Chapter 3

METHODOLOGY AND EXPERIMENTAL SETUP

Page No.

3.0 Introduction … 64

3.1 Details of vector network analyzer (VNA) … 64

(i) General highlights … 68

(ii) Operation of VNA … 69

3.2 Broadband Horn antenna … 70

3.3 Power meter … 70

3.4 PC based radiation pattern measurement setup … 72

3.5 Measurement procedure of antenna parameters … 74

(i) Return loss … 74

(ii) Impedance bandwidth … 75

(iii) Virtual size reduction … 76

(iv) Input impedance … 76

(v) Radiation pattern … 78

(vi) Half power beam width … 79

(vii) Gain … 79

3.6 High frequency structure simulator software (HFSS) … 80

(i) Technical note on HFSS … 81

(ii) Representation of a field quantity … 81

(iii) Basic functions … 81

(iv) Solution process … 83

(v) Fast frequency sweep … 83

(vi)Software modules … 84

3.7 GCRMSA modeling in Ansoft HFSS … 84

3.0 Introduction

The MSAs parameters are measured only by using suitable microwave

components, equipment and experimental setup because at microwave frequencies the

electrical quantities are not easily available to measure. In place of this, field patterns

are more preferable to measure. Some of the most widely used components with their

specification useful to measure the parameters of MSAs are discussed in this section.

The complete experimental work outlined in this thesis is carried out in the

Microwave Electronics Research Laboratory (MERL), sponsored by Department of

Science and Technology (DST), Govt. of India, New Delhi, to the Department of PG

Studies and Research in Applied Electronics, Gulbarga University, Kalaburagi. The

antenna parameters such as return loss, VSWR etc are measured using Vector

Network Analyzer (Rohde and Schwarz, Germany make ZVK model 1127.8651, 10

MHz - 40 GHz). The radiation patterns of MSAs are measured using radiation pattern

measurement system, developed by sophisticated test instrumentation system (STIC),

Kochin University of Science and Technology, Kochin, Keral, India.

3.1 Details of vector network analyzer (VNA)

The vector network analyzer (VNA) is used to measure the S-parameters of

passive and active networks. The VNA is a two (or four) channel microwave receiver

designed to process the magnitude and phase of the transmitted and reflected waves

from the network. It compares the incident signal that leaves the analyzer with either

the signal that is transmitted through the test device or the signal that is reflected from

its input. The results of return loss and VSWR presented in this thesis are taken on

VNA. The photograph of VNA is as shown in Fig. 3.1.

The logical variables used at the microwave frequency are traveling waves rather than

total voltage and total current. The basic work of VNA is the measurement of S-

parameters. These S-parameters are expressed as shown in Fig. 3.2.

Fig. 3.1: Photograph of VNA

The general representation of S-parameters is Sij. The subscript i and j denotes

the use of ports. Usually j is the port that is excited (the input port) and i is the output

port. Thus S11 refers to the ratio of signal that reflects from port one for a signal

incident on port one. Parameters S11 and S22 are referring to as reflection co-efficient

because they only refer to what happens at a single port, while S12 and S21 are

referring to as transmission co-efficient because they refer to what happens from one

port to another.
 a1 b2

b1 a2

Fig. 3.2: S-parameters

The above equations in terms of matrix representation is,

[ ] [ ][ ]

The VNA is basically 2-port 4-channel equipment consisting of test set,

reference oscillator, signal generator, first and second local oscillator, front-end, A/D

converter , measurement control unit and a front panel. These functional organizations

are as shown in Fig. 3.3. The principle of operation of VNA (ZVK model) is as shown

in Fig. 3.4.

The main features of ZVK model VNA are:

1. Channels : The channels of VNA are,

 Bidirectional.

 Standard calibration methods plus Rohde and Schwarz calibration methods for

test fixtures, circuit broadband.

2. Functionalities: The functionalities of ZVK model VNA are shown in Table

3.1.
 Linear Non-linear Frequency converting

S-parameters Compression point Mixer measurements

Group delay Interception point Any harmonics

Impedance Inter modulation

-
Admittance - Arbitrary frequency
conversion

Table 3.1: The functionalities of ZVK model VNA

Fig. 3.3: Functional organization of VNA.

 Fig. 3.4: Principle operation of VNA (ZVK model).

