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Three most commonly used PCB design software

Three most commonly used PCB design software

2020-12-08

1. Automatic design of Protel circuit

Protel is a CAD software for the circuit industry launched by Portel company in the late 1980s.  It is worthy of being ranked in front of many EDA software, and it is the preferred software for PCB designers. It was used earlier in China, and its popularity rate is the highest.  Some colleges and universities have set up courses to learn it. Almost all circuit companies use it. Protel was mainly used as an automatic wiring tool for printed boards.  It ran in DOS environment and had very low requirements for hardware.  It could run in 1m memory of 286 without hard disk. It has less functions, only electrical schematic drawing and printed board design functions, and the distribution rate of printed board automatic wiring is also low.

Now Protel has developed to Protel99 (the test version can be downloaded from the network).  It is a huge EDA software, with more than 200 MB installed.  It works in windows Under the environment of 95, it is a complete all-round circuit design system, which includes the drawing of electrical schematic diagram, simulation of mixed signals of analog and digital circuits, design of multilayer printed circuit board (including automatic wiring of printed circuit board), programmable logic device design, chart generation, circuit table generation, macro operation support and other functions. At the same time, it is compatible with some other design software file formats, such as OrCAD, PSPICE, Excel, etc. Using the automatic wiring of multi-layer printed circuit board, 100% pass through rate of high-density PCB can be realized

2. OrCAD EDA software

OrCAD is an EDA software which was launched by OrCAD company at the end of 1980s. It is the most widely used EDA software in the world.  Millions of circuit engineers use it every day.  Compared with other EDA software, its function is also the most powerful.  Because OrCAD software uses softdog anti-theft version, it is not popular in China, and its popularity is not comparable to Protel. Only a few PCB designers use it. As early as OrCAD 4. 0, which works in DOS environment, has integrated the functions of electrical schematic drawing, printed circuit board design, digital circuit simulation, programmable logic device design, etc. , and its interface is friendly and intuitive. Its component library is also the most abundant of all EDA software, and it has always been the first choice of EAD software in the world. After the merger of OrCAD and cadence in July last year, OrCAD has become the most powerful EDA software company in the world.  Its product OrCAD century integrated edition works under Windows 95 and windows NT environment, and integrates the functions of electrical schematic drawing, PCB design, analog and digital circuit mixed simulation, etc. Its circuit simulation component library has reached 8500, including almost all the general circuit component modules.

3. PowerPCB

PowerPCB is a software product of innoveda company. PowerPCB enables users to complete high-quality design, which vividly reflects the contents of various aspects in the electronic design industry. The constraint driven design method can reduce the product completion time. You can define safe spacing, wiring rules and high-speed circuit design rules for each signal, and apply these planning hierarchically to the board, each layer, each type of network, each network, each group of networks, and each pin pair to ensure the correctness of layout and wiring design. It includes a variety of functions, including cluster layout tools, dynamic wiring editing, dynamic electrical performance checking, automatic dimensioning and powerful cam output capability. It also has the ability to integrate third-party software tools, such as specctra router.


Other PCB design software:

There are more than 1000 EDA enterprises in the early stage, and then there are about 10.  Cadence, Mentor and Zuken are mainly high-end products.  Their software is required to run on the workstation, and the operating system is UNIX, and the price is expensive. Since the 1980s, EDA software was available.  At that time, only UNIX supported graphical interface, and the performance of workstation was much higher than that of PC, so it has been continued to this day, and now large companies still use workstations. Protel and powerpcb are mainly for low-end users, and they don't require high-end computer configuration.  They usually run under windows. General PC can well meet the requirements.

With the continuous improvement of CPU and related computer hardware level, cadence, mentor, zuken began to launch products under windows, and cadense went faster in this respect. It looks like 2000.  Because of the burst of Internet bubble, the EDA industry has been reshuffled, and the above companies have been reorganized.

From the market share, Mentor company is the highest.  Cadence company second.  Zuken third.  Single PCB tool, Allegro has the highest share of software among high-end users in China, and its powerPCB and Protel are more users in mainland China.

