Programming: Blockset models behavior of radio frequency components
RF Blockset 2 extends Simulink software with a library of function blocks.
The MathWorks has introduced RF Blockset 2, which extends its Simulink software with a library of function blocks to model the behavior of linear and nonlinear radio frequency (RF) components (filters, transmission lines, amplifiers, and mixers) by supporting widespread Agilent standards for large signal-scattering parameters in system-level verification models.
“RF Blockset helps engineers from the communications systems world collaborate with engineers from the RF world,” said Colin Warwick, technical marketing manager at The MathWorks. “It facilitates communication across teams in different disciplines that each use different languages and tools. For example, wireless communication system engineers use Simulink with Communications Blockset to create an executable specification, but RF engineers use a transistor-level circuit simulator for their RF subsystem. With RF Blockset, the system engineer can generate specifications that the RF engineer can use, and the RF engineer can extract verification models that the systems engineer can use.”
As well as enabling access to industry-standard data file formats for network parameters and noise properties (such as S2P, Y2P, Z2P, and H2P) RF Blockset 2 lets engineers import system-level verification models into the S2D, P2D, and AMP formats. These formats specify not only network parameters and noise properties, but also nonlinear properties of a component. Engineers also can obtain S2D and P2D files from component manufacturers, from measured data, and from the Verification Model Extractor feature in Advanced Design System (ADS) from Agilent.
According to Larry Dunleavy, president and CEO of Modelithics, Inc., “We are pleased to contribute P2D amplifier and S2D mixer models to this new release and applaud The MathWorks for adopting these widely used data file formats. This collaboration enables The MathWorks and Modelithics to better support customers who design RF systems and components in wireless systems.”
RF Blockset is available for Solaris, Linux, Microsoft Windows, and Macintosh platforms. U.S. list prices start at $2,000.
—Control Engineering News Desk
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