3.1 (i) General highlights: The general features of ZVK model VNA provides:

Open to PC and ethernet Efficiency & operation Excellent technical data

Integrated Pentium PC Huge display with High speed

4-channel configuration

Link to Ethernet & General External PC monitor High sensitivity and

IEC/IEEE-bus control. interface dynamic range

WINDOWS NT operation Segmentation of frequency High accuracy

system. and magnitude axis

PC-compatible formats for Numerous marker Calibration Techniques.

screen hardcopies functions

Connection to Ethernet with Arbitrary zooming in all Wide frequency range.

option FSE-B16. settings

No external PC necessary- Arbitrary zooming in all _-

“Control of its own”. settings.

Quick and easy Operation via hard keys or _

documentation. mouse.

Measurement and simulation Automatic two-port _

in one instrument. calibration Auto Cal
(up to 8 GHz)
3.1(ii) Operation of the VNA: The brief explanation of operation of ZVK model

VNA is as follows:

The photograph of ZVK model VNA is as showed in Fig. 3.1 which works for the

frequency range of l0 MHz to 40 GHz. The start frequency and stop frequency for its

operation should be given at the time of calibration in the given band using the keys

provided on the front panel of VNA. The VNA is calibrated using calkit in four steps

such as: through, open, short and match separately as per the procedure given in its

manual.

The RF source is usually set to sweep over a specified bandwidth. A four-port

reflectometer samples the incident, reflected and transmitted RF waves; a switch

allows the analyzer to be driven from either port 1 or port 2. Four dual-conversion

channels convert these signals to 1000 KHz IF frequencies, which are then detected

and converted to digital form. The internal computer is used to calculate and display

the magnitude and phase of the S-parameters or other quantities that can be derived

from the S-parameters, such as VSWR, return loss, group delay, input impedance etc.

An important feature of the VNA is the substantial improvement in accuracy made

possible with error correcting software. Errors caused by directional coupler

mismatch, imperfect directivity, loss and variations in the frequency response of the

analyzer system are accounted by using a twelve-form error model and a calibration

procedure. Another useful feature is the capability to determine the time domain

response of the network by calculating the inverse Fourier transform of the frequency

domain data.
3.2 Broadband horn antenna

A horn antenna is regarded as flared-out or opened out waveguide. The

function of the horn is to produce a uniform phase front with a larger aperture than

that of the waveguide and hence greater directivity. Horn antennas are basically

classified as rectangular horn antenna and circular horn antenna. The rectangular horn

antenna includes exponentially tapered pyramidal, sectoral H-plane, sectoral E-plane

and pyramidal. The circular horns include exponentially tapered, conical, TEM

biconical and TE01 biconical.

If the horn is flared out in the H-plane then it is called H-plane sectoral horn

and if it is flared out in the E-plane then it is called E-plane sectoral horn. A

rectangular horn with flare in both E and H plane is called a pyramidal horn. A

pyramidal horn is universally accepted standard antenna as it shows minimum or no

side lobes in both E and H plane when compared to other microwave antennas.

3.3 Power meter

The 4220A model Boonton make power meter is used for the measurement of

transmitted power from VNA and received power at antenna under test (AUT). The

feature of this power meter is its accuracy, wide frequency range, high speed

operation, digital display, repeatability and compatibility for other recording and

display units. The technical specifications of RF power meter – 4220A model is given

in Table 3.1.
Table 3.2 Technical specifications of RF power meter (Model 4220A, M/s. Boonton
Electronics Corp., New Jersey, USA.
Parameter Specification
Frequency range 100 kHz to 100 GHz sensor dependent

Power range ─70 dBm to +44 dBm, sensor dependent

Power sensors Compatible with all Boonton diode and thermal sensors

Dynamic range Up to 90 dB with diode sensors;

Up to 50 dB with thermal sensors.
Inputs Front and Rear panel sensor connector;
Rear panel IEEE-488 connector optional
Outputs Front and Rear panel sensor connector;
Rear panel IEEE-488 connector optional outputs Front panel
or optional Rear panel PWR REF connector, 50 MHz, 0
dBm; Rear panel recorder BNC connector 9.09 kilo-ohm
impedance, 0 to 13 volts into 1 mega-ohm (may be operated
onto 1 kilo-ohm for 1V frequencies). Absolute DC accuracy
is ±3%.
Displays: 4-1/2 digit LED
Main data 4 digit LED
dB Call Factor Meter, reading proportional to main data display (frequencies
Analog = 10 dB; ±5 dB in dBr)
Display units W, mW, µW, nW, dBm, dBr

