NEW ORLEANS — Cadence Design Systems Inc. and Agilent Technologies Inc. jointly announced at the 39th Design Automation Conference Monday (June 10) the Agilent RF Design Environment (RFDE), a software platform that tightly integrates Agilent's RF simulation technologies into the Cadence analog/mixed-signal design flow.
RFDE, the first product to result from the alliance Cadence and Agilent formed last February, is expected to reduce the development time required for large-scale RF/mixed-signal ICs used in wireless and wireline appliances.
Wireless and wireline applications moving from 2.4 GHz to 40 Gbit require higher-frequency simulation technology to complement time-domain analysis tools. RFDE integrates Agilent's frequency-domain simulation technologies into the Cadence Analog Design Environment to simulate critical RF specifications, the companies said.
RFDE is the first attempt to unify that simulation environment covering both frequency-domain and time-domain simulations, enabling users to perform cross-domain verification with both Agilent's frequency-domain simulators and Cadence's time-domain Spectre RF product.
"RFDE is based heavily on direct customer input," said Jim McGillivary, vice president of Agilent's EEsof EDA unit. "This first product takes the initial step to provide a unified RF flow to benefit our mutual customers."
"The Agilent and Cadence teams have made significant progress in a short period of time," said Lavi Lev, executive vice president of Cadence's IC Solutions Business. "Through the RFIC Alliance, we formalized our strategic relationship to collaborate on new joint solutions to market."
The Agilent RF Design Environment will be offered in pre-configured seats that will include existing ADS RF simulation technology and jointly developed integration software. Prices for the RFDE begin around $24,100 for a 12-month subscription and are expected to be available in October exclusively from Agilent Technologies.
