News & Updates
Blog
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What Target Impedance Should You Use in Your PDN?
A number of us on this blog and in other publications often bring up the concept of target impedance when discussing power integrity in high-speed designs. Some designs will be simple enough that you can take a “set it and forget it” approach to design a functional prototype. For more advanced designs, or if you’re fine-tuning a new board that has existing power integrity problems, target impedance is a real consideration that should be considered in your design.
Blog
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An Overview of Dual Power Supply Design
Dual power supplies are circuits that generate two different output voltages from a single input source. The simplest method of generating dual output voltages is to use a transformer with two taps on the output winding. Bespoke transformers can have any voltage ratio depending on the number of windings in each part of the output side of the transformer.
Blog
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Overlapping Planes in Your Mixed-Signal PCB Layout
With digital boards that are nominally running at DC, splitting up a power plane or using multiple power planes is a necessity for routing large currents at standard core/logic levels to digital components. Once you start mixing analog and digital sections into your power layers with multiple nets, it can be difficult to implement clean power in a design if you’re not careful with your layout.
On-Demand Webinar
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ECAD MCAD Capabilities For Today’s Most Demanding Designs
Working between the Electronic and Mechanical design domains brings unique challenges. ECAD and MCAD tools have different design objectives and have evolved down different paths, and so have the way they store and manage their design and project data. To successfully design these products, the designers must fluidly pass design changes back and forth between the ECAD and MCAD domains beyond outdated file exchanges.
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Follow Mixed Signal PCB Design Guidelines With the Best CAD Tools
High-speed digital PCBs are challenging enough to design, but what about mixed-signal boards? Many modern systems contain elements that operate with both digital and analog signaling, and these systems must be designed to ensure signal integrity in both domains. Altium Designer has the layout and signal integrity tools you need to ensure your mixed-signal PCB design does not experience interference and obeys important design standards.
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Get Ready for WiFi 7 under the 802.11be Standard
Just as WiFi 6 and 6E are starting to hit the market and new chipsets become available, WiFi 7 is in the works under the 802.11be standard. While this technology still has not hit the market, I would expect more inquiries for experimental systems, evaluation modules, and surface-mountable modules to come up once the first chipsets become available. Now is the time to start thinking about these systems, especially if you’re developing evaluation products to support WiFi 7.
Blog
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What Goes Into Rugged Electronics Design?
Rugged electronics need to take a punch mechanically, but there is more that goes into a rugged system than being able to survive a drop on the pavement. This is as much about enclosure design as it is about component selection and manufacturing choices. Mil-aero designers often use the term “harsh environment” to describe a number of scenarios where an electronic device’s reliability and lifetime will be put to the test. If you want to make your next product truly rugged, it helps to adopt some of their strategies in your PCB layout.
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PCB Testing 101: Important Methods and Metrics
There are many quality checks used to ensure a design will be manufacturable at scale and with high quality, but a lot of this can happen in the background without the designer realizing. No matter what level of testing and inspection you need to perform, it’s important to determine the basic test requirements your design must satisfy and communicate these to your manufacturer. If it’s your first time transitioning from prototyping to high-volume production, read our list of PCB testing requirements so that you’ll know what to expect.
On-Demand Webinar
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Getting Started with Design Rules and Constraints
Getting started with design rules can sometimes be a difficult task, but it doesn’t have to be. Altium Designer has added a new design rules user interface along with a new way to define rules, while not compromising past methods. Now, rules and constraints have a design-centric view rather than a rules-centric view which allows for easier visualization and is less prone to error. Watch this video to learn how you can best utilize the improved Rules 2.0 design rule interface.
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Using SDRAM vs. DDR RAM in Your PCB Design
Embedded computers, vision devices, DAQ modules, and much more will all need some memory, whether it’s a Flash chip or a RAM module. Normally, something like a Flash memory chip or a small eMMC module would not be used for temporary storage as the device requires constant rewrites. Instead, if you happen to need a volatile memory solution, you would go for static (SRAM) or dynamic RAM (DRAM). If you need to decide which type of memory to use in your board, keep reading to see some of the basic design guidelines for SDRAM vs. DDR memory modules.
