Dynamic Access for Mentor

Advanced Design System 2011

September 2011
Dynamic Access for Mentor

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 Dynamic Access for Mentor

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 Dynamic Access for Mentor

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About Dynamic Access for Mentor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Requirements for Dynamic Access for Mentor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Installing Dynamic Access for Mentor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Setting Up the Dynamic Access for Mentor Link . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Sending Designs from ADS to Mentor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Sending Designs from Mentor to ADS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Troubleshooting Dynamic Access for Mentor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

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About Dynamic Access for Mentor

Agilent EEsof and Mentor Graphics have developed an integrated RF design flow that
provides the following benefits:

Reduces the number of design cycles

Improves design robustness
Increases speed for time to market

Dynamic Access for Mentor supports these goals by including these characteristics:

Provides a bidirectional link for RF design information between ADS and Mentor
Supports both layout and schematic transfer
Allows ADS simulation of Mentor RF schematic designs without transferring a
schematic
Uses an interprocess communication link to eliminate user-management of the data
transfer process

Mentor now supplies an RF design solution as an option for DxDesigner and Expedition
that provides the Mentor side of the Dynamic Access for Mentor link. This RF Option also
includes a complete symbol library of ADS passive and transmission line elements,
facilitating the transfer of RF design information between ADS and Mentor.

Dynamic Access for Mentor Overview

Dynamic Access for Mentor supports two distinct design flows:

RF Design Starts in ADS

For RF designers comfortable in ADS, RF designs started, tuned, and optimized in
ADS can be moved into the Mentor environment for integration with the rest of a PCB
design. ADS designs using transmission line elements are transferred directly from
the schematic and layout windows.
RF Design Starts in Mentor
Using the ADS element library included with the Mentor RF Option, a designer can
now create RF schematic designs in the Mentor environment, as well as incorporate
RF schematics imported from ADS. These designs can be maintained in the Mentor
environment, while retaining the ability to send them back to ADS for circuit level
and electromagnetic simulation.

Design information can be transferred as schematics and layouts, when full component
libraries are available, and as netlist files for simulation, requiring only electrical model
libraries.

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Requirements for Dynamic Access for

Mentor
Supported Operating Systems and Products

The ADS side of the Dynamic Access for Mentor link is supported on the following
operating systems:

32-bit Operating Microsoft Windows XP Professional SP3

System Microsoft Windows Vista Enterprise SP1
Microsoft Windows 7 Enterprise
Redhat RHEL WS 4.x
64-bit Operating Microsoft Windows XP Professional x64
System Microsoft Windows Vista Enterprise SP1 64-bit edition
Microsoft Windows 7 Enterprise 64-bit edition
Redhat RHEL WS 4.x
For details about ADS system requirements, see Check the System Requirements for
Windows (instalpc) and Linux (install).

Dynamic Access for Mentor supports Mentor Graphics Expedition Enterprise 2007.2 and
later. Version 2007.5 or later is recommended. All examples in this document feature
DxDesigner and Expedition. It will also work with BoardStation XE.

The Mentor side of the link is supported on the following operating systems:

Microsoft Windows XP and Vista 32 bit (use compatibility mode on 64 bit platforms)
Solaris SPARC 8, 9, and 10 (preferred)
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 (Update 8 or later), 4, and 5 (preferred)

Dynamic Access for Mentor requires either a full Mentor Graphics local installation, or a
reduced run-time installation available from Mentor Graphics support.

A Mentor EE 2007.2 installation will need updates to support the latest functionality. To
ensure that the Mentor installation is up to date, Mentor customers should download and
install RF Connect from Mentor's SupportNet.

License Requirements

To use Dynamic Access for Mentor, ensure that you have valid licenses for the ADS
schematic and layout environments. No additional ADS licenses are needed. For more
information on ADS licenses, see Managing ADS Licenses (instalpc).

For Mentor licenses, check with your local corporate Mentor administrator.

Dynamic Access for Mentor Library Requirements

An RF design started in ADS can be transferred to Mentor for inclusion in a larger PCB
system. To transfer parameterized information about the components and interconnects
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that make up the design, ADS and Mentor must share compatible libraries, with identical
symbols and layout footprints. For simulation, the ADS library must include electrical
model information for each element in the schematic. In the past, this has required
extensive custom library development work.

