What is PCB Reverse Engineering

[DigitalWork]

Hi Mentor,

I am a PCB layout designer and I want to know about PCB Reverse Engineering .
The tools and techniques involved. The whole Process.What Should I require(tools) to do reverse Engg.
And also about how a black blob PCB reverse engineered. and how to reverse engineer a more than 2 layers PCB.

Thanks in advance.

 

[yadavvlsi]

Please check below links:
https://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-reverse-engineer-a-schematic-from-a-circuit/
**broken link removed**

 

[Mattylad]

At its simplest - its taking an existing physical PCB and producing a schematic, PCB and manufacturing files based on only the original PCB.

So take a PCB, identify all its components, then try and identify the netlist, where all the connections between each component goes.

For a double sided board its quite easy albiet time consuming.

Having recently done a 6 layer board with 4000 pins, 2000+ nets its not easy when it gets to the bigger boards.
Striping a board, using a bed of nails or roving probe tester can help - using a simple probe & buzzer will take ages.

 

[Singapura]

@Mattylad

That's quite an achievement you have in reverse engineering a board of such complexity and pin count. I've done quite a bit of it myself for the last 15 years and have written a book on this subject which was released in Amazon on February 28 this year!

PCB reverse engineering is an interesting endeavor but certainly it's not for the impatient or faint-hearted, given the challenges and requirement involved. Blindly jumping in and using brute force will often prove frustrating with PCBs that are of medium complexity or more. Having a good strategy (understanding) and right approach (methodology) are important to a successful attempt, even if you happen to have good equipment at your disposal. After all, the tools are only as good as the craftsman who use them.

@DigitalWork

If you're still looking at this subject, you might want to take a look at my website and blog at www.visio-for-engineers.com. I'm in the process of backtracking from when I started writing my book last April so hopefully you'll be able to find some useful information there.

An engineer from UK who does PCB reverse engineering quite a bit himself had bought my book and given his review here:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/review/RCO...annel=detail-glance&nodeID=266239&store=books

Wishing you all the best as you enter into this exciting world of unraveling the beauty of the original design. And have fun doing it too! ;-)