System level design tool ?

[Robert Lacoste[_2_]]

Hi,

Do you know if there is a raisonnable cost or even open source RF system
level simulator ? I mean a tool that allow someone to link boxes like
generators, mixers, filters, gain blocks, etc, all defined by their black
box parameters and simulate the system performances ? I know that high end
tools like ADS have no poblem with that but I was wondering if there is
something smaller, say just a little more powerful than the classic cascaded
gain IP3/p1dB/NF excel spreadsheets ?

Thanks,
Robert

[K7ITM]

On Oct 15, 8:13 am, "Robert Lacoste" <use-contact-at-www-alciom-com-
for-email> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> Do you know if there is a raisonnable cost or even open source RF system
> level simulator ? I mean a tool that allow someone to link boxes like
> generators, mixers, filters, gain blocks, etc, all defined by their black
> box parameters and simulate the system performances ? I know that high end
> tools like ADS have no poblem with that but I was wondering if there is
> something smaller, say just a little more powerful than the classic cascaded
> gain IP3/p1dB/NF excel spreadsheets ?
>
> Thanks,
> Robert

The freeware RFSim99 will handle linear systems pretty well. You can
define two-ports with whatever set of S parameters you want and place
them schematically, and you can include passives and generic linear
amplifiers.

It's possible to use Spice (e.g. LTSpice). It would be possible to
define blocks including two-ports with specified nonlinearities and
mixers, and be able to input parameterized things like gain, IP3 and
NF. I've done some of that sort of thing for some system-level
simulations I've done.

But I suppose neither one of those ideas quite hits the target you've
put up...RFSim99 is turn-key but linear only, and Spice is potentially
powerful but not turn-key for your application.

Cheers,
Tom

[Pete KE9OA]

RFSimm99 is a very good program. I also use a program called AppCad, from
the HP Woodshot website. When you talk about those excel spreadsheets, I am
not sure if you are referring to these programs, but for freeware, they are
very good.
There is also a program called RF Workbench.........this is a DOS program
that has an interface similar to AppCad, although RF Workbench will also do
spur charts for mixers.

Pete

"K7ITM" > wrote in message
ups.com...
> On Oct 15, 8:13 am, "Robert Lacoste" <use-contact-at-www-alciom-com-
> for-email> wrote:
>> Hi,
>>
>> Do you know if there is a raisonnable cost or even open source RF system
>> level simulator ? I mean a tool that allow someone to link boxes like
>> generators, mixers, filters, gain blocks, etc, all defined by their black
>> box parameters and simulate the system performances ? I know that high
>> end
>> tools like ADS have no poblem with that but I was wondering if there is
>> something smaller, say just a little more powerful than the classic
>> cascaded
>> gain IP3/p1dB/NF excel spreadsheets ?
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Robert
>
> The freeware RFSim99 will handle linear systems pretty well. You can
> define two-ports with whatever set of S parameters you want and place
> them schematically, and you can include passives and generic linear
> amplifiers.
>
> It's possible to use Spice (e.g. LTSpice). It would be possible to
> define blocks including two-ports with specified nonlinearities and
> mixers, and be able to input parameterized things like gain, IP3 and
> NF. I've done some of that sort of thing for some system-level
> simulations I've done.
>
> But I suppose neither one of those ideas quite hits the target you've
> put up...RFSim99 is turn-key but linear only, and Spice is potentially
> powerful but not turn-key for your application.
>
> Cheers,
> Tom
>

[Robert Lacoste[_2_]]

"Pete KE9OA" > a écrit dans le message de news:
...
> RFSimm99 is a very good program. I also use a program called AppCad, from
> the HP Woodshot website. When you talk about those excel spreadsheets, I
> am not sure if you are referring to these programs, but for freeware, they
> are very good.
> There is also a program called RF Workbench.........this is a DOS program
> that has an interface similar to AppCad, although RF Workbench will also
> do spur charts for mixers.
>
> Pete
>
> "K7ITM" > wrote in message
> ups.com...
>> On Oct 15, 8:13 am, "Robert Lacoste" <use-contact-at-www-alciom-com-
>> for-email> wrote:
>>> Hi,
>>>
>>> Do you know if there is a raisonnable cost or even open source RF system
>>> level simulator ? I mean a tool that allow someone to link boxes like
>>> generators, mixers, filters, gain blocks, etc, all defined by their
>>> black
>>> box parameters and simulate the system performances ? I know that high
>>> end
>>> tools like ADS have no poblem with that but I was wondering if there is
>>> something smaller, say just a little more powerful than the classic
>>> cascaded
>>> gain IP3/p1dB/NF excel spreadsheets ?
>>>
>>> Thanks,
>>> Robert
>>
>> The freeware RFSim99 will handle linear systems pretty well. You can
>> define two-ports with whatever set of S parameters you want and place
>> them schematically, and you can include passives and generic linear
>> amplifiers.
>>
>> It's possible to use Spice (e.g. LTSpice). It would be possible to
>> define blocks including two-ports with specified nonlinearities and
>> mixers, and be able to input parameterized things like gain, IP3 and
>> NF. I've done some of that sort of thing for some system-level
>> simulations I've done.
>>
>> But I suppose neither one of those ideas quite hits the target you've
>> put up...RFSim99 is turn-key but linear only, and Spice is potentially
>> powerful but not turn-key for your application.
>>
>> Cheers,
>> Tom
>>
>
>

Many thanks, I will look into RFSim99 and RF Workbench. A colleague also
talked about QUCS, which seems to have an interesting features...

Cheers,
Robert