With the schematic and layout RF Options, Mentor now provides compatible symbol
libraries for most passive ADS elements, including transmission line components such as
microstrip and stripline. This means that ADS designs that use these elements can move
into the Mentor environment without user-supplied libraries.

The Mentor side of the Dynamic Access for Mentor link includes utilities to create and
manage the ADS-compatible symbol library.

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Installing Dynamic Access for Mentor

Dynamic Access for Mentor is delivered as a design kit with the ADS product. The Dynamic
Access for Mentor design kit is not installed by default, but is managed using the standard
design kit installation process. You can add the design kit using the Design Kit menu on
the ADS main window.

Installing the Dynamic Access for Mentor Design Kit

Follow the steps below to add Dynamic Access for Mentor and activate the link:

1. From the ADS main window, choose DesignKit > Manage Favorite Design Kits.
2. The Manage Favorite Design Kits dialog box opens.
3. Click Add Library Definition File
4. Navigate to <ADS_install_dir>/pcb_connect/MentorDA_wdk, select the lib.defs file
and click Open. (You do not need to unzip the file.)
5. Enter the Design Kit Name and click OK.

When the installation completes successfully, a MentorDA menu will appear in the main
window's menu bar.

Checking the Dynamic Access for Mentor Setup

To verify that the Dynamic Access for Mentor installation is working:

1. Select the MentorDA menu on the ADS main window.

2. Verify that the Start MentorDA Server menu item is enabled. If it is disabled,
Dynamic Access for Mentor functionality is not available. Usually, this is caused by a
missing .dll file, MentorADSMessaging.dll. This file is supplied by Mentor Graphics.
See Troubleshooting the Dynamic Access for Mentor Setup for more information.
3. Select MentorDA > Start MentorDA Server to open the Start Server dialog.
4. Click OK to accept the default values. If the server starts successfully, you will see
this message:

Troubleshooting the Dynamic Access for Mentor Setup

If the Start MentorDA Server menu pick is inactive, something has prevented the Dynamic
Access for Mentor plugin from loading into ADS, usually a missing library. One external
dynamically loaded library (.dll or .so) is required. Mentor Graphics supplies this file,
named MentorADSMessaging.dll, for Windows operating systems, and
libMentorADSMessaging4.so, for Linux. It is located in the Mentor installation folder. The
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Mentor installation process typically adds the path to this file to the system path, making
it available to ADS. If the ADS path does not include the Mentor installation folders, you
must add them before Dynamic Access for Mentor will operate properly. On Linux, the
LD_LIBRARY_PATH environment variable may need to be edited.

If you cannot locate this file, or you do not have a local installation of a Mentor product
that includes it, contact your Mentor Graphics representative for assistance.

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Setting Up the Dynamic Access for

Mentor Link
The Dynamic Access for Mentor link operates as a client/server system, with ADS
providing the server function. The server process in ADS can connect to one or more
Mentor clients. Typically, this will include one DxDesigner schematic connection and one
Expedition layout connection.

Starting the Dynamic Access for Mentor Server in ADS

The Dynamic Access for Mentor link between ADS and Mentor uses a pair of TCP ports for
communication. The Dynamic Access for Mentor connection can link ADS and Mentor on
the same computer, or on different computers over the network.

Note
Though the Dynamic Access for Mentor link allows multiple client connections, use only one connection at
a time for improved performance. You should disconnect an existing link before requesting another.

To start the Dynamic Access for Mentor server and establish a link:

1. In the ADS main window, choose MentorDA > Start MentorDA Server. The
following dialog box appears enabling you to specify a range of ports for ADS to use,
in case of conflict with the default port.

2. ADS will choose the first unused port in this range for the Dynamic Access for Mentor
link. Accept the default values unless you encounter port number conflicts.
3. After the ADS server starts, request a link connection from Mentor DxDesigner or
Expedition. See Starting the Dynamic Access for Mentor Client in DxDesigner or
Starting the Dynamic Access for Mentor Client in Expedition
4. To display the Dynamic Access for Mentor server status, choose MentorDA > Show
Server Connections.
5. To stop the server process, choose MentorDA > Stop MentorDA Server.

