How can you verify industry standards with circuit simulation tools?

1 Why verify industry standards?

Industry standards are sets of rules, guidelines, or specifications that define the requirements and best practices for various aspects of electronic engineering. They can cover topics such as electrical safety, electromagnetic compatibility, power quality, signal integrity, and more. By following industry standards, you can ensure that your circuit is compatible with other devices, systems, and networks, and that it meets the expectations and regulations of your customers, clients, and authorities. Verifying industry standards with circuit simulation tools can help you avoid costly errors, rework, and delays in your projects.

2 How to choose a circuit simulation tool?

When choosing a circuit simulation tool, there are several factors to consider. From free online tools to professional software packages, the market offers a wide range of options for varying levels of expertise, project complexity, and industry standards. It is important to evaluate the types of analysis and simulation features offered, such as DC, AC, transient, frequency domain, noise, thermal, etc. Additionally, consider the library of components and models provided and their accuracy and up-to-date status. Furthermore, check for compatibility and integration with other tools and platforms that you use, such as schematic capture or PCB layout. Lastly, assess the support and documentation available like tutorials or manuals as well as the cost and licensing options like free or open source.

3 How to set up a circuit simulation?

When selecting a circuit simulation tool, you need to set up your circuit simulation according to industry standards. This includes creating or importing the circuit schematic from a design tool or source file, assigning values and parameters to components and models, such as resistance, capacitance, voltage, current, frequency, etc., selecting the type of analysis and simulation to perform (e.g. DC bias point, AC sweep, transient analysis), configuring the simulation settings and options (e.g. time step, tolerance, convergence), and adding probes, meters, or monitors to measure and display output variables of interest (e.g. voltage, current, power, impedance).

4 How to run and interpret a circuit simulation?

After setting up your circuit simulation, you can run it and observe the results. Depending on your tool and analysis type, the outputs may include graphs, tables, waveforms, etc. These outputs can be used to compare the simulated behavior of your circuit with the expected behavior according to design specifications and industry standards. Additionally, it is possible to identify and troubleshoot any errors, faults, or deviations in performance, as well as optimize and refine circuit parameters to improve performance, efficiency, and reliability. Furthermore, the outputs can be used to validate and verify your circuit compliance with industry standards such as voltage levels, current ratings, frequency ranges, safety margins, etc.

5 How to document and report a circuit simulation?

The final step of verifying industry standards with circuit simulation tools is to document and report your simulation results. This can help you communicate and demonstrate your circuit design and performance to stakeholders, provide evidence of compliance with industry standards, and archive and store simulation data for future reference. To do this, you should save and export your simulation output files in various formats, create and edit reports with your tool or other software, add and format simulation information, and include and reference industry standards and sources.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?