Microwave & RF Engineers…Communication is Key!

I recently agreed to co-chair the IEEE MTT-S Women in Engineering (WIE) / Women in Microwaves (WIM) organization. I have long been an advocate for advancing the cause of women in the world of RF and microwave engineering, actually back to my college days at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) when I was one of only eight women in my EE graduating class of 110. Things have not improved much since then with women representing only 10 percent of IEEE WIE membership in the U.S. today.    Asia and Europe fare far better with approximately 40 percent and 20 percent respectively.

Why do we care about this? Women are a key demographic in any market and a valuable resource to our “dwindling pool of resources” within our chosen profession. We need more engineers of either gender and diversity in terms of more women in our field will certainly add a different perspective to ideas and insights, as it’s true that not all minds think alike.

One of the first things any of us can do to contribute to this is to promote awareness.  We need to find new and novels ways to encourage women to elect engineering as their career choice.  I spoke recently with former WIE Chair Karen Panetta, who helped me clarify that we need to tap into the “wonderment” of our career choice and make it desirable to the younger generations.   One way to do that is to highlight not only the successful women in our high-tech field like Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer or Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, but also to talk about how our profession is what empowers the wireless revolution to take hold and thrive.  Watching my kids text, chat and clamor for free WiFi access brings home to me how all of this technology—from products to infrastructure—is largely thanks to microwave theory and techniques. 

My co-chair and esteemed colleague Dr. Rashuanda Henderson and I are already formulating plans for improving awareness, communications, and a sense of camaraderie.   To that end, please make a point to support WIM by stopping by the reception at IMS 2013, Tuesday night from 6-9 p.m. at the Seattle Space Needle, Level 100!

Men and women alike, come by to say hello, share your ideas and become an advocate for WIM.

Additional links:

IEEE The Institute: IEEE Societies Work to Keep Women in Engineering
Microwaves & RF: Women in Engineering: Current Perspective
Jezebel: Etsy’s Revolutionary Yet Simple Policy Results in More Female Engineers
National Geographic: Why Is a Woman Who Loves Science So Surprising?
Forbes: 10 Things Sheryl Sandberg [Facebook COO] Gets Exactly right in “Lean In”

Bye Bye Wallets….

Given the recent fiscal cliff and the spending cut countdown, I’m wondering how many of you think this blog will be about our dwindling wallets and discretionary dollars?  But alas, not so.  This is about the emergence of the electronic wallet or rather the underlying technology that’s making it a reality…
 
Back in August, Time Magazine ran an article titled, "Bye Bye Wallet" written by Harry McCracken, who bravely spent (or rather attempted to spend) a weekend using nothing more than his Google Wallet.  What I liked about this piece (in addition to the humor) was that within the first two paragraphs, he was talking about NFC – near field communication – technology that is enabling this trend.

For those of you not yet familiar with electronic wallet technology, Google Wallet requires a special chip in your phone, available at present on just a few Android models. You pay by simply tapping your phone on a credit-card reader equipped with NFC technology. NFC is being developed as a form of contactless communication between wireless devices like smartphones and tablets. It enables users to communicate with other NFC-compatible devices to share information instantly without any setup or physical connection.  And of course, for these NFC-enabled devices to work properly, the antenna systems are a critical component.

NFC is, of course, a topic near and dear to AWR as our AXIEM® 3D planar electromagnetic (EM) simulation software is used to design these antenna systems. You can learn more about AXIEM for antenna design by reading two recent application notes, “Design of a Near Field Communication Antenna System” and “AWR Connected for Antenna Magus Design Flow for Base Station Antennas.”

As the world continues to become more and more connected via wireless technology, I’m finding it easier and easier to explain to others what my own company does and how it directly impacts their lives.  And to see NFC within the first two paragraphs of a Time magazine article….surely did put a smile on my face that perhaps the day will soon be here when trying to explain what AWR software does is as simple as, “we help engineers to design the wireless products that you love so much!”

Shock and Ah!

