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Open Access Publications from the University of California

Scholarly Works (2 results)

  • Thesis
  • Peer Reviewed
UC San Diego Electronic Theses and Dissertations (2021)

Computational design techniques have the potential to fully automate the process of designing embedded electromechanical systems, from component selection to PCB design to firmware and API creation and more. If a practical, fully-automated PCB layout flow can be achieved, the benefits would be numerous and far-ranging, including the potential for new embedded-system design interfaces, new pedagogical methodologies, and vastly reduced prototype turnaround time. While an automated system that designs smartphones and server motherboards competitive with human engineers is beyond the current state-of-the-art, this dissertation details several computational design systems that automate the design of less complex embedded systems, primarily at the PCB level: a pedagogical computational design tool for small robots; a methodology for creating advanced computational design tools for electromechanical systems using heuristic search over a decision tree; and a framework and benchmarks for fully-automated PCB layout.

    Cover page: Hungry for Fully Automated Design of Embedded Systems?
    • Article
    • Peer Reviewed
    Technical Reports (2016)
    In this paper we introduce Echidna, a hybrid schematic/ text-based language for describing PCB circuit schematics. Echidna allows designers to use high-level programming con- structs to describe schematics, supports modular, reusable design components with well-defined interfaces, and provides for complex parameterization of those modules. Echidna deeply integrates a high-level programming language into a schematic-based design flow. The designer can describe schematics in code, as a schematic, or as a seamless combination of the two. We demonstrate its usefulness with several case studies.

    Pre-2018 CSE ID: CS2016-1017

      Cover page: Echidna: Programmable Schematics to Simplify PCB Design
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