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62 The PCB Design Magazine • May 2017 As a result, paper-based review processes are enormously time consuming and costly and are prone to errors. A Paperless, Interactive Approach PCB-Investigator is based on a paperless and interactive platform. It is a user-friendly, flexible CAD/CAM software tool that offers in- tegrated, interactive visualization of every area of development and production. Whilst depart- ments involved in the process continue to work with their respective specialized systems, com- munication across departmental and process- related boundaries is enabled by PCB-Investiga- tor, and as such offers a real advantage. The software is based on ODB++, a recog- nized, common data format designed to trans- mit PCB design information between engineers and producers as well as between design tools by different CAD and CAM providers. In ODB++, all PCB production data is stored in a single re- cord. PCB-Investigator uses this format as a cen- tral database and consolidates all the data for the development process and each step in the production sequence. PCB-Investigator is unique as that data vi- sualization is not limited to conductor tracks and surfaces. It also stores all available infor- mation about components, networks and the stack-up of the layout and makes it accessible to the user. Layers and data objects such as com- ponents, pins, networks and copper elements can all be accessed easily for evaluation or modification. Furthermore, the tool is compat- ible to work with a broad range of file formats: IPC2581, GenCAD, IPC365, Gerber, Excellon, Sieb&Meyer, DPF, DXF, raster (BMP, JPG, PNG, TIFF). Whilst the visualization possibilities of ECAD systems are limited, PCB-Investigator displays drill data, exposure data and assem- bly data at the push of a button in any desired combination of information levels. The soft- ware can directly display anything that can be extrapolated from the combined PCB data, whether relating to design rule checking, PCB production, assembly, soldering masks, insula- tion distances, clearances or leakage currents. If you wish to investigate an individual network path, for example, simply select it within the application and zoom in. Facilitating Fast, Simple, Version Control Identifying the differences between two printouts of a PCB layout is not an easy task however has been a necessary process for error identification. PCB-Investigator makes version control easy. The more complex the electronics and the greater the number of teams working on it, the more important it is that every version is not only documented, but also compared and approved by everyone involved. This involves both a graphical comparison and a comparison of assembly data and network connections. SHORTENING TIME-TO-MARKET WITH A SOFTWARE-SUPPORTED REVIEW PROCESS Figure 1: The EasyLogix PCB-Investigator can switch from 2D to 3D views at any time. The housing (blue) is managed in the same way as a component in the ODB++ data collection. The yellow blocks are placeholders showing worst- case scenario space requirements for components for which a choice of different suppliers is still pending. Figure 2: An example of revision comparison and revision history archive.