Australia Telescope National Facility Selects AWR Microwave Office Design Suite for Next Generation Design.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

EL SEGUNDO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 29, 2003

Applied Wave Research, Inc. (AWR(TM)), a leading provider of high-frequency electronic design automation (EDA) tools, today announced that it has finalized an agreement with the Australia Telescope National Facility (ATNF) Engineering Development Group to provide EDA solutions to be used for radio-frequency (RF), microwave, and millimeter-wave design. ATNF will use AWR's Microwave Office(TM) software for designing state-of-the-art cryogenically cooled receivers and associated components.

The ATNF Engineering Development Group, led by Dr. Warwick Wilson, has a staff of approximately 25 engineers and technicians and is responsible for the design and construction of essentially all ATNF front-end receiver systems. The front ends of these receivers are cooled by closed-cycle liquid helium refrigeration to minimize thermal noise. The group has expertise in the areas of passive microwave devices, high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) low noise amplifiers (LNAs), cryogenics, RF, and input frequency (IF) systems. Recently much of its development effort has been focused on the design of broadband indium phosphide (InP) microwave monolithic integrated circuits (MMICs) for cryogenic (approximately -250 degree C) operation at frequencies over 100GHz(Note A).

"We evaluated EDA software from all the leading vendors, looking particularly at the accuracy of the models at frequencies of 100GHz and above," said Dr. Russell Gough, ATNF/CTIP MMIC team member. "After comparing many measured and simulated results, we chose the Microwave Office product based on its tight integration of layout and schematic capture, and its seamless linkage with inbuilt electromagnetic (EM) analysis. We are confident that the Microwave Office software will provide us with the extra accuracy we require for our next generation of MMIC designs."

Ron Patston, vice president of Asia Pacific operations for AWR, added, "The selection of Microwave Office design suite as the standard design tool at the ATNF demonstrates the importance of integrated design solutions for leading-edge research groups and underscores the strengths of AWR's new architecture and accurate models."

About the Australia Telescope National Facility

The ATNF supports Australia's research in radio astronomy. It is administered by Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) and is funded by the Australian government. The ATNF operates the Australia Telescope, a set of eight individual radio telescopes, as a national research facility for use by Australian and international researchers. The telescope consists of the Compact Array at Narrabri and the Parkes and Mopra radio telescopes. Its unique southern location and technological advantages position it as a world-class radio astronomy observatory.

About Applied Wave Research, Inc.

Applied Wave Research is a leading supplier of high-frequency electronic design automation (EDA) products for the design of wireless telecommunications equipment, semiconductors, high-speed computers, networking systems, and a variety of other electronics-based products. AWR is a privately held company and has development offices, sales offices, training centers, and global distribution. AWR launched its first product in 1998 and today has over 400 customer companies worldwide, including virtually every major high-frequency electronic component and system supplier. The company is located at 1960 East Grand Avenue, Suite 430, El Segundo, California 90245. For more information about AWR and its products, please visit www.mwoffice.com or call 310-726-3000.

Note A: ARCHER, J.W., LAI, R. & GOUGH, R.G. "Ultra-low-noise indium-phosphide MMIC amplifiers for 85-115 GHz". IEEE Trans. Microwave Theory & Techniques, 49, 2080-2085 (2001).

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