Post on 24-Jan-2020
The Next Generation in System Design
“The primary motivation for using a system simulator
is to establish the right system architecture and
suitable specifications for the underlying components.
The sooner the engineering team has an accurate
understanding of system performance before
committing to hardware, the faster it can move
the product to manufacturing and ultimately into
the hands of consumers.”
Ted Miracco, Executive Vice President, AWR
FEATURES
• Fully integrated into AWR Design Environment™
• Integrates circuit and system designs
in one simulation platform
• Fast system simulations
• Support for complex measurements
• Extensive core model library
• Enhanced radio-frequency (RF)
behavioral models
• Seamless integration with test and
measurement (T&M) equipment
• Multi-rate complex envelope engine
• Automatic synchronization of
component delays
• RF models account for mismatch and
voltage standing wave radio (VSWR) effects
BENEFITS
• Reduces the number of design iterations,
speeding time-to-market
• Reduces system cost by ensuring against
overspecification of components
• Eliminates simulation bottlenecks
• Reduces development and production
turnaround cycles
• Cutting edge models provide the most
accurate representation of complex
communications systems
NEW IN 2004
• RF budget analysis for calculating cascaded
performance of the RF link
• Phase lock loop (PLL) simulation blocks for
interactive investigation of the dynamics of
frequency synthesizers and frequency and
phase modulators
• Core enhancements including tighter
integration with Analog Office™ design suite
and Microwave Office™ design suite
• Adaptive behavioral models and
enhanced measurements
• Support for Linux platform
• Code division multiple access 2000
(cdma2000) signal source model
• Digital video broadcast (DVB) signal
source model
Visual System Simulator:
The Next Generation in System Design
Applied Wave Research, Inc. (AWR™) has established itself as a leading worldwide
provider of high-frequency electronic design automation (EDA) software. The company
has developed a revolutionary, future-facing product architecture and open system
platform that embodies years of knowledge and expertise in RF, microwave, and
millimeter wave design applications and delivers an unprecedented level of design
automation and productivity improvement not offered in any other design system on
the market today. AWR has introduced some of the most exciting and compelling high-
frequency design tools in the industry, while completely resetting expectations on how
fast a software developer can react to the needs of its customers. As a result of its
industry-leading product innovation and customer responsiveness, AWR has established
a loyal worldwide customer base that continues to expand rapidly.
The primary motivation for using a system simulator is to establish the right system
architecture and formulate suitable specifications for each of the underlying
components. Accomplishing this goal allows companies to reduce their time-to-market
by eliminating iterations and rework, and reduce system cost by ensuring that
components are not over-specified and more expensive than necessary. The sooner
the engineering team has an accurate understanding of system performance before
committing to hardware, the faster it can move the product into manufacturing and
ultimately into the hands of consumers.
AWR Design Environment
Built on an advanced software architecture, the unique core technology in the AWR
Design Environment is a modern object-oriented data model that is inherently open
and flexible compared to legacy design tools. The AWR Design Environment elevates
the product development process by allowing the entire engineering team to effortlessly
integrate Visual System Simulator™ (VSS) system designs into one platform with Analog
Office for RFIC design, Microwave Office for monolithic microwave integrated circuit
(MMIC), and TestWave™ for simulation with test and measurement equipment. This
provides an accurate understanding of the impact of today's complex modulated RF
signals and "real world" circuit performance. The result is a truly revolutionary design
approach that enables interactive trade-offs between system requirements and circuit
implementation.
SALES
2000 2001 2002 2003
AWR Annual Sales
TestWave
Analog & RFICDesign
Microwave IC, Module& PCB Design
Communications Subsystems Design
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t t
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tTestWave
Visual System Simulator Design Suite
Visual System Simulator is a comprehensive software suite for the design of complete,
end-to-end communications systems. The VSS technology uses an advanced, time-based
simulation engine coupled with circuit simulation tools that enable systems and circuit
designers to work together within a single environment to perform interactive, top-down
analysis of analog and digital communications systems. The software can incorporate either
high-level behavioral models or detailed transistor-level circuit designs from AWR’s Analog
Office and Microwave Office software suites. VSS also offers seamless integration with AWR’s
TestWave instrument interface software. This enables engineers to perform analysis at the
system level, where hardware measurements are incorporated through a bi-directional link
to popular test and measurement equipment.
