Release Notes¶
Version: 20.01.r3 (28 Sep 2020)¶
Highlights
Version 20.01.r3 is a minor release of the SystemLab|Design 20.01 release stream and includes the following new features and improvements:
The following new functional blocks have been added to the Functional block library:
Optical (Sources/Transmitters): WDM Transmitter
Electrical (Mathematical operators): Time shift (electrical)
Electrical (Amplifiers): TIA/LA (Transimpedance + Limiting Amplifier)
The following functional blocks have been updated with new parameters/features:
Optical (Sources/Transmitters): CW Laser, CW Laser Array, Noise Source (Optical)
Optical (Signal processing/routing): Optical Filter (Band Pass)
Optical (Detectors/Receivers): PIN-APD Detector
Optical (Analyzers): Measurement Node (Optical)
Electrical (Signal processing): Analog Filter
Electrical (Receivers): Decision Circuit
Digital (Analyzers): BER Analysis
A shortcut key sequence (Ctrl + D) is now available to allow for the rapid duplication (copy/paste) of selected project items.
The value field for Data panels now includes support for the text (string) format.
A new parameters help feature has been added to several components including the WDM Transmitter, CW Laser, CW Laser Array, Optical Amplifier, PIN-APD Detector, TIA/LA and Decision Circuit. The feature is activated by hovering over any parameter field within the Functional block properties/Input Parameters menu.
A new eye metrics calculation feature has been added to the Eye diagram tab of the Electrical signal data analyzer port viewer
Notes about this release
SystemLab|Design project files (.slb) can only be opened from the SystemLab|Design main application (it is not currently possible to double-click on a project design file to initiate a SystemLab|Design session).
The properties dialog windows for Functional blocks, Project settings, Data panels, Text boxes, Description boxes and Line-Arrows are modal. When one of these windows is activated, interactions with other open windows will not be possible until these dialogs are closed.
Bug fixes
A normalization error in the frequency data tab of the Electrical, Optical and Analog ports has been fixed. Spectral power data (square of absolute value of FFT transform) is now normalized by dividing the data sample by the square of the number of samples (n^2) - previously these data samples were being divided by n.
Version: 20.01.r2 (5 Mar 2020)¶
Highlights
Version 20.01.r2 is a minor release of the SystemLab|Design 20.01 release stream and includes the following new features and improvements:
The Functional block library for optical components has been re-organized as follows:
The Optical-Signal processing folder has been renamed to Optical-Signal processing/routing
The Optical-Passive devices(fiber) folder has been renamed to Optical-Fibers
The Optical-Passive devices(couplers/splitters) folder has been renamed to Optical-Couplers/splitters/attenuators
The Optical-Passive devices(other) folder has been removed and associated components have been moved to the above folders
New data fields for specifying project parameters (proj_parameters.txt) and project configuration files (project_config.py) have been added to the Advanced settings tab of the Project Settings panel. To directly access and edit these files, new menu items (Update/Edit project parameters & Update/Edit project config file) have been added to the Project design space context menu.
A new quick graphing function has been added to the config.py file and allows for the viewing of arbitrary x/y data sets while running a component script. The graphing function can be called using: config.display_xy_data(title, x_data, x_units, y_data, y_units)
New functions for displaying data, display_data(text, data, new_line), or issuing status messages, config.status_message(test), while running component scripts have been added to the config.py file.
The Functional block library tree menu feature has been updated to allow for any arbitrary number of functional libraries to be defined and designed by a user (using the config_fb_library.py module).
An optional background color setting has been added to the Text Box feature of the Project design space.
A new Sampling period overlay feature has been added to the Electrical signal data analyzer port viewer
Notes about this release
SystemLab|Design project files (.slb) can only be opened from the SystemLab|Design main application (it is not currently possible to double-click on a project design file to initiate a SystemLab|Design session).
The properties dialog windows for Functional blocks, Project settings, Data panels, Text boxes, Description boxes and Line-Arrows are modal. When one of these windows is activated, interactions with other open windows will not be possible until these dialogs are closed.
Bug fixes
When attempting to connect ports between functional blocks, the downstream port was allowing connections to be completed even if it was already connected to another upstream port. This issue has been fixed in this release.
Primary signal statistics for the Electrical signal data analyzer port viewer are now derived directly from the received signal (project settings were used previously). This was corrected to handle signal processing functions such as re-sampling, where local settings for a functional block were different than project settings.
Known bugs
The SystemLab|Design application may remain open after several attempts are made to shut down the application (Quit application procedure). To force the application to shut down, activate the Windows Task Manager (ctrl-alt-delete), and right-click select End task on the application Multi-domain system simulator. Target release for fixing is TBD.
Version: 20.01.r1 (27 Jan 2020)¶
Highlights
Version 20.01.r1 is the second major release of SystemLab|Design and includes the following new features and improvements:
Several new components (21) have been added to the Functional block library including:
Optical (Sources/Transmitters): CW Laser Array, Gaussian Pulse (Optical)
Optical (Signal processing): Branching node (Optical), Optical Filter (Band Pass)
Optical (Passive devices (fiber)): Optical Fiber (Linear)
Optical (Passive devices (couplers/splitters)): Optical Splitter (4-port)
Optical (Passive devices (other)): Optical Attenuator, Optical Circulator, Fiber Bragg Grating
Optical (Polarization devices): Polarization Beam Splitter, Polarization Beam Combiner, Jones Matrix
Optical (Analyzers): Measurement Node (Optical)
Electrical (Waveform generators): Gaussian Pulse Generator
Electrical (Mathematical operators): Branching Node (Electrical), Sign Inverter, Vertical Shift, Phase Shift (Electrical)
Electrical (Receivers): Comparator, Analog to Digital Converter
Digital: Branching Node (Digital)
All optical functional blocks have been updated to support the processing of multiple wavelengths.
