HFSS Online Help

  Release 19.0
ANSYS, Inc.
  December 2017
Southpointe
2600 ANSYS Drive ANSYS, Inc. and
Canonsburg, PA 15317 ANSYS Europe,
[email protected] Ltd. are UL
registered ISO
http://www.ansys.com
9001:2008
(T) 724-746-3304 companies.
(F) 724-514-9494
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Table of Contents
Table of Contents Contents-1

1 - Getting Started with ANSYS Electronics Desktop 1-1

Launch ANSYS Electronics Desktop 1-3

System Requirements 1-5

Setting Up a Printer on Linux 1-5

PC Memory Considerations 1-6

Getting Help 1-7

Conventions Used in the Online Help 1-7

Finding Information in the Help 1-8

Using the Search Function in the Help 1-8

Using Web Update 1-10

Obtaining Information About the Software and Release 1-10

What's New in this Release 1-11

Welcome to HFSS Online Help 1-11

HFSS General Quick Links 1-12

HFSS User Interface Quick Links 1-12

Modeling Quick Links 1-13

Materials Quick Links 1-14

Ports Quick Links 1-14

Meshing Quick Links 1-15

Analysis Quick Links 1-15

Optimetrics Quick Links 1-16

Results Quick Links 1-17

Antennas in HFSS 1-17

Signal Integrity in HFSS 1-18

RF/Microwave in HFSS 1-19

Contents-1

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Integrated Circuits in HFSS 1-19

Transmission Line Examples for HFSS 1-20

The ANSYS Electronics Desktop 1-20

Working with Ribbons 1-21

Showing and Hiding Windows 1-25

Moving and Resizing Desktop Windows 1-25

Working with the Menu Bar 1-26

Customizing the Tools Menu: External Tools 1-29

Working with the Shortcut Menus 1-31

Shortcut Menu in the 3D Modeler Window 1-32

Shortcut Menus in the Project Manager Window 1-32

Keyboard Shortcuts for General Purposes 1-32

Custom Keyboard Shortcuts 1-33

Working with the Status Bar 1-34

Exiting the Desktop 1-36

Working with the Project Manager 1-36

Working with the Project Tree 1-37

Setting the Project Tree to Expand Automatically 1-38

Viewing Material Definitions 1-38

Viewing ANSYS Electronics Desktop Design Details 1-39

Closing the Project Manager Window 1-40

Moving the Project Manager Window 1-40

Viewing the Design List 1-40

Working with the Properties Window 1-41

Opening the Properties Window 1-42

Showing and Hiding the Properties Window 1-42

Setting the Properties Window to Open Automatically 1-42

Modifying Object Attributes Using the Properties Window 1-43

Contents-2

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Auto-Complete for Variables and Properties in Electronics Desktop 1-43

Modifying Object Command Properties Using the Properties Window 1-47

The Param Values Tab 1-48

The General Tab 1-49

The Symbol Tab 1-50

Closing the Property Window 1-51

Moving the Property Window 1-51

Launching Online Help from the Property Window 1-52

Opening the Properties Dialog 1-52

General Tab and Symbol Tab 1-52

Working with the Nets Window 1-53

Working with the Components Window 1-56

Working with the Progress Window 1-57

Stopping or Aborting Simulation Progress 1-58

Viewing Distributed Analysis Subtasks 1-58

Working with the 3D Modeler Window 1-59

Working with the History Tree 1-60

Expand or Collapse Folders in the History Tree 1-62

History Tree Layout Commands 1-62

Select Objects in the History Tree 1-63

Shortcut Menus in the History Tree 1-66

View Item Properties in the History Tree 1-68

View and Edit Commands on History Tree Objects 1-69

Controlling the View of Objects in the History Tree 1-70

Upgrade Version in History Tree Shortcut Menu 1-70

Keyboard Shortcuts for the 3D Modeler Window 1-71

Working with the Message Manager 1-72

Setting the Message Manager to Open Automatically 1-74

Contents-3

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Showing new messages 1-74

Expand the Message Manager Tree Automatically 1-74

Action Messages 1-75

Clearing Messages 1-76

Hiding the Message Manager Window until Messages Appear 1-76

Moving the Message Manager Window 1-76

Design Area 1-76

Report Window 1-77

Layout Window 1-78

Nets Window 1-80

Top Menu Bar 1-81

The File Pulldown Menu 1-82

Edit Pulldown Menus 1-83

The View Pulldown 1-87

ACT Extensions Window 1-91

The Project Pulldown Menu 1-95

Layout Editor Draw Menu 1-96

Editor and Design Specific Pulldown Menus 1-97

Tools Pulldown Menu 1-98

Window Pulldown Menu 1-99

Help Menu 1-103

The ANSYS Product Improvement Program 1-104

How to Participate 1-104

How the Program Works 1-104

Data We Collect 1-104

Data We Do Not Collect 1-105

Opting Out of the Program 1-105

The ANSYS, Inc., Privacy Policy 1-106

Contents-4

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Frequently Asked Questions 1-106

Customize ANSYS Electronics Desktop Menus 1-107

External Tools 1-115

Shortcut Menus 1-117

Shortcut Keys 1-117

Desktop Shortcuts 1-117

Layout Shortcuts 1-118

3D Viewer Shortcuts 1-119

Report Shortcuts 1-119

Undoing Commands 1-120

Online Help 1-120

ANSYS Electronics Desktop Tutorials 1-120

Using the Password Manager to Control Access to Resources 1-120

Running ANSYS Electronics Desktop from a Command Line 1-121

Examples and Further Explanations of -batchoptions use 1-131

For -batchoptions Use: Project Directory and Lib Paths 1-133

For -batchoptions Use: TempDirectory. 1-134

For -batchoptions Use: Various Desktop Settings 1-134

For -batchoptions Use: HFSS and HFSS-IE Options with Paths 1-137

Batchoptions: HFSS 3D Layout Options with Paths 1-139

Batchoptions: Override Registry Entry 1-140

Running from a Windows Remote Terminal 1-141

Windows HPC Commands 1-141

Customizing Electronics Desktop with ANSYS ACT 1-141

Getting Started Guides 1-142

HFSS Getting Started Guides 1-142

A 20 GHz Waveguide Combiner 1-143

Antennas: Application Specific Modeling Guide 1-143

Contents-5

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A Bandpass Filter 1-144

A Coax Connector 1-144

Coax Tee Model 1-145

A Dielectric Resonator Antenna 1-145

Floquet Port Models 1-146

Optimizing A Waveguide Tee Junction 1-146

A Patch Antenna 1-147

Radar Cross Section (RCS) Model 1-148

Silicon Spiral Inductor 1-148

Spiral Inductors on Silicon Substrate: Application Specific Modeling Guide 1-149

A UHF Probe 1-149

A Waveguide Tee Junction 1-150

HFSS-IE Getting Started Guides 1-151

HFSS Transient Getting Started Guides 1-152

HFSS 3D Layout Getting Started Guides 1-154

Low Pass Filter 1-154

Microstrip Filter 1-155

Slot Fed Patch Antenna 1-155

Cable Modeling Solutions 1-156

Example Projects 1-156

HFSS Example Projects 1-157

Tee and OptimTee Waveguide Projects 1-157

Dielectric Resonator Antenna 1-159

Waveguide Combiner Example Project 1-161

Other HFSS Examples with Descriptions in the Online Help 1-162

Antennas on Mast 1-163

Parametric Sweep of a Coax Bend 1-164

Coaxial Resonator 1-166

Contents-6

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Connector - Terminal Example 1-167

Co-Planar Waveguide (Driven Terminal) 1-171

Coplanar Waveguide with Ground (Driven Terminal) 1-176

Corporate Feed 1-179

Determining Phase Center Using Optimetrics 1-180

Define the Relative Coordinate System using a Post Processing Variable 1-182

Use the Relative Coordinate System in a Far Field Setup Calculation 1-183

Create an Optimization Setup to Search for the Phase Center 1-184

Analyze and View the Optimization Results 1-187

Dish FEBI IE PO 1-189

Differential Pair Microstrip 1-195

Differential Pair Stripline 1-201

Helical Antenna 1-204

Package Section 1-207

Small Array of Planar Flared Dipole Antennas 1-209

Pyramidal Horn 1-210

Ring Hybrid 1-212

Stripline (Driven Terminal) 1-214

Tune a Coax Fed Patch Antenna 1-218

Twinaxial Cable 1-219

Unit Cell of a Phased Array 1-223

Via Model 1-225

HFSS 3D Layout Example Projects 1-226

HFSS-IE Example Projects 1-227

2 - Working with ANSYS Electronics Desktop Projects 2-1

ANSYS Electronics Desktop Files 2-1

HFSS Files 2-2

Creating Projects 2-3

Contents-7

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Getting Started with HFSS 2-4

Setting up an HFSS Design 2-5

Inserting an HFSS Design 2-6

Selecting the Solution Type 2-7

Composite Excitation Solution Types 2-10

Using Auto-Open Region for the Solution Type for Antenna Designs 2-12

Setting up an HFSS 3D Layout Design 2-17

Inserting an HFSS 3D Layout Design 2-18

Converting 2D XY Model to 3D 2-19

Opening Projects 2-20

Opening Example Projects 2-20

Opening Recent Projects 2-21

Opening Legacy Projects 2-22

Closing Projects 2-25

Saving Projects 2-25

Saving a New Project 2-26

Saving the Active Project 2-27

Saving a Copy of a Project 2-28

Renaming a Project 2-28

Saving Project Data Automatically 2-29

Save Before Solve Option 2-30

Recovering Project Data in an Auto-Save File 2-30

Deleting Projects 2-31

Archiving Projects 2-31

Restore Archive Command 2-35

Download From Server 2-37

Undoing Commands 2-38

Redoing Commands 2-39

Contents-8

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Updating Design Components 2-39

Managing Projects and Designs 2-40

Copy and Paste a Project or Design 2-40

Rename a Project or Design 2-40

Delete a Project or Design 2-40

Validating Projects 2-40

Modeler Validation Settings 2-42

Exporting Files 2-43

Exporting 2D Geometry Files 2-43

Exporting 3D Model Files 2-44

Exporting Graphics Files 2-45

Exporting Reports 2-46

Importing Files 2-48

Importing 2D Model Files 2-49

Importing GDSII Format Files 2-50

Tech File Colors with RGB Values 2-52

Importing 3D Model Files 2-79

Importing DXF and DWG Format Files 2-82

Importing Solution Data 2-85

Importing Data Tables 2-85

Importing ANSYS Electronics Desktop Plot Data 2-86

Importing Plot Data 2-87

Inserting a Documentation File 2-87

Printing 2-88

Previewing the Printout 2-89

Changing the Page Setup 2-89

Saving Project Notes 2-89

Setting Options 2-90

Contents-9

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Setting General Options 2-91

General Options: Desktop Configuration 2-93

General Options: Project Options 2-94

General Options: Miscellaneous Options 2-94

General Options: User Interface Options 2-95

General Options: Directories Options 2-96

General Options: Desktop Performance 2-96

General Options: Default Units 2-98

General Options: Remote Analysis Options 2-99

General Options: WebUpdate Options 2-99

General Options: Component Libraries Options 2-100

Setting HFSS Options 2-100

Setting Solver Settings Using VB Scripts 2-102

Setting HFSS-IE Options 2-102

Wave Port Wizard or Multi-tab Dialog Menu 2-103

Setting 3D Modeler Options 2-105

3D Modeler Options: Drawing options 2-105

Modeler Options: Operation Options 2-106

3D Modeler Options: Snap Options 2-107

Modeler Options: Display Options 2-108

3D Modeler Options: Group Options 2-110

3D Modeler Options: SpaceClaim Link 2-111

Options: Optimetrics Options 2-111

Options: Reporter Options 2-112

Report Setup Options 2-113

Setting Fields Reporter Options 2-114

Setting Report2D Options 2-115

Report2D Options: Curve 2-115

Contents-10

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Report2D Options: Axis 2-116

Report2D Options: Grid 2-116

Report2D Options: Header 2-117

Report2D Options: Note 2-117

Report2D Options: Legend 2-117

Report2D Options: Marker 2-118

Report2D Options: Marker Table 2-118

Report2D Options: X/Y Markers 2-119

Report2D Options:Stacked 2-120

Report2D Options: Digital 2-121

Report2D Options: General 2-122

Report2D Options: Table 2-122

Setting HPC and Analysis Options 2-123

Specifying the Remote Spawn Command as RSH or SSH (Linux) 2-132

Exporting Options Files 2-133

Setting Options via Configuration Files 2-134

Behavior Examples 2-134

Rules for Modifying Option Settings 2-135

Configuration File Locations 2-135

Products with Multiple Desktop Versions 2-135

Table of Directories and Files 2-136

Setting or Removing Option Values in Configuration Files: UpdateRegistry

Command 2-138

Example Uses for Export Options Features 2-142

Example Searching for a Registry Key Pathname 2-143

Example for Setting an Installation Default Value 2-144

Example for Setting a Host Dependent Default Value 2-144

Example for Reverting from a User Defined Option Value to the Administrator 2-145

Contents-11

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Default

User Options and the Update Registry Tool 2-145

Example of Removing a Host Dependent User Option Setting 2-147

Example Adding a Host Independent User Option Setting 2-147

Getting a Value from a Specific Configuration File 2-148

Getting a Value Using Precedence Rules 2-148

Setting the Temporary Directory 2-148

Temporary Directory Configuration File Format 2-150

Setting or Removing Temporary Directory Values in Configuration Files:

UpdateRegistry Command 2-151

Setting the Temporary Directory Using the GUI 2-152

Setting the Temporary Directory From the Command Line 2-152

Batchoptions Command Line Examples 2-153

Batchoptions File Format 2-153

Example -BatchOptions with -Remote (Windows) 2-154

Example -Batchsolve with -Machinelist (Windows) 2-155

Example -Batchsolve with -Machinelist (Linux) 2-156

Example -Batchsolve for Local (Windows) 2-157

Batchoptions and Analysis Configurations in the Registry 2-158

Setting Analysis Configurations Using the User Interface 2-160

Working with Variables 2-160

Adding a Project Variable 2-161

Intrinsic Variables in a Project 2-165

Deleting Project Variables 2-166

Adding a Design Variable 2-167

Add Array of Values for a Design Variable 2-171

Editing a Design Variable 2-174

Deleting Design Variables 2-175

Contents-12

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Adding Datasets 2-176

Datasets Dialog Box 2-178

Dataset Preview Plot Properties 2-179

Importing Datasets 2-179

Editing Datasets 2-180

Modifying Datasets 2-181

Exporting Datasets 2-181

Removing Datasets 2-182

Using SheetScan 2-182

SheetScan Toolbars 2-183

SheetScan Settings 2-184

The Curve Values Window 2-185

Loading a Datasheet Picture into SheetScan 2-185

Deleting a Datasheet Picture 2-186

Defining a SheetScan Coordinate System 2-186

Defining a Characteristic Curve in SheetScan 2-187

Performing Operations on SheetScan Curves 2-188

Selecting a SheetScan Characteristic Curve 2-188

Changing Characteristic Curve Settings 2-188

Editing a SheetScan Characteristic Curve 2-189

Deleting a SheetScan Characteristic Curve 2-189

Importing Characteristic Data into SheetScan 2-189

Exporting SheetScan Data 2-190

Defining Mathematical Functions 2-191

Defining an Expression 2-191

Using Valid Operators for Expressions 2-193

Using Intrinsic Functions in Expressions 2-193

Using Piecewise Linear Functions in Expressions 2-195

Contents-13

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Using Dataset Expressions 2-197

Handling Delta Temperature Units in Expressions 2-199

Assigning Variables 2-201

Choosing a Variable to Optimize 2-201

Including a Variable in a Sensitivity Analysis 2-202

Choosing a Variable to Tune 2-203

Including a Variable in a Statistical Analysis 2-204

Exporting Variables for Documentation 2-205

Viewing Variables 2-206

Variable Types and Scoping 2-206

Defining Project Variables 2-207

Defining Local Variables 2-209

Defining a New Local Variable from a Component 2-209

Defining a New Local Variable by Starting at the Design Level 2-210

Defining Array Variables 2-211

Defining Fixed Variables 2-219

Defining Parameter Defaults 2-221

Defining a New Parameter Default from a Component 2-221

Defining a New Parameter Default by Starting at the Design Level 2-221

Reserved Variable Names 2-222

Viewing and Editing Local Variables 2-222

Viewing and Editing Parameter Defaults 2-223

Overriding Parameter Default Values 2-224

3 - Assigning Materials 3-1

Solving Inside or on the Surface 3-5

Assigning DC Thickness 3-6

Searching for Materials 3-8

Searching by Material Name 3-9

Contents-14

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Searching by Material Property 3-11

Adding New Materials 3-13

Assigning Material Property Types 3-18

Defining Anisotropic Relative Permeability Tensors 3-19

Defining Anisotropic Relative Permittivity Tensors 3-21

Defining Anisotropic Conductivity Tensors 3-22

Defining Anisotropic Dielectric Loss Tangent Tensors 3-24

Defining Magnetic Loss Tangent Tensors 3-26

Defining Variable Material Properties 3-27

Defining Frequency-Dependent Material Properties 3-28

Assigning Frequency Dependent Properties 3-28

Frequency Dependence Visualization 3-30

Saved Input Data Invalidation For Frequency Dependent Setup 3-31

Assigning Frequency Dependent Material: Piecewise Linear Input 3-33

Assigning Frequency Dependent Material: Debye Model Input 3-35

Assigning Frequency Dependent Material: Multipole Debye Model Input 3-37

Assigning Frequency Dependent Material: Djordjevic-Sarkar Model Input 3-40

Assigning Frequency Dependent Material: Enter Frequency Dependent Data

Points 3-42

Spatially Dependent Materials in HFSS 3-46

Advanced Complex Material Properties and Models 3-47

Complex Material Properties 3-48

Drude Model For Dispersive Metals 3-48

Generalized Superconductive Model 3-51

References 3-54

Specifying Thermal Modifiers 3-54

Defining Material Properties as Expressions 3-59

Defining Functional Material Properties 3-60

Contents-15

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Assigning Materials from the Object Properties Window 3-60

Viewing and Modifying Material Attributes 3-61

Validating Materials 3-65

Copying Materials 3-65

Removing Materials 3-66

Exporting Materials to a Library 3-67

Sorting Materials 3-67

Filtering Materials 3-68

Working with Material Libraries 3-70

Working with System Material Library 3-70

Working with User Material Libraries 3-70

Editing Libraries 3-70

Importing and Converting Materials in 2D Extractor 3-70

4 - Drawing a Model 4-1

Setting Units of Measurement for the Model 4-2

Drawing Objects 4-2

Drawing a Straight Line Segment 4-4

Drawing a Three-Point Arc Line 4-6

Drawing a Center-Point Arc Line 4-7

Drawing a Spline 4-9

Drawing a Polyline 4-10

Assigning a Cross Section and Dimensions to a Polyline 4-12

Inserting Line Segments 4-14

Drawing an Equation-Based Curve 4-15

Functions, Operators and Quantities for the Edit Equation dialog 4-18

Drawing a Circle 4-20

Drawing an Ellipse 4-21

Drawing a Rectangle 4-23

Contents-16

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Drawing a Regular Polygon 4-24

Drawing an Equation-Based Surface 4-25

Drawing a Sphere 4-28

Drawing a Cylinder 4-29

Drawing a Box 4-30

Drawing a Regular Polyhedron 4-31

Drawing a Cone 4-32

Drawing a Torus 4-33

Drawing a Helix 4-34

Drawing a Segmented Helix with Polygon Cross-Section Using a User Defined

Primitive 4-36

Drawing a Segmented Helix with Rectangular Cross-Section Using a User Defined

Primitive 4-37

Drawing a Spiral 4-38

Drawing a Spiral using User Defined Primitives 4-40

Drawing a Bondwire 4-41

Drawing a Point 4-42

Drawing a Plane 4-43

Creating Segmented Geometry 4-44

Segmented Objects 4-44

Drawing Non-Model Objects 4-45

Selecting Non-Model Drawing Mode 4-46

Changing an Object to Non Model 4-46

Drawing a Region 4-47

Group Commands for Modeler Objects 4-50

Model Analysis 4-55

Analysis Options Dialog 4-56

Analyzing the Surface Mesh 4-57

Contents-17

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Model Analysis dialog 4-58

Objects Tab 4-58

Object Misalignment Tab 4-60

Surface Mesh (Single/Pairs) Tab 4-61

Last Simulation Mesh Tab 4-62

Design Settings for HFSS 4-62

Design Settings for HFSS-IE 4-69

Setting the Temperature of Objects 4-70

Model Preparation Commands 4-72

Simplify Command 4-73

Heal 4-79

Validation and Healing Options for Import File 4-81

Healing Non-Manifold Objects 4-82

Setting the Healing Options 4-84

Stitch Sheets 4-85

Align Selected Faces 4-86

Remove Selected Faces 4-86

Remove Selected Edges 4-87

Perform Explicit Subtractions 4-87

Creating a User Defined Primitive 4-89

User Customization through User Defined Primitives (UDPs) 4-91

User Defined Model (UDM) 4-92

UDM compared to User Defined Primitives 4-93

Insert UDM Command on Draw Menu 4-94

UDM Properties 4-95

UDM Parameters 4-96

UDM Part Edits 4-97

Library of Models for CAD Integration 4-97

Contents-18

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SpaceClaim Integration 4-99

3D Component Library 4-106

Creating a 3D Component from an Existing Model 4-108

Create 3D Component: Model Tab 4-111

Create 3D Component Boundaries Tab 4-112

Create 3D Component Excitations Tab 4-112

Create 3D Component Hybrid Regions Tab 4-113

Create 3D Component Mesh Operations Tab 4-114

Create 3D Component Coordinate Systems Tab 4-115

Create Component Parameters Tab 4-117

Create 3D Component Encryption Tab 4-118

Create 3D Component Image Tab 4-124

Create Component Info Tab 4-126

Save 3D Component File 4-127

Using the Component Libraries Window 4-128

Component file organization on the disk 4-131

Inserting a 3D Component in a Design 4-131

Viewing Properties of 3D Components 4-138

3D Components in the Project Manager Window 4-141

3D Components in the History Tree 4-143

Editing 3D Component Properties 4-145

Editing a 3D Component Definition 4-147

Update 3D Component Definition 4-155

3D Component Library: Antennas 4-156

3D Component Library: Human Body Exteriors 4-159

3D Component Library: Johanson 4-161

3D Component Library: Rectangular Waveguides 4-164

3D Component Library: Surface Mount Devices 4-167

Contents-19

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Legacy Projects with 3D Components 4-169

Modifying Objects 4-169

Object and History Editing 4-169

Modify Object Appearance 4-170

Modify Object Dimensions 4-170

Modify Object Location or Orientation 4-170

Surface or Edge Operations for Objects 4-170

Boolean Operations on Objects 4-170

Assigning Color to Objects 4-171

Setting the Default Color of Objects 4-171

Setting the Default Color of Object Outlines 4-171

Assigning Transparency to an Object 4-172

Setting the Default Transparency of Objects 4-172

Copying and Pasting Objects 4-172

Import a Model from the Clipboard 4-173

Copy Image 4-174

Deleting Objects 4-175

Deleting Start Points and Endpoints 4-175

Delete Last Operation 4-176

Cutting Objects 4-176

Moving Objects 4-176

Rotating Objects 4-177

Changing the Orientation of an Object 4-178

Mirroring Objects 4-178

Offsetting Objects 4-180

Duplicating Objects 4-180

Duplicating Objects Along a Line 4-181

Duplicating Objects Around an Axis 4-182

Contents-20

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Duplicating and Mirroring Objects 4-184

Scaling Objects 4-184

Sweeping Objects 4-185

Sweeping Around an Axis 4-186

Sweeping Along a Vector 4-187

Sweeping Along a Path 4-189

Sweeping Faces Along Normal 4-190

Thicken Sheet 4-190

Wrap Sheet Command 4-191

Covering Lines 4-196

Covering Faces 4-196

Uncovering Faces 4-196

Detaching Faces 4-197

Detaching Edges 4-197

Creating a Cross-Section 4-197

Connecting Objects 4-198

Project Sheet Object 4-198

Moving Faces or Edges 4-203

Moving Faces Along the Normal 4-203

Moving Faces Along a Vector 4-204

Moving Edges Along Normal 4-206

Uniting Objects 4-207

Subtracting Objects 4-208

Creating Objects from Intersections 4-209

Creating an Object from a Face 4-210

Creating an Object from an Edge 4-211

Splitting Objects 4-211

Separating Bodies 4-214

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Converting Polyline Segments 4-215

Rounding the Edge of Objects (Fillet Command) 4-216

Flattening the Edge of Objects (Chamfer Command) 4-217

Imprinting an Object 4-221

Imprint Projection commands 4-223

Purge History 4-225

Generate History to Reproduce Portions of Model 4-225

Selecting Items in the 3D Modeler Window 4-225

Selection menu for: 4-226

Selections enabled for features of selected Object: 4-226

History Tree Icon Menu Selection 4-227

Selecting Objects 4-227

Selecting Several Objects 4-229

Selecting Objects by Name 4-231

Select By Area 4-232

Selecting All Objects in a History Tree Folder 4-234

Setting the Default Color and Transparency of Selected Objects 4-235

Setting the Default Color of Highlighted Objects 4-236

Creating an Object List 4-236

Reassigning Objects to Another Object List 4-237

Using or Viewing List Objects 4-238

Selecting Faces 4-238

Selecting All Faces of an Object 4-241

Selecting Faces by Name 4-242

Selecting Faces by Plane 4-244

Creating a Face List 4-245

Selecting Edges 4-245

Selecting All Edges of an Object or Face 4-247

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Selecting Vertices 4-248

Selecting Multi (a Mode for Selecting Objects, Faces, Vertices or Edges) 4-250

Controlling the Selection in Multi Mode 4-251

Selecting Groups and Submodels 4-252

Clearing a Selection 4-252

Selecting the Face, Edge, Vertex, or Object Behind 4-253

Selecting Objects and Surfaces That Lie Inside Other Objects 4-253

Using the Mouse to Select Objects 4-254

Selecting Objects by Variable 4-255

Assigning Coordinates to New Objects 4-256

Setting the Reference Point 4-256

Defining Cartesian Coordinates 4-257

Defining Cylindrical Coordinates 4-257

Defining Spherical Coordinates 4-258

Using Absolute Coordinates 4-259

Using Relative Coordinates 4-260

Choosing the Movement Mode 4-260

Moving the Cursor In Plane 4-261

Moving the Cursor Out of Plane 4-261

Moving the Cursor in 3D Space 4-262

Moving the Cursor Along the X-Axis 4-263

Moving the Cursor Along the Y-Axis 4-263

Moving the Cursor Along the Z-Axis 4-264

Choosing Snap Settings 4-264

Snap Setting Guidelines 4-266

Measure Modes for Objects 4-266

Measuring Position and Distance 4-269

Setting Coordinate Systems 4-271

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Setting the Working Coordinate System 4-273

Creating a Relative Coordinate System 4-274

Creating an Offset Relative CS 4-274

Creating a Rotated Relative CS 4-276

Creating an Offset and Rotated Relative CS 4-278

Creating a Face Coordinate System 4-281

Automatically Creating Face Coordinate Systems 4-282

Creating an Object Coordinate System 4-282

Creating an Offset Object CS 4-283

Creating a Rotated Object CS 4-284

Creating an Object CS that is Both Offset and Rotated 4-285

Move CS to End Command for History Tree 4-286

Modifying Coordinate Systems 4-287

Expressing Cartesian, Cylindrical, or Spherical Coordinates 4-289

Deleting Coordinate Systems 4-290

Setting the Drawing Plane 4-290

5 - Optimetrics 5-1

Parametric Overview 5-2

Setting Up a Parametric Analysis 5-3

Adding a Variable Sweep Definition 5-4

Specifying Variable Values for a Sweep Definition 5-5

Synchronizing Variable Sweep Definitions 5-6

Modifying a Variable Sweep Definition Manually 5-7

Overriding a Variable's Current Value in a Parametric Setup 5-8

Specifying a Solution Setup for a Parametric Setup 5-8

Specifying the Solution Quantity to Evaluate for Parametric Analysis 5-9

Setup Calculations for Optimetrics 5-9

Specifying a Solution Quantity's Calculation Range 5-11

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Viewing Results for Parametric Solution Quantities 5-12

Using Distributed Analysis 5-12

Adding a Parametric Sweep from a File 5-13

Optimization Overview 5-14

Choosing an Optimizer 5-14

Quasi Newton (Gradient) 5-15

Pattern Search (Search-Based) 5-18

Sequential Non linear Programming (Gradient) 5-20

Sequential Mixed Integer NonLinear Programming (Gradient and Discrete) 5-21

Genetic Algorithm (Random Search) 5-22

MATLAB optimizer 5-23

Optimization Variables and the Design Space 5-29

Setting Up an Optimization Analysis 5-29

Optimization Setup for the Quasi Newton (Gradient) Optimizer 5-31

Optimization Setup for the Pattern Search (Search-based) Optimizer 5-33

Optimization Setup for the Merit-based Sequential Quadratic Programming(Gradient)

Optimizer 5-34

Optimization Setup for the Sequential Nonlinear Programming (Gradient) Optimizer 5-36

Optimization Setup for the Sequential Mixed Integer Nonlinear Programming

(Gradient and Discrete) Optimizer 5-37

Optimization Setup for the Genetic Algorithm (Random search) Optimizer 5-39

Optimization Setup for the MATLAB Optimizer 5-41

Setting the Maximum Iterations for an Optimization Analysis 5-42

Cost Function 5-43

Acceptable Cost 5-44

Cost Function Noise 5-44

Adding a Cost Function 5-45

Specifying a Solution Quantity for a Cost Function Goal 5-46

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Setting the Calculation Range of a Cost Function Goal 5-47

Adding/Editing a Cost Function Calculation 5-48

Setting a Goal Value 5-48

Specifying a Single Goal Value 5-49

Specifying an Expression as a Goal Value 5-49

Specifying a Variable-Dependent Goal Value 5-50

Goal Weight 5-50

Modifying the Starting Variable Value for Optimization 5-52

Setting the Min. and Max. Variable Values for Optimization 5-53

Text Entry for Calc. Range or Edit Calculation Range Dialog 5-53

Overriding the Min. and Max. Variable Values for a Single Optimization Setup 5-55

Changing the Min. and Max. Variable Values for Every Optimization Setup 5-55

Step Size 5-56

Setting the Min. and Max. Step Sizes 5-57

Setting the Min and Max Focus 5-58

Equalizing the influence of different optimization variables. 5-58

To set the Min and Max Focus values: 5-59

Solving a Parametric Setup Before an Optimization 5-59

Solving a Parametric Setup During an Optimization 5-59

Automatically Updating a Variable's Value after Optimization 5-60

Changing the Cost Function Norm 5-60

Explanation of L1, L2 and Max norms in Optimization 5-61

Example of a More Complex Cost Function 5-63

Advanced Genetic Algorithm Optimizer Options 5-64

Sensitivity Analysis Overview 5-67

Selecting a Master Output 5-67

Setting Up a Sensitivity Analysis 5-68

Setting the Maximum Iterations Per Variable 5-69

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Setting Up an Output Parameter 5-70

Specifying a Solution Quantity for an Output Parameter 5-71

Setting the Calculation Range of an Output Parameter 5-72

Modifying the Starting Variable Value for Sensitivity Analysis 5-72

Setting the Min. and Max. Variable Values 5-73

Overriding the Min. and Max. Variable Values for a Single Sensitivity Setup 5-73

Changing the Min. and Max. Variable Values for Every Sensitivity Setup 5-74

Setting the Initial Displacement 5-74

Solving a Parametric Setup Before a Sensitivity Analysis 5-75

Solving a Parametric Setup During a Sensitivity Analysis 5-75

Performing Worst Case Analysis 5-75

Statistical Analysis Overview 5-79

Setting Up a Statistical Analysis 5-80

Setting the Maximum Iterations for a Statistical Analysis 5-81

Specifying the Solution Quantity to Evaluate for Statistical Analysis 5-81

Setting the Solution Quantity's Calculation Range 5-82

Setting the Distribution Criteria 5-83

Overriding the Distribution Criteria for a Single Statistical Setup 5-83

Changing the Distribution Criteria for Every Statistical Setup 5-85

Statistical Cutoff Probability 5-86

Edit Distribution 5-87

Modifying the Starting Variable Value for Statistical Analysis 5-88

Solving a Parametric Setup During a Statistical Analysis 5-89

Using Design of Experiments 5-89

Setting Up Design of Experiments in ANSYS Electronics Desktop 5-92

Choose the Variables for Design Exploration 5-92

Add the Design of Experiments Setup 5-92

Design of Experiments Tab 5-95

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Optimal Space Filling Design (OSF) 5-98

Central Composite Design (CCD) 5-99

Box Behnken Design (CCD) 5-100

Custom DOE Type 5-101

Latin Hypercube Sampling 5-101

Table Tab for Design of Experiments 5-103

Response Surface Tab for Design of Experiments 5-104

Variables Tab for Design of Experiments 5-106

View Analysis Result for Design of Experiments 5-109

Min-Max Search View for Design of Experiments Result 5-112

Refinement Points Table 5-113

Performing a Manual Refinement 5-113

Response Points Table 5-114

Response Curve 5-115

Response Curve (2D Slices) 5-117

Verification Points Table 5-119

Goodness of Fit (Predicted vs Observed Chart) 5-120

Response Surface Results 5-121

Local Sensitivity Charts 5-124

Local Sensitivity Curves 5-125

Using the Fast Calculation-Update Algorithm 5-127

Tuning Overview 5-130

Tuning a Variable 5-130

Applying a Tuned State to a Design 5-133

Saving a Tuned State 5-133

Reverting to a Saved Tuned State 5-134

Resetting Variable Values after Tuning 5-134

Saving Field Solutions for Optimetrics Analyses 5-134

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Saving Field Solutions for a Parametric Setup 5-135

Saving Field Solutions for an Optimization Setup 5-135

Saving Field Solutions for a Sensitivity Setup 5-136

Saving Field Solutions for a Tuning Analysis 5-136

Saving Field Solutions for a Statistical Setup 5-137

Saving Field Solutions for a Design of Experiments Setup Setup 5-137

Copying Meshes in Optimetrics Sweeps 5-138

Adding an Expression in the Output Variables Window 5-138

Excluding a Variable from an Optimetrics Analysis 5-139

Modifying the Value of a Fixed Variable 5-139

Linear Constraints 5-140

Setting a Linear Constraint 5-140

Modifying a Linear Constraint 5-141

Deleting a Linear Constraint 5-142

Running an Optimetrics Analysis 5-142

Viewing Analysis Results for Optimetrics Solutions 5-142

Viewing Solution Data for an Optimetrics Design Variation 5-143

Viewing an Optimetrics Solution's Profile Data 5-144

Viewing Results for Parametric Solution Quantities 5-145

Plotting Solution Quantity Results vs. a Swept Variable 5-145

Viewing Cost Results for an Optimization Analysis 5-146

Plotting Cost Results for an Optimization Analysis 5-146

Viewing Output Parameter Results for a Sensitivity Analysis 5-147

Plotting Output Parameter Results for a Sensitivity Analysis 5-147

Viewing Distribution Results for a Statistical Analysis 5-148

Plotting Distribution Results for a Statistical Analysis 5-149

Link to DesignXplorer 5-149

6 - High Performance Computing 6-1

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Remote Analysis 6-1

Troubleshooting 6-4

Distributed Analysis 6-6

Configuring Distributed Analysis 6-6

Editing Distributed Machine Configurations 6-8

Editing Distributed Machine Configurations for Q3D Extractor 6-25

Selecting an Optimal Configuration for Distributed Analysis 6-33

Distributed Setup Resource Guide for ANSYS Electromagnetics Solvers 6-34

2-Level Distributions Guidelines 6-35

Solver Distributions for HPC Configuration 6-36

Domain Decomposition Solver Guidelines for HPC Configuration 6-36

Distributed HFSS-IE Guidelines for HPC Configuration 6-37

Distributed Direct Solver Guidelines for HPC Configuration 6-37

Distributed Iterative Solver Guidelines for HPC Configuration 6-37

Large Scale DSO for Parametric Analysis 6-38

Prerequisites for Large Scale DSO 6-39

DSO Behavior in HFSS and HFSS-IE 6-40

Job Management Interface for Large Scale DSO 6-43

Large Scale DSO Command Line Syntax 6-52

Large Scale DSO Job outputs 6-53

Large Scale DSO Tutorial Example 6-54

Prepare the Model for Large Scale DSO Analysis 6-54

Submit the Large Scale DSO Job: Examples 6-59

Large Scale DSO Example: Post Process the Results 6-60

Import Large Scale DSO Dataset Solution 6-62

Large Scale DSO Results Database Organization 6-67

Large Scale DSO Job Monitoring 6-68

Large Scale DSO Deployment/Configuration 6-69

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Known Issues for Large Scale DSO 6-70

Troubleshooting for Large Scale DSO 6-71

Job monitoring and control 6-71

Job outcome 6-72

Interactive Scheduler Jobs 6-72

Specifying Options for Interactive Scheduler Jobs 6-73

DSO Configuration for Interactive Scheduler Jobs 6-74

Design Type Options for Interactive Scheduler Jobs 6-78

Distribution Command Line Options 6-79

High Performance Computing (HPC) Integration 6-81

Scheduler Terminology 6-85

What a Scheduler Does 6-85

Installation of ANSYS Electromagnetics Suite 6-86

Firewall Configuration 6-87

Installation Directory Examples 6-88

ANSYS EM Jobs 6-88

Integration with Microsoft Windows® HPC Scheduler 6-89

Submitting and Monitoring ANSYS EM HPC Jobs 6-90

Submitting and Monitoring Jobs for Windows HPC 6-92

Windows® HPC Job Templates 6-107

Selecting Computation Resource Units (Job Unit Type) 6-108

Windows® HPC Non-Exclusive Jobs 6-108

Setting the Windows HPC Cluster Affinity Type 6-109

Examples with "Submissions with Nodes are for exclusive usage by this job"
Unchecked and Checked 6-114

Windows® HPC Job Credentials 6-122

Integration with Platform's Load Sharing Facility (LSF) 6-122

Installation of ANSYS EM Tools on LSF Cluster 6-124

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Integration of ANSYS EM Products with LSF 6-128

LSF Job Submission Guidelines 6-129

Job Management User Interface for LSF 6-129

Integrated Job Monitoring for Job Management Interface for LSF 6-146

LSF Command Used to Launch Remote Engine Processes 6-146

Submitting ANSYS EM LSF Batch Jobs 6-147

Current Working Directory with LSF 6-147

Quoting ANSYS EM Command or Arguments for LSF 6-147

bsub Arguments 6-147

Monitoring ANSYS EM LSF Batch Jobs 6-148

Terminating ANSYS EM LSF Batch Jobs 6-149

Example LSF bsub Command Lines 6-149

Known Issues for LSF 6-153

Troubleshooting for LSF 6-154

Workarounds for LSF 6-155

Integration with PBS (Portable Batch System) 6-156

Job Management User Interface for PBS 6-158

Compute Resource Selection Parameters for PBS 6-170

Non Standard Installations for PBS 6-172

Limitations on Submitting Jobs in PBS 6-173

General PBS Limitations 6-174

Monitor Job using Graphical Interface for PBS 6-175

Submitting ANSYS EM PBS Batch Jobs 6-175

qsub Arguments 6-177

Monitoring ANSYS Electronics Desktop PBS Batch Jobs 6-178

Example PBS qsub Command Lines 6-179

Integration with Grid Engine (GE) 6-181

Installation of ANSYS EM Tools on SGE 6-183

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Job Management User Interface for GE 6-185

Integrated Job Monitoring for Job Management Interface for GE 6-202

SGE Commands for Information About Jobs and Cluster Configuration 6-203

Monitoring ANSYS EM SGE Batch Jobs 6-207

ANSYS EM Desktop -monitor Command Line Option for SGE 6-207

Example SGE qsub Command Lines 6-208

Recommended Practices for GE Clusters 6-209

Issue with qrsh (SGE) 6-215

Issue with MainWin Core Services for SGE 6-215

Integration with ANSYS RSM Cluster (ARC) 6-217

Command Line Information for ANSYS EM Desktop Products 6-224

Integrating ANSYS EM Tools with Third Party Schedulers 6-226

Common Requirements for Running Jobs 6-228

Using a Shared Library (Linux) or a DLL (Microsoft Windows) 6-228

Build Information for Scheduler Proxy Library 6-229

Implementation Details for Custom Scheduler Integration 6-230

IsProductLaunchedInYourEnvironment 6-230

GetTempDirectory 6-231

GetMachineListAvailableForDistribution 6-231

GetMessageStringToRegisterForSigTerm 6-232

LaunchProcess 6-233

GetUseRsmForEngineLaunch 6-234

GetThisJobID 6-235

GetSchedulerDisplayName 6-236

Scheduler Proxy Interfaces 6-236

Testing Your Scheduler Integration 6-242

Testing IsProductLaunchedInYourEnvironment 6-242

Testing GetSchedulerDisplayName and GetThisJobID 6-243

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Testing GetTempDirectory 6-243

Testing GetMachineListAvailableForDistribution 6-243

Testing LaunchProcess 6-243

Testing GetUseRsmForEngineLaunch 6-244

Troubleshooting Custom Scheduler Integration 6-244

None of the Proxy Functions are Called 6-244

Troubleshooting IsProductLaunchedInYourEnvironment Function 6-245

Troubleshooting GetSchedulerDisplayName 6-245

Troubleshooting GetThisJobID 6-245

Troubleshooting GetTempDirectory 6-246

Troubleshooting GetMachineListAvailableForDistribution 6-246

Troubleshooting LaunchProcess 6-246

Troubleshooting GetUseRsmForEngineLaunch 6-247

Using an IronPython Program for Integration with a Scheduler 6-247

GetName [IronPython] 6-249

GetDescription [IronPython] 6-249

IsProductLaunchedInYourEnvironment [IronPython] 6-249

GetSchedulerDisplayName [IronPython] 6-250

GetThisJobID [IronPython] 6-250

GetUseRsmForEngineLaunch [IronPython] 6-251

GetTempDirectory [IronPython] 6-251

GetMessageStringToRegisterForSigTerm [IronPython] 6-252

GetMachineListAvailableForDistribution [IronPython] 6-252

LaunchProcess [IronPython] 6-253

RSM Integration with Job Management UI 6-254

Job Submission Scripting 6-267

Limitations 6-267

How to do Job Submission Scripting 6-268

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Windows to Linux Job Submission 6-268

Prerequisites for Job Submission 6-268

Directory Shared between Windows and Linux 6-268

Network Access from Windows Host to Linux Job Management Host 6-269

Ansoft RSM Service Running on Job Management Host 6-269

Prerequisites for Job Monitoring 6-269

Network Access from Windows Host to Linux Cluster Hosts 6-269

Supported Schedulers 6-270

Select Scheduler Dialog 6-270

Submit Job Dialog 6-271

User Passwords are Encrypted 6-274

Multi-Step Job Submission 6-275

Monitor Jobs Window 6-281

Using ANSYS EM HPC Diagnostics tool 6-282

Changing a Solution Priority for System Resources 6-287

Aborting an Analysis 6-288

desktopproxy Utility to Abort or Cleanstop a BatchSolve 6-288

7 - Defining Mesh Operations 7-1

Length Based Mesh Refinement 7-2

Assigning Length-Based Mesh Refinement on Object Faces 7-3

Assigning Length-Based Mesh Refinement Inside Objects 7-4

Assigning Skin Depth-Based Mesh Refinement on Object Faces 7-6

Modifying Surface Approximation Settings 7-8

Apply Curvilinear Elements Command 7-10

Specifying Surface Priority for Tau Mesher 7-11

Specifyingthe Model Resolution 7-12

Reverting to the Initial Mesh 7-14

Applying Mesh Operations without Solving 7-14

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Specifying Initial Mesh Settings 7-15

Deleting All Previously Assigned Mesh Refinements 7-18

Viewing List of Mesh Operations 7-18

Reassigning a Mesh Operation 7-19

Viewing Mesh Properties 7-19

8 - Modifying the 3D Model View 8-1

Change the view 8-1

Show or hide design objects 8-1

Change object visualization 8-2

Change the background 8-2

Changing the Model View with Alt+Double Click Areas 8-2

Apply an Orientation to the Current View 8-3

View Options: 3D UI Options 8-5

Rotating the View 8-6

Panning the View 8-8

Zooming In and Out 8-9

Zooming In or Out on a Rectangular Area 8-11

Zooming In or Out using a Mousewheel 8-12

Zoom to Selected Excitation 8-12

Fitting Objects in the View Window 8-13

Fitting All Objects in a View Window 8-13

Fitting Selected Objects in a View Window 8-14

Hiding Objects from View 8-15

Showing Objects 8-16

Showing Only Selected Objects in All or Active Views 8-21

Active View Visibility Dialog 8-22

Rendering Objects as Wireframes or Solids 8-24

Setting the Default View Rendering Mode 8-24

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Setting the Enhanced Display of Material Color and Transparency 8-25

Setting the Curved Surface Visualization 8-27

UsingClipPlanes 8-29

Modifying the View Orientation 8-32

Applying a Default View Orientation 8-33

Applying a New View Orientation 8-35

Removing an Orientation 8-37

Modifying the Lighting 8-37

Setting the Projection View 8-38

Setting the Background Color 8-39

Modifying the Coordinate System Axes View 8-40

Showing or Hiding the Axes 8-41

Show the Axes for Selected Objects 8-41

Enlarging or Shrinking the Axes 8-41

Showing or Hiding the Triad Axes 8-41

Choosing Grid Settings 8-41

Setting the Grid Type 8-43

Setting the Grid Style 8-44

Setting the Grid Density and Spacing 8-45

Setting the Grid's Visibility 8-46

Setting the Grid Plane 8-47

9 - Example Toolkits 9-1

HFSS Antenna Design Toolkit 9-1

HFSS-EMIT Datalink Toolkit 9-17

HFSS-Savant Datalink Toolkit 9-21

Cable Modeling - Automotive Toolkit 9-28

Cable Modeling - Oil and Gas Toolkit 9-30

Finite Array Beam Angle Calculator Toolkit 9-32

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Hearing Aid Compliance Test 9-35

Using the Hearing Aid Compliance Test 9-37

User Defined Solution for MIMO Calculations 9-40

Wavelength Calculator 9-47

10 - HFSS Transient 10-1

Adding a Solution Setup for Transient Solutions 10-3

Transient Network Analysis Input Signal Tab: a Time Profile 10-5

Duration Tab for Transient Solution Setup 10-7

Saved Fields Tab for Transient Solution Setup 10-8

Active or Passive Excitations in HFSS Transient 10-9

Setting Magnitude and Delay for Transient Composite Solution Excitations 10-12

Differential Pairs in HFSS Transient Network 10-13

Design Settings for HFSS Transient 10-14

Transient Solution Data 10-15

Selecting the Report Type in HFSS Transient 10-16

Reports for Transient Network with Differential Pairs 10-17

Procedure for Viewing Transient Radiated Fields 10-18

Transient GPU Acceleration 10-21

11 - HFSS-IE 11-1

Setting up an HFSS-IE Design 11-2

Inserting an HFSS-IE Design 11-3

Assigning HFSS-IE Boundaries 11-4

Assigning Excitations in HFSS-IE 11-5

Addinga Solution Setup to an HFSS-IE Design 11-6

Setting Lambda Refinement for HFSS-IE 11-9

Use PO Solver for HFSS-IE Solve Setup 11-9

Distributed Memory Solutions with HFSS-IE 11-10

Installation Requirements for Distributed Memory Solutions with HFSS-IE 11-10

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Setting up HFSS-IE and Running Distributed Memory Solutions 11-12

Select the MPI Vendor for HFSS-IE 11-12

Running Distributed Memory Solutions from the Command line for HFSS-IE 11-13

Discussion of HFSS-IE Distributed Memory Solutions 11-14

Interconnects for HFSS-IE Distributed Memory Simulation 11-16

Authentication on Linux (RSH & SSH) for HFSS-IE 11-17

Troubleshooting for HFSS-IE Distributed Memory Simulations 11-18

12 - Layout Editor 12-1

Layout Display and Menus 12-1

Layout Editor Display 12-2

Layout Editor Options 12-2

Setting Global Layout Options 12-3

Layout Editor Options: Object Panel 12-4

Layout Editor Options: Snapping Panel 12-5

Layout Editor Options: Display Panel 12-6

Layout Editor Options: Selection Panel 12-7

Layout Editor Options: Other Panel 12-7

Layout Editor Options: Advanced Panel 12-8

Setting Local Layout Options 12-8

Layout Edit Menu 12-9

Layout Pulldown Menu 12-11

List 12-13

Nets 12-14

List 12-14

Select Physically Connected 12-15

Selected Net Connected 12-15

Toggle Net Highlight 12-15

Select All Net Violations 12-15

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Select First Violation 12-15

Show Selected Nets Only 12-15

Line Styles 12-15

Legacy Line Style Attributes 12-16

Specifying Line Ending Types 12-16

Text Styles 12-17

System and Plotter Layers 12-17

Stroke and TrueType Fonts 12-17

Scalable and Nonscalable Fonts 12-17

Font Requirements for System and Plotter Layers 12-18

Cutout Subdesign 12-18

Layout View Menu 12-20

Layout Draw Menu 12-21

Merge Polygons 12-22

Create and Manage Pin Groups 12-23

Component 12-24

HFSS 3D Layout Properties 12-25

Meshing Properties 12-25

Precedence Prioritizing 12-26

Thin Film Properties 12-29

Selecting the Sweep Type 12-29

Generating the Surface Current 12-29

Setting up a Full-Wave SPICE Analysis 12-30

Guidelines for Calculating Frequencies for a Full-Wave SPICE Analysis 12-31

Clip Planes 12-32

Converting Traces to Planes 12-32

Convert Traces to Planes 12-33

Converting Planes to Traces 12-33

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Convert Planes to Traces 12-34

Layout Context Menu 12-35

Layout Dialogs 12-36

Merge Layers Dialog 12-36

Place Design Dialog 12-37

Pin Connectivity Dialog 12-38

Solver Options Dialog 12-40

The Edit Layers Dialog 12-42

Configuring a Stackup 12-48

Working with Layers 12-49

Working with the Layers Window 12-50

Adding and Removing Layers 12-52

Drawing on a Layer 12-54

Activating Layers 12-54

Setting Layer Thickness 12-54

Setting Layer Associations 12-55

Setting the Etch Factor 12-56

Assigning Materials to Layers 12-56

Guidelines for Overlapping Layers 12-57

Setting the Layer Surface Roughness 12-57

Working with Dielectric and Negative Signal Layers 12-58

Default Layers 12-58

Color, Visibility and Patterns 12-58

Setting a Layer Color 12-59

Setting Layer Visibility 12-59

Setting a Layer Pattern 12-60

Setting Elevations 12-60

Guidelines for Stackup Elevations 12-61

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Setting the Layer Lower Elevation 12-61

Setting the Layer Upper Elevation 12-62

Layout Technology 12-62

Choosing a Layout Technology 12-62

Creating a Layout Technology 12-63

Working with Objects 12-63

Selection Modes in the Layout Editor 12-63

Using Handles 12-65

Selecting Handles 12-65

Aligning Objects in the Layout Editor 12-66

Selecting Overlapping Objects in the Layout Editor 12-67

Selecting Edges in the Layout Editor 12-67

Grouping Objects in the Layout Editor 12-67

Negative Objects in the Layout Editor 12-67

Position Locking 12-68

Modifying Objects in the Layout Editor 12-69

Deleting Objects in the Layout Editor 12-69

Flipping Objects in the Layout Editor 12-69

Rotating Objects in the Layout Editor 12-69

Uniting Objects in the Layout Editor 12-70

Subtracting Objects in the Layout Editor 12-70

Creating Objects from Intersections in the Layout Editor 12-71

Duplicating Objects in the Layout Editor 12-72

Expanding Objects in the Layout Editor 12-74

Paste Objects In Place in the Layout Editor 12-75

Geometry Healing in the Layout Editor 12-75

Editing Arcs in the Layout Editor 12-77

Curving Polygon Edges in the Layout Editor 12-78

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Adding Vertices to Edges in the Layout Editor 12-78

Drawing a Model in the Layout Editor 12-79

The Drawing Region 12-79

General Drawing Guidelines for the Layout Editor 12-80

Zooming and Panning the Layout View 12-81

Cross-Probing Selected Elements 12-82

Voids in Layout 12-83

Directional Drawing in the Layout Editor 12-83

Drawing Geometric Objects in the Layout Editor 12-84

Drawing a Circle in the Layout Editor 12-85

Drawing a Rectangle in the Layout Editor 12-85

Drawing an Image in the Layout Editor 12-86

Drawing an Arc in the Layout Editor 12-87

Drawing a Line in the Layout Editor 12-88

Specifying Line Width in the Layout Editor 12-89

Reverse Line Command in the Layout Editor 12-90

Drawing a Polygon in the Layout Editor 12-90

Drawing a Void in the Layout Editor 12-90

Drawing a Hole in the Layout Editor 12-91

Drawing a Via in the Layout Editor 12-91

Drawing a 2.5D Via in the Layout Editor 12-92

Drawing a Cross-Layer Plate in the Layout Editor 12-97

Drawing an Infinite Array in the Layout Editor 12-97

Drawing a Cavity 12-98

Inserting N-Port Data 12-99

Guidelines for Inserting N-Ports 12-100

Importing or Linking N-Port Data 12-101

Manually Entering N-Port Data 12-101

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Changing the Reference Impedance for N-Port Data 12-102

Rotating the Phase of N-Port Data 12-103

Drawing a Connection in the Layout Editor 12-103

Components with a Symbol Footprint 12-104

Assigning Reference Ports in the Layout Editor 12-105

Circuit Ports in Layout 12-107

Drawing Apertures on Negative Signal Planes 12-108

Routing Traces in the Layout Editor 12-108

Automatic Trace Generation in the Layout Editor 12-109

Manual Trace Generation in the Layout Editor 12-111

Regenerate Auto-Trace in the Layout Editor 12-113

Unfix Auto-Trace in the Layout Editor 12-113

Measurement Mode in the Layout Editor 12-114

Dielectric Modeling 12-117

Importing a Stackup 12-117

Layout Components 12-120

Working With The Capacitor/Inductor Library Browser 12-122

Coordinate Systems 12-124

Create Coordinate System 12-125

Group and Ungroup Commands 12-125

Push and Pop Commands 12-126

Select Coordinate System 12-126

3D Structures 12-126

Create 3D Structures 12-126

3D Ungroup 12-127

3D Push and Pop 12-127

Design Verification and Geometry Check 12-127

Rule Checking 12-128

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Design Verification Setup 12-129

Design Verification Runs 12-132

Defining Multiple Runs 12-135

Design Verification Results 12-137

Transferring Rule Sets 12-141

Design Verification Commands 12-142

Design Verification Layer 12-143

Import Commands 12-143

Export Commands 12-145

Object Creation Commands 12-145

And Command 12-146

Or Command 12-147

Not Command 12-148

Sizing Command 12-150

Connectivity Checking Commands 12-153

FindNotOwnedByNet 12-153

FindNotOwnedByNet 12-153

Geometry Checking Commands 12-153

EncloseTo Commands 12-154

NotchTo Commands 12-161

OverhangTo Commands 12-168

OverlapTo Commands 12-176

SeparationTo Commands 12-184

WidthTo Commands 12-191

Geometry Check in Layout 12-197

Printing a Layout 12-199

13 - Layout and Circuit Import Export Operations 13-1

Importing Layout Design Data 13-1

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Importing ANF Design Data 13-2

Importing ANFV2 Design Data 13-2

Importing ANFV4 Design Data 13-4

Importing EDB Format Files 13-7

Importing GDSII Format Files into the Layout Editor 13-8

Importing Gerber Format Files into the Layout Editor 13-12

Importing ODB++ into the Layout Editor 13-13

Importing IPC2581a into the Layout Editor 13-15

Importing DXF and DWG Format Files into the Layout Editor 13-16

Importing Cadence APD/ALLEGRO/SIP Files into the Layout Editor 13-18

Layer Mapping Files 13-19

GDSII Cell Import and Net Generation 13-21

Importing IPC2581 rev.a and IPC2581 rev.b into the Layout Editor 13-24

Importing XFL into the Layout Editor 13-25

Importing Tabular Arrays 13-25

Direct Import Cadence APD Links 13-28

ODB++ Translator 13-28

Running AnsTranslator from the Electronics Desktop 13-29

Running AnsTranslator from the Command Line 13-31

Net Importation in AnsTranslator 13-32

ODB++ Exporter Issues 13-34

Layout and ODB++ Control File 13-41

Using Excel to Generate an ODB++ Control File 13-43

ODB++ Control File Part Mapping 13-49

Control File Usage with Renaming 13-53

Board Outlines 13-55

Exporting Layout Design Data 13-55

Exporting Data Table Files 13-56

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Exporting Layout Data 13-56

DXF Export 13-58

GDSII Export 13-58

Gerber Export 13-59

NC Drill/Router Export 13-60

Exporting Graphics Files from the Layout 3D Editor 13-61

Exporting ANF Layout or Schematic Data 13-62

Importing Circuit Models 13-62

Selecting a Model to Import 13-64

SPICE Library Support 13-67

SPICE Library Import Procedure 13-68

Modifications to SPICE Pin Names 13-70

IBIS Library Support 13-70

Import IBIS Library File 13-71

Import IBIS Single Component or Pin or Buffer Element 13-73

Place IBIS Buffer Component in Schematic 13-84

Edit IBIS Component Properties 13-89

IBIS File Import Technical Notes 13-98

IBIS I/O Wizard 13-112

W-Element Model Support 13-117

X-Parameter Model Support 13-118

X-Parameter Technical Notes 13-118

X-Parameter References 13-123

State Space Model Support 13-124

Importing State-Space Models 13-124

Editing a State Space Model 13-125

Creating a Multi-File State Space Model 13-129

Editing a Multi-File State Space Model 13-130

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Importing Network Design Data (SYZ-Parameters) 13-131

Creating an N-Port Model 13-132

Editing an N-Port Model 13-134

Creating a Multi-File N-Port Model 13-137

Editing a Multi-File N-Port Model 13-139

Creating an N-Port Model with No File 13-139

Creating a Parametric N-Port Model 13-141

Editing a Parametric N-Port Model 13-143

Touchstone Calibration Wizard 13-149

Two-Line Method 13-150

Thru-Reflect-Line Method 13-150

Short-Open-Load-Thru Method 13-151

Paths for File Selection 13-152

Editing All N-Port Symbol Bus Pins 13-152

CPM Model Support 13-155

Automated CPM Chip Connection And Placement 13-155

Verilog Library Support 13-159

Supported Verilog Features 13-160

Exporting Network Design Data 13-163

Exporting LNA Network Data 13-164

Exporting Planar EM Network Data 13-166

Exporting Network Data to a State Space File 13-168

Importing Solution Data for Postprocessing 13-168

Importing Network Solution Data 13-170

N-Port Data Tab for Imported Solutions 13-171

Noise Data Tab for Imported Solutions 13-173

Options Tab for Imported Solutions 13-175

Importing Tabular Solution Data 13-176

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Postprocessing Imported Solution Data 13-180

14 - Circuit and Layout Definition Libraries 14-1

Working with Definition Libraries 14-1

System, User, and Personal Library Directories 14-2

Changing the Locations of Libraries 14-2

Library and Project Definitions 14-3

Updating Project Definitions from Library Definitions 14-3

Exporting and Importing Definition Archives 14-4

Exporting Definition Archives 14-4

Importing Definition Archives 14-6

Managing Library Files 14-8

Library Search Precedence 14-9

Component Creation Sequence 14-9

Using the Library Editor 14-10

Starting the Library Editor 14-11

Edit Libraries Dialog 14-12

Exporting Hierarchical Components 14-13

Using the Material Editor 14-14

The Edit Material Dialog 14-15

Editing an Existing Material 14-18

Creating a New Material 14-19

Using the Models Editor 14-19

Using the Padstack Editor 14-20

Creating a New Padstack 14-20

Editing an Existing Padstack 14-21

The Edit Padstack Definition Dialog 14-21

Pad Behavior in Vias and Pins 14-24

Editing Via and Pin Padstacks in Layout 14-25

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Initial Padstack Definition Layers 14-26

Pin and Net Padstack Operations 14-27

Using the Footprint Editor 14-29

Opening the Footprint Editor 14-30

Creating a New Footprint 14-30

Editing an Existing Footprint 14-31

Load a Footprint into the Current Project 14-31

Footprint Editor Operations 14-31

Footprint Edit Menu 14-32

Footprint Context Menu 14-33

Footprint View Menu 14-34

Footprint Draw Menu 14-35

Defining Footprint Handles 14-39

Using Scripts to Define Footprints 14-40

Layout Host Object 14-41

ElementPars Object 14-50

Points Object 14-51

Geom Object 14-53

Geom Object Properties 14-53

Geom Object Methods 14-53

Edge Object 14-55

Edge Object Properties 14-56

Via Object 14-57

Using the Symbol Editor 14-61

Editing an Existing Symbol 14-62

Symbol Editor Operations 14-62

Symbol Draw Menu 14-64

Symbol Menu 14-67

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Import File (Symbol) 14-68

Editing Pin Properties 14-69

Edit Symbol Pin Locations 14-71

Symbol Property Display Setup 14-75

The Symbol Property Displays Dialog Box 14-75

Symbol Grid Setup Dialog 14-76

Using the Component Editor 14-77

Creating and Editing Components 14-77

Editing an Existing Component 14-78

Creating a New Component 14-78

The Edit Component Dialog 14-78

Components General Tab 14-79

Components Miscellaneous Tab 14-81

Components Terminals Tab 14-84

Components Solver On Demand Tab 14-85

Edit Component Properties Dialog 14-88

Component CosimDefinition Property 14-93

Netlist String Syntax 14-93

UsingVendor Components 14-96

Downloading Vendor Components 14-97

Using RF Vendor Library Components 14-99

Encrypted Libraries 14-101

Creating and Managing Encrypted Libraries 14-101

Setting Up Passwords and Encrypted Libraries 14-102

15 - HFSS 3D Layout 15-1

HFSS 3D Layout in the ANSYS Electronics Desktop 15-2

Layout Links 15-2

Cadence APD Links 15-2

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SPB License For Direct Import 15-3

Circuit Ports and Circuit Elements in HFSS 15-3

HFSS 3D Layout Options 15-7

Setting Up an HFSS 3D Layout Project 15-13

Inserting an HFSS 3D Layout Design 15-14

Edit Layers Dialog 15-14

Inserting an EM Technology File 15-15

Physical Definition for EM Models 15-16

Create Components with 3D Placement 15-17

Stackup Definitions for EM Models 15-19

Substrate Stackup 15-20

HFSS Etch Factor 15-21

Layout Stackup 15-22

Footprint Stackup 15-22

Model Signal As Ground Plane 15-23

Subcircuits with Independent Stackups 15-25

Editing Distributed Machine Configurations 15-26

Distributed Machine Configurations for SIWave 15-26

Distributed Machine Configurations for HFSS and Planar EM 15-28

Using the Estimate Module 15-29

Estimating Transmission Line Quantities 15-29

Estimating Matches Between Impedances 15-32

Estimating Dimensions of Printed Antennas 15-36

Using the Microwave Calculator 15-40

Setting Up Excitations in HFSS 3D Layout 15-41

Creating a Circuit Port 15-42

Creating a Pad Port 15-45

Creating a Probe Port 15-45

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Creating an Edge Port 15-49

Creating a Plane Wave 15-49

Creating Coupled Ports From Existing Edge Ports 15-50

Push Excitations to 3D Layout Ports from Nexxim Solution 15-51

Push Excitations to Dynamic Links 15-54

Push Excitations to Sub-Designs 15-55

Push Excitations with Thevenin Equivalent 15-55

Creating a Circuit Element 15-57

Auto Scale of Circuit Elements 15-59

Nport Circuit Elements 15-61

Edit Port Excitations 15-64

Changing the Reference Surface 15-66

Renormalizing S-Matrices 15-67

De-embedding S-Matrices 15-67

Reference to Nearest Negative Signal 15-68

Varying the Port Excitation 15-68

Differential Pairs 15-71

Port Setup in HFSS 3D Layout 15-71

HFSS Port Types 15-72

Ports for Transmission Lines 15-72

Single-Line Transmission Line Ports 15-73

Multi-Line Transmission Line Ports 15-75

Ports for Imported Package and PCB Structures 15-76

Interface Ports and Sources in 3D Layout 15-76

Creating Pin-Based Ports 15-79

Configuring Port-Instance Ports 15-81

Gap(coax) Ports 15-82

Horizontal Lumped Ports 15-83

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CPW and Slotline Ports 15-84

Configuring Multiple Ports 15-84

Validating Connectivity and Return Paths 15-85

Exposing Horizontal Lumped Ports in Hierarchy 15-85

Adding a Solution Setup for HFSS 3D Layout 15-86

HFSS Solution Setup 15-87

Single Mesh with 3D Placement 15-94

HFSS 3D Layout Mesh Seeding 15-94

Revert to Initial Mesh 15-95

Create Mesh Plot 15-96

HFSS Mesh Errors 15-96

SIwave Solution Setup 15-99

Planar EM Solution Setup 15-102

Add LNA Solution Setup 15-108

Setting Up a Transient Analysis in HFSS 3D Layout 15-111

AMI Analysis in HFSS 3D Layout 15-114

Eye Sources and Probes in HFSS 3D Layout 15-120

QuickEye and VerifEye Setup in HFSS 3D Layout 15-120

Nexxim Solution Options for QuickEye 15-122

QuickEye Analysis Outputs 15-124

Run the QuickEye Analysis and Display Results 15-124

Nexxim Solution Options for VerifEye 15-126

VerifEye Analysis Outputs 15-127

Run the VerifEye Analysis and Display Results 15-127

Simulation Setup Context Menus 15-127

Sanitize Layout 15-132

Disabling an Analysis Setup 15-134

Adding a Frequency Sweep (HFSS 3D Layout) 15-134

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Disabling a Frequency Sweep 15-135

Clean Up Solutions 15-135

Subcircuit Optimization in HFSS 3D Layout and Nexxim 15-136

16 - Specifying Solution Settings 16-1

Adding a Solution Setup to an HFSS Design 16-2

Add Dependent Solve Setup 16-4

Renaming a Solution Setup 16-5

Copying a Solution Setup 16-5

Deleting a Solution Setup 16-6

Setting the Solution Frequency 16-6

Solving for Ports Only 16-10

Setting the Minimum Frequency 16-10

Setting the Number of Modes 16-11

Adaptive Meshing Methods In HFSS 16-11

Single Solution Frequency 16-11

Broadband Frequency 16-13

Multi-Frequencies 16-15

Setting Adaptive Analysis Parameters for HFSS 16-17

Setting Hybrid Region Parameters for HFSS 16-19

MLFMM Usage Guidelines 16-22

The MLFMM Solver 16-22

Further Details of the MLFMM Algorithm 16-23

Guidelines for Choosing Between ACA and MLFMM IE Solver Options 16-25

Setting the Maximum Number of Passes 16-27

Setting the Maximum Delta S Per Pass 16-28

Setting the Maximum Delta Energy Per Pass 16-30

Setting the Maximum Delta Frequency Per Pass 16-30

Specifying Convergence on Real Frequency Only 16-31

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Specifying Expressions for Adaptive Convergence 16-31

Specifying a Source for the Initial Mesh 16-34

Clearing Linked Data 16-37

Mesh Linking 16-37

Mesh Link Requirements 16-37

Setting Lambda Refinement 16-38

Setting the Percent Maximum Refinement Per Pass 16-39

Setting the Maximum Refinement 16-39

Setting the Minimum Number of Passes 16-40

Setting the Minimum Number of Converged Passes 16-40

Setting Matrix Convergence Criteria 16-40

Setting the Order of Basis Functions 16-42

Enable Direct Solver 16-43

Enable Iterative Solver 16-44

Enable Domain Decomposition 16-44

Distributed Right-Hand-Side Solver in Domain Decomposition 16-46

Balancing Resources for Domains 16-46

Domains with FE-BI Radiation Boundaries or IE Regions 16-47

Use Radiation Boundary on Ports 16-48

Port Options 16-48

Produce Derivatives for Selected Variables 16-48

Adding a Frequency Sweep (HFSS) 16-50

Selecting the Sweep Type 16-53

Options for Discrete Sweeps 16-54

Options for Fast Sweeps 16-54

Options for Interpolating Sweeps 16-55

DC Extrapolation options 16-56

Setup Interpolating Sweep Advanced Options 16-56

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Setting the Error Tolerance 16-59

Setting the Maximum Number of Solutions 16-60

Interpolation Basis Convergence 16-60

Specifying the Frequency Points to Solve 16-62

Specifying Frequency Points with a Linear Step Size 16-63

Specifying a Linear Count of Frequency Points 16-66

Specifying a Logarithmic Spaced Frequency Sweep 16-67

Specifying Single Frequency Points 16-68

Change the Value of an Existing Frequency Point 16-69

Deleting Frequency Points 16-70

Inserting Frequency Points 16-70

Choosing Frequencies for Full-Wave SPICE 16-71

Guidelines for Calculating Frequencies for Full-Wave SPICE 16-72

Requirements for Full-Wave SPICE 16-73

Disabling or Enabling a Frequency Sweep 16-73

Disabling and Enabling an Analysis Setup 16-74

Specifying the Number of Processors 16-74

Specifying the RAM Limit Percentage 16-74

Distributed Memory Solutions with HFSS 16-76

Installation Requirements for Distributed Memory Solutions with HFSS 16-76

Setting up HFSS and Running Distributed Memory Solutions 16-78

Select the MPI Vendor for HFSS 16-78

Running Distributed Memory Solutions from the Command line for HFSS 16-79

Discussion of HFSS Distributed Memory Solutions 16-80

Interconnects for HFSS Distributed Memory Simulation 16-82

Authentication on Linux (RSH & SSH) for HFSS 16-83

Troubleshooting for HFSS Distributed Memory Simulations 16-83

17 - Assigning Boundaries in HFSS and HFSS-IE 17-1

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Boundaries for Open or Closed Models 17-3

Boundaries for Simplifying Models 17-4

Zoom to Selected Boundary 17-5

Setting Default Boundary/Excitation Base Names 17-6

Automation in Setting up an Open Problem 17-7

Assigning Perfect E Boundaries 17-11

Assigning Perfect H Boundaries 17-12

Assign Impedance Boundaries 17-13

Assign Impedance Boundaries for HFSS-IE 17-14

Assigning Radiation Boundaries 17-15

Set as Frequency Selective Surface Reference 17-16

Assigning PML Boundaries 17-17

Creating PMLs Automatically 17-19

Creating PML Boundaries Manually 17-21

Guidelines for Assigning PML Boundaries 17-22

Modifying PML Boundaries 17-23

Assigning Finite Conductivity Boundaries 17-24

Spatially Dependent Boundaries in HFSS and HFSS-IE 17-27

Assigning Finite Conductivity Boundaries in HFSS-IE 17-30

Assigning Symmetry Boundaries 17-32

Assigning Master Boundaries 17-33

Assigning Slave Boundaries 17-34

Assigning Lumped RLC Boundaries 17-36

Vector Line 17-37

Assigning Anisotropic Impedance Boundaries 17-38

Assigning Anisotropic Impedance Boundaries in HFSS-IE 17-39

Assigning Layered Impedance Boundaries 17-41

Assigning Linked Impedance Boundaries 17-44

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Get Impedance from External Design 17-46

Assigning Half Space Boundaries in HFSS 17-48

Assigning Half Space Boundaries in HFSS-IE 17-49

Assigning Aperture Boundaries in HFSS 17-50

Assigning Aperture Boundaries in HFSS-IE 17-51

Assigning Infinite Ground Plane Boundaries in HFSS-IE 17-52

Assigning Layered Impedance Boundaries in HFSS-IE 17-53

Designating Infinite Ground Planes 17-56

Modifying Boundaries 17-56

Deleting Boundaries 17-56

ReassigningBoundaries 17-57

Reprioritizing Boundaries 17-58

Editing The Global Material Environment 17-58

Duplicating Boundaries and Excitations with Geometry 17-59

Showing andHiding Boundaries and Excitations 17-60

Showing and Hiding Boundaries and Excitations in the Active View Window 17-60

Showing and Hiding Boundaries and Excitations in Every View Window 17-61

Reviewing Boundaries and Excitations in the Solver View 17-62

Setting Default Values for Boundaries and Excitations 17-62

18 - Assigning Hybrid Regions in HFSS 18-1

Assigning FE-BI Hybrid Region 18-4

Assigning IE Regions 18-5

IE Region Ports 18-6

To Assign an IE Region 18-6

Assigning PO Region Hybrid Region 18-8

Assigning SBR+ Hybrid Regions 18-10

Assigning a Dielectric Cavity 18-16

Set Coupling for Hybrid Regions 18-17

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Set SBR+ Source Regions 18-19

19 - Assigning Excitations for HFSS, HFSS-IE or HFSS-Transient 19-1

HFSS Excitations 19-1

HFSS-IE Excitations 19-2

HFSS Transient Excitations 19-3

Wave Ports 19-3

Wave Port Size 19-5

Wave Port Placement 19-7

Wave Port Dialog for Modal Solutions 19-8

General Tab: Wave Ports 19-9

Modes with Default Settings 19-10

Set Mode Polarity Using Integration Line 19-11

Align Modes Analytically Using Coordinate System 19-13

Align Modes Using Integration Lines 19-16

Characteristic Impedance Column 19-19

Port Post Processing Tab: Modal Solutions 19-20

Assign Wave Ports for Modal Solutions 19-23

Define Mode Alignment and Polarity 19-24

Post Processing: Wave Ports 19-26

Post Processing and Edit Sources 19-28

Post Processing: Wave Ports 19-29

Post Processing and Edit Sources 19-31

Wave Ports for Terminal Solutions 19-32

Terminals and Modes 19-33

Example of Terminals 19-33

Reference Conductors 19-34

Assign Wave Ports for Terminal Solutions 19-37

Associating Terminals and Ports 19-41

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Auto Assign Terminals 19-41

Post Processing Operations 19-42

Set Renormalizing Impedance for Terminals 19-42

Renormalize Terminals from the Port Level 19-43

Set Differential Pairs 19-45

Lumped Ports 19-50

Examples of Lumped Port 19-50

Assign Lumped Ports for Modal Solutions 19-51

Lumped Port: Post Processing 19-53

Assign Lumped Ports for Terminal Solutions 19-54

HFSS-IE Lumped Ports 19-56

Floquet Ports 19-56

Example of Floquet Ports 19-57

Assign Master and Slave Boundaries 19-57

Direction of the U-V Vectors 19-60

Assign Floquet Ports 19-60

Floquet Port Dialog Box 19-61

Floquet Port: Mode Setup 19-62

Floquet Port: Post Processing 19-63

Floquet Port: 3D Refinement 19-63

Floquet Ports: Lattice Coordinate System 19-64

Floquet Port: Modes Calculator 19-65

Incident Waves 19-66

Radiation Boundary Panel 19-67

Global Material Environment 19-67

Incident PlaneWave 19-68

Hertzian-Dipole Wave 19-81

Incident Cylindrical Wave 19-82

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Gaussian Beam Wave 19-83

Linear Antenna Wave 19-83

Far Field Wave 19-84

Far Field Wave Options 19-84

External Data File for Far Field Wave 19-87

Frequency Independent Far Fields 19-87

Frequency Dependent Far Fields 19-88

Setup Link for Far Field or Near Field Wave 19-91

Example That Uses Far Field Links 19-93

Near Field Wave 19-96

Assign Near Field Wave 19-97

Example that Uses Near Field Links 19-101

Access Near Field External Data File 19-106

ANSYS Near Field Data File 19-110

Sample *.and File 19-110

Sample NFD File in Cartesian Coordinate System 19-111

Sample NFD File in Spherical Coordinate System 19-112

ANSYS Near Field Data File 19-113

Sample *.and File 19-113

Sample NFD File in Cartesian Coordinate System 19-114

Sample NFD File in Spherical Coordinate System 19-114

ANSYS Near Field Data File 19-115

Sample *.and File 19-116

Sample NFD File in Cartesian Coordinate System 19-117

Sample NFD File in Spherical Coordinate System 19-117

ANSYS Near Field Data File 19-118

Sample *.and File 19-119

Sample NFD File in Cartesian Coordinate System 19-120

Contents-62

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Sample NFD File in Spherical Coordinate System 19-120

Generate Near Field Data File 19-121

Cable Network 19-123

Using Field Solutions from Other Simulations 19-128

Assigning Voltage Sources 19-129

Assigning Current Sources 19-131

Modifying Voltage or Current Sources 19-132

Assigning Magnetic Bias Sources 19-132

Applications for Deembedding 19-134

Setup Link Dialog 19-139

Modifying Excitations 19-140

Deleting Excitations 19-141

Reassigning Excitations 19-142

Setting the Impedance Multiplier 19-142

Show Nets for DC Continuity for 3D Conductors 19-143

Define an Integration Line 19-145

Duplicating Integration Lines 19-147

Modifying Integration Lines 19-148

20 - Assigning Arrays in HFSS 20-1

Creating a Unit Cell for an Array 20-3

Create Array Command 20-5

Array Visualization 20-9

Setup and Run an Array Simulation 20-10

General Setup for Virtual Array Simulation 20-12

Interpolating Sweep Advanced Options for Arrays 20-13

Post Processing for Array Models 20-15

Reports for Arrays 20-16

Field Plots for Arrays 20-16

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Fields Calculator Applications for Arrays 20-17

Fields Post Processing on a Designated Array Cell 20-17

21 - Running Simulations 21-1

Solving a Single Setup or Sweep 21-1

Running More than One Simulation 21-2

Monitoring Queued Simulations 21-4

Monitoring the Solution Process 21-4

Changing a Solution Priority for System Resources 21-6

Aborting an Analysis 21-6

Re-solving after Modifying a Design 21-7

Re-solving after ANSYS Workbench Thermal Feedback 21-7

22 - Post Processing and Generating Reports 22-1

Viewing Solution Data 22-2

Viewing Convergence Data 22-3

Viewing the Number of Completed Passes 22-4

Viewing the Max Magnitude of Delta S Between Passes 22-4

Viewing the Output Variable Convergence 22-5

Viewing the Delta Magnitude Energy 22-5

Viewing the Magnitude Margin 22-5

Viewing the Phase Margin 22-6

Viewing the Max Delta (Mag S) 22-6

Viewing the Max Delta (Phase S) 22-7

Viewing the Maximum Delta Frequency 22-7

Plotting Convergence Data 22-8

Viewing a Solution Profile 22-8

Viewing Matrix Data 22-10

Selecting the Matrix Display Format 22-12

Exporting Matrix Data 22-13

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Renaming Matrix Data 22-15

Reordering Matrix Data 22-15

Exporting Equivalent Circuit Data 22-16

Exporting W-element Data 22-18

Viewing Mesh Statistics 22-19

Viewing Eigenmode Solution Data 22-20

Deleting Solution Data 22-21

Deleting Reports 22-22

Scaling a Source's Magnitude and Phase 22-23

Scaling Sources for HFSS or HFSS-IE 22-23

Guidelines for Scaling a Source's Magnitude and Phase 22-27

Scaling Sources and Setting Delays for HFSS Transient Network 22-28

Editing Sources for Spectral Fields for Transient Network 22-29

Editing Sources for Transient Fields for Transient Network 22-31

Ports and Edit Sources Behavior for Transient Network 22-32

Specifying Source Contexts for Creating Radiated Field Reports 22-33

Edit Sources Panel for CMA 22-34

Creating Animations 22-36

Creating Phase Animations 22-37

Creating Frequency Animations 22-38

Creating Geometry Animations 22-39

Creating 2D Radiation Field Plot Overlay Animations 22-41

Animating VRT Plots 22-42

Controlling the Animation's Display 22-45

Exporting Animations 22-47

Creating Reports 22-48

Creating a Quick Report 22-50

Creating a New Report 22-51

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Context Section for Reports 22-55

Using Families Tab for Reports 22-56

Filtering Quantity Selections for the Reporter 22-60

Modifying Reports 22-60

Modify Report: Selecting Use all values or Making Selection 22-64

Modify Report: Using the Edit Sweep Dialog 22-65

Generating Reports For Characteristic Mode Analysis 22-66

Characteristic Mode Data Report 22-70

Modal Significance vs Frequency 22-73

Characteristic Value vs Frequency 22-74

Characteristic Angle vs Frequency 22-75

Generating Reports For Monstatic RCS 22-76

Monostatic RCS Reports 22-78

Creating a Report from an Ansoft Report Data File 22-80

Zooming and Fitting Reports 22-81

Modifying the Background Properties of a Report 22-81

Modifying the Legend in a Report 22-84

Exporting Ansoft Report Data Format Files 22-87

Exporting Reports as Graphics 22-88

Report File Formats 22-90

Creating Custom Report Templates and Defaults 22-91

Selecting the Report Type 22-92

Selecting the Display Type 22-94

Creating 2D Rectangular Plots 22-95

Creating 2D Rectangular Stacked Plots 22-97

Creating a Rectangular Stacked Plot 22-100

Multiple Curves in a Stack in Cartesian Stacked Plots 22-101

Automatic Grouping 22-102

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Manual Grouping 22-102

Manual Grouping through the Stacked Property Tab 22-104

Manual Grouping Through the Context Menu 22-105

Legend Optimizations 22-106

Y Markers 22-106

Creating 3D Rectangular Plots 22-107

Creating Rectangular Contour Plots 22-113

Creating Sine Space Plots 22-116

Creating 2D Polar Plots 22-120

Reviewing 2D Polar Plots 22-121

Creating 3D Polar Plots 22-122

Creating Smith Charts 22-129

Creating Smith Contour Charts 22-130

Creating Data Tables 22-132

Creating Radiation Patterns 22-134

Delta Markers in 2D Reports 22-135

Plotting in the Time Domain 22-136

TDR Windowing Functions 22-141

Working with Traces 22-143

Editing Trace Properties 22-145

Editing the Display Properties of Traces 22-146

Adding Data Markers to Traces 22-149

Y Markers in stacked XY plots 22-151

Discarding Report Values Below a Specified Threshold 22-160

Adding Characteristics to a Trace 22-160

Adding a Recently Used Trace Characteristic 22-161

Adding a Trace Characteristic from Favorites 22-162

Adding Trace Characteristics to your Favorites 22-162

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Adding Characteristics using the Add Trace Characteristics Dialog 22-164

Removing All Trace Characteristics 22-166

Removing Traces 22-166

Copy and Paste of Report and Trace Definitions 22-167

Copy and Paste of Report and Trace Data 22-168

Limit Lines in Cartesian Plots 22-168

Sweeping a Variable in a Report 22-175

Sweeping Values Across a Distance 22-176

Sweeping Values Across a Sphere 22-176

Selecting a Function for a Plot 22-177

Selecting Solution Quantities to Plot 22-184

Selecting a Field Quantity to Plot 22-186

Selecting a Far-Field Quantity to Plot 22-187

Plotting Vertical Cross-Sections of Far Fields 22-191

Plotting Horizontal Cross-Sections of Far Fields 22-192

Selecting a Near-Field Quantity to Plot 22-193

Selecting Antenna Parameters to Plot 22-194

Selecting an Emission Test Quantity to Plot 22-196

Plotting Imported Solution Data 22-196

Setting a Range Function 22-196

Range Functions 22-198

Perform FFT on a Report 22-203

FFT Window Functions 22-204

Apply FFT to Report Functions 22-206

Perform TDR on Report 22-208

Window Functions and Time Domain Plotting 22-208

Animated Reports 22-222

Overlaying Surface Currents on a 3D View 22-223

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Overlaying Far Fields on a 3D View 22-225

Overlaying Near Fields on a 3D View 22-227

Specifying Output Variables 22-239

Adding a New Output Variable 22-241

Building an Output Variable Expression Using Existing Quantities 22-242

Function List for Output Variables 22-244

Deleting Output Variables 22-244

Derivative Tuning for Reports 22-245

Port Field Display 22-249

Plotting Field Overlays 22-250

Overlaying 3D Polar Plots of Near or Far Fields on Models 22-256

Overlaying 2D Radiation Field Plots on Models 22-257

Overlay Visibility 22-260

Plotting Derived Field Quantities 22-266

Creating 2D Reports from Named Expressions 22-267

Creating Scalar Field Plots 22-269

Modifying SAR Settings 22-269

Working with Scalar Field Plot Markers 22-271

Adding a Field Plot Marker 22-271

Deleting a Field Plot Marker 22-273

Exporting a Field Plot Marker Table 22-273

Clearing All Field Plot Markers 22-273

Editing Field Plot Markers 22-274

Creating Vector Field Plots 22-274

Modifying Field Plots 22-275

Setting Field Plot Attributes 22-276

Modifying Field Plot Colors 22-277

Setting the Color Key Visibility 22-279

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Moving the Color Key 22-280

Modifying the Field Plot Scale 22-280

Modifying Vector Field Plot Arrows 22-282

Setting the Mesh Visibility on Field Plots 22-283

Modifying Scalar Field Plot Isovalues 22-284

Mapping Scalar Field Plot Transparency to Field Values 22-285

Modifying Markers on Point Plots 22-285

Modifying Line Plots 22-286

Setting a Plot's Visibility 22-287

Saving a Field Overlay Plot 22-288

Opening a Field Overlay Plot 22-288

Deleting a Field Overlay Plot 22-289

Setting Field Plot Defaults 22-289

Using the Fields Calculator 22-290

Opening the Fields Calculator 22-291

Context Area 22-293

The Calculator Stack 22-293

Registers 22-294

Enlarging the Register Display Area 22-295

Units of Measure 22-295

Stack Commands 22-295

Input Commands 22-296

Quantity Command 22-297

Geometry Command 22-299

Constant Command 22-301

Number Command 22-301

Function Command 22-302

Geom Settings Command 22-303

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Read Command 22-304

Output Vars [Input for Eigenmode problems] 22-304

General Commands 22-305

Steps for Calculating the Complex Vector Electric Field 22-307

Scalar Commands 22-308

Vec? Command 22-309

1/x (Inverse) Command 22-310

Pow Command 22-310

(Square Root) Command 22-310

Trig 22-311

d/d? (Partial Derivative) Command 22-311

(Integral) Command 22-312

Min Command 22-312

Max Command 22-313

Ñ (Gradient) Command 22-314

Ln Command 22-314

Log Command 22-314

Mean Command 22-315

Std Command 22-315

Vector Commands 22-315

Scal? Command 22-316

Matl Command 22-317

Mag Command 22-318

Dot Command 22-318

Cross Command 22-318

Divg Command 22-319

Curl Command 22-319

Tangent Command 22-319

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Normal Command 22-320

Unit Vec Command 22-321

X Form 22-322

Output Commands 22-322

Value Command 22-323

Eval Command 22-324

Write Command 22-325

Export Command 22-326

Calculating Derived Field Quantities 22-328

Named Expression Library 22-330

Exiting the Fields Calculator 22-331

Radiated Fields Post Processing 22-331

Setting up a Near-Field Sphere 22-332

Setting up a Near-Field Line 22-334

Computing Maximum Near-Field Parameters 22-336

Setting up a Far-Field Infinite Sphere 22-337

Defining Antenna Arrays 22-339

Defining a Regular Antenna Array 22-340

Defining a Custom Antenna Array 22-341

Computing Antenna Parameters 22-341

Exporting Antenna Parameters and Maximum Field Data 22-346

Antenna Parameters: Save for Overlay 22-353

Creating and Displaying Antenna Parameter Overlays 22-355

Visual Ray Trace (VRT) for SBR+ Simulation 22-357

Using Visual Ray Trace (VRT) Minimal Physics in ANSYS Electronics Desktop 22-358

Ray Launch Parameters 22-359

VRT Plot Properties 22-360

22-362

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Modifying VRT Plots 22-362

Design Edits that Invalidate the Mesh Invalidate VRT Plots 22-363

Visual Ray Trace SBR Folder Properties 22-364

Rendering Properties Tab 22-364

Filter Properties Tab 22-366

Rx Filter Properties Tab 22-367

Plotting the Mesh 22-368

Setting Mesh Plot Attributes 22-368

User Defined Outputs  (UDOs) 22-371

Named Probes and Properties in User Defined Outputs 22-372

Computation of Traces Based UDO Calculations 22-373

Dimensions Reduction by UDO Calculations 22-374

Dynamic Probes 22-374

User Defined Outputs: Python Script API 22-375

UDO Extension IMPLEMENTATION 22-376

Import Statements 22-376

UDOExtension Class 22-376

IUDOPluginExtension Abstract Class 22-377

GetUDSName() 22-377

GetUDSDescription() 22-378

GetUDSSweepNames() 22-378

GetCategoryNames() 22-379

GetQuantityNames(string categoryName) 22-379

GetQuantityInfo(string quantityName) 22-380

GetInputUDSParams(List<UDSProbeParams> udsParams, 22-380

GetDynamicProbes(List<UDSDynamicProbes> dynamicProbes); 22-383

Compute(IUDSInputData inData, 22-383

Optional Functions in IDO Extension Abstract Class 22-387

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Validate(List<string> errorStringList, 22-387

Data Types Used in Python Script 22-388

Constants class 22-388

UDDInputParams class 22-388

IProgressMonitor Abstract Class 22-390

IUDSInputData 22-390

GetDoubleProbeData(probeName) 22-391

GetSweepsDataForProbe(probeName, sweepName) 22-391

GetComplexProbeData(probeName) 22-392

GetSweepNamesForProbe(probeName) 22-392

GetRequiredQuantities() 22-393

GetVariableValues() 22-393

GetInterpolationOrdersData(probeName); 22-394

IUDSOutputData 22-394

SetSweepsData(sweepName, sweepData) 22-395

SetDoubleQuantityData(qtyName,qtyData) 22-395

SetComplexQuantityData(qtyName, qtyData) 22-395

Working With Properties for UDO 22-396

IPropertyList Abstract class 22-397

IProperty Abstract class 22-397

INumberProperty Abstract class 22-397

ITextProperty Abstract class 22-398

IMenuProperty Abstract class 22-398

Other Application Specific Classes Used in Python Scripts 22-399

Constants Class 22-399

UDSProbeParams Class 22-400

UDSDynamicProbes Class 22-401

QuantityInfo Class 22-401

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IProgressMonitor Abstract Class 22-402

Using .NET Collection Classes and Interfaces in Python Scripts 22-403

User Defined Outputs: Messaging Methods 22-405

User Defined Outputs: Script Organization 22-411

Using Script Libraries 22-412

Using additional .NET assemblies 22-412

Toolkit 22-413

User DefinedDocuments (UDDs) 22-414

Managing Documents Listed in the Project Window Under Results 22-418

Documents folder right click menu 22-419

Document folder Property window 22-419

Viewing UDDs with an Html Web Browser 22-420

UDD Script Libraries 22-421

User Defined Documents: Python Script API 22-422

IUDDPluginExtension Abstract Class 22-423

User Defined Documents: Python Script API 22-430

IUDDPluginExtension Abstract Class 22-431

Data Types Used in Python Script 22-439

Constants class 22-439

UDDInputParams class 22-439

IProgressMonitor Abstract Class 22-440

Data Types Used in Python Script 22-441

Constants class 22-441

UDDInputParams class 22-442

IProgressMonitor Abstract Class 22-443

Data Types Used in Python Script 22-444

Constants class 22-444

UDDInputParams class 22-444

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IProgressMonitor Abstract Class 22-445

Data Types Used in Python Script 22-446

Constants class 22-446

UDDInputParams class 22-447

IProgressMonitor Abstract Class 22-448

UDD Input interfaces 22-448

User Defined Document Scripting Interface 22-451

The UserDefinedDocument Data format in the script: 22-452

Python Script to Define Document 22-454

Sample Script:- This one adds, edits, renames and deletes a document 22-456

Document Generator Interfaces 22-458

23 - Network Data Explorer 23-1

NdExplorer Overview 23-3

Loading Data Into NdExplorer 23-7

Exporting Data from NdExplorer 23-8

Scripting for NdExplorer 23-8

Export SYZ Data 23-8

Export Macro Model 23-12

Macromodel Output Options 23-13

Macromodel Generator Options 23-17

Miscellaneous Options 23-17

Advanced Options 23-17

Comparison of Original S-Parameters with Exported S-Parameters 23-19

Create NPort Model 23-20

NdExplorer Edit Menu Commands 23-21

NdExplorer Edit Data Sources 23-22

NdExplorer Display Format 23-22

NdExplorer Display Full Port Names 23-23

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NdExplorer Save or Reset Default Settings 23-23

NdExplorer Magnitude Thresholding Control 23-23

Smoothing 23-25

Cell Filtering 23-25

Changing Port Properties and Reducing Matrix Size 23-26

Displaying Mixed-Mode Parameters using Differential Pairs 23-27

Reset All Port Properties 23-28

Data Display Pane Context Menus 23-28

Data Display Pane: Matrix Entries and Table Selected 23-28

Data Display Pane: Frequencies and Table Selected 23-29

Data Display Pane: Matrix Entries and Plot Selected 23-29

Data Display Pane: Frequencies and Plot Selected 23-32

Multiple Frequency Statistics 23-32

Highlight Min/Max 23-33

Select Transpose 23-33

Changing the Color Scheme for a Matrix Color Plot 23-34

Exploring Network Data and Modifying the Display 23-35

Viewing the S, Y, or Z Matrix for a Selected Frequency 23-35

Color Coded Matrix Plot 23-37

Viewing Matrix Cell Data Across All Frequencies 23-38

Displaying a Graph of a Cell Across All Frequencies 23-40

Displaying Statistics by Frequency 23-41

Displaying Individual Statistics for All Frequencies 23-42

Creating a Statistics Plot 23-43

Comparing Network Data 23-45

Comparing Variations 23-46

Displaying Plot Traces from Multiple Data Sources 23-47

Causality Checking and Plots 23-49

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Causality Plots 23-52

Multithreading for Causality Checking and Broadband Export 23-57

24 - Scripting 24-1

25 - ANSYS Workbench Integration Overview 25-1

Integrating ANSYS EM Products with ANSYS Workbench 18.2 25-2

Integration with ANSYS 18.2 during ANSYS EM Product Installation 25-2

Integration with ANSYS 18.2 after ANSYS EM Product Installation 25-3

Workbench Data Integration Overview 25-6

Adding New Analysis Systems 25-9

Importing ANSYS EM Projects into ANSYS Workbench 25-10

Editing ANSYS EM Models in Workbench 25-12

Analyzing ANSYS EM Models in Workbench 25-13

Performing Parameter Studies in Workbench 25-14

Scripting in Workbench 25-15

ANSYS EM - ANSYS Multiphysics Coupling 25-16

Multiphysics Coupling on Workbench with ANSYS Thermal 25-17

Multiphysics Coupling on Workbench with ANSYS Structural 25-18

Multiphysics Coupling between ANSYS EM Field Systems on Workbench 25-19

ANSYS EM CAD Integration through Workbench 25-20

CAD Integration Functionality 25-23

CAD Integration and Geometry Sharing 25-25

Bi-Directional CAD Integration 25-29

CAD Integration Model Edits 25-30

Multiple Geometry Links for CAD Integration 25-32

Creating Dynamic Links to EDT Designs 25-33

Healing with CAD Integration 25-33

Important Geometry Options for CAD Integration 25-34

ANSYS EM to ANSYS Geometry Transfer 25-36

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Material Assignment Transfer 25-38

Geometry Transfer through ANSYS DesignModeler (DM) 25-39

Workbench Material Data Transfer 25-40

Stress Feedback to HFSS using Workbench 25-41

Interface Changes for Stress Feedback from Mechanical to HFSS 25-42

Process Flow for HFSS Workbench for Stress Feedback 25-44

Feedback Iterator 25-49

The Feedback Iterator System 25-51

Feedback Iterator in Use 25-52

Feedback Iterator Component Properties 25-53

Feedback Iterator GUI Operations 25-55

Callback Interface 25-56

Callback and State API 25-56

Example Scenarios for Feedback Iterator 25-58

Set up Iteration with Feedback Iterator 25-58

User Breaks Iteration Control 25-59

Start an Iterative Update 25-60

Run a Single Iteration 25-61

Interrupt an Iterative Loop 25-62

Resume an Interrupted Iterative Loop 25-62

Modify any of the Systems Involved in Iteration (coupled clients) 25-62

Maxwell in a thermal deformation use case 25-62

Iterating to Convergence 25-62

Surface Force Density in HFSS 25-67

26 - Meshing In HFSS 26-1

Introduction to Meshing in HFSS 26-1

Mesh Generation 26-2

Adaptive Mesh Refinement 26-5

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Adaptive Mesh Refinement Process Flow 26-8

Stages of Meshing 26-9

Assign Mesh Operations 26-13

Operations Affecting Geometry Representation 26-14

Assign Mesh Operations 26-16

Operations Affecting Geometry Representation 26-17

Surface Approximation 26-19

Name 26-21

Maximum Surface Deviation (Length) 26-21

Maximum Normal Deviation (Angle) 26-23

Maximum Aspect Ratio 26-24

Surface Representation Priority for Tau Mesh (effective only for Tau Tolerant Mesh) 26-25

Apply Curvilinear Elements Discussion 26-27

Meshing for Curved Surfaces 26-29

Effective Surface Approximation For a Pillbox Resonator 26-29

Model Resolution Length 26-31

Use Model Resolution Length 26-32

Auto Simplify Using Effective Thickness 26-33

An MRL Scenario 26-34

Operations Refining Initial Mesh 26-37

Mesh Refinement Settings (Optional) 26-37

Example 1: Dielectric Resonator Antenna 26-38

Example 2: Microstrip Filter on a Perforated Ground Plane 26-40

Mesh Seeding Controls 26-45

Length-Based Mesh Refinement 26-46

Seed Refinement for Mesh Growth 26-47

Mesh Refinement Scenarios 26-48

Scenario 1: Assign Mesh Operations after the First Pass 26-48

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Scenario 2: Assign Mesh Operations Upfront 26-51

Restrict Length of Elements 26-52

Defining a Model-Level Mesh Operation 26-55

Normal Deviation Angle 26-56

Maximum Surface Deviation Length 26-57

Aspect Ratio 26-58

Defining a Model-Level Mesh Operation 26-59

Normal Deviation Angle 26-60

Maximum Surface Deviation Length 26-60

Aspect Ratio 26-62

Defining a Model-Level Mesh Operation 26-62

Normal Deviation Angle 26-63

Maximum Surface Deviation Length 26-64

Aspect Ratio 26-65

Defining a Model-Level Mesh Operation 26-66

Normal Deviation Angle 26-67

Maximum Surface Deviation Length 26-67

Aspect Ratio 26-69

Initial Mesh Settings 26-69

Meshing Method 26-70

The Phi Mesher 26-71

Phi mesher for Multilayer Complex Package Layout 26-72

Troubleshooting Mesh Failures 26-74

UI Controls for Mesh Operations 26-79

Mesh Operations 26-79

Assign Curvilinear Elements 26-80

Access Surface Approximation (Object Level) 26-80

Mesh Assembly 26-82

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Example: Horn Antenna and a Dish 26-83

27 - Technical Notes 27-1

HFSS Technical Notes 27-1

The Finite Element Method 27-1

Representation of a Field Quantity 27-2

Rectilinear Elements and Curvilinear Elements 27-3

Basis Functions in HFSS 27-4

Size of Mesh Vs. Accuracy in HFSS 27-4

The HFSS Solution Process 27-5

The Mesh Generation Process 27-6

Seeding the Mesh 27-7

Guidelines for Seeding the Mesh 27-8

Length-Based Mesh Refinement Process 27-8

Skin Depth-Based Mesh Refinement 27-8

Surface Approximation Settings 27-10

Guidelines for Modifying Surface Approximation Settings 27-11

Meshing Region Vs. Problem Region 27-11

Model Resolution 27-12

Port Solutions 27-13

Excitation Fields 27-13

Wave Equation 27-14

Mesh Refinement on Ports 27-14

Modes 27-15

Degenerate Modes 27-16

Multiple Ports on the Same Face 27-16

Port Accuracy 27-16

Calculating Characteristic Impedance 27-17

Calculating the PI Impedance 27-18

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Calculating thePV Impedance 27-18

Calculating the VI Impedance 27-19

Impedance Multipliers 27-19

Calculating Terminal Characteristic Impedance Matrix 27-20

Complex Propagation Constant 27-20

Calculating the Effective Wavelength (Lambda) 27-20

Calculating the Relative Permittivity (Epsilon) 27-21

The Adaptive Analysis Process 27-21

Maximum Delta S 27-22

Maximum Delta E 27-23

Percent of Tetrahedra Refined Per Pass 27-23

Magnitude Margin 27-23

Phase Margin 27-24

Maximum Delta Frequency 27-24

Max Delta (Mag S) 27-25

Max Delta (Phase S) 27-25

Matrix Solvers 27-25

Direct Matrix Solver 27-25

Iterative Matrix Solver 27-26

Guidelines for Using the Iterative Solver 27-27

Multiprocessing and the Iterative Solver 27-27

Iterative Matrix Solver Technical Details 27-27

Single Frequency Solution 27-29

Frequency Sweeps in HFSS 27-30

Fast Frequency Sweeps 27-31

Discrete Frequency Sweeps in HFSS 27-32

Interpolating Frequency Sweeps in HFSS 27-33

Solution Types in HFSS 27-34

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Eigenmode Solutions 27-35

Calculating the Resonant Frequency 27-36

Calculating the Quality Factor 27-37

Q Factor of Resonant Cavities 27-37

References for Eigenmode Solutions 27-39

Theory of Characteristic Modes 27-40

Characteristic Angle 27-41

Modal Significance 27-41

Loop Antenna of a Cell Phone Chassis 27-42

Field Solutions 27-52

Field Overlay Plots 27-52

Field Quantities 27-52

Specifying the Phase Angle 27-53

Peak Versus RMS Phasors 27-54

Calculating the SAR 27-55

Transient Solution Theory 27-58

Discontinuous Galerkin Finite Element Method 27-59

Local Time Stepping 27-60

Materials in Time Domain 27-62

Excitations in Time Domain 27-62

Analysis Setup in Time Domain 27-68

Target Residual for Transient Analysis Duration 27-68

Transient Implicit Solver 27-69

References for Time Domain 27-69

Domain Decomposition Method 27-70

Basic DDM Theory 27-71

Computational Memory 27-73

Computational Time 27-73

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Integral Equation Method Used in HFSS-IE 27-74

S-Parameters 27-75

Post Processed S-Matrices 27-76

Renormalized S-Matrices in HFSS 27-76

De-embedded S-Matrices in HFSS 27-78

Alternative Matrix Characterizations 27-79

Calculating the Z-Matrix 27-79

Calculating the Y-Matrix 27-79

Passivity 27-80

Radiated Fields 27-80

Spherical Cross-Sections 27-82

Maximum Near-Field Data 27-84

Maximum Far-Field Data 27-85

Array Factor Calculation 27-86

Theory of the Array Factor Calculation 27-87

Regular Uniform Arrays 27-88

Scan Specification for Regular Uniform Arrays 27-88

Custom Arrays 27-89

Power Normalizations 27-91

Antenna Parameters 27-92

Polarization of the Electric Field 27-92

Spherical Polar 27-93

Ludwig-3 Polarization 27-94

Circular Polarization 27-94

Axial Ratio 27-94

Polarization Ratio 27-95

Front to Back Ratio 27-96

Max U 27-96

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Peak Directivity 27-96

Peak Gain 27-97

Peak Realized Gain 27-97

Radiated Power 27-98

Accepted Power 27-99

Incident Power 27-100

Radiation Efficiency 27-101

Decay Factor 27-101

ANSYS Near Field Description File Format Specification 27-102

Emission Test 27-108

Calculating Finite Thickness Impedance 27-145

Modes to Terminals Conversion 27-146

Calculating the W-Elements 27-149

Terminal-Based Models for Circuit Analysis 27-150

Terminal Characteristic Impedance Matrix 27-152

Overview of the Technical Approach for Derivatives in HFSS 27-153

Best Practices for Accurate and Causal Broad Band Frequency Sweeps 27-154

Introduction to Causality Issues for Simulations 27-154

Surface Impedance Boundary Condition (SIBC) for Metal Traces of Finite

Thickness 27-156

Using Causal Material Models 27-158

Surface Roughness Modeling 27-159

Deembedding Parasitic Lumped Port Effects 27-161

References for Accurate and Causal Broad Band Frequency Sweeps 27-163

Modified Hammerstad Model 27-164

Huray Model 27-165

Procedure for Obtaining Broadband Matching between Huray and Hammerstad

Models 27-166

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Procedure for Obtaining Better Low Frequency Matching 27-169

Large Scale DSO Theory 27-171

Geometric Objects 27-174

Bondwires 27-174

Healing and Meshing 27-175

Detecting and Addressing Model Problems to Improve Meshing 27-177

One: Healing during geometry import 27-178

Two: Healing after geometry import 27-179

Three: Removing Object Intersections 27-181

Four: Removing Small Features 27-182

Five: Aligning Objects 27-183

Six: Troubleshooting if meshing still fails 27-184

Handling Complicated Models 27-185

Interface Options for Complicated Models 27-186

Geometry Imperfections and Complicated Models 27-186

Object Overlap Settings for Complicated Models 27-187

Post Processing for Complicated Models 27-187

Boundaries Technical Notes 27-187

Perfect E Boundaries 27-188

Impedance Boundaries 27-188

Units of Impedance Boundaries 27-189

Radiation Boundaries 27-190

Boundary Integral Equations 27-191

PML Boundaries 27-191

Material Tensors Applied at PML Boundaries 27-192

Tensor Entries 27-193

Boundaries at PML Surfaces 27-195

Finite Conductivity Boundaries 27-195

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Surface Roughness Model: Huray 27-196

Symmetry Boundaries 27-198

Perfect E Vs. Perfect H Symmetry Boundaries 27-198

Symmetry and Port Impedance 27-199

Symmetry and Multiple Modes 27-199

Master and Slave Boundaries 27-199

Calculating the E-Field on the Slave Boundary 27-201

Anisotropic Impedance Boundaries 27-202

Lumped RLC Boundaries 27-202

Layered Impedance Boundaries 27-203

Impedance Calculation for Layered Impedance Boundary 27-203

Surface Roughness Calculation for Impedance Boundary 27-204

Shell Elements Theory 27-204

Infinite Ground Planes 27-214

Frequency-Dependent Boundaries and Excitations 27-216

Implicit Boundary Assignments 27-216

General Approach for Scattered and Total Field Decomposition 27-217

Scattered and total field formulation pros and cons 27-217

Where the Solvers Apply Scattered or Total Field Formulations 27-218

Summary for Total and Scattered Fields 27-221

Excitations 27-221

Wave Ports Theory 27-221

Mode Polarity 27-222

Mode Alignment 27-223

Analytic Port Types 27-224

Alignment Groups for Wave Ports with Multiple Modes 27-225

Lumped Ports Theory 27-225

Terminals Theory 27-226

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Differential Pairs 27-228

Computing Differential Pairs 27-229

Floquet Ports Theory 27-231

Formula Summary for HFSS Floquet Modes 27-232

Incident Waves Theory 27-235

Plane Wave 27-235

Evanescent Plane Wave 27-236

Elliptically Polarized Plane Wave 27-237

Electric Spherical Wave (Electric Hertzian Dipole) 27-238

Magnetic Spherical Wave (Magnetic Hertzian Dipole) 27-239

Cylindrical Wave 27-239

Gaussian Beam 27-240

Linear Antenna 27-240

Simulating Circuits Containing N-Port Models from a Full-Wave Field Solver 27-241

Introduction 27-241

Some Background on Lumped Models 27-242

A 2-Port Model 27-243

Implementing an N-port Network Model in a Circuit Simulator 27-246

Using an N-Port Model for a Circuit Simulation 27-248

Voltage Sources 27-251

Current Sources 27-251

Magnetic Bias Sources 27-252

Uniform Applied Bias Fields 27-252

Non-uniform Applied Bias Fields 27-253

Deembedding 27-254

When HFSS Needs Port Calibration (deembedding) 27-258

Materials Technical Notes 27-262

Relative Permeability 27-262

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Relative Permittivity 27-263

Bulk Conductivity 27-264

Dielectric Loss Tangent 27-264

Magnetic Loss Tangent 27-264

Ferrite Materials 27-265

Magnetic Saturation 27-265

Lande G Factor 27-266

Delta H 27-266

Ferrite Permeability Tensor in HFSS 27-266

Anisotropic Materials 27-268

Anisotropic Relative Permeability Tensors 27-269

Anisotropic Relative Permittivity Tensors 27-269

Anisotropic Conductivity Tensors 27-270

Anisotropic Dielectric Loss Tangent Tensors 27-270

Anisotropic Magnetic Loss Tangent Tensors 27-271

Anisotropic Materials and Ports 27-272

Frequency-Dependent Material Properties 27-273

Debye Materials 27-274

Multipole Debye Model 27-282

Djordjevic-Sarkar Causal Dielectric Model 27-283

Djordjevic-Sarkar Model Parameter Calculation 27-289

Expressions for Permittivity and Conductivity 27-291

Conductivity and Permittivity Limits 27-292

Force per Unit Area in HFSS 27-293

Energy Normalization of Eigen Solutions in HFSS 27-297

HFSS 3D Layout Technical Notes 27-299

The MPIE Method (Planar EM Only) 27-299

Representation of the Current 27-300

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Method of Moments 27-301

Size of Mesh Versus Accuracy 27-301

Loop Tree Discretization 27-302

MPIE Method Implementation 27-302

The Adaptive Analysis Process 27-303

ANSYS Fast Solver Technology 27-304

HFSS 3D Layout S-Parameters 27-305

S-Parameters and Frequency Points 27-306

Computing Characteristic Impedance 27-306

Renormalized S-Matrices 27-307

Computing the Z-Matrix 27-308

Computing the Y-Matrix 27-308

De-embedded S-Matrices 27-308

HFSS 3D Layout Modes 27-309

Modes, Reflections, and Propagation 27-310

Modes and Frequency 27-310

Evanescent Modes and Attenuation 27-310

Viewing the HFSS 3D Solution Log File 27-310

Exporting S-Matrices for Full-Wave SPICE Analysis 27-311

Frequency-Dependent Material Properties 27-311

Procedure for Obtaining Broadband Matching between Huray and Hammerstad

Models 27-312

Procedure for Obtaining Better Low Frequency Matching 27-315

Djordjevic-Sarkar Causal Dielectric Model 27-317

HFSS 3D Layout References 27-323

28 - Glossary 28-1

Glossary: A 28-1

Glossary: B 28-3

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Glossary: C 28-6

Glossary: D 28-10

Glossary: E 28-14

Glossary: F 28-17

Glossary: G 28-21

Glossary: H 28-22

Glossary: I 28-24

Glossary: J 28-26

Glossary: K 28-27

Glossary: L 28-28

Glossary: M 28-30

Glossary: N 28-33

Glossary: O 28-36

Glossary: P 28-37

Glossary: Q 28-42

Glossary: R 28-42

Glossary: S 28-44

Glossary: T 28-50

Glossary: U 28-53

Glossary: V 28-54

Glossary: W 28-55

Glossary: X 28-56

Glossary: Y 28-57

Glossary: Z 28-57

Index Index-1

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1 - Getting Started with ANSYS Electronics

Desktop
The ANSYS Electronics Desktop, illustrated in the following figure, provides a comprehensive
environment for designing and simulating various electronic components and devices. The
Electronics Desktop consists of a unified user interface where electromagnetic designs and circuits
can be created. Typically, you can create or import a design, set up the simulation, validate your
design, run the analysis, and post process the results.

The desktop has the following design types and features:

l HFSS - a general purpose 3D interface for the design, analysis, and simulation of
electromagnetic components
l HFSS 3D Layout - a full-wave layout-based electromagnetic simulator with a specialized
interface for geometries created in layout.
l HFSS-IE - a full-wave Integral Equation solver for large open problems

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l Q3D Extractor - a quasi-static 3D solver for extracting lumped RLGC parameters and Spice
models
l 2D Extractor - a 2D solver for extracting per-unit-length RLGC parameters of transmission
lines
l Circuit - a schematic-based interface to the Nexxim circuit simulator
l Circuit Netlist - a netlist (text-based) interface to the Nexxim circuit simulator
l Maxwell 3D - uses finite element analysis (FEA) to solve three-dimensional (3D)
electrostatic, magnetostatic, eddy current, and transient problems.
l Maxwell 2D - uses finite element analysis (FEA) to solve two-dimensional (2D) electrostatic,
magnetostatic, eddy current, and transient problems.
l RMxprt - a template-based electrical machine design tool that provides fast, analytical
calculations of machine performance and 2-D and 3-D geometry creation for detailed finite
element calculations in ANSYS® Maxwell®.
l Maxwell Circuit - sets up external circuit designs to supply excitations to coil terminals for
Maxwell 2D and 3D Eddy Current and Transient designs.
l Simplorer - an integrated, multi-domain, mixed-signal simulator for complex technical
systems.
l Filter - a schematic-based design for creating filters for high frequency RF and microwave
applications.
l Savant - a tool for simulating near-field, far-field, and coupling performance of antennas
installed on platforms and within other complex and electrically large environments.
l EMIT - a simulation tool for the prediction of radio frequency interference (RFI) in complex
environments.

If you go to the Project menu, you can access all of the design types. Any combination of these
design types can be inserted into a single project file. The schematics can be used to wire up the
different field solver models and create a model of a high level system. The ANSYS Electronics
Desktop provides an efficient way to manage complicated projects that require several different
analysis tools to model all of its pieces. Designs can also be parameterized. With the help of the
Optimetrics feature the best design variations can be made available to other modules when the
designs are linked into a higher-level simulation. This lets you study the effect of varying a design
parameter on the behavior of the entire system.

The following illustration shows how the ANSYS Electronics Desktop may be used to model
different components for radar system analysis. An antenna array is created in HFSS and linked to
an IE design of an F16 aircraft. The low noise amplifier and bandpass filter are two important
components in the receiver part of the radar module circuit design. The low noise amplifier and the
filter can be modeled in HFSS 3D Layout and linked together in a circuit simulation along with other
components of the radar module connected to the antenna array. The outputs of the radar module
can be used to drive the antennas using the push excitation feature where the voltages on the ports
of the antenna array can be automatically set to correspond to those of the driving circuit. The push

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excitation feature enables the user to view the electromagnetic fields when the array is driven by
the radar module circuit.

Launch ANSYS Electronics Desktop

Once you have installed ANSYS Electronics Desktop, start the program by one of the following
methods:

l Click the ANSYS Electronics Desktop icon from the Windows desktop as shown below.

l Click ANSYS Electronics Desktop 2018.0 on the Windows Start menu.

l From the Windows Start menu: Start >

ANSYS Electromagnetics Suite 19.0 > ANSYS Electronics Desktop 2018.0.

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The ANSYS Electronics Desktop appears.

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If the program fails to start, make sure you have installed the licensing option provided to you. For
detailed information on installing the software and licenses, see the ANSYS Electronics Installation
Guide. If you installed ANSYS Electronics Desktop in the C:\ of a Windows machine, the
installation guide is available at C:\AnsysEM\AnsysEM19.0\Win64\Help\.

System Requirements
ANSYS Electronics Desktop supports certain versions of Windows and Linux. For supported
platforms and system requirements, go to:

http://www.ansys.com/Solutions/Solutions-by-Role/IT-Professionals/Platform-Support.

Setting Up a Printer on Linux

To print from ANSYS software on Linux, you must first configure a printer. To do this, launch the
MainWin control panel.

1. Run mwcontrol & in the installation subdirectory.

The MainWin Control Panel appears.

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2. Double-click on the Printers icon to start the MainWin Printers panel.

3. Then double-click on the Add New Printer icon.
This starts the Add Printer Wizard.
4. Select the Let the wizard search for printers radio button and click Next.
5. In the Identify your Unix Printer dialog do one of the following:
l If your printer is listed, select it.
l If your printer is not listed, you will need to cancel and get someone with root permission to
setup a printer queue on your machine (and then you will need to come back and run this
wizard later).

Note On Solaris you setup a new print queue by running "lpadmin" (as root). On Red
Hat Linux, you can run 'System Settings/Printing' to launch printconf-gui (as root).

6. Click Next.
The Print Command dialog appears.
7. Change the Print Command only if instructed to do so by your user administrator.
8. Click Next.
The Choose PPD File dialog appears.
9. Select your printer manufacturer and model from the list or use the Choose File button to
browse to a PPD file provided by your printer manufacturer. Click Next.

The Printer Name dialog appears.

10. Enter a Name to identify the printer. Click Next.

11. Choose whether this printer should be the default and click Next.
12. Choose whether you would like to print a test page and click Next.
13. In the Finish Adding New Printer dialog, verify the printer setup information. If the
information is incorrect, use the Back button to return to the appropriate dialog and correct
the entry. If the information is correct, click Finish to complete the setup of your printer.

With a print queue setup, and the printer added, you should then see the printer when running the
software.

PC Memory Considerations
64-Bit PC Support

When running on a 64-bit PC, the ANSYS Electronics Desktop is able to access more memory to
generate faster solutions. ANSYS Electronics Desktop automatically detects if it is resident on an
enhanced PC with 64-bit capacity, and will configure the solver engines to access the extra
memory that is available, thereby resulting in faster solutions.

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Getting Help
ANSYS Technical Support

To contact ANSYS technical support staff in your geographical area, please log on to the ANSYS
corporate website, http://www.ansys.com/Support. You can also contact your ANSYS EM
account manager in order to obtain this information.

E-mail can work well for technical support. All ANSYS EM software files are ASCII text and can be
sent conveniently by email. When reporting difficulties, it is extremely helpful to include very specific
information about what steps were taken or what stages the simulation reached. This allows more
rapid and effective debugging.

Help Menu Options

For information about the Help Menu options, see Help Menu.

F1 Context-Sensitive Help

To access F1 help from the ANSYS Electronics Desktop user interface, press F1 while your cursor
is on an item. The help system specific to the product opens.

Related Topics

Conventions Used in the Online Help

Finding Information in the Help

Using the Search Function in the Help

Using Web Update

Obtaining Information About the Software and Release

What's New in this Release

Conventions Used in the Online Help

The following documentation conventions are used in the online help.

l Procedures are presented as numbered lists. A single bullet indicates that the procedure
has only one step.
l Bold type is used for the following:
o Keyboard entries that should be typed in their entirety exactly as shown. For example,
"copy file1" means to type the word copy, to type a space, and then to type file1.
o On-screen prompts and messages, names of options and text boxes, and menu
commands. Menu commands are often separated by carats. For example, click
File>Open.

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o Labeled keys on the computer keyboard. For example, "Press Return" means to press
the key labeled Return.
l Italic type is used for the following:
o Emphasis.
o The titles of publications.
o Keyboard entries when a name or a variable must be typed in place of the words in italics.
For example, "copy file name" means to type the word copy, to type a space, and then to
type a file name.
l The plus sign (+) is used between keyboard keys to indicate that you should press the keys
at the same time. For example, "Press Shift+F1" means to press the Shift key and the F1
key at the same time.
l Toolbar buttons serve as shortcuts for executing commands. Toolbar buttons are displayed
after the command they execute. For example,

"Click Draw> Line " means that you can click the Draw Line toolbar button to execute the
Line command.

Finding Information in the Help

The online help system provides different ways to find information and navigate quickly:

l Press F1 on any open dialog to open the online help for that dialog.
l A hierarchical table of contents - You can browse through the table of
contents, expand entries, and close entries. Click on an entry to see it in the content area.

l A searchable index - Click the Index tab, and then type a word or scroll through
the list. Topics are often indexed under more than one entry. You can jump to topic locations
by clicking the entries.
l A full text search - To locate every occurrence of a word or phrase that may be contained in
the help, use the Search Function.

Using the Search Function in the Help

When you enter words or strings to search for in the online help, the search engine, by default, lists
all topics in which any of the words occur. For example, if you enter “voltage source” without the
quotation marks, the results show all topics that contain “voltage” or “source.” This method
probably provides more hits than you want. The Search function in the online help provides several
methods for making searches more specific.

Performing a Basic Search

1. Type the words or string in the search box.

l If you are searching within the full Electronics help system, you see a search box that
includes a drop-down filter for specifying a product but not including its scripting guide,

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specifying a product's scripting guide, or searching across all products. When you change
the filter, the results dynamically reflect the selected filter.

l If you used F1 to access the help for a specific product, you see a search box that permits
searches for all files in that product (for example, All Files), all files except the product's
scripting guide (for example, HFSS), or just files in the product's scripting guide (for
example, HFSS Scripting).

2. Click on the topic you want in the list results.

l If you want to view a different topic, press your browser's back button to return to the list
results.

l To turn off highlighting on the page you are viewing, click the Remove Highlights icon
.

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Searching with Quotation Marks

If you enter “voltage source” with the quotation marks, the results show all topics that include the
phrase.

If you want to limit the results more, you can enter additional words, such as:

“voltage source” transient solver

Using Boolean Operators

These choices affect the number of topics listed.

AND Lists all topics that contain all of the terms.

OR Lists all topics that contain any of the terms.
NEAR Lists all topics that contain the terms near the other terms.
NOT Lists all topics that contain the first term but not the second.

Notes

l Searches are not case sensitive, so you can type your search in uppercase or lowercase
characters.
l You may search for any combination of letters (a-z) and numbers (0-9).
l Punctuation marks such as the period, colon, semicolon, comma, and hyphen are ignored
during a search.
l If you are searching for a file name with an extension, you should group the entire string in
quotation marks, such as "filename.ext."

Using Web Update

To use Web Update:

1. Select Tools>Options>General Options>General>Web Update.

This allows you to set the interval at which to Automatically check for updates and displays
the Last update date and the Last update attempt date.

2. Click Close when done .

Obtaining Information About the Software and Release

To obtain information about the software and release:

1. Click Help>About ANSYS Electronics Desktop.

The About ANSYS® Electromagnetics Suite [release number] dialog box appears,
listing information about the product.

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2. Click the Installed Components tab to view a list of software installed.

3. Click the Client License Settings tab to view information about the following:
l Provider Name
l FlexNet Publisher Host Ids
l FlexNet Publisher Servers
l Admin Directory
l Customer Number
l FLEXlm Version
l Redirect Info
4. To export the software information:
a. Click Export.
The Save As dialog box appears.
b. Browse to the location where you want to save the information as a text file.
c. Type a name for the file in the File name text box. The Save as type pull-down list is
already specified as Export (*.txt).
d. Click Save.
5. Click OK to close the About ANSYS® Electromagnetics Suite [release number] dialog
box.

What's New in this Release

Click Help>What's New in this Release to open a pdf file describing the important features.

Welcome to HFSS Online Help

Click for help on these topics.

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After you insert an HFSS design, you can access An Introduction to HFSS from Help>Getting
Started Guides.

Click for help on HFSS Process Flow topics:

Click for HFSS General Quick Links including HFSS Desktop and Working with Projects.

HFSS General Quick Links

Use the following links for quick information on the following topics.

HFSS User Interface HFSS-IE

Setting Up an HFSS or HFSS-IE Design Solution Types
Modeling Materials
Boundaries and Ports Meshing
Analysis Optimetrics
Results Example Projects
ANSYS Web site

The online help system provides different ways to find information and navigate quickly:

l Press F1 on any open dialog to open the online help for that dialog.
l A hierarchical table of contents - You can browse through the table of
contents, expand entries, and close entries. Click on an entry to see it in the content area.

l A searchable index - Click the Index tab, and then type a word or scroll through
the list. Topics are often indexed under more than one entry. You can jump to topic locations
by clicking the entries.
l A full text search - To locate every occurrence of a word or phrase that may be contained in
the help, use the Search Function.

HFSS User Interface Quick Links

Use the following links for quick information on the following topics.

The HFSS Desktop Working with Ribbons

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Setting Options in HFSS Working with Short Cut Menus

Keyboard Shortcuts for General Purposes Running HFSS From a Command Line
HFSS-IE Moving and Resizing Desktop Windows
Showing and Hiding Windows Working with Variables
ANSYS Workbench Integration Overview

The online help system provides different ways to find information and navigate quickly:

l Press F1 on any open dialog to open the online help for that dialog.
l A hierarchical table of contents - You can browse through the table of
contents, expand entries, and close entries. Click on an entry to see it in the content area.

l A searchable index - Click the Index tab, and then type a word or scroll through
the list. Topics are often indexed under more than one entry. You can jump to topic locations
by clicking the entries.
l A full text search - To locate every occurrence of a word or phrase that may be contained in
the help, use the Search Function.

Modeling Quick Links

Use the following links for quick information on the following topics.

Set the model's units of measurement. Setting Modeler Drawing Options

Assign transparency to an object. Selecting Items in the Modeler Window
Subtract objects. Drawing Objects
Measuring Objects Choosing the Cursor Movement Mode
Drawing Bondwires Importing Files
Keyboard shortcuts for the 3D Modeler Window. Modifying Objects
Modifying the Model View Creating a User Defined Primitive
Working with Variables Assigning Materials

The online help system provides different ways to find information and navigate quickly:

l Press F1 on any open dialog to open the online help for that dialog.
l A hierarchical table of contents - You can browse through the table of
contents, expand entries, and close entries. Click on an entry to see it in the content area.

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l A searchable index - Click the Index tab, and then type a word or scroll through
the list. Topics are often indexed under more than one entry. You can jump to topic locations
by clicking the entries.
l A full text search - To locate every occurrence of a word or phrase that may be contained in
the help, use the Search Function.

Materials Quick Links

Use the following links for quick information on the following topics.

Assigning Materials Solve Inside or On a Surface

Searching for Materials Adding New Materials
Assigning Material Property Types Defining Variable Material Properties
Defining Frequency Dependent Material Properties Defining Material Properties as Expressions
Defining Functional Material Properties Viewing and Modifying Material Attributes
Assigning DC Thickness Specifying Thermal Modifiers

The online help system provides different ways to find information and navigate quickly:

l Press F1 on any open dialog to open the online help for that dialog.
l A hierarchical table of contents - You can browse through the table of
contents, expand entries, and close entries. Click on an entry to see it in the content area.

l A searchable index - Click the Index tab, and then type a word or scroll through
the list. Topics are often indexed under more than one entry. You can jump to topic locations
by clicking the entries.
l A full text search - To locate every occurrence of a word or phrase that may be contained in
the help, use the Search Function.

Ports Quick Links

Use the following links for quick information on the following topics.

Assigning Excitations Linking to External Sources

Assigning Wave Ports for Modal Solutions Lumped Port
Assigning Wave Ports for Terminal Solutions Auto Assign Terminals
Floquet Port Zoom to Selected Excitation
Incident Wave Voltage Source

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Current Source Magnetic Bias

Defining an Integration Line Defining a Differential Pair

For detailed information on these and many other topics:

l Use F1 on any open dialog to open the Online Help for that dialog.
l Click the "?" icon on the toolbar, and then click on any menu command, icon, or window for
help on that selection.
l With the Online Help Contents tab selected, navigate the help topic hierarchy.
l With the Online Help Index tab selected, search the help index.
l With the Online Help Search tab selected, search the full help text.
l With Online Help Favorites tab selected, create a custom list of favorite topics.

Meshing Quick Links

Use the following links for quick information on the following topics.

Defining Mesh Operations Plot the finite element mesh

Detecting and Addressing Model Problems to Improve Meshing Handling Complicated Models
Specify the initial mesh settings

The online help system provides different ways to find information and navigate quickly:

l Press F1 on any open dialog to open the online help for that dialog.
l A hierarchical table of contents - You can browse through the table of
contents, expand entries, and close entries. Click on an entry to see it in the content area.

l A searchable index - Click the Index tab, and then type a word or scroll through
the list. Topics are often indexed under more than one entry. You can jump to topic locations
by clicking the entries.
l A full text search - To locate every occurrence of a word or phrase that may be contained in
the help, use the Search Function.

Analysis Quick Links

Use the following links for quick information on the following topics.

Specifying the HPC and Analysis Options Remote Analysis

Configuring Distributed Analysis Specifying Solution Settings

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Selecting an Optimal Configuration for Distributed Setting Adaptive Analysis Parameters

Analysis
Specifying Output Variable Convergence Setting the Order of Basis Functions
Adding a Frequency Sweep Options for Interpolating Sweeps
Running Simulations High Performance Computing
Integration
ANSYS Workbench Integration Overview Setup and Run an Array Simulation

The online help system provides different ways to find information and navigate quickly:

l Press F1 on any open dialog to open the online help for that dialog.
l A hierarchical table of contents - You can browse through the table of
contents, expand entries, and close entries. Click on an entry to see it in the content area.

l A searchable index - Click the Index tab, and then type a word or scroll through
the list. Topics are often indexed under more than one entry. You can jump to topic locations
by clicking the entries.
l A full text search - To locate every occurrence of a word or phrase that may be contained in
the help, use the Search Function.

Optimetrics Quick Links

Use the following links for quick information on the following topics.

Optimetrics Parametric Overview

Setting up a Parametric Analysis Setting up an Optimization Analysis
Setting up a Sensitivity Analysis Tuning a Variable
Setting up a Statistical Analysis Setting a Range function
Setup Calculations for Optimetrics. Adding a cost function
Running an Optimetrics Analysis Getting Started Guide: Optimizing Waveguide T-Junction

The online help system provides different ways to find information and navigate quickly:

l Press F1 on any open dialog to open the online help for that dialog.
l A hierarchical table of contents - You can browse through the table of
contents, expand entries, and close entries. Click on an entry to see it in the content area.

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l A searchable index - Click the Index tab, and then type a word or scroll through
the list. Topics are often indexed under more than one entry. You can jump to topic locations
by clicking the entries.
l A full text search - To locate every occurrence of a word or phrase that may be contained in
the help, use the Search Function.

Results Quick Links

Use the following links for quick information on the following topics.

View solution data Creating Reports

Plot field overlay Scale an excitation's magnitude and modify its phase.
Create 2D or 3D reports of S-parameters Working with Traces
Plot the finite element mesh Using the Fields Calculator
Create animations Radiated Fields Post Processing
Setting up a Near Field Sphere Setting up a Far Field Infinite Sphere

The online help system provides different ways to find information and navigate quickly:

l Press F1 on any open dialog to open the online help for that dialog.
l A hierarchical table of contents - You can browse through the table of
contents, expand entries, and close entries. Click on an entry to see it in the content area.

l A searchable index - Click the Index tab, and then type a word or scroll through
the list. Topics are often indexed under more than one entry. You can jump to topic locations
by clicking the entries.
l A full text search - To locate every occurrence of a word or phrase that may be contained in
the help, use the Search Function.

Antennas in HFSS
Click graphics for descriptions of the following HFSS and HFSS-IE antenna examples:

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Click for Arrays.

Click for HFSS Application Modeling Guide: Antennas.

Click for the download site for the HFSS Antenna Design kit.

The HFSS Antenna Design Kit is a stand-alone GUI-based utility which automates the geometry
creation, solution setup, and post-processing reports for over 25 antenna elements. This tool
allows antenna designers to efficiently analyze common antenna types using HFSS and also
assists new users in learning to use HFSS for antenna design. The design kit can be integrated into
the HFSS user interface or launched from the standard Windows menu. All antenna models
created by the design kit are ready to simulate in HFSS.

See HFSS Antenna Design toolkit

Also see 3D Component Library: Antennas

Signal Integrity in HFSS

Click graphics for descriptions of the following HFSS signal integrity examples:

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RF/Microwave in HFSS
Click graphics for descriptions of the following HFSS RF/Microwave examples:

Integrated Circuits in HFSS

Click the graphics for examples of modeling integrated circuits in HFSS:

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Also see: Application Specific Modeling Guide: Spiral Inductors on Silicon Substrate

Transmission Line Examples for HFSS

Click on the following examples for descriptions of transmission line examples provided with
HFSS.

The ANSYS Electronics Desktop

The ANSYS Electronics Desktop desktop consists of several windows, a menu bar, toolbars, and
a status bar. You can customize the appearance of the desktop customizing or moving the
toolbars, by choosing which windows to display, and by resizing and moving windows. Some
menus, and other features change depending on the type of project that is loaded and the editor
that is active in the Design Area.

Click a link below to view more information about that desktop component.

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Related Topics

Getting Help

Keyboard Shortcuts for General Purposes

Keyboard Shortcuts for the 3D Modeler Window.

Working with Ribbons

A ribbon is a rectangular area across the top of the application. It comprises various tabs, each one
representing a subset of program functionality. Layout of the ribbons follows a user’s flow of
functionality. The tabs contain related commands that are organized, grouped, and labeled. Sizing
the Desktop affects the icons displayed for each selected tab, with priority given to the most used
features.

Desktop Tab Selected

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View Tab Selected without Project

The Docking Windows and Layouts areas contain drop-down menus with additional selections.

If you have inserted a Project, for example, an HFSS project, the View ribbon displays commands
appropriate for the active editor. For instance, the View tab will show different commands for the
modeler (shown below) and the report viewer.

If you compress the Desktop window, each tab display shows the fewer available features more
directly than an expanded display.

Draw Tab Selected

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Model Tab Selected

Simulation Tab Selected.

In this example, the Simulation tab contains commands appropriate for the currently active
design.

Results Tab Selected

In this example, the Results tab contains commands appropriate for the currently active design.

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The drop-down menus under the Report icons let you select from available report types:

Automation Tab Selected

This tab includes controls for recording and running scripts, as well as access to the Command
window, and display of ACT Extensions.

Related Topics

The ANSYS Electronics Desktop

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Showing and Hiding Windows

The View menu contains commands that let you show and hide the windows that comprise the
desktop. You can show or hide the Status Bar, the Message Manager, the Project Manager, the
docked Properties window, and the Progress window.

The shortcut menu in the toolbar area also lets you show and hide each desktop window. The
visibility setting of a window is retained from one desktop session to the next. When the Progress
and Message Manager windows are hidden, they will automatically appear and slide into view
when necessary and then be automatically hidden again.

You can also close the windows by clicking the "x" in the window title bar.

Related Topics

The ANSYS Electronics Desktop

Moving and Resizing Desktop Windows

Moving and Resizing Desktop Windows

You can customize the appearance of the desktop by moving and resizing the Status Bar, the
Message Manager, the Project Manager, the docked Properties window, and the Progress
window. A window can be configured to be docked or floating and its position will be retained from
one desktop session to the next.

To move one of these windows:

1. Click and hold on the title bar.

2. Drag the cursor towards the region where you want to place the window.

A rectangle shape follows the cursor. As you drag the rectangle to different parts of the desktop,
the changes in dimension show when you have reached a location where you can place the
window. This can be at the top, left, bottom, and side of the modeler window. You can place a
window next to another, as well as above or below another.

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If you drag the window to the center of the 3D Modeler window, you can place it there as a
floating window.

3. Release the mouse button to place the window.

You can also resize the windows in two ways.

l To size a desktop window, place the cursor over an edge of the window. Over the inner-
edges, for sizing a window within the desktop, the cursor changes to a double bar with
arrows pointing each direction. Over the outer-edges, for sizing the desktop, the cursor
changes to a line with arrows pointing each direction. Press and drag to size the window.
l To expand a window to fill the horizontal or vertical space it shares with another window,
click the triangle in the window title bar. When you expand a window, the triangle appears as
inverted and any other windows in the same horizontal or vertical space are compressed to
only the title bar. If a window does not share a horizontal or vertical space with another, the
triangle does not appear.

Related Topics

The ANSYS Electronics Desktop

Showing and Hiding Windows

Working with the Menu Bar

The menu bar enables you to perform all ANSYS Electronics Desktop tasks, such as managing
project files, customizing the desktop, drawing objects, and setting and modifying all project
parameters.

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To open a help topic about an ANSYS Electronics Desktop menu command, press Shift+F1, and
then click the command or toolbar icon.

ANSYS Electronics Desktop contains the following menus, which appear at the top of the desktop:

File Use the File menu commands to manage ANSYS Electronics Desktop project files
menu and printing options.
Edit Use the Edit menu commands to modify the objects in the active model and undo and
menu redo actions.
View Use the View menu commands to display or hide desktop components and model
menu objects, modify 3D Modeler window visual settings, and modify the model view.
Project Use the Project menu commands to add specific design-type to the active project,
menu view, define datasets, project variables, and event callbacks. You can also Launch
Savant and Launch Emit. You can also Analyze All and Submit Job from the Project
menu.

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Tools Use the Tools menu to modify the active project's material library, arrange the material
menu libraries, run and record scripts, update project definitions from libraries, customize the
desktop's toolbars, and modify many of the software's default settings.
Window Use the Window menu commands to rearrange the 3D Modeler windows and toolbar
menu icons.
Help Use the Help menu commands to access the online help system and view the current
menu ANSYS Electronics Desktop version information.

Once you have inserted a design-type, the Menu bar also includes menus specific to that type.

Draw menu Use the Draw menu commands to draw one-, two-, or three-dimensional objects,
and sweep one- and two-dimensional objects.
Modeler Use the Modeler menu commands to import, export, and copy 2D Modeler files
menu and 3D Modeler files; assign materials to objects; manage the 3D Modeler

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window's grid settings; define a list of objects or faces of objects; control surface
settings; perform boolean operations on objects; and set the units for the active
design.
ANSYS Use the ANSYS Electronics Desktop menu to setup and manage all the
Electronics parameters for the active project. Most of these project properties also appear in
Desktop the project tree.
menu
Draw menu Use the Draw menu commands to draw one-, two-, or three-dimensional objects,
and sweep one- and two-dimensional objects.

Related Topics

Getting Help

Keyboard Shortcuts for General Purposes

Keyboard shortcuts for the 3D Modeler Window.

Customizing the Tools Menu: External Tools

To add an executable to the Tools menu:

1. Click Tools>External Tools

2. This displays the Customize User Tools Menu dialog.

If a User Tools menu item has been defined, its contents are displayed. Command buttons let
you Add new commands and Delete selected commands, and Move Up and Move Down
commands. This example shows the Reflective.exe program added to the tools menu, and
called Reflective on the Tools menu. You can specify the command line arguments to the
program and the directory in which it will be run.

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3. To add a custom Tools menu entry, click the Add button in the Customize User Tools
Menu dialog.

This enables the following fields:

Menu Text field -- this displays [new tool] as text you will replace with the text you want to
appear in the User Tools menu.

Command field -- this will display the external executable. An ellipsis button [...] lets you
navigate to the file location.

Arguments field -- this field accepts command arguments from the > button menu
selections for File Path, File Directory, File Name, File Extension, Project Directory, or Temp
Directory.

Initial Directory -- this field specifies the initial directory for the command to operate. The
ellipsis button {...] displays a dialog that lets you navigate folders in your desktop, or across
the network.

4. Click OK to add the External Tools menu to HFSS or Cancel to close the dialog without
changes.

You can also add scripts to the Tools menu. Assuming you have a script to generate custom
reports called report.vbs, use the cscript.exe program to execute your script.

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This example shows the cscript.exe program added to the Tools menu as Run My Script.
The command line argument to the csscript.exe program is report.vbs. You can also name
the directory in which it will be run.

Related Topics

Scripting

Working with the Shortcut Menus

A variety of shortcut menus — menus that appear when you right-click a selection — are available
in the toolbars area of the desktop, in the 3D Modeler window, and in the Project Manager
window.

Shortcut Use the shortcut menu in the toolbars area of the desktop to show or hide windows or
menu in toolbars, and customize the toolbars.
the
toolbars
area
Shortcut Use the shortcut menu in the 3D Modeler window to select, magnify, and move
menu in options (zoom, rotate, etc.), change the view, perform boolean operations, assign
the 3D materials, boundaries, excitations, or mesh operations to objects, and work with field
Modeler overlays.
window

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Shortcut Use the shortcut menus in the Project Manager window to manage ANSYS
menus in Electronics Desktop project and design files and design properties; assign and edit
the boundaries, excitations, and mesh operations; add, analyze, and manage solution
Project setups; add Optimetrics analyses; create post-processing reports; insert far- and
Manager near-field radiation setups; edit project definitions; and, run Maxwell SPICE.
window
Shortcut Use the shortcut menus in the History tree to expand or collapse groupings. If you
menus in select particular objects in the history tree, the shortcut menu lists the commands that
the you can apply to the selected object or objects.
History
Tree

Note All of the commands on the shortcut menus are also available on the menu bar.

Shortcut Menu in the 3D Modeler Window

Use the shortcut menu in the 3D Modeler window to select, magnify, and move options (zoom,
rotate, etc.), change the view, perform boolean operations, assign materials, boundaries,
excitations, or mesh operations to objects, and work with field overlays.

To access the shortcut menu in the 3D Modeler window:

l Right-click in the 3D Modeler window (grid area).

Shortcut Menus in the Project Manager Window

Each node, or item, in the project tree has a shortcut menu. For example, from the shortcut menu
for the Boundaries icon, you can assign boundaries to selected objects; review information for all
the boundary assignments for the active design; remove all boundary assignments; show or hide a
boundary's geometry, name, or vectors; change the priority of a previously assigned boundary; and
use the PML Setup wizard to create a perfectly matched layer (PML) boundary.

Keyboard Shortcuts for General Purposes

The following keyboard shortcuts apply to HFSS in general:

l F1: Help
l F4 + CTRL: Close program
l CTRL + C: Copy
l CTRL + N: New project
l CTRL + O: Open...
l CTRL + P: Print...
l CTRL + V: Paste
l CTRL + X: Cut

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l CTRL + Y: Redo
l CTRL + Z: Undo
l CTRL + 0: Cascade windows
l CTRL + 1: Tile windows horizontally
l CTRL + 2: Tile windows vertically

To customize the shortcut assignments, use Tools>Keyboard Shortcuts.

Related Topics

Keyboard Shortcuts for the 3D Modeler Window

Custom Keyboard Shortcuts

Tutorial: HFSS Keyboard Accelerators

Custom Keyboard Shortcuts

Click Tools>Keyboard Shortcuts to display a dialog that lets you view existing assignments,
create new shortcuts, save and load assignment files.

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Selecting a Command category lists the available commands for that category. If the command has
an assigned shortcut, it is displayed on the Shortcuts for the selected command field. You can
use the Remove button to disable the shortcut for the selected command. If the selected command
does not have an assigned shortcut, the Shortcuts for selected command field and the Remove
button are grayed out.

To create a new shortcut key:

1. Select the Category and Command.

2. If you want disable a current assignment for the selected command, click Remove.
3. To assign a keyboard shortcut, place the cursor in the Press new shortcut key field.

The field displays the keystrokes you make. When you have made keystrokes, the dialog
enables the Assign button. If you combine keystrokes these are displayed with a "+" between
them. For example, Ctrl + p or Alt +o.

4. The Use new shortcut in field displays Global by default, which means that the shortcut
will apply to all applicable contexts, including HFSS and HFSS-IE. If a limited context exists,
the menu will offer a selection.
5. When you have made the assignments you want to make, You can save the assignments to
a named file.

Clicking the Save... button displays a browser window that lets you navigate the file structure
and assign a name, using an aks suffix for ANSYS Keyboard Shortcut file.

Buttons on the browser window let you designate the file location as Use Path, Personallib,
Syslib, UserLib, or Project folder.

If you have an existing aks file, you can use the Load... button to display a browser window to
locate the desired file.

6. You can OK the current settings, or Reset to Default.

Related Topics

Keyboard Shortcuts for General Purposes

Keyboard Shortcuts for the 3D Modeler Window

Tutorial: HFSS Keyboard Accelerators

Working with the Status Bar

The status bar is located at the bottom of the application window. It contains buttons to Show or
Hide the Message Window and Progress window.

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When more than one progress bar is active, the top progress bar is represented on the status bar
with a progress indicator.

It also displays information about the command currently being performed. Directions for inputs
appear on the left:

Fields for entering coordinates and menus for specifying the kinds of coordinates appear on the
right.

Depending on the command being performed, the status bar can display the following:

l X, Y, and Z coordinate boxes.

l A pull-down list to enter a point's absolute, relative, cartesian, cylindrical, or spherical
coordinates.
l The model's units of measurement.

To display or hide the status bar:

l Click View> StatusBar.

A check box appears next to this command if the status bar is visible.

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Exiting the Desktop

To exit the desktop, select File>Exit.

If simulations are running, a message informs you that if you continue, the simulations will be
aborted. If you respond OK to the message, ANSYS Electronics Desktop does a clean abort
before exiting.

Working with the Project Manager

The Project Manager window displays the open project's structure, which is referred to as the
project tree.

The Project Manager window displays details about all open ANSYS Electronics Desktop
projects. The tree display is specific to the design type. For example:

l For any HFSS or Q3D design, each project ultimately includes a geometric model, its
boundary conditions and material assignments, and field solution and post-processing
information. Any 3D Components appear under the 3D Components icon.
l For a Circuit design, the project includes data, excitations, ports, analysis setup, design
verification, SoD configuration, Optimetrics, results, and relevant definitions.

To show or hide the Project Manager window, do one of the following:

l Click View> Project Manager.

A check box appears next to this command if the Project Manager window is visible.

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l Right-click in the toolbars area on the desktop, and then click Project Manager on the
shortcut menu.

A check box appears next to this command if the Project Manager window is visible.

Related Topics

Working with the Project Tree

Shortcut Menus in the Project Manager Window

Working with the Project Tree

The project tree is located in the Project Manager window and contains details about all open
ANSYS Electronics Desktop projects, as shown below:

The top node listed in the project tree is the project name. It is named Projectn by default, where n
is the order in which the project was added to the current session of ANSYS Electronics Desktop.
Expand the project icon to view all the project's design information, material definitions, and 3D
Components (if any).

By default, the Project tree icon for the active window is highlighted, as shown in the figure below.
(See General Options: Miscellaneous for the options.) With the option disabled, XY Plot 1 in the
Project tree would not be highlighted.

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Related Topics

Viewing ANSYS Electronics Desktop Design Details

Setting the Project Tree to Expand Automatically

Viewing Material Definitions Under the Project Tree

Setting the Project Tree to Expand Automatically

You can set the project tree to automatically expand when an item is added to a project.

1. Click Tools > Options>General Options.

The Options dialog box appears.

2. Under the Project Options tab, select Expand Project Tree on Insert.

Viewing Material Definitions

The definitions node is listed at the bottom of the project tree and displays all of the material
definitions that are assigned to the objects in the active model.

Related Topics

Adding New Materials

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Viewing ANSYS Electronics Desktop Design Details

Once you insert an ANSYS Electronics Desktop design into a project, it is listed as the second
node in the project tree. It is named ANSYS Electronics DesktopModeln by default, where n is the
order in which the design was added to the project. Expand the design icon in the project tree to
view all of the specific data about the model, including its boundary conditions and material
assignments, and field solution and post-processing information.

The ANSYS Electronics DesktopModeln node contains the following project details:

3D Displays any 3D Components added to the design.

Components
Model Displays the model geometries in the design.
Boundaries Displays the boundary conditions assigned to an ANSYS Electronics Desktop
design, which specify the field behavior at the edges of the problem region and
object interfaces.
Excitations Displays the excitations assigned to an ANSYS Electronics Desktop design,
which are used to specify the sources of electromagnetic fields and charges,
currents, or voltages on objects or surfaces in the design.
Mesh Displays the mesh operations specified for objects or object faces. Mesh
Operations operations are optional mesh refinement settings that are specified before a
mesh is generated.
Analysis Displays the solution setups for an ANSYS Electronics Desktop design. A
solution setup specifies how ANSYS Electronics Desktop will compute the
solution.
Optimetrics Displays any Optimetrics setups added to an ANSYS Electronics Desktop
design.
Results Displays any post-processing reports generated.
Port Field Displays all port fields in the active model.
Display
Field Overlays Displays field overlay plots, which are representations of basic or derived field
quantities on surfaces or objects.

Plot folders are listed under Field Overlays. These folders store the project's
plots and can be customized. See Setting Field Plot Defaults for information on
how to customize the plot folders.
Radiation Displays far- and near-field setups added to an ANSYS Electronics Desktop
design.
Documentation Displays files you have added as documentation.
Definitions Displays definitions for HFSS, including Materials.

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Note To edit a project's design details:

l In the project tree, double-click the design setup icon that you want to
edit.

A dialog box appears with that setup's parameters, which you can then edit.

Closing the Project Manager Window

You can turn off the Project Manager window display by deselecting the Project Manager
check box on the View menu in the Top Menu Bar. For more information, see the View Pulldown
Menu.

Moving the Project Manager Window

The Project Manager window is a dockable, resizable window and can be positioned elsewhere
on the desktop, as you may find convenient.

Viewing the Design List

You can use the HFSS>Design List command or the Design List icon to view a dialog with tables
of the design properties. The Design list is a dialog that with tabs to let you view the following:

Model Displays the objects that comprise the model and their
properties.
Boundaries Displays the boundary conditions assigned to an ANSYS
Electronics Desktop design, which specify the field behavior at
the edges of the problem region and object interfaces.
Excitations Displays the excitations assigned to an ANSYS Electronics
Desktop design, which are used to specify the sources of
electromagnetic fields and charges, currents, or voltages on
objects or surfaces in the design.
Hybrid Displays the hybrid regions assigned to an
Regions ANSYS Electronics Desktop design, which are used to
specify FE_BI, PO, IE, SBR regions, dielectric cavities, and
linked regions for near and far field sources.
Mesh Displays the mesh operations specified for objects or object
Operations faces. Mesh operations are optional mesh refinement settings
that are specified before a mesh is generated.
Analysis Setup Displays the solution setups for an ANSYS Electronics
Desktop design. A solution setup specifies how ANSYS
Electronics Desktop will compute the solution.

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Working with the Properties Window

The Properties window displays the attributes or properties of an item selected in the project tree,
the history tree, or the 3D Modeler window. The Properties window enables you to edit an item's
properties. Properties can also be organized into folders that can be expanded and collapsed. The
properties, and the ability to edit them in the Properties window, will vary, depending on the type
of item selected. The tabs available in the Properties window will also vary, depending on the
selection.

You can choose to show or hide a docked Properties window as part of the desktop. You can
move and resize the docked Properties window within the desktop to suit your work style. When
you have a docked Properties window, it displays the properties of any item you select in the
Project tree, the History Tree, or the 3D Modeler window. You select View>Properties to remove
the docked properties window.

Regardless of whether or not you display a docked Properties window on the desktop, you can
still open an undocked Properties window for any item in the project tree, the history Tree, or the
3D Modeler window by double-clicking on the item.

Related Topics

Opening the Properties Window

Showing and Hiding the Properties Window

Auto-Complete for Variables and Properties in Electronics Desktop

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Setting the Properties Window to Open Automatically

Modifying Object Attributes using the Properties Window

Modifying Object Command Properties Using the Properties Window

Opening the Properties Window

1. Select the object whose properties you want to view.

2. Click Edit>Properties.
The Properties window for that object appears.
3. When you are finishing making changes, click OK.

Rather than opening a separate window, you can also view an object's properties if you have the
Properties window displayed within the desktop.

Related Topics

Showing and Hiding the Properties Window

Setting the Properties Window to Open Automatically

Modifying Object Attributes using the Properties Window

Modifying Object Command Properties Using the Properties Window

Showing and Hiding the Properties Window

To show or hide the Properties window on the desktop, do one of the following:

l Click View> Properties.

A check box appears next to this command if the Properties window is visible.

l Right-click in the toolbars area at the top of the desktop, and then click Properties on the
shortcut menu.

A check box appears next to this command if the Properties window is visible.

Related Topics

Setting the Properties Window to Open Automatically

Setting the Properties Window to Open Automatically

To set the Properties window to open after an object is drawn, enabling you to modify the object's
properties, do the following:

1. Click Tools >Options>General Options.

The Options window appears.

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2. Expand 3D Modeler and select Drawing.

3. Select Edit property of new primitives.

Hereafter, after you draw an object in point mode, the Properties window will open. However,
if you draw an object in Dialog mode, this setting is ignored.

Related Topics

Showing and Hiding the Properties Window

Modifying Object Attributes Using the Properties Window

1. Select the object for which you want to edit its attributes by clicking it in the view window or
clicking its name in the history tree.
2. Under the Attribute tab in the Properties window, edit the object attribute.

Depending on the attribute type, you can edit it by doing one of the following:

l Select the check box to apply the attribute; clear the check box to disable the attribute.
l Click in the field and edit the numeric values or text, and then press ENTER. You can
modify names, but names must include only letters, numbers and underscores. Illegal
names are not accepted and generate a message in the Message window.
l Click the button and then edit the current settings in the window or dialog box that
appears.
l Click the attribute, and then select a new setting from the menu that appears.

Related Topics

Modifying Object Command Properties Using the Properties Window

Auto-Complete for Variables and Properties in Electronics Desktop

When you edit a properties or variable text field the ANSYS Electronics Desktop (AEDT) can
display possible matches for what you type. This can help if, for example, a variable or material
name is long. You can save time by selecting a pre-determined match rather than typing out the
entire name. The figure below shows an example of auto-complete for material names:

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Using Auto-Complete

Certain commonly-used text fields have auto-complete configured. (Not all edit fields are
configured to work with auto-complete.) When you start typing in these cases, matches display in a
list window below the text field. If there is no matching text, then no list window displays. With 10
matches or fewer, the list window is vertically sized according to the number of matches. The width
of the window is based on the width of the text field. You can resize the list window and it
remembers the new size when doing further auto-complete matching in the same text field.
Switching to a different text field resets the sizing.

Hitting [Tab] or [Enter] accepts the current selection for auto-complete, which replaces the text
typed so far with the full auto-complete match and hides the list window. Otherwise, hitting the
escape key [Esc] hides the auto-complete list window. Typing more letters causes auto-complete
matching to resume.

For example, the properties window (shown in the picture above for the summary) has auto-
complete configured where there are choices available. In this picture, which is for a box drawn in
HFSS, both the Material property choices and the Group property choices work with auto-
complete. Note that the “Edit…” text in the drop-down list is not considered a choice for auto-
complete. When you click in the Material value cell, the drop-down list is displayed, but once you
type text, this list is hidden and replaced by the auto-complete list window if there are matches. For
materials, not only are the choices from the drop-down list available for matching, but the full set of
material definitions in all loaded libraries is searched for possible matches.

Where you select design properties, auto-complete works with expressions for the values,
providing matches for the names of constants, intrinsic variables, functions, project variables

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(prefixed with “$”), and design properties. When project variables are displayed (that is, you select
the project in the Project tree), auto-complete for value expressions also works, except without
matching design properties. Properties of other items may also have auto-complete configured to
work with value expressions, for example. properties of a CreateBox command or of a circuit
component. Example of design property with auto-complete matching:

Auto-complete also works with value expressions for material properties:

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Note the scroll bar, indicating that there are more matches than those currently displayed.

Auto complete also works with thermal modifier expressions for Materials.

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Related Topics

Showing and Hiding the Properties Window

Setting the Properties Window to Open Automatically

Modifying Object Attributes using the Properties Window

Modifying Object Command Properties Using the Properties Window

Modifying Object Command Properties Using the Properties Window

The Command tab in the Properties window displays information about an action selected in the
history tree that was performed either to create an object, such as the Draw>Box) command, or to
modify an object, such as the Edit>Duplicate>Mirror command.

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Not all command properties can be modified. In general, the command properties that you can
typically modify are the numeric values, such as position values (base position, normal position,
start position, etc.), size values (height, radius, etc.), and various other coordinate values. You can
also modify many of the unit settings for a command property. You can modify names, but names
must include only letters, numbers and underscores. Illegal names are not accepted and generate
a message in the Message window.

1. In the history tree, select the command for which you want to edit its properties.

Hint Press and hold CTRL to select multiple commands. If you select multiple commands,
only the common, or shared, properties will be displayed under the Command tab.

2. Under the Command tab in the Properties window, edit the command's properties.

Depending on the property type, you can edit it by doing one of the following:

l Select the check box to apply the property; clear the check box to disable the property.
l Click in the field and edit the numeric values or text, and then press ENTER.
l Click the button and then edit the current settings in the window or dialog box that
appears.
l Click the attribute, and then select a new setting from the menu that appears.

Related Topics

Modifying Object Attributes using the Properties Window

The Param Values Tab

The Param Values tab in the Property window of the ANSYS Electronics Desktop lists the
simulation parameters of the component or components selected.

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To set or change the value of a component parameter, click on the Value field and enter the new
value. If the value requires a multiplier unit (such as K for 1000) click on the Unit field to select the
multiplier unit. The Evaluated value shows the resulting number.

You can specify a parameter value using an expression that evaluates to a constant. The
expression is retained in the Value field, while the Evaluated Value field shows the constant
resulting from evaluation the expression. This allows you to identify and modify the expression in
the future.

The General Tab

The General tab in the Property window of the ANSYS Electronics Desktop lists the selection’s
name, symbol name, reference designator, and other data. These are generally not editable.

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The Symbol Tab

The Symbol tab in the Property window of the ANSYS Electronics Desktop provides information
on a number of modifiable attributes of components and symbols displayed in the schematic.

The contents of the Symbol tab varies depending upon the number and type of components or
symbols selected in the schematic.

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But whatever components or symbols are selected, each field displayed in the Symbol tab is
modifiable.

Symbol tab Value fields can be modified using the following guidelines:

l Click in the Value field for Component Location to enter a new set of X,Y coordinates for
the symbol. Press Return to move the symbol to the new location.
l Click in the Value field for Component Angle, and select an angle from the pulldown
(choices are 0, 90, 180, and 270 degrees). The symbol rotates as you select an angle.
l Click in the check box in the Value field for Component Mirror to flip the component left-to-
right. The mirror operation is performed as soon as you check the box. Uncheck the box to
return the symbol to its original orientation.
l Click in the Value field to enter a new value for whatever symbol attribute you wish to
change. Press Return to move the symbol to the new location.
l Click the colored bar displayed in the Value field to open a palette from which to select a new
color for the symbol. The new color is applied when the symbol is unselected.

Closing the Property Window

To close the Property window, open the View pulldown menu on the Top Menu Bar and deselect
(uncheck) the Properties. To redisplay the Property Window, select it again on the View menu.
For more information, see the View Pulldown Menu.

Moving the Property Window

The Property window is a dockable, resizable window and can be positioned elsewhere on the
desktop, as you may find convenient. You can change the relative widths of any two adjacent
columns in the Property window by dragging the header separator between them:

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Launching Online Help from the Property Window

You can launch the online help for a component from the Property window. To do this:

1. Click the Param Values tab.

2. Scroll down to the Info parameter entry, and then click the button in its Value cell.

Opening the Properties Dialog

You can open the Properties dialog by doing one of the following:

l To open the Properties dialog for a component, double-click the component.

l To open the Properties dialog for a design, select Design Properties either on the
shortcut menu for the design in the Project window or on the Top Menu bar pulldown for
the analysis tool, also referred to as the Product menu. See Defining Project Variables
and Design-Specific Pulldown Menus for details.

You can manipulate the Properties dialog by doing the following:

l You can close the Properties dialog box by clicking the Esc key.
l You can resize the Properties dialog box by dragging its edges.
l You can change the relative widths of adjacent columns in the Properties dialog box by
dragging the header separators between them:

General Tab and Symbol Tab

The General tab in the Properties Dialog Box lists the selection’s name, symbol name, reference
designator, and so on. These are generally not editable. The information is identical to that on the
General tab of the Property Window.

The Symbol tab provides information on the location of the component symbol in the schematic.
The information is identical to that on the Symbol tab of the Property Window.

When the Properties dialog is opened for a design (Design Properties), both the General and
Symbol tabs are initially empty.

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Working with the Nets Window

The Nets Window is used to view and configure various net settings. It is a dockable Desktop
window that can be resized and relocated.

To show or hide the Nets window on the desktop, do one of the following:

l Click View> Nets

A check box appears next to this command if the Nets window is visible.

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l Right-click in the toolbars area at the top of the desktop, then click Nets on the shortcut
menu.

A check box appears next to this command if the Nets window is visible.

The Nets Window is divided into two panes: an upper Classification pane, and a lower Nets
pane.

Classification Pane

The Classification pane is used to manage net class operations. A net class is an organizational
grouping of a set of nets. The right-mouse click menu of the Classification pane shows the following
operations for net classes.

l New: Opens the Add Net Class dialog for net class creation (see below).
l Edit: Opens the Net Class Properties dialog for net class modification (see below).
l Delete: Delete the selected net classes.
l Select: Select in the layout editor the net classes selected in the classification pane.
l Show: Show in the layout editor the net classes selected in the classification pane.
l Show(Hide All Other): Show in the layout editor the net classes selected in the
classification pane and hide all others net classes.
l Add to Power/Ground: Adds one or more selected Nets to the Power/Ground.
l Remove from Power/Ground: Removes one or more selected Nets to the
Power/Ground.
l Create Ports: Create ports on all the nets in the selected net classes.
l Remove Ports: Remove ports on all the nets in the selected net classes.

Add Net Class

Selecting New from the right-click menu of the Classification pane opens the Add Net Class
dialog.

Use the Add Net Class dialog for net class creation.

Net Class Properties

Selecting Edit from the right-click menu of the Net Window Classification pane opens the Net
Class Properties dialog.

Use the Net Class Properties dialog for net class modification.

For more information see the Nets Tab description of the Design List dialog.

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Differential Pairs

Click the Differential tab to display a list of Differential Pairs.

You can select two nets in the Nets list, and create a new Differential Pair with them:

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Each Differential Pair is composed of a positive net and a negative net. On the Different Pair list,
you can select a pair, open the right-click menu and select:

l Swap to swap the positive and negative net

l Edit to open the Differential Pair editor
l Expand All Differential Pairs
l Collapse All Differential Pairs

In the Edit Differential Pairs dialog, you can delete pairs or auto detect Differential Pair with
postfixes of the positive and negative nets that are provided.

Working with the Components Window

The Components Window is a dockable window that is used to view and configure various
component settings; the window can be resized and relocated.

To show or hide the Components Window on the desktop, do one of the following:

l Click View > Components

l Right-click in the toolbars area at the top of the desktop, and then click Components on
the shortcut menu.

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A check box appears next to the command if the Components Window is visible.

The Components Window is used to configure various settings for components and entire classes
of components. With a component or component class selected, the following configuration
controls are available from the right-click menu. Note that with a component classification selected,
changed made will be applied to all components within the class.

l Type — Reclassify the component or component class type definition to Resistor,

Inductor, Capacitor, ID, IC, Other.
l Enable/Disable the component or component class.
l Model — Opens the Component Model dialog which allows you to change the
component or component class model definition including Die, Solder Ball, and Port
properties. Changing the model scope will update every reference designator that
belongs to the model definition.
l Create/Remove Ports for the component or component class.
l FitSelected — Fit the selected component or component class in the active view window.

For more information see Layout Based Component Encapsulation.

Working with the Progress Window

The Progress window monitors a simulation while it is running. Each simulation run will have its
own progress bar. Right-clicking the bar allows you to abort the simulation or view simulation
details.

In the image below, the Progress window is displaying the progress of a discrete frequency
sweep, which is nearing completion:

To display or hide the Progress window, do one of the following:

l Click the Show Progress or Hide Progress buttons on the status bar:

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l Click View> Progress Window.

A check box appears next to this command if the Progress window is visible.

l Right-click the history tree, and then click Progress on the shortcut menu.

A check box appears next to this command if the Progress window is visible.

When more than one progress bar is active, the top progress bar is represented on the status bar
with a progress indicator.

The progress window is also a dockable window, so you can position it where you like.

Related Topics

Stopping or Aborting Simulation Progress

Viewing Distributed Analysis Subtasks

Stopping or Aborting Simulation Progress

l To abort progress, right-click in the Progress window and select Abort.

l To stop the simulation cleanly between time steps, right-click in the Progress window and
select Clean Stop.

Related Topics

Aborting an Analysis

Viewing Distributed Analysis Subtasks

While a distributed analysis is running, you can access parent and child progress bars. By default,
only the main progress bar is displayed, while the child progress bars (or subtasks) remain hidden.
You can toggle between showing and hiding the child progress bars.

To show the child progress bars:

l Right-click the progress window, and select Show Subtask Progress Bars.

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To hide the child progress bars:

l Right-click the progress window, and select Hide Subtask Progress Bars.

Working with the 3D Modeler Window

The 3D Modeler window is the area where you create the model geometry. It appears to the right
of the Project Manager window after you insert an ANSYS Electronics Desktop design to a
project.

The 3D Modeler window consists of the model view area, or grid, and the history tree, as shown
below:

To open a new 3D Modeler window, do one of the following:

l Insert a new ANSYS Electronics Desktop design into the current project.
l Double-click an ANSYS Electronics Desktop design in the project tree.

The model you draw is saved with the current project when you click File>Save.

Objects are drawn in the 3D Modeler window. You can create 3D objects by using ANSYS
Electronics Desktop's Draw menu commands or you can draw 1D and 2D objects, and then
manipulate them to create 3D objects. For more information, see Drawing a Model.

You can modify the view of objects in the 3D Modeler window without changing their actual
dimensions or positions. Besides menu and icon commands, you can also use Alt-Click, mouse
buttons, and keyboard shortcuts.

For more information, see Modifying the Model View.

Related Topics

Working with the History Tree

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Modifying the Model View

Keyboard shortcuts for the 3D Modeler Window.

Working with the History Tree

The history tree in the 3D Modeler window lists all the active model's structure and grid details.

You can perform the following tasks with the History Tree.

l Expand or Collapse Folders in the History Tree

l History Tree Layout Commands
l Group Commands for Modeler Objects
l Select Objects in the History Tree
l Use Shortcut Menus in the History Tree
l View Properties for History Tree Objects
l View and Edit Commands on History Tree Objects
l Control the View of Objects in the History Tree
l Select All Objects in a History Tree Group
l Upgrade Version

The history tree contains the following model details:

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Invalid Lists all invalid objects

3D Lists any 3D components added to the design, listing their Solids, Coordinate
Component Systems, and Planes, separately from objects drawn in the modeler, or imported to
Names the modeler.
Solids Displays all the model's solid objects and a history of the commands carried out on
each object.
Sheets Displays all the sheets in the model 3D design area. By default, HFSS groups
sheet objects by boundary assignment.
Lines Displays all line objects included in the active model.

See Drawing a Straight Line for information on how to draw a line object.
Points Displays all point objects included in the active model.

See Drawing a Point for information on how to draw a point object.

Groups Displays folders for Groups you have created or imported. See Group Commands
for Modeler Objects.
Coordinate Displays all the coordinate systems for the active model.
Systems
See Setting Coordinate Systems for more information on this model detail.
Planes Displays the planes for all the coordinate systems. When you create a coordinate
system, default planes are created on its xy, yz, and xz planes.
Lists Displays the object or face lists for the active model. By default, a list called
“AllObjects” appears.

Creating an object list is a convenient way to identify a group of objects for a field
plot or calculation.

Creating a face list is a convenient way to identify a specific set of surfaces for a
field plot or calculation.

See Creating an Object List

Note While objects created in HFSS can always be classed in the history tree as either a solid,
sheet, or wire some imported objects may have mixture of these. HFSS places such
objects in an Unclassified folder in the history tree.

Related Topics

Purge History

Generate History

Selecting Several Objects

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Creating an Object List

Expand or Collapse Folders in the History Tree

You can expand or collapse folders in the history tree by left clicking the + or - respectively. In
addition, right-clicking on any folder opens a pull-down to expand all folder or collapse all folders.

Related Topics

Selecting Objects in the History Tree

History Tree Layout Commands

A set of History Tree Layout commands lets you organize objects by material, assignment, by
component definition. By default there is no further organization within groups. Check “Also
Organize Within Groups” to extend organize settings within groups.

If the design does not contain material assignments, sheets, components, or groups, the menu
items are disabled. You can access the History Tree Layout commands by clicking
Modeler>History Tree Layout or by right-clicking on the Model icon in the history tree (as shown
above). You click on [-] to close a hierarchy and [+] to open one.

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Related Topics

Select Objects in the History Tree

Group Commands for Modeler Objects

Select Objects in the History Tree

Selecting objects in the History tree also selects them in the View window. This can be useful for
complex objects, when it may be easier to find the objects of interest by name or material, if the
object of interest is inside or behind others.

You can use CTLR-click to make multiple selections in the History tree. You can select a range of
objects by a click on the first, and then SHIFT-Click to select all in the range. You can also use click
and drag the mouse to make rubber band selections. Only visible objects are selected. That is, if
the hierarchy is closed under the selection, any operand parts are ignored and do not interfere with
cut and paste operations.

If you select Model in the History tree and right-click the shortcut menu offers these choices:

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You can also right click on any History tree object or grouping and right click to display a shortcut
menu with a Select All option. This lets you select at one time all non-grouped solids, sheets, lines,
non-model objects, or all unclassified objects, as well as all non-grouped objects assigned to
specific materials.

For example, right-click on Solids and then Select All:

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After clicking Select All, the History tree and the Model window highlight the selected Solid
Objects. Notice that Box1 and Cylinder1 are not selected because they are in Group1.

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The right-click for Model and Select All does select the members of Group1 because they are part
of the model.

If you select a geometric object, such as a Box or Cylinder, the shortcut menu Select command
offers choices to select All Faces, All Edges, or Sheet Edges for that object.

Related Topics

History Tree Layout Commands

Group Commands for Modeler Objects

Shortcut Menus in the History Tree

If you select particular objects in the history tree, right-click displays a shortcut menu lists the
commands that you can apply to the selected command, object, or objects. The shortcut menus for
model objects are most extensive.

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If you right click on a model or category such as Solids, Sheets, Lines, or a material in the History
tree, the short cut menu includes a Select All command.

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The behavior of the shortcut Select All command depends on the History tree model, object or
property icon from which you invoke the shortcut menu. For explanation and examples, see Select
Objects in the History tree.

If you select an object in the History tree, the menu offers selections for that object.

In other cases, you can only view properties, or expand or collapse hierarchy.

Related Topics

View Properties for History Tree Objects

View and Edit Commands on History Tree Objects

View Item Properties in the History Tree

To view the properties of an item in the history tree:

l Click the item's name in the history tree.

The item's properties appears in the docked Properties window.

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l Double-click on an item in the history tree to display a Properties window.

l Click the item's name in the history tree, and double right click to display a shortcut menu.
Then select Properties to display the Properties window.

Related Topics

Purge History

Generate History

Selecting Several Objects

Selecting All from a History Tree Grouping

View and Edit Commands on History Tree Objects

The history tree also lists the history of all commands carried out a model's objects, for example,
“CreateBox” or “Subtract.” This history is displayed in the order in which it occurred. Here is a
history tree from the waveguide combiner example.

Selecting a command in the history highlights the object in the Modeler window and shows that
object's properties (if available) in the docked Properties dialog. You can look at the fields in the
Properties dialog to see any editable fields for that command, such as coordinate system, line type,
coordinates, or units.

For some commands, such as Edit>Arrange>Move, or boolean operations, selecting them in the
history tree enables the X (delete) icon on the toolbar and the Edit>Delete menu. In these cases,
you can delete those commands from the history tree as a way of undoing those operations. As an
alternative to deletion, you can check Suppress command in the Properties window for that

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command. This undoes the effect of a command on an object without removing it from the History
tree.

Related Topics

Select Objects in the History Tree

Purge History command

Generate History command

Controlling the View of Objects in the History Tree

To control the view and visibility of an object such as a box or PML, right click on an object in the
history tree display the short-cut menu and select View. The short cut menu contains the following
commands:

l Fit in Active View

l Hide in Active View
l Show in Active View
l Fit in All Views
l Hide in All Views
l Show in All Views

Related Topics

Purge History

Generate History

Selecting Several Objects

Upgrade Version in History Tree Shortcut Menu

By right-clicking on an operation icon in the history tree in the Modeler window, you can see the
Upgrade Version command.

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The Modeler by default opens the legacy project in previous (what ever that the project was saved
with) ACIS version so that you don't see side effects of slight topology changes between ACIS
versions. If you want you can use Upgrade Version to move the operation to use latest ACIS code.
Typically this applies when a needed fix is available with new ACIS version.

Related Topics

Working with the History Tree

Keyboard Shortcuts for the 3D Modeler Window

By default, the following keyboard shortcuts apply to the 3D Modeler Window

l B: Select face/object behind current selection

l F: Select faces mode
l O: Select objects mode
l E: Select edges mode
l V: Select vertices mode
l M: Multi select mode
l CTRL + A: Select all visible objects
l CTRL + SHIFT + A: Deselect all objects
l CTRL + D: Fit view
l CTRL + E: Zoom in, screen center
l CTRL + F: Zoom out, screen center
l SHIFT + LMB: Zoom in / out
l Alt + double-click to change to one of nine model orientations
l Alt + LMB: Rotate model
l Alt + SHIFT + LMB: Zoom in / out
l Alt + 2xLMB: Sets model projection to standard isometric projections (cursor must be in
corner of model screen N/NE/E/SE/S etc)
l F3: Switch point entry mode to mouse (draw objects by mouse). This switch takes effect only
after the drawing of an object has started.

l F4: Switch to dialog entry mode (draw objects by entry in the command and attribute box).
This switch takes effect only after the drawing of an object has started.

l F6: Render model wire frame

l F7: Render model smooth shaded

Note LMB means Left Mouse Button

To customize the shortcut assignments, use Tools>Keyboard Shortcuts.

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Related Topics

Keyboard Shortcuts for General Purposes

Custom Keyboard Shortcuts

Moving and Resizing Windows

Project Manager Window

Property Window

Message Manager

Design Area

Progress Window

Layout Window

Nets Window

Top Menu Bar

ANSYS Electronics Desktop Toolbars

Customize ANSYS Electronics Desktop Menus

External Tools

Shortcut Menus

Shortcut Keys

Undoing Commands

Online Help

ANSYS Electronics Desktop Tutorials

Working with the Message Manager

The Message Manager displays messages associated with a project's development, such as
error messages about a design's setup or informational messages about the progress of an
analysis. Error messages contains timestamps with a precision of seconds. Each solve of a given
frequency, adaptive pass or Optimetrics variation is independent and generates its own messages.
This means in some situations, the same error message can be generated multiple times.

The MessageManager window displays informational messages about various processes in

ANSYS Electronics Desktop, including messages related to simulations and any errors they may
have produced.

To display or hide the Message Manager:

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l Click View> Message Manager

A check box appears next to this command if the Message Manager is visible.
or
l Click the Show Messages or Hide Messages buttons on the Status bar.

Messages in the Message Manager window are organized first by project, then by circuit.
Because a design can contain multiple circuits and subcircuits, sometimes with multiple analyses
for each, this organization helps you to quickly determine where errors have occurred. The
following icons appear next to a message to indicate information, warnings, errors, or actions:

Indicates an informative message.

Indicates a warning message that may require your attention.

Indicates an error message that may require your attention.

Indicates the existence of an action that is associated with the message. Click on the
message to invoke the action (the cursor will change to a hand icon when it is placed over
the action message).

If you right click in the Message Manager window, you see a popup menu that lets you:

l Clear messages for the current model.

l Copy messages to the clipboard. This can be helpful for sending messages to application
engineers.

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l Details opens an information dialog that contains the project and design data for the
specified message.
l Go to Reference allows you to right-click on an intersection error message after running a
validation check. This selects intersecting objects in the current design being validated.

Related Topics

Action Messages

Clearing Messages

Hiding the Message Manager Window Until Messages Appear

Moving the Message Manager Window

Showing New Messages

Expand the Message Manager Tree Automatically

Setting the Message Manager to Open Automatically

Setting the Message Manager to Open Automatically

You can set the Message Manager to open automatically to show new messages and errors and
warnings.

Related Topics

Showing new messages

Expand the Message Manager Tree Automatically

Showing new messages

You can set the Message Manager to automatically be brought up when a new message appears.

1. Click Tools>Options>General Options.

The Options dialog box appears.

2. Expand General and click User Interface.

3. Under General, select Show Message Window on new messages.
4. Click OK.

Expand the Message Manager Tree Automatically

You can set the Message Manager Tree to automatically expand when a new message is added.

1. Click Tools>Options>General Options.

The Options dialog box appears.

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2. Expand General and click User Interface.

3. Under General, select Ensure that new messages are visible in the Message Window
Tree.
4. Click OK.

Action Messages

Messages displayed in the Message Manager can be associated with actions that can be invoked
in order to address a condition you are alerted to by the message. If a message has an associated
action, a magnifying-glass icon will be present to the left of the message icon. When the cursor
moves over a message with an action, the cursor changes to a hand.

You can invoke a message action by single-clicking on the magnifying-glass icon, double-clicking
the message, or by right-clicking on the message and choosing Go To Reference from the popup
menu that appears.

One example of a message-associated action would be the selection of an associated object:

Another example would be the opening of a related dialog:

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Clearing Messages

The Message Manager clears at the start of each analysis. To manually clear messages, right-
click the message tree and select Clear Messages for <ProjectName>, where <ProjectName> is
the name of the project for which you want to clear messages.

Hiding the Message Manager Window until Messages Appear

If you prefer to hide the Message Manager until a message is added:

1. Turn off the Progress window display by deselecting the Progress Window check box on
the View menu in the Top Menu Bar. For more information see the View Pulldown Menu.
2. Click Tools > Options > General Options.
3. Select Show message window on new messages.

The Message window will re-open when ANSYS Electronics Desktop reports any errors,
warnings, or successful completion of any simulations.

Moving the Message Manager Window

The Message Manager window is a dockable window. It can be moved and sized any way you
want it and it can attach itself to any edge of the ANSYS Electronics Desktop. There are controls
on the window when it is docked.

Design Area
The Design Area of the desktop can display one or more editor windows and report windows,
depending on the type of designs you create or load. See the Window Pulldown Menu topic for

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ways to manipulate the windows in the Design Area.

Related Topics

3D Modeler Window

Schematic Editor Window

Layout Editor Window

Layout Window

Netlist Editor Window

Report Window

Report Window

When a design has been successfully simulated, you can generate a report of results in a wide
variety of forms, including XY graphs, polar graphs, 3D graphs, Smith charts, and data tables.
Various attributes of each can be customized to your liking. Here is an example of a 2D Report:

For more information, see Postprocessing and Generating Reports.

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Layout Window
The Layout Window is a dockable ANSYS Electronics Desktop window that can be resized and
relocated, and can be used to view and configure various layout settings. Use the right-click menu
of the Layout Window to configure the following:

l Set Active: Makes the current layer the active layer

l Show This Layer Only: Makes the current layer the only visible layer
l Show All Dielectrics: Makes all Dielectric layers visible
l Hide All Dielectrics: Makes all Dielectric layers invisible
l Show All Signals: Makes all Signal layers visible
l Hide All Signals: Makes all Signal layers invisible

Use the Layout Window to alter the following controls for setting visibility by layout-object type.

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The following controls are available:

Controls the visibility of shapes

Controls the visibility of lines (paths)

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Controls the visibility of pads

Controls the visibility of holes

Controls the visibility of components

You can also turn visibility off for all nets but the selected net by clicking Show This Net Only from
the right-click menu on the Layout Window.

Nets Window
The Nets Window is used to view and configure various net settings. It is a dockable ANSYS
Electronics Desktop window that can be resized and relocated.

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For more information see Working with the Nets Window.

Top Menu Bar

The TopMenu bar contains pulldown menus for controlling ANSYS Electronics Desktop and the
various editors and viewers. Left-click on a TopMenu bar entry to open its pulldown menu. In
addition, the Alt key makes it easy to access the TopMenu bar pulldowns.

l A pulldown menu in the TopMenu bar can be opened by clicking the Alt key and then
pressing the underlined letter of the menu you wish to activate (the underlines appear when
the Alt key is pressed). Use lower case for the underlined letters.
l Clicking the Alt key enables you to scroll across the TopMenu bar, opening the pulldown
menus, by pressing the left (Ü) and right (Þ) arrow keys.

Once a pulldown is open, you can use the down (ß) and up (Ý) arrows to change the selection. You
can use the right (Þ) arrow key to open a subordinate menu for the selected command. Operations
on the pulldown menus can be executed in three ways:

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l Left-clicking on the operation.

l Typing the underlined letter as shown in the menu (for example, typing the “n” in New on the
File pulldown menu). Type all underlined letters in lower case.
l Using a shortcut key combination as shown in the menu (for example, CTRL-n for the New
command on the File pulldown. Type all shortcut keys in lower case. Shortcut key
combinations are valid whether or not the pulldown is visible. See Shortcut Keys for a listing.

Shortcut Menu in the Toolbars Area

Use the shortcut menu in the toolbars area of the desktop to toggle the show/hide settings for
various desktop windows and toolbars. To access the shortcut menu, right-click in the toolbars
area at the top of the desktop.

When a project is loaded, from left to right, the ANSYS Electronics Desktop pulldown
menus are:

File   Edit   View Project   Draw Design-Editor Tools   Window   Help

These pulldown menus are described in the following sections.

Related Topics

File

Edit

View

Project

Draw

Design Editor

Tools

Window

Help

The File Pulldown Menu

The File pulldown menu items are common operations on files and projects. You can search the
Online Help or use the Online Help Index to find information on any of the commands that appear
on ANSYS Electronics Desktop menus.

l Click New (or type n) to set up a new project. When the project icon appears in the Project
Manager window, use the Project pulldown menu to open a new design.
l Click Open (or type o) to open an existing project. The File Open window appears.
Browse to the directory containing the project file, select the file, and then click OK.

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l Click Open Examples to open an example project. The File Open window appears with
the Examples directory displayed. Browse to the directory containing the example project
file, select the file, and then click OK.
l Click Close (or type c) to close the selected project. If the project has changed since the
last save, you will be prompted to save the project before closing.
l Click Save (or type s) to save the selected project.
l Click Save As (or type a) to save the selected project under a different name or in a
different directory.
l Click Save As Technology File (or type t) to save the selected top-level design as a
technology file (*.asty). A dialog box opens, allowing you to specify a directory and file
name in which to save the design. You must have a design selected to activate this menu
item. You cannot export a technology file from a project or from a subcircuit.
l Click Archive to archive the selected project and any selected additional files. If the
project has changed since the last save, you will be prompted to save the project before
closing. The Archive Options window appears with a field to enter notes, options for
external files, results/solution files, and additional files. You can also preview the archive.
l Click Restore Archive (or type r) to restore a previously archived project. The Archive to
Restore window appears. Browse to the directory containing the archived project, select
the file, and then click Open.
l Click Page Setup (or type u) to set up formatting to print the active window in the Design
Area. The setup includes formatting such as borders and labels that is specific to the
editor (Schematic, Layout, etc.) in the active window.
l Click Print Preview (or type v) to display a preview of the print job.
l Click Print (or type p) to print the active window.
l Click Import to open a submenu that allows you to choose what type of file to import. For
more information see Importing and Exporting Data.
l Click Export to open a submenu that allows you to choose what type of file to export. For
more information see Importing and Exporting Data.
l Click on the name of a project (or type its number) to open a project from the listing of
recently-opened projects.
l Click Exit (or type x) to exit ANSYS Electronics Desktop. If any project has unsaved
changes, you will be prompted to save the project before closing.

Edit Pulldown Menus

There are five different Edit pulldown menus, depending on the active window in the Design Area.
These pulldown menus are described in the following sections.

Related Topics

Schematic Editor

Layout Editor

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3D Layout Viewer

Netlist Editor

Report Window

Edit Pulldown for Schematic Editor

When the Schematic Editor is the active window in the Design Area, the Edit pulldown menu
appears similar to the following:

You can search the Online Help or use the Online Help Index to find information on any of the
commands that appear on ANSYS Electronics Desktop menus.

Edit Pulldown for Layout Editor

When the Layout Editor is the active window in the Design Area, the Edit pulldown menu appears
similar to the following:

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You can search the Online Help or use the Online Help Index to find information on any of the
commands that appear on ANSYS Electronics Desktop menus.

Edit Pulldown for 3D Layout Viewer

When the 3D Layout Viewer is the active window, the Edit pulldown menu appears similar to the
following:

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You can search the Online Help or use the Online Help Index to find information on any of the
commands that appear on ANSYS Electronics Desktop menus.

Edit Pulldown for Netlist Editor

When the Netlist Editor is the active window, the Edit pulldown menu appears similar to the
following:

You can search the Online Help or use the Online Help Index to find information on any of the
commands that appear on ANSYS Electronics Desktop menus.

Edit Pulldown for Report Window

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When the Report Window is the active window, the Edit pulldown menu appears similar to the
following:

You can search the Online Help or use the Online Help Index to find information on any of the
commands that appear on ANSYS Electronics Desktop menus.

The View Pulldown

To control the display of the ANSYS Electronics Desktop and the active editor or report window,
open the View pull-down menu. There are four different View pulldown menus, depending on the
active window in the Design Area. These pulldown menus are described in the following sections.

Related Topics

Basic View Menu

Schematic Editor View Menu

Layout Editor View Menu

3D Layout Viewer Menu

Basic View Menu

The basic View pulldown menu appears similar to the following and is displayed when no editor is
open in the Design area, and when the Netlist Editor or Report Window is active.

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l The check boxes select/deselect the display of the Status Bar, Message Manager
Window, Project Manager, Property Window, and Progress Window. You can enable
the display of Component Libriaries, Layers, Nets, Components and Variables
windows.
l The View>Wizards command opens the Wizards window which lets you work with ACT
integration tools. For more information, see the Wizards Window section.
l The Windows Layouts submenu lets you restore the Default Layout, Save Current
Layout by specifying a name in a dialog, or Remove Saved Layouts by selecting from a
dialog list.

l When a box is checked, the corresponding window is displayed. Click on a checkmark to

deselect the display of that ANSYS Electronics Desktop window. Click again to toggle the
display on.

You can search the Online Help or use the Online Help Index to find information on any of the
commands that appear on ANSYS Electronics Desktop menus.

Schematic Editor View Menu

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The following View pulldown menu appears similar to the following and is available when the
Schematic Editor is the active window:

l The check boxes select/deselect the display of the Status Bar, Message Manager
Window, Project Manager, Property Window, and Progress Window. When a box is
checked, the corresponding window is displayed. Click on a checkmark to deselect the
display of that ANSYS Electronics Desktop window. Click again to toggle the display on.
Refer to the Schematic Editor topic for details on the Zoom, Redraw, and Pan operations.

You can search the Online Help or use the Online Help Index to find information on any of the
commands that appear on ANSYS Electronics Desktop menus.

Layout Editor View Menu

The View pulldown menu appears similar to the following and is available when the Layout Editor
is the active window:

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l The check boxes select/deselect the display of the Status Bar, Message Manager
Window, Project Manager, Property Window, and Progress Window. When a box is
checked, the corresponding window is displayed. Click on a checkmark to deselect the
display of that ANSYS Electronics Desktop window. Click again to toggle the display on.
Refer to the Layout Editor topic for details regarding the various View menu operations.

You can search the Online Help or use the Online Help Index to find information on any of the
commands that appear on ANSYS Electronics Desktop menus.

3D Layout Viewer Menu

The following View pulldown menu appears similar to the following and is available when the 3D
Layout Viewer is the active window:

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l The check boxes select/deselect the display of the Status Bar, Message Manager
Window, Project Manager, Property Window, and Progress Window. When a box is
checked, the corresponding window is displayed. Click on a checkmark to deselect the
display of that ANSYS Electronics Desktop window. Click again to toggle the display on.

You can search the Online Help or use the Online Help Index to find information on any of the
commands that appear on ANSYS Electronics Desktop menus.

ACT Extensions Window

The View>ACT Extensions command opens the ACT Extensions window for toolkit extensions
implemented via ANSYS ACT. Depending on how you size and arrange the desktop, the
appearance may vary. You may choose to detach and size the window to suit your needs.

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Double-click on the Wizards icon to load existing toolkits. To use an existing Wizard, you must
activate it by clicking on the Extensions Manager area. This changes the view to show any existing
Extensions that you could activate. If there are many available extensions, you can use the Search
field to find the ones you want. Search is not case sensitive.

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Click to load the desired extension. After a few moments, the extension is loaded and highlighted to
show the change in status. A second click at this point would unload the extension..

Click the back arrow icon to return to the start page.

You then click the Wizards icon to execute the loaded extensions.

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An icon displays to show the loaded extension.

Click on the icon to launch.

The selected Wizard operates in the window.

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Related Topics

HFSS Antenna Design Toolkit

The Project Pulldown Menu

To create (insert) a new design, you must first open a new project folder by selecting New from the
File pulldown. Then select a project to insert from the Project pulldown menu. Or you can click the
icon corresponding to the type of design you wish to create.

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You can search the Online Help or use the Online Help Index to find information on any of the
commands that appear on any ANSYS Electronics Desktop menus.

Layout Editor Draw Menu

The Draw menu for the Layout Editor is context sensitive and appears slightly different
depending on the type of design that is loaded.

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You can search the Online Help or use the Online Help Index to find information on any of the
commands that appear on ANSYS Electronics Desktop menus.

Editor and Design Specific Pulldown Menus

The Top Menu bar contains editor and design pulldown menus that are specific to the editor or
viewer that is active in the Design area. The specific pulldown menus will correspond to the type of
design that is inserted using the Project menu.

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You can search the Online Help or use the Online Help Index to find information on any of the
editor-specific pulldowns that appear on ANSYS Electronics Desktop Top Menu bar.

Tools Pulldown Menu

The Tools pulldown contains operations that are common to the analysis tools.

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You can search the Online Help or use the Online Help Index to find information on any of the
commands that appear on ANSYS Electronics Desktop menus.

Window Pulldown Menu

The Window pulldown contains common window control operations. This section describes these
operations and other ways to manipulate the editor windows in the Design Area.

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l Click New Window (or type n) to open a new window in the Design Area. The new window
will show the active design.
l Click Cascade (or type c) to arrange the open design windows in overlapping sequence:

You can use the Cascade operation to restore all windows to their default sizes after one or more
of them have been maximized (enlarged to fill the entire Design Area).

l Click Tile Horizontally (or type h) to arrange the open design windows in a top-to-bottom
sequence:

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l Click Tile Vertically (or type v) to arrange the open design windows in a side-to-side
sequence:

Hint You can use the shortcut key sequences CTRL-0, CTRL-1, and CTRL-2 to execute the
Cascade, Tile Horizontal, and Tile Vertical operations, respectively. The shortcuts can be
used at any time, bypassing the Window pulldown.

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l Click Arrange Icons (or type a) to restore iconized windows to a neat row at the bottom of
the Design Area, after the icons have been repositioned manually. See Working with Editor
Windows for details on iconizing editor windows and on repositioning the iconized windows.
l Click Close All (or type l) to close all the editor windows in the Design Area.

Related Topics

Working with Editor Windows

Working with Editor Windows

Each editor window in the Design Area has size controls in its top bar:

Clicking the white rectangle on the left opens a popup:

The Move and Size operations are not needed. To move an editor window, drag it by the top bar
into the desired location. To resize an editor window, position the cursor at an edge or corner, and
drag the border in or out.

l Click Minimize (or use the Minimize icon) to collapse the design window into an icon:

l Clicking the white rectangle on an iconized window opens the same popup as the one
shown above. To restore an iconized window to its previous size (cascaded or maximized),

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click the white rectangle, then select Restore on the popup. Alternatively, use the Cascade
or Maximize buttons on the icon to restore the window to the desired configuration. Use the
Close button to close the iconized editor window. Reposition the icons anywhere in the
Design area by dragging them with the left mouse button. To restore the icons to a neat row
at the bottom of the Design Area, use the Arrange Icons command on the Window
pulldown.
l To relocate an iconized window in the Design Area, drag it with the left mouse button.
l Click Maximize (or use the Maximize icon) to enlarge the editor window to fill the entire
Design Area. In this configuration, Minimize, Cascade, and Close icons appear at the upper
right of the ANSYS Electronics Desktop, on the same level as the Top Menu bar:

l To restore a maximized window to its initial size and top bar, use the Cascade operation.
l Click Close (or use the Close icon) to close an editor window.
l Click Next to move the active focus to another editor window.
l See Design Area for a summary of the available editor windows.

Help Menu

The Help Menu displays different selections depending upon the type of design inserted to the
active project (Circuit, HFSS, and so on). The following describes the basic selections displayed on
the Help Menu.

l HFSS Help opens to the product help within the Electronics help system.
l HFSS Scripting Help opens to the product's scripting help.
l HFSSGetting Started Guides opens to a list of links to the product's Getting Started
Guides. These Getting Started Guides walk you through projects that demonstrate features
of the product solvers.
l HFSS PDFs opens a menu that links to PDFs for HFSS Help, HFSSScripting, and
HFSSGetting Started Guides. These PDFs provide a format and function that is better
suited for printing. For example, you can print ranges of pages encompassing topics and
subtopics as needed.
l ANSYS Customer Support opens a browser page to the ANSYS Customer Portal. At the
website you can learn more about ANSYS products and services and log on to contact
ANSYS technical support staff.
l What’s New in this Release opens a PDF that describes What’s New in ANSYS
Electronics Desktop for the release.

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l ANSYS Product Improvement Program opens a dialog that describes the Product
Improvement Program option.

Note You can disable the ANSYS Product Improvement Program for all users so that
each user is not prompted to enable the Program when they first start Electronics
Desktop. To do this, after installing the software, run the following command as a
user with permissions to modify the installed fileset::
UpdateRegistry.exe -set -ProductName ElectronicsDesktop2018.0 -
RegistryKey
Desktop/Settings/ProjectOptions/ProductImprovementOptStatus -
RegistryLevel install -RegistryValue 1

l About ANSYS Electronics Desktop opens a dialog that displays the ANSYS®
Electromagnetics Suite release number and contains tabs that show information about the
Installed Components and Client License Settings.

For more information, see Getting Help.

The ANSYS Product Improvement Program

This product is covered by the ANSYS Product Improvement Program, which enables ANSYS,
Inc., to collect and analyze anonymous usage data reported by our software without affecting your
work or product performance. Analyzing product usage data helps us to understand customer
usage trends and patterns, interests, and quality or performance issues. The data enable us to
develop or enhance product features that better address your needs.
How to Participate

The program is voluntary. To participate, select Yes when the Product Improvement Program
dialog appears. Only then will collection of data for this product begin.
How the Program Works

After you agree to participate, the product collects anonymous usage data during each session.
When you end the session, the collected data is sent to a secure server accessible only to
authorized ANSYS employees. After ANSYS receives the data, various statistical measures such
as distributions, counts, means, medians, modes, etc., are used to understand and analyze the
data.
Data We Collect

For all products that offer the ANSYS Product Improvement Program, we only collect anonymous
data such as session statistics, hardware information, types of loading, solution types, solution
statistics, and similar data. The specific data collected varies from product to product.

For ANSYS Electronics, we collect the following information:

l Application
o Build information

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o System information
n Country
n Country code
n CPU architecture
n CPU brand
n CPU identifier
n Graphics card
n Operating system
n Operating system version
n Processor count
n Time zone
n Total RAM value
l Session
o Workbench session
o Total CPU time
o Execution mode
o Start method
o Number of processes
o Number of compute nodes (HPC)
o Session begin
o Session end
l Mesh
o Number of nodes
o Number of elements
o Number of zones
o Number of faces
Data We Do Not Collect

The Product Improvement Program does not collect any information that can identify you
personally, your company, or your intellectual property. This includes but is not limited to names,
addresses, file names, part names, geometry- or design-specific inputs, material property values,
etc. We make no record of where we collect data from.
Opting Out of the Program

You may stop your participation in the program any time you wish. To do so, select ANSYS
Product Improvement Program from the Help menu. A dialog appears and asks if you want to
continue participating in the program. Select No and then click OK. Data will no longer be collected
or sent.

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The ANSYS, Inc., Privacy Policy

All ANSYS products are covered by the ANSYS, Inc., Privacy Policy, which you can read here.
Frequently Asked Questions

1. Am I required to participate in this program?

No, your participation is voluntary. We encourage you to participate, however, as it helps us

create products that will better meet your future needs.

2. Am I automatically enrolled in this program?

No. You are not enrolled unless you explicitly agree to participate.

3. Does participating in this program put my intellectual property at risk of being collected or
discovered by ANSYS?

No. We do not collect any project-specific, company-specific, or model-specific information.

4. Can I stop participating even after I agree to participate?

Yes, you can stop participating at any time. To do so, select ANSYS Product Improvement
Program from the Help menu. A dialog appears and asks if you want to continue participating
in the program. Select No and then click OK. Data will no longer be collected or sent.

5. Will participation in the program slow the performance of the product?

No, the data collection does not affect the product performance in any significant way. The
amount of data collected is very small.

6. How frequently is data collected and sent to ANSYS servers?

The data is collected during each use session of the product. The collected data is sent to a
secure server once per session, when you exit the product.

7. Is this program available in all ANSYS products?

Not at this time, although we are adding it to more of our products at each release. The program
is available in a product only if this ANSYS Product Improvement Program description appears
in the product documentation, as it does here for this product.

8. If I enroll in the program for this product, am I automatically enrolled in the program for the
other ANSYS products I use on the same machine?

Yes. Your enrollment choice applies to all ANSYS products you use on the same machine.
Similarly, if you end your enrollment in the program for one product, you end your enrollment for
all ANSYS products on that machine.

9. How is enrollment in the Product Improvement Program determined if I use ANSYS

products in a cluster?

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In a cluster configuration, the Product Improvement Program enrollment is determined by the

host machine setting.

Customize ANSYS Electronics Desktop Menus

Ansys Electronics Desktop comes with a default menu setup; the Top Menu Bar. ANSYS
Electronics Desktop allows you to modify the top menu bar using customized UI setups. Using the
customized setups, you can modify default menus and their contents by adding, removing,
renaming, and relocating commands. You can also add commands that execute external scripts or
configure right-click menus for folders and items in the Project Tree, which allows for extensive
customization of the ANSYS Electronics Desktop Menus.

Customized setups are implemented using three named subfolders — RF, SI1, and SI2 — that
contain the xml files which configure the customized menu settings for the three UI types. The three
subfolders are stored in the following location:

l config/UI/ElectronicsDesktop/RF
l config/UI/ElectronicsDesktop/SI1
l config/UI/ElectronicsDesktop/SI2

Structure of the Config Folder

Each customized UI type has its own subfolder under config/UI/ElectronicsDesktop. Within these
three subfolders, xml files hold the menu configurations for different products as well as the right-
click menus for that UI type.

Switch Between Different UI Types

l To change the menu display from the default UI to any UI type, click Tools > Options >
General Options > General > Desktop Configuration. Then under the “Custom
Menu Set” dropdown list, choose the UI type that you wish to use, then click OK.
l To switch from a customized UI type back to the default UI, click Tools > Revert To
Default UI.

Add a New Customized UI Type

A new folder needs to be added to the config/UI/ElectronicsDesktop folder for any new customized
UI type that you want to build. You will put all the xml files for this UI type under this folder. This UI
type will appear in the dropdown list of the “UI Type” mentioned above for you to use.

For any UI type, Ansys ElectronicsDesktop will display default UI menus for the products/contexts
that are not in the xml files. If there is error processing any xml file, then default UI menu will be
displayed for that product. Please pay attention to the message window for the name of the
problematic xml file and suggestions on what to fix.

For any UI type, the xml files are only processed once when you first switched to that UI type. So
after you make any changes to any xml file, in order for it to be reprocessed, you need to go to “UI
Type” dropdown list, make sure that the correct UI type is selected, then click “OK”.

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Names of the xml Files

Below is the list of the xml files that can be put under the new folder that you created for the new UI
Type. If any of these xml files does not exist in this folder, then default menu setting will be
displayed for that product.

l NoDesignUI.xml — This is used for menu settings when no project is selected.

l CircuitDesign.xml — For Circuit Design projects
l HFSS 3D Layout Design.xml — For HFSS 3D Layout Design projects
l 2D Extractor.xml — For 2D Extractor projects
l Circuit Netllist.xml — For Circuit Netlist projects
l HFSS.xml — For HFSS projects
l HFSS-IE.xml — For HFSS-IE projects
l Q3D Extractor.xml — For Q3D projects
l RightClickMenu.xml — For all right click menu settings

Valid xml Elements and Attributes

1. Root Element is DesignerMenu:

l xmlns — Required attribute which needs to be set to the following:
<DesignerMenu xmlns="http://www.ansys.com/uiConfigMenu">
l UseProjectWindowSelectionContext — Child of DesignerMenu, It appears zero or one
time.

Note: This is only meaningful if it is used in NoDesignUI.xml. If this is set to true, then
clicking in the Project Window on the Project icon or the Definitions icon (or a subitem) will
show “Project” context in NoDesignUI.xml instead of active design context. No setting or
setting this to false makes this UI type behaves the same as the default behavior of Ansys
Electronics Desktop. The menus and toolbars are always shown for the active design
unless there’s no design at all.
l Context — Child of DesignerMenu. It appears at least one time. It has a required “name”
attribute. Detail about how to set the name of the context, please see “Context Name”
section below.
2. Child elements of Context:
l TopMenu — For RightClickMenu.xml, please do not use this element. You can specify
child elements of TopMenu listed below under Context. For any other xml files, you need
at least one TopMenu child element for any Context.
3. Child elements of TopMenu:
l MenuName — Required. It appears one and only one time.
l PopupMenu — It may appear one or multiple times.
l LeafMenu — It may appear one or multiple times.

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l CustomMenu — It may appear one or multiple times.

l Separator — It may appear one or multiple times.
4. Child elements of PopupMenu are the same as those of Topmenu.
5. Child elements of LeafMenu:
l MenuName — Optional, string.
Please pay attention to the character reference of & in xml. In order for the name of the
menu to be appeared as “Tools” as the default “Tools” menu, the xml syntax is :
<MenuName>&amp;Tool</MenuName>
“&amp; “is the character reference for”&” in xml, while “&Tool” is the way to tell Ansys
ElectronicsDesktop that Alt+T is the shortcut key for this menu.
l MenuID — Optional, number.
For a list of valid MenuIDs, please see Command IDs for Customizing AEDT
Menus.xlsx under <installdir>/AnsysEM<release_number>/[Win64 or Linux64]/Help.
l ShowBitMap — Optional, “Yes” or “No”. Default is set to “No”.
l Accelerator — Optional, string. Example: Ctrl+N.

Note:To add a new LeafMenu, both “MenuName” and “MenuID” are required.
6. CustomMenu: This is the menu to use when you want to add a customized menu to run
external script (vbs or python). Here’s the list of its child elements:
l MenuName: see LeafMenu for Usage
l ShowBitmap: see LeafMenu for Usage
l Accelerator: see LeafMenu for Usage
l ScriptPath: Required, string. This is used to supply path to the script
(use of $PROJECTDIR, $PERSONALLIB, $USERLIB, $SYSLIB variables is also
allowed).

Example:
<ScriptPath>C:/Users/jwei/Python/HelloWorld.vbs</ScriptPath>
or
<ScriptPath>$PERSONALLIB/HelloWorld.py</ScriptPath>

To add a new CustomMenu, both MenuName and ScriptPath are required.

7. Separator has no child element.
8. All elements have an optional attribute of “action”. Valid values are:
l add — Can be applied to all elements other than “DesignerMenu” or “Context” . This
element and all its child elements will be added to its parent. An optional attribute of
“position” can be followed here to specify the position of this newly added menu. Position
starts from 1. If no position is specified, this menu will be appended to its parent menu.
l useDefault — Default menus will be used for this menu(matched by MenuName or
MenuId). Any of it’s child menu will be processed according to its action setting.

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l delete — Can be applied to all elements other than “DesignerMenu” or “Context” . This
menu (matched by MenuName or MenuID) will be deleted from its parent.

Note:

l For “DesignerMenu” and “Context”, only no action setting or “useDefault” setting is valid.
l The action setting of “DesignerMenu” element has significant meaning since this is how
you specify if you want to construct your own menus or modify existing default menus. If
action is set to “useDefault” here, then default menu settings will be used except for the
menus you listed in your xml files will be processed according to their action settings. If no
action is set, then only the “File”, “Window” and “Help” menus will be displayed the same
as the default setting, no other menus from the default menus will be displayed. The
menus listed in the xml file will be displayed after the “File” menu, but before the “Window”
menu. No action is needed for any other elements in the xml file in this case. If any action
is specified for any element, you will receive an error message and a default menu will be
displayed for that context. A “Revert To Default” menu will be appended to the “Tools”
menu. If no “Tools” Menu is specified as a TopMenu, then a “Tools” menu will be created
before the “Window” menu with one “Revert To Default” menu item.
l For any other elements, missing action setting means that the parent action will be used.
l If any element’s action is set to “add”, then no action is needed for any of its child element.
If any action is specifieyped, it’ll be ignored. This menu and all of its child menus will be
added to the default menu.
l If any TopMenu or PopupMenu’s action is set to “delete”, then you don’t need to list any of
its child menu. This menu will be deleted with all of its child menus.

Context Name

1. The “name” attribute specifies the name of the context for this product. You can have an "All"
context if you set the action of DesignerMenu to UseDefault to specify a menu setting that
you want to apply to all contexts for that product.
2. Valid context name for different xml files:
l NoDesignUI.xml — “All”, “No Context”, “project”, “FilterDesign”
l CircuitDesign.xml — “All”, "SchematicEditor", “Layout”, “Netlist”, “report2d”
l HFSS 3D Layout Design.xml — “All”, “Design”, “Layout”, “Layout3D Editor”, “report2d”
l 2D Extractor.xml — “All”, “3d modeler”, “report2d”
l Circuit Netllist.xml —“All”, “Design”, “Netlist”
l HFSS.xml — “All”, “3d modeler”, “report2d”
l HFSS-IE.xml — “All”, “3d modeler”, “report2d”
l Q3D Extractor.xml — “All”, “3d modeler”, “report2d”
l RightClickMenu.xml

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1. Project Folder — “Project”

In the above figure, use “Project” for “Linckt_Export” project folder
2. Design Instance Folder — “Circuit Design”, “HFSS 3D Layout Design”, “HFSS”, “Q3D
Extractor”, “Circuit Netlist”, “HFSS-IE”, “2D Extractor”. For RCM for the ToolsObjects folder
that is generated by a Filter Design project, please use “ToolsObjects”.
In the above figure, use “Circuit Design” for “linearcircuit” design instance folder.
3. Definitions Folder — “Definitions”
In the above figure, use “Definitions” for “Definitions” folder.
4. For any Folder or Item under (2) and (3) above, use the “/” notation to specify the path to the
Folder or Item for context name.
In the above figure:
Use “Circuit Design/Results” for the “Results” folder.
Use “Circuit Design/Design Verification” for the “Design Verification”.
5. For any Folder or Item under (4) above, use context name for the Folder appended with
“/Item”.
In the above figure:
Use “Circuit Design/Optimetrics/Item” for ParametricSetup1.

Note l For the Report folder under Results, please use the context name for the
Results folder appended with "Result"; for example: "Circuit
Design/Results/Report".
l For the Trace folder under Report, please use the context name for the

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Report appended with "Trace"; for example: "Circuit

Design/Results/Report/Trace".

Sample xml Files

1. Circuit Netlist.xml Sample

<DesignerMenu xmlns="http://www.ansys.com/uiConfigMenu">

   <Context name="Design">
      <TopMenu>
         <MenuName>Insert</MenuName>
         <PopupMenu>
            <MenuName>S&amp;ubCircuit</MenuName>
            <LeafMenu>
               <MenuName>&amp;SubCircuit</MenuName>
               <MenuID>55500</MenuID>
               <ShowBitMap>No</ShowBitMap>
               <Accelerator></Accelerator>
            </LeafMenu>
            <LeafMenu>
               <MenuName>&amp;EM Design</MenuName>
               <MenuID>55502</MenuID>
               <ShowBitMap>No</ShowBitMap>
               <Accelerator></Accelerator>
            </LeafMenu>
         </PopupMenu>
         <Separator></Separator>
         <LeafMenu>
            <MenuName>Nexxim Solution &amp;Options ...</MenuName>
            <MenuID>38460</MenuID>
            <ShowBitMap>No</ShowBitMap>
            <Accelerator></Accelerator>
         </LeafMenu>
         <CustomMenu>
            <MenuName>CircuitHelloWorld</MenuName>
            <ScriptPath>$USERLIB/HelloWorld.vbs</ScriptPath>
            <ShowBitMap>No</ShowBitMap>
         </CustomMenu>
      </TopMenu>
   </Context>
</DesignerMenu>

Menus created by processing the above sample, Circuit Netlist.xml

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2. Circuit Design.xml Sample

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="no" ?>

<DesignerMenu xmlns="http://www.ansys.com/uiConfigMenu"
action="useDefault">

<UseProjectWindowSelectionContext>false</UseProjectWindowSelectionCo
ntext>

<Context name="All">

<TopMenu>

<MenuName>&amp;Project</MenuName>

<LeafMenu action="delete">

<MenuName>Insert HFSS Design</MenuName>

</LeafMenu>

<LeafMenu action="delete">

<MenuName>Insert HFSS 3D &amp;Layout Design</MenuName>

</LeafMenu>

<LeafMenu action="delete">

<MenuName>Insert HFSS-IE Design</MenuName>

</LeafMenu>

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<LeafMenu action="delete">

<MenuName>Insert Q3D Extractor Design</MenuName>

</LeafMenu>

<LeafMenu action="delete">

<MenuName>Insert 2D Extractor Design</MenuName>

</LeafMenu>

<LeafMenu action="delete">

<MenuName>Insert Circuit &amp;Netlist</MenuName>

</LeafMenu>

<LeafMenu action="delete">

<MenuName>Insert &amp;Filter Design ...</MenuName>

</LeafMenu>

<LeafMenu action="add">

<MenuName>Test</MenuName>

<MenuID>3333</MenuID>

</LeafMenu>

</TopMenu>

</Context>
</DesignerMenu>

Menus created by processing the above xml sample, Circuit Design.xml

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External Tools
To add an ExternalTools menu to ANSYS Electronics Desktop:

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1. Click Tools>External Tools. This displays the Customize User Tools Menudialog box.

If a User Tools menu has been previously defined, its contents are displayed in the Menu
Contents window. Navigation buttons allow you to Add, Remove, MoveUp and MoveDown
items which are displayed in the Menu Contents window.

2. Click the Add button. This enables the following fields:

Menu Text — Displays the text you want to appear in the UserTools menu.

Command — Displays the external executable. Click the browse button to navigate to the file
location.

Arguments — Specifies the argument to be associated with the command. Click the right-
arrow button to choose from the following: File Path, File Directory, File Name, File Extension,
Project Directory, or Temp Directory.

Initial Directory — Specifies an initial directory for the command to operate in. Click the
browse button to navigate to the file location. Click the right-arrow button to navigate through
your desktop or across the network.

3. Click OK to add the ExternalTools menu to ANSYS Electronics Desktop, or click Cancel to
close the dialog box without changes.

NOTES:

1. To execute a custom script using the ExternalTools customization, enter the name of the
program that will execute the script in the Command field and enter the location of the script
in the Arguments field. For example:

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For Windows, enter the name of the non-graphical Windows Script Host — ‘cscript’ — in the
Command field and enter the location of the script in the Arguments field:

VBScript

Command: cscript

Arguments: C:\scripts\myvbscript.vbs

JavaScript

Command: cscript

Arguments: C:\scripts\myjavascript.js

Shortcut Menus
Shortcut menus are available for many objects and windows in ANSYS Electronics Desktop,
including components in schematics, primitives in layouts, graph traces and grids, and icons in the
Desktop's Project Manager window. To open the shortcut menu for an object, right-click the
object.

Shortcut Keys
Various commands in the ANSYS Electronics Desktop software may be accessed through
keyboard shortcuts or “hot keys”. These keystroke combinations allow you to bypass the menu
system and directly execute commands. In addition, you may use the Keyboard Shortcuts dialog
box to customize the hotkeys associated with various ANSYS Electronics Desktop menu
commands.

Related Topics

Keyboard Shortcuts for General Purposes

Custom Keyboard Shortcuts

Desktop Shortcuts

Schematic Shortcuts

Layout Shortcuts

3D Viewer Shortcuts

Report Shortcuts

Netlist Editor Shortcuts

Desktop Shortcuts

Modifier + Hold down the modifier—such as SHIFT or CTRL—and press the key. Type all

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key shortcut keys in lower case.

The following ANSYS Electronics Desktop shortcut key combinations are available at any time:

Control-n New
Control-o Open
Control-p Print
Control-s Save
Control-0 Cascade windows
Control-1 Tile windows horizontally
Control-2 Tile windows vertically
Del Delete
F1 Open help

Layout Shortcuts

Modifier + Hold down the modifier—such as SHIFT or CTRL—and press the key. Type all
key shortcut keys in lower case.

The following Layout editor shortcut key combinations are available when the editor is open:

Control-a Select all

Control-Shift-a Unselect all
Control-c Copy
Control-d Fit drawing
Control-e Zoom in
Control-f Zoom out
Control-k Cross-probe for selected components in schematic editor
Control-m Align microwave ports
Control-q Zoom area
Control-r Rotate

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Control-v Paste
Control-w Add connection
Control-x Cut
Control-y Redo
Control-z Undo
Del Delete
Shift-drag Pan
Shift-alt-drag Zoom

3D Viewer Shortcuts

Modifier + Hold down the modifier—such as SHIFT or CTRL—and press the key. Type all
key shortcut keys in lower case.

The following 3-D Viewer shortcut key combinations are available when the 3D Viewer is open:

Control-d Fit drawing

Alt-drag Rotate view
Shift-drag Pan view
Shift-alt-drag Zoom view

Report Shortcuts

Modifier + Hold down the modifier—such as SHIFT or CTRL—and press the key. Type all
key shortcut keys in lower case.

The following Report shortcut key combinations are available when a Report window is open:

Control-a Select all traces

Control-c Copy selected trace
Control-v Paste

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Control-x Cut selected trace

Control-y Redo insert report
Control-z Undo insert report
Del Delete

Undoing Commands
The Undo command on the Edit menu for all editors and reports allows you to undo the last
command or operation you performed. Redo re-executes the last operation that was undone.

Note 1. You cannot undo an analysis that has been performed.

2. When you save a project, the undo/redo history is cleared for the project and its
designs.

Online Help
ANSYS Electronics Desktop features extensive online help documentation, including indexed
entries, text search, and context-sensitive help items. To access the main online help system, click
the Help entry on the ANSYS Electronics Desktop top menu bar.

For more information about the ANSYS Electronics Desktop online help system, see Getting Help.

ANSYS Electronics Desktop Tutorials

Now that you are familiar with the essentials of ANSYS Electronics Desktop, you are ready to
explore Getting Started with ANSYS Electronics Desktop, which contains a set of self-contained
tutorials that describe the suite of ANSYS Electronics Desktop product simulators.

Using the Password Manager to Control Access to Resources

ANSYS Electronics Desktop lets you specify library resources that require password access, and
encryption of those resources. For convenience, the same password can apply to multiple
resources. To access the Password Manager, click Tools>Password Manager. This displays
the Password Manager dialog.

To Specify a New Password Protected Resource

1. Click Tools>Password Manager.

This displays the Password Manager dialog

2. Click the New button.

This opens the New Encrypted Resource dialog.

3. Specify the name of the resource that you want to protect and click OK.

This displays the Enter Passwords dialog. This dialog has radio buttons to let you:

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l Enter Password and confirm for Full Access or for Execute Only Access.
l Use ANSYS Password (for execute only). This does not require you to enter a
password, but it is still encrypts the library.
4. Once you have selected a radio button, and, if necessary, specified passwords correctly,
click OK.

This displays the Password Manager with the resource listed.

To Encrypt a Resource

1. Select an existing resource to highlight it and enable the EncryptFile button.

2. This displays a File browser window
3. Select the appropriate Files of Type filter.

The choices are Circuit files (*.lib) and Ansoft Library files. For HFSS, chose Ansoft Library files.
Any existing resources in the selected directory will appear.

4. When you have selected the appropriate resource, click OK.

This encrypts the resource.

Note: The Expire resource on option lets you select the date when the password expires for the
relevant resource.

Running ANSYS Electronics Desktop from a Command Line

ANSYS Electronics Desktop includes line arguments that can be included when launching from a
command line or terminal prompt. All command-line arguments are case-insensitive. The
commands associated batch options can also be used with a Job Management Interface for
submitting jobs to ANSYS or RSM and other supported schedulers.

Command-line syntax

ansysedt <options> <run command> <project name/script name>

Run Commands

The following command line run commands are available in ANSYS Electronics Desktop. Of
the commands (BatchSave, BatchSolve, BatchExtract, RunScript, RunScriptandExit), one or
none must be used as arguments after the solver executable. Links to the valid options for each
run command are listed and/or linked to descriptions.

-BatchSave <project file name>

Saves a named project to the current version. This is primarily intended for converting
version 9 projects to version 10 when you intend to subsequently run them on a Linux
platform. The conversion from version 9 to version 10 must be done under Windows, HP, or
Solaris before those projects can run on a Linux system. You can run this command with the
-Iconic option, the -Logfile option, and the -ng option (no graphics).

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-BatchSolve

By default, solve all adaptive setups, sweeps, as well as Optimetrics setups found in the
project file. If parallel solve is possible, you can use the -Distribute option in conjunction with
-BatchSolve. You can run this command with the -Iconic option, the -Logfile option, the -
ng option (no graphics), and the -WaitForLicense option.

Additional parameters for batch solves include the following. It is good practice to put quotes
around the path to the solver executable, and the full path to the project. This ensures that
spaces in the path or project will not be an issue. The same is true of the design name, if
there are indeed spaces. The quotes must enclose the entire argument including the
Nominal or Optimetrics part.

[designName] - batch solve all setups for design with the name given under the project.

[designName]:Nominal - batch solve all nominal setups for design with the name given
under the project.

[designName]:Optimetrics - batch solve all Optimetrics setups for design with the name
given under the project.

[designName]:Nominal:[setupname] - batch solve the specified nominal setup for design

with the name given under the project. The setupname is case insensitive.

[designName]:Optimetrics:[setupname] - batch solve the specified Optimetrics setup for

design with the name given under the project. The setupname is case insensitive.

-Local | -Remote | -Distributed

Perform the -Batchsolve on a local machine, a remote machine, or as a distributed solve

using a specified machine list (see below). These command line options are mutually
exclusive. That is, only one of these options should be specified. The settings persist only for
the current session.

If you specify -Local, a machine list is not needed.

For -Remote, you should provide a machine list with a single hostname.

For -Distributed, you should provide a machine list or file path.

-Distributed takes optional arguments which modify the job distribution parameters. When
the optional parameters are not present, the behavior is single level distributed solves with
no change in order of precedence among possible distribution types.The optional
parameters are:

includetypes= <default> | <distribution type 1, distribution type 2, ...>

If the distribution types are specified, only the listed distribution types are enabled. If
default is specified, a default set of enabled distribution types will be used.

excludetypes= <default> | <distribution type 1, distribution type 2, ...>

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If the distributed types are specified, all distribution types except those listed will be
enabled. If default is specified, a default set of enabled distribution types will be used.

maxlevels= 1 | 2

This is the maximum level of job distribution. Right now, only single and double level
distribution is supported.

numlevel1= number of level 1 tasks

When two level distribution is enabled, numlevel1 specifies the number of level 1
tasks.

When using -Distributed:

l If neither includetypes= or excludetypes= are specified, default job distribution

types will be used.
l If maxlevels is not specified, multilevel distribution will be disabled.

See the Job Distribution tab in the Analysis Configuration dialog or the -help text for
valid values for job distribution types.

The -Machinelist command line option is used to specify the DSO Machines. This
command line option is only meaningful if -Distributed is specified. There are three different
formats for the -Machinelist command line option. The different formats are described
below.

-MachineList list="<machine1>, <machine2>, ..."

In this format, the DSO machines machine1,machine2,... are listed explicitly on the
command line. The machine names must be separated by commas. The machines may be
specified by IP address or by hostname, provided that the hostnames are able to be resolved
on the Desktop host. If the list contains any whitespace, it must be enclosed in quotes. The
number of distributed COM engines run on each host is equal to the number of times that the
hostname appears in the list. That is, if host1 appears in the list once, and host2 appears in
the list twice, then one COM engine will run on host1 and two COM engines will run on
host2.

list =<machine1, machine2, ...> accepts machine specifiers of the form:

<machine name>:<total number of tasks>:<total number of cores>.

For example:
list="Orion:4:8, Aries:3:12, Pluto:6:12"

With this form, duplicate machine names are not allowed, and the number of cores must be
greater than the number of tasks.

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-MachineList file="<machine list file path>"

In this format, the DSO machines are listed in a file. The machine names are listed in the text
file, one hostname per line. The pathname of the file is file_path_name. The machines may
be specified by IP address or by hostname, provided that the hostnames are able to be
resolved on the local host. The number of distributed COM engines run on each host is equal
to the number of times that the hostname appears in the list. That is, if host1 appears in the
list once, and host2 appears in the list twice, then one COM engine will run on host1 and two
COM engines will run on host2.

file=<machine list file path> will also accept machine specifiers in the specified file using the
format.

<machine name>:<total number of tasks>:<total number of cores>.

For example:
"Orion:4:8, Aries:3:12, Pluto:6:12"

With this form, duplicate machine names are not allowed, and the number of cores must be
greater than the number of tasks.

You can use either form of the -MachineList option to indicate the machine(s) on which to
run a distributed batchsolve. The settings persist only for the current session.

Example:

C:\AnsysEM19.0\Win64\ansysedt -distributed -machinelist

list="255.255.1.1,255.255.1.2" -batchsolve design_transient:Optimetrics "C:\distrib_
project.aedt"

When you use a file to define the machines available for a distributed solve you should list the
machine addresses or names on separate lines:
192.168.1.1

192.168.1.2

(etc)

-MachineList num = <numb distributed engines>

The "-machinelist num=n" option is now required for batch jobs. This format is used when a
scheduler (such as LSF, PBS, SGE or Windows HPC) is used to manage the jobs sent to a
cluster of hosts. In a scheduler environment, you can specify the number tasks for distributed
processing. In this case, you do not specify the machine names after the flag because the
names are provided by the scheduler. For example, in the Windows HPC environment, you
can write the number of tasks as follows.
-machinelist num=4

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The COM engines will be distributed across the hosts allocated to the job by the scheduler.

-auto

If you specify -auto without parameters the batch log file will specify that Optimetrics variations will
be solved sequentially.

-auto NumDistributedVariations= <num>

The “NumDistributedVariations=num” option is case-insensitive but must immediately follow "-

auto" in the command line. The default value is 1 if not specified, essentially meaning variations are
not distributed. Only integer values >= 1 are accepted for num. There is no maximum limit of the
number of variations that can be distributed in parallel. Variations can be distributed for solver,
frequencies and parametric variations. If you specify a NumDistributedVariations of 2 or more, the
batch log file will specify that the number of Optimetrics variations will be solved simultaneously.

-batchoptions"'<option1>' '<option2>'..."

All options that are specified through Tools>Options dialogs go to the user-level registry.
You can override such registry entries via the -batchoptions command line. These
overrides apply only to the current Desktop session. This feature is available for all desktop
products. The registry setting overrides may be specified on the command line, or may be in
a file with the file pathname specified on the command line. The -batchoptions command
line option is only valid for batch jobs; it is ignored if neither -BatchSolve nor -BatchSave
command line options are specified.

A new batch solve option “CreateStartingMesh” for all 3D products (HFSS, HFSS-3DLayout,
Q3D, Q2D, Maxwell3D and Maxwell2D). When option is set, only the initial mesh and manual
mesh operation making portion of the setup are completed for the batch solve.

Command line example:

ansysedt -batchoptions " 'HFSS/CreateStartingMesh’=1 “ -batchsolve
“D:\projects\OptimTee.aedt"

This new option is also supported for batch jobs. The batch jobs could be submitted from command
line or through the Submit Job GUI.

Examples and Further Explanations of -batchoptions use

BatchExtract <batchExtractScriptFile> <projectFile>

This command allows the following commands to be executed non-graphically via script and
without checking out any GUI licenses: ExportProfile, ExportConvergence,
ExportMeshStats, ExportNetworkData, ExportNMFData, ExportEigenmodes,
ExportTransientData, Update Reports, ExportToFile. A project file must be specified when
the command line option BatchExtract is used. This means that commands in the <batch
extract script file> will only be executed in the specified project. The "open/close" project
commands are not supported in BatchExtract mode.

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Note l -ngmust be used with BatchExtract or it will fail with an error.

l Including unsupported commands in the batchExtractScriptFile will terminate the
script execution.

Examples:

l -ng -BatchExtract <batchExtractScriptFile> <projectFile>

l -ng -BatchSolve ... -BatchExtract <batchExtractScriptFile> <projectFile>

The commands in batchExtractScriptFile will be executed after BatchSolve is done

and before the project is saved.

Note that BatchSolve will continue to require solve licenses.

Example Script For Report Export:

hfss -ng -batchextract exportToFile.py "C:\Program
Files\AnsysEM\AnsysEM19.0\Win64\Examples\ElectronicsDesktop\HFSS\RF
Microwave\OptimTee.aedt"

where exportToFile.py contains:

oDesktop.RestoreWindow()

oProject = oDesktop.SetActiveProject("OptimTee")

oDesign = oProject.SetActiveDesign("HFSSDesign1")

oModule = oDesign.GetModule("ReportSetup")

oModule.UpdateReports(["XY Plot 1"])

oModule.ExportToFile("XY Plot 1", "exportToFilePy.csv")

-Monitor

You can monitor progress and messages on standard output, during non-graphical analysis.
Progress, warning and info messages are logged to the standard output stream. Error and
fatal messages are logged to the standard error stream. Schedulers intercept these streams
and provide commands for display of this output - see individual scheduler documentation for
specifics.
Examples:

C:\HFSS\ansysedt.exe -distributed

-machinelist list="192.168.1.1,192.168.1.2"

-batchsolve design_transient:Optimetrics "C:\distrib_project.adsn"

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C:\HFSS\ansysedt.exe -batchsolve HFSSDesign1:Nominal

"C:\Project1.aedt"

"c:/Program Files/AnsysEM/AnsysEM19.0/win64/ansysedt.exe"

-Iconic -Queue

-LogFile "H:\HFSS\_HFSSQueue\fence-v2__Array with Fence4.log"

-BatchSolve "Array with Fence4:Nominal" "H:\HFSS\fence-v2.aedt"

-RunScript <script file name>

Run the specified script. You can use the -ScriptArgs option to add one or more arguments
to this command and can use the -Iconic option.

-RunScriptAndExit <script file name>

Run the specified script and exit. You can use the -ScriptArgs option to add one or more
arguments to this command. You can also use the -Iconic option, the -Logfile option, and
the -WaitForLicense option. The '-BatchSolve <DesignName>' is mutually exclusive with
'-RunScriptAndExit <ScriptName>'.

<none>

If you do not specify a run command with hfss on the command line, you can still specify the -
Help and -Iconic option.

<project file>

Open the specified project on start up. If -BatchSolve is also set, the project will be solved.

Note The <project file> must be the last command line entry.

<archive file>

You can specify an archive file instead of a project file. If -Batchsolve is set, the project will
be automatically restored and solved. Otherwise, you are prompted for a restore location,
and the project will be restored and opened. Also see -archiveoptions below.

-archiveoptions

overwritefiles

Allow non project/results extracted files to overwrite existing files.

path=<projectfilepath>

Extract project file to <projectfilepath> and other files into the same directory. If path is not
specified, the archive will be extracted into the same directory as the archive file.

winpath=<windowsprojectfilepath>

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Specifies the Windows-specific path to the extracted project file. This is used when the batch
job is to be run on a Linux system but monitored on Windows, for example, Windows-to-
Linux job submission of an archive file.

Note Archive options only apply when performing a batchsolve of an archive file.

Options

The following options can be associated with one or more of the run commands.

-batchoptionhelp

Open a window listing the -batchoptions help. For instance:

C:\Program Files\AnsysEM\AnsysEM19.0\Win64>ansysedt -
batchoptionhelp

The paths shown can be used with batchoptions and the Update Registry Get and Set commands.
See Setting or Removing Option Values in Configuration Files: UpdateRegistry Command.

-Distribute

Distribute a batch solve to multiple machines. This option must be combined with the -
BatchSolve run command and must be specified before it in the command line. See
Distributed Analysis for more information on distributed analysis.
Example:

C:Program FilesANSYSEM\AnsysEM19.0\win64\ansysedt.exe -distribute -batchsolve

HFSSDesign1:Optimetrics:ParametricSetup1 "C:\Project1.aedt"

-Help

Open a window that displays the different command-line options. This is only used when
none of the four run commands are used.

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For example:

C:\Program Files\AnsysEM\AnsysEM19.0\Win64>ansysedt -help

-Iconic

Run an ANSYS Electronics Desktop solver with the window iconified (minimized). This can
be used with all or none of the run commands.

-LogFile <log file name>

Specify a log file (use in conjunction with -BatchSave or -BatchSolve or -

RunScriptAndExit run commands). If no log file is specified, <project_name>.log file will
be written to the <project_name>.batchinfo directory with the current specification.

-ng

Run ANSYS Electronics Desktop in non-graphical mode (Use in conjunction with -

BatchSave or -BatchSolve run commands. Must be used with -BatchExtract or -
BatchSolve command.).

-WaitForLicense

Wait for unavailable licenses (use along with -BatchSolve or -RunScriptAndExit).

-ScriptArgs <scriptArguments>

Add arguments to the specified script in conjunction with -RunScript and -

RunScriptAndExit.

ScriptArgs looks at the single argument after it and uses those as script arguments. You
can pass multiple arguments to scriptargs by surrounding the script arguments in double
quotes.

For instance:

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ansysedt -scriptargs "HFSSDesign1 Setup1" -RunScriptAndExit

c:\temp\test.vbs

Here, HFSSDesign1 is taken into ANSYS Electronics Desktop as the first argument, and
Setup1 is the second argument. Without the quotes, HFSSDesign1 is taken as the first
argument, and Setup1 will not be understood by ANSYS Electronics Desktop.
ansysedt -scriptargs HFSSDesign1 Setup1 -RunScriptAndExit
c:\temp\test.vbs

Example:

ansysedt.exe -runscriptandexit "c:\project1.vbs"

-scriptargs "Setup1"

Example:

ansysedt.exe -RunScriptAndExit C:\scripts\test.vbs

-scriptargs "arg1 arg2 arg3"

Settable Desktop Settings for -batchoptions:

For -batchoptions Use: Project Directory and Lib Paths

For -batchoptions Use: TempDirectory

For -batchoptions Use: Various Desktop Settings

For -batchoptions Use: HFSS and HFSS-IE Options with Paths

Batch Options Command Line Examples

Batchoptions: HFSS 3D Layout Options with Paths

The Tools>Options>Export Options Files command writes xml files containing the Options settings
at all levels to the specified directory. The Tools>Options>Export Options feature is intended to
make it easier for different users to use ANSYS Electromagnetics Suite 19.0 installed on shared
directories or network drives. The Example Uses for Export Options Features section outlines
some use cases enabled by this feature.

Related Topics

RSM Integration with Job Management UI

Integration with Microsoft Windows® HPC Scheduler

Integration with Platform's Load Sharing Facility (LSF)

Integration with Grid Engine (GE)

Command Line Information for ANSYS EM Desktop Products

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Large Scale DSO for Parametric Analysis

desktopproxy Utility to Abort or Cleanstop a BatchSolve

Examples and Further Explanations of -batchoptions use

This section provides further examples and explanations of -batchoptions.

l Example with registry settings specified on the command line

l Example with registry settings specified in a file
l -batchoptions Uses Relative Registry Paths
l When to Use the -batchoptions Desktop Command Line Option

The following examples use hfss, but this feature is available for all desktop products.

l The registry path separator is the slash “/”

l Registry key pathnames are enclosed in single quotes
l Registry string values are enclosed in single quotes
l Backslashes in registry key values must be escaped with another backslash

Example with registry settings specified on the command line

ansysedt.exe -batchsolve -batchoptions

"'Desktop/Settings/ProjectOptions/NumberOfProcessors'=4

'Desktop/ProjectDirectory'='C:\\projects\test'" projectname.aedt

This command line overrides the values of the Project Options and Desktop/ProjectOptions
registry settings.

Notes:

l Multiple registry settings may appear in a single -batchoptions value, separated by

whitespace
l The -batchoptions value must be enclosed in double quotes if it contains any whitespace

Example with registry settings specified in a file

ansysedt.exe -batchsolve -batchoptions filename projectname.aedt

where file filename contains:

$begin 'Config'

'Desktop/Settings/ProjectOptions/NumberOfProcessors'=4

'HFSS/NumCoresPerDistributedTask'=2

'Desktop/ProjectDirectory'='C:/projects/test'

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$end 'Config'

This command line overrides the values of the

Desktop/Settings/ProjectOptions/NumberOfProcessors and Desktop/ProjectOptions registry
settings. These overrides apply only to the current hfss session.

Note l The -batchoptions filename value must be enclosed in double quotes if it contains
whitespace
l The $begin 'Config' and $end 'Config' lines are required

-batchoptions Uses Relative Registry Paths

When using the -batchoptions command line option, the registry paths specified on the command
line or in the batchoptions file are relative paths. The paths are relative to the current version of the
current product. If the examples above are used with HFSS 2014, then the following table shows
the relative and absolute paths of the registry overrides in the above examples.

Relative Path Absolute Path for HFSS

Desktop/Settings/ProjectOption ProgramFiles/AnsysEM/AnsysEM15.0/Win64/HFSS/Desktop/
s/NumberOfProcessors Settings/ProjectOptions/NumberOfProcessors
Desktop/ProjectDirectory ProgramFiles/AnsysEM/AnsysEM15.0/Win64/HFSS/Desktop/
ProjectDirectory

For additional options and paths for use with -batchoptions, see

For -batchoptions Use: Project Directory and Lib Paths

For -batchoptions Use: TempDirectory

For -batchoptions Use: Various Desktop Settings

For -batchoptions: HFSS 3D Layout Options with Paths

For -batchoptions Use: HFSS and HFSS-IE Options with Paths

When to Use the -batchoptions Desktop Command Line Option

Analysis parameter settings may be done using the GUI. For example, all HFSS options may be
set using the Add Batch Option dialog box which is brought up through the Submit Job To
dialog. These parameter settings include the following solver options (not a complete list):

l tempdirectory
l DesiredRAMLimitInGB
l MaxRAMLimitInGB
l DefaultProcess Priority

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HFSS and HFSS-IE include a -batch option for distributed memory:

l MPIVendor (either “Intel” or “Platform Computing”.

These values of these parameters are saved in the registry when HFSS is not running.

When running a batch analysis, these parameters will take the values from the registry. The -
batchoptions Desktop command line option allows you to override the parameter values set in the
registry with values specified on the command line or in a file. The values specified using the -
batchoptions command line option only apply to the batch job, and do not affect the parameter
values in the registry. For example, you could specify the following command to ensure that this
analysis uses 2 processors for distributed processing and 2 processors for non-distributed
processing. If the -batchoptions value is not specified, then the number of processors for
distributed processing or for non-distributed processing could be affected by an interactive HFSS
job running on the same host as the same user.
"E:\Program Files\AnsysEM\AnsysEM19.0\Win64\ansysedt.exe"
-distributed includetypes=default maxlevels=1
-machinelist num=4 -monitor -ng
-batchoptions " 'HFSS/DefaultProcessPriority'='Normal'
'HFSS/DesiredRAMLimitInGB'=8
'HFSS/HPCLicenseType'='Pool'
'HFSS/MaxRAMLimitInGB'=16
'HFSS/NumCoresPerDistributedTask'=2
'HFSS-IE/NumCoresPerDistributedTask'=2
-batchsolve E:\Users\kmchrist\Documents\Ansoft\hfss_bpf.aedt

Related Topics

Running HFSS from a Command Line

For -batchoptions Use: Project Directory and Lib Paths

The PersonalLib, syslib and userlib settings are a little different from other settings. If the final
directory name is different from what is expected, then PersonalLib, syslib or userlib is appended
as a final directory. In addition, these settings may come from a different registry value if the registry
values shown above are not set

Units or
Path Name Default Value Description
Values
Desktop/ProjectDirectory subdirectory of user's HOME Directory Directory where new
directory or “My Documents” pathname projects are created
directory
Desktop/PersonalLib PersonalLib subdirectory of Directory Directory PersonalLib is
user's HOME directory or “My pathname appended if final directory

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Units or
Path Name Default Value Description
Values
Documents” directory is not PersonalLib
Desktop/syslib syslib subdirectory of Directory Directory syslib is
installation directory pathname appended if final directory
is not syslib
Desktop/userlib userlib subdirectory of Directory Directory userlib is
installation directory pathname appended if final directory
is not userlib

Related Topics

For -batchoptions Use: TempDirectory

For -batchoptions Use: Various Desktop Settings

For -batchoptions Use: HFSS and HFSS-IE Options with Paths

Running ANSYS Electronics Desktop from a Command Line

For -batchoptions Use: TempDirectory.

Path Name Default Value Units or Values Description

TempDirectory Set by installer - Directory for temporary files

Related Topics

For -batchoptions Use: Project Directory and Lib Paths

For -batchoptions Use: Various Desktop Settings

For -batchoptions Use: HFSS and HFSS-IE Options with Paths

Running ANSYS Electronics Desktop from a Command Line

For -batchoptions Use: Various Desktop Settings

Note that the most of these only affect the GUI.

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Defaul
Units or Descriptio
Path Name t
Values n
Value
Desktop/Settings/ProjectOptions/AnimationMemory 200 Stop
Megabyte animations
s (MB) when
available
memory
falls below
this value
Desktop/Settings/ProjectOptions/AnsoftCOMPreferredIPAddr “” IP IP Address
ess (empty Address used to
string) (as a connect
string) from COM
Engine to
Desktop
Desktop/Settings/ProjectOptions/AutoSaveInterval 10 edits Number of
edits to
allow
between
autosaves
Desktop/Settings/ProjectOptions/AutoShowMessageWindow 1 (true) 0 (false) Show
or 1 (true) message
window on
new
messages
Desktop/Settings/ProjectOptions/AutoShowProgressWindow 0 0 (false) Show
(false) or 1 (true) progress
window
when
starting a
simulation
Desktop/Settings/ProjectOptions/DiskLimitForAbort 0 A warning is
Megabyte issued
s (MB) when
available
disk space
falls below
this value
Desktop/Settings/ProjectOptions/DoAutoSave 1 (true) 0 (false) Enables
or 1 (true) autosaves if

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Defaul
Units or Descriptio
Path Name t
Values n
Value
true
Desktop/Settings/ProjectOptions/DrawStateIconsInProjectTre 1 (true) 0 (false) Change
e3 or 1 (true) icon when
selection
does not
match
active
window
Desktop/Settings/ProjectOptions/ExpandMessageTreeOnIns 1 (true) 0 (false) Ensure that
ert or 1 (true) new
messages
are visible in
the
message
window tree
Desktop/Settings/ProjectOptions/ExpandOnInsert 0 0 (false) Expand
(false) or 1 (true) project tree
on insert
Desktop/Settings/ProjectOptions/HighlightActive 1 (true) 0 (false) Emphasize
ContextInProjectTree2 or 1 (true) active
command
context
(menu and
toolbars)
Desktop/Settings/ProjectOptions/SavePreviewImagesInProje 1 (true) 0 (false) Save
ct or 1 (true) preview
File images in
project file
Desktop/Settings/ProjectOptions/UpdateReportOnFileOpen 0 0 (false) Update
(false) or 1 (true) reports on
file open

Related Topics

For -batchoptions Use: Project Directory and Lib Paths

For -batchoptions Use: TempDirectory

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For -batchoptions Use: HFSS and HFSS-IE Options with Paths

Running ANSYS Electronics Desktop from a Command Line

For -batchoptions Use: HFSS and HFSS-IE Options with Paths

Here are the HFSS Options and HFSS IE Options with the complete path names:

Default Units or
Path Name Description
Value Values
Hfss/AllowOffCore 1 0 (false), 1 Specifies if the
(true solver will be
able to use off
core memory.
Hfss/DefaultProcessPriority Normal "Critical, Specifies the
"Above default priority
Normal", of distributed
"Normal", tasks.
"Below
Normal",
"Idle"
Hfss/HPCLicenseType “pack” “pool” or For HFSS
“pack” or Designs: “pool”
"none" =
multiprocessing
enabled by
HPC licensing;
“pack” =
multiprocessing
enabled by
HPC Pack
licensing
HFSS/MPIVendor “Platform Which MPI
Computing”, libraries to use
“Intel”. for remote
communication.
Type: String,
HFSS/EnableGPU 0 0 (False), 1 Allow GPU to
(True). be used for
HFSS matrix
solves.
HFSS/SolveAdaptiveOnly 0 (False), 1 If true, only the

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Default Units or
Path Name Description
Value Values
(True). adaptive portion
of the setup will
be solved.
Applies only if a
single setup is
selected.
HFSS/CreateStartingMesh 0 (False), 1 If true, the
(True). starting mesh
(with mesh
operations if
applicable) will
be created, but
0
none of the
setup will be
solved. Applies
only if a single
setup is
selected.
HFSS-IE/AllowOffCore 1 0 (false), 1 Specifies if the
(true solver will be
able to use off
core memory.
HFSS-IE/CreateStartingMesh 0 0 (False), 1 If true, the
(True). starting mesh
(with mesh
operations if
applicable) will
be created, but
none of the
setup will be
solved. Applies
only if a single
setup is
selected.
HFSS- Normal "Critical, Specifies the
IE/DefaultProcessPriority "Above default priority
Normal", of distributed
"Normal", tasks.
"Below
Normal",

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Default Units or
Path Name Description
Value Values
"Idle"
HFSS-IE/HPCLicenseType “pack” “pool” or For HFSS-IE
“pack” Designs: “pool”
=
multiprocessing
enabled by
HPC licensing;
“pack” =
multiprocessing
enabled by
HPC Pack
licensing
HFSS-IE/MPIVendor “Platform Which MPI
Computing”, libraries to use
“Intel”. for remote
communication.
Type: String,
HFSS-IE/SolveAdaptiveOnly 0 (False), 1 If true, only the
(True). adaptive portion
of the setup will
be solved.
Applies only if a
single setup is
selected.

Related Topics

For -batchoptions Use: Project Directory and Lib Paths

For -batchoptions Use: TempDirectory

For -batchoptions Use: Various Desktop Settings

Running ANSYS Electronics Desktop from a Command Line

Batchoptions: HFSS 3D Layout Options with Paths

Here are the HFSS 3D Layout options with the complete path names:

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Units
Default
Path Name or Description
Value
Values
HFSS 3D Layout/SolverOptions/HPCLicenseType "pack" "pool" For HFSS 3D Layout:
or "pool" =
"pack" multiprocessing
enabled by HPC
licensing; "pack" =
multiprocessing
enabled by HPC
Pack licensing
HFSS 3D Layout/SolverOptions/NumberOfProcessors 1 - For HFSS 3D Layout
designs: maximum
number of processors
HFSS 3D 1 - For HFSS 3D Layout
Layout/SolverOptions/NumberOfProcessorsDistributed designs: maximum
number of distributed
processors
HFSS 3D Layout/SolverOptions/UseHPCForMP 0 0 For HFSS 3D Layout
(false) (false) designs: if true (1),
or 1 enables
(true) multiprocessing using
HPC licenses

Batchoptions: Override Registry Entry

Any registry entry can be overridden via a command-line command.

Example: batchoptions specified on command line

ansysedt -batchsolve -batchoptions "'HFSS 3D

Layout/SolverOptions/NumberOfProcessors'=4 'HFSS 3D
Layout/SolverOptions/NumberOfProcessorsDistributed'=2" projectname.aedt

Example: batchoptions specified in a file

ansysedt -batchsolve -batchoptions numprocfile projectname.aedt

where numprocfile contains:

$begin 'Config'

'HFSS 3D Layout/SolverOptions/NumberOfProcessors'=4

'HFSS 3D Layout/SolverOptions/NumberOfProcessorsDistributed'=2

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$end 'Config'

Running from a Windows Remote Terminal

When running HFSS from a remote terminal, there are some performance and behavior issues to
consider. These issues are due to the interaction of bandwidth/opengl drivers/remote-terminal-
protocol

l Showing axes when interactively drawing objects will slow the performance.
l Remote OpenGL performance will be slower in general. Graphics card and driver quality
helps.
l All 3D windows will be closed when you switch from remote PC to a console or from a
console to remote. This is to avoid display/opengl instability during the switch.
l Grid will not be turned off while viewing a plot from a remote desktop. The mouse over
highlights on 2D plots may appear as not totally overlapping the line color or as thin dotted
lines.

Related Topics

Remote Solve

Windows HPC Commands

HPC Integration allows you to submit jobs directly using ANSYS Electromagnetics command line
arguments for batchsolves. The supported HPC software is described in the ANSYS
Electromagnetics Installation Guide. ANSYS Electromagnetics products must be accessible from
the same directory on all machines. The ANSYS Electromagnetics command line syntax is
documented here. You must pass in a -distributed flag as part of the ANSYS Electromagnetics
command line arguments if you want to run a distributed simulation.

Before running a job you must you Tools>JobManagement>Select Scheduler and use the
dialog to designate the head node of a cluster. You can then click Tools>Job
Mangement>Submit Job to submit the batch commands for the job.

Related Topics

High Performance Computing (HPC) Integration

Customizing Electronics Desktop with ANSYS ACT

With ANSYS ACT, you can create custom applications or “extensions” to customize supported
ANSYS products, including Electronics Desktop.

An ACT “guided process” extension enables you to leverage both the functionality of Electronics
Desktop and the scripting capabilities of the Workbench/AIM framework API; you can manipulate
existing features and simulation components, organizing them as needed to produce a custom

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automated process. A guided process extension is exposed in Electronics Desktop as a “wizard”

which provides simulation guidance within the application workflow, walking non-expert users
step-by-step through a simulation.

To access ACT functionality in Electronics Desktop, open the ACT Start Page by clicking the
View>ACT Extensions menu option.

For more information, see ACT Simulation Wizards and Electronics Desktop Wizard in the ANSYS
ACT Developer's Guide.

Getting Started Guides

The ANSYS Electronics Desktop installation includes Getting Started Guides that guide you
through projects that demonstrate features of each of the solvers. After you insert a design, you
can access the Getting Started Guides for HFSS from Help>HFSS Getting Started Guides or
Help>HFSS PDFs>HFSS Getting Started Guides.

HFSS Getting Started Guides

HFSS getting started guides that describe the following designs.

After you insert an HFSS design, you can access HFSS Getting Started Guides from
Help>Getting Started Guides.

A list of example projects included with the HFSS installation is located here.

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A brief Application Specific Modeling Guide: Antennas.

An Application Specific Guide: Spiral Inductors on Silicon Substrate:

Guides for HFSS-IE are here.

Guides for HFSS Transient are here.

For an example patch antenna project emphasizing Keyboard Accelerators, open HFSS Keyboard
Accelerators from Help>Getting Started Guides.

A 20 GHz Waveguide Combiner

After you insert an HFSS design, you can access HFSS 20 GHz Waveguide Combiner from
Help>Getting Started Guides.

This Getting Started guide is written for ANSYS Electronics Desktop beginners as well as
experienced users who are using HFSS for the first time. This manual guides you through the
setup, solution, and analysis of a two-way, low-loss waveguide combiner.

By following the steps in this guide, you will learn how to perform the following tasks in ANSYS
Electronics Desktop:

l Draw a geometric model.

l Modify a model's design parameters.
l Assign variables to a model's design parameters.
l Specify solution settings for a design.
l Validate a design's setup.
l Run an ANSYS Electronics Desktop simulation.
l Create a 2D x-y plot of S-parameter results.
l Create a field overlay plot of results.
l Create a phase animation of results.

Antennas: Application Specific Modeling Guide

You can access Spiralmodelingguide.pdf under <installdir>/AnsysEM19.0/[Win64 or

Linux64]/Help/ElectronicsDesktop

This Application Specific Modeling Guide is written for ANSYS Electronics Desktop beginners as
well as experienced users who are using HFSS for the first time. This brief manual provides
guidelines for modeling antennas in HFSS.

Related Topics

Antennas in HFSS

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A Bandpass Filter

After you insert an HFSS design, you can access HFSS Bandpass Filter from Help>Getting
Started Guides.

This Getting Started guide assumes some familiarity with HFSS. It guides you through the process
of creating a bandpass filter. It includes the use of duplicate around axis commands.

This design has a frequency sweep. If you want to distribute the frequencies for efficient simulation
you can use HPC. For more information about how to set up HPC, see the Add HPC Analysis
Setup section in the Getting Started Guide for Bandpass Filter. You can access the design
from the Examples folder which also contains a short description on the HPC setup in the
associated PDF.

A Coax Connector

After you insert an HFSS design, you can access HFSS Coax Connector from Help>Getting
Started Guides.

This Getting Started guide assumes some familiarity with HFSS. It guides you through the process
of creating a coax connector. This includes the use of relative coordinate systems as an aid to
building the model. It also uses boolean and sweep operations.

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Coax Tee Model

The Help>Getting Started Guides menu displays a list of getting started pdf files you can open.

After you insert an HFSS design, you can access HFSS Coax Tee from Help>Getting Started
Guides.

This Getting Started guide assumes some familiarity with HFSS. It guides you through the steps of
creating and simulating a coax tee. The simulation solves for the fields in an arbitrary volume.

Coax Dielectric

l Coax Center Pin

l Outer Boundary
l Coax Shield

A Dielectric Resonator Antenna

After you insert an HFSS design, you can access HFSS A Dielectric Resonator Antenna from
Help>Getting Started Guides.

This Getting Started guide is written for ANSYS Electronics Desktop beginners as well as
experienced users who are using HFSS for the first time. This guide leads you step-by-step
through creating, solving, and analyzing the results of a dielectric resonator antenna problem.

By following the steps in this guide, you will learn how to perform the following tasks in ANSYS
Electronics Desktop:

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l Draw a geometric model.

l Modify a model's design parameters.
l Assign variables to a model's design parameters.
l Specify solution settings for a design.
l Validate a design's setup.
l Run an ANSYS Electronics Desktop simulation.
l Create a 2D x-y plot of S-parameter results.
l Create a field overlay plot of results.
l Create a phase animation of results.

Floquet Port Models

You can access HFSS Floquet Ports from Help>Getting Started Guides.

This Getting Started guide is written for ANSYS Electronics Desktop beginners as well as
experienced users who are using HFSS for the first time. This manual guides you through the
setup, solution, and analysis of two different models using Floquet ports.

By following the steps in this guide, you will learn how to set up Floquet ports in ANSYS Electronics
Desktop.

Optimizing A Waveguide Tee Junction

The Help>Getting Started Guides menu displays a list of getting started pdf files you can open.

After you insert an HFSS design, you can access HFSS Optim Tee Waveguide from
Help>Getting Started Guides.

This Getting Started guide is written for Optimetrics beginners as well as experienced users who
are using Optimetrics for the first time. You must have completed Getting Started with HFSS: A
Waveguide T-Junction before you begin this guide.

You will use ANSYS Electromagnetics Optimetrics software to find an optimal position for the
septum. Prior to performing the optimization, you will set up and solve a parametric analysis.

By following the steps in this guide, you will learn how to perform the following tasks in ANSYS
Electronics Desktop using Optimetrics:

l Create a basic parametric setup.

l Solve a parametric analysis.
l Create a 2D x-y plot of S-parameter results.
l Create a 2D x-y plot of power distribution results.
l Create a geometry animation.
l Specify a variable to be optimized.

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l Create an optimization setup, which includes defining a cost function and setting the range
of variable values for an optimization.
l Solve an optimization analysis.
l During an optimization analysis, view a plot of cost values versus solved iterations.
l Run an ANSYS Electronics Desktop simulation using the optimal variable value.
l Update an existing field overlay plot with new results.

Related Topics

Optimetrics

A Patch Antenna

After you insert an HFSS design, you can access HFSS Probe Feed Patch Antenna from
Help>Getting Started Guides.

This Getting Started guide assumes some familiarity with HFSS. It includes the use of Perfect E
and Radiation boundaries and a Radiation Pattern plot.

Related Topics

Example Projects

Getting Help

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Radar Cross Section (RCS) Model

After you insert an HFSS design, you can access HFSS Radar Cross Section from Help>Getting
Started Guides.

This Getting Started guide is written for ANSYS Electronics Desktop beginners as well as
experienced users who are using HFSS for the first time. This manual guides you through the
setup, solution, and analysis of a simple radar cross section (RCS) problem. By following the steps
in this guide, you will learn how to perform the following tasks in HFSS:

l Draw the geometric models.

l Create the Perfectly Matched Layer (PML) Boundaries
l Add the Excitation
l Setup Mesh Operations
l Specify solution setting for the design.
l Validate the design setups.
l Run HFSS simulations.
l Create the geometry setups for monostatic and bistatic infinite spheres.
l Create plots for these geometries for a Normalized Bistatic RCS and Monostatic RCS.

By following the steps in this guide, you will learn how to set up RCS problems.

Related Topics

Generating Reports for Monostatic RCS

Silicon Spiral Inductor

After you insert an HFSS design, you can access HFSS Spiral Inductor from Help>Getting
Started Guides.

This Getting Started guide assumes some familiarity with HFSS. It includes the use of Perfect E
and Radiation boundaries and Output Variables in generating plots.

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Related Topics

Example Projects

Application Specific Modeling Guide: Spiral Inductors on Silicon Substrate

Spiral Inductors on Silicon Substrate: Application Specific Modeling Guide

The Help>Getting Started Guides menu displays a list of getting started pdf files you can open.

You can access Spiralinductor.pdf under <installdir>/AnsysEM19.0/[Win64 or

Linux64]/Help/ElectronicsDesktop.

This Application Specific Modeling Guide is written for ANSYS Electronics Desktop beginners as
well as experienced users who are using HFSS for the first time. This brief manual provides
guidelines for modeling spiral inductors in HFSS.

Related Topics

Drawing a Spiral Using User Defined Primitives

Drawing a Spiral

Setting the Reference Point

A UHF Probe

After you insert an HFSS design, you can access HFSS Ultra High Frequency Probe from
Help>Getting Started Guides.

This Getting Started guide assumes some familiarity with HFSS. It includes the use of boolean
operations and the use of a ground plane and radiation boundaries.

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A Waveguide Tee Junction

The Help>Getting Started Guides menu displays a list of getting started pdf files you can open.

You can access GSG_HFSS_Tee_Waveguide_Junction.pdf under <installdir>/AnsysEM19.0/

[Win64 or Linux64]/Help/ElectronicsDesktop.

This Getting Started guide is written for ANSYS Electronics Desktop beginners as well as
experienced users who are using ANSYS Electronics Desktop for the first time. This guide will lead
you step-by-step through creating, solving, and analyzing the results of a T-shaped waveguide with
an inductive septum. This type of structure is used to split an incoming microwave signal into two
outgoing signals. The waveguide's transmission and reflection of the signal will depend on the
position of the septum.

By following the steps in this guide, you will learn how to perform the following tasks in ANSYS
Electronics Desktop:

l Draw a geometric model.

l Modify a model's design parameters.
l Assign variables to a model's design parameters.
l Specify solution settings for a design.
l Validate a design's setup.
l Run an ANSYS Electronics Desktop simulation.
l Create a 2D x-y plot of S-parameter results.
l Create a field overlay plot of results.
l Create a phase animation of results.

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HFSS-IE Getting Started Guides

The ANSYS Electronics Desktop installation includes the following getting started guides for
HFSS-IE applications:

RCS Test Model Ogive

After you insert an HFSS design, you can access HFSS RCS Test Model Ogive from
Help>Getting Started Guides.

This Getting Started guide is written for HFSS-IE beginners as well as experienced users who are
using HFSS for the first time. This manual guides you through the setup, solution, and analysis of a
simple radar cross section (RCS) problem. By following the steps in this guide, you will learn how
to perform the following tasks in HFSS-IE:

l Draw the geometric models.

l Add the Excitation
l Specify solution setting for the design.
l Run HFSS-IE simulations.
l Create the geometry setups for infinite spheres.
l Create plots for RCS.

By following the steps in this guide, you will learn how to set up RCS problems.

Monocone Antenna

After you insert an HFSS design, you can access HFSS Monocone Antenna from Help>Getting
Started Guides.

This Getting Started guide is written for HFSS-IE beginners as well as experienced users who are
using HFSS for the first time. This manual guides you through the setup, solution, and analysis of a
simple monocone antenna problem. By following the steps in this guide, you will learn how to
perform the following tasks in HFSS-IE:

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l Draw the geometric models.

l Add the excitation and infinite ground plane.
l Specify solution setting for the design.
l Run HFSS-IE simulation.
l Create the geometry setups for infinite spheres.
l Create a plot for the radiation pattern.

By following the steps in this guide, you will learn how to set up HFSS-IE antenna problems.

HFSS Transient Getting Started Guides

The ANSYS Electronics Desktop installation includes the following getting started guides for
HFSS Transient applications.

A Ridged Horn Antenna

After you insert an HFSS design, you can access HFSS A Ridged Horn Antenna from
Help>Getting Started Guides.

This Getting Started guide is written for HFSS Transient beginners as well as experienced users
who are using HFSS for the first time. This manual guides you through the setup, solution, and
analysis of a transient horn antenna problem. By following the steps in this guide, you will learn how
to perform the following tasks in HFSS:

l Import the model

l Add the boundaries and the excitation
l Specify solution setting for the design.
l Run HFSS Transient simulations.
l View reports
l Create the geometry setups for infinite spheres.
l Create field plots.

By following the steps in this guide, you will learn how to set up transient antenna problems.

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Related Topics

Transient Solution Type

TDR for Coax Bend

After you insert an HFSS design, you can access HFSS TDR For Coax Bend from Help>Getting
Started Guides.

This Getting Started guide is written for HFSS Transient beginners as well as experienced users
who are using HFSS for the first time. This manual guides you through the setup, solution, and
analysis of a time delayed response problem for a coax bend. By following the steps in this guide,
you will learn how to perform the following tasks in HFSS:

l Draw the geometric models.

l Add the boundary and excitation.
l Specify solution setting for the design.
l Run HFSS transient simulation.
l Create a plots and animate a field overlay.

By following the steps in this guide, you will learn how to set up HFSS transient problems.

Related Topics

Transient Solution Type

Ball Grid Array

After you insert an HFSS design, you can access HFSS A Ball Grid Array IC Package from
Help>Getting Started Guides.

This Getting Started guide is written for HFSS Transient beginners as well as experienced users
who are using HFSS for the first time. This manual guides you through the setup, solution, and
analysis of a transient simulation. By following the steps in this guide, you will learn how to perform
the following tasks in HFSS:

l Draw the geometric models.

l Add the boundaries and excitation.
l Specify solution setting for the design.
l Run HFSS transient simulation.
l Create a plots, including the use of Output Variables.

By following the steps in this guide, you will learn how to set up HFSS transient problems.

Related Topics

Transient Solution Type

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HFSS 3D Layout Getting Started Guides

The ANSYS Electronics Desktop Installation includes the following HFSS 3D Layout getting
started guide projects.

After you insert an HFSS or HFSS 3D design, the Help>HFSS PDFs>HFSS Getting Started
Guides menu displays a list of getting started PDF files you can open, including the following for
HFSS 3D Layout:

l HFSS 3D Layout Low Pass Filter

l HFSS 3D Layout Microstrip Filter
l HFSS 3D Layout Slot Fed Patch Antenna

Low Pass Filter

The ANSYS Electronics Desktop installation includes an HFSS 3D Layout getting started guide
that describes a Low Pass filter model.

