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AP0138 Pin and Part Swapping With Dynamic Net Assignment
AP0138 Pin and Part Swapping With Dynamic Net Assignment
Supporting the dynamic re-assignment of net names to the routing, Altium Designers pin and part swapping brings a new level of functionality to pin or part swapping during the board design process.
Figure 1. The 2-stage automatic pin/net optimizer minimizes connection length and crossovers.
How it Works
Pin Swapping
A component pin is swappable with another pin in that component when it belongs to the same Pin Group (has the same Pin Group value). The Pin Group is a property of each pin in the component, its value can be any alphanumeric string. The Pin Groups for the entire component are set up in the Configure Pin Swapping dialog, as shown in Figure 2. Figure 2 shows the Configure Pin Swapping dialog for a quad resistor array, Figure 3 shows two suitable logical component symbols for that array.
Figure 2. Pin Groups defined for a quad resistor array. Note in Figure 2 how the pins in each resistor in the package belong to the same Pin Group. This definition, where each resistors pins have the same Pin Group value, and that value is different from the other resistors in the array, means that the pins belonging to each resistor can swap with each other, but not with any other resistor in the array. It is the Pin Group setting that determine if pins can be swapped between sub-parts, not the Part Group value, or the design of the schematic symbol. Or to say that another way, as long as two pins have the same Pin Group value they can be swapped, regardless of which sub-part in a multi-part component they are in.
Part Swapping
As well as the Pin Group setting, each pin also includes a Part Group and a Part Sequence. The Part Group defines the swap-ability of the pins that belong to this subpart. A sub-part can be swapped with any other sub-part whose pins have the same Part Group value. Like the Pin Group, the Part Group is a text field. There is another criteria for swapping sub-parts, that is that each subpart is drawn as a separate part in a multi-part component symbol. This means that in Figure 3 the sub-parts in the left resistor array (RA3) can be swapped, but not those in the right resistor array (RA6).
Figure 3. Multi-part and single part symbols for the same type of quad resistor array.
The Part-Sequence defines the pin correspondence between sub-parts. This information is required so that the part swapper knows how to re-allocate the nets to each pin in the part when a swap is performed. Pins with the same field value, but in different sub-parts, are deemed to be matching. This is also a simple text field. Figure 8 shows an example of where this field would be used.
Figure 4. Select which technique is used to perform the pin swapping on the schematic.
Figure 5. Use the Swap Manager to configure and manage pin swapping for all components in the design.
Figure 6. Right click on a component to configure pin and part swapping for that component. Use the PCB Inspector to enable pin and part swapping for an individual component.
Figure 7. Pin/part swap settings for a quad OR gate, note that the 2 input pins on each gate can swap with each other, and also the four sub-parts can be swapped.
Figure 8. Pin/part swap settings for a quad op-amp, note that none of the sub-parts permit pin swaps, but the sub-parts can be swapped with each other, and the pins must be correctly sequenced during a part swap.
From the two previous figures the following can be observed: Within each of the four gates in the quad OR gate (Figure 7), the two input pins can be swapped with each other, but the output pin has no pin with a matching swap value within that part. On the other hand, the quad op-amp (Figure 8) has no pins that can be swapped with other pins. The Part Group column defines the swap-ability of the part that that pin belongs to. Note that it does not define which part the pin belongs to, that is defined by the way the component was created in the schematic library. All four parts in both quad devices are swappable. Pins with no Pin Group swap value are not swappable. Pins with no Part Group swap value means that the part they belong to is not swappable. The Part-Sequence defines the pin correspondence between parts. This information is required so that the part swapper knows how to re-allocate the nets to each pin in the part when a swap is performed. Note that for the quad OR gate (Figure 7) either input pin can map to either input pin when a part swap occurs. Note that for the quad op-amp (Figure 8) the net on a negative input pin must go to another negative input pin when a part swap occurs.