VSS effectively gives the entire engineering organization the “big picture,” including the
RF impairments in the presence of complex modulated signals. The solution reduces time-to-
market by providing a single integrated environment wrapped in an intuitive, easy-to-use
interface. VSS allows users to transcend the system hierarchy and easily move from very high
levels of abstraction right down to the details—from simulations that include layout parasitics
to the incorporation of measured data, for example, bit error rate (BER), adjacent channel
power ratio (ACPR), error-vector magnitude (EVM), or signal-to-noise ratio (SNR).
VSS technology enables designers to easily make critical system performance measurements,
accurately analyze the impact of RF components on modulated signals, and make cost-
effective trade-offs between system and circuit specifications.
"In the design of our state-of-the-
art wireless systems, VSS2003
has been instrumental in our
understanding of the performance
of our mesh networking cells.
Our design team has been very
pleased with the support we
have received from AWR and
their commitment to our
company's success."
Jay Kruse
Design Engineer
Tropos Networks
Blazingly Fast System Simulations
VSS, with its core algorithmic advantages, provides an
extremely fast simulation engine that reduces overhead
and eliminates simulation bottlenecks. The software
combines a data-driven approach with novel block-
processing techniques to efficiently manage the flow of
data between blocks. In addition, elastic first-in-first-out
(FIFO) buffers are used to streamline the flow of data
and eliminate wait states. VSS automatically establishes the proper alignment of symbol data
for BER analysis, so users can rapidly change components without recalculating the delay.
And VSS supports asynchronous data transfer, thus naturally handling multi-rate processing.
Support for Complex Measurements
The complexity of signals used in today’s wireless communications products creates unique
design challenges. Conventional measurements for characterizing non-ideal components
are inadequate to address the actual system specifications that drive product development.
Reducing development and production turn-around cycles and speeding time-to-market
demands a flexible interactive system- and circuit-savvy computer-aided engineering (CAE)
environment. VSS was designed to meet the needs of both systems and circuit engineers
by providing an extensive library of built-in measurements such as BER, ACPR, EVM, SNR,
and complex cumulative distribution functions (CCDF). Users can quickly determine how
a component will behave while operating under real world conditions.
Core Model Library
VSS2004 offers a vastly expanded library of core elements
as well as optional application-specific libraries that
support the latest emerging standards such as 3G,
GSM/EDGE, 802.11, cdma2000, and DVB. These elements
can be used to build an accurate representation of the
most complex communications systems. The library
includes improved encoders/decoders (including Viterbi,
Reed-Solomon, convolutional and others),
modulators/demodulators, and filters.
The enhanced RF behavioral models in VSS2004 provide
advantages for RF/analog engineers who typically use multiple
tones to analyze the nonlinearities of an RF link. The new
VSS2004 behavioral amplifier and mixer models enable
engineers to monitor and predict the harmonics and
intermodulation products in the out-of-band regions as well
as near the carrier frequency.
Inclusion of VSWR effects is important for accurate analysis
of RF/analog subsystems. While traditional system simulators by definition assume ideally
matched interconnection between models, VSS2004 models can now take impedance
mismatches into account. This patent-pending capability is a result of AWR proprietary
research and development efforts, and enables designers to monitor resulting spurs and
account for impedance mismatch of the entire RF link.
RF Budget Analysis
RF budget analysis is AWR’s unique new solution to enable designers for the first time
to calculate cascaded performance of the RF link. This new addition to VSS system
measurements takes the software to a higher level of RF subsystem analysis. Traditional
RF/analog system analysis commonly requires several tools to achieve a complete analysis
of end-to-end performance. For example, the engineering team may use one tool for EVM
measurements and another for calculating cascaded noise figure (NF) and output IP3 (OIP3).
With VSS2004, engineering teams now have an efficient and comprehensive platform
for making RF cascaded calculations at interior points of the RF link to perform an EVM
measurement, all within a single system diagram. Working in one environment provides a
seamless flow of information between traditional systems engineers and RF/analog engineers.
