What s New in PADS

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2 What s New in PADS Copyright Mentor Graphics Corporation 2008 All Rights Reserved. Mentor Graphics, Board Station, ViewDraw, Falcon Framework, IdeaStation, ICX and Tau are registered trademarks of Mentor Graphics Corporation. FPGA BoardLink, Design Capture, DesignView, TeamPCB, Expedition, Waveform Analyzer, BoardLink Pro, SymGen, CellGen, Library Manager, DxDesigner, Board Architect, and FPGA Xchange are trademarks of Mentor Graphics Corporation. All other products are the trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.

3 What s New in PADS The release of PADS includes exciting new features for handling Design Variants. The enhancements are described beginning on page 15. What s New in PADS The PADS release has a number of important enhancements. These enhancements are primarily in the DxDesigner and HyperLynx Analog applications. The enhancements are described in detail beginning on page 12 for DxDesigner and page 9 for HyperLynx Analog. DxDesigner 2007 for PADS Changes to DxDesigner include new tabular connectivity capability, improved flow performance, dynamic link integration to Agilent ADS circuit simulator and equation solvers, better integration with PADS, and improved setup and user experience. DxDesigner continues to develop, delivering more capability within the flow while fixing critical bugs in the previous release. Key areas of new functionality include such editing enhancements as: Line-width support for lines, arcs, circles, nets, and busses/bundles so that users can differentiate schematic nets graphically, rather than just by net name. Bus-color settings to differentiate busses from nets. Support for text owner leader lines so users see which text block belongs with which object. Enhanced text support allows the partial over bar of names for nets, enabling users to create mixed-logical names. Increased grid resolution that supports imperial grids to 1000ths of an inch and metric grids to 100ths of a millimeter. Also available in this release is an ICE-based replacement for the Project Navigator Contents window, which provides a user interface for modifying sheet-border properties. What s New PADS

4 Easier to Setup and Maintain DxDesigner is now not only more easy to setup, but easier to maintain as well. There are now fewer configuration files. Project settings are maintained in a single Project file, and user settings in a single user file in the WDIR path. Project Templates may be created to pre-configure settings for new projects. These project templates may be used to pre-set common settings such as the location of the central library, Sheet Borders, and I/O connectors. Templates are stored in a templates directory. Available templates are listed in the project creation dialog. What s New PADS

5 The Active Project concept has been removed, making it easier to switch between projects. The live link to the symbol library is replaced with a local cache of symbols making designs more portable and symbol update on user demand. What s New PADS

6 Improved GUI DxDesigner has a completely new GUI and new Project Navigator. The new GUI incorporates a re-organized and logically-grouped menu structure. It also integrates PADS common properties into the editor. The new GUI provides modeless dockable or floating windows and dialogs for the best use of screen space. What s New PADS

7 New Navigator The new Design Navigator incorporates: Easy creation/management of design hierarchy Improved management of Flat Designs Dynamic update as objects are added User Customizable Display Cross Probe available from Navigator to design (Components & Nets) Rename of Designs, schematics and sheets Copy sheets via the clipboard What s New PADS

8 There is also a new Wiring Model with improved bus/bundle support and a simplified method for creating and managing global nets. The new GUI incorporates an enhanced DRC Verify function with Hyperlink messaging between the output message window and the design window. This makes it easy to search and find error objects in a design. What s New PADS

9 New Symbol Editor The new DxDesigner Symbol Editor can be accessed directly from DxDesigner. Improvements to ease-of-use include: text placeholders, a graphic to indicate the text owner, font justification, array copy, and pin rotation. All settings for font attributes and colors are shared between DxDesigner and the Symbol Editor. What s New PADS

10 New Technology (InterConnect Editor or ICE) A faster and more concise spreadsheet design connectivity method has dramatically improved overall speed. A table based connectivity editor enables designs to be captured more quickly and concisely using a familiar spreadsheet like interface: No time wasted in graphical considerations Enables advanced connectivity techniques and automation Connectivity driven and not documentation driven Removes the need for multiple fractured symbols (FPGA & ASIC) Complimentary ICE Tables (ICTs) can be used standalone or freely mixed with schematics Consistent GUI A new ICE GUI provides consistent usage with Navigator, CES, and the Library. Tables can be created manually, with the PCB Optimization Process, or from existing DxDesigner schematics. The new GUI simplifies partitioning and re-leveling design. The new ICE GUI supports mixed schematic/ict, and replaces the old DxDesigner Connectivity Spreadsheet Editor. What s New PADS

