In its 2008 release of the Advanced Design System (ADS) for high-frequency, high-speed circuit design, Agilent’s tool developers have turned their attention to speed and productivity. Advanced Design System 2008 sports graphical user-interface enhancements drawn from the same interface development platform used by popular Internet software tools and search engines; thus, it contains advanced search and context-dependent features. The speed improvements gained from the improved interface help make software-tools integration seamless for common and emerging design applications.
Among the speed and productivity enhancements are:
- Improved project management
- Real-time zoom and pan
- Interactive 3-D layout viewing, stretching, and cut planes
- Improved layout vs. schematic (LVS) design synchronization, providing full control over the automation to guarantee the correct layout
- Updated design rule checking and fast, accurate artwork export/import for a smoother transition from design to production
The platform also provides full 3-D electromagnetic integration into ADS, for designers who increasingly need electromagnetic analysis for complete communications product design. The integrated Electromagnetic Design System also contains a faster bond-wire drawing interface. It takes advantage of the latest multi-processor computing, including support for today’s 64-bit processors. And it provides faster high-frequency transient simulations, providing average speed improvements of up to 6X for large circuits.
Because high-speed digital designers are now facing the same physical design challenges as those that have long deviled RF and microwave designers, Advanced Design System 2008 features full support for high-speed, gigabit link (signal integrity) design, including advanced bit-error-rate measurement and analysis.
Agilent’s ADS 2008 is expected to be available for download in January 2008, with prices starting at approximately $10,000.
Agilent Technologies