Design and Analysis of a Fuse-Protected, ESD-Aware Power Fabric for Lattice-Based Modular STEAM Educational Electronics

Design and Analysis of a Fuse-Protected, ESD-Aware Power Fabric for Lattice-Based Modular STEAM Educational Electronics | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Design and Analysis of a Fuse-Protected, ESD-Aware Power Fabric for Lattice-Based Modular STEAM Educational Electronics Cephas Kalembo, Duncan Chombela, Bryce L. Hesterman, Esau Zulu This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-8389505/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted 12 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract We present the design and analysis of a fuse-protected, electrostatic discharge (ESD)-aware power fabric for lattice-based modular STEAM educational electronics, validated on the Zabble board. The proposed substrate integrates three key innovations: a periodic checkerboard stud lattice with stride parameter providing formal Manhattan-distance reachability guarantees to both power and ground, column-selectable multi-rail distribution supporting OFF/GND/3.3V/5V states enabling rapid region energization, and an ESD-aware layout with stitched-via perimeter ground ring, local decoupling capacitors and rail-level resettable fuses. We prove a coverage bound demonstrating that with stride of three, every cell is within at most two steps of both power and ground connections. A rail-sizing rule links copper resistivity, trace length, allowable current, copper thickness and acceptable voltage droop to ensure robust power delivery. We propose placement and assignment algorithms including an even-lattice placer with offset selection, a p-center heuristic for fixed stud budgets, and a greedy current spill routine. Two prototypes achieve less than 50mV worst-case rail drop at 2A, under 2 percent switch loss and below 20 degrees C device rise, while meeting 8kV air and 6kV contact ESD requirements. Classroom trials with 47 students demonstrate configuration time reductions of 2.7 to 3.1 times and error rates reduced by 36 to 41 percent compared with traditional patch-cord methods. Educational hardware Power distribution Lattice design Manhattan metric ESD robustness Polyfuse protection Reconfigurable substrates STEAM education Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted Editorial decision: Revision requested 10 Feb, 2026 Reviews received at journal 30 Jan, 2026 Reviews received at journal 26 Jan, 2026 Reviews received at journal 20 Jan, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 17 Jan, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 17 Jan, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 16 Jan, 2026 Reviewers invited by journal 16 Jan, 2026 Editor invited by journal 13 Jan, 2026 Editor assigned by journal 12 Jan, 2026 Submission checks completed at journal 07 Jan, 2026 First submitted to journal 07 Jan, 2026 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. 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