Browse Topic: Printed circuit boards
Aerospace and defense system designers are demanding scalable and high-performance I/O solutions. While traditional mezzanine standards have proven reliable, they often fall short of meeting modern bandwidth, size, and flexibility requirements. This challenge is particularly evident in aerospace and defense applications where high-speed data processing must align with stringent size, weight, and power (SWaP) constraints. Current mezzanine solutions also face significant limitations in scalability, thermal management, and I/O density. These constraints can lead to compromised system performance and limited upgrade paths in applications where adaptability is crucial. This article explores how the new VITA 93 (QMC) standard addresses these challenges through its innovative QMC architecture, enabling unprecedented flexibility, scalability, and rugged reliability while maintaining compatibility with existing and future systems. It also covers how VITA 93 (QMC) builds on lessons learned from
Material solutions for thermal management, protection and assembly. Today's ADAS designers are adding more electronic components and redundant computing systems to printed circuit boards (PCBs). These heat-generating electronic assemblies are installed in enclosures that provide environmental protection, but the high heat generated by high-performance computing systems can degrade ADAS performance or cause device failure. Not all thermal management materials can withstand temperatures up to 200 C (392 F), and most do not retain their flexibility at elevated temperatures. This creates a problem when PCB components expand and contract at different rates due to mismatches in their coefficients of thermal expansion.
The aerospace and defense industries demand the highest levels of reliability, durability, and performance from their electronic systems. Central to achieving these standards are laminate materials, which form the backbone of printed circuit boards (PCBs) and flexible circuits used in a multitude of applications, from avionics to missile guidance systems. Building these systems, which are typically implemented in environments that experience both temperature extremes and wide variations of temperature over time, requires robust materials that can stand up to punishing environmental conditions. Laminates and films for circuit boards and flexible circuits are a vital component of this protective material profile.
As electronic medical device technology progresses, their internal printed circuit boards (PCBs) have undergone a transformative evolution to integrate a diverse array of materials. This evolution is driven by the need to fulfill stringent requirements for enhanced performance, compact size, and heightened reliability. However, the proliferation of materials poses a considerable challenge: finding cleaning solutions capable of efficiently removing contaminants without compromising the integrity of these delicate components.
Inverter is the power electronics component that drives the electrical motor of the electrical driven compressor (EDC) and communicates with the car network. The main function of the inverter is to convert the direct current (DC) voltage of the car battery into alternating current (AC) voltage, which is used to drive the three-phase electric motor. In recent days, inverters are present in all automotive products due to electrification. Inverter contains a printed circuit board (PCB) and electronic components, which are mounted inside a mechanical housing and enclosed by a protective cover. The performance of the electrical drive depends upon the functioning of the inverter. There is a strong demand from the customer to withstand the harsh environmental and testing conditions during its lifetime such as leakage, dust, vibration, thermal tests etc. The failure of the inverter leads to malfunction of the product, hence proper sealing and validation is necessary for inverters to protect
As medical devices become more complex, designers must use the available spaces within their devices more efficiently. Several PCBs often have to be connected in the tightest of spaces.
The data centers and high-performance computers that run artificial intelligence programs, such as large language models, aren’t limited by the computational power of their individual nodes. It’s another problem — the amount of data they can transfer among the nodes — that underlies the “bandwidth bottleneck” that currently limits the performance and scaling of these systems.
Manufacturing electronic medical devices and the complex printed circuit boards (PCBs) within them demands stringent quality control measures to ensure the highest level of performance, reliability, and safety. Process validation is a critical step in the production cycle to verify that manufacturing processes consistently produce products of the highest quality.
Medical device technology is continually advancing and helping shape the future of healthcare. It is used in every area of the industry, from simple remote patient monitoring like smart watches to sophisticated implantable equipment like pacemakers and cochlear hearing devices. Its importance is evident with the global medical electronics market size evaluated at USD $101.06 billion in 2022 with growth projections anticipating $248.43 billion by 2032.1
RF filters are critical components in aerospace and defense electronic systems. In high-frequency transmissions, they channel desired signals and reject unwanted signals, enabling reliable signal processing across the RF, microwave, and millimeter wave (mmWave) electromagnetic spectrum. In operating environments with many such signals, including from jammers trying to disrupt the operation of some systems, RF filters are employed in progressively higher frequencies. At the same time, systems engineers are requesting smaller filters that fit within drop-in surface mount technology (SMT) packages mounted within compact printed circuit board (PCB) assemblies. Selecting a filter for an A&D application requires an understanding of available RF filter responses, physical formats, and technologies, with a good idea of necessary functional goals, such as separating channels or rejecting interference. The optimum filter for an aerospace and defense (A&D) system need not take up much space but
RF filters are critical components in aerospace and defense electronic systems. In high-frequency transmissions, they channel desired signals and reject unwanted signals, enabling reliable signal processing across the RF, microwave, and millimeter wave (mmWave) electromagnetic spectrum. In operating environments with many such signals, including from jammers trying to disrupt the operation of some systems, RF filters are employed in progressively higher frequencies. At the same time, systems engineers are requesting smaller filters that fit within drop-in surface mount technology (SMT) packages mounted within compact printed circuit board (PCB) assemblies.
