A CAD-BASED ELECTRONICS DESIGN RULE CHECKER TO IMPROVE SYSTEM RELIABILITY

Electronic systems that are developed using computer-aided design workstations are typically completed before various reliability analyses are performed. As such, reliability specialists often become involved too late in the development cycle to have a positive impact on cost and schedule factors. Typical analysis tools on computer-aided design/computer-aided engineering workstations focus on functional and performance factors, but do not address reliability concerns. This paper describes the integration of the CARDS expert system-based electronics design rule checker, developed by General Dynamics Space Systems Division, into the Mentor Graphics computer-aided engineering system, to improve system reliability concurrently with the computer-aided design process.