Simulation & schematic design capabilities added to Pickering’s Microwave Switch Design Tool
Electronic test and verification specialist, Pickering Interfaces, has updated its Microwave Switch Design Tool – a free online tool for configuring application-specific PXI and LXI RF & microwave switching subsystems – to include schematic design and simulation capabilities.
This latest iteration of this web-based tool accelerates the design to production process – from block diagramme to mechanical layout – and minimises risk by enabling custom RF switching subsystem designs with an immediate visual indication of electrical performance.
The new schematic and simulation tools seamlessly integrate with the existing panel configurator within Microwave Switch Design Tool (MSDT), allowing you to go directly from an electrical schematic diagramme, with verified RF performance, to a mechanical layout (front and/or rear panels). In this way, MSDT functions as a powerful extension to engineering teams, allowing them to easily collaborate with Pickering’s team of RF engineers. MSDT simplifies the creation of custom and turnkey RF & microwave switching and relay subsystems for signal routing applications across the aerospace and defence, wireless communications, automotive, medical and semiconductor industries.
“We have updated our Microwave Switch Design Tool web-based application to add circuit schematic generation and RF circuit simulation,” explains Simon Aylott, Microwave Division Manager at Pickering Interfaces.
“These enhancements allow engineers to graphically design and verify their RF switching subsystem on a virtual PXI or LXI platform. You can rapidly create circuit diagrammes and accurately simulate the electrical performance of your design, giving you an immediate visual indication of the system’s predicted RF performance. You can then refine and optimise the design before committing to the system build process. This flexibility saves significant time and resources – and minimises the risks associated with complex RFIU switching system design projects.”
Available free and online, with no installation required, MSDT’s web-based graphical toolset minimises risk by offering intuitive design, test and optimisation of complex RF and microwave switching systems in a virtual environment before physical models are built. With access to a large range of RF and microwave components, the tool supports electrical design via the generation of schematic diagrammes, including interconnect cabling and circuit simulation of individual components and the full signal path, as well as mechanical design through the creation of front and/or rear panels. Accurate prediction of RF electrical performance improves confidence, thereby reducing the risks associated with complex product design. The range of components offered in MSDT is continually evolving, and alternate items can be requested for inclusion in the component database.
MSDT is part of Pickering’s growing online design toolset, which helps test engineers graphically design, share, maintain, and visualise various parts of test system architecture.
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