BlackBoard Circuit Designer

Free
Open Source
Linux
Mac
Windows
Online
Java

BlackBoard Circuit Designer Alternatives

15
Options
Considered
2021-12-21
Last
Updated

#1 PSIM

Paid
Proprietary
Windows
Online

PSIM is a powerful simulation tool for motor control and power conversion. The tool is best suited for engineers who want to expand the possibilities of power electronics. The tool is a reliable and fastest solution developed by engineers for many engineering applications. High-quality system-level results will be achieved by the unbeatable simulation speed of this powerful tool without any prior experience needed. Users can use the solution for specific applications like motor drives, power supplies, non-ideal devices, multi-level converters, storage and generation, microgrids & grid-connected to design, and much more.

The solution provides add-on features for robust system-level design and simulation across multiple platforms. The user-friendly interface of PSIM offers seamless adoption and straightforward implementation in any engineering field with ease. The solution provides multiple modules that users can choose according to their requirements to enhance power electronics’ productivity and optimize the design and simulation process. No matter the system’s complexity, PSIM lets users craft customized modules with the aid of multiple add-ons.

#2 Circuit JS

Free
Open Source
Linux
Mac
Windows
Online
Javascript
Github

Circuit Js is a free, open-source electronic circuit simulator created in Javascript. When the solution’s user interface starts, users will see the animated schematics displayed for a simple LRC circuit. The red color in the schematics indicates negative voltage, the green color indicates the positive voltage, and the gray color is used for ground. In contrast, the moving yellow dot indicates the current direction according to the most popular circuit simulator in the education and reference category. The tool utilizes the standard object syntax to define the connectible signal channels that cultivate data state changes through a circuit.

The functions can be connected by integrating the channels to create circuits. The channels are connected from a joint point. The assigned joint-point used the channel structure while the signals propagated through it. The tool helps engineers and programmers build fault-free electronic circuits by providing the best simulation environment without spending heavy budgets on fabricating the electronic circuits. Businesses and individuals can easily make the prototypes after simulating their design for electronic circuits on the platform’s user-friendly interface.

#3 LTspice

Free
Proprietary
Mac
Windows
Online

LTspice is a circuit simulator used to capture waveform viewer and schematic with the enhancements and models for the simulation and simplifying the switching regulators. The tool is free and simulates the Linear Technology integrated circuits and other analog circuits. The solution has included demonstration files in its package that allows users to watch the startup and transient behavior step-by-step. The tool has easy to configure, user-friendly interface features.

To create the new circuit simulation, users have to click on the “New Schematic” feature, and then they can place the components according to their requirements which they can select from the top window. Once users have finished designing the circuit, they can simulate the circuit by clicking the run command from the top window. With the aid of this powerful tool, users can reduce the testing time and achieve the finished product faster, overcome engineering challenges, use leading industrial products, and be confidents in their simulation results.

#4 Pspice

Freemium
Proprietary
Windows
Online

Pspice lets industry-leading automotive companies analyze their electronic circuits and optimize their functionalities, design, and reliability. The tool is best suited for simulation of voltage and current of a text file netlist of the electronic components such as inductors, diodes, resistors, capacitors, voltage, current sources, transistors, and many more. The tool is a circuit simulator used in electronic circuits’ education and reference category. The solution provides inherent mixed-signal simulation abilities and integrates with the Allegro and OrCAD tools, simplifying the power supply analysis.

Users can explore the best features like mixed signals for IoT devices, including actuators, communication devices, and sensors, leveraging the technology for full functionality testing purposes. They can also perform advanced circuit simulation, optimize the performance of electronic devices and excel in electro-mechanical system simulations. Pspice integrates the industry-leading simulation tools to offer simulation optimizations, co-simulations, re-simulation techniques, and parasitic extraction. The designers employ the tool for accurate mixed-signals and analog simulations with various board-level models.

#5 QUCS

Free
Open Source
FreeBSD
Linux
Mac
Windows
Online
Github

QUCS, also known as Quite Universal Circuit Simulator, is an integrated circuit simulator that provides the simulation and graphical presentation of noise behavior, large-signal, and small-signal results in circuits. The tool is considered one of the best circuit simulators in the education and reference category. The solution is an integrated circuit simulator with which users can set up a circuit with a graphical user interface (GUI). After the simulation has been finished, users can view the simulation results on a presentation page or window.

The software supports all kinds of circuit simulation types, e.g., Harmonic Balance analysis, S-parameter noise analysis, AC, DC, etc. The solution also has an advanced GUI and allows users to set up schematics presenting simulation results in various diagrams. Users can also import existing SPICE models for use in their simulations. The solution also comes with an array of components and models. Third-party models, including BSIM3 HICUM, BSIM2, and BSIM6, can be compiled and loaded into the simulator. It also provides many semiconductor-based components and models such as MOSFETs, OpAmps, Diodes PMOSFETs, and many more.

