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Elmatica is developing a new language for PCB fabrication data
The aim is that the development of the language will be by an independent international task group, with members from the entire supply chain. And if the industry is up for the challenge – the result could be both cost efficient and a vital time saver.
The Norwegian company is currently creating an open standard for communicating information needed for PCB fabrication.
“This standard is a PCB language to share information accurately. It can be used to interchange information on the specification, a profile and capabilities. Development and maintenance of the standard will be by an international task group. The task group will be committed to a continuous development and scheduled updates,” says CTO at Elmatica, Andreas Lydersen.
If you look at the situation today, a substantial amount of time is used to interpret all the information needed for the fabrication process. A common language could save the industry both time and money by avoiding misinterpretations.
“If you take an example as Legend, there are multiple ways to describe this. Some say ‘legend’, ‘silk screen’, ‘silkscreen’, ‘ink’ or ‘ident’. It's not rocket science to understand that interpreting this take up too much time in the supply chain. The immediate gain with the new language will be that we do not need the gerber file to set price and delivery,” says Lydersen.
Andreas Lydersen draws the analogy of being a lost tourist at an unfamiliar destination.
“You are able to communicate at a basic level with body language and interpretations, but as soon as things gets complicated you need to bring along an interpreter to your vacation. If everyone used the same language, this would be unnecessary. The same goes for PCB fabrication. Why waste money on interpretations, when the issue can be easily fixed?,” says Lydersen.
He goes on saying that a language such as this opens up for automation of a completely new level, and has – according to him – the potential the most important progress in the PCB industry, since the Gerber file arrived
However, in order to make this a reality Elmatica needs participants to help develop this PCB specification Standard, or language, called "Circuit Data". The data will have xml outpu. It is not an alternative to ODB++, Gerber or IPC-2581 but can be a valuable integrated part of these files.
“Everything is based on IPC T-50 terminology, the task group had the first webinar this week, and more members are needed. This is not a Elmatica-tool, but an open standard free for all to use,” Andreas Lydersen concludes.
