RF Cascade Workbook™- RF Cafe

Example Receiver System

This is the 15-component version. Click on the thumbnail images for full-size screen images.

Click here to see the 30-component version of RF Cascade Workbook.

There might be minor differences between the current version of RF Cascade Workbook™ and what is shown in these screen captures.

Built-In Chart Types

System Definition Inputs

Block Diagram Icons

Help Screen

RF Cascade Workbook (Help Worksheet) - RF Cafe

Help | Hints

PayPal logo - RF Cafe

You DO NOT need a PayPal account to order.

Note: I fill orders personally, not via an automated process. Therefore, there could be an hour or more delay. Files are sent as an attachment to the e-mail in your PayPal account.

Assistance:
Because the price for RF Cascade Workbook™ is so low, I cannot provide any level of assistance with setup or operation. After all, you're getting an amazingly feature-filled program for less than an hour of an engineer's billable time. Reported errors, if any, will be addressed ASAP.
Macros:
You must enable macros to run or you cannot use RF Cascade Workbook.
System Requirements: Excel 2007 & Windows 2008 or newer.
These instructions and screenshots were made in Excel 2007, so your screen and menu placements might be a little different. I verified that everything works fine all the way through Excel 2019.
Help:

Here is the complete Help Page from RF Cascade Workbook™.

This product is NOT Shareware, Freeware, or an Evaluation version. Its legal use is contingent upon purchase directly from RF Cafe, as no distributors are authorized. Unauthorized copying, alteration or distribution of this product is prohibited by law. Please visit the RF Cafe website to submit payment for this product. Simply put, you may not use this product if you have not paid for it.

Disclaimer: "RF Cascade Workbook™" is offered AS IS. Your use of this product implies you alone accept responsibility for results obtained through its use, and will hold harmless Kirt Blattenberger, RF Cafe, and all associates for any losses incurred through its use. This product has been tested very thoroughly, and there are no known problems at the time of this release.

A Site License, if purchased allows an unlimited number of users at one (1) location. Users must be officially affiliated with the site during the time of use. That means the license does not follow a user who permanently leaves the site (graduation, new employment, etc.). The license extends to persons whose primary job is normally performed at that location, but works occasionally from home or at a remote location. Hobbyists employed at the same location are welcome and encouraged to use the software. The single location restriction is imposed to limit distribution to local use for companies with multiple physical locations. This software may not be redistributed in any form, nor posted on the Internet or anywhere that it can be publicly accessed. The file(s) may be distributed on a server, via e-mail, etc., as needed for qualified users.

RF Cascade Workbook™ is offered AS IS. Your use of RF Cascade Workbook™ implies you alone accept responsibility for results obtained through its use, and will hold harmless Kirt Blattenberger, RF Cafe, and all legal assigns for any losses incurred through its use. RF Cascade Workbook™ has been tested very thoroughly, and there are no known problems at the time of this release. Discrepancies that affect accurate results, if discovered, will be fixed ASAP and a replacement version will be provided at no cost. Also, any and all User modifications to RF Cascade Workbook™ - other than entering values in the provided Unlocked cells, negates any and all responsibility by RF Cafe for the integrity of the software. Unprotecting a worksheet negates responsibility by RF Cafe.

None known.

For two decades, RF Cascade Workbook™ has been the de facto standard for spreadsheet-based RF system cascade analysis. Chances are you have never used a spreadsheet quite like this. Extensive use of VBA code enables complex calculations and automated user interface features that make the experience more like a software program than a spreadsheet. Using RF Cascade Workbook™ is as easy as any other Excel spreadsheet, and it allows you to make modifications to the cells and charts if your expertise is sufficient. This newest version, H, is not a major change, but does add a few convenience features. I dropped the "2018" part of the name in order to not scare people off because 2018 is now six years ago - ugh!

New in version H is the ability to specify up to 10 discrete signals (frequency and amplitude) to track their linear changes (no spurious products) as they pass through the system. This includes both amplitude and frequency as modified by amplifiers, filters, and mixers (frequency translation). They appear on the "Signal Power vs. Frequency" chart along with the original plots. It is handy for including discrete interference signals separate from the normal intended frequency band. Discrete components can be inside or outside the operational bandwidth. Also, Lock and Unlock buttons have been added to the System Definition worksheet to simplify protection of formula cells against accidental overwriting.

By popular demand, both a 15-component and a 30-component version is included with your purchase. If your Excel skill permits, you can add or delete component columns as required.

Extensive error trapping and limit testing is incorporated to help prevent mistakes. This is significantly easier and faster than using the multi-thousand dollar simulators when a quick system analysis is all that is needed. Hundreds of hours have gone into developing this tool. Please see RF Cascade Workbook™ intro video below for an overview of features.

Your are welcome to request vH if you own any previous version of 2018. However, if you can spare the $45, purchasing it again will help a poor webmaster keep food on the table ;-)

Feature Descriptions

Excel's cell comment feature is use extensively to provide guidance for RF Cascade Workbook™ (RFCW). The contents of all the hints - and more - can be found on the "Help" worksheet (click the tab at the bottom). The "Help" worksheet, cell mouse-over comments, and this web page comprise the totality of documentation for RF Cascade Workbook™. There is no separate document available. RF Cascade Workbook 2005™ User's Guide should also be useful since it extensively documents formulas. Combined, there is a lot of information about not just how to use RFCW, but also how cascaded system analysis works. RF Cafe is also chock full of related information, so one way or the other, you're covered.

