Advanced Circuits PCB Design
Advanced Circuits has released version 4.0 of PCB Artist, a free printed circuit board (PCB) design program. Version 4.0 includes:
- Enhanced Powerplane Thermal Controls for full control of connection parameters to plane layers.
- Spiral Wizard to simplify the creation of inductive coils.
- Automatic Component Rename feature for organization and modification of reference designators.
- Native Eagle Import of Schematic (.sch), PCB (.brd), and Library (.lbr) files.
Also featured in this release are improved layout capabilities, a library of over 500,000 components and free technical support.
For more information, visit Advanced Circuits’ website.
Cruden HIL and DIL Integration Package
Cruden has developed an integration package that combines hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) set-ups and driver-in-the-loop (DIL) simulators, which increases the potential of simulation in automotive research and development. The system combines the company’s Panthera simulator software’s open architecture with the hardware interfacing capabilities of dSPACE hard real-time (HRT) systems and the dSPACE ASM (Automotive Simulation Models) simulation tool suite.
dSPACE and ASM become the third point in a triangle where they have direct communication with the simulator motion system and the Panthera software, which is the main simulation engine. Furthermore, Cruden’s Panthera ePhyse HRT toolbox includes a Simulink block set optimised for use on the dSPACE system.
Additional technical specifications are available on Cruden’s website.
Imagination Virtualized GPU Core
Imagination Technologies has announced a GPU core that supports the multiple, high resolution displays for cluster, Head-Up Display (HUD) and infotainment that automotive manufacturers are fitting to car interiors from 2018 and onwards. Thanks to an 80 percent fillrate density improvement over the previous generation, the Furian Architecture-based four-cluster PowerVR Series8XT GT8540 GPU can simultaneously drive up to six 4K screens with UIs at 60fps.
Due to its built-in hardware virtualization capability, the PowerVR Series8XT enables automotive OEMs to provide enhanced graphics capabilities for a vehicle’s many displays, while also ensuring a complete separation of services and applications, allowing them to remain secure against system intrusion or data corruption.
Information concerning pricing and availability can be found on Imagination’s website.
Mentor Silicon Photonics Design
Mentor has announced that its Tanner EDA group is partnering with VPIphotonics to create design and analysis systems for companies developing devices for the emerging silicon photonics market. Silicon photonics brings fiber optics directly into ICs for speed-of-light wired communication infrastructure and computing applications, as well as for more affordable LiDAR systems, which is seen as an essential step for the mass deployment of the autonomous vehicle market.
The VPIphotonics simulation environment, in conjunction with Mentor’s Tanner EDA IC layout environment, provides users with a photonic circuit modeling capability that allows them to benchmark circuit performance in simulated system applications. Prior to this collaboration, silicon photonic design teams would need to run and manage multiple platforms to accomplish a complete circuit design and performance assessment.
For more information, visit Mentor’s website.
Renesas Enterprise Cloud Toolbox
Renesas has introduced its Enterprise Cloud Toolbox v1.1, a software application project that, together with the Synergy AE-CLOUD1 kit, provides a reference design and starting point that allows users to connect to enterprise clouds such as Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services, and the Google Cloud Platform.
The Enterprise Cloud Toolbox software can be cut and paste into real projects, enabling code reuse to accelerate product development. The software includes project files and C source code for the microcontroller (MCU) based on the Synergy Software Package (SSP) v1.3.3, and Java/JavaScript source code for the web dashboard.
For more information, visit Renesas’ website.
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