With improvements to the reliability of artwork masks for electromagnetic (EM) verification and RF board manufacturing, the 2008.07 release of Agilent Technologies’ Genesys suite for RF printed-circuit board (PCB) design delivers shorter design cycles with less iteration for RF designers. The update also includes modeling and user-interface enhancements.
The Genesys 2008.07 release reliably exports RF board mask and artwork files to a wider set of board fabricators, inexpensive rapid-prototyping machines, and a variety of CAD/CAM software for physical product design. The release also includes a graphical artwork previewer and pre-production editor, allowing designers to inspect masks for layer alignment issues, short or open circuits, and then make direct real-time adjustments with less guesswork. The underlying technology for reliable artwork exchange was adapted from Agilent’s ADS 2008 platform, and is included as a free upgrade to all supported users of Agilent Genesys.
In addition to direct board fabrication, the new artwork tools allow users to import drawings for EM verification using the Momentum GX planar-3D EM simulator. Artwork exchange for Genesys users is improved particularly for the DXF, DWG and Gerber formats.
The Genesys 2008.07 release also contains advanced, Windows-based facilities for modeling and key user interface improvements, including:
- A real-time equation debugger, allowing users to set breakpoints and examine intermediate values of key variables inside scripts and models;
- ability to easily repair complex sets of modeling and post-processing equations;
- a new industry-standard “Math Lang” scripting and modeling language that is compatible with the syntax and more than 100 math operators found worldwide in “.m” files;
- “tabbed docking windows” that open and close dynamically to maximize working screen area;
- a new multithreaded environment, which remains interactive during heavy simulation, optimization, and EM sessions, and;
- more than 200 other improvements and defect fixes, such as support for updated Wiki-based documentation and importation of “CITIfile” S-parameter data files from Agilent instruments.
These improvements are now included with the Genesys Core environment, and are available to currently supported Genesys users as an update.
Supported Genesys customers are invited to download the 2008.07 release from the Agilent Knowledge Center (www.agilent.com/find/eesof-knowledgecenter). All others may request a free software evaluation at www.agilent.com/find/eesof-genesys-evaluation-pr.
Genesys 2008.07 configurations for high-yield physical board design start at approximately $4000, which includes the first 12 months support and all the new features listed in this press release. The “Genesys Nonlinear Pro GX” is a new configuration, which adds nonlinear simulation and Momentum GX EM simulation to Genesys Core, for approximately $16,000 total system cost, and also includes the first 12 months of support.
Agilent Technologies
www.agilent.com/find/eesof-genesys2008_07.