RS Components has unveiled the latest release of DesignSpark PCB. Version 5.0 of the free design tool integrates two additional features online Design Rule Checking (DRC) and buses which have been introduced to further reduce design times for engineers and to minimise errors during the design process.
"The uptake of DesignSpark PCB has been tremendous since we launched the software in July 2010, with more than 155,000 downloads recorded globally," said Mark Cundle, head of technical marketing at RS. "User feedback is an important part of the tool's evolution and these two new features have both been popular requests."
Online DRC enables engineers to detect errors in real time during the design stage, highlighting issues before the design is finalised and layout completed. RS describes the inclusion of online DRC as 'significant', claiming it could bring 'considerable time saving benefits to the user'.
Meanwhile, buses allows engineers to refine their schematic during the design phase. Instead of drawing and/or labelling individual wires in a schematic, a single 'bus wire' can be used to represent related wires, thus simplifying the final schematic. Simulation and debugging can also be carried out with minimum errors, says RS.