Starting the Dynamic Access for Mentor Client in DxDesigner

To set a Dynamic Access for Mentor connection from Mentor DxDesigner to an ADS
server:

1. Enable the DxRFEngineer license. This activates the RF toolbar.

2. In the toolbar, click the Mentor-Agilent link button to open DxDesigner's RF Connect
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dialog.

3. In the RF Connect dialog, click connect to set a local connection to the Dynamic
Access for Mentor server in ADS.

Starting the Dynamic Access for Mentor Client in Expedition

To set a Dynamic Access for Mentor connection from Mentor Expedition to an ADS server:

1. In Mentor Expedition, click Setup > Licensed Modules > Advanced Technology
Pro (RF) to activate Expedition's RF Toolkit.
2. In the Expedition toolbar, click the RF Toolkit button to open the RF Toolkit toolbar.

3. In the RF Toolkit toolbar, click the Mentor-Agilent link button to open Expedition's
RF Connect dialog.

4. In the RF Connect dialog, click connect to set a local connection to the Dynamic
Access for Mentor server in ADS.

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Additional Connection Features in Mentor

The additional configuration tabs on the Mentor RF Connect dialog boxes allow connections
to remote ADS servers that are more complex. Please see your Mentor documentation for
more information about these capabilities.

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Sending Designs from ADS to Mentor

Many RF designers begin in ADS, using the power and features of ADS to optimize the
performance of the design. This design must then be moved into the Mentor environment
for integration with other subsystems and backend processing for fabrication.

Dynamic Access for Mentor supports this design flow:

ADS schematics can be transerred to Mentor DxDesigner

ADS layouts can be transferred to Mentor Expedition

Schematic Transfers

Before you can send a schematic to Mentor, ensure that you can establish a Mentor-ADS
link as described in Starting the Dynamic Access for Mentor Server in ADS (mentorlink).
Also, you must have an open ADS workspace with a schematic ready to send.

To send a schematic design from ADS to Mentor DxDesigner:

1. Make sure the schematic meets the following requirements:

The schematic must include only those components that are available in the
Mentor-ADS symbol library. For more information about available components
contact your corporate Mentor library administrator.
The schematic design must be flat since Mentor does not support ADS-style
hierarchical designs.
2. Start the Dynamic Access for Mentor server from the ADS main window (see Starting
the Dynamic Access for Mentor Server in ADS (mentorlink)).
3. Start a Dynamic Access for Mentor link connection from DxDesigner to ADS (see
Starting the Dynamic Access for Mentor Client in DxDesigner (mentorlink)).
4. On the ADS schematic window, click MentorDA > Send ADS Schematic to transfer
the design.

The ADS schematic is transferred into DxDesigner as a block as shown in the

following example:
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 Dynamic Access for Mentor

4.

Layout Transfers

Before you can send a layout to Mentor, ensure that you can establish a Mentor-ADS link
as described in Starting the Dynamic Access for Mentor Server in ADS (mentorlink). Also,
you must have an open ADS workspace with a layout ready to send.

Note
Paths, traces, and meander lines cannot be exported from ADS Layout to Mentor Expedition. You must
convert these structures to polygons before transferring the layout.

To send a layout from ADS to Expedition:

1. Start the Dynamic Access for Mentor server from the ADS main window (see Starting
the Dynamic Access for Mentor Server in ADS (mentorlink)).
2. Start a Dynamic Access for Mentor link connection from Expedition to ADS (see
Starting the Dynamic Access for Mentor Client in Expedition (mentorlink)).
3. On the ADS layout window, click MentorDA > Send ADS Layout to transfer the
design.

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3.

4. When Expedition receives the layout data, it opens a layer and via mapping dialog as
shown in the following example:

5. Set up the mapping in the dialog. See the Mentor documentation for more
information about this process. When you complete the layer mapping, the ADS
layout information is inserted as an RF Group at the origin of the Mentor layout as
shown in the following figure:
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Dynamic Access for Mentor

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 Dynamic Access for Mentor

Sending Designs from Mentor to ADS

Dynamic Access for Mentor can transfer design information from Mentor board design
tools to ADS. This can be used for design refinement of RF subsystems designed in the
Mentor environment, or for verification of ADS RF designs embedded in a Mentor board
design.

