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.