Mentor tool will team up on pcb layout

Mentor tool will team up on pcb layout
SAN MATEO, Calif. — Mentor Graphics Corp. will introduce a concurrent-design approach to pc-board design this week with a new tool called TeamPCB.

John Issac, director of market development in Mentor's System Design Division, said TeamPCB will let team leaders partition large pc-board design projects into smaller segments, then assign those segments to team members for concurrent design, thus speeding the design process.

"We think this is the first tool in a long time that will bring a quantum jump in productivity to pcb layout groups," said Issac.

The tool primarily targets those tackling large board design projects or at groups with projects requiring a mix of RF, analog and digital functions on the same pc board.

"RF and analog are usually designed by specialists," said Issac. "TeamPCB will allow group leaders to assign analog and RF blocks to their specialists and assign digital partitions to layout team members. All these team members can design their partitions concurrently."

When a design is partitioned and its components assigned, the team leader can set up "guide pins" with timing budgets for each partition. Once a partitioning scheme is picked, the tool then partitions the design into sections, which can be sent to design group members.

Each team member works his partition but he "can do so with a view of the full context of the board," said Issac. Users can also do peer-to-peer updates during the design, giving the tool progress reports on team members' work. The reports are available to other team members.

Once the design's sections are completed, Issac said, team leaders can fine-tune traces that cross partitions.

The tool is priced at $15,000 per seat and works with Mentor's Expedition Series, Board Station RE and SFX RE product flows.