January started with a bang.  Three weeks of travel, which meant a lot of time sitting on planes and waiting for them.  The nice thing about this is that it gives me time to let my brain wander a bit and often times come upon new and interesting ideas that I can apply at AWR.  This blog isn’t about that per se, but rather the Shock and Ah! I experienced as I was catching up on my reading with a couple of interesting articles during my travel time. On my iPad Flipboard app, I stumbled across an article in IEEE Spectrum about the next generation of Lego MindStorms, MindStorm EV3, which was unveiled at the recent Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Lego Mindstorms is a collection combining Lego’s classic building blocks with programmable microcomputers that bring Lego creations to life. It talks about how this new toy, which has an EV3 intelligent brick, lets the builder program the robots without using a computer and that it is making robotics fun and fascinating for all ages.  What attracted me to it outside of my own love for Legos is that National Instruments, AWR’s parent company, is a key technology provider of this product—the intuitive software platform for EV3 is based on NI’s LabVIEW graphical programming software. LabVIEW is the same software that powers some of the greatest innovations in the world and is already plug-n-play within the AWR Design Environment™ to provide a seamless RF/microwave design and test flow. How’s that for a bit of Shock and Ah!…that’s cool.

The second article was in the Southwest Airlines Spirit Magazine. Scanning articles and photos, I was shocked to see my local Manhattan Beach, CA Marine Avenue Community Park and ah'd to read how Stanford students were taking a four-month road trip with the SparkTruck, a van full of technology gadgets, trying to make technology fun and fascinating so as to inspire the next generation of would be engineers and scientists.

My third Shock and Ah is yet to happen. It will be at DesignCon.  AWR will be within the NI exhibition area footprint at the show and while I know we’ll shock plenty of the attendees with not only our joint presence but also the scale of it, we’ll be ah’ing them too with the breadth of technology (hardware, software for design & test) that we’ll be demonstrating. Please come by to learn more if you are there so we can skip the shock and just get straight to the ahs … this is really cool!

 

Khan Academy--I'm a Fan!

A few months ago, I heard a news program on NPR about the Khan Academy and how it was started accidentally by Mr. Khan to help his niece with her math homework. Since he lived far away from her, he captured his helpful hints via YouTube and shared via the Internet. One thing led to another and now Khan has found himself the creator of something big.

Since that NPR special, I’ve had a few chances to visit the website. There are over 3,200 videos on a wealth of subjects. I found myself touring around and clicking on things like science, economics, history and even SAT prep, and getting progressively more excited by the proposition that this is a tipping point to excite kids to continue to be curious about math and science as they get older.

The Khan Academy concept reminded me of Professor Fornetti’s ExploreRF YouTube Channel, which offers training courses and webinars in RF and microwave related subjects, and of course AWR’s own AWR.TV portal. Our numerous video tutorials and vignettes are meant to accomplish the same for RF/Microwave education as Khan is for mathematics. Both aim to excite current and future users to learn more about the wealth of capabilities in AWR’s software as well as the fundamental mathematic theories it solves. 

AWR continues to be committed to helping university students learn more about RF/microwave design. To that end, we recently re-evaluated our strategies of supporting university engineering courses with student-empowered licensing, awarding free software to engineering graduates, and sponsoring the IMS Student Design Contests to see what, if any, positive impact they were having. We were excited to find many successes, two of which we have recently published as University Success Stories. One design student at Istanbul University of Technology (read the story here >>) actually taught himself how to use Microwave Office through our documentation, extensive library of examples, and, most importantly, our AWR.TV videos. His journey resulted in a low noise amplifier design that won the Turkey Graduation Design Competition and was a finalist at the IMS Student Design Competition. Another student from Vienna University of Technology (read the story here >>) was able to design an X-band transmission analyzer from end to end thanks to several master’s degree courses that offered the use of Microwave Office, as well as attentive technical support. 

Khan Academy and Professor Fornetti; yep, I’m a fan of these new concepts for helping a breadth of students learn remotely through innovative means such as online videos. I hope they each expand and grow in “frequency” of content and exposure. Knowledge is always something we can use more of. And I certainly intend to follow this model for AWR and hopefully help many more aspiring engineering students to become great designers in the future.

