Guest Column: PCB And Microwave Design Environments Finally Come Together

By Sherry Hess, Vice President of Marketing, AWR Corporation

Veterans of the microwave industry used to smirk about how digital designers were largely in the dark concerning the "unexplainable" things that occur when circuits operate at high frequencies. The retort from the digital camp was that it really didn't matter, since printed circuit board (PCB) traces and assorted parallel and serial buses operated at such low frequencies that none of the vagaries of "field and waves" applied to their work, or were soon likely to. Today however, with board-level communication racing along at up to 6 GHz or so, and analog, digital, and microwave technologies existing not just in the same enclosure but on the same circuit board, these two previously walled-off disciplines have finally come face to face. While this could likely result in a less-than-amicable meeting of the minds, in the current economic environment there's no time for bickering: the project must be completed quickly, using the best tools available, and obviously, at the least cost.