense, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to manage crosstalk—and lowering density is not an option! But there’s hope… Jason drops some advice on how to get the greatest amount of added signal at the lowest cost.
- Designers After Hours: Jason surprises us by recalling the precise moment he decided to become an electrical engineer, and tells us a little bit about his hilarious hobby.
Resources:
Jason Tricks of the Trade Article PCB Handbook Jason Ellison’s Blogs Jason Ellison on LinkedIn
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COVID-19 has impacted daily life and supply chains. Here we bring to you the latest information to help you prepare the best possible response during this unprecedented time. As an electronics industry veteran, Mike Buetow, Vice President and Editor in Chief at PCD&F Circuits Assembly, is uniquely qualified to provide context on the COVID-19 crisis─because he also studied epidemiology. Learn how the electronics industry and supply chains are responding to the coronavirus quarantine, and how this will affect the electronics industry at large in this global industry update.
Click here to watch the video.
Show Highlights
- An Electronics Industry ‘State of the Union’: Mike analyzes emerging trends over the last four weeks, and offers his best forecast for how the industry will be affected by COVID-19.
- A quick breakdown of coronavirus mitigation techniques major companies are using.
- Trade Associations (e.g., IPC, SMTA, TCPA, IEEE) and their strategies for buffering against the effects of COVID-19.
- The impact of the COVID-19 travel restrictions and shut-downs on designers and OEMs.
- When some work can’t be done remotely: CDC recommendations against gatherings, and how EMS companies and fabricators are handling it.
- Mike responds to questions and comments from industry insiders.
- How will the coronavirus impact the industry’s dependence on China?
- Have we gotten better at weathering supply shortages? Comparative responses to electronics shortages and what we can expect from ripples in the supply chain due to COVID-19.
- ”You can’t close your borders to a disease...” Mike speaks from his background as a former student of epidemiology.
- Stress test! How 2020 will prove or disprove the effectiveness of the EMS industry’s supply chain.
- Will the COVID-19 quarantine amplify trends toward telecommuting?
Links and Resources
Twitter @mikeBuetow Mike Buetow on Linkedin Printed Circuit Design and Fab Circuits Assembly website OnTrack Podcast: Mike Buetow on PCB West
The Ontrack Podcast welcomes Kelly Dack, PCB Designer and Manufacturing Liaison at Keytronic Electrical and Electronic Manufacturing out of Spokane Valley, Washington. Kelly is a veteran PCB designer with the unusual distinction of having worked alongside both PCB fabricators and assemblers. Kelly shares his insider perspectives on copper pullback and panelization, dimensioning and tolerances, and more.
Click here, to watch the video.
Show Highlights
- Designer disconnects: the differences between what designers are laying out in their CAD tool and what then happens during fab and assembly.
- What is a PCB Outline? Kelly breaks out an assembly array while defining his terms.
- “Just don’t do it!”—a quick tip for designers about breaking boards by hand, which puts torque or stress on components on the board.
- Kelly provides an in-depth discussion of ‘copper pullback’, relative to IPC-2221 and IPC-2222.
- Jumping into the topic of ‘Inspection, Dimensioning, and Tolerances’, Kelly and Judy discuss the intricacies of IPC-2615.
- Reasons you should choose through-holes as your board’s point of origin.
- Designing for the widest tolerance range is a really good thing for designers to consider. Kelly does a quick dive into the subject of tolerancing, holes and the utility of remembering that holes are simply board edges.
- Routing vs. V-scoring: picking the appropriate tooling for your tolerances, volume, and your budget.
- Kelly goes full “Prairie Home Companion”, breaks out his acoustic guitar, and sings in a pitch only PCB Designers can hear—metaphorically speaking, of course. Don’t miss this rare treat!
Resources:
Kelly Dack’s Slides Kelly Dack on Linkedin IPC-2221 IPC-2222 Altium IPC APEX Expo Recap Video Podcast with Kelly Dack: What is PCB Design Eptac, IPC CID and CID+ PCB Designer Certification classes
See What's New in Altium Designer
The OnTrack Podcast welcomes Zaheer Ali, manager of safety, quality, and software product assurance for NASA’s Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA). Zaheer is a research physicist specializing in electron transport and nuclear radiation detection and has a background as a MEMS engineer. He co-founded the National Center for Nuclear Security while working at the US Department of Energy’s Nevada Test Site. Zaheer shares his wealth of experience with our listeners and offers some sage advice to Electrical Engineers as we move toward a more modular, degradable, interconnected world.
Click here, to watch the video.
Show Highlights
- Zaheer Abbas Ali is a research physicist by education and training, specializing in electron transport and nuclear radiation detection, but while pursuing his education, he also took a tremendous number of Electrical and Nuclear Engineering classes.
- Zaheer has over 10,000 hours "in the fab" and spent part of his career consulting as a micro/nano device (MEMS) engineer.
- While working for the US Department of Energy’s Nevada Test Site, Zaheer co-founded the National Center for Nuclear Security.
- Zaheer also worked a two year assignment as Principal Investigator and Shot Director at the Laboratory for Laser Energetics of the University of Rochester.
- Zaheer currently works as the Product Assurance Manager for SOFIA, the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy, a project made possible through NASA’s partnership with the German Aerospace Center (also known as Deutsches Zentrum für Luft, or DLR).
- We know what SOFIA stands for, but what is SOFIA exactly? SOFIA is a modified Boeing 747SP aircraft which carries a reflecting telescope into the stratosphere at 38,000-45,000 feet, putting is above the vast majority of our planet’s infrared-blocking atmosphere. This provides a means for astronomers to study our skies in ways that are simply not possible using ground-based telescopes.
- SOFIA’s ability to fly above the troposphere, gives it access to a vew which is unobstructed by water and aerosols, so transmission is 99.99%!
- Zaheer also works with USRA (University Space Research Association), the subcontractor to NASA AMES Research Center, which is located in Mountain View, California.
- At DesignCon, Zaheer’s discussion focused on his colleague’s work on SOFIA, in a talk titled ‘Microships in Space: How Device Design Enables Amazing Astronomy’.
- Zaheer also served on a panel at DesignCon, discussing ‘How Device Design can Drive Progress in Industry 4.0’.
- Zaheer’s advice to EEs is to, moving forward, focus on modularity and upgradeability on the hardware side—these are critical for the longevity of systems and capabilities, and he believes demand for these features from commercial and consumer spaces will only increase as time goes on.
- Zaheer also notes the additional trend in which the number of IoT devices an average person interacts with on a daily basis will increase by an order of magnitude over the next 5-10 years, placing a huge emphasis on board and device design for IoT.
Resources:
Zaheer Linkedin www.SOFIA.usra.edu Helium Hydride SOFIA SOFIA reveals new view of Milky Way www.AixiaGlobal.com www.llnl.gov www.dhs.gov NASA Spinoff Article featuring Orbit Fab’s Space Gas Station In God we trust, Everyone else, bring data.
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Mike Creeden joins the OnTrack Podcast to discuss his newly launched non-profit organization, the Printed Circuit Engineering Association (PCE-A), whose mission is “to empower you, the Printed Circuit Engineering Professional”. Mike is a board designer who began his career working in the automotive industry, and has since, in addition to maintaining a lucrative career, served on the IPC Designer’s Council. Join us and learn more about this organization for PCB designers.
Watch the video, click here.
Show Highlights:
- Mike began his career in the Midwest, designing boards for the automotive industry. He became an officer of the local chapter of the IPC Designer’s Council, serving as a Communications and Education Officer, and eventually started his own Design Service Center, which offered a more well-rounded experience than he felt he could get working for CAD vendors and designing products for OEMs over the years.
- Since selling his Design Service Center business, he’s been working with EPTAC and IPC as a CID Instructor, teaching CID and CID+, and is currently designated a Master IPC Instructor.
- Mike has donated nearly a thousand hours to the collective EPTAC effort, part of which includes the task of rewriting the CID+ training manual!
- Within the last year, Mike has also taken a position as a Technical Director of Design Education with Insulectro, North America’s leading Isola and Dupont distributor.
- “IPC is an Us, not a Them”: So, if you know your craft, you’re more than welcome to join!
- At the start of 2020, Mike launched a new design organization called PCE-A—Printed Circuit Engineering Association—in response to the dissolution of the IPC Designer’s Council. Printed Circuit Engineering Association will be a non-profit, 501C6-type organization that is free to join, and their affiliated groups will be, for example, PCE-OC for Orange County, or PCE-SD, or PCE-RTC (the research triangle).
- The purpose of the PCEA is to empower you, the Printed Circuit Engineering Professional, to improve your career and truly bring value to your company - there’s nothing to be sold here!
- Visit PCE-A.org for more information
Links and Resources:
IPC APEX 2020 Highlights IPC APEX Expo 2021 IPC Designer Certification Program PCB Design Certifications and Learning Programs with Ben Jordan
Dr. Masha Petrova is on the show to discuss the launch of a mini-documentary series called Altium Stories. Altium Stories is a brand new YouTube series which highlights today’s innovators and designers; people who are out there making astonishing, cutting-edge technology that will impact our world in significant ways. Before becoming Vice President of Brand Marketing at Altium, Masha earned a PhD in Aerospace Engineering from the University of California San Diego. Meet Masha Petrova, one of the people at the helm of the new mini-documentary series Altium Stories and learn more about her personal story.
Watch the Video, Click Here.
Show Highlights:
- Masha grew up in Moscow, Russia, before the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Her mother was a doctor and her father was a Chemist. But maybe even more notable, given Masha’s background, her grandfather was an Aerospace Engineer during the Space Race between the Soviet Union and the United States, and he was even involved in developing the orbit for Sputnik: Earth’s very first artificial satellite.
- Sputnik’s resounding success triggered the Space Race, which inspired the formation of NASA less than a year later.
- During the Soviet era, Russian Science Fiction had reached new literary heights and was in its ‘Golden Age’. Masha notes that she was a major fan of the genre, and that Science Fiction even influenced her decision to become an Aerospace Engineer: “There were no computers, no iPads when I was growing up—no food half the time really—so there was a lot of reading that I could do… and I decided when I was six, that I was going to be an Astronaut or Cosmonaut and then move here [to the United States].”
- Masha earned a PhD in Aerospace Engineering from the University of California San Diego.
- Regarding her move from engineering to marketing, Masha elaborates, providing a unique insight into what unites the seemingly disparate fields, and why she finds it challenging.
- Altium has just launched a new YouTube channel called ‘Altium Stories’, which is specifically dedicated to telling the stories of Altium’s users and customers, showcasing their innovations and contributions in mini-documentary format.
- While meant for industry professionals—engineers, designers, etc.—Altium Stories are family-friendly, and Masha says they’ve even served as inspiration for her own kids.
- Currently featured on Altium Stories are mini-docs from companies like Core Wellness, which designs technology around meditation—a haptic feedback device which can sense your electrocardiogram through your thumbs, and provide information about changes in your autonomic nervous system while you meditate. And VPI Technology Group, a Salt Lake City-based company which designs a small form-factor radiation detection device used by public safety and law enforcement agencies. We also hear from VOX Amplification Ltd., maker of VOX amplifiers, a mainstay in the Beatles’ music equipment. Not only is there more, but there’ll be more mini-documentaries added every month. The next innovative technology featured on the series could be your own!
