The design of microwave systems is becoming more and more complex, the requirements for circuit indicators are getting higher and higher, the functions of circuits are increasing, the size of circuits is getting smaller and smaller, and the design cycle is getting shorter and shorter. Traditional design methods can no longer meet the needs of microwave circuit design. Using microwave EDA software tools to design microwave components and microwave systems has become an inevitable trend in microwave circuit design. EDA stands for Electronic Design Automation; at present, various commercial microwave EDA software tools are emerging abroad. The main EDA tools in the microwave RF field are Agilent's ADS software and Ansoft's HFSS and Designer software, followed by relatively small circuit design software such as Microwave Office, Ansoft Serenade, CST, Zeland, XFDTD, Sonnet, etc. The following will briefly introduce the functional characteristics and scope of use of each microwave EDA software, so that everyone can have a general understanding.
Microwave EDA simulation software is closely related to the numerical algorithm of electromagnetic field. Before introducing microwave EDA software, we will briefly introduce the numerical algorithm of microwave electromagnetic field theory. All numerical algorithms are based on Maxwell's equations. Understanding Maxwell's equations is the basis for learning electromagnetic numerical algorithms. In the frequency domain, the numerical algorithms include: finite element method (FEM -- Finite Element Method), method of moments (MoM -- Method of Moments), difference method (FDM -- Finite Difference Methods), boundary element method (BEM --), and transmission line method (TLM -- Transmission-Line-matrix Method). In the time domain, the numerical algorithms include: finite difference time domain method (FDTD – Finite Difference Time Domain), and finite integration method (FIT – Finite Integration Technology). If you want to learn more about the specific implementation of various numerical algorithms, you can refer to the following books: ① Microwave Circuit Modeling Using Electromagnetic Field Simulation, ② Numerical Techniques in Electromagnetics, ③ Electromagmetic Simunation Using the FDTD Method, ④ Complex eletromagnetic problems and numerical Simulation Approaches.
Among them, microwave EDA software using the method of moments (MoM) include ADS, Ansoft Designer, Microwave Office, Zeland IE3D, Ansoft Esemble, Super NEC and FEKO; microwave EDA software using the finite element method (FEM) include HFSS and ANSYS; microwave EDA software using the finite difference time domain method (FDTD) include EMPIRE and XFDTD, and microwave EDA software using the finite integral method (FIT) include CST Microwave Studio and CST Mafia.
The following introduces the functions and applications of several popular microwave EDA software.
ADS – Advanced Design System is a microwave circuit and communication system simulation software launched by Agilent. It is one of the most widely used software in domestic universities and research institutes. It has very powerful functions and rich simulation methods. It can realize a variety of simulation analysis methods including time domain and frequency domain, digital and analog, linear and nonlinear, noise, etc., and can analyze and optimize the yield of the design results, thereby greatly improving the design efficiency of complex circuits. It is a very excellent design tool for microwave circuits and system signal links. Mainly used in: RF and microwave circuit design, communication system design, DSP design and vector simulation. The latest version is ADS2004A.
Ansoft Designer is a microwave circuit and communication system simulation software launched by Ansoft. It uses the latest Windows technology and is the first design tool that seamlessly integrates high-frequency circuit systems, layouts and electromagnetic field simulation tools into the same environment. This integration is not a simple interface integration. The key is Ansoft Designer's unique "solve on demand" technology, which enables you to select solvers according to your needs, thereby achieving full control over the design process. Ansoft Designer implements the "what you see is what you get" automated layout function, and the layout and schematic diagram are automatically synchronized, greatly improving the efficiency of layout design. At the same time, Ansoft can also be easily integrated with other design software, and can be connected to test instruments to complete various design tasks, such as frequency synthesizers, phase-locked loops, communication systems, radar systems, amplifiers, mixers, filters, phase shifters, power dividers, synthesizers and microstrip antennas. Mainly used in: RF and microwave circuit design, communication system design, circuit board and module design, component design. The latest version is Ansoft Designer 2.1.
Ansoft HFSS is a 3D electromagnetic simulation software launched by Ansoft. It is the world's first commercial 3D structural electromagnetic field simulation software and the industry-recognized electronic design industry standard for 3D electromagnetic field design and analysis. HFSS provides a simple and intuitive user design interface, a precise adaptive field solver, and a powerful post-processor with unprecedented electrical performance analysis capabilities. It can calculate the S parameters and full-wave electromagnetic fields of any shape of 3D passive structures. HFSS software has powerful antenna design functions. It can calculate antenna parameters such as gain, directivity, far-field pattern profile, far-field 3D diagram and 3dB bandwidth; draw polarization characteristics, including spherical field components, circular polarization field components, Ludwig third definition field components and axial ratio. Using HFSS, you can calculate: ① basic electromagnetic field numerical solutions and open boundary problems, near and far field radiation problems; ② port characteristic impedance and transmission constant; ③ S parameters and normalized S parameters of corresponding port impedance; ④ eigenmode or resonant solution of the structure. Moreover, Ansoft's high-frequency solution, which consists of Ansoft HFSS and Ansoft Designer, is currently the only high-frequency design solution based on physical prototypes, providing fast and accurate design methods from system to circuit to component level, covering all aspects of high-frequency design. The latest version is Ansoft HFSS 9.2.
