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Feko Examples Guide: Suite 5.1 December 2005
Feko Examples Guide: Suite 5.1 December 2005
Examples Guide
Suite 5.1
December 2005
Contents
1 Introduction 1-1
Index I-1
1 Introduction
This Examples guide presents a set of simple examples which demonstrate most of the
features of the code FEKO. The examples have been selected to illustrate the features
without being unnecessarily complex or requiring excessive run times. The input files
for the examples can be found in the examples\CAD_input and examples\text_input
directory under the FEKO installation. CADFEKO is the preferred method of geometry
entry from FEKO Suite 5.0. In some cases it may be necessary to enter geometry using
the text input method that was previously employed. All of the examples in the text input
section are still relevant for users using CADFEKO for input, as they illustrate features
of the solver. CADFEKO users should not be concerned if the geometry input section is
not entirely understood - the concepts in the solution control section are important. For
an introduction to the FEKO environment and the operation of FEKO, please consult
the Getting started manual.
Only time domain harmonic sources are supported; consequently calculation is done in
the frequency domain. However, FEKO includes the module TIMEFEKO, based on the
Fourier transform, to allow some time domain analysis. A discussion of TIMEFEKO, and
an example of its use, is given in the User’s manual.
Another important feature of FEKO is the ability to describe the geometry in terms of
certain parameters and to vary or optimise these with a specific goal in mind. This is done
with the optimising module OPTFEKO which is discussed in more detail in the User’s
manual. Additional documentation on OPTFEKO can be found in the file example.opt
in the doc\optfeko subdirectory under the FEKO installation.
Changes in this manual with respect to the previous one of July 2005 (Suite 5.0) are
indicated as follows:
Sections that have changed from those in the previous version of the manual.
Sections that were newly added to this version of the manual.
FEKO LITE is limited with respect to problem size and therefore cannot run the following
examples from this guide
8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, 16, 17, 18, 21, 23, 28, 29, 33, 34, 35 and 41
while these need to be modified
7 (last FF card), 30 (FR card), and 38 (FR card)
as indicated in the *.pre files themselves.
For more information on FEKO LITE, please see the Getting started manual.
This example uses the same structure as the text input Example 2 shown in figure 3-3,
but in this case the geometry is defined using CADFEKO, and the physical optics (PO)
approximation is used to determine the currents on the surface of the plate.
One quarter of the plate is created using a polygon in CADFEKO. The upper half of the
dipole is constructed using a polyline. The first section of the polyline is named feed and
the second is named top. The wire is constructed in sections so that the feed segment can
be uniquely specified to the solver.
The mesh is imported in three stages in the *.pre file. The first quarter of the plate
is imported, and the first plane of suymmetry is applied. Next, the top of the dipole
is imported before the last plane of symmetry is applied. Lastly, the feed segment is
imported. The PO card is used to define the PO region. The complete model control
input file is given below.
** Mirror the plate in the plane y=0 (xz-plane) -- ideal magnetic wall
SY 1 0 3 0
** PO approximation for the plate with the label 2, ray search is switched off
PO: Plate1.Face1 : 1 : 0 : 0 : 0
** End of geometry
EG 0 0 0 0
** Set frequency
FR: 1 : : : : : #c0/#lambda
** Set source
** Excitation by means of a voltage gap (E-Field)
A1: 0 : Dipole.Feed1 : : : : 1
** Solution control
** Calculate the electric and magnetic near fields along the x axis
FE 3 70 1 1 0 -1.97 0 0 0.1 0 0
** Calculate the far field (horizontal plane)
FF 1 1 181 0 90 0 0 2
** End of file
EN
in free space
LOCATION EX EY EZ
X/m Y/m Z/m magn. phase magn. phase magn. phase
-1.9700 0.0E+00 0.0E+00 0.000E+00 0.00 0.000E+00 0.00 7.655E-02 139.69
-1.8700 0.0E+00 0.0E+00 0.000E+00 0.00 0.000E+00 0.00 7.625E-02 149.18
-1.7700 0.0E+00 0.0E+00 0.000E+00 0.00 0.000E+00 0.00 7.582E-02 158.50
-1.6700 0.0E+00 0.0E+00 0.000E+00 0.00 0.000E+00 0.00 7.525E-02 167.64
in free space
LOCATION HX HY HZ
X/m Y/m Z/m magn. phase magn. phase magn. phase
-1.9700 0.0E+00 0.0E+00 0.000E+00 0.00 1.977E-04 137.30 0.000E+00 0.00
-1.8700 0.0E+00 0.0E+00 0.000E+00 0.00 1.958E-04 146.53 0.000E+00 0.00
-1.7700 0.0E+00 0.0E+00 0.000E+00 0.00 1.935E-04 155.57 0.000E+00 0.00
-1.6700 0.0E+00 0.0E+00 0.000E+00 0.00 1.906E-04 164.39 0.000E+00 0.00
Figure 2-1 shows the distribution of the near field along the x axis and figure 2-2 the
radiation pattern in the horizontal plane. It is clear that there is good correlation between
the PO method and the method of moments results (figures 3-4 and 3-5). There is,
however, a big difference in the computation time.
Figure 2-1: Electric near field along the x axis for a dipole in front of a plate, treated
with PO
Figure 2-2: Radiation pattern (in dB) in the horizontal plane ϑ = 90◦ for a dipole in front
of a plate, treated with PO Example 3
A horn antenna structure, as shown in figure 2-3, is examined next. The geometry creation
is very similar to that of the demo example (a copy of which is in the \doc subdirectory
of the FEKO installation). The most significant difference is that a different feed probe
is used in the waveguide, and symmetry in two planes is exploited. This example differs
from the demo example and the first getting started example in that gain compensation
for the antenna is discussed in this example. The input file is
** Mirror the quarter around the plane y=0 (xz-plane) -- ideal magnetic wall.
SY 1 0 3 0
SY 1 0 0 2
** End of geometry
EG 1 0 0 0 0
** Integration of the full 3-D pattern over a sphere to get the radiated power
** accurately (use symmetry, only 1/4 sphere, multiply power by 4).
** A test using a finer angular stepping has shown that a stepping of 5 deg.
** is fully sufficient for the dimensions under consideration (must be adjusted
** if a horn antenna with higher gain is modelled, since then more sidelobes occur)
#stepping = 5
#nthe = 90/#stepping + 1
#nphi = 180/#stepping + 1
FF 3 #nthe#nphi0 0 0 #stepping #stepping
** End of file
EN
Some extracts from the output file horn.out are given below.
Note that the source power is calculated from a single current and in some cases this
might not be very accurate. In this example this is 0.523187 mW. We can obtain a more
accurate calculation of the radiated power by integrating the far field. (Note that this gives
the radiated power which is not the same as the source power for lossy antennas.) In this
example, the integrated radiated power is 4 times 0.121891 mW (we only integrated over
a quarter of the symmetrical far field region). Thus the actual power obtained from the
far field integration is 0.306 dB lower than the calculated source power. Since the power
is used to normalise the directivity calculation, the actual directivity is 0.306 dB higher
than the calculated values. The directivity might therefore be compensated by specifying
a 0.306 dB offset in POSTFEKO. Please refer to the text example example_08 for a
discussion of alternative and more accurate options to feed a waveguide in FEKO.
Results for the directivity are shown in figures 2-4 and 2-5 for the horizontal and vertical
radiation patterns respectively.
20
15
10
5
Directivity (dB)
-5
-10
-15
-20
-25
-30
-90 -60 -30 0 30 60 90 120 150 180 210 240 270
Phi (degrees)
Figure 2-4: Radiation pattern in the horizontal plane ϑ = 90◦
20
18
16
14
12
Directivity (dB)
10
8
6
4
2
0
-2
-4
-6
-8
-10
0 30 60 90 120 150 180 210 240 270 300 330 360
Theta (degrees)
Figure 2-5: Radiation pattern in the vertical plane ϕ = 0◦
z hi Hi
Ei
y
1 m Si
b=
Ji
^
n
ji
a=
2m
x
Figure 2-6: Geometry of RCS of a dielectric sheet with the incident plane wave
The geometry for this example is shown in figure 2-6 — a thin dielectric plate. The size,
thickness and material parameters can be determined from the input file below. The plate
is illuminated by an incident plane wave such that the bistatic radar cross section may
be calculated.
As indicated in the section “Dielectric solids” in the “General comments” chapter of the
User’s manual, there are a number of ways with which such a thin dielectric plate may be
treated in FEKO. In principle we may use the volume equivalence principle, discretising
the dielectric into small cuboids (as was done for the cube in the text input Example 9).
However, it uses substantially less memory to realise the sheet with the SK card. The
input file is as follows
** PREFEKO input file generated by CADFEKO
** Import model
IN 8 31 "RCS_DI_sheet.cfm"
** End of geometry
EG 1 0 0 0
** Set frequency
FR 1 1 #frequency
** Set source
A0 0 1 1 1 0 #theta_inc#phi_inc #eta_inc
** End of file
EN
The geometry is discretised into triangular elements, similar to conducting plates. The
thin dielectric sheet formulation is then applied to all triangles with the given label. We
are interested in the calculated RCS. Some extracts from the output file follows
EXCITATION BY PLANE LINEAR POLARISED ELECTROMAGNETIC WAVE
Number of excitation: N = 1
Frequency in Hz: FREQ = 1.00000E+08
Wavelength in m: LAMBDA = 2.99792E+00
Direction of incidence: THETA = 20.00 PHI = 50.00
Dir. of polarisation: ETA = 60.00
Direction of propag.: BETA0X = -4.60764E-01
BETA0Y = -5.49117E-01
BETA0Z = -1.96945E+00
Field strength in V/m: |E0X| = 9.65425E-01 ARG(E0X) = 180.00
(Phase in deg.) |E0Y| = 1.96747E-01 ARG(E0Y) = 0.00
|E0Z| = 1.71010E-01 ARG(E0Z) = 0.00
DATA OF LABELS
All segments and triangles without a listed label are perfectly conducting
Figure 2-7 shows the bistatic RCS as a function of the angle ϑ in the plane ϕ = 0.
Figure 2-8: Proximity coupled circular patch antenna. The lighter triangles are on a lower
level (closer to the ground plane). The dielectric layers are hidden to show the geometry
of the triangular elements.
This example considers a proximity coupled circular patch antenna. The geometry of the
triangles is shown in figure 2-8 and the parameters of the dielectric layers can be obtained
from the GF card in the listing of the input file (patch_coupled.pre) below. The mesh
size is related to the width of the strip to avoid having triangles with a large aspect ratio.
Note that magnetic symmetry is used to reduce the number of unknowns. The AE card
is used to define a line between points as the strip line feed port — this line must extend
to both sides of the symmetry plane. The same structure is solved using text input in
Example 37.
** PREFEKO input file generated by CADFEKO
** Import model
IN 8 31 "patch_coupled.cfm"
SF 1 #sf
** End of geometry
EG 1 0 0 0
** Frequency loop:
FR 8 0 #frequency 0.05e9
** End
EN
Some extracts of the S-parameters as listed in the output file are given on the next page.
Figure 2-9 shows the input impedance on the Smith chart. There is a small frequency
shift which can be reduced by using a finer mesh.
In this example we consider a single plane wave incident (from ϑ = 60◦ and ϕ = 0◦ )
on a trihedral. The size of the trihedral (13.5λ2 surface area) was chosen such that we
can still solve it incore on a PC with 768 MByte of RAM. This is on the small side for
the MLFMM, but enough to demonstrate the advantage thereof. The same structure is
solved using text input in Example 41.
The file trihedral_MLFMM_41.pre is listed below. Note the use of the FM card at the
end of the geometry section in the input file and the EG card which includes the Single
precision setting.
** Import model
IN 8 31 "trihedral_MLFMM.cfm"
** End of geometry
EG: 1 : 0 : 0 : : 0 : : : : : : : : 1
** Set frequency
FR: 1 : : : : : #frequency
** Set source
** Excitation by means of an incident plane wave
A0 0 1 1 1 0 60 0 0
** Solution control
** End of file
EN
The solution required 47 seconds on a Pentium 4 2.4 GHz PC. For comparison the MoM
result required about 515 MByte of RAM and 240 seconds solution time. Even if one
sets up the model to exploit the single plane of symmetry, the MoM requires 262 MByte
or RAM and 66 seconds solution time. As the problem size increase, the difference will
become more and more significant. Figure 2-11 compares the results obtained with the
MLFMM with those obtained with the MoM.
30
MoM MLFMM
25
20
RCS (dBsm)
15
10
0
0 15 30 45 60 75 90 105 120 135 150 165 180
Theta (degrees)
Figure 2-11: Bistatic RCS of a trihedral. Comparison of the MLFMM and MoM results.
Figure 2-12: Sphere of muscle tissue illuminated by a dipole antenna. Note the air layer
around the sphere, to reduce the number of boundary triangles of the FEM region.
This example considers the exposure of a sphere of muscle tissue to the field created by a
dipole antenna. The geometry of the example is shown in figure 2-12. The point to note
is that an air layer is used around the sphere to reduce the number of triangles on the
boundary of the FEM region. If this air layer was not used, the more highly discretised
surface of the sphere would be on the MoM boundary. DI cards are used to specify the
parameters of the FEM region. The solution control file is as follows.
** Import model
IN 8 31 "Bio_demo_FEM.cfm"
** End of geometry
EG 1 0 0 0
** Set frequency
FR 1 #freq
** Set source
A1: 0 : dipole.feed : : : : 1 : 0
PW 1 0 1
** Solution control
FE 3 1 1 31 0 0 0 -0.08 0.16/30
** End of file
EN
The solver automatically switches to use the FEM/MoM hybrid solution when the mesh
contains tetrahedral elements. Note that an iterative solver is used.
CPU time for solving the linear set of equations: 16.391 seconds
In order that all voltage sources together result in a real power of 1.00000E+00 Watt,
all currents are multiplied by the factor PWFAKTOR = 1.46336E+01.
Integration of the normal component of the power density vector pointing into the
respective medium over the surface of the dielectric body (MoM surface equiv. princip.)
or volume integral for the corresponding medium (FEM and MoM volume equiv. princip.)
SUMMARY OF LOSSES
From the output file, it can clearly be seen that the CGS iterative method is used to solve
the matrix equation, and that 24 iterations were required for the solution. The losses
in the FEM region can also be seen. The electric field through the sphere is shown in
Figure 2-13.
In this example we consider a waveguide transition from Ku- to X-band by a simple step
discontinuity. The rectangular waveguide dimensions are a = 15.8 mm and b = 7.9 mm for
the Ku-band waveguide, and a = 22.9 mm and b = 10.2 mm for the X-band waveguide,
respectively. Only the H10 mode shall be considered. The critical frequency for this
c0
mode in the smaller Ku-band waveguide is fc = 2a = 9.4871 GHz. We want to compute
S-parameters from this cut–off frequency up to 20 GHz using adaptive frequency sampling.
The meshed model is depicted in figure 2-14. For the ports a local mesh refinement is
used with a mesh size which is by a factor of 0.7 smaller than the globally used mesh size
(see the variable definitions in the CADFEKO model).
