![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/55\/2019\/06\/PP-CE-520x293.png\")
Most designers start a PCB design by grouping parts using cross-probing from the schematic. However, using a\u00a0spreadsheet based view like Component Explorer in PADS Professional (Figure 1<\/strong>) allows us to quickly see information\u00a0about our components and groups created for each circuit.\u00a0 These groups can be created either in the Schematic or PCB layout.<\/p>\n Today, every design contains some sort of IO interconnect, visual indicators, and mounting features that need\u00a0to interact with a mechanical enclosure.\u00a0 In most cases, the mechanical engineer will define the locations of these objects and even place 3D models to support his\/her design efforts.\u00a0 PADS Professional includes industry\u00a0standard ECAD\/MCAD collaboration allowing the ME and\u00a0EE to exchange data using visualization and electronic data.<\/p>\n This design example is started by using collaboration data created from Siemens NX.\u00a0 Our ME created the board outline, mounting holes, and connectors based on their mechanical design.\u00a0 In less than a minute we’ve done the work that would\u00a0normally take 60+ minutes\u00a0 (Figure 2<\/strong>).\u00a0 In addition, if using drawings, we would have a higher chance of making an error.\u00a0 Watch our archived webinar on MCAD collaboration<\/a> to see more details.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Creating a rough placement while seeing interconnect using groups allows us to plan our placement without placing a single part (Figure 3<\/strong>).\u00a0 While placing groups, net lines are visible which vary in\u00a0thickness based on the connection count. The\u00a0circle size for a group is defined by the component size and count.\u00a0 More importantly we can see net topology between groups which helps determine\u00a0routing paths and where there may be congestion.\u00a0 In addition, we can create hierarchical groups, one large group for the entire circuit and sub-groups for items like termination resistor, decoupling, etc. This allows us to use additional automation for parts to be placed on the bottom or at a particular rotation which can be assigned to each\u00a0group or sub-group.<\/p>\n Most every schematic and PCB tool can cross-probe to assist with placement, PADS Professional can as well.\u00a0 However, to simplify this task we can use an embedded schematic viewer with simplified controls (Figure 4<\/strong>).\u00a0 Passive components always pose a challenge to place with the large number in a design.\u00a0 Finding passives via the schematic and using sequential placement makes it a snap.\u00a0 While placing the termination resistors for this\u00a0connector we’ll use alignment technology to speed placement.\u00a0 As each part is placed and\u00a0lines up with the axis\u00a0of another, the part snaps to the edges of that placed component.\u00a0Unlike component distribution in most tools, PADS Professional can auto-arrange parts for a group using their\u00a0placement outline and design\u00a0rules.<\/p>\n A 2nd method for placing parts from a group is to right-click over the reference designator of a group and choose from the list (Figure 5<\/strong>).\u00a0 This minimizes mouse movement facilitating faster design.\u00a0 At some point we always need to move a group of parts.\u00a0 Because we created groups for the majority of the parts in this design we can use the visible group\u00a0outline to move a selection of components easily.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The ultimate in time saving technique is to use circuit reuse from one design to another.\u00a0 Design reuse can be done for both the schematic and PCB.\u00a0 Our design contains 2 USB interfaces that use the same circuit but different connector.\u00a0 The connectors were placed via MCAD collaboration, for the remaining components and routing we will use design reuse.<\/p>\n Layout reuse includes all items that can\u00a0be created in a layout along with those selected upon creation (Figure 6<\/strong>). Which can include; part placement, traces, planes, vias, drawings, keepouts, stack-up, manufacturing data, etc.\u00a0 If reference\u00a0designator values from the saved reuse and the current design are the same you have the option to automatically choose the correct parts.\u00a0 If there’s no reference designator match, you can auto-resolve part selection and interactively select the appropriate part for those that do not have a single match. Once placed, the circuit can be customized based on surrounding circuits.<\/p>\n Stay tuned for Part 2 of this blog series!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Over my 25 plus years of being a PCB designer I could not imaging going back to designing a PCB…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":71648,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spanish_translation":"","french_translation":"","german_translation":"","italian_translation":"","polish_translation":"","japanese_translation":"","chinese_translation":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"industry":[],"product":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-6631","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/electronic-systems-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6631","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/electronic-systems-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/electronic-systems-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/electronic-systems-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/71648"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/electronic-systems-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6631"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/electronic-systems-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6631\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10739,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/electronic-systems-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6631\/revisions\/10739"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/electronic-systems-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6631"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/electronic-systems-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6631"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/electronic-systems-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6631"},{"taxonomy":"industry","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/electronic-systems-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/industry?post=6631"},{"taxonomy":"product","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/electronic-systems-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product?post=6631"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/electronic-systems-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=6631"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/55\/2019\/06\/PP-EM-Collab-520x293.png\")
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/55\/2019\/06\/PP-GP-520x293.png\")
Download a free trial\u00a0of PADS Professional today!<\/a><\/h1>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/55\/2019\/06\/PP-PAlgn-520x293.png\")
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/55\/2019\/06\/PP-GPrefdes-520x293.png\")
<\/h2>\n
Design reuse<\/strong><\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/55\/2019\/06\/PP-Reuse-520x293.png\")
Download a free trial\u00a0of PADS Professional today!<\/a><\/h1>\n