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After you insert an HFSS or HFSS 3D design, you can access HFSS 3D Layout Low Pass Filter
from Help>HFSS PDFs>HFSS Getting Started Guides.

It includes instructions to create, solve, and analyze a Low Pass filter using the HFSS 3D Layout
design type in the ANSYS Electronics Desktop.

Microstrip Filter

The ANSYS Electronics Desktop installation includes an HFSS 3D Layout getting started guide
that describes a Microstrip Filter model.

After you insert an HFSS or HFSS 3D design, you can access HFSS 3D Layout Microstrip Filter
from Help>HFSS PDFs>HFSS Getting Started Guides.

It includes instructions to create, solve, and analyze a Microstrip Filter using the HFSS 3D Layout
design type in the ANSYS Electronics Desktop.

Slot Fed Patch Antenna

The ANSYS Electronics Desktop installation includes an HFSS 3D Layout getting started guide
that describes a Slot Fed Patch Antenna model.

After you insert an HFSS or HFSS 3D design, you can access HFSS 3D Layout Slot Fed Patch
Antenna from Help>HFSS PDFs>HFSS Getting Started Guides.

It includes instructions to create, solve, and analyze an antenna using the HFSS 3D Layout design
type in the ANSYS Electronics Desktop.

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Cable Modeling Solutions

After you insert a design for HFSS, 2D Extractor, or Circuit, you can access Cable Modeling
Solutions from Help>Getting Started Guides.

The ANSYS Electronics Desktop cable modeling solution is implemented using dynamic/data links
between HFSS, 2D Extractor, and Circuit. A cable harness in HFSS is modeled as a single
external field source based on quasi-static simulation of each cable cross section in 2D Extractor
and an analysis of the cable network in Circuit. The magnitude and distribution of the fields along
each cable section is determined by the voltages and currents at the ends of each section, and then
transmission line model is applied to propagate these fields along the cable length.

The solution include the following steps and data transfers:

l 2D Extractor
l solve the cable cross section
l send a transmission line model for the cable network solution
l send transmission line modes and fields for the 3D cable solution
l Circuit
l define a step voltage on the appropriate ports on the circuit schematic
l solve the cable network
l send v and i at the ends of the cable for the 3D cable solution
l HFSS
l map fields onto the 3D cable, and solve the emissions from the cable assembly

Example Projects
Your ANSYS Electronics Desktop installation includes an example directory containing projects
folders for several kinds of designs.

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Example projects are organized by the solver. The examples under Circuit, HFSS, HFSS 3D
Layout include subdirectories, organizing the example projects according to different applications.

l Circuit has subdirectories for Automation, Low Noise Amplifier, RF Microwave and Signal
Integrity examples. The RF Microwave directory has further subdirectories for Amplifiers,
Filters, Misc, Mixers, Oscillators, and System projects.
l HFSS has subdirectories for Antennas, RCS, RF Microwave, Signal Integrity, and
Transmission Lines.
l HFSS 3D Layout has subdirectories for Antennas, Component, Filters, FSS and Signal
Integrity.

Several of these projects are associated with detailed getting started guides.

The Help>Getting Started Guides menu displays a list of getting started pdf files you can open.

Many other projects include brief descriptions in the online help.

l 2D Extractor Example Project

l Circuit Example Projects
l HFSS Example Projects
l HFSS 3D Layout Example Projects
l HFSS-IE Example Projects

Related Topics

Opening Example Projects

HFSS Example Projects

The examples directory for HFSS has subdirectories for Antennas, RF Microwave, Signal
Integrity, and Transmission Lines.

The following HFSS example projects are associated with getting started guides.

l Tee and OptimTee Waveguide Projects

l Dielectric Resonator Antenna
l Waveguide Combiner Example Project

Also see Other HFSS Examples with Descriptions in the Online Help.

The Help>Getting Started Guides menu displays a list of getting started pdf files you can open.

Tee and OptimTee Waveguide Projects

In the installation directory, the Examples/Electronics Desktop/HFSS/RF Microwave folder

contains the versions of the waveguide t-junction modal solution project described in Getting

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Started with HFSS: A Waveguide T-Junction, and Getting Started with HFSS: Optimizing a
Waveguide T-Junction Using HFSS with Optimetrics.

After you insert an HFSS design, you can access HFSS Getting Started Guides from
Help>Getting Started Guides.

The waveguide T-junction illustrates the basic HFSS features, including:

l the Modeler
l parameterization of a design feature
l setup and analysis
l the use of the Reporter and field animation.

The animated Mag_E1 plot of the E-field when the septum is located 0.2 inches closer to Port 2.

The second version of the wave guide t-junction demonstrates the use of the Optimetrics.

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l parametric analysis
l variable for optimization
l an optimization setup
l a cost function
l Optimization analysis.
l plot of cost values versus solved iterations.
l Use of output variables.

See Getting Started Guides.

Dielectric Resonator Antenna

The dra_diel directory in the Examples/Electronics Desktop/HFSS/Antennas folder contains the

modal solution project described in Getting Started With HFSS: A Dielectric Resonator Antenna.
See Getting Started Guides.

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This design demonstrates the use of:

l Boolean operations on geometries,

l the use of symmetry and radiation boundaries
l mesh operations
l lumped ports
l modifying the impedance multiplier because of symmetry
l animation of a field plot
l setting up an infinite sphere and computing antenna parameters

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Waveguide Combiner Example Project

The wg_combiner project is located in the Examples/Electronics Desktop/HFSS/RF Microwave

folder. This project has an associated Getting Started Guide. See Getting Started Guides.

The waveguide combiner project demonstrates:

l finite conductivity boundary condition

l symmetry boundary condition
l wave ports
l integration lines in wave ports.
l solution data
l plot creation and analysis

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l a phase animation.

Other HFSS Examples with Descriptions in the Online Help

The following HFSS example projects have descriptions in the online help.

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For further examples, see Getting Started Guides and look at the ANSYS Website

Related Topics

Example Projects

Getting Started Guides

Antennas on Mast

Description - Three dipole antennas mounted on an aluminum mast, simulated in HFSS-IE. The
mast is mounted on an infinite ground plane.

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Model - The mast is 3.1 m high. The dipoles are modeled using 2D objects with a PerfE boundary.
The excitations are lumped ports and the mounting structures are modeled by the polystyrene
rods. Note under Boundaries in the Project tree, InfGndPlane1.

Setup - Adapt at 0.9 GHz.

Note To view a port or boundary, select the desired item in the Project Tree. It is then highlighted
in the Model window and the properties will be displayed in the Properties window.
Selecting an object in the History tree will also display its properties.

Post Processing Antennas Mounted on a Mast

After solving, you can view solution data by right-clicking on Setup1 and selecting Profile to display
the Solution dialog. You also view the Solution tabs for Convergence, Matrix Data, and Mesh
Statistics.

Before viewing the fields make sure all three antennas are excited. Go to HFSS-IE>Fields>Edit
Sources and uncheck all Terminated options. Set Scaling Factor to 1 for all three ports.

To view the radiation pattern shown, double click on Radiation Pattern 1 under Results in the
Project tree. This is the θ = 90o pattern cut.
To view the induced currents on the mast, double click on Mag_J1 under Field Overlays>J
Fields.

Parametric Sweep of a Coax Bend

Description - This is a model of an air-filled coax bend. Two teflon supports with inner radius
compensation are included in the model. The variable here is bend_angle and it controls the angle
of the top half of the bend.

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Model - The walls of the coax use the default outer PerfE boundary. The inner conductor is
copper. The ports are assigned to the faces of the coax so port2 will automatically move with the
coax body as the angle is changed.

Setup - Adapt at 5 GHz and do an interpolating sweep from 0.1 to 5 GHz. The defined Parametric
sweep in bend angle sweeps from 50 - 90o every 10o.

Note To view a port or boundary, select the desired item in the Project Tree. It is then highlighted
in the Model window and the properties will be displayed in the Properties window.
Selecting an object in the History tree will also display its properties.

Post Processing Coax Bend

After solving, you can view solution data by right-clicking on Setup1 and selecting Profile to display
the Solution dialog. You also view the Solution tabs for Convergence, Matrix Data, and Mesh
Statistics. To view the solution data for different bend angle values, click on the ellipsis [...] net to
the design variation box and select the variation of interest.

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To view the S Parameter frequency plots for all five bend_angle variations, double-click on XY Plot
1 under Results in the Project tree.

To see the shade plots of the electric field, double-click on Mag_E1 under Field Overlays>E
Field. To view all variations right-click on Mag_E1 and select Animate. In the Select Animation
window select New, and then select bend_angle for the swept variable in the setup pane. Then
click OK.

Coaxial Resonator

Description - A coaxial resonator model showing how to use the Eigenmode solver. The eigen
solver computes the resonant frequency and Q of the model. This example was taken from
Microwave Circuit Modeling Using Electromagnetic Field Simulation (D. Swanson Jr., W. Hoefer).

Model - A coaxial cavity. Walls are defined to have σ = 6.17 x 107 mho/m.
Setup - There are no defined sources in an eigen solution so you need only select the number of
modes to compute and the convergence criteria. For this model, only the first mode is computed.
For maximum accuracy, we need to use curvilinear elements. To verify that this has been set for
the model, go to HFSS>Mesh Operations> Initial Mesh Settings, and make sure “Apply
Curvilinear Elements” is checked.

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Note Selecting an object in the History tree will also display its properties.

Coaxial Resonator Post Processing

After solving, you can view solution data by right-clicking on Setup1 and selecting Eigenmode
Data to display the Solution dialog. You also view the Solution tabs for Profile, Convergence,
and Mesh Statistics.

To view the resonant frequency and Q, select the Eigenmode Data tab on the Solution dialog.*

To view the shade plot, right-click on E Field under Field Overlays in the Project tree, and select
Update Plots.

* Data computed using a mode matching program are given in the reference. The results
presented are f0 = 1.87 GHz and Q = 5592.

Connector - Terminal Example

Description - a simplified model of a four pin section of a connector. This is a driven terminal
design.

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Model - the connector is configured with lumped ports on each end of the two inner pins. The two
outer pins are each grounded at both ends. The boards are FR4 and the connector body is
modified epoxy. A radiation boundary is applied to the surrounding airbox.

Setup - Driven Terminal Solution with adapt at 5 GHz. An interpolating sweep is also included that
has an upper frequency of 5 GHz and uses DC extrapolation at the low end.

Note To view a port or boundary, select the desired item in the Project Tree. It is then highlighted
in the Model window and the properties will be displayed in the Properties window.
Selecting an object in the History tree will also display its properties.

HPC Analysis Setup

You can set an adapt frequency at 5 GHz with an interpolating frequency sweep from 0 to 5 GHz.
Since several frequencies are being solved in this design, you can set up an HPC Analysis to
distribute the frequencies resulting in efficient simulation.

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During the simulation, adaptive mesh refinement uses the Total Cores that are configured in the
HPC setup, while the number of cores used to solve each frequency point is determined by Total
Cores/Number of Tasks configured in the Analysis Configuration. On the Driven Solution
Setup dialog box, if you click the HPC and Analysis Options button and click Add, you can set
the Number of Tasks and the TotalCores on the Analysis Configuration window.

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Connector Post Processing

After solving, you can view solution data by right-clicking on Setup1 and selecting Profile to display
the Solution dialog. You also view the Solution tabs for Convergence, Matrix Data, and Mesh
Statistics.

To view the S parameter plot show below, double click on XY plot1 in the Project Tree under
Results.

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Co-Planar Waveguide (Driven Terminal)

The coplanar waveguide CPW consists of a signal trace sandwiched between two coplanar
ground conductors. The width of the signal trace and the gap between the trace and the ground
conductors affect the characteristic impedance. Model a short length as shown below and to obtain
a longer length of the model you can deembed out of the port.

Figure 1 CPW (air box + ports hidden)

Define the ports such that only their faces touch the air box. The edges of the ports should not
touch the edges of the air box.

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Figure 2 ports with dembeddding

Define the Radiation boundary only along the thickness of the air box. Assigning a radiation
boundary on all surfaces of the air box in this model can make the port boundary to be conducting.

Figure 3 Radiation Boundary

Define a perfect H boundary on the air box. The wave port touches a perfect H boundary and
therefore becomes an open circuit.

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Figure 4 Perfect H boundary

So, the port boundary does not stay as a conductor anymore and almost mimics a “perfect open.”
This is because with the application of the perfect H boundary “behind” the wave port, the port
boundary becomes an open and will no longer be one of the conductors associated with the port.
Now with three conductors namely, the two grounds and the trace, there are two possible modes
that this structure can carry. Obviously, for the CPW structure we are interested in the center
conductor excited at a voltage with reference to the two sides (or what we arbitrarily call “ground”)
conductors at zero potential. Since voltage values can be arbitrary, this same mode could also be
considered as the center conductor at “0” volt with the two side conductors at some equal voltage
offset from the center conductor. In the terminal framework such a mode can be described as the
center conductor labeled “reference” conductor with the two outside conductors considered to be
the “terminals.” Then, by placing those two conductors at equal potential with respect to the center
conductor they can be defined as differential pair whose common mode is the aforementioned
mode of interest.

The Edit Post Process Sources dialog is shown below.

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Figure 5 Edit Port Process Dialog

Notice from the plots below how the field gets trapped in the signal trace and dielectric.

Figure 6 E field Plot

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Figure 7: Vector Field

Figure 8 S-Parameter plot for the differential pair (legend shown below)

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Related Topics

Coplanar Waveguide with Ground

Coplanar Waveguide with Ground (Driven Terminal)

The coplanar waveguide (CPW) with ground plane is shown below.

Figure 1: Coplanar Waveguide with Ground

When using HFSS to model a transmission line it is not necessary to model the entire length
explicitly. Instead create a short section and to generate the desired length for the model you only
need to de-embed the appropriate distance from the wave port. For this model the explicitly solved
length was chosen as a dimension typical of the cross section such as spacing between conductors
or a conductor thickness. This is done to keep the 3D mesh as close to a high quality as possible.
So for a model of explicit length X and a desired simulation length Y one can de-embed from each
port (Y-X)/2.

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Figure 2: Ports with Deembedding

Deembedding greatly reduces the simulation effort.

Figure 3: Terminals

The resulting E field and vector fields are shown below.

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Figure 4: E Field

Figure 5: Vector Field

The S-parameter plot is shown below.

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Figure 6: S-parameter Plot

Corporate Feed

Description - A microstrip 8 way corporate feed. The model was originally created in ANSYS
Electronics Desktop. Export to HFSS was used to create this project. It is a Driven Terminal
design.

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Model - The traces are defined as 2D objects with a finite conductivity boundary of copper. The
sources are all lumped ports with a 50 Ohm impedance. There is a surrounding air box with a
radiation boundary on the top and sides.

Setup - Adapt at 7.5 GHz and use Mixed Order for the Order of Basis function.

Note To view a port or boundary, select the desired item in the Project Tree. It is highlighted in
the Model window and the properties will be displayed. Selecting an object in the History
tree will also display its properties.

Corporate Feed Post Processing

After solving, you can view solution data by right-clicking on the Setup and selecting Profile to
display the Solution dialog. You also view the Solution tabs for Convergence, Matrix Data, and
Mesh Statistics.

To view the shade plot of the E field, shown below, double click on MagE1 in the Project tree under
Field Overlays>E Field. To see a phase animation of this field plot, right click on MagE1, and
select Animation, Then click OK in the dialog.

Determining Phase Center Using Optimetrics

The phase center is the point from which the electromagnetic radiation spreads spherically
outward, with the phase of the signal being equal at any point on the sphere. This example
illustrates a technique for using an optimization setup to search for the phase center.

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The technique involves the following tasks.

1. Define a relative coordinate system that uses a post processing variable.

This allows the variable value to change the definition of the coordinate system and thereby
change a solved solution without invalidating it.

2. Use a relative coordinate system in a Far field setup calculation.

This allows far field quantities to be re-calculated when the relative coordinate system is
repositioned (demonstrated in the example by changing the value of the PhaseCenterZ
variable), without re-simulation.

The far field setup will also limit the angular range of the sweeping intrinsic (phi or theta).

3. Create an optimization setup to search for the phase center. The search will be efficient if
you have a rough idea on the location of the phase center. The expression to be optimized is
the peak to peak continuous angle of the quantity rEPhi. (The electric field of this antenna is
Phi polarized.)
4. Analyze the Optimization setup and view results via the View Analysis Result dialog.

The Z coordinate of the phase center will be the value of the post processing variable when
Cost is at minimum.

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The following sections detail these steps for setting up an Optimetrics project to calculate the
Phase Center.

l Define the Relative Coordinate System using a Post Processing Variable

l Use the Relative Coordinate System in a Far Field Setup Calculation
l Create an Optimization Setup to Search for the Phase Center
l Analyze and View the Optimization Results

Define the Relative Coordinate System using a Post Processing Variable

First create a post processing variable that you can use to define a relative coordinate system.

1. Use HFSS>Design Properties to display the Design Properties dialog.

2. Click Add Variable, to display the Properties dialog for defining a Design Variable. The
example project uses the name “PhaseCenterZ”.

Designate the type as Post Processing variable:

Set the Unit Type as Length, the Units. This example uses “in” for the units and the value as 1.

Click OK.

The PhaseCenterZ variable is listed as a Local variable with the Post Processing Type.

3. You can use the variable to define an offset relative coordinate system.

Use Modeler>Coordinate System>Create>Relative CS>Offset to create a coordinate

system, using the variable as the z coordinate. You can verify the Properties.

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In the example, the PhaseCenterZ variable defines the z coordinate of the origin for Phase
Center CS.

This variable allows you to change definition of the coordinate system during the optimization
process without invalidating solved solution.

Next, Use the Relative Coordinate System in a Far Field Setup Calculation.

Related Topics

Determining Phase Center using Optimetrics

Use the Relative Coordinate System in a Far Field Setup Calculation

1. Click HFSS>Radiation>Insert Far Field Setup>Infinite Sphere, or right-click on

Radiation in the Project tree and on the shortcut menu, click Insert Far Field
Setup>Infinite Sphere. This displays the dialog.
2. Set the Infinite Sphere values appropriately, and on the Coordinates tab select the Relative

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coordinate system that uses the Post Processing variable.

In the example project, the radiation sphere setup is named Infinite Sphere - Phase Center CS.

This allows far field quantities to be re-calculated when the relative coordinate system is
repositioned (by changing the value of the PhaseCenterZ variable), without re-simulation.

The far field setup will also limit the angular range of the sweeping intrinsic (phi or theta). rEPhi and
rETheta are the quantities of interest, depending on the radiation direction of the antenna.

Next, Create an Optimization Setup to Search for the Phase Center

Related Topics

Determining Phase Center using Optimetrics

Create an Optimization Setup to Search for the Phase Center

1. Add an Optimization setup.

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2. Click the Setup Calculations button to open the dialog for defining the Calculation
Expression.

You will define Optimization Goals designed to search for the phase center.

The expression to be optimized is the peak to peak continuous angle of the quantity rEPhi.

l The Report Type is Far Fields.

l The Solution is LastAdaptive.
l The Geometry is the Infinite Sphere defined using the PhaseCenterZ variable.
l The Calculation Expression includes the rEPhi Quantity with the cang_deg function. The
antenna is Phi polarized for the Phi=0 plane (E-field along the y-axis).
l You then click Range Function button to select Math and pk2pk to apply over the Theta
sweep.

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l The Over sweep field defines the range of the sweeping intrinsic, with Theta from -40 deg to
+40 deg. 0 deg is selected for the value of Phi.
l Return to the Setup Optimization dialog. Here you may need to scroll to the right to see and
set the Goal weight Condition to Minimize.

The “Minimize” goal condition doesn't require user to setup the goal value/weight and can be more
natural for antenna related application. However, users need to be aware of below restrictions.

l “Minimize/Maximize” can only be used when a single calculation quantity is being optimized.
l Optimetrics only supports one dimension of range reduction, that is, no nested range
function

The above restrictions implies “Minimize/Maximize” choices can only be used if

l Only one sweep in the Calculation Range has multiple values, and
l A Range reduction function is used in the Calculation Expression

In the example project, OptimizationSetup2 uses the Minimize selection. For comparison, The
OptimizationSetup1 uses the <= Condition with a Goal of 0 and a weight of 1, subject to the Noise
setting of 0.0001. The final values for PhaseCenterZ in the two setups are very close.

The completed Goals for the Optimization setup2 for the example display as shown:

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For the Variables tab, you should check to include the variable used to define the relative
coordinate system. The search is restricted to a minimum of 5 in and a maximum of 10 in along the
Z coordinates of the relative coordinate system.

For the General tab, uncheck Update design parameters value after optimization. This permits you
to view a plot of the progress of the simulation.

OK the completed Optimization Setup.

Next, you Analyze and View the Optimization Results.

Related Topics

Determining Phase Center using Optimetrics

Analyze and View the Optimization Results

Right-click on the Optimization Setup to view the short-cut menu and click Analyze to start the
simulation. Then right-click again, and select View Analysis Result to view the Post Analysis dialog.
Select the Plot radio button to watch the progress of the simulation.

The plot form of the results shows how the Optimization search progresses towards the lowest
cost.

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The table form of the Results shows that the Z coordinate of the phase center is the value of the
post processing variable when Cost is at minimum.

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Related Topics

Determining Phase Center using Optimetrics

Dish FEBI IE PO

This project shows the same simulation of the dish antenna by using the variations in the HFSS
solver over designs with different levels of approximations in the geometries. First we will describe
the HFSS designs followed by the HFSS-IE designs.

Figure 1: Dish FEBI with Feed Network

In this set-up a FEBI radiation boundary is applied on the air box that encloses the entire structure.
This radiation boundary uses integral equations in its solution. See the settings in the Radiation
Panel below. The Model exterior option is selected which uses FEBI method in the solution.

Figure 2: FEBI Boundary and Radiation Panel

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The air box is close to the structure; in the initial mesh settings the curve linear elements are turned
off. Typically, this design requires more RAM and CPU for its simulation than the other designs in
this project, and the simulation produces accurate results and takes longer.

Dish FEBI with horn only using IE Regions [Driven Modal]

In this design there is no feed network and we are using the FEBI boundary on the horn only while
the dish is in the IE region.

Figure 3 Dish FEBI with Horn Only Using IE Regions

Dish FEBI with horn only [Driven Modal]

In this design instead of making the dish an IE region, a FEBI boundary is assigned on the air boxes
enclosing the dish and the horn.

Figure 4 FEBI Boundary Enclosing Dish and Horn

Horn Source Project for PO Solver [Driven Modal]

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The last HFSS design is the source project with the horn only. Default radiation boundary is used.
So, HFSS will use scattered field formulation since Radiation Only is selected. A wave port is
assigned on this horn as shown below and then, the design is solved to generate the fields which
are used in the IE designs explained in the next two sections that follow.

Figure 5 Horn Source Project

Dish IR Solver Imported Far Fields

Here we increase the level of approximation in comparison with designs (1), (2), and (3) by
excluding even the horn (and the feed network). Using HFSS' Far Field Link as an Excitation
option, we can simply impose the fields from the Horn_Source_Project (i.e. design 4) onto the dish
without the coupling. As shown in the figure below we have retained only the dish in this design.
Although there is no horn, interaction between the horn and the dish is kept intact by way of Far
Field Incident Wave from the Horn_Source_Project. See the Excitation settings and the dish
below.

Figure 6: Dish with Solver Imported Far Fields

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See the IE Solution Setup panel for the General and Options tabs shown side by side. Note the
solver options used.

Figure 7: Setup Link Dialog

Dish Physical Optics Solver Imported Far Fields

In this design a similar level of approximation as design 5 is used i.e. we retain only the dish and
impose the Far Field Incident Wave from the Horn_Source_Project. The geometry is similar to that
in design 5 except that we use a different solver for the simulation. Notice the settings in the IE
Solution Setup dialog box where we have selected the Use PO Solver radio button. Obviously, we
are using the Physical Optics solver.

Figure 8: Dish PO Solver Imported Far Fields

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Results

The E-field plot for the first project with the horn, dish, and the feed network is shown below.

Figure 9: E-Field Plot on the Feed and the 3D Polar Plot for the First Design

Figure 10: Dish DEBI with Only IE Using Horn and the 3D Polar Plot for the Second Design

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Figure 11 E-Field Plot for Dish FEBI with Horn Only

Figure 12 E Field for the Dish IE Solver Imported Far Fields

Figure 13: Dish PO Solver Far Fields Imported

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Figure 14: E-Field in Horn Antenna

Differential Pair Microstrip

Description

The differential microstrip design comprises two copper traces and an FR4 substrate enclosed in
an air-box. The design in the following figure describes an efficient way to model a long
transmission line without explicitly drawing the desired length of the microstrip model. HFSS offers
a post processing feature called Deembedding that can be used to calculate the transmission line
characteristics by moving the reference plane of the wave port by the specified deembedding
distance.

Differential microstrip

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The dimensions of the copper traces, air-box, and substrate are defined by using variables. If you
click the design name on the Project Manager window, the Properties window displays all the
design variables.

Variable list

Double-click CreateBox under trace1 on the history tree to see the dimensions of the copper
trace.

trace1

In this model, trace2 was created from trace1 by right-clicking trace1 and selecting Edit >
Duplicate > Mirror. In the coordinate text boxes of the status bar, starting co-ordinates for the
base position was set to 0, 0, 0 and the normal position was set to 0,-1,0.

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Boolean operation command window

By parameterizing with common variables and taking advantage of the model tree you can create
efficient designs in HFSS. Changing the value of one or more common variables ensures individual
objects to track with the geometry of the entire model appropriately.

Boundaries and Excitations

On the Project Manager window, click GND and Rad1 to see the ground assigned on the bottom
face of this design, and the radiation boundary assigned on the top face and along the ZX faces as
shown in the following figure.

Note: You can also select the Boundary Display (Solver View) option from the HFSS menu
item and select the boundaries, ports, and terminals that you want to see in the design. In the
following figure, the ground and the radiation boundary appear highlighted since they are selected
on the Boundary Display (Solver View) dialog box.

ground and radiation boundary

Observe how the two ports are assigned in the remaining faces in the following figure.

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wave ports and deembedding

Note For guidelines on defining port size, see the section Assign Wave Ports for Terminal
Solutions in the online help.

The ports are deembedded with a negative distance outwards from the structure. The intent is to
solve the model of this minimal length and then deembed outwards from the ports using a negative
sign for the deembed distance to effectively add the extra length that you want to represent the
actual length of the model.

Note For more information about modeling long transmission lines, see the Applications for
Deembedding section in the Assign Excitation material in the online help.

There are 4 terminals assigned as shown in the following figure.

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terminals

Right-click Excitations and select Differential Pairs to access the Differential Pairs dialog box.

differential pairs

HPC Analysis and Solution Setups

Run this design at an adapt frequency of 20 GHz. Since a parametric sweep (look for
SpacingSweep under Optimetrics on the Project Manager window) is defined, this design is a
good choice for which HPC can be set up. On the Solution Setup dialog box, click the button to
open the HPC and Analysis Options window. Click Add and set the number of tasks and cores.

For example in HPC setup in the following figure, the design was simulated on a machine with 12
cores on it and the Number of Tasks is 3. In such a setup, 3 frequency points are solved in parallel
with 4 cores of matrix multiprocessing per frequency point.

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HPC setup

Note For more information about HPC, see HPC and Analysis Configuration Options
section in the online help.

While deembedding simplifies modeling long differential striplines and makes the solution process
efficient, the HPC setup further accelerates the simulation process.

Results

The results of the S-parameter plots with and without deembedding are shown below. The
deembedding operation adds the effect of phase delay and additional dielectric and conduction
losses to the resulting S-parameter calculated from this model.

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results

Differential Pair Stripline

The following figure shows a differential pair stripline design, where two copper traces are
embedded in the substrate, which in turn is sandwiched between two ground conductors. Select
GNDs on the project tree of the Project Manager window to highlight the ground planes assigned
on the top and bottom faces of the stripline. These top and bottom ground planes are equipotential
surfaces.

stripline

The intent of this design is to draw only minimal lengths of the differential traces containing the two
conductors adjacent to each other (and the equipotential ground conductors) without explicitly
drawing the actual length throughout the entire trace route. By using a post processing feature of
Deembedding, transmission line characteristics can be calculated by moving the reference plane of
the wave port to desired locations along the trace route, depending upon the specified value of the
deembed distance. Such a design is an effective approach to simulate the actual model length. It
saves simulation time and uses minimal computational resources.

Excitations

To see both excitations at the same time, right-click the Excitations option on the Project
Manager window. Select List from the shortcut menu, and click the two wave ports listed in the
Design List dialog box. The wave ports assigned in the model with the deembedded lengths
appear highlighted in the design as shown in the following figure.

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deembedded wave ports

The deembed arrows point outwards from the structure since negative deembedding value of -(1in
- ModelLength)/2 was specified for each wave port. The Deembed Distance value is set on the
Post Processing tab of a wave port dialog box. The main purpose of such a design is to solve the
model of minimal length and then, by deembedding outwards from the ports, to represent the
actual length of the model. The terminals on a trace are shown in the following figure.

terminals on a trace

Solution Setup and HPC Analysis

Run this design at a solution frequency of 20 GHz. Since the design has a parametric sweep (with
the trace edge-to-edge spacing defined by the variable S), it is a good choice for setting up HPC
analysis. From the Solution Setup dialog box, click the button to open the HPC and Analysis
window. Click the Add button to open the Analysis and Configuration window, where you can
set the number of available cores to use for this design.

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HPC setup on the Analysis and Configuration window

For example, in figure above, 16 cores are available on the machine in which the design was
simulated and number of tasks is 8. In such a setup, the sweep is run with 8 frequency points
solved in parallel by using two cores of matrix multiprocessing for each frequency point. When such
an analysis is executed on a single machine, the simulation is very efficient if the machine has
enough shared memory to accommodate 8 simultaneous solves. Otherwise the analysis can be
performed across multiple machines (that have HFSS installed in them) without requiring any
additional HFSS license for each machine

Note For more information about HPC, see HPC and Analysis Configuration Options
section in the online help.

While deembedding simplifies modeling long differential striplines and makes the solution process
efficient, the HPC setup further accelerates the simulation process.

Results

The following figure shows the S-parameter plots for the stripline.

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s-parameter plot

Helical Antenna

Description - a coax fed helical antenna with a dielectric support on a finite ground plane. The
antenna is designed to run at 3.5 GHz. A smaller virtual object is defined as the integration surface
for radiated field calculations. This is surrounded by an air box with a radiation boundary.*

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Model - the support is made of Teflon and the ground has as thickness of 0.5 in. The coax port is
internal and is capped by a conducting object. You can create a helix similar to this by using
Draw>User Defined Primitive>SysLib>Segmented Helix.

Setup - adapt at 3.5 GHz and use mixed order for Order of Basis function. Since this model has
open air regions and the tightly spaced helix it is a good choice for mixed order.

Note To view a port or boundary, select the desired item in the Project Tree. It is then highlighted
in the Model window and the properties will be displayed in the Properties window.
Selecting an object in the History tree will also display its properties.

For a further discussion on using integration surfaces and for more on creating sample
antenna designs, see the antenna design kit at https://support.ansys.com/.

HPC Analysis and Solution Setup for Helical Antenna

Solve this design at an adapt frequency of 3.5 GHz and use Mixed Order for Order of Basis
Functions. This model has open air regions and the tightly spaced helix, so it is a good choice for
mixed order. Since this is a large problem, you can enable Domain Decomposition so that HFSS
automatically partitions the design into domains and solves them by separate processes. These
processes can be executed on separate networked machines, allowing the problem to be solved
with distributed memory. Before enabling solver domains, set up HPC on the Analysis
Configuration window so that there are at least 3 tasks dedicated for this simulation. You can
access the window from Tools > Options > HPC and Analysis Options and clicking the Add
button.

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Note For details see the Enable Domain Decomposition and Setting HPC and Analysis Options
sections in the online help.

Post Processing

After solving, you can view solution data by right-clicking on Setup1 and selecting Profile to display
the Solution dialog. You also view the Solution tabs for Convergence, Matrix Data, and Mesh
Statistics.

To view 3D plot of the antenna gain, look in the Project Tree under Results and double click on 3D
Polar Plot 1. To overlay the 3D plot on the model, click HFSS>Fields>Plot Fields>Radiation
Field to display the Overlay radiation field dialog. Check Visible for 3D Polar Plot 1, and set the
transparency and scale as desired.

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To view a 2D plot of the total gain, in the Project tree, double-click on Results - Radiation Pattern 1.

To view a 2D plot of the circular polarization pattern for this antenna in the φ = 0o cut, in the Project
tree, double click Results - Radiation Pattern 2.

You can add markers to the Radiation Pattern plots by right-clicking on the plot window and
choosing Marker>Add Marker.

Package Section

Description - a model of a section of a complex package. The model was created using ALinks
from an ANF file and is a driven terminal design.

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Model - the model is two traces of a larger package. At one end are the bond wires that are excited
by lumped ports. The opposite ends terminate in ports at the solder balls. The substrate is FR4 and
a radiation boundary has been applied to the surface of the surrounding airbox.

Setup - driven terminal setup with an adapt frequency of 2.5 GHz. An interpolating sweep is also
included that has an upper frequency of 2.5 GHz and uses DC Extrapolation at the lower end.

Note To view a port or boundary, select the desired item in the Project Tree. It is then highlighted
in the Model window and the properties will be displayed in the Properties window.
Selecting an object in the History tree will also display its properties.

Package Post Processing

After solving, you can view solution data by right-clicking on Setup1 and selecting Profile to display
the Solution dialog. You also view the Solution tabs for Convergence, Matrix Data, and Mesh
Statistics.

To view the S parameter plot show below, double click on XY plot1 in the Project Tree under
Results.

To view the shade plot of jsurf, the surface current density, on one of the package planes, right click
on Jsurf under Field Overlays in the Project Tree and select update.

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Small Array of Planar Flared Dipole Antennas

Description - A five element array of flared dipole antennas with a trough reflector. A post
processing variable has been defined that controls the element to element source phases, allowing
the resulting beam to be easily steered.

Model - The elements use a teflon substrate with 1.6 mm thickness. The excitations are lumped
ports. A radiation boundary is defined on an air box that is not show here. The post processing
variable is called phase_shift.

Setup - Adapt at 1.9 GHz.

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Note To view a port or boundary, select the desired item in the Project Tree. It is then highlighted
in the Model window and the properties will be displayed in the Properties window.
Selecting an object in the History tree will also display its properties.

Post Processing Small Array of Planar Flared Dipole Antennas

After solving, you can view solution data by right-clicking on Setup1 and selecting Profile to display
the Solution dialog. You also view the Solution tabs for Convergence, Matrix Data, and Mesh
Statistics.

To view the φ = 90o radiation pattern double click on Radiation pattern 1 under Results in the
Project tree. As stated the relative element-to-element phase shift in degrees for this array is
controlled by the phase_shift post processing variable. To verify this, go to HFSS>Fields>Edit
Sources where you will see the offset phase, defined as multiples of the variable phase_shift.

The easiest way to adjust the phase_shift variable is to click on the design name, HFSSDesign2, in
the Project tree. You will see the design variable displayed in the Properties window. You can
change the value of phase_shift in this window. The plot shown here is for a setting of 30o.

Pyramidal Horn

Description - A pyramidal horn designed to operate at 10 GHz. The feed is an x-band

waveguide.This project uses PMLs for its radiation boundary.

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Model - The horn has 0.02" wall thickness and is defined as PEC. The port is internal to the
solution region and is capped by a PEC object (cap). PMLs are included in the model and are
defined on the faces of air_box. Their visibility, by default, has been turned off.

Setup - Adapt at 10 GHz.

Note To view a port or boundary, select the desired item in the Project Tree. It is then highlighted
in the Model window and the properties will be displayed in the Properties window.
Selecting an object in the History tree will also display its properties.

Pyramidal Horn Post Processing

After solving, you can view solution data by right-clicking on Setup1 and selecting Profile to display
the Solution dialog. You also view the Solution tabs for Convergence, Matrix Data, and Mesh
Statistics.

To view 3D plot of the antenna gain, look in the Project Tree under Results and double click on 3D
Polar Plot 1. To overlay the 3D plot on the model, click HFSS>Fields>Plot Fields>Radiation
Field to display the Overlay radiation field dialog. Check Visible for 3D Polar Plot 1, and set the
transparency and scale as desired.

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To view a 2D plot of the dB gain total, look in the Project Tree under Results, and double click on
Radiation Pattern 1

A shade plot showing the fields on the Y-Z plane has also been created and can be viewed by right-
clicking on E Field under Field Overlays and selecting Update.

Ring Hybrid

Description - a ring hybrid that can be used as a splitter. Power input to the Sum port splits equally
between Ports 2 and 3 in phase while power input to Difference Port splits with 180o phase shift. It
can be used as a power combiner with power input to Ports 2 and 3. In that case, the sum of the
two inputs will be seen at Sum port and the difference at Difference port.

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Model - This is a hybrid designed to operate at 10 GHz using stripline transmission lines. The
substrate is 40 mil Duriod 5880. The ports are defined on four of the faces of the substrate. Default
outer boundary (PerfE) is defined on the remaining faces. The trace is a 2D object with a PerfE
boundary.

Setup - Adapt at 10 GHz with interpolating frequency sweep from 8 to 12 GHz. Also, the model
includes an output variable called Diff_port_phase that computes the difference in phase between
ports 2 and 3 when the Difference port is excited.

Note To view a port or boundary, select the desired item in the Project Tree. It is then highlighted
in the Model window and the properties will be displayed. Selecting an object in the History
tree also displays its properties.

Ring Hybrid - Post Processing

After solving, you can view solution data by right-clicking on Setup1 and selecting Profile to display
the Solution dialog. You also view the Solution tabs for Convergence, Matrix Data, and Mesh
Statistics.

To view plots of S parameter data you can open XY Plot 1. For a plot of Diff_port_phase, open XY
Plot 2. To view a shade plot, double click on Mag_E1 under E Field under Field Overlays.

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To view the shade plot as shown, change excitations so that ports 2 and 3 are excited by equal
amplitude and phase, using HFSS>Fields>Edit Sources.

To view a phase animation of the resulting shade plot, right click on MagE1 and choose Animation
from the menu.

Stripline (Driven Terminal)

The following figure shows the HFSS model of the GSSGSSG Stripline.

Figure 1-1 GSSGSSG Stripline

The figure illustrates a set of seven striplines composing a GSSGSSG dual differential pair
configuration. To reduce the coupling between the differential pairs there are 3 ground conductors.
Notice how the terminals are defined in the model shown below.

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Figure 1-2 Terminals

The grounding is accomplished when you renormalize the impedance of the ground conductors to
a very small value like 5e-6 (6 orders of magnitude below the other terminals set to 50 ohms).
Notice the contrast in the values of the terminal renormalizing impedance of a trace and a ground
conductor in the dialogs below.

Figure 1-3 Terminals Dialogs

To model a longer length, just deembed the ports as shown below.

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Figure 1-4 Ports with Deembedding

In the Post Processing tab of the Wave Port dialog box the deembedding distance = + (Simulation
Length - Model Length)/2 where Simulation Length and Model Length are the design variables.

Figure 1-5 Post Processing Deembed Setting

The mesh plot is shown below.

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Figure 1-6 Stripline Mesh Plot

The results for the S-parameter plot are shown below.

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Figure 1-7 Stripline S-Parameter Plot

Tune a Coax Fed Patch Antenna

Description - A coax fed quarter wave patch antenna will be tuned using the Adjoint Derivatives.
The antenna is shorted on one end. The design variable, feed_pos, controls the location of the
coax feed along the x direction. Derivatives of the S parameter w.r.t. this variable will be computed.

Model - The patch, shoulder, and ground plate are united into a single PEC object. The air filled
coax has an internal port that is capped by the PEC ground plate. The variable feed_pos controls
the value of X for the coax location in millimeters. The surrounding air box with radiation boundary
is not shown.

Setup - Adapt at 1.8 GHz., and do an interpolating sweep from 1.5 to 2 GHz. The derivative of the
S parameter data w.r.t. feed_pos about the default value of 10.8 mm is computed. This feature is
enabled in the Derivatives tab of the Setup1 window.

Post processing for tuning a Coax Fed Patch Antenna

After solving, you can view solution data by right-clicking on Setup1 and selecting Profile to display
the Solution dialog. You also view the Solution tabs for Convergence, Matrix Data, and Mesh
Statistics.

To view the derivatives you can create a new plot by right clicking on Results and choosing Create
Modal Solution Data Report>Rectangular Plot. In the New Report Setup window, select
feed_pos in the derivative box and select the desired quantities to plot.

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To tune the design, double-click on XY Plot 2 under Results to open the plot shown. In a separate
project, the response for feed_pos = 10.5 and 11 mm was computed and the results from each was
imported into this plot. By right clicking on Results and choosing Tune Reports you can open the
Report Tuning dialog shown. As you adjust the slider, the plot is recomputed using the
derivatives. Adjust the Offset to -0.3 and +0.2 to compare to the imported feed_pos = 10.5 and
11mm results.

Related Topics

Derivative Tuning for Reports

Twinaxial Cable

Twinaxial cables are used for in-rack connections between supercomputers to carry the
networking traffic. They are meant for the transmission of short-range signals. The following figure
illustrates a twinaxial cable (28 wire gauge) design, which comprises two inner conductors (S1 and
S2) made of silver, and a shield or drain made of aluminum enclosed in an air-box. The central
conductor is insulated with a dielectric layer.

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twinax cable design

The main intent is to draw a minimal length of the twinaxial cable and stretch it to any required
length by using the post processing feature of Deembedding. Such a design saves simulation time
and makes minimal use of computational resources and ensures efficient simulation, without
explicitly modeling the actual length of the cable.

The design is parameterized as shown. The geometry is drawn using the parameters and boolean
operations in such a way that all the individual objects that make up the geometry track with it. For
example, when you change the values of the variables appearing in the Properties window, the
model resizes accordingly and the objects with changed parameters are track with the geometry
appropriately.

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some of the parameters used in the design

Excitations

Right-click Excitations on the project tree and select List to open the Design List dialog box
where you can select the terminals and wave ports that are assigned on this design. In the
following figure, the two wave ports with their deembedding distances are highlighted.

wave ports and deembedding

Negative values of deembedding indicates that the wave ports are deembedded away from the
structure to stretch them to the required lengths. The transmission line characteristics are
calculated along the shifted reference plane due to the deembedding. Deembedding prevents
explicit drawing of the entire cable lengths. The following figure shows the 4 terminals assigned in
this design.

Twinaxial Cable terminals

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HPC and Solution Setups

Run the design at an adapt frequency of 20 GHz. Since a parametric sweep is used (look under
Optimetrics), this design is a good choice to employ HPC. You can access HPC settings from
Tools > Options > HPC and Analysis Options. Click the Add button to open the Analysis and
Configuration window where you can set the number of cores and tasks for the HPC simulation.

HPC analysis and configuration options

For example in figure above, 16 cores are available on the machine in which the design was
simulated. In a set up of 8 tasks executed with these 16 cores, the sweep is run with 8 frequency
points being solved in parallel using two cores of matrix multiprocessing for each frequency point.
When such an analysis is executed on a single machine, the simulation is very efficient if the
machine has enough shared memory to accommodate 8 simultaneous solves. Otherwise the
analysis could be performed across multiple machines (that have HFSS installed in them) without
requiring any additional HFSS license for each machine.

Note For more information about HPC, see the sections Setting HPC and Analysis Options
and Editing Distributed Machine Configurations in the online help.

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The advantage of deembedding is that it saves the trouble of explicitly modeling the long cable
lengths. Such a design is efficient and can be solved using minimum computational resources. By
using HPC, the solution time is further reduced.

Results

The following figure shows the S-parameter plot.

s-parameter plot

Unit Cell of a Phased Array

Description - A unit cell of an infinite phased array of vivaldi antennas is simulated using linked
boundaries and a Floquet port.

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Model - the antenna is fed by a coax line with a wave port. The upper face of the unit cell is
terminated in a Floquet port. The sides are two pairs of Master and Slave boundaries. The
substrate εr = 6 and is 1.27 mm thick. The conducting traces are 2D objects with PerE boundaries.
Setup - Adapt at 4.5 GHz with an interpolating sweep from 2 to 5 GHz.

Note To view a port or boundary, select the desired item in the Project Tree. It is then highlighted
in the Model window and the properties will be displayed in the Properties window.

Post Processing

After solving, you can view solution data by right-clicking on Setup1 and selecting Profile to display
the Solution dialog. You also view the Solution tabs for Convergence, Matrix Data, and Mesh
Statistics.

To view a plot of active S parameter seen at the feed, look in the Project tree and double-click on
XY Plot1. To view the modes present on the Floquet port click on the desired mode under Port
Field Display>Floquet Port 1 in the Project tree, and a vector plot of the mode will be displayed.

This design was analyzed in “Analysis of Periodic Structures via a Time-Domain Finite-Element
Formulation with a Floquet ABC,” L.E.R. Peterson et al., IEEE Trans, AP, March 2006, pp 933-
944. You will see the plot computed here agrees nicely with Fig. 9b in the reference.

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Via Model

Description - a model of a differential via pair. It has a pair of microstrip lines that transition
through the vias to a pair of striplines on a lower layer. This model was created using the Via
Wizard.

Model - the two microstrip lines are each assigned a terminal in the coupled microstrip port.
Likewise for the two striplines at the opposite end. The conductors are copper and a radiation
boundary is applied to the air box.

Setup - adapt at 4.38 GHz with an interpolating sweep that has an upper frequency of 4.38 GHz
and uses DC extrapolation at the lower end. Mixed Order is set for Order of Basis Function.

Note To view a port or boundary, select the desired item in the Project Tree. It is then highlighted
in the Model window and the properties will be displayed in the Properties window.
Selecting an object in the History tree will also display its properties.

Via Model Postprocessing

After solving, you can view solution data by right-clicking on Setup1 and selecting Profile to display
the Solution dialog. You also view the Solution tabs for Convergence, Matrix Data, and Mesh
Statistics.

To view the S parameter plot shown below, double click on XY plot1 in the Project Tree under
Results.

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HFSS 3D Layout Example Projects

The examples directory for HFSS 3D Layout has subdirectories for Antennas, Component, Filters,
FSS and Signal Integrity.

l Antennas

l Components

l Filters

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l FSS

l Signal Integrity

HFSS-IE Example Projects

The examples directory includes the following HFSS-IE projects.

The HFSS/Antennas examples directory also includes the Dish_FEBI_IE_PO project which
contains versions using both HFSS and HFSS-IE. For more information, see Dish FEBI IE PO.

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2 - Working with ANSYS Electronics

Desktop Projects
An ANSYS Electronics Desktop project is a folder that includes one or more models, or
designs.Each design ultimately includes a geometric model, its boundary conditions and material
assignments, and field solution and post-processing information, or a schematic or netlist.

A new project called Projectn is automatically created when the software is launched. By option, a
design named Designn is automatically created for a new project. You can also open a new project
by clicking File>New. In general, use the File menu commands to manage projects. If you move or
change the names of files without using these commands, the software may not be able to find
information necessary to solve the model.

ANSYS Electronics Desktop Files

When you create any project in ANSYS Electronics Desktop, it is given an .aedt file extension and
stored in the directory you specify. For Legacy projects, the transition is handled as follows.

l When you open a legacy project in interactive mode, the Desktop pops up a dialog informing
you that the legacy file extension is no longer supported, and that if you continue, the project
will be converted to the new .aedt extension. If you agree, then the project and results
directory is renamed/moved to the new file extensions immediately. The read continues with
the standard code for reading previous version projects.
l Attempts to run batch solve or non-graphical with a legacy project returns an error. We will
not do any automatic / hidden conversion of file extensions. Note that the existing BatchSave
command can be used to convert many projects to the new extension and version.
l WB integration was not modified with this latest change. It continues to open legacy projects
without a warning, and copy results from legacy to the new extension.

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HFSS Files

When you create an HFSS project, it is given an .aedt file extension and stored in the directory you
specify. Any files related to that project are also stored in that directory.

Some common HFSS file and folder types are listed below:

.aedt HFSS project.

design_ HFSS folder containing results data for a design. It resides in the project.aedtresults
name. folder.
aedtresults
project_ HFSS folder containing results data for a project.
name.
aedtresults
project_ The .asol file contains the database of all solved variations and where the resulting
name.asol data is stored in the design.aedtresults folder. This file is stored in the project_
name.aedtresults folder.
.hfss HFSS file extension before ANSYS Electronics Desktop.
.pjt ANSYS Electronics Desktop version 8.5 and earlier project.
.anfp ANSYS PCB neutral file

Related Topics

Projects

Creating Projects

Saving Projects

Deleting Projects

Managing Projects and Designs

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Creating Projects

To create a project click File > New or on the Desktop tab of the ribbon, click the New icon:

A new project is listed in the project tree. It is named Projectn by default, where n is the order in
which the project was added to the current project folder.

You can insert designs of any type into the project where they are stored in the project tree.

The default name for each inserted project is <designType>n. You can also specify the name of the
project when you save it using the File>Save or File>Save As commands.

You can view the contents of a project by clicking the + sign for each level of the hierarchy in the
project or design.

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Related Topics

Projects

Creating Projects

Saving Projects

Deleting Projects

Managing Projects and Designs

Getting Started with HFSS

HFSS™ is an interactive software package for calculating the electromagnetic behavior of a
structure. The software includes post-processing commands for analyzing this behavior in detail.

Using HFSS, you can compute:

l Basic electromagnetic field quantities and, for open boundary problems, radiated near and
far fields.
l Characteristic port impedances and propagation constants.
l Generalized S-parameters and S-parameters renormalized to specific port impedances.
l The eigenmodes, or resonances, of a structure.

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You are expected to draw or import the structure, specify material characteristics for each object,
and identify ports and special surface characteristics. HFSS then generates the necessary field
solutions and associated port characteristics and S-parameters.

Note If you are using the Eigenmode Solution solver, you do not need to specify sources for the
problem. HFSS calculates the resonances for the model based on the geometry, materials,
and boundaries.

As you set up the problem, HFSS allows you to specify whether to solve the problem at one
specific frequency or at several frequencies within a range.

Related Topics

Setting up an HFSS Design

Setting up an HFSS Design

To set up an HFSS design, follow this general procedure. After you insert a design, you do not
need to perform the intermediate steps sequentially, but you must complete them before you
generate a solution.

Insert an HFSS design into a project.

1. Select the solution type.

2. Set the model's units of measurement.
3. Draw the model geometry and assign material characteristics to objects.
4. Assign boundaries, which specify the field behavior at the edges of the problem region and
object interfaces.

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5. For Driven solution-type designs, assign excitations - sources of electromagnetic fields and
charges, currents, or voltages on objects or surfaces.

For Composite Excitation Solutions, you provide a complete set of excitations via the Edit
Sources dialog before solving.

6. Specify how HFSS will compute the solution.

7. (Optional) Set up any Optimetrics you want to run.
8. Run the simulation.
9. View solution results, post-process results, view reports, and create field overlays.

Note After a period of idleness of 10 minutes, HFSS gives up its license. A renewal of activity
automatically requests a license. Such idle notifications do not occur during solves.

Inserting an HFSS Design

The first step is to insert an HFSS design to the active project.

To insert an HFSS design:

l Click Project>Insert HFSS Design or on the Desktop tab of the ribbon, click the HFSS
icon:

l You can also use the Desktop tab ribbon to select HFSS from the drop down menu under
the HFSS icon:

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The new design is listed in the project tree. It is named HFSSDesignn by default, where n
is the order in which the design was added to the project.

By option, you can also set General Desktop configuration option to Insert a design of type
HFSS by default when creating a new project. See General Options: Desktop Configuration.

The 3D Modeler window appears to the right of the Project Manager. You can now create the
model geometry.

Note Click the plus sign to the left of the design icon in the project tree to expand the project tree
and view specific data about the model, such as its boundary assignments.

Related Topics

Setting up an HFSS Design

Setting the Project Tree to Expand Automatically

Selecting the Solution Type 

Before you draw the model for an HFSS project, specify the design's solution type. As you set up
your design, options available in the user interface will depend upon the selected solution type.

1. Click HFSS>Solution Type.

The Solution Type dialog box appears.

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2. Select one of the following solution types:

Driven Solutions and Driven Options

Modal For calculating the mode-based S-parameters of
passive, high-frequency structures such as
microstrips, waveguides, and transmission lines
which are "driven" by a source, and for computing
incident plane wave scattering. Network Analysis is
the default and functions as before.

Composite Excitation provides a method for solving

fields in a large frequency domain problem.
Terminal For calculating the terminal-based S-parameters of
passive, high-frequency structures with multi-
conductor transmission line ports which are "driven"
by a source.

This solution type results in a terminal-based

description in terms of voltages and currents. Some
modal data is also available.

Network Analysis is the default and functions as

before.

Composite Excitation provides a method for solving

fields in a large frequency domain problem.
Transient For calculating problems in the time domain. It
employs a time-domain ("transient") solver. For
Transient your choice of Composite Excitation or
Network Analysis affects the options for the setup.
If you select Network Analysis the setup includes
an Input Signal tab for the simulation.

Typical transient applications include, but are not

limited to:

l Simulations with pulsed excitations, such as

ultra-wideband antennas, lightning strikes,
electro-static discharge;
l field visualization employing short-duration
excitations;
l time-domain reflectometry.
Not Driven
Eigenmode For calculating the eigenmodes, or resonances, of a

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structure. The Eigenmode solver finds the resonant

frequencies of the structure and the fields at those
resonant frequencies. Eigenmode designs cannot
contain design parameters that depend on frequency,
for example a frequency-dependent impedance
boundary condition.
Characteristic This option is used for calculating the characteristic
Mode modes of a structure. The solution reports the
Number of Modes, the characteristic angle and
current (amp/meter), the modal significance and
quality factor, and the voltage per port based in edit
sources weighing. The Selecting Characteristic
Modes changes the Solution Setup criteria and
dialog.

You specify the minimum modal significance (default

0.02). Convergence is based on Max E rather than
Max S (default (0.02).

Only discrete sweeps are supported. Only the CMA

solver is supported. Only lossless boundaries are
allowed. Finite conductivity boundaries are allowed
but are converted to lossless. The half-space
boundary is not allowed.

Related Topics

Theory of Characteristic Mode Analysis

Edit Sources Panel for Characteristic Mode Analysis

Generating Reports for Characteristic Mode Analysis

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For the Driven Solutions, specify whether to use Network Analysis or Composite Excitation.

3. For open region problems (typically antennas), you can choose Auto-Open Region. The
option is available for Driven modal, terminal and transient solution type. This automatically
creates an open region and a predefined Analysis setup for the project. You can select
whether the region is Radiation, FE-BI, or PML. This simplifies the design process. If you do
not choose Auto-Open Region, you must create an airbox and then assign a radiation
boundary, either manually, or using the Create Open Region command. For more
information on this Solution setting, see Using Auto-Open Region for the Solution Type for
Antenna Designs.

Related Topics

Setting up an HFSS Design

Technical Notes: Solution Types

Technical Notes: Transient Solution Theory

Composite Excitation Solution Types 

The Composite Excitation Solution type for Driven Model, Driven Terminal, and Transient provides
a way to quickly solve fields in a large frequency domain problem.

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For Driven Model and Driven Terminal, you provide a complete set of excitations before solving.
Those excitations will be accessed via the Edit Sources dialog, and the resulting excitation vector is
passed to the solver. The solver will solve only that set of excitations, and will produce:

l a single field file representing the composite excitation

l a set of surface radiated field files
l a field header file
l a vector of Active S parameters
l the port impedances
l gamma
l the port field display files

Using the Edit Sources dialog, you define a set of excitations as input to the solver. The right click
menu on the selected excitation will bring up an Edit Sources dialog limited to display excitations
to the selected excitation (voltage, current, terminal) or to the terminals and modes of a selected
wave port. The right click menu on the excitation folder in the project tree will bring up the full Edit
Sources dialog. Edit Sources is available from the Fields folder.

When the solution type is single excitation, the Edit Sources dialog will hide the total voltage and
apply port post processing options - these are not supported in this mode. The buttons to load and
store excitation vectors are fully supported.

In a single excitation problem:

l changes to the excitation vector are a major edit

l only design and project variables are permitted (no post process variables)
l entries in the excitation vector may be expressions
l the user can sweep those variables in Optimetrics and the reporter
l the excitation vector for each variation to be solved will be passed to the solver
l Total voltage and port post processing effects will be unavailable
l The excitation vector will be validated as part of the boundary module.

The Edit Sources dialog can show either the complete excitation vector or be limited to the vector
for a single excitation. The latter functionality is available in the network versions of Driven
Terminal, Driven Modal, and Transient.

The Load and Save functions in Edit Sources will be available in both network and non-network.

The solver will produce a single field file for each solved variation. This field file (and its header) will
occupy the same directory structure as was used for network solutions.

The solver will produce a single vector of Active S parameters. That data will occupy a single
column of the network data solution which would have been produced by a network solve. The
network data will include port Zo and gamma.

Field reports and field overlays will be available as in a Network Analysis solution.

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l Edit Sources is a major edit. So, it will invalidate all plots.

l Port renormalization, deembedding, and lumped port calibration are also major edits
l Animation of major intrisics (frequency) or design variables is supported.
l Field reports using post process variables (for example, to move a non-model point through
the design) are supported.

Port field displays are supported as for Network Analysis. That is, port fields represent a uniform
excitation at each port, NOT for the excitations specified by the user in Edit Sources. The reason
is that we still need to solve the ports individually (even non-excited ports) before applying the user
excitations.

For Composite Excitation Solution types:

l Differential pairs are not supported.

l Derivatives are not supported.
l The reporter cannot display S parameters or any data derived from them (Y, Z, …).
l Gamma, terminal (and modal) port impedance will be available. The Matrix display panel will
be limited to Gamma and port impedances. There will be no touchstone export.
l The reporter can plot fields as well as Active S (and Active Y, etc.). However, the Active S is
provided by the solver, rather than by post processing. Active Y, Z and VSWR are functions
of Active S and port Zo.
l Radiated fields are supported.

Related Topics

Setting up an HFSS Design

Using Auto-Open Region for the Solution Type for Antenna Designs

In Auto-open region mode, the workflow eliminates as much as possible the required interactions
from a user and allows you to get to a robust solution quickly. It is intended for those who do not
want to worry of the region and the exterior radiation boundaries. The option is available for Driven
modal, terminal and transient solution type. You can save this option as a user default.

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In an open problem, an air volume encompassing the outer radiating surfaces is modeled by a
surrounding object. Radiation boundary conditions (ABC, PML or FEBI) are assigned to the outer
radiating surfaces (i.e. faces of the region) to absorb all outgoing waves

If you have selected Auto-Open Region, HFSS automatically creates the region object or
PML objects, the radiation boundaries or hybrid region according to your selection as Radiation,
FE-BI, or PML, though these objects are hidden (not shown in the Project tree or History tree or
listed in the Visibility dialog) unless you subsequently uncheck Use Auto-Open Region. In the
case of PML, the PML Materials are hidden with Auto-Open (not listed under the
Definitions>Materials folder in the Project tree), unless you subsequently uncheck Use Auto-
Open Region. Rechecking Use Auto-Open Region leaves the PML for the previous auto-open is
still visible.

Selecting Use Auto-Open Region also creates a Solution Setup called Auto1.

Selecting Use Auto-Open Region also creates three far field setups, as follows:

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l ‘3D’ is a full sphere, Phi = 180 to 180 step 2, Theta = 0 to 180 step 2
l ‘Elevation’ will be Phi = 0 to 90 step 90, Theta = 180 to 180 step 1
l ‘Azimuth’ will be Phi = 180 to 180 step 1, Theta = 90 to 90 step 0

HFSS applies the most appropriate out-of-the-box settings based on the geometries and the
operating frequency. You do not need to (and cannot) edit these settings directly.

This mode restricts the design to a single solve setup. You cannot manually create the region
object, radiation boundaries or PML in this mode. Infinite ground plane, metallic IE region,
master/slave and symmetry boundaries are also not allowed.

l Region padding for ABC is = min(L/2, Lambda/3) and the default for FEBI (exterior as
HFSS-IE Domain) = min(l/2, Lambda/8), where L is the diagonal of the device's bounding
box and Lambda is the wavelength of the adaptive frequency of the solve setup. The region
is automatically resized when users edit the solve setup's adaptive frequency. Initial meshes
and solutions are invalidated when the region is resized.
l ABC assigned on the region object, with the user's selection of 1st order ABC or FEBI
(HFSS-IE Domain)
l PML objects are created and resized automatically, invalidating solutions when a region is
resized.

The region object is not listed in the command history, not visible in the View window and its
definition cannot be edited directly. Similarly, the radiation boundary is not listed in the project tree,
not visible in the View window and cannot be edited. This boundary is enforced to the lowest
priorities.

Because the region padding is automatically defined and not displayed, you cannot select faces
from those regions for plots. However, you are able to create plots on the Global XY, XZ, or YZ
planes.

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l Changing a design from auto-open to non-auto-open preserves solution.

l Changing a design from non-auto-open to auto-open invalidates solution.

If you turn off the Auto-Open Region setting, the Radiation boundary becomes visible in the
modeler window and as a Boundary called AutoOpen1 in the Project tree, and the region appears
in the history tree.

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In the case when you turn off the Auto-Open Region setting for a FEBI boundary, the Project tree
shows a Hybrid region labeled AutoOpen1.

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In the case when you turn off the Auto-Open Region setting for a PML boundary, the Project tree
shows a set of PML_radiationn boundaries.

Related Topics

Setting up an HFSS Design

Automation in setting up an open region

Setting up an HFSS 3D Layout Design

Setting up an HFSS 3D Layout design is very similar to setting up an HFSS design or an HFSS-IE
design. To set up an HFSS 3D Layout design, follow this general procedure. After you insert a
design, you do not need to perform the intermediate steps sequentially, but you must complete
them before you generate a solution.

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1. Insert an HFSS 3D Layout design into a project.

3. Set the model's units of measurement.
4. Draw the model geometry
5. Assign material characteristics
6. For Driven solution-type designs, assign excitations
7. Specify how HFSS will compute the solution.
8. (Optional) Set up any Optimetrics you want to run.
9. Run the simulation.
10. View solution results, post-process results, view reports, and create field overlays.

Note After a period of idleness of 10 minutes, HFSS gives up its license. A renewal of activity
automatically requests a license. Such idle notifications do not occur during solves.

Inserting an HFSS 3D Layout Design 

The first step is to insert an HFSS design to the active project.

To insert an HFSS 3D Layout design:

l Click Project>Insert HFSS 3D Layout Design or in the Desktop ribon, open the drop
down menu under the HFSS icon and select HFSS 3D Layout:

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The new design is listed in the project tree. It is named HFSS3DLayoutDesignn by default,
where n
is the order in which the design was added to the project.

By option, you can also set General Desktop configuration option to Insert a design of type
HFSS 3D Layout by default when creating a new project. See General Options: Desktop
Configuration.

The 3D Modeler window appears to the right of the Project Manager. You can now create the
model geometry.

Note Click the plus sign to the left of the design icon in the project tree to expand the project tree
and view specific data about the model, such as its boundary assignments.

Related Topics

Setting up an HFSS 3D Layout Design

Setting the Project Tree to Expand Automatically

Converting 2D XY Model to 3D
To create a 3D design from an existing 2D XY design:

1. Click 2D Extractor>Create 3D Design.

The Sweep Along Vector dialog box appears.

2. Enter a value in the Length along z-axis box to obtain a swept length of the model.
3. Choose the desired units of the sweep distance entered from the pull-down menu.
4. Click OK to create the 3D design.

The modeler creates a new design within the current project and generates the 3D model within
the new design. All material properties and material assignments are copied to the new design.

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Opening Projects
Open a previously saved project using the File>Open command.

1. Click File> Open or on the Desktop tab of the Ribbon click the Open icon:

2. Use the file browser to find the project file.

By default, files that can be opened or translated are displayed.

3. Select the file you want to open.

4. Click OK.

The project information appears in the project tree.

If you open another project without editing the automatically-created project, the automatically-
created project is removed.

You can also open a saved project by:

l Dragging a project file icon to the icon

l Dragging a project file icon to the desktop
l Double-clicking on an project file icon

Related Topics

Opening Legacy Projects

Opening Example Projects

Updating Design Components

Opening Example Projects

You can directly access and open example projects included with product install by using
File>Open Examples or select the Desktop tab of the ribbon and click the Open Examples icon.

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This displays a browser open to the Examples folder in the product install. Current examples are
contained in the Electronics Desktop folder. You can select from various display styles for the
folders and projects. The Examples folders are write-protected, so you must save the project to a
writable folder before you can run the solver.

The online help contains additional descriptions of these projects.

Related Topics

Example Projects

Opening Recent Projects

To open a project you recently saved:

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l Click the name of the project file at the bottom of the File menu.

If you open another project without editing the automatically-created project, removes the
automatically-created project.doc.

Related Topics

Projects

Creating Projects

Saving Projects

Deleting Projects

Managing Projects and Designs

Opening Legacy Projects 

HFSS 18 does not open projects created in Ansoft HFSS version 8.5 or earlier. HFSS 10 can be
used. HFSS 10 files can be opened directly. However saving them in 18 means they cannot be
used in 10.

1. Click File> Open .

2. In the Look in pull-down list, click the location of the project. In the folder list, double-click
folders to find the one that contains the project.
3. Double-click the project you want to open.

Legacy Project Translation 

When you open a legacy project, virtually all of the project 's pre-processing data is translated.
Solution results and Optimetrics setup data are unavailable; however, the nominal model created
for Optimetrics is translated.

HFSS 18 translates all HFSS 10 data. It does not open projects created in Ansoft HFSS version
8.5 or earlier. HFSS 10 can be used to translate earlier projects. Virtually all of the project's pre-
processing data is translated. Note that solution results and Optimetrics setup data are unavailable;
however, the nominal model created for Optimetrics is translated.

Following are additional notes about the translation of various legacy project information.

Model l The translated geometry's construction history is unavailable; therefore the

Geometry original object properties you defined cannot be modified in the Properties
window. However, you can modify the geometry using version 10's
modeling features.
l For units unavailable in version 10, such as yards, the nearest available units
are used; the model will be scaled slightly to fit the new units.

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l View visualization settings apply to the saved design. If these have been
changed from the default (15 deg), this affects the memory and CPU
required to open the project.
Excitations l HFSS Port impedance and calibration lines become integration lines in
and HFSS version 10. If the legacy project contained both impedance and
Boundaries calibration lines, impedance lines are translated and calibration lines are
ignored. If the project contained both impedance and terminal lines, both are
translated. The impedance lines will be ignored for Driven Terminal solutions
and terminal lines will be ignored if the project is changed to a Driven Modal
solution.
l Boundaries assigned to named interface selections or rectangle selections
are not translated.
l For a boundary assigned to the intersection of two faces, a new 2D sheet
object is created from the intersecting area and assign the boundary to that
object.
Hybrid l Radiations Boundaries with FEBI become Hybrid Regions assigned as
Regions FEBI.
Materials l Functions defined in legacy projects become project variables in version 10;
therefore, functional material properties are translated.
l Perfect conductors become regular materials with conductivity values of
1E30.
l Object coordinate systems are created for objects assigned anisotropic
materials in legacy projects. The coordinate system is defined at the same
origin as the global coordinate system, with the same orientation defined
when the anisotropic material was assigned to the object in the legacy
project.
l Nonlinear materials from legacy projects that have magnetic saturation
values greater than zero are treated as ferrite materials in version 10. Their
properties are not modified.
Mesh l Mesh refinement operations performed on arbitrary boxes in legacy projects
Operations are ignored.
l Area- and volume-based mesh operations are translated as length-based
mesh operations in version 10 by taking their square roots and cube roots,
respectively.
Optimetrics l Setup information, including design variables, is not supported; however, the
nominal model can be translated.
l Parameterizing a translated model is limited because geometry construction
history is unavailable.
Solution l Driven solver projects that contained terminal lines are translated to Driven
Types Terminal solution types in version 10.

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Solution l HFSS Impedance-only and emissions-only solutions are not supported in

Setup version 10; therefore these selections in legacy projects are ignored.
l The design's initial mesh is used for the solution. Current meshes are not
translated.
l Saving dominant-only or higher-order-only mode S-matrix entries are not
supported in version 10; therefore these mode selections in legacy projects
are ignored.
l For frequency sweeps, the Number of Steps value specified in the legacy
project is converted to the corresponding Step Size value in version 10.
l For frequency sweeps, the Number of Steps value specified in the legacy
project is converted to the corresponding Step Size value in version 7 of
Q3D.
l The total number of requested adaptive passes in the legacy project
becomes the Maximum Number of Passes value in version 10. For
example, if you request 3 adaptive passes, solve them, and then request 2
adaptive passes, 5 will be the value specified for the Maximum Number of
Passes in version 10.
l The total number of requested adaptive passes in the legacy project
becomes the Maximum Number of Passes value in version 7. For
example, if you request 3 adaptive passes, solve them, and then request 2
adaptive passes, 5 will be the value specified for the Maximum Number of
Passes in version 7 of Q3D.
Solutions l Solution data is not translated; therefore, you must solve legacy projects
again.

Note Legacy Circuit (Serenade) projects (.ssp extension) do not open correctly from the File
Open dialog. Contact ANSYS Technical Support for assistance in converting legacy
projects. Opening an ANSYS Neutral File project (.anf suffix) begins with a conversion
dialog. See Importing ANF Design Data. ANF data can be used by the Planar EM
simulator.

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Closing Projects
To close the current project, select File > Close or select the Desktop tab of the ribbon and click
the Close icon.

If a simulation is running, a message appears stating that if you continue, the simulation will abort
before closing. If you click OK, the Desktop aborts the simulation and closes the project.

Related Topics

Projects

Creating Projects

Saving Projects

Deleting Projects

Managing Projects and Designs

Saving Projects
Use the File>Save As command to do the following:

l Save a new project.

l Save the active project with a different name or in a different location.
l Save the active project in another file format for use in another program.

Use the File>Save command or select the Desktop tab of the Ribbon and click the Save As
icon to save the active project.

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Each solver has a "Save before solving" setting located in the Tools>Options dialog under
<solver>General; by default, this setting is on. However, for efficiency reasons, the project is only
saved if it has been modified since its last save.

A prompt appears when you attempt to save a previously-versioned file. If you agree to the prompt,
the file is upgraded to the ANSYS Electronics Desktop version in which you are running the
software. In this case the file may no longer be compatible with previous versions. If you do not
agree to the prompt, the file is not saved, so the file retains the previous compatibility.

If you have a simulation running, you see a warning that if you continue, ANSYS Electronics
Desktop will abort the simulation. If you OK the warning, ANSYS Electronics Desktop aborts the
simulation and saves the project.

Related Topics

Saving a New Project

Saving the Active Project

Saving a Copy of a Project

Deleting Projects

Managing Projects (Copy, Paste, Delete)

Archiving Projects

Restore Archive Command

Saving a New Project

To save a new project:

1. Click File> Save As or on the Desktop tab of the ribbon, click the Save As icon:

2. Use the file browser to find the directory where you want to save the file.
3. Type the name of the file in the File name box.
4. Use the correct file extension for the file type.
5. If the window has a Switch to saved option, do one of the following:

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l Leave the option selected to display the new file name, and then close the current file.
l Cancel the Switch to saved selection to save the file under the new name without
changing which file is displayed.
6. Click OK.

ANSYS Electronics Desktop saves the project to the location you specified.

Warning Be sure to save geometric models periodically. Saving frequently helps prevent the
loss of your work if a problem occurs.

Although ANSYS Electronics Desktop has an "auto-save" feature, it may not

automatically save frequently enough for your needs.

Related Topics

Saving the Active Project

Saving a Copy of a Project

Saving the Active Project

To save the active project:

l Click File>Save or any of the Ribbon tabs, click the Save icon:

ANSYS Electronics Desktop saves the project over the existing one.

Warning Be sure to save geometric models periodically. Saving frequently helps prevent the
loss of your work if a problem occurs.

Although ANSYS Electronics Desktop has an "auto-save" feature, it may not

automatically save frequently enough for your needs.

Related Topics

Saving a New Project

Saving a Copy of a Project

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Saving a Copy of a Project

To save an existing, active project with a new name, a different file extension, or to a new location:

1. Click File>Save As or on the Desktop tab of the Ribbon, click the Save As icon:

2. Use the file browser to find the directory where you want to save the file.
3. Type the name of the file in the File name box.
4. Select the desired file extension for the file type.
5. If the window has a Switch to saved field, do one of the following:
l Leave the field selected to display the new file name, and then close the current file.
l Cancel the Switch to saved selection to save the file under the new name without
changing which file is displayed.
6. Click OK.

ANSYS Electronics Desktop saves the project with the new name or file extension to the
location you specified.

Related Topics

Saving a New Project

Saving the Active Project

Renaming a Project
In general, use the File menu commands to manage projects. If you move or change the names of
files without using these commands, the software may not be able to find information necessary to
solve the model. To rename an existing, active project:

1. Select the project in the Project tree.

2. Right-click to display the short-cut menu.
3. Select Rename.

This activates the text field for the project name.

4. Type the new project name and press enter.

The new project name appears in the directory and the project remains in the original location.

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Related Topics

Saving a New Project

Saving a Copy of a Project

Saving Project Data Automatically

Recent actions you performed on the active project are stored in an auto-save file in case a sudden
workstation crash or other unexpected problem occurs. The auto-save file is stored in the same
directory as the project file and is named Projectn.aedt.auto by default, where n is the order in
which the project was added to the current session. ANSYS Electronics Desktop automatically
saves all data for the project to the auto-save file, except solution data. By default, ANSYS
Electronics Desktop automatically saves project data after every 10 edits. An "edit" is any action
you performed which changes data in the project or the design, including actions associated with
project management, model creation, and solution analysis.

With auto-save activated, after a problem occurs, you may be able to choose to re-open the original
project file (Projectn.aedt), in an effort to recover the solution data, or open the auto-save file. If the
original file is not available, attempting to open the file provides a message that the autosave is
being used. If neither file is available, an error message is displayed.

To modify the auto-save settings:

1. Click Tools>Options>General Options.

The Options dialog box appears.

2. Under Desktop Configuration, verify that Do Autosave is selected.

This option is selected by default.

3. In the Autosave interval box, enter the number of edits that you want to occur between
automatic saves. By default, this option is set at 10.

Note Auto-save always increments forward; therefore, even when you undo a command,
ANSYS Electronics Desktop counts it as an edit.

4. Click OK to apply the specified auto-save settings.

Once the specified number of edits is carried out, a "model-only" save will occur. This means
that ANSYS Electronics Desktop does not save solutions data or clear any undo/redo history.

When ANSYS Electronics Desktop auto-saves, an ".auto" extension is appended to the original
project file name. For example, "Project1.aedt" will automatically be saved as
"Project1.aedt.auto".

Warning When you close or rename a project, ANSYS Electronics Desktop deletes the auto-
save file.ANSYS Electronics Desktop assumes that you have saved any desired

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changes at this point.

Related Topics

Recovering Project Data in an Auto-Save File

Save Before Solve Option

Save Before Solve Option

The Tools>Options command displays an Options dialog. Select the Solver of interst and select
General to see a check box for an automatic Save Before Solve option. The main purpose is to
force a full save before running the solve.

In the case where you start a solve while another solve is running, and the Save Before Solve
option is set, ANSYS Electronics Desktop asks if you want solve without saving first. This lets you
do multiple solves, and if you have not edited the project in between solves, crash recovery will
work. In any case, you can start a new solve while running another without having to abort the
running solve.

Related Topics

Recovering Project Data in an Auto-Save File

Recovering Project Data in an Auto-Save File

Following a sudden workstation crash or other unexpected problem, you can recover the project
data in its auto-save file.

Warning When you recover a project's auto-save file you cannot recover any solutions data;
recovering an auto-save file means you will lose any solutions data that existed in the
original project file.

To recover project data in an auto-save file:

1. If ANSYS Electronics Desktop has crashed, relaunch from your desktop.

2. Click File>Open, and then select the original Projectn.aedt project file for which you want to
recover its Projectn.aedt.auto auto-save file.

The Crash Recovery window appears, which gives you the option to open the original project
file or the auto-save file.

3. Select Open project using autosave file to recover project data in the auto-save file,
and then click OK. ANSYS Electronics Desktop replaces the original project file with
the data in the auto-save file.

ANSYS Electronics Desktop immediately overwrites the original project file data with the auto-
save file data, removing the results directory (solutions data) from the original project file as it
overwrites to the auto-save file.

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Warning If you choose to recover the auto-save file, you cannot recover the original project file
that has been overwritten; recovering data in an auto-save file is not reversible.

Related Topics

Saving Project Data Automatically

Save Before Solve Option

Deleting Projects
To delete a project:

1. Select the project in the project tree.

2. Click either Edit>Delete, or right click to display the short-cut menu and select Delete.

A dialog displays the message: "The project selected and all its files will be deleted from the
permanent storage medium. Click OK to proceed."

3. Click OK to delete the files or Cancel to retain them.

Related Topics

Projects

Creating Projects

Saving Projects

Managing Projects and Designs

Archiving Projects
Use the File>Archive command to place a project and any other files related to the project that
you want to include in a <product>z file or zip format archive. You can make notes about the
contents of the archive and specify whether to include results and solutions files. The Archive
command attempts to automatically detect the necessary files for linked projects and automatically
include them in the archive. You can also add additional files to the archive, including results files,
external files and projects. For example, if a project linked to the main project also has linked or
associated files, you can add them.

Archive File Types

Internally, project archive files are .zip files, and are compatible with any program that can read .zip
files (e.g. WinZip, 7Zip). The naming convention is that project archive files will have an extension
that is unique for each product. The extension is generated by adding a 'z' to the project file
extension (e.g. .aedtz, .adsnz). This extension will be displayed as the default when saving and
restoring archive files. Note that we also display .zip as a possible filter in the file selection dialogs.

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Archive Preview

The Archive command includes a preview feature that lets you review the contents of a planned
archive.

To Archive the current project:

1. Click File>Archive or select the Desktop tab of the ribbon, and click the Save Archive icon:

The Archive Options dialog opens.

Archive Notes: you can specify notes that will be visible when previewing the archive. These
notes can be viewed from the preview dialog without actually restoring the archive.

External Files: selecting this check box will cause all external files to be included in the archive.
The External Files check box refers to any existing files associated with the project, such as
linked files, or files added through the Project>Insert Documentation File command or
Project>Data Set command.

Results Files: selecting this check box will cause the entire results directory to be included in the
archive. This may greatly increase the size of the archive file.

Clicking Additional Files opens the Add Additional Files to Archive dialog.

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From here, you can click Add to open a file browser to locate any additional files you want to
include in the archive. You can select and the Remove any files listed. You can OK or Cancel
any proposed changes.

2. Select any optional items, and make any desired Archive notes in the text field
3. When you have made your selections for Optional items, you can select Preview Archive to
look at the archive contexts, and the locations for the archive and where restoring from the
archive would place them.

Checking the Results option would archive those files to the Preview would show the results
files.

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To read longer locations, you can drag the column header to expand them. For longer lists, you
can use the scroll bar to view more of the list.

Previewing an archive before creating the archive can be helpful in order to see exactly what
files will be included in an archive, as well as how those files are being relocated. Another
purpose of previewing an archive is to view warnings and consider if any additional files need to
be added to the archive.

The preview dialog also displays the archive notes, creation date, and number of included files.

4. When you are ready to create the archive, close the preview, and specify the format you
want to use, Ansoft <product> Project archive (<product>z) or zip, and specify the archive
location and name. Click OK to create the archive.

File Relocating

In a project to be archived, external files can be located anywhere on the user's system. One of the
goals is for the restored project to be relatively self contained, and to NOT allow the restoring of an
archived project to haphazardly write files anywhere on the restoring user's system.

To achieve this, it is sometimes necessary to change the location of files in the archived project
such that the external files are now located in the project directory. At archive time, any external
files not located in the project directory are relocated to the restored_files subdirectory of the
project directory in the archived project. Any external files located in the user library or system
library will be relocated to the personal library directory. Note that the project file that is written into

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the archive will be updated to refer to the files at the new locations, and the original project file will
remain unaltered.

Related Topics

Restore Archive Command

Restore Archive Command

To restore an existing archive created with Project>Archive..., use the Project>Restore
Archive command.

1. Click Project>Restore Archive

This displays an Archive to Restore browser window that lets you navigate your file system
for archive files of *.aedtz, legacy <solversuffix>z or *.zip.

2. If you select a valid archive file, you can click View Archive Contents to preview the contents.

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The preview dialog will show the same warnings that were generated at archive time, and these
warnings may be useful to identify additional steps that are needed to update any files to refer to
files which had to be manually added to the archive.

3. Click Open to change to a Project File Restore Location browser.

You can edit the file name, and check options to Overwrite existing files and to Open project
after restoring.

Overwrite existing files: If this button is checked, the restored files will automatically overwrite
existing files during the restore process. If this button is unchecked, existing files will not be
modified.

Open project after restoring: If this button is checked, the project will be opened in this
instance of the application after all files have been restored.

4. Click Save to restore the archived file.

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While restoring an archive, a dialog is displayed showing the restore results. The progress bar
shows the relative progress, and the text window displays only important information and
warnings.

A full log file is also generated which contains detailed information about the restore process.
The first line in the text window displays the location of the full log file. After the restore has been
completed, the user can click "View Full Log" to view this log file, or they can use a text editor
and open the file at the specified location.

Related Topics

Archiving Projects

Download From Server

If your installation has setup a server location with project archives or other files, you can use
File>Download From Server to access them. For Archive files, click File>Download from
Server>Project Archives. This opens the Archive Libraries Access dialog.

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Here you specify a User ID, Password, and Server address. You can then browse for and select
the files needed.

For File Libraries Access, clock File>Download From Server>Other Files. This opens the File
Library Access dialog.

Here you specify a User ID, Password, and Server address. You can then browse for and select
the files needed.

Undoing Commands
Use the Undo command on the Edit menu to cancel, or undo, the last action you performed on the
active project or design. This is useful for undoing unintended commands related to
project management, model creation, and post-processing.

1. In the Project Manager window, do one of the following:

l To undo the last action you performed on the active project, such as inserting a design or
adding project variables, click the project icon.
l To undo the last action you performed on the active design, such as drawing an object or
deleting a field overlay plot, click the design icon.

Note You cannot undo an analysis that you've performed on a model, that is,
the HFSS>Analyze command.

2. Click Edit> Undo, or click the Undo button on the toolbars.

Your last action is now undone.

Note When you save a project, ANSYS Electronics Desktop always clears the entire undo/redo
history for the project and its designs.

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Related Topics

Redoing Commands

Redoing Commands
Use the Redo command on the Edit menu to reapply, or redo, the last action that was canceled, or
undone. You can redo a canceled action related to project management, model creation,
and post-processing.

1. In the Project Manager window, do one of the following:

l To redo the last action you canceled on the active project, such as inserting a design or
adding project variables, click the project icon.
l To redo the last action you canceled on the active design, such as drawing an object or
deleting a field overlay plot, click the design icon.

2. Click Edit>Redo, or click the Redo button on the toolbars.

Your last canceled action is now reapplied.

Note When you save a project,ANSYS Electronics Desktop always clears the entire undo/redo
history for the project and its designs.

Related Topics

Undoing Commands

Updating Design Components

To update components defined in the current design:

1. Click Tools>Project>Tools>Update Definitions.

The Update Definitions dialog box appears.
2. Select one of the following two radio buttons.
l Show Items with newer definitions
l Show All Items
3. From the Show Types list in the List Options section, select the types of definitions you
want to show in the Item List list.
4. Select the item you want to update from the Item List list.
5. Click the Select All or Unselect All buttons to select or clear all items listed.
6. Click Update.
A message appears telling you the update was successful. Click OK to close the message.

When you are finished updating definitions, click Close.

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Managing Projects and Designs

You can copy and paste projects or designs, rename them, and delete them.

Related Topics

Saving Projects

Copy and Paste a Project or Design

To copy a project or design:

1. Select a project or design in the project tree in Project Manage Window to enable the menu
command Edit>Copy.
2. Click Edit>Copy. The project or design is copied for pasting.

To paste a project or design:

1. Select a project or design in the project tree in Project Manage Window to enable the menu
command Edit>Paste.
2. Click Edit>Paste. The project or design is pasted under the selected project, an icon is
added to the project tree.

Rename a Project or Design

1. Right click the design icon to display the shortcut menu, as shown.
2. Click Rename in the shortcut menu.
3. Define the new name for the design by typing it directly into the Project Window.
4. Press Enter to complete the rename.

Delete a Project or Design

1. Select a project or design in the project tree in Project Manage Window to enable the menu
command Edit>Delete.
2. Click Edit>Delete, or the Delete key.
3. Confirm the warning box to complete the delete operation, the icon is removed from the
project tree.

Validating Projects
Before you run an analysis on a model, it is very important that you first perform a validation check
on the project. When you perform a validation check on a project, the solver runs a check on all the
setup details of the active project to verify that all the necessary steps have been completed and
their parameters are reasonable.

To perform a validation check on the active project:

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1. Click HFSS>Validation Check .

HFSS checks the project setup, and then the Validation Check window appears.

2. View the results of the validation check in the Validation Check window.

The following icons can appear next to an item:

Indicates the step is complete.

Indicates the step is incomplete.

Indicates the step may require your attention.

3. View any messages in the Message Manager window.

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4. If the validation check indicates that a step in your project is incomplete or incorrect, carefully
review the setup details for that particular step and revise them as necessary.
5. Click HFSS>Validation Check to run a validation check after you have revised any setup
details for an incomplete or incorrect project step.
6. Click Close.

Related Topics

Modeler Validation Settings

Modeler Validation Settings

You can adjust the degree to which the software checks a model for faults that could jeopardize
mesh accuracy. There are three levels of model validation that a user can specify for a given
design: Warning Only, Basic, and Strict. Note that this setting affects only the "3D Model" stage
of a design validation.

l The Warning Only entity check setting allows all models to pass 3D Model validation
regardless of any faults that are found (acis_entity check errors). These faults are posted in
the message window as warnings.
l The Basic entity check setting allows most models to pass 3D Model validation. This
excuses non-manifold errors and most acis_entity_check errors. Some faults are flagged as
model errors (basic entity check errors), thereby prohibiting a design from proceeding to the
meshing stage of an analysis. You must either correct such errors before attempting to
analyze the design under the Basic setting, or change the Model Validation level to
Warning Only.
l The Strict entity check setting enforces a tighter tolerance for model faults than the
"Warning Only" and "Basic" settings. All model faults that are found during 3D Model
validation are posted to the message window. These errors must be corrected before
attempting to analyze the design under the Strict setting, otherwise you must change the
Model Validation level to Basic or Warning Only.

To set the Model Validation level:

1. Select HFSS>Design Settings.

The Design Settings dialog box appears. The Validations tab lets you set the validation as
basic, strict, or warning only and includes solver specific selections.

2. Choose the desired level of validation from the Entity Check Level pull-down menu.

You can also click the Save as Default button to make the current selection the default. You
can select the Restore Default button.

3. Click OK to accept the selection and close the dialog box.

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Related Topics

Model Analysis

Analyze Objects

Interobject Misalignment

Analyze Surface Mesh

Heal

Healing State On: Validation Check

Show Analysis dialog box

Align Faces

Remove Faces

Remove Edges

Technical Notes: Healing and Meshing

Technical Notes: Detecting and Addressing Model Problems to Improve Meshing

Exporting Files
You can export the following types of files from ANSYS Electronics Desktop projects:

l Ansoft 2D modeler files

l 3D model files
l Graphics files
l Reports as data or graphics files in a range of formats

Related Topics

Exporting Matrix Data

Exporting Equivalent Circuit Data

Exporting 2D Geometry Files

When you export a file in a 2D geometry format, the AutoCAD DXF (.dxf) format), the geometry
located within the xy plane is exported.

Note If you want to export a plane that does not coincide with the global xy plane, you must
create a relative coordinate system to redefine the location of the origin.

See Creating a Relative Coordinate System for more information.

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To export a file to .dxf format:

1. Click Modeler>Export to save the file.

2. Use the file browser to find the directory where you want to save the file.
3. Type the name of the file in the File name box.
4. Select AutoCAD DXF Files (*.dxf) from the Save as type pull-down list.
5. Click Save. The file is exported to the specified location with the appropriate file format.

Related Topics

Exporting 3D Model Files

Exporting Graphics Files

Exporting 3D Model Files

You can export 3D models to 3D model file formats:

To export a file to a 3D model format:

1. Click Modeler>Export to save the file in a 3D model format.

The Export File dialog box appears.

2. Use the file browser to find the directory where you want to save the file.
3. Enter the name of the file in the File name box.
4. Select the desired 3D model file format from the Save as type pull-down list.
5. Click Save.

The file is exported to the specified location as a 3D model file

Extension Contents
.sat ACIS geometry solid model files.
.sm3 Ansoft 3D Modeler files in ACIS version 2.0 or greater.
.anstGeom Ansoft Geometry File supporting UDMs and CAD integration with the Workbench.
.dxf, .dwg AutoCAD Drawing Interchange Format files. The .dxf export now includes true arc
support, closed wires, and more precise ellipses and splines.
.model, .model - CATIA 4.1.9 to 4.2.4
.exp
.Catia V5 R6-R23 Export Files
.gds GDSII files
.iges, .igs Industry standard Initial Graphics Exchange Specification (IGES) files 5.3. AN
additional license is required.
.x_b, .x_t Parasolid Binary Files.

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Extension Contents
Parasolid Text Files
.sab Standard ACIS binary.
.step, .stp Industry standard AP214 STEP files. An additional license is required.

6. If you selected .sat or .sat .sm3, the Select Version dialog box appears. Do the following:
l Click an ACIS version in which to export the model from the ACIS SM3 or SAT Version
pull-down list, and then click OK.
7. Click Save. Unless you selected GDSII, the file is exported to the specified location as a 3D
model file. If you selected GDSII, the GDSII Export dialog appears.
l If the model has been defined with layers, those layers are listed by layer number in the
table, with columns for Layer Name, Layer Number, Elevation in units. There is a check
box to specify whether to include the layer in the exported file.
l If you have defined a layer map file for the model, the Layermap button opens a browser
for you to open that file before export. The *.layermap file is a text file that maps the GDSII
layer numbers to layer names in the stackup. The *.layermap file can have the same
format as the .tech file used in GDSII import, but it only needs the layer name and number
in the file. In a *.layermap file, other information is ignored.
l In the Polygon Vertices area, check a radio button to select either No Limit to the
number of vertices or Limit the number of vertices to a specified value.
l For Arc tolerance, specify a value or accept the default.
8. Click the OK button in the GDSII Export dialog to complete the export. The file is exported to
the specified location.

Related Topics

Exporting 2D Model Files

Exporting Graphics Files

Importing 3D Model Files

Importing GDSII Format Files

Export Results to Thermal Link for ANSYS Mechanical

Exporting Graphics Files

You can export the following graphics formats:

Extension Contents
.bmp Bitmap files.
.gif Graphics Interchange Format files.

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Extension Contents
.jpeg Joint Photographics Experts Group files.
.tiff Tagged Image File Format files.
.wrl Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML) files.

To export a file to a graphics format:

1. Click Modeler>Export to save the file in a graphics format.

2. Use the file browser to find the directory where you want to save the file.
3. Type the name of the file in the File name box.
4. Select the desired graphics file format from the Save as type pull-down list.
5. Click Save. The file is exported to the specified location as a graphics file.

Related Topics

Exporting 2D Model Files

Exporting 3D Model Files

Exporting Reports as Graphics

Exporting Reports
You can export reports in a variety of text and graphic formats. You must have an existing plot open
to see the corresponding Report2D or Report3D menu.

1. Click Report2D>Export ... or Report3D>Export.

l Alternatively, right-click on the plot, and then click Export ... on the shortcut menu.

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The Export Report dialog box appears.

2. Use the file browser to find the directory where you want to save the file.
3. Type the name of the file in the File name box.
4. Select one of the following file formats from the Save as type pull-down list:

Extension Contents
.csv Comma-delimited data file
.tab Tab-separated file
.dat Ansoft plot data file
.txt Post processor format file
.rdat Ansoft report data file
.emf Microsoft EMF files
.gif GIF files

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Extension Contents
.bmp BMP files
.wrl VRML files
.tif, .tiff TIFF files
.jpg, .jpeg JPEG files

5. For 2D Reports, by option, you can check Export Uniform Points, and specify a full sweep
range by editing start, stop and step values.

6. Click Save. The report is exported to the specified location in the selected data or graphical
format.

Related Topics

Exporting Matrix Data

Exporting Equivalent Circuit Data

Exporting Ansoft Report Data Format Files

Importing Files 
You can import the following types of files to HFSS or HFSS-IE:

l 2D model files
l 3D model files
l Solution data files
l Data table files
l HFSS or HFSS-IE Plot Data
l Plot Data (comma delimited files)

Object, material, and parameter names with non-ASCII characters are not allowed, and therefore,
not allowed for data transfer. Such transfers fail and produce an error message.

The import dialog contains a check box for the Heal command which is enabled by default.

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When you click Modeler>Import, the Import File dialog box appears. By default, the Heal
Imported Objects check box is enabled . You can select the option for Automatic healing (the
default) or for Manual healing. Imported objects, which have only one operation on the history tree,
can be healed.

1. Select the Manual option - the Healing Options dialog box appears.
l Alternatively, click 3D Model>Model Analysis>Heal to open the Healing Options
dialog box.

Now you can set parameters for the heal operation and conduct an analysis. You can set
parameters to remove:

l Small Edges, less than a specified value.

l Small faces, less than a specified value.
l Sliver faces, less than either:
l Bounding box, less than a specified scale factor
l Sliver Edge width, less than a specified value.
2. Click OK to apply the specified healing options and to analyze the model.

Related Topics

Exporting Files

Importing 2D Model Files

You can read 2D model files directly into the active Modeler window. Object, material, and
parameter names with non-ASCII characters are not allowed, and therefore, not allowed for data
transfer. Such transfers fail and produce an error message.

Note If you import a file into an active Modeler window that contains an existing model, the file is
added to the existing model; it will not replace it.

To import a 2D model file:

1. Click Modeler>Import.

The Import File dialog box appears.

2. Select a file type from the Files of type pull-down list. For 2D model files, this would be
GDSII Files (*.gds).
3. Use the file browser to find and select the file you want to import.
4. Click Open.
The file is imported into the active Modeler window.

Extension Contents
.gds GDSII is a standard file format for 2D graphical design layout data.

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Related Topics

Importing 3D Model Files

Importing GDSII Format Files

Importing GDSII Format Files

See the introductory topic Importing 2D Model Files for the initial steps in the process of importing
2D data.

The process for importing GDSII format files uses a single dialog box:

GDSII Structures Panel

The GDSII file may contain several top level structures.

1. Click on a structure name in the GDSII Structures panel to highlight it.

2. Clicking on the Select check box in the GDSII Structures panel both highlights the
structure and selects that top-level structure to be imported.

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When multiple structures are imported, HFSS or HFSS-IE creates multiple designs under the
current project, one for each of the GDSII structures.

Descendants Panel

The GDSII file is hierarchical and may contain many sub-layouts. The Descendants panel shows
the sub-layouts in the selected top-level designs.

Layers for structurename Panel

The Layers for structurename panel shows the layers for the (most recently) highlighted top
level structure [structurename]. GDSII layers are identified by layer numbers.

All Layers Panel

The All Layers panel lists all the layers from all the structures in the file.

Use the Import check boxes in the All GDSII Layers panel to select the layers to import. You can
drag and drop the layers in the list to change the vertical stackup of layers.

General Field

The Flatten hierarchy check box is automatically selected. HFSS always flattens any hierarchical
geometry in the GDSII.

Nodes Field

GDSII supports nodes and boundaries as separate data types. Normally, boundaries represent
polygons. HFSS can either convert objects that use the nodes data type to boundary types, or can
ignore them. Use the radio buttons to select Convert to boundaries or Ignore. The default is to
convert data type nodes to data type boundary.

Import Method Field

Use the radio button to select the import method as Script of Acis

Layer Mapping Field

If desired, you can create a mapping of the GDSII layer numbers to layer names in the design
stackup. To create and use the mapping.

1. Use a text editor to create a text file that maps the GDSII layer numbers to layer names in the
stackup. The layer mapping file must have a .tech suffix.

The .tech format:

l / is the comment character

l Units may be specified with a line UNITS <string> before the lines of layer information.
<string> is any of the allowed desktop length units. The default units is nm.
l Each layer is specified by a line that contains <import layer> <product layer> <layer
color> <layer elevation> <layer thickness>

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where:

<import layer> - the name of the DXF layer

<destination layer> - the name to map the DXF layer to.

<layer color> - A string from the choices listed here, for example. blue2

<layer elevation> - double

<layer height> - double

2. For example:

3. Click the Open button in the Layer mapping panel to locate and open an existing layer
mapping file.
4. Click OK.

The file is imported into the active Modeler window.

You can use the Save button to save a layer mapping file with the current settings.

Tech File Colors with RGB Values

Color string choices with corresponding RGB values

snow RGB = { 255, 250, 250},

ghost white RGB = { 248, 248, 255},

GhostWhite RGB = { 248, 248, 255},

white smoke RGB = { 245, 245, 245},

WhiteSmoke RGB = { 245, 245, 245},

gainsboro RGB = { 220, 220, 220},

floral white RGB = { 255, 250, 240},

FloralWhite RGB = { 255, 250, 240},

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old lace RGB = { 253, 245, 230},

OldLace RGB = { 253, 245, 230},

linen RGB = { 250, 240, 230},

antique white RGB = { 250, 235, 215},

AntiqueWhite RGB = { 250, 235, 215},

papaya whip RGB = { 255, 239, 213},

PapayaWhip RGB = { 255, 239, 213},

blanched almond RGB = { 255, 235, 205},

BlanchedAlmond RGB = { 255, 235, 205},

bisque RGB = { 255, 228, 196},

peach puff RGB = { 255, 218, 185},

PeachPuff RGB = { 255, 218, 185},

navajo white RGB = { 255, 222, 173},

NavajoWhite RGB = { 255, 222, 173},

moccasin RGB = { 255, 228, 181},

cornsilk RGB = { 255, 248, 220},

ivory RGB = { 255, 255, 240},

lemon chiffon RGB = { 255, 250, 205},

LemonChiffon RGB = { 255, 250, 205},

seashell RGB = { 255, 245, 238},

honeydew RGB = { 240, 255, 240},

mint cream RGB = { 245, 255, 250},

MintCream RGB = { 245, 255, 250},

azure RGB = { 240, 255, 255},

alice blue RGB = { 240, 248, 255},

AliceBlue RGB = { 240, 248, 255},

lavender RGB = { 230, 230, 250},

lavender blush RGB = { 255, 240, 245},

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LavenderBlush RGB = { 255, 240, 245},

misty rose RGB = { 255, 228, 225},

MistyRose RGB = { 255, 228, 225},

white RGB = { 255, 255, 255},

black RGB = { 0, 0, 0},

dark slate gray RGB = { 47, 79, 79},

DarkSlateGray RGB = { 47, 79, 79},

dark slate grey RGB = { 47, 79, 79},

DarkSlateGrey RGB = { 47, 79, 79},

dim gray RGB = { 105, 105, 105},

DimGray RGB = { 105, 105, 105},

dim grey RGB = { 105, 105, 105},

DimGrey RGB = { 105, 105, 105},

slate gray RGB = { 112, 128, 144},

SlateGray RGB = { 112, 128, 144},

slate grey RGB = { 112, 128, 144},

SlateGrey RGB = { 112, 128, 144},

light slate gray RGB = { 119, 136, 153},

LightSlateGray RGB = { 119, 136, 153},

light slate grey RGB = { 119, 136, 153},

LightSlateGrey RGB = { 119, 136, 153},

gray RGB = { 190, 190, 190},

grey RGB = { 190, 190, 190},

light grey RGB = { 211, 211, 211},

LightGrey RGB = { 211, 211, 211},

light gray RGB = { 211, 211, 211},

LightGray RGB = { 211, 211, 211},

midnight blue RGB = { 25, 25, 112},

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MidnightBlue RGB = { 25, 25, 112},

navy RGB = { 0, 0, 128},

navy blue RGB = { 0, 0, 128},

NavyBlue RGB = { 0, 0, 128},

cornflower blue RGB = { 100, 149, 237},

CornflowerBlue RGB = { 100, 149, 237},

dark slate blue RGB = { 72, 61, 139},

DarkSlateBlue RGB = { 72, 61, 139},

slate blue RGB = { 106, 90, 205},

SlateBlue RGB = { 106, 90, 205},

medium slate blue RGB = { 123, 104, 238},

MediumSlateBlue RGB = { 123, 104, 238},

light slate blue RGB = { 132, 112, 255},

LightSlateBlue RGB = { 132, 112, 255},

medium blue RGB = { 0, 0, 205},

MediumBlue RGB = { 0, 0, 205},

royal blue RGB = { 65, 105, 225},

RoyalBlue RGB = { 65, 105, 225},

blue RGB = { 0, 0, 255},

dodger blue RGB = { 30, 144, 255},

DodgerBlue RGB = { 30, 144, 255},

deep sky blue RGB = { 0, 191, 255},

DeepSkyBlue RGB = { 0, 191, 255},

sky blue RGB = { 135, 206, 235},

SkyBlue RGB = { 135, 206, 235},

light sky blue RGB = { 135, 206, 250},

LightSkyBlue RGB = { 135, 206, 250},

steel blue RGB = { 70, 130, 180},

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SteelBlue RGB = { 70, 130, 180},

light steel blue RGB = { 176, 196, 222},

LightSteelBlue RGB = { 176, 196, 222},

light blue RGB = { 173, 216, 230},

LightBlue RGB = { 173, 216, 230},

powder blue RGB = { 176, 224, 230},

PowderBlue RGB = { 176, 224, 230},

pale turquoise RGB = { 175, 238, 238},

PaleTurquoise RGB = { 175, 238, 238},

dark turquoise RGB = { 0, 206, 209},

DarkTurquoise RGB = { 0, 206, 209},

medium turquoise RGB = { 72, 209, 204},

MediumTurquoise RGB = { 72, 209, 204},

turquoise RGB = { 64, 224, 208},

cyan RGB = { 0, 255, 255},

light cyan RGB = { 224, 255, 255},

LightCyan RGB = { 224, 255, 255},

cadet blue RGB = { 95, 158, 160},

CadetBlue RGB = { 95, 158, 160},

medium aquamarine RGB = { 102, 205, 170},

MediumAquamarine RGB = { 102, 205, 170},

aquamarine RGB = { 127, 255, 212},

dark green RGB = { 0, 100, 0},

DarkGreen RGB = { 0, 100, 0},

dark olive green RGB = { 85, 107, 47},

DarkOliveGreen RGB = { 85, 107, 47},

dark sea green RGB = { 143, 188, 143},

DarkSeaGreen RGB = { 143, 188, 143},

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sea green RGB = { 46, 139, 87},

SeaGreen RGB = { 46, 139, 87},

medium sea green RGB = { 60, 179, 113},

MediumSeaGreen RGB = { 60, 179, 113},

light sea green RGB = { 32, 178, 170},

LightSeaGreen RGB = { 32, 178, 170},

pale green RGB = { 152, 251, 152},

PaleGreen RGB = { 152, 251, 152},

spring green RGB = { 0, 255, 127},

SpringGreen RGB = { 0, 255, 127},

lawn green RGB = { 124, 252, 0},

LawnGreen RGB = { 124, 252, 0},

green RGB = { 0, 255, 0},

chartreuse RGB = { 127, 255, 0},

medium spring green RGB = { 0, 250, 154},

MediumSpringGreen RGB = { 0, 250, 154},

green yellow RGB = { 173, 255, 47},

GreenYellow RGB = { 173, 255, 47},

lime green RGB = { 50, 205, 50},

LimeGreen RGB = { 50, 205, 50},

yellow green RGB = { 154, 205, 50},

YellowGreen RGB = { 154, 205, 50},

forest green RGB = { 34, 139, 34},

ForestGreen RGB = { 34, 139, 34},

olive drab RGB = { 107, 142, 35},

OliveDrab RGB = { 107, 142, 35},

dark khaki RGB = { 189, 183, 107},

DarkKhaki RGB = { 189, 183, 107},

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khaki RGB = { 240, 230, 140},

pale goldenrod RGB = { 238, 232, 170},

PaleGoldenrod RGB = { 238, 232, 170},

light goldenrod yellow RGB = { 250, 250, 210},

LightGoldenrodYellow RGB = { 250, 250, 210},

light yellow RGB = { 255, 255, 224},

LightYellow RGB = { 255, 255, 224},

yellow RGB = { 255, 255, 0},

gold RGB = { 255, 215, 0},

light goldenrod RGB = { 238, 221, 130},

LightGoldenrod RGB = { 238, 221, 130},

goldenrod RGB = { 218, 165, 32},

dark goldenrod RGB = { 184, 134, 11},

DarkGoldenrod RGB = { 184, 134, 11},

rosy brown RGB = { 188, 143, 143},

RosyBrown RGB = { 188, 143, 143},

indian red RGB = { 205, 92, 92},

IndianRed RGB = { 205, 92, 92},

saddle brown RGB = { 139, 69, 19},

SaddleBrown RGB = { 139, 69, 19},

sienna RGB = { 160, 82, 45},

peru RGB = { 205, 133, 63},

burlywood RGB = { 222, 184, 135},

beige RGB = { 245, 245, 220},

wheat RGB = { 245, 222, 179},

sandy brown RGB = { 244, 164, 96},

SandyBrown RGB = { 244, 164, 96},

tan RGB = { 210, 180, 140},

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chocolate RGB = { 210, 105, 30},

firebrick RGB = { 178, 34, 34},

brown RGB = { 165, 42, 42},

dark salmon RGB = { 233, 150, 122},

DarkSalmon RGB = { 233, 150, 122},

salmon RGB = { 250, 128, 114},

light salmon RGB = { 255, 160, 122},

LightSalmon RGB = { 255, 160, 122},

orange RGB = { 255, 165, 0},

dark orange RGB = { 255, 140, 0},

DarkOrange RGB = { 255, 140, 0},

coral RGB = { 255, 127, 80},

light coral RGB = { 240, 128, 128},

LightCoral RGB = { 240, 128, 128},

tomato RGB = { 255, 99, 71},

orange red RGB = { 255, 69, 0},

OrangeRed RGB = { 255, 69, 0},

red RGB = { 255, 0, 0},

hot pink RGB = { 255, 105, 180},

HotPink RGB = { 255, 105, 180},

deep pink RGB = { 255, 20, 147},

DeepPink RGB = { 255, 20, 147},

pink RGB = { 255, 192, 203},

light pink RGB = { 255, 182, 193},

LightPink RGB = { 255, 182, 193},

pale violet red RGB = { 219, 112, 147},

PaleVioletRed RGB = { 219, 112, 147},

maroon RGB = { 176, 48, 96},

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medium violet red RGB = { 199, 21, 133},

MediumVioletRed RGB = { 199, 21, 133},

violet red RGB = { 208, 32, 144},

VioletRed RGB = { 208, 32, 144},

magenta RGB = { 255, 0, 255},

violet RGB = { 238, 130, 238},

plum RGB = { 221, 160, 221},

orchid RGB = { 218, 112, 214},

medium orchid RGB = { 186, 85, 211},

MediumOrchid RGB = { 186, 85, 211},

dark orchid RGB = { 153, 50, 204},

DarkOrchid RGB = { 153, 50, 204},

dark violet RGB = { 148, 0, 211},

DarkViolet RGB = { 148, 0, 211},

blue violet RGB = { 138, 43, 226},

BlueViolet RGB = { 138, 43, 226},

purple RGB = { 160, 32, 240},

medium purple RGB = { 147, 112, 219},

MediumPurple RGB = { 147, 112, 219},

thistle RGB = { 216, 191, 216},

snow1 RGB = { 255, 250, 250},

snow2 RGB = { 238, 233, 233},

snow3 RGB = { 205, 201, 201},

snow4 RGB = { 139, 137, 137},

seashell1 RGB = { 255, 245, 238},

seashell2 RGB = { 238, 229, 222},

seashell3 RGB = { 205, 197, 191},

seashell4 RGB = { 139, 134, 130},

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AntiqueWhite1 RGB = { 255, 239, 219},

AntiqueWhite2 RGB = { 238, 223, 204},

AntiqueWhite3 RGB = { 205, 192, 176},

AntiqueWhite4 RGB = { 139, 131, 120},

bisque1 RGB = { 255, 228, 196},

bisque2 RGB = { 238, 213, 183},

bisque3 RGB = { 205, 183, 158},

bisque4 RGB = { 139, 125, 107},

PeachPuff1 RGB = { 255, 218, 185},

PeachPuff2 RGB = { 238, 203, 173},

PeachPuff3 RGB = { 205, 175, 149},

PeachPuff4 RGB = { 139, 119, 101},

NavajoWhite1 RGB = { 255, 222, 173},

NavajoWhite2 RGB = { 238, 207, 161},

NavajoWhite3 RGB = { 205, 179, 139},

NavajoWhite4 RGB = { 139, 121, 94},

LemonChiffon1 RGB = { 255, 250, 205},

LemonChiffon2 RGB = { 238, 233, 191},

LemonChiffon3 RGB = { 205, 201, 165},

LemonChiffon4 RGB = { 139, 137, 112},

cornsilk1 RGB = { 255, 248, 220},

cornsilk2 RGB = { 238, 232, 205},

cornsilk3 RGB = { 205, 200, 177},

cornsilk4 RGB = { 139, 136, 120},

ivory1 RGB = { 255, 255, 240},

ivory2 RGB = { 238, 238, 224},

ivory3 RGB = { 205, 205, 193},

ivory4 RGB = { 139, 139, 131},

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honeydew1 RGB = { 240, 255, 240},

honeydew2 RGB = { 224, 238, 224},

honeydew3 RGB = { 193, 205, 193},

honeydew4 RGB = { 131, 139, 131},

LavenderBlush1 RGB = { 255, 240, 245},

LavenderBlush2 RGB = { 238, 224, 229},

LavenderBlush3 RGB = { 205, 193, 197},

LavenderBlush4 RGB = { 139, 131, 134},

MistyRose1 RGB = { 255, 228, 225},

MistyRose2 RGB = { 238, 213, 210},

MistyRose3 RGB = { 205, 183, 181},

MistyRose4 RGB = { 139, 125, 123},

azure1 RGB = { 240, 255, 255},

azure2 RGB = { 224, 238, 238},

azure3 RGB = { 193, 205, 205},

azure4 RGB = { 131, 139, 139},

SlateBlue1 RGB = { 131, 111, 255},

SlateBlue2 RGB = { 122, 103, 238},

SlateBlue3 RGB = { 105, 89, 205},

SlateBlue4 RGB = { 71, 60, 139},

RoyalBlue1 RGB = { 72, 118, 255},

RoyalBlue2 RGB = { 67, 110, 238},

RoyalBlue3 RGB = { 58, 95, 205},

RoyalBlue4 RGB = { 39, 64, 139},

blue1 RGB = { 0, 0, 255},

blue2 RGB = { 0, 0, 238},

blue3 RGB = { 0, 0, 205},

blue4 RGB = { 0, 0, 139},

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DodgerBlue1 RGB = { 30, 144, 255},

DodgerBlue2 RGB = { 28, 134, 238},

DodgerBlue3 RGB = { 24, 116, 205},

DodgerBlue4 RGB = { 16, 78, 139},

SteelBlue1 RGB = { 99, 184, 255},

SteelBlue2 RGB = { 92, 172, 238},

SteelBlue3 RGB = { 79, 148, 205},

SteelBlue4 RGB = { 54, 100, 139},

DeepSkyBlue1 RGB = { 0, 191, 255},

DeepSkyBlue2 RGB = { 0, 178, 238},

DeepSkyBlue3 RGB = { 0, 154, 205},

DeepSkyBlue4 RGB = { 0, 104, 139},

SkyBlue1 RGB = { 135, 206, 255},

SkyBlue2 RGB = { 126, 192, 238},

SkyBlue3 RGB = { 108, 166, 205},

SkyBlue4 RGB = { 74, 112, 139},

LightSkyBlue1 RGB = { 176, 226, 255},

LightSkyBlue2 RGB = { 164, 211, 238},

LightSkyBlue3 RGB = { 141, 182, 205},

LightSkyBlue4 RGB = { 96, 123, 139},

SlateGray1 RGB = { 198, 226, 255},

SlateGray2 RGB = { 185, 211, 238},

SlateGray3 RGB = { 159, 182, 205},

SlateGray4 RGB = { 108, 123, 139},

LightSteelBlue1 RGB = { 202, 225, 255},

LightSteelBlue2 RGB = { 188, 210, 238},

LightSteelBlue3 RGB = { 162, 181, 205},

LightSteelBlue4 RGB = { 110, 123, 139},

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LightBlue1 RGB = { 191, 239, 255},

LightBlue2 RGB = { 178, 223, 238},

LightBlue3 RGB = { 154, 192, 205},

LightBlue4 RGB = { 104, 131, 139},

LightCyan1 RGB = { 224, 255, 255},

LightCyan2 RGB = { 209, 238, 238},

LightCyan3 RGB = { 180, 205, 205},

LightCyan4 RGB = { 122, 139, 139},

PaleTurquoise1 RGB = { 187, 255, 255},

PaleTurquoise2 RGB = { 174, 238, 238},

PaleTurquoise3 RGB = { 150, 205, 205},

PaleTurquoise4 RGB = { 102, 139, 139},

CadetBlue1 RGB = { 152, 245, 255},

CadetBlue2 RGB = { 142, 229, 238},

CadetBlue3 RGB = { 122, 197, 205},

CadetBlue4 RGB = { 83, 134, 139},

turquoise1 RGB = { 0, 245, 255},

turquoise2 RGB = { 0, 229, 238},

turquoise3 RGB = { 0, 197, 205},

turquoise4 RGB = { 0, 134, 139},

cyan1 RGB = { 0, 255, 255},

cyan2 RGB = { 0, 238, 238},

cyan3 RGB = { 0, 205, 205},

cyan4 RGB = { 0, 139, 139},

DarkSlateGray1 RGB = { 151, 255, 255},

DarkSlateGray2 RGB = { 141, 238, 238},

DarkSlateGray3 RGB = { 121, 205, 205},

DarkSlateGray4 RGB = { 82, 139, 139},

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aquamarine1 RGB = { 127, 255, 212},

aquamarine2 RGB = { 118, 238, 198},

aquamarine3 RGB = { 102, 205, 170},

aquamarine4 RGB = { 69, 139, 116},

DarkSeaGreen1 RGB = { 193, 255, 193},

DarkSeaGreen2 RGB = { 180, 238, 180},

DarkSeaGreen3 RGB = { 155, 205, 155},

DarkSeaGreen4 RGB = { 105, 139, 105},

SeaGreen1 RGB = { 84, 255, 159},

SeaGreen2 RGB = { 78, 238, 148},

SeaGreen3 RGB = { 67, 205, 128},

SeaGreen4 RGB = { 46, 139, 87},

PaleGreen1 RGB = { 154, 255, 154},

PaleGreen2 RGB = { 144, 238, 144},

PaleGreen3 RGB = { 124, 205, 124},

PaleGreen4 RGB = { 84, 139, 84},

SpringGreen1 RGB = { 0, 255, 127},

SpringGreen2 RGB = { 0, 238, 118},

SpringGreen3 RGB = { 0, 205, 102},

SpringGreen4 RGB = { 0, 139, 69},

green1 RGB = { 0, 255, 0},

green2 RGB = { 0, 238, 0},

green3 RGB = { 0, 205, 0},

green4 RGB = { 0, 139, 0},

chartreuse1 RGB = { 127, 255, 0},

chartreuse2 RGB = { 118, 238, 0},

chartreuse3 RGB = { 102, 205, 0},

chartreuse4 RGB = { 69, 139, 0},

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OliveDrab1 RGB = { 192, 255, 62},

OliveDrab2 RGB = { 179, 238, 58},

OliveDrab3 RGB = { 154, 205, 50},

OliveDrab4 RGB = { 105, 139, 34},

DarkOliveGreen1 RGB = { 202, 255, 112},

DarkOliveGreen2 RGB = { 188, 238, 104},

DarkOliveGreen3 RGB = { 162, 205, 90},

DarkOliveGreen4 RGB = { 110, 139, 61},

khaki1 RGB = { 255, 246, 143},

khaki2 RGB = { 238, 230, 133},

khaki3 RGB = { 205, 198, 115},

khaki4 RGB = { 139, 134, 78},

LightGoldenrod1 RGB = { 255, 236, 139},

LightGoldenrod2 RGB = { 238, 220, 130},

LightGoldenrod3 RGB = { 205, 190, 112},

LightGoldenrod4 RGB = { 139, 129, 76},

LightYellow1 RGB = { 255, 255, 224},

LightYellow2 RGB = { 238, 238, 209},

LightYellow3 RGB = { 205, 205, 180},

LightYellow4 RGB = { 139, 139, 122},

yellow1 RGB = { 255, 255, 0},

yellow2 RGB = { 238, 238, 0},

yellow3 RGB = { 205, 205, 0},

yellow4 RGB = { 139, 139, 0},

gold1 RGB = { 255, 215, 0},

gold2 RGB = { 238, 201, 0},

gold3 RGB = { 205, 173, 0},

gold4 RGB = { 139, 117, 0},

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goldenrod1 RGB = { 255, 193, 37},

goldenrod2 RGB = { 238, 180, 34},

goldenrod3 RGB = { 205, 155, 29},

goldenrod4 RGB = { 139, 105, 20},

DarkGoldenrod1 RGB = { 255, 185, 15},

DarkGoldenrod2 RGB = { 238, 173, 14},

DarkGoldenrod3 RGB = { 205, 149, 12},

DarkGoldenrod4 RGB = { 139, 101, 8},

RosyBrown1 RGB = { 255, 193, 193},

RosyBrown2 RGB = { 238, 180, 180},

RosyBrown3 RGB = { 205, 155, 155},

RosyBrown4 RGB = { 139, 105, 105},

IndianRed1 RGB = { 255, 106, 106},

IndianRed2 RGB = { 238, 99, 99},

IndianRed3 RGB = { 205, 85, 85},

IndianRed4 RGB = { 139, 58, 58},

sienna1 RGB = { 255, 130, 71},

sienna2 RGB = { 238, 121, 66},

sienna3 RGB = { 205, 104, 57},

sienna4 RGB = { 139, 71, 38},

burlywood1 RGB = { 255, 211, 155},

burlywood2 RGB = { 238, 197, 145},

burlywood3 RGB = { 205, 170, 125},

burlywood4 RGB = { 139, 115, 85},

wheat1 RGB = { 255, 231, 186},

wheat2 RGB = { 238, 216, 174},

wheat3 RGB = { 205, 186, 150},

wheat4 RGB = { 139, 126, 102},

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tan1 RGB = { 255, 165, 79},

tan2 RGB = { 238, 154, 73},

tan3 RGB = { 205, 133, 63},

tan4 RGB = { 139, 90, 43},

chocolate1 RGB = { 255, 127, 36},

chocolate2 RGB = { 238, 118, 33},

chocolate3 RGB = { 205, 102, 29},

chocolate4 RGB = { 139, 69, 19},

firebrick1 RGB = { 255, 48, 48},

firebrick2 RGB = { 238, 44, 44},

firebrick3 RGB = { 205, 38, 38},

firebrick4 RGB = { 139, 26, 26},

brown1 RGB = { 255, 64, 64},

brown2 RGB = { 238, 59, 59},

brown3 RGB = { 205, 51, 51},

brown4 RGB = { 139, 35, 35},

salmon1 RGB = { 255, 140, 105},

salmon2 RGB = { 238, 130, 98},

salmon3 RGB = { 205, 112, 84},

salmon4 RGB = { 139, 76, 57},

LightSalmon1 RGB = { 255, 160, 122},

LightSalmon2 RGB = { 238, 149, 114},

LightSalmon3 RGB = { 205, 129, 98},

LightSalmon4 RGB = { 139, 87, 66},

orange1 RGB = { 255, 165, 0},

orange2 RGB = { 238, 154, 0},

orange3 RGB = { 205, 133, 0},

orange4 RGB = { 139, 90, 0},

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DarkOrange1 RGB = { 255, 127, 0},

DarkOrange2 RGB = { 238, 118, 0},

DarkOrange3 RGB = { 205, 102, 0},

DarkOrange4 RGB = { 139, 69, 0},

coral1 RGB = { 255, 114, 86},

coral2 RGB = { 238, 106, 80},

coral3 RGB = { 205, 91, 69},

coral4 RGB = { 139, 62, 47},

tomato1 RGB = { 255, 99, 71},

tomato2 RGB = { 238, 92, 66},

tomato3 RGB = { 205, 79, 57},

tomato4 RGB = { 139, 54, 38},

OrangeRed1 RGB = { 255, 69, 0},

OrangeRed2 RGB = { 238, 64, 0},

OrangeRed3 RGB = { 205, 55, 0},

OrangeRed4 RGB = { 139, 37, 0},

red1 RGB = { 255, 0, 0},

red2 RGB = { 238, 0, 0},

red3 RGB = { 205, 0, 0},

red4 RGB = { 139, 0, 0},

DeepPink1 RGB = { 255, 20, 147},

DeepPink2 RGB = { 238, 18, 137},

DeepPink3 RGB = { 205, 16, 118},

DeepPink4 RGB = { 139, 10, 80},

HotPink1 RGB = { 255, 110, 180},

HotPink2 RGB = { 238, 106, 167},

HotPink3 RGB = { 205, 96, 144},

HotPink4 RGB = { 139, 58, 98},

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pink1 RGB = { 255, 181, 197},

pink2 RGB = { 238, 169, 184},

pink3 RGB = { 205, 145, 158},

pink4 RGB = { 139, 99, 108},

LightPink1 RGB = { 255, 174, 185},

LightPink2 RGB = { 238, 162, 173},

LightPink3 RGB = { 205, 140, 149},

LightPink4 RGB = { 139, 95, 101},

PaleVioletRed1 RGB = { 255, 130, 171},

PaleVioletRed2 RGB = { 238, 121, 159},

PaleVioletRed3 RGB = { 205, 104, 137},

PaleVioletRed4 RGB = { 139, 71, 93},

maroon1 RGB = { 255, 52, 179},

maroon2 RGB = { 238, 48, 167},

maroon3 RGB = { 205, 41, 144},

maroon4 RGB = { 139, 28, 98},

VioletRed1 RGB = { 255, 62, 150},

VioletRed2 RGB = { 238, 58, 140},

VioletRed3 RGB = { 205, 50, 120},

VioletRed4 RGB = { 139, 34, 82},

magenta1 RGB = { 255, 0, 255},

magenta2 RGB = { 238, 0, 238},

magenta3 RGB = { 205, 0, 205},

magenta4 RGB = { 139, 0, 139},

orchid1 RGB = { 255, 131, 250},

orchid2 RGB = { 238, 122, 233},

orchid3 RGB = { 205, 105, 201},

orchid4 RGB = { 139, 71, 137},

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plum1 RGB = { 255, 187, 255},

plum2 RGB = { 238, 174, 238},

plum3 RGB = { 205, 150, 205},

plum4 RGB = { 139, 102, 139},

MediumOrchid1 RGB = { 224, 102, 255},

MediumOrchid2 RGB = { 209, 95, 238},

MediumOrchid3 RGB = { 180, 82, 205},

MediumOrchid4 RGB = { 122, 55, 139},

DarkOrchid1 RGB = { 191, 62, 255},

DarkOrchid2 RGB = { 178, 58, 238},

DarkOrchid3 RGB = { 154, 50, 205},

DarkOrchid4 RGB = { 104, 34, 139},

purple1 RGB = { 155, 48, 255},

purple2 RGB = { 145, 44, 238},

purple3 RGB = { 125, 38, 205},

purple4 RGB = { 85, 26, 139},

MediumPurple1 RGB = { 171, 130, 255},

MediumPurple2 RGB = { 159, 121, 238},

MediumPurple3 RGB = { 137, 104, 205},

MediumPurple4 RGB = { 93, 71, 139},

thistle1 RGB = { 255, 225, 255},

thistle2 RGB = { 238, 210, 238},

thistle3 RGB = { 205, 181, 205},

thistle4 RGB = { 139, 123, 139},

gray0 RGB = { 0, 0, 0},

grey0 RGB = { 0, 0, 0},

gray1 RGB = { 3, 3, 3},

grey1 RGB = { 3, 3, 3},

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gray2 RGB = { 5, 5, 5},

grey2 RGB = { 5, 5, 5},

gray3 RGB = { 8, 8, 8},

grey3 RGB = { 8, 8, 8},

gray4 RGB = { 10, 10, 10},

grey4 RGB = { 10, 10, 10},

gray5 RGB = { 13, 13, 13},

grey5 RGB = { 13, 13, 13},

gray6 RGB = { 15, 15, 15},

grey6 RGB = { 15, 15, 15},

gray7 RGB = { 18, 18, 18},

grey7 RGB = { 18, 18, 18},

gray8 RGB = { 20, 20, 20},

grey8 RGB = { 20, 20, 20},

gray9 RGB = { 23, 23, 23},

grey9 RGB = { 23, 23, 23},

gray10 RGB = { 26, 26, 26},

grey10 RGB = { 26, 26, 26},

gray11 RGB = { 28, 28, 28},

grey11 RGB = { 28, 28, 28},

gray12 RGB = { 31, 31, 31},

grey12 RGB = { 31, 31, 31},

gray13 RGB = { 33, 33, 33},

grey13 RGB = { 33, 33, 33},

gray14 RGB = { 36, 36, 36},

grey14 RGB = { 36, 36, 36},

gray15 RGB = { 38, 38, 38},

grey15 RGB = { 38, 38, 38},

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gray16 RGB = { 41, 41, 41},

grey16 RGB = { 41, 41, 41},

gray17 RGB = { 43, 43, 43},

grey17 RGB = { 43, 43, 43},

gray18 RGB = { 46, 46, 46},

grey18 RGB = { 46, 46, 46},

gray19 RGB = { 48, 48, 48},

grey19 RGB = { 48, 48, 48},

gray20 RGB = { 51, 51, 51},

grey20 RGB = { 51, 51, 51},

gray21 RGB = { 54, 54, 54},

grey21 RGB = { 54, 54, 54},

gray22 RGB = { 56, 56, 56},

grey22 RGB = { 56, 56, 56},

gray23 RGB = { 59, 59, 59},

grey23 RGB = { 59, 59, 59},

gray24 RGB = { 61, 61, 61},

grey24 RGB = { 61, 61, 61},

gray25 RGB = { 64, 64, 64},

grey25 RGB = { 64, 64, 64},

gray26 RGB = { 66, 66, 66},

grey26 RGB = { 66, 66, 66},

gray27 RGB = { 69, 69, 69},

grey27 RGB = { 69, 69, 69},

gray28 RGB = { 71, 71, 71},

grey28 RGB = { 71, 71, 71},

gray29 RGB = { 74, 74, 74},

grey29 RGB = { 74, 74, 74},

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gray30 RGB = { 77, 77, 77},

grey30 RGB = { 77, 77, 77},

gray31 RGB = { 79, 79, 79},

grey31 RGB = { 79, 79, 79},

gray32 RGB = { 82, 82, 82},

grey32 RGB = { 82, 82, 82},

gray33 RGB = { 84, 84, 84},

grey33 RGB = { 84, 84, 84},

gray34 RGB = { 87, 87, 87},

grey34 RGB = { 87, 87, 87},

gray35 RGB = { 89, 89, 89},

grey35 RGB = { 89, 89, 89},

gray36 RGB = { 92, 92, 92},

grey36 RGB = { 92, 92, 92},

gray37 RGB = { 94, 94, 94},

grey37 RGB = { 94, 94, 94},

gray38 RGB = { 97, 97, 97},

grey38 RGB = { 97, 97, 97},

gray39 RGB = { 99, 99, 99},

grey39 RGB = { 99, 99, 99},

gray40 RGB = { 102, 102, 102},

grey40 RGB = { 102, 102, 102},

gray41 RGB = { 105, 105, 105},

grey41 RGB = { 105, 105, 105},

gray42 RGB = { 107, 107, 107},

grey42 RGB = { 107, 107, 107},

gray43 RGB = { 110, 110, 110},

grey43 RGB = { 110, 110, 110},

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gray44 RGB = { 112, 112, 112},

grey44 RGB = { 112, 112, 112},

gray45 RGB = { 115, 115, 115},

grey45 RGB = { 115, 115, 115},

gray46 RGB = { 117, 117, 117},

grey46 RGB = { 117, 117, 117},

gray47 RGB = { 120, 120, 120},

grey47 RGB = { 120, 120, 120},

gray48 RGB = { 122, 122, 122},

grey48 RGB = { 122, 122, 122},

gray49 RGB = { 125, 125, 125},

grey49 RGB = { 125, 125, 125},

gray50 RGB = { 127, 127, 127},

grey50 RGB = { 127, 127, 127},

gray51 RGB = { 130, 130, 130},

grey51 RGB = { 130, 130, 130},

gray52 RGB = { 133, 133, 133},

grey52 RGB = { 133, 133, 133},

gray53 RGB = { 135, 135, 135},

grey53 RGB = { 135, 135, 135},

gray54 RGB = { 138, 138, 138},

grey54 RGB = { 138, 138, 138},

gray55 RGB = { 140, 140, 140},

grey55 RGB = { 140, 140, 140},

gray56 RGB = { 143, 143, 143},

grey56 RGB = { 143, 143, 143},

gray57 RGB = { 145, 145, 145},

grey57 RGB = { 145, 145, 145},

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gray58 RGB = { 148, 148, 148},

grey58 RGB = { 148, 148, 148},

gray59 RGB = { 150, 150, 150},

grey59 RGB = { 150, 150, 150},

gray60 RGB = { 153, 153, 153},

grey60 RGB = { 153, 153, 153},

gray61 RGB = { 156, 156, 156},

grey61 RGB = { 156, 156, 156},

gray62 RGB = { 158, 158, 158},

grey62 RGB = { 158, 158, 158},

gray63 RGB = { 161, 161, 161},

grey63 RGB = { 161, 161, 161},

gray64 RGB = { 163, 163, 163},

grey64 RGB = { 163, 163, 163},

gray65 RGB = { 166, 166, 166},

grey65 RGB = { 166, 166, 166},

gray66 RGB = { 168, 168, 168},

grey66 RGB = { 168, 168, 168},

gray67 RGB = { 171, 171, 171},

grey67 RGB = { 171, 171, 171},

gray68 RGB = { 173, 173, 173},

grey68 RGB = { 173, 173, 173},

gray69 RGB = { 176, 176, 176},

grey69 RGB = { 176, 176, 176},

gray70 RGB = { 179, 179, 179},

grey70 RGB = { 179, 179, 179},

gray71 RGB = { 181, 181, 181},

grey71 RGB = { 181, 181, 181},

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gray72 RGB = { 184, 184, 184},

grey72 RGB = { 184, 184, 184},

gray73 RGB = { 186, 186, 186},

grey73 RGB = { 186, 186, 186},

gray74 RGB = { 189, 189, 189},

grey74 RGB = { 189, 189, 189},

gray75 RGB = { 191, 191, 191},

grey75 RGB = { 191, 191, 191},

gray76 RGB = { 194, 194, 194},

grey76 RGB = { 194, 194, 194},

gray77 RGB = { 196, 196, 196},

grey77 RGB = { 196, 196, 196},

gray78 RGB = { 199, 199, 199},

grey78 RGB = { 199, 199, 199},

gray79 RGB = { 201, 201, 201},

grey79 RGB = { 201, 201, 201},

gray80 RGB = { 204, 204, 204},

grey80 RGB = { 204, 204, 204},

gray81 RGB = { 207, 207, 207},

grey81 RGB = { 207, 207, 207},

gray82 RGB = { 209, 209, 209},

grey82 RGB = { 209, 209, 209},

gray83 RGB = { 212, 212, 212},

grey83 RGB = { 212, 212, 212},

gray84 RGB = { 214, 214, 214},

grey84 RGB = { 214, 214, 214},

gray85 RGB = { 217, 217, 217},

grey85 RGB = { 217, 217, 217},

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gray86 RGB = { 219, 219, 219},

grey86 RGB = { 219, 219, 219},

gray87 RGB = { 222, 222, 222},

grey87 RGB = { 222, 222, 222},

gray88 RGB = { 224, 224, 224},

grey88 RGB = { 224, 224, 224},

gray89 RGB = { 227, 227, 227},

grey89 RGB = { 227, 227, 227},

gray90 RGB = { 229, 229, 229},

grey90 RGB = { 229, 229, 229},

gray91 RGB = { 232, 232, 232},

grey91 RGB = { 232, 232, 232},

gray92 RGB = { 235, 235, 235},

grey92 RGB = { 235, 235, 235},

gray93 RGB = { 237, 237, 237},

grey93 RGB = { 237, 237, 237},

gray94 RGB = { 240, 240, 240},

grey94 RGB = { 240, 240, 240},

gray95 RGB = { 242, 242, 242},

grey95 RGB = { 242, 242, 242},

gray96 RGB = { 245, 245, 245},

grey96 RGB = { 245, 245, 245},

gray97 RGB = { 247, 247, 247},

grey97 RGB = { 247, 247, 247},

gray98 RGB = { 250, 250, 250},

grey98 RGB = { 250, 250, 250},

gray99 RGB = { 252, 252, 252},

grey99 RGB = { 252, 252, 252},

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gray100 RGB = { 255, 255, 255},

grey100 RGB = { 255, 255, 255},

dark grey RGB = { 169, 169, 169},

DarkGrey RGB = { 169, 169, 169},

dark gray RGB = { 169, 169, 169},

DarkGray RGB = { 169, 169, 169},

dark blue RGB = { 0, 0, 139},

DarkBlue RGB = { 0, 0, 139},

dark cyan RGB = { 0, 139, 139},

DarkCyan RGB = { 0, 139, 139},

dark magenta RGB = { 139, 0, 139},

DarkMagenta RGB = { 139, 0, 139},

dark red RGB = { 139, 0, 0},

DarkRed RGB = { 139, 0, 0},

light green RGB = { 144, 238, 144},

LightGreen RGB = { 144, 238, 144}

Importing 3D Model Files

You can read 3D model files directly into the active 3D Modeler window. Object, material, and
parameter names with non-ASCII characters are not allowed, and therefore, not allowed for data
transfer. Such transfers fail and produce an error message.

Note If you import a file into an active 3D Modeler window that contains an existing model, the
file will be added to the existing model; it will not replace it.

To import a 3D model file:

1. Click Modeler>Import.

The Import File dialog box appears.

2. Select the file type you want from the Files of type pull-down list.
3. Select any import options available for the selected file type.
l Some file types permit you to specify Validation and Healing options. In these cases, you
can choose between Quick for faster import, or for Strict healing, which you can specify as
Auto or Manual. See the table below and Healing an Imported Object.

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l For ProE files, you can choose check to enable the Import Free Surfaces option. This
imports such surfaces as well as parts.
l For STEP and IEGS files, you can specify a Stitch tolerance and units. The default value
(auto) comes from the Healing dialog Options tab with Manual Healing selected.
l For STL files there are two drop down selections. For File Units pick the units of the
imported STL file. The model is scaled to the current modeling units upon import. When
“Auto” is chosen for the file units, then the current Model units are normally used. The
exception is for stl files saved from SpaceClaim where units have been specified. (The
format specification for generic STL does not include units.) For merge faces, the “none”
option does not merge faces. The Planar options merges faces that are nearly on the
same plane.

l For formats that allow importing MCAD Assemblies as groups, the Import dialog includes
an option to Create Groups for Sub assembly. This allows you to retain the assembly
structure of objects using groups. This appears for Autodesk Inventor files (*.ipt; *iam),
Catia V4/V5 files (*.exp, *.model, *.CATPart, *.CATProduct), Creo Parametric files (*prt,
*.asm), STEP files (*.step, *stp), SOLIDWORKS Files (*SLDPRT, *SLDASM), and NX
Files (.prt). For example:

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For every subassembly in the model a group is created and it retains hierarchical
information by creating group hierarchy. For more information on groups, see Group
Commands for Modeler Objects.
4. Use the file browser to find the file you want to import.
5. Select the 3D model file you want to import or enter the name of the file in the File Name
box.
6. Click Open.
The file is imported into the active Modeler window.

If you selected Validation and Healing options Strict with the Manual option selected for the
import, then the Healing Options dialog box opens, allowing you to set parameters for the heal
operation.

Note While objects created in HFSS or HFSS-IE can always be classed in the
history tree as either a solid, sheet, or wire some imported objects may have
mixture of these. HFSS or HFSS-IE places such objects in an Unclassified
folder in the history tree.
Extension Contents
.sat, .sab ACIS files ACIS R1.0 to ACIS 2018 1.0.1
.sm3 AEDT 3D modeler files ACIS R1.0 to ACIS 2018 1.0.1
.anstGeom Ansoft Geometry File supporting UDMs and CAD integration with the
Workbench.
.dxf, .dwg AutoCAD Drawing Interchange Format files from version 2.5 through 2016.
The .tech file is an ASCII file that contains layer names, units, color,
.tech
elevation, thickness, and material information in a tab delimited format. See
Importing DXF and DWG Format Files.
.ipt, iam Autodesk Inventor V11-V2017
.model Catia R4/R5 models.1

.model - CATIA 4.1.9 to 4.2.4

.CATPart Catia V5 Models.1

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.CATProduct .CATPart, .CATProduct - CATIA V5: R8-R25 (V5R8- V5-6R2016),

(Windows only)
.gds GDSII files.
.iges, .igs Industry standard Initial Graphics Exchange Specification (IGES) files
versions up to 5.3.1
.nas NASTRAN format files.2
.x_t, .x_b Parasolid Files 9.0-29.0.137.1
.prt*, .asm* Creo Parametric model files. For Creo Parametric models, the import dialog
lets enable Import Free Surfaces, which will include such surfaces as well as
parts.

.Pro/E 16 to Wildfire 5.0, Creo 4.0

.sldprt, .sldasm SOLIDWORKS 98-2017
.step, .stp Industry standard AP203 STEP files and AP214 (geometry only). AP2421
.stl Stereolithography format files.2
.prt NX files. Unigraphics file 11 to NX 111
1. Automatic or Manual Healing available if desired. See Healing an Imported Object.

2. Defeaturing based on Model Resolution Length. Select Auto, None, or enter a

numeric value directly in the entry box.

Related Topics

Importing 2D Model Files

Importing DXF and DWG Format Files.

Exporting 3D Model Files

SpaceClaim Integration

Importing DXF and DWG Format Files

You can import AutoCAD versions 2.5 through 2011. The entities are imported as 2 dimensional
(not 3D). The types of entities imported are:

l 2D Polyline, Polyline, and Line

l Arc
l Circle
l Ellipse
l Solid
l Block

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To import a .dxf or .dwg model file (which may use an associated .tech file):

1. Click Modeler>Import.

The Import File dialog box appears.

2. Select AutoCAD Files (*.dxf;*.dwg) from the Files of type pull-down list.
3. Use the file browser to find the file you want to import.
4. Select the .dxf/.dwg model file you want to import.
5. Click Open.

Initially, the DWG/DXF Import dialog opens with the Layer Selection tab is displayed:

The Input Layer Name field shows the name of the layer in the DXF/DWG file (not editable)

1. Use the Include check boxes to specify which layers to import from the selected file.
2. You can use the Open button for a browser window to locate a tech file. The tech file is a
plain text file that includes units, layer names, color, elevation, and thickness information.
units um

//Layer_Name Color Elevation Thickness

BOTTOMLAYER purple 0 200

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MIDLAYER green 500 200

TOPLAYER blue 1000 200

3. Click the Options tab:

4. Use the Override pulldown to select the layout units for the imported file (default is mm).
5. Use the Objects check boxes to fine-tune the import:
l Auto-detect closure causes polylines to be checked to see whether or not they are
closed. If a polyline is closed, the modeler creates a polygon in the design.
l Self-stitch causes multiple straight line segments to be joined to form polylines. If the
resulting polyline is closed, a polygon is created in the modeler.

Default Tolerance/Tolerance specifies whether you can specify a self stitch Tolerance
value. If particular features in a model are outside of a normal tolerance allowance, you can
set a Tolerance for importing that specific model.

l De-feature tolerance removes certain small features in the imported geometry to reduce
complexity. The features that are removed include: multiple points placed within the
specified distance; thin or narrow regions ("thins" and "spikes"); and extraneous points
along straight line segments.
l Round coordinates to Decimal place rounds all imported data to the specified number
of decimal points.

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l Convert closed wide lines to polygons imports wide polylines as polygons. You have
more flexibility to change the shape of such an object when it is imported as a polygon.
l Import as 2D sheet bodies causes imported objects to be organized in terms of 2D
sheets.
6. For Import method, select Script or Acis.
7. When you have completed selections on all tabs, click OK on any tab.

The file is imported into the active Layout window.

Importing Solution Data 

1. Click HFSS>Results>Import Solutions.

The Imported Data dialog box appears.

2. Click Import Solution.

The S Parameter Import dialog box appears.

3. In the File Name text box, type the name of the solution file you want to import or click
Browse and use the file browser to locate the file.
4. Selecting the file with the file browser loads it, but note that the file has not been imported
yet.
5. Optionally, type a new name in the Source Name box or accept the default name.
6. Click the solutions you want to import in the Available Solutions list, and then click Import.

You return to the Imported Data dialog box.

7. Click the solution data you want to import, and then click OK.

Related Topics

Viewing Matrix Data

Importing Data Tables

You can import data table files that contain data in the following formats:

l Tab-separated. HFSS will recognize complex data if the values are separated by a comma
(e.g. real, imaginary).
l Comma-separated. HFSS will recognize complex data if the values are separated by a
space (e.g. real imaginary).
1. Click HFSS >Results>Import Solutions.
l Alternatively, right-click Results in the project tree and then click Import Solutions on
the shortcut menu.

The Imported Data dialog box appears.

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2. Click Import Table.

The Table Import dialog box appears.

3. In the File Name text box, type the name of the data table file you want to import or click
Browse and use the file browser to locate the file.
4. If the data in the table is complex, select the format — real/ imaginary, or magnitude/ phase
— in which to import the data.

If the data is simple, this option will be ignored.

5. Click Load File. Note that the file has not been imported yet.
6. Optionally, type a new name in the Source Name box that indicates the origin or the data
table, or accept the default name.
7. Optionally, type a new name in the Table Name box that describes the data in the table, or
accept the default name
8. In the All Columns list, the headings of each column in the data file are listed. Optionally,
specify a new name for a column heading by doing the following:
a. In the All Columns list, click the heading you want to change. The heading appears in
the Column Name box.
b. Type a new name in the Column Name box, and then click Set Column Name.

The heading is changed to the new name in every place it appears in the Imported Data
dialog box.

9. In the Independent Data Columns list, the first heading in the data table file is listed by
default. In the Dependent Data Columns list, the second and subsequent headings in the
data table file are listed by default. Optionally, click a heading name and then click an arrow
button to move it from one column to another.
10. If the data in the Dependent Data Columns list contains matrix data, select Matrix Data. If
it contains field data, select Field Data.
11. Click Import.

You return to the Imported Data dialog box.

12. Click the data you want to import in the Current Imports list, and then click OK.

The solution data is now available for post processing.

Related Topics

Adding Datasets

Importing ANSYS Electronics Desktop Plot Data

Import Solutions can also import plot data.

1. On the solver menu click Results>Import Solutions.

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The Imported Data dialog box appears.

2. Click the Import Plot Data button

The Read Plot Data file dialog opens.

3. Use the file browser to select the plot data file (*.dat) to open.

You can choose to specify the file as Read Only.

4. Click the Open button to import the file.

The imported files are listed in the Imported Data dialog.

Related Topics

Importing Plot Data.

Importing Plot Data

The Report2D> Import Data command lets you import plot data from comma delimited files (.csv)
tab delimited files (.tab) or Ansoft Plot Data files (*.dat). You need to have a report open for the
Report2D menu to appear.

1. On the HFSS menu click Report2D>Import Data.

This displays a file browser window.

2. Use the Look In feature, or the icons to navigate to the file location.
3. Specify the file name in the file name field, or select the file from those listed in the current
directory.
4. The file format field contains a drop-down menu listing the formats you can import. These
include comma delimited files (.csv) tab delimited files (.tab) or Ansoft Plot Data files (*.dat).
5. Click Open to import the file into the currently open Report.

The imported traces appear in the Project tree under the current report.

Related Topics

Importing HFSS Plot Data

Inserting a Documentation File

You may want to add a documentation file to the project tree.

1. Click Project>Insert Documentation File.

This opens a file browser dialog that lets you navigate your file system.

2. Selecting the file and click OK.

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This places the documentation file in the project tree.

Related Topics

Printing (Image of Active window)

Saving Project Notes

Printing
The printing commands enable you to send an image of the active window to the printer.

To print the project:

1. Click File>Print .

A dialog box similar to the following one appears:

2. You can change the printer (if other printer names are listed on the drop down), set the print
range, number of copies, or use the check box to Print to file.
3. Do one of the following:
l Click OK to print the project.
l Click Cancel to dismiss the window without printing.
l Click Setup to define printer settings.

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You can also access the printer properties by clicking Printer in the Page Setup dialog box.

Related Topics

Getting Help

Previewing the Printout

Changing the Page Setup

Previewing the Printout

To preview how the page will look when printed:

1. Click File>Print Preview.

The preview window appears.
2. To print the project after seeing the preview, click the Print button.
The Print dialog box appears.
3. To navigate through the preview, click the Next Page, Prev Page, and/or Two Page
buttons.
4. To zoom in or out on the preview, click the Zoom In or Zoom Out button.

To close the preview and return to your project, click Close.

Related Topics

Printing

Changing the Page Setup

To set or change the page setup:

1. Click File>Page Setup.

The Page Setup dialog box appears.
2. Under Paper, select a Size and Source for the paper.
3. Under Orientation, select either Portrait or Landscape.
4. Under Margins, change the values as desired in the Left, Right, Top, and Bottom text
boxes.
5. Click OK.

You can also access the printer properties by clicking Printer in the Page Setup dialog box.

Saving Project Notes

You can save notes about a project, such as its creation date and a description of the device being
modeled. This is useful for keeping a running log on the project.

To add notes to a project:

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1. Click HFSS or HFSS-IE>Edit Notes .

The Design Notes window appears.

2. Click in the window and type your notes.

3. Click OK to save the notes with the current project.

To edit existing project notes:

l Double-click the Notes icon in the project tree.

The Design Notes window appears, in which you can edit the project's notes.

To delete the existing notes for a design:

1. Select the icon Notes in the project tree, click Edit>Delete.

2. Right-click the icon Notes in the project tree, click Delete from the shortcut menu.

The Notes icon is removed from the project tree.

Note Notes are used to document aspects of designs only. For project level documentation, you
can insert a documentation file into a project with the Project>Insert Documentation Files
command.

Related Topics

Printing (Image of Active window)

Inserting a Documentation File

Setting Options
The Tools>Options menu provides the way to set options from the desktop.

The Tools>General Options command provides access to the following options through a single,
hierarchical dialog:

l General options, such as project options, units settings, and remote analysis options.
l 2D Extractor General, Solution Type
l Circuit Design
l Circuit Netlist Design

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l HFSS options, such as default solution mode, processor and RAM settings.
l HFSS 3D Layout
l HFSS-IE options, such as whether to duplicate boundaries, save and delete options, or
processor and RAM settings.
l Maxwell 2D
l Maxwell 3D
l Q3D Extractor options, Boundary Assignment
l RMxprt
l Simplorer
l 3D Modeler options, such as cloning options, display colors and render settings, snap
modes and mouse sensitivity.
l Model Editor
l Netlist and Script Editor
l Optimetrics options including the maximum number of significant digits to display when
reporting analysis result.
l Reporter options, including Report Setup, including advanced mode editing, the number of
significant digits to display, and drag and drop behavior, Fields Reporter options, such as
field overlay and phase animation settings, and Report2D options, such as fonts, labels, line
styles, and colors.

You can use Tools>HPC and Analysis Options to specify active configuration per design type,
queuing, distributed memory vendor, HPC licensing, and whether to enable GPU for transient
solves.

The Tools>Options>Export Options Files command writes xml files containing the Options settings
at all levels to the specified directory. The Tools>Options>Export Options feature is intended to
make it easier for different users to use ANSYS Electromagnetics tools installed on shared
directories or network drives. The Example Uses for Export Options Features section outlines
some use cases enabled by this feature.

Related Topics

Setting Options via Configuration Files

Example Uses for Export Options Features

User Options and the Update Registry Tool

Batchoptions Command Line Examples

Setting General Options

To set general options in ANSYS Electronics Desktop

1. Click Tools>Options>General Options.

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The Options window opens with the Desktop Configuration options selected by default. You
can select the following entries to display the associated options:

l Desktop Configuration
l Project Options
l Miscellaneous
l User Interface
l Directories
l Desktop Performance
l Default Units
l Remote Analysis
l WebUpdate
l Component Libraries Options
2. Click each entry, and make the desired selections.
3. Click OK.

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General Options: Desktop Configuration

These options are set on the Desktop Configuration level of the General Options dialog box.
Options affect the solver icons displayed in the Project menu for inserting designs. Some
selections also affect the default appearance of the Import, Automation and Definition toolbar
menus. You can select the default project type, and whether a project is inserted automatically.
This lets you customize aspects of the Desktop Configuration to focus on your work priorities.

1. Each selection here also affects the defaults for the Custom Menu Set and Circuit
Environment options (described below), and the default design type for a new project. To set
the Desktop Configuration options:
a. Set the targeted configuration from the dropdown menu.

l All shows every solver.

l EM shows the ElectroMagnetics solvers: That is, Q3D Extractor, 2D Extractor,
Maxwell 3D Maxwell, 2D Maxwell, RMxprt, Maxwell Circuit, and Simplorer.
l RF shows the Radio Frequency solvers. That is, HFSS, HFSS 3D Layout, HFSS-IE,
Circuit, Circuit Netlist, and Filter.
l SI shows the Signal Integrity solvers. That is, HFSS, HFSS 3D Layout, Q3D
Extractor, 2D Extractor, Circuit, Circuit Netlist, and Filter.
l Simplorer shows the Simplorer solver.
b. Set the Custom Menu Set options by selecting from the dropdown menu.

The default selection depends on the targeted configuration option.

l Default shows every solver in the Project menu.

l EM shows the Electromagnetics solvers Project menu.
l RF shows the Radio Frequency solvers as listed in a., and RF.0 shows all solvers.

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l SI shows the Signal Integrity solvers as listed in b.

l SI1 and SI1.0 show HFSS 3D Layout, Circuit, Circuit Netlist, and Filter, as well as
adding the Import, Automation and Definitions toolbar menus.
l SI2 and SI2.0 show all solvers but does not include the Import, Automation, and
Definitions toolbar menus.
l Simplorer shows only the Simplorer solver on the Project menu.
c. Set the Circuit Environment.
2. For When creating a new project, select a radio button to either Insert a design of type
[menu selection] or Don't insert a design. The default is based on the configuration
selections.

3. To auto-save your project, do the following in the Autosave section:

a. Select the Do Autosave check box.
b. Enter the number of edits after which to save in the Autosave interval text box. The
default is 10.
4. To enable beta features in the ANSYS Electronics Desktop, select the Enable Beta
Options check box.

General Options: Project Options

The Project options allow you to “Open the following design types in read only mode.” You can
check from the list of design types.

General Options: Miscellaneous Options

The Miscellaneous level of the Options dialog lets you specify the following options:

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l The ANSYS Workbench Application Path lets you specify a path to an installation, if you
have one. This path can be used by the Optimetrics feature for connecting to the Design
Xplorer.
l MATLAB Optimization

If you have an installation of MATLAB installed, you can use it as an Optimizer. This MATLAB path
setting must to point to the version of MATLAB to be used for performing the optimization.

Note The platform (64 bit of the specified version of MATLAB) must match the platform of this
application.

General Options: User Interface Options

These options are set on the User Interface panel under General in the Options dialog.The
User Interface panel contains the following sections:

General

l Show Message Windowon new messages – specifies that the message window is
automatically reopened if a message arrives after the message window has been closed.
l Ensure that new messages are visible in the Message Window Tree – specifies
that the size of the message window is expanded as needed when messages are
displayed.
l Show Progress Windowwhen starting a simulation – specifies that the progress
window is reopened if a message arrives after the progress window has been closed.

Project Tree Visualization Options

l Selecting the Emphasize active command context check box causes the label of the
selected Project Tree element that is active (that is, has focus) to be rendered in bold text.

l Selecting the Change icon when selection does not match active window check
box causes a small window-shaped overlay icon to display in the corner of the selected
Project Tree element. This overlay icon is changed only when the data in the active
window is unrelated to the selected project item. (Data is considered related when they
affect the same model.) Clicking the icon will open the window and bring it into focus (on
top).
l Select the Expand Project Tree on Insert check box if you want to expand the Project
Tree automatically when you insert a new design.

Color Scheme

You can select the color scheme of Blue, Silver, or Black.

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Welcome Message

Click Show welcome message at startup if you want to see a welcome message when the
application starts.

When all information on the User Interface panel is defined, select another option under General
in the Options dialog or click OK to put your settings into effect.

General Options: Directories Options

1. For each directory, Project, Syslib, UserLib, and PersonalLib, enter a path in the Directory
text box, or click the ellipsis button ("...") to find and select the desired directory. If you modify
SysLib, UserLib or PersonalLib paths through Tools>General options, the User Defined
Primitives menu should reflect those changes on next startup or on Draw>User Defined
Primitive>Update Menu.
2. If you want to enter a directory path in the Temp Directory text box, you must check
Override to enable the path text field and the ellipsis button ("...") for finding and selecting the
desired directory.
3. To reset the library directories to the default, click Reset Library Directory.

General Options: Desktop Performance

These options are set on the Desktop Performance panel under General in the Options dialog.

Report Update Options for Design Type:

l Select a Design type to which the report update options apply.

l Select or clear Dynamically update reports and field overlays during edits.

If selected, report plots and overlays update dynamically.

l Dynamically update postprocessing data for new solutions.

Updating numerous reports may take a significant amount of time. Updating reports during the
analysis process can impact the overall time to solution. You may want to vary the times when
your reports get updated relative to the impact on overall solve time.

l Update reports on file open – specifies that reports be automatically updated whenever
an existing file with solution data is opened for viewing/editing. Enabled by default.

Five options exist for updating reports during solutions:

l Automatically - the default. It means update most things immediately.

For “AdaptivePass” plot context, plots are updated at the end of each solution pass.
For “LastAdaptive” or “Transient” the plot is updated at the end of the transient or
adaptive solution. This option balances report and field plot updating with solution time.
For example, reports may be updated after each adaptive pass but field plots will not
be updated until the solution is complete.

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l Immediately - update reports and plots as soon as data comes from the solver.

This option will have the greatest impact on the overall solution time but will have the
most rapid updating of reports and field plots. Caution should be used in selecting this
option. Some types of reports and field plots may take a long time to update, especially
as the mesh size increases.

l Never - only manual intervention updates reports.

This option will prevent updates from impacting the solution time.

l On Completion - as with Never, but a single update is done when the solve completes.

Note Reports that are updated on completion are done after the solve has been
completed. The time for that update is not included in the solve profile.

l After Each Variation - when performing an Optimetric or parametric analysis, all reports
are updated after analysis of each variation has been completed.

Animation

Computing animated plots requires significant memory which depends upon the complexity of the
plot type. The animation setting is used to prevent problems related to low memory should an
animation require large memory allocation.

The Animation setting lets you set a limit to Stop computing animation frames when available
memory is less than the set value in megabytes. The default is 100.

Desktop Pre/Post Processing settings:

l Number of Processors – The default is determined by the number of logical processors on

the machine. This option is common for both pre-processing and post-processing. This
option only affects pre/post processing in desktop (not solve or simulation)

More details regarding the default core usage.

l The default core usage per desktop session (UI + solve) is set to 2/3 of the logical
processors on the machine.
l The cores for default local config is max{4, 1/3 of the logical processors on the machine}
l The default number of processors for pre/post is min{1, 2/3 of the logical processors -
default_cores_for_local_config}
l When the core usage per desktop session cannot be evenly distributed between solve and
pre/post, more cores will be assigned to solve.

Example 1:

l logical processors = 24
l cores usage per desktop session = 16

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l local hpc set to 4 cores

l processors for pre/post set to 12

Example 2:

l logical processors = 20
l cores usage per desktop session = 13
l local hpc set to 4 cores
l processors for pre/post set to 9

Example 3:

l logical processors = 5
l cores usage per desktop session = 3
l local hpc set to 2
l processors for pre/post set to 1

The following pre-processing algorithms can take advantage of multiple processors:

l Visualization/faceting of 3D models for 3D products

l Model validation for 3D products
l Auto net identification for Q3D

Disk Space Warning

You can set a value to Warn when available disk space is less than the specified number of
gigabytes.

When all information on the Desktop Performance panel is defined, select another option under
General in the Options dialog or click OK to put your settings into effect.

General Options: Default Units

These options are set on the Default Units entry of the General options in the Options dialog .

Select the desired units from each of the following pull-down lists:

l Length
l Angle
l Time
l Temperature
l Torque
l Magnetic Induction
l Pressure
l Frequency
l Power

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l Voltage
l Current
l Speed
l Weight
l Conductance
l Resistance
l Inductance
l Capacitance
l Force
l Angular Speed
l Magnetic field strength

General Options: Remote Analysis Options

To launch all analyses as a specific user, rather than the current user, do the following in the
Remote Analysis Options panel of the General Options.

Note If any of the remote machines are Unix-based, you must specify the current user.

RSM Service Options

l The ANSYS Electromagnetics RSM Service should be running on this port for all distributed
machines. To change the Ansoft Service Port, click the Change button to display an
editable dialog.
l The Send analysis request as option selection can be Service User or Specified User.
Selecting Specified User enables the fields for User Name, Password, and
Domain/Workgroup information.
l You can also Disable access by remote machines, by using the check box.

Desktop-Engine Connection

l If the local machine has multiple IP addresses and one of them is preferred for
communication, the Desktop-Engine Connection area lets you specify whether to Use
Default or a Specified IP address.

Note This option is applicable only when the local machine has multiple IP
addresses and one of them is preferred for communication.

Related Topics

Remote Analysis

General Options: WebUpdate Options

These options are set on the Web Update panel under General in the Options dialog.

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Select one of the following from the Automatically check for updates every pull-down list:

l Select the desired update frequency from the Automatically check for updates every
drop-down list. The choices are Never, 7 days, 15 days,30 days, 60 days, 120 days,
and 180 days. By default, automatic Web updates are turned off.
l You will be prompted before an update. The date of the prompt is recorded as the Last
update attempt date.
l The Last update date shows the last time Simplorer was updated.

Note You can also request a Web Update by selecting Launch WebUpdate
from the Help drop-down menu on the main menu bar.

When all information on the Web Update panel is defined, select another option under General in
the Options dialog or click OK to put your settings into effect.

General Options: Component Libraries Options

These options include:

l Use extractor mode by default for separate dynamic link desktops

l Run affected property callbacks when variable changes value
l Component Tree Options
l Show Favorites
l Show Most Recently Used
l Most Recently Used list contains n components
l Search Options can be set to All components, Current List Only, or Append to Current list
l Load Libraries at Initialization

Setting HFSS Options

To set HFSS options:

1. Click Tools>Options> General Options to display the Options dialog. Select the HFSS
entry in the hierarchical window, and press the + sign to show the choices under HFSS.

2. Under General options, select or clear the following check boxes:

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l Save before solving

l Apply variation deletions immediately.

Checking this saves disk space.

l Save Optimetrics Field solutions.

Checking this uses more disk space.

3. Under Solution Type, you can set the default solution type when you initially insert a project.
Select one of the following from the Default solution type pull-down list:
l Eigenmode
l Driven Modal
l Driven Terminal
l Transient
l Transient Network
l Driven Modal (Composite Excitation)
l Driven Terminal (Composite Excitation)
4. In the Material Options section:
l Check or uncheck whether to Include ferrite materials
l Set the Solve Inside threshold values in Siemens/m.
5. In the Boundary Assignment section, select or clear the following check boxes and
settings.
l Use Wizards for data input when creating new boundaries

When this is checked, the creation of boundaries and excitations use Wizard to guide you
through the process. When this is not checked, the creation of boundaries and excitations
displays a Properties dialog with tabs for different kinds of information.

l Duplicate boundaries/mesh operations with geometry

When this is checked, you can duplicate a boundary or excitation when its geometry is
pasted or duplicated. See Duplicating Boundaries and Excitations with Geometry.

l Visualize Boundaries on geometry.

When this is checked, boundaries on geometries are displayed. Unchecking this turns off
boundary visualization, and speeds up the display for complex models.

l Auto assign terminals on ports

When this is checked, the commands to assign wave or lumped ports will automatically
assign terminals. See Assigning Wave Ports for Terminal Solutions.

6. In the Post Processing Options section:

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l Set the default Matrix sort order. This affects the order of the Matrix Data, and is of interest
depending on how port names are assigned for that design. The default is ascending
alphanumeric. This can also be a User Specified order that defaults to creation order.

Configuring Distributed Analysis

Setting Solver Settings Using VB Scripts

Setting Solver Settings Using VB Scripts

Being able to set the number of processors, desired RAM limit, and maximum RAM limit using VB
scripts allows you to solve a project by running a VB script, without having to toggle the computer
hardware usage settings.

The following macros allow you to set these options:

oAnsoftApp.SetDesiredRamMBLimit <integer num in MB>

oAnsoftApp.SetMaximumRamMBLimit <integer num in MB>

oAnsoftApp.SetNumberOfProcessors <num>

limit = oAnsoftApp.GetDesiredRamMBLimit()

limit = oAnsoftApp.GetMaximumRamMBLimit()

num = oAnsoftApp.GetNumberOfProcessors()

Setting HFSS-IE Options

1. Click Tools>Options> General Options to display the Options dialog. Select the HFSS-IE
entry in the hierarchical window, and press the + sign to show the choices under HFSS-IE.

Clear or check the following options:

2. Under General options, select or clear the following check boxes:

l Save before solving
l Apply variation deletions immediately.

Checking this saves disk space.

l Save Optimetrics Field solutions.

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Checking this uses more disk space.

3. In the Boundary Assignment section, select or clear the following check boxes and
settings.
l Use Wizards for data input when creating new boundaries
l When this is checked, the creation of boundaries and excitations use Wizard to guide you
through the process. When this is not checked, the creation of boundaries and excitations
displays a Properties dialog with tabs for different kinds of information.
l Duplicate boundaries with geometry
l When this is checked, you can duplicate a boundary or excitation when its geometry is
pasted or duplicated. See Duplicating Boundaries and Excitations with Geometry.
l Visualize boundaries on geometry.
l This controls the display of boundaries.
l Auto-assign terminals on ports.
l If this option is switched on, then the Assign Lumped port command will try to
automatically assign the terminals on ports. If this option is switched off, then you assign a
lumped port. You have a choice to either:
a. Manually assign a terminal. Select any edge/face of conductor that is touching the port.
b. Use Excitations>Auto Assign Terminals. This will bring up a dialog box to get the
input from the user to select the objects used for "reference"

There are certain validation checks, like

l Lumped port can have only one terminal.

l No two terminals can touch each other
l Unassigned terminals (not assigned to any port)
4. In the Post Processing Options section:

Default matrix sort order. This affects the order of the Matrix Data, and is of interest
depending on how port names are assigned for that design. The default is ascending
alphanumeric. This can also be a User Specified order that defaults to creation order.

Related Topics

Configuring Distributed Analysis

Distributed Memory Solutions with HFSS-IE

Wave Port Wizard or Multi-tab Dialog Menu

When assigning a wave port HFSS displays either a wave port wizard or a multi-tab dialog menu
depending upon the settings on the Boundary Assignment levels of the HFSS or HFSS-IE
selections in the Options dialog box. Consider the following cases:

Case 1: The option Use Wizards for data input when creating new boundaries is checked.

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When assigning an excitation, the Wave Port: General wizard will appear as shown below.

Case 2: The option Use Wizards for data input when creating new boundaries is
unchecked.

When assigning the excitation the multi-tab Wave Port dialog box appears with the General tab
selected as shown in the figure below.

Type the port's name in the Name text box or accept the default name.

Note To change the default base name, see Setting Default Boundary/Excitation Base Names.

Related Topics

Setting HFSS Options

Setting HFSS-IE Options

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Assign Wave Ports for Modal Solutions

Assign Wave Ports for Terminal Solutions

Technical Notes: Wave Ports

Technical Notes: Port Solution Theory

Setting 3D Modeler Options

To set 3D Modeler options:

1. Click Tools>Options>General Options.

The Options window appears. Select 3D Modeler in the options list, and click the + sign to
display the categories.

2. Select from the list and set the options.

l Drawing
l Operation
l Snap
l Display
l Group
l SpaceClaim Link
l Advanced
3. Click each tab, and make the desired selections.
4. Click OK.

3D Modeler Options: Drawing options

These options are set on the Drawing options of the 3D Modeler options for the Options dialog
box.

1. The Drawing Data Entry Mode controls whether you draw new objects directly via the
mouse, or whether a Properties dialog opens for you to enter dimensions for the object.
The Dialog mode drawing feature works with the equation based line, and all two and three
dimensional objects.

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l Point mode - mouse drawing.

l Dialog - enter dimensions in the properties dialog.

You can also use F3 for Point mode and F4 for dialog mode.

2. The Relative Coordinate System Creation Mode radio buttons control whether the
default uses Axis/Position or Euler Angle to create a new relative coordinate system. You
use F3/F4 keys to switch.

For the Axis/Position setting, Modeler> Create> Relative CS>[Offset | Rotated | Offet
and Rotated] enters Draw mode, displaying a point selection cursor and the Measure Data
dialog. Also the Status bar fields for setting X, Y and Z values, as Coordinate System settings
are active.

For the Euler Angle setting, Modeler>Create>Relative CS>[Offset | Rotated | Offset and
Rotated] displays a dialog in which you type in the needed values and select units.

3. In the Polyline section, select or clear the Automatically cover closed polylines check
box.

By default, surface objects created with the Polyline command will be created with a cover so
that they become sheet objects. You can choose to leave the polyline as an uncovered object to
perform further operations prior to creating a sheet object

l If checked, closed polylines become sheet objects, and are listed as such in the History
tree.
l If not checked, closed polylines are listed under lines in the History tree.
4. Select or clear the Show measure dialog during drawing check box.

The specifies whether a Measure dialog appears on the creation of a new primitive. The dialog
shows the coordinates of the current cursor position.

5. To have a Properties dialog display whenever you create a new object in the modeling
window, check the box for Edit properties of new primitives.

Related Topics

Creating a Relative Coordinate System

Creating an Offset Relative CS

Creating a Rotated Relative CS

Creating an Offset and Rotated Relative CS

Modeler Options: Operation Options

Set the Operation settings for the 3D Modeler, use Tools>Options>General Options to open
the Options dialog and select 3D Modeler. Under 3D Modeler options, select Operation.

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1. By default, the modeler deletes tool objects when performing tasks such as Uniting,
Subtracting, or Intersecting objects. You may specify that the modeler makes a copy (clone)
of the tool object before the operation, keeping the object for subsequent operations. To
specify when to clone tool objects, select or clear the following check boxes in the Clone
section:
l Clone tool objects before uniting
l Clone tool objects before subtracting
l Clone tool options before intersecting
l Clone tool objects before imprinting
l Clone tool objects before projecting
2. In the Coordinate System section, select or clear the Automatically switch to face
coordinate system check box.

By default, the modeler operates within the user selected coordinate system. If this option is
enabled, you can select a face and when a new object creation is started, the modeler first
creates a face coordinate system consistent with the selected face and the new object is
created within the face coordinate system. With this selection, unchecked, you must manually
create a Face Coordinate System before creating an object related to it.

3. For the Model Edit section, Delete invalid objects created during split operation.
l If checked, the modeler deletes invalid objects created during split operation.
l If not checked, invalid objects can be created. Validation issues warnings.

In the Model Edit section, select or clear Automatically imprint wrapped sheets. Imprinting
is a boolean operation whereas wrapping is not. See Imprinting an Object and Wrap Sheet
Command.

3D Modeler Options: Snap Options

To set the Snap settings for the 3D Modeler, use Tools>Options>General Options to open the
Options dialog and select 3D Modeler. Under 3D Modeler options, select Snap.

1. To specify snap settings, select or clear the following check boxes in the Snap Mode
section:
l Grid
l Vertex
l Edge Center
l Face Center
l Quadrant
l Arc Center
2. Enter how near the mouse needs to be to click a grid item in the Mouse Sensitivity box, in
pixels.

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Modeler Options: Display Options

To set the Display settings for the 3D Modeler, use Tools>Options>General Options to open
the Options dialog box and select 3D Modeler. Under 3D Modeler options, select Display.
Display Options are sub-grouped as:

l General
l Rendering
l History Tree

General

1. Under History operations visualization, select or clear the Visualize history of objects
check box.

The option lets you view an outline of each part that comprises an object when the given part is
selected in the model history tree. This can help you visualize an object that has been merged
with another object. A change to the option takes effect only when you restart ANSYS
Electronics Desktop.

Clearing this selection removes visualization of objects that are part of the model history. For
large models, this is faster and uses less memory.

The following figure shows an example history tree with an object selected and the outline view
of that object in the Main window.

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2. Select or clear Show coordinate system of selected operations.

3. Select or clear the Show orientation of selected objects check box.
4. Select or clear the Highlight selection dynamically check box.
5. Select or clear Display UV Isolines for wireframe display.

For models with curved faces, you may prefer to clear this selection to simplify the wire-frame
display, so the rendering will be faster.

Rendering

1. To specify a default color for a 3D Modeler drawing object or action (such as on select):
l Select the object or action from the Default color pull-down list and click the color button.
The Color window appears.
l Select a color for the selected object or action, and click OK.
2. To specify the default for the View>Render setting for new projects, select WireFrame or
SmoothShade from the Default view render mode pull-down list.

When dealing with complicated geometries, choose WireFrame rendering. This is faster than
shaded rendering.

3. To use pre-defined material appearance if available, check the box. When this option is
selected, default color and transparency used for newly created objects come from material
settings. It is possible that some materials, like custom materials, may not have default
appearance specified, in which case default color and transparency specified under
Rendering Defaults are used. When “Use Material Appearance” is checked, color and
transparent properties show values corresponding material settings and these properties
are not editable. You must then uncheck “Use Material Appearance” to edit either of those
properties.
By default the checkbox to use material appearance is unchecked. This means default color
and transparency as specified in rendering defaults are used.
4. To set the Default transparency, move the slider, or enter a numerical value.
5. To set the Object Visualization Outline contrast, use the slider. The current value, on a
range from 0 to 1 displays in the text field.

History Tree

1. Under Default tree layout:

l Select or clear the Group objects by material check box.
l Select or clear Group components by definition.
2. Under Selection:

For the Select last command on object select option:

l If checked, the history tree is expanded after operations on object properties, even if the
tree is collapsed for the item.

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l If not checked, when you select an object in 3D view, only the object selected, and current
tree collapse/expand state is preserved

For the Expand history tree on object select option:

l If checked, selecting an object automatically opens the history tree.

l If not checked, the history tree does not open on object selection. This can be useful for
speeding the display of multiple object selections, or complex objects.

3D Modeler Options: Advanced

Faceting

l Select or clear incremental faceting (facet only modified faces of object)

l Facet bodies by face using multiple processors..

UDM/UDP Geometry Computation for Optimetrics Analysis

Options are:

l Engine computes the geometry

l Desktop computes the geometry

Geometry computation with CAD Integration (dynamic links) and geometry sharing in ANSYS
Workbench is always by Desktop.

3D Modeler Options: Group Options

To set the Group creation for operation result settings for the 3D Modeler, use
Tools>Options>General Options to open the Options dialog box and select 3D Modeler.
Under 3D Modeler options, select Group.

To specify Group creation for operation settings, select or clear the following check boxes in the
Snap Mode section:

l Simplify
l Duplicate
l Separate Bodies
l Create object from edge
l Create object from face

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3D Modeler Options: SpaceClaim Link

To set the SpaceClaim Link settings for the 3D Modeler, click Tools>Options>General Options
to open the Options dialog box, and select 3D Modeler. Under 3D Modeler options, select
SpaceClaim Link.

To specify SpaceClaim link settings, select or clear the following check boxes in the SpaceClaim
Link section:

l Import Solid Bodies

l Import Surface Bodies
l Import Parameters
l Parameter Key <set key>
l Import Rendering Attributes
l Import Material Assignments
l Import suppressed for physics objects. By default, this is unchecked and objects
suppressed for physics are not imported.

Options: Optimetrics Options

To set Optimetrics options, click Tools>Options>General Options to open the Options dialog,
and select Optimetrics. The Optimetrics options involves the Maximum number of significant digits

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to be displayed when showing analysis results:

In the case of variable values, if you have assigned more significant digits, you will see these when
editing the variable value. In the case of table displays of values, the tooltip display shows all
available digits when the mouse pointer is over a result

Related Topics

Optimetrics

Options: Reporter Options

To set Reporter options, click Tools>Options>General Options to open the Options dialog, and
select Reporter. The Reporter options are grouped in three categories:

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Related Topics

Report Setup Options

Setting Fields Reporter Options

Setting Report 2D Options

Report Setup Options

To set Report Setup options:

1. Click Tools>Options>General Options to open the Options dialog, and select Reporter.
Click the + to show the subcategories and select Report Setup.
2. Use the text field to specify the Maximum number of significant digits to use when displaying
numeric quantities.
3. Specify the Drag and Drop behavior when dragging reports and traces by clicking the radio
button.
l Drag item data
l Drag item definition
4. The Quantity selection dialog specifies the matrix size for using a tree display for matrix
quantities in the Reporter dialog. This is helpful when dealing with larger matrices. The
default is 50. When the number of matrix elements is larger than the number, the Quantities
field uses a tree structure to divide matrix quantities into groups by their first element name.
The initial display shows groups, without initially listing group members.

A folder Node is not selectable. A click on a folder node toggles (Expand or collapse) the node.
When any of a folder's child nodes is selected it becomes bolded.

Mouse Click on Quantity Node (Tree leaf node). Shift and Ctrl key only apply to multiple
selection dialogs:

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l Without Shift and Ctrl key - Select the quantity and unselect all previous selected
quantities.
l Only with Ctrl key down - Toggle the selection of the quantity. No affect on other selected
quantities.
l Only with Shift key down - Do range selection, deselect any selected quantity that is
outside of the range.
l Both Shift and Ctrl key down - Do range selection, but don't deselect any selected
quantity.
l Ctrl+a - Selected all quantities in a multiple selections dialog.

Range selection: Select quantity nodes between the last mouse clicked quantity node and the
newly click on quantity node. Folder nodes in between won't be selected but their children will
be selected. So those folder nodes will be in a bolded state.

Setting Fields Reporter Options

To set the Fields Reporter options:

1. Click Tools>Options>General Options to open the Options dialog, and select Reporter.
Click the + to show the subcategories and select Fields Reporter.

Click the + to show the subcategories. These are

l Animation

The Animation subcategories of Reporter options are:

o Specify whether to Group Field Overlays by Type (default, yes).
o Set the default Phase Animation settings for Scalar Plots and Vector Plots.

Each of these accepts values for From and To in degrees, and the number of steps.

l Mesh Plot

The Mesh Plot subcategories of Reporter options are:

o When dragging the clip plane, update the plot dynamically Never, Always or When the
number of mesh elements is less that a value (default 5000).
l Streamline Plot

The Streamline Plot subcategories of Reporter options are:

o The Streamline drawing stopping criteria are:

Fields magnitude on a streamline data point is <percentage> of maximum field value of

entire model.

Streamline length is higher than <value> times of diagonal length of model bounding box.
o Streamline marker spacing: the Number of markers per bounding box diagonal.

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2. Click OK to accept the settings and close the dialog.

Related Topics

Creating Phase Animations

Plotting the Mesh

Setting Report2D Options

To set Report2D options:

1. Click Tools>Options>General Options to open the Options dialog, and select Reporter.
Click the + to show the subcategories and select Report2D Options. Click the + to open
the subcategory list:
l Curve
l Axis
l Grid
l Header
l Note
l Legend
l Marker
l Marker Table
l X/Y Markers
l Stacked
l Digital
l General
l Table

For properties controlled by check boxes, you can set values for all curves by clicking the
column header cell that contains the property title. Right-clicking on a text field cell displays a
context menu that lets you cut, copy and paste values. Right-clicking on a menu cell displays a
context menu that lets you copy and paste entire rows.

You can use a Restore Defaults button.

2. Click each subcategory, and make the desired selections.

3. Click OK.

Report2D Options: Curve

These options are set on the Curve subcategory under Reporter and Report 2D in the Options
dialog box.

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l Line style -- select the options from the drop down menu. The options are Solid, Dot, Dash,
and Dot dash.
l Color -- set the color by double clicking to display the Set color dialog. Select a default or
custom color and click OK.
l Width -- set the line width by editing the real value in the text field.
l Arrows -- use the check box to use arrows on the curve ends.
l Symbol -- use the check box to have symbols mark the locations of data points on the curve.
l Sym Freq -- set the symbol frequency by editing the integer value in the text field.
l Sym Style -- select the symbol to display for the designated data points. The sym style can
be box, circle, vertical ellipse, horizontal ellipse, vertical up triangle, vertical down triangle,
horizontal left triangle, horizontal right triangle.
l Fill Sym -- use the check box to set the symbol display as a solid or as hollow.
l Sym Color -- set the color for the symbol by double clicking to display the Set color dialog.
Select a default or custom color and click OK.

Report2D Options: Axis

These options are set on the Axis subcategory under Reporter and Report 2D in the Options
dialog box.

l Axis Name -- this describes the axis to which the following options refer.
l Color -- set the color by double clicking to display the Set color dialog. Select a default or
custom color and click OK.
l Auto Scale -- use the check box to toggle whether to auto scale the axis.
l Min Scale -- if Auto Scale it not selected, edit the real value to set the minimum value of the
axis.
l Max Scale -- if Auto Scale is not selected, edit the real value to set the maximum value of the
axis.
l Auto Units -- use the check box compute the correct units for the axis.
l Units -- click on the cell to select from a menu of available units if you have not checked Auto
Units.
l Font color -- set the font color of the axis by double clicking to display the Set color dialog.
Select a default or custom color and click OK.
l Edit Font -- click the cell to display the Edit Text Font dialog. The dialog lets you select from a
list of available fonts, styles, sizes, effects, colors, and script. The dialog also contains a
preview field. OK the selections to apply the font edits and to close the dialog.

Report2D Options: Grid

These options are set on the Grid subcategory under Reporter and Report 2D in the Options
dialog box.

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l Grid Name -- lists the name or letter of the grid. Not editable.
l Line Style -- select the options from the drop down menu. The options are Solid, Dot, Dash,
and Dot dash.
l Line Color -- set the color by double clicking to display the Set color dialog. Select a default
or custom color and click OK.

Report2D Options: Header

These options are set on the Header subcategory under Reporter and Report 2D in the Options
dialog box. For the Title and subtitle, you can independently specify the following:

l Color -- set the color by double clicking to display the Set color dialog. Select a default or
custom color and click OK.
l Font -- click the cell to display the Edit Text Font dialog. The dialog lets you select from a list
of available fonts, styles, sizes, effects, colors, and script. The dialog also contains a preview
field. OK the selections to apply the font edits and to close the dialog.

Report2D Options: Note

These options are set on the Note subcategory under Reporter and Report 2D in the Options
dialog box.

l Note Color -- set the color by double clicking to display the Set color dialog. Select a default
or custom color and click OK.
l Note Font -- click the cell to display the Edit Text Font dialog. The dialog lets you select from
a list of available fonts, styles, sizes, effects, colors, and script. The dialog also contains a
preview field. OK the selections to apply the font edits and to close the dialog.
l Background Color -- set the color by double clicking to display the Set color dialog. Select a
default or custom color and click OK.
l Background Visibility -- use the check box to toggle the background for the note on or off.
l Border Line Color -- set the color by double clicking to display the Set color dialog. Select a
default or custom color and click OK.
l Border Visibility -- use the check box to toggle the visibility of the note border.
l Border Line Width -- set the line width by editing the real value in the text field.

Report2D Options: Legend

These options are set on the Legend subcategory under Reporter and Report 2D in the Options
dialog box.

l Show Trace Name -- use the check box to toggle the visibility of the trace name.
l Show Solution Name -- use the check box to toggle the visibility of the solution name.
l Show Variation Key -- use the check box to toggle the visibility of the variation key.
l Highlight Curve on Hover

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l Text Color -- set the color by double clicking to display the Set color dialog. Select a default
or custom color and click OK.
l Text Font -- click the cell to display the Edit Text Font dialog. The dialog lets you select from a
list of available fonts, styles, sizes, effects, colors, and script. The dialog also contains a
preview field. OK the selections to apply the font edits and to close the dialog.
l Background Color -- set the color by double clicking to display the Set color dialog. Select a
default or custom color and click OK.
l Border Line Color -- set the color by double clicking to display the Set color dialog. Select a
default or custom color and click OK.
l Border Line Width -- set the line width by editing the real value in the text field.
l Grid Color -- set the color by double clicking to display the Set color dialog. Select a default
or custom color and click OK.
l Header Row -- applies to stacked plots.
l Text Color
l Text Font

Report2D Options: Marker

These options are set on the Marker panel under Report2D in the Options dialog.

l Marker Color -- set the color by double clicking to display the Set color dialog. Select a
default or custom color and click OK.
l Marker Font -- click the cell to display the Edit Text Font dialog. The dialog lets you select
from a list of available fonts, styles, sizes, effects, colors, and script. The dialog also contains
a preview field. OK the selections to apply the font edits and to close the dialog.
l Arrow Direction -- set the arrow direction by choosing Up, Down, Left, or Right from the
drop-down menu.

Related Topics

Modifying Markers on Point Plots

Report2D Options: Marker Table

These options are set on the Marker Table subcategory under Reporter and Report 2D in the
Options dialog box.

l Text Color -- set the color by double clicking to display the Set color dialog. Select a default
or custom color and click OK.
l Text Font -- click the cell to display the Edit Text Font dialog. The dialog lets you select from a
list of available fonts, styles, sizes, effects, colors, and script. The dialog also contains a
preview field. OK the selections to apply the font edits and to close the dialog.

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l Background Color -- set the color by double clicking to display the Set color dialog. Select a
default or custom color and click OK.
l Border Line Color -- set the color by double clicking to display the Set color dialog. Select a
default or custom color and click OK.
l Border Line Width -- set the line width by editing the real value in the text field.
l Grid Color -- set the color by double clicking to display the Set color dialog. Select a default
or custom color and click OK.
l Grid Line Width -- set the line width by editing the real value in the text field.

Report2D Options: X/Y Markers

Use the XY Markers subcategory under Reporter and Report 2D in the Report2D Options
dialog box to set the properties for the markers.

Background colors for Markers 1 through 10. You can set these by select the current color to open
a a color selection dialog, or by specifying RGB number values.

Use the scroll bar to view all Properties, including:

Background Colors

l Marker <1 to 10> Color: click the color cell to open a Color dialog.

Properties

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l On-screen intersection
l Marker Font: click the Edit Marker font button to open a Font dialog.
l Text color: Click the color cell to open a Color dialog.
l Line color: click the cell to view a Color dialog.
l Line style: click the cell to view a menu of line styles.
l Line width: edit the text field to specify a line width.
l Whether to Show Name
l Whether to Snap to Vertex

Inter Marker Deltas

l Whether to show delta

l Delta font
l Delta text color
l Line color
l Line style
l Line width

You can also Restore Defaults.

Report2D Options:Stacked

These options are set on the Stacked subcategory under Reporter and Report 2D in the
Options dialog box.

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l Auto Fit Mode -- On or Off.

l Stack Height in Pixels -- set the default stack height.
l Curve Grouping Strategy -- can be Single, By Trace, or By Units. Single means that a
new stacked plot shows a single curve per stack. By Trace means that all curves are
grouped by their trace. By Units means that all curves are grouped by their unit type.

If you change the Curve Grouping Strategy set by default, existing stacked plots remain
unaffected. The new default will apply only to new stacked plots.

When a project saved in versions before 19.0, and stacked plots is opened in version 19.0, Curve
Grouping Strategy will default to Single and stacked plots remain unaffected.

Related Topics

Create 2D Rectangular Stacked Plots

Report2D Options: Digital

These options are set on the Digital subcategory under Reporter and Report 2D in the Options
dialog box.

Digital Literal Foreground color: click the cell to open a Color dialog.

Whether to Expand Arrays/Records

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Digital Stack Hight in Pixels for the following:

l Analog
l Digital
l Enum
l Event
l Literal

You can also Restore Defaults.

Report2D Options: General

These options are set on the General subcategory under Reporter and Report 2D in the
Options dialog box.

1. Background Color -- set the color by double clicking to display the Set color dialog. Select a
default or custom color and click OK.
2. Contrast Color -- set the color by double clicking to display the Set color dialog. Select a
default or custom color and click OK.
3. Highlight Color -- set the color by double clicking to display the Set color dialog. Select a
default or custom color and click OK.
4. Accumulate Depth -- set to 4 by default.
5. Curve Tooltip Option -- use the check boxes to toggle the following properties:
a. Show Trace Name
b. Show Variation Key
c. Show Solution Name
6. Clipboard Option - use the drop down menus to specify the following properties:
a. Capture Aspect Size Ratio -- this can be As Shown or Full Screen.
b. Capture Background Color -- this can be As Shown or White.

Report2D Options: Table

These options are set on the Table subcategory under Reporter and Report 2D in the Options
dialog box. Use the scroll bar to view all options.

1. Rows Per Page

2. Text Color -- click the cell to open a Color dialog.
3. Text Font -- click the cell to display the Edit Text Font dialog. The dialog lets you select from
a list of available fonts, styles, sizes, effects, colors, and script. The dialog also contains a
preview field. OK the selections to apply the font edits and to close the dialog.
4. Border Width
5. Border Color
6. Grid Width

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7. Grid Color
8. Background Color
9. Page Link Color
10. Arrow Color

Header Row

11. Text Color

12. Text Font
13. Background Color

Format

14. Field Width -- set the table field width by editing the real value in the text field.
15. Precision -- set the table precision by editing the real value in the text field.
16. Use Scientific Notation -- use the check box to toggle scientific notation on or off.

Copy to Clipboard

17. Use the following check boxes to toggle the following properties for table copy operations.:
a. With Header
b. With Tab Separator -- this improves copy and paste to a spreadsheet.

Setting HPC and Analysis Options

All analysis parameters are accessed via a single dialog. The machine list and options settings
have been integrated into analysis configurations. The default configuration is for solving on a
single, local machine, You can create many analysis configurations for remote and distributed
solutions, and switch between them depending on the job being solved. Multiprocessing has been
integrated into the machine lists.

To set the HPC and Analysis Options:

1. Click Tools>Options>HPC and Analysis Options. You can also access the dialog by
using the Tools and Analysis Options icon on toolbar, or the button on the Solution
Setup General tab.

The HPC and Analysis Options dialog appears, displaying two tabs.

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Configurations tab

In the Configurations tab, you can select the Design type, and select from a list of available
configurations. Selecting a Design Type displays a list of the Available configurations for that
type. Selecting a configuration from the list displays the details of that configuration in the text
fields. A Name can describe the use for which a configuration has been defined, The Total
Tasks column shows the number of tasks that the analysis configuration can execute.

Design Type

You define configurations for all design types separately, selecting from the drop down menu.. If
you want to use similar analysis parameters for a different design type, you must create a
separate analysis configuration for that design type. The active configuration is used when
solving an analysis for that design type.

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Available Configurations List

From the lists of Available configurations for each design type, you left click from the
configuration list to select in then click Make Active. Note that the active configuration will be
indicated with a YES in the Active column.

Add.. Button

This launches a dialog to create a new analysis configuration.

Edit.. Button

This launches a dialog to edit the currently selected analysis configuration.

Delete Button

This deletes the currently selected analysis configurations.

Note You cannot delete the Local configuration.

Copy... Button

This creates a new analysis configuration, and launches a dialog to edit it. If the dialog is
canceled, the new analysis configuration is not created.

Import... Button

This allows the user to import an .acf file to create an analysis configuration.

Note Importing analysis configurations always adds the imported analysis configurations to the
current design type. Also, if there is a name conflict between an imported analysis
configuration and an existing analysis configuration, the imported configuration is renamed
and you are notified.

Export... Button

This allows the user to export the selected analysis configurations to an .acf file. Users can them
import the configurations into a different design type, or import them on a different machine.

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Options Tab

The Options tab in the HPC and Analysis Options dialog contains design type specific
options. These options are not part of an analysis configuration, instead they are always in
effect for the given design type when the following is true:

l A design of the matching design type is being solved

l You have not specified corresponding overriding batch options on the command line.

In the Options tab you can enable queuing, set the design type, specify the Distributed Memory
vendor (that is, MPI for Message Passing Interface), set licensing options and Enable GPU for
Transient and Matrix solves. Solving on a single Windows machine does not require MPI
installation. And users running on Linux do not need to install MPI manually. You can also set
the Default Process Priority..

2. For Distributed Memory Options, use the drop down menu to select the MPI Vendor for the
selected Design type.

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The solvers use the industry standard Message Passing Interface ("MPI") and can perform
solutions that distribute memory use across machines in a cluster or network. Memory used by
the MPI-enabled solver is therefore limited by the set of machines that are available rather than
the shared memory available on any single machine. This allows you to simulate larger
structures than before and to optimally reconfigure the cluster of machines for the problem at
hand. For solving on a single machine, MPI is not required, nor does it provide an advantage.

To use the distributed memory solution you will need to install MPI software from one of the
supported third party vendors on all the machines you intend to use.

You may need to set passwords depending on the MPI vendor for authentication on the
machines. Settings within each design type turn on distributed memory solutions and define the
list of machines you intend to use. Detailed instructions about how to get distributed memory
HFSS solutions up and running are outlined in Distributed Memory Solutions with HFSS.

InfiniBand Support for Windows

By default, the MPI vendors use the fastest interconnect by default (typically InfiniBand is faster
than Ethernet). If you want to override the default behavior and force the use of Ethernet, you
can set the ANSOFT_MPI_INTERCONNECT environment variable to “eth” for the job.

3. For Linux authentication, you can specify the Remote Spawn Command as RSH or SSH
(the default).
4. For HPC select either the Pool or Pack Licensing Option.

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HPC licensing is based on counting the total number of cores, N, in a simulation,

including distributed and shared memory. For example, when solving a distributed
solution using 2 nodes with 8 cores on each node, the total number of cores N=2x8, or 16
cores. When using GPUs (see below) each GPU is counted as 8 cores

The Electronics Desktop products include four cores in the base simulation licenses. This
means that the number of cores for HPC licensing will be four less than the total number
of cores, or N-4.

When variations are distributed using the Distributed Solve Option, the HPC cores are
counted per variation. In other words, the number of cores for HPC licensing will be four
less than the total number of cores, or N-4. Up to four cores can be used without requiring
HPC licensing.

The selected HPC License type determines which license, if any, will be used to enable
the HPC cores.

l Pool - HPC licenses are used, based on the number of HPC cores: N-4.
l Pack - HPC Pack licenses are used for distribution, with the first pack enabling 8 cores an
additional packs multiplying the enabled cores by four, until at least N-4 cores are
enabled.
l None - HPC and HPC Pack licenses are not used (see additional notes below).

Note In Nexxim the HPC license type set will work as follows:

1. When HPC type is set to Pool or Pack, the "Enable GPU" and "Transient speedup"
settings will be used as specified.

2. When HPC type is set to "None", the "Enable GPU" setting will be ignored. These
setting requires HPC licenses. The "Transient speedup" setting will use the 4 free
cores.

3. The number of processors will always be passed to the solver as is, because Nexxim
offers some multiprocessing capabilities without requiring an HPC license.
4. The number of processors setting in "Design Options" will override the setting in the
HPC dialog.
5. When the HPC license is set to None, the Electronic Desktop enables up to four cores. In
some cases, when more cores are specified in the Configuration, the number will be capped
in order to limit the total cores to four. The cores will be used from the first machine in the list,
and then the second, and so on, until a maximum of four is reached.
6. The Electronics Desktop supports ANSYS HPC licenses, "anshpc" and "anshpc_pack", as
well as legacy Electronics HPC licenses, "hfsshpc" and "hfsshpc_pack". The Use legacy
Electronics HPC License option is used to selected between the licenses and defaults to

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True.

7. Optionally, you can Enable GPU or MIC (Many Integrated Cores, such as Intel Xeon Phi co-
processor) for HFSS transient, matrix, and SBR+ and Maxwell 3D eddy current matrix
solves. Note that for SBR+, if there are multiple antennas in the design, the setting is
ignored. For details on the requirements for GPU use, see Transient GPU Acceleration. For
Details and requirements for Intel Xeon Phi, see Direct Solve Acceleration using Intel Xeon
Phi on Windows and Linux.

To enable use of GPU or MIC acceleration, you can set Enable GPU to True. The matrix
solver automatically determines if all cores should be used, or if one GPU should be used
to give the best performance. For example, if you specify 4 cores for the simulation, the
3D Eddy current solver will use 4 cores in parallel during matrix assembly while the matrix
solver will use either 4 cores or 1 GPU.

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You can determine if a GPU or MIC is being used for acceleration by viewing the
Solutions dialog, Profile tab. If a GPU is successfully locked for use by the solver process,
the profile shows the GPU's CUDA device ID and its name.

If the GPU is not used, the Profile indicates that, and the CPU cores are used.

When GPU is used:

l GPU must be enabled for HFSS/Maxwell.

l Both Windows and Linux are supported.
l Only complex symmetric matrices can be solved by CUDA.
l Matrix must be large enough. By default, its dimension should be larger than 2,000,000.
l The times using CUDA and CPU only are estimated. If GPU is faster, it will be used. If
not, the solver falls back to multi-core CPU.

Estimate Time on GPU and CPU:

l The estimation is based on the structure of the matrix, not just the dimension.
l The generation and model of GPU are considered. The newer the model is, the faster the
GPU estimation is.
l The clock rate and number of cores of CPU are consider. The higher the rate is, the more
the cores are, the faster the CPU estimation is.
l Finally, the faster device (GPU or CPU) is selected based on estimation.

Why GPU is Not Used

l The estimation is based on the whole matrix, not just the size. Having larger matrices
doesn’t mean GPU will be used.
l The bandwidth is not useful either. It is possible to have two matrices with exactly the
same size and bandwidth, one favoring GPU and the other CPU.
l If GPU is of older models while CPU is not, GPU may not be used.
l If CPU has high clock rate, GPU may not be used.
l If CPU has many cores, GPU may not be used.

Multiple GPUs

When there are multiple GPU cards in the same machine, the first solver process
(hf3d, 3dedy) locks the first GPU card available (not locked or used by other
processes, not used for display, etc.), the second process locks the second card
available, and so on. After all cards are locked, solver uses CPU only.

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8. The Legacy Licensing settings support use of legacy licenses for HFSS IE, "hfssie_solve",
and Transient, "hfss_transient_solve". These simulation types have now been included in
the general HFSS solution license, "hfss_solve". Customers should set the Legacy
Licensing option to True if they have older license files and prefer to continue to use the
specific legacy license for each simulation type. The Legacy Licensing options are both set to
False by default for HFSS designs. The Use legacy HFSS-IE option is set to True by default
for HFSS-IE designs.
9. Optionally, you can select one of the following from the Default Process Priority pull-down
list:

l Critical (highest) Priority (Not recommended)

l Above Normal Priority (not recommended)
l Normal Priority
l Below Normal Priority
l Idle (lowest) Priority

You can set these values using VB Scripts.

To edit configurations, see Editing Distributed Machine Configurations.

High Performance Computing (HPC) Integration

You can use HPC for the following Example projects:

l Helical Antenna - You can enable Domain Decomposition method and setup HPC to solve
this large problem.
l Bandpass Filter - You can setup HPC to distribute the frequencies in the sweep.
l Connector - Since the project uses a frequency sweep, you can set up HPC.

Note Click File > Open Examples to access the example projects. For
more information about the application of HPC in the Bandpass
Filter, see the section Add HPC Analysis and Options in Getting
Started with HFSS: Bandpass Filter.

Related Topics

High Performance Computing (HPC) Integration

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Specifying the Remote Spawn Command as RSH or SSH (Linux)

An important step in using a high performance cluster is setting up authentication across machines
in such a way that the machines can be accessed without a password. By default HFSS and
HFSS-IE use SSH authentication on Linux to spawn commands on the remote machines but also
supports RSH. The selection of which to use is made on the Options tab of the
Tools>Options>HPC and Analysis dialog.

SSH

You will need to set up passwordless access to use HFSS-IE on a Linux cluster with SSH or RSH.
In general, for SSH, this is accomplished by

1. Verify that you have working SSH servers and clients on your machines.
2. Verify that the server will accept passwordless logins. You may need to edit the
/etc/ssh/ssh_d file to allow RSAAuthentication and PubkeyAuthentication.
3. Generating keys on the client system using the ssh-keygen program. Do not use a
passphrase so that you can access the machine without a password.
4. Copy the public key generated in step 1 from the ~/.ssh directory to the server. The easiest
way to transfer the keys is to use the ssh-copy-id program. Alternately, you can use any file
transfer utility. If the server already has a list of existing keys for other clients add the new
public key to the list.
5. Test the connection. Login to the client machine using the username that you used to create
the identity keys. Open a new shell terminal and attempt to open an SSH login session. For
example type: ssh 192.168.0.4 (where the IP address is the address of the machine you are
attempting to connect to). The server should allow you to login without requesting a
password.

See the documentation for your machines and network for detailed instructions.

RSH

If you choose to use RSH you will need to make sure RSH is installed on all the machines and set
the machines up so that you are not prompted for a password. There are different ways to set up
password-less RSH so be sure to see the documentation for your machines and network for
detailed instructions.

Machine access using RSH without a password is often set up by editing the /etc/hosts.equiv file
and adding entries for the hosts you would like to use without a password. This file lists hosts and
users that are granted "trusted" access to the system.

If you look at the /etc/hosts.equiv file you should have something similar to the following:

Contents of the /etc/hosts.equiv file:

job1.n1.com

job2.n1.com

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job3.n1.com

The machines job1, job2 and job3 can connect without a password. You may also need to verify
that the files /etc/hosts.allow and /etc/hosts.deny are empty. See your local documentation for
detailed instructions and troubleshooting suggestions.

Related Topics

Distributed Memory Solutions with HFSS

Distributed Memory Solutions with HFSS-IE

Exporting Options Files

The options files at all levels that may affect a product running as a specific user on a specific host
may easily be exported. The Desktop UI may be used to copy these files to a user specified
directory. A script command may also be used to copy these files to a specified directory.

Using the Desktop UI

You can export options files by selecting the Tools>Options>Export Options Files This brings
up a browser dialog that you use to select the destination directory for the options files. Pressing
the Cancel button will cancel the export command. Pressing the Open button will copy all of the
config files for the current user and current host to the specified directory. Config files for the install,
install_machine, user, and user_machine levels will be copied, if they exist. One additional file,
admin.XML, will also be copied to the destination directory. This file does not contain user
configurable options, and it is not discussed above.

Using a Script

A Desktop command has been added that exports the options config files. Here is a summary of
the Desktop ExportOptionsFiles command:

ExportOptionsFiles

Use: Copies the options config files to the DestinationDirectory.

Command: Tools>Options>Export Options Files

Syntax: ExportOptionsFiles <DestinationDirectory>

Return Value: None

Parameters: <DestinationDirectory>

Type: <string>

Example:

oDesktop.ExportOptionsFiles "D:/test/export/"

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Example Script Using the Desktop ExportOptionsFiles Command

A simple script demonstrating the use of this command is shown below. This script will copy the
options config files to the directory D:/test/export.

Dim oAnsoftApp

Dim oDesktop

Set oAnsoftApp = CreateObject("Ansoft.ElectronicsDesktop")

Set oDesktop = oAnsoftApp.GetAppDesktop()

oDesktop.ExportOptionsFiles "D:/test/export/"

Related Topics

Setting Options in HFSS

Setting Options via Configuration Files

Example Uses for Export Options Features

User Options and the Update Registry Tool

Batchoptions Command Line Examples

Setting Options via Configuration Files

In addition to setting options from the Desktop UI, you can also set options in several configuration
files. Options that you set from the Desktop UI will override the option settings from the
configuration files. The option settings from the configuration files are used if they are not
overridden using the Desktop UI. Option settings in the configuration files may apply to all users or
only to a specific user, and they may apply to all hosts or only to specific hosts. There are four
levels, listed below from most specific (highest precedence) to most general (lowest precedence):

l host dependent user options (apply to the specified user on the specified host only)
l host independent user options (apply to the specified user on all hosts)
l host dependent default options (apply to all users on the specified host)
l installation default (default for all users on all hosts)

A setting at any level will override settings at lower levels in the list above. If there is no setting in
any file, then the application default value will be used.

Behavior Examples
For example, consider running an application as user jsmith on host host123. If there is no host
dependent user setting for the "Expand Project Tree on Insert" option in the host dependent user
options config file for user jsmith on host host123, but there is a setting for the "Expand Project Tree

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on Insert" option in the host independent user options config file for user jsmith, then the latter
setting will be used if it is not overridden using the Desktop UI. Any settings in the host dependent
default options config file or the installation default config file will be ignored.

As another example, consider running an application as user jdoe on host host123. If there is no
setting for the "Expand Project Tree on Insert" option in the host dependent user user options
config file for jdoe on host123 or in the host independent user options config file for user jdoe or in
the host dependent default options config file for host host123, then the value from the installation
default config file will be used, if present.

Rules for Modifying Option Settings

Option settings displayed in the Desktop UI follow the above rules. That is, if there is a setting in any
of the option config files, then the setting from the highest priority config file is displayed in the
Desktop UI. If there is no setting in any of the option config files, then the global default value is
used. You can modify settings using the Options dialog boxes in the Desktop UI. If the dialog box is
closed with the "Cancel" button, then changes made on any of the tabs are discarded. If the dialog
box is closed with the "OK" button, then any settings that have been changed by the user are
written to the host dependent user options config file. The changed values written to this file are
then used the next time that the application is run by the same user on the same host. The Desktop
UI option settings are not written to any of the other option config files.

Configuration File Locations

Two of the configuration files (the host dependent default options config file and the installation
default config file) reside in the installation config directory, which is the "config" subdirectory of the
installation directory. The other two configuration files (the host dependent user options config file
and the host independent user options config file) reside in a user specific config directory for the
application. The user specific config directory for an ANSYS Electromagnetics Desktop application
is in a subdirectory of the user's My Documents directory on Windows, or a subdirectory of the
user's HOME directory on Linux. The subdirectory pathname is
Ansoft/<ApplicationPathAndVersion>/<OSver>/config, where ApplicationPathAndVersion is the
usually the product name concatenated with the product version, such as AnsysEM19.0.

Products with Multiple Desktop Versions

For products that have multiple Desktop versions, each will have a separate user-specific config
directory, with a different value for the ApplicationPathAndVersion directory name. For the ANSYS
Electronics Desktop, the user-specific config subdirectory pathname is
AnsysEM/AnsysEM19.0/Win64/config. For products that contain multiple Desktop applications,
the installation default option settings and the host dependent default options settings each reside
in a single file for all applications, while the host dependent user option settings and host
independent user option settings for each application are in separate files. Although the installation
default option settings and the host dependent default options settings for all applications are each
written to a single file, the settings for different applications are in separate portions of the file.

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Table of Directories and Files

The table below shows the directories and files, where the "Level Name" is the name used to
describe an options config file when using the UpdateRegistry tool, described below.

Leve
Config l File
Linux Directory Pathname Windows Directory Pathname
File Nam Name
e
host hostnam My
depend use e_ $HOME/Ansoft/ApplicationPath Documents/Ansoft/ApplicationPath
ent r_ user.XML AndVersion/config AndVersion/config
user mac
options hine
host user user.XML
indepe
ndent
user
options
host hostnam InstallationDirectory/config InstallationDirectory/config
depend instal e.XML
ent l_
default mac
options hine
installat
ion instal default.X
default l ML

NOTES:

$HOME is the user's home directory on Linux

ApplicationPathAndVersion is the Application or Product name concatenated with the Product

Version

MyDocuments is the user's "My Documents" directory on Windows

InstallationDirectory is the directory where the product is installed

The table below shows specific file names and directory names for a typical ANSYS Electronics
Desktop installation on the Linux and Microsoft Windows platforms. These are the files that apply to
user jsmith and hostname host123.

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Leve
Config l File 64 Bit Windows Directory
Linux Directory Pathname
File Nam Name Pathname
e
host My
depend use host12 /home/jsmith/AnsoftElectronicsDe Documents/Ansoft/ElectronicsDe
ent r_ 3_ sktop2018.0/config sktop2018.0/config
user mac user.X
options hine ML
host user
indepe user.X
ndent ML
user
options
host host123 C:/Program
depend instal .XML /opt/AnsysEM/AnsysEM19.0/Linu Files/AnsysEM/AnsysEM19.0/Wi
ent l_ x64/config n64/config
default mac
options hine

installat default.
ion instal XML
default l

NOTES:

/home/jsmith is the home directory of user jsmith on Linux

MyDocuments is the "My Documents" directory for user jsmith on Windows

Related Topics

Setting or Removing Option Values in Configuration Files: UpdateRegistry Command

Example Uses for Export Options Features

User Options and the Update Registry Tool

Batchoptions Command Line Examples

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Setting or Removing Option Values in Configuration Files:

UpdateRegistry Command 
A command line tool, UpdateRegistry, is available to modify option settings in the options config
files. You can use this command to add, change or remove settings from any of the option config
files. This tool is included in the installation directory of each product.

This feature is intended to make it easier for different users to use ANSYS Electromagnetics tools
installed on shared directories or network drives.

The UpdateRegistry command has multiple command line formats as shown below. The -Set
format is used to set or change an option value. The -Delete format is used to delete an option
setting. The following command line options are mutually exclusive: -Set, -Get, -Delete, -GetKeys,
and -FromFile.

UpdateRegistry -Get Command

This command is used to view an option value in an option config file. If the setting exists in the
specified config file or files, then the value, the value type and the config file where the value was
found will be reported. If no value is found, then that will also be reported.

Usage:

UpdateRegistry -Get -ProductName <name> -RegistryKey <keyPath> [ -RegistryLevel

<level> ]

<name>

Required. The application or product name and version, as described above. Examples:
ElectronicsDesktop2018.0. If the name contains spaces, it must be quoted.

<keyPath>

Required. The pathname of the option setting. This includes the same analysis-related registry
keys and values that are displayed by the -batchoptions help.

Example:

Desktop/Settings/ProjectOptions/AnimationMemory.

<level>

Optional. A string denoting which config file to search. One of: install, install_machine, user and
user_machine. If the level is not specified, then all config files are searched in order of
precedence.

UpdateRegistry -GetKeys Command

This command is used to view the allowed key names for all of the option settings, or to view a
subset of the key names that match a string. For each key displayed, the current value, if any, is

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also reported. If a key has a value in multiple config files, then only the highest precedence value is
reported.

Usage:

UpdateRegistry -GetKeys [ <pattern>] -ProductName <name> [ -Case ]

<pattern>

Optional. If no pattern is specified, then all allowed key names are reported. If a pattern is
specified, then only keys that match the pattern are shown. Examples: Settings/Project. If the
name contains spaces, then it must be quoted. By default, the pattern match is case insensitive.
If the -Case command line option is specified, then the pattern match is case sensitive.

<name>

Required. The application or product name and version, as described above. Examples:
ElectronicsDesktop2018.0. If the name contains spaces, it must be quoted.

UpdateRegistry -Set Command

This command is used to add or modify an option setting in an option config file. If the option config
file does not exist, it will be created. If the setting does not exist in the specified config file, it will be
added. If the setting already exists in the specified config file, then the value will be changed to the
specified value.

Usage:

UpdateRegistry -Set -ProductName <name>

-RegistryKey <keyPath>
-RegistryValue <value> [ -RegistryLevel <level>
<name>

Required. The application or product name and version, as described above. Example:
ElectronicsDesktop2018.0. If the name contains spaces, it must be quoted.

<keyPath>

Required. The pathname of the option setting. This includes the same analysis-related registry
keys and values that are displayed by the -batchoptions help. Example:
Desktop/Settings/ProjectOptions/AnimationMemory.

<value>

Required. The new value of the option, typically a string or a number. If the value contains
spaces, it must be quoted.

<level>

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Optional. A string denoting which config file to modify. One of: install, install_machine, user and
user_machine. If the level is not specified, then the user_machine (host dependent user
options) file is modified.

UpdateRegistry -Delete Command

This command is used to remove an option setting from an option config file. If the setting does not
exist in the specified config file, the file will not be changed. If the setting exists in the specified
config file, then it will be removed. A setting may need to be removed from an option config file, to
allow the setting from a lower priority file to be used by the application.

Usage:
UpdateRegistry -Delete -ProductName <name>
-RegistryKey <keyPath>
[ -RegistryLevel <level> ]

<name>

Required. The application or product name and version, as described above. Example:
ElectronicsDesktop2018.0. If the name contains spaces, it must be quoted.

<keyPath>

Required. The pathname of the option setting. This includes the same analysis-related registry
keys and values that are displayed by the -batchoptions help. Example:
Desktop/Settings/ProjectOptions/AnimationMemory.

<level>

Optional. A string denoting which option config file to modify. One of: install, install_machine,
user and user_machine. If the level is not specified, then the user_machine (host dependent
user options) file is modified.

UpdateRegistry -FromFile Command

You can use this form of the UpdateRegistry command to set multiple key-value pairs from a file
with a single UpdateRegistry command. You specify the -FromFile command line option. This
option must be followed by a filename. The file may contain multiple entries, where each entry
contains a registry key and a registry value. The key-value pairs are added to the registry level
specified by the -RegistryLevel command line option; if no -RegistryLevel is specified, then the
default registry level (user_machine) is used.

UpdateRegistry File Format

The file format is similar to the -batchoptions file format. An example UpdateRegistry file is shown
below:
$begin 'AddEntries'

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'TempDirectory'='C:/temp/AnsysEM'

'Hfss/HPCLicenseType'='Pool'

'Hfss/UseLegacyMultiprocessingLicense'=1

$end 'AddEntries'

Additional notes on the file format:

l The file may contain an arbitrary number of entries, one per line.
l Leading whitespace on each line is ignored. Spaces or tabs may be used to make the file
more readable.

Registry key pathname:

l The registry key pathname appears before the equal sign "=" on each line.
l Each registry key pathname must be enclosed in single quotes.
l This includes the same analysis-related registry keys and values that are displayed by the -
batchoptions help.

Registry value:

l The registry value appears after the equal sign on each line.
l Integral registry values must not be enclosed in quotes.
l All other registry values are treated as strings, and must be enclosed in single quotes.
l The forward slash "/" may be used as a directory separator on Windows and Linux. The back
slash "\" may be used as a directory separator on Windows only.
l The back slash "\" is used as an escape character in the value string. That it, this character
removes the special meaning of the following character.
l The single quote character normally ends the value string. The back slash may be used to
remove this special meaning, and include a single quote in the string.
l To use a back slash as a directory separator on Windows, it must be escaped. That is, a
double back slash "\\" is used to denote a single directory separator.

Alternative UpdateRegistry File Format

l Analysis Configuration File format, which is exported from the HPC and Analysis Options
dialog.

Note If a current registry does not exist, the ANSYS Electronics Desktop can detect earlier minor
versions of same application on the same machine. If such a registry exists, (and does not
involve -help, -batchoptionhelp, IsBatchMode(), -regserver, -unregserver, running a script,
or non graphical mode) a prompt displays from which you can select an earlier version from
which the registry will be ported.

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Copy over registry entries (both Windows and ANSYS .xml files).

Related Topics

Setting Options via Configuration Files

Example Uses for Export Options Features

User Options and the Update Registry Tool

Batchoptions Command Line Examples

Example Uses for Export Options Features

The Tools>Options>Export Options feature is intended to make it easier for different users to
use ANSYS Electromagnetics tools installed on shared directories or network drives. This section
outlines some use cases enabled by this feature.

Options That Apply to All Users

Example Searching for a Registry Key Pathname

Example for Setting an Installation Default Value

Example for Setting a Host Dependent Default Value

Example for Reverting from a User Defined Option Value to the Administrator Default

Options That Apply to All Users

In many cases, an ANSYS Electromagnetics tool installation is administered and maintained by a

single user or group and used by a number of other users or groups. The permissions of the
ANSYS Electromagnetics tool installation may be set so that the administrator may add, delete or
modify files, but other users may only read or execute these files. The administrator may set the
recommended option settings in the installation default config file and/or the host dependent default
options config file. These config files reside within the installation directory hierarchy, and should

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generally have the same permissions as other ANSYS Electromagnetics tool installation files. This
allows that administrator to control these settings, but does not allow other users to add, remove, or
change these settings.

Each user can override any of these settings, if needed. This may be done using the Desktop UI,
which affects the host dependent user options config file. It may also be done using the host
independent user options config file. If user has overridden an option setting in either of the user
files, the user may revert back to the option settings provided by the administrator by removing the
setting of the same option in the host dependent user option config file and/or the host independent
user option config file.

For global defaults, the administrator may set a value in the installation default config file. These
settings will to apply to all users on all hosts.

In some cases, there are significant differences between the capabilities of different hosts. The
host dependent default config file may be used to specify different default values on some hosts.
Any setting in a host dependent default config file would affect all users running on the specified
host. The installation default value is used if there is no value specified for the setting in the host
dependent default config file for the current host. Note that the host dependent default config file is
named hostname.XML, where hostname is the name of the host.

Related Topics

Exporting Options Files

Setting Options via Configuration Files

Setting or Removing Option Values in Configuration Files: UpdateRegistry Command

User Options and the Update Registry Tool

Batchoptions Command Line Examples

Example Uses for Export Options Features

Example Searching for a Registry Key Pathname

Both administrators and ordinary users may occasionally use the UpdateRegistry command line
tool to add, change or delete settings. To use this tool, the registry key pathname must be known by
the user. The -GetKeys option may be used to quickly search for a key pathname if some
information is known about it. For example, if the administrator knows that there is a setting related
to issuing warning messages when available disk space is low, but she does not know the exact
key name, the following command may list some of the keys related to disk space:
UpdateRegistry -GetKeys disk -ProductName ElectronicsDesktop2018.0

This will display a list of all keys that match the string "disk" case insensitively. Typical output may
look like the following:
Registry keys matching pattern <disk> case insensitively:

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Desktop/Settings/ProjectOptions/DiskLimitForAbort: value is <0> at

level <user_machine>

Example for Setting an Installation Default Value

The normal default for the Options/General/Desktop Performance/Warn when available disk

space is less than setting is 0 MB. If the administrator is concerned that running out of disk space
might be a common problem, the administrator could set the installation default for the warn setting
setting to 1000 MB, for example. This limit would then apply to all users running on all hosts. The
administrator could use the following command to change this setting for ANSYS Electronics
Desktop 18.2:
UpdateRegistry -Set -ProductName ANSYSElectronicsDesktop18.2 -
RegistryKey

Desktop/Settings/ProjectOptions/DiskLimitForAbort

-RegistryValue 1000
-RegistryLevel install

Related Topics

Example Uses for Export Options Features

Example for Setting a Host Dependent Default Value

For this example, we assume that all hosts have two cores, except for three hosts, bighost1,
bighost2, and bighost3, that have eight cores each. Because most hosts have two cores, the
administrator has set the Hfss/Preferences/NumberOfProcessorsDistributed option value to 2 in
the installation default config file, as described above. The administrator may then set the
Hfss/Preferences/NumberOfProcessorsDistributed option value to 8 in the host dependent default
config files for the three hosts having 8 cores, bighost1, bighost2 and bighost3. The administrator
may login to host bighost1, and run the following command to change this setting for the host
dependent default options config file for host bighost1 on aedt18.2:
UpdateRegistry -Set -ProductName HFSS14.0
-RegistryKey Hfss/Preferences/NumberOfProcessorsDistributed
-RegistryValue 8
-RegistryLevel install_machine

To make this change for the other two hosts, the administrator would login to bighost2 and
bighost3, in turn, and run the same command on each of those hosts.

Related Topics

Example Uses for Export Options Features

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Example for Reverting from a User Defined Option Value to the Administrator Default

Consider the case in which HFSS 14.0 was installed and the administrator initially did not set a
value for the Desktop/Settings/ProjectOptions/DiskLimitForAbort setting in the default installation
config file. User jsmith (who always uses host jshost) wanted to be warned before disk space
dropped to zero, so he set the Desktop/Settings/ProjectOptions/DiskLimitForAbort to 100 MB
using the UI. This setting is recorded in the host dependent user options config file for host jshost
and user jsmith. Now the administrator learns that many users are running into disk space issues,
so that administrator sets the installation default value for the setting
Desktop/Settings/ProjectOptions/DiskLimitForAbort to 1000 MB, as in the above example.

When user jsmith runs HFSS 14.0 on host jshost, the disk limit is 100 MB, not 1000 MB, because
the host dependent user options config file overrides all of the other config files. User jsmith may
revert to the administrator provided default by removing this setting from the host dependent user
options config file for host jshost and user jsmith. The following command may be run by user jsmith
on host jshost to remove this setting:
UpdateRegistry -Delete -ProductName HFSS14.0
-RegistryKey Desktop/Settings/ProjectOptions/DiskLimitForAbort -
RegistryLevel user_machine

If user jsmith had added a value for this setting to the host independent user options config file, then
user jsmith would also run the following command to remove this setting from the host independent
user options config file:
UpdateRegistry -Delete -ProductName HFSS14.0
-RegistryKey Desktop/Settings/ProjectOptions/DiskLimitForAbort
-RegistryLevel user

Related Topics

Setting Options via Configuration Files

Setting or Removing Option Values in Configuration Files: UpdateRegistry Command

User Options and the Update Registry Tool

Batchoptions Command Line Examples

Example Uses for Export Options Features

User Options and the Update Registry Tool

When you change an options value using the Desktop UI, the new value is stored in the host-
dependent user options config file. You can also use the UpdateRegistry tool to add or modify
settings in the host-dependent user options config file. You cannot use the Desktop UI to remove
settings from the host-dependent user options config file, however. You must use the
UpdateRegistry tool to remove settings from the host-dependent user options config file.

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If a user has not explicitly created a host-dependent user options config file or a host-independent
user options config file, then when a user first runs an ANSYS Electromagnetics tool on a host, all
settings will come from the host-dependent default options config file or the installation default
options config file. Any settings for another host in a host-dependent user options config file will not
be carried over to the new host. This may be inconvenient if the user has preferred option settings
that differ from the settings that apply to all users, especially if the user runs the ANSYS
Electromagnetics tool on a number of different hosts. In this case, the user may set these option
values in the user's host-independent user options config file. Then, these option values will be
used on all new hosts, overriding any values set by the administrator to apply to all users. Any
changes made in the UI will only affect the user's host-dependent user options config file for the
current host.

Note If a current registry does not exist, the ANSYS Electronics Desktop can detect earlier minor
versions of same application on the same machine. If such a registry exists, (and does not
involve -help, -batchoptionhelp, IsBatchMode(), -regserver, -unregserver, running a script,
or non graphical mode) a prompt displays from which you can select an earlier version from
which the registry will be ported.

Copy over registry entries (both Windows and ANSYS .xml files).

Related Topics

Example of Removing a Host Dependent User Option Setting

Example Adding a Host Independent User Option Setting

Getting a Value from a Specific Configuration File

Getting a Value Using Precedence Rules

Setting the Temporary Directory

Temporary Directory Configuration File Format

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Setting or Removing Temporary Directory Values in Configuration Files: UpdateRegistry

Command

Setting the Temporary Directory Using the GUI

Example of Removing a Host Dependent User Option Setting

For this example, user jsmith always uses host jshost to run HFSS 14.0. At some point, jsmith set
the Autosave interval in the General Options dialog, Project Options tab to 1000 edits, and this
value was written to the jsmith's host dependent user options config file for host jshost. Now, jsmith
wants to remove this setting and return to the default value of 10. User jsmith may run the following
command on host jshost to remove the Desktop/Settings/ProjectOptions/AutoSaveInterval option
value from this config file:
UpdateRegistry -Delete -ProductName HFSS14.0
-RegistryKey Desktop/Settings/ProjectOptions/AutoSaveInterval
-RegistryLevel user_machine

Related Topics

User Options and the Update Registry Tool

Example Adding a Host Independent User Option Setting

Setting the Temporary Directory

Temporary Directory Configuration File Format

Setting the Temporary Directory Using the GUI

Example Adding a Host Independent User Option Setting

Consider the case in which there is no value set for the

Desktop/Settings/ProjectOptions/DiskLimitForAbort setting for all users for ANSYS Electronics
Desktop. The default is then 0 MB. User jsmith uses a variety of hosts and wants to be warned
whenever disk space drops to 250 MB on any host. User jsmith may use the following command to
set the Desktop/Settings/ProjectOptions/DiskLimitForAbort option value to 250 MB for all hosts:
UpdateRegistry -Set -ProductName Electronics Desktop 2018.0
-RegistryKey Desktop/Settings/ProjectOptions/DiskLimitForAbort
-RegistryValue 250 -RegistryLevel user

Related Topics

User Options and the Update Registry Tool

Setting the Temporary Directory

Temporary Directory Configuration File Format

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Setting the Temporary Directory Using the GUI

Getting a Value from a Specific Configuration File

In the previous example, the user jsmith may decide to check the
Desktop/Settings/ProjectOptions/DiskLimitForAbort setting in the host independent user
configuration file before making any changes to this setting. The following command may be used
to quickly view this setting for HFSS 14.0 before making the change:
UpdateRegistry -Get -ProductName HFSS15.0 -RegistryKey
Desktop/Settings/ProjectOptions/DiskLimitForAbort -RegistryLevel
user

Getting a Value Using Precedence Rules

In may cases, the user is more interested in the value of a setting that will be applicable when
running the product than in the setting in a single configuration file. If the -Get option is used with no
-RegistryLevel specified, then the value reported is the value found in the highest precedence
configuration file. If the user jsmith is interested in the highest precedence value for the
Desktop/Settings/ProjectOptions/DiskLimitForAbort setting, then the following command may be
used to report this information:
UpdateRegistry -Get -ProductName HFSS14.0 -RegistryKey
Desktop/Settings/ProjectOptions/DiskLimitForAbort

Setting the Temporary Directory

As for other option settings, the Temporary Directory may be configured with an installation default
value, as well as a host dependent default value, a host independent user specified value and a
host dependent user specified value. The Temporary Directory settings are stored in different files
from the other option settings. These files are located in the same directories as the configuration
files for the other option settings. The following table shows the directories and files used to store
the Temporary Directory settings.

Lev
Config el File
Linux Directory Pathname Windows Directory Pathname
File Na Name
me
host hostna MyDocuments/AnsysEM/Application
depen use me.cfg $HOME/AnsysEM/ApplicationPa PathAndVersion/config
dent r_ thAndVersion/config
user mac
specific hine
Tempo
rary
Directo

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Lev
Config el File
Linux Directory Pathname Windows Directory Pathname
File Na Name
me
ry
host user
indepe default.
ndent cfg
user
specific
Tempo
rary
Directo
ry
host hostna InstallationDirectory/config InstallationDirectory/config
depen insta me.cfg
dent ll_
default mac
default hine
Tempo
rary
Directo
ry
installa
tion insta default.
default ll cfg
Tempo
rary
Directo
ry

NOTES:

$HOME is the user's home directory on Linux

ApplicationPathAndVersion is the Application or Product name concatenated with the Product

Version

MyDocuments is the user's "My Documents" directory on Windows

InstallationDirectory is the directory where the product is installed

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As for other options, the settings in these files have precedence in the following sequence: user_
machine (highest precedence), user, install_machine, install (lowest precedence). The installer will
create the file at the install level. By default, the other files are not created. If the Temporary
Directory is set to an empty string in a configuration file, then that setting is ignored.

Related Topics

User Options and the Update Registry Tool

Example Adding a Host Independent User Option Setting

Temporary Directory Configuration File Format

Setting or Removing Temporary Directory Values in Configuration Files: UpdateRegistry

Command

Setting the Temporary Directory Using the GUI

Temporary Directory Configuration File Format

This section describes the format of the Temporary Directory configuration files. The format is the
same for files at all four levels: user_machine, user, install_machine, and install. These files are text
files, so any text editor may be used to modify or create Temporary Directory configuration files.

An example temporary directory configuration file is shown below:

$begin 'Config'

tempdirectory='C:/TEMP/AnsysEM'

$end 'Config'

The temporary directory specified by this configuration file is C:/TEMP/AnsysEM.

Additional notes:

The string containing the pathname of the temporary directory must be enclosed in single quotes.

The forward slash "/" may be used as a directory separator on Windows and Linux. The back slash
"\" may be used as a directory separator on Windows only.

The back slash "\" is used as an escape character in the tempdirectory string. That it, this character
removes the special meaning of the following character.

The single quote character normally ends the tempdirectory string. The back slash may be used to
remove this special meaning, and include a single quote in the string.

To use a back slash as a directory separator on Windows, it must be escaped. That is, a double
back slash "\\" is used to denote a single directory separator.

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On Windows, a UNC path normally begins with two back slash characters. In a tempdirectory
string, each of these back slash characters must be doubled, so four consecutive back slashes "\\\\"
are used in the config file.

UNC Example

Config file:
$begin 'Config'

tempdirectory='\\\\hostxyz\\TEMP\\abc'

$end 'Config'

Here hostxyz is a host with a sharename TEMP having subdirectory abc used as the Temporary
Directory. This shows that four back slashes are required for UNC names and that back slashes
used as directory separators must be doubled.

Single Quote Example

Config file:
$begin 'Config'

tempdirectory='C:/TEMP/ab\'cd'

$end 'Config'

Temporary directory is C:/TEMP/ab'cd. This shows how to include a single quote in a

tempdirectory pathname. It also shows that forward slashes may be used as directory separators
on Windows.

Related Topics

User Options and the Update Registry Tool

Example Adding a Host Independent User Option Setting

Example for Setting the Temporary Directory

Setting the Temporary Directory Using the GUI

Setting the Temporary Directory From the Command Line

Setting or Removing Temporary Directory Values in Configuration Files:

UpdateRegistry Command

The UpdateRegistry command line tool, described above, may be used to view, add, change or
remove the Temporary Directory setting from any of the Temporary Directory config files. The
registry key for viewing or modifying the Temporary Directory is TempDirectory. The -Get, -Set,
and -Delete options are valid for viewing a Temporary Directory setting, adding or changing a

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Temporary Directory setting, or deleting a Temporary Directory setting. The -GetKeys option does
not list the Temporary Directory key.

Related Topics

User Options and the Update Registry Tool

Setting the Temporary Directory Using the GUI

As for other options, the Temporary Directory may be viewed or set using the Desktop GUI. In the
Tools>Options>General Options dialog, the Temp Directory setting appears in the Directories
group box on the Project Options tab. Activating the Override check box allows you to enter a
desired directory pathname in the edit box or to click on the "..." button to bring up a directory file
browser dialog, from which you can select a temp directory. Values set in this manner are written to
the user_machine level configuration file for the Temporary Directory. If the Override check box is
unchecked, then when the OK button is pressed, the user_machine level setting for the Temporary
Directory is changed to an empty string. This enables setting from the next highest precedence
config file. The config file which provides the currently active Temporary Directory setting is shown
under the Temp Directory edit box in the Project Options tab of the General Options dialog, if
the Override check box is unchecked.

Related Topics

User Options and the Update Registry Tool

Example Adding a Host Independent User Option Setting

Example for Setting the Temporary Directory

Temporary Directory Configuration File Format

Batchoptions Command Line Examples

Running ANSYS Electronics Desktop from a Command Line

Setting the Temporary Directory From the Command Line

The temporary directory may be set from the command line, using the -batchoptions command line
option. See Running ANSYS Electronics Desktop from a Command Line. The Batchoptions
Command Line Examples section below includes examples that show how to set the Temporary
Directory from the command line.

Related Topics

User Options and the Update Registry Tool

Example Adding a Host Independent User Option Setting

Example for Setting the Temporary Directory

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Temporary Directory Configuration File Format

Batchoptions Command Line Examples

Running ANSYS Electronics Desktop from a Command Line

Batchoptions Command Line Examples

The -batchoptions entries command line argument may be used to specify one or more
batchoptions settings on the command line. To specify multiple entries using a single -batchoptions
argument, the entries should be enclosed in double quotes. Alternatively, the batchoptions may be
specified in a file using the -batchoptions <filename> command line argument format. In this
case, the filename is an absolute or relative pathname of the file containing the batchoptions, as
described above. The two approaches may not be combined: either all batchoptions must be in a
file or all batchoptions must be specified explicitly on the command line.

Related Topics

Batchoptions File Format

Example -BatchOptions with -Remote (Windows)

Example -Batchsolve with -Machinelist (Windows)

Example -Batchsolve with -Machinelist (Linux)

Example -Batchsolve for Local (Windows)

Running ANSYS Electronics Desktop from the Command Line

High Performance Computing (HPC) Integration

Batchoptions File Format

An example batchoptions file is shown below:

$begin 'Config'

'Desktop/ProjectDirectory'='C:/test/projects'

'Desktop/Settings/NumberofProcessors'=2

'HFSS/NumberCoresPerDistributedTask'=2

$end 'Config'

Additional notes on the file format:

l The file may contain an arbitrary number of batchoption entries, one per line.
l Leading whitespace on each line is ignored. Spaces or tabs may be used to make the file

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more readable.
l Option pathname:

The option pathname appears before the equal sign "=" on each line.

Each option pathname must be enclosed in single quotes.

Option pathnames are case insensitive.

l Option value:
l The option value appears after the equal sign on each line.
l Integral option values must not be enclosed in quotes.
l All other options values are treated as strings, and must be enclosed in single quotes.
l The forward slash "/" may be used as a directory separator on Windows and Linux. The
back slash "\" may be used as a directory separator on Windows only.
l The back slash "\" is used as an escape character in the value string. That it, this character
removes the special meaning of the following character.

The single quote character normally ends the value string. The back slash may be used to
remove this special meaning, and include a single quote in the string.

To use a back slash as a directory separator on Windows, it must be escaped. That is, a
double back slash "\\" is used to denote a single directory separator.

Example -BatchOptions with -Remote (Windows)

In this example, we run a batch Maxwell analysis of project file project1.mxwl which contains a 3D
design. We want all temporary files and directories created in directory C:\temp\maxwell instead of
using the installation default for the Temporary Directory. We decide that the analysis will be done
on a remote host, at IP address 12.34.56.78. Because of limited memory on the remote host, we
decide to run the analysis using only a single COM engine. Because the remote host has four
cores, we decide to use four threads for multiprocessing, for both distributed and non-distributed
parts of the analysis. We can use the -Remote option to specify that there will be a single remote
COM engine.

Here is a sample command line for this analysis, where the project file
\\somehost\projects\project1.mxwl is located in a shared directory specified using a UNC path:
maxwell -BatchSolve -Remote -Machinelist list=12.34.56.78
-batchoptions "TempDirectory='C:/temp/maxwell'
Desktop/Settings/ProjectOptions/NumberofProcessors=4
Maxwell3D/NumberCoresPerDistributedTask=4"
\\somehost\projects\project1.mxwl

An alternative is to use the -Distributed command line option. Because the -Machinelist list contains
only one host, there is a single remote COM engine in this case, also.

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maxwell -BatchSolve -Distributed -Machinelist list=12.34.56.78 -

batchoptions "TempDirectory='C:\\temp\\maxwell'
Desktop/Settings/ProjectOptions/NumberofProcessors=4
Maxwell3D/NumberCoresPerDistributedTask=4"
\\somehost\projects\project1.mxwl

The above command lines show that the forward slash "/" may be used as a directory separator on
Windows. The back slash "\" may also be used as a directory separator on Windows, but it must be
doubled to "\\" because the back slash is also an escape character.

Related Topics

Batchoptions Command Line Examples

Example -Batchsolve with -Machinelist (Windows)

Example -Batchsolve with -Machinelist (Linux)

Example -Batchsolve for Local (Windows)

Example -Batchsolve with -Machinelist (Windows)

Suppose that we want to run a batch HFSS analysis of project file project1.aedt. Because all of our
hosts have multiples of 2 cores, we specify that we will use two threads for multiprocessing for both
the distributed (NumberOfProcessorsDistributed) and non-distributed (NumberOfProcessors)
parts of the job. The analysis contains a sweep that will be distributed across three hosts, adam,
bill, and charlie. The hosts adam and bill have four cores each, so we run two distributed COM
engines on each of these hosts, each using two threads. Host charlie has only two cores, so we
specify only one distributed COM engine on this host. This COM engine will also use two threads.
We specify a desired RAM limit of 6 GB and a maximum RAM limit of 8 GB for this analysis. The
RAM limits are specified in KB, so the desired RAM limit is 6291456 KB, and the maximum RAM
limit is 8388608 KB.

Here is a sample command line for this analysis, where the project file
\\dennis\projects\project1.aedt is located in a shared directory specified using a UNC path:
hfss -BatchSolve -Distributed
-Machinelist list=adam,adam,bill,bill,charlie
-batchoptions "Hfss/Preferences/MemLimitHard=8388608
Hfss/Preferences/MemLimitSoft=6291456
Hfss/Preferences/NumberOfProcessors=2
Hfss/Preferences/NumberOfProcessorsDistributed=2"
\\dennis\projects\project1.aedt

Related Topics

Batchoptions Command Line Examples

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Example -BatchOptions with -Remote (Windows)

Example -Batchsolve with -Machinelist (Linux)

Example -Batchsolve for Local (Windows)

Example -Batchsolve with -Machinelist (Linux)

In this example, we run a batch HFSS analysis of project file project2.aedt, which contains an
HFSS-IE design. We have four identical hosts host1,host2, host3, and host4 for analysis, and each
host has 4 cores. We do not use multiprocessing for the distributed analysis, so
NumberOfProcessorsDistributed=1. As each host has four cores, we specify multiprocessing
using 4 threads for the non-distributed part of the analysis, so NumberOfProcessors=4. Because
we do not use multiprocessing for the distributed analysis, we will run four distributed COM engines
on each host, with a singe core available for each engine. As in Example 1, we specify a desired
RAM limit of 6 GB and a maximum RAM limit of 8 GB for this analysis. The RAM limits are specified
in KB, so the desired RAM limit is 6291456 KB, and the maximum RAM limit is 8388608 KB.

Here is a sample command line for this analysis, where the project file
/home/jsmith/projects/project2.aedt is located in a shared directory:
hfss -BatchSolve -Distributed
-Machinelist file=/home/jsmith/hosts/list2
-batchoptions "HFSS-IE/Preferences/MemLimitHard=8388608
HFSS-IE/Preferences/MemLimitSoft=6291456
HFSS-IE/Preferences/NumberOfProcessors=4
HFSS-IE/Preferences/NumberOfProcessorsDistributed=1"
/home/jsmith/projects/project2.aedt

For this example, the hostnames are in the text file /home/jsmith/hosts/list2. Here is the file
contents:
host1

host1

host1

host1

host2

host2

host2

host2

host3

host3

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host3

host3

host4

host4

host4

host4

Related Topics

Batchoptions Command Line Examples

Example -BatchOptions with -Remote (Windows)

Example -Batchsolve with -Machinelist (Windows)

Example -Batchsolve for Local (Windows)

Example -Batchsolve for Local (Windows)

In this example, we run a batch analysis of project file testproject.adsn on the local host. We want
all temporary files and directories created in directory C:\temp\ansysedt instead of using the
installation default for the Temporary Directory. Because the local host has four cores, we decide
to use four threads for multiprocessing, for both distributed and non-distributed parts of the
analysis.

Here is a sample command line for this analysis, where the project file
\\host123\projects\testproject.adsn is located in a shared directory specified using a UNC path:
ansysedt -BatchSolve -Local -batchoptions
"TempDirectory='C:/temp/ansysedt'
'Planar EM/SolverOptions/NumProcessors'=4
'Planar EM/SolverOptions/NumProcessorsDistrib'=4"
\\host123\projects\testproject.adsn

Note that the batchoptions pathnames 'Planar EM/SolverOptions/NumProcessors' and 'Planar

EM/SolverOptions/NumProcessorsDistrib' must be in single quotes because they both contain
embedded spaces.

Related Topics

Batchoptions Command Line Examples

Example -BatchOptions with -Remote (Windows)

Example -Batchsolve with -Machinelist (Windows)

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Example -Batchsolve with -Machinelist (Linux)

Batchoptions and Analysis Configurations in the Registry

Analysis configurations are used to specify machines, cores, and options for local, remote, and
distributed analysis, including capabilities that are enabled by HPC licenses.

How Analysis Configurations are Stored in the Registry

There are several major changes related to how configurations are organized. A configuration
contains information in addition to the machines that are to be used in an analysis. For example, the
number of tasks and the number of cores to allocate to the analysis for each machine in the list is
also included in the configuration. Other options may be specific to one product or design type, for
example, certain job distribution types and memory limits. In order to support different options for
different design types, analysis configurations are now associated with the design type. Previously,
configurations applied to all design types within a given product. Now, it is possible to create
independent configurations with the same name, but associated with different design types, and
that the appropriate configuration for the design being solved will be used.

Copying a Configuration from one Design Type or Product to Another

To copy a configuration from one design type (or product) to another:

1. On the Configurations tab of the HPC and Analysis Options dialog, use the Export…
button to export the configuration to a file.

2. Switch to the destination design type (or product) and use the Import… button to import the
configuration data.

Any data that is not applicable to the destination design type is ignored; any settings present in
the destination design type that were not present in the source configuration will be assigned
default values. The user may then edit the copy, as desired.

Using HPC and Analysis for Configurations

Due to the complexity of the registry values for the configurations we do not recommend directly
editing these values using the UpdateRegistry tool. Instead, use the HPC and Analysis Options
dialog to edit or create a configuration. (See Setting HPC and Analysis Options.) Configurations
created or edited using the GUI are stored in the user_machine level of the registry. A configuration
may be created for one of the other registry levels using several steps.

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1. First, create the configuration using the Analysis Configurations GUI, then export the
configuration to a file.
2. Next, delete the configuration using the GUI so that it will not be present in the user_machine
level. Exit the GUI.
3. Use the UpdateRegistry tool to import the data into the desired registry level using the -
FromFile option to specify the file exported via the GUI, and using the -RegistryLevel option
to specify the registry level where the configuration is to be stored. For example, an
administrator may use this approach to create a configuration at the install level that may be
used by any user on any machine.

Batch Options Corresponding to Configurations

The batch options corresponding to configurations are affected by the changes to the organization
of configuration information. A number of batch options are changed. For example, the batch
options settings HFSS/Preferences/NumberOfProcessors and
HFSS/Preferences/NumberOfProcessorsDistributed are no longer used. The new batch option
setting, HFSS/NumCoresPerDistributedTask, resembles the obsolete
HFSS/Preferences/NumberOfProcessorsDistributed setting, but there is no equivalent to the
obsolete HFSS/Preferences/NumberOfProcessors setting. The non-distributed portion of the
analysis uses all cores that were allocated for distributed tasks on the given machine.

When you submit jobs to a cluster, you can specify batch options using the job submission GUI.
When using the GUI, you can select the batch options from a list, making typographical errors less
common. For the most commonly used batch options, there is detailed information about the
allowed values.

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To assist users who need to specify batch options and are unable to use the job submission GUI, a
new help option is added to all products. If the product is launched with the -batchoptionhelp
command line argument, a message box is displayed which lists and describes the most common
batch options specific to the product.

Setting Analysis Configurations Using the User Interface

The Desktop User Interface may be used to select the configuration to be used for each design
type. Each configuration is identified by a unique name. These settings may be viewed and
modified using the HPC and Analysis Options dialog and modified using the Analysis
Configuration dialog.

Related Topics

Setting HPC and Analysis Options.

Working with Variables

A variable is a numerical value, mathematical expression, or mathematical function that can be
assigned to a design parameter in HFSS. You can assign a variable to any dimension or material
property, or output value. Variables are useful in the following situations:

l You expect to change a parameter often.

l You expect to use the same parameter value often.
l You intend to run a parametric analysis, in which you specify a series of variable values
within a range to solve.
l You intend to optimize a parameter value by running an optimization analysis or using
Design of Experiments to generate a response surface.
l You intend to run a convergence on an output variable.
l You intend to calculate derivatives for variables.
l You intend to animate a plot against a variable.

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There are two types of variables in HFSS:

Project A project variable can be assigned to any parameter value in the HFSS project in
Variables which it was created. HFSS differentiates project variables from other types of
variables by prefixing the variable name with the following symbol: $. You can
manually include the symbol $ in the project variable's name, or HFSS will
automatically append the project variable's name after you define the variable. Project
Variables can be designated as Design, ArrayIndex or Separator variables but not as
Post Processing Variables.
Design A design variable can be assigned to any parameter value in the HFSS design in
Variables which it was created. From the Design Variables Properties dialog, you can Add,
Add Array, Edit, or Remove Design variables. Design Variables can be designated as
Design, ArrayIndex or Separator variables and as Post Processing Variables.

Related Topics

Auto-Complete for Variables and Properties in Electronics Desktop

Defining an Expression

Defining Mathematical Functions

Assigning Variables

Specifying Expressions for Adaptive Convergence

Specifying Output Variables

Using Optimetrics for Design Analysis

Choosing a Variable to Optimize

Selecting Objects by Name

Selecting Objects by Variable

Exporting Variables for Documentation

Viewing Variables

Adding a Project Variable

A project variable can be assigned to a parameter value in the HFSS project in which it was
created. HFSS differentiates project variables from other types of variables by prefixing the
variable name with the following symbol: $. You can manually include the symbol $ in the project
variable's name when you create it, or HFSS will automatically append the project variable's name
with the symbol after you define the variable.

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1. Click Project>Project Variables.

l Alternatively, right-click the project name in the project tree, and then click Project
Variables on the shortcut menu. You can also access the Project variables from a menu
in the lower left corner of the following Optimization dialogs: Parametric, Optimization,
Sensitivity, Statistical,Design of Experiments and Design Xplorer Setup. Click
Edit Variables and from the menu select Edit Project Variables.

The Properties dialog box appears.

2. Under the Project Variables tab, click Add.

The Add Property dialog box appears.

3. In the Name text box, type the name of the variable.

Project variable names must start with the symbol $ followed by a letter. Variable names may
include alphanumeric characters and underscores ( _ ). The names of Intrinsic Functions and
the pre-defined constant pi (π) cannot be used as variable names.
You can sort the project variables by clicking on the Name column header. By default, variables
are sorted in original order. Clicking once sorts them in ascending order, noted by a triangle
pointing up. Clicking against sorts in descending order, noted by a triangle pointing down.
Clicking a third time sorts in original order, with no triangle.

4. Select a radio button for the variable use:

Selected Use Setable Properties

Variable Unit Type, Units, Value.
Separator Name. A separator variable provides a
bolded name for a blank line to facilitate
grouping variables in variable lists.
Array Index Associate Array variable, Value
Variable

Each selection affects the settable options.

5. For Project Variables in the Unit Type text box you can use the drop down menu to select
from the list of available unit types. "None" is the default.

When you select a Unit Type, the choices in drop down menu for the Units text box adapt to that
unit type. For example, selecting Length as the Unit Type causes the Unit menu to show a
range of metric and English units for length. Similarly, if you select the Unit Type as Resistance,
the Units drop down lists a range of standard Ohm units.

6. In the Value text box, type the quantity that the variable represents. If you did not specify the
Unit Type and Unit, you can also optionally, include the units of measurement.

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Warning If you include the variable's units in its definition (in the Value text box), do not
include the variable's units when you enter the variable name for a parameter
value.

The quantity can be a numerical value, a mathematical expression, or a mathematical function.

The quantity entered will be the current, (or default) value for the variable. If the mathematical
expression includes a reference to an existing variable, this variable is treated as a dependent
variable. The units for a dependent variable will automatically change to those of the
independent variable on which the value depends. Additionally, dependent variables, though
useful in many situations, cannot be the direct subject of optimization, sensitivity analysis,
tuning, or statistical analysis.

7. Click OK.

You return to the Properties dialog box. The new variable and its value are listed in the table. If
the value is an expression, the evaluated value is shown. Updating the expression also changes
the evaluated value display. Any dependent variables also have evaluated values changed.

If you designate a separator variable, you provide a name.

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The name you provide appears as the name for a separator line in the variables list for each
separator variable you define.

8. Optionally, type a description of the variable in the Description text box.

9. Optionally, select Read Only. The variable's name, value, unit, and description cannot be
modified when Read Only is selected.
10. Optionally, select Hidden. If you clear the Show Hidden option, the hidden variable will not
appear in the Properties dialog box.
11. You can also designate a variable as Sweep. You may need to use the scroll bar or resize
the dialog to view the check boxes.

The Sweep check box lets you designate variables to include in solution indexing as a way to
permit faster post processing. Variables with Sweep unchecked are not used in solution
indexing. If a solution exists, checking or unchecking a variable's Sweep setting produces a
warning that the change will invalidate existing solutions. To continue, click OK to dismiss the
warning dialog.

If a variable has dependent variables, the Sweep check box is disabled and cannot be changed.

12. Click OK.

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The new variable can now be assigned to a parameter value in the project in which it was created.
Initially, you leave the radio button with Value selected until you have defined a variable. The other
radio buttons let you enable defined variables for Optimization/Design of Experiments, Tuning,
Sensitivity or Statistics. Selecting one of these radio buttons add a new column to the Variable
definition row for which you can check or uncheck Include for regular variables for that kind of
Optimetrics simulation. For further discussion, see Optimetrics.

Related Topics

Deleting Project Variables

Defining an Expression

Defining Mathematical Functions

Exporting Variables for Documentation

Sweeping a Variable in a Report

Intrinsic Variables in a Project

The Properties dialog for the project also lists the intrinsic variables under the Intrinsic Variables
tab.

Name Unit Description

_Empty Empty value, taken to be model default by simulator (Simplorer)
_l1 to _l9 mA Terminal current in user-defined model (A).
_t Variable to define parametric equation-based curve.
_u_,_v Variable to define parametric equation-based surface.
_V1 to _V9 mV Port Voltage in user defined model (V).
Ang Ang Angle. Post Processing variable
Budget Index Post processing variables, not settable by the user.
Distance mm
Electrical Degree deg Electric degree of the rotating machine. Not settable by user.
F GHz Frequency of circuit system analysis (Hz).
F1, F2, F3 GHz Frequency tones 1, 2, 3 in harmonic balance analysis. (Hz).
FNoi GHz Offset noise frequency in harmonic balance noise analysis.
Freq GHz Frequency. Post processing variable, not settable by the user.
la, lb mA Post processing variables, not settable by the user.
Index Identifier for a data point.
IWave Phi, IWave deg Incident wave spherical coordinate variables. Phi is the angle from

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Name Unit Description

Theta the origin in the z direction and Theta the angle from the x-axis.
Normalized Post processing variables, not settable by the user.
Deformation,
Normalized Distance
OP mW Post processing variables, not settable by the user.
Pass Post processing variables, not settable by the user.
Phase deg Angle of a complex number.
Phi deg The angle measured from the x-axis and can be from 0 to 360
degrees.
R mm R is the cylindrical coordinate system variable..
Rho Rho is the spherical coordinate system variable.
Rspeed rpm Speed of the machine.
Spectrum GHz Post processing variable.
Temp cell Analysis temperature (deg)
Tend ns
Theta deg The angle measured from the z-axis, which is the axis
perpendicular to the plane of the work space, and must be from 0
to 180 degrees.
Time ns Time point in transient analysis
Vac, Vbe, Vce, Vds, mV Post processing variables, not settable by the user.
Vgs
X,Y,Z mm Point coordinate variables in the modeler.
ZAng deg A spherical coordinate system variable
ZRho A spherical coordinate system variable.

Deleting Project Variables

To delete a project variable:

1. Remove all references to the variable in the project, including dependent variables.
2. Save the project to erase the command history.
3. Click Project>Project Variables to display the Properties dialog with list of variables. You
can also access the Project variables from a menu in the lower left corner of the following
Optimization dialogs: Parametric, Optimization, Sensitivity, Statistical, Design of
Experiments and Design Xplorer Setup. Click Edit Variables and from the menu select
Edit Project Variables.

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4. Select the variable and click Remove Selected and OK. The variable can be removed if it is
not in use.

To remove all unused project variables that are not in use (that is, not in the undo/redo command
history):

1. Remove all references to unused project variables, including dependent variables.

2. Save the project to erase the command history.
3. Click Project>Project Variables to display the Properties dialog with list of variables. You
can also access the Project variables from a menu in the lower left corner of the following
Optimization dialogs: Parametric, Optimization, Sensitivity, Statistical, Design of
Experiments and Design Xplorer Setup. Click Edit Variables and from the menu select
Edit Project Variables.
4. Click Remove and from the drop-down menu, select Remove All Unused and click OK. All
variables that are not in use (not in undo/redo history) are removed.

To force remove all unused design variables:

1. Remove all references to unused project variables, including dependent variables.

2. Click Project>Project Variables to display the Properties dialog with list of variables. You
can also access the Project variables from a menu in the lower left corner of the following
Optimization dialogs: Parametric, Optimization, Sensitivity, Statistical, Design of
Experiments and Design Xplorer Setup. Click Edit Variables and from the menu select
Edit Project Variables.
3. Click Remove and from the drop-down menu, select Force Remove All Unused and click
OK. A warning message asks whether you want the unapplied changes in the property
dialog to be applied, and clear undo/redo history. If you select No, nothing happens. If you
select Yes, all unapplied changes are applied first, and undo/redo history is cleared; all
variables that are not used are removed (including those that are only in undo/redo history
before this command is executed).

Adding a Design Variable

A design variable is associated with an HFSS design. A design variable can be assigned to a
parameter value in the HFSS design in which it was created. You can also add a variable defined
with an array of values.

1. Click HFSS or HFSS-IE>Design Properties.

l Alternatively, right-click the design name in the Project Tree, then click Design
Properties on the shortcut menu. You can also access the Design variables from a menu
in the lower left of the following Optimization dialogs: Parametric, Optimization,
Sensitivity, Statistical,Design of Experiments and Design Xplorer Setup. Click
Edit Variables and from the menu select Edit Design Variables.

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From the Local Variables tab of the Properties dialog, you can Add, Add Array, Edit,
Remove or Convert variables. This section describes the Add command. Use the following
links for descriptions of: Add Array, Edit, Remove and Convert.

Existing Design variables are listed in the Properties dialog. The name of each design variable
is followed in a row by entries for Value, Unit, Evaluated Value, Type, Description, Read-only
and Hidden. A Show Hidden check box on the lower right of the Properties dialog controls the
appearance of any Hidden variables.

Initially, you leave the radio button with Value selected until you have defined a variable. The
other radio buttons let you enable defined variables for Optimization/Design of Experiments,
Tuning, Sensitivity or Statistics. Selecting one of these radio buttons add a new column to the
Variable definition row for which you can check or uncheck Include for regular variables for that
kind of Optimetrics simulation. For further discussion, see Optimetrics.

2. Click Add.

The Add Property dialog box appears.

3. In the Name text box, type the name of the variable.

Variable names must start with a letter, and may include alphanumeric characters and
underscores ( _ ). The names of Intrinsic Functions and the pre-defined constant pi (π) cannot
be used as variable names.

You can sort the project variables by clicking on the Name column header. By default, variables
are sorted in original order. Clicking once sorts them in ascending order, noted by a triangle
pointing up. Clicking against sorts in descending order, noted by a triangle pointing down.
Clicking a third time sorts in original order, with no triangle.

4. Select a radio button for the variable use:

Selected Use Settable Properties

Variable Unit Type, Units, Value
Array Index Associate Array variable, Value
Variable
Separator Name. A separator variable provides a bolded name for a blank line to
facilitate grouping variables in variable lists.
Post Unit Type, Units, Value
Processing
Variable

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Each selection affects the settable options.

5. In the Unit Type text box you can use the drop down menu to select from the list of available
unit types. "None" is the default.

When you select a Unit Type, the choices in drop down menu for the Units text box adapt to that
unit type. For example, selecting Length as the Unit Type causes the Unit menu to show a
range of metric and English units for length. Similarly, if you select the Unit Type as Resistance,
the Units drop down lists a range of standard Ohm units.

6. For an ArrayIndexVariable, select an array variable from the Associate array variable
drop down menu.
7. In the Value text box, type the quantity that the variable represents. Optionally, include the
units of measurement.

Note If you include the variable's units in its definition (in the Value text box), do not include
the variable's units when you enter the variable name for a parameter value.

The quantity can be a numerical value, a mathematical expression, or a mathematical function.

The quantity entered will be the current, (or default) value for the variable. If the mathematical
expression includes a reference to an existing variable, this variable is treated as a dependent
variable. The units for a dependent variable will automatically change to those of the
independent variable on which the value depends. Additionally, dependent variables, though
useful in many situations, cannot be the direct subject of optimization, sensitivity analysis,
tuning, or statistical analysis.

Note Complex numbers are not allowed for variables to be used in an Optimetrics sweep, or for
optimization, statistical, sensitivity or tuning setups.

8. Click OK.

You return to the Properties dialog box. The new variable and its value are listed in the table. If
the value is an expression, the evaluated value is shown. Updating the expression also changes
the evaluated value display. Any dependent variables also have evaluated values changed.

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If you designate a separator variable, you provide a name.

The name you provide appears as the name for a separator line in the variables list for each
separator variable you define.

9. Optionally, type a description of the variable in the Description text box.

10. You can designate a variable as Read-only, Hidden, or Sweep. You may need to use the
scroll bar or resize the dialog to view the check boxes.

The Sweep check box lets you designate variables to include in solution indexing as a way to
permit faster post processing. Variables with Sweep unchecked are not used in solution
indexing. If a solution exists, checking or unchecking a variable's Sweep setting produces a

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warning that the change will invalidate existing solutions. To continue, click OK to dismiss the
warning dialog.

If a variable has dependent variables, the Sweep check box is disabled and cannot be changed.

11. Click OK.

The new variable can now be assigned to a parameter value in the design in which it was created.

Related Topics

Add Array of Values for a Design Variable

Editing a Design Variable

Deleting Design Variables

Deleting Project Variables

Defining an Expression

Defining Mathematical Functions

Exporting Variables for Documentation

Sweeping a Variable in a Report

Add Array of Values for a Design Variable 

A design variable is associated with an HFSS design. You can also add a variable defined with an
array of values.

1. Click HFSS or HFSS-IE>Design Properties.

l Alternatively, right-click the design name in the Project Tree, then on the shortcut menu,
click Design Properties.

From the Local Variables tab of the Properties dialog, you can Add, Add Array, Edit, Remove or
Convert variables. This section describes the Add command. Use the following links for
descriptions of: Add Array, Edit, Remove and Convert.

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Existing Design variables are listed in the Properties dialog. The name of each design variable
is followed in a row by entries for Value, Unit, Evaluated Value, Type, Description, Read-only
and Hidden. A Show Hidden check box on the lower right of the Properties dialog controls the
appearance of any Hidden variables.

Initially, you leave the radio button with Value selected until you have defined a variable. The
other radio buttons let you enable regular variables for Optimization, Tuning, Sensitivity or
Statistics. Array variables cannot be enabled for Optimetrics use.

2. Click the Add Array... button.

The Add Array dialog displays.

3. Specify a variable Name in the text field.

4. Select a Unit Type and Units from the drop-down menus.

5. To specify the array with Edit in Grid Selected, you can begin by clicking the Append
Rows... button to display the Number of Rows dialog. (For Edit in plain text field, see
below.)

6. Specify a value and click OK.

This displays a list of indexed data rows in the Add Array dialog. You can type any data value in
the cells. If you enter alphanumeric text, in a cell it must be delimited by double quotes. You can

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edit the rows relative a row selection by clicking buttons to Add Row Above, Add Row Below, or
Remove Row. All cells must contain a value.

7. When you have completed the array, click OK to close the dialog,

The Array variable is listed in the Design Properties dialog as a Local Variable. The array
variable value field includes the array contents in brackets with the unindexed data values
delimited by commas.

If you elected to edit the array Edit in plain text field in the Add Array dialog, the bracketed
and comma delimited format is used.

Related Topics

Design Variables

Editing a Design Variable

Deleting Design Variables

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Deleting Project Variables

Defining an Expression

Defining Mathematical Functions

Editing a Design Variable

A design variable is associated with an HFSS design. A design variable can be assigned to a
parameter value in the HFSS design in which it was created. You can also add a variable defined
with an array of values.

1. Click HFSS or HFSS-IE>Design Properties.

l Alternatively, right-click the design name in the Project Tree, then click Design
Properties on the shortcut menu. You can also access the Design variables from a menu
in the lower left corner of the following Optimization dialogs: Parametric, Optimization,
Sensitivity, Design of Experiments and Design Xplorer Setup. Click Edit Variables
and from the menu that opens select Edit Design Variables.

From the Local Variables tab of the Properties dialog, you can Add, Add Array, Edit, Remove or
Convert variables. This section describes the Add command. Use the following links for
descriptions of: Add Array, Edit, Remove and Convert.

Existing Design variables are listed in the Properties dialog. The name of each design variable
is followed in a row by entries for Value, Unit, Evaluated Value, Type, Description, Read-only
and Hidden. A Show Hidden check box on the lower right of the Properties dialog controls the
appearance of any Hidden variables.

Initially, you leave the radio button with Value selected until you have defined a variable. The
other radio buttons let you enable defined variables for

l Optimization/Design of Experiments
l Tuning, Sensitivity or Statistics. \
l Selecting one of these radio buttons add a new column to the Variable definition row for
which you can check or uncheck Include a regular variable for that kind of Optimetrics
simulation. Array variables cannot be Enabled for Optimetrics. For further discussion, see
Optimetrics.
2. Select a variable to highlight it.
3. Click the Edit button.

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For regular variables, the Edit Property dialog for that variable opens, and for array variables,
the Edit Array variable dialog for that variable opens.

4. Complete the edits and click OK to apply them.

Related Topics

Design Variables

Exporting Variables for Documentation

Deleting Design Variables

To delete a design variable:

1. Remove all references to the variable in the design, including dependent variables.
2. Save the project to erase the command history.
3. Click HFSS or HFSS-IE>Design Properties to display the Properties dialog with list of
local variables.
4. Select the variable and click Remove and from the drop-down menu, select Remove
Selected and click OK.

To remove all unused design variables (that is, not in the undo/redo command history):

1. Remove all references to unused variables in the design, including dependent variables.
2. Save the project to erase the command history.
3. Click HFSS or HFSS-IE>Design Properties to display the Properties dialog with list of
local variables.
4. Select the variable and click Remove and from the drop-down menu, select Remove All
Unused and click OK. All variables that are not in use (not in undo/redo history) are
removed.

