Upgrade Enhances PCB Design Environment February 2002 Issue Published Date: February 01, 2002
The upgraded PCB design environment helps provide increased engineering productivity through Allegro layout enhancements, including Quickplace component placement. The Quickplace feature allows the designer to group components by reference designator or package style around the PCB outline for rapid floor-planning of critical sub-circuits. In addition, Allegro layout has been upgraded to provide complete WYSIWYG support, letting the designer identify problems early on before artwork generation. Productivity enhancements also include full Orcad Capture schematic integration with Allegro layout, which supports full bi-directional property passing, cross-probing between schematic and layout, and back annotation of pin swaps and gate swaps. The upgraded Concept HDL schematic provides ease-of-use enhancements, including context-sensitive menus and documentation along with productivity improvements such as cross referencing, hierarchical design plotting, and custom variables support. PCB Design Studio is priced starting at $4,000 for a one-year license. CADENCE DESIGN SYSTEMS INC., San Jose, CA. (503) 968-5026.
