Components representing various system functions are available for use on any system page: gain, mixer, filter, attenuator, AGC, Noise Summer and generic. Each component can be characterized by a variety of parameters depending on their enabled state accessible in the Component Properties dialog box. See Component Properties Page for a complete description of the available parameters. Components can easily be added, deleted, copied, cut, pasted or linked to system pages.
Component values are displayed below each component (a label is also available above each component). Most values can be edited “in place” by placing the cursor over a value and clicking the left mouse button. Values that are automatically calculated or derived are not editable and appear in dark red. If the value can be edited, the cursor will change from an arrow to an I-beam as the cursor passes over the value. After clicking on an editable value an edit box will appear allowing you to make modifications to the value. For more extensive modification see Component Properties.
Parameters are 'derived' when they come from a
You can enter values directly under a component for any parameter that is enabled for display/editing (see System Properties ).
In some cases the displayed parameter values under a component may differ from the value entered into the edit field. This is apparent when the currently edited parameter loses focus (such as when another parameter is selected, or when the solve button is clicked). The parameter that is deactivated may display a value different from the one actually entered. This can happen if
A temperature coefficient has been define for the parameter (see Defining Temperature Coefficients for more information), and the user has declared the System page temperature to be something other than 290° K.
The component is in compression, in which case the effective gain is displayed instead of the linear gain entered by the user.
Red Text - Derived parameters are shown under a component in dark-red text and are not directly editable.
Green Text - Indicates that the displayed parameter is different from the user-supplied value due to system conditions (compression, temperature, etc).
The label field above a component is for documentation convenience only and is not required. The mouse cursor will change to an insertion point as the cursor is passed over the label field.
In the component Properties dialog parameters can be inter-related using expressions. For instance, instead of entering a numeric value for OPsat, you could define its value to be 3 dB above the OP1dB value as shown below. Since SysCalc supports full Expression Syntax, the relationships can be as complex as required. SysCalc will issue warning if the expressions result in circular references. A circular reference results when a parameter ulitmately refers back to itself through indirect referencing. If (Psat ← P1dB) means that Psat is related to P1dB via an expression, then (Psat ← P1dB ← Gain ← Psat) would create a circular reference.