- If you’re an Altium customer who would like to be featured in Altium Stories, please reach out! Share your story, showcase your projects, or get your product out there. Masha can be contacted directly at Masha.Petrova (at) altium.com.
Links and Resources:
Altium Stories Youtube Channel Houston Mechatronics Aquanaut - Underwater Robot Masha Petrova on LinkedIn Confessions of a Hacker, Joe Grand
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Show Highlights:
- Steve will do several talks at DesignCon this year, including a full-day ‘Power Integrity Bootcamp.’ This year’s Bootcamp will be very exciting—Keysight will provide ADS’ for everyone to have live simulation in the room!
- Steve’s session on Measuring Oscilloscope Voltage Probe Performance will include a demonstration of Picotests’ Gallium nitride probe calibrator, as well as two ways to accurately measure scope probes.
- Steve will also be involved in two sessions for the youngsters: ‘How to Jumpstart your Career’, and he’ll also sit on the ‘Stump the Experts Panel’.
- Changes in the industry have been dramatic over the years—these days it’s all about PCB effects. The biggest impact is in automotive. Boards are very complicated, and engineers are overloaded; they want answers, and the answers are coming. To that end, we discuss why Steve is excited to be part of an upcoming solution for the future.
- Today, everything is interconnected; yet most simulators don’t include a voltage regulator module, even though that’s the largest source of jitter! In the future, everything will be simulated end-to-end.
- Engineers today also struggle with lowering power supply noise, and voltage regulation is not the answer.
- Engineers have become too myopic and need to look at their work more holistically. They often don’t understand how their work impacts everyone else.
- Power Engineers are the foundation of noise issues.
- Low frequency is more problematic than high frequency. Noise travels very far, and once you create it, it can continue forever. The lower we make the repetition rate, the more likely it is to cause noise.
- If engineers today don’t understand RF and Microwave and Analog and Power, they are going to become irrelevant.
- The future will require us to optimize everything, just getting it right is no longer going to be sufficient.
Links and Resources:
DesignCon, Jan 28 - 30, 2020 All Steve’s Talks at DesignCon 2020 Books by Steve Sandler Designing Power for Sensitive Sensitive Circuits Picotest Website How Does Power Integrity Affect Overall Signal Integrity? | Steve Sandler at DesignCon 2018 Steven Sandler LinkedIn
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Chris Carlson, Snr FAE at Altium and accomplished Electrical and Electronic Engineer shares the expertise of his 23-year career in development, documentation, manufacturing, application engineering, and customer support. According to an Aberdeen study, 61% of a designer’s time is spent doing non-direct, design-related activities, such as sourcing components, document control, and so much more. Chris is here to help you improve your efficiency and understand how your fab drawings are your quality assurance documents.
This discussion includes many tips and tricks about version control, auto-routing, consistent project templates, multi-board interface management, and excellent library management. Continue listening or watch the full episode for a treasure trove of tricks and tips you can apply to save time and get your boards right the first time.
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Watch the video, click here.
Show Highlights:
- Design reuse is very valuable to streamlining the design process. Build up a library in your CAD tool of power supplies or interfaces and other parts which you know work well and are purchasable to quickly use in a new design.
- Avoid back-and-forth phone calls or emails by creating templates of all your documentation standards for consistency across all design documents, and provide everything your fabricator and assembler needs the first time.
- Sit down with your fabricator and assembler to ensure you understand all their documentation requirements.
- You’d benefit most from having various templates, with different standard note sections for specific types of materials and technologies. Specify items such as impedance-driven widths, and you’ll have a foot to stand on if the board doesn’t work.
- A good trick is, on a small edge of the board, route a few traces according to your impedance specifications. When you get the board back, polish the edge of the board, look at it under a microscope, and measure it to ensure the fabrication process was indeed correct.
- Getting the layer stack correct is essential. A terrific technique called, ‘stacking stripes’, involves putting a trace of say, 200 mils on the first layer, 400 mils on the second layer, and so on. After polishing the edge, you’ll immediately see if the layers stackup in the correct order.
- Octopart can benefit greatly with part sourcing. Also, look for several sources that actually have high volume stock.
- ACTIVEBOM® is an incredible tool that provides information about real-time costs, all manufacturer lifecycles, plus any supply chain issues, as you design.
- Many eCAD tools such as Git, CVS, and SVN have the capability to plug into version control tools built directly into the UI—use it religiously! This practice provides the entire evolution of your design in the repository and also gives you traceability of who did what, when, and why.
- Designers’ favorite advice from Chris to save time and improve efficiency includes having a UI that interfaces version control, Altium’s automated routing assistant, consistent project templates, multi-board interface management, and excellent library management.
- The cost of not following optimal design cycles could mean the success or failure of a company.
Links and Resources:
Creating Layer Numbers and Stacking Stripes in Altium Designer PCB Layout Tips: How to Get Your Layer Stack Right - Whiteboard Video Other resources from Chris Carlson eCAD Tools for Version Control Octopart® Altium Designer® Documentation for ActiveRoute
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Signal integrity expert, Dr. Eric Bogatin, joins us in this episode to talk about the upcoming DesignCon conference and expo that will be held in Santa Clara, CA January 28th through January 30th. Dr. Bogatin shares information about the presentations he’ll be giving; this includes a 2-part S-Parameter master class, speed training about understanding TDR measurements, and a session tackling tricks the experts use to get more out of their oscilloscopes, just to name a few. Listen in or watch the full episode!
Check out the show highlights below for some excellent free online design resources on the SI academy website and all the sessions from this year’s AltiumLive.
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Watch the video, click here.
Show Highlights:
- Eric explains ‘Rule #9’.
- To add more value while on the expo floor at DesignCon, ‘speed training’ will be available to everyone. These are short, fun, and informal presentations covering one topic or demo. All speed training sessions at DesignCon are free.
- Four of the world’s experts in signal and power integrity—with 150 to 200 years of collective years of expertise between them—will be on stage together in the ‘Stump the Experts’ panel: Steve Sandler, Istvan Novak, Vladimir Dmitriev-Zdorov, and Larry Smith. Be sure to bring your questions and problems to this discussion.
- Every six months there is a printed version of the Signal Integrity Journal. The latest edition will be distributed at DesignCon 2020. The cover article, ‘The Myth of Three Capacitor Values’, reveals the origins of this design rule for decoupling capacitors, and why it no longer applies.
- On Thursday, Jan 30, an expert panel will untangle the countless digital communication standards. This panel discussion will be of great value to those working with high-speed serial links.
- Also on Thursday: the Career Zone Session will be an excellent opportunity for young engineers to obtain guidance on the fundamentals of starting out in this industry, followed by networking and individual coaching sessions.
- Eric will also do other speed sessions/demonstrations to increase your understanding of TDR (time-domain reflectometer), and S-Parameter measurement for differentials without a return path.
- Those unable to attend DesignCon, please take advantage of the Signal Integrity Academy hosted by Teledyne LeCroy. It features a vast collection of free best design practices for signal and power integrity, plus best measurement practices, illustrating four essential principles, including Rule #9.
- You will also find a series of webinars on the Signal Integrity Academy about the correct usage of a TDR, plus a series on their new network analyzer.
- Eric has a new book on transmission lines in the works, which will be available soon from Artech.
- Teledyne has a new high-performance, low-end scope that is also very low-cost. Look out for his presentation, ‘SI/PI on a Budget: Five Tricks to Get More out of Your Oscilloscope’ at DesignCon (also coming to various other venues in the coming months).
- Be sure to watch the video recordings of Eric’s talks at AltiumLive 2019: ‘Mastering the TDR in 45 Minutes’ and ‘Breaking Bad: A Downside of Open Source Designs.’
- Remember to like, subscribe, and tell us what you want to learn about!
Links and Resources:
Signal Integrity Academy DesignCon 2020 Signal Integrity Journal Sign up for Print Version of Signal Integrity Journal & Free Newsletter Career Zone Session: What’s Next? How to Jumpstart Your Career New this year, the DesignCon Career Zone Mastering the TDR in 45 Minutes, Eric Bogatin at AltiumLive 2019 Breaking Bad: A Downside of Open Source Designs, Eric Bogatin AltiumLive 2019 Artech House Publishers (technical book publisher that will publish Eric’s book soon) Teledyne LeCroy’s TDR and S-Parameter Equipment
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Happy New Year, and welcome to the first Podcast of 2020 with OnTrack. In this edition, we shine a light on one of our design community’s brightest stars, Jeremy Blum. Jeremy is a two-time AltiumLive keynote speaker and has also been featured on this podcast twice. He’s recently released an expanded and updated edition of his book Exploring Arduino, which he originally wrote in 2013. Enjoy a few clips to get to know Jeremy better.
Watch the video, click here.
Show Highlights:
- Jeremy shares more about the work he does as the Head of Engineering at Shaper Tools
- Is Jeremy a prolific geek, or is he a nerd?
- More about Jeremy’s YouTube channel
- Jeremy’s first job out of university was at Google, where he helped co-develop Google Glass
- More about the updated and expanded edition of ‘Exploring Arduino’
- We are giving away two signed copies of Jeremy’s book as a thank you for the input we receive from our users. Let us know what you’d like to learn about, and who you’d like to see on the OnTrack Podcast in the year ahead.
Links and Resources:
Exploring Arduino Hard Copy Exploring Arduino PDF Jeremy Blum YouTube
Want to qualify to win one of two signed copies of Jeremy’s book, Exploring Arduino? Please comment on social media using the hashtag #OnTrack Podcast and let us know what people or topics you would like to hear featured on the OnTrack podcast in 2020.
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Welcome the year-end wrap with Ben Jordan, where we’ll discuss routing engines, RF and microwave and high-speed design, and how they differ. We’ll talk about signal integrity, and discuss what 2020 and beyond will hold for design. And lastly, we’ll share some resources and links as our holiday gift to you.
Watch the video, click here.
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Show Highlights:
- The recent launch of Altium Designer 20® is getting a great response, and one of the most well-received features seems to be the routing engine—specifically the any-angle routing feature.
- Technically, with previous Altium Designer versions, you could place a trace at any angle, but it involved numerous clicks. And the response to our question ”Why don’t we design at other angles?”, was, once laid down, you couldn’t edit traces any further. That’s the real crux of it.
- The key update to Altium Designer 20 is, now we can have beautiful, flowing traces with tangential arcs—tangential to the trace they come from—and concentric with the object they’re clearing. The real key here is being able to edit after it’s laid down.
- It takes a lot of time and groundwork to build the algorithms, and it takes a lot of math, testing, and time to build libraries to do things elegantly.
- Interviews with users revealed that people weren’t using the simulator and there was a need for improvement.
- With Altium Designer 20, you don’t have to leave the comfort of the schematic environment that you know (which saves time), and the simulation is very fast. One of the themes of the next major release will be virtual prototyping and simulation.
- With the explosion of the IoT market, not everything is necessarily digital and there’s a lot we’ll have to learn. The design process is exceedingly complex and becoming more so.
