Editor’s Pick: Upgraded Simulation Toolset for Electromagnetics Ships

In the email the other day a press release arrived that set my antenna up. It should interest all of you engineers who model electromagnetic phenomena and optimize designs in industries like automotive, aviation, electronics, and medical devices, to name a few.

Computer Simulation Technology—CST for short—announced the 2013 edition of its CST STUDIO SUITE, its six-module collection of applications for integrated EM simulation as well as thermal and mechanical effects and circuit simulation. The bulk of the enhancements appears to be concentrated in the CST MICROWAVE STUDIO (CST MWS) module, which provides specialized tools for 3D simulations of high-frequency devices, analysis of antennas, filters, couplers, planar and multi-layer structures, SI and EMC effects, and the like.

I’ll get back to CST MWS in a bit. First, CST STUDIO SUITE 2013 also incorporates a few of across the board enhancements that need to be noted.

Over the years, CST has tried its best to make its software easy to use. This characteristic manifests itself in the new ribbon interface that makes its debut in the 2013 edition. The ribbon interface, they say, is intended to help make the set up, modeling, simulation, and post-processing workflow easier and more straightforward. Complementing that are a Project Wizard and a QuickStart Guide, which should also simplify prepping and configuring new projects.

The second general enhancement is something that current users in particular will notice. CST has optimized its solver code to leverage Intel’s newest generation of multi-processors, which should boost performance in a significant way. The software also supports parallelization for cluster computing as well as a distributed computing scheme that uses available network computing resources to minimize simulation times.

Performance has been boosted in other ways across the system. For example, the CST PARTICLE STUDIO module for simulating free moving charged particles now provides GPU (graphics processing unit) support for particle-in-cell simulations. GPU support, BTW, uses NVIDIA’s CUDA technology. The company also says that it improved its automation features for model set-up and result creation in its CST DESIGN STUDIO module for 3D EM/circuit co-simulation and synthesis.

OK, CST MWS. One of the things this module is known for is offering users a choice of six solvers to do targeted jobs, so, as you might expect, its solvers have seen a lot of action in this release. Enhancements to its transient solver include more memory-efficient mesh generation than with previous versions; nonlinear, frequency-dependent materials; and GPU acceleration for the TLM solver. Curved tetrahedrons are now the default with its frequency domain solvers. The Eigen mode solver now supports lossy dielectrics, and range profiles and sinograms for radar cross-section analyses are now supported with the asymptotic solver.

Last month, CST held three webinars to show users CST STUDIO SUITE 2013’s new features and tools. These are now available without cost and on-demand for everyone after registration. You’ll find a link to them at the end of today’s Pick of the Week write-up. Webinar topics focused on EDA and EMC workflows, low-frequency simulations, and microwave and RF simulations. CST STUDIO SUITE 2013 sounds like good stuff, so you might like to check these out.

Thanks, Pal. — Lockwood

Anthony J. Lockwood

Editor at Large, Desktop Engineering

Read today’s pick of the week write-up.

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