Recent searches
Search options
guess i'll finally have to get into rf circuits and tuning (famous last words). also is there any workable foss 3d fem simulation thing that makes sense for playing with ghz antennas and enclosure geometry/materials? or is this a domain exclusive to expensive proprietary software? are these things even solvable purely in simulation with current computers? can someone just do it for me? :D
@mntmn I think @azonenberg is in the side business of "has expensive software and reasonable rates for open projects" ?
@HeNeArXn @mntmn I have a Sonnet pro seat including the far field radiation pattern option.
I'm not an expert at designing antennas - far from it - but if you have geometry you want me to try I can simulate it.
The one big limitation is that it's a planar solver which means that you can't model e.g. a parabolic dish, and it can only model radiation normal to the PCB surface (so a patch antenna is fine, but it wouldn't give accurate results for a PCB yagi that fires sideways).
But if you have a simple patch design or PIFA or something you want to tweak I can definitely help with that.
@azonenberg @HeNeArXn that's cool, thanks! but just to understand... you probably can't plop the 3d case part(s) surrounding it into that simulation to see how they affect the antenna, right? as i understood those parts become part of the antenna and detune it?
7098) @azonenberg @mntmn @HeNeArXn isn't OpenEMS in theory able to do so? I think I've seen it used for antenna simulations.
@tyalie @mntmn @HeNeArXn Yes, it is if you can make it work.
My problem with OpenEMS is that it's basically a naked solver and missing a lot of the pieces you need to do useful work with it. Everyone I know who's done significant stuff with it has had to write a lot of custom application specific Python which is a dealbreaker for me (especially as someone who would much rather be writing C++ or SystemVerilog than Python).
Maybe @dlharmon can help?
@azonenberg @tyalie @mntmn @HeNeArXn
OpenEMS is definitely capable but it's not trivial to use. Requires writing either Python or Matlab/Octave code to describe the geometry, boundary conditions, field dumps, etc. I think there are some antenna examples.
It's been several years since I've done an antenna in it but I recall it working well for the last one I did. Similar results to HFSS and measured data.
@azonenberg @tyalie @mntmn @HeNeArXn
Most of the antennas I have worked on are wideband (spirals, dipoles, horns). I've never found the case/radome to be a big influence on the antenna, even at nearly mm wave frequencies. Probably more an issue with narrowband stuff like patches or PIFAs.