Best free analog circuit simulators - Design World

We examined 30 free analog circuit simulation packages to see which ... ADS V1.00 Java Circuit Simulator that adds CMOS chips, LED arrays, ... Weexamined30freeanalogcircuitsimulationpackagestoseewhichofthemisappropriateforrealcircuitanalysisanddesignwork. LelandTeschler•ExecutiveEditor Blogsandonlineforumscateringtoengineersoftenmentionallkindsoffreepackagesandservicesaimedatcircuitdesigners.Troubleis,alotofthesefreeresourcesaremainlyusefulforstudentsandhobbyists.Theylackthefacilitiesthatwouldmakethemvaluableforengineersdesigningoranalyzingcircuitsgoingintomanufacturedproducts. TheLTspiceprogramfromAnalogDevicesInc.isamongthemorepowerfulfreeanalogsimulators.Itparticularlyexcelsinmodelinghigh-powercircuits. Tohelpfindthemostusefulpackagesfromamongsttheseaofonlinedebris,wesurveyedthefieldoffreecircuitsimulatorsmentionedinpostsandforums.Wecameupwith30packagesandonlineappsthatseemedtoofferbenefitsofuseinactualcircuitwork. Afewoverallimpressions:Sometimesopen-sourcesimulatorsmentionedinolderblogpostshavejustdisappeared.Otherpackageslabeledascircuitsimulatorsare,infact,justschematiccaptureprogramsaugmentedwithsomeprintedcircuitboardlayoutfacilities.Anumberofprogramsdo,infact,performanalogcircuitsimulationbutwerecreatedbyuniversityresearcherswhoseemtohavelostinterestinsupportingthem.It’seasytofindsimulatorswhoselastupdatepredatestheinventionoftheiPhone. Academicsimulatorsalsotendtosupportonlybasicgenericdevicemodels;forgetaboutprobinganypart-number-specificbehaviors.Nevertheless,we’veincludedthesesimulatorsonourlistiftheystillfunction—theymaybeenoughifthegoalisjusttogetaquickideaofhowacircuittopologybehaves. Anotherclassoffreesimulatorisactuallyastripped-downvariantofaprogramofferedforsale.Usuallythefreeversionhasfarfewerdevicemodelsbuiltinthanthepaidversion.Theremayalsobelimitationsonsavingyourwork.Inonecase,wetriedasimulatorthatnotonlywouldn’tallowsaving,butalsopostedpubliclyanycircuitscreatedbyusersonthefreeservice. Fortunately,notallfreesimulatorssufferfromsuchdrawbacks.Weuncoveredahandfulofrelativelypowerfulfreepackagesthatseeminglyhavefewstringsattached.Someofthemostusefulareoptimizedspecifickindsofanalogcircuitssuchasthoseforpowersuppliesorpassivefilters. We’velistedallthesimulatorswefound—thegood,thebad,andtheugly—thatactuallydidperformcircuitsimulationinsomefashion.Theyareprovidedalphabeticallyalongwiththemostnotablebenefitsanddrawbacksweuncovered. Thelist ADS1.00–Thisoneseemstobeofmostvaluetostudents,andfirst-semesterstudentsatthat,ratherthanworkingengineers.Itonlycontainsmodelsofpassivecomponents,voltagesources,andlogicgates.Andthesourcesarelimitedtovoltagesources—nocurrentsources.Andnotransistormodels.Soyouwouldbeoutofluckifyouwantedtosimulateacircuitcontainingtransistors—therearen’tevencurrentsourcesavailabletocreateEbers-Molltransistormodels. Wheretofindthem.Clickimagetoenlarge. CircuitsCloud—Thisisanotherpackageforstudents.Usersbuildthecircuitonlineusingbasicpassivecomponents,opamps,NPN,PNP,andNMOStransistors.Sourcesincludedcoracvoltageandcurrentsourcesandapulsegenerator.Butwecouldn’tfigureoutwhetheritwaspossibletochangethefrequencyoftheacsourcesortheparametersofthepulsegenerator.Andtheredon’tseemtobemuchinthewayofpre-builtcircuitsinthelibrary. CircuitLab—Thisisabrowser-basedsimulatorthatincludesaprettybiglibraryofcircuitelementsandpre-builtcircuitsandtakesdifferingunitsintoconsiderationwhenevaluatingexpressions.ItwillalsodofrequencydomainsimulationsandletsusersdefinearbitraryLaplacetransferfunctionblocks.Theacsourcesseemtoacceptanyinputfrequencyparameterthoughtheredoesn’tseemtobeanyallowanceinthesimulationsforRFradiationeffects.Tofixavalueontocomponentsandnodes,theusersimplyaddsalabel.Allinall,extremelystraightforwardtouse. CircuitLogix—TheStudentVersionofthismixed-signalSpicesimulatorcontainsover4,000devicemodels,aboutathirdofthenumberavailableinthenot-freeCircuitLogixPro.StudentVersiondevicesincludesemiconductors,displays,indicators,switches,digitalprimitives,digitalICs,linearICs,transistors,FETs,optoisolators,photodiodes,regulators,references,SCRs,triacs,supplies,sources,relays,mathdevices,transmissionlines,motors,andsoforth.Usersinspectcircuitwaveformsviavirtualinstrumentsthatincludeanoscilloscope,digitalmultimeter,Bodeplotter,curvetracer,datasequencer,signalgenerator,logicanalyzer,logicprobeandlogicpulser. CircuitSims–ThisisaJavaapplet.Ithastheadvantageofprovidingnumerousreadymadewidelyusedcircuitsthatcanbecalledup.Typicalexamplesincludefilters,variousrectifiers,severaltransistor/FET/MOSFETcircuits,op-ampcircuits,andsoforth.Allthesecanbemodified.Theusercansettheacsourcestoanyfrequency.Userscanchangetherunspeedandsimulationspeedwithaslider.Thatsaid,thisisprobablymoreofalearningaidoraback-of-the-envelopsimulator.Thedevicemodelsareallgeneric.Thoughtheappletacceptsanyfrequencyyouinput,itdoesn’tallowforhigh-frequencyeffectsasinputfrequenciesclimbintothemegahertzandgigahertzrange. CircuitSimulator1.6iforWindows–ThisisadownloadableversionoftheJavaCircuitSimsapplet.Performancewise,thetwoseemtobeidentical.   TexasInstruments’versionoftheTinaanalogsimulator. Circuitmod—ThisJava-basedcircuitsimulatorisanextensionoftheADSV1.00JavaCircuitSimulatorthataddsCMOSchips,LEDarrays,andPICprogrammingtothelibraryofavailablefunctions. DCAClab—Usersnormallypayforaccesstothisonlinesimulatorbutthereisalimitedversionthatisfree.Visually,theuserinterfacelookslikecircuitcomponentspluggedintoabreadboard,andtheredoesn’tseemtobeanylimitonthefrequenciesusedasinputs.Butthefreeversionisextremelylimited.TheonlytransistormodelavailableisanNPNbipolarversionthoughop-ampandgatemodelsareincluded.Theoscilloscopedisplayprovidesuptothreechannelsbutthereisnofrequencydomaindisplayavailable,andthesmallesttimesettingavailableis0.5µsec/div. EveryCircuit—Thisonlinesimulatorcarriesaone-time$15fee,butitcanberunforfree,andwecouldn’treallytellwhatadditionalcapabilitiesthe$15buys.OnepointtonoteisthattheappwillrunonAndroidoriOSphones.Simulationscreatedonaphonecanbesavedtothecloudandthenrunonadesktopmachine.Thesimulatormainlytargetsstudentsbutseemstobeusefulforprofessionalsbecauseofitsfairlycompletecomponentlibrarywhichincludesvoltageandcurrent-controlledvoltageandcurrentsources,center-tappedtransformers,MOSFETsandbipolartransistors. Gnucap—Thisgeneral-purposeadvancedcircuitsimulatorperformsnonlineardcandtransientanalyses,Fourieranalysis,andacanalysis.SpicecompatiblemodelsfortheMOSFET(level1-7),BJT,anddiodeareincludedinthelatestrelease.Gnucapusesanobjectorientedapproachtomodeling.ComplexmodelslikeMOSFETSaremadeofsimpleroneslikeresistors,capacitors,diodes,andanyothermodelsthatmayalreadyexist