Designing a phase-locked loop (PLL) synthesizer requires a careful choice of filter bandwidth to achieve desired phase noise as well as frequency switching speed. Engineers can invest heavily in sophisticated computer-aided-engineering (CAE) tools, or they can simply use a free design software tool from Analog Devices called ADIsimPLL. Version 2.0 of this handy software development tool is available as a free download from the company's website. The software allows designers to observe the performance of their design, make changes quickly, resimulate the design based on the modifications, and then view the new performance levels, all within a few minutes. The software includes the ability to model all of the newly released PLL integrated circuits (ICs) from Analog Devices, and features a new PLL wizard that includes a short-form selector guide for choosing PLL ICs and voltage-controlled oscillators (VCOs) needed for a given PLL synthesizer design. Version 2.0 can read files from earlier versions of ADIsimPLL, and can display phase jitter in degrees, seconds, or error-vector-magnitude (EVM) units.
For more information, or a free copy of Version 2.0 of the ADIsimPLL PLL circuit-simulation tool, visit Analog Devices' website at http://lists.planetee.com/cgi-bin3/DM/y/eA0CWyaL0A0BB720A1