A System of Systems Design Approach

The traditional PCB-centric design process is being replaced by a system-centric process. The system can be defined as the final product (e.g., camera) or one of the many components that comprise a product (e.g., 1 of 80 electronic control units in a car). Product complexity is driving this profound shift away from a focus on detailed design toward a systems engineering approach.

We see the system-centric design process requiring a convergence of detailed design disciplines towards 3D (e.g., PCB, mechanical, electrical) while expanding the process to include Model Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) and hardware architecture design. Design complexity is driving the formalization of requirements capture, use cases and design structure. The model then moves to system- or product-level architecture optimization. The need for improved productivity is driving the need to converge detailed design disciplines into a 3D co-design environment.

Zuken’s CR-8000 is the only native 3D system design platform with PCB, MCAD and electrical co-design capabilities. Beginning with system- or product-level architecture design, a user can examine and optimize a new design across functionality, multi-board planning, board-to-board connectivity, MCAD enclosure and parametric targets such as weight and cost. If this is a system of systems product, the subsystems can be interconnected via wire harnesses using another architecture tool. The result is an optimized product or system of systems product architecture that is ready for detailed design.

CR-8000 moves the architecture-optimized design seamlessly into detailed design, preserving all the architectural decisions without any data re-entry. Using CR-8000’s 3D PCB design platform, the system can be implemented and verified as a multi-board system with the MCAD enclosure.

Zuken’s innovative approach to system design addresses the growing complexity of product development by raising the design abstraction from the PCB to a multi-discipline system. Get to know Zuken…

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