Mentor's products are boardstation (EN) and expeditionpcb (WG) and acquired pads (powerpcb). EN is the legendary master of PCB.  Those who only consider the time limit and don’t consider the cost, always do the communication and military industry research institute’s unique skill of 8-12 layer PCB. WG seems like all BBS agree that this is the best cabling tool on earth. Powerpcb will not be mentioned, and many people use it. After the Mentor acquired PowerPCB, continue to walk on two legs.  The high-end product is still the original mentor, now the latest version of mentor en2006; the low-end product is still powerpcb, the new name is pads2005, the latest is Pads2007, but Pads2005 SP2 is a relatively stable version. And cadence’s products are concept / Allegro and OrCAD. Allegro is very popular recently, especially now the high value-added products such as computer motherboards and graphics cards are Allegro format, although powerpcb was the industry standard three or five years ago. Cadence company acquired OrCAD, and introduced OrCAD’s strong point schematic design capture CIS with cadence’s original schematic design concept HDL, PCB tool Allegro and other signal simulation tools together and collectively referred to as cadence PSD, now called SPB, the latest version 16. 0, OrCAD has also been integrated into SPB, since 15. 5, there has been no OrCAD concept, the previous OrCADCapture CIS is now called design entry CIS.  

Zuken is another EDA giant from Japan.  It is a high-end product cr5000 and a low-end CADSTAR.  In addition to Japanese funded enterprises and enterprises that have business relations with Japan, many companies use Zuken software, some domestic research institutes and some old TV enterprises are using zuken software, LG is also using zuken tools, and Nokia is also using it.

Mentor:

1. Powerlogic+Powerpcb 2.  Viewdraw+ Expedition 3.  Boardstation

At present, the main schematic of mentor is dxdesigner (an upgraded version of viewdraw), which is used by pads and expedition.  The schematic tools of board station are designarchive and board archive.

Cadence:

Schematic tools include capture and concept, PCB tools include Allegro layout plus

Zuken:

1.  Cadstar 2.  Cr3000, cr5000.  Cr3000 is upgraded to cr5000.  Cr5000 has two PCB tools, PWS and BD.  as of 2007, cr5000 has bd10. 0, pws18. 0, cadstar 9. 0


Tools used by large companies:

Intel: Concept +Allegro+ SpecctraQuest

Dell: viewdraw + Allegro + sq schematic is also part of capture

Huawei: Viewdraw+Allegro+ SpecctraQuest +Expedation

ZTE: Concept+Allegro+ SpecctraQuest+Expedation

UT: concept + Allegro + specctraquest, the mobile phone department uses powerpcb

Csico : Concept+Allegro+ SpecctraQuest

HP: concept + Allegro + specctraquest from boardstation to alllegro process

Moto: concept + Allegro + specctrequest from boardstation to alllegro process

 

Automatic design of Protel circuit

Protel is a CAD software for circuit industry which was launched by Portel company in the end of 1980s.  Protel is the first choice for circuit designers. It was used earlier in China, and its popularity rate is the highest.  Some colleges and universities have set up courses to learn it. Almost all circuit companies use it. Protel was mainly used as an automatic wiring tool for printed boards.  It ran in DOS environment and had very low requirements for hardware.  It could run in 1m memory of 286 without hard disk. It has less functions, only electrical schematic drawing and printed board design functions, and the distribution rate of printed board automatic wiring is also low. Now Protel has developed to Protel99 (its test version can be downloaded from the network).  It is a huge EDA software, with more than 200 MB installed.  It works in Windows 95It includes the drawing of electrical schematic diagram, simulation of mixed signal of analog and digital circuits, design of multilayer printed circuit board (including automatic wiring of printed circuit board), programmable logic device design, chart generation, circuit table generation, macro operation support and other functionsAt the same time, it is compatible with other design software file formats, such as OrCAD, PSPICE, Excel, etc. Using the automatic wiring of multi-layer printed circuit board, 100% pass through rate of high-density PCB can be realized. To learn more about Protel’s software features or to download the trial version of Protel 99, you can visit its website on the Internet: http://www.protel.com.

