The EEcosystem Podcast

In this episode, Judy Warner talks with Roberto Piacentini, an electrical engineer with 30+ years of experience and now Director of Global Marketing for Design Engineering Software at Keysight Technologies, about what he considers the most expensive engineering mistake, why growing design complexity is raising the stakes, and how to avoid these costly issues.

They explore connected workflows, engineering silos, simulation, data, and AI-augmented tools (keeping engineers in control and putting AI in the human loop, and how these technologies can help engineers make better decisions across the design lifecycle.

What You'll Learn

-Where engineering silos create risk

-How connected workflows help

-Why good engineering data matters for AI

-AI-augmented vs. AI-driven engineering

-How simulation can reduce costly physical iterations

 

Attend Keysight Design Forum: August 26, 2026 Huntsville, AL

Learn More and Register: https://tinyurl.com/4hd8d63a

 

Attend Keysight Design Forum: September 24, 2026, Santa Clara, CA

Learn More and Register: https://tinyurl.com/yrvb4e4k

AI is everywhere in the headlines right now, but is it actually doing anything positive for engineers? Or is it just going to take jobs and produce less competent engineers by putting everything on autopilot? I sat down with Tobias Pohl, Co-Founder and CEO of CELUS, and Matt Bromley, VP of Product Strategy for Siemens EDA, to try to get past the hype and talk honestly about what agentic AI is actually changing, from early concept and ideation all the way through the PCB design process, and just as importantly, what it's not changing.

CELUS and Siemens EDA have partnered to bridge that early, "fuzzy" stage of concept design into the traditional schematic, layout, and manufacturing flow. Toby and Matt talk about how agentic AI is compressing the design flow, from comparing datasheets and selecting components to running simulations, while the architecture and the judgment calls stay firmly with the engineer. They also talk about how agentic AI is now working across toolsets. Engineers can ask a question in one platform and have it orchestrated across another, without all the manual handoffs, file conversions, and integration work that used to eat up so much time and introduce design risks. 

 

00:00 — Introductions Toby and Matt introduce themselves and how the CELUS/Siemens EDA partnership came together.

01:17 — Why CELUS and Siemens EDA partnered The gap between early concept design and traditional engineering tool chains, and how the two platforms connect ideation to schematic, layout, and manufacturing.

04:20 — The real bottlenecks in modern design Why comparing datasheets and chip selection can eat weeks of engineering time, and how a non-linear design process creates constant rework.

07:59 — Where AI is already delivering real value Extracting models and data from datasheets, evaluating BOM choices against manufacturability and lead time, and using AI to interpret simulation results.

11:35 — Inside agentic architecture Toby explains the shift from single LLM assistants to full agentic systems, including guardrail agents, review agents, and orchestration across multiple tools, including agents that hand off work between CELUS and Siemens EDA without the engineer manually reconnecting the two.

17:54 — Does the engineer stay in control? I push Toby and Matt directly on whether AI is encroaching on architecture and design judgment. The answer is still no, and they explain why.

19:39 — Walking the design journey, start to finish Toby and Matt trace a real workflow: describing design intent in natural language, generating an initial architecture, comparing multiple approaches, and handing off an electrically correct design into Siemens EDA tools for simulation, layout, and DFM.

28:19 — Who holds the judgment Why the designer still drives architecture and intent, and how agentic tools add robustness rather than replace decision-making.

35:00 — The hard question about jobs I ask the question our listeners won't forgive me for skipping: didn't software engineers lose jobs when AI hit? Toby and Matt respond with the historical parallel to compilers, high-level languages, and past technology hype cycles.

40:46 — What's next Toby and Matt preview upcoming agentic capabilities across both platforms and how you can start exploring the tools yourself.

Key takeaway
The engineer remains the design intent and architecture. Agentic AI is built to take the manual grind out of design, the spreadsheets, the datasheet comparisons, the repetitive tool-switching, so engineers can spend more of their time on the judgment calls, the creativity, and the innovation that only they can bring.

Learn more
Siemens EDA: 

To learn more about Xpedition and PCB Design

For a 30-day trial of Xpedition Standard with powered-by-CELUS integration

Matt Bromley on LinkedIn

 

CELUS: 

CELUS Website

CELUS Platform

Tobias Pohl on LinkedIn

As AI, data centers, aerospace, and advanced computing continue pushing bandwidth and power requirements to new extremes, DDR memory compliance has become one of the biggest bottlenecks in high-speed digital design. I

n this episode, Judy Warner is joined by Ben Dannan, Founder of Signal Edge Solutions, and Tyler Huddleston, SI/PI Engineer of SES, to explore why traditional DDR compliance workflows can consume days or weeks of engineering time, produce false positives, and slow product development.

They also demonstrate how their new software, Mem Check Pro, automates JEDEC compliance analysis, including setup/hold, crossing points, slew rate, and commonly skipped checks like clock monotonicity and VIX, in just a few minutes. This helps engineering teams verify designs faster and with greater accuracy and confidence.

Learn more at https://Signaledgesolutions.com

Join The Engineering EEcosystem for free resources for professional engineers, including our FREE online SI Masterclasses by Dr Eric Bogatin. https://theeecosystem.com

Many engineers still think of KiCad as a hobbyist PCB design tool. That perception is changing.

In this episode, Judy Warner sits down with Seth Hillbrand, lead KiCad developer and founder of KiCad Services Corporation, to discuss how KiCad has evolved into a professional EDA platform trusted by startups, aerospace companies, research organizations, and enterprise engineering teams.

You'll learn:

Why more professional engineers are choosing KiCad

How open-source EDA tools stack up against commercial tools

Why preserving design intent and long-term IP matters

How KiCad's architecture is enabling the next generation of AI-powered PCB design

Seth's perspective on using AI to make engineers more effective, not replace them

Whether you're evaluating new PCB design tools or simply curious about the future of electronic design automation (EDA), this conversation offers an inside look at one of the fastest-growing platforms in the industry.

🔗 Learn more about KiCad: https://www.kicad.org

Connect with Seth Hillbrand

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sethhillbrand/

KiCad Services: https://www.kipro-pcb.com/

About The EEcosystem
The EEcosystem helps professional electronics engineers stay ahead through expert interviews, masterclasses, technical articles, and practical engineering education covering PCB design, signal integrity, RF, embedded systems, advanced packaging, AI, and emerging technologies.

Subscribe for new episodes every week. https://theeecosystem.com

Take our free online Masterclasses with Dr. Eric Bogatin: https://theeecosystem/masterclass

 

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AI is starting to take on real work in PCB design, but engineering teams still want and need to stay in control of the process. In this episode, Judy Warner talks with Sergiy Nesterenko, founder of Quilter, about how their AI-powered layout tool has evolved over the past year. They discuss keeping designers in control through custom constraints, lessons learned from laying out Quilter's own NXP i.MX8 board, building trust with engineering teams and their downstream customers, and how physics-based verification, including a new signal-integrity integration with Simbeor, is helping to close the gap between solid engineering skill, automation, and real-world reliability.
 
Join The Engineering EEcosystem for curated resources for engineers including our FREE online Masterclasses with Dr. Eric Bogatin. https://theeecosystem.com
 
Learn more: Quilter https://quilter.ai Listen to The EEcosystem Podcasts on Apple, Spotify, and all major podcast apps.