Signal and power layer planning in PCB Design - Dashboard Guide

Dashboard Mode - Signal and power layer planning

Goal

Understand how signal and power layers are planned in a PCB to optimize performance and reduce noise.

Sample Data

Layer Number	Layer Type	Material Thickness (mil)	Purpose	Typical Voltage (V)
1	Signal	1.2	High-speed signals	3.3
2	Power	2.0	Power distribution	5
3	Ground	2.0	Reference ground plane	0
4	Signal	1.2	Low-speed signals	3.3
5	Power	2.0	Power distribution	12
6	Ground	2.0	Reference ground plane	0
7	Signal	1.2	Control signals	3.3

Dashboard Components

• KPI Card: Total Layers
  Formula: COUNTROWS(Layers) = 7
  Result: 7
• KPI Card: Signal Layers Count
  Formula: COUNTROWS(FILTER(Layers, Layers[Layer Type] = "Signal")) = 3
  Result: 3
• KPI Card: Power Layers Count
  Formula: COUNTROWS(FILTER(Layers, Layers[Layer Type] = "Power")) = 2
  Result: 2
• Bar Chart: Layer Thickness by Layer Number
  Shows thickness of each layer (mil)
  X-axis: Layer Number
  Y-axis: Material Thickness (mil)
  Bars colored by Layer Type
• Pie Chart: Layer Type Distribution
  Shows percentage of each layer type (Signal, Power, Ground)
• Table: Detailed Layer Info
  Columns: Layer Number, Layer Type, Purpose, Typical Voltage (V)

Dashboard Layout

+-------------------+-------------------+
|   KPI: Total      |   KPI: Signal      |
|   Layers (7)      |   Layers (3)       |
+-------------------+-------------------+
|   KPI: Power      |   Pie Chart:       |
|   Layers (2)      |   Layer Type Dist. |
+-------------------+-------------------+
|           Bar Chart: Layer Thickness           |
+------------------------------------------------+
|           Table: Detailed Layer Info           |
+------------------------------------------------+

Interactivity

Filter by Layer Type: Selecting a layer type (Signal, Power, Ground) updates the bar chart and table to show only those layers. KPI cards update counts accordingly. The pie chart remains static to show overall distribution.

Self Check

If you add a filter for Layer Type = "Power", which components update?

• KPI Cards: Signal Layers Count and Power Layers Count update to show counts for Power layers only.
• Bar Chart: Shows thickness only for Power layers.
• Table: Displays only Power layer details.
• Pie Chart: Does not update; shows overall distribution.

Key Result

Dashboard showing PCB signal and power layer counts, thickness, and distribution for planning.