Week 6 Electronics Design

Summary

This week we completed a group assignment testing different kinds of test equipment and I also completed the design of a development board that interacts with a microcontroller using KiCad.

Assignments

Group assignment

Use the test equipment in your lab to observe the operation of a microcontroller circuit board. Here is the link to the group assignment. I wrote the section on the multimeter.

Individual assignment

Use an EDA tool to design a development board that uses parts from the inventory to interact and communicate with an embedded microcontroller

I start with watching some youtube videos in icelandic from the Fab Lab in Reykjavik. These videos describe the process to design a board in KiCad in detail.

I then downloaded KiCad and the Fab Lab component libraries per the instructions.

I opened the schematic editor and learn how to navigate. Click and hold the center mouse scrolling wheel to move the work area around similar to how it is done in Solidworks.

The next video shows how to add the Fab lab component library to KiCad and I completed the necessary steps to fetch the library on gitlab and put it in the KiCad folder.

I add the fab library and add the fab.sym file and the fab.pretty folder to the KiCad folder. I then uncheck the various other component libraries in the manage preferences menu for both footprint and symbol libraries.

Next is to start working in the schematic editor. I follow the instructions on how to create a circuit for an Attiny 412.

In the first version I connect everything using the wire function but as you can see in the picture that gets a bit messy so the next step is to use labels to mark the connections for a cleaner appearance. The result is below.

and then I add some graphics and labeling to the drawing.

I successfully follow the steps of the video until I have a clean looking circuit and the electrical rules checker in KiCad does not show any errors.

Next step is to work with the PCB editor to line up the connections. I complete the initial steps with the following result:

As I start to lay down the tracks I discover that I need to move and rotate some components so that the tracks don't end up intersecting each other.

I was able to figure out how to route the tracks around the component to avoid them intersecting each other.

At this point my instructor points out that I have used a connector component that they do not have in inventory and I replace it with the correct one. I then find all the 3D models for the various components in the 3D shapes folder and complete circuit. The final result is at the top of this page. I may redo this circuit with a Raspberry Pi Pico before making this but at this point I am not sure what is required for my final project as what I need is simply a device that turns a motor on and off and for future spiral development has the ability to keep a motor on for a set amount of time and then turn itself on again. I also adjust the edge cut so that the J2 connector is hanging off the board, this is necessary in order to be able to use it.