PCB design and performance evaluation of miniaturized electronics : A case study for the SOMIRO project

Abstract: Electronics miniaturization is an ever-important subject in the industry of consumer electronics, where smaller, lighter and more powerful electronics is expected. This thesis investigates the miniaturization challenge in the EU-funded project SOMIRO, that aims to construct an energy autonomous swimming millirobot for remote sensing in in agriculture. The current prototype Generation 1 (G1) prototype design is used as a base and a smaller version with additional features is constructed to evaluate possible performance differences. The Printed Circuit Board (PCB) that is produced is of a folding flex-rigid construction that sandwiches several layers of components to fit all components required. The performance of the new Generation 2 (G2) prototype is very similar to the existing G1 prototype in all electrical performance tests with the notable exception being the current draw for actuation of the swimming platform. The G2 prototype consumes significantly less current in this case, which is beneficial for the limited energy availability the millirobot will be operating in. There is still room for improving the PCB design with additional advanced PCB manufacturing techniques. Some of the external parts for the final version of the millirobot still needs to be finalized, for which this PCB may need additional changes, but this is not part of this thesis.