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Physical Requirements

This lesson covers how AP 210 represents physical design requirements. We use the ATX motherboard envelope as an example.

The ATX Envelope Example

The ATX form factor defines:

  • Maximum board dimensions: 305mm x 244mm (full ATX)

  • Mounting hole positions and sizes

  • I/O shield opening dimensions

  • Component height restrictions by zone

  • Keepout areas around the CPU socket

Requirement Entities

AP 210 captures requirements using:

  • product_definition_relationship - Links requirements to the design

  • shape_aspect - Identifies the specific feature being constrained

  • measure_with_unit - The numerical requirement value

  • tolerance - Acceptable variation from the nominal value

Dimensional Requirements

A maximum board length requirement:

#100 = SHAPE_ASPECT('board length', 'overall dimension', #board_shape, $);
#101 = DIMENSIONAL_SIZE('length', #100);
#102 = MEASURE_WITH_UNIT(LENGTH_MEASURE(305.0), #mm_unit);
#103 = TOLERANCE((#104, #105), #102, 'maximum');
#104 = PLUS_MINUS_TOLERANCE(0.0, $);
#105 = PLUS_MINUS_TOLERANCE(-5.0, $);

This specifies: maximum length = 305mm, tolerance range: 300mm to 305mm.

Keepout Zones

A keepout zone defines where features cannot be placed:

#200 = SHAPE_ASPECT('CPU keepout', '', #board_shape, $);
#201 = GEOMETRIC_ITEM_SPECIFIC_USAGE('keepout zone', '', #200, #board_shape);
#202 = ADVANCED_FACE('keepout boundary', ...);

Component Height Restrictions

Height restrictions by zone:

#300 = PROPERTY_DEFINITION('max component height', '', #zone_shape);
#301 = PROPERTY_DEFINITION_REPRESENTATION(#300, #302);
#302 = REPRESENTATION('height limit', (#303), #length_context);
#303 = MEASURE_REPRESENTATION_ITEM('height', #mm_unit, 25.0);

Validation

To validate a design against requirements:

  1. Extract all requirement entities

  2. Identify the features they apply to

  3. Measure the actual values in the design

  4. Compare against requirement bounds

  5. Flag any violations