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Project

PCBPT

Fangzheng Liu

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PCB debugging can be tricky sometimes. Normally we should check which signal we want to measure in the schematic, switch to PCB layout to see which pads are connected to that signal, and choose the appropriate one. If there is not only one signal we want to measure simultaneously, but several, some of which may not be on the same side of the PCB, your two hands would not be enough.

Here we present the PCB Probe Tester (PCBPT), a PCB automatic probing tool that helps with your debugging. It's composed of a miniature probing machine you can put on your desk and a control program run in PC. The program will parse the board design file created in Eagle, and list all the signals you can measure in the design. After you choose the signals you want to measure, the program will choose the proper pads for the signals and calculate their coordinates, then the machine will place the probes on the pads selected. All you need to do is choose the signals you want and check the output.

This is a new and better way for the hardware designers to interact with their designs.