Pickering Interfaces has announced that its Microwave Switch Design Tool, a free online tool for configuring application-specific PXI and LXI RF and microwave switching subsystems in just a few clicks, has been updated to include schematic design and simulation features.The latest version of this web tool, to be presented at EuMW (European Microwave Week) 2024, accelerates the design-to-production process - from block diagram to mechanical layout - and minimizes risk by allowing you to design your own custom RF switching subsystem with an immediate visual indication of electrical performance.
The new schematic and simulation tools integrate seamlessly with the existing panel configurator in the Microwave Switch Design Tool (MSDT), enabling you to move directly from an electrical schematic diagram, with verified RF performance, to a mechanical layout (front and/or rear panels). In this way, MSDT acts as a powerful extension for your engineering team, allowing them to easily collaborate with Pickering's RF engineering team. MSDT simplifies the creation of custom, turnkey microwave and RF switching and relay subsystems for signal routing applications in the aerospace and defense, wireless communications, automotive, medical, and semiconductor industries.
“We’ve updated our Microwave Switch Design Tool web application to add circuit schematic generation and RF circuit simulation,” explains Simon Aylott, Director of the Microwave Division at Pickering Interfaces. “These enhancements allow engineers to graphically design and verify their RF switching subsystem on a virtual PXI or LXI platform. They can quickly create circuit diagrams and accurately simulate the electrical performance of their design, giving them an immediate visual indication of the system’s expected RF performance. They can then refine and optimize the design before committing to the system build process. This flexibility saves significant time and resources and minimizes the risks associated with complex RFIU switching system design projects.”.
Available free of charge and online, requiring no installation, MSDT's suite of web-based graphical tools minimizes risk by offering intuitive design, testing, and optimization of complex RF and microwave switching systems in a virtual environment before building physical models. With access to a wide range of RF and microwave components, the tool supports electrical design by generating schematic diagrams, including interconnect wiring and simulating individual component circuits and the complete signal path, as well as mechanical design by creating front and/or rear panels. Accurate prediction of RF electrical performance enhances confidence, thereby reducing the risks associated with designing complex products. The range of components offered by MSDT is continuously evolving, and alternative items can be requested for inclusion in the component database.
MSDT is part of Pickering's growing suite of online design tools, which helps test engineers design, share, maintain, and graphically visualize various parts of the test system architecture. Data reuse and integration with Pickering's software and simulation tools increase development efficiency by reducing redundant manual tasks and associated errors.
For over 35 years, test engineers have relied on Pickering Interfaces to help accelerate their project development cycle and streamline production readiness by building high-performance, industry-standard, and competitively priced modular microwave switching systems, providing the foundation for highly reconfigurable signal routing solutions. The updated Microwave Switch Design Tool simplifies and accelerates this process.