The widths and heights of the two waveguide sections are given above, and are defined
in CADFEKO as variables. Regarding the length of the waveguide sections, this can
be chosen somewhat arbitrarily since it does not influence S-parameters as such (higher
order evanescent modes which originate at the step discontinuity are not considered for
the S-parameter extraction in FEKO). Making the waveguide section too long results in
an overhead of memory and run-time. Here in this example a length of only 12 mm is
used, which is also defined as a variable in CADFEKO. At the lowest frequency, this
corresponds to about 0.38 λ0 with the free space wavelength λ0 .
Based on the variables, two cuboids are created in CADFEKO, unioned, and then the
Simplify operation can be used to to remove the metallic wall between the two waveguide
sections. For the front and back faces (i.e. the port walls) the normal vector orientation
must be reversed in CADFEKO such that the normal vector is pointing inwards on both
sides (a requirement of the AW card to define the port direction).
In order to define a waveguide feed with the AW card, extra named points are required
at the waveguide ports, and these are defined here directly in CADFEKO and accessed in
EDITFEKO, as can be seen in the following listing of the input file waveguide_step.pre:
** Compute S-parameters
SP
** End of file
EN
SCATTERING PARAMETERS
SCATTERING PARAMETERS
Figure 2-15 shows the computed S-parameters with FEKO. One can nicely see the cut-off
frequency at about 9.4871 GHz. These results agree also very well with available references
(both measurements and computations).
C
∼j
B
This example shows how to calculate the radiation pattern and input impedance for a
simple half wavelength dipole shown in figure 3-1. The wavelength λ is 4 m, the length
of the antenna 2 m, and the wire radius 2 mm. The input file is as follows
** A lambda/2 dipole antenna in free space
** Radiation at a wavelength lambda of 4 m
** Segmentation parameters
#seg_len = #lambda / 20
#seg_rad = 0.002
IP #seg_rad #seg_len
** Mirror the lower half of the dipole upwards, about the plane z=0 (xy-plane)
** (with the same command electric symmetry about the plane z=0 is established)
SY 1 0 0 2
** End
EN
The first line of the input file must contain either the file name example_01 or it must
be a comment line or an empty line. It is usually a comment line. This is followed by
the IP card which defines the wire radius and the maximum segment length. Here the
λ
maximum segment length has been set to 20 = 0.2 m. The dipole antenna is located on
the z axis between the two points A (at z = −1) and D (at z = 1). The excitation is
placed in the middle of the dipole at z = 0.
The dipole could have been constructed with a single BL card by connecting the points A
and D. (See the first example, dipole.pre, in the Getting started manual.) However, if
a single wire is used, the feed segment cannot be specified by label and no use is made of
the symmetry. To ensure that the feed segment has a unique label, the antenna is created
in three sections namely A–B, B–C and C–D. The points B and C lie symmetric about
z = 0 and the distance between them must be less than the maximum segment length
such that only one segment is created.
First the points A and B are connected by means of the BL card. This generates the
bottom half of the dipole. The plane z = 0 is then defined as a plane of ideal electric
symmetry (SY card). This mirrors the existing segments to create the top half of the
dipole. It is, of course, also possible to create the top half of the dipole with another BL
card and thus not to utilise symmetry. All structures following an LA card will have the
label specified by it. Since no LA card has been used yet, all segments created thus far
have the default label 0. The BL card connecting points B and C follows the LA card and
thus creates a segment with a unique label (label 1 in this case) as no other segments are
created after this LA card. This label is used in the A1 card to specify the feed segment.
The EG card ends the geometric input.
The input files for the examples can be found in the examples\simple directory under
the FEKO installation. Solutions for these examples are obtained by running PREFEKO
and FEKO as discussed in the Getting started manual.
The user is advised to run FEKO on example_01 and compare the FEKO output file
example_01.out with the extracts of the output file listed below.
The resulting input impedance is Z = (78.4 + j 31.0) Ω and the maximum gain is 2.18 dB.
This example considers a λ2 dipole in front of a square conducting plate with side length
λ. The wavelength is 3 m which results in a frequency of approximately 100 MHz. The
distance between the antenna and the plate is 34 λ = 2.25 m.
The horizontal radiation pattern and the near field are calculated for both a perfectly
conducting plate and a plate with losses. The complete input file is given below.
** A lambda/2 dipole antenna 3/4 lambda in front of a plate with
** side lengths equal to lambda.
** Radiation at a wavelength lambda of 3 m
** Segmentation parameters
#lambda = 3
#tri_len = #lambda / 7
#seglen = #lambda / 15
#segrad = 0.002
IP #segrad #tri_len #seglen
DP A #d 0 #h
DP B #d 0 #gap
DP C #d 0 -#gap
** A quarter of the plate is created in the quadrant y>0 and z>0 with label 2
LA 2
BP P1 P2 P3 P4
** Mirror the plate in the plane y=0 (xz-plane) -- ideal magnetic wall
SY 1 0 3 0
** Create the top half of the dipole antenna (without excitation)
** Use Label 0
LA 0
BL A B
** Mirror in the plane z=0 (xy-plane) -- perfect electric conducting plane
SY 1 0 0 2
** Create the excitation segment with label 1
LA 1
BL B C
** End
EN
The comments at the start of the input file are followed by an IP card that sets the
λ
maximum segment length to 15 = 0.2 m, the wire radius to 2 mm, and the maximum
λ
triangle edge length to 7 = 0.429 m.
Next, the points are defined, using DP cards, as shown in figure 3-3. A quarter plate is
created from these points by using a BP card. This is mirrored by applying magnetic
symmetry to the plane y = 0 (SY card). The top half of the antenna is then created
using a BL card. The top half of the plate and the dipole are now mirrored by specifying
electric symmetry in the plane z = 0. Thereafter the feed segment is created.
Here all triangles have label 2 (they follow the LA card that specifies label 2), the segments
of the dipole have label 0 except for the feed segment (to which the voltage gap will be
applied) which has label 1. (Note that no label increase is specified by the SY cards.)
The program PREFEKO meshes the structure into 128 triangular patches and 9 segments,
as shown in figure 3-3.
P4
P3
P1
P2
B
After the end of geometry the frequency and excitation are set and a near and far field
calculation requested. This will yield the results for perfectly conducting triangles which
is the default. The SK card is then used to define skin effect losses. This is followed by a
second set of calculation requests.
Below are some extracts from the lossless section of the output file example_02.out
LOCATION EX EY ...
medium X/m Y/m Z/m magn. phase magn. phase
0 -1.97000E+00 0.00000E+00 0.00000E+00 0.00000E+00 0.00 0.00000E+00 0.00
0 -1.87000E+00 0.00000E+00 0.00000E+00 0.00000E+00 0.00 0.00000E+00 0.00
0 -1.77000E+00 0.00000E+00 0.00000E+00 0.00000E+00 0.00 0.00000E+00 0.00
EZ
magn. phase
7.03252E-02 139.87
6.98094E-02 149.19
6.91203E-02 158.31
LOCATION HX HY ...
medium X/m Y/m Z/m magn. phase magn. phase
0 -1.97000E+00 0.00000E+00 0.00000E+00 0.00000E+00 0.00 1.90618E-04 140.39
0 -1.87000E+00 0.00000E+00 0.00000E+00 0.00000E+00 0.00 1.89841E-04 149.82
0 -1.77000E+00 0.00000E+00 0.00000E+00 0.00000E+00 0.00 1.88747E-04 159.07
HZ
magn. phase
0.00000E+00 0.00
0.00000E+00 0.00
0.00000E+00 0.00
The extract below shows the same results when losses are included on the triangles
DATA OF THE VOLTAGE SOURCE NO. 1
LOCATION EX EY ...
medium X/m Y/m Z/m magn. phase magn. phase
0 -1.97000E+00 0.00000E+00 0.00000E+00 0.00000E+00 0.00 0.00000E+00 0.00
0 -1.87000E+00 0.00000E+00 0.00000E+00 0.00000E+00 0.00 0.00000E+00 0.00
0 -1.77000E+00 0.00000E+00 0.00000E+00 0.00000E+00 0.00 0.00000E+00 0.00
EZ
magn. phase
7.02916E-02 139.86
6.97747E-02 149.18
6.90846E-02 158.30
LOCATION HX HY ...
medium X/m Y/m Z/m magn. phase magn. phase
0 -1.97000E+00 0.00000E+00 0.00000E+00 0.00000E+00 0.00 1.90538E-04 140.39
0 -1.87000E+00 0.00000E+00 0.00000E+00 0.00000E+00 0.00 1.89759E-04 149.81
0 -1.77000E+00 0.00000E+00 0.00000E+00 0.00000E+00 0.00 1.88663E-04 159.06
HZ
magn. phase
0.00000E+00 0.00
0.00000E+00 0.00
0.00000E+00 0.00
Figures 3-4 and 3-5 show the near field along the x axis and the horizontal radiation.
Figure 3-4: Electric near field along the x axis for Example 2
Figure 3-5: Radiation pattern (in dB) in the horizontal plane ϑ = 90◦ for Example 2
This example uses the same structure as Example 2 shown in figure 3-3, but in this case
the physical optics (PO) approximation is used to determine the currents on the surface
of the plate.
The triangles on the plate all have label 2 and this is therefore be specified in the PO
card to define the PO region. The complete input file is given below.
** A lambda/2 dipole antenna 3/4 lambda in front of a plate with
** side lengths equal to lambda.
** Radiation at a wavelength lambda of 3 m
** Segmentation parameters
#lambda = 3
#tri_len = #lambda / 7
#seglen = #lambda / 15
#segrad = 0.002
IP #segrad #tri_len #seglen
** A quarter of the plate is created in the quadrant y>0 and z>0 with label 2
LA 2
BP P1 P2 P3 P4
** Mirror the plate in the plane y=0 (xz-plane) -- ideal magnetic wall
SY 1 0 3 0
** Create the top half of the dipole antenna (without excitation)
** Use Label 0
LA 0
BL A B
** Mirror in the plane z=0 (xy-plane) -- perfect electric conducting plane
SY 1 0 0 2
** Create the excitation segment with label 1
LA 1
BL B C
** PO approximation for the plate with the label 2, ray search is switched off
PO 2 1 0 0 0
** End
EN
Note that the addition of a single PO card is the only change from the input file used for
Example 2. (Besides the fact that the skin effect is not considered here.)
Some extracts from the output file example_03.out follow
DATA OF THE VOLTAGE SOURCE NO. 1
in free space
LOCATION EX EY EZ
X/m Y/m Z/m magn. phase magn. phase magn. phase
-1.9700 0.0E+00 0.0E+00 0.000E+00 0.00 0.000E+00 0.00 7.655E-02 139.69
-1.8700 0.0E+00 0.0E+00 0.000E+00 0.00 0.000E+00 0.00 7.625E-02 149.18
-1.7700 0.0E+00 0.0E+00 0.000E+00 0.00 0.000E+00 0.00 7.582E-02 158.50
-1.6700 0.0E+00 0.0E+00 0.000E+00 0.00 0.000E+00 0.00 7.525E-02 167.64
in free space
LOCATION HX HY HZ
X/m Y/m Z/m magn. phase magn. phase magn. phase
-1.9700 0.0E+00 0.0E+00 0.000E+00 0.00 1.977E-04 137.30 0.000E+00 0.00
-1.8700 0.0E+00 0.0E+00 0.000E+00 0.00 1.958E-04 146.53 0.000E+00 0.00
-1.7700 0.0E+00 0.0E+00 0.000E+00 0.00 1.935E-04 155.57 0.000E+00 0.00
-1.6700 0.0E+00 0.0E+00 0.000E+00 0.00 1.906E-04 164.39 0.000E+00 0.00
Figure 3-6 shows the distribution of the near field along the x axis and figure 3-7 the
radiation pattern in the horizontal plane. It is clear that there is good correlation between
the PO method and the method of moments results (figures 3-4 and 3-5). There is,
however, a big difference in the computation time.
Figure 3-6: Electric near field along the x axis for Example 3
Figure 3-7: Radiation pattern (in dB) in the horizontal plane ϑ = 90◦ for Example 3
** Set parameters
#lambda = 20
#r = 1
#epsr = 36
** Segmentation parameters
#tri_len = #lambda / sqrt(#epsr) / 8
IP #tri_len
** End
EN
The meshed structure is similar to figure 3-8 but has 176 triangles. Note that here only
one ME card is used as all the triangles lie on the surface of the dielectric and there are
no conducting structures. Note also the use of the DI card to specify the parameters and
the fact that only one FE card is required to calculate the near field inside and outside
the dielectric region.
When PREFEKO meshes a sphere, all the triangle corners lie on the surface of the sphere.
Thus the meshed sphere is, on average, slightly smaller than the original sphere and the
accuracy may be improved by increasing the radius of the sphere as done here.
Some extracts from the output file example_04.out are given below.
Scaling by a factor 1.018E+00
LOCATION EX ...
medium X/m Y/m Z/m magn. phase
0 0.00000E+00 0.00000E+00 -2.00000E+00 9.13919E-01 39.25
0 0.00000E+00 0.00000E+00 -1.97500E+00 9.10146E-01 38.92
0 0.00000E+00 0.00000E+00 -1.95000E+00 9.06153E-01 38.60
...
1 0.00000E+00 0.00000E+00 -2.50000E-02 1.21019E-01 2.49
1 0.00000E+00 0.00000E+00 1.11022E-16 1.20985E-01 -1.29
1 0.00000E+00 0.00000E+00 2.50000E-02 1.21338E-01 -5.07
EY EZ
magn. phase magn. phase
0.00000E+00 0.00 0.00000E+00 0.00
0.00000E+00 0.00 0.00000E+00 0.00
0.00000E+00 0.00 0.00000E+00 0.00
Figures 3-9 and 3-10 compare the near field along the z axis and the radar cross section as
a function of the angle to exact (theoretical) results. Note that the radius of the meshed
sphere is slightly larger than that of the theoretical one along the z axis.
The problem of a dipole in front of a lossy dielectric beam, as shown in figure 3-11, is
next. The calculation is done using the equivalent surface current method, but could
just as well be done with volume equivalent currents. The geometry and the electrical
parameters (such as the dielectric constant) can be determined from the input file
J KL
I
E
F GH
** Geometric Structure
** lower half of the dipole antenna
DP A 0 0 -2.77
DP B 0 0 -0.34
DP C 0 0 0.34
BL A B
** lower half of the dielectric solid
DP E -0.1 0.2 -0.85
DP F 0.1 0.2 -0.85
** Mirroring around the plane z=0 (xy-plane) -- ideal electric conducting plane
SY 1 0 0 2
** Dielectric data
DI 1 113 1 0.62
** End
EN
Here we use an ME card to define the dielectric volume and a second one to switch back
to conductors in free space in order to construct the feed segment (which must be defined
after specifying the symmetry).
Below we list some extracts from the output file example_05.out
Integration of the normal component of the power density vector pointing into the
respective medium over the surface of the dielectric body (MoM surface equiv. princip.)
or volume integral for the corresponding medium (FEM and MoM volume equiv. princip.)
LOCATION EX ...
medium X/m Y/m Z/m magn. phase
0 0.00000E+00 -3.95000E-01 0.00000E+00 0.00000E+00 0.00
0 0.00000E+00 -3.85000E-01 0.00000E+00 0.00000E+00 0.00
...
