<div class="entry-content">
    <div class="jetpack-video-wrapper"><span class="embed-youtube" style="text-align:center; display: block;"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/fFI33f4TejM" class="youtube-player" width="740" height="416.418" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></span>
    </div>
    <div class="blog-content">
Ken Burns has published 7 hardware projects on Kickstarter. He explains how it works.
    </div>
    
    <div class="blog-content-links">
        <div>
            Links:
        </div>
        <ul class="links-list">
            <li class="links-list-item"><a href="https://tinycircuits.com/">Ken's company TinyCircuits</a></li>
            <li class="links-list-item"><a href="https://fedevel.com/courses">FEDEVEL Online courses</a></li>
        </ul>
    </div>  
</div>

Can You Make Money on Kickstarter HW Projects?

<div class="entry-content">
    <div class="jetpack-video-wrapper"><span class="embed-youtube" style="text-align:center; display: block;"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/2oA4X3OTz0M" class="youtube-player" width="740" height="416.418" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></span>
    </div>
    <div class="blog-content">
Interesting experiments and examples to help you to understand ground layout in PCB. Explained by Hans Rosenberg
    </div>


    <div class="blog-content-chapters">
        <div>
            Chapters:
        </div>
        <ul class="chapters-list">
            <li class="chapters-list-item"><span class="chapters-time">00:00</span><span class="chapters-text">What is this video about</span></li>
            <li class="chapters-list-item"><span class="chapters-time">00:19</span><span class="chapters-text">Currents flow under track</span></li>
            <li class="chapters-list-item"><span class="chapters-time">03:10</span><span class="chapters-text">What happen when you are making a board</span></li>
            <li class="chapters-list-item"><span class="chapters-time">08:37</span><span class="chapters-text">Where currents flow</span></li>
            <li class="chapters-list-item"><span class="chapters-time">14:01</span><span class="chapters-text">Experiment: Cut under track</span></li>
            <li class="chapters-list-item"><span class="chapters-time">19:51</span><span class="chapters-text">Floating copper fill</span></li>
            <li class="chapters-list-item"><span class="chapters-time">23:15</span><span class="chapters-text">Grounded copper fill</span></li>
            <li class="chapters-list-item"><span class="chapters-time">27:04</span><span class="chapters-text">Experiment: Filter</span></li>
            <li class="chapters-list-item"><span class="chapters-time">35:05</span><span class="chapters-text">2 Layer vs. 4 Layer</span></li>
            <li class="chapters-list-item"><span class="chapters-time">44:00</span><span class="chapters-text">3 rules to prevent ground problems</span></li>
            <li class="chapters-list-item"><span class="chapters-time">46:05</span><span class="chapters-text">Example: Ground plane</span></li>
            <li class="chapters-list-item"><span class="chapters-time">49:52</span><span class="chapters-text">Example: 1 VIA per GND pin</span></li>
            <li class="chapters-list-item"><span class="chapters-time">54:46</span><span class="chapters-text">Example: Gap in GND plane</span></li>
            <li class="chapters-list-item"><span class="chapters-time">1:02:00</span><span class="chapters-text">Example: FPGA board redesign</span></li>
            <li class="chapters-list-item"><span class="chapters-time">1:05:16</span><span class="chapters-text">Star grounding</span></li>
            <li class="chapters-list-item"><span class="chapters-time">1:07:39</span><span class="chapters-text">Multiple ground planes</span></li>
            <li class="chapters-list-item"><span class="chapters-time">1:14:30</span><span class="chapters-text">Example: Digital and Analog on one board</span></li>
            <li class="chapters-list-item"><span class="chapters-time">1:16:40</span><span class="chapters-text">About Hans</span></li>
    </div>
    
    <div class="blog-content-links">
        <div>
            Links:
        </div>
        <ul class="links-list">
            <li class="links-list-item"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/@HansRosenberg74">Hans´ YouTube</a></li>
            <li class="links-list-item"><a href="https://www.hans-rosenberg.com/">Hans´ website</a></li>
            <li class="links-list-item"><a href="https://fedevel.com/courses">FEDEVEL Online courses</a></li>
        </ul>
    </div>  
</div>

Examples of BAD Ground in PCB Layout And How to Fix It

<div class="entry-content">
    <div class="jetpack-video-wrapper"><span class="embed-youtube" style="text-align:center; display: block;"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/X-qubBLJDD8" class="youtube-player" width="740" height="416.418" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></span>
    </div>
    <div class="blog-content">
What will happen if you don't have enough GND pins on your connector?
    </div>
    
    <div class="blog-content-links">
        <div>
            Links:
        </div>
        <ul class="links-list">
            <li class="links-list-item"><a href="https://www.colorado.edu/faculty/bogatin/">About Eric</a></li>
            <li class="links-list-item"><a href="https://fedevel.com/courses">FEDEVEL Online courses</a></li>
        </ul>
    </div>  
</div>

