An Integrated System for Interactive Editing of Schematics, Logic Simulation and PCB Layout Design

This paper describes the basic concepts and features of an integrated PCB design system currently under development. The system includes facilities for interactive editing of schematics, logic simulation, placement and routing. A set of postprocessors will enable the designer to generate the necessary documents and drawings. The central part of the system consists of a Design File (DF) in which the different design steps are linked together. Once the schematic drawing has been produced, utilizing the versatile interactive graphic facilities in CASS (Computer Aided Schematic System), the schematic data will be automatically translated to a topological circuit description, which in turn will be exploited by the logic simulator and the layout system. The use of simulation during the design process is considerably simplified by operating the simulator from an interactive graphic terminal.