1 0.00000E+00 2.05000E-01 0.00000E+00 0.00000E+00 0.00
1 0.00000E+00 2.15000E-01 0.00000E+00 0.00000E+00 0.00
EY EZ
magn. phase magn. phase
0.00000E+00 0.00 3.37382E-01 173.86
0.00000E+00 0.00 3.39730E-01 174.37
D
C
The current in a circular loop wire can be used to measure the magnitude of a magnetic
field. The conducting wire is shielded against electric fields by a conducting sleeve. The
structure is shown in figure 3-12. The input file is listed below.
** Segmentation parameters
IP 0.005 0.25 0.15
** Create a quarter of the torus in the area y<0 and z<0
DP A 0 0 0
DP B 0 0 1
DP C -1 0 0
DP D -1.1 0 0
TO A B C D 175 180 0.25 0.12 0
** Start the calculation with the OS card and output the segment currents
OS 3
** End
EN
Number of excitation: N = 1
Frequency in Hz: FREQ = 3.00000E+07
Wavelength in m: LAMBDA = 9.99308E+00
Direction of incidence: THETA = 0.00 PHI = 0.00
Dir. of polarisation: ETA = 90.00
Direction of propag.: BETA0X = 0.00000E+00
BETA0Y = 0.00000E+00
BETA0Z = -6.28754E-01
Field strength in V/m: |E0X| = 0.00000E+00 ARG(E0X) = 0.00
(Phase in deg.) |E0Y| = 1.00000E+00 ARG(E0Y) = 0.00
|E0Z| = 0.00000E+00 ARG(E0Z) = 0.00
Number of excitation: N = 1
Frequency in Hz: FREQ = 3.00000E+07
Wavelength in m: LAMBDA = 9.99308E+00
Direction of incidence: THETA = 10.00 PHI = 0.00
Dir. of polarisation: ETA = 90.00
Direction of propag.: BETA0X = -1.09182E-01
BETA0Y = 0.00000E+00
BETA0Z = -6.19201E-01
Field strength in V/m: |E0X| = 0.00000E+00 ARG(E0X) = 0.00
(Phase in deg.) |E0Y| = 1.00000E+00 ARG(E0Y) = 0.00
|E0Z| = 0.00000E+00 ARG(E0Z) = 0.00
E
A
A monopole antenna of length λ4 and radius 10−5 λ is located in the middle of a circular
ground plane with a radius R such that 2 π R
λ = 3. The structure is shown in figure 3-13
and the input file is
** Calculate the far field and integrate this to obtain the radiated
** power. The pattern should be omni-directional in the phi-direction
** such that we can use large increments for this angle.
FF 3 90 12 0 1 15 2 30
** For FEKO LITE replace the line above with
** FF 3 90 6 0 1 90 2 60
** End
EN
Note that we switch off averaging of the currents at the OS card. Averaging may require
a significant amount of run time and is no longer required for the post processor. Some
of extracts from the output file example_07.out are given below.
DATA OF THE VOLTAGE SOURCE NO. 1
POLARISATION
axial r. angle direction
0.0600 -91.90 LEFT
0.0000 180.00 LINEAR
0.0000 180.00 LINEAR
The power supplied by the voltage source is 2 W, but the power calculated by integrating
in the far field is 1.926 W — a difference of 3.7%. A difference this large implies that a
finer segmentation may be required. The radiation pattern is shown in figure 3-14.
105º 255º
120º 240º
135º 225º
150º 210º
165º 180º 195º
CZ
DZ
C
AZ CY
BZ
B
BY
A
AY
• Modelling a real feed pin with a wire inside the waveguide using the A1 card as a
voltage source along the wire.
• Using the waveguide feed (AW card) to directly impress the desired mode (here a
TE10 mode in the rectangular waveguide section).
• Using the AP card to model an impressed field distribution on an aperture. While
this method is more complex to use than the direct AW card, and also as opposed
to the AW card input impedances or S-parameters cannot be obtained, it shall
be demonstrated here since this technique can be used for any user defined field
distribution or any waveguide cross sections (which might not be supported directly
at the AW card).
Figure 3-16: Illustrating the different options to model a waveguide feed: Feed pin with
A1 voltage source (left), waveguide port excitation with AW card (middle), and field
distribution in an aperture with AP card (right)
When using a feed wire pin with an A1 voltage source, then the input file is:
** A pyramidal horn antenna for the frequency 1.645 GHz.
** using a wire feed with a voltage source as excitation (A1 card)
** Segmentation parameters
#edgelen = #lam / 6 ** note that a mesh of lam / 6 is rather coarse
#seglen = #lam / 15
#segrho = #seglen / 12
IP #segrho #edgelen #seglen
DP B 0 #wa/2 #wb/2
DP BZ 0 0 #wb/2
DP BY 0 #wa/2 0
** Horn opening
DP A #hl #ha/2 #hb/2
DP AZ #hl 0 #hb/2
DP AY #hl #ha/2 0
** Feed
#z = 0.45*#seglen
DP DU -#fl 0 -#z
DP DO -#fl 0 #z
DP DZ -#fl 0 #wb/2
** Mirror the quarter around the plane y=0 (xz-plane) -- ideal magnetic wall.
SY 1 0 3 0
** Integration of the full 3-D pattern over a sphere to get the radiated power
** accurately (use symmetry, only 1/4 sphere, multiply power by 4).
** A test using a finer angular stepping has shown that a stepping of 5 deg.
** is fully sufficient for the dimensions under consideration (must be adjusted
** if a horn antenna with higher gain is modelled, since then more sidelobes occur)
#stepping = 5
#nthe = 90/#stepping + 1
#nphi = 180/#stepping + 1
FF 3 #nthe#nphi0 0 0 #stepping #stepping
** End
EN
This file can be found in the examples directory under the name example_08_a1.pre.
Note the use of a triangle on the upper waveguide wall to ensure an attachment point for
the feed wire which runs from top to bottom. Symmetry will ensure that there is also an
attachment point on the bottom wall.
Some extracts from the output file example_08_a1.out are given below.
Note that the source power is calculated from a single current and in some cases this
might not be very accurate. In this example since the PW card is used to normalise the
power this is scaled to exactly 1.00000 W. We can obtain a more accurate calculation of
the radiated power by integrating the far field. (Note that this gives the radiated power
which is not the same as the source power for lossy antennas.) In this example, the
integrated radiated power is 4 times 0.238229 W, i.e. 0.95292 W (we only integrated over
a quarter of the far field region). Thus there is a 4.7% power error. This is quite large
and caused by the coarse meshing of only λ6 . The actual power is 0.209 dB lower than the
calculated source power. Since the power is used to normalise the directivity calculation,
the actual directivity is 0.209 dB higher than the calculated values. The directivity might
therefore be compensated by specifying a 0.209 dB offset in POSTFEKO.
As mentioned in the beginning, instead of physically modelling the feed wire, one can
also use a waveguide port excitation (AW card) directly in FEKO. The corresponding
input file is example_08_aw.pre and looks like this:
** A pyramidal horn antenna for the frequency 1.645 GHz
** using a rectangular waveguide port excitation (AW card)
** of the TE_10 mode
#scal = 0.01
SF 1 #scal
** Segmentation parameters
#edgelen = #lam / 6 ** note that a mesh of lam / 6 is rather coarse
#seglen = #lam / 15
#segrho = #seglen / 12
IP #segrho #edgelen #seglen
** Define the corner points for the waveguide port (for AW card)
DP FZ -#fl -#wa/2 #wb/2
DP FY -#fl #wa/2 -#wb/2
DP F0 -#fl -#wa/2 -#wb/2
DP CY -#fl #wa/2 0
DP C0 -#fl 0 0
** Transition from waveguide to horn
DP B 0 #wa/2 #wb/2
DP BZ 0 0 #wb/2
DP BY 0 #wa/2 0
** Horn opening
DP A #hl #ha/2 #hb/2
DP AZ #hl 0 #hb/2
DP AY #hl #ha/2 0
** Create the surfaces in the quadrants y>0 and z>0. Note that in order to
** get a high resolution mesh at the port, we are using local mesh refinement.
**
** Waveguide port (we use here the label "Port", also note that the normal
** vector of the created structure must point into the waveguide towards
** the horn)
LA Port
BP C CZ C0 CY #edgelen/4#edgelen/4
** Waveguide top and side walls
LA: Waveguide
BQ C CZ BZ B #edgelen/4
BQ C B BY CY #edgelen/4
** Horn walls and top
LA Horn
BQ B A AY BY
BQ B A AZ BZ
** Mirror the quarter around the plane y=0 (xz-plane) -- ideal magnetic wall
SY 1 0 3 0
** Integration of the full 3-D pattern over a sphere to get the radiated power
** End
EN
It is worth mentioning the local mesh refinement used for the triangles representing the
waveguide port. This is necessary since in the example here even though not excited, also
higher order modes up to the order (5/5) are considered and this field distribution must
be represented properly by the mesh across the port.
When looking at the results, then one finds the following:
POLARISATION
axial r. angle direction
POLARISATION
axial r. angle direction
0.0000 0.00 LINEAR
0.0000 0.00 LINEAR
0.0000 0.00 LINEAR
0.0000 0.00 LINEAR
0.0000 180.00 LINEAR
From these results, one can see that the actually radiated power is 4 times 0.246615 W,
i.e. 0.98646 W, and hence the power budget error is just a mere 1.3% or 0.06 dB. This is
despite the coarse meshing of the horn as such (similar to the A1 type excitation). But
a local mesh refinement is used here for the port region.
As indicated in the beginning of this example and as displayed in figure 3-16, a third exci-
tation option exists in FEKO, and this can be found in the input file example_08_ap.pre:
The user can define an arbitrary field distribution in an aperture and use this as excitation:
** A pyramidal horn antenna for the frequency 1.645 GHz
** using a user defined field distribution as excitation (AP card)
** Segmentation parameters
#edgelen = #lam / 6 ** note that a mesh of lam / 6 is rather coarse
#seglen = #lam / 15
#segrho = #seglen / 12
IP #segrho #edgelen #seglen
** Calculate offset lambda_h/4 to set the source apart from the the short at waveguide end
#offs = #lam_h/4
#wp = #wl-#offs
** Define the corner points for the waveguide feed (for AP card)
DP RG_1 -#wp -#wa/2 -#wb/2
DP RG_2 -#wp #wa/2 -#wb/2
DP RG_3 -#wp -#wa/2 #wb/2
DP BY 0 #wa/2 0
** Horn opening
DP A #hl #ha/2 #hb/2
DP AZ #hl 0 #hb/2
DP AY #hl #ha/2 0
** Points for feed of horn
DP F -#wp #wa/2 #wb/2
DP FZ -#wp 0 #wb/2
DP FY -#wp #wa/2 0
** Mirror the quarter around the plane y=0 (xz-plane) -- ideal magnetic wall
SY 1 0 3 0
#E2 = #Hz0*#beta/(#beta_c*#beta_c)*#pi/#wb*#zfh*#n
#E3 = #Hz0*#beta/(#beta_c*#beta_c)*#pi/#wa*#zfh*#m
#Ep2 = #phase+90.0
#Ep3 = #phase-90.0
#H2 = #Hz0*#beta/(#beta_c*#beta_c)*#m*#pi/#wa
#H3 = #Hz0*#beta/(#beta_c*#beta_c)*#n*#pi/#wb
!!if (#below_cut_off = 0) then
#Hp2 = #phase+90.0
#Hp3 = #phase+90.0
!!else
#Hp2 = #phase
#Hp3 = #phase
!!endif
#argn =#n*#pi/#max_y
#argm =#m*#pi/#max_x
** Set the AP card
AP 0 -9 RG_1 RG_2 RG_3 1 #max_x #max_y 1 0
!!for #j=1 to (#max_y )
#arg = #argn*(#j-0.5)
#Ef2 = #E2*sin(#arg)
#Ef3 = #E3*cos(#arg)
!! for #i=1 to (#max_x)
#arg = #argm*(#i-0.5)
#Em2 = #Ef2*cos(#arg)
#Em3 = #Ef3*sin(#arg)
!! if((#i=1) or (#j=1) or (#i=#max_x) or (#j=#max_y)) then
#Em2 = 0.0
#Em3 = 0.0
!! endif
#Em2 #Ep2 #Em3 #Ep3
!! next
!!next
!!for #j=1 to (#max_y)
#arg = #argn*(#j-0.5)
#Hf2 = #H2*cos(#arg)
#Hf3 = #H3*sin(#arg)
!! for #i=1 to (#max_x)
#arg = #argm*(#i-0.5)
#Hm2 = #Hf2*sin(#arg)
#Hm3 = #Hf3*cos(#arg)
!! if((#i=1) or (#j=1) or (#i=#max_x) or (#j=#max_y)) then
#Hm2 = 0.0
#Hm3 = 0.0
!! endif
#Hm2 #Hp2 #Hm3 #Hp3
!! next
!!next
** ----------------------
** Integration of the full 3-D pattern over a sphere to get the radiated power
** accurately (use symmetry, only 1/4 sphere, multiply power by 4).
** A test using a finer angular stepping has shown that a stepping of 5 deg.
** is fully sufficient for the dimensions under consideration (must be adjusted
** if a horn antenna with higher gain is modelled, since then more sidelobes occur)
#stepping = 5
#nthe = 90/#stepping + 1
#nphi = 180/#stepping + 1
FF 3 #nthe#nphi0 0 0 #stepping #stepping
** End
EN
Here the modal distribution of the TE10 mode in a rectangular waveguide is evaluated
directly in FEKO and passed as excitations by means of the general AP card. This is of
course much more complex to set up than using a readily available AW type feed, but
could be more general in some cases (e.g. waveguide cross section which is not supported
at the AW card).
The results of this AP feed in the *.out file shall not be reproduced here. The power
budget error is again very small, only 0.34% or 0.015 dB.
The far-field directivity of all the three options to model the waveguide are shown in
figures 3-17 and 3-18 for the horizontal and vertical radiation patterns, respectively. One
realises an excellent agreement of the three methods under consideration. The data
plotted here are the direct FEKO results, the indicated correction of the directivity in
POSTFEKO has not been done.
In Example 4 a dielectric sphere was examined using the equivalent surface current
method. Here a dielectric cube is to be examined with the volume current method.
The cube edge length is a = 2 m and the dielectric constant is εr = 4. The cube is
situated at the origin of the coordinate system. As in Example 4, the excitation is an
x polarised (electric field) incident wave propagating in the z direction (see figure 3-8).
The free space wavelength in this case is 10 m. The cube is shown in figure 3-19.
** A dielectric cube consisting of volume elements.
** The side length is 2 meters.
** Calculation of the near field and RCS when excited by a plane wave
EG 1 0 0 0 0
** End
EN
Some of the results extracted from the output file example_09.out are
in free space
LOCATION EX EY EZ
X/m Y/m Z/m magn. phase magn. phase magn. phase
0.0E+00 0.0E+00 -5.0000 1.060E+00 178.30 0.000E+00 0.00 0.000E+00 0.00
0.0E+00 0.0E+00 -4.9000 1.065E+00 175.07 0.000E+00 0.00 0.000E+00 0.00
0.0E+00 0.0E+00 -4.8000 1.069E+00 171.87 0.000E+00 0.00 0.000E+00 0.00
0.0E+00 0.0E+00 -4.7000 1.072E+00 168.70 0.000E+00 0.00 0.000E+00 0.00
Figure 3-20 shows the distribution of the near field along the z axis. (The second FE
card calculates the fields at the centres of the cuboids. Due to the piecewise constant
basis functions, the field on the z axis is equal to that inside the adjacent cuboids. These
values are used in the plot.) Figure 3-21 shows the RCS in the vertical plane ϕ = 0.
