RF Toolbox

 

RF Toolbox

Design, model, and analyze networks of RF components

Get Started:

Working with S-Parameters

Import, export, and visualize N-port S-parameter data. Measure VSWR, reflection coefficients, phase delay, and group delay. Convert formats, change reference impedances, and de-embed measurement data.

S-Parameter Analysis

Use functions to transform and manipulate S-parameter data. Import and export N-port Touchstone® files. Visualize S-parameters on cartesian, polar, or Smith charts. Measure VSWR, reflection coefficients, phase delay, and group delay.

Choose the appropriate format by converting among S, Y, Z, ABCD, h, g, and T network parameter formats. De-embed measured 2N-port S-parameter data by removing the effects of test fixtures and access structures. Transform single-ended measurements into differential or other mixed-mode formats. Convert and reorder single-ended N-port S-parameters to single-ended M-port S-parameters.

Designing and Analyzing RF Networks

Build arbitrary RF networks and analyze them in the frequency domain. Design RF filters and matching networks.

RF Network Design

Design RF filters and matching networks starting from high-level specifications. Build arbitrary networks using RF components such as lumped RLC elements and transmission lines characterized by physical properties.

Read and write industry-standard data file formats, such as N-port Touchstone. Cascade S-parameters and use S-parameter data to design RF networks.

Designing a matching network with lumped components.

Input and output matching network implemented with lumped components.

RF Analysis

Perform frequency-domain analysis of RF networks to compute metrics such as VSWR, gain, and group delay. Calculate input and output reflection coefficients, stability factors, and noise figure for cascaded components.

Optimize the design of matching networks with local and global optimization algorithms.

Analyzing results from a matching network.

Analysis of a matching network for an antenna.

RF Budget Analysis

Compute the RF budget of a cascade of RF components in terms of noise, power, gain, and nonlinearity.

RF Budget Analyzer App

Use the RF Budget Analyzer app to graphically build, or script in MATLAB®, a cascade of RF components. Analyze the budget of the cascade in terms of noise, power, gain, and nonlinearity.

Determine system-level specs of RF transceivers for wireless communications and radar systems. Compute the budget considering impedance mismatches instead of relying on custom spreadsheets and complex computations. Use harmonic balance analysis to compute the effects of non-linearity on gain and on second-order and third-order intercept points (IP2 and IP3). Inspect results numerically or graphically by plotting different metrics.

Generate Circuit Envelope RF Blockset Models

From the RF Budget Analyzer app, generate RF Blockset models and testbenches for multicarrier circuit envelope RF simulation.

Use the automatically generated model as a baseline for further design of the RF architecture and for simulating effects that cannot be accounted for analytically, including effects due to leakage, interferers, and antenna coupling.

A circuit envelope model automatically generated with the RF Budget Analyzer app.

Circuit envelope model automatically generated with the RF Budget Analyzer app.

Frequency and Time Domain Analysis with Rational Functions

Fit frequency domain data, such as S-parameters, with equivalent Laplace transfer functions.

Rational Fitting

Use rational fitting algorithms to extract an equivalent Laplace transfer function from frequency domain data, such as S-parameters.

Control the accuracy and the number of poles to manage complexity. Check and enforce passivity of the data and of the fitting. Extract equivalent poles and zeros. Use the resulting fitting for simulation in RF Blockset, or export it as an equivalent Spice netlist or Verilog-A module.

Fitting the amplitude and phase of the S21 for a SAW filter.

Fitting the amplitude and phase of the S21 for a SAW filter.

Signal Integrity

Use rational fitting to model linear frequency-dependent components, such as single-ended and differential high-speed transmission lines, or analog components, such as continuous time linear equalizers (CTLE).

Use model order reduction to achieve simpler models for a given accuracy (compared to inverse fast Fourier transform). Enforce zero phase on extrapolation to DC and avoid overfitting of noise. Guarantee the causality and passivity of the system model for time-domain simulation.

Use the channel model with SerDes Toolbox™; alternatively, export it as Simulink blocks, as an equivalent Spice netlist, or as Verilog-A modules for SerDes design.

Effects of a channel modeled with rational fitting on a 2 Gpbs signal.

Effects of a S-parameter channel modeled with rational fitting.