Do You Design Connector Pinout Correctly? | Eric Bogatin

<div class="entry-content">
    <div class="blog-content">
        Have you been thinking about leaving some of the memory chips un-fitted on your board and you were not sure if it’s possible or how the layout should be done to support it? I have received this question for couple of times, so I try to share what we tested and what we do. <br><br>

        We have two boards supporting partial memory fit, one uses T-Branch and one uses Fly-by topology. The boards were extensively tested and they work oki. However, in your application you may want to consider more factors, including maximum memory frequency. We tested the layout with memory clock 553MHz (when all memory chips were fitted) and 400MHz (when only part of the memory chips were fitted). We couldn’t test higher frequencies as this is the maximum what our CPU supports. <br><br>

        We tested the boards in environmental chamber running between -40°C to 65°C / -40°F to 149°F and tested them running memory tests for weeks, no problems.
    </div>
    <div class="blog-content">
        <h2 class="blog-content-heading">Fly-by</h2>
        We used this on our <a href="http://www.imx6rex.com/open-rex/">OpenRex</a> project. You can download the complete Altium project and check by yourself how we did the schematic and layout. <a href="http://www.imx6rex.com/open-rex/">Download OpenRex files here</a> <br><br>

        <b>What memory chips are fitted?</b><br>
        We only fit the chips placed on the bottom data bus (D31-D0). The full data bus width is 64bits (four x16 memory chips), but in our 32bit configuration we only fit two x16 memory chips placed on memory data bus D31-D0. <br><br>

        <i>DDR3 Schematic: Shows the chips connected to the bottom data bus (D31-D0)</i>
    </div>
    <div class="blog-content-img-wrapper">
        <img src="https://assets.fedevel.com/blog/2019/10/90246-schematic-fly-by-d31-d0.jpg" alt="Schematic - Fly-by - D31-D0" />
    </div>
    <div class="blog-content-text">
        <b>Placement</b><br>
        We placed all the memory chips on one layer only (TOP side of PCB) and the two memory chips which are fitted (D31-D0) are at the end of the Fly-By (closest chips to the termination resistors, you can see the termination resistor at the end of the track). <br><br>

        <i>Fly-by ADDR/CMD/CTL</i>
    </div>
    <div class="blog-content-img-wrapper">
        <img src="https://assets.fedevel.com/blog/2019/10/c250c-pcb-fly-by-d31-d0.jpg" alt="PCB - Fly-by - D31-D0" />
    </div>    
    <div class="blog-content-text">
        <b>Layout</b><br>
        We tried to make the stubs on Address / Command / Control signals as short as possible. (Notice, the VIAs are placed close the the memory pads.) <br><br>

        <i>ADDR/CMD/CTL stubs (Top layer)</i>
    </div>
    <div class="blog-content-img-wrapper">
        <img src="https://assets.fedevel.com/blog/2019/10/6469f-pcb-fly-by-d31-d0-top-stubs.jpg" alt="PCB - Fly-by - D31-D0 - TOP stubs" />
    </div>  
    <div class="blog-content-text">
        <i>ADDR/CMD/CTL stubs (All layers)</i>
    </div>
    <div class="blog-content-img-wrapper">
        <img src="https://assets.fedevel.com/blog/2019/10/9bb4f-pcb-fly-by-d31-d0-stubs-all-layers.jpg" alt="PCB - Fly-by - D31-D0 - stubs - All layers" />
    </div>  

    <div class="blog-content">
        <h2 class="blog-content-heading">T-Branch</h2>
        We tested it on our <a href="http://www.imx6rex.com/imx6-tiny-rex/">TinyRex module</a><br><br>

        <b>What memory chips are fitted?</b><br>
        Again, we only fit the chips placed on the bottom data bus (D31-D0). The full data bus width is 64bits (four x16 memory chips), but in our 32bit configuration we only fit two x16 memory chips placed on memory data bus D31-D0. <br><br>

        <b>Placement</b><br>
        We placed the D31-D0 memory chips on the TOP and D32-D63 on the bottom side of PCB. When running on half of the memory, the TOP memory chips are fitted and the bottom memory chips are not fitted. <br><br>

        <b>Layout</b><br>
        If only the two memory chips on the TOP are fitted, there will be short stubs on the bottom, but we tested it and the boards are working oki. <br><br>

