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AWR E-NEWSLETTER 3 | 2010 - www.awrcorp.com

Welcome to AWR's E-Newsletter!

Top Story

AWR Sherry Hess As calendar year 2010 begins to take shape, what will the year hold for AWR?

AWR Blogs Certainly we should all be preparing for the future and positioning ourselves to take advantage of a rebounding economy, and to that AWR is no exception. But to predict the future, I first like to look back and review the past. Calendar year 2009 and even 2008 for that matter, despite economic recessions world-wide, were record-setting and profitable for AWR. Why? Well for one reason, I see AWR’s continued success throughout the on-going and troubling economic climate as due to that fact that we’ve never lost touch with our core philosophy: delivering value, maintaining relationships, and building trust with our customers.

Business experts comment that in today’s climate, customer trust is a huge issue, and, when gained, results in a competitive advantage. Thankfully over the past decade plus, our customers know they can trust us and know that we are committed to the microwave and RF market and to their success. We also pledge to be a resource that works alongside them delivering the best possible customer support and service.

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Another reason is that AWR has continued and still continues to innovate new and exciting features and technologies that empower the user and improve productivity. In 2010, we’ll be introducing some great new technologies in our soon-to-be-released 2010 AWR Design Environment™ that you’ll learn more about during IMS 2010 in Anaheim this May.

Thanks to our thirst for all things wireless, this industry is faring far better than most sectors of the economy, and defense systems continue to increase their RF and microwave content too. So for all of these reasons, I am optimistic with my outlook and projection that the coming year will again be one of positive and substantial growth for AWR.


Sherry Hess, Vice President of Marketing, AWR

Dane Collins is a Candidate for EDAC Board of Directors

Dane Collins - CEO

Dane Collins, AWR's CEO, is running for a seat on the Electronic Design Automation Consortium (EDAC) board of directors. View his candidate statement and video at http://edac.org/elections/board10/collinsVideo.jsp.

"I would like to serve on the EDAC board of directors and contribute my many years of engineering and executive experience to the organization," states Mr. Collins. "If elected, I will make it a priority to bring together the members of our industry in a spirit of cooperation so as to work towards finding solutions and strategies that address the common problems facing us and our customers throughout the EDA marketplace."

EDAC voting member companies can vote for their 2010 board candidates online at http://www.edac.org/ beginning April 1, 2010.

New Episodes on AWR Online Training

Microwave Office 2009 New Technologies for EM Simulation:
What the SI Engineer Needs to Know but Was Afraid to Ask

This is a recording of a talk given by Dr. John Dunn at the DesignCon 2010 conference in Santa Clara, California in February, 2010.

Overview:

EM simulation has become a vital tool for the practicing signal integrity (SI) engineer. The available software packages are getting more and more powerful, allowing for the simulation of more complex problems. Part of this speed up is of course due to the increase of raw computing power. What is less well known to the average engineer is that powerful new mathematical algorithms have also contributed to this speed up in computation. The purpose of this talk is to explain how these algorithms work in a way that is intelligible to the SI engineer. The talk looks at three areas where new mathematical algorithms have helped in speeding up EM simulators.

Contents:

The entire talk lasts 3 1/2 hours, and it is broken up into seven files for ease of downloading. There also is an overview video lasting five minutes that provides a quick overview of the highlights of each section.

  • Part 1: An Overview of EM Simulation for Signal Integrity
  • Part 2: How a Planar Simulator Works
  • Part 3: Solving the Matrix and Predictions of Future Capabilities
  • Part 4: Fast, Iterative Methods for Planar Solvers
  • Part 5: Issues When Using an Iterative Solver
  • Part 6: The Finite Element Method and Parallel Processing
  • Part 7: Fast Frequency Sweeping and S Parameter Extraction

Click Here for Detailed Information >>

AWR Success Story - Acreo

Customer Success Story

Acreo Uses Visual System Simulator™ to Successfully Optimize System Performance of Complex UWB Transceiver

"Visual System Simulator gives us a deeper understanding of system aspects. Its flexibility and open platform means parameter optimization can quickly and easily be done. With Visual System Simulator we were able to successfully realize our system."


Lars Pettersson
Research Engineer
Acreo AB

Read the Full Story >>

 

 

AWR Exhibits and Presents Papers

AWR exhibits and presents technical papers at following upcoming events.

