At no point in the entire design process within KiCad does this design ever get part numbers assigned for its resistors or capacitors (to pick one thing). That's not acceptable for professional work. A Bill of Materials ABSOLUTELY MUST DESCRIBE THE MATERIALS used in the assembly of the PCBA. Internal part numbers are perfectly acceptable: assigning a generic RES-0402-10k or WIDGETCO-PN987654321 or whatever would be OK by me. KiCAD does not really do this, as evidenced by how this design reaches "design complete" without being... complete.
EVERYTHING MUST HAVE AN ORDERABLE PART NUMBER OR INTERNAL PART NUMBER.
But the resistors are the easy parts. SMD thick film resistors are basically all interchangeable. Things like the ceramic capacitors (MLCCs) cannot be substituted for each other because they all bloody well behave differently so good luck getting the same behavior if you randomly pick a capacitor vendor on LCSC each time you build boards! That's how EEs get fired, and deserve it.
When I generate a build package in Altium, it has complete lists of every part in the design, its MPN, at least one supplier to purchase it, and the SPN for that MPN. (Sometimes internal parts don't have suppliers assigned, but then they're tracked elsewhere in the project or company organization.) There are also assigned alternates in many cases, though they are typically inadequate. Larger projects should use entirely internal part numbering, but that's a real headwind for smaller stuff. All of this comes from a single master part database, plus a project part database, and never gets touched by hand after a library entry's birth.
KiCad is so crap at doing this that last month a client literally paid me thousands of dollars to fix up a garbage KiCad design package that didn't have this information properly stored. There are several add-ins for KiCad that claim to do BOMs better... but it's not standard, so if you don't document what you did and how (which you do not have to do in real CAD software, because it is built in and the CAD vendor documentation plus the years of built-up lore will cover you!) it may as well not exist. Certainly it didn't exist in any sort of usable form for this project.
I don’t think you’ve used KiCAD. Simply add an MPN attribute to your component and that is it. Use the built in BOM editor and exporter. Done. There are certainly ways to misuse any advanced software. But it definitely can and will produce a complete BOM without additional add-ons. Grated, the exporter is limited to CSV files. So I’m guessing your workflow requires something more interesting?
> Simply add an MPN attribute to your component and that is it.
No, that's the problem, right there. KiCad doesn't have a parts library. KiCad has schematic elements you can manually tack parameters on to. And everyone does it slightly differently!
There's no way to have a set of parts you can select from that are guaranteed-approved (because we used them previously or whatever). There's no way to have the software just show you the entire E24+E96 series of standard 0603 resistors so you can just grab one and go and know that it's orderable. There's no way to be able to get that confusing series of diode footprints and orientations right once and store it forever so the software gets it right for you from now on. (Diodes are the worst. At least Panasonic got out of the diode business. And, yes, I was thinking of their product line when I said that.)
Yeah, sure, you can do anything by tacking parameters on schematic components. Sometimes you even have to do that. Just like programming in assembly: there's no job it can't do. But sometimes you really need a little bit more, right?
And that's notwithstanding the fact that many people who use KiCad, like our article author here, don't even bother to tag parts with an MPN parameter! That's a cultural issue, but it is one the software can and should be pushing back on.
The nice thing with KiCAD is that a part is simply a symbol (schematic element) with enough parameters attached. You can specify footprints, MPN, ratings, value, etc. then store it in your approved and verified symbol library for use in all your projects. Use your R_4.7k_0603 symbol an it comes preconfigured with footprint, MPN, rating etc. Making these symbols is a lot of work but very simple.
Unfortunately there is no standard name for these parameters beyond footprint, value and some others. MPN, brand, rating etc. are not default. This hinders bigger adoption I think, and makes every project unique. This should be improved.
>When I generate a build package in Altium, it has complete lists of every part in the design, its MPN, at least one supplier to purchase it, and the SPN for that MPN. (Sometimes internal parts don't have suppliers assigned, but then they're tracked elsewhere in the project or company organization.) There are also assigned alternates in many cases, though they are typically inadequate. Larger projects should use entirely internal part numbering, but that's a real headwind for smaller stuff. All of this comes from a single master part database, plus a project part database, and never gets touched by hand after a library entry's birth.
Only if you've put in the effort to make that database in the first place, which Altium makes pretty annoyingly difficult. I really don't like Altium's mess of options for parts libraries, the defaults for which all suck and a sensible setup requiring a lot of fiddling. I haven't dived too deep into KiCad's setup here recently, but it'd have to try hard to be worse than Altium. The difference is cultural, not tooling.
