PCB East Keynote: From ‘Wild Idea’ to Lifesaving Solution

PEACHTREE CITY, GA – Francisco Aguilar, CEO of Bounce Imaging, will keynote PCB East 2026. His keynote, “No Business Doing This: How a Wild Idea Became a Mission-Critical System Through Relentless Iteration and a Loyal Manufacturing Partner,” takes place Apr. 29 from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. at the DCU Convention Center in Worcester, MA.

Aguilar is founder of Bounce Imaging and inventor of a 360-degree tactical camera that has become a go-to tool for first responders as well as soldiers who need to see into rooms or confined spaces. This camera, the size of a grapefruit, can be thrown into rooms, tunnels, or the rubble of collapsed buildings – anywhere that’s too risky to send in humans. The real-time images can be viewed on any iPhone or Android.

Aguilar, who has bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Harvard and an M.B.A. from MIT’s Sloan School of Management, was inspired by news accounts of the 2010 Haiti earthquake rescue operation; he was surprised that rescuers didn’t have better tools for searching through rubble for survivors. What if rescuers could just toss a video camera into the wreckage?

He took his idea for a 360-degree camera “ball” to Lightspeed Manufacturing in Haverhill, MA. As he will explain in his keynote, the path to the final product required multiple iterations and an EMS partner that shared his vision. Now Aguilar’s “wild idea” has been adopted by hundreds of police and fire departments, not to mention warfighters and special operations teams.

His technologies have twice been named Best Inventions by TIME Magazine and earned the $1 million Verizon Powerful Answers Award.

“Francisco Aguilar and Bounce Imaging are the perfect example of how an inventor with a life-changing idea can bring it to market with the help of the right design-to-manufacturing partners,” said Mike Buetow, president, PCEA. “His talk will be revealing and inspiring to designers and manufacturers alike.”

PCB East will be held Apr. 28 – May 1 at the DCU Convention Center in Worcester, MA. The event includes a one-day exhibition on Apr. 29.End of article content 

PCEA Announces Free Technical Sessions for PCB East

PEACHTREE CITY, GA – Registrants for the PCB East exhibition this April will gain access to five free technical sessions (plus a keynote presentation) ranging from printed circuit design to fabrication and assembly, the Printed Circuit Engineering Association (PCEA) announced.

The free sessions take place on April 29 at the DCU Center in Worcester, MA, and cover topics about AI and PCB design, flex design, simulation, UHDI, and more.

“Free Wednesday” starts with a session on “The Most Common Issues Seen in Incoming Designs for PCB Fabrication,” by Mike Tucker, director of field applications engineering for Shennan Circuits, and Ray Fugitt, technical marketing engineer with Siemens.

Next, Stephen Chavez, senior product marketing manager of Siemens and PCEA chairman, will speak about “DFM for Ultra-High-Density Interconnect (UHDI).”

The morning sessions will conclude with the keynote presentation, “No Business Doing This: How a Wild Idea Became a Mission-Critical System Through Relentless Iteration and a Loyal Manufacturing Partner,” from Francisco Aguilar, CEO of Bounce Imaging, before lunch on the exhibit floor, which is free to all show registrants.

Free sessions resume in the afternoon with three sessions:

• Avoiding the Most Common PCB Design Mistakes: Strategies for First-Pass Success
• The Future of PCB Design — A Conversation about the Next 2-5 Years
• Libraries: I Hate Them. I Need Them. Help.

Following the free sessions is a reception on the exhibition floor sponsored by Cofactr and EMA Design Automation, and a PCB design community meetup to end the day.

Admission for the PCB East exhibition and free sessions is free at pcbeast.com.End of article content 

Fall PCB Design Training Classes Scheduled

PEACHTREE CITY, GA – PCEA has added three PCEA Training Certified Professional Circuit Designer (CPCD) training and certification classes to the fall schedule.

Upcoming open class dates include:

• May 15, 22, 29, Jun. 5 and 12. Registration closes Apr. 16.
• Sept. 4, 11, 18, 25, Oct. 9
• Sept. 28 – Oct. 2 (live abridged class, taught in-person in conjunction with PCB West)
• Oct. 16, 23, 30, Nov. 6, 13

For the first time, PCEA will hold CPCD courses during PCB West. That class will be an abridged version of the regular 40-hour program.

The 40-hour instructor-led course is designed for printed circuit engineers, layout professionals and other individuals currently serving in the design engineering industry or seeking to get into it.

The classes cover the gamut of printed circuit design engineering, from layout, place and route to specifications and materials to manufacturing methods. Schematic capture, signal integrity and EMI/EMC are also part of the comprehensive program.

Each class includes a copy of Printed Circuit Engineering Professional, a 400-page handbook on circuit board design, and the optional certification exam recognized by PCEA.

There are no prerequisites to enroll. Classes are held online and led by experienced instructors.

To enroll, visit pceatraining.net/registration.End of article content 

Supply Chain Expert to Provide Free Design Resiliency Webinar

PEACHTREE CITY, GA – PCEA and the SMTA Capital Chapter are cosponsoring a special two-part webinar on design for sourcing. The series takes place April 21 and May 5, respectively, and is free to registrants using this link.

Says presenter Ed Dodd, “It is imperative for engineers to integrate supply chain resilience into the very fabric of their designs.” The workshop will explain how to proactively design out supply chain risks during component selection. Attendees will learn about the current landscape of supply chain vulnerabilities, the principles of design for sourcing, and practical strategies to ensure continuity and reliability in their electronic designs.

Key points to be covered:

• Importance of design for sourcing in today’s environment
• Current trends and challenges
• Case studies of supply chain disruptions
• Criteria for component selection
• Innovations in supply chain management.

Attendees will learn about the role of engineers in sourcing decisions, how to assess supplier reliability and stability, tools and techniques for risk assessment, and how to enhance cross-functional collaboration among engineering and supply managers.

Ed Dodd is vice president, government and defense for Cofactr, a leading procurement automation company that is fusing supply chain assurance with procurement automation. Previously, he was director of US Army Programs at Ansys, where he advocated for physics-based digital thread and automated analysis from part to mission, and DfR Solutions, where he consulted across automotive and aerospace industries on various electronics reliability challenges.End of article content