The 'Connection Analysis' takes a detailed view on every pin and its signal layout for a selected component. The objective is to give the user more information about every net being accessible via the connector. This includes the length of the net, the existence of a capacitor for EMC reasons, the distance to the capacitor and whether it is or it is not the first component in the net.
Please select a connector in PCB-Investigator (e.g. by a mouse selection tool) and start the 'Connection Analysis' afterwards. The selected connector will now be immediately analyzed...
The first letter(s) of capacitor reference designators in your design (e.g. 'C'). It is needed to identify capacitors and to distinguish them from other components. When 'Ignore Numbers' is checked, the entered string may be followed by any character (e.g. Cx100). If not, it must be followed by a number (e.g. C100).
When the capacitor reference designator string changes, or any other connector was selected by the user, the analysis can be restarted by clicking this button.
The result list contains one line per pin of the selected connector(s). It contains following information:
Pin: Pin number
Net: Net name on this pin
Filter Ref: First capacitor name if existing
Ref Net: Net name on the other side of the capacitor
Direct Connect: 'Yes' if the capacitor is the first component in this net starting from the connector, and all other components are behind the capacitor
Distance: Distance from the connector pin to the first capacitor
Total Net Length: Total length of the net (= sum of lines and arcs, without considering area-fills, vias, ...).
Different selection and view settings:
No selection: When selecting a line in the list, PCB-Investigator does not change the current view or selection
Select by Single Click: When selecting a line in the list, PCB-Investigator selects to the relevant net and components
Select by Double Click: When double clicking a line in the list, PCB-Investigator selects to the relevant net and components
No Zoom Change: PCB-Investigator does not change the current view when anything is selected
Zoom to Whole Net: When the selection changes, PCB-Investigator zooms to the whole selected net
Zoom to Ref Component: When the selection changes, PCB-Investigator zooms to the area containing the pin and the capacitor
Best View: When the selection changes, PCB-Investigator low-lights non-selected nets (Highlight Mode)
Activate Layers: When the selection changes, PCB-Investigator activates all relevant layers.
Example: Pin 52 of a connector with its capacitor 'C265' and the corresponding net in highlight mode
