We will be using two pieces of simulation software this semester: PSpice and FEMM, and, for some students, Quickfield.

PSpice

PSpice is a circuit simulator that allows you to build and test circuits just as you would on a lab bench. It was developed by MicroSim, and is based on the well known SPICE simulator originally developed at Berkeley. MicroSim was bought by OrCad, which was later acquired by Cadence, so PSpice is now part of the Cadence CAD suite.

Olin has purchased a site license of Cadence software.Click on these installation instructions to install the package. Last semester's laptop hard disk images from IT did not include this software, but it is included now along with the upgrade to Windows XP.

The Olin Cadence software will only work if it can check out a license over the network from the Olin license server. This means you either need to be on campus or use VPN.

If you would like to use PSpice off campus without VPN, a student version with a limit on the number of parts and a significantly smaller library of parts is available. Download and run the file 91pspstu.exe . Be sure to accept the default setting of using capture, not schematics, for entering circuits (see below). The documentation for the student version can be found by downloading and unzipping psp_pdf.zip .

In addition to Capture and PSpice, we have configured the Cadence CAD suite to allow you to layout circuit boards using state of the art professional tools, including the SPECTRA auto-router.

PSpice Tutorials

When OrCad sold PSpice, they also provided a circuit entry program called "schematics". You will sometimes see this referred to in tutorials and other places. When Cadence acquired OrCad and took over PSpice, they set it up with their own circuit entry program called "capture", which is also used for making circuit boards, etc ... You should use capture, not schematics, to enter schematics.

The help system with the Cadence EE CAD suite is very useful. Less help is available for the student version. A number of tutorials for PSpice that use the capture schematic entry program are on the web:

• http://tuttle.merc.iastate.edu/ee333/spice/pspicetutorial/basics/pspicebasics.htm
• http://tuttle.merc.iastate.edu/ee333/spice/diodetutorial.pdf
• http://www.ee.byu.edu/support/Spice/orcad_pspice.html
• http://www.ee.unlv.edu/~yingtao/2002_fall/ECG_220/tutorial_PSPICE.pdf
• http://courses.ece.uiuc.edu/ece343/TutorialPspice.htm
• http://thayer.dartmouth.edu/~bpogue/demos/OrcadCapture.pdf

FEMM

Femm is a free finite element simulator for quasistatic magnetic fields. Download and execute the file femm33bin.exe to install this software. Other resources are:

• femm33src.zip : Source Code
• manual.pdf : Manual
• http://femm.berlios.de : Web site
• http://femm.berlios.de/examples.htm : Examples, including coil gun examples

Quickfield

Quickfield is a finite element simulator for fields. It can be used to compute 2D fields and force in electrostatics and electromagnetics. A student version is available. Download Qf50Stud.zip, unzip the file, and run setup.exe.

There are two tutorials available: elec.zip for electrostatics and magn.zip for magnetostatics. The full user manual is also available: manual.pdf