26 May 2015

NI AWR Design Environment supports Design Workshop Technologies' DRC and LVS Tools

At the 2015 IEEE MTT-S International Microwave Symposium (IMS) in Phoenix, Arizona (18-22 May), NI (formerly AWR Corp) of El Segundo, CA, USA launched AWR Connected for DWT, a new NI AWR Design Environment flow that enables integration with Design Workshop Technologies' (DWT) design-rule checking (DRC) and/or layout versus schematic (LVS) tools for printed-circuit board (PCB) and module design. The new AWR Connected for DWT DRC and LVS flow can run in one of two ways: in the full view/DWT user-interface (UI) mode or transparently from within the Microwave Office UI.

The AWR Connected for DWT DRC module is a full-featured DRC tool capable of complex layout rule checks that can be used as a sign-off tool. It is well suited to handle all angle geometries (such as curved structures found in many PCB and module designs), making it extremely flexible and capable of locating errors. In addition, the integrated AWR Connected for DWT error viewer option makes it easy for users to find and fix layout faults. 

The AWR Connected for DWT LVS module provides designers with an efficient tool for detecting network mismatches occurring in the physical layout of microwave monolithic integrated circuit (MMIC), PCB and module designs. Capable of extracting common devices like metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs), bipolar junction transistors (BJTs), diodes, capacitors and resistors, as well as generic user-defined devices and spiral inductors, AWR Connected for DWT LVS produces an easy-to-understand report, which lists all sources of discrepancies it detects between the layout-generated netlist and the original netlist. Lastly, the integrated error viewer, as used for DRC, is even more effective for finding and fixing LVS errors due to the cross-probing capability, says AWR.

Also at IMS, NI displayed AWR Connected for AMCAD, which provides ready access between NI AWR Design Environment V12 software and the stability analysis (STAN) software of AMCAD Engineering of Limoges, France.

Stability can be difficult to achieve in microwave circuits with gain (nonlinear behavior), such as amplifiers and oscillators, says NI. With the AWR Connected wizard that integrates STAN into NI AWR Design Environment, the tool can be called upon from within Microwave Office circuit design software to locate and characterize the unwanted oscillations in components such as power amplifiers (PAs). This aids RF/microwave engineers in developing networks that improve circuit stability without sacrificing the performance goals of the original circuit design, adds the firm.

"NI AWR Design Environment focuses on two major purposes for RF/microwave design — the ability to identify issues early in the design process before costly and time-consuming implementation and easy access to best-in-class third-party tools," says Sherry Hess, VP of marketing for AWR Group, NI. "This latest AWR Connected for AMCAD flow provides users with yet another tool to help them improve their designs and achieve performance goals in a fast and efficient manner."

See related items:

NI AWR Design Environment V12 pre-release now available

Tags: AWR EDA

Visit: www.awrcorp.com/awr-connected-dwt

Visit: www.awrcorp.com/awr-connected-amcad

Visit: www.amcad-engineering.com

Visit: www.ims2015.org