The Next Industrial Revolution - Is Happening In 1910

Matt, our product manager, sent me a couple of interesting links about the next Industrial Revolution. The first was an article in Wired Magazine by Chris Anderson. The second was a rebuttal in Gizmodo by Joel Johnson. Both had some interesting points. Both, as far as my thoughts go, have some truth and both have some silliness, again as far as my thoughts go.

Regarding the idea that what is going is something new and revolutionary, well, maybe the products are new, but the process really isn't, but for a few specific details. A while back, the country was coming off of an economic down turn and a wholesale group of young folk with tools at hand built an industry in garages and barns. That was the auto industry.

All of those farm kids grew up around machinery. They all had the tools at hand and the knowledge to use them. Communications (teletype, telephone, newspapers) was changing the way information flowed around the country and world. Transportation (railroad and the autos/trucks that they were building) was in revolution and changing the accessibility of new markets.

Car companies were coming and going all over the place. Sound familiar? Then there was consolidation, conformity, near-monopoly, bloatware and then crash. Yeah, and the same thing started with electronics and computing back in the 60's, 70's and 80's. It's happening again now too. Big surprise. It happens whenever there is a convergence of the cycles of low-barrier to entry (good, cheap tools), emerging technology and bright young folks with time on their hands.

I see some of what Chris is talking about in our electronics manufacturing customers. I just have a bit of a different take on it. First, rather than seeing this all as new, I kind of feel like "here it goes again." Second, I think what he misses is the concept of scale. On certain scales, what he says is very true and very workable. However, companies that spend a few years developing their products would like to eat food and send their kids to college, so they need to earn money for that intellectual property they have developed. That being the case, they still need a place to build their things, but a place that wont steal that intellectual property and deny the company's kids their college education and food.

There's a place for the model Chris is describing. There's also a place for megalithic industry producing gajillions. And there's a place for companies like Screaming Circuits that cost more than open source but focus on making life easy for an engineer and can build prototypes or flexible low to mid volume manufacturing without the hassle of big industry or the risk of losing a livelihood to people with a very liberal interpretation of who owns what. (see #1101 in this post)

Duane Benson
Danger Will Robinson!

LED Lighting Assembly

When I first attached a 280 ohm resistor in series with a 5mm red LED, the word on the street was that LEDs were low power, forever-lasting devices that would just about completely replace incandescent bulbs for simple binary indicators. LEDs spent a brief period as the numerical display device of choice too, until supplanted by the LCD. Regardless, the bottom line was that LEDs were really easy to work with. Just put that resistor in series - usually, you didn't even need to do the ohms law calculation - rules of thumb were good enough.

Well, for simple binary indicators, that still holds true, but the big noise in LEDs these days has little to do with binary indicators. It's in illumination, and in illumination, all the rules are different.

High-brightness LED illuminations devices are some pretty seriously engineered systems. Most have current regulated power supplies. Portable applications often have buck/boost supplies allowing for constant brightness over the life of the battery. And most have serious thermal design work put into them as well. LED lighting designers not only need to worry about all those power supply issues, but also about heat sinking and exotic design techniques such as metal core PCBs and heavy copper. Though it's just an LED, the layout and assembly issues are far from trivial.

Duane Benson
Wear shades 'cause when you're cool, the sun always shines.
Or maybe someone's just trying to blind you with a bright LED flashlight because your ego got too big.

Pitch Switching

I recently started reading the magazine Chip Scale Review. It's a different take on things than I'm used to. Most of what I read for work is in the engineering and assembly realm, but this one goes back to the component packaging. I think it will be a good one in terms of keeping up on what sorts of things we'll need to be assembling in the future.

So far, I haven't seen anything really scary in it. There is talk of .3mm pitch BGAs, but those aren't totally new. I'm not sure if we've done any .3mm pitch before, but we've been doing .5mm for years and have done plenty of .4mm pitch as well, even in package-on-package (POP) forms.

Speaking of really fine pitch BGAs and CSP type things, one topic I found interesting has to do with pitch switching adapters. It's basically a small PCB platform that has an underside footprint of a 1mm or 1.27mm pitch BGA and a land pattern on top for a fine pitch BGA. It has solder balls on the bottom, so once sandwiched together, it's treated just like a big BGA for assembly purposes. [Credit where credit is due: The image I'm using came from the Aries Electric web site.]

Such a part can negate the need to re-spin the PCB if your big part is updated and replaced in a new fine-pitch form-factor. (Although, personally, I can only imagine that if the chip is rev'ed, there will be some other change that has to be made to go along with it). The theory is, that if you've got a really expensive design, this might be a viable option allowing you to upgrade without a relayout.

Certainly though, at the very least, this could allow you use some newer fancy chips without having to resort to filled micro vias and tiny trace & space advanced (expensive) pcbs. Could be quite handy and same some money.

Duane Benson
Platform shoes are back!

