Translation Flow Chart
There are three files associated with the Board Station database that contain useful layout information. These files are exported from Board Station in ASCII format and are loaded into the men2egs translator.
IntroductionIf you need a simple way to move data from Mentor's Board Station PCB layout to HP's microwave design software (Series IV, MDS, ADS) then you should consider men2egs and the companion program egs2men. These translators read and write to Board Station's ASCII file format and HP's EGS Archive format.Because this is a standalone program you do not need to be running either BoardStation or HP EEsof software in order to make the conversion. |
Features
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Translation Flow Chart
There are three files associated with the Board Station database that contain useful layout information. These files are exported from Board Station in ASCII format and are loaded into the men2egs translator. |
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geom (geometry) This file contains all of the basic layout information: board outlines, layer definitions, component definitions, pad stack definitions, text, dimensions, silkscreen etc...It can be translated to EGS by itself since in many cases all the data you want to pass to the mechanical designer can be included here. However you will not get any components or circuit traces if only the geometry layer is translated. This information is contained in the comp and trace file.
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comp (components) This file contains component placements. It is essentially a series of component names and insertion points. The actual layout of the component and the footprint should already have been defined in the geom file.
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trace (circuit traces) This file contains a list of circuit traces and the vertex points for each trace. It also contains netlist associations which are not of interest to the mechanical designers.
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| BoardStation | Archive | Comment |
| geom line/path |
polyline | pline supports width and multiple vertices |
| circle | circle | - |
| arc | arc or pline arc | - |
| polygon | polygon | |
| pointer | lines/text | Board Station pointer is really a dimension leader. Built in Archive from lines, circles and text as needed and grouped as an instance. |
| dimension | lines/text | Built in archive from lines and text and made into a instance. |
| text | text | supports the various text modifications such as size, reference point, rotation and mirroring. Also can pass font information though the HP EEsof user will need to have and equivalent fonts. |
| create | instance defn. | the create command in Board Station is equivalent to a instance definition in Archive. The add command in Mentor is equivalent to the instance insertion in Archive. |
| layer attribute | layer names | - |
| comp component insertion |
instance insertion | a component insertion refers to a component definition in the geometry file, a x,y location and a rotation. |
| trace trace |
line | the trace file contains a list of circuit traces, each with a width and a series of vertices. |
| For further details on the program's options, select the desired PDF file for viewing and printing. You can get the Acrobat Reader free from Adobe's site. for a variety of platforms including Windows, Sun, HP, IBM, SGI etc... |
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Chapter 3 Running MEN2EGS Chapter 4 Running EGS2MEN |
| SunOS | Solaris | HPUX |
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