Photonic Solutions Enewsletter

January 2015

Creating and Organizing Compound Components in OptSim, OptSim Circuit and ModeSYS

A compound component is a schematic made up of individual models (and/or other compound components in hierarchical fashion) that can be used in the main project files in a way similar to using “regular” models.

The following steps describe the process of creating, organizing and using a compound component:

1. Open a new schematic, set the Document Type to Compound Component (CC) and name the CC: 

Document Type

A blank topology layout area is displayed. This is where you will place your models and make connections. In this example, we will make a simple single channel transmitter that you will use in several topologies. We will assume that your project will use this transmitter several times, but with different PRBS.

2. Place all the necessary components except the PRBS in the drawing area and make connections between the components.

make connections

Now we need to add input and output ports to the layout so that we can make connections when we use this CC in the main project. Here are the ports to choose from:

input and output ports

In this case, we need one input port before the NRZ electrical driver model and one output port after the Mach-Zehnder modulator (MZM) model.

3. Place the input and output ports by left-clicking the mouse, selecting the ports, and left-clicking mouse again in the drawing area where you want to locate the ports.

4. Make the connections and save and close the completed CC.

completed CC

5. In order to make this CC available for use in various projects from within the models tree of the left-hand pane, follow these steps:

        a. Open the User Libraries Organizer from the Utilities menu:

Utilities menu

        b. Import your CC as shown in the following figures.

Import your CC

        c. Add the CC to the User Directory.

Add the CC to the User Directory

If you expand the User Directory, you will see your transmitter CC there, as shown in the following figure.

transmitter CC

        d. Close the User Libraries Organizer. 

6. Your CC is now ready to be used in your main project. Open a new (or existing) project where you want this CC to be placed, and drag and drop your CC from the models tree. 

transmitter CC

7. Connect the required models to the transmitter CC to complete your link design.

Connect the required models to the transmitter CC

8. It’s possible to look inside the CC (but not change it) from the main topology file as shown below. The CC schematic will be in color to differentiate it from the main CC.

look inside the CC

You can also set an icon for a CC if you have an image file.

For more information, please contact rsoft_support@synopsys.com