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General process in embedded hardware design

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Embedded hardware design is a systematic work. For engineers, it is meaningful to understand the process and general methods. Today, China electronics contract manufacturing factory SYS Technology will introduce the general process in embedded hardware design.

1. Demand analysis


Carry out demand analysis with the client and determine the final demand, establish product technical solutions, system block diagrams and other guiding documents, especially pay attention to the following two points:

First, the product scheme design reflects the real needs of users and has a certain market foresight. The same series of products have inheritance and scalability, and consider partial compatibility with other series of products;

Second, product technical solutions, the quality of the solution is very important to the success or failure of a product, spend more time considering product technical solutions in the early stage, and save more time to solve product bugs in the later stage, such as the choice of communication method, CAN or 485, etc. .

2. Hardware schematic design


Key component selection, supplier technical communication. The circuit should consider the derating design, the output of the schematic design document, the review of the schematic output, and the output of the software and hardware interface documents.

The key components refer to the choice of MCU and primary and secondary power supplies, domestic or foreign brands, whether they are mass-produced and stable products, whether the delivery time is met, whether they are common general materials, and whether there are other alternatives for pin to pin on the market. , The schematic review needs to go through the circuits one by one, and the new circuit part needs to be focused, and the principle simulation should be done in advance, and the circuit board sample should be built for verification.

The software and hardware interface documents can generally be output to the driver engineer after the schematic diagram is finalized, because the driver engineer can do the related work during the later stage of schematic layout, prototype PCB, and PCB SMT assembly, without delaying the project time, and the prototype PCB is received. The driver is basically completed.

PCB-Design


3. PCB design and system stacking


After the schematic diagram is finalized, we will output it to the PCB Layout engineer to do the pre-layout. This process generally needs to be repeated over and over again, constantly making trade-offs, and constantly compromising ourselves to optimize a reasonable layout. After the pre-layout is completed Export the 3D model to the structural engineer to check whether there is any interference, and determine the system stacking plan after adjustment. The following points should be paid attention to in PCB design:

First, pay attention to the layout, if the layout goes smoothly, and the follow-up work is easy to do. The layout requires the PCB Layout engineer to have a deep understanding of the circuit;

Second, power supply layout and wiring, many product problems are power supply problems, focus on schematic design, PCB layout and wiring design to consider safety design, and what certifications need to be done;

Third, key signals, such as clock, high-speed, differential, analog, reset and other sensitive signals, should be isolated from each other.

4. PCB Prototype production


After the sample PCB board is completed, the SMT prototype is made. This process generally requires the hardware engineer to follow up, including the output of the BOM, the arrangement of the SMD file (PCB engineer), the communication of the problems in the factory SMT process and the confirmation of the first piece etc.

5. Prototype debugging


Preliminary debugging is generally divided into the following steps:

First, after the prototype comes back, first check the appearance of the PCBA to see if there are any problems such as poor soldering, soldering short circuit, reversed soldering of polar components, missing soldering of components, and obvious soldering errors;


Second, use a multimeter to measure whether there is a short circuit in the input of the power supply before powering on. Generally, we detect the short circuit of each power supply to the ground;


Testing points on PCB


Third, the measurement of system voltage, first use a multimeter to measure whether each voltage is within the design range, such as system 5V, system 3.3V, system 2.8V, system 1.2V, etc., and then use an oscilloscope to power on and off the power supply at all levels. The test ensures that the power supply has no obvious steps, back grooves, overshoot and other problems;

Fourth, the crystal oscillator test, check whether the system crystal oscillator is powered on, such as 24MHz, 32.768KHz;

Fifth, the reset circuit test, the circuit with hardware watchdog needs to test the WDG_WDI and RESET signal waveforms and the working state of the device in the dog feeding state, and whether the WDG_WDI and RESET signals meet the timing in the specification when the dog feeding is stopped;

Sixth, lighting test (to test whether the system is running normally, you can also use the serial port to output its working status);


Lighting test of PCBA


Seventh, the specific hardware debugging items should be based on specific projects. Many other problems may be encountered during hardware debugging, such as abnormal power supply and power on and off, 4G ping network, blurred screen, broken sound from speakers, abnormal SD card communication and so on.


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