Display resolution 0.01 dB or 4-1/2 digits ( in Watts mode)

Ranging Manual (7 ranges) or autoranging

Filtering Filter times to 20.00 seconds in 0.05 second increments

Zeroing Automatic function; calculates, stores and applies zero

corrections to each range
Power reference: 50 MHz, ±1.5%
Frequency 0 dBm
Output level 50 ±1 ohm
Source impedance < 1.05
VSWR
3.4 PC based radiation pattern measurement setup

The PC based radiation pattern measurement setup is as shown in Fig. 3.5 and

photography of radiation pattern measurement system is as shown in Fig. 3.6. This

arrangement is used to measure the radiation pattern of antenna under test (AUT). The

function of each component used in the setup of Fig. 3.5 is explained below.

In Fig. 3.5 two antennas are placed so as to face each other and then keeping

the position of transmitting antenna fixed and receiving antenna is rotated around its

axis to change the angle in steps of degrees. The AUT i.e. MSA is connected in the

receiving mode and the reference antenna (i.e. standard pyramidal horn) fed by VNA

through co-axial cable is kept in the transmitting mode at certain distance satisfying

the formula R = 2D2/0, where, R is the distance between transmitting and receiving

antenna, D is the broadside dimension of the pyramidal horn antenna and λ0 is the free

space wavelength in cm. The transmitting and receiving antennas are aligned properly

before taking the measurements to avoid the unwanted reflections. The microwave

source at the transmitting section is energized for the operating frequency of AUT.

Reducing R tends to give broader radiation patterns and higher minor lobes. Uniform

illumination of the AUT should be ensured. Ground reflections and reflections from

surrounding objects should be avoided.

The receiving part of Fig. 3.5 is also called as turn table arrangement which

has been designed for the measurement of radiation pattern of antenna by STIC,

Cochin University of Science and Technology, Cochin. This turn table consists of two

units, namely positioner control system (S310C) and antenna positioner (S310P). The

S310C is microcontroller based turn table controller which can work as a standalone

unit or can be controlled from a computer. The S310C is designed to control the
SE10 series positioner which is driven by a stepper motor. The S310C will function in

two modes such as local and remote mode.

Fig.3.5 PC based radiation pattern measurement setup.

Fig. 3.6: Photography of radiation pattern measurement system.

 In the local mode, the operator can directly enter the angular positions in

degrees in order to position the turn table. The arrow keys provided on the front panel

of S310C can be used to position the turn table manually. The AUT is connected

through semi miniature-A (SMA) and a co-axial cable to the power meter to measure

the received power at different angles. In the remote operation, the S310C is

controlled from a computer connected through RS 232C interface. The amplifier in

this case amplifies the output of crystal detector. The amplified signal is fed to PC

through its COM port. This analog signal is then digitized by A/D converter. The PC

reads the digital data of A/D converter, which is proportional to the received power of

AUT received at different angle with respect to transmitting antenna.

3.5 Measurement procedure of antenna parameters

The most useful and important antenna parameters and their method of measurement

are explained below.

3.5 (i) Return loss: The return loss (RL) is a parameter which indicates the power

that is „lost‟ to the load and does not return as a reflection to the source. Hence, it is

the parameter that indicates how well the matching between the transmitter and

receiving antenna has taken place. RL is the ratio of the incident power (P i) to the

reflected power (Pr) at a point on the waveguide slotted section and is expressed in

decibels (dB) which is given as [17],

P   1  2
RL = 10 log  i  = 10 log  2  = 10 log Γ = -20 log Γ (3.1)
 Pr  Γ 
 

where, Γ is the power reflection co-efficient. The reflection co-efficient and voltage

standing wave ratio (VSWR) are related to each other through the relation [17],

VSWR =
1+ Γ  (3.2)
1  Γ 
 or Γ =
 VSWR  1 (3.3)
 VSWR+1
The VSWR is the ratio of maximum and minimum voltages of the standing

wave pattern which appear due to incident and reflected signal from the load. For

perfect matching between the transmitter and the antenna, Γ = 0 and RL = ∞, which

means no power would be reflected back. Whereas when Γ = 1 and RL = 0 dB, which

implies that, all incident power is reflected. The VSWR of AUT is 2 which is

acceptable practically. Since this corresponds to RL of -9.54 dB. The measurement

setup for the measurement of VSWR and return loss is as shown in Fig. 3.6.

