PCB Design for Military & Aerospace Applications

 

This course addresses specific challenges encountered in military and aerospace applications, including the effects of vibration, shock, radiation, altitude, extended operating temperature range, and other design considerations for high-reliability applications. The class also focuses on the impact of these designs on manufacturing and assembly techniques, documentation, and manufacturing file generation. 



Taught by an IPC-certified industry expert with 25+ years of experience in the field, the six-week program utilizes interactive webinars, on-demand recorded class sessions, job-specific exercises, and team projects to facilitate mastery of the key concepts required to design boards for military and aerospace applications. 

PCB Design for Military & Aerospace Applications is accredited by the ANSI National Accreditation Board under ANSI/ASTM E2659-18, Standard Practice for Certificate Programs.

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Member Price
$1,600.00
Non-member Price
$2,000.00
Access
90 Days From Enrollment
Class Schedule

  • Course Level: Advanced

  • Training Time

    12 two-hour online instructor-led sessions

  • Certificate of Completion

    Certificate of Completion: PCB Design for Military & Aerospace Applications

  • Seasonal Enrollment

    Access for 90 Days

Questions

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Download the syllabus.

All virtual class sessions are recorded for review. The instructional content of the course is design software independent. During the course's hands-on part, the instructor will use the Altium design tool to demonstrate concepts and methodologies. Students are free to use the software they choose to submit their work. For students who do not have access to a design software program, IPC will provide a 1-year subscription to Altium Designer.

Week 1: Basic Circuit Design

  • Stackup management
  • CTE stresses
  • Packaging challenges
  • Test coverage and test access
  • Mass 
  • Thermal control
  • Isolation and power domains
  • Power management and switch over
  • Resins and foils
  • Design stackup for simple boards

Week 2: Advanced Military & Aerospace Circuit Design

  • Altitude effects 
  • Pichon’s curve
  • Redundancy 
  • Acceleration
  • Lightning
  • Charge concentration
  • Point charge
  • Sharpe corners
  • Radiation Effects
  • IPC standards 
  • Design board for satellite application

Week 3: Design Materials for Military & Aerospace Applications

  • What materials are used in these designs?
  • How to define
  • Physical and mechanical properties
  • Trade-offs for different material types
  • Vibration and shock
  • Moisture
  • Salt and sand effects
  • Conformal coatings
  • Potting compounds
  • Staking compounds
  • IPC standards
  • Define stackups for signal integrity, Navy, FAA, satellite 

Week 4: Design Considerations for the Military & Aerospace Manufacturing Process 

  • Understand the manufacturing process used in these designs
  • Understand special fabrication allowances for space designs
  • Understand assembly challenges and mitigation with these designs 
  • Extended qualifications
  • Tailored test and certification
  • Conformal coating
  • Potting
  • Class 3: Space addendum
  • Staking
  • Design board for a space application involving staking and potting

Week 5: Documentation in Compliance with IPC Standards

  • IPC-2610 series.
  • IPC-D-325.
  • IPC-J-STD-001
  • Space addendum
  • Documentation methodology
  • Special feature call outs
  • Create documentation package
  • Define special requirements

Week 6: Content Review and Final Exam

  • Content review and final exam 

This course is ideal for designers, engineers, technicians, and other individuals who want to acquire or increase their ability to meet the design, manufacturing, packaging, and routing challenges posed by military, aerospace, and space applications. 

IPC strongly recommends that students either complete the IPC Introduction to PCB Design I & II courses or possess a solid foundation in electrical theory, be able to use PCB design software, and have familiarity with:

  • Schematic symbol creation 
  • Schematic generation 
  • Documentation and dimensioning 
  • Standard rigid printed board design 
  • Printed board manufacturing 
  • Printed board assembly 
  • Basics of signal integrity 

IPC strongly recommends that students either complete the IPC Introduction to PCB Design I & II courses OR possess a solid foundation in electrical theory, be able to use PCB design software, and have familiarity with:

  • Schematic symbol creation 
  • Schematic generation 
  • Documentation and dimensioning 
  • Standard rigid printed board design 
  • Printed board manufacturing 
  • Printed board assembly 
  • Basics of signal integrity 

IPC offers different instructional modalities to suit participants with different needs and preferences. This program is only available in the following modality:

Online-instructor-led: Participants go online to meet with an IPC-certified industry expert at a fixed time twice per week for the duration of the course. Class sessions are usually 1.5 to 2 hours. Participants can also access a video recording of each class session on their IPC EDGE course dashboard.

Completion of the program with a score of 70% or higher on the final exam and/or final project is required to earn a certificate of completion and 24 Professional Development Hours (PDHs).

Review IPC Workforce Training policies and procedures documents including the grievance and appeal forms.

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