Site Links - Software for Design etc.
NARDA
Another of the big names in the microwave sector with a correspondingly wide range of components and assemblies on offer. Their homepage is always worth a visit. Among the many attractive things on offer is a professional Freeware-Program (Name: WIN N.R.T. TM) for calculating field strengths in the environment of antennae.
Address: http://www.nardamicrowave.com/east/support/software.html
Such good operational amplifiers are available today that you can already use them to build active filters for frequencies going up to between 50 and 100 MHz. All a reasonable person needs for a design is the programs already prepared on the INTERNET, and you can even work on line. So here’s a small selection.
If you want to do some on-line design work, go to the "Onscreen - Design - Program for active filters" homepage (Address: http://www.circuitsim.com).
On the Homepage of the Burr-Brown company, you should not only search for the "Bbfpro.zip" filter program, but also download the application notes: AB-017.pdf, AB-034.pdf, AB-035.pdf. They contain the theoretical principles of active filters and all the instructions needed to work successfully with the software.
The manufacturer of the PIC micro-controller (= microchip) has something completely new and free of charge, the Windows design program "Filterlab" for active low-pass equipment. Very well-made and practical – specially the option for variations in the component values to lay out the circuit with practical values. You just need to load the file "flb1039.zip" into your own computer -- but there are obviously still problems on the first version with regard to conversations involving very fast PCs and CD-ROM drives which are just as fast. This will no doubt be put right at some time, but I had to write the file onto my external ZIP drive and install it from there. And then it worked. I found a few more little bugs. But once you start to get used to filter design, you soon recognise things that can’t be right...
Address: http://www.microchip.com
You can use the "Alta Vista" search engine, or look under "http://www.rfglobalnet.com" to find the following programms and put them onto your own computer: afilter.zip, A-filter.zip, filter.zip, filtry10.zip, filter11.zip
Tesoft
Anyone who wants to design complete communications or receiving systems and analyse or predict their precise characteristics also needs suitable software nowadays. It is well worth while installing the demo version of such a design program and seeing how it operates, and getting some ideas for your own work. So just take a look at the "Tesla System Calculator" program!
Address: http://www.tesoft.com
Remcom
The number of EM simulation program manufacturers seems to go up by the hour, and you have to investigate in great detail to see what advantages each new player is offering. So you just take a closer look and install the thing on a trial basis. Not only can you download the demo version of XFDTD 5.0 from the Remcom homepage for this purpose, but you can also obtain the Quickstart tutorial, the complete manual and two very fine simulation examples (= a short vertical antenna and a patch antenna) for familiarisation.
Address:
http://www.remcom.comIn the amateur sector, the EZNEC program from Roy Lewallen, W7EL, has recently been earning a very good name for itself. For US $ 80 it certainly offers the best compromise currently available between price and accuracy (which again is dependent on the number of individual elements with which the aerial structure can be modelled). An easily comprehensible operator surface, an update service on the Internet and – something completely new! – a manual in Word format which can be printed out have put this program out in front for the moment.
Anyone who met Roy and talked to him at HAM-Radio 2000 (he had a little stand of his own there) will know how enthusiastic he is and how committed to this sector. Naturally, you can also download a demo version free for testing from the homepage before you spend any money.
Address: http://www.eznec.com
Address: http://www.muehlhaus.com
Naturally, due to the limitations of the student version, it can not simply be applied to investigating circuits of any size, but it’s certainly worth experimenting with. Operation and input procedures for this software need some getting used to, since it is a little different from the normal "Windows pattern",
Address: http://www.aplac.com
In addition, a version is now on sale with max. 32 MB main memory, but for $ 500.
Address: http://www.sonnetusa.comAddress:
http://www.antennadesignassociates.com
The program is so universal that it can also be used to investigate many other phenomena, e.g. currents in fluids, heat conduction and distribution, chemical processes, etc. The homepage also lists some other interesting documents. The textbooks, in particular, are first class, and worth the price (e.g. $12 for "Fields of Physics").
Address:
http://www.pdesolutions.comFebruary 2003: there is a new simulation tool available called "LINMIC Interconnect". It is an efficient EM-based tool for the simulation of single and multiple-coupled transmission lines in single and multilayer dielectric media. It supports designers of planar analog microwave circuits (like broadside couplers) as well as designers of planar high speed digital circuits (signal integrity).
