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The PCB Design Podcast features conversations on all facets of PCB Design and Hardware Development
Episodes
Tuesday May 10, 2022
Tuesday May 10, 2022
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
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
Wednesday May 04, 2022
Wednesday May 04, 2022
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
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
Wednesday Apr 27, 2022
Wednesday Apr 27, 2022
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
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
Wednesday Apr 20, 2022
Wednesday Apr 20, 2022
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
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
Tuesday Apr 12, 2022
Tuesday Apr 12, 2022
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
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:
- 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
Tuesday Apr 05, 2022
Tuesday Apr 05, 2022
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
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
Tuesday Mar 29, 2022
Tuesday Mar 29, 2022
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
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
Tuesday Mar 22, 2022
Tuesday Mar 22, 2022
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
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
Full OnTrack Podcast Library
Altium Website
Download your Altium Designer Free Trial
Learn More about Altium Nexus
Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics
Monday Mar 14, 2022
Monday Mar 14, 2022
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
Connect with Zack on LinkedIn
Download your Altium Designer Free Trial
Learn More about Altium Nexar
Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics
Friday Mar 11, 2022
Friday Mar 11, 2022
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:
Follow GreatScott on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook
GreatScott Altium Designer Affiliate Page
Connect with Zack on LinkedIn
Altium 365: Where the World Designs Electronics
Tuesday Mar 01, 2022
Tuesday Mar 01, 2022
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
- 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
Thursday Feb 24, 2022
Thursday Feb 24, 2022
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
Thursday Feb 17, 2022
Thursday Feb 17, 2022
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
Wednesday Feb 09, 2022
Wednesday Feb 09, 2022
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
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
Tuesday Jan 04, 2022
Tuesday Jan 04, 2022
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
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
Tuesday Dec 21, 2021
Tuesday Dec 21, 2021
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
IPC, the Association Connecting Electronics Industries
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
Download your Altium Designer Free Trial
Learn More about Altium Nexar
Wednesday Dec 15, 2021
Wednesday Dec 15, 2021
“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
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
Tuesday Dec 07, 2021
Tuesday Dec 07, 2021
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
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
Tuesday Nov 30, 2021
Tuesday Nov 30, 2021
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
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
- 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
Tuesday Nov 23, 2021
Tuesday Nov 23, 2021
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
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