To force remove all unused design variables:

1. Remove all references to unused variables in the design, including dependent variables.
2. Click HFSS or HFSS-IE>Design Properties to display the Properties dialog with list of
local variables.
3. Select the variable and click Remove and from the drop-down menu, select Force Remove
All Unused and click OK. A warning message asks whether you want the unapplied
changes in property dialog to be applied, and clear undo/redo history. If you select No,
nothing happens. If you select Yes, all unapplied changes are applied first, and undo/redo
history is cleared; all variables that are not used are removed (including those that are only in
undo/redo history before this command is executed).

Related Topics

Design Variables

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Deleting Project Variables

Adding Datasets
Datasets are collections of plotted data points that can be extrapolated into an equation based on
the piecewise linear makeup of the plot. Each plot consists of straight line segments whose vertices
represent their end points. A curve is fitted to the segments of the plot and an expression is derived
from the curve that best fits the segmented plot. The created expression is then used in piecewise
linear Intrinsic Functions. You can add datasets at either the Project Level or the Design level. They
can be for various purposes, including to define frequency dependent port impedances or
frequency dependent global variables, and boundary definitions. Project level datasets are used
typically for defining various material properties at the project level (applicable to all designs in the
project). Otherwise, project level datasets are not supported for design level assignment.

Design level datasets can be used in geometry entities like part commands, coordinate systems,
points, and planes. Design level datasets do not work with equation based surfaces or curves.
Design level datasets can be used directly with piecewise linear functions in expressions or
indirectly through variables that can refer to the dataset.

Design level datasets can be used in the following operations.

l Creation or edit of geometry.

When a geometry uses a dataset directly, edit dataset invalidates the solution. When a
geometry uses a variable that is defined by dataset, edit dataset does not invalidate the
solution.

l Animation based on a variable which can index in datasets.

l Copy/paste of geometry. If a part refers to a design dataset, it will be pasted to destination
design.

The following procedure describes how to add a dataset manually. You can also add datasets:

l By importing data an external tab delimited file using the Import... button.
l By using the Sheetscan tool.
1. For a Project level dataset, click Project>Datasets. For a Design level dataset, click HFSS
or HFSS-IE or HFSS 3D Layout>Design Datasets.

The Datasets dialog box appears. This lists any existing datasets for the Project or Design
level, respectively.

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2. Click Add.

The Add Dataset dialog box appears.

The dialog contains fields for the Dataset name, and a table for x- and y- coordinates. It contains
a graphic display that draws a line for the coordinates you add. It also includes buttons for the
following functions:

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l Swap X-Y Data - this swaps the x- and Y- coordinates and adjusts the graphical display.
l Import Dataset - this provides a way to import data sets from an external source. The
format is a tab separated points file. Clicking the button opens a file browser window.
l Export Dataset -- this provides a way to export the current dataset to a tab separated
points file. Clicking the button opens a file browser window.
l Add Row Above - adds a new row to the table above the selected row.
l Add Row Below - adds a new row to the table below the selected row/
l Append Row - opens a dialog that lets you specify a number of rows to add to the table.
l Delete Row - deletes the selected row or rows.
3. Optionally, type a name other than the default for the dataset in the Name text box.
4. Enter the x- and y- coordinates by one of the following methods
l Import Dataset
l Type the x- and y-coordinates for the first data point in the row labeled 1.Type the x- and
y-coordinates for the remaining data points in the dataset using the same method.

After you type a point's coordinates and move to the next row, the point is added to the plot,
adjusting the display with each newly entered point.

5. When you are finished entering the data point coordinates, click OK.

The dataset plot is extrapolated into an expression that can be used in parametric analyses,
boundary definitions, or assigned to a material property value.

Related Topics

Adding a Design Variable

Modifying Datasets

Using Piecewise Linear Functions in Expressions

Using Dataset Expressions

Using Sheetscan

Datasets Dialog Box

The Datasets dialog box provides a browsable listing of all datasets currently defined for the
project or design. A preview window displays a plot of the currently selected dataset. Controls
allow you to Add, Edit, Remove, and Clone datasets; to Import and Export characteristics data;
and to launch the SheetScan tool that you can use to extract data from graphics such as data
sheets.

Add - Opens a blank Add Dataset window in which you can define a dataset by entering data
coordinates directly, or by importing data from a file.

Edit - Opens the selected dataset in an Edit Dataset window for editing.

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Remove - Removes the selected dataset from the project.

Clone - Copies the selected dataset to an editing window for modification. The original dataset
remains intact.

Import - Opens an Import Dataset window in which you can locate and import characteristics
data from several file types including data exported from the SheetScan tool.

Export - Opens an Export Dataset window in which you can export the selected dataset to a tab-
delimited file.

SheetScan - Opens the SheetScan tool in which you can extract characteristics data from
graphics such as data sheets.

Related Topics

Adding Datasets

Importing Datasets

Editing Datasets

Cloning Datasets

Exporting Datasets

Removing Datasets

Using SheetScan

Dataset Preview Plot Properties

1. You can change the properties of various elements of the preview plot such as the major and
minor grid colors, title font, and trace line style by double-clicking the element to open its
properties dialog box.
2. Depending on the type of element selected, tabs allow you to set the Color, Font, Line
Style, Scaling, Title, and Legend properties.
3. Right-clicking inside the plot window opens a context menu containing commands to add
and delete data markers and labels, change trace type, and print the plot.
4. Click Save as Defaults to make the changes the default values.
5. Click OK to apply the changes only while the current dataset plot window is open. Click Save
as Defaults to keep the changes.

Importing Datasets
To import data for a dataset from a file:

1. For a Project level dataset, click Project>Datasets. For a Design level dataset, click HFSS
or HFSS-IE or HFSS 3D Layout>Design Datasets.

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The Datasets dialog box appears.

2. Click the Import button.

3. In the file browser window that appears, choose the tab delimited data file you wish to
import, and click OK to import the data.
4. After importing the data, you can modify it manually (see Editing Datasets).

Note You can also import a dataset in the Add Dataset and Edit Dataset windows.

Related Topics

Adding Datasets

Editing Datasets

Cloning Datasets

Exporting Datasets

Removing Datasets

Using SheetScan

Editing Datasets
1. For Project level datasets, click Project>Datasets. For a Design level dataset, click HFSS
or HFSS-IE or HFSS 3D Layout>Design Datasets.

The Datasets dialog box appears.

2. Click the dataset name you want to modify, and then click Edit.

The Edit Dataset dialog box appears.

3. Optionally, type a name other than the default for the dataset in the Name box.
4. Type new values for the data points as desired.

The plot is adjusted to reflect the revised data points.

5. When you are finished entering the data point coordinates, click OK.
6. Click Done.

Related Topics

Adding Datasets

Adding a Design Variable

Modifying Datasets

Using Piecewise Linear Functions in Expressions

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Using Dataset Expressions

Modifying Datasets
1. For Project level datasets, click Project>Datasets. For Design level datasets, click HFSS or
HFSS-IE >Design Datasets.

The Datasets dialog box appears.

2. Click the dataset name you want to modify, and then click Edit.

The Edit Dataset dialog box appears.

3. Optionally, type a name other than the default for the dataset in the Name text box.
4. Type new values for the data points as desired.

The plot is adjusted to reflect the revised data points.

5. When you are finished entering the data point coordinates, click OK.

Related Topics

Adding Datasets

Adding a Design Variable

Modifying Datasets

Using Piecewise Linear Functions in Expressions

Using Dataset Expressions

Exporting Datasets
1. For Project level datasets, click Project>DatasetsFor a Design level dataset, click HFSS or
HFSS-IE or HFSS 3D Layout>Design Datasets.

The Datasets dialog box appears.

2. Click the Export button.

The Export Dataset dialog box appears.

3. Browse to the location you want to store the exported dataset.

4. Name the file (exported datasets are tab-delimited and are given a .tab extension), and click
Save to complete the export operation.

Note You can also export a dataset in the Add Dataset and Edit Dataset windows.

Related Topics

Adding Datasets

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Importing Datasets

Editing Datasets

Cloning Datasets

Removing Datasets

Using SheetScan

Removing Datasets
1. For Project level datasets, click Project>Datasets. For a Design level dataset, click HFSS
or HFSS-IE or HFSS 3D Layout>Design Datasets.

The Datasets dialog box appears.

2. Click the dataset name you want to remove, and then click Remove.
3. When finished removing datasets, click Done.

Related Topics

Adding Datasets

Importing Datasets

Editing Datasets

Cloning Datasets

Exporting Datasets

Using SheetScan

Using SheetScan
SheetScan allows you to extract characteristics data from graphics such as data sheets which
have been scanned and saved in any of the following formats: .bmp, .dib, .jpg, .gif, .tif, .tga, .pcx,
.htm, or .html. SheetScan can be accessed at the AEDT project level under
Project>Datasets>SheetScan.

In addition to importing graphic files directly, SheetScan also can be used to browse the Internet for
datasheet information and transfer a snapshot of the web page to the SheetScan editor where you
can map axes on the image as an overlay. You can then manually add datapoints to approximate
the characteristic curve(s) on the datasheet.The sampled data can then be converted to ANSYS
Electronics Desktop format, and the extracted data exported to an ANSYS Electronics Desktop
dataset or saved to a tab-delimited file.

The process for creating a dataset using SheetScan involves four basic operations:

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l Loading a datasheet into SheetScan.

l Defining a coordinate system for the imported datasheet picture.
l Defining a characteristic curve using the datasheet picture as reference.
l Exporting the characteristic curve data to a file or to a dataset.

Related Topics

SheetScan Toolbars

SheetScan Settings

The Curve Values Window

Loading a Datasheet into SheetScan

Deleting a Datasheet Picture

Defining a SheetScan Coordinate System

Defining a Characteristic Curve in SheetScan

SheetScan Toolbars

Three toolbars are available in SheetScan. They provide convenient access to commands that are
also found in the SheetScan main menu. Toolbars can be toggled on and off via the View>Toolbar
sub-menu.

l The Standard toolbar includes access to basic Windows functions such as file Open and
Save, Cut, Copy, Paste, Print, and Help.

l The Curve toolbar contains tools for working with curve values. A pull-down menu allows
you to select the curve on which to work. Other tools allow you to: change curve settings,
change the curve’s coordinate system, and to select, append, delete, and insert points on
the active curve

l The Zoom toolbar provides tools for scaling the current view, zooming in and out, resetting

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the zoom to 100 percent, and toggling the display of the curve’s grid on and off.

Related Topics

SheetScan Settings

The Curve Values Window

Loading a Datasheet Picture into SheetScan

Deleting a Datasheet Picture

Defining a SheetScan Coordinate System

Defining a Characteristic Curve in SheetScan

SheetScan Settings

Default settings are made by choosing Options>Settings. The Settings dialog box contains
three tabs:

l The Document tab allows you to set the Width and Height of the sheet created when a
picture imported into the SheetScan editor. You can either enter the dimensions manually,
or allow SheetScan to adapt the dimensions to the picture being loaded.
l The Axis tab allows you to set the default Name, Unit of measure, Scaling factor, and
Offset value for the X and Y axes. Checking Monotonicity in X automatically prevents you
from adding consecutive data points whose X-values are not increasing.
l The Representation tab lets you choose whether to connect points on the characteristic
curve and to choose the color of the connecting line. You can also choose to display markers
for the point chosen when defining a curve, to set the color of displayed markers, and to set
the color of markers when they are selected.

Note You can also override the default settings on the Axis and Representation tabs for
individual curves (see Defining a Characteristic Curve in SheetScan).

Related Topics

Loading a Datasheet Picture into SheetScan

Defining a SheetScan Coordinate System

Defining a Characteristic Curve in SheetScan

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The Curve Values Window

The View>Curve Values menu item toggles the display of a dock-able Curve Values window
that displays the data points you place when creating a characteristic curve. Data for each curve on
a sheet is displayed on its own tab. You can manually change the X and Y values in the table to
fine-tune the characteristic curve.

Related Topics

Loading a Datasheet Picture into SheetScan

Defining a SheetScan Coordinate System

Defining a Characteristic Curve in SheetScan

Loading a Datasheet Picture into SheetScan

By default, SheetScan opens a new, blank datasheet editing window. There are two ways to load a
datasheet picture into the editor:

Loading a Datasheet Picture Directly

1. Browse directly to the datasheet picture file by choosing Picture>Load picture to open a
file browser window.
2. When you have located the desired file, click OK to load the image into the SheetScan
editor. Supported file types include: .bmp, .dib, .jpg, .gif, .tif, .tga, .pcx, .htm, and .html.

Loading a Datasheet Picture Using the HtmlViewer

1. Choose Picture>Internet to open the Sheetscan HtmlViewer.

2. Browse the Internet for the desired datasheet.
3. Resize the HtmlViewer window and adjust its scrollbars until the desired portion of the
datasheet is in view

4. Click the To SheetScan button to copy the visible contents of the HtmlViewer window
into the SheetScan editor window.

Note To hide the datasheet picture, choose Picture on the View menu.

After loading a datasheet picture into the SheetScan editor, the next step is Defining a coordinate
system for the imported picture.

Related Topics

SheetScan Toolbars

SheetScan Settings

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The Curve Values Window

Deleting a Datasheet Picture

Loading a Datasheet Picture into SheetScan

Defining a SheetScan Coordinate System

Defining a Characteristic Curve in SheetScan

Deleting a Datasheet Picture

To delete a Datasheet picture, choose Picture>Delete picture.

Warning You cannot undo this action. If you delete a picture from the SheetScan editor, you
must reload it from the source file or Internet web page.

Related Topics

Loading a Datasheet Picture into SheetScan

Defining a SheetScan Coordinate System

Use this procedure to define a coordiante system typically for a graph on a datasheet picture that
you have previously loaded into the SheetScan editor.

To define the coordinate system:

1. Select Coordinate System>New to open the Coordinate System dialog box.

2. Click the Point1 button.

The Coordinate System dialog box disappears temporarily and the cursor changes to a
crosshairs.

3. Position the cursor over a corner of the datasheet graph and click the left mouse button.

The Coordinate System dialog box reappears displaying the X- and Y-Coordinate values for
the chosen point.

4. Enter the X-Value and Y-Value for this point. Typically, these values will correspond to the
values taken from the axis scale values on the datasheet.
5. Select the desired scaling (linear, logarithmic, or decibel) for both the X and Y axes.
6. Repeat steps 2 through 4 for the Point2 and Point3 buttons.

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7. Click OK. The grid is placed in the graphic.

Note l You can edit the grid after placement either by selecting Coordinate
System>Properties from the SheetScan main menu bar, by clicking the
coordinate system icon on the Curve toolbar, or by right-clicking in the
SheetScan editing window and selecting Coordinate system from the
context menu.
l You can hide the grid by selecting Grid on the View menu, or by clicking the
grid icon on the Curve toolbar.
8. Proceed to Defining a Characteristic Curve in SheetScan.

Related Topics

SheetScan Toolbars

SheetScan Settings

Loading a Datasheet Picture into SheetScan

Defining a Characteristic Curve in SheetScan

Defining a Characteristic Curve in SheetScan

Once you have loaded a datasheet picture in the editor and have defined a coordinate system, you
can define one or more characteristic curves as follows:

1. Choose Curve>New.

The Curve Settings dialog box opens.

2. Define the properties of the curve. Refer to SheetScan Settings for a detailed explanation of
the settings you can make on the Axis and Representation tabs.
3. When finished defining curve properties, click OK.

The cursor changes to cross hairs.

4. Click the points of the characteristic which you want to capture for the dataset. The points
are connected automatically.
5. Repeat steps 1 through 4 for each additional characteristic curve you wish to define.

After characteristic curves have been defined, you can perform various operations on them. Refer
to Performing Operations on SheetScan Curves for details.

Related Topics

SheetScan Toolbars

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SheetScan Settings

The Curve Values Window

Performing Operations on SheetScan Curves

You can perform the following operations on existing characteristic curves:

l select a curve for editing

l edit a curve
l delete a curve
l change curve settings
l check if a curve is monotonically increasing along the X-axis
l export the curve data to a dataset

Selecting a SheetScan Characteristic Curve

1. To select a SheetScan curve for editing, do one of the following:

a. Select Curve>Select on the SheetScan menu bar.
b. Right-click in the editor window and choose Select Curve from the context menu.

The Select Curve dialog box opens.

2. Click the desired curve name to highlight it, then click OK to select the curve.

Note If the Curve Values window is open, you can also click the tab of the desired curve to
select it.

Related Topics

SheetScan Toolbars

SheetScan Settings

The Curve Values Window

Changing Characteristic Curve Settings

You can changes curve settings for a characteristic curve as follows:

1. Select the curve whose settings you wish to change.

2. Choose Curve>Change Settings.

The Curve Settings dialog box opens.

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2. Change the properties of the curve as desired. Refer to SheetScan Settings for a detailed
explanation of the settings you can make on the Axis and Representation tabs.
3. When finished changing curve properties, click OK.
4. Repeat steps 1 through 3 for each additional characteristic curve you wish to change.

Related Topics

SheetScan Toolbars

SheetScan Settings

The Curve Values Window

Editing a SheetScan Characteristic Curve

The following SheetScan curve editing functions are available either via the main Curve menu, the
Curve toolbar, or the editor window context menu:

l Select points — click on a point to select it. Ctrl+click selects multiple points.
l Append points — click to add data points to the end of a curve.
l Delete points — click a data point to remove it from the curve.
l Insert points — click to insert new data points between existing data points.

Related Topics

SheetScan Toolbars

SheetScan Settings

The Curve Values Window

Deleting a SheetScan Characteristic Curve

To delete a characteristic curve and all of its associated data points:

1. Select the desired curve.

2. Select Curve>Delete.

Warning You cannot undo this action. If you delete a curve and its data points from the
SheetScan editor, you must reconstruct it manually.

Importing Characteristic Data into SheetScan

SheetScan supports data import from the following file types: Simplorer Characteristic (*.mdx,
*.mda), Microsoft Access (*.mdb), Microsoft Excel (*.xls), text (*.txt), comma separated value

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(*.csv), Spice (*.out), Comtrade (*.cfg), and TEK Oscilloscope (*.dat).

1. To import characteristic curve data into SheetScan, select File>Import.

2. In the file Open dialog box, select the desired data file and click OK.
a. Selecting a .xls file containing multiple sheets opens a Table Properties dialog where
you can choose the desired sheet from a drop-down list. Otherwise, selecting a .xls file
imports the data immediately into the Add Dataset dialog box.

Note l Only the first two columns of data are imported, the left-most column
containing the X-coordinate values. The x-coordinate values for
successive data points must increase within ten significant digits. Non-
numeric entries are assigned a value of zero.
l The first row of data is assumed to contain column headings and is
ignored.
b. Selecting a .txt, .tab, or .csv file opens an Import dialog box in which you can specify
how to settings for reading the data in the file for import. You can choose the Separator
(s) and Decimal Symbol, as well as the line at which to begin the import. The dialog box
shows both the original text and the text as it would appear when imported based on the
current import settings.

When satisfied with the import settings, click OK to import the data.

A Curve Settings dialog box opens.

3. Change Curve Settings as needed and click OK to complete the data import.

The new characteristic curve is added to the current SheetScan sheet.

Exporting SheetScan Data

You can export SheetScan curve data directly to an ANSYS Electronics Desktop solver Dataset.

1. To export the curve data, choose File>Export.

2. In the Savedialog box, choose Current Curve (default) to export current curve data, or
Curves if you wish to choose the curve(s) whose data you wish to export. Choosing Curves
reveals a list box showing all of the curves available for export. Check the Export box for the
desired curves.

Note The Multidimensional Table option is not currently supported.

3. Choose Equidistant if you want to set the Start and StopX-Channel values and a Sample
Rate or Number of samples for the exported dataset(s),
4. Choose Dataset to export curve data directly to the project’s dataset file.

Note Exporting data to a file via the File button is not currently supported.

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Related Topics

Adding Datasets

Defining Mathematical Functions

A mathematical function is an expression that references another defined variable. A function's
definition can include both expressions and variables.

The following mathematical functions may be used to define expressions:

Basic /, +, -, *, mod (modulus), ** (exponentiation), - (Unary minus), == (equals), !

Functions (not), != (not equals), > (greater than), < (less than), >= (greater than equals),
<= (less than equals), && (logical and), || (logical or)
Intrinsic if, abs, exp, pow, ln (natural log), log10 (log to the base 10), sqrt
functions
Trigonometric sin, cos, tan, asin, acos, atan, sinh, cosh, tanh
expressions

The predefined variables X, Y, Z, Phi, Theta, R, and Rho must be entered as such. X, Y, and Z are
the rectangular (cartesian) coordinates. Phi, Theta, and Rho are the spherical coordinates. R is the
cylindrical radius, and Rho is the spherical radius.

If you do not specify units, all trigonometric expressions expect their arguments to be in radians,
and the inverse trigonometric functions' return values are in radians. If you want to use degrees,
you must supply the unit name deg. When the argument to a trigonometric expression is a variable,
the units are assumed to be radians. These function names are reserved and may not be used as
variable names.

As far as expression evaluation is concerned: units are conversion factors (that is, from the given
unit to SI). Note also that the evaluated value of an expression) is always interpreted as in SI units.

Related Topics

Setting Coordinate Systems

Expressing Cartesian, Cylindrical or Spherical Coordinates

Defining an Expression
Expressions are mathematical descriptions that typically contain Intrinsic Functions, such as sin(x),
and arithmetic operators, such as +, -, *, and /, well as defined variables. For example, you could
define: x_size = 1mm, y_size = x_size + sin(x_size). Defining one variable in terms of another

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makes a dependent variable. Dependent variables, though useful in many situations, cannot be the
subject of optimization, sensitivity analysis, tuning, or statistical analysis.

The Constants tab of the Project Variables dialog lists the available pre-defined constants. These
may not be reassigned a new value.

Name Value Description

abs0 -273.15 Absolute zero (C)
Boltz 1.3806503E-023 Boltzmann constant (J/K)
c0 299792458 Speed of light in vacuum (m/s)
e0 8.854187817e-012 Permittivity of vacuum (F/m)
elecq 1.602176462e-019 Electron Charge (C)
eta 376.730313461 Impedance of vacuum (Ohm)
false 0 Boolean False
g0 9.80665 Acceleration due to gravity of Earth
(m/s^2)
mathE 2.718281828 Euler's number (Napier's constant)
pi 3.14159265358979 Ratio of circle circumference to
diameter
planck 6.6260755e-034 Planck's constant (m^2*kg/s)
true 1 Boolean True
u0 1.2566370614359e-006 Permeability of vacuum (H/m)

Numerical values may be entered in ANSYS's shorthand for scientific notation. For example,
5x107 could be entered as 5e7.

Related Topics

Defining Mathematical Functions

Using Valid Operators for Expressions

Using Intrinsic Functions for Expressions

Using Piecewise Linear Functions for Expressions

Using Dataset Expressions

Handling Delta Temperature Units in Expressions

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Using Valid Operators for Expressions

The operators that can be used to define an expression or function have a sequence in which they
will be performed. The following list shows both the valid operators and the sequence in which they
are accepted (listed in decreasing precedence):

( ) parenthesis 1
! not 2
^ (or exponentiation 3
**)
(If you use "**" for exponentiation, as in previous software versions, it is automatically
changed to "^".)
- unary minus 4
* multiplication 5
/ division 5
+ addition 6
- subtraction 6
== equals 7
!= not equals 7
> greater than 7
< less than 7
>= greater than or equal to 7
<= less than or equal to 7
&& logic and 8
|| logic or 8

Related Topics

Defining an Expression

Using Intrinsic Functions in Expressions

HFSS recognizes a set of intrinsic trigonometric and mathematical functions that can be used to
define expressions. Intrinsic function names are reserved, and may not be used as variable names.

The following intrinsic functions may be used to define expressions:

Function Description Syntax

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abs Absolute value (|x|) abs(x)

sin Sine sin(x)
cos Cosine cos(x)
tan Tangent tan(x)
asin Arcsine asin(x)
acos Arccosine acos(x)
atan Arctangent (in range atan(x)
of -90 to 90 degrees)
atan2 Arctangent (in range atan2(y,x)
of -180 to 180 degrees)
asinh Hyperbolic Arcsine asinh(x)
atanh Hyperbolic Arctangent atanh(x)
sinh Hyperbolic Sine sinh(x)
cosh Hyperbolic Cosine cosh(x)
tanh Hyperbolic Tangent tanh(x)
even Returns 1 if integer part of the number is even; returns 0 even(x)
otherwise.
odd Returns 1 if integer part of the number is odd; returns 0 odd(x)
otherwise.
sgn Sign extraction sgn(x)
exp Exponential (ex) exp(x)
pow Raise to power (xy) pow(x,y)
if If if(cond_exp,true_
exp, false_exp)
pwl Piecewise Linear pwl(dataset_exp,
variable)
pwl_ Piecewise Linear for periodic extrapolation on x pwl_periodic
periodic (dataset_exp,
variable)
sqrt Square Root sqrt(x)
ln Natural Logarithm ln(x)

(The "log" function has been discontinued. If you use "log(x)" in

an expression, the software automatically changes it to "ln(x)".)
log10 Logarithm base 10 log10(x)
int Truncated integer function int(x)

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nint Nearest integer nint(x)

max Maximum value of two parameters max(x,y)
min Minimum value of two parameters min(x,y)
mod Modulus mod(x,y)
rem Fractional part (remainder) rem(x.y)

Note If you do not specify units, all trigonometric functions interpret their arguments as radians.
Likewise, inverse trigonometric functions' return values are in given in radians. When the
argument to a trigonometric expression is a variable, the units are assumed to be radians. If
you want values interpreted in degrees, supply the argument with the unit name deg.

Related Topics

Defining an Expression

Using Piecewise Linear Functions in Expressions

The following piecewise linear intrinsic functions are accepted in expressions:

pwl (dataset_expression, variable)

pwl(arrayVariable[indexVariable], variable)

pwl_periodic (dataset_expression, variable)

The pwl function interpolates along the x-axis and returns a corresponding y value. The pwl_
periodic function also interpolates along the x-axis but periodically.

You can use pwl in an expression that uses array variables and datasets for uses such as a
frequency dependent material property. (Refer to Adding Datasets for related information on
working with datasets.) For example, you specify BulkConductivity as:

pwlx($dsArr[$dsIndex], Freq) where $dsArr=["$ds1", "$ds2"]

You can create a Design Variable representing dimension xSize as pwl(arr[idx], 1)

where "arr" is an array variable and idx is an array index variable.

In this case, creating a variable named xSize with pwl(arr[idx], 1) like this:

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This value for xSize automatically opens a dialog first for the idx index variable:

And then dialogs automatically open for each dataset variable implicit for the predefined array
variable:

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Then the Design Properties dialog shows as follows:

Related Topics

Adding Datasets

Adding a Design Variable

Modifying Datasets

Using Dataset Expressions

Using Dataset Expressions

In the simplest sense a dataset is a collection of data. It can take the following form:
$ds1((x0,y0), ..., (xn,yn))

A dataset (such as $ds1) once created may be used as the first parameter to piecewise linear (pwl
and pwl_periodic) functions, and may also be assigned to variables, in which case the variable
may be used as the second parameter to pwl and pwl_periodic functions.

A dataset is generated using a series of points in a plot on the Datasets dialog box. (Refer to
Adding Datasets for related information on working with datasets.) Each plot consists of straight
line segments whose vertices represent their end points. A curve is fitted to the segments of the

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plot. This curve which best fits the segmented plot consists of the co-ordinates used in the creation
of the dataset.

The dataset thus created may be used in the piecewise linear intrinsic functions.

Note The following example aims to only inform how to perform the task of using a dataset. The
values used are arbitrary.

1. For a Project level dataset, click Project>Datasets. For a Design level dataset, click HFSS
or HFSS-IE >Design Datasets.
2. Click Add and set the Name field and Coordinates as desired and click OK.

The dataset is created.

Note By default the $ sign is assigned to the dataset even if you do not use one while naming it.

3. Go to Tools>Edit Libraries>Materials to open the Edit Libraries dialog box.

4. Click Add Material.
5. Type in the piecewise linear function and use the dataset $ds1 as shown in the figure below.
6. Click OK.

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Thus the example shows how to make a material property frequency dependent using a dataset as
the first parameter to a pwl function.

Related Topics

Adding Datasets

Adding a Design Variable

Modifying Datasets

Using Piecewise Linear Functions in Expressions

Handling Delta Temperature Units in Expressions

When Temperature and Delta Temperature quantities are used as operands to plus or minus
operations in an expression, they are handled specially. The biggest difference is an automatic unit
change of the resulting values based on the units of the operands.

l When two Temperature quantities are being subtracted (either the first or both operands
is/are temperature quantities), the result value has Delta Temperature units.
l When a Delta Temperature quantity is added or subtracted from a Temperature quantity,
the result value has Temperature units.
l Adding or subtracting two Delta Temperature quantities results in a quantity with Delta
Temperature units
l Subtracting two temperature quantities is an observable behavior change when compared
to earlier releases of ANSYS Electronics Desktop.

Temperature Units

Celcius Family

l cel, delta_cel. Legacy name for delta_cel, celdiff continues to be supported.

Kelvin Family

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l mkel, delta_mkel (milli Kelvin). Legacy name for delta_mkel, mkeldiff continues to be
supported.
l ckel, delta_ckel (centi Kelvin)
l dkel, delta_dkel (deci Kelvin)
l kel, delta_kel. Legacy name for delta_kel, keldiff continues to be supported.

Farenheit Family

l fah, delta_fah

Temperature related Use Cases

The high level legal use cases (in unit types) are

l Temperature - Temperature = DeltaTemperature

l Temperature +- DeltaTemperature = Temperature
l DeltaTemperature +- DeltaTemperature = DeltaTemperature

The minor variations in these use cases specify how the actual units (eg, Celcius is a unit of the
Temperature unit-type) are handled.

Temperature - Temperature

If they have the same unit, then the Delta Temperature unit will be a matching one

l 10 cel - 5 cel = 5 delta_cel

l 100 kel - 90kel = 10 delta_kel
l 10 fah - 1 fah = 9 delta_fah

If they have different units, they are converted to the default units for temperature difference

l 10cel - 1 kel = 9 delta_kel

Temperature +- DeltaTemperature

The resulting temperature quantity will retain the units of the Temperature quantity (first operand)

DeltaTemperature +- DeltaTemperature

l If they have the same unit, the resulting Delta Temperature quantity will retain that.
l If they have different units, the resulting Delta Temperature quantity will have the default
Delta Temperature units
l 5 delta_cel + 10 delta_cel = 15 delta_cel
l 10 delta_cel + 1 delta_kel = 11 delta_kel

All other use cases in a plus or minus arithmetic operation are physically meaningless and simply
revert back to the behavior from releases prior to ANSYS Electronics Desktop 2017, where we
convert the quantities to their SI values and then operate on the plain numbers.

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l Temperature + Temperature
l Temperature +- non-Temperature/non-Delta Temperature
l Delta Temperature +- non-Temperature/non-Delta Temperature
l non-Temperature/non-Delta Temperature +- Delta Temperature
l non-Temperature/non-Delta Temperature +- Temperature

Related Topics

Adding Datasets

Adding a Design Variable

Modifying Datasets

Using Dataset Expressions

Assigning Variables 
To assign a variable to a parameter in HFSS:

l Type the variable name or mathematical expression in place of a parameter value in a Value
text box.

If you typed a variable name that has not been defined, the Add Variable dialog box
will appear, enabling you to define the design variable.

If you typed a variable name that included the $ prefix, but that has not been defined,
the Add Variable dialog box will appear, enabling you to define the project variable.

Note You can assign a variable to nearly any design parameter assigned a numeric value in
HFSS. See the HFSS online help about the specific parameter you want to vary to
determine if can be assigned a variable.

Related Topics

Working with Variables

Choosing a Variable to Optimize

Before a variable can be optimized, you must specify that you intend for it to be used during an
optimization analysis in the Properties dialog box.

1. If the variable is a design variable, do the following: Click HFSS or HFSS-IE>Design

Properties. You can also access the Design variables from a menu in the lower left corner
of the following Optimization dialogs: Parametric, Optimization, Sensitivity, Design of
Experiments and Design Xplorer Setup. Click Edit Variables and from the menu select
Edit Design Variables.

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If the variable is a project variable, do the following: Click Project>Project Variables. You can
also access the Project variables from a menu in the lower left corner of the following
Optimization dialogs: Parametric, Optimization, Sensitivity, Design of Experiments and
Design Xplorer Setup. Click Edit Variables and from the menu select Edit Project
Variables.

The Properties dialog box appears.

2. Click the tab that lists the variable you want to optimize.
3. Click the row containing the variable you want to optimize.

Note Dependent variables cannot be optimized.

4. Select the Optimization/Design of Experiments option above.

5. For the variable you want to optimize, select Include.

The selected variable will now be available for optimization in an Optimetrics setup defined in
the current design or project.

Note Complex numbers are not allowed for variables to be used in an Optimetrics sweep, or for
optimization, statistical, sensitivity or tuning setups.

6. Optionally, override the default minimum and maximum values that Optimetrics will use for
the variable in every optimization analysis. During optimization, the optimizer will not
consider variable values that lie outside of this range.

Related Topics

Setting up an Optimization Analysis

Including a Variable in a Sensitivity Analysis

Before a variable can be included in a sensitivity analysis, you must specify that you intend for it to
be used during a sensitivity analysis in the Properties dialog box.

1. If the variable is a design variable, do the following: Click HFSS or HFSS-IE>Design

Properties. You can also access the Design variables from a menu in the lower left corner
of the following Optimization dialogs: Parametric, Optimization, Sensitivity, Statistical,
Design of Experiments and Design Xplorer Setup. Click Edit Variables and from the
menu select Edit Design Variables.

If the variable is a project variable, do the following: Click Project>Project Variables. You can
also access the Project variables from a menu in the lower left corner of the following
Optimization dialogs: Parametric, Optimization, Sensitivity, Statistical, Design of
Experiments and Design Xplorer Setup. Click Edit Variables and from the menu select
Edit Project Variables.

The Properties dialog box appears.

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2. Click the tab that lists the variable you want to include in the sensitivity analysis.
3. Click the row containing the variable you want to include in the sensitivity analysis.

Note Dependent variables cannot be included in a sensitivity analysis.

4. Select the Sensitivity option above.

5. For the variable you want to include in the sensitivity analysis, select Include.

The selected variable will now be available for sensitivity analysis in a sensitivity setup defined in
the current design or project.

Note Complex numbers are not allowed for variables to be used in an Optimetrics sweep, or for
optimization, statistical, sensitivity or tuning setups.

6. Optionally, override the default minimum and maximum values that Optimetrics will use for
the variable in every sensitivity analysis. During sensitivity analysis, Optimetrics will not
consider variable values that lie outside of this range.
7. Optionally, override the default initial displacement value that Optimetrics will use for the
variable in every sensitivity analysis. During sensitivity analysis, Optimetrics will not consider
a variable value for the first design variation that is greater than this step size away from the
starting variable value.

Related Topics

Setting up a Sensitivity Analysis

Choosing a Variable to Tune

Before a variable can be tuned, you must specify that you intend for it to be tuned in the Properties
dialog box.

1. If the variable is a design variable, do the following: Click HFSS or HFSS-IE>Design

Properties. You can also access the Design variables from a menu in the lower left corner
of the following Optimization dialogs: Parametric, Optimization, Sensitivity, Statistical,
Design of Experiments and Design Xplorer Setup. Click Edit Variables and from the
menu select Edit Design Variables.

If the variable is a project variable, do the following: Click Project>Project Variables. You can
also access the Design variables from a menu in the lower left corner of the following
Optimization dialogs: Parametric, Optimization, Sensitivity, Statistical, Design of
Experiments and Design Xplorer Setup. Click Edit Variables and from the menu select
Edit Project Variables.

The Properties dialog box appears.

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2. Click the tab that lists the variable you want to tune.
3. Click the row containing the variable you want to tune.

Note Dependent variables cannot be tuned.

4. Select the Tuning option above.

5. For the variable you want to tune, select Include.

Note Complex numbers are not allowed for variables to be used in an Optimetrics sweep,
or for optimization, statistical, sensitivity or tuning setups.

6. Click OK.

The selected variable will now be available for tuning in the Tune dialog box.

Related Topics

Produce Derivatives for Selected Variables

Tuning a Variable

Example Projects: Tune a Coax Fed Patch Antenna

Including a Variable in a Statistical Analysis

Before a variable can be included in a statistical analysis, you must specify that you intend for it to
be used during a statistical analysis in the Properties dialog box.

1. If the variable is a design variable, do the following: Click HFSS or HFSS-IE>Design

Properties. You can also access the Design variables from a menu in the lower left corner
of the following Optimization dialogs: Parametric, Optimization, Sensitivity, Statistical,
Design of Experiments and Design Xplorer Setup. Click Edit Variables and from the
menu select Edit Design Variables.

If the variable is a project variable, do the following: Click Project>Project Variables. You can
also access the Project variables from a menu in the lower left corner of the following
Optimization dialogs: Parametric, Optimization, Sensitivity, Statistical, Design of
Experiments and Design Xplorer Setup. Click Edit Variables and from the menu select
Edit Project Variables.

The Properties dialog box appears.

2. Click the tab that lists the variable you want to include in the statistical analysis.
3. Click the row containing the variable you want to include in the statistical analysis.

Note Dependent variables cannot be included in a statistical analysis.

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4. Select the Statistical option above.

5. For the variable you want to include in the statistical analysis, select Include.

The selected variable will now be available for statistical analysis in a statistical setup defined in
the current design or project.

Note Complex numbers are not allowed for variables to be used in an Optimetrics sweep, or for
optimization, statistical, sensitivity or tuning setups.

6. Optionally, override the distribution criteria that Optimetrics will use for the variable in every
statistical analysis.

Related Topics

Setting up a Statistical Analysis

Exporting Variables for Documentation

By right-clicking in the Project Variables dialog, you can copy a a list of variables and their values to
the clipboard. You can then paste these variables elsewhere.

The pasted variables appear in a tab separated column format. Fields that do not contain values
are left blank.:

Name Value Unit "Evaluated Value "Description Read-only Hidden

$width 14.8570192 mm 14.8570192mm false false
$length 7.824547736 mm 7.824547736mm false false
$height 0.45*$width 6.68565864mm false false

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Related Topics

Assigning Variables

Viewing Variables
At any time within the desktop, you can select View>Variables, and this will pop-up a secondary
window of all the defined variables. This window is persistent while you edit the properties of an
object, so you can see what variables have already been defined.

Variable Types and Scoping

Variables of three types can be defined: project variables, local variables, and parameter defaults.

l A project variable is available across all hierarchical levels of a project, and can be identified
by its dollar sign ($) prefix, as in $C1. If, for instance, a project variable $C1 has been defined
as equal to 4.32pF, a capacitance property for a component anywhere in that project can be
set equal to 4.32pF by typing $C1 in the appropriate Value field.
l A local variable is available only within the design for which it is defined. If, for example, a
local variable R2 has been defined as equal to 4316Ohms, a resistance property anywhere
in that design can be set equal to 4316Ohms by entering R2 in the appropriate Value field. A
local variable takes the same value across multiple instances of a design. If three subcircuit
instances contain a local variable R2 that is defined as 4316Ohms, redefining R2 as
1625Ohms in any of the instances redefines R2 as equal to 1625Ohms in all three instances.

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l A parameter default is a local variable with a default value that can be overridden in
instances of a design. For example, if three subcircuit instances contain a parameter default
C1 that is defined as equal to 11.3pF, C1 may be overridden as 11.8pF in the first instance,
overridden as 10.9pF in the second, and left at its default value of 11.3pF in the third. A
property value that has been set by means of a parameter default is called a passed
parameter.

If you define a variable as an expression that evaluates to a constant, whether a project, local or
parameter variable, the expression will be retained in the variable list, rather than being evaluated
and replaced with a constant. This allows you to identify and modify the expression in the future.

Note Whether you are defining project, local, or parameter variables, intrinsic names (f, freq, lb,
etc) are reserved and cannot be used or entered into the source and port dialogs. See
Reserved Variable Names for details.

Note The Nexxim netlist project type does not automatically reference project variables or
intrinsic variables. For a netlist created or read in without a schematic representation,
variables must be specifically defined.

Scoping

The concept of the project space throughout which a variable applies is known as scoping. A
project variable has global scope; local variables and parameter defaults have local scope. A third
type of scoping, parent scope, is possible. In parent scoping, variables defined in a design are
available within it and its subdesigns; that is, a subdesign inherits variables defined for its parent.
HFSS does not support parent scoping, with one important exception: Local variables and
parameter defaults have parent scope within libraries.

Defining Project Variables

To define a new project variable:

1. Do one of the following:

l In the project tree, right-click the icon for the project to which you want to add a project
variable, then click Project Variables.
l In the project tree, select the icon for the project to which you want to add project
variables. Then, on the Project menu, click Project Variables.
l In the lower left corner of the following Optimization dialogs: Parametric, Optimization,
Sensitivity, Statistical, Design of Experiments and Design Xplorer Setup, click
Edit Variables and from the menu select Edit Project Variables.

The Properties dialog appears.

By default, the Project Variables tab is displayed, but two additional tabs are available: Intrinsic
Variables and Constants. The Intrinsic Variables tab displays reserved system-defined
variables that are used by various ANSYS tools. See Reserved Variable Names for details. The

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Constants tab displays the names and values of predefined numeric constants that can be used
wherever valid number values are used.

2. Click Add. The Add Property dialog box appears.

In the Name box, type a variable name.

Project variable names must start with the symbol $ followed by a letter. Variable names may
include alphanumeric characters and underscores ( _ ). The names of Intrinsic Functions and
the pre-defined constant pi (π) cannot be used as variable names. For more information see
Reserved Variable Names.

3. In the Unit Type text box you can use the drop down menu to select from the list of available
unit types. “None” is the default.

When you select a Unit Type, the choices in the drop down menu for the Units text box adapt to
that unit type. For example, selecting Length as the Unit Type causes the Unit menu to show a
range of metric and english units for length. Similarly, if you select the Unit Type as Resistance,
the Units drop down lists a range of standard Ohm units.

4. In the Value text box, type the quantity that the variable represents. If you did not specify the
Unit Type and Unit, you can also optionally include the units of measurement.

Warning If you include the variable’s units in its definition in the Value text box, do not
include the variable’s units when you enter the variable name for a parameter
value.

The quantity can be a numerical value, a mathematical expression, or a mathematical function.

The quantity entered will be the current, (or default) value for the variable. If the mathematical
expression includes a reference to an existing variable, this variable is treated as a dependent
variable. The units for a dependent variable will automatically change to those of the
independent variable on which the value depends. Additionally, dependent variables, though
useful in many situations, cannot be the direct subject of optimization/Design of Experiments,
sensitivity analysis, tuning, or statistical analysis.

5. Click OK or press Enter.

6. In the Properties dialog, you may click Add Array to Define Array Variables.
7. Do either of the following:
l To add another project variable, click Add.
l To finish adding project variables, click OK.

Note A $ character is prepended to each project variable name you specify. The $ symbol
becomes an essential part of the project variable name and must be included whenever
you specify an existing project variable as a parameter value.

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Defining Local Variables

You can start defining a new local variable from inside a component, or at the design level.

Related Topics

Defining a New Local Variable from a Component

Defining a New Local Variable by Starting at the Design Level

Defining Array Variables

Defining Fixed Variables

Defining a New Local Variable from a Component

To define a new local variable from a component:

1. Display the properties of the component that will use the local variable you want to define:
a. Double-click the component, or select the component and click Edit > Properties or
Right-Click > Properties. The Properties dialog box opens.
b. Click the Parameter Values tab.
c. Click Value.
2. Click in the Value field for the parameter you want to set equal to the local variable.
3. Type the variable name. The name may not duplicate a reserved (intrinsic) variable name.
See Reserved Variable Names for details.
4. Click Add. The Add Property dialog box appears.

In the Name box, type a variable name.

Project variable names must start with the symbol $ followed by a letter. Variable names may
include alphanumeric characters and underscores ( _ ). The names of Intrinsic Functions and
the pre-defined constant pi (π) cannot be used as variable names. For more information see
Reserved Variable Names.

5. In the Unit Type text box you can use the drop down menu to select from the list of available
unit types. “None” is the default.

When you select a Unit Type, the choices in the drop down menu for the Units text box adapt to
that unit type. For example, selecting Length as the Unit Type causes the Unit menu to show a
range of metric and English units for length. Similarly, if you select the Unit Type as Resistance,
the Units drop down lists a range of standard Ohm units.

6. In the Value text box, type the quantity that the variable represents. If you did not specify the
Unit Type and Unit, you can also optionally include the units of measurement.

Warning If you include the variable’s units in its definition in the Value text box, do not

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include the variable’s units when you enter the variable name for a parameter
value.

The quantity can be a numerical value, a mathematical expression, or a mathematical function.

The quantity entered will be the current, (or default) value for the variable. If the mathematical
expression includes a reference to an existing variable, this variable is treated as a dependent
variable. The units for a dependent variable will automatically change to those of the
independent variable on which the value depends. Additionally, dependent variables, though
useful in many situations, cannot be the direct subject of optimization, sensitivity analysis,
tuning, or statistical analysis.

7. Click LocalVariable.
8. Click OK or press Enter.
9. In the Properties dialog, you may click Add Array to Define Array Variables..
10. Do either of the following:
l To add another local variable, click Add.
l To stop adding local variables, click OK or press Enter.

Defining a New Local Variable by Starting at the Design Level

To define a new local variable by starting at the design level:

1. In the project tree, right-click the design for which you want to define a local variable.
2. Select Design Properties.
3. Click the Local Variables tab.
4. Click Add. The Add Property dialog box appears.

In the Name box, type a variable name.

Project variable names must start with the symbol $ followed by a letter. Variable names may
include alphanumeric characters and underscores ( _ ). The names of Intrinsic Functions and
the pre-defined constant pi (π) cannot be used as variable names. For more information see
Reserved Variable Names.

5. In the Unit Type text box you can use the drop down menu to select from the list of available
unit types. “None” is the default.

When you select a Unit Type, the choices in the drop down menu for the Units text box adapt to
that unit type. For example, selecting Length as the Unit Type causes the Unit menu to show a
range of metric and english units for length. Similarly, if you select the Unit Type as Resistance,
the Units drop down lists a range of standard Ohm units.

6. In the Value text box, type the quantity that the variable represents. If you did not specify the
Unit Type and Unit, you can also optionally include the units of measurement.

Warning If you include the variable’s units in its definition in the Value text box, do not

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include the variable’s units when you enter the variable name for a parameter
value.

The quantity can be a numerical value, a mathematical expression, or a mathematical function.

The quantity entered will be the current, (or default) value for the variable. If the mathematical
expression includes a reference to an existing variable, this variable is treated as a dependent
variable. The units for a dependent variable will automatically change to those of the
independent variable on which the value depends. Additionally, dependent variables, though
useful in many situations, cannot be the direct subject of optimization, sensitivity analysis,
tuning, or statistical analysis.

7. Click OK or press Enter.

8. In the Properties dialog, you may click Add Array to Define Array Variables.
9. Do either of the following:
l To add another local variable, click Add or press Enter.
l To stop adding local variables, click OK.

Defining Array Variables

You can define array variables that contain numbers or strings. Number array variables can be
used in component property expressions, while string array variables can be used in certain
component property values. To define an array variable, first use either of the following methods to
define either a Local variable or a Project variable:

l Defining Local Variables — To define a local variable, in the Project menu, right-click the
project name and select Project Variables.
l Defining Project Variables — To define a project variable, in the Project menu, right-click
the design name and select Design Properties.

This will open a Properties dialog.

After opening a Properties dialog to define either a local variable or a project variable, click Add,
and the Add Property dialog opens:

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1. Enter an array variable Name.

2. Choose the Variable radio button.
3. Place a value in the in Value box, separated by commas between square brackets.

After being defined, a variable will be shown in the Variables tab of the Property dialog and also in
the Properties window.

To add an array variable, click Add Array in the Properties dialog and the Add Array dialog
opens:

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Use the control buttons at right to add, delete, and reposition rows in the value grid at left. The
default is Edit in grid, but you may select Edit in plain text field. Note, however, that quotation
marks (“ ”) are required as delimeters when array values are entered in either the grid or text field.
Click OK when you have finished entering values.

To edit an existing array variable, select the array in the Properties dialog and click Edit and the
following dialog opens:

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You can also edit existing array variable properties in either the Property dialog or Properties
window:

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If the array variable contains numbers, it can be used in a component property expression
wherever a constant is used — as long as the array variable possesses an index that is enclosed in
square brackets. Note that the EvaluatedValue column of the Properties window shows the
current value for the property expression.

Adding Text Array Variables

You can also add an array variable that contains a string, also known as a text array variable:

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To define a text array variable, in the properties field of a component that allows variable
references, enter a plus sign prefix to the variable (“+”). This prefix distinguishes variable usage
from a simple string:

In contrast, the following is an example of the usage for a simple string:

Note Text array variables can be used in certain component property values, but not all, and
cannot be combined with operators to form more complex expressions.

The index for a text array variable reference can either be a constant (1) or can be an index (ii) or
even an expression (ii + 1). This allows you to sweep the index and simulate for different values
that are stored in the array variable itself. In particular, it also enables you to sweep different text
strings. This allows you to set a property to different string values as the index is swept. Following
are the properties that currently allow text array variables:

l V_PRBS
l V_PRBS_JITTER
l V_PRBSD
l V_PRBSG_JITTER
l V_PSK
l V_QAM
l V_CPM

Text Array Variable references can also be entered into the fields of the Bit pattern data dialog
that opens when you click the Bit Pattern button property of the Parameter Values Tab in the
Property Window. For example, this applies to various components found in the "Nexxim Circuit
Elements/Independent Sources" component library, such the EYESOURCE component:

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You may enter text array variable references in either of the following fields shown above:

l Choose file containing the bitlist

l Enter list of random bits

Text and ValueMenu Property Types

You can also create new components that have properties with text array variable references.
Entering an expression prefixed with plus sign (“+”) is interpreted as a text array variable reference.
The two property types that support this behavior are "Text" and "ValueMenu" — choices in the
AddProperty dialog that are shown when editing Component properties:

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This property will also allow you to enter text into the edit box at the top of the pull-down menu:

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Defining Fixed Variables

By default, both Design variables and Project variables are included in the list of variables that
index solution data. As a result, they are then visible when selecting data to be displayed in plots.
But if you define a variable as being "fixed", it is not swept and it will not index solution data.
Consequently, defining variables as being fixed can speed up simulation — particularly if there are
many variables to simulate.

To define a variable as being "fixed", open the Property dialog for Project variables or Local
variables. These dialogs contain an additional Sweep column that controls whether the variable is
fixed.

l If a Sweep check box is checked (default) the corresponding variable is NOT fixed
l If a Sweep check box is unchecked, the variable is fixed.

Sweeps can be defined in the Analysis folder for each simulation setup, and the setup dialog will
contain the list of variables being swept.

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Click the Add button to open an Add Sweep dialog that lets you select from a drop-down list of
non-fixed variables.

Orphaned Sweeps

If you create a simulation setup that contains a sweep of a variable, and then subsequently
uncheck the variable's Sweep check box, the variable becomes fixed and as a result, its sweep is
"orphaned". The sweep is removed from the setup and the simulation runs as if the sweep did not
exist.

l When you close the Property dialog, a warning message is added to the MessageWindow
for each orphaned sweep.
l If you re-edit an orphaned variable in the Property dialog and re-check its Sweep box, the
orphaned sweep will be restored to the setup list.
l If you double-click a setup that contains orphaned sweeps, a popup dialog asks if you want
to delete the orphaned sweeps. If you respond Yes, all orphaned sweeps are deleted when
the Property dialog is closed — even if you re-check a Sweep check box, its orphaned
sweep will NOT be restored — and this action is undoable.
l Note that orphaned sweeps are not written to disk when the project is saved, so once you
save a project and close it, any orphaned sweeps are permanently lost.

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Defining Parameter Defaults

You can start defining a new parameter default from inside a component, or at the design level.
The current local values of a design’s parameter defaults appear in the design’s Passed
Parameters list.

Related Topics

Defining a New Parameter Default from a Component

Defining a New Parameter Default by Starting at the Design Level

Defining a New Parameter Default from a Component

To define a new parameter default from a component:

1. Display the properties of the component that will use the parameter default you want to
define:
a. Double-click the component, or select the component and click Edit > Properties or
Right-Click > Properties. The Properties dialog box opens.
b. Click the Parameter Values tab.
c. Click Value.
2. Click in the Value field for the parameter you want to set equal to the parameter default.
3. Type the variable name.
4. Click OK or press Enter. The Add Variable dialog box appears.
5. Click Definition Parameter.
6. Type a valid numerical quantity in the Value box.
7. Click OK or press Enter.
8. Do either of the following:
l To add another parameter default, click Add.
l To stop adding parameter defaults, click OK or press Enter.

Defining a New Parameter Default by Starting at the Design Level

To define a new parameter default by starting at the design level:

1. In the project tree, right-click the design for which you want to define a parameter default.
2. Select Design Properties.
3. Select the Parameter Defaults tab.
4. Select Value.
5. Click Add. The Add Property dialog box opens.
6. Select Variable.
7. In the Name box, type a variable name.

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8. In the Value box, type a valid numerical quantity.

9. Click OK or press Enter.
10. Do either of the following:
l To add another parameter default, click Add or press Enter.
l To stop adding parameter defaults, click OK.

Reserved Variable Names

When you define a new Project Variable or Local Variable, the name you assign must not be the
same as one of the reserved variable names listed on the Intrinsic Variables tab. To view the list
of reserved variable names, open the Project pulldown menu in the top menu bar (or right-click on
the name of a Nexxim Circuit or Planar EM project), select Project Variables, and then click the
Intrinsic Variables tab:

Viewing and Editing Local Variables

To view the local variables defined for a design In the Properties window, click the Variables tab.

Or In the Project Tree, right-click the design for which you want to view local variables and select
Design Properties. Then, in the Properties dialog box that opens, click the Local Variables tab
and then click Value.

To edit a local variable:

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1. Click its Value cell.

2. Type a valid numerical value.
3. Do one of the following:
l To commit the new value and continue editing variables, click another variable value.
l To commit the new value and add a new local variable, click Add. (This command is not
available in the Properties window.)
l To commit the new value and stop editing variables, click OK or press Enter.

Viewing and Editing Parameter Defaults

Editing the value assigned to a parameter default changes the default value of the parameter
default across all subdesign instances in which the parameter default is available.

To view the parameter defaults defined for a design, do either of the following:

l Option1
1. In the project tree, right-click the design for which you want to view parameter
defaults.
2. Select Design Properties. The Properties dialog box opens.
3. Click the Parameter Defaults tab.
4. Click Value.
l Option 2
1. In the project tree, right-click the design for which you want to view parameter
defaults.
2. In the Properties window, click the Param Defaults tab.

To edit a parameter default:

1. Click its Value cell.

2. Type a valid numerical value.
3. Do one of the following:
l To commit the new value and stop editing parameters, click OK or press Enter.
l To commit the new value and add a new parameter default, click Add. (This command is
not available in the Properties window.)
l To commit the new value and continue editing parameters, click another parameter value.

Note To uniquely override the local value of a parameter default on different instances of a
subdesign, see Overriding Parameter Default Values. The current local values of a
design’s parameter defaults appear in the design’s Design Passed Parameters list.

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Overriding Parameter Default Values

Overriding the default value of a parameter default in a subdesign instance changes the value of
the parameter default in that instance only, and is not the same as redefining the parameter default.

Note To redefine a parameter default, see the Viewing and Editing Parameter Defaults topic.

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3 - Assigning Materials
You can add, remove, and edit materials in two main ways:

l Using the Tools>Edit Libraries>Materials menu command.

l Right-clicking Materials in the project tree and selecting Edit All Libraries.

Editing definitions from the project window does not modify the configured libraries for any
particular design. To consider the current design, use the Tools>Edit Libraries option. Doing so
ensures that new libraries are added to the configured list for the current design. If you edit
materials from this command for the current and then export them, they will also be available to
assign to objects in other designs.

To assign a material to an object, follow this general procedure:

1. Select the object to which you want to assign a material.

2. Click Modeler>Assign Material or select the Material field in the Properties window
for the selected object, and select Edit... from the drop down menu:

The Select Definition window appears. The current material is highlighted, with the Name,
Location, Origin library, and parameter values shown.

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When the Show all libraries check box is selected, the window lists all of the materials in
ANSYS Electronics Desktop's global material library as well as the project’s local material
library

The Origin column shows the originating library for each material, whether the SysLibrary, or one
of the additional libraries listed in the Libraries pane. For further information on the materials and
their intended uses, you can refer to the published information on materials from those libraries.
For example, the Schott materials are described in detail in the Wily Series in Materials for
Electronic & Optoelectronic Applications, Microwave Dielectric Materials and Applications, edited
by M. T. Sebastian, Rick Ubic, and Heli Jantunen, volumes 1 and 2.

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You can also open the Select Definition window in one of the following ways:

l In the Properties dialog box for the object, click the material name under the Attributes
tab. A drop-down menu shows an Edit... button that opens the Select Definition
window.

The menu also lists materials included in the current project. Selecting one of these materials
provides another way to assign materials to an object.

l Right-click Model in the project tree, and then click Assign Material on the shortcut
menu.
l Right-click the object in the history tree, and then click Assign Material on the shortcut
menu.
3. Select a material from the list.

Note You can search the listed materials by name or property value.

If the material you want to assign is not listed, add a new material to the global or local material
library, and then select it.

4. Click OK.

The material you chose is assigned to the object.

Note For HFSS-IE, problems with dielectrics will generally run more slowly, so HFSS-IE issues
a warning for this case. In HFSS-IE:

l Only isotropic materials are allowed

l Frequency dependent materials are allowed.
l No spatial dependent materials are allowed.
l You cannot set background material in the solver. Solver assumes vacuum as
background material.
Note In the history tree, by default, objects are grouped by material. To change the default, click
Modeler and click Group Objects by Material.

If you have checked Show Material Colors on the Filtering Materials tab, the Select Definition
window, Materials tab includes a column showing Color.

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You can edit the color and transparency values for materials in the View/Edit Material dialog.

Related Topics

Solve Inside or On a Surface

Assigning DC Thickness

Searching for Materials

Adding New Materials

Assigning Material Property Types

Defining Variable Material Properties

Defining Frequency Dependent Material Properties

Auto-Complete for Variables and Properties in Electronics Desktop

Spatially Dependent Materials in HFSS

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Advanced Complex Material Properties and Models

Specifying Thermal Modifiers

Defining Material Properties as Expressions

Defining Functional Material Properties

Viewing and Modifying Material Attributes

Validating Materials

Copying Materials

Removing Materials

Export Materials to a Library

Sorting Materials

Filtering Materials

Working with Materials Libraries

Setting the Temperature of Objects

Importing and Converting Materials in Q3D

Solving Inside or on the Surface

When you assign a material to an object, you can specify whether to generate a field solution inside
the object or on the surface of the object. If you elect to generate a solution inside the object, a
mesh is created inside the object and generate a solution from the mesh. If you elect to generate a
solution on the surface of the object, only a surface mesh is created for the object.

If you want a solution to be generated inside an object, select Solve Inside in the Properties
window. Conversely, if you want a solution to only be generated on the surface of an object, clear
the Solve Inside option in the Properties window.

By default, Solve Inside is selected for all objects with a bulk conductivity less than 105
siemens/meter and for perfect insulators. By default, the Solve Inside option in the Properties
window is clear for perfect conductors.

To change the threshold for solving inside objects, do the following:

1. Click Tools>Options> HFSS or Q3D Extractor.

2. Select Materials and enter a new value in the Solve Inside threshold text box.

A finite conductivity boundary condition is placed on the surfaces of an object that should not be
solved inside based on the material properties of that object. You can also incorporate a DC

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Thickness for the implicit boundary condition by setting an appropriate thickness value as
described in Assigning DC Thickness.

Related Topics

Assigning DC Thickness

Assigning DC Thickness
You can select the Assign DC Thickness option to more accurately compute DC resistance of a
thin conducting object for which Solve Inside is not selected. Skin impedance of the object will be
calculated using the defined finite thickness, which can be Automatic (the default), Manually
assigned per object, or Infinite per object. This option also exists for finite conductivity boundaries.

The Assign DC Thickness option on the Boundaries menu is enabled if at least one object
contains a good conducting isotropic material (such as copper), and the Solve Inside property is
not selected. If the object meets these conditions, you can assign a DC thickness, either by
enabling the automatic default, or by specifying a value for a selected object.

To see the Assign DC Thickness dialog box:

1. Select HFSS or Q3D Extractor>Boundaries>Assign DC Thickness.

This displays the Thickness of Objects for DC Resistance dialog box with the DC
Thickness tab selected. Objects to which the thickness can be applied are listed in the Object
Name column.

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2. Select the objects to assign a value. You can select objects either by:
l Clicking on the Object Name to highlight it.
l Use the Select By Name field to type the object name, and click the Search button.

The first object to match the name is highlighted.

Selecting an object highlights the Thickness field and the Set Thickness button.

3. In the Use Thickness column, you can specify that the value the object uses is Automatic,
Infinite, or Manual.

You can disable automatic assignment on the Defaults tab of the Assign DC Thickness
dialog. The Automatic value is calculated as Thickness ~ 2* Volume / Surface Area

It should be noted that this is a calculation for an "effective" DC thickness to be used by the
correction calculation. For a "thin" object this will work well. For example, a rectangular
microstrip trace described by a box with dimensions 100 by 10 by 1 the volume is 1000 and the
surface area is 2022 resulting in an apparent thickness of .99891, close to the geometric
thickness of "1". For arbitrary shapes of "thicker" objects, this calculation will not work as well.
For example, a cube with sides of 1 will have volume of 1 and surface area of 6, and a resulting
apparent thickness of .3333. Another example is the case of a cylindrical wire (e.g. bond wire).

In this case, the automatic effective DC thickness will be about Ro, which gives us the best
approximation of the DC resistance of a cylindrical wire.

The intention is that the auto-thickness will provide an accurate representation the majority of
the time and is superior to not using any DC thickness setting. When the automatic value is not
appropriate, you can override it using the manual technique.

DC thickness impedance is an approximation. It is accurate just for TE/TM waves when the
widths are infinite which clearly never occurs in a "real" design. The fact that the object is finite
causes an increase of the effective impedance due to current crowding/edge effects. Thus
entering the exact geometrical thickness would actually underestimates the impedance. By
returning a DC thickness smaller than the geometric thickness the automatic DC thickness
compensates for this underestimation resulting in a slightly higher impedance as desired.

4. To manually apply a value, enter a Thickness value, select the units and click the Set
Thickness button.

This applies the value to the selected object and changes the Use Thickness selection for that
object to Manual.

Note If you enter a “0” for the thickness, HFSS gives a warning that this will cause infinite
impedance that causes isolation.

5. To change the value, select the Clear Thickness button and then enter a different value.
You can also manually select or deselect the box and manually enter or delete a thickness

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value in the table.

6. When you have assigned the values you need, click OK to close the dialog box.

Related Topics

Technical Notes:Calculating Finite Thickness Impedance

Searching for Materials

You can search for Materials in the Select Definition window, which you can open in the following

ways: Click Modeler>Assign Material or select the Material field in the Properties window
for the selected object, and select Edit... from the drop down menu:

If there is a specific material or material property value that you want to assign to an object, you can
search the materials in the Select Definition window by name or by material property.

When the Show all libraries check box is selected, the window lists all of the materials in
ANSYS Electronics Desktop's global material library as well as the project’s local material
library

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Searching by Material Name

1. Open the Select Definition window in one of the following ways: Click Modeler>Assign

Material or select the Material field in the Properties window for the selected object,
and select Edit... from the drop down menu.
2. In the Search Criteria area of the Select Definition window, select by Name.
3. In the Search Parameters area, type a material name in the Search by Name text box.

The row containing the material name most similar to the one you typed will be selected. If the
letter typed provides an exact match, the cursor moves to the right. If there is no match, the
cursor moves to the beginning of the search field. If you type a space after word, the cursor

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moves to the beginning of the search field. If the name you want to search for contains a space,
you can type the next letter after the space, backspace, and insert a space.

When the Show all libraries check box is selected, the window lists all of the materials in
ANSYS Electronics Desktop's global material library as well as the project’s local material
library

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If the selected material is not the one you are searching for, do one of the following:

l Use the keyboard’s arrow keys to scroll up or down the list of materials.
l Type a new material name in the Search by Name text box.

Searching by Material Property

1. Open the Select Definition window in one of the following ways: Click Modeler>Assign

Material or select the Material field in the Properties window for the selected object,
and select Edit... from the drop down menu.

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2. In the Search Criteria area of the Select Definition window, select by Property.

3. Select a material property from the pull-down list:

Note By default, not all of the available properties are displayed in the materials table. Only
the properties commonly used by the product are displayed. To view the complete
table of properties, see Filtering Materials.

4. In the Search Parameters area, type a value for the property in the Search by Property
text box, and then click Search.

The materials are sorted according to the value you entered. The material with the property
value closest to the one you typed will be selected.

When the Show all libraries check box is selected, the window lists all of the materials in
ANSYS Electronics Desktop's global material library as well as the project’s local material
library

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If the selected material is not the one you are searching for, do one of the following:

l Use the keyboard’s arrow keys to scroll up or down the list of materials.
l Type a new value in the Search by Property text box.

Adding New Materials

You can add a new material to a project or global user-defined material library. To make the new
project material available to all projects, you must export the material to a global user-defined
material library.

Materials are added using the View/Edit Material dialog box, which can be opened from either the
Select Definition dialog box or the Edit Libraries dialog box.

To open the Select Definition dialog box:

l Click Modeler>Assign Material.

The Select Definition dialog box appears.

To open the Edit Libraries dialog box:

l Click Tools>Edit Libraries>Materials . (In the project tree, you can also right-click
Materials, and select Edit Library.)
The Edit Libraries dialog box appears.

To add a new material:

1. From either the Select Definition dialog box or the Edit Libraries dialog box, click Add
Material.

The View/Edit Material dialog box appears.

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2. Type a name for the material in the Material Name text box, or accept the default.
3. Select one of the following from the Material Coordinate System Type pull-down list:
l Cartesian (default)
l Cylindrical
l Spherical

Note Cylindrical and spherical coordinate systems are not supported for the Icepak design
type.

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4. Use the radio buttons in the View/Edit Material for section to specify whether the new
materials apply to Active Design, Active Project, or All Properties.
l Active Design to display properties used in the active design.
l Active Project to display properties used in the active project.
l All Properties to display all properties available. This enlarges the table of properties to
show all properties possible. You can use the scroll bars or size the dialog to see all
properties. When All Properties is selected, the following Physics classification options
are enabled to show or hide properties based on simulation type:
l Electromagnetic
l Thermal
l Structural

Note If a material is edited in a design type for which the Physics type has not been set
( e.g., an HFSS design but Electromagnetic physics type was not set), the
Physics type will be automatically set in the material.

You can also enable the View/ Edit Modifier check box for Thermal Modifier. Checking this box
causes the Thermal Column to display at the right side of the Properties of the Material table.
Selecting Edit rather than None causes display of the Edit Thermal Modifier dialog.

5. Type a new name for the material in the Material Name text box or accept the default.
6. Select a material property type - Simple, Anisotropic, Tensor, or Nonlinear- for each
property from the Type pull-down list. Of the four possibilities, only those applicable to the
named material will be listed on the pull-down for type. Some properties only use the Simple
type. Others include three or four potential types.

Note By default, not all of the available properties are displayed in the materials table. Only the
properties commonly used by the product are displayed. To view the complete table of
properties, see Filtering Materials.

7. If the material is linear, enter values for the following material properties in the Value boxes:
l Relative Permeability
l Relative Permittivity
l Bulk Conductivity

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l Dielectric Loss Tangent,

l Magnetic Loss Tangent

If the material is a ferrite, enter a value greater than 0 in the Magnetic SaturationValue box. You
may also choose to enter values in the Lande G Factor and Delta HValue boxes. Because
Delta H values are measured at specific frequencies, you should also enter a - Measured
Frequency value (default 9.4 GHz).

Note You may enter a variable name or mathematical expression in the Value box.

8. If one or more of the material properties are dependent on frequency, click Set Frequency
Dependency, and then follow the directions for defining frequency dependent materials.
9. To modify the units for a material property, double-click the Units box, and then select a new
unit system.

10. For Material Appearance, you can check the box to enable the fields for you to specify a color
and transparency. Clicking the color bar opens a color selection window:

11. Clicking the Transparency box opens a Transparency dialog with a text field and slider bar
for selection.

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12. Click OK.

13. If you want to add descriptive notes for the new material, click the ellipsis button [...] by the
Notes field. This opens a dialog in which you can enter text.

14. To enter multiple lines of notes, use CTRL-Enter to start a new line. (Enter by itself will save
the Notes field and close the dialog.)

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15. Click OK or Enter to add the Notes.

16. Click OK on the View/Edit Materials dialog to add the new material to the material library.

Related Topics

Defining Variable Material Properties

Assigning Material Property Types

Defining Frequency-Dependent Material Properties

Spatially Dependent Materials in HFSS

Advanced Complex Material Properties and Models

Specifying Thermal Modifiers

Assigning Material Property Types

Material properties can be assigned using the View/Edit Material dialog, using one of the
following material property types, based on the applicability to the material property:

Simple The material is homogeneous and linear.

Anisotropic The material’s characteristics vary with direction. This models only the diagonal.
Tensor A full 3x3 matrix general tensor, which may or may not be symmetrical.
Nonlinear A BH Curve.

Select a material property type - Simple, Anisotropic, Tensor, or Nonlinear- for each property
from the Type pull-down list. Of the four possibilities, only those applicable to the named material
will be listed on the pull-down for type. Some properties only use the Simple type. Others include
three or four potential types.

If the material property is anisotropic, its characteristics are defined by its anisotropy tensor. You
must define three diagonals for anisotropic permittivity, electric loss tangent, conductivity,

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permeability, and magnetic loss tangent. Each diagonal represents a tensor of your model along an
axis.

These tensors are relative to the coordinate system specified as the object’s Orientation property.
By specifying different orientations, several objects can share the same anisotropic material but be
oriented differently.

Related Topics

Setting Coordinate Systems

Creating a Relative Coordinate System

Change the Orientation of an object

Defining Anisotropic Relative Permeability Tensors

Defining Anisotropic Relative Permittivity Tensors

Defining Anisotropic Conductivity Tensors

Defining Anisotropic Dielectric Loss Tangent Tensors

Defining Magnetic Loss Tangent Tensors

Defining Anisotropic Relative Permeability Tensors

If the material property is anisotropic, its characteristics are defined by its anisotropy tensor or a 3x3
general tensor. You must define three diagonals for anisotropic permeability Each diagonal
represents a tensor of your model along an axis.

These tensors are relative to the coordinate system specified as the object’s Orientation property.
By specifying different orientations, several objects can share the same anisotropic material but be
oriented differently.

1. In the Relative Permeability row in the View/Edit Material window, select Anisotropic
or Tensor from the Type pull-down list.

For Anisotropic, three rows named T(1,1), T(2,2) and T(3,3) are added below the Relative
Permeability row.

l Enter the relative permeability along each axis of the material’s permeability tensor in the
Value box corresponding rows: T(1,1), T(2,2), and T(3,3). This can be a simple value, a
variable, a constant, or a Nonlinear BH Curve.

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If the relative permeability is the same in all directions, use the same values for each axis.

For Tensor:

l Press the Tensor.. button in the Value column to display the Tensor Properties dialog.

l You provide values for a 3x3 matrix. If the matrix is symmetric, you can so specify in the
Tensor Properties dialog:

Related Topics

Technical Notes: Anisotropic Relative Permeability Tensors

Setting Coordinate Systems

Creating a Relative Coordinate System

Change the Orientation of an object

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Defining Anisotropic Relative Permittivity Tensors

Defining Anisotropic Conductivity Tensors

Defining Anisotropic Dielectric Loss Tangent Tensors

Defining Magnetic Loss Tangent Tensors

Defining Anisotropic Relative Permittivity Tensors

If the material property is anisotropic, its characteristics are defined by its anisotropy tensor. You
must define three diagonals for anisotropic permittivity. Each diagonal represents a tensor of your
model along an axis.

These tensors are relative to the coordinate system specified as the object’s Orientation property.
By specifying different orientations, several objects can share the same anisotropic material but be
oriented differently.

1. In the Relative Permittivity row in the View/Edit Material window, select Anisotropic or
Tensor from the Type pull-down list.

For Anisotropic:

l Three rows named T(1,1), T(2,2) and T(3,3) are added below the Relative Permittivity
row.
l Enter the material’s relative permittivity along each tensor axis in the Value box of the T
(1,1), T(2,2) and T(3,3) rows.

If the relative permittivity is the same in all directions, use the same Simple values for each axis.
These values can also be defined as variables.

For Tensor:

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l Press the Tensor.. button in the Value column to display the Tensor Properties dialog.

l You provide values for a 3x3 matrix. If the matrix is symmetric, you can so specify in the
Tensor Properties dialog.

If the relative permittivity is the same in all directions, use the same values for each axis.

These values can also be defined as variables.

Related Topics

Technical Notes: Anisotropic Relative Permittivity Tensors

Setting Coordinate Systems

Creating a Relative Coordinate System

Change the Orientation of an object

Defining Anisotropic Relative Permeability Tensors

Defining Anisotropic Conductivity Tensors

Defining Anisotropic Dielectric Loss Tangent Tensors

Defining Magnetic Loss Tangent Tensors

Defining Anisotropic Conductivity Tensors

If the material conductivity property is anisotropic, its characteristics are defined by its anisotropy
tensor. You must define three diagonals for anisotropic conductivity. Each diagonal represents a
tensor of your model along an axis.

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These tensors are relative to the coordinate system specified as the object’s Orientation property.
By specifying different orientations, several objects can share the same anisotropic material but be
oriented differently.

1. In the Bulk Conductivity row in the View/Edit Material window, select Anisotropic or
Tensor from the Type pull-down list.

For Anisotropic:

l Three rows named T(1,1), T(2,2) and T(3,3) are added below the Bulk Conductivity
row.

l Enter the material’s conductivity along each tensor axis in the Value box of the T(1,1), T
(2,2) and T(3,3) rows.

If the relative permittivity is the same in all directions, use the same Simple values for each axis.
These values can also be defined as variables.

For Tensor:

l Press the Tensor.. button in the Value column to display the Tensor Properties dialog.

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l You provide values for a 3x3 matrix. If the matrix is symmetric, you can so specify in the
Tensor Properties dialog.

The values of the conductivity along the first and second axis apply to all axes that lie in the xy
cross-section being modeled. The values of the conductivity along the third axis applies to the z-
component. These values affect current flowing in dielectrics between the conductors.

These values can also be defined as variables.

Related Topics

Technical Notes: Anisotropic Conductivity Tensors

Setting Coordinate Systems

Creating a Relative Coordinate System

Change the Orientation of an object

Defining Anisotropic Relative Permeability Tensors

Defining Anisotropic Relative Permittivity Tensors

Defining Anisotropic Dielectric Loss Tangent Tensors

Defining Magnetic Loss Tangent Tensors

Defining Anisotropic Dielectric Loss Tangent Tensors

If the material property is anisotropic, its characteristics are defined by its anisotropy tensor. You
must define three diagonals for electric loss tangent. Each diagonal represents a tensor of your
model along an axis.

These tensors are relative to the coordinate system specified as the object’s Orientation property.
By specifying different orientations, several objects can share the same anisotropic material but be
oriented differently.

If electric loss tangent is anisotropic, do the following:

1. In the Dielectric Loss Tangent row in the View/Edit Material window, select
Anisotropic or Tensor from the Type pull-down list.

For Anisotropic:

l Three rows named T(1,1), T(2,2) and T(3,3) are added below the Dielectric Loss
Tangent row.

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l Enter the ratio of the imaginary relative permittivity to the real relative permittivity in one
direction in the Value boxes of the T(1,1), T(2,2) and T(3,3) rows.

If the electric loss tangent is the same in all directions, use the same values for each direction.
These values can also be defined as variables.

For Tensor:

l Press the Tensor.. button in the Value column to display the Tensor Properties dialog.

l You provide values for a 3x3 matrix. If the matrix is symmetric, you can so specify in the
Tensor Properties dialog.

Related Topics

Technical Notes: Anisotropic Dielectric Loss Tangent Tensors

Setting Coordinate Systems

Creating a Relative Coordinate System

Change the Orientation of an object

Defining Anisotropic Relative Permeability Tensors

Defining Anisotropic Relative Permittivity Tensors

Defining Anisotropic Conductivity Tensors

Defining Magnetic Loss Tangent Tensors

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Defining Magnetic Loss Tangent Tensors

If the material property is anisotropic, its characteristics are defined by its anisotropy tensor. You
must define three diagonals for anisotropic magnetic loss tangent. Each diagonal represents a
tensor of your model along an axis.

These tensors are relative to the coordinate system specified as the object’s Orientation property.
By specifying different orientations, several objects can share the same anisotropic material but be
oriented differently.

1. In the Magnetic Loss Tangent row in the View/Edit Material window, select Anisotropic
or Tensor from the Type pull-down list.

For Anisotropic:

l Three rows named T(1,1), T(2,2) and T(3,3) are added below the Magnetic Loss
Tangent row.

l Enter the ratio of the imaginary relative permeability to the real relative permeability in one
direction in the Value box of the T(1,1), T(2,2) and T(3,3) rows.

If the magnetic loss tangent is the same in all directions, use the same values for each direction.
These values can also be defined as variables.

For Tensor:

l Press the Tensor.. button in the Value column to display the Tensor Properties dialog.

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l You provide values for a 3x3 matrix. If the matrix is symmetric, you can so specify in the
Tensor Properties dialog.

Related Topics

Technical Notes: Anisotropic Magnetic Loss Tangent Tensors

Setting Coordinate Systems

Creating a Relative Coordinate System

Change the Orientation of an object

Defining Anisotropic Relative Permeability Tensors

Defining Anisotropic Relative Permittivity Tensors

Defining Anisotropic Conductivity Tensors

Defining Anisotropic Dielectric Loss Tangent Tensors

Defining Variable Material Properties

When defining or modifying a material’s properties, each material property value in the View/Edit
Material window can be assigned a project variable. Simply type the project variable’s name in the
appropriate Value box. Project variables are used for material properties because materials are
stored at the project level.

For example, define a project variable with the name MyPermittivity and define its value as 4. To
assign this property value to a material, type $MyPermittivity in the Relative Permittivity Value
box for the material. Be sure to include the prefix $ before the project variable name, which notifies
the software that the variable is a project variable.

Note By default, not all of the available properties are displayed in the materials table. Only the
properties commonly used by the product are displayed. To view the complete table of
properties, see Filtering Materials.

Related Topics

Working with Variables

Assigning Material Property Types

Defining Frequency-Dependent Material Properties

Spatially Dependent Materials in HFSS

Specifying Thermal Modifiers

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Defining Frequency-Dependent Material Properties

Both HFSS and Q3D provide several frequency-dependent material models. The Piecewise
Linear and Frequency Dependent Data Points models apply to both the electric and magnetic
properties of the material. However, they do not guarantee that the material satisfies causality
conditions, and so they should only be used for frequency-domain applications.

The Debye and Djordjevic-Sarkar models apply only to the electrical properties of dielectric
materials. These models satisfy the Kramers-Kronig conditions for causality, and so are preferred
for applications (such as TDR or Full-Wave Spice) where time-domain results are needed. The
Design Settings also include an automatic Djordjevic-Sarkar model to ensure causal solutions
when solving frequency sweeps for simple constant material properties.

In HFSS you can assign conductivity either directly as bulk conductivity, or as a loss tangent. This
provides flexibility, but you should only provide the loss once. The solver uses the loss values just
as they are entered.

Assigning Frequency Dependent Properties

1. With respect to a material selected in the Select Definition window, in the View/Edit
Material window, click Set Frequency Dependency.

2. Saved Input Data for Set Frequency Dependency Choices: Several dialogs (Piecewise
Linear Frequency Dependent Material Input, Debye Model Input, and Djordjevic-Sarkar
Model Input) accessed through pressing the “Set Frequency Dependency…” button on
the View/Edit Material dialog remember the values previously used and also include plots

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to show the property curves in real time as changes to the input are made. Input values for
each dialog are saved as material attached data for the material being edited. These data
items are saved with materials when they are written into a project file or exported to a
material library. Note that when a frequency-dependent setup method is used and the
values are pre-populated with saved data, the dialog title will have “(Update)” appended.

3. In the Frequency Dependent Material Setup Option window, do one of the following:
l Select Piecewise Linear Input. This defines the material property values as a restricted
form of piecewise linear model with exactly 3 segments (flat, linear, flat). You will specify
the property's values at an upper and lower corner frequency. Between these corner
frequencies, both HFSS and Q3D linearly interpolate the material properties; above and
below the corner frequencies, HFSS and Q3D extrapolate the property values as
constants. This dataset can be modified with additional points if desired.
l Select Debye Model Input. This is a single-pole model for the frequency response of a
lossy dielectric material. In some materials, up to about a 10-GHz limit, ion and dipole
polarization dominate and a single pole Debye model is adequate. Both HFSS and Q3D
allow you to specify an upper and lower measurement frequency, and the loss tangent
and relative permittivity values at these frequencies. You may optionally enter the
permittivity at optical frequency, the DC conductivity, and a constant relative permeability.
l Select Multipole Debye Model Input. This lets you provide the data of relative
permittivity and loss tangent versus frequency. Based on this data the software
dynamically generates frequency dependent expressions for relative permittivity and loss
tangent through the Multipole Debye Model. The input dialog plots these expressions
together with your input data through the linear interpolations.
l The generated expressions provide the new value for the material properties of relative
permittivity and loss tangent.
l Both the expressions and data triples can be saved and reloaded.
l Select Djordjevic-Sarkar Model Input. This model was developed for low-loss
dielectric materials (particularly FR-4) commonly used in printed circuit boards and
packages. In effect, it uses an infinite distribution of poles to model the frequency
response, and in particular the nearly constant loss tangent, of these materials. Both
HFSS and Q3D allow you to enter the relative permittivity and loss tangent at a single
measurement frequency. You may optionally enter the relative permittivity and
conductivity at DC.

If you try to enter invalid values for the Djordjevic-Sarkar model, you receive error messages.

l Select Enter Frequency Dependent Data Points. This allows you to enter, import or
edit frequency dependent data sets for each material property. Any number of data points
may be entered. This is an arbitrary piecewise linear model.
4. Click OK.

A dialog appears, based on your selection.

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Piecewise Linear Input

Debye Model Input

Multipole Debye Model Input

Djordjevic-Sarkar

Enter Frequency Dependent Data Points

After you have entered the data for your selection, you return to the View/Edit Material
window. New default function names appear in the material property text boxes. Both HFSS
and Q3D automatically created a dataset for each material property. Based on a varying
property’s dataset, HFSS and Q3D can interpolate the property’s values at the desired
frequencies during solution generation.

To modify the dataset with additional points, see Modifying Datasets.

Note Neither the piecewise or the loss models ask for frequency dependent conductivity
because there the constant sigma represents the DC loss and the frequency dependent
loss tangent represents the polarization losses.

Frequency Dependence Visualization

When you view or edit the material properties, it is important to have a sense of how properties may
vary with frequency. Frequency-dependent properties come in a variety of forms, ultimately
resulting in some value expression or dataset. Plots of properties as a function of frequency are
available through the View/Edit Material dialog via a right-click menu containing View Property
vs. Frequency. In addition, the dialogs for each of the frequency dependent material setup options
contain plots displaying frequency dependence of the properties. These input dialogs save the
input values with the material and reuse them the next time the dialogs are brought-up. If you
change a property or use another input method, you are presented with an option to remove the
data saved from a prior input method, or to cancel the change. This ensures consistency between
the current properties and any data saved with the material.

Material Property Viewer

In the View/Edit Material dialog, right-click on a material to see a context menu containing “View
Property vs. Frequency”.

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Click this menu item to display a dialog results showing a plot of the property as a function of
frequency. You can also double-click on the material property name to view the plot.

Note that the plot has edit boxes where you can enter the frequency range for the plot. If the
property was set by one of the nonlinear frequency setup methods, the frequency range will be
derived from the data for that method, and edits to the lower/upper frequencies are not saved.
Otherwise, the frequency range lower/upper frequency limit defaults are stored in the registry, and
are updated if you modify the values. If values are not yet stored in the registry, the range defaults
to 1MHz-10GHz. Note that the “View Property vs. Frequency” menu is not displayed for choice
properties, since frequency-dependence doesn’t apply to those.

Saved Input Data Invalidation For Frequency Dependent Setup

If data associated with one of the frequency-dependent setup methods is attached to the material
definition, and a property which would be set by this method is modified, you are the prompted with
“Modifying this material property will remove data from the material for the [frequency-dependent
setup method].” You can choose “OK” to continue with the edit being made and to remove the
invalidated setup data, or choose “Cancel” to not make any changes to the property and to not

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remove any data. For example:

If data associated with one of the frequency-dependent setup methods is attached to the material
definition, and a different setup method is subsequently used, you are prompted with “Using this
frequency-dependent setup method will remove data from the material for the [frequency
dependent option] setup method.” You can choose “OK” to continue with the changes for the new
setup method (and remove the old attached data), or choose “Cancel” to not make any changes to
the material definition. For example:

Related Topics

Piecewise Linear Input

Debye Model Input

Multipole Debye Model Input

Djordjevic-Sarkar

Enter Frequency Dependent Data Points

Technical Notes: Frequency-Dependent Material Properties

Adding Data Sets

Modifying Datasets

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Assigning Frequency Dependent Material: Piecewise Linear Input

Having selected Piecewise Linear Input as the model for the frequency dependent material
property, you enter the required values in the dialog displayed. The dialog also provides a plot of
the Property Versus Frequency behavior.

Enter values in the fields.

1. Enter Upper and Lower Frequency Range.

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Both HFSS and Q3D assume that the material’s property values remain constant between
these frequencies.

2. Enter the Upper and Lower Relative Permittivity of the material.

If the permittivity of the material does not vary with frequency, enter the same value you entered
for the permittivity’s lower frequency.

3. Follow the same procedure for entering values for permeability, dielectric loss tangent, and
magnetic loss tangent.

After you have entered the data for your selection, you return to the View/Edit Material
window. New default function names appear in the material property text boxes. A dataset is
automatically created for each material property. Based on a varying property’s dataset, both
HFSS and Q3D can interpolate the property’s values at the desired frequencies during solution
generation.

To modify the dataset with additional points, see Modifying Datasets.

Note Neither the piecewise or the loss models ask for frequency dependent conductivity
because there the constant sigma represents the DC loss and the frequency dependent
loss tangent represents the polarization losses.

Related Topics

Piecewise Linear Input

Debye Model Input

Multipole Debye Model Input

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Djordjevic-Sarkar

Enter Frequency Dependent Data Points

Technical Notes: Frequency-Dependent Material Properties

Modifying Datasets

Assigning Frequency Dependent Material: Debye Model Input

Having selected Debye as the model for the frequency dependent material property, you enter the
required values in the dialog displayed. The dialog also provides a plot of the Property Versus
Frequency behavior.

Enter values in the fields.

1. Enter the Upper and Lower Frequencies to define the range:

Both HFSS and Q3D assume that the material’s property values remain constant between
these frequencies.

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2. Enter the Upper and Lower Relative Permittivity of the material.

If the permittivity of the material does not vary with frequency, enter the same value you entered
for the permittivity’s lower frequency.

3. If you need to specify a value for a High/Optical Frequency, check the box to enable the
value field.
4. For Conductivity or Dielectric Loss Tangent, select the radio button for either At DC or for
Upper and Lower Frequencies.

After you have entered the data for your selection, you return to the View/Edit Material
window. New default function names appear in the material property text boxes. A dataset is
automatically created for each material property. Based on a varying property’s dataset, both
HFSS and Q3D can interpolate the property’s values at the desired frequencies during solution
generation.

To modify the dataset with additional points, see Modifying Datasets.

Note Neither the piecewise or the loss models ask for frequency dependent conductivity
because there the constant sigma represents the DC loss and the frequency dependent
loss tangent represents the polarization losses.

Related Topics

Piecewise Linear Input

Multipole Debye Model Input

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Djordjevic-Sarkar

Enter Frequency Dependent Data Points

Technical Notes: Frequency-Dependent Material Properties

Modifying Datasets

Assigning Frequency Dependent Material: Multipole Debye Model Input

Having selected Multipole Debye as the model for the frequency dependent material property, you
enter the required values in the dialog displayed.

1. You can enter data either into the columns for Frequency (GHz), Relative Permittivity and
Dielectric Loss Tangent The frequency can be ranged from 0 to unlimited. The relative
permittivity is ranged from 1.0 to unlimited and loss tangent is ranged from 0 to unlimited. To
get the good results, you should provide more than 5 frequency points.

You can also import the data from a tab format text file.

The import data will be shown in the data table, and then can be modified. You can export
current input data to a file. The file is a tab file with extension .tab (same as dataset
import/export file). Below is an example of the file format. Each row provides Frequency
(assumed to be Hz), Permittivity, and Loss Tangent.

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0.00001 3.8136 0.00128

0.00010 3.7914 0.00520

0.00100 3.7500 0.00700

0.01000 3.7119 0.00700

0.10000 3.6742 0.00700

1.00000 3.6354 0.00700

2.15444 3.6346 0.00702

3.17000 3.6325 0.01073

4.64160 3.6186 0.01500

10.0000 3.5777 0.01750

21.5444 3.5458 0.01750

26.0000 3.5383 0.01750

46.4160 3.5148 0.01750

50.0000 3.5119 0.01750

During the data input, the frequency dependent expressions for permittivity or loss tangent are
calculated using Multipole Debye model, and are plotted for reference. The input data are also

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linearly interpolated and drawn on the plot for comparison.

If desired, you can change or rescale the plot by selecting the Frequency label and right-clicking
to display the Edit Properties menu.

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Select the Scaling tab, find the Units row, and right click to select the desired scaling.

2. Based on this data the software dynamically generates frequency dependent expressions
for relative permittivity and loss tangent through the Multipole Debye Model. The input dialog
plots these expressions together with your input data through the linear interpolations.
l The generated expressions provide the new value for the material properties of relative
permittivity and loss tangent.
l Both the expressions and data triples can be exported and re-imported.

After you have entered the data for your selection, you return to the View/Edit Material
window. New default function names appear in the material property text boxes. A dataset is
automatically created for each material property. Based on a varying property’s dataset, both
HFSS and Q3D can interpolate the property’s values at the desired frequencies during solution
generation.

Related Topics

Piecewise Linear Input

Debye Model Input

Djordjevic-Sarkar

Frequency-Dependent Material Properties

Assigning Frequency Dependent Material: Djordjevic-Sarkar Model Input

Having selected Djordjevic-Sarkar as the model for the frequency dependent material property,
you enter the required values in the dialog displayed. The dialog also provides a plot of the Property

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Versus Frequency behavior.

Enter values in the fields.

1. Enter the values for Properties at Frequency:

The value of the High-frequency Corner (GHz) should be at least 10 times higher than the
Frequency. If not, an error message is issued.

2. Enter the Properties at DC. This includes Conductivity and can include relative permittivity.

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After you have entered the data for your selection, you return to the View/Edit Material
window. New default function names appear in the material property text boxes. A dataset is
automatically created for each material property. Based on a varying property’s dataset, HFSS
and Q3D can interpolate the property’s values at the desired frequencies during solution
generation.

Related Topics

Piecewise Linear Input

Debye Model Input

Multipole Debye Model Input

Technical Notes: Frequency-Dependent Material Properties

Modifying Datasets

Assigning Frequency Dependent Material: Enter Frequency Dependent Data Points

1. When you click OK after selecting Enter Frequency Dependent Data Points on the
Frequency Dependent Material Setup dialog box, the Enter Frequency Dependent
Data points dialog box appears.

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It shows a table with four columns:

l Name: the name of the selected material property.

l Set Freq Dependent: Check the box to indicate if the property is expressed as
frequency-dependent dataset. If a property can not be set as frequency-dependent
dataset, the cell is disabled.
l Dataset column: this is disabled unless Freq Dependent is checked or the property
cannot be set as frequency dependent. When enabled, it contains a dropdown menu with
a list of existing datasets (if any) and the Add/Import dataset... command to add open a
dialog or import new dataset.

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l Modify: after a dataset is successfully imported or added, an Edit button appears.

2. If you select Add/Import dataset, the Add Dataset dialog appears.

This contains the following fields:

l The name field for the current dataset. The default is ds1.
l The Import from File button. This opens a file browser for you to select an existing
dataset.
l The Coordinates table. This contains X and Y text fields in which you can enter data
points. The values you add are interactively displayed on the graph to the right of the table.
You can also Add rows above or below a selected row, Delete rows, or Append a
specified number rows.

3. After you have specified or imported the data points, and OK the dialog, the Enter
Frequency Data Points dialog shows the Dataset Name and the Modify Edit button. The
dataset editing dialog also shows a graph of the dataset vs. frequency behavior of the
material property. You can also use this feature to visualize the dataset associated with any
particular property by clicking Edit… to view the graph but clicking Cancel and not making
changes.

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4. Click OK. The Enter Frequency Dependent Data Points dialog shows the new selection
and data set name.

After you have entered the data for your selection, you return to the View/Edit Material
window. New default function names appear in the material property text boxes. A dataset is
automatically created for each material property. Based on a varying property’s dataset, HFSS
and Q3D can interpolate the property’s values at the desired frequencies during solution
generation.

To modify the dataset with additional points, see Modifying Datasets.

Note Neither the piecewise or the loss models ask for frequency dependent conductivity
because there the constant sigma represents the DC loss and the frequency dependent
loss tangent represents the polarization losses.

Related Topics

Piecewise Linear Input

Debye Model Input

Multipole Debye Model Input

Djordjevic-Sarkar

Technical Notes: Frequency-Dependent Material Properties

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Adding Data Sets

Modifying Datasets

Spatially Dependent Materials in HFSS

HFSS supports spatially dependent materials, that is, materials whose properties change over
their length (or width or thickness). Consider the L shaped strip lines in the figure below.

If the conductivity of the gray striplines changes over the length of the line, then you need to
express the change as a function along one of the axes. However, in this case the two striplines are
normal to each other. So, you need to use a different coordinate system for each of them or a
different material.

Each spatially dependent object should have its own coordinate system as that would associate
each with a separate origin point. The below images show the coordinate systems for each stripline
with the Y origin at the start of the object.

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So, the Bulk Conductivity could be something like 300 + 10 * Y to show increasing conductivity over
the length of the object. Of course, the entire expression language is available so more complicated
functions are usable as are project variables. Design variables are not supported at this time.

In the View/Edit Material dialog, you can assign properties using the Cartesian coordinate [X, Y,
Z] to assign the spatial properties for a material.

Here the value of the Y dimension of the object composed of the material, based on that object’s
assigned coordinate system, affects the Bulk conductivity along the T[2,2] Tensor.

Note The spatial dependency can only be expressed in Cartesian coordinates.

Spatially dependent properties can still be either isotropic or anisotropic.

Spatially dependent properties will not be subject to solve time modifications like 'Automatic Causal
Materials' transforms.

Related Topics

Spatially Dependent Boundaries in HFSS and HFSS-IE

Advanced Complex Material Properties and Models

This chapter shows how HFSS can incorporate complex, anisotropic, and dispersive material
properties. We provide examples showing two common dispersive models to represent high
frequency metal behavior and superconductive material behavior well beneath the critical
temperature. The two models are the "Drude Model For Dispersive Metals" on the next page for
dispersive metals at very high frequencies and the "Generalized Superconductive Model" on page 
3-51 used to represent the electrical properties of superconductive materials well below the critical
temperature. Both cases use frequency dependent project variables to provide the model.

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Complex Material Properties

Complex material properties have been traditionally entered as either of the following: real relative
permittivity, real relative permeability, electric/magnetic loss tangent, and conductivity. Though this
is helpful for many industries, there are now many applications that benefit by having an entry of a
real and an imaginary relative permittivity and permeability as well. In some applications, it is also
helpful to have entry of a complex conductivity. HFSS now allows all of the above entries to aid in a
high fidelity model of the material.

With a permittivity definition, the real part represents the phase velocity and propagation
characteristics while the imaginary part represents the loss terms:

This expression can be expanded by adding the loss effects of metals via the conductivity:

The above equation may seem to be the most representative relation for the complex relative
permittivity, however on occasion it can be useful to think in terms of complex conductivity rather
than complex relative permittivity. An example is the Drude Model for dispersive metals at high
frequencies.

Drude Model For Dispersive Metals

The Drude Model represents the high frequency electrical behavior of metals as a function of DC
conductivity and the Plasma Frequency. This model is typically represented as a complex
conductivity:

With a conductivity definition the real term represents the classic conductive loss while the
imaginary part characterizes the phase velocity and propagation. This is a bit counter intuitive, but
as the Helmholtz Equation accepts a single complex quantity to represent the phase velocity and
loss, it follows that how we compartmentalize the terms simply aids in understanding.

For the Drude Model the real and imaginary parts of the conductivity are shown below in terms of
the DC conductivity, , and the mean collision time, :

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Using the relation below, one can also use only the plasma frequency, , and DC conductivity or
the plasma frequency and mean collision time to represent the above real and imaginary parts of
the conductivity via re-arrangement:

To enter these relations into HFSS you must create frequency dependent Project Variables. All
Project Variables in HFSS are scoped such that they are visible to every design in the AEDT
project and are prefixed with a “$” symbol. To create the project variables, go to Project > Project
Variables... to see a list of existing project variables. Click the Add button on the project variable
list for a dialog to enter names and values for each variable you need. The values here assume that
the plasma frequency and mean collision time is known. When you have added the variables, the
Project variable list will look like this:

You can see above that the Project variables can be made a function of frequency using the built-in
variable, Freq. This frequency variable automatically adapts the variable value based upon the
frequency of solution.

To show the use of the complex conductivity entry, we will provide a comparison to published
literature for a wide angle InfraRed Absorber FSS1. In the cited paper, the material properties of
the FSS are given in terms of the plasma frequency, 1.367 * 1016 radians per second, and the
damping constant, =4 * 1013 radians per second. It is of note that the mean collision time is
equal to for entry. We entered these values as above to create Project variables and then
created a material in HFSS that with a complex conductivity assigned.

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As you can see seen above, the Bulk Conductivity can be entered as a complex value with real and
imaginary parts. In HFSS, to designate the imaginary part, multiply it by 1i, as shown above. The
FSS looks as below with a substrate permittivity of 2.25:

When solving this FSS with the complex conductivities in the short-wave-IR, from 1.35 um to 1.7
um, we get the traces shown below: Absorption (red dash), Reflection (blue), and Transmission

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(Green dash). The plot on the left is HFSS with the complex conductivity definition and the plot on
the right is from the cited paper.

Generalized Superconductive Model

The generalized superconductive model treats a superconductor as a combination of classical

electrons and Cooper pair, or superconducting, electrons. The classical electrons behave as in the
Drude model contributing to loss while the Superconductive electrons behave entirely differently.
The common model used to describe the dispersive electrical effects of a superconductor derives
itself from this ‘2 body fluid’ model discriminating the electrons as such.

This model also represents the electrical effects of a superconductor with a complex conductivity
that is a function of temperature and frequency. If the temperature is above the critical temperature,
Tc, it will behave as the classical conductor, whether a semiconductor or metal. If the temperature
is equal to or below the critical temperature, the behavior changes markedly to demonstrate many
of the classical superconducting effects. For the 2 fluid superconductor model, the complex
conductivity is as shown below:

Note that the nn/ns ratio is the ratio of classical electrons to superconductive electrons and is a
function of temperature:

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It is also of note that is a function of the London Penetration Depth, :

Entry into HFSS just as we did for the Drude Model, using frequency dependent Project Variables
as shown below:

To demonstrate the accuracy of this model in HFSS, we comparison the literature for a
Superconducting microstrip for the extraction of the propagation properties.2 A material was
created representing the superconductor Nb in HFSS using a complex conductivity definition
similar to the Drude Model. The temperature, T, of the Nb under test was 9.3K with a critical
temperature, Tc, of 4.2K. The mean collision time was given as sec.

The microstrip is simulated by having a given length of line, in this case 100 um, and extracting the
propagation constant from the phase of the insertion loss and the line length at 300GHz. Note that

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the port solver does not yet recognize complex conductivities so a PEC is used for the ground
plane and trace at the waveport and de-embedded to the Superconducting Microstrip.

The stack up of the microstrip is a Nb signal wire and ground plane with a thickness of 150nm and
= 54nm. The substrate is composed of 159 nm SIO2 under 144nm N2O5. The electrical
properties used were: =6.25 & =8.183.

With these dimensions the reference shows the below results for both a PEC signal and ground
plane and the superconducting Nb trace and ground plane.

When solved using the model description given, HFSS converges on the propagation constant
for an automated accurate solution. HFSS converged to 18308.5 rad/sec with a 0.01%

convergence criterion on . This is within 0.17% of the theoretical expectation.

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References

1) Avitzour, Yoav, et al. Wide-angle Infrared Absorber Based on a Negative-Index Plasmonic

Metamaterial. Physical Review B 79, 045131. 2009.

2) Rafique, Raihan. Superconducting High Speed Passive Interconnects. A Dissertation from

Chalmers University of technology, 2006

Related Topics

Spatially Dependent Boundaries in HFSS and HFSS-IE

Specifying Thermal Modifiers

To specify Thermal modifiers for a material:

1. In the View/ Edit Material dialog you must enable the View/ Edit Modifier for check box for
Thermal Modifier.

This causes the Properties of the Material table to expand to include a Thermal Modifier column.
By default, the Thermal Modifier property is set to None.

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2. Selecting Edit... from the drop-down menu rather than None causes the Edit Thermal
Modifier dialog to appear.

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3. Select the Expression radio button to display the Parameters Modifier text field (as shown
above) or the Quadratic radio button to display the tabs for Basic Coefficient Set and
Advanced Coefficient Set (as shown below).

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l With Expression selected, you can write an equation for a thermal modifier in the
Parameters Modifier text field.

The expression whether to use Celsius or Kelvin is totally problem dependent. If a material
thermal coefficient is defined as alpha/c_deg, then it is Celsius. On the other hand, if a
material thermal coefficient is alpha/k_deg, then it is Kelvin.

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l Checking Use temperature dependent data set disables the Modifier text field. You
can then use the drop down menu to select Add/Import Dataset. This lets you define the
thermal modifier as a data set.

l With the Quadratic radio button selected, in the Basic Coefficient tab, you can edit
fields for the TempRef and units, and fields for C1 and C2 for the following equation:
l P(Temp) = Pref[1+ C1(Temp - TempRef) + C2(Temp - TempRef)^2]
where TempRef is 22 cel by default and where the Pref is defined as the reference
relative permittivity.

Note The coefficients, C1 and C2, should be negative to yield physical results.

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l With the Quadratic radio button selected, in the Advanced Coefficient Set tab, you can
edit fields for lower and upper temperature limits (TL and TU respectively) and select their
units from the drop down.

You can also edit the constant value limit for the thermal modifier values outside the limits. By
default, these are automatically calculated. Uncheck the Auto Calculate TML and TMU to
specify new values for thermal modifier lower (TML) and thermal modifier upper (TMU).

4. Click OK to accept the edits and return to the View/ Edit materials dialog.

Related Topics

Adding Datasets

View/ Edit materials dialog

Auto-Complete for Variables and Properties in Electronics Desktop

Defining Material Properties as Expressions

When defining or modifying a material’s properties, each material property value in the View/Edit
Material window can be assigned a mathematical expression. Simply type the expression in the
appropriate Value box. Expressions typically contain intrinsic functions, such as sin(x), and
arithmetic operators, such as +, -, *, and /, but do not include project variables.

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Note By default, not all of the available properties are displayed in the materials table. Only the
properties commonly used by the product are displayed. To view the complete table of
properties, see Filtering Materials.

Related Topics

Defining Variable Material Properties

Defining Functional Material Properties

Any material property that can be specified by entering a constant can also be specified using a
mathematical function. This is useful when you are defining a material property whose value is
given by a mathematical relationship — for instance, one relating it to frequency or another
property’s value. When defining or modifying a material’s properties, simply type the name of the
function in the appropriate Value box.

Note By default, not all of the available properties are displayed in the materials table. Only the
properties commonly used by the product are displayed. To view the complete table of
properties, see Filtering Materials.

Related Topics

Defining Mathematical Functions

Defining Variable Material Properties

Assigning Materials from the Object Properties Window

The Properties dialog for each object includes a materials property. If you click on the current
material property you see a drop down list that includes and Edit command and a list of materials in
the current project. You can select from the list of current materials to assign the selected material
to that object.

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Related Topics

Assigning Materials

Auto-Complete for Variables and Properties in Electronics Desktop

Viewing and Modifying Material Attributes

1. In the Select Definition window, select the material you want to view or modify, and then
click View/Edit Materials.

The View/Edit Material window appears. The material name and its property values are listed.

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Note By default, not all of the available properties are displayed in the materials table. Only the
properties commonly used by the product are displayed. To view the complete table of
properties, see Filtering Materials.

2. Under View/Edit Material for, select:

l Active Design to display properties used in the active design.
l Active Project to display properties used in the active project.
l All Properties to display all properties available. This enlarges the table of properties to
show all properties possible. You can use the scroll bars or size the dialog to see all
properties. When All Properties is selected, the following Physics classification options
are enabled to show or hide properties based on simulation type:
l Electromagnetic
l Thermal
l Structural

Note If a material is edited in a design type for which the Physics type has not been set
( e.g., an HFSS design but Electromagnetic physics type was not set), the
Physics type will be automatically set in the material.

3. You can modify the material as follows:

a. Provide a new name for the material in the Material Name text box.
b. Under Type, specify whether a material property is Simple,Anisotropic, Vector and
Vector Mag, or for Relative Permeability, Non-linear, as required for that property.

For Simple, you provide a value or variable.

For Anisotropic, you provide tensor values.

For Vector, you provide a Vector Mag.

For Non-Linear, you provide a Data Set.

c. Provide new material property values in the Value boxes.

d. Change the units for a material property.

For Material Appearance, you can check the box to enable the fields for you to specify a color
and transparency. Clicking the color bar opens a color selection window:

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Clicking the Transparency box opens a Transparency dialog with a text field and slider bar for
selection.

Note: Materials stored in the global material library cannot be modified.

4. If you want to add descriptive notes for the new material, click the ellipsis button [...] by the
Notes field. This opens a dialog in which you can enter text.

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5. To enter multiple lines of notes, use CTRL-Enter to start a new line. (Enter by itself will save
the Notes field and close the dialog.)
5. Click OK or Enter to add the Notes.
6. Click OK on the View/Edit Materials dialog to add the new material to the material library.
7. Click OK to save the changes and return to the Select Definition window.

Warning If you modify a material that is assigned in the active project after generating a
solution, the solution will be invalid.

Related Topics

Validating Materials

Defining Variable Material Properties

Setting the Enhanced Display of Material Color and Transparency

Copying Materials

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Removing Materials

Export Materials to a Library

Sorting Materials

Filtering Materials

Working with Materials Libraries

Modifying the SAR Setting

Validating Materials
The ANSYS Electronics Desktop can validate a material’s property parameters for an ANSYS EM
software product. For example, the software will check if the range of values specified for each
material property is reasonable.

If a material’s property parameters are invalid, an error message will appear in the lower-right
corner of the View/Edit Material window. If the parameters are valid, a green check mark will
appear there.

To validate the material attributes listed in the View/Edit Material window:

l Select Active Design, Active Project, or All Properties, and then click Validate
Material.

Related Topics

Copying Materials

Removing Materials

Export Materials to a Library

Sorting Materials

Filtering Materials

Working with Materials Libraries

Copying Materials
1. In the Select Definition window, select the material you want to copy, and then click the
Clone Material button or right click on the selected material and select Clone from the
short-cut ment.
2. To modify the material’s attributes, follow the directions for modifying materials.
3. Click OK to save the copy in the active project’s material library.

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Related Topics

Validating Materials

Copying Materials

Removing Materials

Export Materials to a Library

Sorting Materials

Filtering Materials

Working with Materials Libraries

Removing Materials
1. In the Select Definition window, select one or more materials you want to remove from the
active project’s material library.
2. Click the Remove Material (s) button or right click on the selected material and click
Remove on the short-cut menu.

The material is deleted from the project material library.

Note The following materials cannot be deleted:

l Materials stored in Ansoft’s global material library.

l Materials that have been assigned to objects in the active
project.

In a project library, you may want to use the Tools>Project Tools>Remove Unused
Definitions command to remove selected materials definitions that your project does not
require.

Related Topics

Validating Materials

Copying Materials

Export Materials to a Library

Sorting Materials

Filtering Materials

Working with Materials Libraries

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Exporting Materials to a Library

1. In the Select Definition window, select the material you want to export.
2. Click the Export Material to Library button, or right-click the selected material and click
Export from the short cut menu.

The Export to material library file browser appears.

3. Click PersonalLib to export the material to a local project directory, accessible only to the
user that created it.

Click UserLib to export the material to a a library that is shared by more than one user, usually
in a central location.

4. Type the library’s file name and then click Save.

Related Topics

Validating Materials

Copying Materials

Removing Materials

Sorting Materials

Filtering Materials

Working with Materials Libraries

Sorting Materials
You can change the order of the materials listed in the Select Definition window. You can sort the
list of materials by name, library location, color, or material property value. To change the order of
the listed materials:

l Click the column heading by which you want to order the materials.

If the arrow in the column heading points up, the material data will be listed in ascending order (1 to
9, A to Z) based on the values in the column you chose. If you want the material data to be listed in
descending order (9 to 1, Z to A), click the column heading again. The arrow will point down.

Note By default, not all of the available properties are displayed in the materials table. Only the
properties commonly used by the product are displayed. To view the complete table of
properties, see Filtering Materials.

Related Topics

Validating Materials

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Copying Materials

Removing Materials

Export Materials to a Library

Filtering Materials

Working with Materials Libraries

Filtering Materials
If you want to remove certain materials or material properties from the list in the Select Definition
window, use the filter options under the Material Filters tab. You can filter out materials based on
the product or library with which they are associated. You can also filter out material properties and
types of material properties. And you can remove the filtering in order to see all available material
properties.

To filter materials or material properties listed in the Select Definition window, using the choices
in the Materials tab:

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1. The text field under Libraries lists the libraries for the project. Selecting the listed library
highlights it and cause the table to display the materials in that library.
2. Above the Libraries area, you can check or uncheck boxes to show or hide Project
Definitions and All Libraries.
l With both unchecked, nothing appears in the materials table. With both checked, the table
shows all materials and highlights those used in the project.
l With only Project Definitions checked, the materials table shows only the materials used in
the project.
l With All Libraries checked, the table displays all materials, but may not show all available
properties.

To filter out or show additional materials/properties in the Materials tab:

1. Click the Material Filters tab.

2. Under Show Materials and Properties for, select one of the radio buttons:
l Active Design to display materials/properties used in the active design.
l Active Project to display materials/properties used by the active project.
l All Materials and Properties to display all materials and properties available. Selecting
this enlarges the table of materials shown under the Materials tab to show all materials
possible. You can use the scroll bars or size the dialog to see all materials.
3. Under Show Material Types, select materials types to display on the Materials tab. Click
Select All to select all of the types listed. Click Clear to clear all selections.
4. If you check Show Material colors, the Materials tab of the Select Definition window
includes a color for material colors. See Viewing and Modifying Material Attributes.
5. Click the Materials tab to save your selections.

Click Cancel to revert back to the last saved selections.

Related Topics

Validating Materials

Copying Materials

Removing Materials

Export Materials to a Library

Sorting Materials

Working with Materials Libraries

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Working with Material Libraries

There are two different kinds of materials libraries in HFSS and Q3D: a system library and a user
library.

Related Topics

Editing Libraries

Working with System Material Library

The library files that ship with Electronics Desktop are stored under the syslib directory. These
libraries are intended to be read-only and should not be modified. They are available for any
material assignment in any project.

Working with User Material Libraries

In addition to the system libraries, Electronics Desktop recognizes two user-configurable library
structures, called the User Library and the Personal Library. These are used to add user (or
company) defined materials. Customarily, userlib is a network repository for proprietary or
corporate definitions available to all seats in an enterprise. personalLib contains project and
design-specific libraries as needed by individual designs.

A root library directory is set up at installation. If none is specified, the default is the root Electronics
Desktop directory.

Materials from libraries in both the User Library and Personal Library, as well as the System
Library, are available for use in projects.

Editing Libraries
There are two different methods of editing libraries.

l Right-click on Materials in the project window to display the Edit Libraries shortcut menu.
Clicking displays the Edit Libraries window.

Editing definitions from the project window does not modify the configured libraries for any
particular design, since this is editing in general.

l Using Tools>Edit Libraries>Materials from the menu bar takes the current design into
account and adds any new libraries to the configured list for the design.

Importing and Converting Materials in 2D Extractor

To preserve custom materials, you need to import them from a .mat file into the latest version of the
user library.

Note The .mat extension shows up as a shortcut in the file browser.

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To import these materials from previous versions, you must have at least one design loaded in the
project window.

To translate custom materials to the latest version:

1. Click 2D Extractor>Translate Material Database.

The Translate Legacy Material Database appears.

2. Enter the name of the old database in the Legacy Material DB Name box. You can also
click the ... button to locate the database.
3. Enter a name for the new database in your current project in the User Material DB Name
box.
4. Click Translate.

Related Topics

Assigning Materials

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4 - Drawing a Model
After you insert a design into the current project, you can draw a model of the electromagnetic
structure. The general strategy is to build the model as a collection of 3D objects. You can assign
any single material to each 3D object.

You can create 3D objects by using the modeler's Draw commands or you can draw 1D and 2D
objects, and then manipulate them to create 3D objects. Objects are drawn in the 3D Modeler
window. You can also import objects from other systems.

To open a new 3D Modeler window, do one of the following:

l Insert a new design into the current project.

l Double-click an ANSYS Electronics Desktop design that uses the 3D Modeler (HFSS,
HFSS-IE, or Q3D) in the project tree.

If a 3D Modeler window for an existing design is not open, do one of the following:

l Click [solverName]>3D Model Editor.

l Right-click the design name in the project tree, and then click 3D Model Editor on the
shortcut menu.

The model you draw is saved with the current project when you click File>Save.

Note If you access your machine via Remote Desktop, if ANSYS Electronics Desktop is running
and one or more modeler windows are open, those modeler windows automatically close.
The message manager window displays a message indicating that ANSYS Electronics
Desktop closed the modeler windows.

When working with multiple projects, or when a project has multiple designs, you may have multiple
Modeler windows available. To switch to the modeler window associated with a specific design:

1. In the Project Manager window, select the Design of interest.

2. Click[solverName]>3D Model Editor to focus the modeling window on the selected design.

If the menu command is unavailable, then the selected design is already in the modeler window.

Related Topics

Setting the Units of Measurement for the Model

Drawing Objects

Model Analysis

Design Settings

Setting the Temperature of Objects

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Creating a User Defined Primitive

Creating a 3D Component from an Existing Model

3D Component Library

Modifying Objects

Selecting Objects

Choosing the Movement Mode

Choosing the Snap Settings

Measure Modes for Objects

Setting Coordinate Systems

User Defined Model (UDM)

SpaceClaim Integration

Setting Units of Measurement for the Model

You can specify the units of measurement for drawing geometric models. After the units of
measurement have been specified, they are assigned to the objects in the 3D Modeler window.
You can then choose to display the model's dimensions in the new units, or rescale the model's
dimensions to the new units.

To set the model's units of measurement:

1. Click Modeler>Units.

The Set Model Units dialog box appears.

2. Select the new units for the model from the Select units pull-down list.
3. Specify how the change in units affects the model:
l Select the Rescale to new units option to rescale the dimensions to the new units. For
example, selecting centimeters (cm) as the new unit of measurement results in a
dimension of 10 millimeters (mm) becoming 10 cm.
l Clear the Rescale to new units option (the default) to convert the dimensions to the new
units without changing their scale. For example, selecting cm as the new unit of
measurement results in a dimension of 10 mm becoming 1 cm.

Click OK to apply the new units to the model.

Drawing Objects
You can draw one-, two-, or three-dimensional objects using the Draw commands. You can alter
objects individually or together to create the geometry of your structure. In the Tools>Modeler

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Options, Drawing tab, you can set a default to either draw objects directly with the mouse or by
invoking a Properties dialog in which you can enter the values for the object dimensions. The
Dialog mode drawing feature works with the equation based curve, equation based surface, and
all two and three dimensional objects. You can toggle to Point mode via the F3 function key and to
Dialog mode via the F4 function key. When you use the Dialog mode for drawing objects the Edit
property of new primitives setting is ignored.

One-dimensional (1D) objects in the modeler include straight line, arc line, center-point arc, and
spline segments, or a combination of these - called polylines. One-dimensional objects are open
objects; their boundaries do not enclose a region, unless you connect their endpoints. They have
length, but no surface or volume. Generally they are used as temporary objects from which to
create 2D objects.

Two-dimensional (2D) objects in the modeler include objects such as equation based surfaces,
rectangles, ellipses, circles, and regular polygons. Two-dimensional objects are closed sheet
objects; their boundaries enclose a region. You can create 2D sheet objects by covering the
enclosed region. In many applications (FSS, antennas) it is essential to calculate net power flow
through a surface.

You can also edit the properties of a polyline from the history tree to assign it a Cross Section
property as line or rectangular. If you then assign it either a height or a width, the polyline becomes
a sheet object.

By default, the history tree organizes sheet objects according to their boundary assignments. To
change this, select the Sheets icon, and right-click to display the Group Sheets by Assignment
check box. Within the calculator sheet objects are listed under surface.

Three-dimensional (3D) objects in the modeler include objects such as boxes, cylinders, regular
polyhedra, cones, spheres, torii, and helices. These objects have boundaries that enclose a region
with volume.

You can create 3D objects by manipulating 2D objects along a plane or by using the appropriate
Draw commands. You can also edit the properties of a polyline from the history tree to assign it a
Cross Section property as circle rectangular. If you then assign it an appropriate diameter or both
height or a width, the polyline becomes a 3D object.

You can access the Draw commands via icons on the Draw tab ribbon:

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By default, the history tree organizes 3D objects by material. To change this, select the Objects
icon, and right click to display the shortcut menu to see History Tree Layout commands. You
can also use Group Commands for Modeler Objects.

While you draw objects you can also:

l Select Movement Mode as 3D, In Plane, Out of Plane, Along X, Y or Z axis.

l Select Grid Plane as XY, YZ, or XZ.
l Set the Drawing Plane
l Set Snap Mode
l Set Reference Point for the movement mode
l Adjust the View

After you draw an object in the 3D Modeler window, you can modify the object's properties, such
as its position, dimensions, or color, in the Properties dialog box. Most model object properties can
be assigned as Design variables when can then be manipulated during the solve to test their effect
on the solution. For non-model objects, you can use Post Processing variables (default and Design
variables,.

Note If you access your machine via Remote Desktop, if ANSYS Electronics Desktop is running
and one or more modeler windows are open, those modeler windows automatically close.
The message manager window displays a message indicating that ANSYS Electronics
Desktop closed the modeler windows.

Related Topics

Assigning a Cross Section and Dimension to a Polyline

Modifying Objects

Drawing a Region

Setting the Temperature of Objects

User Defined Model (UDM) for ANSYS WB Integration

Drawing a Straight Line Segment

To create an object with one or more straight line segments, use the Draw>Line command.

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1. Click Draw>Line or select the Draw tab and click the Draw Line icon on the ribbon.

2. Select the first point of the line in one of the following ways:
l Click the point.
l You can accept the point or change it by editing its coordinates in the X, Y, and Z boxes in
the status bar.

To delete the last point that was entered, click Undo Previous Segment on the shortcut
menu. After using the undo feature, you can also use Redo Previous Segment on the
shortcut menu.

3. Select the endpoint of the line by clicking the point or typing the coordinates in the text boxes
in the status bar.

The endpoint serves as the start point for a subsequent line segment.

To delete all points and start over, press ESC or click Escape Draw Mode on the shortcut
menu.

4. Complete the line in one of the following ways:

l Double-click the endpoint.
l Click Done on the context (right-click) menu.
l Press Enter.

If the Modeler option for editing properties of new primitives is checked, the Properties dialog
box appears, in which you can modify the object's attributes byediting the Properties. Those
listed under the Command tab describe the commands used to create the object. These
commands also appear in the History tree. The Properties listed as line attributes include
Name, Orientation, whether a Model object, whether to Display Wireframe, Color,
Transparency, and whether to Show Direction as arrows. The Show Direction property is most
helpful to unambiguously show the line start orientation when plotting fields along a line.

5. Click OK to close the Properties dialog.

Note While drawing a polyline, you can switch between straight line, arc line, or spline
segments using the Set Edge Type commands on the shortcut menu.

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Related Topics

Setting the Reference Point

Deleting Polyline Segments

Converting Polyline Segments

Drawing a Three-Point Arc

Drawing a Center-Point Arc Line

Drawing a Spline

Drawing a Polyline

Drawing a Three-Point Arc Line

In the modeler, a three-point arc line segment is an arced line defined by three points on its curve.
Use the Draw>Arc>3 Point command to create a polyline object with one or more arc line
segments.

1. Click Draw>Arc>3 Point or select the Draw tab and click the 3 point arc icon in the
ribbon.

2. Select the start point of the arc in one of the following ways:
l Click the point.
l Type the point's coordinates in the X, Y, and Z text boxes.
3. Select the midpoint of the arc by clicking the point or typing the coordinates in the text boxes
in the status bar.

To delete the last point that was entered, click Undo Previous Segment on the shortcut menu.
After using the undo feature, you can also use Redo Previous Segment on the shortcut
menu.

To delete all points and start over, press ESC or click Escape Draw Mode on the shortcut
menu.

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4. Select the endpoint of the arc by clicking the point or typing the coordinates in the text boxes
in the status bar.

The endpoint serves as the start point for a subsequent arc line segment.

5. If the endpoint is the last point of the polyline object, double-click the point to complete the
polyline or click Done on the shortcut menu.

If the Modeler option for editing properties of new primitives is checked, the Properties dialog
box appears, in which you can modify the object's attributes by editing the Properties. Those
listed under the Command tab describe the commands used to create the object. These
commands also appear in the History tree. The Properties listed as line attributes include
Name, Orientation, whether a Model object, whether to Display Wireframe, Color,
Transparency, and whether to Show Direction as arrows. The Show Direction property is most
helpful to unambiguously show the line start orientation when plotting fields along a line.

6. Click OK.

Based on the three points you specified, the modeler calculates the center point and radius of
the arc and draws an arced line through the three points.

Note While drawing a polyline, you can switch between arc line, straight line, or spline segments
using the Set Edge Type commands on the shortcut menu.

Related Topics

Setting the Reference Point

Drawing a Straight Line

Drawing a Spline

Drawing a Center-Point Arc Line

Drawing a Polyline

Deleting Polyline Segments

Converting Polyline Segments

Drawing a Center-Point Arc Line

In the modeler, a center-point arc line segment is an arced line defined by a center point, start point
and angle. Use the Draw>Arc>Center Point command to create a polyline object with one or
more center-point arc line segments.

1. Click Draw>Arc>Center Point or select the Draw tab and click the Center Point icon in
the ribbon.

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2. Select the center point of the arc in one of the following ways:
l Click the point.
l Type the point's coordinates in the text boxes in the status bar.
3. Select the start point, or radius, of the arc by clicking the point or typing the coordinates in the
text boxes in the status bar.

To delete the last point that was entered, click Undo Previous Segment on the shortcut menu.
After using the undo feature, you can also use Redo Previous Segment on the shortcut
menu.

To delete all points and start over, press ESC or click Escape Draw Mode on the shortcut
menu.

4. Sweep the angle, or endpoint, of the arc by clicking the point or typing the coordinates in the
text boxes in the status bar.
5. If the endpoint is the last point of the polyline object, double-click the point to complete the
polyline or click Done on the shortcut menu.

If the Modeler option for editing properties of new primitives is checked, the Properties dialog
box appears, enabling you to modify the object's attributes.

6. Click OK.

Note While drawing a polyline, you can switch between arc line, straight line, or spline
segments using the Set Edge Type commands on the shortcut menu.

Related Topics

Setting the Reference Point

Drawing a Straight Line

Drawing a Spline

Drawing a Polyline

Deleting Polyline Segments

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Converting Polyline Segments

Drawing a Three-Point Arc

Drawing a Spline
A spline is a curved line defined by three points. The modeler uses a natural spline type: a piece
wise cubic spline with an end condition that has a derivative of zero. Use the Draw>Spline
command to create a polyline object with one or more spline segments.

1. Click Draw>Spline or select the Draw tab and click the Spline icon in the ribbon.

2. Select the spline's start point in one of the following ways:

l Click the point.
l Type the point's coordinates in the text boxes in the status bar, and then press Enter.

To delete the last point entered, click Undo Previous Segment on the shortcut menu.After
using the undo feature, you can also use Redo Previous Segment on the shortcut menu.

To delete all selected points and start over, press ESC or click Escape Draw Mode on the
shortcut menu.

3. Select the midpoint of the spline by clicking the point or typing the coordinates in the text
boxes in the status bar.
4. Select the endpoint of the spline by clicking the point or typing the coordinates in the text
boxes in the status bar.

The endpoint serves as the start point for a subsequent spline segment.

5. Complete the spline in one of the following ways:

l Double-click the endpoint.
l Click Done on the shortcut menu.
l Press Enter.

If the Modeler option for editing properties of new primitives is checked, the Properties dialog
box appears, in which you can modify the object's attributes byediting the Properties. Those
listed under the Command tab describe the commands used to create the object. These

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commands also appear in the History tree. The Properties listed as line attributes include
Name, Orientation, whether a Model object, whether to Display Wireframe, Color,
Transparency, and whether to Show Direction as arrows. The Show Direction property is most
helpful to unambiguously show the line start orientation when plotting fields along a line.

6. Click OK.

Note While drawing a polyline, you can switch between spline, straight line, or arc line
segments using the Set Edge Type commands on the shortcut menu.

Related Topics

Setting the Reference Point

Drawing a Polyline

Drawing a Center-Point Arc Line

Deleting Polyline Segments

Converting Polyline Segments

Drawing a Polyline
A polyline is a single object that includes any combination of straight line, arc line, or spline
segments. The endpoint of one segment is the start point for the next segment. Use the shortcut
menu's Set Edge Type commands to switch between straight line, arc line, or spline segments
while drawing a polyline.

In the Polyline section of Operation tab of the Modeler Options, select or clear the
Automatically cover closed polylines check box.

If checked, closed polylines become sheet objects, and are listed as such in the History tree. If
unchecked, closed polylines are listed under lines in the History tree.

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1. Click Draw>Line or from the Draw tab ribbon click the Draw line icon:

2. Right-click in the 3D Modeler window to access the shortcut menu, and then point to Set
Edge Type.
3. Click Straight, Spline, 3 Point Arc, or Center Point Arc depending on which type of
polyline segment you want to draw.
4. If you clicked Straight, follow the procedure for drawing a straight line.

If you clicked Spline, follow the procedure for drawing a spline.

If you clicked 3 Point Arc, follow the procedure for drawing a three-point arc line.

If you clicked Center Point Arc, follow the procedure for drawing a center-point arc line.

5. Repeat steps 2 and 3 for each segment of the polyline object. The endpoint of the previous
segment serves as the start point for the next segment.

The shortcut menu lets you do the following for each segment:

Undo Previous Segment or Redo Previous Segment.

6. Complete the polyline in one of the following ways:

l Double-click the endpoint of the final segment.
l Click Done on the shortcut menu.

Note To connect the polyline's start and endpoints, click Close Polyline on the shortcut
menu.

If the Modeler option for editing properties of new primitives is checked, the Properties dialog
box appears, in which you can modify the object's attributes by editing the Properties. Those
listed under the Command tab describe the commands used to create the object. These
commands also appear in the History tree. The Properties listed as line attributes include
Name, Orientation, whether a Model object, whether to Display Wireframe, Color,
Transparency, and whether to Show Direction as arrows. The Show Direction property is most
helpful to unambiguously show the line start orientation when plotting fields along a line. Notice
that by going to the History tree selecting Create Polyline for that object, you can assign a cross
section and dimensions to a polyline.

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7. Click OK.

If you select a polyline in the History tree, you can use the Measure mode to see the total length.

Related Topics

Setting the Reference Point

Assigning a Cross Section and Dimension to a Polyline

Drawing a Straight Line

Drawing a Three-Point Arc

Drawing a Center-Point Arc Line

Drawing an Equation-Based Curve

Drawing a Spline

Deleting Polyline Segments

Converting Polyline Segments

Generate History

Setting Modeler Options: Operations Tab

Assigning a Cross Section and Dimensions to a Polyline

By viewing the History tree property of a polyline, you can assign either a line, circle, rectangle or
Isosceles trapezoid cross section to a polyline. This assignment enables editable dimension
properties of width for a line, diameter for a circle, and height and width for a rectangle or trapezoid.
To assign a cross section to a polyline:

1. In the History tree of the Modeler window, right-click on the polyline that you want to give a
cross section.

This selects the polyline, displays the polyline properties in the docked properties (if you have if
displays) and displays a shortcut menu where you can choose Properties... to display the
undocked Properties window for the polyline.

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2. In a Properties window (either docked or undocked) for the selected polyline click on None
on the Type line under Cross Section to display the choices for Line, Circle, Rectangle and
Isosceles Trapzoid.

3. Select one of Line, Circle, Rectangle, or Isosceles Trapezoid as the cross section.
l Selecting Line causes the Cross Section area of the polyline properties to display editable
fields for Orientation and Width.
l Selecting Circle causes the Cross Section area of the polyline properties to display an
editable field for diameter.
l Selecting Rectangle causes the Cross Section area of the polyline properties to display
editable fields for Orientation, Width and Height.
l Selecting Isosceles Trapezoid causes the Cross Section area of the polyline properties
to display editable fields for Orientation, Width/Diameter, Top Width, and Height.
4. If you select Line, Rectangle, or Isosceles Trapezoid you can edit the Orientation as Auto, X,
Y, or Z. This provides the direction in which the dimension extends.
5. Specify the dimensions and select the units for the Cross section.

Type a value in the dimension field(s) and select units from the drop down menu.

The dimensions must be reasonable relative to the specified shape and orientation of the
polyline. If the polyline cannot be extended into current Orientation for the given dimension(s),
you will receive a warning. If you receive a warning, check the Orientation, dimension and units.

When the modeler can extend the dimensions legally, it displays the modified object, and lists it
in the History tree as either a Sheet object (Line or one dimensional Rectangle) or as a Solid
object (Circle or two dimensional Rectangle).

6. You can modify the new polyline either by editing the properties, or by using the History tree
to select one of the line objects that make up the polyline, and right clicking to display the
popup menu showing commands to Insert, Delete, or display editable segment Properties.

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A segment that you select in the Project tree is indicated in the Modeler window by a line in the
dimensioned object. If you insert a new segment, it adopts the dimensions you specified for the
polyline object.

Related Topics

Setting the Reference Point

Drawing a Polyline

Drawing an Equation-Based Curve

Deleting Polyline Segments

Inserting Line Segments

Drawing a Center-Point Arc Line

Drawing a Straight Line

Drawing a Three-Point Arc

Inserting Line Segments

You can insert line segments of various kinds for existing line objects.

1. Select the line object in the History tree (not the modeler window).

This highlights the object and enables the InsertLine Segment commands in the Draw menu
and short-cut menu.

2. Use the cascade menu from the Draw>Line Segment command to or the right-click menu
to select whether to Insert Before Line Segment or InsertAfter Line Segment.

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3. Use the next cascade menu to specify the kind of segment to add. These can be: Straight,
Spline. 3 Point Arc, or Center Point Arc.
4. If you clicked Straight, follow the procedure for drawing a straight line.

If you clicked Spline, follow the procedure for drawing a spline.

If you clicked 3 Point Arc, follow the procedure for drawing a three-point arc line.

If you clicked Center Point Arc, follow the procedure for drawing a center-point arc line.

5. Repeat steps 2 and 3 for each segment of the polyline object. The endpoint of the previous
segment serves as the start point for the next segment.
6. Complete the polyline in one of the following ways:
l Double-click the endpoint of the final segment.
l Click Done on the shortcut menu.

Note To connect the polyline's start and endpoints, click Close Polyline on the shortcut
menu.

The Properties dialog box appears, in which you can modify the object's attributes byediting
the Properties. Those listed under the Command tab describe the commands used to create
the object. These commands also appear in the History tree. The Properties listed as line
attributes include Name, Orientation, whether a Model object, whether to Display Wireframe,
Color, Transparency, and whether to Show Direction as arrows. The Show Direction property
is most helpful to unambiguously show the line start orientation when plotting fields along a line.

7. Click OK.

Related Topics

Drawing a Center-Point Arc Line

Deleting Polyline Segments

Converting Polyline Segments

Drawing an Equation-Based Curve

Any line that can be described by an equation in three dimensions can be drawn.

1. Click Draw>Equation Based Curve or in the Draw tab ribbon, select the Equation
Based Curve icon.

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The Equation Based Curve dialog box opens.

2. Type equations for X(_t), Y(_t), and Z(_t)

You can also define an equation by doing the following:

Click the [...] button.

The Edit Equation dialog box appears.

a. Do one or more of the following to define the equation:

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Type a numerical value, variable, or expression directly in the text box.

Build an equation for X(_t), Y(_t), or Z(_t) by specifying appropriate trignometric function,
operator, and quantity to insert from the corresponding pull-down lists.

Select the respecting Insert Quantity, Operator or Quantity buttons to place the
selections on the equation fields. An inserted Quantity goes inside a currently inserted
Function.

You can also type operators and values to build complex equations.

b. When you are finished defining the equation, click OK to close the Edit Equation dialog
box and return to the Equation Based Curve dialog box.
l Any unitless value input in equation based curve is taken as model units. For example, for
Y(_t) = 1, the y value is taken as 1 model units (say mm). If a value has units, then it is
converted to model units and used. For example, if we specify Y(_t) = 1cm, then y value
will be correctly taken as 10mm.
l While parsing expressions, equation based curves convert each variable separately to
model units and assume that the resulting expression is in model units.
l Equation based curves depend on the variable value library to correctly evaluate the units
of expression.
3. Select a start value from the Start_t pull-down list.
4. Select an end value from the End_t pull-down list.
5. Type in or select the number of points in the curve from the Points pull-down list.

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6. Click OK on dialog to close it and create the curve.

The curve appears in the modeler window, and the History tree shows the curve object and the
command.

If the Modeler option for editing properties of new primitives is checked, the Properties dialog
box appears, in which you can modify the object's attributes by editing the Properties.

The Properties listed as line attributes include Name, Orientation, whether a Model object,
whether to Display Wireframe, Color, Transparency, and whether to Show Direction as arrows.
The Show Direction property is most helpful to unambiguously show the line start orientation
when plotting fields along a line.

Related Topics

Setting the Reference Point

Assigning a Cross Section and Dimension to a Polyline

Functions, Operators and Quantities for the Edit Equation Dialog

Functions, Operators and Quantities for the Edit Equation dialog

This table lists the functions, operators and Quantities for the Edit Equation dialog.

Item Definition
Functions

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Item Definition
abs Absolute value of the simulation quantity which results in a number that is
always positive.
acos Arc cosine i.e. the inverse function of a cosine.
acosh Inverse hyperbolic arc cosine.
acot Inverse cotangent
acoth Inverse hyperbolic cotangent
acsc Inverse cosecant
acsch Inverse hyperbolic cosecant
asec Inverse secant
asech Inverse hyperbolic secant
asin Arc sine i.e. inverse function of sine.
asinh Inverse hyperbolic sine.
atan Arc tangent i.e. the inverse function of a tan.
atanh Inverse hyperbolic tan.
cos Cosine.
cosh Hyperbolic cosine.
cot Cotangent
coth Hyperbolic cotangent
csc Cosecant
csch Hyperbolic cosecant
ln Natural logarithm.
log Natural logarithm (same as ln).
sin Sine.
sinh Hyperbolic sine.
sqrt Square root of the selected simulation quantity.
tan Tangent.
tanh Hyperbolic tangent.
Operators
and
cross
division
dot

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Item Definition
equal
exp
exponent
greater_than
greater_than_or_
equal
not
not_equal
or
Quantities
_t For equation based lines
_u,_v For equation based surfaces.
PI

Drawing a Circle
Draw a circle by selecting a center point and a radius. Circles are drawn as true surfaces in the
modeler.

1. Click Draw>Circle or in the Draw tab ribbon, click the circle icon.

2. Select the center point of the circle in one of the following ways:
l Click the point.
l Type the point's coordinates in the text boxes in the status bar.
3. Specify the radius by selecting a point on the circle's circumference in one of the following
ways:

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l Click the point.

l Type the coordinates of the point relative to the center point in the dX, dY, and dZ boxes,
where d is the distance from the previously selected point.

If the Modeler option for editing properties of new primitives is checked, the Properties dialog
box appears, enabling you to modify the object's properties.

4. Click OK.

If the Automatically cover closed polyline option is selected in the Modeler Options
window, the circle will be covered, resulting in a 2D sheet object. Otherwise it will be a closed
1D polyline object.

Note The 3D Geometry Modeler permits drawing of true-curved objects. However, the solution
will be obtained with a tetrahedral mesh which conforms to the true surface only within the
limits identified by certain mesh settings. The modeler has default settings for this
conformance which is a reasonable trade-off between solution speed and solution quality
for most objects, but may not be ideal for all such objects. High-aspect ratio curves
structures, such as helices with narrow and curved cross-sections, may benefit from user
control of the faceting values. For details about these commands see:

Technical Notes, "Surface Approximations" and related sections, Rectilinear Elements and
Curvilinear Elements, "Modifying Surface Approximations," and "Guidelines for Modifying
Surface Approximations"

Related Topics

Setting the Reference Point

Surface Approximation

Creating Segmented Geometry

Covering Lines

Drawing an Ellipse
Draw an ellipse by specifying a center point, base radius, and secondary radius.

1. Click Draw>Ellipse or in the Draw tab ribbon, select the draw ellipse icon.

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2. Select the center point of the ellipse in one of the following ways:
l Click the point.
l Type the point's coordinates in the text boxes in the status bar.
3. Specify the base radius of the ellipse. If the current drawing plane is xy, then x is the base
radius direction. If the drawing plane is yz, then y is the base radius direction. If the drawing
plane is xz, then z is the base radius direction. Select the point in one of the following ways:
l Click the point. ANSYS Electronics Desktop constrains mouse movement to the base
radius direction.
l Type the coordinates of a point relative to the center point in the dX, dY, or dZ box, where
d is the distance from the previously selected point.
4. Specify the secondary radius of the ellipse. Select the point in one of the following ways:
l Click the point. ANSYS Electronics Desktop constrains mouse movement to a point on
the plane orthogonal to the base radius direction.
l Type the coordinates of a point relative to the center point in the dX, dY, or dZ box.

If the Modeler option for editing properties of new primitives is checked, the Properties dialog
box appears, enabling you to modify the object's properties.

The Ratio value represents the aspect ratio of the secondary radius to the base radius.

5. Click OK.

If the Automatically cover closed polyline option is selected in the Modeler Options
window, the ellipse will be covered, resulting in a 2D sheet object. Otherwise it will be a closed
1D polyline object.

If the base radius is larger than the secondary radius, the ellipse's longer axis will lie along the
default base radius direction. If the secondary radius is larger than the base radius, the ellipse's
longer axis will lie perpendicular to the default base radius direction. To create an ellipse with an
arbitrary orientation, rotate or move the ellipse after drawing it.

Note The 3D Geometry Modeler permits drawing of true-curved objects. However, the solution
will be obtained with a tetrahedral mesh which conforms to the true surface only within the
limits identified by certain mesh settings. The modeler has default settings for this
conformance which is a reasonable trade-off between solution speed and solution quality
for most objects, but may not be ideal for all such objects. High-aspect ratio curves
structures, such as helices with narrow and curved cross-sections, may benefit from user
control of the faceting values. For details about these commands see:

Technical Notes, "Surface Approximations" and related sections, Rectilinear Elements and
Curvilinear Elements, "Modifying Surface Approximations," and "Guidelines for Modifying
Surface Approximations"

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Related Topics

Setting the Reference Point

Modifying Surface Approximation Settings

Creating Segmented Geometry

Covering Lines

Drawing a Rectangle
Draw a rectangle (or square) by selecting two diagonally opposite corners.

1. Click Draw>Rectangle or in the Draw tab ribbon, click the draw rectangle icon.

2. Select the first diagonal corner in one of the following ways:

l Click the point.
l Type the point's coordinates in the text boxes in the status bar.

To delete the selected point and start over, press ESC or click Escape Draw Mode on the
shortcut menu.

3. Select the second corner of the rectangle in one of the following ways:
l Click the point.
l Type the coordinates of the point relative to the first diagonal corner in the dX, dY, and dZ
boxes, where d is the distance from the previously selected point.

If the Modeler option for editing properties of new primitives is checked, the Properties dialog
box appears, enabling you to modify the object's properties.

4. Click OK.

If the Automatically cover closed polyline option is selected in the Modeler Options
window, the rectangle will be covered, resulting in a 2D sheet object. Otherwise it will be a
closed 1D polyline object.

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Related Topics

Setting the Reference Point

Covering Lines

Drawing a Regular Polygon

A regular polygon is a 2D object with three or more equal sides. Regular polygons are useful for
drawing faceted 2D objects.

1. Click Draw>Regular Polygon or in the Draw tab of the ribbon area, click the Draw Regular
Polygon icon:

2. Select the center point of the polygon in one of the following ways:
l Click the point.
l Type the point's coordinates in the text boxes in the status bar.
3. Specify the polygon's radius, the distance from the center point to one of the polygon's
vertices, in one of the following ways:
l Click the point.
l Type the coordinates of the point relative to the center point in the dX, dY, and dZ boxes,
where d is the distance from the previously selected point.
4. In the Segment number dialog box, enter the Number of segments in the polygon, and
then click OK.

If the Modeler option for editing properties of new primitives is checked, the Properties dialog
box appears, enabling you to modify the object's properties.

5. Click OK.

Note The radius is measured from the center point to a corner of the polygon, or the
intersection of two edges. It is not measured from the center point to the midpoint of
an edge.

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If the Automatically cover closed polyline option is selected in the Modeler Options
window, the polygon will be covered, resulting in a 2D sheet object. Otherwise it will be a closed
1D polyline object.

Related Topics

Setting the Reference Point

Covering Lines

Drawing an Equation-Based Surface

Any surface that can be described by an equation in three dimensions can be drawn.

1. Click Draw>Equation Based Surface .

The Equation Based Surface dialog box opens.

2. Type equations for X(_u, _v), Y(_u, _v), and Z(_u, _v).

You can also define an equation by doing the following:

Click the ... button.

The Edit Equation dialog box appears.

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c. Do one or more of the following to define the equation:

Type a numerical value, variable, or expression directly in the text box.

Build an equation for X(u, v), Y(u, v), or Z(u, v), by selecting function, operator, and quantity
to insert from the corresponding pull-down lists.

Select the respecting Insert Quantity, Operator or Quantity buttons to place the
selections on the equation fields. An inserted Quantity goes inside a currently inserted
Function.

You can also type operators and values to build complex equations.

d. When you are finished defining the equation, click OK to close the Edit Equation dialog
box and return to the Equation Based Surface dialog box.
l Any unitless value input in equation based curve is taken as model units. For example, for
Y(_t) = 1, the y value is taken as 1 model units (say mm). If a value has units, then it is
converted to model units and used. For example, if we specify Y(_t) = 1cm, then y value
will be correctly taken as 10mm.

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l While parsing expressions, equation based curves convert each variable separately to
model units and assume that the resulting expression is in model units.
l Equation based curves depend on the variable value library to correctly evaluate the units
of expression.
3. Specify start values for the Start_u and Start_v fields.

Select end values for End_u and End_v fields.

4. Click OK on the Properties dialog box.

The surface is drawn in the Modeler window. The History tree contains the Equation Surface
object and the command properties.

If the Modeler option for editing properties of new primitives is checked, the Properties dialog
box appears, enabling you to modify the object's attributes.

Related Topics

Setting the Reference Point

Assigning a Cross Section and Dimension to a Polyline

Drawing an Equation Based Curve

Functions, Operators and Quantities for the Edit Equation Dialog

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Drawing a Sphere
Draw a sphere, a 3D circle, by selecting a center point and a radius. Spheres are drawn as true
surfaces in the modeler.

1. Click Draw>Sphere or in the Draw tab of the Ribbon, click the Sphere icon:

2. Select the center point of the sphere in one of the following ways:
l Click the point.
l Type the point's coordinates in the text boxes in the status bar.
3. Specify the radius by selecting a point on the sphere's circumference in one of the following
ways:
l Click the point.
l Type the coordinates of the point relative to the center point in the dX, dY, and dZ boxes,
where d is the distance from the previously selected point.

If the Modeler option for editing properties of new primitives is checked, the Properties dialog
box appears, enabling you to modify the object's properties.

4. Click OK.

Note The 3D Geometry Modeler permits drawing of true-curved objects. However, the
solution will be obtained with a tetrahedral mesh which conforms to the true surface
only within the limits identified by certain mesh settings. The modeler has default
settings for this conformance which is a reasonable trade-off between solution speed
and solution quality for most objects, but may not be ideal for all such objects. High-
aspect ratio curves structures, such as helices with narrow and curved cross-
sections, may benefit from user control of the faceting values.

For details about these commands see:

Technical Notes, "Surface Approximations" and related sections, Rectilinear

Elements and Curvilinear Elements, "Modifying Surface Approximations," and
"Guidelines for Modifying Surface Approximations"

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Drawing a Cylinder
Draw a cylinder by selecting a center point, radius, and height. Cylinders are drawn as true
surfaces in the modeler.

1. Click Draw>Cylinder or in the Draw tab of the Ribbon, click the cylinder icon:

2. Select the center point of the cylinder's base circle in one of the following ways:
l Click the point.
l Type the point's coordinates in the text boxes in the status bar.
3. Specify the radius by selecting a point on the base circle's circumference in one of the
following ways:
l Click the point.
l Type the coordinates of the point relative to the center point in the dX, dY, and dZ boxes,
where d is the distance from the previously selected point.
4. Specify the cylinder's height by selecting a point on the axis perpendicular to the base circle's
plane. Select the point by clicking the point or typing the coordinates in the dX, dY, and dZ
boxes.

Note If you create a cylinder with a height of zero, ANSYS Electronics Desktop draws a
circular sheet object.

If the Modeler option for editing properties of new primitives is checked, the Properties dialog
box appears, enabling you to modify the object's properties.

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5. Click OK.

Note The 3D Geometry Modeler permits drawing of true-curved objects. However, the
solution will be obtained with a tetrahedral mesh which conforms to the true surface
only within the limits identified by certain mesh settings. The modeler has default
settings for this conformance which is a reasonable trade-off between solution speed
and solution quality for most objects, but may not be ideal for all such objects. High-
aspect ratio curves structures, such as helices with narrow and curved cross-
sections, may benefit from user control of the faceting values. For details about these
commands see:

Technical Notes, "Surface Approximations" and related sections, Rectilinear

Elements and Curvilinear Elements, "Modifying Surface Approximations," and
"Guidelines for Modifying Surface Approximations"

Related Topics

Setting the Reference Point

Assigning a Cross Section and Dimension to a Polyline

Modifying Surface Approximation Settings

Creating Segmented Geometry

Drawing a Box
Draw a box by selecting two diagonally opposite corners of the base rectangle, then specifying the
height.

1. Click Draw>Box or in the Draw tab of the ribbon, click the Box icon:

2. Select the first diagonal corner of the base rectangle in one of the following ways:
l Click the point.
l Type the point's coordinates in the text boxes in the status bar.

To delete the selected point and start over, press ESC or click Escape Draw Mode on the
shortcut menu.

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3. Select the second corner of the base rectangle in one of the following ways:
l Click the point.
l Type the coordinates of the point relative to the first diagonal corner in the dX, dY, and dZ
boxes, where d is the distance from the previously selected point.
4. Specify the height of the box by selecting a point on the axis perpendicular to the base
rectangle. Select the point by clicking the point or typing the coordinates in the dX, dY, and
dZ boxes.

If the Modeler option for editing properties of new primitives is checked, the Properties dialog
box appears, enabling you to modify the object's properties.

5. Click OK.

Related Topics

Setting the Reference Point

Drawing a Regular Polyhedron

In the modeler, regular polyhedrons are 3D objects with regular polygon faces; each face has three
or more equal sides. Regular polyhedrons are useful for drawing faceted 3D objects.

1. Click Draw>Regular Polyhedron on in the Draw tab ribbon, click the Regular
Polyhedron icon

2. Select the center point of the polyhedron in one of the following ways:
l Click the point.
l Type the point's coordinates in the text boxes in the status bar.
3. Select the radius of the polyhedron, the distance from the center point to one of the
polyhedron's vertices, in one of the following ways:
l Click the point.
l Type the coordinates of the point relative to the center point in the dX, dY, and dZ boxes,
where d is the distance from the previously selected point.
4. In the Segment number dialog box, enter the Number of segments in the polyhedron,
and then click OK.

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If the Modeler option for editing properties of new primitives is checked, the Properties dialog
box appears, enabling you to modify the object's properties.

5. Click OK.

Note The radius is measured from the center point to a corner of the polygon, or the
intersection of two edges. It is not measured from the center point to the midpoint of
an edge.

If the Automatically cover closed polyline option is selected in the Modeler Options dialog
box, the polygon will be covered, resulting in a 2D sheet object. Otherwise it will be a closed 1D
polyline object.

Related Topics

Setting the Reference Point

Covering Lines

Drawing a Cone
Draw a cone by selecting the center point and radius of the cone's base circle, then specifying the
radius of the cone's top circle and the cone's height. Cones are drawn as true surfaces in the
modeler.

1. Click Draw>Cone or in the Draw tab of the ribbon, click the cone icon:

2. Select the center point of the cone's base circle in one of the following ways:
l Click the point.
l Type the point's coordinates in the text boxes in the status bar.
3. Specify the radius of the cone's base circle by selecting a point on the base circle's
circumference. Select the point in one of the following ways:
l Click the point.
l Type the coordinates of the point relative to the center point in the dX, dY, and dZ boxes,
where d is the distance from the previously selected point.

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4. Specify the radius of the cone's top circle by selecting a point on its circumference. Select the
point by clicking it or typing its coordinates in the dX, dY, and dZ boxes.

To create an apex, select the same center point as the cone's base circle.

5. Specify the height of the cone by selecting a point on the axis perpendicular to the base
circle's plane. Select the point by clicking the point or typing the coordinates in the dX, dY,
and dZ boxes.

If the Modeler option for editing properties of new primitives is checked, the Properties dialog
box appears, enabling you to modify the object's properties.

6. Click OK.

Note The 3D Geometry Modeler permits drawing of true-curved objects. However, the
solution will be obtained with a tetrahedral mesh which conforms to the true surface
only within the limits identified by certain mesh settings. The modeler has default
settings for this conformance which is a reasonable trade-off between solution speed
and solution quality for most objects, but may not be ideal for all such objects. High-
aspect ratio curves structures, such as helices with narrow and curved cross-
sections, may benefit from user control of the faceting values. For details about these
commands see:

Technical Notes, "Surface Approximations" and related sections, Rectilinear

Elements and Curvilinear Elements, "Modifying Surface Approximations," and
"Guidelines for Modifying Surface Approximations"

Related Topics

Setting the Reference Point

Drawing a Torus
Draw a torus by selecting its center point, major radius, and minor radius. The modeler then
sweeps a circle around a circular path. Toruses are drawn as true surfaces in the modeler.

1. Click Draw>Torus or in the Draw tab of the ribbon, click the torus icon:

2. Select the center point of the torus in one of the following ways:

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l Click the point.

l Type the point's coordinates in the text boxes in the status bar.
3. Specify the major radius by selecting a point in one of the following ways:
l Click the point.
l Type the coordinates of the point relative to the center point in the dX, dY, and dZ boxes,
where d is the distance from the previously selected point.

The major radius determines the diameter of the torus.

4. Specify the minor radius by selecting a point relative to the major radius point.

The minor radius determines the diameter of the "donut hole".

If the Modeler option for editing properties of new primitives is checked, the Properties dialog
box appears, enabling you to modify the object's properties.

5. Click OK.

Note The 3D Geometry Modeler permits drawing of true-curved objects. However, the
solution will be obtained with a tetrahedral mesh which conforms to the true surface
only within the limits identified by certain mesh settings. The modeler has default
settings for this conformance which is a reasonable trade-off between solution speed
and solution quality for most objects, but may not be ideal for all such objects. High-
aspect ratio curves structures, such as helices with narrow and curved cross-
sections, may benefit from user control of the faceting values. For details about these
commands see:

Technical Notes, "Surface Approximations" and related sections, Rectilinear

Elements and Curvilinear Elements, "Modifying Surface Approximations," and
"Guidelines for Modifying Surface Approximations"

Drawing a Helix
A helix is a 3D spiral object created by sweeping a 1D or 2D object along a vector. Sweeping a 1D
object results in a hollow 3D object. Sweeping a 2D sheet object results in a 3D solid object.

1. Select the 1D or 2D object you want to sweep to form a helix.

2. Click Draw>Helix or in the Draw tab of the ribbon, click the helix icon:

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3. Draw the vector you want to sweep the object along. The two points that describe the vector
affect axis direction only and not the helix length. The helix length is determined when you
enter the pitch and number of turns in the Pitch and Turns text boxes. The initial radius of
the helix is determined by the axis position relative to the object being swept.
a. Select the start point by clicking the point or typing its coordinates in the X, Y, and Z text
boxes.
b. Select the endpoint by clicking the point or typing its coordinates relative to the start point
in the dX, dY, and dZ boxes.

The Helix dialog box appears.

4. For Turn Direction, select Right hand if the turn direction is clockwise and Left hand if the
turn direction is counter-clockwise.
5. In the Pitch text box, type the distance between each turn in the helix, and click a unit in the
pull-down list.
6. In the Turns text box, type the number of complete revolutions the object will make along the
vector.
7. In the Radius Change per Turn text box, type a number for the increase in the radius and
select the units from the pull-down list.
8. After you set these values, the selected object is swept along the vector to form a helix. The
original object you swept is deleted.

If the Modeler option for editing properties of new primitives is checked, the Properties dialog
box appears, enabling you to modify the object's properties.

9. Click OK.

Note The 3D Geometry Modeler permits drawing of true-curved objects. However, the
solution will be obtained with a tetrahedral mesh which conforms to the true surface
only within the limits identified by certain mesh settings. The modeler has default
settings for this conformance which is a reasonable trade-off between solution speed
and solution quality for most objects, but may not be ideal for all such objects. High-
aspect ratio curves structures, such as helices with narrow and curved cross-
sections, may benefit from user control of the faceting values. For details about these
commands see:

Technical Notes, "Surface Approximations" and related sections, Rectilinear

Elements and Curvilinear Elements, "Modifying Surface Approximations," and
"Guidelines for Modifying Surface Approximations"

Related Topics

Setting the Reference Point

Drawing a Segmented Helix with Polygon Cross-Section using a User-Defined Primitive

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Drawing a Segmented Helix with Rectangular Cross-Section using a User Defined Primitive.

Drawing a Segmented Helix with Polygon Cross-Section Using a User

Defined Primitive
ANSYS provides you with a DLL to define the parameters of a segmented helix with a polygon
cross-section.

1. Click Draw>User Defined Primitive>SegmentedHelix>PolygonHelix.

The Create User Defined Part dialog box appears. The Parameters tab permits you to edit
the parameters. An Info tab contains information about the user defined primitive, its purpose,
the company/author who created it, the date created and the version number.

2. Specify the values for the following parameters:

PolygonSegments Number of segments in the polygon cross-section. Enter zero (0) for
true circle
PolygonRadius Radius of the polygon cross-section.
StartHelixRadius The radius of a segmented helix is defined from the helix center of
rotation to the center of the helix cross-section at segment transitions.
The first and last segments of the helix are half segments. See this
figure.
RadiusChange The radius change per turn of the helix.
Pitch Distance between helix turns.
Turns The number of turns in the helix.
SegmentsPerTurn The number of segments constructing each turn. Enter zero (0) for
true curve.
RightHanded Helix winding direction. Enter non-zero value for right-handed helix.

3. Click OK.

Related Topics

Setting the Reference Point

Creating a User Defined Primitive

Drawing a Segmented Helix with Rectangular Cross Section Using a User Defined Primitive

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Drawing a Segmented Helix with Rectangular Cross-Section Using a

User Defined Primitive
ANSYS provides you with a DLL to define the parameters of a segmented helix with a rectangular
cross-section.

1. Click Draw>User Defined Primitive>SegmentedHelix>RectHelix.

The Create User Defined Part dialog box appears. The Parameters tab permits you to edit
the parameters. An Info tab contains information about the user defined primitive, its purpose,
the company/author who created it, the date created and the version number.

2. Specify the values for the following parameters:

RectHeight Height of rectangular cross-section.

RectWidth Width of rectangular cross-section.
StartHelixRadius The radius of a segmented helix is defined from the helix center of
rotation to the center of the helix cross-section at segment transitions.
The first and last segments of the helix are half segments. See this
figure.
RadiusChange The radius change per turn of the helix.
Pitch Distance between helix turns.
Turns The number of turns in the helix.
SegmentsPerTurn The number of segments constructing each turn. Enter zero (0) for
true curve.
RightHanded Helix winding direction. Enter non-zero value for right-handed helix.

3. Click OK.

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Related Topics

Setting the Reference Point

Creating a User Defined Primitive

Drawing a Segmented Helix with Polygon Cross-Section using a User-Defined Primitive

Drawing a Spiral
A spiral is a 2D or 3D spiral object created by sweeping an object around a vector. Sweeping a 1D
object results in a 2D sheet object. Sweeping a 2D sheet object results in a 3D solid object.

1. Select the 1D or 2D object you want to sweep to form a spiral.

2. Click Draw>Spiral or in the Draw tab of the ribbon, click the spiral icon:

3. Draw the vector you want to sweep the object around:

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a. Select the start point by clicking the point or typing its coordinates in the X, Y, and Z text
boxes.
b. Select the endpoint by clicking the point or typing its coordinates relative to the start point
in the dX, dY, and dZ boxes.

The Spiral dialog box appears.

4. Select Right hand if the turn direction is clockwise and Left hand if the turn direction is
counter-clockwise.
5. In the Radius Change text box, type the difference in radius between each turn of the spiral.

The radius of the first turn is measured from the center point of the 1D or 2D object you are
sweeping to the vector you drew.

6. Click a unit for the radius in the pull-down list.

7. In the Turns text box, type the number of complete revolutions the object will make around
the vector.

The selected object is swept around the vector to form a spiral. The original object you swept is
deleted. If the Modeler option for editing properties of new primitives is checked, the Properties
dialog box appears, enabling you to modify the object's properties.

8. Click OK.

This 3D spiral was created from a 2D circle drawn at z = 0. The turn direction was right hand,

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the radius change was set at 2, and the number of turns was set at 2.

Note The 3D Geometry Modeler permits drawing of true-curved objects. However, the solution
will be obtained with a tetrahedral mesh which conforms to the true surface only within the
limits identified by certain mesh settings. The modeler has default settings for this
conformance which is a reasonable trade-off between solution speed and solution quality
for most objects, but may not be ideal for all such objects. High-aspect ratio curves
structures, such as helices with narrow and curved cross-sections, may benefit from user
control of the faceting values. For details about these commands see:

Technical Notes, "Surface Approximations" and related sections, Rectilinear Elements and
Curvilinear Elements, "Modifying Surface Approximations," and "Guidelines for Modifying
Surface Approximations"

Related Topics

Setting the Reference Point

Drawing a Spiral Using User Defined Primitives

Drawing a Spiral using User Defined Primitives

ANSYS provides you with a DLL and a Python script to define the parameters of a rectangular
spiral.

1. Click Draw>User Defined Primitive>Examples>RectangularSpiral(DLL) or

Rectangular Spiral (Python).

The User Defined Primitive Operation dialog box appears. The Parameters tab permits you
to see and edit the parameters. An Info tab contains information about the user defined
primitive, its purpose, the company/author who created it, the date created and the version
number.

2. Specify the values for the following parameters:

Xpos X location of the starting point.

Ypos Y location of the starting point.
Dist The separation distance between turns.
Turns The number of complete revolutions the object will make around the vector
Width The width of the spiral.
Thickness The thickness/height of the spiral. If you specify the thickness as zero, the
modeler draws a sheet object.

3. Click OK.

This creates the primitive and displays the Properties dialog for the new object.

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Hint To see newly created DLLs, click Draw>User Defined Primitive>Update Menu.

To see the primitives that you have created, click Draw>User Defined
Primitive>UserLib.

Related Topics

Setting the Reference Point

Creating a User Defined Primitive

Drawing a Spiral

Drawing a Bondwire
A bondwire is a thin metal wire that connects a metal signal trace with a chip. Please see the topic
Bondwires in the Technical Notes before drawing a bondwire.

1. Click Draw>Bondwire or in the Draw tab of the ribbon, click the bondwire icon:

2. Select the bond pad point in one of the following ways:

l Click the point.
l Type the point's coordinates in the text boxes in the status bar.
3. Select the lead point by clicking the point or typing the coordinates in the text boxes in the
status bar.

The Bondwires dialog box appears.

4. In the Type list, click the JEDEC modeling standard shape you want the bondwire to have:
JEDEC 4-point, JEDEC 5-point, or Low.

The Type selection changes the dialog bondwire graphic, and shows options for that type.

5. Enter the number of facets in the bondwire in the No. of Facets text box.

The minimum value is 3. The value describes the number of faces that make up the
circumference of the bondwire.

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6. In the diameter field, specify a diameter value and select the units from the pull-down menu.
7. Enter the height between the bond pad and the top of the loop in the h1 text box. Include the
height's unit of length.
8. The value in the h2 text box is the height between the bond pad and the lead point. It was
calculated by ANSYS Electronics Desktop based on the lead point you selected. If you
modify the value of h2, the lead point will be modified.

Optionally, type a new value in the h2 text box. Include the height's unit of length.

9. If you selected JEDEC 5-point or Low do the following:

a. Type the angle between the horizontal plane and the wire at the bond pad point in the
alpha text box.
b. Type the angle between the horizontal plane and the wire at the lead point in the beta
text box.
10. Click OK.

Related Topics

Setting the Reference Point

Technical Notes:Bondwires

Drawing a Point
Drawing a point object within the problem region enables you to plot fields or perform field
computations at that point. Points are always considered non-model objects by the modeler.

1. Click Draw>Point or in the Draw tab of the ribbon, click the point icon:

2. Select the point in one of the following ways:

l Click the point.
l Type the point's coordinates in the text boxes in the status bar.

The point is listed under Points in the history tree.

Related Topics

Setting the Reference Point

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Modifying Markers on Point Plots

Drawing Non-Model Objects

Drawing a Plane
A plane object is a cutplane through the problem region. You can plot fields or perform field
computations on its surface. Planes are always considered non-model objects by the modeler.

1. Click Draw>Plane or in the Draw tab of the ribbon, click the plane icon:

2. Select the origin in one of the following ways:

l Click the point.
l Type the point's coordinates in the text boxes in the status bar.

To delete the selected point and start over, press ESC.

3. Select a normal point in one of the following ways:

l Click the point.
l Type the coordinates of the point relative to the origin in the dX, dY, and dZ boxes, where
d is the distance from the previously selected point.

The plane is created. Its center point is located at the origin you specified and oriented
perpendicular to the normal point you specified. The new plane is listed under Planes in the
history tree.

Note You only need to draw a plane that does not lie on a pre-defined xy, yz, and xz plane.
Default planes are created on the xy, yz, and xz planes of the global coordinate system as
well as any new coordinate system you create.

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Related Topics

Drawing Non-Model Objects

Plotting Field Overlays

Creating Segmented Geometry

For some structures, you may want to create segmented as opposed to smooth (or True) surfaces.
The figure below shows a comparison of a cylinder created with true surfaces and with segmented
surfaces.

The following model objects can be created as segmented structures:

Circle, Ellipse, Cylinder See Segmented Objects

Polyline, Arc, Line Segment See Converting Polyline Segments

Segmented Objects

To create segmented circles, ellipses, and cylinders use the Number of Segments parameter on
the Command Tab of the Properties dialog as shown below. To convert an object from true
surface to segmented, do the following:

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1. Select the circle, ellipse, or cylinder in the modeler window or in the history tree.
2. In the command tab of the properties window (shown docked below), change the Number
of Segments to an integer value of three or greater and press Enter.

Values of 1 and 2 are not valid values for the circle, ellipse, or cylinder command and will cause
an error.

Related Topics

Modifying Surface Approximation Settings

Creating Segmented Geometry

Drawing Non-Model Objects

If you want to create an object that does not affect the geometric model, define the object as non
model. This ensures that the object is used for analysis only; it will not affect the solution process.
After drawing the non-model object, assuming it lies in the problem region, you can use it in the
reporter as a place on which to plot field quantities. For example, draw a non-model line across the
design, then (in the reporter) plot Mag_E on every point along that line.

You can assign output variables (default) and design variable as property values for non-model
objects.

Following are examples of using non-model objects to analyze a solution:

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l Draw a polyline along which to plot fields or perform field computations. Note that when you
create a value versus distance plot, by default, the line will be divided into 100 equally
spaced points. You can modify the number of points into which the line is divided in the Edit
Sweeps dialog box.For more information, see Specifying Variable Values for a Sweep
Definition.
l Draw a rectangle upon which to plot fields in the reporter or perform field computations.
l Draw a volume box to analyze fields in areas of the problem region that are not occupied by
an object or that consist of parts of several objects.
l Draw a plane, which is always a non-model object.
l Draw a point object, which is always a non-model object, in order to plot fields in the
Reporter or perform field computations at that point.

What do you want to do?

Switch to non-model drawing mode. Objects you draw in non-model mode will not be included in
the solution process.

Modify an existing model object to be a non-model object.

Selecting Non-Model Drawing Mode

To switch to non-model drawing mode:

1. Click Modeler>New Object Type>Non Model.

Alternatively, click Non Model on the drawing model pull-down list in the Draw tab of the
Ribbon area:

2. Draw the object.

Related Topics

Changing an Object to Non Model

Drawing Non-Model Objects

Changing an Object to Non Model

To modify an existing object to be a non-model object:

l Select the object you want to modify.In the Properties dialog box, clear the Model option.

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The object will not be included in the solution process. If the object lies in the problem region,
you can plot solution quantities on it.

Related Topics

Selecting Non-Model Drawing Mode

Drawing Non-Model Objects

Drawing a Region
To draw a region encompassing the objects in the current project:

1. Click Draw>Region or in the Draw tab of the ribbon click the region icon:

This displays the Region dialog.

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2. For the Padding data, click the Padding Data radio button as Pad all directions similarly,
Pad individual directions, or Transverse padding.

Selecting Pad all directions similarly leaves the Padding type field as requiring a single value
that affects all directions. In this case, you can specify the Padding type by selecting
Percentage Offset or Absolute Offset from the drop-down menu.

If you select Absolute Offset, you also specify the units by selecting from a drop-down menu.

Selecting Pad individual directions displays the Padding Percentage as a table of Positive
and Negative X,Y, and Z coordinates, permitting you to specify padding for each direction. In
this case, you can specify the Padding type by selecting Percentage Offset or Absolute
Offset or Absolute Position from the drop down menu.

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Selecting Transverse padding means that padding in one direction is controlled by

dimensions in other two directions. Each direction (for example, X) is padded with user-
specified percentage of diagonal length of the other two directions (Y and Z).

For a single antenna element, something that is radiating does not radiate with reasonable
efficiency until it is lambda/2 in length, L, and it radiates in the direction transverse to the
dimension L. So we get the dimension L from the region command and pad it 50% which would
then correspond to the lambda/4 of the frequency at which the device is lambda/2 but only in the
direction in which energy radiates, the transverse direction.

A basic example is a thin resonate dipole oriented in z. There is zero radiation in the z-direction
so no need to pad the abc in that direction since no energy goes in that direction. But in X and Y
transverse to the length L we do need to pad lambda/4 (the 50% setting) because it is that
direction that the device radiates.

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3. Specify the Padding values in the fields and select the units from the drop-down list.
4. If desired, click the check box to save the values as Default.
5. Click OK to close the dialog and create the region.

The region is drawn, selected, and displayed in the History tree. It is created using the current
coordinate system. The Properties dialog for the Create Region icon in the History tree shows
the coordinate system and Padding values. The Properties dialog for the selected model lists
attributes tab including Name, Material (Default, vacuum), Solve inside, Orientation, Model,
Color, Display Wireframe, and Transparency. You can edit all of these values.

If you try to create a region that does not contain all of the objects in your model, the modeler
automatically expands the region to cover all objects. The region also updates automatically as
your geometry changes.

Only one region can be created for a single project using the Draw>Region command. If you try to
create a second region, the Properties window appears for the existing region, allowing you to
change operation parameters and attributes.

Group Commands for Modeler Objects

The 3D Modeler allows you to group objects in the History tree. Besides pre-defined folders under
History Tree Layout for solids, sheets, and material assignments, a set of Group commands let
you create groups, un-group objects, flatten a selected group's hierarchy, and delete empty
groups.

The Group commands support the following features:

l Group objects in the history tree. When objects are grouped, they show up under a sub-item
in the history tree.
l Groups can contain sub-groups and sub-group containing further sub-groups.
l Groups permit moving objects from one group to any other group at any time.
l Groups are purely for organization of history tree. They do not affect solution in any way.

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l Groups permit you to bring in MCAD assemblies and sub-assemblies as groups. See
Importing 3D Model Files.

l Groups can contain objects, submodels (for example, UDM, 3D Component, CAD links)
and groups. Coordinate systems, planes etc will not have any parent group.

Object groups have following important distinction from 3D components.

l Groups do not encapsulate history of objects. They do not encapsulate parameters used by
those objects.
l Groups do not have history tree operations. For example, Arrange operations apply to all
objects of the group rather than the group.
l Groups are not independent. Delete of an object in one group could cause object in another
group to be also deleted.

Accessing the Group Commands

You can access the Group commands in several ways: via the Modeler>Group menu, by right-
clicking on Model in the History tree to see the short-cut menu, the right-click context menu in the
Modeler window, and using the Group icons in the toolbar.

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Group Command Descriptions

Group>Create works with selection or no selections. If there are no selections, an empty group is
created under model. If there are selections, then a new group is created under same group as all
the selections, provided all selections are under one group. Once a group is created, all selections
move under new group. If selections are under different groups, then a new group is created under
model. Selections could be objects, groups, 3D Components, or User Defined Model. The Group>
Create command tries to find a more suitable group name where possible based on names of all
selections. If not, default group names are Group1, Group2 and so on. You can edit group names
later.

Group>Ungroup is enabled only when you select one or more groups. Upon ungroup, all the
contents of the selected group move under group’s parent and the selected group is deleted. Note
that Group>Ungroup is not recursive; it only affects the selected group is and all its children
groups remain intact. Ungroup is also different from Delete (under Edit>Delete) which deletes a
selected group and everything under it.

Group>FlattenFlatten Group is enabled when you select a group selection. You can select
multiple groups at different levels. All of the selected group's contents (that is, objects, sub-groups,
and so forth ) come directly under selected group. In a sense this is a recursive ungroup operation
as all the children and grandchildren groups of selected group are ungrouped.

Group>Delete Empty deletes all empty groups under the selected group. If a selected group is
empty it is deleted. This command is helpful to clean up empty groups after you have moved
objects from one group to another.

Operations on Groups

Edit/Delete: Delete operations delete group and all the children, including sub-groups, under the
group.

Copy and Paste of Objects in Groups

When you copy and paste objects with groups to another design, group information is carried over,
that is, new group in target design is created. If a group with the exact name exists, then the objects
are moved under that group and no new group is created. When pasted in the same design, the
pasted object moves under same parent group as original object.

Copy and Paste of Groups

When you copy and paste one or more groups in same design or to another design, a new group is
created with unique name derived from original group name. Everything under that group,
including any sub-groups, is copy/pasted as well.

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Copy and Paste of Groups and Objects

If you multi-select a few objects and groups, all of them are pasted correctly. If you select a group
and few objects under that group, copy and paste includes the complete group structure. This
means that selection of objects under the selected group is ignored. If you want to only copy and
paste few objects from group, you should only select those objects and NOT select the group.

Arrange Operations on Groups

You can select group to enable arrange operations like move, rotate and mirror. Note that arrange
operations works directly on objects under selected group. So after arrange operation is done, the
History tree shows the arrange operation under every object of that group.

Duplicate Operations on Groups

You can select groups to enable duplicate operations. Afterward, the History tree shows a
duplicate operation under every object of that group. Newly created objects appear under a new
group. There will be new group for every instance of duplicate.

Other Operations on Groups and Objects in Groups

Modeling operations that create new objects, such as Create from Face or Edge, as well as
Simplify and Separate. The newly created objects appear under a new group created under the
original object's group, based on the tool option settings. See 3D Modeler Options: Group Options.

Group Properties

A Group’s Property tab is shown when you select a group in the history tree. The Group’s
properties include Name and parent Group.

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Object, group and submodel properties have a Group property. You can edit the Group Property
and this provides another way of setting an object’s (or group’s) group. You can select any of the
existing groups listed or create a new group.

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Related Topics

Select Objects in the History Tree

Model Analysis
For some models it may be beneficial to remove unnecessary small entities and to fix object
misalignments to avoid potential mesh issues. The Modeler window includes Model Analysis
functions to help you evaluate models you have imported or created. Select Modeler> Model
Analysis to see the menu options. Depending on the design and the current selection, some
features may not be enabled. The menu includes the following commands.

l Analyze Objects
l Analyze InterObject Misalignment
l Analyze Surface Mesh
l Show Analysis dialog

Note Before running model analysis, you must remove all command history for the selected
object by using the Purge History command. If you need to save the object history, save a
separate copy.

1. After import, you typically perform validation check. This lets you focus on objects and object
pairs that have errors and or warnings. The objects that fail should be analyzed by using the
Modeler>Model Analysis>Analyze Objects menu item.
2. Select the objects and invoke Modeler>Model Analysis>Analyze Objects.

This displays the Analysis Options dialog to allow you to specify settings for entity check level,
and small feature detection.

When you OK this dialog, the initial analysis executes and the Model Analysis dialog is
displayed.

3. Choose the objects that have "Invalid Entities Found" and Perform>Heal Objects.

In most cases, the objects will be healed and the errors fixed.

4. If errors still persist, choose the edges and faces and click on Delete.

This will replace the selected face/edge object by a tolerant edge/vertex respectively. In some
cases the replacement of the face/edge by tolerant edge/vertex will fail.

When models pass the initial validity checks, mesh generation could still fail. The following errors
can be present in models: (See Error Detection.)

1. Non-manifold topology. These are non-manifold edges and vertices that are present in the
model.
2. Object pair intersection. This detects whether pairs of objects intersect.

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3. Small feature detection - small edge length, small face area and sliver face detection.
4. Mis-aligned entities detection - detects pairs of faces from objects that can be aligned to
remove object intersections. This improves the probability of mesh success.
5. Mesh failure error display. This is available for single object, object pairs and last simulation
run (all objects in a model). Errors reported by the meshing module are reported to the user.

Errors of type 3 and 4 should be resolved before you invoke the meshing for the model.

By default, the Heal command is automatically applied to imported objects.

Related Topics

Set Material Override

Analysis Options Dialog

Healing

Technical Notes: Removing Object Intersections

Healing Non-manifold Objects

Healing Options

Technical Notes: Healing and Meshing

Technical Notes: Detecting and Addressing Model Problems to Improve Meshing

Analysis Options Dialog

To perform analysis on an object according to specified features and tolerance values:

1. Select the object you want to analyze and click Modeler> Model Analysis>Analyze
Objects.

This displays the Analysis Options dialog, with the Analysis Options tab selected. Selecting
Modeler>Model Analysis>Heal also displays this dialog. If, during Modeler>Import... you
select Heal Imported Objects and Manual on the file browser dialog, you also see this dialog.

2. If desired, check the Perform Entity Check Errors check box.

This enables the Check Level menu. The setting can be Basic, Strict, or Comprehensive.
See Modeler Validation Settings for more explanation.

3. If desired, click the check boxes to enable and set the Detect Feature settings:
l Detect Holes, and specify the Maximum Radius.
l Detect Chamfers, and specify the Maximum Width.
l Detect Blends, and specify the Maximum Radius.
4. If desired set the Detect Small Entities features and tolerance values.

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l Small Edges, length less than

l Small Faces, area less than
l Sliver Faces, which enables:

Object Bounding Box Scale Factor

Sliver Edge Width

5. Click the Properties tab to see a listing of the geometric properties of the selected object.
6. Clicking OK on this dialog displays the Model Analysis dialog which contains the results of
the analysis.

Related Topics

Heal

Analysis Options Dialog

Model Analysis dialog.

Analyzing the Surface Mesh

To set the options to analyze the surface mesh:

1. Select an object of interest.

This enables the Analyze Surface Mesh command in the menu.

2. Click Modeler>Model Analysis>Analyze Surface Mesh.

The Surface Mesh Analysis Options dialog box appears. This dialog box allows you to
set parameters to remove.
l You can also open the Surface Mesh Analysis Options dialog box from the Model
Analysis dialog box via the Perform pull-down menu on the Objects tab.
3. Select or clear the Perform Object Pairs Analysis check box. Selecting this option
evaluates the mesh for all combinations of the selected objects.
4. Select or clear the Ignore Objects Separated by greater than check box, and enter a
value in the text box. Selecting this option means that object pairs are disregarded from
analysis if their separation is greater than the specified value.
5. Click OK to perform the analysis with the selected options.
The Model Analysis dialog box appears, displaying the results of the analysis.

Related Topics

Heal

Model Analysis dialog.

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Model Analysis dialog

This dialog contains results for all model analysis, including diagnostic information relating to mesh
issues. To view the analysis options:

1. Click Modeler> Model Analysis>Show Analysis Dialog.

A submenu appears.
2. Select one of the following from the submenu:
l Objects
l Objects Misalignment
l Surface Mesh
l Last Simulation Mesh

The Model Analysis dialog box appears. (This dialog box also appears automatically after
clicking OK in the Analysis Options dialog box.)

3. Select the Auto zoom to selection check box to automatically zoom to the item selected
on the Objects tab.
4. Make the desired changes on each tab in the Model Analysis dialog box.
l Objects tab
l Objects Misalignment tab
l Surface Mesh (Single/Pairs) tab
l Last Simulation Mesh tab
5. Click Close to close the Model Analysis dialog box.

Related Topics

Heal

Analysis Options

Technical Notes: Healing and Meshing

Technical Notes: Detecting and Addressing Model Problems to Improve Meshing

Objects Tab

All results relating to model analysis of specific objects are presented under the Objects tab.

1. The results table contains the following information.

l Object - column listing the objects in the current design.
l Last Analysis status - column giving the analysis status of the listed objects. Objects can
have the following status:
l Good - the object contains no invalid geometry entities given the tolerance values
specified in the Analysis Options dialog.

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l Null Body - the object is non-existent.

l Analysis not performed - the object was not selected for analysis.
l Invalid entity errors - these are api_check_entity() errors and non-manifold errors which
ANSYS EM recommends that you fix before meshing.
l Small entity errors - small faces, sliver faces and small edges that are optionally detected
based on the tolerance limits specified in the Analysis Options dialog.
2. Select any object name in the table which contains errors to display a table with a list of Error
types, corresponding Entity List IDS for associated faces, edges and vertices, and error
descriptions. Selecting the row for each error causes the Modeler window to highlight the
associated entity..

Note Auto Zoom to Selection -- if this option is checked, the modeler automatically
zooms to the item selected in the Model Analysis dialog box.

3. Select the Delete button if you want to remove a selected face or edge entity.
4. Select the Perform button to list the commands that you can execute on the selected
objects in the Results table.
l Heal Objects - repairs invalid geometry entities for the selected objects within the
specified tolerance settings. The Healing Analysis dialog will appear.
l Analyze Objects - evaluates the object status. Selecting this displays the Analysis
Options dialog.
l Analyze Surface Mesh - invokes a mesh for each selected object and reports analysis
results under the Surface Mesh (Single/Pairs) tab. Selecting this option displays a
dialog with radio buttons to select.
o Perform Object Pairs Analysis - evaluates mesh for all combinations of the selected
objects.
o Ignore objects separated by greater than a specified value - object pairs are disregarded
from analysis if their separation is greater than the specified value.
o Click OK to perform the analysis with the selected options.
l Analyze Interobject Misalignment - determines any misalignments between two
selected objects in the results table. The results are reported under the Objects
Misalignment tab.
l Display Healing Log -- checking this causes the Model Analysis dialog to display a
healing log which includes information about operations performed on an object during the
healing process.

Related Topics

Analyze Objects

Analyze Interobject Misalignment

Analyze Surface Mesh

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Healing

Object Misalignment Tab

The table in this panel displays results of an Interobject Misalignment analysis. It contains a list of
Alignable Faces, described in a list of Object Sets, and corresponding Misaligned Faces.

All misaligned face pairs corresponding to the analyzed objects are listed in the table.

l Align Faces - select a face pair in the table and click the Align Faces button to align
selected faces.
l Clear All Analysis Data - this button removes all information from the tables.
l Display Log for Object Set - checking this causes the Model Analysis dialog to display a
healing log which includes information about operations performed on an object set during
the healing process.
l Auto Zoom to Selection -- if this option is checked, the modeler automatically zooms to
the item selected in the table.

After validation check is performed, the pairs of objects that intersect are chosen for analysis. Use
the analysis results to find whether objects have faces that can be aligned.

Choose all the bodies that intersect with another body.

1. From the Model Analysis dialog choose perform/Analyze Interobject misalignment. Or you
can run Modeler>Model Analysis>Analyze Interobject Misalignment.

If the analysis finds object pairs that can be aligned, they will be displayed in the Objects
Misalignment tab.

2. You can select individual or multiple rows and perform Align Faces. In some cases, face
alignment will fail if the topology of the body changes by a large factor after alignment.
3. Identify individual bodies and body pairs that fail to mesh.
4. Perform Mesh analysis on individual objects and object pairs.
5. Review the reports and fix the errors.

Related Topics

Analyze Objects

Analyze Surface Mesh

Healing

Technical Notes: Removing Object Intersections

Healing Non-manifold Objects

Healing Options

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Technical Notes: Healing and Meshing

Technical Notes: Detecting and Addressing Model Problems to Improve Meshing

Set Material Override for HFSS

Set Material Override for HFSS-IE

Select by intersection error message.

Surface Mesh (Single/Pairs) Tab

The panel displays the results of a surface mesh analysis.

1. You can display results for:

l Individual Objects
l Object Pairs

Note Auto Zoom to Selection -- if this option is checked, the modeler automatically
zooms to the object or object pair selected.

2. The results table contains the following information:

l Object - column listing object name or a pair of object names.
l Last Analysis Status - column stating the meshing status of the object or object pair.
l Mesh Success
l Mesh Failure
l Error Type - this column gives the category of error that caused the mesh failure.
l Error Detail - provide specific geometry information regarding mesh error location.

Display options include:

l Display Mesh Analysis log check box -checking this displays further details concerning
each error to be listed.
l Auto Zoom to Selection -- checking this causes the modeler to automatically zoom to
objects or faces corresponding to the error.

Related Topics

Analyze Objects

Analyze Interobject Misalignment

Analyze Surface Mesh

Healing

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Last Simulation Mesh Tab

The tables in this panel list model errors as viewed by the mesher. The left side table has columns
for Mesh Error Serial ID and Error Type.

l Mesh Error Serial ID - the 0 item is the body with which the subsequently listed entries are
associated.
l Error Type - this column gives the category of error that caused the mesh failure, for
example, Non-Manifold Edge, or Point Insertion Failure.

The display in the table on the right side of the Model Analysis dialog depends on your selections
from the left hand table.

l Type - whether the error applies to Bodies, Faces, or Triangles. If you select a particular
error type, the columns for Type, ID/Name and Description are filled in.
l ID/Name -- the object name or object ID for the error type.
l Description -- the first three rows are for Bodies, Faces, and mesh Triangles. Subsequent
rows, are of Error Entities By Body.Face.

The Mesh Error Description field describes error message describing the nature of the selected
Mesh Error Serial ID, the implications, and provides a recommended response.

Display options include:

l Hide All Other Objects - hides objects in the Modeler window not associated with the
selected Bodies, Faces, or Triangles.
l Auto Zoom to Selection - checking this causes the modeler to automatically zoom to
objects or faces corresponding to the selected Mesh Error Serial ID (on the left side table) or
the ID/Name (on the right side table).

Use of these selections let you more easily view and respond to the errors.

Related Topics

Analyze Objects

Analyze Interobject Misalignment

Analyze Surface Mesh

Healing

Design Settings for HFSS

The HFSS>Design Settings command displays a dialog with tabs for Set Material Override, for
automatic Lossy Dielectrics, DC Extrapolation, Validations, for S-Parameter definition, and
for Export S Parameters. For Transient designs, the dialog contains a Transient tab.

Set Material Override Tab

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The Set Material Override tab includes text note and a check box to Allow metals to override
dielectrics. The purpose of this feature is to allow you to avoid doing explicit subtraction in the
modeler. One example application is a via that passes through many dielectric layers--with the
option turned on, the via does not have to be subtracted from the layers.

The Set Material Override option allows some intersections to be resolved automatically in the
mesh. If metal intersects dialectric, the metal overrides the dialectric in the overlap region. (That is,
the metal object is subtracted from the dialectric.) If objects with the same material overlap, the
small object overrides the larger. (That is, the small object is subtracted from the larger.) All other
intersections are treated as errors. Normally, the modeler considers any intersection between 3D
objects to be an error.

To use this feature, check Enable material override.

In the meshing process, the dielectrics are locally overwritten by the metals in the intersecting
region. That is, the part of the dielectric that is inside the metal is removed, and if the dielectric is
completely inside, the whole object disappears.

Lossy Dielectrics Tab

This option applies frequency dependent lossy materials for the solver and post processor. The
materials are not modified in the design. Instead, the Djordjevic-Sarkar model is applied before the
material is passed to the solver or used for post processing.

l Automatically use causal materials. (Default, unchecked).

If the assigned material is already frequency dependent, automatic creation of frequency

dependent lossy materials is ignored.

This feature addresses cases where you only have simple constant material properties available,
but want to automatically apply a general-purpose frequency dependence to ensure causal
solutions when solving frequency sweeps. Automatic causal material calculations are not
performed under the following circumstances:

l If the solution type is eigenmode

l If the material permittivity or loss tangent is anisotropic
l If the material permittivity or loss tangent is spatially dependent
l If the material permittivity or loss tangent is frequency dependent
l If the material itself is not a lossy dielectric

Otherwise, when enabled the Djordjevic-Sarkar model is applied to all constant lossy dielectrics.
These are defined as having a constant permittivity that is greater than one and a constant loss
tangent that is greater than zero. The inputs to the Djordjevic-Sarkar model are the material's
constant permittivity and loss tangent, plus the standard default values of measurement frequency
(1 GHz), DC conductivity (1e-12 S/m), and DC permittivity (none ). The outputs from the
Djordjevic-Sarkar model are the expressions for permittivity and conductivity. These expressions,
plus zero loss tangent, are used in place of the material's constant properties.

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When reading legacy designs (HFSS 12 and earlier), this feature is unchecked.

DC Extrapolation Tab

The DC Extrapolation tab option affects Interpolation Sweep setup. If you select Standard DC
Extrapolation, the software computes values automatically, and the tab for DC Extrapolation does
not appear on the Interpolating Sweep setup.

For Advanced DC Extrapolation, the Interpolating Sweep setup includes the DC Extrapolation tab,
so you can set a Minimum solved frequency.

The Design Settings dialog also contains check boxes to Save As Default.

Note Users must be careful: this setting changes the "ground rules" of the modeler, and may
have unexpected results.

Validations Tab

The Validation tab offers choices for Model validation and HFSS validations to control the extent
of validations performed, and therefore the time involved.

Model Validation choices are whether to:

l Ignore unclassified objects

l Skip intersection checks

You also control the Entity check level as Strict, Basic, Warning Only, or None.

The HFSS choices are whether to:

l Perform full validations with standard port validations. Standard validation does not check
for internal or floating ports.
l Perform full validations with extended port validations. The Extended validation checks to
see if a wave port has been applied to an internal face, or if a wave or lumped port does not
have solve inside geometry on either side.
l Perform minimal validations. This choice disables port validation options (neither is
performed), and skips boundary overlap validation.

The default is to Perform Full Validations. However you can set your own default choices by using
the Save as Default checkbox.

S Parameters Tab

The S Parameters tab offers choices for S parameter definition for post processing as
Generalized or Power. Power S parameters are calculated for the reporter, S parameter export,
and the Matrix display. Changing the setting between Generalized or Power updates reports and
exported data, but not the solve status.

Export S Parameters Tab

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This applies to HFSS 3D Drive Modal/Terminal and HFSS 3D Layout. After a sweep (discrete,
interpolating and fast) simulation is successfully completed, you can choose to automatically save a
Touchstone file for the sweep’s S-parameter data into a folder. By default, this folder is named after
the project. The exported directories/files are not managed by ANSYS Electronics Desktop. That
is, you can rename the project, design, setup, etc. and previously exported directories/files will
NOT be renamed. For Optimetrics simulation, export is per solved variation. Touchstone files are
exported only when the simulation completes without error

The Export S Parameters tab lets you Set/View Export Preferences and specify whether to
Export Touchstone file after completing frequency sweep. Checking the export feature enables
you choose to override the default project path. You can save your preferences as the default.
Preference is per design type and per user. This means that the same user can have one set of
preferences for 3D layout design and another set for HFSS 3D design.

Clicking the Set/View Export Preferences button opens the SYZ Data Export Options dialog.

The SYZ Data Export Options dialog contains a range of choices for Output format, including
advanced options.

Macromodel Output Options.

Checking Change output file format displays additional choices that lets you select Touchstone 1.0
or Touchstone 2.0, as well as additional Touchstone options. Unchecking conceals the output file

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format choices.

l Format can be Magnitude/Phase(deg), Real/Imaginary, or dB/Phase(deg)

l Frequency units can be Hz, KHz, MHz, or GHz.
l Precision can be to the number of digits you specify.

You can also specify whether to Use common ground.

Macromodel Generator Options include:

l Enforce model passivity

l Desired fitting error percent
l Ensure accurate Z-fit
l Renormalize to a specified value

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Clicking the Advanced option button displays or hides the Advanced options.

Choosing Save As Default saves the selected options as your user preferences for automatic
Touchstone export and for subsequent launch of the SYZ Data Export options.

Automatic Touchstone File Exports

The top level export folder is named after the project file.

Within the top level export folder, a separate folder is created for each design that has exported
touchstone files.

In each design export folder, exported files are further organized based on the setup that is being
simulated. For non-Optimetrics simulation, the sub-folder is named after the solve setup and
followed by a “time-stamp” string2. For Optimetrics simulation, the sub-folder is named after the

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Optimetrics setup and followed by a “time-stamp”. string.

Touchstone files are exported into these sub-folders and an index file is created per sub-folder to
help users track the exported data. For non-Optimetrics export, files are named as <Sweep>_
DV<unique ID>.

For Optimetrics export, files are named as <Setup>_<Sweep>_DV<unique ID>.

The index.csv can be opened in Excel. Variation information is listed in row/column format for
readability.

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Related Topics

Analyze Objects

Analyze Interobject Misalignment

Analyze Surface Mesh

Healing

Materials

Setting the Temperature of Objects

Design Settings for HFSS Transient

DC Extrapolation options

Design Settings for HFSS-IE

The HFSS-IE>Design Settings command brings up a dialog with tabs for Material Thresholds,
for Set Material Override for Lossy Dielectrics and for Validations.

The Set Material Override option allows some intersections to be resolved automatically in the
mesh. If metal intersects dialectric, the metal overrides the dialectric in the overlap region. (That is,
the metal object is subtracted from the dialectric.) If objects with the same material overlap, the
small object overrides the larger. (That is, the small object is subtracted from the larger.) All other
intersections are treated as errors. Normally, the modeler considers any intersection between 3D
objects to be an error.

To use this feature, check Enable material override.

In the meshing process, the dielectrics are locally overwritten by the metals in the intersecting
region. That is, the part of the dielectric that is inside the metal is removed, and if the dielectric is
completely inside, the whole object disappears.

The purpose of this feature is to allow you to avoid doing explicit subtraction in the modeler. One
example application is a via that passes through many dielectric layers--with the option turned on,
the via does not have to be subtracted from the layers.

You can use the Material Thresholds tab to set the thresholds for:

l Perfect Conductors in Siemens per meter.

Insulator Conductor in Siemens per meter

You can use the Lossy Dielectrics tab to automatically use casual materials. The options causes
objects with constant material permittivity greater than one and dielectric loss tangent greater than
zero to be treated as frequency dependent. Their actual permittivity and conductivity will be
determined by the Djordjevic-Sarkar algorithm, and the loss tangent will be zero.

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Automatic casual material calculations are not performed under the following circumstances:

l If the material permittivity or loss tangent is anisotropic

l If the material permittivity or loss tangent is spatially dependent
l If the material permittivity or loss tangent is frequency dependent
l If the material itself is not a lossy dielectric

The Design Settings dialog also contains check boxes on each tab to Save As Default.

Note Users must be careful: these settings change the "ground rules" of the modeler, and may
have unexpected results.

Validations Tab

The Validation tab offers choices for Model validation and HFSS-IE validations to control the
extent of validations performed, and therefore the time involved.

Model Validation choices are whether to:

l Ignore unclassified objects

l Skip intersection checks

You also control the Entity check level as Strict, Basic, Warning Only, or None.

The HFSS-IE choices are whether to:

l Perform full validations.

l Perform minimal validations.

The default is to Perform Full Validations. However you can set your own default choices by using
the Save as Default checkbox.

Related Topics

Analyze Objects

Analyze Interobject Misalignment

Analyze Surface Mesh

Healing

Materials

Setting the Temperature of Objects

Setting the Temperature of Objects

To set the temperature of objects and to Enable Feedback for use in Workbench:

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1. Use the HFSS, HFSS-IE, Q3D Extractor or 2D Extractor>Set Object Temperature

command to display the Temperature of Objects dialog. You can also right-click on the
Project and select from the shortcut menu.

This dialog includes a table of the objects in the design. The first column lists the object name,
then the material, then a check box to show whether that object has temperature dependent
features, and then columns for Temperature and unit. If the solvers are involved through the
Workbench, the dialog includes the Enable feedback check box.

2. To enable the editing features, check Include Temperature Dependence.

This makes the table objects selectable. The headers for the Object Name column and the
Material column include sort direction arrows. You can invert the sort direction in each column
by clicking the header. If the list is longer than the display, you can use a scroll bar on the right of
the table.

With the dialog enabled, you can use the Select by name field. Enter the name of the object
you want and click Select.

Selected objects are highlighted. You can make multiple selections.

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3. To set the temperature for a selected object or objects, type the value or an existing variable
name in the text field.
4. Select the units from the drop down menu.
5. Click Set to apply the value to the selected objects, or click Set Default to make the
specified values the default.

If you click Set Default, the row for the selected objects display the Temperature value and
units.

6. To edit the material for an object, when the dialog is enabled, you can click on the material for
the row, and display a drop down menu listing the material and an Edit... button.

Click the edit button to display the Materials dialog.

7. The Enable Feedback check box appears when used with the ANSYS Workbench.

If checked, you can perform thermal static and transient analysis based on a high frequency
solution. The solver can then use per mesh element temperatures for the object’s material
properties, as provided by other ANSYS thermal systems. If enable feedback is checked but
feedback is not available, the temperature specified in the dialog is used for the temperature
dependent properties in the design.

8. To close the dialog and accept the changes, click OK.

Note When working through the Workbench, the right-click menu for Analysis and Analysis
setup includes the Revert to Initial Temperature command. Selecting this command
invalidates the current solution.

Related Topics

Resolving After ANSYS Workbench Thermal Feedback

ANSYS Workbench Integration Overview

Materials

Set Material Override

Specifying Thermal Modifiers

Model Preparation Commands

Use the Modeler>Model Preparation> commands to prepare a model.

These commands include:

l Simplify
l Heal
l Stitch Sheets

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l Align Faces
l Remove Faces
l Remove Edges
l Perform Explicit Subtractions

Related Topics

Healing

Model Analysis

Simplify Command
Use the Modeler>Model Preparation>Simplify command to converts a complex MCAD object
into simpler primitives which are easy to mesh and solve. The operation can be applied on any
selected object and not just imported objects. You can specify the type of simplification as
Bounding Box, Primitive Fit, or Polygon Fit.

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The History tree shows the Simplify command as being applied to the object.

Any parameters you specify in the dialog you can also edit in the Properties dialog for the History
tree Simplify command to get a different simplification. The properties display in the docked

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properties includes only the parameters that are used by your currently selected Simplify
command type. None of the parameters of simplify operation accept variables.

1. Select an object.

This enables the Simplify command on the Modeler>Model Preparation submenu.

2. Click Modeler>Model Preparation>Simplify

This opens the Simplify Bodies dialog. A drop down menu lets you select the degree of
simplification, from Bounding Box, Primitive Fit, or Polygon Fit.

Bounding Box Simplify Type

If you select Bounding Box as the Simplify Type, there are no additional parameters. The object
is replaced by its exact bounding box as e computed in operation’s coordinate system. You can
change the operation CS to get a bounding box in an appropriate orientation.

Primitive Fit Simplification

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For Primitive Fit simplification the object is replaced by a set of primitives shapes like Prism,
Cylinder, Cone and so forth. This simplification type typically produces the simplest geometry
with highest number of primitives. Primitive fit has the following options: Cleanup and Allow
Splitting, whether to Separate Bodies and Purge History, and if so, whether to clone original
objects before the operation.

For Primitive Fit, the parameters are:

l Whether to Cleanup - This option allows you to clean the model before performing
simplification. Cleanup include removing small features like rounds, fillets, chamfers in a
solid body. It is recommended to set this option to get more simplified result.
l Whether to Allow Splitting - This option controls if object should be split during during
simplification. If this option is selected, complex object will first split into multiple pieces and
each piece will be further simplified. Setting this option will result in an object which will
match more closely with original object. It is recommended to set this option.
l See the Separate Bodies and Purge History description below.

Polygon Fit Simplification

For Polygon Fit simplification, the object is replaced by set of polygon swept along normal and
other primitives like box and cylinder. This simplification type typically produces geometry
closest to original object with highest number of primitives. If you select Polygon Fit as the
Simplify Type, the parameters are Clean Up, Allow Splitting, Extrusion Axis, Interior Points on
Arc, andLength Threshold, whether to Separate Bodies and Purge History, and if so, whether
to clone original objects before the operation. See the Separate Bodies and Purge History

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description below.

For Polygon Fit, you specify parameters for

l Whether to Cleanup - This option allows you to clean the model before performing
simplification. Cleanup include removing small features like rounds, fillets, chamfers in a
solid body. It is recommended to set this option to get more simplified result.
l Whether to Allow Splitting - This option controls if object should be split during during
simplification. If this option is selected, complex object will first split into multiple pieces and
each piece will be further simplified. Setting this option will result in an object which will
match more closely with original object. It is recommended to set this option.
l Extrusion Axis, whether Auto selected, or X, Y, or Z. - This option specified a normal plane
in which polygon profile is looked for. The default is Auto which allows an algorithm to
determine best possible plane for polygon profile. You can specify a axis to help the
algorithm, particularly when there is a draft or chamfer in the extrusion direction. The
polygon profile is then swept in the extrusion direction.
l Interior Points on Arc - This specifies number of interior points created when a curve on
the polygon profile is represented by line segments. The range is 1 to 100 with default
being 3. Total number of points used to represent a curve is 5 when number of interior

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points is 3. This number specifies the maximum number of interior points to add. The
number of points added could be less if the Length Threshold is already met.
l Length Threshold % - This specifies the length of edge as percentage of maximum length
of an edge in the profile. It is specified as percentage of maximum edge length. If length of
edge is more than the specified threshold, more interior points are added until the number
of “Interior Points on Arc” is met.
l Whether to Separate Bodies and Purge History, and if so, whether to clone original
objects before the operation. See the Separate Bodies and Purge History description
below.

Separate Bodies and Purge History Option for Primitive Fit or Polygon Fit

Separate bodies and purge history option is available when simplification type is Primitive fit or
Polygon fit.

With this option selected, the input body is simplified into multiple primitives (or polygon shapes)
and a new part is created for each simplified shape. This option also purges the history of original
part and it is not possible Edit Properties of the Simplify operation. You can choose to clone original
object before simplification to retain history of original part.

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Use of Coordinate System

By default, the current working CS is used as the Simplify operation CS, but you can also change
operation CS through the Simplify command property window or Property dialog.

Related Topics

Healing

Heal
The Heal command provides a way to correct geometric violations and to remove specific kinds of
small features. When models are imported, two types of errors can occur - geometry errors and
topology errors. Geometry errors are errors in definition of the underlying geometry while topology
errors are errors in how the underlying components like faces, edges and vertices are connected.
ANSYS Electromagnetics recommends that these be fixed before you invoke mesh generation.

Imported objects which have only one operation on the history tree, can be healed. (Use the Purge
History command to remove unwanted history operations before using Heal.)

Note If you need to save the object history, save a separate copy for that purpose before you
heal the object.

Healing can be invoked in different ways.

l The menu command Modeler>Model Preparation>Heal command applies to a

selected object.
l Some formats permit healing during Modeler>Import. These are:

3D Modeler file (*.sm3),

SAT file (*.sat),

STEP file (*.step,*. stp),

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IGES file (*.iges, *.igs),

CreoParametric files (*.prt, *.asm),

CATIA (*.model, *.CATpart), and

Parasolid file (*.x_t, and *.x_b).

Selecting these formats enables a check box at the bottom of this window, "Validation and
Healing Options."

See this table for details. The Quick option allows you to switch off healing to speed up the
import process.

l The Model Analysis dialog that appears after running Modeler>Model

Analysis>Analyze Objects, or Modeler>Model Analysis>Show Analysis dialog
includes a Perform action menu with Heal Objects as a selection.

Any of these approaches leads to the same heal process.

Basic Steps in the Heal Process

There are several steps that are performed on selected objects.

1. Entity check, according to the Analysis Options settings.

2. Basic healing. This is done for all selected objects. Basic healing consists of fixing surface
normals in the object and updating the orientation (to avoid having an object with negative
volume).
3. Advanced healing. This is auto-heal. This is invoked on objects that require healing, that is,
bodies that have errors, including have non-manifold errors.
4. Feature Removal. If you choose in the Healing Options to remove small holes, chamfers,
blends, small edges, small faces and/or sliver faces, the actions are performed on all
selected objects. There is no guarantee that small feature removal will be successful. (Also
see Specifying the Model Resolution for defeaturing through the Auto Simplify and Model
Resolution settings there.)

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The above actions are performed on the selected objects. If you choose objects for healing which
have not been analyzed, analysis is performed to determine its state (that is, whether it has invalid
entities, small entities, and so forth). Invalid objects have all the above steps performed. Advanced
healing is not performed on objects that do not require it.

While working on analyzing complex bodies, it is sometimes useful to examine faces, edges and
vertices. In particular it is useful to find the connected faces for a face or edge or vertex, connected
edges for a face/edge/vertex and connected vertices for a face/edge/vertex. The additional
selection modes are available under Edit >Selection Mode .

Related Topics

Align Faces

Remove Faces

Remove Edges

Healing Non-manifold Objects

Healing Options

Specifying the Model Resolution

Technical Notes: Healing and Meshing

Technical Notes: Detecting and Addressing Model Problems to Improve Meshing

Validation and Healing Options for Import File

The Import File dialog contains shows different Validation and Healing options for the seven
formats listed here. The Quick option is allows you to import these formats without healing.

Format Options Available

3D Modeler file (*.sm3), Quick Strict
SAT file (*.sat), Quick Strict Auto or
manual
STEP file (*.step,*. stp), Quick Strict Auto or Stitch
Manual Tolerance
IGES file (*.iges, *.igs) Quick Strict Auto or Stitch
Manual Tolerance
Creo Parametric files (*.prt, *.asm) Quick Strict Auto or Import
Manual Free
Surfaces.
This
imports

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Format Options Available

such
surfaces
as well as
parts.
CATIA (*.model, *.CATpart) Quick Strict Auto or Stitch
Manual Tolerance
Parasolid file (*.x_t, and *.x_b) Quick Strict Auto or
Manual

Healing Non-Manifold Objects

Non-manifold objects, in simple terms, are non-physical objects or objects that cannot be
manufactured. For example, objects that intersect themselves (like the symbol for infinity in 2d) are
clearly non-manifold. In addition objects that touch themselves may be non-manifold such as when
a 2D object touches itself at a vertex, or a 3D object touches itself at a point or edge. These cases
are shown in the figure below.

Another type of non-manifold object has mixed dimensionality. For example, a pair of 2D objects
connected by a 1D line segment, or a pair of 3D objects connected by a 2D sheet object. These
cases are illustrated below.

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The criteria for manufacturability is a simple manifestation of a complex mathematical concept that
must be adhered to in the solid modeling system. When creating geometry, either directly, or
through boolean operations, you should always consider whether or not the resulting operation will
result in an object that could not be manufactured. If this is the case, then the object will cause an
error in the modeler or in the meshing system.

To heal non-manifold objects:

1. Identify an edge that is non-manifold.

2. Select the connected faces.

You can use the Face selection toolbar icons.

3. Create a face coordinate system on the planar face.

4. Create a small box to cover the non-manifold edge.
5. Either do a union or a subtraction to remove the faces that contain the non-manifold edge.

The non-manifold edge is now removed. You may also remove or add a small portion of the
model.

6. Do for all the non-manifold edges.

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Related Topics

Healing

Technical Notes: Removing Object Intersections

Healing Options

Technical Notes: Healing and Meshing

Technical Notes: Detecting and Addressing Model Problems to Improve Meshing

Technical Notes: Mixed Dimensionality.

Setting the Healing Options

The Healing Options let you control how healing proceeds with respect to a variety of features
and issues.

1. Click Modeler>Model Preparation>Heal to open the Healing Options dialog. You can
also open the Healing Options dialog from the Model Analysis dialog via the Objects tab
drop down menu.

The Healing Options dialog contains three tabs:

l Healing Options
l Feature Removal Options
l Properties, which lists the geometric properties of the currently selected object.
2. Select the Healing Options tab on the Healing Options dialog to specify the following:
l Heal Type as: Auto Heal (default), Manual Heal, or No Heal.

Selecting Manual Heal enables the Manual Heal Options:

l Perform Tolerant Stitching check box.

This enables a field for the Stitch Tolerance value, and a check box to Stop After First
Error.

l Perform Geometry Simplification

This enables fields for Simplification Tolerance and Maximum Generated Radius
values.

You can also select radio buttons to Simplify Curves, Surfaces, or Both.

l Tighten Gaps settings.

A check box to select Perform Tighten Gaps

A field to specify Tighten Gaps Within a given value in mm.

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3. Select the Feature Removal Options tab to specify the following:

Here you can specify the following Feature Removal Options.

l Remove Holes check box and Maximum Radius value.

l Remove Chamfers check box and Maximum Width value.
l Remove Blends check box and Maximum Radius value.

You can specify the following Remove Small Entity Options:

l Small Edges, Length Less Than, less than a specified value.

l Small Faces Area e Less Than, less than a specified area.
l Sliver Face Width Less Than, less than either:
l Object Bounding box Scale Factor, less than a specified scale factor
l Sliver Edge Width, less than a specified value.

Sliver faces have a maximum distance among the long edges that is smaller than the
specified tolerance and have at least one short edge and at most three long edges. A short
edge has a length less than the specified tolerance. A long edge has a length greater than
the specified tolerance. You can give the tolerance as a absolute value or a factor of the
bounding box containing the face.

You can Control Object Properties Change according to the following settings:

l Allowable Change in Surface Area check box, and percent value.

l Allowable Change in Volume check box, and percent value.
4. Select the Properties tab to view the geometric properties of the currently selected object.
5. Click OK to apply the specified Healing options and to open the Analysis dialog.

Related Topics

Healing

Stitch Sheets

Technical Notes: Removing Object Intersections

Healing Non-manifold Objects

Specifying the Model Resolution

Technical Notes: Healing and Meshing

Technical Notes: Detecting and Addressing Model Problems to Improve Meshing

Stitch Sheets
Use the Modeler>Model Preparation>Stitch Sheets command to stitch selected sheets.

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1. Select two or more sheet objects.

This enables the Stitch Sheets command on the Modeler>Model Preparation submenu.

2. Click Modeler>Model Preparation>Stitch Sheets

This displays a Stitch dialog with a Maximum Stitch Tolerance field. The default value (auto)
comes from the Healing dialog Options tab with Manual Healing selected. You may edit the
value in the Stitch dialog or in the Healing Options.

3. Click OK.

This closes the dialog and attempts to perform stitching on the selected sheets. If the sheets are
separated beyond the stitch tolerance, stitching is not performed and a warning is issued.

Related Topics

Healing

Align Selected Faces

Use the Modeler>Model Preparation>Align Faces command to align the selected faces. You
can also use the toolbar icon when you have made an appropriate face selection

Related Topics

Analyze Objects

Analyze Interobject Misalignment

Analyze Surface Mesh

Healing

Remove Selected Faces

Use the Modeler>Model Preparation>Remove Faces command to remove the selected faces.
You can also use the toolbar icon when you have made an appropriate face selection

If you find object-pair intersections that healing does not fix, or that can be fixed (by alignment), you
can correct the problem by one of the following methods.

1. Use the Remove Faces command (Modeler>Model Preparation>Remove Faces) or by

performing Boolean subtract.
2. If overlap between objects is too large to be fixed by healing or by face alignment. Boolean
intersect shows the common portion between the bodies. In this case, use a subtract
operation to remove overlaps.

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Related Topics

Align Faces

Analyze Objects

Analyze Interobject Misalignment

Analyze Surface Mesh

Healing

Technical Notes: Healing and Meshing

Technical Notes: Detecting and Addressing Model Problems to Improve Meshing

Set Material Override

Remove Selected Edges

Use this Modeler>Model Preparation>Remove Edges command to remove the selected

edges. You can also use the toolbar icon when you have made an appropriate edge selection

Related Topics

Technical Notes: Healing and Meshing

Technical Notes: Detecting and Addressing Model Problems to Improve Meshing

Technical Notes: Error Types

Technical Notes: Error Detection

Analyze Objects

Analyze Interobject Misalignment

Analyze Surface Mesh

Healing

Perform Explicit Subtractions

Use the Modeler>Model Preparation>Perform Explicit Subtractions command to subtract
selected selected history tree objects.

1. Select two or more history objects.

This enables the Stitch Sheets command on the Modeler>Model Preparation>Perform

Explicit Subtractions submenu.

For example, consider the following model.

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2. Perform Explicit Subtraction can be performed.

The results appear in the History tree as shown:

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The Message window reports this action.

Related Topics

Healing

Creating a User Defined Primitive

The modeler allows you to generate user-defined primitives, primitives customized to suit any
application. User-defined primitives are accessed using DLLs or IronPython scripts that you build
and compile. When user defined primitives exist in your UserLib or Personal directory (given the
paths specified in Tools>General Options Project Options tab), they appear in the Draw>User
Defined Primitives> menu. Newly created UDPs will appear after a restart, or Draw>User
Defined Primitive>Update Menu.

For Python-based primitives, see the HFSSScripting Guide.

The modeler includes example C++ source and header files that can be used to generate DLLs.
The files are located in the UserDefinedPrimitives/Examples subdirectory under the directory.

As an example, create the primitive myUDP.dll using Microsoft Visual C++ Developer Studio:

1. Create a directory to store all of the workspace information, call it UDPDir.

2. Use the sample workspace RectangularSpiral.dsw as a template:

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a. Copy RectangularSpiral.dsw and RectangularSpiral.dsp from the

UserDefinedPrimitives/Examples directory to this new directory.
b. Make sure the new files have write permissions.
c. Rename the files to myUDP.dsw and myUDP.dsp respectively.
d. Open the .dsw and .dsp files in a text editor, and replace every occurrence of
RectangularSpiral with myDLL.
e. Save myUDP.dsp and myUDP.dsw.
3. In the UDPDir directory, create a Headers subdirectory.
4. Copy the UserDefinedPrimitiveStructures.h and UserDefinedPrimitiveDLLInclude.h
files from the UserDefinedPrimitives/Headers directory.

Note The header files include information on the methods that are available for use in your
source code. They must be included when you compile the DLL.

5. In the UDPDir directory, create a Source subdirectory.

6. Use the sample source file RectangularSpiral.cpp as a template:
a. Copy RectangularSpiral.cpp from the UserDefinedPrimitives/Examples directory
to this new directory.
b. Make sure the new file has write permission.
c. Rename the file to myUDP.cpp.

The resulting directory structure will resemble the following:

7. Open myUDP.dsw using Microsoft Visual C++ Developer Studio, and edit the source code
to create your desired primitive. You may also add additional headers and source files as
appropriate.

The UDP dll contains a data structure called UDPPrimitiveTypeInfo. This contains information
about the udp, its purpose, company/author who created it, date created and the version
number. When you select a primitive from your library, you see the Create Primitive dialog
with a Parameters tab for setting the parameters, and an Info tab with the information from this
data structure.

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8. Build myUDP.dll using the Win32 Release configuration.

9. Copy the resulting file myUDP.dll to the
[ProductInstallationPath]/userlib/UserDefinedPrimitives directory or the
[PersonalLibPath]personallib/UserDefinedPrimitives directory.
10. To view your primitives, click Draw>User Defined Primitive>Update Menu and then click
Draw>User Defined Primitive>.

Note On UNIX, you may use the same example directory structure, source, and header
files to build and compile a shared library using C++. The resulting shared library will
have a .so extension for Solaris and a .sl extension for HP-UX, and needs to be
placed in the same /userlib/UserDefinedPrimitives directory.

As with the Windows DLL, the compiled library will work only on the operating
system on which it was built.

Related Topics

Drawing a Spiral Using User Defined Primitives

Drawing a Segmented Helix with Polygon Cross-Section Using a User-Defined Primitive

Drawing a Segmented Helix with Rectangular Cross Section Using a User Defined Primitive

See the HFSSScripting Guide for information about Creating User Defined Primitives and User
Defined Models in Python Scripts.

User Customization through User Defined Primitives (UDPs)

User Defined Primitives (UDPs) allow users to add customized geometric modeling commands to
the ANSYS Electronics Desktop. UDPs are compiled libraries that can be added to the desktop
interface and shared between users with common modeling needs.

To create a UDP, see Creating a User Defined Primitive for requirements and the procedure for
building a proper DLL.

In order to share UDPs between users, an existing DLL may be copied into the userlib>User
Defined Primitives subdirectory which can be given the paths specified in Tools>General
OptionsProject Options tab. Placing an appropriately constructed DLL in this subdirectory and
executing Draw>User Defined Primitives>Update Menu adds a new menu item in the
Draw>User Defined Primitives menu to allow access to the UDP.

Related Topics

Drawing a Spiral Using User Defined Primitives

Drawing a Segmented Helix with Polygon Cross-Section Using a User-Defined Primitive

Drawing a Segmented Helix with Rectangular Cross Section Using a User Defined Primitive

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See the HFSSScripting Guide for information about Creating User Defined Primitives and User
Defined Models in Python Scripts.

User Defined Model (UDM)

A User Defined Model (UDM) is collection of externally defined parts imported into an ANSYS EM
3D Modeler or created using a C or Python script.

l UDM includes part attributes (like name, color etc) and material assignment
l UDM can also have external coordinate systems and corresponding planes
l UDM parts can be parameterized and manipulated in ANSYS EM modeler just like any
other part

UDM can either represent Static geometry models or

l Dynamic links to models of external geometry editors

l Used for supporting CAD integration in WorkBench

UDM uses same plugin technology as User Defined Part (UDP)

See the following sections:

UDM compared to User Defined Primitives

Insert UDM Command on Draw Menu

UDM Properties

Library of Models for CAD Integration

ANSYS EM to ANSYS Geometry Transfer

Material Assignment Transfer

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Geometry Transfer through ANSYS DesignModeler (DM)

See the HFSSScripting Guide for information about Creating User Defined Primitives and User
Defined Models in Python Scripts.

UDM compared to User Defined Primitives

User Defined Models (UDM) resemble User Defined Primitives (UDP):

l ANSYS EM products can be extended by users through new UDMs

l UDM plugins are discovered by searching standard directory paths
l Plugins for static UDM can build model using 'callback interfaces' (like create-box, create-
cylinder, subtract etc) similar to UDP.
l UDMs run inside ANSYS EM applications
l UDMs provide geometry, topology, persistence and parameters

In contrast to UDP:

l UDM provides multiple Parts/CS/etc.

UDP provides primitive operation only for a single Part

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l UDM provides part attributes and material assignment

UDP does not define part attributes or material

UDM Properties have four tabs - Definitions, Parameters, Options and Info

l Definition tab has:

o UDM name
o Coordinate system used to position UDM
o May have external reference to file
l Info tab has:
o UDM dll or .py name, dll or .py location, version etc
l Option tab:
o may have options if any

Related Topics

User Defined Model (UDM) for ANSYS WB Integration

Insert UDM Command on Draw Menu

UDM Properties

Library of Models for CAD Integration

ANSYS EM to ANSYS Geometry Transfer

CAD Integration Material Assignment Transfer

Geometry Transfer through ANSYS DesignModeler (DM)

See the HFSSScripting Guide for information about Creating User Defined Primitives and User
Defined Models in Python Scripts.

Insert UDM Command on Draw Menu

To insert a UDM into a design, use the User Defined Model command on the Draw menu for the
Modeler window.

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Related Topics

User Defined Model (UDM)

UDM compared to User Defined Primitives

UDM Properties

Library of Models for CAD Integration

ANSYS EM to ANSYS Geometry Transfer

Material Assignment Transfer

Geometry Transfer through ANSYS DesignModeler (DM)

See the HFSSScripting Guide for information about Creating User Defined Primitives and User
Defined Models in Python Scripts.

UDM Properties
UDM Properties have four tabs - Definitions, Parameters, Options and Info.

Definition tab has

l UDM name
l Coordinate system used to position UDM
l May have external reference to file

Info tab has:

l UDM dll or .py name, dll or .py location, version etc

Option tab:

l may have options if any

UDM Parameters

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UDM Part Edits

Related Topics

User Defined Model (UDM)

UDM compared to User Defined Primitives

Insert UDM Command on Draw Menu

Library of Models for CAD Integration

ANSYS EM to ANSYS Geometry Transfer

Material Assignment Transfer

Geometry Transfer through ANSYS DesignModeler (DM)

See the HFSSScripting Guide for information about Creating User Defined Primitives and User
Defined Models in Python Scripts.

UDM Parameters

UDM geometry can be manipulated through its parameters.

l Can be mapped to design or project variable for animation, parametric analysis.

l IDs are persisted (allowing to retain boundaries) during parameter edits.

UDM geometry in HFSS invoked through Workbench is not 'dynamic updated' upon
parameter edits.

l In such cases, UDM shows a lightning bolt icon by the model name when parameters are
edited.

l You must run the Send Parameters and Generate command to synchronize parameters
with geometry

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Related Topics

UDM Properties

UDM Part Edits

UDM Part Edits

Several modeling operations are allowed on UDM parts

l Operations will be part of history tree and retained during model refresh

The following operations are not allowed

l Non history tree operations like healing, defeature.

l Operations which use UDM parts as tool, such as sweep or boolean (but allowed when
clone tool option is selected)

Following part attributes can be modified for UDM parts

l Model/Non Model flag

l Solve Inside flag
l Part orientation

Related Topics

UDM Properties

UDM Parameters

Library of Models for CAD Integration

UDM technology allows a library of models

l Any ANSYS EM model can be exported as 'Ansoft Geometry File'

l An Ansoft Geometry File can be imported back as a UDM.

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l Any Design/project variables associated with model are brought in as UDM parameters.

Geometry computation for UDM (and also UDP) can be specified in the Modeler options as either
done on.

l Engine side (default):

Requires deployment of UDM on each node

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l Desktop side:

UDM need not be deployed on each engine

Desktop will be busy during parametric analysis

Related Topics

User Defined Model (UDM)

UDM compared to User Defined Primitives

Insert UDM Command on Draw Menu

UDM Properties

ANSYS EM to ANSYS Geometry Transfer

Material Assignment Transfer

Geometry Transfer through ANSYS DesignModeler (DM)

SpaceClaim Integration
ANSYS Electronics Desktop can import geometry from a SpaceClaim document using
SpaceClaim Link feature. SpaceClaim link can be used only if SpaceClaim Direct Modeler
(SCDM) that is part of ANSYS installation of same version as ANSYS Electronics Desktop, or an
installation of standalone SpaceClaim modeler exists on the same machine. SpaceClaim link is
only available on Windows.

SpaceClaim Link provides following functionality:

l Browse and select SpaceClaim documents to import geometry directly.

l Import geometry by connecting to a active SpaceClaim session.
l The SpaceClaim geometry is imported as a User Defined Model (UDM) along with
geometry parameters with units, rendering attributes, and material assignments. Object,
material, and parameter names with non-ASCII characters are not allowed, and therefore,
not allowed for data transfer. Such transfers fail and produce an error message.

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l For a SpaceClaim link already in the design, you can launch a SpaceClaim session from
ANSYS Electronics Desktop and open the corresponding SpaceClaim document.
l A SpaceClaim document referenced by a SpaceClaim link UDM is included in project
archive automatically.
l You can break a connection to SpaceClaim. In this case, all UDM parts are then converted
to imported objects. This feature lets you use SpaceClaim just for its healing capacity.
l AEDT can import SpaceClaim documents having nanometer micrometer, and mil units.
l SpaceClaim link in AEDT will prefer the SpaceClaim direct modeler from workbench
installation over a standalone installation.

Importing SpaceClaim geometry into ANSYS Electronics Desktop

Click Modeler>SpaceClaim Link>Browse to open a file browser.

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You can select a SpaceClaim document and import the geometry.

The imported geometry is shown in the History tree as a User Defined Model (UDM).

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The Property window of a SpaceClaim link UDM has 3 tabs.

l The General tab shows general information such as SpaceClaim document path.

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l The Parameters tab shows all parameters.

l The Options tab shows supported options.

Options for SpaceClaim link include:

l Import Solid Bodies: Default is ON

l Import Surface Bodies: Default is ON
l Parameters: Default is ON (It imports parameters).
l Parameter Key: A string that is used to filter out parameters. Default is no string - i.e. all
SpaceClaim parameters will be imported.
l Rendering Attribute: We import color of objects. By default the option is ON.

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l Material assignment: By default we import material assignment. Note that material

properties are not imported. A material with exact name must already exist, otherwise,
validation issues a violation.
l Import suppressed for physics objects: By default, this is unchecked and objects suppressed
for physics are not imported. If you check Import suppressed for physics objects option
in the Property window for a SpaceClaim object, and you refresh the SpaceClaim link by
clicking Send Params and Generate. Suppressed objects are imported as non-model
objects. Once imported, you can change them to model objects, if desired.

Connecting to an Active SpaceClaim session

If one or more SpaceClaim sessions are running on the machine, SpaceClaim link can connect to
them to import geometry directly.

When you click Connect to Active Session , the Active SpaceClaim Sessions dialog box
appears. It shows all active SpaceClaim sessions, with their document name and status.

You can select a session with Not Connected status and click Connect to import geometry from
that session. Once connected, that session is used to regenerate the corresponding SpaceClaim
link UDM.

If no sessions are running, no results are displayed.

Launching SpacClaim session from ANSYS Electronics Desktop

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The Context menu of SpaceClaim link UDM shown in the History tree has an entry to Launch
SpaceClaim and to Break Connection.

When you select Launch SpaceClaim:

l If no SpaceClaim session is open, a new SpaceClaim session will be opened and the
document corresponding to SpaceClaim link will be opened in it.
l If any SpaceClaim session is already open, the document will be opened in that session.

All refresh/regenerates of the SpaceClaim link use the session that is opened.

The session closes when ANSYS Electronics Desktop closes.

Archive a Project containing SpaceClaim link

If you want to share a project with SpaceClaim link with other users, you need to archive the
project. Sharing the project file only is not sufficient because the SpaceClaim document is not
included in the project.

l SpaceClaim documents corresponding to the link will be included in the project archive
automatically.
l If any SpaceClaim document refers to other documents (e.g. an assembly document might
refer to individual part documents), these indirectly referenced documents will also be
included in ANSYS Electronics Desktop project archive.
l Once archive is unarchived, referenced SpaceClaim documents will be put in restored_
files subfolder in the project directory. All definition paths are updated to refer to the
reference files in restored_files folder.

Handling SpaceClaim document Save

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When you launch a SpaceClaim session from ANSYS Electronics Desktop or connect to a live
session, whenever the project is saved, the SpaceClaim document corresponding to the
SpaceClaim link UDM is automatically saved if any unsaved changes exist in that document.

If unsaved changes in SpaceClaim were not imported into ANSYS Electronics Desktop before
saving, they will be imported when the SpaceClaim link UDM is regenerated next time.

The geometry in ANSYS Electronics Desktop and SpaceClaim must always be in sync.

Break Connection with SpaceClaim Link

A Break Connection command is available in the Context menu of the SpaceClaim link UDM.

l Break Connection converts the UDM bodies to imported objects. The UDM will be
removed.
l Any operation that you had performed on UDM bodies is preserved.
l Parameters of the UDM are lost. You lose the ability to create parametric variations with
SpaceClaim parameters. Note that parameters for subsequent history operations on
SpaceClaim parts will be retained.
l Attributes such as rendering attributes, materials, etc., are preserved.

Related Topics

User Defined Model (UDM)

3D Component Library
The 3D Modeler lets you access predefined 3D component libraries and to create 3D Components
with:

l Geometry – objects and coordinate systems

l Design data - boundaries, excitations and mesh operations
l Material assignment and definition for components.
l Component parameters - including variables used by geometries, design data, and material
properties.
l Optional logo or icon image to display with components in the modeler window.

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l Optional encryption with password definition or internal key as a password.

The ability to create components from models lets you easily share and reuse components. You
can add components to a library and share components with other users. Once you insert a
component into the target design, you can directly manipulate whole components using Arrange
operations such as Move, Rotate and Mirror or Duplicate operations like Duplicate Along
Line, Duplicate Around Axis and Duplicate Mirror.

The documentation includes the following sections:

Creating a 3D Component from an Existing Model

Inserting a Component into a Design

Using the Component Libraries Window

Viewing Properties of 3D Components

3D Components in the Project Manager Window

3D Components in the History Tree

Editing 3D Component Properties

Editing a 3D Component Definition

Update 3D Component Definition

Antenna Library

Human Body Exteriors

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Johanson 3D Components

Rectangular Waveguide Library

Surface Mount Devices

Additional Show, Show Only, Hide and Fit features, helpful in working with 3D components are
described here:

Fit All Objects in a View Window.

Fit Selected objects in a View Window.

Showing Only Selected Objects in All or Active Views

Hiding Objects from View

Note: Starting with R17, the Electronics Desktop controls 3D Component usage based on the
release in which a component was created. 3D Components created in newer releases of the
desktop can not be opened or inserted in older releases. Similarly, projects containing components
created in newer releases can not be opened in older releases.

Creating a 3D Component from an Existing Model

To create a 3D component, select an existing object or model, right-click, and select Create 3D
Component. You can also click Draw>3D Component Library>Create 3D Component.

This opens the Create 3D Component dialog.

You cannot create components from a design with an array setup.

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The tabs let you view the component features organized according to geometry, design data, and
settings:

l Info tab
l Model tab
l Boundaries tab
l Excitations tab
l Hybrid Regions tab
l Mesh Operations tab
l Coordinate Systems tab
l Parameters tab
l Encryption tab
l Image tab

Include or Exclude Feature from Component

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You can view the various tabs and select which features to Include or Exclude in creating the
component. You can use the check boxes in the Include column for this purpose. You can also use
the text field. Type a feature Name which you can then use the command buttons to Include or
Exclude.

Object selection for Include or Exclude impacts selection in other tabs. For example, if you
exclude an object from the component creation, the design data, parameters, and coordinate
systems corresponding to that object are also excluded.

Sorting Columns Using the Headers

The features listed for each tab include columns for the Name, check boxes for whether to include,
and properties. You can click on the column headers to sort by Name, Model, or other feature listed
for each tab. Click the column header to selects the column to sort. Click again to invert the column.

You can sort lists by using all columns except Include.

Notes on Design Data

l DC thickness on selected objects is always included in components. It is not listed in

Boundaries tab.
l The Create 3D Component dialog does not list design data without an assignment (for
example, a far/near field incident wave in HFSS).
l The parent of any included boundary/excitation is included, as long as the parent does not
require assignment.
l Design settings like material overrides are included.

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Once you have made the Include and Exclude settings, and have specified the Image and Info you
click OK to Save 3D Component File. When you click OK, the component is validated for
everything that is included in the component. For example, you cannot include boundaries if the
object on which the boundaries have been created is not included. After validation, you see a dialog
for saving the component to a location.

Create 3D Component: Model Tab

The Model tab lists all of objects selected before you invoked Create 3D Component. These
correspond to the selected objects listed in the history tree.

l Use the check boxes or text field to Include or Exclude objects for the component.
l Columns Material and Type are read only.
l For Encrypted components, you can also chose which objects to hide.
l The hide column is only enabled if you have the Hide Contained option selected on
Encryption tab.

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Create 3D Component Boundaries Tab

The list is populated with all the boundaries on selected objects.

l Use the check boxes or text field to Include or Exclude boundaries for the component.
l Columns Type and Description are read only.

Create 3D Component Excitations Tab

The list is populated with all the excitations on selected objects.

l Use the check box to Include or Exclude excitations in the component. You can also use the
edit box and Include/Exclude buttons to filter excitations.
l Columns for Type and Description are read only.

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Create 3D Component Hybrid Regions Tab

If you have include Hybrid Regions for the model they are listed in the Hybrid Regions tab. You
can use the Include check box to include them in the created model.

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Create 3D Component Mesh Operations Tab

The list is populated with all the mesh operations on selected objects.

l Use the check box to Include or Exclude mesh operations. You can also use the edit box and
Include/Exclude buttons to filter mesh operations.
l Columns for Type and Description are read only

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Create 3D Component Coordinate Systems Tab

The list is populated with all the Coordinate Systems on selected objects. By default, only the
Coordinate Systems used to define the object orientations are included. You can include
Coordinate Systems created on specific model parts.

l Use the check box to Include or Exclude coordinate systems. You can also use the text field
and Include/Exclude buttons. Global CS cannot be included in the component.
l You can select any of the CS as a component reference.
l By default, the current working CS is the component reference CS.
l Reference CS must be included in the model (except for global).

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The Reference system that you specify affects the orientation of the component upon insertion.

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Create Component Parameters Tab

Component properties can be parameterized by assigning variables. The parameters list is

populated with all the variables used by objects and Coordinate Systems, design data, and
material properties included in the component.

l Use the check box to Include or Exclude variables. You can also use the text field and
Include/Exclude buttons.
l You can fill in the description field, if desired.

If you create non-geometry variables materials or boundaries, these are listed separately:

If you exclude any geometry, boundary or material associated with a variable, the associated
variable is automatically excluded on the Parameters tab.

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Create 3D Component Encryption Tab

The Encryption tab includes a check box for you to define a user access password to use the
component.

Encryption is a common technique for encoding information in a manner that is very difficult for
unauthorized users to decode.When this option is enabled for 3D Components, the contents of the
component file are encrypted to protect them from external viewing or editing.

l 3D Components use the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) with a 256-bit key and
password-based key derivation.
l If the encrypted component is created with an Internal Key, it can be used without additional
authorization.
l If the encrypted component is created with a User Password, that password must be
entered when the component is used in a design.
l It is not possible to edit the definition of an encrypted component within the Electronics
Desktop unless you specify "All Component Edit" with a User Password when you define
the component.

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l If the Show All Contents option is selected, the geometry and other contents will be shown
when the component is used. Geometry export and links will operate as for general
geometry.
l The Hide Selected Contents option can be used to further protect access to an encrypted
component’s details. When this option is selected, hidden contents will not appear in the
Electronics Desktop user interface.
o All geometry will be hidden, except for objects that the user specifies as visible during
component creation.
o Hidden geometry will not be visible in the model window or included in the history tree.
o Geometry export and links will not be allowed.
o Materials, boundaries, and other setup data will also be hidden, with limited exceptions
such as excitation settings that must be accessed in order to control the simulation and
post processing of the design.
o For components with hidden contents, all geometry will be excluded from field
calculations and from plots of fields and meshes. Plots in surrounding volumes will
extend to, and can include, the outer surfaces of the component, but not the
containing volume.
o Note:  Such plots may indirectly reveal component content by providing a view of the
surfaces where the plots terminate. To prevent such exposure, include additional
modeled objects that surround the hidden contents of the component and have material
of the surrounding material environment (e.g. air, vacuum).
l When using the Hide Selected Contents option, the names of objects, materials,
boundaries, and other setup data may appear in progress updates, messages, and other
informational text. The Replace Object and Material Names option can be used to
automatically convert object and material names to generic names in the exported
component. Other sensitive names should be changed before exporting.
l When a project contains one or more encrypted 3D Components, the project file is
encrypted in order to protect its contents. This encryption uses an internal key, so that you
can open the project file without entering a password.

Note that there are some additional considerations with respect to projects using encrypted
components. The component itself will always be stored in encrypted form. When an HFSS or
HFSS-IE design contains an encrypted component with hidden contents, it will also protect other
project files containing data that could be used to extract component information. As of the R18
release, other design types, such as Maxwell, Q3D, or Icepak, do not support this additional
security.

Checking the Encrypt File box enables the Set Password button, and selection buttons for
whether the password is to Show All Contents, or to Hide Selected Contents. You can also specify
a security message. If you provide a message, it is displayed at component insertion, and when the
project containing the component is opened.

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Clicking the Set Password button opens a dialog with fields for Password, and Confirm. This
dialog also opens automatically when you check Encrypt File.

If you specify and OK the fields, the password is set. If you cancel, you will be prompted to provide a
password before you save the 3D component.

Selecting with Internal Key disables the Password and Confirm fields. If you select Internal Key,
you don’t have specify the password when you use the component.

If you change Allow Component Edit to With User Password, you also specify a Password and
confirmation. The password for Allow Component Edit does not have to be the same as the
password for Allow Component Use. If either Confirm entry does not match the corresponding
password, you will be prompted to correct the situation.

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If you then attempt to edit the definition of an encrypted component for which editing is allowed, you
will be prompted to enter the Password. You will have three tries to enter the correct password.

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You have a choice regarding whether to Show All Contents or whether to Hide Selected Contents.
If you select Hide Selected Contents, you then specify whether to Display the component outline as
a Bounding Box or None.

You can also control the visibility per model object by using the Hide check boxes in the Model tab.

You can specify a Security Message in the text field. The text you provide displays when you insert
a component and when you open a project containing the component.

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When you insert an encrypted component, you are presented with an Authentication dialog in
which you enter a password. A user gets three attempts to enter the correct password.

After authentication, the component is inserted for use. If you have specified a security message,
that is displayed.

If you choose to edit the definition for the inserted component, you will be prompted to enter the
Edit password.

If you decide to open an encrypted but editable 3D Component file using File>Open, you are
required to enter both the use password (unless encrypted with an internal key) , and the edit
password.

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Create 3D Component Image Tab

The Image tab shows the preview image for the component, based on the reference Coordinate
System. The image also responds when you Include or Exclude objects from the Model tab.

l You can right-click for a popup menu to change the view of the preview image.
l Changing the preview orientation does not affect the modeler window view.

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If you use the Encryption tab and/or Model tab settings to hide/show the model or specified model
objects, the Image tab responds.

If you use the Encryption tab to display only an object outline, the Image tab responds.

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Create Component Info Tab

On the Info tab you can view and edit component information, as well as add notes. The Name in
the first field is used when the component is inserted into a design.

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You can also included a .bmp format image file to display in the upper right area of the 3D modeler
whenever the component is used. The image file typically contains a company logo. Click Browse
to open a window to navigate your file system select the image.

The image cannot be removed from the modeler window while the component is used.

Save 3D Component File

When you OK the Component File dialog, an Export File dialog displays. By default the Save in
field shows the model source directory. Click PersonalLib or UserLib to display a 3D
Components directory.

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The default File name is the Component name specified in the Info tab.

Using the Component Libraries Window

Once you save one or more components to a library, and create target coordinate systems in the
design where you intend to place the component, you can right click on the 3D component icon in
the Project tree or use the Draw>3D Component Library commands to browse your folders or
libraries, or use the View>Component Libraries to display a Component Libraries window to
navigate installed libraries. Visibility of Component Libraries window is remembered for each
design type so that if context switches between different design type, the window is shown or

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hidden based on setting for new design type.

From the Component Libraries window, you can navigate the directory of installed components,
as well as any in your Personal Library. The Component Libraries window lists all the 3D
components available in syslib, UserLib and PersonalLib. Is adds a folder corresponding to a
library only if there are any components for active design under that library. There are also
additional optional folders for managing Favorites and Most Recently Used components.
Component Libraries window contents, including Most Recently Used and Favorites correspond
to active design. When context is switched between different designs, Component Libraries

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window will be refreshed so that it is relevant to active design.

You can control whether to show the Favorites and Most Recently Used folders from the
Tools>Options command dialog, on the General>Component Libraries page.

Right-click on a component to view the Add to Favorites command to include frequently used
components to the Favorites folder. Once a model is included in the Favorites folder, you can also
right clock to Remove from Favorites.

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When you have added a component to a design, it also appears in the Most Recently Used folder.
You can also right click on model there to view the Add to Favorites and Place Component
commands.

You can select any component from the library, and drag and drop to insert it in the design. If you
insert a component by the drag and drop method, the component is immediately inserted, skipping
the Insert Component dialog. The component is inserted with default component parameter
values and is placed in current active coordinate system.

You can also select Place Component from the right click menu or double-click on any model in
the component libraries to view the Insert 3D Component Instance dialog opened to the
Parameters tab. Using the Place Component menu command allows you to review component
parameter values, change target coordinate system, and so forth, using the Insert Component
dialog. You can also view the Image and Info tabs.

Component file organization on the disk

3D Component files are organized under three libraries, namely syslib, UserLib and PersonalLib.
3D component files must be under folder 3DComponents in library location. It is recommended that
files are further organized by design name under 3DComponents folder. For example, component
files for HFSS should be organized under 3DComponents/HFSS as done for syslib. The 3D
Component Libraries window and also Draw/3D Component Library/ menu look for components
under folder corresponding to active design type and it ignores component files under folder
corresponding another design type. For example, Maxwell 3D will ignore component files under
HFSS subfolder. Any component files that are directly under 3DComponents will be visible in all
design types.

Related Topics

Show, Show Only, Hide and Fit features, helpful in working with 3D components are described
here:

Fit All Objects in a View Window.

Fit Selected objects in a View Window.

Showing Only Selected Objects in All or Active Views

Hiding Objects from View

Inserting a 3D Component in a Design

Once you save one or more components to a library, and create target coordinate systems in the
design where you intend to place the component, you can right click on the 3D Component icon in
the Project Manager or use the Draw>3D Component Library commands to browse your
folders or libraries, or use the View>Component Libraries to display a Component Libraries
window to navigate installed libraries. Alternatively, you can insert an instance of a component by
right-clicking the 3D Component icon in the Project Manager and selecting Insert Instance.

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From the Component Libraries window, you can navigate the directory of installed components, as
well as any in your Personal Library. The Hierarchical tree display includes Favorites and Most
Recently Used branches.

You can select any component from the library, and drag and drop to insert it in the design. Double-
click on any model in the component libraries to view the Insert 3D Component Instance dialog
opened to the Parameters tab. You can also view the Image and Info tabs, and select the target
coordinate system.

Selecting Browse 3D Components lets you navigate directories via a browser window.

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If you have previously inserted a 3D Component, the Insert Instance command is enabled on the
menu. You can use this command to select from 3D Models in the design to easily insert another
instance.

You can also click Draw>3D Component Library to access the Browse and Insert Instance
menus Antennas,Rectangular Waveguides, and PersonalLib to select a component to insert
into a design.

A target coordinate system provides a location for a component. For example, a design includes
two additional coordinate systems:

Selection of a coordinate system in the History tree displays a potential location for inserting a
component.

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To Insert a 3D Component from the Menus

1. Right-click on the 3D Component icon in the Project tree to open shortcut menu. You can
select Browse to use a browser window navigate the file system to the component.

Selecting a 3D component file causes a display of the component image and the File
name.

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If you have previously inserted a component into a Project, the shortcut menu for the 3D
Component displays that component so that you can easily insert another instance of the
same component.

You see the Insert 3D Component dialog opened on the Parameters tab.

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Tabs let you view the Parameters, Image, and Info. You can edit parameter values, and
assign variables or expressions for parameters

2. Use the menu to select the Target Coordinate System if any have been defined in addition to
the Global coordinate system. The target coordinate system that you select is highlighted in
the modeler window.

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3. When you click OK the component is placed at the coordinate system you selected.

4. If the component has a logo defined, the image is always displayed in the upper right of the
modeler window.

5. If you have used Browse, select a component and click the Open button. If you use the Insert
Instance menu, select the component name.

If the component has been encrypted, you must provide a password. If you insert another
instance of the same component, you do not need to enter the password again for that
component.

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You have three tries to enter the correct password. Upon successfully entering the password,
the Insert 3D Component dialog opens with the Encryption tab displayed.

Related Topics

Show, Show Only, Hide and Fit features, helpful in working with 3D components are described
here:

Fit All Objects in a View Window.

Fit Selected objects in a View Window.

Showing Only Selected Objects in All or Active Views

Hiding Objects from View

Viewing Properties of 3D Components

The Properties displayed for a selected 3D component depends on how you select that
component. For a complete display of Properties, right click on the selected component (Project
tree, History tree, or Modeler window) and click Properties on the shortcut menu, or click
Edit>Properties.This displays a Properties window with tabs for all component properties.

Selecting a 3D component in the Project tree displays docked properties with tabs for General,
Materials and Component data.

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If you select a component in the Project window, then right-click and select Edit>Properties, you
can view the Properties window. If you choose the Materials tab, you can then select any listed
material and the parts of the component made of that material are highlighted in the Modeler
window..

Selecting a 3D component in the History tree displays docked properties with tabs for General and
Parameters.

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Selecting a 3D component object in the Modeler window displays docked properties with a tab for
Attributes.

Component materials do not appear in the Project Tree Definitions list. If you select the icon for an
inserted component, the Properties window contains a Materials tab that shows the Materials
defined for the selected component.

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3D Components in the Project Manager Window

The Project Manager window organizes any 3D components that you add to a design under the
3D Components icon in the Project tree.

Selecting these inserted components populates the Properties window which has tabs that display
the instance attributes.

Excitations included in the 3D Components appear in the Project tree. This gives you the ability to
edit Post Processing settings, such as the deembed distance, renormalization, and power settings.

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Boundaries defined inside the component do not appear in the project tree. However, boundary
properties can be when you select the component in the Project tree and view the Component
properties under the Component Data tab.

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However, you can use HFSS>Boundaries>Reprioritize to set the priorities of all boundaries
relative to non-component boundaries.

Related Topics

Show, Show Only, Hide and Fit features, helpful in working with 3D components are described
here:

Fit All Objects in a View Window.

Fit Selected objects in a View Window.

Showing Only Selected Objects in All or Active Views

Hiding Objects from View

3D Components in the History Tree

You can group all instance of a component s by the component definition in the History tree.

To disable this grouping by instance, right click on an instance, and unselect Group Components by
Definition.

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This causes the display to show numbered instances listed without the icon for the primary
component.

Component Operations in the History Tree

l Component operations appear under that component folder towards the end.

l Component operations acts on parts as well as CS.

l Boundaries, mesh operations are duplicated with duplicate and copy/paste operation.

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Related Topics

Show, Show Only, Hide and Fit features, helpful in working with 3D components are described
here:

Fit All Objects in a View Window.

Fit Selected objects in a View Window.

Showing Only Selected Objects in All or Active Views

Hiding Objects from View

Editing 3D Component Properties

You can edit 3D components in several ways.

l Edit component parameters, if defined for that component. Editing the parameters of one
component instance affects only that instance. If a component includes non-Geometry
parameters, these are grouped separately on the Parameters tab.

l Edit excitations by suppressing their use by means of the Excitations tab in the Properties
window.

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Checking Suppress in the Properties window removes the port on the selected instance from
the Excitations list on the Project tree. Unchecking Suppress activates that port for the model
and causes the port to appear in the Excitations list.

l Edit excitation Post Processing such as deembed distance, renormalization.

l Edit Sources for Post Processing

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l Edit Port Impedance Multiplier value

l Edit Mesh operations coming from component
l Operations on individual parts of component are not allowed.
l Copy/Paste component
l Delete component
l Arrange component: Move, Rotate, and Mirror
l Duplicate component: Along Line, Around Axis, and Mirror
l Edit Attributes for Display Wire frame, Color, and Transparency.
l Use Edit>Select>Submodel to quickly select component

Editing a 3D Component Definition

The Edit Component definition feature allows you to create new version of component definition
just by using previous 3D component file. This should also allow you to quickly create new version
without having to go through all the creation steps. For 3D Components that are not encrypted you
can edit the definition. Software will automatically create new project in the existing session. The
Project will have one design of same type as original design from which edit definition was initiated.
All 3D component data from the file will be read in ‘exploded’ form in that design. Component
materials will be added at the project level, variables will be added at the project and design level,
geometry will create detailed history for all objects in the component and design data will be added
to respective folder in the project tree in the detailed form.

The Edit Definition command creates a new project named for the component. You can see the
project in the Project Manager window.

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You can then edit this new project. When you save the edited component, you see an Update 3D
Component dialog including radio buttons for whether you want to save the edited component as
a local instance, or to the original library.

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If you select Update local definition, any changes you make apply only to the local file. If you
choose Update definition file at: <path> to save the component to the definition file in your
library, you can Update 3D Component Definition for other component instances inserted in your
designs.

To edit a 3D Component definition.

1. You can begin editing a 3D component definition from either the History tree or the Project
tree.

To begin from the History tree, you select the component,, and right-click to display the
shortcut menu and click Edit Definition.

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To begin from the Project window, select the 3D Components icon and right click to display
the short cut menu. Then select Definitions...

This displays the 3D Component Definitions window. You can select the component and
then click Edit Definition.

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2. For 3D Components that are not encrypted you can edit the definition. Software will
automatically create new project in the existing session. The Project will have one design of
same type as original design from which edit definition was initiated. You can now edit
design with component data as required without any restrictions. All the component details
are available in respective folders. Complete geometry history available in history tree,
material properties are added to project definition folder, boundaries, excitation etc go to
respective folders in project tree and component parameters become project or design
variables.
3. You can use File>Save to update the original component definition file. The Update 3D
Component dialog will come after File>Save.

The Update 3D component dialog is populated with all entities - objects, boundaries,
excitation etc. in the “component-edit” design. In addition, previous settings like reference
coordinate system, component name, owner etc. from Info tab, as well as encryption settings,
are preserved. You can also select whether to Update local definition (for local editing) or
Update definition file at: <path> to update the component library, which will affect other
instances when updated.

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This feature lets you edit the local definition without saving the component file to disk. All
instances of the component definition in the the assembly design are immediately updated.
Component instances from syslib could be edited.

In the 3D Component Definitions window, the Definition Status column shows when the
component has been locally edited.

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If you use File/Save As to save to a new component definition file, you also have the option to
Save As ANSYS Electronics Desktop file.

4. Once you have saved the updated component version, you can go back to the original
design and update all the instances using that component.

Note that update definition is not automatic even though component definition edit was
triggered from that design. Instead when an assembly design becomes active, it prompts you to
update the 3D component definition. You can then select to update the definition from the
prompt.

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You can also open the 3D definitions window to select a component, and view the Definition
Status column. If an update is available, you can select the component and click Update
Definition.

See Update 3D Component Definition

5. After the editing is done, you also select the model and then use the Create 3D
Component command.

See Creating a 3D Component from an Existing Model.

The component data is loaded from component definition file. The Info tab version
automatically increments. Before saving, you have the option to Keep the project open for
edit/save, or Save definition and close project.

6. You can select Edit File Path to update the file path for component definition. This opens a
browser window that lets you navigate your file system and select a file path to be used for

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the new component definition.

Update 3D Component Definition

If you create or obtain from a vendor a new version of a component, and then open a project that
contained an earlier version of that component, you can right-click on the component in the History
tree and select Update Definition to replace the older version of the component with the newer one
This updates all the instances of the component using that definition. Update Definition is grayed
out if a newer definition is unavailable..

You can also accomplish this by right-clicking on the 3D Component icon in the Project Tree
and selecting Definitions from the shortcut menu. This displays a dialog listing available
component definitions. The Definition status column lets you know if an undated definition is
available.

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All instances and component operations in the design are updated

l Parameter values are preserved

l New parts are generated in all instances
l Deleted parts are deleted from all instances
l Edited parts are changed in all instances
l Design data, materials, coordinate systems can also be updated
l Undo is supported, command is scriptable
l Definitions dialog provides complete list of definitions in the design
l Definitions can be updated from the dialog

3D Component Library: Antennas

There are two ways to view the Antennas in the 3D Component Library. If you have enabled
View>Component Libraries, you can see the Component Libraries window.

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You can also access the Antennas library using Draw>3D Component> Browse... to open the
Browse 3D Component dialog. You then click the SysLib button to display the libraries included
in your installation. You can Navigate HFSS/Antennas, and navigate the folders to select from
available components.

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Once you have selected a component file, you can view the Image and Info for that component.

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You can click Open to display the Insert 3D Component dialog. You can also open the Insert 3D
Component dialog by double-clicking on a model in the Component Libraries window. You can
view the Parameters, Image, and Info tabs for that component. See Inserting a Component into a
Design.

If you want to edit a 3D Component:

1. From Windows Explorer, copy and save the component design file to your PersonalLib or
UserLib directory.
2. Do an update menu for 3D Components.
3. Open the component from the PersonalLib or UserLib directory and use edit mode for
making modifications.

3D Component Library: Human Body Exteriors

There are two ways to view the Human Body Exteriors in the 3D Component Library. If you have
enabled View>Component Libraries, you can navigate to the different models in the tree:

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You can also access the Human Body Exteriors library using Draw>3D Component Library>
Browse... to open the Browse 3D Component dialog. you then click the SysLib button to display
the libraries included in your installation. You can select from the Human Body Exterior models,
and navigate the folders to select from available components.

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Once you have selected a Component file, you can view the Image and Info for that component.

You can click Open to display the Insert 3D Component dialog. You can view the Image and Info
tabs for that component. Human Body Exteriors do not have parameters. You can also open the
Insert 3D Component dialog by double-clicking on a model in the Component Libraries
window. You can view the Image, and Info tabs for that component. See Inserting a Component
into a Design.

If you want to edit a 3D Component:

1. From Windows Explorer, copy and save the component design file to your PersonalLib or
UserLib directory.
2. Do an update menu for 3D Components.
3. Open the component from the PersonalLib or UserLib directory and use edit mode for
making modifications.

3D Component Library: Johanson

There are two ways to view the Johanson components in the 3D Component Library. If you have
enabled View>Component Libraries, you can navigate to the different models in the tree:

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You can also access the Johanson library using Draw>3D Component Library> Browse... to
open the Browse 3D Component dialog. You then click the SysLib button to display the libraries
included in your installation. You can select from the Johanson models, and navigate the folders to
select from available components.

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Once you have selected a Component file, you can view the Image and Info for that component.

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You can click Open to display the Insert 3D Component dialog. You can view the Image and Info
tabs for that component. You can also open the Insert 3D Component dialog by double-clicking
on a model in the Component Libraries window. See Inserting a Component into a Design.

If you want to edit a 3D Component:

1. From Windows Explorer, copy and save the component design file to your PersonalLib or
UserLib directory.
2. Do an update menu for 3D Components.
3. Open the component from the PersonalLib or UserLib directory and use edit mode for
making modifications.

3D Component Library: Rectangular Waveguides

There are two ways to view the Rectangular Waveguides library. If you have enabled
View>Component Libraries, you can navigate to the different models in the tree:

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You can also access the Waveguides library using Draw>3D Component> Browse... to open
the Browse 3D Component dialog. you then click the SysLib button to display the libraries
included in your installation. You can select Rectangular Waveguides, and navigate the folders to
select from available 3D components.

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Once you have selected a component file, you can view the Image and Info for that component.

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You can click Open to display the Insert 3D Component dialog. You can also view the Insert 3D
Component dialog by double-clicking on a model in the Component Library tree. You can view the
Parameters, Image, and Info tabs for that component. See Inserting a Component into a Design.

If you want to edit a 3D Component:

1. From Windows Explorer, copy and save the component design file to your PersonalLib or
UserLib directory.
2. Do an update menu for 3D Components.
3. Open the component from the PersonalLib or UserLib directory and use edit mode for
making modifications.

3D Component Library: Surface Mount Devices

There are two ways to view the Surface Mount Devices library. If you have enabled
View>Component Libraries, you can navigate to the different models in the tree:

You can also access the Surface Mount Devices library using Draw>3D Component> Browse...
to open the Browse 3D Component dialog. You then click the SysLib button to display the
libraries included in your installation. You can select Surface Mount Devices, and navigate the
folders to select from available components.

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Once you have selected a component file, you can view the Image and Info for that component.

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You can click Open to display the Insert 3D Component dialog. You can also view the Insert 3D
Component dialog by double-clicking on a model in the Component Library tree. You can view the
Parameters, Image, and Info tabs for that component. See Inserting a Component into a Design.

If you want to edit a 3D Component:

1. From Windows Explorer, copy and save the component design file to your PersonalLib or
UserLib directory.
2. Do an update menu for 3D Components.
3. Open the component from the PersonalLib or UserLib directory and use edit mode for
making modifications.

Legacy Projects with 3D Components

Components created in earlier projects do not have the same degree of encapsulization and are
not compatible with the current version and ANSYS Electronics Desktop.

Legacy Projects: Do not encapsulate components

Legacy Components: Fully encapsulated in r16

Modifying Objects
You can quickly modify the position, dimensions, and other characteristics of objects created in the
3D Modeler window.

What do you want to do?

Object and History Editing Modify Object Appearance

Modify Object Dimensions Modify Object Location or Orientation
Surface or Edge Operations Boolean Operations on Objects

Object and History Editing

l Copy and paste objects.
l Delete objects
l Delete Last Operation
l Cutting Objects
l Duplicate objects
l View and Edit Commands on History Tree Objects
l Purge History
l Generate History

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Modify Object Appearance

l Assign color to an object.
l Assign transparency to an object.
l Also see Modifying the Model View

Modify Object Dimensions

l Assigning a Cross Section and Dimension to a Polyline
l Scale the size of objects
l Connect objects
l Move faces or edges
l Convert polyline segments
l Rounding the edge of an object (Fillet)
l Flattening the edge of an object (Chamfer)

Modify Object Location or Orientation

l Move objects
l Rotate objects
l Change the Orientation of an object
l Mirror objects about a plane.
l Offset an object (move every face of an object).
l Also see Modifying the Model View

Surface or Edge Operations for Objects

l Sweep objects.
l Cover lines.
l Cover faces.
l Uncover faces.
l Detach faces.
l Detach edges.
l Create a new object by taking a cross-section of a 3D object.
l Wrap Command
l Project Sheet
l Thicken Sheet

Boolean Operations on Objects

l Unite objects.
l Subtract objects.
l Create objects from intersections.

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l Create an object from a face.

l Create an object from an edge.
l Split objects.
l Separate objects.
l Imprint Projection Commands
l Imprinting an Object

Assigning Color to Objects

1. Select the object to which you want to assign a color.
Note If the Properties window not visible on the desktop, click View>Properties
Window or use Edit>Properties.

2. In the Properties dialog box, click the Attribute tab.

3. Click Edit in the Color row.

The Color palette appears.

4. Select a color from the Color palette, and then click OK.

The color is assigned to the selected object.

Related Topics

Setting the Default Color of Objects

Setting the Default Color of Objects

1. Click Tools >Options>Modeler Options.

2. Click the Display tab.
3. Select Object from the Default color pull-down list.
4. Click the color button beside the Default color pull-down list.

The Color palette appears.

5. Select a color from the Color palette, and then click OK.

Any objects you draw after this point will be assigned the default color you selected.

Setting the Default Color of Object Outlines

1. Click Tools>Options>Modeler Options. Click the Display tab.

2. Select Object Wire from the Default color pull-down list.
3. Click the color button beside the Default color pull-down list.

The Color palette appears.

4. Select a color from the Color palette, and then click OK.

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The outlines of any objects you draw after this point will be assigned the default color you
selected.

Assigning Transparency to an Object

1. Select the object to which you want to assign a transparency.

Note If the Properties window not visible on the desktop, click View>Properties
Window or use Edit>Properties.

2. In the Properties dialog box, click the Attribute tab.

3. Click the value in the Transparency row.

The Set Transparency window appears.

4. Move the slider to the right to increase the transparency of the object. Move the slider to the
left to decrease the transparency of the object.
5. Click OK.

Related Topics

Setting the Default Transparency of Objects

Setting the Default Transparency of Objects

1. Click Tools>Options>Modeler Options. Click the Display tab.

2. Move the Default transparency slider to the right to increase the transparency of objects.

Move the slider to the left to decrease the transparency of objects.

Any objects you draw after this point will be assigned the default transparency you selected.

Copying and Pasting Objects

To copy objects and paste them in the same design or another design, use the Edit>Copy and
Edit>Paste commands. For data link purposes, where you want to include the material
assignments as well as the geometry, you can use the Import from Clipboard command.

1. Select the objects you want to copy.

2. Click Edit>Copy or in the View/Draw/Model tabs of the ribbon, click the Copy icon:

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The objects are copied to the Clipboard, a temporary storage area. The selected items are not
deleted.

To cut an item to the clipboard and deleting the original, use the scissors icon on the toolbar.

3. Select the design into which you want to paste the objects. It can be the same design from
which you copied the items.
4. Click in the 3D Modeler window.
5. Select the working coordinate system. Objects are pasted relative to the current working
coordinate system.
6. Click Edit>Paste or in the View/Draw/Model tabs of the ribbon, click the Paste icon:

The objects appear in the targeted Modeler window and in the new History tree. The pasted
objects become the current active selection. If you undo the paste, the active selection goes
back to the previous selection. If you redo, the pasted objects become the current active
selection.

Items on the Clipboard can be pasted repeatedly. The items currently stored on the Clipboard are
replaced by the next items that are cut or copied.

Related Topics

Duplicating Boundaries and Excitations with Geometry

Import a Model from the Clipboard

You can import a model to the Clipboard in order to use a geometry from a different design. To use
a geometry with datalink, the geometry ID must be preserved.

