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New Engineering Tools Smooth Hardware Design for IoT & Quantum Ecosystems

March 23, 2023 by Darshil Patel

Leveraging advanced AI-based software, several new EDA and engineering tool platforms are helping engineers design and validate prototypes faster and easier than ever before.

Emerging cloud-based platforms and ecosystems are transforming how hardware designers design and validate prototypes and speed up product development. With a focus on greater flexibility, scalability, collaboration, and access to a range of tools and services, these platforms make the hardware design process easier and more accessible.

 

Example of an automated engineering platform

Example of an automated engineering platform that helps electronics engineers search and select the right components and create fully-fletched schematics and a PCB floorplan. Image courtesy of CELUS

 

This article highlights three recently-announced tools that leverage technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud computing, to aid designers in product development.

 

CELUS Releases AI-supported Engineering Tool

Going a step above just EDA, CELUS is making a step toward a simpler design ecosystem with an AI-supported engineering tool. The company has launched a beta platform for electronics enthusiasts, hobbyists, and professionals aiming to eliminate manual steps in an electronic design process. It quickly suggests the components and circuits the designer needs for the project.

 

Last week at CELUS' Embedded World trade show booth, Antonio Becerra Estaban, Senior Field Application Engineer at CELUS, gave All About Circuits a demo of the company's AI-based EDA tool. Using the tool, a design idea can start with the block diagram as shown, and quickly result in the data needed to manufacture the completed module as shown.

Last week at CELUS' Embedded World trade show booth, Antonio Becerra Estaban, Senior Field Application Engineer at CELUS, gave All About Circuits a demo of the company's AI-supported engineering tool. Using the tool, a design idea can start with the block diagram as shown, and quickly result in the data needed to manufacture the completed module as shown.

 

With its new tool, CELUS claims to reduce laborious engineering and composition times for circuit diagrams, board design, and component selection. Their projects will be showcased on the CELUS platform among a community of private testers. The tool generates output files for Autodesk Eagle and provides access to a library of different prototyping components from Arduino, Espressif, and Raspberry Pi.

 

CELUS

Illustration of how CELUS can streamline the design automation process. Image courtesy of CELUS

 

With the support of AI, the CELUS tool can automate time-consuming design tasks, identify errors, and optimize designs for better performance. Designers can use AI-powered tools to quickly generate, test, and refine designs. One of the main advantages is that AI algorithms can analyze large amounts of data to identify patterns and optimize designs for better performance. For instance, designers can use AI-powered software to predict the performance of a circuit under different operating conditions, such as temperature or humidity. This also allows designers to identify potential issues before the product is manufactured, reducing the likelihood of costly errors and recalls.

 

Renesas' Cloud-based Tool for IoT Software Development

IoT system design is quite cumbersome and involves many steps. Often the software development part takes most engineering effort and becomes the bottleneck.

Quick-Connect Studio by Renesas allows engineers to perform hardware and software development simultaneously. It enables engineers to construct their solution by graphically dragging and dropping device and subsystem blocks on the cloud. Users can instantly generate, compile, and build software after placing each block, simplifying the development of production-level software.

 

Quick-Connect Studio

Quick-Connect Studio automatically generates, compiles, and builds software without any code. Image (modified) courtesy of Renesas 

 

The tool's cloud computing power provides fast compilation, and its GUI reduces the learning curve. Quick-Connect Studio is built around the standard Quick-Connect IoT platform supporting industry-established interfaces such as PMOD, Arduino, and MIKROE. Moreover, standard connectors let engineers integrate microcontrollers, sensors, and connectivity boards consistently.

Renesas says it will expand its libraries to different partners, such as major cloud providers, service integrators, and leaders in the open-source community.

 

Intel Unveils Its Quantum Computing Stack

Quantum computing offers the potential to solve problems that are infeasible to solve with classical computing, making it a crucial area of research and development for the future of computing. Intel Quantum Software Development Kit (SDK) bridges the gap between classical and quantum computing. 

Intel Quantum SDK is a quantum computer in simulation that can also interface with Intel quantum hardware. It includes a programming interface based on C++, popular among classical computing developers, enabling collaboration between them and quantum developers. The developers can choose between two target backends to simulate qubits and represent generic qubits or Intel hardware.

 

Intel's new platform

Intel's new platform is a full-stack approach to quantum computing. Image courtesy of Intel

 

The first backend is a high-performance, open-source generic qubit simulator, Intel Quantum Simulator (IQS), capable of 32 qubits on a single node and more than 40 qubits on multiple nodes. The other simulates Intel quantum dot qubit hardware and allows compact model simulation of Intel silicon spin qubits.

Intel's SDK is customizable and expandable. It lets users compare compiler files and obtain lower levels of abstraction to understand how a system stores data.