PathWave Design Software

Introduction

Gone are the days of simple design. Every year, designers push new limits: longer battery life, smaller components, higher levels of integration.

With complex design comes new challenges. Designers spend hours setting up and running simulations. Mountains of data wait to be measured and analyzed. Engineers need to create workarounds to connect multiple design tools. Meanwhile, wireless standards are evolving quickly. To keep up with the strong demands of modern technology, designers need a new approach.

Transforming Electronic Design

There is tremendous opportunity to reduce time-to-market across the design and simulation phases of the electronic product development lifecycle. Most challenges slowing the lifecycle today can be distilled down to data movement and tool integration. Information sharing across the workflow is one of the biggest challenges for design and test engineers. In fact, 9 out of 10 companies revealed that correlating test result data with simulation takes months.

The reason data correlation takes so long is primarily because of the numerous tools used throughout the development lifecycle. Over 50% of designers use more than 5 different tools for simulation and design.

The software tools are not integrated and require hours of coding each week to enable data sharing. The magnitude of that integration effort is amplified by the fact that nearly every company is devoting more resources to the maintenance of in-house tools. Designers are looking for an integrated solution that leverages shared data to accelerate their electronic design.

PathWave Design Software

Keysight’s PathWave Design software is a suite of electronic design automation software tools that accelerates product development by reducing the time engineers spend in the design and simulation phases. Its libraries and customized simulators reduce setup time. The software seamlessly integrates circuit design, electromagnetic (EM) simulation, layout capabilities, and system level modeling, reducing time spent in importing and exporting designs and fixing errors associated with changing tools. Improvements in data analytics allow for faster analysis and more timely design decisions.

Automation improvements reduce manual work.

PathWave Design software provides engineers with new tools and software enhancements to bring efficiencies into their RF and microwave, 5G, automotive, and DDR memory design flows, shortening the design cycle and reducing project delays.

CHALLENGE 1: Designers struggle to connect multiple

software tools

Designers typically use more than one design software to design and simulate their devices. Most of the time, they are forced to create manual workarounds so that the different software tools can communicate. Additionally, their EM simulators and circuit simulators are different. They perform each simulation separately and then compare  the data from the different tools. The time spent importing, exporting, and errorchecking slows designers down and significantly impacts overall time-to-market.

Keysight PathWave Design offers a variety of solutions for RF & microwave designers looking to speed their design workflow and bring products to market more quickly and efficiently.

SOLUTION: PathWave Advanced Design System (ADS)

Performing circuit analysis on multiple devices can be time consuming and difficult.

PathWave Advanced Design System (ADS) is Keysight’s leading RF, microwave, signal integrity, and power integrity design platform. With multiple libraries, bundles, design guides, and simulation elements, PathWave ADS is the one software toolto help you overcome any design challenge.

PathWave ADS provides a complete, integrated set of easy-to-use 3D EM circuit and system simulators. Designers can perform EM and circuit co-simulation in one single tool. PathWave ADS combines schematic, layout, circuit, electro-thermal co-simulation, and three full-wave 3D EM technologies with integrated circuit (IC), package, laminate, PCB, and 3D EM component co-design in one software tool to dramatically improve productivity and reduce cost.