NATIONAL Instruments has announced a new design-rule checking module for PCB design.
NI's AWR Connected module is designed to work with Design Workshop Technologies’ (DWT) Design-rule Checking (DRC)  and/or Layout vs Schematic (LVS) tools. It can run either in the full view/DWT user-interface (UI) mode or transparently from within the Microwave Office UI.
The AWR Connected module for DWT DRC is a full-featured design rule checking tool which is capable of complex layout rule checks, and can also be used as a sign-off tool. It can handle all angle geometries, such as the curved structures found in many PCB and module designs, making it very flexible and capable especially in locating errors.
In addition, the integrated AWR Connected for DWT error viewer option makes it easy for users to find and fix layout faults.
The AWR Connected for DWT LVS module provides designers with an efficient tool for detecting network mismatches occurring in the physical layout of microwave monolithic integrated circuit (MMIC), PCB and module designs.
Capable of extracting common devices like metal oxide semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETS), bipolar junction transistors (BJTs), diodes, capacitors and resistors, as well as generic user-defined devices and spiral inductors, AWR Connected for DWT LVS produces an easy-to-understand report, which lists all sources of discrepancies it detects between the layout-generated netlist and the original netlist.
The integrated error viewer in the LVS module also integrates cross-probing capability, making it even more effective for finding and fixing LVS errors.