Week 06 - Electronics design

Individual

KiCad

This week, I worked on designing my custom PCB using KiCad. It was my first practical experience in creating a complete schematic and developing a PCB layout independently. I am satisfied with this progress because it represents an important step toward learning embedded hardware design.

KiCad was used to create the schematic diagram, connect electronic components, and design the PCB layout. The software provides integrated libraries, which allow easy selection of electronic symbols and footprints. It also includes a 3D visualization tool that helps preview the physical structure of the board before fabrication.

During the design process, I learned the importance of basic PCB engineering principles, such as maintaining proper trace spacing, organizing components logically, and performing design rule checks to reduce manufacturing errors.

Although I have not fabricated the board yet, this assignment helped me understand the fundamental workflow of PCB development, including schematic creation, layout routing, and preparation of manufacturing files.

Working with KiCad was a valuable learning experience, and I believe this knowledge will be useful for future embedded systems, robotics, and electronics engineering projects.

Setting Up the Development Environment on Ubuntu

The working environment was based on Ubuntu, and I installed KiCad 9.0 for PCB design and development.

I used the terminal to install the software because it is an efficient method for managing packages and maintaining a clean development environment. Working with the terminal also helped me become more familiar with Linux-based engineering workflows.

The installation process included updating the system package list and installing KiCad from the repository.

The following commands were executed in the terminal:

sudo apt update

sudo apt upgrade

sudo apt install kicad 9.0

After installation, I launched KiCad 9.0 and verified that the schematic editor, PCB layout tool, library manager, and 3D visualization system were working correctly.

This setup provided a stable and reproducible platform for electronics design and allowed me to focus on PCB engineering tasks.

Setting kicad

after that I pressed the plugin button

And search FabLib and install

Designing Schematic

The main purpose of this project was to design a development board based on the ESP-12E module. I planned to create a schematic that would serve as the foundation for a wireless embedded system platform.

The schematic design process involved defining the electrical connections of the microcontroller module and supporting components such as resistors, indicators, and connectors. The goal was to ensure stable operation of the system while maintaining simplicity and reliability of the circuit.

I focused on proper power distribution, signal routing preparation, and component organization before moving to the PCB layout stage. Special attention was given to basic embedded hardware requirements, such as current limiting for the LED indicator and stable interface connections for external programming and expansion.

The board is intended to function as a simple development platform for experimenting with wireless communication and embedded control applications using the ESP-12E module.

I also worked with labels to make the schematic look more structured and different from a simple wire-based layout. By using labels for connections such as VCC, GND, TX, and RX, I kept the design visually clean and avoided long or cluttered wires, improving overall readability.

Starting the PCB Design

At this stage, I began developing the PCB schematic for my development board based on the ESP-12E module.

This part of the project marked the transition from conceptual planning to actual circuit design. I started by placing the main microcontroller module and adding the necessary supporting components, including resistors, an LED indicator, and connector interfaces.

The goal of this stage was to build a functional and reliable circuit schematic that could later be converted into a PCB layout. I paid attention to correct electrical connections, stable signal paths, and proper power distribution to ensure safe and efficient operation of the board.

This schematic forms the foundation of the hardware design process and prepares the project for the routing and fabrication stages.

In this section, I added bottom-mounted components to support the reset and boot functionality of the ESP-12E module.

The reset and boot circuit was designed to ensure reliable programming and system initialization. These connections are important because they allow the microcontroller to enter programming mode or restart the system when required.

Placing these components on the bottom side of the PCB helped optimize board space and maintain a cleaner top-layer layout. This design choice also improved the overall organization of signal and control lines while preserving accessibility for debugging and development.

The reset (RST) and boot configuration signals are essential for proper firmware uploading and system operation during testing and deployment.

At this stage, I completed the PCB design for my development board based on the ESP-12E module.

The schematic and layout were finalized after verifying component placement, signal routing, and electrical connections. I performed design rule checks to ensure there were no clearance violations, unconnected nets, or potential fabrication errors.

The final board design includes the microcontroller module, current-limiting resistor, LED indicator, programming and expansion connectors, and reset and boot configuration support.

Although the board has not been fabricated yet, the design is ready for manufacturing preparation, including Gerber file export and hardware testing stages.

Completing this PCB design was an important step in developing my embedded electronics skills and understanding the full hardware development workflow.

ERS testing

1. wire
2. rotate
3. grounding

In this step, I opened the PCB Editor in KiCad 9.0 and started routing the PCB by connecting all components using tracks. As shown in the design, I carefully routed each connection according to the schematic of the ESP-12E based board, ensuring that every pin and signal line was properly linked.

During the routing process, I tried to organize the layout efficiently to avoid crossing traces and reduce the possibility of short circuits. I paid attention to track width, spacing, and overall component placement to keep the design clean and logically structured.

Components Used

The following components were used in the PCB design:

1. ESP-12E module – Used as the main microcontroller and Wi-Fi communication unit. The board was designed to support wireless data transmission and embedded control functionality.
2. 1206 resistors – Used for current limiting and signal stabilization.
3. 1206 LED (bottom-mounted) – Used as a visual indicator component for feedback.

Connectors

1×6 pin connector – Used for programming and signal expansion.

1×8 pin connector – Used for peripheral communication and interface expansion.

1×2 pin connector – Used for power input and simple signal routing.

Conclusion

This week marked an important milestone in my electronics learning journey. I successfully designed a complete PCB based on the ESP-12E module using KiCad 9.0.

Through this process, I learned the full workflow of PCB development — from schematic creation to layout routing and final design verification. I gained practical experience in component placement, track routing, and applying design rules to ensure the board is ready for fabrication.

This project helped me understand that PCB design is not only about connecting components, but about thinking structurally, organizing signals efficiently, and preparing hardware for real-world implementation.

Completing this board design gave me more confidence in working with embedded systems and strengthened my foundation in hardware engineering.