DALLAS – dalTools isn't a name on the tip of every designer's tongue, but the startup company is among the few companies that truly knows both board design and software tool development.

A longtime printed circuit board designer with such companies as Rockwell, Alcatel, Chiaro Networks and Convey Computer, founder Dal Locke has developed a PCB design application that extends the usefulness of Cadence Allegro. In this world of apps, Locke has developed a series of commands that cover everything from library development to netlist analysis.

The inspiration, Locke says, comes from 20 years of designing bare boards. While acquiring experience laying out and routing printed circuits, Locke was also learning what CAD tools could not do well.

"Cadence Allegro is great, and does many things well, but it is a terrible drafting tool," Locke explains. dalTools can perform stretching, cutting and routing of lines, arcs, shapes and voids. And the net select tool, for example, automatically places wires, signal names and ports to symbols or blocks.

"We can automatically put vias in at intersections," he adds.

Other apps can double the speed of placement and editing, Locke says. The area tool performs placement area analysis, including estimates and charts.

The commands run in SKILL with graphical user interfaces. The apps work inside Allegro, imitating, for example, complete Valor-style operations for netlist, drill, silkscreen, soldermask and solder paste analysis within Allegro.

The commands also are said to boost design rule check (DRC) management, including high-speed delay rules. "We show lengths of nets and help manage that better than the constraint manager does," Locke says.

The output is completely automated, whether it's Gerber, drawings, or ODB++ format.

Among the companies using dalTools's commands are such blue chip firms as Texas Instruments, Lockheed Martin and many others.

Although Locke has already developed more than 50 commands for Allegro, he's not slowing down. Future applications include cross reference before packaging in order to find disconnects/issues, a tool that batch packages sub designs in hierarchical order, a fast and easy symbol creator, and a Mentor Graphics schematic and symbol converter.