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acancies/Jobs in RF IC Bluetooth, Wireless WLan 802 LF HF Radio for Electronics Design and Development Engineers
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1905RF RF Marketing Manager UK
RF Marketing Manager Our client is looking for an experienced Senior RF Marketing Manager who might have come from a RF Transceiver or Base Station Marketing / Commercial role or from a RF Applications or RF Systems Engineer role. This role is an important senior role within this international semiconductor company working on RF integrated circuit range of products. You will be responsible for working with both customers and the design team on new RF product and producing RF product definitions. To do this you must have a strong technical capability and excellent communications and interpersonal skills and be able to travel internationally and interact with a world-wide sales force and customer base. Printed Circuit Board (PCB) Layout and Design Services
Kurzfassung: The Scottish design centre of a multinational electronics company is offering its skill and expertise in Printed Circuit Board layout, design and prototyping to companies looking to develop new or existing product ranges in telecommunications, computing, semiconductors, medical, industrial, avionics or defence. A commercial agreement with technical assistance is sought with support provided in hardware, analogue, digital, embedded software, RF or FPGA manufacturing.

Details: The Scottish design centre of a multinational electronics company is offering its skill and expertise in Printed Circuit Board (PCB) layout and design to companies looking to develop new or redesign their existing product range.

Their PCB Design Bureau uses all the leading tools such as Cadence Allegro, Mentor Graphics BoardStation and Expedition as well as Valor Enterprise. They are experienced in all types of PCB layouts from single-sided, double-sided through to complex high-density, high-speed, heavily constrained multilayer boards.

The dedicated team has more than 40 years experience in PCB layout covering a wide range of sectors including telecommunications, computing, semiconductors, medical, industrial and defence.

The customer base ranges from high-tech start-ups to large multinationals and through alliances with design centres in North America and Asia they are able to provide 24-hour design capabilities for urgent projects.

The company also offers a range of additional design services including hardware, analogue, digital, embedded software, RF (Radio Frequency), FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array), mechanical and industrial design.

Innovative Aspects:
As the company is also involved in manufacturing, all design projects are pulled together to ensure seamless transition to manufacturing.
The complementary design services are also available to help get the product to market in a reduced time.

Main Advantages:
* Help to get the products to market in a shorter time frame and at a reduced total cost.
* Within the PCB layout market, the company also has experience with an extensive range of tools and has completed design for multiple applications in a variety of industry sectors.

Entwicklungsstand: Already on the market
Patent Rechte: Secret know-how
Current Stage of Development: Already on the market Intellectual Property Rights: Secret know-how Exploitation of RTD Results: PRIVATE RESEARCH
Gew nschte Kooperation: Technical Co-operation - Commercial Agreement with Technical Assistance -

- Type of partner sought: Industry
- Specific area of activity of the partner: Companies developing or looking to develop any electronic products that require printed circuit boards.
- Task to be performed: Partner provides technical documents outlining requirements in the area of PCB layout design. The Scottish company provides complete PCB layout design services as well as support expertise in hardware, analogue, digital, embedded software, RF, FPGA, mechanical and industrial design.
Organisation Typ: Industry ( > 500 )

Experience: You will have: +5 years experience working in Radio Frequency Transceiver, Wireless or Base Station in an Applications or Systems role with at least +2 years in a commercial role working with corporate customers. -Good technical understanding of basic RF, Wireless or IC semiconductor systems. -You will ideally have worked in a Marketing or Applications development role for a semiconductor or electronics firm. -Analytical skills (analysis of market data, market segmentation, identification of industry trends and market growth areas) -Interpersonal skills: presentation of technical concepts to audiences of wide-ranging technical backgrounds in both large and small groups -A degree in Electronics or relevant subject. Salary 50-55,000 plus bonus up to 20,000 and package.

0101RFA Wireless / RF System Engineer Belgium
We are looking for a Wireless System Engineer to join a growing fabless semiconductor company working on IC components for the wireless to work on state of the art radio solution, WiMAX and the next generation wireless 4G technology. You will be responsibly for the wireless system design and integration, managing technical cooperations with Customers, Partners and R&D centers. You will manage, lead and supervise all reference platforms and representing our client at Technical Conferences and International Standardisation Committees. The aim is to help you develop into a systems expert in one of the following areas: WiMAX, 3G, GSM, 802.11
Compact Control Design Limited

We offer quality custom electronic design, development and support services in electronics, software and firmware. We can cater for high volume project design, to one off units. Whether the project is a large corporate venture or a small scale hobby task, we provide flexible pricing to fit within any sized budget. Compact Control Design Limited can take your concept to a manufactured, RoHS compliant, reality. With schematic design, circuit layout, PCB prototyping and much more our custom electronic design and development services are an integral component for your custom electronic outsourcing, design and consultancy needs.