Newark Electronics and Eagle CAD - Interesting

So, I just read that Newark purchased Cadsoft Eagle. I guess it's probably old news to everyone but me. The press release about it that Newark posted on their website Element 14, has a date of August 13. I find this purchase to be an interesting development and I don't quite know what it means, or if it means anything.

I guess partnering is becoming a trend. Certainly, we're involved in some good partnerships (Sunstone, Digikey, NXP, National Instruments) and Sunstone's PCB123 connects up with DigiKey parts. It does make sense. The engineer's job has just gotten more difficult with this recession and the ensuing reduction in support staff. That's pretty much what our ECOsystem partnership is all about - taking the disparate tasks involved in getting a prototype built up and reducing the steps and complexity involved in the process.

The Eagle / Newark deal does have me very curious. For one, I hope the CadSoft folks got a good deal. Their product has done a lot toward lowering the barriers to electronics design and they deserve a lot for that. The big questions are for the future. Will Eagle remain as accessible as it is? Will Newark throw a lot of resources into it and keep it moving forward? Will it get good attention or will it be treated as an impulse buy and not be given focus or direction? Hmmm...

Duane Benson
What about Element 32?

My mbed Is Up

I wrote about the new mbed development board a while back and mine just arrived over the holiday weekend. I have to say, true to it's promise, It was the easiest piece of development hardware that I've ever brought up:

1. Take it out of the shipping box
2. Plug in the USB cable to the board and my computer
3. Wait a minute for it to be recognized and open up like a USB thumb drive
4. Double click on the web shortcut in the drive
5. Register
6. Click the Compiler link
7. Pull up a code sample and modify it a bit (I didn't need to modify it, but I did anyway)
8. Click the compile button
9. Save it to the mbed as though it were a USB thumb drive
10. Press the reset button on the mbed board

That's ten steps, but it's only ten steps. There was nothing else to do. Nothing. The longest step was number seven which took me about two minutes. I programmed a "Knight Rider" sweeper with the four on-board LEDs. I made one of those for my Jack-o-lantern back at Halloween, so it was the first test program that popped into my head.

I built the Jack-o-lantern sweeper with eight LEDs and an 8 bit PIC16F819. The PIC I used came in an 18 pin thru-hole DIP package, costing $3.22 at Digi-Key, and I hand soldered it all on an old perf board. It runs at 20MHz, has 16 GPIO, 3.5K program code space, 256 bytes of FLASH and 256 bytes of RAM.

The 32 bit NXP LPC1764 runs at 100MHz in a 100 pin LQFP and costs $8.70 in quantity of one at Digi-Key. (The dev board, of course, costs more then that) It has 512K of program FLASH and 64K of RAM. The dev board can have up to 25 GPIO (the chip can have up to 70 GPIO with your hardware) along with the standard assortment of peripherals that can be configured, including six hardware PWM channels. The mbed dev board is like a breakout board configured as a 40 pin 0.1" DIP so it will be easy to prototype with.

The processor, being a fine-pitch package really isn't hand-solderable like the PIC except for by the most adventurous of folks, but that's where Screaming Circuits comes in. Why wait for your custom hardware before starting on the software. Get one of these mbed dev boards to work on your software while the EE folks are designing the custom hardware. Then, when they're done, we'll assemble up the prototypes and you can integrate it all together. Take some time out of your development schedule that way.

I've wanted to try out an ARM processor for quite a while, but prior to this, haven't found the right way to do so while keeping within the limits of my time availability and skill set, but this looks like it could very well do the job.

Duane Benson
Robots rule!

More On Allocation

Not long ago, I wrote a bit about allocation and parts substitution issues. Once again, I can't stress enough that if you're in a hurry, you need to be prepared with some subs ahead of time. Especially with the don't-think-about-them passives. Right now, that's where the biggest issues seem to be. IC's are starting to show supply problems too, but the passives are the big hitter at the moment.

Something else to be wary about in times like this is the prospect of counterfeit parts. Unfortunately, when supply gets tight, that's when the opportunists come out of the woodwork. Legitimate suppliers like DigiKey do a pretty good job of keeping their parts real, but unknown suppliers need to be looked at with caution. We do use some brokers here, but we qualify them carefully and keep watch on how they are doing things.

If you really, really need a specific component that has 12-week lead times everywhere and some unknown Internet supplier can get you some now, be careful. It may be a lifesaver, but be prepared to test the part to make sure it's really what you are expecting. And, if you just can't get that perfect part, maybe a slight design change is the only way to get some of that 12 weeks back.

Duane Benson
Drivin' over Kanan, solderin' on my soul
There's people out there turnin' duds into gold

Microcontroller In The Middle

I've written about Open Source hardware before, such as the beagleboard and Arduino. Those are both great options for folks needing to get moving on embedded microcontroller development. The Arduino is pretty low-end and the Beagleboard is pretty high-end. I think I've run across a good step right in the middle.