Address:
Elsie filter design software
The software on this site includes the new Windows version of the passive filter design program Elsie. Other software includes a meter scale drawing program. The software is produced by Jim Tonne, WB6BLD
MSTRIP40
An EM simulator for analysis of microstrip structures, described in VHF Communications issue 2/2002
http://intek.e-technik.fh-kiel.de/splitt.htm
The Merlin PCB designer package
Probably you are professionally involved with printed circuit manufacturing and you are
looking for a cheap, easy to use package to design printed circuit boards (PCBs). Or maybe
you are just making a few PCBs for your job or at home, and even a non-commercial version
of a standard PCB layout software would constitute a significant part of your monthly
expenses.
In either case, you may have found that PCB design packages tend to be rather expensive
and complicated pieces of software. But you already have a nice graphics program, like
CorelDRAW, on your computer, and you wonder why you could not use it for designing PCB
layouts. In fact, you can. Merlin PCB designer is a shareware solution that offers you the
possibility to do just that.
Available on the net is a zip file containing CorelDRAW files (from version 7 on), and a
large component library + manual.
If you have any questions, send an email to MerliPCB@hotmail.com.
http://www.geocities.com/MerliPCB/
Appcad
The earlier DOS program package from the good old HP days can now be obtained free of charge once again in the most recent Windows version from the successor company (Agilent) and can be downloaded from the Internet.Various aids are on offer for the committed rf and microwave developer (e.g. a stripline calculator or a coil calculation program or operating point calculations, etc.). They support, not only circuit simulation, but also the simulation of complete systems. So no developer’s PC should be without this.
Address:
Address:
Of course, you have to read the instructions thoroughly. Of course, you need a free Turbopascal compiler (there’s a link on the same page!). And of course there’s still some delicate work to do before everything’s up and running. But Linux users are used to that.
Address:
http://wwwhome.cs.utwente.nl/~ ptdeboer/ham/puff.html
Address:
Address:
http://members.aol.com/faisyn/faisyn.htm
The above article is available as a pdf file from the VHF Communications web site. In addition, the same article, in German, from issue 4/2001 of UKW Berichte can be obtained as a pdf file from the site below as "German Operating Instructions". One particularly nice touch – the many diagrams that unfortunately appeared only in black and white in the article are now suddenly aglow with their dazzling original colours!
I did find a printing error when I looked through the material, though. In Section 3, I used the Meteosat patch antenna as a typical example, and determined the radiation resistance in the fifth step. Almost everywhere (and in Fig. 17 too), we refer to a "circuit with radius r = 0.7" for the reflection factor at the resonance point and for the rotation process which must be undertaken with the cursor. It would have to be in the text where we are instructed to rotate to the display "rho - 0.07". Sorry, I really am, because the value of rho – 0.7 is naturally the logical and correct choice!
Address:
http://www.intek.e-technik.th-kiel.de/splitt.htm
One very nice gesture is a free "Antenna Design Calculator" in the form of two slide rules that can be downloaded. One deals with the connections between gain, efficiency, antenna diameter, frequency and beam width. The other can be used to investigate the relationships between antenna diameter, frequency and far field range. These are a real boon, very informative and very easy to handle using the cursor. Highly recommended, you simply must have this on your own computer right away!
Address:
http://www.q-par.com
But that’s just a comment. Here’s the really important thing:
In the most recent version 3.0, not only have many details been improved, but also a new tool has been incorporated known as "Everything S-Parameters". It lives up to its name, for you can use it to analyse the S-parameter file of a component or a circuit, right down to the last detail. You can calculate some interesting facts from the analysis and then display them (e.g. to demonstrate stability circuits or noise factor curves, carry out matching procedures, etc.).
This little free package has now grown to a size of 14 megabytes and merits a more detailed description at some time in our section on "An interesting program".
Address:
http://www.hp.woodshot.com
Address:
http://support.mwoffice.com/appnotes/listnote.aspx
Address:
http://www.simtel.net/pub/msdos/electrcl/
Address:
http://www.microwavers.org/index.htm
Address:
http://lc.cray.com/
Address: http://www.qsl.net/n9zia/wireless/page09.html
RF Tools
Another of those homepages where you almost find yourself feeling giddy: innumerable RF tools and documents of all kinds are on show for interested users to sniff out and download. You just can’t count everything there is here. I recommend you set aside sufficient time, then just open up the site.