The Mechanics of Creativity

I was pleased to be invited to participate on the Women in Electronic Design panel at DAC 2012 this past June. The theme: “The Mechanics of Creativity—What does it take to be an idea machine?” Design is an inherently creative process, but how can we be creative on demand? How can we rise above mundane tasks with flashes of brilliance, discover secrets of technical and business creativity and calculated risk taking, and share stories of innovation?

The organizers, moderators and panelists included Karen Bartleson, Director of Community Marketing at Synopsys, Holly Stump, High Tech Marketing, Lillian Kvitko, Director of Data and Resource Management, Microelectronics Group at Oracle, Dee McCrorey, Chief Risk Guru and Innovation Catalyst at Risktaking for Success LLC, and myself.

Creativity is not a topic electronic engineers talk about very often, so I worked through a number of questions beforehand to prepare...

How do you define “Creativity” and how do you identify creative people?

Tough question.  Creativity…. For me is the ability to think outside of the box. Let ideas/thoughts go free form.  Tap into the unstructured.  Artists, musicians, actors…they do this naturally but in the business world, it’s often a bit more oblique.

In fact, I haven’t traditionally thought of myself as a creative type. I’d describe myself as high energy, hyper with thoughts and ideas and not bashful to share (good and bad ones) nor unwilling to push thru to bring them to fruition for better or worse. 

But then two years ago, Penton Publishing called me and said they’d like to give me an award as their “Innovative Marketer for 2010”…. I was flabbergasted.  Paid trip to Las Vegas, presentation, award, speech, etc.   

Anyway, creative … the ability to make or do something from nothing I think.  So it’s not always having the idea but also the tenacity to see it through.

Are creative people born or made?

For me, creative thoughts come and go frequently. I find that putting myself into challenging and/or unique situations acts as a stimulus.

For example, I attended CTIA Wireless a few years ago and caught Al Gore as a keynote speaker. His ideas were interesting and I just wanted to figure out how I could apply them to my own life and career.  His topic… disruptive technology and how new ideas flourish at the expense of others.  For instance, typewriters becoming obsolete thanks to desktop PCs, floppy disks to USB keys, and so on.

Perhaps this is a characteristic of creative types…. information/data comes in from many directions and at many rates, and a creative type tries to connect the dots to make a picture.

So my long-winded answer to this Q is that I believe we are all born with an element of creativity and then as we grow and interact with the world and others, both personally and professionally, that kernel of creativity is either nurtured to grow or stifled.

Perhaps a week after I began pondering this question for the panel, I stumbled upon a quote from Harvard Business Professor Clayton Christensen that stated,  “Studies have shown that creativity is close to 80% learned and acquired.”  Which supports my own viewpoint that we are born with some element of creativity and then either we let it grow and flourish or kill it.

For most of us, I think our own inner voices of self-doubt are creativity killers…how to keep them in check?  That’s a key to letting creativity grow.

What’s the one most difficult thing about being creative?

Staying upbeat.  Too many others like to pick holes in ideas or rain on your parade. Not sure why this is but the ability to stay positive, confident and on message is the most challenging part of the creative process in my own mind/life.

Are there specific things a person can do to become more creative?

Well, actually in the book I’m reading now called “Disciplined Dreaming – A Proven System to Drive Breakthrough Creativity” by Josh Linkner, he argues that you can teach yourself to become more creative.

In the preface he states that most companies today are creatively bankrupt…and that at the end of the day “creativity” is the only thing that can’t be commoditized.  Creativity is what will separate the winners from the also-rans in the emerging world of business.

In particular he goes on to state that success in the new era of business is driven by our ability to stand out and be truly remarkable.  And for that, we need to nurture the ability to tap into creativity, break the mold, introduce disruptive change, and dislodge the status quo.

The book helps to guide people/firms thru some steps to tap into creativity.  I have to finish the book to share them with you and/or convince you to read the book for yourself!

How can we rise above our day-to-day demands to have brilliant flashes of creativity?

