Tunnel

Appearance

Antares supports two different symbols for tunnels. The symbol to be used can be defined in the user preference Preferences  Circuit  Tunnel symbol.

Tunnel

This type of symbol tries to put forward the notion of a "tunnel" just like a traffic signal.

Arrow

This type of symbol uses a triangle-shaped arrow. The direction into which the arrow points can be influenced by the tunnel’s property "Flow Direction" (see below).

Global arrow tunnels are drawn with a filled shape.

Behavior

The tunnel component is a wire element that is used to connect distant points of a circuit without the need to draw a wire.

A circuit can contain several tunnel connections, which are distinguished by the name of the tunnel. In the example above, there are the two tunnel names "A" and "B". The signal of the switch on the far left leads to the tunnel input "A" and is automatically routed to the tunnel output with the same name. Note that the tunnel named "B" does not receive the signal, because it has a different name.

Tunnels can either be local or global. With local tunnels, the scope of a tunnel name is limited to the current circuit. If a circuit contains a subcircuit which itself contains a tunnel with the same name "A", the signal in tunnel "A" of the main circuit is not passed to tunnel "A" in the subcircuit.

With global tunnels, this restriction doesn’t exist. When sending a signal into a global tunnel, that signal is forwarded to all tunnels with the same name in the entire library or project, i.e. to tunnels in open subcircuits, or from subcircuits to the main circuit or other subcircuits.

Pins

Input

The input of the tunnel component is bidirectional, i.e. it is both input and output at the same time. This makes it possible to use the same component type for sending a signal into a tunnel and receiving the signal from this tunnel.

Properties

Orientation

The direction in which the component’s symbol is pointing.

Name

The name of the tunnel into which this component is sending its signal. The name is displayed on the opposite side of the pin. If you change the name, and the old name is also used for other tunnels, Antares will ask you it you want to change the name of those other tunnels as well.

Bit Width

The number of bits that can be transmitted simultaneously through this tunnel.

Flow Direction

Only available for symbol type "Arrow". Rotates the arrow triangle to indicate the direction in which signals flow through the tunnel.

Global

Determines whether the tunnel is global, meaning that it can send and receive global signals across circuit boundaries. Local tunnels communicate only within the same circuit.