RS Components (RS), the trading brand of Electrocomponents, has unveiled the latest release of DesignSpark PCB, the company’s award-winning rapid prototyping software for electronics.
Supporting engineers in the design phase, DesignSpark PCB Version 7.0 adds three of the most popular requests for new features, thereby further enhancing ease-of-use for designers: Enhanced Part Number handling that ensures designers’ Bill of Material (BoM) is complete at any stage of the design; Sketch Routes that draw the approximate routing path and allow algorithms to draw the best tracks, enabling faster time-to-market in new designs, both in schematics and PCB layout; and an additional ODB++ export format, regularly requested by DesignSpark’s user community and increasingly supported by PCB manufacturing houses.
Due to its advanced project design and production capabilities, DesignSpark PCB has gained extraordinarily high adoption, with more than 350 000 users globally, and has become the tool of choice for sharing and collaborating on open-source hardware designs and projects.
This latest edition of DesignSpark PCB builds upon the previous version of the tool, which was announced in January 2014 with simplified export functionality to DesignSpark Mechanical, Cross Probe and Custom Shortcuts features. With the Enhanced Part Number handling, feature designers can focus on innovation, research and development rather than spending time manually compiling purchasing information into a parts list.
“Our aim has always been to allow the creation of rapid PCB prototypes by removing the barriers to innovation in electronics design and to assist our customers to focus on their creativity instead,” said Mark Cundle, head of Technical Marketing at RS Components. “DesignSpark PCB continues to evolve on the basis of the significant feedback received by our DesignSpark community and this new version of the software is a reflection of our ongoing support to enhance their design journey.”
DesignSpark PCB is a part of the DesignSpark suite of software and resources that, combined with the RS product offer, create a unique innovation environment. DesignSpark features a “DSPCB Change Log”, which highlights the new features and bug fixes of each version, and is a popular reference point for engineers wanting to know more about the software or keep pulse on the latest additions.