Printed Circuit Boards are the heart of the electronics industry. They are used in a diverse range of applications starting from consumer electronics to complicated aerospace and military domains. The design considerations vary according to the requirements of the end product. Military and aerospace PCBs follow the most critical and strict design standards as they have to operate in tough environmental conditions with exposure to vibrations, contaminations, and extreme temperatures.
Today the light-duty commercial market is dominated by internal combustion engine powered vehicles, primarily diesel-powered delivery vans, which contribute to urban air quality issues. Global concerns regarding climate change have prompted zero emission vehicles to be mandatory in many markets as soon as 2035. For the light-duty commercial vehicle sector there is significant interest in pure electric vehicles. However, for some markets, or usage cases, electric vehicles may not be the best solution due to practical limitations of battery energy storage capacity or recharging times. For such applications there is growing interest in hydrogen fuel cells as a zero emissions alternative. Bramble Energy’s patented printed circuit board (PCB) fuel cell technology (PCBFC™) enables the use of cost-effective production methods and materials from the PCB industry to reduce the cost and complexity of manufacturing hydrogen fuel cell stacks. This paper will describe the integration of a water
The need for long-range, high-resolution and accuracy all-weather sensor is critical for a higher level of vehicular autonomy. Unlike cameras and lidars, radars offer these capabilities when designed well. Key target criteria for automotive radar are multimode operation with a large Field of View, high frame rates, and the ability to detect and resolve weaker targets in the presence of stronger ones. Existing radar providers and automotive Tier 1s can work with startups to eliminate the arduous steps to streamline the front-end antennas and ICs integration avoiding the complex and costly multi-layers Printed Circuit Boards (PCB) designs. The next big step in automotive radar is considering this “Lego” pieces building blocks for flexible and scalable modular architectures for multi-mode operation for high accuracy and precision targeting broad applications without the heavy time, resources, and cost to develop automotive radars for mass markets. Metawave is building the first front-end
Due to the complex reaction mechanism and closed structure of proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC), on-line measurement and detection are challenging. Also, the uneven distribution of reactants and products in all directions within the PEMFC, so it is essential to measure and predict the local current density distribution. In order to measure and identify the operating parameters accurately, timely, and quickly, it is necessary to improve the detection means of the fuel cell system. Based on the distributed (printed circuit board) PCB measurement technology, an integrated monitoring current distribution sensor system is designed. Combined with the structural parameters of the fuel cell, the selection scheme and layout scheme of measurement components are proposed. With the help of Altium Designer software, the PCB measuring circuit board is designed and made. Special design for the PCB structure is achieved to direct contact measurement with the plane of the bipolar board. NI
Phased arrays have been used in radar applications for many decades. Recent trends are driving their adoption into other applications such as Electronic Warfare (EW), satellite systems, and even 5G communications. There are several new component technologies that are driving this migration: multiple transmit/receive (T/R) modules on a chip, higher-performance PCB laminates, and the acceptance of GaN as a power amplifier (PA) semiconductor process.
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center has developed a printable nanosensor and leads using 3D printing techniques on a silicon daughter board that can be connected to a self-contained pre-amp printed circuit board (PCB). The sensor contains a graphene sensor array (a printed CNT or MoS2 could also work) and a PCB with pre-amplifier circuit connected to the daughter board with mechanical clips and wire-bonded together. The sensor dimensions are typically from microns to hundreds of microns. This innovation increases the sensitivity of gas sensors, enabling detection of ppb level concentration (and possibly single molecules).
A raise of efficiency is the strongest selling point concerning the total cost of ownership (TCO), especially for commercial vehicles (CV). Accompanied by legislations, with contradictive development demands, satisfying solutions have to be found. The analysis of energy losses in modern engines shows three influencing parameters. Wall heat transfer (WHT) losses are awarded with the highest optimization potential. Critical for the occurrence of these losses is the WHT, which can be described by representing coefficients. To reduce WHT accompanying losses a decrease of energy transfer between combustion gas and combustion chamber wall is necessary. A measurement of heat fluxes is necessary to determine the WHT relations of the combustion chamber in an engine. As this has not been done for a Heavy-Duty (HD) engine, with peak pressures up to 250 bar, an increased in-cylinder turbulence and high exhaust gas recirculation (EGR)-rates before, it is presented in the following. Different
The use of modern laser technology has become standard in industrial manufacturing thanks to its speed, accuracy and effectiveness. Lasers are used to engrave parts, electronic printed circuit boards or chip cards. They perforate packaging; structure semiconductor wafers; drill, cut and weld plastics or metals; and create highly complex structures via 3D printing.
