AWR Insights 
David Vye
David Vye is the technical marketing director for AWR Group, NI. A former editor and business development manager for Microwave Journal, he has held technical and marketing positions at ANSYS, Ansoft Corporation, Raytheon, and M/A-COM. He is a 1984 graduate of the University of Massachusetts at … More » A Conversation With Andrew Zai of IEEESeptember 25th, 2019 by David Vye
Recently I participated in an online interview with Andrew Zai, social media chair for the 2019 IEEE International Symposium on Phased Array Systems and Technology, to discuss the history of phased arrays/radar and the role of simulation software. You can listen to the podcast here. In preparing for our conversation, Andrew provided me with some questions he thought we could talk about and I, in turn, did a little historical research on the history of simulation and phased-array radar development. The following interview covers some of the topics that we did not get to discuss during the podcast.
5G Makes Its Public Debut at the Winter GamesJanuary 22nd, 2018 by David Vye
NI and our customers spend considerable time and effort deep in the development of technology that will enable next-generation communications. We have been working on 5G technology for several years now—long before the general public will experience its amazing capabilities. However, it is worth noting that we and a global audience will be treated to a first look at 5G in February with the Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea. In addition to the athletic competition, this event will provide one of the first large-scale demonstrations of next-generation wireless media access thanks to 5G. Collaborators Intel and Korea Telecom (KT), with support from global equipment makers and chipmakers such as Samsung, LG, Nokia, Ericsson, ZTE, Qualcomm, Huawei, and others, will showcase select services to enhance the viewing experience with special networks set up in Gangneung Olympic Park, Gwanghwamoon, Seoul, and at other Olympic venues across Korea. AWR: Redefining DesignJune 17th, 2013 by Sherry Hess
When I first learned of NI’s Redefining campaign, I thought… yes, makes perfect sense and fits AWR extremely well. Our company was founded almost 20 years ago on the very idea of redefining design for microwave/RF engineers. We began this mission with the release of our flagship product, Microwave Office®, and have continued our tradition of innovation as the first with a Microsoft Office look and feel, the first to fully embrace the PC as the preferred platform, the first to open our environment to third-party vendor tools through our EM Socket™ interface, the first to offer the eye-catching real-time tuning feature…yup… AWR has been constantly evolving and redefining design with every new technology, product, and partner announcement. If you look at our innovation timeline (snapshot below), you can see for yourself how we continually work to redefine the tools and technologies our customers require, request, and enjoy and that enable them to achieve design success by first virtually prototyping their MMICs, RF PCBs, RFICs, microwave modules, communication systems, radar systems, antennas, and more.
So this year as we embrace our parent company’s redefining campaign, we want to clearly say, “Hear, hear, we agree and support redefining design in all that we do—past, present and future.” Take a look at Analyst™, which has already begun to redefine the design flow for 3D FEM EM analysis by enabling users to move away from disparate point tools to analysis so seamlessly integrated within Microwave Office circuit design that it effectively makes EM a one-click option. Take a look at our forthcoming Visual System Simulator™ (VSS) software release with 802.11ac IP that’s been modularized so it lends itself not only to use within VSS but also within NI’s PXI hardware and LabVIEW software. Take a look at our many AWR Connected™ partners to see how our openness philosophy continues on today, providing our customers with a design flow and eco-system that is flexible and open to better satisfy their ever changing and challenging design needs. Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics Selects AWR SoftwareMay 1st, 2013 by Yongjiu Zhao
UNIVERSITY BACKGROUND Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics (NUAA) is one of China’s premier learning and research institutions and has developed into a comprehensive university especially focused on aerospace engineering. Established in 1952, NUAA strives to provide a world-level research and education system for its 24,600 students, 600 of who are international students from over 30 countries. THE DESIGN CHALLENGE NUAA was searching for a more user-friendly, integrated alternative to the current set of high-frequency design tools used in the classroom. To objectively evaluate AWR’s Microwave Office® RF and microwave design software, the university chose to redesign an existing compact and high selectivity dual-band, dual-mode bandpass filter for GPS and WLAN applications. The filter was designed using a short, stub-loaded folded resonator with source load coupling. The 3dB fractional bandwidths of the two passbands were about 3.4 percent at 1.57GHz and 9.9 percent at 5.2GHz. Because there was interference between the main signal path and the folded arms of the resonator, it was necessary to generate five transmission zeros near the passband edges and in the upper stopband in order to improve the frequency selectivity and stopband performance. Read the rest of Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics Selects AWR Software Microwave & RF Engineers…Communication is Key!May 1st, 2013 by Sherry Hess
