FEATURE COMPONENT DESIGN
CHECK OUT FROM
THE PCB LIBRARY A database to better the design process
Words by Glenn Jarrett, marketing director, SamacSys O
ne of the most common frustrations faced by engineers over the past few decades has been managing the library of component models needed as part of the PCB design process. For every individual component, the basic ingredients necessary to use it within an EDA tool are the schematic symbol and the PCB footprint. For such fundamental and critical requirements of the electronics design process, it would seem a sensible notion that the industry has well-honed solutions, enabling designers to obtain the necessary component models quickly and easily. But when designing electronic circuits, no matter what the EDA tool of choice happens to be, sourcing these essential elements for newer components can be one of the most laborious tasks, sacrificing time as a result. This doesn’t just apply to two-dimensional models, but includes three-dimensional models, which are frequently in demand. The industry has struggled with this issue for over 30 years. And on top of this, every time a new part is released, new models are needed. Last year, the industry unveiled circa one million new electronic components. Traditional solutions are painfully laborious and error-prone. They range from self-building - carefully transposing information from datasheets to create the individual models - to modifying or format-converting an similar part model. Considering this is simply to obtain the appropriate building blocks to facilitate the design, this is an inefficient use of time. And all of this usually costs more hours, searching for existing models from the manufacturer or other resource sites. Frustratingly, this
16 FEBRUARY 2020 | ELECTRONICS
means designers can spend up to 50 per cent of precious design-time cultivating and curating component libraries as part of the design process. So, with electronic design playing an ever more important role in the future of our world, a component model revolution is desperately needed to remove the burden from designers and give them up to 50 per cent of this lost and exasperating time back. Putting a system framework in place
to enable an EDA revolution has been the vision of SamacSys for the last nine years. SamacSys are a company with deep roots in ECAD design, using this to collaborate with designers on a system framework, one that’s been developed through feedback from said designers to test and refine the integrity and quality of the models. It accommodates the needs of component manufacturers to provide access to models for new parts in popular formats, from multiple online sources. And most importantly, through working with the tool vendors, the system integrates with CAD tools, directly interfacing with parts libraries. One recent example of this is the integration between SamacSys and Cadence’s Allegro and OrCAD PCB design tool suites. This collaboration supports the Cadence OrCAD Capture Cloud and the new Allegro System Capture electrical engineering design platform by directly integrating the SamacSys portfolio of free design resources, including PCB
A 3D model - helping to materialise the PCB that the designer needs
footprints, schematic symbols and 3D models for many components. Cadence chose to collaborate with SamacSys to provide a user experience for engineers to search online and download PCB symbols, footprints and 3D models directly from within these design suites. Component library management has now been extended to allow the import of models into a design with a single click. Cadence wanted to make their new generation of Allegro System Capture tools as intuitive and future-proof as possible. Giving their users direct access to the SamacSys eCAD model platform within the design environment reduces anomalies in the process. As such, designers using the Allegro and OrCAD tools can now benefit from the convenience and confidence of accessing high-quality PCB models for components across the entire industry from
SamacSys, without wasting time. Ultimately, electronics designers now have free access to fully IPC-compliant models of every component, available in all leading CAD formats, from multiple sources across the industry. Each model is quality-checked
within the SamacSys system and once released, it is available to the entire community. Not only can users edit pin configurations, but they can also fracture a model into logical groups to suit design requirements as necessary.
SamacSys
www.samacsys.com / ELECTRONICS
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