Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1536171
JUNE 2025 I DESIGN007 MAGAZINE 31 I didn't see any way possible to meet the target project deadline, even with my around- the-clock efforts, and running multiple design- ers in separate shis was not an option. As a last resort, I reached out to my local appli- cation engineer (AE) and told him I would try an autorouter in a Hail Mary attempt to meet my deadline. e AE and I worked on the routing together. We first ensured that the constraints were dialed in and per the requirements. en, I took a long, deep breath and slowly exhaled. I simply let go of what I thought was control of the tool. At that moment, I made the diffi- cult choice that I would make this autorouter approach work, no matter what. It was a little rough in the beginning. Actu- ally, it was very rough because of my lack of patience at this point in the project sched- ule, not to mention my poor attitude toward autorouters and my inexperience with this approach. By the end of that day, I seemed to have a handle on it. I realized that I still had control over the design, even when using the autorouter. It was not what I expected at all. I was making good progress and moving closer to 100% route completions. I was blown away by how fast I could achieve results in a matter of minutes or a few hours, when a manual approach would have taken me hours or several days to achieve. Implement- ing those dreaded on-the-fly changes was now truly eye-opening, especially in how quickly I was able to recover from them. I no longer viewed design changes as roadblocks or sched- ule killers. Now, I simply saw them as typical hurdles I just leap over. e icing on the cake was, and still is, the ability to do multiple what- if scenarios that help when it comes to SI, EMI, and EMC simulations and analysis. I'll never forget the call I made to the EE and his initial response when I informed him that I had completed the design and wanted to meet in person. Not only was I finished, but I had multiple versions of the design for him to choose from. I don't know who was happier— him or me. We ended up finishing just a little over two weeks earlier than our target deadline, which shocked the entire project team, including my compa- ny's leadership. Releasing the design to fabrication earlier than expected allowed the EE to take Christmas vacation while the other three PCB designs were still in process (using the manual approach) with their respective teams. I also took some well-deserved time off and never looked back. ose other design teams missed their deadlines and worked through the holidays that year. Our design was fully assembled and in the lab before those designs even went to fabrication. is aha moment changed everything about how I viewed routing within the PCB design process. I now use automation whenever pos- sible. As I stated earlier, not every design can be autorouted. I am always looking to take advantage of automation if and when pos- sible. I would much rather work eight hours using automation to get 18 hours' worth of effort, when possible, than to work 18 hours to achieve that same level of success. Practical Workflow for the Siemens Autorouter Autorouters have come a long way, and they're much easier to set up and utilize than in years past. As an example, here are the steps PCB designers typically follow when using the Siemens autorouter. 1. Set up design constraints: Start by defin- ing all electrical and physical constraints in the constraint manager. is ensures that autorouting results will comply with your design requirements along with the board's performance targets. " I was blown away by how fast I could achieve results in a maer of minutes or a few hours... "