I recently agreed to co-chair the IEEE MTT-S Women in Engineering (WIE) / Women in Microwaves (WIM) organization. I have long been an advocate for advancing the cause of women in the world of RF and microwave engineering, actually back to my college days at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) when I was one of only eight women in my EE graduating class of 110. Things have not improved much since then with women representing only 10 percent of IEEE WIE membership in the U.S. today. Asia and Europe fare far better with approximately 40 percent and 20 percent respectively. Why do we care about this? Women are a key demographic in any market and a valuable resource to our “dwindling pool of resources” within our chosen profession. We need more engineers of either gender and diversity in terms of more women in our field will certainly add a different perspective to ideas and insights, as it’s true that not all minds think alike. One of the first things any of us can do to contribute to this is to promote awareness. We need to find new and novels ways to encourage women to elect engineering as their career choice. I spoke recently with former WIE Chair Karen Panetta, who helped me clarify that we need to tap into the “wonderment” of our career choice and make it desirable to the younger generations. One way to do that is to highlight not only the successful women in our high-tech field like Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer or Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, but also to talk about how our profession is what empowers the wireless revolution to take hold and thrive. Watching my kids text, chat and clamor for free WiFi access brings home to me how all of this technology—from products to infrastructure—is largely thanks to microwave theory and techniques. My co-chair and esteemed colleague Dr. Rashuanda Henderson and I are already formulating plans for improving awareness, communications, and a sense of camaraderie. To that end, please make a point to support WIM by stopping by the reception at IMS 2013, Tuesday night from 6-9 p.m. at the Seattle Space Needle, Level 100! Read the rest of Microwave & RF Engineers…Communication is Key! Bye Bye Wallets….March 6th, 2013 by Sherry Hess
Given the recent fiscal cliff and the spending cut countdown, I’m wondering how many of you think this blog will be about our dwindling wallets and discretionary dollars? But alas, not so. This is about the emergence of the electronic wallet or rather the underlying technology that’s making it a reality… Back in August, Time Magazine ran an article titled, “Bye Bye Wallet” written by Harry McCracken, who bravely spent (or rather attempted to spend) a weekend using nothing more than his Google Wallet. What I liked about this piece (in addition to the humor) was that within the first two paragraphs, he was talking about NFC – near field communication – technology that is enabling this trend. End-to-end Design and Realization of an X-band Transmission AnalyzerFebruary 23rd, 2013 by Aileen Romero
INTRODUCTION The X-band frequency range has been designated for critical military and public safety applications such as satellite communications, radar, terrestrial communications and networking, and space communications. It is important to ensure that these signals deliver quality, reliable, and secure communications. This application note describes the design and realization of a complex X-band transmission analyzer for use in real-time material testing.
The purpose of this analyzer is to gather complex-valued X-band transmission coefficients at high update rates of greater than 100,000 measurements per second. This note describes how manufacturing costs were minimized by integrating the many RF components in the device onto a single printed circuit board (PCB), how coupling issues between the RX and TX paths caused by the requirement for high dynamic range were addressed, and how EM simulator based tuning was used for the numerous distributed elements on the board to ensure optimal performance. Read the rest of End-to-end Design and Realization of an X-band Transmission Analyzer Design and Optimization of a Board-to-Chip TransitionFebruary 20th, 2013 by Sherry Hess
INTRODUCTION  Dr. John Dunn 3D electromagnetic (EM) simulators are commonly used to help design board-to-chip transitions. AWR now makes life easier for circuit designers with the introduction of Analyst, a full featured, 3D EM finite element method (FEM) simulator. The key advantage of Analyst™ over other available 3D simulators is its tight integration within the Microwave Office® design environment, AWR’s circuit design and simulation platform. This application note highlights the unique features of Analyst by demonstrating the optimization of the transition from a board-to- -chip signal path. The example shows how the ability to access Analyst from within in the Microwave Office environment saves designers time and provides ready access to powerful layout and simulation tools that are not available in typical circuit design tools. Read the rest of Design and Optimization of a Board-to-Chip Transition Understanding and Correctly Predicting Critical Metrics for Wireless RF LinksFebruary 14th, 2013 by Joel Kirshman
Understanding and correctly predicting cellular, radar, or satellite RF link performance early in the design cycle has become a key element in product success. The requirements of today’s complex, high performance wireless devices are driving designers to assess critical measurements—noise figure (NF), 1dB gain compression (P1dB), third order intermodulation distortion versus output power (IM3dBc), and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR)—long before manufacturing begins. Traditional modeling methods such as rules of thumb and spreadsheet calculations (Friis equations) give limited insight on the full performance of an RF link in next-generation wireless products. This white paper highlights the advantages of using specialized RF system simulation software to accurately predict critical metrics for wireless RF links.  Figure 1: Traditional use of the spreadsheet as a system tool. Simulation Software—A Novel Approach Read the rest of Understanding and Correctly Predicting Critical Metrics for Wireless RF Links Shock and Ah!January 31st, 2013 by Sherry Hess
January started with a bang. Three weeks of travel, which meant a lot of time sitting on planes and waiting for them. The nice thing about this is that it gives me time to let my brain wander a bit and often times come upon new and interesting ideas that I can apply at AWR. This blog isn’t about that per se, but rather the Shock and Ah! I experienced as I was catching up on my reading with a couple of interesting articles during my travel time. On my iPad Flipboard app, I stumbled across an article in IEEE Spectrum about the next generation of Lego MindStorms, MindStorm EV3, which was unveiled at the recent Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
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