11 HyperLynx Analog The PADS release also includes many significant changes to board-level simulation solutions. The three major enhancements are the introduction of: 1. EZwave an industry-leading waveform analyzer, new to the board market 2. HyperLynx Analog a new add-in to DxDesigner 3. Major GUI enhancements for improved ease of use With its intuitive user interface and many features, EZwave has long been regarded as the industry-leading waveform analyzer in the exacting IC market. With PADS2007.3, we re introducing EZwave to the PCB market where customers will be able to display and analyze analog, digital, and mixed-signal waveform databases. Designers can now access EZwave from Eldo, ADMS, or from the new, built-in HyperLynx Analog engine. EZwave for HyperLynx, is replaces the existing AWD waveform viewer. EZwave for HyperLynx Overview With its intuitive user interface and many features, EZwave has long been regarded as the industry-leading waveform analyzer in the exacting IC market. We are pleased to announce that it replaces the original waveform viewer, AWD, for use with the HyperLynx Analog simulation engine. The current interaction with the waveform process will remain the same, i.e. upon completion of a simulation EZwave will automatically open and display the results. EZwave Details EZwave is an intuitive, feature rich waveform analyzer, it provides an advanced graphical user interface that displays and analyzes analog, digital, and mixed-signal waveform databases. EZwave provides not only an industry leading waveform viewing environment but also extensive measurement and waveform processing tools. What s New PADS

12 EZwave environment The following briefly highlights some of the viewing and measurement features available in this product. View a single database or multiple databases in a single session Display the database in either a hierarchical (tree) or flat (list) format in Waveform List panel Zoom to a specified magnification and scroll along the horizontal or vertical axis Plot each analog waveform on its own Y-axis in an overlaid display View multiple waveforms and databases through multiple Graph windows Measure between transition points using multiple cursors and interactive event search What s New PADS

13 Measurement Tool Performs a variety of analog and mixed-signal measurement operations on displayed waveforms Annotates the results from measurements along with measured waveforms in the Graph window Creates and plots the result waveforms in the active Graph window if the results of measurements produce other waveforms. Waveform Processor This is an integral part of EZwave s post-processing and viewing mixed-signal simulation results which: Facilitates signal transformation utilities, including analog-to-digital conversion, busing, splitting a bus to bits, histogram, etc. Analyzes a large amount of simulation data Supports a number of charting and analysis features that may be required by a wide range of users What s New PADS

14 DxDesigner Add-in With PADS HyperLynx Analog is now an add-in to DxDesigner making it easier and more intuitive to access the simulation capability. You can now invoke DxDesigner and acquire a HyperLynx Analog simulation license. By simply navigating to the Licensing Options under the Setup menu in DxDesigner you can select HyperLynx Analog as an option. A new menu item is opened tick the check box against the HyperLynx Analog option. Once chosen the option will remain active for subsequent invocations of DxDesigner. Major GUI enhancements A number of enhancements in PADS improve the efficiency, productivity, and ease of use of HyperLynx Analog. Simulation Control dialog box To increase the usability the simulation control dialog box has also been updated with a new interface that is more consistent with the DxDesigner environment, with an improved layout and more intuitive to use. What s New PADS

15 Re-ordered toolbar In-keeping with the usability theme the toolbar icons have also been reorder to provide a leftto-right flow through the simulation process, from simulation setup through to results analysis. Waveform selection Another significant area that has been enhanced is the selection of nets to plot during the simulation. Once again through the Simulation Controls dialog, the user navigates to the Results>Time-domain Waveforms and simply selects the required nets. What s New PADS

16 To further increase usability, the design nets are split into Voltage and Current waveforms, and then again grouped hierarchically clearly showing any block-level design that may have been used in the example above, xconductance is a functional block. To probe a net, the user simply selects the nets of interest and adds them to the Nets to Probe: list using the middle buttons. The PADS and PADS releases now support the plotting of component currents. Further Enhancements This section outlines a series of enhancements that increase the usability of the HyperLynx Analog application. Back annotation of voltages It is now possible to view the DC simulation voltages in the schematic for the HyperLynx Analog simulator. Databook support With the release the HyperLynx Analog library is also supplied with a DxDatabook compatible database to make component selection even easier. The.dbc file can be found in the software tree and is called dxsim_hla.lib Set default symbol The model browser in HyperLynx Analog has been enhanced to allow the user to easily associate a symbol to a model. Simply by selecting a model in the simulation tab and then executing Set Default Symbol through the RMB, the user can then select a model from the symbol browser. New models can be quickly and easily added. What s New PADS

17 Design Data Management Variant Manager The Variant Manager is a new tool for variant data management. This tool offers significant productivity improvement over the previous tool, DxVariant Manager. Each Variant definition is displayed in own view; no multi-copy master design project for each variant definition is needed. The Variant Manager makes it easy to manage definition change; it s ideal for documentation output. Improved Usability Consistent GUI with DxDesigner Constructed utilizing ad-in technology Hierarchy and differences grid views Cross-probe between applications for easy variant definition Ability to manage large number of variants, group selection is enabled User control of outputs such as deleting symbols with or without wires, mark up or color unplaced symbols, place differences report, and intelligent variant PDF What s New PADS

18 Improved Integration The Variant Manager is an add-in view to DxDesigner. New Function Support Physical Variants Physical variants are defined based on specific package information. They reference particular PCB board components. DxDesigner Link Updates DxDesigner Link has been updated to support new Variant Manager. The new tab Variants allow the user to See DxDesigner variants data See PADS Layout variants data Import PADS Layout Variants to DxDesigner Import DxDesigner Variants to PADS Layout Generate PADS Variants ASCII file Generate DxDesigner Variants ASCII file Compare Variants data between DxDesigner and PADS Layout Auto regenerate default ASCII file What s New PADS

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