7Circuits® is a PCB design tool for FPGA based boards. It fully automates pin assignments, schematic generation and layout interconnect optimization, sparing both logic and board designers the painful process of FPGA pin assignment and schematic generation. 7Circuits readily integrates with your existing design flow and component libraries.
Integrating FPGAs into a system-level design has always proved challenging. Reaching closure on pin assignments that are optimized for both the FPGA and the PCB has previously meant multiple iterations between FPGA designers, schematic engineers, and the PCB layout team, using loosely-coupled tools and proprietary ‘solutions’. With the emergence of thousand-plus-pin FPGAs, convergence has become an increasingly complex issue. 7Circuits can help reach convergence, and in a time frame that is impossible to achieve with other solutions. This new technology interfaces with the Cadence® Allegro® system interconnect design platform as well as Cadence OrCAD® PCB design technology.
Combining a built-in library of IO DRC aware intelligent FPGA component models, an easy to use GUI, and a PCB-like canvas, 7Circuits rules-based synthesis engine can create IO pin assignments that are concurrently optimized for both the FPGA and the PCB.
-
Optimizing FPGA pinouts for both the FPGA and the PCB
7Circuits can simultaneously consider the logical, electrical and physical constraints of a design to create the optimal pin assignments - all within the context of component placement on a ‘virtual’ PCB
-
Creating FPGA symbols that match to the FPGA’s synthesized pinouts
Changes made to the pin locations are automatically reflected in updates to the affected symbols in Cadence OrCAD Capture and Cadence OrCAD Capture CIS
- Producing associated schematics to connect the FPGA to the rest of the system
These schematics represent every FPGA and every component connected to those FPGAs. This feature alone can shave weeks off of a typical FPGA-based system design
- Generating the correct power connections for the FPGA
Power supply requirements can be highly complex in FPGA designs and can change depending on which signal IO standards are mapped to which pins. 7Circuits identifies and connects the proper power rails for each bank in the FPGA devices
- Minimizing Engineering Change Orders (ECO) and keeping the FPGA, logic, and PCB design teams in sync
Using 7Circuits to drive the pin assignment process and manage these changes can significantly reduce the number of ECO’s and effectively eliminate back-end pin swaps
- Reduced crossovers resulting in fewer vias and fewer PCB layers
- Improved signal integrity
- Shorter design cycles
- Fewer ECO’s
- Lower design, test, manufacturing, and end-product costs
- Improved product reliability
In addition, 7Circuits comes with a library of off-the-shelf memory component models from vendors such as Cypress, Samsung, and Micron, as well as connectors and other FPGA-supporting components. If the component you need isn’t in the included library, 7Circuits provides the functionality to quickly create your own. You can even start with an existing schematic/layout view of the component and enter the high level logical constraints.