This guest blog post, on the role of the Internet in electronics design, is written by Martin Harris, Head of Global Field Operations, Altium.In today's world of pervasive connectivity, the Internet and all it hosts is involved in almost everything we do. Yet along with this everyday familiarity, what's perhaps less obvious is its huge and rapidly growing influence in the design of today's electronic products.
It's worth stepping back for a moment to take a look at what that means for electronics designers and what's needed to capitalize on, or even survive, the shift to more 'connected' electronics design. Broadly speaking, the role of the Internet in design can be considered from two interrelated perspectives; its influence on what we design and how it affects the way we design - or in practical terms, the type of products we create, and the processes we use to develop them.
From an electronic product point of view, the demand for connected devices is rising by the day. Estimates vary about the number of devices expected to be connected in the near future, but it's measured in the billions by the middle of this decade.
That's a big market. And it's not just confined to consumer products.
Wherever a device of any kind can benefit from connectivity, and that's most, the design elements, software and infrastructure need to be developed.
This in fact highlights one of the biggest disruptive influences of the Internet on what is designed. Developing connected devices is more than just including the mechanics of connectivity in your design such as a network port or WiFI module. There's a host of unfamiliar protocol layers to include in the software, perhaps the routines needed to decode web content, and most likely a range of company based servers and systems is required to connect and interact with that device.
And the real market appeal of connected devices is not the connectivity, but the additional services and enhanced user experience that the devices tap into. These need to be developed as an integral part of the design of that product, and this in turn means design teams must embrace a range of unfamiliar factors and technology that exist outside the traditional electronics design space.
Those elements that enable meaningful connectivity - communications protocol stacks, server applications and so on - may not seem a natural fit with our established view of electronics design, but are common technology in other areas. So applying the adage of 'why reinvent the wheel', the introduction of off-the-shelf solutions is a logical way forward.
By example, design libraries of pre-verified circuitry - including WiFi modules and so on - can also include the all supporting software layers needed to enable a plug-and-play solution for design connectivity, while the availability of configurable server applications avoid the need for bespoke solutions. When hosted as IP on cloud-based design content services, a potentially unlimited range of verified design solutions becomes available via the Internet backbone.
Such an approach encapsulates how the change in what we're designing (more connected electronic devices) can be reflected in the way we design (a more connected design environment).
More than ever, electronics design is relying on services and resources that exist outside the immediate design environment. The Internet is our path to information (component data, reference designs, peer and helpdesk support), provides hosted services (IP repositories, storage servers, etc) and acts as the conduit to the product development stream (MCAD design, prototyping houses, manufacturing and assembly).
This rich cocktail of information, data, services and external systems is rapidly becoming an essential part of today's design process, particularly when developing the current (and next) generation of connected electronic devices.
Ultimately, electronics designers require more than just the ability to access external information and services. They must also be able to integrate the data into the design process itself in an easy way, and send verified data out of the design environment just as simply. It's an approach embodied by a truly connected design environment, rather than a system that relies on an external collection of ad hoc processes to gather, translate and import (or export) design information and data.
When that design environment also offers the tools and automated processes for developing 'connected' products - configurable software layers, IP blocks and server applications - the remaining barriers to this evolving market are broken down for a whole new range of design engineers. By bringing the internet-connected parts of the design process into the electronics design environment, where it's under the control of design engineers themselves, the Internet and all its advantages can become an inherent part of electronic product design and its development processes.
One thing is certain; there's an exciting, even more connected future ahead. Both the electronic devices we design and the design systems we use to develop them need to reflect that connectivity by plugging into, and capitalizing on, the Internet and its vast resources.
Martin Harris, Head of Global Field Operations, Altium.
This in fact highlights one of the biggest disruptive influences of the Internet on what is designed. Developing connected devices is more than just including the mechanics of connectivity in your design such as a network port or WiFI module. There's a host of unfamiliar protocol layers to include in the software, perhaps the routines needed to decode web content, and most likely a range of company based servers and systems is required to connect and interact with that device.
And the real market appeal of connected devices is not the connectivity, but the additional services and enhanced user experience that the devices tap into. These need to be developed as an integral part of the design of that product, and this in turn means design teams must embrace a range of unfamiliar factors and technology that exist outside the traditional electronics design space.
Those elements that enable meaningful connectivity - communications protocol stacks, server applications and so on - may not seem a natural fit with our established view of electronics design, but are common technology in other areas. So applying the adage of 'why reinvent the wheel', the introduction of off-the-shelf solutions is a logical way forward.
By example, design libraries of pre-verified circuitry - including WiFi modules and so on - can also include the all supporting software layers needed to enable a plug-and-play solution for design connectivity, while the availability of configurable server applications avoid the need for bespoke solutions. When hosted as IP on cloud-based design content services, a potentially unlimited range of verified design solutions becomes available via the Internet backbone.
Such an approach encapsulates how the change in what we're designing (more connected electronic devices) can be reflected in the way we design (a more connected design environment).
More than ever, electronics design is relying on services and resources that exist outside the immediate design environment. The Internet is our path to information (component data, reference designs, peer and helpdesk support), provides hosted services (IP repositories, storage servers, etc) and acts as the conduit to the product development stream (MCAD design, prototyping houses, manufacturing and assembly).
This rich cocktail of information, data, services and external systems is rapidly becoming an essential part of today's design process, particularly when developing the current (and next) generation of connected electronic devices.
Ultimately, electronics designers require more than just the ability to access external information and services. They must also be able to integrate the data into the design process itself in an easy way, and send verified data out of the design environment just as simply. It's an approach embodied by a truly connected design environment, rather than a system that relies on an external collection of ad hoc processes to gather, translate and import (or export) design information and data.
When that design environment also offers the tools and automated processes for developing 'connected' products - configurable software layers, IP blocks and server applications - the remaining barriers to this evolving market are broken down for a whole new range of design engineers. By bringing the internet-connected parts of the design process into the electronics design environment, where it's under the control of design engineers themselves, the Internet and all its advantages can become an inherent part of electronic product design and its development processes.
One thing is certain; there's an exciting, even more connected future ahead. Both the electronic devices we design and the design systems we use to develop them need to reflect that connectivity by plugging into, and capitalizing on, the Internet and its vast resources.
Martin Harris, Head of Global Field Operations, Altium.
