ESimTools: Xyce Unique Features

The current version of Sandia's Xyce™ Parallel Electronic Simulator, Release 2.1, is a release that has obtained enough capability, stability and performance to be competitive with and, in many areas, outperform existing circuit simulation tools available from a variety of venues. This version of Xyce™ represents four years of development as part of the High Performance Electrical Modeling and Simulation (HPEMS) effort, funded primarily by DOE's ASCI Applications program at Sandia National Laboratories. The project and software now gives Sandia a modern, in-house simulation tool on which to build future enhancements targeted at the design and analysis needs of Sandia's electrical design community. In this context, Release 2.0 is the most recent step in an ongoing long term commitment to Sandia. In providing future enhancements, we will continue to rely on help from the larger modeling and simulation community at Sandia, including ASCI Materials and Physics Modeling (M&PM), Algorithms and the Computer Science Research Institute (CSRI) researchers. This plan forward will result in a leading-edge electrical modeling tool for Sandia.

Xyce™ Current/Near-term Critical & Unique Capabilities
Capability	Delivery Dates
Capability	Prototype	Beta	Released
*Multi-Time PDE*	Q3FY03	Q2FY04	Q4FY05
*Key Features*	For circuits with quasi-periodic signals (e.g., firing-set charging circuits), this algorithm introduces artificial time scales and recasts the original DAE as PDE in time...More
*Customers*	Tom Brown, 12333, Weapons Surety; Ken Marx and Steve Brandon, 8205, Weapons Engineering; Carolyn Bogdan, 1734, Component Information & Models.
*Massively Parallel*	-	Current	Q4FY04
*Key Features*	Allows the simulation of large circuits and electrical systems at a level of fidelity...More
*Customers*	Greg Wickstrom, 02116, Surety Electronics & Software (Use Control); Greg Lyons, 02616, Firing Set, Fuze & Switch Tube (Nuclear Safety)
*Entero Coupling*	-	Current	Q4FY04
*Key Features*	Interface where analysts and designers can perform the hostile environment simulation including modeling the environment (using, for example, ITS) and its impact on electrical systems performance.
*Customers*	ASCI Milestone; John Dye, 02331, Weapon Controllers
*Circuit/Device Coupling*	-	Current	Q4FY04
*Key Features*	Provides the possibiltiy to replace analog device models with mesh-based PDE models which solve the drift-diffusion formulation...More
*Customers*	Chuck Hembree, 01749, Failure Analysis
*Adjoint Sensitivity/Optimization*	-	Current	Q4FY05
*Key Features*	Xyce has the capability to do "fast", intrusive sensitivity and optimization analysis of electrical problems via adjoint and direct methods...More
*Customers*	Tom Brown, 12333, Weapons Surety; Ken Marx and Steve Brandon, 8205, Weapons Engineering; Carolyn Bogdan, 1734, Component Information & Models; Chuck Hembree, 01749, Failure Analysis
*Mixed Digital/Analog Simulation*	Q1FY03	Q1FY04	Q4FY05
*Key Features*	Parallel mixed-signal simulation would allow electrical systems designers to more fully characterize weapons embedded electrical systems...More
*Customers*	Tom Brown, 12333, Weapons Surety; Ken Marx and Steve Brandon, 8205, Weapons Engineering; Carolyn Bogdan, 1734, Component Information & Models; Chuck Hembree, 01749, Failure Analysis
*Predictive Radiation-Aware Device*	-	Current	Photo Current BJT, Diode - Q1FY04; Total Dose BSIM3 Q3FY04; Neutron BJT, Diode:QXFY0X
*Key Features*	Provides a physics-based model of photocurrent effects from high-intensity ionizing radiation...More. For more information on physics based device models, please see User Resources
*Customers*	Tom Brown, 12333, Weapons Surety; Ken Marx and Steve Brandon, 8205, Weapons Engineering; Carolyn Bogdan, 1734, Component Information & Models; Chuck Hembree, 01749, Failure Analysis
*Adaptive Checkpointing/Restart*	-	-	Current
*Key Features*	Provides job restart due to instabilites in the convergence behavior or platforms which may cause interruptions for long simulation runs. Checkpoint interval may be varied through the run to better adapt to the circuit dynamics.