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PCB Ground Plane Best Practices in Your Multilayer Stackup
Using a PCB ground plane in a stackup is the first step towards ensuring power and signal integrity, as well as keeping EMI low. However, there are some bad myths about ground planes that seem to persist, and I’ve seen highly experienced designers make some simple mistakes when defining grounds in their PCB layouts. If you’re interested in preventing excess emissions and ensuring signal integrity in your layout, follow these simple guidelines for implementing a PCB ground plane in your next board.
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Pi.MX8 Project – Introduction and Overview
Do you have extensive knowledge about the Pi.MX8 module? We're excited to introduce a new series of articles focusing on an innovative approach to utilizing this module. In this inaugural chapter, we provide insights into the preparation for this project and detail the elements that will be used.
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How to 'Shift Left' and Connect Procurement and Engineering? Altium 365 BOM Portal Step-by-Step
Learn why BOM management is critical for both procurement managers and electronic engineers. Altium 365 BOM Portal helps to bridge the gap between these worlds. Discover how!
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Altium 365 Assembly Assistant: Available Now in the Altium Store
Happy New Year! 🎉 We are thrilled to announce that the Altium 365 Assembly Assistant is now officially released and available for direct purchase through the Altium Store.
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Simple Documentation for Hand PCB Assembly
Creating documentation for hand PCB assembly does not prevent the same documentation from being utilized to assist in automated PCB assembly. Learn more about the optimal format for this data to enhance both your hand PCB assembly and overall assembly processes.
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Constraint Manager: Precision in Every Detail
Explore the powerful features of Altium Designer 24! Experience Constraint Manager and revolutionize your PCB design with reusable constraint sets, schematic-to-board rule transition, easy class and differential pair grouping, and more.
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Accelerate Last-Minute Design Changes with Altium 365
Curious about how to solve production blockers before they derail your product launch? Explore how Altium 365® can help you swiftly manage last-minute design changes.
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Design Phase – Lid Assembly Electronics Part 1
We are advancing our Open Source Laptop project to the next stage: assembling lid electronics. In the first part of this phase, we are focusing on the electronics and PCB design of the webcam module.
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3 Common Challenges Stopping Your Production Line
The efficiency of production lines is crucial for any successful hardware product development. However, some challenges derail these processes. Do you face these problems, too? Let’s find out!
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Explore New Possibilities with True 3D-MID Design
3D-MID technology seamlessly integrates electrical circuits with three-dimensional mechanical parts. This unique fusion of functionality unlocks a myriad of possibilities across various application areas. Explore more about this innovative feature, available in Altium Designer 24, to delve into the fascinating world of the 3D design process.
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Strategies to Minimize PCB Damage
The PCB design process is always an exciting journey for a designer or the founder of a project. The first run of it can be breathtaking. In this article, we delve into strategies for minimizing PCB damage in the case of an exemplary circuit.
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Fragmented Feedback Loops: The Hidden Cost in PCB Design and Testing
Explore the hidden impact of fragmented feedback loops in PCB design and testing. Check how minor communication gaps lead to significant financial burdens and learn how to address them.
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Altium 365 GovCloud 101: Everything You Need to Know
Would you like to improve the protection of your data? Altium 365 GovCloud can help you achieve these goals. It’s a version of Altium 365, engineered to meet the stringent demands of US government regulations.
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Design Phase – Lid Assembly Mechanics Part 3
We are heightening the anticipation for our Open Source Laptop project. In this chapter, we delve into the ambient light sensor module. Learn more about how to implement it into this project.
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PCB CoDesign: Design Faster Together
Experience accelerated design collaboration with PCB CoDesign, exclusively available on Altium Designer starting from December 13th. This innovative feature adopts a collaborative approach by seamlessly integrating schematic and PCB design, enabling multiple engineers to work on the same project. Explore this cutting-edge feature on our newly launched page dedicated to its functionalities.
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6 Steps to Accelerate the Development of Complex Products
Learn the key lessons from the presentation at Iteration22; “Joe Justice, Wikispeed - Everyone Must Be a Chief Engineer at SpaceX.” Read on and discover how to speed up the development of complex products.
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Design Phase – Lid Assembly Mechanics Part 2
We are continuing our journey into lid assembly mechanics inside the Open Source Laptop Project. In this chapter, we are focusing on the sensor PCB above the display panel.
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