3.5 (ii) Impedance bandwidth: The bandwidth of an antenna is defined as „the range

of frequencies over which the antenna resonates [1]. The useful bandwidth of an

antenna may be limited by several factors, such as impedance and gain. Retaining the

impedance of device of less varying which shows VSWR less than 2, the operating

range of frequency is usually called impedance bandwidth of device. The input

impedance is generally the main factor limiting the usable bandwidth of antennas. The

input impedance of a antenna varies rapidly with frequency. This limits the frequency

range over which the antenna can be matched to its feed line. Impedance bandwidth is

usually specified in RL or VSWR. Typical matching requirements are VSWR ≤ 2 or

RL -10 dB. Impedance bandwidth is calculated by [17],

Impedance bandwidth =
 VSWR  1 (3.4)
Q VSWR

f  f 
or Impedance bandwidth  %  =  H L  ×100 (3.5)
 fC 

where, Q is the quality factor, fH and fL are respectively upper and lower cut off

frequencies of the band, when its return loss becomes −10 dB and fC is the center

frequency between fL and fH.

3.5 (iii) Virtual size reduction: The virtual size reduction or compactness of antenna

when compared to conventional antenna is calculated using the equation,

f  f 
Virtual size reduction  %  =  con aut  ×100 (3.6)
 f con 

where, fcon is the frequency of the conventional antenna and faut is the frequency

obtained for the antenna under test.

3.5 (iv) Input impedance: Input impedance is the impedance presented by an

antenna at its input terminals or the ratio of the voltage to current at the pair of input

terminals or the ratio of the appropriate components of the electric to magnetic fields

at a point. Hence, the input impedance of the antenna can be written as [1],

Zin =  R in +jXin  (3.7)

where, Zin is the antenna input impedance at the terminals, Rin is the antenna input

resistance at the terminals and Xin is the antenna input reactance at the terminals. The

reactance part of the input impedance represents the power stored in the near field of

the antenna. The resistive part Rin of the input impedance consists of two components,

the radiation resistance RR and the loss resistance RL. The power associated with the

radiation resistance is the power actually radiated by the antenna, while power

dissipated in the loss resistance is lost as heat in the antenna itself due to dielectric

or conducting losses. For an ideal case the input impedance is 50 Ω.

 Fig. 3.6: The measurement setup for the measurement of VSWR and return loss.

For efficient design of an antenna, it is important that, its input impedance

should be considered than only the antenna works for the desired range of frequency.

In a mismatched system, the degree of mismatch determines the amount of incident

power or available power, which is reflected from the input antenna terminals back

into the line. The degree of mismatch is a function of the antenna input impedance

and the characteristic impedance of the line. The input impedance is generally is a

function of frequency, geometry, method of excitation and proximity to its

surrounding objects.
3.5 (v) Radiation pattern: Radiation pattern of an antenna is described as the field

strength or power density at a fixed distance from the antenna as function of direction.

The radiation pattern is usually taken either along latitude as function of azimuth

angle or along azimuth angle as a function of polar angle, depending upon the

application and information needed. For most of the microwave antennas, it is

generally necessary to measure radiation pattern in horizontal (H) and vertical (E)

plane. However, the co-polar and cross-polar radiation patterns are generally

measured in order to study the directive radiation characteristics of the antennas.

When transmitting and receiving antennas are of same orientation called co-polar and

if transmitting antenna is of opposite orientation with respect to receiving antenna or

vice versa is called cross-polar. A good microwave antenna gives minimum cross-

polar power with respect to co-polar power to ensure a directive radiation from the

antenna.

The co-polar and cross-polar radiation patterns of proposed antennas are

measured by using the PC based radiation pattern measurement system which is as

shown in Fig. 3.5. During the measurement of co-polar pattern, the standard

pyramidal horn antenna is connected at the end of transmitter and AUT is kept on

antenna positioner S310P at a distance R from the transmitting antenna. A microwave

power meter is connected to AUT for measuring the received power of AUT. The

AUT is rotated from −900 to +900 in azimuth plane with a step angle of 50. However,

the power can be measured with any step angle. The power received at each angle is

recorded. The graph is plotted between normalized power versus azimuth angle which

gives co-polar radiation pattern of AUT. During the measurement of cross-polar

radiation pattern of AUT, the pyramidal horn antenna is turned by an angle of 90o

with respect to AUT. The received power measured at each angle in this case is
normalized with respect to co-polar power received by the AUT. The graph is plotted

between normalized powers versus azimuth angle, the obtained graph is called cross-

polar radiation pattern of AUT.

