A review of automatic schematic generation techniques and their application to printed circuit boards

Jie YANG; Kai QIAO; Jian CHEN; Chen CHEN; Lixiang GUO; Bin YAN

doi:10.1631/FITEE.2400612

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A review of automatic schematic generation techniques and their application to printed circuit boards

Regular Papers | Updated：2025-11-05

- A review of automatic schematic generation techniques and their application to printed circuit boards
- 自动原理图生成技术综述及其在印刷电路板中的应用
- Frontiers of Information Technology & Electronic Engineering Vol. 26, Issue 9, Pages: 1534-1550(2025)
- Affiliations：
  
  Information Engineering University, Zhengzhou 450000, China
- Author bio：
  
  E-mail: evil126126@126.com
  qiaokai1992@gmail.com
  ‡ Corresponding author
- Funds：
- DOI：10.1631/FITEE.2400612
  CLC： TP391.7
- Received：21 July 2024，
  
  Revised：2025-03-25，
  
  Published：2025-09
- Accepted：
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Jie YANG, Kai QIAO, Jian CHEN, et al. A review of automatic schematic generation techniques and their application to printed circuit boards[J]. Frontiers of information technology & electronic engineering, 2025, 26(9): 1534-1550.
DOI：

Jie YANG, Kai QIAO, Jian CHEN, et al. A review of automatic schematic generation techniques and their application to printed circuit boards[J]. Frontiers of information technology & electronic engineering, 2025, 26(9): 1534-1550. DOI： 10.1631/FITEE.2400612.

摘要

印刷电路板（PCB）是电子设备的基石，其原理图对系统性能与可靠性具有至关重要的影响。随着电子设备在社会中的广泛应用，其维护、安全、后门以及其他潜在问题备受关注。自动原理图生成（ASG）凭借其自主生成电路原理图的独特能力，不仅在电子设计自动化（EDA）中扮演着举足轻重的角色，更能助力解析PCB设备的基本原理，从而有效应对这些深层问题。然而，受制于PCB日趋精密化的制造工艺以及逆向工程固有的法律和伦理争议，相关技术发展面临显著瓶颈。为突破技术壁垒，推动技术进步，本文系统梳理现有ASG技术，深入剖析其核心算法——布局与布线技术，并针对该技术在PCB逆向工程中的应用，详细分析当前面临的挑战和难题。围绕这些挑战，本文探讨了可行解决方案，旨在推动自动PCB原理图生成技术的研究，为EDA和PCB逆向工程自动化贡献新的力量。

Abstract

The printed circuit board (PCB) stands as the cornerstone of electronic equipment

with its schematic holding paramount importance for system performance and reliability. In light of the pervasive use of electronic devices in society

concerns regarding maintenance

safety

backdoors

and other latent issues have garnered significant attention. Automatic schematic generation (ASG)

with its distinct capability for generating circuit schematics autonomously

not only plays a pivotal role in electronic design automation (EDA) but also aids in deciphering the fundamental principles of PCB equipment to effectively address these underlying issues. However

constrained by the increasingly sophisticated manufacturing processes of PCBs and the inherent legal and ethical controversies surrounding reverse engineering

the development of related technologies faces notable bottlenecks. To break through technical barriers and advance technological progress

this paper comprehensively combs through the existing ASG

offers in-depth description of the core algorithms of the technology—layout and routing

and for the application of the technology in PCB reverse engineering

analyzes in detail the current challenges and the faced problems. Around these challenges

feasible solutions are discussed in this paper

with the aims of promoting the research of automatic PCB schematic generation technology and contributing new strength to EDA and PCB reverse engineering automation.

关键词

Keywords

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