#6 iCircuit

Paid
Proprietary
Mac
Windows
Android
iPhone
Phone
Tablet
iPad
Windows S
Online

iCircuit is an advanced simulation engine that can handle analog and digital circuits and features the best real-time always-on analysis. It is the perfect companion to engineers, students, and electronic hobbyists. The solution’s user interface resembles any popular CAD software, where users can add elements, connect them, and set their properties. However, unlike any CAD software, iCircuit is only used for simulating electronic circuits. This tool provides the actual circuit’s components and functionalities that users can practice before making the circuits practically.

The tool provides users with an interruption-free environment. Users do not have to stop to take a measurement or spend a lot of time configuring reports. Instead, they can play with the circuit as they usually would, with the power on. There are over 30 elements that users can use to build their circuits. The app has digital gates, simple resistors, switches, and MOSFETs. The tool also features a multimeter that users can instantly probe around the circuit to read voltages and currents.

#7 SimulIDE

Free
Open Source
Linux
Windows
Online
Github

SimulIDE is a simple real-time electronic circuit simulator for students or hobbyists to learn and experiment with simple electronic circuits and microcontrollers, supporting Arduino, AVR, and PIC. Ease of access and simplicity are the key features of this simulator solution. Users can create, simulate and interact with their circuits within minutes. It has the best user-friendly interface through which users can drag components from the list, drop into the circuit, connect them and push the power button to see how it works.

The solution also features a code Editor and Debugger for PIC ASM, GcBasic, Arduino, and AVR asm. Although the solution is still in its first stages of development, with the basic functionalities, users can still write, compile, and debug with breakpoints, watch registers, and global variables. The tool is not an accurate simulator for circuit analysis. It aims to be fast, simple, and easy to use, which means only simple and not very accurate electronic models and limited features are available with the solution package.

#8 NI Circuit Design Suite Power Pro

Paid
Proprietary
Windows
Online

NI Circuit Design Suite Power Pro is a tool that combines Ultiboard and NI Multisim software to improve the PCB design process by integrating simulation, capture, and layout into a single toolchain. The platform has the best complete simulation, validation, circuit design, and layout tools. The solution helps design circuits with cost-effective and most intuitive tools. It offers professional tools for your research and prototyping with the help of advanced mixed-mode simulation and validation.

Multisim can easily capture the schematics with interactive simulation. Multisim VIs help users quickly investigate circuit behavior provided mainly through the advanced SPICE analysis. Users can quickly build and validate the circuit behavior with the help of a comprehensive library of the components. The suite provides the users with advanced simulation capabilities to give them clear insights into how the specific electronic component will behave in the simulation. Ultiboard is a flexible PCB layout and routing environment through which users can transfer completed Multisim schematics and layouts, routes, and export the completed designs for fabrication.

#9 CircuitLab

Paid
Proprietary
Online
Chrome

CircuitLab is a circuit simulation and schematics tool through which users can build and simulate circuits right through their browsers. The solution provides the features of an easy-to-use schematic editor, analog and digital circuit simulations in seconds, professional schematic PDFs, writing diagrams, and plots with no installation required. Users can master the analysis and design of the electronic system with the tool’s free, interactive, and online electronics textbooks.

The best easy schematic and robust SPICE-like mixed-mode circuit simulation provide Electrical Engineering students and electronic hobbyists with fast-tracking designs. The solution is used to optimize the analog front-end, improve power supply robustness, RF matching network analysis, and design and document test and production fixtures. The tool is bug-free and designed with excellent simulation features. The solution has easy-to-use power tools like cross window copy/paste, accessible write mode, human-friendly formats, In-browser simulation and plotting, SPICE-like component models, and advanced simulation capabilities. Simulated graphs and output results can be exported as CSV files for further analysis.

#10 Solve Elec

Free
Proprietary
Mac
Windows
Online

Solve Elec lets users draw and analyze the electrical circuits in alternating or direct current. Users can get literal formulas and values for current intensities and voltages defined in the circuit. Circuit-related equations can be verified, and users can draw graphs based on these equations. The tool is used to get an equivalent circuit for the displayed circuit, browse integrated documentations, edit, save, and print reports made of various elements displayed in the main menu.

