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Well, it’s time once again to take a look at what’s new in Agilent EEsoft’s Advanced
Design System; this time, release 2006. One of the reasons you use EDA software is to
complete your designs, to get to the finish line, faster. At Agilent EEsoft, we help you
do this by making each release of ADS faster and more efficient. But, there’s another
way to finish faster, and that is to start closer to the finish line. Several new tools
are now available in ADS as a result of our acquisition of Eagleware Elanix, that give
you a head start in the design process. I’ll quickly demonstrate these unique capabilities,
then take you on a whirlwind tour of the rest of what’s new in this release. Let’s get
started, so we can finish faster.
The tools menu in ADS now has two new choices. I’ll start Spectrasys and open this two-stage
down converter. Spectrasys is a spectral domain RF architecture simulator. We’ll be looking
at the output of the first IF of this down converter. The results from every other simulator
would produce one composite spectrum, the sum of all the traces you see here. But, Spectrasys
actually keeps the responses separate, enabling you to see where the contributions or errors
are coming from. This signal is the desired signal. You can see its frequency, magnitude
and path through the system, starting with the wireless LAN source, through the filter,
mixer, filter, continuing on to the output. Here’s a distortion product that folds back
into the main signal that takes this path, and is actually a harmonic that is poorly
loaded and gets reflected back as a feed-through term to the output. This tracing of the individual
contributions is unique to Spectrasys. You just won’t find this in any other simulators,
budget analysis tools, or spreadsheets. This root-cause analysis helps you to understand
and troubleshoot a design before you begin implementation.
A few of these system components are actually circuit level schematics in Spectrasys. This
pre-select filter, for example, is implemented in micro-strip, and this band-pass filter
was done as a lumped-element filter. When I export this workbench to ADS we see these
various sub-circuits as well as the overall block diagram. So, we’re done in Spectrasys,
and we’ve exported the workbench. Now, let’s use it in a system schematic in ADS.
The down-converter from Spectrasys is now this sub-component here. It is stimulated
with this wireless LAN signal. The output is demodulated and tested for system-level
parameters such as packet-error rate or EVM. Note that we are looking at the performance
of this fully implemented block diagram, not just system blocks. For example, this band-pass
filter is implemented as a Momentum co-simulation with real surface-mount parts. So, the system-level
simulation accounts for those physical parasitics.
Spectrasys is a great companion tool to ADS. With it you can experiment with architectures
and iterate very quickly. With ADS, you can do a bottoms-up verification of the implementation.
In this example, we added a DSP layer on top of our original analog layer, and used it
to create realistic signals to exercise the design. Spectrasys and ADS make a powerful
combination.
Well, that’s a quick look at Spectrasys. Let’s move on and take a look at some of
the synthesis tools. This time, from the tools menu, I’ll launch the synthesis tools. I
can then choose which of these powerful design automation tools I want to use. Let’s synthesize
a passive filter. The synthesis tool is launched. I can choose the type of filter and step through
the various shapes for the filter. With a button click, I can make this a differential
circuit and see the resulting change in the topology. The specs for the filter are entered
here. Once I have the filter I want, I save the design and then export the schematic to
ADS. I can export the schematic and the test bench. The filter is now ready for use in
ADS.
Synthesis tools give you a head start in the design process, because you no longer need
to consult the resident specialist or learn arcane design information. Your designs are
completed quicker with fewer errors and improved repeatability. There’s even a tool to help
you pick a spur-free IF band for a transmitter or receiver design, it’s called the “What-IF
Frequency Planner.” I can select the number of mixers in my system, the RF input frequency
of each mixer, and the RF and IF bandwidth. When I click “apply,” this display shows
the spur-free IF bands available across the frequency range. Again, I save this design
and export it to ADS. With What-IF you can accomplish in a matter of minutes what could
take days or weeks to accomplish in the past, and now it’s all available in the Advanced
Design System.
For release 2006, access to Spectrasys, Synthesys and What-IF is the big news, but there’s
much more to this release. One new feature I’d like to highlight is our ability to
connect users to real-time problem solving through the Agilent knowledge center. Let
me illustrate this increased level of support by simulating this simple circuit with a frequency-dependent
resistor. When I simulate I get an error message, and you see that my use of frequency dependence
is not allowed on this lumped element. Now, what do you do? Go down the hall and ask the
ADS guru for help, or open the manual? Well, now you can get immediate help 24-hours a
day, seven days a week. Here’s how. By clicking this button I’m taken to the knowledge center.
Here, I get an explanation as to why a resistor can’t be frequency dependent. This entry
here shows me how to simulate frequency dependent lumped elements. It even has a downloadable
example I can use.
With over 10,000 users of the knowledge center worldwide, chances are high that someone on
the planet has already solved a problem you may have. This is a great new feature. And
in the spirit of racing to the finish, here are nine more new features in rapid succession.
Number nine, the harmonic balance simulator has been enhanced to do an even better job
of simulating divider circuits. This circuit has a divide ratio of 128, contains over 200
non-linear devices, over 800 linear devices, and it solved in under 20 minutes. Number
eight, we’ve broadened our support of 64-bit platforms. Now, not only our Momentum simulator
but also our circuit and Ptolemy simulators support these 64-bit platforms. Number seven,
ADS now has peak, valley, minimum and maximum marker functions, and the marker will track
while tuning. Number six, the ADS Ptolemy system simulator can handle designs with multiple
data-rates much more efficiently, which is particularly important with the newer emerging
wireless standards. Four of these new wireless standards are now available from Agilent EEsoft,
including mobile WiMAX, high-speed up and down packet access, 802.11N, and Y-Media wireless
libraries. Number five, with the new import wizard, ADS automatically configures your
Matlab and system-C blocks for use in the ADS Ptolemy system simulator. Now, you can
easily verify system architectures with DSP algorithms and real-world RF effects. Number
four, the Momentum 3-D planer electromagnetic simulator now accounts for full 3-D current
effects in vias by modeling both vertical and horizontal currents. Or, for an array
of vias, like you’d have in a large RFIC package, vias can be modeled as lumped elements
for faster simulations. Number three, several processes in layout have been sped-up significantly.
This is a ball-grid array package with over 2,400 items. You can now check what traces
are connected to each other with the layout connectivity tool, with no speed penalty.
Number two, layout editing functions are also much faster. If I wanted to work on just a
section of this layout to do an EM simulation, for example, I could use the “crop” function
by selecting all items, then selecting “crop,” and highlighting only the section of the layout
I want. This function now operates near instantaneously, even on circuits of this size. And number
one, finally, 2006 provides free access to our spice net-list translator and IFF translator
products. Supported customers can more easily connect the ADS platform into industry standard
design flows.
That should give you a good picture of the broad range of improvements we’ve made to
the Advanced Design System. There’s more, of course, but we’ve reached the finish
line for this video. You’ll now be taken to a webpage where you can get more details
on the features in ADS 2006 that help you start closer to the finish line. As always,
thanks for watching.