Legacy CAD Design Translation: Migrating 40 Projects from Board Station to Xpedition

At Sintecs, we support customers around the world with ECAD design translation services, helping engineering teams migrate PCB designs across different EDA platforms, formats, and tools. In this case study, we showcase the successful conversion of 40 legacy PCB designs from Mentor Graphics Board Station to Siemens EDA Xpedition flow with the main goal of enabling future design upgrades.

Why Board Station to Xpedition Migration Is Challenging

The Mentor Graphics Board Station design flow has long been known for its flexibility and customization options. But this flexibility also introduces complexity. Each legacy design may follow a unique internal logic, data structure, and implementation method. As a result, there’s no single, one-size-fits-all translation path. Each design requires individual analysis and a tailored approach. That’s why manual expertise, automation, and toolchain know-how are crucial to ensuring high-quality translation results.

Selected Tools

For this project, Sintecs engineers used a dedicated toolchain, combining both legacy and modern EDA environments:

• Design Architect / Board Architect to edit schematics and export in Board Station format
• Custom layout translator script to convert layout data from Board Station to Xpedition
• Xpedition DxDesigner (Xpedition Designer) for schematic capture in Xpedition format
• Xpedition Layout for importing and editing the board layout

To increase efficiency and consistency, we implemented automation scripts to perform repetitive tasks fast. This allowed engineers to focus on critical translation issues, ensuring a smooth and accurate migration.

Structured Translation Workflow

Working closely with Siemens EDA and the end customer, we defined a robust workflow with clear acceptance criteria. For each design, the translated output had to meet the following:

• Error-free operation in the final Xpedition project
• Complete ECAD library synchronization
• Minimum 90% topology match between the original and translated layout
  

The translation workflow followed these key steps:

• Data acquisition and consistency check, problem reporting
• Schematic, library and layout conversion
  1. Setup BoardStation environment & Database must be set up and environment variables must be configured correctly to make the connection between the design, layout and the local central library.
  2. Repair BoardStation database (annotation). Checking if the annotation from schematic and layout is working correctly and that the design is then ready for translation.
  3. Design Architect to DxDesigner. Here we use the Design Architect to DxDesigner translation to create the schematic including a local symbol library.
  4. Fix and clean-up the DxDesigner database. Verification of the result of the translation of the schematic data.
  5. BoardStation to Xpedition. Using the BoardStation to Expedition translation to create the layout including a local footprint library.
  6. Fix and clean-up Xpedition database. In this phase we must check the result of the translation of the layout data.
  7. Repair Dx/Expedition library. A mapping file needs to be set up, because pin naming in the schematics are different to the pin names in the footprint. This must be done for each pin of each component.
  8. Setup annotation and repair database.
• Layout data comparison between Board Station and Xpedition
• Final project verification and report preparation

Common Issues We Solved

Large-scale translation projects inevitably surface technical challenges. Some of the most notable issues we encountered within this assignment:

• Mismatch between Design Architect and Board Station: fixed by adjusting packaging in DxDesigner
• Incorrect release process in Design Manager (DMGR): often required re-releasing the design correctly
• Area fills not transferring correctly: resolved using Gerber/ODB++ comparison and manual corrections in Xpedition
• Unsupported, corrupted, conflicting geometries: cleaned up using Librarian and validated for translation
  

These challenges highlight the importance of hands-on experience and deep knowledge of both legacy and modern EDA environments.

Project Outcome

Despite the complexity, the project was completed successfully with the following results:

• 40 legacy designs translated to modern Xpedition format
• 8 designs required additional adjustments to the source data
• Individual translations ranged from 7 to 136 working hours
• The project spanned over one calendar year
• Conducted 60+ coordination calls

The translated designs are now ready for reuse, redesign, or integration into new development workflows.

Why Customers Choose Sintecs

When it comes to legacy ECAD design migration, many customers lack the internal expertise to troubleshoot issues across multiple EDA systems. That is where Sintecs comes in as an experienced provider.

With over three decades of experience in EDA tools like Mentor Graphics, Siemens EDA, Cadence, Altium, and Zuken, we ensure reliable, high-quality design translations backed by expert engineering support, automation, and a deep understanding of PCB systems and workflows.

If you are facing challenges migrating your legacy designs from Board Station, PADS, CR-5000, CADSTAR  or other EDA tools to Xpedition, Altium, or Cadence, reach out to the Sintecs team.