OnTrack: The PCB Design Podcast

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.