B3
E1 D1 C1 A1
B1
E2 D2 C2 B2 A2
** End of geometry
EG 1 0 0 0 0
** --------------
** Firstly calculate the horizontal and the vertical radiation patterns
** without the ground plane
FF 1 1 181 0 90 0 0 2
FF 1 181 1 0 0 0 2 0
** --------------
** Repeat with a real ground (reflexion coefficient approximation)
BO 1 #epsr #sigma #mur
** Far field calculations now only in upper hemisphere (z>0)
** Avoid calculating the far field exactly at the interface
FF 1 1 181 1 85 0 0 2
FF 1 360 1 1 -89.75 0 0.5 0
** --------------
** Repeat for real ground plane using the exact Sommerfeld formulation
BO 0
GF 11 1 0 1 1 0
#epsr 1 #sigma
FF 1 1 181 1 85 0 0 2
FF 1 360 1 1 -89.75 0 0.5 0
** End
EN
The following are some extracts from the output file example_10.out
DATA FOR THE GREEN’S FUNCTION
free space
Figure 3-23: Radiation pattern in the horizontal plane ϑ = 90◦ (E plane) in the absence
of the ground plane
Figure 3-24: Radiation pattern in the vertical plane ϕ = 0◦ (H plane) in the absence of
the ground plane
Figure 3-25: Radiation pattern in the plane ϑ = 85◦ with a ground plane (reflection
coefficient method)
Figure 3-26: Radiation pattern in the vertical plane ϕ = 0◦ (H plane) with a ground
plane (reflection coefficient method)
Figure 3-27: Radiation pattern in the plane ϑ = 85◦ with a ground plane (Green’s
function)
Figure 3-28: Radiation pattern in the vertical plane ϕ = 0◦ (H plane) with a ground
plane (Green’s function)
As in Example 3, a dipole in front of a metallic plate is treated with the physical optics
approximation. Here additional “correction” currents are added to the edges of the metal
plate. This significantly improves the accuracy compared to the standard PO implemen-
tation. The geometry is shown in figure 3-29.
D
G B
FE
The input file is given below. The two KA cards specify the edges for which edge correction
must be taken into account — note that they are effected by symmetry.
** A dipole antenna, of length lambda/2, in front of a metallic plate
** of dimension 3*lambda by 5*lambda. The dipole is d=3/4*lambda away from the plate.
** The plate region is solved by means of the physical optics approximation
** and the effects of the bordering edges have been taken into
** account using edge currents
** Variables
#lambda = 1 ** Wave length
#h = #lambda/4 ** Dipole height
#a = 2.5*#lambda ** Half edge length of plate
#b = 1.5*#lambda ** Half edge width of plate
#d = 3/4*#lambda ** Distance between dipole and plate
#tri_len = #lambda/5 ** Maximum edge length of the triangles
#seglen = #lambda/28 ** Maximum segment length
** End
EN
Some of the results extracted from the output file example_11.out are
DATA OF THE VOLTAGE SOURCE NO. 1
This example considers a dielectric coated metallic sphere, i.e. the triangular patches on
the metallic sphere also represent the surface of the dielectric. The inside of the sphere is
free space. It is also possible to solve a metallic sphere embedded in a spherical dielectric
Green’s function region, but we will not consider it in this example.
A cut through the geometry is shown in figure 3-31.
** Variables
#b = 1 ** Radius of the dielectric sphere
#a = 0.25 ** Radius of the metallic sphere
#eps = 4 ** Relative dielectric constant
#lambda = 2.0944 ** Free space wavelength
** Segmentation parameters
#tri_len = #lambda / sqrt(#eps) / 5
IP #tri_len
** Define points
DP A 0 0 0
DP B 0 -#a 0
DP C 0 -#b 0
DP D 0 0 #a
DP E 0 0 #b
** Create an eighth of the metallic sphere, that forms the inner edge of the
** dielectric sphere (we assume that the interiour of the metallic sphere is
** filled with air, one could also fill it with the dielectric material)
ME 1 0 1
#len = 0.7 * #tri_len
KU A D B 1 0 0 90 90 #len
** Mirroring of the eighth of the sphere using electric and magnetic symmetry
SY 1 2 3 1
** Program control
** Near field along the z axis (avoid the surfaces of the sphere and coating)
FE 1 1 1 80 0 0 0 -1.975 0 0 0.05
** End
EN
POLARISATION
axial r. angle direction
0.0000 0.00 LINEAR
0.0000 0.00 LINEAR
0.0000 0.00 LINEAR
LOCATION EX ...
medium X/m Y/m Z/m magn. phase
0 0.00000E+00 0.00000E+00 -1.97500E+00 1.32744E+00 -36.03
0 0.00000E+00 0.00000E+00 -1.92500E+00 1.39808E+00 -40.39
0 0.00000E+00 0.00000E+00 -1.87500E+00 1.44917E+00 -44.39
...
1 0.00000E+00 0.00000E+00 -9.75000E-01 7.17665E-01 106.88
1 0.00000E+00 0.00000E+00 -9.25000E-01 1.01341E+00 97.48
1 0.00000E+00 0.00000E+00 -8.75000E-01 1.29607E+00 90.61
EY EZ
magn. phase magn. phase
0.00000E+00 0.00 0.00000E+00 0.00
0.00000E+00 0.00 0.00000E+00 0.00
0.00000E+00 0.00 0.00000E+00 0.00
Figure 3-32: Variation of the Ex field along the z axis compared to the exact solution
** End
EN
in free space
LOCATION EX EY EZ
X/m Y/m Z/m magn. phase magn. phase magn. phase
0.00100 0.00100 -4.9990 1.003E+00 84.29 6.476E-10 -3.25 3.011E-06 141.55
0.00100 0.00100 -4.9490 1.004E+00 83.45 6.757E-10 -3.03 3.120E-06 142.13
0.00100 0.00100 -4.8990 1.004E+00 82.62 7.054E-10 -2.81 3.233E-06 142.70
0.00100 0.00100 -4.8490 1.004E+00 81.78 7.369E-10 -2.59 3.352E-06 143.27
in free space
LOCATION HX HY HZ
X/m Y/m Z/m magn. phase magn. phase magn. phase
0.00100 0.00100 -4.9990 1.719E-12 -3.25 2.664E-03 84.29 7.994E-09 141.55
0.00100 0.00100 -4.9490 1.794E-12 -3.03 2.664E-03 83.45 8.281E-09 142.13
0.00100 0.00100 -4.8990 1.873E-12 -2.81 2.664E-03 82.62 8.583E-09 142.70
0.00100 0.00100 -4.8490 1.956E-12 -2.59 2.664E-03 81.78 8.899E-09 143.27
Figure 3-34 shows the distribution of the near field. The exact solution and the solution
obtained with equivalent surface currents (similar to Example 4) are also given. For the
volume current method inside the dielectric, two sets of calculations are requested by the
two commands
** Near field along the z axis
FE 3 1 1 201 0 #offs #offs -5+#offs 0 0 0.05
** Fields inside the sphere
FE 7
The first card calculates the field on regular intervals and is the one used for figure 3-34.
Note that the first parameter of this card specifies Both fields in free space rather than
inside a dielectric. The option Both fields inside dielectric is used to select the interior
problem in the surface equivalence problem and should not be used with volume currents.
Also note the small offset which is used to avoid sampling the near field on the surface of
the cuboids.
The second card gives the field at the centre of each cuboid. This data is not on a regular
grid/line and is not simple to plot with POSTFEKO.
Figure 3-34: Distribution of the electric near field just off the z axis
Figure 3-35 shows an ideal conducting cube with an incident plane wave as excitation.
The surface currents will be calculated with the physical optics approximation. Wedge
correction terms are also taken into account.
BB
GG
A
AA
F
FF
DD
HH
EE
** Variables
#lam = 1
#a = 2*#lam ** Cube edge length
** End
EN
It is sometimes required to relabel structures after applying cards that increment labels
(such as SY and TG) — this is done with the CB card.
Some extracts from the output file example_14.out are
VALUES OF THE SCATTERED ELECTRIC FIELD STRENGTH IN THE FAR FIELD in V
Factor e^(-j*BETA*R)/R not considered
Figure 3-37 shows a dipole antenna in front of a dielectric sphere that will be examined
in this example. The sphere can be modelled with either the equivalent surface current or
the volume current. Here a third method is used namely a special Green’s function. This
saves a large amount of memory, but is only applicable to spherical or planar dielectrics.
** Set parameters
#lambda = 1 ** Wave length
#a = #lambda ** Distance between the dipole and the sphere
#r = 0.4*#lambda ** Radius of the sphere
#epsr = 4 ** Relative dielectric constant
** Segmentation parameters
#segr = #lambda/1000
#segl = #lambda/20
#cube_len = #lambda/sqrt(#epsr)/6
IP #segr #segl #cube_len
** End
EN
Note that only the dipole is created in the geometry section. The sphere is added as a
Green’s function with the GF card. In this case a single dielectric sphere is used, but it
may be up to three layers thick.
Some extracts from the output file example_15.out are
Figure 3-39 shows a dipole antenna, placed in front of a metallic cylinder. In this example
the current distribution on the surface of the cylinder is approximated using Fock theory.
P3
C
P2
P1
** Feed segment
LA 1
BL P1 P2
**
** Define the cylinder surface as a Fock region
FO 1 2 D B 0 0
**
** End
EN
Some extracts from the output file example_16.out are given on the next page.
Figure 3-41 shows a meshed parabolic reflector. A Hertzian dipole is placed at the focal
point of the parabolic reflector.
** Segmentation parameters
#tri_len = #lam/5
IP #tri_len
** Using symmetry
SY 1 0 3 2
** Excitation
#freq = #c0 / #lam
FR 1 0 #freq
A5 0 1 0 #f 0 0 0 0
** End
EN
Figure 3-43 shows a UHF antenna array consisting of 32 UHF antenna elements — an
individual element is shown in figure 3-44.
** Segmentation parameters
#lambda = #c0 / #freq * 1000 ** Wavelength in mm
#segl = #lambda / 15
DP D 0 #dyc 0
DP E 0 #dyd 0
DP F 0 0 #dz
DP G 0 #dya #dz
DP H 0 #dyb #dz
DP I 0 #dyc #dz
DP J 0 #dyd #dz
DP M 0 0 -#dz
IP 20 #segl
LA 10
BL F G
BL G H
BL H I
BL I J
BL J E
IP 6
BL B G
BL H C
BL I D
** Frequency specification
FR 1 0 #freq
A1 1 144 1 #phb
A1 1 304 1 #phb
A1 1 302 1 #phb
A1 1 222 1 #phb
A1 1 224 1 #phb
A1 1 64 1 #phb
A1 1 61 1 #phb+180
A1 1 141 1 #phb+180
A1 1 143 1 #phb+180
A1 1 303 1 #phb+180
A1 1 301 1 #phb+180
A1 1 221 1 #phb+180
A1 1 223 1 #phb+180
A1 1 63 1 #phb+180
** Third plane
A1 1 52 1 #phc
A1 1 132 1 #phc
A1 1 134 1 #phc
A1 1 294 1 #phc
A1 1 292 1 #phc
A1 1 212 1 #phc
A1 1 214 1 #phc
A1 1 54 1 #phc
A1 1 51 1 #phc+180
A1 1 131 1 #phc+180
A1 1 133 1 #phc+180
A1 1 293 1 #phc+180
A1 1 291 1 #phc+180
A1 1 211 1 #phc+180
A1 1 213 1 #phc+180
A1 1 53 1 #phc+180
** Fourth plane
A1 1 42 1 #phd
A1 1 122 1 #phd
A1 1 124 1 #phd
A1 1 284 1 #phd
A1 1 282 1 #phd
A1 1 202 1 #phd
A1 1 204 1 #phd
A1 1 44 1 #phd
A1 1 41 1 #phd+180
A1 1 121 1 #phd+180
A1 1 123 1 #phd+180
A1 1 283 1 #phd+180
A1 1 281 1 #phd+180
A1 1 201 1 #phd+180
A1 1 203 1 #phd+180
A1 1 43 1 #phd+180
** Fifth plane
A1 1 1 1 #phe
A1 1 81 1 #phe
A1 1 83 1 #phe
A1 1 243 1 #phe
A1 1 241 1 #phe
A1 1 161 1 #phe
A1 1 163 1 #phe
A1 1 3 1 #phe
A1 1 2 1 #phe+180
A1 1 82 1 #phe+180
A1 1 84 1 #phe+180
A1 1 244 1 #phe+180
A1 1 242 1 #phe+180
A1 1 162 1 #phe+180
A1 1 164 1 #phe+180
A1 1 4 1 #phe+180
** Sixth plane
A1 1 11 1 #phf
A1 1 91 1 #phf
A1 1 93 1 #phf
A1 1 253 1 #phf
A1 1 251 1 #phf
A1 1 171 1 #phf
A1 1 173 1 #phf
A1 1 13 1 #phf
A1 1 12 1 #phf+180
A1 1 92 1 #phf+180
A1 1 94 1 #phf+180
A1 1 254 1 #phf+180
A1 1 252 1 #phf+180
A1 1 172 1 #phf+180
A1 1 174 1 #phf+180
A1 1 14 1 #phf+180
** Seventh plane
A1 1 21 1 #phg
A1 1 101 1 #phg
A1 1 103 1 #phg
A1 1 263 1 #phg
A1 1 261 1 #phg
A1 1 181 1 #phg
A1 1 183 1 #phg
A1 1 23 1 #phg
A1 1 22 1 #phg+180
A1 1 102 1 #phg+180
A1 1 104 1 #phg+180
A1 1 264 1 #phg+180
A1 1 262 1 #phg+180
A1 1 182 1 #phg+180
A1 1 184 1 #phg+180
A1 1 24 1 #phg+180
** Eighth plane (top)
A1 1 31 1 #phh
A1 1 111 1 #phh
A1 1 113 1 #phh
A1 1 273 1 #phh
A1 1 271 1 #phh
A1 1 191 1 #phh
A1 1 193 1 #phh
A1 1 33 1 #phh
A1 1 32 1 #phh+180
A1 1 112 1 #phh+180
A1 1 114 1 #phh+180
A1 1 274 1 #phh+180
A1 1 272 1 #phh+180
A1 1 192 1 #phh+180
A1 1 194 1 #phh+180
A1 1 34 1 #phh+180
** End
EN
Figures 3-45 and 3-46 shows the radiation patterns in the horizontal and vertical planes.
This example considers a dipole antenna in front of a metallic plate which is used as a
reflector, similar to Examples 2 and 3. In Example 2 the whole structure is treated with
the moment method, whereas in Example 3, the currents on the surface on the reflector
are approximated by means of physical optics(PO). In this example the plate is treated
by means of diffraction theory (UTD). The geometry is shown in figure 3-47.
