Creating a thermal profile of a system operating under all conditions is an important first step in designing an ideal cooling solution in order to understand where and how much heat is generated. This data can be gathered by placing temperature sensors around a PCB and within an enclosure. System impedance, which looks at a drop in air pressure between inlet and outlet also plays a major part in calculating airflow required from a fan, and thus, the size and type of fan required. This too can be achieved by using sensors and measuring the pressure drop or by placing the system in an air chamber. For larger systems, such as data centers, modeling the system using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) provides an even more accurate profile of a system’s cooling requirements.