We use the Celestial Altium Library [1], it's really good for passive components, which make up ~80% of our schematics by count. For other parts we first try to get them through Altium Manufacturer Part Search, we vet the symbol and footprints before importing them into our internal library. Other model sources in order of preference is SnapMagic, UltraLibrarian, Samacsys. Be aware as the quality is often half-baked. Between components that meet my requirements, I will always pick the one with CAD models easily available.
With those prerequisites I only have to make 2-3 footprints from scratch per project as needed, and less so as our library grows.
> I'm probably stating the obvious, but any human stuff is definitely flammable.
It is also very dry.
> What do they do for heat anyway?
Waste heat from the diesel gensets providing our electricity, supplemented by additional diesel burners.
> big logistic challenge away from any ports
It is, we (Davis station) have storage for about a year and a half worth of fuel, and refuel via icebreaker bunkerage once a year.
> Anyway, I'd imagine they mainly get oil/gas fires or electrical fires, for which it'd be better to use foam or whatever is best for electrical. If they use water, they'd keep the hoses dry and warm and use a de-icer like glycol.
We use dry chemical extinguishers as a first response. Most buildings have sprinklers and sensitive areas have hi-fog. We have a Hagglund (tracked vehicle) with a water tank and pump and can hook up to the ring main at hydrants around station.
Unlike McMurdo we don't have dedicated fire-fighters so we all got a week of firefighting training before departure and a third of the station is on call at any time as the emergency response team.
We have CO2 extinguishers near server rooms and switchboards and I believe some of the electrical infrastructure does use gaseous suppression.
But yes, if a fire alarm occurs: the entire station gathers at the muster point while the on call ERT goes to the fire cold porch and the emergency vehicle shelter. From there the on duty team lead and an electrician don fire turnout gear and take dry chem fire extinguishers to the site of the alarm, the first BA team don their breathing apparatus and follow the instructions of the team lead and the second BA team prepares the firefighting Hagglund for deployment.
> Do you know of any notable fire events at your station?
Not at my station, Davis. Mawson has had a few historically but I think the program overall has avoided any fires that threatened life or property for a few decades.
There was a fire in the engine room of the icebreaker MPV Everest that retrieved the Davis crew a few years ago and the ERT from the station assisted in firefighting.
> Are you accessing this site via satellite from there?
Yes, there are no fibre cables to Antarctica. We have a connection provided by the government using multiple satellite links as backhaul (ANARESAT, some alternate geostationary satellite and soon Starlink) plus one of the expeditioners* has a personal Starlink that we contribute to and utilise communally.
* unlike other Antarctic programs, Australia has decided to stick with the 'expeditioner' title from the olden days of exploration.
I happen to be in Antarctica right now employed by the Australian program that you linked to.
> There's perks, bonuses etc on top of that.
No, the 150,000-170,000 pay range for most of us (everyone but the station leader and doctor) is inclusive of all our allowances. There are a few extra duties like deputy station leader and fire chief that get an additional allowance.
> I wonder if they pay for their own room and board or if that's one of the perks; given they have a cook I suspect they have communal food at least.
All food and accomodation (and utilities, internet, phone calls, recreational equipment and trips, cold weather survival clothing) is provided to us. I have essentially zero expenses.
This is both incredibly cool and also somehow such a HN moment. Of course there's someone here who's currently stationed in Antarctica.
Out of curiosity, since I've always had the idea of visiting one day, what do you reckon is the most feasible way to do so, short of stationing there for a living like you are?
Well this is my fourth time down so my recommendation is to figure out how to work down here - it is by far the most cost effective way to experience it!
I don't have much familiarity with the tourism side. The majority of tourist will go via cruises out of Ushuaia to the Antarctic peninsula and sub-Antarctic islands. The advice I've always heard is to go with the smallest ship you can as there are IAATO regulations on how many passengers can go ashore per ship per day and you want to maximise opportunities to get ashore. Price can vary a lot depending on cabin, quality of the operator and last minute deals to fill berths.
If you have a lot of money (>100k USD) burning a hole in your pocket then there are high-end tourist camps run by groups like Antarctic Logistics and Expeditions and White Desert that will fly you to the continent and then around to penguin rookeries, mountain climbing and the South Pole.