- The complexity is not in the manufacturing of the board (other than tolerances). The complexity is in the design.
- Don’t let complexity fool you into paralysis—just get started. Ben Jordan’s talk, ‘The Absolute Beginner’s Guide to RF Design’, is a great resource. Ben will be presenting the talk again at Design Con, January 28th-30th, 2020, at the Santa Clara Convention Centre, and again at the IPC Apex Expo, February 4th-6th, in San Diego.
- Q: “RF and microwave are not high-speed, but typically high frequency. Then there’s high-speed digital and high-performance: what does it all mean and what’s the difference?” A: “High performance refers to anything that does its job exceptionally well, but is not necessarily high-speed. High-speed digital does boil down to frequency in current technology. The signals we’re dealing with now are very high-speed digital, meaning we’re using a higher ‘clock-rate’ (sending more bits of information in less time). The actual speed of a signal in a PCB is where frequency comes in—it’s not clock time, but rather a microwave frequency”.
- The formal partnership between Simberian and Altium brings an accurate tool for considering all the materials in the layer stackup and the way boards are made, generating a very accurate impedance profile for the traces on the board. This tool works whether you have a high-speed digital board, or an RF board with microstrip transmission lines over Rogers material on the outer layer.
- The actual delay calculation in Altium Designer 20 comes from Simberian’s static field solver.
- Rick Hartley’s comment at AltiumLive in Frankfurt was very encouraging: “...happy that Altium is doing tune for delay, because that’s the way to do it, rather than length tuning”.
- Altium now has a dedicated development team for simulation, routing, and schematics, paving the way for future enhancements of the user interface.
- Altium has launched something new and exciting: a video series called ‘Altium Stories’ that just tells your stories! Go to YouTube and find some stories now—Ben’s favorite is the Vox Story.
- The blog by Mark Harris, ‘Geeky Holiday Gift Ideas’, is an amusing read to end the year on a fun note.
- All the AltiumLive sessions are now online.
- As we head into the new decade, PCB designers can look forward to routing boards being faster and easier, can expect more long-awaited automation, more boards in bizarre places (such as wearables, exoskeletons, precision agriculture), and much, much more.
- The role of the PCB designer will change, but it won’t disappear. The newest generation entering the industry will have to be more holistic than previous generations of engineers.
- Finally, thank you to our listeners for making this year a great one for the OnTrack Podcast.
Links and Resources:
Altium Designer 20: Any angle routing DesignCon IPC APEX Altium Stories + VOX Amplifiers Geeky Holiday Gift Ideas - Blog by Mark Harris AltiumLive 2019 Session Links: San Diego Sarcos Robotics Altium365
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Simberian makes a physics-based 3D field solver tool that helps measure not only the traces on your board but also the materials. Altium recently entered into a formal partnership with Simberian, and Roger Paje - VP of Global Marketing, discusses with us how this impacted Altium Designer® 19 and 20, and what’s we’ll see going into Altium Designer 21 and beyond.
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Show Highlights:
- Roger started his career in EDA at a startup in the signal integrity and timing space, called Quad Design, which was eventually acquired into Mentor Graphics. He left EDA for the telecom market and worked on embedded designs for a while. He’s now back in EDA, and the last two companies he worked with used Altium Designer.
- According to Roger, Altium’s recent partnership with Simberian embodies the synergistic principle that in the business world, “one plus one equals five”.
- Given Simberian’s background and its contributions to the field since its founding in 2006—its contributions to electromagnetic theory, its multiple case-studies, its rich history of exercises with partners on algorithm validation, and its large library—it is apparent that Simberian is heavily focused on electromagnetic analysis and getting it correct.
- According to Roger, marrying the above “to a PCB tool with a bunch of users… just seems like an extremely logical decision”.
- Altium Designer 19 saw the first inclusion of Simberian features, starting with their field solver in the stackup manager. This ensured more accurate impedance calculations on the different layers. While Altium Designer 19 was just a starting point for these features, 80% of users were able to use the field solution and impedance calculations to their benefit.
- The field solver is extremely accurate and essential for the frequencies that users are now moving toward, and the material loss parameters are included in Altium Designer 20.
- Material measurements are becoming more important with high-speed design.
- Considering roughness factors and the characteristics of dielectrics; once you get into higher frequencies, 3 GBps is the inflection point at which loss characteristics of the materials come into play—if those aren’t modelled properly, it introduces simulation inaccuracies.
- If board manufacturers do not provide characterization and data, both in pre- and post-manufactured cases, analysis becomes almost impossible.
- The current collaboration of EDA vendors with designers and material manufacturers makes the industry more complicated than a couple of years ago.
- With the Altium Designer 20 release comes more robust geometries for those moving into more exotic materials and geometries. There are also a few algorithmic enhancements. Some characterization exercises revealed that the impedance numbers coming out were measurable.
- Most of our regular users are in the realm of transition, moving toward DDR-3, DDR-4 and onward, or any of the surreal interfaces, PCI Express, Gen 2 or -3, moving up to Gen 4.
- The practical impact and importance of Altium Designer 20 to PCB designers will be, accurate impedance and delay calculations. Even at DDR-3 skew is a big deal and as you go higher, even more so.
- As designers move toward high speeds, proper impedance modelling is important and we have a lot of confidence in Altium Designer 20 for that with the field solver.
- Designers will always benefit from knowing their Electrical Design Rules. The layout tool itself is able to find things that impact signal integrity. Some of the design rule checks in Altium Designer 20, particularly the return path checking, will ease the job of analysis.
- Designers will need less hard-core training to read modeling results and know how to interpret them with the more intuitive nature of Altium Designer 20.
- The future of the Simberian/Altium partnership already has a couple of philosophies in place, one of them is making the analysis easier. There are also plans for a trace checker, similar to a word processor’s spell checker.
Links and Resources:
Introduction of Simbeor® Electromagnetic Signal Integrity in Altium Designer 20 (in Altium Designer 20 User Manual)
Visit Simberian Website
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Patrick Züger from GPV Switzerland, a massive fabricator and assembly facility across Europe and China, delivered a great talk at AltiumLive in Europe. He shares his feedback and design process with and as an Altium Designer® Beta User. We discuss his initial impressions of Altium Designer 20.
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Show Highlights:
- As a CID+ Hardware/PCB designer in a global EMS company, Patrick sees many PCB designs and has created a workflow for Altium Designer, which he presented at AltiumLive in Europe.
- Many EMS companies have brought in designers to work alongside Project Managers. This close collaboration with the production side has vast benefits in production and assembly.
- GPV has approximately 4000 employees worldwide with locations in Mexico, Europe, Asia, China, Sri-Lanka, and Czechoslovakia. Most sites are for manufacturing, with the biggest one in Sri-Lanka, plus two engineering facilities in Switzerland.
- As one of the ten biggest manufacturers in Europe, GPV produces numerous products, from medical to consumer electronics and industrial products.
- There was excellent feedback and interest in Patrick’s workflow template which he is sharing freely.
- Patrick has been an Altium Beta user for seven years—the most significant benefit to which is being close to the developers and seeing his ideas implemented.
-
Q: “How would you describe the significance of Altium Designer 20 compared to other releases?”
-
A: “It is a refinement of Altium Designer 18 and the new concept of Altium. New features such as the updating of the routing engine, new schematic render, and dynamic compiler are important.”
-
Q: “How long have you been using Altium Designer 20 as a Beta User now?”
-
A: “About six to eight weeks.”
-
Q: “What are the top three improved features?”
-
A: “My favorite is the routing improvement. It’s much easier to move around different tracks and rearrange them, making the work proceed much faster. Next favorite is the dynamic compilation, and also something I’ve waited for a long time is the creepage rule—I was very happy to see it.”
-
Q: “What do you think about the stability of Altium Designer 20?”
-
A: “Even in Beta, I feel it’s very good, very stable, and I already use it for small designs.”
-
Q: “Give us five words that describe the interactive routing.”
-
A: “Impressive, intelligent, fast, forward-thinking, and smooth.”
-
Q: “How would you compare the interactive routing of Altium Designer 20 with any other tool you’ve used in the past or present?”
-
A: “That’s difficult to answer because I only use Altium Designer - for me, it’s the best tool.”
-
Q: “What is the number one quality that helps your design flow and workflow in Altium Designer 20?”
-
A: “For me, it’s the clean up of the component properties panel in the schematic, the overview is much better now.”
-
Q: “What is the number one time-saving feature in Altium Designer 20?”
-
A: “The efficiency of the new routing engine, before I’d have to delete all tracks and start over, but now I can rearrange them.”
-
Q: “What do you feel has not been addressed, that we should address?”
-
A: “The outshop files where you configure your settings to get the data out haven’t had much done to them for some time, and I think there’s room for more efficiency and automation.”
-
Q: “How significant do you think the tune for delay feature is, and does that impact you?”
-
A: “It does not affect me directly as we don’t have many high-speed designs, but it makes much more sense.”
-
Q: “With the release of Altium Designer 20, do you think there’s any type of board that our tool cannot address?”
-
A: “No, I don’t think so. Maybe one area is with huge boards, where Altium Designer does tend to be a bit slow, but Altium Designer can handle any normal design.”
-
Q: “What top three features of Altium Designer in general, sets it apart from other design tools?”
-
A: “The 3D capabilities, the ACTIVEBOM® with the manufacturer part search, I love that feature. It’s awesome, and of course the new routing engine.”
-
Q: “You say you grew up with Altium Designer, but you have a choice what tool you use, what keeps you choosing this tool over others?”
-
A: “Firstly its ease of use, the 3D capabilities, the beta program, the big community, for example, all our educational institutions use Altium Designer. I think it’s the best value for money, and very importantly Altium listens to their users.”
Trade In Your Outdated PCB Design Tool & Unlock Savings on Altium Designer today!
Trade In Your Outdated PCB Design Tool & Unlock Savings on Altium Designer today!
Watch the video, click here.
Show Highlights:
- Justin has been with TE’s high-speed data development group for 11 years, and as the Principal Development SI Engineer, develops high-speed products—both connectors and cables for use in the data center market.
- Nathan is a technologist on the system architecture team responsible for managing their industry standards efforts. He’s been with TE for what he calls “an embarrassing 38 years”.
- Between 2014 and 2018, the industry standard for high-speed connectivity rose dramatically; from 25 GBps to 50 GBps, with the estimated launch of 100 GBps in 2021. A major factor driving these improvements is demand—such as the many ways people are using data (for example, ‘killer apps’).
- A vast range of technological challenges arise due not only to increasing speed but also due to heightening bandwidth but also density.
- There’s a high demand for higher-speed products which have to function at higher frequencies and send more data per unit of time, so more channels, systems, and actual bitstreams must be packed into the same space.
- With increasing data rates come new sensitivities to impairment or signal degradation. This problem manifests itself in the form of insertion loss: how far you can send the signal before it’s lost?
- Within a connector or PCB, transitions occur from the connector to the PCB or from one layer of the PCB to another, and those transition structures increase loss by introducing reflections that cause a loss of signal, affecting reach even further.
- Another problem with higher data rates is crosstalk. With multiple channels, each sending data while sitting side-by-side, one creates noise for the other.
