Tools
In this page I am showing all the tools used for soldering, programming, debugging and analisys of data, mainly intended as interfaces to the hardware for software development.
SOLDERING
NOTE: for the people who think that Chinese soldering equipment is "not professional" let me point-out that if you really know how to solder, this equipment is absolutely OK; of course if you are not able to do it, then you need tools that fill your gaps! Just for you reference, with those tools I can work down to fine-pitch DFN, 0201-sized passives and even 0.5mm pitch small BGA packages.
ATTEN AT8502D
Dual channel station, integrated pump.
Hot air rework station.
Soldering tips suitable for fine-pitch SMD.
Solomon SL-916
Dual channel station, integrated pump.
Desoldering gun with pistol grip.
Fast heaters suitable for copper planes.
Beta Layout Magnetic Stencil Workbench
Magnetic workbench for small SMD stencils.
The magnetic workbench allows repeatable application of solderpaste onto a PCB. The SMD stencil is held in place on a magnetic hinge so that you can easily lift it up without moving the PCB.
T962A IR reflow oven
Small infrared benchtop oven for reflow soldering.
Custom firmware based on Unified Engineering work.
Customizable profiles for Lead-based and Leadfree solderpastes, IC and PCB baking.
AOYUE Int853A++ pre-heating station
Quartz IR pre-heater station
Aluminum PCBA holders
2 external independent thermocouples
3 programmable thermal profiles
MICROSCOPE
Optika LAB20
Variable zoom stereo microscope.
0.7x-4.5x zoom range.
5x, 10x, 20x interchangeable oculars.
3.5x to 90x magnification combinations.
Transmitted and incident cold light, variable intensity, LED lamps.
Optika ST-50
Observation mode: Brightfield.
Heads: Binocular head, 45° inclined.
Interpupillary distance: Adjustable.
Dioptric adjustment: On the left eyepiece.
Eyepieces: WF 5x/10x/20x 20 mm, secured by screw.
Objective: Achromatic 1x with anti-fungus treatment.
Stand: Overhanging stand with focus.
Focusing: Rack and pinion controlled by a pair of knobs placed on both sides of the stand.
Illumination: Incident
3D PRINTER
EmotionTech MicroDelta Rework
Full metal frame.
Print volume: 150mm diameter to 210mm height.
Layers thickness : 50 to 350 microns.
Filament 1.75mm: PLA and ABS, PETG, Flexible.
Average precision (X, Y) 100 microns, (Z) 50 microns.
0.4mm nozzle.
CNC ROUTER
CNC 3018 Pro
Working area: 300x180x45mm
GRBL 1.1 controller
775 motor: 10000rpm
Mandrel 3.175mm
DEBUGGERS
SEGGER J-LINK
The de-facto standard debug probe.
Supports: ARM7/9/11, Cortex-A5/A7/A8/A9, Cortex-M0/M1/M3/M4/M7, Cortex-R4, Microchip PIC32 and Renesas RX.
Download speed up to 1 MByte/second
Supports unlimited breakpoints in flash memory.
Supported by all major IDEs.
Remote Server included. GDBServer included.
Target interfaces: JTAG, SWD, SWV/SWO, ETB.
Target voltage range: 1.2V - 3.3V, 5V tolerant.
Cypress MiniProg3
Supports: PSoC 3, PSoC 4 and PSoC 5LP.
Target interface: SWD, JTAG, ISSP, USB-I2C.
Target voltage: 1.8V – 5.0V
Fully supported by Cypress Tools: PSoC Creator, PSoC Programmer.
Raisonance R-Link
Supports: ARM7, Cortex-M0/M3/M4, ST7, STM8.
Target interface: 20-pin JTAG, SWD for ARM Cortex-M, STM SWIM for STM8, STM In-Circuit Communication
STM ST-Link/V2
Supports: STM32 family, STM8 family.
Target interface: JTAG, SWD, SWV/SWO, SWIM.
Target voltage: 1.65 - 3.6V, 5V tolerant (JTAG/SWD); 1.65V - 5.5V (SWIM)
IDE support: Atollic, Keil, IAR, Tasking.
Integrated GDB server.
STM ST-Link/V3
Programmer and debugger for STM32 and STM8 family.
Target interfaces: JTAG, SWD, SWV/SWO, SWIM, SPI, I2C, UART.
Target voltage: 1.65 - 3.6V, 5V tolerant (JTAG/SWD); 1.65V - 5.5V (SWIM)
IDE support: Atollic, Keil, IAR, STVD.
Integrated GDB server.
