Kicad Software

Automated system through design allows you to create professional electrical wiring diagrams, design printed circuit boards for them and prepare for the production of output.

KiCad program is written in C + +. It consists of the following:
1. main applications:
• Project manager kicad, allowing you to create and configure new works;
• electrical circuits eeschema editor for drawing and komponirovaniya schemes, including the editor of characters;
• PCB editor pcbnew, forming electric circuits and circuit comprising editor seats
2. additional utilities:
• file viewer format Gerber - gerbview;
• a program to identify seats according to the components on the circuit - cvpcb;
• Editor view reports wyoeditor.
Furthermore KiCad includes a plurality of libraries of electronic components for which there is formed a three-dimensional model Wings3D program.

Editor allows you to create eeschema are multiple hierarchical schemes and carry them tested for compliance with electrical codes. It also created a list of elements in a table and netlist-list for circuit simulation in the PCB editor. Additional option allows you to save in a popular format netlist Spice circuit simulation and conduct third-party application.

 Pcbnew works with boards containing 16 copper and 12 technical layers, inner layers of metallization, thermal pads, blind, and through internal transition and micro-vias, microwave structure. There is a possibility to use external tracers, such FreeRouter and TopoR, there calculator circuit boards and optional automatic and manual placement of components. At the end of the generated files to the production process (for photoplotters and drilling machines), as well as the proposed waterline printout formats HPGL, PostScript, DXF, PDF and SVG format with frame or without. KiCAD creates a list of components to order, as well as the logo on the card developer can export the drawings in DXF and PDF.

Size chart or board in KiCad is not limited to, at any stage, you can go back and make changes, and then easily transfer them further. 3D Viewer option allows OpenGL-based build three-dimensional image of the PCB. Rendering quality, of course, lower than that paid counterparts, but enough for visual assessment. Unfortunately, the basic format of three-dimensional models of components, representing manufacturers, *. Iges and *. Step - software does not support.
Disadvantages of the system design is attributed uncomfortable and intuitive interface. Program difficult to master without reading the documentation.

The author of this software is Frenchman Jean-Pierre Sharra, who developed it in 1992. Jean-Pierre is a researcher in the laboratory of images and signals, and also teaches electronics and image processing in the Institute of Technology in the city of Saint-Martin-d \ 'Er (Grenoble, France).

The main advantage of the medium KiCad, in addition to a full-featured - a free license and open to change codes, data formats, libraries, schemes, projects PCBs.

To update the program regularly published. For Windows is invited to build a setup EXE-file or as a ZIP-archive. To install the program you must run the EXE-file and unzip to a folder C: \ \ Program Files \ KiCad.

The system design supports English, Portuguese, Spanish, Czech, Polish, French, German, Russian and many other languages. Through the efforts of many volunteers at the moment the application is fully adapted to the GOST.

KiCad is cross-platform software tool and runs on operating systems, FreeBSD, Linux, MS Windows, Apple Mac OS X and Solaris.

Dissemination programs: free, open source

Official site Kicad: http://iut-tice.ujf-grenoble.fr/kicad/