Order a Pcb

Custom Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs)

In this course, you will be creating and ordering a PCB to use in your project. The primary method for ordering PCBs is to order them through PCBWay. With the help of your TA, you can order a simple, 2-layer, 100mm x 100mm PCB through PCBWay at no cost to you. This PCB will simply be fabricated, as opposed to assembled, so a major portion of this class will be soldering and assembling the PCB you order. This means that you will need to source your components either through the course or other means. See the getting parts page for more details.

Alternatively, you can order a PCB from any outside vendor (including PCBWay) and pay for the cost of the board out of pocket. By paying for a PCB yourself, you are not required to meet the deadlines imposed by the course and can sometimes get your board more quickly.

In rare cases, some teams will be allowed to order PCBs through the Electronics Services Shop in ECEB. If you have need of special board layouts or require a PCB very early in the semester, please discuss this option with your TA as early as possible.

PCBway Orders Through the Course

Orders through PCBway can be submitted and paid for by the ECE department with the help of your TA. Orders will be uploaded to PCBway by your TA and paid for on the dates listed on the course calendar. Please note that the PCBway orders will not be manufactured or shipped until they are paid for so please be aware of the lag time between order submission and payment. In addition, your order must pass PCBway's audit before the payment date for your order to be processed. In order to help students pass audit more quickly, we have provided a DRC file that can be imported in to EagleCAD to verify that your board meets PCBway's capabilities. Passing the DRC does not guarantee that your board will pass audit but it does greatly increase the probability of that event.

Electronic Services Shop

Orders placed through the Electronic Services Shop will require TA approval so please discuss with your TA before contacting the Services Shop. The software most commonly used is EagleCAD. Contact a technician in the Electronic Services Shop with questions.

Please be aware of the PCB deadlines posted on the course calendar. If you are unable to meet these deadlines, you will not be able to order a PCB through the the Electronic Services Shop. You will still be able to order PCBs through third party vendors, just be aware that rushed orders can become expensive.

Commercial quality boards

The most commonly used programs for board layout are Eagle and Orcad Layout. The two software packages below allow a schematic to be drawn and translated into a board layout.

Once the board has been laid out, some companies will manufacture small quantities for a very reasonable price.

S.I.P. (Smart Irrigation Project)

Jackson Lenz, James McMahon

S.I.P. (Smart Irrigation Project)

Featured Project

Jackson Lenz

James McMahon

Our project is to be a reliable, robust, and intelligent irrigation controller for use in areas where reliable weather prediction, water supply, and power supply are not found.

Upon completion of the project, our device will be able to determine the moisture level of the soil, the water level in a water tank, and the temperature, humidity, insolation, and barometric pressure of the environment. It will perform some processing on the observed environmental factors to determine if rain can be expected soon, Comparing this knowledge to the dampness of the soil and the amount of water in reserves will either trigger a command to begin irrigation or maintain a command to not irrigate the fields. This device will allow farmers to make much more efficient use of precious water and also avoid dehydrating crops to death.

In developing nations, power is also of concern because it is not as readily available as power here in the United States. For that reason, our device will incorporate several amp-hours of energy storage in the form of rechargeable, maintenance-free, lead acid batteries. These batteries will charge while power is available from the grid and discharge when power is no longer available. This will allow for uninterrupted control of irrigation. When power is available from the grid, our device will be powered by the grid. At other times, the batteries will supply the required power.

The project is titled S.I.P. because it will reduce water wasted and will be very power efficient (by extremely conservative estimates, able to run for 70 hours without input from the grid), thus sipping on both power and water.

We welcome all questions and comments regarding our project in its current form.

Thank you all very much for you time and consideration!