Plot Types
The Data Display offers four plot types. Which one you can use depends on whether the data is real (scalar) or complex — that's the single most important rule below.
Rectangular shows scalar (real) data only. Smith and
Polar show complex data only. Table is the exception — it shows
both complex and scalar data together in one grid. So a complex quantity like S(1,1)
goes on a Smith/Polar/Table; a real quantity like Pout in dBm goes on a Rectangular/Table; and a Table can
hold both at once.
Rectangular
The familiar Cartesian X–Y plot. Scalar data only. A complex signal must be reduced to a real
quantity first via a per-trace transform — magnitude in dB (dB20/dB10), phase in degrees, real
part, imaginary part, magnitude. This is the plot for gain vs. frequency, Pout vs. drive,
efficiency vs. load, harmonic levels, and most swept results.
Smith
The Smith chart maps impedance/reflection onto the unit disk. Complex data only — it plots the
complex value directly (no transform needed). Use it for reflection coefficients (S(1,1)),
input/output impedance, and matching-network design. Loadpull contours are drawn on the Smith
chart's Γ-plane.
Polar
A magnitude-and-angle plot on concentric circles. Complex data only. Use it when you care about a complex quantity's phase and magnitude but don't want the Smith chart's impedance grid — e.g. viewing a reflection or transmission coefficient as a vector.
It is also where a node's stability is read. The reference document behind
the WSProbe reads 1/H0 and 1/Y0 on a polar chart and looks for a clockwise
crossing of the negative real axis — so those two, and the envelope's 1/H0env and 1/Y0env, are
offered on Polar and on nothing else. An Ohtomo global loop gain is polar-only
for the same reason, with one difference that matters: its critical point is +1, not the origin.
A polar plot carrying any WSProbe trace draws small reference marks at both points, because a
reader who has to remember which family reads against which is a reader who will occasionally use the
wrong one.
Table
The numbers in a grid. Table is special: it shows complex and scalar data simultaneously in the same table — something no other plot type does. A complex column displays in a chosen complex format (magnitude/angle, real/imag, or dB/angle), and a scalar column shows its real value, side by side. It's ideal for reading exact values, building a results summary, and copying data out. (The loadpull summary table is a specialized Table view.)
Adding traces & transforms
Each plot holds one or more traces, configured in the trace card:
Data source — which run/file the trace reads from. Measured files overlay simulated ones on the same axes.
Signal — the quantity: an S-parameter (
S(2,1)), a node voltage, a branch current, a measurement, or a cube slice.Transform (Rectangular/Table) — how a complex value becomes scalar:
dB20,dB10,Mag,Phase,Real,Imag. Not needed on Smith/Polar (they take the complex value directly).Complex format (Table) — magnitude/angle, real/imag, or dB/angle for complex columns.
Markers — drop interactive markers to read values; on a loadpull contour, markers read the surface, and the max-power / max-efficiency optima are flagged.
See also: Simulations (what each analysis produces) · Components.