With the addition of printed circuit board (PCB) RF technology and design methodology to Allegro PCB Design XL and GXL offerings, Cadence Design Systems, Inc. is addressing key challenges designers are facing when designing PCBs with high-frequency and wireless design requirements. The new versions of the Allegro PCB Design offerings provide RF-aware technology, a front-to-back flow, and interfaces to simulation, which help PCB designers achieve shorter, more predictable design cycles by better ensuring that RF circuits match design intent, said Cadence.

“Capturing RF design intent has been a challenge for us for many years,” said Dave Elders, PCB design manager, Tait Electronics. “The new RF technology in the Allegro PCB Design will enable our RF designers to iterate less often and to complete the design with more confidence.”

The suite of RF-aware capabilities, now available in Allegro PCB Design, include intelligent layout for parametrically creating and editing RF geometries, a flexible shape editor, and data-aware bi-directional IFF interfaces. Through bi-directional interfaces, RF circuits can be simulated and validated for signal quality and performance. The entire set of functionalities is vital to the successful physical design and implementation of RF circuits.

“The integration of RF devices on PCBs is creating serious high-frequency and wireless design challenges for our customers,” said Charlie Giorgetti, corporate vice president, Product Marketing, Cadence. “This new PCB RF design technology and methodology is another key enhancement in the Allegro PCB design flow that enables our customers to speed more reliable designs to market.”

The new PCB RF technology and design methodology will be available as an add-on option for Allegro PCB Design HDL XL and Allegro PCB Design HDL GXL offerings in the Allegro system interconnect design platform 16.0 release.