A while back at the ESC show, we spoke with a gentleman from ARM about a project that would include an online IDE, and now, here it is. It's not exactly the same as open source, but it solves many of the same problems that open source solves. Mainly, it's a quick and easy way to get up and running with an ARM processor. Well, it looks easy, anyway. I haven't tried it yet. I think I'll see if I can get one and give it a shot.

By the way, we did not build this board. We have built some Beagleboards, but not this particular product. It certainly wouldn't be a problem for us, but that's not why I'm writing about it. It just looks like a great half-way point between something like the Atmel-based Arduino (or the PIC microcontrollers that I use) and the Beaglboard which uses the super-speedy ARM Cortex-A8.

If I can run one down and find the time to fiddle with it, I'll let you know what I think of it in actual use.

Duane Benson
Stay tuned. Bulletins as event warrant.
Maybe...

That Dreaded Word "Allocation"

Here at the old Screaming Circuits homestead, we have a strict policy about parts substitution. We won't do it unless you have approved the sub. If you ask us, we'll look around for something close, but we'll still get your approval before using the substitute part. No big deal We always do it that way and we'll keep doing it that way.

The reason I'm brining this up has to do with the blasted economy. Rumor has it that the industry is starting to heat back up a bit. That's pretty cool, except that some of those parts suppliers that cut back this time last year are still in cut back mode. We're starting to see parts on allocation and with annoyingly long lead-times.

Interestingly, most of the long lead-times seem to be with passives at this point. Actives may end up that way too, but for now, it's mostly in resistors and caps.

So, what do you do about it? Well, if you spec'ed the parts out a couple of weeks ago when starting the design, you might want to drop on over to DigiKey (or equivelent) and check to see if the parts you specified are still available. If not, find a sub before sending it off for assembly. It helps for you to do this even if we're buying the parts for you. If we can't find what's on your BOM, we'll look around for a couple of options, but if you've already found a replacement that works with your design, that will save some time and back and forth email or phone call steps. It also prevents a last minute surprise and keeps you on top of the planning.

Anyone else out there seeing allocation and lead-time problems?

Duane Benson

BGA Underfill Alternative

Back when RoHS was just an idea, one of the big concerns was the fear of mechanical reliability with lead-free BGAs. A lot of study went into the solder mixes and it's now history, but there is still some concern. Especially in hi-shock prone applications. Sometimes I recommend that the engineer go along with the PCB and just hold the BGA on the board with finger pressure. But that's not terribly comfortable if the board is going into space or down in a tunnel or something like that.

More down to earth, underfill is one of the recommended additions to improve the mechanical strength. We recently helped to qualify a new type of BGA underfill. It's actually a little pad that comes in standard SMT tape and reel and is placed with standard SMT machines. No need to deal with messy goo. It's placed on the board around the BGA pad area and the BGA is placed on top of it. During reflow, it all sticks together and works like underfill. Cool!

If you're interested, contact Randy (Randy.Temple@ActionIR.com) or Dave (Dave.Skupien@ActionIR.com) for more information.

Duane Benson

Musings on Open Source Hardware

I've written a bit about open source hardware before, mostly in reference to the Beagleboard. I'm pretty sold on the concept, myself. But, while open source has become a household concept in the software world, it's still fairly new to hardware. In the case of the Beagleboard, it's really cool because it can give a designer a big head start on using the Ti OMAP processor. Anything from the whole schematic down to just the BGA escape routing can be applied to any design.

But it's not just that. Say I have a little microcontroller board that I've put together. I use it for robots and other sorts of tinkering. It's PIC based and pretty simple. Right now, it just communicates with the outside world via RS232, but I want to add USB to it. I could start with Digi-Key and search for all of the various USB chips and spend hours digging through data sheets to see which one looks best/easiest to implement for my application. Or...

Or, I could take a look at the schematics for the Beagleboard and the Arduino. Beagleboard is open source hardware based on the ARM Cortex-A8 OMAP3530 processor from Ti. Arduino is open source hardware based on an 8-bit Atmel microcontroller. They both have USB interfaces and I know that both boards work well and have been pretty thoroughly debugged.

Here's two examples that a lot of other folks have already spent time on. I want to spent my design time on the unique parts of my board - the things I've done to make it easy for the types of projects that I want to do with it. USB is USB. I don't want to spend my time doing something that a million other people have already done. I can take a look at the two approaches here and pick one and be done with it. I don't have to dig through web sites to find data sheets and then try to interpret the manufacturers reference design and hope it was fully thought out and tested. I hate that. Some chips come with great reference designs. Some don't come with any and some come with half-baked schematics that only work in the very specific test environment of the chip company's lab.

I know these two work. I can pick one, plop it into my design, make sure I give proper attribution and then just run with it. Very nice and a big time saver.

Duane Benson
Eeny, meeny, miny, moe
Catch a usb-controller by the Vcc.