-
- News
- Books
Featured Books
- design007 Magazine
Latest Issues
Current IssueProper Floor Planning
Floor planning decisions can make or break performance, manufacturability, and timelines. This month’s contributors weigh in with their best practices for proper floor planning and specific strategies to get it right.
Showing Some Constraint
A strong design constraint strategy carefully balances a wide range of electrical and manufacturing trade-offs. This month, we explore the key requirements, common challenges, and best practices behind building an effective constraint strategy.
All About That Route
Most designers favor manual routing, but today's interactive autorouters may be changing designers' minds by allowing users more direct control. In this issue, our expert contributors discuss a variety of manual and autorouting strategies.
- Articles
- Columns
- Links
- Media kit
||| MENU - design007 Magazine
Keysight EDA 2024 Integrated Software Tools Shift Left Design Cycles to Increase Engineering Productivity
September 27, 2023 | Keysight Technologies, Inc.Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

Keysight Technologies, Inc. introduces Keysight EDA 2024, a tightly integrated suite of electronic design automation (EDA) software tools that ensures first pass success. This new integrated EDA software facilitates a “shift left” approach to increase productivity for engineers developing high speed, high frequency products in multiple applications.
Shift left is an established electrical engineering practice that moves design validation forward in the development cycle to accelerate time-to-market. The rising complexity of electronic systems demands that designers complete as much validation in the virtual domain where it is easier and more cost-effective to correct functional and physical issues. Implementation of accurate modeling and simulation methodologies that create virtual prototypes and digital twins is essential to handling complexity. Key to building accurate models and faster simulations is incorporation of actual measurement data into the design and validation process in virtual space.
Keysight EDA 2024 software includes new system and circuit design workflow integration, power amplifier modeling and simulation optimization, and Satcom design evolution enhancements. The improvements expand on the software automation, intellectual property and design data management, and simulation acceleration capabilities previously announced. Powered by Keysight measurement science, the new tools provide engineers with a comprehensive solution that speeds virtual prototype creation with highly accurate validation prior to building physical prototypes and starting volume production manufacturing.
Keysight EDA 2024 software suite offers the following shift left updates:
Streamlining System and Circuit Design Workflows
The RF System Explorer integrates system architecture exploration and analysis features from SystemVue into Advanced Design System (ADS) to enable design sharing between system and circuit level workflows. RF System Explorer allocates a hierarchical subsystem and parameters to a circuit designer to change radio frequency (RF) block parameters or select the analysis path without impacting the overall architecture. Circuit designers can incorporate their circuit design or derived behavioral model into the allocated subsystem for RF verification and optimization.
Connected workflows between SystemVue and ADS enable designers to extract models of the circuit design and simulate them using RF System Explorer. Streamlined workflows provide more efficient communication between architects and subsystem engineers in enterprise teams. System architects pre-configure their own templates in SystemVue for more effective collaboration with their RF circuit design teammates. Engineering teams also avoid duplication of results visualization in ADS. The API-based tool integration maintains an open environment with the option for third-party software connectivity.
Optimizing Wide Bandgap Power Amplifier Modeling and Simulation
Like RF System Explorer’s workflow integration, the Digital Pre-Distortion (DPD) Explorer and DPD Designer tools optimize power amplifier design methodology across levels of abstraction. These tools enable power amplifier designers working on broadband applications -- including 5G FR2, DVB-S2X, and WLAN – to leverage a new Dynamic Gain Model that accounts for non-linear memory effects in topologies such as GaN Doherty.
Compact waveforms deliver unparalleled simulation speed and DPD optimization that improves the entire power amplifier design and validation process. DPD Explorer and DPD Designer utilize the same precise measurement science and algorithms found in Keysight’s PNA-X to ensure high performance results for adjacent channel power ratio (ACPR) and error vector magnitude (EVM) metrics.
Evolving Satcom Design for 5GNTN, DVB-S2X, and Phased Array Applications
SystemVue enhancements address 5G non-terrestrial network (NTN), DVB-S2X, and phased array development projects.
For 5G NTN, SystemVue updates the 5G New Radio (NR) simulation library with 1024 QAM modulation for 3GPP Release 17 and associated MCS table. The library supports full end-to-end physical layer system simulation of various NTN deployments, a new 5G channel model, and an advanced transceiver. The channel model for NTN provides all the propagation characteristics to model a variety of satellite links. It supports large path delay, large-frequency Doppler Shift, and satellite trajectory visualization.
SystemVue reduces risk, cost, and time-to-market testing satellite payload, gateway, and user equipment (UE) receiver designs with 3GPP 38.811 compliant models in simulation. Satcom system engineers can evaluate design performance under varied channel impairment conditions in minutes and optimize link closure margins. The comprehensive 5G NTN solution, including Keysight Propsim emulation and Ansys STK interoperability, enables simulation of all orbital parameters, high-velocity satellites, high-altitude platforms, and long-distance links.
