TRADE NEWS: Agilent Technologies Announces Expanded RF/Mixed-Signal Simulation Coverage for Wireless Communications IC Design

Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE:A) today announced the release of the latest version of its RFIC simulation software, GoldenGate. This release represents an expansion in RFIC simulation coverage for wireless communications products, with 5x transient simulation speed improvements and new mixed-signal simulation capabilities, resulting in shorter product development times.

“RFIC designers have limited simulation coverage today -- simulating a fraction of what they need to before the tape-out deadline,” said Marc Petersen, product marketing manager with Agilent’s EEsof EDA division. “They are missing design problems and incurring costly re-spins. GoldenGate 4.2 enables more simulation coverage with increased speed and capacity, and takes advantage of new ways to uncover RF/mixed-signal problems early in the design cycle.”

In RFIC design, transient (SPICE) simulations provide time-domain results. GoldenGate 4.2 features improvements to transient simulations, achieving faster speeds of 2x to 4x on single-core computers and typically 5x for quad-core computers. The transient improvements also help speed up the frequency-domain simulation process. Faster simulations allow for more extensive use of statistical design throughout the RFIC design cycle, without compromising tight development schedules.

Digital State Sweeping (DSS), a new GoldenGate 4.2 feature, provides an automated solution to the problem of sweeping an RF design through its many digital control states. Performing the sweep manually is a tedious simulation task. DSS automates operational verification of the control states and provides interface and connectivity testing as well as digital-RF connectivity debugging, allowing digital and RF teams to work concurrently.

Agilent’s GoldenGate 4.2 also includes:

• the ability to perform mixed-signal simulations on a combination of RF and digital circuits represented by Verilog-AMS blocks;
• new wireless sources from the Agilent Ptolemy simulator, including transmit/receive waveforms for 802.11(WiFi), 802.16 (WiMAX(tm)/WiMAN), TDSCMDA, 3GPPFDD, and custom, user-defined wireless sources, and;
• improved Monte Carlo algorithms (Latin Hypercube Sampling and Hammersley Sequence Sampling) for faster Monte Carlo coverage with 5-10x fewer trials.

Agilent’s GoldenGate software is an advanced simulation and analysis solution for integrated RFIC design. Its unique simulation algorithms are optimized for the challenging demands of today’s complex RFIC design, enabling full characterization of complete transceivers prior to tape-out. To ensure device manufacturability and reduce design spins, GoldenGate takes advantage of both frequency-domain and time-domain simulation capabilities to perform necessary analyses on today’s mixed-signal RFICs.

For more information about GoldenGate visit www.agilent.com/find/eesof-goldengate.

To request a demo of GoldenGate, visit www.agilent.com/find/eesof-goldengate-demo-pr.

A high-resolution screen image of Agilent’s GoldenGate software is available at www.agilent.com/find/eesof-GoldenGate42_images.

U.S. Pricing and Availability

Agilent’s GoldenGate Release 4.2 is expected to be available in early May, with prices starting at approximately $42,000.

About Agilent EEsof EDA Software

Agilent EEsof EDA is an industry-leading provider of RF-mixed signal circuit and system-design software. Agilent EEsof EDA software is compatible with and is used to design the company’s test and measurement equipment. Additional information 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 revenue of $5.4 billion in fiscal year 2007. Information about Agilent is available on the Web at www.agilent.com.

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