Elementary Mr. Watson: Routing Hunger Games—May the Traces Be Ever in Your Favor
Target Condition: Floor Planning Without a Floor
Happy’s Tech Talk #42: Applying Density Equations to UHDI Design
Zuken Tempts Engineers with New Year CADSTAR Giveaway
January 13, 2016 | ZukenEstimated reading time: 1 minute
Zuken is offering electronic engineers who made New Year’s resolutions to try new design software the chance to achieve this now at no cost. The free download of CADSTAR Schematics Design Tool, worth more than $500, will allow the whole design team to instantly explore CADSTAR’s integrated design flow.
Jeroen Leinders, CADSTAR Worldwide Sales Manager, says, “We often speak to electronic engineers who are highly involved in PCB design because of the demands of today’s complex designs. We hope that the full-feature CADSTAR Schematics download will make it quick and easy for engineers to evaluate whether a design tool fits with the way they work.”
The offer runs until March 31, 2016 and comes with:
- A 68-page tutorial, including movies
- A permanent license authorized on a MAC address
- CADSTAR Library Editor software.
CADSTAR Schematic Capture provides a fast, efficient way to capture design intent, rules and constraints for smooth and error-free transition from schematics to PCB layout for product realization. It is easy to learn and use for both occasional and frequent users.
CADSTAR Schematics Options
- Constraint Browser – The ideal environment for entering and managing even the most complex rules, using a familiar spreadsheet style interface that helps capture and document design intent.
- Variant Manager – Maintain only one master design that includes all production variants, whether for sets of non-fitted parts or alternate part values.
- Placement Planner – Provides the design engineer with interactive and automatic placement and checking tools to pre-place critical components and reuse blocks, define track width and spacing constraints, update the layer stack to ensure impedance rules are met, and more.
Page 1 of 2
Share on:
Testimonial
"In a year when every marketing dollar mattered, I chose to keep I-Connect007 in our 2025 plan. Their commitment to high-quality, insightful content aligns with Koh Young’s values and helps readers navigate a changing industry. "
Brent Fischthal - Koh YoungSuggested Items
Mastering PCB Floor Planning
08/28/2025 | Stephen V. Chavez, Siemens EDAPlacement of PCB components is far more than just fitting components onto a board. It’s a strategic and critical foundational step, often called “floor planning,” that profoundly impacts the board’s performance, reliability, manufacturability, and cost. Floor planning ties into the solvability perspective, with performance and manufacturability being the other two competing perspectives for addressing and achieving success in PCB design.
Elementary Mr. Watson: Routing Hunger Games—May the Traces Be Ever in Your Favor
08/26/2025 | John Watson -- Column: Elementary, Mr. WatsonI’d like to share a harsh truth, and I say this as a friend: PCB designers are often their own worst enemy. It’s rarely the complexity of the circuit, the last-minute changes from mechanical, the limited enclosure space, or the ever-expanding list of design rules that send projects to the dust heap of failed boards. More often, it's our own decisions, made too quickly and narrowly, and with too little foresight, that sabotage an otherwise good design.
Target Condition: Floor Planning Without a Floor
08/27/2025 | Kelly Dack -- Column: Target ConditionBy a show of hands, how many PCB designers have been asked to start a layout without a board outline, keep-out zones, or even height constraints? How many have had to work within a specific enclosure before the schematic was finalized? If this sounds familiar, you're not alone. Starting a PCB layout without critical constraints is like hiring an interior designer to buy furniture and carpet for a house you haven’t even purchased yet, or, even worse, trying to fit four bedrooms' worth of furniture in a one-room cabin.
I-Connect007 Editor's Choice: Five Must-Reads for the Week
08/22/2025 | Andy Shaughnessy, I-Connect007In this week’s roundup, we have a variety of articles covering design, manufacturing, sustainability, and, of course, tariff negotiations. We have a milestone anniversary to celebrate as well, with Dan Beaulieu about to publish his 1,000th column. When does Dan even sleep? Here’s to hoping that we have 1,000 more weeks of "It’s Only Common Sense."
New Episode Drop: MKS’ ESI’s Role in Optimize the Interconnect
08/26/2025 | I-Connect007In this latest episode, Casey Kruger, director of product marketing at MKS’ ESI, joins On the Line With… host Nolan Johnson to share how CO₂ laser technology delivers faster, more accurate vias in a smaller, more energy-efficient footprint.