We also provide a range of off-the-shelf products that will ease the task of developing your new product or implementing your new project. Our products combine the latest in tried and tested technology with innovative design to provide a combination of performance, size and cost that Compact Control Design Limited think you would find hard to match elsewhere.

Products

Our range of off-the-shelf products are designed to meet your control, monitoring and acquisition needs. All products use the latest technology to provide top performance in a small size and at low cost. The MonCon modular control system can be tailored to your requirements and you can even manufacture under license. The Blocks range of products provide a low cost high performance solution to low end control and monitoring requirements.

Services
Need a custom piece of electronics designing or an old design updating? Our electronic design services can provide you with -

Competitive design of electronic circuits.
Prototypes and small production quantities.
Production of larger quantities.
PIC and 8051 Firmware design and development.
PC based software development, windows based applications, web controls, ActiveX controls and DLL's.
PCB design and updating of your existing designs.
Purchasing from Compact Control Design

Experience:
You will have a minimum of 3 years experience in RF / Wireless System design and experience in any of the following WiMAX, 3G, GSM, 802.11
You will have good embedded software experience in C or C++
You will be able to complete certification and interoperability tests
We are looking for someone who wants to grow their career and technical knowledge.
Language: English is only requirement, other language a bonus.
Salary Euro 50-70,000 based on experience with good package plus stock options.
Location: Belgium

0101RFA RF / Wireless Applications Engineer Belgium
We are looking for a RF Wireless Application Engineer to join a growing fabless semiconductor company working on IC components for the wireless to work on state of the art radio solution, 3G, GSM, 802.11 and the next generation wireless 4G technology. You will work as project leader for the development of a reference platform and work with customers providing demonstrations on top of the reference platforms. You will take an important role in assist the sales and marketing department visiting and spending time with customers and visiting exhibitions.

Experience:
You will have a minimum of 3 years experience in RF wireless and modern communication systems RF design / development plus exp. in 3G, GSM, 802.11 or WiMax
You will have good board level design exp. and be able to work with IC s and placing them on boards and be able to carrying out system measurements.
You will have good embedded software knowledge in C or C++
We are looking for someone happy to travel and meet clients, who wants to grow their career and technical knowledge.
Language: English is only requirement, other language a bonus.
Salary Euro 50-70,000 based on experience with good package plus stock options.
Location: Belgium
Please send CV to Jobs at Twinserve com

1909RF RF Design Engineer Southeast England
Our client, an international semiconductor company, is looking for an RF Design Engineer to work on the design of high performance, Low Power RF and Mixed Signal circuits for IC products that include LNAs, Mixers, Synthesizers, Analog Filters and Analogue ADCs etc. You will take responsibility for the design of RF and mixed signal circuits, RF/Mixed Signal architectures. This is an important role within the Design team and will involve working closely with Test and Applications engineers along with the design team on New Product Introduction (NPI) flow.
Experience:
? You will have +5 years experience in RF or Mixed Signal design.
? Track record of design of high performance RF and Mixed Signal , low power circuits such as LNA, Mixers, Synthesizer, and Mixed Signal circuits like Analogue Filter , ADC, Bandgaps Op-amps etc.
? Good understanding of RF technology and Evaluation techniques.
? Good knowledge of sub-micron BiCMOS, SiGe or CMOS Semiconductor technology Physics and Processes
? Very good command of Cadence EDA tools (Virtuoso, SpectreRF, Assura etc) and Agilent ADS etc.
? Good understanding and familiarity with RF and Mixed signal Layout techniques.
? Highly organized with outstanding written , presentation and verbal communication skills in English.
? Good technical understanding of several relevant wireless standards such as GPS , GSM, CDMA, WCDMA , DVB.
Location: Northern Home Counties
Salary: C 55,000 plus package

0101TL RF IC Design Engineer / Team Leader Romania
RF IC Design Engineer / Team Leader with good analog skills.

Our client, as young fast growing fabless semiconductor company working on IC components for the wireless market, is looking for a RF IC Designer / Team Leader to work on state of the art radio solution, WiMAX and the next generation wireless 4G technology.

You will manage the RFIC Design Team and the RF lab Test Team in Bucharest and be responsible for the outputs generated by these teams. You will contribute to the definition of new RFIC developments and will report to the CTO of the company

Experience:
You will have a minimum of 5 years experience in analogue / RF IC design and development.
Good team leading / management skills and experience.
We are looking for a technically passionate IC Design specialist with deep knowledge of RFIC design techniques and with desire to managing a design team.
Salary based on experience with good package plus stock options

0319RFIC RF IC Analog Design Engineer UK
Our client, a leading semiconductor and wireless company, are looking for excellent Analogue RF IC Design Engineers to work on various Analogue Integrated CMOS Circuit, Bluetooth, WiFi and UWB projects.

