Evaluation Engineering - 24

DESIGN AUTOMATION

EMA DESIGN AUTOMATION'S MARCANO
LOOKS TO THE FUTURE OF PCB EDA
By Rick Nelson, Interim Chief Editor
EMA Design Automation, a fullservice provider of electronic design
automation (EDA) solutions, celebrated
its 30th anniversary in 2019, having begun
selling EDA tools in 1989. EE-Evaluation
Engineering interviewed Manny Marcano,
president and CEO, on the past and present of printed-circuit-board EDA.
Rick Nelson: What prompted you to
found EMA Design Automation?
Manny Marcano: I wanted
my freedom and to gain direct rewards for my efforts.
CAD on PC was really just
getting off the ground, and
there looked to be a great
opportunity for someone who could help
companies make this transition.
RN: You are a reseller for Cadence tools.
What value-add do you provide?
MM: It began with just plain excellent
customer service: pre-sales, installation, training, and post-sales. It evolved
to creating IP to solve specific customer
problems, which grew into turning those
unique apps into products that we sell
now. We also acquired IP, which really
added to our "value add" proposition.
RN: You offer several EMA products, including TimingDesigner, Circuitspace,
and Ultra Librarian. Could you describe
those and explain what's unique about
them?
MM: TimingDesigner was the first IP acquisition. The owner, Forte, decided the
product was not strategic, and we were
the biggest reseller, so it was a natural
addition to our offering.
CircuitSpace was another perfect adjacency that fit into our top-tier Allegro

EVALUATION ENGINEERING JANUARY 2020

customer base. It is still a great productivity tool and an integral part of some
customers' design methodology.
Ultra Librarian has been the best acquisition to date. Our market is starving
for content, and Frank Frank's library
was the answer we needed to create a
competitive edge. We now offer it at no
charge to all EDA end users and a small
subscription charge to interested OrCAD
customers if they want a direct symbol
graphic connection to OrCAD Capture.
RN: What would you consider a key
milestone in the history of EMA Design
Automation?
MM: The biggest was earning the North
American exclusive contract for OrCAD
in 2003. Our growth was incredible,
and Cadence supported us completely
throughout the process.
RN: What are your thoughts regarding
simulation and virtual prototyping in
PCB design?
MM: This is compelling technology on the
horizon! The convergence of mechatronics
and virtual prototyping will constitute
the best practices going forward.
Consider the creation of a digital twin-
older, poorly documented technology converted to a virtual digital twin that can be
tested and simulated before a real prototype is made. This leads to vastly improved
time to market and dramatically increases
the probability of success.
RN: How does EMA address ECAD/
MCAD integration?
MM: We have wrestled with this the hard
way for several years: file out, file in, errors, very clunky-it bordered on being a
dysfunctional process.

We will soon be formally announcing
a next-generation solution to this problem called CADSync. We designed our approach from the ground up to consider the
needs of both the electrical and mechanical users while solving the problems that
plague the variety of loose ECAD-MCAD
connections that exist today. The initial
feedback from our early customers and
partners has been extremely positive. It is
clear this is a critical issue in the industry,
and we are excited to help our customers
take full advantage of what a modern, native, and collaborative environment can
do for them.
RN: Looking at the electronics industry in general, we see the emergence of
the IoT and IIoT, with billions of sensor nodes. How does the EDA industry
need to adapt to support the design of
widely dispersed, compact, low-power
IoT devices?
MM: Regardless of the technology, all IoT
devices and ideas must be brought into
the real world with a PCB. The PCB brings
them to life!
RN: 5G is moving consumer electronics
out of the realm of sub-6-GHz frequencies and into the millimeter-wave ranges. What changes will the EDA industry
need to make to adapt?
MM: The industry needs to embrace
cross-platform collaboration at the
RF module, PCB, and IC design level.
These technologies are merging into one
cross-platform (IC/PKG/PCB) solution
to incorporate multiple technologies
(CMOS, GaAs, SiC, etc.) into a single
module via an interposer for testing
and then into a package for mounting
onto a PCB or substrate. For this to work
you need to understand the parasitics at

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