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E8882A Harmonic Balance Simulator |  |
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Product Highlights
Product Description
Neither the S-parameter, nor the transient time-domain techniques are applicable to one very important aspect of RF design: "Steady-State solution of nonlinear circuits with multi-tone excitation". S-parameter technique is a linear simulation method and transient technique is not practical for multi-tone excitation with closely spaced tones. The solution to this problem was the invention of the frequency-domain, non-linear harmonic balance (HB), simulation technology. Because it is a frequency-domain technique, distributed models can be easily and accurately included in the simulation. In today's RF system designs, at least one, and many times two, up-conversions, and down-conversions, are involved. This makes the HB simulator the ideal tool for handling multiple independent signals, no matter how closely spaced in frequency. This fast Harmonic Balance simulator is especially useful for the design of the typical nonlinear circuits used in wireless RF and microwave communication systems. It simulates and optimizes the nonlinear steady-state response of amplifiers, multipliers, mixers, oscillators RF system models, and other devices. HB provides performance measures such as DC bias, mixer noise figure, oscillation frequency and phase noise, large signal S parameters, and power added efficiency. Agilent's simulator also provides swept variable (for example, power, frequency or circuit parameter) analysis, parametric subnetworks, and large-signal S-parameters. Amplifier compression, harmonic distortion, oscillator spurious, phase noise, and mixer inter-modulation products are other types of analysis that HB performs extremely well. Transient Assisted Harmonic Balance (TaHB) is a new technology which was created specifically for addressing the challenges of designing highly non-linear circuits with digital content, such as dividers in PLL IC's, The simulator runs transient analysis first and uses its results as an initial condition for harmonic balance to complete the solution.
Noise analysis of non-linear circuits is another area where the HB is very effective. HB, with its nonlinear frequency-domain technique, easily lends itself to the fast and accurate noise analysis of mixers and oscillators while including large-signal effects. You can now analyze oscillator phase noise, noise figure of frequency translation circuits (such as mixers and receivers), and BER (bit error rates). This capability lets you experiment with different DC bias, or LO drive levels, to obtain optimum mixer noise performance. It also allows you to tackle problems introduced by physical hardware that were previously difficult to simulate. "Krylov" Harmonic Balance Solver is a significant algorithmic breakthrough in HB technology. It allows for full-chip simulation with multi-tone excitation, without putting excessive demands on memory or simulation time. This allows RFIC designers to take full advantage of HB technology and apply HB simulation and analysis on their complete designs. ConvergenceRecent improvements in the DC solution include two new algorithms that allow large circuits with singular matrices to converge. Problems with circuits of singular matrices can be either topological or numerical (large diversity in the circuit element values). For topological problems, a new algorithm detects these conditions and adds the appropriate circuit approximation for a subset of the problem topologies. For numerical problems, a new algorithm detects and fixes any numerical problems that could lead to formulating a singular matrix.
Shur Complement Preconditioner and Enhanced Krylov SolverIn large circuits with many nodes and harmonics, the Harmonic Balance problem size increases dramatically. In these situations the the Krylov sub-space solver becomes very useful and efficient. However, if the large circuits happen to be highly nonlinear, even Krylov sub-space solver encounters difficulty in converging on a final solution. A robust preconditioner is needed in order to simplify and approximate the associated Jacobian matrix and to allow Krylov sub-space solver to run smoothly and rapidly attain the final solution. The new Schur Complement Preconditioner (SCP) represents the state-of-the-art preconditioning technology and achieves robust convergence on even very large nonlinear circuit designs. SCP handles switching mixers, frequency dividers and power amplifiers running well into compression, that traditional preconditioners cannot. The new SCP enables the simulation of larger and more complex designs and is expected to shorten the RFIC design process by several weeks. Recent improvements to the algorithm, combined with the newly added specialized internal Krylov solver, make the SCP even faster and more memory efficient.
Post-Processing MeasurementsIn all analyses, node voltages and branch currents are computed and stored allowing for display without re-simulation. Complex user-defined post processing functions, such as integration of a spectrum, conversion of simulation data to match formats of published wireless standards, vector and matrix operations, can also be performed within the post processing data display environment. The popular SPICE type sorted listing of circuit noise contributors is now available for linear and nonlinear noise analyses. Optimization and Statistical AnalysisAll circuit and system simulators can work in conjunction with ten different optimizers, enabling you to obtain the best possible performance from your designs. Programmable optimization, swept optimization and other advanced statistical capabilities are some of the newly added features in ADS. Statistical methods include Monte Carlo Yield, sensitivity, mismatch and correlation analysis performed with any kind of distribution. Recent ease of design improvements are automatic normalization and post optimization simulation sequencing. More information can be found at Statistical Design (E8824) . Frequency-Defined DeviceThe FDD Model enables nonlinear devices, such as phase and frequency detectors, VCOs, modulators, and frequency multipliers, to be more naturally described in the frequency domain, rather than in the time domain. Another class of FDDs can be used in both frequency and time domain. An example is a clock, or carrier recovery circuit whose output frequency is based on the input zero crossing trigger time interval. Recent Product EnhancementsProduct enhancements in recent releases include the following:
ADS ModelsFor a complete list of ADS models, click on the following link: Circuit Models Product Demos
ONLINE Circuit Envelope, Harmonic Balance, Momentum
Circuit Envelope, Harmonic Balance, and Momentum
ONLINE Range of Simulations
Simulations in ADS
How To Buy
To request immediate sales assistance - for help choosing the best system; for product configuration and integration details; to request telephone assistance or an on-site demo of the software; or to request a price quotation - click on the following link: Configuration DetailsRequires the Linear Simulator (E8881) and the Design Environment (E8900).
Product Literature
RF System Budget Analysis provides an RF system analysis solution in the ADS Analog/RF Environment. RF System Engineers can now analyze system chain measurements including IP3, P1-dB Compression, and similar values, early in the development cycle. For details, click on the following link: Agilent HBT model's self-heating effects are available. Click on the following link for details:
Technical Articles
Training ClassesAdvanced Design System FundamentalsThis is a medium-paced three-day detailed introduction to the application of Advanced Design System (ADS) for communication systems and circuit designs. This course instructs designers on schematic capture, the proper application of a wide variety of simulators, and the display and manipulation of results. After a brief study of ADS basic operation, students design and test amplifier and filter circuits that are then placed in a down-converting receiver system for final simulation. Real-world examples are used at all times so that designers can return to their jobs ready to apply ADS effectively to their design challenges. For detailed course descriptions and class schedules worldwide, click on the following link: Advanced Topics in Circuit DesignThis is a medium-paced two-day course that shows some of the more expert features of Agilent EEsof EDA's Advanced Design System. This course instructs designers on the proper application of advanced simulation methods found in ADS, use of measured data in ADS simulations, and the modeling of devices used in common design schematics. Some of the advanced simulation methods used in the course are transient-assisted harmonic balance, yield optimization, oscillator analysis, design of experiments (DOE), and sensitivity analysis. Very realistic circuits are used in this course, such as those found in cellular phones or radio receiver sections. At the end of this course, the designer should be very comfortable with using ADS and understand how to implement the more advanced simulation methods on their own designs. For detailed course descriptions and class schedules worldwide, click on the following link: User's Manuals
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