Home > Examples > Antenna Simulation

Antenna Simulation

§  To start designing this device, first click on Model   located in your Control Panel.

§  Then, in the Options drop down menu, select Settings.

§  Make sure you have a metal at the bottom of your substrate by selecting Yes for Metal at Bottom, and set your Frequency Range from 1 to 18GHz, then press OK.

§  Turn on the radiation feature by selecting Yes for Radiation.

§  You can make all your necessary changes to Dx, Dy, and Dz in the Control Panel. Keep in mind, however, that these values need to be lower than the Max value posted above (with Max being a function of the dielectric constant, the frequency range, and the mesh density).  Set Dx=0.48, Dy=0.265, Dz=0.5. (Tip: for faster simulations, Dx, Dy and Dz may be ste as close as possible to MAX, which can be achieved by increasing/decreasing the maximum frequency range in the Options->Settings)  
o  You can also set proper bridge depth (if applicable), line width  and mesh density  in Settings, which will help the software generating a proper initial mesh.
o   mesh density is in cells/wavelength, the wavelength here is the minimum one associated with the upper limit of the simulation frequency range.

§  Go to Chip Designer by clicking on the icon. You can now start editing your metal in 2D.

§  Click on the Edit drop down menu and select Change Grid Dimensions. Set the dimensions to 56x90.

§  To start editing your metal design shape, first click on the Draw Rectangle icon, then click and drag to form your first rectangular shape. You can edit your metal shapes’ dimensions and location by Going to Edit Modeand:

o   Using your mouse to click, drag and resize your shapes, or just clicking on the metal shape and using your arrow keys to position it.

o   Or you can just click on the desired shape, and manually enter its exact dimensions and location in the Properties panel located on the right.

To get out of Edit Mode, simply click on the  icon again.

§  Set the properties of your first rectangle to:

Your metal rectangle should look like this:

Make sure to leave enough space between your metal and the borders (about 15-20 points) for radiation.

§  You can now insert the second vertical metal rectangle with the following properties:

Your final metal design should look like this:

Now that you have your metal designed, click on  to get out of the Chip Designer mode.

§  To finalize your design, you will now need to add port. To do so, simply click on the port symbol, and then add the port to your metal. When you are done adding your port, press Esc on your keyboard. 

(Tip: Remember to use the View functions such as Pan and Rotate to have a better visual of the port area)

Your overall final design should look like this:

§  Now that you are done with your design, you can start running the simulation by clicking on the Simulation button.

§  The Simulation should take about 10 minutes. When it is complete, you can view the Results by clicking on.

§  When you first open up your Results window, the two graphs should look blank.

§  To start viewing the graph results, click on the desired Port File located in the S-Parameter and Smith Chart Control Panels.

Here’s an example of the S-Parameter graph:

§  You can set the exact specifications of your graph by changing the Range in your S-Parameter and Smith Chart Control Panels.

§  To view the Radiation Pattern, click on the  button.

§  You can view your Radiation Pattern at a certain frequency by selecting the desired frequency from the list on the left.

Here’s an example of Radiation Pattern at a frequency of about 7.24GHz:

You can also see a 2D slice image of that radiation pattern at E-plan or H-plan “i.e. Phi=0 or Phi=90”. Also, the value of radiation efficiency is shown on the same radiation patterns window.

See also