PCB Tech - Revolutionary PCB Design Technology: Parallel Design Method

The latest software technology can be used to complete efficient parallel circuit board design. This new technology enables multiple designers and different kinds of tools to work on the same design database at the same time, and can significantly improve design productivity.

Unlike the traditional method of dividing the design into several parts and completing each part independently, this new technology can create parallel processes on a common database, and can automatically synchronize process changes and resolve possible conflicts between them. This is the first in the EDA industry.

Since the widespread adoption of CAD in circuit board design in the 1990s, the manufacturing field has been continuously improving design productivity through automation and process optimization methods. Unfortunately, with the continuous innovation of circuit design software technology, the demand for support of new signals, components or board-level manufacturing technologies is also increasing, so the entire design time has hardly been shortened (or even longer).

If there is no fundamental change in design methodology, software will always play the role of a follower of hardware technology, rather than becoming a leader on the development curve. Multiple engineers engaged in the same design and parallel engineering technology has always been an effective magic weapon for productivity breakthroughs. The traditional divide-and-conquer method divides the design into several parts and assigns them to the hands of each engineer. Finally, the parts are connected and enforced (decisions are made automatically according to pre-defined rules) or ingenious methods (allowing engineers to make decisions automatically). Resolve conflicts one by one) Resolve all conflicts.

This method is quite effective for circuit schematic design, because it can directly divide the design into multiple modules and pages according to functions. Even so, this method still requires a lot of manual work to solve the interconnection problems between the modules, such as signal name conflicts, missing components, and so on. As long as the designers can't see what each other is doing, these mistakes are likely to occur.

If a parallel design method allows multiple designers to make the same design at the same time, can see the editing content made by other designers, and can automatically manage various potential conflicts in real time, then this parallel design method can be achieved. Optimal flexibility and productivity.

Parallel design architecture

The new parallel design technology requires a design process manager (server) and multiple design clients to be executed in a network environment. The main job of the server software is to receive update requests from each client, check the requests to ensure that the design rules are not violated, and then synchronize each client according to the update content.

Each client must have its own dedicated processor and memory. The new parallel design architecture also assumes that the communication system can support the minimum bandwidth and maximum delay required for real-time and efficient exchange of information between the client and the server. Each client can see the entire design and observe other client edits as the server processes them. The design database is allowed to be stored anywhere on the Internet.

This parallel design architecture allows multiple PCB designers to make the same design at the same time without having to divide the design logically or in any other way. This is a truly real-time collaborative design environment, in which all issues related to segmentation boundaries and management of data integrity during segmentation-connection operations will not arise.

Since multiple designers can make the same design in parallel without any restrictions, the entire design cycle can be significantly shortened.

Each design has a related design team, and only members of the team are allowed to access the design data. Any team member can start a design meeting on the server and a single client. Other clients can participate in the conference at any time.

The design is initially loaded on the server. When the client joins the meeting and automatically downloads the current state of the server design to the client's memory, the client is initialized and synchronized. Once the client joins the design meeting, it can edit the design using the standard editing tools available in the application.

The edit event is an independent activity initiated by the client, and it is sent to the server as an update request. For example, moving an element from point A to point B constitutes an editing event. The beginning of the event is to select the element, and the end of the event is to indicate the new position by mouse click (or equivalent input). The edit event is sent to the server as a transaction, which describes what to delete and what to add.

Each edit event generated by the client must perform a local design rule check (DRC) before being sent to the server, and then set the priority of the edit request and enter the input message queue according to the first-in-first-out principle. After receiving the edit request, the server integrates it into the design database, and then executes DRC. If no problems are found, the edit request is approved and sent to all clients through the output message queue for synchronization of the client's internal core database.

Most computing time is spent on the local client. Target objects are added, edited, and deleted on the client side, and all automated tasks related to those edits (such as pushing, squeezing, and smoothing) are performed at the same time. Compared with the client, the server load is relatively lighter, so the system performance will not be affected. Testing of this environment shows that the server's response speed is very fast and will not slow down the client's speed.

The second application of parallel design technology is the automatic wiring of circuit boards. Distributed automatic wiring has been a powerful weapon for circuit board wiring software for many years. The IC router has been converted to a distributed environment for execution in the past. However, the circuit board wiring problem is very different. Until now, people still think that the automatic router must be adapted to make full use of multiple computers to complete the same design advantage. Software vendors and third-party engineers have also made many attempts to achieve acceptable performance improvements, but they all ended in failure.

The architecture adopted by the new parallel design technology can solve most of the key problems in the distributed wiring environment, and it knows how to prevent or resolve conflicts. Similarly, the server plays the role of design process management, and requests from each auto-router client are integrated, checked, and broadcast to other clients in the server. All auto-router clients are kept in sync, so when a new wiring path is added locally, the probability of wiring path conflicts is small.

Integrate efficient tools

Since circuit design is a process that includes many steps and rules, in order to obtain excellent productivity, the most efficient point tools must be closely integrated. Data and rules must flow smoothly throughout the design process.

In the past 20 years, the EDA industry has produced unprecedented mergers and acquisitions. As a result, the design process of software vendors relies on the integration of many tools. In addition, large PCB companies require the tools of many software suppliers to be integrated into their own unique design processes.

The expedient measure is to write an interface through which the ASCII output of one tool is converted into the ASCII input format of other tools. Doing so will produce hundreds of ASCII interfaces, each of which is used to overcome common data model and rule incompatibility issues.

The basic requirement of this integration method is that all applications must have a fully compatible data model. Each application may use different tools and different automated tools to process data, but each application must be able to receive changes and recognize them, so they know what to do next.

It is also possible to use parallel design techniques to integrate an application to perform a specific set of tasks, such as making, placing, routing, and editing embedded components. If so, then that application can be automatically restricted to only allow the use of those specific functions.

Circuit and board design

Combining the technologies required for parallel layout and parallel integration can form an environment where multiple different applications in the design process can be integrated and used by multiple designers at the same time.

Since multiple applications are running at the same time, PCB engineers can quickly understand the signal integrity effects of the added paths. For example, in the cellular phone design three-dimensional mechanical system, the actions of PCB components in the layout can be updated and checked immediately.