Schematic capture and digital circuit simulation questions

Hi Folks: I've been away from this area for a while and am looking for opinions & facts regarding current CAD tools for digital ckt design and analysis. In the past (1990s) I've used ORCAD, Protel, and Eagle 3.x for circuit capture, board layout and routing. I also used some tools for logic design and analysis at the gate level (e.g. ABLE for PALs and Verilog). So my question is this: Are there any tools that combine techniques for capturing state and timing information and do the associated analysis? (EEWorkbench?). For example...I am designing a CPU and associated memory hierarchy (cache, main, etc). At the functional pin level for instruction fetch, I want to simulate a memory write sequence (how the CPU pins would be cycled), simulate the memory address decoding logic (however implemented), and memory cycles. So, what I want to be able to do is specify the cpu pin signals for a mem-rd cycle, mem-write, read-modify-write, etc. simulate the decode logic all the way to the memory interface for the purpose of verifying the memory access (decode) is correct over the entire memory space (both physical and virtual address). I also want to be able to analyze it from a timing perspective (to include as little or much detail about the paths as I want to (i.e. setup/hold times, prop delay, etc.). The last time I attempted this (1997?) I had to use several tools to do different aspects. So I am wondering if any tool vendor has integrated this into their systems? Also, any comments on the current packages (ORCAD, Protel, and Eagle) are welcome. Thanks John

Reply to
John Hudak
Loading thread data ...

See my notes and links to some 60 ECAD programs at

formatting link

Some packages like CircuitMaker (which I use myself) have 'hybrid' simulation facilities, i.e. analog and digital, which might be useful in the context you describe.

Terry Pinnell Hobbyist, West Sussex, UK

Reply to
Terry Pinnell

ElectronDepot website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.