Several Dynamic Access for Mentor features support these goals:

Mentor RF designs can be netlisted in Mentor, with the resulting netlist sent to ADS
for simulation.
The actual RF schematic can be transfered from Mentor to ADS.
An arbitrary Mentor layout can be sent to ADS as geometric information for EM
simulation.
RF layouts can be sent to ADS as parameterized components.
Mentor RF designs can be netlisted in Mentor and simulated in ADS.

Before you can use any of these features to send designs to ADS, ensure that you can
establish the Mentor-ADS link as described in Starting the Dynamic Access for Mentor
Server in ADS (mentorlink). All of these features also require that you have an open ADS
workspace.

RF Groups in Mentor

All RF design transfers from Mentor to ADS are based on the concept of the RF Group. RF
Groups are created in Mentor by selecting a group of schematic or layout objects, and
using the RF Group dialog to add them to a new or existing RF Group. The RF grouping
does not change the board design; it associates a group of design objects with an RF
Group name for further processing.

Mentor DxDesigner and Expedition each have RF Group user interfaces which provide the
same functions. RF Group functionality may not be available in the Mentor environment
until the RF environment is activated as described in Setting Up the Dynamic Access for
Mentor Link (mentorlink).

Sending a Schematic Netlist for Simulation

Mentor library components can include ADS netlisting properties. The ADS symbol library
in DxDesigner is an example of this capability. RF design groups containing elements with
netlisting properties can be sent as a dynamic netlist to ADS for simulation. The resulting
netlist appears in ADS as a black box symbol that can be used in an ADS schematic.

Note
If two schematics are used in a single project in DxDesigner, you can define a group only in that
schematic design that has been set as a root. You cannot define a group in that schematic design that has
not been set as a root.

To send a netlist from DxDesigner:

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 Dynamic Access for Mentor
1. Define an RF Group.
2. From the RF Group/Ungroup dialog, select the group in the tree list to be transferred.
3. Right-click the name to open the context menu, and choose Send Netlist.

4. The active ADS schematic will pop forward, and the black-box symbol outline will
appear for insertion. Click the component to complete the insertion.

5. After the Mentor netlist component is placed, the port names are visible. The names
come from the identifiers supplied in the Mentor netlist. You can now wire the
component to a design for use in an ADS circuit simulation.

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5.

Sending a Schematic

The Dynamic Access for Mentor link can send a DxDesigner schematic from Mentor to
ADS. With some restrictions, an RF Group in DxDesigner is sent to ADS as a schematic
design, where it can be modified and optimized like any other ADS schematic design. One
restriction is that the source Mentor schematic must be flat, and completely visible in one
schematic view—no block instances are allowed.

To send a schematic from DxDesigner:

1. Define an RF Group.
2. From the RF Group/Ungroup dialog, select the group in the tree list to be transferred.
3. Right-click the name to open the context menu, and choose Send Schematic Data.
Note
The actual element level schematic must be visible in the DxDesigner schematic window, not a
higher level block instance. Push into blocks for a successful transfer. This also means that
transferred schematics cannot span blocks.

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4. On the ADS side, a new design will be created using the same name as the RF Group.
Use this design as a building block in more complex ADS simulations.

Sending a Layout as Polygons

Expedition layout RF Groups can be sent to ADS layout as geometric information. In this
type of transfer, all Mentor objects are reduced to simple polygons and sent over the
Dynamic Access for Mentor link to ADS. Along with the layout geometry, substrate
information from the Mentor layout database is sent to ADS as a .slm file for use in
Momentum electromagnetic simulations. Since the Mentor database does not include all of
the physical parameters that Momentum requires, additional substrate editing will be
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needed in ADS.

To send a geometric layout from Mentor Expedition to ADS:

1. Define an RF Group.
2. From the RF Group/Ungroup dialog, select the group in the tree list to be transferred.
3. Right-click the name to open the context menu, and choose Send layout data.

A new ADS layout window will open containing the polygon-based imported layout.

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A new .slm substrate information file will also be copied into the ADS workspace. You
can manually load it for use with Momentum. It will have the same name as the RF
Group that produced it.

1. Edit the substrate parameters as usual, if necessary.

Note
If you edit the substrate parameters, save the changes into a new file since an existing .slm file will
be overwritten by a later import.

Sending a Layout as Components

Expedition RF Groups containing components that have equivalent components in the ADS
library can be sent over the Dynamic Access for Mentor link as ADS layouts containing
parameterized components, not just simple polygons. The resulting ADS layout can be
used to generate an ADS schematic, and can be used in circuit level simulation.

