What is ADS like for Schematic capture and PCB design?

I've designed PCBs using a number of techniques from stencils on a light box, cheap software (Easy PC) to expensive software (PADs). But it is not something I have done much in recent years.

A colleague of mine has never designed or made a PCB and I'd like to show her the basics at least. We are going to get a trial of EM ADS for simulation purposes, and will have the EMPro option, but I was thinking of using that trial to show her the basics of PCB design. I'm wondering how useful ADS is for this. I know there is free software for PCB design, but I'd rather she had on her CV some experience using ADS rather than freeware.

I get the feeling ADS is not the best software for PCB layout, but having never used it, I wonder how good or bad it would be to introduce someone to PCB layout. What I'd like to do it:

1) Get her to draw a circuit diagram in ADS
2) Lay out the PCB
3) Simulate it
4) Get it made commercially from the Gerber files, or whatever the PCB manufacturers want nowadays.

We would be interested in simple RF boards, with patch antennas - not highly complex digital circuits, so the number of components will be quite small


Dave

drkirkby,

You are right ADS is not very help full in PCB drawing right from scratch, but it is capable enough to modify previously created PCB from other PCB designing tools(like Allegro, Mentor Expedition). ADS has various links to bring their layouts to ADS.

You can ask her to Create a simple design of inset/edge feed Patch Antenna in ADS Layout and do a EM simulation on it. after EM simulation visualizing current and viewing far field would be good task to learn for the beginners.

ADS has a very powerful capability of co-simulation of active components with passive layout structures in Schematic. You can show her this feature also.

For notes you can use following links

**broken link removed**

http://www.utdallas.edu/~rmh072000/Site/Software_and_Links_files/

Hope this helps you.

Please ask if you find any issue in ADS

Following amit's post, ADS is not a good tool for PCB layout. It's much better suited to circuit analysis and complex simulations. It's a design tool, not a general layout application.

If you are doing complex microwave structures (microstrip transmission lines, couplers, hybrids, coupled-line filters, band-gap filters, microstrip antennas, stripline circuits, etc), then the ADS Layout tool is very powerful (especially when running Momentum, their "3D" EM solver).

I wouldn't mess with ADS for low frequency board layout (minimal pre-built part footprints, no nice trace-routing tools, etc). Stick with PADS, ExpressPCB, and other cheap/free toolsets for that. For developing and analyzing the electrical circuit, that's where ADS shines (think PSPICE on steroids ;-) ).

You can also join ADS Group to get your queries solved quickly

amitsinghjiit said:

You can also join ADS Group to get your queries solved quickly

Click to expand...

None of the groups on here seem to be very active. I note the ADS group has just one post. I've given up even looking at the groups now.

It is just started, I guess there is opportunity every where ...

amitsinghjiit said:

It is just started, I guess there is opportunity every where ...

Click to expand...

Hi,
yes, i see you have just started it. But despite there being a lot of posts on antennas and HFSS edaforum, both the HFSS and Antennas groups are essentially dead. So I suspect you might struggle with an ADS group, and people will just post on the Electromagnetic Design and Simulation forum.

Dave