Software Reviews Needed
Your comments in the November 2009
editorial on free design software struck
a resonant chord in my company, since
we operate with limited resources and
cannot afford to equip every engineer
who would so chose it to have a seat on
our full-function microwave simulator
of choice. For that reason, we are often
experimenting with freeware and other
low-cost options, especially when evaluating
part of a design (such as a bandpass
filter following a transmit power amplifier
in a transceiver). Companies such as
Sonnet Software do a great service to the
industry with their downloadable Sonnet
Lite electromagnetic (EM) simulation
software. Such “reduced-feature” versions
of design software are nonetheless
functional enough to perform a
great deal of practical and useful design
and analysis, especially for members of
a design team that may not have full
access to a full-fledged simulation suite
of programs, such as Agilent’s Advanced Design System
(ADS) or Microwave Office from AWR.
I would be interested in seeing reviews
of freeware and low-cost design programs
from time to time in these pages,
if you and your staff would be willing
to invest the time to run the software
and provide honest evaluations of their
capabilities. Microwaves & RF at one
time was well known for its software
reviews—especially from some of the
smaller companies or from those firms
willing to supply free or low-cost design
tools. Are there any chances to see some
reviews of free design software sometime
in the coming year?
Olivia Dunham
Communications Manager
Configuration Analysis Management
Danbury, CT
Editor’s note:
Yes, we have heard from quite a few
readers on our need to cover more free
or low-cost software in these pages, and
you will see some reviews in 2010. A
contributor recently pointed out the
Quite Universal Circuit Simulator
(QUCS), which is available for free
download from the web site. This software, which is
currently written for GNU/Linux operating
systems and with a new version to
be released for Win32 (NT/2000/XP)
operating systems, is assembled by a
group of dedicated engineers/contributors
to provide a no-charge alternative
to expensive software design tools.
Time willing, a review will appear in
the coming year of that and similar free
software tools.
