What are physics constraints?
After uploading and verifying your input files, Circuit Comprehension is the second step in Quilter's layout job creation workflow. Its purpose is to detect and validate the physics concerns present in your schematic in order to build a physics-based understanding of your circuit that it can use to constrain and verify the layouts it produces.
We call each of these individual physics concerns a "constraint."
Quilter does its best to proactively detect and suggest constraints from your schematic that you can choose to verify, ignore, or overwrite. Quilter currently supports a range of constraint types, including impedance, current, and component placement constraints.
After generating your layout candidates, Quilter "grades its work" using a pre-defined set of Physics Rule Checks (PRCs) associated with each constraint type. It uses the results of these PRCs to recommend candidates that strike the best balance between performance and manufacturability.
Why use Constraints Manager?
Constraints are the foundational framework through which Quilter understands your design. The more comprehensive and accurate the constraints defined during Circuit Comprehension, the better the PCBs that Quilter generates will be.
Note: If a core physics concern about your design is not represented as a constraint in Circuit Comprehension, Quilter does not know about it and will place/route it as a generic part/signal in your designs.
Where to find Constraints Manager
Click the "New Layout Job" button on the Quilter home screen
Upload your design files (schematic and board files) and click "Next"
Once your board files parse successfully, you'll be brought to the Circuit Comprehension page
FAQs
What constraint types do you support?
Quilter currently supports the following constraint types:
Many more are coming!
Can I copy constraints between layout jobs?
If you are submitting another iteration of a layout job that references the same version of your schematic, you may wish to import a previously defined list of constraints.
To do this, press the "Duplicate" button next to the original job on your Quilter home page. You should see all previously defined constraints appear in the "Constraints Rules" table below.