Signals and Terminals

The program automatically generates a unique Signal for each wire inside a cable - a single wire carries one signal, a ribbon cable e.g. has got more than one signal. This means, depending on the kind of cable, a certain number of signal names will be created. A signal name can be changed by selecting the signal in the Cable Navigation Tree and editing it. Each signal normally owns two separate Terminals - in case of a Route with stub traces (see Adding a stub to a Route) the number can be three or more (depending on the number of stubs). The terminals appear as pins in the schematic block later on. All signals will be stored in the Signals folder inside the Cable Navigation Tree as shown in the figure below. In order to display the terminals of a signal, just select the signal and expand it as the figure shows for signal path1_LIFY_0qm10_1:

NOTE:

It is strongly recommend defining meaningful cable names during the bundle preparation inside the Route Definition dialog box. The reason is that cable names are used when composing signal names and cable terminal names. The more significant those signal names and cable terminal names are the easier it is for you to identify them.

Create external pins from Signal

Sometimes it may be necessary to put a probe on an internal node along the cable path. The figure below shows a Route starting at Node N1 and ending at Node N2:

The Route includes a coaxial cable (RG58) and the corresponding schematic is shown in the figure below:

Now the user may be interested on the voltage of the screen at Node N4. In order to set a probe on this point, an additional pin has to be generated. This can be done by selecting Cable Navigation Tree: Signal, right mouse clicking on signal R2_Screen and choosing Edit from the pull-down menu as shown in the figure below:

The following dialog box will appear:

The icons on the right enable actions which are explained below. The meaning of each icon is also explained by tool-tips. To see a tool-tip just move the mouse-pointer over the corresponding icon:

Add nodes as new terminals. Pressing this button provides a list of all internal Nodes the Signal is passing by.
Remove selected Node

The figure below shows that Node N4 has been added to the list.

After pressing Apply the user will be prompted to acknowledge the change of the current model behind the schematic block. In a final step, the user has to perform a new 2DTL modeling step. As a result, the updated schematic block will have the additional pin:

Signals and Terminals

Signals and Terminals

Create external pins from Signal

Sometimes it may be necessary to put a probe on an internal node along the cable path. The figure below shows a Route starting at Node N1 and ending at Node N2:

The following dialog box will appear:

The icons on the right enable actions which are explained below. The meaning of each icon is also explained by tool-tips. To see a tool-tip just move the mouse-pointer over the corresponding icon:

Add nodes as new terminals. Pressing this button provides a list of all internal Nodes the Signal is passing by.

Remove selected Node

The figure below shows that Node N4 has been added to the list.

After pressing Apply the user will be prompted to acknowledge the change of the current model behind the schematic block. In a final step, the user has to perform a new 2DTL modeling step. As a result, the updated schematic block will have the additional pin: