![]() ![]() It needs to stream MP3 data continuously for the audio IC to decode the data into audio signals. The MCU connects to the audio IC via SPI. The SPI MP3 player circuit that I designed consists of an MCU and an audio IC. Messing up the digital player ground plane can be catastrophic. This is what I did wrong in the original design: I would have avoided this catastrophe had I obeyed the first lesson. Second, where you connect the various ground planes matters. First, always study a technical user guide completely. I learned two of my biggest lessons in electronics design from this fiasco. Why WHERE You Connect the Digital Player Grounds Matter However, that didn’t save my team countless hours of manually fixing the issues that were affecting hundreds of MP3 player circuit boards. When you are connecting the audio ground and the digital player ground with a single point and you are getting interference in your audio channel, then you’ll start to wonder why.Īs for me, I came close to losing tens of thousands of dollars and a major revision before I found out that the interference was caused by Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI) signals that were connecting the audio IC to a microcontroller (MCU). To ignore this advice is unforgivable, but the worst thing you could do is have a single ground plane for your whole audio design. When you refer to some of the best practices for in-ground placement, you’ll notice that most would advise that they are connected to a single point, for example, a star ground. These grounds appeared on the schematics with different symbols, yet they appear to be connected to one another in a customized MP3 player circuit board layout. When you are working with PCBs in audio players you have to deal with analog and digital ground. ![]() In college, we learn about power ground, digital ground, and analog ground in circuit design. Likewise, you might be completely focused on what sort of specialized integrated chips (IC) you’re going to use, but knowing the importance of the various grounds in your electronics will seal the deal. This morning I thought that getting my kid his porridge was the goal, but really the key was to put the right kind of sugar in it. When Digital Player Grounds Are the Same but Differentīefore you start designing a single-ground connection to connect the first MP3 player or any music player PCB projects you need to focus on what is important, and sometimes that isn’t quite clear. This mistake was such a pain that I can still remember every detail of it. ![]() A small design error left me with exactly 100 units of customized steps in the construction of an MP3 without a printed circuit board and faulty audio on the left channel. ![]() I experienced the latter scenario five years ago. Unfortunately, in the printed circuit board design world, this usually means dealing with hundreds of faulty designs. If you’re very lucky, this mistake could be the equivalent of spending ten minutes dealing with your child’s tantrum. Likewise, sometimes the slightest mistake could mean the undoing of a great design. One small mistake on my part and suddenly my 5-year-old has enough sass to give Gordon Ramsey a run for his money. For example, this morning I accidentally mistook salt for sugar and mixed it into my child’s favorite porridge. Sometimes even the coolest apps can’t mitigate the stress we experience in a day. However, when you’re juggling parenting, coding, electronics design and occasionally writing an article like this. Technology is pretty great and it has definitely made certain things in life easier. ![]()
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