Nowadays, using many kinds of electronic smart devices has become an important and integral part of our life. Devices such as smartphones and smart watches, air conditioners, Burglar alarms and CCTV cameras for homes, offices or factories, industrial and agricultural machinery, cars, home and kitchen appliances, etc., all become smart via IoT with the ability of remote access and control.
Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs) have made it possible to design different boards with different sizes and with the least complexity and the most efficiency which makes them the best choice for devices with IoT technology.
Thus, proper PCB design for IoT is one of the most necessary measures to take in companies that produce smart electronics.
It is called “the Fourth Industrial Revolution” or “Infrastructure of Information Society”. These are the titles given to the Internet of Things, making it the most important movement since the birth of the dot-com.
“IoT is a network of smart objects that gather and share data in real-time over the internet or any communication network. IoT includes sensors to collect data and software with associated technology to process the acquired data.”
The technology of IoT has been used to make our lives easier by automation. These are some of the most important loT applications:
- Home automation (vacuum cleaner, air conditioner, toothbrush, etc.)
- Medical monitoring products
- Electronic tools utilized in agricultural, biomedical and automobile (or any other kind of transportation vehicles) industries
For example, IoT in smart refrigerators makes it possible for you to find out how many and what kinds of foods are in your refrigerator and when their expiration date is.
“The Internet of Things is the crossover between the physical and the digital worlds brought forth by the creation of devices other than PCs that connect to IP networks. Indeed, IoT increases connectivity between the physical and the digital worlds. These large-scale industries require innovative PCB design that offers flexibility and high-speed connectivity to streamline processes on a global scale.”
What is PCB?
PCB is a Printed Circuit Board, which is non-conductive and multilayer, made of fiberglass. All electrical and electronic parts on the PCB are interconnected through copper traces on different layers of PCB.
Before the growth and expansion of PCB, circuits were made by point-to-point wiring. This caused complexity and uncertainty in the circuit. In this case, we would never be able to make a big circuit like a motherboard.
In PCBs, all parts are connected without wires, and it is done internally by copper traces. This feature leads to a reduction in the complexity of the overall circuit design. The PCB design method has a special application in providing electricity and connection between circuit parts.
PCBs can be designed according to the specifications required by the user, and this (custom and diverse design) can be found in many electronic devices, including televisions, mobile phones, digital cameras, and computer components such as graphic cards, motherboards, etc.
PCBs are used in many other fields including medical equipment, industrial machinery, automotive and lighting industries.
Where does IoT meet PCBs?
“The most critical requirement for any IoT product is board dimensions. Among the things that should be considered during the design of the IoT PCB are physical limitations such as flexibility and size. Battery design related to energy consumption requires high optimization.
Because IoT products are always connected through a communication network. As dependence on IoT devices increases, formal standards are also required to build and maintain consumer trust. Hence, comprehensive prototyping and simulation is required in IoT PCB design.”
To design a new generation of hardware products, it is always better to focus on smaller size PCB design. One of the keys to a smaller hardware product is of course a smaller printed circuit board. small size can be crucial for hardware products like wearable tech, as well as internet of things related products. Flex PCBs and high-density interconnect (HDI) PCBs are the best choices in these applications.
By using PCBs, it is possible to design small boards with high complexity that can design and implement the fast performance required by all kinds of smart electronic devices and do not face any problem in supplying the electricity they need and even operate wirelessly. This unique feature of size requires advanced PCB design techniques. In fact, without such boards, the Internet of Things technology would not have grown to the extent that we see today.
Arshon Technology’s team will fulfill your requirements whether it being of a circuit or a PCB design. The PCB will be examined in detail in terms of size, features and assembly requirements in order for the proper PCB layout be designed using the latest CAD software available. We can also provide our customers a customized circuit design answering their needs and purposes.
In addition, our customers may even provide us with the circuit schematics and we will follow the interconnections in the schematics to design the PCB layout. Our specialists in the field have the PCB design perform under our specified design rules to make certain the design is manufacturable as well as to control the manufacture cost so that the final product will not cost higher than the norm.
Author: Eli(Elnaz) Sadafi, IoT design engineer @ Arshon technology.