Independent thesis Advanced level (degree of Master (Two Years)), 20 credits / 30 HE credits
Avionics Division of Saab AB develops advanced electronics that need to be
robust and work in harsh environments with for example extreme temperatures
and cosmic radiation without any failure. To succeed with this the electronics
need to be simulated and tested. Therefore this thesis work is done to
strengthen the Avionics Division’s knowledge of hardware modelling and
simulation by evaluating the simulation tools LTSpice, PSpice and
SystemVision, their functions and capabilities.
In this thesis a survey is carried out with help of a questionnaire to study the
Avionics Division’s needs for simulation. The survey is underlying an analysis
of the analyses that can be performed by the simulation tools for example
Sensitivity analysis, Worst Case analysis, Monte Carlo analysis and Parametric
Sweep analysis. The different analyses are discussed in the thesis. The
questionnaire is also underlying an analysis of the tools LTSpice, PSpice and
SystemVision. The result of the analysis is summarized in Table 1.
A case study of a circuit simulation in SystemVision, based on an existing
circuit used by Avionics Division, is also done within this thesis work. The
study is done to evaluate the tool’s usability, to see if it is easy to perform a
simulation and if it is easy to find and use suitable models from the model
library.
The case study describes how a simulation is performed in SystemVision and
how an AC analysis of a Butterworth filter is done. A stability and reliability
check of the tool is performed as well as a robustness simulation. The analyses
were easy to do and the overall impression is that SystemVision is reliable and
user friendly structured. In order to check and compare the results of the AC
analysis the same analysis is performed using LTSpice. The comparison shows
that the results differ. This depending on that the models of the circuit were
some what different in LTSpice and SystemVision.
The final conclusion is that SystemVision would fit within Avionics Division’s
workflow. Using SystemVision demands education of the engineers to secure
maximum use of all the advantages of SystemVision.
2011. , p. 99
SystemVision, Monte Carlo, VHDL-AMS, Spice, PSpice, LTSpice, modelling, simulation, AC analysis and Butterworth filter