To import a model from the Clipboard, the model for the current design must be empty.

The geometry model is imported from the Clipboard with the ID preserved.

1. Select the objects you want to copy. For selecting all objects, you can use Edit>Select All
or Ctrl-A.

2. Click Edit>Copy .

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The objects are copied to the Clipboard, a temporary storage area. The selected items are not
deleted.

3. Select the design into which you want to paste the objects. It can be the same design from
which you copied the items.
4. Click in the 3D Modeler window.
5. Select the working coordinate system. Objects are imported relative to the current working
coordinate system.
6. Click Modeler>Import From Clipboard.

The geometry model is pasted from the Clipboard with the ID preserved.

Related Topics

Setup Link Dialog

Selecting Items in the 3D Modeler Window

Copy Image
You can import images of the 3D Modeler window or of Reports into any other application. The
image has to be copied to the clipboard, so that it can be imported into the other application.

To copy an image of the 3D Modeler window and paste into another application:

1. Make the 3D Modeler window active.

This enables the Edit>Copy Image command in the menu bar.

2. Click Edit>Copy Image, or right click on the 3D Modeler window to display the shortcut
menu and select Copy Image.

The 3D Modeler window is copied to the Clipboard as an image.

3. Select and open the application into which you want to paste the objects, and paste the
image.

To copy an image of a Report to paste into another application:

1. Make the report the active window.

The enables the Edit>Copy Image command in the menu bar.

2. Click Edit>Copy Image, or right click on the Report window to display the shortcut menu
and select Copy Image.

The report is copied to the Clipboard as an image.

3. Select and open the application into which you want to paste the objects, and paste the
image.

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Related Topics

Copy and Paste of Report and Trace Data

Copy and Paste of Report and Trace Definitions

Deleting Objects
1. Select the objects to delete.
2. Click Edit>Delete or in the View/Draw/Model tabs of the ribbon, click the Delete icon:

l Alternatively, press Delete.

The objects are deleted.

Note To maintain valid boundaries, excitations, or other parameters that were associated with
the deleted object, reassign them to other objects.

Related Topics

Deleting Polyline Segments

Deleting Start points and End points

Deleting Start Points and Endpoints

If you select a polyline in the history tree, the Delete Start Point and Delete End Point
commands may be enabled. These permit you to delete portions of the line.

1. In the history tree, locate the polyline that contains the segment you want to delete. Expand
this part of the history tree.
2. In the history tree, select the polyline you want to edit.

The segment is highlighted.

3. On the Edit menu or the shortcut menu, click either Delete Start Point to remove the
leading segments or Delete End Point to remove the following segments.

The designated segment is removed, and the line changes.

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Delete Last Operation

To delete the last operation on an object:

1. Select the object.

2. Click Modeler>Delete Last Operation.

This undoes the last operation, including removing that operation from the history, and updating
the context for the Undo and Redo commands.

Related Topics

Undoing Commands

Redoing Commands

Cutting Objects
1. Select the objects to cut.
2. Click Edit>Cut or in the ribbon area click the cut icon:

The objects are copied to the Clipboard and deleted from the design.

Moving Objects
1. Select the objects to move.
2. Click Edit>Arrange>Move or in the Draw tab of the ribbon, click the Move icon:

3. Select an arbitrary anchor point in one of the following ways:

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l Click the point.

l Enter the point's coordinates in the X,Y, and Z boxes.
4. Select a target point in one of the following ways:
l Click the point.
l Type the coordinates of a point relative to the anchor point in the dX, dY, and dZ boxes,
where d is the distance from the previously selected point.

All selected objects move the distance determined by the offset between the anchor point and
the target point.

Rotating Objects
Rotate objects about the x-, y-, or z-axis using the Edit>Arrange>Rotate command.

To rotate objects about an axis:

1. Select the objects to rotate.

2. Click Edit>Arrange>Rotate or in the Draw tab of the ribbon, click the rotate icon:

The Rotate dialog box appears.

3. Select the axis about which to rotate the objects: X, Y, or Z.

4. Type the angle to rotate the objects in the Angle box.

A positive angle causes the object to be rotated in the counter-clockwise direction. A negative
angle causes the object to be rotated in the clockwise direction.

5. Click OK.

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The selected objects are rotated about the axis.

To rotate and copy objects, use the Edit>Duplicate>Around Axis command.

Changing the Orientation of an Object

Each object has an Orientation property that specifies the coordinate system it uses is Global, or a
user defined orientation relative to the Global coordinate.

This property is useful in dealing with anisotropic materials. The properties of anisotropic materials
are specified relative to the objects orientation. Changing the orientation of an object provides a
way for objects made of the same material to be orientated differently.

To change an object's orientation.

1. Define the coordinate systems you want to have available.

2. Open the properties window for the object.
3. Click on the Orientation property, and select from the Drop down list. If no Orientations other
than Global have been defined, none appear on the list.
4. Click OK to close the dialog and apply the changes.

Related Topics

Assigning Material Property Types

Setting Coordinate Systems

Creating a Relative Coordinate System

Mirroring Objects
Mirror an object about a plane using the Edit>Arrange>Mirror command. The plane is selected
by defining a point on the plane and a normal point. This command allows you to move an object
and change its orientation.

Note The distance between the point on the mirror plane and the point along the normal does not
matter — only the vector direction matters.

To mirror an object about a plane:

1. Select the object or objects that you want to mirror. You can select multiple objects.
2. Click Edit>Arrange>Mirror or in the Draw tab of the ribbon, click the Mirror icon:

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3. Select a point on the plane around which you want to mirror the object.

You can do this by clicking a point, or typing coordinates in the X, Y, and Z boxes in the status
bar.

If you select a point on the object, the mirroring is relative to that point on the object. In the
following example, the first point clicked after selecting Edit>Arrange>Mirror was on the right-
rear bottom corner of the selected object. So the axis of rotation as you move the cursor is that
corner. As you move the cursor, it drags a diamond-shape on a vector extending from the initial
point. The distance along the vector does not matter. Moving the mouse rotates an outline of the
object to new orientations. Clicking the mouse moves the object to location indicated by the
outline..

In this second example, the initial point is at a distance from the original object, designated by
the triad from which the handle for rotation extends to the dragging cursor.

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4. Select a second point in one of the following ways:

l Click the point.
l Type the coordinates of a point relative to the first point in the dX, dY, and dZ boxes,
where d is the distance from the previously selected point. As you type in the values, the
outline moves to the coordinates. Press the Enter key to complete the command.

The selected object is moved to the plane you specified and oriented relative to the normal point
you specify.

To mirror and copy objects about a plane, use the Edit>Duplicate>Mirror command.

Related Topics

Duplicating and Mirroring Objects

Offsetting Objects
Move every face of a 3D object in a direction normal to its surface using the Edit>Arrange>Offset
command. The faces are moved a specified distance normal to their original planes. This command
enables you to move every face of a solid object without having to individually select and move
each face. Use the Surfaces>Move Faces>Along Normal command if you want to move just
one or more faces of an object.

To offset every face of an object:

1. Select the object you want to offset.

2. Click Edit>Arrange>Offset.

The Offset dialog box appears.

3. Type the distance you want to move the object faces from their origins, and then select a unit
from the pull-down list.
4. Click OK.

The selected object's faces are moved the distance you specified.

Duplicating Objects
You can duplicate objects within a design using the Edit>Duplicate commands. Duplicates are
dependent upon the parameters of their parent object at the time they were created, that is, they
share the parent object's history at the time of creation. The command hierarchy in the history tree
will show the duplication command, illustrating which commands affect all duplicates (those
performed before the duplication) and which commands would not affect the duplicates (those
performed after the duplication). For example, if you modify the radius of a parent object's hole, the
change is applied to the holes of the object's duplicates because they share the radius specification
history, but if you move the faces of the parent object, its duplicates are not affected because this
operation took place after the duplicates were created.

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Operations performed on duplicates are independent. For example, if you duplicate a cylinder
twice, creating a row of three, and then split the second cylinder, the first and third cylinders are not
affected by the split.

When creating duplicates, the parent object is duplicated along a line or around an axis the number
of times you specify. You can also create a single duplicate that mirrors the parent object about a
plane.

Choose from the following commands:

Edit>Duplicate>Along Duplicates the parent object along a straight line. The child object can
Line be designated as attached to the parent object, but if so, no ports or
boundary conditions are duplicated.
Edit>Duplicate>Around Duplicates the parent object around an axis. The child object can be
Axis designated as attached to the parent object, but if so, no ports or
boundary conditions are duplicated.
Edit>Duplicate>Mirror Duplicates a mirror image of the parent object about a plane.

To copy objects to another design, use the Edit>Copy and Edit>Paste commands.

Note There is currently no method for dissolving the parent/duplicate relationship once a
duplicate has been created.

Duplicating Objects Along a Line

To duplicate an object along a straight line, use the Edit>Duplicate>Along Line command. The
line along which the object is duplicated can be vertical, horizontal, or lie at an angle.

1. Select the object you want to duplicate.

2. Click Edit>Duplicate>Along Line or in the Draw tab of the ribbon, click the duplicate
Along Line icon:

3. Specify the vector along which the object will be duplicated. The Measure Data window
appears to help you choose points:

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a. Select an arbitrary anchor point in one of the following ways:

l Click the point.
l Type the point's coordinates in the in the X, Y, and Z boxes.

Any point in the drawing region can be selected; however, selecting an anchor point
on the object's edge or within the object makes it easier to select the duplication line.

b. Select a second point in one of the following ways:

l Click the point.
l Type the coordinates of a point relative to the anchor point in the dX, dY, and dZ
boxes, where d is the distance from the previously selected point.

This point defines the direction and distance from the anchor point to duplicate the
object.

The Duplicate Along Line dialog box appears:

4. Type the total number of objects, including the original, in the Total Number box.
5. Optionally, check the Attach to Original Object check box. If this is checked, original object
and its duplicates will be combined into one part. No ports or boundary conditions are
duplicated for duplicates. If this option is used, it is recommended to run validation to ensure
that the original and duplicates are not intersecting or touching each other.
6. If this option is used, it is recommended to run validation to ensure that the original and
duplicates are not intersecting or touching each other.
7. Click OK.

The duplicates are placed along the vector you specified.

Duplicating Objects Around an Axis

To duplicate an object around the x-, y-, or z-axis, use the Edit>Duplicate>Around Axis
command.

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1. Select the object you want to duplicate.

2. Click Edit>Duplicate>Around Axis or in the Draw tab of the ribbon, click the duplicate
Around Axis icon:

The Duplicate Around Axis dialog box appears.

3. Select the axis around which you want to duplicate the object: X, Y, or Z.
4. Type the angle between duplicates in the Angle box.

A positive angle causes the object to be pasted in the counter-clockwise direction.

A negative angle causes the object to be pasted in the clockwise direction.

5. Type the total number of objects, including the original, in the Total Number box.
6. Optionally, check the Attach to Original Object check box. If this is checked, original object
and its duplicates will be combined into one part. No ports or boundary conditions are
duplicated for duplicates. If this option is used, it is recommended to run validation to ensure
that the original and duplicates are not intersecting or touching each other.
7. Click OK.

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The object is duplicated around the axis at the angle you specified.

Duplicating and Mirroring Objects

To duplicate and mirror an object about a plane, use the Edit>Duplicate>Mirror command. The
plane is selected by defining a point on the plane and a normal point. This command allows you to
duplicate an object and specify the duplicate's position.

This command is similar to Edit>Arrange>Mirror, except that this command duplicates an object,
rather than moves it.

1. Select the object you want to mirror.

2. Click Edit>Duplicate>Mirror or in the Draw tab of the ribbon, click the duplicate Thru
Mirror icon:

3. Select a point on the plane on which you want to mirror the object.

A line drawn from this point to the mirror plane will be perpendicular to the plane. The distance
between the point on mirror plane and point along the normal does not matter; only the vector
direction matters

4. Select a normal point on the plane in one of the following ways:

l Click the point.
l Type the coordinates of a point relative to the first point in the dX, dY, and dZ boxes,
where d is the distance from the previously selected point.

A duplicate of the object appears on the plane you specified, oriented according to the normal
point you specified.

Related Topics

Mirroring Objects

Scaling Objects
Scale an object's dimensions in one or more directions using the Edit>Scale command.

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The scale of an object is determined by the distance of each of its vertices from the origin of the
model coordinate system. When an object is scaled, the distance of each vertex from the origin is
multiplied by the scaling factor, causing the object to be resized and/or moved.

For example, if you specify a scaling factor of 2 in the X direction, each vertex in the model will be
moved so that the distance to its origin is doubled. Note that a vertex located at the origin will not
move. You can alter an object's proportions by scaling it in one direction.

To scale an object's dimensions in one or more directions:

1. If necessary, set a different working coordinate system to achieve the desired scaling.
2. Select the object to scale.

Click Edit>Scale. The Scale dialog box appears.

3. Type the scale factor for each axis.

4. Click OK.

The object is scaled about the working coordinate system's origin.

Related Topics

Modifying Object Attributes using the Properties Window

Sweeping Objects
You can sweep a 2D object around an axis, along a vector, or along a path to create a 3D solid
object. Objects that can be swept include circles, arcs, rectangles, trapezoids, polylines, or any 2D
object created in the 3D Modeler window. The 2D object need not be orthogonal to the sweep
path.

You can also thicken sheets to make a 3D object.

You can also sweep open 1D objects, such as polylines. This results in open 2D sheet objects.

You can also sweep one or more faces of a 3D object to create a new object. See Sweep Faces
Along Normal.

Related Topics

Assigning a Cross Section and Dimension to a Polyline

Sweeping Around an Axis

Sweeping Along a Vector

Sweep Along a Path

Sweep Faces Along Normal

Thicken Sheet

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Sweeping Around an Axis

Sweep a 1D or 2D object around the x-, y-, or z-axis using the Draw>Sweep>Around Axis
command. Sweeping circles around an axis is a convenient way to create an open coil loop.

Before using this command, keep the following guidelines in mind:

l The object and the axis you are sweeping around must lie in the same plane. For example, if
you are sweeping an object around the z-axis, the object must lie in a plane that includes the
z-axis, such as xz or yz.
l The normal of the object's plane faces must be perpendicular to the axis around which you
are sweeping.
l The object may not cross the axis around which it is being swept.

To sweep an object around an axis:

1. Select the object you want to sweep.

2. Click Draw>Sweep>Around Axis or in the Draw tab of the ribbon, click the sweep around
axis icon:

The Sweep Around Axis dialog box appears.

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3. Select the axis you want to sweep the object around: X, Y, or Z.

4. Type the angle to sweep the object through in the Angle of sweep box.

The value must be between -360 and 360 degrees.

5. Type the draft angle.

This is the angle to which the object's profile, or shape, is expanded or contracted as it is swept.

6. Select one of the following draft types from the pull-down list. The draft type instructs the
modeler how to fill in gaps created by expanding or contracting a profile with a draft angle.

Extended The edges of the new profile are extended with straight tangent lines until they
intersect. The facetting of the faces will be displayed.
Round The edges of the new profile are rounded.
Natural The edges of the new profile are extended along their natural curves until they
intersect. For example, if the original object had sharp edges, the new profile
will have sharp edges.

7. Type the number of segments in the Number of segments text box.Click OK.

Note The default number of segments is zero, which creates a true path. A positive value
results in a segmented sweep, while a negative value results in an error.

If the sweep angle is 360 degrees, the number of segments is equal to the value
specified. If the sweep angle is less than 360 degrees, half segments appear at the
ends.

Projects and scripts from previous software versions are treated as if the number of
segments were zero.

The object is swept around the axis. The new object has the properties of the original object.
The Properties dialog box appears, enabling you to modify the object's properties.

8. Click OK.

Sweeping Along a Vector

Sweep a 1D or 2D object along a vector using the Draw>Sweep>Along Vector command.

1. Select the object you want to sweep.

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2. Click Draw>Sweep>Along Vector or in the Draw, click the sweep along vector icon:

Draw the vector you want to sweep the object along:

a. Select the start point by clicking the point or typing its coordinates in the X, Y, and Z
boxes.
b. Select the endpoint in one of the following ways:
l Click the point.
l Type the coordinates of a point relative to the start point in the dX, dY, and dZ boxes,
where d is the distance from the previously selected point.

The Sweep Along Vector dialog box appears.

3. Type the draft angle.

This is the angle to which the profile is expanded or contracted as it is swept.

4. Select one of the following draft types from the pull-down list box:

Extended The new object will have sharp edges like the original object. The facetting of
the faces will be displayed.
Round The new object will have rounded edges.
Natural The new object will have sharp edges like the original object

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The object is swept along the vector. The new object has the name and color of the original
profile. The Properties dialog box appears, enabling you to modify the object's properties.

5. Click OK.

Sweeping Along a Path

Sweep a 1D or 2D object along a path that is defined by an open or closed polyline using the
Draw>Sweep>Along Path command.

When you are sweeping an object along a path, keep in mind that one of the path's endpoints must
lie in the same plane as the object being swept. The other endpoint must lie in a plane
perpendicular to the object being swept.

To sweep an object along a path:

1. Create the polyline you want to use as a path.

2. Select the object you want to sweep, and then select the new polyline.
3. Click Draw>Sweep>Along Path or in the Draw tab of the ribbon, click the Along a path
icon:

The Sweep Along Path dialog box appears.

4. Type the angle of the twist in the path.

This is the number of degrees the profile will rotate as it is swept through the complete path.

5. Type the draft angle.

This is the angle to which the profile is expanded or contracted as it is swept.

6. Select one of the following draft types from the pull-down list box:

Extended The new object will have sharp edges like the original object. The facetting of
the faces will be displayed.
Round The new object will have rounded edges.
Natural The new object will have sharp edges like the original object

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7. Click OK.

The object is swept along the path. The polyline object used as the path is deleted. The new
object has the properties of the original object. The Properties dialog box appears, enabling
you to modify the object's properties.

Sweeping Faces Along Normal

To create a new object by sweeping select 3D object's face a specified distance in a direction
normal to its original plane, use the Modeler>Surface>Sweep Faces Along Normal command.
Note that the adjoining faces will not be sheared or bent.

This command is useful for extruding faces, resizing holes, and removing rounded corners.

To sweep selected object faces in a normal direction:

1. Click Select Faces on the shortcut menu.

2. Select the faces of the object you want to sweep.
3. Click Modeler>Surface>Sweep FacesAlong Normal.
4. The Sweep FacesAlong Normal dialog box appears.
5. Type the distance you want to sweep the object face from its origin.
6. Click OK.

The face is swept the distance you specified to create a new object.

Related Topics

Moving Faces Along the Normal

Thicken Sheet

To thicken one or more sheet objects to make 3D objects:

1. Select the sheet or sheets.

2. Click Modeler>Surface>Thicken Sheet or in the Draw tab of the ribbon, from the Sheet
icon dropdown, click Thicken sheet:

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The Thicken Sheet dialog appears.

3. Specify the thickness by typing in the field.

4. Specify the units by selecting from the drop down menu.
5. If you want to thicken both sides, use the check box.
6. Click OK.

The dialog closes and the sheets are changed into 3D objects of the desired thickness.

Wrap Sheet Command

You can use Modeler>Surface>Wrap Sheet command to wrap a sheet object around a suitable
3D object. The sheet object does not have to be in contact with the 3D object. It should have
smaller dimensions than the 3D object.

When the sheet to be wrapped and the target body do not touch, the wrap sheet command
chooses among several different methods for bringing them into contact.

l If an edge from the sheet body and the target body are close enough and at a small angle
(10 degrees), the edges are brought into alignment before the wrap.
l If a vertex from the sheet body and an edge on the target body are close enough, the vertex
is moved to the target edge.
l If the previous criterion are not matched, a vertex from the sheet body is moved to the
closest face of the target body.

If both the sheet to be wrapped and the target face are both planar and have the same or opposite
normal, the closest vertex from the sheet body is moved to the target face. No moving to match or
align edges is performed.

If the sheet body has multiple lumps, a single rectangle is fitted around all of the lumps. The
rectangle is moved to the target surface using the above procedure.

If the sheet object does not overlap the corners of the 3D object, the wrap is straightforward, as
shown in the figure.

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If you delete the 3D object, the wrapped sheet retains the form it took when wrapped.

A sheet object that overlaps corners may not wrap in straightforward fashion, depending on both
the angle(s) involved, and the sheet object. While it is possible, it is not recommended.

Examples:

The following figure illustrates wrapping on a target surface with the snap to an edge. The surface
will snap to an edge if close relative to length of edge. If the angle between the edge is less than 10
degrees, the edge to be wrapped will be aligned to the target body. In the example on the left, the
lower sheet has an edge angle more than 10 degrees. The vertex will be snapped to the edge. The
top sheet in the picture has an edge angle of less than 10 degrees. The vertex is snapped to the
target edge and the sheet edge is aligned to the target. To avoid snapping to an edge or edge
alignment the wrap sheet can be put into contact with the target surface. In that case the sheet will
vertex will not be moved to target edge unless it is within modeling tolerances.

The following figure shows the situation when you move the edge to the edge before wrapping.

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The following figure shows the situation when you move a vertex to an edge before wrapping.

The following figure shows the situation where you move a vertex to a face before wrapping.

The following figure shows the situation when you move a multilump sheet to touch the target body.
A rectangle that encloses all lumps is used to position the sheet on the target.

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The next figure illustrates wrapping to a non-developable surface. The area of sheet changed from
0.7000mm^2 before wrap to 0.6986 mm^2 after.

The following figure illustrates wrapping on a target surface which has tolerant edges. The tolerant
edge is at the beginning of the wrap. The tolerant edge is not evident visually.

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Limitations/Error Conditions:

l Wrapping on non-developable surfaces creates distortion in lengths.

l Wrapping is not allowed across curved boundaries between faces.
l Working with tolerant edges will work only if the gaps can be tightened sufficiently for the
operation.
l Wrapping on the pole of a surface (such as sphere or cone) is not supported. A warning is
given: WrapSheet: Wrapping sheet contacted pole of target surface. Recommend moving
sheet and splitting out pole from target surface.
l The choice of method for how the sheet body is moved to touch the target face is not directly
selectable by the user. If the sheet to be wrapped and target body touch, then the sheet body
is only rotated at point of contact.

To wrap a sheet object:

1. Create a sheet close to an appropriate 3D object.

2. Select both objects.
3. Click Modeler>Surface>Wrap Sheet or in the Draw tab of the ribbon, select Rap from the
Sheet drop down menu:

The sheet object wraps around the 3D object. You can select the wrapped sheet object and the
3D object separately, and assign properties separately.

If the object cannot wrap, the Message window contains a warning and description.

You can wrap multiple sheets on the same 3D object.

If you delete the 3D object, the wrapped sheet retains the form it took when wrapped.

You can use the Tools>Options>Modeler Options to automatically perform a

Modeler>Boolean>Imprint command after performing a Wrap.

Related Topics

Imprinting an Object

Modeler Options: Operation Tab

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Covering Lines
To cover a closed 1D polyline object with a face, use the Modeler>Surface>Cover Lines
command. The polyline object becomes a 2D sheet object.

To convert a closed polyline object to a sheet object:

1. Select the closed polyline object you want to cover.

2. Click Modeler>Surface>Cover Lines.

The object is now covered. It is now a 2D sheet object that can be swept to form a 3D solid
object.

Note If you want the modeler to automatically cover all closed polyline objects you draw,
including circles, ellipses, rectangles, and regular polygons, select the Automatically
cover closed polylines option in the Modeler Options dialog box. A closed polyline
object can also be created by using boolean unite operations on two or more polylines.

Covering Faces
To cover object faces, the faces must be united into a 3D sheet object. To cover the face of a 2D or
3D object, use the Modeler>Surface>Cover Faces command.

Covering the face of an open 2D sheet object that had previously been uncovered results in a 3D
solid object. For example, for a box, when you select and uncover a face, the solid box becomes a
sheet with five faces. When you then select that sheet body box and use the Cover Faces
command, the box becomes a solid again with six faces.

To cover the faces of objects:

1. Select the faces of the objects you want to cover.

2. Click Modeler>Surface>Cover Faces.

The object faces are now covered.

Uncovering Faces
Uncover a surface of a 3D object using the Modeler>Surface>Uncover Faces command.
Uncovering the surface of a 3D solid object results in an open 2D sheet object.

To uncover the face of a 3D object:

1. Switch to face selection mode: Click Edit>Selection Mode>Faces.

2. Select a face of the object you want to uncover.

Click Modeler>Surface>Uncover Faces. The selected face is uncovered, leaving an open

face on the object.

Note You can uncover one face of a 3D object at a time. If you select multiple faces, only the first

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face will be uncovered.

Detaching Faces
The Modeler>Surface>Detach Faces command enables you to remove the face of a 3D object,
resulting in two separate objects.

To detach the face of an object:

1. Switch to face selection mode: Click Edit>Selection Mode>Faces.

2. Select the face of the object you want to detach. You can select multiple faces to detach.

Click Modeler>Surface>Detach Faces. The selected face is now detached, resulting in two
2D sheet objects.

Detaching Edges
The Modeler>Edge>Detach Edges command enables you to remove an edge of a wire object,
resulting in two separate wire objects.

To detach an edge of an object:

1. Switch to edge selection mode: Click Edit>Selection Mode>Edges.

2. Select the edge of the object you want to detach. You can select multiple edges to detach.
3. Click Modeler>Edge>Detach Edges.

The selected edge is now detached, resulting in multiple wire objects.

Note Only edges from wire bodies can be used in a detach edge operation.

Creating a Cross-Section
You can take a cross-section of a 3D object to create a new 2D object. This is done using the
Modeler>Surface>Section command.

Use this command to create cross-sections of 3D objects on the xy, yz, or xz plane. The cross-
sections are created as 2D closed polyline objects.

To create a cross-section of an object:

1. Make sure the working coordinate system you want to use for the cross-sectioning plane is
set.
2. Select the object from which you want to create a cross-section.
3. Click Modeler>Surface>Section. Select the section plane you will use to divide the object:
XY, YZ, or ZX.
4. Click OK.

A closed polyline object is created from the object that was sliced by the selected axis. The
original, sectioned object is unmodified.

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Related Topics

Setting the Working Coordinate System

Connecting Objects
Use the Modeler>Surface>Connect command to perform the following operations:

l Connect two or more 1D polyline objects. ANSYS Electronics Desktop will modify the first
polyline you select to be a 2D sheet object that connects to the second and any subsequently
selected polylines. The second and subsequent polylines selected are deleted.
l Connect two or more 2D sheet objects. ANSYS Electronics Desktop will modify the first 2D
object you select to be a 3D solid object that connects to the second and any subsequently
selected objects. The second and subsequent objects selected are deleted.

To connect objects:

1. Select the objects you want to connect. Select 3D objects as objects, not as faces.
2. Click Modeler>Surface>Connect.

A new object is created that connects the objects you selected. The first object you selected was
modified to create the new object and all subsequently selected objects were deleted.

Project Sheet Object

Use the Modeler>Surface >Project Sheet command to apply a selected planar sheet object to a
suitable 3D object. This permits easy modeling of thin conformal deposits. (The Wrap Sheet and
Imprint Projection commands are not suitable for this use.) For modeling conformal deposits
when using Project Sheet, you can specify a thickness and a draft angle.

To use the Project Sheet command you must select one planar sheet and at least one solid body.
If you select multiple solids, the sheet is project on all bodies as if they have been united. After the
commend executes, a new sheet that lies on the surface of the selected bodies is created. The
solid bodies are not changed.

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Faces that are hidden from the sheet being projected are not covered, due to the projected
sheet.

Only vertical faces (or faces parallel to the projection direction) that lie completely within the
projection of the sheet will be covered by the projected sheet. Vertical faces that lie on the
boundary of the projection are not covered.

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If the sheet cross-section exactly matches the body cross-section, no vertical faces are covered. If
the projected sheet exceeds the cross-section of solids, faces that lie with in the sheet projection
are covered.

If a surface like a cylinder or sphere lies completely within the sheet projection, the entire surface
will be covered, though there may be a warning that “Output may be incorrect because a self-
obstructing face was found.”

To Project a Sheet:

1. Select a planar sheet object and one or more appropriate solid objects.
2. Click Modeler>Surface>Project Sheet or in the Draw tab of the ribbon, click the Sheet

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icon and select Project Sheet from the drop down menu:

For modeling conformal deposits, you can also specify a thickness and optional draft angle.

After you perform Project Sheet, the History tree shows the Project Sheet command and the
create command for the imprinted object. If you select the Project Sheet command in the History
tree, you can suppress the command via the Properties window. If you select the Create <object>
icon for the object, you can edit the properties of that object. The changes applied to the object
carry over to the imprinting.

Specifying a Thickness value has different effects depending on whether the value is positive or
negative.The following figure shows the effect of a positive thickness, with the Projected sheet
taking its thickness outward from the target object.

The following figure shows the effect of a negative value for thickness.

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When a negative value is given the thickness will be limited by the target solid body. That is, the
thickness can not be beyond the original solid body which was chosen. If you use a negative
thickness it is also possible that not all overhangs will be eliminated.

The following figure shows the effect of a 45 degree draft angle.

Other examples of Project Sheet on complex models are show in the following figure.

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Related Topics

Thicken Sheet

Moving Faces or Edges

You can move the faces of a 3D object in a normal direction using the Modeler>Surface>Move
Faces commands. Moving object faces enables you to resize, reshape, or relocate an object.

Related Topics

Moving Faces Along the Normal

Moving Faces Along a Vector

Offsetting Objects

Moving Edges Along the Normal

Moving Faces Along the Normal

To move a 3D object's face a specified distance in a direction normal to its original plane, use the
Modeler>Surface>Move Faces>Along Normal command. The faces that adjoin the original
face are extended or shortened along their own planes to meet the new face. Note that the
adjoining faces will not be sheared or bent.

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This command is useful for extruding faces, resizing holes, and removing rounded corners, as
shown below.

To move an object face in a normal direction:

1. Click Select Faces on the shortcut menu.

2. Select the face of the object you want to move.

If you have created a suitable face list, right-click on the list and click Select Assignment from
the shortcut menu, you can operate on faces on the list.

3. Click Modeler>Surface>Move Faces>Along Normal.

The Move FacesAlong Normal dialog box appears.

4. Type the distance you want to move the object face from its origin.
5. Click OK.

The face will be moved the distance you specified.

To move every face of an object normal to its surface, use the Edit>Arrange>Offset command.

Related Topics

Moving Faces Along a Vector

Offsetting Objects

Moving Edges Along the Normal

Moving Faces Along a Vector

To move the faces of a 3D object a specified distance along a vector use the
Modeler>Surface>Move Faces>Along Vector command. Each selected face is moved along
the vector, normal to its original plane. The faces that adjoin the original face are extended or
shortened along their own planes to meet the new face. Note that the adjoining faces will not be
sheared or bent.

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This command is useful for relocating holes in an object, as shown below.

To move an object face along a vector:

1. Click Select Faces on the shortcut menu.

2. Select the face of the object you want to move.

If you have created a suitable face list, right-click on the list and click Select Assignment from
the shortcut menu, you can operate on faces on the list.

3. Click Modeler>Surface>Move Faces>Along Vector, or on the Draw tab of the ribbon,

click the Surface icon, and select Move Faces Along Vector from the drop down menu:

4. Specify the vector along which the face will be moved:

a. Select an arbitrary anchor point in one of the following ways:
l Click the point.
l Type the point's coordinates in the in the X, Y, and Z boxes.

Any point in the drawing region can be selected; however, selecting an anchor point on the
object's edge or within the object makes it easier to select the vector.

b. Select a second point in one of the following ways:

l Click the point.
l Type the coordinates of a point relative to the anchor point in the dX, dY, and dZ
boxes, where d is the distance from the previously selected point.

This point defines the direction and distance from the anchor point to move the face.

The face is moved along the vector you specified.

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To move every face of an object normal to its surface, use the Edit>Arrange>Offset command.

Related Topics

Moving Faces Along the Normal

Offsetting Objects

Moving Edges Along the Normal

Moving Edges Along Normal

To move a 2D object's edge a specified distance in a direction normal to its original plane, use the
Modeler>Edge>Move Edge command. The edge is extended or shortened along its own plane.
Note that the adjoining faces will not be sheared or bent. The edge can be on a rectangle, an
ellipse, a circle, a regular polygon, or an equation based surface.

This command is useful for extending or shrinking faces and resizing holes.

To move an object edge in a normal direction:

1. Click Select Edge on the shortcut menu.

2. Select the edge of the object you want to move.
3. Click Modeler>Edge>Move Edge or in the Draw tab of the ribbon, click the Edge icon, and
select Move Edges from the dropdown menu:

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The Move FacesAlong Normal dialog box appears.

4. Type the distance you want to move the object face from its origin.
5. Click OK.

The edge of the object is moved based on the value you specified.

Related Topics

Select Edges.

Moving Faces Along the Normal

Moving Faces Along a Vector

Offsetting Objects

Uniting Objects
To join two or more objects into one object, use the Modeler>Boolean>Unite command. The new
object has the name, color, boundary, and material assignment of the first object selected. The
objects are united at the point of intersection.

1. Select the objects you want to join.

2. Click Modeler>Boolean>Unite, or in the Draw tab of the ribbon, click the Unite icon:

The objects are united.

Note By default, the objects being joined to the first object selected are not preserved for later
use. If you want to keep a copy of the objects being joined to the first object selected, do one
of the following:

l Copy the objects, and then paste them back into the design after uniting them.
l Select Clone before unite in the Modeler Options dialog box. This option instructs
the modeler to always keep a copy of the original objects being joined.

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Subtracting Objects
1. Select the object from which you want to subtract other objects.
2. Hold down the Ctrl key and select the objects you want to subtract.
3. Click Modeler>Boolean>Subtract or in the Draw tab of the ribbon, click the Subtract icon:

The Subtract dialog box appears.

Objects listed in the Tool Parts list will be subtracted from the object or objects listed in the
Blank Parts list.

4. Optionally, select an object name in either list and use the left and right arrow buttons to
move the object name to the opposite list.
l Alternatively, type the name of object you want to subtract in the empty text box below the
Tool Parts list, and then type the name of the object from which you want to subtract it in
the empty text box below the Blank Parts list.
5. Optionally, select Clone tool objects before subtract. This instructs ANSYS Electronics
Desktop to always keep a copy of the original objects being subtracted.
6. Click OK.

The new object (or objects) retains the name, color, and material of the first object selected.

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Note
By default, the objects being subtracted from the first object selected are not preserved for
later use. If you want to keep a copy of the objects being subtracted from the first object
selected, do one of the following:

l Copy the objects, and then paste them back into the design after subtracting them.
l Select Clone before subtract in the Modeler Options dialog box. This option
instructs ANSYS Electronics Desktop to always keep a copy of the original objects
being subtracted.

Creating Objects from Intersections

To create a new object from the intersection of two or more objects, use the
Modeler>Boolean>Intersect command.

To create an object from an intersection:

1. Select the objects from which you want to take the intersection.

Warning If the objects you selected do not overlap, the result is a null object and both
objects vanish.

2. Click Modeler>Boolean>Intersect .

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The original objects vanish, leaving only the new object that was formed from their intersection.

Note By default, the original intersecting objects are not preserved for later use. If you want to
keep a copy of the objects that intersect the first object selected, do one of the following:

l Copy the objects, and then paste them back into the design after creating the new
object from the intersection.
l Select Clone before intersect in the Modeler Options dialog box. This option
instructs the modeler to always keep a copy of the original objects that intersect the
first object selected.

Creating an Object from a Face

The Modeler>Surface>Create Object from Face command copies a selected face, resulting in
a new 2D sheet object.

To create a new object from a face:

1. Right-click in the modeler window, and select Select Faces on the shortcut menu.
2. Select the object face you want to copy. If you select multiple faces, each becomes a new
object.

Click Modeler>Surface>Create Object From Face. The face is copied, resulting in a new 2D
sheet object.

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Related Topics

Hint This command is useful for assigning a boundary to the intersection of two faces. To do this,
first select the faces, and then create an object from them using the procedure above. Next,
make sure the Clone before intersect option is clear in the Modeler Options window,
and then use the Modeler>Boolean>Intersect command to modify the object so that it
includes only the intersection of the two faces. Then assign the boundary to the new object.

Assigning a Cross Section and Dimension to a Polyline

Creating an Object from an Edge

Creating an Object from an Edge

The Modeler>Edge>Create Object From Edge command copies a selected edge, resulting in a
new 2D sheet object.

To create a new object from an edge:

1. Right-click in the modeler window, and select Select Edges on the shortcut menu.
2. Select the object edge you want to copy. If you select multiple edges, each becomes a new
object.
3. Click Modeler>Edge>Create Object From Edge.

The edge is copied. The resulting object appears in the history tree as a line object.

Related Topics

Assigning a Cross Section and Dimension to a Polyline

Creating an Object from a Face

Splitting Objects
To split an object or several objects using one of ZY, YZ, or XZ plane, or to split objects related to
selected face or edge arcs, use the Modeler>Boolean>Split command.

1. Select the object you want to split. You can select more than one.

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2. Click Modeler>Boolean>Split or in the Draw tab of the ribbon, click the Split icon:

The Split dialog box appears.

3. Select Split using plane, and then select XY, YZ, or XZ as the Split plane or click Split
using selection and select a planar face or arc edge.
4. Select one of the following Keep result options to specify which object fragments you want
to keep:
l Positive side- keep objects on the positive side of the selected plane.
l Negative side - keep objects on the negative side of the selected plane.
l Both - all pieces on both sides of the plane.

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The split plane is shown with a blue wheel with spokes as seen in the picture below left. A
blue arrow, in case to the right, indicates which side of the split plane is to be kept. Once the
proper selections have been made press OK. In this example the positive side of YZ (green
and blue axes) plane results was kept. The picture on the left is before the split. The picture
on the right is the result for the split command.

If you select “Split using selection" you can choose a planar face or edge arc to define the split
plane. You can only select one entity. Face or edge to define plane need not belong to one of
objects selected for split operation - it could be any face or edge from the model. You can position,
scale, or view the model as needed to make the selection easier. The following example shows the
operation with keep result for both sides. (Notice the arrow is in both directions for the split plane
graphics.) The picture on the left is before the split. The picture on the right is the result for the split
command.

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5. Select one of the following Split objects options:

l Split entire selection
Select this option if you do not want to preserve objects that are not crossing the split
plane and still part of the selection.
l Split all objects crossing split plane
This option option allows you to identify selected objects that do not cross the split plane
and ignore them for the operation. For a multiple selection, only those objects that cross
the split plane are split; others are kept intact. By design, splits in existing designs from
previous versions are not changed.

6. If you select to split entire selection, it could create invalid objects if split plane does not cut
any of selected objects. You can use the option Delete invalid objects created during
operationto delete these invalid objects.

7. Click OK.

The objects are divided as specified.

Separating Bodies
To separate an object with multiple lumps into individual bodies:

1. Select the object you want to separate.

2. Click Modeler>Boolean>Separate Bodies.

The object is separated.

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Converting Polyline Segments

A polyline is a single object that includes any combination of straight line, arc line, or spline
segments. You can convert a polyline segment from one type to another. The following
conversions are supported:

l Straight line segments to arc line or spline segments.

l Arc line segments to straight line or spline segments.
l Spline segments to straight line segments.

To convert polyline segments:

1. In the history tree, locate the polyline that contains the segment you want to convert. Expand
this part of the history tree.
2. In the history tree, right-click the polyline segment operation you want to change, and then
click Properties.

The Properties dialog appears.

3. In the Properties dialog box, click in the Value text box of the Segment Type row.
4. Select the desired polyline segment type from the pull-down list.

The polyline segment you selected is changed to the new type.

Note Converting an arc line or spline segment to a straight line segment results in two straight
line segments; one segment is created between the start point and midpoint and one
segment is created between the midpoint and endpoint.

5. By default, curved surfaces are treated as smooth (True) surfaces. If segmented surfaces
are desired, enter a number of 2 or greater in the Number of Segments parameter.

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6. Click OK to dismiss the properties panel and implement the changes.

If the changes are not what was expected, undo the change using the Edit>Undo command
or press CTRL-Z.

Related Topics

Assigning a Cross Section and Dimension to a Polyline

Creating Segmented Geometry

Surface Approximation

Rounding the Edge of Objects (Fillet Command)

The fillet command rounds the object at the original edges and vertices. This means that the edges
and vertices are going to be replaced by new rounded surfaces, so that the original faces of the
object reconnect in a smooth manner.

Vertices are only going to be replaced by new rounded surfaces if all the edges connecting to the
original vertex are selected; otherwise, the vertex is preserved but moved (if necessary). The
edges are replaced by quarter-cylindrical surfaces, of which the radius can be customized (see the
Fillet Radius property). Vertices are replaced by more complicated new faces. You can control
the setback distance.

The fillet command is disabled if an edge is not selected.

To switch to edge selection mode:

l Right-click the desktop, and select Select Edges from the shortcut menu.

To round the edge of an object:

1. Select the edge you want to change.

This highlights the edge and enables the Fillet command.

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2. Click Modeler>Fillet or in the Draw tab of the ribbon, click the fillet icon:

The Fillet Properties dialog is displayed.

3. Enter a value for the Fillet Radius in the text field and select units from the drop down
menu. The default is millimeters.
4. Enter a value for the setback distance.

The setback distance controls the shape of the vertex. It is the distance of the cross curve from
the vertex at the end of the edge. If it is less than the fillet radius it has no effect. You will get an
error if it is greater then the length of the edge. Note that the setback feature works only on
corners where three or more edges meet and only if all edges meeting at the vertex are
selected.

5. Click OK to apply the change to the edge.

The dialog closes and the object is rounded by the radius value relative to the edge you
selected.

Flattening the Edge of Objects (Chamfer Command)

The chamfer command flattens the selected edges and vertices of the object. This means that the
selected edges and vertices are going to be replaced by new flat surfaces, so that the original faces
of the object reconnect through the newly introduced flat surfaces. Vertices are only going to be

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replaced by new flat surfaces if all the edges connecting to the original vertex are selected;
otherwise, the vertex is preserved but moved (if necessary).

Chamfers can be symmetric, or asymmetric

The chamfer command is disabled if an edge is not selected.

To switch to edge selection mode:

l Right-click the desktop, and select Select Edges from the shortcut menu.

To flatten an object's edge for a symmetric chamfer:

1. Select the edge (or edges) you want to change.

The edge(s) is highlighted, and the Chamfer command is enabled.
2. Click Modeler>Chamfer or in the Draw tab of the ribbon click the Chamfer icon:

The Chamfer Properties dialog box appears.

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3. Type a value in the Left Distance text box, and select the units from the pull-down list.
4. Click OK to apply the change to the edge.

The Chamfer Properties dialog box closes, and the object is flattened by the radius value
relative to the edge you selected.

To flatten object's edge for an asymmetric chamfer:

1. Select one or more edges and click Modeler>Chamfer to open the Chamfer Properties
dialog.
2. Use the Chamfer type drop down menu to select the type:

You control an asymmetric chamfer by selecting a type that defines the chamfer asymmetry
as Left-Distance Right Distance, as Left Distance-Angle, or as Right Distance Angle. Notice
that red directional arrows on the selected edges provide the direction against which left
distance and right distance are determined.

Left Distance- Right Distance

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Left Distance-Angle

Right Distance-Angle

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Only symmetric and left distance-right distance chamfers are supported for edges formed by a
curved surface.

Angle-distance chamfers are not supported in such cases and do not appear on the Chamfer
Type drop down menu.

3. Click OK to apply the chamfer to the selected edges.

Imprinting an Object
The Boolean>Imprint command lets you imprint the geometry of one object upon another. For
example, you could draw a polyhedron intersecting a cylinder, and then imprint the intersecting
lines on the cylinder.

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You can select the faces of the imprinted surface separately and assign properties as needed.

To imprint one object with another:

1. Select the intersecting objects.

2. Click Modeler>Boolean>Imprint...

This displays the Imprint dialog in which you designate which objects are the Blank Parts, and
which the Tool Parts. If necessary, you can select the objects in lists, and use the arrow keys to
move them. If desired, you can clone the tool objects before the imprint operation.

3. Click OK.

This closes the dialog and performs the boolean imprinting.

After you perform the imprinting, the History tree retains the Imprint Object command and the
create command for the imprinted object

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If you select the Imprint command in the History tree, you can suppress the command via the
Properties window. If you select the Create <object> icon for the object, you can edit the properties
of that object. The changes applied to the object carry over to the imprinting.

You can also use Tools>Options >Modeler Options to enable the Automatically imprint
wrapped sheets feature to perform an Imprint Object command after a Modeler>Surface>Wrap
command.

Related Topics

View and Edit Commands on History Tree Objects

Imprint Projection Commands

Wrap Command

Modeler Options: Operation Tab

Imprint Projection commands

The Boolean>Imprint Projection commands lets you project the form of one object to another
surface. The receiving surface can be curved or faceted.

If the surface is curved, the dimensions of the projection will be affected.You can select the faces of
the imprinted object separately, and edit properties as needed.

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If projected shape extends beyond the face of the receiving object, the shape wraps.

1. Select the intersecting objects.

2. Click Modeler>Boolean>Imprint Projection>Along Normal or
Modeler>Boolean>Imprint Projection>Along Direction...

If you select Along Normal, the projection occurs along the normal. If you select Along
Direction, you need to specify two points that describe the direction. Once you have defined a
line by clicking two points, you see a dialog for specifying the distance for the projection.

3. Specify a distance and select units from the drop down menu and click OK.

This closes the dialog and performs the boolean imprinting.

After you perform the imprinting, the History tree shows the Imprint Object command and the
create command for the imprinted object

If you select the Imprint Projection command in the History tree, you can suppress the command
via the Properties window. If you select the Create <object> icon for the object, you can edit the
properties of that object. The changes applied to the object carry over to the imprinting.

Related Topics

View and Edit Commands on History Tree Objects

Imprinting an Object

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Purge History
Each object is a sequence of modeler-based operations. The history for each object is shown
under its name in the model tree. You can use the Purge History command to remove the history
of operations while not affecting the geometry itself. This is useful when you wish to perform
healing operations on the object. If there is an object for which you want to keep the history, you
should make a copy of the object for that purpose before purging.

To purge the history:

1. Select the object.

2. Select Modeler>Purge History. The history for the model is purged, and the context for the
Undo and Redo commands is updated.

Related Topics

Working with the History Tree

Generate History

Generate History to Reproduce Portions of Model

If a polyline object (line, spline, or arc), circle, or ellipse is imported or history was previously
purged, you can click on the polyline object and select Generate History to reproduce the
individual line segments used to create the polyline in the model history tree.

To reproduce the line segments in the model history tree:

1. Select the polyline object.

2. Click Modeler>Generate History.

Related Topics

Purge History

Draw Polyline

Selecting Items in the 3D Modeler Window

To modify or learn more about an item's properties, you must first select it. All commands you
choose while an item is selected are performed on or in reference to the selected item.

What selection mode do you want to use?

l Select Submodels
l Select Objects.
l Select Faces.
l Select Edges.

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l Select Vertices.
l Select Multi (a mode for selecting objects, faces, edges or vertices)
l Coordinates in the drawing space.
l Select By Area including optional filters
l Select by History Tree Group
l Select by Submodel
l Select by intersection error message
l Selecting the Face or Object Behind

Selection menu for:

The Edit>Select Objects menu and Modeler window shortcut menu includes selection for:

l By Name
l By Material
l By Variable
l All Model Objects
l All Non-model Objects
l All Primitive Shapes
l All Non Primitive Shapes
l All Solids
l All Sheets
l All Lines

Selections enabled for features of selected Object:

Some Edit>Extend Selection menu commands are enabled when you select an appropriate
object:

l All Object Faces

l All Object Edges
l All Face Edges
l Faces on Plane
l Select Connected Vertices
l Select Connected Edges
l Select Connected Faces
l Select Edge Chain
l Select Face Chain
l Select Sheet Edges

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History Tree Icon Menu Selection

You can also right click on History tree icons to Select All for ungrouped:

l Model
l Group
l Solids
l Selected Material, for example copper or air.
l Sheets
l Lines

Note If selected objects do not display correctly, for some graphics card, you can improve
performance by setting NVIDIA Control Panel>3D Settings>Manage 3D Settings
Global Settings>Global Presets: Workstation App - Dynamic Streaming

For more information about graphics card see the section Open GL under Installation
Prerequisites in the ANSYS EM Installation Guide.

Selecting Objects
By default, the modeler is in object selection mode. Simply click an object in the view window or an
object name in the history tree and it will be selected. All other objects become relatively
transparent. Selected objects become the color specified under the Display tab of the Modeler
Options dialog box.

When the mouse hovers over an object in the view window, that object is highlighted, which
indicates that it will be selected when you click. Tooltips, as you hover the cursor over an entity,
indicate the type/ID of entity (object name in the case of objects, Face_id in the case of faces, and
so on). This feature helps you distinguish between face-of-sheet-object pick versus sheet-object
pick.

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If the modeler is not currently in object selection mode, you can switch to it using one of the
following methods:

l Press the shortcut key O.

l Right-click in the view window, and then click Selection Mode>Select Objects.
l Click Edit > Selection Mode>Objects.
l Select Object from the pull-down list by the Select field in the Draw/Model Ribbon tabs.

When you have selected an object, the Edit>Extend Selection> and right-click Extend
Selection> menus show the following options:

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Related Topics

Selecting Several Objects

Selecting Objects by Name

Selecting All Faces of an Object

Selecting Objects in the History Tree

Creating an Object List

Selecting the Face or Object Behind

Select Edges.

Select Vertices.

Select Multi (a mode for selecting objects, faces, edges or vertices)

Select By Area

Selecting Objects and Surfaces that Lie Inside Other Objects

Selecting Groups and Submodels

Clearing a Selection

Selecting Several Objects

1. If you are selecting objects in the Modeler window make sure that the modeler is in object
selection mode by pressing the shortcut key O. You can always select objects in the History
tree.
2. Select several objects in one of the following ways:

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l Hold down Ctrl, and click the objects in the view window that you want to select.
l Hold down Ctrl, and click the object names in the history tree that you want to select.
l In the History tree, select a range of objects by first clicking one object to select it, and then
Shift-click to extend the selection of visible items.
l In the History tree, under Lists, select AllObjects. This is an automatically created list that
lets you selects all object.
l Click Edit>Select All to select all objects that were drawn in the active view window,
including objects that are not currently visible.
l Press CTRL+A or click Edit>Select All Visible to select all objects that are visible in the
active view window.
l Click Edit>Select Objects> or right click in the Model window and select Select
Objects> and one from the menu for the objects you want to select:

l Right click on a History tree icon for Model, Group, object, category such as Solid or
Sheet, or material to perform context-sensitive selection. See Select Objects in the
History Tree.

Selected objects become the color that is specified for selected objects under the Display tab of
the Modeler Options dialog box. Use Tools>Options>Modeler Options to display the dialog
and set the default color. By default, the selected objects are opaque and all other objects
become relatively transparent. The settings for the relative opacity and transparency of selected
and non-selected objects appear in the 3D UI Options dialog box. Use View>Options to
display the 3D UI Options dialog.

To deselect all objects, do one of the following:

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l Click Edit>Deselect All.

Press Ctrl+Shift+A.

Related Topics

Selecting Objects by Name

Selecting All Faces of an Object

Creating an Object List

Selecting the Face or Object Behind

Select Edges.

Select Vertices.

Select Multi (a mode for selecting objects, faces, edges or vertices)

Select By Area

Selecting All Objects in a History Tree Group

Selecting Objects by Name

1. Make sure that the modeler is in object selection mode by pressing the shortcut key O.

2. Click Edit>Select Objects>By NameBy Name or in the toolbar, select Object from

the drop-down menu to the right of the icon, and click the icon.

The Select Object dialog box appears.

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3. In the Name list, click the name of the object you want to select. Use the Ctrl key to select
more than one.
l Alternatively, type the name of an object you want to select in the empty text box.
4. Click OK.

The object is selected.

Related Topics

Selecting Several Objects

Selecting All Faces of an Object

Creating an Object List

Selecting the Face or Object Behind

Select Edges.

Select Vertices.

Select Multi (a mode for selecting objects, faces, edges or vertices)

Select By Area

Select By Area

You can select items by area in the Modeler window clicking and rubber-band dragging around
objects. Rubber-band selection works differently depending on the drag direction.

l From right to left: Selects all the items that are wholly or partly enclosed within the rubber
band.

l From left to right: Selects all the items wholly enclosed within the rubber band.

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Select By Area works with Selection mode for Objects, Faces, Edges, and Vertices, but not for
Select Multi. By default, only items with external surfaces are selected.

However you can control which objects to include or exclude from area selection based on
material, object names, or object types.

To do this:

1. Click Edit>Select By Area Filter to display this dialog:

2. Check Material filters to enable the Include and Exclude radio buttons. Use the text field
to specify filters by name, or use the ellipsis [...] button to display the Materials manager for
selections.
3. Check Object name filters to enable the Exclude and Include check boxes, and text fields
in which you can specify object names.
4. Check Object type filters to enable the check boxes for including Solids, Sheets, and/or
lines.
5. Check Hide unfiltered objects to make unfiltered objects transparent after selection.
6. If you click Save As Default, the settings persist for the project until you change the settings
and Save as Default again.
7. Click OK to close the dialog.

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Now when you left-click and drag around an area, those objects which meet the filter criteria are
highlighted in the Modeler window, and those objects are shown as selected in the History tree.

Related Topics

Selecting Items in the 3D Modeler Window

Selecting Several Objects

Selecting Objects by Name

Selecting All Faces of an Object

Creating an Object List

Selecting All Objects in a History Tree Folder

The history tree organizes objects in several categories. Right click on the folder for solids, sheets,
lines, non-model objects, or unclassified objects to see a shortcut menu command that lets you
Select All members of that category.

Under each folder, you can also Select All for objects of same the material or parts of same
assignment at once. When you right-click on a solid folder, the menu lets you check whether to
organize objects by assignment. For example, this history tree has Solids organizes by object.

This history tree has Organize Objects by Material checked.

This history tree organizes Sheet objects by object.

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This history tree has Organize Sheets by Assignment checked.

Selected objects are highlighted in the modeler window view area.

Related Topics

History Tree Layout Commands

Selecting Several Objects

Selecting Objects by Name

Select By Area

Selecting All Faces of an Object

Creating an Object List

Group Commands for Modeler Objects

Setting the Default Color and Transparency of Selected Objects

Setting the Default Color of Highlighted Objects

Working with the History Tree

Setting the Default Color and Transparency of Selected Objects

To set the color of objects when they are selected:

1. Click Tools>Options>Modeler Options.

The Modeler Options dialog box appears.

2. Click Select on the Default color pull-down list.

3. Click the color button beside the Default color pull-down list.

The Color palette appears.

4. Select a color from the Color palette, and then click OK.

Any objects you select after this point will temporarily become the default color you selected.

By default, the modeler shows selected objects as nearly opaque and shows non-selected objects
as nearly transparent. This features helps you distinguish between selected and non-selected
objects.

To set the transparency of selected and non-selected objects:

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1. Click View>Options.

The 3D UI Options dialog appears. The When there is a selection region contains check
boxes for setting the transparency for selected and non-selected objects.

Click the check box for the value you want to change.

This enables the value field. The default transparency for selected objects is 0.1, which makes
them almost opaque. The default transparency for non-selected objects is 0.9, which makes
them highly transparent.

2. Enter a new value, and click OK to apply the new transparency values.

Setting the Default Color of Highlighted Objects

1. Click Tools>Options>Modeler Options.

The Modeler Options dialog box appears.

2. Click the Display tab.

3. Click Highlight on the Default color pull-down list.
4. Click the color button beside the Default color pull-down list.

The Color palette appears.

5. Select a color from the Color palette, and then click OKto return to the Modeler Options
dialog box.
6. Click OK.

Outlines of all object you hover over temporarily become the default color you specified above.

Creating an Object List

Create an object list when you want to define a list of objects. Creating an object list is a convenient
way to identify and select a group of objects for a field plot or calculation. Objects in a list can still be
treated as separate objects. The same object can be included in several different lists.

To create an object list:

1. If you are selecting in the Modeler window, make sure that the modeler is in object selection
mode by pressing the shortcut key O. This is not necessary for selecting in the History tree.
2. Select the objects you want to include in the list.
3. Click Modeler>List>Create>Object List.

The object list is created with the default name Objectlistn. It is listed in the history tree under
Lists. Selecting an object list displays the properties of that list in the Properties window. One of
the properties is a list of objects contained in the list.

To rename the Object list, edit the Name property in the Properties window for the list. Object
lists are sorted in alphanumeric order.

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The object list is treated as one volume when you plot and perform fields calculations. It will be
listed in the Geometry window of the Fields Calculator when you select Volume.

There is an automatically created list called AllObjects. Selecting it selects all objects. If a list
contains mixed types of geometry, for example, volume and sheet objects, the volume calculation
only uses the geometry of the highest dimension in plots or integral, and so forth.

Example: To plot the E-field on a surface formed by the intersection of the xy-plane and several
objects, first define a list of these objects. Then, when plotting fields, select the object list name from
the Geometry window of the Fields Calculator. Fields will be plotted only at the intersection of the
plane and the objects in the list.

Related Topics

Reassigning Objects to Another Object List

Using or Viewing List Objects

Reassigning Objects to Another Object List

You can assign objects after you have created object lists. Creating an object list is a convenient
way to identify and select a group of objects for a field plot or calculation. Objects in a list can still be
treated as separate objects. The same object can be included in several different lists.

To reassign objects to an existing object list:

1. If you are selecting in the Modeler window, make sure that the modeler is in object selection
mode by pressing the shortcut key O. This is not necessary for selecting in the History tree.
2. Select the objects you want to reassign.
3. Click Modeler>List>Reassign

A dialog with the existing object lists is displayed. (They appear in the history tree under Lists.)

4. Select the list to which you want to assign the selected object(s) and click OK.

The object is reassigned to the selected list, replacing previous list members. The Objects
Property in for the List shows the objects contained in the list.

The object list will be treated as one volume when you are plotting and performing fields
calculations. It will be listed in the Geometry window of the Fields Calculator, when you select
Volume.

Related Topics

Creating an Object List

Using or Viewing List Objects

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Using or Viewing List Objects

To view the objects included in an Object list:

1. In the model tree, expand the Lists tree.

2. Right-click the list you want to select, and click Select Assignment.
The objects that are included in that list are highlighted in the modeler, and the properties
appear in the desktop.

To view the properties of the object list (including a list of the objects included):

1. In the model history tree, expand the Lists tree.

2. Under Lists, right-click the list object you want to view, and click Properties.
The Properties window appears for that object list. The objects included are listed in the
Objects row.
3. Click OK or Cancel to close the Properties window.

To use an object from a list in another operation:

1. In the model tree, expand the Lists tree.

2. Right-click the list you want to select, and click Select Assignment.
The objects that are included in that list are highlighted in the modeler, and the properties
appear in the desktop.
3. Select any other objects you want to use in the operation.
4. Complete the operation.

For example, you could select an object list and another object, and then specify one of the boolean
commands (such as unite or subtract).

Selecting Faces
If the modeler is in face selection mode, click an object face in the view window to select it. All other
objects become relatively transparent.

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When the mouse hovers over a face in the view window, that face is highlighted, which indicates
that it will be selected when you click. Selected faces become the color specified under the Display
tab of the Modeler Options dialog box.

To select multiple faces, hold the CTRL key as you click the faces. You also have the option to
create face lists, which define a list of object faces, or you can make face selections from a Face ID
list in the By Face dialog.

Switch to face selection mode using one of the following methods:

l From the menu bar, click Edit>Selection Mode>Select Faces or right-click in the Model
window, and then click Selection Mode>Select Faces.
l Press the shortcut key F.
l Select Faces from the pull-down list in Select field in the Draw/Model Ribbon tabs.

You can also select faces in the Select Multi mode.

You can also use the By Face dialog to select from a list of faces associated with an object:

1. To use the dialog, no objects should be selected to start.

2. Click Edit>Selection Mode>Faces or in the toolbar, select Face or Multi from the drop-
down menu in the Select field in the Draw/Model Ribbon tabs.
3. Click the Select By Name icon in the Draw/Model tab of the Ribbon area, or click
Edit>Select Objects>By Name....

This displays the By Face dialog. This contains a list of the available objects.

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3. Select an object in the Object Name list.

The Face ID list is then populated with the faces in that object.

4. Selecting a face ID from the list highlights the face in the 3D window. Use Ctrl-click to select
additional faces, or shift-click to select a range of faces.

When you have selected a face, the View>Extend Selection> menu and the right-click Extend
Selection> menu shows the following options:

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Related Topics

Selecting All Faces of an Object

Selecting the Face or Object Behind

Selecting Faces by Name

Selecting Faces by Plane

Creating a Face List

Face Selection Toolbar Icons

Select Edges.

Select Vertices.

Select Multi (a mode for selecting objects, faces, edges or vertices)

Selecting All Faces of an Object

1. Optionally, select the object (or objects, faces, edges or vertices) with the faces you want to
select.
2. Switch to face selection mode by pressing the shortcut key F.
3. If an object is not selected, click a face on the object of interest.
4. Click Edit>Extend Selection>All Object Faces.
l Alternatively, right-click in the view window, and then click All Object Faces on the
shortcut menu.

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l As another alternative, select use the face selection toolbar icons.

All the faces of the object are selected. If you selected multiple objects, all faces of those objects
are selected.

Related Topics

Selecting Faces

Selecting the Face or Object Behind

Creating a Face List

Face Selection Toolbar Icons

Selecting Faces by Name

1. Make sure that the modeler is in face selection mode by pressing the shortcut key F or
clicking Edit>Selection Mode>Faces, or in the Draw or Model tab in the Ribbon area,
select Face from the drop down menu.

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2. Click Edit>Select Objects>By Name or in the Ribbon area, click the object selection

icon .

The Select Face dialog box appears.

3. In the Object name list, click the name of the object with the face you want to select.

The object's faces are listed in the Face ID column.

4. Click the face you want to select in the Face ID column. You can select more than one.

The face is selected in the view window.

5. Click OK.

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Related Topics

Selecting Faces

Creating a Face List

Selecting Faces by Plane

To select a face that is aligned with a global plane, use one of the following two methods.

1. Make sure that the modeler is in face selection mode by pressing the shortcut key F.
2. In the History Tree, expand the Planes icon. Left-click on a plane (Global:XY, Global:YZ, or
Global:XZ) to display the selected global plane.
3. Click Edit>Extend Selection>Faces on Plane.

The selected faces are highlighted.

Alternative method:

1. In the History Tree, expand the Planes icon.

2. Right-click on a plane (Global:XY, Global:YZ, or Global:XZ) to select the global plane and
display a shortcut menu.
3. On the shortcut menu, click Faces on Plane.

The selected faces are highlighted.

Related Topics

Selecting Faces

Creating a Face List

Select Multi (a mode for selecting objects, faces, edges or vertices)

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Creating a Face List

Create a face list when you want to define a list of object faces. Creating a face list is a convenient
way to identify and select a specific set of surfaces for a field plot or calculation. The same face can
be included in several different lists.

To create a face list:

1. Make sure that the modeler is in face selection mode by pressing the shortcut key F.
2. Select the object faces you want to include in the face list.
3. Click Modeler>List>Create>Face List.

The face list is created. It is listed in the history tree under Lists. The default name is Facelistn.
The lists appear in alphanumeric order. To change the name of a face list (for example, to a
name describing the listed faces as ports or boundaries), select the list in the History Tree and
Edit Properties. Editing the Name property changes the name. If necessary, the list order in
the History tree changes for the new name.

The face list will be treated as one selection of surfaces when you are plotting and performing fields
calculations. The face list will be listed in the Geometry window of the Fields Calculator, when you
select Surface.

If you right-click on an existing face list and click Select Assignment from the shortcut menu, you
can make boundary assignments or execute the Move Faces geometry operations for faces on
the list.

Related Topics

Selecting Faces

Radiated Fields Post Processing

Setting Up a Near-Field Sphere

Setting up a Far-Field Infinite Sphere

Selecting Edges
If the modeler is in edge selection mode, simply click an object's edge in the view window and it will
be selected. All other objects become relatively transparent.

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When the mouse hovers over an edge in the view window, that edge is highlighted, which indicates
that it will be selected when you click. Selected edges become the color specified under the
Display tab of the Modeler Options dialog box.

Switch to edge selection mode using one of the following methods:

l From the menu bar, click Edit>Selection Mode>Edges, or right click in the Model window
and click Selection Mode>Edges.
l Press the "E" key to enter edge selection mode.
l Select Edge from the pull-down list in Select field in the Draw/Model Ribbon tabs.

Selecting an edge enables the following commands in the View>Extend Selection>... and right-
click Extend Selection>... menus.

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You can use these commands to modify the current selection.

l All Object Edges

l Connected Vertices
l Connected Edges
l Connected Faces
l Edge Chain

You can also select multiple edges by holding the CTRL key as you click the edges.

Related Topics

Moving Edges Along the Normal

Selecting All Faces of an Object

Selecting the Face or Object Behind

Selecting Faces by Name

Selecting Faces by Plane

Creating a Face List

Select Edges

Select Vertices

Select Multi (a mode for selecting objects, faces, edges or vertices)

Selecting All Edges of an Object or Face

This option allows you to select all edges of an object or face after first selecting the object or face.

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1. Select the object or face with the edges you want to select.

You may also select a single edge of the object or face.

2. Click Edit>Extend Selection>All Object Edges or Edit>Extend Selection>All Face

Edges.
l Alternatively, right-click in the view window, and then click Extend Selection>All Object
Edges or Extend Selection>All Face Edges on the shortcut menu.

All the edges of the object or face are selected. If you selected multiple objects, all edges of
those objects are selected.

Related Topics

Selecting Faces

Selecting the Face or Object Behind

Creating a Face List

Face Selection Toolbar Icons

Selecting Vertices
If the modeler is in vertex selection mode, simply click an object's vertex in the view window and it
will be selected. To select multiple vertices, hold the CTRL key as you click the vertices.

When the mouse hovers over a vertex in the view window, that vertex is highlighted, which
indicates that it will be selected when you click. Selected vertices become the color specified under

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the Display tab of the Modeler Options dialog box. All other objects become relatively
transparent.

Switch to vertex selection mode using one of the following methods:

l Click Edit > Selection Mode>Vertices or right click in the modeler window and click
Selection Mode>Vertices.
l Press the "V" key to enter vertex selection mode.
l Select Vertex from the pull-down list by the Select field in the Draw/Model Ribbon tabs.

Selecting a vertex enables the following options in the Edit>Extend Selections and right-click
Extend Selection menus.

You can use these icons to modify the current selection.

l Select connected faces selects faces touching to the current selection.

l Select connected edges selects the edges that touch the current selection.
l Select vertices selects the vertices of edges that touch the current selection.

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Related Topics

Selecting All Faces of an Object

Selecting the Face or Object Behind

Selecting Faces by Name

Selecting Faces by Plane

Creating a Face List

Select Edges

Select Vertices

Select Multi (a mode for selecting objects, faces, edges or vertices)

Selecting Multi (a Mode for Selecting Objects, Faces, Vertices or Edges)

The Select Multi mode permits you to select objects, faces, vertices, or edges, depending on where
you click. This very useful in conjunction with Measure Mode, for measuring the distances between
different entities. Enter Select Multi mode by one of the following methods:

l Press the shortcut key M.

l Right-click in the view window, and then click Selection Mode>Select Multi.
l Click Edit>Selection Mode>Multi.
l In the Draw/Model tabs for the Ribbon area, Multi from the menu in the Select field.

With Multi mode active:

l To select a vertex, click near a vertex, within 10 pixel radius.

l To select an edge, click near an edge (and 10 pixels away from vertex).
l To select an object, click little farther from edge, between 10 and 20 pixels.
l To select a face, click anywhere else on the interior of face.

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Tooltips, as you hover the cursor over an entity, indicate the type/ID of entity (object name in the
case of objects, Face_id in the case of faces, and so on). This feature helps you distinguish
between face-of-sheet-object pick versus sheet-object pick.

By holding down the Ctrl key, you can make multiple selections.

Related Topics

Controlling the Selection in Multi Mode

Controlling the Selection in Multi Mode

You can control the behavior of this mode by clicking Edit>Selection Mode>Multi Mode
Settings. This displays a dialog with check boxes for Object, Face, Edge, and Vertex. Unchecking
a box cancels the selection behavior for that category.

Related Topics

Selecting All Faces of an Object

Selecting the Face or Object Behind

Selecting Faces by Name

Selecting Faces by Plane

Creating a Face List

Select Edges

Select Vertices

Selecting the Face or Object Behind

Clearing a Selection

Measure Modes

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Selecting Groups and Submodels

With group selection mode, the parent group of selected object is selected. Selecting group
highlights all children under the group in the Modeler window. If you click an object that has not
been assigned to a group, nothing is selected. To select multiple groups, hold the CTRL key as you
click the groups.

To set the selection mode to Group:

l From the menu bar, click Edit>Selection Mode>Groups

l Press the "G" key to enter group selection mode.
l From the 3D Modeler window context menu, select Selection Mode>Groups
l In the Draw/Model tabs for the Ribbon area, select Group from the menu in the Select field.
You may have to scroll.

If your design contains submodels, you can set the selection mode to Submodel.

l From the menu bar, click Edit>Selection Mode>Submodel

l Press the "U" key to enter submodel selection mode.
l From the 3D Modeler window context menu, select Selection Mode>Submodel.
l In the Draw/Model tabs for the Ribbon area, select Submodel from the menu in the Select
field. You may have to scroll.

Related Topics

Selecting the Face or Object Behind

Select Multi (a mode for selecting objects, faces, edges or vertices)

Clearing a Selection
To clear an object, face, edge, or vertex selection, do one of the following:

l Click the view window at a point where an object does not exist.
l To clear an object selection, click a point away from the object name in the history tree.

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l Click Edit>Deselect All.

l Press Shift+Ctrl+A.

The items are no longer selected.

Selecting the Face, Edge, Vertex, or Object Behind

To select the face, edge, vertex, or object behind another selected face, edge, vertex, or object, do
one of the following:

l Click Edit>Next Behind.

l Right-click in the view window and click Next Behind.

When there are multiple faces behind, the one selected is relatively close to where
you right-click.

l Press the shortcut key B.

When there are multiple faces behind, the one selected relatively close to the cursor.

l Press Ctrl+B.

This option is useful when you are trying to select a face, edge, vertex, or object that
is in the interior of a model, or when you do not want to change the model view to select
an item.

Related Topics

Selecting Objects and Surfaces that Lie Inside Other Objects

Using the Mouse to Select Objects

Selecting Objects and Surfaces That Lie Inside Other Objects

To select objects and surfaces that lie inside other objects (such as an object that lies within an air
box, a conductive shield, or the background object), do one of the following:

l Make the objects on the outside of the model invisible using the View>Visiblity>Active
View Visibility... command to open the Active View Visibility dialog. From here you can
control which objects appear and which do not.

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l Make the objects on the outside of the model invisible using the View>Visibility commands.
This is useful when you want to select objects using the mouse. Since the mouse cannot
select invisible objects, you can select the interior surfaces or objects by clicking on them.
l Use theEdit>Select Objects>By Name command to select objects or surfaces inside the
model.
l Use the Next Behind command on the shortcut menu or Ctrl-B. This selects the object that
lies behind the one you initially selected. This command does nothing if no objects have
previously been selected.

Related Topics

Selecting the Face or Object Behind

Using the Mouse to Select Objects

Using the Mouse to Select Objects

To select objects or surfaces, do one of the following:

l Click the object directly.

l Right-click an object or surface, and use one of the Select commands on the shortcut menu.
The following commands appear on the shortcut menu:

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l Select Objects
l Select Faces
l Next Behind: Use this command to select the object or face that lies behind the currently
selected object or face. This command chooses objects or faces depending on the
graphical pick mode. Next Behind does nothing if no object has previously been selected
or if the object you select has nothing behind it. You can also use the keyboard shortcut B.
l All Object Faces
l Faces on Plane

The snap mode defines how items are selected by the mouse. By default, Grid and Vertex snaps
are enabled.

Related Topics

Selecting the Face or Object Behind

Selecting Objects by Variable

You can select an object based on a variable that affects it. If your design includes variables, you do
so as follows:

1. Click Edit>Select Objects>By Variable.

This displays the Select by Variable dialog, which lists the variables in your design. Both
columns are sortable by clicking the header. You can resize and move the dialog. When you
next open it, it uses that size and location.

2. Select the variable of interest, and click OK.

The dialog closes, and the object affected by the variable is highlighted in the Modeler window.

The Message window contains a reference that you can select and use to go to the affected
object.

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If you execute the command again, without clearing the current selection(s), the additional
object can be highlighted. You can resize and move the dialog. When you next open it, it uses
that size and location.

Assigning Coordinates to New Objects

When you insert and draw new 3D, 2D, or 1D objects in the geometry model, you need to define
coordinate systems and locations of points, distances between objects, and other geometry items.

l Setting the Reference Point

l Defining Cartesian Coordinates
l Defining Spherical Coordinates
l Defining Relative Coordinates
l Defining Absolute Coordinates

Setting the Reference Point

When you draw objects, the cursor's location is always relative to a reference point. The reference
point is displayed with a mini xyz-axis:

To change the reference point:

1. Select the drawing command to use.

The Measure Data dialog opens. As you move the cursor over the modeler window, the top line
in the measure dialog shows the coordinates of the current reference point.

2. Move the cursor to the desired reference point and press Ctrl+Click or right click and select
Set Reference Point from the short cut menu.

This moves the reference point marker to the new location. The Measure Data dialog updates.
The coordinates boxes in the Status bar change to accept relative distance information. If you

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choose, rather than setting the reference point with the cursor, you can press Tab to activate a
text cursor in the status bar fields, and enter coordinates directly.

Related Topics

Assigning Coordinates to New Objects

Choosing the Movement Mode

Choosing Snap Settings

Drawing Objects

Defining Cartesian Coordinates

When you draw an object, define a point using Cartesian coordinates by typing the point's distance
from the origin in the x, y, and z directions in the X, Y, and Z text boxes, respectively. When defining
a second point, specify its distance from the previously selected point in the x, y, and z directions in
the dX, dY, and dZ text boxes, respectively.

1. Select the desired drawing command.

2. Select Cartesian from the pull-down list in the status bar.
3. Type the point's x-, y-, and z-coordinates in the X, Y, and Z text boxes.

Hint Press Tab to move from one coordinate text box to the next. Press Ctrl+Tab to move
to the previous coordinate text box.

l Alternatively, click the point in the view window.

4. When drawing objects other than polylines and helices, the second point you select is
relative to the first point. Type the second point's distance from the previously selected point
in the x, y, and z directions in the dX, dY, and dZ text boxes, respectively.

Related Topics

Defining Cylindrical Coordinates

Defining Spherical Coordinates

Defining Cylindrical Coordinates

To define a point using cylindrical coordinates,, specify the point's radius, measured from the origin,
in the R text box, the angle from the x-axis in the Theta text box, and the distance from the origin in
the z direction in the Z text box. When defining a second point, specify its distance from the
previously selected point in the in dR, dTheta, and dZ text boxes.

1. After clicking the desired drawing command, select Cylindrical from the pull-down list in the
status bar.

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2. Type the point's r-, theta-, and z-coordinates in the R, Theta, and Z boxes.

Hint Press Tab to move from one coordinate text box to the next. Press Ctrl+Tab to move
to the previous coordinate text box.

l Alternatively, click the point in the view window.

3. When drawing objects other than polylines and helices, the second point you select is
relative to the first point. Type the second point's distance from the previously selected point
in the dR, dTheta, and dZ text boxes.

Related Topics

Defining Cartesian Coordinates

Defining Spherical Coordinates

Defining Relative Coordinates

Defining Absolute Coordinates

Defining Spherical Coordinates

To define a point in spherical coordinates, specify the point's radius, measured from the origin, in
the Rho text box, the angle from the z-axis in the Theta text box, and the angle from the origin in
the x direction in the Phi text box. When selecting a second point, specify its distance from the
previously selected point in the in dRho, dTheta, and dPhi text boxes.

Note Even though you are inputting spherical coordinates, all data is internally stored in
Cartesian coordinates.

To define a point in spherical coordinates.

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1. After clicking the desired drawing command, select Spherical from the pull-down list in the
status bar.
2. Type the point's r-, theta-, and phi-coordinates in the Rho, Theta, and Phi text boxes in the
status bar.

Hint Press Tab to move from one coordinate text box to the next. Press Ctrl+Tab to move
to the previous coordinate text box.

l Alternatively, click the point in the view window.

3. When drawing objects other than polylines and helices, the second point you select is
relative to the first point. Type the second point's distance from the previously selected point
in the dRho, dTheta, and dPhi text boxes.

Related Topics

Defining Cartesian Coordinates

Defining Cylindrical Coordinates

Defining Relative Coordinates

Defining Absolute Coordinates

Using Absolute Coordinates

When entering a point's coordinates, you can specify them in absolute or relative coordinates.
Absolute coordinates are relative to the working coordinate system's origin (0, 0, 0). This is the
default setting for the first point you select after clicking a drawing command. Relative coordinates
are relative to the reference point, or the previously selected point.

To enter a point's absolute coordinates:

1. Click the desired drawing command.

2. Select Absolute from the Absolute/Relative pull-down list in the status bar.
3. Specify the point's coordinates in one of the following ways:
l Click the point.
l Type the point's coordinates in the appropriate text boxes in the status bar.

Note When drawing objects other than polylines and helices, by default, the second
point you select is relative to the first point; Relative is automatically selected in
the Absolute/Relative pull-down list in the status bar. Be sure to select Absolute
from the Absolute/Relative pull-down list in the status bar if you want the second
point to be relative to the working coordinate system.

Related Topics

Defining Relative Coordinates

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Using Relative Coordinates

When entering a point's coordinates, you can specify them in absolute or relative coordinates.
Relative coordinates are relative to the reference point, or the previously selected point. Absolute
coordinates are relative to the working coordinate system's origin (0, 0, 0).

To enter a point's relative coordinates:

1. Click the desired drawing command.

2. Select Relative from the Absolute/Relative pull-down list in the status bar.

When you are in relative mode, the text boxes for a coordinate show an "d" before the
coordinate description, to indicate "distance from" the working reference. For example:

3. Specify the point's coordinates in one of the following ways:

l Click the point.
l Type the point's coordinates in the appropriate text boxes in the status bar.

Related Topics

Defining Absolute Coordinates

Choosing the Movement Mode

When drawing objects, the cursor's location is always relative to a reference point. The reference
point is displayed with a mini xyz-axis:

To change the reference point, move the cursor to the desired point and press Ctrl+Click.

You can move the cursor to one of the following points:

l In the same plane as the reference point (in-plane movement mode).

l Perpendicular to the reference point (out-of-plane movement mode).
l If an object is present to snap to a point in 3D space (3D movement mode).
l Along the x-axis.

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l Along the y-axis.

l Along the z-axis.

Changes you make to the movement mode persist until you change them again.

Moving the Cursor In Plane

To move the cursor to a point on the same plane as the reference point

1. Click the desired drawing command.

2. Do one of the following:
l Click 3D Model > Movement Mode>In Plane.
l Click In Plane in the movement mode pull-down list in the 3D Modeler Draw toolbar.

The next point you select will be on the same plane as the reference point.

Moving the Cursor Out of Plane

To move the cursor to a point perpendicular to the drawing plane and that intersects the reference
point:

l After clicking the desired drawing command, click 3D Model > Movement Mode,>Out of
Plane.

A dashed line is displayed between the reference point and the cursor's location, which is now
perpendicular to the reference point.

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Moving the Cursor in 3D Space

To move the cursor to a point in 3D space relative to the reference point:

1. Click the desired drawing command.

2. Do one of the following:
l Click 3D Model > Movement Mode>3D.
l Click 3D in the movement mode pull-down list in the 3D Modeler Draw toolbar.

If one of an object's snapping centers is within snapping range, the cursor will snap to the
nearest point in 3D space occupied by the object.

If an object is not within snapping range, 3D movement mode is identical to the in-plane
movement mode.

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Moving the Cursor Along the X-Axis

To move the cursor to a point away from the reference point in the x direction:

1. Click the desired drawing command.

2. Do one of the following:
l Click Modeler>Movement Mode>Along X Axis.
l Hold the shortcut key X.
l Click Along X Axis in the movement mode pull-down list in the 3D Modeler Draw toolbar:

The next point you select will be on the same plane as the reference point in the positive or
negative x direction.

Moving the Cursor Along the Y-Axis

To move the cursor to a point away from the reference point in the y direction:

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1. Click the desired drawing command.

2. Do one of the following:
l Click Modeler>Movement Mode>Along YAxis.
l Hold the shortcut key Y.
l Click Along Y Axis in the movement mode pull-down list in the 3D Modeler Draw toolbar:

The next point you select will be on the same plane as the reference point in the positive or
negative y direction.

Moving the Cursor Along the Z-Axis

To move the cursor to a point away from the reference point in the z direction:

1. Click the desired drawing command.

2. Do one of the following:
l Click Modeler>Movement Mode>Along Z Axis.
l Hold the shortcut key Z.
l Click Along Z Axis in the movement mode pull-down list in the 3D Modeler Draw toolbar:

The next point you select will be on the same plane as the reference point in the positive or
negative z direction.

Choosing Snap Settings

By default, the selection point and graphical objects are set to "snap to", or adhere to, a point on the
grid when the cursor hovers over it. The coordinates of this point are used, rather than the exact

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location of the mouse. The cursor changes to the shape of the snap mode when it is being
snapped.

To change the snap settings for the active design, you can use either the Modeler menu or the
Draw tab ribbon area icons

1. Click Modeler>Snap Mode or click the Ribbon icons.

If you select the menu command, the Snap Mode window appears.

2. Specify the snap mode settings you want.

l If you want the cursor to snap to a point on the grid, select Grid or the icon .
l To snap to a vertex, select Vertex or the icon .
l To snap to the center point of an edge, select Edge Center or the icon . The center point
may be on a 1D, 2D, or 3D object edge.
l To snap to the center of an object face, select Face Center or the icon .
l To snap to the nearest quarter point on an edge, select Quadrant or the icon .
l To snap to the center of an arc, select Arc Center or the icon .

When the cursor snaps to a point, it will change to one of the following snap mode shapes:

Note By default, the mouse is set to snap to the grid, a vertex, an edge center, a face center, and

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the nearest quadrant. To modify the default snap settings for the active design and all new
designs, modify the selections under the Drawing tab in the Modeler Options dialog box.

Related Topics

Snap Setting Guidelines

Snap Setting Guidelines

For each object (3D, 2D, or 1D), you can define snapping points. Then, when moving in the
Modeler window, if the cursor approaches a snap point (gets closer in terms of screen coordinates,
not 3D coordinates), the snap point is highlighted. If you then click it, it becomes selected, even if
that point is out of the plane you are working in (for example, even if the point has 3D coordinates
when you are working in a 2D plane).

In general, select at least one of the snap options in the Snap Mode window. If none of these
options are selected, the software is in "free mode" and selects whatever point you click, regardless
of its coordinates. This can cause problems when you are trying to create closed objects. Although
the point you select may appear to be the vertex point of an open object, you may not have actually
clicked the exact coordinates of the point.

Measure Modes for Objects

The Measure modes lets you measure the position, length, area, and volume of objects. With two
faces selected, with two edges selected, or with an edge and a face selected, the Measure Mode
displays the angle and distance between them. The Measure Position mode dynamically measures
the distance between a reference point and the cursor location. You can Pause dynamic tracking in
order to copy text information from the Measure Data dialog, and then Resume dynamic updating.

1. To access the Measure mode, either:

l Select Modeler>Measure.
l Right-click and select Measure from the short-cut menu.

After you select Measure, a cascading menu appears for Position, Edge, Face and Object.

You can also select using the equivalent Draw tab ribbon icons:

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2. Select Position to obtain location and distance information between a specified reference
point and the cursor location.

The Measure Information dialog box appears.

With Measure>Position selected, the information displayed includes:

l The location of the current reference point. (Position1)

l The current cursor location. (Position2)
l The distance between the Reference and Current location.
l The X distance.
l The Y distance.
l The Z distance.
l The angle between the current reference point and the current cursor location.

Note As you move the cursor, the Measure Information dialog displays the current
cursor location and measurement information from the reference. Clicking on a
new vertex updates the reference to the new location.

To Pause the dynamic tracking, either right-click and select Pause, or press P.

While Paused, you can move the cursor without changing the Measure Data. You can also cut
and paste

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Press P or right-click and select Resume to resume cursor tracking.

With Measure>Edge, Face, or Object selected, the information displayed for each selected
object is the name and:

l The area and volume of a 3D object.

l The area of a face.
l The length of a polyline (in edge selection mode, you can still see this if you select the
polyline in the History tree)
l The length of an edge
l The location of a vertex.

For more information on cursor and reference point behavior in this mode, see Measuring
Position and Distance

3. To use Measure>Edge, Face, or Object to measure the distance and angle between two
selected items:
l Select two points. Click the first and Ctrl-click to select the second.

The Measure Information dialog displays the coordinates of each point, the distance
between the points and the angle between Origin-P1, Origin-P2 line.

l Select two faces, the Measure Information dialog displays the angle/distance between
them.
l The function is similar when you select two edges and when you select an edge and a
face.
l You can also measure distance between vertex/face, vertex/edge. In these cases, use the
Select Multi mode.
4. To exit the Measure mode, click Close on the Measure Information dialog.

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Related Topics

Measuring Position and Distance

Setting Coordinate Systems

Modifying the Coordinate System Axes View

Choosing Snap Settings

Choosing Movement Mode (3D, in plane, X, Y, or Z)

Select Multi (a mode for selecting objects, faces, edges or vertices)

Measuring Position and Distance

To measure the distance between any cursor location relative to a designated reference point:

l Select Modeler>Measure>Position or use the equivalent Draw tab ribbon icon:

This enables the Measure Position mode opens the Measure Data dialog. The dialog lists the
coordinates of the current reference point (Position1)and the cursor location (Position2). If you
click, it shows the last position as a red square, and the current position as a black cursor. It also
lists the distance between those points, the X, Y, and Z distances, and the angle between them.
You can Pause dynamic tracking in order to copy text information from the Measure Data
dialog, and then Resume dynamic updating.

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The shortcut menu displays the Hints item. When Hints are on (the default), a text display in the
lower right of the 3D Modeler window, explaining how to set the reference point, and ways to
control the movement mode.

l The reference point is displayed as a mini x-y-z-axis:

Use Ctrl-Click to set the reference point at a new location.

l The cursor leads a diamond-shape selection marker that snaps from grid point to grid point.
The Measure Data dialog also provides a text identification of the current grid points. If you
drag the cursor off design objects, by default, it moves in the xy-plane. You can restrict
movement to in a specific plane, out of plane, or z, x, or y. Besides the context menu for
movement, you can also use the X, Y, and Z keys to restrict movement.

See Choosing a Movement Mode for further details.

If you drag the selection marker over an object, it follows the 3D surfaces of the object, dropping
a dashed reference line to a point on the current plane. The cursor changes shape to provide
information about the object at the corresponding coordinate.:

To measure the distance between two points:

1. Select Modeler>Measure>Position or the equivalent toolbar icon to enter Measure

Position mode.
2. Ctrl-click to set the reference point.

The reference point display moves to the selected point. This becomes the coordinate for
Position1 in the Measure Data dialog.

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3. Drag the cursor to the second point.

The value of the Position2 dynamically changes as you drag the cursor. You do not need to
click. The values shown include:

l Distance.
l X distance
l Y Distance.
l Z Distance.
4. You can click P or right-click and select Pause from the shortcut menu to stop dynamic
tracking. You can then copy text from the Measure Data dialog.

5. To resume dynamic tracking, either press P or right click and select Resume.
6. To close the dialog box and exit Measure mode, click the Close button. You can also use
the ESC key to exit Measure mode.

Related Topics

Measure Modes for Objects

Setting Coordinate Systems

Modifying the Coordinate System Axes View

Choosing Snap Settings

Choosing Movement Mode (3D, in plane, X, Y, or Z)

Select Multi (a mode for selecting objects, faces, edges or vertices)

Setting Coordinate Systems

The modeler has four types of coordinate systems (CS) that enable you to easily orient new
objects:

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l Global CS
l Relative CS
l Face CS
l Object CS

Every coordinate system has an x-axis that lies at a right angle to a y-axis, and a z-axis that is
perpendicular to the xy plane. The origin (0,0,0) of every CS is located at the intersection of the x-,
y-, and z-axes.The default Global coordinate system and any additional coordinate systems that
you create for a project appear in the History tree of the modeler window.

l The globalcoordinate system> (CS) is the fixed, default CS for each new project. It cannot
be edited or deleted.
l A relativeCS is user-defined. Its origin and orientation can be set relative to an existing CS.
Relative CSs enable you to easily draw objects that are located relative to other objects. If
you modify a relative CS, all objects drawn on that CS will be affected and change position
accordingly. You can define a relative CS to be offset and/or rotated from an existing CS.
This feature provides a way for objects made of the same anisotropic materials to have
different orientations.

When you set a new relative coordinate system, you specify whether to express the coordinates
as Absolute or Relative Coordinates. Absolute uses the specified values in terms of the global
coordinate system. Relative interprets the values as differences from the current working CS.

You have choices for expressing the coordinates as Cartesian, Cylindrical, or Spherical. These
are evaluated as Cartesian for the coordinate system properties.

l A faceCS is also user-defined. Its origin is specified on a planar object face. Face CSs
enable you to easily draw objects that are located relative to an object's face.
l An object CS is user-defined as attached to a specific object.

Switch between global, relative, object and face CSs by changing the workingCS. Simply click the
CS you want to use in the history tree. The working CS is indicated by a red W that appears at the
lower-left corner of the CS name in the history tree (as shown on Global in the figure above). The
Properties dialog box lists the CS associated with an object as the Orientation. By default, this is
Global, but if you have created the object under a different coordinate system, that will be the
orientation. You can click on the current orientation to see a drop down list of other orientations that
you can assign for an object.

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User-defined CSs are saved with the active project. When you open a project, it uses the CS
designated as working CS when you last saved.

Related Topics

Creating a Relative Coordinate System

Creating a Face Coordinate System

Creating an Object Coordinate System

Setting the Working Coordinate System

Modifying the Coordinate System Axes View

Assigning Material Property Types

Change the Orientation of an object

Setting the Working Coordinate System

The working coordinate system (CS) is the current CS with which objects being drawn are
associated. The working CS can be the global CS or a user-defined relative CS, Object or Face
CS. Select the working CS by clicking its name in the history tree, or follow this procedure:

1. Click Modeler>Coordinate System>Set Working CS.

The Select Coordinate System dialog box appears.

2. Click a CS in the list.

3. Click Select.

A red W appears at the lower-left corner of the CS name in the History tree, indicating that it is
the working CS. In this following figure the Global is the working CS.

Objects that you draw hereafter will be associated with the CS you selected.

Related Topics

Setting Coordinate Systems

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Creating a Relative Coordinate System

When creating a relative CS, you have the following options:

l You can create an offset relative CS, that is, a relative CS whose origin lies a specified
distance from another CS's origin. By moving a CS's origin, you can enter coordinates
relative to an existing object, without having to add or subtract the existing object's
coordinates.
l You can create a rotated relative CS, that is, a relative CS whose axes are rotated away
from another CS's axes. By rotating the axes of a CS, you can easily add an object that is
turned at an angle relative to another object.
l You can also create a relative CS that is both offset and rotated.
l You can click Tools>General Options to display the Options dialog, and set 3D Modeler
Drawing options for whether to use the cursor and the Measure dialog or the using the
Status bar X, Y, and Z fields and menus to place the new CS (Axis/Position) or a Set
Origin dialog in which you specify X, Y, and Z coordinates and Axis and Angle values.
(Euler Angle).

After you have created a relative CS it appears in the History tree. Selecting the CS in the History
tree causes the Properties window to show the CS Properties.

Related Topics

Creating an Offset Relative Coordinate System

Determining Phase Center using Optimetrics

Creating an Offset Relative CS

To create a relative CS with an origin that lies a specified distance from another CS's origin:

1. In the history tree, click the CS upon which you want to base the new relative CS, making it
the working CS.
2. Point to Modeler>Coordinate System>Create>Relative CS.

3. On the Relative CS menu, click Offset .

4. Depending on your choices for the Tools>Options>General Options, for the 3D Modeler
Drawing Options, and for Relative Coordinate System Creation mode, you can select the
origin in one of the following ways:

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Axis/Position option selected:

l Use the cursor to click the point. You can see the coordinate information in the Measure
Data dialog.

To select a point that does not lie in the current plane, use the Movement Mode commands
on the shortcut menu.

Or:

l At the lower right of the modeler window, use the drop down menu to select the system for
expressing coordinates (Cartesian, Cylindrical, or Spherical), select either relative or
absolute coordinates, then select the units, and type the CS origin coordinates in boxes.

Euler angle option selected

l In the Set Origin dialog, specify the X, Y, and Z coordinates and units.

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The new relative CS is created. Its origin has moved from the previous working CS, but its axes
remain the same. It is listed in the history tree under Coordinate Systems. It automatically
becomes the working CS; objects that you draw hereafter will be based on the coordinates of
this relative CS. Default planes are created on its xy, yz, and xz planes.

Related Topics

Creating a Relative Coordinate System

Creating a Rotated Relative CS

Creating an Offset and Rotated Relative CS

Creating a Rotated Relative CS

To create a new relative CS with its axes rotated away from another CS's axes:

1. In the history tree, select the CS upon which you want to base the new relative CS, making it
the working CS.

2. Click Modeler>Coordinate System>Create>Relative CS>Rotated .

3. Depending on your choices for the Tools>Options>General Options, for the 3D Modeler
Drawing Options, for Relative Coordinate System Creation mode, you can select the origin
in one of the following ways:

Axis/Position option selected:

Specify the x-axis by selecting a point on the axis in one of the following ways:

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l Use the cursor to click the point. You can see the coordinate information in the Measure
Data dialog.

Or:

l At the lower right of the modeler window, use the drop down menu to select the system for
expressing coordinates (Cartesian, Cylindrical, or Spherical), select either relative or
absolute coordinates, then select the units, and type the CS origin coordinates in boxes.

To select a point that does not lie in the current plane, use the Movement Mode commands on
the shortcut menu.

Specify the xy plane by selecting any point on it in one of the following ways:

l Click the point. You can see the coordinate information in the Measure Data dialog.

l Type the coordinates of a point that is relative to the previously selected point in the dX,
dY, and dZ boxes, where d is the distance from the previously selected point.

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You do not need to specify the z-axis. It is automatically calculated to be at a right angle to the y-
axis.

Euler angle option selected

l In the Set Origin dialog, select the Euler Rotation convention as ZYZ or ZXZ.
l In the Set Origin dialog, specify the Phi, Theta, and Psi values and select units for each
from the drop down menus.

The new relative CS is created. It has the same origin as the previous working CS, but its axes
are rotated. It is listed in the history tree under Coordinate Systems. It automatically becomes
the working CS; objects that you draw hereafter will be based on the coordinates of this relative
CS. Default planes are created on its xy, yz, and xz planes.

Related Topics

Creating a Relative Coordinate System

Creating an Offset and Rotated Relative CS

Creating an Offset and Rotated Relative CS

To create a new relative CS that is both offset and rotated from an existing CS:

1. In the history tree, select the CS upon which you want to base the new relative CS, making it
the working CS.

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2. Point to Modeler>Coordinate System>Create>Relative CS.

3. On the Relative CS menu, click Both .

Depending on your choices for the Tools>Options>General Options, for the 3D Modeler
Drawing Options, for Relative Coordinate System Creation mode, you can select the origin in
one of the following ways:

Axis/Position option selected:

Select the origin in one of the following ways:

l Use the cursor to click the origin point. You can see the coordinate information in the
Measure Data dialog.

To select a point that does not lie in the current plane, use the Movement Mode commands
on the shortcut menu.

l At the lower right of the modeler window, use the drop down menu to select the system for
expressing coordinates (Cartesian, Cylindrical, or Spherical), select either relative or
absolute coordinates, then select the units, and type the CS origin coordinates in boxes.

Specify the x-axis by selecting a point on the axis in one of the following ways:

l Click the point.

l Type the coordinates of a point that is relative to the origin in the dX, dY, and dZ boxes,
where d is the distance from the previously selected point.

Specify the xy plane by selecting any point on it in one of the following ways:

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l Click the point.

l Type the coordinates of a point that is relative to the previously selected point in the dX,
dY, and dZ boxes.

You do not need to specify the z-axis. It is automatically calculated to be at a right angle to the y-
axis.

Euler angle option selected

l In the Set Origin and Euler Angles dialog, specify the X, Y, and Z coordinates and units

l In the Set Origin and Euler Angles dialog, select the Euler Rotation convention as ZYZ
or ZXZ.
l In the Set Origin and Euler Angles dialog, specify the Phi, Theta, and Psi values and
select units for each from the drop down menus

The new relative CS is created. It is listed in the history tree under Coordinate Systems. It
automatically becomes the working CS; objects that you draw hereafter will be based on the
coordinates of this relative CS. Default planes are created on its xy, yz, and xz planes.

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Related Topics

Creating a Relative Coordinate System

Creating a Face Coordinate System

1. Select the object face upon which you want to create the face CS.

2. Click Modeler>Coordinate System>Create>Face CS .

3. Select the origin in one of the following ways:
l Click the origin point on the face.
l Type the point's coordinates in the X, Y, and Z boxes of the editable fields in the status
bar.
4. Specify the x-axis by selecting a point on the object face in one of the following ways:
l Click the point.
l Type the coordinates of a point that is relative to the previously selected point in the dX,
dY, and dZ boxes, where d is the distance from the previously selected point.

You do not need to specify the y- or z-axes. The modeler assumes that the z-axis is normal to
the object face and the y-axis is automatically calculated to be at a right angle to the z-axis.

The new face CS is listed in the history tree under Coordinate Systems. It automatically
becomes the working CS; objects that you draw hereafter will be referenced to the coordinates
of this face CS. Default planes are created on its xy, yz, and xz planes.

Only operations listed in the history tree before the face CS's creation will affect the face CS, and in
turn, affect objects dependent upon that face CS. A face CS, or objects created on it, is not affected
by operations that occur after it is created. Also see the Move CS to End command.

For example, suppose you create a box, then a face CS on a face of the box, and then a cylinder on
the face CS. If you then edit the box's dimensions in the Properties dialog box, the cylinder will
move accordingly. But if you rotate the box using the Edit>Arrange>Rotate command, the box
will move, but the cylinder will not move because the operation occurs later in the history tree.

Related Topics

Automatically Creating Face Coordinate Systems

Setting the Working Coordinate System

Modifying Coordinate Systems

Setting Coordinate Systems

Move CS to End

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Automatically Creating Face Coordinate Systems

You can instruct the modeler to automatically create a new face CS every time you draw on an
object's face.

1. Click Tools>Options>Modeler Options.

The Modeler Options dialog box appears.

2. Select Automatically switch to face coordinate system.

3. Click OK.

Now, when you select a face, and then click a drawing command, a new face CS will be created on
the face. The modeler automatically sets the new face CS as the working CS. The object you draw
is oriented according to the new face CS.

Note The modeler will not automatically create a new face CS if a face CS has already been
assigned to the selected face.

Related Topics

Creating a Face Coordinate System

Move CS to End

Creating an Object Coordinate System

Creating an Object Coordinate System

You can create coordinate systems based on any object of solid, sheet, or wire type. The
Modeler>Coordinate System>Create>Object CS command is enabled when you select an
object. An Object CS can be Offset, Rotated or both. Executing one of the Object CS commands
changes the cursor to the selection marker mode.

As you drag the selection marker over an object, it follows the 3D surfaces of the object, dropping a
dashed reference line to a point on the current plane. The cursor changes shape to provide
information about the object at the corresponding coordinate:

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For example, in this case, the cursor shows Edge Center triangles as valid selection points for an
Modeler>Coordinate Systems>Create Object CS>Offset command.

Only operations listed in the history tree before the Object CS's creation will affect the Object CS,
and in turn, affect objects dependent upon that Object CS. An Object CS, or objects created on it, is
not affected by operations that occur after it is created. Also see the Move CS to End command.

For example, suppose you create a box, then an Object CS on a face of the box, and then a
cylinder on the Object CS. If you then edit the box's dimensions in the Properties dialog box, the
cylinder will move accordingly. But if you rotate the box using the Edit>Arrange>Rotate
command, the box will move, but the cylinder will not move because the operation occurs later in
the history tree.

Related Topics

Creating a Face Coordinate System

Move CS to End

Creating an Offset Object CS

Creating a Rotated Object CS

Creating an Object CS that is both Rotated and Offset

Expressing Cartesian, Cylindrical, or Spherical Coordinates

Creating an Offset Object CS

To create an Offset Object coordinate system (CS):

1. Select the working CS.

2. Select the object, and click Modeler>Coordinate System>Create>Object>Offset.
l You can select any snap point on object based on current snapping mode to select origin of
the CS. When you hover the mouse over a valid point, a coordinate system preview is
shown.

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l The point must be on selected object.

l X axis is taken as {1,0,0} and Y Axis as {0,1,0} to create an Object CS. The axis coordinates
can be later edited through the Properties dialog.
l When you select the point, validation displays an appropriate message. Points where CS
preview is available are always valid.

Related Topics

Creating a Face Coordinate System

Move CS to End

Creating an Offset Object CS

Creating a Rotated Object CS

Creating an Object CS that is both Rotated and Offset

Expressing Cartesian, Cylindrical, or Spherical Coordinates

Creating a Rotated Object CS

To create a Rotated Object coordinate system (CS):

1. Select the working CS.

2. Select the object, and click Modeler>Coordinate System>Create>Object>Rotated
l The origin is taken as {0,0,0}. You can edit this later through the Properties window.
l The GUI is in multi select mode where you define the direction by picking any of vertex,
straight edge, planar face or conical face.
l If you select vertex, direction from origin to vertex defines the axis.
l If you select a straight edge, the edge direction defines the axis.
l If you select a planar face, face normal defines the axis.
l If you select a conical face, the face axis defines the CS axis.
l The selected vertex, edge or face must be on the selected object.

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3. You are prompted to first select X axis. A preview of X axis is shown for valid selections.
4. You are later prompted to select to define the XY plane. Another direction (edge or face
selection) or point (i.e. vertex selection) helps to define the plane.
l During 2nd XY plane selection, a CS preview shows as the cursor hovers over valid
selections. The preview includes the three CS axes and the XY plane.

l In 2D modeler, you are prompted to select only X axis. The Y axis is defined based on 2D
modeler type. This resembles Relative CS behavior. Face picking is not available in 2D
modeler as it defines the direction out of plane.

Related Topics

Creating a Face Coordinate System

Move CS to End

Creating an Offset Object CS

Creating a Rotated Object CS

Creating an Object CS that is both Rotated and Offset

Expressing Cartesian, Cylindrical, or Spherical Coordinates

Creating an Object CS that is Both Offset and Rotated

To create an Object CS that is both offset and rotated:

1. Set the working CS.

2. Select the object
l Behavior is combination of offset and rotated object CS. You are first prompted to select
origin as in Object CS>Object and then axes as in Object CS>Rotated.

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l In 2D modeler, you are asked to select only the origin and X axis. The Y axis is computed as
for Object CS>Rotated. Face picking is not available in 2D modeler as it defines the
direction out of plane.

Related Topics

Creating a Face Coordinate System

Move CS to End

Creating an Offset Object CS

Creating a Rotated Object CS

Creating an Object CS that is both Rotated and Offset

Expressing Cartesian, Cylindrical, or Spherical Coordinates

Move CS to End Command for History Tree

Only operations listed in the history tree before the Object CS's creation will affect the Object CS,
and in turn, affect objects dependent upon that Object CS. An Object CS, or objects created on it, is
not affected by operations that occur after it is created. It is sometimes useful to have the
coordinate system affected after any other operations that might have edited, moved or rotated the
object.

If you have at least one History operation after a Face or Object CS in the History tree, selecting a
Face or Object CS enables the Move CS to End command in the Modeler>Coordinate System
cascade menu and the History Tree shortcut menu.

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Executing the command moves the selected CreateObject CS to the end position in the History
tree and updates associated items (other CS, object history, any dependent parts etc.).

Related Topics

Creating a Face Coordinate System

Move CS to End

Creating an Offset Object CS

Creating a Rotated Object CS

Creating an Object CS that is both Rotated and Offset

Modifying Coordinate Systems

Keep in mind that when you edit a CS, the following will also be affected:

l All objects drawn on the CS.

l All CSs that were defined relative to that CS.
l All objects drawn on a CS that was defined relative to that CS.

There are two ways to modify a coordinate system: you can select the coordinate system in the
history tree in the modeler window, and open its properties dialog. This approach does not also
allow you to change whether the coordinate system is Absolute or Relative, or to change how you
express the coordinates (as Cartesian, Cylindrical, or Spherical).

If you want to also modify the whether the coordinate system is Absolute or Relative, and to change
how your express the coordinate, do the following:

1. Click Modeler>Coordinate System>Edit.

The Select Working CS window appears.

2. Click the CS you want to modify.

3. Click Select.

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This selects that coordinate system and enables the editable fields in the status bar at the lower
right of the Modeler window. After you click the cursor in the first field, you can type in values,
and tab to the next fields.

4. You can select Absolute or Relative as the Coordinate system If you selected a relative CS,
follow the directions for creating a relative CS.

If you selected a face CS, follow the directions for creating a face CS.

If you selected an Object CS, follow the directions for creating an object CS.

5. You select the coordinate system from the drop down menus as Cartesian, Cylindrical, or
Spherical.
6. Select the units from the drop down menu.

The value you give here is translated to Cartesian coordinates in the Properties for the
Coordinate system.

Object CS can be edited in the same way they are created. For example, if CS is created in offset
mode, it will be edited in offset mode only.

l You can edit the reference CS of object CS through the property. This will impact object CS
created in offset and rotated mode. It will not impact object CS created in both modes as it
fully depends on object.
l Origin will be editable when object CS is created in rotated mode. Otherwise it will be read
only text.
l X Axis and Y Axis will be editable via the Properties dialog when object CS is created in
offset mode. Otherwise it will be read only text.
l Either of X Axis or Y axis can be reversed through the Properties dialog. When X axis is
reversed, Y axis does not change and vice a versa.
l Some of the examples of origin properties as a text are - Vertex_10, Face_7 center, Edge_9
midpoint, Edge_8 quadrant, Edge_17 arc center.
l Some of the examples of axis properties as a text are - Face_7 normal, Edge_9 direction,
Vertex_10, Face_6 axis

Related Topics

Setting Coordinate Systems

Creating a Relative Coordinate System

Creating a Face Coordinate System

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Modifying the Coordinate System Axes View

Expressing Cartesian, Cylindrical, or Spherical Coordinates

Expressing Cartesian, Cylindrical, or Spherical Coordinates

You have choices for expressing the coordinates for as Cartesian, Cylindrical, or Spherical by
using the editable fields in the status bar. In each case, you also specify whether to enter the
coordinates as Absolute or Relative to the working coordinate system. Click the cursor in the first
text field to begin entering values or variables. Tab to the next fields, and Enter when your are
done. After you enter values or variables in the text fields, they are evaluated as Cartesian for the
Properties window for that coordinate system.

l Cartesian, that is the point's distance from the origin in the x, y, and z directions in the X, Y,
and Z text boxes.

l Cylindrical, that is, the point's radius, measured from the origin, in the R text box, the angle
from the x-axis in the Theta text box, and the distance from the origin in the z direction in the
Z text box.

l Spherical, that is, in the point's radius, measured from the origin, in the Rho text box, the
angle from the x-axis in the Theta text box, and the angle from the origin in the z direction in
the Phi text box.

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Related Topics

Defining Absolute Coordinates

Defining Relative Coordinates

Defining Cartesian Coordinates

Defining Cylindrical Coordinates

Defining Spherical Coordinates

Deleting Coordinate Systems

1. Click the name of the CS you want to delete in the history tree.

2. Click Edit>Delete .
l Alternatively, press Delete.

The CS will be deleted and all objects drawn on it will be deleted. Further, any CS that was
dependent upon the deleted CS will be deleted and any objects that were drawn on the
dependent CS will also be deleted.

Related Topics

Setting Coordinate Systems

Creating a Relative Coordinate System

Creating a Face Coordinate System

Modifying the Coordinate System Axes View

Setting the Drawing Plane

The Drawing plane pull-down list is available on the Modeler Draw toolbar, next to the
Movement mode pull-down list.

To set the drawing plane, do one of the following:

l Select XY, YZ, or XZ from the Drawing plane pull-down list on the Modeler Draw toolbar.

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l Click Modeler>Grid Plane, and then select a grid plane: XY, YZ, or XZ.

Related Topics

Setting the Grid Plane

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5 - Optimetrics
Optimetrics enables you to determine the best design variation among a model's possible
variations. You create the original model, the nominal design, and then define the design
parameters that vary, which can be nearly any design parameter assigned a numeric value in
HFSS or Q3D. For example, you can parameterize the model geometry or material properties.
You can then perform the following types of analyses on your nominal design:

Parametric In a parametric analysis, you define one or more variable sweep

definitions, each specifying a series of variable values within a
range. For example, you can parameterize component values.
(See Variables for more information.) Optimetrics solves the
design at each variation. You can then compare the results to
determine how each design variation affects the performance of
the design. Parametric analyses are often used as precursors to
optimization solutions because they help to determine a
reasonable range of variable values for the optimization
analysis.
Optimization For an optimization analysis, you identify the cost function and
the optimization goal. Optimetrics changes the design
parameter values to meet that goal. The cost function can be
based on any solution quantity that can be computed.
Sensitivity In a sensitivity analysis, you use Optimetrics to explore the
vicinity of the design point to determine the sensitivity of the
design to small changes in variables.
Tuning Tuning allows you to change variable values interactively while
monitoring the performance of the design. If you want to ensure
that tuning does not resolve variations already solved by
parametric setup, you must check Save Fields Mesh in the
Options tab of the Optimetrics setup.
Statistical In a statistical analysis, you use Optimetrics to determine the
distribution of a design's performance, which is caused by a
statistical distribution of variable values.
Design of Design of Experiments (DOE) is a technique used to
Experiments scientifically determine the location of sampling points and is
included as part of the Response Surface, Goal Driven
Optimization, and Analysis systems.
DesignXplorer An optimization tool for studying a range of design variations,
used with Design of Experiments.

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Note Sweeping or using a complex variable is not allowed in any optimetrics setup, including
optimization, statistical, sensitivity, and tuning setups.

The HPC and Analysis Options dialog can be accessed from the setup dialog for each type of
Optimetrics analysis.

You can also Link to ANSYS Design Xplorer. This permits you to manage an Optimetrics
simulation from the ANSYS Workbench.

Related Topics

Getting Started Guide: Optimizing Waveguide T-Junction

Setting up a Parametric Analysis

Setting up an Optimization Analysis

Setting up a Sensitivity Analysis

Tuning a Variable

Setting up a Statistical Analysis

Parametric Overview

Optimization Overview

Sensitivity Analysis Overview

Statistical Analysis Overview

Tuning Overview

Using Distributed Analysis

Parametric Overview
Running a parametric analysis enables you to simulate several design variations using a single
model. You define a series of variable values within a range, or a variable sweep definition, and
HFSS or Q3D generates a solution for each design variation. You can then compare the results to
determine how each design variation affects the performance of the design.

You can vary design parameters that are assigned a quantity, such as geometry dimensions,
material properties, and boundary and excitation properties. (See the online help topic for the
specific parameter you want to vary.) The number of variations that can be defined in a parametric
sweep setup is limited only by your computing resources.

To perform a parametric analysis, you first create a nominal design. A nominal design is created
like any other design, except that variables are assigned to those aspects of the model you want to
change. You can create a parametric setup before defining variables but all variables must be

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defined before you start the parametric analysis. Although you are not required to solve the
nominal design before performing a parametric analysis, doing so helps ensure that the model is
set up and operates as intended. Alternatively, you can perform a validation check on the nominal
design before performing a parametric analysis.

Parametric analyses are often used as precursors to optimization analyses because they enable
you to determine a reasonable range of variable values for an optimization analysis.

Related Topics

Setting up a Parametric Analysis

Determining Phase Center using Optimetrics

Large Scale DSO for Parametric Analysis

Setting Up a Parametric Analysis

A parametric setup specifies all of the design variations that Optimetrics drives the software to
solve. A parametric setup is made up of one or more variable sweep definitions, which are a set of
variable values within a range that you want the software to solve when you run the parametric
setup.

You can define more than one parametric setup per design.

Note Once you have created a parametric setup, you can copy and paste it, and then make
changes to the copy, rather than redoing the whole process for minor changes.

To add a parametric setup to a design:

1. Click HFSS or Q3D Extractor or 2D Extractor>Optimetrics Analysis> Add

Parametric .
l Alternatively, right-click Optimetrics in the project tree, and then click Add>Parametric
on the shortcut menu.

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l Select the Simulation tab in the ribbon, and select Parametric from the drop down menu
under the Optimetrics icon:

The Setup Sweep Analysis dialog box appears.

2. Add a variable sweep definition.

After you define a parametric sweep, a shortcut menu becomes available when you right-click the
setup name.

Note Sweeping or using a complex variable is not allowed in any optimetrics setup, including
optimization, statistical, sensitivity, and tuning setups.

Related Topics

Adding a Variable Sweep Definition

Specifying a Solution Setup for a Parametric Setup

Using Distributed Analysis

Parametric Overview

Adding a Parametric Sweep from a File

Large Scale DSO for Parametric Analysis

Adding a Variable Sweep Definition

A parametric setup is made up of one or more variable sweep definitions. A variable sweep
definition is a set of variable values within a range that Optimetrics drives to solve when the
parametric setup is analyzed. You can add one or more sweep definitions to a parametric setup.

Note Sweeping a complex variable is not allowed in any optimetrics setup, including
optimization, statistical, sensitivity, and tuning setups.

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1. Click HFSS or Q3D Extractor or 2D Extractor>Optimetrics Analysis>Add

Parametric .
l Alternatively, right-click Optimetrics in the project tree, and then click Add>Parametric
on the shortcut menu.

The Setup Sweep Analysis dialog box appears.

2. Under the Sweep Definitions tab, click Add.

The Add/Edit Sweep dialog box appears.

All the independent variables associated with the design are listed in the Variable pull-down list
of the Add/Edit Sweep dialog.

3. Click the variable for which you are defining the sweep definition from the Variable pull-
down list.

If you do not define a sweep definition for a variable in the list, the variable's current value in the
nominal design is used in the parametric analysis.

4. Specify the variable values to be included in the sweep.

5. Click Add, and then click OK.

You return to the Setup Sweep Analysis dialog box. The variable sweep is listed in the top half
of the window.

6. View the design variations that are to be solved in table format under the Table tab. Viewing
the sweep definition in table format enables you to visualize the design variations that are to
be solved and manually adjust sweep points if necessary.
7. Click OK.

Related Topics

Specifying Variable Values for a Sweep Definitions

Synchronizing Variable Sweep Definitions

Modifying a Variable Sweep Definition Manually

Overriding a Variable's Current Value in a Parametric Setup

Adding a Parametric Sweep from a File

Specifying Variable Values for a Sweep Definition

To specify the variable values to include in a sweep definition:

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1. Select one of the following in the Add/Edit Sweep dialog box:

Single value Specify a single value for the sweep definition.

Linear step Specify a linear range of values with a constant step size.
Linear count Specify a linear range of values and the number, or count of points within
this range.
Decade Specify a logarithmic (base 10) series of values, and the number of values
count to calculate in each decade.
Octave count Specify a logarithmic (base 2) series of values, and the number of values to
calculate in each octave.
Exponential Specify an exponential (base e) series of values, and the number of values
count to calculate.

2. If you selected Single value, type the value of the sweep definition in the Value box.

If you selected another sweep type, do the following:

a. Type the starting value of the variable range in the Start text box.
b. Type the final value of the variable range in the Stop text box.

Warning Variable values must be single real numbers, or expressions that evaluate to
single real numbers. Complex numbers cannot be used as the values of
variables in any optimetric analysis.

3. If you selected Linear step as the sweep type, type the step size in the Step box.

The step size is the difference between variable values in the sweep definition. The step size
determines the number of design variations between the start and stop value. The model is
solved at each step in the specified range, including the start and stop values. The step size can
be negative, when the Stop value is less than the Start value

If you selected another sweep type, type the number of points, or variable values, in the sweep
definition in the Count text box. For Decade count and Octave count, the Count value
specifies the number of points to calculate in every decade or octave. For Exponential count,
the Count value is the total number of points. The total number of points includes the start and
stop values.

Related Topics

Synchronizing Variable Sweep Definitions

Synchronizing Variable Sweep Definitions

By default, variable sweep definitions are nested. Alternatively, you can synchronize the variable
sweep definitions if they have the same number of sweep points.

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For example, if you synchronize a sweep definition that includes values of 1, 2, and 3 inches with a
second sweep definition that includes values of 4, 5, and 6 inches, 3 design variations are solved.
The first variation is solved at the variable values of 1 and 4; the second variation is solved at the
variable values 2 and 5; and the third variation is solved at the final variable values 3 and 6.

To synchronize variable sweep definitions:

1. Under the Sweep Definitions tab of the Setup Sweep Analysis dialog box, select the
rows containing the sweep definitions you want to synchronize.
2. Click Sync.

The synchronized sweeps are given a group number, which is listed in the Sync # column.

Optionally, view the design variations that are to be solved in table format under the Table tab.

Related Topics

Specifying Variable Values for a Sweep Definitions

Modifying a Variable Sweep Definition Manually

You can manually modify the variable values that are solved for a parametric setup by explicitly
changing, adding, or deleting existing points in a variable sweep definition under the Table tab of
the Setup Sweep Analysis dialog box.

To manually modify a variable sweep definition:

1. Click the Table tab of the Setup Sweep Analysis dialog box.

The design variations that will be solved for the parametric setup are listed in table format.

2. Do one of the following:

l To modify a variable value, click a value text box in the table and type a new value.
l To delete a variable value from the sweep definition, click the row you want to delete, and
then click Delete.
l To add a new variable value to the sweep definition, click Add. Then click in the value text
box and type a new value.

Warning Variable values must be single real numbers, or expressions that evaluate to
single real numbers. Complex numbers cannot be used as the values of
variables in any optimetric analysis.

Your modifications are tracked and available for viewing at the bottom of the Setup Sweep
Analysis dialog box under the Sweep Definitions tab. The operations you performed are listed
with descriptions.

Warning If you modify an original sweep definition using the Add/Edit Sweep dialog box after
you have manually modified its table of design variations, your manual modifications

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become invalid and are removed. A warning is displayed to inform you that your
manual values are about to become invalid, so you can decide whether or not to
proceed.

Related Topics

Adding a Variable Sweep Definition

Overriding a Variable's Current Value in a Parametric Setup

Adding a Parametric Sweep from a File

Overriding a Variable's Current Value in a Parametric Setup

If you choose not to sweep a variable, the variable's current value set for the nominal design is used
when it solves the parametric setup. To override the current variable value for a parametric setup:

1. In the Setup Sweep Analysis dialog box, click the General tab.

Under Starting Point, all of the current independent design variable values are listed.

2. Click the Override box of the design variable with the value you want to override for the
parametric setup.
3. Type a new value in the Value box, and then press Enter.

The Override option is now selected. This indicates that the value you entered will be used for
the parametric setup. For this parametric setup, the new value will override the current value in
the nominal design.

Note Alternatively, you can select the Override option first, and then type a new variable value in
the Value box.

4. Optionally, click a new unit in the Units box.

To revert to the current variable value, clear the Override option.

Warning Variable values must be single real numbers, or expressions that evaluate to single real
numbers. Complex numbers cannot be used as the values of variables in any
optimetric analysis.

Related Topics

Adding a Variable Sweep Definition

Modifying a Variable Sweep Definition Manually

Specifying a Solution Setup for a Parametric Setup

To specify the solution setup that the software analyzes when it solves a parametric setup:

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1. In the Setup Sweep Analysis dialog box, click the General tab.
2. Select the solution setup you want the software to use when it solves the parametric setup.

The parametric setup is solved using the solution setup you select. If you select more than one,
results are generated for all selected solution setups.

Related Topics

Specifying the Solution Quantity to Evaluate for Parametric Analysis

Specifying a Solution Quantity's Calculation Range

Specifying the Solution Quantity to Evaluate for Parametric Analysis

When you add a parametric setup, you can identify one or more solution quantities to be presented
in the Post Analysis Display dialog box. The solution quantities are specified by mathematical
expressions that are composed of basic quantities, such as output variables. When you view the
results, HFSS or Q3D extracts the solution quantities and lists them in the results table.

1. In the Setup Sweep Analysis dialog box, click the Calculations tab.

This displays a table that will show Solutions and associated Calculations. Below the table, are
control buttons to Setup Calculations... and Delete.

2. Click Setup Calculations.

This displays the Add/Edit Calculation dialog. The dialog contains panes to set the Context,
the Trace tab for the Calculation Expression, and the Calculation Range tab for the
Calculation Range.

Follow the procedure to Setup Calculations for Optimetrics.

3. Click Add Calculation to add the expression in the Add/Edit Calculation dialog
Calculation Expression field to the Calculations tab of the Setup Sweep Analysis dialog.

4. Click Done to close the Add/Edit Calculation dialog.

Related Topics

Specifying a Solution Quantity's Calculation Range

Specifying Output Variables

Setup Calculations for Optimetrics.

Setup Calculations for Optimetrics

The Setup dialogs for each of the Optimetrics types include a Setup Calculations button. Clicking
this displays the Add/Edit Calculation dialog box. The dialog box contains distinct panes and tabs
to set the Context, the Calculation Expression, and the Calculation Range.

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The Context pane contains fields for the Report Type to use, the Solution, and depending on the
Report Type selection, the Geometry.

The Trace tab contains fields for the Calculation expression, and, to build the expression, a
Category list, a Quantity list with a Text Filter field, and a list of Functions available for the selected
Category. The Range function button opens a dialog in which you can define a range function to
apply a function to the expression.

The Category list for the Trace tab includes Variables and Output Variables. An Output Variables...
button lets you open a dialog box to define and edit the Output Variables.

To set up an Optimetrics calculation:

1. Click the Setup Calculations button to open the Add/Edit/Calculation dialog.

2. In the Report Type text field in the Context pane, select from the drop down list of available
types.

Selecting Fields as the Report type causes the Geometry field to display.

3. In the Solution text box, select from the drop down list of available solutions.
4. If the Geometry field is available, select from the drop down list.
5. In the Trace tab, specify the solution Category, a Quantity, and Functions. The resulting
expression will be displayed in the Calculation Expression field.
a. Select the Category from the list.

The selection appears in the Calculation Expression field, and the Quantity and
Function fields list what is available for the corresponding selection.

b. Select the Quantity from the list.

The selected quantity appears in the Calculation Expression field.

If the Quantity list is long, you can filter it for easier selection by typing in the text filter
field. Only quantities that contain those alphanumeric characters anywhere in their
name will remain visible in the list.

If you want to create an output variable that represents the solution quantity, do the
following:

l Click the Output Variables button.

The Output Variables dialog box appears.

l Add the expression you want to evaluate, and then click Done.

The recently created output variable appears in the Quantity list.

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l Click a new output variable in the Quantity pull-down list.

Note The calculation you specify must be able to be evaluated into a single, real
number.

The selected Quantity appears in the Calculation Expression field.

c. Select the Function from the list.

The selected function is applied to the Quantity in the Calculation Expression

field.

6. To apply a Range function to the Calculation Expression, see Setting a Range function.
7. Click Add Calculation to add the expression in the Add/Edit Calculation dialog
Calculation Expression field to the Calculations tab of the Setup Sweep Analysis dialog.

8. Click Done to close the Add/Edit Calculation dialog box.

Related Topics

Specifying a Solution Quantity to Evaluate

Setting a Range function

Specifying a Solution Quantity's Calculation Range

The calculation range of a solution quantity determines the value of intrinsic variables such as
frequency (F) at which the solution quantity will be extracted. For a parametric setup, the
calculation range must be a single value. For a Driven Modal or Driven Terminal design, if you
selected to extract the solution from the last adaptive solution, Optimetrics uses the adaptive
frequency defined in the solution setup. If you selected to extract the solution quantity from a
frequency sweep solution, Optimetrics by default will use the starting frequency in the sweep.

1. In the Setup Sweep Analysis dialog box, click the Calculations tab.
2. Click the Setup Calculations button.

The Add/Edit/Calculation dialog box appears.

3. Select the Calculation Range tab.

4. In the Variable list, click an intrinsic variable.

Single Value is selected by default.

5. In the Value box, click a value at which the solution quantity will be extracted.
6. Click Update, and then click Edit.

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Viewing Results for Parametric Solution Quantities

1. In the project tree, right-click the parametric setup for which you want to view the results
calculated for the solution quantities, and then click View Analysis Result on the shortcut
menu.

The Post Analysis Display dialog box appears.

2. Select the parametric setup with the results you want to view from the pull-down list at the
top of the dialog box.
3. If it is not already selected, select Table as the view type.

The results for the selected solution quantities are listed in table format for each solved design
variation. The variation column in the table lists the entries in order. Clicking the Vision header
inverts the order. Clicking other headers sorts the entries by value, and clicking again inverts the
order.

4. Optionally, select Show complete output name.

The complete name of the solution for which the results are being displayed will be listed in the
column headings.

5. Optionally, click a design variation in the table, and then click Apply (at the far right side of
the dialog box).

The design displayed in the 3D Modeler window is changed to represent the selected design
variation.

Related Topics

Plotting Solution Quantity Results vs. a Swept Variable

Using Distributed Analysis

If you have purchased the appropriate license, HFSS supports distributed solve, which involves
distributing rows of a parametric table during Optimetrics solve.

If you do a distributed solve, HFSS launches solver engines on multiple machines, assuming that
you have configured your HPC and Analysis Options correctly. Also see Large Scale DSO for
Parametric Analysis.

To run a distributed analysis:

1. Under Optimetrics in the project tree, right-click the specific parametric setup.
A shortcut menu appears.
2. Select Analyze from the shortcut menu.

Note After you define a parametric sweep, a shortcut menu becomes available when you
right-click the setup name.

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While the analysis is running, you can access parent and child progress bars. By default, only the
main progress bar is displayed, while the child progress bars (or subtasks) remain hidden. You can
toggle between showing and hiding the child progress bars.

To show the child progress bars:

l Right-click the progress window, and select Show Subtask Progress Bars.

To hide the child progress bars:

l Right-click the progress window, and select Hide Subtask Progress Bars.

Related Topics

Setting HPC and Analysis Options

Setting Up Distributed Analysis with Licensing

Adding a Parametric Sweep from a File

You can specify the parameters for a parametric sweep in a spreadsheet that uses either a .csv
(comma delimited) or .txt (tab delimited) format. You can then import the parametric sweep using
the HFSS or Q3D>Optimetrics Analysis>Add Parametric from File command, or with the
Simulation tab selected, use the drop down menu under the Optimetrics icon and select
Parametric from File:

These methods open a file brower for a comma delimted file (.csv) or a tab delimited .txt file.

For example, a .txt spreadsheet file could resemble the following:

a $b $c[in] d[m] $e $f

0.1 mil 2mm 11 21 0.6in 8

0.2mil 3mm 1.3 2.6mm 3 9cm

...

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The first row lists the Project and Design Variable names, and when followed by parentheses, the
units. The following rows provide the variable values and units. Project or Design variables must be
defined before they are accepted from a file. The characters in variable names are not case
sensitive. Consecutive separators are treated as one separator.

The header row also takes units in ( ) as well as the conventional [ ].

Related Topics

Setting up a Parametric Analysis

Optimization Overview
Optimetrics interfaces with ANSYS Electromagnetics products to help you optimize a wide variety
of design parameters based on variable geometry, materials, excitations, component values, etc.
Optimization is the process of locating the minimum of a user-defined cost function. Optimetrics
modifies the variable values until the minimum is reached with acceptable accuracy.

Related Topics

Setting Up an Optimization Analysis

Choosing an Optimizer

Choosing an Optimizer
Conducting an optimization analysis allows you to determine an optimum solution for your problem.
In optimization analyses, you have choices of optimizer, though in most cases, the Sequential
Nonlinear Programming (Gradient) optimizer is recommended.

l Sequential Nonlinear Programming (Gradient)

l Sequential Mixed Integer Non Linear Programming (Gradient and Discrete)
l Quasi Newton (Gradient)
l Pattern Search (Search-based)
l Genetic Algorithm (Random Search)
l MATLAB

All optimizers assume that the nominal problem you are analyzing is close to the optimal solution;
therefore, you must specify a domain that contains the region in which you expect to reach the
optimum value.

All optimizers allow you to define a maximum limit to the number of iterations to be executed. This
prevents you from consuming your remaining computing resources and allows you to analyze the
obtained solutions. From this reduced range, you can further narrow the domain of the problem
and regenerate the solutions.

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All optimizers also allow you to enter a coefficient in the Add Constraints window to define the
linear relationship between the selected variables and the entered constraint value. For the SNLP
and SMINLP optimizers, the relationship can be linear or nonlinear. For the Quasi Newton and
Pattern Search optimizers, the relationship must be linear.

Cost functions can be quite nonlinear. As a result, during the function evaluations of the algorithm,
the cost function can vary significantly. Also, it is important to understand the relationship between
optimization function evaluation and iteration. Every iteration, depending on the number of
parameters to be optimized, performs several function evaluations. These function evaluations,
depending on how nonlinear the cost function is, could show drastic changes. The presence of
drastic changes has no bearing on whether the optimization algorithm converged or not.

In the case of non-gradient search-based optimization algorithms, such as "pattern search," which
are entirely based on function evaluations, one could see drastic changes in the function
evaluations depending on how nonlinear the cost function is. This could seem misleading as if the
algorithm did not converge since in theory one expects the cost function to decrease from one
iteration to the next. The optimetrics, however, reports function evaluations and not necessarily the
optimizer performance per iteration.

Note The MATLAB optimizer displays function evaluation when the Show all functions
evaluation check box is selected. If the check box is not selected, it displays
iteration.

Quasi Newton (Gradient)

If the Sequential Non Linear Programming Optimizer has difficulty, and if the numerical noise is
insignificant during the solution process, use the Quasi Newton optimizer to obtain the results. The
Quasi Newton optimizer works on the basis of finding a minimum or maximum of a cost function
which relates variables in the model or circuit to overall simulation goals. The user marks one or
more variables in the project and defines a cost function in the optimization setup. The cost function
relates the variable values to field quantities, design parameters like force or torque, power loss,
etc. The optimizer can then maximize or minimize the value of the design parameter by varying the
problem variables.

Sir Isaac Newton first showed that the maximum or minimum of any function can be determined by
setting the derivative of a function with respect to a variable (x) to zero and solving for the variable.
This approach leads to the exact solution for quadratic functions. However, for higher order
functions or numerical analysis, an iterative approach is commonly taken. The function is
approximated locally by a quadratic and the approximation is solved for the value of x. This value is
placed back into the original function and used to calculate a gradient which provides a step
direction and size for determining the next best value of x in the iteration process.

In the Quasi-Newton optimization procedure, the gradients and Hessian are calculated
numerically. Essentially, the change in x and the change in the gradient are used to estimate the
Hessian for the next iteration. The ratio of the change in cost to the change in the values of x
provides the gradient, whereas, the ratio of the change in the gradients to the change in the values

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of x provides the Hessian for the next step and is know as the quasi-Newton condition. In order to
perform the Quasi-Newton optimization, at least three solutions are required for each parameter
being varied. This can have a significant computational cost depending upon the type of analysis
being performed.

There are numerous methods described in the literature for solving for the Hessian and the details
of the method used by Optimetrics are beyond the scope of this document. However, as the Quasi-
Newton method is, at its heart, a gradient method, it suffers from two fundamental problems
common to optimization. The first is the possible presence of local minima. The figure below
illustrates the problem of local minima.

In this scenario, you can see that in order to find the minimum of the function over the domain, a
number of factors will determine the overall success including the initial starting point, the initial set
of gradients calculated, the allowable step size, etc. Once the optimizer has located a minimum, the
Quasi-Newton approach will locate the bottom and will not search further for other possible
minima. In the example shown, when the optimizer begins at the point labeled "Starting Point 1" the
minima it finds is a local minima and not a good global solution to the problem.

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The second basic issue with Quasi-Newton optimization is numerical noise. In gradient
optimization, the derivatives are assumed to be smooth, well behaved functions. However, when
the gradients are calculated numerically, the calculation involves taking the differences of numbers
that get progressively smaller. At some point, the numerical imprecision in the parameter
calculations becomes greater than the differences calculated in the gradients and the solution will
oscillate and may never reach convergence. To illustrate this, consider the figure shown below.

In this scenario, the optimizer is looking for the point labeled "minimum". Three possible solutions
are labeled A, B and C, with each arrow indicating the direction of the derivative of the function at
that point. If points A and B represent the last two solution points for the parameter, then it is easy
to see that the changes in the magnitude and the consistent direction of the derivatives will serve to
push the solution closer to the desired minimum. If, however, points A and C are the last two
solution points respectively, the magnitude indicates the proper direction of movement, but the
derivatives are opposite, possibly causing the solution to move away from the minimum, back in the
direction of point A.

In order to use the Quasi-Newton optimizer effectively, the cost function should be based on
parameters that exhibit a smooth characteristic (little numerical noise) and a starting point of the
optimization should be chosen somewhat close to the expected minimum based on an
understanding of the physical problem being optimized. This becomes increasingly difficult,

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however, when multiple parameters are being varied or when multiple parameters are to be
optimized. In addition, the computational burden of multivariate optimization with Quasi-Newton
increases geometrically with the number of variables being optimized. As a result, this method
should only be attempted when 1 or 2 variables are being optimized as a time.

For more information regarding Quasi-Newton optimization methods, see the following reference:

Schoenberg, Ronald. Optimization with the Quasi-Newton Method. Aptech Systems, Inc. 2001.

Related Topics

Optimization Setup for Quasi Newton Optimizer

Pattern Search (Search-Based)

If the noise is significant in the nominal project, use the Pattern Search optimizer to obtain the
results. It performs a grid-based simplex search, which makes use of simplices: triangles in 2D
space or tetrahedra in 3D space. A simplex is a Euclidean geometric spatial element having the
minimum number of boundary points, such as a line segment in one-dimensional space, a triangle
in two-dimensional space, or a tetrahedron in three-dimensional space.

The cost value is calculated at the vertices of the simplex. The optimizer mirrors the simplex across
one of its faces based on mathematical guidelines and determines if the new simplex provides
better results. If it does not produce a better result, the next face is used for mirroring and the
pattern continues. If no improvement occurs, the grid is refined. If improvement occurs, the step is
accepted and the new simplex is generated to replace the original one. The figures below illustrate
a triangular simplex mirrored several times to demonstrate the pattern search approach in two
variables and the simplices superimposed on a 2D cost function to demonstrate the convergence
toward a minimum in the cost function.

Cost functions can be quite nonlinear. As a result, during the function evaluations of the algorithm,
the cost function can vary significantly. Also, it is important to understand the relationship between
optimization function evaluation and iteration. Every iteration, depending on the number of
parameters to be optimized, performs several function evaluations. These function evaluations,
depending on how nonlinear the cost function is, could show drastic changes. The presence of
drastic changes has no bearing on whether the optimization algorithm converged or not.

In the case of non-gradient search-based optimization algorithms, such as "pattern search," which
are entirely based on function evaluations, one could see drastic changes in the function
evaluations depending on how nonlinear the cost function is. This could seem misleading as if the
algorithm did not converge since in theory one expects the cost function to decrease from one
iteration to the next. The optimetrics, however, reports function evaluations and not necessarily the
optimizer performance per iteration.

Note The MATLAB optimizer displays function evaluation when the Show all functions
evaluation check box is selected. If the check box is not selected, it displays

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iteration.

The Pattern Search algorithms are extensible to three variable optimization by using tetrahedral
simplices, however, they are not easily represented in graphical form. Generally, Pattern Search
algorithms are not used when more than three variables are used in the optimization.

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When there is no improvement in the cost function regardless of the direction the simplex is
mirrored, then the simplex is subdivided into smaller simplices and the process restarted.

Pattern Search algorithms have several advantages over Quasi-Newton algorithms. First, they are
less sensitive to noise because the cost function is evaluated at all node points on the simplex and
the numerical noise averages out over the simplex. The second advantage is that the number of
initial solutions is generally smaller. However, since the pattern search does not use gradient
information to locate the minimum the process converges more slowly toward the true minimum,
taking more steps to successively divide the simplices as the minimum is approached.

Related Topics

Optimization Setup for Pattern Search Optimizer

Sequential Non linear Programming (Gradient)

The main advantage of SNLP (Gradient) over Quasi Newton (Gradient) is that it handles the
optimization problem in more depth. This optimizer assumes that the optimization variables span a
continuous space. As a result, there is no Minimum Step Size specified in this optimizer and the
variables may take any value within the allowable constraints and within the numerical precision
limits of the simulator. Like Quasi Newton, the SNLP optimizer assumes that the noise is not
significant. It does reduce the effect of the noise, but the noise filtering is not strong.

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The SNLP optimizer approximates the FEA characterization with Response Surfaces (RS). With
the FEA-approximation and with light evaluation of the cost function, SNLP has a good
approximation of the cost function in terms of the optimization variables. This approximation allows
the SNLP optimizer to estimate the location of improving points. The overall cost approximations
are more accurate. This allows the SNLP optimizer a faster practical convergence speed than that
of quasi Newton.

The SNLP Optimizer creates the response surface using a polynomial approximation from the FEA
simulation results available from past solutions. The response surface is most accurate in the local
vicinity. The response surface is used in the optimization loop to determine the gradients and
calculate the next step direction and distance. The response surface acts as a surrogate for the
FEA simulation, reducing the number of FEA simulations required and greatly speeding the
problem. Convergence improves as more FEA solutions are created and the response surface
approximation improves.

The SNLP method is similar to the Sequential Quadratic Programming (SQP) method in two ways:
Both are sequential, updating the optimizer state to the current optimal values and iterating.
Sequential optimization can be thought of as walking a path, step by step, toward an optimal goal.
SNLP and SQP optimizers are also similar in that both use local and inexpensive surrogates.
However, in the SNLP case, the surrogate can be of a higher order and is more generally
constrained. The goal is to achieve a surrogate model that is accurate enough on a wider scale, so
that the search procedures are well lead by the surrogate, even for relatively large steps. All
functions calculated by the supporting finite element product (for example, Maxwell 3D or HFSS) is
assumed to be expensive, while the rest of the cost calculation (for example, an extra user-defined
expression) — which is implemented in Optimetrics — is assumed to be inexpensive. For this
reason, it makes sense to remove inexpensive evaluations from the finite element problem and,
instead, implement them in Optimetrics. This optimizer holds several advantages over the Quasi
Newton and Pattern Search optimizers.

Most importantly, due to the separation of expensive and inexpensive evaluations in the cost
calculation, the SNLP optimizer is more tightly integrated with the supporting FEA tools. This tight
integration provides more insight into the optimization problem, resulting in a significantly faster
optimization process. A second advantage is that the SNLP optimizer does not require cost-
derivatives to be approximated, protecting against uncertainties (noise) in cost evaluations. In
addition to derivative-free state of the RS-based SNLP, the RS technique also proves to have
noise suppression properties.

Related Topics

Optimization Setup for SNLP Optimizer

Sequential Mixed Integer NonLinear Programming (Gradient and Discrete)

The Sequential Mixed Integer Nonlinear Programming (Gradient and Discrete) optimizer is
equivalent to the SNLP (Gradient) optimizer with only one difference. Many problems require
variables take only discrete values. One example might be to optimize on the number of turns in a

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coil. To be able to optimize on number of turns or quarter turns, the optimizer must handle discrete
optimization variables. The SMINLP optimizer can mix continuous variables among the integers, or
can have only integers, and works if all variables are continuous. The setup resembles the setup for
SNLP, except that you must flag the integer variables.supporting integer variables. You can set up
internal variables based on the integer optimization variable.

For example, consider N to be an integer optimization variable. By definition it can only assume
integer values. You can establish another variable, which further depends on this one: K = 2.345 *
N, or K = sin(30 * N). This way K has a discrete value, but is not necessarily integer. Or, one can
use N directly as a design parameter.

Related Topics

Optimization Setup for SMINLP Optimizer

Genetic Algorithm (Random Search)

Genetic Algorithm (Random Search) optimizers are part of a class of optimization techniques
called stochastic optimizers. They do not use the information from the experiment or the cost
function to determine where to further explore the design space. Instead, they use a type of
random selection and apply it in a structured manner. The random selection of evaluations to
proceed to the next generation has the advantage of allowing the optimizer to jump out of a local
minima at the expense of many random solutions which do not provide improvement toward the
optimization goal. As a result, the GA optimizer will run many more iterations and may be
prohibitively slow.

The Genetic Algorithm search is an iterative process that goes through a number of generations
(see picture below). In each generation some new individuals (Children / Number of Individuals)
are created and the grown population participates in a selection (natural-selection) process that in
turn reduces the size of the population to a desired level (Next Generation / Number of Individuals).

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When a smaller set of individuals must be created from a bigger set, the GA selects individuals from
the original set. During this process, better fit (in relation to the cost function) individuals are
preferred. In the elitist selection, simply the best so many individuals are selected, but if you turn on
the roulette selection, then the selection process gets relaxed. An iterative process starts selecting
the individuals and fills up the resulting set, but instead of selecting the best so many, we use a
roulette wheel that has for each selection-candidate divisions made proportional to the fitness level
(relative to the cost function) of the candidate. This means that the fitter the individual is, the larger
the probability of his survival will be.

Related Topics

Optimization Setup for Genetic Algorithm Optimizer

Optimization Variables in Design Space

Cost Function

Advanced Genetic Algorithm Optimizer Options

MATLAB optimizer

The MATLAB optimizer option lets you pass a script to MATLAB to perform the optimization. When
the optimization is analyzed, MATLAB is launched and a script is passed in to MATLAB to perform
the optimization. During the optimization, MATLAB will call back into our application to perform the
solve and compute the cost. The cost will be reported back to MATLAB, and MATLAB's
optimization will determine the next step in the optimization.

The optimization script is specified as part of the optimization setup. By modifying the optimization
script, users can change the optimization parameters and optimization method as well as use the
full power of MATLAB in their optimization.

Running the Optimization

The MATLAB optimization is launched just like any other optimization. The Message Window will
display status messages when MATLAB is being launched, and status messages will be generated
for each solve that is being performed.

In most cases, MATLAB will terminate when the optimization has been completed. Some reasons
why MATLAB would not terminate are:

l The user has modified the MATLAB script to not terminate MATLAB after the optimization.
l A syntax error or some other has occurred.
l The user has added some other code which runs after the optimization has completed.

System Requirements

In order to use MATLAB to perform optimizations from your application:

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l A version of MATLAB must be installed on your system.

l The computing platform (i.e. 32/64 bit or Linux) of MATLAB MUST match the platform of the
ANSYS application you are using it with.
l You must have the MATLAB Optimization Toolkit installed.
l The MATLAB installation must include the MATLAB Optimization Toolbox. In addition, the
MATLAB license must support using the Optimization Toolbox.

To see if the optimization toolbox is installed, the user can type the "ver" command at the
command prompt of a running MATLAB instance, e.g.:
>> ver

--------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------

MATLAB Version: 8.1.0.604 (R2013a)

MATLAB License Number: 162684

Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Version 6.1 (Build 7601:

Service Pack 1)

Java Version: Java 1.6.0_17-b04 with Sun Microsystems Inc. Java

HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM mixed mode

--------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------

MATLAB Version 8.1 (R2013a)

Simulink Version 8.1 (R2013a)

Optimization Toolbox Version 6.3 (R2013a)

To see if the optimization toolbox is licensed, you can use the "license('test','optimization_
toolbox')" command at the MATLAB command prompt:
>> license('test','optimization_toolbox')

ans =

The answer will be 1 if the MATLAB Optimization Toolbox is licensed or 0 otherwise.

Specifying the MATLAB Location

The Tools>General Options:Miscellaneous tab contains a setting for the MATLAB location. This
setting must to point to the version of MATLAB to be used for performing the optimization. The
platform (32/64 bit or Linux of the specified version of MATLAB must match the platform of this
application).

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MATLAB Optimization Setup

MATLAB optimization starts by creating an optimization and selecting MATLAB from the optimizer
dropdown list. If you select MATLAB as the optimizer, the Setup Optimization dialog displays a
Setup... button.

Select Setup... to open the MATLAB Options dialog.

The upper text panel is informative. The Script section drop down lets you select a lower panel
display for Optimization algorithm, Options, or the Full script template.

This screen allows you to modify the script that is passed to MATLAB to perform the optimization.
The complete script contains all the instructions necessary for MATLAB to connect to our
application and perform the optimization, and a lot of that code is unimportant to users. We have
addressed this issue by displaying a dropdown to let you view only the portion of code they are
interested in without having to view the full script. The choices are:

l Optimization algorithm: displays only the line of code invoking the actual optimization
function. By changing this line, the user can use a different MATLAB function for
optimization. By default we use fmincon() which is a derivative based constrained
optimization. By modifying this line, the user could replace the fmincon() call with fminsearch
() to use an unconstrained pattern searching optimizer or another optimization function. See
the MATLAB documentation for details about available optimization functions.
l Options: Each optimization function contains a multitude of options and parameters which
are set in the MATLAB script prior to actually calling the optimization function. By modifying
these options, the optimization can be customized as desired. For instance, options can be

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set for fmincon() to specify the algorithm that it uses internally. See the MATLAB
documentation for details about options available for each optimization function.
l Full script template: This choice displays the full optimization script that is passed to
MATLAB.

The initial Script Section display for the Optimization algorithm shows the following:
% invoke optimization

[x,fval,exitflag,output] = fmincon(wrapperfunc, startingpoint, [],

[], [], [], $ANS_MINVAL, $ANS_MAXVAL, nlcon, options)

The initial Script Section Options display shows the following:

% customers can add their own options below

options = optimset(options, 'display', 'iter')

options = optimset(options, 'Algorithm', 'interior-point')

% options = optimset(options, 'PlotFcns', @optimplotfval)

You can modify the script to extend and customize the optimization to your needs. You must
ensure that the script follows MATLAB syntax. For instance, by modifying the optimization script
you can:

l Change the optimization algorithm (e.g. call fminsearch instead of fmincon).

l Change the parameters/options of the optimization algorithm (see the MATLAB
documentation for details).
l Specify a plot function to provide graphical output during optimization.
l Specify a user defined output function to be called at completion or per iteration.

Symbols:

When modifying the MATLAB code, users can use symbols to represent values from the
optimization setup. The symbols and their definitions are listed below.

$ANS_VARIABLE_ list of variables we are optimizing

LIST:
$ANS_STARTING_ vector of starting values of variables used in the optimization
POINT:
$ANS_ maximum number of iterations specified in optimization setup
MAXITERATIONS:
$ANS_MINVAL: vector of minimum values from optimization setup
$ANS_MAXVAL: vector of maximum values from optimization setup

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$ANS_MINSTEP: vector of minimum step sizes from optimization setup

$ANS_MAXSTEP: vector of maximum step sizes from optimization setup
$ANS_A_MATRIX matrix of linear constraint coefficients (left-hand side) generated from
optimization setup
$ANS_B_MATRIX matrix of linear constraint bounds (right-hand side) generated from
optimization setup

Note The linear constraints as generated for MATLAB have the form [A][x] <= [B], where [A] is
the coefficient matrix, [x] is the variable list matrix (column vector), and [B] is the bounds
matrix (column vector).

Note While modifying the script, please ensure that the script follows MATLAB syntax.

MATLAB Optimization Script Template

The script template shown in the Script Section is as follows:

% make sure platform matches

if strcmp(computer, '$ANS_EXPECTED_PLATFORM') ~= 1

h = msgbox('32/64 platform does not match calling application,

exiting')

uiwait(h)

exit

end

% add installation dir to search path so .mex file can be found

originalpath = addpath('$ANS_EXEDIR')

% connect back to opticomengine

callbackinterface = optimex('connect', '$ANS_CONNECTIONSTRING')

% set up optimization

% variables are: $ANS_VARIABLELIST

startingpoint = $ANS_STARTINGPOINT

options = optimset('MaxIter', $ANS_MAXITERATIONS)

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iterationCallbackWrapper = @(x, optimValues, state) optimex

('notifyiterationcomplete', callbackinterface, x, optimValues.fval,
state)

options = optimset(options, 'OutputFcn', iterationCallbackWrapper)

% halt execution so debugger can be attached

% h = msgbox('attach debugger if desired')

% uiwait(h)

% attributes that user can pass to optimization algorithm

% variables are: $ANS_VARIABLELIST

% this is the objective function which returns cost

wrapperfunc = @(x)optimex('eval', callbackinterface, x)

% this is our non linear constraint function, returns no constraints

returnempty = @(x)[];

nlcon = @(x) deal(returnempty(x), returnempty(x));

% DO NOT EDIT THIS LINE - START OPTIONS SECTION

% customers can add their own options below

options = optimset(options, 'display', 'iter')

options = optimset(options, 'Algorithm', 'interior-point')

% options = optimset(options, 'PlotFcns', @optimplotfval)

% DO NOT EDIT THIS LINE - END OPTIONS SECTION

% DO NOT EDIT THIS LINE - START OPTIMIZATION ALGO SECTION

% invoke optimization
[x,fval,exitflag,output] = fmincon(wrapperfunc, startingpoint, $ANS_
A_MATRIX, $ANS_B_MATRIX, [], [], $ANS_MINVAL, $ANS_MAXVAL, nlcon,
options)

% DO NOT EDIT THIS LINE - END OPTIMIZATION ALGO SECTION

% write exit message to Ansoft message window (warning=0,error=1,info=2)

optimex('postansoftmessage', callbackinterface, 2, output.message)

% notify opticomengine that optimization is finished

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optimex('optimizationfinished', callbackinterface, exitflag)

% restore original path

path = originalpath

% note: comment below line if you want MATLAB to remain

% running after optimization

exit

Related Topics

Optimization Setup for the MATLAB Optimizer

Tools>General Options:Miscellaneous

Optimization Variables and the Design Space

Once the optimization variables are specified, the optimizer handles each of them as an n-
dimensional vector x. Any point in the design space corresponds to a particular x-vector and to a
design instance. Each design instance may be evaluated via FEA and assigned a cost value;

therefore, the cost function is defined over the design space (cost(x): , where n is the
number of optimization variables.

In practice, a solution of the minimization problem is sought only on a bounded subset of the Rn
space. This subset is called the feasible domain and is defined via linear constraints.

Setting Up an Optimization Analysis

Optimization allows you to vary predefined variables in the nominal design to search for the solution
that best satisfies a set of user defined goals or cost functions. Optimetrics modifies the variable
values until the minimum is reached with acceptable accuracy.

Note l You can define more than one optimization analysis setup per design.
l You can create an Optimization setup before defining variables but all variables must
be defined before you start the Optimization analysis.
l Once you have created an optimization analysis setup, you can copy and paste it,
and then make changes to the copy, rather than redoing the whole process for minor
changes.

To provide a broad range of capability, Optimetrics incorporates the following types of numerical
optimizers:

l Sequential Nonlinear Programming (Gradient)

l Sequential Mixed Integer Nonlinear Programming (Gradient and Discrete)

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l Quasi Newton (Gradient)

l Pattern Search (Search-based)
l Genetic Algorithm (Random search)
l MATLAB

Click on the links above to view the setup procedure for each optimizer. Options for the analysis are
listed in the table. Besides setting up an Optimization analysis from the Optimization menu, you can
also the Simulation tab of the ribbon, and select from the menu under the Optimetrics icon:

The following optional optimization solution setup options can also be used:

l Modify the starting variable value.

l Edit the Calc. Range text field or use the Edit Calculation Range dialog.
l Modify the minimum and maximum values of variables that will be optimized.
l Exclude variables from optimization.
l Modify the values of fixed variables that are not being optimized.
l Set the minimum and maximum step size between solved design variations For the Quasi
Newton (Gradient) and Pattern Search (Search based optimizers), Variables tab).
l Set the minimum and maximum focus size. (For the SNLP Gradient and SMINLP
Gradient and Discrete optimizers, Variables tab).
l Set Linear constraints.
l Request that Optimetrics solve a parametric sweep before an optimization analysis.
l Request that Optimetrics solve a parametric sweep during an optimization analysis.
l Automatically update optimized variables to the optimal values during an optimization or
after an optimization analysis is completed.
l Change the norm used for the cost function calculation (Advanced Option)
l Open the HPC and Analysis Options dialog box.

Note Sweeping or using a complex variable is not allowed in any optimetrics setup, including

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optimization, statistical, sensitivity, and tuning setups.

Related Topics

Optimization Overview

Choosing an Optimizer

Optimization Setup for the Quasi Newton (Gradient) Optimizer

Following is the procedure for setting up an optimization analysis using the Quasi Newton
(Gradient) Optimizer. Once you have created a setup, you can Copy and Paste it, and then make
changes to the copy, rather than redoing the whole process for minor changes.

1. Set up the variables you want to optimize in the Design Properties dialog box.
2. Click HFSS or Q3D Extractor or 2D Extractor>Optimetrics Analysis>Add

Optimization .

The Setup Optimization dialog box appears.

3. Under the Goals tab, select the optimizer by selecting Quasi Newton (Gradient) from the
Optimizer pull-down list. Selecting Quasi Newton (Gradient) enables the Acceptable Cost
and Noise fields.

4. Type the maximum number of iterations you want Optimetrics to perform during the
optimization analysis in the Max. No. of Iterations text box.
5. Under Cost Function, add a cost function by selecting the Setup Calculations button to
open the Add/Edit Calculation dialog.
6. Type the value of the cost function at which the optimization process should stop in the
Acceptable Cost text box. Note that for Quasi Newton, if you specify 0 as the acceptable
cost, the simulation stops after the first analysis.
7. Type the cost function noise in the Noise text box.
8. If you want to select a Cost Function Norm Type:
l Check the Show Advanced Option check box.

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The Cost Function Norm Type pull-down list appears.

l Select L1, L2, or Maximum.

A norm is a function that assigns a positive value to the cost function.

For L1 norm the actual cost function uses the sum of absolute weighted values of the
individual goal errors. For L2 norm (the default) the actual cost function uses the
weighted sum of squared values of the individual goal error. For the Maximum norm
the cost function uses the maximum among all the weighted goal errors. (For further
details, see Explanation of the L1, L2, and Max Norms in Optimization.)

The norm type doesn't impact goal setting that use as condition the "minimize" or
"maximize" scenarios.

9. Optionally, click the button for setting HPC and Analysis Options, which allows you to select
or create an analysis configuration.
10. In the Variables tab, specify the Min/Max values for variables included in the optimization,
and the Min/Max Step Size for the analysis.
l You may also override the variable starting values by clicking the Override check box and
entering the desired value in the Starting Value field.
l Optionally, modify the values of fixed variables that are not being optimized.
l Optionally, set Linear constraints.
l Select the View all columns check box to see all columns, including hidden columns.
11. In the General tab, specify whether Optimetrics should use the results of a previous
Parametric analysis or perform one as part of the optimization process.

Enabling the Update design parameters' value after optimization check box will
cause Optimetrics to modify the variable values in the nominal design to match the final
values from the optimization analysis.

12. Under the Options tab, if you want to save the field solution data for every solved design
variations in the optimization analysis, select Save Fields And Mesh.

Note Do not select this option when requesting a large number of iterations as the data
generated will be very large and the system may become slow due to the large I/O
requirements.

You may also select Copy geometrically equivalent meshes to reuse the mesh when
geometry changes are not required, for example when optimizing on a material property or
source excitation. This will provide some speed improvement in the overall optimization
process.

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Optimization Setup for the Pattern Search (Search-based) Optimizer

Following is the procedure for setting up an optimization analysis using the Pattern Search
(Search-based) Optimizer. Once you have created a setup, you can Copy and Paste it, and then
make changes to the copy, rather than redoing the whole process for minor changes.

1. Set up the variables you want to optimize in the Design Properties dialog box.

2. Click HFSS >Optimetrics Analysis>Add Optimization .

The Setup Optimization dialog box appears.

3. Under the Goals tab, select the optimizer by selecting Pattern Search (Search-based)
from the Optimizer pull-down list.

Selecting Pattern Search enables the Acceptable Cost and Noise fields.

4. Type the maximum number of iterations you want Optimetrics to perform during the
optimization analysis in the Max. No. of Iterations text box.
5. Under Cost Function, add a cost function by selecting the Setup Calculations button to
open the Add/Edit Calculation dialog.
6. Type the value of the cost function at which the optimization process should stop in the
Acceptable Cost text box.
7. Type the cost function noise in the Noise text box.
8. If you want to select a Cost Function Norm Type:
l Check the Show Advanced Option check box.

The Cost Function Norm Type pull-down list appears.

l Select L1, L2, or Maximum.

A norm is a function that assigns a positive value to the cost function.

For L1 norm the actual cost function uses the sum of absolute weighted values of the
individual goal errors. For L2 norm (the default) the actual cost function uses the

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weighted sum of squared values of the individual goal error. For the Maximum norm
the cost function uses the maximum among all the weighted goal errors. (For further
details, see Explanation of the L1, L2, and Max Norms in Optimization.)

The norm type doesn't impact goal setting that use as condition the "minimize" or
"maximize" scenarios.

9. Optionally, click the button for setting HPC and Analysis Options, which allows you to select
or create an analysis configuration.
10. In the Variables tab, specify the Min/Max values for variables included in the optimization,
and the Min/Max Step Size for the analysis.
l You may also override the variable starting values by clicking the Override check box and
entering the desired value in the Starting Value field.
l Optionally, modify the values of fixed variables that are not being optimized.
l Optionally, set Linear constraints.

Select the View all columns check box to see all columns, including hidden columns.

11. In the General tab, specify whether Optimetrics should use the results of a previous
Parametric analysis or perform one as part of the optimization process.

Enabling the Update design parameters' value after optimization check box will cause
Optimetrics to modify the variable values in the nominal design to match the final values from the
optimization analysis.

12. Under the Options tab, if you want to save the field solution data for every solved design
variations in the optimization analysis, select Save Fields And Mesh.

Note Do not select this option when requesting a large number of iterations as the data
generated will be very large and the system may become slow due to the large I/O
requirements.

You may also select Copy geometrically equivalent meshes to reuse the mesh when
geometry changes are not required, for example when optimizing on a material property or
source excitation.This will provide some speed improvement in the overall optimization process.

Optimization Setup for the Merit-based Sequential Quadratic

Programming(Gradient) Optimizer
Following is the procedure for setting up an optimization analysis using the Merit-based Sequential
Quadratic Programming(Gradient) Optimizer or MBSQ Optimizer. Once you have created a setup,
you can Copy and Paste it, and then make changes to the copy, rather than redoing the whole
process for minor changes.

1. Set up the variables you want to optimize in the Design Properties dialog box.
2. On the Product menu, point to Optimetrics Analysis, and then click Add Optimization
.

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The Setup Optimization dialog box appears.

3. Under the Goals tab, select the optimizer by selecting Merit-based Sequential Quadratic
Programming(Gradient) from the Optimizer pull-down list.
4. Type the maximum number of iterations you want Optimetrics to perform during the
optimization analysis in the Max. No. of Iterations text box.
5. Under Cost Function, add a cost function by selecting the Setup Calculations button to
open the Add/Edit Calculation dialog.
6. If you want to select a Cost Function Norm Type:
l Check the Show Advanced Option check box.

The Cost Function Norm Type pull-down list appears.

l Select L1, L2, or Maximum.

A norm is a function that assigns a positive value to the cost function.

For L1 norm the actual cost function uses the sum of absolute weighted values of the
individual goal errors. For L2 norm (the default) the actual cost function uses the
weighted sum of squared values of the individual goal error. For the Maximum norm
the cost function uses the maximum among all the weighted goal errors. (For further
details, see Explanation of the L1, L2, and Max Norms in Optimization.)

The norm type doesn’t impact goal setting that use as condition the “minimize” or
“maximize” scenarios.

7. Optionally, click the button for setting HPC and Analysis Options, which allows you to select
or create an analysis configuration.
8. In the Variables tab, specify the Min/Max values for variables included in the optimization,
and the Min/Max Focus for the analysis.
l You may also override the variable starting values by clicking the Override check box and
entering the desired value in the Starting Value field.
l Optionally, modify the values of fixed variables that are not being optimized.
l Optionally, set Linear constraints.
l Select the View all columns check box to see all columns, including hidden columns.
9. In the General tab, specify whether Optimetrics should use the results of a previous
Parametric analysis or perform one as part of the optimization process.

Enabling the Update design parameters’ value after optimization check box will cause
Optimetrics to modify the variable values in the nominal design to match the final values from the
optimization analysis.

10. Use the Options tab if you want to enable use of a fast calculation-update algorithm to
speed up Optimetrics and report updates during Optimetrics analyses, and to save the
solution data for solved design variations in the analysis.

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Optimization Setup for the Sequential Nonlinear Programming

(Gradient) Optimizer
Following is the procedure for setting up an optimization analysis using the Sequential Nonlinear
Programming (Gradient) Optimizer. Once you have created a setup, you can Copy and Paste it,
and then make changes to the copy, rather than redoing the whole process for minor changes.

1. Set up the variables you want to optimize in the Design Properties dialog box.
2. Click HFSS or Q3D Extractor or 2D Extractor>Optimetrics Analysis>Add

Optimization .

The Setup Optimization dialog box appears.

3. Under the Goals tab, select the optimizer by selecting Sequential Nonlinear
Programming (Gradient) from the Optimizer pull-down list.

4. Type the maximum number of iterations you want Optimetrics to perform during the
optimization analysis in the Max. No. of Iterations text box.
5. Under Cost Function, add a cost function by selecting the Setup Calculations button to
open the Add/Edit Calculation dialog.
6. If you want to select a Cost Function Norm Type:
l Check the Show Advanced Option check box.

The Cost Function Norm Type pull-down list appears.

l Select L1, L2, or Maximum.

A norm is a function that assigns a positive value to the cost function.

For L1 norm the actual cost function uses the sum of absolute weighted values of the
individual goal errors. For L2 norm (the default) the actual cost function uses the
weighted sum of squared values of the individual goal error. For the Maximum norm
the cost function uses the maximum among all the weighted goal errors, which means

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that it is always less than zero. (For further details, see Explanation of the L1, L2,
and Max Norms in Optimization.)

The norm type doesn't impact goal setting that use as condition the "minimize" or
"maximize" scenarios.

7. Optionally, click the button for setting HPC and Analysis Options, which allows you to select
or create an analysis configuration.
8. In the Variables tab, specify the Min/Max values for variables included in the optimization,
and the Min/Max Focus for the analysis.
l You may also override the variable starting values by clicking the Override check box and
entering the desired value in the Starting Value field.
l Optionally, modify the values of fixed variables that are not being optimized.
l Optionally, set Linear constraints.
l Select the View all columns check box to see all columns, including hidden columns.
9. In the General tab, specify whether Optimetrics should use the results of a previous
Parametric analysis or perform one as part of the optimization process.

Enabling the Update design parameters' value after optimization check box will cause
Optimetrics to modify the variable values in the nominal design to match the final values from the
optimization analysis.

10. Under the Options tab, if you want to save the field solution data for every solved design
variations in the optimization analysis, select Save Fields And Mesh.

Note Do not select this option when requesting a large number of iterations as the data
generated will be very large and the system may become slow due to the large I/O
requirements.

You may also select Copy geometrically equivalent meshes to reuse the mesh when
geometry changes are not required, for example when optimizing on a material property or
source excitation.This will provide some speed improvement in the overall optimization process.

Optimization Setup for the Sequential Mixed Integer Nonlinear

Programming (Gradient and Discrete) Optimizer
Following is the procedure for setting up an optimization analysis using the Sequential Mixed
Integer Nonlinear Programming (Gradient and Discrete) Optimizer. Once you have created a
setup, you can Copy and Paste it, and then make changes to the copy, rather than redoing the
whole process for minor changes.

1. Set up the variables you want to optimize in the Design Properties dialog box.
2. Click HFSS or Q3D Extractor or 2D Extractor>Optimetrics Analysis> Add

Optimization .

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The Setup Optimization dialog box appears.

3. Under the Goals tab, select the optimizer by selecting Sequential Mixed Integer
Nonlinear Programming (Gradient and Discrete) from the Optimizer pull-down list.

4. Type the maximum number of iterations you want Optimetrics to perform during the
optimization analysis in the Max. No. of Iterations text box.
5. Under Cost Function, add a cost function by selecting the Setup Calculations button to
open the Add/Edit Calculation dialog.
6. If you want to select a Cost Function Norm Type:
l Check the Show Advanced Option check box.

The Cost Function Norm Type pull-down list appears.

l Select L1, L2, or Maximum.

A norm is a function that assigns a positive value to the cost function.

For L1 norm the actual cost function uses the sum of absolute weighted values of the
individual goal errors. For L2 norm (the default) the actual cost function uses the
weighted sum of squared values of the individual goal error. For the Maximum norm
the cost function uses the maximum among all the weighted goal errors. (For further
details, see Explanation of the L1, L2, and Max Norms in Optimization.)

The norm type doesn't impact goal setting that use as condition the "minimize" or
"maximize" scenarios.

7. Optionally, click the button for setting HPC and Analysis Options, which allows you to select
or create an analysis configuration.
8. In the Variables tab, specify the Min/Max values for variables included in the optimization,
and the Min/Max Focus for the analysis.
l Check the Integer box for integer variables.
l You may also override the variable starting values by clicking the Override check box and
entering the desired value in the Starting Value field.
l Optionally, modify the values of fixed variables that are not being optimized.

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l Optionally, set Linear constraints.

l Select the View all columns check box to see all columns, including hidden columns.
9. In the General tab, specify whether Optimetrics should use the results of a previous
Parametric analysis or perform one as part of the optimization process.

Enabling the Update design parameters' value after optimization check box will cause
Optimetrics to modify the variable values in the nominal design to match the final values from the
optimization analysis.

10. Under the Options tab, if you want to save the field solution data for every solved design
variations in the optimization analysis, select Save Fields And Mesh.

Note Do not select this option when requesting a large number of iterations as the data
generated will be very large and the system may become slow due to the large I/O
requirements.

You may also select Copy geometrically equivalent meshes to reuse the mesh when
geometry changes are not required, for example when optimizing on a material property or
source excitation.This will provide some speed improvement in the overall optimization process.

Optimization Setup for the Genetic Algorithm (Random search)

Optimizer
Following is the procedure for setting up an optimization analysis using the Genetic Algorithm
(Random search) Optimizer. Once you have created a setup, you can Copy and Paste it, and then
make changes to the copy, rather than redoing the whole process for minor changes.

1. Set up the variables you want to optimize in the Design Properties dialog box.
2. Click HFSS or Q3D Extractor or 2D Extractor>Optimetrics Analysis>Add

Optimization .

The Setup Optimization dialog box appears.

3. Under the Goals tab, select the optimizer by selecting Genetic Algorithm(Random
search) from the Optimizer pull-down list.

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4. Click the Setup... button to modify the Advanced Genetic Algorithm Optimizer Options.
5. Under Cost Function, add a cost function by selecting the Setup Calculations button to
open the Add/Edit Calculation dialog.
6. If you want to select a Cost Function Norm Type:
l Check the Show Advanced Option check box.

The Cost Function Norm Type pull-down list appears.

l Select L1, L2, or Maximum.

A norm is a function that assigns a positive value to the cost function.

For L1 norm the actual cost function uses the sum of absolute weighted values of the
individual goal errors. For L2 norm (the default) the actual cost function uses the
weighted sum of squared values of the individual goal error. For the Maximum norm
the cost function uses the maximum among all the weighted goal errors. (For further
details, see Explanation of the L1, L2, and Max Norms in Optimization.)

The norm type doesn't impact goal setting that use as condition the "minimize" or
"maximize" scenarios.

7. Optionally, click the button for setting HPC and Analysis Options, which allows you to select
or create an analysis configuration.
8. In the Variables tab, specify the Min/Max values for variables included in the optimization,
and the Min/Max Focus for the analysis.
l You may also override the variable starting values by clicking the Override check box and
entering the desired value in the Starting Value field.
l Optionally, modify the values of fixed variables that are not being optimized.
l Optionally, set Linear constraints.
l Select the View all columns check box to see all columns, including hidden columns.
9. In the General tab, specify whether Optimetrics should use the results of a previous
Parametric analysis or perform one as part of the optimization process.

Enabling the Update design parameters' value after optimization check box will cause
Optimetrics to modify the variable values in the nominal design to match the final values from the
optimization analysis.

10. Under the Options tab, if you want to save the field solution data for every solved design
variations in the optimization analysis, select Save Fields And Mesh.

Note Do not select this option when requesting a large number of iterations as the data
generated will be very large and the system may become slow due to the large I/O
requirements.

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You may also select Copy geometrically equivalent meshes to reuse the mesh when
geometry changes are not required, for example when optimizing on a material property or
source excitation.This will provide some speed improvement in the overall optimization process.

Optimization Setup for the MATLAB Optimizer

Following is the procedure for setting up an optimization analysis using the MATLAB Optimizer.
Once you have created a setup, you can Copy and Paste it, and then make changes to the copy,
rather than redoing the whole process for minor changes.

1. Set up the variables you want to optimize in the Design Properties dialog box.
2. On the menu, point to Optimetrics Analysis, and then click Add Optimization.

The Setup Optimization dialog box appears.

3. Under the Goals tab, select the optimizer by selecting MATLAB from the Optimizer pull-
down list. Selecting MATLAB enables the Acceptable Cost and Noise fields.
4. Click the Setup... button to modify the MATLAB Optimizer Options.
5. Type the maximum number of iterations you want Optimetrics to perform during the
optimization analysis in the Max. No. of Iterations text box.
6. Under Cost Function, add a cost function by selecting the Setup Calculations button to open
the Add/Edit Calculation dialog.
7. Type the value of the cost function at which the optimization process should stop in the
Acceptable Cost text box.
8. Type the cost function noise in the Noise text box.
9. If you want to select a Cost Function Norm Type:
l Check the Show Advanced Option check box.

The Cost Function Norm Type pull-down list appears.

l Select L1, L2, or Maximum.

A norm is a function that assigns a positive value to the cost function.

For L1 norm the actual cost function uses the sum of absolute weighted values of the
individual goal errors. For L2 norm (the default) the actual cost function uses the
weighted sum of squared values of the individual goal error. For the Maximum norm
the cost function uses the maximum among all the weighted goal errors. (For further
details, see Explanation of the L1, L2, and Max Norms in Optimization.)

The norm type doesn’t impact goal setting that use as condition the “minimize” or
“maximize” scenarios.

10. Optionally, click the button for setting HPC and Analysis Options, which allows you to select
or create an analysis configuration.

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11. In the Variables tab, specify the Min/Max values for variables included in the optimization,
and the Min/Max Focus for the analysis.
l You may also override the variable starting values by clicking the Override check box and
entering the desired value in the Starting Value field.
l Optionally, modify the values of fixed variables that are not being optimized.
l Optionally, set Linear constraints.
l Select the View all columns check box to see all columns, including hidden columns.
12. In the General tab, specify whether Optimetrics should use the results of a previous
Parametric analysis or perform one as part of the optimization process.

Enabling the Update design parameters’ value after optimization check box will cause
Optimetrics to modify the variable values in the nominal design to match the final values from the
optimization analysis.

13. Under the Options tab, if you want to save the field solution data for every solved design
variations in the optimization analysis, select Save Fields And Mesh.

Note Do not select this option when requesting a large number of iterations as the data
generated will be very large and the system may become slow due to the large I/O
requirements.

You may also select Copy geometrically equivalent meshes to reuse the mesh when
geometry changes are not required, for example when optimizing on a material property or
source excitation.This will provide some speed improvement in the overall optimization process.

Setting the Maximum Iterations for an Optimization Analysis

The Max. No. of Iterations value is the maximum number of design variations that you want
Optimetrics to solve during an optimization when using the Sequential Nonlinear Programming
(Gradient), Sequential Mixed Integer NonLinear Programming, Quasi Newton (Gradient),
or Pattern Search (Search-based) Optimizer. This value is a stopping criterion; if the maximum
number of iterations has been completed, the optimization analysis stops. If the maximum number
of iterations has not been completed, the optimization continues by performing another iteration,
that is, by solving another design variation.

If the maximum number of iterations has not been reached, the optimizer performs iterations until
the acceptable cost function is reached or until the optimizer cannot proceed as a result of other
optimization setup constraints, such as when it searches for a variable value with a step size
smaller than the minimum step size.

Note The Genetic Algorithm optimizer does not use the Max. No. of Iterations criteria.

To set the maximum number of iterations for an optimization analysis:

l Under the Goals tab of the Setup Optimization dialog box, type a value in the Max. No. of
Iterations text box.

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Related Topics

Adding a Cost Function

Cost Function
Optimetrics manipulates the model's design variable values to find the minimum location of the cost
function; therefore, you should define the cost function so that a minimum location is also the
optimum location. For example, if you vary a design to find the maximum transmission from Wave
Port 1 to Wave Port 2 (S21=>1), define the cost function to be -mag(S(WavePort2,WavePort1)).

When using the Quasi Newton optimizer, which is appropriate for designs that are not sensitive to
noise, the best cost function is a smooth, second-order function that can be approximated well by
quadratics in the vicinity of the minimum; the slope of the cost function should decrease as
Optimetrics approaches the optimum value. The preferred cost function takes values between 0
and 1. In practice, most functions that are smooth around the minimum are acceptable as cost
functions. Most importantly, the cost function should not have a sharp dip or pole at the minimum. A
well designed cost function can significantly reduce the optimization process time.

The cost function is defined in the Setup Optimization dialog box or the Design of Experiments
setup when you set up an optimization analysis. If you know the exact syntax of the solution
quantity on which you want to base the cost function, you can type it directly in the Calculation text
box. You can also use Setup Calculations to add a solution quantity via the Add/Edit
Calculation dialog box, or to create an output variable that represents the solution quantity in the
Output Variables dialog box.

Related Topics

Adding a Cost Function

Acceptable Cost

Cost Function Noise

Linear Constraints

Goal Weight

Step Size

Explanation of L1, L1, Norm Costs in Optimization

Example of a More Complex Cost Function

Setting Up Design of Experiments

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Acceptable Cost

The acceptable cost is the value of the cost function at which the optimization process should stop;
otherwise known as the stopping criterion.The cost function value must be equal to or below the
acceptable cost value for the optimization analysis to stop. The acceptable cost may be a negative
value.

Related Topics

Cost Function

Adding a Cost Function

Cost Function Noise

The numerical calculation of the electromagnetic field introduces various sources of noise to the
cost function, particularly because of changes in the finite element mesh. You must provide the
optimizer with an estimate of the noise. The noise indicates whether a change during the solution
process is significant enough to support achievement of the cost function.

For example, if the cost function, c, is

where |S11| is the magnitude of the reflection coefficient, at the minimum, |S11| is expected to be
very small, .

From the solution setup, the error in |S11| is expected to be . The perturbed cost
function is therefore

Near the minimum, the error in the cost function Ec is given by

Therefore, the cost function noise would be 1.0.

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Related Topics

Cost Function

Adding a Cost Function

A cost function can include one or more goals for an optimization analysis. Optimetrics manipulates
the model's design variable values to fulfill the cost function. The optimization will stop when the
solution quantity meets the acceptable cost criterion.

Following is the general procedure for adding a cost function with a single goal:

1. Under the Goals tab of the Setup Optimization dialog box or the Design of Experiments
dialog, click Setup Calculations...

The Add/Edit Calculation dialog box is displayed.

2. In the Add/Edit Calculation dialog box, follow these general steps to set up a cost function.
a. Set the Context for the calculation.
b. Choose the Category of available data type depending upon the Solution type of the
design being optimized.
c. Select the Quantity to add to the Calculated Expression field. Available quantities
depend upon the Category selection.
d. You may optionally make a selection from the function list to apply to the calculated
expression.
e. When the Calculation Expression has the desired equation, click Add Calculation to
add the expression to the cost function table.
f. Repeat to add additional calculations to the cost function or click Done to exit the
Add/Edit Calculation dialog box and return to Setup Optimization.
3. To modify the Solution on which the calculation is based, click in the Solution column and
select the solution from which the cost function is to be extracted from the pull-down list.
4. To edit the calculation on which to base the cost function goal, select Edit from the pull-down
list.
5. In the Condition text box, click one of the following conditions from the pull-down list:

<= Less than or equal to

= Equal to
>= Greater than or equal to
Minimize Reduce the cost function to a minimum value
Maximize Identify a maximized condition

6. In the Goal text box, type the value of the solution quantity that you want to be achieved
during the optimization analysis. If the solution quantity is a complex calculation, the goal

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value must be complex; two goal values must be specified. The Minimize and Maximize
options do not require you to specify a Goal value.

When Minimize is used as an optimization condition, the value of calculation is used as the cost
(there is no target value to compare to). For maximize, the negative of calculation value is used
as cost.

7. Optionally, if you have multiple goals and want to assign higher or lower priority to a goal,
type a different value for the goal's weight in the Weight text box. The goal with the greater
weight is given more importance. If the goal is a complex value, the weight value must be
complex; two weight values must be specified. The weight value cannot be variable
dependent.

Note Click the Edit Goal/Weight button to open the Edit Goal Value/Weight dialog box
where you can modify weights for all goals simultaneously; as well as, set the Goal
Values to expressions.

8. Specify other options (such as acceptable cost, noise, and number of passes), and then click
OK.

The optimization stops when the solution quantity meets the acceptable cost criterion.

Related Topics

Setting a Goal Value

Cost Function

Acceptable Cost

Goal Weight

Example of a More Complex Cost Function

Specifying a Solution Quantity for a Cost Function Goal

When setting up a cost function, you must identify the solution quantity on which to base each goal.
Solution quantities are specified by mathematical expressions that are composed of basic
quantities, such as matrix parameters, and output variables.

1. Add a row (a goal) to the cost function table:

a. Under the Goals tab of the Setup Optimization dialog box, click Add.

A new row is added to the Cost Function table.

b. In the Solution column, click the solution from which the cost function is to be extracted.
2. In the Solution text box, click the solution from which the solution quantity is to be extracted.
3. In the Calculation text box, specify the solution quantity in one of the following ways:

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l If you know the syntax of the mathematical expression or the output variable's name, type
it in the Calculation text box.
l If you want to create an output variable that represents the solution quantity, do the
following:
a. Click Edit Calculation.

The Output Variables dialog box appears.

b. Add the expression you want to evaluate, click Done.

c. Click Done to close the Output Variables dialog box.

In the Setup Optimization dialog box, the most recently created output variable
appears in the Calculation text box.

d. To specify a different defined output variable, click the Calculation text box. It becomes
a pull-down list that displays all of the defined output variables. Click an output variable
from the pull-down list.

Setting the Calculation Range of a Cost Function Goal

The calculation range is the range within which you want a cost function goal to be calculated. It
can be a single value or a range of values, depending on the solution or solution quantity selected
for the goal.

1. Under the Goals tab in the Setup Optimization dialog box, click Edit Cal. Range.
2. In the Variable pull-down list, click a variable.

If you chose to solve a parametric setup during the optimization analysis, the variables swept in
that parametric setup are available in the Variable pull-down list. If you sweep a variable in the
parametric setup that is also being optimized, that variable is excluded from the optimization.

Other examples of available variables include frequency, if the solution quantity is an S-

parameter quantity, and phi or theta, if the solution quantity is a radiated field quantity.

3. After you select a variable from the Variable pull-down list, you can select a range of values
for the calculation range as follows:
a. Select Range.
b. In the Start text box, type the starting value of the range.
c. In the Stop text box, type the final value of the range.
4. To select a single value for the calculation range:
a. Select Single Value.
b. In the Value text box, type the value of the variable at which the cost function goal is to be
extracted.
5. Click Update, and then click OK.

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Adding/Editing a Cost Function Calculation

The Add/Edit Calculation dialog box allows you to define the mathematical equation for one or
multiple cost functions. It represents the calculation to be performed on the optimization variables
to compare to the goal values. To set up a calculation for a cost function:

1. In the Context section of the dialog:

l Select the Report Type with a pull-down selection list containing the available types for
this design.
l Select the Solution from the drop down selection list. This lists the available setups and
sweeps. As a minimum, the LastAdaptive solution is available.
l Select the Geometry from the drop down selection list or select none (the default). This
modifies the list of quantities available to the ones that apply to the specific geometry.
2. The Output Variables button opens the Output Variables dialog box allowing you to create
special output variables to be used in the cost function.
3. The Calculated Expression field in the Trace tab is used to enter the equation to be used
for the cost function. To enter an expression, you may type it directly into the field or use the
Category, Quantity, and Function lists as follows:
l Select the Category, these depend on the Solution type and the design. This lets you
specify the category of information to be used in the cost function.
l Select a Quantity from the list. Available quantities depend upon the Solution type, as
well as the Geometry and Category selection. Selecting a Quantity automatically enters it
into the Calculated Expression field.
l Select a Function to apply to the value in the calculated expression.
l For swept variables, the Range Function button opens the Set Range Function dialog
to apply functions to the expression that apply over the sweep range.
4. The Calculation Range tab applies to swept variables and allows you to specify the range
of the sweep over which to apply the calculation.
5. When the desired Calculated Expression has been obtained, click the Add Calculation
button to add the entry to the cost function table. You may add multiple entries to the table
simply by changing the Calculated Expression and using the Add Calculation button.
6. To update or edit a selected cost function, enter the desired Calculated Expression and click
the Update Calculation button.
7. Click Done to return to the Setup Calculations dialog box.

Related Topics

Example of a More Complex Cost Function

Setting a Goal Value

A goal is the value you want a solution quantity to reach during an optimization analysis. It can be a
real value or a complex value. If the solution quantity is a complex calculation, the goal value must

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be complex. You can type the goal value in the Goal text box. Alternatively, you can use the Edit
Goal/Value Weight dialog box to specify the goal value as a single value, a mathematical
expression, or a value dependent on a variable such as frequency.

Related Topics

Specify a single goal value.

Specify an expression as the goal value.

Specify a variable-dependent goal value.

Example of a More Complex Cost Function

Specifying a Single Goal Value

1. Under the Goals tab in the Setup Optimization dialog box, click Edit Goal/Weight.

The Edit Goal/Weight dialog box appears.

2. Under the Goal Value tab, click Simple Numeric Value from the Type list.
3. If the goal value is complex, click real/imag in the pull-down list to the right if you want to
specify the real and imaginary parts of the goal value.

Alternatively, click mag/ang if you want to specify the magnitude and angle of the goal value.

4. Type the goal value in the Goal Value table.

If the goal value is complex, type both parts of the goal value in the text box below the Goal
Value heading. For example, type 1, 1 to specify the real part of the goal value as 1 and the
imaginary part as 1.

If the goal value is real, type a real goal value in the text box below the Goal Value heading.

5. Click OK.

The goal value you specified appears in the Goal text box.

Specifying an Expression as a Goal Value

1. Under the Goals tab in the Setup Optimization dialog box, click Edit Goal/Weight.

The Edit Goal/Weight dialog box appears.

2. Under the Goal Value tab, click Expression from the Type list.
3. If you know the syntax of the mathematical expression or the existing output variable's name,
type it in the text box below the Goal Value heading.

Alternatively, if you want to create an output variable that represents the goal value, do the
following:

a. Click Edit Expression.

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The Output Variables dialog box appears.

b. Add the expression you want to be the goal value, and then click Done.

The most recently created output variable is entered in the text box below the Goal Value
heading.

4. Click OK.

The goal value you specified appears in the Goal text box.

Specifying a Variable-Dependent Goal Value

1. Under the Goals tab in the Setup Optimization dialog box, click Edit Goal/Weight.

The Edit Goal/Weight dialog box appears.

2. Under the Goal Value tab, click Variable Dependent from the Type list.
3. Click a variable from the pull-down list to the left of the table.
4. Type the value of that variable in the first column of the table.

Warning Variable values must be single real numbers, or expressions that evaluate to
single real numbers. Complex numbers cannot be used as the values of
variables in any optimetric analysis.

5. Type a corresponding goal value for that variable value in the text box below the Goal Value
heading.
6. Click Add to add another row to the reference curve.
7. Repeat steps 4, 5, and 6 until you have specified the reference curve.
8. Click OK.

The goal value is listed as being variable dependent in the Goal text box.

Goal Weight

If an optimization setup has a cost function made up of multiple goals, you can assign a different
weight to each goal. The goal with the greater weight is given more importance during the cost
calculation.

The error function value is a weighted sum of the sub-goal errors. Each sub-goal, at each
frequency at which it is evaluated, gives rise to a (positive) error value that represents the
discrepancy between the simulated response and the goal value limit. If the response satisfies the
goal value limit, then the error value is 0. Otherwise, the error value depends on the differences
between the simulated response and the respective goal limit. The error function may be defined
as follows:

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where

l G is the number of sub-goals.

l Wj is the weight factor associated with the jth sub-goal.
l Nj is the number of frequencies for the jth sub-goal.
l ei is the error contribution from the jth sub-goal at the ith frequency.

The value of ei is determined by the band characteristics, target value, and the simulated response
value. The choices for band characteristics are <=, =, and >=.

ei evaluation where si is the simulated response and

Band Characteristics (Condition) gi is the desired limit.

<=

>=

If the total error value is within the acceptable cost, the optimization stops.

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Related Topics

Adding a Cost Function

Cost Function

Example of a More Complex Cost Function

Modifying the Starting Variable Value for Optimization

A variable's starting value is the first value to be solved during the optimization analysis. Optimetrics
automatically sets the starting value of a variable to be the current value set for the nominal design.
You can modify this value for each optimization setup.

Note If you choose to solve a parametric setup before an optimization analysis, a variable's
starting value is ignored if a more appropriate starting value is calculated for it during the
parametric analysis.

1. In the Setup Optimization dialog box, click the Variables tab.

All of the variables that were selected for the optimization analysis are listed.

2. Type a new value in the Starting Value text box for the value you want to override, and then
press Enter.

The Override option is now selected. This indicates that the value you entered is used for this
optimization analysis, and the current value set for the nominal model is ignored.

l Alternatively, you can select the Override option first, and then type a new variable value
in the Starting Value text box.
3. Optionally, click a new unit system in one of the Units text boxes.

Note To revert to the default starting value, clear the Override check box.

Related Topics

Setting the Min. and Max. Variable Values for Optimization

Step Size

Setting the Min and Max Focus

Modifying the Starting Variable Value for Sensitivity Analysis

Modifying the Starting Variable Value for Statistical Analysis

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Setting the Min. and Max. Variable Values for Optimization

For every optimization setup, Optimetrics automatically sets the minimum and maximum values it
will consider for a variable being optimized. Optimetrics sets a variable's minimum value equal to
approximately 50% of its starting value. (The starting value is the variable's current value set for the
nominal design.) Optimetrics sets the variable's maximum value equal to approximately 150% of
the starting value. During the optimization analysis, variable values that lie outside of this range are
not considered.

Warning Variable values must be single real numbers, or expressions that evaluate to single real
numbers. Complex numbers cannot be used as the values of variables in any
Optimetrics analysis.

Related Topics

Text Entry for Calc. Range or Edit Calculation Range Dialog

Override the default min and max variable values for a single optimization setup.

Change the default min and max variable values for every optimization setup.

Text Entry for Calc. Range or Edit Calculation Range Dialog

In the Setup Optimization dialog, you can enter the Calc. Range Sweep Min/Max by directly
editing the Calc. Range field or by accessing an Edit Calculation Range dialog.

The edit field accepts the following forms of text:

l sweep that allows your to select different discrete values:

discrete values, for example, F(10GHz, 11GHz)

min/max range, for example, F([10GHz, 11GHz])

l editable sweep, which allows you to customize values (that is a sweep that has an enabled
"edited" radio button in sweep selection dialog):

The min/max is used on top of selected values. For example, if you use the sweep
dialog and choose "0 deg, 60 deg, 180 deg, 240 deg", then [60deg, 240deg] will select
values "60 deg, 180 deg, 240 deg".

l sweep that uses a full range:

all values, for example, Time(All)

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min/max range, for example, Time([1ms, 2ms]) HFSS/MAXWELL/SIMPLORER

l You solve 1 to 20 GHz step .1 and specify F[10.381GHz, 11.381GHz], it is equivalent to

selecting values between 10.4GHz and 11.3GHz.
l You can specify multiple sweep values by separating those with comma ","

For example, F(1GHz), cap(1pf, 1.2pf)

For example, Distance(All), Freq([1ghz,2ghz]), Phase(0 deg)

If you click Edit.. on the menu, you see the Edit Calculation Range dialog. Click on the ellipsis [...]
button to select radio buttons for Use all values, Select Values or Specify range.

This example shows that when you specify a range, how the range appears in the Calc. Range
field.

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You could also enter the range directly in the Cal. Range field.

Overriding the Min. and Max. Variable Values for a Single Optimization Setup

1. In the Setup Optimization dialog box, click the Variables tab.

All of the variables that were selected for optimization analysis are listed.

2. Type a new value in the Min or Max text box for the value you want to override, and then
press Enter.

The Override option is now selected. This indicates that the value you entered is used for this
optimization analysis; the variable's current Min or Max value in the nominal design is ignored.

l Alternatively, you can select the Override option first, and then type a new value in the
Min or Max text box.
3. Optionally, click a new unit system in one of the Units text boxes.

To revert to the default minimum and maximum values, clear the Override option.

Changing the Min. and Max. Variable Values for Every Optimization Setup

1. Make sure that the variable's minimum and maximum values are not being overridden in any
single optimization setup.
2. If the variable is a design variable, do the following: Click HFSS>Design Properties.

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If the variable is a project variable, do the following: Click Project>Project Variables.

The Properties dialog box appears.

3. Select Optimization.
4. Type a new value in the Min or Max text box for the value you want to override, and then
press Enter.
5. Click OK.

When Optimetrics solves an optimization setup, it does not consider variable values that lie
outside of this range.

Step Size
To make the search for the minimum cost value reasonable, the search algorithm is limited in two
ways. First, you do not want the optimizer to continue the search if the step size becomes irrelevant
or small. This limitation impacts the accuracy of the final optimum. Second, in some cases you do
not want the optimizer to take large steps either. In case the cost function is suspected to possess
large variations in a relatively small vicinity of the design space, large steps may result in too many
trial steps, which do not improve the cost value. In these cases, it is safer to proceed with limited
size steps and have more frequent improvements.

For these two limitations, the optimizer uses two independent distance measures. Both are based
on user-defined quantities: the minimum and maximum step limits for individual optimization
variables. Since the particular step is in a general direction, these measures are combined together
in order to derive the limitation for that particular direction.

The step vector between the ith and (i+1)th iterate is as follows:

The natural distance measure is,

which is the Euclidean norm.

A more general distance measure incorporates some "stretching" of the design space:,

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where the matrix D incorporates the linear operation of the stretching of design space. The
simplest case is when the D matrix is diagonal, meaning that the design space is stretched along
the orthogonal direction of the base vectors.

The optimizer stops the search if,

where Dmin consists of diagonal elements

equal to the inverse of the Min. Step value assigned to the corresponding optimization variable.
Similarly the optimizer truncates steps for which

where Dmax has diagonal elements equal to the inverse of Max. Step values of the corresponding
optimization variables.

Related Topics

Setting the Min. and Max. Step Sizes

Cost Function

Adding a Cost Function

Setting the Min. and Max. Step Sizes

For the Quasi Newton and Pattern Search optimizers, the step size is the difference in a variable's
value between one solved design variation and the next. The step size is determined when
Optimetrics locates the next design variation that should be solved in an effort to meet the cost
function.

1. In the Setup Optimization dialog box, click the Variables tab.

2. Optimetrics displays Min Step and Max Step columns, with default values for each variable
to be optimized.
3. In the Min Step text box, type the minimum step size value. Optionally, modify the unit
system in the Units text box.
4. In the Max Step text box, type the maximum step size value. Optionally, modify the unit

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system in the Units text box.

5. Click OK.

Hint A value of zero is recommended for the minimum step size.

Related Topics

Step Size

Setting the Min and Max Focus

For the SNLP, SMINLP and Genetic Algorithm optimizers, the min focus and max focus criteria
allow you to specify a sub-range of parameter values where the optimizer should look when
performing the optimization. This focus box is where you suspect the optimal solution will be, so it is
a hint for the optimizer.

l The domain limits the search. The domain = physical limits.

l The focus box does not limit the search. Rather, the Focus box = an initial guess of optimum
search domain. The starting point is the center of the focus box, but the search does extend
beyond the box.
l This focus must be inside the domain limits. Consequently, it has to be equal or smaller size.
An error message is generated if you specify a focus outside the domain.
l The focus box must be at least one hundredth of the domain size. Otherwise, an error
message is sent.

Equalizing the influence of different optimization variables.

The optimizer seeks optimal values for the optimization variables. These variables are usually
quantities with specified units. The change in one variable could be measured in [mm] and the
change in other variable could be measured in [mA]. Instead of those units, the optimizer uses
internal abstract units, so that a change in one variable changes the design behavior about as
much as the same change in another variable, where changes are measured in the respective
internal abstract units. When you define the focus box, the unit of the abstract internal unit is

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defined as the difference of the upper and lower focus limits. This way you can use the focus box to
equalize the influence of different optimization variables on the design behavior.

To set the Min and Max Focus values:

1. In the Setup Optimization dialog box, click the Variables tab.

2. Optimetrics displays Min. Focus and Max. Focus columns, with default values for each
variable to be optimized.

If you do not have an initial guess based on your knowledge of the problem, make the focus box
equal to the domain; that is, the physical limits. This tells SNLP to search the entire decision
space.

l In the Min. Focus text box, type the minimum value of the focus range. Optionally, modify
the unit system in the Units text box.
l In the Max. Focus text box, type the maximum value of the focus range. Optionally,
modify the unit system in the Units text box.
3. Click OK.

Solving a Parametric Setup Before an Optimization

Solving a parametric setup before an optimization setup is useful for guiding Optimetrics during an
optimization.

To solve a parametric setup before an optimization setup:

1. In the Setup Optimization dialog box, click the General tab.

2. In the Parametric Analysis pull-down list, click the parametric setup you want Optimetrics
to solve before optimization.

Note The parametric setup must include sweep definitions for the variables you are
optimizing.

3. Select Solve the parametric sweep before optimization.

If the parametric setup has not yet been solved, Optimetrics solves it. Optimetrics uses the cost
value evaluated at each parametric design variation to determine the next step in the optimization
analysis. This enables you to guide the direction in which the optimizer searches for the optimal
design variation.

Related Topics

Solving a Parametric Setup During an Optimization

Solving a Parametric Setup During an Optimization

Solving a parametric setup during an optimization analysis is useful when you want Optimetrics to
solve every design variation specified in the parametric setup at each optimization iteration. A cost

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function goal could then depend on the value of the variable swept in the parametric setup.

To solve a parametric setup during an optimization analysis:

1. In the Setup Optimization dialog box, click the General tab.

2. In the Parametric Analysis pull-down list, click the parametric setup you want Optimetrics
to solve during an optimization.
3. Select Solve the parametric sweep during optimization.
4. Optionally, you can adjust the sweep values to be used during the optimization.
a. Click on the Goal tab, click Setup Calculations to specify a calculation.

The Add/Edit Calculation dialog box is displayed.

b. Click the Calculation Range tab.

c. Click the Edit button for the sweep to be modified.
d. In the pop-up dialog box, select the sweep values to use.
e. Close the pup-up dialog box. Click Done to close the Add/Edit Calculation dialog.

Automatically Updating a Variable's Value after Optimization

When Optimetrics finds an optimal variable value by solving an optimization setup, it can
automatically update that variable's current value set for the nominal model to the optimal value.

1. In the Setup Optimization dialog box, click the General tab.

2. Select Update design parameters' values after optimization.

When optimization is complete, the current variable value for each optimized variable is
changed to the optimal value.

Changing the Cost Function Norm

You can select the norm to be used in the calculation of the cost goal.

1. In the Setup Optimization dialog box, click the Goals tab.

2. Select Show Advanced Options.
3. Select a norm from the pull-down in the Cost Function Norm Type field. The options are
L1, L2, and Maximum. L2 is the default.

Related Topics

Explanation of L1, L2 and Max Norms in Optimization

Cost Function

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Explanation of L1, L2 and Max norms in Optimization

When you set multiple goals for an optimization, the question arises as to what is actually going to
drive the optimizer which is not a multi-objective one. The cost function will have a lot to do with it.
The following discussion explains how the cost function is put together when there are multiple
goals.

The general goal setting structure in Optimetrics is a logical sentence with the format:

Calculation(i) Condition(i) Goal(i) Weight(i)

The cost function that the optimizer uses is built based on the norm setting as long as there are
multiple goals and none of those use the "minimize" or "maximize" conditions. Thus, in this case the
error associated with each individual goal (weighted) is combined in a way that is specific for each
norm type chosen.

For L1 norm the actual cost function uses the sum of absolute weighted values of the individual
goal errors:

For L2 norm the actual cost function uses the weighted sum of absolute values of the individual
goal errors.

For the Maximum norm the cost function uses the maximum among all the weighted goal errors,
which means that cost is always less than zero:

For all the above situations N is the number of individual goals wiεi are individual weighting factors
and residual error respectively. A minimization of the cost function is performed during optimization
since it makes sense to minimize the error in the sense of the chosen norm type.

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The graphical representation of the error is possible and depends upon the actual condition being
used. If a "<" condition is used, the error can be represented as below:

If a ">" condition is used, the error can be represented as below:

If a "=" condition is used, the error is double-sided and can be represented as below:

The norm type doesn't impact goal setting that use as condition the "minimize" or "maximize"
scenarios. Note that when using "minimize" or "maximize" settings for the condition there should be
a single goal setting which in this case coincides with the cost function.

Related Topics

Cost Function

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Example of a More Complex Cost Function

Example of a More Complex Cost Function

As an example of a more sophisticated cost function, consider the figure. It belongs to a connector
simulated in HFSS with more than four ports.

The cost function given here concentrates only on a signal sent into port in_1. Suppose the
specifications to be met are: reflection, backward cross talk and forward cross talk all smaller than
or equal to -20 dB, of which the forward cross talk is the most important.

The first three entries in the cost function enforce those specifications, with the weight for the
forward cross talk being a larger number than the other weights. The actual values for the weights
are somewhat arbitrary and serve as examples only. For this cost function, as long as
specifications are not met, the optimizer puts the most effort in getting the forward cross talk close
to its specification. Once the three specifications have been satisfied, their contributions to the cost
function become zero, and only the fourth entry remains. Remember that the connector has more
than four ports, so satisfying the given specs does not guarantee maximum transmission.

The fourth line tries to maximize the transmission by asking for S(out_1, in_1) to be 0 dB. That will
never be reached, but its presence forces the optimizer to improve the connector a bit beyond the
specifications.

The cost function norm type specifies how the four lines are combined into one cost function with
one value. With L1 and L2, all four contribute simultaneously, rather than only the largest of the four
at any one time.

Related Topics

Cost Function

Adding a Cost Function

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Advanced Genetic Algorithm Optimizer Options

The Genetic Algorithm (GA) search for Optimization analysis is an iterative process that goes
through a number of generations. In each generation some new individuals (Children / Number of
Individuals) are created and the so grown population participates in a selection (natural-selection)
process that in turn reduces the size of the population to a desired level (Next Generation / Number
of Individuals).

If you select the Genetic Algorithm for an Optimization analysis, a Setup button is enabled on the
Setup Optimization page.

1. Click the Setup button to open the Advanced Genetic Algorithm Optimizer Options
dialog.
2. Select the Stopping Criteria. Any of the three following, or any combination of these can be
selected.
l Maximum number of generations. If checked, this enables a value field.
l Elapsed time. If checked, this enables a drop down menu with times ranging from five
minutes to two weeks.
l Slow convergence.
3. Specify the Parents.

The first step towards mating is a selection process that determines the participating individuals.
Potential parents are selected from the Current Generation. This is a set of individuals that is
always a subset of the current generation.

l Number of individuals value field -- specify the number of parents for the optimizer to
use. You can set the Number of Individuals to less than or equal to the size of the "Current
Generation". One reason to consider fewer parents than the possible maximum is to steer
the GA towards improvement by selecting the better portion of the current generation to
be able to mate.
l Roulette selection check box -- if checked, this enables the Selection pressure value
field. This number defines how many times more probable is the selection of the best
individual over the worst individual in an elementary spin of the roulette wheel.
4. Specify the Mating pool.

The Mating pool is created by selecting randomly from the parents, but with each selection, the
parent gets "cloned" so it can be selected again and again.

l Number of individuals field -- specify the number individuals to include in the mating
pool.
l Reproduction setup-- this button opens the Genetic Algorithm Optimizer
Reproduction Setup dialog.
5. Click the Reproduction setup button for the dialog to specify the Crossover setup, and the
Mutation setup.

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The crossover and mutation operator have different roles: Crossover mixes "features" of the
parents in a new combination, while mutation slightly alters the "features" of the individuals.
Both need to be present in a GA. The crossover is a way to discover new combinations while
the mutation acts as a local search or fine-tuning step. Mutation also keeps diversity in a
population, which is a must for GA.

The crossover operator has two steps. It first alters the variable values of the parents according
to a distribution. This tends to produce one child that looks a lot like one parent, and one child
that looks a lot like the other parent. Next, some of the variable values of the two children can be
exchanged in order to achieve more variation.

For crossover there are four possible parameters.

a. Individual Crossover Probability determines, for each pair in the mating pool, the
probability that their features will be mixed. Usually, this probability should be close or
equal to one. If you set it to less than one, some parents will produce two children which
are exact clones of the parents. This means that some children inherit all the features of
their parents unchanged.
b. Parents often have multiple variables. If the parent is a candidate for mixing, the
Variable Crossover Probability determines, for each variable, the probability of
mixing. This is usually set high to ensure that most or all variables mix.
c. Variable Exchange Probability: After the slight change in the variable values has
been made, the crossover operation is also able to exchange the values of the variables
between the two children that are being constructed. The Variable Exchange Probability
governs the likelihood of exchange of any variable.
d. Mu is a general parameter defining the sharpness of the distribution that might be used
for the Variable Crossover Probability. Mu should be greater than one. There is no
theoretical upper limit, but we recommend not exceeding 30.
6. Select one of the four Crossover types from the drop-down menu.

The crossover type selected affects the options available.

Uniform Individual crossover probability

Variable crossover probability

One point Individual crossover probability
Two point Individual crossover probability
Simulated binary crossover Individual crossover probability

Variable crossover probability

Variable exchange probability

Mu

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7. Select the Mutation type--this can be one of three types, which you select from a drop-
down menu.
l Uniform Distribution
l Gaussian Distribution
l Polynomial Mutation.
8. For the selected mutation type, set the following parameters:
l Uniform Mutation Probability: If this is more than zero (recommendation is to have still
a small probability here), then there will be some children whose features are simply a
completely random design (design variables randomly selected over the domain).
l Individual Mutation Probability controls, for each child, the likelihood of a mild
mutation.
l Variable Mutation Probability. If the child will be mutated, this probability controls at the
variable level the likelihood of a mutation of the variables.
l Standard Deviation is the standard deviation of the selected distribution that is being
used for the mutation and it is measured relatively to the optimization-domain.
9. When you have completed the Reproduction setup in the Genetic Algorithm Optimizer
Reproduction Setup dialog, click OK to close it and return to the Advanced Genetic
Algorithm Optimizer Options dialog.
10. In the Advanced Genetic Algorithm Optimizer Options dialog, specify the children as a
Number of Individuals.
11. Set the Pareto Front value.

This is the number of the very best individuals (identified relative to the cost function) to keep for
future generations.

12. Set the Next Generation parameters. The Next Generation is selected from the Parents, the
children, and the Pareto front.
l Number of individuals value field -- specify the number of individuals to survive to form
the next generation for the optimizer to use.
l Roulette selection check box -- if checked, this enables the Selection pressure value
field. This number defines how many times more probable is the selection of the best
individual over the worst individual in an elementary spin of the roulette wheel.
13. Click OK to accept the settings for the Genetic Algorithm and to close the dialog.

Related Topics

Setting up an Optimization Analysis

Adding a cost function

Optimization Overview

Acceptable Cost

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Explanation of L1, L2, and Max Norms in Optimization

Choosing an Optimizer

Sensitivity Analysis Overview

During a sensitivity analysis, Optimetrics explores the vicinity of the design point to determine the
sensitivity of the design to small changes in variables. The variables and their attributes define the
design point, the problem around which the sensitivity analysis is performed.

When Optimetrics performs a sensitivity analysis, its goal is to calculate the second-order
regression polynomials for all of the design's output parameters. The algorithm first determines an
appropriate interval for each variable. The intervals are further sub-divided according to the
available number of iterations and variables. If the master output is not used, the specified initial
displacement values define those intervals.

When all of the design calculations are complete, the second-order polynomials are fitted for all the
output parameters. Optimetrics then reports the following quantities:

l Regression value at the current variable value.

l First derivative of the regression.
l Second derivative of the regression.

Related Topics

Setting Up a Sensitivity Analysis

Selecting a Master Output

Selecting a Master Output

During a sensitivity analysis, the design variations that Optimetrics selects to solve are close to the
design point, but not so close that numerical noise (from the finite element mesh) affects the
analysis. The algorithm that Optimetrics uses to determine the design variations to solve must be
based on only one output parameter and that output parameter's numerical noise. Therefore, if you
have defined more than one output parameter, be sure to select Master Output for the output
variable on which you want the selection of design variations to be based.

Related Topics

Setting Up an Output Parameter

Setting Up a Sensitivity Analysis

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Setting Up a Sensitivity Analysis

Following is the general procedure for setting up a sensitivity analysis. Once you have created a
setup, you can Copy and Paste it, and then make changes to the copy, rather than redoing the
whole process for minor changes. You can create a sensitivity setup before defining variables but
all variables must be defined before you start the sensitivity analysis.

1. Before a variable can be included in a sensitivity analysis, you must specify that you intend
for it to be used during a sensitivity analysis in the DesignProperties dialog box.
2. Click HFSS or Q3D Extractor or 2D Extractor>Optimetrics Analysis>Add
Sensitivity . You can also select the Simulation tab in the ribbon, and select
Parametric from the drop down menu under the Optimetrics icon:

The Setup Sensitivity Analysis dialog box appears.

3. Under the Calculations tab, type the maximum number of iterations per variable value that
you want the software to perform in the Max. No. of Iterations/Sensitivity Variable text
box.
4. Set up an output parameter calculation and select a Master Output
5. Specify the value of the design point at which the sensitivity analysis should stop in the
Approximate Error in Master Output text box.
6. In the Variables tab, specify the Min/Max values for variables included in the optimization,
and the Initial Displacement (Initial Disp.) for the analysis.

You may also override the variable starting values by clicking the Override check box and
entering the desired value in the Starting Value field.

7. In the General tab, specify whether Optimetrics should use the results of a previous
Parametric analysis or perform one as part of the optimization process.

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Checking the Optional Worst Case Analysis option does an extreme value analysis that
focuses on the upper and lower boundaries of all the analyzed parameters. Some setup is
required before performing Worst Case Analysis.

8. Under the Options tab, if you want to save the field solution data for every solved design
variations in the optimization analysis, select Save Fields And Mesh.

Note Do not select this option when requesting a large number of iterations as the data
generated will be very large and the system may become slow due to the large I/O
requirements.

You may also select Copy geometrically equivalent meshes to reuse the mesh when
geometry changes are not required, for example when optimizing on a material property or
source excitation.This will provide some speed improvement in the overall optimization process.

The following optional sensitivity analysis setup options can also be used:

l Modify the starting variable value.

l Modify the minimum and maximum values of variables that will be solved.
l Exclude variables from the sensitivity analysis.
l Set the initial displacement.
l Modify the values of fixed variables that are not being modified during the sensitivity
analysis.
l Set linear constraints.
l Request that Optimetrics solve a parametric sweep before a sensitivity analysis.
l You can also request that Optimetrics solve a parametric sweep during a sensitivity
analysis.

Note Sweeping or using a complex variable is not allowed in any optimetrics setup, including
optimization, statistical, sensitivity, and tuning setups.

Related Topics

Sensitivity Analysis Overview

Setting the Maximum Iteration Per Variable

Setting the Maximum Iterations Per Variable

The Max. No. of Iterations/Sensitivity Variable value is the maximum number of design
variations that Optimetrics solves per variable during a sensitivity analysis. This value is a stopping
criterion; if the maximum number of iterations has been completed, the sensitivity analysis stops. If
the maximum number of iterations has not been completed, the sensitivity analysis continues by
performing another iteration, that is, by solving another design variation. It performs iterations until
the approximate error in master output value is reached or until Optimetrics cannot proceed as a

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result of other sensitivity setup constraints, such as when it searches for a variable value that is
larger than the maximum value.

To set the maximum number of iterations for a sensitivity analysis:

l Under the Calculations tab of the Setup Sensitivity Analysis dialog box, type a value in
the Max. No. of Iterations/Sensitivity Variable text box.

Related Topics

Setting Up an Output Parameter

Setting Up an Output Parameter

Following is the general procedure for adding an output parameter to a sensitivity setup:

1. Under the Calculations tab of the Setup Sensitivity Analysis dialog box, click Setup
Calculations to open the Add/Edit Calculations dialog box.
2. In the Add/Edit Calculations dialog box, set up output parameter calculations to be
evaluated for sensitivity.
3. To modify the solution from which the output parameter is to be extracted, click in the
Solution column and select from the options in the pop-up list.
4. You can modify the Calculation specified by clicking on the output parameter in the table and
selecting Edit.
5. For output parameters based on swept variable, you must choose a single value in the
Calculation Range at which to evaluate the output parameter.
6. If the output parameter is based on a swept variable, in the Calculation Range column, set
the value of the variable at which the output parameter is to be computed.
7. If you have more than one output parameter, select Master Output if you want Optimetrics
to use the output parameter to base its selection of solved design variations.

Note During a sensitivity analysis, the design variations that Optimetrics selects to solve
are close to the design point, but not so close that numerical noise (from the finite
element mesh) affects the analysis. The algorithm that Optimetrics uses to determine
the design variations to solve must be based on only one output parameter and that
output parameter's numerical noise. If you have defined more than one output
parameter, be sure to select Master Output for the output variable on which you
want the selection of design variations to be based.

Related Topics

Selecting a Master Output

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Specifying a Solution Quantity for an Output Parameter

When setting up an output parameter, you must identify the solution quantity on which to base the
output parameter. Solution quantities are specified by mathematical expressions that are
composed of basic quantities, such as matrix parameters; and output variables.

The Add/Edit Calculation dialog box allows you to define the mathematical equation for one or
multiple output parameters. To set up an output parameter:

1. In the Context section of the dialog:

l Select the Report Type with a pull-down selection list containing the available types for
this design.
l Select the Solution from the drop down selection list. This lists the available setups and
sweeps. As a minimum, the LastAdaptive solution is available.
l Select the Geometry from the drop down selection list or select none (the default). This
modifies the list of quantities available to the ones that apply to the specific geometry.
l When selecting a geometry, you may also be required to specify a point within the
geometry where the calculation is to be performed.
2. The Output Variables button opens the Output Variables dialog box allowing you to create
special output variables to be used in the output parameter.
3. The Calculation Expression field in the Trace tab is used to enter the equation to be used
for the output parameter. To enter an expression, you may type it directly into the field or use
the Category, Quantity, and Function lists as follows:
l Select the Category, these depend on the Solution type and the design. This lets you
specify the category of information to be used in the output parameter.
l Select a Quantity from the list. Available quantities depend upon the Solution type, as
well as the Geometry and Category selection. Selecting a Quantity automatically enters it
into the Calculation Expression field.
l Select a Function to apply to the value in the calculated expression.
l For swept variables, theRange Function button opens the Set Range Function dialog
to apply functions to the expression that apply over the sweep range.
4. The Calculation Range tab applies to swept variables and allows you to specify the range
of the sweep over which to apply the calculation.
5. When the desired Calculation Expression has been obtained, click the Add Calculation
button to add the entry to the calculation table in the Setup Sensitivity Analysis dialog box.
You may add multiple entries to the table simply by changing the Calculation Expression
and using the Add Calculation button.
6. To update or edit a selected cost function, enter the desired Calculation Expression and click
the Update Calculation button.
7. Click Done to return to the Setup Sensitivity Analysis dialog box.

Note The solution quantity you specify must be able to be evaluated to a single, real

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number.

Related Topics

Setting the Calculation Range of an Output Parameter

Setting the Calculation Range of an Output Parameter

The calculation range of a solution quantity determines the intrinsic variable value at which the
solution quantity is to be extracted. For a sensitivity setup, the calculation range must be a single
value. If you specified that the solution quantity be extracted from a frequency sweep solution, by
default, Optimetrics uses the starting frequency in the sweep. If you specified that the solution be
extracted from the last adaptive solution, Optimetrics uses the adaptive frequency defined in the
solution setup.

1. Under the Calculations tab of the Setup Sensitivity Analysis dialog box, click in the
Calculation Range column of the table for the calculation to be modified.

The Edit Calculation Range dialog box appears.

2. In the table, click the Edit button in the row to be modified.

If you choose to solve a parametric setup during the sensitivity analysis, the variables swept
in that parametric setup are available in the pop-up list dialog box. If you sweep a variable in
the parametric setup that is also a sensitivity variable, that variable is excluded from the
sensitivity analysis.

Other examples of available variables include frequency, if you selected an S-parameter

solution quantity; and phi or theta, if the solution quantity is a radiated field quantity.

3. Click on the value for the calculation range in the list and dismiss the pop-up dialog box.
4. Click OKin the Edit Calculation Range dialog box to accept the new value for the intrinsic
variable, and return to the Setup Sensitivity Analysis dialog box.

Related Topics

Setting Up an Output Parameter

Modifying the Starting Variable Value for Sensitivity Analysis

The design point of the sensitivity analysis is the starting value of the sensitivity variable and is
usually the first variation to be solved. Optimetrics automatically sets the starting value of a variable
to be the current value set for the nominal design. You can modify the design point for each
sensitivity setup.

Warning Variable values must be single real numbers, or expressions that evaluate to single real
numbers. Complex numbers cannot be used as the values of variables in any
optimetric analysis.

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1. In the Setup Sensitivity Analysis dialog box, click the Variables tab.

All of the variables that were selected for the sensitivity analysis are listed.

2. Type a new value in the Starting Value text box for the value you want to override, and then
press Enter.

The Override option is now selected. This indicates that the value you entered is to be used for
this sensitivity analysis; the current value set for the nominal model will be ignored.

l Alternatively, you can select the Override option first, and then type a new variable value
in the Starting Value text box.
3. Optionally, click a new unit system in one of the Units text boxes.

To revert to the default starting value, clear the Override option.

Related Topics

Setting Up a Sensitivity Analysis

Setting the Min. and Max. Variable Values

For every sensitivity setup, Optimetrics automatically sets the minimum and maximum values that it
will consider for a sensitivity variable. Optimetrics sets a variable's minimum value equal to
approximately one-half its starting value. (The starting value is the variable's current value set for
the nominal design.) Optimetrics sets the variable's maximum value equal to approximately 1.5
times the starting value. During sensitivity analysis, variable values outside this range are not
considered.

Warning Variable values must be single real numbers, or expressions that evaluate to single real
numbers. Complex numbers cannot be used as the values of variables in any
optimetric analysis.

Related Topics

Override the default minimum and maximum variable values for a single sensitivity setup.

Change the default minimum and maximum variable values for every sensitivity setup.

Overriding the Min. and Max. Variable Values for a Single Sensitivity Setup

1. In the Setup Sensitivity Analysis dialog box, click the Variables tab.

All of the variables that were selected for sensitivity analysis are listed.

2. Type a new value in the Min or Max text box for the value you want to override, and then
press Enter.

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The Override option is now selected. This indicates that the value you entered is to be used for
this sensitivity analysis; the variable's current Min or Max value set in the nominal design is
ignored.

l Alternatively, you can select the Override option first, and then type a new value in the
Min or Max text box.
3. Optionally, click a new unit system in one of the Units text boxes.

To revert to the default minimum and maximum values, clear the Override option.

Related Topics

Setting Up a Sensitivity Analysis

Changing the Min. and Max. Variable Values for Every Sensitivity Setup

1. Make sure the variable's minimum and maximum values are not being overridden in any
sensitivity setup.
2. If the variable is a design variable, do the following: Click HFSS>Design Properties.

If the variable is a project variable, do the following: Click Project>Project Variables.

The Properties dialog box appears.

3. Select Sensitivity.
4. Type a new value in the Min or Max text box for the value you want to override, and then
press Enter.

When Optimetrics solves a sensitivity setup, it does not consider variable values that lie outside
of this range.

Related Topics

Setting Up a Sensitivity Analysis

Setting the Initial Displacement

The initial displacement is the difference in a variable's starting value and the next solved design
variation. During the sensitivity analysis, Optimetrics does not consider an initial variable value that
is greater than this step size away from the starting variable value.

1. In the Setup Sensitivity Analysis dialog box, click the Variables tab.
2. Optimetrics displays the Initial Disp. column, with default values for each sensitivity
variable.
3. In the Initial Disp. text box, type the initial displacement value. Optionally, modify the unit
system in the Units text box.

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Related Topics

Setting Up a Sensitivity Analysis

Solving a Parametric Setup Before a Sensitivity Analysis

Solving a parametric setup before a sensitivity setup is useful for guiding Optimetrics in a sensitivity
analysis.

To solve a parametric setup before a sensitivity setup:

1. In the Setup Sensitivity Analysis dialog box, click the General tab.
2. Click the parametric setup you want Optimetrics to solve before the sensitivity setup from the
Parametric Analysis pull-down list.

Note The parametric setup must include sweep definitions for the sensitivity variables.

3. Select Solve the parametric sweep before analysis.

If the parametric setup has not yet been solved, Optimetrics solves it. Optimetrics uses the results
(of the solution calculation you requested under the Goals tab of the Setup Sensitivity dialog box)
to determine the next design variation to solve for the sensitivity analysis.

Related Topics

Setting Up a Sensitivity Analysis

Solving a Parametric Setup During a Sensitivity Analysis

Solving a parametric setup during a sensitivity analysis is useful when you want Optimetrics to
solve every design variation in the parametric setup at each sensitivity analysis iteration. An output
parameter goal could then depend on the value of the variable swept in the parametric setup.

To solve a parametric setup during a sensitivity analysis:

1. In the Setup Sensitivity Analysis dialog box, click the General tab.
2. Click the parametric setup you want Optimetrics to solve during the sensitivity analysis from
the Parametric Analysis pull-down list.
3. Select Solve the parametric sweep during analysis.

Related Topics

Setting Up a Sensitivity Analysis

Performing Worst Case Analysis

Two popular worst case analysis techniques can be implemented: extreme value analysis and
Monte Carlo analysis.

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Some setup is required before performing worst case analysis. First, identify uncertainties in
design and create a local or project variable for each of them. Second, determine the variation
range of each variable (Min and Max) - its statistical distribution is optional. Third, determine a
measurement of performance, especially for extreme value analysis.

1. Extreme value analysis

This is one of the most popular methods to estimate worst-case performance. To start, a
sensitivity analysis is performed. The results (sensitivities/first derivative) allow us to pick an
extreme value (upper or lower bound) for each variable. The corresponding simulation result is
used to predict upper and lower bound of performance. The assumption is that extreme
performance is reached at boundary value (note that in certain cases, making such an
assumption is not valid).

To perform an extreme value analysis in ANSYS Electronics Desktop, create a new analysis
under Optimetrics>Sensitivity.

l Setup:

First, include variables in a sensitivity analysis. To do so, go to your list of variables,

under Sensitivity, specify Min and Max values of each variable, and check 'Include'.
The following figure shows an example with three variables included.

Second, follow Setting up a Sensitivity Analysis in the online help. During this
procedure, set your performance measurement in Calculations tab; check all
variables in Variables tab; check Perform worst case analysis in General tab.

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Note: Checking Perform worst case analysis calculates 1st derivatives for each variable.
If we have three variables and for Var1 first derivative is negative, Var2 1st derivative is
positive, Var3 1st derivative is positive, then for Worst Case Analysis, we request two more
variations:

Var1@minimum, Var2@maximum, Var3@maximun

and Var1@maximum, Var2@minimum, Var3@minimum

l After setup, analyze your Sensitivity Setup under Optimetrics.

l To view worst-case result (upper bound only):

Create a Data Table report. Note: under the Context pane in the Report dialog, select
matching Solution and Optimetrics setup. Under the Families tab, change the setting to 'All'
under 'Value' of each variables.

Under the Families Display tab, select Statisticsand then check Max.

The associated data table shows the Max values.

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To see the corresponding variable values, select 'All Families' under the Families Display
tab, and locate the max value to see value of variables.

Tip: Transpose the table for an alternate view (double-click on data table to view the
Properties window, and on the Data Table tab check Transpose).

To estimate lower bound of performance:

First, see the sensitivity of performance to the respect of each variable. (Follow the
documentation for Viewing Output Parameter Results for a Sensitivity Analysis). Identify the
variables that have major influence over performance.

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Second, in your project, manually change these variables to the corresponding bounds:
choose Min for positive 1st derivative and Max for negative 1st derivative.

2. Monte Carlo analysis

This method does not assume a circuit is linear - better accuracy is achieved with more
iterations. The cost is computing time and resources.

To perform Monte Carlo Analysis in ANSYS Electronics Desktop, create a new analysis under
Optimetrics>Statistical. Follow the documentation on Statistical Analysis to set this up. The
upper and lower bound of performance can be found on the edge of performance distribution.

Tip: if distribution of performance is not of interest, set all variables as uniformly distributed.

Statistical Analysis Overview

Statistical analysis allows you to explore the effects of random combinations of values of selected
variables on selected global or local available analysis results. Therefore, before a variable can be
included in a statistical analysis, you must specify that you intend for it to be used during a statistical
analysis. For each variable you must specify the type of distribution (Uniform, Gaussian, Lognormal
or User Defined) and the corresponding parameters of the selected distribution. The statistical
analysis is currently not able to handle more than 30 variables during statistical analysis.

In addition to specifying the variables to be used in the statistical analysis and the parameters of the
chosen distribution, the output quantities of interest also need to be specified. These quantities can
be global ones such as previously defined parameters (Force/torque, inductance / capacitance,
etc), other named quantities, quantities defined in the field calculator as global (such a domain
integral of a certain field quantity) or local (such as field value at a certain location). The calculations
to be performed during the statistical analysis are specified during setup, in a manner similar to
other types of analysis in Optimetrics.

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Following the analysis the statistical distribution of the output quantities can be visualized in
histogram format. To access available reports, after the statistical analysis is complete, right click
the respective Statistical analysis setup and select View Analysis Result.

Related Topics

Setting Up a Statistical Analysis

Setting Up a Statistical Analysis

Following is the general procedure for setting up a statistical analysis. Once you have created a
setup, you can Copy and Paste it, and then make changes to the copy, rather than redoing the
whole process for minor changes. You can create a statistical setup before defining variables but
all variables must be defined before you start the statistical analysis.

1. Before a variable can be included in a statistical analysis, you must specify that you intend for
it to be used during a statistical analysis in the Properties dialog box.
2. Click HFSS or Q3D Extractor or 2D Extractor>, or Optimetrics Analysis>Add

Statistical , or select the Simulation tab for the ribbon and under the Optimetrics icon,
select Statistical from the drop down menu:

The Setup Statistical Analysis dialog box appears.

3. Under the Calculations tab, type the maximum number of iterations you want HFSS to
perform in the Maximum Iterations text box.
4. Specify a solution quantity to evaluate.
5. In the Calculation text box, set the value at which the solution quantity is to be computed.
6. Optionally, modify the distribution criteria to be used.
7. The following optional statistical analysis setup options can also be used:
l Modify the starting variable value.
l Exclude variables from the statistical analysis.

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l Modify the values of fixed variables that are not being modified during the statistical
analysis.
l Request that Optimetrics solve a parametric sweep during a statistical analysis.

Note Sweeping or using a complex variable is not allowed in any optimetrics setup,
including optimization, statistical, sensitivity, and tuning setups.

8. If you want to save the field solution data for the design variations solved during analysis,
select Save Fields.

Related Topics

Statistical Analysis Overview

Setting the Maximum Iterations for a Statistical Analysis

The Maximum Iterations value is the maximum number of design variations Optimetrics solves
during a statistical analysis. This value is a stopping criterion; if the maximum number of iterations
has been completed, the analysis stops. If the maximum number of iterations has not been
completed, Optimetrics continues by performing another iteration, that is, by solving another design
variation.

To set the maximum number of iterations for a statistical analysis:

l Under the Calculations tab of the Setup Sensitivity Analysis dialog box, type a value in
the Maximum Iterations text box.

Related Topics

Setting up a Statistical Analysis

Specifying the Solution Quantity to Evaluate for Statistical Analysis

When you add a statistical setup, you can identify one or more solution quantities to evaluate. The
solution quantities are specified by mathematical expressions that are composed of basic
quantities. You can see the distribution of the solution quantities in the results.

1. In the Calculations tab of the Setup Statistical Analysis dialog box, click
SetupCalculations.

The Add/Edit Calculations dialog box is displayed, allowing you to define one or more
mathematical expressions for statistical evaluation.

2. In the Context section of the dialog:

l Select the Report Type with a pull-down selection list containing the available types for
this design.
l Select the Solution from the drop down selection list. This lists the available setups and
sweeps. As a minimum, the LastAdaptive solution is available.

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l Select the Geometry from the drop down selection list or select none (the default). This
modifies the list of quantities available to the ones that apply to the specific geometry.
l When selecting a geometry, you may also be required to specify a point within the
geometry where the calculation is to be performed.
3. The Output Variables button opens the Output Variables dialog box allowing you to create
special output variables to be used in the output parameter.
4. The Calculation Expression field in the Trace tab is used to enter the equation to be used
for the solution quantities. To enter an expression, you may type it directly into the field or use
the Category, Quantity, and Function lists as follows:
l Select the Category, these depend on the Solution type and the design. This lets you
specify the category of information to be used in the output parameter.
l Select a Quantity from the list. Available quantities depend upon the Solution type, as
well as the Geometry and Category selection. Selecting a Quantity automatically enters it
into the Calculation Expression field.
l Select a Function to apply to the value in the calculated expression.
l For swept variables, the Range Function button opens the Set Range Function dialog
to apply functions to the expression that apply over the sweep range.
5. The Calculation Range tab applies to swept variables and allows you to specify the range
of the sweep over which to apply the calculation.
6. When the desired Calculation Expression has been obtained, click the Add Calculation
button to add the entry to the calculation table in the Setup Statistical Analysis dialog box.
You may add multiple entries to the table simply by changing the Calculated Expression
and using the Add Calculation button.
7. To update or edit a selected cost function, enter the desired Calculation Expression and click
the Update Calculation button.
8. Click Done to return to the Setup Statistical Analysis dialog box.

Note The solution quantity you specify must be able to be evaluated to a single, real
number.

Related Topics

Setting up a Statistical Analysis

Setting the Maximum Iterations for a Statistical Analysis

Setting the Solution Quantity's Calculation Range

The calculation range of a solution quantity determines the intrinsic variable value at which the
solution quantity is extracted. For a statistical setup, the calculation range must be a single
value.For a Driven Modal or Driven Terminal design, if you specified that the solution be extracted
from the last adaptive solution, Optimetrics uses the adaptive frequency defined in the solution
setup. If you specified that the solution quantity be extracted from a frequency sweep solution,

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Optimetrics will use the starting frequency in the sweep by default.The calculation range should be
set during the setup of the solution quantity for statistical evaluation. In order to modify the
calculation range, do the following:

1. Under the Calculations tab of the Setup Statistical Analysis dialog box, click in the
Calculation Range column of the table for the calculation to be modified.

The Edit Calculation Range dialog box appears.

2. In the table, click the Edit button in the row to be modified.

If you choose to solve a parametric setup during the statistical analysis, the variables swept in
that parametric setup are available in the pop-up list dialog box. If you sweep a variable in the
parametric setup that is also a statistics variable, that variable is excluded from the statistics
analysis.

Other examples of available variables include frequency, if you selected an S-parameter

solution quantity; and phi or theta, if the solution quantity is a radiated field quantity.

3. Click on the value for the calculation range in the list and dismiss the pop-up dialog box.
4. Click OK in the Edit Calculation Range dialog box to accept the new value for the intrinsic
variable, and return to the Setup Statistical Analysisdialog box.

Related Topics

Setting up a Statistical Analysis

Setting the Distribution Criteria

For every statistical setup, Optimetrics automatically sets the distribution criteria to be uniform
within a 10% tolerance of the variable's starting value. You can modify the distribution type and
criteria for a single statistical setup or for every statistical setup.

Related Topics

Override the default distribution criteria for a single statistical setup.

Change the default distribution criteria for every statistical setup.

Overriding the Distribution Criteria for a Single Statistical Setup

To override the default distribution criteria for a single statistical setup:

1. In the Setup Statistical Analysis dialog box, click the Variables tab.

All of the variables that were selected for statistical analysis are listed.

2. Check or clear the Include check box for each variable to define the specific variables to be
varied in the statistical analysis setup.

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3. For each included variable, select Uniform, Gaussian, Lognormal, or User Defined in
the Distribution column for the variable you want to override.

If you changed the distribution type, the Override option is now selected. This indicates that the
distribution type you selected is to be used for this optimization analysis; the current distribution
type selected for the variable in the nominal design is ignored in this statistical analysis.

l Alternatively, you can select the Override option first, and then select a different
distribution type in the Distribution text box.
4. Optionally, if you want to change the distribution criteria, click in Distribution Criteria
column for the variable you want to override.

The Edit Distribution dialog box appears.

5. If the distribution type is Gaussian, do the following:

a. Type the lower limit of the distribution in the Cutoff Probability text box. This is a value
=>0 and < 0.1.
b. Type the mean value of the distribution in the Mean text box.
c. Type the standard deviation of the distribution in the Std Dev text box.

The design variations are solved using a Gaussian distribution within the specified
mean and standard deviation values.

6. If the distribution type is Uniform, do the following:

l Enter a tolerance value in the text box.

The design variations are solved within the tolerance range of the starting value,
using an even distribution.

7. If the distribution type is Lognormal, do the following:

a. Enter the cutoff probability in the Cutoff Probability text box.
b. Enter the sigma value of the distribution in the Sigma text box and select a unit from the
pull-down.
c. Enter the m value of the distribution in the M text box.
d. Enter the theta value in the Theta text box and select a unit from the pull-down.
8. If the distribution type is User Defined, do the following:

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a. Enter the cutoff probability in the Cutoff Probability text box.

b. Click Edit XY Data to open the Edit Datasets dialog box in which you can select an
existing dataset, or create a new one.
9. By default, all variables are set to sample using Latin Hypercube sampling. This sampling
method provides for greater variability than random sampling by keeping track of chosen
samples and guaranteeing that samples cannot be repeated. You may revert to random
sampling by clearing the check box in the Latin Hypercube column for any desired variable.

10. Click OK.

To revert to the default distribution settings, clear the Override option.

Related Topics

Statistical Cutoffs

Changing the Distribution Criteria for Every Statistical Setup

To change the default distribution criteria for every statistical setup:

1. Make sure that the variable's distribution criteria are not being overridden in any statistical
setup.
2. If the variable is a design variable, do the following: On HFSS or Q3D Extractor or 2D
Extractor>Design Properties, select Statistics.

If the variable is a project variable, do the following: Click Project>Project Variables.

The Properties dialog box appears. Select Statistics.

3. Click in the Distribution column for the variable you want to change, and then select
Uniform, Gaussian, Lognormal, or User Defined.
4. Optionally, if you want to change the distribution criteria, click in the Distribution Criteria
column for the variable you want to change.

If the distribution type is Gaussian, the Gaussian Distribution dialog box appears. If the
distribution type is Uniform, the Uniform Distribution dialog box appears.

5. If the distribution type is Gaussian, do the following:

a. Type the lower limit of the distribution in the Cutoff Probability text box. This is a value
=>0 and < 0.1.
b. Type the mean value of the distribution in the Mean text box.
c. Type the standard deviation of the distribution in the Std Dev text box.

The design variations are solved using a Gaussian distribution within the specified
mean and standard deviation values.

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6. If the distribution type is Uniform, do the following:

a. Type a cutoff probability value in the Cutoff Probability text box.
b. Type mean and tolerance values in the corresponding text boxes.

The design variations are solved within the tolerance range of the starting value, using an
even distribution.

7. If the distribution type is Lognormal, do the following:

a. Type a cutoff probability value in the Cutoff Probability text box.
b. Type values for Sigma, M, and Theta in the corresponding text boxes.
8. If the distribution type is User Defined, do the following:
a. Type a cutoff probability value in the Cutoff Probability text box.
b. Click Edit XY Data to open the Edit Dataset dialog.
c. Either type or import the X and Y data values for the distribution in the Edit Dataset
dialog.
9. Click OK.

Related Topics

Statistical Cutoff Probability

Statistical Cutoff Probability

The cutoff probability values affects the Gaussian distribution criteria. This is a value =>0 and < 0.1.
The design variations are solved using a Gaussian distribution using a lower limit cutoff probability
and specified mean and standard deviation values.

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Uniform distributions such as variable "length" above use only the Tolerance value, and do not
have a cutoff probability.

Edit Distribution

When setting the distribution type for a variable, you have the option of changing the distribution
parameters from the default values.

1. If the distribution type is Gaussian, do the following:

a. Type the lower limit of the distribution in the Cutoff Probability text box. This is a value
=>0 and < 0.1.
b. Type the mean value of the distribution in the Mean text box.
c. Type the standard deviation of the distribution in the Std Dev text box.

The design variations are solved using a Gaussian distribution within the specified
mean and standard deviation values.

2. If the distribution type is Uniform, do the following:

a. Type the lower limit of the distribution in the Cutoff Probability text box.
b. Type the mean value of the distribution in the Mean text box.
c. Enter the tolerance in the Tolerance text box.

The design variations are solved within the tolerance range of the starting value,
using an even distribution.

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3. If the distribution type is Lognormal, do the following:

a. Type the lower limit of the distribution in the Cutoff Probability text box.
b. Enter the shape parameter of the distribution in the Sigma text box.
c. Enter the scale parameter in the M text box. The scale parameter should be set to 1 for
the standard lognormal distribution.
d. Enter the location parameter value for Theta in the text box. The value for a standard
lognormal distribution is 0.

The design variations are solved with a logarithmic distribution using the shape, scale
and location parameters provided.

4. If the distribution type is User Defined, do the following:

a. Type the lower limit of the distribution in the Cutoff Probability text box.
b. Select the Edit XY Data button to manually define the data distribution using datasets.

Related Topics

Adding Datasets

Changing the Distribution Criteria for Every Statistical Setup

Overriding the Distribution Criteria for a Single Statistical Setup

Modifying the Starting Variable Value for Statistical Analysis

A variable's starting value is the first value that is solved during the statistical analysis. Optimetrics
automatically sets the starting value of a variable to be the current value set for the nominal design.
You can modify this value for each statistical setup.

Warning Variable values must be single real numbers, or expressions that evaluate to single real
numbers. Complex numbers cannot be used as the values of variables in any

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optimetric analysis.

1. In the Setup Statistical Analysis dialog box, click the Variables tab.

All of the variables selected for the statistical analysis are listed.

2. Type a new value in the Starting Value text box for the value you want to override, and then
press Enter.

The Override option is now selected. This indicates that the value you entered is to be used for
this statistical analysis; the current value set for the nominal model will be ignored.

l Alternatively, you can select the Override option first, and then type a new variable value
in the Starting Value text box.
3. Optionally, click a new unit system in one of the Units text boxes.

To revert to the default starting value, clear the Override option.

Related Topics

Setting up a Statistical Analysis

Solving a Parametric Setup During a Statistical Analysis

Solving a parametric setup during a statistical analysis is useful when you want Optimetrics to solve
every design variation in the parametric setup at each statistical analysis iteration.

To solve a parametric setup during a statistical analysis:

1. In the Setup Statistical Analysis dialog box, click the General tab.
2. Click the parametric setup you want Optimetrics to solve during the statistical analysis from
the Parametric Analysis pull-down list.
3. Select Solve the parametric sweep during analysis.

Related Topics

Setting up a Statistical Analysis

Using Design of Experiments

Design of Experiments (DOE) is a technique used to scientifically determine the location of
sampling points and is included as part of the Response Surface, Goal Driven Optimization, and
Analysis systems. Design of Experiments plus a mathematical approximation of output parameters
lets you:

l Reduce the number of simulations

l Interactively explore the design space before running optimization

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Design of Experiments describes the relationship between the design variables and the
performance of the product by using Design of Experiments (DOE), combined with response
surfaces. DOE and response surfaces provide all of the information required to achieve Simulation
Driven Product Development. Once the variation of the performance with respect to the design
variables is known, it becomes easy to understand and identify all changes required to meet the
requirements for the product.

The goal is to create a response surface by interpolating through calculated points (a best curve fit).
For each design, you can create a response surface for each output parameter. Once the response
surfaces are created, you can share the information can in easily understandable terms: curves,
surfaces, sensitivities, etc. They can be used at any time during the development of the product
without requiring additional simulations to test a new configuration.

The Design of Experiments feature is integrated inside Electronics Desktop. Combined with
Electronics Desktop‘s distributed solve feature, you can build the response surfaces from the DOE

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variation table much faster.

Selecting a Design of Experiments under Optimization opens a dialog with several tabs:

In the Design of Experiments setup, you select the DOE type, select the Response Surface,
specify goals, view and include variables.

There are a wide range of DOE algorithms or methods available in engineering literature. These
techniques all have one common characteristic: they try to locate the sampling points such that the
space of random input parameters is explored in the most efficient way, or obtain the required
information with a minimum of sampling points. Sample points in efficient locations only reduce the
required number of sampling points and increases the accuracy of the response surface
generated. For more information on the available types of DOE, see Design of Experiments Types.

Once you have set up your input parameters, you can update the DOE, which submits the
generated design points to the analysis system for solution. Design points are solved

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simultaneously if the analysis system is set up to do so; sequentially, if not. After the solution is
complete, you can update the Response Surface cell, which generates response surfaces for each
output parameter based on the data in the generated design points.

Note Requirements and recommendations regarding the number of input parameters vary
according to DOE type. For more information, see Number of Input Parameters for DOE
Types.

If you change the Design of Experiments type after doing an initial analysis and preview the Design
of Experiments Table, any design points generated for the new algorithm that are the same as
design points solved for a previous algorithm will appear as up-to-date. Only the design points that
are different from any previously submitted design points need to be solved.

You should set up your DOE Properties before generating your DOE Design Point matrix. The
following topics describe setting up and solving your Design of Experiments, and viewing the
results.

Related Topics

Setting Up Design of Experiments in ANSYS Electronics Desktop

Viewing the Result for Design of Experiments

Setting Up Design of Experiments in ANSYS Electronics Desktop

The process for setting up a Design of Experiments analysis in ANSYS Electronics Desktop
follows:

Choose the Variables for Design Exploration

You must define local or project variables as Optimization /Design of Experiments variables for the
Design of Experiments setup to include the variable.

Add the Design of Experiments Setup

Right-click on the Optimetrics icon in the Project tree and select Add>Design of Experiments.
You can also use <solver>>Optimetrics Analysis>Add Design of Experiments.

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You can also select the Simulation tab and under the Optimetrics icon, select Design of
Experiments from the drop-down menu:

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The Design of Experiments Setup dialog appears.

It has tabs for:

l Design of Experiments, where you specify the sampling points and associated
parameters.
l Table, which shows the sampling points defined by the Design of Experiments settings
you provide. If you select Custom and the Design of Experiments type, you can import
data files as well as add or edit rows. You can also Export files of DOE sampling points
you have defined by any method.
l Response Surface, which specifies the Response surface type, and Refinement
parameters.
l Calculations, which accesses Optimetrics calculations.
l Goals, including cost functions calculations and norm type.
l Variables, previously defined for Optimization/Design of Experiments as Project or
Design variables, and whether to include them, treat as discrete, whether to Use
Manufacturable Variables, and the available Levels.
l Options, to Save Fields and Mesh, and whether to copy geometrically equivalent meshes.

Once you have set parameters and click OK, the Design of Experiments setup appears under the
Optimetrics icon in the Project tree.

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From here you can right click on the DesignOfExperiments setup for the shortcut menu to run
Analyze, Submit Job... or Validate for Large Scale DSO.

Stand alone and distributed simulation will have the same behavior as the parametric setup.

Related Topics

Using Design of Experiments in ANSYS Electronics Desktop

Design of Experiments Tab

Table Tab for Design of Experiments

Response Surface Tab for Design of Experiments

Variables Tab for Design of Experiments

View Analysis Results for Design of Experiments

Design of Experiments Tab

The Design of Experiments tab in the DOE Setup includes selections for defining the sampling
points that define your experiment. Each selection for Design of Experiments type has a different
set of associated parameters so the appearance of the dialog changes to show the parameters for

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your selection.

The goal in Design of Experiments is to determine the smallest sufficient set of points required to
calculate a response surface. Therefore, you choose the type depending on the parametric
problem and targeted response surface. The number of points depends on the number of input
parameters, or is user defined

The Design of Experiments Types available in the Desktop include the following:

Design of
Brief Description (see links for more details)
Experiments Types
An optimized Latin Hypercube Sampling maximizing distance between
experiments.

Several design type criteria are available:

l Max-Min Distance
l Centered L2
l Maximum Entropy

Optimal Space Several sampling types available which determine the number of
Filling (Default) samples in the design:

l CCD samples (Central Composite Designs are five level factorial

designs that are suitable for calibrating the quadratic response
model)
l Linear model samples
l Pure quadratic model samples
l Full quadratic model samples
l User-Defined samples

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Design of
Brief Description (see links for more details)
Experiments Types
You also specify a Maximum Number of Cycles and a Random
Generator Seed.
Several design types available:

l Face-Centered
l Rotatable
Central Composite
l VIF-Optimality
Design
l G-Optimality
l Auto-defined

You can also choose a Standard or Enhanced Template.

Avoids critical configurations in the corner of the design space.
Box-Behnken
Maximum number of input parameters is 12.
Lets you customize a DOE matrix, by editing values, adding or removing
samples, and/or importing samples from a CSV file. Selecting Custom
enables an Import button and the Table tab, as well as buttons to Add
editable rows or Delete selected rows.
Custom
If you previously solved the DOE using one of the other algorithms, those
design points are retained and you can add new design points to the
table. You can also import and export design points into the custom DOE
Table from the Parameter Set.
Statistical design where no two experiments share input parameters of
the same value.

The samples Type can be:

l CCD Samples
Latin Hypercube l Linear Model Samples
Sampling l Pure Quadratic Model Samples
l Full Quadratic Model Samples
l User-Defined Samples, for which you also specify the Number of
Samples.

For each samples type you also specify a Random Generator Seed.

The Table tab provides a preview view of the design points defined by your selections.

Related Topics

Setting Up Design of Experiments in ANSYS Electronics Desktop

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Optimal Space Filling Design (OSF)

The goal in Design of Experiments is to determine the smallest sufficient set of points required to
calculate a response surface. Therefore, you choose the type depending on the parametric
problem and targeted response surface. The number of points depends on the number of input
parameters, or is user defined.

Optimal Space-Filling Design (OSF) creates optimal space filling Design of Experiments (DOE)
plans according to some specified criteria. Essentially, OSF is a Latin Hypercube Sampling Design
(LHS) that is extended with post-processing. It is initialized as an LHS and then optimized several
times, remaining a valid LHS (without points sharing rows or columns) while achieving a more
uniform space distribution of points (maximizing the distance between points).

To offset the noise associated with physical experimentation, classical DOE types such as CCD
focus on parameter settings near the perimeter of the design region. Because computer simulation
is not quite as subject to noise, though, the Optimal Space-Filling (OSF) design is able to distribute
the design parameters equally throughout the design space with the objective of gaining the
maximum insight into the design with the fewest number of points. This advantage makes it
appropriate when a more complex meta-modeling technique such as Kriging, Non-Parametric
Regression, or Neural Networks is used.

OSF shares some of the same disadvantages as LHS, though to a lesser degree. Possible
disadvantages of an OSF design are:

l When the CCD Samples sample type is selected, a maximum of 20 input parameters is
supported.
l Extremes, such as the corners of the design space, are not necessarily covered.
l The selection of too few design points can result in a lower quality of response prediction.

The following properties are available for the OSF DOE type.

l Design Type: The following choices are available:

l Max-Min Distance (default): Maximizes the minimum distance between any two points.
This strategy ensures that no two points are too close to each other. For a small size of
sampling (N), the Max-Min Distance design generally lies on the exterior of the design
space and fill in the interior as N becomes larger. Generally, this is the faster algorithm.
l Centered L2: Minimizes the centered L2-discrepancy measure. The discrepancy
measure corresponds to the difference between the empirical distribution of the sampling
points and the uniform distribution. This means that the centered L2 yields a uniform
sampling. This design type is computationally faster than the Maximum Entropy type.
l Maximum Entropy: Maximizes the determinant of the covariance matrix of the sampling
points to minimize uncertainty in unobserved locations. This option often provides better
results for highly correlated design spaces. However, its cost increases non-linearly with
the number of input parameters and the number of samples to be generated. Thus, it is
recommended only for small parametric problems.

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l Maximum Number of Cycles: Determines the number of optimization loops the algorithm
needs, which in turns determines the discrepancy of the DOE. The optimization is essentially
combinatorial, so a large number of cycles slows down the process. However, this makes
the discrepancy of the DOE smaller. For practical purposes, 10 cycles is generally good for
up to 20 variables. The value must be greater than 0. The default is 10.
l Samples Type: Determines the number of DOE points the algorithm should generate.
This option is suggested if you have some advanced knowledge about the nature of the
metamodel. The following choices are available:
l CCD Samples (default): Supports a maximum of 20 inputs. Generates the same
number of samples a CCD DOE would generate for the same number of inputs. You can
use this to generate a space filling design that has the same cost as a corresponding
CCD design.
l Linear Model Samples: Generates the number of samples as needed for a linear
metamodel.
l Pure Quadratic Model Samples: Generates the number of samples as needed for a
pure quadratic metamodel (no cross terms).
l Full Quadratic Samples: Generates the number of samples needed to generate a full
quadratic model.
l User-Defined Samples: Specify the desired number of samples.
l Seed Value: Set the value used to initialize the random number generator invoked internally
by the LHS algorithm. Although the generation of a starting point is random, the seed value
consistently results in a specific LHS. This property allows you to generate different
samplings by changing the value or regenerate the same sampling by keeping the same
value. The default is 0.
l Number of Samples: Enabled when Samples Type is set to User-Defined Samples.
Specifies the default number of samples. The default is 10.

Related Topics

Setting Up Design of Experiments in ANSYS Electronics Desktop

Central Composite Design (CCD)

The goal in Design of Experiments is to determine the smallest sufficient set of points required to
calculate a response surface. Therefore, you choose the type depending on the parametric
problem and targeted response surface. The number of points depends on the number of input
parameters, or is user defined.

Central Composite Design (CCD) provides a screening set to determine the overall trends of the
metamodel to better guide the choice of options in Optimal Space-Filling Design. The CCD DOE
type supports a maximum of 20 input parameters.

The following properties are available for the CCD DOE type.

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l Design Type: By specifying the Design Type for CCD, you can help to improve the
response surface fit for DOE studies. For each CCD type, the alpha value is defined as the
location of the sampling point that accounts for all quadratic main effects. The following CCD
design types are available:
l Face-Centered: A three-level design with no rotatability. The alpha value equals 1.0. A
Template Type setting automatically appears, with Standard and Enhanced options.
Choose Enhanced for a possible better fit for the response surfaces.
l Rotatable: A five-level design that includes rotatability. The alpha value is calculated
based on the number of input variables and a fraction of the factorial part. A design with
rotatability has the same variance of the fitted value regardless of the direction from the
center point.
l VIF-Optimality: A five-level design in which the alpha value is calculated by minimizing a
measure of non-orthogonality known as the Variance Inflation Factor (VIF). The more
highly correlated the input variable with one or more terms in a regression model, the
higher the VIF.
l G-Optimality: Minimizes a measure of the expected error in a prediction and minimizes
the largest expected variance of prediction over the region of interest.
l Auto-Defined: Design exploration automatically selects the Design Type based on the
number of input variables. Use of this option is recommended for most cases as it
automatically switches between the G-Optimality if the number of input variables is 5 or
VIF-Optimality otherwise.
However, you can use the Rotatable design if the default option does not provide good
values for the Goodness of Fit from the response surface plots. Additionally, you can use
the Enhanced template if the default Standard template does not fit the response
surfaces well.
l Template Type: Enabled for the Rotatable and Face-Centered design types. The following
options are available:
l Standard
l Enhanced: Choose this option for a possible better fit for the response surfaces

Related Topics

Setting Up Design of Experiments in ANSYS Electronics Desktop

Box Behnken Design (CCD)

The goal in Design of Experiments is to determine the smallest sufficient set of points required to
calculate a response surface. Therefore, you choose the type depending on the parametric
problem and targeted response surface. The number of points depends on the number of input
parameters, or is user defined.

A Box-Behnken Design is a three-level quadratic design that does not contain fractional factorial
design. The sample combinations are treated in such a way that they are located at midpoints of
edges formed by any two factors. The design is rotatable (or in cases, nearly rotatable).

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One advantage of a Box-Behnken design is that it requires fewer design points than a full factorial
CCD and generally requires fewer design points than a fractional factorial CCD. Additionally, a
Box-Behnken Design avoids extremes, allowing you to work around extreme factor combinations.
Consider using the Box-Behnken Design DOE type if your project has parametric extremes (for
example, has extreme parameter values in corners that are difficult to build). Since the Box-
Behnken DOE doesn’t have corners and does not combine parametric extremes, it can reduce the
risk of update failures.

Possible disadvantages of a Box-Behnken design are:

l Prediction at the corners of the design space is poor and that there are only three levels per
parameter.
l A maximum of 12 input parameters is supported.

No additional properties are available for the Box-Behnken Design DOE type.

Related Topics

Setting Up Design of Experiments in ANSYS Electronics Desktop

Custom DOE Type

The goal in Design of Experiments is to determine the smallest sufficient set of points required to
calculate a response surface. Therefore, you choose the type depending on the parametric
problem and targeted response surface. The number of points depends on the number of input
parameters, or is user defined.

The Custom DOE type allows for definition of a custom DOE Table. You can manually add new
design points, entering the input and (optionally) output parameter values directly into the table. If
you previously solved the DOE using one of the other algorithms, those design points are retained
and you can add new design points to the table. You can also import and export design points into
the custom DOE Table from the Parameter Set.

You can change the edition mode of the DOE table to edit the output parameter values. You can
also copy and paste data and import data from a CSV file by right-clicking and selecting Import
Design Points.

Related Topics

Setting Up Design of Experiments in ANSYS Electronics Desktop

Latin Hypercube Sampling

The goal in Design of Experiments is to determine the smallest sufficient set of points required to
calculate a response surface. Therefore, you choose the type depending on the parametric
problem and targeted response surface. The number of points depends on the number of input
parameters, or is user defined.

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In the Latin Hypercube Sampling Design DOE type, the DOE is generated by the LHS
algorithm, an advanced form of the Monte Carlo sampling method that avoids clustering samples.
In a Latin Hypercube Sampling, the points are randomly generated in a square grid across the
design space, but no two points share the same value. This means that no point shares a row or a
column of the grid with any other point.

Possible disadvantages of an LHS design are:

l When the CCD Samples sample type is selected, a maximum of 20 input parameters is
supported. For more information, see Number of Input Parameters for DOE Types.
l Extremes, such as the corners of the design space, are not necessarily covered.
Additionally, the selection of too few design points can result in a lower quality of response
prediction.

Note: The Optimal Space-Filling Design DOE type is an LHS design that is extended with post-
processing.

The following properties are available for the LHS DOE type:

l Samples Type: Determines the number of DOE points the algorithm should generate. This
option is suggested if you have some advanced knowledge about the nature of the
metamodel. The following choices are available:
l CCD Samples (default): Supports a maximum of 20 inputs. Generates the same
number of samples a CCD DOE would generate for the same number of inputs. You can
use this to generate a space filling design that has the same cost as a corresponding
CCD design.
l Linear Model Samples: Generates the number of samples as needed for a linear
metamodel.
l Pure Quadratic Model Samples: Generates the number of samples as needed for a
pure quadratic metamodel (no cross terms).
l Full Quadratic Samples: Generates the number of samples needed to generate a full
quadratic model.
l User-Defined Samples: Specify the desired number of samples.
l Seed Value: Set the value used to initialize the random number generator invoked internally
by the LHS algorithm. Although the generation of a starting point is random, the seed value
consistently results in a specific LHS. This property allows you to generate different LHS
samplings (by changing the value) or to regenerate the same LHS sampling (by keeping the
same value). The default is 0.
l Number of Samples: Enabled when Samples Type is set to User-Defined Samples.
Specifies the default number of samples. The default is 10.

Related Topics

Setting Up Design of Experiments in ANSYS Electronics Desktop

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Table Tab for Design of Experiments

The Table tab for the Design of Experiments Setup dialog displays a preview of the design
points designed by your selections on the Design of Experiments tab. There is one column for
each defined variable. The Export button lets you create a file of the table in a format you specify.

If you have specified Custom as the Design of Experiments Type, the table is editable and the
Table tab includes buttons for Add and Delete Rows. All rows are editable. You can add new rows
by entering values in the * row of the table. You enter values in the input parameter columns. Once
you have entered a value in one column in the * row, the row is added to the table and the values
for the remaining input parameters are set to the initial values of the parameters. You can then edit
that row in the table and change any of the other input parameter values if needed. Output
parameter values are then calculated when the design is solved updated.

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Depending on the context, the tables are read-only and filled automatically or they are partially or
completely editable. The background color of a cell indicates if it is editable or not:

l A gray background indicates a read-only cell

l A white background indicates an editable cell

Output parameter values calculated from a simulation (a design point update) are displayed in
black text.

The Custom Table view also includes an Import button. Import and Export files can be:

l Comma delimited data files, (*.csv)

l Tab delimited data files, (*.tab)
l Ansoft Plot data files, (*.dat)
l Post Processor format data files, (*.txt)

The Table updates automatically when you change your selections on the Design of
Experiments tab.

Related Topics

Custom DOE Type

Response Surface Tab for Design of Experiments

The Response Surface tab for the Design of Experiments Setup dialog lets you select the
Response Surface type as Genetic Aggregation or Standard Response Surface.

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The Response Surface type selection specifies the refinement applied to the initial Design of
Experiments. The Genetic Aggregation Response Surface finds the best possible response
surface for each output automatically by combining:

l Metamodels
l Settings
l Kernel Variation
l Polynomial Regression

For each output, a Fitness factor works to minimize error, including cross-validation errors. The
automatic refinement adds design points to the DOE until the response surface accuracy meets
user requirements. You can specify requirements for:

l Maximum Relative Error %: This apply to all output calculations. Empty this field to turn off
Auto refinement. (Note: Workbench does not have this field.)
l Maximum Number or Refinement Points: Determines the maximum number of refinement
points that can be generated for use with the Genetic Aggregation algorithm.

l Number of Refinement Points: Read-only property indicating the number of existing

refinement points.

If you check Show Advanced Options at the bottom of the Setup dialog, you can also specify
Crowding Distance Separation Percentage:

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Crowding Distance Separation Percentage: determining the minimum allowable distance between
new refinement points, implemented as a constraint in the search for refinement points.

You do have the option of selecting Standard Response Surface- Full 2nd Order Polynomial.

After you have completed an analysis you can view the generated plot.

Related Topics

Setting Up Design of Experiments in ANSYS Electronics Desktop

Variables Tab for Design of Experiments

The Variables tab for the Design of Experiments Setup dialog displays list of the variables
defined for the Design and Project as Optimetrics/Design of Experiments variables.

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The columns list the Variable names, the current Min and Max Values and Units, and provides
options for the following:

l Override--check this to override the current design value. Unchecking this causes a dialog to
appear asking you to confirm the return to the design value.
l Include--whether to include the variable in an analysis.
l Discrete--Discrete Variables physically represent different configurations or states of the
model. When checkbox in the Discrete column is checked the button in the “Levels” column
will be enabled.

The Levels show the variable values. For continuous variable, Levels is determined by the
min/max columns. If you check Use Manufacturable values, Levels lists the Manufacturable
values (for example, [ min, va, v2, v3, max]). For Integer variables Levels can be a subset of
the min/max range. The discrete values can be bounded by a min/man range and/or

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manufacturable values.

Click the enabled Levels button for the row to edit the Discrete values. An edit dialog for the
variable appears.

Continuous Variables physically vary in a continuous manner between a lower and an

upper bound (min/max) defined by the user. With continuous Variables, you can also apply a
Manufacturable Values filter to the Variable. Manufacturable Values represent real-world
manufacturing or production constraints. The min max values will be upper and lower
constraints on the available manufacturable values bounded by the range.

l When you enable the check box in the “Use Manufacturable Values” column the button in
the “Levels” column is enabled. Click the Levels button to edit the values. An edit dialog for
the variable appears.

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Related Topics

Setting Up Design of Experiments in ANSYS Electronics Desktop

View Analysis Result for Design of Experiments

After the Analysis has competed, you can right click on the Design of Experiments setup in the
Project tree and click View Analysis Result on the shortcut menu. This opens a dialog that
includes a Result tab that lists the variations and variable values, a solution Profile tab with start,
stop, time elapsed, and machines used, as well as a Response Surface tab. When you include
more than one variable in the setup, response surface view is available. You can choose any two
variables as the X, Y axis, and choose an output calculation as the Z axis, by clicking the ellipsis [...]

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button next to the view list box.

From the Response Surface tab, the “View” list box lets you select all available views of the
selected response-surface-setup.

l Min Max Search

l Refinement points table
l Response points table
l Verification points table
l Goodness of Fit
l Response Curve
l Response Curve (2D Slices)
l Response Surface
l Local Sensitivity Charts
l Local Sensitivity Curves

The Update push button is disabled when the response surface is up to date. After the setup, if you
modify a verification point or refinement points, it is enabled. Click this button to re-generate the

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response-surface with new settings. It may start new simulations if any of the design points in the
DOE, refinement points, or verification points has not been solved.

Clicking the ellipsis button [...] by the View for Response Surface opens a dialog that lets you adjust
the variables selected and the values applied.

Tuning a Response Curve

For the X Axis and Y Axis, you can specify a Resolution, and the variable to use. For the Z Axis you
can select the Cost or calculation. For variables not selected for the X and Y axis, a slider is
enabled that lets you adjust the value to see the effect on the response curve plot. You can enable
or disable Real time mode by using the check box at the lower left.

Full Range Axis check box

When it is checked all Axes are set to their maximum ranges, and the ranges won’t be changed
while tuning unless you change the axis variable.

When it is unchecked, the Y(2D)/Z(3D) axis range is auto updated to fit the curve/surface.