- Density issues also come about as the data rate increases—silicon providers are increasing the number of transmitters and receivers they can put into a device, which requires higher density, and again, creates more crosstalk.
- At the PCB level, there’s usually an active device sending a signal to the PCB trace, which is a significant electrical length, and although copper is a great conductor, the actual printed material is lossy, and there’s a migration to different laminate materials as well as smoother copper.
- With the notable trend towards smaller via holes, the structures themselves are both low in impedance, which creates extra reflections as well as electrical noise or crosstalk.
- TE understands the market trends of laminates and how they can interlock different technologies and use the advantages of materials to provide higher density and higher performing interconnects.
- Different modulation techniques are also required; not only to push the bandwidth at which a device functions electrically, but also to create an even lower crosstalk profile. All of this requires considerable optimization at the PCB level.
- To address these seemingly insurmountable challenges, TE is constantly upping their game in human resources and the tools they use in concert with industry ecosystem partners who provide board layout tools and powerful signal integrity modeling tools.
- On the board side, the next-gen materials are moving toward an EPO resin with a dielectric constant of around 3 and lower loss.
- The movement in connectors is toward a different family of plastics. Instead of PCB-type laminate materials, injection-molded thermoplastics are used, such as high-end engineering polymers like LCP.
- On the metal side, high-performance copper alloys that are very springy are applied to create a denser interface.
- Different extrusion technologies are used for cabling to increase reach and density while minimizing loss.
- Products that are helping solve problems en route to 100 GBps are: internal cabling assemblies (instead of PCB routing) to overcome loss, new interconnect technology and much more.
- This podcast’s takeaway for the industry is that the robust solutions will exist and TE will help with the introduction. Things are going to change whether it be removing traces in favor of cabling or overcoming thermal problems. Get ready for 100 gigs, it’s coming and it’s going to work!
Links and Resources:
- Connectivity System Challenges of Next-Gen I/O Paper
- Presentation
- Delivering 100 Gbps Solutions for Chip-to-Module and DAC Paper
- Presentation
- STRADA Whisper Connectors Landing Page,
- STRADA Whisper Connectors Routing Guide:
- STRADA Whisper Connectors: Beyond 25 Gbps Whitepaper
- Cabled Backplane Systems: The High-Speed Alternative to PCBs Whitepaper
- Sliver Connectors & Cable Assemblies Landing Page:
- Sliver for SFF-TA-1002 Video
- Data Center Solutions Landing Page
- TE at DesignCon 2019 Highlights (includes all demo videos)
- High-Speed Pluggable I/O Connectors & Cages
- High-Speed Pluggable I/O Cable Assemblies
- 400G I/O Connector Landing Page
- LGA Sockets Landing Page
- XLA Sockets Product Flyer
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Mark Ross is a long-time Altium Beta user and our guest in this podcast episode to share his insights and the value he gets from being a Beta user. He also chimes in on a long list of questions about what he thinks of Altium Designer 20. He gets into the details on this latest release of Altium Designer and what sets it apart from other eCAD packages, the most significant new feature, and - are there any designs the tool can’t handle? Listen in, read the notes, or watch the video below to find out.
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Watch the video, click here.
Show Highlights:
- At age seven Mark took apart his first CB radio, setting the tone for what would become a lucrative career. He has now been designing circuit boards for 32 years. Beginning with Protel Easytrax, he progressed and moved on to other tools. When Altium acquired Accel in 2000, Mark moved over to Altium Designer®, which he has been using ever since.
- Mark has been designing power products for Progressive Dynamics, the market leader in RV Power conversion, for almost five years. Before joining their team, their products were exclusively through-hole technology, and he was in charge of converting everything to surface mount.
- Some of their challenges were directly related to 3D capability, and Altium was extremely helpful with component collisions and UL spacing. With the help of Altium Designer, Mark designs a new circuit board every two weeks and does a product revision once a week.
- Q: “How long have you been a Beta User for Altium?” A: “Since 2015, and I am a firm believer in it. I believe there is a big disconnect with CAD software users in general, but Altium gives me the opportunity to provide feedback.”
- Q: “How has that experience been for you and what benefits do you see in keeping at it through almost five releases?” A: “Firstly, employability—things change so rapidly, you have to stay updated. Also, when our company starts using the latest update, I can help my colleagues, which is very beneficial.”
- Q: “You’ve worked with Altium Designer well in advance of its release, what is your honest opinion of the significance of Altium Designer 20 compared to some of our previous releases?” A: “Well I was one of the vocal guys stuck with Altium Designer 17. I did Beta on AD18 and 19 but just couldn’t afford to take the time to learn the new tools fully while also doing my work. When I started using AD20, coming from 17 to 20, 97% of the time, I don’t notice it anymore, the user interface is much smoother and the ease of use is back.”
- Q: “What are your top three favorite new features of AD20?” A: “The interactive router is absolutely amazing...it’s really helping us to make last-minute changes about 40% faster, plus the user interface, and there’s much more. Also, the 3D rendering engine is phenomenal compared to what it was.”
- Q: “What’s your opinion on the stability of AD20 and what is the impact on your day-to-day?” A: Even on the Beta I’ve noticed that it’s pretty stable, overall I have not had the system crashes that I’ve seen in the past.”
- Q: “How would you compare the interactive routing and any dramatic changes in AD20 to AD17?” A: “The router is amazing, I highly recommend that everyone go to this section of the presentation; the way the router works now is absolutely amazing especially or me typically dealing with 40 to 60 rules—I can get a lot more packed in because of the way the router can now hug around a pad, once you see it, you’ll be blown away.”
- Q: “If you could pick only one thing that has improved your daily design flow, what is the #1 new thing?” A: “Other than the router, we’re seriously starting to look at ACTIVEBOM® because that gives us a pulse on the way the industry is going.”
- Q: “Not to be redundant—specific to time savings—you just went from 32-bit to 64-bit, which is a huge time saving, but besides that, what is your biggest time saver?” A: “Again, for us, it’s the router.”
- Q: “What do you feel may not have been addressed in Altium 20?” A: “I haven’t seen anything in our industry, for the way we use the tool—speaking with other people at AltiumLive though, it seems they are very happy with the differential pair routing improvement.”
- Q: “Have you played around with the creepage, it sounds like you’re dealing with a lot of high voltage?” A: “Yes, thank you very much for that. That was one of the things that was tricky, with worrying about UL spacing, there’s creepage and clearance and we have to address both; having the tool do that for us—that’s going to save us a lot on board spins!”
- Q: “Have you used any other CAD tools during your career, Mike?” A: “I have used other tools, that we won’t mention, but it’s always been your tool, and honestly, everyone I’ve worked for, wanted Altium. Most of the jobs I see posted require Altium Designer experience.”
- Q: “From what you’ve seen in AD20 regarding high-speed digital, do you think there are any designs that the tool can’t handle?” A: “No, I have worked with high-speed digital before, and I don’t see anything that the tool can’t handle.”
- Q: “Which three capabilities of Altium Designer as a CAD tool, sets it apart from other CAD packages?” A: “The router, again—I think that router is absolutely fantastic. The capabilities it has, with the 3D, is far better than anything I’ve seen on any other package, and the ACTIVEBOM is another thing where Altium always seems to be one or two steps ahead of everybody else. The other thing that is going to help with collaboration is Altium 365. It removes the disconnect between the designer and everyone else in the process.”
- Q: “What made you decide to make the switch from AD17, where you’d been hanging for a while, and move onto AD20?” A: “When I got into the AD20 Beta program, I was able to start using it immediately, there’s one modal dialogue box that’s not there, but I’m not noticing any difference in the usability. I have switched over completely now.”
- Q: “What has made you stay with Altium over the years?” A: “Obviously the price point, you guys don’t nickel and dime us. The ability to go on and off maintenance while your software stays intact is very helpful, and you guys are very stable. Also, the fact that you continue to improve the tool.”
Links and Resources:
Interactive router (video of any angle routing on Linkedin) See What’s Coming in Altium Designer 20
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Recording from AltiumLive Europe—we have Max Seeley, Lead Electrical Engineer at 3M's Digital Solutions Group and Carl Schattke, Lead PCB Design Engineer from a well-known electrical vehicle manufacturer for a coffee-table chat about the value of attending and being involved with tech conferences like AltiumLive. Max and Carl also share with us how they came up with their presentation ‘Schematic to PCB Design: Passing the Baton Like a Champion’.
Watch the video, click here.
Show Highlights:
- Carl is a PCB designer with 46 years of experience in a range of high-speed and high-voltage
boards and complex controllers, sensors, and test equipment. He is passionate about teaching design and has been an Altium Designer® user since 1985.
- Max is in the Corporate Research Lab, and part of the Digital Solutions Group at 3M. His group supports the development of high-tech electronics.
- Q: “What is the importance of conferences, self-education and being involved with summits such as AltiumLive and PCB West? How does this serve your career?”
- A: Carl - “Exposure to different points of view and methodologies. CAD tools are complex by nature, with tons of features. When you see how other people do things, usually you’ll pick up ways of doing things to add to your repertoire. Also, making connections with different people increases your value to the community as well as the depth and breadth of your network”.
- A: Max - “Learning where to go to get the right information. I have learned which sources of information to focus on. I learned very valuable things from Carl, while Rick Hartley and Mike Creeden have been profound influencers, and the textbook, Electromagnetic Compatibility Engineering, by Henry Ott is a great textbook. It’s really important to ask if there’s a sound scientific explanation for any opinion.”
- Carl and Max delivered a talk called ‘Schematic to PCB Design: Passing the Baton Like a Champion’, here at AltiumLive. It’s a very useful look at the process of moving from schematic to PCB, covering aspects from setting up the schematic to transferring the data to communication and avoiding the pitfalls of the process like a champ. The race is lost when you drop the baton.
- Max has many tips he gathered over the years and Carl has a collection of questions he believes should always be asked.
- Max believes that doing presentations together presents a fantastic opportunity to learn from one another; also, teaching something forces you to pay more attention to your own process.
- Professionally, the most valuable skill we have is the ability to ask questions.
- It’s critical in the design process to slow down a little bit. Typically the excitement and adrenaline causes a rush once the schematic is done.
- Methodologies should be adaptable to whatever it is you’re designing and the timeline - we need to be ready to change with a positive mindset.
- Q: “What have the AltiumLive 2019 highlights been?”
- A: Max - “What sets the AltiumLive conference apart is the community.”
- A: Carl - “What I enjoyed the most is meeting new engineers and talking geek stuff about people’s different passions and projects.”
- Judy loves watching the interaction between students and experienced engineers—it’s a two-way street of inspiration.
- There will be a full recording of Max and Carl’s presentation available online within about a month.
Links and Resources:
- Electromagnetic Compatibility Engineering, by Henry Ott
- Tape-Ups shared by Carl at AltiumLive
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Mike Konrad’s passion is educating people about cleaning their boards at assembly. If you care about Design for Reliability (DfR), you’ll learn a lot from this podcast. Mike is President & CEO of Aqueous Technologies, which manufactures, sells, and supports machines that clean circuit boards after reflow, with the goal to remove ionic residue and eliminate the chance of electrochemical migration. He is also a fellow-podcaster; hosting a show called ‘Reliability Matters’. Hear how Mike got his start in the industry and founded Aqueous Technologies and more.