Digilent JTAG-HS3
Small, complete, all-in-one JTAG programming/debugging solution for Xilinx FPGAs and SoCs.
Plugs directly into standard Xilinx JTAG header.
Separate Vref drives JTAG signal voltages; Vref can be any voltage between 1.8V and 5V.
High-Speed USB2 port that can drive JTAG bus up to 30Mbit/sec (frequency adjustable by user)
Compatible with Xilinx ISE® 14.1 and newer, Xilinx Vivado® 2013.3 and newer.
Open drain buffer on pin 14 allows debugging software to reset the processor core of Xilinx's Zynq® platform
PROGRAMMERS
Needham's EMP-11
Universal programmer.
LPT port.
Useful for obsolete parts, EEPROMs, parallel-programmable MCUs, PALs/GALs/CPLDs.
MikroElektronika MikroProg-AVR
8-bit AVR programmer.
USB port.
Supported by MikroElektronika tools.
Software
Here you can find a list of all the main software I use for my development activities, being it EDA tools, IDEs, Operating Systems or other software that I consider relevant for my daily job. Normally the choice of which software to use is discussed and selected with the customer, according to its technical needs and the profitablity of the licensing models for each tool.
Electronic Design Automation (EDA)
KiCad EDA
I use this Open Source EDA tool as my preferred choice for industrial and consumer projects, where the complexity of the design is low and there are no special needs for high-speed design rules. The advantage of this software package is that the design loop is extremely fast and the customer doesn't need to buy a specific licence to read and modify the sources.
Autodesk Eagle
Powerful yet simple EDA package with a very flexible licensing model. I can use this tool for customers who request it, who normally already use it in-house.
Altium Designer
Excellent EDA package for HDI, high-speed, high-count layer PCB, and very complex designs with strict DFM rules. The design loop is longer that simpler tools but the results are optimum. Most customers and third-party manufactureres already have this tool in house, hence the frequent request to use this EDA package for easier data exchange and portability.
Altium Circuit Studio
Little brother of the Altium Designer package, it has the same project management tools and methods with a simpler user interface. The design loop is similar to Altium Designer and it can use Altium Vault as the main library. Project files, schematics and libraries are fully compatible with Designer, while the PCB files can be imported/exported from/to Designer easily. It is a good option for customers who cannot afford another Altium Designer license but want me to work with Altium tools.
Integrated Development Environment (IDE)
Atollic TrueStudio
Now part of ST Software division, supports all the STM32 family of ARM Cortex based MCUs.
Built on Eclipse, CDT, GCC and GDB.
Static code analysis, RTOS-aware debugging.
Debug probes: ST-Link, SEGGER.
Integrated version control: SVN, Git and CVS.
Cypress PSoC Creator
Concurrent hardware and firmware editing, compiling and debugging.
Supports: PSoC 3, PSoC 4, PSoC 4 BLE, PRoC BLE, PSoC 5LP, PSoC6 and FM0+.
Over 120 pre-verified, production-ready Components.
Custom components in Verilog or via state machine diagram.
Dynamically generated API libraries.
Raisonance RIDE ARM and STM8
Integrated Raisonance C/ASM/Linker toolsets.
Supports: ARM, STM8/ST7, CoolRISC and Cortus-APS3.
CodeCompressor for post-link code size optimization.
RBuilder for peripheral configuration and automatic gerneration of code.
Project manager that facilitates complex activities (bank switching, flash, multi-processor, multi-module,...).
Integrated simulator.
Mikroelektronika MikroC 8051 and AVR
Proprietary C/ASM toolset.
Over 600 precompiled function libraries.
Powerful IDE with user-friendly interface and additional tools.
Easy code porting from one architecture to another.
Xilinx ISE Design Suite
Supports: Spartan-6, Virtex-6, and CoolRunner devices, and previous families.
Includes Xilinx Platform Studio (XPS), Software Development Kit (SDK).
IP including MicroBlaze Soft Processor and peripherals.
Complete RTL to bit stream design flow.
High-Level Synthesis, Partial Reconfiguration, ChipScope.
Xilinx Vivado Design Suite HLx
Supports 7-series family.
Spartan7, Artix7, and Zynq7000 platforms.
IP includes MicroBlaze Soft Processor and periphrals.
Graphical and block-based design to full synthesis and bitstream with automatic connection solver.
Includes full Eclipse-based IDE with SDK for MicroBlaze and ARM Cortex-A9 in Zynq7000 devices.
Silego GreenPAK Designer
Design, synthesis, simulation, emulation and programming.
Supports: GreenPAK 1, GreenPAK 2, GreenPAK 3, GreenPAK 4 and GreenPAK 5 families.