Exporting Response Curve Data

You can Export the response curve data as a table in the following formats:

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l Comma delimited data files, (*.csv)

l Tab delimited data files, (*.tab)
l ANSYS Plot data files, (*.dat)
l Post Processor format data files, (*.txt)
l ANSYS Report Data *.rdat files

Exported files can be imported into a report.

Related Topics

Using Design of Experiments in ANSYS Electronics Desktop

Setting Up Design of Experiments in ANSYS Electronics Desktop

Min-Max Search View for Design of Experiments Result

From the Response Surface tab of the Design of Experiments Post Analysis Display dialog,
the “View” list box lets you select all available views of the selected response-surface-setup.

The Min-Max Search view examines the entire output parameter space from a response surface to
approximate the minimum and maximum values of each output parameter. When you select a
Min/Max row the Apply button is enabled, and you can then apply the selected variation variable
values to the variables’ nominal values.

You can Export the Table in the following formats:

l Comma delimited data files, (*.csv)

l Tab delimited data files, (*.tab)

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l Ansoft Plot data files, (*.dat)

l Post Processor format data files, (*.txt)

Related Topics

Using Design of Experiments in ANSYS Electronics Desktop

Setting Up Design of Experiments in ANSYS Electronics Desktop

Refinement Points Table

From the Response Surface tab, the “View” list box lets you select all available views of the
selected response-surface-setup. All refinement points are shown in the Refinement Points table:

Refinement points are points added to your model to enrich and improve your response surface.
They can either be generated automatically with the response surface update or added manually,
as described in Performing a Manual Refinement. As with design points, DesignXplorer must
perform a design point update (a "real solve") in order to obtain the output parameters for the
refinement points.

Upon update, the refinement points are used to build the response surface and are taken into
account for the generation of verification points. Along with DOE points, refinement points are also
used as "learning points" for Goodness of Fit calculations.
Performing a Manual Refinement

Manual refinement is a way to force the response surface to take into account points of your choice,
in addition to the points already in the Design of Experiments. You can insert a refinement point in
the Refinement Points table, and do not need to do an initial solve of the response surface (without
the refinement point) before updating your response surface with your manual refinement. Manual
refinement is available for all response surface types except for Sparse Grid.

You can add, delete, or modify refinement points by clicking the Add or Delete buttons, or by
modifying point values directly in the grid.

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Manual Refinement Point can be inserted from the Response point table and Verification Points
Table.

Related Topics

Using Design of Experiments in ANSYS Electronics Desktop

Setting Up Design of Experiments in ANSYS Electronics Desktop

Response Points Table

From the Response Surface tab, the “View” list box lets you select all available views of the
selected response-surface-setup. All Response points are shown in the Response Points table:

A response point is defined by a snapshot of variable values where output calculation values were
calculated in ANSYS DesignXplorer from a response surface. As such, the output calculation(or
cost) values are approximate and calculated from response surfaces.

You can add, delete, save, or export response points by using the command buttons in the dialog
or you can modify response points manually by modifying point values directly in the grid.

Click Add to Verify or Add to Refine buttons to insert the selected response point to the
verification table or refinement table.

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Response Curve

When Continuous Variable is chosen as the X-axis, and Continuous XY plot will be shown.

Discrete Variable

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If you choose Discrete Variable as the X-axis, a bar chart plot is shown:

Tuning a Response Curve

For the X Axis and Y Axis, you can specify a Resolution, and the variable to use. For the Z Axis you
can select the Cost or calculation. For variables not selected for the X and Y axis, a slider is
enabled that lets you adjust the value to see the effect on the response curve plot. You can enable
or disable Real time mode by using the check box at the lower left.

Full Range Axis check box

When it is checked all Axes are set to their maximum ranges, and the ranges won’t be changed
while tuning unless you change the axis variable.

When it is unchecked, the Y(2D)/Z(3D) axis range is auto updated to fit the curve/surface.

Accumulate Response Curve

It always be unchecked when the tuning dialog started, and won’t restore it last check/uncheck
state. When it is checked, it will retaining the existing curves, and add new curve to the plot.
Uncheck the checkbox won’t clear the accumulated curves, just stop to accumulate new curve.
When the Axis variable is changed, all accumulated curves will be cleared.

Exporting Response Curve Data

You can Export the response curve data as a table in the following formats:

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l Comma delimited data files, (*.csv)

l Tab delimited data files, (*.tab)
l ANSYS Plot data files, (*.dat)
l Post Processor format data files, (*.txt)
l ANSYS Report Data *.rdat files

Exported files can be imported into a report.

Related Topics

Using Design of Experiments in ANSYS Electronics Desktop

Setting Up Design of Experiments in ANSYS Electronics Desktop

Response Curve (2D Slices)

If you have included more than one variable in the setup, the Response Curves (2D) view is
available:

Clicking the ellipsis button [...] by the View for Response Surface opens a dialog that lets you adjust
the variables selected and the values applied.

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Tuning a Response Curve

For the X Axis and Y Axis, you can specify a Resolution, and the variable to use. For the Z Axis you
can select the Cost or calculation. For variables not selected for the X and Y axis, a slider is
enabled that lets you adjust the value to see the effect on the response curve plot. You can enable
or disable Real time mode by using the check box at the lower left.

Full Range Axis check box

When it is checked all Axes are set to their maximum ranges, and the ranges won’t be changed
while tuning unless you change the axis variable.

When it is unchecked, the Y(2D)/Z(3D) axis range is auto updated to fit the curve/surface.

Exporting Response Curve Data

You can Export the response curve data as a table in the following formats:

l Comma delimited data files, (*.csv)

l Tab delimited data files, (*.tab)
l ANSYS Plot data files, (*.dat)
l Post Processor format data files, (*.txt)
l ANSYS Report Data *.rdat files

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Exported files can be imported into a report.

Related Topics

Using Design of Experiments in ANSYS Electronics Desktop

Setting Up Design of Experiments in ANSYS Electronics Desktop

Verification Points Table

From the Response Surface tab, the “View” list box lets you select all available views of the
selected response-surface-setup. All Verification points are shown in the Verification Points table:

Verification points enable you to verify that the response surface accurately approximates the
output parameter values; they compare the predicted and observed values of the output
parameters.

You can add, delete and modify Verification points manually.

l Same as add/delete/modify refinement points.

l Insert from Response Points Table.

Click Add to Refine button to insert the selected response point to the refinement table.

A design point update (that is, a "real solve") calculates each verification point. These verification
point results are then compared with the response surface predictions and the difference is
calculated.

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Verification points are useful in validating any type of response surface. In particular, however, you
should always use verification points to validate the accuracy of interpolated response surfaces,
such as Kriging or Sparse Grid.

You can add, delete, save, or export verification points by using the command buttons in the dialog
or you can modify verification points manually by modifying point values directly in the grid.

Related Topics

Using Design of Experiments in ANSYS Electronics Desktop

Setting Up Design of Experiments in ANSYS Electronics Desktop

Goodness of Fit (Predicted vs Observed Chart)

From the Response Surface tab, the “View” list box lets you select all available views of the
selected response-surface-setup.Response surfaces are built from design points in the Design of
Experiments (DOE) and refinement points (collectively, called "learning points"). The Goodness of
Fit calculations compare the response surface outputs with the DOE results used to create them.

The closer the points are to the diagonal line, the better the response surface fits the points.

You can view Goodness of Fit information for any of the output parameters in a response surface.
To do so click the ellipsis button [...] button to bring up this dialog:

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Using Design of Experiments in ANSYS Electronics Desktop

Setting Up Design of Experiments in ANSYS Electronics Desktop

Response Surface Results

When more than one variable is included in the setup, the Response Surface view is available. You
can choose any two variables as the X, Y axis, and choose an output calculation as the Z axis, by
clicking the “...” button next to the view list box. From the Response Surface tab of the Design of
Experiments Post Analysis Display dialog, the “View” list box lets you select all available views of
the selected response-surface-setup.

Response surfaces are functions of varying natures in which the output parameters are described
in terms of the input parameters. Built from the Design of Experiments (DOE), they quickly provide
the approximated values of the output parameters throughout the design space without having to
perform a complete solution. The accuracy of a response surface depends on several factors: the
complexity of the variations of the solution, the number of points in the original DOE, and the
response surface type. Once a response surface has been generated, you can create and manage
response points and charts. These postprocessing tools help you to understand how each output
parameter is driven by input parameters and how you can modify your design to improve its
performance.

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Clicking the ellipsis button [...] by the View for Response Surface opens a dialog that lets you adjust
the variables selected and the values applied.

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Tuning a Response Surface

For the X Axis and Y Axis, you can specify a Resolution, and the variable to use. For the Z Axis you
can select the Cost or calculation. For variables not selected for the X and Y axis, a slider is
enabled that lets you adjust the value to see the effect on the response surface plot. You can
enable or disable Real time mode by using the check box at the lower left.

Full Range Axis check box

When it is checked, all Axes are set to their maximum ranges, and the ranges won’t be changed
while tuning unless you change the axis variable.

When it is unchecked, the Y(2D)/Z(3D) axis range is auto updated to fit the curve/surface.

Exporting Response Surface Data

You can Export the Response surface data as a table in the following formats:

l Comma delimited data files, (*.csv)

l Tab delimited data files, (*.tab)
l Ansoft Plot data files, (*.dat)
l Post Processor format data files, (*.txt)

Exported files can be imported into a report.

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Local Sensitivity Charts

From the Response Surface tab, the “View” list box lets you select all available views of the
selected response-surface-setup. Local Sensitivity Charts allow you to graphically view the impact
that changing each input parameter has on the output parameters. The Local Sensitivity chart can
be a powerful exploration tool. For each output, it allows you to see the weight of the different input.
This chart calculates the change of the output based on the change of each input independently, at
the current value of each input parameter in the project.

Clicking the ellipsis button [...] opens the Local Sensitivity Properties dialog that lets you adjust
the variables selected and the values applied.

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Using Design of Experiments in ANSYS Electronics Desktop

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Local Sensitivity Curves

From the Response Surface tab, the “View” list box lets you select all available views of the
selected response-surface-setup. Local Sensitivity Curves allow you to graphically view the impact
that changing each input parameter has on the output parameters. The Local Sensitivity Curves
chart helps you to focus your analysis by allowing you to view independent parameter variations
within the standard Local Sensitivity chart. This multi-curve chart provides a means of viewing the
impact of each input parameter on specific outputs, given the current values of the other
parameters. The Local Sensitivities Curves chart shows individual local sensitivities, with a
separate curve to represent the impact of each input on one or two outputs.

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Clicking the ellipsis button [...] opens the Local Sensitivity Properties dialog that lets you adjust
the variables selected and the values applied.

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Using the Fast Calculation-Update Algorithm

A fast calculation-update algorithm is available to speed up Optimetrics and report updates during
Optimetrics analyses. The fast calculation-update algorithm will generate the same Optimetrics
results, only faster, and is available for all Optimetrics analyses except Tuning analysis. By default,
the fast calculation-update option is automatically enabled whenever it is applicable, but you can
configure it manually using the Options tab of the Optimetrics Setup dialog. To enable the fast
calculation-update algorithm:

1. Click your product, and then >Optimetrics Analysis >Add <OptimetricsType>.

A typical dialog to SetupSweep Analysis is shown below with the Options tab selected.

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The Options tab is the same for all optimization setups.

2. Check Use fast calculation-update algorithm to enable use of the algorithm. (See also,
Fast Calculation-Update Algorithm Limitations.)

When the fast calculation-update algorithm is enabled:

l You can enable some reports to be updated automatically during the optimetrics analysis
if you Set All Variables To Nominal in the Report/Trace setup dialog:

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l You can see each trace (overwriting the previous), by setting the Optimetrics setup in
the Report dialog to None in addition to having all variables set to Nominal. At the end of
the analysis, the user will see the last calculated value.
3. If you have enabled Use fast calculation-update algorithm and want to save the solution
data for every solved design variation in the Optimetrics analysis, select Save solutions to
database as shown below. Selecting Save solutions to database has no effect without
enabling Use fast calculation-update algorithm.

Note Do not select this option when requesting a large number of iterations as the data
generated will be very large and the system may become slow due to the large I/O
requirements.

l When the Save solutions to database option is checked, a plot with traces based on the
Optimetrics Setup just run can be updated through a menu command (right-click on the
desired report in the Project Manager Results folder and select Update Report) and will
show results as appropriate (family, if chosen).
l Without the Save solutions to database option checked, you can examine analysis data
in the Post Analysis Display dialog, available by right-clicking on the Optimetrics Setup
and choosing View Analysis Result.

Fast Calculation-Update Algorithm Limitations

The fast calculation-update algorithm cannot be used if any optimetrics calculation uses:

l Project/Design variables – If the project/design variable is not swept in the Optimetrics

analysis, and you would like to use it in the expression: You can create an output variable
for the Project/Design variable, assign the value of the Project/Design variable to the
output variable, and use the output variable in the expression instead.
l More than one range function – For example, when range function is not the
outermost function or when range function takes arguments.
l More than one calculation range, or the calculation range is not for primary sweep.

Similarly, when the fast calculation-update algorithm is enabled, a trace cannot be updated during
an analysis if the trace expression uses:

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l Project/Design variables. (However, you can use the same workaround described
above.)
l Any range function.

Tuning Overview
Tuning a variable is useful when you want to manually modify its value and immediately perform an
analysis of the design. For example, it is useful after performing an optimization analysis, in which
Optimetrics has determined an optimal variable value, and you want to fine tune the value to see
how the design results (for example, traces in a report) are affected.

A design can be updated after a tuning analysis to reflect a design variation solved during a tuning
analysis and the results, including field solutions if you select Save Fields and Mesh on the
Options tab of the setup.

Related Topics

Tuning a Variable

Tuning a Variable
If you want to ensure that tuning does not resolve variations already solved by an optimization
setup, you must check Save Fields and Mesh in the Options tab of that setup.

1. Before a variable can be tuned, you must specify that you intend for it to be used during a
tuning analysis in a Project or Design Properties dialog box.

2. After running the simulation, click >Optimetrics>Tune .

The Tune dialog box appears, listing the variables which have been included for tuning.

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3. Clear the Real Time option.

Clearing the Real Time option enables the Tune button. If this option is selected, a simulation
begins immediately after you move the slider. Otherwise, you use the Tune button to apply the
current values to a simulation.

4. If you want to see updates to an open Report plot while tuning a post processing variable,
you must select the Browse available variations check box. Selecting Browse available
variations disables the sweep check box, and the fields for minimum and maximum variable
values. This feature lets you see the effect of changes to the post processing variables on
plotted results.

Clearing Browse available variations enables the Sweep check box, the minimum and
maximum fields, and changes the Nominal field to Step. See step 6.

5. In the Sim. Setups column, select the solution setup you want to use when it solves the
specified design variation.

The analysis is solved using the solution setup you select. If you select more than one,
results are generated for all selected solution setups.

Checking the Tune box for a Sim Setup enables the Real Time check box, the Browse
available variations check box, and the Snap radio buttons. Clearing the Tune box disables
those selections.

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6. In the Nominal text box for the variable you want to tune, type the value of the variable you
want to solve, or drag the slider to increase or decrease its value.

Warning Variable values must be single real numbers, or expressions that evaluate to
single real numbers. Complex numbers cannot be used as the values of
variables in any optimetric analysis.

Alternatively, if you want to solve a range of values, specify a linear range of values with a
constant step size:

a. Select the Sweep check box. (You must have cleared the Browse available
variations check box).
b. In the text box below the Step value, type the starting value in the variable range.
c. Type the step size, or difference between variable values in the sweep definition, in the
Step text box. The step size determines the number of design variations between the
start and stop values.Tthe model is solved at each step in the specified range, including
the start and stop values.
d. In the text box just below the variable name, type a stopping value in the variable range.
7. If you have cleared the Real Time check box, click Tune to apply the changes you have
made to the variable values.

Note Sweeping or using a complex variable is not allowed in any optimetrics setup,
including optimization, statistical, sensitivity, and tuning setups.

8. Changing a variable value with the sliders of by typing in the text field enables the Save and
Reset buttons.

Clicking Save opens a Save As dialog with a name field, and an Apply tuned values to
design check box.

Clicking Reset changes the variable values back to what they were originally.

9. If you have changed one or more included variables, clicking Close on the Tuning dialog
opens the Apply Tuned Variation dialog. This lists the included variables and the values
for each tuning. If you have tried multiple values, they are listed, and the current value is
highlighted. Select another value to change the highlight. Click OK to apply the highlighted
values to the design, or Don't Apply to ignore the changes from the original variable values.

If you have applied variant values, you should see the new values listed in the relevant Design
or Project Properties lists of variables and values, and if the changes affect plots or physical
features of a model, those changes should also appear.

Click Cancel to close the dialog and go back to the Tune dialog.

Related Topics

Applying a Tuned State to a Design

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Tuning Overview

Resetting Variable Values after Tuning

Applying a Tuned State to a Design

You can apply the variable values solved during a tuning analysis to the nominal design in one of
the following three ways:

l When closing the Tune dialog box:

1. Click Close to exit the Tune dialog box.

The Apply Tuned Variation dialog box appears.

2. Click the design variation you want to apply, and then click OK.

The variable values from the solved design variation become the current variable values for
the nominal design. If you have applied variant values, you should see the new values listed
in the relevant Design or Project Properties lists of variables and values, and if the changes
affect plots or physical features of a model, those changes should also be apparent.

l When saving a tuned state.

l When reverting to a tuned state.

Saving a Tuned State

You can save the settings in the Tune dialog box, including the variable values you specified for a
tuning analysis. Saved states are only available during the current session of the Tune dialog box;
they are not stored for the next session.

1. After tuning a variable, click Save in the Tune dialog box.

A Save As dialog box appears.

2. Type a name for the tuned state in the text box.

3. Select Apply tuned values to design if you want to update the model to the new variable
values.
4. Click OK to return to the Tune dialog box.

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Reverting to a Saved Tuned State

Reverting to a Saved Tuned State

You can revert to a group of saved settings in the Tune dialog box, including the variable values
you specified for a specific tuning analysis. Saved states are only available during the current
session of the Tune dialog box; they are not stored for the next session.

1. In the Tune dialog box, click Revert.

The Revert dialog box appears.

2. Type the name of the tuned state you want to apply or click a name in the pull-down list.
3. Select Apply tuned values to design if you want to update the model to the selected
tuned state's variable values.
4. Click OK to return to the Tune dialog box.

Related Topics

Saving a Tuned State

Resetting Variable Values after Tuning

If you want to reset variable values to the values they were set to when you started the current
session of the Tune dialog box:

l After tuning a variable, click Reset in the Tune dialog box.

Solutions for the design variations solved during tuning analyses remain available for post
processing.

Saving Field Solutions for Optimetrics Analyses

In order to preserve disk space, by default ANSYS Electronics Desktop does not save field solution
data for every solved design variation in an optimization analysis. It only saves the field solutions for
the nominal design when an adaptive analysis is specified in the solution setup or when you
request that fields be saved for each solved point in a frequency sweep. If the nominal design is not
included in the optimization analysis, all field solutions are deleted.

To save the fields for all design variations, change the default setting for all projects:

1. Select Tools>Options>General Options and then select <solver>> General.

The appropriate Options dialog box appears.

2. Under the <solver>General tab, select Save Optimetrics field solutions.

Save Fields is selected by default when you create a new Optimetrics setup.

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Related Topics

Saving Field Solutions for a Parametric Setup

Saving Field Solutions for an Optimization Setup

Saving Field Solutions for a Sensitivity Setup

Saving Field Solutions for a Tuning Analysis

Saving Field Solutions for a Design of Experiments Setup

Saving Field Solutions for a Statistical Setup

Copy Geometrically Equivalent Meshes

Saving Field Solutions for a Parametric Setup

In order to preserve disk space, by default ANSYS Electronics Desktop does not save field solution
data for every solved design variation in a parametric setup. It only saves the field solutions for the
nominal design. If the nominal design is not included in the parametric setup, by default field
solutions will not be available.

To save the fields for all design variations solved during a parametric analysis:

1. Either Add Sweep or right click on an existing sweep to open the Setup Sweep Analysis
dialog box.
2. Select the Options tab.
3. Click the Save Fields And Mesh check box. Optionally, select Copy geometrically
equivalent meshes.

ANSYS Electronics Desktop will save the field solution data for every solved design variation in
the parametric setup.

Related Topics

Saving Field Solutions for Optimetrics Analyses

Saving Field Solutions for an Optimization Setup

In order to preserve disk space, by default ANSYS Electronics Desktop does not save field solution
data for every solved design variation in an optimization analysis. It only saves the field solutions for
the nominal design when an adaptive analysis is specified in the solution setup or when you
request that fields be saved for each solved point in a frequency sweep. If the nominal design is not
included in the optimization analysis, all field solutions are deleted.

To save the fields for all design variations solved during an optimization analysis:

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1. Open an Edit Sweep dialog by either adding a sweep or right-click on a an existing sweep to
view the short cut menu and selecting Properties.
2. Select the Options tab.
3. Click the Save Fields And Mesh check box. Optionally, select Copy geometrically
equivalent mashes.

ANSYS Electronics Desktop will save the field solution data for every solved design variation in
the optimization setup.

Related Topics

Saving Field Solutions for Optimetrics Analyses

Saving Field Solutions for a Sensitivity Setup

In order to preserve disk space, by default ANSYS Electronics Desktop does not save field solution
data for every solved design variation in a sensitivity analysis. It only saves the field solutions for the
nominal design when an adaptive analysis is specified in the solution setup or when you request
that fields be saved for each solved point in a frequency sweep. If the nominal design is not
included in the sensitivity analysis, all field solutions are deleted.

To save the fields for all design variations solved during a sensitivity analysis:

1. Open the Setup Sensitivity Analysis dialog box.

2. Select the Options tab.
3. Click the Save Fields And Mesh check box. Optionally, select Copy geometrically
equivalent mashes.

ANSYS Electronics Desktop will save the field solution data for every solved design variation in
the sensitivity analysis.

Related Topics

Saving Field Solutions for Optimetrics Analyses

Saving Field Solutions for a Tuning Analysis

In order to preserve disk space, by default ANSYS Electronics Desktop does not save field solution
data for every design variation solved in a tuning analysis. It only saves the field solutions for the
nominal design when an adaptive analysis is specified in the solution setup or when you request
that fields be saved for each solved point in a frequency sweep. If the nominal design is not
included in the tuning analysis, all field solutions are deleted.

To save the fields for all design variations solved during a tuning analysis:

l In the Tuning dialog box, select Save Fields.

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ANSYS Electronics Desktop will save the field solution data for every solved design variation in
a tuning analysis.

Related Topics

Saving Field Solutions for Optimetrics Analyses

Saving Field Solutions for a Statistical Setup

In order to preserve disk space, by default ANSYS Electronics Desktop does not save field solution
data for every design variation solved in a statistical analysis. It only saves the field solutions for the
nominal design when an adaptive analysis is specified in the solution setup or when you request
that fields be saved for each solved point in a frequency sweep. If the nominal design is not
included in the statistical analysis, all field solutions are deleted.

To save the fields for all design variations solved during a statistical analysis:

1. Open the Setup Statistical Analysis dialog box.

2. Select the Options tab.
3. Click the Save Fields And Mesh check box. Optionally, select Copy geometrically
equivalent mashes.

ANSYS Electronics Desktop will save the field solution data for every solved design variation in
the statistical setup.

Related Topics

Saving Field Solutions for Optimetrics Analyses

Saving Field Solutions for a Design of Experiments Setup Setup

In order to preserve disk space, by default ANSYS Electronics Desktop does not save field solution
data for every solved design variation in a Design of Experiments setup. It only saves the field
solutions for the nominal design. If the nominal design is not included in the Design of Experiments
setup, by default field solutions will not be available.

To save the fields for all design variations solved during a Design of Experiments analysis:

1. Either Add > Design of Experiments or right-click on an existing setup to open the

Design of Experiments dialog box.
2. Select the Options tab.
3. Click the Save Fields And Mesh check box. Optionally, select Copy geometrically
equivalent meshes.

ANSYS Electronics Desktop will save the field solution data for every solved design variation in
the Design of Experiments setup.

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Related Topics

Saving Field Solutions for Optimetrics Analyses

Copying Meshes in Optimetrics Sweeps

An option in the Optimetrics Analysis setups allows you to request ANSYS Electronics Desktop to
copy a mesh that was calculated for one sweep variation for reuse on a geometrically-equivalent
sweep variation. For example, with this option selected a sweep on a scan angle would not need to
generate meshes for each solution. The option is available on the setups for sweeps on
parametrics, optimization, sensitivity, and statistics.

To copy and reuse meshes on geometrically-equivalent parametric variations:

1. Define a variable for the kind of Optimetrics sweep you intent to setup.
2. Select ANSYS Electronics Desktop and then select the appropriate Optimetrics>Add
command to display a Setup dialog box.
3. Click the Options tab in the Setup dialog box.
4. Select Copy geometrically equivalent meshes.
l This lets you select Solve with copied meshed only or Solve with copied meshes and
continue adaptive passes. The Solve with copied meshes only option is not available
for Maxwell 3D/2D magnetic and electric transient designs. It is available for HFSS
Transient but will not apply for a Transient solve setup with a mesh link.

ANSYS Electronics Desktop will copy the mesh for a particular parametric sweep for reuse on
each geometrically-equivalent sweep variation.

Note This option is available with all Optimetrics setups, and is applied when these
analyses generate geometrically-equivalent values. However, it is most relevant to
parametric sweep, where such equivalences are more likely to occur.

The Copy geometrically equivalent mesh option is not recommended for use when the
frequency is varying, since meshing is frequency-dependent. You may wish to turn this option off
when the first geometrically equivalent variation requires numerous passes after the initial mesh,
but the other geometrically-equivalent variations require fewer additional passes, so that it is
cheaper to start with the initial mesh each time.

Adding an Expression in the Output Variables Window

When you are in the Output Variables window (after clicking Edit Calculation from the one of
the setup analysis windows), do the following to specify an expression:

1. Type a name for the expression in the Name text box.

2. Do the following in the Calculation section of the window to insert a quantity into the
expression:

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a. Select the Report Type and Solution from the pull-down lists.
b. Select a Category, Quantity, and Function from the lists, and click Insert Quantity
Into Expression.
c. If you want to insert a specific pre-defined function, select one from the Function pull-
down list, and click Insert Function.
3. You can also type numbers or expression by hand directly into the Expression area.

Excluding a Variable from an Optimetrics Analysis

To exclude a variable from being optimized or included in a sensitivity or statistical analysis:

1. Do one of the following:

l In the Setup Optimization dialog box, click the Variables tab.
l In the Setup Sensitivity Analysis dialog box, click the Variables tab.
l In the Setup Statistical Analysis dialog box, click the Variables tab.

All of the independent variables that were selected for the optimization analysis are listed.

2. Clear the Include option for the variable you want to exclude from the analysis.

The Override option is now selected. This indicates that, for this optimization analysis, the
variable is not included.

Note Alternatively, you can select the Override option first, and then clear the Include option for
the variable you want to exclude.

3. Click OK.

Modifying the Value of a Fixed Variable

If you are not including a variable in an optimization, sensitivity, or statistical analysis, Optimetrics
uses that variable's current value during the analysis.

To override the current value of a fixed variable for an Optimetrics setup:

1. Do one of the following:

l In the Setup Optimization dialog box, click the Variables tab.
l In the Setup Sensitivity Analysis dialog box, click the Variables tab.
l In the Setup Statistical Analysis dialog box, click the Variables tab.
2. Click Set Fixed Variables.

The Setup Fixed Variables dialog box appears. Under Fixed Variables, all of the current
independent variable values are listed.

3. Click the Value text box of the variable with the value you want to override.
4. Type a new value in the Value text box, and then press Enter.

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The Override option is now selected. This indicates that the value you entered is used for this
Optimetrics setup; the current variable value set for the nominal design is ignored.

Note Alternatively, you can select the Override option first, and then type a new value in the
Value text box.

5. Optionally, click a new unit system in the Units text box.

6. Click OK.

To revert to a default variable value, clear the Override option.

Linear Constraints
Once the optimization variables are specified, the optimizer handles each of them as an n-
dimensional vector x. Any point in the design space corresponds to a particular x-vector and to a
design instance. Each design instance may be evaluated via Finite Element Analysis and assigned

a cost value; therefore, the cost function is defined over the design space , where
n is the number of optimization variables.

In practice, a solution of the minimization problem is sought only on a bounded subset of the Rn
space. This subset is called the feasible domain and is defined via linear constraints.

You may constrain the feasible domain of a design variable by defining linear constraints for the
optimization process. The feasible domain is defined as the domain of all design variables that
satisfy all upper and lower bounds and constraints. Linear constraints are defined by the following
inequalities:

where

l αij are coefficients.

l cj is a comparison value for the jth linear constraint.
l xi is the ith parameter.

Related Topics

Setting a Linear Constraint

Setting a Linear Constraint

A linear constraint defines the linear relationship between variables. Setting linear constraints in
Optimetrics is useful for establishing limitations involving linear combinations of variable values.

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1. Do one of the following:

l If you are setting up an optimization analysis: In the Setup Optimization dialog box, click
the Variables tab.
l If you are setting up a sensitivity analysis: In the Setup Sensitivity Analysis dialog box,
click the Variables tab.
2. Click Linear Constraint.

The Linear Constraint dialog box appears.

3. Click Add.

The Edit Linear Constraint dialog box appears.

4. Click a Coeff text box and type a positive or negative coefficient value.
5. Click a condition, < (less than) or > (greater than), from the pull-down list.
6. Type the inequality value, which should be a constant value, in the text box to the right of the
condition.
7. Click OK.

You return to the Linear Constraint dialog box. The left-hand side of the constraint appears in
the LHS (left-hand side) column. The condition is listed in the Condition column, and the
inequality value is listed in the RHS (right-hand side) column.

Related Topics

Modifying a Linear Constraint

Deleting a Linear Constraint

Linear Constraints

Modifying a Linear Constraint

1. Do one of the following:
l If you are setting up an optimization analysis: In the Setup Optimization dialog box, click
the Variables tab.
l If you are setting up a sensitivity analysis: In the Setup Sensitivity Analysis dialog box,
click the Variables tab.
2. Click Linear Constraint.

The Linear Constraint dialog box appears.

3. Click the row listing the constraint you want to modify, and then click Edit.

The Edit Linear Constraint dialog box appears.

4. Optionally, click a Coeff text box and type a new coefficient value.
5. Optionally, click a different condition, < (less than) or > (greater than), in the pull-down list.

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6. Optionally, type a different inequality value in the text box to the right of the condition, and
then click OK.

You return to the Linear Constraint dialog box. The new coefficient value, the condition, and
the inequality value appear in the LHS (left-hand side), Condition, and RHS (right-hand side)
columns, respectively.

Deleting a Linear Constraint

1. Do one of the following:
l If you are setting up an optimization analysis: In the Setup Optimization dialog box, click
the Variables tab.
l If you are setting up a sensitivity analysis: In the Setup Sensitivity Analysis dialog box,
click the Variables tab.
2. Click Linear Constraint.

The Linear Constraint dialog box appears.

3. Click the row listing the constraint you want to delete, and then click Delete.

The constraint is deleted.

Running an Optimetrics Analysis

Once you have created all necessary Optimetrics based analyses, you have several options for
running the simulations.

l To use the Analyze All command at the Project or design level to simulate the nominal
problem and subsequently run all Optimetrics setups, do the following:
1. In the Project Manager window, right-click on the project or design name.
2. Click Analyze All from the shortcut menu.
l To use the Analyze All command from the Optimetrics menu to simulate only the
Optimetrics based setups, do the following:
1. In the Project Manager window, right-click on Optimetrics.
2. Click Analyze>All from the shortcut menu.
l You can choose to analyze only the setups related to a specific Optimetrics type of analysis.
In order to simulate setups of a specific type, do the following:
1. In the Project Manager window, right-click on Optimetrics.
2. Click Analyze>All{TYPE} from the shortcut menu where TYPE is the specific
analysis type of interest, Parametric, Optimization, Sensitivity, or Statistical.

Viewing Analysis Results for Optimetrics Solutions

To view data specific to an Optimetrics solution, in general, do the following:

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l In the project tree, right-click the Optimetrics setup for which you want to view the results,
and then click View Analysis Result on the shortcut menu.

The Post Analysis Display dialog box appears.

l Select from available setups by using the dropdown selection menu.

l Select the Results tab to view results in plot or table form. When you view results in Table
form you can resort the results based on each column. Click the Iteration column head to
invert the sort from lowest to highest setup number. Click the variable name column to resort
the results by step value. Click the Cost column head to sort the results from lowest cost to
highest cost. Clicking a column again inverts the current sort.
l Click the Options... button to open a dialog that permits you to specify the Maximum number
of significant digits to display when showing the analysis result The default is 4.
l Select the Profile tab to view start, stop, and elapsed times for each variable, and the
analysis machine for each variation. You can click the column heads to sort the table by
variation number, variable value, start, stop, or elapsed time, or (if you have run a distributed
analysis) machine.

See the help topics in this section for more details about viewing Optimetrics analysis results.

Related Topics

Viewing Solution Data for an Optimetrics Design Variation

Viewing an Optimetrics Solution's Profile Data

Viewing Results for Parametric Solution Quantities

Viewing Cost Results for an Optimization Analysis

Viewing Output Parameter Results for Sensitivity Analysis

Viewing Distribution Results for Statistical Analysis

Viewing Solution Data for an Optimetrics Design Variation

To view the convergence information, computing resources used, or matrices computed for any
design variation solved during an optimization analysis, you must first select the design variation in
the Set Design Variation dialog box. This dialog box is accessible from the Solutions Data
window and via the Results>Apply Solved Variation command.

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1. Click HFSS or Q3D Extractor and then select Results>Solution Data.

The Solutions dialog box appears.

2. Click the browsing dots beside the Design Variation box.

The Set Design Variation dialog box appears.

3. Clear the Use nominal design option.

4. Click the design variation for which you want to view the solution data, and then click OK.

The solution data is displayed in the table.

Related Topics

Viewing an Optimetrics Solution's Profile Data

Viewing an Optimetrics Solution's Profile Data

At any time during or after the Optimetrics solution process, you can see an overview of the
computing resources or profile data that was used by HFSS as it solved each design variation.
Optimetrics writes the variation information to the profile table before the solve. It then updates the
entry with end data (end time, elapsed time, etc) once the solve variation is completed.

1. In the project tree, right-click the Optimetrics solution setup of interest, and then click View
Analysis Result on the shortcut menu.

The Post Analysis Display dialog box appears.

2. Click the Profile tab.

3. Select the Optimetrics setup with the results you want to view from the pull-down list at the
top of the dialog box.
4. Optionally, to examine more detailed profile data for a specific design variation, do the
following:
a. Click a design variation in the table.
b. Click Solver Profile.

The Solutions dialog box appears with the profile data for the selected design variation.

The profile line for the matrix solver is in the following format:
Solver 123

where:

l 1 is the precision type: M (mixed) or D (double)

l 2 is the matrix data type: R (real) or C (complex)
l 3 is the symmetry type: S (symmetric), A (asymmetric), H (hermitian)

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Related Topics

Viewing a Solution's Profile

Viewing Solution Data for an Optimetrics Design Variation

Viewing Results for Parametric Solution Quantities

1. In the project tree, right-click the parametric setup for which you want to view the results
calculated for the solution quantities, and then click View Analysis Result on the shortcut
menu.

The Post Analysis Display dialog box appears.

2. Select the parametric setup with the results you want to view from the pull-down list at the
top of the dialog box.
3. If it is not already selected, select Table as the view type.

The results for the selected solution quantities are listed in table format for each solved design
variation. The variation column in the table lists the entries in order. Clicking the Vision header
inverts the order. Clicking other headers sorts the entries by value, and clicking again inverts the
order.

4. Optionally, select Show complete output name.

The complete name of the solution for which the results are being displayed will be listed in the
column headings.

5. Optionally, click a design variation in the table, and then click Apply (at the far right side of
the dialog box).

The design displayed in the 3D Modeler window is changed to represent the selected design
variation.

Related Topics

Plotting Solution Quantity Results vs. a Swept Variable

Plotting Solution Quantity Results vs. a Swept Variable

To plot solution quantity results versus a swept variable's values on a rectangular (x - y) plot:

1. In the project tree, right-click the parametric setup for which you want to view the results, and
then click View Analysis Result on the shortcut menu.

The Post Analysis Display dialog box appears.

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2. If it is not already selected, select Plot as the view type.

3. Select the variable with the swept values you want to plot on the x-axis from the X pull-down
list.
4. Only one sweep variable at a time can be plotted against solution quantity results. Any other
variables that were swept during the parametric analysis remain constant.

Optionally, to modify the constant values of other swept variables, do the following:

a. Click Set Other Sweep Variables Value.

The Setup Plot dialog box appears. All of the other solved variable values are listed.

b. Click the row with the variable value you want to use as the constant value in the plot,
and then click OK.
5. Select the solution quantity results you want to plot on the y-axis from the Y pull-down list.

The xy plot appears in the view window.

6. Right-click in the plot area to get the shortcut menu where you can set modify the plots
display properties, print, copy to the clipboard, or export the data to a file.

Viewing Cost Results for an Optimization Analysis

To view cost values versus completed iterations in data table format:

1. In the project tree, right-click the optimization setup for which you want to view the cost
results, and then click View Analysis Result on the shortcut menu.

The Post Analysis Display dialog box appears.

2. Under the Result tab, select Table as the view type, if it is not already selected.

The cost value at each solved design variation is listed in table format.

3. Optionally, click a design variation in the table, and then click Apply.

The software now points to the selected design variation as the nominal solution and as a result,
the design displayed in the Modeler window is changed to represent the selected design
variation.

Click Revert to return the design in the view window to the original value.

Related Topics

Plotting Cost Data for an Optimization Analysis

Viewing Solution Data for an Optimetrics Design Variation

Plotting Cost Results for an Optimization Analysis

To view cost values versus completed iterations in rectangular (x-y) plot format:

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1. In the project tree, right-click the optimization setup for which you want to view the cost
results, and then click View Analysis Result on the shortcut menu.

The Post Analysis Display dialog box appears.

2. Under the Result tab, select Plot as the view type.

A plot of the cost value at each iteration appears.

Viewing Output Parameter Results for a Sensitivity Analysis

To view actual output parameter values versus design point in data table format:

1. In the project tree, right-click the sensitivity setup for which you want to view the parameter
results, and then click View Analysis Result on the shortcut menu.

The Post Analysis Display dialog box appears.

2. Under the Result tab, select Table as the view type, if it is not already selected.

The following values are listed in table format:

l The regression value of the output parameter at the design point is listed in the Func.
Value column.
l The first derivative of the regression is listed in the 1st D column.
l The second derivative of the regression is listed in the 2nd D column.
3. Click Apply.

The software now points to the selected design variation as the nominal solution and as a result,
the design displayed in the Modeler window is changed to represent the selected design
variation.

Click Revert to return the design in the view window to the original value.

Related Topics

Plotting Output Parameter Results for a Sensitivity Analysis

Viewing Solution Data for an Optimetrics Design Variation

Plotting Output Parameter Results for a Sensitivity Analysis

To plot output parameter results versus sensitivity variable values on a rectangular (xy) plot:

1. In the project tree, right-click the sensitivity setup for which you want to view the output
parameter results, and then click View Analysis Result on the shortcut menu.

The Post Analysis Display dialog box appears.

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2. Under the Result tab, select Plot as the view type.

3. Select the sensitivity variable with the sweep values you want to plot on the x-axis from the X
pull-down list.
4. Select the output parameter results you want to plot on the y-axis from the Y pull-down list.

The xy plot appears in the Post Analysis Display dialog box.

The plot displays actual output parameter results for each solved design variation. It also
displays a parabola that best fits these results. The parabola is a more accurate representation
of sensitivity around the design point than any individual solved design variation.

Viewing Distribution Results for a Statistical Analysis

1. In the project tree, right-click the statistical setup for which you want to view the distribution
results calculated for the solution quantities, and then click View Analysis Result on the
shortcut menu.

The Post Analysis Display dialog box appears.

2. Select the statistical setup with the results you want to view from the pull-down list at the top
of the dialog box.
3. To view the results in tabular form, select Table as the view type.

The distribution results for the selected solution quantities are listed in table format for each
solved design variation.

4. Optionally, click a design variation in the table, and then click Apply (at the far right side of
the dialog box).

The design displayed in the 3D Modeler window is changed to represent the selected design
variation.

5. To view the results in graphic format, select Plot as the view type.
6. Type the number of bins you want to plot on the x-axis.
7. Select the solution quantity for which you want to plot distribution results on the y-axis from
the Y pull-down list.

A histogram plot appears in the Post Analysis Display dialog box. It displays the distribution of
the selected solution quantity.

8. Optionally, click a design variation in the table, and then click Apply (at the far right side of
the dialog box).

The software now points to the selected design variation as the nominal solution and as a result,
the design displayed in the Modeler window is changed to represent the selected design
variation.

Click Revert to return the design in the view window to the original value.

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Related Topics

Plotting Distribution Results for a Statistical Analysis

Viewing Solution Data for an Optimetrics Design Variation

Plotting Distribution Results for a Statistical Analysis

1. In the project tree, right-click the statistical setup for which you want to view the distribution
results calculated for the solution quantities, and then click View Analysis Result on the
shortcut menu.

The Post Analysis Display dialog box appears.

2. Select the statistical setup with the results you want to view from the pull-down list at the top
of the dialog box.
3. If it is not already selected, select Plot as the view type.
4. Type the number of bins you want to plot on the x-axis.
5. Select the solution quantity for which you want to plot distribution results on the y-axis from
the Y pull-down list.

A histogram plot appears in the Post Analysis Display dialog box. It displays the distribution of
the selected solution quantity.

Link to DesignXplorer
You can export a .xml file containing information on an HFSS or Q3D setup, optimization variables,
and output variables that enables ANSYS Design Xplorer to manage the simulations, for example,
for design of experiments and optimization. Design Xplorer will launch ANSYS Electronics
Desktop simulations of design variations and evaluate the outputs.

To do so:

1. Click your product on the menu bar and then Optimetrics Analysis>Add Design Xplorer
Setup... or right-click on Optimetrics in the Project window, and select Add Design
Xplorer Setup... from the short-cut menu.

This opens the Design Xplorer dialog with the General tab selected. it lists the setups
available in the current project, and the input variables it contains.

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2. Check Include for the simulation setups you want to use.

3. Check the Design variables to use. You can also chose to Override the value of a design
variable. You can edit the Value and Units fields. Unchecking Override returns the values to
their original state.
4. To set up any output calculations, click the Calculation tab and click the Setup
Calculations button.

This opens the Add/Edit Calculation dialog. Here you can define the simulation results of
interest. The dialog box contains distinct panes and tabs to set the Context, the Calculation
Expression, and the Calculation Range. See Setup Calculations for Optimetrics for details.

Use the Add Calculation button to add expressions to the Calculations table of the Design
Xplorer Setup dialog, Calculations tab.

5. When you have added the calculations of interest, click OK to save the setup.

An icon for the Design Xplorer setup appears under Optimization in the Project tree.

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6. To create a .xml file with the setup information for Design Xplorer, first Save your project.
7. Then right-click on the setup and select Export External Connector Addin
Configuration.

This displays a browser dialog that you can use to navigate your file system, and name and
saves the .xml file. The .xml file contains information regarding the path along with the setup,
variables, and simulation results that you specified.

8. If you have an ANSYS Workbench installation you can perform additional steps. You should
have provided a path to the Workbench installation in the Tools>General Options dialog
Miscellaneous tab, to provide a path.
9. Then click Create Workbench Project.

This lets you name a Workbench project containing the information in the setup. The ANSYS
Workbench will be launched with the connection to the project established. To this connection,
you can add a Design Xplorer Setup. See the documentation of ANSYS Workbench for details
on Design Xplorer.

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6 - High Performance Computing

What do you want to do?

l Configure and run remote analysis

l Configure and run distributed analysis
l Distributed Setup Resource Guide for ANSYS Electromagnetics Solvers
l RSM Integration with Job Management UI
l Large Scale DSO for Parametric Analysis
l High Performance Computing (HPC) Integration
l Multi-Step Job Submission
l Windows to Linux Job Submission
l Interactive Scheduler Jobs
l Distribution Command Line Options
l Change a solution priority for system resources
l Abort an analysis
l desktopproxy Utility to Abort or Cleanstop a BatchSolve

Related Topics

Running an Optimetrics Analysis

ANSYS Workbench Integration Overview

Running ANSYS Electronics Desktop from a Command Line

Also note the ANSYS Electromagnetics HPC Administrator’s Guide included in the
<path>AnsysEM\AnsysEM19.0\Win64\Help directory of your ANSYS Electronics Desktop
installation as HPC_Admin.pdf.

Remote Analysis
It is possible to solve a project on a different machine from the one on which you are running
ANSYS Electronics Desktop. This is particularly useful when you want to take advantage of a more
powerful machine but it is not convenient to access that machine. This process involves configuring
the machine that is to perform the solving (the remote machine), as well as the machine from which
the simulation is to be launched (the local machine). This can also be extended into distributed
analysis, where a specified analysis, if supported, is concurrently solved on multiple machines.

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Note Communication between machines in remote analysis and distributed analysis can
drastically affect performance. Use of a high-speed network system, like Gigabit or
Infiniband, is recommended for optimal performance.
Note For Icepak designs, you cannot submit jobs from a Windows or Linux machine to a Linux
cluster.
l Prerequisites for Remote and Distributed Analysis
l Configuring the Local Machine to Solve Remotely
l Remote Analysis Options
l Running Remote Analysis

The Tools>Options>Export Options Files command writes xml files containing the Options settings
at all levels to the specified directory. The Tools>Options>Export Options feature is intended to
make it easier for different users to use ANSYS EM tools installed on shared directories or network
drives. The Example Uses for Export Options Features section outlines some use cases enabled
by this feature.

Prerequisites for Remote and Distributed Analysis

1. You must have ANSYS EM's Remote Simulation Manager (RSM) or a supported High
Performance Computing (HPC) management software program. (See High Performance
Computing (HPC) Integration). The list of currently-supported HPC software includes
l Platform's Load Sharing Facility or LSF
l Altair's PBS
l Sun GridEngine
l Microsoft® Windows® Compute Cluster Server 2003
l Microsoft® Windows® HPC Server 2012 R2

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2. ANSYS Electronics Desktop must be accessible from all remote machines as well as
accessible on the local machine.
3. If you use RSM, it must be accessible from all remote machines. In addition, the ANSYS
Electronics Desktop engines must be registered with each initialization of RSM. To do this,
on each remote machine:
l On Windows on the local and remote machines, click
Start>Programs>ANSYS Electromagnetics Suite 19.0>>Register with RSM. You
can also run
RegisterEnginesWith RSM.exe, located in the product subdirectory (for example,
C:\Program Files\AnsysEM\AnsysEM19.0\Win64\RegisterEnginesWithRSM.exe).

In each case, you see a dialog confirming the registration. OK the dialog.

l On Linux, run RegisterEnginesWithRSM.pl, located in the product installation directory.

(for example, /apps/ansoft/AnsysEM19.0/RegisterEnginesWithRSM.pl).

If the RSM service cannot run due to permission issues for the configuration file, it issues an error
message and exits. If your product is not registered with RSM, the analysis will run locally.

Configuring the Local Machine to Solve Remotely

To set the Analysis options in HFSS see Configuring Distributed Analysis.

Remote Analysis Options

You also set the Remote Analysis Options in the General options dialog, RSM Analysis
Options tab.

Select whether to run simulation processes as the user running RSM (Service User), or a
Specified User. If you select Specified user, you must provide the User Name, Password, and any
Domain/Workgroup on which this user is defined. If the name or password is incorrect, the
Message window issues a warning message, and the solver attempts to perform the analysis as
the Service User.

Running Remote Analysis

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When you run a simulation remotely, you should see a message in the Progress window identifying
the design name, and the specified remote machine. You will see Progress messages as the
simulations continues. When the simulation is complete, you will see a message in the Message
window.

Related Topics

Distributed Analysis

Troubleshooting

Running from a Windows Remote Terminal

Troubleshooting
Problem: When you try to solve from local to remote machine, an HFSSCOMENGINE process
starts on the remote machine, but the HFSS user interface hangs indefinitely.

This occurs if the remote solve option is enabled after the COM daemon is started, or when the
option "Don't allow exceptions" is selected for the Windows firewall.

Resolution: Remote solve needs either firewall exceptions to be ON or firewall to be completely

turned off.

Problem: When you try to solve from a local to a remote machine, you receive the following error
message:

[error] Unable to locate or start COM engine on 'nomachine' : Unable to reach AnsoftRSMService.
Check if the service is running and if the firewall allows communication. (10:57:13 PM Aug 13,
2009)

Resolution: This message can happen if the machine is not present, the network connection is
down, if there are firewall issues or if the service is not running.

Remote Solve Node = Windows

Error: "Unable to locate or start COM engine on <remote node> : Unable to reach
AnsoftRSMService. Check if the service is running and if the firewall allows communication."

1. Try disabling the firewall. If this fixes the problem, please contact at [email protected]
2. Confirm that you have not changed the Ansoft Service Port in Tools > Options > General
Options > Remote Analysis Options from the default 32958. If you have, change it back
to 32958, restart ANSYS Electromagnetics Desktop, and try to solve again.
3. Make sure that the local machine is able to contact the RSM port on the remote node. Open
a command prompt on the local machine and type telnet <remote node name> 32958. If the
terminal appears to be hanging then the connection was successful.
4. Check to make sure the Ansoft Communication Service is running. To do this, go to the
Windows Control Panel and choose Administrative Tools > Services. Find the Ansoft

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RSM Service and make sure its status says Started. If it is not running, try to start it by right-
clicking on the service and choosing Start. If it still does not start, then check the
username/password combination listed in the Log On tab of the service properties.
5. Make sure the user listed in the service is an administrator.
6. Make sure the COM engine is registered with the Ansoft RSM Service. From the Windows
menu, choose Start>All Programs >ANSYS Electromagnetics Suite 19.0 >Register
with RSM to register the engines.

Error: "Unable to locate or start COM engine on <remote node>: Engine is not registered with the
Ansoft RSM service which is running on this machine."

a. To register the engine, from the Windows menu, select Start >All Programs >ANSYS
Electromagnetics Suite 19.0 > Register with RSM

Remote Solve Node = Linux

Error: "Unable to locate or start COM engine on <remote node>: Unable to reach
AnsoftRSMService. Check if the service is running and if the firewall allows communication."

1. Try disabling the firewall. If this fixes the problem, please contact at [email protected]
2. Confirm that you have not changed the Ansoft Service Port in Tools >Options >General
Options >Remote Analysis Options from the default 32958. If you have, change it back
to 32958, restart the ANSYS Electromagnetics product, and try to solve again.
3. Make sure that the local machine is able to contact the RSM port on the remote node. Open
a command prompt on the local machine and type telnet <remote node name> 32958. If the
terminal appears to be hanging then the connection was successful.
4. Check to make sure Remote Simulation Manager is running. To do this:
a. Go to the 'rsm' subdirectory of the Remote Simulation Manager installation directory,
<RSM installdir>/rsm.
b. Type ./ansoftrsmservice status.
c. If the status query indicates that the service is stopped, type ./ansoftrsmservice start.
5. Make sure the COM engine is registered with RSM. Type ./RegisterEnginesWithRSM.pl
status from within the HFSS installation directory. If the status query indicates "Not
registered", type:

./RegisterEnginesWithRSM.pl add.

Error: "Unable to locate or start COM engine on <remote node>: Engine is not registered with the
Ansoft RSM service which is running on this machine."

1. To register the engine, go to the ANSYS Electromagnetics product installation directory and
type:

./RegisterEnginesWithRSM.pl add.

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Distributed Analysis
Distributed analysis allows users to split certain types of analyses and solve each portion of an
analysis simultaneously on multiple machines. Simulation times can be greatly decreased by using
this feature.

HFSS, HFSS-IE, Q3D, and Icepak support different forms of distributed analysis:

l Distributing rows of a parametric table, either as a regular DSO, or as Large Scale DSO
performed through command line. Large Scale DSO generates a reduced set of outputs.
l Distributing array solves.
l Distributing domain solves.
l Distributing a single or discrete interpolating sweep.

Note Communication between machines in remote analysis and distributed analysis can
drastically affect performance. Use of a high-speed network system, like Gigabit or
Infiniband, is recommended for optimal performance.

Related Topics

Configuring Distributed Analysis

Editing Distributed Machine Configurations

Editing Distributed Machine Configurations for Q3D

Selecting an Optimal Configuration for Distributed Analysis

Distributed Setup Resource Guide for ANSYS Electronics Desktop Solvers

Large Scale DSO for Parametric Analysis

Configuring Distributed Analysis

To configure distributed analysis you select a distributed machine configuration. This is a list of
machines to use for a simulation, based on considerations such as whether the simulation is more
memory intensive or more CPU intensive, relative to the resources available on your network. (See
Selecting an Optimal Configuration for Distributed Analysis for a discussion of issues.) To create
an new distributed machine configuration. or to edit an existing one, see Editing Distributed
Machine Configurations.

To select from an existing configuration:

1. Click the Analysis settings icon on the Toolbar or click Tools>HPC and Analysis Options.

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This opens the HPC and Analysis Options dialog. You can define and select configurations
ANSYS Electronics Desktop design types separately. You can view a list of Available
configurations, and a report of the configuration details. From the current, list, you can select a
configuration to Make Active. You can also Add a new configuration, Edit an existing one, or
Export as an ANSYS Configuration file (*.acf). You can also Import a configuration file. This
lists existing configurations, and shows all machines in the selected configuration, enabled or
not. You can Copy an existing configuration, typically to edit the name and contents for other
purposes.

The Analysis Options tab lets you choose to Queue all simulations, You define configurations
defined for all ANSYS Electronics Desktop design types separately. In the Options tab you can
enable queuing, set the design type, specify the Distributed Memory vendor, set licensing
options and Enable GPU. You can also specify default process priority.

For a more detailed discussion of this dialog, see Setting HPC and Analysis Options.

2. To define a new configuration, on the Analysis Settings dialog, click the Add button to
open the Analysis Configuration dialog. See Editing Distributed Machine Configurations..

Related Topics

Editing Distributed Machine Configurations

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Selecting an Optimal Configuration for Distributed Analysis

Distributed Setup Resource Guide for ANSYS Electronics Desktop Solvers

The Tools>Export Options Files command writes xml files containing the Options settings at all
levels to the specified directory (default, ~\Documents\Ansoft\). The Tools>Options>Export
Options feature is intended to make it easier for different users to use ANSYS EM tools installed
on shared directories or network drives. The Example Uses for Export Options Features section
outlines some use cases enabled by this feature.

Editing Distributed Machine Configurations

To create a new distributed machine configuration, or edit an existing machine configuration.

1. Click Tools>Edit Active Analysis Configuration to open the Analysis Configuration

dialog directly or Click the Analysis Config icon Simulation tab of the ribbon.

This opens the Analysis Configuration dialog. directly. You can also access this dialog from
the HPC and Analysis Options dialog by clicking the Add..,, Edit..., or Copy... buttons.

If you have selected Add... from the HPC and Analysis Options dialog , the fields are empty.
If you have selected Edit... or used Tools>Edit Active Analysis Configuration or clicked

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Copy from the HPC and Analysis Options dialog, the fields show the selected
configuration.

1. If you Add a new configuration, you must specify the name of the new or edited
configuration. It cannot be empty and cannot be a previously used name or a reserved word.

2. If the solver supports automatic settings, you can select the Use Automatic Settings check
box assign resources automatically, or you can uncheck the box to specify job distribution
manually in the Job Distribution tab, as discussed below. HFSS, HFSS-IE, and HFSS-3D
Layout have Use automatic settings selected by default.

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Selecting Use Automatic Settings disables the Job Distribution tab, and sets those
parameters automatically, based on the best use of available resources for the current analysis.
It also enables the Num variations to distribute field and its value can be edited. Depending on
the resources available, and whether the simulation defines optimetrics variations and other
distributed types, the simulation can include up to three levels of distribution.

Variations will not be distributed when the number of variations to distribute is set to 1. In this
case when you close the Analysis Configuration dialog, the HPC and Analysis Options
dialog, Configuration tab provides details of the Job Distribution that does not use 3 level
distribution.

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If you specify Num of variations to distribute more than 1, distribution of variations is in

proportion to RAM availability on these machines. When you close the Analysis
Configuration dialog, the HPC and Analysis Options dialog, Configuration tab provides
details of the Job Distribution for 3 level distribution:

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For Transient problems, the Use Automatic Settings option distributes one excitation to each
machine listed in the configuration. Each machine uses all cores assigned to it while solving its
excitation. Unlike automatic frequency setup, the machines are assigned sequentially without
regard to machine capability and there is no automatic restart of failed solves.

The Enable GPU option is honored for all distributed machines have the necessary hardware.

Machines Tab

3. This tab contains the machine list for the analysis configuration.

Here you can provide machine information, either by specifying Remote machine details, or by
importing a list of machines from a file. You can then remove, order, test, and enable machines
on the list. Control buttons let you Add machine(s) to list or Remove machines from the list.

Numbers of Tasks and Total Cores

If automatic settings are either not used or not available, note that each machine has an
associated number of tasks and number of cores.

The number of tasks specifies the total number of compute jobs that will be run on that machine
simultaneously. Each separate solver or engine instance is one task. The Total Cores specifies
the total number of cores that will be used on the given machine. This is how you specify
multiprocessing. For instance, if you want to run two threads for each task, you specify Total
Cores = 2 x Total Tasks. The Total Cores must always be greater than or equal to the Number
of Tasks. If the number of cores is not an exact multiple of the number of tasks, some tasks will
use more cores than others. For instance, if Number of Tasks is 4 and Total Cores is 10, 2 tasks
will use 3 cores, and 2 tasks will use 2 cores.

Import Machines from File...

You can import a machine list from a file, and an enhanced the file format handles the new
flexibility. Each line of the file can contain a machine specifier of the form:
<MachineName>:<NumTasks>:<NumCores>.

Note: this same format is used with the "-machinelist file=" command line option.

Local Machine Radio Button

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To streamline the common case of running jobs on the current machine, use the dedicated radio
button to specify the local machine.

4. For each machine to manually add to the list, under Remote Machine Details, specify an IP
address, a DNS name, or a UNC name.

The remote machines must have the same ANSYS Electromagnetics Suite version installed in
the same OS and version, and have the RSM service active.

Once you have specified the remote machine details, either directly or by Importing Machine
from a File, you select a machine from the table to enable the buttons to Remove a machine,
or to Move a machine up or down on the list.

The displayed list always shows the order in which you entered them irrespective of the load on
the machines. If you have selected Use Automatic Settings, the Tasks column field is
disabled because you no longer need to make those assignments. To control the list order,
select one or more machines, and use the Move up or Move down buttons. Move up and
Move down are enabled when you select one or more adjacent machine names.

Enabled Machines

Each machine on the current list has an Enabled check box. Here you can enable or disable the
listed machines according to circumstance. Above the table, the dialog gives a count of the total
enabled tasks, and the total enabled cores.

For distributed tasks, the software will allocate the total cores on a given machine to that
machine's tasks. If a machine with 8 cores is running 2 distributed tasks, the software will
automatically allocate 4 cores to each task. If it is running 4 distributed tasks, each gets 2 cores.
And if it is running 3 distributed tasks, the first two tasks get 3 cores and the last task gets 2
cores.

For a given variation (for example, frequency or geometry), you should make assignments so
that each task has the same number of cores. This is because the solvers attempt to make each
task computationally balanced. For example, with two machines, one with eight cores, and

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another with four, assuming that the memory is proportionally equivalent, you could assign two
tasks for machine 1, and one task for machine 2, giving all tasks the same number of cores.

In general, ANSYS Electromagnetics Suite solvers use machines in the distributed analysis
machines list in the order in which they appear. If you select a distributed configuration (rather
than Local) from the Toolbar menu and you launch multiple analyses from the same UI, ANSYS
Electromagnetics Suite solvers select the machines that are running the fewest number of
engines in the order in which the machines appear in the list. For example, if the list contains 4
machines, and you launch a simulation that requires one machine, the solver chooses the first
machine in the list. If another simulation is launched while the previous one is running, and this
simulation requires two machines, the solver chooses machines 2 and 3 from the list. If the first
simulation then terminates and we launch another simulation requiring three machines, the
solver chooses 1, 4, and 2 (in that order).

Test Machines

Test Machines- When multiple users on a network are using distributed solve or remote solve,
they should check the status of their machines before launching a simulation to ensure no other
ANSYS EM processes are running on the machine. To do this, you can select one or more
machines and click the Test Machines button. A Test Machines dialog opens.

The test goes through the current machine list and gives a report on the status of each machine. A
progress bar shows how far testing has gone. An Abort button lets you cancel a test. When the test
is complete, you can OK to close the dialog. If you need to disable or Enable machines from the list
based on the report, you can do so in the Distributed Analysis Machines dialog.

Job Distribution Tab

Use this tab to manually enable specific types of job distribution and to enable multi-level solves.
The Job distribution tab is disabled if you select Use Automatic Settings. The Job distribution
types listed are design type specific and will differ between solvers. HFSS, HFSS-IE, and HFSS-
3D Layout have User automatic settings selected by default. With Use automatic settings selected,
the Job distribution field is removed.

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Use the check boxes enable/disable available distribution-types. The job distribution list box allows
you to specify which job distribution types to allow for the current analysis configuration. At solve
time, the ANSYS Electromagnetics software automatically select the best distribution type from the
enabled distribution types. By enabling/disabling distribution types, you can control the job
distribution.

Just because you enable a distribution type does not mean it will be used. It must be also allowed
by the solve setup. Note that the enabled distribution types will apply to all setups of the given
design type, so it is possible for different setups in a design to be solved using different distribution
types.

The distribution types that you enabled here are listed on the Analysis Settings dialog in the
Configuration details pane when select that configuration from the list.

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If your solver permits, and you have selected Use Automatic settings, the Job Distribution notes
that Optimetrics Variations will be solved sequentially, and other distribution types will be
distributed automatically.

For products that support two-level distribution, when the design is appropriate, you can turn on
two level distributed solves, and specify the number of engines to use for level 1. An example
design that could use two level distribution would be an array with frequency sweeps.

Distribution Levels

The radio buttons let you specify Single level or Enable two level distribution.

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If you select single level, one distribution type will be applied at each stage of the solution process. If
multiple types are available, the higher level solution will generally be distributed. All machine tasks
will be used by the single-level distribution.

Single Level Distributions

Supported distribution types are Optimetrics Variations, Frequencies, Transient Excitations,

Domain Solver, Iterative Solver Excitations and Direct Solver Memory. Solver distributions require
MPI.

One distribution type will be applied at each stage of the solution process. Common stages include
"LastAdaptive," "Sweep," and "Parametric." All machine tasks will be used by the single-level
distribution.

Parallel distribution types such as Optimetrics Variations, Frequencies, and Excitations are
considered as not required - if these types are not able to distribute, the simulation can be run
sequentially. Memory distribution types such as Direct Solver Memory and Domain Solver are
considered as required - if these types are enabled the software will assume that distribution is
necessary to extend the simulation scale or add fundamental solution capabilities.

When multiple distribution types are available, the higher level solution will generally be distributed.
For example, Optimetrics Variations will be distributed when both Optimetrics Variations and
Iterative Solver Excitations are enabled. Domain solver and Direct Solver Memory are exceptions
because they are required. Even though they are lower level, these types are distributed instead of
parallel distribution types.

The following is an example of single-level distributions:

An analysis setup distributes Iterative Solver Excitations during adaptive, then distributes
Frequencies during the sweep.

Two-level Distributions

Selecting Enable two-level enables the Distributed Solutions at first level selection box.

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The first level will distribute the specified number of solutions. Each solution will use a subset of
machine tasks to distribute the second level. A solver distribution type must be available for the
second level; otherwise single-level distribution will be applied.

Domain solver requires a minimum of 3 to 4 tasks. When there are not enough tasks, the simulation
will fall back to a single level distribution. For example, the total number of machine tasks is 8 an
"Distributed solutions at first level" is 3. Since the 3rd solution at first level is only allowed 2 tasks,
the simulation will fall back to a single level distribution of Domain Solver.

Direct Solver Memory requires a minimum of 2 machine tasks.

Types that can be distributed at Level 1 are Optimetrics Variations and Frequencies. All Solver
distributions can be distributed as Level 2.

The following are examples of two-level distributions:

l A parametric setup distributing Optimetrics Variations as level 1 and Iterative Solver

Excitations as level 2.
l A parametric setup for a non-Transient problem distributing Optimetrics variations as level
one and Frequencies as level 2
l A frequency sweep distributing Frequencies as level 1 and Direct Solver Memory as level 2 .
l A parametric setup for a Transient Network problem distributing Optimetrics Variations as

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level one and Transient Excitations as level 2.

HFSS Frequency Distribution can be treated as both of first and second level distribution. The
following bullets described the cases for an HFSS design with frequencies sweep setup and
parametric solve setup (for non transient solution).

l In the Analysis Configuration dialog, if you select “Optimetrics Variations” and

“Frequencies” with two-level distribution enabled, HFSS does two level distribution: first
level, “Optimetrics Variations”; second level “Frequencies”. We can see this described in the
“Preview Job Distribution” in the dialog.

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l In the Analysis Configuration dialog, if you select “Optimetrics Variations”, “Frequencies”,

and “Iterative Solver Excitations“ with two-level distribution enabled, HFSS does two level
distribution: first level, “Optimetrics Variations”; second level “Frequencies”. There is no
“Iterative Solver Excitations“ distribution. We can see this in the “Preview Job Distribution”
area in the dialog.

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l In the Analysis Configuration dialog, if you select “Optimetrics Variations”, “Frequencies”,

and “Direct Solver Memory“ (or “Domain Solver”) with two-level distribution enabled, and if
“Direct Solver Memory“ option is selected in the solve setup, HFSS does two level
distribution: first level, “Optimetrics Variations”; second level, “Direct Solver Memory“ (or
“Domain Solver”). There is no “Frequencies” distribution. We can see this in the “Preview
Job Distribution” are in the dialog.

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l In the Analysis Configuration dialog, if you select “Frequencies”, and “Iterative Solver
Excitations“( or “Direct Solver Memory“, or “Domain Solver”) with two-level distribution
enabled and if you select “Direct Solver Memory“ option (or corresponding solver option) in
the solve setup, HFSS only does two level distribution: first level, “Frequencies”; second
level, “Iterative Solver Excitations“ (or corresponding solver. We can see this in the “Preview
Job Distribution” in the same dialog. See the following two examples. The first shows Enable
Job Distribution Types for “Frequencies” and “Direct Solver Memory”.

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The next shows Enable Distribution Types selections for “Frequencies” and “Iteration Solver
Excitations”.

Machine Tasks Distribution

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All machine tasks are used in a single-level distribution. For example, 10 frequencies will be solved
in parallel when there are 10 machine tasks. In two-level distributions, machine tasks are generally
distributed evenly between the first-level solutions.

Preview Job Distribution

The Preview Job Distribution Setup menu and Field lets you set how the selected setup will be
distributed.

Options Tab (Analysis Configuration Dialog)

Use the Options tab to specify options for the current analysis configuration. Different design
types may have different options available in their analysis configurations.

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These options settings will be in effect only when all the following are true:

l A design is being solved whose design type matches this analysis configuration's
l This analysis configuration is the active configuration for its design type
l You have not specified corresponding batch options on the command line. Command line
batchoptions can be used to override the options specified by the active configuration.

Relation to Batchoptions

Analysis configuration option settings can be overwritten by specifying the option name and value
inside a -batchoption string. See -batchoptionhelp for a list of batchoption names and possible
values. You can also view all available and frequently used batchoptions in the Job Management
Submit Job To: dialog, by clicking the Add... button under Analysis Options. This opens the Add
Batchoption dialog, which gives access to all batchoptions.

Adding Configurations or Accepting Edits

Click OK to accept the changes and close the Analysis Configuration dialog. Only machines
checked as Enabled appear on the distributed machines Configuration Details Machine list.

Regardless of the machine(s) on which the analysis is actually run, the number of processors and
RAM Limit (%) settings, and the default process priority settings are now read from the machine
from which you launch the analysis. See Setting HPC and Analysis Options.

For more information, see distributed analysis.

Note The option is only active if there are multiple rows listed in the parametric table, there are
multiple frequency sweeps listed under a given analysis setup, and the number of
distributed analysis machines is two or greater.

Related Topics

Configuring Distributed Analysis

Editing Distributed Machine Configurations for Q3D

Selecting an Optimal Configuration for Distributed Analysis

Distributed Setup Resource Guide for ANSYS Electronics Desktop Solvers

Editing Distributed Machine Configurations for Q3D Extractor

To create a new distributed machine configuration, or edit an existing machine configuration.

1. Click Tools>Edit Active Analysis Configuration to open the Analysis Configuration

dialog directly or click the Analysis Config icon on the Simulation tab of the Ribbon.

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This opens the Analysis Configuration dialog box directly. You can also access this dialog
from the HPC and Analysis Options dialog box by clicking the Add..,, Edit..., or Copy...
buttons.

If you have selected Add... from the HPC and Analysis Options dialog box, the fields are
empty. If you have selected Edit... or used Tools>Edit Active Analysis Configuration or
clicked Copy from the HPC and Analysis Options dialog box, the fields show the selected
configuration.

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2. Specify the name of the new or edited configuration. It cannot be empty and cannot be a
previously used name or a reserved word.
3. Optionally, click the Use Automatic Settings . The Job distribution tab and Tasks
column are no longer available.

Machines Tab

This tab contains the machine list for the analysis configuration. Here you can provide machine
information, either by specifying Remote machine details, or by importing a list of machines from
a file. You can then remove, order, test, and enable machines on the list. Control buttons let you
Add machine(s) to list or Remove machines from the list.

Import Machines from File...

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You can import a machine list from a file, and an enhanced the file format handles the new
flexibility. Each line of the file can contain a machine specifier of the form:
<MachineName>:<NumTasks>:<NumCores>.

Note: this same format is used with the "-machinelist file=" command line option.

Local Machine Radio Button

To streamline the common case of running jobs on the current machine, use the dedicated radio
button to specify the local machine.

4. For each machine to manually add to the list, under Remote Machine Details, specify an IP
address, a DNS name, or a UNC name.

The remote machines must have the same ANSYS Electromagnetics Suite version installed in
the same OS and version, and have the RSM service active.

Once you have specified the remote machine details, either directly or by Importing Machine
from a File, you select a machine from the table to enable the buttons to Remove a machine,
or to Move a machine up or down on the list.

The displayed list always shows the order in which you entered them irrespective of the load on
the machines. To control the list order, select one or more machines, and use the Move up or
Move down buttons. Move up and Move down are enabled when you select one or more
adjacent machine names.

Enabled Machines

Each machine on the current list has an Enabled check box. Here you can enable or disable the
listed machines according to circumstance. Above the table, the dialog gives a count of the total
enabled tasks, and the total enabled cores.

For distributed tasks, the software will allocate the total cores on a given machine to that
machine's tasks. If a machine with 8 cores is running 2 distributed tasks, the software will

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automatically allocate 4 cores to each task. If it is running 4 distributed tasks, each gets 2 cores.
And if it is running 3 distributed tasks, the first two tasks get 3 cores and the last task gets 2
cores.

For a given variation (for example, frequency or geometry), you should make assignments so
that each task has the same number of cores. This is because the solvers attempt to make each
task computationally balanced. For example, with two machines, one with eight cores, and
another with four, assuming that the memory is proportionally equivalent, you could assign two
tasks for machine 1, and one task for machine 2, giving all tasks the same number of cores.

If you select a distributed configuration (rather than Local) from the Toolbar menu and you
launch multiple analyses from the same UI. Q3D selects the machines that are running the
fewest number of engines in the order in which the machines appear in the list. For example, if
the list contains 4 machines, and you launch a simulation that requires one machine,Q3D
chooses the first machine in the list. If another simulation is launched while the previous one is
running, and this simulation requires two machines, Q3D chooses machines 2 and 3 from the
list. If the first simulation then terminates and we launch another simulation requiring three
machines, Q3D chooses 1, 4, and 2 (in that order).

Test Machines

Test Machines- When multiple users on a network are using distributed solve or remote solve,
they should check the status of their machines before launching a simulation to ensure no other
ANSYS EM processes are running on the machine. To do this, you can select one or more
machines and click the Test Machines button. A Test Machines dialog box opens.

The test goes through the current machine list and gives a report on the status of each machine. A
progress bar shows how far testing has gone. An Abort button lets you cancel a test. When the test
is complete, you can OK to close the dialog. If you need to disable or Enable machines from the list
based on the report, you can do so in the Distributed Analysis Machines dialog box.

Job Distribution Tab

Use this tab to enable specific types of job distribution and to enable multi-level solves. The Job
distribution types listed are design type specific and will differ between products.

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Use the check boxes enable/disable available distribution-types. The job distribution list box allows
you to specify which job distribution types to allow for the current analysis configuration. At solve
time, the ANSYS Electromagnetics software automatically select the best distribution type from the
enabled distribution types. By enabling/disabling distribution types, you can control the job
distribution.

Just because you enable a distribution type does not mean it will be used. It must be also allowed
by the solve setup. Note that the enabled distribution types will apply to all setups of the given
design type, so it is possible for different setups in a design to be solved using different distribution
types.

The distribution types that you enabled here are listed on the Analysis Settings dialog in the
Configuration details pane when select that configuration from the list.

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For products that support two-level distribution, when the design is appropriate, you can turn on
two level distributed solves, and specify the number of engines to use for level 1. An example
design that could use two level distribution would be an array with frequency sweeps.

Distribution Levels (for Q3D Extractor)

The radio buttons let you enable/disable two level distribution.

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If you select single level, one distribution type will be applied at each stage of the solution process. If
multiple types are available, the higher level solution will generally be distributed. All machine tasks
will be used by the single-level distribution.

Selecting Enable two level enables the Distributed Solutions at first level selection box.

If you select Enable two level, the first level will distribute the specified number of solutions. Each
solution will use a subset of machine tasks to distribute the second level. A solver distribution type
must be available for the second level, otherwise single-level distribution will be applied.

The Preview Job Distribution Setup menu and field lets you view how the selected setup will be
distributed.

Distributed Solutions at First Level 1

This control determines how many level 1 tasks to create during a two level distribution. This
indirectly determines how many level 2 tasks for each level 1 task are used: the total number of
tasks is specified by the list of enabled machines on the first tab, and the software evenly distributes
resources among the L1 tasks which then are used to spawn off level 2 tasks.

Example 1:

l You create a machine list with 20 enabled tasks.

l You enable Variations and Solvers Nets/Sources.
l You enable 2 level distribution with distributed solutions at first level = 3.
l You solve a parametric analysis.

For the parametric analysis, the level 1 distribution type is Variations and the level 2 distribution
type is Solvers Nets/Sources. Since the number of level 1 tasks = 3, three variations are launched
simultaneously. The number of enabled tasks is 20. Those 20 tasks will be split as evenly as
possible over the 3 variations. For the CG simulation, Variations 1 & 2 will each get 7 tasks and
Variation 3 will get 6 tasks to use for Solver distribution. The AC RL simulation will behave the
same way: Variation 1 = 7 tasks, Variation 2 = 7 tasks and Variation 3 = 6 tasks. For the DC RL
simulation, Variations 1 through 3 will each use 1 task as the DC RL solver is not distributable.

Example 2:

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l The Q3D Extractor design contains 6 nets and 12 sources.

l You create a machine list with 16 enabled tasks.
l You enable Solution Types and Solvers Nets/Sources.
l You enable 2 level distribution with distributed solutions at first level = 3.
l You solve the nominal solution.

The CG, AC RL and DC RL simulation will start solving simultaneously because three level 1 tasks
have been specified. The tasks for the level 2 distribution, Solver Nets/Sources, will be assigned
proportionally according to the number of nets and sources in the design.

CG Tasks = (nets/(nets + sources)) * available tasks

(6/(6+12)) * 15 = 5 tasks for solver distribution

AC RL Tasks = (sources/(nets + sources)) * available tasks

(12/(6+12)) * 15 = 10 tasks for solver distribution

The DC RL solver is not distributable and uses 1 task.

If Auto HPC is enabled for AC LR/ DC RL problem type in a machine with n cores, the adaptive
passes and frequency sweeps will use 1 task n cores only in one machine. If Auto HPC is enabled
for parametric solve, each variation will be solved sequentially and frequency sweep will be
distributed automatically.

Selecting an Optimal Configuration for Distributed Analysis

With the distributed solve option (DSO) it is possible to assign more than one machine in the DSO
setup panel to a single computer - assuming the computer has multiple cores. For example, a quad
core computer can be listed 4 times in the DSO machine list and each CPU will run a separate
simulation in the sweep. This raises the question of how to configure a distributed solution option
(DSO) in combination with the multiprocessing option to take optimal advantage of the available
hardware. The simplest answer is that for the overwhelming majority of situations the speed
improvement will be greater if additional machines are added to a DSO than if the same CPU's are
added as multiple processors. That simple answer assumes that there is enough memory for the
DSO simulations.

For multiple DSO simulations on a single machine the total memory needed is the sum of the
memory used by each simulation. For example, assume we are running discrete frequency sweep
and each frequency point needs 3.5GB. Our computer has only 8GB of RAM but is a quad core
system. To keep the computer from going heavily into swap, which is highly inefficient, we would
only want to assign this computer twice to the list of machines in the DSO setup. To take advantage
of the remaining 2 CPUs then it would make sense to set the number of distributed processors to 2.
This would be the optimum for this setup. In addition one would need to be sure that the amount of
disk space available is also sufficient to fit all the requested simulations - typically hard drive space
is not the limiting factor.

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Related Topics

Configuring Distributed Analysis

Editing Distributed Machine Configurations

Distributed Setup Resource Guide for ANSYS Electronics Desktop Solvers

Distributed Setup Resource Guide for ANSYS

Electromagnetics Solvers
This section provides some basic guidelines for choosing the number of tasks for an HPC Analysis
Configuration for a distributed solve. In this discussion, we assume that a fixed number of
machines and cores are available, and the goal is to use them as efficiently as possible. You can
distribute Optimetrics variations, frequencies, transient excitations and solvers.

HFSS frequency domain solvers can distribute in a two-level fashion, with variations or frequencies
as the first level, and solvers as the second level. You specify the number of solutions (variations or
frequencies) to distribute at level one, and each solution is given a subset of the total tasks to use
for the distributed solver at level two.

For example, suppose you want to solve a frequency sweep using the distributed direct solver. In
the Analysis Configuration, you specify 12 total tasks with 4 distributed solutions at the first level.
HFSS will solve 4 frequencies in parallel, with 3 tasks for solver distribution in each frequency
solution. If the tasks cannot be allocated equally, some solutions may be given one additional task.

2-Level Distributions Guidelines

Solver Distributions for HPC Configuration

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Related Topics

Editing Distributed Machine Configurations

2-Level Distributions Guidelines

We recommend that you focus the resources for the highest level of distribution (level one). In other
words, allocate the resources such that a maximum number of frequencies or variations are solved
in parallel. First determine the minimum number of machines required to solve one frequency or
variation based on your prior knowledge of the type of model being solved. Then allocate the
resources such that a maximum number of solutions can be solved in parallel.

For example, suppose that a given model requires at least 100 GB of memory to solve using DDM.
Assume that you have 10 machines each with 60 GB and 8 cores. One solution will require two
machines for the DDM solver. This means that, at most, 5 frequencies can be distributed. Each
DDM solution requires at least 3 tasks, but since more cores are available you should set 4 tasks
per machine, resulting in 2 cores for each Domain (see Domain Solver Guidelines for HPC
Configuration for more details. A machine configuration based on the machines and number of
tasks described above is shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1

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The job distribution based on this example is shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2

Solver Distributions for HPC Configuration

Each solver has somewhat different requirements or recommendations to optimize its
performance and therefore each solver is treated differently.

Domain Decomposition Solver Guidelines for HPC Configuration

Distributed HFSS-IE Guidelines for HPC Configuration

Distributed Direct Solver Guidelines for HPC Configuration

Distributed Iterative Solver Guidelines for HPC Configuration

Domain Decomposition Solver Guidelines for HPC Configuration

The domain decomposition solver supports two types of domains: solver domains and finite array
domains. For problems with solver domains, we could have either FEM domains alone or FEM
domains with FE-BI domain and possibly IE region domain. The following cases offer basic
guidelines for choosing number of tasks and number of cores per task for each.

Case1: Solver domain problem without any FE-BI boundary or IE region.

In this case, total memory requirement will typically decrease with more tasks. But for optimal
speed, we advise that you have 2-3 cores per task.

Case2: Solver domain problem with FE-BI boundary and IE region.

If FEM portion is dominant geometrically, the rule of case1 also applies here. Otherwise more task
input will trigger distributed IE solver in IE and BI domains. Distributed IE solver will reduce
memory requirement in each BI/IE domain with modest speed improvement for some cases.

Case3: Finite array

For most arrays, speed is optimal with 8-16 tasks. If you have more than 16 cores available,
assigning 2-3 cores per task would most likely be better than if you assign more tasks. For

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example, if you have a total of 24 cores, you should assign 12 tasks with 2 cores per task rather
than assign 24 tasks with 1 core per task.

Distributed HFSS-IE Guidelines for HPC Configuration

The dependence of distributed HFSS-IE solver on number of tasks is somewhat different

compared with the domain decomposition solver. For HFSS-IE, the number of tasks increases the
total memory but typically also increases the speed of the simulation. We suggest the following
guidelines:

1. If memory usage is critical, 1 task per machine is recommended using all cores.
2. If memory usage is not critical, then using 4 cores per task is recommended for optimal
speed.

Distributed Direct Solver Guidelines for HPC Configuration

The dependence of distributed direct solver on number of tasks is very similar to the HFSS solver.
For distributed direct solver, the number of tasks increases the total memory but typically also
increase the speed of the simulation. We suggest the following guidelines:

1. If memory usage is critical, we recommend 1 task / machine using all cores.

2. If memory usage is not critical, we recommend 4 cores / task for optimal speed.

Distributed Iterative Solver Guidelines for HPC Configuration

The distributed iterative solver distributes excitations for faster simulations and not to access more
memory to solve a large problem. Each task corresponds to a number of excitations and therefore
more excitations are solved in parallel when the number of tasks increases.

The first consideration for the number of tasks is the memory requirement. Each task uses a similar
amount of memory, and the total memory usage doubles as the number of tasks doubles. Thus the
number of tasks on each compute node should be restricted to avoid "Out of Memory" failure.

The second consideration for the number of tasks is the number of excitations. HFSS designates
one of the tasks as the master, which does not participate in the iterative process. Thus the number
of tasks should be no more than the Total Number of Excitations + 1.

In summary, assuming that you have enough memory, if the number of excitations N is less than
the total number of cores M and you choose 4 cores per task, then the number of tasks is ceil(N/4)
+ 1, where ceil() stands for the ceiling function and the extra "1" is dedicated to the master task; if
the number of excitations N is more than the total number of cores M and you choose 4 cores per
task, then the number of tasks is ceil(M/4). For example, if you have a design with 64 excitations
and you have 32 cores available, you could define a possible setup having 8 tasks with 4 cores per
task.

Related Topics

Distributed Setup Resource Guide for ANSYS Electronics Desktop Solvers

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Large Scale DSO for Parametric Analysis

Large Scale DSO for parametric analysis operates through a non-graphical batch application
called desktopjob. You can run the desktopjob command-line to perform parametric analysis DSO.
The command-line interface supported by this batch program is consistent with the command-line
used for regular DSO jobs.

Large Scale DSO is used for 'large scale parallel' jobs, which either fail or scale poorly as Regular
DSO jobs. A Large Scale DSO job does not support the output of full parametric results, but
produces 'reduced' datasets corresponding to predefined Rectangular plots. The extracted
columns of data are saved as .csv files. Typically, there is one .csv file per-trace, per-variation.
These .csv outputs can be used directly in downstream applications (for example, Excel, or custom
programs that parse .csv files). They can also be Imported as Dataset Solutions for post
processing. Non-Rectangular plots of the design (such as statisticaleye or digital plot) are not
extracted. In order to produce a new output you must re-run the analysis.

The basic process involves:

1. Prepare the model for Large Scale DSO Analysis

2. Submit the Large Scale DSO Job through the Tools>Job Management menu, or via a
command line.
3. Monitor the job's progress
4. Post process the results

For details, refer to the following sections:

l Prerequisites for Large Scale DSO

l Job Management Interface for Large Scale DSO
l Command Line Syntax
l Deployment/Configuration
l Tutorial Example for HFSS
l Results Database Organization
l Job outputs
l Job Monitoring
l Known Issues for Large Scale DSO
l Troubleshooting for Large Scale DSO

Related Topics

Running ANSYS Electronics Desktop from a Command Line

Distributed Analysis

High Performance Computing (HPC) Integration

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Technical Notes: Large Scale DSO Theory

Prerequisites for Large Scale DSO

General Prerequisites

l The ANSYS Electronics Desktop must be installed on the cluster which runs either a
supported scheduler or ANSYS RSM.
l The cluster is compatible with Large Scale DSO Requirements
l For releases before 19.0, the input projects for Large Scale DSO jobs distributed to multiple
hosts are normally required to be on a shared drive. With the 19.0 release, this requirement
is eliminated for most cases. For the RSM scenario, the shared drive requirement is
eliminated, but the project must be accessible on the local host, which must be the first host
for the job. For scheduler scenario, because the job can get started on any of the compute
nodes based upon what is allocated to the job by scheduler, users may still need to have the
project on shared drive. However some customers have their own job scripts for job
spooling, which copy the project from the source location to a local folder on the first
execution host of the job. Such customers will no longer need shared drive for their projects.
l Every node of the cluster supports the disk space (in temp directory) and memory
requirements of multiple engines that un in parallel.
l All the machines allocated to Large Scale DSO job must all come from the same platform,
Windows or LINUX.

Ansoft RSM Environment

On the Windows platform, RSM is started as an 'admin' account, rather than as a 'system'
account.

Note Large Scale DSO does not support RSM Service running with 'system login' credentials.

l On each machine of the cluster, 'desktopjob' application is registered with Ansoft RSM
service using the command shown below:

Windows: <installation-directory>/<platform> desktopjob.exe -regserver

LINUX: <installation-directory>/<platform>desktopjob -regserver

Note Detailed cluster configuration instructions are here.

Scheduler Environment

l No extra configuration is needed.

Related Topics

Large Scale DSO for Parametric Analysis

Distributed Analysis

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High Performance Computing (HPC) Integration

DSO Behavior in HFSS and HFSS-IE

In general two level DSO occurs only when 2 different distribution technologies (engine and MPI)
are used. Parametric distributions are implemented using the comengine. Solver distribution as
well as frequencies and DDM are distributed by using the MPI technology.

HFSS and DSO

What’s supported?

HFSS supports the following job distribution options

l Frequencies (MPI)
l Variations (engine)
l Transient excitations (MPI)
l Domain solver (MPI)
l Direct solver (MPI)
l Iterative solver (MPI)

HFSS supports multi-level distribution. Following combinations can be used:

l You can distribute Variations, Domain solver, Direct solver

l Frequencies and any of the solvers.

What will we distribute?

HFSS will distribute Optimetrics unless:

l There is only 1 machine in the pool.

l Two-level distribution is disabled and MPI is required (see below).
l Two-level distribution is enabled and MPI is required, but dividing the pool by the 2 level
count would not leave enough machines for each MPI solve.

If Optimetrics variations are not distributed, we might distribute frequencies. Discrete and
interpolating sweeps are distributable. Fast sweeps are not. As with Optimetrics, if MPI is required
it takes precedence over variations. So we need to be able to distribute enough MPI machines for
each frequency.

Next, we look whether the setup is requesting the iterative solver. If we are not distributing
Optimetrics, we will distribute iterative solvers via MPI. If we are distributing Optimetrics and 2 level
is enabled, then we need enough MPI solvers for each variation in order to distribute iterative
solvers.

Note MPI distribution of domain and direct solvers is of higher precedence than Optimetrics. But,
Optimetrics is of higher precedence than iterative solvers.

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Finally, if we are a transient network problem there is no MPI. So, we will distribute transient
excitations unless we are already distributing variations.

When is MPI required?

If the current solve setup (for example. “Setup1”) has domains enabled, MPI is required if any of
these are true:

l If there is an array.
l If there are no FE-BI or IE regions.
l If the DSO configuration enables domain distribution and we have a FE-BI or an IE region.

l If Use Automatic Settings is checked or the DSO configuration enables distribution of

transient excitations.

If the current solve setup does not enable domains, MPI is required if the Setup selected the direct
solver and the configuration enables Direct solver distribution

How many MPI solvers are needed?

We can always use more, but the minimum requirement is

1. If we are using domains

a. If it is an array problem, 3.
b. If there is a FE-BI and an IE region, then 4.
c. For all other direct solves, 3.

2. If we are solving multiple transient excitations, the number of excitations.

3. Otherwise 2

HFSS-IE

What’s supported?

l Frequencies (engine)
l Variations (engine)
l IE Solvers (MPI)

HFSS-IE supports 2 level distribution.

What will we distribute?

As with HFSS, MPI solves take precedence over engine solves. We will always distribute IE
solvers if enabled and there are enough machines to use.

We will distribute variations if

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l IE solver distribution is disabled

l IE solver distribution is enabled and 2 level distribution is enabled and there are enough
machines in each variation to distribute IE solvers

If we are not distributing variations, we will distribute frequencies if the above criteria are met.

What’s supported?

HFSS-IE supports the following job distribution options

l Frequencies (engine)
l Variations (engine)
l Transient excitations (engine)
l Domain solver (MPI)
l Direct solver (MPI)
l Iterative solver (MPI)

HFSS-IE supports two level distribution.

What will we distribute?

HFSS-IE will distribute Optimetrics unless

l There is only 1 machine in the pool

l Two level distribution is disabled and MPI is required (see below)
l Two level distribution is enabled and MPI is required, but dividing the pool by the 2 level
count would not leave enough machines for each MPI solve.

If Optimetrics variations are not distributed, we might distribute frequencies. Discrete and
interpolating sweeps are distributable. Fast sweeps are not. As with Optimetrics, if MPI is required
it takes precedence over variations. So we need to be able to distribute enough MPI machines for
each frequency.

Next, we look whether the setup is requesting the iterative solver. If we are not distributing
Optimetrics, we will distribute iterative solvers via MPI. If we are distributing Optimetrics and 2 level
is enabled, then we need enough MPI solvers for each variation in order to distribute iterative
solvers.

Note MPI distribution of domain and direct solvers is of higher precedence than Optimetrics. But,
Optimetrics is of higher precedence than iterative solvers.

Finally, if we are a transient network problem there is no MPI. So, we will distribute transient
excitations unless we are already distributing variations.

When is MPI required?

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If the current solve setup (for example. “Setup1”) has domains enabled, MPI is required if any of
these are true:

l if there is an array
l if there are no FE-BI or IE regions
l the DSO configuration enables domain distribution and we have a FE-BI or an IE region

If the current solve setup does not enable domains, MPI is required if the Setup selected the direct
solver and the configuration enables Direct solver distribution

How many MPI solvers are needed?

We can always use more, but the minimum requirement is

1. If we are using domains

a. If it’s an array problem, 3
b. If there’s a FE-BI and an IE region, then 4
c. For all other direct solves, 3
2. Otherwise 2

General Notes

In the case of an uneven distribution, the smallest pool is used to determine capability. For
example, if we have 8 machines and the user wants 2 level solve of a frequency sweep with 3
machines at level 1, that would divide the machines into (3,3,2). If this is an array problem, we
would need 3 machines for each pool. So, we would disable 2 level distribution (rather than
reconfigure to only have 2 pools).

The user’s selection of (say) frequency distribution or 2 level does not require that we do so. In the
above example, if we are adapting we might choose to devote all 8 machines to the array solve at
each adaptive pass as there is neither frequency nor 2 level possible.

Job Management Interface for Large Scale DSO

Large Scale DSO jobs run only in non-graphical batch mode, irrespective of the scheduler
environment. This is in contrast to a Regular DSO job, which, in RSM environment, can be
launched from a graphical Desktop. This consideration implies that input project corresponding to
Large Scale DSO job must be saved and closed, prior to job-submission. Secondly, the command
to submit Large Scale DSO job is only available through the Tools>Job Management menu or a
command window, while a Regular DSO job can be run in RSM environment by right-clicking
directly on the parametric setup. The Job Management UI is accessed by running ANSYS
Electromagnetics product Desktop on the designated 'Postprocessing node' of the cluster. The
Desktop provides UI commands for Scheduler selection, Job submission and Job
monitoring/control. You access the Scheduler User Interface by clicking Tools>Job
Management>Select Scheduler...

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Click Select Scheduler to display the selection dialog. A drop down lists potential schedulers,
(which can include RSM, lsf, or sge, depending on the environment).

If you select a scheduler that is not supported in your environment, you receive a warning
message.

After selecting a scheduler, you can click Refresh to display information for that scheduler.

Once you have selected a scheduler supported in your environment, you can go through the
following steps to submit a Large Scale DSO job.

1. Setup and prepare model on local workstation

l Launch Desktop. Open project, for example, '/home/projects/spool/test.adsn'
l Suppose the variations to solve come from ParametricSetup1 setup, Right-click on
ParametricSetup1 and run 'Large Scale DSO/Validate'. Fix any validation errors.

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l Save project, in case of edits.

l Close project.
2. Copy the input project (or folder, if the project references external files) from a personal
workstation to a shared-drive on cluster (say project is copied to
/home/projects/spool/test.adsn).
l In the RSM environment, you are required to specify a machine-list. (See the HPC and
Analysis Options.) For example, say the machine-list is: 3 cores from 'm1' and 3 cores
from 'm2', for a total of 6 engines. You select the list on the Compute Resources tab
described below.
l In a Linux scheduler environment, a cluster must have a designated 'postprocessing
node'. Open a remote-desktop session (or equivalent such as vnc session) on the
designated 'post-processing node'. Say the name of this node is 'm1'. Launch Desktop
graphically on 'm1'.
3. Open a remote-desktop session (or equivalent such as vnc session) on the node
corresponding to the first machine of job's machine-list, 'm1' in this case. Launch Desktop
graphically on 'm1'.
4. (Optional step) Double-check that the model is prepared correctly
l Open project '/home/projects/spool/test.adsn'
l Right-click on ParametricSetup1 and run 'Large Scale DSO/Validate'. Fix any validation
errors
l Save project, in case of edits. Close project
5. Run Tools>Job Management>Submit Job... or Project>Submit Job... or
HFSS>Submit Job.... You can also access Submit Job... on shortcut menus if you right-

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click on the Project name in the Project Manager window, or right-click on the Setup name
for an Analysis or Optimetrics setup.

The standard Job Submission panel pops up.

The panels for LSF and GE have some differences. See separate sections for Job
Management User Interface for LSF and Job Management User Interface for SGE.

l Enter all fields. Make sure to select 'ParametricSetupn' for analysis and check the Use
large scale DSO check box.

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l To see the command-line submitted to the scheduler, click Preview Submission. This
opens a dialog showing the command to be sent to the scheduler.

The text can be copied to the clipboard, if desired.

l The Batchoptions field allows you to add additional -batchoptions parameters.

l If you select Show advanced options, you can see the fields for setting Environment
variables, and for using batch extract.

See the discussion on Running ANSYS Electronics Desktop from a Command line for a
discussion of the solve information available through batch extract.

l If you intend to Monitor the job through a user interface, you must check Monitor job. You
can then monitor this job through the Tools>Job Management>Monitor Jobs...
command or by checking the dialog that opens when you submit the job.

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6. The Compute Resources tab displays other parameters. Depending on the resources
available for a scheduler environment, some of the fields may be disabled. HFSS, HFSS-IE,
and HFSS 3D Layout have Use automatic settings selected by default. With Use automatic
settings, the dialog looks like this:

l Specify nodes
l Cores, and RAM Limit (%).

The values you specify here represent minimal requirements for each condition that can interact
in leading to the total resources the Scheduler derives from them. The number of Cores must be
less than or equal to the number of Cores.

Notice that a preview of the Submit Job Results shows the number of resources assigned, and
that the scheduler generated code includes an MPI specification

7. If you uncheck Use automatic settings, the dialog provides choices for Tasks, and Job
Distribution options. For RSM Large Scale DSO jobs submitted from the Job Submission
panel, localhost must be the first node in the resource selection panel. Otherwise, the job will

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fail.

Click the Modify button in the Job distribution pane to view the Job Distribution dialog.

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You can click the radio button to enable two level distribution.

This gives you the option of specifying the number of distributed solutions at the first level.

Click OK to accept your selections.

8. To submit the command with the specified parameters, click Submit Job.

Note The RSM environment does not support for queuing, so 'Submit Job' will
immediately start running the job.

A dialog displays in which you can check "Begin monitoring this job now."

9. You can monitor this job either automatically (by checking the option) or through the
Tools>Job Management>Monitor Jobs... command. For more details, see Monitor Jobs
window.

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The process for submitting and monitoring Large Scale DSO jobs in LSF/SGE environments. is
generally similar.

1. Setup and prepare model on local workstation

Launch Desktop. Open project '/home/projects/spool/test.adsn'

Suppose the variations to solve come from ParametricSetup1 setup, Right-click on

ParametricSetup1 and run 'Large Scale DSO/Validate'. Fix any validation errors

Save project, in case of edits

Close project

2. Copy the input project (or folder, if the project references external files) from personal
workstation to shared-drive on cluster (say project is copied to
/home/projects/spool/test.adsn)

In the scheduler environment, a cluster must have a designated 'postprocessing node'. Open a
remote-desktop session (or equivalent such as vnc session) on the designated 'post-processing
node'. Say the name of this node is 'm1'. Launch Desktop graphically on 'm1'.

l (Optional step) Double-check that the model is prepared correctly

Open project '/home/projects/spool/test.adsn'

Right-click on ParametricSetup1 and run Large Scale DSO/Validate. Fix any validation errors

Save project, in case of edits. Close project

3. Run Tools>Job Management>Submit Job.... Project>Submit Job, or right-click on the

Parametric setup and select Submit Job.. from the shortcut menu. The standard Job
Submission panel pops up, which is documented as part of the scheduler-gui-integration
feature.
4. Enter all fields. If you select from the Tools or Project menu, make sure to select
'ParametricSetup1' analysis and turn ON 'Use large scale DSO' check box

If you selected the Parametric Setup, and use the shortcut menu to click Submit Job..., the Job
Submission panel has that parametric setup pre-selected.

5. Click on 'Preview' to check (and/or copy to clipboard) job's command-line. Click on Submit
Job.
6. Monitor this job through the Tools>Job Management>Monitor Jobs... command. For
more details, see Monitor Jobs window.

See separate sections for Job Management User Interface for LSF and Job Management User
Interface for GE.

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Large Scale DSO Command Line Syntax

Large Scale DSO feature operates through a non-graphical batch application called 'desktopjob'.
You can run the desktopjob command-line to perform parametric analysis DSO. The command-
line interface supported by this batch program is consistent with the command-line used for current
DSO jobs. "desktopjob -help" lists all available command-line options as shown below:

Command Line Syntax:

desktopjob.exe <options> <project-path-on-shared-drive>

Options:

-help: Print this help text

-cmd: Specify command to run. Available choices: dso

-ng: Run analysis in non-graphical mode

-monitor: Output progress and messages to standard output/error

-waitforlicense: Queue the job until the availability of licenses

-preserve: Preserve local storage space of the distributed job for investigation into job's run. If
local storage directory (aka, temp directory) is provisioned by scheduler, ensure it is also
configured to preserve job's local storage. (Note: this storage should be deleted manually)

-batchoptions: Override the Tools/Option entries through either a batchoptions file or

batchoptions string.

Example:
-batchoptions <config-file-on-shared-drive>

-batchoptions "'name1'='val1' 'n2'='v2'"

-machinelist:

l In the context of Ansoft RSM:

Specify machines for distributed analysis. Machine list is specified either inline (as a comma
separated machine names) or through a file. Multiple cores are specified by repeating the name
of machine or by embedding number of cores in the machine name, using a colon separator.

Example 1:
-machinelist "list=m1,m1,m1,m2,m2,m3"

Example 2:
-machinelist "list=m1:3,m2:2,m3"

Example 2:

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-machinelist "file=machines.txt"

l In the context of a scheduler such as LSF:

Specify the portion of total machines for distributed analysis. Use remaining for overhead or
shared memory multiprocessing.

Example:
-machinelist "Num=10"

-usefolderasinput: Choose this option if the job's input represents the entire folder rather than
just the project file.

-maxfolderInMB: Specify the maximum size (MBytes) of input folder that is allowed for a valid job.
By default, the maximum size allowed for input is 10MB. Specify a value of 0 to remove this size
restriction and enable inputs of any size. Note: this option applies when '-usefolderasinput' is used.

-workdir: Specify the shared drive folder for status and result files generated by analysis. By
default, the results folder of input project is used as the work directory.

-batchsolve: Solve the specified parametric setup. Syntax for the setup:
<design-name>:Optimetrics:<parametric-setup>

Related Topics

Large Scale DSO for Parametric Analysis

Running ANSYS Electronics Desktop from a Command Line

Job Management Interface for Large Scale DSO

Large Scale DSO Job outputs

A large-scale-dso analysis does not support the output of full parametric results. Instead, it extracts
'subset' results using predefined Rectangular plots, which are created by user before job is run.
The extracted columns of data are saved as CSV files. Typically, there is one CSV file per-trace,
per-variation. (Note: Non-Rectangular plots of the design (for e.g. statistical eye, digital plot) are
not extracted). The outputs can be either imported as datasets for post-processing in the desktop
also as function of parametric variations, or used directly in downstream applications (for example,
Excel, or custom programs that parse .csv files).

CSV File contents

The initial header rows of CSV file define the solved variation. For each such row, the first column
has variable name and the second column has variable's value. The row following variation rows
has the name of primary sweep and the name(s) of extracted quantities. Subsequent rows contain
'data' - quantity values as a function of primary sweep. Below examples provide a context for the
CSV file contents:

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l Traces of S-parameter report: The data portion of CSV file has 2 columns of data: first
column has Freq values and the second column has values for trace's s-parameter
component
l Trace of a far field report: Suppose there is a farfield report with a trace ('magrE'), whose
primary sweep is 'phi' and secondary sweep is 'theta'. Further suppose that two values of
'theta' are chosen and 'all' values of 'phi' are chosen. For this trace, the data portion of CSV
file contains three columns of data: the first column has phi values, the second column has
magrE values for the first value of theta, the third column has magrE values for second value
of theta. The magrE output columns are titled as 'magrE_crv1', 'magrE_crv2' respectively
l (Advanced) 'Special' sweeps: In the case of a trace with 'special' primary sweep (such as
the trace of a time domain quantity), one CSV file is created per curve of trace, per variation.
These CSV files always have two columns, irrespective of the number of values chosen for
secondary/higher sweeps.

Related Topics

Large Scale DSO for Parametric Analysis

Import Large Scale DSO Dataset Solution

Large Scale DSO Tutorial Example

This section provides an example of the use of Large Scale DSO to distribute parametric variations
of an HFSS model across the nodes of a cluster or to multiple cores of a single machine.

This example presumes that your configuration satisfies the Prerequisites for Large Scale DSO.
For this example, pre-suppose that we have a Windows cluster. Further suppose that the shared
drive folder, which contains the input projects and computed results is at the location
\\sjo7na1\hfssprojs.

Major steps for Large Scale DSO Example

1. Prepare the model for Large Scale DSO Analysis

2. Submit the Large Scale DSO Job
3. Post process the results

Prepare the Model for Large Scale DSO Analysis

1. Launch the desktop.

2. Create the input project on the shared drive.

For this example, start with the standard HFSS OptimTee.aedt example and copy it to the
shared drive.

Copy "<installation-directory>\<platform>Examples\RF_Microwave\OptimTee.aedt" to
"\\sjo7na1\hfssprojs\OptimTee.aedt"

3. Setup the parametric table.

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For this example, use the existing 'ParametricSetup1' as the parametric setup to solve.

4. Prepare the outputs.

Outputs from Large Scale DSO come from pre-defined rectangular plots that are created
before the Analysis command is issued. Follow the steps below:

a. Because these DSO outputs come solely from Rectangular Plots, delete all other
postprocessing setups, and then turn off Save Fields And Mesh as shown below.

Open ParametricSetup1 for editing. You will see that the OptimTee parametric setup contains
three calculations, as shown below.

b. Delete all three calculations. When you have done so, the Setup Sweep Analysis
Calculations tab looks like this:

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c. Click on the Options tab and uncheck Save Fields And Mesh, as shown below:

5. Use the Reporter to define outputs.

For this example, you add six traces that correspond to six csv outputs of the Large Scale DSO
job: mag(S11), mag(S12), mag(S13), Power11, Power12, and Power13.

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a. As shown below, select three quantities: mag(S11), mag(S12), and mag(S13).

b. Click on the Families tab and ensure that all variables are set to Nominal, as shown
below.

Note For Large Scale DSO, outputs are not extracted correctly unless all variables on
the Families tab are set to nominal.

c. Click the New Report button.

Use the Report to create a Power distribution plot that has three power distribution traces.

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d. To create an S-parameter plot that has three traces, click Results>Create Modal
Solution Data Report>Rectangular Plot.
e. As shown below, select three quantities, Power11, Power21, and Power31.

f. Click on the Families tab and ensure that all variables are set to Nominal.
g. Click the New Report button.
6. Right-click on the parametric sweep, and select Validate for Large Scale DSO.

7. A dialog reports any errors. These may occur if the steps just taken are neglected:

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[error] Please remove all the calculations in Parametric

Setup/Calculation page.

[error] Please turn off "Save Fields And Mesh" in Parametric

Setup/Options page.

[error] No rectangular plot exist in the design. Please create a

rectangular report.

8. Correct any errors, if necessary to pass validation.

9. Save and Close the project.

Next

Submit the Large Scale DSO Job: Examples

Related Topics

Large Scale DSO for Parametric Analysis

Submit the Large Scale DSO Job: Examples

This section includes examples of submitting a Large Scale DSO job using Ansoft RSM and a
Scheduler.

Using the Ansoft RSM Environment

1. Before submitting the job make sure that the input project is not open in any HFSS Desktop
window.
2. For this example, suppose that there are two quad-core machines on your cluster with the
names "m1" and "m2". Further suppose that there are two engines per machine, for a total of
four parallel engines. Let the number of processors allocated to each engine be 1.
3. From a command prompt, issue the following command:
<installation-directory>/<platform>desktopjob.exe -cmd dso -
machinelist "list=m1:2,m2:2" -batchoptions
\\sjo7na\hfssprojs\hfssoptions.txt -batchsolve
"TeeModel:Optimetrics:ParametricSetup1"
\\sjo7na\hfssprojs\OptimTee.aedt

where the file \\sjo7na\hfssproj\hfssoptions.txt has the following contents:

$begin Config

'Desktop/Settings/ProjectOptions/NumberOfProcessors'=1

'HFSS/Preferences/NumberOfProcessorsDistributed'=1

'HFSS/Preferences/NumberOfProcessorsPostProc'=1

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'HFSS/Preferences/UseHPCforMP'=0

'HFSS/Preferences/SaveBeforeSolving'=0

'HFSS/Preferences/MemLiimitHard'=0

'HFSS/Preferences/MemLimitSoft'=0

'HFSS/Preferences/HPCLicenceType'='pack'

#end 'Config'

4. Suppose the above job is assigned ID "jobID".

Using a Scheduler Environment (such as LSF)

1. Suppose you want to solve variations using four parallel engines, each engine being
assigned a single core.
2. From a command prompt, run the following command:
bsub -n 4 <installation-directory>/<platform>/desktopjob.exe -cmd
dso -batchoptions \\sjo7na\hfssprojs\hfssoptions.txt -batchsolve
"TeeModel:Optimetrics:ParametricSetup1"\\sjo7na\hfssprojs\OptimTee.a
edt

where the file \\sjo7na\hfssproj\hfssoptions.txt has the same contents as the RSM example
above.

3. Suppose the above job is assigned an ID "jobid"

Next

Large Scale DSO Example: Post Process the Results

Related Topics

Large Scale DSO for Parametric Analysis

Large Scale DSO Example: Post Process the Results

Once the job is done, output is available in the ~\OptimTee.aedt\jobid\results folder. Each variation
creates a subfolder, which in turn has one csv file per trace of each report. See the detailed
information regarding job monitoring and the location of the analysis logs.

The figure below shows the results for 10 variations as located in 10 folders.

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There are six csv files corresponding to three S-parameter traces and three power distribution
traces, as shown below for the fourth variation.

You have three options for postprocessing csv files.

l Import Large Scale DSO Dataset Solution

l Use Microsoft Excel or any other application that has csv post processing functionality.
l Parse the csv output into your custom program, for any downstream flow.

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Related Topics

Large Scale DSO for Parametric Analysis

Import Large Scale DSO Dataset Solution

For post-processing Large Scale DSO dataset solutions in the desktop, you create a dataset
solution through the Import Large Scale DSO Solution command and pointing to Large Scale
DSO job's top level results folder.

1. Import solved large scale DSO solution. You can do this in two ways.

In the Project tree. right click on Optimetrics and from the menu click Import Large Scale DSO
Solution.

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This opens the Import Large Scale DSO Dataset Solution dialog.

From here you can browse to the results of a Large Scale DSO job and select a job folder. Click
the ellipsis button [...] to open the browser window Navigate to the results directory to see the
results, organized by the scheduler prefix and job ID number. To select a results dataset,
double-click on the results folder name.

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This shows the selected Directory path, and lists the contents of the selected directory.

Click Open to show the Import Large Scale DSO Dataset Solutions dialog with the Job
Folder path and the Solution name listed.

Click, OK to import the Dataset. If you have selected the solution folder correctly the dialog
closes. If not, an error dialog opens.

2. To View or Delete the imported dataset solutions:

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In the Project tree, right click on Results and from the menu click Dataset Solutions....

This displays the Dataset Solutions dialog, listing any existing datasets.

Selecting a listed dataset enables the Delete button. The ImportLarge Scale DSO Solution
button also opens the dialog for importing a dataset solution.

3. To create a Dataset Report

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After you have imported one or more DSO solutions, you can create a Dataset Report. Right
click on Results and from the menu select Create Dataset Report, and the type of report.

This opens a reporter window from which you can create a report. If you have previously
created an eye diagram report and it is included in the DSO solution data extraction, you can
use Create Dataset Report > Eye Diagram to recreate this report.

4. Cloning from a Dataset Solution

If you re-open a project that was solved using large scale DSO, you can quickly clone a report
for a solved large scale DSO solution by right-clicking in the Project tree on the report, and
choosing Clone from Dataset Solution..., provided this report is qualified for Large Scale DSO
data extraction. The provides a way that you can reuse the existing report definition and save
the work of creating new report.

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Related Topics

Large Scale DSO Results Database Organization.

Large Scale DSO Results Database Organization

A Large Scale DSO analysis does not support the output of full parametric results. Instead, it
extracts 'subset' results using predefined Rectangular plots, which are created by user before job is
run. The extracted columns of data are saved as CSV files. Typically, there is one CSV file per-
trace, per-variation. (Note: Non-Rectangular plots of the design (for e.g. statistical eye, digital plot)
are not extracted)

The results of a Large Scale DSO job are located in the '<workdir>/<jobid>/results' folder. If
'workdir' is not specified on the job command-line, it is same as the input project's results folder. For
example the default 'workdir' corresponding to '\\shared\projects\tee.aedt' is
'\\shared\projects\tee.aedtresults'. Within this results folder, there is one folder per variation. The
name of the variation's folder is an integer number corresponding to variation's index in the
parametric table. For example, a variation-folder named '4' has results for the fifth row of
parametric table, while a variation-folder named '0' has results for the first row of the table.

Below is a sample results folder showing the contents corresponding to results of first variation.
There are ten CSV files corresponding to ten predefined traces.

Related Topics

Large Scale DSO for Parametric Analysis

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Large Scale DSO Job Monitoring

Large Scale DSO avoids detailed intra-variation monitoring is avoided as it increases network
traffic for large-scale jobs. Large Scale DSO jobs are monitored as below:

l Cluster monitoring tools: The resource usage (CPU, Memory, Network) of Large Scale
DSO jobs is monitored using standard cluster monitoring tools. Such job-neutral resource
monitoring is ideal as it uses negligible network bandwidth, CPU/Memory.
l Detailed monitoring of analysis of a variation: For any detailed monitoring you must examine
the information provided in the job's log files. Specifically, the large-scale-dso job writes
detailed logs conveying information regarding the machines where engines are running and
the local storage location of per-engine distributed database. With such information, you can
login to individual machines for deeper probing of each distributed engine. Following logs
are available:
l Per-node logs:

There is one 'desktopjob.log' file per node assigned to the job. This log contains information
regarding the node such as name, local storage folder, number of engines started on this node,
etc. It is located in <workdir>/<jobid>/r<nodeIndex>. E.g. "<workdir>/<jobid>/r0" has
desktopjob.log corresponding to the engines running on the first node of job, while
"<workdir>/<jobid>/r2" has logs corresponding to engines running on third node

l Per-engine logs:

There is one desktopjob.log file per distributed engine. It is located in

<workdir>/<jobid>/r<nodeIndex>/r<coreIndex>. E.g. "<workdir>/<jobid>/r0/r0" has logs
corresponding to first engine running on first node, while "<workdir>/<jobid>/r1/r2" has logs
corresponding to third engine running on second node. Engine unique information (such as
local storage of this engine) is logged here

l Parametric analysis log:

This log file is located in '<workdir>/<jobid>/r<nodeIndex>/r<coreIndex>' folder and

corresponds to Desktop's local-machine parametric 'batchsolve'. It is available only at the end of
analysis and contains information regarding the variations solved by this engine and any
info/warning/error messages.

l Root desktopjob.log:

This is the top-level log that logs job distribution information such as hierarchical activation and
the list of nodes assigned to this job

l GM specific extraction

In R14, GM extraction is OFF, by default. It can be turned on through setting environment

variable "ANSOFT_ENABLE_GM_EXTRACTION" to a value of 1

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Related Topics

Large Scale DSO for Parametric Analysis

Large Scale DSO Deployment/Configuration

LINUX Cluster configuration

l Shared drive for projects: Cluster must provide a shared drive that hosts job inputs - the
submitted project must be located on a shared drive (for e.g. a sub-folder of user's home
directory). The shared-drive must accessible using the same path on every node of cluster
l 'Temp directory' configuration

Temp directory is either on 'local storage' or on storage that has equivalent speed
characteristics i.e. the I/O rates of the storage should be invariant to network traffic

Temp directory on a host has sufficient space to hold results database for the variations that are
solved on it. Note:

This storage is freed at the end of the analysis

The amount of required space depends on the number of engines per node and the cumulative
variations solved on this node

The amount of required space depends on the project's compression-options. For e.g. if 'Save
Fields' of a parametric setup is OFF, the space requirement is smaller by the amount of space
taken up by field solution data

l Ansoft RSM environment: In the case of supported scheduler environments, there is no

extra configuration needed. In the case of Ansoft RSM environment, following additional
steps are needed:

Ansoft RSM must be running on all the nodes of cluster. The credentials of 'RSM service' allow
read/write to shared drive. Reason: the remote engine processes are launched using the
credentials of RSM service

Registration of 'desktopjob.exe' with RSM service: 'desktopjob' program must be registered

with Ansoft RSM using 'desktopjob -regserver". To ensure that the registration is successful,
check that the 'desktopjob' entry in '<RSM-installation-folder>/AnsoftRSMService.cfg' file is
valid.

Note LINUX specific critical note: Edit AnsoftRSMService.cfg and replace 'desktopjob.bin' with
'desktopjob'

Major limitation: In the Ansoft RSM environment, Large Scale DSO can only be enabled for one
product.

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Troubleshooting hints (Ansoft RSM environment only): "shared drive read/write" requirement is a
new constraint introduced in Large Scale DSO. So if user runs into a situation where Regular DSO
jobs run and Large Scale DSO jobs fail, one possible cause for the failure: RSM service does not
have privileges to read and write to project folder located on shared-drive.

Windows Cluster configuration

All the above steps apply, except for steps that are stated as LINUX-specific. Additional
instructions:

l Ansoft RSM and ANSYS Electromagnetics products are either installed locally on each
node of cluster (i.e. local installation) OR installed on a single shared-drive available to all
nodes of cluster (i.e. network installation)
l Registration of 'desktopjob.exe' with RSM service:
l Network installation: desktopjob.exe is registered with RSM service once, on any of the
nodes of cluster
l Local installation: Since each node has it's own RSM installation, desktopjob.exe must be
registered with RSM on each node.

Note IMPORTANT! Ansoft RSM service must be started using the credentials of a non-
system 'admin' account, which has read/write permissions to project's shared drive.
If RSM service runs as 'system' user, large-scale-dso jobs will fail

Heterogeneous Cluster configuration

Limitation: Currently heterogeneous cluster (with both linux and windows nodes) is not supported.
This is due to the shared drive requirement.

Related Topics

Large Scale DSO for Parametric Analysis

Known Issues for Large Scale DSO

For Large Scale DSO jobs that are submitted from job submission panel using RSM, localhost
must be the first node in the resource selection node list, other wise Large Scale DSO solve with
RSM will fail.

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Cluster configuration (shared drive requirement): The input files (project, etc.) must be present on
a shared drive that is accessible from every node of the cluster.

Note: this item is actually listed as a requirement.

Related Topics

Large Scale DSO for Parametric Analysis

Troubleshooting for Large Scale DSO

(LINUX only) Deployment/Installation errors (such as mainsoft related or related to deployment
configuration) are not captured. If there is such an issue, Large Scale DSO job will fail without
useful messages in the logs

Report-based extraction fails mysteriously if traces and parametric-setup are not 'prepared' as per
the Getting Started guides.

Job monitoring and control

Job Abort: When a Large Scale DSO job is aborted, all results are lost (this will be fixed in R14
patch)

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Job re-start: There is no provision for stopping and re-starting a job. A new job does not reuse
solved results - always solves all rows in the table. So an abort or failure of a job re-starts from the
beginning, unless a new parametric table with the unsolved rows is created

Job outcome

Job status: The exit code of job doesn't indicate success or failure correctly. The error messages
from multiple log files needs to be combined to determine the reason for failure. In many situations,
the reason for a failure is apparent only after re-running the job after turning ON the 'debug logging'

In some LINUX scenarios, the analysis appears to finish successfully with valid results, except that
the exit code is '134'. In this case, although the exit is abnormal, the failed exit code can be ignored

Load Balancing: For models with 'unbalanced variations table' (i.e. variations that take
considerably different amount of time to solve are clustered in few regions of table), job will take
longer time to solve than a Regular DSO as the job's overall completion time is determined by the
slowest solving region.

Workaround: rearrange the rows in the parametric table so that each region takes a similar time to
solve

GM Specifics: the model used for 'Report-based extractor' jobs is NOT compatible with the
'ANSYS-extractor-for-GM' jobs. A valid model for ANSYS-extractor-for-GM cannot contain any of:
reports, overlay plots, Optimetrics calculations.

Related Topics

Large Scale DSO for Parametric Analysis

Interactive Scheduler Jobs

This document includes information, guidelines, and caveats for users running interactive
scheduler jobs on Linux.

In most cases jobs run under a scheduler run as a batch job. These jobs may be submitted using
the ANSYS Electromagnetics Desktop job submission GUI, using cluster job submission
commands on a command line or using a cluster GUI, if available.

Some customers use an alternative method for submission of scheduler jobs. For convenience, we
call such jobs "interactive scheduler jobs". In this approach, the user submits an interactive job to
the scheduler. From the interactive job prompt, the user launches an ANSYS Electromagnetics
Desktop product, which starts in interactive (GUI) mode, not batch mode. The user selects a
project and then runs one or more analysis commands using the GUI. The intent is that these
analysis commands should use all resources allocated to the job, whether on the same host as the
GUI or on other hosts.

This approach is supported on Linux, where the user may set up an X Window System server for
interacting with the ANSYS Electromagnetics Desktop product GUI. The user needs to configure

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the cluster environment and/or the interactive environment so that the user may view and interact
with the product GUI. This approach is not supported on Microsoft Windows.

Specifying Options for Interactive Scheduler Jobs

DSO Configuration for Interactive Scheduler Jobs

Design Type Options for Interactive Scheduler Jobs

Specifying Options for Interactive Scheduler Jobs

Batch scheduler jobs use command line options for specifying options rather than GUI controls. For
interactive scheduler jobs, options may be specified on the command line, using GUI controls, or
obtained from the registry. The machines specified in the Configurations tab of the HPC and
Analysis Options dialog will be ignored for interactive scheduler jobs. If the command line used to
launch the product contains a list of specific machines (using option -machinelist list=...), then the
job will use the specified machines and cores. If the command line used to launch the product does
not contain a specific machine list, then the machines and cores allocated to the job by the
scheduler will be used for the job. In general, the job distribution settings for interactive scheduler
jobs should be specified on the command line, instead of using the HPC and Analysis Options
dialog.

l The UI shows the settings that will be used for analysis, even if they come from the
command line, not the registry.
l If you make changes to the settings in the UI, and the changed settings will be used for the
analysis, even if the changed settings conflict with the command line (including
batchoptions).
l If you makes no changes to the settings in the UI, then the command line settings (including
batchoptions) will be used for analysis.

Batchoptions settings which are automatically generated for batch jobs submitted using the
AnsysEM job submission GUI will need to be manually included in the product command line.
Some use cases require that certain settings be made on the command line when the product is
launched, rather than using the GUI.

Batchoptions for Interactive Scheduler Jobs

For interactive scheduler jobs, only a limited set of batchoptions are supported. These batchoptions
correspond to the DSO configuration options, the batchoptions corresponding the design type
options, and the following additional options for each design type:

l NumCoresPerDistributedTask
l RAMLimitPercent
l RAMLimitPerCoreInGB
l SolveAdaptiveOnly
l TotalNumOfCores

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Any other batchoptions will result in a warning message and will be ignored.

Example

Command Line:
ansysedt -batchoptions " 'TempDirectory'='C:\\TEMP'
'HFSS/SelectedDSOConfiguration'='Local'
'Desktop/Settings/ProjectOptions/DoAutoSave'=1
'LargeScaleDSO/MaxFolderInMB'=100 "

Warning Message:

The following sections include more detailed information on these issues.

DSO Configuration for Interactive Scheduler Jobs

When running an interactive scheduler job, there is only one DSO configuration available for each
design type. Each configuration is named "Interactive Scheduler Job". This configuration is always
the active configuration for an interactive scheduler job. and it is the only configuration displayed in
the list of available configurations shown in the "HPC and Analysis Options" dialog. No
configurations can be added or removed, but the "Interactive Scheduler Job" configuration may be
modified using the "Edit" button, which pops up the "Analysis Configuration" dialog.

Because the "Interactive Scheduler Job" configuration is the only configuration accessible for
interactive scheduler jobs and it is not accessible in other modes, there is no sharing of the
"Interactive Scheduler Job" configuration settings with other modes.

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One major difference between interactive scheduler mode and batch mode or normal interactive
mode is:

l In interactive scheduler mode, DSO configuration settings and design type options in the UI
override command line options and batchoptions.
l When not in interactive scheduler mode, DSO configuration settings and design type options
specified on the command line (including batchoptions) override UI settings.

Analysis Configuration - Machines Tab

The most obvious changes for interactive scheduler jobs are visible in the Machines tab of the
Analysis Configuration dialog. The grid of machine information is prepopulated with the list of
machines allocated to the job. It also contains an additional column in interactive scheduler mode.
This column, "Allocated Cores", indicates the number of cores allocated to the job by the scheduler
on each host. You cannot add or remove machines from the list, or modify the allocated cores for
any machines. You can modify the tasks, cores or RAM limit for any machine, or specify that a
machine is enabled or disabled.

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Analysis Configuration - Job Distribution Tab

The Job Distribution tab of the Analysis Configuration dialog only appears if the "Use
Automatic Settings" check box is not checked. The state of this check box, and the settings shown
on this tab are initialized from the command line or from the registry. The command line options that
affect the "Use Automatic Settings" check box or the job distribution settings are:

l -distributed
l -local
l -auto
l -machinelist

The registry contains the last value of these settings for an interactive scheduler job for the same
user on the same host. Settings on the command line override settings from the registry. Any
changes in the GUI will override the initial settings, even if the initial settings are from the command

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line. Any changes in the GUI also update the registry settings for the "Interactive Scheduler Job"
configuration for the current design type.

Example

Command line:
ansysedt -distributed includetypes=default maxlevels=2 numlevel1=3

Initial "Job Distribution" settings:

Analysis Configuration - Options Tab

You can use the Options tab of the Analysis Configuration dialog to examine or modify the
DSO configuration options. The DSO configuration options are handled like the design type
options, except that the Interactive Scheduler Job configuration settings are not shared with other
modes.

The settings on this tab are initialized from the command line (using the -batchoptions command
line option) or from the registry. The registry contains the last value of these settings for an
interactive scheduler job for the same user on the same host. Settings on the command line
override settings from the registry. Any changes in the GUI will override the initial settings, even if

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the initial settings are from the command line. Any changes in the GUI also update the registry
settings for the "Interactive Scheduler Job" configuration for the current design type.

Example

Command line:
ansysedt -batchoptions 'HFSS/AllowOffCore'=0

Initial Analysis Configuration Options:

Design Type Options for Interactive Scheduler Jobs

You can use the Options tab of the HPC and Analysis Options dialog to examine or modify the
design type options. The settings on this tab are initialized from the command line (using the -
batchoptions command line option) or from the registry. The registry contains the last value of
these settings for the same user on the same host. Settings on the command line override settings
from the registry. Any changes in the GUI will override the initial settings, even if the initial settings
are from the command line. Any changes in the GUI also update the registry settings for the current
design type.

These settings are shared between interactive scheduler mode and other modes.

Example

Command Line:
-batchoptions 'HFSS/HPCLicenseType'='Pack'

Initial Design Type Options:

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Distribution Command Line Options

The user should include options specifying how the job should be distributed in the command line.
These command line options will override options specified using the HPC and Analysis Options
dialog or obtained from the registry. See Running ANSYS Electronics Desktop from a command
line for more information on command line options.

For both scheduler batch jobs and interactive scheduler jobs, the -MachineList num=<num
distributed tasks> format is the most common way to specify the number of tasks for the job. The
other formats (-MachineList list=... or -MachineList file=...) allow the user to specify the number of
tasks and cores to use on each host. These formats may be useful with clusters of heterogeneous
machines, by allowing the user to specify different numbers of tasks or cores for different hosts. If
either of the latter two formats is used, the user must ensure that the hosts and cores specified on
the product command line are compatible with the hosts and cores allocated to the job.

Batchoptions may be specified in the command line used to launch the product. Any valid
batchoptions specified in the command line will override the associated registry settings.
Batchoptions also override options specified using HPC and Analysis Options dialog or other
dialogs used to specify options.

Setting the Number of Cores per Distributed Task

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When submitting a job using the ANSYS Electromagnetics Desktop job submission GUI, the
number of cores per distributed task for a job is specified using the batchoption with pathname
'DesignType/NumCoresPerDistributedTask', where DesignType is the Design Type to analyze.
The batchoption setting is automatically included in the product command line when the job is
submitted to the scheduler.

For interactive scheduler jobs, the user must include the associated batchoption setting or settings
in the product command line when the product is launched. Multiple batchoption settings are
required if the user analyzes multiple design types using the same product process. Batchoptions
are the only way to specify this setting for batch jobs. For Interactive Scheduler Jobs, there is an
alternative to using the NumCoresPerDistributedTask batchoption. The user may specify the total
number of tasks and the total number of cores for each machine using the Machines tab of the
Analysis Configuration dialog. The Edit button in the HPC and Analysis Options may be
used to open the "Analysis Configuration" dialog for the "Interactive Scheduler Job"
configuration.

Setting the Ram Limit Per Core in GB

When cores and RAM per core are requested, the cores could be allocated in an arbitrary/non-
uniform way across nodes that themselves could be non-uniform/heterogeneous. For example,
nodes could range from 4 cores to 20 cores and from 64 GB to 384 GB. In such environments, the
RAM percentage set in the HPC configuration, Job Submission Compute Resources, or batch
option may not be appropriate. In such cases, you can use the batchoption for
RAMLimitPerCoreInGB. This setting specifies the Maximum amount of RAM used for each core
allocated by the scheduler in GB. This batchoption cannot b e combined with RAM limit percent
and is only valid when solving in a Linux scheduler environment.

The scheduler GUI automatically passes this new batch option instead of percent limit. From a
scheduler GUI, such a request is available only for auto.

You can also use this new batch option for command line submission. The desktop does the
computations and passes the percent limit to product/solver.

Setting the Remote Spawn Command Option to Scheduler

When submitting a job using the AnsysEM job submission GUI, the Remote Spawn Command for
an analysis may be specified using the batchoption with pathname
'DesignType/RemoteSpawnCommand', where DesignType is the Design Type to analyze. The
Remote Spawn Command setting is only meaningful when running on the Linux Operating
System. The value 'Scheduler' is valid if the job is a scheduler job running under an LSF or SGE
scheduler, and only if the MPI Vendor is 'Intel'. To specify the value 'Scheduler' for this option for an
interactive scheduler job, the Remote Spawn Command must be specified using the
'DesignType/RemoteSpawnCommand' batchoption in the product command line when the
product is launched. In addition, the 'DesignType/MPIVendor' batchoption must be specified with
value 'Intel' in the product command line when the product is launched. For interactive scheduler

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jobs, the Remote Spawn Command and the MPI Vendor may be specified with batchoptions or as
design type options in the HPC and Analysis Options dialog.

High Performance Computing (HPC) Integration

ANSYS Electromagnetics products offer a direct integration with a number of High Performance
Computing (HPC) software programs. This direct integration does not require RSM Service. The
list of currently-supported HPC software includes:

l Platform's Load Sharing Facility (LSF)

l Microsoft Windows® HPC Server
l PBS Pro or PBS Torque
l Grid Engine (GE)
l ANSYS RSM Cluster (ARC)

You can also do custom integration.

A job scheduler may also be described as a batch system, a Distributed Resource Management
System (DRMS) or Distributed Resource Manager (DRM). The features supported on each
scheduler are included in the documents for each. For each job scheduler, the versions or revisions
that have been tested are included.

HPC Computing integration for ANSYS Electronics Desktop supports Lustre FS. However,
ANSYS doesn't support having Linux home directories stored on Lustre FS. (This is a limitation
due to the way MainWin writes temporary/config files into the home directory.)

A user may submit jobs using the command line tools or other tools provided by the scheduler. The
Desktop includes a GUI to help the user submit jobs to a job scheduler. This generic Job
Submission GUI is shared across the ANSYS EM products.

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The general procedure is to specify the scheduler and head node, describe and submit the job, and
monitor the results.

The Submit Job To dialog contains three tabs:

l Analysis Specification--specify the Product path, Project name, the setups, and analysis
options such as batchoptions, or, for advanced users, Environment variables. The Project
can be an archive. The project file pathname must be a UNC path that is accessible from
each compute host used for ANSYS Electromagnetics jobs.

The Product path and Project fields support mapped drives. This is done through a check box in
the Specify Product Path dialog displayed when you click the ellipsis [...] button. A check box

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lets you "Use converted UNC path if mapped drive specified." If you select a project or product
on a mapped drive, and check the option, the converted UNC path equivalent to the mapped
drive pathname is used.

l Compute Resources--specify whether to use automatic settings, resource selection

parameters, and if, you do not use automatic settings, job distribution parameters.
l Scheduler Options--specify for Job name and priority.

There are two ways that the GUI may be used to submit jobs. The first mode requires that the
Desktop (UI) process run on a host which is also a submission host for the job scheduler. This
mode is called local mode or working mode. The second mode is useful for cases in which the
submission hosts are not able to run graphical processes, such as the Desktop.

The second mode is only supported on Linux in the ANSYS Electromagnetics Suite. In the second
mode, an administrator configures the RSM Service to act as an interface to the job scheduler, and
starts the RSM Service on a submission host for the cluster. The user runs the Desktop (UI)
process on another host (which may be called the postprocessing host). To submit a job, the user
specifies the host where the RSM Service is running, and the Desktop process connects to the
RSM Service over the network to submit the job. In this mode, some configuration is required, and
the RSM Service typically must run as a privileged user (e.g., root), so that it can launch processes
as any user.

Import and Export Configurations

The bottom of the Job Submission GUI has buttons for Import..., Export..., and Import
Configuration let you save a configuration for each solver type.

l The Export... button exports most of the settings of this dialog (all tabs) to a file.
l The Import... button updates most of the settings in this dialog (all tabs) from a file.

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l The Import Configuration button updates the DSO settings in this dialog from any DSO
configuration as shown in the Configurations tab of the HPC and Analysis Options
dialog. The Design Type of the DSO configuration must match the design type of one of the
designs in the project, so the "Project" must be specified before using the Import
Configuration button. The batchoptions are also set from the specified DSO configuration
or from the Design Type options settings, which are shown in the Options tab of the HPC
and Analysis Options dialog.

The Export... and Import... buttons may be used to save and then restore a frequently used
collection of job submission settings. The Save Settings as Default button may also be used to
save the current settings, but it always overwrites any previously saved settings. Using the
Export... button, the user may save multiple sets of settings, or may transfer the settings to another
machine.

The Select Scheduler dialog also has Export... and Import... buttons. These buttons may be
used to save the settings in this dialog to a file or restore them from a file.

An Exported configuration is named Submit_Job_Settings by default and has a .areg suffix. A file
browser window opens in the project folder and lets you name an exported file and location, and
select a .areg files to import. The SubmitJob scripting command uses job submission settings that
have been exported from the Submit Job dialog to a .areg file. The path to this .areg file is thus the
first argument to the SubmitJob scripting command. For further information, see Job Submission
Scripting.

Related Topics

Scheduler Terminology

What a Scheduler Does

Installation of ANSYS Electromagnetics Tools

ANSYS Electromagnetics Jobs

Submitting and Monitoring ANSYS EM HPC Jobs

Job Submission Scripting

Windows to Linux Job Submission

Distributed Setup Resource Guide for ANSYS Electronics Desktop Solvers

Large Scale DSO for Parametric Analysis

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Scheduler Terminology
l Core: unit of processing
l Processor: consists of one or more cores
l Machine/Host/Node: consists of one or more processors, memory, disk, etc.
l Resource: Machines, licenses, etc. that are used by a Job
l Job: Application (also called: program, executable), with command line options, that uses
resources to produce useful results. For example, hfss.exe -ng -BatchSolve.
l Serial Job: job that runs on a single core
l Parallel Job: job that runs on multiple cores (belonging to same or different machines)
l Compute Cluster: network of machines on which Jobs run. Typically, consists of head node
(s) and many compute nodes
l Service: Program that runs in the background (e.g. RSM Service). 'Listens' on a 'port'. OS
provides programming interface by which Applications communicate with service, once
machine and port number are known. Launching an executable on remote machine,
requires a service to run on remote machine.

ANSYS Electronics Suite Terminology

l Desktop: The main application used to accomplish a task, such as hfss. The desktop may
run as a GUI or it may run as a batch command.
l Engine: Application (aka: executable) that is launched during analysis commands, to
generate analysis results
l Multi-processing: A single engine uses multiple cores on the same machine
l Distributed-processing: Multiple engines are launched simultaneously (on same machine or
different machines). Uses ansoft_distrib (and related) license.

Related Topics

What a Scheduler Does

Command Line Information for ANSYS Electronics Suite Desktop Products

High Performance Computing (HPC) Integration

What a Scheduler Does

l Enables effective/efficient utilization of cluster's resources consistent with organization's
goals
l Maintains queue(s) of jobs
l Maximizes throughput of the jobs by processing all jobs as fast as possible
l Typically, one job per cpu policy
l Allows choice of various scheduling policies (e.g. First Come First Serve, Priority Based,
Preemption)

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l Provides a suite of tools or utilities (graphical or command line) for end user to submit jobs,
monitor jobs, abort jobs, suspend jobs, …
l Manages a compute cluster by running various interacting 'services' on head nodes and
compute nodes
l Provides a programming interface to access 'services'

Scheduler Managed Compute Cluster

Head node(s) typically maintains queues. Compute nodes are typically on a high speed network, to
improve scalability of parallel jobs. Services running on nodes interact with each other to manage
resources. End user tools communicate with services to submit/abort/suspend/etc. jobs.

Related Topics

High Performance Computing (HPC) Integration

Command Line Information for ANSYS EM Desktop Products

Installation of ANSYS Electromagnetics Suite

ANSYS Electromagnetics Suite must be available on each cluster host where jobs may be run.

l On LINUX platform, ANSYS Electromagnetics Suite may be installed on a shared drive, that
is accessible to all machines in the cluster.

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l On Windows platform, ANSYS Electromagnetics Suite must be installed separately on each

host of the cluster.

The ANSYS Electromagnetics Suite must be accessible using the same path on each host. All
cluster users running ANSYS Electromagnetics jobs must have permission to read and execute
the files in the installation directory and its subdirectories.

The Temp directory selected during installation must be readable and writable by all user accounts
used to run the ANSYS Electromagnetics Suite. This temp directory path should be the same on all
machines of the cluster and should be local to every machine. For example, c:\temp on Windows,
/tmp on LINUX

Because HPC is offered as a direct integration, you need only install the ANSYS Electromagnetic
Suite software. No additional configuration is required.

Example

Install the ANSYS Electromagnetics Suite in directory C:\Program Files\AnsysEM\ on each node
of the cluster. The same directory pathname must be used on all hosts.

Related Topics

High Performance Computing (HPC) Integration

Firewall Configuration

Installation Directory Examples

Using ANSYS EM HPC Diagnostics tool

Also note the ANSYS Electromagnetics HPC Administrator’s Guide included in the
<path>AnsysEM\AnsysEM19.0\Win64\Help directory of your ANSYS Electronics Desktop
installation as HPC_Admin.pdf.

Firewall Configuration

If firewall is turned OFF between the machines of the cluster, there is no need for any configuration.
If firewall is turned ON, you, or a system administrator, should perform the steps below.

l Windows cluster: Configure firewall by adding exceptions that allow ANSYS

Electromagnetics Suite programs and services to communicate with each other. If you are
using standard Windows Firewall, this is automatically done for you, by the installation
program. On the other hand, if you are using a 3rd-party firewall software, it needs to be
configured in a similar manner.
l LINUX cluster: Open up the firewall for range of ports denoting ephemeral (or dynamic)
ports. Check with your system administrator on how this can be done on each machine of
cluster.

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Related Topics

High Performance Computing (HPC) Integration

Installation Directory Examples

Using ANSYS EM HPC Diagnostics tool

Installation Directory Examples

Microsoft Windows Example

Install the ANSYS Electromagnetics Suite in directory C:\Program

Files\AnsysEM\AnsysEM19.0\win64 on each node of the cluster. The same directory pathname
must be used on all hosts.

LINUX Example

Install the ANSYS Electromagnetics Suite in a common directory that is accessible using the path
/opt/ansoft/AnsysEM19.0 on each execution node of the cluster.

Related Topics

High Performance Computing (HPC) Integration

Firewall Configuration

ANSYS Electromagnetics Jobs

Using ANSYS EM HPC Diagnostics tool

ANSYS EM Jobs
For most cluster environments, an ANSYS EM job will consist of an ANSYS EM Desktop running
in non-graphical mode, performing a batch solve. The user will submit the job to the scheduler,
specifying an ANSYS EM Desktop command line to be executed on the cluster. For some
schedulers, the user may or must specify a script to run instead of specifying the ANSYS EM
Desktop command line; in these cases, the script will contain the corresponding ANSYS
Electromagnetics desktop command line. When the resources requested for the job are available
to the job, the scheduler will start the job. In many cases, the user submitting the job will not know
which host or hosts are allocated to the job. With direct integration, if the ANSYS EM job is a
distributed job, the ANSYS Desktop will query the scheduler for the hosts allocated to the job, and
it will use the scheduler facilities to launch the distributed engines.

Related Topics

High Performance Computing (HPC) Integration

Running ANSYS Electornics Desktop from a Command Line

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Integration with Microsoft Windows® HPC Scheduler

The Windows HPC scheduler is only supported on Windows. Jobs may be submitted in any of the
following ways:

l Using the Windows HPC GUIs from Microsoft: Job Manager or Cluster Manager
l Using the Windows HPC command line tools (job, etc.)
l Using the Desktop UI commands for Scheduler selection, Job submission and Job
monitoring/control. You specify the Windows HPC Scheduler User Interface for Submit Job
by clicking Tools>Job Management>Select Scheduler...

Once you select a scheduler, you can access the interface for job submission, monitoring and
control.

See the ANSYS Electromagnetics Suite Windows Installation Guide for additional information on
supported schedulers.

General Guidelines for Submitting ANSYS EM Jobs

A Job submitted to Windows HPC Cluster is defined by Job properties, Task List and Task
properties. Priority, resource requirements, node preferences, etc. come from Job properties. In
the case of ANSYS Electromagnetics jobs, Task List consists of a single task. Properties of this
task specify the command line that runs ANSYS Electromagnetics desktop in non-graphical mode
to perform analysis of a project.

Specifying the Number of Compute Resource Units for HPC Jobs

You can either select Use automatic settings on the Compute Resources tab, or you either enter
the number of tasks and total cores per machine, or individual nodes. HFSS, HFSS-IE, and HFSS
3D Layout have Use automatic settings selected by default. This release permits options in setting
whether nodes are exclusive for the submission. See Windows HPC Non-exclusive Jobs.

ANSYS EM Project File and Project Directory for use with Windows HPC Scheduler

ANSYS Electromagnetics Suite tools write their results to a subdirectory of the directory containing
the ANSYS EM project file. The Project Directory (the directory containing the project file) must be
accessible to all of the cluster hosts that may run ANSYS EM jobs. The user account for the job
must have permission to read the project directory, and to create and modify files and
subdirectories of this directory. The pathname of the project file must be accessible to all cluster
hosts using the same path name, which is generally expressed as a UNC pathname.

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Example:

The project file is on the user's workstation (with hostname user1_PC) in directory
C:\user1\projects\new\project1.aedt, and the directory C:\user1\projects is shared with sharename
projects.

Correct

When submitting the job, you should use the following pathname to specify the project file:
\\user1_PC\projects\new\project1.aedt

Incorrect

If a local pathname is used, the cluster hosts will not be able to find the user's project on the
workstation
user1_PC: ' C:\user1\projects\new\project1.aedt '

Related Topics

Windows® HPC Job Templates

Selecting Computation Resource Units (Job Unit Type)

Windows® HPC Job Credentials

Windows HPC Non-exclusive Jobs

Windows to Linux Job Submission

Submitting and Monitoring ANSYS EM HPC Jobs

Jobs may be submitted to the Windows HPC Scheduler using any of the following methods:

l Using the Submit HPC Job dialog

l Using the Windows HPC Job Manager GUI
l Using the Windows HPC Command Line Tools
l Using the Windows PowerShell

Client Utilities from the Microsoft HPC Pack, must be installed on the submit host to use any of
these methods to submit a job to a cluster. The Submit HPC Job dialog will be unable to contact
the cluster head node if the client utilities are not installed.

This document covers the first method. See the Microsoft documentation for information on the
other three methods.

l Submitting and Monitoring Jobs for Windows HPC

l Specifying the Number of Compute Resource Units for HPC Jobs

Jobs may be submitted from any Microsoft Windows host meeting the following requirements:

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l For submitting jobs to the Windows HPC scheduler, the Desktop process must run on a
node that is configured for submission of jobs to the Windows HPC cluster. That is, the
Windows HPC Client Utilities must be installed on the node, and network communication
from the Desktop node to the head node of the cluster must be allowed. For ANSYS
Electromagnetics Suite 19.0, Windows HPC Server 2008 R2 (or later) client utilities are
required. Using a computer on the network is not supported for submission of jobs to the
Windows HPC cluster.
l When submitting jobs to a Windows HPC cluster, the user must also specify the head node
of the cluster to which the jobs will be submitted. When the user selects the "Windows HPC"
scheduler in the "Choose scheduler" list, the Head Node edit control is enabled. The user
may enter the Windows HPC cluster head node name into the edit box. Alternatively, the
head node may be selected using a "Browse for Computer" browser by pressing the ellipsis
[...] button.
l The Windows HPC Pack client utilities are installed on the submission host
l Network communication between the submission host and the Windows HPC Cluster head
node is permitted; there is a network connection between these hosts that is not blocked by
any firewall or the like
l The submission user is permitted to submit jobs to the Windows HPC Cluster

Job Monitoring

1. Windows HPC Jobs may be monitored using the Monitor Job dialog which is brought up by
the Tools > Job Management > Monitor Jobs... command. This dialog may also be
brought up by checking the Begin monitoring this job now check box when a job is
successfully submitting using the job submission dialog. You can monitor this job either
automatically (by checking the option) or through the Tools>Job Management>Monitor
Jobs... command. For more details, see Monitor Jobs window.

In addition to the above requirements to allow job monitoring the following is also necessary:

l Network communication between the submission host and all Windows HPC Cluster nodes
where the job may run is permitted; there is a network connection between these hosts that
is not blocked by any firewall or the like

Cluster Configuration

Any job running on a Windows HPC Cluster that is distributed over multiple compute hosts
requires network communication between processes running on these hosts. The cluster must be
configured to allow this communication. Any firewall or other security software must be disabled or
configured to allow communication between any of the compute hosts were a job could run.

Job Submission User Profile on Cluster Compute Nodes

In order for a job to run correctly, the submission user's profile must be accessible and properly
initialized on the cluster compute nodes where the job runs. If the Ansoft/temp subdirectory of the
user's "My Documents" directory does not exist or is not accessible on the compute cluster nodes

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where a job runs, the batchoptions for the job will not be processed correctly, resulting in job failure.
One way to ensure that this directory is created on each compute host is for the submission user to
login to each compute host and run the product GUI one time.

Submitting and Monitoring Jobs for Windows HPC

In order to submit jobs using the Windows HPC, you must click Tools>Job
Management>Select Scheduler to open the Select Scheduler dialog and specify Windows
HPC as the Scheduler.

For Windows HPC, the user must select the "Use this computer" radio button and then specify the
head node of the cluster. If you select the radio button “Use a computer on the network,” then you
may enter a username and password. This username and password are used when the job is
submitted to the Linux scheduler. See Windows to Linux Job Submission.

After specifying the job submission node, you can click Refresh. This verifies that the head node
may be contacted, and displays the scheduler name, a brief description (including the head node
name), and the version of the Windows HPC head node.

Pressing Cancel discards changes made in this dialog. Pressing OK verifies that the head node
can be contacted before accepting the changes. If no problem occurs, the dialog will be closed. If
there is a problem contacting the head node, the dialog will not be closed and the changes are not
accepted.

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After setting the job submission node, select Tools>Job Management>Submit Job... or
Project>Submit Job... or [ProductName]>Submit Job... to open the Submit Job To: dialog.
You can also access Submit Job from the shortcut menus for the Project Name, Design name, or
the Analysis Setup or Optimetrics Setup.

The Submit Job To: dialog: contains three tabs:

l Analysis Specification--specify the Product path, Project name, the setups, and analysis
options such as batchoptions, or, for advanced users, Environment variables. If you select
the Analysis or Optimetrics setup, the Analysis Specification is pre-populated.
l Compute Resources--this tab can be populated either by automatic settings, by
predefined Analysis Configuration, or specifying parameters in the fields for resource
selection, for job parallelization and enabled forms of parallelization.
l Scheduler Options--contains fields for Job name and priority. The customization options
shown by checking advanced are not used for Windows HPC.

In the Analysis Specification tab, enter the pathnames of the product path and of the project file
in the “Project” edit box. These must be UNC paths that are accessible from each compute host
used for ANSYS Electromagnetics jobs. The Project can be an archive. The submission user must
have permission to write to the directory containing the project file.

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You can select which setups are analyzed in the Analyze Setups section of this dialog. There are
radio buttons to select:

l All setups in the project

l All setups in a specified design: you select the design from the dropdown list
l Single setup. If you select the Submit Job command from the shortcut menu, the setup name
populates the field.

If you specify multiple setups, they will be processed sequentially in the order displayed in the edit
box.

The Analysis options include:

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l Monitor job. You must enable this option to monitor the job from the user interface.
l Wait for license- whether to wait until a license if available before starting a simulation.
l Batch options. You can optionally specify -batchoptions in the text field. See detailed
discussion of -batchoptions beginning under Running ANSYS Electronics Desktop from a
Command Line.

The Add... button opens the Add Batchoption dialog.

This dialog provides access to all -batchoption commands. The drop down menu lets you select
specific categories, and you can choose to display only frequently used commands. You can edit
and remove any batch options you specify.

Select a Registry Key in order to show the current Value for the type. The lower field explains the
meaning of the Type Value.

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Any batchoptions for which you select Add will be visible in the Submit Job dialog.

If you have the Show advanced options box checked in the Submit Job dialog, the Environment
field and the Use batch extract fields display.

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The Environment field lets you specify any Environment variables. Click the ellipsis button [...] to
display the Additional Job Options dialog.

Click the Add... button to open the New Environment Variable dialog.

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Here you can provide a Variable name and Variable value. Click OK to display the Variable in the
Additional Job Options dialog. Select a Variable to enables the Remove and Edit... buttons. You
can also click Add Debug Environment Variables.

Any Variables that you add will be displayed in the Environment field of the Submit Job dialog, if
you have also enabled Show Advanced options.

Use Batch Extract for Windows HPC

Selecting Show advanced options for Windows HPC also show the Use batch extract fields.

See the discussion on Running ANSYS Electronics Desktop from a Command line for a discussion
of the solve information available through batch extract.

The Preview Submission button opens a window that shows the text commands that will be sent
to the scheduler.

The following figure shows the Compute Resources tab of the Submit Job To dialog.

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For ANSYS Electronics Desktop configurations, the Submit Job dialog includes a Use automatic
settings check box that simplifies the Compute Resources tab.

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HFSS, HFSS-IE, and HFSS-3D Layout have User automatic settings selected by default. With
Use automatic settings selected, the Job distribution field is removed. For Use automatic settings,
you can specify Resource selection parameters. The ellipsis button [...] opens the Compute
Resource Selection Parameters dialog. If you do not specify any parameters, the default is Using
machines from the entire pool.

The Method field of the Submit Job To dialog has a drop down menu with two or three selections,
depending on whether select Use automatic settings.

Note Automatic distribution settings are not available for Icepak designs.

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Note If you select Use automatic settings, Optimetrics variations will be solved sequentially.
Other distribution types will be distributed automatically. It does distribute frequencies,
domains, and use of multiple level domains.

If you uncheck or cannot access Use automatic settings, these two Methods are listed:

Each Method selection changes the available options listed:

l Specify Number of Cores and (Optional) RAM

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l Number of Nodes and Cores

l Individual Nodes

l Number of Tasks and Cores ("Use automatic settings" is unchecked for this option.
Checking "Use automatic settings" means that you do not have to specify tasks or core
parameters.):

Individual Node List

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For Windows HPC jobs, you may either specify a node list, or specify job parallelization
parameters, but not both.

If you select the Individual Nodes Method, you may specify a node list, and the Job parallelization
controls are disabled. In this case, the node list should only include cluster nodes that are valid for
the job. For each node, you enter the node name and add the node. In the table, you can specify
the number of cores and the RAM limit as a percentage. You can use the Remove, Move Up and
Move Down buttons to edit and order the list.

Compute Resource Selection Dialog.

By default, you can draw from the entire pool. You can also click the ellipsis button [...] to open a
Compute Resource Selection dialog.

The resource selection parameters for Windows HPC jobs are:

l JobTemplate: Job Template - The JobTemplate may limit the job parameters or specify
defaults values for job parameters
l MinCoresPerNode: Minimum Cores Per Node
l MaxCoresPerNode: Maximum Cores Per Node
l MinMemoryPerNode: Minimum Memory (GB) Per Node
l MaxMemoryPerNode: Minimum Memory (GB) Per Node

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l NodeGroup: Run job only on nodes in the node group

l NotifyOnStart: If True, send email notification when job starts. Email notifications must be
configured and enabled for the cluster by the administrator. (The cluster head node must run
Windows HPC Server 2008 or above.)
l NotifyOnCompletion: If True, send email notification when job ends. Email notifications must
be configured and enabled for the cluster by the administrator. (The cluster head node must
run Windows HPC Server 2008 or above.)

Job Parallelization

For Windows HPC jobs, you may either specify a node list, or specify the job parallelization
parameters, but not both. The Job parallelization fields let you specify

l Total number of tasks: The number of nodes requested for the job is the total number of
tasks divided by limit on the number of tasks per node, rounded up if it is not an integer.
l Cores per distributed task. This determines the amount of multiprocessing per task.
l Whether nodes are for exclusive usage by this job
l Whether to limit the number of tasks per node to a value. If the "Limit number of tasks per
node" check box is not checked, then the job is submitted with a job unit type of "Core".

Job Distribution

l Two level distribution, which may be disabled. Click the Modify button to display the Job
Distribution dialog.

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Second level distribution operates within DSO. If available and enabled you can specify the
number distributed solutions for level 1.

In response to a set of minimal constraints, the Scheduler may increase the resources assigned
beyond the minimal values in order to meet the full set of requirements. For example, if you specify
7 distributed engines, with two processors per engine, and also limit the number of engines per
node to 4, the scheduler may increase the number of cores used in order to meet the limit specified
for engines per node. Notice that a preview of the Submit Job Results shows the number of
resources assigned, and that the scheduler generated code includes an MPI specification.

Scheduler Options

In the Scheduler Options tab provides for specifying the job name and/or the job priority. While
the Show advanced options check box enables the display of Job submission options, no job
submission options should be specified for Windows HPC.

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Preview Submission

The Preview Submission button opens a window that shows a text description of the job to be
submitted and the task used to start the product on one of the nodes.

The JOB PARAMETERS section contains information on parameter that apply to the job as a
whole.

l The "Job resource parameters" section indicates whether the job has exclusive use of
nodes, the job unit type, and the minimum and maximum number of units requested for the
job, node group, and email notifications.
l The "Job attributes" section displays the job name and job priority.
l The "User Specified Compute Resource Attributes" displays the Resource selection
settings.

The TASK PARAMETERS section contains information on parameters that apply to the Desktop
task, which is the main task of the job.

l The "Desktop task resource parameters" section indicates the job unit type (which is the
same as in the JOB PARAMETERS), and the minimum and maximum number of units
requested for the Desktop task.
l The "Command Line section" displays the desktop task command line, including all
arguments.
l The "Environment variables" section displays the environment variables that are set for the
Desktop task; the same environment variables will also apply to all other tasks of the job.
l The "Working directory" section indicates the working directory in which the Desktop task
will run.

Monitor Job

If you have checked the Monitor Job option on the Submit Job To dialog, AnalysisSpecification
tab, you can invoke the Monitor Job window by clicking Tools>Job Management>Monitor
Jobs... This dialog may also be brought up by checking the Begin monitoring this job now
check box when a job is successfully submitting using the job submission dialog.For more details,
see Monitor Jobs window.

Related Topics

Submitting and Monitoring ANSYS HPC Jobs

Specifying the Number of Compute Resource Units for HPC Jobs

Windows to Linux Job Submission

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Windows® HPC Job Templates

The job templates are managed by the Windows HPC cluster administrator. Every cluster has at
least one job template, the "Default" job template. Every job has an associated job template. If no
job template is specified, then the "Default" job template is used. The job template controls two
related aspects of the job submission process. When a job is submitted, there are a number of job
parameters which may be specified. Each parameter has a set of valid values. For example, the
Priority parameter has five valid values, Highest, AboveNormal, Normal, BelowNormal, and
Lowest. The job template controls the default value of each parameter; this is the value that the
parameter has if it is not specifically overridden by the submitter. For example, in the Default job
template, the default value of the Priority parameter is Normal. The job template may also limit the
allowed values of each parameter to a subset of the valid values. For example, a job template for
privileged users could allow all five Priority values, which a job template for unprivileged users
could limit the allowed Priority values to Normal, BelowNormal and Lowest.

Each job template is a Windows object with access controlled by an ACL (access control list).
Instead of the usual "Read" or "Read & Execute" permissions, there is a "Submit Job" permission
which corresponds to the right to submit a job with this job template. The cluster administrator may
create job templates to limit or control access to cluster resources. For example, a job template with
limited allowed job run times, or access to a limited set of compute nodes could be created by the
cluster administrator. Specific users or user groups could be forced to use this limited job template
by omitting access to the other job templates or by adding a deny access entry for the specified
user or group to the other job templates. See the Windows HPC Server 2008 Job Templates white
paper from Microsoft for additional details:

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/confirmation.aspx?id=5659

Job templates may also be created to allow users to run jobs with limited knowledge of the
appropriate job parameters. The cluster administrator creates a job template which has reasonable
default values for the type of job to be run, and informs users which job template to use for each
type of job. The template could also limit some parameters to only the subset of all values that are
useful for the type of job associated with the template.

Related Topics

Integration With Microsoft Windows® HPC Scheduler

Windows® HPC Job Templates

Selecting Computation Resource Units (Job Unit Type)

Windows® HPC Job Credentials

High Performance Computing (HPC) Integration

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Selecting Computation Resource Units (Job Unit Type)

The Job Unit Type is the smallest unit of processing resources used to schedule the job. This is one
of the most important job properties. There are three options for the Job Unit Type: cores, nodes or
sockets.

l Cores: Jobs are scheduled in units of cores, which may be also described as a CPU cores,
logical processors, or CPUs. This is the smallest unit of granularity available. This selection
allows the scheduler to start multiple tasks on a processor, if the total number of cores
needed by the tasks is less than or equal to the number of cores on the processor. This
selection may also allow the scheduler to distribute more of the computational load to
processors with more cores than to processors with fewer cores.
l Nodes: Jobs are scheduled in units of nodes, hosts or machines. This is the coarsest level of
granularity that may be selected. When this option is selected, only one task will run on any
give node at any given time. This is useful in cases where it is not desirable to run multiple
tasks on a single host. For example, if each task is multi-threaded, running multiple tasks on
the same node may not be needed to fully utilize the computing resources on the node. This
may also be preferred if the tasks are memory intensive, and multiple tasks would be
competing for the limited memory resources.
l Sockets: A socket (which may also be called a NUMA node) is a collection of cores sharing
a direct connection to memory. A socket will contain at least one core, and it may contain
several cores. The socket concept may not necessarily correspond to a physical socket.
Scheduling at the socket level may be useful in cases in which each task requires extensive
use of the memory bus, and scheduling multiple tasks on the same socket would result in
excessive bus contention.

Related Topics

Integration With Microsoft Windows® HPC Scheduler

Windows® HPC Job Templates

Selecting Computation Resource Units (Job Unit Type)

Windows® HPC Job Credentials

Windows® HPC Non-Exclusive Jobs

In previous releases, when submitting jobs to a Windows HPC cluster using the Submit Job To
dialog, the exclusive node usage property of the job is on the Compute Resources tab always set
to “true”.

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For many cases, this requirement prevents problems. One type of problem that can occur is related
to processor affinity. In general, EBU jobs manage processor affinity on their own, and request a
single core for each Windows HPC task. If the cluster does set the affinity for the job, then the EBU
job cannot use all of the resources allocated to the job because the cluster sets the affinity to allow
only a single processor for each Windows HPC task.

Recent versions of Windows HPC allow three choices for the Cluster AffinityType setting:

l No Jobs: Affinity is not set for any jobs

l Non Exclusive Jobs (default): Affinity is not set for exclusive jobs
l All Jobs: Affinity is set for all jobs

If the AffinityType is set to “No Jobs”, then we can allow non-exclusive jobs in many cases, but non-
exclusive jobs will be disallowed if you specify an explicit host list (because all resources on all
specified hosts are used), if you specify nodes and cores (to ensure that the job has exclusive
access to the specified number of nodes), or if you specify multi-threading (to prevent a single task
from being split across hosts). If the AffinityType is set to “Non Exclusive Jobs”, then exclusive jobs
will be disallowed for all cases, the same as the restrictions for the previous release.

The previous job submission dialog always has the “exclusive” checkbox disabled for Windows
HPC jobs, so that “exclusive” jobs cannot be submitted to a Windows HPC cluster. The “exclusive”
checkbox is now enabled for Windows HPC jobs. This allows you to submit exclusive jobs to a
Windows HPC cluster. If this checkbox is checked, but the submission parameters and Windows
HPC cluster AffinityType do not allow submission of an exclusive job, then an error message is
displayed when you submit or preview the job.

Setting the Windows HPC Cluster Affinity Type

A Windows HPC Cluster administrator is able to modify the Affinity Type setting for the cluster. The
administrator should start the Windows HPC Cluster Manager. The first step is to select the
Configuration button on the lower left pane, then select the Deployment To-do List in the upper left
pane. Then, the upper right pane displays the Deployment To-do List, as shown below.

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Next, the "Configure job scheduler policies and settings" should be selected. This is under the
heading "Optional deployment tasks".

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The "Job Scheduler Configuration" dialog pops up, as shown below.

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Next, select the "Affinity" tab should be selected.

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The cluster administrator may now select a radio button to select the desired Affinity Type:

l All jobs
l Non-Exclusive jobs
l No jobs

In order to submit non-exclusive jobs, the "No jobs" option should be selected. The "Non-Exclusive
jobs" option may be selected, but this will not allow non-exclusive ANSYS Electromagnetics jobs to
be submitted to the cluster. The "All jobs" option is not supported for ANSYS Electromagnetics
jobs. The OK or Apply buttons may be used to apply the selected option to the cluster.

Examples with "Submissions with Nodes are for exclusive usage by this job"
Unchecked and Checked

Most of the following screen shots are for the same project file submitted to a Windows HPC
cluster with the AffinityType set to "No Jobs". The scheduler resource selection parameters are the
same for all of these screen shots:

l MinCoresPerNode=4
l MaxCoresPerNode=4

The first set of screen shots show submission of a job to a Windows HPC cluster in which the "Use
automatic settings" checkbox is not checked, and the resource selection method is "Specify
Number of Tasks and Cores". The exclusive setting for the job is controlled by the "Nodes are for
exclusive usage by this job" checkbox. In previous releases, this checkbox was always disabled
and checked for Windows HPC jobs. Now, it is enabled, and the user may select whether it is
checked or unchecked. If it is checked, then the behavior is the same as previous releases. If it is
unchecked, then the job is submitted with the exclusive parameter for the job set to false.

The following screen shot shows this configuration with a Submit Job with Task and Cores
specified and nodes as non-exclusive

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The next figure shows Preview for the job submission indicating that the exclusive parameter for
the job is false.

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Jobs may only be submitted using this resource selection method with the exclusive parameter set
to false if all three of the following conditions are met:

1. The cluster AffinityType is "No Jobs",

2. There is no multiprocessing (i.e., the number of cores per task is one), and
3. There is no limit on the number of tasks per node.

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If any of these requirements are not met, then the job is not submitted or previewed, and an error
message appears. The following figure shows this configuration.

The following figure and screen shot ErrorMsgTasksAndCoresNonExMP.png shows the error
message box shown to the user.

The next example shows submission of a job to a Windows HPC cluster in which the "Use
automatic settings" checkbox is checked, and the resource selection method is "Specify Number of
Nodes and Cores". If you select Use automatic settings with Num variations to distribute set to 1,
Optimetrics variations will be solved sequentially. Other distribution types will be distributed
automatically. It does distribute frequencies, domains, and use of multiple level domains. If you set
Num variations to distribute to 2 or more, Optimetrics variations will be solved in parallel. Other
distribution types will be distributed automatically. The exclusive setting for the job is controlled by
the "Nodes are for exclusive usage by this job" checkbox. In previous releases, this checkbox was

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always disabled and checked for Windows HPC jobs. Now, it is enabled, and the user may select
whether it is checked or unchecked. If it is checked, then the behavior is the same as previous
releases. If it is unchecked, then the job is not submitted or previewed because only exclusive jobs
are allowed when using this resource selection method, and an error message box is shown to the
user in this case. The following figure shows this configuration:

The following figure shows the error message.

The next example show submission of a job to a Windows HPC cluster in which the "Use automatic
settings" checkbox is checked, and the resource selection method is "Specify Number of Cores
and (Optional) RAM". The exclusive setting for the job is controlled by the "Nodes are for exclusive
usage by this job" checkbox. In previous releases, this checkbox was always disabled and checked
for Windows HPC jobs. Now, it is enabled, and you may select whether it is checked or unchecked.
If it is checked, then the behavior is the same as previous releases. The following figure shows this

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configuration.

The following figure shows the Job Preview for this case, indicating that the exclusive parameter
for the job is true.

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If the exclusive checkbox is unchecked, then the job is submitted with the exclusive parameter set
to false. The following figure shows this configuration.

The following figurescreen shot PreviewCoresAndRAMNonEx.png shows the Job Preview for this
case, indicating that the exclusive parameter for the job is false.

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The last example resembles the previous one, except that the Windows HPC cluster AffinityType is
set to "Non Exclusive Jobs" in this case. The job is submitted with the "Use automatic settings"
checkbox in the checked state, and the resource selection method set to "Specify Number of Cores
and (Optional) RAM". Because the AffinityType is not "No Jobs", only exclusive jobs may be
submitted to this cluster. If the exclusive checkbox is not checked, then the job is not submitted or
previewed, and an error message box is displayed to the user. The following figure shows this
configuration.

The following figure shows the error message.

Related Topics

Integration With Microsoft Windows® HPC Scheduler

Windows® HPC Job Templates

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Selecting Computation Resource Units (Job Unit Type)

High Performance Computing (HPC) Integration

Windows® HPC Job Credentials

Normally, a user will be prompted for the credentials used to submit a job. One way to simplify this
process is to use the "cluscfg setcreds" command to set the user's credentials in the credentials
cache. If this is done, then no password needs to be supplied for a job submitted for the specified
user. Here is a cluscfg command that may be used to set the user credentials in the credentials
cache:
cluscfg setcreds /password:* /scheduler:cluster_name

/user:domain\user_name

Here:

l cluster_name = the name of the cluster (hostname of the head node)

l domain = optional domain name; if omitted, the following \ should also be omitted
l user = user name

When this form of the command is used, the user is prompted for the password and also asked if
the password should be remembered (cached).

See the following web page for more information on the cluscfg setcreds command:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc947669(WS.10).aspx

Related Topics

Integration With Microsoft Windows® HPC Scheduler

Windows® HPC Job Templates

Selecting Computation Resource Units (Job Unit Type)

High Performance Computing (HPC) Integration

Integration with Platform's Load Sharing Facility (LSF)

ANSYS Electromagnetics products support Windows LSF cluster as well as LINUX LSF cluster.
Serial analysis, Multi Processing and Distributed Analysis is done on compute resource units
assigned by LSF. Models with parametric sweeps can use Large Scale DSO. With LSF, the
ANSYS EM job doesn't require graphics. ANSYS EM job's progress can be monitored through
LSF commands or through the dialog opened through Tools>Job Management>Monitor
Jobs.... If a temp directory is setup by the LSF cluster administrator, analysis engines use this temp
directory, overriding the setting in the ANSYS EM product.

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Besides the command line interface, you can also use a Job Management user interface to submit
jobs

Related Topics

General Terminology for LSF

Installation of ANSYS Electromagnetics Suite 19.0 on LSF Cluster

Integration of ANSYS EM Products with LSF

LSF Job Submission Guidelines

Job Management User Interface for LSF

LSF Command Used to Launch Remote Engine Processes

Submitting ANSYS EM LSF Batch Jobs

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Current Working Directory with LSF

Quoting ANSYS EM Command or Arguments for LSF

Monitoring LSF Batch Jobs

Terminating LSF Batch Jobs

Known Issues for LSF

Troubleshooting for LSF

Command Line Information for ANSYS EM Desktop Products

Installation of ANSYS EM Tools on LSF Cluster

The LSF scheduler is supported on both Linux and Windows.

The lsf.conf should have this line present:

LSF_UNIT_FOR_LIMITS=MB

The administrator should have this line in the lsb.params file to ensure that memory reservations
are per-slot (per-core):
RESOURCE_RESERVE_PER_SLOT=Y

On Linux, jobs may be submitted in any of the following ways:

l Using LSF commands (bsub, etc.)

l Using the generic scheduler GUI in local mode
l Using the generic scheduler GUI in service mode

On Windows, jobs may be submitted in any of the following ways:

l Using LSF commands (bsub, etc.)

l Using the generic scheduler GUI in local mode

See the ANSYS Electromagnetics Suite 19.0 Windows Installation Guide and the ANSYS
Electromagnetics Suite 19.0 Unix/Linux Installation Guide for additional information on supported
schedulers.

Windows:

Install on every node of cluster

Setup 'temp directory' to a path that is same on all nodes. For example, c:\temp

LINUX:

Install on a single node, on a shared drive.

Setup 'temp directory' to a path that is same on all nodes. For example, /tmp

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Ensure that the product is available using the same path on all nodes

Permissions:

All users of the cluster should have read/write permissions to temp directory

All users should have read/execute permissions to installation directory

When a desktop scheduler GUI is run the same node as the job submission node, no other
configuration is necessary: installation is sufficient. You select the scheduler through the desktop
GUI. You need to ensure that scheduler commands are available in the path before you launch
desktop.

Note There is no need to install RSM unless you are using the scheduler GUI on a post
processing node that is different than the than the job submission node. In this case, RSM
must be configured with the scheduler type and path.

A post processing nodes is a node in the cluster that can run the ANSYS Electromagnetics
desktop in graphical mode. A job submission node is a node in the cluster in which job
submission commands are available.

Turn OFF firewall between cluster nodes.

Per-slot Resource Reservation

Set the cluster for per-slot resource allocation if the automatic cores and RAM resource selection
method is to be used. You can check the cluster to see if per-slot resource allocation is configured
by using the "bparams -a" command. Search the output for "RESOURCE_RESERVE_PER_
SLOT" to determine the setting (either "Y" or "N"). If set to "N" then consult the LSF administration
guide on how to change this to "Y".

Scenario 1: The post-processing node and job-submission node roles are served by
distinct machines.

In this case, perform the following configuration:

The job-submission node should be configured to run RSM service, which serves as a proxy to
scheduler. The RSM Service should be running as 'root' in order to facilitate jobs running using the
credentials of the job's owner. A configuration file in the RSM installation folder should be
edited to specify information regarding the scheduler that manages jobs on this cluster. A block
labeled 'Scheduler' must be included within the 'AnsoftCOMDaemon' block. This block contains
two string entries:

l SchedulerName: this contains the unique part of the scheduler proxy library name
l ConfigString: this contains a scheduler specific configuration string

The case of the SchedulerName string is significant on Linux because Linux file names are case
sensitive. The case of the SchedulerName string is not significant on Microsoft Windows. In

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ANSYS Electromagnetics Suite 19.0, the possible scheduler names are: lsf and sge. The
ConfigString entry is a scheduler specific configuration string, described below.

In addition, the AnsoftRSMService must be started with appropriate environment variables set.
Generally, the environment variables must be set the same as they would be set for using the
scheduler via command lines.

LSF Details

For the LSF scheduler proxy library, the ConfigString entry in the ansoftrsmservice.cfg
configuration file is ignored. It may be empty or omitted entirely.

The AnsoftRSMService must be started with the environment set as it would be set for submitting
jobs to the LSF cluster.

l For Linux, the cshrc.lsf or the profile.lsf file may be sourced to set up the environment,
depending on the shell.
l For Microsoft Windows, the PATH environment variable should be set to include the
directory containing the LSF commands; this directory should be before any other directory
containing files with the same name as any LSF commands.

Example ansoftrsmservice.cfg configuration file:

$begin 'AnsoftCOMDaemon'

$begin 'Managed COM Servers'

$end 'Managed COM Servers'

$begin 'Scheduler'

'SchedulerName'='lsf'

'ConfigString'=''

$end 'Scheduler'

$end 'AnsoftCOMDaemon'

Scenario 2: The post-processing node and job-submission node roles are served by the
same machine.

The Select Scheduler... command (as described in the Job Management User Interface for LSF
section) is used to gather details about the scheduler. In this case, the Desktop process should be
started in an environment suitable for submitting jobs to the scheduler. See below for details.

LSF on Linux

The environment should be configured so that the following LSF environment variables are set
appropriately for the LSF cluster in use: LSF_BINDIR, LSF_SERVERDIR, LSF_LIBDIR, and

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LSF_ENVDIR. In addition, the following LSF commands should be found in the LSF_
BINDIR directory: "bsub", "bjobs", "bkill", "lsid", "lsrun", "lshosts", "bmgroup", "bparams" and
"bqueues".

LSF on Microsoft Windows

The environment should be configured so that all LSF commands are found using the PATH
environment variable. In particular, search for the following commands in the PATH should
result in the LSF command being found: "bsub", "bjobs", "bkill", "lsid", "lsrun", "lshosts",
"bmgroup", "bparams" and "bqueues". No other command with the same name should appear
before the LSF command in the PATH.

ANSYS Electromagnetics product Installation Changes

Desktop talks to Scheduler Proxy which in turn uses Scheduler commands. It is possible to add a
proxy dll to support new schedulers without changing Desktop.

Related Topics

Integration with Platform's Load Sharing Facility (LSF)

General Terminology for LSF

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What a Scheduler Does

Integration of ANSYS EM Products with LSF

Job Management User Interface for LSF

LSF Job Submission Guidelines

Known Issues for LSF

Troubleshooting for LSF

Workarounds for LSF

Command Line Information for ANSYS EM Desktop Products

Integration of ANSYS EM Products with LSF

With LSF you do not need to setup 'Distributed Analysis Machines' or 'Remote Machine' in the
Tools>General Options>Analysis Options tab. Instead, you submit an HFSS job to LSF,
requesting appropriate resources for this job (number of processors, memory per processor, etc.).
For example:
bsub -n 1 hfss.exe -Batchsolve -ng -local -machinelist num=1
OptimTee.aedt

bsub -n 4 hfss.exe -Batchsolve -ng -Distributed -machinelist num=4

OptimTee.adsn

The HFSS job is queued by LSF until the requested resources are available. Upon resource
availability LSF starts HFSS.exe with the specified command line on one of the allocated
machines. During analysis, HFSS dynamically obtains the allocated 'Distributed Analysis
Machines' from LSF. HFSS interfaces with LSF to launch engines on remote machines without
going through Ansoft RSM.

Related Topics

Integration with Platform's Load Sharing Facility (LSF)

General Terminology for LSF

What a Scheduler Does

Job Management User Interface for LSF

Installation of ANSYS EM Tools on LSF Cluster

LSF Job Submission Guidelines

Known Issues for LSF

Troubleshooting for LSF

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Command Line Information for ANSYS EM Desktop Products

LSF Job Submission Guidelines

l ANSYS EM project should be available in a shared drive that is accessible to all machines in
the cluster
l ANSYS EM project should be available using the same path on all machines of cluster
l Ensure sufficient space in project directory and temp directories
l Ensure sufficient memory per engine
l Choose the number of compute resources (Distributed Analysis machines and Multi
Processing cores) so as to achieve desired scale factor and effective resource utilization

Stop an HFSS job cleanly - ensures that the results obtained until now are preserved
bkill -s TERM <jobid>.

Stop an HFSS job abruptly - results are most likely lost. You have to manually remove the project
lock file
bkill <jobid>

Related Topics

Integration with Platform's Load Sharing Facility (LSF)

Job Management User Interface for LSF

Installation of ANSYS EM Tools on LSF Cluster

Integration of ANSYS EM Products with LSF

Known Issues for LSF

Troubleshooting for LSF

Command Line Information for ANSYS EM Desktop Products

Aborting an Analysis

Job Management User Interface for LSF

The Job Management UI is accessed by running ANSYS Electromagnetics product Desktop on

the designated 'Postprocessing node' of the cluster. The Desktop provides UI commands for
Scheduler selection, Job submission and Job monitoring/control. You access the Scheduler User
Interface by clicking Tools>Job Management>Select Scheduler...

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Before you can use Submit Job, you must click Select Scheduler as the one-time initial step.
This opens the Select Scheduler dialog.

Specify the following parameters:

l Job submission node: this is the node on the cluster where scheduler commands (such as
LSF's bsub) are allowed to run.

Choose Use this computer if scheduler commands are enabled on the post-processing node.

Choose Use a computer on network if the cluster is configured in a manner as to disallow

job-submission from the post-processing node. Specify node name appropriately. If you select
the radio button “Use a computer on the network,” then you may enter a username and
password. This username and password are used when the job is submitted to the Linux
scheduler. See Windows to Linux Job Submission.

Pre-requisites: For this choice to work, the job-submission node must already be configured with
a running Ansoft RSM service, as documented in 'Installation of ANSYS Electromagnetics Suite
19.0 on LSF Cluster.

l Scheduler: Available choices vary, depending on your configuration. It is possible for you to
integrate their custom scheduler into this UI, through a scheduler proxy. When this is done,
more choices will be available in the combo-box, one per custom scheduler proxy that is
deployed in the installation

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After specifying the job submission node, you can click Refresh. The scheduler information is then
listed in the Scheduler info text field.

Once you select a scheduler, you can access the interface for job submission, monitoring and
control. For more details on monitoring, see Monitor Jobs window. Click OK to close the dialog.

After setting the job submission node, select Tools>Job Management>Submit Job... or
Project>Submit Job... or [ProductName]>Submit Job... to open the Submit Job To: dialog.
You can also access Submit Job from the shortcut menus for the Project Name, Design name, or
the Analysis Setup or Optimetrics Setup.

The Submit Job To: dialog: contains three tabs:

l Analysis Specification--specify the Product path, Project name, the setups, and analysis
options such as batchoptions, or, for advanced users, Environment variables. If you select
the Analysis or Optimetrics setup, the Analysis Specification is pre-populated.
l Compute Resources--this tab can be populated either by automatic settings, by
predefined Analysis Configuration, or specifying parameters in the fields for resource
selection, for job parallelization and enabled forms of parallelization.
l The Scheduler Options tab has analysis-independent parameters specific to the job, such
as name, priority.

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Analysis Specification tab for LSF

This tab lets you specify the following:

Project:

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You can use the ellipsis button [...] to use a navigation window to browse. The path should be
visible to all nodes in the cluster.The Project can be an archive.

In the case of Windows to Linux submission, you also specify a Linux path. See Windows to Linux
Job Submission.

Analysis Setups:

Specify All setups in the project, all in a design, or a single setup. If the setup includes a
parametric sweep, the Use large scale DSO check box is enabled.

Analysis Options:

l You have check boxes for whether to Monitor Job through the GUI, and whether to Wait for
license.
l You can also specify Batchoptions. Click the Add... button to open a dialog for selecting the

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Batchoptions.

The lower Value field shows the legal values for the selected registry key. You can type the
desired value into the upper text field under value. Click the Add button to accept the selection
of the registry key with the specified value. Click Done close the Add Batchoption dialog.

At the upper left, a drop down menu lets you specify which registry key categories to display,
whether All, or selected category.

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A check box lets you choose between displaying only frequently used entries (the default), or
by unchecking, all options available for the selected group.

Note that for Large Scale DSO problems, you also have the option to specify predefined
configurations.

The added registry keys and values are listed in the Batchoptions field of the Submit Job
dialog.

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Selecting from the list enables buttons for removing or editing registry key values. Selecting a
registry key and clicking Edit... opens the Edit Batchoptions dialog.

Here you can edit the Value field and update the value for the selected registry key.

Environment:

If you check the Show advanced options check box, you can see the Environment field. This
permits specifying Environment Variables.

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Click the ellipsis button [...] by the Environment field to open the Additional Job Options
dialog.

The Add button permits you to specify your environment variables. Once, added, you can select
Remove or Edit. The Add Debug Environment Variables button adds variables of use in
working with support.

l The Save Settings as Default button lets you save a current set of values as defaults the
next time you invoke the Scheduler GUI. This can simplify subsequent job submissions.

Use Batch Extract for LSF

Selecting Show advanced options for LSF also show the Use batch extract fields.

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See the discussion on Running ANSYS Electronics Desktop from a Command line for a discussion
of the solve information available through batch extract.

Compute Resources Specification Tab

This tab lets you provide Resource selection and Job parallelization parameters. You can elect to
User automatic settings for job distribution, specify a Method and resource selection parameters,
or job distribution parameters.

The Submit Job dialog for LSF appears as follows:

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For LSF, the only non-automatic method is Number of Tasks and Cores. You can specify the
number of tasks, whether they are for exclusive use by the job, cores per distributed task, a limit
number of tasks per node, and RAM limit as percent.

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For LSF, the automatic Method options are Number of Cores and (Optional) RAM or Number of
Nodes and Cores. If you select Number of Cores and Optional RAM, you specify: Total number of
cores, check whether Nodes are for exclusive usage by the job, whether to use a RAM constraint in
GB per core, and the RAM limit as a percentage.

If you chose the Method to Specify the Number Nodes and Cores, the options are Total number of
nodes, and whether they are for exclusive use by the job, total number of cores, and the RAM limit.

Job Distribution

l Two level distribution, which may be disabled. Click the Modify button to display the Job
Distribution dialog.

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Second level distribution operates within DSO. If available and enabled you can specify a number
of engines for level 1.

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In response to a set of minimal constraints, the Scheduler may increase the resources assigned
beyond the minimal values in order to meet the full set of requirements. For example, if you specify
7 distributed engines, with two processors per engine, and also limit the number of engines per
node to 4, the scheduler may increase the number of cores used in order to meet the limit specified
for engines per node. Notice that a preview of the Submit Job Results shows the number of
resources assigned, and that the scheduler generated code includes an MPI specification.

Resource Selection:

If you do not specify parameters for resource selection, LSF may submit jobs to any machine in the
entire pool that is available.

l Resource selection parameters.

Clicking the ellipsis button [...] opens a dialog for parameters specific to LSF. The Specify
Parameter check box in the dialog enables a parameter, and you can select the Value for the
Queue parameter from a drop down menu or specify values for the other LSF parameters.

The resource selection parameters for LSF are as follows:

l Queue - a drop down menu lets you select Normal, chkpn_rerun_queue, idle, license,
night, normal_allow_excl, owners, priorituy, or short.
l MinCoresPerNode - minimum number of cores allowed on a node to be eligible for
selection; translates to bsub -R select[ncpus>=N]
l MaxCoresPerNode - maximum number of cores allowed on a node to be eligible for
selection; translates to bsub -R select[ncpus<=N]
l MinMemoryPerNode - minimum amount of physical memory (specified in integer
GigaBytes) allowed on a node to be eligible for selection; translates to bsub -R select
[maxmem>=M]

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l MaxMemoryPerNode - maximum amount of physical memory (specified in integer

GigaBytes) allowed on a node to be eligible for selection; translates to bsub -R select
[maxmem<=M]

If you don't specify resource selection parameters, the scheduler handles the situation.

l Specify node list

Checking Specify node list enables the field for specifying a node list. In a computing
environment where the available cores are not uniform, you can use this to have control over
which resources your job will use.

In response to a set of minimal constraints, the Scheduler may increase the resources assigned
beyond the minimal values in order to meet the full set of requirements. For example, the scheduler
may indicate that more cores than requested will be used to get the correct node quantity in auto
nodes and cores.

Preview submission

This opens a screen showing the bsub command to be used to submit the job.

Submit job actually sends the batch command to the LSF cluster. A dialog reports a successful
submit and presents a check box for monitoring.

Scheduler Options Tab

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This tab lets you give Job name and Priority.

You continue to have the Save Settings As Default, Preview Submission, and Submit Job
buttons.

The Job submission options permit you to customize a job submission in terms of addition job
submission options, or override a job submission command.

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When the "Override job submission" radio button is checked, the user specified options replace
most of the job submission options, whereas when the "Additional job submission options" radio
button is checked, the user specified options are appended to the bsub command.

You can see the effects of any custom additions by clicking Preview Submission.

Related Topics

Integrated Job Monitoring for Job Management Interface for LSF

Scheduler Proxy Interfaces

Windows to Linux Job Submission

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Integrated Job Monitoring for Job Management Interface for LSF

The job monitoring/control dialog is launched through the command Tools>Job

Management>Monitor Jobs... or by checking Begin monitoring this job now in the
information window reporting successful job submission.

In response to either invocation, the Monitor Job dialog opens. You can monitor this job either
automatically (by checking the option) or through the Tools>Job Management>Monitor Jobs...
command. For more details, see Monitor Jobs window.

In this dialog, user selects the same project they submitted. You begin by selecting the job to
monitor from a pull down list of recent jobs.

The lower left has corner of the dialog has options for manual refresh or to Automatically refresh
every specified number seconds. After refresh, the messages for the job are displayed. The format
of the text is essentially same as output of the '-monitor' command-line option.

Related Topics

Scheduler Proxy Interfaces

Job Management User Interface for LSF

LSF Command Used to Launch Remote Engine Processes

When using direct integration with LSF, the LSF lsrun command is used to launch remote engine
processes. This command does not allow the LSF scheduler to track the resources used by these
processes. As a result, the resource usage reported by the LSF bacct command will not include
resources used by the remote engine processes.

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Submitting ANSYS EM LSF Batch Jobs

The LSF bsub command may be used to submit ANSYS Electromagnetics jobs. The typical
command format is:
bsub bsub_argsansys_exeansys_args

where:

l bsub_args are the options of the bsub command,

l ansysEM_exe is the pathname of the ANSYS Electromagnetics desktop executable to
launch, and
l ansys_args are the arguments to the ANSYS Electromagnetics desktop executable.

Related Topics

Job Management User Interface for LSF

Current Working Directory with LSF

The current working directory of the ANSYS Electromagnetics Desktop process must exist on all
compute hosts where analysis may be run. This is needed because the ANSYS Electromagnetics
job uses the LSF lsrun or blaunch commands to start the remote analysis engines. When these
LSF commands start a remote process they always change the working directory to the working
directory of the process submitting the command. If the directory does not exist on a remote host,
then the lsrun or blaunch command will fail on that host, and the remote analysis engine will not be
started on that host.

Quoting ANSYS EM Command or Arguments for LSF

If the ANSYS EM tool executable pathname (ansys_exe) or any of the arguments of the ANSYS
tool command (anssys_args) contain characters which are interpreted by the command shell, then
these special characters must be properly quoted to ensure that the correct command is launched
by LSF. This is very common on Windows systems, where many executable file pathnames
contain embedded space characters. A similar problem may occur on any platform if any of the
ansoft_args require single quote, double quote or space characters. Note that the ANSYS
Electromagnetics desktop command is processed by the shell twice. It is processed by the shell
when the bsub command is processed, and again when the job is started.

bsub Arguments

The LSF bsub command has a large number of options that may be used to control the submission
process. Only a few options which are often used with ANSYS Electromagnetics jobs are
mentioned here. The following options may be used to submit serial or parallel LSF jobs.
-nmin_proc, max_proc or -nmin_proc

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Submits a parallel job, specifying the number of processors (or slots) required for the job. Here,
min_proc is the minimum number of processors, and max_proc is the maximum number of
processors. If no maximum is specified, then exactly min_proc processors are requested. If
PARALLEL_SCHED_BY_SLOT=Y in lsb.params, this option specifies the number of slots
required to run the job, not the number of processors. If the -n command line option is not specified,
then the job is submitted as a serial batch job.
-R "span[ptile=n]"

There are many ways to use the -R "res_req" option to the bsub command. We only cover -R "span
[ptile=n]" here, because this option is very useful for ANSYS Electromagnetics jobs. When this
option is specified, the LSF scheduler will allocate n processors (or slots) on each host to this job,
even if more processors are available on the host.
-x

All hosts running this job operate in exclusive execution mode. The job will only run on a host
having no other jobs running on that host. No other batch jobs will be started on a host while this job
is running on that host.

See the LSF documentation for a complete list of options for the bsub command.

Related Topics

Job Management User Interface for LSF

Monitoring ANSYS EM LSF Batch Jobs

The LSF bpeek command may be used to monitor LSF batch jobs, if the Desktop command line for
the job includes the -monitor command line option. Also see Integrated Job Monitoring for Job
Management Interface for LSF.

ANSYS Electromagnetics desktop -monitor Command Line Option

The Ansoft -monitor command line option enables batch job output to the standard output and
standard error streams. The warning, info, and progress messages are sent to the standard output
stream. The error and fatal messages are sent to the standard error stream.

LSF bpeek Command

The LSF bpeek command may be used to monitor job progress. The command pbeek [ -f ] job_id
displays the standard output and standard error produced by the job with id job_id from the job start
to the current time (the time when the command is executed). This command is only valid for jobs
that have not yet finished. When used with the -f option on Linux, the output of the job is displayed
using the command tail -f, so that ongoing progress may be monitored.

In order to display messages to standard output and standard error, specify the -monitor
command line option on the ANSYS EM tool command line. Then, these messages can be seen
using the LSF bpeek command.

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Related Topics

Job Management User Interface for LSF

Integrated Job Monitoring for Job Management Interface for LSF

Terminating ANSYS EM LSF Batch Jobs

To cancel or terminate an ANSYS EM LSF batch job, we recommend using the Monitoring
Graphical User interface to terminate jobs cleanly, rather than using the bkill commands. Using this
approach will allow the ANSYS EM batch job to shut down in an orderly fashion. Using the LSF
bkill command without the -s SIGTERM option or simply terminating the job processes may cause
some of the following problems:

l Some engine processes are not shut down, and continue to run
l LSF job is not fully removed
l Project lock file is not removed
l Linux only: MainWin core service processes (watchdog, mwrpcss and/or regss) are not
stopped

Some of these may interfere with submission of additional LSF batch jobs. For example, it may be
necessary to manually remove the project lock file to submit another batch job for the same project.
On Linux, MainWin core service processes may also interfere with starting subsequent Ansoft
batch jobs. Normally, these processes should timeout and end 15 seconds after the ANSYS
Electromagnetics product shuts down. Any MainWin core service processes (watchdog, mwrpcss
and/or regss) that continue to run for more than 15 seconds after the product has stopped may be
hung. The hung processes may need to be manually killed, after ensuring that these processes are
associated with an ANSYS EM job that has finished or terminated.

Related Topics

Integrated Job Monitoring for Job Management Interface for LSF

Example LSF bsub Command Lines

The following Linux and Windows examples all use HFSS as the ANSYS EM product, but similar
command lines will work for all ANSYS EM products.

Linux Examples for LSF

If the hfss command is included in the bsub command line, then the entire hfss command will be
processed by the command shell two times. The hfss command is processed when the bsub
command is processed by the shell. It will be processed again when the hfss command is started
by the scheduler.

Several examples show the entire hfss command line enclosed in double quotes ("), while the
double quote (") characters within the hfss command line are replaced by escaped double quotes

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("\""). This ensures that the quoted arguments of the hfss command are processed correctly. The
last example shows how to use a shell script so that the hfss command line will be processed by the
command processor only once. The hfss command is placed in the shell script, and then the shell
script pathname is placed in the bsub command line. Then, the hfss command is only processed
by the command processor when the job is started. When using this approach, the shell script
should be accessible from all of the cluster hosts.

Serial job:
bsub -n 1 /Program Files/AnsysEM/AnsysEM19.0/Win64/ansysedt -ng

-BatchSolve -machinelist num=4 ~/projects/OptimTee.aedt

The -n 1 option indicates that this job runs on one core.

Serial job that needs a minimum of 4GB:

bsub -n 1 -R "select[mem>4000]"

/Program Files/AnsysEM/AnsysEM19.0/Win64/ansysedt -ng

-BatchSolve -machinelist num=4 ~/projects/OptimTee.aedt

The -R "select[mem>4000]" option indicates that this needs a minimum of 4 GB memory.

Multi-processing job using 4 cores:

bsub -n 4 -R "span[ptile=4]"

"/Program Files/AnsysEM/AnsysEM19.0/Win64/ansysedt -ng -BatchSolve

-batchoptions -machinelist num=4 ~/projects/OptimTee.aedt"

l The -R "span[ptile=4]" option indicates that the four cores need to be on the same machine.
l The -batchoptions option indicates that HFSS should use four cores for multi-processing.
l The entire hfss command is in double quotes, and the double quotes enclosing the -
batchoptions value are escaped. Each of these double quotes is replaced by the sequence
"\"".

Distributed processing job using 4 engines:

bsub -n 4 /Program Files/AnsysEM/AnsysEM19.0/Win64/ansysedt -ng -
BatchSolve -Distributed ~/projects/OptimTee.aedt

l The -n 4 option indicates that the four cores are needed for the job.
l The -Distributed option indicates that this is a DSO job, so that multiple engines will be
started. Because 4 cores are allocated to the job, the job will run 4 engines. The -Distributed
option can have additional options, such as includetypes=xxx, excludetyeps=xxx,
maxlevels=n, and numlevel1=n, where n indicates and integer, and xxx indicates a list of
distribution types or "default".

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Distributed processing and multi-processing job using 4 cores, with 2 cores for multi-
processing:
bsub -n 4 -R "span[ptile=2]" ~/projects/OptimTee.csh

Shell script (~/projects/OptimTee.csh):

#!/bin/csh

/Program Files/AnsysEM/AnsysEM19.0/Win64/ansysedt -ng -BatchSolve

-Distributed -machinelist num=2 -batchoptions

~/projects/OptimTee.aedt

l The -n 4 option indicates that the four cores are needed for the job.
l The -R "span[ptile=2]" option indicates that the cores must be allocated in groups of two
cores on the same machine.
l The -machinelist num=2 option indicates that this is a DSO job and that a total of two
engines will be started.
l The hfss command is placed in the shell script (~/projects/OptimTee.csh). In the bsub
command line, the hfss command is replaced by the shell script pathname.

Windows Examples for LSF

If the hfss command is included in the bsub command line, then the entire hfss command will be
processed by the command processor cmd.exe two times. The hfss command is processed when
the bsub command is processed by the command processor. It will be processed again when the
hfss command is started by the scheduler.

The first three examples show the entire hfss command line enclosed in double quotes ("), while
the double quote (") characters within the hfss command line are replaced by escaped double
quotes (\"). This ensures that the quoted arguments of the hfss command are processed correctly.
The remaining examples show how to use a batch file so that the hfss command line will be
processed by the command processor only once. The hfss command is placed in a batch file, and
then the batch file pathname is placed in the bsub command line. Then, the hfss command is only
processed by the command processor when the job is started. When using this approach, the
batch file should be accessible from all of the cluster hosts.

Serial job:
bsub -n 1 "\"C:\Program
Files\AnsysEM\AnsysEM19.0\Win64\ansysedt.exe\"

-Ng -BatchSolve \\host\share\projects\OptimTee.aedt"

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l The -n 1 option indicates that this job runs on one core.

l The entire hfss command is in double quotes, and the double quotes enclosing the hfss
pathname are escaped. Each of these double quotes is replaced by the sequence \".

Serial job that needs a minimum of 4GB:

bsub -n 1 -R "select[mem>4000]"

"\"C:\Program Files\AnsysEM\AnsysEM19.0\Win64\ansysedt.exe\"

-Ng -BatchSolve \\host\share\projects\OptimTee.aedt"

l The -R "select[mem>4000]" option indicates that this needs a minimum of 4 GB memory.

l The entire hfss command is in double quotes, and the double quotes enclosing the hfss
pathname are escaped. Each of these double quotes is replaced by the sequence \".

Multi-processing job using 4 cores:

bsub -n 4 -R "span[ptile=4]"

"\"C:\Program Files\AnsysEM\AnsysEM19.0\Win64\ansysedt.exe\"

-Ng -BatchSolve -batchoptions -machinelist num=4

\\host\share\projects\OptimTee.aedt"

l The -R "span[ptile=4]" option indicates that the four cores need to be on the same machine.
l The -batchoptions option indicates that HFSS should use four cores for multi-processing.
l The entire ansysedt command is in double quotes, and the double quotes enclosing the
ansysedt pathname and the -batchoptions value are escaped. Each of these double quotes
is replaced by the sequence \".

Distributed processing job using 4 engines:

bsub -n 4 \\host\share\projects\OptimTee.bat

Batch File (\\host\share\projects\OptimTee.bat) Contents:

"C:\Program Files\AnsysEM\AnsysEM19.0\Win64\ansysedt.exe"

-Ng -BatchSolve

-Distributed \\host\share\projects\OptimTee.aedt

l The -n 4 option indicates that the four cores are needed for the job.
l The -Distributed option indicates that this is a DSO job, so that multiple engines will be
started. Because 4 cores are allocated to the job, the job will run 4 engines.
l The hfss command is placed in the batch file \\host\share\projects\OptimTee.bat. In the bsub
command line, the hfss command is replaced by the batch file pathname.

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Distributed processing and multi-processing job using 4 cores, with 2 cores for multi-
processing:
bsub -n 4 -R "span[ptile=2]" \\host\share\projects\OptimTee.bat

Batch File (\\host\share\projects\OptimTee.bat) Contents:

"C:\Program Files\AnsysEM\AnsysEM19.0\Win64\ansysedt.exe" -Ng

-BatchSolve -Distributed -machinelist num=2 -batchoptions

\\host\share\projects\OptimTee.aedt

l The -n 4 option indicates that the four cores are needed for the job.
l The -R "span[ptile=2]" option indicates that the cores must be allocated in groups of two
cores on the same machine.
l The -machinelist num=2 option indicates that this is a DSO job and that a total of two
engines will be started.
l The hfss command is placed in the batch file \\host\share\projects\OptimTee.bat. In the bsub
command line, the hfss command is replaced by the batch file pathname.

Known Issues for LSF

l Desktop or remote machine has multiple IP addresses, which we don't support.

l There are core dump files at the end of job's running. Results are computed correctly though

l On Windows, ANSYS Electronics Desktop should be installed on every machine of cluster

l Firewall should be turned off on the machines in the cluster
l UAC should be disabled on Vista (only Windows)
l Sometimes LSF kills an ANSYS Electronics Desktop job (for e.g. job gets preempted due to
a high priority job). HFSS doesn't handle such a situation gracefully resulting in the presence
of .lock file in the project directory. User needs to manually delete the lock file before
continuing with further analysis.
l When an LSF job is killed, the MainWin services (watchdog, regss, and mwrcpss) could
keep running. The result is that later jobs cannot start on the machine. The fix is to kill off
these processes before starting a new job
l Analysis fails abruptly when running out of resources (cpu/memory/disk)

The major concern for job success is to provide sufficient resources given to the job

Related Topics

Integration with Platform's Load Sharing Facility (LSF)

General Terminology for LSF

What a Scheduler Does

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Installation of ANSYS Electromagnetics Suite on LSF Cluster

Integration of ANSYS Electromagnetics products with LSF

LSF Job Submission Guidelines

Troubleshooting for LSF

Command Line Information for ANSYS EM Desktop Products

Troubleshooting for LSF

Ensure that the LSF 'lsrun' command is enabled.

Make sure there is no user error. For example:

l Use correct path to HFSS and full path to project

l Ensure sufficient resources (cpu/memory/disk) are allocated to job: check space in temp
directory, space in project directory (consider quotas)
l ANSYS EM project to be available on the execution host
l Ensure job submitter has permissions to read/write to project directory and read/execute
permissions to installation directory
l Check for locked project

Find if this is a standalone product issue:

Run HFSS interactively on the machine, outside of the scheduler, and see if it comes up and
analyzes.

Send the following logs to development:

l Output of LSF batch job corresponding to the analysis of the ANSYS EM project: You can
obtain this using LSF commands: use bacct if job's output is not redirected to a file. For
example,
"bacct -l <jobid>"

l Batch log generated by ANSYS Electromagnetics product (typically, projectname.log, in the

same directory as the project file)
l Debug logs generated by ANSYS Electromagnetics product, during the running of LSF job.
You can set these Environment variables using the Submit Job dialog, by turning on
Advanced options to display the Environment field. Click the ellipsis button [...] access the
Add Debug Environment Variables button.
Set ANSOFT_DEBUG_MODE to 1

It is good to collect another set of logs with above value set to 7

Create \\shared_drive\ansdebug directory that is accessible by all machines in the cluster

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Set ANSOFT_DEBUG_LOG to a file in \\shared_drive\ansdebug' directory, for example,

\\shared_drive\ansdebug\anslog

Set ANSOFT_DEBUG_LOG_SEPARATE to 1.

Set ANSOFT_LSF_LOG to a distinct file in \\shared_drive\ansdebug' directory, for example,

\\shared_drive\ansdebug\lsf.log

l For each pair of the machines, between which the remote analysis fails, run "ping remote-
machine" and note the output
l For each machine in the network, dump the network interfaces (for example, run "ifconfig -
a") and note the output
l Email all 5 logs to development

- Job's log generated by LSF

- Log generated by ANSYS Electromagnetics product

- Entire \\shared_drive\ansdebug folder

- Output from ping command

- Output related to compute node's network interfaces

Related Topics

Workarounds for LSF

Integration with Platform's Load Sharing Facility (LSF)

General Terminology for LSF

What a Scheduler Does

Installation of ANSYS Electromagnetics Suite on LSF Cluster

Integration of ANSYS Electromagnetics products with LSF

LSF Job Submission Guidelines

Known Issues for LSF

Command Line Information for ANSYS EM Desktop Products

Aborting an Analysis

Workarounds for LSF

l Some users reported 'core' dumps during ANSYS Electronics Desktop analysis, though
analysis results are fine. Workaround: Limit size of core dumps to 0 through the following job

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submit option:
bsub -C 0 -n <number-of-cores> -q <queue-name>

Note Letter 'C' must be upper-case

Related Topics

Integration with Platform's Load Sharing Facility (LSF)

Integration with PBS (Portable Batch System)

The PBSPro and PBS/Torque schedulers are only supported on Linux. Jobs may be submitted in
any of the following ways:

l Job Submission GUI

l Using PBS commands (qsub, etc.) or the PBS gui (xpbs)

See the ANSYS Electromagnetics Suite 19.0 Unix/Linux Installation Guide for additional
information on supported schedulers.

Selecting the Scheduler for the Job Submission GUI

Before launching the product, the environment should be set for submitting a job to the scheduler.
You select the PBS scheduler using the Select Scheduler dialog box. Click Tools >Job
Management>Select Scheduler to display the Select Scheduler dialog box.

You access the Scheduler User Interface by clicking Tools>Job Management>Select

Scheduler...

Before you can use Submit Job, you must click Select Scheduler as the one-time initial step.
This opens the Select Scheduler dialog.

You then select “pbs” from the menu, and the software detects and reports whether PBSPro or
PBS/Torque scheduler is configured, as shown below:

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Pressing the “Refresh” button connects to the scheduler and loads information from the scheduler,
including the variant (PBSPro or PBS/Torque) and version information.

The image below shows the data displayed for PBSPro:

The image below shows the data displayed for PBS/Torque:

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Related Topics

Job Management User Interface for PBS

Compute Resource Selection Parameters for PBS

Non Standard Installations for PBS

Limitations on Submitting Jobs in PBS

General PBS Limitations

Monitor Job using Graphical Interface for PBS

Submitting ANSYS EM PBS Batch Jobs

qsub Arguments

Monitoring ANSYS Electronics Desktop PBS Batch Jobs

Example PBS qsub Command Lines

Job Management User Interface for PBS

After setting the job submission node, select Tools>Job Management>Submit Job... or
Project>Submit Job... or [ProductName]>Submit Job... to open the Submit Job To: dialog.
You can also access Submit Job from the shortcut menus for the Project Name, Design name, or
the Analysis Setup or Optimetrics Setup.

The Submit Job To: dialog: contains three tabs:

l Analysis Specification--specify the Product path, Project name, the setups, and analysis
options such as batchoptions, or, for advanced users, Environment variables. If you select
the Analysis or Optimetrics setup, the Analysis Specification is pre-populated.
l Compute Resources--this tab can be populated either by automatic settings, by
predefined Analysis Configuration, or specifying parameters in the fields for resource
selection, for job parallelization and enabled forms of parallelization.

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l Scheduler Options--contains fields for Job name and priority. The customization options
shown by checking advanced are not used for Windows HPC.

In the Analysis Specification tab, enter the pathnames of the product path and of the project file
in the “Project” edit box. These must be UNC paths that are accessible from each compute host
used for ANSYS Electromagnetics jobs. The submission user must have permission to write to the
directory containing the project file. The Project can be an archive. For Windows to Linux Job
submission, see Windows to Linux Job Submission.

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You can select which setups are analyzed in the Analyze Setups section of this dialog. There are
radio buttons to select:

l All setups in the project

l All setups in a specified design: you selects the design from the dropdown list
l Single setup:

If you specify multiple setups, they will be processed sequentially in the order displayed in the edit
box.

The Analysis options include:

l Monitor job. You must enable this option to monitor the job from the user interface.
l Wait for license- whether to wait until a license if available before starting a simulation.
l Batch options. You can optionally specify -Batchoptions in the text field. See detailed
discussion of -Batch Options beginning under Running ANSYS Electronics Desktop from a
Command Line.

The Add... button opens the Add Batchoption dialog.

This dialog provides access to all -Batchoption commands. The drop down menu lets you select
specific categories, and you can choose to display only frequently used commands. You can edit
and remove any batch options you specify.

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Select a Registry Key. in order to show the current Value for the type. The lower field explains the
meaning of the Type Value.

Any batchoptions for which you select Add will be visible in the Submit Job dialog.

If you have the Show advanced options box checked in the Submit Job dialog, the Environment
field and the Use batch extract fields display.

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The Environment field lets you specify any Environment variables. Click the ellipsis button [...] to
display the Additional Job Options dialog.

Click the Add... button to open the New Environment Variable dialog.

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Here you can provide a Variable name and Variable value. Click OK to display the Variable in the
Additional Job Options dialog. Select a Variable to enables the Remove and Edit... buttons. You
can also click Add Debug Environment Variables.

Any Variables that you add will be displayed in the Environment field of the Submit Job dialog, if
you have also enabled Show Advanced options.

Use Batch Extract for PBS

Selecting Show advanced options for PBS also show the Use batch extract fields.

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See the discussion on Running ANSYS Electronics Desktop from a Command line for a discussion
of the solve information available through batch extract.

The Preview Submission button opens a window that shows the text commands that will be sent
to the scheduler.

Compute Resource Selection for PBSPro and PBS/Torque

This section outlines how users will be able select compute resources for PBSPro and
PBS/Torque jobs using the GUI. Selections include:

l Use automatic settings. If you do not select this, you specify task and/or core parameters. If
you do, these task/core assignments are made automatically. HFSS, HFSS-IE, and HFSS
3D Layout have Use automatic settings selected by default.
l Resource selection parameters.
l Method - drop down list with selections for Number of tasks and cores, or Number of cores
and (optional) RAM, or Node List. Each method has a different set of associated
parameters.
l Task and Core parameters. The parameters offered depend on Method selection.
l RAM parameters
l Job distribution, including two level distribution setting.

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If you select Use automatic settings with the Number of Cores and (Optional) RAM, the
parameters include Total number of cores, exclusive usage option, and RAM parameters. HFSS,
HFSS-IE, and HFSS 3D Layout have Use automatic settings selected by default.

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Note If you select Use automatic settings with Num variations to distribute set to 1, Optimetrics
variations will be solved sequentially. Other distribution types will be distributed
automatically. It does distribute frequencies, domains, and use of multiple level domains. If
you set Num variations to distribute to 2 or more, Optimetrics variations will be solved in
parallel. Other distribution types will be distributed automatically.

If you select Use automatic settings and Number of Cores and (Optional) RAM, and do not select
Use RAM constraint, the text field is disabled

RAM Constraint and RAM Limit

If you check Use RAM Constraint, you can specify a GB RAM constraint. You can also specify a
RAM Limit as a percent.

In response to a set of minimal constraints, the Scheduler may increase the resources assigned
beyond the minimal values in order to meet the full set of requirements. Notice that a preview of the
Submit Job Results shows the number of resources assigned, and that the scheduler generated
code includes an MPI specification.

If you select Use automatic settings and Number of Nodes and Cores as the Method, the choices
are for Number of Nodes and Cores. In this Case, RAM Limit (%) is the only parameter.

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No User Specified Node List

If you do not specify the "Individual nodes” method, then the node list edit control is disabled. The
user must specify resource selection parameters for nodes, cores, and tasks, depending on the
method selected. If the server is the default server, then an attempt is made to determine if
sufficient resources to run the job are up and available to the job on the server before it is
submitted. If the server is the default server, and the queue is an execution queue, then an attempt
is made to determine if sufficient resources to run the job are up and available to the job in the
queue before the job is submitted. If either check fails, the job is not submitted and an error
message is returned. If the server is not the default server, then there are no checks for sufficient
resources before attempting to submit the job.

User Specified Node List for PBS

For PBSPro and PBS/Torque, a user specified explicit node list is supported when you select
Individual nodes method.

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With Individual nodes selected, then you may enter a list of nodes with the number of cores and
RAM limit percentage. In this case, the qsub command requests exclusive access to each of these
nodes for the job. If the server for the job is the default server, then the node names are validated
against the execution nodes for the default server. If any of the requested nodes are not available
for new jobs, then the job is not submitted and an error message is returned. If the specified (or
default) queue is an execution queue, and any of the requested nodes are not available to this
queue, then the job is not submitted and an error message is returned. If the server is not the
default server, then the node names are not validated by the scheduler proxy. The total number of
tasks and the cores per distributed task may not be specified in this case.

If you specify multiple individual nodes, you can use the Move Up and Move Down buttons to
control the order. Use the Remove button to delete the selected node.

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Scheduler Options tab for PBS

On the Scheduler options tab, you can specify a job name, and set a priority.

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Related Topics

Integration with PBS (Portable Batch System) Professional from Altair Engineering

Windows to Linux Job Submission

Compute Resource Selection Parameters for PBS

The user may specify the following compute resource selection parameters using the grid control in
the GUI:

l Queue
l QueueAtServer

These parameters are described in more detail below.

Queue

The user may select a queue for the job from the list of queues configured for the default server.
Only queues which are enabled and which do not have the from_route_only attribute set to true are
listed.

The image below shows the Compute Resource Selection Parameters dialog with no parameters
specified:

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The image below shows the user selecting the queue “batch” from a dropdown list containing all of
the queues available at the default server.

Either the Queue or the QueueAtServer parameter may be specified, but both may not be
specified. If neither the Queue parameter nor the QueueAtServer parameter is specified, then the
job is submitted to the default queue at the default server.

QueueAtServer

The user may specify a queue at the default server or at another server. The user may enter any
text into this field. The user may enter a string of format 1) queue_name, 2) @server_name, or 3)
queue_name@server_name. For the case 1, the job is submitted to the queue with name queue_
name at the default server. For case 2, the job is submitted to the default queue at the server with
name server_name. For case 3, the job is submitted to the queue with name queue_name at the
server with name server_name. The destination value of the -q destination option on the qsub
command line is the user specified string. This string will not be validated by the scheduler proxy
library.

The image below shows how to enter a destination in which only a queue is specified:

The image below shows how to enter a destination in which only a server is specified:

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The image below shows how to enter a destination in which both the queue and server are
specified:

Either the Queue or the QueueAtServer parameter may be specified, but both may not be
specified. If neither the Queue parameter nor the QueueAtServer parameter is specified, then the
job is submitted to the default queue at the default server.

Related Topics

Integration with PBS (Portable Batch System) Professional from Altair Engineering

Non Standard Installations for PBS

PBSPro

If the environment variable PBS_DEFAULT is set, then the value of this environment variable will
be used as the name of the default server, instead of obtaining the default server name from the
PBSPro configuration file. The default pathname of the PBSPro configuration file is /etc/pbs.conf.

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The environment variable PBS_CONF may be used to specify a different pathname for the
PBSPro configuration file.

PBS/Torque

If the environment variable PBS_DEFAULT is set, then the value of this environment variable will
be used as the name of the default server, instead of obtaining the default server name from the
PBS/Torque server file. The name of the PBS/Torque server file is server_name, and it is installed
in the TORQUEHOME directory. By default, TORQUEHOME is /var/spool/torque. To specify a
different TORQUEHOME directory, the environment variable ANSOFT_TORQUEHOME should
be set to the pathname of the desired directory.

Related Topics

Integration with PBS (Portable Batch System) Professional from Altair Engineering

Limitations on Submitting Jobs in PBS

This section outlines some of the limitations or restrictions when submitting jobs.

Submitting Jobs Via Ansoftrsmservice on a Different Host

Before starting the ansoftrsmsevice as a daemon on a job submission host, the 'Scheduler' section
of the ansoftrsmservice.cfg must be specified.

This section contains two settings, 'SchedulerName', which must be set the string 'pbs', and
'ConfigString', which must be set to the pathname of the directory containing the PBSPro or
PBS/Torque commands.

Here is an example ansoftrsmservice.cfg file, showing the format of this file and an example
'ConfigString' setting:
$begin 'AnsoftCOMDaemon'

$begin 'Managed COM Servers'

$end 'Managed COM Servers'

$begin 'Scheduler'

'SchedulerName'='pbs'

'ConfigString'='/share/pbs/default/bin'

$end 'Scheduler'

$end 'AnsoftCOMDaemon'

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General PBS Limitations

l There is no support for GPUs when submitting jobs via the GUI.
l Support for PBSPro and PBS/Torque is only available on Linux; Windows is not supported.
l Staging of input or output files is not supported for jobs submitted using the GUI.
l All jobs submitted via the GUI are independent jobs. Neither job dependencies nor job
arrays are supported.
l If the user specified server is not the default server, then there is no check for sufficient
resources before submitting the job.
l If the user specified server is not the default server, then the limit on the number of tasks per
node is ignored for both PBSPro and PBS/Torque. For PBS/Torque, only one task will be
allocated for each node. For PBSPro, the scheduler may allocate any number of tasks to a
node, provided that the node has sufficient cores for all of the tasks.
l For jobs submitted to a routing queue, the check for sufficient nodes and cores only verifies
that there are sufficient nodes and cores associated with the server.
l The queue attributes “resources_max” and “resources_min” are not checked when
determining whether there are adequate resources to run the job.

PBSPro Limitations

l The PATH in the submission user’s default environment must include the directory
containing the PBSPro commands.
l Failover is not supported.
l HPC Basic Profile Jobs are not supported.
l Globus vnodes are not supported. When checking for sufficient nodes and cores for the job,
only nodes of type PBS are considered.
l For jobs submitted to an execution queue, the only vnode attribute used to determine if a
vnode is available to the job is the “queue” attribute.

PBS/Torque Limitations

l When checking for sufficient nodes and cores for the job, only nodes of type cluster are
considered.
l The “exclusive” check box has no effect for PBS/Torque.
l For PBS/Torque, even if a job is submitted to an execution queue at the default server, there
is no check for sufficient nodes and cores available to the queue. All of the server’s execution
nodes are assumed to be available for the job.
l For PBS/Torque, there are significant limitations when submitting a job in which the number
of tasks and number of cores per task are specified. Unlike PBSPro, there is no capability to
specify that the cores should be allocated in “chunks”. Instead, the submission command
includes the number of groups of nodes and the number of processors per node (ppn) for
each node in the group. To determine the size of each group and the ppn setting for each
group, the server nodes are examined from largest number of cores to smallest. This may

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not be optimal because some of these nodes may not be usable by the queue specified for
the job, or because the nodes with the largest number of cores may be busy. Similar issues
could occur for PBSPro, but they should be less likely, because only the nodes usable by the
queue are considered.

Related Topics

Integration with PBS (Portable Batch System) Professional from Altair Engineering

Monitor Job using Graphical Interface for PBS

If you have checked the Monitor Job option on the Submit Job To dialog, AnalysisSpecification
tab, you can invoke the Monitor Job window by clicking Tools>Job Management>Monitor
Jobs... This dialog may also be brought up by checking the Begin monitoring this job now
check box when a job is successfully submitting using the job submission dialog. For more details,
see Monitor Jobs window.

Check boxes above the message field let you filter the messages to include/exclude Errors,
Warnings and Info. You can choose to Clear Progress Messages.

You can use check boxes at the lower left to Refresh manually, or automatically at a specified
interval.

You also have command buttons to perform a Clean Stop of a simulation between time steps, or
to Abort Job for a simulation.

Related Topics

Integration with PBS (Portable Batch System) Professional from Altair Engineering

Submitting ANSYS EM PBS Batch Jobs

The PBS qsub command may be used to submit ANSYS EM batch jobs. The typical command
format is:
qsub qsub_argsscript

where:

l qsub_args are the options of the qsub command,

l script is the pathname of the job script.

The job script is a shell script containing the ANSYS batch command or commands to be run. If a
batch command line contains any characters that are special to the shell running the script, then
these special characters should be quoted, as needed. The job script may also contain PBS
directives on lines before the first executable line of the script. Any qsub options on the command
line will take precedence over the PBS directives in the job script.

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When a PBS batch job is started, the job script runs as the job user in a new shell. In this shell
environment, the path must include the directory containing the PBS commands.

Note You should ensure that the PATH variable set in the shell startup script, i.e., .cshrc, .profile,
.bashrc, etc. includes the directory containing the PBS commands. For example:

export PATH=/opt/pbs/default/bin:$PATH

If the PATH variable is not set correctly, the job runs only locally, the batch log file shows
the list of allocated hosts as empty, and the error file shows an error (sh: qstat: command
not found.)

Further PBS directives need to be on top of the job script file. This is discussed in the PBS
documentation.

Serial PBS Batch Jobs

In the PBS documentation, serial batch jobs are also called single-node jobs. In general, any job
submitted without specifying the -l nodes=value command line argument, will run as a serial or
single-node job.

See the section on Monitoring ANSYS EM PBS Batch Jobs for options that can facilitate
monitoring of ANSYS Electromagnetics batch jobs.

Parallel PBS Batch Jobs

In the PBS documentation, parallel batch jobs are also called multi-node jobs. When an ANSYS
Electromagnetics batch job is run as an PBS parallel job, the PBS scheduler will select the hosts
for the distributed analysis job based on the qsub command line arguments, the PBS resource
directives from the job script, and the status of the hosts when the job is run. The desktop process
will be started on one of these hosts. The desktop process will obtain the list of hosts allocated to
the job from the PBS scheduler, and start analysis processes on these hosts, as needed, using the
PBS scheduler facilities. To run a PBS parallel job, the job must be submitted with a -l nodes=value
qsub command line argument or with a -l nodes=value PBS directive in the job script.

See the section on Monitoring ANSYS EM PBS Batch Jobs for options that can facilitate
monitoring of Ansoft batch jobs.

Related Topics

Monitoring ANSYS EM PBS Batch Jobs

Example PBS qsub Command Lines

What a Scheduler Does

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qsub Arguments

The PBS qsub command has a large number of options for control of the submission process. In
this section, we review the -l nodes=value command line option with Ansoft parallel batch jobs.

This option or directive has the following format:

-l nodes=node_spec [+node_spec...][#suffix]

where node_spec is one of the following

nodename[:pc_spec[:pc_spec...]]

Host name of the specified node, followed by optional ppn or cpp specifiers.
[N][:property[:property...]][:pc_spec[:pc_spec...]]

Optional number of nodes, followed by optional node properties, followed by optional ppn or
cpp specifiers. If the number N is omitted, then the default value of 1 host is used.

Here, the optional ppn or cpp specifiers pc_spec are of form:

ppn=X

Number of processes (tasks) per node. Default is 1 if not specified.

cpp=Y

Number of CPUs (threads) per process. Default is 1 if not specified.

The optional global suffix, #suffix, which applies to all hosts has one of the following values:
#excl

This suffix requests exclusive access to the allocated nodes.

#shared

This suffix requests shared (i.e., non-exclusive) access to the allocated nodes.

The total number of requested processes is determined by adding up the product of the number of
nodes and the number of processes per node for each node_spec. In general, this should match
the number of distributed engines specified in the ANSYS Electromagnetics desktop -Machinelist
num=num_distributed_engines command line option.

The number of CPUs per process (cpp) specified in the PBS qsub command line or in the PBS
directives in the script file should generally match the number of processors per engine specified in
the Desktop -batchoptions value.

See the PBS documentation for a complete list of options for the bsub command, and further
information on running multi-node jobs.

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Related Topics

Integration with PBS (Portable Batch System) Professional from Altair Engineering

Monitoring ANSYS Electronics Desktop PBS Batch Jobs

Example PBS qsub Command Lines

Monitor Job Using Graphical Interface for PBS

Monitoring ANSYS Electronics Desktop PBS Batch Jobs

The suggestions below may be used for ANSYS Electronics Desktop Batch jobs run under PBS.

PBS qstat Command

The PBS qstat command may be used to display information on jobs and queues. In this section,
several qstat command line options that may be used to monitor job progress are described.

The qstat -a command displays information about all jobs in the system.

The qstat -r command displays information about all running jobs in the system.

The qstat -s command resembles the qstat -r command; the only difference is that a comment
from the scheduler or batch administrator is also shown for each job.

The qstat -au userid command displays information about all jobs owned by user userid.

The qstat -f jobid command displays all available information about the job with id jobid.

See the PBS manual pages for more information.

ANSYS EM -monitor Command Line Option for PBS

The ANSYS EM -monitor command line option enables batch job output to the standard output
and standard error streams. The warning, info, and progress messages are sent to the standard
output stream. The error and fatal messages are sent to the standard error stream.

The PBS scheduler redirects the standard output and standard error streams of batch jobs to files
specified in the qsub -o [hostname:]pathname and the -e [hostname:]pathname command line
options, respectively. If either option is not specified, then the associated stream is redirected to the
default file pathname for that stream.

The qsub -j join option controls whether the standard error stream for the job will be merged with
the standard output stream for the job. A join value of oe indicates that the interleaved standard
output and standard error will be sent to the standard output file or stream. A join value of oe
indicates that the interleaved standard output and standard error will be sent to the standard error
file or stream. A join value of n indicates that the standard output and standard error streams will
not be joined. If the qsub -j join option is not specified, then the standard error and standard
output streams will not be joined.

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A user can monitor the progress of a job by checking the standard output file for progress, info and
warning messages, and checking the standard error file for error and fatal messages.

Related Topics

Integration with PBS (Portable Batch System) Professional from Altair Engineering

qsub Arguments

Example PBS qsub Command Lines

Monitor Job Using Graphical Interface for PBS

Example PBS qsub Command Lines

All of the following examples show how to submit Linux hfss jobs on PBS, but similar command
lines and job scripts will work for all ANSYS EM products. Most of the following examples are PBS
"Single-node jobs." The last example is a PBS "multi-node jobs"; this example demonstrates how
to specify the allocation of threads, tasks and nodes to a job.

Serial job:
qsub ~/pbs_scripts/OptimTee.sh

Job Script File:

#!/bin/sh

/opt/AnsysEM/AnsysEM19.0/ansysedt -ng -BatchSolve

~/projects/OptimTee.aedt

Serial job that needs a minimum of 4GB memory and two hours of real (wallclock) time:
qsub ~/pbs_scripts/OptimTee.sh

Job Script File:

#!/bin/sh

#PBS -l walltime=2:00:00

#PBS -l mem=4gb

/opt/AnsysEM/AnsysEM/ansysedt -ng -BatchSolve

~/projects/OptimTee.aedt

Multi-processing job using 4 cores:

qsub ~/pbs_scripts/OptimTee.sh

Job Script File:

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#!/bin/sh

#PBS -l ncpus=4

/opt/AnsysEM/AnsysEM19.0/ansysedt -ng -BatchSolve -batchoptions

-machinelist num=4

~/projects/OptimTee.aedt

l The #PBS -l ncpus=4 directive indicates that four cores or CPUs are allocated to this job.
l The -batchoptions option indicates that ANSYS Electronics Desktop should use four cores
for multi-processing.

Distributed processing job using 4 engines on a single host:

qsub ~/pbs_scripts/OptimTee.sh

Job Script File:

#!/bin/sh

#PBS -l ncpus=4

/opt/AnsysEM/AnsysEM19.0/ansysedt -ng -BatchSolve -Distributed -

machinelist num=4

~/projects/OptimTee.aedt

l The #PBS -l ncpus=4 directive indicates that four cores or CPUs are allocated to this job.
l The -Distributed option indicates that this is a DSO job, so that multiple engines will be
started. Because 4 cores are allocated to the job, the job will run 4 engines. The -Distributed
option may now have additional options, such as includetypes=xxx, excludetyeps=xxx,
maxlevels=n, and numlevel1=n, where n indicates and integer, and xxx indicates a list of
distribution types or "default".

Distributed processing and multi-processing job using 8 cores on two nodes, running 4
engines (two per node) with 2 cores for multi-processing:
qsub ~/pbs_scripts/OptimTee.sh

Job Script File:

#!/bin/sh

#PBS -l nodes=2:ppn=2:cpp=2#excl

/opt/AnsysEM/AnsysEM19.0/ansysedt -ng -BatchSolve -Distributed

-machinelist num=4 -batchoptions ~/projects/OptimTee.aedt

l The PBS directive #PBS -l nodes=2:ppn=1:cpp=2#shared indicates that two nodes are
requested [2], two processes (engines) run on each node [ppn=2], and each process will

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use two cores [cpp=2]. The hosts allocated to this job may not be used for any other jobs
while this job is running [#excl].
l The -machinelist num=4 option indicates that this is a DSO job and that a total of four
engines will be started. This option is required for all batch jobs.

Related Topics

Integration with PBS (Portable Batch System) Professional from Altair Engineering

qsub Arguments

Monitoring Ansoft PBS Batch Jobs

Monitor Job Using Graphical Interface for PBS

Example PBS qsub Command Lines

Integration with Grid Engine (GE)

Before Sun was acquired by Oracle, this job scheduler was an open source product, and it was
known as Sun Grid Engine (SGE). Since the acquisition, the product has been renamed Oracle
Grid Engine (OGE), and new versions are expected to be closed source versions. The Open Grid
Scheduler project hosted on SourceForge plans to continue maintaining an open source version.
Univa has taken over support of Oracle Grid Engine, and it is now called Univa Grid Engine. Any of
the versions may also be called Grid Engine (GE).

The Grid Engine scheduler is only supported on Linux. With GE, jobs may be submitted in any of
the following ways:

l Using SGE commands (qsub, etc.) or the SGE gui (qmon)

l Using the generic scheduler GUI in local mode
l Using the generic scheduler GUI in service mode

See the ANSYS Electromagnetics Suite 19.0 Unix/Linux Installation Guide for additional
information on supported schedulers.

ANSYS Electromagnetics products support Grid Engine (GE) for Serial analysis, Multi Processing
and Distributed Analysis. Models with parametric sweeps can use Large Scale DSO. With GE, the
ANSYS EM job doesn't require graphics. ANSYS EM job's progress can be monitored through
SGE commands or through the dialog opened through Tools>Job Management>Monitor
Jobs....

Besides the command line interface, you can also use a Job Management user interface to submit
jobs.

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Related Topics

Job Management User Interface for GE

Command Line Information for ANSYS EM Desktop Products

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Installation of ANSYS EM Tools on SGE

Windows:

Install on every node of cluster

Setup 'temp directory' to a path that is same on all nodes. For example, c:\temp

LINUX:

Install on a single node, on a shared drive.

Setup 'temp directory' to a path that is same on all nodes. For example, /tmp

Ensure that the product is available using the same path on all nodes

Permissions:

All users of the cluster should have read/write permissions to temp directory

All users should have read/execute permissions to installation directory

When a desktop scheduler GUI is run the same node as the job submission node, no other
configuration is necessary: installation is sufficient. You select the scheduler through the desktop
GUI. You need to ensure that scheduler commands are available in the path before you launch
desktop.

Note There is no need to install RSM unless the you are using the scheduler GUI on a post
processing node that is different than the than the job submission node. In this case, RSM
must be configured with the scheduler type and path.

A post processing nodes is a node in the cluster that can run the ANSYS Electromagnetics
desktop in graphical mode. A job submission node is a node in the cluster in which job
submission commands are available.

Turn OFF firewall between cluster nodes.

Scenario 1: The post-processing node and job-submission node roles are served by
distinct machines.

In this case, perform the following configuration:

The job-submission node should be configured to run RSM service, which serves as a proxy to
scheduler. The RSM Service should be running as 'root' in order to facilitate jobs running using the
credentials of the job's owner. A configuration file in the RSM installation folder should be
edited to specify information regarding the scheduler that manages jobs on this cluster. A block
labeled 'Scheduler' must be included within the 'AnsoftCOMDaemon' block. This block contains
two string entries:

l SchedulerName: this contains the unique part of the scheduler proxy library name
l ConfigString: this contains a scheduler specific configuration string

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The case of the SchedulerName string is significant on Linux because Linux file names are case
sensitive. The case of the SchedulerName string is not significant on Microsoft Windows. In
ANSYS Electromagnetics Suite 19.0, the possible scheduler names are: lsf and sge. The
ConfigString entry is a scheduler specific configuration string, described below.

In addition, the AnsoftRSMService must be started with appropriate environment variables set.
Generally, the environment variables must be set the same as they would be set for using the
scheduler via command lines.

SGE Details

For SGE, the ConfigString entry must contain the search path for the SGE commands. It may
contain a single directory, the directory containing the SGE commands. Alternatively, it may be a
path, with directories separated by the colon character ":", where the SGE command directory
appears before any other directory containing files with the same name as any SGE commands.

Example ansoftrsmservice.cfg configuration file:

$begin 'AnsoftCOMDaemon'

$begin 'Managed COM Servers'

$end 'Managed COM Servers'

$begin 'Scheduler'

'SchedulerName'='sge'

'ConfigString'='/opt/sge6.2u4/bin/lx24-amd64'

$end 'Scheduler'

$end 'AnsoftCOMDaemon'

Scenario 2: The post-processing node and job-submission node roles are served by the
same machine.

The Select Scheduler... command (as described in the Job Management User Interface for SGE
section) is used to gather details about the scheduler. In this case, the Desktop process should be
started in an environment suitable for submitting jobs to the scheduler.

The environment should be configured so that all SGE commands are found using the standard
search path. In particular, search for the following commands in the search path should result in the
SGE command being found: "qsub", "qdel", "qstat", and "qconf". No other command with the same
name should appear before the SGE command in the search path.

Related Topics

Job Management User Interface for SGE

Command Line Information for ANSYS EM Desktop Products

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Job Management User Interface for GE

The Job Management UI is accessed by running ANSYS Electromagnetics product Desktop on

the designated 'Postprocessing node' of the cluster. The Desktop provides UI commands for
Scheduler selection, Job submission and Job monitoring/control. You access the Scheduler User
Interface by clicking Tools>Job Management>Select Scheduler.

Before you can use Submit Job, you must click Select Scheduler as the one-time initial step.This
opens the Select Scheduler dialog.

Specify the following parameters:

l Job submission node: this is the node on the cluster where scheduler commands (such as
SGE's qsub) are allowed to run.

Choose Use this computer if scheduler commands are enabled on the post-processing node.

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Choose Use a computer on network if the cluster is configured in a manner as to disallow

job-submission from the post-processing node. Specify node name appropriately. If you select
the radio button “Use a computer on the network,” then you may enter a username and
password. This username and password are used when the job is submitted to the Linux
scheduler. See Windows to Linux Job Submission.

Pre-requisites: For this choice to work, the job-submission node must already be configured
with a running RSM service, as documented in Installation of ANSYS EM Tools on GE.

l Scheduler: Available choices, depending on your installations, are: RSM, lsf, Windows
HPC, and GE. It is also possible for you to integrate their custom scheduler into this UI,
through a scheduler proxy. When this is done, more choices will be available in the combo-
box, one per custom scheduler proxy that is deployed in the installation

After specifying the job submission node, you can click Refresh. The scheduler information is then
listed in the Scheduler info text field.

Once you select a scheduler, you can access the interface for job submission, monitoring and
control. For more details on monitoring, see Monitor Jobs window. Click OK to close the dialog.

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After setting the job submission node, select Tools>Job Management>Submit Job... or
Project>Submit Job... or [ProductName]>Submit Job... to open the Submit Job To: dialog.
You can also access Submit Job from the shortcut menus for the Project Name, Design name, or
the Analysis Setup or Optimetrics Setup.

The Submit Job To: dialog: contains three tabs:

l Analysis Specification--specify the Product path, Project name, the setups, and analysis
options such as batchoptions, or, for advanced users, Environment variables. If you select
the Analysis or Optimetrics setup, the Analysis Specification is pre-populated.
l The Compute Resources tab specifies whether to use automatic settings (if available for
the design type), and how to select specific resources from the available pool (for example,
ParallelEnvironment is an SGE parameter).
l The Scheduler Options tab has analysis-independent parameters specific to the job, such
as name, priority.

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This command launches a multi-tab dialog.

Analysis Specification tab for GE

This tab lets you specify the following:

Product Path:

You can specify the product path.

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Project:

You can use the ellipsis button [...] to use a navigation window to browse. The path should be
visible to all nodes in the cluster. The Project can be an archive.

In the case of Windows to Linux submission, you also specify a Linux path. See Windows to Linux
Job Submission.

Analysis Setups:

Specify All setups in the project, all in a design, or a single setup. If the setup includes a
parametric sweep, the Use large scale DSO check box is enabled.

Analysis Options:

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l You have check boxes for whether to Monitor Job through the GUI, and whether to Wait for
license.
l You can also specify Batchoptions. Click the Add... button to open a dialog for selecting the
Batchoptions.

The lower Value field shows the legal values for the selected registry key. You can type the
desired value into the upper text field under value. Click the Add button to accept the selection
of the registry key with the specified value. Click Done to close the Add Batchoption dialog.

At the upper left, a drop down menu lets you specify which registry key categories to display,
whether All, or selected category.

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A check box lets you choose between displaying only frequently used entries (the default), or by
unchecking, all options available for the selected group.

Note that for Large Scale DSO problems, you also have the option to specify predefined
configurations.

The added registry keys and values are listed in the Batchoptions field of the Submit Job
dialog.

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Selecting from the list enables buttons for removing or editing registry key values. Selecting a
registry key and clicking Edit... opens the Edit Batchoptions dialog.

Here you can edit the Value field and update the value for the selected registry key.

Environment

If you check the Show advanced options check box, you can see the Environment field. This
permits specifying Environment Variables.

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Click the ellipsis button [...] by the Environment field to open the Additional Job Options
dialog.

The Add button permits you to specify your environment variables. Once, added, you can select
Remove or Edit. The Add Debug Environment Variables button adds variables of use in
working with support.

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l The Save Settings as Default button lets you save a current set of values as defaults the
next time you invoke the Scheduler GUI. This can simplify subsequent job submissions.

Use Batch Extract for Grid Engine

Selecting Show advanced options for Grid Engine also show the Use batch extract fields.

See the discussion on Running ANSYS Electronics Desktop from a Command line for a discussion
of the solve information available through batch extract.

Compute Resources Specification Tab

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This tab lets you provide Resource selection and Job parallelization parameters. Once you have
specified parameters, you can Save Settings as Defaults, Preview a Submission, and Submit a
job.

This tab lets you provide Resource selection and Job parallelization parameters. You can elect to
Use automatic settings for job distribution, specify a Method and resource selection parameters,
or job distribution parameters. HFSS, HFSS-IE, and HFSS 3D Layout have Use automatic
settings selected by default.

Note If you select Use automatic settings with Num variations to distribute set to 1, Optimetrics
variations will be solved sequentially. Other distribution types will be distributed
automatically. It does distribute frequencies, domains, and use of multiple level domains. If
you set Num variations to distribute to 2 or more, Optimetrics variations will be solved in
parallel. Other distribution types will be distributed automatically.

You can also uncheck Use Automatic settings. Doing so requires you to also specify Cores per
distributed task and enables the Job distribution fields.

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Resource Selection:

If you do not specify parameters for resource selection, GE may submit jobs to any machine in the
entire pool that is available.

l Resource selection parameters.

Clicking the ellipsis button [...] opens a dialog for parameters specific to GE, in this case,
ParallelEnvironment. The Specify Parameter check box in the dialog enables a parameter,
and you can select the Value for the ParallelEnvironment parameter from a drop down menu.

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If you don't specify a parameter, the scheduler handles the situation.

l Specify node list

Checking Specify node list enables the field for specifying a node list. In a computing
environment where the available cores are not uniform, you can use this to have control over
which resources your job will use. If your Analysis configuration contains a node list, you can
use Populate this Page from Analysis Configuration.

Memory resource behavior is dependent on the Grid Engine version as well as the particular
scheduler settings. The output of the “qconf -sc” command shows all of the complexes available to
the Grid Engine schedulers. For a complex to be considered valid for memory resource selection, it
must be of type “MEMORY”, have relop “<=”, be request-able (could be “forced” as well, instead of
“YES”), and be consumable. At least one valid memory complex must be available to submit jobs
using the Automatic Cores and RAM method.

Univa 8.3 introduced a new column to the complexes listing. For Univa 8.3 and later, there is an
additional column for whether resources are available to a preempting job after preemption of a
running job. It is up to the cluster administrator to determine the appropriate Available After Pre-
Emption (aapre) setting for memory complexes. This setting is ignored for memory complex
validation.

Determining the correct memory complex by default is error-prone. Because the correct choice of
memory complex can vary from cluster to cluster, the memory complex selection is now exposed
by default under the compute resource selection parameters, allowing the user to make the
selection without having to set an environment variable. Only complexes that have been validated
(meeting the requirements specified above) can be selected. The cluster administrator (or
someone who has knowledge of the specifics of the cluster in use) should be able to determine the
correct memory complex to use for ANSYS Electronics jobs. To disable exposure of this selection
option, the following environment variable can be set to “0”:

ANSOFT_SGE_ENABLE_MEM_RES_ATTRIB

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Method

For the Method, use the drop down to select Number of Cores and (Optional RAM) or Number of
Nodes and Cores.

Total Number of Cores

You can specify a Total number of cores, and whether the Nodes are exclusive to the job.

RAM Constraint and RAM Limit

If you check Use RAM Constraint, you can specify a GB RAM constraint. You can also specify a
RAM Limit as a percent.

In response to a set of minimal constraints, the Scheduler may increase the resources assigned
beyond the minimal values in order to meet the full set of requirements. Notice that a preview of the
Submit Job Results shows the number of resources assigned, and that the scheduler generated
code includes an MPI specification.

Job Distribution

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l Enabled types, such as Variations, Frequencies, Transient Excitations, Solver Domains,

Direct Solver and Iterative Solver.
l Two level distribution, which may be disabled. Click the Modify button to display the Job
Distribution dialog.

Enabled Distribution types can be modified here.

Second level distribution operates within DSO. If available and enabled you can specify a number
of engines for level 1.

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In response to a set of minimal constraints, the Scheduler may increase the resources assigned
beyond the minimal values in order to meet the full set of requirements. For example, if you specify
7 distributed engines, with two processors per engine, and also limit the number of engines per
node to 4, the scheduler may increase the number of cores used in order to meet the limit specified
for engines per node. Notice that a preview of the Submit Job Results shows the number of
resources assigned, and that the scheduler generated code includes an MPI specification.

Preview submission

This opens a screen showing the qsub command to be used to submit the job.

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Submit job actually sends the batch command to the SGE cluster. A dialog reports a successful
submit and presents a check box for monitoring.

Scheduler Options Tab

This tab lets you give Job name and Priority.

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If you check Show advanced options, you can also specify Job submission options.

When the "Override job submission" radio button is checked, the user specified options replace
most of the job submission options, whereas when the "Additional job submission options" radio
button is checked, the user specified options are appended to the bsub command.

Text in the enabled field is appended to the bsub command. You can see the effects of any custom
additions by clicking Preview Submission.

You continue to have the Save Settings As Default, Preview Submission, and Submit Job
buttons.

Related Topics

Integrated Job Monitoring for Job Management Interface for SGE

Scheduler Proxy Interfaces

Windows to Linux Job Submission

Integrated Job Monitoring for Job Management Interface for GE

The job monitoring/control dialog is launched through the command Tools>Job

Management>Monitor Jobs... or by checking Begin monitoring this job now in the
information window reporting successful job submission.

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For more details, see Monitor Jobs window.

In this dialog, user selects the same project they submitted. You begin by selecting the job to
monitor from a pull down list of recent jobs.

The format of the text is essentially same as output of the '-monitor' command-line option.

Related Topics

Scheduler Proxy Interfaces

Job Management User Interface for GE

SGE Commands for Information About Jobs and Cluster Configuration

The following SGE commands are especially useful for getting information about the cluster
configuration or for getting information about running or completed jobs. This list only contains a
few of the most common commands. Consult the SGE man pages for a complete list and more
details.

qconf -help: The first line displays the SGE version

qacct -j job-id : Displays a log of the completed job with id job-id (if accounting is enabled)

qstat -j job-id : Displays a log of the running job with id job-id

qconf -sc: Show all complex attributes

qconf -spl: Show a list of all parallel environments

qconf -sp pe-name : Show details of parallel environment named pe-name

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qconf -sql: Show a list of all queues

qconf -sq queue-name : Show details of queue named queue-name

qconf -sconf: Show configurations

Submitting ANSYS EM SGE Batch Jobs via the Command Line

The SGE qsub command may be used to submit ANSYS EM jobs. Typical command formats are:
qsub qsub_argsansysEM_exeansys_args

qsub qsub_argsjob_script

qsub qsub_args[ -]

where:

l qsub_args are the options of the qsub command,

l ansysEM_exe is the pathname of the ANSYS EM tool executable to launch,
l ansys_args are the arguments to the Ansoft tool command, and
l job_script is a shell script containing the ANSYS Electromagnetics desktop command to run.

In the first format, the ANSYS EM desktop command and its arguments are specified on the qsub
command line. In the second format, the pathname of a shell script containing the ANSYS EM
desktop command and its arguments is specified on the qsub command line. In the third format,
the command is omitted or replaced with a hyphen; this indicates that the command or script will be
taken from stdin.

Quoting ANSYS EM Command or Arguments for SGE

If the ANSYS EM tool executable pathname (ansysEM_exe) or any of the arguments of the
ANSYS EM tool command (ansysEM_args) contain characters which are interpreted by the
command shell, then these special characters must be properly quoted to ensure that the correct
command is launched by SGE. This is especially important when using the first form of the qsub
command, as the ANSYS EM desktop command is processed by the shell twice in this case. It is
processed by the shell when the qsub command is processed, and again when the job is started.

Serial SGE Batch Jobs

In general, ANSYS EM batch jobs may be submitted as SGE serial jobs without any special
considerations.

See Monitoring ANSYS EM SGE Batch Jobs for options for monitoring ANSYS EM batch jobs.

Parallel SGE Batch Jobs

When an ANSYS EM batch job is run as an SGE parallel job, the SGE scheduler will select the
hosts for the distributed analysis job, and start the desktop process on one of these hosts. The
desktop process will obtain the list of hosts from the SGE scheduler, and start analysis processes,

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as needed, using the SGE scheduler facilities. To run an SGE parallel job, the job must be
submitted to an SGE parallel environment (PE).

If the qmaster tcp port is not configured as a service, but rather via the environment variable SGE_
QMASTER_PORT, this variable must be set in the ANSYS EM batch job environment. This is
needed because the ANSOFT EM desktop uses the "qrsh -inherit" command to launch engine
processes.

See Monitoring ANSYS EM SGE Batch Jobs for options for monitoring Ansoft batch jobs.

Setting Up an SGE Parallel Environment (PE)

To allow ANSYS EM batch jobs to distribute analysis engines to multiple hosts, the job must be run
in a parallel environment (PE) in which the control_slaves parameter is set to TRUE. This setting is
required to allow the ANSYS EM desktop to start analysis engines on hosts other than the local
host, i.e., the host where the ANSYS EM desktop is running.

Here is a sample parallel environment configuration:

pe_name ans_test1

slots 999

user_lists NONE

xuser_lists NONE

start_proc_args /bin/true

stop_proc_args /bin/true

allocation_rule $round_robin

control_slaves TRUE

job_is_first_task FALSE

urgency_slots min

accounting_summary TRUE

The user_lists and xuser_lists parameters are ACLs (access control lists) used to control which
users have permission to use the parallel environment. The user_lists setting gives permission to
use the PE. The xuser_lists setting denies permission to use the parallel environment. The xuser_
lists settings override the user_lists settings.

The start_proc_args and stop_proc_args parameters contain the pathname and arguments for the
parallel environment startup and shutdown scripts. No startup or shutdown scripts are needed for
parallel ANSYS Electromagnetics batch jobs. The setting /bin/true may be used as the value for
these scripts; this utility does nothing and returns an exit code indicating success (0).

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The parallel environment allocation_rule parameter will affect how the analysis engine tasks are
distributed across the hosts allocated to the job. The $round_robin setting distributes the tasks
across the hosts in a round robin fashion, resulting in the load being relatively evenly distributed
over all of the hosts. The $fill_up setting allocates all slots on a host before distributing the tasks to
another host; the result is that most hosts are either fully utilized or completely unused. See the
sge_pe man page for other settings for this parameter.

The control_slaves parameter must be set to TRUE, as described above.

The job_is_first_task parameter also affects how tasks are allocated. When submitting a job to run
in a parallel environment, the number of parallel tasks, n, is specified on the command line. If this
setting is TRUE, then the job process is considered one of the tasks, and only (n-1) additional tasks
are allocated to the job. If the setting is FALSE, then the job process is not considered to be one of
the tasks, and n additional tasks are allocated for the job.

See the sge_pe man page for more information about these and other PE parameters.

A parallel environment does not run tasks directly. Instead, the tasks are distributed to queues
associated with the parallel environment. In order to complete the setup of a parallel environment,
one or more queues need to be associated with the parallel environment. The queue pe_list
parameter is used to specify the parallel environments (PEs) supported by the queue. This is an
important step; if no queues support a given PE, then jobs submitted to that PE will not
run.

Parallel Batch Job Command Line Considerations

The number of engines run on a host will depend on the total number of distributed engines, and
the number of hosts allocated to the job. The memory required on a host depends on the number of
engines running on the host and on the memory needed for each engine. The qsub command -l
resource=value,... or -q queue_list >command line options specify that the parallel batch job run
on machines with sufficient memory and other resources.

Related Topics

Monitoring ANSYS EM SGE Batch Jobs

ANSYS Electromagnetics desktop -monitor Command Line Option for SGE

Example SGE qsub Command Lines

Issue with qrsh (SGE)

Issue with MainWin Core Services for SGE

What a Scheduler Does

Recommended Practices for SGE Clusters

Scheduler Proxy Interfaces

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Monitoring ANSYS EM SGE Batch Jobs

The suggestions below may be used for SGE serial jobs and for SGE parallel jobs.

SGE qstat Command

The SGE qstat command may be used to display information on jobs and queues. If the -j [job_list]
option is included, then information on jobs is displayed. If the -j [job_list] option includes a job list,
then the displayed information is limited to the jobs in the job list.

The -uuser,... option limits the output to jobs associated with users in the user list. If the -uuser,...
option is not specified, then information on queues or jobs of the current user are displayed.

The -t option displays extended information about the subtasks of each displayed job. This is
equivalent to the -g t option. The -r option displays extended information about the resource
requirements of the displayed jobs.

See the SGE manual pages for more information.

Related Topics

Integration with Sun Grid Engine (SGE)

Job Management User Interface for SGE

Integrated Job Monitoring for Job Management Interface for SGE

ANSYS Electromagnetics desktop -monitor Command Line Option for SGE

Example SGE qsub Command Lines

Issue with qrsh (SGE)

Issue with MainWin Core Services for SGE

ANSYS EM Desktop -monitor Command Line Option for SGE

The -monitor command line option enables batch job output to the standard output and standard
error streams. The warning, info, and progress messages are sent to the standard output stream.
The error and fatal messages are sent to the standard error stream.

The SGE scheduler redirects the standard output and standard error streams of batch jobs to files
specified in the qsub -o [[hostname]:]path,... and the -e [[hostname]:]path,... command line
options, respectively. If either option is not specified, then the associated stream is redirected to the
default file pathname.

The qsub -j y[es] | n[o] controls whether the standard output and standard error streams are
merged. If the y or yes value is specified, then the standard error stream is merged into the
standard output stream. If the -e host_and_path option is also specified in this case, the host_and_

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path setting is ignored. If the n or no value is specified, or if this option is not specified, then the
standard error stream and standard output stream are not merged.

You can monitor the progress of a job by checking the standard output file for progress, info and
warning messages, and checking the standard error file for error and fatal messages.

Related Topics

Integration with Sun Grid Engine (SGE)

Monitoring ANSYS EM SGE Batch Jobs

Example SGE qsub Command Lines

Recommended Practices for SGE Clusters

Issue with qrsh (SGE)

Issue with MainWin Core Services for SGE

Example SGE qsub Command Lines

All of the following examples show how to submit Linux HFSS jobs on SGE, but similar command
lines will work for all ANSYS Electromagnetics products.

Serial job using command line:

qsub -b y /opt/AnsysEM/AnsysEM19.0/ansysedt -ng -BatchSolve
~/projects/OptimTee.aedt

l The -b y option indicates that hfss is launched directly from the command line, instead of
using a script.
l No queue is specified, so the default queue will be used

Serial job with a hard runtime limit of 15 minutes:

qsub -b y -l h_rt=00:15:00 /opt/AnsysEM/AnsysEM19.0/ansysedt
-ng -BatchSolve ~/projects/OptimTee.aedt

l The -l h_rt=00:15:00 option indicates that this job has a "hard" runtime limit of 15 minutes.

Serial job using a script, with a runtime limit specified in the script:
qsub ~/sge/scripts/OptimTee.csh

l The -b y option is absent, so the script ~/sge/scripts/OptimTee.csh will be run when the job
starts.
l The script file OptimTee.csh may contain SGE directives in addition to the command(s) to
run. In this example, a directive with a hard runtime limit if 15 minutes is included in the script.

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Script file contents:

#!/bin/csh

#$ -l h_rt=00:15:00

/opt/AnsysEM/AnsysEM19.0/ansysedt -ng -BatchSolve

~/projects/OptimTee.aedt

l The SGE directive #$ -l h_rt=00:15:00 is equivalent to including -l h_rt=00:15:00 on the qsub
command line.

Distributed processing job using 4 engines:

qsub -b y -pe pe1 4 /opt/AnsysEM/AnsysEM19.0/ansysedt
-ng -BatchSolve -Distributed -machinelist num=4
~/projects/OptimTee.aedt

l The -b y option indicates that hfss is launched directly from the command line, instead of
using a script.
l The -pe pe1 4 command_line option indicates that this is a parallel job running under the
pe1 parallel environment, and that 4 cores or processors are allocated to this parallel job.
l The "-machinelist num=n" option is now required for batch jobs.
l The -Distributed option indicates that this is a DSO job, so that multiple engines will be
started. Because 4 cores are allocated to the job, the job will run 4 engines. The -Distributed
option may now have additional options, such as includetypes=xxx, excludetypes=xxx,
maxlevels=n, and numlevel1=n, where n indicates and integer, and xxx indicates a list of
distribution types or "default".

Related Topics

Integration with Sun Grid Engine (SGE)

Monitoring ANSYS Electromagnetics Suite SGE Batch Jobs

ANSYS Electromagnetics desktop -monitor Command Line Option for SGE

Recommended Practices for SGE Clusters

Issue with qrsh (SGE)

Issue with MainWin Core Services for SGE

Recommended Practices for GE Clusters

The following subsections contain recommendations on how to set up an GE cluster for efficiently
running ANSYS Electromagnetics Suite serial and parallel jobs. These recommendations require
the cluster administrator to make configuration changes.

Submitting Exclusive Jobs

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Consumable Memory Limits

Serial Jobs in SGE

Parallel Jobs in SGE

Using Multithreading with Parallel Jobs

Submitting Exclusive Jobs

In many cases, clusters are used to run "large" ANSYS Electromagnetics Suite batch jobs. That is,
these are jobs that may require a large quantity of resources, such as processors, memory, disk
space, or run time. One way to ensure that the resources needed by the batch job are available to
the job is to run the job in an "exclusive" mode. That is, any host running the job is not available for
use by any other jobs. There is no GE built in mechanism for specifying that a job is "exclusive". GE
is extensible, and it is not difficult to configure the cluster to allow exclusive jobs. The steps below
show one way to do this. This example requires GE 6.2u3 or later. Note that specifying a job as
"exclusive" may delay the start of the job if there are not enough hosts available to run the job
exclusively.

1. Use the command qconf -mc to add a new complex to the table of complexes.
Recommended attributes are:
l name : exclusive
l shortcut : excl
l type : BOOL
l relop : EXCL
l requestable : YES
l consumable : YES
l default : 0
l urgency : 0
2. Set the value of "exclusive" to TRUE for each execution host using the command qconf -me
hostname, where hostname is the name of the host. The values of all host configuration
parameters may be displayed using the command qconf -se hostname. The "complex_
values" line should look similar to:

complex_values exclusive=TRUE, but other values may also be included.

3. When submitting a job, the job will be "exclusive" if the value "excl" is included in the resource
list specified by the qsub -l option. If the resource list does not include "excl" then the job will
not be exclusive, and other jobs may run on the same host or hosts as this job.
4. Example qsub command line for exclusive serial job:
qsub -b y -l excl /opt/AnsysEM/AnsysEM19.0/ansysedt -ng -BatchSolve
-machinelist num=1 ~/projects/OptimTee.aedt.

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Although serial jobs use only one slot, no other jobs will run on the host where this job is running,
even if additional slots are present.

5. Example qsub command line for exclusive parallel job using eight engines, each using a
single thread of execution:
qsub -b y -l excl -pe pe1 8 /opt/AnsysEM/AnsysEM19.0/ansysedt -ng -
BatchSolve -Distributed -machinelist num=8 ~/projects/OptimTee.aedt

None of the hosts used for this job will be allowed to run other jobs while this job is running.

Consumable Memory Limits

GE contains several built-in complexes related to memory, including mem_total, for example, but
none of these are "consumable". If a job is submitted with resource list including one of these non-
consumable memory complexes (such as mem_total), then the job will run on a host or hosts only if
sufficient memory is available. If a second job is submitted, the memory request for the second job
is compared to the original total when determining if the job may run on a host. This may result in
both jobs running out of memory. For example, if host A has mem_total=16G of memory, and two
jobs are submitting with option "-l mt=16G", then both jobs could run on host A, if sufficient slots are
available on host A.

GE allows complexes to be "consumable" to avoid this type of problem. If a complex is consumable

and a job requests x amount of the complex in the -l resource list, then the available amount of the
resource is decreased by x for subsequent jobs. For the same example as above, if the mem_total
complex was consumable, then the first job would run on host A. This would decrease the available
mem_total from 16G to 16G-16G = 0. The second job could not run on host A because there is no
memory available for this job.

We do not recommend changing the behavior of the built-in complexes (such as mem_total)
because other scripts may expect normal behavior of the built-in complexes.

Note Recent versions of UGE (Univa Grid Engine) come with "m_mem_free" and "mem_free"
complexes already configured, and if so then there is no more configuration required. You
can just use mem_free when per-host memory request is desired, and m_mem_free when
per-core (per-slot really) memory request is desired. SGE may already have "mem_free"
which can be used for per-host memory request.

Below shows how to configure the mem_free consumable resource.

Recommended attributes are:

l name : mem_free
l shortcut : mf
l type : MEMORY
l relop : <=
l requestable : YES

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l consumable : YES
l default : 0
l urgency : 0

Note ANSYS Electronics Desktop has the capability in auto cores and RAM to automatically
select the memory complex (if one is available) and create this command line option for the
user, if you check the "Use RAM constraint" and enter a non-zero amount of GB to use per
core.

Serial Jobs in GE

If a serial job is submitted with the option -l phys_mem=mem_neededincluded, then the job may
only run on a host in which the remaining physical_memory is equal to or greater than the mem_
neededvalue.

Example 1: Host A has physical_memory=16G, and host B has physical_memory=8G. If mem_

neededis 8G, the job may run on either host A or host B. If mem_neededis 16G, then the job may
only run on host A.

Example 2: Host A has physical_memory=16G, and host B has physical_memory=8G. Job 1 is

already running on host A, and it was submitted with option -l phys_mem=8G. If job 2 is submitted
with option -l phys_mem=16G, then job 2 cannot start until job 1 finishes, because only host A has
16GB of physical_memory. If job 2 is submitted with option -l phys_mem=8G, then job 2 may start
immediately, and run on either host A or host B, because both hosts have 8G of physical_memory
remaining.

Parallel Jobs in GE

Because the consumable setting for physical_memory is YES (and not JOB), each slot of the job
requires a physical_memory of mem_needed. The number of slots on a host assigned to the job is
limited by the number of available slots on the host. It is also limited by the physical_memory
available on the host; the number of slots assigned to the job cannot exceed the available physical_
memory on the host divided by the mem_neededspecification.

Example 1: Execution host A and execution host B both have 4 slots per host (configured in the
queue associated with the parallel environment). Host A has physical_memory=16G and host B
has physical_memory=8G (shown by commands qconf -se Aand qconf -se B). If a a job is
submitted that requires 6 slots and 4G per slot, it will be able to run, with 4 slots on host A and 2
slots on host B. The qsub command might look like: qsub -l phys_mem=4G -pe pe_name 6
command args

Example 2: Same as example 1, except that 7 slots are requested. In this case, the job will never
run. Although there are 8 slots available on hosts A and B, only two of the slots on host B are
usable by this job because it only has physical_memory of 8G. With only 6 slots total available to
this job (4 on host A and 2 on host B), the job can not start. In this case the command might look
like: qsub -l phys_mem=4G -pe pe_name 7 command args

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Using Multithreading with Parallel Jobs

For large jobs it may be useful to combine multiprocessing with distributed processing. Distributed
processing refers to starting multiple processes, in which each process performs a portion of the
analysis. These processes may run on the same host or on different hosts. The number of
processes running at the same time is known as the number of "analysis engines". Multiprocessing
refers to using multiple threads within a single process to decrease the run time of the process.
Multiprocessing may also be called multi-threaded processing.

As a concrete example of combining multiprocessing with distributed processing, an analysis could

run with four engines, where each engine uses two threads. In order to distribute the processing
load so that no processor is overloaded, one slot is generally allocated per thread, so 8 slots would
be needed for this example (4 engines * 2 threads per engine = 8 threads). The four engines could
all run on a single host, or they could be distributed across 2, 3 or 4 hosts, depending on available
slots. Each engine represents a single process, so the two slots for each engine must be allocated
on the same host.

This section describes how to set up a GE cluster so that a specified number of slots per host may
be requested when a job is submitted. This procedure will require the cluster administrator
privileges. This capability may be used to submit parallel jobs in which one engine runs on each
host, and the number of slots per host matches the number of threads used by each engine.

1. Let n be the largest number of slots available on any host used for the jobs. Create a
separate parallel environment for each value of the number of slots per host from 1 to n. For
example, pe_sph1 is a parallel environment in which one slot is allocated to the job per host,
and pe_sph2 is a parallel environment in which two slots are allocated to the job per host,
etc. The command qconf -ap pe_name may be used to create each new parallel
environment. The allocation_rule parameter should be set to the number of slots per host, an
integer from 1 to n. The control_slaves parameter should be set to TRUE, as described
above. The slots parameter should be set to the maximum number of slots managed by this
parallel_environment, which is typically set to a large number, such as 999. The other
parameters should be set to values appropriate for the cluster. For example, the pe_sph2
parallel environment might have the following parameters:
l pe_name : pe_sph2
l slots : 999
l user_lists : NONE
l xuser_lists : NONE
l start_proc_args : /bin/true
l stop_proc_args : /bin/true
l allocation_rule : 2
l control_slaves : TRUE
l job_is_first_task : FALSE

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l urgency_slots : min
l accounting_summary : TRUE
2. When submitting a job, use the parallel environment where the slots per host matches the
number of threads per engine.