#lambda = 3 ** Wavelength
#h = #lambda/4 ** Half the dipole height
#a = 1.5*#lambda ** Half edge length of the plate
#d = 3/4*#lambda ** Distance between dipole and plate
#seglen = #lambda/28 ** Maximum segment length
#rho = 0.002*#lambda ** Segment radius
**
IP #rho #seglen
** Frequency
#freq = #c0 / #lambda
FR 1 0 #freq
** Near field
FE 1 70 1 1 0 -1.97 0 0 0.1 0 0
** End
EN
Some extracts from the output file example_19.out are shown on the next page.
LOCATION EX EY EZ
X/m Y/m Z/m magn. phase magn. phase magn. phase
-1.9700 0.0E+00 0.0E+00 0.000E+00 0.00 0.000E+00 0.00 7.063E-02 79.63
-1.8700 0.0E+00 0.0E+00 0.000E+00 0.00 0.000E+00 0.00 6.778E-02 84.33
-1.7700 0.0E+00 0.0E+00 0.000E+00 0.00 0.000E+00 0.00 6.484E-02 88.83
-1.6700 0.0E+00 0.0E+00 0.000E+00 0.00 0.000E+00 0.00 6.179E-02 93.11
...
4.63000 0.0E+00 0.0E+00 0.000E+00 0.00 0.000E+00 0.00 5.409E+00 -62.21
4.73000 0.0E+00 0.0E+00 0.000E+00 0.00 0.000E+00 0.00 5.251E+00 -73.75
4.83000 0.0E+00 0.0E+00 0.000E+00 0.00 0.000E+00 0.00 5.102E+00 -85.31
4.93000 0.0E+00 0.0E+00 0.000E+00 0.00 0.000E+00 0.00 4.963E+00 -96.90
Figure 3-48 shows the near field values along the x axis and figure 3-49 the radiation
pattern in the horizontal plane.
This example considers the UTD solution of a monopole antenna on a square plate.
Figure 3-50 shows the geometry.
In the past the attachment point between a wire and a UTD polygonal plate was specified
by defining a very short stub on the opposite side of the plate. This is no longer required
— in fact it will result in an error — as FEKO now automatically determines contact
points between wires and polygonal plates (and the ground plane specified by the BO and
GF cards).
The input file is as follows
** Monopole antenna on a square ground plate of finite size using the
** MoM/UTD hybrid method (coupling between MoM and UTD for the plate)
** Parameters for the UTD (Edge and corner diffraction is taken into account)
UT 1 2 0 0 7 0
** End
EN
Figures 3-51 and 3-52 presents the radiation patterns in the vertical plane.
105º 255º
120º 240º
135º 225º
150º 210º
165º 180º 195º
105º 255º
120º 240º
135º 225º
150º 210º
165º 180º 195º
A mobile communications antenna which transmits at 900 MHz, has been placed on top of
a building. The resulting radiation pattern must be calculated. To simplify the modelling
the antenna is replaced with a Hertzian dipole. Of course more complex antennas can
be considered at the expense of solution time. The building is assumed to be a perfectly
conducting body. Figure 3-53 shows the geometry under consideration.
D4
B4
C4
D1 D3
C3 B3
B1 C1
D2
C2
B2
A4
A3
A1
A2
** Frequency
#freq = 900.0e6
** Dimensions
#a = 30
#b = 20
#c = 20
#d = 26
#e = 16
#f = 3
** Declare points
DP A1 #b/2 -#a/2 0
DP A2 #b/2 #a/2 0
DP A3 -#b/2 #a/2 0
DP A4 -#b/2 -#a/2 0
DP B1 #b/2 -#a/2 #c
DP B2 #b/2 #a/2 #c
DP B3 -#b/2 #a/2 #c
DP B4 -#b/2 -#a/2 #c
DP C1 #e/2 -#d/2 #c
DP C2 #e/2 #d/2 #c
DP C3 -#e/2 #d/2 #c
DP C4 -#e/2 -#d/2 #c
DP D1 #e/2 -#d/2 #c+#f
DP D2 #e/2 #d/2 #c+#f
DP D3 -#e/2 #d/2 #c+#f
DP D4 -#e/2 -#d/2 #c+#f
** Construct building
PY A1 A2 A3 A4
PY A1 A2 B2 B1
PY A2 A3 B3 B2
PY A3 A4 B4 B3
PY A4 A1 B1 B4
PY B1 B2 C2 C1
PY B2 B3 C3 C2
PY B3 B4 C4 C3
PY B4 B1 C1 C4
PY C1 C2 D2 D1
PY C2 C3 D3 D2
PY C3 C4 D4 D3
PY C4 C1 D1 D4
PY D1 D2 D3 D4
** End
EN
Consideration of:
geometrical optics (direct and refl.rays): yes
edge and wedge diffraction (not multiple): yes
corner diffraction: yes
double diffraction: yes
creeping waves: no
tip diffraction: no
Maximum number of reflections/diffractions: 2
Using UTD according to Kouyoumjian
Coupling MoM-UTD is taken into account
Note the warning 1010 which states that some ray paths do not have the required min-
imum length. These paths starts to violate the far field assumption of the UTD. This
does not imply that the results will be incorrect, but does indicate that the user should
verify it in some way. Figures 3-54, 3-55 and 3-56 presents the radiation patterns in the
horizontal and the two vertical planes.
y x
m
44 m ~
l=1
w=
1.2 4.5
5m er =
m
m m
1.5
h=
Figure 3-57 shows a planar dipole antenna with length l = 144 mm and width w =
1.25 mm located on a planar substrate with thickness h = 1.5 mm. The substrate does
not have a ground plane.
The input impedance of the antenna as a function of frequency in the band 700 MHz to
900 MHz, as well as the vertical radiation pattern at 830 MHz must be calculated.
Relatively narrow planar antennas may be modelled as a wire and this approach will be
used in this example. (Example 24 shows the use of surface triangles.) The input file is
** Example of a printed dipole antenna on a
** dielectric substrate
** Parameters
#w = 1.25 ** Width of the metal strips (all dimensions in mm)
#rad = 0.25*#w ** Equivalent radius of the segments
#len = 144 ** Length of the antenna
** End
EN
The input impedance as a function of frequency and the radiation pattern at 830 MHz
are presented in figures 3-58 and 3-59 respectively.
Figure 3-58: Smith chart of the input impedance in the frequency range from 700 MHz
to 900 MHz. The curve runs clockwise on the Smith chart.
-20
O O
90º 270º
O O
105º 255º
O O
120º 240º
O O
135º 225º
O O
150º 210º
O O
165º 180º O 195º
Figure 3-59: Vertical radiation pattern (Gain in dB) of the antenna at 830 MHz
This example is also considered in the description of the ME card in the User’s Manual.
The geometry is shown in figure 3-60. The metal cylinder can be considered to be filled
with air. In this case the input file is as follows (example_23a.pre)
** Computation of the RCS of a dielectric cone on top of a
** metallic cylinder. See Fig. 3 in IEEE Trans. on Antennas
** and Propagation, vol. 39, no. 7, July 1991, p. 1036.
#lambda = 1 ** Wavelength
#a = 0.3*#lambda ** Radius of the cylinder
#h = 0.6*#lambda ** Height of the cylinder and the cone
#epsr = 2 ** Relative permittivity
** Segmentation parameters
#tri_len = #lambda / sqrt(#epsr) / 9
IP #tri_len
** Symmetry
SY 1 2 3 0
** End of geometry
EG 1 0 0 0 0
** Dielectric properties
DI 1 #epsr 1 0
** Frequency
#freq = #c0 / #lambda
FR 1 0 #freq
** End
EN
The model can also be constructed such that the cylinder is filled with the same dielectric
as the cone. (Such an approach will decouple the internal and external problems and can
be very useful for certain applications with a high shielding factor. One must, however,
be aware of the fact that the number of basis functions will be larger, which will influence
the run time and memory.) In this case the ME cards in the geometry block of the input
file (example_23b.pre) will be slightly different and the block will be as follows.
** Generate the geometry (only one quarter)
** Cylinder side and bottom - metallic triangles on a dielectric surface
** Note that the normal directions require two ME cards
ME 0 1 1
KR AU A CU 90
ME 1 0 1
ZY AU A CU 90
** Cone - triangles on the surface of a dielectric
ME 1 0
KK A AO C 90 0
** Cylinder top/cone bottom - metallic triangles inside a dielectric
ME 1
KR A AO C 90
One may also fill the cylinder with a different dielectric medium. (This will require even
more basis functions than filling the cylinder with the cone dielectric.) Then the geometry
block of the input file (example_23c.pre) will then be as follows.
Some extracts from the output file example_23a.out are given below.
Figure 3-61: The bistatic radar cross section as a function of the angle ϑ
The example of a planar dipole antenna in figure 3-57 is examined again, this time as a
planar metallic strip modelled by triangular elements. (Note that the dimensions differ
from those in figure 3-57.) The model of the dipole, without substrate, is shown in
figure 3-62.
** Dipole parameters
#w = 8 ** width of the metallisation (all dimensions in mm)
#len = 2*100 ** length of the dipole antenna
** Substrate parameters
#h = 6 ** height
#epsr = 4 ** rel. permittivity
** Green’s function
GF 11 2 0 1 1 0
#h #epsr 1 0
1 1 0
** Frequency
FR 1 0 #freq
** Far-field pattern
FF 1 90 1 1 -89 0 2
FF 1 90 1 1 -89 90 2
** End
EN
Note the use of the AE card rather than the A7 card to excite the dipole. The AE card
is much simpler to use, especially for structures where there is more than one edge in
parallel.
The extracts from the output file example_24.out are similar to those of Example 22,
but they cannot be compared directly since the dimensions of the dipoles differ.
A two wire transmission line with length l = 0.6 λ and characteristic impedance Zo =
360 Ω is terminated with a real load Zl = 50 Ω. The input impedance of the transmission
line may be found from transmission line theory
Zi = (75.6 + j253.9) Ω
This structure is modelled in FEKO. The wire radius is 2mm and the separation is
calculated to give a characteristic impedance of 360 Ω. The remaining parameters may
be determined from the input file
** Parameters
#a = 0.002 ** wire radius
#Z_0 = 360 ** the desired characteristic impedance
#Z_l = 50 ** the load
#freq = 20.0e6 ** the frequency
#ll = 0.6 ** length of the transmission line in wavelengths
** Segmentation parameters
** (Note that the segment length should be short as compared
** to the wavelength but also not too long as compared to the
** separation distance between the two parallel wires.)
#segl = min ( #lam/10, 5*#D )
IP #a #segl
SY 1 0 0 2
LA 1
BL A B
LA 2
BL E F
** end of geometry
EG 1 0 0 0 0
** excitation
FR 1 0 #freq
A1 0 1 1 0
** load
LZ 2 #Z_l 0
** end
EN
This result shows good agreement with the result from transmission line theory. Note
that FEKO also models the radiation from the transmission line correctly while this is
not included in the transmission line theory.
In a similar manner it is possible, for example for EMC purposes, to investigate the
coupling of electromagnetic fields into cables.
With this example the use of UTD for a cylinder is shown. A four element Yagi-Uda an-
tenna is placed in front of a cylindrical mast. To reduce computational time, the coupling
between the MoM region (antenna) and the UTD region (cylinder) is neglected. Fig-
ure 3-63 shows the geometry of the model. Note that the cylinder is considered infinitely
long for computational purposes.
The exact data for the geometry may be determined from the input file
** A four element Yagi-Uda antenna in front of a cylindrical mast, which
** is considered as infinitely long and treated with UTD.
** Only the influence of the mast on the radiation pattern is investigated,
** the influence on the input impedance of the antenna is not considered.
** For acceleration of the computation the coupling is neglected.
** Segmentation parameters
#rho = 0.0025*#lambda
#segl = #lambda/20
IP #rho #segl
** Feed segment
LA 1
BL B1 B2
** End of geometry
EG 1 0 0 0 0
** Excitation
FR 1 0 #freq
A1 0 1 1 0
** Radiation diagram
FF 1 1 181 0 90 0 0 2
FF 1 181 1 0 0 0 2 0
** End
EN
In horizontal and vertical radiation patterns of the Yagi-Uda antenna in front of a cylinder
are shown in figures 3-64 and 3-65.
With this example we demonstrate the use of the PO for a dielectric body. A resonant
dipole antenna (i.e. the input impedance of the antenna on its own in free space is purely
real) is placed in front of a dielectric cylinder. The impedance is investigated as a function
of the distance to the cylinder.
Since the PO is applied to the dielectric cylinder, the equivalent currents are zero in the
region shadowed from the sources. For a metallic cylinder one could simply leave out the
back of the cylinder and the top and bottom surfaces. However, in the case of a dielectric
cylinder we need to define the complete cylinder in order to uniquely define the regions
of the different media (i.e. air and dielectric). The geometry is shown in figure 3-66.
Since this is a closed body, we must ensure that all normals point outwards and then
select the option “Full ray tracing, illumination only from outside” at the PO card. This
avoids doing ray tracing to determine if the back triangles are illuminated and leads to a
significant saving in computation time.
For this example OPTFEKO could be used to vary the distance — see OPTFEKO in the
User’s Manual. The input file below is constructed for a fixed distance using the “defined”
function such that it may be used as is with OPTFEKO. (Without the “defined” function,
the values OPTFEKO writes to the top of the file will merely be overwritten.)
** Other variables
#freq = 500.0e6 ** Frequency
#lambda = #c0 / #freq ** Wavelength
#h = 0.25*#lambda * 0.9627087 ** Dipole length (chosen such that the free
** space input impedance is purely real)
#b = #lambda ** Radius of cylinder
#c = 2*#lambda ** Half the cylinder height
#epsr = 4
#muer = 1
#sigma = 0.05
** Segmentation parameters
#segl = #lambda / 25
#segr = #lambda / 1000
#tri_len = #lambda / sqrt(#epsr) / 4
IP #segr #tri_len #segl
** Mirroring
SY 1 2
** End of geometry
EG 1 0 0 0
** Excitation
FR 1 0 #freq
A1 0 1 1 0
** End
EN
When, as indicated above, OPTFEKO is used to vary the distance #d, one can obtain, for
example, the imaginary part of the input impedance as a function of distance as shown in
figure 3-67. To this end the file example_28.opt must be used as input for OPTFEKO:
40
** End
In figure 3-67 the symbols represent the method of moments result, which is both com-
putationally and storage wise very intensive. The smooth graph shows the result of the
much more efficient PO method.
Figure 3-67: Variation of the imaginary part of the input impedance with distance
Feed pin
Ground plane
Figure 3-68: Pin fed patch antenna on a finite dielectric substrate. The geometry has
been cut away to show the feed pin.