For DVB-S2X, SystemVue links with Keysight Signal Studio and vector signal analysis (VSA) software tools enabling designers to create a complete digital twin for satellite digital video broadcast. The integrated solution features a new model for Satcom channel modeling, a user-friendly graphical interface that supports parameter configuration and intuitive navigation, VSA Flex Frame presets designed explicitly for DVB-S2/S2X that speed signal analysis, and DVB-S2X source and receiver supporting low signal-to-noise and bit error rate. No scripting is required to integrate the SystemVue design environment with signal generation and analysis tools in a unified simulation and testing ecosystem.
For phased array, SystemVue allows fast and easy design capture with efficient simulation of complex systems containing hundreds or thousands of RF elements and paths. SystemVue simulates active impedance correlated against Keysight and third-party finite element method (FEM) simulators. Active impedance simulation is enhanced by including X-parameters with load-pull data, which increases the modeling accuracy of the interaction between the power amplifiers and the active array impedance. Load pull modeling creates the most accurate phased array digital twin, with hardware verified by Keysight instrumentation. SystemVue has also added a new automated MDIF import capability, facilitating the consumption, manipulation, interpolation, and slicing of data such as S-parameters or other model files.
SystemVue’s powerful phased array simulation and visualization capabilities provide accurate analysis of beam directivity pattern and array configuration. Earlier insights into key beam forming metrics for optimization and decision-making saves cost by reducing expensive testing in anechoic chambers. Designers can also confirm array performance through SystemVue integration with Ansys STK for scenarios and Keysight EXata for network simulation.
Niels Faché, Vice President and General Manager, Keysight EDA, said: “Domain context matters as design engineers strive to meet rising complexity challenges and boost their productivity. The breadth of improvements we’ve packed into Keysight EDA 2024 is aimed squarely at our customers’ major pain points—faster time-to-market, first pass success, automated, integrated, and open workflows, and high speed and high frequency performance. We’ve invested heavily in software R&D to create whole product solutions spanning design, emulation, and test disciplines, and incorporating our deep workflow know-how into the early stages of product development. It’s not just plain vanilla shift left, but rather shift left powered by measurement science and application domain expertise that customers count on Keysight EDA to deliver.”
Testimonial
"The I-Connect007 team is outstanding—kind, responsive, and a true marketing partner. Their design team created fresh, eye-catching ads, and their editorial support polished our content to let our brand shine. Thank you all! "
Sweeney Ng - CEE PCBSuggested Items
I-Connect007 Editor's Choice: Five Must-Reads for the Week
08/22/2025 | Andy Shaughnessy, I-Connect007Also looking good is my list of must-read articles. In this week’s roundup, we have a variety of articles covering design, manufacturing, sustainability, and, of course, tariff negotiations. We have a milestone anniversary to celebrate as well, with Dan Beaulieu about to publish his 1,000th column. When does Dan even sleep? Here’s to hoping that we have 1,000 more weeks of It’s Only Common Sense
New Episode Drop: MKS’ ESI’s Role in Optimize the Interconnect
08/21/2025 | I-Connect007In this latest episode, Casey Kruger, director of product marketing at MKS’ ESI, joins On the Line With… host Nolan Johnson to share how CO₂ laser technology delivers faster, more accurate vias in a smaller, more energy-efficient footprint.
PEDC Call for Abstracts Deadline Extended to Aug. 31
08/20/2025 | I-Connect007 Editorial TeamThe second Pan-European Electronics Design Conference (PEDC) will take place Jan. 21-22, 2026, in Prague, Czech Republic. The call for abstracts deadline has been extended to Aug. 31. Organized jointly by the German Electronics Design and Manufacturing Association (FED) and the Global Electronics Association (formerly IPC), PEDC serves as a European platform for knowledge exchange, networking, and innovation in electronics design and development.
How Good Design Enables Sustainable PCBs
08/21/2025 | Gerry Partida, Summit InterconnectSustainability has become a key focus for PCB companies seeking to reduce waste, conserve energy, and optimize resources. While many discussions on sustainability center around materials or energy-efficient processes, PCB design is an often overlooked factor that lies at the heart of manufacturing. Good design practices, especially those based on established IPC standards, play a central role in enabling sustainable PCB production. By ensuring designs are manufacturable and reliable, engineers can significantly reduce the environmental impact of their products.
Meet the Round 1 Winners of the Bright Manufacturing Student Challenge 2025
08/20/2025 | Tara Dunn, SMTAThe Bright Manufacturing Student Challenge is an opportunity for student teams to design and develop innovative solutions for real-world electronics manufacturing problems. The eight-week competition, sponsored by the Electronics Manufacturing & Assembly Collaborative (EMAC) through electronicsworkforce.com, allows students to showcase their technical skills, creativity, and problem-solving abilities.