The program allows users to draw circuits using the correct symbols included in the program like contacts, amplifiers, transistors, voltmeter, ammeter, switcher, resistors, LED, diodes, etc. Users can also apply direct or alternate current to the circuit as per their requirements. Once finished, users can turn on the circuit to test it and correct any flaws during simulation before making the prototypes. The newer version of the solution has the features of frequency response graph, filter analysis, oscilloscope, analysis of AC circuits, and formulas and values of transfer functions.

#11 PCBWeb

Free
Proprietary
Windows
Online

PCBWeb is a free PCB-design tool described as a Windows desktop CAD application for designing and manufacturing electronics hardware. The tool has the best features of PCB layouts with Gerber output, schematic capture, and bill of material manager. The tool also features the multi-sheet schematics, custom ports, cut/ copy/paste and full undo/redo, and Digi-key part library. The PCB layout has copper pour, support for all units (mm/inch), design rule checking, and Gerber export.

Upon signing into PCBWeb, users can open an existing project, create a new one, or add collaborators to a project. Each project has three views, the schematic, PCB layout, and bill of materials. The user-friendly interface equips users with the best PCB drawing boards and schematics with more intuitive features that let users design multi-sheet projects in a free environment. The software has the feature of predicting what you are trying to draw and helps you better achieve that goal. The software also offers users extensive keyboard shortcuts to design their customized electronic circuits.

#12 MacSpice

Free
Proprietary
Mac
Online

MacSpice lets users simulate and analyze the electronic circuits ranging in complexity from a single resistor to an integrated circuit comprising tens of thousands of devices. The users of this platform may vary in experience from novices to more seasoned integrated circuit designers. The platform is used in various universities worldwide for research, teaching, and education purposes. The tool runs on Intel architecture Apple Macintosh computers.

The platform provides a cheaper and quicker way of building and testing virtual models of electronic devices. Users can first simulate the design in the MacSpice interface and then build the prototype. The solution requires a text file description of the circuit as an input. The list of nodes and components they connect to is known as a netlist. Users can create the netlists of their choice through a text editor or derive them from the circuit diagram with the help of a third-party schematic-capture application. The quality of the results depends upon the accuracy of the netlists and the device models used for simulation.

#13 DCACLab

Freemium
Proprietary
Online

DCACLab is a tool for electronic simulations with real-looking components. It provides the users with real-life experience building and testing electronic circuits. It helps students and teachers build the electronic circuits with fundamental electronic components, run the simulations online, and save the results before designing the prototypes. The platform provides an online circuit simulator for determining real-time circuits behaviors.

A multimeter is used to find the current and voltage values at different points, and the platform provides one such analog multimeter. With the help of an analog multimeter, students can choose the required meter from several ranges of values using a selection knob. Separate meters are equipped with an AC voltmeter, Amperemeter, DC voltmeter, and Ohmmeter. Frequency, amplitude, and other waveform characteristics in a signal can be measured with the help of a DCACLab oscilloscope. The platform features a list of users experiments through which students can browse through and watch for their required simulation with real-life electronic components.

#14 gEDA Project

Free
Open Source
Linux
Mac
Online

gEDA Project provides free electronic design software for Unix and Linux users that they have been missing out on for a very long time. The platform is considered one of the most popular open-source tools for electronic system design. With this platform, the users can quickly grasp the tools they require to design the electronic circuits without spending too much money optimally. The software is best suited to perform operations like a bill of material generation, net listing, schematic design and capture, circuit simulation, prototype generation, and production, and layout creation, among many other functionalities.

The best design tools within the solution ran seamlessly on Linux and UNIX platforms as the software was primarily intended for those platforms. The most recent version of the PCB layout tool included in the software has been improved to make it bug-free. The tool provides a vital communication presence, drawing support from various open-source projects. The tool can be a more extraordinary companion for students, electronic enthusiasts, professionals, and electronic hobbyists.

#15 BOOLR

Free
Open Source
Linux
Mac
Windows
Online
Github

BOOLR is considered one of the best digital logic simulators built with HTML and JavaScript using Electron. Simulations run nonparallel, and complex simulations won’t cause freezes in ticks. The platform is a digital logic simulator. The platform primarily functions through either event-driven logic simulation or compiled-code techniques. In the logic simulation, designers aim to determine whether their circuit design contains any potential faults and errors, as it occurs in the case of most simulation efforts.

SPICE and logic simulators will look for digital memory, cell libraries, and AMS or analog and mixed-signal circuits. These circuits aim to sustain the precision timing to support their optimized function. Timing-sensitive designs can be tricky to properly lay the foundation for, especially with the frequently painful distance between simulation software and hardware capabilities. Logic simulators are undisputed necessary for the design engineer’s pocket. The platform provides the users’ foundation to build error-free electronic circuits using digital logic operations, and it is beneficial for students, electronic enthusiasts, and electronic hobbyists.