An Overview Of Electronic Circuit Simulation Software

By Author: Tina Deans
Total Articles: 2
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Electronic circuit simulation software utilizes mathematical algorithms to imitate the task of a real electronic circuit or device. The simulation software enables the modeling of the way the circuit will work and is a beneficial analysis tool. Due to its highly precise modeling ability, most of the designers, institutions now use circuit simulation software for improving design efficiency and training engineering students.

The most popular method for circuit simulation is the so called Spice simulation. SPICE (Simulation Program with Integrated Circuit Emphasis ) was originally an open source analog electronic circuit simulator developed at the Electronics Research Laboratory of the University of California, Berkeley in 1971.The original code went through many revisions but still most of the open source, free and commercial circuit simulators are based on the original code. Circuits in Spice are described bynetlists which are simply lists of components (or parts), their properties and the nets(also called nodes) that connect the components.

HDL simulation software is based on Hardware Description Languages ...
... such as VHDL, Verilog, Verilog A, Verilog AMS, and System C is used for automated design testing and simulation of electronic circuits through a computer language, unlike the Spice netlists which are rather just data files.HDL Simulation also allows engineering students to study, synthesize, manage and understand and benefit of Electronic Design Automation (EDA) tools and enhancing their personal knowledge.Simulating the function of the circuit before manufacturing can greatly enhance design effectiveness by making different kinds of designs and thereby offering brainstorm into the nature of the electronic circuit layouts.

Today most circuit simulation software applications incorporate a schematic editor, a circuit simulator engine, and also a waveform viewer for viewing the signals of analog and digital circuits. This makes the entire design process much more simple and prompt. Circuit simulators also generally include device libraries and provide a wide range of device models. These models generally comprise of diode, transistor, IC and other models using Spice, VHDL, Verilog, Verilog-A, Verilog AMS or System C. PCB designs also need footprint librariesand 3D models of the actual electronic components.

Although there are different types simulation software applications available(analog, digital, Spice, VHDL, Verilog etc.), popular simulators frequently comprise of both digital and analog simulation abilities, which are also called mixed-mode or mixed signal circuit simulators. This entails that any simulation may include components like event oriented, analog or a mixture of both the types. A completely mixed signal analysis can be developed from one single incorporated schematic. All the digital types in mixed-mode simulators offer precise specification of the rising and falling time of delays of digital components.

The event oriented algorithm offered by mixed-mode simulators supports various data types. For instance, elements can utilize integer or real values to simulate the DSP functions or data filters. As the event oriented algorithm works faster than the regular Spice simulation solutions, simulation time is lessened by a considerable extent for circuits that utilize event oriented models rather than analog models.

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