Modeling Tool Tackles Complex Radio, Microwave Designs

By DE Editors

Vector Fields Inc.  (Aurora IL) has announced what it calls “a major evolution”  of Concerto, the company’s high-frequency electromagnetic package. Additions to Concerto series 6 include new and enhanced solvers,  “sophisticated” model parameterization, and an enhanced scripting capability. Key enhancements include three new or upgraded simulation methods.

Concerto is an integrated design-simulate-optimize tool suitable, says Vector Fields, for such projects as the design of complex microstrip and waveguide devices to developing portable communications products with multi-band operation or antenna diversity as well as to understanding signal propagation.

Concerto series 6

> > This Concerto simulation of a horn antenna design shows far field radiation, S parameters, and E fields.

 

Concerto series 6 provides geometric modeling for 2D and 3D simulation and design optimization. You can import component or system models from CAD programs, or create them using the software’s built-in, 3D geometric modeler. a major enhancement said to speed the design process is a parameterized history stream, which the company describes as allowing complete models to be modified and replayed easily, making it possible to save portions of code as script-like shortcuts.

Concerto series 6  provides three simulation methods to characterize performance. As standard, Concerto offers a 3D FDTD (finite difference time domain) simulator. Available with this release, a 2D FDTD simulator for axisymmetric geometry allows rotationally symmetric structures such as some horn antennas or coaxial components to be simulated rapidly. An adaptive meshing allows you to use the most efficient mesh resolution for the accuracy of solution.

Depending on the application, users have two further simulation options:  A Method of Moments (MoM) tool and a new FEM (finite element method)  tool. The MoM tool provides a platform for simulating large environment problems such as installed antenna performance. Concerto now offers a suite of interactive post-processing tools for at antenna, including a tool for investigating coupling/immunity between multiple antennas. Concerto series 6’s new FEM tool provides a means of performing eigenvalue analysis for problems such as characterizing microwave resonator and cavity designs.

Concerto series 6

< < Using Concerto you can determine the immunity of a multi-antenna design.

 

Design optimization enhancements in the ability to parameterized models using variables for what-if investigations as well as a new version of the software’s optimizer tool that lets you set design goals for several parameters simultaneously. Miscellaneous features include the ability to suspend and resume processing at will and multithread/multiprocessor support,  to be applied to speed answers.

Concerto series 6 operates with system-level EDA. For example, users of Applied Wave Research’s popular Microwave Office (MWO) software for wireless telecom circuit design can seamlessly call Concerto simulation to characterize critical components in the system model, all from a single user interface. Optionally, Concerto series 6 can include coupled thermal FDTD for determining how electromagnetic performance will vary as temperature rises.

Concerto series 6 is available immediately for use on Windows platforms. Click here to go to the Concerto series 6 page on the Vector Fields website. Click here for the Vector Fields website.

Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company’s website.