Other AWR Sites
COURSE DESCRIPTIONS
Training Modules
Introduction to the Software
Introduction to Microwave Office
Original Air Date: September, 2009
Prerequisites: None
Summary: Introduces the user to the software's UI, schematic and layout interaction, and shows how to make a graph and measurement.
- A Tour of the user interface: Menus, browsers, hotkeys.
- Linear Simulation: A simple Tee example. Graphing and measurements.
- Frequency Control: Global and local control of frequency.
- Tuning and Swept Variables: How they work in graphs.
- Schematic and Layout interaction: Ratlines, snapping together.
- Exporting the layout.
Electromagnetic Simulation
Setting up EM in Microwave Office®
Original Air Date: September, 2009
Prerequisites: None
Summary: Covers the essential concepts needed to get an EM simulation working in the Microwave Office environment.
- Drawing and EM Layers
- Understanding the Enclosure Settings
- Mesh Settings - reasonable mesh guidelines
- Controlling frequency and AFS
- Importing artwork to EM
- Extraction
AXIEM™ Concepts
Original Air Date: October, 2009
Prerequisites: None
Summary: AXIEM users need to understand three important concepts to use the full power of the simulator: ports, meshing, and solver settings.
- How ports work: implicit/explicit, deembedding settings, other port options (version 9)
- Meshing: The grid and decimation, controlling the mesh, reasonable mesh options.
- Solvers: Direct vs. Iterative solvers, how an iterative solver works, preconditioners.
Advanced EM Concepts for Planar Simulators
Original Air Date: November, 2009
Prerequisites: Setting up EM in Microwave Office, AXIEM Concepts
Summary: This module gives the user a deeper understanding of planar simulators.
- Deembedding: How it really works. Limitations and caveats. (Version 9 features)
- Metal Loss: Approximations and limitations
- S Parameters and grounding issues: series ports, internal ground planes.
- Coplanar and Stripline simulations
Layout
Controlling Layout
Original Air Date: October, 2009
Prerequisites: Introduction to Microwave Office
Summary: This module shows how layout is setup and controlled.
- Units, database size, and grid size.
- Controlling Drawing Layers
- Model layers when importing and exporting artwork cells.
- Schematic layout: snap together options, face options.
- Inserting artwork cells into schematic layout.
- Exporting layout: mappings and options.
- Associating fixed artwork cells with schematic elements.
- Introduction to the LPF file and linetypes.
Circuit Simulation
Using Harmonic Balance
Original Air Date: October, 2009
Prerequisites: Introduction to Microwave Office
Summary: This module covers basic setup of harmonic balance: ports, tones and harmonics, and circuit topologies.
- What is harmonic balance?
- How ports are controlled.
- Controlling harmonics.
- Common measurements: total power, power in a harmonic, large signal S parameters, spectral measurements.
- Typical Topologies: power amplifier, mixer, IP3, HotS22.
Seminars
New Technologies for EM Simulation: What the SI Engineer Needs to Know, But was Afraid to Ask
Original Air Date: March, 2010
Detailed Description of Contents
Summary: This is a recording of a talk given by Dr. John Dunn at DesignCon 10, in Santa Clara, California in February 2010. The talk looks at new mathematical methods being used in EM simulators to improve their speed and capacity.
- How planar EM simulators work, and predictions of where they will be in ten years with conventional techniques.
- Iterative techniques for planar EM simulators
- Finite element methods and parallel processing. Prediction as to where they will be in ten years.
- Automatic, fast frequency sweeping techniques.
- Rational approximation methods for S parameter extraction to Spice.