To send a parameterized layout from Mentor Expedition to ADS:

1. Define an RF Group.
2. From the RF Group/Ungroup dialog, select the group in the tree list to be transferred.
3. Right-click the name to open the context menu, and choose Send Tune/Opt Data.

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The resulting layout view will open in a new layout window. The cell's schematic view
will contain substrate-related information for the transmission line elements used in
the layout.

Sending a Layout Netlist for Simulation

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In cases where full layout transfer is not needed, an ADS netlist representing an RF Group
can be sent from Expedition to ADS. Elements from the ADS symbol library are netlisted
according to their netlisting properties. Simple trace elements also are converted to ADS
transmission line equivalents and inserted in the netlist.

The netlist transfer process is similar to one used to transfer a schematic netlist from
DxDesigner described above in Sending a Schematic Netlist for Simulation.

To send the netlist from Expedition:

1. Define an RF Group.
2. From the RF Group/Ungroup dialog, select the group in the tree list to be transferred.
3. Right-click the name to open the context menu, and choose Send Netlist.
4. The active ADS schematic will pop forward, and the black-box symbol outline will
appear for insertion. Click the component to complete the insertion.
5. After the Mentor netlist component is placed, the port names are visible. The names
come from the identifiers supplied in the Mentor netlist. You can now wire the
component to a design for use in an ADS circuit simulation.

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Troubleshooting Dynamic Access for

Mentor
This section discusses some of the current Dynamic Access for Mentor use-model
limitations and known issues.

Dynamic Access for Mentor Use Model

Substrate definition and transfer

Mentor DxDesigner and Expedition have significantly different use models for substrate
information than Agilent ADS. Substrate data for ADS symbol library components in
DxDesigner is managed with a substrate dialog which edits a centralized substrate
database. ADS uses substrate data components which are placed on schematics and
follow scoping rules in a hierarchical design.

Netlists sent from Mentor to ADS for simulation will have the necessary ADS substrate
components added to the dynamic component netlist file. No additional work is needed for
correct simulation.

Schematics sent from Mentor to ADS will not have any substrate components, and so will
need these to be added manually before the schematic can be used in ADS simulations.

Schematics sent from ADS to Mentor may have substrate component blocks on the
schematic, and a matching symbol will appear in the Mentor schematic. These blocks will
not affect the central substrate database, and will need to be removed from the schematic
before it can be packaged for transfer to Expedition for layout.

Geometric layouts sent from Expedition to ADS will include a .slm file which defines the
substrate stack and its material parameters. This will be derived from the Expedition layer
stack definition, and not from the central RF substrate database used by ADS symbol
library components. The Mentor user must ensure that these two Mentor substrate
definitions match and make sense together.

Parameterized layouts sent from Expedition to ADS will have have substrate information
on the schematic page of the ADS design. This will be derived from the central RF
substrate database, not the Expedition layer stack definition.

Layouts sent from ADS to Expedition include the schematic page information, which may
include substrate information. As of EE2007.2, Expedition does not do anything with this
information.

Circuit design heirarchy

ADS supports hierarchical designs, with arbitrary levels of nested schematic instances.
While Mentor DxDesigner allows nested block instances on the top level schematic, they
are really inline instances of a block template, rather than true hierarchy in the ADS
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sense.

Currently, only flat schematics with no block hierarchy can be sent from DxDesigner to
ADS, since the schematic must be completely visible in the DxDesigner schematic window.
RF groups with block hierarchy are allowed, but will be sent as a flattened netlist.

ADS schematics to be transferred to DxDesigner must be flat, with no hierarchy. Each

symbol on the ADS schematic must have an equivalent in the Mentor environment.

Port definition rules

Port placement on geometric layout transfers is determined in the Mentor environment,

and there is no control over these ports from the ADS side of the link. As of EE2007.2,
only single ports with no ground reference are transferred. Ports may require additional
manual adjustment in ADS before EM simulation.

Ground plane transfer

Information about this topic will be added when available.

Unit string translation

There are some differences between Mentor and ADS unit name strings, for example
Mentor "mils" versus ADS "mil". These differences are automatically translated in the
transfer process, and can be ignored in the Mentor environment.

Known Dynamic Access for Mentor Issues

None at this time.

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