Cadence OrCAD X and Allegro X 24.1 is Now Available

The OrCAD X and Allegro X 24.1 release is now available at Cadence Downloads. This blog post provides links to access the release and describes some major changes and new features.

  OrCAD X /Allegro X 24.1 (SPB241)

Here is a representative list of product changes and enhancements with brief overviews.  

Release-Level Changes

• A new, free Allegro X System Capture Viewer is introduced. Use Allegro X System Capture Viewer to open System Capture designs in the read-only mode without requiring additional licenses. Improve collaboration, simplify design sharing, and reduce errors by using Allegro X System Capture Viewer.
• The product documentation delivery mechanism has changed for Windows installations. For the past few releases, by default, product documentation and help are accessed online rather than from the installation hierarchy. This ensures that you always have access to the latest content. Starting from this release, only a subset of the documentation is included with the installation media, resulting in reduced media size and installation time. The installed subset includes the What’s New documents for the installed products and a few commonly used setup documents.
• If you are in a setup with restricted internet access, you can install the product documentation using a separate installer. Product Documentation is a new entry at download.cadence.com to support this new implementation. The documentation installer sets up the complete documentation for the installed products. This is usually a one-time task for a release but needs to be repeated whenever the content is updated for a release or a new hotfix is available. The product documentation can be installed only after the products have been installed.

Allegro X PCB Editor and Allegro X Advanced Package Designer

• 3DX Canvas now includes many new features, such as handling unrestricted design sizes using Model Mapper to map 3D models to footprints (symbols), devices, or mechanical components.
• Two new commands, Frozen Shape Void and Void Adjacent Layer Shapes, are introduced in this release. Use the Frozen Shape Void command to update sections of a frozen dynamic shape selectively. You no longer need to void shapes underneath an object on the adjacent layer manually; use the new Shape – Void Adjacent Layer Shapes command to select objects on the canvas and generate static shape voids on adjacent layers in dynamic or static shapes.
• The default film record automation is replaced with configuration-based film categories to generate film records intelligently. This configuration is used for individual designs and can be leveraged across other designs to ensure consistent manufacturing results.
• Several improvements for differential pair routing have been made to produce better first-pass results without extensive cleanup. The improvements are in trace transition, pad entry and gather, and asymmetric delay tuning. The new option, Custom Smooth, optimizes routing with electrical timing rules by eliminating additional manual effort required prior to delay tuning. No Connect (NC) nets can be ignored in the Status dialog box and Unconnected Pin Report by setting a new property and a user preference variable.
• A new Daisy Chain Generator, Route – Daisy Chain Generator, is introduced, which performs electrical and physical analysis of the connections between a package and the die or board, checks connections, and identifies pins with failures.
• Constraint management enhancements include adding single-ended and differential impedance requirements directly in Cross-Section Editor and several new DRCs, such as checks to minimize signal integrity impacts, calculating the Root Sum Squared (RSS) length, counting the times a differential pair gets routed between two vias, and so on.

Allegro X Pulse

• Pulse now uses Cloud Identity proxy services with Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) deployment topology for secure collaboration with external design contractors and manufacturers. This release supports Microsoft Entra ID Application Proxy (formerly Azure Active Directory).
• You can now:
  
  • Influence part selection using managed parts lists. Author part lists using CSV files to populate unplaced parts in a parts list or Live BOM.
• • Manage project attachment versions in the web dashboard. When uploading attachments, you can add comments and tags, which act as descriptive metadata for easier identification of versions later.
• • Track schematic, layout, BOM, and custom metrics using project analytics. These trends and curated visualizations help focus on key metrics critical to business goals.

OrCAD X Presto

• You can now use industry-standard footprint templates to generate IPC-compliant footprints parametrically.
• The Move command is significantly enhanced, offering a range of new capabilities, such as rip up or slide etch, moving relatively or to an absolute location, using dynamic HUD, specifying X Y location, utilizing DFA guides, and providing temporary relative grids.
• Navigating nets is now easier using the Ultra Shadow mode, making the selected objects stand out against all the other objects. You can navigate traces and shapes based on their layer color or assigned net color.

Allegro X System Capture

• Analysis Model Manager (AMM) support is now available in System Capture. With AMM, you can control the default model settings, manage external model libraries, assign custom models, and create models.
• A new method to create a group of components and connectivity, Function Overlay, is introduced. Properties applied to an overlay are applied to all the objects and nets across all instances of the overlay.
• In Design Integrity, you can create new device categories and use the enhanced Power Topology configuration flow. New audit rules for ICs have been added, and support for pin properties for interface devices has been extended.
• When you select a template in Publish for Manufacturing (PFM), its configured connection displays by default, helping you to decide which template to use even before logging in. PFM has a new audit feature to ensure design integrity, reduce data synchronization problems, and flag events that prevent data publishing. 

Sigrity Topology Workbench

• Sigrity SystemSI enhancements include the ability to backannotate constraints from Topology Workbench to Constraint Manager and new reports for advanced memory interfaces, such as LPDDR5X, HBM1, HBM2, and HBM3.
• In Sigrity SystemPI, you can generate an analysis report from the PDN Curves tab and specify the Window Start and Window End values for the required IC blocks in the Simulation Setup tab of the Analysis Options panel.
• The Celsius Thermal Network workflow supports thermal throttling. This feature runs faster than 3D models, allowing quicker iterations and decision-making. You can also add a Cold Plate Model block to upload a 1D cold plate model that supports dynamic Inlet Temperature (C) and Inlet Flow Rate (L/Min).

PSpice A/D 

• You can now use the .MEASURE command to analyze the output of transient, AC, and DC analyses.
• Support for the behavioral diode model is added. You can simulate behavioral diode models to analyze the breakdown behavior of a diode for circuit analysis.
• PSpice A/D now supports Temperature Coefficients TTT1 and TTT2, and Grading Coefficients TM1 and TM2.

OrCAD X Capture CIS

• You can now publish a new component while you are creating it. The publish functionality is available from within the Component dialog box. When you publish a new component, it is first saved, and then the Publish dialog box is displayed, where you select the shared workspace to publish the component.

These are some of the changes available in Cadence OrCAD X and Allegro X Release 24.1.  

For information about supported platforms and other release compatibility information, see the README.pdf available at downloads.cadence.com. This file is also available in the Disk 1 folder of the downloaded installation media.

We’ll soon return with more in-depth blog posts on product-specific features and enhancements, so watch this space.

If you have questions or feedback, send them to pcbbloggers@cadence.com.

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Allegro Release Team