The batchoptions setting -machinelist num=n is required. This should be set to match the number
of slots per host. With any analysis, a portion of the analysis may not be distributed across multiple
engines.

Example qsub command line for running distributed processing with four engines and
multiprocessing with two threads per engine:
qsub -V -b y -pe pe_sph2 8 "/opt/AnsysEM/AnsysEM19.0/ansysedt -ng -
BatchSolve -Distributed -machinelist num=4 -batchoptions
"projects/OptimTee.aedt"

The -Voption indicates that the all environment variables in the submission environment should be
copied to the job environment.

l The -b y option indicates that hfss is launched directly from the command line, instead of
using a script.
l The -pe sph2 8 command_line option indicates that this is a parallel job running under the
pe_sph2parallel environment so that two slots are allocated to this job from each host, and
that 8 slots in total are allocated to this parallel job.
l The -Distributed option indicates that this is a DSO job, so that multiple engines will be
started. The -Distributed option may now have additional options, such as includetypes=xxx,
excludetypes=xxx, maxlevels=n, and numlevel1=n, where n indicates and integer, and xxx
indicates a list of distribution types or "default".
l The -machinelist num=4option indicates that a total of four engines will be started.
l The entire hfss command is in double quotes, and the double quotes enclosing the -
batchoptions value are escaped. Each of these double quotes is replaced by the sequence
"\"".

Related Topics

Integration with Grid Engine (GE)

Integrated Job Monitoring for Job Management Interface for GE

Monitoring ANSYS Electromagnetics Suite GE Batch Jobs

ANSYS Electromagnetics desktop -monitor Command Line Option for GE

Issue with qrsh (GE)

Issue with MainWin Core Services for GE

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Issue with qrsh (SGE)

ANSYS EM parallel batch jobs use the SGE qrsh command to launch engine processes on
remote hosts. If the qrsh command is not working correctly, then the parallel job is unable to launch
engine processes on remote hosts. If this problem occurs, the batch log for the job typically includes
one or more error messages indicating that a COM engine was unable to be started on a remote
host. If this occurs, the user or cluster administrator should verify that the SGE qrsh command is
working correctly, and correct the problem if the SGE qrsh command is not working correctly.

The qrsh command may be tested by running a simple command on a specified host, such as
qrsh -l hostname=host1 hostname or qrsh -l hostname=host1 ls /tmp, where host1 is the
remote host name. The first test should simply echo back the hostname of the remote machine.
The second test should list the contents of the /tmp directory on the remote machine.

The failures of the SGE qrsh command are associated with the following global sge configuration
parameters, listed below with values that may cause the failures:
qrsh_command /usr/bin/ssh -t

rsh_command /usr/bin/ssh -t

rlogin_command /usr/bin/ssh -t

If these parameter settings are removed, then the SGE built-in mechanisms are used for qrsh, rsh,
and rlogin. No problems with the built-in versions have been reported. The SGE qconf -sconf
global command may be used to view these parameter settings. The SGE qconf -mconf global
command may be used to modify or remove these parameter settings.

Issue with MainWin Core Services for SGE

By default, SGE creates a temporary directory for each SGE batch job, and deletes this temporary
directory and its contents when the job finishes. SGE sets the TMP and TMPDIR environment
variables of the job environment to point to this temporary directory. ANSYS EM desktop software
starts the MainWin Core Services on startup, if they are not already running. After the ANSYS EM
desktop software finishes, the MainWin Core Services time out and automatically shut down. The
MainWin Core Services use the TMP and/or TMPDIR directories to store temporary data. If this
temporary data is removed before the services shut down, then the services do not shut down
automatically. Normally, SGE will remove the temporary directory and its contents before the
services time out. The result is that these extraneous service processes run forever. If this problem
occurs, each Ansoft batch job starts an additional set of these services that never shut down. This
can result in an excessive number of processes running on the host where the ANSYS EM desktop
is started. The names of the service processes are:

l watchdog
l regss
l mwrpcss

Workaround for Issue with MainWin Core Services

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One way to avoid this problem is to modify the environment in which the ANSYS EM desktop runs
so that the TMP and TMPDIR environment variables do not point to the directory which will be
immediately removed by SGE when the job finishes. This can be done by copying the value of the
TMPDIR environment variable to the ANS_SGE_TMPDIR environment variable, and unsetting
the TMPDIR and TMP environment variables. The services ignore the ANS_SGE_TMPDIR
environment variable, but if this variable is set, then it will be used as the temporary directory for the
rest of the ANSYS EM software.

Here is an example bash wrapper script that may be used to work around this issue. In this
example, the product is hfss, but the same approach will work for any ANSYS EM product. In this
example, the script is named sge_hfss and is in the AnsysEM software installation directory. When
an ANSYS Electromagnetics desktop job is submitted to the SGE scheduler, the script (sge_hfss,
in this example) should be submitted instead of hfss. The script will modify the environment, as
needed, then start hfss. When the analysis finishes, the script returns the exit status of hfss.

An alternative is to place the script in an arbitrary directory, and modify the script to include an
absolute path to the product (hfss in this example).

Script contents:
#! /bin/bash

# This script will not correctly process arguments containing

# spaces or other characters special to the shell.

# Create hfss command line

# In this example, sge_hfss and hfss are in the same directory

# An alternative is to use an absolute path for the hfss command

cmd0=$0

cmd="${cmd0/%sge_hfss/hfss} $@"

# Fix environment variables

export ANS_SGE_TMPDIR=${TMPDIR}

unset TMPDIR

unset TMP

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# Run the hfss command and return the exit status

${cmd}

exit $?

Related Topics

Integration with Sun Grid Engine (SGE)

Monitoring ANSYS EM SGE Batch Jobs

ANSYS Electromagnetics desktop -monitor Command Line Option for SGE

Example SGE qsub Command Lines

Issue with MainWin Core Services for SGE

Recommended Practices for SGE Clusters

Integration with ANSYS RSM Cluster (ARC)

Jobs may be submitted to an ANSYS RSM Cluster using ANSYS EKM (Engineering Knowledge
Manager). Job submission to an ANSYS RSM Cluster is not currently supported via a command
line or via the ANSYS Electronics Desktop GUI.

The ANSYS RSM Cluster (ARC) scheduler may be used as alternative to third party job
schedulers, such as Microsoft HPC or LSF. The ARC scheduler may be used to submit jobs to a
single machine or to run on a group of machines. Every ANSYS RSM installation has one
predefined cluster configuration, localhost, that allows the ARC scheduler to submit jobs to the
local machine. This configuration may be used without requiring additional setup beyond what is
needed for ANSYS RSM installation.

The ARC scheduling system operates in two distinct modes: basic and advanced. In basic mode,
jobs run on a single cluster node only, which can be the local machine or a single remote machine.
In advanced mode, jobs can run on one or more remote machines. This requires installation and
configuration of the cluster services on each of the cluster machines. See the ANSYS Remote
Solve Manager (RSM) documentation for details on configuring the ARC cluster.

In addition to configuring the ARC scheduling system, the EKM portal must be configured to allow
submission of jobs to the ARC scheduler. EKM queues may be configured for submission of jobs to
a basic or advanced ARC scheduling system.

You can submit jobs to an ARC scheduler using EKM in a manner similar to submitting jobs to any
other cluster supported by EKM.

Here is a brief outline of the steps for submitting a job:

1. Login to the EKM portal.

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2. Select Jobs in the dropdown list box in the upper left corner.

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3. In the Jobs screen, press the Start Job button just below the dropdown list box in the upper
left corner.

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4. In the Applications screen, press the Electronics Batch button.

5. In the Create Job popup dialog, select the Tag, Job Name, and Working Directory. Press
the Next button to continue.

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6. In the Add Files popup dialog, specify the files for the job, which may be from the local
system, the server, or the EKM data repository. Press Next to continue.

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7. In the Specify Execution Settings popup dialog, specify the analysis parameters and the
compute resources for the job. Press the Finish button to submit the job.

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For additional details on configuring an ANSYS RSM Cluster, see the ANSYS Remote Solve
Manager (RSM) documentation.

Command Line Information for ANSYS EM Desktop Products

Any Tools>Options setting can be specified via command line, using corresponding registry keys.

This feature is available in all desktop products.

HFSS Examples
ansysedt.exe -batchsolve

-batchoptions -machinelist num=2

"'HFSS/HPCLicenseType'=pool
projectname.aedt

This example demonstrates how to set the same options as the previous example, but here using a
registry.txt file:
ansysedt.exe -batchsolve -batchoptions registry.txt projectname.aedt

Registry.txt contains:
$begin 'Config'-machinelist num=2

'HFSS/HPCLicenseType'=pool

$end 'Config'

Distributed Jobs

An ANSYS EM batch job which distributes the analysis over several hosts may also be called a
distributed job. To submit a distributed job, the following ANSYS EM desktop command line
options should be used:

l The -Distributed option should be present, and the -Local option should be absent. When
running as a batch job under one of the schedulers with direct integration, this option is a
directive to the job to 1) obtain the list of hosts allocated to the job, directly from the
scheduler, and to 2) use the scheduler to launch the analysis engines on the hosts allocated
to the job. The -Distributed option may now have additional options, such as
includetypes=xxx, excludetypes=xxx, maxlevels=n, and numlevel1=n, where n indicates
and integer, and xxx indicates a list of distribution types or "default".
l The -Machinelist num=num_distributed_engines option must be included, where num_
distributed_engines is the total number of analysis engines to be started on the hosts
assigned to the job.

Other examples:

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l Serial Job on a Single Processor

l Distributed Job using Four Processors
l Multiprocessing Job Using Four Cores
l Distributed Analysis and Multi-Processing in the Same Job

Serial Job on a Single Processor

Suppose ANSYS Electronics Desktop is installed at "C:\Program

Files\AnsysEM\AnsysEM19.0\Win64\ and you are using RSM for DSO:
C:\Program Files\AnsysEM\AnsysEM19.0\win64\ansysedt.exe -ng -
BatchSolve -machinelist num=2

-monitor \\shared_drive\projs\OptimTee.aedt

User is using LSF for remote-analysis/DSO

bsub -n 1 C:\Program Files\AnsysEM\AnsysEM19.0\win64\ansysedt.exe -
ng -BatchSolve -machinelist num=3 -monitor -local \\shared_
drive\projs\OptimTee.aedt

Distributed Job using Four Processors

Ansoft RSM
C:\Program Files\AnsysEM\AnsysEM19.0\win64\ansysedt.exe -ng -
Batchsolve -monitor -Distributed

-machinelist list="10.1.1.221, 10.1.1.222, 10.1.1.223, 10.1.1.224"

\\shared_drive\projs\OptimTee.aedt

LSF
bsub -n 4 C:\Program Files\AnsysEM\AnsysEM19.0\win64\ansysedt.exe -
ng -Batchsolve -monitor

-Distributed -machinelist num=4

\\shared_drive\projs\OptimTee.aedt

Multiprocessing Job Using Four Cores

Multi-processing job using 4 cores

bsub -n 4 -R "span[ptile=4]" C:\Program
Files\AnsysEM\AnsysEM19.0\win64\ansysedt.exe -ng -monitor

-Local -BatchSolve -machinelist num=4 -batchoptions \\shared_

drive\registry.txt \\shared_drive\projs\OptimTee.aedt

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This requests 4 cores to come from the same machine, as multi-processing needs cores to be on
the same machine

Distributed Analysis and Multi-Processing in the Same Job

Distributed-processing using 4 engines and multi-processing using 4 cores, using a total of 16

cores
bsub -n 16 -R "span[ptile=4]" c:Program
Files\AnsysEM\AnsysEM19.0\win64\ansysedt.exe -ng

-BatchSolve -Distributed -machinelist num=4

-batchoptions \\shared_drive\registry.txt

\\shared_drive\projs\OptimTee.aedt

Related Topics

Running ANSYS Electronics Desktop from a Command Line

Integration with Platform's Load Sharing Facility (LSF)

General Terminology for LSF

What a Scheduler Does

Installation of ANSYS Electromagnetics Suite 19.0 on LSF Cluster

Integration of ANSYS Electromagnetics products with LSF

LSF Job Submission Guidelines

Known Issues for LSF

Troubleshooting for LSF

Aborting an Analysis

Integrating ANSYS EM Tools with Third Party Schedulers

This document indicates how to create a dynamically linked library to allow integration of ANSYS
EM tools with an arbitrary scheduler environment. Each scheduler proxy library is used for a single
specific scheduler environment. If the library is installed with a valid name and in the correct
location, then it will automatically be loaded and used by ANSYS EM tools.

l Introduction
l Common Requirements for Running Jobs
l Using a Shared Library (Linux) or a DLL (Microsoft Windows)
l Scheduler Proxy Interfaces
l Using an IronPython Program for Scheduler Integration

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Introduction

ANSYS EM Software Tools may be run as serial or parallel jobs on a cluster under control of a
scheduler. Serial jobs are run using a single analysis engine at any one time on a single host. If the
tool performs multiple analyses (for a frequency sweep or a parametric analysis, for example), the
analyses are performed one after the other. Parallel jobs are run using multiple analysis engines
running in parallel on the same host or on separate hosts. For parts of the analysis (such as
meshing), the parallel job may use only a single analysis engine on a single host. Other parts of the
analysis (such as a frequency sweep, parametric analysis or DDM, for example) may be distributed
to multiple analysis engines running in parallel.

l Serial Jobs
l Parallel Jobs

Serial Jobs

When an ANSYS EM batch analysis runs as a serial job, the analysis engines run on the same host
as the desktop process. The desktop process does not need to interact with the scheduler to get
the names of hosts allocated to the job or to start processes on other hosts.

Parallel Jobs

For a parallel job, the desktop process starts multiple analysis engines that run in parallel. These
engines may be started on the host where the desktop process is running, or on other hosts
allocated to the job. The desktop process interacts with the scheduler to obtain information on the
hosts that are allocated to the job, and to start engines on the local host or on other hosts allocated
to the job. This document provides information on how to facilitate this interaction between the
desktop process and the scheduler controlling the cluster.

For some popular job schedulers in a standard configuration, ANSYS EM provides an "out of the
box" integrated solution that will work with the scheduler. In this case, the ANSYS EM installation
includes code that will determine if the analysis is running as a scheduler job and communicate with
the scheduler when needed. For other schedulers, the code to obtain information about the hosts
allocated to a job and to distribute portions of the job to hosts assigned to the job is not provided in
the installation. In order to facilitate using ANSYS EM Software Tools with other schedulers, the
user may provide a way for ANSYS EM Tools to interact with the scheduler. Currently, two general
approaches are available to users.

In the first approach, the user creates a shared library (on Linux) or a dynamically linked library (on
Microsoft Windows) to provide communication between the ANSYS EM Tool and the scheduler.
This library is loaded by the ANSYS EM Tool at runtime, and if the ANSYS EM Tool is running as
part of a scheduler job, the ANSYS EM Tool interacts with the library to get information from the
scheduler, and to start additional processes on specified hosts. Each such library implements the
same set of extern "C" functions needed to mediate the interactions between the ANSYS EM Tool
and the scheduler. The details of these functions are described below.

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In the second approach, the user creates an IronPython program to provide communication
between the ANSYS EM Tool and the scheduler. This program is loaded by the ANSYS EM Tool
at runtime, and if the ANSYS EM Tool is running as part of a scheduler job, the ANSYS EMs Tool
uses the IronPython program to get information from the scheduler, and to start additional
processes on specified hosts. Each python script contains a class implementing a specified
interface, which contains functions needed to mediate the interactions between the ANSYS EM
Tool and the scheduler. The details of the interface are described below. The IronPython interface
is equivalent to the extern "C" functions used in the first approach.

Common Requirements for Running Jobs

The following requirements must be met for serial and parallel jobs to run successfully. They apply
whether using "out of the box" scheduler integration or scheduler integration using a library or using
an IronPython program. When we refer to host requirements, the requirements apply to all hosts
that may be allocated to an ANSYS EM serial or parallel batch job.

Installation Requirements

The ANSYS EM installation directory tree must be accessible from all cluster hosts using the same
path. One way to achieve this is to place the ANSYS EM installation on a shared drive that is
accessible to the cluster hosts using the same pathname. On Windows, this may require the use of
UNC names to refer to the installation directory. Another option is to install the ANSYS EM tool
locally on each cluster host using the same local directory pathname.

Project File and Directory Requirements

The directory containing the project file must also be available from all cluster hosts using the same
path. The project file and the containing directory must be readable and writable by the user
account used to run the job. The controlling process for a distributed job is called the Desktop
process, and it reads from and writes to the project file and other files in the same directory and its
subdirectories. Although only the Desktop process reads from and writes to this directory, the
Desktop process may be started on any of the hosts allocated to the job, so all hosts should have
access to this directory using the same pathname.

Using a Shared Library (Linux) or a DLL (Microsoft Windows)

This section describes how to create a dynamically linked library to allow integration of ANSYS
Electromagnetics Suite 19.0 with an arbitrary scheduler environment. Each scheduler proxy library
is used for a single specific scheduler environment. If the library is installed with a valid name and in
the correct location, then it will automatically be loaded and used by ANSYS Electromagnetics
Suite 19.0.

Installation Details

The scheduler proxy library must be installed in the schedulers subdirectory of the Ansoft
installation directory. For example, if the ANSYS EM installation directory is C:\Program

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Files\AnsysEM\AnsysEM19.0\win64, then the scheduler proxy library must be installed in directory

C:\Program Files\AnsysEM\AnsysEM19.0\Win64\schedulers.

The scheduler proxy library base name must match "libprefix_scheduler" on Windows and
"liblibprefix_scheduler" on Linux. The extension must be a valid extension for a dynamically loaded
library on the platform where it is used. The scheduler proxy library name prefix libprefix shall be
unique, so it does not conflict with other scheduler proxy libraries in the same directory. To avoid
confusion, the scheduler proxy library name should be all lower case on OSs where file names are
case sensitive.

Related Topics

Build Information for Scheduler Proxy Library

Implementation Details for Custom Scheduler Integration

Testing Your Scheduler Integration

Troubleshooting Custom Scheduler Integration

Build Information for Scheduler Proxy Library

This section contains the recommended compiler and linker settings for building a scheduler proxy
library.

l 64 Bit Microsoft Windows

l Linux

64 Bit Microsoft Windows

The proxy library should be compiled and linked as a 64 bit DLL, using the following recommended
compiler and linker options:

Compiler Options

l Use of MFC: Use Standard Windows Libraries

l Character Set: Use Multi-Byte Character Set [/D "_MBCS"]
l Runtime Library: Multi-threaded DLL [/MD]
l Calling Convention: __cdecl [/Gd (default)]

Linker Options:

l Create a DLL [/DLL]

l 32 bit code [MACHINE:X64]

Linux

The proxy library should be compiled and linked as shared library (*.so) file. The following compiler
and linker options are recommended when building using gcc/g++:

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Compiler Options

l Generate position independent code, suitable for use in a shared library: [-fpic]
l Generate code compatible with pthreads library: [-pthread]

Linker Options:

l Create a shared object file: [-shared]

l Generate position independent code, suitable for use in a shared library: [-fpic]
l Generate code compatible with pthreads library: [-pthread]

Implementation Details for Custom Scheduler Integration

Function Name Prefix

Each exported function will have a scheduler specific function name prefix. The function name
prefix will be the same as the library name prefix, except that it is converted to upper case. For
example, if the library name prefix is "lsf", then the function name prefix is "LSF". In the examples
below, we use FN_PREFIX to denote the function name prefix.

The scheduler proxy library must provide implementations of the following extern "C" functions:

l IsProductLaunchedInYourEnvironment
l GetTempDirectory
l GetMachineListAvailableForDistribution
l GetMessageStringToRegisterForSigTerm
l LaunchProcess
l GetUseRsmForEngineLaunch
l GetThisJobID
l GetSchedulerDisplayName

IsProductLaunchedInYourEnvironment

Purpose

Determine if the program is running in the context of the scheduler for which this library was
written.

Signature
extern "C" bool FN_PREFIX_IsProductLaunchedInYourEnvironment();

Arguments

None.

Return Value

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Returns true if the current process is running as a job of the scheduler. Otherwise, false is
returned.

Notes

For many schedulers, the presence of certain environment variables or their values may be
checked to determine if the current process is running as a job of the scheduler.

GetTempDirectory

Purpose

Get the pathname of the temporary directory provided by the scheduler for the current job. The
pathname is an empty string if the scheduler does not provide a temporary directory for the
current job.

Signature
extern "C" bool FN_PREFIX_GetTempDirectory(char * buffer, unsigned
int* length);

Arguments

buffer: Pointer to a character buffer to contain the temporary directory path name or NULL.

length: Pointer to a location to contain the length of the buffer. Must be a valid pointer to an
unsigned int.

Return Value

If argument buffer is NULL, then then required length of the buffer is stored in the location to
which argument length points, and true is returned.

If argument buffer is not NULL, then the value to which argument length points (the buffer
length) is checked. If it is large enough to contain the pathname of the temporary directory,
including the terminal null byte, then the pathname is copied to the buffer and true is returned. If
the buffer length is insufficient for the pathname of the temporary directory, then the buffer is
unchanged, and false is returned.

Notes

To get the pathname of the temporary directory, the infrastructure first calls this function with a
NULL buffer, and obtains the required length of the buffer for the pathname. After creating a buffer
of the appropriate size, the infrastructure calls this function again, passing the pointer to the buffer
in the buffer argument and a pointer to the size of the buffer in the length argument.

GetMachineListAvailableForDistribution

Purpose

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Get the list of hosts allocated to the current job. A host will appear in the list multiple times if the
scheduler has allocated multiple processors or cores on the host to the job. The number of times
the host appears in the list is equal to the number of processors or cores of the host that are
allocated to the current job. The list is a text string containing a space separated list of
hostnames.

Signature
extern "C" bool FN_PREFIX_GetMachineListAvailableForDistribution
(char * buffer, unsigned int* length);

Arguments

buffer: Pointer to a character buffer to contain the list of machines available for distribution or
NULL.

length: Pointer to a location to contain the length of the buffer. Must be a valid pointer to an
unsigned int.

Return Value

If argument buffer is NULL, then then required length of the buffer is stored in the location to
which argument length points, and true is returned.

If argument buffer is not NULL, then the value to which argument length points (the buffer
length) is checked. If it is large enough to contain the lists of hosts, including the terminal null
byte, then the list is copied to the buffer and true is returned. If the buffer length is insufficient for
the list of hosts, then the buffer is unchanged, and false is returned.

Notes

To get the list of hosts for distribution, the infrastructure first calls this function with a NULL buffer,
and obtains the required length of the buffer for the list. After creating a buffer of the appropriate
size, the infrastructure calls this function again, passing the pointer to the buffer in the buffer
argument and a pointer to the size of the buffer in the length argument.

The hostnames in the list provided by this function shall be used in calls to LaunchProcess(). These
host names must be in a format that is accepted by that function. See the section below on
LaunchProcess.

GetMessageStringToRegisterForSigTerm

Purpose

Obsolete. The string copied to the buffer should be an empty string.

Signature
extern "C" bool FN_PREFIX_GetMessageStringToRegisterForSigTerm (char
* buffer, unsigned int* length);

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Arguments

buffer: Pointer to a character buffer to contain the string or NULL.

length: Pointer to a location to contain the length of the buffer. Must be a valid pointer to an
unsigned int.

Return Value

If argument buffer is NULL, then the required length of the buffer is stored in the location to
which argument length points, and true is returned.

If argument buffer is not NULL, then the value to which argument length points (the buffer
length) is checked. If it is large enough to contain the string, including the terminal null byte, then
the string is copied to the buffer and true is returned. If the buffer length is insufficient for the
string, then the buffer is unchanged, and false is returned.

Notes

To get the string, the infrastructure first calls this function with a NULL buffer, and obtains the
required length of the buffer for the string. After creating a buffer of the appropriate size, the
infrastructure calls this function again, passing the pointer to the buffer in the buffer argument and a
pointer to the size of the buffer in the length argument.

LaunchProcess

Purpose

Launch a local or remote process to run an analysis engine. This function is called by the
ANSYS Electromagnetics desktop application to launch an engine process on a specified host.
The hostname is one of the names in the list provided by the
GetMachineListAvailableForDistribution function. See the
GetMachineListAvailableForDistribution section above. If the hostname does not refer to the
local host, then this function shall use the scheduler to launch the engine on the specified host. If
the hostname refers to the local host, then the engine may be started as a child process, or it
may be started using the scheduler.

Signature
extern "C" int FN_PREFIX_LaunchProcess(const char* hostName, const
char* exePathName, const char* arg1, const char* arg2);

Arguments

hostName: The name of the host where the process is to be launched.

exePathName: The pathname of the analysis engine executable to be started.

arg1: The first argument of the analysis engine command line.

arg2: The second argument of the analysis engine command line.

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Return Value

Returns 0 on success. Returns a non-zero value if an error occurs.

Notes

The hostName argument will be one of the hostnames provided by the function
GetMachineListAvailableForDistribution().

If the hostName argument is the same as the current host, then the analysis engine process may
be started as a child process. If the hostName argument is not the same as the current host, then
the analysis engine process will be started on the remote host using the facilities available in the
scheduler environment. The command line of the analysis engine process is exePathName arg1
arg2. The command line arguments arg1 and arg2 may contain newlines, tabs, spaces or other
characters that are interpreted by the command processor, such as single quote (') or double quote
(") characters, or dollar signs ($). Newlines or tabs may be replaced by spaces, if the newline or tab
characters cannot be easily handled. If the analysis engine command is processed by a shell, then
it may be necessary to quote any special characters in the exePathName or in the arguments so
that the special meaning is removed. If a scheduler command is used to request the scheduler to
launch the command to start the engine process, the analysis engine command may be processed
by the shell twice: once when the scheduler command is processed, and a second time when the
analysis engine process is started. If this is the case, then the quoting of special characters needs
to account for two passes through the command processor.

GetUseRsmForEngineLaunch

Purpose

This function is optional. If this feature is not needed, then the function need not be
implemented. Most schedulers should not need this feature.

For some schedulers, it may be desirable for the Ansoft RSM service to launch the engine
processes instead of using the scheduler proxy library. For example, if the scheduler proxy
library is limited to launching one process per host, then the scheduler proxy library may be used
to launch one Ansoft RSM service executable per host, and the Ansoft RSM executable will
launch all of the engine processes.

If the Ansoft RSM service should be used to launch engine processes for this scheduler, then
this function shall be implemented and it shall return true.

If the Ansoft RSM service should not be used to launch engine processes for this scheduler,
then this function is not required. If it is implemented, it should return false. If it is not
implemented, it will be treated the same as if it was implemented and returns false.

Signature
extern "C" bool FN_PREFIX_GetUseRsmForEngineLaunch(void)

Arguments

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None.

Return Value

Returns true if the Ansoft RSM service should be used to launch engine processes for this
scheduler. Returns false if the Ansoft RSM service should not be used to launch engine
processes for this scheduler.

Notes

This function is optional. If not implemented, then it is treated the same as if it was implemented and
returns false.

GetThisJobID

Purpose

Get a string identifying the job currently running in the scheduler environment. This string is
displayed to the end user to identify the job.

Signature
extern "C" bool FN_PREFIX_GetThisJobID(char * buffer, unsigned int*
length);

Arguments

buffer: Pointer to a character buffer to contain the Job ID or NULL.

length: Pointer to a location to contain the length of the buffer. Must be a valid pointer to an
unsigned int.

Return Value

If argument buffer is NULL, then then required length of the buffer is stored in the location to
which argument length points, and true is returned.

If argument buffer is not NULL, then the value to which argument length points (the buffer
length) is checked. If it is large enough to contain the string identifying the current job, including
the terminal null byte, then the job ID is copied to the buffer and true is returned. If the buffer
length is insufficient for the job ID, then the buffer is unchanged, and false is returned.

Notes

To get the job ID, the infrastructure first calls this function with a NULL buffer, and obtains the
required length of the buffer for the job ID. After creating a buffer of the appropriate size, the
infrastructure calls this function again, passing the pointer to the buffer in the buffer argument and a
pointer to the size of the buffer in the length argument.

For many schedulers, the job ID may be obtained from the value of an environment variable.

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GetSchedulerDisplayName

Purpose

Get a string identifying the scheduler associated with the current scheduler proxy library. This
string is displayed to the end user to identify the scheduler.

Signature
extern "C" bool FN_PREFIX_GetSchedulerDisplayName(char * buffer,
unsigned int* length);

Arguments

buffer: Pointer to a character buffer to contain the scheduler display name or NULL.

length: Pointer to a location to contain the length of the buffer. Must be a valid pointer to an
unsigned int.

Return Value

If argument buffer is NULL, then required length of the buffer is stored in the location to which
argument length points, and true is returned.

If argument buffer is not NULL, then the value to which argument length points (the buffer
length) is checked. If it is large enough to contain the scheduler display name, including the
terminal null byte, then the scheduler display name is copied to the buffer and true is returned. If
the buffer length is insufficient for the scheduler display name, then the buffer is unchanged, and
false is returned.

Notes

To get the scheduler display name, the infrastructure first calls this function with a NULL buffer, and
obtains the required length of the buffer for the scheduler display name. After creating a buffer of
the appropriate size, the infrastructure calls this function again, passing the pointer to the buffer in
the buffer argument and a pointer to the size of the buffer in the length argument.

The scheduler display name is generally a fixed string.

Scheduler Proxy Interfaces

Scheduler proxy supports following new graphical interface functions. The scheduler specific prefix
of each function is not shown in this listing.

void Initialize(const std::string& config):

Initialize the proxy library for scheduler interaction. The config argument contains scheduler
specific initialization information.

int CheckEnvironment(std::string& msg):

Check the environment in which the proxy library is running.

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l Returns 0 (success) if the environment is appropriate for submitting jobs to the scheduler.
l Returns a non-zero error code if the environment is incorrect. If a non-zero error code is
returned, an error message to display to the user is written to the msg argument.

int GetSchedulerInfo(std::string& msg, std::string& schedulerName, std::string&

schedulerDescription, std::string& schedulerVersion):

This function returns some basic information about the scheduler with which the scheduler
proxy library interacts.

l On success, 0 is returned, and the scheduler name, scheduler description, and scheduler
version are written to the schedulerName, schedulerDescription and
schedulerVersion arguments.
l On failure, a non-zero error code is returned, and an error message to display to the user
is written to the msg argument.

int GetComputeResourceAttributes(std::string& msg, AttributeDefinitionsStruct&

attributeDefs):

The Compute Resource Selection Parameters dialog allows the user to specify scheduler
specific resources. This function returns the information used to create and populate the
Compute Resource Selection Parameters dialog.

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Each line in the dialog is defined by a single attribute definition in the attributeDefs argument.
An attribute definition defines the name and description of an attribute, as well as information
about the allowed values and the default value. In general, only the most commonly specified
job attributes are included in the attributeDefs argument.

l On success, 0 is returned, and the attribute definitions are written to the attributeDefs
argument.
l On failure, a non-zero error code is returned, and an error message to display to the user
is written to the msg argument.
l If the scheduler proxy library does not support any attributes using this approach, the
attributeDefs argument will contain no attribute definitions, and 0 will be returned.

int AbortJob(std::string& msg, const std::string& jobID, bool force, const

SubmissionUserStruct& submissionUser):

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This function requests the scheduler to abort a job identified by the jobID argument. If the force
argument is true, then errors should be ignored (the exact behavior is scheduler specific). The
submissionUser argument contains information about the client user (the user running the
Desktop process). The request to abort the job should run in the context of this user. If no user is
specified, then the request to abort the job runs as the user of the process or thread running the
function.

l If the request is successfully submitted, then 0 is returned.

l If there is an error, then a non-zero error code is returned, and an error message to
display to the user is written to the msg argument.

int SubmitUniformJob(std::string& msg, std::string& jobID, const CmdLineStruct&

cmdLineInfo, const JobParallelizationStruct& jobParallelization, const
UniformComputeResourcesStruct& computeResources, const JobOptionsStruct&
jobOptions, const JobAtributesStruct& jobAttributes, const SubmissionUserStruct&
submissionUser,const IJobParameters* jobParametersCB):

This function submits a job to the scheduler.

l On success, 0 is returned, and the job identifier of the newly submitted job is written to the
jobID argument.
l On failure, a non-zero error code is returned, and an error message to display to the user
is written to the msg argument.

This function is used to submit jobs to the scheduler in which the resources allocated to the job
are uniformly distributed across the nodes allocated to the job. All other arguments are input
arguments, and they are described below:

The cmdLineInfo argument contains the command line arguments. The first argument is the
command name.

The jobParallelization argument contains information on how the job should be parallelized. It
contains the following integral parameters:

l the total number of distributed engines,

l the number of cores to allocate for each distributed engine,
l the maximum number of engines to allocate to a single node (optional), and
l the number of cores to allocated for the non-distributed portion of the analysis.
l It also contains a boolean parameter indicating whether nodes used for this job should be
exclusively allocated to this job.

The computeResources argument is a reference to an object of type

UniformComputeResourcesStruct. This struct contains zero or more resource attribute
settings for the job. Each resource attribute setting consists or a resource name and a resource
value. The resource name is the name of one of the resources defined in the
AttributeDefinitionsStruct filled in by the GetComputeResourceAttributes() function. The

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resource attribute value is the value specified for the resource attribute by the user using the
Compute Resource Selection Parameters dialog. If no resource attributes are specified by the
user in this dialog, then the computeResources argument will contain no resource attribute
settings.

The jobOptions argument contains the environment variable settings for the job.

The jobAttributes argument contains job submission attributes which are not necessarily related
to the compute resources allocated to the job. The job name and the requested job priority are
included in this data structure. The SchedulerOptions tab of the Job Submission dialog allows
the user to either specify additional job submission options or to specify all submission options,
replacing the settings from the other Job Submission dialog controls.

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The user specified submission options are included in this data structure, as well as a
boolean setting indicating whether the user specified options are in addition to the automatically
generated options, or whether they replace the automatically generated submission options.

The submissionUser argument contains information about the client user (the user running
the Desktop process). The job is submitted to the scheduler to run as this user.

The jobParametersCB argument is a pointer to an object that implements the

IJobParameters interface. This interface allows the scheduler proxy library to get additional
information about the job. Specifically, the GetWorkingDirectory() interface function returns
the working directory to be used for the job.

The cmdLineInfo argument contains the command line arguments. The first argument is the
command name.

int SubmitNonUniformJob(std::string& msg, std::string& jobID, const CmdLineStruct&

cmdLineInfo, const JobParallelizationStruct& jobParallelization, const
NonUniformComputeResourcesStruct& computeResources, const JobOptionsStruct&
jobOptions, const JobAtributesStruct& jobAttributes, const SubmissionUserStruct&
submissionUser,const IJobParameters* jobParametersCB):

This function submits a job to the scheduler.

l On success, 0 is returned, and the job identifier of the newly submitted job is written to the
jobID argument.
l On failure, a non-zero error code is returned, and an error message to display to the user
is written to the msg argument.

This function is used to submit jobs to the scheduler in which the nodes to use and the number
of engines to run on each node are specified by the user. All other arguments are input
arguments, as for the SubmitUniformJob() function. These input arguments are the same as
for the SubmitUniformJob() function, except that the computeResources argument is a
reference to a NonUniformComputeResourcesStruct, as described below:

The computeResources argument is a reference to an object of type

NonUniformComputeResourcesStruct. This object contains a vector of pairs, where each
pair consists of the name of a node in the cluster, and the number of engines to run on the node.

int PreviewUniformJob(std::string& msg, std::string& preview, const CmdLineStruct&

cmdLineInfo, const JobParallelizationStruct& jobParallelization, const
UniformComputeResourcesStruct& computeResources, const JobOptionsStruct&
jobOptions, const JobAtributesStruct& jobAttributes, const SubmissionUserStruct&
submissionUser, const IJobParameters* jobParametersCB):

This function is similar to the SubmitUniformJob() function, but instead of submitting the job,
text representing how the job will be submitted is written to the preview argument. Typically the
preview text includes the job submission command and the contents of the job script created for

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the job. For some schedulers, this content may not be meaningful, so the text returned could be
different.

l On success, 0 is returned, and the job preview text is written to the preview argument.
l On failure, a non-zero error code is returned, and an error message to display to the user
is written to the msg argument.

The other arguments are input arguments with the same meaning as for the
SubmitUniformJob() function. The submissionUser argument is ignored for this function.

Testing Your Scheduler Integration

One way to test these functions is to run the analysis for an ANSYS EM product in batch mode.
When running in batch mode, a batch log file is created in the same directory as the project file. The
batch log file has the same base name is the project file, with an extension of ".log". For example, if
the project file is TestProject123.aedt, then the batch file is TestProject123.log. The batch log file
contains useful information about the analysis run.

See the product specific help for details on running the product in batch mode, and for the
command line options to use for distributed analysis.

l Testing IsProductLaunchedInYourEnvironment
l Testing GetSchedulerDisplayName and GetThisJobID
l Testing GetTempDirectory
l Testing GetMachineListAvailableForDistribution
l Testing LaunchProcess
l Testing GetUseRsmForEngineLaunch

Testing IsProductLaunchedInYourEnvironment

This function should be tested first. If the ANSYS EM application is not able to load and run this
function, or if it returns false, then none of the other functions will be called. If the batch analysis
is running in a scheduler environment, and this function returns true, then there will be an "info"
message near the beginning of the batch log indicating that the analysis is running as a
scheduler job. This message will include the scheduler display name returned by the function
GetSchedulerDisplayName, and it will also include the job ID returned by the function
GetThisJobID. If the batch analysis is not running in a scheduler environment, then none of the
messages will include a scheduler display name or job ID.

If this message does not appear when running in a scheduler environment, ensure that the
scheduler proxy library is named correctly, that it is built correctly, that it is installed in the correct
directory, and that the function name prefix is the same is the library prefix converted to upper
case.

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Testing GetSchedulerDisplayName and GetThisJobID

As described above, when running a batch job in a scheduler environment, the scheduler
display name and the job ID will appear in an "info" message near the beginning of the batch
log. The values returned by these functions are copied to this message verbatim, so they can be
directly compared to the expected values.

Testing GetTempDirectory

Many schedulers create a temporary directory for each job and delete the directory after the job
finishes. One way to verify that this function is working correctly is to determine the pathname
that the scheduler uses for the temporary directory and to monitor the contents of the temp
directory as the job is running. If the analysis engines write files to this directory as the job runs,
then this function is working.

Testing GetMachineListAvailableForDistribution

This function is used for distributed analysis. The analysis may be distributed across several
machines if portions of the analysis are independent. For example, frequency sweeps,
parametric analysis and domain decomposition allow different portions of the analysis to be
distributed across machines. The analysis in a batch job will be distributed to multiple
processors or hosts if the analysis includes a setup that may be distributed (e.g., a frequency
sweep or parametric analysis) and the -Distributed option is included in the desktop command
line. The list of machines is displayed in an "info" message near the beginning of the batch log.
The list in the info message can be directly compared to the expected list of machines.

To verify that the machine list is constructed correctly for a variety of cases, it may be necessary
to test several jobs with different resource requirements and verify that the machine list is
correct in each case. For example, one may run batch analyses with the following resource
requirements:

l One processor on one host

l Several processors on one host
l One processor on each of several hosts
l Several processors on each of several hosts

Testing LaunchProcess

This function is used to launch analysis engines in the case where the analysis is distributed across
multiple hosts. The analysis may be distributed across several machines if portions of the analysis
are independent. For example, frequency sweeps, parametric analysis and domain decomposition
allow different portions of the analysis to be distributed across machines. The analysis in a batch
job will be distributed to multiple processors or hosts if the analysis includes a setup that may be
distributed (e.g., a frequency sweep or parametric analysis) and the -Distributed option is
included in the desktop command line. The list of machines is displayed in an "info" message near
the beginning of the batch log. The batch log may also contain info messages when portions of the

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analysis distributed to different machines start or finish. These messages usually include the name
of the host when the analysis ran or will run. One can verify that the analysis is actually running on
the expected host or hosts using the Linux ps command or the Windows Task Manager.

In general, one analysis engine is started for each occurrence of each host in the list of machines
available for distribution. For example, if the list of hosts is "hostA hostA hostA hostB hostB", then a
total of 5 engines would be started, three on hostA and two on hostB. In some cases, an additional
engine is started to perform the portion of the analysis which is not distributed; if this is the case, the
non-distributed engine is idle during the portion of the analysis which is distributed. If this occurs in
the case where the list of hosts is "hostA hostA hostA hostB hostB", then a total of 6 engines would
be started, but at most 5 engines would be active at any given time. When each analysis engine is
running, it may start additional child processes to do a portion of the analysis, but these are not
counted as additional analysis engines because the parent of the sub-engine is inactive (waiting for
the sub-engine results) when the sub-engine is active.

Testing should be sufficient to demonstrate that the scheduler proxy library can start multiple
engine processes on the desktop host, and can also start multiple engine processes on other hosts.

Testing GetUseRsmForEngineLaunch

In most cases, this function will not be implemented or tested. If this function is implemented and
returns true, then the ANSYS Electromagnetics desktop application will not start the analysis
engines using the LaunchProcess function directly. Instead, the ANSYS Electromagnetics desktop
application will start one AnsoftRSMService process on each host using the LaunchProcess
function, and the engine processes will be started by these AnsoftRSMService processes. One
may check for these processes using the Linux ps command or the Windows Task Manager. One
AnsoftRSMService process should run on each host. These processes will be named
ansoftrsmservice.exe or AnsoftRSMService.exe. These processes will be started on each host
before any analysis engine is started on the host, and will remain running until the job is complete.

Troubleshooting Custom Scheduler Integration

l None of the Proxy Functions are Called
l Troubleshooting IsProductLaunchedInYourEnvironment Function
l Troubleshooting GetSchedulerDisplayName
l Troubleshooting GetThisJobID
l Troubleshooting GetTempDirectory
l Troubleshooting GetMachineListAvailableForDistribution
l Troubleshooting LaunchProcess
l Troubleshooting GetUseRsmForEngineLaunch

None of the Proxy Functions are Called

There are several problems which could result in none of the proxy functions being called.

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The scheduler proxy library must be installed in the schedulers subdirectory of the ANSYS
Electronics Desktop installation directory.

The scheduler proxy library name must match "*_scheduler.dll" on Windows and "lib*_
scheduler.so" on Linux. If the library name does not match this format, then the library will not be
loaded. In addition, the function name prefix must be the same as the library name prefix converted
to upper case. For example, if the library name prefix is "abc", then the function name prefix is
"ABC". In this example, the library name is "abc_scheduler.dll" on Windows, and "libabc_
scheduler.so" on Linux. In this example, the full name of the
IsProductLaunchedInYourEnvironment function is ABC_IsProductLaunchedInYourEnvironment
on Windows and Linux, and it must have extern "C" linkage.

Verify that the compile and link flags follow the guidelines in the section "Build Information", above.
Incorrect compile or link flags may prevent the library from being loaded by the ANSYS
Electromagnetics product.

If there is a problem with calling the IsProductLaunchedInYourEnvironment function, then none of

the other functions will be called. The other functions are only called if the
IsProductLaunchedInYourEnvironment function is successfully called and returns true.

Troubleshooting IsProductLaunchedInYourEnvironment Function

Verify that the conditions specified in the section "None of the Proxy Functions are Called" are met.

Verify that this function returns true when called in an environment running under the scheduler,
and that it returns false when called in an environment not running under the scheduler.

Troubleshooting GetSchedulerDisplayName

Verify that the IsProductLaunchedInYourEnvironment function returns true when running in the
scheduler environment.

Verify that the scheduler display name is a valid ASCII string.

Verify that, if argument buffer is NULL, then the required length of the buffer is stored in the location
to which argument length points, and true is returned. The required buffer length must include
space for the string null terminator.

Verify that, if argument buffer is not NULL and the value to which argument length points (the
buffer length) is large enough to contain the display name, including the terminal null byte, then the
display name is copied to the buffer and true is returned.

Troubleshooting GetThisJobID

Verify that the IsProductLaunchedInYourEnvironment function returns true when running in the
scheduler environment.

Verify that the job ID is a valid ASCII string.

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Verify that, if argument buffer is NULL, then the required length of the buffer is stored in the location
to which argument length points, and true is returned. The required buffer length must include
space for the string null terminator.

Verify that, if argument buffer is not NULL and the value to which argument length points (the
buffer length) is large enough to contain the job ID, including the terminal null byte, then the job ID
is copied to the buffer and true is returned.

Troubleshooting GetTempDirectory

Verify that the IsProductLaunchedInYourEnvironment function returns true when running in the
scheduler environment.

Verify that the temporary directory name is a valid ASCII string.

Verify that, if argument buffer is NULL, then the required length of the buffer is stored in the location
to which argument length points, and true is returned. The required buffer length must include
space for the string null terminator.

Verify that, if argument buffer is not NULL and the value to which argument length points (the
buffer length) is large enough to contain the temporary directory pathname, including the terminal
null byte, then the temporary directory pathname is copied to the buffer and true is returned.

Troubleshooting GetMachineListAvailableForDistribution

Verify that the IsProductLaunchedInYourEnvironment function returns true when running in the
scheduler environment.

Verify that the list of hosts is a valid ASCII string containing a space separated list of host names. A
host name will appear in the list a number of times equal to the number of processors or cores
available to the job on that host.

Verify that, if argument buffer is NULL, then the required length of the buffer is stored in the location
to which argument length points, and true is returned. The required buffer length must include
space for the string null terminator.

Verify that, if argument buffer is not NULL and the value to which argument length points (the
buffer length) is large enough to contain the list of hosts, including the terminal null byte, then the list
of hosts is copied to the buffer and true is returned.

Troubleshooting LaunchProcess

Verify that the IsProductLaunchedInYourEnvironment function returns true when running in the
scheduler environment.

The hostName argument is a host name from the list returned by the
GetMachineListAvailableForDistribution function. Verify that the LaunchProcess function can
accept host names in the format returned by the GetMachineListAvailableForDistribution function.

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The exePathName argument is the pathname of the analysis engine executable to be started. This
pathname may contain spaces or other characters special to the shell. Ensure that the
LaunchProcess function is able to handle such cases.

The arg1 and arg2 arguments may contain newlines, tabs, single quotes, spaces, dollar signs, and
other characters which may be special to the shell. Ensure that the LaunchProcess function is able
to handle such cases. If needed, the newline characters may be replaced by other whitespace
characters. One or both of these arguments could also be an empty string; verify that the empty
string is correctly passed to the engine process command line.

If a scheduler command is used to launch the engine process on a remote machine, the engine
command line may be processed by the shell twice, once when the scheduler command is
processed by the shell, and again when the engine command is processed by the shell. In such
cases, the quoting of characters special to the shell will need to be take these two passes through
the shell into account. In some implementations, it may be necessary or convenient to use different
approaches for launching engine processes on the local machine and on remote machines; if this is
done, verify that the approach used to determine whether the hostName argument represents the
local machine is correct.

Troubleshooting GetUseRsmForEngineLaunch

In most cases, this function will not be implemented. If it is implemented, then follow the
suggestions below.

Verify that the IsProductLaunchedInYourEnvironment function returns true when running in the
scheduler environment.

If the RSM should be used for launching engines, verify that this function returns true. Otherwise,
verify that this function returns false.

Using an IronPython Program for Integration with a Scheduler

This section describes how to create an IronPython program for integration with a scheduler. Each
such program is used for a single specific scheduler environment. If the program is installed with a
valid name and in the correct location, then it will automatically be loaded and used by ANSYS EM
tools.

Installation Details

The IronPython program must be installed in the schedulers subdirectory of the ANSYS EM
installation directory. For example, if the installation directory is C:\Program
Files\AnsysEM\AnsysEM19.0\Win64, then the IronPython program must be installed in directory
C:\Program Files \AnsysEM\AnsysEM19.0\Win64\schedulers.

The program file extension must be ".py". Select the program name so that it does not conflict with
other IronPython programs in the same directory. If the Operating System or file system treat file
names in a case sensitive manner, the file extension ".py" must be lower case.

Python Programming Notes

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The scheduler program will be run in the IronPython environment both on Microsoft Windows and
on Linux. There are some differences between IronPython and CPython. The version of
IronPython in use is 2.7.0.40

Implementation Details

The program must contain the following:

Import the ISchedulerPluginExtension interface as follows:

from Ansys.Ansoft.SchedulerPluginDotNet import
ISchedulerPluginExtension

Define a class which implements the ISchedulerPluginExtension interface. In this document, this
class is named SamplePluginExtension, but any class name may be used. The class member
functions are described in the next section. The class definition will look similar to the following:
class SamplePluginExtension(ISchedulerPluginExtension):

def GetName(self):

return "SamplePluginExtension"

def GetDescription(self):

return "Example python script plugin extension"

. . .

Include the following line in the program so that the class that you have defined,
SamplePluginExtension, is loaded by the infrastructure:
ExtensionRegistrar.RegisterPluginExtension(SamplePluginExtension())

The infrastructure will make the EntensionRegistrar object available in the environment where the
program is loaded.

Each of the functions to be implemented in the SamplePluginExtension class is described below.

l GetName
l GetDescription
l IsProductLaunchedInYourEnvironment
l GetSchedulerDisplayName
l GetThisJobID
l GetUseRsmForEngineLaunch
l GetTempDirectory

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l GetMessageStringToRegisterForSigTerm
l GetMachineListAvailableForDistribution
l LaunchProcess

GetName [IronPython]

Purpose

Return a short string containing the name of the plugin extension. This string is used to identify
the scheduler plugin extension in logs or program output.

Signature
GetName(self)

Arguments (excluding self)

None.

Return Value

Returns a string containing the name of the plugin extension.

Notes

The plugin extension name is generally a fixed string.

GetDescription [IronPython]

Purpose

Return a string containing the description of the plugin extension. This string is used to identify
the scheduler plugin extension in logs or program output.

Signature
GetDescription(self)

Arguments (excluding self)

None.

Return Value

Returns a string containing the description of the plugin extension.

Notes

The plugin extension description is generally a fixed string.

IsProductLaunchedInYourEnvironment [IronPython]

Purpose

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Determine if the program is running in the context of the scheduler for which this program was
written.

Signature
IsProductLaunchedInYourEnvironment(self)

Arguments (excluding self)

None.

Return Value

Returns True if the current process is running as a job of the scheduler. Otherwise, False is
returned.

Notes

For many schedulers, the presence of certain environment variables or their values may be
checked to determine if the current process is running as a job of the scheduler.

GetSchedulerDisplayName [IronPython]

Purpose

Get a string identifying the scheduler associated with the current plugin extension. This string is
used to identify the scheduler.

Signature
GetSchedulerDisplayName(self)

Arguments (excluding self)

None.

Return Value

Returns a string containing the description of the scheduler for which this plugin extension was
written.

Notes

The scheduler display name is generally a fixed string.

GetThisJobID [IronPython]

Purpose

Get a string identifying the job currently running in the scheduler environment. This string is
displayed to the end user to identify the job.

Signature

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GetThisJobID(self)

Arguments (excluding self)

None.

Return Value

Returns a string containing the Job ID for the current job.

Notes

For many schedulers, the job ID may be obtained from the value of an environment variable.

GetUseRsmForEngineLaunch [IronPython]

Purpose

For some schedulers, it may be desirable for the AnsoftRSM program to launch the engine
processes instead of using the scheduler plugin extension directly. For example, if the plugin
extension is limited to launching one process per host, then the plugin extension may be used to
launch one AnsoftRSM executable per host, and the AnsoftRSM executable will launch all of
the engine processes.

If AnsoftRSM should be used to launch engine processes for this scheduler, then this function
shall return True.

If AnsoftRSM should not be used to launch engine processes for this scheduler, then this
function shall return False.

Signature
GetUseRsmForEngineLaunch(self)

Arguments (excluding self)

None.

Return Value

Returns True if AnsoftRSM should be used to launch engine processes for this scheduler.
Returns False if the plugin extension should be used to directly launch engine processes for this
scheduler.

Notes

If this function returns True, then the plugin extension will directly launch only one process on each
host.

GetTempDirectory [IronPython]

Purpose

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Get the pathname of the temporary directory provided by the scheduler for the current job. The
pathname is an empty string if the scheduler does not provide a temporary directory for the
current job.

Signature
GetTempDirectory(self)

Arguments (excluding self)

None.

Return Value

Returns a string containing the pathname of the temporary directory provided by the scheduler
for the current job. Returns an empty string if no temporary directory is provided by the
scheduler for the current job.

Notes

If the return value is an empty string, then the temporary directory specified on the command line or
in the registry will be used.

GetMessageStringToRegisterForSigTerm [IronPython]

Purpose

Obsolete. This function should return an empty string.

Signature
GetMessageStringToRegisterForSigTerm(self)

Arguments (excluding self)

None.

Return Value

Returns an empty string.

Notes

This function should always return an empty string.

GetMachineListAvailableForDistribution [IronPython]

Purpose

Get the names of the hosts allocated to the current job. A host name will appear in the output
string multiple times if the scheduler has allocated multiple processors or cores on the host to
the job. The number of times the host name appears in the string is equal to the number of

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processors or cores of the host that are allocated to the current job. The output is a text string
containing the host names separated by space characters.

Signature
GetMachineListAvailableForDistribution(self)

Arguments (excluding self)

None.

Return Value

A string containing the names of the hosts allocated to the job, separated by space characterss.
The number of times the host appears in the string is equal to the number of processors or cores
of the host that are allocated to the current job.

Notes

The hostnames in the string provided by this function shall be used in calls to LaunchProcess().
The host names must be in a format that is accepted by that function. See the section below on
LaunchProcess.

LaunchProcess [IronPython]

Purpose

Launch a local or remote process to run an analysis engine. This function is called by the
ANSYS Electromagnetics desktop application to launch an engine process on a specified host.
The hostname is one of the names provided by the GetMachineListAvailableForDistribution
function. See the GetMachineListAvailableForDistribution section above. If the hostname does
not refer to the local host, then this function shall use the scheduler to launch the engine on the
specified host. If the hostname refers to the local host, then the engine may be started as a child
process, or it may be started using the scheduler.

Signature
LaunchProcess(self, hostName, exePathName, arg1, arg2)

Arguments (excluding self)

hostName: The name of the host where the process is to be launched.

exePathName: The pathname of the analysis engine executable to be started.

arg1: The first argument of the analysis engine command line.

arg2: The second argument of the analysis engine command line.

Return Value

Returns 0 on success. Returns a non-zero value if an error occurs.

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Notes

The hostName argument will be one of the hostnames provided by the function
GetMachineListAvailableForDistribution().

If the hostName argument is the same as the current host, then the analysis engine process may
be started as a child process. If the hostName argument is not the same as the current host, then
the analysis engine process will be started on the remote host using the facilities available in the
scheduler environment. The command line of the analysis engine process is exePathName arg1
arg2. The command line arguments arg1 and arg2 may contain spaces or other characters that are
interpreted by the command processor, such as backslash (\), single quote (') or double quote (")
characters, or dollar signs ($). If the analysis engine command is processed by a shell, then it may
be necessary to quote any special characters in the exePathName or in the arguments so that the
special meaning is removed. If a scheduler command is used to request the scheduler to launch the
command to start the engine process, and that command is processed by a command shell, then
the analysis engine command may be processed by the shell twice: once when the scheduler
command is processed, and a second time when the analysis engine process is started. If this is
the case, then the quoting of special characters needs to account for two passes through the
command processor.

The command line arguments arg1 and arg2 may be empty strings. These arguments must be
preserved, even if they are empty strings. In some versions of the IronPython subprocess module,
empty argument strings are discarded, resulting in an incorrect number of command line
arguments. A workaround for this issue is to replace an empty string argument by a string
consisting of a single space character.

RSM Integration with Job Management UI

ANSYS Electromagnetics supports its own Remote Simulation Management (RSM) software
along with other High Performance Computing (HPC) software management programs (see High
Performance Computing (HPC) Integration).

When do you need RSM?

RSM is in general required if you want to run remote or distributed simulations. However, if you
have a separate scheduling system that ANSYS Electromagnetics supports, and you plan to run
batchsolve simulations only, then you may not need to install RSM. For details of installation and
configuration of RSM, see the ANSYS Electromagnetics Installation Guides.

Job Management UI for RSM

You can use the Job Management UI to submit batch jobs to RSM. The Job Management UI is
accessed by running ANSYS Electromagnetics product Desktop on the designated
'Postprocessing node' of the cluster. The Desktop provides UI commands for Scheduler selection,
Job submission and Job monitoring/control. You access the Scheduler User Interface by clicking
Tools>Job Management>Select Scheduler...

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Click Select Scheduler to display the selection dialog. A drop down lists potential schedulers,
(which can include RSM, lsf, Windows HPC, or sge, depending on the environment).

If you select a scheduler that is not supported in your environment, you receive a warning
message.

If your environment has been configured for Windows to Linux submission, you can select Use a
computer on the network.

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If you select the radio button “Use a computer on the network,” then you may enter a username
and password. This username and password are used when the job is submitted to the Linux
scheduler. See Windows to Linux Job Submission.

After selecting a scheduler, you can click Refresh to display information for that scheduler.

Once you have selected a scheduler supported in your environment, you can go through the
following steps to submit a batch job.

1. Setup and prepare model on local workstation

2. Copy the input project (or folder, if the project references external files) from a personal
workstation to a shared-drive on cluster (say project is copied to
/home/projects/spool/test.adsn).
l In the RSM environment, you are required to specify a machine-list. (See the HPC and
Analysis Options.) For example, say the machine-list is: 3 cores from 'm1' and 3 cores
from 'm2', for a total of 6 engines. You select the list on the Compute Resources tab of
the Submit Job to RSM dialog, as described below.
3. Open a remote-desktop session (or equivalent such as vnc session) on the node
corresponding to the first machine of job's machine-list, 'm1' in this case. Launch Desktop
graphically on 'm1'.
4. After setting the job submission node, select Tools>Job Management>Submit Job... or
Project>Submit Job... or [ProductName]>Submit Job... to open the Submit Job To:
dialog. You can also access Submit Job from the shortcut menus for the Project Name,
Design name, or the Analysis Setup or Optimetrics Setup.

The Submit Job To: dialog: contains two tabs:

l Analysis Specification--specify the Product path, Project name, the setups, and
analysis options such as batchoptions, or, for advanced users, Environment variables. If
you select the Analysis or Optimetrics setup, the Analysis Specification is pre-populated.
l The Compute Resources tab specifies the amount of compute resources and how to
select specific resources from the available pool, and automatic settings, if supported by
the design types.

The standard Job Submission dialog displays.

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5. Use the ellipsis button [...] to open a browser to select the project. The Project can be an
archive.
6. In the Analysis setups field, you can select radio buttons for All setups in the project, All
setups in the design, or a single setup. For instance, the OptimTee example includes setups
for Nominal, Parametric, and Optimization. If you select Submit Job from the right click

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menus for the Setup or Optimetrics Setup, this field can be pre-populated.

For Parametric setups, you have the option to select Use Large Scale DSO. For details on how
and when you use this feature, see Job Management Interface for Large Scale DSO.

7. The Analysis options include check boxes for Monitoring the job, whether to wait for a
license, and a field for adding Batchoptions. via a graphical interface, or as text.
l If you intend to monitor the job through a user interface, you must check Monitor job. You
can then monitor this job through the Tools>Job Management>Monitor Jobs...
command or by checking the dialog that opens when you submit the job.
l The Batchoptions field allows you to add additional -batchoptions parameters, either as
text, or by using a dialog with selection menus. Click the Add button to view the Add
Batchoption dialog.

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The Show registry key entries field lets you filter the entries displayed, by means of drop
down menu selection, and a check box to Display only frequently used entries.

l When you have selected a batchoption, you can type the value in the field, and click the
Add button to add the option to the batchcommand.
l In the Submit Job To: dialog, you can enable Show advanced options to display
additional fields for Environment variables, and whether to Use batch extract.

The Environment field is for environment variables, for instance, for debugging features or other
variable controlled features. Click the ellipsis [...] button to open a dialog for Additional Job
Options.

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The Add... button opens a New Environment Variable dialog in which you can include a
variable name and value.

Clicking the Add Debug Environment Variables button automatically adds a set of debug
variables. This can be useful in working with ANSYS Application Engineering support.

Selecting a variable in the dialog enables the Remove and Edit buttons. The Edit button opens a
dialog where you can change the variable and value.

8. To see the command-line to be submitted to the scheduler, click Preview Submission. This
opens a dialog showing the command to be sent to the scheduler.

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The text can be copied to the clipboard, if desired.

Use Batch Extract for RSM

Selecting Show advanced options for RSM also show the Use batch extract fields.

See the discussion on Running ANSYS Electronics Desktop from a Command line for a discussion
of the solve information available through batch extract.

9. The Compute Resources tab of the Submit Job to: RSM dialog displays other
parameters. Depending on the resources available for a scheduler environment, some of the
fields may be disabled.

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With Use automatic settings selected, the Job distribution field is removed and the Use automatic
settings checkbox and Num variations to distribute field appears.

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Note If you select Use automatic settings with Num variations to distribute set to 1, Optimetrics
variations will be solved sequentially. Other distribution types will be distributed
automatically. It does distribute frequencies, domains, and use of multiple level domains. If
you set Num variations to distribute to 2 or more, Optimetrics variations will be solved in
parallel. Other distribution types will be distributed automatically.

Otherwise:

l Specify node list

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Here you can specify a node list. In a computing environment where the available cores are not
uniform, you can use this to control which resources your job will use. For use with Large Scale
DSO for RSM, for jobs that are submitted from job submission panel, localhost must be the first
node in the resource selection node list, other wise LSDSO solve with RSM will fail.

Job Distribution

If you disable User automatic selection, you can modify the Job distribution settings.

l Two level distribution, which may be disabled. Click the Modify button to display the Job
Distribution dialog.

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Enabled Distribution types can be modified here.

Second level distribution operates within DSO. If available and enabled you can specify a
number of engines for level 1.

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In response to a set of minimal constraints, the Scheduler may increase the resources assigned
beyond the minimal values in order to meet the full set of requirements. For example, if you
specify 7 distributed engines, with two processors per engine, and also limit the number of
engines per node to 4, the scheduler may increase the number of cores used in order to meet
the limit specified for engines per node. Notice that a preview of the Submit Job Results shows
the number of resources assigned, and that the scheduler generated code includes an MPI
specification.

1. To submit the command with the specified parameters, click Submit Job.

Note The RSM environment does not support for queuing, so 'Submit Job' will
immediately start running the job.

A dialog displays in which you can check "Begin monitoring this job now."

2. You can monitor this job either automatically (by checking the option) or through the
Tools>Job Management>Monitor Jobs... command. For more details, see Monitor Jobs
window.

Process for Changing the Listening Port used by AnsoftRSM Service

To change the listening port used by the AnsoftRSMService, you need to change the configuration
file, ansoftrsmservice.cfg, as follows:

You must specify the ListenPort within a 'CommDetails' block, which must be within a
'Default:CommDetails' block, which must be within the top level block of the file, the
'AnsoftCOMDaemon' block. The following example shows the listen port changed from 32958 to
32957, with these blocks at the beginning of the file:
$begin 'AnsoftCOMDaemon'

$begin 'Default:CommDetails'

$begin 'CommDetails'

ListenPort='32957'

$end 'CommDetails'

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$end 'Default:CommDetails'

. . . .

$end 'AnsoftCOMDaemon'

For the second level block, ensure that there is a single colon character and no spaces or tabs
separating the two parts of the block name 'Default:CommDetails'. The third level block, with name
'CommDetails' is also required. Use caution when editing this file by hand, because any typos in
the block or value names may cause the data to be ignored.

Job Submission Scripting

To help with automation, you can submit batch jobs can through script commands of the oDesktop
object. The SubmitJob script command uses job submission settings that have been exported
from the Submit Job dialog box to a .areg file. The path to this .areg file is thus the first argument
to the SubmitJob command. Additional arguments include the path to the project file, the design
name (if restricting the solve to a particular design), and the setup name (if further restricting the
solve to a single setup within a design).

For further automation, you can use the SelectScheduler scripting command to determine what
scheduler to use for submission, to include options for head node, username, and whether to
require password entry from the user. (If the username differs from the cached username, or the
force password flag is set, then the Select Scheduler dialog box appears.) If there are any issues
with the scheduler selection (for example, a password is required or the requested host wasn’t
found), then the Select Scheduler dialog box appears. This is the only part of job submission
scripting that may required user intervention. This same mechanism is used if, from within the
SubmitJob command, there is failure to connect to the scheduler. Even though there are
allowances for graphical user intervention if something goes wrong, if the password (if required) is
cached and all settings are correct, the entire submission process can run non-graphically and fully
automated.

Limitations
All settings besides the arguments passed to the SubmitJob command must be stored in the .areg
file containing settings exported from the Submit Job dialog box. These include (but aren’t limited
to) batch options, environment variables, batch extract settings, and compute resource selections.
To run many job submission scripts with variation of these settings, there must be multiple .areg
files available.

Note that the same project can be submitted multiple times with a single script. Care must be taken
in this situation because each time a project is submitted, the state-keeping files used for
monitoring are removed so that the job can create them from scratch to ensure consistency. While
this ensures proper monitoring for a job that is just being submitted, it could interfere with
monitoring (or even correct solving if a lock file is deleted) of a job that is already in progress.
Because of this, if the same project is to be re-submitted from within a single script, the job should

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be monitored (waiting for completion) before trying to submit it again. This monitoring/waiting can
be done with a combination of a single LaunchJobMonitor command followed by a loop that
checks the result of a RefreshJobMonitor command.

How to do Job Submission Scripting

The typical scenario for job submission scripting would be to do the following:

1. Manually select the scheduler. Use the Select Scheduler dialog box to open the Submit
Job dialog box.
2. Choose a representative project (with the desired design type), and select appropriate
analysis settings.
3. Make the required compute resource selections and try to preview the job.
4. If preview is successful, export the dialog settings and record the path to the new .areg file.
5. Create a script containing at a minimum a SubmitJob command with the path to the .areg
file, and the path to the project file. Note that there must be double backslashes for each
backslash of a path, since the backslash is an escape character. When the script is run, and
all is successful, there should be a message in the message windows stating that the job was
submitted, including the job ID(s). There could be multiple job IDs if multi-step submission is
used.

See the Scripting help (click Help>HFSS Scripting Help) for details on the SelectScheduler,
SubmitJob, LaunchJobMonitor and RefreshJobMonitor commands.

Related Topics

High Performance Computing (HPC) Integration

Running ANSYS Electronics Desktop from a Command Line

Windows to Linux Job Submission

Given a set of prerequisites, ANSYS Electronics Desktop can permit Windows to Linux job
submission as part of HPC.

Prerequisites for Job Submission

Directory Shared between Windows and Linux

For all jobs submitted to a Linux cluster, the project file is required to be in a directory that is
accessible from all execution hosts used by the job. For submission of jobs from a Windows host to
a Linux cluster, the project file must also be accessible from the Windows host where the GUI runs.
There must be a directory shared with both Windows and Linux hosts, and the project file may be in
a subdirectory (at any level) of the shared directory.

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Network Access from Windows Host to Linux Job Management Host

The job is submitted to the cluster from a Linux host configured for submission of jobs to the Linux
cluster. We call this Linux host the “Job Management” host. The information about the job to be
submitted is transmitted to the Job Management host over the network. As a result, the Windows
host where the GUI runs must have network access to the Job Management host. If this
communication is blocked, then job submission from a Windows host to the Linux cluster will not be
possible. Communication could be blocked if there is a firewall or if the Linux cluster is only on a
private network, for example.

Ansoft RSM Service Running on Job Management Host

The ansoftrsmservice must be running on the Linux Job Management host. Before the
ansoftrsmservice is started, it must be configured for submission of jobs to the cluster. The
SchedulerName and ConfigString fields in the Scheduler block of the ansoftrsmservice.cfg
configuration file must be specified. The contents of these fields are described in the table below:

Field Name Contents Examples

SchedulerName Identifier of Scheduler IBM Platform LSF: ’lsf’

PBSPro or Torque: ’pbs’

Univa, SGE, etc.: ’sge’

IBM Platform LSF: ’’ (not required)

ConfigString Directory containing PBSPro or Torque:

scheduler commands ’/opt/pbspro/PBSPro_
13.0.0/default/bin’

Univa, SGE, etc.:

’/opt/univa/bin/lx-amd64’

The environment should be configured for job submission before starting the ansoftrsmservice.
The ansoftrsmservice should be run as a non-privileged user; no special privileges are required. It
should be run as a user without login privileges, so that only privileged users have access to this
process.

Prerequisites for Job Monitoring

For job monitoring, all prerequisites for job submission are required. One additional requirement,
described below, is also required for job monitoring.

Network Access from Windows Host to Linux Cluster Hosts

In order to obtain full monitoring information from a job, the Windows host needs access to some of
the job processes. That is, the Windows monitoring host requires network access to the processes

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running on the Linux cluster execution hosts. If this communication is blocked, then only limited
monitoring information is available.

Supported Schedulers
This feature may be used with all Linux schedulers for which job submission from the GUI is
supported:

l IBM Platform LSF

l Univa Grid Engine (formerly Sun Grid Engine, Oracle Grid Engine)
l PBSPro
l Torque

Select Scheduler Dialog

If you select the Use a computer on the network option, you can enter a username and
password. This username and password are used when the job is submitted to the Linux
scheduler.

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Submit Job Dialog

In the Submit Job dialog, you must enter the Linux path to the product in the Product path edit
control. The browse button (labeled “...”) may not be used to browse for the product. There is no
requirement for the product installation directory to be accessible from the Windows GUI host.

You must enter the Windows path of the project file in the Product path edit control or use the
browse button (labeled “...”) to select the Windows path of the project file. If the Linux path of the
project file can be determined from the specified Windows path and the directories shared between
Windows and Linux, then the Linux path of the project file is shown in the Linux project path edit
control. This edit control cannot be edited directly.

The Options button activates a dialog that you can use to specify archive options for a job. The
lower portion of this dialog allows you to specify one or more directories shared between Windows
and Linux. The mapping of directories between Windows and Linux is shown in a grid which
displays the Windows path and the Linux path for each shared directory. There are also buttons to
add a new shared directory, to edit an existing shared directory, or to delete one or more shared
directories. The Windows path or the Linux path of any shared directory may be selected in the grid
and directly edited, as well.

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If you specify a project in an archive, the dialog activated by the Options button may be used to
specify the Windows pathname of the project to be extracted from the archive. If this is done, the
Linux pathname of the target project is determined from the directories shared between Windows
and Linux and shown in the upper portion of this dialog.

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If you specify a batchextract script, the Linux path of the batchextract script is determined from the
Windows path of the batchextract script and the directories shared between Windows and Linux.

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User Passwords are Encrypted

Jobs are submitted to the Linux cluster using the user name and password entered in the Select
Scheduler dialog. These settings are persistent; in general, these settings need to be entered only
if they change. To ensure security, user passwords are stored in an encrypted format. When a job

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is submitted from a Windows host using the ansoftrsmservice running on a Linux submission host,
the user credentials are sent over the network in an encrypted format.

Related Topics

Configuring Distributed Analysis

Editing Distributed Machine Configurations

Editing Distributed Machine Configurations for Q3D

Selecting an Optimal Configuration for Distributed Analysis

Distributed Setup Resource Guide for ANSYS Electronics Desktop Solvers

Large Scale DSO for Parametric Analysis

High Performance Computing (HPC) Integration

Multi-Step Job Submission

Multi-step job submission allows you to divide the simulation of a project on a cluster as two or more
jobs, each of which has unique resource specifications. For example, creating the initial mesh and
doing adaptive refinement can use a single machine, while frequency sweeps can easily be
distributed over many machines. Breaking up the simulation into multiple steps allows the first job
to do initial meshing and adaptive passes, only reserving a single compute node, or maybe even
reserving just a partial node. The second job can then do the frequency sweep(s), reserving and
using multiple nodes. Note that while the first job runs, because it may only be using one node,
other nodes are available for other jobs. The ANSYS Electronics Desktop job submission GUI
allows you to submit multi-step jobs, and specify compute resources individually for each step.
Electronics Desktop can also be used to monitor the execution of multi-step jobs.

Limitations

Multi-step job submission is only allowed for a single setup of a project. Only certain design types
(or setup types for a given design type) offer this functionality. RSM (i.e. Ansoft RSM) does not
support multi-step jobs because it does not have queuing capabilities.

How-to Specify Multi-Step Job Submission

From an open project, right-click a setup in the project tree, and select Submit Job... on the menu.
This pre-populates the Submit Job dialog Analysis Specification tab for the selected setup.
Select the Compute Resources tab. If the designsetup and selected scheduler allow for, and
your computing resource supports multi-step submission, the Compute Resources tab shows
the Use Multi-Step... submission button and checkbox as enabled.

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If the Multi-Step button and checkbox are not enabled it could be because you have not selected a
single setup, the design type of the setup does not support Multi-Step, or the scheduler type (e.g.
RSM) does not support it.

On the Compute Resources tab, check the “Use multi-step submission” box and select the
appropriate submission option, that is:

l Two Steps for Adaptive and Sweeps

l Three Steps for Mesh, Adaptive, and Sweeps

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Then click the Multi-Step… button, which will bring up a “Compute Resources for Multi-Step Jobs”
dialog where there is a tab for each step used, that is for potential for Mesh, Adaptive and Sweeps.

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Notice, for example, that the Sweeps tab lists the same resources choices but they can be
assigned differently.

Set the desired compute resources for each step and click OK.

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The Summary field of the Compute Resources tab shows a text summary of resource
specifications used for each step.

If desired, set the job name on the Scheduler Options tab. When the jobs are submitted, each will
have a name given by job name (if any) appended with the name of the step for the job. For
example, if the job name entered is “MultiStep”, then the individual jobs might be named
“MultiStep-Adaptive” and “MultiStep-Sweeps”.

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There is a new “Fix job name as necessary” checkbox for the job name. This applies only to certain
schedulers where there are constraints on the job name. It is useful to ensure proper submission in
the case where appending the step name results in an invalid job name.

When you click the Preview Submission button, you see a preview for each step, all in the same
output window. Any errors or warnings for a step, generated during preview validation, are
displayed with the text for the preview of that step.

When you click the Submit Job button, each job is submitted individually, and dependencies are
set with the scheduler so that subsequent jobs wait for the prior step’s job to complete before
starting. Any errors in job submission for any step prevent further steps from being submitted.

The dialog reporting successful submission has been modified slightly for multi-step jobs. It will
show the jobs IDs of all jobs that are part of the multi-step job sequence.

Multi-Step Job Monitoring

You can monitor the job step in progress. When one job completes, the status shows “Completed”,
but monitoring restarts once the next job step is running.

Aborting a Job Step

You can also abort the job step in progress. With multi-step jobs submitted from the Electronics
Desktop GUI, this will also cause remaining jobs (which would otherwise remain queued in the
scheduler) to be canceled.

Archive Projects for Multi-Step Job Submission

Note that you can submit archive projects. Monitoring is based on the archive for the first step, then
on the extracted project for subsequent steps.

Submitting a Job without Opening the Project

You can also submit a job without opening the project. This can be done by choosing Tools > Job
Management > Submit Job… and then manually entering the project path. (You can also use
the Browse button can to select the project.) Note that you must also select a single nominal setup
before the “Use multi-step submission” checkbox is enabled on the Compute Resources tab.

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Monitor Jobs Window

The Job Management tools include a Monitor Job window. You can invoke the window either by
means of a check box in the dialog that reports a successful job submission, or by clicking
Tools>Job Management>Monitor Jobs...

You can select the job to monitor by using the pull-down menu of recently submitted jobs. The job
can be an archive.

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The Monitor Job dialog contains fields reporting the job status, job ID, messages, and progress.
With the Show analysis check box enabled (the default), you will see the Profile and
Convergence tabs, similar to the Solution Data dialog.

You can filter the messages for Errors, Warnings, and Info.

By option you refresh the job output manually or automatically at specified intervals.

By clicking on the right arrow menu by the progress bars, you can perform a Clean Stop of the job.
You can also perform Abort Job.

Using ANSYS EM HPC Diagnostics tool

The ANSYS EM HPC diagnostics tool simplifies HPC troubleshooting by automating diagnosis of
routine issues. The diagnostics tool is run on the cluster as a scheduler managed job. Using its
HTML based diagnostics report, cluster administrator or ANSYS support staff can either resolve
the issue, or guide the user with steps for further troubleshooting. In some cases, ANSYS support
staff may request to rerun the diagnostics with additional diagnostics tests. The user may extend
the diagnostic scripts to suite their HPC environment.

This note describes how to use the diagnostics tool.

l Supported schedulers
l Running the diagnostics job
l Standard diagnostic job
l Using diagnostics scripts on Linux clusters
l Using Windows HPC job file
l Diagnostic report
l Site-specific diagnostics job
l Environment variables
l ANSYSEM_DIAG_PROD_DIR contents

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l ANSYSEM_DIAG_RESULTS_DIR contents
l How does the diagnostic tool work

Supported schedulers

The tool supports diagnosis of issues on Linux and windows clusters managed by the following
schedulers:

l LSF
l SGE
l PBS/Torque
l Windows HPC

For the above schedulers (see High Performance Computing (HPC) Integration), the tool includes
basic diagnostic scripts. Further, if password-ssh has been enabled, it also supports generic Linux
clusters using ssh. Please note that currently diagnostics tool does not support PBSPro and
LSF/Windows.

Running the diagnostics job

The diagnostics are run as a scheduler managed job. Once the job finishes, you locate the resulting
HTML file and provide it to the cluster administrator or to ANSYS support staff. In case, there are
any job or test failures, please also provide the networking*.json files from the Hosts subdirectory
as well.

Basic diagnostic job

To run the basic diagnostics, submit a diagnostic job to the scheduler using a provided job
submission script. Each basic diagnostic job is a 12 core job with 4 cores per host. On Linux,
running this script submits a scheduler job to run the diagnostic tool on the cluster. On Windows,
you need to submit a job using a job file.

Basic scripts for each supported scheduler are available in diagnostics subdirectory of schedulers
directory.

Linux:
.../Linux64/schedulers/diagnostics

Windows:
.../Win64/schedulers/diagnostics.

Using diagnostics scripts on Linux clusters

The following basic scripts are provided in the diagnostics directory i.e.
.../Linux64/schedulers/diagnostics.

These job submission scripts are scheduler specific.

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Basic job
Scheduler submission Comment
script
LSF test_lsf Supports both lsrun and blaunch
SGE test_sge Supports both qrsh and rsh
PBS/Torque test_torque Requires changing the PATH and PBS_BINARY_PATH
environment variable
Generic test_ssh Supports only ssh. Requires password-less ssh. Requires creating
Linux cluster a file with the names of hosts and saving it in ${HOME}/ansysem_
hostfile

Using Windows HPC job file

A sample job file winhpctest.xml is available in the diagnostics directory:

.../Win64/schedulers/diagnostics.

To submit this diagnostic job, you must change the job description to suite your environment as
following:

1. Select a directory for saving the diagnostic results. This directory must be accessible at the
same path from all the hosts of the cluster.
2. Locate the directory for ANSYS EM installation. This directory also must be accessible at the
same path from all the hosts of the cluster.
3. Locate the winhpctest.xml in the diagnostics subdirectory of schedulers directory in ANSYS
EM installation.
4. Start Windows HPC job manager, and choose "New job from XML File…" action.
5. Select the winhpctest.xml job file.
6. Change the value of both the following environment variable with the directories located in
the first two steps:

ANSYSEM_DIAG_PROD_DIR

ANSYSEM_DIAG_RESULTS_DIR

Now submit the job.

Note After making the above changes, you can also save the resulting XML file using "Submit
Job XML File…". Then you can submit the job using the job command as following:

job submit /jobfile: XMLfileName

Diagnostic report

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The diagnostic report is an HTML file which (along with other related diagnostics results) is placed
in the following directory

Linux:
${HOME}/Ansoft/HPCDiag/Results/JOBID

Windows:
%ANSYSEM_DIAG_DIR%\Results\JOBID

Report file:
.../HTML/report.html

where JOBID is the job ID assigned by the scheduler. On Windows, the user must specify
ANSSEM_DIAG_DIR directory.

Site-specific diagnostics job

To run a diagnostic job with job submission parameters of your choice, you need to create your
own job submission script. For example, you may want to specify a different LSF queue, or select a
different SGE parallel environment. To run such a job, you need to create your own job submission
script starting from the basic diagnostic scripts with the following steps:

1. Locate the relevant basic diagnostic script in the diagnostics subdirectory of schedulers
directory in ANSYS EM installation.
2. Make a copy of the diagnostics script into a directory that is accessible from a submit host for
the cluster.
3. Edit the script file to change the value of ANSYSEM_DIAG_PROD_DIR environment
variable to point it to the installation directory (See below).
4. Modify the job submission parameters as needed.
5. Optionally, copy any site-specific diagnostic tests provided by ANSYS support staff in the
../Custom directory of ANSYSEM_DIAG_RESULTS_DIR directory.
6. Run the diagnostics script from a submit host for the cluster

Environment variables

The following environment variables are applicable for both Linux and Windows environment.

ANSYSEM_DIAG_PROD_DIR

Environment
ANSYSEM_DIAG_PROD_DIR
variable
Description Location of the ANSYS EM installation. This must be available at the same
path from all the hosts of the cluster.
Windows \\filer\AnsyEM\AnsysEM19.0\Win64

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Environment
ANSYSEM_DIAG_PROD_DIR
variable
example
Linux example /shared/ansysem/AnsysEM19.0/Linux64
Comments Windows: Required.

Linux: Optional. Export this environment variable if you make a copy of the
diagnostic script.

ANSYSEM_DIAG_RESULTS_DIR

Environment
ANSYSEM_DIAG_RESULTS_DIR
variable
Description Location of the diagnostic report and other results on a shared drive. This must be
available at the same path from all the hosts of the cluster
Example \\filer\Home\User\Ansoft\HPCDiag
Linux /shared/home/user/Ansoft/HPCDiag
example
Comments Windows: Required.

Linux: Optional. Export this environment variable if the home directory for the user
is not accessible from the cluster.

ANSYSEM_DIAG_CUSTOM_DIR

Environment
ANSYSEM_DIAG_CUSTOM_DIR
variable
Description Location of the configuration of product tests and other custom site-specific tests.
This location must be on a shared drive that is available at the same path from all
the hosts of the cluster
Example \\filer\Home\User\Ansoft\HPCDiag\Custom
Linux /shared/home/user/Ansoft/HPCDiag/Custom
example
Comments Windows: Optional. You may want to specify it if the path %ANSYSEM_DIAG_
RESULTS_DIR%\..\Custom is not suitable

Linux: Optional. Export this environment variable if the home directory for the user
is not accessible from the cluster.

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How the diagnostic tool works

The diagnostics are run as a scheduler managed job. Running the diagnostic script submits a
scheduler job that runs the diagnostic tool on the hosts allocated to the job. Once the diagnostic job
starts, the tool executes a set of diagnostic tests. These tests run on each host allocated to the job,
and collect diagnostic information relevant for running HPC jobs. The tool combines the diagnostic
information to produce an HTML report. The tool saves HTML diagnostic report and other results in
a shared drive, which must be available at the same path from all the hosts of the cluster. On Linux,
the default is Ansoft/HPCDiag subdirectory under user's home directory. On Windows, the user
must specify this location using ANSYSEM_DIAG_RESULTS_DIR environment variable.

Related Topics

High Performance Computing (HPC) Integration

Changing a Solution Priority for System Resources

You can modify the priority of ANSYS Electronics Desktop simulations so that system resources
are allocated to other computer processes before the solver. If you reduce the priority of ANSYS
Electronics Desktop simulations, your other software tools will respond as they normally would, but
ANSYS Electronics Desktop simulations may take longer.

Note The Windows Task Manager does not indicate a reduced priority for the ANSYS
Electronics Desktop solvers. It only lists the priority of the engine manager, which appears
normal, not the actual engine. The actual engine is in a separate thread, whose priority is
not visible in the Windows Task Manager.

To change the priority of simulations for the system's resources:

1. While a solution is running, right-click the Progress window, and click Change Priority on
the shortcut menu.
l To affect priority for future simulation runs, click the Tools>Options>HPC and Analysis
dialog box, and click the Options tab.
2. From the Change Priority menu (or the Default Process Priority pull-down menu),
select one of the following priorities:

Lowest Priority
Below Normal
Normal The default.
Above Normal
Highest

3. Click OK.

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Aborting an Analysis
To end the solution process before it is complete:

l Right-click In the Progress window and click Abort.

The solver ends the analysis immediately.

The data for the currently solving pass or frequency point is deleted. All previously solved solutions
are retained. For example, if you abort between the third and fourth adaptive pass, the solutions for
the third pass will be available, and any solutions for the fourth pass are discarded.

To abort the solution process after the current adaptive pass or solved frequency point is complete:

l Right-click the Progress window, and click CleanStop on the shortcut menu.

The solver ends the analysis after the next solved pass or frequency point.

If you request a clean stop during the third adaptive pass, the solution for the third pass will be
available once the third pass has finished solving, but the fourth pass will not run.

ANSYS EM Application as an LSF Job

If you have an ANSYS EM application running as an LSF job, you can use the command "bkill -s
SIGTERM jobid" to terminate that application. Here jobid is the LSF job id. The response will be
"Job <jobid> is being signaled". The response is the same whether the job is actually being
signaled or not.

In cases where the SIGTERM parameter is ignored, the command kills the LSF job, but does not
clean the lock files, and other files may not be in a consistent state. See http://www.vital-
it.ch/support/LSF/programmer/advanced.html for a detailed description under Signal Handling in
Windows.

Unix/Linux

For UNIX/Linux, you can use TERM commands. Sigterm handling for Unix is done in Desktop
library. You can abort a running batchsolve on Unix by sending a TERM signal to hfss.exe

Related Topics

Integration with Platform's Load Sharing Facility (LSF)

desktopproxy Utility to Abort or Cleanstop a BatchSolve

The desktopproxy Utility to abort or cleanstop a batch solve is available in the installation directory
(i.e. .../AnsysEMxxx/Linux64 or ...\AnsysEMxxx\Win64 for Linux or Windows resp).

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To abort a job, run it on a host which has network access to the first execution host of the job, as
well as has access to the directory of the project file. This utility does not abort Large scale DSO
jobs for which you need to use desktopjob utility itself.

Usage:
desktopproxy -abort <projectpath>

-cleanstop <projectpath>

Where the <projectpath> is the full path to the project file.

The behavior (for e.g. saving the results computed so far) should be same as if you interactively
aborted AnsysEDT solve. if AnsysEDT is 'busy' (for e.g. doing Optimetrics calculation or computing
a report), abort (using desktopproxy) might take a long time.

The utility exits silently after it requests ansysedt process to abort the job cleanly. After the job ends,
the batch log file may contain a message such as:
[error] Project:TestProject, Design:HFSSDesign1 (DrivenModal),
Simulation was aborted by user on server: sjohpc-lsf-0.ansys.com.
(3:52:30 PM Oct 11, 2013)

The lock file will be automatically deleted.

Example (Linux):
desktopproxy -abort /home/user/test/Diff_Via.aedt

Example (Windows):
desktopproxy -abort \\server\share\projectfolder\Diff_Via.aedt

Limitations:

l Aborting a job makes a best effort to delete all the temp directories on all the hosts
l For a hung job, a clean shutdown may not be possible. In that case, the user must use
OS/scheduler's facilities to kill the job.

Related Topics

Running ANSYS Electronics Desktop from a Command Line

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7 - Defining Mesh Operations

In Project tree, mesh operations are optional mesh refinement settings that provide the solvers
with mesh construction guidance. This technique of guiding mesh construction is referred to as
"seeding" the mesh. Seeding is performed using the Mesh Operations commands on the
respective solver menu. Each mesh operation you define appears in the Project tree.

You can instruct the solvers to reduce the maximum size of tetrahedral elements on a surface or
within a volume until they are below a certain value (length-based mesh refinement) or you can
instruct solvers to refine the surface triangle length of all tetrahedral elements on a surface or
volume to within a specified value (skin depth-based mesh refinement). These types of mesh
operations are performed on the current mesh, that is, the most recently generated mesh.

In a few circumstances, you may also want to create a mesh operation that modifies a solver's
surface approximation settings for one or more faces. Surface approximation settings are only
applied to the initial mesh, that is, the mesh that is generated the first time a design variation is
solved.

You can also specify Initial Mesh Settings to apply to all objects; however, if you apply separate
surface approximation mesh operations to specific objects, the object settings take precedence
over the general setting.

You can also choose to override automatic choice of which mesher a proudct uses, by using the
[solverName]>Mesh Operations>Initial Mesh Settings command.

See the technical notes for more details about ANSYS Electronics Desktop's application of mesh
operations.

What do you want to do?

l Length Based Mesh Refinement

l Perform length-based mesh refinement on object faces
l Perform length-based mesh refinement inside objects
l Perform skin depth-based mesh refinement on object faces
l Modify surface approximation settings for one or more faces
l Apply Curvilinear Elements

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l Specify automatic or specified model resolution for a selection

l Specify the initial mesh settings

Related Topics

Plotting the Mesh

Specifying a Source for the Initial Mesh

Meshing in HFSS

Technical Notes:The Mesh Generation Process

Technical Notes:Seeding the Mesh

Technical Notes: Guidelines for Seeding the Mesh

Technical Notes: Surface Approximation Settings

Getting Started Guides: A Spiral Inductor

Length Based Mesh Refinement

The length based mesh refinement settings help control the length of the tetrahedral elements and
the growth of the whole mesh. If you are not sure how big a refinement is needed, by way of mesh
refinement you can set a ceiling on the mesh growth with the option Restrict the Number of
Elements.

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When you set a mesh operation on a selection of objects (more than one) and set a maximum
length, it applies to the whole mesh. Even if you selected just one object, when you refine its
boundary, elements are added both inside and outside of that object.

When there are no more elements to refine or when no more elements can be added, the
refinement process stops because it has either met the growth limit or the element length target.
However, there are more quality improvement swaps, smoothing, matching boundary issues
performed at the finishing stage that might slightly alter the mesh size.

If you restrict the number of elements to say 10000, it will add 10000 elements. If you have multiple
mesh operations each for 10000 elements, each mesh operation will add 10000 elements
(assuming there was no element length targets).

If you set a restriction of say 2000 elements on an object which creates 1100 elements after lambda
refinement without any mesh operation, the starting mesh will contain more than 3000 elements.

Assigning Length-Based Mesh Refinement on Object Faces

1. Select the faces you want to refine.

Alternatively, select an object if you want to refine every face on the object.

2. Click HFSS>Mesh Operations>Assign>On Selection>Length-Based.

The Element Length-BasedRefinement dialog box appears.

3. Type a name for the mesh operation in the Name text box or accept the default name.
4. To restrict the length of tetrahedra edges touching the faces:

a. Select Restrict Length of Elements.

b. Type the maximum length of the tetrahedral edges touching the faces in the Maximum
Length of Elements text box.

The solver will refine the element edges touching the selected faces until their lengths
are equal to or less than this value.

The default value is set to 20% of the maximum edge lengths of the bounding boxes of
each selected face.

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For first order basis functions, a maximum length of is recommended for radiation
boundary surfaces.

5. To restrict the number of elements added during refinement of the faces:

a. Select Restrict the Number of Elements.

b. Enter the Maximum Number of Elements to be added.
c. Click OK.

When the mesh is generated, the refinement criterion you specified is used. If the maximum
number of elements is reached, some elements may exceed the requested maximum element
length.

You can also specify Initial Mesh Settings to apply to all objects; however, if you apply separate
surface approximation mesh operations to specific objects, the object settings take precedence
over the general setting.

Related Topics

Plotting the Mesh

Technical Notes:Length-Based Mesh Refinement

Technical Notes:Seeding the Mesh

Technical Notes:Guidelines for Seeding the Mesh

Assigning Length-Based Mesh Refinement Inside Objects

Applying Mesh Operations without Solving

Technical Notes: The Mesh Generation Process

Assigning Length-Based Mesh Refinement Inside Objects

To instruct a solver to refine every face of an object and its interior:

1. Select the object you want to refine.

2. Click HFSS>Mesh Operations>Assign>Inside Selection>Length-Based.

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The Element Length-Based Refinement dialog box appears.

3. Type a name for the mesh operation in the Name text box or accept the default name.
4. To restrict the length of the tetrahedral element edges inside the object:
a. Select Restrict Length of Elements.
b. Type the maximum length of the edges inside the object in the Maximum Length of
Elements text box.

The default value is set to 20% of the maximum edge lengths of the bounding boxes of
each selected object's faces.

The solver will refine the element edges inside the object until they are equal to or less
than this value.

5. To restrict the number of elements added during the refinement inside the object:
a. Select Restrict the Number of Elements.
b. Enter the Maximum Number of Elements to be added.
c. Click OK.

When the mesh is generated, the refinement criterion you specified will be used. If the maximum
number of elements are reached, it may result in some elements exceeding the requested
maximum element length.

You can also specify Initial Mesh Settings to apply to all objects; however, if you apply separate
surface approximation mesh operations to specific objects, the object settings take precedence
over the general setting.

Related Topics

Plotting the Mesh

Technical Notes: Length-Based Mesh Refinement

Technical Notes: Seeding the Mesh

Technical Notes: Guidelines for Seeding the Mesh

Assigning Length-Based Mesh Refinement on Object Faces

Applying Mesh Operations without Solving

Technical Notes: The Mesh Generation Process

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Assigning Skin Depth-Based Mesh Refinement on Object Faces

1. Select the faces you want to be refined.

Note It is possible to select a body and convert it to selecting all faces of the body. The user
can use this method to select all faces and toggle a few faces out of selection.
Selecting the whole body might select very large regions for refinement and increase
the element count a lot.

2. Click HFSS>Mesh Operations>Assign>On Selection>Skin-Depth-Based.

The Skin Depth-BasedRefinement dialog box appears.

3. Type a name for the mesh operation in the Name text box or accept the default name.
4. Type the skin depth within which to refine the mesh in the Skin Depth text box.

Alternatively, calculate the skin depth based on the object's material permeability and
conductivity and the frequency at which the mesh will be refined:

a. Click Calculate Skin Depth.

The Calculate Skin Depth dialog box appears.

b. Enter the material's Relative Permeability and Conductivity.

c. Specify the Frequency at which to refine the mesh.
d. Click OK.

The solver calculates the skin depth and enters its value in the Skin Depth text box.

5. In the Number of Layers of Elements text box, type the number of layers to add
perpendicular to the object's surface.

The solver will add an equivalent number of mesh points to each layer. For example, if HFSS
added 10 points to satisfy the Surface Triangle Length, it will add 10 points to each layer.

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6. Type the maximum edge length of the surface mesh in the Surface Triangle Length text
box.

The default value is set to 20% of the maximum edge lengths of the bounding boxes of each
selected face.

The solver will refine the surface triangle mesh (the faces of the tetrahedra touching the
surface) until their edge lengths are less than or equal to the specified value.

7. To restrict the number of elements added during refinement on the faces:

a. Select Restrict the Number of Surface Elements.
b. Enter the Maximum Number of Surface Elements to be added.
c. Click OK.

When the mesh is generated, the refinement criteria you specified will be used. This operation will
be approximately the same as having slabs of tetrahedra, but it is not guaranteed to prevent
tetrahedra from crossing slab interfaces. Caution should be used with this mesh operation, as very
thin layers may cause a reduction in mesh quality or unnecessarily cause the generation of a very
large mesh. Further regions refined under this operation and its close neighbors do not participate
in solution adaptive refinement. This is another reason to use this seeding operation with caution.

You can also specify Initial Mesh Settings to apply to all objects; however, if you apply separate
surface approximation mesh operations to specific objects, the object settings take precedence
over the general setting.

Related Topics

Plotting the Mesh

Technical Notes: Skin Depth-Based Mesh Refinement

Technical Notes: Seeding the Mesh

Technical Notes: Guidelines for Seeding the Mesh

Applying Mesh Operations without Solving

Technical Notes: The Mesh Generation Process

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Modifying Surface Approximation Settings

Each solver applies surface approximation settings for selected objects when it generates the initial
mesh. If you modify a solver's default settings after the initial mesh has been generated, they will
not affect the mesh for that design variation. Surface approximation makes sense for curved
surfaces, for which the mesh will not exactly reproduce the surface shape. It also can be used to
restrict the aspect ratio of triangles on planar surfaces. For a given surface approximation slider
setting, the approximation is more refined for IE, SBR+ and HFSS-IE solvers than for FEM
solvers.

1. Select the faces for which you want to modify the surface approximation settings.

Alternatively, select an object if you want to modify the surface approximation settings of every
face on the object.

2. Click HFSS>Mesh Operations>Assign>Surface Approximation.

The Surface Approximation dialog box appears with the Surface Approximation tab
select.

3. Type a name for the group of settings in the Name text box or accept the default name.
4. Under Curved Surface Meshing, you can select Use Slider or specify Manual Settings.
The slider includes a visual representation of the resolution you choose as ranging from
Coarse resolution with a Small Mesh Size through a nine position scale to a fine resolution
with a Large Mesh Size.

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For example moving the slider to the left changes the figure as follows:

Moving the slider to the right changes the figure as follows.

5. If you choose Manual Settings, the dialog box changes to show text fields.

Use the check boxes to enable the fields.

6. Under Surface Deviation, select surface deviation (length), and then type the distance
between the true surfaces of the selected faces and the meshed faces in the text box.
7. Under Normal Deviation, select normal deviation (angle), and then type the angular
distance between the normal of the true surface and the corresponding mesh surface in the

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text box.
8. Under Aspect Ratio, select Set aspect ratio, and then type a value in the text box. This
value determines the shape of the triangles. The higher the value, the thinner the triangles.
Values close to 1 will result in well-formed, wide triangles.
9. To make your choice the default, use the Save as default check box.
10. Click OK.

The settings will be applied to the initial mesh generated on the selected surface. The group of
settings is listed in the project tree under Mesh Operations.

You can also specify Initial Mesh Settings to apply to all objects. However, if you apply separate
surface approximation mesh operations to specific objects, the object settings take precedence
over the general setting.

Related Topics

Plotting the Mesh

Technical Notes: Surface Approximation Settings

Technical Notes: Guidelines for Modifying Surface Approximation Settings

Technical Notes: The Mesh Generation Process

Apply Curvilinear Elements Command

You can apply curvilinear elements as a Mesh operation. See Apply Curvilinear Elements
Discussion.

1. Select the object or face to which you want to apply curvilinear elements.
2. Select Mesh Operations in the Project Tree, and right-click for the short cut menu and select
Assign>Apply Curvilinear Elements.

This displays the Apply Curvilinear Elements dialog.

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3. You can accept the default name or provide one of your own.
4. Check the box and click OK to apply a mesh operation.

The defined Mesh Operation appears in the Project tree.

Related Topics

Apply Curvilinear Elements Discussion

Technical Notes: Rectilinear Elements and Curvilinear Elements

Specifying Surface Priority for Tau Mesher

You can chose to specify the surface representation priority for the Tau mesher. For most designs,
you can let the solver automatically choose which of two meshing approaches to take. The solver
predicts which one gives the best results, balancing mesh reliability, speed, quality, size and design
characteristics. In most cases, the solver uses TAU mesh, rather than the classic mesh. In general,
it looks for specific features (for example, stacks of large planar parallel facets with small gaps) and
situations where the initial Tau mesh is 4 times larger than the Classic. Experienced users may
choose to designate a high surface representation priority for the critical surfaces with the Tau
mesh is used.

Important! Use this mesh operation with caution. Use this option only if the model has tiny
elements or critical boundary conditions since the solver performs several additional strict mesh
verification steps on the selected objects. For a discussion, see Surface Representation Priority for
Tau Mesh.

1. Select the surface of interest.

2. If designed, specify a Name for the Mesh operation.
3. Right click on the Mesh Operations icon in the Project tree to view the shortcut menu and
select Assign>Surface Priority for Tau...

The Surface Representation Priority for Tau dialog appears.

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4. Check High for the critical surface and OK the dialog.

The Mesh operation appears in the Project tree.

Specifyingthe Model Resolution

The model resolution parameter is used by the meshmaker to distinguish large features from small
features in the model. This setting controls how large a feature must be to be resolved by the
meshmaker. For example, if you set the model resolution length to 20 mm, any model features
smaller than 20 mm are not represented in the mesh. Neither the model nor the model files are
changed. The resolution only controls how the mesh for the model is represented.

While removing small details, if the meshmaker finds that the representation of the model is not
accurate enough, it returns an error condition. The meshmaker then starts with the most accurate
representation and prunes away the details smaller than the model resolution length. It returns an
error if the specified model resolution length forces the final representation to deviate too greatly
from the model.You can set Model Resolution on one or more objects to remove unnecessary
details from the mesh representation. This can be used to reduce the mesh complexity of the
selected objects.

A cautionary note is needed concerning the use of model resolution. It can sometimes make model
faces fail to be represented in the mesh, which can effectively remove some of your boundary
conditions. This can only happen if faces are closer together than the model resolution distance you
specify.

1. Select the object or objects on which to specify a Model Resolution operation.

2. Click on HFSS>Mesh Operations>Assign>Model Resolution.

This displays the Model Resolution Mesh Operation dialog box.

Alternatively, you can display the same dialog if you:

a. Right-click on either Mesh Operations in the Project Tree, or right-click in the 3D

Modeler window to display the respective shortcut menu.
b. Click on Assign>Model Resolution in the Project Tree menu or click on Assign
Mesh Operation>Model Resolution on the shortcut menu.

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The Model Resolution Mesh Operation dialog contains text fields for the mesh operation
Name and radio buttons with choices for the following

l Auto Simplify Using Effective Thickness

The mesher calculates the resolution length based on each object's effective thickness. One
mesh operation can be assigned to many objects, and each will be simplified based on its
own dimensions. Use the Auto Simplify selection:

l To remove many details while retaining an object's overall shape and size.
l For objects of generally uniform thickness.
l To assign one mesh operation to many objects.
l Use Model Resolution length

This enables fields for you to specify the resolution value and units. Use this selection for:

l Tighter control of mesh accuracy.

l Objects of non-uniform thickness. For example, the thin section of the object shown
below might be lost with Auto Simplify.

3. After defining the operation, click OK.

This adds the named Model Resolution operation under the Mesh Operations icon in the
Project Tree.

Note Setting Model Resolution will invalidate any existing solutions.

When two objects in contact have different model resolution lengths, the smaller length will
apply for the common regions.

Related Topics

Plotting the Mesh

Setting the Healing Options

Technical Notes: Model Resolution

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Reverting to the Initial Mesh

The initial mesh is the mesh that is generated the first time a design variation is solved. It includes
surface approximation settings, but does not include lambda refinement or defined mesh
operations.

If you have modified the design setup, and do not want to use the existing current mesh, revert to
the initial mesh prior to solving.

l On the HFSS>Analysis Setup>Revert to Initial Mesh.

Reverting to the initial mesh is useful when you want to evaluate how a different solution frequency
affects the mesh generated during an adaptive analysis. You lose all solution data for a solve setup
and all of its sweeps when you revert to the initial mesh for that setup. You can do this for all solve
setups at once by selecting the command through Analysis in the menu system or project tree, or
for a specific solve setup via its right mouse click menu in the project tree.

Related Topics

Plotting the Mesh

Technical Notes: The Mesh Generation Process

Applying Mesh Operations without Solving

If you want to refine the mesh on a face or volume, but do not want to generate a solution, do the
following after defining mesh operations:

l Click [solverName]>Analysis Setup>Apply Mesh Operations, or right click on the

Analysis or Setup icon in the Project window to display the shortcut menu and click Apply
Mesh Operations.

The same solve machine rules that apply to solving any other setup also apply here. The mesh
operation will be sent to the default solve machine, or the Server Setup dialog may appear to
allow you to interactively specify a solve machine if "Prompt for analysis machine when launching
analysis" is selected under Tools>Options>General Options>Analysis Options tab.

l If a current mesh has been generated, the solver will refine it using the defined mesh
operations.
l If a current mesh has not been generated, the solver will apply the mesh operations to the
initial mesh.
l If an initial mesh has not been generated, the solver will generate it and apply the mesh
operations to the initial mesh.
l If the defined mesh operations have been applied to the selected face or object, the current
mesh will not be altered.

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Hint Define a new mesh operation rather than modify an existing mesh operation. the
solver will not re-apply a modified mesh operation.

Applying mesh operations without solving enables you to experiment with mesh refinement in
specific problem regions without losing design solutions. You cannot undo the applied mesh
operations, but you can discard them by closing the project without saving them, or by reverting to
the initial mesh.

Related Topics

Technical Notes: The Mesh Generation Process

Plotting the Mesh

HPC and Analysis Options

Remote Analysis

Specifying Initial Mesh Settings

You can specify the initial mesh settings, including the surface approximation and the meshing
approach. Initial Mesh Settings apply to all objects; however, if you apply separate surface
approximation mesh operations to specific objects, the object settings take precedence over the
general setting.

For most designs, you can let the solver automatically choose which of two meshing approaches to
take. Each solver predicts which one gives the best results, balancing mesh reliability, speed,
quality, size and design characteristics. In most cases, HFSS uses TAU mesh, rather than the
classic mesh. In general, it looks for specific features (for example, stacks of large planar parallel
facets with small gaps) and situations where the initial Tau mesh is 4 times larger than the Classic.
In a few cases, you may decide to override the automatic choice and designate the mesher to use.
To do so:

1. Select HFSS>Mesh Operations>Initial Mesh Settings... or in the Project tree, right-click

on Mesh Operations, and select Initial Mesh Settings from the shortcut menu.

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The Initial Mesh Settings dialog appears with the General tab selected.

2. The General tab contains radio buttons for:

l Auto (the default)--the solver automatically selects the mesher. In most cases, this will be
TAU mesh.
l TAU Mesh.
l Classic Mesh--this is based on the version 11 mesher.
3. You can also uncheck or check Apply curvilinear meshing to all curved surfaces. For
models with curved surfaces, this increases accuracy, though it costs more memory. In
some situations, you may choose to uncheck the setting. See Rectilinear Elements and
Curvilinear Elements and Modifying SAR Settings.
4. Under Curved Surface Meshing, you can select Use Slider or specify Manual Settings. The
Slider includes a visual representation of the resolution you choose as ranging from Coarse
resolution with a Small Mesh Size through a nine position scale to a a fine resolution with a
large mesh size.

For example moving the slider to the left changes the figure as follows:

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Moving the slider to the right changes the figure as follows.

5. If you choose Manual Settings, the dialog changes to show text fields.

Use the check boxes to enable the fields.

6. Under Surface Deviation, do the following:

l Select surface deviation (length), and then type the distance between the true surfaces
of the selected faces and the meshed faces in the text box.
7. Under Normal Deviation, do one of the following:

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l Select normal deviation (angle), and then type the angular distance between the
normal of the true surface and the corresponding mesh surface in the text box.
8. Under Aspect Ratio, do one of the following:
l Select Set aspect ratio, and then type a value in the text box. This value determines the
shape of the triangles. The higher the value, the thinner the triangles. Values close to 1 will
result in well-formed, wide triangles.
9. To make your choice the default, use the Save as default check box.
10. The Advanced tab lets you specify a Set Length for Model Resolution.

This is for experienced users who have a good understanding of how particular values will affect
their models. In general, the Auto setting provides good results.

11. Click OK to apply your choices.

The settings will be applied to the initial mesh generated.

Related Topics

Defining Mesh Operations

Deleting All Previously Assigned Mesh Refinements

To delete previously-assigned mesh refinement data:

l Click HFSS>Mesh Operations>Delete All.

Note This will not alter any existing meshes that have already made use of one or more mesh
refinement operations. However, deleted mesh operations will not be used again after
reverting to the initial mesh.

Viewing List of Mesh Operations

To list all mesh operations for the project, do the following from the project tree:

1. Right-click Mesh Operations.

A shortcut menu appears.

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2. Select List from the shortcut menu.

The Design List dialog box appears, with the Mesh Operations tab displayed.
3. Click Done to close this dialog box.

Reassigning a Mesh Operation

To reassign a previously-assigned mesh setup, do the following in the project tree:

1. Select the object or objects to which you want to reassign the mesh operation.
2. Under Mesh Operations, right-click the mesh refinement you had previously defined.
A shortcut menu appears.
3. Select Reassign from the shortcut menu.

The mesh operation is reassigned to the currently selected objects.

Note This pertains to mesh setup operations only. However, if you want to see information about
a mesh that has been generated, see Viewing Mesh Statistics.

To view the objects to which a mesh operation is assigned:

1. In the Project tree, select the mesh operation.

2. Right-click the mesh refinement you had previously completed.
A shortcut menu appears.
3. Select Show Assignment from the shortcut menu.

The objects to which the operation is assigned are selected.

Related Topics

Defining Mesh Operations

Viewing Mesh Properties

To view mesh properties, do the following in the project tree:

1. Under Mesh Operations, right-click the mesh refinement you had previously completed.
A shortcut menu appears.
2. Select Properties from the shortcut menu.

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8 - Modifying the 3D Model View

You can modify the view of contents in the 3D Modeler window without changing their actual
dimensions or positions.

What do you want to do?

Change the view Show or hide design objects

Change object visualization Change the background

Related Topics

Assigning Color to an Object

Assigning Transparency to an Object

Change the view

l Change the model view with Alt+double-click on areas in the modeler window
l Apply an Orientation to the Current View
l Set the View Options
l Rotate the View.
l Pan the View.
l Zoom In or Out
l Zoom to Selected Excitation
l Zoom In or Out Using Alt-Mousewheel
l Fit Contents in the View Window
l Use Clip Planes

Related Topics

Modifying the Model View

Assigning Color to an Object

Assigning Transparency to an Object

Show or hide design objects

l Show or hide objects
l Showing Only Selected Objects in All or Active Views

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l Show or hide boundaries or excitations

l Visualize or Select Nets

Related Topics

Modifying the Model View

Assigning Color to an Object

Assigning Transparency to an Object

Change object visualization

l Render objects as wireframes, flat-shaded, or smooth-shaded solids
l Set the Enhanced Display of Material Color and Transparency
l Set the Surface Visualization
l Modify the view orientation
l Modify the lighting
l Set the projection view

Related Topics

Modifying the Model View

Assigning Color to an Object

Assigning Transparency to an Object

Change the background

l Set the background color
l Modify the appearance of the coordinate system axes
l Modify the appearance of the grid

Related Topics

Modifying the Model View

Changing the Model View with Alt+Double Click Areas

In the following figure, the orientation of the colored boxes shows the nine model orientations you
can obtain by using Alt + double click in the corresponding area of the Modeler window.

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Related Topics

Rotate the view

Apply an Orientation to the Current View

Right-click in the Modeler window to see the View shortcut menu with the Apply Orientation
command.

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You can also use the equivalent View tab ribbon icons shown by clicking the drop-down under
Orient.

Possible orientations are Top, Bottom, Right, Left, Front, Back, Trimetric, Dimetric, and Isometric.
These last three differ as shown below.

After applying an orientation, you can click View>Undo View:Orientation.

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You can also use the right-click View shortcut menu to click Add New Orientation.

The Name that you assign will appear on the Apply Orientation command menu. You can specify
whether to Include Zoom/Pan and whether to Save Global.

Related Topics

Change the model view with Alt-double click on areas in the modeler window

View Options: 3D UI Options

Use the View>Options command to open the 3D UI Options dialog box. The General tab lets
you set defaults for the following view options:

l Stereo Mode (default, disabled)

l Drag Optimization (default, disabled)
l Show Ansoft Logo in Prints (default, disabled)
l Default Color Key Height (the maximum number of values displayed)

If there is a selection option:

l Selection always visible (default, enabled)

l Set transparency of selected objects
l Set transparency of non-selected objects.

Default screen rotation about

l Model Center
l Current Axis
l Screen Center (default)
l Cursor

When you select one of these as the default, the View>Rotate selection menu changes to
show that the Alt-Drag combination attaches to your selection.

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Middle Mouse Button Drag behavior settings.

l Rotate (default)
l Pan
l Zoom

These settings change the behavior of the middle mouse button drag action.

In 2D plots, Pan is the default behavior for middle mouse button drag.

The 3D Modeler Graphics tab lets you set the following options which are invoked for the next
Project and design created.

Large (extends to the window edges), Small

Coordinate System (centered, not extending towards edges with
smaller arrows) or Hide
Coordinate System Triad (a secondary smaller
coordinate system appearing at the lower right Auto, Show, or Hide
edge of the Modeler window)
Show ruler (to show scale, based on current
Units. Appears at the lower center of the Modeler Enable or disable
window)
The default is 400%. You can use the slider or
Z Scale Factor
the text field to specify a different value.

Related Topics

Modeler options

Rotate the view

Rotating the View

You can rotate the view relative to the Model Center, the Screen Center, the Current Axis, or the
cursor.

When you select one of these as the View>Options default, the View>Rotate selection menu
changes to show that the Alt-Drag combination attaches to your selection.

To rotate the model center from the menus or the View/Draw/Model ribbon icons:

1. Click View>Interaction>Rotate Model Center or click the Rotate Model Center icon on
the View/Draw/Model tab ribbon.

View tab Ribbon

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Draw/Model tab Ribbon

2. Drag the mouse in the direction you want to rotate the view.

The view rotates until you release the mouse button. The rotate and zoom dropdown ribbon
buttons update dynamically to indicate the current zoom/rotate mode. The rotate and zoom
dropdown ribbon buttons are also sticky: the last active rotate or zoom mode becomes the
button default while the editor is active.

3. To exit Rotate mode, click View>Interaction>Rotate Model Center again, or click the
icon again or press ESC.

Hint Alternatively, rotate the view using one of the following methods:

l Hold down the ALT key as you drag the mouse.

l Right-click in the view window, and then click View>Rotate on the shortcut
menu.

To rotate the view around the current axis:

1. Click View>Interaction>Rotate Current Axis.

l Alternatively, right-click in the view window, and then click View>Interaction>Spin.
l Or, click the Rotate Current Axis icon on the View/Draw/Model tab ribbon.
2. Drag the mouse left or right at the speed you want to spin the view.

The view spins continually in the direction and at the speed you dragged the mouse.

3. To stop spinning the view, click in the view window.

4. To end Spin mode, click Spin again on the View menu or press ESC.

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To rotate the view around the screen center:

1. Click View>Interaction>Rotate>Screen Center or click the Rotate Screen Center icon

on the View/Draw/Model tab ribbon.
2. Drag the mouse up and down at the speed you want to rotate the view.
3. To end Rotate mode, click View>Interaction>Rotate>Screen Center, or click the icon
again or press ESC.

To rotate the view around the cursor:

Note If Rotating is slow, especially for complex models, for some graphics cards, you can
improve performance by setting NVIDIA Control Panel>3D Settings>Manage 3D
Settings Global Settings>Global Presets: Workstation App - Dynamic Streaming.

For more information about graphics card, see the Open GL section under Installation
Prerequisites in the ANSYS EM Installation Guide.

1. Click View>Interaction>Rotate Cursor or click the Rotate Cursor icon on the

View/Draw/Model tab ribbon
2. Click the left mouse button and drag the cursor for the view you want.
3. To end Rotate mode, click View>Interaction>Rotate>Screen Center, or click the icon
again or press ESC.

Note If Rotating is slow, especially for complex models, for some graphics cards, you can
improve performance by setting NVIDIA Control Panel>3D Settings>Manage 3D
Settings Global Settings>Global Presets: Workstation App - Dynamic Streaming.

For more information about graphics cards, see the Open GL section under Installation
Prerequisites in the ANSYS EM Installation Guide.

Related Topics

Pan the view

Change the model view with Alt-double click on areas in the modeler window

Panning the View

To move (pan) the view:

1. Click View>Interaction>Pan or select View/Draw/Model tab and click the Pan icon on
the ribbon.

View tab Ribbon

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Draw/Model tab Ribbon

2. Drag the mouse in the direction you want to pan the view.

The view will pan until you release the mouse button.

3. To exit Pan mode, click Pan on the View menu again or press ESC.

Hint Alternatively, pan the view using one of the following methods:

l Hold down the SHIFT key as you drag the mouse.

l Right-click in the view window, and then click View>Pan on the shortcut
menu.

Zooming In and Out

You can magnify (zoom in) or shrink (zoom out) the contents in the view window using hot keys or
mouse zoom mode.

To zoom in using hotkeys:

l Press the plus sign (+) or (=) keys or press Ctrl-E keys.

The view zooms in 5 percent.

To zoom out using hotkeys:

l Press the minus sign (-) key or press the Ctrl-F keys.

The view zooms out 5 percent.

To zoom using the mouse.

1. Click View>Interaction>Zoom or on the shortcut menu, View>Zoom or on the

View/Draw/Model ribbons, click the Zoom icon.

View tab Ribbon

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Draw/Model tab Ribbon with drop down menu for Zoom, Zoom In, and Zoom Out.

2. To zoom in, drag the mouse towards the top of the view window. The objects in view expand
as you drag.

To zoom out, drag the mouse towards the bottom of the view window. The objects in view
decrease in size as you drag.

When zooming on a view of model objects the absolute size of the model does not change.

When zooming on a 2D report, axis labels and ticks will adjust automatically during the zoom
operation and will rescale to their final value after the zoom operation is complete.

3. To end Zoom mode, click View>Interaction>Zoom again or press ESC.

You can also zoom in or out using a mouse wheel.

Hint Alternatively, zoom in or out on the view using one of the following methods:

l Hold down the ALT+SHIFT keys as you drag the mouse.

l Right-click in the view window, and then click View>Zoom on the shortcut
menu.

Note If Zooming is slow, especially for complex models, for some graphics cards, you can
improve performance by setting NVIDIA Control Panel>3D Settings>Manage 3D
Settings Global Settings>Global Presets: Workstation App - Dynamic Streaming

For more information about graphics card see the section Open GL under Installation
Prerequisites in the ANSYS EM Installation Guide.

Related Topics

Zooming In or Out on a Rectangular Area

Zooming In or Out Using a Mouse wheel

Fitting Objects in the View Window

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Zoom to Selected Exciation

Zooming In or Out on a Rectangular Area

To magnify or shrink a specific rectangular area in the view window:

1. Click View>Interaction>Zoom In or View>Interaction>Zoom Out .

l Alternatively, right-click in the view window, and then click View>ZoomIn or View>Zoom
Out on the shortcut menu.
l Or select the View tab and click the Zoom + or - icon on the ribbon.

l Or select the Draw/Model tab and select Zoo, or Zoom in or Zoom Out from the
dropdown menu.

2. Use the mouse to draw a rectangle (or square) by selecting two diagonally opposite corners.

This is the area of magnification that will be increased or decreased.

The rectangular area is magnified or decreases in size.

When zooming on a view of model objects, the absolute size of the model does not change. The
rotate and zoom dropdown ribbon buttons update dynamically to indicate the current
zoom/rotate mode. The rotate and zoom dropdown ribbon buttons are also sticky: the last active
rotate or zoom mode becomes the button default while the editor is active.

When zooming on a 2D report, axis labels and ticks will adjust after the zoom operation is
complete.

3. To end Zoom mode, click View>Interaction>Zoom In or View>Interaction>Zoom Out

or press ESC.

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Related Topics

Zooming In and Out

Fitting Objects in the View Window

Zooming In or Out using a Mousewheel

By clicking in the Modeler window you can use the mousewheel to zoom in and out of the 3D
Modeler window. The cursor location becomes the center relative to the zoom, rolling the wheel
forward increases the zoom, and rolling the wheel backwards decreases the zoom. If the window
includes a ruler display, this adjusts as you scroll in and out.

Note If Zooming is slow, especially for complex models, for some graphics cards, you can
improve performance by setting NVIDIA Control Panel>3D Settings>Manage 3D
Settings Global Settings>Global Presets: Workstation App - Dynamic Streaming

For more information about graphics card see the section Open GL under Installation
Prerequisites in the ANSYS EM Installation Guide.

Related Topics

Using the Mousewheel to Scroll in the History Tree

Zooming and Fitting Reports

Zoom to Selected Excitation

Zoom to is an option that can enlarge the view of an excitation. This can be very useful if you want
to inspect any problem areas.

You can use the Zoom to option as follows.

1. Select the port under Excitations in the project tree to highlight it in the geometry.
2. Right-click to generate the short-cut menu as shown below.

3. Select the option Zoom to.

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Notice that the option instantly increases magnification of the surface excited with the wave port
as shown in the Figure below.

Related Topics

Modifying the Model View

Fitting Objects in the View Window

What do you want to do?

l Fit all objects or traces in a view window

l Fit selected objects in a view window

Fitting All Objects in a View Window

To fit all the views: click View>Fit All>All Views.

All view windows displaying the active design change to include all model objects.

To fit only the active view: click View>Fit All>Active View.

The view in the active Modeler window changes to include all model objects.

Hint Alternatively, fit all objects in the active view window using one of the following methods:

l Press CTRL+D.
l Right-click in the view window, and then click View>Fit All on the shortcut
menu.

When Fit All is used in a Report view, the window is automatically rescaled to fit all traces in the
window and the axis label and ticks are rescaled.

Related Topics

Fitting a Selection in a View Window

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Fitting Selected Objects in a View Window

To fit one or more selected objects, 3D Components, or User Defined Models in the Modeler
window or traces selected in the Reporter:

1. When you are working on a model view, select the objects you want to fit in the view. When
you are working on a report, select the traces you want to fit.
l To fit the selection in the active view window: Click View>Fit Selection>Active View.
l To fit the selection in every open view window of the active design: Click View>Fit
Selection>All Views.

Hint Alternatively, fit the selection in the active view window by clicking View>Fit
Selection on the shortcut menu.

To fit one or more objects or components selected in the History tree:

1. Select the objects or components of interest, and right click to display the menu.
2. Select View>Fit in Active View or Fit in All Views:

The view adjusts to fit the select objects.

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Related Topics

Fitting All Objects in a View Window

Showing Only Selected Objects in All or Active Views

Hiding Objects from View

To hide selected objects.

1. Select the object you want to hide from view. This enables the menu commands and
View/Draw/Model ribbon tabs icons for hiding objects.
2. Click View>Visibility>Hide Selection and one of the following commands:
l All Views to hide the selected object in every open view window.
l Active View to hide the selected object in the active view window. You can also use
CTRL-H to hide a selected object.

You can also right-click in the modeler window for a short-cut menu and use the View
commands for Hide Selection, or Show Only Selection.

You can also use the Hide select objects icons in the View/Draw/Model ribbon tabs to hide
selected objects in the active view.

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The objects you selected are hidden.

If there are many objects, you may find it easier to hide objects using the Active View Visibility
dialog. You can also chose to show only selected objects in all or active views, effectively hiding all
unselected objects.

Note Hiding boundaries also turns off a check for boundary overlaps during boundary
assignment. In the case of very large models with many boundaries, hiding boundaries can
prevent delays during boundary assignment. Full model validation will subsequently check
for boundary overlaps.

Object visibility is saved with the project.

Related Topics

Showing Objects

Showing Only Selected Objects in All or Active Views

Active View Visibility

Showing Objects
You can show or hide objects in several ways, using the Active View Visibility dialog for
individual objects, or Visibility menu selections for All Objects, Only Selection, Model Objects,
Non-model Objects, Primitive Shapes, or Non-primitive shapes.

The Active View Visibility dialog contains tabs for 3D Modeler, Color Keys, Array Setup,
Boundaries, Excitations, and Fields Reporter. Select the tab for the objects you want to show or
hide, and check or uncheck Visibility.

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You can access the dialog from the View>Visibility>Active View Visibility... or by clicking the
Hide/Show visualization icon in the Ribbon area for the View/Draw/Model tabs.

The Visibility menus are available on the View menu and as short-cut menus in the modeler
window and in the history tree when you select the Model icon:

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To show one or more objects that are currently hidden by using the Active View Visibility dialog:

1. Click View>Visibility>Active ViewVisibility... , or click the View/Draw/Model tab

ribbon visibility icons.

The Active ViewVisibility dialog box appears.

2. Select the tab for the objects you want to show or hide. The dialog contains tabs for 3D
Modeler objects, Color Key objects, Boundaries, Excitations, and Fields Reporter objects.

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3. Under the tab you need, select the Visibility option for the objects you want to show in the
active view window.
l For designs with large numbers of objects, you can resize the dialog for easier selection.
l By default, objects are listed in alphabetical order. You can invert the order by clicking the
Name bar above the Name fields. A triangle in the bar indicates the direction of the listing.
l You can also use the Name field to type in an object name and apply the visibility via the
Show and Hide buttons.

The objects you select and designate as Visible (by selecting the property or using Show)
reappear.

Note Hiding boundaries also turns off a check for boundary overlaps during boundary
assignment. In the case of very large models with many boundaries, hiding boundaries can
prevent delays during boundary assignment. Full model validation will subsequently check
for boundary overlaps.

To show all objects that are currently hidden by using the Visibility Menu:

1. Click View>Visibility>Show All or use the short cut menu for the Modeler window or
History tree and one of the following commands:
l All Views to show all objects in every open view window
l Active Views to show all objects in the active view window.

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The selected objects reappear.

To show selected objects that are currently hidden:

1. Select the object. Hidden items are selected once the node corresponding to them is clicked
in the history tree.
2. Click View>Visibility>Show Selection and one of the following.
l All Views to show selected objects in every open view window
l Active Views to show selected objects in the active view window.

You can also use the View tab ribbon icons to Show selected objects in active views or
open the Active View Visibility dialog.

To show one or more 3D components that are currently hidden:

1. In the history tree, select one or more 3D components. This activates the View/Draw/Model
tab Hide/Show icons in the ribbon and the View menu selections.
2. You can right click to display the shortcut menu and select View>Show All

Object visibility is saved with the project.

Related Topics

Hiding Objects

Showing Only Selected Objects in All or Active Views

Active View Visibility

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Showing Only Selected Objects in All or Active Views

To show only selected objects:

1. Select the object from the Project tree or history tree. Hidden items are selected once the
node corresponding to them is clicked in the history tree.
2. Click View>Visibility>Show Selection and one of the following.
l All Views to show selected objects in every open view window
l Active Views to show selected objects in the active view window.

You can also right click, and use the shortcut menu:

3. You can right click to display the shortcut menu and select View>Show in Active View or
Show in All Views or Show Only Selection In Active View.

You can also use the View/Draw/Model ribbon icons to Show selected objects in all views
and Show selected objects in active views.

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The selected objects reappear.

Active View Visibility Dialog

If there are many objects, it may be easier to show or hide objects using the Active View Visibility
dialog

1. Click View>Visibility>Active View Visibility, or click the Hide/Show icon on ribbon tabs
for View/Draw/Model.

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The Active View Visibility dialog box appears.

2. Select the tab for the objects you want to show or hide. The dialog contains tabs for 3D
Modeler objects, Color Key objects, Boundaries, Excitations, and Fields Reporter objects.
l For designs with large numbers of objects, you can resize the dialog for easier selection.
l By default, objects are listed in alphabetical order. You can invert the order by clicking the
Name bar above the Name fields. A triangle in the bar indicates the direction of the listing.
l You can also use the Name field to type in an object name and apply the visibility via the
Show and Hide buttons.
3. Under the tab, clear the Visibility option for the objects you want to hide in the active view
window.

The objects you designate are hidden.

Note Hiding boundaries also turns off a check for boundary overlaps during boundary
assignment. In the case of very large models with many boundaries, hiding boundaries can
prevent delays during boundary assignment. Full model validation will subsequently check
for boundary overlaps.

Object visibility is saved with the project.

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Related Topics

Showing Objects

Showing Only Selected Objects in All or Active Views

Hiding Objects

Rendering Objects as Wireframes or Solids

To render (display) all objects in the view window as wireframe outlines, flat-shaded solids, or
smooth-shaded solids:

1. Click View>Render and click one of the following:

l Wireframe.

The objects in the view window are displayed as skeletal structures, enabling you to see all
sides of the objects at one time.

You can also use the F6 key or the shade icon to toggle the display to wireframe.

l Smooth Shaded.

The objects in the view window are displayed as shaded objects with smooth edges.

You can also use the F7 key or the shade icon to toggle the display to smooth shaded.

To render a single object in the view window as a wireframe outline:

1. Select the object you want to render as a wireframe:

2. In the Properties dialog box, under the Attribute tab, select Display Wireframe.

Hint You can also press F6 (Wire Frame) and F7 (Smooth Shaded) to toggle between
these two views.

Related Topics

Setting the Default View Rendering Mode

Setting the Surface Visualization

Setting the Default View Rendering Mode

To set a default rendering mode for all objects created in the active design and in future designs:

1. Click Tools>Options>Modeler Options.

2. Click the Display tab.
3. Select one of the following from the Default View Render Mode pull-down list.
l Wireframe.

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The objects in the view window will be displayed as skeletal structures, enabling you to see
all sides of the objects at one time.

l Smooth Shaded.

The objects in the view window will be displayed as shaded objects with smooth edges.

4. Click OK.

The rendering mode will be applied to all new objects you create.

Related Topics

Rendering Objects as Wireframes or Solids

Setting the Enhanced Display of Material Color and

Transparency
You can specify the use of material color and transparency display by using the
View>Render>Enhanced Display command. Any changes reset the default.

To set the Enhanced Display for the active modeler window:

1. Click View>Render>Enhanced Display or F8.

Enhanced Display overrides part color and transparency properties with material settings for all the
parts visible in the active view. By default it is off (unchecked on the View>Render menu) and part
attribute color and transparent values are applied.

It is possible for view to be “Enhanced Display” mode but some of the parts in model could have
“Use Material Appearance” unchecked. In this case you can edit color or transparent values or Use
Material Appearance in the Property window but they are not applied to active view visualization.
This resembles how Wire Frame setting is handled currently.

Sheet objects in 3D modeler do not have material assignment, but they could have boundary
assignment with material assigned to the boundary. In this case sheet object visualization
resembles solid object visualization where material appearance from assignment is used.

When you are working with a legacy project and use View>Render>Enhanced Display, if there
are updates to the materials definitions for appearance, you will receive an info message informing
you that updated material definitions.

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If you want to update, click Tools> Project Tools Update Definitions to open the Update
Definitions dialog.

Here you can multi-select rows of materials to update them. In case of updates available from
multiple libraries, you can choose library location. Selecting material rows enables the Update
button. Selecting Update then produces a message on a successful update.

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Related Topics

Rendering Objects as Wireframes or Solids

Viewing and Modifying Material Attributes

Setting the Curved Surface Visualization

You can specify the faceting for rendering true curves by using the View>Render>Curved Object
Visualization command. There are two options for control--Maximum surface deviation and
Maximum normal deviation. This resembles the Mesh surface approximation settings. Reduce
either or both of the allowed deviations to improve the image quality. Improved image quality
comes at the cost of increased CPU consumption. Changes apply to the current model until they
are changed again. Any changes reset the default.

This release moves to an ACIS R21 faceting algorithm and has new defaults:

l Relative 0.002mm surface deviation and 30 degree normal deviation for 3D design
l Relative 0.002mm surface deviation and 2 degree normal deviation for 2D design

Legacy projects with non default settings are approximately converted to new settings with
warning. Overall faceting time may be around 20% more but number of triangles should reduce.

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The default gives satisfactory results (i.e. cpu/memory consumption vs. graphical display) for
various model complexities.

When you change Curved Object Visualization settings and apply them to a design, those settings
are saved with design unless you change it again. That means when you open the design again, it
will apply saved visualization settings and NOT the default settings. Because this affects the CPU
and memory required to open the project, typically, you should not save a project with other than
the default settings.

To set the Curved Object Visualization for the active modeler window:

1. Click View>Render>Curved Object Visualization.

This command displays the Curved Object Visualization dialog for the active modeler
window. The dialog contains areas for setting the Maximum Deviation, and the Maximum
Normal deviation.

2. Set the Maximum Deviation by first selecting from the radio buttons for Ignore, set as
Relative Deviation or set as Absolute Deviation. Selecting the later two radio buttons
enables the value field.

When set as Relative Deviation, the actual surface deviation depends on the model size. For
example, sphere with a radius of 10 has same number of facets as a sphere with a radius of 1.
This means that CPU cost does not increase based on the model dimension.

When set as Absolute Deviation, the maximum surface deviation for both the spheres will be
approximately same since a bigger sphere has more facets than a smaller one. This means that
the most CPU cost applies to the larger objects.

3. If you selected the radio buttons for Relative or Absolute Deviation for Maximum Deviation,
enter a value in the field.
4. To change the Maximum Normal Deviation, enter a value in the text field. Units are
degrees.

Note Wire bodies cannot be rendered with a Maximum Normal Deviation value less than 1
degree. When using a setting less than 1 degree all wire bodies will be rendered with
a setting of 1 degree and all closed bodies will be rendered with the dialog box
setting.

5. The Save As Default button lets you Save any values you change to the drop down menus
for the fields.
6. The Restore Defaults button lets you return to the original values. Any values you provided
through Save As Default remain on the drop down menus for the fields for surface and
normal deviations
7. Click Apply to apply the current values to the active modeler window, and Close or Cancel
to close the dialog without changing settings.

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Related Topics

Rendering Objects as Wireframes or Solids

UsingClipPlanes
The View>Clipping>Clip Plane command lets you define a clip plane that you can use to
interactively make any desired cut-away view of a model. If you use Edit>Copy Image or
Modeler>Export>image format with the clip plane active, the image shows the clipped plane.
When parts of the model are hidden by a clip plane, model selection works as though only the
visible parts are present.

To add a clip plane:

1. Click View>Clipping>Clip Plane...

This displays the Clip Plane dialog with the Plane tab selected.

2. The Add button contains a drop down menu with choices for Specify center, normal, and
Use selection. Of you want to use selection, you must first select a face or a cut plane.

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l If you first select a face or cut plane, and then click Add>Use Selection, the clip plane is
added on that face.

a. If you select Add>Specify center, normal, this launches a Measure dialog and enters
a mode for you click to first define the start location, shown as a triad. When you move
the cursor, a rectangle represents the clip plane, and a vector the current direction.

b. Click again to set the reference position.

After the second click, the clip plane is active. The handle is visible as a circle with a
sphere at the center, and an arrow pointing the normal for the plane. The Clip Planes

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dialog shows the clip plane name, that it is enabled, shows the cap (which is the plane
surface), and shows the handle. The Flip selection lets you reverse the direction of the
clip plane. If you uncheck Show cap and/or show handle, they disappear from the
display.

3. With Show Handle enabled, you can use the handle to manipulate the location and
orientation of the clip plane. The handle changes appearance and function relative to the
position of the cursor. Dragging the cursor makes use of the current function.

4. The Options tab for the Clip Planes dialog contains four options.
l Force opaque for the unclipped portion.
l Disable clip plane when drawing a new clip plane.
l Plane handle color

The button shows the current color. Click the button to display a color selection dialog. Select
a default or custom color and click OK.

l Plane handle radius.

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This slider lets you resize the radius of the handle to the most convenient size. The radius
resizes dynamically. When you close and reopen the modeler window, the last selected size
persists.

You can save your choices as new defaults.

Related Topics

Copy Image

Exporting Graphics Files

Modifying the View Orientation

To change the orientation of the view (the viewing direction) in the view window, you either select
the View tab and select from the drop-down Orient Menu:

Or you can use the Orientation list dialog.

1. Click View>Modify Attributes>Orientation List.

A dialog box with orientation settings appears. It includes a table of names of six basic
orientations (Top, Bottom, Right, Left, Front, Back), any additional orientations that you have
added, and a section for adding new orientations. The table includes columns that show the
input angles, and the equivalent vector components.

2. Apply a default orientation to the view or create and apply a new orientation.
3. Click Apply to View for the selected view to appear in the view window.

You can use the Reset View Orientation button to restore the view to the original angle.

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4. Click Make Default if you want the selected viewing direction to be the initial viewing
direction when a 3D Modeler window is opened, either in the current project or future
projects.
5. Click Close to dismiss the dialog box.

The orientation you set will be saved with the design. New orientations assigned to other
designs after this point will not affect this orientation.

Related Topics

Applying a Default View Orientation

Applying a New Orientation

Removing an Orientation

Applying a Default View Orientation

To apply a default viewing direction to the active view window:

1. Click View>Modify Attributes>Orientation List.

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A dialog box with orientation settings appears.

2. Click one of the orientation names listed in the viewing directions list.
3. Click Apply.

The viewing direction will be applied to the active view window.

You can use the Reset View Orientation button to restore the view to the original angle.

4. Click Close.

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Related Topics

Applying a New Orientation

Removing an Orientation

Applying a New View Orientation

To create and apply a new viewing direction to the active view window:

1. Click View>Modify Attributes>Orientation List.

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A dialog box with orientation settings appears.

2. To create a viewing direction that is based on a default viewing direction, click the existing
orientation name in the viewing directions list.

To create a viewing direction based on the current view in the 3D Modeler window, click Get
Current View Direction.

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l To modify the selected orientation's vector components, select Input vector

components under Add Orientation to List, and then modify the values in the Vx, Vy,
or Vz text boxes, and the Up vector boxes for Ux, Uy, and Uz.
l To modify the selected orientation's input angles, select Input angles under Add
Orientation to List, and then modify the values in the psi, phi and theta text boxes.
3. Type a name for the new orientation in the Name text box.
4. Click Add/Edit.

The new orientation is added to the list of viewing directions.

5. Click Make Default if you want the new viewing direction to be the initial viewing direction
when a 3D Modeler window is opened in the current project or future projects.
6. Click Close.

Related Topics

Applying a Default View Orientation

Removing an Orientation

Removing an Orientation
To remove a viewing direction from the list in the orientation settings dialog box:

1. Click View>Modify Attributes >Orientation.

A dialog box with orientation settings appears.

2. Click the viewing direction you want to delete from the list of names.
3. Click Remove.

The viewing direction is removed from the list.

This operation cannot be undone.

Related Topics

Applying a Default View Orientation

Applying a New Orientation

Modifying the Lighting

You have the option to emit the following types of light on a design:

l Ambient lighting surrounds the model evenly with light. All objects are lit evenly in every
direction by a color of light that you specify.

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l Distant lighting directs a ray of light at the model in a direction you specify. By default, two
distant light vectors are in effect for every new view window.

To modify the lighting:

1. Click View>Modify Attributes>Lighting.

The Lighting Properties dialog box appears.

2. Select Do Not Use Lighting to turn off ambient and distant lighting.

Clear this option to activate ambient and distant lighting.

3. To surround the model with light, click the Ambient Light Properties color button, and then
select a color for the surrounding light from the Color palette.
4. To modify the distant light on a model, do one of the following:
a. Add a new distant light by clicking Add.
b. Copy an existing distant light that you intend to modify by first selecting it in the Distant
Light Vectors table, and then clicking Clone.
c. Select a default distant light to modify by selecting it in the Distant Light Vectors table.
5. For the selected distant light vector, specify the vector direction:
a. To modify the direction by specifying Cartesian coordinates, do one of the following:
l Enter the new Cartesian coordinates in the X, Y, and Z boxes.
l Use the Vx, Vy, and Vz sliders to specify the Cartesian coordinates dynamically.
b. To modify the direction by specifying the spherical coordinates, do one of the following:
l Enter the new spherical coordinates in the φ and θ boxes.
l Use the φ and θ sliders to specify the spherical coordinates dynamically.
6. To revert to the default ambient and distant light settings, click Reset.
7. Click Save As Default if you want the new lighting settings to be the defaults for all 3D
Modeler windows, either in the current project or future projects.
8. Click OK to dismiss the dialog box.

The lighting settings will be saved with the design. New lighting applied to other designs after this
point, including new default settings, will not affect these lighting settings.

Setting the Projection View

To modify the projection of model objects (the camera angle) in the view window:

1. Click View>Modify Attributes>Projection.

The Select Projection Type window appears:

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2. Select Perspective to enable the slider to change the angle of the view.
l Move the slider to the right to increase the proximity, or widen, the view. Move the slider to
the left to decrease the proximity, or flatten, the view.

Objects that are closer appear larger relative than objects that are farther away.

3. Select Orthographic to view the model without distortion.

The slider is disabled because a distortion scale is no longer applicable.

4. Click Reset to return the model to its original view.

5. Click Close to accept the projection setting and dismiss the window.

The Select Projection Type window closes. The last view you specified in the projection
window remains visible in the view window.

The projection view you set will be saved with the design. New projection views assigned to other
designs after this point will not affect this projection setting.

Setting the Background Color

To set the color of the background in the view window:

1. Click View>Modify Attributes>Background color.

The Select Background Color window appears.

2. To assign a solid background color, do the following:

a. Select Plain Background.
b. Modify the background color in one of the following ways:
l Click the Background Color button and then select a color from the Color palette.
l Use the RGB sliders under Change View Color Dynamically to specify the color's
red, green, and blue values.
3. To assign a background color that gradually changes from one color to another, do the
following:

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a. Select Gradient Background.

b. Specify the background color at the top and bottom of the view window in one of the
following ways:
l Under Select Background Type, click the Top Color button and select a color from
the Color palette. Then click the BottomColor button and select a color from the
Color palette.
l Under Change View Color Dynamically, click Top Color or Bottom Color and use
the RGB sliders to specify the color's red, green, and blue values.
4. Click Reset to revert to the default background colors.
5. Click Save As Default if you want the new background color to be the background color for
all 3D Modeler windows in either the current project or future project.
6. Click OK.

The background color you set will be saved with the design. New background color settings
assigned to other designs after this point, including new default settings, will not affect this design.

Modifying the Coordinate System Axes View

The coordinate system axes displays the x, y, z orientation from the origin point for the current
working coordinate system. The axes use an XYZ = RGB coloring scheme.

By option, you can also use a triad which is a secondary depiction of the coordinate system that
appears at the lower right of the Modeler window. It shows the orientation of the currently selected
working coordinate system.

What do you want to do?

l Show or hide the coordinate system axes

l Show the coordinate system axes for selected objects.

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l Enlarge or shrink the size of the coordinate system axes

l Show or hide the triad axes

Showing or Hiding the Axes

1. Click View>Coordinate System, then click one of the following:
l Hide to hide the x-, y-, and z-axes in the active view window.
l Show to display the x-, y-, and z-axes in the active view window.

Show the Axes for Selected Objects

1. Click Tools>Options>Modeler Options.

This displays the Modeler Options dialog.

2. Select the Display tab.

3. Select Show orientation of selected objects.
4. Click OK to close the dialog.

Enlarging or Shrinking the Axes

1. Click View>Coordinate System, then click one of the following:
l Large to display the x-, y-, and z-axes as extending to the edges of the active view
window.
l Small to display the x-, y-, and z-axes in a smaller size in relative to the edges of the active
view window.

Showing or Hiding the Triad Axes

The triad is a secondary depiction of the coordinate system that appears at the lower right of the
Modeler window. It shows the orientation of the currently selected working coordinate system. It
can be shown or hidden separately from the selected coordinate system.

To show the triad:

1. Click View>Coordinate System>Triad, then click one of the following:

l Hide to hide the triad x-, y-, and z-axes at the lower right of the active view window.
l Show to display the triad x-, y-, and z-axes in the lower right active view window.
l Auto to generally hide the triad axes.

Choosing Grid Settings

The grid displayed in the 3D Modeler window is a drawing aid that helps to visualize the location of
objects.

For Cartesian grids, the location of points on the grid are defined by intersections of planes that are
perpendicular to and along the x-, y-, and z-axes. The division (the distance between neighboring

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parallel planes perpendicular to the same axis) can be set.

For polar grids, the location of points on the grid are defined by intersections of planes that are
perpendicular to the local radius and angle coordinates. The division (the distance between
neighboring parallel planes perpendicular to the same radius and angle) can be set.

Grid spacing is set according to the current project's drawing units. You can control the following
aspects of the grid:

l Type (rectangular or circular)

l Style (dots or lines)
l Grid Extent (minimal for existing objects or as a plane)
l Density
l Spacing
l Visibility
l Snap settings
l Grid plane

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Related Topics

Modifying the Coordinate System Axes View

Setting the Grid Type

1. Click View>Grid Settings.

The Grid Spacing window appears.

2. Select a grid type for the active view window: Cartesian for a rectangular grid or Polar for a
circular grid.

The grid in the active view window is centered at the origin of the working coordinate system.

For Cartesian grids, you a coordinate by specifying its distance from the origin along each axis in
the X, Y, and Z text boxes or its relative distance from the previously selected point in the dX, dY,
and dZ text boxes.

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For polar grids, you define a coordinate by specifying its radius from the origin in the R text box and
its angle from the x-axis in the Theta text box or its relative distance from the previously selected
point in the dR and dTheta text boxes.

Related Topics

Choosing Grid Settings

Setting the Grid Style

1. Click View>Grid Settings.

The Grid Spacing window appears.

2. Select one of the following grid styles for the active view window:

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Dot Displays each grid point as a dot.

Line Displays lines between grid points.

3. To show a Minimal grid around existing objects, check Auto adjust grid extends. To display a
grid as a plane, uncheck Auto adjust grid extends.

Related Topics

Choosing Grid Settings

Setting the Grid Density and Spacing

1. Click View>Grid Settings.

The Grid Settings window appears.

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2. If you want to change the density of the grid in the active view window as you zoom in or out
on objects, do the following:
a. Select Auto adjust density to.
b. Specify a distance between grid points by typing a value in the pixels box.

The default is set to 30 pixels, which is generally the best setting for displaying objects.

3. If you do not want the grid density to change when you zoom in or out, but instead want to
specify a constant grid spacing, do the following:
a. Clear the Auto adjust density to option.
b. Specify the grid's spacing in the active design's units.

If you selected a Cartesian grid type, type the values of dX, dY, and dZ. These values
represent the difference between one grid point and the next in the x, y, and z directions,
respectively.

If you selected a polar grid type, type the values for dR and dTheta. dR represents the
difference between each radius. dTheta is the difference between angles.

The distance between grid points will increase and decrease proportionately as you zoom in
and out in the active view window.

4. Click OK.

Related Topics

Choosing Grid Settings

Setting the Grid's Visibility

To hide the grid, click the Grid toolbar icon: . Click it again to show the grid.

Alternatively:

1. Click View>Grid Settings.

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The Grid Spacing window appears.

2. Select to make the Show to make the grid always visible in the active 3D Modeler window.
Select Hide to make the grid always invisible in the active 3D Modeler window. Select Auto
so the grid appears only while you are drawing an object in the 3D Modeler window.

Related Topics

Choosing Grid Settings

Setting the Grid Plane

Setting the Grid Plane

To specify the plane on which you want to display the grid in the active view window, do one of the
following:

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l Click Modeler>Grid Plane, and then select a grid plane: XY, YZ, or XZ.
l Click a grid plane on the pull-down list on the 3D Modeler Draw toolbar:

Related Topics

Choosing Grid Settings

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9 - Example Toolkits
The Toolkit command in the HFSS menu provides access to a design type specific IronPython
script, such as the Hearing Aid Compliance Test, MIMO calculation or a module specific task, such
as for Boundary, Excitation, or Solve Setup. Toolkits implemented in ANSYS ACT can be
accessed through the View>Extensions command.

l The HFSS Antenna Design toolkit.

l HFSS - EMIT Datalink toolkit.
l HFSS - Savant Datalink toolkit.
l The Cable modeling toolkits serve automotive cable applications and oil and gas
applications.
l Finite Array Beam Angle Calculator toolkit for calculating phase shifts in x and y directions
given the scan angles for array elements.
l The Hearing Aid Compliance Test toolkit example involves multiple modules.
l The MIMO example includes a Toolkit script and a User Defined Solution Script.
l The Wavelength Calculator provides a means to calculate wavelengths given frequency or
visa versa. It also lists materials in the current model.

HFSS Antenna Design Toolkit

The HFSS Antenna Design Kit is a GUI-based utility which automates the geometry creation,
solution setup, and post-processing reports for over 60 antenna elements. This tool allows antenna

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designers to efficiently analyze common antenna types using HFSS and HFSS-IE and also assists
new users in learning to use HFSS for antenna design. All antenna models created by the design
kit are ready to simulate in HFSS or HFSS-IE. Simulations, sweeps, and 2D and 3D post-
processing reports are automatically defined.

Parametric Antenna geometry:

l Easily modify parameters in HFSS or HFSS-IE after generating initial model.

l Facilitates parametric sweeps and optimizations.

Synthesis features for each antenna:

l Automatically generates physical dimensions for desired frequency when you use the
Synthesis button.
l Provides starting point for new designs.

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The HFSS Antenna Design toolkit is implemented in ANSYS ACT.

To launch the Wizard:

1. Click View>Extensions command to open the Extensions window.

2. Click Wizard to open the ACT Start Page.

3. Click Execute Wizards to change the show HFSS Antenna.

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The HFSS Antenna wizard displays.

Using the HFSS Antenna Wizard

The HFSS Antenna Wizard contains areas for selecting the design type, selecting the category
and type of antenna, and a help section that illustrates the selected antenna.

1. Select the type of antenna as HFSS or HFSS-IE from the drop-down menu.

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2. You then select the Antenna type and category from the library list. You can show or hide the
categories under each antenna type by clicking the arrow icons.

The choices are:

l Bowtie, with three types:

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l Conical Spiral with three types:

l Custom with two types:

l Dipole with two types:

l Helix, with five types:

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l Horn, with eight types:

l Log Periodic, with three types:

l Misc, with two types:

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l Monopole, with six types:

l PIFA, with three types:

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l Patch Antenna, with eight types:

l Planar Spiral, with six types:

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l Reflector, with four types:

l Slot Antenna, with four types:

l Vivaldi Antenna, with two types.

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l Waveguide, with three types:

l Yagi-Uda, with two types:

l PersonalLib, with any that you have added,

3. When you have selected the antenna, double click to display its settings, parameters and the
help showing the antenna and where the parameters apply.

The Settings for each antenna include frequency and various parameters. For HFSS Design
types (not HFSS-IE), you can specify the Outer Boundary and check Huygens box. Antenna
dimension parameters vary depending on antenna selected. Other dimension parameters for
Feed, Slot, Ground plane, Substrate dimensions and such vary somewhat depending on the
antenna Type selections. Depending on your window size, you may need to use scroll bars, or
resize the window to see all the selections. The Help figure will help you visualize how each

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parameter applies.

4. If you change the Center Frequency parameter and select the Synthesis button, the
antenna dimensions are automatically updated in order to operate at that frequency.

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5. When you made your selections click Finish.

The Antenna Toolkit then creates a project with the antenna design. It displays a message that it
is "Executing current step" and some animation indicates progress. As the synthesis completes,
the Project tree shows the added Boundaries, Excitations, Hybrid Regions (if specified). It also
generates a Solution setup and sweeps specific to the antenna type, as well as a range of
predefined 2D and 3D plots, a Port Field Display, and 2D and 3D Radiation Spheres. The
Design Properties lists all of the local variables. And the History tree shows the objects created .

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You can then run analyses and view results.

Add Antenna from 3D Component Libraries Button

The Add Antenna button opens a dialog that lets you browse and select from antennas in the 3D
Component library (that is, with a *.a3dcom suffix), including example antennas provided and
those design you may have created or imported and convert to 3D components.

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When you select a 3D component file and click Open in the browser, the component is temporarily
displayed in the Modeler window, and the Add Antenna dialog displays. Here you can see settings,
properties, and documentation, and can click OK to continue.

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After you click OK, the antenna is listed under PersonalLib>Custom at the bottom of the Antenna
Type list:

One advantage for adding antennas to the Antenna Design Toolkit PersonalLib is that when you
then select the antenna from the toolkit library, you get the automated the geometry creation,
solution setup, and post-processing reports for over 40 antenna elements.

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HFSS-EMIT Datalink Toolkit

ANSYS EMIT is a simulation tool for the prediction of cosite and intersystem radio frequency
interference (RFI). In order to compute the RFI levels between a given Rx (victim) and Tx
(aggressor), information regarding the strength of coupling between the two systems is required.
EMIT can use simulated coupling data from some outside source, or it can estimate coupling using
several built in models. HFSS can accurately simulate coupling data (S-parameters) for use in
EMIT as well as compute the far field radiation patterns which EMIT can use in its lower fidelity
coupling models. EMIT can also use coupling data computed from a multi-port Circuit design
simulated with linear network analysis.

The HFSS-EMIT ACT wizard simplifies the export of coupling data and antenna patterns from a
suitable HFSS or Circuit design by exporting available coupling, antenna pattern, geometry and
port data for use in the EMIT model. The HFSS-EMIT ACT wizard can launch EMIT with the new
model created, or the exported data can be manually loaded into a new or existing EMIT model.

To load the HFSS-EMIT toolkit:

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1. Use the View>ACT Extensions command to open the Wizard window for toolkit
extensions implemented via ANSYS ACT.
2. Double-click on the Wizards box to load all toolkits.
3. Return to the main menu by clicking on the back arrow.

To use the HFSS-EMIT toolkit:

1. Create or open a multi-port project with one or more HFSS,HFSS-IE or Circuit designs. To
be used, a design should have at least one solved sweep (for HFSS and HFSS-IE designs)
or a linear network analysis (Circuit design). If antenna patterns are to be exported, there
should also be at least one solved discrete sweep. Each excitation/port in the selected
design will be treated as an antenna in EMIT. The position of each antenna in EMIT for an
HFSS or HFSS-IE design is defined as the center of the face(s) assigned to the
corresponding excitation. Only discrete sweeps are supported, and the setup must have
been solved with the save fields option enabled. The far-field analysis setting is only
available if far-field patterns are enabled in the HFSS or HFSS-IE design. For Circuit
designs the antennas associated with each circuit port are created as “position-less”
antennas in EMIT.

2. Launch the ACT HFSS-EMIT Toolkit from the Wizards Panel.

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3. If there is more than one project open in HFSS, select the project of interest from the Project
dropdown menu in the wizard panel. If the selected project has more than one design, select
the desired design from the design dropdown menu.

4. Far field pattern export is optional and not available for Circuit designs, or for HFSS and
HFSS-IE designs without at least one discrete sweep defined. Select ‘Yes’ to include the far
field patterns in the export package or ‘No’ to exclude them. Antenna patterns can be useful
for visualizing the antenna behavior in EMIT, even when S-parameter data is available.
However, the far field pattern files can be large and take a long time to generate.

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a. If antenna patterns are enabled, one discrete sweep must be chosen for each
antenna.
b. If antenna patterns are enabled, the angular sampling for the far field patterns can be
customized. Smaller angular sampling values increase the pattern fidelity but also
increase the file size.
5. Choose which coupling analysis to export. By default, all coupling data is exported (fast,
interpolating, and discrete sweeps). Alternatively, a single sweep can be selected for export.

If you have loaded a Circuit design with a Linear Network Analysis, that appears as a
selectable Design, and a selectable Coupling Analysis.

6. Choose to export each object from the model as a separate CAD file or export as a single
merged CAD model. Individual objects gives the user more flexibility with the model in EMIT
and also preserves the model coloring. This option is not available for Circuit designs.

7. After Export, Launch EMIT: By default, EMIT is launched after the export completes. The
exported HFSS data is imported into a new EMIT project. Optionally, the EMIT launch can
be disabled by selecting No from the drop-down menu. You can view EMIT help from EMIT.
8. Click the Finish button to generate the export package. The export data is written within the
directory containing the ANSYS Electronics Desktop project file. The path to this directory is
printed in the message manager after the export completes.

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9. In EMIT, if you have not specified, after Export, Launch EMIT, select Import HFSS Files
from the File menu. Browse to the export data directory and select it. The data will be
imported to EMIT and ready to use. Assign the antennas to their appropriate RF System
models and run the analysis.

In the case that you included a Circuit Design in the project, the named antennas are linked
to the coupling data ports (that is, the antenna names match the port names from the Circuit
design).

Note: If export data has been generated for multiple designs from the same project, EMIT will
provide a dialog allowing the design of interest to be selected.

HFSS-Savant Datalink Toolkit

ANSYS Savant is a simulation tool for installed antenna patterns, including near fields and antenna
coupling on electrically large platforms. Savant can import antenna data from HFSS to drive a
Savant simulation.

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The HFSS-Savant ACT Toolkit exports antenna geometry, near-field and far-field representation
from HFSS. A directory is created so that it can be imported to Savant.

To load the HFSS-Savant toolkit:

1. Use the View>ACT Extensions command to open the Wizard window for toolkit
extensions implemented via ANSYS ACT.
2. Click on the Wizards box to load the available toolkits.

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3. Load the extension. This can be done with a right-click on the newly added square and later
selecting the Load Extension option.

4. Return to the main menu by clicking on the back arrow.

To use the HFSS-Savant toolkit:

1. Create or open an antenna project with one or more HFSS designs.

2. Analyze the project in HFSS and Save the results.
3. To Export the sample project, open the wizards extension panel by clicking on View>ACT
Extensions if not opened already.

4. Select the Wizards square from the extension panel. This will open a window with the loaded
extensions. Select the HFSS-Savant Datalink tookit button.

5. The tookit menu will appear in the Wizards panel:

Project/Design

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Project: Select the project. The projects currently open in Desktop are available for selection.
The list of projects can be updated by clicking the Update button.

Select the design. Choose from the designs within the selected project.

Solutions:  Selects the analysis setup to export from the different analysis setups available in
the selected Project/Design. Only one analysis can be exported at a time.

NF Source:

This section defines the geometry for the exported near-field data necessary to reconstruct
the antenna in Savant.

Source: The choices for Source are Huygens Box and Radiation Surfaces. In the case of
antenna arrays, especially when the array is non-rectangular, it is very hard to define a

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Huygen’s Box on or inside the solution region. For antenna array design, exporting radiation
surface fields is the only option. For general cases, you can choose between Radiation
Surface and Huygen’s Box

If you choose to export on Radiation Surfaces, the only other options for NF Source are
Sampling and whether to Export Antenna Model. Geometry and Infinite ground plane
selection do not appear. If you have defined an Infinite ground plane, it will be directly taken
from the boundary definition.

HFSS provides the actual geometry for one cell for array problem, so export antenna model
option will only export the geometry for one cell. HFSS has the mesh exported for radiating
surface which could gives an overall outline of the array but not details about every single
cell. The antenna CAD model in Savant is used for display and placement purpose, to the
current on radiation surface achieves similar functionality.

If you select Huygens Box the toolkit exports the E and H fields on the faces of the Huygens
Box described in this section. The toolkit offers a menu with a calculated Region or User
Defined Box. The Huygens Box should be placed close to the antenna, an offset of a λ/10
from the maximum dimensions of the antenna is recommended but larger offsets will work
as well. The sample fields should be at least 8 points per wavelength (ppw) on each face of
the box.

Sampling: Defines the number of samples/points per wavelength (ppw) for each face of the
box. The menu has three options: Quick, Normal and Custom. Quick sets the ppw to 8 and
the field sample density to 4 respectively; Normal sets it to 16 and 8 respectively and Custom
unveils two new property panels (NF Sampling and Field Sampling Density) so you can
customize the value of the properties.

NF Sampling: Defines the number of samples/points per wavelength (ppw) for each face of
the box. A value of at least 8 is required to produce a faithful result later in Savant. Not

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visible, under when you select Radiation Surfaces, and enabled and visible only when you
select Custom.

Field Sampling Density: Defines the number of samples that will be set by Savant in the
Antenna's property panel. A value of at least half as much as NFSampling is required to
produce a faithful result later in Savant. Visible only when you select Custom.

Inf Ground Plane: Exports the ground plane information for the selected face. When
loaded into Savant, the antenna will present the ground plane information introduced in this
toolkit. This is practical to avoid the integration of the EH field in the selected face which
eases the computation of the current sources. This property is set automatically if the user
picks a specific Geometry. You can change this value at any time.

Geometry: The HFSS-Savant Datalink Toolkit defines a region likely to represent the best
space to define the Huygens Box. The grayed out Min Point and Max Point values apply to
the Region in the Global Coordinate System. If you want to use a customized setting, then
you can select the option User Defined Box ... to enable the Min and Max Point fields,
starting with the dimensions of the default calculated region.

Min Point (x,y,z): The extension of the Huygen Box can be defined through two points with
the maximum and minimum extensions of the box respectively. In this selector, the point with
the minimum values of the box is entered. The value of the points is entered using 3 floating
point numbers separated by a comma ','. The units of the numbers are shown in the panel
descriptor. This property is set automatically if you pick a specific Geometry. You can change
this value using the option User Defined Box ... in the Geometry selector.

Max Point (x,y,z): Defines the point with the maximum values of the box. The value of the
points is entered using 3 floating point numbers separated by a comma ','. The units of the
numbers are shown in the panel descriptor. This property is set automatically if the user
picks an specific Geometry. You can change this value using the option User Defined Box ...
in the Geometry selector.

Export Antenna Model:  Specify whether to Export the Antenna Model to Savant.

Antenna Pattern Source: Infinite Sphere

Far-Field Setup: Selects the setup that will be used to export the far-field data from the
toolkit. The options are populated from the specific project and design selected.

After Export: Launch Savant. By default, Savant is launched after the export completes.
The exported HFSS data is imported into a new Savant project. Optionally, the Savant

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launch can be disabled by selecting No from the drop-down menu. You can view Savant
Help from within Savant.

6. Set or change the Geometry value. Observe how the Huygens Box extensions change with
the new geometry.

7. The tookit analyzes the different geometries present in the project. In most cases it is more
convenient to define a box using the HFSS aids rather than writing them on entry.

8. Select the Finish button.

9. The export process begins when you press the Finish button. Once the process finishes, the
HFSS-Savant datalink toolkit closes itself.

10. The exported project can be found on the same folder where the HFSS project is stored.
This path will be used in the following step.

11. In Savant, if you have not automatically launched Savant from the Toolkit, select Add Near
Field Antenna from the File menu under Insert. Browse to the export data directory and
select it. The data will be imported to Savant and ready to use. Assign the antennas to their
appropriate RF System models and run the analysis.

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Note: If export data has been generated for multiple designs from the same project, Savant will
provide a dialog allowing the design of interest to be selected.

Cable Modeling - Automotive Toolkit

To work with tool kits in the automotive industries:

1. Click HFSS>Toolkit>CableModeling>AutomotiveCableBundle.

The Cable Modeling - Automotive dialog box appears with the Cable Parameters listed.

2. Modify the Cable Parameters:

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a. Select the wire Standard. You can choose between the ISO or AWG standard types.
b. Select the Wire Type.
c. Optionally, modify the number of wires.
d. Optionally, modify the Conductor Diameter.
e. Select the Conductor Material.
f. Select the Insulation Type.
g. Optionally, modify the Insulation Thickness.
h. Optionally, modify the Insulation Material.
i. To add additional wire types, click the + button. A new row is added. You can now create
a bundle consisting of several different types of wires.
3. Type the Name of the toolkit, and select the units.
4. If you have previously imported a customized set of parameters, you can click Use Defaults
to use the default values.
5. To export the cross section parameters into a .csv or .tab file, click Export. The Export
Cable Parameters dialog box appears. Specify the File name and type, and click Save.
The file is exported and can be seen in Excel.
6. To read in the excel file and populate parameters in the toolkit panel, click Import. The
Import Cable Parameters dialog box appears. Specify the File name and type, then and
Open.
7. Specify the Outer Jacket Parameters:
a. Specify the Thickness value for the inner diameter.
b. Specify the Material for outer jacket
c. After specifying wires to be included in the bundle, click Compute to calculate the
minimal bundle diameter of the bundle.

Note The wire radii are adjusted downward very slightly (on the order of 0.1%) at the
end of the packing process to eliminate any residual overlaps between the wires
and to make the model easier to mesh.

Note The Circle Packing algorithm is used to compute the values. It tries to automatically pack
the conductors in the bundle tightly with a minimum of empty space between them. It
generates and tests a large number of random variations in the conductor positions and
attempts to minimize the overall diameter of the bundle.

a. Specify the Seeding for wire arrangement value. The value entered here is the seed
value for the pseudo-random number generator used in the conductor packing process.
Changing this value results in different arrangements of the conductors. This can be
useful for performing statistical analysis of the cables.
b. To add new variables, click Variables. This opens the Edit Variables dialog box. All
variables that are already present in the project and design levels are listed. Click Add to
add a new row to create new variables.

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c. Click Draw to draw the 2D cross-section geometry. A validation check is run. This catches
errors like any variable missing a value, or any parameter missing a value.
d. For 3D designs, you can create a 3D geometry. Click Extrude. The Extrude to 3D dialog
box appears.
l Click Sweep Along Vector to extrude along the z axis. Z length is the input parameter.
l Click Sweep Along Path to extrude along a selected path.

Note 3D models of cables are hard to solve if the ratio of extruded length to cross-
section diameter is high.

Cable Modeling - Oil and Gas Toolkit

To work with tool kits in the oil and gas industries:

1. Click HFSS>Toolkit>CableModeling>Oil-GasCableBundle.

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The Cable Modeling - Oil & Gas dialog box appears.

2. Type the Name of the toolkit, and select the units.

3. If you have previously imported a customized set of parameters, you can click Use Defaults
to use the default values.

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4. To export the cross-section parameters into a .csv or .tab file, click Export. The Export
Cable Parameters dialog box appears. Specify the File name and type, and click Save.
The file is exported and can be seen in Excel.
a. The parameter name is listed in the ParameterName field.
b. The next column displays the Value of the parameters. If you want to create a “menu”
type of parameter to give more than one choice of values, separate the values with semi-
colons. The first string in the menu options must be the current value of the parameter.
c. The next column shows the Section parameters related to different sections of cable.
d. The next column shows the PropType.
5. To read in the excel file and populate parameters in the toolkit panel, click Import. The
Import Cable Parameters dialog box appears. Specify the File name and type, and click
Open.
6. To add new variables, click Variables. This opens the Edit Variables dialog box. All
variables that are already present in the project and design levels are listed. Click Add to
add a new row to create new variables.
7. Click Draw to draw the 2D cross-section geometry. A validation check is run. This catches
errors like any variable missing a value, or any parameter missing a value.
8. For 3D designs, you can create a 3D geometry. Click Extrude. The Extrude to 3D dialog
box appears.
l Click Sweep Along Vector to extrude along the z axis. Z length is the input parameter.
l Click Sweep Along Path to extrude along a selected path.

Note 3D models of cables are hard to solve if the ratio of extruded length to cross-
section diameter is high.

Finite Array Beam Angle Calculator Toolkit

The Finite Array Beam Angle calculator provides:

l An interface to calculate the phase shifts along the A and B vectors of the array lattice, given
the scan angles for array elements.
l A script as a template for referencing when writing their own scripts to add functionality and
automations.
l Post processing variables for driven and design variables for composite data types for all the
data fields to allow you to adjust and modify parameters outside the calculator interface and
view corresponding results.

To access the calculator click HFSS>Toolkit>Update Menu. This causes the Toolkit menu to
display the Finite Array Beam Angle.

1. To use the calculator, you must first load a project that includes a finite array. The design
must have at least one port defined in order to apply excitations to Edit Sources. Select a
suitable design and click HFSS>Toolkit>Finite Array Beam Angle.

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This displays the Finite Array Beam Angle Calculator dialog:

The Frequency field is automatically populated based on the current frequency value.

2. You enter values for Scan Angle Theta and Phi in degrees.

3. Click the Calculate button.

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The Phase shift A and Phase shift B fields display the results.

4. Click Apply to Edit Sources, and then Done to close the toolbox.

5. Click HFSS>Design Properties to view the local variables. Scroll down if necessary to
view the newly created variables.

These include ScanFrequency, ScanAngleTheta, ScanAnglePhi, ScanPhaseShiftA, and

ScanPhaseShiftB.The values for ScanPhaseShiftA and ScanPhaseShiftB will be expressions.
There will also be ScanMagN and ScanPhaseN, depending on the number of modes/terminals.

6. Right-click Excitations>Edit Sources to view the Edit Post Process Sources dialog to
view the expressions for each source:

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7. You can then click Radiation>Insert Far Field setups for 3D or XY Plots as needed, and
then use Results>Create Far Fields Report to define plots.
8. After you run Analyze and evaluate the plots you create. You can then change the
Frequency, the Theta and Phi values, and the ScanMag and ScanPhase variables to see
the effects of your changes.

Hearing Aid Compliance Test

Using a toolkit approach, you can test and report the hearing aid compatibility of your designs in
HFSS. This involves an easy access to a python script that provides custom GUIs to setup the non-
model measurement plane and sweep setup that satisfy the ANSI C63.19 standard. Various
reporting mechanisms are created automatically. Reporting mechanisms include field overlay plot
and UDD (User Defined Document).

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The python script is installed with the software. The script assumes that you have already created
the phone model and the appropriate relative coordinate system that defines the location and
orientation of the ear piece. You must also assign appropriate boundaries/excitations and any
other required design data, such as solution setup.

The python script provides default but customizable UI and canned automations. The UDD format
can be adjusted/extended as needed. The default UI is a modal dialog.

This allows us to support changing standards, or multiple standards, without necessarily being tied
to the product release cycle. Similarly, users can create new UDD to customize the test report.
UDD are saved in project result directory. This type of reports can be created prior to simulation,
but will only be populated when there is solution.

Once the measurement plane, sweep setup and various reports are created by the Toolkit script,
they become part of the design and users will be able to make modifications. However, that might
cause the HAC test to fail compliance with the standard.

The measurement plane will be parameterized based on the variables used in the RCS definition
of the ear piece. The measurement plane is a non-model object and the automated UI operations
executed by the python script will not invalidate previously simulated results. This means that users
can add the HAC analysis at any stage of their design process.

Related Topics

Using the Hearing Aid Compliance Test

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Using the Hearing Aid Compliance Test

1. Insert phone model and create the relative coordinate system that defines the location and
orientation of the ear piece. The name of the relative coordinate system for the earpiece is
predefined.

2. Click HFSS>Toolkits>HearingAidCompliance to bring up the “Hearing Aid Compliance

Test” dialog.

The first combo box is populated with user defined relative coordinate systems and the second
is populated with the solve setup in the active design. A sweep will be created within the
selected solve setup.

Users can choose to include simulating the created sweep as part of the automation.

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3. Click Generate.

A measurement plane composed of 9 non-model rectangles are inserted into the design.

These 9 rectangles will be named hac_grid1_1, hac _grid1_2, hac _grid1_3, hac _grid2_1, …
hac _grid3_3. If existing objects in the design that conflict with any of these 9 names, the python
script searches for the next set of names to use, in the format of hac1_grid1_1, hac1 _grid1_2,
hac1 _grid1_3, hac1 _grid2_1, … hac1 _grid3_3, so on and so forth.

4. A discrete sweep is created for the selected solve setup. The frequencies required in the
ANSI standard will be included in the sweep. You can select the testing frequencies. This
sweep will be named “HAC_Sweep”. When there is already a sweep of the same name,
then the next name to use is “HAC1_Sweep”, “HAC2_Sweep”, so on and so forth.

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5. The following field calculator expressions are created.

These field calculator expressions will be available in reporter and Optimetrics and can be
plotted/evaluated on any user defined polyline.

6. PeakE and PeakH Field overlay are plotted on the surface of the measurement plane, using
the sweep solution and at each of the frequency.

If you did not select the correct coordinate system to generate the measurement grid, and
therefore, no solution to populate the plot, there will be an error message.

7. If you select Simulate Sweep, a User Defined Document will be created and inserted into
the Results folder.

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Right click and select “View PDF Document” to display the PDF

The Hearing Aid Compliance Report opens:

User Defined Solution for MIMO Calculations

HFSS includes the means to use python scripts for developing Toolkits for User Defined Solutions
and User Defined Outputs for specific applications. The MIMO.py script in the syslib>Toolskits
directory and the MIMO_Calculation.py script in the syslib>UserDefinedOutputs directory illustrate
this technique as applied to an important design application. This toolkit does not work with Linux.

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You will need to click HFSS>Toolkit>Update Menu to cause the Toolkit menu to display the
MIMO selection.

You also click Results>Create User Defined Solution>Update Menu to display the MIMO_
Calculation selection.

The use of Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) design in both transmitters and receivers has
become an important technique applied towards improved communication. The MIMO calculations
also illustrate the process that applies towards generating User Defined Reports. In this case, the
Toolkit and User Defined Solutions help you obtain reports of MIMO Calculations of the Envelope
Correlation Coefficient and Diversity Gain. You can also use these MIMO quantities in Optimetrics.
You can use these scripts with any HFSS Modal or Terminal Network Analysis design with at least
two inputs.

Once you have selected a design and have (if necessary) activated the scripts (Update Menu), the
MIMO process includes the following steps.

1. In the Edit Sources dialog, use the Source Contexts tab to specify the sources to use as
context when generating radiated fields.

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The Source Contexts tab is only available in HFSS Driven Modal and Terminal Network
Analysis solution types.

It is not available in

l Composite Excitation sub-solution type

l Design with array setup
l Eigen and Transient solution type
l HFSS-IE design type

To run the MIMO calculations example, you need a driven Modal or Terminal Network Analysis
design with at least two sources. The default for all sources is unchecked (disabled).

All types of sources can be enabled as source context.

Each singly selected source is excited with factory default values. The phase will always be 0
deg and the magnitude will be 1 Watt for modal design and 1 Volt (Total voltage) for terminal
design. These factory default values cannot be changed by users.

Design Edit Source settings such as "Include Port Post Processing Effects" will still be
applicable for these singly excited sources. Thus changing any setups on the Spectral Fields
tab of the Edit Source dialog will invalidate all traces that are defined with source context.

Enabling any source as context will not impact traces that are already defined

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Disabling source as context will invalidate an existing trace that uses that source as context

2. You can scale sources by exciting a single source while using the Reporter. A Sources
combo box appears in the Reporter when you have specified at least one source in the Edit
Sources dialog.

3. Select HFSS>Toolkit>MIMO to view the Correlation Coefficient Calculations dialog.

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From here you can select Ports, specify the Theta/Phi resolution in degrees, and select the
Solve Setup. Click Generate to apply the settings.

4. Select Results>Create User Defined Solution to select Input probes in the Editing User
Defined Solution dialog for the MIMO calculation.

From here, you can also make assignments for the sources. Click the ellipses [...] buttons in the
Edit column to open a Select Input dialog for the respective probe.

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If you edit the Probe assignment here, and OK the dialog. You select Probe assignment
category, quantity and function based on the Description in the User Defined Solution. The
Reporter Probe Assignment field restricts the legal values to the Description field. Red text
denotes illegal assignments, and blue, legal. The assignment value for that probe appears in the
Create User Defined Solution dialog.

The created solution “MIMO Calculation1” has 2 output quantities, the “CorrelationCoefficient”
(Envelope Correlation Coefficient) and “DiversityGain”. These quantities can be used in both
reporter and Optimetrics. For the Reporter, you can select Output as the Category to select
CorrelationCoefficent and Diversity Gain as Quantities.

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For Optimetrics, the MIMO calculations appear in the Sweep Definitions.

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Wavelength Calculator
To use the Wavelength Calculator toolkit, click HFSS>Toolkit>WavelengthCalculator. This
opens the Wavelength Calculator dialog.

l The Frequency field initially displays the adaptive frequency from the first setup. The field is
editable, and you can select the units from a pull down menu.
l The Wavelength field is initially blank, but editable, and you can select the units from the pull-
down menu.
l The Select Material menu includes a list of all materials in the current project

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If you select <custom material properties>, the fields for material properties become editable.

l The display shows current material values for Permittivity, Permeability, Dialectric Loss
Tangent, and Magnetic Loss Tangent.

To calculate the Wavelength at the given frequency, click the Calculate button adjacent to the
Wavelength units. This updates the field for the wavelength.

Once you wave calculated or entered a wavelength, and selected or specified for material values,
you can use the Calculate button adjacent to the Frequency units to calculate a frequency.

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10 - HFSS Transient
HFSS Transient includes two solution types within HFSS. It employs a time-domain ("transient")
solver. Typical applications include, but are not limited to:
l Simulations with pulsed excitations, such as ultra-wide band antennas, lightning strikes,
electro-static discharge;
l field visualization employing short-duration excitations;
l time-domain reflectometry.

The interface of HFSS Transient is much like the Terminal Driven solution type in the frequency
domain. The geometry creation and the mesh are almost identical. Boundary conditions and
definitions of ports or incident waves are almost the same, except for some restrictions in cases
where certain frequency-domain options do not apply in the time domain. Therefore, you can often
change an existing Terminal Driven design into a Transient design and vice versa. (Note: before
doing so, you must remove the setups and solutions.)

Notable differences for transient solution types are:

l Materials cannot have arbitrary frequency dependence in a time-domain analysis. For lossy
dielectrics, a Debye model is applied to ensure that the loss remain physical across the
spectrum. For lossy metals, a Padé approximation is used for the same reason.
l When lossy materials touch a port, the port solver will launch an excitation that fits the
lossless case. This is inherent to most time-domain solvers. The 3D part of the simulation will
take losses into account correctly.
l Spatially dependent material properties can be specified through user-defined variables in
HFSS. Spatially dependent materials are usually applied for modeling dielectric lens,
dielectric waveguides, substrates with graded doping profiles, and graded-index fibers.

For example, to set the dielectric permittivity of a Luneburg lens, you would create a variable, as
shown in the following figure:

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You would then assign the variable value to the material in View/Edit Material:

HFSS Transient current design allows ISODIEL and ISODEBYE materials to be spatially
dependent. NPOLEDEBYE (poles and residues input from GUI) materials are NOT allowed to
be spatially dependent because such models assume homogeneous material properties. The
poles and residues are input from the GUI and there is no pole fitting involved. A fixed set of
poles and residues cannot be used for inhomogeneous materials.

l The Analysis Setup for the transient solver is different from that of the frequency domain.
Two types of analysis setup are offered:
a. Transient Network Analysis solution types - excitations are identical on all active ports
and are simulated one at a time to facilitate the data collection. Saved fields can be
visualized, and voltages and currents can be monitored. Your choice in setting the
Transient solution type affects the options for the setup. If you select Transient
Network Analysis the setup includes a tab for the Excitation for the simulation.
b. Transient Composite Excitation solution types - Different ports can have different
excitations. All Active excitations are launched in one simulation. No S-parameters or
TDR results may be available, but saved fields can be visualized, and voltages and
currents can be monitored.
l Fields will only be saved on pre-selected surfaces, because saving all 3D fields for all times
would take more disk space and I/O time than generally desired.
l If you change the size of the radiation boundary for a Transient simulation, you should
expect to see changes in delay for far field results. This is because there are two origins of
system for transient: one for space and one for time. For space, the original is defined the
same way as frequency domain. For time, the original is located a point infinitely far away.
This choice of this time origin is logical because if you place the origin at the original of a
space system (in this case the center of air box) then there will be very very long time delay
for every transient far field. So for the cases we have here, when air box is larger, the

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distance from the air box (or current source) is shorter to the time origin. Therefore we are
expecting to see different time delays as radiation boundary size changes.

Related Topics

HFSS Transient Getting Started Guides

Adding a Solution Setup for Transient Solutions

Active and Passive Excitation in HFSS Transient

Differential Pairs in HFSS Transient Network

Transient Solution Theory

Selecting the Report Type in HFSS Transient

Procedure for Viewing Transient Radiated Fields

Transient GPU Acceleration

Adding a Solution Setup for Transient Solutions

When you specify the Transient solution type, you also specify the focus of this setup as either
Transient Network Analysis or Transient Composite Excitation. The Transient Network
Analysis setup includes an Input Signal tab, as shown in the figure. If the model contains a
radiation boundary, the setup includes a Radiated Fieldstab.

To add a Solution Setup for a Transient design:

1. Click HFSS>Analysis Setup>Add Solution Setup to open the Transient Setup dialog
with the General tab selected.

2. Optionally check Import Mesh for mesh linking.

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Otherwise, the mesh for the transient simulation is generated by a regular frequency-domain
simulation. For that simulation, the software decides on the appropriate frequency at which to
perform the adaptive passes. It uses mixed element orders and the iterative solver.

3. For Adaptive solutions, you can specify:

l Maximum Number of Passes
l For Device characterization solutions, you specify a Maximum Delta S.

For Field Visualization solutions, you specify a Maximum Delta Energy for convergence
per pass.

4. For Transient Solver, select Hybrid (the default) or Implicit.

l The Hybrid solver is based on the explicit-implicit discontinuous Galerkin time domain
method. It is more efficient for electrically large problems. If the GPU is enabled, only the
explicit part of the hybrid solver is running and being accelerated by GPUs. For more
information, see Technical Notes: Transient Solution Theory.
l The implicit solver is based on the finite element time domain (FETD) method with an
implicit time stepping. Change the setting to Implicit for cases which the Hybrid Solver
may not perform optimally. This typically refers to structures which are discretized into a
small number of tetrahedrons but the required time step for the Hybrid becomes
extremely small hindering the performance. Consequently, it takes longer for the
simulation to finish. Furthermore, the Implicit Solver is in general better suited for low
frequency analysis of electrically small structures with small vias, thin wires, thin slots,
narrow gaps, and thin dielectric/metal plates. For more information see Technical Notes:
Transient Implicit Solver.
5. For a Transient Network Analysis solution, select the Input Signal tab to create a time
profile.
6. Select the Durationtab to specify the simulation stop criteria.
7. Use the Saved Fields tab to select the face or object lists for which to calculate fields. By
checking the boxes you can enable the Start saving fields time, and Save fields at interval.
When you select an object list, you can also specify the Maximum Number of Samples.
8. If your design includes a radiation boundary, you can select the Radiated Fields tab to if you
intend to view radiated fields.

Related Topics

HFSS Transient Getting Started Guides

Transient Network Analysis Solution Input Signal Tab: A Time Profile

Saved Data Tab for Transient Solution Setup

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Transient Network Analysis Input Signal Tab: a Time Profile

A time profile defines the pulse used to excite a Transient Network Analysis solution type. To
create a time profile:

1. Select the Input Signal tab of a Transient Network Analysis setup.

The Input Signal tab lets you select the Function set and other parameters. The profile
includes two plots. The upper plot shows the excitation of interest given the currently specified
parameters. The lower plot shows the energy spectrum of the upper plot

2. You specify the function to use for the Profile by selecting from the drop down menu.

For network analysis, all excitations are the same.

The wave plots are updated if you select a different function or edit the parameters.

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1. Set the parameters for the selected Broadband Pulse or TDR function.

The following table lists the available functions and the parameters that apply to the upper plot.
The energy spectrum plot parameters are always Frequency and Max Frequency.

Upper Plot
Function Description
Parameters
Broadband Min Freq. A time profile that has as strong spectral content between the Min and
Pulse Max frequencies. This can be used for such purposes as extracting S-
Frequencies
parameters in that frequency range.
extracted
A Min Freq. of 0 Hz. is allowed. This changes the shape of the pulse.
Max Freq.
TDR Rise Time This resembles a Sweep with a Min Freq. of 0 Hz. For convenience,
however, this time profile is specified by the rise time rather than the
Frequencies
frequency range. This also enables TDR output.
extracted
The rise time is defined as from 10% to 90% of the peak signal value.
TDR
Midpoint TDR Midpoint is the time where the input TDR signal is at 50 % of the
peak value.
Sync
The Sync check box lets you automatically synchronize the signal
midpoint and rise time such that minimum allowed midpoint is used for
a given rise time or the maximum rise time for a given midpoint. If you
leave the box unchecked, you can specify a different delay. If the delay
is not valid, the dialog does not close, and you are prompted to provide
a value.

You can utilize the TDR Midpoint feature for consistent results when comparing input signals
with different rise times. One way to do this is to delay the TDR input signals so that the midpoint
of the rise time always occurs at the same time point in the simulation. The major peaks and dips
of TDRz for the different rise times will typically be aligned and the main differences of the
results is the extra resolution obtained with a shorter rise time. For example, if you want to study
the TDRz signal on a device for the rise times 30ps, 40ps, and 50 ps request a TDR Midpoint of
100ps for each signal by unchecking the sync button. Note that 100 ps is the smallest allowed
midpoint for the slowest rise time - 50 ps.

The smallest midpoint allowed is 2 times the rise time to better capture the tails of the gaussian
pulse used for the simulation. When sync has been checked the software automatically selects
the minimum midpoint allowed for a given rise time or the maximum rise time allowed for a given
midpoint.

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Changing the delay invalidates solutions for the given solution setup.

2. Complete the Solution Setup for Transient Solutions.

Related Topics

Adding a Solution Setup for Transient Solutions

Transient Solution Theory

Duration Tab for Transient Solution Setup

Active and Passive Excitation in HFSS Transient

Duration Tab for Transient Solution Setup

Use the Duration tab of the Transient Solution setup to specify the either Auto Terminate and/or
At most time and periods.

1. If you select the Auto Terminate radio button, you can also edit the Steady State Criteria
value. The Transient Solver can run until the steady state criteria is reached. The value is
related to the maximum field remaining in the computational domain at a given time. When
the maximum field has fallen to this fraction of its all-time high, the simulation is considered
complete and the analysis stops.

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The time duration of a simulation can be controlled by specifying a Target Residual in

db20. The residual is defined to be the ratio of the global RMS value of the electric field at
time t to the maximum RMS value in the time range zero to time t. See the technical note
here.

2. Optionally, you can also specify and At most limit, given in either a Time or periods, or as an
At least limit, given in either a Time or periods.

Related Topics

Transient Network Analysis Solution Input Signal Tab: A Time Profile

Active and Passive Excitation in HFSS Transient

Saved Fields Tab for Transient Solution Setup

The Saved Fields tab for a transient solution setup includes a an explanation that Transient
fields will be calculated for the selectedObject lists and Face lists.

Such lists are convenient for specifying the most relevant components.

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If lists exist, you can also choose when to Start saving fields, the save interval, and specify the
Maximum Number of Samples.

Transient solutions support plotting rE, a real vector versus time, in reporter. Patterns and 3D plots
will also be supported.

Related Topics

Adding a Solution Setup for Transient Solutions

Transient Network Analysis Solution Input Signal Tab: A Time Profile

Transient Solution Theory

Active or Passive Excitations in HFSS Transient

In HFSS Transient, each excitation (port, plane wave, voltage, or current source) shall be "active"
(with all ports active they each get an excitation one at a time, and a full S-matrix will be produced).
If you want to save simulation time, you can make only one or a few ports of interest "active". The
passive ports will act as terminations. You will get only a partial S-matrix.

For wave ports, you specify "Active" using the check box on the General tab for the excitation.

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For an incident wave source, you use the Active or Passive radio buttons on the Transient Tab.
You can also specify Magnitude and Delay..

For excitations in HFSS Transient Composite Excitation solutions (and not HFSS Transient
Network solutions), if you select Active, you can specify additional parameters for the excitation.

The Transient Composite Excitation Solution type has more time profiles. In this case, the time
profiles are defined as part of the excitations, because excitations can have individual profiles in a
Composite Excitation solution analysis. The profile includes two plots. The upper plot shows the
excitation of interest given the currently specified parameters. The lower plot shows the energy
spectrum of the upper plot. The lower plot parameters include the Min and Max frequencies.

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The following table describes the parameters for the upper plots.

Upper Plot
Function Description
Parameters
Broadband Min Freq. A time profile that has as strong spectral content between the Min and
Pulse Max frequencies. This can be used for such purposes as extracting S-
parameters in that frequency range.

Frequencies
extracted A Min Freq. of 0 Hz. is allowed. This changes the shape of the pulse.

Max Freq.
Data Set Amplitude See Adding Datasets for a description of how to create a dataset.

Max Freq.
Expression Expression For lightning strike simulation, it is convenient to define the pulse shape
as an equation or algebraic expression. An expression can contain: all
standard expressions containing the intrinsic time variable (time),
HFSS intrinsic function expressions including dataset references, and
any user defined variable and dataset (pwl(ds, time)) for the design.
Max Freq.

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Upper Plot
Function Description
Parameters
Magnitude An expression cannot contain spatial variables (that is, x,y,z, phi, rho or
theta).
Delay.

Gaussian T0 The T0 parameter specified the start time of the pulse with the given
Width and Amplitude.
Amplitude

Width
Harmonic Ramped The harmonic displays as a regular sine wave.
Periods

Amplitude

Frequency

Related Topics

Adding a Solution Setup for Transient Solutions

Transient Network Analysis Solution Input Signal Tab: A Time Profile

Setting Magnitude and Delay for Transient Excitations

Differential Pairs in HFSS Transient Network

Technical Notes: Transient Solution Theory

Technical Notes: Excitations in the Time Domain

Setting Magnitude and Delay for Transient Composite Solution

Excitations
In HFSS Transient Composite Excitation solutions, each excitation (port, plane wave, voltage, or
current source) can be given a Magnitude and Delay.

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For Transient:

l Scaling and delay time can be set on the input signal for each excitation. This appears only in
Transient Composite Solution, not Network Analysis. Scaling is a unitless multiplier, and
delay time is in appropriate time units.
l Changing scaling or delay time will invalidate solutions.
l Scaling and time delay are passed to the solver and used for the simulation.
l Legacy projects set the scaling to 1 and time delay to 0. These are also used as the defaults.

Related Topics

Adding a Solution Setup for Transient Solutions

Transient Network Analysis Solution Input Signal Tab: A Time Profile

Differential Pairs in HFSS Transient Network

For post process calculation of differential pairs in Transient Network problems, you can assign
differential pairs in spectral terminal problems for transient designs. For Transient Composite
Excitation problems differential pairs are not supported.

In Transient Network, you can solve the single-ended matched terminal problem. HFSS Transient
uses the same post processing algorithms that HFSS uses to compute the differential and common
modes for spectral values. In addition, a separate algorithm computes the differential pairs values
for transient data. You can switch between single-ended and differential views of both spectral and
transient data. Renormalization of spectral data is supported, but renormalization does not apply to
transient data.

The dialog for transient Differential pairs includes columns for Enabled and Matched. Passive ports
are not shown in the diff pairs setup dialog.

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The table row shows the check box for the newly defined pair as Enabled. Unchecking the box
disables the definition for that pair. This can be useful if you later want to redefine terminal
normalization, without having to remove the defined pair altogether.

A check box for "Matched" for each differential pair indicates whether to use matched or differential
and common impedances. This Matched check box also appears in driven terminal designs and
uses the same postprocessing semantics. Matched is the "natural" in general frequency dependent
characteristic impedance of the line. For multiple terminals it describes the coupled nature of such
lines and is therefore a dense matrix relating voltages and currents on the line. A matched terminal
project is analogous to an unrenormalized wave port in driven modal where the s-parameter is
referenced to the 'natural impedance' of the port cross section. If you unselect Matched, you
renormalize to a set impedance for the diff or common modes.The transient solver uses the
Matched value when the Design setting "Apply when solving" is selected.

Related Topics

Setting Up Differential Pairs

Design Settings for HFSS Transient

Reports for Transient Network with Differential Pairs

Design Settings for HFSS Transient

The HFSS>Design Settings command displays a dialog with tabs for Set Material Override and
Transient. The Transient tab includes options for Differential Pair calculations.

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If your design contains differential pairs, you can select whether to solve all excitations so that
single-ended data can be converted to differential in post processing, or to solve differential modes
only.

Related Topics

Setting Up Differential Pairs

Differential Pairs in HFSS Transient Network

Transient Solution Data

For Transient solutions, the Solution Data dialog includes a Transient tab. You access is by
clicking HFSS>Results>Solution Data.

1. To enable the display of transient data on the Transient tab, you must first select Transient
from the Simulation drop down menu.

2. Then selecting from the Show drop down menu, you can select Input, Output, TDRz or Field
Residual to display.

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3. You can select which time step to display from the drop down, or check Show All.

4. To export the transient data, click Export. This opens File browser winder that lets you
specify a File name, location, and data format.

For Transient, the format selections are:

.csv Comma Delimited Data.

.tab Tab Delimited Data files.
.dat ANSYS Plot Data files
.txt Post Processing Files

Selecting the Report Type in HFSS Transient

Creating a Report in HFSS Transient differs from standard HFSS in Solution selections. If the
Solution Type is Transient, the Solution Context is Transient. If the Solution Type is Transient
Network Analysis, you can also select Spectral.

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With Transient selected, the Quantities include Input and Output related to the terminals in your
design, as well as TDRz and Residual.

For Transient Network Solution type designs, if you select Spectral, the Category and Quantity lists
offer different selections:, including Terminal S Parameters, VSWR, and Port Zo.

Related Topics

Creating Reports

Reports for Transient Network with Differential Pairs

Reports for Transient Network with Differential Pairs

For a Transient Network design with differential pairs defined, the Reporter interface allows
selection of single-ended or differential signals just as for driven terminal. The Differential Pairs

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menu is shown for transient and spectral parameters, and allows you to switch between the two
representations. The menu does not appear if differential pairs are not defined.

If the Design Setting "Apply when solving" is in force, it will be restricted to 'Differential Pairs' if they
are present and 'Single-Ended' otherwise.

For the Transient solution (as opposed to Spectral), selecting "Differential Pairs" will limit the
selected quantities to "input, output, and TDR". For the Spectral solution, all quantities will be
available.

As with single-ended S parameters, post process differential pair values will not be available until
the solve completes. Post process differential transient signals may be available depending on the
method produced by the solver group.

The Transient Display supports the transformation between single-ended and differential transient
signals under the same circumstances as the reporter.

Related Topics

Creating Reports

Selecting the Report Type in HFSS Transient

Differential Pairs in HFSS Transient Network

Procedure for Viewing Transient Radiated Fields

To display transient radiated fields:

1. Add a radiation boundary. Radiated field calculations will only be done for designs with
radiation boundaries.
2. If a radiation boundary is present the transient Solve Setup contains the Radiated Fields
tab with a "Save time domain radiated fields" check box. Select this option to make radiated
fields available from a given setup. This applies to Transient with or without Network
Analysis.

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3. Under HFSS>Radiation, you can Insert Far Field Setup> Infinite Sphere. This menu is
enabled for designs with radiation boundaries, even if no setups are saving radiated fields.
The setup dialog resembles the one for frequency domain, but without the Radiation Surface
tab. Use this dialog to set up the Theta and Phi sampling and, if needed, the local coordinate
system. You can create multiple Infinite Sphere setups in a single design.

4. Once you have created a far field setup AND at least one setup has "Save radiated fields"
selected, the Results menu will include Create Far Fields Report, with all submenus as in
Frequency domain.

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For Rectangular Plot, Rectangular Stacked Plot, and Data Table, the default is "Time" as the
primary sweep, with Theta and Phi in Families set to single values corresponding to the first
sample point.

For all other plots, the primary and secondary sweeps will be Theta and/or Phi, as in Frequency
domain, and the Time is set to a single value - the start time.

5. In the Report dialog, the Solution selection includes only setups with "Save radiated fields"
checked. The Geometry selection will include all far field Infinite Sphere setups. The
Categories include rE, Variables, Output Variables, and Design. The rE quantities are as
for frequency domain, but all quantities will be real.

No matter what type of plot is generated, you can access the Time sweep and change the
sampling, as with Field reports in Transient.

For 3D patterns, you can overlay the pattern on the geometry, and to animate versus time, as is
done in frequency domain.

Once plots have been created, the reporter caches the base radiation field calculation. This
means that subsequent plots will be generated more quickly. If you change the radiation setup,
or invalidate solutions, the cache is cleared and the next plot takes longer.

For Transient Network Analysis, the radiated fields are based on the setup in Edit Sources. If
you change the source excitations that forces recomputation of the radiated fields.

Output variables are supported, as for frequency domain.

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Related Topics

HFSS Transient Getting Started Guides

Creating Reports

Plotting Field Overlays

Transient GPU Acceleration

The HFSS Transient solver can be accelerated by Nvidia GPUs. All materials, boundary
conditions, and excitations in previous versions of HFSS Transient are supported for GPU
acceleration.

Hardware Requirement

GPU acceleration in HFSS Transient has been developed for Nvidia cards and is officially
supported with the Tesla series. We highly recommend Nvidia Tesla cards for the best
performance when using several cards on one machine to solve either multiple variations (DSO) or
excitations (HPC) in parallel which is referred to in this document collectively as distributed.

l nVIDIA Tesla K20c (both workstation and server)

l nVIDIA Tesla K40c (both workstation and server)
l nVIDIA Tesla K80 (server with GPU cooling solution only, 2 GPUs consume 2 ANSYS HPC
licenses)
l nVIDIA Quadro K5000, K5200, M6000
l nVIDIA Quadro K6000 (both workstation and server, will be slow in graphic processing
when used for GPU acceleration)

Notes: nVIDIA Tesla M2090 (Not supported in Release 17) is previous generation (code Fermi)
GPU card, doesn’t work for Workstation since it has no fan for active cooling but need server with
GPU cooling solution (passive cooling) similar to the nVIDIA Tesla K80.

To get the best performance, the GPU used for running simulation jobs should not be attached to
any display. Only GPU cards with CUDA Compute Compatibility 2.0 and above should be used. To
improve the speedup of transient field visualization, you should install GPU cards on a system with
PCI-E 3.0 slots. A mixture of interface cards with lower PCI-E versions may result in the data not
being transferred from GPU to CPU at the highest speed.

Setup for Windows

1. After you install GPU cards and Nvidia graphics drivers, you should be able to find the cards
in Windows Display Manager.

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2. You should run nvidia-smi.exe at C:\Program Files\NVIDIA Corporation\NVSMI to check if

GPU cards are installed successfully. The executable nvidia-smi.exe should exist after the
display driver is installed.

3. To further setup the configuration of GPU cards, open a command window as an

administrator.

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To improve the performance of GPU acceleration, it is recommended that you turn off the Error
Correction Code (ECC) support by the -e 0 option of nvidia-smi. New ECC settings will be
effective only after system reboot.

4. (Optional) For remote execution of GPU accelerated jobs (e.g. through Windows Remote
Desktop Connection or RSM options in HFSS), it is necessary to turn on the Tesla Compute
Cluster (TCC) mode by the -dm 1 option of nvidia-smi. New TCC settings will be effective
only after system reboot. This step is unnecessary if you run HFSS Transient from a local
machine. Please note that only Tesla cards support TCC. You cannot run GPU accelerated
jobs on remote GeForce and Quadro cards.

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5. (Optional) For users who want to run multiple GPU-accelerated jobs on one machine
through distributed mode, it is required to install Nvidia Tesla cards with EXCLUSIVE_
PROCESS support. Using the -c 3 option of nvidia-smi, one can set GPUs in a system to be
Exclusive_Process. HFSS Transient relies on this compute mode to assign each simulation
job to a dedicated GPU card. Please note that GeForce and Quadro cards do not support
EXCLUSIVE_PROCESS. Therefore, they should not be used for GPU-acceleration of
HFSS Transient in distributed mode.

6. (Optional) Using -q option of nvidia-smi, one can check if the compute mode is set properly.

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7. (Optional) For HFSS Transient to run in GPU-distributed, it is necessary to check if the

dynamically linked library nvml.dll exists in its default directory C:\Program Files\NVIDIA
Corporation\NVSMI. If not, its path should be added to the Windows environment variable
Path.
8. The setup for a Windows GPU system is complete through Steps 1 to 7.

If the computer system has both Quadro and Tesla cards, please read carefully the next section
for setting up a Maximus platform.

Setup for an Nvidia Maximus Platform

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When both Quadro (600, 2000, 4000, 5000, or 6000) and Tesla (C2075 and above) cards exist in a
machine, the system is an Nvidia Maximus system and GPUs can be dedicated to graphics or
compute tasks.

1. Once Nvidia graphics drivers are installed for a Maximus System, the icon of Nvidia Control
Panel will be available on the Windows Taskbar. Click the icon to launch Nvidia Control
Panel.

2. It is necessary to ensure there are GPUs visible for HFSS Transient. After the following
setting to have both cards visible, HFSS Transient will be able to automatically grab Tesla
K20c for GPU acceleration instead of Quadro K5000, because the latter is attached to a
display and other processes in the system may use it for graphics acceleration. If only Tesla
K20c is visible (Quadro K5000 unchecked), it will be used for GPU acceleration. If only
Quadro K5000 is visible (Tesla K20c unchecked), it will still be used for GPU acceleration
even with a display attached.

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1. Furthermore, you must check to see if an environment variable CUDA_VISIBLE_DEVICES

exists in Windows. To be consistent with the above Maximus settings, the variable should be
set to make both GPUs visible.

CUDA_VISIBLE_DEVICES=0,1

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If the variable does not exist, all CUDA devices are visible in a system by default. HFSS
Transient will only run on visible GPUs not attached to displays. However, if only one GPU
exists in a system and it is used for both compute and display, HFSS Transient will still grab it for
acceleration.

2. The Maximus setup is complete through Steps 1 to 3. As an example, the following figure
illustrates one hf3d process running on Tesla K20c and one hfss process using Quadro
K5000 for graphics acceleration.

Setup for Linux

1. After you install Nvidia GPU cards and graphics drivers, you should be able to find the cards
by the command.
/sbin/lspci | grep -i nvidia

You can also use the following command to check if GPU cards can be recognized by the
system.
/usr/bin/nvidia-smi

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2. (Optional) The setting of GPUs to disable ECC (for performance), enable TCC (for remote
execution), and enable Exclusive_Process (for GPU-distributed) are similar to Windows.
You need the administrative right to make such changes.
sudo nvidia-smi -e 0

sudo nvidia-smi -dm 1

sudo nvidia-smi -c 3

3. (Optional) On Linux Maximus platforms, the environment variable CUDA_VISIBLE_

DEVICES can be set in the shell file ~/.bash_profile to toggle the visibility of GPU cards as
CUDA devices. If the variable does not exist, all CUDA devices are visible in a system by
default.
4. (Optional) In order to let HFSS Transient access the dynamically linked library libnvidia-
ml.so in GPU-distributed, one must check if the library exists in its default directory /usr/lib64.
If not, its path should be added to the Linux environment variable PATH through a shell
startup file.
5. The setup for a Linux GPU system is complete through Steps 1 to 4. As an example, the
following figure illustrates four distributed hf3d processes running on four Tesla K20m cards.

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License Options

Users with HPC packs can use GPU acceleration for HFSS Transient. The maximum number of
GPUs to be used on a standalone machine or for all machines in a cluster is limited by the number
of HPC packs.

l 1 HPC pack = 1 GPU

l 2 HPC packs = 4 GPUs
l 3 HPC packs = 16 GPUs
l 4 HPC packs = 64 GPUs

If the number of simulation jobs exceeds the number of GPUs in a system, the excessive jobs will
fall back to CPUs and will be accelerated by up to 8 CPU cores for each job.

Enable/Disable GPU Acceleration from the HFSS User Interface

To turn on or off GPU acceleration, click Tools>Options>HPC and Analysis Options and select
the Options tab. Click on the value of Enable GPU and toggle it to either True or False.

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Enabling GPU-Distributed

There are two steps for setting up GPU-distributed.

1. Go to Tools>Options>HPC and Analysis Options to edit Analysis Configurations.

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GPU-DSO in HFSS Transient can be used either for parametric sweep (Variations) or
Transient Network analysis of multiport networks (Transient Excitations).

2. Set up the Machines for GPU-Distributed.

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In the following figure two simulation jobs are allowed to run on the local host, or up to two
GPUs can be used for acceleration depending on the availability of licenses and GPU cards.

Whether GPU is used for acceleration can be checked by viewing the Solutions dialog, Profile
tab. If a GPU is successfully locked for the use by an hf3d process, the profile will show the
GPU's CUDA device ID and its name.

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Otherwise, the profile will indicate the fallback to CPUs. More information about why GPUs are
not available for acceleration can be found in the HFSS Transient log file. See further
discussion under Step 5 of Setting HPC and Analysis Options.

Enable/Disable GPU Acceleration from the Command Line

GPU acceleration of HFSS Transient can be toggled by the -batchoptions command line
argument:
EnableGPU=[0/1].

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For example, the following command turns on GPU acceleration.

ansysedt.exe -batchsolve -batchoptions "'EnableGPU'=1"
projectname.aedt

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11 - HFSS-IE
HFSS-IE is a fullwave Integral Equation solver that calculates the "currents" on the surfaces of the
objects in the model - both finite conducting and lossy dielectric objects are allowed. HFSS-IE is
designed for large open problems. Application areas include:

l Radar cross Section (RCS)

l Antenna placement (for example, antenna on a vehicle)
l Stand alone antennas
l Coupling. EMI/EMC

HFSS-IE features:

l Works from within the standard ANSYS Electronics Desktop, sharing the GUI and the same
3D modeler and reporting features.
l Naturally open - no air volume or ABC needed.
l Multiple mixed near field and far field links and plane waves are permitted. The only
restriction is that incident waves (NF, FF, or plane) cannot coexist with ports.
l Support for infinite ground plane.
l Supports ground plane apertures.
l Supports lumped gap and incident wave excitations.
l Supports discrete and/or interpolating frequency sweeps.
l Supports mesh link which means you can use the current mesh of different design or project.

l Supports curvilinear mesh elements without restriction.

l Near and far field calculations
l For larger models, HFSS-IE uses automated advanced matrix based compression
techniques.
l Data link to and from HFSS and HFSS-IE available, which means that you divide
appropriate models based on each solver's advantages.
l IE Solver types include ACA Solver and MLFMM Solver.
l Physical Optics solver option for plane incident wave and far field incident wave models.
l Use Distributed memory model option, whose features are discussed in Distributed Memory
Solutions with HFSS-IE.

How HFSS-IE is different than HFSS

HFSS uses the finite element method (FEM) to solve for the electromagnetic fields in the solution
region. It meshes over the entire solution volume and solves for the electric field throughout that
volume.

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HFSS-IE uses an integral equation (sometimes called method of moments = MoM) and solves for
the currents on surfaces of objects. It creates a triangular surface mesh on all objects - it solves for
the currents or equivalent currents on conducting and dielectric objects. The IE technique is by
default an "open model" technique so no ABCs are needed. It can handle closed spaces, but that is
typically not where it will be used. In addition HFSS-IE includes a true infinite ground plane.

Note that HFSS-IE solutions may not be reliable for the cases with antennas inside a cavity type
structure.

Related Topics

HFSS-IE Options

Inserting an HFSS-IE Design

Setting up an HFSS-IE Design

Assigning Excitations

Assigning HFSS-IE Boundaries

Adding a Solution Setup to an HFSS-IE Design

HFSS-IE Getting Started Guides

Distributed Memory Solutions within HFSS-IE

Technical Notes: Integral Equation Method Used in HFSS-IE

Setting up an HFSS-IE Design

To set up an HFSS-IE design, follow this general procedure. After you insert a design, you do not
need to perform the intermediate steps sequentially, but you must complete them before you
generate a solution.

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1. Insert an HFSS-IE design into a project.

2. Set the model's units of measurement.
3. Draw the model geometry and assign material characteristics to objects.
4. Assign boundaries, which specify the field behavior at the edges of the problem region and
object interfaces.
5. Assign excitations - sources of electromagnetic fields and charges, currents, or voltages on
objects or surfaces.
6. Specify how HFSS-IE will compute the solution.
7. (Optional) Set up any Optimetrics you want to run.
8. Run the simulation.
9. View solution results, post-process results, view reports, and create field overlays.

Note After a period of idleness of 10 minutes, HFSS-IE gives up its license. A renewal of activity
automatically requests a license. Such idle notifications do not occur during solves.

Inserting an HFSS-IE Design

The first step is to insert an HFSS-IE design to the active project.

To insert an HFSS-IE design:

l Click Insert HFSS-IE Design.

l Use the Desktop tab ribbon to select HFSS-IE from the drop down menu under the HFSS
icon:

The new design is listed in the project tree. It is named HFSS-IEDesignn by default, where n
is the order in which the design was added to the project.

By option, you can also set General Desktop configuration option to Insert a design of type
HFSS-IE by default when creating a new project. See General Options: Desktop Configuration.

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The 3D Modeler window appears to the right of the Project Manager. You can now create the
model geometry.

Note Click the plus sign to the left of the design icon in the project tree to expand the project tree
and view specific data about the model, such as its boundary assignments.

Related Topics

Setting up an HFSS-IE Design

Setting the Project Tree to Expand Automatically

Assigning HFSS-IE Boundaries

HFSS-IE designs can include the boundaries listed in the table. HFSS-IE designs assume that the
model is surrounded by some background material, so you do not have to draw an enclosing region
with an absorbing boundary condition, as in HFSS. HFSS-IE assumes that the background
material is vacuum.

Perfect E Represents a perfectly conducting surface. This resembles the HFSS Perfect E
boundary, but does offer selecting an infinite ground plane.
Finite Represents an imperfect conductor.
Conductivity
Infinite Represents the effects of an infinite ground plane
Ground
Plane
Half Space Represents a background consisting of a dielectric half-space, for example, an
antenna at sea level.
Aperture Represents holes in the design.
Impedance Represents a resistive surface.
Anisotropic Represents a boundary condition used to replace a surface a planar screen or grid
Impedance with periodic geometry.
Lumped Represents any combination of lumped resistor, inductor, and/or capacitor in
RLC parallel on a surface.
Layered Represents a structure with multiple layers as one impedance surface.
Impedance

Related Topics

Assigning Boundaries

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Zoom to Selected Boundary

Setting Default Boundary Base Names

Modifying Boundaries

Deleting Boundaries

Reassigning Boundaries

Reprioritizing Boundaries

Duplicating Boundaries and Excitations with Geometry

Showing and Hiding Boundaries and Excitations

Reviewing Boundaries and Excitations in the Solver View

Setting Default Values for Boundaries and Excitations

Assigning Excitations in HFSS-IE

Excitations in HFSS-IE are used to specify the sources of electromagnetic fields and charges,
currents, or voltages on objects or surfaces in the design. You can assign the following types of
excitation in an HFSS-IE design:

Lumped Represents an internal surface through which a signal enters or exits the geometry.
Port
Terminal Represents a terminal. You can assign terminals manually or automatically.
Plane Represents a wave that propagates in one direction and is uniform in the directions
Incident perpendicular to its direction of propagation. HFSS-IE supports regular propagating
Wave wave, evanescent, and elliptically polarized plane waves.
Far Field A Far field wave is sufficiently far (that is, usually more than a wave length distance)
Wave from an antenna to approximate as a plane wave. Far field waves are mostly
homogeneous.
Near A Near Field wave is close enough to the antenna source for near field effects to occur,
Field typically within a wave length. Near field waves tend to be evanescent, that is, non-
Wave homogeneous.

After assigning an excitation, you can modify it in some of the following ways, if applicable to the
excitation type:

l Change its properties.

l Delete it.

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l Reassign it to another surface.

l Hide it from view.
l Modify the impedance multiplier.

Addinga Solution Setup to an HFSS-IE Design

To add a new solution setup to a design:

1. Select a design in the project tree.

2. Click HFSS-IE>Analysis Setup>Add Solution Setup .

l Alternatively, right click Analysis in the project tree, and then click Add Solution Setup
on the shortcut menu.
l If you have an existing setup, you can Copy and Paste it, and then edit parameters.

The Solution Setup dialog box appears. It is divided among the following tabs:

General Includes general solution settings.

Options Includes settings for lambda refinement, adaptive analysis and solve type options.

You specify the IE Solver type as ACA (the traditional method) or as MLFMM,
which is superior than ACA for models with large FE-BI surfaces. The MLFMM
solver option provides a more efficient solution to certain classes of scattering
problems. The MLFMM solver is typically more efficient (in memory and speed) than
the ACA solver for problems having electrically large, mostly smooth, scattering
surfaces which are comparable in all three dimensions.

You can also select a Physical Options solver.

Advanced Includes settings for Initial Mesh Options. You can choose to use a mesh from a
different design or project that has an identical geometry.
Expression Includes a list of expressions and output variables that you can use for convergence
Cache for adaptive analysis.
Defaults Enables you to save the current settings as the defaults for future solution setups or
revert the current settings to HFSS's standard settings.

3. Click the General tab.

4. Enter a Setup Name or accept the default.

The Enabled check box on General tab permits to you to disable a setup so that it does not run
when you select Analyze All.

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5. Enter the Solution Frequency and select the frequency units from the pull down list.
6. If you are performing an adaptive analysis, enter 2 or more passes in the Maximum
Number of Passes box.

For driven problems HFSS-IE always requires at least one adaptive pass. Entering 1 will also
bypass adaptive analysis, generating a solution only at the solution frequency you specified.

7. If ports exist, accept or set the Maximum Delta S per pass. If ports do not exist accept or set
the Maximum Residual Error for convergence per pass.

Maximum Residual Error is a stopping criterion for the adaptive solution. If the residual error
is less than this value from one iteration to the next, the adaptive analysis stops. Otherwise, it
continues until the requested number of passes is completed. In HFSS-IE this is an absolute
value that functions like the Maximum Delta Energy, a relative value in HFSS that do not have
ports. The default is 0.001.

8. The lower right corner also contains a button for HPC and Analysis options. Here you can
select or create an analysis configuration.
9. Click the Options tab.

Under the Options tab of the Solution Setup dialog box, you can edit the following settings:

Do Lambda Refinement

Use Free Space Lamda

Maximum Refinement Per Pass

Minimum Number of Passes

Minimum Converged Passes

Solver Types lets you select one of the following solver options:

You can specify the IE Solver type as ACA (the traditional method) or as MLFMM, which is
superior than ACA for models with large FE-BI surfaces, and also works for HFSS-IE designs,
and IE regions. The MLFMM solver is typically more efficient (in memory and speed) than the
ACA solver for problems having electrically large, mostly smooth, scattering surfaces which are

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comparable in all three dimensions. For a more detailed discussion, see MLFMM Usage
Guidelines.

Both IE solvers support distributed memory using MPI.

Use PO Solver - for designs with a plane incident wave, far field wave, or near field wave.

Use IE Solver optionally uses a distributed memory paradigm to solve large problems by
spreading the memory use across multiple machines in a cluster. Note that shared memory
parallel in combination with distributed IE is supported. That means a distributed solve can use
multiple threads, based on the HFSS-IE solver option, Number of Processors Distributed. For
Linux, you can set the Remote Spawn command to use, RSH, or SSH (the default), on the
HFSS-IE Solver Options.

For details see Distributed Memory Solutions with HFSS-IE.

10. Under the Advanced tab you can specify whether to Import the mesh from another design
or project that has an identical geometry.
11. Under the Expression Cache tab of the Solution Setup, you can edit the following
settings:

Adaptive Options: whether to use Output Variable Convergence (output variables must be
defined for this to be enabled.)

Add, Edit, Remove, or Remove all expressions.

Also use selected expressions for convergence. Checking this enables the radio button and
field for either Max Delta or Max Percent Delta.

For expressions in the cache, you can directly edit the name, and, by clicking the Intrinsics field
for an expression, you can edit the sweep values to which the expression applies.

12. Click OK.

13. Optionally, add a frequency sweep to the solution setup.

Related Topics

Setting Adaptive Analysis Parameters

Technical Notes: The HFSS Solution Process

Copying a Solution Setup

Renaming a Solution Setup

HFSS-IE Feature

Distributed Memory Solutions within HFSS-IE

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Setting Lambda Refinement for HFSS-IE

Lambda refinement is the process of refining the initial mesh based on the material-dependent
wavelength. It is recommended and selected by default. Do Lamda Refinement also applies to
IE regions.

To specify the size of wavelength by which HFSS-IE will refine the mesh:

1. Under the Options tab of the Solution Setup dialog box, select DoLambda Refinement.

This enables the Target field and the Use free space lambda check box.

2. Enter a value for the wavelength in the Target field or accept the defaults.

The lambda refinement target always refers to the background material.

If you want the initial mesh to be refined based on the wavelength in free space, select Use free
space lambda. Material-dependent lambda refinement will be deactivated.

Note Changing the Lambda refinement target invalidates any solutions that were performed with
the previous lambda refinement.

If an object is highly conductive, very little energy will penetrate into it, so it does not need a
dense mesh. In such cases, free space mesh is applied.

Use PO Solver for HFSS-IE Solve Setup

HFSS-IE includes a Physical Optics (PO) solver for use with metallic designs excited by an in
cident plane wave, a far field wave, or a near field wave. This solver provides first-order scattering
information, such as an approximate RCS. If that result is not accurate enough (for example, for a
back lobe calculation), you can use the regular HFSS-IE solver. The types of reports are the same;
it is the accuracy that changes. When selected, it solves for only one pass, performing no adaptive
refinement.

Dielectric materials are not allowed with the PO solver. PEC and finite conducting objects yields
the same answers. The design cannot contain an Infinite Ground Plane or an Aperture Boundary
condition. If the design contains any conducting boundary other than PEC, for example: Finite
Conductivity, Impedance, Lumped RLC or Layered Impedance, then a warning message says that
"The PO solver only handles PEC boundaries; all other boundary conditions, including finite
conductivity, will be treated as PEC."

You control the option by using the Use PO Solver radio button on the Options tab of the HFSS-
IE Solution Setup. You can select either Use IE Solver or the Use PO Solver option.

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Related Topics

Adding a Solution Setup to an HFSS-IE Design

Distributed Memory Solutions with HFSS-IE

The HFSS-IE solver in HFSS uses the industry standard Message Passing Interface ("MPI") and
can perform solutions that distribute memory use across machines in a cluster or network. Memory
used by the MPI-enabled HFSS-IE solver is therefore limited by the set of machines that are
available rather than the shared memory available on any single machine. This allows you to
simulate larger structures than before and to optimally reconfigure the cluster of machines for the
problem at hand.

To use the distributed memory solution in HFSS-IE you will need to install HFSS and MPI software
from one of the supported third party vendors on all the machines you intend to use. You may need
to set passwords depending on the MPI vendor for authentication on the machines. Settings within
HFSS are used to turn on distributed memory solutions and define the list of machines you intend
to use. Detailed instructions about how to get distributed memory HFSS-IE solutions up and
running are outlined in the following sections.

l Installation Requirements for Distributed Memory Solutions with HFSS-IE

l Setting up HFSS-IE and Running Distributed Memory Solutions
l Select the MPI Vendor for HFSS-IE
l Running Distributed Memory Solutions from the Command line
l Discussion of HFSS-IE Distributed Memory Solution
l Interconnects for HFSS-IE Distributed Memory Simulation
l Authentication on Linux (RSH & SSH) for HFSS-IE
l Troubleshooting for HFSS-IE Distributed Memory Solutions

Installation Requirements for Distributed Memory Solutions with HFSS-IE

You must install HFSS on all the machines you intend to use during the HFSS-IE distributed
memory solution process. The installation locations for HFSS must be identical and the machines

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must be uniform: all 64 bit; all Windows or all Linux. The machines must all use the same
interconnect.

In addition, on Windows, you must install one of the supported versions of MPI from either Platform
Computing (default) or Intel. Be sure to install the same version of MPI on all machines in your
cluster. (Solving on a single Windows machine does not require MPI installation. And users
running on Linux do not need to install MPI manually).

Platform MPI Software

Linux Intel & AMD Spectrum MPI 9.1.4.2

Intel MPI 4.1.3

Windows Vista, Windows 7 Spectrum MPI 9.1.4.2

(64 bit) Intel MPI 4.1.3

You will need to set the password you want to use for your MPI runs on all the machines in the
cluster. You can either use the batch command provided by ANSYS to set your password or refer
to the MPI vendor's documentation.

InfiniBand Support for Windows

By default, the MPI vendors use the fastest interconnect by default (typically InfiniBand is faster
than Ethernet). If you want to override the default behavior and force the use of Ethernet, you can
set the ANSOFT_MPI_INTERCONNECT environment variable to “eth” for the job.

Tight Integration of Platform MPI with Windows HPC for MPI Based Solves

Jobs running on a Windows HPC Cluster and using "Platform Computing" as the MPC Vendor,
ANSYS Electromagnetics software now works with Platform MPI to use the Windows HPC cluster
to launch remote processes. (Linux is not affected by this change. For Windows, the change does
not apply if the Windows MPI vendor selection is "Intel.")

Although registration of user passwords with Platform MPI is no longer required in this situation, if a
user's password is registered with Platform MPI, the registered password will be used. This may
result in job failure if the user's password is changed from the registered password. For this reason,
we recommend that user passwords be unregistered from Platform MPI on Windows HPC cluster
hosts.

If the analysis does not run as a Windows HPC job, the same requirements as for the previous
release apply. That is, that Platform MPI must be installed on each cluster node, including the
Platform MPI Remote Launch service, which must be running on each cluster node. The user
password must be registered on each node.

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Related Topics

Distributed Memory Solutions with HFSS-IE

Setting up HFSS-IE and Running Distributed Memory Solutions

Select the MPI Vendor

Running Distributed Memory Solutions from the Command line

Discussion of HFSS-IE Distributed Memory Solution

Interconnects for HFSS-IE Distributed Memory Simulation

Authentication on Linux (RSH & SSH)

Troubleshooting for HFSS-IE Distributed Memory Solutions

Setting up HFSS-IE and Running Distributed Memory Solutions

After setting up your HFSS-IE project normally you will need to set the list of machines used for the
distributed memory solution process and turn on the distributed memory option.

To create the distributed machine list see Configuring Distributed Analysis.

Related Topics

Distributed Memory Solutions with HFSS-IE

Installation Requirements for Distributed Memory Solutions with HFSS-IE

Select the MPI Vendor

Running Distributed Memory Solutions from the Command line

Discussion of HFSS-IE Distributed Memory Solution

Interconnects for HFSS-IE Distributed Memory Simulation

Authentication on Linux (RSH & SSH)

Troubleshooting for HFSS-IE Distributed Memory Solutions

Select the MPI Vendor for HFSS-IE

After installing MPI on your machine from a particular vendor such as Platform Computing or Intel
you need to set which type of MPI you are using in HFSS. Go to the Options tab of the
Tools>Options>HPC and Analysis Options dialog to set the MPI Vendor type.

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Related Topics

Distributed Memory Solutions with HFSS-IE

Installation Requirements for Distributed Memory Solutions with HFSS-IE

Setting up HFSS-IE and Running Distributed Memory Solutions

Running Distributed Memory Solutions from the Command line

Discussion of HFSS-IE Distributed Memory Solution

Interconnects for HFSS-IE Distributed Memory Simulation

Authentication on Linux (RSH & SSH)

Troubleshooting for HFSS-IE Distributed Memory Solutions

Running Distributed Memory Solutions from the Command line for HFSS-IE

You can run distributed memory HFSS-IE solutions from the command line using the -BatchSolve
option. Set the distributed memory solve setup option before running the simulation and use the
"BatchSolve" flag with the "Distributed" and MachineList" options. For example:
ansysedt -BatchSolve -Distributed -MachineList list="machine1,_
machine2" TheProject.aedt

This simulates "TheProject.aedt" as a distributed memory solution on machines "machine1" and

"machine2."

Note the distributed memory solve setup option can be turned on via scripting if desired.

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Related Topics

Distributed Memory Solutions with HFSS-IE

Installation Requirements for Distributed Memory Solutions with HFSS-IE

Setting up HFSS-IE and Running Distributed Memory Solutions

Select the MPI Vendor

Discussion of HFSS-IE Distributed Memory Solution

Interconnects for HFSS-IE Distributed Memory Simulation

Authentication on Linux (RSH & SSH)

Troubleshooting for HFSS-IE Distributed Memory Solutions

Discussion of HFSS-IE Distributed Memory Solutions

Each machine or "compute node" is connected to the other nodes via a "communication
interconnect" and relies on the message passing library (MPI) to exchange data and synchronize
computational tasks. Ethernet, Myrinet and Infiniband are common communication interconnects.
Each node is identified by a unique integer ID or rank number. The local machine is known as the
"Rank-0 node" and is the master. The Rank-0 machine has many tasks including:

l Management of all communication with the HFSS user interface. None of the distributed
machines communicate directly with the user interface but pass all information through the
Rank-0 machine.
l Mesh generation. The mesh is generated only on the Rank-0 machine.
l Disk access. None of the distributed machines access their local discs. The simulation mesh,
intermediate and solution data are passed to and from the distributed machines using MPI.
l Distribution and control of computational tasks on the distributed machines. The simulation
process is dynamic and the Rank-0 machine will determine which of the distributed
machines has memory available to distribute tasks accordingly.
l Post-processing of the HFSS-IE Distributed Memory Solution

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The algorithms used in the distributed memory version of the HFSS-IE solver engine resemble
those used in the non-distributed memory version. The matrix solution algorithms in the distributed
memory version of HFSS-IE have been adjusted to use slightly more memory so that larger
problems can be simulated in less time.

The MPI enabled HFSS-IE solver engine is now multi-threaded. That means a distributed solve
can use multiple threads, based on the HFSS-IE solver option, Number of Processors Distributed.
For Linux, you can set the Remote Spawn command to use, RSH, or SSH (the default), on the
HPC and Analysis Options dialog..If a particular machine has multiple cores and enough memory
you can define this machine several times in the distributed machine list ("doubling up") to take
advantage of the extra cores.

During the "Matrix Assembly" and "Matrix Solve" steps of the solution process the HFSS-IE engine
attempts to distribute memory use evenly. At various points in the matrix solution process the
software will poll the machines in the cluster and determine which machine has the most memory
available and then reserve a block of memory on that machine. If a particular machine does not
have a large block of memory available the memory use on that machine will grow only slowly. If
none of the machines in the cluster have sufficient memory the solution process will terminate and
an error message will be posted to the HFSS message window.

Note If you list the same machine several times in the Distributed Machine Configuration you can
easily overload that machine. For example, consider a setup with the following machines in
the Distributed Machine Configuration

MachineA

MachineB

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MachineA

MachineA

If you set "Number of Processors, Distributed = 8" this means that you request 24 (=3*8)
processors on MachineA and 8 on MachineB. If MachineA does not have 24 processors
the simulation will be inefficient.

Many factors affect solution time. In general, the solution time will decrease as the number of
compute nodes increases. However, parallel efficiency decreases as the ratio of communication to
computation increases so to some extent you need to match the size of the problem to the size of
parallel machine. Simulating small structures on a large cluster will not be efficient and may take
longer and use significantly more memory than if the structure was simulated on a single machine.

Network interconnect speed and topology can affect performance significantly in homogeneous
clusters. Performance can degrade if machines are "doubled up" to the point of causing memory
bus contention or if the cluster is significantly inhomogeneous and certain faster machines need to
wait for slower machines to catch up to synchronization points in the solution process.

Related Topics

Distributed Memory Solutions with HFSS-IE

Installation Requirements for Distributed Memory Solutions with HFSS-IE

Setting up HFSS-IE and Running Distributed Memory Solutions

Select the MPI Vendor

Running Distributed Memory Solutions from the Command line

Interconnects for HFSS-IE Distributed Memory Simulation

Authentication on Linux (RSH & SSH)

Troubleshooting for HFSS-IE Distributed Memory Solutions

Interconnects for HFSS-IE Distributed Memory Simulation

To obtain the best possible performance we recommend the use of a network interconnect that
supports communication speeds greater than 1000MB/sec or higher. Some high performance
interconnects plug into a PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect), PCI-X (extended), or PCIe
(PCI Express) slot on the system.

HFSS-IE 17 supports the following network interconnects:

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Platform Interconnects
Win32 Ethernet/GiGE
Win64 Ethernet/GiGE (default), Myrinet, Infiniband
Linux Ethernet/GiGE (default), Myrinet, Infiniband

Ethernet/GiGE is the default interconnect on all platforms. You can choose one of the alternate
interconnects by setting the ANSOFT_MPI_INTERCONNECT environment variable to "myri" for
Myrinet and "ib" for Infiniband.

Interconnect variants are supported on Linux. Set the ANSOFT_MPI_INTERCONNECT_

VARIANT to the desired interconnect variant. For example, set "ANSOFT_MPI_
INTERCONNECT_VARIANT=silverstorm" to use the silverstorm variant.

Related Topics

Distributed Memory Solutions with HFSS-IE

Installation Requirements for Distributed Memory Solutions with HFSS-IE

Setting up HFSS-IE and Running Distributed Memory Solutions

Select the MPI Vendor

Running Distributed Memory Solutions from the Command line

Discussion of HFSS-IE Distributed Memory Solution

Authentication on Linux (RSH & SSH)

Troubleshooting for HFSS-IE Distributed Memory Solutions

Authentication on Linux (RSH & SSH) for HFSS-IE

An important step in using a high performance cluster is setting up authentication across machines
in such a way that the machines can be accessed without a password. By default HFSS-IE uses
SSH authentication on Linux to spawn commands on the remote machines but also supports RSH.
The selection of which to use is made on the Options tab of the Tools>Options>HPC and Analysis
dialog.

Related Topics

Distributed Memory Solutions with HFSS-IE

Installation Requirements for Distributed Memory Solutions with HFSS-IE

Setting up HFSS-IE and Running Distributed Memory Solutions

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Select the MPI Vendor

Running Distributed Memory Solutions from the Command line

Discussion of HFSS-IE Distributed Memory Solution

Interconnects for HFSS-IE Distributed Memory Simulation

Troubleshooting for HFSS-IE Distributed Memory Solutions

Troubleshooting for HFSS-IE Distributed Memory Simulations

A number of things can prevent distributed memory solutions from completing successfully. This
section provides suggestions to debug problems.

It is often a good idea to set up and run a small simulation with two processes on a single machine
before moving to a large cluster. Using a single machine will allow you to verify that HFSS and MPI
are installed correctly while eliminating problems arising from remote installation, authentication
and firewall settings.

Many problems occur because the MPI software cannot start and run due to authentication and
firewall issues. Please check with your MPI vendor and their end user documentation for
information about how to verify that authentication and firewall settings are correct.

If you are using MPI on Windows from Platform Computing you can test whether MPI will run by
using the "mpidiag" utility:

l From a command prompt browse to the Platform Computing binaries located at

<HFSS_Installation_Directory>\common\fluent_mpi\multiport\mpi\_win64
(win32)\pcmpi\bin

l Enter "mpidiag -s <name_of_machine> -at" to run an authentication test.

l Run the authentication tests in both directions, i.e. both to and from all target machines. This
will verify that MPI passwords and firewall settings are correct.

The tests need to be run in both directions because firewalls may allow communication in one
direction but not the other.

Platform Computing's implementation of MPI on Windows requires that you enter a password on
each machine in the cluster to run MPI solutions.

l From a command prompt browse to the Platform Computing binaries located at

<HFSS_Installation_Directory>\common\fluent_mpi\multiport\mpi\_win64
(win32)\pcmpi\bin

l To set the password run "mpidiag -s <name_of_machine> -cache -at" and enter the
password at the prompt.

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Recall that HFSS must be installed in the same directory on all machines in the cluster and that the
cluster must be uniform (i.e. all Linux machines, all 64 bit Windows machines)

Verify that the version of the third party MPI software is identical on all the machines and that it is
listed in the table of supported versions above.

Verify that the machine names are correct and that all the machines can be reached on the
network.

Related Topics

Distributed Memory Solutions with HFSS-IE

Installation Requirements for Distributed Memory Solutions with HFSS-IE

Setting up HFSS-IE and Running Distributed Memory Solutions

Select the MPI Vendor

Running Distributed Memory Solutions from the Command line

Discussion of HFSS-IE Distributed Memory Solution

Interconnects for HFSS-IE Distributed Memory Simulation

Authentication on Linux (RSH & SSH)

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12 - Layout Editor
The Layout Editor shows the physical realization of a circuit. Layers are used in the editor to
organize and manipulate sets of geometry and other visual indicators.

l Signal, negative signal, and dielectric are common physical layers.

l Symbol, error, and rats are non-physical layers.

The Edit Layers dialog stackup contains additional properties of the physical layers, such as
material, thickness, and elevation. Geometrical information on these layers is used to generate
masks for manufacturing.

Related Topics

Layout Display and Menus

Layout Dialogs

Working with Objects

Drawing a Model

Layout Components

Coordinate Systems

3D Structures

Dielectric Modeling

Design Verification and Geometry Check

Printing a Layout

Layout Display and Menus

The following sections describe the display, menus and options that are available for viewing and
editing in the Layout Editor.

Related Topics

Layout Editor Display

Layout Editor Options

Layout Edit Menu

Layout Pulldown Menu

Layout View Menu

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Layout Draw Menu

Layout Context Menu

Layout Editor Display

The default display of the Layout Editor is 3D, with a view in a top-down 2D Cartesian coordinate
orientation. The view can be changed by holding the left-mouse key, dragging the cursor, in
combination with the following keystroke(s):

l Shift: Pan
l Shift-Alt: Zoom

— Double-clicking the left-mouse button with the Shift-Alt keys depressed performs a fit-all
operation.

l Alt: Rotate

Double-clicking the left-mouse button with the Alt-key depressed snaps the view to various
predefined orientations. Double-clicking in the screen region at:

— Top-left, top-right, bottom-left, or bottom-right: orientates the view obliquely.

— Right -center: orientates the view down the positive Y axis; positive X is to the left (side-
on view).

— Left-center: orientates the view down the negative Y axis; positive Y is to the right (side-
on view).

— Center-top: orientates the view down the positive Z axis with the X axis facing up (top-
down view).

— Center-bottom: the resulting view looks down the negative Z axis with the X axis facing
down (bottom-up view).

— Center: resets the view to a standard 2D Cartesian orientation with X to the right
and Y up.

All object drawing occurs in the plane of the layer. Object manipulation, such as dragging, occurs in
the plane of the object. Drawing in an oblique view places 2D objects on the active layer, even if a
snap occurs to a point that is off-layer. The background grid is drawn at the layer elevation, unless
the view is too horizontal. To select from several vertically-layered objects, use the 'b' key to cycle
through all the objects that exist directly beneath the cursor.

Layout Editor Options

Layout options control the display, drawing, and editing of models in the Layout Editor. All layout
options have installed default values. Option values may be changed from their installed defaults
either globally (for all new layouts) or locally (for a particular existing layout).

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Note Local options for a layout may be changed only from the top level of the layout hierarchy,
not from within a subcircuit.

When a new layout is created, options assume their global values, unless there is an installed
default which overrides the global default. Values for a particular layout option can be set locally to
be different from global/installed defaults. Layout options are changed using the Layout Editor
panel of the Tools>Options>General Options dialog.

Related Topics

Setting Global Layout Options

Setting Local Layout Options

Setting Global Layout Options

The following options are set in the Layout Editor panel of the Tools>Options>General Options
dialog.

No project or layout needs to be open to change global options. Changes to global options affect
layout designs that are opened after the changes are made, but do not affect layouts that were
opened before the changes were made.

Note Saving global defaults is not undoable. When global defaults are saved, HFSS immediately
writes them to the registry and then uses these new default values for all subsequent
applications. The only way to revert to previous global values is to once again modify the
default values and then do another global save.

The following buttons control changes made to the global layout options:

l Reset From Global Defaults is used to change the settings of all the tabs to those of the
current Global settings. The reset affects only the dialog contents.
l Reset From Installed Defaults is used to change the settings of all the tabs to those of
the initial-install defaults. The reset affects only the dialog contents.
l OK saves the currents settings of all the tabs to the Global defaults registry. This action is
not undoable and is not scriptable. A dialog appears to allow you to confirm the changes in
the global options by clicking Yes.
l Cancel closes the dialog without affecting the Global default settings. (Clicking No on the
confirmation dialog also closes all dialogs without changing the settings.)

Both the global and local Layout Options dialogs have six tabs. The options on each panel are
much the same for both global and local settings. The differences are:

l Save as Global Defaults is present only for each of the local options tabs.
l Always Show Layer Merging Dialog on the Other panel is present only for global
options.

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l Fit to Contents on the Display panel is present only for local options.
l The Set based on page extent button on the Advanced panel is present only for local
options.

Related Topics

Layout Editor Options: Object Panel

Layout Editor Options: Snapping Panel

Layout Editor Options: Display Panel

Layout Editor Options: Selection Panel

Layout Editor Options: Other Panel

Layout Editor Options: Advanced Panel

Layout Editor Options: Object Panel

The following options are set in the Object panel under Layout Editor in the
Tools>Options>General Options dialog. These options control automatic snapping to objects, grid
points and directions.

Drawing

l Draw connection points — When selected, enables the display of pin symbols in the
layout. Unselected by default.
l Label vertices on selected polygons and lines — When selected, enables the display of
labels (Pt_0, Pt_1, etc.) on vertices of selected polygons and lines in the layout. Unselected
by default.
l Color by net — Color geometry by net rather than layer. Colors are assigned in the net list
dialog.

Symbol

l Auto scale — Use the check box to toggle whether to auto scale the axis.
l Scale factor — Scale factor for symbol footprints placed in the layout. Default is 0.1.

Rectangle description style

l Specifies the method for describing rectangles. Default is to use Two points. Alternative
method uses Center/width/height.

Measurement distances

l Controls whether measurement displays in layout include a Label with units, and also how
many Significant digits are displayed.

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Vias

l Suppress non-functional internal pads — When this option is enabled, padstack pads
are affected in the following ways:

— Top/Bottom pads always draw

— Pads connected to traces from the same net will appear

— Pads intersecting fill material will draw

— Pads not connected to fill or to traces from the same net are suppressed; they will not
draw and are not modeled

l Render antipad for center point intersection — When this option is checked, antipads
are only rendered when the via center falls within fill material from another net. A via
placed outside of a fill region will not generate a clearance, even if the antipad would
otherwise reach nearby fill regions. When this option is unchecked, antipads are always
rendered regardless as to the placement of the via. The resulting clearance, however, only
appears in fill geometries from other nets that intersect the antipad.

Other

l Auto place components in free space — When selected, components placed in a

schematic are positioned in Layout in the first available empty position. With regards to CPU
time, the empty-position algorithm is relatively expensive. Consequently, if the physical
layout of the components is irrelevant, placement of components is faster when this option is
disabled.
l Auto position microwave components — When selected, enables the automatic
alignment of microwave components placed in the layout. Selected by default.
Layout Editor Options: Snapping Panel

When creating or placing a component initially in the Layout Editor, it is the cursor that snaps to
the target. As you move and place objects, the shape of the cursor changes to indicate the target
being snapped to. When multiple sources or targets are selected, the closest of these will snap to
each other as you create and move objects.

Sources defines the part of the object you are placing that will snap, and Targets defines what is
snapped to. The options you may select under Targets and Sources are not mutually exclusive,
and you may select none, some, or all of them.

The following options are set in the Snapping panel under Layout Editor in the
Tools>Options>General Options dialog. These options control automatic snapping to objects, grid
points and directions.

Constraints

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l Snap To Grid — Targets that are not on the grid are ignored. If there are no usable targets
within the snapping distance, the closest grid location is used.
l Snap Across Hierarchy— Any object within the hierarchy becomes a target for snapping;
this does not affect the sources.

Directional Constraint

l None— No directional drawing/snapping constraint

l Orthogonal— Forces directional drawing/snapping to the orthogonal (x or y)
l 45 Degree— Forces directional drawing/snapping to 45 degrees

For more information see Directional Drawing.

Distance

Select the distance in pixels within which snapping will occur. default is 20 pixels.

Targets

Select the types of targets to which objects can snap. By default, all targets are subject to snapping
except Any Edge Location and Edge Intersection.

Sources

Select the types of source points that are to be snapped. When Object Center is selected, it is the
center of an object that will snap to a target. For instance, with an arc, when Object Center is
selected, the center of the arc will snap to the nearest target point. By default, all sources are
subject to snapping except Any Edge Location.

All snapping modes can be controlled via the Layout Snaps toolbar, which are active during an
operation.

Related Topics

Drawing a Connection in the Layout Editor

Place Design Dialog

Layout Editor Options: Display Panel

The following options are set in the Display panel under Layout Editor in the
Tools>Options>General Options dialog. These options control the grid display, the drawing area,
and the drawing mode.

l Major Divisions — By default, the major grid divisions are spaced 10mm apart, and are a
medium grey color. Reset the spacing by entering a new value in the Size box. Select a new
color from the palette that appears when you click in the color rectangle.

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l Minor Divisions — By default, the major grid divisions are spaced 1mm apart, and are a
light grey color. Reset the spacing by entering a new value in the Size box. Select a new
color from the palette that appears when you click in the color rectangle.
l Background — By default, the layout editor background is white. Select a new color from
the palette that appears when you click in the color rectangle.
l Show Grid Divisions — Toggles the grid display on and off. Default is on.
l Drawing Extent — Specifies the size and extent of the layout. Defaults are Left, -100mm,
Right, +100mm, Top, +100mm, Bottom, -100mm. Scroll bars indicate the extent of the full
drawing area.
l Drawing — By default, the drawing mode for planar objects is to fill them with a
crosshatched pattern. You can also select Sketch Mode (show outlines only) or Solid
Mode (solid fill color)
Layout Editor Options: Selection Panel

The following options are set in the Selection panel under Layout Editor in the
Tools>Options>General Options dialog. These options control the colors and mode for selected
objects.

l Colors — By default, the first object selected is colored bright red, and subsequent
selections turn dark red. Select new colors from the palettes that appear when the color
rectangles are clicked.
l Preview Selection Changes as the Cursor Moves — Changes the color of an object to
the First Selection color as the cursor moves across it, to indicate that the object will be
selected if clicked.
Layout Editor Options: Other Panel

The following options are set in the Other panel under Layout Editor in the
Tools>Options>General Options dialog. These options control dragging, the Merge layers dialog,
and rotation.

l Allow drag on first click — When selected, holding down the mouse button on an object
selects and attaches the object to the cursor. Drag the object to the desired location and
release the mouse button. When unselected, first click to select the object, then click and
hold down the mouse button to drag the object. Unselected is the default.
l Show pin connectivity dialog on drag to matching component — When selected, the
Pin Connectivity dialog appears during a drag to a matching component.
l Show layer merging dialog — When selected, the Merge Layers dialog appears every
time an object with layers is placed in the layout (or in a schematic). When unselected, the
Merge Layers dialog appears only when automatic layer mapping cannot be performed.
See the Merge Layers Dialog. Unselected is the default.
l Show choose technology dialog on new design — When inserting a new HFSS 3D
Layout or Circuit Design, the user is prompted to Choose Technology. This option will

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suppress the display of the Choose Technology dialog upon the insertion of a new design.
For more information see Inserting an HFSS 3D Layout.
l Specify default technology — Allows the user to select a default technology from the pull
down menu.
l Naming Convention — Opens a dialog that allows the user to control the generation of
port and pin group names when using the interactive commands.
l Rotation increment — During rotation using handles (View > Rotate), objects are rotated
by multiples of this amount. The default rotation amount is 5 degrees. 2D rotations using
"Draw > Rotate" always rotate 90 degrees counterclockwise.
Layout Editor Options: Advanced Panel

The following options are set in the Advanced panel under Layout Editor in the
Tools>Options>General Options dialog. These options control internal tolerance and resolution
values.

l Tolerance — Specifies the tolerance used internally by the layout editor. Distances are
considered equal if they differ by no more than the tolerance value. Default is 1e-9 mm.
Normally, this tolerance should not be changed.
l Arc Drawing Resolution — By default, arc resolution is dynamically adjusted depending
on the zoom factor. You can instead specify a fixed resolution in the current drawing units
(default units are mm).

Setting Local Layout Options

To change local layout options for a particular layout, select Settings or Grid Settings under the
Layout menu. This opens the Layout Editor panel of the Tools>Options>General Options dialog.
Local options for a layout may be changed only from the top level of the layout hierarchy, not from
within a subcircuit.

When the dialog is accessed via Grid Settings it opens on the Display panel. When the dialog is
accessed via Settings it opens on the Object panel.

Note Saving global defaults is not undoable. When global defaults are saved, HFSS immediately
writes them to the registry and then uses these new default values for all subsequent
applications. The only way to revert to previous global values is to once again modify the
default values and then do another global save.

The following buttons control changes made to the local layout options:

l Reset From Global Defaults is used to change the settings of all the tabs to those of the
current Global settings. The reset affects only the dialog contents.
l Reset From Installed Defaults is used to change the settings of all the tabs to those of
the initial-install defaults. The reset affects only the dialog contents.
l Save As Global Defaults saves the currents settings under all tabs to the Global
defaults registry. This action is not undoable and is not scriptable. The save takes place

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immediately and does not close the dialog. Use of the Cancel button after Save As
Global Defaults does not restore the registry.
l OK saves the settings of all the tabs to the current layout to be used locally, and then
closes the dialog. The action is undoable and is scriptable.
l Cancel closes the dialog without affecting the local settings of the layout.

Both the global and local Layout Options dialogs have six tabs. The options on each panel are
much the same for both global and local settings. The differences are:

l Save as Global Defaults is present only for each of the local options tabs.
l Always Show Layer Merging Dialog on the Other panel is present only for global
options.
l Fit to Contents on the Display panel is present only for local options.
l The Set based on page extent button on the Advanced panel is present only for local
options. This button calculates a distance tolerance based on the page extent.

Related Topics

Layout Editor Options: Object Panel

Layout Editor Options: Snapping Panel

Layout Editor Options: Display Panel

Layout Editor Options: Selection Panel

Layout Editor Options: Other Panel

Layout Editor Options: Advanced Panel

Layout Edit Menu

When a layout editor design is active, clicking the Edit button on the top menu bar opens the edit
pulldown menu for the Layout editor. There are multiple varieties of this menu depending on the
type of design being edited (Circuit, HFSS 3D Layout, etc). The following descriptions are a
superset of the commands that may appear on the Edit menu, though they may appear in different
order on the menu than the order in which they are presented here. For more information, search
the Online Help or use the Online Help Index to find information on any of the commands that
appear on the Edit menu for the Layout Editor.

Undo<last edit operation> — Undo the last edit operation.

Redo<last edit operation> — Redo the last edit operation.

Cut — Delete the selected object, and retain a copy for pasting into a layout in the same
application.

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Copy — Create a local copy for pasting into a layout in the same application.

Paste — Put the object from the last cut or copy into the layout.

Delete — Delete the selected object without retaining a copy.

Rename — Click to rename the selected object in the layout.

Select All — Select all objects in the layout.

Unselect All — Unselect all objects in the layout.

Cycle Selection — Cycle selection of two or more objects that overlap. Each time you click Cycle
Selection, a different one of the overlapping objects is selected.

Invert Selection — Unselect all objects that are currently selected, and select all the other objects.

Select by Polygon Region — Selects entities intersecting a polygonal region.

Copy Image — Create a global copy of the selected objects on the clipboard for pasting into a
different application.

Copy to HFSS 3D Layout — Copy the selected objects to the clipboard and paste into an HFSS
3D Layout Design.

Paste in Place — Paste object to same location, without any X,Y offset/displacement.

Select — Sets cursor mode to selection of objects.

Select Handles — Sets cursor mode to selection of object handles.

Select Edges — Sets cursor mode to selection of object edges.

Properties — Opens the Properties dialog to view and edit the properties of the selected object.

Activate — Causes the activation of one or more selected components.

Deactivate (Open) — Temporarily converts the component into an open circuit. Activate restores
a deactivated component to the circuit.

Deactivate (Short) — Temporarily converts the component into a short circuit. Activate restores a
deactivated component to the circuit.

Pop Up — Switches the active coordinate system (CS) to the next higher level. Relative CSs can
be created within other relative CSs to form multiple relative levels.

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Push Down — Switches the active CS to the next lower level.

Port — Opens a submenu that contains commands for operating on Ports.

Padstack — Opens the Edit Padstack Definition dialog.

Footprint — Opens the Footprint Editor.

View — Opens the Layout Editor View submenu.

Draw — Opens the Layout Editor Draw submenu.

Edit — Opens the Layout Editor Edit submenu.

Copy Image — Create a global copy of the selected objects on the clipboard for pasting into a
different application.

EM Design Properties — Set EM Design Properties via the EM Design Properties submenu.

Layout Pulldown Menu

When a layout editor design is active, clicking the Layout button on the top menu bar opens the
layout pulldown menu for the Layout editor. There are multiple varieties of this menu depending on
the type of design being edited (Circuit, HFSS 3D Layout, etc). The following descriptions are a
superset of the commands that may appear on the Layout menu, though they may appear in
different order on the menu than the order in which they are presented here. For more information,
search the Online Help or use the Online Help Index to find information on any of the commands
that appear on the Layout menu.

List — opens the Design List dialog, which lists the objects in the layout.

Layers — opens the Edit Layers dialog. Also see Configuring a Stackup.

Nets — opens the Layout Editor Nets submenu; the same submenu is also available via the right-
click context menu of the Layout Editor.

Push Down — allows you to move selected design instances down one level. You can move
between a project’s different designs and design instances at will by double-clicking their icons in
the project tree. To move down one level, in the layout from which you want to move, select the
symbol for the design to which you want to move and select Push Down.

Pop Up — allows you to move selected design instances up one level. You can move between a
project’s different designs and design instances at will by double-clicking their icons in the project

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tree. To move up one level, in the layout from which you want to move, select the symbol for the
design to which you want to move and then select Pop Up.

Place Design — opens the Place Design Dialog.

Connect Pins — connects the selected pins.

Cutout Subdesign — creates a new subdesign from extracted data by cutting out a portion of a
Layout using a selection polygon and/or a net selection. Click on the subdesign name to rename
the new design. The original design is not affected by this operation. See Cutout Subdesign.

Group into Subdesign — creates a subdesign by combining all the selected objects in the
current layout. The Project tree will show the subdesign with a default name. Click on the name to
rename the subdesign.

Cross-Probe Schematic — Allows you to cross-prob selected schematic and layout elements.
When both the Layout editor and the Schematic editor are displaying the same design, you can
select one or more component instances and interface ports in both editors. Select the schematic
elements or layout elements to be cross-probed, then select Cross-Probe Schematic. For more
information, see Cross-Probing Elements and Cross-Probing Selected Elements.

Settings — opens the Settings panel of the Options dialog to configure the local option settings
in the Layout Editor. See Setting Local Layout Options.

Grid settings — opens the Display panel of the Options dialog. The settings on this dialog
control the grid in the drawing area. See Layout Editor Options: Display Panel.

Draw HFSS Air Box — invokes the HFSS Air Box drawing tool.

Draw HFSS Ports — invokes the HFSS Port drawing tool.

Via Styles — opens the Select Definition dialog box for Padstacks, with the Planar EMvia
padstack selected. See Using the Padstack Editor for information on adding or modifying padstack
definitions.

Pin Styles — opens the Select Definition dialog box for Padstacks, so that you can add a
stackup definition for pins. See Using the Padstack Editor for information on adding or modifying
padstack definitions.

Line Styles — opens the Line Styles dialog box that specifies the fonts to use on the various
layers.

Text Styles — opens the Text Styles dialog that specifies the fonts to use on the various layers.

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Export to SIwave with ALinks — initiates the export of layout data.

Measure — invokes measurement mode. The cursor changes to a small diamond shape. Left-click
on any two grid-points to display the linear distance between the two points in the current units.

Erase Measurements — clears measurement lines.

List

Layout > List opens the Design List dialog, which lists the objects in the layout.

Layout Tab

Layout objects are listed with descriptive information. The following controls are available:

l Each column may be sorted by clicking on the title; clicking multiple times reverses the
order of the sort.
l Each column may be filtered by typing in the editable cell below the header. There are two
choices of filtering: enhanced wild cards or Perl regular expression.
— Enhanced wild card filtering is used to choose which nets are shown in the dialog by
using wild cards and characters; the two wild cards supported are * and ?. For more
information, see Pattern Matching Based on Wildcards.
— Perl regular expression filtering is used with the .xml control file. For more information,
see ODB++ Control File Part Mapping.
l Selecting a row selects that object in the layout.
l Multiple rows can be selected using the shift or control keys.
l The Delete and Properties buttons apply to the objects in the selected rows.

Nets Tab

Click the Nets tab to list all the nets.

Nets are listed with descriptive information. The following controls are available:

l Selecting a row selects all the objects in that net in the layout.
l Visible controls the visibility of each net.
l Checking Highlighted causes the objects in that net to be drawn in a highlight color. This
is independent of the selection. Highlighting is maintained between sessions. Un-
highlighted the net objects through the list dialog or by selecting a single object in the net
and choosing the menu option Layout > Nets > Toggle Net Highlight.
l Color is used when the geometry is colored by net or when a net is highlighted. Each net
has an assigned color.
l Delete removes all the items from the net (it does not delete the objects).

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l Properties brings up the property editor; only the properties common to all elements in
the net are displayed.

Note Shift-Ctrl-Select on an object in the Layout editor selects everything that is in the same net
as the object.

Net Classes Tab

Click the Net Classes tab for net class manipulation.

Pattern Matching Based on Wildcards

You can use pattern matching to search for nets. These searches match a text pattern and use
special constructions to represent strings or single characters. The following searches are
supported:

* Matches any sequence of characters.

For example, net* selects objects net_1a, net_1b, netLength.

? Matches any character.

For example, net_? selects objects net_1, net_2, net_a, net_b.

These match a text pattern and use special constructions to represent strings or single characters.
For example:

net* selects all pins in nets that start with “net” and so forth.

net*:1* selects pins with name that start with “1” in the nets that start with name “net”.

A*:3? Selects pins 31, 32, 33, 34 etc in nets A1, ACC, AGND, AGND2 and so forth.

For more information see Nets Window and Regular Expressions in Perl.

Nets

Layout > Nets opens the Layout Editor Nets submenu; the same submenu is also available via
the right-click context menu of the Layout Editor. Use the commands on the submenu to select
nets and view net violations.

List

Opens the Design List dialog with the Nets tab selected. The dialog lists the name of each net,
along with Color and Highlighting controls. Each net has an assigned color. The color is used when
the geometry is colored by net or when a net is highlighted. Each net has a check box to activate
Highlighting. A highlighted net is displayed opaque in Layout3D when transparency is active.

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Select Physically Connected

Selects all primitives, vias and pins physically connected to the currently selected items within the
currently active design instance (selections in Layout cannot cross multiple levels of hierarchy).
Vias and pins with plated holes are followed across layers. Connectivity through primitives in
subcircuits and footprints is also followed (unless the subcircuit is a blackbox, in which case it owns
its own independent stackup).

Selected Net Connected

Selects all items on the same nets as the currently selected items.

Toggle Net Highlight

Toggles the highlighting for all objects in the same nets as the currently selected items.

Select All Net Violations

Starting at the selected objects, the physically connected objects are checked for net violations. An
error is reported for all physically connected objects belonging to a different net and the item in
error is selected.

Select First Violation

Starting at the selected objects, the physically connected objects are checked for net violations. As
soon as a physically connected object belonging to a different net is detected, an error is reported
and the item in error is selected. At this point the check stops.

Show Selected Nets Only

This command results in making only selected nets visible.

Show All Nets

This command results in making all nets visible.

Line Styles

Line Styles opens the Line Styles dialog box. Use the radio buttons to select a line style:

l Click in the Width field for a line style to change the width for that style, including the units.
Press Enter to complete the change.
l Click in the Bend Type field to change the bend type (Corner or Round).
Press Enter to complete the change.
l Click in the Cap Type field to change the cap or line-ending type (Flat, Extended, or Round).
Press Enter to complete the change.

Since a line has nonzero width, its CapType determines how its ends behave:

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l Extended — Extends the line by its own width past the endpoint you click.
l Flat — Cuts the line perpendicularly at the endpoint you click.
l Round — Ends the line with a semicircle.

The existing technology files define line/trace styles, including a CapType (typically Flat) for each
style. If you select None as the technology type, you'll automatically get a palette of four styles with
a variety of widths, BendTypes and CapTypes.

l Click Add Style to add a new line style to the table.

l Click Delete Style to remove the selected style from the table.
l Click OK to save your changes, or Cancel to close the dialog without changing anything.

Related Topics

Legacy Line Style Attributes

Specifying Line Ending Types

Legacy Line Style Attributes

The attributes "Corner" and "Round" appear in the BendType menu. In addition, the legacy
attributes "Mitered (Legacy)" and "Curved (Legacy)" will also appear if present in the design.

APDPath

l The "Round" BendType is the same as the bend type used in APDPath.
l The legacy APDPath is replaced by a line with a "Round" CapType and “Round"
BendType.
l The APDPaths imported from Cadence APD/Allegro files via File > Import > Cadence
APD/Allegro/SiP, and the APDPaths stored in old adsn files, are regarded as lines with
"Round" CapType and "Round" BendType.
l To change a path Type to "Cadence APD/Allegro:APDPath", change the path Type to
"line". Then set the CapType and BendType to "Round".

Scripting

l Any scripting command that converts any kind of path to APDPath, will convert the target
path to a line with "Round" CapType and "Round" BendType.
l Any scripting command that converts Bend Type of a line to "Mitered" or "Curved", will
convert the BendType of target line to "Corner".
Specifying Line Ending Types

HFSS offers independent CapType settings for specifying the start and end of lines with new trace
rendering.

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l There are two separate properties for specifying the ends of a line: "StartCapType" and
"EndCapType".
l You can set EndCapType as "Same as Start", and the EndCapType is binded to
StartCapType.
l If you change StartCapType to Extended, the end cap type will change to Extended as
well.

Text Styles

Text Styles opens the Text Styles dialog box. The dialog specifies the fonts to use on the various
layers. The next four topics provide guidelines to use when assigning a font.

Related Topics

System and Plotter Layers

Stroke and TrueType Fonts

Scalable and Nonscalable Fonts

Font Requirements for System and Plotter Layers

System and Plotter Layers

To be plottable (capable of rendering on a photoplotter), a font must support mirroring, rotation,

and scaling. There are two categories of layers as they relate to the ability to plot a font:

l System Layers - Text does not have to be capable of being plotted. The stackup, service,
and user layers are system layers.
l Plotter Layers - Text must be capable of being plotted. All layers that are not system layers
are plotter layers.

Stroke and TrueType Fonts

There are two categories of fonts:

l Stroke - (Hershey) fonts can be mirrored and rotated. A stroke font can be scalable or
nonscalable. To indicate a Stroke font, select its Stroke Font check box in the Text Styles
dialog.
l TrueType - (Win) fonts cannot be mirrored, rotated, or scaled. To indicate a TrueType font,
leave its Stroke Font check box unchecked in the Text Styles dialog.

Scalable and Nonscalable Fonts

l TrueType fonts cannot be scaled (enlarged or shrunk in size). The height of a TrueType
font is always specified in points.

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l A Stroke Font can be scalable or nonscalable. To indicate that a stroke font is scalable,
specify its height in the current units (cm in the illustration above). The height of a
nonscalable stroke font is specified in points.

Font Requirements for System and Plotter Layers

l A text style for System Layers must be nonscalable (height specified in points). The font
can be either a TrueType or a Stroke font.
l A text style for Plotter Layers must be scalable (height specified in the current units).
Scalability is available only with Stroke fonts. Stroke fonts can also be mirrored and rotated
(features which are also required for a font to be plotted).

Cutout Subdesign

Cutout Subdesign can be used to filter nets and/or clip a design by a polygon. To process the
operation within the active design, choose "Use Current". To create a new design choose "Create
new" and, optionally, select whether the result should be created as a sub-design.

l If a polygon is selected before the operation is performed, it becomes the default extent
polygon.
l If the selection is to be entirely by net, then no geometry should be selected before
invoking the operation. If multiple polygons are selected, the union of these polygons
forms the extent.
l If no data is selected (i.e., there is no selection polygon and nothing has been selected in
the net table) then a new design is created with a stackup identical to the source design,
but no geometry is transferred. Note, however, that “filter geometry by net” must also be
selected.
l “Cutout Subdesign” will work on hierarchy and footprints, however, everything is
“flattened” into the sub-design that is created.