** Substrate parameters
#h = 2.87 ** Height
#epsr = 2.2 ** Relative permittivity
** Segmentation parameters
#tri_len = #lam / 12
#fine_tri = #lam / 16
#segl = #lam / 15
#segr = #diam/2
IP #segr #tri_len #segl
** Dielectric substrate
ME 1 0
BQ B F G C #fine_tri
BQ C G H E #fine_tri
BQ E H I A #fine_tri
BP F J K G
BP G K L H
BP H L M I
** Metallic patch
ME 1 0 1
BT D B C #fine_tri #fine_tri #fine_tri
BQ D C E A #fine_tri #fine_tri #fine_tri #fine_tri
** Dielectric properties
DI 1 #epsr 1
** Frequency
FR 1 0 #freq
** Far-field pattern
FF 1 73 1 1 0 0 5
FF 1 73 1 1 0 90 5
** End
EN
Integration of the normal component of the power density vector pointing into the
respective medium over the surface of the dielectric body (MoM surface equiv. princip.)
or volume integral for the corresponding medium (FEM and MoM volume equiv. princip.)
Note that the power flowing into the dielectric is negative as the source (which has been
scaled to 1 W) is located inside it. We would, however, have expected 1 W to be flowing
out of the dielectric surface. The integral of the power in the far field is also a little less
than the expected 0.5 W. This indicates that the power is not calculated very accurately
and the mesh should be refined if this is a critical parameter. The radiation patterns
on the other hand are not that sensitive to the mesh density. Figure 3-69 compares the
pattern in the plane ϕ = 90◦ to the pattern (calculated in the next example) for an infinite
ground plane and Green’s function dielectric.
Figure 3-69: Far field gain of the patch antenna on a finite substrate in the plane ϕ = 90◦ .
Note that the pattern obtained with the Green’s function has to be 0 in the region
90◦ ≤ ϕ ≤ 270◦ as the ground plane is assumed to be infinite.
The structure in figure 3-70 is a patch antenna on a dielectric substrate with a ground
plane. The patch is 31.1807 mm by 46.7480 mm and is to be fed 8.9 mm inward form the
centre of the long side (at the origin of the coordinate system in the figure). The structure
is excited with an A2 card which applies a voltage between the bottom of a vertical pin
and the ground plane. The patch has been created similar to the one in Example 29
such that there is a node at the pin position. The input impedance is calculated as a
function of frequency and the radiation patterns only at the centre frequency. The input
file example_30a.pre is as follows
** Substrate parameters
#h = 2.87 ** Height
#epsr = 2.2 ** Relative permittivity
** Segmentation parameters
IP #diam/2 #lam/15 #lam/15
** Patch
BT D B C
BQ D C E A
** End of geometry
EG 1 0 0 0 0
** End
EN
The structure could also be excited with a coaxial probe approximation. When the A4
card is used, the source (a surface charge effectively representing a current source) is
placed at the centre of the nearest triangle. Thus we create the complete patch with a
single BP card — shown in figure 3-71 — such that there will be a triangle whose centre
is reasonably close to the feed position. (Note the positions of the specified and actual
feed points in the figure.)
Z
Specified excitation point
Actual probe position
** Substrate parameters
#h = 2.87 ** Height
#epsr = 2.2 ** Relative permittivity
** Segmentation parameters
IP #lam/15
** End of geometry
EG 1 0 0 0 0
** End
EN
The output file is very similar to the one for the A2 feed above, differing mainly in the
description of the sources. Some extracts from the output file example_30b.out are
The S11 results for the two models are presented on a Smith chart in figure 3-72. The
radiation patterns of the two models — as shown in figure 3-69 — are virtually the same.
The pin model requires more time for the calculation of the Green’s function interpolation
tables, but for subsequent runs the solution time is about the same for the two models.
Also, with the A4 approximation, the interpolation tables requires only 5 kByte of storage
versus the 48 kByte required for the pin model and the associated z directed currents.
This will, however, only be significant for very large problems.
The difference in the impedance is caused by the inaccuracy in the position of the A4
probe as well as the approximations used in the probe model. The probe model decreases
in accuracy as the wire radius and/or the dielectric thickness increase. In most cases where
the input impedance is of significance, the wire pin model will be worth the additional
computational requirements.
Figure 3-72: Input impedance of the patch antennas with different feed models as a
function of frequency
The structure for this example, shown in figure 3-73, is a dipole antenna, constructed
from wire segments, partly buried in a real ground.
m
m
. 4
1 32
~
Free space m Wire radius
m 0.25 mm
6
7.
11
mm
62
.5 a
** Some parameters
#alpha = 45 ** Tilt angle of the wire
#freq = 300.0e6 ** Frequency
#epsr = 16 ** Earth parameters
** Segmentation parameters
#lambda = #c0 / #freq / sqrt(#epsr)
#seglen = #lambda / 22
#segrad = 0.00025
IP #segrad #seglen
** End of geometry
EG 1 0 0 0 0
** Excitation
FR 1 0 #freq
A2 0 -1 1 0 #x_feed 0 #z_feed
** End
EN
The current distribution along the wire as well as the input impedance is calculated.
Some extracts from the output file follows
Figure 3-74 compares the current calculated with FEKO with published NEC-4 results.
Figure 3-74: Current distribution along the partly buried dipole antenna
z hi Hi
Ei
y
1 m Si
b=
Ji
^
n
ji
a=
2m
x
The geometry for this example is shown in figure 3-75 — a thin dielectric plate. The
size, thickness and material parameters can be determined from the input file below. The
plate is illuminated by an incident plane wave such that the bistatic radar cross section
may be calculated.
As indicated in the section “Dielectric solids” in the “General comments” chapter of the
User’s manual, there are a number of ways with which such a thin dielectric plate may be
treated in FEKO. In principle we may use the volume equivalence principle, discretising
the dielectric into small cuboids (as was done for the cube in Example 9). However, it
uses substantially less memory to realise the sheet with the SK card. The input file is as
follows
** RCS (radar cross section) computation of a thin dielectric plate
** Customisable parameters
#a = 2 ** Length of the plate
#b = 1 ** Width of the plate
#d = 0.004 ** Thickness of the plate
#epsr = 7 ** Relative permittivity
#tand = 0.03 ** Loss tangent
#freq = 100.0e6 ** Frequency
#thetai = 20 ** Angle of incidence
#phii = 50 ** - " -
#etai = 60 ** Polarisation angle
** Segmentation parameters
#lambda0 = #c0 / #freq
#lambda = #lambda0 / sqrt(#epsr)
#tri_len = #lambda / 8
IP #tri_len
** quarter plate
DP A 0 0 0
DP B #a/2 0 0
DP C #a/2 #b/2 0
DP D 0 #b/2 0
BP A B C D
** End of geometry
EG 1 0 0 0 0
** Excitation
FR 1 1 #freq
A0 0 1 1 1 0 #thetai #phii #etai
** End
EN
The geometry is discretised into triangular elements, similar to conducting plates. The
thin dielectric sheet formulation is then applied to all triangles with the given label. We
are interested in the calculated RCS. Some extracts from the output file follows
EXCITATION BY PLANE LINEAR POLARISED ELECTROMAGNETIC WAVE
Number of excitation: N = 1
Frequency in Hz: FREQ = 1.00000E+08
Wavelength in m: LAMBDA = 2.99792E+00
Direction of incidence: THETA = 20.00 PHI = 50.00
Dir. of polarisation: ETA = 60.00
Direction of propag.: BETA0X = -4.60764E-01
BETA0Y = -5.49117E-01
BETA0Z = -1.96945E+00
Field strength in V/m: |E0X| = 9.65425E-01 ARG(E0X) = 180.00
(Phase in deg.) |E0Y| = 1.96747E-01 ARG(E0Y) = 0.00
|E0Z| = 1.71010E-01 ARG(E0Z) = 0.00
DATA OF LABELS
All segments and triangles without a listed label are perfectly conducting
Figure 3-76 shows the bistatic RCS as a function of the angle ϑ in the plane ϕ = 0.
Figure 3-77: The meshed geometry of the thin-walled hollow sphere used in Example 33
This example determines the shielding effectiveness of a hollow sphere. The sphere radius
is 1 m and the silver walls have a thickness of only 2.5 nm. The geometry is shown in
figure 3-77.
In the input file listed below, the hollow sphere is excited by an incident plane wave and
the electric and magnetic fields are calculated at the centre thereof.
** Computation of the electric and magnetic shielding factor of
** a thin hollow silver sphere.
** Customisable parameters
#r0 = 1 ** Sphere radius
#fmax = 50.0e6 ** Maximum frequency (for the segmentation)
#d = 2.5e-9 ** Thickness of the shell
#sigma = 6.1e7 ** Conductivity (silver)
** Segmentation parameters
#lambda = #c0 / #fmax
#tri_len = min (#lambda/8, #r0/4)
IP #tri_len
** Quarter sphere
DP A 0 0 0
DP B #r0 0 0
DP C 0 0 #r0
KU A B C 0 0 0 90 90 #tri_len
** End
EN
Number of excitation: N = 1
Frequency in Hz: FREQ = 5.00000E+07
Wavelength in m: LAMBDA = 5.99585E+00
Direction of incidence: THETA = 90.00 PHI = 180.00
Dir. of polarisation: ETA = 0.00
Direction of propag.: BETA0X = 1.04792E+00
BETA0Y = 0.00000E+00
BETA0Z = 0.00000E+00
Field strength in V/m: |E0X| = 0.00000E+00 ARG(E0X) = 0.00
(Phase in deg.) |E0Y| = 0.00000E+00 ARG(E0Y) = 0.00
|E0Z| = 1.00000E+00 ARG(E0Z) = 0.00
DATA OF LABELS
in free space
LOCATION EX EY EZ
X/m Y/m Z/m magn. phase magn. phase magn. phase
0.0E+00 0.0E+00 0.0E+00 0.000E+00 0.00 0.000E+00 0.00 3.2075E-02 53.42
in free space
LOCATION HX HY HZ
X/m Y/m Z/m magn. phase magn. phase magn. phase
0.0E+00 0.0E+00 0.0E+00 0.000E+00 0.00 1.0249E-04 105.82 0.000E+00 0.00
V A
From the two field strength values E = 3.206 · 10−2 m and H = 1.025 · 10−4 m , and the
V −3 A
incident field strength Ei = 1 m and Hi = 2.6544 · 10 m (derived from Ei and the free
space wave impedance), we can determine the shielding factor
E
ae = −20 log = 29.881 dB
Ei
H
am = −20 log = 28.265 dB
Hi
These values may be compared to those in the book by Kaden: ae = 29.698 dB for electric
shielding factor and am = 28.310 dB for magnetic screen absorption. These results are in
excellent agreement with the FEKO results.
Figure 3-78: Coaxial cable with the upper half cut away to see the inner conductor
This example discusses modelling a coaxial cable in FEKO. For typical coaxial cables (up
to a few hundred Ohm characteristic impedance), the inner conductor is thick relative to
the rest of the geometry. Thus it cannot be modelled with a single wire. Rather both
inner and outer conductors are constructed with meshed cylinders.
To get an accurate calculation of the input impedance, it is important that the excitation
should give the best possible approximation of a proper TEM mode. There are two
options to accomplish such a feed in FEKO:
• Using the AW card to model the TEM mode directly. This is the preferred option.
• Using a model with wires: Sometimes the AW card cannot be used (for instance a
non-supported cross section of the coaxial cable like elliptical) and then alternative
ways of modelling a feed must be used. One can use 8 segments radially connecting
the inner conductor to the outer conductor as can be seen in figure 3-79. Then also
a shorted quarter wavelength stub should be added to enclose the feed segments to
prevent them from causing external radiation.
The input file (example_34_aw.pre) using a TEM mode at a waveguide port is as follows:
** Model of a coaxial cable using cylindrical surface elements.
** This example illustrates how to
** - excite a proper TEM mode with an AW card waveguide port
Figure 3-79: Feed model with 8 wires and using a shortened stub to prevent external
radiation
** Select the maximum edge length of the triangles for the curved inner and
** outer sections so that the geometry of the arc can be represented accurately
#curved_len_i = 2*#pi*#r_inner / 8
#curved_len_o = 2*#pi*#r_outer / 8
** Make copies while rotating around the x-axis to create the complete structure
TG 15 -1 -1 0 1 #angle
** Compute the near-field in a cross section across the cable close to the
** feed, can be used in order to check the proper TEM mode
#x = min(#len/5, #r_outer)
#n = 40
#start = -1.2*#r_outer
#width = 2.4*#r_outer
#delta = #width / (#n-1)
FE 3 1 #n #n 0 #x #start #start #delta #delta
** End
EN
this agrees rather well to the theoretically expected input reflection coefficient. See the
comments in the *.pre file above, this should be 0.2728 (magnitude) and 60◦ (phase). Or
in dB, the FEKO computed value for S11 is -10.93 dB, as compared to the theoretically
expected value of -11.28 dB for an ideal transmission line.
When using an alternative modelling with feed wires as in figure 3-79, then this input file
(example_34_a1.pre) is as follows:
** Model of a coaxial cable using cylindrical surface elements.
** This example illustrates how to
** - excite a proper TEM mode (by using more feed elements)
** - match the open wire end (adding a lambda/4 long shorted stub)
** Note that the AW card is the preferred option to excite a TEM
** mode in a coaxial cable, see example file "example_34_aw". Here
** we use feed wires for illustration purposes to demonstrate an
** Select the maximum edge length of the triangles for the curved inner and
** outer sections so that the geometry of the arc can be represented accurately
#curved_len_i = 2*#pi*#r_inner / 8
#curved_len_o = 2*#pi*#r_outer / 8
** If we just want to use the coaxial cable to excite, for example a horn
** antenna, we need not be concerned about radiation to the open side. But
** if we want to prevent this, or want to get more accurate input impedance
** values, a shorted lambda/4 long stub can be added to the feed side. This
** transforms to an open at the feed position. As stated above, the stub
** can generally be omitted, but we include it to demonstrate the principle.
#stub_len = #lambda / 4
DP Bs -#stub_len 0 0
DP Csi -#stub_len #r_inner 0
DP Cso -#stub_len #r_outer 0
** Make copies while rotating around the x-axis to create a quarter structure
TG 3 0 0 0 1 #angle
** Add wires to be used later as feed and load. If some feed and load wires
** lie in the principle planes, we cannot make optimal use of symmetry. Thus
** we rotate the wires out of this plane.
LA 1
BL Ci Co
TG 1 1 2 #angle
TG 1 1 1 1 2 2*#angle
TG 1 1 2 9 2 #len
** Adjust the labels of all load segments so that they are all 10
CB 11 10
** Create the full model using symmetry (again adjust the load labels)
SY 1 0 3 0 2
CB 12 10
SY 1 0 0 3 4
CB 14 10
EG 1 0 0 0 0
** Excite the eight wires in phase to get a proper TEM mode. One could also
** use a single wire and feed unsymmetrically. This, however, will cause the
** excitation of higher order modes which will corrupt the input impedance
** (even though these modes decay as the wave propagates away from the feed).
A1 0 1 1 0
A1 1 2 1 0
A1 1 3 1 0
A1 1 4 1 0
A1 1 5 1 0
A1 1 6 1 0
A1 1 7 1 0
A1 1 8 1 0
** Load the end of the coaxial cable (note that the eight wires are in
** parallel which gives an additional factor 8 for the resistance of each
** wire). The length of the wires is #scaling*(#r_outer-#r_inner) and the
** required distributed resistance is:
#Rdist = 8 * #Rload / (#r_outer - #r_inner) / #scaling
LD 10 #Rdist
** Compute the near-field in a cross section across the cable close to the
** feed, can be used in order to check the proper TEM mode
#x = min(#len/5, #r_outer)
#n = 40
#start = -1.2*#r_outer
#width = 2.4*#r_outer
#delta = #width / (#n-1)
FE 3 1 #n #n 0 #x #start #start #delta #delta
** End
EN
Note that the TG as SY cards use the option to increment the label. This ensures that the
feed segments all have unique labels (labels 1 to 8). We have to use separate excitation
(A1 cards) for each of these segments. Also, the CB card is used a number of times to
ensure that all the load segments have the same label (label 10 in this case).
