7 ms·

Nope, that would be my advice. It's not as hard or as demanding as you think, even a naive design, with just a modicum of attention to ground loops and impedanc

Nope, that would be my advice. It's not as hard or as demanding as you think, even a naive design, with just a modicum of attention to ground loops and impedance matching, plus the advantages of modern layout tools, 4+ layer stackups, trace clearances, and high-performance integrated transceivers, will probably work fine. Your first designs may or may not pass a radiated emissions test, and it may or may not work reliably if you want it to fly through the Van Allen belts or in an industrial panel full of VFDs, and you might want to aim for last year's implementation rather than the bleeding edge. While it can be made complicated if you want to truly and thoroughly understand it, just following basic rules of thumb can go a long, long way.

throwaway3neu94 4y ago
Just following basic rules of thumb (minimizing current loop area, length matching, impedance matching through trace width, series termination, etc.) may yield a working device, but how do you learn from that? At some point you're already applying all those rules of thumb, but how do you then actually measure what works and what doesn't so that you can improve beyond that? It seems it is difficult to find resources teaching that, and also the equipment needed becomes very specialized and expensive fast.
- LeifCarrotson 4y ago
  Those topics were the subject of the 3rd and 4th years of my EE degree (which was not cheap, and which involved some very specialized and expensive lab equipment). But after 10 years in the field, I've sadly forgotten most of that and learned pragmatism instead.
- Kirby64 4y ago
  The answer, unfortunately, is you can't. Once you start talking about USB3 or HDMI, the testing equipment to test it 'properly' as you would professionally gets to be easily $10k, and can be upwards of $100k depending on the interface.

throwaway3neu94 4y ago

Just following basic rules of thumb (minimizing current loop area, length matching, impedance matching through trace width, series termination, etc.) may yield a working device, but how do you learn from that? At some point you're already applying all those rules of thumb, but how do you then actually measure what works and what doesn't so that you can improve beyond that? It seems it is difficult to find resources teaching that, and also the equipment needed becomes very specialized and expensive fast.

LeifCarrotson 4y ago
Those topics were the subject of the 3rd and 4th years of my EE degree (which was not cheap, and which involved some very specialized and expensive lab equipment). But after 10 years in the field, I've sadly forgotten most of that and learned pragmatism instead.
Kirby64 4y ago
The answer, unfortunately, is you can't. Once you start talking about USB3 or HDMI, the testing equipment to test it 'properly' as you would professionally gets to be easily $10k, and can be upwards of $100k depending on the interface.