Rapid Antenna Model Creation

Abstract

Computational electromagnetic (CEM) analysis software is employed extensively throughout the Department of Defense (DoD) tri-services and commercial sector to predict the in-situ performance of antennas installed on air, land and sea platforms. Accurate predictions require accurate geometry models, but generating high-fidelity geometry models of complex antennas is very labor intensive. Hence, the geometry modeling process is a bottleneck to rapid CEM analysis. Therefore, to increase design analysis throughput throughout the acquisition cycle, CEM antenna prediction tools must be user-friendly to allow for rapid antenna modeling and simulation. To enable the rapid generation of computer-aided design (CAD) antenna geometry models that are suitable for meshing and subsequent CEM analysis, a software tool was developed under the DoD High Performance Computing Modernization Program’s User Productivity, Enhancement, Technology Transfer and Training initiative. The tool features four templates for generating four common classes of antennas, namely the horn, flared notch, conformal patch, and spiral antennas. Each template features a user-friendly graphical user interface (GUI) wizard that allows the user to enter parameters (e.g., physical dimensions, notch taper functions) that define each antenna class. The underlying engine for each template is a CUBIT Python script which uses the parametric data to rapidly and automatically generate the specified antenna CAD geometry on-the-fly. Moreover, error-checking routines are incorporated into each template script to prevent the user from entering nonsensical parameters. These features ultimately save the user time in the geometry generation process. This paper provides a description of the tool along with performance metrics and an example of how the tool was tested on simple antenna geometry.