This case study, performed by EMA Design Automation, explores how Allegro X AI accelerated the initial component placement of a PCB design. By leveraging X AI’s automated intelligence, our design team significantly reduced total setup and placement time while maintaining high-quality results.
Background
The purpose of this case study was to perform internal testing of Allegro X AI to verify and validate the benefits and/or downfalls of incorporating automation in the PCB layout process, providing our customers with realistic analysis and use cases of AI in PCB design.
Primary Goals
- Automate initial component placement to speed up the design process
- Validate the accuracy of Allegro X AI
- Verify time-savings produced by including Allegro X AI in the PCB design process
- Evaluate the trade-offs between manual and automated PCB layout
Design Information
The board used to test Allegro X AI for automated component placement consisted of the following parameters:
| Parameter | Value |
| Components | 80 |
| Pin Density | 10.8860 pins/cm2 |
| Board Area | 38.22cm2 |
| Layers | 4 |
| Height Constraint Restrictions | 0 |
| Power Nets | 10 |
| Ground Nets | 1 |
The engineering team sought to test Allegro X AI’s ability to handle a moderately dense board early in the layout phase.
Approach and Solution
The design required adherence to specific rules to ensure proper functionality and manufacturability. X AI was configured with the following information to ensure design intent was communicated efficiently and get the most out of automation:
- Power and ground nets
- Component classes
- Class to class spacing
- Rooms defined in the schematic
- Rooms drawn on the PCB
- Package to package spacing constraints
- Differential pairs
- Physical constraints (line width, differential pair rules, etc.)
- Spacing constraints (shape to shape spacing)
- Electrical constraints (voltage, propagation delay, etc.)
Total setup time for design configuration was 10 minutes– this would be required for either manual placement or AI-enhanced placement. Additionally, 5 minutes of setup was required for Allegro X AI-specific settings.
Results and Outcomes
Once the critical design information had been added to the PCB layout and X AI, component placement could be generated.Â
Run Time: Allegro X AI completed the placement in 2 minutes.
Overall Quality Rating: 4 out of 5
As with any design, the component placement must be reviewed to assess the quality and accuracy. This includes evaluating the location of components in relation to related circuitry and routing feasibility (both in density and functionality). Through this review, we observed the strengths of component placement with Allegro X AI and potential areas for improvement in future AI iterations:
Allegro X AI Strengths Observed
- The HDMI decoder was placed adjacent to the HDMI connector, exactly as required.
- Resistors were positioned effectively, with good alignment across layers.
Allegro X AI Areas for Improvement
- Some capacitors and resistors were placed on the bottom layer.
Adjustment: To improve this in future iterations, component placement for discretes can be assigned as only Top instead of Both.
- Components were tightly packed within their defined rooms, which may complicate routing.
Adjustment: To improve this in the future, spacing constraints can be adjusted to provide more room for routing.
These observations provide a clear picture of how Allegro XAI performed during initial placement, highlighting both its effectiveness and areas where adjustments could enhance results. By examining these strengths and potential improvements, we can extract practical insights and lessons learned to guide future AI-assisted PCB designs, optimize placement strategies, and refine workflow practices.
Insights and Lessons Learned
To understand the time savings achieved by Allegro X AI, this component placement was completed manually and compared. The manual placement of this board took approximately 1 hour.
Time Savings
| Activity | Time with AI | Estimated Manual Time* |
| Design Configuration | 10 Minutes | 10 Minutes |
| X AI Setup | 5 Minutes | - |
| Placement | 2 Minutes | 60 Minutes |
| Review and Cleanup | 8 Minutes | - |
| Total | 25 Minutes | 70 Minutes |
The XAI-assisted workflow cut total design time by nearly two-thirds, saving approximately 45 minutes compared to a fully manual process.
Key Takeaways
Testing AI-enhanced component placement with Allegro X AI demonstrated that X AI can:
- Accelerate initial placement while maintaining high-quality alignment to design constraints.
- Deliver measurable time savings—about 40 minutes faster than manual placement on a low-density, 4-layer board.
- Provide a strong baseline for routing and further optimization, even when minor cleanup is required.
Through this case study it was found that for low to medium complexity PCB designs (Allegro X AI can currently support PCB layouts with less than 5,100 components and pin density below 100pins/cm2) Allegro X AI can provide a jump start for your PCB designs, providing significant time savings. While some modification may be required, the time saved placing components can be reallocated to more advanced design tasks- freeing up engineering resources and accelerating the PCB design process.
Incorporating AI into the PCB design process is constantly evolving, and therefore the process can always be fine-tuned to produce results that better align with the design requirements.
Next Steps
While the component placement results produced by Allegro X AI met the design requirements with minimal adjustment, additional setup and rules can be implemented to improve future iterations with Allegro X AI. This can include incorporating:
- Component associations
- Power tree files
- Fixed component locations
- Additional constraints
Our overall feedback- with proper setup and configuration of the design, Allegro X AI can generate component placement for your PCB layout quickly, which adheres to your manufacturing and functionality requirements. Just like any tool, the more information you give Allegro X AI, the better your results are going to be. Our inkling is these results will only continue to improve as AI evolves thorough testing is performed, and the information required is fine-tuned. Get the step-by-step instructions for generating a component placement with Allegro X AI here.Â
