Zuken, an industry-leading provider of electronic design automation solutions, has announced a new product line that leverages artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance printed circuit board (PCB) design. The product line, called Autonomous Intelligent Place and Route (AIPR), introduces a three-stage approach to AI-powered PCB design within its flagship CR-8000 platform.
AIPR: A Platform for AI-Based Place and Route
AIPR is a platform that enables two existing products from Zuken, Mimic Route and Smart Autorouter, to work together with Zuken’s AI-based products. Mimic Route is a tool that automatically replicates the routing style of a reference design, while Smart Autorouter is a tool that uses machine learning to look at the board holistically and apply what it has learned to the design.
The AI-based products that AIPR integrates are Basic Brain, Dynamic Brain, and Autonomous Brain. These products represent different stages of AI evolution and learning, from using Zuken’s library of design examples and expertise, to incorporating customers’ best practices and feedback, to self-improving with each project.
Basic Brain: Elevating Design at the Foundational Stage
Basic Brain is the first stage of AI-powered PCB design, which transforms the design process by learning from Zuken’s library of design examples and existing design expertise. Basic Brain enhances the user experience by routing the design using the Smart Autorouter based on learned approaches and strategies. Basic Brain also provides suggestions and recommendations for optimal placement and routing, as well as error detection and correction.
Dynamic Brain: Fusing AI with Design Experience
Dynamic Brain is the second stage of AI-powered PCB design, which learns from the PCB designers themselves, using past design examples and integrating them into AI algorithms. Dynamic Brain combines customers’ best practices with AI insights to result in accelerated design iterations and notable enhancements in overall productivity. Dynamic Brain also enables collaboration between AI and human designers, allowing users to adjust and fine-tune the AI-generated results.
Autonomous Brain: Redefining AI Evolution
Autonomous Brain is the third and final stage of AI-powered PCB design, which is an AI-driven powerhouse in continuous learning mode. Autonomous Brain pushes the boundaries of creativity by generating innovative and optimal solutions for complex PCB design challenges. Autonomous Brain’s capability to self-improve with each project heralds a new era of AI-driven innovation and is available exclusively within Zuken’s CR-8000 platform.
Key Advantages of AIPR within CR-8000
According to Kazuhiro Kariya, senior managing executive officer and chief technical officer of Zuken Inc., “Our three-stage AI approach empowers designers with an enhanced toolkit within the CR-8000 platform, accelerating design cycles and unlocking new dimensions of creativity.”
Some of the key advantages of AIPR within CR-8000 are:
- Learning sources that transfer best practices to new projects
- Enhanced collaboration between AI insights and human expertise
- Accelerated design iterations and reduced time to market
- Continuous self-improvement and evolution of AI capabilities
- Seamless integration into Zuken’s advanced CR-8000 platform
The Autonomous Intelligent Place and Route and Basic Brain products will be available in Q1 2024. The Dynamic Brain and Autonomous Brain products will be available in future releases.
