Block Diagram editor
High Speed Simulator
Integrated Graphing and Measurement
Library of Parameterizable Digital Signal Processing Elements
User Custom Elements
Importing / Exporting Data

Requirements

Mac OS X 10.4
1024 x 768 display

Recommended

Intel Core Duo Processor
1GHz G5 or Better Processor
1GHz G4 or Better Processor

FIR Coefficient Finder

Quickly Design FIR Filters
Floating Point - Fixed Point Conversion
Multiple Filter Types
Window and Parks McLellan algorithms
Time and Frequency Plots
Cursors To Measure Performance
up to 2047 coefficients

Requirements

Mac OS X 10.4
1024 x 768 display

Recommended

Intel Core Duo Processor
1GHz G5 or Better Processor
1GHz G4 or Better Processor

About Optunis

Press Release

Optunis System Maximizer FAQ

Welcome to the System Maximizer Frequently Asked Questions document. We'll update this page with additional information as more people ask more questions.
(copyright Optunis, 2006 - all rights reserved)

Which version of System Maximizer is for me?

The Personal Learning Edition is intended for people who have a desire to learn signal processing.

The Professional version is for people who are familiar with the various signal processing concepts, and want to design and analyze more complex systems.

System Maximizer Premier allows you to create your own custom components. The Premier version will enable new features before they migrate to the Professional and Personal Learning Editions.

A detailed list of the differences between version is available here.

Will System Maximizer run on the new Intel Macs?

System Maximizer version 1.1.0 is a Universal Binary Application and runs natively on the Intel and PowerPC processors.

I've hooked up my system to a timePlot sink, and run a simulation, but I don't see any results.

Sometimes, a plot is not the best way to view data. This often happens if you've designed an recursive (feedback, or IIR) filter which goes unstable, and the results are infinity or nan. Other times, you may have results which are very near to zero, and it looks like a straight line, with little movement.

Step 1 - double click on the timePlot icon to open time plot

Step 2 - from the time plot window, click the Show Controls button

Step 3 - click the show paper tape button

This will display the actual numbers the program is attempting to plot.

When I run a long simulation (greater than 100K cycles), it takes a long time to display the paper tape.

If you have a long simulation (ie: >100K cycles), it may take a long time for the paper tape to appear. The paper tape is a small textedit application to display results, intended to help debug your design. To display large quantities of data, it is generally preferred to use the toTextFile sink, output the results to a text file, and open up the text file in an editor capable of dealing with large data sets. (We recommend BBEdit.)

I've got some tricky control signaling I need to take care of. Can System Maximizer deal with this?

In many cases, (state machines, or intricate signaling protocols) a block diagram is not the best (or cleanest, easiest, etc.) way to represent behavior. Instead, a textual approach, provides clarity, and simplification. It is for these cases that we have System Maximizer Premier. This version of System Maximizer allows the creation of user custom components. A custom component's behavior may be described in C (actually it's Objective C, but we provide a template, so you don't really need to learn Objective C if you don't want to). All the elaborate controls are now encapsulated into an textual object.

Can I Import Data Into System Maximizer?

Yes, the Personal Learning Edition, Professional, and Premium editions allow importing and exporting of data from/to a text file. Open the library drawer, and drag-and-drop the From Text File element into your design. Double click this element and set the filename to the appropriate input text file. The format for the text file where each element is delimited by a \n (newline) character.

Can System Maximizer produce X-Y plots?

Yes, open the library drawer, and drag-and-drop the X-Y Plot element into your design. Run the simulation. Double click the element to set the appropriate plot parameters.

Are there other plotting functions I can use?

There are temporal (time) plots, dual time plots, as well as spectral plots. To perform a polar plot, use the rect2pol element, and feed the output (mag, ph) to the X - Y plot.

Can I Do an FFT (Fast Fourier Transform) in System Maximizer?

Yes, the Professional and Premium editions have an FFT element. Open the library drawer, and drag-and-drop the Fast Fouier Transform element into your design. Double click the element to set the transform length. The length must be a power of 2.

Can I Filter Data in System Maximizer?

Yes, the Professional and Premium editions of System Maximizer support both IIR (Infinite Impulse Response) and FIR (Finite Impulse Response) filters. Drag-and-drop either the FIR Filter or IIR Filter element to your design. Double click the element to set coefficient file.

Will System Maximizer calcuate the coefficients I need for a particular FIR Filter?

No, System Maximizer is not an FIR filter coefficient generator. But Optunis does make a product called the FIR Coefficient Finder which can create and analyze coefficients for your FIR filter.

What level of precision does System Maximizer use to perform calculations?

System Maximizer is a multi-resolution simulator. Different elements require different precision for calculation. For instance an FFT might require 64 bit floating point precision, while a counter would produce results using an integer. Each element may accept data as an integer, single precision floating point, or double precision floating point. The elements may utilize whatever the appropriate precision is optimal to perform the calcuation, and produce data in any precision. As a result, each element performs the best tradeoff in computation vs resources. (In general, any element which performs calculations will utilize the maximum precision possible).

Optunis : System Maximizer - FAQ