I didn’t have much experience in electronic design so this felt a bit daunting in the beginning. Following the recitation (tutorial link) on the basics of KiCad by Quentin, I decided to start with a simpler design with LEDs that light up with the push of a button. The components used were (4) LEDs, (4) resistors, (1) switch tactile button TL3315, and (1) Seeed Studio Xiao RP2040.
The KiCad is separated into two workspaces that complement each other: Schematic and PCB Board Editor. Schematic is essentially the logic view of your circuit diagram to prepare components and set properties in preparation for the PCB Editor. This phase of the process is not a physical reflection of the PCB layout so the diagram of the components will be shown differently than the physical characteristics of the components (including pin locations). PCB Editor is the physical representation of your board input with copper tracings before export to Gerber files for manufacturing. Note the minimum copper clearance and track width is 0.4mm due to the diameter of the shop’s end mill - this can be changed under Board Setup.
My first iteration was to place all the components as close to the RP2040 as possible, but soon realized the tracks took up unnecessary space.
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The layout was then made more compact by making use of the dead space under the RP2040 for the second iteration.
Simulating in Wokwi
This design was briefly simulated in Wokwi (RP20349 replaced with EPS32 in this scenario due to availability) and the code was assisted by Chat. Now that I get the hang of KiCad’s interface, I hope to achieve two things before machining next week. First is to produce a general use pcb board in an irregular, design specific shape as another exercise. Second is to begin diagramming potential component needs (e.g. distance sensors, tactile touch sensors) for my final project and translate it into KiCad. This page will get updated further once progress is underway.
Electronic Measuring Tools
Our TA, Gert, walked us through three useful tools while working with electronics: varilable power supply, multimeter, and oscilloscope
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