You will have +3 years general analogue, analogue RF IC experience with wireless, RF circuits, IC CMOS, IC and CAD layout designing analogue circuits for integrated transmitter and/or receiver systems. Our client is working on a single chip CMOS radios including the design of UWB radio.
-Experienced: in RF or Analogue IC design involving an extensive variety of circuit blocks.
-Extensive experience in the use of mixed-mode simulation tools, schematic capture and layout tools, DRC and LVS tools is a must.
-Understanding of IC fabrication processes, characteristics and parameters.
We're searching for innovative design engineers for our small but rapidly growing design centre near Nice. In this role, you ll be responsible for RF and Analogue design on sub-micron CMOS. Responsibilities:

Translating specifications into actual design architectures and circuits
Providing the definition, design, simulations and layout of a wide of RF and Analogue circuit blocks
Supporting the test and characterisation of designs during evaluation - release to production.
Excellent Package and salary.

2405RF RF Design Engineer Switzerland
Our client is urgently looking for an experienced and specialist RF Design Engineer to join their RF team and take on this important role working on Wireless, Bluetooth, RF Transceiver and IC Wireless products. This involves hands-on RF Wireless design, RF protocols and antennas. Our client are specialists in the wireless communication industry and offer an excellent all round package.

Required Experience:

A minimum 5 years commercial RF experience including, RF board level design antenna development, Bluetooth, PCB and IC from a semiconductor background.
A Degree in Electronic Engineering or relevant subject.

English and ideally (but not required) French or German

2405RF RF Design Engineer Switzerland
Our client is urgently looking for an experienced and specialist RF Design Engineer to join their RF team and take on this important role working on Wireless, Bluetooth, RF Transceiver and IC Wireless products. This involves hands-on RF Wireless design, RF protocols and antennas. Our client are specialists in the wireless communication industry and offer an excellent all round package.

Required Experience:

A minimum 5 years commercial RF experience including, RF board level design antenna development, Bluetooth, PCB and IC from a semiconductor background.
A Degree in Electronic Engineering or relevant subject.

English and ideally (but not required) French or German

0520RF RF Design Engineer Nice, France
RF ASIC Analog and SOC Wireless Engineer needed. Our client is looking for three RF Engineers with good mobile / cell phone exp. ASIC and analogue design to be part of a dynamic team working on the integrate wireless SOC including DBB / RF / ABB modules.
You will have some of the following skills and work on:

-Top level HW/SW integration with industry leading edge tools and ASIC design flows. -Participation to the DBB - RF ASIC architecture definition and specification as well as the interface with the ABB
-Modeling and simulation
-Lab validation/debug on integrated test solutions of the SOC silicon devices.

You will have 2-5 years experience and some of the following skills:
- Mobile phone knowledge and RF architectures and design.
- ASIC design flow
- Analog design and validation
- Computer architecture: MCU, DSP, System-On-Chip
- Low level software development: DSP and MCU
- Digital and analogue validation experience as well as complex mixed C/HDL testbench development
- Experience in GSM / GPRS / EDGE / UMTS is highly desirable
- Laboratory experience with leading edge instrumentation

0106RF RF Sales Engineer Northern England
RF Sales Engineer with good RF, wireless or microwave experience. Our client is looking for an engineer with Good communication skills, experience in an electrical/electronic engineering environment and familiarity with the some experience in the test and measurement market. You will ideally have +2 years field sales experience but this is not essential. You will be a highly motivated team player with a desire to be involved with a wide range of customers and applications in the communications test and measurement business.

You target for the area for the North of England and Scotland. You will:
Make target
Promote and sell RF Instruments products and solutions to allocated customer base.
Promote the Company s business credibly at engineering, management and board levels.
Liaise with other personnel (product specialists, sales management etc) to ensure specific business opportunities are converted into orders.

Education requirements:
HND Electronic/Electrical Engineering or equivalent.

Please send CV s to James at twinserve.com

1509RF RF Design Engineer Oxfordshire
Our client is looking for a RF Design Engineer with RF PCB design and Microwave , Analogue circuit simulation experience.

