Microwave Journal
www.microwavejournal.com/articles/11229-new-rf-design-tools-from-analog-devices-simplify-rf-system-development

New RF Design Tools From Analog Devices Simplify RF System Development

June 1, 2011

Analog Devices Inc. (ADI) announced new releases of two popular RF design tools. The ADIsimRF™ design tool is the software accompaniment to ADI’s complete portfolio of RF-to-digital functional blocks, allowing engineers to model RF signal chains using devices from across ADI’s RF IC portfolio. The ADIsimRF Rev. 1.5 enhancements include more visibility into signal levels within the signal chain, the ability to set RMS and peak-power warning thresholds, and calculators for measuring inter-stage power loss. ADIsimPLL™ Version 3.4 development software has been upgraded to support new products in ADI’s industry-leading PLL portfolio, the ADF4351 PLL for base station and general-purpose applications and the ADRF6850 integrated broadband receiver for satellite applications. The new versions of these design tools are available from ADI’s website for free.

The ADIsimRF design tool provides calculations for the most important parameters within an RF signal chain, including cascaded gain, noise figure, IP3, P1dB, and total power consumption. The ADIsimRF tool also contains embedded data from many of ADI’s RF ICs, which designers can easily access using pull-down menus. Device tables assist in component selection.

ADIsimRF Version 1.5 Key Features:

• Support for ADI’s newest high-performance RF ICs

• Increased visibility to signal levels within the signal chain, with the RF power in each stage displayed along with the peak and rms back-off from the stage’s 1-dB compression point (P1dB)

• Ability to set peak-to-average ratio and back-off thresholds in order to warn the user if the rms and/or peak power in a particular stage approaches the 1-dB compression point

• Calculate the inter-stage RF power loss between two adjacent devices with mismatched impedance levels; voltage domain signal levels such as rms voltage, peak-to-peak voltage, and noise spectral density in nV/√Hz; and signal quality metrics such as SNR, SFDR, IMD, and ACLR

• Compatible with Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7.

The ADIsimPLL design tool is a comprehensive PLL synthesizer design and simulation tool. All key non-linear effects that can impact PLL performance can be simulated, including phase noise, Fractional-N spurs, and anti-backlash pulse. Fully compatible with prior releases, the ADIsimPLL Version 3.4 design tool eliminates time-consuming iterations from the PLL/synthesizer development process. The ADF4xxx family of synthesizers serve a range of applications such as wireless base stations, LAN, mobile handsets and PDAs, broadband wireless access, industrial, instrumentation and test equipment, satellite, sonar, and CATV. Analog Devices’ ADIsimPLL Version 3.4 design tool offers support for the company’s latest PLL synthesizers, including the new highly-integrated ADF4351 PLL for base station and general-purpose applications and the ADRF6850 integrated broadband receiver for satellite applications.

Using a unique combination of design skills, systems understanding and process technologies, Analog Devices RF products cover the entire RF signal chain and include industry-leading high-performance discrete RF function blocks to highly-integrated multi-functional single-chip RF solutions. These products are also supported by a wide range of free design tools, evaluation boards and other design resources to ease the development of RF systems.