Select Layout > Cutout Subdesign to open the cut out dialog:

l Destination parent design: Select "Use Current" to process the cutout in the active
design. Or, from the pulldown list, select an existing top-level design or use "Create new
parent Circuit Design" or "Create new parent EM Design". Only top-level designs with a
stackup that matches the source design appear in the drop-down list. If a new design is
created, it takes its name from the original source design.
l Create the cutout as a sub-design within the parent: When selected, data is copied to
a new sub-design within the parent; otherwise, the extracted data is inserted into the top-
level design.
l Filter geometry by net: When selected, the net data is used to control the data selection
and clipping; otherwise, the data in the net table is completely ignored.
l Nets:

— Net: The name of the net.

     <no net fill>: Refers to polygon data without a net association.

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<no net trace>: Refers to trace geometry (wide-line or plugin) without a net
association.

— Include: When selected, the net is included in the data transferred.

— Clip at extents: When selected, the net is clipped against the extent polygon.

l Net name filter: Limits the data displayed in the net table. Use the filter to build up a
selection of nets. The filter has no affect on the final outcome of the operation. For example,
if "Y" is entered, only those nets beginning with the letter "Y" are displayed; if "C*0" is
entered, then all nets matching the wild-carded pattern are displayed. Nets that are not
visible retain their "include" and "clip" settings.
l Extent polygon: Name of the extent polygon.
l Reset: Resets the extent polygon back to the original polygon; if there was no original
polygon, then reset clears the auto-generated polygon.
l Create a sub-design for the included region: Only applicable if you are creating a sub-
design within the top-level design and after an extent polygon has been defined. This option
represents the typical use of the Cutout Subdesign tool. The sub-design inserted into the
top-level design consists of the data contained within the extent polygon (and filtered by the
net selection). All geometry within the nets that is designated as "clipped" will be truncated at
the boundary of the extent polygon.
l Create a sub-design for the excluded region: Same as the previous option, however,
the sub-design will contain the data outside of the extent polygon, filtered by the net selection
and clipped as necessary. It is possible to select both options; in which case two sub-designs
are created: one of data within the extent and the other of data outside of the extent.
l Auto Generate Extent: Displays a second dialog that permits one to create an extent
polygon derived either from the non-clipped nets selected or the current extent polygon. The
auto-generated polygon is displayed in the Layout (though it may be difficult to see). It is
possible to execute this option as many times as one wishes, adjusting the parameters as
needed.

— Data source: The auto-generated extent can use either the current polygon selection or
the non-clipped nets as the basis for generating a new extent polygon.

— Expansion Type:The derived region can be defined as a bounding box, a conformal

polygon, or a convex hull of the selected data source.

— Expansion: The auto-generated extent polygon is simply an expansion of the selected

data source; the expansion is either a factor (unitless fraction) of the overall source polygon
extent or an absolute offset (e.g. 1mm, 20um).

— Cornerstyle: The type of corner to insert in the expanded polygon. Where a "corner" (the
simple intersection of the offset edges) can result in rather poor results if there are acute or
near-acute angles in the source polygon.

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— Expansionincrements: At times, a single, large offset can generate a poorly formed

polygon (a preview of the resulting polygon can be observed in the Layout window). The
suitability of a polygon is entirely subjective. However, you can improve the general quality of
a polygon by breaking up the expansion into a series of steps (increments of 2, 3, 4, etc.).
Such increments represent the number of iterations used to reach the full expansion
distance. To improve the general quality of a polygon, the number of increments need not be
large; you can start with a small number and increase them as necessary. However, it is
important to understand that increasing the number of iterations will also increase the time to
compute the expansion. So obviously, a very large number of iterations would have a
significant impact on computation time.

Layout View Menu

When a layout editor design is active, clicking the View button on the top menu bar opens the view
pulldown menu for the Layout editor. There are multiple varieties of this menu depending on the
type of design being edited (Circuit, HFSS 3D Layout, etc). The following descriptions are a
superset of the commands that may appear on the View menu, though they may appear in
different order on the menu than the order in which they are presented here. For more information,
search the Online Help or use the Online Help Index to find information on any of the commands
that appear on the View menu for the Layout Editor.

Display — Control the display by selecting the check box of the following: Status Bar, Project
Manager, , Message Manager, Project Manager, Properties Window, Progress Window,
Component Manager, Layout Window.

Variables —View the project and design variables with their values in a grid view.

Display Mode — Choose from the following rendering options:

l Default: Honors transparency settings configured in stackup

l Sketch: Very similar to wireframe
l Solid: Honors the wireframe settings per layer

Rotate — Holding down the left-mouse-button and dragging will rotate the view; the same double-
click options hold true for the Alt-drag editor display options. For more information see Layout
Editor Display.

Zoom — Change the zoom display by selecting one of the following: Zoom In, Zoom Out, Zoom
Area, Zoom Previous.

Fit or Pan — Fit or Pan by selecting: Fit Drawing, Fit Selection, Pan.

ResetOrientation — Reset the rotation to a simple top-down view: positive Y up, positive X to the
right.

FasterTransformations — Disable the rendering of padstacks (vias and pins) during panning,
zooming, and screen rotations; this increases the responsiveness of these interactive operations.

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Stretch — Selecting Stretch Z opens a dialog that allows you to apply a scaling factor. Dragging
the slider applies a Z scaling factor to the current view. If Dynamic is selected, the scaling happens
in real time otherwise it is applied when OK is chosen.

Layout Draw Menu

When a layout editor design is active, clicking the Draw button on the top menu bar opens the draw
pulldown menu for the Layout editor. There are multiple varieties of this menu depending on the
type of design being edited (Circuit, HFSS 3D Layout, etc). The following descriptions are a
superset of the commands that may appear on the Draw menu, though they may appear in
different order on the menu than the order in which they are presented here. For more information,
search the Online Help or use the Online Help Index to find information on any of the commands
that appear on the Draw menu for the Layout Editor.

Primitive — Opens a submenu that allows you to create a primitive object in the Drawing Region
of the Layout Editor.

Void — Opens a submenu that allows you to create a void in the Drawing Region.

Merge Polygons — Opens a submenu that allows you to operates on two or more objects that
overlap.

Port — Opens a submenu that allows you to place a port in the Drawing Region.

Pin — Place a Pin in the Drawing Region.

Create/Manage Pin Groups — Opens a dialog that allows you to create pin groups for various
components.

Via — Place a Via in the Drawing Region.

3D Structure — Opens a submenu that allows you to create and perform operations on a 3D
structure in the Drawing Region.

Coordinate System — Opens a submenu that allows you to create and perform operations on a
coordinate system in the Drawing Region.

Component — Opens a submenu that allows you to create and remove a component.

Rotate — Rotate a selected object in the Drawing Region.

Flip Vertical — Vertically flip a selected object in the Drawing Region.

Flip Horizontal — Horizontally flip a selected object in the Drawing Region.

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Align — Align selected objects in the Drawing Region.

Position Relative — When a relative coordinate system (CS) and an object independent of that
coordinate system (CS) are selected, this command will position the CS relative to that object. The
0,0 origin of the relative CS is placed alongside the positioning object. There are three types of
objects you can select and position the CS relative to: an edge port, a pin, or an edge.

Clear Relative Position — When a relative CS and an object are selected, this command will
position the CS unrelative to that object.

Duplicate — Duplicate a selected object in the Drawing Region via the Duplicate submenu.

Expand — Expand a selected object in the Drawing Region.

Split Polygon Region — Split primitives at a polygon boundary; primitives are split and not
clipped.

Geometry Healing — Heal and repair selected objects in the Drawing Region.

Convert— Convert Traces to Planes or Convert Planes to Traces.

Stitch Lines — Stitch together connected/crossing lines into polygons and lines.

Connection — Connect selected objects to the Net.

Disconnect from Net — Disconnect selected objects from the Net.

Route — Opens a submenu that allows you to establish traces between different circuit elements
and set Automatic Trace Drawing Options.

Align MW Ports — Align selected MW ports in the Drawing region.

Cavity — Draw a cavity.

Plane Wave Excitation — Setup Plane Wave Excitation.

HFSS 3D Layout Properties — Opens a submenu that allows you to define HFSS 3D Layout
Properties.

Merge Polygons

Merge Polygons operates on two or more objects that overlap. Select the objects you want to
merge, then use the Layout > Merge Polygons submenu to select the operation:

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l Union joins the objects into one object. See Uniting Objects.
l Intersection creates a new object from the intersection of the objects. See Creating Objects
from Intersections.
l Subtract takes the object that was selected first as the positive object, then subtracts from it
any overlapping areas from the other selected objects. See Subtracting Objects.

Union and Intersection operations support using selected objects on multiple layers, and each
layer object is operated on separately. However, Subtraction is only allowed if the selected
objects are on the same layer. Selected objects may be negative objects.

l If only negative objects are selected, the merge operation is performed the same as with
positive objects, but the resulting objects remain negative objects.
l If both negative objects and positive objects are selected:

— Perform the union/intersection/subtraction operation on the positive objects

— Always union the negative objects

— Subtract the negative object result from the positive object result

Create and Manage Pin Groups

You can create pin groups for various components. The grouped pins will be treated as if they were
electrically connected during the analysis. You can connect circuit elements (ports, sources, RLCs)
to any generated pin groups.

To group pins:

1. Click Draw>Create/Manage Pin Groups. The Create/Manage Pin Groups dialog box
appears.
2. Select the Part Name from the pull-down list. Select Don’t know to display all the pin
groups in the design.
3. Select the Reference Designator(s).
4. Select the Net Selection or Net Visibility options:
l To select all the nets, click Net Selection and then click Select all nets. The pins
associated with the selected nets will be grayed.
l To show all the nets in the drawing area, click Net Visibility and then click Show All
Nets.
5. To show only the common pins when multiple reference designators are selected, click List
common nets only.
6. If a selected Part Name contains multiple Reference Designators, you can select any or all of
them and click Create pin groups for each part to have identical pin groups created on
each Reference Designator.
7. If multiple nets are selected, click Create pin groups for each net to generate multiple pin
groups; one for each of the nets that are selected.

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8. To specify the grid locations to create pin groups, select Create pin groups per grid cell
and enter the Row # and Col #. The Drawing Area is updated.
9. To create pin groups from a reference designator:
a. Select the nets you want to include in the pin group from the Nets List. All pins
associated with the net(s) are included. When nets are selected from the net list box, the
associated pins will be marked with black mesh boxes.
b. Specify if you want to use the naming conventions. Click the Naming Convention
button to open the Naming Convention dialog box. Select if you want to Use the
Naming Convention for the particular circuit element. Click OK to close this dialog box.

c. Click Create Pin Group.

10. To create a pin groups of pins from multiple reference designators:
a. Select the pins you want to include in the pin group from the Drawing Area.
b. Clear the Create pins groups for each part and Create pins groups for each net
to create a pin group.
c. Click Create Pin Group.
11. To create ports:
a. Select two pin groups you want to include from the Pin Group List.
b. Click Create Port.
12. Optionally, to delete a group, select it from the Pin Group List box, and then click Delete
Pin Group(s). When multiple pin groups are selected, they will be highlighted in different
colors.
13. Optionally, to edit a group, select it from the Pin Group List box, and then click Edit Pin
Group. The Pin Group Editor dialog box appears. You can select and Delete Pins. The
selected pins are highlighted with a black meshed box.
14. Click Close.

Component

A Layout Component may be created by selecting a group of pins and choosing Draw >
Component > Create.

l Name — the component definition's name

l Type — the type of component, either Resistor, Inductor, Capacitor, IO, IC, or Other. The
chosen type will determine model options.
l RefDes — the reference designator for this component instance
l PlacementLayer — the layer association for this component

A Layout Component may be removed by selecting the component and choosing Draw >
Component > Dissolve. This does not remove the component's geometry or pins, it simple
dissolves the grouping.

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HFSS 3D Layout Properties

After drawing objects in the layout editor, you can control the modeling of those objects by adding
additional properties. These properties are described in the following sections.

Related Topics

Meshing Properties

Precedence Prioritizing

Thin Film Properties

Selecting the Sweep Type

Generating the Surface Current

Setting up a Full-Wave SPICE Analysis

Guidelines for Calculating Frequencies for a Full-Wave SPICE Analysis

Meshing Properties

To assign meshing properties, select one or more objects in the layout editor and click Draw >
HFSS 3D Layout Properties > Add Modeling Properties. This assigns meshing-related
properties to the object(s) and adds the Modeling Props tab to the Property Window:

The following controls are available under the Modeling Props tab of the Property window:

l Modeled, when checked, specifies that the object is meshed when the circuit is modeled
l Union, when checked, specifies that selected objects are unioned when modeled if “Form
polygon unions” has been selected in the Planar Setup: Advanced Tab dialog or the HFSS
Setup: Advanced Tab dialog.
l Refined, when checked, causes the object to be refined. When unchecked, the object will
not be refined.
l RefineFactor is a positive integer value that specifies the level of refinement. It may also be
a variable value. The larger the value, the greater the refinement. A value of one specifies
the same refinement relative to other objects. One-half specifies half as much refinement
relative to other objects, and two specifies twice as much refinement, and so forth. If a zero
value is entered, the Refined box will automatically be unchecked. If a value less than zero
is entered, the value will automatically be changed to 1.
l NoEdgeMesh, when checked, specifies that no special rectangular-edge mesh is used
during modeling.
l Use Precedence, when checked, specifies that the mesher will examine the Precedence
Value when deciding object precedence.

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l Precedence Value may be any integer and is used when Use Precedence is checked.
Where polygons from different layers/materials overlap, the mesher decides precedence on
the basis of Precedence Prioritizing.
l SolveInside — The option enables the HFSS “solve inside” option for that particular mesh
body. All intersecting mesh bodies should have a common set of modeling properties. If a
touching polygon does not have “solve inside” set, the attribute will be ignored (and a
warning is issued).

Note Data with different meshing characteristics cannot overlap. Overlapping objects must
possess the same RefineFactor and NoEdgeMesh values. If the values differ, the
following warning message is displayed: “Data on Layer trace intersects data on the same
layer with different properties.”

A warning message is also displayed if self-intersecting components yield unexpected

results. Self-intersecting polygons and voids are allowed, but they may not mesh as
expected.

Select items one by one in the editor to modify their Modeling Properties in the Property
Window. To remove the Modeling Properties tab from the Property Window, click Draw >
Remove Modeling Properties.

Note Text should be placed in the symbol layer. Text placed in the signal layer, unless part of the
electrical design, must have Modeling Properties added with the “Modeled” option
unchecked — however, this is not the recommended method and may result in the
meshing error “Polygon Meshing Failed”. The preferred method is to locate text in the
nearest symbol layer.

Precedence Prioritizing

Where polygons from different layers/materials overlap, the mesher decides on the material in the
area of intersection based on the following rules:

1. For polygons with precedence numbers, the polygon with lower precedence takes priority
over those polygons with higher precedence.
2. If the mesher cannot resolve the priority using the precedence attribute, it considers
conductivities. The polygon with the higher conductivity takes priority over those polygons
with lower conductivity.
3. If conductivities are the same, the stackup index is used. Objects higher in the stackup table
(i.e. with a lower stackup index) take precedence over objects lower in the stackup table (i.e.
with a higher stackup index).

For example, in the following illustration the blue rectangle (a thin metal) has a lower precedence
value than the green rectangle (a thick metal), so its material (blue) takes priority where the two
come in contact.

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But in this next example, the blue rectangle has a higher precedence value than the green
rectangle, and so now the green material takes priority.

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Following is a 3D view of the first example above (where the blue rectangle has the higher
precedence value).

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Thin Film Properties

To define an object as a Thin Film Resistor, select one or more objects in the layout editor and click
Draw > HFSS 3D Layout Properties > Convert to Thin Film Resistor. This defines the object
(s) as a resistor and adds the Modeling Props tab to the Property Window:

The following meshing controls are available under the Modeling Props tab of the Property
window:

l SheetImpedance specifies the object impedance value

Select items one by one in the editor to modify their Modeling Properties in the Property
Window. To remove the Modeling Properties tab from the Property Window, click Draw >
HFSS 3D Layout Properties > Remove Thin Film Resistor Property.
Selecting the Sweep Type

1. Select the desired solution setup in the project tree.

2. On the HFSS 3D Layout menu, point to Solution Setup, and then click Add Frequency
Sweep.

The sweep dialog box appears.

3. Select one of the following sweep types:

Discrete Generates field solutions at specific frequency points in a frequency range.

Interpolating Estimates a solution for an entire frequency range using an adaptive
rational function interpolation method. Using an Interpolating Fast sweep
will result in faster analysis, however the current distribution values cannot
be saved.

Generating the Surface Current

In the sweep dialog box, select Generate Surface Current and the ANSYS Electronics Desktop
will save the surface current data at every discrete frequency point. This allows you to plot the
current and compute near- and far-field quantities at more than one frequency point. Otherwise,
the surface current data is saved at the adaptive frequency point of the last adaptive pass, if
specified.

Note If Generate Surface Current is not selected and an adaptive solution is not being
performed, surface current data is not saved.

Keep the following things in mind when generating the surface current:

l Gain, axial ratio, far fields, and near fields require the surface current. If you choose not to
save the surface current and do not perform an adaptive solution, commands associated
with these values will not be available.

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l The Generate Surface Current option is only available if you select Discrete as the type of
frequency sweep. For a Fast Interpolating frequency sweep, the surface current data is only
saved at the adaptive frequency. Note that if you are simulating over many frequency points,
it is recommended that you do not select Generate Surface Current, since the resulting
surface current file may become very large.
l For problems with plane waves (HFSS 3D Layout only), the Generate Surface Current
option is always selected.
Setting up a Full-Wave SPICE Analysis

To determine a suitable frequency range for a solution that will be used for a Full-Wave SPICE
analysis:

1. Click Setup Full-Wave Spice in the sweep setup dialog box.

The Setup for Full-Wave Spice dialog box appears.

2. Type a value in the Signal Rise Time text box.

This value represents the time scale that will characterize the rate of change of the input time
signal to be applied in the circuit simulator. By default, this value is set to 1.

3. Type a value in the Time Steps Per Rise Time text box.

By default, this value is set to 5.

The time sampling increment for the entire signal is calculated using

where

l Dt is the time sampling increment.

l t is the signal rise time.
l Nt is the number of time steps per signal rise time.
4. Enter a value in the Number of Time Points text box.

By default, this value is set to 500. Note that the input time signal duration is determined using N
´ Dt, where N is the number of time points.

5. Click Calculate.

The ANSYS Electronics Desktop determines the Maximum Frequency using

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where Fmax is the maximum frequency.

It determines the Frequency Step Size using

and determines the Number of Frequency Steps using N - 1.

6. Click Accept to transfer the new frequency sweep data to the frequency sweep fields in the
sweep setup dialog box.
l Optionally, click Cancel to return to the sweep setup dialog box and maintain previously
entered frequency sweep settings.

Guidelines for Calculating Frequencies for a Full-Wave SPICE Analysis

When you export S-parameter data from the ANSYS Electronics Desktop to PSpice, HSpice, or
Maxwell Spice software, you are able to perform a Full-Wave SPICE analysis. A Full-Wave SPICE
analysis includes full-wave effects in a circuit simulation. If you plan to perform a Full-Wave SPICE
analysis, use the Setup for Full-Wave Spice dialog box to help determine a suitable frequency
sweep range for the solution - one that will capture the spectral content of a desired impulse
response.

Note The frequency sweep ranges suggested in the Setup for Full-Wave Spice dialog box are
estimates. You may have a pulse with a wider frequency content and the ANSYS
Electronics Desktop recommended frequency sweep range may miss some of the high
frequencies.

The maximum frequency of the frequency sweep range should be at least five times the inverse of
the rise and fall times. If the specified frequency band is too wide, a frequency sweep may have
convergence problems. If this happens, try to decrease the maximum frequency until the solution
converges.

It is recommended, though not required, that the minimum frequency of the frequency sweep be
less than the maximum frequency divided by the number of frequency steps. It is usually
recommended to have at least 500 frequency steps. A higher number will slightly improve the Full-
Wave Spice solution accuracy, but will also increase CPU and memory requirements to solve the
problem. For most cases, using 1000 frequency steps provides a good trade-off between the
accuracy and computational requirements.

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Warning Occasionally, the ANSYS Electronics Desktop can fail to solve for the minimum
frequency during a Discrete frequency sweep due to a failure of the port solver to
converge. If this happens, try to increase the minimum frequency until the solution
process completes successfully. However, the minimum frequency should be as low as
possible because the low-frequency response determines the steady-state time
response.

Clip Planes

Clip planes can be used to truncate graphics in the Layout view, including mesh and fields plots.

To define a clip plane for the Layout View, click Draw > Clip Plane. This places a 3D coordinate-
system manipulator into the Layout View. When the clip plane is enabled, graphics are truncated at
the XY-plane in the +Z direction.

l To move the clip plane graphically, grab the manipulator’s origin and drag/snap to the
desired position.
l To rotate the clip plane, grab one of the manipulator’s origin handles and rotate to the
desired plane. The incremental angle of rotation can be set in the Toolbars or the pop-up
menu’s 3D Components > Rotation Step command.
l Position and rotation can also be set explicitly by editing the clip plane's properties directly.

More than one clip plane can be created and, when present, can be selected under the Clip Plane
tree item in the Components Tab, as seen below.

Converting Traces to Planes

To configure options for converting traces and planes, click the Draw pull down menu, or right-click
in the Layout Editor, and select from the Draw>Convert submenu.

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Convert Traces to Planes

To convert a trace into a plane:

1. Select the trace.

2. In the Draw pull-down menu or the Layout Editor right-click Draw submenu, click
Convert>Traces to Planes.

The trace is converted into a plane and you can edit its boundary points.

Related Topics

Sanitize Layout

Converting Planes to Traces

To configure options for converting traces and planes, click the Draw pull down menu, or right-click
in the Layout Editor, and select from the Draw>Convert submenu.

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Convert Planes to Traces

To convert a plane into a trace:

1. Select the plane.

2. Click Tools>Convert Planes to Traces>Options. The Plane to Trace Conversion
Options dialog box appears. Select the necessary options. Click OK.

If the round endcap of a trace overlaps a plane, but the center line of the trace does not intersect
the plane, select the Extend traces with partial endcap overlap option. This lengthens the
trace so that the center line touches the bound of the plane, and fixes misalignment issues.
However if there is other geometry in the small gap that gets filled, it can introduce DC shorts.

3. In the Draw pull-down menu or the Layout Editor right-click Draw submenu, click
Convert>Planes to Traces.

The selected planes will be converted into traces.

Related Topics

Sanitize Layout

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Layout Context Menu

When a layout editor design is active, clicking the right-mouse button opens the Context Menu for
the Layout editor. There are multiple varieties of this menu depending on the type of design being
edited (Circuit, HFSS 3D Layout, etc). The following descriptions are a superset of the commands
that may appear on the Context Menu menu, though they may appear in different order on the
menu than the order in which they are presented here. For more information, search the Online
Help or use the Online Help Index to find information on any of the commands that appear on the
Context Menu menu for the Layout Editor.

Select — Sets cursor mode to selection of objects.

Select Handles — Sets cursor mode to selection of object handles.

Select Edges — Sets cursor mode to selection of object edges.

Cycle Selection — Cycle selection of two or more objects that overlap. Each time you click Cycle
Selection, a different one of the overlapping objects is selected.

Unselect All — Unselect all objects in the layout.

Pop Up — Switches the active coordinate system (CS) to the next higher level. Relative CSs can
be created within other relative CSs to form multiple relative levels.

Push Down — Switches the active CS to the next lower level.

Port — Opens a submenu that contains commands for operating on Ports.

Nets — Opens the Layout Editor Nets submenu.

Padstack — Opens the Edit Padstack Definition dialog.

Footprint — Opens the Footprint Editor.

View — Opens the Layout Editor View submenu.

Draw — Opens the Layout Editor Draw submenu.

Edit — Opens the Layout Editor Edit submenu.

Activate — Causes the activation of one or more selected components.

Deactivate (Open) — Temporarily converts the component into an open circuit. Activate restores
a deactivated component to the circuit.

Deactivate (Short) — Temporarily converts the component into a short circuit. Activate restores a
deactivated component to the circuit.

Copy Image — Create a global copy of the selected objects on the clipboard for pasting into a
different application.

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Layout Dialogs
The following sections describe the dialogs available for viewing and editing configuration settings
in the Layout Editor.

Related Topics

Merge Layers Dialog

Place Design Dialog

Pin Connectivity Dialog

The Edit Layers Dialog

Solver Options Dialog

Merge Layers Dialog

When a component or object that has a footprint is placed in the layout or in a schematic, HFSS
must map the layers in the component object to the layers that have been defined for the design.

l In a mapping, each layer in the component is either merged with an existing layer in the
design or inserted as a new layer in the design.
l The mapping is controlled by the Merge Layers dialog. You can specify (with the “Always
Show Layer Merging dialog” Layout Editor option; see Layout Editor Options) that the
Merge Layers dialog is to be displayed every time a component is placed (the default), or
you can have the dialog display only when mapping of layers cannot be done automatically.
l Automatic mapping can be performed when the design has no layers defined; in this case,
all the layers in the component can simply be inserted as new layers to be added to the
design. Automatic mapping is also possible when there is only one choice available for
merging layers. For example, if you have selected the “Top” signal layers as the active layer
in the layout and then place a microstrip component (which has only one signal layer
associated with it), HFSS maps the object layer to the active layer. If the “Always Show
Layer Merging dialog” option has been turned off, the automatic mapping is performed and
no dialog appears.
l When automatic mapping is not possible or when automatic mapping has been disabled by
turning on the “Always Show Layer Merging dialog” option, the Merge Layers dialog
appears after a component has been selected but before it can be placed in the layout or
schematic.
l The dialog shows the object layers on the left and the design layout layers on the right. In the
example above, the object has just one layer (Top) while the layout has three layers (Trace,
Dielectric, and Ground).

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l When an object layer is adjacent to a layout layer (the Top and Trace layers in the example
above), the M button is displayed, and the layers will be merged.
l When an object layer is adjacent to a blank cell on the layout, the I button is displayed, and
the object layer will be inserted.
l Clicking on an M or I button toggles the layer between the Merge state and the Insert state.
An error occurs if you try to change an Insert layer to a Merge layer when no layers are free
for merging.
l Click and drag an object layer to a different vertical position. Changing position retains the
Merge or Insert state. If an Insert layer is dragged, the layout layers rearrange to leave an
empty cell adjacent to the Insert layer. If a Merge layer is dragged, it snaps adjacent to the
nearest free layout layer.
l Check the Flip Source Layers box to invert the order of the object layers (the order of the
layout layers in not changed). This operation can be used, for example, to match the layers
of a soldered-on object (signal, solder, assembly) from the top to the bottom of a two-sided
board.
l When the layer mapping is set up as desired, click the Merge Layers button to execute the
mapping. The component is now attached to the cursor for placement in the layout or
schematic.
l Clicking the Cancel button cancels the placement of the component.

Place Design Dialog

The Place Design Dialog is used for placement of subdesigns.

With a subdesign selected, and optionally a specific component, click Layout > Place Design.
You can also use the right-click context-menu entry "Place Design".

You can use the Place Design dialog to capture/merge the relative positioning of one design to
another. One or two pairs of pins are selected in the dialog to place the subdesign.

Both ECAD and MCAD subdesigns can be placed with this dialog.

Filters

The subdesign "From" and component "To" panes contain combo boxes that allow you to filter
components. All combo-box filters can be left blank in order to see all components. The following
controls are available.

l Type — Filter by component type (Any, IC, IO, Resistor, Capacitor)

l Placement — Filter by placement layer (Any, TOP, GND, R1+VCCFILL, R2+GNDFILL,
VCC, BOTTOM)
l Filter — Textfield where the user can filter components by name. Components with the
specified Name, Type, and Placement Layer are displayed in the Listbox below the filter
Textfield.

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HFSS 3D dynamic link subdesigns don't have components, so a Port Plane dropdown is showed
instead of these component filter controls. A listbox is displayed showing the port instances in the
selected port plane. The Port Plane dropdown can be used to filter port instances to a specific z
plane (or "Any" can be selected to show all port instances). Port instances may be selected in the
listbox or graphically selected in the previewer.

Preview

A preview of the subdesign placement is displayed. As pin pairs are selected, the preview is
updated to show the new placement.

Mouse operations are supported similar to the main layout window:

l Shift-drag to move
l Ctrl-Shift drag to zoom in/out
l Ctrl-drag to rotate
l Ctrl-click to rotate to predefined angles

A right-click context menu on the previewer provides additional controls.

The “From” subdesign can be dragged. When selected in plane, it can also be rotated with the
handle that appears. Manual dragging/rotating is only used to assist pin pair selection in the
previewer and doesn’t actually impact placement once the dialog is closed.

The Reset button reverts to the initial preview orientation/placement

Map By Name

Upon opening the Map by Name dialog with the corresponding button, the design is automatically
placed by any matching pin pair names (using the full name, net name, and/or suffixes). You may
also manually select pin names from the list boxes. The preview in the main dialog updates as pins
are selected in the Map by Name dialog.

Related Topics

Drawing a Connection in the Layout Editor

Layout Editor Options: Snapping Panel

Pin Connectivity Dialog

The Pin Connectivity dialog is used to connect (or disconnect) components, ECAD and MCAD
subdesigns, and symbolic footprints. The Pin Connectivity dialog is often useful after placing a
subdesign with the Place Design Dialog.

Connectables (port instances, pins, and pin groups) are connected between the two selected
objects; the first selected object is displayed on the left and the second on the right. When a
connection is formed, the left side of the connection's net is updated to the net of the right side of

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the connection. The net connections are shown as lines drawn on the Rats layer. Connections can
be automatically formed by proximity and/or by name. The Place Design dialog can be used to
place a subdesign so that many connections can automatically be formed by proximity.

Basic Usage

1. Open the Pin Connectivity dialog using one of the following methods:
l Make two selections (e.g. a subdesign and a component), then select Connect Pins from
the Layout menu or the right-click context menu
l Select a subdesign that has already been placed onto a component. The Connect Pins
dialog will automatically open if a component is sufficiently close.
2. Manually connect using the --> and <-- arrow buttons:
l After making a left and right selection, click --> to connect them.
l Select a grid row and click <-- to disconnect.
l Multiple rows can be selected in the grid to connect/disconnect multiple at once.

Controls

Previewers — Multiple preview panes graphically show the selections being connected:
l The left previewer is for the first selection and the right previewer is for the second selection.

l Clicking a port instance, pin, or pin group highlights the corresponding item in the list box or
grid (and vice versa).

l Mouse operations are supported in a manner similar to the main layout window:
l Shift-drag to move
l Ctrl-Shift-drag to zoom in/out
l Ctrl-drag to rotate dynamically linked HFSS 3D subdesigns
l Ctrl-click to rotate to predefined angles for dynamically linked HFSS 3D subdesigns
l Ctrl-click to select multiple pins in the component
l Right-click context menu to Zoom In, Zoom Out, or Fit All
l In general, visibility/display settings from layout transfer to the previewer, except:
l HFSS 3D subdesign symbols layer is always displayed.
l 2.5D subdesigns and components are always drawn in solid mode.
List at Left — Shows the left-preview connectables:
l Connectables that are used in one or more connections are displayed in gray.
Connection grid at right — Shows the left-right connections:
l Any connectables in the <Power/Ground> net classification are displayed in red.
Connect by Proximity button — automatically connects overlapping connectables:

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l Connectables overlapping tolerance depends on the zoom level and the snapping pixel
setting. They must also be close in z/layer positions.
l If only a subset of the connections is desired, it may be useful to first use the Connect by
Proximity button, then multi-select those rows not desired to be connected and click the
<-- button to disconnect them.
Connect by Name button — forms connections between left and right connectables that have
a matching name or suffix.

Configuration, shortcuts, and additional notes

l Automatic Pop Up
l If automatic pop-ups are enabled:
o When dragging a subdesign onto a component, the Pin Connectivity dialog will
automatically pop-up (if a component is sufficiently close)
o After placing a subdesign with the Place Design dialog, the Pin Connectivity dialog will
automatically pop up.
o Whether or not a component is considered "sufficiently close" depends on whether
pins/ports overlap.
l By default, the Pin Connectivity dialog will never pop up.
l For new designs, the setting is specified via Tools > Options > General Options >
Layout Editor > Other > Show Pinconnectivity dialog on drag to matching
component.
l For the current design, the setting is specified in Layout > Setting > Layout Editor >
Other > Show Pin connectivity dialog on drag to matching component.
l If the Pin Connectivity dialog automatically pops up, the "Connect by Proximity" feature is
automatically triggered.
l Double-clicking a port instance row connects it to the selected connection grid pin.
l Double-clicking a connection grid row highlights any connected port instance.
l [Net]: the net shows in brackets.
l To disconnect all:
o In the Pin Connectivity dialog, select all the rows in the grid (select the first row then hold
the shift key while selecting the bottom row). With all grid rows selected, click the <--
button.
o In layout (outside of the Pin Connectivity dialog), select a subdesign then click Draw >
Disconnect from Net.

Solver Options Dialog

Solver options can be set using the Solver Options dialog accessed via the Edit Layers dialog.
With a signal layer row selected in the Edit Layers dialog, select one of the available Solver check

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boxes, then click the Solver button to open the Solver Options dialog,

The Solver Options dialog contains two tabs: Planar EM and HFSS with the following controls
available.

l Treat as infinite ground — For Planar EM analysis (signal layers only), will cause the
selected signal layer to be modeled as an infinite ground in the Planar EM field solver.
l Via layer — For Planar EM analysis (signal layers only), will treat any objects on the layer
as vias: objects that are meshed differently than other objects in the design for improved
simulation efficiency. You can control how objects on via layers are meshed by using the
Advanced tab of the EM Simulation Setup dialog. For example, after importing a GDSII
or DXF file that contains a layer with many small circles that define a large number of vias,
you may wish to define a via layer so that the vias are meshed in an efficient manner. To
do this, first set the following properties on the Edit Layers dialog for the layer: layer
thickness, material properties, and the "via layer". Next, go to the Advanced simulation
options on the EM Simulation Setup dialog for the design, and select whether to mesh
these objects as wirebonds, simplified 3D objects, or as thinned via fields.
l Solve inside — Enables all the objects in the layer to have "solver inside" attribute for
HFSS solver. It is possible to perform solve-inside on an object-by-object basis. For more
information, see HFSS 3D Layout Properties.
l DC Thickness — Controls how DC thickness will be calculated for the conductor lumps
on the layer.

                            — Effective: Calculate as 2 x Volume/SurfaceArea

                            — Layer: Use layer thickness

                            — Manual: Use user specified value

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The Edit Layers Dialog

Use one of the following to open the Edit Layers dialog:

l Layout > Layers

l Right-click > Edit Layers (on the Layout window Layers tree)
l Click the Edit Layers icon on the Layout tool bar or Footprint tool bar

Non-Laminate Mode

The dialog opens in a mode that reflects the current stackup: laminate, non-laminate, stackup
layers visible, etc.

Display Pane

The user can choose which types of layers to view with the Display radio buttons: Stackup layers,
Non-stackup layers, or All layers.

Stackup Pane

The Stackup pane controls affect all layers. The Laminate mode check box is used to specify how
the stackup is constrained. It is not always possible to change a stackup from non-laminate to
laminate mode; the check box is disabled if the switch is not possible. With laminate mode off, the
dielectrics stack one on top of the other, and signal layers are positioned using lower elevation and

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thickness. With laminate mode on, all stackup layers stack one on top of the other — both dielectric
and signal layers. The Units control is used to change the display of thickness and elevations to the
new units.

Grid Control Pane

The grid control displays the layers indicated by the Display radio buttons. The active layer is
highlighted in green. Any layers that are locked are highlighted in gray. A variety of columns allow
the user to see and/or edit information about the layer. What can be seen/edited varies with the
type of layer and the stackup mode (laminate or non-laminate). Some columns default to not being
shown. The user has control over columns shown via the right click menu in the grid control. The
right-click menu in the grid control allows actions based on the selected layers. A layer may be
activated with the right click menu item SetActive.

Visibility can be set by object type on a layer. Material choices are given in a drop down list as well
as giving the user access to the Materials tab of the SelectDefinition dialog. Materials may be
parameterized with project variable text array references.

Laminate Mode

A stackup in laminate mode shows each layer stacked on top of the one below.

The lower and upper elevation columns are not visible by default but can be turned on by the user.

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The thickness of layers may be edited but not the lower elevation. Layers may be reordered by
dragging a layer to a new position in the grid control.

The Dielectric Fill column specifies the material to use to fill in around geometry on the layer. The
dielectric material can be chosen in the same way that layer material is chosen. Laminate mode
stackups have dielectric fill specified for signal layers.

Dialog Showing Selected Layers

The panes beneath the grid control pane — Layer and EditSelected — operate upon the layers
selected in the grid control. Multiple layers may be selected.

Layer Pane

The Layer pane controls allow the user to insert a layer, remove layers, and to select layers based
on layer type.

Edit Selected Pane

The Edit Selected pane controls operate on all of the selected layers at once. Controls are
enabled/disabled according to which layers are selected. Most controls have a corresponding grid-
control cell. Controls are visible even if the corresponding column is hidden. The locked check box
and right-click menu can be used to set the layer locked state. Analysis pane controls allow the user
access to set the etch factor, roughness, and solver options, including Solve Inside Solver.

Dialog Showing All Layers

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A pink row separates the stackup layers from the non stackup layers. Many of the columns do not
apply to non stackup layers and are empty.

Column Controls

l Row Color/Type Icon: This matches what is shown for the layer in the Layout window.
Clicking in this cell is one way to select the row.
l Wireframe: Check box to set drawing on the layer as wireframe outlines or solid.
l Visibility settings: Visibility setting allows for the setting of visibility by object type on a
layer.

All Visibility - sets all objects on the layer as visible or not.

Shape visibility - sets visibility for shapes on the layer

Line visibility - sets visibility for lines on the layer

Pad visibility - sets visibility for padstack pads on the layer

Hole visibility - sets visibility for padstack holes on the layer

Component visibility - sets visibility for components and black boxes placed on the
layer

l Name: Editable name of the layer

l Type: Editable type of the layer. Choices are given in a drop down list that varies for
stackup and non stackup layers. Stackup layers have two choices, dielectric or signal.
Ground is no longer a layer type choice. To create what was previously described as a
ground or metalized signal layer, set the type to signal and the Negative state on.

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l Negative: The type of geometry being drawn on the layer. Geometry on a negative layer
cuts away from the layer. Geometry on a positive layer adds to it. This setting is used in
conjunction with signal type to create a layer used as a ground layer. This column is only
visible if the stackup contains a layer set to negative or if the user sets the column visibility
to on with the column header right click menu.
l Material: Editable choice of material for the layer. The drop down menu contains names
of materials already in the project that are allowed for the given type of layer. The first
choice in the menu is Edit.This allows the user to open the Materials tab of the Select
Definition dialog. The user may also type in a project variable that is a text array reference.
This allows parameterization of the material. For example: There is a project array
variable $mat that is defined to have the strings "copper" and "Cu_Pkg" and there is a
project array $i that is defined to be 1. The user may set the material for a layer to be $mat
[$i]. The material used will be copper.
l Thickness: Editable thickness of the layer
l Etch: Signal layers can be set to use etching.
l Rough: Signal layers can be set to use roughness.
l Solver: Enables the use of solver options that have been specified. Solver options can be
enabled for both signal and dielectric layers. The Solver Options Dialog is opened when
the Solver button in the Analysis group box is clicked; the button is enabled when the
selected layer(s) have the Solver check box clicked.
l Lower elevation: With laminate mode off, the lower elevation of signal layers may be
edited. The lower elevation of dielectrics is displayed, but not editable.
l Upper elevation: Display of the upper elevation of the layer, not editable.
l Transparency: Transparency values lie between 0 (completely opaque) and 100
(completely transparent). Values may be entered directly into the column or using the
Attributes slider bar. The slider bar may be used to adjust the transparency for multiple
layers. Select multiple rows either directly or through the selection pull-down.

Columns not visible by default:

l Dielectric Fill: not used in non-laminate mode.

l Pattern: Allows choice of fill pattern used on the layer.
l Top Bottom Association: Allows the user to set top bottom association for the layer.

Dialog Menus

The Edit Layers dialog has two menus: Stackup and Layer.

l The Stackup menu allows the user to import a stackup from an XML file and to export the
stackup in the dialog to an XML file.
l The Layer menu gives users another way to insert and remove layers - based on layers
selected in the grid control.

Etch Factor Controls

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The Etch Factor is specified using the Edit Layers dialog. If the Etch column check box for a layer
is checked, then the etch factor for that layer will be used when the mesh is created. The Etch
button opens the following dialog that can be used to calculate an etch factor based on layer
thickness.

The purpose of the Etch Factor calculator is to give you a way to calculate an etch factor based on
the layer thickness.

l When the calculator opens, it is populated with top and bottom dimensions that
correspond to the default etch factor, however, the dimension values are representational
and do not correspond to a particular geometry in the layout.
l The etch factor value may be entered as a number or may be parameterized as a project
variable — if the input to that control is a number, the calculator controls are available,
otherwise the calculator controls are disabled. The top and bottom dimensions can be
changed directly using their edit controls or they can be modified using the slider. The
slider sets the value of one dimension to a percentage of the other. As the top and bottom
dimensions are changed, both the etch factor and the layer drawing are modified to reflect
the change.

When the dialog closes, the etch factor is applied to the selected layer.

Surface Roughness Controls

Surface roughness is specified in the Edit Layers dialog. By default, layers do not have roughness
— but if the Rough column check box for a layer is checked, the surface roughness for that layer

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will be used when the mesh is created. The Roughness button opens the following dialog that can
be used to select a surface roughness model.

Use the Surface Roughness Model controls to choose between Groisse Surface roughness
and Huray. When Huray is selected, you may set the Nodule radius and Hall-Huray surface
ratio.

For more information see Setting the layer Surface Roughness.

Related Topics

Configuring a Stackup

Working with Layers

Color and Visibility and Patterns

Setting Elevations

Layout Technology

Configuring a Stackup

After adding a design to a project, the next step is to create the design’s dielectric and signal layers
using the Layout Editor. Layers are defined and modified in the Edit Layers dialog; you can use the
dialog to import a stackup defined in an XML file. The XML file that defines the stackup is typically
created using a third party text editor such as Microsoft Notepad or VI on Linux. For more
information see Importing a Stackup.

Embedded Dielectric Layers

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A signal layer can be assigned a dielectric material. And since signal layers are permitted to overlap
other layers, you can create a stackup with dielectric materials embedded within other layers.

Planar EM Analysis

Planar EM ignores all geometry on both dielectric layers and on signal layers with dielectric
materials. A warning is issued during validation. Note: “Layer <layer name>” with a dielectric
material will be ignored by the Planar EM solver.

HFSS Analysis

Meshes correct modeling, and the dielectric materials are sent to the HFSS solver.

To configure a stackup:

1. Click anywhere on the Layout view window to activate it.

2. On the Layout menu, click Layers.

The Edit Layers dialog appears.

3. Use the dialog to modify the stackup. Functionality available includes:

l Import a new stackup from an xml control file.
l Add a layer.
l Remove a layer.
l Specify whether or not a layer in the project is editable or visible. Select the color, pattern,
and position of each layer in the project. Click on column headings to configure which
columns to display.
l Specify the name, material attributes, thickness, elevation, and roughness of each layer in
the project. Click on column headings to configure which columns to display.

Note Click Apply in the Edit Layers dialog to apply the changes you make; click Close to close
the dialog

Working with Layers

The following sections describe the tools and operations available for working with layers in the
Edit Layers Dialog.

Related Topics

The Layers Window

Adding and Removing Layers

Drawing on a Layer

Activating Layers

Setting Layer Thickness

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Setting Layer Associations

Setting the Etch Factor

Assigning Materials to Layers

Guidelines for Overlapping Layers

Setting the Layer Surface Roughness

Working with Dielectric and Negative Signal Layers

Default Layers
Working with the Layers Window

The Layers Window is a dockable window that can be resized and relocated, and can be used to
view and configure various layer settings. The displayed nets may be filtered using Perl Regular
Expression syntax.

To show or hide the Layers window on the desktop, do one of the following:

l Click View> Layers

A check box appears next to this command if the Layers window is visible.

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l Right-click in the toolbars area at the top of the desktop, and then click Layers on the
shortcut menu.

A check box appears next to this command if the Layers window is visible.

Use the check boxes to control the display. Check boxes at the top of each column control the
entire column. Hover over the check boxes at the top of each column to display a tool tip that
indicates its function:

l Fill/Unfill All
l Shapes
l Lines
l Pads
l Holes
l Components

When a pre-process mesh is displayed, the mesh layer visibility can be separately controlled from
the non-mesh visibility.

l An additional “Mesh” column will appear.

l If stackup is laminate, then “Background Dielectric Mesh” column will also appear.

An additional pre-process mesh section will appear below the non-stackup layer section control
design-wide (not restricted to layer) visibility.

l Airbox non-mesh and mesh visibility

l Hole, solderball, and bondwire mesh visibility

o These mesh visibilities are controlled design-wide here. (These mesh visibilities are
not controlled by the layer visibility controls.)
o The non-mesh visibilities are controlled by the corresponding layer visibilities (so there
is no non-mesh check box for these here).

You can use the Layers Window to alter the following controls for setting visibility by layout-object
type.

l Control the visibility of shapes, lines (paths), pads, holes, and components
l Change the status of layers and the visibility of nets

The “Show Dielectrics” check box controls whether dielectric stackup layers are shown. If
unchecked, dielectric layers are hidden and holes (vias/pins) are rendered continuously visible
from the top most visible signal layer to the bottom most visible layer. If checked, dielectric layers
are shown and hole visibility is more finely controlled by each layer (not necessarily continuously
visible).

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The View Name drop-down list shows the defined views that are available. Select a layout view in
the drop-down list to set how layers and nets are displayed. The following controls are available:

l <Surface> is the default layout view and shows the top and bottom conducting layers of
the layer stackup and hides all other layers.
l Save Current opens a dialog that allows you to save the current setting of layers and
nets to a new layout view.
l Delete opens a dialog that allows you to select which saved layout views to delete.

Related Topics

Setting Layer Visibility

The Edit Layers Dialog

Adding and Removing Layers

The Edit Layers dialog has two menus: Stackup and Layer.

The Layer menu gives users another way, besides the right-click menu, to insert and remove
layers — based on layers selected in the grid control.

Adding a Layer — Insert above and Insert below —

1. In the Grid Control pane, open the right-click menu to select an Insert command.

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2. Selecting Insert above or Insert below opens a pop-up dialog used to specify the name
and type of the layer to be added.
3. In the pop-up dialog type a name for the new layer in the Name text box.
4. In the pop-up dialog, select one of the layer types from the Type pull-down list.

signal A signal layer for drawing traces.

dielectric Acts as a substrate upon which signal layers border. Infinite in the xy plane.
assembly A non-physical layer for assembly geometry and text. Only one assembly
type layer can be defined.
silkscreen A non-physical layer for silkscreen geometry and text. Only one silkscreen
type layer can be defined.
soldermask A non-physical layer for soldermask geometry. Only one soldermask type
layer can be defined.
solderpaste A non-physical layer for solderpaste geometry. Only one solderpaste type
layer can be defined.
glue A non-physical layer for glue geometry. Only one glue type layer can be
defined.
user A non-physical layer for user-defined geometry and text. Any number of user
type layers can be defined.

5. Click OK. The layer is added above or below the selected layer — depending on the right
menu choice picked.

Adding a Layer — Insert signal above/below and Insert dielectric above/below —

1. In the Grid Control pane, open the right-click menu to select an Insert command.

2. Select one of the following:

— Insert signal above
— Insert signal below
— Insert dielectric above
— Insert dielectric below
3. In the Edit Selected pane, type a name for the new layer in the Name text box.

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Removing a Layer

1. In the Edit Layers dialog, select the layer(s) you want to remove from the stackup.
2. Click Remove from the right-click menu.

The layer(s) you selected is removed from the stackup.

Drawing on a Layer

You may draw on one layer at a time in the Layout window.

To select a layer to draw upon:

l Select the layer you want to draw upon from the Active Layer pull-down list on the Layout
toolbar.

Alternatively, do the following:

1. In the Edit Layers dialog, in the column with the pencil icon, select the layer on which you
want to draw.
2. Click OK.

You return to the Layout window. Any objects you draw will be on the layer you selected.
Activating Layers

Only activated layers may be drawn upon. The action of activating a layer is done either in the Edit
Layers dialog or through the layout toolbar combo box control or using the Layout Window.

1. To activate a layer using the Edit Layers dialog, use the right click menu item SetActive.

Setting Layer Thickness

A layer’s thickness is measured from the point of elevation. For example, if the elevation of a signal
layer is 2 microns and the thickness is 4 microns, the layer begins at 2 microns and extends
upwards for 4 microns to a height of 6. In the Edit Layers dialog, the Thickness column indicates
the thickness of each layer.

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To set a layer’s thickness:

1. In the Edit Layers dialog, in the Thickness column, double-click a layer’s Thickness text
box.
2. Type a new value and its units in the text box. The default units are millimeters.

The value can be specified using a number (e.g., 0.5um), a variable (e.g., $H), or an expression
(e.g., $H-0.5um+$W). A message box appears for you to confirm the replacement.

3. Press Enter.

The layer is assigned the thickness you entered.

Warning Assigning thickness to signal layers significantly increases the solution time. The
number of unknowns that HFSS software must compute doubles when you increase
the thickness from zero (infinitely thin) to a finite number. Therefore, if possible, model
signal layers as infinitely thin objects.

Setting Layer Associations

Specify layer associations if you want to match a Planar EM design to a similar, but not identical
Planar EM design. The outcome of the matched layers depends upon which layer of a structure
(top or bottom) you add the design.

1. In the Edit Layers dialog, the Top Bottom Association is not visible by default; use the
right-click menu in the grid control to make the column visible. Alternately, you may use the
Topbottom control in the Editselected pane.
2. The Top Bottom Association column indicates layer associations. Select one of the
following associations from the pull-down list:

Top The layer is associated with the top surface.

For example, if a subcircuit is added to the top layer of a stackup, the subcircuit’s
top-associated layers are mapped to the stackup’s top-associated layers. The
subcircuit’s neither-associated layers are subsequently mapped to layers of the
same type (e.g., signal to signal,) beginning at the top and moving downward.

If a subcircuit is added to the bottom layer of a stackup, this mapping is reversed;

top-associated layers are mapped to bottom-associated layers and neither-
associated layers are mapped to like layers, beginning at the bottom and moving
upward.
Bottom The layer is associated with the bottom surface.

For example, if a subcircuit is added to the top layer of a stackup, the subcircuit’s
bottom-associated layers are mapped to the stackup’s bottom-associated
layers. The subcircuit’s neither-associated layers are subsequently mapped to
layers of the same type (e.g., signal to signal,) beginning at the top and moving

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downward.

If a subcircuit is added to the bottom layer of a stackup, this mapping is reversed;

bottom-associated layers are mapped to top-associated layers. The subcircuit’s
neither-associated layers are subsequently mapped to layers of the same type,
beginning at the bottom and moving upward.
Neither The layer is not associated with a top or bottom surface. Neither-associated
layers are mapped to layers of the same type.

For example, if a subcircuit is added to the top layer of a stackup, the subcircuit’s
neither-associated layers are mapped to layers of the same type (e.g., signal to
signal,) beginning at the top and moving downward. If a subcircuit is added to the
bottom layer of a stackup, this mapping is reversed; neither-associated layers
are mapped to like layers, beginning at the bottom and moving upward.

Setting the Etch Factor

HFSS geometry allows for the presence of an etch factor in the design and modeling of different
substrate layers. The specific etch factor that applies to a particular layer is usually available from
the manufacturer. But in general, the etch factor is calculated by taking the ratio of etch depth to
undercut.

The Analysis section of the Edit selected panel of the Edit Layers dialog allows the user access
to set the etch factor, roughness, and solver options. For more information see HFSS Etch Factor.
Assigning Materials to Layers

In the Edit Layers dialog material choices are given in a drop down list as well as giving the user
access to the Materials tab of the SelectDefinition dialog. Materials may be parameterized with
project variable text array references.

To assign a material to a layer, follow this general procedure:

1. In the Edit Layers dialog, click on the row(s) to select the layer(s) you wish to modify.
2. In the Material field of the Edit selected pane, select a material or select Edit from the pull-
down menu in order to open the SelectDefinition dialog.
3. If you chose Edit, select the material you wish to assign and then click OK to close the
SelectDefinition dialog.
4. Click Apply.

The material you chose is assigned to the selected layer.

Related Topics

Working with Materials

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Guidelines for Overlapping Layers

Overlapping dielectric layers are not permitted.

Note Overlapping of dielectric layers is allowed in non-laminate mode. For more information, see
the Edit Layers dialog.

Setting the Layer Surface Roughness

The surface roughness model is used to compute conduction losses for surfaces. Surface
roughness increases conduction losses, such as the interface between the conductor and the
substrate for a microstrip line.

1. The Surface Roughness Model dialog is accessed through the Edit Layers dialog. To
access the Surface Roughness dialog, check the Rough box for a selected layer in the Edit
Layers dialog, then click the Roughness button. The Surface Roughness Model dialog
opens.

The surface roughness of top and bottom layers is set independently. There is a separate
tab in the dialog for each.

2. First, select either the Top or Bottom tab. Next, select either Groisse or Huray: 
— For the Groisse model, specify a Surface roughness parameter as a value/variable,
then specify the corresponding units. The Groisse model is a traditional-case model. Legacy
projects use the Groisse model by default.
— For the Huray model, also specify the Nodule radius value, which is the radius of copper
spheres used to model the surface roughness. Next, specify the Hall-Huray surface ratio,
which is a unitless quantity. The Huray model is causal.

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3. The surface roughness of top and bottom layers is set independently. To copy the settings
from Top to Bottom or vice versa, set the desired model for one of the surfaces, then click the
tab for the other surface and click the Copy Top/Bottom button.

Related Topics

Finite Conductivity Boundaries

Working with Dielectric and Negative Signal Layers

If you have multiple dielectric layers in your model, they must touch other dielectric layers or
negative signal layers. This prevents “pockets” of air from developing. If you have a signal layer
between two dielectric layers, the dielectric layers must touch. The signal layer may overlap the two
dielectric layers; however, a signal layer may not touch a negative signal layer. You may create an
air gap by defining a dielectric layer as air.

Note HFSS allows you to draw on all three primitive layer types: dielectric, signal, and negative
signal. Objects on dielectric layers are ignored in Planar EM modeling, but they are
displayed in Layout3D and they are exported.

Default Layers

The following default layers are provided by HFSS:

Measures Contains all measurements made using the ruler.

Rats Contains logical connections between different components/circuit elements.
Errors Contains error messages generated during project setup.
Symbols Contains the circuit element symbols.

Color, Visibility and Patterns

The following sections describe the tools and operations available for configuring color, visibility,
and patterns in the Edit Layers Dialog.

Related Topics

Setting a Layer Color

Setting Layer Visibility

Setting a Layer Pattern

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Setting a Layer Color

When you specify the color of a layer in the stackup, the color is assigned to every object drawn on
the layer.

To set the color of objects on a layer:

1. In the Edit Layers dialog, select the layer.

2. Use the color button in the Attributes pane to specify the color you wish to assign to the
selected layer.
3. Click OK.

The color you selected is assigned to every object drawn on the layer.
Setting Layer Visibility

A layer must be visible to be drawn upon. But in each layer, you can set visibility by individual object
types. To control the visibility, do one of the following.

l In the Edit Layers dialog, use the icons available to select the layers you would like to be
visible.
l Use the right-click menu of the Layout Window:

                            — Set Active: Makes the current layer the active layer

                            — Show This Layer Only: Makes the current layer the only visible layer

                            — Show All Dielectrics: Makes all Dielectric layers visible

                            — Hide All Dielectrics: Makes all Dielectric layers invisible

                            — Show All Signals: Makes all Signal layers visible

                            — Hide All Signals: Makes all Signal layers invisible

l Use the Layout Window to alter the following controls for setting visibility by layout-object
type.

The following controls are available:

Controls the visibility of shapes

Controls the visibility of lines (paths)

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Controls the visibility of pads

Controls the visibility of holes

Controls the visibility of components

Related Topics

Working with the Layers Window

The Edit Layers Dialog

Setting a Layer Pattern

When you specify the pattern of a layer in the stackup, the pattern is assigned to every object
drawn on the layer.

To set the pattern of objects on a layer:

1. In the Edit Layers dialog, the Pattern column is not visible by default; use the right click menu
in the grid control to make the column visible.
2. In the Pattern column, double-click the pattern of the layer you want to change.
3. Select a pattern from the Select Pattern window.
4. Click OK.

The pattern you selected is assigned to every object drawn on the layer.

Setting Elevations

The following sections describe the tools and operations available for configuring color, visibility,
and patterns in the Edit Layers Dialog.

Related Topics

Guidelines for Stackup Elevations

Setting the Layer Lower Elevation

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Setting the Layer Upper Elevation

Guidelines for Stackup Elevations

Non-Laminate Mode

l In non-laminate mode, dielectric layers must stack on top of one another, they cannot
overlap and there can be no gaps. Throughout an entire stackup, the lower elevation of
each dielectric layer must be the top elevation of the dielectric layer directly below. The
lower and upper elevation columns are present by default for non laminate mode.
l A dielectric layer that rests above another floats down to the next layer below. So, if you
need to configure an air gap between the two layers, you must explicitly add a dielectric
layer between the two that is defined with the material “air”.
l Signal layers and negative signal layers can be embedded within a dielectric layer or
within an interface that exists between dielectric layers, they can also overlap and can
have non-zero thickness.

Laminate Mode

l In laminate mode, all layers stack on the layer below. Signal layers are not embedded in
dielectric layers.
l The thickness of layers may be edited but not the lower elevation.
l Layers may be reordered by dragging a layer to a new position in the grid control.
l The dielectric material can be chosen in the same way that layer material is chosen.
Setting the Layer Lower Elevation

The lower elevation of a layer is the lowest point of the layer. For example, if you create a layer with
a lower elevation of 2 microns, the layer begins at 2 and extends upwards until it reaches the
Upper Elevation value. A signal layer's Lower Elevation value indicates its elevation above zero.
Lower elevation can only be changed on signal layers in non laminate stackups.

To set a layer’s lower elevation:

1. In the Edit Layers dialog, in the Lower Elevation column, double-click a layer’s Lower
Elevation text box.
2. Type a new value and its units in the text box.

The value can be specified using a number (e.g., 0.5um), a variable (e.g., $H), or an expression
(e.g., $H-0.5um+$W).

3. Press Enter.

The layer is assigned the lower elevation you entered.

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Setting the Layer Upper Elevation

The upper elevation of a layer is the highest point of the layer. The upper elevation of a layer
adjusts itself based on the lower elevation and the thickness of the layer. The Upper Elevation is
not directly editable, but it can be seen in the Edit Layers dialog, in the UpperElevation column.

Layout Technology

The following sections describe the tools and operations available for configuring layout technology
in the Edit Layers Dialog.

Related Topics

Choosing a Layout Technology

Creating a Layout Technology

Choosing a Layout Technology

The ANSYS Electronics Desktop can associate a predefined stackup, (also called the substrate or
technology), with each design. A technology includes stackup layers’ material properties, units,
thickness, elevation, and roughness data, and associated substrate definitions for Nexxim Circuit
or Planar EM simulation. The current technology or substrate is applied to components defined for
a design or copied in from other designs.

When you insert a new design into a project, the Choose a Layout Technology dialog box
opens, allowing you to choose the stackup technology on which your design will be based. You can
choose a technology, proceed to design editing without selecting a technology, or abort adding a
design to your project.

In the Choose a Layout Technology dialog, do one of the following:

l To use one of Desktop’s predefined technologies, select its entry in the list, and then click
Open.
l To use an existing technology not shown in the list, click Browse. Through the Open dialog
box, browse to and select the ANSYS Technology (.asty) file that contains the technology
you want to use, and then click Open.
l To add a design without choosing a technology, click None.
l To choose not to add a new design to your project, click Cancel.

When you specify a technology or click None, a blank design of the type you selected opens for
editing.

All components that can use a substrate technology will automatically be assigned the technology
you choose for the design. This includes components added from the Components window and
components pasted in from other designs. If no technology has been selected, no substrate is
assigned to components.

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As a result, when a schematic from a project that has a substrate definition is copied into another
project, the pasted schematic will use the substrate that is defined for the second project, if a
substrate has been defined. If no substrate has been defined for the second project, the schematic
elements are copied in with no substrate (“SUB” property is empty).
Creating a Layout Technology

You can create your own layout technology and save it for future use. After you have configured a
technology in the Edit Layers dialog, select the design in the Project Manager window, then select
Save as Technology File from the File menu. This will open a Save As dialog that allows you to
save the technology in one of the Desktop’s library directories.

The technology file (.asty suffix) contains the definitions of substrates, layers, materials, padstacks,
footprints, symbols, and scripts. The technology file also contains the settings of the Layout options
(units, angle units, major and minor grid spacings, snap sources and targets, rotation increment,
and hole size) that are in effect for the selected design.

The layout technology you defined is now available for future use and will be listed in the Choose a
Layout Technology dialog.

Working with Objects

The following sections describe various tools and methods for working with objects in the Layout
Editor.

Related Topics

Selection Modes

Using Handles

Selecting Handles

Aligning Objects

Selecting Overlapping Objects

Selecting Edges

Grouping Objects

Negative Objects

Position Locking

Modifying Objects

Selection Modes in the Layout Editor

Three selection modes exist: General, Handle, and Edge.

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l General Selection Mode — Used primarily to select objects. General mode is the default
section mode. You can activate the General selection mode by selecting Edit > Select or

by clicking the Select Elements icon .

l Handle Selection Mode — Used to select object handles. You can activate the Handle
selection mode by selecting Edit > SelectHandles or by clicking the Select Handles icon

.
l Edge Selection Mode — Used to select object edges. You can activate the Edge selection

mode by selecting Edit > SelectEdges or by clicking the Select Edges icon .

In General selection mode, the cursor becomes a small cross hair when it is not positioned over a
selectable object:

When the cursor is positioned over a selectable object, or the handle of a selectable object, the
cursor changes to one of the following to indicate what object/handle can be moved:

To give a visual clue as to the current selection mode, the cursor changes in the following manner:

Not over selectable Over selectable

Edge/Handle Edge/Handle
General Selection Mode

Edge Selection Mode

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Handle Selection Mode

Using Handles
Handles are graphical attachments to objects that allow you to manipulate objects in the Layout
editor. Two general types of handles exist: Implicit and Explicit. Implicit handles are created
automatically, while Explicit handles are created by the user.

Implicit Handles

l In Layout, every primitive object (void, line, polygon) and compound object (via, footprint,
sub-circuit) contains Implicit handles — identified by small red squares — which can be
used to resize the object. There are two kinds of Implicit handles: Edge handles and
Point handles. Edge handles pertain to lines and polygons, and can be used to drag an
edge. Point handles pertain mainly to points, and can be dragged/deleted separately (but
Point handles can also be inserted into the edges of lines and polygons). Edge and Point
handles can be selected by clicking upon them, or by using the Handle Select Tool.
l Every Layout object contains an implicit Center handle — identified by two small red
circles connected by a line — which can be used to rotate or drag the object.
l Selections containing multiple objects have one Implicit handle which is placed at the
geometric center of the data.

Explicit Handles

l In addition to Implicit handles which are created automatically, Footprints may also
contain Explicit handles — identified by small black squares — that are created by the
user, and can be used to drag or resize the footprint.

Selecting Handles
The Select Handles command on the Draw menu allows you to select just the handles of selected
items in the Layout window.

1. On the Draw menu, click Select. Then click the object you want to manipulate.
2. On the Draw menu, click Select Handles. The handles on the selected items appear as
squares.
3. In the Layout window, move over the handle you want to select. A square appears at the
cursor, indicating that you are over the handle.
4. Click the handle to select it.

The selected handle is highlighted.

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Aligning Objects in the Layout Editor

To align objects in the Layout Editor, select one or more objects in the editor and select Draw >
Align. This opens the Alignment dialog.

The following horizontal controls are available:

l No Horizontal Alignment
l Align Left
l Align Right
l Center Horizontally
l Distribute Centers Horizontally will place multiple polygons so that the horizontal
spaces between their centers are equal
l Space Edges Horizontally will place multiple polygons so that the horizontal spaces
between their edges are equal

The following vertical controls are available:

l No Vertical Alignment
l Align Top
l Align Bottom
l Center Vertically
l Distribute Centers Vertically will place multiple polygons so that the vertical spaces
between their centers are equal
l Space Edges Vertically will place multiple polygons so that the vertical spaces between
their edges are equal

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Auto-Aligning Objects

Auto-alignment of components is available by selecting one or more objects and clicking Ctrl-m.
But auto-alignment only rotates/positions components to match connections — it does not flip or
unflip them. Therefore, the auto-alignment of components which are flipped or have twisted
connections will not align properly.

Selecting Overlapping Objects in the Layout Editor

When two or more objects in the Layout Editor overlap (i.e., are selectable from the same
location) click the location and type “b” to cycle through the selectable objects. (Alternatively, click
Cycle Selection on the Edit pulldown.) This highlights each object as it is selectable and allows
you to choose from objects that overlap.

Selecting Edges in the Layout Editor

The Select Edges command on the Draw menu enables you to select just the edges of items in
the Layout editor.

1. On the Draw menu, click Select Edges.

2. In the Layout window, move over the edge you want to select. A line appears at the cursor,
indicating that you are over the edge.
3. Click the edge to select it.

The selected edge is highlighted.

Grouping Objects in the Layout Editor

You can group objects in the Layout Editor by using the Coordinate System (CS) commands listed
beneath the Draw menu. To group selected objects together, select Draw > Group into CS. To
ungroup objects, select Draw > Ungroup CS or 3D Structure. For more information see
Coordinate Systems.

Negative Objects in the Layout Editor

Objects may be designated as a negative. The negative attribute is accessed through the
PropertyWindow or an object’s PropertyDialog. The following are defined as negative objects:

l Remove material from all items they overlap.

l Export to Gerber, GDSII and DXF.
l Can be copied to the clipboard.

A negative object on a ground layer does not remove material from the layer itself, but rather,
interacts with other primitives in the same way as on other layers. Negative objects may contain
voids. But a negative always removes material and never adds it. Consequently, a void in a
negative is merely an area where material is not removed.

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To designate an object as a negative in the Layout Editor, in the Properties Window or the
object’s PropertiesDialog (double-click the object) check the Negative selection box.

Position Locking
Primitives, components, vias, and pins can all be locked into place in the Layout Editor. The
locking attribute is accessed through the PropertyWindow or an object’s PropertyDialog.

Locked objects do not move during an Align or Microwave-port Align operation. If multiple
objects are locked, the first pinned object encountered in the selection (based on the selection
order) is used as an “anchor” during an align (if there are none, the first object is used). If there is
only one object locked, that object becomes the origin of the alignment.

l Once locked, an object cannot be dragged or rotated.

l When locked, no object properties that change position or shape are editable.
l When a locked object is selected, the object handles are not shown.
l Locking a primitive locks the voids it owns.
l Locking a void prevents it from moving when the owner is moved.

To lock an object in the Layout Editor, in the Properties Window or the object’s
PropertiesDialog (double-click the object) check the LockPosition selection box.

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Modifying Objects in the Layout Editor

You can quickly modify the position, dimensions, and other characteristics of objects created in the
Layout window.

Related Topics

Deleting Objects in the Layout Editor

Flipping Objects in the Layout Editor

Rotating Objects in the Layout Editor

Uniting Objects in the Layout Editor

Subtracting Objects in the Layout Editor

Creating Objects from Intersections in the Layout Editor

Duplicating Objects in the Layout Editor

Expanding Objects in the Layout Editor

Paste Objects In Place in the Layout Editor

Geometry Healing in the Layout Editor

Editing Arcs in the Layout Editor

Curving Polygon Edges in the Layout Editor

Adding Vertices to Edges in the Layout Editor

Deleting Objects in the Layout Editor

1. Select the objects to delete.

2. On the Edit menu, point to Delete or press Delete.

You are prompted to confirm the deletion.

Flipping Objects in the Layout Editor

1. Select the object you want to flip.

2. Click one of the following commands:
l Draw > Flip about Yaxis to flip the object horizontally.
l Draw > Flip about Xaxis to flip the object vertically.

Rotating Objects in the Layout Editor

You can rotate one or more objects by dragging the red rotation handle at the center of the object.

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1. Select the object you want to rotate.

2. Drag the circular part of the rotation handle in the direction you want to rotate the object.

Note To drag more than one object, select the objects and the rotation handle will appear
at the center point between the objects.

Note To rotate without re-wiring (i.e., “rubberbanding”), hold down the <Shift> key as you rotate
the object(s).

Uniting Objects in the Layout Editor

To join two or more objects into one object, use the Layout > Merge Polygons > Union
command. The new object has the name, color, boundary, and material assignment of the first
object selected. The objects are united at the point of intersection.

1. Select the objects you want to join.

2. On the Layout menu, point to Merge Polygons, and then click Union.

The objects are united.

Union and Intersection operations support using selected objects on multiple layers, and each
layer object is operated on separately. However, Subtraction is only allowed if the selected
objects are on the same layer. Selected objects may be negative objects.

l If only negative objects are selected, the merge operation is performed the same as with
positive objects, but the resulting objects remain negative objects.
l If both negative objects and positive objects are selected:

— Perform the union/intersection/subtraction operation on the positive objects

— Always union the negative objects

— Subtract the negative object result from the positive object result

Note By default, the objects being joined to the first object selected are not preserved for later
use. If you want to keep a copy of the objects being joined to the first object selected, do the
following:

l Copy the objects, and then paste them back into the design after uniting them.

Subtracting Objects in the Layout Editor

1. Select the object from which you want to subtract other objects.
2. Select the objects you want to subtract.
3. On the Layout menu, point to Merge Polygons, and then click Subtract.

The new object retains the name, color, and material of the first object selected.

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Union and Intersection operations support using selected objects on multiple layers, and each
layer object is operated on separately. However, Subtraction is only allowed if the selected
objects are on the same layer. Selected objects may be negative objects.

l If only negative objects are selected, the merge operation is performed the same as with
positive objects, but the resulting objects remain negative objects.
l If both negative objects and positive objects are selected:

— Perform the union/intersection/subtraction operation on the positive objects

— Always union the negative objects

— Subtract the negative object result from the positive object result

Note By default, the objects being subtracted from the first object selected are not preserved for
later use. If you want to keep a copy of the objects being subtracted from the first object
selected, do the following:

l Copy the objects, and then paste them back into the design after subtracting them.

Creating Objects from Intersections in the Layout Editor

To create a new object from the intersection of two or more objects, use the Layout > Merge
Polygons > Intersection command.

1. Select the objects from which you want to take the intersection.

Warning If the objects you selected do not overlap, the result is a null object and both
objects vanish.

2. On the Layout menu, point to Merge Polygons, and then click Intersection.

The original objects vanish, leaving only the new object that was formed from their intersection.

Union and Intersection operations support using selected objects on multiple layers, and each
layer object is operated on separately. However, Subtraction is only allowed if the selected
objects are on the same layer. Selected objects may be negative objects.

l If only negative objects are selected, the merge operation is performed the same as with
positive objects, but the resulting objects remain negative objects.
l If both negative objects and positive objects are selected:

— Perform the union/intersection/subtraction operation on the positive objects

— Always union the negative objects

— Subtract the negative object result from the positive object result

Note By default, the original intersecting objects are not preserved for later use. If you want to

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keep a copy of the objects that intersect the first object selected, do the following:

l Copy the objects, and then paste them back into the design after creating the new
object from the intersection.

Duplicating Objects in the Layout Editor

Duplicate In XY

Objects in the Layout Editor can be easily replicated (“step and repeat”) using the Duplicate > In
XY command which duplicates objects to the same layer at the same location. The same
command is available in the right-click popup menu.

Types that cannot be duplicated include: measurements, subcircuits, cavities, and array cells.
Layout property displays and port instances are not duplicated directly but will duplicate with their
owner. Voids may be duplicated either directly or with their owner. If a void’s owner is duplicated,
all of its voids will also be duplicated (whether or not the voids are selected). If a void is duplicated
without its owner, the duplicate voids become voids of the original owner.

To duplicate an object:

1. Select the object(s) to be duplicated.

2. Choose Edit > Duplicate > In XY the right-click menu.

A copy of the selected objects drags with the cursor. As with other tracking (move, paste,
etc.) the copy snaps on hover. The copy may also be moved with the coordinate bar. All the
coordinate bar fields are available. This includes the delta. Note that this is different from
paste, where deltas may not be used. As with other operations, locations given from the
coordinate bar are not snapped.
3. Position the copied selection using either the cursor or coordinate bar, then left-click or press
Enter. The Duplicate dialog opens.

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l Use the General radio button to indicate if the duplication is between the selected and
placed copy or along their direction.
l Specify the TotalCount, including the selected and placed objects. You can specify an
integer value, a variable, or a parameter name. The current value of the
variable/parameter is used to perform the duplicate operation.
l If duplicating along a direction, ItemOffset can be edited to change the distance between
each. The distance between the selected object(s) and the placed copy is used to initialize
the value in ItemOffset. You can specify an integer value, a variable, or a parameter
name. The current value of the variable/parameter is used to perform the duplicate
operation.
l If filling between objects, TotalOffset can be edited to change the distance between the
first and last objects duplicated. It is initialized with the distance between the selected
object(s) and the placed copy. You can specify an integer value, a variable, or a
parameter name. The current value of the variable/parameter is used to perform the
duplicate operation.
l Clicking OK executes the duplication. The operation is undoable.

If none of the selected objects can be duplicated, due to type or other restrictions, an error window
opens. If some of the selected objects cannot be duplicated due to type or other restrictions,
messages are posted in the message window.

Note The duplicate operation does not define the duplicated object as an array that can later be
manipulated. Consequently, after a variable/parameter value is used to define the Total
Count, Item Offset, or Total Offset, a change to the variable/parameter value will not
also change the object that was duplicated.

Duplicate Across Layers

The Duplicate Across Layers command supports duplicating layout objects to other layers at the
same location. It will work for both layout editing and footprint editing. The same command is
available in the right-click popup menu. The following layout objects are eligible for duplication:

l Primitives: Arc, Circle, Line, Rectangle, Polygon. A void cannot be duplicated alone;
instead, a void will be duplicated along with the selected object to which it belongs.
l Edge port: If an edge port is selected and all its edges are attached to primitives on the
same layer and all those primitives are also selected, then the edge port will be duplicated.

When you have layout objects selected and click Draw > Duplicate > Across Layers, a dialog
opens for target layer selection. (If no suitable items are selected for duplication, a warning

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message is displayed instead.)

l Only stack-up layers are listed as valid target layers. Locked layers are not eligible as
target layers and will be grayed out. If all items are on the same layer, that layer will also
be grayed out.
l A right-mouse button click on the layer selection grid will popup a menu to allow selecting
all signal, ground, or dielectric layers.
l After you select target layers and click OK, the eligible items will be duplicated to the layer
(s) you select. All duplicated items remain selected if they are on layers that are selectable
and visible. Selected items that are not eligible for duplication will be listed in the message
window.

Expanding Objects in the Layout Editor

You can “expand” objects in Layout using the Draw > Expand command. When you click Draw >
Expand, the Expand Polygon dialog opens.

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l Expansion value can be positive or negative (e.g., “2mm” or “-2mm”). The object is
expanded or shrunk by the distance specified.
l The Corner Style (where expanded sides meet) can be specified as Round, Miter, or
Corner. When Corner is chosen, if the corner extension results in a projection greater
than 8 times the expansion value (which corresponds to angles approximately 15 degrees
or less), then the two meeting sides are truncated to reduce the corner projection.
l You may either Replace the existing object with the expanded object or, by default,
create a new object.

Paste Objects In Place in the Layout Editor

Sometimes it is convenient to copy an object and paste it without an X,Y offset or displacement. For
instance, when creating copies of parameterized objects, or when copying an object to the same
location but in a different layer.

To duplicate an object without an X,Y offset or displacement:

1. Select the object(s) to be duplicated.

2. Choose Copy from the right-click menu or from the Edit pull-down menu.
3. Select the layer you want to draw upon from the ActiveLayer pull-down list on the Layout
toolbar.
4. Choose Paste in Place from the right-click menu or from the Edit pull-down menu.

The object is pasted onto the active layer using the same X,Y coordinates from which it was copied.

Geometry Healing in the Layout Editor

General

Geometry Healing presents a modeless dialog with three tabs.

l It provides various geometry healing operations which may be interactively applied to:

l Visible geometry – determined by the layer and net visibility.

l Current selection – only the currently selected geometries are affected.

Note: For Floating body and Void cleanup, all the geometry is inspected to determine if
the criteria for cleanup is met.

l For each healing operation, a Tolerance is required.

l The tolerance may be adjusted using a slider-bar.

l If Dynamic preview is selected, a preview is displayed and updated as the tolerance
changes.

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l Apply – applies an operation (no preview is required and none is given).

l This operation is undoable.

l Preview – shows a preview of the operation without changing the database.

l Close – dismisses the dialog without applying the operation.
l Various statistics appear after a preview or application.
l The worst case is typically given – click on the magnifying glass to jump to that location.

Point Snapping

Point-to-Point and point-to-edge

Attempts to snap points to points and points to edges.

l Only points within the tolerance are moved.

l Points will not snap across nets – i.e. nets will not be shorted.
l A snap will be rejected if the angle about the point changes by more than 1 degree.
l Locked objects can be snap targets but are not themselves altered.
l Points may snap to the edge of a trace but the traces themselves are not moved.
l Vias act as snap targets but are not changed.
l Rectangles may become polygons.

Arc alignment

Aligns arcs that share a similar center or a similar radius.

l Only arcs with centers or radii within the tolerance are adjusted.
l Will also align the start/end points of traces and bondwires with circles and vias.
l Vias are treated as fixed objects – they are not moved but other arcs may align to them.
l The operation attempts to align arcs but does not guarantee alignment, especially when
multiple arcs are connected in a polygon.

Grid

Snaps all geometry points to a grid defined by the tolerance. One may also view this as a rounding
operation: coordinates are rounded to the tolerance value supplied.

l Snaps all primitives.

l Snaps the center location of vias.
l Snaps the start/end locations of bondwires.

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Feature Cleanup

Voids

Removes voids with an area less than the tolerance.

l Does not remove voids with vias passing through them.

l The user may choose Convert voids to antipads, in which case a void containing a via will
be converted to an anti-pad.
l The void must be circular or rectangular and the via must pass through its center.
l The via must belong to a different net than the void owner.
l Note: this creates new padstack definitions – these are not removed by undo.

Floating bodies

Removes small islands of metal with an area less than the tolerance.

l If attached to other bodies, the total connected area is considered (takes into account vias).
l When making the determination, all geometry (whether selected or visible) is included.
l Does not remove bodies with ports attached.

Repair

Colinear points

Removes collinear points from polygons and trace center-lines.

l A point is considered collinear if it deviates from the chord connecting the adjacent points by
less than the tolerance.
l This operation also removes very narrow intrusions and spikes from a polygon.

Self-intersecting

Removes self-intersections from polygon data.

l The negative region of the self-intersection is excised.

l Voids are correctly preserved – this may require duplicating a void if it overlaps two positive
lobes of a self-intersecting shape.

Editing Arcs in the Layout Editor

You can edit an arc by changing its properties in the Property Control window or using the mouse
as follows.

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Move an arc in one of these ways:

l Drag the arc to the desired point.

l On the Draw menu, click Select. Select the arc, and then type the center point’s new
coordinates in the X and Y text boxes.

Change an arc’s end points in one of these ways:

l On the Draw menu, click SelectHandles. Then select the start or end point handle, and
drag it to the desired point.
l On the Draw menu, click SelectHandles. Then select the start or endpoint and type the
point’s new coordinates in the X and Y text boxes.

Change an arc’s height in one of these ways:

l Press Ctrl and drag the midpoint handle to the desired point.
l On the Draw menu, click Select Handles. Then select the midpoint handle and type the
point’s coordinates in the X and Y text boxes.

Curving Polygon Edges in the Layout Editor

1. Follow the procedure for drawing a polygon.

2. Hold the Ctrl key and drag the center handle of the edge you want to curve.

Adding Vertices to Edges in the Layout Editor

Add a new vertex to a line segment or polygon using the Alt key.

1. Select the object. The object handles become visible as squares on the object edges.
2. On the Edit menu, click Select Handles. The cursor becomes a square.
3. Hold down the Alt key.There are two possible cursor shapes when the Alt key is held down:

— When you hold down the Alt key and move the cursor over a polygon edge, the cursor
changes to a diagonal line with a hollow circle. This indicates that the cursor is in a valid location
to insert a vertex.

— When you hold down the Alt key and move the cursor to a position that is not over a polygon
edge, the cursor changes to a diagonal line segment. This indicates that the cursor is not in a
valid location to insert a vertex.

4. Click the point where you want the new vertex.

5. Repeat step 4 as desired to insert additional vertices.
6. Release the Alt key. The cursor becomes the square Select Handles cursor.
7. To end the Select Handles mode, click Select on the Edit menu.

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Drawing a Model in the Layout Editor

All geometric models that you create are simply a collection of objects. These objects are drawn
using the Drawing Region of the Layout Editor. HFSS allows you to draw on all three primitive
layer types: dielectric, signal, and negative signal. Objects on dielectric layers are ignored in Planar
EM modeling, but they are displayed in Layout3D and are exported.

Related Topics

The Drawing Region

General Drawing Guidelines

Zooming and Panning the Layout View

Cross-Probing Selected Elements

Voids in Layout

Directional Drawing

Drawing Geometric Objects

Inserting N-Port Data

Assigning Reference Ports

Circuit Ports in Layout

Drawing Apertures on Negative Signal Planes

Routing Traces

Measurement Mode

Dielectric Modeling

Importing a Stackup

The Drawing Region

The drawing region is the rectangular area, displayed as a grid, in which you create the model. You
can control the following aspects of the drawing region:

Setting the Drawing Region Size

Defining the size of the region in which you are interested helps to conserve computing resources.
HFSS does not attempt to compute a solution outside the drawing region.

Drawing region settings can be changed for the local layout design, or for all layout designs. See
The Display Tab under Layout Options for details on changing the drawing region settings

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Fitting View Areas in the Drawing Region

If the drawing region is too large to fit in the viewing area of a Layout window, scroll bars
automatically appear on the bottom and left side of the window. Use them to scroll across the
drawing region. Alternatively, click View > Fit Drawing to rescale the viewing area of the window
to display the entire drawing region.

Choosing Grid Settings

The grid displayed in the Layout window is a drawing aid that helps to visualize the location of
objects. By default a cartesian (rectangular) grid is displayed in the active Layout window. The grid
is centered at the origin of the local coordinate system (x = 0, y = 0). Grid spacing is set according to
the current project’s drawing units.

Grid settings can be changed for the local layout design, or for all layout designs. See The Display
Tab under Layout Options for details on changing the grid settings

Choosing Snap Settings

By default, the selection point and graphical objects are set to “snap to” a point on the grid when the
cursor hovers over it. The coordinates of the selection point are used, rather than the exact location
of the mouse.

Snap settings can be changed for the local layout design, or for all layout designs. See The
Snapping Tab under Layout Options for details on changing the snap settings

Choosing Shadow Settings

When a sub-circuit is selected, it is drawn shadowed. The shadowing can be controlled through a
property on the sub-circuit. Shadow Percent: a low number means less shadowing, a high number
means more. A low number also means that the sub-circuit will be drawn with colors closer to the
original intensity.

General Drawing Guidelines for the Layout Editor

There is no strict procedure to follow when creating a geometric model; however, the following
steps serve as general guidelines.

1. Select the layer you want to draw upon.

2. Activate the Layout view window by clicking its window frame.
3. Use the Draw menu commands to create one- and two-dimensional objects.

Treat each conductor or material in the structure as a separate object. When drawing signal
layers, note that the view is top-down.

4. If necessary, use the commands on the Draw and Layout menus to modify the geometry
that you created.
5. Periodically save the geometry.

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Repeat this procedure for each signal layer.

Zooming and Panning the Layout View

You can magnify (zoom in) or shrink (zoom out) the contents in the view window, or on a
rectangular area in the view window. You can pan (scroll) the view in any direction.

Zooming In on the Window Contents

To magnify (zoom in on) the contents in the view window:

1. Click Zoom In on the View menu, or right-click in the schematic window and select Zoom In
from the popup menu.
2. The view zooms in to a larger magnification. The absolute size of the model does not
change.
3. Repeat the operation until the desired magnification is achieved.

Zooming Out on the Window Contents

To shrink (zoom out on) the contents in the view window:

1. Click Zoom Out on the View menu, or right-click in the schematic window and select Zoom
Out from the popup menu.
2. The view zooms out to a smaller magnification. The absolute size of the model does not
change.
3. Repeat the operation until the desired magnification is achieved.

Zooming In on a Rectangular Area

To magnify a specific rectangular area in the view window:

1. On the View menu, click Zoom Area, or right-click in the schematic window and select
Zoom Area from the popup menu.. The cursor changes to a magnifying glass.
2. Draw a rectangle (or square) by selecting two diagonally opposite corners. This is the area
where magnification will be increased.

The rectangular area is magnified in size and the cursor returns to normal. The absolute size of the
model does not change.

Zooming In and Out Using the Mouse Wheel

You can also zoom the Layout editor display using the mouse wheel:

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1. Shift, plus mousewheel gives a coarse zoom about the current cursor position.
2. Shift-Alt, plus mousewheel gives a finer zoom about the current cursor position.

Restoring a Previous Zoom View

After executing a zoom in or zoom out operation, you can return to the previous magnification by
selecting Zoom Previous from the View pulldown or from the right-click popup in the layout
window.

Panning the View

To pan (scroll) the view in any direction, hold down the SHIFT key while holding down the left
mouse button. The view is attached to the cursor. While holding down the SHIFT key and left
mouse button, move the cursor to pan the view in any direction. Release the mouse button to end
the panning operation.

Cross-Probing Selected Elements

When both the Layout editor and the Schematic editor are displaying the same design, you can
select one or more component instances and interface ports in both editors. Select the schematic
elements or layout elements to be cross-probed. Then use one of the following methods to effect
the cross-selection:

l In either editor, press <Ctrl>+K

l In the Schematic editor, select Schematic > Cross-Probe Layout
l In the Layout editor, select Layout > Cross-Probe Layout

The corresponding elements in the related editor will be selected and that editor window will be
brought to the front. If you select only component instances or only interface ports, then cross-
probing will make the primary selection in the first editor the primary selection in the related editor.
Note that all previous selections in the related editor will be cleared and only the cross-probed
elements will be selected when the command is invoked.

Note Changes to a design should be made from the editor that was used to create the design.
For example, if a design was created using the schematic editor, it should not be modified
from the layout editor. In some cases, attempts to change a schematic design from the
layout editor will result in a warning such as:

[warning] Port Port2, ID %2, was disconnected from net 98, but
it was not possible to unwire it. This must be done manually.

Similarly, a layout editor design can be viewed as a schematic using the cross-probing
feature, but the schematic view should not be used to make changes to the design.
Although an operation such as deleting a port in the schematic may successfully delete the

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cross-probed layout port, the operation cannot be undone in the layout editor after the
schematic window has been closed (the undo attempt may cause an error).

Voids in Layout
For both copy/paste and copy to Planar EM, if a void’s owner is selected, all of its voids are copied
and pasted as voids. Any voids that are not wanted can then be deleted after the paste.

If a void is selected but its owner is not, the void is copied as a primitive. If desired, the boolean
subtract functionality can be used to notch or add a void, based on the overlap between the
primitive and another selected primitive.

Directional Drawing in the Layout Editor

Directional drawing allows you to constrain snapping to a particular direction when moving,
placing, and duplicating objects or primitives in the Layout Editor. Directional drawing/snapping
can be set to snap to the orthogonal (x or y) or to 45 degrees. Directional drawing/snapping is set in
the same manner as other layout snap options, by using the Snapping options tab of the Layout
Options dialog. For more information see The Snapping Tab.

Rather than configuring a universal directional drawing constraint using the Snapping options tab
of the Layout Options dialog, alternately you may temporarily modify the current constraint using
a simple keystroke. The following keys will modify the current directional drawing/snapping
constraint as you manipulate objects and primitives in the Layout Editor:

l Pressing 'd' applies a 45 degree directional drawing/snapping constraint

l Pressing 'r' applies an orthogonal directional drawing/snapping constraint
l Pressing 'n' removes any directional constraint that has been configured

Both the move and duplicate operations will use the currently configured directional constraint. The
default for directional drawing is none. In the Layout Editor, the directional drawing mode is
indicated by a dotted-cross cursor.

The reference point for directional drawing — the (0,0) point for the current movement — is
marked with a dotted cross:

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The following directional drawing rules apply when creating primitives, voids, and measurements:

l The first hover after initiating directional drawing sets the reference point for the current
movement.
l The cursor moves freely, but when a snapped-on-hover event occurs, the directional
constraint is applied.
l Each click resets the reference point for the next movement.

Drawing Geometric Objects in the Layout Editor

You can draw one- or two-dimensional objects using the Draw commands. You can alter objects
individually or together to create the geometry of your structure.

l One-dimensional (1D,) or open objects are zero-width arcs, lines, or any combination
thereof that have not yet been closed to form the boundary of an object. Generally, open
objects are used as temporary objects from which to create complex closed objects.
l Two-dimensional (2D) or closedobjectsare objects with boundaries that enclose a region. All
closed objects are automatically saved as part of the geometric model when you click File >
Save.
l Simple closed objects include thick lines and arcs, circles, and rectangles. A complex closed
object is one created by joining open objects to enclose an area. For example, to turn an
open object into a closed object, draw a line that connects the end points of the open object.

Related Topics

Drawing a Circle in the Layout Editor

Drawing a Rectangle in the Layout Editor

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Drawing an Image in the Layout Editor

Drawing an Arc in the Layout Editor

Drawing a Line in the Layout Editor

Specifying Line Width in the Layout Editor

Reverse Line Command in the Layout Editor

Drawing a Void in the Layout Editor

Drawing a Hole in the Layout Editor

Drawing a Via in the Layout Editor

Drawing a Cross-Layer Plate in the Layout Editor

Drawing an Infinite Array in the Layout Editor

Drawing a Cavity in the Layout Editor

Drawing a Circle in the Layout Editor

Draw a circle by selecting a center point and a radius. Circles are drawn as true surfaces.

1. On the Draw menu, point to Primitive, and then click Circle.

2. Select the center of the circle in one of the following ways:
l Click the mouse on the point.
l Enter the point’s coordinates in the X and Y text boxes using the keyboard.
3. Specify the circle’s radius in one of the following ways:
l Select a point on the circle’s circumference using the mouse or the keyboard.
l Type a value for the radius in the Distance text box and press Enter.

The circle is added to the active layer.

Drawing a Rectangle in the Layout Editor

Draw a rectangle by selecting either two diagonally opposite corners.

1. On the Draw menu, point to Primitive, and then click Rectangle.

2. Select the first diagonal corner in one of the following ways:
l Click the mouse on the point.
l Type the point’s coordinates in the X and Y text boxes.

To delete the selected point and start over, press Esc or right-click and select Cancel.

3. Select the second diagonal using the mouse or the keyboard.

The rectangle is added to the active layer.

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Drawing an Image in the Layout Editor

Draw an image by using the Draw > Primitive > Image command.

1. On the Draw menu, point to Primitive and then click Image. This opens the Select Image
dialog.

2. Select the path, Lib, or Folder you wish to access by clicking one of the following buttons:
Use path, SysLib, PersonalLib, UserLib, Project Folder.
l Within the PersonalLib, UserLib, or SysLib folder, select the file from those listed, or
type the name of the file in the File Name box. Note that SysLib is reserved for libraries
supplied with HFSS.
l If you select Use path, type the name of the file in the File Name box, or use the Look in
field to navigate to the file and record its name. Note that objects imported with Use Path
may not be portable if the design is moved to a different machine.
l When the In project folder button is selected, references to the file in the design are
relative to the directory where the project resides. In this case, the path is saved in the
project .adsn file as a variable such as:

.lib '$PROJECTDIR/x_113854.lib'

The variable $PROJECTDIR will be expanded to the current location of the project when the
design is converted to a netlist and run by an analysis tool. Otherwise, an absolute path is
saved. If you move a project and its library files together to a new directory, you can preserve
the file references by selecting the Project Folder option.

3. Select the file type from one of the following:

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l Bitmap Files (*.bmp)

l GIF Files (*.gif)
4. Select a file from the display, or type the name of the file in the File Name field.
5. Click Open and a ghost image appears that you can drag over the schematic display and
click to place.

The image is added to the active layer.

Note l The PersonalLib folder is located at <Project

Directory>/PersonalLib
l The userlib folder is located at <Installation Directory>/userlib
l The syslib folder is located at <Installation Directory>/syslib

<Project Directory> is the location you specified for your projects,

and <Installation Directory> is where HFSS was installed during setup.

Drawing an Arc in the Layout Editor

Draw an arc by selecting a center point, start point, and endpoint. Arcs are drawn counter-
clockwise and as true surfaces.

1. On the Draw menu, point to Primitive, and then click Arc.

2. Select the center point of the arc in one of the following ways:
l Click the mouse on the point.
l Type the point’s coordinates in the X and Y text boxes.
3. Select the arc’s start point using the mouse or the keyboard.
4. Select the arc’s endpoint using the mouse or the keyboard.

The arc is added to the active layer.

Note Arcs are drawn as true circles in the Layout Editor, but they are segmented for mesh
generation.

Additional Notes for Drawing an Arc

1. After clicking the arc toolbar icon or the arc menu item, the cursor changes to indicate arc
creation. The first mouse-click location in the editor specifies the center point for the arc.
Alternatively, rather than clicking in the editor, you can always enter an equivalent value in
the coordinate bar to indicate a location.
2. Cursor movements draw an arc showing the radius and starting angle based on cursor
position. Both the radius and starting angle may change as the cursor is moved.

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3. The next mouse-click in the editor specifies both the radius and the starting angle for the arc.
In the following figure, point A is the location of the first click. Point B is the location of the
second click.

4. Cursor movements change the ending angle only; the radius is fixed. During a mouse hover,
the cursor is moved to the radius. The end angle indicated by the cursor position remains
unchanged. Grid snapping is relative to the moved position and the snap is constrained to
remain at the defined radius. Only end angles at 0, 90, 180, and 270 degrees from the start
angle will grid snap; other end angles do not intersect a grid intersection. In the following
figure, the cursor hovers at C. The line from A to C indicates the end angle position. D is the
location to which the cursor is moved.

5. The next click specifies the end angle for the arc. Note that this location may NOT be the end
point of the arc. The end point of the arc is the position along the ending angle at the defined
radius. If the cursor is clicked at C, the arc will be created with D as the end point. If the
cursor is clicked at D, the arc is created with D as the end point.

Related Topics

Editing Arcs in the Layout Editor

Drawing a Line in the Layout Editor

Draw an object with one or more straight segments using the Draw > Primitive > Line command.

1. On the Draw menu, point to Primitive, and then click Line.

2. Select the first point of the line in one of the following ways:
l Click the mouse on the point.
l Type the point’s coordinates in the X and Y text boxes.

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3. Select the next point of the line using the mouse or the keyboard. Notice that HFSS draws a
line between the two points.
l To delete the last point that was entered, press Backspace or right-click and select Back
Up.
l To delete all selected points and start over, press Esc or right-click and select Cancel.
4. Repeat step 3 for each point to be entered.
5. Complete the line in one of the following ways:
l Double-click the final point of the line.
l Press Enter or right-click and select Finish.

The line is added to the active layer.

You can edit the line’s properties in the Property Control window to change the line’s width, bend
type, and end type in the Line Styles window.

Note HFSS no longer displays the "Linewidth" property for primtives in the Properties Window.
In order to make modifications to the linewidth, you must use the "Expand" function. Note
that a zero-width line is ignored by the Meshmaker.

Stitch Lines

Use the Layout > Stitch Lines command to stitch together connected/crossing lines into
polygons and lines. Selected lines with zero width will be united to form polygons when the
segments close. Selected zero-width lines are first split at all points of intersection. Then lines are
stitched together into polygons. Stitching is done in such a way as to avoid forming lines that cross.

Specifying Line Width in the Layout Editor

HFSS no longer displays the "Linewidth" property for primtives in the Properties Window. In order
to make modifications to the linewidth, you must use the "Expand" function. Note that a zero-width
line is ignored by the Meshmaker.

Legacy adsn Files

The following apply to opening legacy adsn files or importing files of other formats that contain
polygons, circles, and rectangles with linewith specifications:

l Polygons with linewidth are converted to non-linewidth polygons of the same shape.
l Rectangles with linewidth are converted to non-linewidth polygons of the same shape.
l Circles with linewidth are converted to non-linewdith circles. Circle diameters will be equal
to the diameters of the legacy circles plus the linewidth.

Legacy Script Commands

The following apply to executing legacy script commands that operate on polygons, circles, and
rectangles with linewidths:

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l All linewidth properties of rectangles are ignored and warnings are posted in the Message
Manager window.
l All polygons and circles are converted to corresponding non-linewidth polygons and
circles, but the same shapes are generated.

Reverse Line Command in the Layout Editor

The Reverse Line command reverses the direction of selected Bond Wires, Lines and Arcs.

The command is accessible from the Draw menu, the Toolbar, and the right-click Draw submenu
when an object is selected. Invalid objects will be ignored.

Drawing a Polygon in the Layout Editor

A polygon is an arbitrarily-shaped, closed object with three or more sides.

1. On the Draw menu, point to Primitive, and then click Polygon.

2. Select the first point of the polygon in one of the following ways:
l Click the mouse on the point.
l Type the point’s coordinates in the X and Y text boxes.
3. Select the next point of the polygon using the mouse or the keyboard. Notice that HFSS
draws a line between the two points.
l To delete the last point that was entered, press Backspace or right-click and select Back
Up.
l To delete all selected points and start over, press Esc or right-click and select Cancel.
4. Repeat step 3 for each point to be entered. Notice that HFSS draws a line between the first
point and the last point entered to close the object.
5. Complete the polygon in one of the following ways:
l Double-click the final point of the line.
l Press Enter or right-click and select Finish.

The polygon is added to the active layer.

Note HFSS no longer displays the "Linewidth" property for primtives in the Properties Window.
In order to make modifications to the linewidth, you must use the "Expand" function. Note
that a zero-width line is ignored by the Meshmaker.

Related Topics

Curving Polygon Edges

Drawing a Void in the Layout Editor

Create a void, or remove material from an object, in the shape of a circle, rectangle, polygon, or line
using the Draw > Void commands. One object can have multiple voids, but each void can only be

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associated with one “parent” object. For example, to create two concentric rings, first draw the
outer circle, then add a circular void to it. Then draw the inner circle and add a circular void to it.

Two circle objects, each having one void.

To create a void in an object:

1. Select the parent object.

2. To create a circular void in the object:
l On the Draw menu, point to Void, and then click Circle. Then follow the procedure for
drawing a circle.

To create a rectangular void in the object:

l On the Draw menu, point to Void, and then click Rectangle. Then follow the procedure
for drawing a rectangle.

To create a void in the shape of a polygon in the object:

l On the Draw menu, point to Void, and then click Polygon. Then follow the procedure for
drawing a polygon.

To remove a line from the object:

l On the Draw menu, point to Void, and then click Line. Then follow the procedure for
drawing a line.

You cannot create a void in the shape of a line upon an existing line object. Material is removed
from the object in the shape and dimensions you drew.

Repeat these steps to create additional voids in an object. View or edit a void’s properties in the
Property Control window or use the mouse to drag the void’s handles.

Note 3D vias may contain voids. Voids in 3D vias can be placed entirely or partially within the
outer contour. No attempt is made to geometrically align voids in the upper polygons with
those in the lower. Rather, the order in which voids on different layers were created is used
to control their alignment.

Drawing a Hole in the Layout Editor

A hole is a placeholder while creating a via. See Drawing a 2.5D Via or Create 3D Structures.

To create a void, or remove material from an object, see Drawing Voids.

Drawing a Via in the Layout Editor

A via is an object that extends in the z direction and connects two signal layers, allowing a signal to
travel from one layer to another. Unlike cross-layer plates, vias have volume, can be electrically
large, and vary in shape. For these reasons, they use greater computational resources.

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Vias are created from two 2D objects. Each 2D object is located on a trace layer. The via is
extruded between the 2D objects when the mesh is generated, thereby connecting the layers. Vias
can be 2.5D or 3D.

2.5D Vias

2.5D vias must have a circular cross-section and be strictly vertical. A 2.5D via has a finite radius
and the current is assumed to be flowing along the surface of the via. The current flow is assumed
to be strictly vertical; HFSS treats it as a 1D wire connecting the two layers.

All 2.5D vias have a default complex load impedance of zero.

3D Vias

3D vias can be any shape, but the 2D objects they connect must have the same number of edges.
The current is assumed to be flowing from the surface of the via in all directions.

Note 3D vias may contain voids. Voids in 3D vias can be placed entirely or partially within the
outer contour. No attempt is made to geometrically align voids in the upper polygons with
those in the lower. Rather, the order in which voids on different layers were created is used
to control their alignment.

Related Topics

Drawing a 2.5D Via in the Layout Editor

Selecting Load Types for 2.5D Vias

Create 3D Structures in the Layout Editor

Drawing a 2.5D Via in the Layout Editor

1. Select a signal or ground layer to draw upon.

2. On the Draw menu, click Via.
3. Select the center point of the via using the mouse or the keyboard. The via is now listed
under Model/Vias in the project tree.
4. With a via selected, click Draw > EM Design Properties, or right-click the via and choose
EM Design Properties, which brings up the following submenu:

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Select Add EM Design Via Properties to open the ViaProperties dialog:

To open the above dialog, you can also select one or more vias and then right-click on the
Model/Vias folder in the Project Manager and then select Planar EM Properties for Selected
Vias.

Upper Layer Properties

1. Click the Upper Layer tab and do the following:

a. Specify the top layer — a signal or ground layer — at which the via terminates.
b. If the top layer contains the load, select a load type from the Excitation/Load Type list.

You may only define a load at one end of the via. The load on the other end is then set to zero.

c. If you selected complex, type the real portion of the complex load in ohms in the Real
text box. Then type the imaginary portion of the complex load in ohms in the Complex
text box.
d. If you selected any RLC combination, do the following:

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l Type the resistance value in ohms in the R text box. It must be a positive or zero
value.
l Type the inductance value in nanohenries in the L text box. It must be a positive or
zero value.
l Type the capacitance in picofarads in the C text box. It must be a positive value.

Lower Layer Properties

1. Click the Lower Layer tab and do the following:

a. Specify the bottom layer — a signal or ground layer — at which the via terminates
b. If the bottom layer contains the load, select a load type from the Excitation/Load
c. If you selected complex, type the real portion of the complex load in ohms in the Real
text box. Then type the imaginary portion of the complex load in ohms in the Complex
text box.
d. If you selected any RLC combination, do the following:
l Type the resistance value in ohms in the R text box. It must be a positive or zero
value.

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l Type the inductance value in nanohenries in the L text box. It must be a positive or
zero value.
l Type the capacitance in picofarads in the C text box. It must be a positive value.

Physical Layer Properties

1. Click the Physical Properties tab and do the following:

a. Optionally, select Model using a wirebond

b. Optionally, select Mesh as a 3D Via and then choose the number of sides
c. Optionally, select Via field
d. Click the Via material button at right. The material browser appears. Follow the
procedure for assigning a material.
2. Click OK. The via is set at the specified position.

Note When working with a Via, you can select Draw > Toggle Between Via and Pin to convert
the Via to a Pin and then reconfigure the Pin settings using the options described in
Creating a Probe Port.

Selecting Load Types for 2.5D Vias

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When defining the properties of a 2.5D via, you must specify the type of load being applied to the
signal or negative signal layer. This is done in the Via Properties window, under the Upper Layer
or Lower Layer tab, depending on which layer contains the load. You may only define a load at
one end of the via. The load on the other end is then set to zero.

Select one of the following load types from the Excitation/Load Type list:

complex A complex number with a real and imaginary part.

RLC The resistor, inductor, and capacitor are in series.
series
RL The resistor and inductor are in series, and they are in parallel with the capacitor.
series, C
parallel
RC The resistor and capacitor are in series, and they are in parallel with the inductor.
series, L
parallel
LC The inductor and capacitor are in parallel, and they are in series with the resistor.
parallel,
R series
LC The inductor and capacitor are in series, and they are in parallel with the resistor.
series, R
parallel
RC The resistor and capacitor are in parallel, and they are in series with the inductor.
parallel, L
series
RL The resistor and inductor are in parallel, and they are in series with the capacitor.
parallel,
C series
RLC The resistor, inductor, and capacitor are in parallel.
parallel
coaxial The via is an external coaxial probe source that excites the structure as a port. A
excitation probe source represents a coaxial-type connector with its center pin extending from
the negative signal plane to any signal layer.

If you select complex, you will specify the real and imaginary portions of the load in ohms.

If you select any RLC combination, you will specify the resistance value in ohms, the inductance
value in nanohenries, and the capacitance in picofarads.

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If you select coaxial excitation, you will specify the desired current in amps, the phase in degrees,
and the coaxial source impedance in ohms.

Drawing a Cross-Layer Plate in the Layout Editor

When two or more objects on different layers are selected, the Draw > Create 3D Structure
command will connect the objects to create a single 2D or 3D object. Objects being connected
must possess the same number of points. If the objects selected contain open lines, the created
structure will be a two-dimensional face (cross-layer plate) that spans the different layers. If the
selected objects contain closed lines, the created structure will be a three-dimensional solid (3D
Via) that spans the different layers. These 3D surfaces are included in the Planar EM model. And in
addition to a color attribute, 3D structures also possess a material attribute.

Drawing an Infinite Array in the Layout Editor

HFSS can model infinite, periodic structures where geometry drawn in a “unit cell” is repeated
infinitely in the x and y directions. If you excite the infinite array with an edge port, the excitation will
radiate into free space. If you excite the array with a plane wave, the structure will act as a
frequency-selective surface (FSS) or filter receiving the excitation.

1. Right click on the design in the project tree and select Infinite Array.
2. The array is drawn using a rectangular unit cell. Select the center point of the unit cell by
typing its coordinates in the X and Y text boxes.
3. Specify the dimensions of the unit cell by typing its width in the a text box and its height in the
b text box.
l Alternatively, click Autosize to give the rectangle the same dimensions as the model
geometry.

Note You may draw geometry outside the unit cell. The mesh will automatically be
generated in a way that assures current continuity across the boundaries of the
unit cell.

4. Select Turn on infinite array/FSS to activate the array in the project.

The array is stored with the project, whether or not it is active.

5. Type a Skew Angle (gamma) that represents how the array lattice is repeated between
rows of cells.
6. If the infinitely periodic structure represents an infinite array, type the array’s Scan Angle
values in the Theta and Phi text boxes.

The scan angle determines how the different cells of the array are excited periodically. Theta is
the angle measured from the z-axis, which is the axis perpendicular to the plane of the work
space, and must be from 0 to 180 degrees. Phi is the angle measured from the x-axis and can
be from 0 to 360 degrees.

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If the periodic structure represents an FSS filter, these values are not necessary. The incident
angle of the plane wave is defined in the Setup Plane Wave Excitation dialog box.

Note The solution will be invalid when an incident angle for FSS is close to 90 degrees. As a
result, the solver will indicate an invalid field for any angle that is between 88 and 92
degrees.

7. Select a display color for the array.

8. Click OK.

The rectangular structure you drew and its associated excitation will be repeated infinitely.

Drawing a Cavity

A cavity is a box with perfectly conducting walls.

1. Select a signal layer on which the cavity lies.

It must lie between two negative signal layers.

2. On the Draw menu, click Cavity.

The Cavity Definition dialog box appears.

3. If desired, change the cavity’s name and color.

4. Select a top negative signal layer from the Top Layer list.

By default, the nearest negative signal layer above the current signal layer is selected.

5. Select a bottom negative signal layer from the Bottom Layer list.

By default, the nearest negative signal layer below the current signal layer is selected.

6. Enter the Width and Height of the cavity.

l Alternatively, click Autosize All to fit the cavity within the geometry of the two negative
signal layers. Or click Autosize Selection to fit the cavity within the geometry of a
selected object.
7. Click OK.

The cavity is listed in the project tree under Cavities.

Guidelines for Drawing a Cavity

Keep the following things in mind when creating a cavity:

l Cavities can only be defined between two negative signal layers.

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l Cavities cannot be defined between two negative signal layers when there is an
intervening negative signal layer between them. However, you can create two cavities
stacked on top of one another.
l Edge ports must touch the cavity wall. To place sources inside a cavity, use gap sources
or probe ports.
l Only gap sources and probe ports can be defined both inside and outside cavities at the
same time.
l Cavities and finite negative signal planes cannot be defined in the same model.

Inserting N-Port Data

To insert N-port data into the active project, follow this general procedure:

1. On the Project menu, point to Add Model and click Add NPortModel.

The N-Port Data dialog box appears.

2. Under the N-Port Data tab, type a name for the N-port in the Name text box.
3. Select an interpolation method - Linear interpolation, interpolation using a Cubic spline, or
interpolation using a Rational polynomial - from the list. Your selection determines how S-
parameters between frequency points in your N-port file, if needed, are calculated.
4. Specify the data source:
l Select Enter data in spreadsheet if you want to manually enter the S-, Y-, or Z-matrix
data for the N-port. Then see Manually Entering N-Port Data.
l Select Import data if you want to import the N-port data file into the active project. Then
see Importing or Linking to N-Port Data.
l Select Link to file if you want to refer to an N-port data file during the solution process.
This is useful when you want to avoid importing an N-port data file into the project every
time it is updated. Then see Importing or Linking to N-Port Data.
5. Click the Port Impedance tab. If desired, change the reference impedance for the S-
parameter data.
6. If desired, specify a phase rotation for the S-parameter data.
7. Click OK.

You return to the Layout window. The N-port is represented by the following symbol, which
varies depending upon the number of ports.

8. Click an arbitrary point in the Layout window to place the N-port data in the project.

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The N-port is listed under N-Ports in the project tree.

After inserting the N-port into the project, you must draw the connection from your model to the N-
port.

Related Topics

Guidelines for Inserting N-Ports

Importing or Linking N-Port Data

Drawing a Connection

Components with a Symbol Footprint

Guidelines for Inserting N-Ports

Before inserting an N-port in a project, review the following information:

l The S-parameter file for the N-port must be in one of the following formats:

.szg Planar EM and ANSYS HFSS version 6 and later and Maxwell Strata from
version 1.1.
.snp, Touchstone .snp, .tou, .y*p, and .z*p format files. For .snp files, the number of
.tou, ports in the S-parameter file is indicated by n. For example, a Touchstone file with
.y*p, one port would have the extension .s1p. If the S-parameter file has more than 10
.z*p ports, the .tou extension is used.
.flp HFSS version 2014.
.cit CITIfile version 1

l N-ports are assumed to be non-radiative. The coupling between the N-ports and the rest
of the circuitry is also ignored. Therefore, if you generate an output far-field or near-field
file for a structure containing N-ports, the results will not contain the radiation from the N-
ports.
l Be aware that the order in which you connect the model ports to the N-port ports affects
the solution. When you select the ports to connect to the N-Port in the Layout window,
the order in which you select them determines the order of port connection. It is very
important to connect the right ports since most active device S-parameters are not
symmetrical.
l If your N-port is an active or nonlinear device and you are inserting the device along a
section of microstrip line, it is very important that the dimensions of the microstrip are as
precise (as close to the actual, physical model) as possible. This precision increases the
solution’s accuracy when connecting the complex S-parameters of the N-port to the
overall circuit.

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l The simulation frequency must be within the range of frequency specified in the N-port S-
parameter file. If the simulation frequency is out of range, an error message appears and
the simulation is terminated. You need to either change the simulation frequency or
update the N-port S-parameter file to include new frequency data.

If the simulation frequency does not coincide with any of the N-port frequencies, HFSS
approximates the N-port S-parameters at the simulating frequency by interpolating them.
The accuracy of the interpolation may deteriorate if the S-parameters contain sharp nulls or
peaks. So for N-ports that resonate, make sure there are enough data points in the N-port S-
parameters near the resonance.

l N-ports cannot be connected to coupled mode, slotline, or CPW ports.

l If you modify the S-parameter file of an N-port, you must update the N-port in the structure
by re-importing the file to use the updated data.

Importing or Linking N-Port Data

If you want to refer to an N-port data file during the solution process, you can import an N-port data
file into the active project or link to an N-port data file. The latter method is useful when you want to
avoid importing an N-port data file into the project every time it is updated.

1. On the Project menu, point to Add Model and click Add NPortModel.

The N-Port Data dialog box appears.

2. Under the N-Port Data tab, select one of the following data sources:
l Import data
l Link to file
3. Select one of the following options in the File area:
l Use Path if you want to specify the exact location of the N-port data file.
l In PersonalLib folder if the file is located in the program’s PersonalLib folder.
l In userlib folder if the file is located in the program’s userlib folder.
l In syslib folder if the file is located in the program’s syslib folder.
4. Click the “. . .” button and use the file browser to select the desired N-port data file.
5. Click OK.

You return to the N-Port Data tab of the N-Port Data dialog box.

6. Follow the general procedure for inserting N-Port data.

Manually Entering N-Port Data

You have the option to manually enter S-, Y-, or Z-matrix data in the N-Port Data dialog box,
rather than importing or linking to an existing N-port data file.

1. On the Project menu, point to Add Model and click Add NPortModel.

The N-Port Data dialog box appears.

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2. Under the N-Port Data tab, select Enter data in spreadsheet.

3. Click the Network Data tab and select whether the information being entered is in the Time
or Frequency domain from the Domain list. The Planar EM tool can interpret only
frequency-domain data.
4. Select the units for the information being entered from the Units list.
l Select S-matrix, Y-matrix, or Z-matrix, depending upon the type of data you want to
enter.

Note If the N-port data file contains complex propagation constant or characteristic
impedance values, you can select Gamma or Zo, respectively, to view the data,
but the information is not necessary to run a simulation.

5. Enter the number of ports to which the N-port is connected in the Ports box.
6. Select the format in which you want to enter the data - (magnitude, phase), (real, imaginary),
or (dB/, phase) - from the list. Then enter the data for each frequency point in the
spreadsheet.
l Click Add Frequency to add information for an additional frequency point.
l Click Clone to create a copy of the selected set of frequency data and place the copy
at the end of the spreadsheet. Cloning can save data entry time.
l Click Delete to delete the selected set of frequency data.
7. Follow the general procedure for inserting N-Port data.

Changing the Reference Impedance for N-Port Data

You can change the reference impedance for the S-parameter data in an N-port data file. This is
done under the Port Impedance tab in the N-Port Data dialog box. You can apply the same
impedance to all ports or a different impedance to each port.

1. Click the Port Impedance tab in the N-Port Data dialog box.
2. To apply the same reference impedance to all ports, do the following:
a. Select Simple Port Impedance.
b. Type the impedance value in ohms.
c. Select Admittance if you want to calculate the admittance matrix, the inverse of the
impedance matrix, based on the value entered.
d. Click Update.
3. To apply a different reference impedance to each port, do the following:
a. Select Set impedance for each port.
b. Select a port from the list.
c. Select Impedance or Admittance, then type the real and imaginary parts of the

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impedance value in the Real and Imaginary text boxes.

d. Click Update.

Repeat these steps for each port.

Rotating the Phase of N-Port Data

You can rotate the phase of an N-port’s S-parameter data. This is done under the Network Data
tab in the N-Port Data dialog box.

1. Click the Network Data tab in the N-Port Data dialog box.
2. Click Phase Rotation.
3. If you select Specify Distance and Effective Dielectric Constant, enter a distance in the
Length text box and a dielectric constant value in the Keff text box.
4. If you select Time Delay, enter the delay time in the Time text box and select a unit in
seconds from the list.
5. Click Update.
6. Click OK.

Phase rotation is calculated for the N-port data and you return to the Network Data tab.

Drawing a Connection in the Layout Editor

After inserting an N-port into your project, you must connect it to your model. A new port is created
upon connection and is automatically defined as a pad port. The order in which you select the ports
determines the order of port connection and the solution. So it is important to connect the ports in
the right order, since most active device S-parameters are not symmetrical.

To draw a connection from an N-port to your model:

1. Select the edge of the model to which you want to connect the N-port.
2. Select the port on the N-port that you want to connect to the edge.
3. On the Draw menu, click Connection.
l The edge you selected is connected to the N-port and creates a new internal port upon
connection. The N-port data will be used during the solution process.
l Make sure to connect all the ports of an N-port to the model.

Note To remove a connection so that objects can be easily removed and/or reinserted
elsewhere, select one or more objects and click Disconnect from Net from the Draw
menu.

Multiple Connections

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Additionally, the Connection command is an interactive mode that can be used to make multiple
connections, one after another. When nothing is selected, and Draw > Connection is chosen, the
layout changes to connect mode and the cursor changes to the following:

Then, when the cursor is close enough to choose an object that can be connected, the object is
graphically highlighted and the cursor changes to the following:

Click on an object to connect. Moving the cursor now extends a feedback segment from the
connected object. Click on a second object and the two are connected in the same net.

Related Topics

Layout Editor Options: Snapping Panel

Place Design Dialog

Components with a Symbol Footprint

Components that do not have footprint geometry are initially rendered on the Symbol layer. When
the component is first wired to an object on a physical layer, it will then render on that physical layer.

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If the component has any pins wired to an object on a physical layer, a new property called Auto
Layer Placement appears. It is populated with all the pins that are connected to physical layers,
plus an additional override option: use placement layer.

When the Auto Layer Placement is set to use placement layer, the PlacementLayer property
is editable and the user may override the layer placement for the component rendering.

Assigning Reference Ports in the Layout Editor

You can assign reference ports using the Draw > Port > Assign Reference command. Both
selected edges and vias are changed to ports:

l Selected edges become edge ports

l Selected vias become pins

You can assign reference ports using any of the following scenarios.

Padstack/Padstack

1. With two padstack instances selected.

2. Select Draw > Port > Create

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3. The first padstack selected becomes the port, and the second becomes the reference.

Edge/Edge

1. With two non-linear edge groups selected on the same layer.

2. Select Draw > Port > Create

3. The first edge selected becomes the port, and the second becomes the reference.

Edge/Padstack

1. With an edge and a padstack selected.

2. Select Draw > Port > Create

3. The first edge becomes the port, and the second becomes the reference.

Port/Padstack

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1. With an existing port and a padstack selected.

OR

1. Select Draw > Port > Assign Reference

OR

1. The padstack becomes the reference for the port.

Circuit Ports in Layout

Circuit ports may be created using the following commands:

l Draw > Port > Create Circuit Ports

l Layout Editor Right-mouse-click > Port > Create Ports

Modes of Operation

l With no active selection, the command activates the circuit port drawing tool.

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1. Click at the start point.

2. Click at the end point.
3. Choose the start/end layers from the popup window.

A circuit port is created between the two points and the tool remains active until it is canceled or
until a new tool is selected.

l With an active selection, the command creates a circuit port between the selected edges or
pins, or in the case of a single edge, from the edge to the ground.

General Rules

l The start/end points of a circuit port must lie on metal (a negative ground layer is
acceptable).
l Circuit ports are not recognized by the Planar EM solver.
l The HFSS/Planar EM port type can be toggled between gap and circuit if the port geometry
represents a valid gap port.

Drawing Apertures on Negative Signal Planes

You can create apertures or holes in an infinite negative signal plane layer. Simply draw an object
on the negative signal layer in the shape of the aperture. HFSS assumes that any object drawn
upon a negative signal layer is an aperture and automatically assigns it the properties of air if the
stackup is non laminate and to the properties of the dielectric fill material if the stackup is laminate.

Routing Traces in the Layout Editor

You can route traces manually or automatically. To route traces in the Layout Editor, select
exactly two of the following endpoints and then select either Draw > Route > Automatic or Draw
> Route > Manual:

l Pin
l Edge
l Edge Port

The following sections describe the required inputs and expected outputs for Automatic and
Manual trace generation.

Related Topics

Automatic Trace Generation

Manual Trace Generation

Regenerate Auto-Trace

Unfix Auto-Trace

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Automatic Trace Generation in the Layout Editor

To set the configuration options for Automatic Trace Generation, select Draw > Route >
Settings. This opens the Automatic Trace Drawing Options dialog:

The following options are available:

l Auto-select width from geometry will define the line style by bend type, cap type, and the
minimum width of the geometry that is being connected.
l Used fixed line style will define the line style from the named line style, which explicitly
gives a width as well as bend and cap types.
l Enable Clearance causes auto-trace to attempt to keep a minimum distance from all
geometry, either as a proportion of line width or as an absolute distance.
l LineWidth causes auto-trace to attempt to keep a minimum distance, equal to Line Width
multiplied by the <number entered>, from all geometry in the layout.
l Distance causes auto-trace to keep the defined distance from all geometry in the layout.
l Via Options specifies that the selected via type will be used when vias are placed (which
occurs when the trace start and end are not on the same layer).
l To set additional options, select the Advanced Settings button. This opens the Advanced

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Auto-Trace Options dialog:

The following options are available:

l Preferred number of steps to goal is divided into the distance from start to end in order to
calculate the step size for the trace grid. In general, smaller step sizes (that is, larger
numbers of steps) mean slower performance but better solutions, due to the finer control of
the trace path. Note, however, that the step size can never be less than the line width of the
generated path.
l Step size reduction factor per attempt is divided into the step size, if a path avoiding
obstacles is not found. Then the algorithm is attempted again. Attempts will continue until the
step size is less than the line width or until Maximum number of steps is reached.
l Maximum number of attempts specifies the upper limit of retry attempts for the trace.
l Search box size factor is multiplied by the distance from the start to end in order to set the
maximum search box size for the trace. As a result, the auto-generated path stays inside the
dimensions of the calculated search box.

After configuring options for Automatic routing, begin the trace by selecting two pins, edges, or end
points and clicking Draw > Route > Automatic. Outputs from the trace are generated and include
lines and vias that connect input while avoiding obstacles. Note that vias are added when start/end
points do not lie on the same layer, and via positions are chosen so they do not intersect metal. As a
result, vias will lie over geometry on ground layers (which are negatives).

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Manual Trace Generation in the Layout Editor

To set the configuration options for Manual Trace Generation, select Draw > Route > Manual.
This opens the model’s Trace Drawing Options dialog:

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The following options are available:

l Auto-select width from geometry will define the line style by bend type, cap type, and the
minimum width of the geometry that is being connected.
l Used fixed line style will define the line style from the named line style, which explicitly
gives a width as well as bend and cap types.
l Padstack definition displays the type of via to use that is specified when you click Select.
l Via start layer specifies the start layer for the via.
l Via end layer specifies the end layer for the via.

Start and end layers automatically switch as vias are placed during manual routing. For example, if
the first via leads from trace to ground, the second via, by default, would lead from ground to trace.

Begin the trace by selecting two pins, edges, or end points and clicking Draw > Route > Manual.
Outputs from the trace are generated as the user clicks on the screen and “grows” the trace from
subsequent click-point to click-point. During the trace building process, the user can modify values
in the Trace Drawing Options dialog to change the trace that is being generated.

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You can switch layers by selecting Add Via from the right-click pop-up menu, and can also use this
operation to add a via under the current mouse location.

Regenerate Auto-Trace in the Layout Editor

After modifying a layout (change geometry location, move an obstacle) you can regenerate the
automatic trace by choosing any object in the trace and selecting Draw > Route > Regenerate.
This will regenerate the automatic trace while avoiding geometry that was moved or added since
the original trace.

Unfix Auto-Trace in the Layout Editor

Trace geometry that is placed as a manual trace segment, or modified since the original auto-
routing, is "fixed" in place. After part of a trace is fixed, additional modifications to the trace start/end
causes traces to be rerouted to the newly fixed geometry — the fixed geometry does not move.

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To "unfix" these portions of the trace and allow them to be automatically rerouted, select the fixed
geometries to be rerouted and select Draw > Route > Unfix. All the selected portions of the trace,
along with all other non-fixed segments of the trace, will be replaced with new auto-routed trace
segments.

Measurement Mode in the Layout Editor

The Layout editor Measurement Mode allows you to left-click on any two grid-points in order to
define a segment and display the linear distance between its endpoints. Measurements are
displayed as property displays on the layout.

Measurements and their properties are also displayed as values in the Properties window.

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l Type describes the value type, which is Measurement

l LockPosition controls the Position Locking of the measurement in the layout. The default is
position unlocked.
l Name describes the name value, which is Measurement_45
l Digits Displayed controls the number of significant digits that are displayed, and is
controlled by the Measurement Distance Displays area of the Object tab of the Layout
Options dialog. The default is 3 significant digits.
l Display Units controls whether measurement distances are displayed with the Project's
current units, as defined by the Default Units tab of the General Options dialog for the
Project. The default is units undisplayed.
l Start, End, Delta, and Angle are editable number properties related to position which will
change the measurement as it exists in the layout.
l TotalDistance is a readonly text property that matches what is displayed on the layout.

In Measurement mode, you can also click on multiple points to define multiple segments, and the
distance between each point will be measured. The individual distances of multi-segments are
displayed as property displays on the layout.

The properties for a multi-segment measurement include individual distances: Distance1,

Distance2, Distance3, etc., which are all readonly values.

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To turn Measurement mode on, select Layout > Measure; the cursor changes to a small diamond
shape. Each time you left-click a new point in the layout, a new segment is defined, and when you
end the measurement, the distance of each segment is displayed. To end the measurement select
Right-Click > Finish Measurement, which ends the particular measurement, but not the
measurement mode session. To complete a measurement and also terminate measurement
mode, select Right-Click > Finish.

To clear the measurement lines from the layout, select Layout > Erase Measurements.
Measurement mode supports the creation of multiple measurements, until the mode is terminated.
To terminate measurement mode, select Right-Click > Finish. To complete a measurement
without terminating measurement mode, select Right-Click > Finish Measurement.

To cancel a measurement without terminating measurement mode, select Right-Click > Cancel
Measurement. You can also finish a measurement without terminating the mode by double-
clicking a location. Right-Click > Backup will backup to the last measurement segment. Right-
Click > Cancel will terminate the measurement mode.

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Measurements displayed in the layout can be moved, rotated, or flipped. Measurement handles
may be edited. But measurements displayed in the layout may not be copied or pasted.

Summary

l To turn Measurement Mode on, select Layout > Measure

l To finish a measurement, select Right-Click > Finish Measurement, which ends the
particular measurement, but not measurement mode. You can also finish a measurement
without terminating the mode by double-clicking a location.
l To end a measurement and also terminate measurement mode, select Right-Click >
Finish.
l To clear the measurement lines from the layout, select Layout > Erase Measurements.
l To terminate the measurement mode session, select Right-Click > Finish.
l To finish a measurement without terminating measurement mode, select Right-Click >
Finish Measurement.
l To cancel a measurement without terminating measurement mode, select Right-Click >
Cancel Measurement.
l Right-Click > Backup will backup to the last measurement segment.
l Right-Click > Cancel will terminate the measurement mode

Dielectric Modeling
HFSS supports finite dielectrics. Dielectric layers will always be truncated according to the HFSS
Model Extents. Using the extents settings, you can define how the polygon dielectric and negative
signal layers will be generated relative to the base polygon. By default, the HFSS Model Extents
setting for “Honor primitives on dielectric layers” is selected, but when the check box is unselected,
dielectric layers use the extents settings regardless of whether or not you draw polygons on them.
For more information, see HFSS Model Extents.

In contrast, Signal layers can be made of either dielectric or conducting materials and can have
internal, user-drawn shapes to create what are sometimes called "dielectric bricks" or "dielectric
inclusions”. While sometimes called "bricks", there are no limitations on the dielectric shapes.
Signal layers that are assigned a dielectric material will create objects corresponding to whatever
shapes exist on the layer. Signal layers may overlap other Signal layers in elevation, and this
provides a great deal of flexibility for representing dielectric object.

In the event that dielectrics on different Signal layers overlap, the Precedence Value on the EM
Modeling Properties can be used to resolve ambiguities with lower values having priority. If EM
Modeling Properties have not been added or cannot be used to resolve overlaps, precedence is
assigned according to material properties.

Importing a Stackup
In certain instances it may be easier to define your dielectric and signal layer stackup by importing
an XML based “control file" using the Edit Layers dialog. For example, if you have a standard

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technology process, and you want to assure that all the designs you create use this process, you
can import a control file to guarantee that all the stackups are identical.

The XML control file can be created using a third party text editor or a script. In some cases,
extremely complex stackups can be more easily created outside of HFSS and then imported,
rather than creating the stackups using the HFSS interface. For more information on the format of
the XML layer control file, see Layout and ODB++ Control File.

The Edit Layers dialog has two pull-down menus: Stackup and Layer.

The Stackup menu allows the user to import a stackup from an XML file and to export the stackup
in the dialog to an XML file.

To import a stackup, open the EditLayers dialog by clicking its toolbar icon or by selecting Layout
> Layers. Next, click on Stackup > Import XML. A series of dialogs will open that allow you to
browse to the XML control file and import the stackup. The exact series of steps will depend on
whether the design has existing layers and whether the layers contain geometry. In certain
instances the import mechanism will add additional dielectric/signal layers to create the pancake
stackup.

The Design Does Not Have Existing Layers

The Layout/ODB++ Control file can be imported directly. A FileOpen dialog will appear that allows
you to browse to the XML layer control file.

The Design Has Existing Layers

After clicking the ImportStackup button, a warning may display that indicates at least one of the
existing layers contains geometry. A dialog then offers the option of replacing or updating the
existing layers. After choosing to update or replace existing layers, a FileOpen dialog appears that
allows you to browse to the XML layer control file.

l Replace existing layers — All existing layers in the design are discarded and layers
from the Layout/ODB++ Control File are inserted into the design. Geometry on any of the
existing layers may be moved to different layers. After importing a stackup into a design
with existing geometry, it is important to recheck your design.
l Update existing layers — The import mechanism will attempt to merge the existing
design layers with those in the Layout/ODB++ Control File. In some cases the import

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mechanism cannot merge the layers and you will not be able to import the Layout/ODB++
Control file. The following examples illustrate the results when a one-to-one match does
not exist between existing and imported layers. The XML file and existing stackup contain
layers of type signal ("S") and dielectric ("D") — i.e., the name "S1" signifies a signal layer
(but the layer names you choose can be arbitrary).

Example 1: One to one mapping. This is the simplest case where existing layers are updated
with new material properties and thicknesses. The matching of layer names is case insensitive.

     XML File           Existing           Resulting Stackup     

S1 S1 S1
D0 D0 D0
S0 S0 S0

Example 2: Merge not possible. In this case the layers in the XML file are very different from
the layers in the existing stackup and the import mechanism cannot create a merged stackup.

     XML File           Existing           Resulting Stackup     

S1 S3 Not possible to merge
D0 D1
S0 S2

     XML File           Existing           Resulting Stackup     

S1 S1 Not possible to merge
D0 D1
S0 S0

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Example 3: Additional layers. In this case the XML file has one or more additional layers. The
import mechanism will update existing material properties and thicknesses and add the
additional layers.

     XML File           Existing           Resulting Stackup     

D1 D1
S1 S1 S1
D0 D0 D0
S0 S0 S0

Example 4: Automatic layer addition. The import mechanism will add dielectric or signal
layers to create a strict pancake stackup.

     XML File           Existing           Resulting Stackup     

D1 D1
S2 S2
D0 D0
S1 S1 S1
S0 S0 S0_DIEL
S0

Layer "S0_DIEL" is a dielectric layer added by the import mechanism with defaults for the
material and thickness.

Layout Components
Layout based component encapsulation allows you to efficiently configure and manipulate HFSS
3D Layout objects by using coordinate system groupings that employ a Component Model
Configuration. You can select an individual pin in layout, or select a component, and then click the

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ModelInfo bar of the Properties Window to open the Component Model dialog.

Different options will appear in the Component Model dialog depending on the part type. The
above figure shows a Connector and IO class, but in general, you can use the Component Model
dialog to set up the configuration for all the pins of a component and/or all pins for components of
the same class.

For instance, you can still configure pins individually, but since Solder Balls are often likely to be
identical across the entire component interface, you can use the Component Model dialog to
configure Solder Balls properties across component scope. After which, every pin on the
component is configured with the same type Solder Ball, positioned correctly either above or
below, and also generates the common reference for HFSS simulation.

Next, you can then use the Components Window to select the component or a component class,
and in combination with the right-click Create Ports option and the Use Net option of the Create
Ports dialog, configure multiple ports across components in just the same manner. You can also
select multiple components in the layout simultaneously to configure pins and ports for each, all at
once.

For resistor, inductor, and capacitor component classes, an electrical model can be directly
assigned to characterize the behavior of the passive device. Available model types include:

l RLC network: assign a simple parallel or series R, L, C network.

l S-parameter model: create a model from a touchstone file.
l Library: choose a model from the installed vendor libraries.
l Netlist: an arbitrary netlist can be assigned when the component's SolveIndependent option
is enabled (i.e., selected for inclusion by Linear Network Analysis only).

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Related Topics

Working with the Capacitor/Inductor Library Browser

Working With The Capacitor/Inductor Library Browser

SIwave allows you to define VRM parameters and impedance requirements, then automatically
select capacitors that meet those requirements. You can also plot the impedance of various vendor
or imported capacitor components versus frequency.

To view the Capacitor/Inductor Library:

1. Select a capacitor in the Components window, click the Model Info for the capacitor in the
Properties window, then in the Component Model dialog that appears, click the Library
Browser button.

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The Capacitor/Inductor Library Browser dialog box appears. You can sort the values in
each column by clicking the column title.

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2. To automatically select the capacitors that match the defined impedance profile, click the 

icon.
3. To manually select the capacitors, click the Plot check box. To plot all the capacitors, click
the Plot column title.
4. Specify filters for the options that you want to show. You can save these options to a .cff
(capacitor filter criteria) file. You can also load an existing filter.
5. To update the value for multiple capacitors, select the value from the pull-down list, enter a
new value for all the selected capacitors in the text box, and then click Update.

6. To import a capacitor model from a Touchstone file: click the   icon. The Import S-
parameter Component dialog box appears. Specify the component details, and click OK.

7. To remove all capacitor impedance curves that have been selected, click the  icon.

8. To define the impedance requirements, click the  icon. The Define Impedance Mask
dialog box appears. You can create and save the existing profile, or load a saved profile.

9. To define VRM parameters, click the  icon. The Define VRM Parameters dialog box
appears. Specify the ESL and ESR parameters, along with the plot color, and click OK.

10. To change the display options, click the corresponding  icons to display
impedance mask, VRM output impedance curve, or aggregate output impedance curve.
11. To update the value for multiple capacitors, select the value from the pull-down list, enter a
new value for all the selected capacitors in the text box, and then click Update.

Coordinate Systems
Each Coordinate System (CS) possesses an X-axis that lies at a right angle to a Y-axis. The origin
(0,0) of each CS is located at the intersection of the x- and y-axes. HFSS has two types of
coordinate systems: global coordinate systems, and relative coordinate systems.

l A globalcoordinate system is the fixed, default coordinate system (CS) for each new project.
The global CS cannot be edited or deleted.
l A relative coordinate system is one which you create within the global CS, or within another
relative CS. Multiple relative CSs can be created. A relativeCS is user-defined, and its origin
and orientation can be set relative to an existing object or relative to another existing CS.
Relative CSs enable you to draw objects that are positioned relative to other objects. If you
modify a relative CS, all objects drawn in that CS will be affected and all objects will change
their relative positions accordingly. You can choose to set a relative CS that is offset from an
existing CS, rotated from an existing CS, or bothoffset and rotated from an existing CS.

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You can switch between global and relative CSs by changing the activeCS. Objects in the active
CS possess a color attribute that overrides the default layer color for objects displayed in the layout
editor. User-defined CSs are saved with the active project.

Related Topics

Create Coordinate System

Group and Ungroup Commands

Push and Pop Commands

Select Coordinate System

Create Coordinate System

The Draw > Coordinate System > Create command allows you to define a relative CS whose
origin and orientation can be set relative to an existing object, or set relative to another existing CS.

New Coordinate System With No Object Selected

With nothing selected in the layout editor, the Draw > Coordinate System > Create command
creates a new relative CS and will group together subsequently created objects and position them
relative to the 0,0 origin point of the new CS. When you select the Create command with no object
selected, the cursor changes to positive X-Y crosshairs to indicate that a new CS is being created.
The cursor also displays the name assigned to the CS, in the form CS_n, where n is a unique
integer. Left click in the editor to position the new relative CS. After positioning, all objects you now
create are automatically grouped together with, and positioned relative to, the 0,0 origin point of the
new CS. This is indicated by each object's positional values that are displayed in the Properties
window.

New Coordinate System With Object Selected

With an object selected in the layout editor, the Draw > Coordinate System > Create command
creates a new Coordinate System and will group together and position subsequently created
objects relative to the selected object. When you select the Create command with an object
selected, positive X-Y crosshairs are positioned next to the object to indicate that a new CS is being
created relative to that object. Objects you now create are automatically grouped together with,
and positioned relative to, the 0,0 origin point of the new CS. This is indicated by each object's
positional values that are displayed in the Properties window. There are three types of objects you
can associate with a new relative CS: an edge port, a pin, or a selected edge.

Group and Ungroup Commands

The following group/ungroup commands are available when working with objects in a relative
coordinate system (CS).

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l Draw > Coordinate System > Group Into CS groups all selected objects into a new
relative CS.
l Draw > Coordinate System > Ungroup ungroups all selected objects and deletes the
relative CS. Ungrouping a structure removes the connecting surface between the objects
that make up the structure, but without removing the objects.

Push and Pop Commands

HFSS has two types of coordinate systems: the global coordinate system, and relative coordinate
systems. The global CS is the fixed, default HFSS CS, which cannot be edited or deleted. When
you create a first, new relative CS, it is created as a subordinate level to the global CS, similar to a
sub-circuit.

The coordinate system Push and Pop commands allow you to move between different CS levels.

l Draw > Coordinate System > Push Down switches the active CS to the next lower level.
l Draw > Coordinate System > Pop Up switches the active CS to the next higher level.
Relative CSs can be created within other relative CSs to form multiple relative levels.

Select Coordinate System

The Coordinate System Edit command allows you to switch the active CS between multiple
existing CSs: the existing global CS, and the existing relative CSs you have created.

l When you click Draw > Coordinate System > Edit the Select Coordinate System window
appears. You may now select the CS you wish to edit.
l As you select a coordinate system in the list, the coordinate system you have chosen
becomes temporarily activated in the layout to show which objects are affected.
l When you have finished choosing a coordinate system to edit, click Select and that CS now
becomes the active CS in the layout editor.

3D Structures
You can manipulate 3D structures in the Layout Editor using the Draw > 3D Structure submenu
commands described in this section.

Related Topics

Create 3D Structures

3D Ungroup

3D Push and Pop

Create 3D Structures
When two or more objects on different layers are selected, the Draw > 3D Structure> Create
command will connect the objects to create a single 2D or 3D object. Objects being connected

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must possess the same number of points.

l If the objects selected contain open lines, the created structure will be a two-dimensional
face (cross-layer plate) that spans the different layers.
l If the selected objects contain closed lines, the created structure will be a three-dimensional
solid (3D Via) that spans the different layers. These 3D surfaces are included in the Planar
EM model. And in addition to a color attribute, 3D structures also possess a material
attribute.
l If Create 3D Structure is clicked when no objects are selected, you will be required to
interactively place the structure, and the current CS will be set to the new 3D structure.

Note When you use Draw > 3D Structure> Create to create a structure using a selection of
closed polygon lines, the order in which you select the lines is not significant — lines are
automatically ordered according to elevation before being connected by the closed surface.
But when you use Draw > 3D Structure> Create to create a structure using open lines,
the selection of lines is order-significant — lines will be connected in the order in which they
were chosen.

3D Ungroup
The following group/ungroup commands are available when working with 3D structure objects.

l The Draw > 3D Structure > Ungroup command ungroups all selected objects and
deletes the relative CS. Ungrouping a 3D structure will remove the connecting 3D surface
between the objects that make up the structure, but without removing the objects.

3D Push and Pop

HFSS has two types of coordinate systems: the global coordinate system, and relative coordinate
systems. The global CS is the fixed, default HFSS CS, which cannot be edited or deleted. When
you create a first, new relative CS, it is created as a subordinate level to the global CS, similar to a
sub-circuit. The 3D Structure Push and Pop commands allow you to move between different CS
levels.

l Draw > 3D Structure > Push Down switches the active CS to the next lower level.
l Draw > 3D Structure > Pop Up switches the active CS to the next higher level. Relative
CSs can be created within other relative CSs to form multiple relative levels.

Design Verification and Geometry Check

Design Verification and Geometry Check provide an easy process for verifying common design
rules by providing support for creating, checking, and fixing design layouts within a single tool.
Design Verification (DV) uses rule sets and runs to define a particular check of the layout A rule set
contains scripts that define the checks to be done, and a run defines the objects to be checked. A
combination of a rule set and a run is used to perform the DV check. Each DV check has its own
results that may be graphically viewed in the Layout Editor or exported to GDSII or to other

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formats. A text summary of the results is also available and can be viewed in the Layout Editor or
exported to a file.

Related Topics

Rule Checking

Design Verification Setup

Design Verification Runs

Defining Multiple Runs

Design Verification Results

Transferring Rule Sets

Design Verification Commands

Geometry Check in Layout

Rule Checking
Design Verification employs layout-constraint rules which ensure that the IC/PCB will operate as
designed, given the manufacturing process. Using DV, layers have restrictions on size, aspect
ratio, and separation that result from different physical, chemical, and lithographic process
limitations, as well as the electrical properties of the device.

DV rules to enforce these restrictions can be complex and involve layer and connectivity
interactions. Before sending the IC/PCB layout to be manufactured, you should first verify the
layout using the DV software:

l For IC, the manufacturing foundry specifies the restrictions. IC foundries require checking
with an authorized DV rule set to guarantee the manufacturing.
l For PCB, companies that create the board design often have their own restrictions that
also incorporate additional restrictions which come from the board manufacturer.

Vendors of DV software work with foundries to provide authorized sets of design rules to meet the
process requirements.

Partial Rule Checking

It is common for the design verification of a full layout to take hours to run. Since it is not practical to
do such a check often, DV tools also provide partial design testing. Using a combination of
complete and partial testing speeds up development time. Another time saver is using DV tools that
can run directly from the layout editor database to avoid data translation.

DV is time-consuming and execution speed is a consideration. However, the top priority is

accuracy. Both the foundry/manufacturer and company designing the IC/PCB rely on the accuracy
of the results. False errors are better than missed errors, but they slow down the design cycle.

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Graphical Data

The execution of a DV rule produces graphical data (polygon or edge/vector) showing location and
explanatory error messages. The error messages may be output on the screen and/or included in
the file of a generated report. One or more reports are created during a design verification run. The
graphical data can be stored with the layout data or separately. Both the textual and graphical
results can be used to locate and fix errors, but it is faster and more convenient to work with the
graphical results accessed by a layout editor.

Hierarchical Checking

Hierarchical checking is used to speed up design verification.

Layouts that use hierarchy to partition segments of the layout enable DV programs to check
identical segments only once and use the results for each placement. Note that the advantage of
hierarchy is greatly reduced if there is interaction with other objects at other levels of hierarchy.

Some DV tools analyze the actual layout hierarchy/geometry and then synthesize a hierarchical
view that works best for design verification. Users can also modify portions of the layout hierarchy
to “flatten” or ignore portions for checking. The verification view of the hierarchy does not change
the actual hierarchy used in the layout.

Generated Results

Rule sets, runs, scripts, and generated results are all persistent, and are contained in the project
file. Results are stored as solution data in the results file associated with the project file. Rule sets,
runs, and scripts may be part of technology files to jump start new projects with existing DV checks.

Design Verification Setup

Design Verification uses rule sets and runs to define a particular check of the layout. A layout may
have multiple rule sets defined and a rule set may have multiple runs defined. Results are stored for
each run and may be viewed or exported graphically. A text summary of the results of the run is
available to be viewed or exported to a text file. Items related to design verification are stored in the
Project Tree under Design Verification.

To define a rule set, right-click Design Verification in the Project Tree and choose Add Rule
Set. This opens the Design Verification Rule Set Dialog.

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The Design Verification Rule Set Dialog is used to access pre-existing legacy scripts and to
define new rule sets. Rule sets contain the scripts that specify DV checks. Scripts may be Java
Script, VB Script or Python Script. The Tree View on the left of the dialog shows the names of
available scripts. The names of pre-existing Java and VB Scripts already supported are listed at the
top of the Tree View.

Python Scripts are also supported and are listed in the Tree View below Java and VB Scripts in
non-leaf nodes. Python Scripts are stored in sub-folders in \syslib\DesignVerification. To edit a
Python Script, you must open the script file and edit it manually in the DesignVerification folder.

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l To access a pre-existing Java or VB script in the Design Verification Rule Set Dialog,
right-click on the script name and select Add, Remove, or Edit.
l To add a new rule script, change the Rule Set Name as desired and click the Add Rule
Script button.

This opens the Select Definition dialog where you can right-click to Add, Clone, Export, Edit,
and Remove a script.

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Script properties listed in the Grid Control to the right of the dialog are defined in the Python Scripts,
and their values can be changed for the current project.

Any number of additional scripts may be added to the rule set. When you have finished making
additions and selections in the Design Verification Rule Set Dialog, click OK to add the new
rule set. The Verification item in the Project Tree now contains the new rule set item.

To select a script to be part of a design verification run, select the check box of its node in the Tree
View. All selected scripts will be run for the current Rule Set. For more information, see Design
Verification Runs.

Design Verification Runs

To define and execute a Design Verification run, in the Project Tree beneath Design
Verification, right-click the Rule Set you wish to define and choose Add Run.

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This opens the Design Verification Run Dialog. This dialog is not modal.

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Note Design Verification allows selected target objects to be at or below the active level of the
hierarchy.

Change the Run Name as desired and choose from the following options:

Target

l Select the first Target radio button to specify that the entire layout is to be checked.
l Select the second Target radio button to specify that only selected objects are to be
checked.
l Click Choose Objects Currently Selected in Layout to choose objects for this run; the
run message updates to show the number of objects in this run.

Objects to ignore

l Click Choose Objects Currently Selected in Layout to choose objects to ignore for
this run; the run message updates to show the number of ignored objects in this run.

Tolerance

l Set the tolerance value for segmenting arcs and circles, or set the tolerance to the value
used by Layout.

Click OK to save your changes and close the dialog. Click Run DV to run the design verification.
Alternately, you can run the design verification by opening the Project Tree and clicking the Run
Name that resides beneath the corresponding Rule Set.

In the project tree, the rule set item now contains a run item. The current icon for the run has no
color, which indicates that the run has not been executed. Once executed the icon will have color.

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Defining Multiple Runs

This example will help you set up two design verification runs for a single rule set — one run to test
the entire layout and another run to test only selected objects. To define a second run that will verify
only selected objects, in the Project Tree beneath Design Verification, right-click the Rule Set
and choose Add Run.

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This re-opens the Design Verification Run Dialog. This time, change the Run Name to “Run on
Selection” and select the second Target radio button. The dialog message updates to show the
number of objects checked by the run. Click OK.

The Project Tree now indicates that there are two runs for this rule set, although neither has been
executed.

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To run the design verification and populate a run with results, in the Project Tree right-click on the
desired Run Name, such as “Entire Layout” or “Run on Selection” and choose Run. This will
execute the design verification on the rule set you have chosen.

While the run is executing, a progress bar appears which indicates the rule set, run, script, and
command, and how long the run has been executing. The run may be aborted using the arrow
button.

Design Verification Results

When the Design Verification run is complete, the icon for the run changes to indicate that it was
executed and whether results were found. Run icons also indicate whether results are invalid.

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Results are invalid if the layout, rule set, or run was changed after it was last executed.

In the above example:

l Entire Layout has been executed and contains invalid results.

l Run On Selection has been executed and no results were found.
l Run On Selection 2 has been executed and contains valid results.
l Run with Ignored Objects has not been executed.

After a design verification run has been executed and contains valid results, you can view those
results by selecting the run set in the Project Tree and choosing View Results from the right-click
menu. This opens the Design Verification Results window. The dialog is not modal.

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The Results dialog contains two tabs: Results and Profile. The Results tab is used to display
results graphically and interactively, while the Profile tab contains a summary of information about
the run.

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To write the Profile to a specified text file, click the Export button. This will write the summary to a
specified text file with the following format:

To view the actual results of the verification, in the Results tab, select either All results or Only
selected results and then click ShowResults. The results are displayed in heavy red lines in the
Layout Editor.

This example shows the result of line 5. The result for this check is a pair of thick line segments,
drawn in red on layer "DV sep results". The check was done in the rule script "One Layer
Separation to Errors" and was commented in the script with the description "R1 sep < 0.05 mm".

Results are only displayed in the Layout Editor when the Results dialog is open. Once the dialog
is closed, any results currently being shown in the layout are removed. Multiple Results dialogs for

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different runs may be open at the same time, but only the results of the active dialog are shown in
the Layout Editor. The Show Results button of each non-active dialog is enabled to allow you to
switch between results. If results are visible in the layout, and at least one result is selected in the
grid control, the Zoom to Selected Results button is enabled. Clicking it will change the layout
view to zoom to the results.

To export the graphical results, display all the results and leave the Results dialog open. Then use
layout Export functionality to export to the desired format and be sure to include the results layers.
The GDSII data exported with this dialog will contain the results geometry and layers, along with
layout geometry and layers.

Transferring Rule Sets

There are two ways that existing DV rule set, run, and script information may be transferred:

l Use Copy/Paste in the Project Tree. Rule sets and runs may be pasted within and
between projects. Scripts used by the rule sets are automatically copied.
l Choose Save As Technology File from the File menu.

To re-use a saved technology file when creating a new design, choose the technology file when
prompted for a file to open. The new design will be created with the same rule sets, runs, and
scripts as the design used to create the saved technology file. If any of the saved-technology runs
used selected or ignored objects, the same configuration will be used to set up the new run, but the
object count will be reset to 0 because the new layout is empty.

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Design Verification Commands

Design Verification deals with geometries that are grouped into logical "layers". A DV layer is a
collection of geometries that are used as input/output for DV commands. The geometry of a DV
layer may be saved as results that can be later viewed in the Layout Editor. The contents of a DV
layer may be imported from the Layout Editor or created by a DV command.

A DV layer contains the following types of graphical information:

l Error Clusters — Grouped segments that represent the results of a DV check. Usually
a cluster contains two segments, but under certain conditions there may be more or less.
These segments contain no polygon information. Segments may be a single point.
l Polygons — Closed geometric figures that may contain holes. These polygons may be
grouped.
l Edges — Segments that contain some relationship information from previously
belonging to a polygon. An edge, for instance, contains the directions "inside" and
"outside" of the polygon and is able to determine if another edge was part of the same
polygon. This information allows the edges to be used as input to other DV commands.

DV commands return DV layers with error clusters or polygons. Import commands,

ObjectCreation commands and ConnectivityChecking commands return DV layers containing
polygons. There are DV (Geometry Checking) commands that return each type of DV layer.

DV layers containing polygons may be used as input to any command. DV layers containing
polygons or edges support rule "conjunction", using the output of one check/operation as the input
to another. DV layers containing error clusters may only be used as input with the SaveLayer
command. The commands described below return DV layers containing polygons.

Related Topics

Design Verification Layer

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Object Creation Commands

Connectivity Checking Commands

Geometry Checking Commands

Design Verification Layer

A Design Verification layer, or simply “layer”, is a collection of geometry. A layer is a term used
internally within DV as input or output for various DV commands. When used as input, the contents
of a DV layer can be imported from layout by the ImportLayer command or created by a DV
command. When used as output, the SaveLayer command can be used to save the contents of a
DV layer as results which can then be viewed in layout.

DV layers contain one of the following types of graphical information:

l Error clusters – Grouped segments that represent the results of a check. Usually a cluster
contains two segments, but under certain conditions there may be a fewer or greater
number of segments. These segments possess no polygon information. Segments may
be a single point.
l Polygons – Closed geometric figures which may contain holes.

DV layers containing polygons may be used as input to any command. Once DV layers containing
edges are supported, they may be used as input to commands. DV layers containing polygons or
edges support rule “conjunction”, using the output of one check/operation as the input to another
check/operation. DV layers containing error clusters may be used as input only with the
SaveLayer command.

Related Topics

Import Commands

Export Commands
Import Commands

Import commands are used to import geometry from the objects being considered for the run. The
geometry imported may be filtered by ImportLayer or ImportNet.

ImportLayer

Input: Name of an existing layout layer (no restrictions on layer type)

Output: DV layer (containing polygons)

Description: Geometry of objects being considered for the run.

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l Normally, the imported geometry on a DV layer is merged before being used, because
merged geometry more closely represents what will be manufactured. However, some
commands have an option to use the raw (un-merged) data.
l Any arc edges which are imported will be approximated with straight edges before being
used by DV. The faceting will be determined by the value specified for the run in the
Design Verification RunDialog.
l Collinear edges are merged together before being used by DV.

Rule Set Example (JScript):

var layer1 = DVChecker.ImportLayer("trace");

ImportNet

Input: Name of an existing layout net qualifier "Not" or "Only" (optional)

Output: DV layer (containing polygons)

Description: Geometry of objects being considered for the run is added to the returned layer
based on the given net name and argument.

l The argument may be either "Only" or "Not". If the argument is not present it is defaulted
to "Only". "Only" specifies the return of objects belonging to the named net. "Not" returns
objects not belonging to the named net.
l Normally the imported geometry in a DV layer is merged before being used, because
merged geometry more closely represents what will be manufactured. However, some
commands have an option to use the raw (un-merged) data.
l Any arc edges imported will be approximated with straight edges before being used by
DV. The faceting will be determined by the value specified for the run in the Run dialog.
l Collinear edges are merged together before being used by DV.

Rule Set Example (JScript):

var namedNet = DVChecker.ImportNet("Pin1");

var namedNet2 = DVChecker.ImportNet("Pin2", "Only");

var namedNet3 = DVChecker.ImportNet("Pin1", "Not");

Related Topics

Export Commands

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Export Commands

Export commands are used to export results from DV to the Layout Editor. The results are later
accessed using the Design Verification Results dialog which is used to display the results
graphically in the Layout Editor, to support export of the graphical results to GDSII or other
formats, to display profile summary information related to the results, and to export the profile
summary information to a text file.

SaveLayer

Input: DV layer (any type)

           Name of layout error layer to use to display contents of DV layer (optional)

           Text to associate with geometry of the DV layer (optional)

Output: No return value

Description: Creates results that can later be viewed in layout. The geometry is retrieved from the
specified DV layer.

l If the layout-error layer-name is not specified, a default layout-error layer-name is used.

The contents of the DV layer are appended to any other results already associated with
the layout-error layer. If text is not specified, a string will be constructed internally so that
all results have an associated text message.
l If the specified error layer does not exist in layout, when the results are viewed the layout
layer is created. Layout layers created to view DV results remain in the layout; they are not
removed by DV.

Rule Set Example (JScript):

DVChecker.SaveLayer(or Layer3, “DV error layer”, "Or of layer1 and layer2");

Import Commands

Object Creation Commands

The object-creation commands described in this section use existing geometry as a basis to create
a new DV layer. Even if the same layer-variable name is used in multiple calls to an object-creation
command, a new DV layer is created during each call. The previous DV layer contents are “lost” to
the user. This does not leak internally, but the previous layer does stay in existence taking up
memory until all layers are cleaned up.

Related Topics

And Command

Or Command

Not Command

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Sizing Command
And Command

Input: One or two DV layers (containing polygons)

Output: DV layer (containing polygons)

Description: Creates and returns a DV layer that contains geometry generated from the overlap
of original geometry on the input layer(s). This is a symmetric operation. The order of the input
layers does not change the results.

l Single input layer functionality uses raw (un-merged) geometry so that overlaps are not
removed.

l Two input layer functionality merges geometry of input layers that are imported. In the
following example the two rectangles on layer A are merged into one polygon before doing
the And operation. The result of the And is one polygon.

l If the input layers are not imported (they are created within DV), two input layer functionality
uses the geometry “as is”. In the following example the two rectangles on layer A are not
merged before doing the And operation. The results of the And are two overlapping

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polygons.

Rule Set Example (JScript):

var layer1 = DVChecker.ImportLayer("trace");

var layer2 = DVChecker.ImportLayer("ground");

var andLayer = DVChecker.And(layer1);

var andLayer2 = DVChecker.And(andLayer);

var andLayer3 = DVChecker.And(layer1, layer2);

Or Command

Input: One or two DV layers (containing polygons)

Output: DV layer (containing polygons)

Description: Creates and returns a DV layer that contains geometry generated from the merge of
original geometry on the input layer(s). This is a symmetric operation. The order of the input layers
does not change the results.

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l Single input layer Or

l Two input layer Or

Rule Set Example (JScript):

var layer1 = DVChecker.ImportLayer("trace");

var layer2 = DVChecker.ImportLayer("ground");

var orLayer = DVChecker.Or(layer1);

var orLayer2 = DVChecker.Or(orLayer);

var or

Layer3 = DVChecker.Or(layer1, layer2);

Not Command

Input: Two DV layers (containing polygons)

Output: DV layer (containing polygons)

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Description: Creates and returns a DV layer that contains geometry generated from the first layer
geometry areas that are not common to the second layer geometry. This is not a symmetric
operation. The order of the input layers does change the results.

l Not(A, B): Area covered by geometry on layer A that is not also covered by geometry on
layer B.

l Not(B, A): Area covered by geometry on layer B that is not also covered by geometry on
layer A.

l Geometry on input layers that are imported is merged prior to performing the Not operation.
In the following example the two rectangles on layer A are merged into one polygon before

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doing the Not(A, B) operation. The result of the Not is one polygon.

l If the input layers are not imported (they are created within DV), the geometry is used “as is”.
In the following example the two rectangles on layer A are not merged before doing the Not
(A, B) operation. The results of the Not are a rectangle and a polygon that overlap.

Rule Set Example (JScript):

var layer1 = DVChecker.ImportLayer("trace");

var layer2 = DVChecker.ImportLayer("ground");

var notLayer = DVChecker.Not(layer1, layer2);

Sizing Command

Input: Amount to size (can be positive or negative)

           One DV layer (containing polygons)

           Angle of truncation (optional)

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Output: DV layer (containing polygons)

Description: Creates and returns a DV layer that contains geometry generated by performing an
over-size or under-size operation on the specified layer. The size amount may be given with or
without units. If no units are specified the current default length units are used.

l A size operation consists of changing the absolute dimensions of shapes without altering
their dimensions relative to each other. This is not a scaling operation.
l The shape of an object may change. Polygons changed by Sizing may change their original
shape when there are shape features that are less than or equal to twice the size value.
Holes and notches disappear in a positive grow, and narrow sections disappear in a
negative grow
l Objects that grow into one another are merged together. An object may become multiple
objects if a negative grow removes a portion of the original object that connected other
portions.

l The truncation angle is specified in degrees with a number >= 0 and <= 90. If an angle is not
given, 90 degrees is used as the default.
l The expansion of acute angles is truncated to avoid an out of proportion extension (a
“spike”) of an acute corner. Any angle smaller than the angle of truncation will be truncated.
The default angle of truncation is 90 degrees. Any angle less than 90 is truncated to the
maximum extension of the shape at a 90 degree corner. This extension shown by the solid
black arrow in the following diagrams. The length of the extension is the square root of 2
times the size amount. This 90 degree angle-of-truncation matches both Diva® verification
and the corner bend style in layout. For more information on Diva verification, see

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http://www.cadence.com/products/dfm/diva/index.aspx.

l A different angle may be specified. To match the Calibre default, use 45 degrees. The length
of a 45 extension is the size amount times 1/cos 67.5.

Rule Set Examples (JScript):

var layer1 = DVChecker.ImportLayer("trace");

var sizedLayer = DVChecker.Sizing(2, layer1, 45);

var sizedLayer2 = DVChecker.Sizing(“5mm”, layer1);

var shrinkAmt = -5;

var sizedLayer3 = DVChecker.Sizing(shrinkAmt, layer1);

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Connectivity Checking Commands

Connectivity Checking commands test the connectivity of objects on provided DV layers. The
connectivity is defined by layout nets; it is not extracted from the physical geometry within DV.
These results may be intermediate to be used as input for other DV commands (i.e., rule
conjunction) and/or saved as final results using the SaveLayer command.

Related Topics

FindNotOwnedByNet

FindShortCircuits
FindNotOwnedByNet

Input: none

Output: DV layer (containing polygons)

Description: Geometry of objects being considered for the run is added to the returned layer if it is
not owned by a layout net.

l Any imported arc edges will be approximated with straight edges before being used by
DV. The faceting will be determined by the value specified for the run in the Design
Verification Run Dialog.

Rule Set Example (JScript):

var noNet = DVChecker.FindNotOwnedByNet();

FindNotOwnedByNet

Input: none

Output: DV layer (containing polygons)

Description: Geometry of objects being considered for the run is added to the returned layer if it is
not owned by a layout net.

l Any imported arc edges will be approximated with straight edges before being used by
DV. The faceting will be determined by the value specified for the run in the Design
Verification Run Dialog.

Rule Set Example (JScript):

var noNet = DVChecker.FindNotOwnedByNet();

Geometry Checking Commands

The commands described in this section test the geometry of provided DV layers. Geometry
Checking commands return each type of DV layer; this translates to width and separation checks

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that return either error clusters or polygons.

Results are returned for geometry that meets the specified test. These results may be intermediate
and used as input for other DV commands (rule conjunction) and/or saved as final results using
SaveLayer.

Related Topics

EncloseTo Commands

NotchTo Commands

OverhangTo Commands

OverlapTo Commands

SeparationTo Commands

WidthTo Commands
EncloseTo Commands

This section describes the following EncloseTo commands:

l EncloseToErrors
l EncloseToPolygons
l EncloseToEdges

Input: One or two DV layers (containing polygons)

           Constraint (operator and positive real number)

           Measurement region qualifier (optional)

           Orientation Qualifiers (optional)

           Intersecting Edge qualifier (optional)

           Raw/Merged qualifier (optional)

Output: DV layer – Type varies with the command. EncloseToErrors outputs a DV layer
containing error clusters. EncloseToPolygons outputs a DV layer containing polygons.
EncloseToEdges outputs a DV layer containing edges.

Description: Enclose is the distance between edges of separate geometry that face each other,
one from the inside and one from the outside AND one of the geometry is completely inside the
other. The single layer version checks the enclosure between different geometries on the same
layer. Enclosure from one to the other, both ways, is checked on each pair of geometry. The two
layer version checks the enclosure of geometry on the second layer by geometry on the first layer.
This is an edge to edge check, not corner to corner, or corner to edge.

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This is not a symmetric operation. The order of the input layers does change the results.

An edge is considered to enclose another edge if the geometry of the first edge contains the other
geometry, and the first edge is inside facing and the other edge is outside facing. Arrows in the
following diagrams indicate edge pairs where an edge of the geometry with dots encloses an edge
of the white geometry:

Edges are considered to face each other for enclosure checking only if the angle between the
inside of one edge and the outside of the other is less than 180 degrees. Collinear edges are not
considered facing. The following diagram illustrates angles between inside/outside edges:

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The arrows in the following figures indicate the edge pairs that are checked when considering the
facing requirement and using default orientation and intersecting qualifiers: Acute Also, Not
Obtuse, Parallel Also, Not Perpendicular, and Not Intersecting:

Single Layer Enclose

Two Layer Enclose

The first layer is white and the second layer has a dot fill pattern. The command looks for the
enclosure of dot geometry by white geometry.

l EncloseToError results are clusters of segments that meet the specified constraint. Each
error segment indicates the portion of the geometry edge that meets the constraint. The
error clusters are returned in a DV layer. The heavy lines in the illustration that follows show
the portions of edges that are returned as one error cluster.

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l EncloseToPolygons results are any polygons that have at least one edge that meets the
specified constraints. The polygons are returned in a DV layer. Both polygons in the
following illustration are returned.

l EncloseToEdges results are segments of edges that meet the specified constraints. These
segments retain information about the polygon they were created from. This information
allows the edges to be used as input to other DV commands. The segments are returned in
a DV layer. The heavy lines in the illustration that follows show the segments that are
returned as edges. They are not clustered, and they retain information about the directions
inside and outside of the polygon and sibling relationship.

The constraint amount may be given with or without units. If no units are specified the current
default length units are used.

Supported operators:

          < Less than

          <= Less than or equal to

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          == Equal to

          > Greater than

          >= Greater than or equal to

Qualifiers may be specified to constrain the edges checked. The defaults, if qualifiers are not
specified, are Round (measurement region), Acute Also, Not Obtuse, Parallel Also, Not
Perpendicular, Not Adjacent, and Merged (geometry).

Example (JScript):

var layer1 = DVChecker.ImportLayer("trace");

var encloseLayer1 = DVChecker.EncloseToErrors(Array("<", "5mm"), layer1,

Array( "Round", "Acute Also", "Not Obtuse", "Parallel Also",

"Not Perpendicular”));

DVChecker.SaveLayer(encloseLayer1, "enclose errors",

"enclose < 5 on trace layer");

var layer2 = DVChecker.ImportLayer("ground");

var encloseLayer2 = DVChecker.EncloseToErrors(Array("<", 5), layer1,

layer2, Array("Round", "Acute Also", "Not Obtuse", "Parallel Also"));

DVChecker.SaveLayer(encloseLayer2, "enclose errors",

"trace encloses ground by < 5");

Measurement Region Qualifier

Measurement region qualifier specifies the construction of the region used to test the constraint.
There exist the following choices:

l Round: Forms a region with quarter-circle boundaries that extend past the corners of the
edge by the constraint distance. Round is the default region, if no region is specified.

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l Square: Forms a region with right-angle boundaries that extend past the corners of the
edge by the constraint distance.

l Opposite: Forms a region with right-angle boundaries that do not extend past the corners of
the edge.

Measurement Region Use To Check Constraint

The following figure displays the returned segment for error or edge output, marked in blue, as well
as the measurement regions, in red and green, that are used to check the constraint.

Orientation Qualifiers

Orientation qualifiers specify edge or angle orientations that qualify edges to be checked against
each other. Up to one choice from each of the following four groups may be used:

l Acute Also
l Obtuse Also

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l Not Parallel
l Not Acute

If multiple choices from any of the groups are used, the last choice from the group is used. It
replaces any earlier choices of that group in the command.

EncloseToErrors(Array(“<”, 5), layer, Array(“Acute Also, Obtuse Also, Not Parallel, Not Acute));

is interpreted as:

EncloseToErrors(Array(“<”, 5), layer, Array(“Obtuse Also, Not Parallel, Not Acute));

If a choice contains “Only”, that is the only orientation qualifier recognized. Any other orientation
qualifiers before or after the first “Only” are ignored.

EncloseToErrors(Array(“<”, “5mm”), layer, Array(“Acute Also, Obtuse Only, Not Parallel,

Perpendicular Only));

is interpreted as:

EncloseToErrors(Array(“<”, “5mm”), layer, Array(“Obtuse Only));

Acute filter

l Acute Also – Include the measurement of edges that have an angle between them greater
than 0 and less than 90 degrees. Default if none specified.
l Acute Only – Measure only edges that have an angle between them greater than 0 and less
than 90 degrees.
l Not Acute – Do not measure edges that have an angle between them of greater than 0 and
less than 90 degrees.

Obtuse filter

l Obtuse Also – Include the measurement of edges that have an angle between them of
greater than 90 and less than 180 degrees.
l Obtuse Only – Measure only edges that have an angle between them of greater than 90 and
less than 180 degrees.
l Not Obtuse – Do not measure edges that have an angle between them of greater than 90
and less than 180 degrees. Default if none specified.

Parallel filter

l Parallel Also – Include the measurement of parallel edges in addition to non-parallel edges.
Default if none specified.
l Parallel Only – Measure only parallel edges.
l Not Parallel – Do not measure parallel edges.

Perpendicular filter

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l Perpendicular Also – Include the measurement of perpendicular edges in addition to edges

of other orientations.
l Perpendicular Only – Measure only perpendicular edges.
l Not Perpendicular – Do not measure perpendicular edges. Default if none specified.

Intersecting Edge Qualifier

Intersecting Edge qualifier determines if two edges that intersect are checked against each other.
Intersecting edges are edges that share at least one point. This qualifier is used in conjunction with
the orientation qualifiers to determine which edges to check. One of the three choices may be
specified.

l Intersecting Also – Check applies to both intersecting and other edges.

l Intersecting Only – Check only applies to intersecting edges.
l Not Intersecting – Check does not apply to intersecting edges. Default if none specified.

Specifying Intersecting Also with Enclose will always results in no results found. One geometry
must be totally contained within the other geometry for edges to be enclosed. If there are
intersecting edges, there is no enclosure and no results.

Raw/Merged Qualifier

The Raw/Merged qualifier applies to a DV layer created using the ImportLayer command. Raw
specifies that the geometry is to be used without first being merged. In contrast, the default setting
of Merged specifies that the geometry is merged prior to its use.

The arrows in the figures below indicate the edge pairs checked using Raw versus Merged with the
other qualifiers defaulted (Acute Also, Not Obtuse, Parallel Also, Not Perpendicular, Not
Intersecting).

NotchTo Commands

This section describes the following NotchTo commands:

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l NotchToErrors
l NotchToPolygons
l NotchToEdges

Input: DV layer (containing polygons)

           Constraint (operator and positive real number)

           Measurement region qualifier (optional)

           Orientation Qualifiers (optional)

           Adjacent Edge qualifier (optional)

           Raw/Merged qualifier (optional)

Output: DV layer – Type varies with the command. NotchToErrors outputs a DV layer containing
error clusters. NotchToPolygons outputs a DV layer containing polygons. NotchToEdges
outputs a DV layer containing edges.

Description: Checks notch width of individual geometry. Notch width is the distance between
facing, outside edges on the same geometry. This is an edge to edge check, not corner to corner,
or corner to edge.

Edges are considered to face each other for notch checking only if the angle between the outsides
of the edges is less than 180 degrees. Collinear edges are not considered facing.

Angles between outside edges:

The arrows in the figures below indicate the edge pairs that are checked when using default
orientation and adjacent qualifiers: Acute Also, Not Obtuse, Parallel Also, Not Perpendicular, and
Not Adjacent.

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l NotchToErrors results are clusters of segments that meet the specified constraints. Each
error segment indicates the portion of the geometry edge that meets the constraint. The
error clusters are returned in a DV layer. The heavy lines in the illustration that follows show
the portions of edges that are returned as one error cluster.

l NotchToPolygons results are polygons that have at least one edge pair that meets the
specified constraints. The polygons are returned in a DV layer. The entire polygon in the
following illustration is returned.

l NotchToEdges results are segments of edges that meet the specified constraints. These
segments retain information about the polygon they were created from. This information

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allows the edges to be used as input to other DV commands. The segments are returned in
a DV layer. The heavy lines in the illustration that follows show the segments that are
returned as edges. They are not clustered. They retain information about the directions
inside and outside of the polygon and sibling relationship.

The constraint amount may be given with or without units. If no units are specified the current
default length units are used.

Supported operators:

          < Less than

          <= Less than or equal to

          == Equal to

          > Greater than

          >= Greater than or equal to

Qualifiers may be specified to constrain the edges checked. The defaults, if qualifiers are not
specified, are Round (measurement region), Acute Also, Not Obtuse, Parallel Also, Not
Perpendicular, Not Adjacent, and Merged (geometry).

Example (JScript):

var layer1 = DVChecker.ImportLayer("trace");

var notchLayer1 = DVChecker.NotchToErrors(Array("<", 5), layer1,

Array("Round", "Acute Also", "Not Obtuse", "Parallel Also", "Not Perpendicular",

"Adjacent Also", "Merged"));

DVChecker.SaveLayer(notchLayer1, "notch errors", "notch < 5 on trace layer");

Measurement Region Qualifier

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Measurement region qualifier specifies the construction of the region used to test the constraint.
There exist the following choices:

l Round: Forms a region with quarter-circle boundaries that extend past the corners of the
edge by the constraint distance. Round is the default region, if no region is specified.

l Square: Forms a region with right-angle boundaries that extend past the corners of the
edge by the constraint distance.

l Opposite: Forms a region with right-angle boundaries that do not extend past the corners of
the edge.

Measurement Region Use To Check Constraint

The following figure displays the returned segment for error or edge output, marked in blue, as well
as the measurement regions, in red and green, that are used to check the constraint.

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Orientation Qualifiers

Orientation qualifiers specify edge or angle orientations that qualify edges to be checked against
each other. Up to one choice from each of the following four groups may be used:

l Acute Also
l Obtuse Also
l Not Parallel
l Not Acute

If multiple choices from any of the groups are used, the last choice from the group is used. It
replaces any earlier choices of that group in the command.

NotchToErrors(Array(“<”, 5), layer, Array(“Acute Also, Obtuse Also, Not Parallel, Not Acute));

is interpreted as:

NotchToErrors(Array(“<”, 5), layer, Array(“Obtuse Also, Not Parallel, Not Acute));

If a choice contains “Only”, that is the only orientation qualifier recognized. Any other orientation
qualifiers before or after the first “Only” are ignored.

NotchToErrors(Array(“<”, “5mm”), layer, Array(“Acute Also, Obtuse Only, Not Parallel,

Perpendicular Only));

is interpreted as:

NotchToErrors(Array(“<”, “5mm”), layer, Array(“Obtuse Only));

Acute filter

l Acute Also – Include the measurement of edges that have an angle between them greater
than 0 and less than 90 degrees. Default if none specified.
l Acute Only – Measure only edges that have an angle between them greater than 0 and less
than 90 degrees.

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l Not Acute – Do not measure edges that have an angle between them of greater than 0 and
less than 90 degrees.

Obtuse filter

l Obtuse Also – Include the measurement of edges that have an angle between them of
greater than 90 and less than 180 degrees.
l Obtuse Only – Measure only edges that have an angle between them of greater than 90 and
less than 180 degrees.
l Not Obtuse – Do not measure edges that have an angle between them of greater than 90
and less than 180 degrees. Default if none specified.

Parallel filter

l Parallel Also – Include the measurement of parallel edges in addition to non-parallel edges.
Default if none specified.
l Parallel Only – Measure only parallel edges.
l Not Parallel – Do not measure parallel edges.

Perpendicular filter

l Perpendicular Also – Include the measurement of perpendicular edges in addition to edges

of other orientations.
l Perpendicular Only – Measure only perpendicular edges.
l Not Perpendicular – Do not measure perpendicular edges. Default if none specified.

Adjacent Edge Qualifier

Adjacent Edge qualifier determines if two edges that intersect are checked against each other.
Adjacent edges are edges that share at least one point. This qualifier is used in conjunction with the
orientation qualifiers to determine which edges to check. One of the three choices may be
specified.

l Adjacent Also – Check applies to both adjacent and other edges.

l Adjacent Only – Check only applies to adjacent edges.
l Not Adjacent – Check does not apply to adjacent edges. Default if none specified.

The arrows in the figure below indicate the edge pairs checked using Adjacent Only with the other
qualifiers defaulted (Acute Also, Not Obtuse, Parallel Also, Not Perpendicular, and Adjacent Only).

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Raw/Merged Qualifier

The Raw/Merged qualifier applies to a DV layer created using the ImportLayer command. Raw
specifies that the geometry is to be used without first being merged. In contrast, the default setting
of Merged specifies that the geometry is merged prior to its use.

The arrows in the figures below indicate the edge pairs checked using Raw versus Merged with the
other qualifiers defaulted (Acute Also, Not Obtuse, Parallel Also, Not Perpendicular, Not
Intersecting).

OverhangTo Commands

This section describes the following OverhangTo commands:

l OverhangToErrors
l OverhangToPolygons
l OverhangToEdges

Input: One or two DV layers (containing polygons)

           Constraint (operator and distance)

           Measurement region qualifier (optional)

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           Orientation Qualifiers (optional)

           Intersecting Edge qualifier (optional)

           Raw/Merged qualifier (optional)

Output: DV layer – Type varies with the command. OverhangToErrors outputs a DV layer
containing error clusters. OverhangToPolygons outputs a DV layer containing polygons.
OverhangToEdges outputs a DV layer containing edges.

Description: Overhang is the distance between edges, of intersecting geometry, that face each
other, one from the inside and one from the outside. The single layer version checks the overlap
between different geometries on the same layer. Overhang from one to the other, both ways, is
checked on each pair of geometry. The two layer version checks the overhang of geometry on the
first layer from geometry on the second layer. This is an edge to edge check, not corner to corner,
or corner to edge.

This is not a symmetric operation. The order of the input layers does change the results.

An edge is considered to overhang another edge if the two geometries intersect but neither
contains the other and the first edge is inside facing and the other edge is outside facing. Arrows in
the following diagrams indicate edge pairs where an edge of the geometry with dots overhangs an
edge of the white geometry.

Edges are considered to face each other for overhang checking only if the angle between the
inside of one edge and the outside of the other is less than 180 degrees. Collinear edges are not
considered facing. The following diagram illustrates angles between inside/outside edges:

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The arrows in the following figures indicate the edge pairs that are checked when considering the
facing requirement and using default orientation and intersecting qualifiers: Acute Also, Not
Obtuse, Parallel Also, Not Perpendicular, and Not Intersecting:

Single Layer Overhang

Two Layer Overhang

The first layer has the dot fill pattern and the second layer is empty. The command looks for the
overhang of dot geometry from white geometry.

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l OverhangToError results are clusters of segments that meet the specified constraint. Each
error segment indicates the portion of the geometry edge that meets the constraint. The
error clusters are returned in a DV layer. The heavy lines in the illustration that follows show
the portions of edges that are returned as one error cluster.

l OverhangToPolygons results are any polygons that have at least one edge that meets the
specified constraints. The polygons are returned in a DV layer. Both polygons in the
following illustration are returned.

l OverhangToEdges results are segments of edges that meet the specified constraints.
These segments retain information about the polygon they were created from. This
information allows the edges to be used as input to other DV commands. The segments are
returned in a DV layer. The heavy lines in the illustration that follows show the segments that

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are returned as edges. They are not clustered, and they retain information about the
directions inside and outside of the polygon and sibling relationship.

The constraint amount may be given with or without units. If no units are specified the current
default length units are used.

Supported operators:

          < Less than

          <= Less than or equal to

          == Equal to

          > Greater than

          >= Greater than or equal to

Qualifiers may be specified to constrain the edges checked. The defaults, if qualifiers are not
specified, are Round (measurement region), Acute Also, Not Obtuse, Parallel Also, Not
Perpendicular, Not Adjacent, and Merged (geometry).

Example (JScript):

var layer1 = DVChecker.ImportLayer("trace");

var overhangLayer1 = DVChecker.OverhangToErrors(Array("<", "5mm"), layer1,

Array( "Round", "Acute Also", "Not Obtuse", "Parallel Also",

"Not Perpendicular"));

DVChecker.SaveLayer(overhangLayer1, "overhang errors",

"overhang < 5 on trace layer");

var layer2 = DVChecker.ImportLayer("ground");

var overhangLayer2 = DVChecker.OverhangToErrors(Array("<", 5), layer1,

layer2, Array( "Round", "Acute Also", "Not Obtuse", "Parallel Also"));

DVChecker.SaveLayer(overhangLayer2, "overhang errors",

"trace overhanging ground by < 5");

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Measurement Region Qualifier

Measurement region qualifier specifies the construction of the region used to test the constraint.
There exist the following choices:

l Round: Forms a region with quarter-circle boundaries that extend past the corners of the
edge by the constraint distance. Round is the default region, if no region is specified.

l Square: Forms a region with right-angle boundaries that extend past the corners of the
edge by the constraint distance.

l Opposite: Forms a region with right-angle boundaries that do not extend past the corners of
the edge.

Measurement Region Use To Check Constraint

The following figure displays the returned segment for error or edge output, marked in blue, as well
as the measurement regions, in red and green, that are used to check the constraint.

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Orientation Qualifiers

Orientation qualifiers specify edge or angle orientations that qualify edges to be checked against
each other. Up to one choice from each of the following four groups may be used:

l Acute Also
l Obtuse Also
l Not Parallel
l Not Acute

If multiple choices from any of the groups are used, the last choice from the group is used. It
replaces any earlier choices of that group in the command.

OverhangToErrors(Array(“<”, 5), layer, Array(“Acute Also, Obtuse Also, Not Parallel, Not Acute));

is interpreted as:

OverhangToErrors(Array(“<”, 5), layer, Array(“Obtuse Also, Not Parallel, Not Acute));

If a choice contains “Only”, that is the only orientation qualifier recognized. Any other orientation
qualifiers before or after the first “Only” are ignored.

OverhangToErrors(Array(“<”, “5mm”), layer, Array(“Acute Also, Obtuse Only, Not Parallel,

Perpendicular Only));

is interpreted as:

OverhangToErrors(Array(“<”, “5mm”), layer, Array(“Obtuse Only));

Acute filter

l Acute Also – Include the measurement of edges that have an angle between them greater
than 0 and less than 90 degrees. Default if none specified.
l Acute Only – Measure only edges that have an angle between them greater than 0 and less
than 90 degrees.

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l Not Acute – Do not measure edges that have an angle between them of greater than 0 and
less than 90 degrees.

Obtuse filter

l Obtuse Also – Include the measurement of edges that have an angle between them of
greater than 90 and less than 180 degrees.
l Obtuse Only – Measure only edges that have an angle between them of greater than 90 and
less than 180 degrees.
l Not Obtuse – Do not measure edges that have an angle between them of greater than 90
and less than 180 degrees. Default if none specified.

Parallel filter

l Parallel Also – Include the measurement of parallel edges in addition to non-parallel edges.
Default if none specified.
l Parallel Only – Measure only parallel edges.
l Not Parallel – Do not measure parallel edges.

Perpendicular filter

l Perpendicular Also – Include the measurement of perpendicular edges in addition to edges

of other orientations.
l Perpendicular Only – Measure only perpendicular edges.
l Not Perpendicular – Do not measure perpendicular edges. Default if none specified.

Intersecting Edge Qualifier

Intersecting Edge qualifier determines if two edges that intersect are checked against each other.
Intersecting edges are edges that share at least one point. This qualifier is used in conjunction with
the orientation qualifiers to determine which edges to check. One of the three choices may be
specified.

l Intersecting Also – Check applies to both intersecting and other edges.

l Intersecting Only – Check only applies to intersecting edges.
l Not Intersecting – Check does not apply to intersecting edges. Default if none specified.

The arrows in the figure below indicate the edge pairs checked using Intersecting Only with the
other qualifiers defaulted (Acute Also, Not Obtuse, Parallel Also, Not Perpendicular).

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Raw/Merged Qualifier

The Raw/Merged qualifier applies to a DV layer created using the ImportLayer command. Raw
specifies that the geometry is to be used without first being merged. In contrast, the default setting
of Merged specifies that the geometry is merged prior to its use.

The arrows in the figures below indicate the edge pairs checked using Raw versus Merged with the
other qualifiers defaulted (Acute Also, Not Obtuse, Parallel Also, Not Perpendicular, Not
Intersecting).

OverlapTo Commands

This section describes the following OverlapTo commands:

l OverlapToErrors
l OverlapToPolygons
l OverlapToEdges

Input: One or two DV layers (containing polygons)

           Constraint (operator and distance)

           Measurement region qualifier (optional)

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           Orientation Qualifiers (optional)

           Intersecting Edge qualifier (optional)

           Raw/Merged qualifier (optional)

Output: DV layer – Type varies with the command. OverlapToErrors outputs a DV layer
containing error clusters. OverlapToPolygons outputs a DV layer containing polygons.
OverlapToEdges outputs a DV layer containing edges.

Description: Overlap is the distance between inside edges, of intersecting geometry, that face
each other. The single layer version checks the overlap between different geometries on the same
layer. The two layer version checks the overlap between geometry on one layer and geometry on
the other layer. This is an edge to edge check, not corner to corner, or corner to edge.

This is a symmetric operation. The order of the input layers does not change the results.

Two edges are considered overlapping if the two geometries intersect but neither contains the
other and the edges are inside facing. Arrows in the following diagrams indicate edges that are
overlapping.

Edges are considered to face each other for overlap checking only if the angle between the inside
of one edge and the outside of the other is less than 180 degrees. Collinear edges are not
considered facing. The following diagram illustrates angles between inside edges:

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The arrows in the following figures indicate the edge pairs that are checked when considering the
facing requirement and using default orientation and intersecting qualifiers: Acute Also, Not
Obtuse, Parallel Also, Not Perpendicular, and Not Intersecting:

Single Layer Overlap

Two Layer Overlap

The first layer has the dot fill pattern and the second layer is empty. The command looks for the
overhang of dot geometry from white geometry.

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l OverlapToError results are clusters of segments that meet the specified constraint. Each
error segment indicates the portion of the geometry edge that meets the constraint. The
error clusters are returned in a DV layer. The heavy lines in the illustration that follows show
the portions of edges that are returned as one error cluster.

l OverlapToPolygons results are any polygons that have at least one edge that meets the
specified constraints. The polygons are returned in a DV layer. Both polygons in the
following illustration are returned.

l OverlapToEdges results are segments of edges that meet the specified constraints. These
segments retain information about the polygon they were created from. This information
allows the edges to be used as input to other DV commands. The segments are returned in
a DV layer. The heavy lines in the illustration that follows show the segments that are

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returned as edges. They are not clustered, and they retain information about the directions
inside and outside of the polygon and sibling relationship.

The constraint amount may be given with or without units. If no units are specified the current
default length units are used.

Supported operators:

          < Less than

          <= Less than or equal to

          == Equal to

          > Greater than

          >= Greater than or equal to

Qualifiers may be specified to constrain the edges checked. The defaults, if qualifiers are not
specified, are Round (measurement region), Acute Also, Not Obtuse, Parallel Also, Not
Perpendicular, Not Adjacent, and Merged (geometry).

Example (JScript):

var layer1 = DVChecker.ImportLayer("trace");

var overhangLayer1 = DVChecker.OverlapToErrors(Array("<", "5mm"), layer1,

Array( "Round", "Acute Also", "Not Obtuse", "Parallel Also",

"Not Perpendicular"));

DVChecker.SaveLayer(overhangLayer1, "overhang errors",

"overhang < 5 on trace layer");

var layer2 = DVChecker.ImportLayer("ground");

var overhangLayer2 = DVChecker.OverlapToErrors(Array("<", 5), layer1,

layer2, Array( "Round", "Acute Also", "Not Obtuse", "Parallel Also"));

DVChecker.SaveLayer(overhangLayer2, "overhang errors",

"trace overhanging ground by < 5");

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Measurement Region Qualifier

Measurement region qualifier specifies the construction of the region used to test the constraint.
There exist the following choices:

l Round: Forms a region with quarter-circle boundaries that extend past the corners of the
edge by the constraint distance. Round is the default region, if no region is specified.

l Square: Forms a region with right-angle boundaries that extend past the corners of the
edge by the constraint distance.

l Opposite: Forms a region with right-angle boundaries that do not extend past the corners of
the edge.

Measurement Region Use To Check Constraint

The following figure displays the returned segment for error or edge output, marked in blue, as well
as the measurement regions, in red and green, that are used to check the constraint.

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Orientation Qualifiers

Orientation qualifiers specify edge or angle orientations that qualify edges to be checked against
each other. Up to one choice from each of the following four groups may be used:

l Acute Also
l Obtuse Also
l Not Parallel
l Not Acute

If multiple choices from any of the groups are used, the last choice from the group is used. It
replaces any earlier choices of that group in the command.

OverlapToErrors(Array(“<”, 5), layer, Array(“Acute Also, Obtuse Also, Not Parallel, Not Acute));

is interpreted as:

OverlapToErrors(Array(“<”, 5), layer, Array(“Obtuse Also, Not Parallel, Not Acute));

If a choice contains “Only”, that is the only orientation qualifier recognized. Any other orientation
qualifiers before or after the first “Only” are ignored.

OverlapToErrors(Array(“<”, “5mm”), layer, Array(“Acute Also, Obtuse Only, Not Parallel,

Perpendicular Only));

is interpreted as:

OverlapToErrors(Array(“<”, “5mm”), layer, Array(“Obtuse Only));

Acute filter

l Acute Also – Include the measurement of edges that have an angle between them greater
than 0 and less than 90 degrees. Default if none specified.
l Acute Only – Measure only edges that have an angle between them greater than 0 and less
than 90 degrees.

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l Not Acute – Do not measure edges that have an angle between them of greater than 0 and
less than 90 degrees.

Obtuse filter

l Obtuse Also – Include the measurement of edges that have an angle between them of
greater than 90 and less than 180 degrees.
l Obtuse Only – Measure only edges that have an angle between them of greater than 90 and
less than 180 degrees.
l Not Obtuse – Do not measure edges that have an angle between them of greater than 90
and less than 180 degrees. Default if none specified.

Parallel filter

l Parallel Also – Include the measurement of parallel edges in addition to non-parallel edges.
Default if none specified.
l Parallel Only – Measure only parallel edges.
l Not Parallel – Do not measure parallel edges.

Perpendicular filter

l Perpendicular Also – Include the measurement of perpendicular edges in addition to edges

of other orientations.
l Perpendicular Only – Measure only perpendicular edges.
l Not Perpendicular – Do not measure perpendicular edges. Default if none specified.

Intersecting Edge Qualifier

Intersecting Edge qualifier determines if two edges that intersect are checked against each other.
Intersecting edges are edges that share at least one point. This qualifier is used in conjunction with
the orientation qualifiers to determine which edges to check. One of the three choices may be
specified.

l Intersecting Also – Check applies to both intersecting and other edges.

l Intersecting Only – Check only applies to intersecting edges.
l Not Intersecting – Check does not apply to intersecting edges. Default if none specified.

The arrows in the figure below indicate the edge pairs checked using Intersecting Only with the
other qualifiers defaulted (Acute Also, Not Obtuse, Parallel Also, Not Perpendicular).

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Raw/Merged Qualifier

The Raw/Merged qualifier applies to a DV layer created using the ImportLayer command. Raw
specifies that the geometry is to be used without first being merged. In contrast, the default setting
of Merged specifies that the geometry is merged prior to its use.

The arrows in the figures below indicate the edge pairs checked using Raw versus Merged with the
other qualifiers defaulted (Acute Also, Not Obtuse, Parallel Also, Not Perpendicular, Not
Intersecting).

SeparationTo Commands

This section describes the following SeparationTo commands:

l SeparationToErrors
l SeparationToPolygons

Input: One or two DV layers (containing polygons)

           Constraint (operator and distance)

           Measurement region qualifier (optional)

           Qualifiers (optional)

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           Intersecting Edge qualifier (optional)

           Raw/Merged qualifier (optional)

Output: DV layer – Type varies with the command. SeparationToErrors outputs a DV layer
containing error clusters. SeparationToPolygons outputs a DV layer containing polygons.

Description: Separation is the distance between the outside facing edges of separate geometry.
The single layer version checks the separation between different geometries on the same layer.
The two layer version checks the separation between geometry on one layer and geometry on the
other layer. This is an edge-to-edge check, not corner-to-corner, or corner-to-edge.

For separation checking, edges are considered to face each other only if the angle between the
outsides of the edges is less than 180 degrees. Collinear edges are not considered facing. The
following figure illustrates the various angles between outside edges:

The arrows in the figures in the following sections indicate the edge pairs that are checked when
considering the facing requirement and using default orientation and intersecting qualifiers: Acute
Also, Not Obtuse, Parallel Also, Not Perpendicular, and Not Intersecting.

Single Layer Separation

For a sufficiently large distance, the separation of edges from polygon A to polygon C is measured.
The presence of polygon B between them does not prevent the check.

Two Layer Separation

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Checking is based on the separation of edges, not the separation of the polygons. In some cases
shapes that interact are checked.

l The separation between some edges of polygons F and E is checked even though polygon
F overlaps polygon E. Notice that the overlap is not checked by this command.
l Abutting edges are not checked by default. To trigger checking of the abutting edges of D
and E, use the qualifier Intersecting Also or Intersecting Only.
l Polygon I is not checked against polygon H because the outsides of the edges don’t face.
Polygon I is checked against polygon G.
l SeparationToError results are clusters of segments that meet the specified constraint. Each
error segment indicates the portion of the geometry edge that meets the constraint. The
error clusters are returned in a DV layer.

The heavy lines in the following illustration show the portions of edges that are returned as one
error cluster.

SeparationToPolygons results are any polygons that have at least one edge that meets the
specified constraints. The polygons are returned in a DV layer. Both polygons in the following
illustration are returned.

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The heavy lines in the illustration that follows show the segments that are returned as edges. They
are not clustered, and they retain information about the directions inside and outside of the polygon
and sibling relationship.

The constraint amount may be given with or without units. If no units are specified, the current
default length units are used.

Supported operators:

          < Less than

          <= Less than or equal to

          == Equal to

          > Greater than

          >= Greater than or equal to

Qualifiers may be specified to constrain the edges checked. The defaults, if no qualifiers are
specified, are Round, Acute Also, Not Obtuse, Parallel Also, Not Perpendicular, Not Intersecting,
and Merged.

Example (JScript):

var layer1 = DVChecker.ImportLayer("trace");

var sepLayer1 = DVChecker.SeparationToErrors(Array(“<”, “5mm”), layer1,

Array( “Round”, “Acute Also”, “Not Obtuse”, “Parallel Also”,

“Not Perpendicular”));

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DVChecker.SaveLayer(sepLayer1, “separation errors”, “sep < 5 on trace layer”);

var layer2 = DVChecker.ImportLayer("ground");

var sepLayer2 = DVChecker.SeparationToErrors(Array(“<”, 5), layer1, layer2,

Array( “Round”, “Acute Also”, “Not Obtuse”, “Parallel Also”));

DVChecker.SaveLayer(sepLayer2, “separation errors”, “sep < 5 trace to ground

layers”);

Measurement Region Qualifier

Measurement region qualifier specifies the construction of the region used to test the constraint.
There exist the following choices:

l Round: Forms a region with quarter-circle boundaries that extend past the corners of the
edge by the constraint distance. Round is the default region, if no region is specified.

l Square: Forms a region with right-angle boundaries that extend past the corners of the
edge by the constraint distance.

l Opposite: Forms a region with right-angle boundaries that do not extend past the corners of
the edge.

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Measurement Region Use To Check Constraint

The following figure displays the returned segment for error or edge output, marked in blue, as well
as the measurement regions, in red and green, that are used to check the constraint.

Orientation Qualifiers

Orientation qualifiers specify edge or angle orientations that qualify edges to be checked against
each other. Up to one choice from each of the following four groups may be used:

l Acute Also
l Obtuse Also
l Not Parallel
l Not Acute

If multiple choices from any of the groups are used, the last choice from the group is used. It
replaces any earlier choices of that group in the command.

SeparationToErrors(Array(“<”, 5), layer, Array(“Acute Also, Obtuse Also, Not Parallel, Not
Acute));

is interpreted as:

SeparationToErrors(Array(“<”, 5), layer, Array(“Obtuse Also, Not Parallel, Not Acute));

If a choice contains “Only”, that is the only orientation qualifier recognized. Any other orientation
qualifiers before or after the first “Only” are ignored.

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SeparationToErrors(Array(“<”, “5mm”), layer, Array(“Acute Also, Obtuse Only, Not Parallel,

Perpendicular Only));

is interpreted as:

SeparationToErrors(Array(“<”, “5mm”), layer, Array(“Obtuse Only));

Acute filter

l Acute Also – Include the measurement of edges that have an angle between them greater
than 0 and less than 90 degrees. Default if none specified.
l Acute Only – Measure only edges that have an angle between them greater than 0 and less
than 90 degrees.
l Not Acute – Do not measure edges that have an angle between them of greater than 0 and
less than 90 degrees.

Obtuse filter

l Obtuse Also – Include the measurement of edges that have an angle between them of
greater than 90 and less than 180 degrees.
l Obtuse Only – Measure only edges that have an angle between them of greater than 90 and
less than 180 degrees.
l Not Obtuse – Do not measure edges that have an angle between them of greater than 90
and less than 180 degrees. Default if none specified.

Parallel filter

l Parallel Also – Include the measurement of parallel edges in addition to non-parallel edges.
Default if none specified.
l Parallel Only – Measure only parallel edges.
l Not Parallel – Do not measure parallel edges.

Perpendicular filter

l Perpendicular Also – Include the measurement of perpendicular edges in addition to edges

of other orientations.
l Perpendicular Only – Measure only perpendicular edges.
l Not Perpendicular – Do not measure perpendicular edges. Default if none specified.

Intersecting Edge Qualifier

Intersecting Edge qualifier determines if two edges that intersect are checked against each other.
Intersecting edges are edges that share at least one point. This qualifier is used in conjunction with
the orientation qualifiers to determine which edges to check. One of the three choices may be
specified.

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l Intersecting Also – Check applies to both intersecting and other edges.

l Intersecting Only – Check only applies to intersecting edges.
l Not Intersecting – Check does not apply to intersecting edges. Default if none specified.

The arrows in the figure below indicate the edge pairs checked using Intersecting Only with the
other qualifiers defaulted (Acute Also, Not Obtuse, Parallel Also, Not Perpendicular).

Raw/Merged Qualifier

The Raw/Merged qualifier applies to a DV layer created using the ImportLayer command. Raw
specifies that the geometry is to be used without first being merged. In contrast, the default setting
of Merged specifies that the geometry is merged prior to its use.

The arrows in the figures below indicate the edge pairs checked using Raw versus Merged with the
other qualifiers defaulted (Acute Also, Not Obtuse, Parallel Also, Not Perpendicular, Not
Intersecting).

WidthTo Commands

The descriptions in this section pertain to the following commands:

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l WidthToErrors
l WidthToPolygons

Input: DV layer (containing polygons)

           Constraint (operator and positive real number)

           Measurement region qualifier (optional)

           Orientation qualifiers (optional)

           Adjacent Edge qualifier (optional)

           Raw/Merged qualifier (optional)

Output: DV layer – type varies with the command. WidthToErrors outputs a DV layer containing
error clusters. WidthToPolygons outputs a DV layer containing polygons. WidthToEdges
outputs a DV layer containing edges.

Description: Checks the width of individual geometry. Width is the distance between facing, inside
edges on the same geometry. This is an edge-to-edge check, not corner-to-corner, or corner-to-
edge.

The arrows in the figures below indicate the edge pairs that are checked when using default
orientation and adjacent qualifiers: Acute Also, Not Obtuse, Parallel Also, Not Perpendicular, and
Not Adjacent.

l WidthToErrors results are clusters of segments that meet the specified constraints. Each
error segment indicates the portion of the geometry edge that meets the constraint. The
error clusters are returned in a DV layer. The heavy lines in the illustration that follows show

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the portions of edges that are returned as two error clusters.

l WidthToPolygons results are polygons that have at least one edge pair that meets the
specified constraints. The constraint amount may be given with or without units. If no units
are specified the current default length units are used. The polygons are returned in a DV
layer. The entire polygon in the following illustration is returned.

Supported operators:

          < Less than

          <= Less than or equal to

          == Equal to

          > Greater than

          >= Greater than or equal to

Qualifiers may be specified to constrain the edges checked. The defaults if qualifiers are not
specified are Round (measurement region), Acute Also, Not Obtuse, Parallel Also, Not
Perpendicular, Not Adjacent, and Merged (geometry).

Example (JScript):

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var layer1 = DVChecker.ImportLayer("trace");

var widthLayer1 = DVChecker.WidthToErrors(Array(“<”, 5), layer1,

Array("Round”, “Acute Also”, “Not Obtuse”, “Parallel Also”, “Not Perpendicular”,

“Adjacent Also”, “Merged”));

DVChecker.SaveLayer(widthLayer1, “width errors”, “width < 5 on trace layer”);

Measurement Region Qualifier

Measurement region qualifier specifies the construction of the region used to test the constraint.
There exist the following choices:

l Round: Forms a region with quarter-circle boundaries that extend past the corners of the
edge by the constraint distance. Round is the default region, if no region is specified.

l Square: Forms a region with right-angle boundaries that extend past the corners of the
edge by the constraint distance.

l Opposite: Forms a region with right-angle boundaries that do not extend past the corners of
the edge. The region formed consists of the area just “opposite” the edge.

Measurement Region Use To Check Constraint

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The following figure displays the returned segment for error or edge output, marked in blue, as well
as the measurement regions, in red and green, that are used to check the constraint.

Orientation Qualifiers

Orientation qualifiers specify edge or angle orientations that qualify edges to be checked against
each other. Up to one choice from each of the following groups may be used:

l Acute Also
l Obtuse Also
l Not Parallel
l Not Acute

If multiple choices from any of the groups are specified, the last choice from the group is used, and
it then replaces any earlier choices of that group in the command.

WidthToErrors(Array(“<”, 5), layer, Array(“Acute Also, Obtuse Also, Not Parallel, Not Acute));

is interpreted as:

WidthToErrors(Array(“<”, 5), layer, Array(“Obtuse Also, Not Parallel, Not Acute));

If a choice contains “Only”, that is the only orientation qualifier recognized. Any other orientation
qualifiers before or after the first “Only” are ignored.

WidthToErrors(Array(“<”, “5mm”), layer, Array(“Acute Also, Obtuse Only, Not Parallel,

Perpendicular Only));

is interpreted as:

WidthToErrors(Array(“<”, “5mm”), layer, Array(“Obtuse Only));

Acute filter

l Acute Also – Include the measurement of edges that have an angle between them greater
than 0 and less than 90 degrees. Default if none specified.

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l Acute Only – Measure only edges that have an angle between them greater than 0 and less
than 90 degrees.
l Not Acute – Do not measure edges that have an angle between them of greater than 0 and
less than 90 degrees.

Obtuse filter

l Obtuse Also – Include the measurement of edges that have an angle between them of
greater than 90 and less than 180 degrees.
l Obtuse Only – Measure only edges that have an angle between them of greater than 90 and
less than 180 degrees.
l Not Obtuse – Do not measure edges that have an angle between them of greater than 90
and less than 180 degrees. Default if none specified.

Parallel filter

l Parallel Also – Include the measurement of parallel edges in addition to non-parallel edges.
Default if none specified.
l Parallel Only – Measure only parallel edges.
l Not Parallel – Do not measure parallel edges.

Perpendicular filter

l Perpendicular Also – Include the measurement of perpendicular edges in addition to edges

of other orientations.
l Perpendicular Only – Measure only perpendicular edges.
l Not Perpendicular – Do not measure perpendicular edges. Default if none specified.

Adjacent Edge Qualifier

Adjacent Edge qualifier determines if adjacent edges are checked against each other. Adjacent
edges are edges that share a start or end point. This qualifier is used in conjunction with the
orientation qualifiers to determine which edges to check. One of the following choices may be
specified:

l Adjacent Also – Check applies to both adjacent and other edges.

l Adjacent Only – Check only applies to adjacent edges.
l Not Adjacent – Check does not apply to adjacent edges. Default if none specified.

The arrows in the figures below indicate the edge pairs that are checked when using Adjacent Only
with the default orientation-adjacent qualifiers (Acute Also, Not Obtuse, Parallel Also, Not
Perpendicular, and Not Adjacent).

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Raw/Merged Qualifier

The Raw/Merged qualifier applies to a DV layer created using the ImportLayer command. Raw
specifies that the geometry is to be used without first being merged. In contrast, the default setting
of Merged specifies that the geometry is merged prior to its use.

The arrows in the figures below indicate the edge pairs checked using Raw versus Merged with the
other qualifiers defaulted.

Geometry Check in Layout

Running Geometry Check before running an analysis on a model can find and automatically fix
common problems that may prevent a simulation from completing successfully.

To perform a geometry check on the active project:

1. Click HFSS 3D Layout > Geometry Check.

The Launch Geometry Check dialog box appears. Select any checks that you want to
validate:

l Select Self-Intersecting Polygons to check for duplicating planes, intersecting edges,

and to check whether voids intersect the plane boundaries.
l Select Disjoint Nets to check if there are nets that are not completely connected.

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l Select DC-Shorted Errors to check if any nets overlap.

l Select Identical/Overlapping Vias to check if any vias are identical or overlap on the
same nets.
l Select Misalignments to check for all misalignments in the following cases:
o Flag and auto-correct areas where the centerline of a trace is not contained within a
plane.
o Check if a trace overlaps with a plane, but the trace centerline does not intersect with a
plane.
o Check if a trace overlaps with another trace, but the centerline of a trace does not
intersect with the centerline of another trace.
o Check if the boundary of a pad/via intersect with the boundary of a trace, but the center
of a via/pad is not located on the centerline of a trace (in other words, the pad/via is not
snapped to the centerline of a trace).
o Check if the boundary of a plane intersect with the boundary of a pad/via, but the
center of the pad/via is not contained in the boundary of the plane.
o Check if a trace overlaps with a plane, but the trace centerline does not intersect with a
plane.
o Check if a trace overlaps with another trace, but the centerline of a trace does not
intersect with the centerline of another trace.
o Check if the boundary of a pad/via intersect with the boundary of a trace, but the center
of a via/pad is not located on the centerline of a trace (in other words, the pad/via is not
snapped to the centerline of a trace).
o Check if the boundary of a plane intersect with the boundary of a pad/via, but the
center of the pad/via is not contained in the boundary of the plane.
o Check if a trace overlaps with a plane, but the trace centerline does not intersect with a
plane.
o Check if a trace overlaps with another trace, but the centerline of a trace does not
intersect with the centerline of another trace.
o Check if the boundary of a pad/via intersect with the boundary of a trace, but the center
of a via/pad is not located on the centerline of a trace (in other words, the pad/via is not
snapped to the centerline of a trace).
o Check if the boundary of a plane intersect with the boundary of a pad/via, but the
center of the pad/via is not contained in the boundary of the plane.

The following checks are done in all cases, regardless of the selections you make:

Zero Via Plating — Flags padstack definitions with 0 percent plating.

Pin Shared By Multiple Pin Groups — Flags pins that belong to more than one ping
group.

2. Click OK in the Launch Geometry Check dialog box.

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The progress bar displays the progress. The Geometry Check Results dialog box appears
and lists errors and warnings. Items that can be fixed automatically contain Auto Fix check
boxes; select a box to have a problem automatically corrected.

3. Click OK in the Geometry Check Results dialog box.

The result details can be viewed in the Message Manager. Most geometry check results are
displayed with a magnifying glass that can be clicked to zoom into the relevant area of the
design. It may help to toggle layer and net visibilities when zooming into individual results.

Related Topics

Healing and Meshing

Validating Projects

Printing a Layout
To print the layout that is in the active window:

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1. Select File > Print to open the Print dialog:

2. Use the Print Range, Copies, and Print Zoom controls to specify how much to print and
how you wish the print to appear. In the Layout Options panel, you can specify whether or
not to draw the grid, border/header, the layer and stackup information, and design variables.
In the Filter panel, you can toggle the printing of any layer and selected items.
3. Click OK to print the layout and close the Print dialog.

Setting up the Page Layout

To set up the page layout before printing:

1. Select Page Setup from the File pulldown on the top menu bar. The Page Setup dialog
box opens.

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2. Use the Paper, Orientation, Margins, and Print Zoom controls to specify how you wish
the print to appear. In the Layout Options panel, you can specify whether or not to draw the
grid, border/header, layer and stackup information, and design variables. In the Filter panel,
you can toggle the printing of any layer and selected items.
3. Click OK to close the Page Setup dialog box with your settings.
4. Select Print Preview from the File menu to see a preview of the print.

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13 - Layout and Circuit Import Export

Operations
Layout design data, in several industry-standard formats, can be imported to and exported from
ANSYS Electronics Desktop projects for postprocessing, simulation, and analysis.

l Exporting Layout Design Data

ANSYS provides support for imported models and libraries as components in the schematic editor,
including SPICE/PSPICE components and libraries, IBIS buffer elements, Verilog components,
W-elements, and X-parameter elements. Frequency-dependent network design data can be
imported and used to generate schematic components.

l Importing Circuit Models

The Linear Network Analysis Circuit solver and the field solver tools produce network design data
that can be exported for use by other tools.

l Exporting Network Design Data

Solution data can be imported into and exported from ANSYS projects

l Importing Solution Data

Related Topics

Importing Layout Design Data

Exporting Layout Design Data

Importing Circuit Models

Exporting Network Design Data

Importing Solution Data for Postprocessing

Importing Layout Design Data

Design data, in several industry-standard formats, can be imported into ANSYS Electronics
Desktop.

Related Topics

Importing ANF Design Data

Importing Files into the Layout Editor

Importing Tabular Arrays

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Direct Import Cadence APD Links

ODB++ Translator

Control File Usage with Renaming

Board Outlines

Importing ANF Design Data

ANSYS Neutral File (ANF) formatted files are typically generated by third party tools or by the
“ANSYSLinks” program that translates third-party designs. ANF is a public, neutral file format that
allows third party tools to exchange design data with ANSYS products. ANFv2 and ANFv4 are two
different public, neutral file formats. An ANFv4 file may contain schematic data, 2D geometry
(layout), 3D geometry, and component data, but none of the data is required. A given ANFv4 file
may contain just schematic data with no layout data, or may contain just layout data with no
schematic data.

Note If material properties are not provided in the ANF file, the required material properties are
taken from the Electronics Desktop material library database. These properties may be
different from those in the tool used to generate the ANF file.

When geometry is imported from ANF, ports are automatically added, and a subdirectory for the
ANF-based project is configured in the Project directory. When ANF-based projects are saved, the
Save As dialog always opens, regardless of where the ANF file originated. Electronics Desktop
can import both ANFv2 and ANFv4 formatted files.

Related Topics

Importing ANFV2 Design Data

Importing ANFV4 Design Data

Importing ANFV2 Design Data

1. To open an ANFV2-based project, click File > Import > ANF on the top menu bar. The File
Open window opens.

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2. Use the Look in field to locate the directory containing the file with the project you want to
open. Use the Files of type field to display the files with the ANF format.
3. Click on the ANF format file in the window to select it, or type its name into the File name
field. If you choose to open an ANFV2 file, a dialog will appear that allows you to select the
nets to import and then generate ports on. You will also be able to select an associated .cmp
file to import with it.

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4. When you click OK in the ANFV2 Import Options dialog, the file is imported.

Only nets with a check in the Import column are imported. Pins that belong to nets with a check
in the SetupPorts column become ports when imported. The Filter control can be used to
choose which nets are shown in the dialog.

Importing ANFV4 Design Data

1. To open an ANFV4-based project, click File>Import>ANF on the top menu bar.

The File Open window opens.

2. Use the Look in field to locate the directory containing the file with the project you want to
open. Use the Files of type field to display the files with the ANF format.
3. Click on the ANF format file in the window to select it, or type its name into the File name
field.

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4. Click OK. The ANF Conversions dialog box opens:

5. The Current ANF (Components) Map panels list the components from the ANF file and
any associated models. You can enter the names of a model manually in the Model Name
field. The ModelName property for the component will be set to the entry in the Model Name
field in the mapping, and the Netlist property will begin with that name instead of the
component name.
6. Update External Component Map saves any mappings you enter manually to a text file.
Click Save Map File to open a File Open window. Use the window to browse to the
directory where the map file is to reside, then enter the name of the file. The map file is saved
with a .mapping extension. The same mapping file should be used for both component and
property mappings. After the mapping file has been created, Update External Component
Map saves any mappings you enter manually.
7. The Current ANF (Property) Map panels list the mapping of properties in the ANF file to
the properties that will be used when the file is imported. You can enter the mapped name of
a property manually in the Model Name field. The name for the property will be set to the
entry in the netlist.
8. Update External Property Map saves any mappings you enter manually to a text file. Click
Save Map File to open a File Open window. Use the window to browse to the directory
where the map file is to reside, then enter the name of the file. The map file is saved with a
.mapping extension. After the mapping file has been created, Update External
Component Map saves any mappings you enter manually.

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9. Load Map File opens a File Open window. Use the window to browse to the directory
where the map file resides, then select or enter the name of the file. The map file can contain
component and/or property mappings, and must have a .mapping extension. The same
mapping file should be used for both component and property mappings.
10. The External Component Map panel lists the components that have been read from an
external mapping file. The display changes each time the external file is updated from the
dialog.
11. The External Property Map panel lists the properties that have been read in from an
external mapping file. The display changes each time the external file is updated from the
dialog.
12. The Distributed Components panel allows you to specify that imported interconnects will
be converted to distributed components if they fall within a minimum coupling distance
(specify distance), and to select the nets that will be thus converted. The Planar EM tool will
analyze the geometry intact.
13. Click Close. The Planar EM Layout Editor will show the design, and the projects window
shows the imported project.

Importing Files into the Layout Editor

Using the File > Importcommand, you can read the following files directly into the Layout editor.

l EDB, Cadence APC/Allegro/SiP, ANF, AutoCAD, GDSII, IPC2581a, XFL, Gerber and
ODB++ imports will open directly into a new project.
l ANX import will open directly into a selected project. The user chooses whether to add the
import to a new design or to an existing design.

Split plane layers have not been poured (generated). Unused interior pads are not output. Nets
have not been defined or have been "anonymized" away. Components lack reference designators
or part numbers.

Note ODB++ allows the export of a .copper_weight for signal layers but not an actual thickness.
We will use a conversion factor of 1.4mil per ounce of copper. ODB++ v.8 allows for the
export of .dielectric_constant, .loss_tangent and .bulk_resistivity but no material names.
We generate the name of the layers by prepending ODB_COND_ and ODB_DIEL_
before the first layer the material properties show up in.
Note For the following, designs are imported with only the top and bottom layer visible:
ODB++, Cadence APD/Allegro/SiP, and ANFV2.

To import a 2D model file:

1. Start a new Planar EM project to open the Layout Editor.

2. Click File > Import, then choose the type of file to import; the Import File Open window
opens.

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3. Use the Look in field to locate the directory containing the file you want to import. Use the
Files of type field to display the files with the format you want to import.
4. Select the 2D model file you want import from the display.
5. Click Open. A dialog box specific to the requested format appears.

Modification after Import Stackup Options

For a detailed description of how to combine exported .xml files, see Layer Stackup dialog.

Related Topics

Importing EDB Format Files

Importing GDSII Format Files into the Layout Editor

Importing Gerber Format Files into the Layout Editor

Importing ODB++ into the Layout Editor

Importing IPC2581a into the Layout Editor

Importing DXF and DWG Format Files into the Layout Editor

Importing Cadence APD/ALLEGRO/SIP Files into the Layout Editor

Layer Mapping Files

GDSII Cell Import and Net Generation

Importing IPC2581 rev.a and IPC2581 rev.b into the Layout Editor

Importing XFL into the Layout Editor

Importing EDB Format Files

To import an EDB file, select File > Import > EDB which brings up a file open dialog.

1. Browse to and select a <database>.aedb/layout.def file.

2. A new project and design will be created around the layout data found in the AEDB
database.
3. There are no import options.

Note If the database is already referenced by another Electronics Desktop project, the two
projects will share the same database. No synchronization is provided for edits made
through the independent projects, e.g. if the ports are deleted through one project, then
they will be invalid in the other project, and the behavior will be indeterminate.

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Importing GDSII Format Files into the Layout Editor

You can initially access the GDSII Import dialog using the File > Import command. For more
information, see the introductory topic Importing Files into the Layout Editor. After you select a
.gds, .sf or .strm file to import, the following dialog opens.

The dialog is initialized with layers.

l Import stackup and options allows you to import information from an xml control file or
a layer mapping file into the dialog. Note that the information contained in the control file is
exported from the Layer Stackup Dialog and is not directly usable by the translator — if
layer names are changed. One can, however, combine the records for renaming layers
with the control file exported from the stackup dialog; for more information see Control File
Usage with Renaming. ANSYS Electronics Desktop also supports reading .tech and
.layermap files. If all conductive layers have thickness, the designs three-dimensional
connectivity will be used to generate nets (see GDSII Cell Import and Net Generation for
advanced rules for importing GDSII designs).
l Export control file will create an xml control file using the information imported to the
dialog to the location specified. This file can either be Imported and used through the
dialog or used directly with Anstranslator.exe.

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Layers Pane

l Import check box specifies which layers to import.

l Import layer name will rename a layer. In this case layer 55 will become “Bottom”. Once
the design has been imported, this mapping is not maintained internally. In order to
retranslate the design with renamed layers, make sure the layer name that is used is the
same name specified in the gds file. For more information see Control File Usage with
Renaming.
l Type — The one exception is via. If a layer is selected to be a via layer, all geometry on that
layer will be converted to a hole between the signal layer above and the layer below.
ANSYS Electronics Desktop will not import a design if the via layer flag is not set correctly,
and you will not be given the choice of such a via in the drop-down list.

Options Pane

l Use Property Map — When selected, you will be asked to select a .prop file which will then
be applied during translation. This is an optional input to Anstranslator.exe and is not stored
in the control file. For more information see the Property Mapping File subsection below.
l Flatten hierarchy — Default is selected, which in general, is the best choice for preparing
to simulate. This will make sure that all the component data is moved down and is ready for
simulation.
l Convert via layer polygons to circles — When selected, if via layers are defined, then
via layer polygons with more than 10 vertices (whose areas vary less than 10% of their
circumscribing circle) will be converted to circles.
l Import Only Named Nets — Only applicable when a valid 3D Layer stackup is imported.
When checked this option will set ImportDummyNet=”false”.

Property Mapping File

The format for the .txt property mapping file is:

          <stream id> <object type> <destination property name>

If you specify a property mapping file, the GDSII import creates properties with id and object type
combinations found in the map file using the property name specified. The import creates
properties on id and object type combinations not found in the mapping file with the name
STREAM PROPERTY #<strmid>.

Valid objects types are: Dot, Line, Path, Polygon, Rect, Text, ArrayInst, and ScalarInst.

If you do not specify a mapping file, the import interprets properties values as a list of properties
separated by the property separator character with the form:

          <property name> = <property value>

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For example, height=10, width=20 yields two properties, the first named height with a value of 10,
and the second named width with a value of 20.

Lines in the file that are blank and lines beginning with the comment character # are ignored.

Sample Property Mapping File

Stream# ID Object Name

1 Rect instP11
2 Polygon poly1
3 Path sigName
4 Text pad32
5 Pin io_term

When you have completed selections on both tabs, click OK on either tab and the file is imported
into the active Layout window.

Layermap Support

A .layermap file can be imported into the ANSYS Electronics Desktop by clicking File > Import >
GDSII and then selecting a control file to import. The following example shows the format of a
.layermap file that will create two layers from stream 74: "ap" and "Cu_PPI”:

Stream# Data Type Layer Name

74 0 ap
74 10 Cu_PPI

Similarly, the following example will map items from stream 73 and 74 to the layer "ap":

Stream# Data Type Layer Name

73 10 ap
74 0 ap

Control File Support

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Control file support is provided by adding a new GDSDataType attribute that corresponds to the
Data Type in the layer stackup section. Note that while multiple-stream data-attributes can be
combined into a single layer, all other elements should be identical — or one will be chosen at
random.

The following layer stackup will result in vias being constructed between the "new" and "old" layers.
Note that the GDSIIVia = "true" geometries will be removed from the design, but they must still
specify TargetLayer = "via" in order to do the initial translation.
<Layers LengthUnit="mm">

<Layer Color="#008000" FillMaterial="FR4_epoxy" GDSDataType="0"

TargetLayer="new" GDSIIVia="false" Material="copper" Name="30"
Thickness="10" Type="conductor"/>

<Layer Color="#008000" FillMaterial="FR4_epoxy" GDSDataType="0"

TargetLayer="new" GDSIIVia="false" Material="copper" Name="31"
Thickness="10" Type="conductor"/>

<Layer Color="#bd00bd" FillMaterial="FR4_epoxy" GDSDataType="0"

TargetLayer="via" GDSIIVia="true" Material="copper" Name="32"
Thickness="0" Type="conductor"/>

<Layer Color="#bd00bd" FillMaterial="FR4_epoxy" GDSDataType="0"

TargetLayer="via" GDSIIVia="true" Material="copper" Name="33"
Thickness="0" Type="conductor"/>

<Layer Color="#3dffff" FillMaterial="FR4_epoxy" GDSDataType="0"

TargetLayer="old" GDSIIVia="false" Material="copper" Name="34"
Thickness="0" Type="conductor"/>

<Layer Color="#3dffff" FillMaterial="FR4_epoxy" GDSDataType="0"

TargetLayer="old" GDSIIVia="false" Material="copper" Name="35"
Thickness="0" Type="conductor"/>

<Layer Color="#3dffff" FillMaterial="FR4_epoxy" GDSDataType="0"

TargetLayer="old" GDSIIVia="false" Material="copper" Name="36"
Thickness="0" Type="conductor"/>

<Layer Color="#3dffff" FillMaterial="FR4_epoxy" GDSDataType="0"

TargetLayer="old" GDSIIVia="false" Material="copper" Name="55"
Thickness="0" Type="conductor"/>

</Layers>

Anstranslator -g Option

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The -g option can be used with any GDS Data File to apply a data type mapping. It is also possible
to use an .xml control file (-c option) but the names specified must correspond to the layer names in
the mapping file, not to the stream numbers. The following example shows the .xml file format and
is equivalent to the first .layermap example shown in Layermap Support above:

Layer Name Layer Purpose #Stream Data Type

ap drawing 74 0
Cu_PPI drawing 74 10

Note that Anstranslator will always use “drawing” as the layer purpose when generating a mapping
file.

Importing Gerber Format Files into the Layout Editor

Only version RS-274X Gerber designs are supported. We assume the files are contained in either
a directory or a directory that has been tar’ed and gzip’ed. On linux use “tar -cvzf gerber.tgz
/home/user/gerber”, where "gerber" is the name of the directory that contains the design. Support
is also included for NC-Drill files (circular holes and drawn slots only).

The dialog is initialized with the name of the files identified as RS-274X or NC-Drill files. Only the
files in the topmost directory will be looked at. NC-Drill files are processed separately and their type
cannot be changed.

l Import stackup and options allows you to import information from an xml control file or
a layer mapping file into the dialog.
l Export control file will create an xml control file using the information imported to the
dialog to the location specified.

Layers Pane

l File Layer Name is name of the file in the directory; it does not include the path.
l Import check box specifies which layers to import.
l Import layer name is the name of the new layer. Note that the information contained in the
control file is exported from the Layer Stackup Dialog and is not directly usable by the
translator — if layer names are changed. One can, however, combine the records for
renaming layers with the control file exported from the stackup dialog; for more information
see Control File Usage with Renaming. The Electronics Desktop also supports reading
.tech and .layermap files.
l Type can be changed and identifies the layer type that will be used to place each layer in the
file. Via and wirebond types are special and will allow the user to select the start and stop
layers by expanding the dialog’s width.

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Options Pane (NC Drill)

If your drill holes appear to be out of whack, you will need to expressly describe the format of the
NC Drill file. Many cad systems include a comment in the NC Drill file that will automatically be
processed, but if this does not work the parameters can be set explicitly. Typically, both fields will
need to be set.

l Format(digit.digit) — Unit type is always defined but typically decimal points are not used
in the file and we need to know how many digits are before the decimal and how many are
after (e.g. “2.4”). The period is required and the format is "digit period digit".
l Omit Zeroes — Zeroes can be omitted from the leading or trailing side of numbers.

Via and Wirebond Types

l Via – By “_Default_”, Start Layer is the top-most signal layer and Stop Layer is the bottom-
most layer. To set up blind and buried vias it is best to start by setting the layer types for all
layers and then reorder by dragging the rows by selecting the filled-in cell on the left.

l Wirebond – By “_Default_”, Start Layer” and “Stop Layer” will be set to the signal layer
directly below the Wirebond. If no signal layer lies below the Wirebond the “Start Layer” and
“Stop Layer” will be set to the bottom-most layer. Wirebond layer rows can be moved up and
down by dragging and dropping.

Importing ODB++ into the Layout Editor

The ANSYS Electronics Desktop supports importing ODB++ from many platforms. The translator
relies on optional information in the EDA data file and component layer files to integrate the
manufacturing data into PCB level objects such as Padstacks. If this data is missing the design may
not be imported correctly. When first importing a design into the Electronic Desktop, please make
note of any error or warning messages; common issues include:

l Split plane layers have not been poured (generated)

l Unused interior pads are not output
l Nets have not been defined or have been "anonymized" away
l Components lack reference designators or part numbers

For initially accessing the dialog below see the introductory topic Importing Files into the Layout
Editor. After you select a .tgz file or a Windows directory to import, the following dialog opens:

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The dialog is initialized with the layers and nets from the imported design. Note that while signal
layers can be excluded, they will still be imported if a hole begins or ends on that layer. Excluding
layers can speed up both the translation and import into ANSYS Electronics Desktop. Excluding
nets can also speed up the import of a design into ANSYS Electronics Desktop and make the
design easier to work with.

l Import stackup and options allows you to import information from an xml control file or
a layer mapping file into the dialog. Note that the information contained in the control file is
exported from the Layer Stackup Dialog and is not directly usable by the translator if layer
names are changed. One can however combine the records for renaming layers with the
control file exported from the stackup dialog; for more information see Control File Usage
with Renaming. ANSYS Electronics Desktop also supports reading .tech and .layermap
files.
l Export control file will create an xml control file using the information imported to the
dialog to the location specified. This file can either be imported and used through the
dialog or used directly with Anstranslator.exe.

Layers Pane

l Import check box specifies which layers to import. Note that while signal layers can be
excluded they will always be imported if the signal layer is at the top or bottom of a hole
(padstack).
l Import Layer Name will rename a layer. Note that all layers including drawing layers can
be renamed. Once imported into the Electronics Desktop this mapping will be lost and you
will need to refer to these layers by their new name.
l Type is set based on properties in the ODB++ file and can be changed if needed.

Nets Pane

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l Import check box specifies which nets to import. Make sure Dummy is checked if you
want to import the metal not assigned to a specific net.
l Setup Ports will automatically create ports on the nets to be imported when checked.

Options Pane

l Flatten Hierarchy should usually be selected. This will make sure that all the component
data is moved down and is ready for simulation.

Control File Usage

Importing a control file into the dialog will preserve not only the layer settings but also the
Component property section of the .xml file. This means that if you import the following control file
C28 will have a value of 4.7nF.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="no" ?>

<c:Control xmlns:c="http://www.ansys.com/control" schemaVersion="1.0">

   <Components schemaVersion="1.0">

   <TypeMap>

      <!-- Match C28 exactly -->

      <RefDes RegEx="C28" Type="Capacitor" SC_Value="4.7n"/>

   </TypeMap>

   </Components>

</c:Control>

For details on the TypeMap see ODB++ Control File Part Mapping.

Importing IPC2581a into the Layout Editor

This is the initial release of ANSYS Electronics Desktop support for the IPC2581a format. It has
been tested on “Full” design exports from a limited number of PCB Layout tools. Layout data is
processed from the Content, Bom and ECAD sections. From the ECAD section, ANSYS
Electronics Desktop will use the step data geometry defined by the Padstack, Layer and Drill Layer
information. The goal is to import the metal on the board as accurately as possible.

For information on how to initially access the IPC2581 import dialog (File > Import), see the
introductory topic Importing Files into the Layout Editor. After you select a .cvg or .xml file or a
Windows directory to import, the IPC2581 import dialog opens. The dialog is initialized with the
layers and nets from the imported design.

l Import stackup and options allows you to import information from an xml control file or
a layer mapping file into the dialog. Note that the information contained in the control file is
exported from the Layer Stackup Dialog and is not directly usable by the translator if layer

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names are changed. One can however combine the records for renaming layers with the
control file exported from the stackup dialog; for more information see Control File Usage
with Renaming. ANSYS Electronics Desktop also supports reading .tech and .layermap
files.
l Export control file will create an xml control file using the information imported to the
dialog to the location specified. This file can either be imported and used through the
dialog or used directly with Anstranslator.exe. Note that this can be used to read in an IPC
Layer Stackup file and export an .xml file that can be used with an IPC2581a file.

Layers Pane

l Import check box specifies which layers to import. Padstacks will be shortened or
removed entirely as appropriate. Type is set based on properties in the imported file and
can be changed if needed. The only exception to this is the “SOLDERMASK” layer which
will be imported as a dielectric layer.
l Layer Name will rename a layer. Note that all layers including drawing layers can be
renamed. Once imported into the Electronics Desktop this mapping will be lost and you
will need to refer to these layers by their new name.

 Nets Pane

l Import check box specifies which nets to import. Make sure Dummy is checked if you
want to import the metal not assigned to a specific net.
l Setup Ports will automatically create ports on the nets to be imported when checked.

Importing DXF and DWG Format Files into the Layout Editor

The ANSYS Electronics Desktop AutoCAD import supports AutoCAD version 2.5 through
AutoCAD 2013. See the introductory topic Importing Files into the Layout Editor for the initial steps
in the process of importing 2D data into the Layout Editor. After you select a 2D model file, the
import dialog opens.

The dialog is initialized with the layers from the imported AutoCAD file.

l Import stackup and options allows you to import information from an xml control file or a
layer mapping file into the dialog.
l Export control file will create an xml control file using the information imported to the
dialog to the location specified.

Layers Pane

l File Layer Name is name of layer as stored in the dxf or dwg file.
l Import check box specifies which layers to import.
l Import layer name is the name of the new layer. Note that the information contained in the
control file is exported from the Layer Stackup Dialog and is not directly usable by the
translator — if layer names are changed. One can, however, combine the records for

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renaming layers with the control file exported from the stackup dialog; for more information
see Control File Usage with Renaming. The Electronics Desktop also supports reading
.tech and .layermap files.
l Type can be changed and identifies the layer type that will be used to place each layer in the
file. Via and wirebond types are special and will allow the user to select the start and stop
layers by expanding the dialog’s width.

Options Pane

l Use Override AutoCAD file units and the Units pulldown to select the units to be used
to interpret the DXF/DWG file contents.
l Import Only Named Nets — Only applicable when a valid 3D Layer stackup is imported.
When checked this option will set ImportDummyNet=”false”.

Objects Pane

l Use the check boxes to fine-tune the import:

— Auto detect closure causes polylines to be checked to see whether or not they are
closed. If a polyline is closed, the Electronics Desktop creates a polygon in the design.

— Self stitch causes multiple straight line segments to be joined to form polylines.
Tolerance is used to decide if two coordinates are the "same" and should be considered for
joining. If the resulting polyline is closed, a polygon is created in the Electronics Desktop. You
have the choice of two different tolerances for self stitching: DefaultTolerance and explicit
Tolerance. Default tolerance is a geometric tolerance based on the extents of the project
being imported. Explicit tolerance allows you to expand the tolerance based on your
knowledge of the dxf project being imported.

— Defeature removes certain small features in the imported geometry to reduce

complexity. The features that are removed include multiple points placed within the specified
distance, thin or narrow regions (“thins” and “spikes”), and extraneous points along straight
line segments. Specify the distance in the Tolerance box.

— Round coordinates rounds all imported data to the specified number of decimal places.

— Convert closed wide lines to polygons imports wide polylines as polygons. You have
more flexibility to change the shape of such an object when it is imported as a polygon.

The following DXF entities can be imported as 2 dimensional objects from AutoCAD:

l Arc
l Solid
l Circle
l Block
l Ellipse

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l Array of blocks (MInsert)

l 2D Polyline, Polyline, and Line

When you have completed selections on both tabs, click OK on either tab and the file is imported
into the active Layout window.

Via and Wirebond Types

l Via – By “_Default_”, Start Layer is the top-most signal layer and Stop Layer is the bottom-
most layer. To set up blind and buried vias it is best to start by setting the layer types for all
layers and then reorder by dragging the rows by selecting the filled-in cell on the left.

l Wirebond – By “_Default_”, Start Layer” and “Stop Layer” will be set to the signal layer
directly below the Wirebond. If no signal layer lies below the Wirebond the “Start Layer” and
“Stop Layer” will be set to the bottom-most layer. Wirebond layer rows can be moved up and
down by dragging and dropping.

Importing Cadence APD/ALLEGRO/SIP Files into the Layout Editor

The ANSYS Electronics Desktop supports Extracta Import from Cadence. Note that Extracta.Exe
is a Cadence supplied executable and must be installed on your machine and on your executable
path for this to work. For initially accessing the dialog below see the introductory topic Importing
Files into the Layout Editor. After you select a .brd, .sip or .mcm file, the import dialog opens.

The dialog is initialized with the nets from the imported design.

l Import stackup and options allows you to import information from an xml control file or
a layer mapping file into the dialog. Note that the information contained in the control file is
exported from the Layer Stackup Dialog and is not directly usable by the translator if layer
names are changed. One can however combine the records for renaming layers with the
control file exported from the stackup dialog; for more information see Control File Usage
with Renaming. ANSYS Electronics Desktop also supports reading .tech and .layermap
files.
l Export control file will create an xml control file using the information imported to the
dialog to the location specified. This file can either be Imported and used through the
dialog or used directly with Anstranslator.exe.

Nets Pane

l Import check box specifies which nets to import.

l Setup Ports will automatically create ports on the nets to be imported.

Options Pane

l Import Dummy Net — Causes all metal on the net that matches the specified name to
be imported. This is independent of the list of nets.

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l Default Component — When default component is checked, if components come in

without resistor, capacitor or inductor types, a default RLC value is set commensurate
with the type and a best guess at pin pairing is generated.
l Import Hatching — Extracta has an option to export plane data, with or without
hatching. If this option is checked hatching will be generated.

Control File Usage

Importing a control file into the dialog will preserve not only the layer settings but also the
Component property section of the .xml file. This means that if you import the following control file,
C28 will have a value of 4.7nF.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="no" ?>

<c:Control xmlns:c="http://www.ansys.com/control" schemaVersion="1.0">

   <Components schemaVersion="1.0">

   <TypeMap>

      <!-- Match C28 exactly -->

      <RefDes RegEx="C28" Type="Capacitor" SC_Value="4.7n"/>

   </TypeMap>

   </Components>

</c:Control>

For details on the TypeMap see ODB++ Control File Part Mapping.

Layer Mapping Files

Layer mapping files specify the mapping of layers when importing or exporting data with the
Electronics Desktop. The imported/exported layer-name or number is mapped to a layer in the
layout. The layers mapped in the file are those that are to be imported or exported.

l Opening a layer mapping file from an import or export dialog sets the dialog controls with the
contained mapping information.
l The layout editor supports two formats of layer mapping files: .layermap and .tech.
l The .tech format allows additional layer information to be supplied when importing.
l If all conductive layers have thickness, the design's three dimensional connectivity will be
used to generate nets.

See GDSII Cell Import and Net Generation for advanced rules for importing GDSII designs).

Layer mapping files are supported with AutoCAD and GDSII import, which also allows for the use
of a control file. For more information see Layout and ODB++ Control File.

.layermap File Format

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l No comment character
l Each layer information entry is specified by a line that contains:

<import layer> — Name of the DXF layer or number of the GDSII layer

<destination layer> — Name of the layout layer in the Electronics Desktop (i.e., the name to
map the imported layer to)

Example .layermap file for DXF import

S12 signal12

TR trace

S3 signal3

Example .layermap file for GDSII import

12 signal12

35 trace

3 signal3

.tech File Format

l A forward slash, “/”, is the comment character.

l Units may be specified with a “UNITS <string>” entry that precedes the layer information t
entries, where “<string>” is any of the allowed desktop length units; the default is “nm”.
l Each layer information entry is specified by a line that contains the following:

<import layer> — Name of the DXF layer or number of the GDSII layer

<destination layer> — Name of the layout layer in the Electronics Desktop (i.e., the name to
map the imported layer to)

<layer color> — A color string choice from those provided below via the Layer Colorslink.

<layer elevation> — Double

<layer height> — Double

Example .tech file for DXF import

UNITS um

/ ----------------------------------------------------------------

/ import# destination Color Elevation Thickness

/ ----------------------------------------------------------------

S12 signal12 blue 1100 530

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TR trace red 6620 530

S3 signal3 yellow 8150 2000

Example .tech file for GDSII import

UNITS um

/ ----------------------------------------------------------------

/ import# destination Color Elevation Thickness

/ ----------------------------------------------------------------

12 signal12 blue 1100 530

35 trace red 6620 530

3 signal3 yellow 8150 2000

Click on the following Layer Colors link to display a listing of the supported color types and their
corresponding RGB values: Layout Editor Layer Colors

GDSII Cell Import and Net Generation

Automatic net assignment

Net assignment will occur automatically when all conductive layers have thickness. Connected
metal will be assigned to the same net. Care should be taken to ensure that non-physical geometry
(i.e. outlines) are not imported as metal, as this can produce inadvertent shorts during net
assignment. To facilitate net generation during GDSII import, additional attributes and elements
have been added to the xml control file schema. These elements are valid independently or in
combination.

ImportOptions
<ImportOptions Flatten="true" GDSIIConvertPolygonToCircles="false"
ImportDummyNet="false"/>

ImportDummyNet=”false” deletes all metal that has not been assigned a net. Note, this may result
in all the metal of the design being deleted if conductive layers are set up to assign nets but none
are assigned.

GDS_CELL_RULES
<GDS_CELL_RULES>
<BLACK_BOX_CELLS> Bl* Bad </BLACK_BOX_CELLS>
<GRAY_BOX_CELLS> Gra? </GRAY_BOX_CELLS>
<WHITE_BOX_CELLS>White</WHITE_BOX_CELLS>
</GDS_CELL_RULES>

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The GDS_CELL_RULES allow for control of which cells will be imported. Substitutions are
supported using any number of Wildcard characters (“*”) and any number of single characters
(“?”). Cell names are case-insensitive and are separated by white space (including tabs and end-
of-lines).

BLACK_BOX_CELLS

No geometry will be imported from BLACK_BOX_CELLS. These cells will be deleted prior to net
assignment and flattening.

GRAY_BOX_CELLS

Geometry from GRAY_BOX_CELLS will only be assigned nets if they are connected to other cells.
This assignment could be generated by WHITE_BOX_CELLS or by GDS_NET_DEFINITIONS.
In either case, all geometries not assigned a net will be deleted. If neither WHITE_BOX_CELLS
nor GDS_NET_DEFINITIONS are defined it is assumed that all cells except BLACK_BOX_
CELLS and GRAY_BOX_CELLS can be used to generate net assignments.

WHITE_BOX_CELLS

Geometry from WHITE_BOX_CELLS will be used to generate net assignments, unless GDS_
NET_DEFINITION rules are defined. Metal in other cells may be assigned nets if they connect to
the geometry in the WHITE_BOX_CELLS.

GDS_NET_DEFINITIONS

<GDS_NET_DEFINITIONS NET_NAME_CASE_SENSITIVE="false" USE_TOP_LEVEL_

TEXT_ONLY="false">
   < U S E_TEXT_FROM_HIERARCHY_LEVEL>0 2 4-MAX</USE_TEXT_FROM_
HIERARCHY_LEVEL>
   <USE_TEXT_FROM_CELLS>TextC*</USE_TEXT_FROM_CELLS>
   <USE_TEXT_FROM_HIERARCHY_BLOCK> Top/Text </USE_TEXT_FROM_
HIERARCHY_BLOCK>
   <VDD_NETS>MODE {MODE? MODE@ layer_7 5000.0 7000.0}
                      VBA* VCC@layer_1 4000.0 3000.0</VDD_NETS>
   <GND_NETS>RFO</GND_NETS>
   <SIGNAL_NETS>SEN
                      Sdin</SIGNAL_NETS>
</GDS_NET_DEFINITIONS>

Note: Though all options are displayed, typically they will not be used together, and they can be
contradictory. Net creations for all GDS_NET_DEFINITIONS stem from text defined in the GDSII
file or from point locations included in VDD_NETS, GND_NETS, and SIGNAL_NETS. If the rules
are self-contradictory or too restrictive it is possible that no nets will be generated.

GDS_NET_DEFINITIONS NET_NAME_CASE_SENSITIVE

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Modifies the behavior of the net matching from VDD_NETS, GND_NETS, and SIGNAL_NETS. If
this is set to “false” all name comparisons will be done as case-insensitive. Wild card matching is
always supported for text.

USE_TOP_LEVEL_TEXT_ONLY

When set to “true”, only text from the top level cell will be used to generate nets. This overrides all
other cell restrictions (USE_TEXT_FROM_HIERARCHY_LEVEL, USE_TEXT_FROM_CELLS,
USE_TEXT_FROM_HIERARCHY_BLOCK).

USE_TEXT_FROM_HIERARCHY_LEVEL

0 is the top. White space denotes a separation. A dash (“-“) indicates all intermediate layers. “MAX”
should always follow “-“ and indicates all hierarchical elements below the previous entry. For the
example above, ANSYS Electronics Desktop would look at text for cells in the top most level, skip a
level, look at text at all cells at level 2, skip another level, and look at all cells embedded at level 4
and below. These restrictions are applied along with the USE_TEXT_FROM_CELLS. That is if
USE_TEXT_FROM_CELLS restrictions are defined both the HIERARCHY level rules and the
CELLS restriction rules will be enforced.

USE_TEXT_FROM_CELLS

Wild cards are allowed. Equivalent to the WHITE_BOX_CELLS above but the text in the cells is
used to generate nets, instead of assigning arbitrary net names to the metal.

USE_TEXT_FROM_HIERARCHY_BLOCK

Allows the specification of exactly placed hierarchy blocks to generate nets. No wild cards are
supported. These cells will always be allowed regardless of cell and hierarchy restrictions from
USE_TEXT_FROM_HIERARCHY_LEVEL and USE_TEXT_FROM_CELLS.

VDD_NETS, GND_NETS, and SIGNAL_NETS

All three allow you to select which nets/texts you want to import (VBA* and RFO), all texts
satisfying the rules above starting with VBA(randomString) will be generate and the net RFO. They
also allow the assignment of netnames based on a location (layer name, x microns, y microns) ,
(the VCC@layer_1 4000.0 3000.0) where VCC will be the new net name, starting with the metal
geometry located on layer_1 at the point (4000.0 microns, 3000.0 microns). The “{}” notation
allows nets to be joined in to one net, both string and point rules are allowed in the subnet
definitions but the net generated will be given by the text prior to the brackets. MODE {MODE?
MODE@ layer_7 5000.0 7000.0} will produce a single net named MODE combining all nets
defined by the Matching rule MODE? (MODE and a single extra character) and the point rule
(MODE@ layer_7 5000.0 7000.0). Note that for the sake of consistency a name is required before
the “@” in subnet definitions even though it will not be seen at the end of processing.

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Importing IPC2581 rev.a and IPC2581 rev.b into the Layout Editor

Note that ANSYS Electronics Desktop only supports IPC2581 rev.a and rev.b, and interprets the
default behavior based on the schema. All references to IPC2581 signify only rev.a or rev.b.

IPC2581 rev.a

This is the initial release of ANSYS Electronics Desktop support for the IPC2581a format. It has
been tested on "Full" design exports from a limited number of PCB Layout tools. The goal is to
import the metal on the board as accurately as possible.

IPC2581 rev.b

This is the initial release of ANSYS Electronics Desktop support for the IPC2581b format. It has
been tested on a limited number of designs exported as "User" design with all data selected.

Importing Files

For information on how to initially access the IPC2581 import dialog (File > Import), see the
introductory topic Importing Files into the Layout Editor. After you select a .cvg or .xml file or a
Windows directory, the IPC2581 Import dialog opens. The dialog is initialized with the layers and
nets from the imported design.

l Import stackup and options allows you to import information from an xml control file or
a layer mapping file into the dialog. Note that the information contained in the control file is
exported from the Layer Stackup Dialog and is not directly usable by the translator if layer
names are changed. The Edit Layers Dialog is not used by the translator and will be
ignored.
l Export control file will create an xml control file using the information imported to the
dialog to the location specified. This file can either be imported and used through the
dialog or used directly with Anstranslator.exe. Note that this can be used to read in an IPC
Layer Stackup file and to export an .xml file that can be used with an IPC2581 file.

Layers Pane

l Import check box specifies which layers to import. Padstacks will be shortened or
removed entirely as appropriate. Type is set based on properties in the IPC2581 file and
can be changed if needed. The only exception is the "SOLDERMASK" layer which will be
imported as a dielectric layer.
l Import Layer Name will rename a layer. Note that all layers including drawing layers can
be renamed. Once imported into the Electronics Desktop, this mapping will be lost and
you will need to refer to these layers by their new name.

Nets Pane

l Import check box specifies which nets to import. Make sure Dummy is checked if you
want to import the metal not assigned to a specific net.
l Setup Ports will automatically create ports on the nets to be imported when checked.

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Importing XFL into the Layout Editor

For information on how to initially access the XFL import dialog (File > Import), see the
introductory topic Importing Files into the Layout Editor. After you select a .xfl file the XFL import
dialog opens initialized with the nets from the design to be imported.

l Import stackup and options allows you to import information from an xml control file or
a layer mapping file into the dialog.
l Export control file will create an xml control file using the information imported to the
dialog to the location specified. This file can either be imported and used through the
dialog or used directly with Anstranslator.exe. Note that this can be used to read in an IPC
Layer Stackup file and export a .xml file that can be used with an IPC2581a file.

 Nets Pane

l Import check box specifies which nets to import.

l Setup Ports will automatically create ports on the nets to be imported when checked.

Importing Tabular Arrays

Array data in tabular format can be imported from a file using the Array Import wizard that is
invoked by selecting Tools > Import Array from Table and specifying a .csv file from the dialog
that opens.

The tabular array .csv file should contain the following formatting:

l First row consisting of list of Array Index Variable names separated by tabs or commas
l Remaining rows consisting of a list of string values separated by tabs or commas
l Double quotation marks (“ “) for string values are optional

After you select a .csv file to open:

l If no existing array variables are present in the design, the Import Array From Table: New
Variables dialog opens.
l If one or more existing array variables are present in the design, the Import Array From
Table: Existing Variables dialog opens.

Each dialog is shown below.

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The following controls are available:

l Column (Array Index Variable) Name cannot be modified and is used to create the array
index variable.
l The associated Array Variable Name has the default name “<ColumnName>_Array". You
can modify the Array Variable Name, but variable uniqueness and validity is checked upon
closing the wizard.
l Click the Create check box to specify that the array index variable should be created.
l Use the control buttons at bottom to go Back to the previous wizard dialog, proceed to the
Next wizard dialog, or click Cancel to close the dialog without making changes.

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If one or more existing array variables are present in the design, when you click Next in the above
wizard dialog, the Import Array From Table: Existing Variables dialog opens.

The following controls are available:

l Array Index Variable name can not be modified.

l Associated Array Variable can be modified, but variable uniqueness and validity is
checked upon closing the wizard.
l The following choices appear in the Action pulldown menu:

— Merge with existing value

— Replace existing value

— No Action

If you select Replace existing value, you are then prompted for verification.

l If you import a file to a design where a string column already exists as an

ArrayIndexVariable, the value of the variable is checked when imported. If the existing
array value is a superset of new array values, the array variable will not appear in the
ExistingVariables dialog.

You can also use the same .csv tabular array file to setup a parametric analysis. See Optimetrics.

When the parametric analysis is set up, the ArrayIndexVariable is searched and its index is used
to create the table. Whether the ArrayIndexVariable refers to a double array or a string array, you
must use the array element from the imported file — rather than the index value itself — to set up
the Parametric from File analysis.

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Direct Import Cadence APD Links

Direct Import From a Static Data Source

l *.mcm, *.sip, and *.brd requires a binary installation of the Cadence SPB platform.
Specifically, extracta.exe must be available and executable in the local environment.
l *.anx is a static data source that can be exported from within Cadence SPB and
transported to the local machine. This mechanism allows you to use APDLinks without a
local installation of the Cadence tools.

Importing Metal on Nets Without Names

By default, when importing .mcm, .sip, and .brd files, the ANSYS Electronics Desktop will filter out
all metal on the nets without name. If this behavior is undesirable you will need to create a control
file with the exact same name as the file you are looking at with the type changed to .xml and
located in the same directory. The file should look like the following. If ImportDummyNet is "true"
any metal on the dummy net will be imported . In addition, the Electronics Desktop allows control of
the assignment of default values to components with the EnableDefaultComponentValues. Legal
values for both of these are "true" or "false".
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="no" ?>

<c:Control xmlns:c="http://www.ansys.com/control"
schemaVersion="1.0">

   <ImportOptions ImportDummyNet="true"
EnableDefaultComponentValues="true"/>

</c:Control>

ODB++ Translator
ODB++ is an ASCII open-format developed by Mentor Graphics to capture CAD/EDA, assembly,
and PCB fabrication information. It has become the proprietary industry standard for formatting
and transferring PC board data.

The ANSYS ODB++ translator, AnsTranslator, allows you to utilize ODB++ and ANF file formats
to perform analyses of printed circuit boards in support of SIwave and Planar EM. AnsTranslator
takes as input an ODB++ v7.1 job structure and produces as output an ANFv4 file or an ANFv2 file
and an SIWave component file (.cmp).

l The input to AnsTranslator is an ODB++ v7.1 job structure (either as a compressed .tgz
file or an uncompressed top folder) and an optional control file (.xml).
l AnsTranslator can export to an edb directory or to a control file.
l The output from AnsTranslator is either an EDB directory or ANFV2 file and a
component file (.cmp). ANFV4 is also supported. A log file (.log) is also produced.

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l The information translated is a collection of geometric data that is sufficient to perform a

useful analysis of the represented circuit for SIwave and Planar EM designs (which will
also support HFSS, Q3D, and TPA). Note that the AnsTranslator process is subject to
whatever limitations exist for the ANF format to represent ODB++ content.
l If the board outline is included in the profile file, it will be translated onto an assembly layer
called "outline". This same polygon will be used to translate negative-plane data to a
positive-plane shape.
l The data can be modified through the Control File.

Related Topics

Running AnsTranslator from the Electronics Desktop

Running AnsTranslator from the Command Line

Net Importation in AnsTranslator

ODB++ Exporter Issues

Layout and ODB++ Control File

Using Excel to Generate an ODB++ Control File

ODB++ Control File Part Mapping

Control File Usage with Renaming

Board Outlines

Running AnsTranslator from the Electronics Desktop

The ODB++ translator is a link to an external DLL that can be accessed by clicking File > Import >
ODB++ which opens the import window.

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Import and Export Control Buttons

l Import control file opens a dialog which allows a user to import a desired control file.
l Export control file will write an xml control file based on the information in the dialog to
the location specified.

Layers Pane

l Import check box specifies which layers to import.

l Import layer name can be edited.
l Type can be changed and identifies the layer type that will be used to place each layer in
the file (not editable if the layer already exists; for layers that don’t exist, click in the column
to see a pulldown list of choices).

Nets Pane

l Import check box specifies which nets to import.

l The Nets grid control allows users to choose the nets to be imported and to indicate if pins
on that net should be imported as ports.
l Pins that belong to nets with a check in the SetupPorts column become ports when
imported.
l Show nets to be imported moves nets to be imported to the top of the grid control.
l Filter involves enhanced wild card filtering is used to choose which nets are shown in the
dialog by using wild cards and characters; the two wild cards supported are * and ?. For
more information, see Regular Expressions for Nets below.

Options Pane

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l Flatten hierarchy allows the user to choose between importing the ODB++ with
components or flattening the components.

When you have completed selections, click OK and the file is imported into the active Layout
window.

Regular Expressions for Nets

You can use regular expressions to search for nets. These match a text pattern and use special
constructions to represent strings or single characters.

To use a regular expression, enter the name of the object you want to select in the field, using wild
cards when appropriate. The following regular expressions are supported:

* Matches any sequence of characters.

For example, net* selects objects net_1a, net_1b, netLength.

? Matches any character.

For example, net_? selects objects net_1, net_2, net_a, net_b.

These match a text pattern and use special constructions to represent strings or single characters.
For example:

net* selects all pins in nets that start with “net” and so forth.

net*:1* selects pins with name that start with “1” in the nets that start with name “net”.

A*:3? Selects pins 31, 32, 33, 34 etc in nets A1, ACC, AGND, AGND2 and so forth.

Running AnsTranslator from the Command Line

The format for running AnsTranslator from the DOS command line is:

AnsTranslator <input> <output> <switches>

where:

l AnsTranslator is the complete path to AnsTranslator.exe

l <input> is the required path to the design to be translated
l <output> is the optional path to the edb directory
l <switches> are any of the following options:

-c=controlFileName // Path to control-file (.xml)

-i=inputFormat // Specifies the file format for translator input: AutoCAD,

OpenAccess, GDSII, Extracta, IPC2581, ODB++ or anfv2

-l=logFilename // Path to log file (.log)

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-o=outputFormat // Output format: edb (default output will be non-hierarchical, i.e.,

flattened, edb, for ODB++ and GDSII inputs), ControlFile, ANFV2 and ANFV4

-p(ropmap) // Optionally used for GDSII import to specify a property mapping file

-a(nfcmp) // Optionally used for ANFV2 import to specify a .cmp file

-v // Specifies verbose logging (without this option, only warnings and errors are
logged)

-w=workingDirectoryName // Specifies the directory to use for any file manipulation

needed by the translation

The following considerations apply:

1. If <output> is not specified, the translated ANF file is created in the same folder as the
<input> file/folder.
2. If “-c” is not specified, the control file is still used (.xml), as long as it has the same name and
path as the <input> file/folder.
3. If “-i” is not specified, the file type is deduced from the file extension.
4. If “-l” is not specified, the log file is created in the same folder as the <output> ANF file.
5. If “-o” is not specified, the output default is ANFV4.
6. If “-w” is not specified, the directory for the input is used as the working directory.

Net Importation in AnsTranslator

When bringing in ODB++ and Extracta designs through AnsTranslator, Nets will automatically be
assigned into two distinct Net/Classes: "Power/Ground Nets" or "Non Power/Ground Nets". These
can be overridden through the .xml control file. A sample xml file is included below with an
explanation that follows.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="no" ?>

<c:Control xmlns:c="http://www.ansys.com/control"
schemaVersion="1.0">

<Nets>

<Net Name="GND" IsSignalNet="false" />

<Net Name="VCC"/>

<Net Name="Battery"/>

<Net Name="Batt_Sense"/>

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<Net Name="change"/>

<Net Name="CLK"/>

<Net Name="data[0]">

<NetClass Name="data" />

<NetClass Name="sig" />

</Net>

<Net Name="data[1]">

<NetClass Name="data" />

<NetClass Name="sig" />

</Net>

<Net Name="data[2]">

<NetClass Name="data" />

<NetClass Name="sig" />

</Net>

<Net Name="data[3]">

<NetClass Name="data" />

<NetClass Name="sig" />

</Net>

<Net Name="data[4]">

<NetClass Name="data" />

<NetClass Name="sig" />

</Net>

</Nets>

</c:Control>

1. If a net is not included in the list of nets it will not be imported into the design. This an
excellent way to look at a small subset of the design.

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2. If "IsSignalNet" = "false", it will automatically be assigned to the "Power/Ground Nets". If it is

"true", it will be assigned to "Non Power/Ground Nets".
3. If a NetClass has been assigned, it will not be placed into the default categories, unless the
"IsSignalNet" attribute is set or the NetClass is explicitly specified.

ODB++ Exporter Issues

The following known issues have been found regarding translated ODB++ directories. The
problems occur when the contents of an ODB++ file do not completely conform to the Valor
ODB++ specifications. The ANSYS ODB++ Translator response varies depending on the nature
of the problem, and an informative warning/error message is provided.

Extra text after the part-name of a CMP record in a components file

The one-word component part-name should be the final text before the terminating semi-colon in a
CMP record (“;”). Any extra text is ignored.

Example with the extra text in bold:

CMP 8 0.94074 0.3248 270.0 N J1 mPCIE EDGECONN ;0=1,1=0.000010

Duplicate pin numbers in TOP records in a components file

Each toeprint record (TOP) for a component should have a distinct pin number. When a duplicate
is found, the duplicate pin number is changed to an unused number. The user is given a warning.

Example:

The bold pin numbers are duplicates.

...
TOP 14 -0.1284500 0.1181400 90.0000000 N 108 0 15

TOP 15 0.1284500 0.1181400 90.0000000 N 85 0 16

TOP 16 -0.1284500 0.1575100 90.0000000 N 109 0 17

TOP 17 0.1284500 0.1575100 90.0000000 N 7 0 18

TOP 18 0.0000000 0.3960000 90.0000000 N 1 0 G1

TOP 18 -0.1140000 0.2820000 90.0000000 N 1 0 G1

TOP 18 0.0790000 0.3530000 90.0000000 N 1 0 G1

TOP 18 -0.0790000 0.3530000 90.0000000 N 1 0 G1

TOP 18 0.1140000 0.2820000 90.0000000 N 1 0 G1

TOP 19 0.0000000 -0.3700000 90.0000000 N 1 0 G2

TOP 19 -0.1140000 -0.2820000 90.0000000 N 1 0 G2

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TOP 19 0.1140000 -0.2820000 90.0000000 N 1 0 G2

TOP 19 0.0790000 -0.3530000 90.0000000 N 1 0 G2

TOP 19 -0.0790000 -0.3530000 90.0000000 N 1 0 G2

A NET record in an eda data file contains extra text

The net name specified in the NET line of an eda data file should not contain spaces. If spaces are
present, they are replaced with underscores. A warning is issued. This situation could happen
when net names with spaces are exported without removing the spaces.

Example:

These NET lines from an edata/data file result in nets named JTG_ENA_TOP and JTG_ENA_
PHY.
#NET 973

NET JTG_ENA TOP

...

#NET 974

NET JTG_ENA PHY

Duplicate pin names

Duplicate pin names within the same component — as defined by a PKG record in an eda data file.
When a pin name is duplicated, the translator forces it to be unique by appending a number. A
warning is issued.

