Renesas to Acquire PCB Design Software Leader Altium

Renesas Electronics announced an agreement to acquire all outstanding shares of the global leader in electronics design systems, Altium. The announcement, with important repercussions for product developers globally, enables Renesas to create a system-level integrated and open electronics system design and lifecycle management platform, leveraging Altium’s popular design software and cloud platform capabilities to increase innovation and overall productivity.

The first article from audio expert Ethan Winer about Modern PCB Design Practices, gave a general overview of board design using surface-mounted devices (SMDs). The article examines current practices and methods for designing four-layer printed circuit boards using surface mounted components (SMDs), and this second part explains specific strategies and related issues to deal with the design and production of great quality PCBs. This article was originally published in audioXpress, March 2023.

In this two-part series, Ethan Winer examines current practices and methods for designing four-layer printed circuit boards using surface-mounted components (SMDs). A great article for our DIY readers and many developers who often are faced with the need to build and test their projects on a properly designed, prototype printed circuit board. Part 1 presents an overview of the process, while Part 2 he will explain specific strategies. Many related issues will be described along the way.

audioXpress February 2023 focuses on the small devices in the increasingly larger market of MEMS Microphones and Voice Pickup Sensors. The Market Update on this topic is complemented by Erica Yorga's article on the principles of Nureva's Unified Coverage Map. Ethan Winer offers the first of a primer on modern PC board design, there's a review of the Arylic Audio Up2Stream Amp V4 board, an inside story on how Crestron adopted AES67, and a High-Performance Tube Hybrid Preamp DIY project.

USound, the developer and manufacturer of micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) speakers for personal devices and wearables, announced an expanded partnership with AT&S Austria Technologie & Systemtechnik, a manufacturer of high-end printed circuit boards and integrated circuit substrates, to manufacture USound’s new fully integrated audio module for True Wireless Earbuds (TWS). The new audio modules can be 75% smaller and 85% lighter, with improved sound quality, compared to current TWS solutions.