OrCAD EDA software

OrCAD is an EDA software which was launched by OrCAD company at the end of 1980s. It is the most widely used EDA software in the world.  Millions of circuit engineers use it every day.  Compared with other EDA software, its function is also the most powerful.  Because OrCAD software uses softdog anti-theft version, it is not popular in China, and its popularity is not comparable to Protel.  Only a few circuit designers use it. As early as OrCAD 4. 0, which works in DOS environment, has integrated the functions of electrical schematic drawing, printed circuit board design, digital circuit simulation, programmable logic device design, etc. , and its interface is friendly and intuitive. Its component library is also the most abundant of all EDA software, and it has always been the first choice of EAD software in the world. After the merger of OrCAD and cadence in July last year, OrCAD has become the most powerful EDA software company in the world.  Its product OrCAD century integrated edition works under Windows 95 and windows NT environment, and integrates the functions of electrical schematic drawing, printed circuit board design, mixed simulation of analog and digital circuits, etc. Its circuit simulation component library has reached 8500, including almost all the general circuit component modules. Its powerful features have led to its high price.  In North America, its century plus edition sold for $7995.  Readers interested in OrCAD can visit its website:

http://www.orcad.com or http://www.cadence.com or http://pcb. cadence. com.

PSPICE circuit simulation

PSPICE is one of the early EDA software, which was launched by Microsim in 1985. In circuit simulation, its function can be said to be the most powerful, widely used in China. PSPICE 6.2, which works in Windows environment, takes up more than 20 m of hard disk space.  The whole software consists of schematic diagram editing, circuit simulation, incentive editing, component library editing, waveform diagram and other parts.  It is a whole when used, but each part has its own window. PSPICE has been incorporated into OrCAD to become orcad-PSPICE.  However, PSPICE is still sold and used separately.  The newly released version is PSPICE 9. 1, which works on Windows 9x / NT platform.  It requires Pentium CPU, 32m memory, 50m remaining hard disk space and 800 × 600 display resolution.  It is a powerful hybrid simulation of analog and digital circuitsEDA software. It can carry out various circuit simulation, excitation establishment, temperature and noise analysis, analog control, waveform output, data output, and display analog and digital simulation results in the same window. No matter what kind of device or circuit is simulated, including IGBT, PWM circuit, a /D conversion and D/a conversion, accurate simulation results can be obtained. For the component modules that are not in the library, you can edit them by yourself. Its Internet address is the same as OrCAD.

EWB circuit simulation

EWB circuit simulation EWB (Electronics Workbench EDA) software is an EDA software launched by interactive image technologies Ltd.  in the early 1990s, but it has been used in China in recent years. EWB 5. 0 is widely used in Windows 95 environment.  Compared with other EDA software, EWB 5.0 is a relatively small software, only 16M, and its function is relatively simple.  It is used for mixed simulation of analog circuit and digital circuit.  But you can’t underestimate it.  Its simulation function is very powerful, almostIt can simulate the results of the real circuit 100%, and it provides the multimeter, oscilloscope, signal generator, sweep frequency instrument, logic analyzer, digital signal generator, logic converter and other tools on the desktop.  Its device library contains many transistor components, integrated circuits and digital gate circuit chips of many large companies.  The components not in the device library can also be controlled byExternal module import. In many circuit simulation software, EWB is the most easy to use, its working interface is very intuitive, schematic diagram and various tools are in the same window, people who have not touched it can use the software skillfully with a little study. For circuit designers, it is an excellent EDA tool, many circuits you do not need to use a soldering iron to know its results, and if you want to change components or components parameters, just click the mouse, it can also be used as auxiliary teaching software of electrical knowledge, using it can directly see the output waveform of various circuits from the screen. EWB also has good compatibility.  Its file format can be exported to the format that can be read by OrCAD or Protel.  The software is only in English.  Under the Chinese version of Windows 98, some of its icons will be offset by two positions (normal under Windows 95), but it does not affect its use.  It is one of the most favorite EDA software of the author (this software was published in the 34th issue of 1999, issue 15)There is a detailed introduction to the version.

