ConnTrace

Automatically verifying
thousands of connections between PCBs

When developing large electronic systems consisting of multiple Printed Circuit Boards (PCB), making sure that each signal is connected to the correct pin of a connector is a cumbersome task. Until now there has not been a way to verify these connections automatically and designers were forced to manually check each connector pin.
Using ConnTrace you can process a number of netlists (which may be in different formats), define the connections and trace the signals from board to board.

HDL Works is looking for companies that would like to participate in the beta phase of ConnTrace and test drive the tool or supply us with a test design.

Please contact us if you would like to join the program.

Intelligent Verification

ConnTrace uses rules (based on regular expressions) to match the signal names on every PCB. It allows the tool to validate groups of matches although individual signals can still differ. The rules can be generated automatically and be fine-tuned by the designer. The automated approach will often match 80% to 90% of all connector pins.

The flexibility of ConnTrace allows it to be used in any design flow and does not require any design methodology. The rule generator in combination with the sorted problem view allows engineers to validate large systems in a few hours.

Once the project and its rules are defined it is a simple task to re-verify the connectors when changed were made to the PCBs. All out-of-date files are processed in one action.