VSS2004 with RF budget analysis is an even more powerful tool that enables the engineering
team to perform trade-off studies in order to balance performance parameters such as gain
distribution, spurious levels, and receiver sensitivity. With VSS2004 designers can quickly
discover systems deficiencies and eliminate design turns.
“VSS was an effective integrative
and analytical tool for exploring
an alternate implementation
of modulation for our products,
allowing serious assessment
of the proposed modulation in
a short amount of time. AWR
support was excellent.”
John Lane
Engineering Consultant
PLL Simulation Blocks
Phase lock loops (PLLs) are an integral part of communications systems.
The integration of dedicated behavioral PLL blocks into VSS2004 provides
the ability to interactively investigate the dynamics of frequency synthe-
sizers and frequency/phase modulators and demodulators.
The PLL models are designed to give engineers access to high-level
parameters such as the charge-pump current and voltage-frequency gain
(Kvco) of the voltage control oscillator (VCO). Users can choose from
several behavioral filter models that are representative of both passive and active topologies.
After the behavioral loop filter parameters have been determined, engineers can take the
design a step further by replacing this filter with a Microwave Office circuit design.
Through simulations, engineers can establish practical PLL design guidelines. For example,
they can determine the PLL’s stability, phase margin, open- and closed-loop frequency
response, bandwidth, and pole locations. Transient simulation (both fast and accurate) can
be performed to visualize settling time or an abrupt change in the divide-by-N ratio. Using
VSS2004 blocks, the designer can account for many of the non-idealities encountered in
practical PLL implementations. The nonlinear tuning table of a VCO can be imported into
VSS2004 together with its phase noise. Ultimately, the best loop bandwidth, phase noise,
transient response, and phase margin can be determined by working with the VSS2004 PLL
behavioral blocks.
Core Enhancements for 2004
AWR continues to enhance the integration of VSS with Analog Office and Microwave Office
design suites through the AWR Design Environment. VSS2004 provides users with a seamless
connection to incorporate directly into the system diagram both oscillator phase noise and
mixer spur measurements obtained from circuit designs. Upon completion of an oscillator’s
phase noise analysis in Microwave Office, its single-sideband phase noise profile can be
directly imported into the VSS phase noise model. In VSS, for example, the effect of the
phase noise on bit error rate (BER) performance can be determined. A circuit-level mixer
design can be accurately simulated in VSS by exporting the spur analysis results as an MxN
spur table into the system “file based” mixer.
In addition, the VSS nonlinear amplifier model has been improved, incorporating the
simulation of frequency-dependent characteristics such as those found in ultra wideband
(UWB) systems.
Adaptive behavioral models such as least-mean-square (LMS) and recursive-least-square (RLS)
equalizers have also been added. One use of an equalization system is to compensate for
transmission-channel impairments such as frequency-dependent phase and amplitude
distortion. Besides correcting for channel frequency-response anomalies, an equalizer can be
used to cancel the effects of multipath signal components. The resulting equalizer coeffi-
cients that are generated can be exported to external files to be used, for example, in a
stand-alone finite impulse response filter (FIR).
Core models, such as a lookup table, variable gain amplifier (VGA), and align block, are
found in VSS2004. One use of the lookup table is to simulate the function of a variable
voltage attenuator (VVA) or, more generically, for simulating a nonlinear transfer function.
The VGA model can be used to analyze the behavioral characteristic of an automatic gain
control (AGC) system. The align block analyzes two signals, a reference signal and a
degraded version of the reference signal, for timing alignment and gain and phase
distortion. The signals are then delayed as necessary to time-align the signals on output.
The corrupted signal is gain- and phase-compensated to minimize the effects of gain and
phase distortion. Typically this model is used prior to making an EVM measurement.
Additional signal sources intended for use when performing RF link analysis and/or
conformance testing have been added to the extensive list of VSS2004 models. The new
models are similar to the existing 802.11a/b/g signal generators in that they use the proper
“The unique open, integrated
environment provided in VSS
enabled us to study the effects
of the non-linear distortion on
our communications link margin
using real digital modulated
analog waveforms.”
