Introduction to

Multisim 13

Based on a tutorial prepared by:

Ali AlMatrouk
Updated to MultiSim 13 by: DK

1
 LEARNING OBJECTIVES

After completing this tutorial, you should be able to

• Create simple circuits in National Instruments’ multisim 13
• Perform DC Analysis on circuits (in 3 different ways) and interpret
the results.
• Perform Transient Analysis on circuits (in 2 different ways) and
interpret the results.
• Perform AC Analysis on circuits (in 2 different ways) and interpret
the results.

2
 Simulation
• Simulation is a powerful tool that can be used to aid in
analysis and design (check or predict circuit behavior)
• SPICE (System Program with Integrated Circuit Emphasis)
– Developed at UC Berkeley in 1970s
– Analog electronic circuit simulator
– Basis of all modern circuit simulators
– PSpice: SPICE for the PC (1984)
• We will use Multisim made by National Instruments
– Graphical interface
– Runs standard SPICE Analyses (DC, AC, Transient)
– Allows user to incorporate Instruments for measurements just like
in lab

3
Starting Up

Programs/National
Instruments/Circuit NI
Select Multisim 13 to
begin schematic entry

4
File Save

Select File/Save to display a

standard Windows Save dialog

5
 File Save

Navigate the location where

you want to store the file and
give the file a name.

6
 Schematic

Project Hierarchy is displayed

Select Circuit1 to view schematic

7
Circuit Construction

Select Place/Component to
add a circuit device

8
 Circuit Construction

Select a Group from

the dropdown list

9
 Circuit Construction

Select Group/Basic
to get Resistors

10
 Circuit Construction

Symbol (ANSI)
displays the
device symbol

RESISTOR family is
used for resistors The Component list
(Note resistors provides all the
available in the lab components in the
have 5% tolerance.) selected Group

11
 Circuit Construction

Once the device is

selected click on OK
and place the resistor
in the schematic using
the left click

12
 Circuit Construction

To Duplicate
resistors. Left click on
the device, once the
blue borders appear,
right click and select
Copy

13
 Circuit Construction

Right click again and

select paste as shown.
Place the resistor
anywhere you want.

14
 Circuit Construction

To Rotate resistors.
Left click on the
device, once the blue
borders appear, right
click and select 90
Clockwise or 90
Counter CW.

15
 Circuit Construction

To add a Ground select Place/Component/Sources (in

the Group dropdown list)/POWER_SOURCE (Under
Family).
Select GROUND in the component list and click OK

16
 Circuit Construction

GROUND is placed
same as any other
component

17
 Circuit Construction

To add a DC Voltage Source select

Place/Component/Sources (in the Group
dropdown list)/POWER_SOURCE (Under
Family).
Select DC_POWER in the component list and
click OK

18
 Circuit Construction

For future reference, to add a DC Current

Source select Place/Component/Sources (in
the Group dropdown list)/SIGNAL_CURRENT
(Under Family).
Select DC_CURRENT in the component list
and click OK

19
 Circuit Construction

To wire the circuit:

1.Left click on a pin on a component to start the
connection and move the mouse. A wire appears,
attached to your curser.
2. Left click on the destination pin to finish the
connection. Multisim automatically and intelligently
places the wire

20
 Circuit Construction

For future reference, to delete a device right click on it

and press delete

21
Circuit Construction
To change the value of the Voltage
Source. Double click on it, a window will
appear as shown. Change the numerical
magnitude of the Voltage and you can
also change the prefix using arrow
up/down

22
Circuit Construction

The same procedure can be followed for

the resistors. Set R1 to 510 ohm and R2
to 2.2 kohm.
One can change the tolerance if desired

23
 DC Analysis (I)

Run
OR Select Simulate/Run

Measurement Probe
General Procedure for DC Analysis
1.Select Measurement Probe
2.Place the Probe in all different nodes
3.Click on “Run”

VERY IMPORTANT NOTE: Whenever you want to make some

changes to the circuit Stop simulation using one of the Run
simulation commands

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 DC Analysis (I)

Select Simulate/Run

25
 DC Analysis (I)

Alternative way “Run” OR Run Switch

26
 DC Analysis (I)

DC values for
voltages and current
appear on the probe
list.
Ignore the zero
values for now (they
are AC values).

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 DC Analysis (II)

Click to place a Multimeter

Another way to do DC Analysis is

using a Multimeter. A Multimeter is
provided in the lab and using it
here gives the user an idea about
how to measure voltages and
currents experimentally.

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 DC Analysis (II)

Placing a Multimeter is just like placing

any other component, you can rotate it
around by right clicking on it and
choose any of the commands (90
Clockwise, 90 Counter CW, Flip
Horizontal, Flip Vertical)

29
 DC Analysis (II)

AC
DC

Measurements

To measure the voltage, connect the

Multimeter in parallel with the device. Run
the simulation and double click on the
Multimeter to show the measurement.
One can choose to alternating current (AC)
or direct current (DC) as well as Voltage
(V), Current (A), and Resistance (Ohm).

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Agilent
Multimeter

31
DC Volts

Turn Power Voltage DC Amps Current

On Measurement (shift DC V) Measurement
Connections Connections

32
 DC Analysis (II)

Series Connection

Note that you will need to remove

some wires and add new ones to
connect the Multimeter in series.

