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Altium Designer 23 Review by Tim Blythman Altium Designer 23 is the latest version of Altium’s EDA (electronics design automation) software, released in December 2022. Since we use Altium Designer practically daily to draw circuit diagrams and lay out PCBs, we were keen to see what new features have been added. W e have used Altium Designer to create PCBs for projects for many years, counting back around 30 years if you include its predecessor, Protel Autotrax. You can still download Autotrax from the Altium website (www.altium. com/documentation/other_installers), although you will likely need a DOS emulator such as DOSBox to run it. Of course, it has evolved a lot since then. Sometimes the yearly updates are ‘revolutionary’ while others are ‘evolutionary’. While the latest updates are more in the latter category, several of the new features are very handy, and we will certainly be using them. Other changes streamline the workflow for existing features, which is always welcome. Previous versions of Altium Designer have seen substantial improvements, including complete code rewrites of the Schematic Editor (AD20) and PCB Editor (AD18), as well as integration with the Altium 365 cloud tool. Our last ECAD review was of Altium Designer 22 in the June issue last year (siliconchip.au/Article/15348). That built on our review of Altium 365 and Altium Designer 21 from January 2021 (siliconchip.au/Article/14705). Altium 365 is Altium’s ‘cloud’ tool which can be used on its own through a browser and is also integrated into versions of Altium Designer from Altium Designer 20 onward. Most of the features of Altium Designer are only available to paid subscribers, but this review also mentions some free online tools. For example, Altium 365 has a free online file viewer at www.altium.com/ viewer/ and you can register for a free Altium account to access the features of Altium 365 Basic. Altium Designer is used widely in industry by companies who design much more complex and exacting designs than us; many new features, past and present, are aimed at such companies. Still, some new features are just as valuable for small organisations like Silicon Chip. This review is of Altium Designer version 23.0.01; you might see even more updates and features if you use a later version. A minor version update appears about once per month. We shall now look at some of the improvements in AD23, describing them one by one. Gerber export Screen 1: the new Gerber Setup page places all the essential settings on a single tab. It is much simpler to use than the older version, which has five different tabs. 56 Silicon Chip Australia's electronics magazine Gerber files (also known as RS-274X) are sent to PCB manufacturers for making the actual PCBs. So the correct specifications and units (!) must be used when generating these files. A new version of Altium Designer’s Gerber file generation dialog box is now available, shown in Screen 1. This was enabled by default on our installation of Altium Designer 23, but appears to siliconchip.com.au have become available earlier in 2022. This is a much simpler and more succinct view than the older dialog box, which had five tabs and many selections we used sparingly, if at all. From now on, we will be using the newer dialog box for our Gerber file exports. If it is not enabled, you can change that by ticking the UI.Unification.GerberDialog setting under Advanced options on the System → General page of the Preferences dialog box. Screen 2: file comparisons can be made from this window by selecting two different files, including schematic, PCB, Gerber and BOM files. Here we chose two different versions of the same project PCB. File comparison Altium Designer 23 introduces a File Comparison tool that can work with schematics, PCBs, Gerber files and BOMs (bills of materials). Since we occasionally need to update designs to account for errors, improvements and even alternative parts, seeing the differences between file versions can be extremely useful. In the past, we often had to resort to a ‘flicker test’, rapidly switching between the two files so that our eyes could pick out the differences. That relies on aligning them properly and fast switching, and is error-prone, so thank goodness we won’t have to do that anymore! The option is found under the Project → Show Differences menu item and the dialog box, seen in Screen 2, allows two files to be chosen for comparison. Screen 3 shows two versions of our Advanced SMD Test Tweezers PCB with the differences listed at left and highlighted on the right. In this case, we moved a header slightly between the two versions. Clicking on the listed items highlights them in the PCB view. Besides comparing different revisions, such a tool could also be handy for reverse-­ engineering or recreating a design. If you have online access to projects via Altium 365, you can perform a file comparison via a project’s History in the browser interface, as shown in Screen 4. There’s even a version of the tool that does not require an Altium account, although it only works for Gerber files. It can be found on the web at www.altium.com/gerber-compare/ (output shown in Screen 5). Screen 3: when two files are compared, their differences are listed on the left and shown graphically at right, by highlighting the component or track that varies. Design Reuse Blocks A Reuse Block is a circuit snippet that can be added as though it were a component. At first glance, a Reuse Block seems like a module, and in siliconchip.com.au Screen 4: Altium 365 also allows projects to be compared over their history. A commit (file version) can be selected, and individual files can be compared with other versions, as seen here. Australia's electronics magazine