Product Overview

Protel is the industry's first and only

complete board-level design solution
that incorporates all the capabilities
needed to take any design from
concept to completion in a single
application. Protel 2004 expands
the traditional boundaries of
board-level design by allowing
engineers to design FPGA
functionality and integrate the
target FPGA with the PCB design.
Protel 2004 features powerful design
capture capabilities that integrate
schematic entry for both FPGA and
board-level design, support for VHDL-
based design, mixed-signal circuit
simulation, and pre- and post-layout
signal integrity analysis. It combines
this with rules-driven board layout
and editing that incorporates next-
generation Situs
TM
Topological
Autorouting
TM
and complete CAM
output capabilities.
Based on Altium's new LiveDesign-
enabled DXP platform, Protel 2004
works with you through every step
of the design process, supporting
your design methods, your work-
flows and your work environment.
Interactive FPGA development
Protel 2004 fully supports designs
targeted at programmable devices
such as FPGAs. Protel includes
extensive libraries of FPGA-based
components that can be used to
facilitate schematic-based FPGA
design. What's more, Protel includes
a set of FPGA-based virtual
instruments that, when combined
with Altium's NanoBoard LiveDesign-
enabled FPGA-based development
board, allow implementation and
real-time interactivity with the FPGA
design during development. Altium
calls this method of designing
FPGAs LiveDesign, and it allows
engineers to rapidly develop FPGA
applications without the need for
HDL-level simulation.
NanoBoard
The NanoBoard (nano-level bread-
board) is the industry's first
LiveDesign-enabled development
board and features swappable
FPGA daughter boards to allow
retargeting of your design to
different FPGA devices. Multiple
NanoBoards can be chained together
to support designs with multiple
FPGA devices spread across several
printed circuit boards. You can also
connect your own application board
to the system via the NanoBoard
to extend the LiveDesign process to
the production PCB.
Board-level support
for FPGA devices
Protel 2004 includes extensive
features to help you integrate large
FPGA devices onto your PCB. Pin
configuration information can be
passed directly from the FPGA
project to the board-level schematics,
with automatic generation of the
correctly configured FPGA schematic
symbol. Within the board layout,
FPGA pin swapping features allow
you to interactively, or automatically,
reconfigure the pin assignments of
the FPGA for optimal routing. These
pin changes can then automatically
flow back to the FPGA project. This
automatic synchronization between
PCB and FPGA projects eliminates
time-consuming and error-prone
manual pin updates.
For comprehensive product information about Protel 2004 or to order your free,
fully-functional 30-day software evaluation, visit www.altium.com/protel
Multi-channel design support
Protel 2004's schematic editor
provides full support for designs that
contain repeated blocks of circuitry.
Unlike other systems that simply
copy and paste sheets to create
multiple channels, Protel maintains
channel hierarchy throughout the
design process. This allows you to
change all channels with a single
edit. You can even change the
number of channels instantiated
at any time in the design process.
In addition, Protel supports multi-
channel design right through to
board layout and routing, allowing
you to copy component layout
and routing information between
channel instantiations.
CAM verification and editing
Protel 2004 comes with Altium's
new generation circuit board CAM
system, CAMtastic 2004. CAMtastic
2004 is a complete CAM verification
and editing system developed
to bridge the gap between PCB
design and manufacturing. It allows
both board designers and fabrication
engineers to verify critical
manufacturing information quickly
and easily. With CAMtastic 2004,
you'll save time and minimize costly
design errors by ensuring your
designs are fault-free and completely
ready for efficient fabrication
and assembly.
CAMtastic 2004 provides support for
panelization, including the creation
of advanced ODB++ steps that allow
you to create panels containing
multiple different PCBs, and the
recreation of PCB design data from
the manufacturing files.
From capture with integrated mixed-
signal simulation and signal integrity
analysis, through to the generation
of your PCB manufacturing and
FPGA design fabrication files, Protel
includes all the capabilities you need
in a single, integrated application.
Other feature highlights
in Protel 2004:
Hierarchical, multi-channel
schematic editing environment
VHDL coding, functional
simulation and RTL-level
synthesis for multiple FPGA
target architectures
SPICE 3f5 / XSpice simulation
Comprehensive design
error checking
Pre- and post-layout signal
integrity analysis
Rules-driven PCB layout
and editing
Real-time rules enforcement
during interactive routing
Automatic FPGA
pin optimization
Bi-directional PCB to FPGA
project synchronization
Bi-directional schematic
to PCB synchronization
Extensive file import and export
support, including DWG, DXF
and OrCAD Layout MAX
Integrated libraries with
over 68,000 components,
including 18,000 simulation-
ready parts, and extensive
FPGA-based components
and virtual instruments
System requirements
Microsoft Windows XP
(Professional or Home) or
Windows 2000 Professional
3 GHz Pentium 4 processor
or equivalent
1 GByte RAM
2 GByte hard disk space
(Install + User Files)
Dual monitors (recommended)
with 1280x1024 screen
resolution
32-bit color, 64 MB
graphics card
Protel 2004 is the only system that lets you develop for both board
and FPGA, and fully supports the integration of the FPGA onto the PCB.
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Your ideal companion to Protel 2004 . . .
Altium's NanoBoard NB1
Experience the full power of LiveDesign
by adding a NanoBoard to your design
environment and transform your desktop
into a complete and interactive FPGA-based
electronics design laboratory.
Copyright 2004 Altium Limited.
Important Notice: Supply of pre-synthesized components under the terms and conditions of the Altium End-User License Agreement does not convey nor imply any patent rights to the supplied technologies. Users are cautioned that a license
from any patent holder(s) may be required for any use covered by such patent rights, including the implementation of components in an Integrated Circuit or other device. Users are advised to contact patent holders directly for further information.
Altium, CAMtastic, CircuitStudio, Design Explorer, DXP, LiveDesign, NanoBoard, Nexar, nVisage, P-CAD, Protel, Situs, TASKING, and Topological Autorouting and their respective logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of Altium Limited or its
subsidiaries. All other registered or unregistered trademarks referenced herein are the property of their respective owners, and no trademark rights to the same are claimed.