I have attended some events /talks/conferences over the years that said for every 60 minutes you work, you should take a 10 minute break to recharge. Perhaps this is a way to keep the creativity meter functioning? I don’t do this, but I have established a routine to take a solid one-hour lunch break with others on a regular basis to chat about anything/everything.  The result is that usually I come back in the afternoon refreshed and often full of new ideas to tackle.

Creative ideas can’t thrive alone. How can you garner support for your creative ideas?

Having some “idea” partners in crime with whom to just have a free flowing conversation helps to let the ideas flow.  David Vye of MWJ got me started with blogging during a casual conversation that began as a guest blog on Microwave Journal and has blossomed into a regular blog on AWR as well.  Our creativity feeds off of one another.  

Once you have support, what steps do you take to turn your ideas into reality?

I try to surround myself with others who share a creativity bone.  The more of these employees/co-workers/colleagues/friends you can pull into the team, the better the ideas become and the faster they can be executed.  So…surround yourself with similarly creative/open minded types and collectively you can chart a path. 

I have found that being respectful of other peoples’ ideas and their willingness to share them is a good way to foster creativity. I think good leaders/managers who encourage and reward creativity get much more out of their teams than those who believe they are the only ones with ideas and the rest of the team is there only to execute.

Finally, don’t forget to stop along the way and admire what’s taking place. And don’t be afraid to admit it when something that was tried flops… extract a lesson learned and move on. Nobody and no idea is always perfect.  Commitment and practice and patience and resolve go a long way to taking / turning ideas into reality.

And if you like anything I've contemplated here, I think you'll also enjoy this quote.  "Happiness lies in the joy of achievement and the thrill of creative effort."  Franklin D. Roosevelt 

Road to Where?

 Sherry Hess, VP of Marketing, AWR. Read profile >>

Earlier this year, I posted a blog, Are You a Do’er?, which was inspired from my participation at the Business of Software Conference late in 2011.  There was a wealth of content presented at that conference and of course it inspired another thought thread that now lends itself to a blog topic.

The theme… Road to Where.  Are you, or I, or perhaps both of us on a road to nowhere? Are we caught up in the innovation race to add more features and functionality to our software, hardware, whatever product that we lose sight of what’s important to the user base?  This was the talk of a few folks at the conference, but one person in particular, Harvard Professor Clayton Christensen, argued in his talk (here is the video) that we need to shift our focus away from adding more features for feature sake but instead to figuring out how to bridge the divide between consumers and non-consumers. Prof. Christensen, who is also quoted in the book, "Mastering the Complex Sale" by Jeff Thule, asks what can you do to pull in new users/customers that for whatever reason have not found their way to your offering (product/service)?

So why am I rambling on about this?  Because it seems like a good time to be thinking about a paradigm shift with IMS coming up next week. So when you are walking around the exhibition floor and stopping by an exhibit, try to find out what tools/products/services from that company have opted not to be on the road to nowhere and instead are taking their customers—new and existing ones—somewhere!

For AWR, that means redefining M&RF design… From LabVIEW co-sim within VSS for radar, 802.11ac, LTE and more, to bringing a new paradigm to 3D EM simulation and opening up a new realm of users (creating consumers) by changing the use model for EM (Analyst) within circuit simulation – namely Microwave Office.  Visit us at booth 1514 to learn more.

Repeat what works!

 Sherry Hess, VP of Marketing, AWR. Read profile >>

Those who know me know that I like to repeat what works and, preferably, strive to do it better. They also know that I am certainly grateful and ready to abandon doing what’s not working. In the context of the microwave and RF industry, I’d like to highlight two such activities that are working well—in my mind actually getting better—and are worthy of being repeated.

The first is MicroApps…

MicroApps is a session that was started seven+ years ago within the International Microwave Symposium (IMS). The MicroApps program gives exhibitors the opportunity to present targeted, in-depth talks on their products and technologies to a larger audience than can typically otherwise be assembled in their own booth space. I personally got involved with MicroApps three years ago when IMS was in Anaheim and J K McKinney was chairman. That year more than 50 papers were submitted for MicroApps, and they were recorded for later broadcast.

