AWR Announces EDA Solution for End-to-End Communications Systems; Visual System Simulator 2002 Design Suite Integrates RF and DSP Analysis.

Business Editors

EL SEGUNDO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 18, 2002

Applied Wave Research, Inc. (AWR), a leading provider of high-frequency electronic design automation tools, today announced the availability of Visual System Simulator(TM) 2002 (VSS2002) communications systems design suite.

The comprehensive solution enables system engineers to perform top-down analysis of analog and digital communications systems and goes well beyond existing solutions in terms of accurately characterizing radio frequency (RF) impairments. VSS2002 software is seamlessly integrated with AWR's Microwave Office(TM) 2002 circuit design suite enabling bottoms-up analysis to be performed where the transistor level effects are incorporated at the system level through system/circuit co-simulation. Fully functioning evaluation software can be downloaded at www.appwave.com/products/vss2002.html for a 30-day trial period.

VSS2002 design suite combines industry proven ACOLADE simulation technology acquired from I/Q Com Corporation (see www.appwave.com/news/press/PR000530.html) with the interactive AWR(TM) design environment and easy-to-use interface. The VSS2002 product's revolutionary discrete time simulation engine and extensive model libraries provide a solution for analyzing systems from the channel through the RF and digital signal processing (DSP) subsystems. The solution is ideal for analyzing wireless communications systems, high-speed wire-line, and electro-optical systems.

"The setting up of system simulations were intuitive and the tool itself is very powerful in terms of the types of simulations it is able to perform and the speed in which it is able to do so," said Craig Matsuno, senior staff systems engineer at Juniper Networks.

"I have been very impressed with the simulation speed of VSS2002 and think this will be a key differentiator for AWR in this market," said Lance Mucenieks, RF engineering manager at Aperto Networks. "The Windows interface is very intuitive and the integration of microwave and system simulation in one tool could also make the `interfaces' between various functional groups much more transparent."

Visual System Simulator 2002 Design Suite

VSS2002 design suite is an interactive solution for modeling, analyzing and optimizing analog and digital communication systems. The product enables users to quickly build graphical block diagrams and analyze the performance using sophisticated built-in measurements and powerful signal generators that support virtually any modulation scheme, including: AM, FM, orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM), phase shift keying (PSK), mask shift keying (MSK) quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM), and others. Users can easily assess the impact of specifications by utilizing a unique "real-time tuning mode" that immediately displays the impact of parameter changes by updating measurements in real time.

VSS2002 software includes a comprehensive library of over 230 core elements and mathematical primitives that can be used to build an accurate representation of the most complex communications systems. The library includes: encoders/decoders (including Viterbi, Reed-Solomon, convolutional and others); modulators/demodulators, and filters. Application-specific libraries are optional and support 3G, IS95, GSM, EDGE, 802.11, and other emerging standards.

VSS2002 design suite combines a multi-rate discrete time simulation engine with advanced block processing techniques to efficiently manage the flow of data between blocks. In essence, the product is a data-driven simulation tool with the ability to handle impairments that can be modeled in either the time or frequency domain.

The block interconnects are modeled using "elastic buffers" that efficiently control the flow of data. The interconnects automatically ensure the proper alignment of data prior to performing bit-error-rate (BER) simulations without the need for delay elements for each block. Interconnects support synchronous and asynchronous data transfer, thus implicitly supporting multi-rate processing. Additional built-in measurements are available, including: Power Spectral Density, Error Vector Magnitude (EVM) and Adjacent Channel Power Ratio (ACPR) measurements. VSS2002 software blocks can also be programmed to run on a sample-per-sample basis, which is an ideal way of handling feedback loops in data-driven simulation tools. VSS2002 solution's block processing techniques result in extremely fast simulation times even for complex system analysis.

An application programming interface (API) in VSS2002 software provides seamless integration to other applications, including Matlab, enabling users to leverage existing models from other tools.

Top-Down and Bottoms-Up Integration with Microwave Office 2002

The VSS2002 solution was designed from the ground up to work with AWR's Microwave Office 2002 circuit design suite. The two products, when used in combination, can bring system and circuit engineers together within a common software platform. System engineers can develop specifications in VSS2002 software that can be passed to the RF and microwave components designers using Microwave Office software. Circuit designers can then pass files to the systems engineers or, in a truly unique flow, the circuit and system designers can use VSS2002 and Microwave Office 2002 design suites together from a single environment that simulates the RF and microwave blocks concurrently while performing system analysis. From a single AWR design environment users can tune on the bias on a transistor and instantaneously see what the effect is on the bit error rate for the system.

Price and Availability

Fully functioning evaluation software is available for download over the Internet at www.appwave.com/products/vss2002.html. AWR will release the VSS2002 design suite to customers in Q2 2002. The product supports Windows 98, 2000, ME, NT, and XP platforms. U.S. list prices for perpetual licenses range from $15,000-$33,000 depending upon the simulation capabilities. VSS2002 software will be a no-cost upgrade for existing ACOLADE customers with valid maintenance agreements. For more information on product pricing and availability call 310/726-3000. For product pricing and availability outside the U.S. please contact AWR or AWR's local sales representative.

About Applied Wave Research, Inc.

Applied Wave Research was founded in 1994 and is headquartered in El Segundo, California. The company is a supplier of high-frequency electronic design automation products for the design of wireless telecommunications equipment, semiconductors, high-speed computers, networking systems, and a variety of other electronics-based products. AWR has sales offices, training centers, and distributors worldwide. For more information about the company and its products, please visit www.appwave.com or call 310/726-3000.

AWR, the AWR logo, Visual System Simulator and Microwave Office are trademarks of Applied Wave Research, Inc. All other marks are the property of their respective holders.