March 2023  57 Screen 5: Gerber files can be compared with the free online tool at www.altium. com/gerber-compare/ This shows two versions of the Advanced SMD Test Tweezers, with red and green colour coding for the differences. Screen 6: to try out the Design Reuse Blocks feature, we created this block consisting of a microcontroller and a handful of passive components. The circuit snippet can now be placed in either a schematic or PCB file and added as needed. many cases, could be interchangeable. Reuse Blocks can be accessed from the Design Reuse panel (from the Panels button). Crucially, it can consist of a schematic document and a PCB document, but it doesn’t need to have both. As the name suggests, it is a document snippet that could be used in multiple projects. The standard workflow is to lay out the schematic, including wiring, then lay out and route the PCB block. It can then be placed as a ‘component’ from the Design Reuse panel. One scenario where this would come in handy is if a part of a circuit is subject to specific routing requirements due to speed or RF emissions. This routing becomes part of the Reuse Block. Or you may want to build a six-channel amplifier, in which case you can design one channel and then place it six times. Updating the original will affect all six channels. Once you have created and used a block, you can easily drop it into other designs where the remainder of the circuit can be routed around the existing embedded routing. This is also a way to reuse known-good designs with minimal testing and validation. The schematic module can be placed as a group of components, as it would appear on the schematic, or as a ‘black box’ module, where connections can be made to named ports. 58 Silicon Chip Such a block can be created by copying and pasting part of an existing design (schematic, PCB file or both) or made from scratch. Screen 6 shows a Reuse Block that we created. This consists of a microcontroller and its essential passive devices; the routing creates a compact unit that can be built on. This feature would be convenient if you are doing a lot of similar designs with common building blocks. It also simplifies using a common inventory, as the same components are guaranteed to be used in the blocks. A Reuse Block can also be saved into the Altium 365 cloud to be made accessible across larger teams. Pin functionality This feature will be especially handy for those who often work with microcontrollers but could apply to other components too. As you might realise from our recent microcontroller reviews, such as in the October 2022 issue (siliconchip.au/Article/15505), those parts are becoming more powerful and versatile. In particular, more peripheral features are being added, and these features are often available on many pins. Conversely, each pin on a microcontroller usually has many possible functions. Parts like the PIC16F18146 allow any of the many digital peripherals to Australia's electronics magazine ◀ be mapped to any of a group of 17 pins. You’ll often see on our schematics the numerous roles assigned to various pins, which may include multiple functions. For example, one of the pins used for programming may have a different function during regular operation, when a programmer is not connected. Depending on the chip, it can be quite an art to juggle the available peripherals between the pins that are available for multiplexing, especially when considering the PCB routing. The Pin Functionality feature of Altium Designer 23 allows the pins to be labelled with the function that is actually used in a particular application. This can be helpful in several ways. Firstly, each pin can be associated with a list of functions it can provide. This will allow those involved with ‘schematic capture’ (drawing up circuit diagrams) to ensure that the correct pins are used for the correct purpose. For example, if the list included the ‘SDA’ function, you would know that the pin could be used for the data line of an I2C bus. If there is a pin on that data bus lacking this function, that could indicate a mistake. Screen 7 shows how you can edit the pin functions. This dialog box can be found using the Edit option on the siliconchip.com.au Screen 7: pin functionality can now be edited from the Pins tab of a component’s Properties in the schematic editor. Multiple functions can be added to each pin of a device. ◀ Pins tab of a component’s Properties panel. This can be done from within the schematic document itself and does not require making changes to the schematic library, although you can do it that way too. Secondly, the functions that are actually displayed on the schematic can be selected from a drop-down menu. Any number of the functions can be chosen for display, matching the specific use in that project. This can also be handy for some ‘bitbanged’ peripherals, where a peripheral feature (for example, I2C or SPI) is performed by general-purpose I/O operations in software instead of via a dedicated hardware peripheral. Just about any pin can be used in such a case, and the function will not be fixed to that pin, so it would not usually be labelled with that function. Still, it can easily be added. Once a schematic has been ‘wired up’, the functions in use (of the many available) are selected for display. This will make it apparent to those writing the firmware what pin peripheral siliconchip.com.au Screen 8: once added, Pin functions can be selected in a schematic from a drop-down menu. This means that only the specific pin functions that are used are displayed. configuration is needed. Notably, only a small number of functions usually need to be displayed, meaning the schematic is less cluttered. Screen 8 shows the drop-down menu that alters the displayed pin functions. Some or all of