During my second year on the MicroApps committee at IMS 2011 in Baltimore, the concept of a midday panel session was launched and the standing room only nonlinear behavioral modeling topic (hosted by Microwave Journal) certainly was a success and still continues to provide talking points today as Larry Dunleavy of the University of South Florida recently shared with me that he asks his students to view the archive and do a comparative critique of the various approaches.

But even before my second year of volunteering for MicroApps, my enthusiasm for it piqued the interest of our European friends at European Microwave Week (EuMW) and they opted to give it a try. The first ever European MicroApps made its debut at EuMW in the UK in October 2011, and with 30+ papers, keynotes and respectable attendance, it was a solid start for this new facet of EuMW. The second year of planning and preparation is just beginning. Click here to learn more and submit your abstract for Amsterdam 2012.

The second activity worth repeating is the Women in Microwaves (WIM) reception…

I got involved with this program as well during IMS Anaheim. (I have JK to thank for volunteering me to take this on when I only asked what it was, since I had never heard of it before!) I thought outside the box a little bit and brought an outside venue and casual networking perspective to the event. Good turnout, good feedback and a new network of wonderful women in M&RF resulted and this was repeated again in Baltimore with beyond-capacity turnout. Later that year, Dominique Schreurs of K.U. Leuven, Belgium, hosted the fourth annual WIM at EuMW. This was more than a reception; it was also a session with several women in the industry speaking – from recent graduates relatively new to the industry to veterans like Prof. Magdalena Salazar-Palma, IEEE AP-S President and Rebecca Brierley, RF filter engineer at Radiodesign, UK.

For IMS 2012, I’m not actively involved (yet) but hope to offer up some new ideas to keep this special networking activity for women going. As one of a small percentage of women in M&RF, just seeing and being able to identify the other women in this industry is a plus. And it certainly helped me to recognize by name the women that Microwave Journal recently featured on its November cover -- http://www.mwjournal-digital.com/mwjournal/201111#pg1

So, let’s keep working hard, working smarter and striving to do everything better if or when possible.  And, of course, that also means to stop doing what’s not working so that the time saved there can be better invested in other more progressive and positive-impact activities. See you all at IMS 2012 – around the MicroApps pavilion, the WIM event and, last but not least, AWR’s booth # 1514!

Are you a Do'er?

 Sherry Hess, VP of Marketing, AWR. Read profile >>

Last October I attended a three-day conference called Business of Software (BoS) in Boston. AWR’s CEO Dane Collins had attended it for the past two years and I wanted to as well, but my travel schedule always conflicted. So, by year three, I was determined to go and had long beforehand blacked out the dates on my calendar.

BoS is about how to run a software business and is largely targeted towards entrepreneurs, but I did meet some other folks from Nokia and big Fortune 100 firms who were there as well. As I began meeting and networking with fellow attendees, what soon began to resonate with me was that the group around me was a bunch of “do'ers.” You know, the people who get an idea and run with it. Typically, we call entrepreneurs do'ers because they get an idea to start a company and run with it, but you can find do'ers in any facet of work and life.

I like to think of myself as a do'er. I started to blog way back in 2009 before it became popular for company execs to share their thoughts. David Vye of Microwave Journal and I were discussing social media and the idea blossomed. He suggested I write a guest blog, and I said, “OK, I’ll do it.” Now I have a guest column on MWJ and one on AWR’s website as well.

And then there was the IMS steering committee for Anaheim in 2011. In a discussion with a colleague at AWR, I was given a couple quick reasons I should join, and again I said, “Ok, I’ll do it.”  Once I got to the steering committee and found they had no one to run the Women in Microwaves (WIM) Reception, again, I said, “OK, I’ll do it.” Upon reflection, I realize I readily say, “Ok. I’ll do it.” Maybe I’m simply not good at saying no, but I think it is that do'ers like challenges -- if I like an idea, I’m willing to invest my own time and energy into it to see where it goes and make a success of it. 

In my mind, AWR customers are generally a collection of do'ers. They understand the advantages of cutting design times in half and the opportunities that can result from the time gained to take on additional challenges that add value. And who can argue against gaining back additional quality time in some facet of your own life, personal as well as professional? 

