PC-Board/System Design Tools Get Physical

Oct. 4, 2004

By addressing many different aspects of physical design in a single environment, Flomerics' Version5 integrated design suite for pc boards and systems not only reduces design-cycle times, it also breaks down communication barriers between various...

David Maliniak

Version5 consists of: Flo/PCB for conceptual design of pc boards; FloTherm for system-level thermal design and optimization; Flo/EMC for electromagnetic-compatibility (EMC) simulation; and Flo/Stress for predicting thermomechanical stresses.

The integrated design process begins with an initial concept design of a functional block diagram in Flo/PCB. Hardware designers can then derive a physical layout from the block diagram. The Flo/PCB representation can be dragged into a system-level thermal design developed with FloTherm as well as into Flo/EMC for electromagnetic analysis.

The latter step enables designers to address EMC issues very early in the design process. A step-by-step approach to EMC analysis facilitates optimization of the system's shielding effectiveness. Addressing the thermal and EMC issues within a single environment means a big head start on the tricky tradeoffs that these two disciplines inevitably require.

Pricing for Version5 physical design suite has not yet been established as of this writing.

Flomericswww.flomerics.com

About the Author

David Maliniak | MWRF Executive Editor

In his long career in the B2B electronics-industry media, David Maliniak has held editorial roles as both generalist and specialist. As Components Editor and, later, as Editor in Chief of EE Product News, David gained breadth of experience in covering the industry at large. In serving as EDA/Test and Measurement Technology Editor at Electronic Design, he developed deep insight into those complex areas of technology. Most recently, David worked in technical marketing communications at Teledyne LeCroy. David earned a B.A. in journalism at New York University.