The world of electronic design can be a relatively complex one and there are mistakes that are often made over and over again during the development of various hardware products. A lot of these mistakes are made during the actual design process by the designer; some are a bit more general in nature, then some come after the process as a result of designers not having access to the necessary resources in order to properly share the work that they have done. If you work in the industry or are beginning a career there, you should be sure to consider the below common mistakes that are often made by various electronic designers.
Not Knowing How to Share Files
Putting together an excellent design doesn’t mean a lot if you are then unable to share them. This is a problem that a lot of designers tend to have, given the size of these files can vary and be difficult to send a lot of the time. If you are struggling with sending them, then you need to consider using the Gerber viewer available on Altium. This makes it much simpler to share some of the various designs that you come up with. Don’t let the work you produce be ruined by an inability to properly send it once it’s completed.
Not Being Able to Design for Manufacturing
Regardless of the industry you work in, there are a number of steps involved in the design process, but all of these need to be carried out with the intention of manufacturing the final design. A lot of people, when putting their designs together, have a tendency to underestimate just how complex the process of finally manufacturing can actually be. For a lot of different products, it can take just as much time, if not even longer, to get the manufacturing process up and running as it does to develop and design the product in the first place. Manufacturing costs can also skyrocket if you don’t keep an eye on what the process is going to be like when you are designing.
As such, when you are in the process of designing, you need to ensure that you are keeping the manufacturing process at the forefront of your mind. This should always be your primary consideration throughout the whole process.
Poor Design of a Wireless Circuit
When you are designing a product that has some kind of wireless functionality, throughout the layout of the PCB, you need to be thinking of radio frequency, this is a really critical part of the process. This is done wrong more than it’s done right, and as such is something you need to always be considering closely. For instance, if you want maximum power transferred between the transceiver and the antenna, then their impedance needs to be matched. Two things are required in order to do this, which include a proper transmission as well as some type of LC matching circuit such as a pi-network; these will ensure the wireless element of the circuit will work most effectively.