First Day at DAC 2009 is over, roll on day 2

The first day of our first appearance at DAC is over. It was a busy day at the booth (#3155), and I've got to admit that I was pleasantly surprised by the response from the show floor. We decided to exhibit this year because our involvement in the EDA market is increasing continuously and DAC is still the top exhibition for this market.
One thing I've definitely noticed so far is that we are by far not so well known in the EDA world as we thought.
It seems to have been a good decision to participate and I am particularly looking forward to the wine tasting Tuesday evening! See you there?

Martin

CST's at DAC 2009

For the first time CST will be actively participating in the annual DAC show with a large booth presence and a conference presentation.

We'll also be making it a fun event with a booth wine tasting running Tuesday afternoon and beer being served on Monday and Wednesday afternoon.

Despite the economic downturn, I feel that 3D electromagnetics is becoming an essential part of many EDA workflows. We want to showcase our very strong capabilites in this area which include seamless import of layout, fast simulation for SI and PI design and very strong optimization and post processing to achieve design goals.

My colleague, Dr. Antionio Ciccomancini will present: "A Hierarchical Approach for Full-system Signal Integrity and EMC Analysis"

This is a bit of a step into the unknown for us, but we are all excited by the buzz around the show and getting our products even more widely known in the community

Jonathan

The battle of the methods

EM simulation provokes strong feelings amongst true believers, particularly when discussing which tools should be used and the merits of different methods. Amongst the main points of contention are time domain versus frequency domain and hexahedral vs. tetrahedral. I have come to the conclusion that the only "right" method is the one that fits your application. All the better if you can easily switch between them to find out.

If you fancy reading more, then you can check out the Microwave Journal Expert Advice column "A Brief Explanation of 3D EM Simulation Methods" this month.

Here's an abstract:

It is widely accepted that three dimensional numerical simulations of electromagnetic fields are essential to passive component design success. Obviously simulating a virtual prototype is much cheaper than building hardware and measuring it, in particular if you take the design cycle time into consideration. If we look at modern optimized antenna designs, for example, it is arguable whether these designs would have been possible at all without electromagnetic (EM) field simulation tools, without automatic optimization, without the possibility to visualize the previously invisible. But saying “all right, let’s go and buy a 3D EM field simulator and everything will be fine” is probably not enough to guarantee success.

I believe the first five people to comment on the article on the MWJ site will receive a copy of the Electrical Engineering Handbook (very generous, those MWJ guys) so get reading.

Please feel free to add your thoughts to this post.
Martin