Watch the video, click here.
Show Highlights:
- Cleaning is optional for some and mandatory for others - it adds reliability.
- What does ‘cleaning’ mean with regard to the way a board comes into an assembly house? Every board has a tolerance for residue, unique to its purpose and design. This means it’s virtually impossible to predict what level of contamination each board will have.
- We tell our customers that in controlled conditions, a board may have a substantial tolerance for contamination. However, you should never assume that your board starts at zero, no matter how much care goes into the fabrication or assembly process.
- The implication of dirty boards is mostly ECM (electrochemical migration failures) which manifests in one of three ways: dendritic growth, parasitic leakage, and CAF or CAFF.
- Dendritic growth is where metal crystals on a board grow between conductors, anodes and cathodes, creating shorts and causing the board to lose conductivity. Dendritic growth in a guided missile, for instance, could have disastrous implications.
- Parasitic leakage is a rise in conductivity and a loss in resistivity, creating a current path, but not enough to cause a dead short
- CAF (Conductive Anodic Filaments) or CAFF Conductive Anodic Filament Failure, is partially caused by micro-cracks or dry weave between the layers of a board, where the plating solution from the vias and through-holes leach into the cracks
- When considering the application, it’s essential to determine the cost of failure, e.g., a pacemaker...
- When a board catches fire, it’s pretty clear what will happen to the product housing the board.
- The Montreal Protocol was a treaty that got rid of chemicals used to clean circuit boards in 1989. Vapors from solvents and chlorine molecules were damaging the ozone layer and it was ratified by every member nation of the UN, leading to the emergence of low-residue flux (sometimes erroneously called “no-clean flux”).
- Flux is mandatory when soldering to avoid oxidization. Some assemblers turned to more environmentally-friendly cleaning products that weren’t as effective, and the rest got rid of the process.
- Circuit boards have become denser and smaller, and miniaturization is causing more problems with the no-clean protocol.
- Don’t call it no-clean flux—low-residue flux is much more accurate. 55% of our customers who are running no-clean are cleaning. No-clean doesn’t mean “don’t clean”. Instead, don’t clean what doesn’t require it, but do clean what needs cleaning; it’s as simple as that.
- Mike relates a very telling litigation case in which an OEM couldn’t deliver the goods to its contract manufacturer (due to not fully cleaning contaminants from its boards) and tells us how litigation could have been avoided.
- IPC standards regarding cleanliness have recently been updated.
- What should designers be demanding in the form of cleanliness? What is the cost of failure, the criticality of the product and its climatic environment? These aspects must be included in the specifications.
- There are third-party companies that will look at your design file and create algorithms to determine its propensity for failure due to residues. It all boils down to clean boards!
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Lawrence Romine, VP of Corporate Marketing for Altium discusses what new features you can expect from Altium Designer® 20, which will be available later this year.
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Show Highlights:
- Lawrence has been with Altium for almost 15 years. At the time, the move to offshore manufacturing was prevalent and his previous experience with semi-conductors and FPGAs fit in well with Altium’s FPGA strategy. Since then, he has been involved in almost every facet of the business.
- What are the trends in the industry and why is Altium making some of the decisions we are with our product? Mainly the extreme pressure of speed and meeting intense release dates. More than half of our customers are doing 10 new designs a year and 40% of them are doing more than 25 PCB designs each year.
- This trend brings the rise of the ‘all-purpose engineer’, however, the majority of our customers are Electrical Engineers and due to the complexities and data rates of design, engineers and PCB designers must absorb more of the technical aspects and procurement responsibilities.
- What is Altium doing to absorb these trends and enhance the user experience? Altium is clearly the number one professionally-used PCB design tool. We are now in the space where the user-imperative is paramount, meaning, we must engage with users and are in the process of aligning the entire company with that strategy.
- We are diligent not to leave our existing customers behind. Some of our power users advised that they aren’t keen on some prior changes, so in Altium Designer 20 you’ll have, for example, a re-factored properties panel.
- The unified design model is coming back and being enhanced in Altium Designer 20, for example, dynamic, automatic compilation.
- The 3-release arc between Altium Designer 18 and Altium Designer 20 includes changing to 64-bit, changing the user interface, the new layer stack manager, and specifically, the materials library and the field solver technology.
- The star of Altium Designer 20 is undoubtedly interactive routing–and is already being received exceedingly well. What we have now is peerless.
- The new differential pair capability with its elegance of operation is exceptional, as well as the angle routing which can route any angle.
- Other aspects of Altium Designer 20 set us up for future development work: the first thing you’ll notice on a very large, dense schematic, is that it will be smoother and panning and zooming are enhanced.
- The new SPICE simulator was added by user request; all the models you can throw at it should work, but more development is underway.
- We added more advancements to multi-board design, such as ACTIVEBOM®, which now supports all the boards in a multi-board project.
- 3D PDF support has been enhanced, we added some library migration capability to ease the transition into Concord Pro™.
- We also added the ability to place components on the mechanical CAD side.
- If you’re doing high-voltage design, we’ve added some new creepage rules, crossover- and return path rules.
- Where are we with bug fixing? We’ve never neglected it, but perception is a reality for the person who is experiencing an issue, so an area where you will begin to see a significant enhancement is direct engagement in our forums, on the BugCrunch itself, on the ideas forum; as a mandate from the CEO directly.
- Altium Designer 20 is addressing twice as many bugs as the previous version, which amounts to +-120 bugs being crunched, based on votes collected on Altium BugCrunch.
Graph of Unique users impacted by bug fixes See What's New. Altium Designer 20, A Computer Aided PCB design Software.
Jeremy Blum is the Director of Engineering at Shaper, a start-up company that built the world's first handheld CNC technology for woodworking. Jeremy talks about his keynote speech at the AltiumLive PCB Design Summit on October 21 - 23 in Frankfurt, Germany. His talk is about product development and lifecycle management from a holistic approach to engineering and design. Learn about his engineering journey from master’s student at Cornell, to GoogleX through his latest engineering adventure launching a consumer-based product at Shaper.
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Show Highlights:
- Shaper is a company in San Fransisco which makes hand-held robotic power tools. Jeremy is the Director of Engineering, overseeing the embedded software team and electrical engineering.
- Before Shaper, he was at Google X for a few years where he worked on system architecture and electrical engineering as well as design projects for Google Glass.
- He first became involved with consumer electronics design at MakerBot Industries.
- His YouTube channel, where you can still see his uploads from as early as 2006, is very popular, and he has also written a textbook: Exploring Arduino, with the second, updated, full-color edition launching very soon.
- Jeremy’s keynote for AltiumLive is titled: Holistic Product Design for Electrical Engineers. He says his goal for this year’s keynote is to expand on the talk he gave at AltiumLive in 2018, which was about empathetic engineering.
- This year he will focus more on consumer products and the actual requirements of products working all around you, predominantly to make the process more fluid by meeting everyone’s needs.
- The reality of product design is not as abstract as it’s often made out to be. In fact, it’s very different, and Jeremy will discuss requirements that are sometimes out of your control—where compromises must be made.
- Jeremy’s inspiration for the keynote is his unique perspective from a smaller startup producing consumer products, and he’ll dive into the hands-on, full lifecycle of a product.
- It’s important to realize that despite the freely accessible tools today, there are still repercussions when IoT products aren’t reliable or useful; for example, security vulnerabilities in products used directly by consumers.
- Communication with suppliers, vendors, and manufacturers is consistently one of the most difficult parts of the job.
- Meticulous documentation is essential and helpful when it comes to working with vendors in other countries, and it becomes necessary to be able to express disappointment without the buying power of a massive organization behind you.
- The burden of knowledge is real: after PCB West, Jeremy finds himself overthinking work as he learns new ways of doing things.
- Jeremy’s approach to self-education is that it is imperative. He attends conferences, reads industry magazines and websites (taking it all with a grain of salt).
- There is no list of ‘rules of thumb’—they all have caveats. Take the time to ensure which rules apply to your situation, and understand the underlying physics.
- Jeremy feels strongly that the value of attending AltiumLive is meeting experienced people and building relationships with those who are as enthusiastic and excited about what they do.
Links and Resources:
Jeremy Blum on LinkedIn
Jeremy’s YouTube Channel
Jeremy’s new book: Exploring Arduino
JeremyBlum.com
Jeremy on the OnTrack Podcast in Feb 2018
Learn, connect, and get inspired at AltiumLive 2019: Annual PCB Design Summit.
Jonathan Gottfried is co-founder of Major League Hacking, or MLH, the official student hackathon league. Major League Hacking’s vision is to inspire students worldwide from both traditional and non-traditional backgrounds. They’ve influenced new generations of engineers; from software, hardware, and mechanical disciplines in the events they have thrown worldwide. Learn more about Jonathan and his inspiring work at MLH.
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Watch the video, click here.
Show Highlights:
- Jonathan started off as a hobbyist programmer when he was a little kid, building websites and games, and playing around with different technologies.
- As a student, he would build apps for people as a source of income, and after graduation, landed the amazing role of Developer Evangelist at Twilio Inc.
- While attending CS classes he was exposed to the massive community of passionate tech students who wanted to build things for fun and saw the considerable disconnect between what they were learning in classes and the actual day-to-day work in the industry.
- Major League Hacking is the global community for student developers. They are best known for their hackathons—weekend-long invention competitions in which developers, designers, engineers, and product people come together with their own ideas and build working prototypes in a very short time.
- Major League Hacking also offers technical workshops through its Major League Hacking localhost program, where students can learn a specific, bite-sized skill in an hour or two.
- The coaches at Major League Hacking are student leaders and role models building a diverse community on a local level.
- A new acronym, ‘STEAM’ (rather than ‘STEM’) incorporates the arts. Jon feels strongly that technology is an art and incorporates building products that resonate with people.
- Because the divide between hardware and software is blurring, Major League Hacking makes hardware available at the hacking events—exposure is the first step to becoming passionate about hardware.
- What is the impact of exposure on non-traditional students? It can be a life-changing experience to be involved in a technical community of supportive, inclusive, passionate and creative people. It can provoke a passion which sitting in a normal class isn’t always able to achieve.
- The impact on traditional STEM students includes gaining skills for the customer discovery process, for example; it’s a self-driven process.
- The hackathon process is: come up with an idea; get a team excited and on board, and then build the product together—encouraging more soft skills, such as team building, creative thinking, problem-solving, etc.
- In the traditional university model, there isn’t enough focus on the practical aspects of STEM because funding is mainly reserved for research.
- The barriers imposed by lack of hardware access are diminished by the prevalence of cloud hosting.
- Technology is being unleashed in this day and age, and in the coming years it’s going to be even more drastic—creators have a responsibility to ‘use their powers for good.’
- Major League Hacking provides resources to students for free, thanks to corporate sponsorship—get involved!
