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FrugalEDA documentation

What is FrugalEDA?

FrugalEDA is a free, open source, cross-platform user-friendly environment dedicated to energy-frugal electronics based on the amazing quantum properties of superconductors. Its main focus is on superconducting electronics design, including Single-Flux-Quantum (SFQ) digital electronics and variants like Adiabatic Quantum Flux Parametron (AQFP), energy-efficient eSFQ, eRSFQ families, as well as analogue superconducting electronics (SQUIDs, SQIFs,...).

FrugalEDA embeds a set of open-source software tools comprising:

  • a schematic editor which is part of LibrePCB,
  • a Superconductor library for LibrePCB dedicated to superconducting devices,
  • the L2SPICE netlist converter, which converts LibrePCB netlists to the SPICE format,
  • the powerful QtGRACE 2D vizualization tool.

Key Features

  • Cross-platform compatibility - Works on Windows, macOS, and Linux
  • Dual interface for most of tools - Both GUI and CLI available
  • L2SPICE bidirectional netlist conversion - Convert from LibrePCB to SPICE format and back
  • Subcircuit support - Generate reusable subcircuits
  • Multiple simulator support - Compatible with JoSIM and JSIM simulators
  • Customizable parameters - Flexible conversion options
  • L2SPICE history tracking - Navigate through netlist conversion states
  • Examples - Includes a set of superconducting circuit examples to learn by doing

What is L2SPICE?

L2SPICE is a powerful converter that bridges the gap between LibrePCB circuit design and SPICE time-domain simulations. It provides both a user-friendly graphical interface and a command-line interface for automated workflows.

Requirements

L2SPICE requires:

  • A custom Superconductors library for LibrePCB with different signal sources (currents, voltages, phases), superconductor devices like Josephson junctions, transmission lines, subcircuits, measurement probes, and special commands for JoSIM and JSIM time-domain simulators;
  • LibrePCB circuit netlists (always named "circuit.lp") ;
  • Optional: JoSIM or JSIM simulator for time-domain simulation directly from L2SPICE.

Getting Started

Ready to start with the FrugalEDA environment?

Try our one-click FrugalEDA installer from our releases and check out our guides:

FrugalEDA is open source software. For the latest updates and source code, visit our repository.