What will you learn?
The hardware product development process

Benefits:
Gain familiarity with the development process (requirements, timeline, milestones, cost, tools, etc.)

Who should take this course?
Recent graduates, start-up founders that need to know what to expect from their hardware, and companies that need assistance with Hardware Development

Assignment details:
Take notes

Type, Timeline, Duration, Maximum number of participants
Theoretical, Tailored to meet your schedule, 1 hour, #20

Location:
20+ persons meeting room in Kitchener-Waterloo region (will be communicated upon request)

What will you learn?
To professionally review a schematic (the schematic is the reference of any design in many ways). This is the theoretical introduction to the practical course (SRP1)

Tools used:
Acrobat Reader, Excel

Assignment details:
Take notes

Type, Timeline, Duration, Maximum number of participants
Theoretical, Tailored to meet your schedule, 1 hour, #10

Location:
Kitchener-Waterloo region

What will you learn?
To review a schematic (the schematic is the reference of the design in many ways)

Tools used:
Acrobat Reader, Excel

Assignment details:
You’ll review a schematic that contains errors (following the provided checklist) and you’ll have to find as many as you can. We’ll have a brainstorming at the end of the session and fix all the errors

Type, Timeline, Duration, Maximum number of participants
Practical, Tailored to meet your schedule, 1 hour, #3

Location:
Kitchener-Waterloo region

What will you learn?
To use the microscope and visually inspect the components to localize board defects (solder bridges, damaged components, incorrectly positioned components, etc)

Benefits:
Learn how to validate a design and provide constructive feedback to Designers, PCB manufacturer, assembly house, component vendors, etc – learn how to sort defects (design, systematic, board specific)

Tools used:
Microscope

Assignment details:
Visual inspect real boards “from production” and look for defects (solder bridges, open circuits, wrong polarity)

Type, Timeline, Duration, Maximum number of participants
Practical, Tailored to meet your schedule, 1 hour, #3

Location:
Kitchener-Waterloo region

What will you learn?
To rework (using only the soldering iron) various types of small SMT components (0603, 0805 packages), add fly-wires to test points, solder open pins, remove shorts, etc

Benefits:
Soldering is a good skill to have in troubleshooting and small interventions can be easily performed. About 60-70% of the total board rework needs a soldering level I skills (adding flywires, fix minor issues, replacing a capacitor, a resistor, etc)

Tools used:
Microscope, Soldering Iron (Fine Tip, Flat Tip)

Assignment details:
You’ll rework real boards using soldering tools (+ flux, solder wick)

Type, Timeline, Duration, Maximum number of participants
Practical, Tailored to meet your schedule, 1 hour, #3

Location:
Kitchener-Waterloo region

What will you learn?
To measure the Voltage, Current (wire loops, current sense), calculate power, Measure the values of passive components (resistance, capacitance, inductance, etc)

Benefits:
The experience you gain can be used for troubleshooting, hardware validation, etc

Tools used:
Portable Multimeter, RLC meter (smart tweezers), precision multimeter (4 wires)

Assignment details:
You’ll measure the electrical signals on live boards and validate voltages, current/power consumption, trace impedance

Type, Timeline, Duration, Maximum number of participants
Practical, Tailored to meet your schedule, 1 hour, #3

Location:
Kitchener-Waterloo region

What will you learn?
To probe the digital/analog signals using various types of probe types (passive, active, current probes)

Benefits:
The experience you gain can be used for troubleshooting, hardware validation, etc

Tools used:
Oscilloscope + Passive probes

Assignment details:
You’ll probe digital signals using the oscilloscope

Type, Timeline, Duration, Maximum number of participants
Practical, Tailored to meet your schedule, 1 hour, #3

Location:
Kitchener-Waterloo region

What will you learn?
To localize and remove short circuits on the board

Benefits:
Identify the short circuits (especially in manufacturing and for high density components). Knowing how to identify and remove the short circuits is trivial (powering up a board that presents shorts is not a good idea because a components/PCB could get damaged, which makes the troubleshooting more challenging)

