Multiroute feature in EAGLE

[cristi_m90]

Is it possible to enable multirouting in EAGLE so you can route multiple traces at once? It is somewhat similar to differential routing, but here the number of traces can be larger than two and the traces don't necessarily have to be differential (e.g., I want to route a bus of five traces at a time).

Other PCB design software have this capability (e.g. Altium).

[Anonymous]

The name you are loking for is bus routing... 🙂

I'm not sure if there is a live version of bus routing in Eagle.

[rachaelATWH4]

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@cristi_m90 wrote:

Is it possible to enable multirouting in EAGLE so you can route multiple traces at once? It is somewhat similar to differential routing, but here the number of traces can be larger than two and the traces don't necessarily have to be differential (e.g., I want to route a bus of five traces at a time).

Other PCB design software have this capability (e.g. Altium).

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Not yet, but it seems they are working hard on adding to the routing capabilities. There was a teaser video on twitter a couple of nights ago showing the push and shove routing which I expect will be in the next release, so we'll see what else they have on their list once that is done I guess.

Best Regards,

Rachael

[edwin.robledo]

Hi cristi_m90,

Greatly appreciate your participation on the forum, at this time we only have differential pair routing as you already know.  Having the capability of Differential Line routing more than two lines simultaneously is being considered.  If you don't need differential pair, then consider using the Autorouter. 

In the Autorouter screen click on the Select button, then select (Highlight) the signal(s) you want the Autorouter you want to take care off.  Click the traffic light to begin routing the selected signals. 

Using the Autorouter multiple times is not uncommon, remember, that the Autorouter will never optimize traces that have been previously Autorouter or Manually routed.

I hope this helps.

Best Regards,

Ed

[rachaelATWH4]

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@edwin.robledo wrote:

Greatly appreciate your participation on the forum, at this time we only have differential pair routing as you already know.  Having the capability of Differential Line routing more than two lines simultaneously is being considered.  If you don't need differential pair, then consider using the Autorouter. 

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Hi Ed,

Whilst the auto router is useful in some scenarios, I don't think it's a substitute for being able to multi-route a data bus. I think the point of the request is to allow an entire data bus to be routed simultaneously, following the path chosen by the layout person and the routing keeping in line with given constraints.

For example, you might want to route in the data bus for a memory device and this might have certain length matching and track/gap constraints. You can see how, once push and shove is available and a proper system for specifying constraints is implemented, this could work very nicely, with the traces being adjusted on the fly to meet the required constraints.

I don't think the auto router is going to be able to help achieve this unless there is some way to guide where the routes are placed. I did see an Altium video recently where they basically had a tool which enabled you to draw an intended path and then set the auto router off putting a chosen set of traces following the specified path. That did look pretty nice but I think EAGLE is a long way off that at the moment.

Best Regards,

Rachael

[cristi_m90]

This is the video:
https://youtu.be/cPvw8mZo_C4

The feature is called ActiveRoute. I suggest that EAGLE developers should take a look at the very useful features existing in other PCB design software and work to implement them. It is a long road indeed to develop them, but I think this is the road to follow in order for EAGLE to grow and be competitive.

[cristi_m90]

It could be useful. I will give it a try. Thanks!

[jorge_garcia · Accepted solution]

Hi @cristi_m90,

Thanks for participating. There are plans to implement this type of functionality in EAGLE, we are just not there yet, but we will be and sooner than most people think.

In the meantime, Ed's solution might help hold you over.

Let me know if there's anything else I can do for you.

Best Regards,

[jeffg28CLY]

Jorge,

First, apologies if I'm digging up an old thread, but...

Is this multi-routing functionality still in the works, or on the way?

And a second thing: I was going to go check for this sort of thing in the Ideas section, but it doesn't look like Eagle has an Ideas category on this page yet. Is that on the docket to be added?

Thank you.

[jorge_garcia]

Hi @jeffg28CLY,

No worries, I'm always happy to give an answer if I have it.

So bus routing is still being developed. The idea here is to be able to replace the current differential pair functionality since it doesn't conform to the new routing engine. In doing so we would be able to match and exceed the current differential pair implementation.

EAGLE doesn't currently have an IdeaStation as you have noticed. At some point we do want to do it but management has decided that it's still not the right time.

Let me know if there's anything else I can do for you.

Best Regards,

[aholtzma]

Jorge, will the new differential routing have the ability to specify spacing independently from the clearance? This is a major annoyance as I always have clearance violations near the package pins to approve. Also because the clearance is fixed to the spacing, I can't get the ground pour isolation I would like on those nets. Finally, being able to set width/clearance for particular layers would be really nice. As it is now, I need to manually adjust and approve DRC errors for when the net is routed on a layer that doesn't match the net class.

Can you tell I just did a whole bunch of differential pair routing?

[jorge_garcia]

Hi @aholtzma,

I don't know what the new implementation has since I haven't been able to play with it yet. However I will pass this to the developer who is working on this feature so he can keep it in mind as it continues to be built.

Yes, I can tell you have done a whole bunch of differential pair routing. 😉

Let me know if there's anything else I can do for you.

Best Regards,

[Anonymous]

...and not only differential pairs, sometimes 4-bit or 8-bit buses need their own rules (for any reason, but EMI and signal integrity is the most common), say, 4-bit uSD card running a 100MHz signal, (or way higher) in a minefield of 10kHz lines used for buttons and such. LCD/display routing the same, massive EMI problems (not mine, a friend)...