Mentor Graphics Launches New Xpedition Platform to Optimize Advanced PCB Systems Design Productivity

Introduction to the Xpedition Platform

Mentor, a Siemens business, has launched its new Xpedition™ printed Circuit board (PCB) design flow, aimed at boosting productivity for the design of complex PCB systems. The Xpedition platform provides a comprehensive suite of tools covering schematic capture, constraint management, PCB layout, signal and power integrity analysis, ECAD-MCAD collaboration, design for manufacturing (DFM), and data management.

The key features and benefits of the Xpedition platform include:

• Unified Constraint Management: Ensures constraints are consistently defined, validated, and enforced throughout the design flow.
• Multi-dimensional Verification: Enables early virtual prototyping and simulation to identify and resolve issues before physical prototyping.
• Intelligent Design Reuse: Facilitates IP reuse and design automation to accelerate development cycles.
• ECAD-MCAD Collaboration: Allows concurrent PCB-enclosure co-design in 3D to optimize system form, fit, and function.
• Integrated Data Management: Provides a single source of truth to manage design data, libraries, and processes across global design teams.

Addressing Modern PCB design Challenges

The rapid advancement of electronics technology is driving the need for denser, faster, and more complex PCB designs. However, this complexity introduces new challenges in managing constraints, optimizing performance, ensuring manufacturability, and collaborating across domains. Traditional PCB design tools and methodologies are struggling to keep pace with these challenges.

Some of the key challenges in modern PCB systems design include:

Challenge	Description
High-Speed Signaling	Supporting data rates of 28 Gbps and beyond while managing signal integrity
Power Integrity	Delivering clean and stable power to ICs with increasing current demands
Thermal Management	Dissipating heat effectively from high-power components in dense PCB Stackups
Miniaturization	Fitting more functionality in smaller form factors while maintaining performance and reliability
ECAD-MCAD Integration	Ensuring PCB and mechanical enclosure co-design for optimal 3D product fit and function
Design for Manufacturing	Incorporating manufacturing constraints early to avoid late-stage design changes and delays

The Xpedition platform aims to address these challenges through an integrated and automated design flow that enables engineers to optimize productivity, performance, and quality.

Xpedition Platform Key Components

The Xpedition platform consists of several integrated tools and technologies that work together to streamline the PCB systems design process:

Xpedition Enterprise

This is the core PCB layout and routing environment. It provides a constraint-driven layout flow with features like hierarchical design, sketch routing, auto-interactive routing, HDI design, and ECAD-MCAD collaboration.

HyperLynx

The HyperLynx family of tools enables multi-dimensional verification of signal and power integrity. It includes analysis and optimization capabilities for high-speed signals, DDR memory interfaces, power delivery networks (PDNs), and electromagnetic interference (EMI).

Valor NPI

Valor NPI is a comprehensive manufacturing ecosystem that allows design for fabrication, assembly, and test (DFx) analysis to be performed in the design stage itself. It helps identify and correct manufacturing issues early, avoiding costly re-spins.

Xpedition Data Management (xDM)

xDM provides a centralized library and design data management system. It enables secure collaboration across global design teams and supply chain partners. It also automates design data validation and distribution.

Methodology Libraries

Xpedition includes a rich set of methodology libraries containing constrainable design elements, factory and user-defined templates, and reference designs. These help jumpstart new designs and promote standardization and reuse.

How Xpedition Enables Design Flow Optimization

The Xpedition platform optimizes the PCB systems design flow in several ways:

1. Unified Constraints: Constraints like physical, spacing, electrical, and manufacturing rules are defined once and applied consistently across schematic, layout, and verification. This avoids constraint inconsistencies and errors.

2. Concurrent Design: The constraint-driven flow allows multiple designers to work on the same design simultaneously. Constraint changes are propagated in real-time to all users. ECAD-MCAD collaboration enables 3D co-design.

3. Virtual Prototyping: Early simulation of signal integrity, power integrity, thermal, and EMI performance allows design issues to be identified and fixed before committing to physical prototypes. This reduces design iterations and time-to-market.

4. Intelligent P&R: Technologies like sketch routing, auto-interactive routing, and auto-tuning use the design intent captured in constraints to automate intelligent placement and routing. Manual effort is minimized.

5. DFx Optimization: Bidirectional integration between Xpedition and Valor NPI enables in-design DFx optimization. Manufacturing constraints are accounted for during layout. Fabrication, assembly, and test issues are analyzed and corrected early.