The built-in ability of locking cells to prevent unintentional overwriting of formulas is used in RF Cascade Workbook™. The System Definition worksheet is Locked as provided, but I have included a Lock and an Unlock button in case you need to change the state. Most of the time the protection can be left on. Trust me, even after becoming familiar with use, you will still find yourself accidently attempting to type into formula cells, and of course doing so invalidates calculated results. Probably the only time you will need to remove protection is when inserting or deleting columns or rows. I recommend never Unprotecting any worksheet since doing so invalidates the integrity as provided. Be sure to reapply Protection (Lock) if you decide to Unprotect (Unlock). See the RFCW Terms of Use information about liability.

Please see this separate page with screen shots and directions showing how to insert and delete columns. I recommend rather than deleting columns, instead use the Hide function built into Excel. That keeps the data in the cells, but prevents it from appearing in the Charts. The computations from input to output still include the data in the hidden cells. Hiding the component columns is a handy way to exclude components in the Charts without actually removing them from the Data Series for the charts.

Since the complete worksheet occupies hundreds of rows, a convenient drop-down menu is provided to move up and down the page. Information necessary for the navigation to function is in the cell behind the menu, so if you accidently overwrite the cells, navigation no longer works (keep Protection turned on).

Hide Columns (RF Cascade Workbook) - RF Cafe

Unhide Columns (RF Cascade Workbook) - RF Cafe

Rather than deleting and/or adding component stage columns, it is much simpler to Hide and/or Unhide columns. Doing so retains all the information without having to go through all the steps needed for deleting and/or adding columns. All the input and calculated is retained and included in the overall output, but the Hidden stage columns are not included in the charts. Hiding component stage columns can be a good way to exclude unneeded plots from the charts without requiring you to delete/add data series - which is itself a pain to do.

Charts are pre-configured for plotting all calculated cascade parameters. Auto-scaling of the axes is the default, but you can change all aspects of the chart formats per Excel standard. Select chart to display using drop-down menu.

These four top-level overall system parameters are used for many calculations. Be sure to define them along with the individual stage component parameters.

Build your system block diagram using the provided images or make your own. Click on the "Icons" tab at the bottom of the page to access and copy the desired icon (58x32 pixels), then paste it into the block diagram. Use Excel's standard Objects alignment and spacing tools for a perfect layout.

Enter each stage's nominal and tolerance values. Error checking is provided for exceeding power or gain limits (see below), no negative noise figure (NF), making sure NF is equal to absolute value of a negative gain component, etc. Errors are reported in the "Status" cells. Two rows f user-defined cells are provided for formulas along with a "User Defined" chart that displays the cell data.

Set maximum values for stage component input parameters. These values are used for Data Validation in the input parameter cells. This results in a limit where the charts auto-scale, since entering a null value of, say +999 dBm for IP3 will render its affect utterly unnoticeable by the system, the IP3 chart will auto-scale to +1000 dBm or more while the IP3 level in your actual system might be a maximum of +50 dBm. The useful data would then be crunched almost entirely at the bottom 5% of the chart. Of course you can always go in and manually scale the chart axis minimum and maximum values as desired if you do use +999 dBm as the null value. This just keeps things reasonable in case you prefer to let the charts auto-scale. Besides, +100 dBm is good enough in most instances.

Enter the lower and upper frequency range for calculating the system response inclusive of filters and frequency conversion stages. 175 equally spaced frequency steps are calculated for all stages. Depending on your system, you might want to do sweeps across the entire input band of concern, then do narrower sweeps that will provide finer detail within your smaller filter bandwidths.

Note: the Lower frequency cannot be zero (0) because of the logarithmic horizontal chart scale. The smallest value permitted is 10^-12, which is small enough to include 1 Hz even when the Upper frequency is 1 THz.

Every stage can contain a frequency-dependent component which can be an actual filter or a model of the frequency response of an amplifier, cable, coupler, etc. RFCW checks to make sure all required inputs are present and alerts you if they are not. For example, if you select a bandpass filter and do not enter a lower frequency or if you use a Chebyshev and do not enter a ripple value (or if you enter invalid values, like lower frequency greater than upper frequency).

As with the filter specifications, every stage can have a frequency translation. That means there is no limit to the number of frequency conversions your system can have, although from a practical standpoint you will probably never have more than three. RFCW checks to make sure all required inputs are present and alerts you if they are not.

Frequency-Dependent Power Levels (RF Cascade Workbook) - RF Cafe

Frequency-dependent power levels based on filter responses and frequency translations are calculated separately from the other system cascade calculations (NF, IP2, IP3, etc.). Along with the filter response, all nominal stage component gains are included. Results are plotted in the "Frequency Response" ("Signal Power vs. Frequency") chart. These frequency-dependent gains and power levels are not used in any of other cascade calculations (NF, IP2, IP3, etc.). Note that frequency and power levels presented this matrix are actually calculated in cells below Row 540, but are done this way to conveniently place power levels next to their associated frequencies while making data selection for the chart simpler (take my word for it).

For archival purposes only, here are links to previous versions of RF Cascade Workbook:

RF Cascade Workbook™ (version H)

Feature Descriptions