SAW/BAW Computer-Aided Design Insight
Dr. Alexander Rukhlenko has his philosophy and strong personal view on the development and future of the SAW computer-aided design (SAW CAD). Technological progress demands intensive integration of innovative and precise SAW/BAW models into standard design practices. Currently, there exists a gap between sophisticated SAW models developed and published by SAW researchers using MATLAB, Simulink, Comsol, Ansys HFSS, etc. and models used in the practical design of SAW/BAW devices. While these models are more accurate and predictive, they tend to be complex, time-consuming, not self-contained and mostly incompatible with commercial CAD software, for example, Advanced Design System (ADS) circuit simulator ( PathWave KeySight).
Due to the numerous limitations and compatibility issues, SAW/BAW designers often have to use for designing industrial products the simplified approximate models. In most cases, these models take form of the closed-form equations (Coupling-of-Modes (COM) model for SAW filter design, for example) or equivalent circuit models (Mason or mBVD models for FBAR filter design). Such simple models are most relevant and compatible with the standard commercial design tools such ADS or similar electronic circuit simulators.
Dr. Alexander Rukhlenko is one of a few consultants who possesses combined universal skills that allows him to bridge this gap by contribution into variety of modeling approaches and techniques. He has developed an extremely useful and versatile interface between ADS and MATLAB that utterly resolves an issue of incompatibility between ADS and MATLAB models. This allowed to use the complex acousto-electric SAW/BAW components along with the standard electronic components in ADS.
He is also skillful in general techniques and methods which allow to improve the design environment and capabilities regardless the design models used. For example, he effectively exploits in MATLAB or low-level programming (C/C++, FORTRAN)
- efficient vectorization of the MATLAB SAW models and computational algorithms,
- rational development and usage of the interactive API and GUI interfaces,
- ADS AEL (Application Extension Language) programming,
- effective optimization and iterative design techniques,
- development of the proprietary design software and toolboxes tailored to customer needs,
- automation of the routine design and measurement operations, etc.
Ultimately, his comprehensive and systematic approach allowed to enhance design efficiency and capabilities and to reduce the overall design cycle in SAW/BAW filter design.