You will ideally have experience in:
Modern Circuit design techniques including surface mount technology
Schematic circuit entry and RF PCB design and antenna.
RF and Analogue circuit simulation
RF field/radiation pattern modelling
RF System integration awareness

You will be working on Electronic Circuit Design of Radio Frequency probes (antenna) and low noise pre amplifiers and other RF circuit designs and high speed analogue circuit design.
Please send CV's to James at Twinserve.com

1909SE RF Systems Design Engineer Hertfordshire
Our client is looking for a RF Systems Engineer with RF, Digital, analogue exp. to support design teams and customers on there GPS product range from ICs through to reference designs.
This will involve modeling of system design, specification of key parameters and estimation of overall performance;
Communication of system-level information, Support of customer designs based on GPS chipsets ¨ C advise on systems requirements and implementation details to ensure successful designs;
Support to test engineering for the development.
Evaluation of new devices and leadership in design reviews
Technical leadership;
Contribution to the strategic planning activities of the company (e.g. new product ideas);

Required Experience:
You will have a +5 years of engineering design of Digital, analogue and RF components or semiconductor products;
Experience of receiver/demodulator system level simulation;
Experience of RF semiconductor or component manufacture, specifying/designing for tolerancing and process spread.
Design with analog/RF semiconductors and board-level products.
Desired Experience:
Good technical understanding of GPS and some background in signal processing design.
Familiarity with MATLAB, VHDL/Verilog, Agilent ADS or similar synthesis/simulation tools.
Experience of new semiconductor product introduction process and ramp to high volume production.
Excellent package and salary based on expereince.
Please send CV to James Gardiner

Salary

1909AE RF Design Applications Engineer Hertfordshire
RF Applications Engineer with Digital / Analog Exp.
Our client is looking for an RF Design Applications Engineer with 3+ year experience in RF, digital / analogue design with some software engineering experience. Knowledge and experience of RF measurements using standard communication modulation protocols such as 802.11, CDMA, GSM, EDGE, W-CDMA. Handset design experience for either CDMA GSM TDMA, PCB design. Preferably experience within a IC Semiconductor design manufacturing environment.

Working closely with RF and IC design teams, Module design, Marketing and operations groups to meet business needs. Working closely with customers including on-site support.

EXPERIENCE
*3+ year experience in the RF field including interfacing to power amplifiers.
*Digital / Analog design / PCB layout experience.
*CAE design experience, ADS experience.
*Extensive knowledge ands experience of RF systems using protocols such as 802.11, CDMA, GSM, EDGE, W-CDMA.
*Handset design experience for either CDMA/GSM/TDMA.
*Excellent communications skills (written and verbal)

EXPERIENCE DESIRED
*Experience in a Semiconductor manufacturing environment.
*Power control techniques and Front End design.
*ATE programming experience in Visual Basic.
*OrCAD PCB design tools.

Salary up to

0303RF RF IC Design Engineer Cambridgeshire, UK
Our client is looking for a RF designer to design products with significant RF electronics content for automotive, industrial and defence clients, also to contribute to projects in a technical role, or for small projects providing project management as well as technical lead. The position may require the preparation and presentation of proposals to clients.

Qualifications and Experence: Masters degree in electronics or batchelor's with minimum of two years industry experience. Doctorates with RF design experience will also be considered. Must have design experience in projects involving RF design. Should preferably be a hardware engineer, but with some system or sub-system design experience. Some overall industry knowledge is an advantage.

Depth in at least one of the following and demonstrated experience in at least one of the following:
Antenna design for low cost and compact applications
RF Design for systems operating at frequencies between 400MHz and 10GHz
Sensor design (Analogue, RF and Microwave)
RF design for automotive and aerospace environments
EMC testing Type approval standards and testing for European, US and far eastern markets
Design for and transfer of products to volume production.
Please send CV's to James Gardiner

0303RFIC RFIC Designer Cambridgeshire, UK
Our client is looking for a RF IC designer to work on the design of complex analogue radio integrated circuits on CMOS and BiCMOS processes. with at least 4 years' experience working as an RF IC designer, for a company in the telecommunications or other relevant area, you will have extensive and essential experience of CMOS and BiCOMOS RF circuit design. You will be able to analyse the performance of designs when implemented on real life semi-conductor processes and have some familiarity of overall RF design at a system level.

A good knowledge of RF and IC CAD tools is needed as well as the traditional chart-based tools, as is a proven record of getting designs close to 'right first time.' Our ideal candidate would also have experience in one or more of: Synthesiser and PLL design, ADC design, LNA, design, Ability to work with digital signal processing and modem designers.

0303SARFIC Senior Analogue RFIC Designer
Cambridgeshire, UK
Our client is looking for a design of Senior RF IC Designer to work on the complex analogue radio integrated circuits on CMOS and BiCMOS processes.

Qualifications and Experence:You will have at least 7 years' experience working as an RF IC designer for a company in the telecommunications or other relevant area, you will have extensive and essential experience of RF circuit and system design. You will be familiar with defining the architecture of radio systems on ICs with ability to analyse the performance of systems when implemented on real life semi-conductor processes.

A good knowledge of RF and IC CAD tools is needed as well as the traditional chart-based tools, as is a proven record of getting designs close to 'right first time.' Our ideal candidate would also have experience in one or more of: Synthesiser and PLL design. ADC design. LNA design. Ability to work with digital signal processing and modem designers.