If you follow AWR (and I hope you do), our current ad campaign is entitled, “Stop Waiting and Start Designing.” I came up with this tagline a while ago when I was trying to figure out a way to get the attention not only of our current customers but also of potential customers. I wanted everyone to understand that our software cuts way back on the time you spend waiting for your simulations to finish, time you could use to be do more simulations to eek out extra performance and get a further leg up on the competition.

So here's my battle cry to all you do'ers out there... give AWR a try if you’ve never used it, or discover new ways it can help you cut time, even if it’s the 100^th time you’ve used it this year. Try out some new features or capabilities if you are a current customer or, for potential new users, try out our demo. If you never try it, you’ll never know if it is right for you. We sweetened the deal with a chance to win an iPad monthly and that certainly enticed a few of you out there (customer and prospects alike). Nice! Glad to see when ideas are validated by positive reaction.

AWR 2011 is ready for the “do'er” challenge.  Take it for a test drive to see what it can do for you.

The Wonderful World Of Electromagnetic Antenna Simulation

 Dr. John Dunn, AWR Corporation

It has become popular to simulate antennas in electromagnetic (EM) simulation software. After all, an antenna is by its nature an electromagnetic beast. Its whole purpose is to emit and/or receive electromagnetic waves as efficiently as possible. Even to more experienced circuit designers, antennas can be mysterious entities, not obeying the laws of normal circuit theory. For circuit design purposes, most designers focus on the input terminals of the antenna, modeled as a load impedance, which is to be driven with a certain amount of power. Hopefully, the power absorbed is going mostly into radiation. But, behind that load impedance is the world of the antenna designer. In this specialty, engineers try to synthesize the best possible antenna for the purpose at hand, making standard engineering compromises between the radiation pattern, and the efficiency, size, weight, and cost of the antenna.

Clearly, EM simulation and antennas are a natural fit. Because of the unique requirements of antennas, the electromagnetic simulator must support a number of critical features. There are a huge variety of antennas for a vast array of applications. Antennas are needed for technologies from commercial cell phones to military radar systems, with costs varying from inexpensive RFID applications to million dollar satellite systems, from low-tech wire antennas to high-tech phased arrays. Can only one EM simulation package be effectively used for all these applications? No. The physical requirements, and therefore the simulation needs, are too varied and vast.

Figure 1: Typical antennas as a function of electrical size and complexity of environment

Let's look at a few of the special problems that antenna software has to address. To aid in the discussion, Figure 1 shows typical antennas as a function of electrical size and complexity of environment. The size of the antenna compared to the wavelength at the frequency of operation is an important determinant of the computational method used. The antenna's size is depicted in the figure as the x-axis. On one extreme are reflector or dish antennas, sometimes hundreds of wavelengths long. On the other extreme are RFID antennas, a few hundredths of a wavelength long. Very different methods are required for these different-sized antennas Any method that works by subdividing the antenna into small sections compared to a wavelength, for example the finite element method, will not be practical for an electrically large structure. Instead, specialized codes exist for electrically large antennas that rely on high-frequency approximations. Methods like the geometrical theory of diffraction and the uniform theory of diffraction are used. Sounds like optical design, doesn't it? Basically, it's the same physics, and it's a long way from our familiar world of circuit design and simulation. The other extreme of electrically small antennas has its own challenges. Frequently, they incorporate special materials like ferrite cores with possible hysteresis effects, are inherently 3D in their geometries, and are in strange environments, such as under the skin of a cow!

Antennas are designed to radiate electromagnetic power to infinity. This means that any EM simulator must either be capable of including infinity, i.e. not be in a bounded environment, or do a good job of making it look like the antenna is not in a bounded box. To do this, the simulator uses special boundary conditions at the edge of the box. These boundary conditions have become very sophisticated over the past 20 years. Simple impedance boundary conditions used in the 1990s have been replaced by esoteric, specialized mathematical formalisms, designed to make the boundary look invisible to the antenna.

