Agilent Technologies Inc. announced the 2009 release of Advanced Design System (ADS) for high frequency/high speed co-design of integrated circuits (IC), packages and boards. The ADS electronic design automation (EDA) release helps circuit, package, board and system designers work with a single EDA platform to share simulation models and minimize design rework, costs and delays in communications product design.
The ADS EDA co-design platform enables verification of high-frequency or high-speed system performance as soon as IC, package and PC board designs become available, either in real parts or in simulated models. With the common system-verification test benches in ADS 2009, designers can identify and correct component interactions that can negatively affect the ability to meet system performance specifications. Catching these interactions early in the design cycle prevents costly rework during final hardware integration.
Applications include:
• designing the latest 4G LTE phones, where multimode/multiband compatibility with 3G, 2G, WiFi and Bluetooth® must be maintained in the size and price demanded by consumers;
• signal integrity analysis and fast eye-diagram optimization of multigigabit, high-speed serial links, where layout geometry, pre-emphasis and equalization are optimized for the lowest bit error rate; and
• aerospace-defense communication and radar system integration with costly military-specification components procured through long purchase cycles, where failure leads to project delay, cost overrun and eventual cancellation.
Agilent's ADS EDA co-design platform is the result of more than two decades of continuous innovation and refinement. Its wireless, high speed and aerospace-defense system integration includes the co-design of Agilent's own test and measurement instruments.
ADS 2009 offers unique capabilities for co-design with the widest variety of models available today, including:
• X-parameters -- the latest Agilent innovation in accurate, non-linear measurement -- can be used directly in ADS simulation to accurately represent off-the-shelf components such as amplifiers and transistors;
• 3D electromagnetic parameterized components representing metal shields, antenna radomes, absorbers, packages, interconnects, finite dielectric substrates and wire bonds;
• transistor-level circuits on RFIC, MMIC, LTCC or laminate RF modules and PC boards; behavioral models of all types, including Verilog-A/AMS, HDL, MATLAB®, IBIS, C++ and neural networks;
• netlists from HSPICE and Spectre;
• measured signal stimulus and data from Agilent signal, network and logic analyzers; and
• prebuilt simulation libraries and sources compliant with the latest wireless standards such as LTE, WiMedia and VWAN wireless HD with MIMO antenna characteristics.
"Prebuilt simulation libraries and standards-compliant sources mean that IC and component design houses can collaborate with their system-integration customers to refine specifications and designs before committing to costly and time-consuming hardware sampling and system integration trials," said How-Siang Yap, ADS product marketing manager with Agilent's EEsof EDA division. "Reducing even one month-long hardware spin can save up to $1 M. Our customers are excited about this potential savings."
