Automatic protoboard layout from circuit schematics

Thesis: M. Eng., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2014. === Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. === Includes bibliographical references (page 101). === As an important component of the Circuits module of the first Introduction to Ele...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Mekonnen, Michael
Other Authors: Dennis M. Freeman and Adam J. Hartz.
Format: Others
Language:English
Published: Massachusetts Institute of Technology 2014
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/91847
Description
Summary:Thesis: M. Eng., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2014. === Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. === Includes bibliographical references (page 101). === As an important component of the Circuits module of the first Introduction to Electrical Engineering and Computer Science course at MIT (6.01), students design and build several circuits over the course of three weeks. When working on the more intricate circuits, an unfortunately large proportion of students' lab time is spent on laying out the circuits on protoboards. This project introduces a new circuit schematic entry tool for 6.01, capable of automatically generating protoboard layouts for circuits that students may design in the course. The tool allows for students to build, analyze, and save circuit schematics through a graphical user interface and automatically generates protoboard layouts that are almost always easy to build and debug. The layout problem is solved by utilizing the A* search algorithm exactly as presented in 6.01. === by Michael Mekonnen. === M. Eng.