Digi-Key updates schematics tool, releases new video series

Digi-Key Electronics has released new features for its Scheme-it tool, a free online schematics and diagramming solution for engineers, educators and students.

Scheme-it is a cloud-based tool available to users globally for designing and sharing electronic circuit diagrams and schematics. Users can create a bill of materials (BOM) and purchase components used in their projects, as well as share projects with others and export to KiCAD, .PNG, .SVG and .PDF file formats.

The new features that were recently released include:

• Ultra Librarian symbol integration: This brings in approximately 2 million of Ultra Librarian’s detailed, visually appealing symbols and images from Digi-Key’s product catalogue.
• Symbol Editor 2.0: A custom symbol editor that allows users to create new symbols that are not currently included in Scheme-it, offering endless ways to customise designs.
• Mathematics markup: Powered by LaTeX, users can now properly format and insert mathematical formulas and calculations directly on schematics.
   

“These new features significantly increase the number of part-specific symbols available in Scheme-it, allowing engineers, students and teachers around the world to more easily and accurately develop their early design concepts and schematics, while maintaining all of the part information for a BOM export,” said Cody Walseth, Digital Product Owner at Digi-Key.

“The Ultra Librarian team is proud to mark this next milestone in our longstanding partnership with Digi-Key, furthering our mission of simplifying the PCB design process,” added Manny Marcano, President and CEO of Ultra Librarian. “Connecting our library of verified CAD models for available Digi-Key parts into Scheme-it will help the next generation of innovators and makers bring design ideas to life in a fraction of the time.”

Schematics created in Scheme-it can be shared publicly if desired and become searchable on the Scheme-it homepage, allowing for idea sharing and further innovation. A dedicated section on Digi-Key’s TechForum is also available for Scheme-it users to ask questions, make comments and share ideas. The tool is available for use at http://www.digikey.com.au/schemeit/home/.

Digi-Key has separately announced the release of its new video series, ‘Supply Chain Transformed’, which follows the journey of components across the supply chain as they are integrated and incorporated into next-generation asset monitoring and tracking systems. Sponsored by Analog Devices and Molex, and produced by Supplyframe, the three-part series highlights the stops a product makes throughout its route from design to production, including warehouses, manufacturing facilities, shipping and more.

With so many eyes on the global supply chain this year, it’s more important than ever for accessible, automated monitoring and tracking to be available to everyone. As noted by Robbie Paul, Director of IoT Business Solutions at Digi-Key, “Sensors are essential to tracking products through the supply chain and are increasingly becoming smarter and better connected.”

The first video in the series, ‘Components at the Source’, focuses on how inventory is tracked throughout a warehouse, as well as emerging technologies like indoor positioning, robots/cobots and more. The second video, ‘The Product Journey’, will follow a product through its journey from origin to destination, and explore the technologies used to optimise routes, manage fleets of vehicles and track assets. The third video, ‘Next Generation Production’, will showcase the wide variety of monitoring solutions available to ensure the security, safety and reliability of workers’ products, such as temperature monitoring, condition-based monitoring, the use of blockchain in supply chain management and more.

“If we are to sustainably scale a resilient and secure supply chain that delivers on the projected growth of e-commerce, it must be highly automated,” said Donnacha O’Riordan, Director, Connected Motion and Robotics for Analog Devices. “Cobots and autonomous mobile robots will be at the heart of that automation.”

“Molex is pleased to once again collaborate with Digi-Key on the development of rich content that addresses very real and relevant issues for our customers,” added Fred Bell, Vice President of Global Distribution for Molex. “As a leading provider of integrated electronic solutions and manufacturer for all major industries, we are able to leverage a long history of addressing supply chain issues to help provide guidance in this particularly challenging time.”

The video series is available at https://www.digikey.com.au/en/resources/iot-resource-center/supply-chain-transformed/.

Image credit: ©stock.adobe.com/au/Drobot Dean

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