Department: University of Delaware, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Publisher: University of Delaware
Date Issued: 2009
Abstract: Printed Circuit Board design and implementation is a research topic most
any company or group manufacturing electronic devices must address. There are
issues in every aspect of design, ranging from schematics to pad stacks to routing.
An error in any one of these steps propagates through the remaining steps. There
are many approaches and software packages for moving a design from schematics to
a physical PCB. However, software packages can range from being free to costing
thousands.
This thesis describes the design process from start to nish of a multi-purpose
FPGA-based printed circuit board in two competing software packages. It will detail
issues encountered along the way, and how these issues were resolved. Commercially
available products will be used throughout the process, including the Xilinx Spartan
3E FPGA. The di ering design processes in the software packages Cadence Allegro
Design Entry HDL and Advanced Circuits PCB Artist will be detailed and explored
in order to determine which characteristics of each package suites various types of
hardware design.
The goal of this project is to create a "reference manual" for students to use as
a guide in choosing a software package and working through the PCB design process
at the University of Delaware's Electrical and Computer Engineering Department.
These two software packages are available to all students in the department to learn
and design printed circuit boards.
