Case Study: Raspberry Pi Foundation achieves first-time-right low-cost board design with OrCAD and Cadence

First-Time-Right Design of Low-Cost Boards with OrCAD Design Tools

Raspberry Pi Foundation, the organization behind the low-cost educational Raspberry Pi boards, needed PCB design tools that could help it deliver increasingly sophisticated, manufacturable designs on aggressive schedules while keeping costs low. To support first-time-right board development, the team evaluated OrCAD and related Cadence design tools for schematic capture and PCB layout.

Raspberry Pi Foundation implemented OrCAD Capture and OrCAD PCB Designer, scaling seamlessly to Allegro PCB Designer as designs grew more complex. With help from Cadence channel partner Parallel Systems, the team was able to reuse proven layouts, improve high-speed routing and design accuracy, and keep all CAD work in-house. The result was faster design cycles, zero-defect manufacturability on boards using OrCAD PCB Designer, and significant time savings—such as porting WiFi functionality from one board to the next in hours rather than through error-prone manual work.

Raspberry Pi Foundation

James Adams

Director of Hardware Engineering