The output file contains the following output for the sources (each of the other six sources
are symmetrical to one of these two)
The calculated impedances (692.57 + j 355.64)Ω and (692.55 + j 355.52)Ω are quite close
to the theoretically predicted (646.6 + j 330.0)Ω — see the derivation at the start of the
*.pre file. Note that the model includes radiation from the open load as well as the fact
that there will be some higher order modes. In terms of the reflection coefficient S11 in
dB related to the transmission line impedance of 70 Ω we find here a value of -10.71 dB,
which compares very well to the AW card result of -10.93 dB.
The electric near field on an orthogonal cross section near the feed segments is shown in
figure 3-80. This shows that the field distribution is close to that of the TEM mode, but
not exactly so. Note that the near field is calculated on a rectangular grid which explains
the stepped behaviour of the contours near the conductors.
Figure 3-80: Electric near field orthogonal to the coaxial cable near the feed
This example considers a horn antenna in front of a parabolic reflector. The reflector is
treated with the PO and the horn with the MoM. Even if the MoM is decoupled from
the PO, the calculation of the interaction between the MoM basis functions and the PO
triangles can be quite time consuming. More so if the solution has to be repeated a
number of times, for example to optimise the shape of the reflector.
The antenna can be removed by using the equivalence theorem, in particular the apertures
created with the AP card. This requires two model files. The first (example_35a.pre)
calculates the near fields on six planes surrounding the antenna and writes it to *.efe
and *.hfe files for later use. (It also calculates the far field pattern, but that will be
discussed later.)
** Example_35 considers a horn antenna in front of a parabolic reflector
** The example is split into four parts
** -This first part calculates the near fields radiated by the horn in
** the absence of the reflector. The fields are written to *.efe and
** *.hfe files to use for the aperture excitation. It also calculates
** the far fields and write this to a *.ffe file for use as a point
** source with a specified pattern.
** -The second part uses these near fields to define an equivalent
** aperture to replace the horn. The aperture is then used to excite
** the parabolic reflector.
** -The third part models the horn and reflector together for verification.
** -The forth part use the far fields as a point source.
** Define the corner points for a quarter horn in the quadrant y>0 and z>0
** Points on the waveguide back wall
DP C #xback #wg_w/2 #wg_h/2
DP CZ #xback 0 #wg_h/2
DP CY #xback #wg_w/2 0
DP C0 #xback 0 0
** Points on the transition from wave guide to horn
DP B -#horn_l #wg_w/2 #wg_h/2
DP BZ -#horn_l 0 #wg_h/2
DP BY -#horn_l #wg_w/2 0
** Points on the horn opening
DP A 0 #horn_w/2 #horn_h/2
DP AZ 0 0 #horn_h/2
DP AY 0 #horn_w/2 0
** Points along the feed wire
DP DU #xfeed 0 -#seg_l/2
DP DO #xfeed 0 #seg_l/2
DP DZ #xfeed 0 #wg_h/2
** Mirror the quarter around the plane y=0 (xz-plane) -- ideal magnetic wall.
SY 1 0 3 0
** The excitation
FR 1 0 #freq
A1 0 1 1 0
** Now calculate the near fields on a closed aperture around the horn
** Planes of constant x
FE 3 1 #Ny #Nz 0 #xneg #ystart #zstart #xskip #yskip #zskip
FE 3 1 #Ny #Nz 0 #xpos #ystart #zstart #xskip #yskip #zskip
** Planes of constant y
FE 3 #Nx 1 #Nz 0 #xstart -#ypos #zstart #xskip #yskip #zskip
FE 3 #Nx 1 #Nz 0 #xstart #ypos #zstart #xskip #yskip #zskip
** Planes of constant z
FE 3 #Nx #Ny 1 0 #xstart #ystart -#zpos #xskip #yskip #zskip
FE 3 #Nx #Ny 1 0 #xstart #ystart #zpos #xskip #yskip #zskip
** To determine the phase centre, we calculate the near field in front of the horn
** (In the far field region, 20m to 30m, or about about 100 to 150 wavelengths)
**FE 1 101 1 1 0 20/#sf 0 0 0.1/#sf 0 0
** Finally we calculate the far field pattern referenced to the phase centre
** (See the example guide on how to determine the phase centre)
OF 1 0 -0.216/#sf 0 0
FF 1 37 73 0 0 0 5 5
** End
EN
The second (example_35b.pre) uses the AP card with the field data in the *.efe and
*.hfe files to replace the horn with an equivalent aperture:
LA 2
** Define the points -- the reflector face in the negative x-direction
DP R1 #focal 0 0
DP R2 #focal/2 0 0
DP R3 #focal 0 #ref_rad
DP R4 #ref_rim 0 #ref_rad
PB R1 R2 R3 R4 90 #ref_tri
** Mirror the quarter in the plane y=0 (xz-plane, ideal magnetic wall)
** and the plane z=0 (xy-plane, ideal electric wall) at the same time.
SY 1 0 3 2
** The excitation
FR 1 0 #freq
** Plane x = #xpos
#start = #start + #Ny*#Nz
AP 1 -5 A2 A4 A6 #start #Ny #Nz 1 0 ...
"example_35a.efe" "example_35a.hfe"
** Plane y = -#ypos
#start = #start + #Ny*#Nz
** Plane z = #zpos
#start = #start + #Nx*#Ny
AP 1 -5 A5 A6 A7 #start #Nx #Ny 1 0 ...
"example_35a.efe" "example_35a.hfe"
** End
EN
Both of these read the crucial dimensions from the file example_35.inc such that the
model parameters need only be changed in one location:
** Scaling. All coordinates are entered in mm and scaled with #sf to metre
** The field positions are also scaled.
#sf = 0.001 ** Multiple dimensions with this factor to get metre
** Implement scaling
SF 1 #sf
** Aperture parameters
#xpos = 30 ** x-coordinate of the plane at constant positive x
#xneg = -800 ** x-coordinate of the plane at constant negative x
#ypos = 300 ** y-coordinate of the plane at constant positive y
#zpos = 280 ** z-coordinate of the plane at constant positive z
#sample = #lam/2.5 ** Target sample density on aperture
** Derived parameters
#Nx = CEIL((#xpos-#xneg)/#sample)
#xskip = (#xpos-#xneg)/#Nx
#xstart = #xneg + #xskip/2
#Ny = CEIL(2*#ypos/#sample)
#yskip = 2*#ypos/#Ny
#ystart = -#ypos + #yskip/2
#Nz = CEIL(2*#zpos/#sample)
#zskip = 2*#zpos/#Nz
#zstart = -#zpos + #zskip/2
** Reflector parameters
#ref_rad = 6*#lam ** Radius of the parabolic reflector
#ref_h = #lam ** Height of the parabolic reflector
#ref_tri = #lam/4 ** Allow coarser meshing on the reflector
** Derived parameters
#focal = (#ref_rad^2) / (4*#ref_h) ** Focal distance
#ref_rim = #focal - #ref_h ** x-coordinate of the front rim of the reflector
** the absence of the reflector. The fields are written to *.efe and
** *.hfe files to use for the aperture excitation. It also calculates
** the far fields and write this to a *.ffe file for use as a point
** source with a specified pattern.
** -The second part uses these near fields to define an equivalent
** aperture to replace the horn. The aperture is then used to excite
** the parabolic reflector.
** -The third part models the horn and reflector together for verification.
** -This forth part use the far fields as a point source.
** Mirror the quarter in the plane y=0 (xz-plane, ideal magnetic wall)
** and the plane z=0 (xy-plane, ideal electric wall) at the same time.
SY 1 0 3 2
** The excitation
FR 1 0 #freq
** End
EN
Note that when using the AR card, an antenna is replaced by a point source with the
specified pattern. It is very important that this point source is located at the phase centre
of the antenna it represents and that the far field pattern is calculated relative to the same
phase centre.
One may determine the phase centre of an antenna by using the fact that the electric far
field of the antenna should decay at 1/r and by assuming that the origin of this decay
will be the phase centre of the antenna. Thus if one inverts the near field, extending the
linear limit of this line to its intersection with the distance axis should give the phase
centre of the antenna in the coordinate system where the near field was calculated. For
the horn antenna, symmetry dictates that the phase centre must be on the x axis.
To determine the phase centre of the horn, we calculate the electric near field from 20 m
to 30 m on the x axis in front of the antenna. (This is about 100 to 150 wavelengths — if
we do not obtain a consistent result, we must increase the distance — see below.) Next we
plot this as a function of distance (x) in POSTFEKO and obtain the inverse by selecting
the Perform calculations from series button. The expression to use is 1 / #series 1 to
obtain a result that should be proportional to x barring some offset. Switch to the series 2
tab. From the table on this panel, it can be seen that the inverse at 20m is 16.0270 and
at 30m it is 23.9548. The slope of this line is determined from the difference between
these numbers divided by the extent (here 7.9278/10 = 0.79278). The next step is to
determine the inverted near field value at x = 0. From elementary linear mathematics, it
is known that the axis crossing (c) can be determined from c = y − mx where m is the
gradient of the line. This is used to calculate the crossing point at the start of the line,
and the end. These two axis crossing values are 0.1714 and 0.1714 respectively. These
two numbers should be relatively close together. If this difference is too great, the result
is not consistent and we must increase the distance from the antenna (i.e. we are then not
in the region where the field decays with 1/r). This value c = 0.1714 is the left axis value
where x is 0 and dividing this with the slope m results in the negative distance from the
origin to the phase centre. Here it is c/m = −0.216 m.
The far-field result is almost the same as for the more exact techniques (see figure 3-83 —
the reflector is well inside the 2D2 /λ far field criterion for the horn, such that one should
expect approximate results when using the far field source approximation), but the run
time decreased from 8.3 seconds to less than 0.1 seconds.
30
MoM/PO
25 AP/PO
20
15
Directivity (dB)
10
-5
-10
-15
-20
0 30 60 90 120 150 180
Theta (degrees)
Figure 3-82: Far field pattern in the vertical plane
30
MoM/PO
25 AP/PO
20
15
Directivity (dB)
10
5
0
-5
-10
-15
-20
-25
-30
0 30 60 90 120 150 180 210 240 270 300 330 360
Phi (degrees)
Figure 3-83: Far field pattern in the horizontal plane
Figure 3-84: Far field pattern around the main beam in the vertical plane
0
1
2
3
4
Figure 3-85: Strip dipole and grounded wire above an infinite ground plane
This example considers a strip dipole next to a grounded wire above a ground plane as
shown in figure 3-85. The centre feed of the dipole and the two feed segments connecting
the wire to the ground plane are considered to be a three port system. The S-parameters
are calculated with the SP card.
The input file (example_36.pre) is as follows.
** Example file using the SP card to calculate S-parameters
** A strip dipole next to a wire attached to a ground plane
** Parameters
#lambda = 1
#hgt_w = 0.05 * #lambda ** Height of the wire above ground
#len_w = 0.5*#lambda ** Length of half the wire
#hgt_s = 0.05*#lambda ** Height of the strip dipole above ground
#len_s = 0.75*#lambda ** Length of half the strip dipole
#wid_s1 = 0.03*#lambda ** Distance from wire to near end of strip
#wid_s2 = 0.08*#lambda ** Distance from wire to near end of strip
** Segmentation
#edgelen = #lambda/15
#seglen = #lambda/20
#segrho = #seglen/100
IP #segrho #edgelen #seglen
** We must add the port segment AFTER symmetry, since below different
** load impedances are used, and thus geometrical symmetry cannot be
** used (FEKO gives warning 536)
LA 3
BL A B
** End of geometry
EG 1 0 0 0 0
** Frequency loop
#freq = #c0 / #lambda
FR 10 0 0.9*#freq 1.1*#freq
** End
EN
Note that the port wires are created after geometrical symmetry has been defined. Sym-
metry — even geometrical symmetry — implies that the loading will also be symmetrical.
In this example, different port impedances are specified and thus these segments are loaded
unsymmetrically.
Some extracts of the S-parameters as listed in the output file are given on the next page.
SCATTERING PARAMETERS
The S-parameters are also listed in a Touchstone format file (example 36.s3p) requested
by the DA card. They are displayed in figure 3-86 — note that S21 ≈ S12 and S23 ≈ S32
which is expected for a passive device. (The S-parameters are calculated from a small
number of port current values and may therefore be sensitive to the mesh density —
the maximum segment and edge lengths used in this example are therefore smaller than
normal. Note that the small separation between the strip and the wire also influences the
mesh requirements.)
Figure 3-87: Proximity coupled circular patch antenna. The lighter triangles are on a
lower level (closer to the ground plane). The dielectric layers are hidden to show the
geometry of the triangular elements.
This example considers a proximity coupled circular patch antenna. The geometry of
the triangles is shown in figure 3-87 and the parameters of the dielectric layers can be
obtained from the GF card in the listing of the input file (example_37.pre) below. The
mesh size is related to the width of the strip to avoid having triangles with a large aspect
ratio. Note that magnetic symmetry is used to reduce the number of unknowns. The AE
card is used to define a line between points as the strip line feed port — this line must
extend to both sides of the symmetry plane.
** Analysis of a circular patch antenna proximity coupled to microstrip line.
** Compare with Fig.’s 7 and 8 in the paper "Green’s Functions Analysis of
** Planar Circuits in a Two-Layer Grounded Medium", F Alonso-Monferrer,
** A A Kishk and A W Glisson, IEEE Trans. on Antennas and Propagation,
** vol. 40, no.6, pp. 690-696, June 1992
** Variables:
#freq = 2.8e9 ** the starting frequency
#d = 1.590 ** half of the dielectric thickness
#er = 2.62 ** relative permittivity
#ur = 1.00 ** relative permeability
#w = 4.373 ** width of feedline
#r = 17.5 ** radius of the circular patch
#l = 79 ** length of the microstrip line
** Segmentation parameters
#lam = 1000*#c0 / #freq / sqrt(#er) ** the wavelength in the dielectric
#edgelen = min(#lam/12,0.8*#w) ** mesh size on patch and feed strip
IP #edgelen
** Geometry end
EG 1 0 0 0 0
** Frequency loop:
FR 8 0 #freq 0.05e9
** The end
EN
Some extracts of the S-parameters as listed in the output file are given on the next page.
Figure 3-88 shows the input impedance on the Smith chart. There is a small frequency
shift which can be reduced by using a finer mesh.
