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February

ISR at end of month

  • Alright, boards have arrived!!
  • We now get to test our boards
    • It is not recommended to just power the entire board in one go. Even with all our checks and asks for help, something might still be broken or incorrect.
      • Break up each aspect of your board into pieces and power them up in a sequence, resoldering major aspects after each successful power-up
  • If nothing breaks, congrats, you won the lottery
  • However, if something does break, hardware debugging begins. I recommend recording everything that is going on throughout this sequence in notes or in your datasheets generated during your TDP.
    • Again, Ask. For. Help. See if you can get assistance from your sponsor or mentor on hardware power-up and debugging. It'll make your life a whole lot easier.
    • I recommend going to IEEE to power up your boards as we have the equipment and expertise in quickly doing hardware debugging.
  • Once you find all the issues, readjust your schematic and layout, regenerate your Gerbers, BoM, and CPL, and get a new set of boards ASAP. Remember the 3-4 week lead time.
  • Make sure to get this hardware power up done well before ISR so that you have enough time to synthesize and communicate your information on what you've done so far.
    • If your board has multiple issues, be honest! Judges will appreciate the straightforwardness as long as you have a plan and a schedule for making your board a reality.