the functions of that pin can be chosen as needed. PCB Health Check Altium Designer 23 also adds the ability to run a PCB Health Check. This is distinct from the Design Rules, which dictate whether the PCB is consistent with the fabrication rules set in accordance with (among other things) the PCB manufacturer’s requirements. The PCB Health Check is more aligned with aspects that may pass a design check but are functionally impractical or incorrect. For example, a component rotation of 360° is usually indistinguishable from one with a 0° rotation, but this might cause problems for an external MCAD (mechanical computer-aided design) program – see below. Other examples include zero-width Australia's electronics magazine Screen 9: PCB Health Check is found in the Properties panel when no objects are selected in the PCB Editor. It will highlight issues that might cause problems beyond those specified by Design Rules. March 2023  59 lines and zero-area regions, which may not be interpreted correctly after being exported into Gerber files. Such objects can be hard to find manually, since they are essentially invisible. The PCB Health Check is available from the Properties panel within the PCB editor anytime there is no object selected. You can see a typical report in Screen 9. From the top, there is a summary of all checks, a list of reported issues for each category and a brief explanation of the nature of the issue and how it might be fixed. Some can even be corrected automatically. We don’t think we’ve ever run into these sorts of defects. Still, those working with large designs (especially if created by a team) will undoubtedly want to ensure they don’t have any of these problems before ordering thousands of boards! If you experience unexplained slowdowns, crashes or strange PCB manufacturing problems, especially when working in collaboration with MCAD software, it might be worth performing a PCB Health Check. MCAD Mechanical CAD is often closely tied with EDA/ECAD since most electronic designs also require mechanical components, such as a case, front panel etc. A custom case is typically designed with dedicated MCAD software. Importantly, the electronic components must work with mechanical parts, eg, to ensure that the electronics will fit in the case and that the controls and displays line up correctly with cut-outs. Our Altium Designer 21 review noted the ability to integrate with MCAD programs such as SolidWorks, AutoDesk Inventor and PTC Creo. This requires the MCAD CoDesigner extension. This is not a feature we use as we do not have subscriptions to these programs, although we have dabbled with using 3D models of enclosures to generate renders of finished designs. Protel Autotrax is still available for download and can be run on modern operating systems under a DOS emulator. We only recommend doing this if you want to see how we did things 30 years ago! AD23 now supports integration with Autodesk Fusion 360 and Siemens NX MCAD software. This is done via the Altium 365 server, with both Altium Designer and the MCAD tool communicating with Altium 365. Webinars Altium’s ‘webinars’ are a great resource for finding out about new features in Altium Designer, as well as existing features that might not be immediately obvious. Apart from the Gerber export dialog box, we probably would have been unaware of many of the newer features. With ongoing software updates between major versions, sometimes they will add a new feature, and you won’t necessarily know until it’s mentioned in a webinar! The webinars also hint at new and upcoming features, many of which can be accessed via the beta program. The beta program gives access to upcoming software versions before its general release. One future feature we expect will be handy is the upcoming wiring harness designer, which will involve a new file type. Harnesses will have a BOM (bill of materials), wiring and layout, and they can be standalone projects or be part of a multi-board assembly. The harness designer will also work with Draftsman and allow manufacturing drawings to be created. Altium Designer 23 can now integrate with numerous MCAD tools. There is no need for manual file conversion, as Altium Designer works seamlessly with the various native MCAD file formats. 60 Silicon Chip Australia's electronics magazine Other planned features mentioned in the webinar included sectional views, an update to the variant manager and parameterised footprints. MCAD integration will also be updated to allow integration with multi-board assemblies. Summary Altium Designer 23 adds quite a few incremental features, many of which we think will come in handy. We’re already using the new Gerber expert dialog box. In particular, the pin functionality feature will allow us to better annotate and document our schematic diagrams. The PCB health check will come in handy as well. Even if you don’t use Altium Designer, you might like to try the free online tools that Altium provides. Availability Altium Designer 23 can be downloaded by those with a paid subscription; the latest software versions are included with a subscription. See www.altium.com/altium-designer/ If you haven’t used Altium Designer before and you’d like to try it out, take a look at www.altium.com/altium-­ designer/free-trial/ Altium also offers CircuitMaker (see our review in the January 2019 issue; siliconchip.au/Article/11378), an EDA tool targeted at hobbyists. It has a similar feel to Altium Designer, although designs are available for others to view online. You can also visit https://circuitmaker.com/ And as we mentioned earlier, Altium offers numerous free online tools, such as the Gerber viewer and Gerber compare. There is also Altium Basic, which can be accessed by simply creating a free account. SC siliconchip.com.au