Microwave Engineering Europe - October 2008 - (Page 15)

COVER FEATURE: PREDICTING EM ACCURATELY UP FRONT 15 AWR’s AXIEM software brings 3D planar electromagnetic (EM) simulation “up front” By AWR, www.awrcorp.com U ntil recently, electromagnetic (EM) simulation software has been regarded as a “back-end” design tool best suited for evaluating the results of S-parameter-based circuit simulators. However, the combination of increasing circuit densities within smaller “footprints”, along with higher operating frequencies and broader bandwidths now make it essential for EM analysis to become a standard tool employed from the beginning to the end of the design process. embraces triangular elements in regions where a rectangular mesh is a poor choice. The AXIEM intelligent meshing process is fully automated and uses heuristic knowledge of the solution to automatically create a mesh optimized to provide the greatest accuracy while minimizing the number of required unknowns. The result is the highest possible execution speed and accuracy, and is invoked with just a single mouse click. Figure 1 illustrates the advantage of using rectangular rather than triangular elements for accuracy in straight line sections, and the ﬂexibility provided by triangular elements for ﬁtting to arbitrary shapes. The two are commonly found in today’s complex microwave circuits. True 3-D metal In contrast to many other planar EM solvers, the AXIEM mesher accurately AXIEM™ EM design software is the ﬁrst such tool to meet this requirement while developed speciﬁcally for threedimensional (3D) planar applications such as RF printed circuit boards and modules, low-temperature co-ﬁred ceramic (LTCC), MMIC, and RFIC circuits. It lets designers diagnose problems in circuits and structures early in the design cycle where they can be solved before requiring large amounts of time and cost to correct. The unique capabilities of AXIEM were recently recognized in Europe, where the software won the Electron d’Or award in the CAE category, given annually by Electronique Magazine based on the opinions of an independent panel of electronics industry experts. AXIEM was selected for its technological innovations, including accuracy, capacity, and simulation speed, as well as for its ability to migrate EM analysis from its position as a post-layout veriﬁcation point tool to a true, “up front” EM design ﬂow diagnostic solution for the ﬁrst time. Hybrid meshing technology AXIEM software employs an intelligent hybrid surface mesh consisting of rectangles and triangles, which provides signiﬁcant advantages when compared to a purely rectangular mesh whose elements are inefﬁcient for arbitrary geometries such as curved or tapered metal traces. The hybrid approach uses rectangles where most effective and efﬁcient and then Figure 1: Rectangular versus Hybrid Mesh. AXIEM’s hybrid mesh produces 5 x fewer unknowns than rectangular grid approaches. Mesh type: Rectangular # of Unk. Sim. Time: 1000 mil diameter 3299 40.1 sec/Freq Mesh type: AXIEM Hybrid 32 mil Duriod 5870 # of Unk. Sim. Time: 630 10.0 sec/Freq Figure 2: Thick metal — ﬁlter example reveals metal thickness (ie, true thick metal) and AXIEM hybrid mesh. Microwave Engineering ● October 2008 ● www.mwee.com 015_to_16_MWEE.indd 15 6/10/08 18:28:26 http://www.awrcorp.com http://www.mwee.com

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Microwave Engineering Europe - October 2008 Contents Comment News Cover Feature: AWR's AXIEM Software Brings 3D Planar Electromagnetic (EM) Simulation "Up Front" RFID: Augmented Reality: Beyond RFID and QR Codes for Mobile Phone Platforms Filters & Frequency Synthesis ZigBee Goes Green with Support for Smart Energy Simplify Mobile Data Applications and Services Test Enabling the State-of-the-Art in Automatic Test Equipment National Physical Laboratory Test Facility Aids Development of Next-Generation Antennas Selecting the Synthetic Test Environment for Transmit-Receive (T-R) Modules in a Phased Array Radar System Products Calendar

Microwave Engineering Europe - October 2008

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