Links and Resources:
Find out more about how your company can get involved with MLH If you're a student, learn more about our upcoming hackathons here Join us in October for Local Hack Day Host a technical workshop in your club or meetup Come work for MLH Altium Student Stories
Follow MLH on social media: Jon Gottfried - @jonmarkgo Major League Hacking - @MLHacks
Learn, connect, and get inspired at AltiumLive 2019: Annual PCB Design Summit.
Happy Holden, known as the father of High-Density Interconnect and the author of The HDI Handbook, is this episode’s fascinating guest. We’ll discuss how Happy went from a small-town boy to a first-name basis with legends Bill Hewlett and David Packard, the founders of HP. Happy will be a keynote speaker at our AltiumLive Annual PCB Design Summit in Frankfurt, where he’ll discuss smart factories and how we’re going to get to the point of having digitized data. He’ll also talk about AI and his full-day talk will include HDI and the considerations you need to keep in mind.
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Show Highlights:
- Happy feels lucky to have been at the right place at the right time throughout his career. He grew up in the mountains of Oregon in a small, highly-involved logging community.
- His math and science teacher in high school had a physics Ph.D.—not a traditional education curriculum. At university, they also had professors who were Nobel prize winners, such as Linus Pauling.
- After graduation, he was invited to interview with the integrated circuit department at Hewlett-Packard, on the recommendation of one of his professors.
- HP was more advanced than IBM when it came to integrated circuits. At the time, HP was making high-frequency and RF integrated circuits out of germanium and silicon placed on sapphire wafers, called “Silicon on Sapphire” or SOS.
- Intel was still a start-up at this time.
- As the first chemical engineer at HP in integrated circuit (IC) production; he was on a frontier at HP, the only chemical engineer at a company of fewer than 2,000 people—it was exciting for 21-year-old Happy Holden.
- During his 28 years there, HP climbed to 167,000 employees and from 200 million in sales per year to 54 billion!
- HP’s first 64-bit desktop machine was called a “Desktop Calculator”, because at the time a 64-bit computer was the size of a room.
- By 1972, Happy assisted Bill Hewlett in making an HP35 ‘calculator’ which was battery-powered and fit in his pocket.
- During his keynote, Happy will show pictures of the unique solution they used for the keyboard.
- At the time, they had no idea how to make a reliable gold-plated rigid-flex printed circuit board and the result was an eight-layer logic board, double-sided keyboard, and displays soldered in at an angle.
- Apart from the keynote, Happy will present a full-day class on October 21, which he calls ‘Product realization using HDI technology”; a course on the electrical performance and the advantages and drivers of using High-Density Interconnect and blowing up the myth that you have to pay more for it.
- He will be giving some insights into unlearning several aspects of multi-layers and how miniaturization should indeed save you money by demonstrating four different case studies where complex 18- and 24-layer boards were made into an 8- or 10-layers with High-Density Interconnect and less expensive.
- An interesting aspect of this full-day course is where do we go from here, what’s the next step after HDI?
- Also, don’t miss the keynote on October 23, titled “PCB Trends That Will Impact YOUR Future” and how he started working with AI 25 years ago!
Links and Resources:
HDI Handbook Articles by Happy Holden
Learn, connect, and get inspired at AltiumLive 2019: Annual PCB Design Summit.
Today in the studio, we welcome Carl Schattke, who works for a leading electric vehicle manufacturer. Carl has almost forty years of experience in PCB Design and will teach us about the things he thinks about when designing very complex boards. He’ll discuss what he’s going to cover as a keynote at AltiumLive in Frankfurt, October 21st through 23rd, and he’ll tell us more about a talk he’s co-presenting with Max Seeley from 3M, in which they’ll discuss going from schematic to PCB layout and passing that baton like a champ. Sign up for AltiumLive now—space is limited!
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Watch the video, click here.
Show Highlights:
- Carl’s earliest memory of an engineering project and the first indication of his future career was at age three when he built a helicopter out of an Erector toy set. His father was a mechanical/electrical engineer, and at 8 years of age, he would help with point to point continuity checks. Seeing so many designs helped him develop his own style, good symmetry, and spacing.
- The advantage of having manual experience early on over someone jumping in with electronic tools is the appreciation for using the space that’s available, but today’s boards are so complicated that without that early exposure, Carl feels he would be hard-pressed to do what he does today.
- Carl will bring artwork he did to San Diego so that young designers can get a glimpse of history.
- Carl’s keynote at AltiumLive in Frankfurt will be ‘Making and Breaking the Rules’, where he’ll discuss design rules; where we’ve come from, where we are right now and where we’re going, illustrating what’s important and what we can disregard or change. Do we change the rules?
- In what ways do design rules help or hinder today’s designers? They’re a tremendous help—the clearance rule and the Altium Designer® shadow feature is quite awesome—but in order to remain profitable, we need to understand the gaps in our rules.
- One of the most important ‘tools’ designers have is the ability to communicate with their manufacturer and engineers; asking the right questions to avoid disconnects. Getting the opportunity to connect and reflect and learn, is invaluable.
- Carl will also be doing a two-hour breakout session with Max Seeley from 3M, both in Frankfurt and San Diego; ‘Schematic to PCB Design: Passing the Baton Like a Champion’. This will be very valuable for the audience because they will talk about aspects that we don’t see in videos or read about much.
- The talk will also be beneficial to the EEs laying out their own boards because several circuits will be discussed and they still have to consider all the aspects of their process.
- What is the difference between the thinking process of pure electrical engineers, vs PCB layout pros? Depending on experience, the problems are going to be the same, it all boils down to transition line theory, resistance-capacitance, inductance, and how those things work together on a circuit board.
- Where is the baton mostly dropped? Placement expectations, simple things like what side of the board is which, non-optimal layout, leaving off the timing requirements, leaving differential pairs unlabelled. Many little details can have a huge impact.
- These talks will be very practical in terms of authentic design review—things that are not generally dropped on a schematic and much more.
- Sign up now, space is limited!
Links and Resources:
AltiumLive October, San Diego AltiumLive, October, Frankfurt Picture of Rick Hartley on a light table Carl and Julie’s talk at AltiumLive 2018
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Today we speak with Bob Martin, a Senior Staff Engineer with Microchip. Bob is also known as ‘the wizard of make’, and today he’ll discuss his AltiumLive Keynote on October 11th in San Diego where he’ll teach on how to go from prototype to production with Arduino Board, transitioning it into a production-ready board that you can manufacture.
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Show Highlights:
- Bob graduated from the University of Saskatchewan, Canada in 1987 and spent his entire career in embedded systems, ending up at Microchip Technology with the unusual job title ‘Wizard of Make’ which originated at Atmel.
- The title ‘Wizard of Make’ comes from a discussion to progress his job description at Atmel. Being enamored with makers, and a maker himself - he has attended every maker fair in the Bay Area since its inception. The word ‘wizard’ came from describing some of his talents.
- Bob’s talk at AltiumLive will encompass the many facets of Arduino which enable rapid prototyping and doesn’t require starting designs over during transition to production. He will detail mostly the hardware aspects and how to make the transition to production easier.
- Because of the complexity of systems and the need for rapid prototyping today, the ease of using products like Arduino are becoming more prevalent. You need to be able to talk to your electro-mechanical designer and be more involved in systems-down thinking.
- Quick paths to production through Arduino: there are things that you need and others that you don’t and the keynote will explain what to keep and what to discard to ensure lower production costs.
- Ben will also discuss concepts of testing: where to put test points and why they’re more cost-effective, as well as lowering BOM costs. Pete Wilson, from Microchip, will do another talk about dropping pre-certified RF models on designs.
- The ecosystem of products like Adafruit, CircuitMaker, SparkFun, Pololu, MikroElektronika are all very easy to use, relatively inexpensive and almost plug and play, once again enabling rapid prototyping.
- The name ‘Arduino’ is the name of a bar in a town in Italy where Massimo Banzi taught and they used to gather there to discuss the product. Arduino’s software system made things easy, leveling the embedded field.
- Who would this talk be of interest to? Anyone who is interested will be enlightened about what, hardware-wise, makes an Arduino platform, and receive an extension of their knowledge about ACE (Arduino Component Elements).
- What is a professional maker? The pro-maker could be an electrical or mechanical engineer or some other technologist who has recognized a problem or has an idea, using Arduino or a similar system to implement a solution, but in the back of their mind, there’s always the matter of the implications of going into production.
- Eric Bogatin’s talk ‘A Downside of Open Source Designs’ fits in very well with Bob’s regarding the software component and what to look out for when using open-source designs.
Links and Resources:
History of Arduino Jeremy Blum - Handheld shaper tool video
Learn, connect, and get inspired at AltiumLive 2019: Annual PCB Design Summit.
Welcome back, today we speak with Dr. Eric Bogatin who is the Dean of Signal Integrity at Teledyne Lecroy. Eric has agreed, once again, to be a keynote speaker at AltiumLive, San Diego - October 9th to 11th and today he shares more with us about his keynote and the courses he teaches at Colorado University, Boulder, some books he’s writing, and the makers he serves. There’s no grass growing under this man’s feet.
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Show Highlights:
- LinksEric has spent most of his career in the signal integrity field on multiple sides of the fence, including R&D, product and tool development, which was his springboard into education, keeping him busy for 30 years.
- After selling his company to Teledyne le Croy, as they’re now known, he is still focusing on best design practices, and how to eliminate problems before they happen.
- Currently, Eric is more focused on best measurement practices, or how to use scopes and other instruments to analyze a product and find the weak links and root cause of issues.
- At AltiumLive this year, Eric’s talk, ‘Breaking Bad,’ encapsulates best design principles and the downside of open-source designs as well as in-depth, specific design features on boards.
- Approximately a million Arduino Uno R3 boards have been manufactured in the last ten years, but they have many ground bounce issues and terrible return path control - Eric uses them as an example of how NOT to design a two-layer board. Using open-source designs may lead to bad habits. At AltiumLive he will discuss how to use the Arduino design and show how to measure ground bounce and implement the right design guidelines - refer to Seven Design Guidelines link below.
- The message of the keynote is: don’t apply what you see in a popular open-source design, believing that it’s the right way of designing.
- Right after the keynote, Eric will be doing another talk on ‘Mastering the TDR in 45 Minutes’.
- The TDR is the most valuable instrument to characterize, as a first pass, electrical properties of circuit boards, but it has several little-known applications in the lab environment, which will all be discussed.
- Besides his work at Lecroy Eric is also involved in writing textbooks and another book on the design and characterization of transmission lines through Horizon House/Artech.
Links and Resources:
Article: Seven design guidelines, Signal Integrity Journal
Learn, connect, and get inspired at AltiumLive 2019: Annual PCB Design Summit.
Mike Buetow, the Editor in Chief and Vice President of Printed Circuit Design & Fab magazine as well as Circuit Assembly’s magazine, joins us to talk about PCB West. The publishers UP Media put on PCB West every year in Santa Clara, this year’s will be September 9 to 12. We talk about what you can expect from the show, how it got started and some colorful history from their background. Altium is also a sponsor of the show this year, and we’ll be there with a booth and Ben Jordan will be giving a class; ‘The Absolute Beginner’s Guide to RF Design.’
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Show Highlights:
- After two semesters of applied math, Mike switched courses to journalism and ended up working for a trade magazine in the SMT industry. He also worked for IPC for six years where he became embedded in this industry.
