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76 DESIGN007 MAGAZINE I AUGUST 2019 Article by Rebecca Lord and John McMillan MENTOR, A SIEMENS BUSINESS PCB designs commonly undergo multiple respins as a result of inconspicuous signal in- tegrity (SI), power integrity (PI), and electro- magnetic interference (EMI) violations. At an average cost of nearly $28,000 per respin, en- suring that a given design meets its perfor- mance, time to market, and cost goals is im- perative. To help eliminate complicated and difficult-to-diagnose layout violations, some PCB tool suites offer unique electrical design rule checks (DRC). When using DRC analysis as part of the PCB design process, engineers can ensure that their PCBs fall within the proper constraints for a multitude of different, advanced electrical de- sign rules. The DRC tool contains fully-cus- tomizable SI, PI, EMI, and safety rule checks that enable designers to quickly identify and correct violations well before starting the man- ufacturing process. By running DRC analysis, it is possible to eliminate error-prone manual in- spection and reduce costly design respins that impact the product's time to market and the company's profitability. To illustrate the power of utilizing a PCB de- sign tool with tightly-integrated DRC analysis, we will use the BeagleBone Black as an ex- ample. The BeagleBone Black is a low-pow- er, open-source, single-board computer pro- duced by Texas Instruments and commonly used by both developers and hobby enthusi- asts alike. This development board consists of a TI Sitara processor, providing a combina- tion of performance, power, and peripherals to help drive down system cost, simplify de- sign, and expand connectivity within the over- all BeagleBone Black design. In addition to the Design Rule Checks Cut Down on Board Respins