The polarization feature for optical signals has been updated to support two field formats: combined field (Exy) or separate fields (Ex and Ey).
To support the analysis of multi-wavelength designs, the Optical signal data analyzer viewer now includes an integrated spectrum analyzer feature (tab Freq Data (all channels)).
The Data panels feature no longer requires the manual addition of dictionary entries to the config_data_panels file. Data panel additions and deletions are now managed automatically through an internal global dictionary.
An Undo action has been added to the Edit menu item. This new feature tracks project space deletion events so that they can be reversed if needed.
Functional blocks now include new context menu items for directly accessing Parameters and Results tables (per iteration).
A short-cut to access a functional block’s script editor has been added to the functional block context menu.
A short-cut to update the number of iterations for a simulation has been added to the Project design space context menu.
New generic Digital, Electrical and Optical functional blocks (with associated scripts) have been added to the Project design layout context menu.
Short-cuts to edit and reload the config_special.py, config_fb_library.py, config_port_viewers.py, and systemlab_viewers.py configuration files have been added to the Edit menu item. The Reload action allows for a config file to be manually reloaded into the application thus no longer requiring for the application to be restarted for settings to take effect.
The Functional block hover tool tip feature has been enhanced and includes the ability to view simulation results associated with the functional block’s script calculations.
The Signal port hover menu tool tip feature has been enhanced to include the ability to view summary metrics for a signal (total/average power, mean/standard deviation/variance).
Signal connections can now be optionally highlighted (following a hover event) to better visualize their routing.
A new View menu item has been added to the Menu bar. It includes zoom-in, zoom-out, and actual size adjustments along with the ability to fit all items/functional blocks within a project view.
A Wave-Freq Converter calculator feature has been added to the Tools menu item (to help in quickly calculating the equivalent frequency or wavelength value of a carrier).
As SystemLab|Design is based on the Python programming language, it is possible to call MathWorks MATLAB ® as a computational engine from a functional block script. A new documentation section has been added to the Advanced Topics section (MATLAB engine API for Python) and provides details on how to install the MATLAB engine API, call MATLAB functions and algorithms, and interchange data between a Python script and a MATLAB workspace.
Notes about this release
SystemLab|Design project files (.slb) can only be opened from the SystemLab|Design main application (it is not currently possible to double-click on a project design file to initiate a SystemLab|Design session).
The properties dialog windows for Functional blocks, Project settings, Data panels, Text boxes, Description boxes and Line-Arrows are modal. When one of these windows is activated, interactions with other open windows will not be possible until these dialogs are closed.
Known bugs
The SystemLab|Design application may remain open after several attempts are made to shut down the application (Quit application procedure). To force the application to shut down, activate the Windows Task Manager (ctrl-alt-delete), and right-click select End task on the application Multi-domain system simulator. Target release for fixing is TBD.
Version: 19.02.r1 (10 May 2019)¶
Highlights
We are pleased to announce the first official release of SystemLab|Design; a Python-based, open-source, software simulation platform optimized for the rapid development and virtual prototyping of multi-domain systems.
The core features being introduced in this release include:
A 2D project design and layout environment for creating and modeling multi-domain system prototypes using analog and digital based building blocks (for further details on main application interface features see GUI features overview)
An automated end-to-end simulation engine for assessing the performance of virtual system designs, including dynamic (feedback) systems modeling (see How the simulator works for further details on the capabilities of the simulation engine)
A comprehensive post-simulation analysis via port-based signal data viewers (time-domain, frequency-domain, polarization analysis, statistical metrics)
A systems-level performance analysis tool kit, including iteration sweeping of input parameters, custom viewers/graphs, and data panels. To see these tools in action, see Quick start 3: Run an example with pre-configured data panels and graphs)
A Functional block library menu which provides access to pre-defined optical, electrical and digital system components that can be dragged and dropped onto your design layout.
Notes about this release
The ability to Undo or Redo keyboard actions has not been implemented in this release but is planned for a future release.
SystemLab|Design project files (.slb) can only be opened from the SystemLab|Design main application (it is not currently possible to double-click on a project design file to initiate a SystemLab|Design session).
The properties dialog windows for Functional blocks, Project settings, Data panels, Text boxes, Description boxes and Line-Arrows are modal. When one of these windows is activated, interactions with other open windows will not be possible until any of these dialogs is closed.
The Functional block library currently provides access to 29 pre-defined functional block elements. These represent a sample of the components typically found in optical and electrical communication and sensor systems. More functional block elements will be added in future updates. If you would like to assist in developing new functional models for future releases, your contributions would be greatly appreciated! For further information on how you can help, please contact us at info@systemlabdesign.com
An initial set of example designs can be found under systemlab_design/systemlab_examples. More example designs will be added in future updates.