Ansys and Autodesk Collaborate to Develop the Fusion 360 PCB Extension

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Ansys and Autodesk are collaborating on a Printed Circuit Board (PCB) extension, marking Autodesk Fusion 360's first third-party extension. The extension aligns with the companies' shared vision to increase consumer product designers' and engineers' access to electromagnetic analysis.

Ansys and Autodesk are developing the Fusion 360 PCB extension to enable rapid design exploration, which will help reduce costly prototyping later in the product development process. By embedding Ansys' market-leading electromagnetic capabilities within Fusion 360, the integration will provide Electrical CAD users with the ability to perform near real-time PCB analyses within the Fusion 360 workflow. 

"We've built the Fusion 360 platform to include comprehensive ECAD & MCAD capabilities and manufacturing workflows in a single environment," said Scott Reese, executive vice president of product development and manufacturing solutions at Autodesk. "This gives designers and engineers the ability to develop products much more efficiently from concept through to fabrication. Integrating industry-leading Ansys simulation into Fusion 360's core PCB design capabilities will help manufacturers get their products to market faster."

"This extension builds upon our existing relationship with Autodesk and introduces electromagnetic simulation to a wider range of designers and engineers," said Shane Emswiler, senior vice president of products at Ansys. "The extension enables users to validate and iterate designs sooner and more quickly with advanced simulation."

The embedded integration builds on Fusion 360's recent release of Ansys Electronics Database (EDB) export capability, which enables users to easily export Ansys files and the ability to launch Ansys Electronics Desktop.  The collaboration is consistent with prior partnership workflows aimed at breaking down the silos between designers and analysts.  Product designers and engineers will use the Fusion 360 PCB extension to design PCBs faster with electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) compliance, and specialist signal integrity/electromagnetic interference (SI/EMI) analysts will continue to use Ansys Electronics Desktop for detailed simulation and reporting of a product's electromagnetic performance.