0303BD Business Developer ¨ C RFIC Development / Wireless Enabled Products Cambridgeshire, UK
Our client is looking for a Business Developer for RFIC or Wireless Products.The role is to develop and lead business in the field of the design and development of RF ICs or innovative wireless enabled products.You role will be to:
To identify target companies and match them with appropriate technical offerings
To identify a winning strategy for further exploitation of portfolio of Bluetooth intellectual property
To initiate contact, make pre-sales visits and identify prospective business
To build sales propositions and develop them into commercial relationships with clients

Qualifications and Experence:
Experience (5 years minimum) and track-record of radio, high performance analogue and mixed signal CMOS IC design.
Experience of the IC design and sign-off process.
Experience of high-value, technical sales.
Market knowledge of existing technology (wi-fi, 802.15, DECT, Bluetooth, GSM/3G)
Degree in an appropriate engineering subject.
You may order the entire issue here, or individual articles below.
CLICK HERE to jump to Table of Contents

This is the seventh edition of The Board Authority (TBA) and my third as its industry guest editor. Unlike other publications, The Board Authority is the product of industry experts and the publication's Advisory Board. CircuiTree provides the editing, publishing, and most importantly, the financing, but we in the industry do the writing. If you have an issue with our product, join us to make it better. Since we are amateurs in the publishing business, we must acknowledge the contributions of Steve Gold, Peggy Lukkasson, Roger Whitehouse, Roy Sakelson, Mark Hammermeister, and others on the CircuiTree staff.

Our contributing authors did the majority of the work in this journal. I have recruited them from all walks of the printed circuit design community. Their contributions have made this TBA a truly unique piece of technical journalism. We thank them for contributing their time and expertise to make this TBA successful. Why printed circuit design? This is where it starts!

The fourteen articles in this edition are collected here to educate and inform you on the technologies, needs, issues, and solutions available today. The articles will briefly cover most of the elements in designing a printed circuit. This will provide education to many of you, and even some new ideas to the design experts that have authored this journal. I hope you all find value in this issue of The Board Authority.

HAPPY HOLDEN

Printed Circuit Design
Table of Contents
12 PCB Design Process
by LARRY CHURCH
This article examines the PCB design process and the needs of manufacturing.

16 Virtual Prototyping Printed Circuit Boards
by PETER SANDBORN
The earliest stages of the design process provide the best opportunity to significantly impact a system's characteristics.

18 Signal Integrity
by DR. ERIC BOGATIN
Higher performance designs can be implemented by incorporating new design rules, new technologies and new analysis tools to meet ever-shrinking schedules. This article discusses some signal integrity problems and their solutions.

19 The Impact of Build-up Technologies on CAD Tools
by DUNCAN HOOPER, STEVE BURDEN, AND HAPPY HOLDEN
It will not be possible to realize the full potential of build-up technology unless the CAD tools used during the design process are capable of exploiting all possible opportunities.

24 RFI/EMI Concerns: The Design Advisers
by DR. BARRY O'SULLIVAN
Achieving first-time right design through the exploitation of company-specific Design for "X".

28 What Makes a Circuit "High Speed?"
by LEE W. RITCHEY
What is going on that makes a circuit high speed instead of low speed? What is different about these high-speed circuits? Further, what needs to be done different when a circuit becomes high speed? This article answers those questions.

33 Advanced Package Design
by KEVIN RINEBOLD
In high-performance computing, packaging plays a key role in determining system performance, while in portable electronics, packaging is a primary determinant of size, weight, and form-factor. The unique and challenging design requirements for BGA/CSP packages require specialized designtools optimized for rapid throughput and design for manufacture.

38 The New Printed Circuit Design Framework Predictive Engineering
by HAPPY HOLDEN
New Product Realization and Design For Manufacturing and Assembly has now started to become more visible as a program that can improve companies' time-to-market and lower product costs. This article will cover the interactions of DFM/A and the need for development of a new framework to coordinate the tradeoffs.

39 HDI DFM and Physical Design Verification
by ROBYNNE HANUS
This article is written to aid engineers and designers in understanding the ideal process flow for the designing and manufacturing of HDI circuitry as it relates to DFM.

44 Printed Circuit Board Routing at the Threshold
by DAVID WIENS
The changing times require a robust printed circuit board routing solution, one that addresses high-speed issues, handles new packaging and fabrication requirements, is both automatic and interactive, and is integrated and easy to use.

48 The Internet Opportunity
by PAWEL CHADZYNSKI
The schematic and PCB design data represents critical intellectual property and must be accessible to all in the organization throughout the entire product life cycle.