Tools used:
Microscope, Portable Multimeter, Bench Multimeter, Power supply, Thermal Camera

Assignment details:
You’ll have to find short circuits on the boards (active or passive)

Type, Timeline, Duration, Maximum number of participants
Practical, Tailored to meet your schedule, 1 hour, #3

Location:
Kitchener-Waterloo region

What will you learn?
To create the schematic of the project  using a CAD Tool (with emphasis on functionality and readability)

Benefits:
Learn how to create the electrical schematic, which is the foundation of any hardware project

Tools used:
CAD tool (for schematic), Acrobat Reader

Assignment details:
You’ll design a small circuit making use of the datasheet of the component (switching power supply, ucontroller, etc). You’ll use the symbols in the component library provided

Type, Timeline, Duration, Maximum number of participants
Practical, Tailored to meet your schedule, 1 hour, #3

Location:
Kitchener-Waterloo region

What will you learn?
To rework all types of components and defects (excluding BGAs, components with thermal pads)

Benefits:
You’ll be able to complete ~ 95% of the board rework by yourself

Tools used:
Microscope, Soldering Iron, Hot-Air Station

Assignment details:
You’ll rework real boards using soldering tools

Type, Timeline, Duration, Maximum number of participants
Practical, Tailored to meet your schedule, 1 hour, #3

Location:
Kitchener-Waterloo region

What will you learn?
What factors are creating the hot spots and to address the issue (Component placement, add copper planes, add heatsinks/fans)

Benefits:
Learn how to extend the life of the components and the electrical stability of the entire product. This is the theoretical introduction to the practical course (PMP1)

Assignment details:
Take notes

Type, Timeline, Duration, Maximum number of participants
Theoretical, Tailored to meet your schedule, 1 hour, #10

Location:
Kitchener-Waterloo region

What will you learn?
To predict, identify the hot spots on the board and find practical solutions for fixing the respective issues through thermal dissipation/mitigation

Benefits:
Learn how to extend the life of the components and the electrical stability of the entire product

Tools used:
Power supply, Thermal camera

Assignment details:
You’ll have to identify the hotspots of the boards and fix the issues

Type, Timeline, Duration, Maximum number of participants
Practical, Tailored to meet your schedule, 1 hour, #3

Location:
Kitchener-Waterloo region

What will you learn?
How I2C and SPI busses work

Benefits:
Learn the working principle of the interfaces (I2C and SPI) which are widely used to collect data from sensors and peripherals (configuration, control, low data rate). This is the theoretical introduction to the practical course (SBP1)

Assignment details:
Take notes

Type, Timeline, Duration, Maximum number of participants
Theoretical, Tailored to meet your schedule, 1 hour, #10

Location:
Kitchener-Waterloo region

What will you learn?
To capture I2C and SPI transfers (using the Oscilloscope) and how to decode the data captured

Benefits:
Learn the working principle of the interfaces (I2C and SPI) which are widely used to collect data from sensors and peripherals (configuration, control, low data rate)

Tools used:
Oscilloscope, BUS analyzer

Assignment details:
Probe and decode digital signals using the oscilloscope

Type, Timeline, Duration, Maximum number of participants
Practical, Tailored to meet your schedule, 1 hour, #3

Location:
Kitchener-Waterloo region

What will you learn?
About the step by step process of safely bringing up the boards (assembled by the assembly house or populated internally) – Visual inspection, junction test, power rails isolation and testing, current measurement, etc

Benefits:
Learn how to validate the design in a safely manner and avoid unexpected development delays (the board can get damaged, sometimes permanently, if powered up while it presents a defect)
Tools used:
Microscope, Power supply (with current measurement reporting), Multimeter, Thermal Camera

Assignment details:
Bring up 10 boards that were just received from manufacturing (some will present defects: MFG/ASSY)

