ANSYS Inc., an innovator of simulation software and technologies designed to optimize product development processes, announced the 12.1 release of HFSS™ software, an industry-leading technology for 3-D full-wave electromagnetic field simulation. The product introduces a new integral equation (IE) electromagnetic solver option, which is based on 3-D full-wave method of moments (MoM), that can be implemented in the HFSS desktop. This technology is effective for large-scale radiating and scattering simulation studies. For example, an aircraft system integrator interested in antenna placement or radar cross-section (RCS) studies can accurately simulate and design with the IE solver, effectively reducing prototype iterations, cost and time to market.
HFSS software helps engineers design, simulate and validate the behavior of complex high-performance radio frequency (RF), microwave and millimeter-wave devices in next-generation wireless devices, defense communication systems and consumer electronics. Users of this latest version of HFSS software can achieve a dramatic reduction in development time and costs while at the same time realizing increased reliability and design optimization.
The MoM solution procedure used in the HFSS IE solver is ideally suited for modeling open or radiating problems. The new solver computes the currents on the surfaces of objects and uses those currents to accurately determine the radiated and/or scattered fields. The IE solver provides an automatically adapted and conformal triangular mesh for accuracy. For the largest models requiring the greatest computational resources, the IE solver automatically applies a matrix-based adaptive cross approximation (ACA) algorithm to achieve solution efficiency. This minimizes memory and time for the overall simulation. Setting up such a simulation consists of defining the model, geometry, boundary conditions, material properties and excitations; the simulation process is fully automated, requiring little user input and providing confidence and reliability in the results.
HFSS users can implement the IE solver as a new design type in the easy-to-use HFSS desktop. The software seamlessly shares models, including material properties and geometries, between designs and design types. Current HFSS users will require little additional training to understand and take advantage of the new capabilities.
The IE solver can use field results from the HFSS finite element method (FEM) solver as a sourcing excitation. Thus, an antenna designer can simulate a feeding antenna structure using the wide variety of source excitations available in HFSS software and link the fields to the new IE solver to efficiently compute the radiation pattern of a large dish antenna. Users benefit from both the general utility of HFSS and the computational efficiency of the new IE option all within a familiar, easy-to-use desktop environment.
