Welcome to the TAD electronics blog – clear, practical insight on designing, building and supporting real-world electronic products. If you’re exploring a new idea, modernising an existing system, or simply want a sharper view of what good looks like, you’re in the right place.
Browse the latest posts or jump into a category. Articles are written in plain English, with just enough technical depth to be useful to engineers while staying readable for procurement, production leads and business owners. New pieces land regularly.
Connected transport is only as good as the electronics that keep it running. From telematics units and trailer trackers to battery-powered sensors on buses, bikes and rail stock, the common constraint is energy.
View moreRapid prototyping involves, unsurprisingly, swiftly creating scale models or functional versions of products using computer-aided design (CAD) software and technologies such as 3D printing and CNC machining.
View moreSustainability might feel like a buzzword at times, but in electronics, it’s becoming more of a baseline requirement than a lofty ideal. With pressure mounting from both the planet and policy, designing electronics with zero carbon goals in mind isn’t just smart – it’s essential.
View moreNo one likes it, everyone experiences it, you will experience it again – failure. From everyday fails to spectacular ones, it’s something that is just a part of existence. And it isn’t a human experience alone, even the things we design to be as near to faultless as we can experience failings.
View moreIn today’s world, electronics are an essential part of our daily life. However, the fast pace of innovation and consumption has caused significant environmental challenges which have prompted a move towards sustainable electronics design.
View moreThese collisions are in fact the reason for the electrical resistance of materials. The greater the number of collisions, the higher the resistivity of the material. To completely mitigate the issue of heating, we would require a material in which electrons move freely without encountering any ion collisions.
View moreSurface Mount Technology (SMT) and Through-Hole Assembly are two prominent methods, each with its own set of advantages and disadvantages. In this article, we will delve into the differences between these techniques, explore their respective pros and cons, and identify the appropriate use cases for each, ensuring that you make an informed decision for your PCB manufacturing needs.
View moreThis electronics blog brings together lessons from day-to-day product development at TAD: electronic design, embedded software, control systems, telemetry and remote monitoring, specialist and bespoke solutions, supply chain development, prototyping, manufacturing and lifetime support. We focus on what ships - designs that survive EMC testing, parts that stay available, firmware that’s efficient and maintainable, and interfaces people can actually use.
You’ll find step-by-step guides, short opinion pieces and case-led write-ups that connect engineering choices to commercial outcomes. Typical topics include low-power architectures and zero-carbon thinking, sensor selection and placement, communications stacks (from CAN to cellular), enclosure and environmental considerations, design-for-manufacture, test strategy, and obsolescence management. We also share practical checklists for requirements capture, design reviews and production sign-off.
Who is this blog for? Engineers who want credible detail, procurement teams who care about risk and continuity of supply, production leaders aiming for repeatability and yield, and founders who need the big picture without the jargon. Each article stands alone, with clear takeaways you can share with your team.
If a post sparks a question, or you’d like us to cover something specific, get in touch via the contact page. For deeper dives into how we work, explore: Product Development (Control Systems, Telemetry, Specialist Designs, Bespoke Systems, Supply Chain, Lifetime Support), TAD Services (TAD Arc, TAD Labs, TAD Recovery, Bluebrick), and Working With Us (Electronic Design, Software Design, Prototyping, Manufacturing). This electronics blog exists to help you make better, faster decisions about products that need to work all day, every day.