57 The Design is Finished and Gone to Fabrication, Now What?
by ROY MATHENA
This article provides the design community with guidelines that, if followed, will result in a quality board being supplied by the fabricator in a timely manner while meeting the design intent. High-Speed Design Solution - CR-5000 Lightning
Integrated PCB design prototyping software
As an integral part of the CR-5000 tool suite, CR-5000 Lightning is the key to getting rapid, accurate results, coupled with first-rate Signal Integrity and EMC. This powerful PCB design prototyping software allows you to realize your PCB design more rapidly, while maintaining Signal Integrity (SI) & EMC. You can carry out simulation and routing according to the applications constraints, and share information via a single constraint database. The front-loaded board development that is facilitated by CR-5000 Lightning means you can reduce design cycle time by weeks. High-speed design issues are resolved early, not by find-and-fix, through the provision of tools for carrying out complex routing and analysis in a straightforward, efficient manner.

The direct simulation links, Lightning Si-Prolog and Lightning SI-Epilog, embedded within CR-5000 System Designer and CR-5000 Board Designer, enable you to check simulation results for both proposed and routed net topology instantly, without switching applications.

Front-loaded design yields first-rate quality and shortest overall design cycles. Using the completely integrated approach for high-speed PCB design that CR-5000 Lightning provides, you benefit from unified and shared design constraints, eliminating complexities associated with separate design and control for activities such as circuit design, floor planning and routing. Synchronization of common analysis engines, editors and viewers makes a front-loaded design process easy to achieve.

Routing symmetry, and the resultant electrical symmetry, make electrical performance predictable and reliable. New routing features have been pioneered in Lightning, with the introduction of concepts such as Trunking and Intelligent Design Objects.(IDOs). Trunking lets you route buses, groups of signals and differential pairs on multiple layers as single intelligent objects, thus maximizing routing symmetry and minimizing skew. Connections to component pins at trunk ends can be auto-routed dynamically, and adapt in real time to your interactive trunk routing. You can easily connect other signals to a trunk using intelligent T-In and T-Out. Intelligent Design Objects are also used for lengthening patterns; you can reshape them, automatically avoiding obstacles, while maintaining the correct delay. Designing tightly constrained, balanced H-Trees becomes a straightforward process using the H-Tree router, which provides an interactive routing solution for this commonly used topology. Length and skew control is easily achieved using the new interactive lengthening tool which maximizes the exploitation of available real estate.

Lightning integrates Zuken's industry-leading router with powerful simulation tools to enable fast and efficient design of high-speed electronic products. Its in-depth analysis and what-if capabilities, available throughout the design process, mean you can explore the design envelope, trading off SI parameters such as crosstalk, timing or EMI requirements against mechanical and thermal constraints. In addition, EMC and power integrity analysis are possible at the routing stage, with easy-to-interpret feedback directly into the routing application, such as the color-coded voltage map showing possible unwanted antennas.

Why Lightning?
The increase in electronics design complexity resulting from a growth in density, miniaturization and multi-functionality of products has resulted in a mass rise in high speed, high gate, high pin count devices that create parasitic effects and routing congestion, driving the requirement for designers to be highly skilled in high-density design and manufacturing processes.

At the same time, the need to achieve front-loaded, right-first time design means you need consistent applications and analysis from pre-design what-if analysis right through to finished board.

Zuken has based this high-speed design environment on the following key concepts, necessary for effective, timely, and reliable creation of high-speed products:

Unified Constraints
Use of unified and shared design constraints eliminates the complexities associated with separate constraint sets and provides control for activities such as circuit design, floor planning and board design.

Process Orientated
Unification and communication between board design and system design with high-speed constraints and analysis enables a process-oriented method of development.

Unified Analysis Engine
Sharing the same analysis engine throughout ensures consistency and compatibility of results, eliminating mistakes due to misinterpretation of differently-presented data.

Frontloaded Verification
Frontloading of verification improves design quality and time to market. In addition to SI analysis at all stages of design, EMCand Power Integrity analysis are possible at the routing stage. Problems that were previously impossible to check during prototyping can be verified and resolved one or two stages earlier ¨ C bringing quality forward in your process. This not only assists engineers to meet important electrical and mechanical constraints, but also speeds up the process to final product specification. Design parameters are followed throughout the design process to ensure manufacturability.

Combined Technology
Combined unique technology provides effective handling of complex multi-board designs at the system interface level, meaning the design of items such as cross-board differential pairs can be verified concurrently with board design.
Using conventional know-how is no longer enough to achieve designs that meet specifications demanded by global customers, and gaining the knowledge and experience to be a fully fledged high-speed designer can take years. Having the technology that is at the cutting edge of innovation will help you adapt to the new environment and challenges of today and prepare for those of tomorrow .

CR-5000 Lightning Modules
CR-5000 Lightning Bundles
High-Speed PCB Design Consulting
As a technology leader in PCB design, High-Speed, Signal Integrity and EMC, Zuken understands your development challenges. Zuken provides products and services to help you to meet them.

