PCB designers are continuously coping with the increasing complexity of printed circuit boards or PCBs. However, the design cycles for these printed boards have also become shorter and more predictable with the help of an effective methodology that speeds up the design cycle of a PCB without the occurrence of any unwanted iteration.
Since most consumers nowadays are in search for electronic devices that are smaller, faster, and are more functional, PCB designers make sure that they are able to design highly functional boards in less time with the help of effective design methodologies available.
The increase in the total number of constraints on a net is considered as one of the major contributors to the increasing complexity of PCBs. The increase is caused by the use of interfaces that are standards based like DDR2, DDR3, Serial ATA, and PCI Express.
With this increase, designers are now unable to solely rely on a properties editor that has the ability to capture and store constraints. What is needed nowadays is systems that can help designers create design intent or a system that captures both constraints and connectivity together. That required system should also make the implementation of PCB designs a lot easier with the use of the constraints.
An ideal system should be able to highlight the errors that are created along the implementation of the PCB designs through the net list changes from manufacturing prep to interactive etch edit. A real-time feedback on basic constraints like intra-group and inter-group constraints is also an important feature that should be present in the methodology. This can help a lot in avoiding any unpredictable design iterations at the end part of the design flow before the manufacturing process. This can help save the loss of important resources and expenses.
Electrical Constraint Sets
The creation and the management of Electric Constraint Sets (ECSets) with the use of software offer designers the ability to apply the topologies that they have specified in the ECSets. The topologies for today’s interface, which are standards based, like DDR2, DDR3, and XAUI often search for T-points and constraints for the management of the lengths and delays to the T-point coming from the Driver.
Some PCB Design software available nowadays are already capable of automatically creating T-points, effective rule application to signal groups, and also successfully monitoring the adherence during the design implementation of a complex PCB design. The topologies in ECSets methodologies allow its users to specify optional pins to reuse a particular Electrical Constraints Set to additional buses which have the same constraints that have additional receivers on one or more nets in a bus.
Being knowledgeable about this particular type of PCB design methodology will help you a lot in successfully cutting down the time needed for you to successfully create a complex PCB design. With the help of the Electrical Constraint Set methodology, you can easily apply the methodology to groups of nets rapidly while also monitoring any violations that might come up during the design flow.
