Tech Tips

Tech Tip: Re-use Block Basics – Using Design Gateway to build a circuit block library

Building a circuit block reuse library is easier than you think

A reuse library can boost productivity and product reliability.

There are a lot of hardware functions that can be reused over and over again. No need to re-invent the wheel. Making every one of the functional sub-modules sharable in your organization is a dream come true. There is not a single engineer or manager who wants to find out that they just designed a new circuit that resembles one that already existed.

The Cold Reality!

Just about all companies that I am aware of struggle with how to achieve this. It is not a simple task to implement circuit block re-use.

You need the ability to create a “Library” of circuit blocks that can be used by both design authoring and design planning tools.
All the appropriate engineers need access to the contents.
The library needs to be managed:
- Approval control
- Read/write access control
- Easily searchable
- Etc.

Start with the basics.

Do not bite off too big a chunk of the task. Start with something achievable such as a circuit block library.

The short video that follows will show you how to create a basic block library structure and add functional blocks from an existing circuit to it.

Stay tuned to the Zuken Blog for more on this topic.

: Shawn Larson

Senior Technical Fellow

Shawn Larson is one of the technical leads for DS product line working primarily on data management implementations. He helps customers to get the right design data in the right place at the right time. Shawn enjoys good jazz, classic rock and all seasons in New Hampshire's White Mountains.