3.5 (vi) Half power beam width (HPBW): The HPBW is one of the important

parameters which can be known from the radiation pattern. The HPBW shows the

sharpness of the radiation beam in the corresponding plane. The HPBW is defined as

the angular width (in degree) of the major lobe between the two directions, of which

the radiated or received power is one-half the maximum value of the beam. However,

the term beam width by itself is usually reserved to describe the −3 dB beam width of

the radiation pattern.

3.5 (vii) Gain: The most important parameter that describes the performance of a

radiator is the gain. There are various number of techniques are used to measure the

gain of AUT. The two basic methods that can be used to measure the gain of an

electromagnetic radiator or AUT are absolute-gain and gain-transfer (or gain-

comparison) measurements. The absolute-gain method is used to calibrate antennas

that can be used as standards for gain measurements and it requires no prior

knowledge of the gains of the AUT. A gain-transfer method is used in conjunction

with standard gain antennas like pyramidal horn, ridge corrugated horn etc to

determine the absolute gain of the AUT. The two antennas that are most widely used

and universally accepted as standards are the resonant λ/2 dipole and the pyramidal

horn antenna. Both possess linear polarizations. The gain G of antenna is defined as

[17],

Area of the spherical radiator

G= (3.8)
Area of actual radiator
In the gain measurement, if two identical pyramidal horn antennas are used, the

equation for gain is given by [17],

4πR Pr
G= (3.9)
λ0 Pt

where, R is the distance between two antennas in cm, Pr is received power in dB, Pt is

the transmitted power in dB and λ0 is free space wavelength in cm. In case of two

dissimilar antennas, if the HPBW are known, the gain of the antenna under test is

calculated by using the equation [1],

 30000 
G=   (3.10)
 θ E θ H dB

where, θ E and θ H are the HPBW of test antenna in E and H-plane respectively.

In this study, the gain of AUT is measured by absolute-gain method. The

power received (Pr) by AUT, and power transmitted (Pt) by pyramidal horn antenna

are measured in dB. With the help of these experimental data the gain G in dB is

calculated using the formula [1],

 Pr   λ0 
 G dB = 10 log   -  G t dB - 20log   (3.11)
 Pt   4πR dB

where, Gt is the gain of pyramidal horn antenna and is given by,

 2πab 
G t = 10 log  2  dB (3.12)
 λ 

where, a and b are the broader and shorter dimensions of the pyramidal horn antenna

respectively in cm.

3.6 High frequency structure simulator software (HFSS)

The simulation method used to calculate the full 3D electromagnetic field

inside a structure is based on the finite element method. Although its implementation

is largely transparent, a general understanding of the method is useful in making the

most effective use of Ansoft HFSS. This provides an overview of the finite element

method and its implementation in Ansoft HFSS. It also describes how modal S-

parameters are computed from the simulated electric and magnetic fields and how

they can be converted to “nodal” or “voltage” based pseudo-S-parameters used in

circuit theory.

3.6 (i) Technical emphasis on HFSS: In order to generate an electromagnetic field

solution, Ansoft HFSS employs the finite element method. In general, the finite

element method divides the full problem space into thousands of smaller regions and

represents the field in each sub-region (element) with a local function. In Ansoft

HFSS, the geometric model is automatically divided into a large number of

tetrahedron where a single tetrahedron is basically a four-sided pyramid. This

collection of tetrahedral is referred to as the finite element mesh.

3.6 (ii) Representation of a field quantity: The value of a vector field quantity (such

as the H-field or E-field) at points inside each tetrahedron is interpolated from the

vertices of the tetrahedron. At each vertex, Ansoft HFSS stores the components of the

field that are tangential to the three edges of the tetrahedron. In addition, the system

can store the component of the vector field at the midpoint of selected edges that is

tangential to a face and normal to the edge. The field inside each tetrahedron is

interpolated from these nodal values. By representing field quantities in this way, the

system can transform Maxwell‟s equations into matrix equations that are solved using

traditional numerical methods.

3.6 (iii) Basic functions: Various interpolation schemes (basis functions) can be used

to interpolate field values from nodal values are,

 • A 1st order tangential element basis function interpolates field values from

both nodal values at vertices and on edges. The 1st order tangential elements have 20

unknowns per tetrahedron.

