Advances in Electronic Design Automation (EDA) technology have greatly enhanced the productivity of PCB designers. Present designs require meeting ever-growing requirements including cost, testability, producibility and thermal considerations. A design materializes through a combination of manual effort and using design tools.

The object of managing the design cycle is to produce a design meeting specific requirements while expending the least amount of capital. Doing this demands consciousness of a series of specific events and milestones. It is essential to define the requirements, execute them, and check to assure they are met. This means one must understand what the design tools are capable of checking and what must be manually verified. It is essential to detect and correct errors as soon as possible. While changes are probably inevitable, some may be eliminated or introduced sooner.

This session will include a methodology to accomplish these goals. PCB design is a process in which specific roles and disciplines can be defined to produce better results sooner. A definition of management's role will also be delineated.

Bio:
Carl Nielsen is a Design Specialist for Litton Guidance and Control Systems in Goleta, CA. Carl has been a PCB designer for over 30 years. For almost 20 years, he worked for a division of General Motors whose main products were military airborne electronics. Litton purchased the inertial division last year, where Carl works now.