Electronics – A First Course for Printed Circuit Board Design
- Conference
- Location
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Minneapolis, MN
- Publication Date
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August 23, 2022
- Start Date
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June 26, 2022
- End Date
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June 29, 2022
- Conference Session
- Page Count
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10
- DOI
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10.18260/1-2--40400
- Permanent URL
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https://peer.asee.org/40400
- Download Count
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705
Paper Authors
Cheng Liu University of Wisconsin - Stout
Cheng Liu is a Professor in the Computer and Electrical Engineering Program at University of Wisconsin Stout. He taught courses in electrical, computer engineering, and engineering technology programs.
jian chang Texas Instruments, Inc.
Jian Chang is an Analog IC Designer with Texas Instruments in Dallas, Texas.
He began working in circuit design for temperature sensors, power management ICs, Serializer and De-serializer in 2006. His current role is to support mixed-signal design verifications and design verification methodology for Texas Instruments.
Abstract
The design of printed circuit board (PCB) is an essential aspect in learning circuits and systems in the electrical and computer engineering (ECE) curricula. In fact, many institutions have allowed for this opportunity in 3D printing labs for students to rapidly prototype their circuit designs and other 3-D printed projects. Further, we see a high importance for students to learn practical aspects of circuit design in the sophomore year, and to retain ECE students who feel a greater level of accomplishment in computer science courses or plan to drop out. In this article we discuss what can be done in an electronics course to possibly retain students in ECE programs.
Microprocessors, field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), and microcontrollers are all essential components in electronic systems. The electronics course offers two levels of design experiences to students: 1) circuits and electronics and 2) PCB designs for manufacturability. These two experiences incorporate microcontroller and environmental sensor interfaces, in addition to Bluetooth connectivity and motor driver integration. As a result, this allows students to use the circuit interfaces on their PCB to build complex systems for smart home, automation, mobile, and industrial applications.
Herein, we detail the incorporation of PCB development in the electronics course offered in year-two of the ECE curriculum. The course is organized in a 15-week schedule that covers traditional circuit designs with diodes, transistors, operational amplifiers, but also includes electronic circuits design in schematic capture, PCB layout, soldering electronic components and microcontroller programming on a custom PCB. This paper also describes an upload process of the Arduino bootloader to a custom PCB and the use of the Arduino IDE to write code and upload it to the PCB. The approach used for soldering training to students and challenges of teaching the printed circuit design are also presented.
Liu, C., & chang, J. (2022, August), Electronics – A First Course for Printed Circuit Board Design Paper presented at 2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Minneapolis, MN. 10.18260/1-2--40400
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