- PCB West predates UP Media by almost a decade, the original conference and exhibition launched in 1991 and is now in its 28th year.
- What sets PCB West apart as a conference after 28 years, is the in-depth format itself; a deep dive into tutorials on printed circuit design and manufacturing.
- 70% of the sessions this year, will be at least two and a half hours long, there are also 20 half-day workshops and 5 full-day workshops.
- There will be 14 talks on EMI/EMC and noise control, 20 involve some element of DFM or board fabrication, and more than 20 will cover high-speed design. The sessions are longer, attacking subjects from all angles.
- PCB West has seen considerable growth over recent years due in part, to holding it in September rather than the first quarter of the year, and has been sold out for the past eight years.
- Highlights at PCB West this year include: Eric Bogatin with two presentations, Lee Ritchey with a not-to-be-missed, full-day high-speed tutorial, Daniel Smith from Raytheon will discuss an AI development to address CAD/CAM design bottlenecks. Altium’s Ben Jordan, who is a real designer’s designer, will also be there talking on RF and microwave design.
- Susy Webb and Paul Cooke will be covering a variety of basics to include schematics, layout, and fabrication.
- Rick Hartley, the most popular speaker in the history of PCB West is back with seven presentations, including new talks on design for IoT devices.
- Joe Fama will explain his model on how Tier 3 EMS companies can compete with Tier 1 companies on BOM costs.
- Greg Papandrew is representing his new company ‘Better Board Buying’ and will highlight how to improve procurement processes.
- ‘Free Tuesday’ offers 13 free sessions including Eric Bogatin on SI and PI, and a very participative session on ‘21 (and Counting) Most Common Design Errors, Caught by Fabrication, and How to Prevent Them’ by Dave Hoover, TTM Technologies, Ray Fugitt, Downstream Technologies and Mike Tucker, Kinwong Corporation.
- Writing Your Résumé and Marketing Yourself Within Your Company by Gary Ferrari will be very interesting as it’s an often-neglected area.
- PCB West has changed over the years; today we see many more degreed engineers - a fun component (think ‘The Porch Dogs’) has been added, timing has changed, but one constant remains - the educational component.
- This year there will be a one-day exhibition on September 10, with 110 exhibits offering a lot of hands-on, equipment suppliers, demos and around 20 board shops with product samples, also some assembly people, and much more. For pre-registered attendees the exhibition is free, admittance on the day is $25, so do be sure to register on time.
Links and Resources:
PCB West Guide Tuesday, September 10 Free Sessions Exhibitors List UP Media Magazines PCB Chat Podcast
Learn, connect, and get inspired at AltiumLive 2019: Annual PCB Design Summit.
Welcome back to the OnTrack Podcast. Today we speak with Mark Forbes, Director of Product Marketing at Altium, about the history of IC development and how that directly impacted you and will continue to impact you and your design practices. Capturing some of the history is important so that we know why we do things that we may not have known happened 30 years ago - you’re really going to enjoy this deep dive into what’s happened over the last 30 years and how it impacts your career every day.
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Show Highlights:
- Mark has spent his entire career in electronics, equally divided between hardware and software.
- PCB design has been dramatically affected over time by the trajectory of ICs. The 8080 microprocessor exploded the idea that we don’t have to design discretely, but could program a computer to do all our functions.
- The main effect of increased integration on PCB design is that so many functions have been shrunk into a single chip and how to get those out to other parts of the board, is a major problem.
- The higher speeds create more heat in these smaller spaces and heat dissipation/cooling is also a major problem.
- Geometry is a huge factor in why we are able to integrate more stuff on the same chip, for example in 1971, the geometry was 10 microns (µ); on the current Snapdragon, it’s 7 nanometres (nm). If you had a thousand-page book that represents 10 microns; one twentieth of one page is 7 nm.
- Now we’re running into some physical issues such as speed - the original 4004 ran at 740 kHz, and the Snapdragon runs at 2.9GHz. If you put that into perspective, if the 4004 was a car, and you’re going 60 miles ph, the Snapdragon is going 65 miles per second.
- Speed has become important because of EMI/RMI. Back in the day the 8080 ran at 1mHz, and an antenna was a few feet long, none of the traces on the board acted as resonant antennas so, there was no radiated signal - only radio designers were concerned with frequencies and gHz whereas now, these concepts apply to the vast majority of PCBs.
- We are getting near the physical limits that can’t be broken. For example, sometimes as you try to locate a memory on a pc board that’s too far from the processor, the electrons can’t get there in one clock cycle, which is revealed by data errors. We are now fighting the flight time of an electron.
- To increase speed there are only two things you can do: 1] more cores 2] change the geometry to accommodate physical limits which are the speed of light and the size of an atom.
- Every time we leap forward with the ICs, it directly impacts board design, how do we keep up with that? Ongoing engineering education; online trade magazines; manufacturer seminars.
- Curiosity is exceedingly important.
- Where are we headed? In 20 years we probably won’t be using electronics… there will be some fundamental breakthrough.
- Telling the stories of history will inspire more development, again, stay curious!
Links and Resources:
Charles Pfeil Presentation: Effective Methods for Advanced Routing Customer success story of increased yield rate of corn
Learn, connect, and get inspired at AltiumLive 2019: Annual PCB Design Summit.
Today we have an extra-special guest named Joe Grand of Grand Idea Studio. Joe started hacking software and hardware at the ripe old age of seven! He ended up becoming a part of hacker history and you’re going to love hearing about it. He’s also co-founder of The Badgelife movement, and co-host of a Discovery TV channel called ‘Prototype This.’ We’re delighted to announce that he’s agreed to be a keynote speaker at AltiumLive, October 9 to 11 in San Diego. Registrations are now open and we encourage you to sign up now because space is limited.
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Show Highlights:
- Joe got involved with computers in 1982 and has always been fascinated by computers and electronics. When he discovered the hacker community, he fell in love and was able to make a career of it.
- They started filming ‘Prototype This’ in 2006/2007 with the producers of ‘Myth Busters’ with the aim of following the real-life engineering of building projects, showing engineering to the masses in fun ways to share the process and even explain technical concepts to grandparents.
- Joe started using Altium Designer® in the very early days and still does so to design his badges.
- The Badgelife phenomenon started at Def Con through Jeff Moss, known as Dark Tangent. It also led to the idea to present training at conferences, ushering in Joe’s training program ‘Hardware Hacking’ which he still teaches to this day. Many people are starting to make and sell badges, it’s almost a gateway to a professional engineering career.
- Joe demonstrates his flex substrate badge for Def Con China. This is where he learned to use the Altium teardrop function.
- The Def Con USA badge included blind vias and via in pads which Joe had never worked with and once again Altium Designer came to the rescue. They went from six prototypes to 28 650 pieces in one week.
- Joe’s pseudonym is Kingpin - why do hackers have pseudonyms? Most of them grew up in the hacker world, where connecting to bulletin boards required a nickname, it was about having an anonymous identity in the hacker world back then.
- The hacker world now has many different branches and is more focused on not taking everything at face value, asking questions and being curious.
- Joe relates his experience with the group called ‘L0pht’ where they were called before the US Senate to testify on the state of computer security in government. Joe will bring a world view of a hacker in engineering to AltiumLive in his keynote address: ‘When Hacking and Engineering Collide’ to include design tips, projects, and crazy contraptions built for television to mention a few.
Links and Resources:
Grand Idea Studio Twitter (@joegrand) A History of Badgelife, Def Con’s Unlikely Obsession with Artistic Circuit Boards For Hackers, Anonymity Was Once Critical. That’s Changing
Def Con China Tree L0pht Heavy Industries L0pht Senate Testimony Video https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L0pht https://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/business/2015/06/22/net-of-insecurity-part-3/ https://duo.com/decipher/an-oral-history-of-the-l0pht AltiumLive San Diego Keynote Speakers
Learn, connect, and get inspired at AltiumLive 2019: Annual PCB Design Summit.
Today we talk to Rick Hartley about EMI, noise control and why it can be so difficult to get under control in your PCB designs. Listen in, because this is really a sneak peek into the full-day class Rick will be presenting at AltiumLive.
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Show Highlights:
- What in your childhood gave you some clues that you’d end up being an Engineer? It started with trying to repair an old alarm clock at age 5, by the time I was 12 I was dabbling in radios and repairing home appliances by age 14, which made it obvious that I would end up going in this direction.
- Rick has agreed to teach a full-day class at both of this year’s AltiumLive Summits in San Diego and Frankfurt; the title of his class on October 9 in San Diego is Keys to Control Noise, Interference and EMI in Printed Circuit Boards.
- What inspires this topic? During the mid-eighties, many issues became apparent, listening to Lee Ritchey motivated action and they formed a design council with Rick sharing the information, which continued growing to where we are today.
- In September 2019, Rick will also teach at PCB West as well as Eric Bogatin, Lee Ritchey, Susy Webb, Gary Ferrari, Mark Finstad on Flex Design, Dan Beeker - and the list goes on.
- Altium will also have a booth at PCB West where Ben Jordan will speak on RF Design and do demonstrations.
- AltiumLive is not just for Altium users, Rick believes the thoughts generated at these summits are extremely valuable.
- Why is the AltiumLive class so important for designers today? Everything is fast because the rise times of IC outputs have become so fast.
- Faster rise times equates to higher frequencies, it doesn’t matter what your clock frequency is, what matters is what devices you use.
- According to Dan Beeker, most of his customers design expecting to fail EMI the first time. People need these classes to ensure solid design from the outset and passing EMI the first time.
- Dr. Bruce Archambeault recently quoted that there really is no such thing as voltage.
- Topics that will be covered at AltiumLive: The relationship between energy and noise; what to look for when you’re selecting ICs; the impact of frequency; length versus distributed circuits; the basics of grounding and grounding methods; the keys to controlling common mode current - the leading cause of EMI; routing and termination styles of transmission lines to prevent reflections and signal integrity problems; basic component placement and the impact it can have on EMI; IO connector placement and IO connector pin-out; routing to control EMI; power delivery; capacitor placement relative to via inductance; decoupling boards with routed power; how to create proper power distribution on boards based on their stackup.
- Rick will be presenting the same talk in Frankfurt at AltiumLive October 21.
- Registrations for AltiumLive will be opening soon, don’t miss it.
Links and Resources:
Previous Podcasts with Rick Last year’s AltiumLive Keynote Cartoon ‘the knack’ PCB West 2019 AltiumLive 2019, San Diego
Learn, connect, and get inspired at AltiumLive 2019: Annual PCB Design Summit.
Gerry Partida is back to talk to us about wrap plating and via filling and what the benefits, requirements and drawbacks of this technology are, and what you need to know about designing these and how this technology drives cost.
Show Highlights:
- Gerry is the Director of Engineering at Summit Interconnect with 35 years’ experience in the PCB industry, of which he spent 2 decades in boardshops.
- Were there indicators in your youth that you would end up in an engineering profession? Growing up NASA was in the middle of the Apolo program and being mesmerized by that was the beginning of it all.
