Making some PCBs is boring and repetitive. Cayden demonstrates using automation in laying out a USB cable testing board.

If I’m writing a program, I’ll write a function one time, then use that function every time afterwards. Usually, if problems arise over and over again, we solve them once really well, then we don’t solve them again.

Yet as an electrical engineer designing circuit boards, I often burn a lot of time on repetitive tasks. These tasks can get annoying – they’re something I’d rather automate.

For example, to design a simple USB-C cable testing board I would have to:

• Calculate and source a different current limiting resistor to get the desired brightness for every color of LED.

• Type out, size, and place a custom text label that tells me what net each test point belongs to.

• Redraw supporting circuitry from scratch every time I reuse a component in a new design.

• Recheck datasheets many times as I connect various GPIOs and peripherals.

JITX is a software defined electronics CAD tool. It’s similar to KiCad, Altium, and the other EDA packages, but instead of drawing PCBs, one define PCBs in code. That gives one the ability to turn manual tasks into code.

See the post here and on GitHub.