About Me Assignments Projects

Week 8 Assignment

ELECTRONICS DESIGN

This week the individual assignment is to design and fabricate our own PCB (Printed Circuit Board), while our group's task revolves around collaboratively testing various electronic testing equipment. It's an exciting opportunity to apply my skills in PCB design and fabrication while also contributing to the group effort in ensuring the efficiency and accuracy of our testing instruments

Group Assignment Week 8

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KEYCHAIN DEVLOPMENT BOARD

"Keychain Development Board" - This is my brainchild, my vision to create a versatile and compact tool for electronic prototyping. Picture this: a tiny, lightweight board that fits snugly on your keychain, ready to unleash your creativity anytime, anywhere. With this innovative device, you can bring your electronics projects to life on the fly.

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KiCad

KiCad is an open-source Electronic Design Automation (EDA) software that allows users to design electronic circuit schematics and convert them into PCB layouts. You can download KiCad by clicking here.

Fab Academy provides its own library of symbols and footprints for KiCad. I downloaded the .zip file from the following link:

https://gitlab.fabcloud.org/pub/libraries/electronics/kicad

Adding Libraries to KiCad

To add the symbols file in KiCad, follow these steps:

  1. Open KiCad
  2. Navigate to Preferences > Manage Symbol Libraries > Add file
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    add the symbol files and click ok
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  • Importing Footprints:
    1. Ensure all components from the schematic have corresponding footprints assigned in the PCB editor.
    2. Go to Preferences > Footprint Libraries Manager to verify and add footprints if necessary.
    3. Select and assign footprints to components by placing them on the PCB layout.
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    SAMD11C Microcontroller

    Overview

    The SAMD11C is a microcontroller from Microchip's SAM D11 series, designed for small, low-power applications that require high performance. It features a 32-bit ARM Cortex-M0+ processor core running at up to 48 MHz, offering a good balance of power efficiency and processing capability.

    Pinout

    The SAMD11C microcontroller typically comes in a compact package with a variety of pins for different functionalities:

    Features

    The SAMD11C microcontroller offers a range of features suitable for various embedded applications:

    Sample Image samd11 datasheet

    OTHER COMPONENTS

    Starting with the essentials like LEDs, switches, and the WS2812 LED, I also incorporated additional output device pinouts and power rails and switch as a input device . To guarantee optimal performance, I integrated a voltage regulator circuit into the schematic. This regulator would stabilize the input voltage, ensuring a consistent 3.3 volts supply to all components. This step is crucial for enhancing the reliability and overall performance of the development board. Moreover, I utilized an online resistor calculator to determine the appropriate resistor values for the LEDs, ensuring they receive the correct current for optimal brightness while preventing damage. With these crucial components and calculations in place, my schematic is taking shape, laying the foundation for the subsequent stages of PCB layout design and fabrication.

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    Schematic drawing in KiCad

    Step-by-Step Guide

    1. Creating a New Project:

    2. Opening Schematic Editor (Eeschema):

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    3. Adding Components:

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    4. Wiring Components:

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    5. Adding Labels and Global Labels:

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    6. Adding Power Symbols and Ports:

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    7. Annotating Components:

    9. Saving Your Schematic:

    12. Exporting:

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    Additional Tips:

    download the schematic

    Converting Schematic to PCB and PCB Routing in KiCad

    1. Converting Schematic to PCB:

    Opening PCB Layout Editor:

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    2. Setting Design Rules (DRC):

    Configuring Trace Width and Clearance:

    Setting Via Parameters:

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    3. PCB Routing Process:

    Routing Traces:

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    Routing Bottom layer :


    Download THE CODE (ZIP)

    WS2812B WITH SAMD

    this is the sketch that i used for the WS2812B individual addressable led

        
        #include Adafruit_NeoPixel.h
    
          // Pin connected to the NeoPixels (WS2812B)
          #define LED_PIN 15
          
          // Number of NeoPixels
          #define LED_COUNT 1
          
          // Create NeoPixel object
          Adafruit_NeoPixel strip(LED_COUNT, LED_PIN, NEO_GRB + NEO_KHZ800);
          
          void setup() {
            // Initialize NeoPixel strip
            strip.begin();
            strip.show(); // Initialize all pixels to 'off'
          }
          
          void loop() {
            // Cycle through different colors
            rainbow(20); // Change colors every 20ms
          }
          
          // Function to cycle through rainbow colors
          void rainbow(uint8_t wait) {
            for (uint16_t i = 0; i < 256; i++) {
              uint32_t color = Wheel((i + strip.numPixels()) & 255);
              for (int j = 0; j < strip.numPixels(); j++) {
                strip.setPixelColor(j, color);
              }
              strip.show();
              delay(wait);
            }
          }
          
          // Input a value 0 to 255 to get a color value.
          // The colors are a transition r - g - b - back to r.
          uint32_t Wheel(byte WheelPos) {
            WheelPos = 255 - WheelPos;
            if (WheelPos < 85) {
              return strip.Color(255 - WheelPos * 3, 0, WheelPos * 3);
            }
            if (WheelPos < 170) {
              WheelPos -= 85;
              return strip.Color(0, WheelPos * 3, 255 - WheelPos * 3);
            }
            WheelPos -= 170;
            return strip.Color(WheelPos * 3, 255 - WheelPos * 3, 0);
          }
          
    
      



    Download THE CODE (ZIP)

    THE KEY CHAIN TEST

    hears is how it looks with my keys

    special thanks to nihal for donating the keychain

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    Download my design (ZIP)
    Download png design (ZIP)