Autodesk has announced the new Signal Integrity Extension for Fusion 360 powered by Ansys and designed to enable users to analyse their PCB electromagnetic performance.
The results should be rendered with a coloured gradient, enabling designers and engineers to easily identify problematic signal paths and violations, allowing them to make design updates and mitigate signal impedance mismatches.
Fusion 360 Signal Integrity Extension should allow users to ensure compliant smart products, reduce development costs and shorten time to market.
The new extension should assist them in making sure their products’ high-speed, RF, and wireless capabilities meet the design specs and are compliant with industry standards, directives, and rules.
It was also developed to help minimise costly PCB physical testing and board re-spins, giving users access to feedback on their design’s electromagnetic performance and reducing the length of project timelines.
Fusion 360 Signal Integrity Extension should also offer simple input parameters and configuration which should empower engineers to select signals of interest for quick on-demand analysis, analyse their design and inspect parameters that characterise high-speed signals, such as propagation delay, trace length, impedance, and coupling.
Additionally, users should be able to manage and control the impedance for every transmission line throughout their board, for a distortion-free and optimal high-speed performance design, and visually identify any potential impedance or coupling issues with a superimposed colour-coded overlay on 2D PCB design.
“What we want to do for manufacturers is improve the collaboration, help them design things faster and help them do more design exploration. So they can get more innovation in a shorter time,” said Autodesk VP of industry strategy Srinath Jonnalagadda talking about the collaboration between Autodesk and Ansys at Autodesk University 2022.
“With this simulation extension, we want to make sure that the design insights are readily available for engineers at the time when they are doing the design. The extension is able to give real-time insights so the designers can figure out how to optimise their product and printed circuit board designs.”
“It’s about bringing simulation insights into the design process so the designers have the necessary knowledge at the time of design to get it right as quickly as possible. It’s all about getting all the physics and simulation into the Fusion 360 design process. It starts with Signal Integrity but the possibilities are endless,” he concluded.
Autodesk said the new extension is now available for a 14 days trial. Learn more here.
