EC302 ELECTRONIC COMPUTER AIDED DESIGN

Prepared by Nor Hasnati Binti Abdull Patas

Significance of simulation
A simulator is a collection of hardware and

software systems which are used to mimic the behaviour of some entity or phenomenon. Simulators may also be used to analyze and verify theoretical models which may be too difficult to grasp from a purely conceptual level.

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What is Circuit simulation

A simulation is the imitation of the

operation of a real-world process or system over time. Steps include Generating an artificial history of a system Observing the behavior of that artificial history Drawing inferences concerning the operating characteristics of the real system. True mixed-signal simulator, meaning that it can analyze circuits that include both analog
EC302 ELECTRONIC COMPUTER AIDED DESIGN Prepared by Nor Hasnati Bt Abdull Patas

Simulation package available in market

Protel Cadence Mentorgraphics Orcad MicroCap P-spice Livewire Altium Designer

EC302 ELECTRONIC COMPUTER AIDED DESIGN Prepared by Nor Hasnati Bt Abdull Patas

Simulation Process Flowchart

Project Identification Design /redesign project Simulation

Testing PCB Design Layout Prototype

EC302 ELECTRONIC COMPUTER AIDED DESIGN Prepared by Nor Hasnati Bt Abdull Patas

Simulation Methods
Circuit Level Are used to model the behaviour of a

circuit at its lowest conceptual level. The circuit is described in terms of transistors, wires, capacitors and resistors and their respective interconnectivity The end goal circuit level simulation is to produce very detailed analog waveforms which accurately model the behaviour of the circuit's devices in the real world
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Logic Level Logic-level simulators attempt to remedy

the computationally intensive nature of circuit-level simulators by raising the level of abstraction to the domain of switches and logic components. Logic level simulators can be subdivided into two further categories, switch-level and gate-level simulators.

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System Level

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Types of simulation circuits

Analogue An analog circuit is one that uses

continuous time voltages and currents. This is opposed to digital devices where devices states are presented by discrete time and discrete values. Digital Digital circuits may be classified as combinational or sequential Mixed-signal A mixed-signal integrated circuit is any EC302 ELECTRONIC COMPUTER AIDED integrated circuit that has both DESIGN /ENHP

Advantages of simulation
Able to provide users with

practical feedback when designing real world systems.

This allows the designer to determine the

correctness and efficiency of a design before the system is actually constructed.

EC302 ELECTRONIC COMPUTER AIDED DESIGN Prepared by Nor Hasnati Bt Abdull Patas

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They permit system designers

to study a problem at several different levels of abstraction.

By approaching a system at a higher level of

abstraction, the designer is better able to understand the behaviours and interactions of all the high level components within the system and is therefore better equipped to counteract the complexity of the overall system.

EC302 ELECTRONIC COMPUTER AIDED DESIGN Prepared by Nor Hasnati Bt Abdull Patas

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An effective means for teaching

or demonstrating concepts to students.

This is particularly true of simulators

that make intelligent use of computer graphics and animation. Such simulators dynamically show the behaviour and relationship of all the simulated system's components, thereby providing the user with a meaningful EC302 ELECTRONIC COMPUTER AIDED understanding of the system's nature. DESIGN /ENHP

Disadvantages of Simulation
Can be quite expensive to build

a simulation model.
First, the process that is to be modeled

must be well understood, although a simulation can often help to understand a process better. The most expensive part of creating a simulation model is the collection of data to feed the simulation, and to determine stochastic distributions (e.g. processing times, arrival rates etc.)
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In comparison to exact

mathematical methods is that simulation cannot naturally be used to find an optimal solution.
There are methods which long to optimize

the result, but simulation is not inherently an optimization tool. Simulation is often the only means to approach complex systems analysis. Many systems cannot be modeled with mathematical equations. Simulation is EC302 ELECTRONIC COMPUTER AIDED then the only way to get information at all. DESIGN /ENHP

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Expensive to build a simulation model Expensive to conduct simulation Sometimes it is difficult to interpret the

simulation results.

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References
http://web.cs.mun.ca/~donald/msc/node4.html-bote http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Analog_circuits http://itee.uq.edu.au/~engg1030/lectures/1perpage/lect14.pdf

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Advantages_and_disadvantages_of_simulat

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