ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the place of a design database in an integrated system. It focuses on the best practices in the electronic design automation (EDA) design database area, starting with a generic conceptual schema, and building in complexity on that. The chapter presents real-world examples of commercially available design databases, with special emphasis placed on the Open Access Coalition and their community-open-sourced EDA database. The design database is at the core of any EDA system. In examining EDA design databases, it is useful to look at hypothetical tool architecture, to determine which parts are to be considered part of the design database, and which parts are the application levels. Many instances of mature design databases exist in the EDA industry, both as a basis for commercial EDA tools as well as proprietary EDA tools developed by the computer aided design groups of major electronics companies.