In this study, we are presenting design considerations for the development of a LED (Light-Emitting Diode) bi-function headlight module to replace conventional HID (High-Intensity Discharge) projector modules for retrofitting or first installation purposes. The objective was to develop a projector-type module to outperform current 35 W HID light sources in both low beam and high beam, but with far less installation space. Essential features like multichip LED usage and the optical system design will be described in detail. Special care was taken for the heat management of the high-power LEDs, with optimization of the heat dissipation thermal path via printed circuit board, heatsink and active cooling by extensive Computational Fluid Dynamics simulation work (CFD). The achieved projector lumen output of greater 1300 lm in low beam and 2000 lm in high beam enables a projector module of very compact size (<1,200 cm3) to easily replace HID modules.
Evolution in Radio Frequency (RF) semiconductor technology has led to highly power efficient devices. A typical automobile key fob for remote lock-unlock operations operates on 3V lithium coin cell battery having 200 mAh capacity and can last up to 75,000 key press events or two to three years. The typical transmission currents are less than 10 mA while sleep currents are less than 0.1 uA. As the lithium coin cell batteries are not rechargeable, they need to be replaced and safely disposed. Improper disposal of lithium batteries impose risk to the environment as lithium is highly poisonous and reactive. This paper proposes to replace the coin cell battery with a RF energy harvesting circuit involving voltage multiplier circuit consisting of zero bias schottky detector diodes and a hybrid energy storage capacitor. Authors have conducted experiments as well as simulation to evaluate the feasibility of the RF energy harvester replacing conventional coin cell battery. RF energy harvesting
Today’s automobiles include more electronics features and functions than at any time in history. From engine controller to crash sensing and passenger protection, all the way to automated driving, a complex network of electronic sensors and controls is being integrated into most of the vehicles. While many of these are necessary for increased comfort, convenience and safety, they must also be designed for the stringent quality requirements compared to standard consumer electronics. The business driven need for miniaturization with increased functionality but at reduced cost necessitates use of high density interconnection with advanced electronics components like Ball Grid Array (BGA) instead of many chip scale packages, which are potentially susceptible to failure while handling and shipping of the components. With the reduced mass of the component, accidental drop from the hand level would experience higher impact loading on the component to create significant damage. The usage of
Advanced driver assistance features like Advanced Emergency Brake Assist, Adaptive Cruise Control, Blind Spot Monitoring, Stop and Go, Pedestrian Detection, Obstacle Detection and Collision Detection are becoming mandatory in many countries. This is because of the promising results received in reducing 75% of fatalities related to road accidents. All these features use RADAR in detecting the range, speed and even direction of multiple targets using complex signal processing algorithm. Testing such ECUs is becoming too difficult considering the fact that the RADAR is integrated in the PCB of ECU. Hence the simulation of RADAR sensor for emulation of various real world scenarios is not a preferred solution for OEMs. Furthermore, Tier ones are not interested in a testing solution where the real RADAR sensor is bypassed. This paper discusses such issues which include the validation of the most modern Electronic Scanning RADARs. These instruments could detect even up to 64 dynamic targets
LED in automotive rear combination lighting (RCL) is becoming widely used in high end to mid class segment car. This is mainly fuelled by the strong influence of styling and requirement of a compact design. With OEMs competing to provide higher value to the customers such as longer warranty and advanced diagnostic features, the topic of semiconductor integration is becoming significant. Integration is a key to enable small form factor, high robustness and implementation of advanced technical functionality in the LED driver. However, the cost of implementing an integrated driver, if not partitioned effectively, will be much higher than the discrete solution. Therefore, it is important to implement the cost optimization strategy right from the conceptualization of the LED driver integrated device. In the beginning of this paper, the LED driving concept that is commonly used in the RCL lighting such as linear current sources and switching supply is discussed. The cost-performance trade
This work applies to remediation and restoration of soil contaminated by fuel, polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) wastes, etc. While there can be a beneficial effect of microbial communities, individual plant-fungus combinations can vary in their efficacy in removing pollutants from the environment. Having a set of enzymes from fungi specifically adapted to conditions in contaminated soil is a huge advantage.
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