• A 0th order basis function makes use of nodal values at vertices only and

therefore, assumes that the field varies linearly inside each tetrahedron. The 0th order

tangential elements have six unknowns per tetrahedron provided in the software.

The accuracy of the solution depends on how small each of the individual

elements (tetrahedron) is. The solutions based on meshes using thousands of elements

are more accurate than solutions based on coarse meshes using relatively few

elements. To generate a precise description of a field quantity, each element must

occupy a region that is small enough for the field to be adequately interpolated from

the nodal values. However, generating a field solution involves inverting a matrix

with approximately as many elements as there are tetrahedron nodes. For meshes with

a large number of elements, such an inversion requires a significant amount of

computing power and memory. Therefore, it is desirable to use a mesh fine enough to

obtain an accurate field solution but not so fine that it overwhelms the available

computer memory and processing power. To produce the optimal mesh, Ansoft HFSS

uses an iterative process in which the mesh is automatically refined in critical regions.

First, it generates a solution based on a coarse initial mesh. Then, it refines the mesh

in areas of high error density and generates a new solution. However, when a selected

parameters converge to within a desired limit, the system breaks out of the loop.

To calculate the S-matrix associated with a structure, the system does the following:

• divides the structure into a finite element mesh,

• computes the modes on each port of the structure that are supported by a

transmission line having the same cross-section as the port,

 • computes the full electromagnetic field pattern inside the structure, assuming

that one mode is excited at a time,

• computes the generalized S-matrix from the amount of reflection and

transmission that occurs within the structure.

The final result is an S-matrix that allows the magnitude of transmitted and

reflected signals to be computed directly from a given set of input signals, reducing

the full 3D electromagnetic behavior of a structure to a set of high frequency circuit

parameters.

3.6 (iv) Solution process: There are four variations to the solution process. All the

antennas are analyzed using the fast frequency sweep which is more suitable among

the following solution process for the analysis of designed model parameters.

1) single frequency solution

2) fast frequency sweep

3) discrete frequency sweep

4) interpolating frequency sweep.

3.6 (v) Fast frequency sweep: This type of solution uses an existing mesh to

generate a solution over a range of frequencies. The system uses an adaptive Lanczos-

Padé sweep (ALPS) based solver to extrapolate an entire bandwidth of solution

information. We have to specify the starting and ending frequencies and the interval at

which new solutions are generated. The same mesh is used for each solution,

regardless of the frequency. While solutions can be computed and viewed at any

frequency, the solution at the center frequency is the most accurate. The procedure for

a fast frequency sweep is shown in Fig. 3.7(a).

3.6 (vi) Software modules: In the process of generating a solution, Ansoft HFSS

calls various software modules to execute specialized task. The role of each module is

listed in the Table 3.2.

3.7 GCRMSA modeling in Ansoft HFSS software

The first step is to draw the geometric model of the antenna that is to be

analyzed. The next step is to assign material characteristics to each 3-D object in the

geometric model. Boundaries are then defined for the structures, such as radiation,

perfect-E, perfect -H or finite conductivity. A port or a voltage source needs to be

defined to excite the structure. This is done as a part of the boundary definitions. Once

the structure is completely modeled, the solution is set up. This includes specifying

the type of solution to be performed, the frequency at which the adaptive mesh

refinement takes place and the convergence criteria. The problem is then solved for

the fields associated with the model.

Table 3.2: Ansoft HFSS various software module

Module Function
Executive Performs all executive functions.
3D Modeler Provides the interface for drawing geometric models.
Material Provides the interface for assigning materials to objects.
Management
3D Boundary Provides the interface for assigning boundaries and
Manager sources

Mesh3D Generates the initial mesh and refines existing meshes.

Also provides the interface for manually refining the
mesh.
Wave Determines the excitation field pattern at each port.
abc3d Computes the full 3D solution inside the structure.
Solver Inverts the matrix associated with the finite element mesh.
Eigen Calculates real or complex eigen modes.
Post processor Provide the interface for analyzing the data calculated
during the solution process. Three Post Processors are
available.
Fig. 3.7(a): Procedure for a fast frequency sweep
Finally, after the completion of the simulation, the solution data is post processed

which includes of far field plots, S-parameters, impedance and Smith charts. A typical

simulated model of GCRMSA is as shown in Fig. 3.7 (b).

Fig. 3.7 (b): Typical simulation model of CGRMSA.