Port 1 Port 2
Figure 3-89: Simple microstrip filter
In this example we consider a simple two port microstrip filter. A single stub is used
to block transmission at the centre frequency. The SP card is used to determine the
S-parameters. The two ports can be fed by making a physical connection to ground and
feeding the edge between the line and the vertical strip. (The “voltage” in a microstrip
line is between the line and ground. It yields better results to feed the edge at the line
than the one connected to ground.) The input file, example_38a.pre, is as follows
** All dimensions in mm
SF 1 0.001
** Substrate height
#t = 1.57
** Meshsize
#fmax = 4.0e9
#lam = #c0 / #fmax * 1000 ** in mm
#l1 = #lam / 10 ** along lines
#l2 = #lam / 20 ** across lines
IP #l1
#x = 92
DP P4 #x #y 0
DP Q4 #x #y -#t
#y = #y + 4.6
DP P5 #x #y 0
DP Q5 #x #y -#t
#x = 41.4 + 4.6
DP P6 #x #y 0
#y = #y + 18.4
DP P7 #x #y 0
#x = #x - 4.6
DP P8 #x #y 0
#y = #y - 18.4
DP P9 #x #y 0
#x = #x - 41.4
DP P10 #x #y 0
DP Q10 #x #y -#t
** End of geometry
EG 1 0 0 0 0
** Green’s function
GF 10 1 0 1 1
#t 2.33 1
** Frequency loop and S-parameter computations (Use the first FR card with FEKO LITE)
** FR 10 0 2.0e9 3.8e9
FR 51 0 1.0e9 4.0e9
SP
** End
EN
SCATTERING PARAMETERS
CPU-time runtime
...
Initialisation of the Greens function 1465.330 2017.974
...
Calcul. of matrix A 62.960 94.624
...
total times: 1529.310 2114.128
One may also — see the file example_38b.pre — use the AE card to excite the end of
the microstrip line without a connection to ground. The two vertical strips and unused
points are then omitted; and the two AE cards modified to specify the line where the
port is located:
AE 0 P1 P10 3 1 0
AE 1 P4 P5 3 1 0
CPU-time runtime
...
Initialisation of the Greens function 25.130 53.800
...
Calcul. of matrix A 49.030 100.063
...
total times: 75.080 155.595
The results agree very well as can also be seen in figure 3-90, but there is a significant
difference in the run time. The model using the vertical connections has vertical currents
and thus requires a 3D interpolation table for the Green’s functions while the model
without it needs only a 2D interpolation table. The difference in run time reflects the
calculation time required for these interpolation tables.
Labels
0 5 10
1 6 11
2 7 12
3 8
4 9
Figure 3-91: Log periodic antenna. Note the unique labels of the centre segments.
This example uses the non-radiating transmission lines to form the connections for a log
periodic antenna. The location of the transmission lines can be shown with POSTFEKO.
Note that the lines on the figure cross to show crossed transmission lines as required for a
log periodic antenna. This depends on the orientation of the segment as well as whether
a crossed transmission line is specified. The example also demonstrates how one may use
!!FOR . . . !!NEXT loops to create repetitive geometry. The last transmission line is also
used to specify a termination load. The input file, example_39.pre, is as follows
** We can either use a !!FOR ... !!NEXT loop to construct the 12 elements,
** or we can use the TG-card. With the TG card one would create one
** element and duplicate it 11 times using the scaling factor 1/#tau.
** However, then the number of segments used for each dipole would be
** the same. Therefore use here rather a !!FOR ... !!NEXT loop construction.
EN
No. Type Segments Length Transm. line impedance Shunt adm. port 1 in S ...
numbers in m real part imag. part real part imag. part
1 2 3 -8 7.52688E-01 5.00000E+01 0.00000E+00 0.00000E+00 0.00000E+00
2 1 8 -13 8.09342E-01 5.00000E+01 0.00000E+00 0.00000E+00 0.00000E+00
3 1 13 -18 8.70260E-01 5.00000E+01 0.00000E+00 0.00000E+00 0.00000E+00
...
11 1 60 -68 1.55520E+00 5.00000E+01 0.00000E+00 0.00000E+00 0.00000E+00
Shunt adm. port 2 in S
real part imag. part
0.00000E+00 0.00000E+00
0.00000E+00 0.00000E+00
0.00000E+00 0.00000E+00
2.00000E-02 0.00000E+00
No. Port Port voltage in V Port current in A Port impedance in Ohm ...
real part imag. part real part imag. part real part imag. part
1 1 1.0000E+00 0.0000E+00 2.1868E-02 -4.5764E-04 4.5710E+01 9.5661E-01
1 2 -7.2976E-01 7.2933E-01 1.6292E-02 -1.3682E-02 -4.8314E+01 4.1928E+00
2 1 -7.2976E-01 7.2933E-01 -1.5311E-02 1.4273E-02 4.9259E+01 -1.7146E+00
2 2 1.1594E-02 -1.0570E+00 -5.1672E-04 2.0413E-02 -5.1765E+01 7.4237E-01
3 1 1.1594E-02 -1.0570E+00 -2.9827E-03 -2.2954E-02 4.5221E+01 6.3813E+00
3 2 8.5021E-01 5.9067E-01 -1.7784E-02 -1.5421E-02 -4.3728E+01 4.7038E+00
Power in W
1.0934E-02
-1.0934E-02
1.0792E-02
-1.0792E-02
1.2114E-02
-1.2114E-02
SUMMARY OF LOSSES
15º 0º 345º
30º 330º
10
45º 5 315º
0
60º 300º
-5
75º -10 285º
-15
90º 270º
105º 255º
120º 240º
135º 225º
150º 210º
165º 180º 195º
Port 2, label 2
Port 1, label 1
Figure 3-93: Two half wavelength dipole antennas, each fed with an active impedance
matching network.
This example shows how to use impedance loading in the presence of an SP card. The
two dipoles are fed with active impedance matching networks. This is modelled by adding
a load to cancel the imaginary part of the impedance and calculating the S-parameters
for a source impedance equal to the real part of the input impedance. This results in
maximum power transfer to the second dipole at all frequencies. (The two dipoles are
identical, thus we will use the same load on both ports.)
The input file (example_40.pre) which contains two frequency loops, is as follows
** Coupling between two half wavelength dipoles fed with matching networks
** Segmentation parameters
#seg_len = #lam_m / 20
#seg_rad = 0.001
IP #seg_rad #seg_len
** Geometry parameters
#h = #lam_o/4 ** Half the dipole length
#d = 2*#lam_o ** Separation between dipoles
#l = 0.4*#seg_len ** Half the length of the feed segment
** Now we create a FOR loop frequency loop to allow loading the dipoles.
** We load the dipoles in order to cancel the imaginary part of the input
** impedance and then calculate the S-parameters in a system impedance
** that match the real part of the input impedance.
** Note that loading ports change the interaction matrix such that it is
** not a severe penalty to create a second frequency loop here.
** #Nf = -1 ** For the first run we need to skip this loop
!!for #n = 1 to #Nf
** Read the frequency and antenna input impedance from the prepared file
#freq = fileread("example_40.dat",#n+1,1) * 1.0E6
#Zr = fileread("example_40.dat",#n+1,2)
#Zi = fileread("example_40.dat",#n+1,3)
** Now determine the load to cancel the imaginary part of the impedance
** Note that we cannot use the LZ card as this impedance is overwritten
** by the SP card
!!if #Zi < 0 then
** Negative impedance, add an inductive load
#L = -#Zi/(2*#pi*#freq)
LS 1 #L
LS 2 #L
!!elseif
** Positive impedance, add a capacitive load
#C = 1/(#Zi*2*#pi*#freq)
LS 1 #C
LS 2 #C
!!endif
** End
EN
The first frequency loop calculates the S-parameters in a 50 Ω system. (Note that #Nf is
set to -1 to skip the second loop during this phase as the second loop tries to read from
the file example_40.dat which is calculated from the result of the first run.) The results
are written to a Touchstone format file (example_40.s2p). From this we can determine
the input impedance at one port if the second port is terminated in a conjugate matched
load. (These calculations were done in Mathematica and involved transforming from
S-parameters to Z-parameters and solving a complex matrix equation for the optimum
input impedance given that the second port is loaded with the complex conjugate of this
input impedance.) Note that, since the coupling between the two dipoles is very small,
the input impedance of one dipole is not very dependent on the load at the second dipole.
Thus one will get a very similar result by just plotting the input impedance — with 50 Ω
loading subtracted — in POSTFEKO and writing this to a data file.
For comparison, the input impedance if the second dipole is loaded with 50 Ω is
"Frequency [MHz]" "Re{Z_in}" "Im{Z_in}"
400 51.69 -98.47
410 54.88 -78.84
420 58.42 -59.36
430 62.44 -40.16
440 66.92 -21.44
450 71.64 -3.29
460 76.36 14.39
470 80.97 31.87
480 85.57 49.42
490 90.36 67.15
The second loop reads the frequency and impedance from this file. This loop is done with
a FOR–NEXT loop rather than a FR card loop to allow reading the impedance values
from file. Both ports are then loaded to cancel the imaginary part of the input impedance.
It would be quite simple to do this with an LZ card, but the SP card overwrites the LZ
card. Thus we use an LS card with an inductor to cancel negative imaginary values and
a capacitor to cancel positive values.
Note that one may pay a significant penalty in performance if you construct two frequency
loops like this for, for example, two sets of sources. However, changing the loading at
ports changes the interaction matrix which requires a new LU decomposition such that
in this case there is not a severe penalty for using a second loop. (We do calculate the
element interaction twice, but this is usually a very small part of the total run time.)
Some extracts from the second frequency loop in the output file example_40.out are
DATA OF LABELS
SCATTERING PARAMETERS
Figure 3-94 shows the input impedance at the voltage source ports of either dipole. The
first two lines (solid red and green with + symbols) shows the input impedance in the 50 Ω
system of the first frequency loop. Note that the real part includes the 50 Ω load added
by the SP card. The next two lines (yellow with square markers and blue with circular
markers) shows the input impedance at the voltage sources for the matched system. As
expected, the imaginary part is zero while the real part includes the loading (which is
approximately equal to the real part of the 50 Ω system less the 50 Ω load) which explains
the increased slope.
Finally figure 3-95 shows the S-parameters. The reflection coefficient is drastically reduced
— it is less than -80 dB for the matched system — which shows in the increased coupling
to the second dipole away from the resonance frequency. (Using the input impedance for
a single dipole when the second dipole is loaded with 50 Ω instead of a matched load,
increases S11 to about -60 dB.)
150
Impedance [Ohm]
100
50
-50
-100
400 410 420 430 440 450 460 470 480 490
Frequency [MHz]
Figure 3-94: The impedance at the source port of either dipole in a 50 Ω system and a
matched system. Note that the added loads contribute to these impedances.
-5
S parameters [dB]
-10
-15
-20
-25
-30
400 410 420 430 440 450 460 470 480 490
Frequency [MHz]
Figure 3-95: S-parameters for the two dipole antennas in a 50 Ω system and a matched
system. Note that S11 for the matched system is less than -80 dB and is not included in
the figure.
In this example we consider a single plane wave incident (from ϑ = 60◦ and ϕ = 0◦ ) on
a trihedral. The size of the trihedral (13.5λ2 surface area) was chosen such that we can
still solve it incore on a PC with 768 MByte of RAM. This is on the small side for the
MLFMM, but enough to demonstrate the advantage thereof.
The file example_41.pre is listed below. Note the use of the FM card at the end of the
geometry section in the input file and the wrapped EG card which includes the Single
precision field (the 1 in column 101).
** Segmentation parameters
#tri_len = #lambda / 10
IP #tri_len
** Create trihedral
BT O L R
BT O R T
BT O T L
** End
EN
The solution required 47 seconds on a Pentium 4 2.4 GHz PC. For comparison the MoM
result required about 515 MByte of RAM and 240 seconds solution time. Even if one
sets up the model to exploit the single plane of symmetry, the MoM requires 262 MByte
or RAM and 66 seconds solution time. As the problem size increase, the difference will
become more and more significant. Figure 3-97 compares the results obtained with the
MLFMM with those obtained with the MoM.
30
MoM MLFMM
25
20
RCS (dBsm)
15
10
0
0 15 30 45 60 75 90 105 120 135 150 165 180
Theta (degrees)
Figure 3-97: Bistatic RCS of a trihedral. Comparison of the MLFMM and MoM results.
I-1
input impedance, 3-1 points, 3-5
IP card, 3-1, 3-4 polygons, 3-85, 3-89
power
KA card, 3-53 gain compensation, 2-5, 3-27
KK card, 3-103 output setting, 3-24, 3-46
KL card, 3-64 proximity coupling, 2-12, 3-162
KR card, 3-24 PS card, 3-4
KU card, 3-14, 3-56 PW card, 3-24, 3-46
PY card, 3-85, 3-89
LA card, 3-1, 3-4
labels, 3-2, 3-6, 3-64 QU card, 3-42
large models, 2-15, 3-180
loading radiation pattern, 3-1
and SP card, 3-174 real (reflection) ground, 3-46
wire segments, 3-110 resistive loading, see loading
loops
FOR–NEXT, 3-170 S-parameter, 2-21
losses on plates, 3-6 S-parameters, 3-159, 3-165
LS card, 3-174 scaling, 2-5, 3-14, 3-27
LZ card, 3-110, 3-174 segments, 3-1, 3-2, 3-4
SF card, 2-5, 3-14, 3-27
magnetic media, 3-59 SK card, 2-9, 3-4, 3-134, 3-137
ME card, 3-14, 3-18, 3-56, 3-103, 3-120 skin effect losses, 3-6
microstrip sources
feed line, 2-12, 3-162 far field pattern, 3-149
filter, 3-165 feed pin, 3-120, 3-124
wire approximation, 3-98 Hertzian dipole, 3-74, 3-93
MLFMM, 2-15, 3-180 microstrip line, 2-12, 3-162, 3-165
on coaxial cable, 3-140
near fields, 2-1, 3-4, 3-10 plane wave, 3-14, 3-21, 3-42
non-radiating network, 3-170 transmission line, 3-170
voltage at a node, 3-130
OPTFEKO, 1-1 voltage on a segment, 3-1, 3-4
optimising parameters, 1-1 voltage on an edge, 2-12, 3-107, 3-162, 3-165
OS card, 3-21, 3-24, 3-53 SP card, 3-159, 3-165, 3-174
spherical section, 3-14, 3-56
parabolic reflector, 3-74, 3-149 stub
patch antenna, 2-12, 3-98, 3-107, 3-120, 3-124, shorted, 3-140
3-162 substrate
pattern source, 3-149 finite, 3-120
PB card, 3-74 infinite, 2-12, 3-98, 3-162, 3-165
physical optics, 2-1, 3-10 surface equivalence, 3-14, 3-18
dielectric media, 3-116 as source, 3-149
edge correction, 3-53 SY card, 3-1, 3-4
Fock currents, 3-71 symmetry, 3-2, 3-4
wedge correction, 3-64 loading requirements, 3-160
plane wave incidence, 3-14, 3-21, 3-42
PO card, 2-1, 3-10, 3-116, 3-159 TG card, 3-77, 3-174
I-2
time domain, 1-1
TIMEFEKO, 1-1
TL card, 3-170
TO card, 3-21
torus section, 3-21
transform geometry, 3-77
transmission lines, 3-110, 3-170
I-3