Address:
http://rfengineer.cc/rftools.htm
Faustus
The classical touch extends beyond the
company's name to its product, MEFiSTo.
This is (another...!) EM simulator, but here, for a change, the company has
found a different way to awaken customers' interest. They're currently
introducing the most recent version onto the market as a 3D simulator, and so
they're giving away an older, fully operational "Classic 2D Version", to be
downloaded free of charge. Quite an interesting move!
Address:
http://www.faustcorp.com/downloads/index.html
Software for the Radio Amateur
Here’s another link for people who like to spend hours surfing and rooting around. Luckily, everything is listed alphabetically, and so you can carry out a targeted search.
Address:
http://www.estpak.ee/~andrew/ham/software.htm
SONNET
There’s some very important news for those using the free “Light” version of this familiar EM simulation program: the newest update gives you free access to something people have been waiting for a long time. Now you can finally connect an exciter port into the centre of the structure as well, and not just (as until now) to the wall of the metal box which is required for the simulation. So now, for example, patch antennas can also be powered directly on the patch and not just via a tiresome long supply line. That’s really a concession worth having!
Address:
http://www.sonnetusa.com
University of Ulm
And now for something completely different: here you can find the processes taking place in waveguides, couplers, circuits and filters, etc, presented in vivid animated form. And to round things off, both a demo version of the analysis program in use (TLM = Transmission Line Matrix Method) and a link relating to the animation program are available. Very informative and amusing, even as revision for people who already know everything!
Address:
http://mwt.e-technik.uni-ulm.de/lehre/hf-anim/mefisto/
ANSOFT
Once there was a feature film called “The Empire Strikes Back”. That’s what I was reminded of when I downloaded the all new free of charge student version of the RF CAD “Designer” software from Ansoft (N.B.: almost 80 megabytes!). Never have so many tools been made available for simulation and for development in general. Naturally, it takes a while to familiarise yourself with the package, but it’s worth it. Virtually all areas are covered, virtually all the calculators for RF and microwave engineering are provided. However, there is unfortunately one way in which Ansoft has stayed true to its old habits. There is scarcely any documentation – in some cases, none at all – to explain what has been left out of the student version. And of course, you find this out as soon as you ask the software to solve any really complicated practical problems. But apart from this, it’s first class!
Address:
The N4UJW Antenna Design Lab
That’s exactly what this site has to offer: any amount of software and information relating to antennas and antenna calculation. And a search through the list of links unearths some interesting things. There’s something hidden behind every item on the screen.
Address:
LC
This doesn’t refer to a resonant circuit but to the firm of LaCray – who are well known for their extremely fast mainframe computer. It’s no surprise that people use such expensive equipment mainly for complicated EM simulations of expensive antennas. But it’s not exactly obvious why the company is now allowing people to download the “LC” EM simulator used for this purpose at no charge. Certainly the computer you use should be a Cray computer, but a Linux version is kindly provided for those possessing Intelx86. Do feel free to nose around on your own. It’s really very interesting.
Address:
Free Radio and Computer Programs
What makes this such a fascinating site is that you can just call up one program after another to see whether you might need them. The choice is wide, and there’s certainly enough here to be going on with...
Address:
http://www.btinternet.com/~g4fgq.regp/index.html#S102
WAOTRALI
This is an animation program (Waves on Transmission Lines) from the Flensburg Technical College. It can help to clarify the propagation of signals on lines in the time domain. Various transmission signals can be selected from a catalogue, such as sinusoidal signals and pseudo-statistical digital signals of various lengths, among others. The WAOTRALI program is available for downloading from the website of the Institute for Communications Technology of the Flensburg Technical College.
Address:
under www.fh-flensburg.de/kt/
Besser
Besser (“better”) – it sounds like an incentive for someone’s own work ethic, and in fact it does have something to do with that. What’s actually behind the name is a company that is mainly active in the field of further education in the RF and communications technology area. Not only are these people kind enough to let you download quite a lot of good calculators for HF engineering, but there are also first-class articles on offer as “BesserBits” (“Better Bits”) covering various subjects (DSP / noise measurement in mixers, etc.).
Address:
http://www.bessernet.com/index.html
JFW
And here’s another lovely little microwave RF calculator. Very nice, very practical. Just give it a try.