To measure current, one should

connect the Multimeter in series.

33
 DC Analysis (II)

To measure voltage at a certain point, connect the

positive terminal of the Multimeter to that point and the
negative terminal to Ground.

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 DC Analysis (III)

A 3rd way to perform DC Analysis

1. Name every node
2. Select Simulate/ Analyses/DC Operating Point
3. Simulate

To name the node, right click on the node and select

properties

35
 DC Analysis (III)

If you select “Show,” the name

you choose will appear on the
circuit schematic.

Change the Net name of the node to something you

are familiar with (like V1 or VA) and click OK
Follow the same procedure for every node.
Note that you can not rename Ground. It is always
“0”.

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 DC Analysis (III)

Select Simulate/Analyses/DC Operating Point…

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 DC Analysis (III)

Select all named variables in the circuit and click add

38
 DC Analysis (III)

After you choose Add, choose Simulate and the

program will perform DC Analysis

39
 DC Analysis (III)

After clicking Simulate, the voltages of the named

nodes will appear as shown.

40
 Transient Analysis
• Consider voltage and/or current as a function of time
– Output must be a graph with time on horizontal axis
– Requires an AC source! Function Generator

• In Multisim
– Method I: use Instruments: Oscilloscope
– Method II: use Transient Analysis

41
Transient Analysis (I)

Place a Function Generator

to provide the AC input
voltage and connect the
positive terminal to where
you want the input to be and
the negative terminal to
ground.

Place an Oscilloscope and

connect the positive terminals
of the channels to where you
want to measure the AC voltage
and the negative terminals to
ground.

42
 Transient Analysis (I)

Double click on the Function

Generator and Oscilloscope
to get the windows shown

Change the Frequency to 1 Change the scale if needed to show the signal
kHz (= 1000 Hz), Amplitude DC button shows the DC and AC parts of the signal
to 1 Vp (1V peak). Note you
can set the prefix using the AC button shows the AC part of the signal
arrows. 0 button sets the signal to zero
- button Inverts the signal

43
Agilent Agilent
Function Oscilloscope
Generator

44
 Transient Analysis (I)

“Run” the circuit to show the

input and output on the
oscilloscope

45
 Transient Analysis (I)

After adjusting the scales on

the oscilloscope, you will get
the signal shown on the
Oscilloscope XSC1 window.
Stop the simulation (or
choose “Sing. Under Type”
to freeze the signal.

46
 Optional Circuit Configurations

One cannot tell which signal

is which in the previous
slide, so we can change the
color of the signal by right
clicking on a wire and
choosing Wire Color…

47
Optional Circuit Configurations

Choose the color that you prefer.

48
 Optional Circuit Configurations

Run the simulation again

and you can distinguish
between the input and
output signal

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Transient Analysis (II)

Select Simulate/Analyses/Transient Analysis

50
 Transient Analysis (II)

Choose the Start Time and End Time

51
 Transient Analysis (II)

Click on Output and add the voltages

after naming them

52
 Transient Analysis (II)

Exporting data to Excel

Exporting data
to MathCAD

Exporting data
to LabVIEW

Click on Simulate and you will get the

Transient Analysis Result

53
 AC Analysis
• Consider voltage and/or current as a function of
frequency
– Output must be a graph with frequency on horizontal axis
• Given large range of frequencies considered, often use log scale
• Magnitude and Phase included
• Particularly useful when designing items such as frequency-selective filters or
amplifiers
– Requires an AC source! AC_Power

• In Multisim
– Method I: use Instruments: Bode Plotter
– Method II: use AC Analysis

54
Additional Circuit Construction

Place an AC power source

Group: Sources
Family: POWER_SOURCE
Component: AC_POWER

55
Remove Function Generator and
Oscilloscope Additional Circuit Construction

Place a Capacitor
Group: Basic
Family: CAPACITOR
Component: 10 uF

56
 AC Analysis (I)

Place a Bode Plotter and connect the

input and output terminals

Here, change the

parameters of the AC
power source to 1Vrms
and 60Hz

57
AC Analysis (I)

Double click on the Bode Plotter to get

the window shown below.

To change Mode from Magnitude to

Phase and vice versa

To change scale from linear to

logarithmic and vice versa for
the vertical or horizontal axis

To change Final and Initial scale

values for either vertical or horizontal

58
 AC Analysis (I)

Choose Simulate. Here are example AC Analysis

Results using logarithmic vertical and horizontal
scales

59
 AC Analysis (II)

Select Simulate/Analyses/AC Analysis

60
 AC Analysis (II)

Set all the parameters.

Here change FSTART to 100 Hz, FSTOP to 1 MHz,
and 25 points per decade

61
 AC Analysis (II)

Add the output voltage after naming it

62
 AC Analysis (II)

Choose Simulate to get the AC Analysis result. Note

that this shows magnitude (top) and phase (bottom).

63
 AC Analysis (II)

See what happens when you do AC

Analysis using a vertical scale in Decibel

64
 AC Analysis (II)

AC Analysis result using a vertical scale in Decibel.

Now the top graph should look like the graph you got
using AC Analysis (I) on slide 53.

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