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Electronics => PCB/EDA/CAD => Altium Designer => Topic started by: sixtimesseven on October 30, 2021, 02:20:39 pm

Title: Multiple Repeated Sheets
Post by: sixtimesseven on October 30, 2021, 02:20:39 pm
I have a design in which a bunch of repeated sheets would be nice. However, the design is such as that one side is the mirror of the other, so I would like to use the same sheet schematic (and layout) for both sides. However, then I have the problem that the nets are short circuited, in particular the "IN" nets.

Is there a way to not connect nets by name on the same sheet? Or map the net from the sheet to a different bus name?

Eg. INP1[1..10] <-> INP1 <=> Repeat(IN)

Title: Re: Multiple Repeated Sheets
Post by: sixtimesseven on November 01, 2021, 10:51:33 pm
Well, if someone happens to have the same problem, this worked for me.:

1. Choose a different sheet designator name for the two sets of repeated sheets (eg: Test1 and Test2, same schematic sheet name)
2. Project -> Options: Enable: Higher Level Names take priority, Disable: Allow Sheet entries to name nets
3. Give the net between the sheet and the bus different names (eg. INP1 and INP2), name the buses accordingly

Title: Re: Multiple Repeated Sheets
Post by: ajb on November 02, 2021, 03:03:41 pm
You can also use different number ranges for the Repeat statements, for example one sheet symbol can have `Repeat(Test,1,10)` and the other can have `Repeat(Test,11,20)`. 

I don't think that it's necessary to disable 'allow sheet entries to name nets' because of the bus connection, and within each sheet the net names should get resolved with suffixes by default to avoid duplicates, but it depends on the overall set of options you have selected.  There are a lot of different ways to set up net naming, and several of them will probably work. 

In some cases it's easier to throw in an intermediate sheet that wraps a subsheet and marshals all of the nets out in a way that works better in the top level schematic.  Or you can just place individual sheet symbols in an intermediate sheet and then optionally repeat that intermediate sheet.  Lots of options depending on how many channels and what the project is like.  As long as the source sheet is the same across all instances you should still be able to use all of the normal multi-channel PCB features across all of the lowest-level sheet instances (although sometimes the channel classes get screwed up and you have to fix them manually in the Project Options window).