.OnelittleproblemforPCorMacusers:GnucapiswrittentorunonLinuxmachines.YoucanrunaversionofitbygoingtoafreehostingprovidersuchasOnWorks(onworks.net/programs/gnucap-online)andusingafreeonlineworkstationsuchasUbuntuOnline,FedoraOnline,WindowsonlineemulatorortheMACOSonlineemulator. idealCircuit—ThisisbasedonamixedcircuitsimulatorcalledNL5developedinthe1980s.Thefirstpubliclyavailableversionarrivedin2009.Itusesidealcomponentsmeaning,forexample,aswitchwithzero/infiniteresistanceandinstantaneousswitching,diodesthathaveaconstantvoltagedropwhenclosedandzerocurrentwhenopen,andsoforth.Itrepresentsnon-linearcomponentsaspiecewise-linear,orasafunction(simulatedwithonestepdelay).idealCircuitincludesmodelcomponentssuchasdiodebridges,comparators,diffamps,FETsandbipolartransistors,transmissionlines,andsample-and-holdfunctionblocks. LTspice–Thisisahigh-performanceanalogsimulator.ItwasoriginallydevisedbyLinearTechnologyInc.,amakerofprecisionpowerICs,soitexcelsatsimulatingswitchingpowersupplytopologies.LinearTechnologywasacquiredbyAnalogDevicesInc.whichstillprovidesLTspicefreeofcharge.LTspiceincludesanextensivelibraryofmacromodelscoveringmostofADI’spowermanagementandsignalchainproducts,aswellasalibraryofpassivecomponents.Moreover,userscanaddcomponentattributessuchascomponentvaluetolerancesandpowerratingstomakethesimulationmorecloselymimicthebehaviorofrealdevices. Micro-Cap12—Aninterestingpointaboutthissimulatoristhatitonceretailedforabout$4,500.Nowfree,thesimulatorincludesamulti-pageschematiceditor,nativerobustdigitalsimulation,MonteCarloanalysis,a33,000-partlibrary,worst-caseandsmokeanalysis,Smithcharts,andabuilt-indesignerforactiveandpassivefilters.ItcanalsoreadmostregularSpiceorIBISmodels.Includedaswellareover2,000standarddigitalpartssuchastheusual7400families,CD4000CMOS,andECL. MultisimLive—ThisisanonlineversionofasimulatorcalledMultsimthatrunsonthedesktop.BothversionscomefromNationalInstrumentsInc.(nowjustknownasNI).ThereisapremiumversionofMultisimLivethatinvolvesamonthlyfee.Thefreeversionisquitelimited.Perhapsthemostnotablelimitationonthefreeversionisamaximumlimitof25componentspercircuitandfarfewercomponentsinthelibrary.Alsoofnote:Thereisnosuchthingasaprivatefileinthefreeversion.Ifyoucreateacircuitinthefreeversion,itwillbeavailablefortheworldtosee. nagaEDA—ThisoneisonlyusefulifyouhaveaC++compilerorcanrunthePythonlanguage.Wehaveneithersowecouldn’tgiveitaspin.Also,theURLlistedasthesupportpageisadeadlink. ngspice—BasedontheBerkeleySpice3F5program,ngspicacceptsacombinationofanaloganddigitalcomponentsandincludesnumerousdevicemodelsforactive,passive,analog,anddigitalelements.Modelparameterscomefrominternalcollections,semiconductordevicemanufacturers,orsemiconductorfoundries.Theuseraddscircuitsasanetlist,andtheoutputisoneormoregraphsofcurrents,voltagesandotherelectricalquantities.Apointtonoteisngspicedoesnotprovideschematicentry.Itsinputiscommandlineorfile-based.Therearehoweverthirdpartyinterfacesavailable.AlsonotableisthattheprogramacceptsPSpiceorLTspicedevicemodelparametersandnetlistsforsimulatingdiscretecircuits.ngspicewillalsoreadHspicedevicelibrariesfromsemiconductorfoundryPDKsforsimulatingintegratedcircuits. OpenSce—Thisseemstobeaworkinprogressthathasn’tbeenupdatedsince2013.Itaimstoaidinthedesignandcharacterizationoflinearcircuits.It’sstatusislistedaspre-alpha. PartSim