IntuScope5

Design engineers in aerospace and consumer electronics will benefit from a new waveform analyzer demonstrated at the PowerSystems World 2000 Conference this week. The exposition, held at Boston's Bayside Expo Center, from October 3-5, attracts power electronic designers from all over the world. Intusoft (Booth #1327) will show how it's ready-to-release IntuScope5 software makes integrated circuit design and test easier for RF, Power and ASIC designers.

The IntuScope5 waveform viewer is part of ICAP/4Windows, Intusoft's flagship analog and mixed-signal circuit simulator. ICAP/4Windows uses the first commercial version of Berkeley SPICE 3. ICAP/4Windows features an integrated schematic capture program; an interactive Spice simulation engine; extensive libraries with up to 14,000 models, and the IntuScope5 waveform analyzer. The company will incorporate the new waveform viewer with the ICAP 8.x .8 version and release it in November 2000.

The Intuscope5 program was completely redesigned from the ground up to enhance waveform selection, manipulation, scaling, viewing and math operations. Powerful interactive features, which require communication with the SPICE simulator and schematic capture program, were also added. The new IntuScope5 version is Windows 2000 compatible.

The most important change to the software is a new calculator menu, which plots and scales with a single keystroke. With this new calculator, simple measurements, like DC voltage or current can be selected directly from wizard lists, but for more complex measurements, like SCR dv_dt, users can write their own specialized scripts and assign hot keys to them to eliminate repetitive design tasks. Now users can also write equations in the calculator's Command window. The same equations can be used to define measurements in the SpiceNet schematic entry database.

Juergen Stens, a test engineer with Interstate Electronics in Anaheim, California has used a beta version of the new IntuScope5 over the past few months to conduct factory acceptance tests on sophisticated analog hybrid electronics and RF devices.

"I analyze modules and PC boards with IntuScope5 to help our technicians predict maintenance problems and determine what to troubleshoot when systems go down," said Stens. Interstate Electronics designs and produces GPS systems and range safety instruments, mostly for military applications. Stens also uses the IntuScope5 package as a design analysis tool for vector engineering of new systems. "The new IntuScope5 makes it easier to manipulate waveforms, to place cursors on individual traces and to see them." "All in all," says Stens, "Intusoft has done an excellent job of providing a good, solid circuit simulation package that doesn't cost a fortune, but is within reach."

Other features and functions new to IntuScope5's Calculator include:

The Build function allows construction and alteration of graphs. A new Pulse function computes 10, 20, 25 and 50 percent of the x axis.

A theoretical Black Body curve within the Build menu demonstrates the power of the script files. Commands below the separator line on the Calculator Menu actually run the scripts contained in the .scr file with the identified name in the Script subdirectory.

The Complex submenu now performs Fast Fourier Transform (.fft) (time to real and imaginary) and Inverse Fast Fourier Transform (real and imaginary to time). Rectangular to polar (real and imaginary to magnitude and phase) and polar to rectangular (magnitude and phase to real and imaginary) conversions are also available.

A Wavelet Filter function removes values with magnitude more effectively than Fourier transform filters.

A Control Systems command menu contains scripts that perform some of the most common control system functions. It can also be used to calculate bandwidth for frequency plots.

The Functions submenu provides new filter, polynomial and PWL constructs.

Intusoft, 222 W. Sixth Street Suite 1070, San Pedro, CA 90731. Tel: 310-833-0710; Fax: 310-833-9658.