Open source OLED watch

Author: Ben Jordan Altium senior manager of content marketing strategy

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Many sophisticated open source hardware projects are completed by electronics engineers and PCB design engineers who use Altium Designer as a development tool in their daily work. The performance of a new generation of engineers who are thriving is also very eye-catching. Jared Sanson, a senior in engineering at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand, recently completed an amazing open source project, the open source OLED watch.

Jared sprouted the idea because he had an OLED display on hand, but there was no way to drive it. Later, when he was designing a new type of PCB using Altium Designer, he suddenly realized that he could not waste this display. So he decided to transform the OLED display into a smart watch platform and install low-power Bluetooth and various sensors.

When embarking on this project, Jared decided to use the PIC24F microcontroller because it had enough processing power to drive the OLED display. He hopes that the size of the PCB can be perfectly adapted to the size of the OLED display, which brings great challenges to the design. Due to the strict limitations of the types of components that can be selected, he had to use passive components in the 0603 package as much as possible. At the same time, because there is no device for soldering BGA package devices, Jared turned to a QFN package chip that is easy to solder. In order to reduce costs, Jared must limit the structure of the board to 2 layers, which makes wiring on the PCB very difficult. The last few wires on the PCB take almost as long as Jared spends wiring on other traces.

During the project, Jared's school network couldn't access the Altium Content Vault, and Jared couldn't easily get the right components, so he decided to make most of the components himself and then do the PCB design. When receiving the first version of the PCB, Jared found that the microcontroller's package size was too small and had to be redesigned due to the unforgettable inspection of the package used.

Despite all sorts of challenges, Jared believes that Altium Designer has brought him a lot of convenience during the project. He believes that Altium Designer's 3D PCB view is very easy to use, helping designers to clearly see the impact of each component on the overall thickness and how the battery under the PCB will be installed when placing components on the PCB. Jared uses simple 3D bodies to create simple components such as buttons and SMD passives, and introduces a STEP model for complex components such as USB sockets to accurately mount USB sockets onto the PCB.

This open source OLED watch project cost Jared a year, and now it can actually show time and track his college curriculum. Jared plans to continue to modify the schematic to reduce power consumption and simplify the design to make it thinner, and gradually improve the project by solving the various problems that currently exist. Jared also plans to raise funds to turn the project into a kit that can be assembled. In response to the enthusiasm for open source hardware, Jared released project-related PCBs and firmware using open source hardware licenses for other engineers to use and use in their design projects.