Computer aided design has grown to be widely used in the field of engineering.It has come to replace the era when the design of any engineering component was drawn on paper; when engineers would walk around with rulers and tedious drawing materials just to come up with a simple design. The situation is, however, different with the coming of computer aided design. In the field of electronics,CAD has been used to develop the design and prototype,not only a single component, but also the entire circuit. The IC for instance, is one of the states of the earth developments that have been made using CAD. It is a small component that initially would take very millions of components in a circuit just to accomplish the function of a single IC.ECAD (Electronic Computer-Aided Design), has been very instrumental to this accomplishment. It provides the necessary tools to generate a physical illustration of the IC from a complex description. In the earlier developments, the designer started with a schematic design of a logical level or the transistor. However, as more complex circuits were created, and the demand for more sophisticated integrated circuits went high, the traditional method of design could not suffice. At that moment of desperation CAD stepped in to help in the design of the complex integrated circuits that were needed. ECAD ICs are developed with the greatest regard to technology and achieving adequately high yield. This is done by a Design Rule Checker, a tool provided in ECAD that tells whether the requirements for that design are considered correctly. That notwithstanding, ECAD provides tools for simulation. For integrated circuits that have very many transistors according to the description, it is impractical to carry out the simulation. However, ECAD provides simulators at register level and logic level. Further, ECAD provides frameworks that incorporate tools that are useful in the testability of the design. Below are diagrams of circuits that have been designed using ECAD.
IRONCAD is also a CAD system that is useful not only in 2D but also in 3D modelling. It is easy to use and allows engineers in a company to share and exchange ideas. Its support for simulation that has a real world testing sensation makes it more interesting to use. Using IRONCAD, high end engineers in the industry can create virtual reality simulations when testing the viability of each part. The system is also equipped with collision detectors that are fully integrated, as well as, modes for regular design. Using integrated software like NEi Nastran that come with IRONCAD package, the durability of the component can be determined.
CAD systems hold a great future not only in electrical engineering but also in other engineering fields. The integration of the CAD systems in the electronic companies will see the massive production of electronic components. Further, CAD systems have eased the work for the engineers relieving them the agony of developing engineering designs on paper. Exchange of information, prototyping, design and production has also been made easier for the engineers.
In conclusion the benefits associated with the adoption of the CAD systems by engineering companies cannot be overemphasized. As this paper comes to the close, it is a wake up call to all the companies that still use the traditional ways of design to embrace the CAD systems and they will never regret the benefits.
References
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GlobalSpec. (2010, October 19). Electronic Design Automation (EDA) and Electronic Computer-aided Design Software (ECAD) Information. Retrieved from GlobalSpec: http://www.globalspec.com/learnmore/software/electronic_design_automation_eda_electronic_computeraided_design_software_ecad
IRONCAD. (2014, June 8). Electrical and Electronics. Retrieved from IRONCAD: http://www.ironcad.com/index.php/industry/electronics-a-high-tech
IronCAD. (2014, April 25). IronCAD UK. Retrieved from IronCAD: http://www.ironcad.co.uk/
Lee, H. K., & Shapiro, V. (2010). ECAD. Computer-Aided Design, 15-17.
Martins , R. (2010, February 4). ECAD - Electronic Computer-Aided Design. Retrieved from Tuwien: http://www.iue.tuwien.ac.at/phd/martins/node9.html
