Electronics design

In this group assignment we observed the operation of an oscilloscope, taking the Quentorres PCB as a reference. We were able to measure the voltage of all the pins of the XIAO RP2040, verify the continuity of its traces and its performance.

Israel, our teammate, who is a mechatronic engineer, was our guide. He helped us interpret the oscilloscope readings and understand its main functions.

The group conclusions of this assignment can be found on our laboratory page by clicking here

This is the first time I have worked with an oscilloscope, I did not know that so many measurements could be made with this device. In previous assignments related to electronics, I had only used the multimeter and honestly it was very helpful for me, especially when I accidentally broke partially a trace and I wasn't sure if it still had continuity.

But thanks to the help of this equipment, I was able to verify that it has indeed no continuity, this allowed me to make a decision in time, if not, I would probably have finished soldering and my PCB card would not have worked, having to start it again.

Since it was not necessary, I was able to correct it, I soldered a copper bridge over the broken trace and continued with my work. 

So definitely, this type of equipment is very good not only to verify but also for preventing and correcting errors.

This has been the most difficult task of the course, not only because we are just in exams and I have had to grade my students' assignments, but also because I have no electronic background, I have never designed an electronic circuit, and although I understand the logic of the PCB's I've seen before, I couldn't make one on my own with the knowledge I have so far.

I was observing the work that our teammate Israel did and although he did it skillfully, it was very difficult for me to understand what he was doing. That is why I decided to watch a couple of tutorials and schedule an appointment with my advisor Luis Hernandez, unfortunately I will not finish this task on time. 

Below I will put some photographic evidence of my follow-up to the Kicad tutorial:

I started with Kicad because I was told it was very easy to use and there are several tutorials on YouTube. When I decided to get into the FabAcademy couse, I decided to download Autodesk Fusion and I had the opportunity to practice in it with the help of my advisor Luis Hernández. 

I still don't know which one I'm going to use, first I need to meet with my instructor to have a class and a solid guide on what I want to design and how I'm going to do it. Need to learn from basics.

I do not feel at all satisfied with the progress I made for this assignment because I have always tried to do it as best as possible, I definitely have a lot to do and I hope I will do it satisfactorily soon.