In the ongoing race for reduced design costs and faster time to market, simulation efficiency remains the most important factor in electromagnetic field analysis. Simulation efficiency can be determined by the time taken to reach the final design, which is strongly influenced by the level of workflow integration, the versatility in manipulating the model, the choice of solver type, the method’s accuracy, the implementation’s efficiency and, of course, the hardware speed. The new CST STUDIO SUITE™ 2009, incorporating the CST MICROWAVE STUDIO® (CST MWS) 3D electromagnetic field simulator for microwaves and RF, has been specifically designed to meet these requirements.
Usability
For this new version, the modeling interface has undergone a complete makeover. Besides changes that simplify user access to functionality, there are improvements in user interaction. Transformations such as translation, rotation and scaling can now be performed using mouse control. In addition, version 2009 features a special interactive alignment mode that allows geometrical objects in the model to be positioned easily with a few mouse clicks. The new alignment mode is automatically activated when copying objects between two projects by standard copy [Ctrl-c] and paste [Ctrl-v] operations, or when importing sub-projects into the main project.
Figure 1 Interactive bending of a fictitious antenna onto a carrier.
Conformal modeling is often required, particularly for antenna applications. Version 2009 offers an interactive bending feature. Figure 1 shows the 3D model of an antenna carrier. The antenna itself is modeled as a planar structure, which is then imported in a separate step. The two objects are aligned (see Figure 1; top), then the bending process is started by selecting individual faces (see Figure 1; middle, highlighted red) of the carrier onto which the antenna should be bent. Eventually the entire antenna is fitted perfectly to the carrier (see Figure 1; lower). This is actually very similar to the real procedure, where the antenna is printed onto a flexible foil and then attached to the carrier.
Perhaps the most important among all the improvements to the modeling front-end is not visible at all; the entire user interface has been ported to 64-bit in order to serve the demand for dealing with increasingly complex models.
Interoperability
Workflow integration has always been a key concern in CST’s development. All import filters available in the CST STUDIO SUITE are characterized by their robustness and ability to deal with flaws in the imported models. Besides updating the CAD kernel and the existing import filters, the palette of available imports/exports is being continuously extended. Version 2009 now features Nastran, GDSII and Gerber exports.
Particular attention has been directed to the imports from EDA tools, e.g. from Cadence®, Mentor Graphics® and Zuken®, since the investigation of signal integrity is becoming an increasingly important application area for 3D EM simulation. These EDA interfaces can also deal with importing lumped circuit components. A completely new feature is the Mentor Graphics PADS® import.
Simulation Performance
Figure 2 Complex EDA import for signal integrity analysis.
Computers are getting faster every year. But while CST has seen a performance increase for desktop workstations of about a factor 25 for a simple scalar textbook FDTD implementation in the last 10 years, the increase in average model complexity is actually greatly outweighing this. Factor increases of 1000 in numerical model size are not uncommon (see Figure 2). For a mobile phone simulation, 10 years ago it was acceptable to replace the actual mobile phone by a metallic block and focus on the antenna. Today the entire mobile phone, its antennas, PCB, cameras, etc., have to be simulated, while also considering the presence of the phone user’s head, hand, perhaps even the entire body, and the environment it is in.
