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6. Electronic Design

Objectives of the Week

  • Select and use software for circuit board design

  • Demonstrate workflows used in circuit board design

Schedule

Wednesday, Feb 25 - [Global Class - Electronic Design][]

Thursday, Feb 26: - Electronic Design

Friday, Feb 27: - Electronic Design

Assignments

Group assignment:

  • Use the test equipment in your lab to observe the operation of a microcontroller circuit board (as a minimum, you should demonstrate the use of a logic analyzer)

  • Document your work on the group work page and reflect what you learned on your individual page

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

Class Notes

Thursday - Basics of Electronics

Circuits

../../images/Week6/board_design1.jpg

Continuity Mode - Used to test the connection across components or a circuit

../../images/Week6/board_design1.jpg

Measuring Voltage - Turn the multimeter dial to V with the straight line (DC voltage)

Measured Values

  • AD: 4.96 V

  • AB (across resistor): 2.28 V

  • BD (across LED): 2.64 V

Measuring Tools

Multimeters

  • Measures values instantaneously

  • Example shown above

  • Cannot measure signals that change very quickly (ex: PWM)

Oscilloscope

  • Records signal behavior over time

  • Can change:

    • Vertical axis → voltage scale

    • Horizontal axis → time scale

  • Allows you to observe electrical potential differences over time

  • Useful for observing signal bounce during startup

    • Set a trigger so recording begins when the signal starts

    • Often recorded at very small time frames (milliseconds)

Communication Lines

SCL

  • Clock signal

SDA

  • Data signal

Friday - Designing a Board

Elements to Include

  1. MCU (Microcontroller Unit)

  2. Power supply

  3. Programming interface

  4. I/O (inputs / outputs)

  5. Extras

    • Expose extra pins so additional components can be added later

Board Design

../../images/week6/board_design1.jpg

../../images/week6/board_design2.jpg

  • Ensure that pins match between the schematic and the board diagram

Adding a Capacitor

  • A capacitor is needed to prevent the chip from resetting due to power instability

  • Helps stabilize voltage when the chip changes operating states

../../images/week6/board_design3.jpg

Button Circuit

  • A pull-up or pull-down resistor is required

  • This ensures current flows regardless of whether the button is pressed

  • Allows the microcontroller to detect when the button is pressed while keeping the circuit stable

  • Pull-Up Resistor

../../images/week6/board_design_pullup.jpg

  • Pull-Down Resistor

../../images/week6/board_design_pulldown.jpg

Final Board

../../images/week6/board_design_final.jpg

PCB Design Workflow

  • Switch to PCB Editor (upper right corner)

  • Update schematic → PCB editor