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Hardware setup and constribution guidelines

UCI Rocket Project (Liquids) uses the most up-to-date version of KiCAD for our PCBAs. Additionally, we use JLCPCB as our main fabrication house and assembler for our PCBAs.

This will be a guide on how to setup a KiCAD project for the team and also some guidelines for the schematic capture.

Starting a KiCad Project

All of our hardware projects are version-controlled using GitHub. To get a new board started, follow these steps:

  1. Create the Repository: Create a new repository in our GitHub organization using the standard naming convention: rocket#-name-hardware (for example, rocket2-ecu-hardware).
  2. Clone First: Before touching KiCad, clone the empty repository to your local machine: git clone <repository-link>

⚠️ WARNING: REPOSITORY INITIALIZATION

Always start with git clone. Do not run git init locally.

Note: We strictly use main instead of master as our primary branch. Seriously, please do not push a master branch!

Setting up a KiCAD / a KiCAD project

KiCAD projects imports/setup

There are 2 imports required before starting your board:

  • Custom Layout Constraints File (.kicad_dru)
  • UCIRP's Component Library (UCI-KiCAD-Lib)
KiCAD Project Structure
Figure 1: Required project file/folder

Custom Layout Constraints File

The Custom Layout Rules are directly from JLCPCB's design tolerances for a standard PCB. The .kicad_DRU file can be found here: JLCPCB.kicad_dru

Copy this file into your KiCAD project and rename the name of the file to: "your_project_name".kicad_dru

The KiCAD project will not detect the custom constraint file unless it has the same name the project.

UCIRP's component library

Avionics has created its own custom hardware library for KiCAD with some of the components we assemble onto our boards. To add our KiCAD libary, run the following command while in you project's directory.

git submodule add https://github.com/UCI-Rocket-Project/UCIRP-KiCAD-Lib.git

A new folder should appear in your project, and now you can the add both the symbol & footprint libraries into your project.

KiCAD Import Library Dialog
Figure 2: Required KiCAD import library

⚠️ IMPORTANT: PROJECT SPECIFIC LIBRARIES

You must add the library as a Project Specific library local to the project's file path. If you add it globally, the project will not link the library for other team members when they pull the repository.

KiCAD projects imports/setup

Additionally, 2 extension that are basically essential for our KiCAD project:

  • "Fabrication Toolkit" for JLCPCB fabrication files
  • "Replicate Layout" for replicating layout of hierarchical sheet copies on the PCB
KiCAD Project Structure
Figure 3: Required KiCAD extensions

KiCAD schematic styling guide

Some notes on how to work on your project.

  1. Use hierarchical sheets when possible.

  2. No yellow backgrounds for components.

    • While this is entirely subjective, our team standard dictates that all schematic components must have empty backgrounds for visual consistency.

    KiCAD Schematic Example
    Figure 4: KiCAD Schematic Example

  3. Do not attempt to make separate branches or merge

    • Ensure local files are up to date before making changes. Merge conflicts are practically irreconcilable, do not attempt to merge.