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Engineering journal

Field Notes for Hardware Teams

Long-form guidance on power, signal integrity, PCB constraints, and component strategy. New entries are published as they are finalized.

Published Articles

Only posts with a publish date on or before today are readable.

April 16, 20267 min read

PoE Power Budget Calculator: How to Plan Power for Multi-Device Networks

# PoE Power Budget Calculator: How to Plan Power for Multi-Device Networks Power over Ethernet is one of those technologies that sounds simple until you start planning a real deployment.

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April 14, 20267 min read

I2C Bus Design Mistakes: 7 Errors That Cause Communication Failures

# I2C Bus Design Mistakes: 7 Errors That Cause Communication Failures I2C is supposed to be simple.

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April 12, 20266 min read

IPC-2221 vs IPC-2152: Which PCB Trace Standard Should You Use?

# IPC-2221 vs IPC-2152: Which PCB Trace Standard Should You Use?

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April 10, 20268 min read

10 Common PCB Design Mistakes That Fail EMC Testing (And How to Fix Them)

# 10 Common PCB Design Mistakes That Fail EMC Testing (And How to Fix Them) You just got your board back from the EMC lab and it failed.

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April 10, 20261 min read

FPGA Selection Playbook for Edge Products

A concise framework for choosing FPGA families when power budgets, lifecycle availability, and integration complexity all compete.

FPGAedge computecomponent selection
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April 8, 20267 min read

FPGA vs ASIC vs MCU: When to Choose Each for Your Design

# FPGA vs ASIC vs MCU: When to Choose Each for Your Design You're starting a new hardware project and the first big architectural decision is staring you in the face: FPGA, ASIC, or MCU?

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April 8, 20261 min read

SOM vs SBC Decisions Through a Lifecycle Risk Matrix

A structured way to compare module and board options when long-term support, cost stability, and redesign risk matter most.

SOMSBCproduct strategy
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April 6, 20268 min read

Power over Ethernet (PoE) Explained: IEEE 802.3af/at/bt Standards Compared

# Power over Ethernet (PoE) Explained: IEEE 802.3af/at/bt Standards Compared Running both data and power over a single Ethernet cable sounds simple — and it is, once you understand the standards.

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April 6, 20261 min read

Differential-Pair Skew Planning with Real Stackups

A disciplined approach to skew budgeting when dielectric variation, layer changes, and connectors are all part of the path.

differential pairshigh-speed designPCB routing
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April 4, 20267 min read

PCB Trace Width Calculator: How to Use IPC-2221 Standards

# PCB Trace Width Calculator: How to Use IPC-2221 Standards You're laying out a PCB and need to run 3 amps through a power trace.

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April 4, 20262 min read

IPC Trace Current Derating Inside Hot Enclosures

How to convert IPC-based trace calculations into robust derating decisions for sealed or high-ambient product enclosures.

PCBthermal designIPC-2221
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April 2, 20267 min read

I2C Pull-Up Resistor Calculation: A Complete Guide with Formulas

# I2C Pull-Up Resistor Calculation: A Complete Guide with Formulas You've got your I2C bus wired up, but the signals look terrible on the scope — slow rise times, rounded edges, maybe even communication failures.

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April 2, 20262 min read

I²C Bus Margins to Lock Before Prototype Freeze

The highest-impact I²C checks to complete before your first prototype run to avoid late debugging cycles.

I2Csignal integrityhardware validation
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March 31, 20268 min read

How to Read Resistor Color Codes: 4-Band, 5-Band, and 6-Band Explained

# How to Read Resistor Color Codes: 4-Band, 5-Band, and 6-Band Explained You've probably been there — staring at a tiny cylindrical component with colored stripes, trying to figure out if that's a 4.7kΩ or a 47kΩ resistor.

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March 31, 20262 min read

Avoiding Hidden Power Budget Failures in PoE Deployments

A practical pre-deployment checklist for preventing undervoltage and startup instability in long-run PoE systems.

PoEpower integrityfield reliability
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