AWR Corporation is an

electronic design automation Electronic design automation (EDA), also referred to as electronic computer-aided design (ECAD), is a category of software tools for designing Electronics, electronic systems such as integrated circuits and printed circuit boards. The tools wo ...

(EDA)

software Software is a set of computer programs and associated documentation and data. This is in contrast to hardware, from which the system is built and which actually performs the work. At the lowest programming level, executable code consists ...

company, formerly known as Applied Wave Research, and then acquired by

National Instruments National Instruments Corporation, doing business as NI, is an American multinational company with international operation. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, it is a producer of automated test equipment and virtual instrumentation software. Comm ...

The company develops, markets, sells and supports engineering software, which provides a computer-based environment for the design of hardware for wireless and high speed digital products. AWR software is used for radio frequency (RF), microwave and high frequency analog circuit and system design. Typical applications include cellular and satellite communications systems and defense electronics including radar, electronic warfare and guidance systems. AWR's product portfolio includes Microwave Office, Visual System Simulator (VSS), Analog Office, APLAC, AXIEM and Analyst. AWR's customers include companies involved in the design and development of analog and mixed signal semiconductors, wireless communications equipment, aerospace and defense systems.

History

The company was founded in 1994 by Joseph E. Pekarek, Ted A. Miracco, Stephen A. Maas and Paul Cameron, from

Hughes Aircraft The Hughes Aircraft Company was a major American aerospace and defense contractor founded on February 14, 1934 by Howard Hughes Howard Robard Hughes Jr. (December 24, 1905 – April 5, 1976) was an American business magnate, record-setting p ...

, in Fullerton,

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. First established as Applied Wave Research, AWR was founded to improve the design efficiency for

radio frequency Radio frequency (RF) is the oscillation rate of an alternating electric current or voltage or of a magnetic, electric or electromagnetic field or mechanical system in the frequency range from around to around . This is roughly between the upp ...

and microwave circuit and system design. The vision of the company was to provide a modern object-oriented

environment that could streamline high frequency electronic design by integrating schematic entry and layout; electromagnetic (EM) and circuit theory; and frequency and time-domain methods. Investors in AWR included CMEA Ventures,

Intel Capital Intel Capital is a division of Intel Corporation, set up to manage corporate venture capital, global investment, mergers and acquisitions. Intel Capital makes equity investments in a range of technology startups and companies offering hardware, so ...

and

Synopsys Synopsys is an American electronic design automation (EDA) company that focuses on silicon design and verification, silicon intellectual property and software security and quality. Products include tools for logic synthesis and physical design ...

Inc. In 1998 the company demonstrated the Microwave Office software, which included EM, circuit simulation and schematic capture, at the International Microwave Symposium in Baltimore, Maryland. Inf 2010, AWR Corporation's major competitors included the

EEsof PathWave Design is a division of Keysight Technologies that was formerly called EEsof ( ; electronic engineering software). It is a provider of electronic design automation (EDA) software that helps engineers design products such as cellular phone ...

EDA division of

Agilent Technologies Agilent Technologies, Inc. is an American life sciences company that provides instruments, software, services, and consumables for the entire laboratory workflow. Its global headquarters is located in Santa Clara, California. Agilent was establi ...

, Ansoft Corporation, and

Cadence Design Systems Cadence Design Systems, Inc. (stylized as cādence), headquartered in San Jose, California, is an American multinational corporation, multinational computational software company, founded in 1988 by the merger of SDA Systems and ECAD, Inc. The co ...

. In 1999 AWR acquired ICUCOM Corporation, Troy, New York. Through this acquisition AWR acquired the communication systems simulation software called ACOLADE, for Advanced Communication Link Analysis and Design Environment. AWR re-engineered the software and evolved the technology and libraries into a new tool: Visual System Simulator (VSS), which was introduced in 2002. In September, 2005 AWR acquired APLAC Solutions, Oy, of

Espoo, Finland Espoo (, ; sv, Esbo) is a city and municipality in the region of Uusimaa in the Republic of Finland. It is located on the northern shore of the Gulf of Finland, bordering the cities of Helsinki, Vantaa, Kirkkonummi, Vihti and Nurmijärvi whil ...

. AWR acquired APLAC, which developed simulation and analysis software for analog and radio-frequency (RF) design. APLAC's RF design technology was used in mobile phone RF

integrated circuits An integrated circuit or monolithic integrated circuit (also referred to as an IC, a chip, or a microchip) is a set of electronic circuits on one small flat piece (or "chip") of semiconductor material, usually silicon. Large numbers of tiny ...

. In 2008 AWR acquired Simulation Technology and Applied Research (STAAR), in

Mequon, Wisconsin Mequon () is the largest city in Ozaukee County, in the U.S. state of Wisconsin, and the third-largest city in Wisconsin by land area. Located on Lake Michigan's western shore with significant commercial developments along Interstate 43, the comm ...

. STAAR developed proprietary parallelized 3D FEM EM simulation and analysis capability, marketed as Analyst software. AWR was acquired by

in 2011 for about $58 million. In January 2020 Cadence Design Systems, Inc completed acquisition of AWR Corporation from National Instruments.

Notes

References

* * * * * * * {{cite news , archive-date=2008-08-28 , df=dmy-all , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080828131337/http://www.rfdesign.com/microwave_millimeter_tech/Amplifiers/radio_artificial_neural_networking/ , magazine=RFDesign , date=March 2006 , title=Artificial neural networking improves PA design , url=http://www.rfdesign.com/microwave_millimeter_tech/Amplifiers/radio_artificial_neural_networking/

External links

*
AWR web site
Electronic design automation companies