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by José Luis Flores, on behalf of AWR Group, NI

This application note introduces the technique known as auxiliary generator (AG). It is very useful
for broadening the set of solutions that can be reproduced from a harmonic-balance (HB) analysis
and can help study their stability properties in order to optimize a nonlinear circuit for a desired
response, while at the same time avoiding undesired modes such as unwanted oscillations. It is of
particular interest for the analysis and design of all kinds of nonlinear circuits, including—but not
restricted to—oscillators and power amplifiers.

Overview

To predict nonlinear circuit behavior, harmonic balance (HB) is a popular and useful frequency-
domain technique. But given its mathematical nature, it can only converge to mathematical
solutions being harmonically related to the input sources into the circuit. Nevertheless, the
mathematical solutions to a nonlinear system do not necessarily need to be harmonically related
to the input signals (for instance, autonomous oscillator or non-harmonic spurious from amplifiers)
and here is where the conundrum begins.

NI AWR Design Environment inclusive of

schematic editor,
layout, and circuit (HB) simulators

The only thing that can be said about a converged result from HB is that it is a steady-state
mathematical solution to the nonlinear circuit. Now, on the other hand, there is also time-domain
integration for the prediction of nonlinear-circuit behavior. While the time-domain approach
typically converges to observable solutions, it is not always practical for the optimization of
nonlinear circuits under a particular steady-state response, as these methods may require long
simulation times before reaching the stationary regime. Also, they can be inhospitable to some
circuit elements or functions. This is when/where the auxiliary generator (AG) feature within NI
AWR Design Environment™ can be advantageous.

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The Forced Van-der-Pol Oscillator

As a practical example to show the power of using the AG technique for more sophisticated
simulations, this application note illustrates its use advantage through the simulation of a forced
Van der Pol oscillator (Figure 1).

This schematic contains the basic elements found in any nonlinear tuned circuit: a resonance,
nonlinearity and a signal source. The nonlinear conductance is of cubic order and shows negative
values at low voltage amplitudes, i(v) = -0.03·v + 0.01·v3.

The parallel resonator has the element values L = 1 nH, C = 9 pF and R = 100 Ω. The parallel
structure is fed by an independent current source whose equivalent admittance is included in R,
together with the resonator loss conductance.

Time-Domain Analysis

An interesting phenomena can be observed for different values of the current generator’s
frequency and amplitude in this forced Van der Pol oscillator example.

Depending upon the input frequency and with an input current of 5 mA amplitude, two different
voltage waveforms can be obtained for this example, as shown in Figures 2a and 2b. The
waveform in (Figure 2a) cannot be expanded as a harmonic series on fin because another
frequency is involved.

Where does this come from? The time-domain integration performed by APLAC transient
simulator within NI AWR Design Environment has converged towards a quasi-periodic solution
known as self-oscillating mixer (SOM) mode. Self-oscillating mixer modes are produced because
an internal autonomous oscillation, fa, has started and mixes with the input signal fin.

In the circuit shown in Figure 1, when the input frequency fin approaches the circuit’s resonance,
synchronization occurs and the solution becomes periodic (Figure 2b). The voltage waveform
contains only fin and its harmonics. The frequency range in which synchronization takes place
depends on the input generator’s amplitude—it is wider for high Ig values, and narrower for lower
current values.

When the input frequency is higher than the circuit’s resonance, but close to one of its harmonics,
synchronization can also take place in the form fin = N·fa. In this case, the subharmonic fa = fin/N
is observed in the periodic solution. This is the working principle of the analog frequency dividers.

Frequency-Domain Analysis

The frequency-domain solutions of the circuit in Figure 1 are very different from the time-domain
results in Figure 2. Using APLAC harmonic-balance simulator, the harmonic voltage amplitudes
have been plotted in the frequency range 1.5-1.85 GHz and for three different input current levels
of 5, 10, and 15 mA, as shown in Figure 3.

It can be observed that the solutions with Ig=5 mA at 1550 MHz and 1650 MHz have much lower
amplitudes than those simulated in the time-domain (Figure 2). In addition, the solution
corresponding to Ig=15 mA shows discontinuities in the blue diamond curves. This still persists
even after increasing the frequency resolution (Figure 4).

How can the previous results be explained? The solution with Ig=5 mA has a much lower
amplitude than the values simulated in the time domain because it represents the voltage
developed by a low-level input current across the equivalent impedance seen at Vo. (The higher

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amplitude autonomous oscillations observed in the time domain have not shown up here). For the
frequency range 1610–1760 MHz, the results do not reflect the natural behavior of physical
systems for which the response to an input excitation must be unique and depend only on initial
conditions.