ARMMS 2010

"RF Architectural Tools for the Modern System Design"
Malcolm Edwards, AWR UK

RADCOM 2010

AWR and Rohde & Schwarz Workshop:

Thursday 22, April, 09:00 - 09:30 (B1-1)
"Test & Measurement (T&M) Migration to Integrated Simulation for RF Design"

Thursday 22, April, 09:30 - 10:30 (B1-2)
"Hands-on Workshop: Connectivity of R&S Signal Generators and Signal
Analyzers with AWR Simulation Tools"

Thursday 22, April, 11:15 - 12:15 (B1-3)
"Hands-on Workshop: Remove Boundaries Between Simulation and Measurement"

HF Technology Seminar 2010

Thursday April 22, 11:30 - 12:00
"Meeting the Challenge of RF Multi Chip Module and System in Package Designs"
Malcolm Edwards, AWR UK

INMMIC 2010

Monday April 26, 11:00 - 11:20
"Division by Current: A New Approach to FET Capacitance Modeling"
Steve Maas, AWR

 

Tech Talk with AWR

AWR Mike Heimlich

Today's Host: Dr. Mike Heimlich, Microwave & RF Marketing, AWR Corporation

iNets – I've heard the name but what is it?

View this Video Tutorial on AWR.TV

One of the true gems of EDA technology that is certainly deserving of the Rodney Dangerfield Award (“I don’t get no respect!”) is iNets™. Not that anyone doing MMIC, module or PCB design should feel guilty that they’ve been negligent by not hunting down this capability...it was originally developed for silicon RFIC.

For the well-versed AWR user, iNets are multi-pin MTRACE or MCTRACE fused with bridge code but without the symbol on the schematic. For the greater electronic design community, it’s the ability to have a wire on the schematic that is routable over many layers, with an auto via insertion capability that knows how to terminate the route on whatever pins to which it is connected. What separates iNets from dumb polygon routes is that they also enable you to decide later how they should be modeled (if at all).

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iNets first appeared in the 2006 version of AWR’s Analog Office® RFIC design software. For the “high-frequency” silicon designer attempting feats of microwave or mm-wave fame, a major challenge is what to do with the interconnect. Given that the typical silicon RFIC has more interconnect than there are Mickey Mouse ears at Disney World, and that the substrate is lossy plus “where’s the ground?”, there’s a lot to take into consideration. So the initial incarnation of iNets let users route a wire in their schematic, which enabled them to incrementally model it as they refined their design along the way to tape out. For example, starting with all the lines being a short, users could have the iNet automatically tie together a series of RF/microwave interconnect models for them that were process dependent so as to give a first-cut measure of loss and delay at GHz frequencies. Later on, they could send it to a parasitic extraction engine or eventually do a full-up EM.

Pretty cool. This concept was then taken over to Microwave Office® for MMIC and module design. The result: iNets that we have today in the current version of AWR software.

So if you’re a MMIC designer, iNets can keep your DC lines on your schematic for inclusion later when you’re scratching your head as to why you have an oscillation in your world’s greatest PA or high gain amp. In the early stages of the design, you can just leave ‘em alone. But when you want to make the boss proud that your DC lines are not just a bad tank circuit, two mouse-clicks later you’re EXTRACTing your iNet’d DC lines to ACE™, AXIEM™, or your favorite EM solver in the EM Socket™.

For module design, getting some spirals onto the softboard is a great cost savings, and while you don’t necessarily want to nail down their size early in the flow, you may want to look at their cross-coupling. Lay them out with an iNet and you can easily push, pull, and stretch to get a feel for the space you need. Incrementally EM’ing them with a few of the extra lines in the vicinity is a great balance between speed and accuracy in the middle part of your design when you are trying to get the layout to fit without blowing out your space constraints.

And for the PCB designer. Welcome to nirvana. Manually route your lines, inserting the vias you want or letting the iNet router do it for you. When you’re ready to do that final verification...WHAM! send it to ACE or an EM solver to nail the electricals before using an AWRConnected™ link to migrate it into your enterprise PCB tool and manufacturing.

Check out iNets...it's one of the best darn feature you’ll ever use when it comes to circuit designers’ layouts and probably the one you’ve heard the least about. Don’t just take my word for it, see it in action on AWR.TV and then call your local sales contact or AE to put iNets to work for you!

 


Submit your technical questions to support@awrcorp.com and they just might appear in a future "tech talk" feature.

AWR User Forum

We Know You Have Great Ideas! Share Them With Us on AWR’s User Forum

AWR's User Forum is a quick and convenient way to share your ideas and turn your feedback into action. It gives you, our customers, a direct dialog with the entire user community, as well as with R&D. See what other users think and vote for the best new ideas. Your idea could be the next great AWR innovation!

Check out the new User Forum on the AWR downloads site (you must be an active customer to access).

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