February 16, 2013. Agilent Technologies Inc. has announced the newest release of its SystemVue platform for designing communications and defense systems.
SystemVue 2013.01 provides new application support for system-level architects, digital signal-processing modelers, and test-and-measurement verifiers who are designing next-generation MIMO radar systems and wireless/4G infrastructure.
The new release enables users to make critical decisions about RF and DSP architecture more effectively by bringing real-world modeling, standards-based validation, and links to high-performance test equipment into the R&D environment. Doing so reduces design iterations and project risk for emerging wireless and defense technologies, while allowing faster deployment.
SystemVue’s W1905 radar model library now offers sophisticated signal-processing support for array-based radar technologies such as MIMO, phased-array, and synthetic-aperture radars. With the new release, radar architects can now evaluate array-based radar architectures using approximately 70 simulation reference blocks and 50 application examples. They can also use their own signal-processing algorithms in a variety of modeling formats, including C++, math, FPGA/HDL and SystemC.
SystemVue also allows radar architects to account for a variety of other system-level effects to render realistic virtual scenarios that include
- real-world RF models (using X-parameters*),
- measured waveforms via links to and from Agilent test equipment (including a free Waveform Sequence Composer utility that works with Agilent’s M8190A arbitrary waveform generator),
- physical/inertial fading factors (such as Doppler shift, range delay and terrain-based clutter), from external modeling applications, and
- antenna directionality and spacing, interferers, jamming, targets, clutter, fading and other non-idealities.
“SystemVue provides a sophisticated cockpit that lowers the cost of the radar system design cycle,” said Dingqing Lu, senior application planner at Agilent. “By modeling the algorithms, RF transmit/receive path, and environment, as well as linking to gigahertz-wide test equipment, our customers are reducing their dependence on expensive flight-testing, ranges and dedicated hardware emulators.”
Enabling High-Volume 4G and Wireless LAN Deployment
To address the needs of the commercial wireless space, SystemVue 2013.01 enables system-level modeling of multistandard radio (MSR) performance under 3GPP Release-9 TS 37, and it supports digital predistortion (DPD) for high-volume power amplifiers in 4G/LTE and wireless LAN 802.11ac applications.
With new MSR simulation templates and expanded 2G/3G standards support, the W1916 3G baseband library now allows SystemVue to validate backward-compliance of 4G/LTE equipment alongside legacy GSM, EDGE, WCDMA, and interfering signals, both in-band and inter-band. Moreover, many of these same base-station, femtocell, WLAN, and handset designs employ a less expensive predistortion technique that improves RF system performance, without adding significant battery drain or complexity.
The updated W1716 DPD Builder provides modeling support for look-up tables, along with a sophisticated new crest-factor reduction algorithm.
“Our customers doing high-volume wireless applications asked us to support existing 3G intellectual property and methodologies as they transition to 4G,” said Daren McClearnon, Agilent’s SystemVue marketing manager. “We successfully addressed this customer request, and SystemVue is now being evaluated throughout the supply chain as a way to provide of IP-neutral virtual integration.”
SystemVue 2013.01 also provides updates to a variety of libraries and design personalities.