Type, Timeline, Duration, Maximum number of participants
Practical, Tailored to meet your schedule, 1 hour, #3

Location:
Kitchener-Waterloo region

What will you learn?
To troubleshoot in the most efficient way (based on measurements, historical data and logical thinking). Learn how to link symptoms to the root cause

Benefits:
Troubleshooting is the first step toward becoming a true designer

Tools used:
ALL THE TOOLS (Microscope, Portable Multimeter, Bench Multimeter, Power supply, Oscilloscope)

Assignment details:
You’ll understand the symptoms and look for the defect on boards

Type, Timeline, Duration, Maximum number of participants
Practical, Tailored to meet your schedule, 1 hour, #3

Location:
Kitchener-Waterloo region

What will you learn?
To select components based on project requirements and consulting datasheets

Benefits:
Learn how to reduce the project cost and increase designing efficiency

Tools used:
Acrobat Reader, Excel

Assignment details:
You’ll select the necessary components and create the block diagram of a small project

Type, Timeline, Duration, Maximum number of participants
Practical, Tailored to meet your schedule, 1 hour, #3

Location:
Kitchener-Waterloo region

What will you learn?
To create the list of components of a project and calculate the BOM cost of the entire project

Benefits:
This is the first step toward calculating the cost of the hardware components of the project (which it is important to be known as early as possible in the development process)

Tools used:
CAD tool (schematic), Excel

Assignment details:
You’ll create the list of components and find ways to reduce the BOM cost

Type, Timeline, Duration, Maximum number of participants
Practical, Tailored to meet your schedule, 1 hour, #3

Location:
Kitchener-Waterloo region

What will you learn?
To create the PCB based on the schematic file created in SCP1, component placement, routing, set constraints

Tools used:
CAD tool (for placement and routing)

Assignment details:
You’ll route a small given project

Type, Timeline, Duration, Maximum number of participants
Practical, Tailored to meet your schedule, 1 hour, #3

Location:
Kitchener-Waterloo region

What will you learn?
To create the PCB taking in consideration the manufacturability (fabrication flexibility at a reduced cost and maximum efficiency)

Benefits:
Reduce the PCB manufacturing time (impacting the product development cycle) due to the properly developed PCB

Tools used:
CAD tool (for routing)

Assignment details:
You’ll optimize a project (ease of fabrication - reduce the potential number of defects and cost)

Type, Timeline, Duration, Maximum number of participants
Practical, Tailored to meet your schedule, 1 hour, #3

Location:
Kitchener-Waterloo region

What will you learn?
To create the PCB taking in consideration the assembly (component population flexibility at a reduced cost and maximum efficiency)

Benefits:
Reduce the assembly time of the PCB (impacting the product development cycle) due to the properly developed components (PCB and BOM)

Tools used:
CAD tool (for routing), Excel

Assignment details:
You’ll optimize a project (ease of assembly - reduce the potential number of defects and cost)

Type, Timeline, Duration, Maximum number of participants
Practical, Tailored to meet your schedule, 1 hour, #3

Location:
Kitchener-Waterloo region

What will you learn?
To create the PCB taking in consideration the testability of the board (increase testing coverage by exposing as many as circuit nodes possible)

Tools used:
CAD tool (for schematic and routing)

Assignment details:
You’ll optimize a project (increase testing coverage by relocating, removing/adding test points in the design)

Type, Timeline, Duration, Maximum number of participants
Practical, Tailored to meet your schedule, 1 hour, #3

Location:
Kitchener-Waterloo region

What will you learn?
To populate BGAs, replace QFN with thermal pads, replace through-hole connectors

Benefits:
You’ll be able to complete 99% of the of the soldering tasks by yourself

Tools used:
Microscope, Soldering Iron, Hot-Air Station, Pre-heater

Assignment details:
You’ll rework real boards using soldering tools

Type, Timeline, Duration, Maximum number of participants
Practical, Tailored to meet your schedule, 1 hour, #3

Location:
Kitchener-Waterloo region