Microwave Office is a microwave EDA software launched by AWR, which provides the most complete, fastest and most accurate solution for microwave planar circuit design. It simulates and emulates microwave planar circuits through two simulators. For circuits composed of lumped components, it is easier to use the circuit method; the software has a "VoltaireXL" simulator to handle microwave planar circuit problems composed of lumped components. For distributed parameter microwave planar circuits composed of specific microstrip geometric figures, it is more effective to use the field method; the software uses the "EMSight" simulator to handle the three-dimensional electromagnetic field problems of any multi-layer planar structure. The "VoltaireXL" simulator has a component library. When establishing a circuit model, the components used in microwave circuits can be called out, among which passive devices include inductors, resistors, capacitors, resonant circuits, microstrip lines, strip lines, coaxial lines, etc., and nonlinear devices include bipolar transistors, field effect transistors, diodes, etc. The "EMSight" simulator is a three-dimensional electromagnetic field simulation package that can be used for the analysis of planar high-frequency circuits and antenna structures. The characteristic is that it combines the modified spectral domain moment method with the intuitive window graphical user interface (GUI) technology, which makes the calculation much faster. MWO can analyze the electrical characteristics of circuits such as radio frequency integrated circuits (RFIC), microwave monolithic integrated circuits (MMIC), microstrip patch antennas and high-speed printed circuits (PCB).
XFDTD is a three-dimensional full-wave electromagnetic field simulation software based on the finite difference time domain method (FDTD) launched by Remcom. XFDTD has a friendly user interface and accurate calculations; but XFDTD itself has no optimization function and must be optimized through the third-party software Engineous. The software was first used to simulate cellular phones and is good at mobile phone antennas and SAR calculations. It is now widely used in wireless, microwave circuits, radar scattering calculations, chemistry, optics, land-based warning radars and biological tissue simulations. The latest version of the software is XFDTD 6.0
Zeland IE3D, which is an electromagnetic field simulation tool based on the moment method that can solve the current distribution problem of three-dimensional metal structures in multi-layer dielectric environments. IE3D can be divided into three parts: MGRID, MODUA and PATTERNVIEW. MGRID is the pre-processing suite of IE3D, which has the functions of establishing circuit structure, setting parameters of substrate and metal materials, and setting simulation parameters. MOODUA is the core execution suite of IE3D, which can perform electromagnetic field simulation calculation, performance parameter (Smith diagram, S parameters, etc.) calculation and parameter optimization calculation. PATTERNVIEW is the post-processing suite of IE3D, which can display the simulation calculation results and the distribution of electromagnetic fields in the form of contour lines or vector fields. IE3D simulation results include S, Y, Z parameters, VWSR, RLC equivalent circuit, current distribution, near field distribution and radiation pattern, directivity, efficiency and RCS, etc.; the application scope is mainly in the analysis and design of microwave radio frequency circuits, multi-layer printed circuit boards, and planar microstrip antenna design. The latest version of the software is Zeland IE3D10.0.
CST MICROWAVE STUDIO is a high-frequency three-dimensional electromagnetic field simulation software launched by CST (Computer Simulation Technology) of Germany. It is widely used in the fields of mobile communications, wireless communications (Bluetooth systems), signal integration and electromagnetic compatibility. Microwave Studio is simple to use and can provide intuitive electromagnetic characteristics for users' high-frequency designs. In addition to the main time domain solver module, Microwave Studio also provides eigenmode and frequency domain solver modules for certain special applications. The import function of CAD files and the extraction of SPICE parameters enhance the design possibilities and shorten the design time. In addition, due to the open architecture of CST Design Studio, it can provide links to other simulation software, so that Microwave Studio can be integrated with other design environments.
Sonnet is an electromagnetic simulation software based on the method of moments, which provides EDA tools for 3D planar high-frequency circuit design systems and microwave, millimeter wave fields and electromagnetic compatibility/electromagnetic interference design. SonnetTM is used for planar high-frequency electromagnetic field analysis, with frequencies ranging from 1MHz to several thousand GHz. The main applications include: microstrip matching networks, microstrip circuits, microstrip filters, stripline circuits, stripline filters, vias (layer connections or grounding), coupled line analysis, PCB board circuit analysis, PCB board interference analysis, bridge spiral inductors, planar high-temperature superconducting circuit analysis, millimeter-wave integrated circuit (MMIC) design and analysis, hybrid matching circuit analysis, HDI and LTCC conversion, precise analysis of single-layer or multi-layer transmission lines, multi-layer planar circuit analysis, single-layer or multi-layer planar antenna analysis, planar antenna array analysis, planar coupled hole analysis, etc.
Other microwave and RF related EDA software include Ansoft's Serenade 8.71, Esemble 8.0, SIwave 2.0, Ansoft Links 3.0, Optimatrics, CST Mafia 4.1, CST Design Studio, CST EM Studio 2.0, Zeland's Fidelity, Ansys, FEKO, Eagleware Genesys, and Super NEC from Eagleware-Elanix. Due to time constraints, I will not introduce them one by one here. If you want to seriously learn microwave EDA related software, I recommend you to visit the Microwave EDA website ( http://www.mweda.com ), where there are many microwave software and classic learning and use tutorials.
The microwave office software is very small and simple to use, but its corresponding functions are not powerful enough. It can be used as an entry-level software to simulate filters or something. It is still very good. If you want to simulate active circuits, it may not be enough.
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