- Definition of wrap plating: Wrap plating wraps copper onto the surface whenever we have a blind via or epoxy-filled hole, ensuring safe expansion and contraction during assembly.
- Benefits of wrap plating: saves real estate and protects via and with high-speed digital, it speeds up response times.
- IPC specs for wrap plating: IPC 6012 for rigid boards, 6013 for rigid-flex, and 6018 for RF. IPC4761, titled Design Guide for Protection of Printed Board Via Structures.
- The minimum wrap thickness at the knee of the hole changed recently - but the thicker the wrap, the harder it is to etch. Studies have shown that as long as you have some wrap, it’s reliable.
- By plating, epoxy-filling and plating over, we eliminate the chance of the solder going down a via next to a BGA pad.
- What are ‘butt joints’?
- Talk to your manufacturer about the optimum drill size and the requirements for epoxy-filling to prevent dimples or protrusions.
- If you have a blind via job, you must specify that they are to be filled and plated over.
- Gerry shows a hand tool that measures copper thickness around all the panels. It is used to verify, after planarizing, the lowest location and verify and cross-section to ensure that you are safe on thickness specs.
- A board shop will build in verification processes which take time - when you add epoxy-fill to a job, there are eight major manufacturing steps added to the job, which takes 24 hours in the quickest board shop. Basic board manufacture has approximately 26 to 28 steps.
- Make sure your fabricator does all the required steps for filling in-house.
- Minimizing wrap cycles creates greater consistency in your RF performance on an outer layer.
- Peel strength: when we epoxy-fill a hole it creates a smooth surface at the hole which weakens the peel strength.
- Thermal vias - conductive pastes do not conduct as much heat as copper - forget thermal paste, ask your manufacturer to plate 2mm of copper in the hole, just make the hole a bit bigger.
Links and Resources:
IPC Standards
Altium YouTube Channel
Previous Podcast on IPC4761
Summit Interconnect Website
In this episode we talk with Robert Feranec, a familiar name to many of our listeners. Apart from being a popular YouTuber, he’s also the founder and CEO of FEDEVEL Academy where he teaches PCB Design to people around the world. Robert shares what it takes to be a popular YouTuber, the work it takes to produce all the great content he creates and as a special bonus we’ll discuss Robert’s Keynote that he will deliver at AltiumLive PCB Summit this October in San Diego.
Show Highlights:
- Robert considers himself lucky to have started working on complex boards almost immediately after university. This early start provided much experience and he soon began freelancing.
- As a freelancer, he did whole-board design i.e. specifications, schematics, layout, as well as testing and firmware.
- He found he often couldn’t remember everything when using Altium Designer® and started doing YouTube videos, at first for himself, but soon garnered a following and today he has 24 000 followers.
- As he became more popular, he received many email questions daily, which was very time consuming and he decided to create a forum where he offered a course, and the rest is history. Robert teaches Altium Designer but also CAD-independent content.
- What goes into creating a video tutorial? Lots of preparation, a half-hour video takes almost two days to create. One hour of video training takes a week to create.
- AltiumLive Topic: How Other Companies Implement Their Hardware Design Process. Many people ask about how other companies implement hardware design, create and use libraries, collaboration (design flow) and working faster.
- Why do so many people only use a small percentage of their tool’s capacity? Most don’t need all the features. Many are nice to have but not always a necessity. Also, people learn to use the tool in a specific way and adding new features could interfere with an established workflow.
- Robert’s talk at AltiumLive will provide insight into libraries, creating new components, component lifecycle, creating new symbols as quickly as possible, ensuring correct footprints, and more.
- What are the challenges around collaboration? Communication between different types of engineers and how to manage several engineers working on the same project.
- What about versioning and backup? Most companies will do both in the same way.
- Document releases are very complex, there are too many emails back and forth. Robert will talk about ensuring correct documentation and release procedures.
- What attracts people to your training? The different levels of the courses, the variety, and junior designers love them to upskill and get better jobs.
Links and Resources:
AltiumLive Summit 2019
Ben Jordan Podcast
Lawrence Romine Podcast
Altium Academic Page
Robert’s YouTube
FEDEVAL Academy
Robert’s LinkedIn
Today we’re going to talk about the importance of learning, as Eric Bogatin emphasized at last year’s AltiumLive. Please join my conversation with Ben Jordan where we explore a variety of ways that you can continue to learn and drive your career forward.
Watch the video, click here.
Show Highlights:
- A current hot topic on the forum is the value of CID or Certified Interconnect Designer Certification. This certification fills in many knowledge gaps not necessarily learned in college, such as the materials sciences and these classes are taught by gurus who started out as materials scientists.
- CID and CID+ are offered by IPC and are very useful by including how to present the results of your design to all the other stakeholders like testers, fabricators, and assembly.
- The IPC was floating the idea of recertification and it was not well received mainly due to the cost.
- Lack of practical experience is a barrier to job entry.
- Multi-disciplinary and systems-based thinking are terms we often see as criteria for finding jobs, not only the core technical skills.
- We would love to hear from our audience on whether a formal certification on a tool would help your career?
- IEEE has a recognition path called a Certified Professional Engineer which requires continual learning to maintain.
- The common thread from most industry experts is that continued and ongoing learning is crucial.
- The motivation for learning is the excitement of new technologies and most PCB Designers are very curious people by nature.
- PCB Design is never monotonous, every board is a new board.
- Robert Feranec will be a keynote speaker at the next AltiumLive; his curiosity drove him to research optimizing the hardware design flow in your company and he will be presenting his conclusions.
- AltiumLive is open to anybody, not just the Altium Designer user - pre-registration is now open.
- Keep your eye on our YouTube channels and our next Podcast.
Links and Resources:
Kelly Dack Podcast: What is PCB Design? Circuit Assembly/UP Media article that raised the whole question on CID. AltiumLive Summit 2019 Altium YouTube channel
Amit Bahl, the Director of Sales and Marketing at Sierra Circuits, is here today to discuss a more holistic view of not only board fabrication, but also assembly as Sierra Circuits does both. He’s going to teach you ways to think more about your total cost of ownership. We also do some fun myth busting around PCB fabrication and assembly.
To watch the video, click here.
Show Highlights:
- Amit says his story is pretty simple: he’s here to service PCB Designers, whatever they want or need, Sierra Circuits makes it happen and have been doing so for 30 years in Sunnyvale, California. Amit spent his high school years setting up drill machines and packaging circuit boards and got his training very early on. His father started the business in 1986.
- Their business is quick-turn and they do PCB fabrication, assembly, component procurement, all really quickly from a few buildings on Evelyn Avenue.
- Tips on looking at fab and assembly more holistically: The number one mistake is a failure to send boards in, in an array; customers tend to forget to send the array panelized drawings but Sierra takes care of that for their customers.
- What data do you really need upfront? Two types of data, first for the quote and also for manufacturing.
- For quotes: Gerber or ODB data or IPC 2581 data. Then there’s everything else for fab that has to be perfect: material, surface finish, any special requirements, PCB stackup; all detailed out in a fab drawing including impedance and dielectric control.
- It’s imperative to communicate with the fabricator and visit your board shop. It helps designers understand what happens on the floor, to see where variations can come in on different machinery and to design keeping in mind that each process is in a different department.
- Some myths surrounding fab and assembly. Websites are not always updated regularly, you cannot design based merely according to what’s on the website. Pick up the phone!
- PCB materials only hold up for a maximum of three to four laminations because of thermal stress.
- Don’t trust the data sheets, even for electrical properties - every material behaves differently. Isola 370HR is very reliable and consistent.
- Price and value are not equal - look at the total cost of ownership. Do you hire supply chain first and put pricing pressure on vendors, or are you hiring a quality department first and putting quality pressures on the vendors? Focus on quality and attention to detail is essential.
- Trust begins with relationships and with trust, specific aspects can be left to the fab house.
- Sierra will be at AltiumLive 2019, October 9 - 11 in San Diego, where face to face relationships can begin.
- Sierra is launching a Google Maps Street View for their facility, where designers can ‘walk through’ the shop virtually. This should be ready within the next three weeks.
- Trends: HDI, laser drilling, flex & rigid flex.
Links and Resources:
Sierra Circuits Website
Amit LinkedIn
What is Design? Podcast with Kelly Dack
AltiumLive, San Diego, October 2019
Sierra Circuit’s HDI Design Guide
Today we have a treat for you; we’re going to talk to two bright, young leaders at Advanced Assembly, Chao Vang, who’s the Engineering Manager there, and also Sebastian Weber who’s their Process Engineer. Both have come up through Advanced Assembly, learned in the trenches and they’re going to share great tips with you on how to make sure that your assembly is done right the first time and this will save you a lot of headaches.
Show Highlights:
- Chao’s degree and background are in Computer Engineering and Electronics Technology. She started off at Advanced Assembly ten years ago as the Coding Engineer; did sales for two years, and has been in her current role for two years now.
- Sebastian has a degree and background in Electronics Engineering and quick-turn assembly. He started as a Receiving & Shipping Supervisor and due to his technical knowledge, gradually got into more technical positions and eventually Process Engineer which he’s been doing for three-and-a-half years.
- Located in Aurora, Colorado, Advanced Assembly is the original quick-turn PCB assembly service shop; the pioneer in these services 15 years ago. Built from the ground up, they are specifically geared towards prototypes and small quantity quick-turns.
- Over the years they’ve assembled over 40 000 unique designs. With a staff complement of 105, their focus is that they are real people, with real experiences ensuring their customers get exactly what and when they need it.
- What happens after you receive the data package and files? Critical files required for DFA (design for assembly) check are: BOM, XYRS (pick and place files), and all the layers of Gerbers which must include copper, paste and silkscreen. For customers who don’t have all the files, we can create them.
- Most jobs (in fact, 95%, go on hold initially due to missing files.
- What is the first step for process engineering? Review files for special assembly notes, identify designs that aren’t necessarily the best for manufacturing and communicate on issues long before the actual build.
- What issues most routinely come up on the process engineering side? Via in pad especially on BGAs, glass top micro-BGAs, overage on very small parts.
- Common issues in front-end engineering: in the BOM, parts called out are not the same as in the description, for example, capacitors and resistors as well as polarity issues.
- How many parts on an average board? Between 250 to 500 - the DFA check takes almost two hours depending on complexity and some jobs have thousands of parts.
- What can your customers do to speed things up? Talk to the assembly house and ask what they need. A schematic and list of special requirements can help tremendously.
- Tips from engineering: Keep suggestions and feedback from the assembly house and do these implementations upon the next revision to avoid rework and related costs.
- How would customer’s implementing your suggestions impact you as an assembler? Mostly shorten lead time by preventing jobs from going on hold.
- Better planning means better results - partner up with your assembler and save money.
- All front-end engineering is done before a purchase order is even produced, meaning, the customer doesn’t pay for the DFA check.
- Parts sourced during the quoting phase through proprietary software and Octopart® shortens the sourcing time from an hour, to an average of 5 to 7 minutes!
- It’s been confirmed that Advanced Assembly will be at AltiumLive, October 9 - 11, 2019
Links and Resources:
- Bil Herd from Commodore Podcast - Commodore
- AltiumLive, San Diego, October 2019