Address:
http://www.jfwindustries.com/RF_Conv_Sign_up.htm
Software-3000
There actually
seems to be a shop on the Internet where you can buy a huge amount of earlier
versions of programs – they’re even sorted into alphabetical order! There are
bound to be some “gaps”, but a painstakingly thorough search still came up with
some surprisingly well-known and interesting names (APLAC 7.61 / Ansoft Designer
/ HFSS / Microwave Studio, etc.). And all at suspiciously low prices.
Should purchasers be worried about any legal problems here?
Address:
http://www.software-3000.com/cads/electronics.php
FCC
A famous and very well-known authority in the USA. So it’s all the nicer to have online tools for free use under this link.
Address:
http://www.fcc.gov/mb/audio/bickel/findvalues.html
Martindale’s Calculators On-Line Centre
No detailed explanation needed here: someone has collected together everything he could find on calculators on the Net from all over the world, sorted the information and made it available to other people. There seem to be over a thousand titles listed, so have fun rummaging around!
Address:
http://www.martindalecenter.com/Calculators.html
EM-Wonder
Those who like to simulate their circuits before testing the first prototypes will enjoy this site. Not only will they find links there to various SPICE model lists, but also data on something really splendid: a converter that generates an S-parameter file for simulation.
Address:
http://www.emwonder.com/spicemodels/
Tripod
Anyone looking for interesting programs for “fiddly little jobs” should make a note of this address and pay the site a visit from time to time. New items appear here at regular intervals.
Address:
http://members.tripod.com/michaelgellis/software.html
Anadigics
Here we have an online calculator, which can be used to determine all the important characteristics of a receiver if the various stage characteristics are entered. These characteristics are: overall amplification, total noise factor, spurious free dynamic range and noise floor in dBm.
Address:
http://members.tripod.com/michaelgellis/anadigic/Receiver.html
Spice Model Resources
The name says it all: this is where to start your search if you need Spice models for a specific component.
Address:
http://www.emwonder.com/spicemodels/
SPICE simulators
For anyone who might want to download the most important current SPICE programs on the market and compare them, this is the right place.
Address:
http://www.web-ee.com/Downloads/Simulator/simulation.htm
HF-Fax
That sounds so simple, but it conceals a comprehensive homepage providing information on an unbelievable number of topics. The whole weather satellite scene seems to be concentrated here. From antennas to technology, everything is discussed and made available here.
Address: http://www.hffax.de/
Linear Technology
The „PSPICE“ article in the last issue clearly aroused great interest and led to quite a lot of E-mails and new leads. One of these was especially interesting: Linear Technology are offering a complete Spice machine on their homepage under the name of „SWITCHER CAD“ for research into DC-DC converter circuits. Fortunately, any other circuit can also be simulated there, and the company boasts that it is „making the most accurate and stable PSPICE version available free of charge“. When we checked up, it became clear that there was a whole lot of interesting stuff waiting to be downloaded here:
“Switcher CAD”
(PSPICE simulator)
“Noise” ( Program for research into noise in OPV's);
„BodeCAD“ ( Program for drawing up Bode's diagrams)
„FilterCAD“ (Program for research into active filters)
„Spice Models“ (Collection of miscellaneous Spice models)
„The Configurator” (Amplifier design tool)
“LT1568 Filter Design Guide (Designing active filters using the LT1568)
Address:
http://www.linear.com/company/software.jsp
emWONDER / S-Parameter Resources
This unpretentious-looking homepage not only deals with S-parameters and their Internet links, but also handles the integration of SPICE and S-Parameters (...which was touched on recently in the PSPICE article in VHF Reports...). You can go into the subject in even greater detail here, so you shouldn't miss the chance to read about the „S-parameter to SPICE model converter“.
Address:
http://www.emwonder.com/sparameters/
Tonne of software
The personal site of James A. Tonne. It offers some interesting filter and antenna programs, these are partly for downloading and partly interactive versions.
Address: http://tonnesoftware.com/
ON-Semiconductors
This is a joy for anyone who works with PSPICE and will probably be repeatedly visited. It offers thousands of SPICE models for all components and not just “standard Spice” versions. Also modern things are to be found such as “ILIB, IsSPICE, OrCAD template “and other exotic things. These can be found very simply using the desired keyword in the search machine.
