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Browse our past newsletters on PCB design and industry information

Signal Integrity Evangelist Eric Bogatin, our Expert Insider to DesignCon 2020 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 Read Article

OnTrack Newsletter: Cloud-based Design, RF and Design Tips OnTrack Newsletter December 2019 Vol. 3 No. 7 Altium 365: The New Frontier of Collaborative Cloud-Enabled Electronics Realization In this interview, we talk with Leigh Gawne, Chief Software Architect at Altium, to learn about Altium 365 and the impact he foresees that Cloud-enabled electronics realization will have on design engineers and the entire industry. (To see Leigh Gawne and team collaboratively design a board LIVE in Altium 365 at this Read Article

High Speed Design Features Growing Forward with Altium and Simberian Partnership Happy New Year from Altium! In our first article of the year we talk to Roger Paje, VP of Sales and Marketing at Simberian about our recently formed formal partnership and how their highly accurate field solver technology is helping usher in new high-speed design capabilities in Altium Designer such as layer stack, impedance and surface roughness modeling. These enhancements began in Altium Designer 19, were amplified in Altium Designer 20, and Read Article

Altium 365: The New Frontier of Collaborative Cloud-Enabled Electronics Realization In this interview, we talk with Leigh Gawne, Chief Software Architect at Altium, to learn about Altium 365 and the impact he foresees that Cloud-enabled electronics realization will have on Design Engineers--as well as the entire industry. (To see Leigh Gawne and team collaboratively design a board LIVE in Altium 365 at this year’s AltiumLive conference, watch this video). Judy Warner: Leigh, please tell our readers about your background and your Read Article

OnTrack Newsletter: Altium Designer 20 Sneak Peek, Impedance Measurement, Food for Thought - November 2019 OnTrack Newsletter Nov. 2019 Vol. 3 No. 6 A First Look Inside Altium Designer 20 November marks the launch of Altium Designer 20, and we thought you’d be like to hear from a couple of Altium veteran “insiders” about what you can expect to see in this latest release. Lawrence Romine, VP of Corporate Marketing and Ben Jordan, Technical Marketing Director, Corporate (both engineers) share what their favorite new features are and which ones they Read Article

OnTrack Newsletter: Music & Electronics, MCU Selection, Brain Food - October 2019 OnTrack Newsletter October 2019 VOL. 3 No 5 PianoArc: A Circular Piano Fit for Princes and Mega Stars Earlier this year I met a fascinating designer at the San Diego Altium^® Users Group. Dave Starkey told me about a circular piano he and his partners had designed and built called the Pianoarc. In this interview, learn more about Starkey’s background and how he came to co-create this unique instrument that now graces a Middle Eastern Palace and is Read Article

PianoArc: A Circular Piano Fit for Princes and Mega Stars Earlier this year I met a fascinating designer at the San Diego Altium Users Group. Dave Starkey told me about a circular piano he and his partners had designed and built called the Pianoarc. In this interview, learn more about Starkey’s background and how he came to co-create this unique instrument that now graces a Middle Eastern Palace and is played around the world by PianoArc visionary Brockett Parsons, keyboardist for Lady Gaga. Dave Read Article

OnTrack Newsletter: Student Hackers, Crosstalk and Design Blogs - August 2019 OnTrack Newsletter August 2019 VOL. 3 No 4 Major League Hacking Fuels Students Passion for Engineering To bridge the gap between theoretical university-level electrical and computer science education and the kind of practical hands-on experience young engineers need and crave, Jonathan Gottfried co-founded Major League Hacking (MLH). In this interview Jonathan shares the inspiration behind MLH and talks about the impact of the hundreds of Read Article

Major League Hacking Fuels Passion for Engineering Students Judy Warner: Jon, please share briefly about your background and what inspired you to co-found Major League Hacking. Jonathan Gottfried: I grew up tinkering with technology, but when I went to college to study Computer Science it was so much more academic than the creative building that I loved to do. I switched majors to history, started doing programming work as a consultant on the side, and ended up graduating and becoming a Developer Read Article

OnTrack Newsletter - July 2019 Vol 3. No. 3 OnTrack Newsletter July 2019 VOL. 3 No 3 AltiumLive 2019: The Hat Trick The third annual AltiumLive: Annual PCB Design conference is almost here again and will be located in San Diego and Frankfurt. Learn more about all that’s in store for this year’s event and how we plan to pull off a perfect hat trick! Read Article EIPC: A European Community of PCB Professionals In mid-June, I had the great pleasure of attending my first EIPC Conference in Read Article

EIPC: A European Community of PCB Technology Professionals In mid-June, I had the great pleasure of attending my first EIPC Conference in Leoben, Austria (pictured above). EIPC (European Institute for the PCB Community) is an organization that has been around for over 50 years and serves the European Electronics Industry and supply chain while maintaining activities that involve the global industry. In this article, I speak with Tarja Rapala, the technical director for EIPC to discuss the purpose Read Article

OnTrack Newsletter: PCB Design Zen, Component Management and Brain Food - June 2019 .showvideo:hover { opacity: 0 !important; transition: 0.3s !important } @media screen and (max-width: 600px) {.mobile-column { display: block } .p100 { width: 100% !important; height: auto !important } .p80 { width: 80% !important } .condensed { width: 100% !important; padding: 0 !important; display: block } .condensed90p { width: 90% !important; padding: 0 !important; display: block } .padleftright20 { padding: 0 20px 0 20px } .initial { height Read Article

The Zen of Electronic Product Design and Wellness When you think of a hardware startup, chances are your first thought isn’t about a meditation training device. Yet in our very noisy, stressful world, meditation is becoming a pervasive and effective way to reduce stress and improve overall mental wellness. In this article, you’ll learn about how Core Wellness Co-founder, Sarah McDevitt, left Microsoft to launch Core Wellness and develop the Core personal meditation trainer. Judy Warner: Please Read Article

Navigating the Complexities of Component Libraries and Data Management Keeping your component libraries and data organized, accurate and optimized for team use is critical for all engineers and PCB designers. Unfortunately, it can be extremely tedious and it takes time and energy away from the actual design of the board and products. It’s akin to an artist spending 75% of their time organizing art supplies and only 25% on painting! Below you’ll find a variety of content sources that we hope will help you streamline Read Article

How to Build a Clean and Consistent PCB Data Library Judy Warner: Cherie, before we get started, please take a moment to define what a “library” is and what the full scope of that entails. Cherie Litson: Most of us would define a “library” as a consistent file of symbols and a consistent file of footprints (decals, land-patterns, etc.) connected with some form of a database. You don’t even need to have the database, just a good schematic symbol file and a footprint file and a method to link them Read Article

Datasheet Reliability with Ben Jordan When are datasheets accurate and can we rely on them? Ben Jordan is back on the show to discuss datasheets and how to achieve reliability for your use case. We also cover an unusual question from the forum about gilding that you won’t want to miss. Ben always enjoys catching up with the Lounge Forum, and this week, one of our users, Tim Philips, posted a datasheet that he had come across for an inductor. Listen in to explore these topics in this Read Article

Deep Space Gas Stations Prepare for In-Space Market One of our favorite things to do here at Altium is to support entrepreneurs and their innovative startup companies by equipping them with our PCB design tools. Orbit Fab is one such company. In this article, partners Daniel Faber and Jeremy Schiel share their vision for the future of space and the critical need for satellite fueling stations. With help from our partners at Bolt, a technology accelerator, Orbit Fab has developed a preliminary Read Article