Signal Integrity Process
EMI Process
Modeling Services
Education Services
EMC Training System
* CR-5000 Lightning is built upon technology from CR-5000 and uses portions of the technology from the former Hot-Stage solution.
Archive News Story
(Products mentioned in this Archive News Story may or may not be available from the manufacturer.)

Board Design Software runs as single application.

April 10, 2002 - Protel DXP(TM) has been re-engineered and enhanced. Improvements include topological autorouting, native support for multichannel design and design variants, enhanced error checking and synchronization, integration of VHDL design entry, SPICE 3f5-compliant circuit simulation and board signal integrity analysis, and Graphical User Interface. It works as single board design application with seamless integration between its different design functions.

Related categories: Software

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Release date: March 18, 2002

Altium previews Protel DXP(tm) at PCB West

Protel DXP, previously code-named "Phoenix", has been completely re-engineered to run as a single integrated design application

SYDNEY, Australia - March 18, 2002 - Altium Limited (ASX: ALU), a leading developer of Windows-based electronic design and development software, is pleased to announce that the next-generation Protel board-level design product will be named Protel DXP(TM). The DXP moniker derives from the new version's full exploitation of the power of Altium's proprietary Design Explorer(TM) technology integration platform.

With Protel DXP, the Design Explorer platform has been re-engineered and significantly enhanced to provide faster application startup and a more responsive and tightly integrated design environment. With this enhanced platform Protel DXP delivers designers a host of new and enhanced PCB features such as topological autorouting, native support for multichannel design and design variants, enhanced error checking and synchronization, and the integration of VHDL design entry. Protel DXP's enhanced PCB features are coupled with a highly optimized Graphical User Interface (GUI) and significant project-management features to provide a design tool that addresses the needs of the PCB design process as a whole, rather than from a point-tool perspective. Protel DXP is being previewed this week at PCB Design Conference West, Santa Clara, CA.

For the DXP release, Protel has been re-engineered so that all systemcomponents work as native Design Explorer servers, allowing Protel DXP to work as a single board design application with seamless integration between its different design capabilities. "With Protel DXP, we've made a fundamental architectural change to a software platform that allows seamless integration of all components of the system and has set the foundations for quick and easy expansion," says Nick Martin, Joint CEO and Founder, Altium. "We will now be able to very easily and quickly add new technologies and capabilities to the platform as they are developed. This will greatly benefit our Altium Total Support customers - who are entitled to download our latest product releases, program enhancements, technology add-ons, service packs and component libraries free of charge, as we roll them out."

Bringing "project-awareness" to the desktop Protel DXP is a very "project-aware" release and will be the first product to bring a strong sense of the design process to desktop EDA software. Enhanced design capture capabilities allow for text or schematic-based VHDL documents to be integrated into the board design process, facilitating the use of FPGAs within projects. Designers can freely mix text and schematic - based VHDL design capture and can easily propagate changes - such as pin reassignments - automatically throughout a project.

Protel DXP will allow engineers and designers unprecedented freedom to move back and forth through the design process, making changes as they go - unrestricted by the data integrity and version control issues that this would otherwise bring up. "Altium has long recognized that design tools should work with the natural design process, not against it," says Martin. "With the time-to-market pressures that today's designers are working with, it is no longer practical to rely on a collection of different point tools that are not synchronized, and that don't allow for the flow of the modern design process. It is Altium's philosophy that designers should be able to focus on their designs - not their design tools - and that their design tools should cater to the natural, nonlinear flow of today's design processes."

Effortless maintenance of data integrity: truly bidirectional synchronization Protel DXP uses a "compilation" paradigm to ensure project integrity. The project compiler combines design and error checking with a powerful comparator engine to ensure full synchronization of both source documents and the target board design. Changes can be propagated both to and from the board design on a per - difference basis, so changes can be made easily at any stage of the design process. This also means that the schematic and PCB documents can be worked on at the same time and then, using the design compiler, changes can be synchronized in both directions.

The advantages of this project-compilation approach are that designers can be sure that their entire design project is error free and synchronized at all stages of the design process, and that multiple and even conflicting changes can be reconciled quickly and easily.

Holistic, integrated board design system Protel DXP is the culmination of Altium's design-focused approach towards the development of software tools. "The current weaknesses of design tools - such as making different tools work together, and moving the design from one tool to another - are not addressed by using a selection of fragmented point tools," says Martin. "We believe that these weaknesses are better addressed by a board design system that is fully integrated and takes a holistic approach to the design process. This includes providing all the capabilities needed to take a design from concept to completion, and to manage all stages of the process along the way."

As well as powerful design capture and PCB layout and editing features, Protel DXP integrates SPICE 3f5-compliant circuit simulation and board signal integrity analysis into the system. Circuit simulations can be run directly from a schematic, and signal integrity analysis is fully integrated into the PCB editing environment.

