Though many good RF point tools are available for simulating RF components, they exist in "silos," Abdi said. Spice can simulate circuits in the time domain, and Cadence Design Systems' SPW handles architectural-level simulations, but no single environment runs these tools together, he said. And since no translators are available to move RF design data from one environment to another, designs must often be manually reentered in a painful, time-consuming and error-prone process, Abdi said.

There is no way to examine the performance of RF transistors in a module or IC, he said. A unified development environment that combines RF system design with mixed-signal simulations and module layouts would help designers visualize the interactions of RF passives with ICs and special-process transistors, he said.

The partnership between Agilent Technologies and Cadence Design is expected to provide a more useful design flow, Abdi said. "We were one of the companies that pushed them to that," he said. He is anxious to see results from the partnership, he said.

Digital emphasis

Design automation suppliers concentrate on digital tools and resist concentrating on RF and mixed-signal tools, Abdi said. Suppliers have asked him repeatedly to "justify the business case," he said. In fact, "RF module design represents a $15 billion business opportunity," Abdi said. "But thus far EDA tool vendors haven't been willing to step up to the plate." As a result, Motorola has created some of its own design flows and toolsets, he said.

The EDA community could view Abdi's remarks as incendiary, said Mark Rencher of Pivotal Enterprises (Phoenix), a tool integrator. "Today, RF products require designers to operate in numerous design environments which do not interact easily or at all," he said. The combination of low-temperature co-fired ceramic substrates with RF CMOS places new requirements on RF design environments and demands hierarchical design capabilities that are not available on the current generation of tools, he said.

Ulrich Rohde of Synergy Microwave Corp. (Paterson, N.J)., who followed Abdi to the podium, was cynical about the possibility of a unified RF toolset that would enable engineers to examine system-level effects and IC circuit tricks in the same environment. "I doubt the market exists," he said. The technical capability is there, he said, but the investment required by toolmakers to implement a universal RF IC design environment would surely exceed market demand, he said.