Finally, antenna software must model the physical geometry of the antenna and its environment. Some antennas are inherently 3D in appearance, meaning they cannot be simulated well with a planar simulator commonly used by circuit designers for planar, patch antennas. The environment surrounding the antenna might be complicated. For example, in biomedical applications, the surrounding bone, fat, and muscle all affect the radiation pattern of the antenna. 3D simulation software must be used. Finite element methods are an obvious choice, where the entire simulation space out to the boundary of the environment is meshed in tetrahedra. There are many variations to finite element methods. One of the most popular methods for antenna simulation actually meshes the metal surface of the antenna and uses what is known as a boundary element method. Its advantages are that it doesn't have a bounding box and can handle larger problems where it works. Hopefully, you can now see why there are such a vast and varied number of antenna programs. It's because there are vast and varied different types of antennas!

Figure 2: AWR's AXIEM 3D planar EM simulator is ideal for planar antenna analysis

There are many more simulator choices than for traditional EM simulators for circuits. The features and underlying numerical methods are constantly being improved. For example, fast solvers for planar arrays are now available. These methods make it possible to simulate arrays that were simply too complicated a few years ago. Parallel processing, in which the problem is distributed to more than one computer, is becoming a reality. Soon, we will all be using "the cloud." There even is software available for antenna synthesis now. You pick a design template for an antenna type, and the software predicts the performance for you based on design formulas. It then sends the layout to your EM simulator of choice.

So, next time you model that antenna in your circuit as a load impedance, please remember that it was brought to you by antenna designers using sophisticated, specialized, EM software.

About The Author
Dr. John Dunn, a recognized expert in EM modeling and simulation for high-frequency and high-speed circuit applications, is a senior applications engineer at AWR and develops and presents AWR training material to customers world-wide. Before joining AWR, he was head of the interconnect modeling group at Tektronix and a professor of electrical engineering at the University of Colorado, Boulder, where he led a research group in EM simulation and modeling. Dr. Dunn received his Ph.D. and M.S. degrees in applied physics from Harvard University and is a senior member of IEEE. You can contact him at jdunn@awrcorp.com.

About AWR
AWR is the innovation leader in high-frequency EDA. Its software solutions quicken the pace at which high-tech products like cell phones and satellite systems are developed. When AWR software is part of the design process, engineers can deliver cutting edge, affordable products faster, more reliably, and at a lower cost. Headquartered in El Segundo, CA, AWR is a privately held, growing company with thousands of users world-wide. Learn more:www.awrcorp.com

An exciting time for AWR and our customers!

 Dane Collins, CEO of AWR. Read profile >>

Over the last decade, AWR’s products have grown and matured to become a very powerful microwave design platform used throughout the high-frequency/wireless industry. With our success came a global expansion of our sales, support and development organization. Our customers world-wide know that AWR’s mission is to improve the design productivity of our customers (large and small) and now coupled to NI’s global organization, we are able to accelerate our pace to not only develop and deliver the excellent RF design tools you’ve come to know and trust from AWR but our proximity and ability to train, support, and deliver design services is also greatly enhanced.  

While change often causes a sense of uneasiness for most people, change in this case is exciting and beneficial and mostly transparent to our customers as AWR will continue to operate as an independent company under NI. Here are some details that I can share:

• First and foremost you, our customers are our number one priority. There will be no disruption in how we support you and respond to your needs.
  • The entire AWR sales channel remains in place as-is and all of our customers will continue to work with the AWR representatives and resellers they know and trust.
  • All of our support channels remain in place and all the people helping you yesterday will continue to help you tomorrow.
  • Some of you may however see quick expansion into yet-to-be-served AWR territories as NI’s vast network of offices allows AWR to deploy support organizations in regions simply not possible prior.
• The AWR vision and development plans stay their course and we’ll be excited to show you many new features and technologies in AWR 2011 at IMS2011 (Booth #1618)
• For our many customers whose business depends on our software, you should be assured of our longevity as this merger now brings to AWR, the backing of a multi-million dollar company who sees RF EDA as strategic to their long-term success.

Read Related Press Release >>