Why then are such results being observed? Is there a problem with the simulator or the circuit?
The answer is NO. In this example, harmonic-balance techniques are showing different
dimensions of a more complex reality. Results in Figure 3 and Figure 4 are a subset of the many
possible solutions for this nonlinear circuit, showing a periodic output of the same fundamental
frequency as the input source.

Now, let’s take a look at the harmonic-balance simulation results for the same case but with the
addition of the AG technique.

Frequency-Domain Analysis with AG

Periodic Solutions: Jumps in a system’s response are observed in simulation as well as in the real
world. Nevertheless, the theory on nonlinear dynamics assumes that any continuous variation of
an input parameter must produce a continuous response. It is considered that when a jump is
produced, the designer is confronted with a response with multivalued sections, showing more
than one output for the same input value. Multivalued responses are not strange in nonlinear
systems, and they comprise stable and unstable solutions, including points of infinite slope, which
cannot be solved by the Newton-Raphson convergence algorithm typically employed by harmonic-
balance simulators.

Here, with the aid of an AG, this convergence problem can be overcome by implementing a
technique known as parameter switching. In the case of Figure 4, the voltage of the AG source
can be swept and solved for its frequency and phase, thus transforming the very high or infinite
slopes of the voltage versus frequency curves into very low or zero slopes. This modified problem
is now more readily solved by harmonic-balance techniques. By applying the non-perturbing
condition (1) during an optimization, the red-circled curve in Figure 5 is obtained.

Of the three parameters defining a single-tone signal (amplitude, frequency, and phase), any one
of the parameters can be swept, thereby leaving the remaining two free for optimization. By
sweeping the phase, for example, it is possible to solve for the multivalued sections of the curve
(pink squares in Figure 5). It can thus be observed that the bottom side of the curve differs slightly
from the frequency sweep results obtained without an AG (brown diamonds). This difference is
due to numerical errors in simulation as the error function (cost) for these points is much higher
than in the rest of the curve. The most likely cause for this is simply that those points are not a
valid solution. Sometimes, during an optimization, harmonic balance may converge close to a
solution without reaching it— in other words and in this case, the convergence error is high.

Another aspect to keep in mind when using the AG technique is that it requires an interpretation of
the convergence (error or cost) after each optimization. Values lower than 10E-10 or 10E-11 are
adequate, while values of the order of 1E-8 or higher are not (non-converged). The cost is an
internal function defined within NI AWR Design Environment and may vary slightly from one
optimizer to another (see AWR documentation for more details on this subject). This should not be
confused with the optimization goal which, in this example, is the maximum value permitted for
|YS| in order to verify the non-perturbing condition.

Phase sweeps can also be performed to explore new solutions which may be hidden/not shown
after a frequency sweep with harmonic balance. Such is the case with synchronization curves,
which are typical solutions in forced nonlinear systems, like injected oscillators. A synchronization
curve represents the locus of the solutions for which an internal oscillation develops and locks to

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the input signal for all the possible phase shifts between them. The input signal comes from an
independent source and the synchronization may take place with the fundamental or any
harmonic of the internal oscillation. Connecting an AG at a given node and imposing fAG = fin
enables the designer to sweep the phase difference between these two signals. It then leaves the
variables fin and VAG free for optimization. By doing this, the synchronization curves (red) are
reproduced and shown in Figure 6.

In this simulation (Figure 6), multi-valued sections are observed as well. Multivalued sections are
those showing more than one voltage amplitude corresponding to the same input frequency for
which no more than one can have physical existence. From the time-domain analysis in Figure 2,
it can be deduced that 1.675V must be the stable solution at 1650 MHz. In forced circuits with
greater complexity, when time-domain integration is no longer viable, small-signal perturbation
analysis is usually applied to determine the stability of oscillatory solutions.

Now let’s set Ig=0. The result is a free-running oscillator (autonomous system) with two solutions:
the oscillation, represented by a single point (to where the closed curves seem to converge), and
the trivial DC solution represented by Vo=0 (zero amplitude of the first harmonic). All free-running
oscillators have DC as a mathematical solution. In order for the oscillations to start up, the DC
must be unstable and small-signal analysis can be applied to verify it. The voltage and frequency
of autonomous oscillatory solutions can be determined by nonlinear analysis using either an AG or
an OSCAPROBE element. But the stability of the large-signal solution cannot be addressed by
small-signal analysis. This requires the application of specific techniques that are not compatible
with OSCAPROBE elements and therefore forces the requirement to use AG (one or more may
be required, such as for the case of a coupled oscillator system).

