Ultra Wideband Antennas and EM simulators

empire xccel

Hi there again!

I was just wondering if I could do an informal survey of anyone here who is experienced with designing planar Ultra Wideband (UWB) antennas, and the type of EM simulators they may have used.

I previously today about an attempt to simulate a particular design with very limited success. Previous threads have focused on the ‘best’ EM simulator to use in general, but I’m more interested in what experiences you guys might have had with particular software packages with UWB antennas. Specifically, I’m interested the time of length for computing simulations, accuracy of results, and ease of interface (i.e. the learning curve: how long it takes to go from installation to creating a design and hitting ‘simulate’).

At the moment, I’m about to trial several software packages that I’ve seen referenced in a number IEEE journal articles on planar UWB antenna designs. They are:

1) HFSS
2) CST Microwave Studio/Office
3) XFDTD
4) Empire XCcel
5) Zeland IE3D

I’ve pretty much spent the past week politely e-mailing the developers of these software packages for evaluation copies. Depending on which of these packages I end up taking a shine to, my supervisor will purchase a license for the university to own.

Personally, the feedback I’ve had from the developer representatives has been mixed. Ansoft don’t do evaluation copies, and want at least $3k before forking over a HFSS license. CST and XFDTD are willing, but (understandably) want a whole bunch of information before giving me an evaluation copy. Empire and Zeland have so far been very forthcoming in helping me out; providing links to evaluation copies as soon as I asked for them. Because of this, I’m inclined to just use the later two.

So what do you guys think? Sorry for doing the stereotypical newbie thing if this type of question has been answered before, but I did try and search the forums for posting.

- Evan[/url]

xfdtd

I'm surprised to read about your experience with Ansoft not giving you the eval license. I've had no problems geting the eval license...

EDIT: ask your professor to send them the enquiry for eval license. Might be, that they don't take students seriously.

+license +empire +xccel -age

My experience with HFSS for modeling a wide range of antennas has been pretty good. I have used it for UWB applications as well. It is not the fastest in all situations and it does place significant demands on the computer you have. The cost is significant as well.

I note that Ansoft Designer with the MoM solver is not on your list. For strictly planar antennas that might be a good choice based on higher speed and lower cost. It is not as versitile and I prefer HFSS.

I am surprised that you were not able to get evaluation copies. It takes a while to learn the interfaces so you might not miss much in your decision process if you don't have a test drive first.

Just to share a quote from a friend who was an Ansoft sales engineer for many years: "If you intend to stay on paved roads there are number of good simulators. If you intend to go off roading you need HFSS." That is consistant with my experience.

hi evanw,it easy to get hfss,cst,xfdtd,just search google about emule and search in it about ur package,i already download from it freely
for ur application,i already simulate some monopole with different shaped in ground using cst,it give accepted results
regards