—Thisisabrowser-basedSpicesimulatorthatalsohandlesschematiccaptureandwilldisplaywaveforms.AplusisthatPartSimincludesabill-of-materialsmanagerthatletsusersassignpartnumbersfromtheelectronicsdistributorArrow.Thesimulatorhasapoint-and-clickuserinterfaceandprovidesseveralpre-builtcircuitsasexamples.However,usersmustregistertousePartSim. PECS—ThePowerElectronicsCircuitSimulatorwascreatedatPortlandStateUniversityabout20yearsagoandishandlesthetime-domainsimulationofswitchednetworksthatmaycontainnonlinearelements.Today,itseemstobeusedmainlyasateachingaidforPortlandStateEEclasses.Ithasapoint-and-clickinterfaceandincludesabout30componentsinitslibrary. Proteus—Thisisasuiteofprogramsthatincludeamixed-modeSpicesimulationwithMPUmodelstosimulatedesignscontainingprocessors.Proteusisactuallyapaidprogrambutthereisafreetrialversionwithnotimelimit.Problem:Youcan’tsaveyourworkinthefreeversion,noruseMPUsnotalreadyinthesimulator.Norcanyouprintoutanyschematics. PSUD2–ThePSUDesignersoftwarepackagehandlesthedesignofsimplelinear(unregulated)powersuppliesthatcommonlyusevacuumtubes,thoughitwillalsoworkwithsolid-statecomponents.Voltagesandcurrentswithinthepowersupplyarecalculatedasthepowersupplystartsupandwhenitstabilizes.Theseresultsaredisplayedgraphicallyandcanbeprintedout.Itwaslastupdatedin2017. QsapecNG—ThissimulatorwasdevisedbystudentsandfacultyattheUniversityofFlorenceEEdepartment.Itisintwoparts,thesimulatoritselfandtheuserinterfacewhichwasbuiltusingaGUItoolkitcalledQt.Notawholelotofinformationavailableonthisonethoughitwasupdatedsevenmonthsago. Qucs—TheQuiteUniversalCircuitSimulatorincludesaGUIbasedontheQttoolkitandhandlesadandacanalysis,S-parameters,harmonicbalanceanalysis(thoughcommentsonlineindicateitscapabilitiesinthisareaarelimited),noiseanalysis,andsoforth.ThesimulationbackendiscalledQucsatorandisacommandlinecircuitsimulatortakinganetworklistasinputandoutputingaQucsdataset.QucscanalsoimportexistingSpicemodels.OriginallydevelopedunderLinux,itissaidtohavesuccessfullycompiledandrunonWindowsandMacmachines. SAPwin—AnothersimulatorhailingfromtheUniversityofFlorence.Itdoesschematiccapture,symbolicanalysisandgraphicpost-processingforlinearanalogcircuits.Itincludesseveraltoolstocreateschematics,performsymbolicanalysis(findthenetworkfunctionintheLaplacedomainwithsymbolicparameters),andtoshowresultsingraphicform.Allpassiveandactive,bipolarandtwo-port,linearcomponentsareavailable,includingRLCelements,controlledsources,opampsandsmall-signalequivalentmodelsofBJTandMOSFETtransistors.Thegraphicalpostprocessorcanshowthenetworkfunctionandplotgain,phase,delay,thepositionofpolesandzeros,time-domainstepsandimpulseresponse. SimulIDE—Thisoneisaimedatthehobbyistcrowd,supportingPIC,AVR,andArduinoprocessors.Itsacrificesaccuracyforspeedandsimplicity.ItalsofeaturesacodeeditoranddebuggerforGcBasic,Arduino,PICasmandAVRasm.Itisstillinearlydevelopmentbutallowswriting,compilingandbasicdebuggingwithbreakpoints,watchregistersandglobalvariables. SolveElec—AimedatphysicsandEEstudents,thisisadownloadablepackagethathandlescircuitdrawing,addingvaluesandformulasforcurrentsandvoltages,equationverification,anddrawinggraphs.Typicalsupportedtasks:drawandanalyzeelectricalcircuitsfunctioningindc,getliteralformulasandvaluesforcurrentintensitiesandvoltagesdefinedinthecircuit,verifycircuitrelatedequations. Tina-TI—ThisisafreeversionofasimulatorfromDesignSoftInc.calledTina.ItisofferedbyTexasInstruments.Besidesprovidingalltheconventionaldc,transientandfrequencydomainanalysisofSpice,theprogramprovidespost-processingcapabilitythatallowsformattingresultsinconvenientways.Usersselectinputwaveformsandprobecircuitnodesvoltagesandwaveformsviavirtualinstruments.Thefreeversionisfullyfunctionalbutdoesnotsupportsomeotherfeaturesavailablewiththecommercialversion.CircuitmodelsforthefreeversionareavailableafterafreeregistrationontheTIwebsite. TinkerCAD—Thisisacollectionofweb-appsimulatorsfromAutodeskthat,truetoitsname,targetstinkerers.Itcoversthedesignof3Dstructuresasmightbefabbedona3Dprinter,acodingmodule,andthecircuitsimulator.Thecircuitsimulatorisquiteprimitive.ItincludesbasiccomponentssuchashobbymotorsandLEDsbutnotransistors,opamps,orrelatedsemiconductors.ItsmainpurposeistosimulatecircuitsatinkerermightpowerwithanArduinoMCU. Xsim—ThisisaWindows-basedprogramoptimizedfordesigningpassiveR-L-Ccrossovernetworksforloudspeakers.Sothecomponentsavailableconsistofresistors,capacitors,andinductors.Somebuilt-inmulti-partcircuitscanbetunedforparameterssuchasQ,cornerfrequency,attenuation,andsoforth.Theprogramletsyougenerategraphsofimpedances,voltages,powerconsumption,groupdelay,andresponsestoimpulse,step,andsquarewaveinputs.Youcanwatchtheperformanceand/orstressonanypartvaryasyoutunestructureorcomponentvaluesinreal-time. Xyce—Thisisahigh-powersimulatorconceivedattheSandiaNationalLabswhichisoptimizedtorunonlarge-scaleparallelcomputingplatforms,thoughitapparentlywillalsorunonadesktop.Itisdesignedtohandleextremelylarge(>100,000devices)circuitproblems.Anditworksstrictlyfromcommand-lineinputsthoughthereareschematiccapturetoolsthatwillworkwithit.TheprogramdocumentationsaysXyceincludesnovelapproachestonumericalkernelsincludingmodel-orderreduction,continuationalgorithms,time-integration,andusesadifferential-algebraic-equationformulation,whichbetterisolatesthedevicemodelpackagefromsolveralgorithms.Allinall,thereisprobablyalotmorehorsepowerinXycethantheaverageuserneeds.DW Youmayalsolike: Mostengineersaren’tinnovators UnrealisticexpectationsforPHEVs Basicsofprintedcircuitboardmillingmachines Thetoptenfreeengineeringmathsoftwarepackages STEMclassesdon’tteachengineershowtothink FiledUnder:TECHNOLOGIES+PRODUCTS,CircuitsTaggedWith:texasinstruments,analogdevices  RelatedArticlesReadMore>GladiatorseriescircuitbreakersandsupplementaryprotectorsPCBmaterialincorporatesembeddedresistor-foillayerforhandlinghigh-frequenciesWAGO’sPro2PowerSuppliesincreasessystemuptimeKOASpeer’snewSG73GSurgeResistoroffershighpulseresistancewithultraprecision DESIGNGUIDELIBRARY BROWSEDESIGNGUIDES RotaryBearings Couplings NanopositioningandMiniatureMotionSystemsDesign LinearPositionSensors LinearBearingDefinitions CableCarriers GeneralMotionSystemDesign LinearActuators Gearmotors MotionControllers Gearing Conveyors NEMAStepperLinearActuators AdditiveManufacturing MachineSafety PowerSupplies StepperMotors LinearBearings Encoders Track-RollerLinearGuides Human-MachineInterfaces ElectricalConnections EnewsSignUp DesignWorldDigitalEdition BrowsethemostcurrentissueofDesignWorldandbackissuesinaneasytousehighqualityformat.Clip,shareanddownloadwiththeleadingdesignengineeringmagazinetoday. 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