Low cost PCB design and layout
Time:2023-04-18
Views:1074
For 25 years, CadSoft EAGLE has been providing global design engineers with the same core functions as expensive commercial PCB design software at low prices. This article will tell you how the industry has achieved low-cost PCB design and layout over the past 25 years.
As PCB design becomes increasingly common in combination with existing development boards, and sub boards are used to drive hydraulic devices and servo motors or perform tasks based on light, motion, and sound, the trend in PCB design is gradually towards open source hardware modes and control systems.
Another major trend in PCB design is the explosive growth of development boards. In October 2013, CadSoft, a subsidiary of e-Lomeng, conducted a survey on global PCB designers, targeting professional engineers from 42 different countries. The survey results show that nearly two-thirds of the respondents (64%) believe that the development board has to some extent reduced their demand for customized PCB design. On the surface, this result may pose a threat to the development of PCB design, but the reality is that PCB design tools are being applied to an increasing number of development board designs.
However, since its inception, PCB design has not undergone fundamental changes. The innovative technology in the field of PCB design has always been focused on reducing development board costs and shortening development time, but the PCB layout remains basically consistent, constantly changing only the components used and product performance - which is also the fundamental reason for most design complexity.
In the face of fierce competition, shortening the product design cycle is crucial for engineers and management personnel. One of the biggest concerns for many companies is how engineers can obtain development tools that can shorten product time to market and reduce design costs, in order to cope with increasingly complex PCB designs. The design cycle plays a crucial role in the timing of product launch, and the PCB layout is often used to compensate for delays in the early stages of the design process. In addition, due to the global distribution of manufacturers‘ work locations and design teams, it is not difficult for us to imagine how difficult it is to obtain the best development tools, which poses challenges to multiple design teams and product launch times.
In order to meet these challenges, manufacturers urgently need development tools that can utilize existing resources, including human and computer tools that allow interoperability. These development tools are simple and easy to use, have scalability, and can connect other time-consuming design stages in the design process. The performance of PCB design tools often mentioned by engineers includes:
·Provide a progressive learning curve
·Support multiple designers to layout on the same project without sacrificing production capacity
·Support real-time collaboration among users worldwide
·At each stage of the design process, multidisciplinary technical experts can be mobilized for development and design without sacrificing production capacity
The high-end market in the electronics industry has some projects that can be used to analyze the actual design of designers, how chips work internally, and how chips respond to their peripheral products. For engineers, the problem lies in how they can achieve this with the least effort and the least mistakes... without relying on a little luck.
Although there are a large number of commercial products on the market (most of which are expensive and very expensive), only a few products have acceptable prices... They not only integrate powerful features but also provide very low start-up licensing costs. The ease of use and other characteristics of products have become increasingly important, effectively accelerating complex design while reducing initial design costs.
CadSoft‘s research also investigated the factors that engineers prioritize when choosing PCB design software, such as price, functionality, ease of use, and service support. The research results clearly show that most design engineers value functionality more than price when purchasing design tools, and 60% of survey respondents believe that functionality is an "extremely important" factor. CadSoft has always provided users with powerful functional products, but meeting their needs is becoming increasingly challenging for each generation of software products. What engineers need is a software product that can optimize design time while also creating more time for innovation and testing.
EAGLE is highly loved by engineers worldwide and is widely used in the development of various collaborative engineering projects, from open-source hardware to electric vehicles, Formula Racing, ultra micro satellites, commercial lunar walks, and other projects. The secret to EAGLE‘s success lies in its ability to meet the needs of both beginners and advanced users, providing them with multiple options that greatly shorten the design and testing process time.
There are a large number of completely free development tools available on the market for Linux, Mac, and Windows systems. What product features become the basis for engineers to purchase development tools when cost savings are needed?
Support for functional expansion
Specifically, simulation, data input and output, and custom commands are executed through User Language Programming (ULP). EAGLE users have been striving to achieve breakthrough innovation and enhance the software‘s versatility through the use of hundreds of ULPs. For example, the recently launched EagleUp 3D design converter enables engineers to export 2D layout drawings from EAGLE with one click and import them into Google SketchUp, thereby creating accurate 3D prototype simulations. This enables users to integrate multiple circuit boards into the same model, enabling them to detect "collisions" between misaligned connectors and high-dimensional components, as well as to measure airflow around the device and the availability of testing and installation points. These are particularly useful for design sharing and development, as well as for re evaluating system level issues. EAGLE may also implement the import of mechanical format data from other manufacturers and provide all source code. The ULP structure enables users to further build customized designs that meet specific design requirements based on existing designs.
Accelerate design cycle
Engineers usually place components on circuit boards, then load schematics and place them on PCBs to simulate their behavior. The recent series of functional improvements in CadSoft EAGLE version 6.4 have made it easy for engineers to use Linglait‘s high-performance SPICE emulator LT-Spice, schematic input tool, and waveform display. Users can now simulate existing EAGLE schematics and automatically convert them from EAGLE onwards.
Large component library
This is crucial for productivity, as users cannot "design custom components" for every component planned to be added to the circuit. EAGLE itself has created a wide variety of component libraries, and users can also obtain component libraries directly provided by manufacturers or shared by users through the eNetEase community. Since it takes 20 minutes to create a small customized database for each component from scratch, if the component library can provide engineers with a reliable and rich information resource center that has been verified by active community members, it will greatly assist engineers in their design.
In order to simplify and accelerate the design process, electronic design engineers can also use DesignLink, a feature tool, to specify their required components. By setting parameters, they can quickly search for suitable components from the online product database of eLink. In addition, engineers can also obtain a large amount of technical information about component products, including links to technical manuals, specific application solution guides, pricing, and time to market, which can be obtained in the EAGLE design environment without having to jump to multiple web pages.
Obtain fast quotes or smoother design chains
Although engineers have established a material cost (BOM) that aligns with the project budget and schedule, and are ready to start making PCBs, they often need to send out the material cost first and wait for a decision. Therefore, engineers urgently need to obtain a unique tool from reliable high-quality service partners in order to quickly obtain quotes for small-scale PCB production and obtain rapid prototyping design services.
In short, with the continuous development of electronic design trends, the core elements of product functionality, usability, and price remain the most important factors for engineers, which has always been the advantage of CadSoft. CadSoft can provide engineers with functional low-cost software to help optimize their productivity. CadSoft will continue to maintain its advantages and characteristics in the future.
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