6. IP Reuse: xDM enables efficient management and reuse of validated design blocks, constraints, and templates across projects. This reduces design time and promotes standardization.

Thus, the Xpedition platform helps designers optimize their productivity by automating constraint management, virtual prototyping, intelligent P&R, DFx analysis, and IP reuse across the PCB systems design flow.

Customer Success Stories

Several leading electronics companies have adopted the Xpedition platform to streamline their complex PCB design processes. Some notable success stories include:

Tier-1 Automotive Supplier

A major automotive electronics supplier used Xpedition to design a high-density ECU supporting autonomous driving functions. They were able to optimize the system architecture through early virtual prototyping of signal and power integrity. Concurrent ECAD-MCAD collaboration helped achieve a compact 3D package meeting thermal constraints. Integrated DFx analysis ensured first-time manufacturing success. Overall design time was reduced by 25%.

Telecom Equipment Maker

A leading telecom equipment OEM employed Xpedition to develop their next-gen 5G radio units. They leveraged the constraint-driven flow to efficiently manage high-speed interfaces like 56G PAM4 SerDes, DDR5, and PCIe Gen5. HyperLynx analysis allowed them to optimize channel parameters, impedance discontinuities, and equalization settings. Valor NPI helped resolve bare-board and assembly yield challenges. Time-to-market was improved by 20%.

Defense Contractor

An aerospace & defense systems integrator adopted Xpedition to design complex ARINC 600 compliant avionics LRUs. The platform’s advanced routing technologies automated the layout of dense BGA escape routing and differential pair serpentines. Power integrity simulation ensured reliable PDNs for FPGAs and processors. ECAD-MCAD co-design achieved optimal heatsink placement. Design cycle time was cut by 30%.

These success stories demonstrate the real-world productivity benefits delivered by the Xpedition platform for advanced PCB systems design.

Summary and Future Direction

The Xpedition platform represents a significant advancement in PCB systems design productivity. It integrates multi-disciplinary capabilities like constraint management, virtual prototyping, intelligent P&R, DFx optimization, and design data management into a unified flow.

By automating low-value tasks and enabling high-value engineering decisions, Xpedition helps designers focus on innovation and accelerate time-to-market. As electronics systems continue to get more complex, the Xpedition platform is well positioned to meet evolving design challenges.

Mentor is committed to further enhancing the Xpedition platform with new technologies like machine learning, generative design, and cloud-based collaboration. These will help designers push the boundaries of electronics innovation and deliver differentiated products faster.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

1. What types of PCBs is Xpedition best suited for?

Xpedition is ideal for complex, high-density PCBs used in advanced applications like 5G communications, automotive ADAS/AV, artificial intelligence, high-performance computing, aerospace & defense, and medical devices. It is suited for designs having high layer counts (40+), fine linewidths/spacings (<3/3 mils), HDI structures, high-speed interfaces, and multi-domain constraints.

2. Does Xpedition support multi-board design?

Yes, Xpedition supports multi-board design through its xPCB Panel functionality. This allows multiple PCBs to be designed as a single panel and then panelized for manufacturing. Cross-probing of nets between schematics and layouts of multiple PCBs is supported.

3. What formats does Xpedition support for ECAD-MCAD exchange?

Xpedition supports industry-standard ECAD-MCAD exchange formats like IDX (Incremental Design Exchange), STEP AP242, and IPC-2581. It has native 3D viewing of MCAD enclosures within the layout environment. Collaboration with popular MCAD tools like PTC Creo, Dassault CATIA, and Siemens NX is enabled.

4. How does Xpedition handle versioning of design data?

Xpedition Data Management (xDM) provides comprehensive versioning and revision control of design databases, libraries, constraints, and other project files. It supports branching, labeling, diffing, and merging of versions. Release and approval workflows are customizable.

5. What types of analyses are supported by HyperLynx?

HyperLynx provides a comprehensive suite of signal and power integrity analyses:
– Pre-layout topology exploration and optimization
– Post-layout extraction and simulation (frequency and time domain)
– Batch mode compliance checking for industry standards (Ethernet, PCIe, DDRx, etc.)
– Power integrity analysis for DC and AC performance (plane resonance, decoupling, etc.)
– EMI analysis for radiated emissions and TEM cell tests
– Thermal analysis for component and PCB temperatures
– Flex PCB analysis for dynamic bending stress

In summary, HyperLynx enables a digital twin of the PCB to be virtually prototyped and optimized across multiple physical domains.