Design007 Magazine

PCBD-May2017

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22 The PCB Design Magazine • May 2017 Navigating in an unfamiliar setting is a major challenge for people with a visual impairment. To make it easier for them to find their way, EPFL researchers have developed a lightweight and re- configurable touchscreen tablet capable of gen- erating shapes and maps. Users can then "read" the graphic data on the screen with their fingers. The research is part of the European project Blindpad. Measuring 12 by 15 centimeters, the tablet comprises 192 tiny buttons that can move up and down in just a few millisec - onds, almost instan- really worked well on a team. I'd only worked well with a group of like-minded PCB engineers watching out for our own interests. The team in Reno came together as I was giv- en more opportunities to practice reaching out to all of the other personnel in the PCB manu- facturing processes. The team was composed of personnel from all of the various PCB manufac- turing disciplines that I'd learned about while gaining my CID. Now, as a CID instructor for EPTAC, I'm able to give back to the PCB design community by passing on my knowledge. The CID is much more than a piece of paper, or proof that you know how to design a PCB that's manufactur- able anywhere in the world. Bottom line: The CID might just help you get a job. And isn't that what it's all about? PCBDESIGN Kelly Dack is currently a full-time PCB designer for KeyTronicEMS Corp., a dynamic assembly contract manufacturer with facilities world- wide. Additionally, Kelly serves on the executive staff of the IPC Designer Council and is employed by EPTAC Corporation as a CID instructor teaching classes nationwide. taneously creating patterns such as the layout of a building, street or conference room. Users can also zoom in on a specific part of the map. The actuators are fast enough to make individual buttons vibrate. The underlying mechanism is straightforward. Each button contains a tiny magnet placed be- tween two coils and two thin layers of steel. Any given button can be moved up or down by gen- erating a local magnetic field by driving current through one of the coils for five milliseconds. The magnetized buttons then remain in the up or down position because they attach to one the two steel plates. "The system requires no power to keep the button in place," said Herbert Shea, director of EPFL's Microsystems for Space Tech - nologies Laboratory. A Touchable Tablet to Guide the Visually Impaired MUST WORK WELL ON A TEAM; CID A BONUS a team. I asked, "What is the PCB design team like?" The principle engineer responded, "Well, it's not really a team. It's just one guy, and he's at the movies with the department." In the background, I could hear whispering. The engineering services manager said to the HR gal, "Did you tell him we have a team?" And the HR gal replied, "That's a standard qualifica- tion on our job template. It's on all our jobs." So this company in Reno wasn't really look- ing for a PCB designer who works well on a team. They didn't have a PCB design team—just another independent PCB designer. However, they really liked the insights I'd gained, not only from my diverse PCB employment history, but what I'd learned about considering all the spokes in the manufacturing wheel while gain- ing my IPC CID certification. They called me yet again to invite me up to Reno for an in-person interview. I ended up ac- cepting their job offer and developing some re- ally good friendship and teamwork skills with the designer who chose to attend the company movie, rather than be bothered by joining the engineering staff for my initial phone interview. And during my fourteen-year tenure at that company, a wise engineering manager helped me to realize something about the concept of a team that the IPC CID training and certification had tried to teach me from the start: I had never

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