        <i>ADDR/CMD/CTL layout</i>
    </div>
    <div class="blog-content-img-wrapper">
        <img src="https://assets.fedevel.com/blog/2019/10/f947c-pcb-t-branch-addr.jpg" alt="PCB - T-Branch - ADDR" />
    </div>  
    <div class="blog-content-text">
        <i>Data D31-D0 (TOP layer)</i>
    </div>
    <div class="blog-content-img-wrapper">
        <img src="https://assets.fedevel.com/blog/2019/10/91a00-pcb-t-branch-d31-d0.jpg" alt="PCB - T-Branch - D31-D0" />
    </div>  
    <div class="blog-content-text">
        <i>Data D31-D0 (All layers)</i>
    </div>
    <div class="blog-content-img-wrapper">
        <img src="https://assets.fedevel.com/blog/2019/10/49b8c-pcb-t-branch-d31-d0-all-layers.jpg" alt="PCB - T-Branch - D31-D0 - All Layers" />
    </div>  

    <div class="blog-content-links">
        <div>
            Links:
        </div>
        <ul class="links-list">
            <li class="links-list-item"><a href="http://www.imx6rex.com/open-rex/">Download OpenRex files</a></li>
            <li class="links-list-item"><a href="https://fedevel.com/blog/altium-how-to-generate-3d-pdf-its-easy/">Altium – How to generate 3D PDF – It’s Easy</a></li>
            <li class="links-list-item"><a href="http://www.imx6rex.com/imx6-tiny-rex/">TinyRex module</a></li>
        </ul>
    </div>
</div>


DDR3 layout vs Memory chip fitting

<div class="entry-content">
    <div class="jetpack-video-wrapper"><span class="embed-youtube" style="text-align:center; display: block;"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/SmL2gtZorJE" class="youtube-player" width="740" height="416.418" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></span>
    </div>
    <div class="blog-content">
        Sometimes you may want to insert drawings of your board into some documents (for example manual). The simple and nice way to do it, is to use your 3D PDF generated as described in <a href="https://fedevel.com/blog/altium-how-to-generate-3d-pdf-its-easy/">Altium – How to generate 3D PDF – It’s Easy</a>. <br><br>

        Try it by yourself. Download OpenRex 3D PDF. Open the file in Adobe Reader and play with it.<br><br>

        <i>Here are some examples how it will look when you change some settings in Adobe Reader.</i>
    </div>
    <div class="blog-content-img-wrapper">
        <img src="https://assets.fedevel.com/blog/2019/10/f56a0-3d-drawing-component-selected.jpg" alt="3d drawing component selected" />
    </div>
    <div class="blog-content-img-wrapper">
        <img src="https://assets.fedevel.com/blog/2019/10/d6b52-3d-boxed-drawing-component-selected.jpg" alt="3d boxed drawing component selected" />
    </div>
    <div class="blog-content-img-wrapper">
        <img src="https://assets.fedevel.com/blog/2019/10/5028a-3d-drawing-with-silkscreen-component-selected.jpg" alt="3d drawing with silkscreen component selected" />
    </div>
    <div class="blog-content-links">
        <div>
            Links:
        </div>
        <ul class="links-list">
            <li class="links-list-item"><a href="http://www.imx6rex.com/open-rex/">Download OpenRex 3D PDF</a></li>
            <li class="links-list-item"><a href="https://fedevel.com/blog/altium-how-to-generate-3d-pdf-its-easy/">Altium – How to generate 3D PDF – It’s Easy</a></li>
        </ul>
    </div>  
</div>


How to create: “Pencil like” Board Drawing with Highlighted Component (e.g. used in manuals)

<div class="entry-content">
    <div class="jetpack-video-wrapper"><span class="embed-youtube" style="text-align:center; display: block;"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Tyo_yplwaN0" class="youtube-player" width="740" height="416.418" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></span>
    </div>

    <div class="blog-content">
        <h2 class="blog-content-heading">What will you learn?</h2>
        After this course, you will design your own Arduino like board. During this course, you will use <a href="https://www.arduino.cc/en/main/arduinoBoardUno">Arduino Uno</a> reference schematic, you will learn how to modify it, how to improve it and how to do PCB layout.<br><br>

        <h2 class="blog-content-heading">How will you learn?</h2>
        Based on step-by-step video you will be designing your own board. When you finish your board it will look like <a href="http://www.28pins.com/">28 Pins</a>.<br><br>

        <b>How to register for this online course?</b><br>
        <ul class="content-list">
            <li class="content-list-item"><span class="content-text"><a href="https://fedevel.com/">Step 1: Register &
                        Login at FEDEVEL website</a></span></li>
            <li class="content-list-item"><span class="content-text"><a href="https://fedevel.com/courses/learn-to-design-your-own-boards">Step 2: Select your course (you will need to be logged in)</a></span></li>
        </ul>
    </div>

    <div class="blog-content-links">
        <div>
            Links:
        </div>
        <ul class="links-list">
            <li class="links-list-item"><a href="https://www.arduino.cc/en/main/arduinoBoardUno">Arduino Uno</a></li>
            <li class="links-list-item"><a href="http://www.28pins.com/">28 Pins</a></li>
        </ul>
    </div> 
</div>

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