Situs(TM) - Altium's new Topological Autorouting(TM) technology ¨ C is also fully integrated into the Protel DXP PCB editing environment. Situs moves beyond traditional rectilinear shape-based routing by adding a topological board-analysis stage to the autorouting process. Situs offers enhanced compliance with the Protel design rule system, control over routing passes and costings, and superb completion rates and finished route quality.

Other major capabilities of the Protel DXP release include:

- Full support for hierarchical multichannel designs
- Support for multiple board variants from a single set of source files
- Support for integrated component libraries that link schematic symbols to footprints, simulation models, signal integrity models, etc.
- Support for major third-party version control systems such as Microsoft Visual SourceSafe
- Enhanced documentation and reporting features

Major GUI improvements

In Protel DXP, Altium has re-designed Protel's GUI with the focus on ease of use, intuitive control, and consistency of interface across all editors. The result is that designers have better and easier access to design data and don't need to spend time learning a new design environment for each stage of the design process. Also, Protel DXP's GUI has been normalized in harmony with the best-practice design for Windows applications with Windows-standard functions, such as "CTRL + scroll wheel" to zoom, drag-and-drop functionality, and standard Microsoft keyboard shortcuts.

Typical of the attention to detail in the interface are features such as:

- Floating toolbars and panels that "fade out" when they are in the way during an editing operation
- Enhanced object selection and global editing using tabular list views that support advanced filtering and sorting
- Graphical object properties dialogs that intuitively illustrate the editable attributes of each object
- Extensive cross probing between editing windows and list panels
- Drag-and-drop toolbar and menu customization

"We have a different approach from many of our competitors, who design tools that require their users to undertake extensive training courses in order to be productive," says Martin. "We believe that focusing on ease of use and intuitive interface design will benefit our customers because they can spend less time learning the software before they gain the benefits of access to the powerful features."

With the release of Protel DXP, Altium continues to break down barriers to innovation and technological advancement by providing every engineer, designer and developer with easy access to the best possible design tools.

Protel and Protel DXP logos

The new "Protel" and "Protel DXP" logos are descendants of the former Protel and Protel 99 SE logos, yet have been modified to reflect Protel's new position as a product brand under the recently formed Altium corporate brand. With the introduction of these new logos, Protel's identity takes on a fresh lime green as the predominant branding and logo color theme - inspired by the hue of a printed circuit board, and complimentary to the blue of the Altium logo. The new Protel logotype is linked closely with its predecessor and retains the distinctive slash through the 'o', yet reflects its place in the Altium family through the introduction of a rounded 'P', and a 't' with simplified crossbar.

PCB West details

Altium will be previewing Protel DXP at PCB Design Conference West as well as giving information and live demos of all of its PCB products, including Protel and P-CAD. For Protel users, there will also be an interactive user group meeting that will give an overview of the new features and enhancements in the new release. PCB Design Conference West is being held in the Santa Clara Convention Center, Santa Clara, CA, USA, from March 18 to 22. Altium's booth number is 412.

Availability

Pricing is expected to be in line with the current Protel product, which will be confirmed at the time of release, as will further details about shipping dates.

Customers can purchase the current Protel product - Protel 99 SE - which comes with 12 months free membership to Altium Total Support (valued at US$1,995), thereby guaranteeing they receive Protel DXP free of charge as soon as it is released.

For more product information, visit www.protel.com www.tasking.com> or contact your local Altium Sales and Support Center.

About Altium Limited

Altium Limited (ASX: ALU), trading as Protel International Limited (ASX: PRI) prior to August 6, 2001, is a leading global developer and supplier of desktop Electronic Design Automation (EDA) and embedded software design tools for the Microsoft Windows environment.

Since the Company's foundation in 1985 and its release of the world's first Microsoft Windows-based EDA tool in 1991, Altium has continued to apply the most advanced software design methods to provide powerful, easy-to-use and affordable design software to engineers and electronics designers worldwide.

Altium's current product brands include Protel, P-CAD, TASKING, Accolade, CircuitMaker and CAMtastic!. These products offer tailored solutions covering a range of hardware and software design processes.

Altium is headquartered in Sydney, Australia, and operates a number of sales and support offices in Australia, the United States, Japan and Europe - as well as maintaining a large reseller network in all other major markets. More information about the Company and its products and services may be obtained from our website at www.altium.com.

Altium, Altium Total Support, Protel, Protel DXP, Design Explorer, nVisage, P-CAD, TASKING, Accolade, CircuitMaker, CAMtastic!, Situs and Topological Autorouting and their respective logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of Altium Limited. All other registered or unregistered trademarks referenced herein are the property of their respective owners, and no trademark rights to the same are claimed.