Altium's Power Analyzer by Keysight technology brings powerful DC Power Integrity analysis into the board design environment. In your Altium design software, this is achieved by creating and configuring a Power Analyzer Keysight document and then running an Altium Designer extension to extract all the power net analysis settings and the 3-dimensional copper structural data. This data is then passed to the Power Analyzer by Keysight DC PI analysis engine.
Results of the physical simulation are displayed directly in the PCB editor as colored Heatmap overlays, where the designer can quickly identify the behavior of the board, capture images, and probe for more information.
The Power Analyzer by Keysight is under continuous development and outlines the changes made in each version. This page also includes information about supported versions of Altium Designer.
Power net configuration, the review of existing power analysis results, and the generation of a power analysis report can all be performed by anyone with a valid Altium Designer license. Performing a new Power Analysis requires a valid Power Analyzer by Keysight license. Learn more about licensing the Power Analyzer by Keysight.
With the relocation of the Power Analyzer documentation - to be an integral part of the Altium Designer documentation - release notes can now be found as part of the set of release notes for the applicable release of Altium Designer (see:
Public Release Notes for Altium Designer). Moving forward, any new features in relation to the Power Analyzer will be reflected on the
New in Altium Designer page, for the applicable release of Altium Designer.
Power Analyzer by Keysight 1.0.11
Released: 15 August 2023 - Version 1.0.11 (build 179)
Released with: Altium Designer 23.8.1 (build 32)
Works with: Altium Designer 22.10.1 (build 41) and later
There are no new features/enhancements/fixes in this release.
Power Analyzer by Keysight 1.0.10
Released: 19 July 2023 - Version 1.0.10 (build 177)
Released with: Altium Designer 23.7.1 (build 13)
Works with: Altium Designer 22.10.1 (build 41) and later
There are no new features/enhancements/fixes in this release.
Power Analyzer by Keysight 1.0.9
Released: 15 June 2023 - Version 1.0.9 (build 171)
Released with: Altium Designer 23.6.0 (build 18)
Works with: Altium Designer 22.10.1 (build 41) and later
Release Notes
| 54283 |
The Extensions Manager dialog has been updated to group several extended components in parallel. |
Power Analyzer by Keysight 1.0.8
Released: 18 May 2023 - Version 1.0.8 (build 148)
Released with: Altium Designer 23.5.1 (build 21)
Works with: Altium Designer 22.10.1 (build 41) and later
There are no new features/enhancements/fixes in this release.
Power Analyzer by Keysight 1.0.7
Released: 14 April 2023 - Version 1.0.7 (build 146)
Released with: Altium Designer 23.4.1 (build 23)
Works with: Altium Designer 22.10.1 (build 41) and later
There are no new features/enhancements/fixes in this release.
Power Analyzer by Keysight 1.0.6
Released: 16 March 2023 - Version 1.0.6 (build 129)
Released with: Altium Designer 23.3.1 (build 30)
Works with: Altium Designer 22.10.1 (build 41) and later
Release Notes
| 52837 |
It was not possible to probe a via on a heatmap. The probe value was the reading from the heatmap itself (Voltage Drop or Current Density) instead of the value for the pad's Via Current. |
| 52840 |
It is now possible to use several extended components in parallel. |
| 53330 |
In some cases, an Access Violation would be encountered after deleting a net from the *.pdnaK document. |
| 53743 |
An incorrect Via Current calculation was being used for Thru-Hole vias. |
Power Analyzer by Keysight 1.0.5
Released: 15 February 2023 - Version 1.0.5 (build 121)
Released with: Altium Designer 23.2.1 (build 34)
Works with: Altium Designer 22.10.1 (build 41) and later
Release Notes
| 53490 |
Segments connected through microvias were not being simulated. |
Power Analyzer by Keysight 1.0.4
Released: 17 January 2023 - Version 1.0.4 (build 110)
Released with: Altium Designer 23.1.1 (build 15)
Works with: Altium Designer 22.10.1 (build 41) and later
Release Notes
| 52247 |
For a specific design, simulation resulted in the Solver erroneously generating microsegments with unrealistically high consumption. |
| 52261 |
Values for Current Density and Via Current differed between the main document and the panel. |
| 52811 |
Added the ability to request a free 14-day trial to use the Power Analyzer by Keysight extension and its functionality. |
| 53093 |
For a specific design, an error would be encountered after setting load currents for the pins of a particular component and saving. |
| 53269 |
An exception would be encountered when showing analysis results on a PCB containing a duplicate layer ID. |
Power Analyzer by Keysight 1.0.3
Released: 15 December 2022 - Version 1.0.3 (build 87)
Released with: Altium Designer 23.0.1 (build 38)
Works with: Altium Designer 22.10.1 (build 41) and later
There are no new features/enhancements/fixes in this release.
Power Analyzer by Keysight 1.0.2
Released: 15 November 2022 - Version 1.0.2 (build 83)
Released with: Altium Designer 22.11.1 (build 43)
Works with: Altium Designer 22.10.1 (build 41) and later
There are no new features/enhancements/fixes in this release.
Power Analyzer by Keysight 1.0.1
Released: 13 October 2022 – Version 1.0.1 (build 70)
Released with: Altium Designer 22.10.1 (build 41)
Release Notes
| 50182 |
Configuration settings were not updating based on chosen Copper Type and fields were not editable upon choosing 'Custom'. |
| 50218 |
Specified load current values were not being processed correctly. |
| 51810 |
It is no longer a restriction that a source component must be connected to the selected power and ground nets at the same time. |
| 51813 |
In some cases, the Heatmap was not being presented for a layer in which violations were detected and polygons had been placed. |
| 51826 |
An error was encountered when trying to save the modified properties for a component in an extended net. |
| 51828 |
In some cases, the Voltage Drop for a power net was being interpreted incorrectly as an error. |
| 51829 |
The Use Logarithmic Scale option is now disabled by default, ensuring a linear scale is used for the Heatmap. |
| 52079 |
After running an analysis and closing/reopening the .pdnaK document, previously detected violations were no longer presented in the Power Analyzer by Keysight panel. |
| 52092 |
In the Configuration settings, 'Hole Size 1' and 'Hole Size 2' have been renamed to 'Minimum Via Diameter' and 'Maximum Via Diameter' respectively. |
| 52168 |
The caption for the command to launch the analyzer has been changed from 'Power Analyzer' to 'Power Analyzer by Keysight'. |
| 52236 |
After opening an older .pdna file, an error would be encountered the first time the 'Show on PCB' button was pressed. |
Altium Designer Documentation
Retired Documentation No Longer Applicable to a Later Version of Altium Designer
Retired Documentation - Miscellaneous