RF Cascade Analyzer
How to use it
The canvas is a signal-flow budget, not a circuit simulator. You draw the lineup, type the datasheet numbers, and read gain, noise, and linearity at every stage. Power is at a matched 50 Ω plane.
1. Start from a chain
The canvas opens on a 2.45 GHz receiver and a small transmitter so the budget is not empty. File → Examples replaces that demo with a superhet receiver, a direct-sampling radio, a mm-wave transmitter, a combining PA, or a Ka-band sweep.
2. Edit a block
Click a block. Gain, noise figure, power, and frequency are in the inspector on the right. The table along the bottom recalculates. Click a column header to select that stage.
3. Connect parts
Drag a part from the palette and draw a wire from an output port to an input port. Each input takes one wire. Drop a combiner on the canvas when two signals have to meet.
4. Read the budget, then sweep
Each column is a stage and each row is a metric. Check gain and the power at each stage, then noise figure or SNR, then headroom and IP3. A stage after a mixer is at the IF, and the table prints the worst value across ±10% of the carrier when it moves. Analysis, on the toolbar, sweeps frequency or runs a Monte Carlo.
What to check
- A receiver: cumulative gain, noise figure, SNR, then P1dB headroom, OIP3, and SFDR.
- A transmitter: power at each stage, gain, headroom to P1dB, OIP3, and output noise relative to the carrier.
- An ADC column: input level in dBFS, clipping margin, and effective ENOB. Those only mean something on the converter.
- A stage after a mixer is read at the IF. Stages before the mixer stay at RF.
- Under a budget number, the worst value across ±10% of the carrier appears when it differs from the nominal. The toolbar sweep is still where the curve is plotted.
Examples
Open the canvas and use File → Examples, or load one from the start card. Built-in chains include 2.45 GHz superhet into an ADC and 28 GHz lineup into an antenna.