Stephan VanFleteren
Senior Lead Engineer
General Dynamics Advanced
Information Systems
modulation and have the correct spectral qualities. The new models consist of DVB and
cdma2000 signal sources. Engineers can also take advantage of the wide range of VSS
primitive models such as forward-error-correction (FEC) and add additional features to these
signal sources. A third-generation (3G) design studio exists for engineers who want to create
3G wideband CDMA (WCDMA) frequency division duplex (FDD) “bit accurate” signals.
VSS2004 measurements have been enhanced as necessary. Root raised cosine filtering (RRC)
is added to the ACPR measurement window to meet the needs of engineers performing 3G
WCDMA FDD conformance testing. The direct importation of spectral masks has also been
added to the VSS measurement window. This feature is particularly useful for engineering
teams performing conformance tests using today’s wireless communication signals.
In addition, through the use of systems annotations, engineers can monitor at each node
in the system such metrics as the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), signal power, and signal delay.
Seamless Integration with Test and Measurement Equipment
Through the AWR Design Environment, AWR’s TestWave software integrates T&M equipment
with VSS, providing wireless system designers with a complete integration of the design
process. Together, VSS2004 and TestWave combine schematic simulation, test signal
generation, and test and measurement verification. This capability enables designers to
perform computer trade-off studies with "hardware-in-the-loop." Accessing these two
previously disjointed phases of the development process from the same environment
saves time.
In addition to the TestWave interface, add-in blocks that interface directly from the VSS
system diagrams display in the element browser like other VSS blocks. In essence, VSS can
import signals from T&M or export signals to T&M directly from system diagrams using
TestWave software.
The TestWave tool integrates VSS software with a wide variety of popular test equipment
from manufacturers such as: Anritsu Wiltron, Rohde & Schwarz, Marconi Instruments,
Fluke/Philips, Tektronix, Boonton, LeCroy, Yokogawa, IFR, Wandel & Goltermann,
Advantest, Hewlett Packard, and Agilent Technologies. Equipment types supported by the
TestWave product include network analyzers, spectrum analyzers, modulation analyzers,
and oscilloscopes.
Hardware DUT
TestWave
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS AND SUPPORTED PLATFORMS
AWR products support Windows NT4, 2000, XP, and Linux. For more information on product pricing and availability
call 310-726-3000 or visit the AWR website at www.mwoffice.com.
PRODUCT MAINTENANCE AND SUPPORT
Applied Wave Research provides maintenance and support policies that deliver outstanding online, e-mail, and telephone
customer services, as well as significant upgrades and enhancements on a yearly basis. For more information on product
maintenance and support, call 310-726-3000 or visit the AWR website at www.mwoffice.com.
“VSS 2004 offers new features and tighter
integration with our system and RF/microwave
software suites, making it easier than ever
for designers to work together within a single
environment to perform interactive, top-down analysis
of analog and digital communications systems.”
Joel Kirshman
Market Segment Manager, Communications System Design, AWR
US Corporate Office:
Applied Wave Research, Inc.
1960 East Grand Avenue, Suite 430
El Segundo, CA 90245
Tel: (310) 726 3000
Fax: (310) 726 3005
Email: info@mwoffice.com
Website: www.mwoffice.com
AWR Europe
Applied Wave Research, Ltd.
Lyon Court, 3rd Floor
Walsworth Road
Hitchin, Herts SG4 9SX United Kingdom
Tel: +44 (0) 870 220 2334
Fax: +44 (0) 870 220 2336
Email: europe@mwoffice.com
Website: www.mwoffice.com
AWR Japan
Cybernet Systems Co., Ltd.
Sumitomo Fudosan Otowa Bldg. 9-3
Otsuka 2-chome Bunkyo-ku,
Tokyo 112-0012
Tel: (03) 5978 5460
Fax: (03) 5978 6081
Email: infoawr@cybernet.co.jp
Website: www.cybernet.co.jp/products/eda/awr
AWR Authorized Representative:
Call to discuss your specific requirements, arrange a demonstration, or to receive an evaluation CD.
AWR, the AWR logo, Microwave Office, Visual System Simulator, TestWave, Analog Office, AWR Design Environment, EMSight, EM
Socket and, Intelligent Net are trademarks of Applied Wave Research, Inc., Copyright © 2004. All Rights Reserved. All other marks
are the property of their respective holders.
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