Visual chart making

Many people will think that Visio is not an EDA software, but the author has used it to make all the MCU program flow chart, circuit test flow chart and process flow chart for many years, so I think it is also half EDA software. It is a software for making charts, which was launched by vision in 1991. In the early days, it was mainly used for commercial charting, but with the continuous improvement of the version, many new functions were added. Vision 4. 0 is a multi-functional flow chart making software.  It is very popular among software workers after entering China.  Now, the most widely used software in China is Visio 5. 0, which works in Windows 95 environment, with a full installed capacity of nearly 100MB. It has a friendly interface and simple operation, but it has powerful functions.  It can draw a variety of flow charts.  It is not only limited in the field of Commerce, software industry and circuit design, but also an indispensable tool for all software designers.  The flowcharts that can be made with it include circuit flow chart, process flow chart, program flow chart, organization chart and commercial marketingMap, office layout, location mapMicrosoft Office 97 integrates the components of vision 4. 0. Vision has recently launched the vision 2000, which is divided into Standard Version, technical version, professional version and enterprise version. Vision 2000 is claimed to be the world’s fastest and easiest to use flow chart software, and has added more functions than previous versions. Vision is only available in English, but because of its intuitive interface, even people with poor English can learn to use it quickly.  Interested readers can visit its website: http://www. visio. com.

Winboard, windraft and ivex-spice electrical schematic drawing and PCB design software

Windraft and winboard are the software for drawing electrical schematic diagram and PCB design, which was launched by ivex company in 1994. Due to its late launch, it works on the windows platform at the beginning, and its files are very small.  The installation disks of windraft and winboard are both floppy disks.  Among them, windraft is used for drawing electrical schematic diagram, and winboard is used for PCB design.  Its interface is intuitive and friendly, so you can learn how to operate it quickly. But their function is not big.  When winboard designs printed circuit board, it can only be wired by hand.  But because they are easy to learn and use, some circuit designers still use it. Since then, ivex has continuously upgraded its software.  On November 30, 1999, it upgraded windcraft to windraft version 3. 03 and launched the test version of ivex-spice β. Windraft 3. 03 is still a small software, less than 5m, ivex-spice has 22m, which is a circuit simulation software.  It works on the platform of Windows 9x / NT, and requires the memory of 8m in p-166.  The software environment requires windraft 3. 03 or above.  However, for winboard software, ivex company seems to give up its efforts.  The last version I saw is winboard version 2. 03. Readers who are interested in ivex or want to download the test version of ivex-spice can visit this website: http://www. ivex. com.

Electronic workbench v5. 0c - v5. 12 electronic circuit simulation studio

Electronic workbench electronic circuit simulation software can perform various circuit work demonstration, simulate various electronic circuits, zoom the displayed waveform, simulate the working points of digital circuit, analog (linear) circuit and digital circuit and analog (linear) mixed circuit, such as waveform, frequency, period, effective value, etc. You don’t have to buy expensive electronic instruments, here are: function generator, spectrum analyzer, oscilloscope, digital multimeterAs long as you draw the circuit, connect the circuit to the instrument, set the parameters of each instrument, set the power supply voltage, and connect the power supply.

Medwin v2. 04 MCU integrated development environment [Chinese version]

Introduction: Medwin v2. 04 is an integrated development environment with Microsoft Visual studio window style. It supports color text display with syntax analysis, source program breakpoint setting memory, real-time program counter PC display, emulator power-off automatic overload, adaptive connection simulator and other functions, and supports full space program code and data space simulation, tracebuffer tracker. It contains more and more practical functions, such as the simulation of interrupt and timer, the state analysis and setting of external equipment of MCU, and the analysis of program performance. Features: real multi module project management and single file operation; source program editing and color characters with syntax analysis; setting, observation and modification of variables, arrays and expressions (including direct input of floating-point data type); unlimited number of open data windows, and horizontal and vertical segmentation in text and data windows; mode based window parking function; implementationThe program counter PC display, source program breakpoint setting memory function, real-time source program tracking, single step and call return function.

Compiling software of Panasonic Mitsubishi PLC programmable controller

Mitsubishi Mitsubishi swopc-fxgp / WIN-C for win v1. 00 PLC compiler software, the real Chinese version of even help files, so that you can start in a relatively short time.


The author introduces several EDA software commonly used in the field of circuit design.  There are many special EDA software in this industry, such as transformer design, electrical design, integrated circuit design and so on, as well as a variety of MCU simulation software.

 

 


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