Modern engineering has never had more opportunities to integrate multiple printed circuit boards and subsystems. To be honest, you can't just rely on a single board for even a slightly complex electronic product or system. A complete electronic device typically requires several PCBs, such as a power board, signal input module, central processing unit (CPU) module, core control board, signal output amplifier board, driver board, analog signal section, digital signal section, and so on. Is it really easy for an electronics engineer to manage all of these? It's definitely not.
Let me share a bit of frustration here. What exactly is included in the image at the beginning of this article?
Above a PCB board
Below the board
A board-to-board connection device
The base under the board
The shell on top of the board
All of these elements are part of the same project! One project! One project!
What is the current state of PCB design practices?
From a few years ago until now, I've often received questions from customers: "Can one of your projects correspond to only one PCB board?" "Can I import different parts of the schematic into different PCB boards?"
Every time I replied: "Sorry, a project can only correspond to one PCB board. No matter how many schematics you have, only one can be imported into a single PCB." I always felt a little embarrassed because I couldn’t fully meet the customer’s needs, help them avoid cumbersome steps, and let them focus on their development.
As we all know, Altium has always aimed to solve customer problems on the spot, helping them focus on perfect designs and making customer satisfaction their top priority. For decades, we’ve collected various customer requirements and continuously upgraded our software tools, striving to make Altium Designer the ultimate tool for engineers on their design journey.
Simpler Application
Currently, the PCB design process looks like this. Let's take an example: designing a small IoT-enabled WiFi-connected smart socket that can be controlled remotely via a mobile phone. The smart socket can control home appliances like air conditioners, washing machines, TVs, rice cookers, ovens, etc.
For such a simple application, the process is familiar:
[Image 1: Schematic design of the smart socket]
[Image 2: PCB layout of the WiFi module]
At this point, the electronic part of the entire product is basically complete. Then comes the mechanical design of the housing. Once the mechanical part is designed, it needs to be processed and checked for fit, as shown below:
[Image 3: Mechanical housing with PCB components]
The smart socket is then assembled with the mechanical housing and the electronic components. If there's no perfect match, issues like the one shown below may occur. For instance, during installation, the lower photosensitive head works fine, but the upper part of the circuit board breaks—breaks—breaks!
[Image 4: Broken upper PCB during assembly]
Application of Complex Systems
A simple system is usually handled by one person, who has clear requirements for each board. Although they need to go through design, verification, installation, testing, and coordination, the collaboration between boards can still be managed.
However, when dealing with complex systems, communication between multiple PCBs becomes more challenging. How do the boards connect? Which connectors are used? If this information is communicated manually instead of through software, errors and collisions are likely to happen, leading to repeated revisions.
For example, consider an IoT-based kitchen appliance project. The goal is to create smart kitchen devices that connect to the Internet of Things platform. Users can control, operate, and manage the device through smartphones, tablets, or web pages.
[Image 5: System architecture of the smart kitchen appliance]
This project integrates five major technologies:
- Control panel hardware PCB design
- WiFi communication module design
- Embedded software development
- Smart terminal app design (Android/iOS)
- Cloud server platform development
The approximate structure of the device is as follows:
[Image 6: Overall system structure]
The hardware components that need to be designed include:
- Man-machine interface board (requires ECAD-MCAD collaboration)
- Power supply PCB (Power Board)
- Control board PCB (Control Panel)
- WiFi interface board (WiFi Board)
Each team member handles their own part. For example, mechanical engineers design the man-machine interface board, ensuring that button positions and LCD display locations align perfectly with the control board.
[Image 7: Man-machine interface board design]
[Image 8: Power supply PCB design]
[Image 9: Control panel PCB design]
[Image 10: WiFi interface board design]
Once all modules are completed, integration problems arise. How do the motherboard and power board communicate? How is the WiFi board connected to the control board? How does signal transmission work between them? Where should the power board be placed? Should the firmware be synchronized between the WiFi and control boards? Are there any ECAD-MCAD coordination issues between the interface board and the control panel?
These are the kinds of challenges that require careful planning and documentation to avoid mistakes.
[Image 11: Interface definitions between boards]
[Image 12: Communication between design teams]
[Image 13: Email exchanges between engineers]
[Image 14: Multiple iterations and updates]
After all the PCBs are debugged (often requiring multiple rounds of testing and modifications), the electronic components are installed into the mechanical housing for electromechanical testing.
[Image 15: Power board inside the housing]
[Image 16: Control panel connection to the housing]
In summary, the main challenges in such projects are the time and effort required for communication, integration, and joint debugging between independent PCBs. Imagine if all those PCBs—along with their schematic and PCB files, and the connections between them—were managed within the same project. Just imagine what it would be like. Open Altium Designer 18, and you'll see that the world changes faster than ever.
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