Part of the Ansoft family of electronic design automation (EDA) products, Simplorer is used for the design of mechatronic and other multi-domain systems, which are commonly found in the automotive, aerospace/defence and industrial automation industries. Now in version 8, the new release introduces a powerful, next-generation user interface, advanced modelling capabilities including dynamic links to other Ansoft software, enhanced integration with third-party simulation software, and computational performance enhancements.
The new state-of-the-art user interface in Simplorer software allows engineers to easily and concurrently utilize multiple modeling techniques including circuits, block diagrams, state machines, equation level, and modeling techniques such as the IEEE open standard VHDL-AMS, SML (Simplorer Modeling Language) and C/C++. Using the product’s powerful communication backplane technologies, these standard modeling techniques and modeling languages can be used concurrently within the same schematic, allowing users to create analog, digital and mixed-signal multi-domain designs, to manage modelling data, and to execute simulations. The user interface supports multi-page designs and multiple levels of hierarchy, provides maximum flexibility, and eliminates the need for error-prone mathematical transformations and model analogies employed by single-domain simulation tools.
New and Enhanced Features
· Insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) device characterisation tool, allowing users to quickly and accurately create average and dynamic models of power semiconductor devices
· Power Module Characterisation tool, which aids in building DC-to-DC converter models by entering data directly from the manufacturers’ specifications
· Online model database that includes more than 1,200 SPICE models of common components offered by suppliers; includes a model library of ultra-capacitors from Maxwell Technologies
· Direct support for SPICE and PSPICE model text
· Co-simulation links to complementary simulation software, including Simulink, ModelSim and QuestaSim, allowing users to easily incorporate control programs and digital designs for field-programmable gate array (FPGA) semiconductor devices and application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs)
· Co-simulation links with Verilog for design, verification and implementation of digital logic chips
· New function handling techniques and solver methodologies to optimize simulation performance
· Integration of the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) VHDL-AMS statistical package, which is useful in defining the statistical variation of parameters of electrical, electronic, and mechatronic components and sub-systems
· Distributed solve capability that allows users to distribute parametric variations across a network of computers, enabling the exploration of more design possibilities in less time