Address: http://www.onsemi.com/PowerSolutions/ supportDoc.do? type=models&category =503
TINA-TI
The free simulation software TINA-TI from Texas Instruments: TINA is an easy-to-use, but powerful, circuit simulation program based on a SPICE engine. TINA-TI™ is a fully functional version of TINA, loaded with a library of TI macromodels plus passive and active models. TINA-TI is limited to circuits with two ICs and up to 20 additional nodes.
Address: www.ti.com/tina-ti
Filter pro
The program “filter pro” is an active filter design program from Texas Instruments and is described by them:
FilterPro™ Multiple Feedback (MFB) and Sallen-Key Design Program is a Windows application. This application designs MFB and Sallen-Key low-pass and high-pass filters using Voltage Feedback Op Amps, resistors and capacitors. It also supports a fully-differential version of the MFB circuit. This program includes Bessell, Butterworth, Chebychev, and linear phase filter types and can be used to design filters from 1 to 10 poles. The capacitor values in each stage can be either selected by the computer or entered by the designer. An "always on" prompt window provides context-sensitive help information to the user. The response of the filter is displayed on a graph, showing gain, phase and group delay over frequency.
Address: http://focus.ti.com/docs/toolsw/folders/print/filterpro.html
TPS40K
The program “TPS40K - designers software” is power supply design program from Texas Instruments and is described by them:
The TPS40K Designer software provides a simple design tool for both novice and experienced power supply designers using the Texas Instruments TPS40xxx family of controllers. The software includes advanced analysis tools for the experienced designer to do worst-case loop response analysis and component characterisation. A customisable component database is included. It allows the user to add or remove parts to any of the TI Designer series of power supply software (including SWIFT Designer, V3.3 or Higher).
Address: http://focus.ti.com/docs/toolsw/folders/print/tps40k-sw.htmlFlomerics
There are a great many EM-simulators for microwave circuits and microwave antennas. One cannot buy or test every program, therefore it is interesting to search for simulation examples and successfully projects to learn from their experiences. This web site has some interesting examples from established technical publications.
Address: http://www.flomerics.com/microstripes/technical_papers/index.jsp
Caltech University
It is often difficult to find interesting articles and publications from large companies or universities. Because Caltech University is well know from the publication of the microwave CAD software PUFF, it promises a good source of articles. This page contains a complete collection of microwave publications from students and lecturers.
Address: http://www.its.caltech.edu/~mmic/reshpubindex/papers/
Applied Computational Sciences
Computer simulation of microwave circuits is indispensable for modern design work. This site has some beautiful and detailed examples on LNA design for minimum noise or improved adjustment. They are worth reading, even if you do not use the LINC2 design program used in these examples.
Address: http://www.rfcircuitdesign.com/
RALTRON
Some on-line computations among other things converting SSB phase noise to jitter are to be found with RALTRON. Also the application for quartz crystal jitter and noise are worth reading.
Address: http://www.raltron.com/cust/tools/default.asp
MicroStripes
This is not individual strip line simulator but a matured 3D simulation software package for draft layout and simulation of microwave modules and antennas
Address: http://www.microstripes.com
Microwaves101.com
An interesting and humorous collection information about “Microwaves”. The operators of the site stress that not everything is fully developed, but it can be used! The site is well designed with many alphabetically sorted articles, topics, Application Notes and software. It is a wealth of information.
Address: http://www.microwaves101.com
Azimuth
This is a young American company offering software test suites for the wireless communications.
Address: http://www.azimuthsystems.com
Caltech University
A name that everyone should recognise because they produced the PUFF microwave CAD software. Naturally there is a lot of knowledge behind this and they have a collection of interesting RF and microwave documents in a data base stored here…
Address: http://www.its.caltech.edu/~mmic/reshpubindex/papers/p-index2.htm
Agilent Interactive Impedance Matching Model
There is something beautiful about playing on a computer with RF circuit design. An introduction to the problems and methods of interactive software with detailed exercises can be downloaded in the famous HP Application note 95-1.
Address: http://cp.literature.agilent.com/litweb/pdf/5952-1130.pdf
Design Tools
The Linear Technology web site is always worth a look . Under the Design Support section there are Application Notes and support. There is also a section for Design Simulation that contains a range of software.
Address: http://www.linear.com/
Circuit simulator “Qucs”
This is an open source circuit simulator with the nice name “Qucs”; it stands for Quite Universal Circuit Simulator. The simulation tool is still being developed but should be no competition for PUFF but is an alternative with som potential.
Address: http://sourceforge.net/projects/qucs