In the case of the forced solutions with Ig > 0 (Figure 6), the frequency sweep (with no AG) shows
Vo≠0 (Figure 6 [blue]). This case is considered non-oscillating because these forced solutions
correspond to the voltage developed by the external independent-current generator. On the other
hand, the synchronization curves (Figure 6 [red]), obtained with an AG and imposing fAG = fin
represent oscillatory solutions. They also establish the synchronization bandwidth of this circuit,
which depends on the input current amplitude Ig. Sub-harmonic solutions can be studied in the
same way if fAG = fin/N for N≥2 is imposed. The role of the AG is to stimulate the internal
oscillation caused by the circuit’s resonance, which under certain circumstances synchronizes
with the external generator.

Quasi-periodic Solutions: This application has thus far illustrated periodic solutions harmonically
related to the input source and how AG is useful for studying multi-valued sections and regions of
non-convergence for a harmonic-balance engine. However, AG is also very useful for finding
quasi-periodic solutions or those that can be expressed by combining a finite number of non-
commensurate (non-rationally related) fundamentals or periodic waveforms.

In this next example, a quasi-periodic solution is produced when the internal circuit oscillation is
not synchronous with the input generator signal. This quasi-periodic solution with two fundamental
frequencies is easily obtained by connecting an AG to the circuit at the independent frequency fa.
The AG stimulates an internal oscillation mode and helps the harmonic-balance converge towards
solutions with components m·fin ± n·fa, with |m|+|n| limited by the maximum harmonic order
specified in the harmonic-balance engine settings.

Looking at the case Ig=15 mA with fin = 1450 MHz and with the AG’s amplitude, frequency and
phase optimized for |Ys|<1e-7 (using the simplex optimizer with 100 iterations followed by a 10-
iteration gradient with convergence tolerance better than 1e-5), the resultant voltage waveform
and frequency spectrum obtained with both transient- and frequency-domain simulators are

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shown in Figure 7 and reveal excellent agreement.

Conclusion

While harmonic-balance and time-domain simulation techniques are often tried-and-true methods
for nonlinear analysis, they can be inhospitable to some circuit elements or functions. This is
when/where the AG feature being employed within NI AWR Design Environment can be
advantageous.

This application note discussed the advantage AG techniques bring to nonlinear behavior and
demonstrates its use for a Van der Pol oscillator. It further showed how, with the aid of AG
techniques, a perfect agreement can be found between frequency-domain and time-domain
simulations.

(*) All simulations performed and displayed within this application note relied upon V9.x of NI AWR
Design Environment software.

References

Flores, J. L. Suárez, A., “On the Use of the Auxiliary Generator Technique to Improve Non-linear
Microwave Circuit Analysis and Design,” ARMMS RF & Microwave Society Conf., 22-23 April
2013. Milton Hill House, Steventon, Oxfordshire (UK). http://www.armms.org

AWR Group, NI would like to thank José Luis Flores, microwave & RF engineer, for his
contributions to this application note.

www.linkedin.com/in/micro-waves/en

Figure 1: Forced nonlinear circuit: the Van

der Pol oscillator

Figure 2: Time-domain solutions

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for Ig = 5 mA with fin = 1550 MHz

(top) and fin = 1650 MHz (bottom)

Figure 3: Frequency-domain simulations

at different input current levels. Differing
results are observed at Ig=15 mA as a
discontinuity appears in the HB solution.
Frequency step size is 12.5 MHz and the
current source is set with NHarm=15

Figure 4: Repetition of the frequency-

domain simulations in Figure 3 for the
case Ig = 15 mA with a frequency step
size of
1 MHz. Discontinuity persists

Figure 5: Voltage sweep (red circles) and

phase sweep (pink squares) performed
with the aid of an auxiliary generator to
find solutions in non-converged sections

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of a curve. Each point is calculated by

optimizing for |Ys| < 1e-7 with simplex
optimization and a maximum of 100
iterations

Figure 6: Synchronized solutions for two

input levels; 5 mA and 10 mA. The closed
curves are obtained with an AG setting
fa=fin. (Note that three different solutions
are possible for Ig=5 mA and fin=1650
MHz)

Figure 7: Results from the simulation of a

quasi-periodic regime using the AG with
frequency-domain HB (a [blue] and b) and
time-domain transient (a [red] and c). To
represent the time-domain spectrum (red
top), an integer number of cycles is taken
from the steady-state part of the response

(238)

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