RF Design Blogs

For students in the RF/Microwave area of study, the Cadence AWR Design Environment platform provides a range of tools that are extremely useful for many tasks, ranging from theoretical concept verification to advanced design capabilities covering the entire industry. The AWR academic license bundle includes an impressive list of capabilities via various tools integrated into a single platform.

Join us March 24th, 2021 at 11:00am - 12:00pm PDT for this webinar with Nick Chopra, CTO of Recon-RF, developers of custom MMICs and RF modules, to hear how his team uses the distributed EM analysis option in Cadence RF solutions to accelerate product development and improve high-frequency amplifier performance.

Massive machine type communications (mMTC) along with enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB) and Ultra Reliable Low Latency Communications (URLLC) represent the three pillars of the 5G initiative defined by the 3 GPP. One goal of 5G mMTC is to provid...

This blog highlights the types of RF systems that AWR Visual System Simulator (VSS) communications and radar systems design software aids in analyzing. Future blogs in this series will include details on time-domain vs. frequency domain analysis, digital signal processing, and RF budget analysis capabilities within AWR VSS software.

Radar uses reflected radio waves to determine the range, angle, or velocity of objects. These detection systems that were once the exclusive domain of the aerospace and defense industry are now gaining popularity in the consumer industry, most notably automotive radar. Commercial adoption is possible, in part, because of high-volume semiconductor processes such as silicon germanium (SiGe) and complementary metal-oxide...

A new “5G NR Design for eMBB” white paper showcases the unique system and circuit capabilities in Cadence software that overcome eMBB design challenges.

The Cadence AWR Design Environment V15.03 production release with many enhancements is available for download.

RF designers increasingly rely on electromagnetic (EM) simulations to characterize board designs before the first component is placed, and continue to use EM analysis right through manufacturing handoff. New capabilities in automation and EM analysis are critical as board designs become denser and new manufacturing processes allow you to squeeze more performance out of PCB designs.

When creating new RFIC modules, designers typically need an array of tools and applications from various vendors to complete the design process. In 2018, Cadence launched the Virtuoso® RF Solution to enable designers to create faster design...

The other day, I happened to sneak out some time for myself after having sent the kids to play in the neighborhood park. I made myself a hot cup of coffee and settled on the couch hoping to enjoy the silence in the house. But was it really ...

Large-signal S-parameters (LSSPs) are an extension of small-signal S-parameters and are defined as the ratio of reflected (or transmitted) waves to incident waves.

The Triple Beat analysis is similar to Rapid IP2/IP3 analysis except that it uses three tones instead of two. It is used in cases where two closely-spaced small-signal inputs from a transmitter leak in to the receiver along with an intended small-signal RF input signal.

In the world of analog design, IP3—the third order intercept point, is a known parameter that is used to measure the linearity in the radio frequency (RF) components. The extracted IP3 values are very essential to determine the operating power ...

Hi All, If you were unable to attend IMS 2017 in June 2017, the IMS MicroApp “7 Habits of Highly Successful S-Parameters” is on our Cadence website. On Cadence Online Support , the in-depth AppNote is here: 20466646 . Best regards, Tawna

Hello Spectre Users, Simulating S-parameters in a time domain (transient, periodic steady state) simulator has been and continues to be a challenge for many analog and RF designers. I'm often asked: What is required in order to achieve accurate...

Did you check out the new Pnoise and Hbnoise Choosing Analyses forms in the MMSIM 15.1 and IC6.1.7 /ICADV12.2 releases? These forms have been significantly improved and simplified. The Direct Plot Form has also been enhanced and is much easy to use. Let...

Hello Spectre RF Users, Next week is my all time favorite technical conference - the International Microwave Symposium IMS2016 , May 22-27 in San Francisco, CA at the Moscone Center. If you're at the conference, please stop by the Cadence booth and say...

Hi Folks, Check out this great new video on YouTube: CDNLive SV 2014: PMC Improves Visibility and Performance with Spectre APS In this video from CDNLive Silicon Valley 2014, Jurgen Hissen, principal engineer, MSCAD, at PMC, discusses an aggressive...

Last year, I wrote a blog post entitled Modeling Oscillators with Arbitrary Phase Noise Profiles . We now have an easier way to do this. Starting in MMSIM 13.1 , you can specify the phase noise as an instance parameter in Spectre sources, including port...

RF Enthusiasts, Come connect with Cadence RF experts and discover the latest advances in Cadence RF technologies, including Spectre RF at the IEEE International Microwave Symposium (IMS) 2014. This year, IMS will be held in Tampa, Florida. Cadence will...

Hi All, Here's another great new feature that I've found very helpful... Broadband SPICE is a new tool for S-parameter simulation in Spectre RF. In the MMSIM13.1.1 ( MMSIM13.1 USR1) release (now available on http://downloads.cadence.com), a...

Hi Folks, A question that I've often received from designers, "Is there a method to determine the amount of memory required before I submit a job? I use distributed processing and need to provide an estimate before submitting jobs." The...

Happy New Year! Have you tried the new Transmission Line Library (rfTlineLib) yet? In case you missed it, rfTlineLib was introduced in IC 6.1.6 ISR1 plus MMSIM 12.1.1 -or- MMSIM13.1. You may wonder....Why should I use the new rfTlineLib ? Well.....here...

It's been a while since you've heard from me...it has been a busy year for sure. One of the reasons I've been so quiet is that I was part of a team working diligently on our latest best kept secret: The MMSIM 12.1.1/MMSIM 13.1 Documentation...

If you are attending the International Microwave Symposium ( IMS 2013 ) in Seattle (June 2-7, 2013) stop by the Cadence Design Systems booth, #427. We will be showing new MMSIM12.1.1 features including “Smart” HB GUI, Robust and easy to...