Electronics Design

Reduced Process This Week:

1. Download KiCAD and FAB libraries
2. Use KiCAD tools to design the schematics and PCB layout
3. Use the KiCAD viewer to look at a rendering of your PCB

Tasks This Week:

Group assignments:

• Use the test equipment in your lab to observe the operation of a microcontroller circuit board

Individual assignments:

• Use the test equipment in your lab to observe the operation of a microcontroller circuit board

• Use an EDA tool to design a development board that uses parts from the inventory to interact and communicate with an embedded microcontroller
• extra credit: try another design workflow
• extra credit: design a case for it

Below, I walk through some of the notes/screenshots that I have from my work this week and explain my thought process as I was completing my assignments.

1. Dowload KiCAD (Version 9/Latest Version if possible, to avoid issues recitfying libraries later)
2. Download the libraries from FAB Academy for the specific footprints and symbols used in FAB

3. Open KiCAD and go to Preferences -> Manage Symbol Libraries and add the symbol file from the FAB github. Unless changed/updated it should be named something like "fab.kicad_sym"

4. Follow the same process for Preferences -> Manage Footprint Libraries. There should be a file with a .pretty extension which can be used in place of the folder above

5. Create a new file

6. Enter the Schematic Editor and use the tools labeled 1.) and 2.) to place your symbols and connect them using wires

7. Make sure that all of your symbols are assigned to footprints using the "Assign Footprints" tools

8. Open the PCB Editor and go to Tools -> Update PCB from Schematic
9. This will create a jumbled mess of components. Seperate them, and connect them using the path tool to create a final product that can be used to create a millable PCB

10. To view the PCB in a 3D Render: In the PCB Editor, go to View -> 3D Viewer

11. Using the Multimeter for continuity
• Turn the multimeter on to the resistance setting
• Put one of the probes on the outside/ground of your milled PCB
• Put the other probe on the pads of your PCB and check to make sure that current can run from each part of the board that is connected to each other, and that there are no leaks
12. Comparison Table for RP240 and SAMD 21 (the two available microcontrollers at my Lab) from W04

    	RP 2040	SAMD 21
    Architecture	ARM	ARM
    SRAM	264 KB	32 KB
    OS	Not Applicable	Not Applicable
    Clock Speed	133 MHz	48 MHz
    Number of Cores	2	Not Applicable
    Flash	2MB	256KB
    Compatible Languages	Micro/Circuit Python, Arduino	Micro/Circuit Python, Arduino
    Pins	11 Digital 4 Analog 11 PWM 1 I2C 1 UART 1 SPI 1 SWD	11 Digital 11 Analog 10 PWM 1 DAC 1 I2C 1 UART 1 SPI 1 SWD

1. One of the biggest improvements that I would make to my workflow this week would be to start with KiCAD 9 and not have to update it. As mentioned below, making sure I have the right libraries was one of the more frustrating parts of the week, so not having to update mid week would've been very helpful
2. This week I also tried to have better naming conventions for my images so that when I go to upload them, I have an easier time finding them.

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