Star vs bus power routing in PCB Design - Business Scenario Comparison

Scenario Mode

👤 Your Role: You are a PCB design engineer at an electronics manufacturing company.

📋 Request: Your manager wants you to analyze the power routing methods used in recent PCB designs to decide whether to use star or bus routing for a new high-performance board.

📊 Data: You have data from 10 recent PCB projects showing power routing type (star or bus), number of components powered, average voltage drop (mV), and number of noise-related issues reported.

🎯 Deliverable: Create a report comparing star and bus power routing methods with visual charts showing voltage drop and noise issues, and recommend the best method for the new design.

Sample Data

Project ID	Power Routing	Components Powered	Avg Voltage Drop (mV)	Noise Issues Reported
1	Star	50	15	2
2	Bus	45	25	5
3	Star	60	12	1
4	Bus	55	30	6
5	Star	40	14	1
6	Bus	50	28	7
7	Star	55	13	2
8	Bus	60	27	6
9	Star	48	16	3
10	Bus	52	29	5

1

Step 1: Organize data by power routing type to compare average voltage drop and noise issues.

Group data by 'Power Routing' column; calculate average of 'Avg Voltage Drop (mV)' and sum of 'Noise Issues Reported' for each group.

Expected Result

Star: Avg Voltage Drop = 14 mV, Noise Issues = 9; Bus: Avg Voltage Drop = 27.8 mV, Noise Issues = 29

2

Step 2: Create a bar chart showing average voltage drop for star vs bus routing.

X-axis: Power Routing (Star, Bus); Y-axis: Average Voltage Drop (mV); Bars: height = average voltage drop per routing type.

Expected Result

Bar chart with Star bar at 14 mV and Bus bar at 27.8 mV

3

Step 3: Create a bar chart showing total noise issues reported for star vs bus routing.

X-axis: Power Routing (Star, Bus); Y-axis: Total Noise Issues; Bars: height = sum of noise issues per routing type.

Expected Result

Bar chart with Star bar at 9 and Bus bar at 29

4

Step 4: Summarize findings in a report recommending the power routing method with lower voltage drop and fewer noise issues.

Compare average voltage drop and noise issues between star and bus routing; recommend star routing due to lower values.

Expected Result

Report states star routing has about half the voltage drop and one-third the noise issues compared to bus routing, recommending star routing for the new design.

Final Result

Bar Chart 1: Avg Voltage Drop

↓

Bar Chart 2: Noise Issues

✓Star power routing results in significantly lower average voltage drop (14 mV) compared to bus routing (27.8 mV).

✓Star routing has fewer noise issues reported (9) than bus routing (29).

✓Star routing is recommended for the new high-performance PCB design to improve power quality and reliability.

Bonus Challenge

Analyze if the number of components powered affects voltage drop differently for star and bus routing.

Show Hint

Create scatter plots of Components Powered vs Avg Voltage Drop for each routing type and look for trends.