This
is the professional services web site of: |
Michael
E. Boyle |
I offer contract
hardware engineering and design services for digital, microprocessor,
and microcontroller based products with a specialty focus on Electromagnetic
Compatibility (EMC) compliance.
- Digital circuitry
- Programmable logic FPGA/CPLD
- Embedded microprocessor/microcontroller
- Power Supply Linear/SMPS
- System architecture and partitioning
- Schematic capture
- Printed circuit board design and layout or interface with your
design and layout staff
- Thru-hole and SMT technologies
- Interface and coordination with your components and purchasing
staff
- Interface and coordination with your preferred board house
- Interface and coordination with your assembly facility including
manufacturing test
- Experienced
with both high volume and low volume production environments
As more and
more electronic products find their way into our lives each day
there is greater need for these products to be designed with Electromagnetic
Compatibility (EMC) in mind. Every product that uses electricity,
whether it is plugged into a wall outlet or powered by batteries
or solar cells, generates electromagnetic radiation that has the
potential of interfering with the proper operation of other products.
Likewise each of these products is in danger of having its' operation
disrupted by interfering radiation from other products. The idea
of Electromagnetic Compatibility is simple. If every product keeps
its' emissions controlled to a very low level and maintains its'
ability to function properly in the presence of very high levels
of emissions from other products they can be said to be Electromagnetically
Compatible.
Governments
and other regulatory agencies are becoming increasingly stringent
in requiring products to successfully coexist in the environment
they all must share. This is especially true if you are selling
your products in Europe and some other parts of the world. If you
are not selling your product into countries where these requirements
exist there is still good reason to design to these levels of compliance.
The same decisions and techniques that improve the EMC performance
of a product for the sake of compliance also tend to produce a product
that is less prone to random unexplained failures in the presence
of interfering emissions from outside sources.
The costs involved
in multiple iterations of design changes can be devastating. Even
worse are the costs involved in missed project schedules; that in
this climate of fast paced markets and very narrow market windows
can spell disaster for a new product introduction. This makes it
more important to consider the EMC aspects of a product in the early
stages of its' development. This is where EMC performance can be
most effectively enhanced with the least cost in components and
engineering time, and the least impact on schedules.
|