Episode 4 of a hardware reverse engineering series recaps three evidence packages released for Device 001: 2D CT scans of a populated PCB, a hardware Bill of Materials (BOM), and high-resolution CT scans of a depopulated PCB. The post walks through the methodology including component identification challenges (e.g., tracking down an unfamiliar NDK oscillator logo), the value of 2D scans for archiving ground truth and detecting anomalies, and why board depopulation was necessary to eliminate shadowing and enable clear netlist and schematic recovery.
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