Episode Details

Did you ever wonder why many PCBs incorporate funny-looking "snakes" and "bumps" in their traces? Do you want to use USB3, Gbit Ethernet, PCI-Express or DVI/HDMI in your custom PCB designs? This talk may be for you. Intermediate understanding of electrical engineering concepts (impedance, wave forms, digital signals) is recommended. I will use KiCAD to demonstrate concepts. Thanks to the ubiquitous availability of fast electronic components, custom PCB design incorporating high-speed data transmission has become incredibly affordable. Two particular technologies are very useful for transmitting fast digital signals on a PCB: [Differential signalling](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Differential_signalling) combined with [microstrip traces](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microstrip) into differential pairs. This talk presents practical aspects of designing PCBs with differential pairs, as well as why they are so useful. about this event: https://fahrplan.cosin.ch/fahrplan/2026/events/a81732ae-3f67-50ab-87a2-484a70d8a0b7/