TRADE NEWS: Agilent Technologies Announces New Software Release for Fast, Accurate Antenna Design, Optimization

Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE:A) today announced the availability of its latest Antenna Modeling Design System (AMDS) release. The full-wave 3-D electromagnetic (EM) modeling and simulation software contains a scripting feature for performance optimization and automation of complex designs such as patch array antennas, allowing designers to fine tune antennas for the best performance within electronic devices, such as handheld wireless cell phones.

Modeling, simulating and optimizing complex antenna systems is an intricate process that includes setting up layout and simulation parameters and mathematical post-processing of the simulation results. Due to the time-consuming nature of placing and analyzing many elements in a system, designers frequently simplify simulations and use external tools to perform the necessary computations. This process is cumbersome and introduces design risk. The new scripting capability in this fifth release of AMDS allows designers to write their own programs to automate element placement and incorporate mathematical functions to perform virtually any analysis on the antenna design before it is integrated into the complete mobile wireless device. Designers also can use equations to define the geometry of complex antennas (such as those with fractal and conformal surfaces) to optimize performance.

“We chose Python-based scripting because it is the most advanced scripting language,” said Jan Van Hese, research and development manager with Agilent’s EEsof EDA division. “It gives our customers access to the wealth of mathematical and graphical material readily available on the Web, making their analysis options almost limitless. With changes to the script, designs can be quickly and efficiently optimized and verified long before the entire phone is available for either simulation or physical testing.”

AMDS is a full-wave, 3-D EM design, modeling and verification tool dedicated to antenna and antenna systems design. It meshes, simulates and optimizes an entire wireless device, together with its surrounding real-world environment, to analyze compliance standards such as HAC, SAR (Specific Absorption Rate), and antenna diversity and MIMO (Multiple-Input, Multiple Output). Simulating devices with AMDS can reduce design cycle time by up to 75 percent compared with that required by other types of EM simulators available today.

Python is a popular open-source object-oriented programming language that supports integration with other languages and tools, and comes with extensive libraries.

Agilent’s AMDS 3-D EM feature set includes:

• efficient importing of CAD data from product designers, reducing or eliminating EM design iterations;
• Python scripting, allowing modeling and simulation of complex antenna systems such as patch array antennas;
• verification of antenna compliance with legal and operational standards such as SAR, HAC, Over-the-Air Performance and MIMO;
• optimization of MIMO performance by analyzing antenna placement and diversity for the entire physical wireless appliance; and
• optimization of device performance, including modeling the interaction between a human’s head and the wireless device.

To request a demonstration of AMDS or additional technical or sales information, visit www.agilent.com/find/eesof-amds-request-pr.

Additional information about AMDS and all of Agilent’s EDA software offerings is available at www.agilent.com/find/eesof-AMDS.

A high-resolution image of the Agilent AMDS software is available at www.agilent.com/find/eesof_amds2007.05_images.

U.S. Pricing and Availability

The Agilent AMDS is available now with prices starting at approximately $50,000.

About Agilent EEsof EDA Software

Agilent EEsof EDA is an industry-leading provider of RF-mixed signal circuit and system-design software. The software is compatible with and is used to design the company’s test and measurement equipment. Additional information about Agilent’s EDA software is available at www.agilent.com/find/eesof.

About Agilent Technologies

Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE:A) is the world’s premier measurement company and a technology leader in communications, electronics, life sciences and chemical analysis. The company’s 19,000 employees serve customers in more than 110 countries. Agilent had net revenues of $5.4 billion in fiscal 2007. Information about Agilent is available on the Web at www.agilent.com.

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