Performance Improvements in NI Multisim 12.0

[Mahmoud_W]

Hello All,

With the recent release of NI Multisim, our development team have been working tirelessly to enhance and optimize our core SPICE simulation engine, as well as our overall design/prototyping environment. Part of the enhancements to our latest release can be seen when comparing the performanace of the recent release of Multisim 12.0 with previous editions such as Multisim 11.0.

The improvements we mention below are based on some in house benchmarking tests and can be considered as approximate improvements. The changes that you will see, may differ based upon a number of factors. I would personally love to hear your feedback - so please send me a message at mahmoud.wahby@ni.com.

1. Transient Simulation Time

In order to understand how Multisim was able to run a transient simulation, the following circuits where chosen for a number of benchmarking tests:

• Half Bridge Driver
• NCP1380 Modded Switch
• Instrumentation Amplifier
• Gilbert Cell Mixer

On average we saw that the time it took to run a transient simulation was reduced by approximately 52%.

2. Reduction of PCB Export File Size and Autorouting Time

The handling of copper areas, curved lines, and traces have been significantly improved in Ultiboard 12.0. The net result has lead to a significant reduction in the size of exported files (such as Gerber and DXF) as well as the time to autoroute board.

• Size of exported Gerber files is reduced by approximately 50% on average
• Size of exported DXF files is reduced by approximately 94% on average
• Auto-routing time reduced by approximately 30% on average

3. Loading of Custom Analyses and Instruments

In Multisim you can develop custom simulation analyses using Virtual Instruments (VIs) developed in NI LabVIEW. In fact some great new custom simulation analyses can be found in our community for free downloads by clicking here.

Loading a large number of these analysis instruments (for example 10) in a single schematc could take as much as 19 seconds to open in previous editions of Multisim. In version 12.0 we were able to record 50% improvement in the loading time for various types of instruments.

You can see all of these improvements listed below

Feature	Average Improvements
Simulation of transient analysis (Time)	~52.31%
Decrease in size of DXF file	~94.14%
Decrease in size of Gerber files	~50.23%
Loading time of custom analyses (10 LabVIEW instruments)	~50.43%
Autorouting Time	~29.94%

Again the improvements that you will see in your simulation and design time may vary based upon a number of factors, but we certainly have seen some great improvements in our benchmark tests. Please message me at mahmoud.wahby@ni.com about the improvements you have seen, and whether you have further questions about how Multisim 12.0 can enhance your current design or simulation environment.

Thanks!

Mahmoud

National Instruments Toronto