After buying National Instruments (NI) subsidiary AWR Corp. for $160 million more than a year ago, Cadence Design Systems has announced the release of Version 16 (V16) of the AWR Design Environment to streamline the support for RF to millimeter-wave (mmWave) IP integration into Virtuoso IC design platform as well as Allegro PCB and IC package design platforms.

For instance, Cadence leverages the Microwave Office circuit design software in AWR Design Environment for RF front-end design IP and combines it with the Virtuoso Layout Suite for IC and module integration. Likewise, integration with Allegro IC package and PCB design platforms ensures a smooth RF integration into IC and PCB design flows.

Figure 1 The AWR Design Environment platform provides RF/microwave engineers with high-frequency circuit, system, and EM simulation technologies. Source: Cadence

Also noteworthy in the V16 release is the integration of Cadence’s Clarity 3D Solver and Celsius Thermal Solver technologies in the AWR Design Environment. These solver technologies provide unconstrained capacity for electrothermal performance analysis of complex RF systems. Cadence claims that the integration of deep electromagnetic (EM) and thermal embedded analyses in the V16 release will lead to a 3X reduction in turnaround time (TAT).

Figure 2 The V16 release has integrated Cadence’s Clarity 3D Solver to handle complex EM simulation tasks in 5G, automotive, and high-performance computing (HPC) designs. Source: Cadence

The V16 release manifests one of the primary goals of the AWR acquisition: expand RF workflow tools from IC design to IC packaging to PCB designs. And the RF workflows span from RF to microwave to mmWave frequencies.

Cadence is eying the AWR V16 release at 5G designs and connected systems for automotive and radar systems.

Majeed Ahmad, Editor-in-Chief of Planet Analog, has covered the electronics design industry for more than two decades.

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