Example with pin names 11 through 18 used twice in the PKG record:

# PKG 2
PKG smnhda18.2_39_ni 0.03937 -0.4084999 -0.24 0.3825 0.24

RC -0.251 -0.24 0.502 0.48

PIN 1 S 0.15745 -0.1284499 0 U U

RC 0.14545 -0.1634499 0.024 0.07

PIN 2 S 0.15745 0.12845 0 U U

RC 0.14545 0.09345 0.024 0.07

PIN 3 S 0.11808 -0.1284499 0 U U

RC 0.10608 -0.1634499 0.024 0.07

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PIN 4 S 0.11808 0.12845 0 U U

RC 0.10608 0.09345 0.024 0.07

PIN 5 S 0.07871 -0.1284499 0 U U

RC 0.06671 -0.1634499 0.024 0.07

PIN 6 S 0.07871 0.12845 0 U U

RC 0.06671 0.09345 0.024 0.07

PIN 7 S 0.03934 -0.1284499 0 U U

RC 0.02734 -0.1634499 0.024 0.07

PIN 8 S 0.03934 0.12845 0 U U

RC 0.02734 0.09345 0.024 0.07

PIN 9 S -0.0000299 -0.1284499 0 U U

RC -0.0120299 -0.1634499 0.024 0.07

PIN 10 S -0.0000299 0.12845 0 U U

RC -0.0120299 0.09345 0.024 0.07

PIN 11 S -0.0393999 -0.1284499 0 U U

RC -0.0513999 -0.1634499 0.024 0.07

PIN 12 S -0.0393999 0.12845 0 U U

RC -0.0513999 0.09345 0.024 0.07

PIN 13 S -0.0787699 -0.1284499 0 U U

RC -0.0907699 -0.1634499 0.024 0.07

PIN 14 S -0.0787699 0.12845 0 U U

RC -0.0907699 0.09345 0.024 0.07

PIN 15 S -0.1181399 -0.1284499 0 U U

RC -0.1301399 -0.1634499 0.024 0.07

PIN 16 S -0.1181399 0.12845 0 U U

RC -0.1301399 0.09345 0.024 0.07

PIN 17 S -0.1575099 -0.1284499 0 U U

RC -0.1695099 -0.1634499 0.024 0.07

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PIN 18 S -0.1575099 0.12845 0 U U

RC -0.1695099 0.09345 0.024 0.07

PIN G1 T -0.3959999 0 0 U U

CR -0.3959999 0 0.0125

PIN G2 T 0.37 0 0 U U

CR 0.37 0 0.0125

PIN 11 S -0.0393999 -0.1284499 0 U U

RC -0.0513999 -0.1634499 0.024 0.07

PIN 12 S -0.0393999 0.12845 0 U U

RC -0.0513999 0.09345 0.024 0.07

PIN 13 S -0.0787699 -0.1284499 0 U U

RC -0.0907699 -0.1634499 0.024 0.07

PIN 14 S -0.0787699 0.12845 0 U U

RC -0.0907699 0.09345 0.024 0.07

PIN 15 S -0.1181399 -0.1284499 0 U U

RC -0.1301399 -0.1634499 0.024 0.07

PIN 16 S -0.1181399 0.12845 0 U U

RC -0.1301399 0.09345 0.024 0.07

PIN 17 S -0.1575099 -0.1284499 0 U U

RC -0.1695099 -0.1634499 0.024 0.07

PIN 18 S -0.1575099 0.12845 0 U U

RC -0.1695099 0.09345 0.024 0.07

Property line contains multiple words for property name

A property line (PRP) should contain a single-word property-name followed by a quoted string for
the value. Some PRP lines have multiple words that precede the quoted value. In this case, it is
assumed that the extra words are intended to be part of the property name and they are then
concatenated together with underscores. A warning is issued.

Example:

PRP SIMULATION MODEL 'MAX2003'

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Property line contains extra text after value

A property line (PRP) should contain a single-word property-name followed by a quoted string for
the value. Some PRP lines have multiple-quoted values. The text after the first quoted value is
ignored. A warning is issued.

Example:
PRP PART LABEL 'RELE' TN2C'

Property line is missing value

A property line (PRP) should contain a single-word property-name followed by a quoted string for
the value. Some PRP lines are missing the quoted value. When this occurs, the property is
ignored. A warning is issued.

Example:
PRP Manufacturer

Discrepancy between component file and eda file

A correlation exists between the toeprints specified in the component file and those specified in the
eda file. If the files are created incorrectly and their indexes do not match, the ODB++ Translator
aborts translating the components file. Overall translation is continued, but components,
padstacks, and nets are not translated. A warning is issued.

Negative net index specified in components file

Toeprints in a component file should have a positive net index. If the net index is negative, the
ODB++ Translator aborts translating the components file. Overall translation is continued with
padstacks and nets being translated, but components are not translated. A warning is issued.

Example with net index in bold:

TOP 1 6.31 7.9018001 0.0 N -1 0 2_3

The eda data file contains a trace subnet with a hole feature

Trace subnets (part of eda data file) should have only copper features as members. If holes are
found as trace members, the hole feature is ignored. A warning is issued.

Example with hole feature in bold.

SNT TRC

FID H 6 4717

Features from multiple padstacks are listed in the same toeprint in the eda data file

The features listed for a toeprint in an eda data file are to be from the same padstack. When
features from multiple padstacks are found in one toeprint warnings are issued. The first padstack

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is translated normally. Pads and hole from the other padstacks are merged into the first when
possible.

Arc definition is incorrect

Arcs are specified in ODB++ directories with a start point, end point, and center point. The distance
from the start point to the center should be the same as the distance from the end point to the
center. If the two distances are different, an arc can not be created, and instead, the start and end
points are used to create a segment (0 height arc). A warning message is issued.

Holes not specified in eda data file

Padstack via and pin holes are specified in the eda data file of the ODB++ directories. Following is
an excerpt of an eda via specification. FID entries specify each part of a via: holes, pads, and
antipads. Entries containing "C" are pads (copper), and entries containing "L" are antipads
(laminate). Lines containing "H" specify holes, but there are no holes specified in this example
because a known problem exists wherein hole features are not specified in the eda data file.
SNT VIA

FID C 2 8479

FID C 3 10992

FID L 4 1310

FID L 5 2414

FID L 8 1310

FID L 11 1310

FID L 14 2053

FID L 15 1310

FID C 16 5566

FID C 17 3399

If "H" lines were present they would be indicating which feature from which layer is to be used for
the hole. Hole features are found on ODB drill layers. There is a drill layer defined in this ODB
folder and it does have features. But because of a known problem, holes are not specified in the
eda data file, so “H” lines are not present in the file.

A line in the feature file contains a non-numeric attribute value

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The feature file contains lines that list numeric values which specify the setting of various attributes
and options. The following feature line mistakenly contains an attribute with a string value instead
of a numeric value.
P 3.6765000 2.4700000 0 P 0 0;0=0,1=NO,2=1

The attribute will not be used and a warning message is issued.

Non-numeric value for attribute on feature line in the features file

Feature lines may have attributes specified at the end of the line. The value for an attribute is
omitted for boolean attributes. Otherwise it is an number representing either the numerical value
for integer and float attributes, an option number for option attributes, or an integer referencing a
string from the attribute text string section of the file. The feature line below has a value that is a
string, rather than either being omitted or a number as is correct.
P 3.6765000 2.4700000 0 P 0 0;0=0,1=NO,2=1

The attribute will not be used and a warning message is issued.

Missing package name

The PKG record in the eda data file is missing the required package name. There should be a
package name in the underlined space below.
# PKG 0

PKG0.1 -0.1275 -0.0275 0.9275 1.0275

Package contour hole before island in eda data file

A package contour specification for a footprint outline mistakenly specifies a hole (H) before it
specifies the island (I) that could contain it. The hole is ignored and a warning is issued.
# PKG 20

PKG T 0.03937 -0.2411574 -0.0492126 0.1688426 0.146504

CT

OB 0.0327165 0.040748 H

OS -0.068451 0.040748

OS -0.068451 0.040441

OS 0.0327165 0.040441

OS 0.0327165 0.040748

OE

OB -0.068451 0.0856299 I

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OS 0.0327165 0.0856299

OS 0.0327165 0.1415828

...

Features on negative layers specified to be copper rather than laminate

Subnet toeprint features in the eda data file that are on negative layers should be specified as
laminate. Some tools incorrectly export them as copper. When this deviation is supported, the
feature is used as if it is laminate; the feature becomes an antipad. Copper features in a subnet
toeprint are pads. In the FID line below layer 5 is a negative ODB++ layer, the "C" should be an "L".
SNT TOP B 32 0

FID C 5 598

Layout and ODB++ Control File

Many ODB++ directories do not contain information that is required by the Electronics Desktop and
SIWave, such as material and layer characteristics (e.g. height). This information is sometimes
exported by the original source program (e.g. Cadence or Mentor Graphics) to the ODB++
directories and can then be used by the ODB++ Translator. But if this information is not present in
the ODB++ directory, or if the information is present but needs to be changed, a separate input
control file can be provided by the ODB++ Translator.

The Electronics Desktop input control file is in XML and can be created using standard third party
text editors such as Notepad in Microsoft Windows or VI in Linux. The associated XML schema file,
"stackup.xsd," is located in the parent Electronics Desktop installation directory. The schema file
can be used with third-party editors or scripting tools that check XML syntax. Specific keywords
that are valid to use in the control file can be found in the "stackup.xsd" schema. The associated
XML schema for the import options information is "ImportOptions.xsd".

You are not required to use a control file when importing OBD++ files. However, if you do not use a
control file, stackup and material definitions may not be defined. If you do use a control file, you can
adjust the stackup either manually or by importing the control file into the design using the stackup
dialog. If you import the control file, the stackup will be modified according to rules described in
Importing a Stackup.

Following is a short example of a control file. The first three lines are heading lines that are required
in all control files used with the ODB++ Translator. In the following example, after the heading
lines, two other sections are present: one for materials and one for layers.

Control files may be used for:

l ODB++ import
l Import using the stackup dialog

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l AutoCAD import — AutoCAD import uses any specified stackup, material, or import
option information specified in the control file to fill the import dialog and set up for import.
l GDSII import — GDSII import uses any specified stackup or material information
specified in the control file to fill the import dialog and set up for import.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>

<Stackup xmlns="http://www.ansys.com/stackup"

         schemaVersion="1.0">

  <Materials>

   <Material Name="Solder_Mask">

<Permittivity>

<Double>1</Double>

     </Permittivity>

  <Materials>

<Material Name="Dielectric_Material">

<Permittivity>

        <Double>4.7</Double>

</Permittivity>

  <Materials>

<Material Name="Signal_Material">

<Conductivity>

<Double>59880240</Double>

</Conductivity>

     </Material>

</Materials>

<Layers LengthUnit="mil">

<Layer Name="DTOP" Type="dielectric" Material="Solder_Mask"

Thickness="3" />

<Layer Name="LAYER_1" Type="conductor" Material="Signal_

Material" Thickness="0.7" />

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<Layer Name="D1-2" Type="dielectric" Material="Dielectric_

Material" Thickness="20" />

<Layer Name="LAYER_2" Type="conductor" Material="Signal_

Material" Thickness="0.7" />

<Layer Name="D2-3" Type="dielectric" Material="Dielectric_

Material" Thickness="20" />

<Layer Name="LAYER_3" Type="conductor" Material="Signal_

Material" Thickness="0.7" />

<Layer Name="D3-4" Type="dielectric" Material="Dielectric_

Material" Thickness="20" />

<Layer Name="LAYER_4" Type="conductor" Material="Signal_

Material" Thickness="0.7" />

<Layer Name="DBOT" Type="dielectric" Material="Solder_Mask"

Thickness="3" />

</Layers>

</Stackup>

Using Excel to Generate an ODB++ Control File

It is possible to use XML schema functionality in Microsoft Excel to create stackup-layer information
that can then be exported to an ODB++ control file.

An XML schema is basically a set of rules (constraints) that define the structure and content
(elements) of an XML file. Both XML and XML Schema documents (*.xml, *.xsd) are
straightforward user-friendly text files, and Microsoft Excel offers an intuitive interface that “maps”
elements in an XML schema to data cells in an ordinary worksheet. As such, and because the XML
schema is quite simple, it is possible to use a plain-text XML editor in Microsoft Excel to create
stackup-layer controls that are suitable for ANSYS tools. These controls can then be exported to
an ODB++ Control File.

The schema used in the following example is shipped with the Electronics Desktop v6.0 (or higher)
and can be found at <desktop_inst_dir>\Stackup.xsd, where <desktop_inst_dir> is the ANSYS
Electronics Desktop installation directory. In this example, Microsoft Excel 2007 is used, but Excel
2003 should also be compatible.

1. Access XML Functionality in Excel: To access the XML import/export functionality in

Excel, you must first activate the Developer Tab. If the Developer Tab is not already visible,

click the Office Button and then select Excel Options.

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If necessary, select the Popular category, and then click Show Developer tab in the Ribbon.
Then, on the Developer tab in the XML group, click Source to display the XML Source task-plane.

1. Open the Excel Spreadsheet: Open the spread sheet file (*.xls or *.xlsx) that you wish to
export to the control file.

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1. Load the ANSYS XML Schema: In the XML Source task pane, click XML Maps to open
the XML Maps dialog box.

1. Load the ANSYS XML Schema (contd): Click Add to open the Select XML Source dialog
box, then browse to the .xsd file in the Electronics Desktop installation directory and click
Open. Next, click OK to close the Source dialog. The XML schema will be loaded into the
XML Source Pane.

1. Prepare the Excel Spreadsheet: In the schema element list that appears in the task pane,
those elements with a red star are mandatory fields that you must map to cells in the
worksheet. But, you do not need to map a starred element if its parent is not also starred. For
most Excel files, you will need to add at least one cell in the worksheet that contains the
schema version number — which is currently fixed at “1.0” — you can add it anywhere, but it
must be formatted as “text”, instead of the default format “number”, so that the literal string

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will be exported. You may add additional fields to the worksheet, such as a layer-thickness
unit, but this is not required.

1. Prepare the Excel Spreadsheet (contd): Many pre-existing layer-stackup files may
contain names/symbols that are different from those used by the XML Schema. These
names will be flagged as errors, even if they represent the same entity. Because of this,
these names must be replaced with valid entries before being exported to XML. For
example, from the illustration above, “METAL” is not a valid layer type and is replaced with
“conductor”, and since XML is case-sensitive, “DIELECTRIC” is replaced with “dielectric”.

For a complete list of valid entries for each element, open the XML Schema document (*.xsd) in a
text editor and search for the element name.

1. Map the XML schema to the workbook: Drag each element from the task pane to the
corresponding cell in the workbook. The mapped areas appear in the blue nonprintable
borders. Repeat this mapping operation for each element by dragging it into the workbook.

— For columns of data, drop the element on the cell directly above the top row in
order to make it the header.

— For a single cell, simply drop the element on the cell itself.

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2. Export to XML File: Select the elements in the task pane that you wish to export. All
corresponding mapped cells will be highlighted in the worksheet (Hint: To select all, click on
ns1::Stackup). In the Developer tab, click the Export button. In the Export XML dialog that

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opens, specify a name for the file. Next, click Save and the file is exported to XML.

1. Review the XML File: You can open the exported XML file in a text editor or Internet
Explorer for review.

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ODB++ Control File Part Mapping

During ODB++ translation, it is often necessary to augment available data for the purposes of
simulation. One area that is often vital is component classification and value assignment; this
supplementary information can be provided using an XML Control File with a
Components/TypeMap and/or ODBPropertyMap.

l The TypeMap element provides a sequence of either Part or RefDes elements.

l Each element specifies a Perl Regular Expression.
l A component's type and value are matched sequentially using the TypeMap, with Part
elements evaluating against a part name and RefDes elements against the reference
designator.

For example, a Control File mapping the type of components with reference designators beginning
in 'L' to an inductor, 'R' to a resistor, and 'C' to a capacitor, is implemented as:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<c:Control schemaVersion="1.0"
xmlns:c="http://www.ansys.com/control">

  <Components schemaVersion="1.0">

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    <TypeMap>

     <RefDes Type="Inductor" RegEx="L.*"/>

     <RefDes Type="Resistor" RegEx="R.*"/>

     <RefDes Type="Capacitor" RegEx="C.*"/>

    </TypeMap>

  </Components>

</c:Control>

The regular expressions in the above example are mutually exclusive and, thus, do not rely on
order for evaluation. A more complicated TypeMap, using part names, reference designators, and
relying on order is:

<TypeMap>

  <RefDes RegEx="L.*" Type="Inductor"/>

  <RefDes RegEx="R.*" Type="Resistor" SR_Value="25ohm" />

  <Part RegEx="100nF" Type="Capacitor" SC_Value="100nF" SR_

Value="0.1ohm" />

  <Part RegEx=".*nF" Type="Capacitor" SC_Value="0.1uF" SR_

Value="0.1ohm" SL_Value="0.1nH" />

  <RefDes RegEx="C.*" Type="Capacitor" SC_Value="1uF"/>

</TypeMap>

The following mappings should result:

Part Name Refdes Mapped To

AA-0.1nF C21 Capacitor:(0.1uF,0.1ohm,0.1nH)
AB-1000nF-T C22 Capacitor:(1uF)
100nF C23 Capacitor:(100nF,0.1ohm)
100nF L-C24 Inductor

Information regarding component type and values can be specified in the control file. If the
component information is not in the control file, the translator looks for optional properties in the

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ODB++ component files if the component has 2 pins. If the component records in these files have
property records TYPE and VALUE, the contents of these properties are used to determine
component information. All comparisons are case independent.

The table below shows the type assigned to the component based on the TYPE property content:

TYPE property Type assigned to the component

"resistor" or "embedded resistor" resistor
"inductor" inductor
"capacitor" or "embedded capacitor" capacitor
any other TYPE content the content of VALUE is used to
deduce the type
1. content does not begin with a number component is assumed to be discrete
2. content begins with a number
• without any following text resistor
• last letter is "h" inductor
• last letter is "f" capacitor
• following text includes "ohm" resistor
• last letter is a unit abbreviation ("p", "n", "u", "m", "k", resistor
"meg", "g", or "t")

ODBPropertyMap

If an ODBPropertyMap is not defined in the .xml file types and values of component will be
assigned primarily through the TypeMap. Any unmatched components will than have their type and
value set from the component PRP with key Type in the component_top and component_bottom
file and the values from the PRP key called Value or Val. If additional control is desired one can
define the ODBProperty map.

If one wishes to use the TypeMap as default values one can now set the "PrioritizeOverTypeMap"
attribute to true in the ODBPropertyMap. In the case below if the a component R1 had a resistance
value set in the VALUE key of "1K": with the flag set to true the resistance will be set to 1000 ohm, if
the flag is not set the resistors value will be 25ohm.

Fields are listed in priority order and the names are compared without case sensitivity. That is the
field named Type will take precedence over all the other fields and it will match "TYPE", "type", etc.
Because the TypeOnly field is true it will only be used to set the type and should not correspond to a
value. If this is being used for R1, it is likely "resistor". If a field is not "TypeOnly" it will be used to

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infer an RLC type. It is important to make your "TypeOnly" first in the list if you need to guarantee it
will be used. At present only 2 pin components with properties are supported.

The SeparationCharacter attribute takes a string of characters to cut at. For example, if the value
supplied are in the form "220K/5%" and "3.9K,1%" . You might want to set SeparationCharacter =
", /".

The string above cuts at commas, spaces and the back slash.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="no" ?>

<c:Control xmlns:c="http://www.ansys.com/control"
schemaVersion="1.0">

   <Components schemaVersion="1.0">

      <TypeMap>

         <RefDes RegEx="L.*" Type="Inductor"/>

         <RefDes RegEx="R.*" Type="Resistor" SR_Value="25ohm" />

         <Part RegEx="100nF" Type="Capacitor" SC_Value="100nF" SR_

Value="0.1ohm" />

         <Part RegEx=".*nF" Type="Capacitor" SC_Value="0.1uF" SR_

Value="0.1ohm" SL_Value="0.1nH" />

         <RefDes RegEx="C.*" Type="Capacitor" SC_Value="1uF"/>

   </TypeMap>

   <ODBPropertyMap PrioritizeOverTypeMap ="true">

      <ODBProperty Name="Type" TypeOnly="true"/>

   <ODBProperty Name="Value" SeparationCharacters = ", /"/>

   <ODBProperty Name="Val"/>

      <ODBProperty Name="InstPar" SeparationCharacters = ", /"/>

   </ODBPropertyMap>

</Components>

</c:Control>

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Control File Usage with Renaming

Below you will find three versions of a gds control file. The first was output by the gds import dialog.
The second was output from the Layer Stackup dialog and the third which is suitable for import was
constructed by making sure that the layer mapping is identical in the second file as it was in the first.
Note that not all Control File settings are applicable to all design types.

Note The example below was created for gds import but the principle applies to importing
Autocad and ODB++. Layer remapping is not supported for the importing of Cadence
APD/Allegro/Sip.

Name="30" refers to the layer in the original design.

TargetLayer="Top" refers to the new name of the layer.

1. From Import Dialog

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="no" ?>

 <c:Control xmlns:c="http://www.ansys.com/control"
schemaVersion="1.0">

  <Stackup schemaVersion="1.0">

   <Materials>

[[[[[[[[[[[[[[ Deleted for space reasons ]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]

   </Materials>

   <Layers LengthUnit="mm">

      <Layer Color="#008000" FillMaterial="FR4_epoxy"

GDSIIVia="false" Material="copper" Name="30" TargetLayer="Top"
Thickness="0" Type="conductor"/>

      <Layer Color="#004080" FillMaterial="FR4_epoxy"

GDSIIVia="false" Material="copper" Name="55" TargetLayer="Bottom"
Thickness="0" Type="conductor"/>

   </Layers>

  </Stackup>

 <ImportOptions Flatten="true"
GDSIIConvertPolygonToCircles="false"/>

</c:Control>

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If the Electronics Desktop exports from the Layer Stackup Dialog, note that the layer that is called
"30" in the gds design is referred to as "Top" in the file below. To use the file below you will need to
make the substitution Name="Top" with Name ="30" TargetLayer="Top", etc. You will be able to
define your dielectric layers, etc., in the AnsysElectronicDesktop and use the modified file for
repeated translation.

2. From Layer Stackup Dialog

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="no" ?>

 <c:Control xmlns:c="http://www.ansys.com/control"
schemaVersion="1.0">

  <Stackup schemaVersion="1.0">

   <Materials>

[[[[ Deleted again]]]]

   </Materials>

   <ELayers LengthUnit="mm">

      <Dielectrics>

         <Layer Color="#008000" Material="FR4_epoxy"

Name="Dielectric" Thickness="10"/>

      </Dielectrics>

   <Layers>

      <Layer Color="#004080" Elevation="5" Material="copper"

Name"55" LayerTarget="bottom" Thickness="5" Type="conductor"/>

      <Layer Color="#008000" Elevation="0" Material="copper"

Name="30" LayerTarget="top" Thickness="5" Type="conductor"/>

   </Layers>

  </ELayers>

 </Stackup>

</c:Control>

3. From Layer Stackup Dialog preserving original name mapping.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="no" ?>

 <c:Control xmlns:c="http://www.ansys.com/control"
schemaVersion="1.0">

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  <Stackup schemaVersion="1.0">

   <Materials>

[[[[ Deleted again]]]]

   </Materials>

   <ELayers LengthUnit="mm">

      <Dielectrics>

         <Layer Color="#008000" Material="FR4_epoxy"

Name="Dielectric" Thickness="10"/>

      </Dielectrics>

   <Layers>

      <Layer Color="#004080" Elevation="5" Material="copper"

Name="bottom" Thickness="5" Type="conductor"/>

      <Layer Color="#008000" Elevation="0" Material="copper"

Name="top" Thickness="5" Type="conductor"/>

   </Layers>

  </ELayers>

 </Stackup>

</c:Control>

Board Outlines
Board outlines will be created on an assembly layer called "outline". If the board outline is
composed entirely of disjoint segments, the ANSYS Electronics Desktop will attempt to stitch the
data together so long as the end points are within a nanometer of each other.

Exporting Layout Design Data

Design and analysis data from the Electronics Desktop can be exported to other systems in a
variety of industry-standard data formats. Note that the default export file name is comprised of the
project name followed by a space followed by the circuit/subcircuit name.

Related Topics

Exporting Data Table Files

Exporting Layout Data

Exporting Graphics Files from the Layout 3D Editor

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Exporting ANF Layout or Schematic Data

Exporting Data Table Files

To export simulation results in ASCII tabular format:

1. Open the plot you want to export.

2. On the Report2D menu, click Export to File. (Alternatively, right-click on the data table, and
then click Export to File on the shortcut menu.)

The Export plot data to file dialog box appears.

3. Browse to the directory, then give the file a name. Click Save.

Exporting Layout Data

Using the File > Export command, you can export layout data using the following file
formats/types:

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l On physical layers such as silkscreen and signal layers, property displays are drawn with
Hershey fonts and possess a constant size. These property displays are exported from the
Electronics Desktop to GDSII, Gerber, and DXF formats.
l On non-physical layers such as symbol layers, property displays do not possess a constant
size — they are scaled during zooming. As a result, property displays on non-physical layers
do not export from the Electronics Desktop.

To export layout data:

1. On the File menu, click Export, then select the type of file to export from the submenu; this
opens the Save As dialog.
2. Select the file format you wish to use and click Save.

If you choose ANSYS Neutral or Microsoft Enhanced the file is saved. If you choose a different
format, one of the following dialogs opens:

l DXF Export
l GDSII Export

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l Gerber Export
l NC/Drill Export

DXF Export

To export layout data, on the File menu, click Export, then select AutoCAD from the submenu;
this opens the Save As dialog. Selecting AutoCad DXF File opens the DXF Export dialog.

l Use the Units default of mm or choose another from the pull-down menu (cm, ft, in, km,
meter, mil, nm, uin, um).
l Check an Include box for each Layer Name you wish to save and click OK.

During export, a polygon with voids is converted into a single polygon with no holes where bridges
connect the voids to the outer contour.

Text that is Hershey font will be exported as polygons, that is, the text is thickened.

GDSII Export

To export layout data, on the File menu, click Export, then select GDSII from the submenu; this
opens the Save As dialog. Selecting GDSII or GDSII (Stream) opens the GDSII Export dialog.

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Text that is Hershey font will be exported as polygons, that is, the text is thickened.

Gerber Export

When you export to Gerber from a layout in the Electronics Desktop, each layer is treated as a
separate “page” and each page is exported to a separate file. Each file is named by appending the
layer/page number to the export file name that is chosen by the user.

l You can export more than one layer/page to a Gerber file by selecting additional layers in
the Gerber Export dialog. Header information in each exported file lists the layers that are
included within the file.
l You can suppress the exporting of a particular Gerber layer by deleting the page(s) in the
Gerber Export dialog. Only those pages that are displayed in the Gerber Export dialog will
be exported.

To export layout data, on the File menu, click Export, then select Gerber from the submenu. This
opens the Save As dialog. Then, select Gerber to open the Gerber Export dialog.

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l Click New to add pages or Click Delete to remove pages.

l Check an Include box for each Layer you wish to save.
l Set Units to Inches or Millimeters.
l Select the desired Zero suppression setting.
l Select the desired number of Significant figures for Integer and Decimal places.
l Click OK.

Text that is Hershey font will be exported as polygons. That is, the text is thickened. The Electronics
Desktop exports Gerber RS274-X format.

NC Drill/Router Export

To export layout data, on the File menu, click Export, then select NC Drill from the submenu; this
opens the Save As dialog. Selecting NC Drill File opens the NC Drill/Router Export dialog.

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l Click Load tool definitions to load and view definitions.

l Click Save tool definitions to save definitions.
l Select the desired Zero suppression setting.
l Select the desired number of Significant figures for Integer and Decimal places,
and click OK.

Exporting Graphics Files from the Layout 3D Editor

You can export the following graphics formats from the 3D layout editor:

Extension Contents
.bmp Bitmap files.
.gif Graphics Interchange Format files.
.jpeg Joint Photographics Experts Group files.
.tiff Tagged Image File Format files.
.wrl Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML) files.

To export a file to a graphics format:

1. On the Edit 3D menu, click Export to save the file in a graphics format. The Export File
dialog opens:

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2. Use the file browser to find the directory where you want to save the file.
3. Type the name of the file in the File name box.
4. Select the desired graphics file format from the Save as type pull-down list.
5. Click Save. The file is exported to the specified location as a graphics file.

Exporting ANF Layout or Schematic Data

You can export design data in the ANSYS neutral file format (.anf) from either the layout or the
schematic editors in the Electronics Desktop. From the File menu, select Export, then select ANF
(V4) from the submenu. Use the browser to name and save the .anf file.

For a reference to the ANSYS Neutral File format specification, see ANSYS Neutral File Format.

Importing Circuit Models

ANSYS provides support for imported models and libraries as components in the Schematic
Editor. You can import the following models:

l SPICE components and libraries

l IBIS buffer elements
l W-elements

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l State-space models
l X-parameter elements
l Verilog models
l Network solution data such as SYZ-parameters

All of these models can be imported via the Component Libraries window by clicking the Models
button.

Move the cursor over the icon for the model you wish to create, and left-click on the icon. Details
are provided in the following topics.

Related Topics

Selecting a Model to Import

SPICE Library Support

PSPICE Library Support

IBIS Library Support

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W-Element Model Support

X-Parameter Model Support

State-Space Model Support

Importing Network Design Data (SYZ-Parameters)

Editing All N-Port Symbol Bus Pins

Verilog Library Support

Paths for Model File Selection

CPM Model Support

Selecting a Model to Import

The Models Library is a library of Model Components that can be imported and placed in the
schematic. Components such as NPorts, IBIS buffers, SPICE netlists, State-space models, W-
elements, and X-Parameter elements are created from information in external files. In addition you
can use the Import Model facility to set up dynamic links to HFSS and other solver projects.

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You can invoke the Models Library from the Symbols tab, by clicking Models.

The Symbols panel displays the Model components.

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Clicking on any of these will open a dialog to choose the file. When the file is open, if necessary, a
second dialog will open to retrieve additional information. Once you click OK, clicking in the
schematic will place the new component.

These import items can also be accessed from the Component Libraries docking window like any
component library. In the Components tab, expand the Models library to display the component
types.

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l Double-clicking any of the individual components will open a dialog to choose a file or project
of the appropriate type.
l Once a component of a given type has been created, you can filter for that type to see them
all. For example, after placing several NPort components, view the Symbols tab, and type
"NP" into the Filter box and choose "type: NPort". This will filter to show only NPort
components.

For more information, see Using the Component Libraries Window.

SPICE Library Support

The ANSYS Electronics Desktop lets you import SPICE® libraries and SPICE components with
an import wizard. Imported SPICE components can then be exported to the Electronics Desktop
library. The SPICE import dialog includes a checkbox for PSPICE models. A separate icon allows
you to import a PSPICE model directly

Note Imported SPICE models and netlists must be in HSPICE, PSPICE, or Spectre format for
simulation and postprocessing with the Nexxim simulator.

The Spice Import Wizard supports the following models:

l amp, c, csw, d, l, ltra, njf, nmf, nmos, npn, pjf, pmf, pmos, pnp, r, sp, sw, u, urc, w

Related Topics

SPICE Library Import Procedure

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Modifications to SPICE Pin Names

SPICE Library Import Procedure

To import a SPICE library or one of its components in a Circuit schematic:

1. View the Component Libraries. Open the Symbols panel. Click Import Models.
2. From the panel of icons, select the Spice icon. This opens the Import Components dialog.
3. The Files of type menu lists the file types for the SPICE file. You can import a SPICE
library (.lib), a SPICE subcircuit definition (.cir, .spc, .sp), or a Spectre-format (.scs).

Note Import Spectre. Spectre-format files are case-sensitive.

4. Use the dialog to browse to the directory containing the SPICE components. You can
specify the location of the SPICE file by clicking Use Path, PersonalLib, UserLib, or
SysLib.

Within the PersonalLib, userlib, or syslib folder, select the file from those listed, or type the
name of the file in the File Name box. Note that syslib is reserved for libraries supplied with the
Electronics Desktop. See Paths for Model File Selection for details.

5. Click Open in the Import SPICE File dialog to open the Component Import dialog.

The Component Import dialog lists all the SPICE components that are contained within the
library.

l Check a box in the Create Component column for each component you wish to import.
l Click the Symbol and Footprint column boxes to assign a symbol and footprint to a
component. These steps are optional; if either one is left unspecified, a default symbol or
footprint will be created automatically.
l Select OK to import the selected components and thereby display their names in the
Project Manager window.

Warning If the SPICE file has more than 10k characters in its DATA member, the parameter
definitions from that file will not be imported. The simulators will get the correct
information on the parameters from the .lib or .sp file, but the parameters cannot be
overridden on a per-instance basis.

Grouped Components

In the Component Import dialog, you can select Groupsimilarcomponents in order to group
components that have the same parameter names and values.
Requireconsistentparametervalues (enabled only when Groupsimilarcomponents is
selected) enforces that every element in the group has the same parameter values, which is the
default.

The criteria for grouped components are:

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l Components must be selected for import.

l Components must have the same number of pins.
l Models must have the same base model type (cap, bjt, etc).

After selecting Group similar components in the Component Import dialog, similar
components are grouped in the display:

l After grouping, the Name column displays the filename of the component group
appended with a group number; you can change this name by typing in the Name column.
l Multiple groups can be found, but every element of a group must have the same grouping
criteria.
l A group can only be created if it would contain multiple components.

Select OK to import the component group and thereby display its name in the Project Manager
window.

l After placing the component group in the schematic, the component possesses a special
property, VComp, that is displayed in the Properties window. You can use the VComp
property to select which model in the group will be used in the schematic.
l Clicking the Choose Model button in the Properties window opens a Model List dialog
that displays all the models within the group.
l You can then select a new model, click OK, and the new model name will be reflected in
the Properties window.
6. If you do not select your own symbol for an imported component, a default symbol will be
automatically selected. To select your own symbol, click the Symbol button. This opens the
Select Definition — Symbols dialog. For more information, see Using the Symbol Editor.
7. If you do not select your own footprint for an imported component, a default footprint will be
automatically selected. To select your own footprint, click the Footprint button. If you have
encrypted libraries, this opens the Enter Password dialog.

After entering a valid password, or if you do not have encrypted libraries, the next window to
open is the Select Definition — Footprints dialog. For more information, see Using the
Footprint Editor.

8. If you select Check this box if this is a PSPICE component on the Component Import
dialog, the component is imported as a PSPICE component.

The global section of the netlist for the component will include lines (shown in bold) to switch to
the PSPICE parser for this library, then back to Nexxim for the rest of the netlist:
simulator lang=pspice

.inc "C:\Documents\Ansoft\PersonalLib\Component Data

Files\Component Data Files\Spice\BC8\\

57_PNP_Model.lib"

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simulator lang=nexxim

For more information about the Electronics Desktop libraries see Using the Component Editor.

Modifications to SPICE Pin Names

When importing a SPICE component, the Electronics Desktop may modify pin names for
compatibility with the Electronics Desktop pin names and to guarantee uniqueness of pin names.

l The following characters are invalid in the Electronics Desktop pin names and are removed
(squeezed out) from pin names: []<>{}&*<space>,\
l No other modification to pin names are made. Capitalization at the location of removed
characters is not adjusted.
l A uniqueness test is performed. Any non-unique names have _## appended to the name,
where ## is a number that increments until a unique name is generated. Pin names are
processed in the order they are specified on the .subckt line. No check is performed to see if
the name already has a _## in it and attempt to increment that number. Thus if there were
two P_1 pins, the result would be a P_1 pin and a P_1_1 pin.

IBIS Library Support

The ANSYS Electronics Desktop provides an easy way to import IBIS® buffer components, pins
and models from IBIS libraries and place them as components in the schematic. Property settings
allow you to set up IBIS transmitters, receivers, and other elements, including IBIS-AMI
components.

To import and use an IBIS buffer component, use the following steps:

1. Import IBIS Library File

2. Import IBIS Single Component or Pin or Buffer Element
3. Place IBIS Buffer Component in Schematic
4. Edit IBIS Component Properties
5. IBIS File Import Technical Notes

A separate procedure allows the import of IBIS EBD Files:

l Importing IBIS EBD Files

An IBIS I/O Wizard is available for connecting schematic signal, power, and ground nodes to IBIS
buffer instances:

l IBIS I/O Wizard

A component defined by the IBIS Algorithmic Model Interface (AMI) specification requires special
import and setup steps, described in the AMI Analysis topic.

Note Notes for HSPICE users:

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The Electronics Desktop IBIS Components created with the "Import IBIS Components"
procedure contain certain convenience features that are only tested for compatibility with
the Nexxim simulator.

1. Pin Imports, which provide automatic instantiation of the lumped RLC package
parasitics from the [Package] or [Pin] keywords.
2. The buffer_mode parameter Internal settings, which allow the user to specify the
mode of the device (Input, Output, High Impedance) from a pull down list instead of
creating a voltage source to drive the enable node.
3. The logic_in parameter Internal setting, which allows the user to configure a built-
in eye source instead of creating an external voltage source to provide the bit
pattern.

To create a Circuit Design that is compatible with other simulators, the following steps
should be taken when importing IBIS components.

1. Use the Buffer Import tab in the Import IBIS Components dialog box. Do not
use the Pin Import tab.
2. When placing the components on the schematic and configuring the circuit, provide
external sources and use the Select Net option to connect the buffer_mode
(enable) and logic_in (bit source) parameters to the external sources.

Related Topics

Import IBIS Library File

Import IBIS Single Component or Pin/Buffer

Place IBIS Buffer Component in Schematic

Edit IBIS Component Properties

IBIS File Import Technical Notes

Importing IBIS EBD Files

IBIS I/O Wizard

Import IBIS Library File

To import an IBIS buffer or buffer model from an IBIS library file (.ibs) in a Circuit schematic:

1. View the Component Libraries. Open the Symbols panel. Click Import Models. From
the panel of icons, select the IBIS icon. This opens the Import Components dialog:.

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2. Specify the location of the IBIS file by clicking Use Path, PersonalLib, UserLib, or SysLib.

See Paths for Model File Selection for details.

3. Within the PersonalLib, userlib, or syslib folder, select the file from those listed, or type the
name of the file in the File Name box. Note that syslib is reserved for libraries supplied with
the Electronics Desktop.

If you select Use path, type the name of the file in the File Name box, or use the Look in field
to navigate to the file and record its name. Note that components or libraries imported with Use
Path may not be portable when the project is moved to another machine.

When the Project Folder button is selected, references to the file in the design are relative to the
directory where the project resides. In this case, the path is saved in the project .adsn file as a
variable such as:
.lib '$PROJECTDIR/x_113854.ibs'

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The variable $PROJECTDIR will be expanded to the current location of the project when the
design is converted to a netlist and run by an analysis tool. Otherwise, an absolute path is saved. If
you move a project and its library files together to a new directory, you can preserve the file
references by selecting the Project Folder option.

4. Click Open to select the IBIS file and open the Import IBIS dialog. The next step is to select
the pins and buffer models to make into schematic components.

Import IBIS Single Component or Pin or Buffer Element

Import IBIS Single Component or Pin or Buffer Element

IBIS devices are created in the Electronics Desktop using Single Component Import, Pin Import or
Buffer Model Import. A component import can include [Package Model] and [Pin Mapping]
information to control power and parasitic package behavior. A Pin Import captures the behavior of
a given pin on a component defined in the IBIS file. A device created via Pin Import contains the
behavior of the model associated with the pin, and it also contains information about the parasitic
package model specified for that pin. A buffer model import captures the behavior of a given model
in an IBIS file without any package parasitic modeling.

The Import IBIS dialog enables you to

l Import a complete component with a [Package Model] and importing all signal, power,
ground, and NC pins. See Import Single Component with [Package Model], All Pins.
l Import a complete component with a [Package Model], but importing only selected signal,
power, ground, and NC pins. See Import Single Component with [Package Model],
Selected Pins.
l Import a complete component without a [Package Model], importing all signal pins. See
Import Single Component with No [Package Model], All Pins.
l Import a complete component without a [Package Model], importing only selected signal
pins. See Import Single Component with No [Package Model], Selected Pins.
l Import selected pins from a selected component. See Pin Import Tab.
l Import a buffer model without referencing a specific component or pin. See Buffer Import
Tab.

Related Topics

Import Single Component with [Package Model], All Pins

Import Single Component with [Package Model], Selected Pins

Import Single Component with No [Package Model], All Pins

Import Single Component with No [Package Model], Selected Pin

Pin Import Tab

Buffer Import Tab

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Import Single Component with [Package Model], All Pins

An IBIS buffer imported as a single component has a rectangular schematic symbol with terminals
for the imported pins in the IBIS model. When no individual pins are selected, Nexxim imports all
eligible pins. When the IBIS component definition includes a [Package Model], and Use Package
Model is selected, Nexxim uses the information in the [Package Model] to instantiate
RLC parasitics between the die-side and the board-side nodes. The power and ground pins
become available for import, and the Component External Power property is present. Then you
can connect the pins to signals, power sources, and grounds in the schematic. The Component
External Power property is set to ON, so that the component expects power to be supplied
through the component terminals.

When the component definition includes a [Pin Mapping], Nexxim constructs the specified power
and ground buses internal to the component. A [Pin Mapping] is required in all cases where the
component has multiple POWER and GND buses. However, Nexxim can make the power bus
connections without a [Pin Mapping] when there is exactly one POWER bus and one GND bus,
identified by their IBIS signal_name entries. Each bus (signal_name) can have multiple pins, which
are tied together. Nexxim halts with an error message if there is no [Pin Mapping] and the
component does not have exactly one POWER bus and one GND bus.

When you have identified the IBIS library file in the Import Components dialog, the IBIS Import
dialog appears.

To import a single IBIS component that includes a [Package Model] and importing all component
signal, power, ground, and no-connect (NC) pins:

1. Click the Create single component check box at the top of the Pin Import tab.
2. In the Component Name field, use the pulldown menu to select the component with a
[Package Model] from the IBIS file.
3. If the component definition includes a [Package Model], the Use Package Model fields are
enabled.
4. Click the Use Package Model check box and select the package model from the pulldown
menu.
5. If the [Package Model] is defined in a separate .pkg file rather than in the IBIS file, click the
Package File button and select the package model file.
6. Do not select any individual pins. With no individual pins selected, Nexxim will import ALL the
signal, POWER, GND, and NC pins from the component definition.
7. Click OK to create the component and add it to the Definitions>Components listing in the
Project tree.

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Refer to Power Nodes in the "IBIS File Import Technical Notes " on page 13-98 for details on the
methods for supplying power to imported IBIS components. See Package RLC Parasitics in the
technical notes for details on support for RLC parasitics in IBIS components.

The next step is to place the IBIS components in the schematic.

Place IBIS Buffer Component in Schematic

Import Single Component with [Package Model], Selected Pins

An IBIS buffer imported as a single component has a rectangular schematic symbol with terminals
for the imported pins in the IBIS model. When individual pins have been selected, only those pins
are imported. When the IBIS component definition includes a [Package Model], and Use Package
Modelis selected, Nexxim uses the information in the [Package Model] to instantiate
RLC parasitics between the die-side and the board-side nodes. The power and ground pins
become available for import, and the Component External Power property is present. Then you
can connect the pins to the individual signals, power sources, and grounds in the schematic. The
Component External Power property is set to ON, so that the component expects power to be
supplied through the component terminals. When the component definition includes a [Pin
Mapping], Nexxim constructs the power and ground buses internal to the component.

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The pins selected for import must include a subset of POWER and GND pins sufficient to power
any power rail (bus) used by any of the imported signal pins. For example, if one of the imported
signal pins specifies a bus "VCC" in the pu_ref column of its [Pin Mapping] entry, and no power pin
attached to the "VCC" bus is imported, Nexxim will issue an error.

When you have identified the IBIS library file in the Import Components dialog, the IBIS Import
dialog appears.

To import a single IBIS component that includes a [Package Model] with selected component
signal, power, ground, and no-connect (NC) pins:

1. Click the Create single component check box at the top of the Pin Import tab.
2. In the Component Name field, use the pulldown menu to select the component with a
[Package Model] from the IBIS file.
3. If the component definition includes a [Package Model], the Use Package Model fields are
enabled.
4. Click the Use Package Model check box and select the package model from the pulldown
menu.
5. If the [Package Model] is defined in a separate .pkg file rather than in the IBIS file, click the
Package File button and select the package model file.
6. Select the desired individual pins. Nexxim will import only the selected signal, POWER,
GND, and NC pins.
7. Click OK to create the component and add it to the Definitions>Components listing in the
Project tree.

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Refer to Power Nodes in the "IBIS File Import Technical Notes " on page 13-98 for details on the
methods for supplying power to imported IBIS components. See Package RLC Parasitics in the
technical notes for details on support for RLC parasitics in IBIS components. The next step is to
place the IBIS components in the schematic.

Place IBIS Buffer Component in Schematic

Import Single Component with No [Package Model], All Pins

An IBIS buffer imported as a single component has a rectangular schematic symbol with terminals
for the imported pins in the IBIS model. When no individual pins are selected, Nexxim imports all
eligible pins. When the IBIS component definition does not include a [Package Model], the
[Package Model] option is disabled, and the power and ground pins are not available for import.
Then you can connect the pins to signals in the schematic. The component expects power to be
supplied as specified by the power parameter on each pin. Any [Pin Mapping] in the component
definition is ignored. Nexxim uses the [Pin] or [Package] data (selected the by pkg_selector
property) to instantiate RLC parasitics between the die-side and the board-side nodes.

When you have identified the IBIS library file in the Import Components dialog, the IBIS Import
dialog appears.

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To import a single IBIS component without a [Package Model] and importing all component signal
pins:

1. Click the Create single component check box at the top of the Pin Import tab.
2. In the Component Name field, use the pulldown menu to select the component from the
IBIS file.
3. Do not select any individual pins. With no individual pins selected, Nexxim will import ALL the
signal pins from the component definition.
4. Click OK to create the component and add it to the Definitions>Components listing in the
Project tree.

Refer to Power Nodes in the "IBIS File Import Technical Notes " on page 13-98 for details on the
methods for supplying power to imported IBIS components. See Package RLC Parasitics in the
technical notes for details on support for RLC parasitics in IBIS components. The next step is to
place the IBIS components in the schematic.

Place IBIS Buffer Component in Schematic

Import Single Component with No [Package Model], Selected Pins

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An IBIS buffer imported as a single component has a rectangular schematic symbol with terminals
for the imported pins in the IBIS model. When individual pins have been selected, only those pins
are imported. When the IBIS component definition does not include a [Package Model], the
[Package Model] option is disabled, and the power and ground pins are not available for import.
Then you can connect the pins to the individual signals in the schematic. The component expects
power to be supplied as specified by the power parameter on each pin. Any [Pin Mapping] in the
component definition is ignored. Nexxim uses the [Pin] or [Package] data (selected the by pkg_
selector property) to instantiate RLC parasitics between the die-side and the board-side nodes.

When you have identified the IBIS library file in the Import Components dialog, the IBIS Import
dialog appears.

To import a single IBIS component without a [Package Model] with selected component signal
pins:

1. Click the Create single component check box at the top of the Pin Import tab.
2. Select the desired individual pins. Nexxim will import only the selected signal pins.
3. Click OK to create the component and add it to the Definitions>Components listing in the
Project tree.

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Refer to Power Nodes in the "IBIS File Import Technical Notes " on page 13-98for details on the
methods for supplying power to imported IBIS components. See Package RLC Parasitics in the
technical notes for details on support for RLC parasitics in IBIS components. The next step is to
place the IBIS components in the schematic.

Place IBIS Buffer Component in Schematic

Pin Import Tab

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Use the Pin Import tab to specify one or more buffer pins to be imported from a specified IBIS
component. Each pin imported with Pin Import has a buffer model (or model selector). Each pin
gets its power as specified in its power parameter, and uses the package model selected by a
Package Model import or by the pin's individual pkg_selector parameter (which is not displayed
when a Package Model was imported).

1. The Component Name field lists all the IBIS components contained within the selected
IBIS library. Scroll the list and select the name of the component to be imported.

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2. The Pin Import tab displays the pins defined for the component in the IBIS file, and the
model or model selector associated with each pin. Single pins are listed first, then differential
pin pairs if any are defined in the IBIS file.
3. Use the check boxes to select one or more pins to import.
4. Alternatively, use the Filter: field to enter a pin name, which can use asterisks as wild-card
characters. Click the Select button at the top of the column to automatically select any pin
names that match the Filter:

If the IBIS file contains differential pins, they appear in the pin list:

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Here the two differential pins (C4-D4: DQS - DQSB) have been selected.

5. Click OK to generate the components from the IBIS Pin Import.

Refer to Power Nodes in the "IBIS File Import Technical Notes " on page 13-98 for details on the
methods for supplying power to imported IBIS components. See Package RLC Parasitics in the
technical notes for details on support for RLC parasitics in IBIS components. The next step is to
place the IBIS components in the schematic.

Place IBIS Buffer Component in Schematic

Buffer Import Tab

The Buffer Import tab allows you to create an Electronics Desktop component representing a
single buffer model or model selector from the IBIS file. Each pin gets its power as specified in its

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power parameter, and has no package model support.

Refer to Power Nodes in the "IBIS File Import Technical Notes " on page 13-98 for details on the
methods for supplying power to imported IBIS components. See Package RLC Parasitics in the
technical notes for details on support for RLC parasitics in IBIS components. The next step is to
place the IBIS components in the schematic.

If you checked Create Component for any of the imported buffer models, the next step is to place
the IBIS components in the schematic.

Place IBIS Buffer Component in Schematic

Place IBIS Buffer Component in Schematic

In most cases, after clicking OK on the IBIS Import dialog, a copy of the symbol for the component
will be attached to the cursor so you can place it in the schematic. In addition, you can generate an
instance of an IBIS buffer component from the Definitions folder:

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1. Expand the Definitions folder in the Project window, then expand the Components folder.

2. Click on the desired component and drag the symbol into the schematic.

Component Import, Package Model, All Pins Imported

IBIS single components are named for the IBIS library file and the [Component] entry. The symbol
shows all the pins with pin names and signal_names read from the file. This is the symbol for
component with a [Package Model] and all pins imported. The symbol includes all signal, POWER,
and GND pins for connection in the schematic.

Component Import, Package Model, Selected Pins Imported

IBIS single components are named for the IBIS library file and the [Component] entry. The symbol
shows all the pins with pin names and signal_names read from the file. This is the symbol for
component with a [Package Model] with some selected pins imported. The symbol includes only
the selected signal, POWER, and GND pins for connection in the schematic.

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Component Import, No Package Model, All Pins Imported

IBIS single components are named for the IBIS library file and the [Component] entry. The symbol
shows all the pins with pin names and signal_names read from the file. This is the symbol for a
component with no [Package Model] and all signal pins imported (no individual pins selected). The
symbol includes all signal pins for connection in the schematic.

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Component Import, No Package Model, Selected Pins Imported

IBIS single components are named for the IBIS library file and the [Component] entry. The symbol
shows all the pins with pin names and signal_names read from the file. This is the symbol for the
component above with no [Package Model] and selected signal pins imported. The symbol
includes just the selected signal pins for connection in the schematic.

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Pin Import or Buffer Model Import

IBIS Pin Import components typically have names that begin with the pin name. IBIS Buffer Model
Import component names begin with the model name or model selector name.

Single-pin IBIS components all use the following default schematic symbol. The text changes to
show the buffer type selected for each component instance. The example shows the input_
output buffer type.

Differential IBIS components all use the following default schematic symbol:

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When you are finished placing instances of the component, right-click and select Finish or press
ESC on the keyboard to stop placing instances.

The last step in the import process is to verify the settings of the component properties.

Edit IBIS Component Properties

Edit IBIS Component Properties

Right-click on the IBIS buffer symbol and select Properties to open the Property window. The
available properties depend on the buffer type and model. For imported Pins and Buffers, the
property dialog shows the available properties directly.

Related Topics

IBIS Property Locations

Basic Buffer Properties

IBIS Component and Pin Properties

Pin Properties for Input Buffers

Pin Properties for Output Buffers

Pin Properties for Input-Output Buffers

Package Support Properties

Power Selection Properties

AMI Specific Properties

Closing the IBIS Components Property Dialog

IBIS Property Locations

When the import is of an entire IBIS component, clicking Properties opens a Property dialog like
the following:

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On the Properties dialog for a single component, click the Pin Info button to bring up a dialog listing
all the pins and the pin properties:

The panel on the left lists all the pins in the component, with icons representing the buffer type.
When you select one or more pins, the properties that apply to the selected pins are listed in the

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panel on the right. The properties dialog lists differential pin pairs (for example, C4-D4 in the
illustration above), but the symbol shows separate terminals for both pins of a differential pair.

For a single pin or buffer model, all properties are on one page:

Basic Buffer Properties

The basic IBIS component properties are displayed for all imported IBIS buffers.

l File: The name of the IBIS file.

l Typ: Assumed range of corner values for IBIS response parameters (see TYP Parameter
Effects in the IBIS File Import Technical Notes)
l Buffer: Displays the buffer type corresponding to the model:
l Input
l Output
l Tristate
l Input/Output

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l Open Drain, Open Sink, Open Source

l I/O Open Drain, I/O Open Sink, I/O Open Source
l Input ECL
l Output ECL
l Tristate ECL
l Input/Output ECL
l Terminator
l Series, Series Switch
l Model: Name of the IBIS model to be associated with this component (pin or model). When
the IBIS file specifies a Model Selector, the Model property lists the models in the selector so
the user may choose one. The list of available properties depends on the type of the model
selected.

Note A text array variable may be used for the model property. The array must contain
model names with the same buffer type.

See Defining Array Variables.

l Polarity: Non-inverting, Inverting, No Polarity, or Not Set, as specified in the IBIS file for
each model.
l Waveform Properties The HSPICE-compatible Waveform properties control the details of
the waveform processing and other buffer parameters. All buffer imports display the subset
of these properties applicable to the buffer type.

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l See Notes on IBIS Waveform Properties in the IBIS File Import Technical Notes for details
on these properties.

Component and Pin Import Properties

These properties appear for single component and pin imports, not for buffer model imports.

l pin_name The pin name from the IBIS file.

l comp_name The name of the component from the IBIS file.
l probe die side node The node representing the die side of the RLC package is
automatically created by Nexxim. For a single IBIS Pin component the node is named die_
side_<instance name>, for example, die_side_b_output_1. For a differential Pin pair, there
are two nodes named die_side_pos_<instance name> and die_side_neg_<instance
name>, for example die_side_pos_b_input1 and die_side_neg_b_input1. The die side node
waveforms are available in simulation output. If voltage probes are present elsewhere in the
schematic, check the probe die side node check box to have the die side nodal voltage(s)

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appear as plottable quantities in the reporter, as if a probe had been placed on the die side
node(s) for this IBIS device.
l use_series_model For components with differential pins, the property list includes a use_
series_model check box. Check this box to have Nexxim automatically instantiate any
Series model defined between the differential pins in a Series Pin Mapping table within the
IBIS file. Use the model property to manually select the Series model.

Pin Properties for Input Buffers

For Input buffers, the Out Pin property sets the connection for the (pseudo-digital) output pin that
responds to inputs. Clicking on the Value button for Out opens a dialog. Select from the list of nets
to connect to the Out pin.

Pin Properties for Output Buffers

The logic_in Pin property sets the connection for the incoming data source. Clicking on the Value
button for logic_in opens a dialog. Select Internal Source to set up an internal data source (see
Eye Source Parameters below.) Click Select Net to display a list of nets to connect to the logic_in
pin.

Eye Source Parameters When the IBIS buffer logic_in Pin property is set to Internal Source,
the Property list includes selected Eye Source parameters to set up the internal data source.

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With exceptions noted below, these parameters are documented in the topic Add a QuickEye
Source to a Schematic.

Note 1. The resistance parameter on the Eye Source is not available with IBIS sources.
2. The vlow parameter on the Eye Source is not available with IBIS sources. IBIS
sources must use 0V as the logic low voltage.
3. The vhigh parameter on the Eye Source is not available with IBIS sources. IBIS
sources must use 1V as the logic high voltage.
4. The FFEparameter (Feed-Forward Equalization) on the Eye Source is not available
with IBIS sources.
5. For IBIS, the phase_delay is a pure delay added before the bit pattern starts
running.
6. The Disable Tx Jitter check box is available only on IBIS buffers. When this check
box is On (checked), transmit jitter calculations are disabled. Transmit jitter settings
in the properties list are not changed.

Pin Properties for Input-Output Buffers

The buffer_mode property sets the connection and condition for the Enable pin on the component
(valid only for Input/Output and Tristate buffers). Clicking on the Value button for the buffer_mode
property opens a dialog:

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Select Internal to specify internal connections for the Enable pin. When Internal is checked, you
can select buffer mode. The internal options depend on the buffer_type basic property:

l For Input_Outputbuffer_types, select Output Buffer or Input Buffer (default Output

Buffer).
l For Tristatebuffer_types, select Output Buffer or High Impedance Buffer (default Output
Buffer).

Alternatively, click Select Net. The dialog displays a list of nets in the circuit to connect to the
Enable pin. The text at the upper right of the dialog shows the setting of the Enable specification
(Active-High, Active-Low) as read from the IBIS model in the file.

Click OK to close the dialog.

The logic_in Pin property sets the connection for the incoming data source. Clicking on the Value
button for logic_in opens a dialog. Select Internal Source to set up an internal data source (see
Eye Source Parameters above.) Click Select Net to display a list of nets to connect to the logic_in
pin.

For Input_Output buffers, the out_of_in Pin property sets the connection for the (pseudo-digital)
output pin that responds to inputs. Clicking on the Value button for out_of_in opens a dialog.
Select from the list of nets to connect to the out_of_in pin.

Package Support Properties

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Package Model This property is available only with a single component import that references a
Package Model. The name of the [Package Model] definition to use for instantiating the RLC
parasitics. With a [Package Model], Nexxim is able to instantiate the coupled RLC parasitics
between the die side and the board side of each pin. When a [Package Model] is used, the pkg_
selector property is not displayed for the individual pins.

pkg_selector The pkg_selector parameter is used to select the desired packaging model for pins
not handled by a [Package Model] definition. When pkg_selector is set to Pin (the default), the
pin-specific package model is used if it exists, otherwise the default package model for that
component is used. When pkg_selector is set to Package, the default [Package] model for that
component is used, whether or not a [Pin] package model exists. When pkg_selector is set to
None, no package model is used, and the device behavior is identical to one created with a Buffer
Import of the same model.

Power Selection Properties

Component External Power This property is available only with a single component import that
references a Package Model. When Component External Power is On (checked), Nexxim
expects power to be supplied via the terminal pins on the component schematic symbol, and the
power property is ignored for the individual pins. Nexxim will connect power buses as described in
the component [Pin Mapping] entry.

Note If you subsequently turn off (uncheck) Component External Power, the power to each
pin must be specified with its power property (on the Pin Info dialog), and any POWER or
GND pins that were imported become No-Connects.

If you subsequently turn off (uncheck) Component External Power, the power to each pin must
be specified with its power property (on the Pin Info dialog), and any POWER or GND pins that
were imported become No-Connects..

Power Connections for power nodes, internal or external. This parameter is enabled when a single
component with a package model has the Component External Power turned off, and for all
imported single pins and buffer models.

When the power property is set to external, the Pin Properties show the power pins:

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Click on the power, ground, pull-up, and pulldown Value buttons to open the dialog, then select
from the available nets.

Note Use page ports to name the outputs of sources in the circuit as nets.

For more information, see Power Nodes in the "IBIS File Import Technical Notes " below

AMI Specific Properties

When the IBIS Pin Import selection references an Algorithmic Model (AMI), the properties list
contains AMI-specific properties including AMI file references and AMI parameters that are made
user-visible in the AMI file.

See AMI Analysis for details on importing AMI components.

Closing the IBIS Component Properties Dialog

Click OK to close the Properties dialog.

This completes the IBIS import process.

IBIS File Import Technical Notes

This section provides details on the conventions that should be followed to produce a correct
simulation with the imported IBIS buffer elements.

Related Topics

Support for IBIS Specification

Power Nodes

Package RLC Parasitics

Support for Power Aware IBIS Output Buffer Models

Digital Voltage Levels

Input Node Thresholds

Output Node Thresholds

Enable Node Thresholds

Transition Settling Times

Notes on IBIS Waveform Properties

TYP Parameter Effects

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Support for IBIS Specification

The ANSYS Electronics Desktop can parse IBIS® input files, but not all features of the IBIS
specification are supported. Some IBIS buffers are available as built-in Nexxim components.

The Electronics Desktop supports the following features of the IBIS specification:

l Import IBIS library files (.ibs).

l Import IBIS Electrical Board Description files (.ebd); see Importing IBIS EBD Files.
l Convert models for single-ended (not differential) driver and receiver pins to SPICE
circuits.
l Extract IV curves from the following and translate into equivalent piece-wise linear
devices for SPICE: Pull-up, Pull-down, power and ground clamp devices.
l Extract rise/fall-time information from the IBIS file in order to sequence the pull-up/down
devices.
l Read in pin parasitics (RLC elements) and incorporate into models.
l Package models ([Package Model] coupled RLC matrices, .pkg files.)
l Transmitter and receiver analog models from Touchstone files (Note: BIRD158 is
provisional. It is not yet approved into the IBIS standard and is subject to change. The Ts4
related parameters that are supported represent everything up to and including revision
BIRD 158.5).

The following features of the IBIS specification are not supported:

l Series switch groups

l Submodels of type Bus_hold and Fall_back. Dynamic_clamp IS supported.
l Power/ground pulse tables

Power Nodes

All active IBIS components contains some combination of pullup, pulldown, power clamp, and
ground clamp nodes. Power to these nodes can be applied at the component level using the [Pin
Mapping], or at the relevant nodes of each pin, using the default power parameters.

Component-Level Power and Ground with Package Models

When you are importing a Single Component with a Package Model, the power and gnd pins that
you select are exposed in the schematic for you to wire to the appropriate power or ground rails.
Nexxim uses the [Pin Mapping] information (power and ground bus definitions) in the IBIS
component definition along with the RLC parasitic data (from die side to board side) in the Package
Model definition to connect the power and ground buses to power and ground nodes on the signal
pin buffers. The Component External Power property is set to ON in the component. When
Component External Power is ON, the power parameters on individual pins are ignored.

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The IBIS file may contain a [Pin Mapping] keyword defining buses that connect POWER and GND
pins to the voltage supply nodes of any buffers connected to signal pins. When a [Package Model]
is used, and the Component External Power is on, Nexxim uses the [Pin Mapping] data to
connect the prescribed power buses between the die-side nodes of POWER and GND pins and
the voltage supply nodes of buffers. Any imported pins that are NOT included in the Package
Model definition use the uncoupled lumped RLC package defined in their [Pin] entry (or [Package]
section if no [Pin] RLC data are specified).

Pin-Level Power and Ground

When you are importing either a Single Component without a Package Model, individual pins, or
individual buffer models, power connections use the power parameter on the individual pins to
control the connections. The power property also controls the power connections when a single
component with a [Package Model] has been imported but the Component External Power
switch is turned off; changing the imported POWER and GND pins to No-Connects (NC).

By default, the power parameter is set to internal, so that the component automatically drives the
nodes using internal voltage sources set to the voltages specified in the IBIS model. When power
is set to internal, the user should NOT connect any of these nodes to voltage sources or to ground.
Connecting external voltage sources or grounds when power is set to internal generates warning
messages about parallel supplies, and may cause problems with simulation.

To use external sources and grounds, set the power parameter to external. With this setting, any
pull-up, pulldown, power clamp, and ground clamp nodes appear as pin parameters with lists for
selecting the external voltage nodes to connect (using page ports).

Package RLC Parasitics

Each pin on the component has two nodes, a die-side node and a board-side node (see the
probe_die_side parameter discussion in Edit IBIS Component Properties). You can probe both
nodes, but you can connect only to the board-side node. Between the die side and the board side,
the package introduces RLC parasitics. Accurate modeling of these parasitics is required for signal
and power integrity analyses.

By default, the RLC data are specified in the [Package] keyword in the IBIS file. The [Package]
entry defines a range of values for the default RLC of the component pins. The IBIS file [Pin]
keyword can contain values for the RLC parasitics on a pin-by-pin basis. If the [Pin] entry for the
component includes individual RLC values for a given pin, they override the defaults in [Package],
for that pin. The pkg_selector property defaults to Pin. With this setting, Nexxim searches the
IBIS component definition for a [Pin] keyword containing RLC data for the selected pin, and
applies that data if the [Pin] entry is found. If no [Pin] entry is found, Nexxim uses the default
[Package] data. You can also select Package to have Nexxim skip the search for a [Pin] entry.

If the IBIS file contains a [Package Model] keyword and you select Use [Package Model] at
import time, then the model RLC values override the [Pin] and [Package] values for the imported
pins that are included in the Package Model Definition. The pkg_selector property is not displayed

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for the imported pins that have a [Package Model] definition. Any imported pins that are NOT
included in the Package Model definition are handled as though their pkg_selectorwere set to
[Pin]).

Support for Power Aware IBIS Output Buffer Models

Traditional IBIS models supply tables of currents delivered to the output by the pullup, pulldown,
power clamp and ground clamp structures. The current delivered at the output is the sum of those
four contributions. With traditional IBIS models, the current drawn from the power rails is whatever
the four structures draw to deliver to the output. Power Aware IBIS output buffer models contain
additional information about the actual current drawn from the supply rails. They also contain
information that allows the simulator to more accurately account for the effects of variations in the
supply rail voltages.

Composite Current

A [Composite Current] section in the IBIS file describes the shape of the rising or falling edge
waveforms in the total current through the power reference terminal of the buffer. The composite
current (Icc), the total current to be drawn through the power pin, is the sum of the current at the
output (Iout) and the current internal to the device that goes to ground without reaching the output
(Ibypass):

The IBIS file contains [Rising Waveform] and [Falling Waveform] tables of times and output
voltages for the waveforms. The Electronics Desktop calculates the output current Iout based on
the output voltage and the terminating load.

When the IBIS model file for an Output buffer contains a [Composite Current] section after a
[Rising Waveform] or [Falling Waveform] table, Nexxim reads in the table of times and
currents. The times in the composite current table are identical to the times in the corresponding
waveform table. Nexxim calculates Ibypass at each time point by subtracting the output current
from the composite current.

During simulation, Nexxim adds a current source to generate Ibypass between the power and
ground pins of the power-aware Output buffer.

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Note The current direction for Iout in the diagram has been reversed from the convention used in
the IBIS specification, in order to simplify the formulas and discussion.

Then the current drawn from the power pin equals Icc, the current specified in the [Composite
Current] table. The output current, Iout, is unchanged.

The composite current feature allows you to simulate with a non-ideal power supply and get
accurate values for the power consumption. Power usage during events such as simultaneous
switching operations (SSO) can be simulated accurately.

Gate Modulation Effect

The gate modulation effect is the change in output current Iout due to fluctuations in the gate
voltage.

The [ISSO PU] and [ISSO PD] tables allow the simulation to account for variations in the gate
current due to bouncing on the supply voltage.

Gate Modulation at the Pullup Node

The [Pullup] section provides tables of output current Iout for values of the voltage drop (Vpu -
Vout). Here is a reference diagram.

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In the absence of gate modulation:

Vpu need not be equal to ideal voltage Vcc. Any voltage drop at the power pins will affect the
voltage difference between the power pin and the output pin, and so will affect the lookup in the I-V
table for the model.

The [ISSO PU] table gives the effective current of the pullup structure as a function of the voltage
on the pullup reference node (the power node). When Nexxim finds an [ISSO PU] section after a
[Pullup] entry, the calculation for Iout proceeds as follows.

1. Nexxim calculates the voltage drop between Vpu and Vout and uses this value as before to
look up Iout before the adjustment for gate modulation.
2. Nexxim calculates the voltage difference between the ideal Vcc and the actual pullup voltage
Vpu. This voltage difference is called Visso_pu in the diagram.
3. Nexxim uses the value of Visso_pu to access the table in the [ISSO PU] section. The table
gives the output current for that amount of voltage modulation, Iisso_pu.
4. Nexxim accesses the [ISSO PU] table entry for Visso_pu=0V. The value of Iout at Visso_
pu=0 is the nominal current, Inom_pu.
5. Nexxim calculates a scale factor Kpu as the ratio of the tabulated output current to the
nominal current:

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6. The final output current is the ideal output current from the [Pullup] table, scaled by the Kpu
factor for the voltage modulation from the [ISSO PU] table:

Gate Modulation at the Pulldown Node

The [Pulldown] section provides tables of output current Iout for values of the voltage drop from
the output voltage to the pulldown reference voltage (Vout - Vpd). Here is a reference diagram.

In the absence of gate modulation:

The [ISSO PD] table gives the effective current of the pulldown structure as a function of the
voltage on the pulldown reference node (the ground node).

When Nexxim finds a [ISSO PD] section after a [Pulldown] entry, the calculation for Iout
proceeds as follows.

1. Nexxim calculates the voltage drop between Vout and Vpd and uses this value as before to
look up Iout before the adjustment for gate modulation.
2. Nexxim calculates the voltage difference between the actual pulldown voltage Vpd and the
ideal ground reference Vgnd. This voltage difference is called Visso_pd in the diagram.
3. Nexxim uses the value of Visso_pd to access the table in the [ISSO PD] section. The table
gives the output current for that amount of voltage modulation, Iisso_pd.

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4. Nexxim accesses the [ISSO PD] table entry for Visso_pd=0V. The value of Iout at Visso_
pd=0 is the nominal current, Inom_pd.
5. Nexxim calculates a scale factor Kpd as the ratio of the tabulated output current to the
nominal current:

6. The final output current is the ideal output current from the [Pulldown] table, scaled by the
Kpd factor for the voltage modulation from the [ISSO PD] table:

Digital Voltage Levels

All digital nodes on IBIS components expect a voltage range of 0V to 1V.

When the internal buffer_mode settings and the internal eye source are used, the proper voltage
levels are already assured. However, if you are connecting external nets to the "enable" or "logic_
in" nodes instead, it is important to use the proper voltage range on the input signals.

Input Node Thresholds

Digital input nodes for drivers (output, I/O, etc.) use fixed thresholds of 0.2V and 0.8V to trigger
changes in state from high to low and low to high, respectively. (Refer to diagram below).

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An external voltage supply may be connected to these nodes, but must supply the expected values:
0V for low or off and 1V for high or on. Because the transition trigger thresholds are fixed, duty
cycle distortion (DCD) occurs if a high amplitude other than 1Vis used (blue trace in diagram). The
amount of DCD is negligible if the transitions themselves are very fast relative to the overall pulse
width. Using a high amplitude of less than 0.8V results in no output transitions occurring.

For initial transient values, and for DC analysis, a single fixed input threshold of 0.5V is used. If the
input signal is above 0.5V, the output is placed in the high state. Otherwise, the output is placed in
the low state.

These descriptions of the relationships between input voltage and output state for the Input buffer
nodes assume that the Polarity parameter in the IBIS model is set to Non-Inverting. The
relationships are appropriately inverted if the IBIS buffer model has Polarity defined as Inverting.

Output Node Thresholds

The digital output nodes of receivers provide a waveform that switches between 0V and 1V. These
transitions depend on the input signal and on the values of Vinl, Vinh, and Polarity set in the IBIS
model file.

l If the output is in the low state (0V) and the input signal becomes greater than Vinh, the
output transitions to high (1V).
l If the output state is high (1V) and the input signal becomes less than Vinl, the output
transitions to low (0V).
l For initial transient values, and for DC analysis, the buffers use a single fixed threshold equal
to the average of Vinl and Vinh, [(Vinh + Vinl)/2]. If the input signal is above this threshold,

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the output is placed in the high state (1V). Otherwise, the output is placed in the low state
(0V).

These descriptions of the relationships between input voltage and output state for the Output buffer
nodes assume that the Polarity parameter in the IBIS model is set to Non-Inverting. The
relationships are appropriately inverted if the IBIS buffer model has Polarity defined as Inverting.

Enable Node Thresholds

A single fixed threshold of 0.5V is used for Enable nodes. If the Enable pin is higher than 0.5V, the
enable state is considered high. Other wise, the enable state is considered low. The behavior of the
component then depends on whether the IBIS buffer model has its Enable parameter set to
Active-High or Active-Low in the IBIS file.

Transition Settling Times

Be careful to ensure that the frequency of the input signal does not exceed the capabilities of the
IBIS model. The frequency of the input signal must consider the time required for the output to
settle. Whenever a transition from high to low or from low to high is triggered by the input signal, the
output jumps immediately to the steady-state current value from which the next transition starts.
However, the actual waveform requires a settling time period to reach the steady-state high or low
voltage. If the input then changes state too soon, the next transition will occur before the initial
transition has settled to its steady-state value. This can lead to non-physical voltage slew rates and
other unexpected simulation results.

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For example, if the IBIS model takes 20ns to complete a rising transition, then the input signal
should stay in the high state (1V) for at least 20ns after a low-to-high-transition. If instead the input
goes back to low after only 15ns, the behavior at the high-to-low transition creates a non-physical
slope change in the output signal. Since the initial rising transition has not completed at 15ns, the
output has not settled at the steady state from which the falling transition is to occur. The too-early
falling transition causes the output current to jump discontinuously to the high value.

Notes on IBIS Waveform Properties

The IBIS buffer component Waveform properties allow for fine-tuning the power scaling and
waveform rise and fall. The table below summarizes the property settings. Detailed notes on some
of these properties follow the table.

IBIS Buffer Waveform Properties

Property Description Units Default
INTERPOL Interpolation: 1=linear, 2=spline None 1
NOWARN When present, disable parser warnings None Warnings
enabled

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XV_PU Name of node for pullup scaling factor output None None
XV_PD Name of node for pulldown scaling factor output None None
RAMP_ Falling waveform ramp specification: 0=ramp only, 1=single None 2
FWF waveform in IBIS file, 2=double waveform in IBIS file
RAMP_ Rising waveform ramp specification: 0=ramp only, 1=single None 2
RWF waveform in IBIS file, 2=double waveform in IBIS file
FWF_ Falling waveform adjustment. None 0.1
TUNE
Used only when RAMP_FWF=0 or 1. Waveform assumes device
transitions from on to off in the fraction of the total transition time
given by FWF_TUNE.
RWF_ Rising waveform adjustment. None 0.1
TUNE
Used only when RAMP_RWF=0 or 1. Waveform assumes device
transitions from off to on in the fraction of the total transition time
given by RWF_TUNE.
C_COM_ Fraction of capacitance on power clamp vs. GC, PU, and PD, None 0
PC (value between 0 and 1). Capacitance fractions must sum to 1.0.
C_COM_ Fraction of capacitance on ground clamp vs. PC, PU, and PD None 1
GC (value between 0 and 1). Capacitance fractions must sum to 1.0.
C_COM_ Fraction of capacitance on pull-up vs. GC, PC, and PD (value None 0
PU between 0 and 1). Capacitance fractions must sum to 1.0.
C_COM_ Fraction of capacitance on pulldown vs. PC, GC, and PU (value None 1
PD between 0 and 1). Capacitance fractions must sum to 1.0.
PC_SCAL Scale factor for power clamp current drive strength applied to IBIS None 1.0
table values
GC_SCAL Scale factor for ground clamp current drive strength applied to None 1.0
IBIS table values
PU_SCAL Scale factor for pull-up current drive strength applied to IBIS table None 1.0
values
PU_SCAL Scale factor for pulldown current drive strength applied to IBIS None 1.0
table values
FWF_ Scale factor applied to falling ramp transition time None 1.0
SCAL
RWF_ Scale factor applied to rising ramp transition time None 1.0
SCAL
SPD_ Scale factor for pulldown current drive strength applied to IBIS None 1.0
SCAL table values

Used only when POWER=OFF and the voltage difference

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between the pull-up and pulldown nodes is not equal to the

[Voltage Range] value in the IBIS file.
SPU_ Scale factor for pull-up current drive strength applied to IBIS table None 1.0
SCAL values

Used only when POWER=OFF and the voltage difference

between the pull-up and pulldown nodes is not equal to the
[Voltage Range] value in the IBIS file.
RM_DLY_ Amount of time to trim off the front of the rising waveform, relative >=0: 0.0
RWF to time=0. Sec

Negative value invokes automatic removal of common delays from <0:

the fronts of rising and falling waveforms [see Automatic Delay None
Removal below].
RM_DLY_ Amount of time to trim off the front of the falling waveform, relative >=0: 0.0
FWF to time=0 Sec

Negative value invokes automatic removal of common delays from <0:

the fronts of rising and falling waveforms [see Automatic Delay None
Removal below].
RM_TAIL_ Amount of time to trim off the end of the rising waveform, relative Sec 0.0
RWF to the time of the last point in the waveform
RM_TAIL_ Amount of time to trim off the end of the falling waveform, relative Sec 0.0
FWF to the time of the last point in the waveform

[1] If the values of RM_DLY_RWF and RM_DLY_FWF are not equal, Nexxim generates a
warning, since the unequal values alter the duty cycle of the output waveform relative to what is
specified by the IBIS file itself. The simulation will run.

[2] If the value of RM_DLY_RWF, RM_DLY_FWF, RM_TAIL_RWF, or RM_TAIL_FWF is such

that more than 10 percent of the original voltage transition is trimmed off, Nexxim generates a
warning, but the simulation will run.

[3] If the values of RM_DLY_RWF and RM_TAIL_RWF are such that fewer than three (3) data
points are left in the resulting waveform, Nexxim ignores the settings and issues a warning. With
fewer than three data points, ramp transitions may give better results.

[4] If the values of RM_DLY_FWF and RM_TAIL_FWF are such that fewer than three (3) data
points are left in the resulting waveform, Nexxim ignores the settings and issues a warning. With
fewer than three data points, ramp transitions may give better results.

[5] If the sum of RM_DLY_RWF and RM_TAIL_RWF is such that the entire rising waveform is
removed, Nexxim halts with an error.

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[6] If the sum of RM_DLY_FWF and RM_TAIL_FWF is such that the entire falling waveform is
removed, Nexxim halts with an error.

Automatic delay removal. Some IBIS models represent the throughput delay of the device by
providing model waveforms with long initial plateaus, after which the device is switched at a much
shorter period corresponding to the actual slew rate. However, the slew rate observed in Nexxim
can be too high in such cases because the initial delay is not recognized as such, and the device
appears to transition directly from steady-state low to steady-state high (and vice versa) when it is
switched at the shorter period. Using RM_DLY_RWF and RM_DLY_FWF to manually trim the
initial delay can be cumbersome when the model's waveforms have widely differing initial delays
according to corner case (typ, min, max, fast, slow). In addition, the overall timing of the simulation
is shifted by simply trimming the waveforms.

Setting either RM_DLY_RWF or RM_DLY_FWF to a negative value (<0) invokes automatic delay
removal for both rising and falling waveforms. The initial delay plateau is computed for each
waveform in a given device's IBIS model. The common delay is the minimum of the values
computed for all waveforms for the selected corner case (typ, min, max, fast, slow). The common
delay time is removed from the beginning of each waveform. Then, an ideal delay element is added
into the simulation flow to adjust for the time trimmed off the front of the waveforms.

TYP Parameter Effects

The TYP Parameter sets the allowable range of values affecting multiple IBIS buffer parameters:

typ = midrange of all values

min = minimum of all values

max = maximum of all values

fast = maxima and minima selected to produce the fastest transitions.

slow = maxima and minima selected to produce the slowest transitions.

The table below lists the effects on IBIS buffer parameters when the TYP parameter is set to Fast
or Slow. In general, the Fast setting sets maxima and minima to provide the fastest transitions,
while the Slow setting seeks to provide the slowest transitions.

Effects of TYP = Fast or TYP = Slow

TYP Setting
IBIS Buffer Parameter
Fast Slow
C_comp Min Max
Cac Min Max
GND Clamp Reference Min Max

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TYP Setting
IBIS Buffer Parameter
Fast Slow
Pulldown Reference Min Max
R Series Min Max
L Series Min Max
Rl Series Min Max
C Series Min Max
Lc Series Min Max
Rc Series Min Max

Temperature Range Max Min

Voltage Range Max Min
Pullup Reference Max Min
POWER Clamp Reference Max Min
Rgnd Max Min
Rpower Max Min
Pulldown Max Min
Pullup Max Min
GND Clamp Max Min
POWER Clamp Max Min
Ramp Max Min
Rising Waveform Max Min
Falling Waveform Max Min
Series Current Max Min
Series MOSFET Max Min
V_fixture Max Min

IBIS I/O Wizard

The I/O Wizard provides an easy interface to set up drivers and receivers for a single schematic or
for a group of schematic components. The drivers and receivers the I/O Wizard uses are IBIS
components that have been previously imported. (If you have not already loaded the IBIS models,
you are given the option to do so by the I/O Wizard.). See Import IBIS Library File.

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The I/O Wizard inspects the current schematic, indicating all unconnected pins, and allows you to
create components for the desired connectivity configuration. Connectivity options include:

l Fully configured IBIS drivers and receivers

l Power and Ground pins
l Probes and designated points of circuit stimulation, such as Pseudo Random Bit Sources

After you set the initial configuration, the I/O Wizard can be rerun and any newly added or
unconnected pins will be indicated, allowing you to further modify the design.

Related Topics

I/O Wizard Dialog

Signal Setup

Power/Ground Pin Setup

Source/Analysis Setup

IBIS I/O Wizard Dialog

The I/O Wizard dialog provides a summary of the current Wizard configuration and allows you to
perform various actions in order to set up individual pins. Click Schematic > I/O Wizard to open
the Wizard dialog.

Upon initialization, the I/O Wizard indicates all the unconnected pins that exist in the current
schematic. The above figure shows the Wizard dialog after each pin of a 12-pin SIwave component
has been configured.

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l The Wizard displays the current settings for each pin.

l Pins can either be left in the default unassigned state, assigned to a signal pin (driver or
receiver), or assigned as a Power/Ground pin.
l Select one or more rows and click the various Actions buttons to associate selected pins
with a given type. A configuration window will appear that allows further customization.
l Power/Ground pins are initially assigned if the component's name contains "VSS",
"GND", etc. Initial assignments can be overridden and customized.
l When Enable Subcircuit Grouping is selected, pins can be assigned to a group.
l Auto assign all groups attempts to group pins in a meaningful way — by grouping
buffers with common pins into the same subcircuit group.

Click OK to close the dialog and implement any changes that have been configured.

IBIS I/O Wizard Signal Setup

To configure signal pin assignments using the I/O Wizard Dialog, select the desired pins and click
Set as signal pins; this opens the Signal Setup dialog for the selected pins.

Fields in the Signal Setup dialog are editable. You can also select multiple rows and use the
Component Setup fields at bottom to make multiple changes to many pins simultaneously.

l The Component field lists components already imported, and represents either an IBIS
pin or an IBIS model, depending on the component selected.
l The ModelSelector field lists the available models for this component (i.e., the model_
sel property of the IBIS component).
l The Pullup to pin field lists non-signal pins (usually Power or Ground) that you wish to
connect to the Pull Up pin for the attached buffer. The default is a Power/Ground pin.
Alternately, you can choose to select any one-port circuit in the project for the connection.

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l The Pulldownto pin field follows the same rules as Pullup to pin, with regards to the
Pull Down assignment for the attached buffer.
l For I/O Buffers, there is an Enable field that can either be 0V or 1V (depending on how
the buffer is configured to operate). The Enable field is only visible for I/O buffers.
l You can also load additional IBIS files by clicking Load models from file to open the
Import IBIS File dialog.

Click OK to close the dialog and implement any changes that have been configured.

IBIS I/O Wizard Power/Ground Pin Setup

To configure Power and Ground settings, click Set as power/ground pins in the I/O Wizard
Dialog; this opens the Power/Ground Setup dialog for the selected pins.

Fields in the main grid-display window are not editable, but instead show the status of what you
configure using the PowerSetup fields at the bottom of the dialog. You can select multiple rows
and use the Power Setup fields to make multiple changes to many pins simultaneously.

l PowerType can either be Buffer Connection, Reference Pin, or Power Model.

— Buffer Connection means the pin will be directly connected to the Pull Up or Pull
Down, according to what was specified in the Signal Setup dialog.

— Reference Pin does not specifically assign a Power source or Ground, but this
setting can be used for pin mapping.

— Power Model allows a one or two port component to be connected directly to the
pin. The browse button (…) allows you to load a model. If the component selected for

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the Power Model has two pins, the Pin Mapping area is displayed. The top Pin
Mapping box chooses which of the Power Model’s terminals is directly connected to
the Power Pin selected in the pin grid. The bottom Pin Mapping box allows you to
assign the remaining Power Model terminal to a net.

l Clicking Properties allows you to customize the parameters for the selected Power
Model component.
l In order to connect a ground terminal, select Power Type: Power Model, then use the
browse button ( ... ) to load a RES_ component as the Power Model. This two port
component, when not configured with a resistance parameter, will act as a short. The pin
mapping for the RES_ Power Component allows you to then short the Power pin to
Ground.

Click OK toclose the dialog and implement any changes that have been configured.

IBIS I/O Wizard Source/Analysis Setup

To configure source assignments, click Setup Sources/Analysis in the I/O Wizard Dialog; this
opens the Setup Source/Analysis dialog for the pins designated as “Signal”.

This dialog allows the user to add sources to the project. Sources are connected to the appropriate
drivers that have been configured for each of the signal pins. A transient analysis can also be set
up, which streamlines the process. The fields in the dialog reflect customizations made to the
Sources/Probe pin which allows for toggling the existence of a probe for the IBIS buffer.

l By default, a PRBS source with jitter is assigned to each signal pin. Sources will be
attached to the logic pin on the IBIS buffer (if applicable), not the actual signal pin. The
Source selection box lists only the independent sources in the project. Grounds will be
automatically added to the other side of the source.

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You can click the browse button (…) to load another source and then click Properties to set the per-
instance properties for the source. Checking the Probe box will attach a probe directly to the
selected pin.

In the Analysis Setup area, you can set up a quick transient analysis by checking Create
Transient Analysis, which enables the Stop and Step boxes for controlling the analysis. After the
dialog is closed, the setup can be further refined from the project tree.

Click OK to close the dialog and implement any changes that have been configured.

W-Element Model Support

Nexxim supports the import of W-element models via an import wizard.

To open the wizard:

1. View the Component Libraries. Open the Symbols panel. Click Import Models.
2. From the panel of icons, select the W-ELT icon. This opens the W element import dialog:

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3. Enter the Number of lines for the W-element.

4. Click the Add Files button to browse to a directory containing the data files for the W-element.

You can select multiple files. If Create Text Array Variable is checked, the Electronics Desktop
creates a text array index to store the multiple files. The model is then created as a parametric
model.

5. Click OK. An instance of the W-element is attached to the cursor, so you can drag it into the
schematic to place the W-element. When you are finished placing instances of the component,
right-click and select Finish or press ESC on the keyboard to stop placing instances.

If the model was created as a parametric model, simulation setups can sweep the entries in the text
array index ($ModelNames_Index in the example).

X-Parameter Model Support

X-parameters are the nonlinear counterparts of S-parameters. They can be used to model the
frequency-domain behavior of driven nonlinear systems such as amplifiers and mixers.

Related Topics

Importing an X-Parameter Component

X-Parameter Technical Notes

Independent Variables in X-Parameter Files

X-Parameter References

X-Parameter Technical Notes

X-parameters are a superset of the frequency-dependent S-parameters. X-parameters are

intended to model a device that generates a nonlinear response to an input whose energy is
concentrated at one or a few fundamental frequencies. The response at each port consists of
signals at the harmonics or the fundamental, or at the sums and differences of the harmonic
frequencies of the fundamentals when more than one is present. The treatment of X-parameter
models depends on the principle of harmonic superposition—the idea that the harmonics are small
in magnitude relative to the fundamental signal, and thus the harmonics can be superimposed
linearly.

The X-parameter solver combines large-signal and small-signal models. In systems with nonlinear
components, large-signal AC magnitudes can affect the operating point; small-signal contributors
can be modeled accurately by linearizing the circuit around an operating point. The X-parameter
solver calculates the Large-Scale Operating Point (LSOP) based on the large-signal contributors.
The small-signal harmonic contributions are obtained by linearizing the system around the LSOP.

Let a be the vector of complex incident wave amplitudes to the device. Each element of the vector
is indexed by port (1 to P) and harmonic (1 to N).

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(1)

Vector b is a similarly-indexed vector of scattered wave amplitudes. The vector b is a nonlinear

complex function of a:

(2)

In the situation represented by an X-parameter element, vector a is composed of one or a few large
signals and several small-signal harmonics:

(3)

where the vector aL contains the complex amplitudes of the large signals and zeros instead of the
small-signal amplitudes. Similarly, the vector aS contains the complex amplitudes of the small
signals and zeros instead of the large-signal amplitudes.

If the a inputs were real, we could approximate b as:

(4)

where J(aL) is a Jacobian matrix of the derivatives of f at a = aL with respect to the small-signals aS.

But a and b are complex, so we need a different formulation.

We start by splitting a into its real and imaginary parts:

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(5)

where , and the superscripts r and i denote the real and imaginary parts of a, not exponents.
We can consider f to be a function of two real vectors:

(6)

Then, linearizing f around the LSOP, we have:

(7)

We can use the following identities to rewrite (7) in terms of aS and its complex conjugate aS*:

(8)

(9)

Substituting (8) and (9) into (7), we obtain:

(10)

Rearranging the terms involvingaS and its complex conjugate aS*:

(11)

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We can further simplify equation (11) to show the parallels with equation (4). Let:

(12)

(13)

(14)

Then the complex equivalent of equation (4) is the formula for calculating the response from a set
of X-parameter data and incident waves:

(15)

In words, b0 is a function of the large-signal inputs, or more generally, of the LSOP, while S(aL) and
T(aL) are matrices that represent the linearization of the small signal harmonics around the LSOP.
The complex conjugate aS* is required to account for the phase differences between the harmonic
components and the large signals.

When ||b0|| = 0, T=0and b =S(a). Thus, X-parameters are a superset of S-parameters.

For each fundamental there is at least one large signal, and the LSOP includes just the absolute
value of this signal. The dependence on phase of the large signal is determined from the time-
invariance of the system. This dependence is captured by the use of three matrices, Pb0, PS, and
PT, the entries of which are all of the form ejqφ, with q an integer and φ the phase of aL, i.e.:

(16)

Using these matrices, the dependence of b0, S, and T on aL is written as:

(17)

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(18)

(19)

In addition to the large signals, the LSOP can depend on independent variables supplied in the X-
parameter file. The independent variables include biasing and load conditions (see Independent
Variables for X-Parameters). Then, b0, S, and T all depend on the independent variables that were
used when the X-parameter data file was generated:

(20)

(21)

(22)

where xis a vector of the M independent variables

(23)

DC Equations

Equation (15) relates the scattered wave amplitudes to the incident wave amplitudes, at the
fundamental frequency and at higher harmonics. However, nonlinear devices typically exhibit
some degree of rectification, which means that even when the input is a single tone, the output will
include a DC component.

There are two options for modeling the DC response. The X-parameter model approximates either
the DC voltage at a port given the current going into it, or the DC current at a port given the voltage
across it. In the first case, the port is designated as an IDC port, and this is appropriate when the
port is to be biased by an external current source. In the second case, the port is designated as a
VDC port, and this is appropriate when the port is to be biased by an external voltage source.

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For both cases, we follow a procedure similar to that leading to equation (15), except that the
functions to be approximated—either the DC currents, iDC, or the DC voltages, vDC—are real-
valued.

For the IDC ports,

(24)

where vDC is a vector of the approximate DC voltages at all IDC ports. The vector v0(x) denotes
the DC voltages at the LSOP, and the harmonic impedance matrix Z(x) relates the small-signal
amplitudes at all harmonics to the DC voltages. The LSOP must include the DC currents at all the
IDC ports. For the VDC ports,

(25)

where iDC is a vector of the approximate DC currents at all VDC ports. The vector i0(x) denotes the
DC currents at the LSOP, and the harmonic admittance matrix Y(x) relates the small-signal
amplitudes at all harmonics to the DC currents. The LSOP must include the DC voltages at all the
VDC ports.

We have written (24) and (25) in the same form as (15), but they can be written more succinctly as:

(26)

and

(27)

which also make it clear that vDC and iDC are real.

X-Parameter References

[1] David E. Root, Jan Verspecht, David Sharrit, John Wood, and Alex Cognata, “Broad-Band
Poly-Harmonic Distortion (PHD) Behavioral Models From Fast Automated Simulations and Large-
Signal Vectorial Network Measurements”, IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and
Techniques, Vol 53, No. 11, November 2005, pp. 3656-3664.

[2] Jan Verspecht and David E. Root, “Polyharmonic Distortion Modeling”, IEEE Microwave
Magazine, Vol. 7, Issue 3, June 2006, pp. 44-57.

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State Space Model Support

A state-space model is a representation of frequency-dependent transfer function data. Passivity
and causality enforcement work best with state-space models. You can create a state-space
model from a set of SYZ-parameters via the Network Data Explorer. See State Space Method in
the Circuit Design Technical Notes for more information.

Related Topics

Importing State Space Models

Editing a State-Space Model

Importing a Multi-File State Space Model

Editing a Multi-File State Space Model

Importing State-Space Models

Once the state-space data have been generated and saved, you can import it just like any other
static model.

1. View the Component Libraries. Open the Symbols panel. Click Import Models. From
the panel of icons, select the SSS icon. This opens the Import Components dialog.

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2. Select the file containing the state-space data.

3. The component name appears in the box at the lower right. The component name may be
edited.
4. You can select the type for the reference node:

— Implied reference to ground

— Show common reference port

— Add individual hidden reference pin per port

— Add individual reference pin per port

Note Refer to the section “Reference Nodes on S-Parameter Elements” in the S-parameter
Technical Notes topic for details on how the Circuit solver handles reference node
configurations.

5. Click Open. An instance of the state space N-port component is attached to the cursor, so
you can drag and place it in the schematic. When you are finished placing instances of the
component, right-click and select Finish or press ESC on the keyboard to stop placing
instances.

Editing a State Space Model

To view the details of the model, right-click the state space component in the schematic and select
Edit Model. The N-port data dialog opens. The N-port data dialog allows you to view or in some
cases to change the name, number of ports, characterizing data, and other properties for the N-
port.

Related Topics

State Space N-Port Data Source Tab

State Space N-Port Data Noise Data Tab

State Space N-Port Data Options Tab

Editing State Space N-Port Symbol Pins

State Space N-Port Data Source Tab

The N-Port DataSource tab is used to name the N-port device and to specify the source for the
data, typically an external file.

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l Name — Displays the name of the imported solution as it will appear in the project tree. .
l Description — Used to set or change the description of the imported solution. To change
the description, click in the box and then type the description you want.
l File Name — Used to display or change the file name of the imported solution. To change
the file name, browse (...) for a file.
l Mode — The network solution data will be read from an external Link to file at analysis
time.
l Network Data Explorer allows you to view solution data by opening the Network Data
Explorer.

Note The Network Data Explorer button is not activated for State-Space models.

When the N-Port Data Source options have been entered, click OK or select another tab.

State Space N-Port Data Noise Data Tab

Use the Noise Data tab to enter frequency-dependent noise parameters.

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l The Option field selects the units for the noise parameters:
l The Units field selects the units of frequency: Hz, KHz, MHz, GHz, THz, or rps.
l Use the Copy Frequencies from Network Data button to create a list of frequencies
that correspond to the frequencies in the N-port data file.
l Use the Add Frequency button to add a new frequency to the end of the list.

Enter the noise data for each frequency in the list, then click OK or select another tab.

State Space N-Port Data Options Tab

The Options tab is used to select the behavior of the selected NPort.

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The following controls are available:

l Nexxim/HSPICE — Sets the NPort type. The selections for Interpolation, Extrapolation,
DC Behavior, Method, and Passivity Enforcement depend on the NPort type selected.
l Interpolation — Specifies the interpolation method for data points within the frequency
range of the Touchstone data.
l Extrapolation — Specifies the extrapolation method for data points outside the
frequency range of the Touchstone data.
l DC Behavior — Specifies behavior of the N-Port at DC (zero frequency).
l Method — Specifies the method used to convert frequency domain data to the time
domain. Choice of methods is available only for Nexxim Nports.
l Passivity Enforcement — Performs a passivity check on the S-parameter data and
attempts to correct non-passive data. Passive devices may dissipate or temporarily store
energy, but never generate energy. Use the pulldown menu to select the method for
enforcing passivity. Passivity enforcement is available only for Nexxim NPorts.
l Use reciprocal — Computes the inverse, or reciprocal, at each frequency so that the N-
port can be used for de-embedding. See Deembedding S-Matrices.
l Noise Model — Specifies noise model for DC and frequency-domain analyses:

None = No noise analysis

Internal = Use internal noise model

External = Use noise data from Touchstone file if present, else use internal noise
model

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l Additional Options —Allows you to add model-level options for Nexxim or HSPICE.

When the N-port Options have been entered, click OK or select another tab.

Editing State Space N-Port Symbol Pins

To edit the pins on the symbol for the N-Port component, right-click on the component and select
Edit Symbol Bus Pins.

The procedure is identical for all flavors of N-Port. See Editing All N-Port Symbol Bus Pins for
details.

Creating a Multi-File State Space Model

Instead of referencing a single file, an state space model can reference an array of files, using a
project array variable. For more information, refer to Defining Array Variables.

To create a multi-file model using array variables:

1. View the Component Libraries panel, select the Symbols tab. Click Import Models.
2. Select the SSS_Multi icon. This opens the State Space file import dialog.

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3. Enter a number of ports (from 1 to 1000). The number of ports determines what files you can
choose.
4. Enter a Name for the model if desired.
5. Reference: This pulldown menu allows you to choose from the following reference node
options:

— Implied reference to ground

— Show common reference port

— Add individual hidden reference pin per port

— Add individual reference pin per port

Note Refer to the section “Reference Nodes on S-Parameter Elements” in the S-parameter
Technical Notes topic for details on how the Circuit solver handles reference node
configurations.

6. Clicking the Add Files… button to browse and select multiple State Space (.sss) files to be
added to the list box.
7. Click OK. An instance of the state-space component is attached to the cursor, so you can
drag and place it in the schematic. When you are finished placing instances of the
component, right-click and select Finish or press ESC on the keyboard to stop placing
instances.
8. The simulation can sweep the entries in the created Text Array Variable. In this case, $SSS_
Files_Index would be the variable to sweep.

Editing a Multi-File State Space Model

To view or change the configuration of the N-Port model, right-click on the component and select
Edit Model from the menu. The N-port data dialog opens on its N-Port Data Source tab.

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The File name field will be populated with the new text array variable expression.

See Editing a State Space Model for details on the Noise Data and Options tabs.

Importing Network Design Data (SYZ-Parameters)

N-ports are generic components for which characteristics may be defined in the form of user-
supplied network-parameter data. They are called black box elements because no information
regarding their function is provided except for their network parameters. The network parameters
may be supplied as complex scattering parameters (S parameters), complex admittances (Y
parameters), complex impedances (Z parameters), complex propagation constants (gamma
parameters), or complex terminal characteristic impedances (Z0 parameters). The data may be
given in either polar form or in rectangular form.

Generally, the characterizing network parameters are frequency-dependent and would be

supplied for several frequency points. A common application of this capability is to introduce
measured data into the simulation for comparison or modeling, or to represent a part of a circuit for
which modeling is difficult or undesired. User-supplied network-parameter data may be entered in
spreadsheet form or called from external files. This data then may be extracted from the data files
and used in the simulation. Three data file formats are supported:

l Touchstone/EESof Data — This format uses the .sNp, .yNp, .zNp, .tou, or .ts filename
extension. Only one data set may be present in each Touchstonedata file.
l Circuit (Compact FLP) — This format uses the .flp filename extension, and may contain
several data groups, each of which is preceded by a header. The data group header
identifies the group by means of a label, which is used as a reference name.

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l CITIfile — This format uses the .cit filename extension, and contains S-parameter data in a
proprietary format.

Related Topics

Creating an N-Port Model

Editing an N-Port Model

Creating a Multi-File N-Port Model

Editing a Multi-File N-Port Model

Creating a Non-File N-Port Model

Creating a Parametric N-Port Model

Editing a Parametric N-Port Model

Editing All N-Port Symbol Bus Pins

Touchstone Calibration Wizard

Creating an N-Port Model

An N-port is a component whose behavior is specified by a set of frequency-dependent data such

as S-parameters. To create an N-port element to place, select the Circuit project that will contain it.

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1. View the Component Libraries panel, select the Symbols tab. Click Import Models.
2. Select the NPort icon. The Import Components dialog opens:

3. Browse to the directory containing the N-port data file, and select the file.
4. The component name appears in the box at the lower right.
5. You can select the type for the reference node:

— Implied reference to ground

— Show common reference port

— Add individual hidden reference pin per port

— Add individual reference pin per port

Note Refer to the section “Reference Nodes on S-Parameter Elements” in the S-parameter
Technical Notes topic for details on how the Circuit solver handles reference node
configurations.

6. Click Open. An instance of the N-port component is attached to the cursor, so you can drag
and place it in the schematic. When you are finished placing instances of the component,
right-click and select Finish or press ESC on the keyboard to stop placing instances.

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Editing an N-Port Model

To view the details of the model, right-click the NPort component in the schematic and select Edit
Model. The N-port data dialog opens. The N-port data dialog allows you to view or in some cases
to change the name, number of ports, characterizing data, and other properties for the N-port.

Related Topics

N-Port Data Source Tab

N-Port Data Noise Data Tab

N-Port Data Options Tab

Editing the N-Port Symbol Pins

State Space N-Port Data Source Tab

The N-Port DataSource tab is used to name the N-port device and to specify the source for the
data, typically an external file.

l Name — Displays the name of the imported solution as it will appear in the project tree. .
l Description — Used to set or change the description of the imported solution. To change
the description, click in the box and then type the description you want.
l File Name — Used to display or change the file name of the imported solution. To change
the file name, browse (...) for a file.

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l Mode — The network solution data will be read from an external Link to file at analysis
time.
l Network Data Explorer allows you to view solution data by opening the Network Data
Explorer.

Note The Network Data Explorer button is not activated for State-Space models.

When the N-Port Data Source options have been entered, click OK or select another tab.

State Space N-Port Data Noise Data Tab

Use the Noise Data tab to enter frequency-dependent noise parameters.

l The Option field selects the units for the noise parameters:
l The Units field selects the units of frequency: Hz, KHz, MHz, GHz, THz, or rps.
l Use the Copy Frequencies from Network Data button to create a list of frequencies
that correspond to the frequencies in the N-port data file.
l Use the Add Frequency button to add a new frequency to the end of the list.

Enter the noise data for each frequency in the list, then click OK or select another tab.

State Space N-Port Data Options Tab

The Options tab is used to select the behavior of the selected NPort.

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The following controls are available:

l Nexxim/HSPICE — Sets the NPort type. The selections for Interpolation, Extrapolation,
DC Behavior, Method, and Passivity Enforcement depend on the NPort type selected.
l Interpolation — Specifies the interpolation method for data points within the frequency
range of the Touchstone data.
l Extrapolation — Specifies the extrapolation method for data points outside the
frequency range of the Touchstone data.
l DC Behavior — Specifies behavior of the N-Port at DC (zero frequency).
l Method — Specifies the method used to convert frequency domain data to the time
domain. Choice of methods is available only for Nexxim Nports.
l Passivity Enforcement — Performs a passivity check on the S-parameter data and
attempts to correct non-passive data. Passive devices may dissipate or temporarily store
energy, but never generate energy. Use the pulldown menu to select the method for
enforcing passivity. Passivity enforcement is available only for Nexxim NPorts.
l Use reciprocal — Computes the inverse, or reciprocal, at each frequency so that the N-
port can be used for de-embedding. See Deembedding S-Matrices.
l Noise Model — Specifies noise model for DC and frequency-domain analyses:

None = No noise analysis

Internal = Use internal noise model

External = Use noise data from Touchstone file if present, else use internal noise
model

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l Additional Options —Allows you to add model-level options for Nexxim or HSPICE.

When the N-port Options have been entered, click OK or select another tab.

Editing State Space N-Port Symbol Pins

To edit the pins on the symbol for the N-Port component, right-click on the component and select
Edit Symbol Bus Pins.

The procedure is identical for all flavors of N-Port. See Editing All N-Port Symbol Bus Pins for
details.

Creating a Multi-File N-Port Model

Instead of referencing a single file, an N-port model can reference an array of solution files, using a
project array variable. For instance, the following can be used to specify the File name:

l +$ModelNames[1]
l +$ModelNames[$ModelNames_Index]

$ModelNames is a project level array variable and $ModelNames_Index is a project level array
index variable.

For more information, refer to Defining Array Variables.

To create a multi-file model using array variables:

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1. View the Component Libraries panel, select the Symbols tab. Click Import Models.
2. Select the NPort_Multi icon. This opens the S-element file import dialog.

3. Enter a number of pins or ports (from 1 to 1000). Files containing components with exactly
the specified number of pins (and only those files) will be displayed for selection in the Add
Files dialog.
4. Enter a Name for the model if desired.
5. Reference: This pulldown menu allows you to choose from the following reference node
options:

— Implied reference to ground

— Show common reference port

— Add individual hidden reference pin per port

— Add individual reference pin per port

Note Refer to the section “Reference Nodes on S-Parameter Elements” in the S-parameter
Technical Notes topic for details on how the Circuit solver handles reference node
configurations.

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6. Clicking the Add Files… button to browse and select multiple Touchstone (*.SnP) files to be
added to the list box.
7. Click OK. An instance of the N-port component is attached to the cursor, so you can drag
and place it in the schematic. When you are finished placing instances of the component,
right-click and select Finish or press ESC on the keyboard to stop placing instances.
8. The simulation can sweep the entries in the created Text Array Variable. In this case,
$SElement_Files_Index would be the variable to sweep.

Editing a Multi-File N-Port Model

To view or change the configuration of the N-Port model, right-click on the component and select
Edit Model from the menu. The N-port data dialog opens on its N-Port Data Source tab.

The File name field will be populated with the new text array variable expression.

See Editing an N-Port Model for details on the Noise Data and Options tabs.

Creating an N-Port Model with No File

N-port frequency-dependent data such as S-parameters can be entered manually instead of

reading it from a file. To create an N-port element to receive manually-entered data, select the
Circuit project that will contain it.

1. View the Component Libraries panel, select the Symbols tab. Click Import Models.

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2. Select the NPort_NoFile icon. The Nportdata dialog opens. The Mode is set to Enter data
in spreadsheet.

3. Click on the Network Data tab.

The Network Data tab is used to view the data from an imported file, or to enter the N-port data
manually.

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l Domain — Selects the Frequency or Time domain.

l Format — Selects the Format to one of the following: Magnitude/Phase, Real/Imaginary,
or dB Phase.
l Units — In the Frequency domain, selects the units of frequency: Hz, KHz, MHz, GHz, THz,
or rps.
In the Time domain, selects the units of time: fs, ps, ns, us, ms, or s.
l S Matrix — Identifies the data as S-parameter values
l Y Matrix — Identifies the data as Y-parameter values
l Z Matrix — Identifies the data as Z-parameter values
l Gamma — Identifies the data as Gamma values
l Z0 — Identifies the data as Z0 values
l Ports — Sets the number of signal ports
l Phase Rotation — Click to set the Phase Rotation of the N-Port Network Data source.

The Noise Data and Options tabs are the same as for the file-based N-port. See Editing an N-
Port Model.

Click OK. An instance of the N-Port is attached to the cursor so you can drag and drop it in the
schematic.

Creating a Parametric N-Port Model

A parametric N-port contains multiple values of key variables suitable for sweeping. To create a
parametric N-port model:

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1. View the Component Libraries panel, select the Symbols tab. Click Import Models.
2. Select the NMF icon. The Import Components dialog opens:

3. Browse to and select the file and click Open. An instance of the component is attached to the
cursor so you can drag and drop it into the schematic. When you are finished placing
instances of the component, right-click and select Finish or press ESC on the keyboard to
stop placing instances.

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4. Right-click on the component and select Edit Model from the menu. The Parametric N-port
Model dialog opens.

The wizard has created the N-port in Parametric snapshot mode.

5. Click OK.

Editing a Parametric N-Port Model

The Parametric N-port Model dialog allows you to specify the basic characteristics of each
Parametric N-port black box you wish to place in a schematic or layout. To open the dialog, right-
click the component and select Edit Model from the menu. The following tabs are available.

Related Topics

Parametric N-Port Data Source Tab

Parametric Link Description Tab

Parametric Options Tab

Parametric Simulation Tab

Editing Parametric N-Port Symbol Bus Pins

Parametric N-Port Data Source Tab

The N-Port DataSource tab is used to name the N-port device and to specify the source for the
data, typically an external file.

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l Name — Displays the name of the imported solution as it will appear in the project tree.
l Description — Used to set or change the description of the imported solution. To change
the description, click in the box and then type the description you want.
l File Name — Displays the file name of the imported solution. To set the file name, click in
the box and then type the file name you want, or browse (...) for a file.
l Mode — The network solution data has been copied into the project from an external file
as a Parametric Snapshot.
l Network Data Explorer —Allows you to view and manipulate network data by opening
theNetwork Data Explorer.

When the N-Port Data Source options have been entered, click OK or select another tab.

Parametric Link Description Tab

Use the Link Description tab to enter data and link information.

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l Design name specifies the top-level design in the filed solver project.
l Solution specifies the solution to be used for the Parametric component.
l Click Select existing solution to enable the selection field. Select an HFSS solution
from the pulldown.
l Transmission line model specifies that the model specified in the pull-down menu at
right will be used for transmission lines (HFSS import only)
l Click Advanced to specify a custom setup using the Advanced Options button. When
Advanced setup has been selected, the Advanced Options button becomes active.
Click on the Advanced Options button to open the Advanced Dynamic Link Options

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dialog:

l Select one or more of the Existing Solutions to use in the simulation.

l Click Auto generate new solution to calculate missing frequency ranges.
l Select the desired Setup and Sweep.
l Use Create new setup to specify that a new setup specification will be defined. This
generates a new adaptive mesh for the analysis. Next, use the New Setup frequency
field to select the new adaptive frequency for mesh generation: “highest” or “middle”.
l Use Create new sweep to specify that a new sweep specification will be defined using an
existing setup. This uses the existing adaptive mesh for the analysis, which saves
simulation time. Next, select a New Sweep range: choose “all frequencies” to simulate
the entire range of frequencies desired, or choose “missing frequencies” to simulate only
the frequencies not listed in the Used Solutions list.

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Click OK to close the Advanced Dynamic Link Options dialog. When the Link Description has
been completed, click OK or select another tab.

Parametric Options Tab

The Options tab is used to select the behavior of the selected NPort.

l Interpolation — Specifies the interpolation as Step or Linear

l Extrapolation — Specifies the type of extrapolation that is to be used with the NPort
l DC Behavior — Specifies the type of DC behavior that is to be used with the NPort
l Method — Specifies the method used to convert frequency domain data to the time
domain
l Enforce Passivity — Enforces a passivity check which tests whether the S-parameter
data is passive or not. Passive devices can only dissipate, or temporarily store energy, but
never generate it.
l Use reciprocal — Computes the inverse, or reciprocal, at each frequency so that the N-
port can be used for de-embedding. See Deembedding S-Matrices.

When the N-port behavior Options have been entered, click OK or select another tab.

Parametric Simulation Tab

The Simulation tab is used to select the simulation options of the NPort.

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l Interpolate existing solutions interpolates existing solution data. When Interpolate

existing solutions is not selected, the solver simulates or calculates any solution data
that is needed.
l Simulate missing solutions asks HFSS or Q3D to simulate, if the solution is not
available.
l Clear Solution Cache when clicked will immediately clear the solution cache memory.
l Show available variations queries HFSS and reports what parameter values have
been simulated in HFSS. This information may help you to decide whether to solve
additional variations in HFSS or to use interpolation when doing co-simulation with the
Circuit solver and HFSS. Though the HFSS project may possess several variables, it may
have run simulations only for certain values of those variables. (Each set of variable
values defines a variation.)
l Click Interpolation options to open the following dialog:

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l Click the down arrow in the Interpolation algorithm field to select an interpolation
algorithm option:

Automatic — Linear interpolation is used if a full grid of solutions is present, otherwise

Inverse Least Squares with Shadowing and Hyperplanes is used.

Linear — When a full grid of solutions is available, the cube of solutions which surrounds
the solution to be interpolated is located. The corners of this cube are linearly averaged
to determine the interpolated solution. If a full grid is not available, an error is reported
and the interpolation fails.

Inverse Least Squares with Shadowing and Hyperplanes — Least squares

interpolation with shadowing and hyperplanes.

Inverse Least Squares with Shadowing, no Hyperplanes — Least squares

interpolation with shadowing, but no hyperplanes.

l Interpolate Y matrix uses the Y matrix as the basis for interpolation. When Interpolate
Y matrix is not selected, the S matrix is used as the basis. Interpolate Y matrix is
selected by default. Circuit particulars determine which basis (S or Y) will yield better
results, and it is not possible to decide beforehand which one will work best.
l Only use independent variables during interpolation suppresses the calculation of
dependent variable values during interpolation.

After choosing interpolation settings, click OK to close the Interpolation Options dialog. When
the N-port Simulation options have been entered, click OK or select another tab.

Note The main difference between Linear interpolation and Inverse Least Squares with
Shadowing (ILSS) is as follows:

l Linear works only with a full grid of solutions — ILSS works with arbitrary data.
l Linear considers only nearest data — ILSS considers data that could possibly be
distant, although shadowing mitigates this effect.
l Linear is not first-order continuous — ILSS is first-order continuous.

Editing Parametric N-Port Symbol Bus Pins

To edit the pins on the symbol for the N-Port component, right-click on the component and select
Edit Symbol Bus Pins.

The procedure is identical for all the flavors of N-ports. See Editing All N-Port Symbol Bus Pins for
details.

Touchstone Calibration Wizard

The ANSYS Calibration Wizard is used to characterize the effect of a probe or fixture, and
removes the effect from a device under test, by reading and writing Touchstone files. There are

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three methods of calibration: Two-line, Thru-reflect-line, and Short-open-load-thru. Please note

that for measured data, it is often desirable to smooth the data before calibrating the fixtures.

Smoothing can be accomplished using the Network Data Explorer.

Related Topics

Two-Line Method

Thru-Reflect-Line Method

Short-Open-Load-Thru Method
Two-Line Method

To implement the Two-Line Method, select Tools > Calibration Wizard to open the wizard
dialog. Then select “Two-line method” from the Type pulldown menu. The “two line” calibration
method removes the effect of the probe fixtures from a device under test and assumes that the
effect of fixture 1 is identical to fixture 2.

The required input is:

1. Two Touchstone files (*.s2p), each of a thru-line of a given length plus the probe fixtures.
The lines must be of different lengths.
2. The imported Zo uses Touchstone file (*.s2p) of an ideal line with no fixture effects. This
Touchstone file may come from measurement or simulation. If no file is specified, the wizard
will approximate the Zo.
3. A Touchstone file (*.s2p) of the desired device under test with fixture effects.

The output is:

l A Touchstone file of the fixture.

l A Touchstone file of the device under test with effect of the fixtures removed.
l If "Export Zo" is selected, the frequency dependent Zo of the calibration lines are written to
the designated file.
Thru-Reflect-Line Method

To implement the Thru-Reflect-Line method (TRL), select Tools > Calibration Wizard to open
the wizard dialog. Then select "Thru-Reflect-Line" from the Type pulldown menu. The “Thru-
Reflect-Line” calibration method removes the effect of the probe fixtures from a device under test.
Probe 1 and probe 2 are not assumed to identical.

The required input is:

1. Two Touchstone files (*.s2p), each of a thru-line of a given length plus the probe fixtures.
The lines must be of different lengths.

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2. For each port the user can specify either a single-ended (*.s1p) or a combined measurement
(*.s2p) file. When a *.s2p file is specified, Port 1 will use the S11 values and Port2 will use
the S22 values:
l For a short or matched measurement, the surplus inductance needs to be specified.
l For an open circuit reflection, the excess capacitance needs to be specified.
l If no value is given, an ideal reflect is assumed.
3. The imported Zo uses Touchstone file (*.s2p) of an ideal line with no fixture effects. This
Touchstone file may come from measurement or simulation. If no file is specified, the wizard
will approximate the Zo.
4. A Touchstone file (*.s2p) of the desired device under test with fixture effects.

The output is:

l Touchstone files for the fixtures corresponding to Port1 and Port2.

l A Touchstone file of the device under test with effect of the fixtures removed.
l If "Export Zo" is selected, the frequency dependent Zo of the calibration lines are written to
the designated file.
Short-Open-Load-Thru Method

To implement the Short-Open-Load-Thru method (SOLT), select Tools > Calibration Wizard to
open the wizard dialog. Then select "Short-Open-Load-Thru" from the Type pulldown menu. The
"Short-Open-Load-Thru" calibration method removes the effect of the probe discontinuities from a
device under test and does not assume the port 1 and port 2 are equal.

The required input is:

1. One Touchstone file (*.s2p) of a thru-line of any length.

2. Three Touchstone files for each port corresponding to each measurement configuration:
shorted, open and loaded. Each file can either be a single-ended (*.s1p) or a combined
measurement (*.s2p) file. When a *.s2p file is specified, Port 1 will use the S11 values and
Port2 will use the S22 values:
l For a short or matched measurement, the surplus inductance needs to be specified.
l For an open circuit reflection, the excess capacitance needs to be specified.
l If no value is given, an ideal reflect is assumed.
3. A Touchstone file (*.s2p) of the desired device under test with fixture effects.

The output is:

l Touchstone files for the fixtures corresponding to Port1 and Port2.

l A Touchstone file of the device under test with effect of the fixtures removed.
l If "Export Zo" is selected, the frequency dependent Zo of the calibration lines are written to
the designated file.

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Paths for File Selection

For most models, the File Open dialog is the initial screen. This topic provides details of file
pathnames common to all model imports.

The PersonalLib (personal library) folder is located at <Project Directory>/PersonalLib; the

userlib (user library) folder is located at <Installation Directory>/userlib; and the syslib
(system library) folder is located at <Installation Directory>/syslib, where <Project Directory>
is the location you specified for your Electronics Desktop projects, and <Installation Directory> is
the directory into which the Electronics Desktop was installed during setup.

If you select Use path, type the name of the file in the File Name box, or use the Look in field to
navigate to the file and record its name. Note that components or libraries imported with Use Path
may not be portable when the project is moved to another machine.

When the In project folder button is selected, references to the file in the design are relative to the
directory where the project resides. In this case, the path is saved in the project .aedt file as a
variable such as:

.lib '$PROJECTDIR/x_113854.lib'

The variable $PROJECTDIR will be expanded to the current location of the project when the
design is converted to a netlist and run by an analysis tool. Otherwise, an absolute path is saved. If
you move a project and its library files together to a new directory, you can preserve the file
references by selecting the Project Folder option.

Editing All N-Port Symbol Bus Pins

To edit the pins on the symbol for an N-Port, State-Space N-port, or Parametric N-Port
component, right-click on the component and select Edit Symbol Bus Pins. The Edit Symbol
Pins dialog opens:

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The N-port data dialog reads the file you specify for port information and updates the Bus Pin
Editor tab display with port names.

Click on the Pin List tab:

You can control the display of the pin information (name, index, hidden) with the check boxes.

Click on the Pin Location Editor tab:

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You can use the following controls to position pins on the symbol:

l Reference: This pulldown menu allows you to choose from the following reference node
options:

— Implied reference to ground

— Show common reference port

— Add individual hidden reference pin per port

— Add individual reference pin per port

Note Refer to the section “Reference Nodes on S-Parameter Elements” in the S-parameter
Technical Notes topic for details on how the Circuit solver handles reference node
configurations.

l Configuration: The pin direction option may be set to one of the following:

— All Left

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— All Right

— I/I+N

— Odd-Even

— Manual Edit

If you choose Manual Edit, use the windows at lower left to Drag and drop text to
manually edit the symbol.

Click OK.

CPM Model Support

The Pin Connectivity dialog allows you to automatically connect CPM (Chip Power
Model) components to existing components. A workflow for using the feature is detailed in the
following steps.

1. Load or generate a model containing a component with pins that are to be connected to a
CPM component.

For fastest pin-matching, ensure that the model component’s pins possess names that
correspond to the pins specified by the CPM component. If the pin names do not match, the
Automated CPM Chip Connection will attempt to match pins geometrically. When these
models are created, they behave like SPICE models and have regular symbols in the
schematic, but the corresponding footprints in the layout show the positions of the pins
specified in the CPP (Chip Package Placement) header.

2. To place a CPM component, open the Component Libraries window, choose the
Symbols panel, and click the Import Models button.

3. From the panel of icons, select the CPM icon. This opens the Import Components dialog.
After that, follow the procedure for importing Spice components (see SPICE Library
Support).

Related Topics

Automated CPM Chip Connection And Placement

Automated CPM Chip Connection And Placement

This feature helps to connect CPM components to existing layout footprints and is integrated with
the “Pin Connectivity” dialog. To automatically connect CPM components:

1. Load or generate a layout with pins that are intended to be connected to a CPM component.
For fastest pin matching ensure that the layout component’s pins have names corresponding

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to the pins specified by the CPM. If the pin names do not match, the feature will attempt to
match pins geometrically.

2. Load the desired CPM into the layout and place it near the footprint to which the CPM should
be connected. The layout footprint should highlight in red if the CPM component is placed
close enough.

3. The “Pin Connectivity” dialog may invoke automatically, but if it does not, then Ctrl+select the
two components, right click, and select “Connect Pins” to load the dialog. Because the CPM
contains chip package protocol (CPP) data, the “Connect by CPP” button will be enabled, as
shown below.

4. Click the “Connect by CPP” button to load the “Pin Group Port Connections” dialog. If
unable to identify a sufficient number of pin correlations, the dialog will fail to load.

Dialog elements on the left are informational and cannot be edited. Data in the
“Transformation” box shows the transformation that will be applied to the CPM component in
order to collocate the CPM pins on top of the corresponding layout pins. The right grid shows
which CPM pins will be matched with the layout component’s pins, and includes group and
net names corresponding to each. All of the controls for modifying port connections are
contained on the left of the dialog. In most cases the auto generated connections should
meet user needs and the additional controls are unnecessary. At the end of this section there
are details on how to use the controls to modify auto generated connections.

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5. Assuming the desired connections are specified by the dialog, click OK to generate the pin
groups and ports and apply the transformation to the CPM component. The user will be
returned to the “Pin Connections” dialog with the newly generated ports shown connecting
to their corresponding CPM ports.

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6. Click OK to generate the connections (results shown below). Note that pin groups and ports
have been generated in the model and connected to corresponding CPM ports, and that the
CPM component has been geometrically transformed such that it lies directly over the layout
footprint.

More Details about the “Pin Group Port Connections” Dialog

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In most cases the auto generated connections should be adequate, but when they are not, the
dialog has several controls to facilitate manually specifying port connections. Additionally, group
and port names can be modified by changing names in either of the first two columns in the grids on
the left. There are two modes for auto generating port connections (“Local Reference” and
“Common Reference”). In the “Local Reference” mode all ports in the selected net are set as
internal ports and all other ports are connected to the closest internal port. In the “Common
Reference” mode the port associated with the selected group is set as the only internal port and all
other ports are made external and connected to this internal port. By default the “Local Reference”
mode is used, but if it fails to connect ports, it falls back to “Common Reference”.

The upper left grid shows the details of the external ports that will be generated, while the lower left
grid shows details of the internal ports. Ports can be changed to internal or external by selecting the
appropriate row(s) of one of the left grids and clicking “Make Internal” or “Make External”. The port
to which an external port is connected can be changed by clicking on a cell in the “Ref. Group”
column and selecting a different internal port from the list. The “Ref. Group” column in the internal
ports grid also has a dropdown list but it only contains the group names corresponding to external
ports, which are already connected to the internal port. Changing the selection in an internal port’s
“Ref. Group” list doesn’t actually change any connections; the list is purely for reference purposes.
The user can also connect several external ports to a single internal port by selecting several rows
in the “External Ports” grid and a single row in the “Internal Ports” grid and then click the “Connect”
button.

Verilog Library Support

A Spectre® netlist can contain include-file references to Verilog® model files. Nexxim can access
the definitions of any models that are instantiated in the Spectre netlist. In addition, you can create
schematic components that instantiate Verilog library models.

The Nexxim implementation includes a built-in Verilog compiler. Compiled mode simulation is
supported. Each VerilogA cell is compiled into a C++ file and linked into a DLL. This DLL is loaded
during simulation. The precompiled cells are used for each subsequent simulation until a
recompilation occurs. A cell is recompiled when a it is modified or when different parameter values
are passed to it. You can force a recompile with the option ahdl.compiled_mode.use_
precompiled_cells=0.

Nexxim also performs encryption and auto-decryption of model files.

Note The current release of the Electronics Desktop supports only the compiled mode of
simulation for Verilog models. Interpretive mode simulation is not currently supported.

Related Topics

Create a Verilog Symbol

Create a Verilog Component

Supported Verilog Features

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Supported Verilog Features

The following features of Verilog-A are supported in Nexxim.

1. Operators: all except replication operator ‘{{}}’

2. All built-in mathematical functions
a. Basic functions—pow, sqrt, etc.
b. Trigonometric functions
c. Hyperbolic and inverse hyperbolic functions
3. Natures: ‘voltage’
4. Disciplines: ‘voltage’, ‘electrical’
5. Current/Voltage access functions
6. Analog nodes and branches
7. Parameters
a. ‘real’ and ‘integer’
b. Scalar parameters
c. Vector parameters with constant array initializations
d. Value range specification —‘from’ and ‘exclude’, use of ‘inf’
8. Variables
a. ‘real’ and ‘integer’
b. scalar and vector
9. Genvars
10. Vectors
a. Ports declared as vectors
b. Vector variables
c. Vector nodes
d. Vector branches
e. Bit-selects of vector variable/node/branch/parameter
l Index of the bit is a loop or generated index-variable
l Index of the bit is a parameter
11. Analog contributions, to assign currents or voltages
a. A branch with a voltage contribution in one evaluation and a current contribution in
another.
12. Analog sequential blocks containing analog statements
13. Behavioral statements
a. Procedural assignment
b. Control statements (‘if-else’, ‘case’)
14. Instantiations

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a. VerilogA instantiations
b. Spectre device instantiations
15. User-defined functions
16. Analog operators
a. Time derivative (‘ddt’)
b. Derivative operator (‘ddx’)
c. ‘transition’ operator
d. ‘last_crossing’ function
e. Laplace filters (laplace_zp, laplace_nd)
f. Limited exponentiation (‘limexp’)
g. Absolute delay operator (‘absdelay’)
h. Slew filter (‘slew’)
17. Analog events
a. Global events
l ‘initial_step’, ‘final_step’
l ‘timer’, ‘cross’
18. Noise analysis
a. white noise
b. flicker noise
19. Analysis-dependent functionality using ‘analysis’ function
a. AC stimulus (‘ac_stim’)
20. Compiler directives
a. 'include directive
b. 'define directive to define constants
21. System functions
a. $temperature
b. $vt
c. $abstime
d. $realtime
e. Table based interpolation and lookup function—$table_model (interpolation data either
in data file or in VerilogA file).
22. System tasks
a. Simulation control ($finish, $stop)
b. Analog kernel control ($bound, $step, $discontinuity)
c. Display tasks ($display, $write, $strobe, $monitor, $debug)
d. $table_model

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Supported keywords, functions, and system tasks

$abstime asinh if
$bound_step atan inf
$debug atan2 initial_step
$discontinuity atanh inout
$display begin input
$finish branch integer
$function case laplace_nd
$monitor ceil laplace_zp
$realtime cos last_crossing
$stop cosh limexp
$strobe cross ln
$table_model ddt log
$temperature ddx max
$vt default min
$write else module
‘define end or
‘else endcase output
‘elseif endfunction parameter
‘endif endmodule pow
‘ifdef exclude real
‘ifndef exp sin
‘include final_step sinh
‘undef flicker_noise slew
abs floor sqrt
absdelay tan
ac_stim from tanh
acos function timer
acosh genvar transition
analog hypot white_noise
analysis generate
asin ground

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Keywords supported with workarounds

Parsing for these keywords is skipped.

abstol discrete nature

access domain idt_nature
continuous enddiscipline potential
ddt_nature endnature units
discipline flow

Spectre Compatibility

Nexxim VerilogA is compatible with Spectre.

The directive ahdl_include for specifying the hdl file is supported.

HSPICE Compatibility

Nexxim VerilogA is compatible with HSPICE.

The directive ahdl_include for specifying the hdl file is supported.

The option hdlpath for specifying the location of the hdl files is supported.

The environment variable HSP_HDL_PATH for specifying the location of the hdl files is supported.

Hdl files can be specified with or without the extension.

Parameter names to Verilog instances are case-insensitive.

NOTE: For, while, and repeat loops are NOT supported.

Exporting Network Design Data

Several tools generate frequency-dependent network design data as the result of the analysis. The
results can be saved (exported) to files for use by other tools.

Related Topics

Exporting LNA Network Data

Exporting Planar EM Network Data

Exporting Network Data to a State-Space File

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Exporting LNA Network Data

You can export the frequency-dependent network data that results from a linear network analysis
to a Touchstone file for use by other analyses. Results can be exported from a design created
with either the Schematic Editor or the Netlist Editor.

1. Define and run the Linear Network Analysis.

2. In a schematic design, expand the icon for the design. Expand the Analysis entry, right-click
the LNA solution setup, and select Export Solution from the pulldown.

In a netlist design, right-click the icon for the netlist design and select Export Solution from the
pulldown. The Solutions dialog box opens.

3. From a schematic, make sure the desired setup name and simulation name are shown in the
listings in the Simulation fields. (With a netlist design, these fields are read-only.)
4. Select the type of data to be saved (S, Y, Z, Zo, or Gamma). The choices depend on the
results that are available.
5. Select the frequencies for which data are to be saved:
l To save the data for all frequencies, check Display All Freqs.
l To save the data for selected frequencies, leave Display All Freqs unchecked and select
the frequencies from the pulldown.
6. Optionally, select Check Passivity. EM Design will report any passivity violations in the
matrix data. Optionally, set the Passivity Tolerance (default 0.0001 or .01%). Refer to the
S-Parameter Technical Notes for details.
7. Select the results and frequencies to be exported, then click Export. The Export Network

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Data Solution dialog box opens:

Select a directory for the export in the Save in: field. Select a file name for the exported data in
the File name: field. Select a file type from the Save as type: list, and then click Save.

Options for file format are:

l Data Table (spreadsheet) (.txt file extension)

l Touchstone (.sNp file extension)
l Neutral Model Format (NMF) (.nmf file extension)
l MATLAB (.m file extension)
l CITIfile (.cit file extension)
8. The Specify Export Reference Impedance dialog opens for you to specify the reference
impedance for the Touchstone data:
l Select Override Solution Renormalization (the default) and set the impedance as
desired (50 Ohms is the default). The Touchstone file data will be renormalized to the port
impedance you specify, if the impedance is not the same as that used for the original
analysis. Selecting Do Not Override Solution Renormalization inactivates the
Impedance field.
l You can choose to Export Noise Data with Touchstone files in the Electronics Desktop.
l You can choose to include Gamma and impedance comments in the Touchstone file (the
default), or to omit them. Omitting the comments can make the Touchstone file much
smaller.
l When the impedance information is complete, click OK.

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9. Click Close on the Solutions dialog box, or leave the dialog open to make multiple exports,
as described next.

Making Multiple Exports

If you want to export several solutions representing variations on the design, leave the Solutions
dialog open. Make the desired changes to the circuit. The box at the upper right of the Solutions
dialog displays a red X to show that the solution is invalid:

Now, rerun the analysis. The red X disappears to show that a valid solution is available for export.
Save the new result as described earlier.

Exporting Planar EM Network Data

You can export the results of a Planar EM analysis to a matrix data file for use by other analyses.

1. Define and run the Planar EM analysis.

2. On the EM Design menu, point to Results, and then click Matrix Data from the pulldown.
The Solutions dialog box opens on the Matrix Data tab.
3. Select the setup name and simulation name to be saved from the listings in the Simulation
fields.
4. Select the type of data to be saved (S, Y, Z, Zo, or Gamma). The choices depend on the
results that are available.
5. Select the frequencies for which data are to be saved:
l To save the data for all frequencies, check Display All Freqs.
l To save the data for selected frequencies, leave Display All Freqs unchecked and
select the frequencies from the pulldown.
6. Optionally, select Check Passivity. EM Design will report any passivity violations in the
matrix data. Optionally, set the Passivity Tolerance (default 0.0001 or .01%).

Refer to the S-Parameter Technical Notes for details.

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7. Click Export Data Matrix. The Export NetworkData Solution dialog box opens:

Select a directory for the export in the Save in: field. Select a file name for the exported data in
the File name: field. Select the desired data format from the Save as type: list, and then click
Save.

Options for file format are:

l Touchstone (.sNp file extension)

l Data Table (spreadsheet) (.tab file extension)
l Neutral Model Format (NMF) (.nmf file extension)
l MATLAB (.m file extension)
l CITIfile (.cit file extension)
8. The Specify Export Reference Impedance dialog opens for you to specify the reference
impedance for the data:
l Select Override Solution Renormalization (the default) and set the impedance as
desired (50 Ohms is the default). The Touchstone file data will be renormalized to the port
impedance you specify, if the impedance is not the same as that used for the original
analysis. Selecting Do Not Override Solution Renormalization inactivates the
Impedance field.
l You can choose to Export Noise Data with Touchstone files in the Electronics Desktop.
l You can choose to include Gamma and impedance comments in the Touchstone file (the
default), or to omit them. Omitting the comments can make the Touchstone file much

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smaller.
l When the impedance information is complete, click OK.
9. Click Close to close the Solutions dialog.

Exporting Network Data to a State Space File

You can export data to a State Space File (*.sss) by selecting Export State Space Data from the
right-click menu under the Definitions/Models folder in the Project Manager. The Export State
Space Data menu item is enabled only if the model has state space data available. State space
data is available when an SSS file is chosen as the data source or when the model has an
underlying SSS file associated with it.

Choosing Export State Space Data opens a Save File As dialog. When you provide a filename
and location, the .sss file is generated and updated with the port names in the model.

Importing Solution Data for Postprocessing

All Electronics Desktop simulators allow you to import solution data from other tools for reports and
other postprocessing as available. To import solution data into a Circuit design, do one of the
following:

l Select Circuit > Import Solution

l From any design in the project tree, select Analysis> Import Solution

The Import Solution dialog opens:

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Related Topics

Importing Network Solution Data

Importing Tabular Solution Data

Postprocessing Imported Solution Data

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Importing Network Solution Data

If the solution to be imported is network data such as S-parameters, click Network Data on the
Import Solution dialog and then click OK. The N-Port Data dialog for importing solutions opens:

The N-port data dialog has the following tabs:

N-Port Data Source Tab

Noise Data Tab

Options Tab

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N-Port Data Tab for Imported Solutions

The N-Port Data Source tab is displayed when the N-port data dialog opens.

Model Name — Used to set or change the name of the imported solution as it will appear in the
project tree. To change the name, click in the box and then type the name you want.

Description — Used to set or change the description of the imported solution. To change the
description, click in the box and then type the description you want.

File Name — Used to set or change the file name of the imported solution. To set the file name,
click in the box and then type the file name you want, or click the browse button to search for a file.

Multi-file selection — Used to import an S-element file. For more information, see below.

Mode — The network solution data can be entered manually, copied into the project from an
external file as Import data, or read from an external Link to file at analysis time. To manually
enter solution data, click Enter data in spreadsheet, and enter the network data as described in
the Noise Data Tab section.

To import an S-element file and copy it into the project from an external file:

1. Click Import Data in the N-port data dialog shown above.

2. Specify the File name in one of the following ways:

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l In the filename box, type the file name, including the full pathname, of the file that contains
the network parameters you want to use.
l Click the browse (...) button to open the Select File dialog box.
a. Select the appropriate file type from the Files of type list:
b. Use the Look in field to browse to the directory containing the desired file.
c. Select the file in one of the following ways:
l Click the file’s entry in the list.
l Type the file’s name in the File Name box.
d. Click Open.

Once you have finished, the N-port data is copied into the project from an external file.

Note If you choose multiple files using the Multi-file selection… and create a Text Array variable,
then the S-parameter data will NOT be imported. It will be the same as if you had chosen
the Link to file option.

To import solution data and copy it into the project from an external file:

1. Click Import Data.

2. Specify the filename in one of the following ways:
l In the filename box, type the file name, including the full pathname, of the file that contains
the network solution.
l In the File group, select a file location option (Use Path, In PersonalLib folder, In userlib
folder, or In syslib folder).
l Click the browse (...) button to open the Open dialog.
a. On the Open dialog, select the appropriate file type from the Files of type list.

— Touchstone (.sNp)

— Planar EM/HFSS v6.0 and higher (.szg)

— Touchstone (.yNp)

— Touchstone (.zNp)

— Touchstone (.tou)

— CITIfile (.cit)

— SSS file (.sss)

b. Use the Look in field to browse to the directory containing the desired file.
c. Select the file in one of the following ways:
l Click the file’s entry in the list.
l Type the file’s name in the File Name box.

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d. Click Open.

Once you have specified a file, you can view its contents in the Noise Data Tab.

Note S-parameter SSS datafile names must be of the format

                    “<filename>_ <ports> .sss”

where:

                    <filename> is an alphanumeric string

                    <ports> is an integer that specifies the number of ports                    

such as:

                    SparamFile_4.sss

To specify an external file from which network parameter data will be read at analysis
time:

1. Click Link to file.

2. In the File group, select a file location option (Use Path, In PersonalLib folder, In userlib
folder, or In syslib folder).
3. Specify a filename in either of the following ways:
l In the filename box, type the filename , including the full pathname, of the file that contains
the network parameters you want to use.
l Click the browse button to open the Open dialog box.
a. Select the appropriate file type in the Files of type list.
b. Use the Look in field to browse to the directory containing the appropriate file.
c. Select the file in one of the following ways:
l Click the file’s entry in the list.
l Type the file’s name in the File Name box.
d. Click Open.

Once you have specified a file, you can view its contents in the Noise Data Tab.

Noise Data Tab for Imported Solutions

The Noise Data tab can be used to enter solution data manually or used to view solution data from
an imported file.

l To view the contents of an imported solution, double-click on the solution in the project
tree and select the Noise Data tab from the N-port data dialog.

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l To manually enter solution data for postprocessing, select Enter data in spreadsheet
on the N-Port Data tab, and then select the Noise Data tab from the N-port data dialog.

The following controls are available:

Domain — Sets the Frequency or Time domain.

Format — Sets the Format to one of the following: Magnitude/Phase, Real/Imaginary, or dB

Phase.

Units — In the Frequency domain, sets the units of frequency: Hz, KHz, MHz, GHz, THz, or rps.In
the Time domain, selects the units of time: fs, ps, ns, us, ms, or s.

S Matrix — Identifies the data as S-parameter values.

Y Matrix — Identifies the data as Y-parameter values.

Z Matrix — Identifies the data as Z-parameter values.

Gamma — Identifies the data as Gamma values.

Z0 — Identifies the data as Z0 values.

Ports — Sets the number of signal ports.

Phase Rotation — Click to set the Phase Rotation of the N-Port Noise Data source.

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When the Network Data options have been entered, click OK or select another tab.

Note l The Electronics Desktop Planar EM tool can interpret only frequency-domain data.
l If the solution data file contains complex propagation constants or characteristic
impedance values, you can select Gamma or Zo to view the data — but to run a
simulation in the Electronics Desktop, the information is not required.

Options Tab for Imported Solutions

The Options tab is used to select the behavior of the selected NPort.

The following controls are available:

l Nexxim/HSPICE — Sets the NPort type. The selections for Interpolation, Extrapolation,
DC Behavior, Method, and Passivity Enforcement depend on the NPort type selected.
l Interpolation — Specifies the interpolation method for data points within the frequency
range of the Touchstone data.
l Extrapolation — Specifies the extrapolation method for data points outside the
frequency range of the Touchstone data.
l DC Behavior — Specifies behavior of the N-Port at DC (zero frequency).
l Method — Specifies the method used to convert frequency domain data to the time
domain. Choice of methods is available only for Nexxim Nports.

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l Passivity Enforcement — Performs a passivity check on the S-parameter data and

attempts to correct non-passive data. Passive devices may dissipate or temporarily store
energy, but never generate energy. Use the pulldown menu to select the method for
enforcing passivity. Passivity enforcement is not available only for Nexxim NPorts.
l For details on passivity checking and enforcement, see S-Parameter Technical Notes.
l Use reciprocal — Computes the inverse, or reciprocal, at each frequency so that the N-
port can be used for de-embedding. See Deembedding S-Matrices.
l Noise Model — Specifies noise model for DC and frequency-domain analyses: ( None =
No noise analysis, Internal = Use internal noise model, External = Use noise data from
Touchstone file if present, else use internal noise model.)
l Additional Options — Allows you to add model-level options for Nexxim or HSPICE.
l Network Data Explorer — Allows you to view solution data by opening the Network
Data Explorer.

When the N-port Options have been entered, click OK or select another tab.

Importing Tabular Solution Data

To import solution data in tabular format, select Tabular Data on the Import Solution dialog. (To
specify that the imported file should be read at analysis time rather than copied into the project, also
click Link to file). Then click OK, which opens the Data Table Import dialog.

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Enter the name of the tabular data file in the File Name window, or click the browse button to look
for the file. When you have entered all necessary information described below into the Data Table
Import dialog, click OK to import the data.

With Auto Read Data Selected

When Auto Read Data is selected, the Electronics Desktop attempts to read the data in
automatically, based on the following assumptions regarding the format of the tabular data:

l Rows that begin with a hash (#), star (*), exclamation point (!), or any non-number are
ignored.
l Each comma, space, and tab is treated as a column separator.
l Numbers followed by an “i” or “I” are treated as complex values.
l The first column is always regarded as X data.
l All columns but the first are always regarded as Y data.
l Empty columns are zero filled.

With Auto Read Data Unselected

When Auto Read Data is not selected, the Rows to Read and Data Format subsections offer
the following options:

Rows to Read

l Ignore first specifies the number of rows of data at the head of the file to ignore
l Until End of File specifies that all rows of data are to be read
l Number of Rows specifies the number of rows to be read

Data Format

l Total Number of Columns specifies the full number of columns of data

l Number of Leftmost Real Columns specifies the number of leftmost columns of
real data
l Column Separator specifies the column separator: Space(s), Tab, Comma, or
Period
l Data Type of Remaining Columns specifies the data type for the columns not
included in the Number of Leftmost Real Columns:

Real Real numbers

re/im Complex numbers in real/imaginary format
mag/ang(deg) Complex numbers in magnitude/angle format with angles in degrees
mag/ang(rad) Complex numbers in magnitude/angle format with angles in radians

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Sweep Columns

This option allows you to specify the number of leftmost columns in the imported file that are to be
treated as sweep data rather than quantity data. When Sweep Columns is non-zero, an implicit
sweep is created automatically as the file is read. For example, with Sweep Columns set to 2, the
following imported data could be used to create the 3D Rectangular Plot shown below:
1 1 -11.9494901844939

1 2 -1.02976604277775

1 3 -65.0043850531982

1 4 -66.1547663779434

1 5 -76.5001257180356

1 6 -77.0620478855849

1 7 -78.7052860174241

1 8 -71.4292118632088

1 9 -59.271550467952

1 10 -73.4397348975777

2 1 -1.02976604277775

2 2 -13.7362474109939

2 3 -64.4351612784164

2 4 -63.9486697204035

2 5 -75.69071743575

2 6 -74.7859772914394

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In addition, in the imported file, the line immediately preceding the start of numerical data is
checked for column names. If this line contains the appropriate number of entries, these entries are
then used as column-data annotations in the generated plot, as shown in the example below.
Xdata Ydata Zdata

1 1 -11.9494901844939

1 2 -1.02976604277775

1 3 -65.0043850531982

1 4 -66.1547663779434

1 5 -76.5001257180356

1 6 -77.0620478855849

1 7 -78.7052860174241

1 8 -71.4292118632088

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1 9 -59.271550467952

1 10 -73.4397348975777

2 1 -1.02976604277775

2 2 -13.7362474109939

2 3 -64.4351612784164

Each column name (Xdata, Ydata, Zdata) is appended with the string “import” before being added
to the plot.

Postprocessing Imported Solution Data

To generate a report from the imported solution data, do the following:

1. Expand Analysis in the Project tree. Verify the presence of the imported solution.
2. Click on Results in the Project tree and select Create Report. Select the report type and
display type from the Create Report dialog, and then click OK.

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On the Traces dialog, select the imported solution from the Solutions pulldown. Complete the
data in the Traces dialog, and then click Done. The Report window opens to display the imported
solution.

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14 - Circuit and Layout Definition Libraries

This section describes how to configure and manage ANSYS Electronics Desktop definition
libraries. You can use these topics to create and edit circuit and layout library elements.

The typical Electronics Desktop user will require these library tools only rarely. The Desktop
automates the creation of many kinds of components. This topic covers only the operations needed
to create and maintain components like the built-in Nexxim and Planar EM components.

l For information on creating component models, see Circuit and Layout Import and Export
Operations.
l For information on creating components to be simulated via dynamic links and Solver on
Demand, see Co-simulation.
l For information on creating and modifying substrates for use by the layout field solvers, see
the Nexxim Component Models topics for each kind of distributed element (coplanar
waveguide, grounded coplanar waveguide, microstrip, offset stripline, rectangular
waveguide, slotline, stripline, and suspended stripline).

Related Topics

Working with Definition Libraries

Using the Library Editor

Using the Material Editor

Using the Script Editor

Using the Component Editor

Using the Padstack Editor

Using the Symbol Editor

Using the Footprint Editor

Vendor Library Components

Encrypted Libraries

Working with Definition Libraries

In Electronics Desktop, a component is a object placed in a design to be solved. Built-in ANSYS
components contain netlist and footprint information representing the native circuit and EM solver
models. Other components can reference external models using frequency-dependent network
data or other model formats.

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The definition of a built-in component contains parameter data to pass to the solvers. The
component definition also references separately-stored data for the schematic symbol, fabrication
material, layout footprint, and layer stackup definitions. These component dependencies are stored
as objects in their own definition libraries.

Related Topics

System, User, and Personal Library Directories

Changing the Locations of Library Directories

Library and Project Definitions

Library Search Precedence

Updating Project Definitions from Library Definitions

Exporting and Importing Definition Archives

Managing Library Files

System, User, and Personal Library Directories

The stock library files that ship with Electronics Desktop are stored under the syslib directory.
These libraries are intended to be read-only and should not be modified.

In addition to the system libraries, Electronics Desktop recognizes two user-configurable library
structures, called the User Library and the Personal Library. These are used to add foundry
support, user defined models, and any custom or proprietary sets of components or simulation
models. Customarily, userlib is a network repository for proprietary or corporate definitions
available to all seats in an enterprise. personalLib contains project and circuit-specific libraries as
needed by individual designs.

A root library directory is set up at installation. If none is specified, the default is the root Electronics
Desktop directory.

Changing the Locations of Libraries

You can relocate the base library directory to a new valid library location. To specify a new library
directory:

1. Click Tools > Options > General Options.

2. In the Directories group in the Project Options tab, type the new folder location in the
Library Directory box, or use the browse button to specify it.
3. Click OK.

To return the library directory specification to its default value, click Reset Library Directory.

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The personal library (PersonalLib) folder is located at <Project Directory>\PersonalLib, where

<Project Directory> is the location you specified for your Electronics Desktop projects. To specify
a new location for the PersonalLib folder, you must specify a new project directory location. To do
this:

1. On the Tools menu, point to Options, and then click General Options.
2. In the Directories group in the Project Options tab, type the new folder location in the
Project Directory box, or use the browse button to specify it.
3. Click OK.

Library and Project Definitions

In Electronics Desktop, library component definitions are intended to be accessed once per
component — when you place the first instance of a component onto a schematic. After it is placed
in a schematic, the definition for the component transfers from the library to the project file. Editing
and updating a component definition is then controlled from the project definition, which is listed in
the Components folder in the project tree. In other words, you do not edit component definitions in
the library, but in the project. If you want your edits to be reflected in the library definition (for use in
another design) you must export the edited components to a component library.

Once a definition is used, it is transferred to the current project, and remains in the project unless it
is explicitly removed. To see the definitions included in a project, expand its Definition folders and
subfolders in the project tree:

Modifying component and dependency definitions in libraries, or installing libraries with modified
component and dependency definitions, does not automatically update those definitions in projects
that contain them. To update project definitions from library definitions, see Updating Project
Definitions from Library Definitions.

Updating Project Definitions from Library Definitions

Once a library component is placed into a design, the parent component definition resides in the
project, and the link to the library is broken. To update a project component definition with a
definition from a library file, select the project you want to update in the project tree, and then click
Project Tools>Update Definitions on the Tools menu.

The Update Definitions dialog box opens, listing any library definitions that have been edited
since they were added to the project, and their original library locations. Use the dialog box to select
the item to update, and click Update to finish.

If you wish to remove project definitions that are unused, you can choose the Project
Tools>Remove Unused Definitions command on the Tools menu which will open the Unused
Definitions dialog.

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Exporting and Importing Definition Archives

The Import and Export Definition Archive commands allow you to select individual component,
model, or other library definitions – or even entire libraries – to package and send to another user.
Referenced definitions, data files, and DLLs are included automatically. All selected definitions
(either those in an entire library or those selected separately) will be written to one set of libraries
(for example, a component library and associated symbol and model libraries).

Related Topics

Exporting Definition Archives

Importing Definition Archives

Exporting Definition Archives

Select Tools>Library Tools>Export Definition Archive to open the Export Definition

Archive dialog box.

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l To export a definition archive, first choose an archive name, either by typing the full filename
in to the Archive name edit field, or by using the browse button [...] next to it. The archive
name must have a .definition.zip extension, which is supplied by the dialog box.

Note A .definition.zip archive is not readable with utilities such as WinZip®.

l The definitions selected for export are listed in the Definitions to Export listbox. Use the
and buttons to delete selected entries, or all entries, respectively.
l The Type drop-down list on the left below the list of Definitions to Export controls which
libraries are shown in the tree below it. Choices include: Component, Symbol, Model,

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Package, Material, and Script. In the tree, each leaf element (definition) has an associated
check box. Checking the box adds the definition to the export list above. Clearing the box
removes the definition from the export list. With a library or library element node highlighted,
a user can select all definitions in that library for export by clicking Library All. Similarly, the
user can unselect all definitions in the selected library by clicking Library None. Expand All
and Collapse All expand or collapse the entire tree.
l Typing a string into the text box next to the Find button allows the user to scroll to the first
definition whose name matches the string. Searches are not case-sensitive. You can also
use the “wildcard” asterisk character in search strings. For example: entering P* should find,
in succession, every component that starts with P (or p). Use multiple asterisks to further
control matches, for example, *p* to find any definition with a 'p' in it, including as a first or
last character; or *p*p* to find "pipe" and "pump", and so on
l The Remove unused definitions after export check box allows the user to clean up the
current project after export is complete.
l When the Show contents after export check box is checked, a Contents dialog shows a
list of what was saved to the archive. This list may include multiple libraries (due to definition
references) or external file references. You can save the list to a file by clicking Save, orclick
Done when you are finished viewing.
l Click OK to complete the process. The selected definitions, libraries, and referenced files
are zipped, and given a double extension, .definition.zip. Users can then e-mail or
otherwise transfer the zip file to others. The zip file is not encrypted, though models and
packages contained in it may be.

Related Topics

Importing Definition Archives

Importing Definition Archives

To import a definition archive, choose Tools>Library Tools> Import Definition Archive to

open the Import Definition Archive dialog box.

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l First select a definition archive either by typing the path and definition archive file name in the
Archive text field, or by clicking the [...] button to browse for the file.
l In the Imported Library Settings section, users can choose the basic location for the
imported archive with the PersonalLib or UserLib radio buttons. If desired, the user can
further choose a subdirectory Path under PersonalLib or UserLib as a location for the
libraries. The user can also enter a Name for the imported libraries. The default name is the
base name of the archive file.
l On import, data files will be moved to appropriate bin and data directories. External
Referenced Files that are not appropriate to bin and data library directories will be
referenced using $PROJECTDIR. The user can click the [...] button to choose the directory
for these files. The default is the Project Directory specified in Tools>Options>General
Options.
l The Overwrite existing definitions and files check box (unchecked by default) allows the
user to replace current definitions and files with archive elements, permissions allowing.
l Click Show contents to view a dialog showing a list of what is in the archive. This list may
include multiple libraries (due to definition references) or external file references. You can
save the list to a file by clicking Save, orclick Done when you are finished viewing.

Related Topics

Exporting Definition Archives

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Managing Library Files

You can use Manage Files to change the names of UserLib and PersonalLib libraries, move
libraries to another location in the directories specified for UserLib or PersonalLib, or delete
libraries. In addition, you can change the names of UserLib and PersonalLib directories, move
directories to another location in the directories specified for UserLib or PersonalLib, or delete
directories.

Note l You cannot move libraries out of the UserLib or PersonalLib

hierarchies.
l To move a library or directory to a subfolder, that subfolder must
already exist.

Components and other definitions in libraries directly affected by an action which refer to definitions
changing library name or location will have those references adjusted. Definitions in libraries
indirectly affected– that is, those not having their names or locations modified by an action–with
references to definitions in directly affected libraries are updated.

To manage library files:

1. Click Tools >Library Tools >Manage Files. The Manage Library Files dialog opens on
the Components tab. There is a tab for each library type: Symbols, Components, Materials,
Scripts, Footprints, Padstacks, and Models.

2. Click the tab you want.

3. Select an individual library or a directory on which you want to perform the action.

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4. Click one of the following buttons:

l Rename
l Move
l Delete

Click the Include libraries of other types with same name in current directory check box to
cause the action to be performed on other types with the same name in the same directory. For
example, if you select “mydefs” on the Components tab, the action is extended to a symbol library
in the same directory called “mydefs.aslb.”

1. Click Done when finished managing libraries.

Library Search Precedence

When you place a new component in a design, Electronics Desktop searches in the current project
for a definition with the corresponding name. If an appropriate definition exists in the project, that
definition is used to satisfy the placement regardless of whether additional instances, even more
recent ones, may exist in external libraries.

If Electronics Desktop cannot locate the required definitions in the project, it searches in personal
(PersonalLib), user (userlib), and system (syslib) library files, in that order. Once a definition of
the correct name has been located, the search ends, and that definition is used to satisfy the
placement request.

Component Creation Sequence

Every component definition uses an associated bitmap (for the project tree icon) and a schematic
symbol. Many components also require footprints, which in turn depend on material definitions and
padstacks to characterize their physical presence in and electrical connections to a layout.

To save time in editing or creating new components, you should identify and modify or create its
dependent elements in the following sequence as you define your component. All of the
dependencies listed may not be necessary for every component you create or modify.

Materials

Material information defines the physical properties of a substance — such as substrate,

metallization, or solder mask layer — for its inclusion in a stackup, the physical foundation of a
manufacturable layout or Planar EM model. Material definitions are stored in library files with the
extension .amat. See Using the Material Editor for how to create and modify materials.

Layers

The substrate technology defines the name and parameters of the layout stackup to use for all
distributed elements in the design. You create or define a substrate type by clicking Circuit>Add
Reference Data>Add Substrate Definition. You can view and modify the current layout
stackup by clicking Schematic>LayourStackup.

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Padstacks

A padstack defines the physical structure and electrical connectivity of a pad, the region where a
component pin connects to a copper trace. A padstack must be associated with each pin of a
component. Padstack definitions are stored in library files with an extension of .pslb. See Using the
Padstack Editor for how to create and modify padstacks.

Footprints

A footprint defines the planar space consumption, physical orientation, metal usage, and electrical
connectivity of a component in a layout. Footprint definitions are stored in library files with the
extension .aflb. See Using the Footprint Editor for how to create and modify footprints.

Symbols

A symbol is graphical representation of a component in a schematic. Symbol definitions are stored

in library files with the extension .aslb. See Using the Symbol Editor for how to create and modify
symbols.

Bitmaps

A bitmap is a small picture that is displayed when the ACLB containing the component is opened in
the schematic editor. Bitmaps are stored in syslib\Bitmaps\*.bmp. To create or modify a bitmap,
use a bitmap editor such as MS Paint(r).

Components

The Electronics Desktop Component Editor supports the viewing, modification, and saving of
information for component elements and graphical primitives. After creating or modifying a
component, the information can be saved, used to render a component, or exported. Component
definitions are stored in library files with an extension of .asty. See Using the Component Editor for
how to create and modify components.

Scripts

The Electronics Desktop Script Editor supports the viewing, modification, and saving of script file
information for footprint elements and graphical primitives. After modifying a script, the information
can be saved, used to render a footprint, or exported. Script definitions are stored in library files
with an extension of .dsc. See Using the Script Editor for how to create and modify scripts.

Using the Library Editor

The Electronics Desktop Library Editor, also called the Edit Libraries dialog, allows you to
access, manage, save, and control the contents of various development libraries which contain
information and properties for the following design entities:

l Materials
l Scripts
l Components

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l Symbols
l Footprints
l Models
l Padstacks

Related Topics

Starting the Library Editor

Edit Libraries Dialog

Exporting Hierarchical Components

Starting the Library Editor

To start the Library Editor, select Tools > Edit Libraries and then select the type of library you
wish to access from the following submenu:

You may also right-click on any of the folders listed in the Definitions directory of the Project Tree
in the Project Manager, and then select Edit Library.

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Edit Libraries Dialog

After choosing a library to edit, the Edit Libraries dialog opens with a tab open to the library you
selected, such as the Materials Browser displayed below:

The Edit Libraries browser searches library objects using filters based on a number of attributes:

l Name
l Property
l Model type

In addition, each Edit Libraries browser also includes radio buttons that allow you to Show
Project definitions and Show all libraries (to override filtering).

The following Edit Libraries browser controls are available:

l Edit — Edits properties/attributes for the selected object. The resulting object can have
the same name as the original, but it is saved to the current project, rather than back to the
library. In effect, you have “checked out” the part in order to edit it. If you want to write it

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back to the library and overwrite the original part, use the Export to Library button.
l Add — Creates a new object within the selected library.
l Clone — Creates a copy of a selected object with a different name within the selected
library.
l Remove — Removes an object from the library
l Export — Exports edited objects from a project to a library, or exports selected objects
from one library to another. If the component you are exporting is hierarchical, after you
click to Export and specify a library name in the Export to user library window, the
Export Hierarchy dialog opens. For more information see Exporting Hierarchical
Components.

NOTES:

1. When you modify a library component, the modified definition is automatically transferred to the
components available to the current project. In effect, you have “checked out” the component to
modify it, and it is now in the project. The original library definition is intact. To update the library
definition, you must do the extra step of exporting the modified component from the project to the
library.

2. Subcircuits automatically inherit higher-level library configurations.

3. Project variables and project datasets used in designs represented by hierarchical components
will be saved to the library with the component and restored when the component is used. If the
variable or dataset already exists in the project (determined by name), the library version will be
ignored. When creating project variables or datasets for hierarchical component designs to be
saved in a library, make sure the names of the variables and datasets are appropriate and not likely
to clash with those of other hierarchical components or common defaults.

 Exporting Hierarchical Components

Electronics Desktop allows you to export hierarchical components, along with their solutions. After
you click to Export a hierarchical component in the Library Editor and specify a library name in the
Export to user library window, the Export Hierarchy dialog opens.

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l The component selected to be exported appears in the top-most row of the dialog. The
library to which it will be exported is listed beneath the Library column (in this example,
“export2”). To select a different library to export to, click on the library button listed in the
Library column (in this example, “export2”).
l Dependent definitions appear below the top-most row of the dialog and may also be
exported. Definitions that must be exported (i.e. those definitions which are a mandatory
part of those being exported) will have a disabled, greyed-out Export check box.
l You can export a component’s solution by checking its Export box. At import time, the
solution is re-associated with the design.
l Symbols need not be exported, they will be auto-generated at import time.
l Each definition is exported as a definition in its own right. That is to say, at import time,
using the above example, "Planar EM1" would be visible in the "export2" library as a
component independent of "Nexxim1".
l Components that originated in libraries, e.g. the "SL_TRL" component, need not be
exported. At import time, each library component is retrieved from its original library and
re-associated with the design.

Using the Material Editor

The Electronics Desktop Material Editor supports the viewing, modification, and saving of
material information for substrate elements and stackup primitives. After modifying a material, the
information can then be saved, used to define a design, or exported.

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A material is a set of information that defines the physical properties of a substance — such as that
used as a substrate, metallization, or solder mask layer — for its inclusion in a stackup, the physical
foundation of a manufacturable Planar EM model. Material definitions are stored in library files with
an extension of .amat. You can access material definitions using the EditMaterial dialog, also
referred to as the Material Editor.

To start the Material Editor, select Tools > Edit Libraries > Materials. When the Edit Libraries
dialog opens, use its controls to open the Material Editor.

Related Topics

The Edit Material Dialog Box

Editing an Existing Material

Creating a New Material

The Edit Material Dialog

The EditMaterial dialog (also called the Material Editor) controls the property values of materials.
You can open the Edit Material dialog in one of two ways:

l Open the Material Browser by clicking Tools > Edit Libraries > Materials, then search
for and select the material you want to edit, and either double-click its name or click
View/Edit Materials.
l In the Definitions/Materials subfolder of the Project tree, locate the icon for the material
you want to edit, then either double-click the icon or right-click it and select EditMaterial.

The Edit Material dialog opens.

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Material Name — This box sets the material name. To specify or change the name, click in the
box, and then type the desired name.

Property Headings

Name — Displays the property name. The values in this column are not editable.

Type — Displays and sets the property type (Simple [the default] or Anisotropic). To change a
properties Type setting, click in the Type cell and select the desired type.

Value — Displays and sets the property value. To change a property value, click the value you
want to change, and then type a value or parameter name.

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Units — Displays and, where applicable, sets the unit that applies to the Value entry. (For
example, the unit of magnetic saturation can be set to Gauss, uGauss, Tesla, or uTesla.) To
change a unit, click it, and then select the desired unit.

Property Names

Relative Permittivity — This box sets the material relative permittivity. To specify or change the
value, click in the box, and then type the desired value.

Relative Permeability — This box sets the material relative permeability. To specify or change
the value, click in the box, and then type the desired value.

Bulk Conductivity — This box sets the material bulk conductivity. To specify or change the value,
click in the box, and then type the desired value.

Dielectric Loss Tangent — This box sets the material dielectric loss tangent. To specify or
change the value, click in the box, and then type the desired value.

Magnetic Loss Tangent — This box sets the material magnetic loss tangent. To specify or
change the value, click in the box, and then type the desired value.

Magnetic Saturation — This box sets the material magnetic saturation. To specify or change the
value, click in the box, and then type the desired value.

Lande G Factor — This box sets the material Lande G factor. To specify or change the value, click
in the box, and then type the desired value.

Delta H — This box sets the material delta H. To specify or change the value, click in the box, and
then type the desired value.

View/Edit Material For

The check boxes in this group select the ANSYS product(s) for which material properties are
shown.

l Active Design
l This Product
l All Products

View/Edit Modifier For

The check boxes in this group select the ANSYS product(s) for which modifier properties are
shown.

l Thermal Modifier

Validate Material

Click this button to validate the current material property values for the Electronics Desktop product
(s) checked. If validation succeeds, a green check mark appears below the Validate Now button. If

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validation fails, a red X appears instead, and an error message informs you of which parameter
value(s) are invalid for which product(s), and why.

Set Frequency Dependency

Click this button to open a dialog that allows you to set options for the following:

l Piecewise Linear Input

l Loss Model Input
l Low-Loss Dielectric Model Input
l Enter Frequency Dependent Data Points

After you set options for any of the above, the Value column of the MaterialEditor indicates that a
material’s value is set to be frequency dependent, rather than set to a constant.

Note The Set Frequency Dependency option is available only with Planar EM. To add a
material with frequency dependence, or to edit the frequency dependence of a pre-existing
material, you must first ensure that the active design selected in the project tree is a Planar
EM design, otherwise Set Frequency Dependency will not be available. For more
information see Defining Frequency-Dependent Material Properties.

Material Editor Dialog Controls

l Click Reset to restore all changed properties to their values prior to opening the Material
Editor.
l Click Cancel to close the dialog without committing changes and return to the
MaterialBrowser.
l Click OK to commit changes and return to the MaterialBrowser.

For more information see Viewing and Modifying Material Attributes.

Note If you would like the changes you have made in a material to be available for use in other
projects, you must export the material to a library as described in the Edit Libraries dialog
topic.

Editing an Existing Material

To edit an existing material, display its properties in the Edit Material dialog by doing either of the
following:

l Open the Material Browser by clicking Tools > Edit Libraries > Materials, then search
for and select the material you want to edit, and either double-click its name or click
View/Edit Materials.
l In the Definitions/Materials subfolder of the Project tree, locate the icon for the material
you want to edit, then either double-click the icon or right-click it and select EditMaterial.

The Edit Material dialog opens (also called the Material Editor).

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Creating a New Material

To create a new material, first open the Material Browser by clicking Tools > Edit Libraries >
Materials, then do either of the following:

l Click Add Material. The Edit Material dialog opens (also called the Material Editor).
l Locate and select an existing material definition on which you would like to base the new
definition, then click Clone Material(s). The selected definition is copied under a new name.
To edit the new material, double-click its name to open the Edit Material dialog (also called
the Material Editor).

Using the Models Editor

1. To open the dialog box for a model library, click Tools > Edit Libraries > Models. The Edit
Libraries dialog opens on the Models tab.
2. On the Models tab, use the Libraries scrolling window to select the library file for contents
display. Use the buttons described below to manage selected library objects:
l Edit Model - Edits properties or attributes for a selected model in the corresponding
model editor. The resulting model may have the same name as the original, but it is saved
to the current project, rather than back to the library. In effect, you have “checked out” the
part to the project in order to edit it. If you want to write it back to the library, overwriting the
original part, use the Export to Library button.

(Use the Show Project Definitions check box to include current project elements in
the Edit Libraries dialog display.)

Some models - such as those that have been encoded - are not editable (button is
disabled). Encrypted models can be edited after the password has been entered to
unlock it.

l Add Model - Creates a new model object within the selected library. The Add Model
dialog box allows you to name the model, and to choose the model type you want to add.
By default, the model is added via the appropriate model editor.
l Clone Model(s) - Creates a copy of selected object(s) with a different name within the
selected library. Encoded models cannot be cloned (button is disabled).
l Remove Model(s) - Removes selected object(s) from the library. System library models
cannot be removed (button is disabled).
l Export to Library - Exports a selected object to a different library. (Use also to export
edited objects from the project to the library if necessary.) System library models cannot
be exported (button is disabled).
3. When finished, click OK to close the Edit Libraries dialog box.

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Using the Padstack Editor

The Electronics Desktop Padstack Editor supports the viewing, modification, and saving of
padstack definition information for physical structure and connectivity. After modifying a padstack
definition, the information can then be used to define a via or pin. The padstack definition can also
be exported to a library.

A padstack is a set of information that defines the physical structure and electrical connectivity of a
pin or via: the region in which a component pin connects to a layout or a connection between
layers. A padstack includes information about the layers involved in making the connection; from
the size and shape of the layout area to the type and dimensions of the accompanying hole.
Padstack definitions are stored in library files with an extension of .pslb. You can access padstack
definitions using the Padstack Editor.

To start the Padstack Editor, open a project and select Tools > Edit Libraries > Padstacks.
When the Edit Libraries dialog opens, use its controls to open the Padstack Editor.

Related Topics

Creating a New Padstack

Editing an Existing Padstack

The Edit Padstack Definition Dialog

Pad Behavior in Vias and Pins

Pin and Net Padstack Operations

Initial Padstack Definition Layers

Creating a New Padstack

To create a new padstack, do one of the following:

l Open the Tools > Edit Libraries > Padstacks dialog, then click Add Padstack.

— The Definition Name dialog opens and allows you to specify the name for the
new padstack.

— Next, the Choose Layout Technology dialog opens, and you may choose or
browse for a technology file to define the original layers of the definition. If no
technology file is chosen, the definition is created with initial layers named Start, Stop,
and Default.

l Open the Tools > Edit Libraries > Padstacks dialog, then locate and select an existing
padstack definition on which you would like to base a new definition.

— Search for and select a padstack name and then click Clone Padstack(s)

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l Right- click on the Padstack folder in the Definition directory of the Project Tree in the
Project Manager and select Edit Library

— This opens the Padstack tab of the Edit Libraries dialog. Then either the Add
Padstack or the Clone Padstack(s) button can be used to open the Edit Padstack
Definition dialog.

l Select Add Definition from the right-click menu in the Padstacks folder of the project
tree.

After doing any of the above, the Edit Padstack Definition dialog opens.

Editing an Existing Padstack

To edit an existing padstack, do one of the following:

l Open the Tools > Edit Libraries > Padstacks dialog, search for and select the padstack
you want to edit, and then double-click its name or click Edit Padstack.
l Right- click on the Padstack folder in the Definition directory of the Project Tree in the
Project Manager and select EditLibrary. This opens the Padstack tab of the EditLibraries
dialog. Then click EditPadstack.
l In the Definitions/Padstacks subfolder in the Project window tree, locate the icon for the
padstack you wish to edit, then either double-click the icon or right-click it and select
EditPadstack.
l Select a via or pin that uses the padstack. Click the PadstackDefinition property button to
open the Padstack tab of the EditLibraries dialog.

After doing one of the above, the Edit Padstack Definition dialog opens.

The Edit Padstack Definition Dialog

The Edit Padstack Definition dialog controls padstack definition information. You can access the
dialog by Creating a New Padstack or Editing an Existing Padstack.

The following controls are available in the Edit Padstack Definition dialog. Depending upon the
context and padstack being edited, at times only a subset of the following options may appear.

General

l Name — Specifies the name of the padstack.

l ViaMaterial — Specifies the material for plating the via or pin hole, and the associated
button directly below the check box displays the material name. Clicking the button opens
the Materials tab in the Select Definitions dialog so that a new material can be chosen.
The default via material is copper.
l PlatingPercent — The thickness of the material plating in the hole.

Hole

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l Shape — Choices are None, Circle, Square, Rectangle and Polygon. The Polygon
choice is currently only supported for imported padstacks; polygon holes may not be
defined through the dialog.
l Diameter — Specifies the Diameter or Size of the hole.
l Range can specify the hole range to be:

o Through all of the layout stackup layers

o Beginning at the upper pad of the padstack and continuing to the lowest elevation of
the layout stackup layers

o Beginning at the highest elevation of the layout stackup layers and ending at the
lowest pad of the padstack

o Beginning at the upper pad and ending at the lowest pad of the padstack

Backdrilling

Backdrilling will create empty holes on one or both sides of a via. Depth defines the layer on which
the backdrill stops, and Diameter defines the width of the via. On the Cross section view and Top
view, backdrills will be rendered as empty, black-colored holes, while related backdrill holes will be
rendered as empty space. In the related script, the backdrill will be recorded as a block: Array
("NAME:Backdrill Top Diameter", "MustBeInt:=", false, "Value:=", "0.4mm").

l Backdrill Top — Depth defines the layer on which the backdrill stops. For a top backdrill,
it will stop on the top surface of the defined layer.
l Backdrill Bottom — Depth defines the layer on which the backdrill stops. For a bottom
backdrill, it will stop on the bottom surface of the defined layer.

Solderball

l Shape — Specifies the shape of the solderball; choices are none, cylinder, and spheroid.
l Diameter — Specifies the diameter of the solderball.
l Mid diameter — Specifies the mid diameter of the solderball.
l Solder — Click this button to open theMaterial Editorfor the solderball in order to
specify the material used.
l Connection — Select to specify the location of the solderball either above or below the
padstack hole.

Layers

Layer names are used when a padstack definition is used in a via or pin. A default mapping of
padstack-definition-layers to layout-layers occurs based on the layer names.

l None of the Layers section grid control cells are directly editable.
l When one or more rows in the Layers section are selected, Layer setting controls are
enabled and can be used to change the pad settings for selected rows.

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l Addlayer inserts a new layer above the selected row.

l Removelayer removes the selected row(s). You may also rearrange rows to be any
order.

Layer Settings

The Layer settings section displays the pad settings for the padstack definition layers. The
Polygon choice is currently only supported for imported padstacks; polygon pads, anti pads, and
thermal pads may not be defined through the dialog. Dimension controls appear to support the
shape choice for each pad. Controls to specify the pad offset are also available.

l Pad and Antipad shape choices are None, Circle, Square, Rectangle, Oval, Bullet, and
Polygon.
l Thermalpad shape choices are None, Round45, Round90, Square45, Square90, and
Polygon.
l Connection point allows you to choose a direction in degrees or specify None. In
addition to choosing direction, there are controls to specify the X,Y location of the
connection point.

Cross Section view

Displays all the definition layers and their pads from a side view. The selected layers are
highlighted. Tool tips indicating layer/hole/plating/pad appear when the mouse hovers over one of
these shapes.

Top View

Displays the pads of the selected layers from a top down perspective. Tool tips indicating
hole/plating/pad on a layer appear when the mouse hovers over one of these shapes.

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Pad Behavior in Vias and Pins

The pad(s) used in a particular via or pin are determined by the padstack definition and by the
intersected primitives in their nets. Multiple pads are sometimes defined for the same layer.

l The intersection point between the central axis of a via or pin and the intersected layers is
inspected to determine its metal type (fill, trace, or un-present). By definition, ground
layers are fill-metal with primitives defining scratch areas.
l If a fill is intersected, the net of the fill is also taken into consideration.
l Based on the intersection of the fill/net/pads that are defined in the padstack definition, the
choice of pad that is used is determined using the following algorithm:

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l The pad choice from the algorithm is subject to suppressing of non-functional internal
pads as described in "Layout Editor Options: Object Panel " on page 12-4.

Note Anti pads subtract material from the fill area.

Editing Via and Pin Padstacks in Layout

To edit a via or pin padstack in Layout, first display its Properties by double-clicking the via or pin.

l OverrideHoleDiameter and HoleDiameter are used to override the diameter of the

padstack definition for this particular via or pin.
l The PadstackDefinition property button opens the Edit Libraries dialog, which allows
you to switch the padstack definition that is used by the via or pin.
l Click the PadstackUsage property button to open the Padstack Usage and Definition
dialog.

Controls in the Padstack Usage and Definition dialog are similar to The Edit Padstack Definition
Dialog except for the following.

l Editable information in this dialog relates both to the padstack definition and to the via or
pin. Information related to the padstack definition is shaded blue.
l Name is not editable.
l Padstackrange controls are used to specify the first/last stackup layers of the padstack.
These layers, and those in between, may possess pads. Layers above the first and below
the last will not have pads.; these layers will display "***" in the layer/pad cells of the

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Layers section grid. These Layers section grid rows are not directly editable, and they
also cannot be changed using the Layersettings controls at the bottom of the dialog.
l Editing the Range changes the use of the padstack definition in the specific padstack
instance, but does not change the padstack definition itself. Note that this information may
also be changed by editing the "Start Layer" and "Stop Layer" attributes of the via or pin
Properties dialog that is displayed at top.
l The Layers grid control displays an additional column, Layout, which contains the signal
layers in stackup order.
l The Padstack column shows the mapping between the layout layers and the padstack's
definition layers. When a via or pin is placed, default mapping occurs, and you may adjust
the mapping by setting the Padstack column cells using a pull-down menu that shows all
layers defined in the padstack definition. The pull-down menu also includes two additional
choices: Add definition layer will create a new layer in the padstack definition with a
unique name based on the name of the layout layer for the row; and Delete definition
layer will remove the layer named in the cell from the padstack definition.
l Clicking the Default mapping button resets all mappings to their defaults, taking into
account the padstack range. After being clicked, the button changes to Revert mapping.
Clicking the Revert mapping button changes the layer mapping back to the state before
the default mapping was applied. See Initial Padstack Definition Layers for additional
information.
l Changes to the layer mapping does not change the padstack definition, as the mapping is
connected to the via or pin definition through the specific padstack instance.
l Connection Layer — The connection of the solderball is specified by choosing a
connection layer. If a layer is chosen, the solderball will end at the inner edge of the
specified layer.

Initial Padstack Definition Layers

Special padstack definition layer names (Start, Stop, and Default) are provided to allow you some
control over default mapping of the definition layers to stackup layers when the padstack is placed
into a layout as a via or pin. Using these special layer names is optional. When a via or pin is placed,
a default mapping occurs in the following order:

1. Any layout stackup signal layer before the start layer of the padstack or after the stop layer of
the padstack does not get mapped to any definition layer.
2. Any layout stackup signal layer whose name matches a definition layer name is mapped to
that definition layer.
3. If the start layer of the padstack is not yet mapped, and there is a definition layer named
"Start", they are mapped.
4. If the stop layer of the padstack is not yet mapped, and there is a definition layer named
"Stop", they are mapped.
5. If there is a definition layer named "Default", any remaining layout stackup signal layers are
mapped to it.

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6. If there are remaining layout stackup signal layers, they are mapped (in order) to the
remaining definition layers.
7. Any layout stackup signal layers that are unmapped, remain that way.

When the Padstack Usage and Definition dialog is closed by clicking OK, you are given a choice
of how to apply the definition changes that were made; the Apply Padstack Definition Changes
dialog appears only if changes were made to the padstack definition (not all changes to the
Padstack Usage and Definition dialog change the padstack definition).

l Editcurrentdefinition — changes all vias and pins that use this definition
l Createnewdefinition — allows you select whether the changes apply to Only this via
or pin or whether the changes apply to All vias and pins in the active design that
use this definition of the original padstack.

Pin and Net Padstack Operations

Padstack instances are pins or vias; either type may have an associated port. The "pin" designation
does not imply that a port must be associated with the padstack. When a port is removed from a
pin, the object retains its "pin" type. The type is changed through the "Type" property:

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Both APDLinks and ANFV2 imports will correctly retain the "pin" and "via" type for padstacks. For
APDLinks, only those nets for which "Setup Port" has been selected, will have associate ports with
the pins.

The following commands act on pins and nets. These are accessed through the right-click menu on
the Layout tab under "Nets" and also on the right-click layout menu. See Pin and Net Padstack
Operations for information about the following scripts.

AddPortsToNet

Use:

— Add ports to all the pins on the designated nets.

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Command:

— In Layout, Right-click > Port > Create Ports on Net

— Layout tab under Nets, Right-click > Create Ports

RemovePortsFromNet

Use:

— Removes ports from all the pins on the designated nets.

Command:

— In Layout, Right-click > Port > Remove Ports from Net

— Layout tab under Nets, Right-click > Remove Ports

AddPortsToAllNets

Use:

— Adds ports to all the pins in all the nets.

Command:

— Layout tab under Nets, Right-click > Create Ports

RemovePortsFromAllNets

Use:

— Removes ports from all the pins in all the nets.

Command:

— Layout tab under Nets, Right-click > Remove Ports

Using the Footprint Editor

The Desktop Footprint Editor supports the viewing, modification, and saving of footprint
information for components and layout primitives. After modifying a footprint, the information can
be saved, used to define a design, or exported.

A footprint is a set of information that defines the planar space consumption, physical orientation,
metal usage, and electrical connectivity of a component. Footprint definitions are stored in library
files with an extension of .aflb. You can access material definitions using the Footprint Editor.

Creating or editing a footprint involves using the footprint editor to:

l Draw graphical primitives, such as rectangles, circles, and arcs, using options on the Draw
menu
l Add pins using the Pin option on the Draw menu

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l Add text labels using the Text option on the Draw menu
l Update the current project with the new or revised footprint definition using the Update
Project option on the Footprint menu

You can export a footprint to a footprint library (.aflb) file for use in other projects. For information
on how to do this, see the Edit Libraries dialog topic.

Related Topics

Opening the Footprint Editor

Footprint Editor Operations

Using Scripts to Define Footprints

Opening the Footprint Editor

You can create a new footprint definition or edit an existing footprint.

Related Topics

Creating a New Footprint

Editing an Existing Footprint

Load a Footprint into the Current Project

Creating a New Footprint

To create a new footprint, do one of the following:

l Open the Tools > Edit Libraries > Footprints dialog, then click Add Footprint.

— The Definition Name dialog opens and allows you to specify the name for the
new footprint.

— Type a name for the footprint into the Enter the name for this new Footprint
box, and then click OK or press ENTER. The Choose Technology dialog opens and
allows you to specify the original layers of the definition

— Double-click the entry for the new footprint, or click Edit Footprint.

l Select Add Definition from the right-click menu in the Footprints folder of the project
tree.

— The Definition Name dialog opens and allows you to specify the name for the
new footprint.

— Type a name for the footprint into the Enter the name for this new Footprint
box, and then click OK or press ENTER. The Choose Technology dialog opens and
allows you to specify the original layers of the definition

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l Open the Tools > Edit Libraries > Footprints dialog, then locate and select an existing
footprint on which you would like to base your new footprint.

— Click Clone Footprint(s). The Get Name dialog box opens.

— Type a name for the new footprint into the Enter the name for this new
Footprint box, and then click OK or press ENTER.

— Double-click the entry for the new footprint, or click Edit Footprint.

After doing one of the above, the Footprint Editor opens.

Editing an Existing Footprint

To edit an existing footprint, do one of the following:

l In the project tree, expand the Definitions/Footprints subfolder for the project that
contains the footprint you want to edit. Double-click the entry for the footprint you want to
edit, or right-click the entry and select Edit Footprint.
l Open the Tools > Edit Libraries > Footprints dialog, then locate and select the Project
version of the footprint that you want to edit. Click Edit Footprint, or double-click the
selected entry.
l Select the footprint you wish to edit and then click Edit Footprint in the right-click pop-up
menu.

The footprint editor runs and opens the selected footprint for editing.

Load a Footprint into the Current Project

To load a footprint into the current project:

1. With a new local project open, select Tools > Edit Libraries > Footprints.
This opens the Edit Libraries dialog.
2. Select a component in the Name column, for instance, BENDA, and click Edit Footprint.
This loads the component into the local project.

Footprint Editor Operations

The footprint editor opens when you begin to create or modify a footprint. Like the schematic and
symbol editors, the footprint editor is a graphical tool that keeps the placement of footprint elements
uniform by snapping them to points on a grid.

With the footprint editor, you can add and manipulate graphical primitives, text labels, pins, vias,
and padstacks. You can also adjust the resolution, color, and visibility of the editor grid. When
you’re done, you can update the current project with any changes you’ve made to the current
footprint. Options related to these operations are available on the Footprint menu and the
Footprint Draw menu.

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Related Topics

Footprint Edit Menu

Footprint Context Menu

Footprint View Menu

Footprint Draw Menu

Defining Footprint Handles

Footprint Edit Menu

When a footprint design is active, clicking the Edit button on the top menu bar opens the pulldown
edit menu for the Footprint Editor, similar to the following:

The fields on this menu become active as appropriate to the type of footprint being edited.

Undo<last edit operation> — Undo the last edit operation.

Redo<last edit operation> — Redo the last edit operation.

Cut — Delete the selected object, and retain a copy for pasting into a layout in the same
application.

Copy — Create a local copy for pasting into a layout in the same application.

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Paste — Put the object from the last cut or copy into the layout.

Delete — Delete the selected object without retaining a copy.

Rename — Click to rename the selected object in the layout.

Select All — Select all objects in the layout.

Unselect All — Unselect all objects in the layout.

Cycle Selection — Cycle selection of two or more objects that overlap. Each time you click Cycle
Selection, a different one of the overlapping objects is selected.

Copy Image — Create a global copy of the selected objects on the clipboard for pasting into a
different application.

Select — Sets cursor mode to selection of objects.

Select Handles — Sets cursor mode to selection of object handles.

Select Edges — Sets cursor mode to selection of object edges.

Properties — Opens the Properties dialog to view and edit the properties of the selected object.

Paste in Place — Paste object to same location, without any X,Y offset/displacement.

Footprint Context Menu

When a footprint design is active, clicking the right mouse button opens the Context Menu for the
Footprint Editor, similar to the following:

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The fields on this menu become active as appropriate to the type of footprint being edited.

Footprint View Menu

The following operations are available from the Footprint View Menu.

l Control the display by selecting the check box of the following: Status Bar, Message
Manager, Project Manager, Properties Window, Progress Window, Component
Manager, Layout Window.
l Variables: View the project and design variables with their values in a grid view.
l Rotate: Holding down the left-mouse-button and dragging will rotate the view; the same
double-click options hold true for the Alt-drag editor display options.
l Change the zoom display by selecting one of the following: Zoom In, Zoom Out, Zoom
Area, Zoom Previous.
l Fit or Pan by selecting: Fit Drawing, Pan.

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l Selecting Stretch Z opens the following dialog:

l Dragging the slider applies a Z scaling factor to the current view. If Dynamic is selected, the
scaling happens in real time otherwise it is applied when OK is chosen.

Footprint Draw Menu

The footprint editor Draw menu presents options for drawing graphical primitives and text, and
manipulating selected objects. The Draw menu options include:

Primitive > Arc

This option, also available from the Footprint Draw toolbar, initiates creation of an arc. To draw an
arc, click the footprint editor grid at the two points that will determine the arc’s ends, and then drag
the arc to the desired radius.

Once you have created an arc, you can adjust its radius or move its endpoints by clicking the arc to
select it, and dragging the appropriate handle.

Primitive > Circle

This option, also available from the Footprint Draw toolbar, initiates creation of a circle. To draw a
circle, click the footprint editor grid to select a center point, and then drag the circle to the desired
diameter.

Once you have created a circle, you can adjust its diameter in either of two ways:

l Click the circle to select it, and then drag one of its handles.
l Double-click the circle to open its Properties dialog, type a new value for the Radius
parameter, and then click OK.

Primitive > Line

This option, also available from the Footprint Draw toolbar, initiates creation of a polyline with one
or more segments. To draw a line:

1. Click the footprint editor grid where you want the line to start, and then click at one or more
points to continue the line.
2. To complete the line, do one of the following after defining its final segment:

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l Press SPACE.
l Right-click, and then click Finish.

After you have completed a line, you can change the endpoints of its segments as follows:

l Select the line and drag the appropriate handle(s).

l Double-click the line to open its Properties dialog, type new values for the parameters you
want to change, and click OK.

Primitive > Rectangle

This option, also available from the Footprint Draw toolbar, initiates creation of a rectangle. To
create a rectangle, click the editor grid to specify the position of one corner, and then drag the
rectangle to the desired size.

Once you have drawn a rectangle, you can edit its height and width, the position of its center, and
its angle (its rotation, in degrees, relative the handles of its bounding box) as follows:

l Click the rectangle, and then edit its properties in the Properties window.
l Double-click the rectangle, and then edit its properties in the Properties dialog box.

Primitive > Polygon

This option, also available from the Footprint Draw toolbar, initiates creation of a polygon. To
create a polygon:

1. Click the footprint editor grid to specify the position of one vertex, and then click wherever
you want to place additional vertices.
2. To complete a polygon, specify the position of its final vertex, and then do either of the
following:
l Press SPACE.
l Right-click, and then click Finish.

Once you have drawn a rectangle, you can edit its vertex positions and other properties, including
its fill style, as follows:

l Click the rectangle, and then edit its properties in the Properties window.
l Double-click the rectangle, and then edit its properties in the Properties dialog box.

Primitive > Text

This option, also available from the Footprint Draw toolbar, adds to the footprint an editable
“Default text” label in 12-point Arial. To edit the default text string immediately after placement, type
the text you want, and then press ENTER or click elsewhere in the editor grid.

To change just the text of an existing label:

1. Click the label.

2. Click the label again to open its text for editing.

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3. Type the desired text.

4. Press ENTER or click elsewhere in the editor grid.

To change other properties of a label, including its font and size:

1. Click the label and view its properties in the Properties window, or double-click the label
and view its properties in the Properties dialog.
2. Click in the Value cell for the property you want to modify.
3. Modify the value.
4. Click OK, or click in another Value cell to commit the change and keep editing values.

Void > Circle

Create a void, or remove material from an object, in the shape of a circle, rectangle, polygon, or line
using the Void > Circle command. One object can have multiple voids, but each void can only be
associated with one “parent” object.

Void > Line

Create a void, or remove material from an object, in the shape of a circle, rectangle, polygon, or line
using the Void > Line command. One object can have multiple voids, but each void can only be
associated with one “parent” object.

Void > Rectangle

Create a void, or remove material from an object, in the shape of a circle, rectangle, polygon, or line
using the Void > Rectangle command. One object can have multiple voids, but each void can only
be associated with one “parent” object.

Void > Polygon

Create a void, or remove material from an object, in the shape of a circle, rectangle, polygon, or line
using the Void > Polygon command. One object can have multiple voids, but each void can only be
associated with one “parent” object.

Port > Create

Use the Port > Create command to create a port.

Port > Remove

Use the Port > Remove command to remove a port.

Pin

This option, also available from the Footprint Draw toolbar, initiates placement of a footprint pin
with a default stem length of 10. You can rotate a pin once you’ve started to place it by iteratively
pressing R until the pin is oriented to your liking. Click in the editor grid to finish placing the pin.

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Via

This option, also available from the Footprint Draw toolbar, initiates placement of a through hole
(via) of the default size (1mm).

Handle

This option, also available from the Footprint Draw toolbar, allows you to create an explicit
footprint handle that can later be used to resize or reshape the footprint based on the handle’s
reshaping rules.

3D Structure

Opens a menu that allows you to create and perform operations on a 3D structure in the Drawing
Region.

Coordinate System

Opens a menu that allows you to create and perform operations on a coordinate system in the
Drawing Region manage. For more information see Coordinate Systems in the Layout Editor
topic.

Rotate

This option, also available from the Footprint Draw menu or by pressing CTRL+R on the
keyboard, rotates a selected object or group of objects 90° to the left.

Flip Vertical

This option, also available from the Footprint Draw menu, flips a selected object about the X axis.

Flip Horizontal

This option, also available from the Footprint Draw menu, flips a selected object about the Y axis.

Reverse Line

Reverse selected objects in the Drawing Region.

Align

Align selected objects in the Drawing Region.

Position Relative

When a relative coordinate system (CS) and an object independent of that CS are selected, the
“Draw > Position Relative” command will position the CS relative to that object.

Clear Relative Position

When a relative coordinate system (CS) and an object are selected, the “Draw > Clear Position
Relative” command will position the CS unrelative to that object.

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Duplicate

Duplicate a selected object in the Drawing Region.

Expand

Expand selected objects in the Drawing Region.

Split Polygon Region

Split selected polygon regions in the Drawing Region.

Geometry Healing

Geometry heal selected objects in the Drawing Region.

Stitch Lines

Stitch together connected/crossing lines into polygons and lines.

Defining Footprint Handles

Handles appear around the perimeter of a selected element as small squares in the selection color.
If the cursor is moved over one of these handles, it changes to indicate its proximity to the handle.
When clicking on a handle, the user can then resize or reshape the element based on the handle's
reshaping rules.

Component footprints can also have handles which can be specified in the footprint editor. These
handles can likewise be used to reshape a component footprint, and at the same time altering one
or more of its electrical parameters. In other words, the user can use handles to directly manipulate
an element's geometry corresponding to electrical parameters.

Defining a Handle

Open the footprint editor for the footprint desired. From the Draw menu, choose Handle. Next,
click to place the handle anywhere in the drawing, exact placement does not matter.

Editing Handle Location

Next, open the property dialog (Edit > Properties). There will be one property listed: location. For
this property, edit the X & Y locations to place the handle in the correct position based on the
parameters.

Specifying Parameters to Change

Next, click on the Add button in the Property dialog. In the responding dialog, specify the name of
the electrical parameter, and the expression, based on the X & Y location of the handle that sets
this parameter. For example:

Edit the footprint for the MSTRL component. Place a handle that will be on the top edge of the line.
The component has the parameters P for length and W for width. The handle will then have its

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location (X,Y) set to: (P/2, W/2). One property will be added called "W" and its expression will be
"abs(Y*2)". The "abs" (absolute value) of "Y*2" ensures that as Y approaches zero, the line width
stays positive. The two entries in the dialog should look like the following:

Location: P/2, W/2

W: abs(Y*2)

How it works

When the user drags the handle, for each new location of the cursor, each of the handles
properties are recalculated for that new position. For the TRL example, the y position of the top-
side handle will be used to set the line's "w", which will of course be twice that of y. After the new
parameter values are calculated, the handle's own position is recalculated based on the updated
parameters and the expressions for its location. Thus, as the cursor goes up, the line gets wider,
and the handle tracks with the new width.

Using Scripts to Define Footprints

Footprints in Layout can use scripts in addition to primitives in defining the geometry needed.
Scripts can also move and/or create ports as well. Scripts can be written in any Windows
supported languages. Universally supported languages include JavaScript and VBScript.

When Layout needs to retrieve footprint geometry, it invokes the script, passing an object called
LayoutHost. This object provides the interface to the needed functions within Layout necessary for
creating geometry and accessing information within Layout. The script then calls the member
functions of this host object to define the footprint desired.

Documentation on scripting within Windows including language definition for JavaScript and
VBScript can be found at: http://msdn.microsoft.com/scripting/.

Related Topics

LayoutHost Object

LayoutHost Properties

LayoutHost Methods

ElementPars Object

Points Object

Geom Object

Edge Object

Via Object

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Layout Host Object

LayoutHost is an object within Layout which provides access to necessary Layout functions for use
in a script. This section describes the interface for this function.

Related Topics

LayoutHost Properties

LayoutHost Methods

LayoutHost Properties

Pars

Returns an ElementPars object. This property is used to set/get the component parameters
declared within the footprint.

Example:

var pars = LayoutHost.Pars;

LayoutPars

Returns an ElementPars object. This property is used to set/get the locally defined parameters
within the footprint.

Example:

var layPars = LayoutHost.LayoutPars;

LengthUnits

Returns a string. This property is used to set/get the internal length units in the current script. By
default, length units in the script are meters. When this property is changed, any subsequent calls
to the LayoutHost are interpreted in the new units.

Example:

LayoutHost.LengthUnits(“mm”);

MID

A constant used to query an edge for its mid point.

Example:

var x = rect.Edge(1).X(LayoutHost.MID);

START

A constant used to query an edge for its start point.

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Example:

var x = rect.Edge(1).X(LayoutHost.START);

END

A constant used to query an edge for its end point.

Example:

var x = rect.Edge(1).X(LayoutHost.END);

Related Topics

LayoutHost Object

LayoutHost Methods

LayoutHost Methods

The following LayoutHost methods are available for use in the Desktop.

Related Topics

LayoutHost General Methods

LayoutHost Shape Creation Methods

LayoutHost Relative Shape Placement Methods

LayoutHost Port/Pin Methods

LayoutHost Via/Padstack Methods

LayoutHost General Methods

GetDefinitionType()

Returns an integer which indicates the type of shape used to define a shape-based footprint. This
type of footprint allows the user to draw a shape such as a rectangle or polygon and then the script
would use this definition to create a footprint. The method GetDefinitionPoints is then used to
retrieve the points input by the user to define the shape’s outline.

Example:

var shapeType = LayoutHost.GetDefinitionType();

Possible shapes are:

0: Single point

1: Rect

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2: Polyline

3: Polygon

GetDefinitionPoints()

Returns a PointsObject containing the points defining an outline for a shaped-based footprint. This
method is used along with GetDefinitionType to retrieve the information needed regarding the base
shape used in order to define the footprint.

Example:

var outline = LayoutHost.GetDefinitionPoints();

GetLastError()

Returns an integer id regarding the last function call which changes the footprint. Functions which
change the footprint include those creating geometry, and those altering pins. A non-zero result
indicates an error occurred. Zero is returned for success.

Example:

var error = LayoutHost.GetLastError();

GetLayerID(name)

Returns an integer id for the given name. If a layer with “name” is not found, then a -1 is returned.
The name is not case-sensitive.

Example:

var layerID = LayoutHost.GetLayerID(“Top”);

CreatePointsObject()

Creates and returns an empty PointsObject. Points can then be added to this object which in turn is
passed as a parameter to certain primitive creation functions.

Example:

var pts = LayoutHost.CreatePointsObject();

LayoutHost Shape Creation Methods

These methods create virtual shapes within the footprint. While these shapes mirror actual
primitives, they are drawn only and are not selectable or editable. All length values are in the
current units of the footprint.

NewArc(layer, cx, cy, r, ang1, ang2, lw)

Creates an arc in the footprint, returns a geometry object.

Parameters:

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Layer: In integer id retrieved from GetLayerID

Cx: Center x coordinate

Cy: Center y coordinate

R: Radius of arc centerline

Ang1: Start angle of arc (in degrees)

Ang2: Stop angle of arc going CCW

Lw: Line width of arc

Example:

var geom = LayoutHost.NewArc(layerID, 0, 0, r, 0, 90, w);

NewArcLine(layer, cx, cy, r, ang1, ang2, lw, end)

Creates an arc line in the footprint, returns a geometry object.

Parameters:

Layer: In integer id retrieved from GetLayerID

Cx: Center x coordinate

Cy: Center y coordinate

R: Radius of arc centerline

Ang1: Start angle of arc (in radians)

Ang2: Stop angle of arc going CCW

Lw: Line width of arc

End: End style. Possible end styles are: flat, extended, round.

Example:

var geom = LayoutHost.NewArcLine(layerID, 0, 0, r, 0, 90, w, “flat”);

NewCircle(layer, cx, cy, r)

Creates a circle in the footprint, returns a geometry object.

Parameters:

Layer: In integer id retrieved from GetLayerID

Cx: Center x coordinate

Cy: Center y coordinate

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R: Radius of circle

Example:

var geom = LayoutHost.NewCircle(layerID, 0, 0, r);

NewLine(layer, points, lw, join, end)

Creates a polyline in the footprint, returns a geometry object.

Parameters:

Layer: In integer id retrieved from GetLayerID

Points: A PointsObject populated with the points desired

Lw: Linewidth

Join: Join style. Possible join styles are: corner, miter, round.

End: End style. Possible end styles are: flat, extended, round.

(Passing an empty string will default to round for Join or End style.)

Example:

var geom = LayoutHost.NewLine(layerID, pts, w, “corner”, “flat”);

NewPoly(layer, points)

Creates a polygon in the footprint, returns a geometry object.

Parameters:

Layer: In integer id retrieved from GetLayerID.

Points: A PointsObject populated with the points desired

Example:

var geom = LayoutHost.NewPoly(layerID, pts);

NewRect(layer, cx, cy, width, height, angle)

Creates a rectangle in the footprint, returns a geometry object.

Parameters:

Layer: In integer id retrieved from GetLayerID

Cx: Center x coordinate

Cy: Center y coordinate

Width: Width of rect

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Height: Height of rect

Angle: Rotation angle to draw rect (in radians)

Example:

var geom = LayoutHost.NewRect(layerID, 0, 0, w, h, 0);

NewText(layer, text, x, y, font, size, angle, just)

Creates text in the footprint, returns a geometry object.

Parameters:

Layer: An integer id retrieved from GetLayerID

Text: The text string

X: Text x placement position

Y: Text y placement position

Font: Text font; may be left blank (on system layers, e.g. "Symbols", a system font must be used,
else specify a plotter font e.g. "RomanDuplex").

Size: Text height (in length units for a plotter font; in points for a system font)

Angle: The text angle (in radians)

Just: Text justification relative to the placement position: "LeftTop", "LeftBase", "LeftBottom",
"CenterTop", "CenterBase", "CenterBottom", "RightTop", "RightBase", "RightBottom"

Example:

var text = LayoutHost.NewText(layer, "Text", 2, -1, "", 1, 0, "LeftBase");

LayoutHost Relative Shape Placement Methods

These methods place shapes relative to each other

SnapEdges(edge, edge_pos, to_edge, to_edge_pos);

Places one geometry object against another so that the specified edges are parallel and points
touching

Parameters:

Edge: Specifies both the object to be moved and the edge to snap.

Edge_pos: The position on the source edge (the object being moved) that is to be snapped to the
target edge; specified as LayoutHost.START, MID, or END (or a value < 0, 0, or > 0).

To_edge: Specifies the target object and edge (this object is not moved)

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To_edge_pos: The target snap point. The source edge and position is snapped to this location;
specified as LayoutHost.START, MID, or END (or a value < 0, 0, or > 0).

Example:

// Snap 'rect' so as that edge 1 is placed against edge 2 of 'rect2'

LayoutHost.SnapEdges(rect.Edge(1), LayoutHost.MID, rect2.Edge(2), LayoutHost.MID);

SnapEdgesWithOffset(edge, edge_pos, to_edge, to_edge_pos, x_off, y_off, rel_angle);

Same as for SnapEdges but the target snap point is specified by an edge position with an offset
and angle. Associated with the target edge position is a normal vector and a tangent vector. The
normal vector is perpendicular to the edge and points outwards (i.e., to the right in polylines). The
tangent vector points in the direction of the edge. These two vectors define the local coordinate
system in which x_off, y_off, and angle are specified.

Parameters:

Edge: Specifies both the object to be moved and the edge to snap.

Edge_pos: The position on the source edge (the object being moved) that is to be snapped to the
target edge; specified as LayoutHost.START, MID, or END (or a value < 0, 0, or > 0).

To_edge: Specifies the target object and edge (this object is not moved)

To_edge_pos: The target snap point. The source edge and position is snapped to this location;
specified as LayoutHost.START, MID, or END (or a value < 0, 0, or > 0).

X_off: An offset along the normal vector for the target edge.

Y_off: An offset along the tangent vector for the target edge.

Rel_angle: An additional rotation (specified as a counter-clockwise rotation in radians) relative to

the normal vector for the target edge.

Example:

// Snap 'rect' so as that edge 1 is offset 1 unit from edge 2 of 'rect2'

LayoutHost.SnapEdgesWithOffset(rect.Edge(1), LayoutHost.MID, rect2.Edge(2),

LayoutHost.MID, 1, 0, 0);

LayoutHost Port/Pin Methods

These methods create and move ports/pins as needed.

MovePort(name, cx, cy, angle)

Moves an existing port of that name. All scripted footprints must call MovePort for every pin in the
footprint. This call should be made prior to defining any port geometry.

Parameters:

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Name: Name of the port

Cx: Center x coordinate

Cy: Center y coordinate

Angle: Rotation angle to draw port (in radians)

Example:

LayoutHost.MovePort(“1”, x, y, 2*Math.tan(theta));

SnapPort(name, edge, edge_pos, rel_angle)

Moves a port to the specified edge position. The angle is relative to the normal vector
(perpendicular to the edge and pointing outwards, or to the right in poly-lines).

Parameters:

Name: Name of an existing port

Edge: The edge on which the port is to be placed

Edge_pos: The position on the edge where the port is to be placed; specified as
LayoutHost.START, MID, or END (or a value < 0, 0, or > 0).

Rel_angle: An additional rotation (specified as a counter-clockwise rotation in radians) relative to

the normal vector for the edge.

Example:

LayoutHost.SnapPort(“1”, rect1.Edge(1), LayoutHost.MID, 0);

SetPortLayers(name, start_layer, end_layer)

Sets the layer range (and hence placement) for a port

Parameters:

Name: Name of the port

Start_layer: An integer id retrieved from GetLayerID

End_layer: An integer id retrieved from GetLayerID

Example:

var top = LayoutHost.GetLayerId(“top”);

var bottom = LayoutHost.GetLayerId(“bottom”);

LayoutHost.SetPortLayers(“a”, top, bottom);

AddPortEdge (layer, name, points)

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Defines the edge of the port to the polyline defined by “points”. Defining the port edge is necessary
for co-simulation of a scripted footprint. Note, if you define the port edge, you must also have set
the port position via “MovePort” first. Multiple edges may be added by calling this function
repeatedly.

The points for the edge should be defined with the port as the origin. For example, if the edge is a
vertical line 10 mils long running thru the port, the two points defining the edge would be (0, 5) & (0,
-5), regardless of the location of the port itself.

Parameters:

Layer: In integer id retrieved from GetLayerID

Name: Name of the port

Points: A PointsObject populated with the points desired

Example:

LayoutHost.AddPortEdge(layerID, “n1”, pts));

SetPortWidth (layer, name, w)

Defines the edge of the port to be a single line segment of width “w”, centered on the port position,
and rotated to the port angle. This function is an alternate means of defining a port edge. Defining
the port edge is necessary for co-simulation of a scripted footprint. Note, if you define the port edge,
you must also have set the port position via “MovePort” first.

Parameters:

Layer: An integer id retrieved from GetLayerID

Name: Name of the port

W: Width of the port edge

Example:

LayoutHost.SetPortWidth(layerID, “n1”, w));

LayoutHost Via/Padstack Methods

NewVia(name, start_layer, end_layer, cx, cy, padstack, diameter)

Creates a via in the footprint and returns it as a via object.

Parameters:

Name: Name of the via

Start_layer: Integer id retrieved from GetLayerID

End_layer: Integer id retrieved from GetLayerID

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Cx: Center x coordinate

Cy: Center y coordinate

Padstack: Name of the padstack to use. Passing an empty string (“”) will result in “No Pad SMT
East” by default.

Diameter: Diameter of the via

Example:

var via = LayoutHost.NewVia(“via_name”, layerID1, layerID2, x, y, “Planar EMVia”, diameter);

SnapVia(via, to_edge, to_edge_pos, x_off, y_off, rel_angle);

Moves a via to the specified edge position. The target snap point is specified by an edge position
with an offset and angle. Associated with the target edge position is a normal (perpendicular to the
edge and pointing outwards, or to the right in poly-lines) and a tangent vector (pointing in the
direction of the edge). These two vectors define the local coordinate system in which x_off, y_off,
and angle are specified.

Parameters:

Via: Specifies the via object to be moved

To_edge: Specifies the target object and edge

To_edge_pos: The target snap point. The via position is snapped to this location, specified as
LayoutHost.START, MID, or END (or a value < 0, 0, or > 0).

X_off: An offset along the normal vector for the target edge.

Y_off: An offset along the tangent vector for the target edge.

Rel_angle: An additional rotation (specified as a counter-clockwise rotation in radians) relative to

the normal vector for the target edge.

Example:

// Place ‘via’ 1 unit inside edge 2 of ‘rect’

LayoutHost.SnapVia(via, rect.Edge(2), LayoutHost.MID, -1, 0, 0);

ElementPars Object

This object permits retrieval of parameters & local variables defined within the footprint for use in a
script. Retrieval of this object was discussed under LayoutHost.

Count

Contains the number of parameters in this object. This property is read-only.

Example:

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var pars = LayoutHost.Pars;

var numPars = pars.Count;

Item

Contains the given parameter in this object. The item may be retrieved by index (zero based) or
name. The name is not case sensitive. This property is read-only.

Example:

var pars = LayoutHost.Pars;

var w = pars.Item(0);

var p = pars.Item(“p”);

ElementPars Methods

There are no methods for the ElementPars object.

Related Topics

ElementPars Properties

ElementPars Methods

Points Object

This object permits retrieval of parameters & local variables defined within the footprint for use in a
script. Retrieval of this object was discussed under LayoutHost.

Related Topics

Points Object Properties

Points Object Methods

Points Object Properties

Count

Contains the number of points in this object. This property is read-only.

Example:

var pts = LayoutHost.CreatePointsObject();

var numPts = pts.Count; // will return 0 in this case

X(index)

Contains the X coordinate for a given index (zero based).

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Example:

var pts = LayoutHost.CreatePointsObject();

x = 10;

pts.Add(x, y);

x2 = pts.X(0) * 2;

pts.X(0) = x2;

Y(index)

Contains the Y coordinate for a given index (zero based).

Example:

var pts = LayoutHost.CreatePointsObject();

y = 10;

pts.Add(x, y);

y2 = pts.Y(0) * 2;

pts.Y(0) = y2;

Points Methods

Add(x,y)

Adds a new point to the end of the object’s array.

Example:

var pts = LayoutHost.CreatePointsObject();

pts.Add(5, 10);

Remove(index)

Removes a point from the object’s array, given the (zero-based) index.

Example:

var pts = LayoutHost.CreatePointsObject();

pts.Add(5, 10);

pts.Remove(0);

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Geom Object

Geometry objects are returned by the shape creation methods (NewRect, NewCircle, etc.)
Geometry objects may be manipulated in a variety of ways through the methods exposed by their
interface. All coordinates and length related values are passed/returned in the current default script
units. Unless changed through LayoutHost.LengthUnits, all values are by default assumed to be in
meters (SI units).

Example:

var rect = LayoutHost.NewRect(layer, 0, 0, l, w, 0);

Related Topics

Geom Object Properties

Geom Object Methods

Geom Object Properties

Layer

Get/Set the layer on which a geometry object is placed.

Example:

rect.Layer = LayoutHost.GetLayerID(‘top’);

Edge(index)

Return the edge object for the edge specified. Edge indexes are zero based and count in a
counter-clockwise direction around the object. For rectangles, edge zero is the lower edge. Circles
are defined by two arc edges, a lower edge (edge zero) and an upper edge (edge 1); the start/end
points of these edges are directly to the left/right of center. Lines and Polygon edges are defined by
the user when the object is created. A rotated box giving the text extent is used to define the edges
for a text object; edge zero is the line beneath the text.

Example:

var len = poly.Edge(5).Length

Count

Returns the number of edges in the geometry object.

Example:

for (var i = 0; i < poly.Count; ++i)

Geom Object Methods

MoveBy(dx, dy)

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Translates the geometry object by the specified offset.

Parameters:

Dx: X offset

Dy: Y offset

Example:

rect.MoveBy(10, 20);

MoveTo(x, y)

Moves the geometry object to the specified location; useful for rectangles, circles and arcs (the
center point is moved)

Parameters:

X: New X location

Y: New Y location

Example:

rect.MoveTo(10, 20);

Rotate(x, y, angle)

Rotates the geometry object counter-clockwise about the specified location by the angle specified
(in radians).

Parameters:

X: X center

Y: Y center

Angle: Rotation angle in radians

Example:

rect.Rotate(0, 0, Math.PI/4);

Scale(x, y, factor)

Scales the geometry object about the specified location by the factor specified.

Parameters:

X: X center

Y: Y center

Factor: Scale factor (2 implies 2 times, 4.5 implies 4 and a half times, etc.)

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Example:

rect.Scale(0, 0, 2);

MirrorX(x)

Mirrors the X values of the object (Y values are unchanged) about the specified X value (i.e. X
values falling on this line are unchanged).

Parameters:

X: Center of reflection (X values on this line are unchanged).

Example:

rect.MirrorX(0);

MirrorY(y)

Mirrors the Y values of the object (X values are unchanged) about the specified Y value (i.e. Y
values falling on this line are unchanged).

Parameters:

Y: Center of reflection (Y values on this line are unchanged).

Example:

rect.MirrorY(0);

Copy()

Create and return a copy of the geometry object.

Example:

var rect_copy = rect.Copy();

AddVoid(void_geom)

Adds a void object to an existing geometry object.

Example:

Var rect = LayoutHost.NewRect(layer, 0, 0, l, w, 0);

Var void_rect = LayoutHost.NewRect(layer, 0, 0, l/2, w/2, 0);

rect.AddVoid(void_rect);

Edge Object

Edge objects are returned by an Edge query on a Geometry object. Note: edges may be arcs or
straight segments.

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Related Topics

Edge Object Properties

Edge Object Methods

Edge Object Properties

Edge objects are returned by an Edge query on a Geometry object. Note: edges may be arcs or
straight segments.

Example:

var edge = geom.Edge(1);

Length

Return the true edge length (if an arc, the curvature is taken into account).

Example:

var len = geom.Edge(1).Length;

Angle(pos)

Return the angle of the tangent (in radians), relative to the standard X axis, of the edge point
specified by ‘pos’. Angles are returned using the usual ‘count-clockwise is positive’ convention.
Tangents point in the direction of the edge.

Parameters:

Pos: Edge position; usually specified as LayoutHost.START, MID, or END (or a value < 0, 0, or >
0).

Example:

var angle = geom.Edge(1).Angle(LayoutHost.START);

Normal(pos)

Return the angle of the normal (in radians), relative to the standard X axis, of the edge point
specified by ‘pos’. Angles are returned using the usual ‘count-clockwise is positive’ convention.
Normals are outward facing (or to the right in poly-lines) of the edge.

Parameters:

Pos: Edge position; usually specified as LayoutHost.START, MID, or END (or a value < 0, 0, or >
0).

Example:

var normal = geom.Edge(3).Normal(LayoutHost.END);

X(pos)

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Return the X value of the edge point specified by ‘pos’.

Parameters:

Pos: Edge position; usually specified as LayoutHost.START, MID, or END (or a value < 0, 0, or >
0).

Example:

var x = geom.Edge(3).X(LayoutHost.END);

Y(pos)

Return the Y value of the edge point specified by ‘pos’.

Parameters:

Pos: Edge position; usually specified as LayoutHost.START, MID, or END (or a value < 0, 0, or >
0).

Example:

var y = geom.Edge(3).Y(LayoutHost.END);

Edge Object Methods

There are no methods for the Edge object.

Via Object

Via objects are returned by the LayoutHost method NewVia. They may be manipulated in a variety
of ways through the methods exposed by their interface. All coordinates and length related values
are passed/returned in the current default script units. Unless changed through
LayoutHost.LengthUnits, all values are by default assumed to be in meters (SI units).

Example:

var via = LayoutHost.NewVia(“via_name”, layerID1, layerID2, x, y, “Planar EMVia”, diameter);

Related Topics

Via Object Properties

Via Object Methods

Via Object Properties

StartLayer

Get/Set the start layer of the via.

Example:

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via.StartLayer = LayoutHost.GetLayerID(‘top’);

EndLayer

Get/Set the end layer for the via.

Example:

var layer = via.EndLayer;

Get/Set the x position for the via.

Example:

v1.X = v2.X;

Get/Set the y position for the via.

Example:

v1.Y = v2.Y;

HoleDiameter

Get/Set the hole diameter for the via. A negative diameter turns off the diameter override and the
value from the padstack definition is used.

Example:

v1.HoleDiameter = v2.HoleDiameter;

Rotation

Get/Set the via rotation. The rotation is in radians.

Example:

v1.Rotation = Math.PI/4;

Via Object Methods

ClearLayerMapping(fp_layer)

Clears the mapping between a footprint layer and a layer in the padstack definition.

Parameters:

fp_layer: An integer id retrieved from GetLayerID

Example:

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var v1 = LayoutHost.NewVia("via1", layer, bottom, 0, 0, "Round 1mm/0.5mm", 0.2);

v1.ClearLayerMapping(layer);

ClearLayerMappings

Clears the mapping between all footprint and padstack definition layers.

Example:

var v1 = LayoutHost.NewVia("via1", layer, bottom, 0, 0, "Round 1mm/0.5mm", 0.2);

v1.ClearLayerMappings();

Copy()

Create and return a copy of the via.

Example:

var via_copy = via.Copy();

DefaultLayerMapping

Reset the mapping between all footprint and padstack definition layers to the default mapping.

Example:

var v1 = LayoutHost.NewVia("via1", layer, bottom, 0, 0, "Round 1mm/0.5mm", 0.2);

v1.DefaultLayerMapping();

MirrorX(x)

Mirrors the via position about the specified X value (Y value is unchanged; an X value falling on this
line is unchanged).

Parameters:

X: Center of reflection (X values on this line are unchanged).

Example:

via.MirrorX(0);

MirrorY(y)

Mirrors the via position about the specified Y value (X values are unchanged; a Y value falling on
this line is unchanged).

Parameters:

Y: Center of reflection (Y values on this line are unchanged).

Example:

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via.MirrorY(0);

MoveBy(dx, dy)

Translates the via by the specified offset.

Parameters:

Dx: X offset

Dy: Y offset

Example:

via.MoveBy(10, 20);

MoveTo(x, y)

Moves the via to the specified location; useful for rectangles, circles and arcs (the center point is
moved)

Parameters:

X: New X location

Y: New Y location

Example:

via.MoveTo(10, 20);

Rotate(x, y, angle)

Rotates the via counter-clockwise about the specified location by the angle specified (in radians).

Parameters:

X: X center

Y: Y center

Angle: Rotation angle in radians

Example:

via.Rotate(0, 0, Math.PI/4);

Scale(x, y, factor)

Scales the via position about the specified location by the factor specified.

Parameters:

X: X center

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Y: Y center

Factor: Scale factor (2 implies 2 times, 4.5 implies 4 and a half times, etc.)

Example:

via.Scale(0, 0, 2);

SetLayers(start_layer, end_layer)

Sets the via layer range

Parameters:

Start_layer: An integer id retrieved from GetLayerID

End_layer: An integer id retrieved from GetLayerID

Example:

var top = LayoutHost.GetLayerId(“top”);

var bottom = LayoutHost.GetLayerId(“bottom”);

via.SetLayers(top, bottom);

SetLayerMapping(fp_layer, ps_layer, pad_type);

Creates or adjusts the mapping between a footprint layer and the padstack definition layer.

Parameters:

fp_layer: An integer id retrieved from GetLayerID

ps_layer: The name of the layer in the padstack definition

pad_type: Unused

Example:

var v1 = LayoutHost.NewVia("via1", layer, bottom, 0, 0, "Round 1mm/0.5mm", 0.2);

v1.ClearLayerMappings();

v1.SetLayerMapping(layer, "template", "");

v1.SetLayerMapping(bottom, "template", "");

Using the Symbol Editor

The Electronics Desktop Symbol Editor supports the viewing, modification, and saving of symbol
information for components and layout primitives. After modifying a symbol, the information can
either be saved, used to define a design, or exported.

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A symbol is a set of information that defines the graphical representation and electrical connectivity
of a component. Symbol definitions are stored in library files with an extension of .aslb. You can
access material definitions using the Symbol Editor.

To start the Symbol Editor, open a project and select Tools > Edit Libraries > Symbols. When
the Edit Libraries dialog opens, use its controls to open the Symbol Editor.

Related Topics

Creating and Editing Symbols

Editing an Existing Symbol

Creating a New Symbol

Symbol Editor Operations

Symbol Draw Menu

Symbol Menu

Editing Pin Properties

Edit Symbol Pin Locations

Symbol Property Display Dialog

Symbol Grid Setup Dialog

Editing an Existing Symbol

To edit an existing symbol, do either of the following:

l In the project tree, expand the Definitions/Symbols subfolder for the project that contains
the symbol you want to edit. Double-click the entry for the symbol you want to edit, or right-
click the entry and then select Edit Symbol.
l Open the Tools > Edit Libraries > Symbols dialog, then locate and select the Project
version of the symbol that you want to edit. Click Edit Symbol, or double-click the selected
entry.

The symbol editor runs, and opens the selected symbol for editing.

Symbol Editor Operations

The symbol editor opens when you begin to create or modify a symbol. Like the schematic editor,
the symbol editor is a graphical tool that keeps the placement of symbol elements uniform by
snapping them to points on a grid. The window controls are the same as those in the Schematic
Editor: use the arrow keys and Page Up and Page Down keys to pan, or Ctrl + D to fit the view.

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With the symbol editor, you can add, modify, and manipulate graphical primitives, text labels, pins,
and property displays. You can also adjust the resolution, color, and visibility of the editor grid.
When you’re done, you can update the current project with any changes you’ve made to the
current symbol. Options related to these operations are available on the Symbol menu and the
Symbol Draw menu.

Symbol Editor Shortcut Menus

When you right-click in the symbol editor grid, this shortcut menu appears:

These options are a subset of those available on the View menu.

When you right-click an object in the symbol editor, this shortcut menu appears:

Click Properties to view the properties of the selected object. The other options are a combination
of entries from the Edit, View, and Draw menus.

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Symbol Draw Menu

The symbol editor Draw menu presents options for drawing graphical primitives and text, and
manipulating selected objects. The Draw menu options include:

Arc

This option, also available from the Symbol Draw toolbar , initiates creation of an arc. To draw
an arc, click the symbol editor grid at the two points that will determine the arc’s ends, and then
drag the arc to the desired radius.

Once you have created an arc, you can adjust its radius or move its endpoints by clicking the arc to
select it, and dragging the appropriate handle.

Circle

This option, also available from the Symbol Draw toolbar , initiates creation of a circle. To
draw a circle, click the symbol editor grid to select a center point, and then drag the circle to the
desired diameter.

Once you have created a circle, you can adjust its diameter in either of two ways:

l Click the circle to select it, and then drag one of its handles.
l Double-click the circle to open its Properties dialog, type a new value for the Radius
parameter, and then click OK.

By default, a new circle is hollow. You can fill a circle with solid color or parallel lines in one of
several styles as follows:

a. With the circle’s properties displayed, click in the Value cell for the FillStyle property.
b. Select the desired fill style from the list.
c. Click OK.

Line

This option, also available from the Symbol Draw toolbar , initiates creation of a polyline with
one or more segments. To draw a line:

1. Click the symbol editor grid where you want the line to start, and then click at one or more
points to continue the line.
2. To complete the line, do one of the following after defining its final segment:
l Press SPACE.
l Right-click, and then click Finish.

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After you have completed a line, you can change the endpoints of its segments by doing the
following:

l Select the line and drag the appropriate handle(s).

l Double-click the line to open its Properties dialog, type new position values
(in the form X: Y) for the desired vertices, and click OK.

Alternately, you can change the endpoints of a selected line by clicking Layout > Line Styles to
open the Line Styles dialog, then click in the Cap Type field to change the cap or line-ending type
(Flat, Extended, or Round).

Since a line has nonzero width, its CapType determines how its ends behave:

Extended - Extends the line by its own width past the endpoint you click.

Flat - Cuts the line perpendicularly at the endpoint you click.

Round - Ends the line in a semicircle.

The existing technology files define line/trace styles, including a CapType (typically Flat) for each
style. If you select None as the technology type, you'll automatically get a palette of four styles with
a variety of widths, BendTypes and CapTypes.

Polygon

This option, also available from the Symbol Draw toolbar , initiates creation of a polygon. To
create a polygon:

1. Click the symbol editor grid to specify the position of one vertex, and then click wherever you
want to place additional vertices.
2. To complete a polygon, specify the position of its final vertex, and then do either of the
following:
l Press SPACE.
l Right-click, and then click Finish.

Once you have drawn a rectangle, you can edit its vertex positions and other properties, including
its fill style, as follows:

l Click the rectangle, and then edit its properties in the Properties window.
l Double-click the rectangle, and then edit its properties in the Properties dialog box.

By default, a new polygon is hollow. You can fill a polygon with solid color or parallel lines in one of
several styles as follows:

a. With the polygon’s properties displayed, click in the Value cell for the FillStyle property.
b. Select the desired fill style from the list.
c. Click OK.

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Rectangle

This option, also available from the Symbol Draw toolbar , initiates creation of a rectangle. To
create a rectangle, click the editor grid to specify the position of one corner, and then drag the
rectangle to the desired size.

Once you have drawn a rectangle, you can edit its height and width, the position of its center, and
its angle (its rotation, in degrees, relative the handles of its bounding box) as follows:

l Click the rectangle, and then edit its properties in the Properties window.
l Double-click the rectangle, and then edit its properties in the Properties dialog box.

By default, a new rectangle is hollow. You can fill a rectangle with solid color or parallel lines in one
of several styles as follows:

a. With the rectangle’s properties displayed, click in the Value cell for the FillStyle
property.
b. Select the desired fill style from the list.
c. Click OK.

Text

This option, also available from the Symbol Draw toolbar , adds to the symbol an editable
“Default text” label in 12-point Arial. To edit the default text string immediately after placement, type
the text you want, and then press ENTER or click elsewhere in the editor grid.

To change just the text of an existing label:

1. Click the label.

2. Click the label again to open its text for editing.
3. Type the desired text.
4. Press ENTER or click elsewhere in the editor grid.

To change other properties of a label, including its color, font or size:

1. Click the label and view its properties in the Properties window, or double-click the label
and view its properties in the Properties dialog.
2. Click in the Value cell for the property you want to modify.
3. Modify the value.
4. Click OK, or click in another Value cell to commit the change and keep editing values.

Pin

This option, also available from the Symbol Draw toolbar, initiates placement of a symbol pin with
a default stem length of 10. You can rotate a pin once you’ve started to place it by iteratively

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pressing R until the pin is oriented to your liking. Click in the editor grid to finish placing the pin.

Rotate

This option, also available from the Symbol Draw menu and by pressing CTRL+R on the
keyboard, rotates a selected object or group of objects 90° to the left.

Align Horizontal

This option horizontally aligns the uppermost edges of the members of a group of selected objects
with the uppermost edge of the first-selected object. To align multiple objects horizontally:

1. Press CTRL, and then click the object with which you want to align the others.
2. Still pressing CTRL, click the additional objects in turn to add them to the selection.

Note that the first-selected object is highlighted in red, and that the subsequently selected
objects are highlighted in dark red.

3. On the Draw menu, click Align Horizontal.

Align Vertical

This option vertically aligns the leftmost edges of the members of a group of selected objects with
the leftmost edge of the first-selected object. To align multiple objects vertically:

1. Press CTRL, and then click the object with which you to align the others.
2. Still pressing CTRL, click the additional objects in turn to add them to the selection.

Note that the first-selected object is highlighted in red, and that the subsequently selected
objects are highlighted in dark red.

3. On the Draw menu, click Align Vertical.

Flip About X Axis

This option, also available from the Symbol Draw toolbar, flips a selected object about the X axis.

Flip About Y Axis

This option, also available from the Symbol Draw toolbar, flips a selected object about the Y axis.

Symbol Menu
The Symbol menu lists options for symbol naming, property displays, and file operations. Its entries
include:

Update Project

This option updates the current project with changes made in the current symbol.

Note Update Project updates your symbol changes to the current project in memory and does
not save your changes to disk. To save your changes to disk, you must also click Save on

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the File menu. If you would like the changes you have made in a symbol to be available for
use in other projects, you must export the symbol to a library as described in the Edit
Libraries dialog topic.

Set Name

This option opens a Properties dialog through which you can rename the current symbol.

Property Display Setup

This option opens the Properties Display so you can add or modify display of the names and/or
values of properties associated with the component represented by the current symbol.

Pin List

This option gives you access to settings related to pin properties by opening the Pin List dialog box.

Grid Setup

This option gives you access to settings related to the symbol editor grid resolution, color, and
visibility by opening the symbol editor Grid Setup dialog box.

Import File

The Import File command allows you to import an existing SVG-formatted symbol into the symbol
editor.

Export File

This option saves the current symbol as a Microsoft Enhanced Meta File (.emf) graphic.

Edit Component

This option launches the Edit Component dialog box to modify the component associated with the
active symbol.

Normalize Symbol on Save

Allows you to normalize the symbol you are editing when you save after making modifications.

List

Opens the Design List dialog, which lists the objects in the layout. Each column may be sorted by
clicking on the heading. One or more object rows can be selected and operated upon with the
Delete and Properties buttons.

Import File (Symbol)

The Symbol>Import File command allows you to import an existing SVG-formatted symbol into
the symbol editor. The SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics) format is an open, XML-based web
standard graphics format supported by many third-party tools.

To import an SVG (.svg) file when creating a new symbol definition do the following:

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1. In the Project Manager, right-click on the Definitions>Symbols folder in the desired project
and select Add Definition on the context menu.
2. Enter a name for the new symbol in the Definition Name dialog box and click OK.

A new blank Symbol Editor window opens.

3. On the main menu bar, select Symbol>Import File and choose an existing .svg symbol file
to import it into the symbol editor.

A dialog box appears advising you that importing the .svg file will remove any existing
symbol graphics in the editor, and asking you if you are sure you want to continue the import.

Note l There is no “Undo” for the import operation. Consequently if you make a mistake on
import, you must close the project without saving, and then reopen it to recover.
l Currently you can import .svg symbols into any symbol editor window - including
those containing pre-existing component symbols in which case the current symbol
in the editor will be replaced by the imported symbol, so make sure that you import
the symbol in the desired place.
4. Click OK to import the .svg symbol for further editing, or Cancel to abort the operation.

Once the new symbol has been created, you can attach it to a component via the Property
Display Setup command.

Editing Pin Properties

To edit a property of a symbol pin, open the symbol editor’s Pin List dialog box by doing either of
the following:

l In the Symbol menu, click Pin List.

l On the Symbol toolbar, click the Pin list icon .

The Pin List dialog box displays and sets values for the properties of symbol pins.

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Pin properties include:

l Pin Label – provides a field to add a user-defined label for the chosen pin on a component
symbol without having to change the actual Pin Name associated with the chosen pin. Pin
labels for pins in a component should be unique.

To specify or change the label of a pin, click in the Pin Label cell for that pin, type the
name, and do either of the following:
o Press Enter.
o Click in another cell.

The Pin Label can be displayed for the chosen pin by unchecking Use Name As
Label.

l Use Name As Label – controls whether the Pin Name or Pin Label is displayed for the
chosen pin when Show Label is enabled. For a new pin, Use Name As Label is checked
by default.
l Pin Name – sets the actual pin name. To specify or change the name of a pin, click in the
Pin Name cell for that pin, type the name, and do either of the following:
o Press Enter.
o Click in another cell.
l Show Label – controls visibility of the either the Pin Name or Pin Label text for the pin (as
determined by Use Name As Label). For a new pin, it is unchecked by default.
l Show Index – controls visibility of the pin number in the schematic editor. For a new pin, it is
unchecked by default.
l Type – drop-down list sets the pin type. Options include Normal (the default), ANSI In,
ANSI Out, and Zero Length. To change a pin’s type, click in its Type cell, and then click the
desired option.
l Length (mils) – sets the length of the pin stem (the graphical line associated with the pin
port symbol). By default, new pins have a pin stem length of 100 mils. To change the length
of a pin, click in its Length cell, type a new value, and do either of the following:

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o Press Enter.
o Click in another cell.
l Hide Pin – controls whether or not a pin is visible in the schematic editor. For new pins, it is
unchecked by default.
l Hidden Pin Net – editable when Hide Pin is checked, specifies the net (circuit node) to
which a pin will be connected if it is hidden. To specify a net, click in the Hidden Pin Net cell,
type a net name, and then do either of the following:
o Press Enter.
o Click in another cell.

Edit Symbol Pin Locations

To edit the location of a symbol pin, open the Edit Symbol Pins dialog by doing one of the
following:

l In the Symbol Editor Symbol menu, click Edit Pins

l In the component instance right-click-menu, click Edit Symbol Pins

The dialog has three tabs: Bus Pin Editor, Pin Location Editor, and Pin List. Bus Pin Editor
and Pin Location Editor will be shown only for symbols that are drawn as a rectangle with pins.

Bus Pin Editor

The Bus Pin Editor tab allows you to create/edit/delete bus pins from regular pins. The pin names
are the terminal names associated with the component model and cannot be changed, but the bus
pin names can be anything the user wants.

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l To create a new bus pin, the following can be done

— Select the pins needed for the bus pin and click the "Combine in to Bus Pin" button. Both regular
pins and bus pins can be combined to create the new bus pin.

— Pins can be selected with Ctrl + Click or Shift + click.

— Pins can be dragged and dropped onto an existing bus pin

l To remove pins from a bus pin, the following can be done

— Select the whole bus pin or individual pins inside the bus pin and click "Uncombine from Bus Pin"
button

— Pins can be dragged out of the bus pin to the root level to remove from the bus pin.

l Re-ordering Pins

— The pins inside a bus pin can be reordered by dragging them to the desired location. The order
is important since the first pin, with index 0, will connect to bus[0] when a bus is connected, and so
on.

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— When either the root node (red symbol) is selected OR a bus pin is selected, the Sort buttons will
be enabled. Clicking the buttons will order the pins/bus-pins immediately under the selected node
by name in either alphanumeric or reverse-alphanumeric order.

l Searching the Tree

— The tree can be filtered by the pin name by typing in the filter box.

— The filter text supports wildcard search Example: "P*1" should search for everything that begins
with a "P" and ends with a "1"

— Search will work for both the root level and leaf level of pins. Example: If a search matches the
pin name under a bus pin, the bus pin will be displayed in the search result.

Pin Location Editor

The Pin Location Editor allows you to change the locations of the symbol pins to the left or right
side according to the settings chosen in the dialog.

Changing the drop down Reference menu will change the symbol displayed to show/hide
additional reference pins (note that the Reference menu is not shown in the dialog if the symbol
does not support reference pins).

Choosing one of the five PinDirection radio buttons will change the symbol shown to a fixed
configuration:

l All Left puts all pins on the left side

l All Right puts all pins on the right side

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l I/I+N puts the first half of the pins in order on the left side and the remaining pins on the
right side
l Odd-Even puts every other pin on the left side and the remaining pins on the right side
l Manual Edit will enable the two list boxes in the bottom left quadrant. When those boxes
are enabled, the user can drag pins from one box to the other to switch sides and drag
pins within a box to switch the pin order.

Pin List

The Pin List dialog box displays and sets values for the properties of symbol pins.

The available pin properties include:

l Name — This editable cell displays and sets the pin name. To specify or change the name of
a pin, click in the Name cell for that pin, type the name, and then press Enter or click in
another cell.
l ShowLabel — This check box controls visibility of the pin name in the schematic editor. For
a new pin, it is unchecked by default.
l ShowIndex — This check box controls visibility of the pin number in the schematic editor.
For a new pin, it is unchecked by default.

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l Type — This drop-down list sets the pin type, the options for which include Normal (the
default), ANSI In, ANSI Out, and Zero Length. To change a pin's type, click in its Type
cell, and then click the desired option.
l Length — This editable cell sets the length of the pin stem (the graphical line associated
with the pin port symbol). By default, new pins have a pin stem length of 10. To change the
length of a pin, click in its Length cell, type a new value, and then press Enter or click in
another cell.
l HidePin — This check box controls whether or not a pin is visible in the schematic editor.
For new pins, it is unchecked by default.
l HiddenPinNet — This cell, editable when Hide Pin is checked, specifies the net (the circuit
node) to which a pin will be connected if it is hidden. To specify a net, click in the Hidden Pin
Net cell, type a net name, and then press Enter or click in another cell.

Changing Pin Properties

To change a pin property, do either of the following:

l Click the cell that displays the pin property value that you want to change and modify the
property value appropriate to its type as described above.
l To commit the new value and continue editing pin properties, click another property value.

Committing Changes

Clicking the OK button in the dialog will commit changes to the component symbol made in all three
tabs.

Symbol Property Display Setup

The Symbol>Property Display Setup command opens a Properties dialog box in which you can
add or modify how the names, values, and locations of properties associated with the component
or object (such as a title block) represented by the current symbol are displayed.

The Symbol Property Displays Dialog Box

This dialog box lists symbol display properties and controls their presence, visibility, and position.

l Add – Click this button to add a new property display entry to the list.
l Change Component Context—Click this button to open the Select Definition dialog
box, through which you can select the component definition on which property displays
are based. The properties of the selected component are then available in the Name cell
properties list.

Note Because a symbol can be used by multiple components with differing properties,
any property name can be entered by the user. If a component using the symbol
doesn't have a property with that name, the symbol property isn't used in that
component.

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l Location – Click in this cell to set the location (Left, Top, Right, Bottom, Center) of the
property display relative to the symbol center.

Note You can further position a property display by rotating it (Ctrl-R), or by dragging it
to another location with your mouse. When you do this for a given property
display, its Location value is set to Custom.

l Name – Click in this cell to type a property display name, or to select an existing property
display from a list. The component selected via the Change Component Context button
determines which property displays are listed for selection.
l Remove – Click this button to remove the selected property display.
l Visibility – Click in this cell to set the visibility (None, Name, Value, or Both) of a
property display.
l Set Title Block Context – Click this button to make the list of default page properties,
and others as specified, available for display. Default properties include: ProjectPath,
Project, Design, Title, Author and Date. This context is selected by default if the symbol
has three or more propdisplays for default page properties.

Symbol Grid Setup Dialog

The Symbol > Grid Setup dialog box sets visibility, colors, resolution, and snapping for the
Symbol Editor’s alignment grid. It contains the following controls.

Major — Specifies the spacing of the major grid lines (default in mils). To change the color of the
major grid lines, click the Major color button, specify a color in the Color dialog box, and then click
OK

Minor — Specifies the spacing of the minor grid lines (default in mils). To change the color of the
minor grid lines, click the Minor color button, specify a color in the Color dialog box, and then click
OK.

Show Grid — Toggles grid line visibility.

Snap to Grid — Controls whether graphics and text placed on the grid automatically snap to the
nearest grid intersection.

Background Color — To set the background color used for symbol editing, click the color box to
open its dialog, specify a color, and then click OK.

Save as Default — Save the current Grid Setup values as defaults for future Electronics Desktop
sessions.

Defaults — Restore all Grid Setup settings to their defaults.

OK — Commit changes and close the dialog.

Cancel — Close the dialog without committing changes.

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Note l To ensure electrical connectivity among schematic elements, placed symbol pins
snap to a 100-mil grid (2.54-millimeter) regardless of the graphical Major and Minor
grid line settings. This snapping cannot be turned off, and the spacing of the
connectivity grid cannot be adjusted.
l The units used for grid line spacings are controlled by the Tools > Options >
General Options dialog box.
l Use of the Minor grid setting varies depending upon the active editor. In the Layout
Editor, the minor grid-line setting specifies the number of units between each minor
grid division. However, in the Schematic and Symbol Editors, the minor grid-line
setting specifies the number of minor grid lines that appear between major grid lines.

Using the Component Editor

The Electronics Desktop Component Editor supports the viewing, modification, and saving of
component information for use in the development of circuit designs. You can create new
components, edit existing components within a project file, and manage components within
external libraries. After modifying a component, the information can be saved, used to define a
design, or exported. Component definitions are stored in library files with an extension of .aclb.
You can access component definitions using the Component Editor.

To start the Component Editor, open a project and select Tools > Edit Libraries >
Components. When the Edit Libraries dialog opens, use its controls to open the Edit Component
dialog, then create a new component, or select an existing one, and click Edit to open the
Component Editor.

Related Topics

Creating and Editing Components

Edit Component Dialog

Edit Component Properties Dialog

Component CosimDefinition Property

Creating and Editing Components

Use the Edit Component dialog to:

l Specify or change the component name, description, associated bitmap, and default
property values, including those necessary for netlisting, co-simulation, and Solver On
Demand operation, as appropriate
l Specify or respecify a graphical symbol to represent the component in the schematic editor
l Specify or change the component terminal properties
l Specify or respecify a footprint to represent the component in the layout editor

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The changes you make when creating or editing a library component become part of the current
project. The newly edited component is saved to the project, not back to the library. If the edited
component is used in any schematics within the project, all default values of any modified
parameters are updated immediately.

l To make a new or modified component available for use in other projects, save it to a
component library (.aclb) file using the Export command in the Edit Libraries dialog.
l To update another project with your updated component(s), select its icon in the project tree,
and then click Project Tools>Update Definitions on the Tools menu.

Note: If you are creating a new component, it is useful to first identify and, if necessary, create the
necessary dependencies before defining your component. See Component Creation Process in
the introduction for details.

Related Topics

Editing an Existing Component

Creating a New Component

Editing an Existing Component

To edit an existing component, do either of the following:

l In the project tree, expand the Definitions/Components subfolder for the project that
contains the component you want to edit. Double-click the entry for the component you want
to edit, or right-click the entry and then select Edit Component.
l Open the Tools > Edit Libraries > Components dialog, then locate and select the
component that you want to edit. Click Edit Component, or double-click the selected entry.

The Edit Component dialog opens, displaying the definition of the selected component for editing.

Creating a New Component

To create a new component, do either of the following:

l Open the Tools > Edit Libraries > Components dialog, then click Add Component. The
Edit Component dialog opens.
l Open the Tools > Edit Libraries > Components dialog, then locate and select an existing
component on which you would like to base your new component. Click Clone
Component. and a renamed copy of the selected component is added to the list. Double-
click the entry for the new component, or click Edit Component. The Edit Component
dialog opens.

The Edit Component Dialog

The Edit Component dialog is used to create new components, or edit existing components, in a
project file. To show the Edit Component dialog, do either of the following:

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l Double-click a component definition in the project tree, or double-click a component listed

in the Edit Library dialog.
l Open a project and select Tools > Edit Libraries > Components. When the Edit
Libraries dialog opens, use its controls to open the Edit Component dialog.

Related Topics

Components General Tab

Components Miscellaneous Tab

Components Terminals Tab

Components Solver On Demand Tab

Components General Tab

Use the General tab to specify all parameter values for the component, as well as to assign
symbols and footprints from their respective libraries. You can also start the symbol and footprint
editors from the dialog, however, you must exit the component editor to complete the symbol or
footprint edits. The symbol and footprint preview windows at the bottom of the dialog are
automatically updated to reflect whatever changes you make to the symbols and footprints you
modify.

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Component Panel

The Component panel of the General Tab dialog displays the component Name. The Original
Library name is displayed if found. To access and edit the component properties, click Properties
next to the Name text window. In the Properties dialog, you can add, edit or remove default or
local properties and values.

Symbol Panel

The Symbol panel of the General Tab dialog allows you to search by symbol name, and also
displays a picture of the symbol. You can choose any symbol which has an equal or greater
number of pins than the component specified in the Component Name field. You can then choose
to Auto-create the component.

The library of origin of the component is displayed beneath the component display in the Symbol
area; if the component is local to this Project, that message is displayed. When you click Select

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(...), the Select Definition dialog opens and allows you to choose a definition for the symbol from a
list that is displayed. Click Edit to modify the symbol. A confirmation message is displayed with a
reminder that the Component and Definition editors will be closed (if open) and that all changes will
then be saved if you choose to continue. Click Clear at any time to clear all selections and displays
in the Symbol area.

Footprint Panel

The Footprint panel of the General Tab dialog allows you to search by footprint name, and is used
to display a picture of the footprint. You can choose any footprint which has an equal or greater
number of pins than the component specified in the Component Name field.

The library of origin of the footprint is displayed beneath the component display in the Footprint
area; if the component is local to this Project, that message is displayed. When you click Select,
(...) the Select Definition dialog opens and allows you to choose a definition for the footprint from a
list that is displayed. Click Edit to modify the footprint. A confirmation message is displayed with a
reminder that the Component and Definition editors will be closed (if open) and that all changes will
then be saved if you choose to continue. Click Clear at any time to clear all selections and displays
in the Footprint area.

Click OK to save your changes and close the dialog, or click Cancel to close the dialog without
saving any changes.

Components Miscellaneous Tab

Use the miscellaneous fields to enter component information such as the name, manufacturer,
description, ref des, etc. You can also specify a bitmap for the project tree and an associated online
help description (if you use your own documentation). Help files must be located in <Installation
Directory>\Electronics Desktop\help.

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The top two rows of the Miscellaneous tab window displays the Modified Date and Original
Date of the component, and allows you to specify the following:

l Current Author
l Manufacturer
l Original Author
l Data Source

You may also specify an Example File directory for the component, browse for the directory if
necessary (...) and specify it’s Reference Designator, or enter a text Description for the
component. The default Bitmap of the component is displayed at lower right, and you may use the
adjacent pulldown menu to specify a different bitmap file.

The Component Online Help area displays the default HTML help file associated with the
component, and allows you to specify an alternative help file of your own. You may also Test the
specified help file, which displays the component’s HTML help page.

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Click OK to save your changes and close the dialog, or click Cancel to close the dialog without
saving any changes.

Components Terminals Tab

To line up component terminals in an envisioned order, use the Terminals tab to associate each
symbol pin with the proper terminal by first ordering the symbol pins and then selecting the
corresponding symbol. This allows you to visually associate the symbol pins with the netlist
properties for the simulation model. The symbol and footprint preview windows at the bottom of the
dialog are automatically updated to reflect whatever changes you make to the symbols and
footprints you modify.

The following controls are available: 

In the Terminals display window, you can select one or more terminals directly, which then
enables the following dialog options:

Unconnected/default behavior — Used to specify the response when a pin is not connected to a
wire or port in a schematic. You can choose between the following pull-down menu actions: No
action (default), Flag as error, and Grounded. Click Applytoselection to apply your changes to
the selected terminals.

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R to Ground — If you select Grounded for the Unconnected/default behavior, you can then
specify the resistance to ground within the R to Ground entry window. Click Applytoselection to
apply your changes to the selected terminals.

Click OK to save your changes and close the dialog, or click Cancel to close the dialog without
saving any changes.

Components Solver On Demand Tab

Solver On Demand is a specialized routine to set up co-simulation using multiple products. When
you first open the Solver On Demand tab of the Edit Component dialog for a particular
component, the only Model Name listed is the default multi-product type, DefaultNetlist.

DefaultNetlist is a default co-simulation definition type, provided automatically for each

component, that allows you to define a different netlist for each Electronics Desktop product. Click
the Edit button in the DefaultNetlist row to open the Multi-product Netlist definition dialog.

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l Click the pulldown Product menu to choose which Electronics Desktop product netlist to
define.
l Click Netlist to define a netlist.
l Click Global reference to define a global reference.
l Click OK to implement your changes, close the dialog, and return to the Edit
Component dialog.

Multiple Co-simulation Models

Electronics Desktop allows for multiple representations of models that are to be cosimulated. In the
Solver on Demand tab of the Edit Component dialog, click in the pull-down menu to choose
from a list of models to add to the list of ModelNames.

To add a model for Solver On Demand:

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1. Click on the pulldown next to the Add button to display a list of the available model types.

2. Select the type of model from the pulldown. Click Add. A new model of the selected type is
added to the list. The symbol and footprint preview windows at the bottom of the dialog are
automatically updated to reflect whatever changes you make to a component’s
symbol/footprint definitions.
3. Click in the ModelName field for the new model and type the name you want to use for this
model (or accept the default in the ModelName field). Note that when you highlight a Model
Name, its symbol and footprint (if defined) are automatically previewed in the windows at the
bottom of the dialog. These preview windows are automatically updated to reflect whatever
changes you make to the component’s symbol/footprint definitions.
4. Click the button in Define Model column (labeled Edit or with a Custom model name) to
open a Cosim or Netlist definition dialog that is specific to the model type. Here is the dialog
for the Planar EM model shown in the MSBEND component:

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5. Repeat steps 1 through 3 to create all the models you wish to use for this type of component.
6. Click OK when you have defined all the models for this component type.

Repeat the above procedure to specify models for all components that will be simulated using
Solver On Demand.

For a complete description of the Solver On Demand tab and how to define model types, see Co-
simulation.

Edit Component Properties Dialog

To open the Properties dialog for a selected component, double-click the component definition in
the project tree to open the Edit Components dialog. Then, in the Edit Components dialog, click
Properties to open the dialog.

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Parameter Defaults Tab

This tab displays and sets the default values for component parameters for general analysis (Value
display) or statistical analysis (Statistics display).

When this option is selected, the Parameter Defaults tab lists, displays, and sets the default
values for component parameters during general analysis.

Adding Parameters

Use the Add button to add a parameter to the definition. You are prompted to define the parameter
name, value, and value type (text input, menu, check box, etc.). You may not add reserved system
parameters to the definition.

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Removing Properties

To remove a property on a component, select the property and click the Remove button. The
property is deleted from the component definition (model) and from all instances in the design.

Warning Removing a property from a component from an Electronics Desktop component

library may produce undesirable results when the component is simulated.

Related Topics

Parameter Statistics Display

Reserved Component Parameters

Parameter Statistics Display

When this option is selected, the Parameter Defaults tab lists, displays, and sets the default
statistics for component parameters during general analysis.

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Name—Displays the names of component parameters.

Include—Controls whether or not the associated component parameter will be varied during
statistical analysis. Check Include for each parameter you want Electronics Desktop to vary during
statistical analysis.

Distribution—Displays and controls whether the parameter value distribution is Uniform or

Gaussian. To change the Distribution setting, click in the cell to display the options, and then click
the option you want.

Distribution Criteria—Click the display bar to open the Edit Distribution dialog. The
Distribution Type pulldown menu displays whether the distribution is Uniform or Gaussian, and
you can specify values for Cutoff Probability, Mean, and Tolerance. Units for Mean and
Tolerance can be set using their adjacent pulldown menus.

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Click OK to save your changes and close the dialog, or click Cancel to close the dialog without
saving any changes.

Reserved Component Parameters

When using the Add button to add a parameter to the component definition in the Properties
dialog, you are prompted to define the parameter name, value, and value type (text input, menu,
check box, etc.). You may not add the following reserved system parameters to the definition:

"Id"

"Status"

"AnalysisSetup"

"AnalysisResults"

"PartName"

"Info"

"NPortData"

"Refbase"

"NumParts"

"CompName"

"Description"

"Manufacturer"

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"Datasource"

"Date"

"Symbol"

"Footprint"

"PinCount"

"Refdes"

Component CosimDefinition Property

A netlist is a textual representation of a circuit. The Electronics Desktop simulators extract a netlist
from the schematic and perform the simulation from the netlist. The Nexxim simulator uses the
Nexxim netlist format. Nexsys components within a Nexxim design use a legacy ANSYS netlist
format for components.

When an analysis is requested for a modified design, or when Browse Netlist is invoked,
Electronics Desktop writes the corresponding netlist to the project results folder. The netlist
conveys to the simulation engine the connectivity, parameter values, analysis specifications, and
other characteristics of the design(s) under analysis. To support this process, every Electronics
Desktop component must include a valid definition for the CosimDefinition property.

To view the CosimDefinition for a component:

1. Open its Properties dialog.

2. Select the Parameter Values tab.
3. Click the Edit button for CosimDefinition.

The Multi-product Netlist definition dialog opens, displaying the netlist string. Use the dialog to
edit the string if desired.

Related Topics

Netlist String Syntax

Netlist String Syntax

The general form for a netlist string is:

<Simulator>Netlist=[netlist_string]

where

<Simulator> is Nexxim | Planar EM | Q3D | etc.

The netlist string may contain the following netlist property syntax:

%<terminal index, 0-based>

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Which specifies the name of the net connected to terminal index. A syntax error will result if the
terminal index is not a positive number, within range. Example:

%0, %1

%_<internal node index, 0-based>

Create a unique net for an internal node. Used when a component has nodes that are not
associated with symbol terminals and are not tied to a global node. Syntax error if node index is not
a positive number, within range. Example:

%_0, %_1

@<propname> | @(<propname>)

Value of property named propname. Syntax error if propname is empty or contains spaces.
Example:

@R, @IDSS

?<propname>(<expr1>)[:(<expr2>)]

If property named propname exists, substitute expr1, else (optionally) expr2. Also, expr1 and expr2
may contain additional substitutions. Syntax error if propname is empty or contains spaces.
Example:

?IDSS(IDSS = @IDSS):(IDSS = 0.05)

~<propname>(<expr1>)[:(<expr2>)]

If property named propname doesn’t exist, substitute expr1, else (optionally) expr2. Syntax error if
propname is empty or contains spaces. Example:

~SUB(SUB = MS)

?(<propname>==<value>)(<expr1>)[:(<expr2>)]

?(<propname>!=<value>)(<expr1>)[:(<expr2>)]

~(<propname>==<value>)(<expr1>)[:(<expr2>)]

~(<propname>!=<value>)(<expr1>)[:(<expr2>)]

Same as "?" and "~" above except the first term is evaluated for equal to (==) or not equal to (!=)
and if true, substitute expr1 else (optionally) expr2. Example:

?(sim==fullwave)(NSUM=@NSUM):(F0=@F0)

*<propname>(<expr1>)

If property named propname has changed from default definition value, then substitute expr1.
Syntax error if propname is empty or contains spaces. Example:

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*IDSS(IDSS = @IDSS)

&(<expr>)[^(pname1,pname2, . . . )]

Add all properties that have changed from default definition value, except those in the optional
exclusion list. In expr, “$” can be used to represent the property name, and “#” the property value.
Example:

&($=#)^(Model)

will netlist all properties that changed from their default value except the Model property.

\n

A new line marker to inform the netlister to insert a new line. Example:

R@ID %0 %_0 @R \n C@ID %_0 %1 @C

The backslash is used as an escape character. The character following the backslash is not
processed but added to the netlist string as is. To add a single “\”, use “\\”. Example:

R:@ID %0 %1 R=\{\2\*@R\}

Defined Variables

l $SYSLIB will be expanded to <InstallationDirectory>/syslib upon netlisting, where

<Installation Directory> is the directory into which Electronics Desktop was installed
during setup.
l $USERLIB will be expanded to <InstallationDirectory>/userlib upon netlisting.
l $PERSONALLIB will be expanded to <ProjectDirectory>/PersonalLib upon netlisting,
where <ProjectDirectory> is the location you specified for your Electronics Desktop
projects.

Global Reference String in Electronics Desktop

A global reference property will process its value the same way as the netlist string and will place
the result in the top-level (global) part of the circuit file.

<Simulator>GlobalRef=[string]

where

<Simulator> is Nexxim | Q3D | etc.

Additional Examples

The following additional examples help to demonstrate netlist string syntax.

NexximNetlist=CPLE@ID %0 %1 %2 %3 ?Z(Z=@Z) ?E(E=@E) ?F(F=@F) *A(A=@A)

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“Z”, “E”, and “F” use the "?" conditional because the component definition values assigned to these
parameters are different from those in the engine and should always be netlisted if they are present
even if the user has not changed them. The “A” parameter uses the "*" conditional because its
component definition value matches that of the engine and we just need to netlist it if the user
changes the instance value.

NexximNetlist=R@ID %0 %1 @R ?TC1(TC1=@TC1 ?TC2(tc2=@TC2)) ?TJ(TJ=@TJ)

?TNOM(TNOM=@TNOM)

In this example, TC1 will be netlisted only if TC1 exists, and TC2 will be netlisted only if TC1 and
TC2 exist.

NexximNetlist=MSBENDO@ID %0 %1 w=@Length sub=@Substrate

“w” and “sub” will always be netlisted.

NexximNetlist=MOSFET@ID %0 %1 %2 %3 MODEL=@Model &($=#)^(Model)

Model will always be netlisted. The “&($=#)^(Model)” argument designates that all parameters
should be netlisted as “name=value”, except for “Model”.

NexximNetlist =D@ID %0 %1 1N914

NexximGlobalRef =.LIB $SYSLIB/Vendor/D.lib

which may netlist to:

D22 net_3 net_4 1N914

< rest of design netlists ...>

.LIB $SYSLIB/Vendor/D.lib

NexximNetlist=R@ID %0 %1 R=\{\2\*@R\}

If ID is 1 and R is 100, the netlist will be:

R1 net_0 net_1 R={2*100}

UsingVendor Components
Electronics Desktop allows you to download vendor component files from a server. After being
downloaded, libraries are automatically configured so these components can be used in
Electronics Desktop.

Some installations of Electronics Desktop include a set of RF Vendor Library components. To use
these elements, you unzip the files into the syslib/Vendor Elements directory in the Electronics
Desktop installation.

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Related Topics

Downloading Vendor Components

Using RF Vendor Library Components

Downloading Vendor Components

Electronics Desktop allows you to download vendor components from a server. After being
downloaded, libraries are configured so these components can be used in Electronics Desktop.
Server files to be downloaded must be set up in a predefined manner with certain property values.
When a Electronics Desktop circuit is active, click Tools > Library Tools > Download Vendor
Components to open the Component Libraries Access dialog.

Select a server and then enter the User ID, Password, and Server Address. Then click OK to open
the Online Component Libraries dialog:

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The web library dialog displays files as well; click on '+' next to folders for expansion.

Filter components using properties below

l Shows filter criteria, and is used for choosing values for file properties, such as Vendor,
Type, and NumPorts.
l Users can search for files and folders using the 'Filter' option.
l The Series property allows you to enter text, including regular expression values with wild
card characters, such as "NEC202*".
l Clicking the "Reset Filtering" button sets all properties to their most inclusive values ("Any"
or "All"). When you choose a new value in the Filter components pane, only folders
satisfying the filter values are shown in the center pane.

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Information on item selected

l Displays 'Name' and 'Description' property of the files and folders as the user navigates
through the files in the center pane.

Components in ANSYS repository

l The center pane of the dialog shows all the folders that satisfy the filter criteria.
l Folders are organized into a tree control, so that they can be identified correctly (you must
have the full path to uniquely identify a series folder). If you move a cursor over a series
folder and hover, a popup dialog shows information about that folder.
l Click-dragging any folder from the center-tree control to the right pane will cause that
folder to be copied and displayed in the right pane.

Components selected for download

l The right pane shows the component folders you have chosen for downloading and
behaves the same as the center pane (tree control, hover information).
l If you drag something outside of the right pane and release it, the dragged folder is
removed from the pane and will not be downloaded.

Destination Directory

l For 'Vendor Components', the "Destination Directory" drop-down menu has two choices:
User Library and Personal Library.
l For 'Other Files' and 'Project Archives', the drop down has three choices: User Library,
Personal Library and a 'Browse…' option. 'Browse…' option allows users to download
selection to a directory of their choice.
l When you are happy with the contents of the right pane, click the "Download Selected"
button and all files in the selected folders are downloaded to the Destination.

Using RF Vendor Library Components

The RF Vendor library contains vendor-specific components for Electronics Desktop RF
installations. The library is delivered as a compressed file, Vendor_Libraries.zip, in the
syslib/Vendor Elements folder under your Electronics Desktop installation directory.

Here are the steps to follow to enable and place these elements.

Unzip the library directory:

1. Browse to the syslib folder in your Electronics Desktop RF installation. The directory path
should be something like the following:
C:\Program Files\AnsysEM\AnsysEMxxx\Win64\Electronics Desktop\syslib

The entry xxx is the ANSYS EM release number. The operating system field (Win64 in the
example) will change depending on your O/S.

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2. Make sure you have write permission in the syslib folder.

3. Open the folder Vendor Elements.
4. Locate the file Vendor_Libraries.zip.
5. Using any compression tool, extract the contents of the zip file to the Vendor Elements
folder.

The folder Vendor_Libraries should appear in the Vendor Elements directory.

Note Since configuration happens automatically at ANSYS Electronics Desktop startup, if you
unzip the archive while the Desktop is open, you may need to save work, close, and restart
the Desktop.

Place the Component, select Vendor, Series, and Part.

1. In the Component Manager panel of Electronics Desktop, you should see a Vendor
Elements directory with the Vendor_Libraries folder. Expand the folder, then the vendors
folder, to display a listing of the component types in the library (Amplifier, Capacitor, etc).
Each component type represents a number of components from different vendors.
2. Double-click on the icon for the type of part you want to place, then drag the symbol into the
design area.
3. Right-click on the component, and edit the Properties.
4. Select a Vendor from the listing of available vendors for the component type.
5. Select a Series from the listing available series from the selected Vendor.
6. Verify that the Part property has the part you wish to use. If the Part menu is not populated,
or if the part you want is not in the list, change the Data Type property (S-parameter, State
Space, or subcircuit) until the part appears on the Part property menu.
7. Select a Part from the listing of available parts in the selected Series.
8. Optionally, use the Sweep dialog to select a text array variable containing part names to
sweep while simulating the component. The text array variable must have been defined
previously. See Defining Array Variables or more information.
9. Click OK to close the Properties dialog.
10. Connect the component to the circuit.

Optionally, browse through the folders under Vendor_Libraries in the syslib/Vendor Elements
directory. You can see what Vendors, Series, and Parts are available for each component type.
The file extensions on the Part files indicate the Data Type:

l S-Parameter data types use the .sNp file extension.

l State Space data types use the .sss file extension.
l Subcircuit data types use either the .ckt file extension or the .lib file extension.

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Encrypted Libraries
Electronics Desktop lets you create personal, encrypted files of design information (typically in
SPICE format) that you may add to other designs via .lib or .inc statements. Encrypted files are
password-protected.

If you are referencing an imported encrypted .lib file with a user defined password, the first time you
use a component from the file, Electronics Desktop asks for the library password. The library and
password are then added to the list of password definitions in the Tools > Password Manager
dialog box.

Note For security reasons, encrypted components are not saved in the Most Recently Used list
or the Favorites list.

Related Topics

Creating and Managing Encrypted Libraries

Setting Up Passwords and Encrypted Libraries

Creating and Managing Encrypted Libraries

Electronics Desktop lets you create encrypted password-protected files (typically in SPICE format)
that may be added to the design via .lib or .inc statements. Access the encryption tools through the
Password Manager dialog box on the Tools main menu.

Password Assignment Types

An encrypted file may be assigned a choice of password types:

1. A user-defined password set — When you define your own password for a library, you are
actually required to define two passwords: one for Full Access permissions and one for
Execute Only permissions. With Full Access permissions, a user may access the encrypted
library to simulate, see, and edit its contents. With Execute Only permissions, the user may
add components and simulate, but not see or edit the contents.
2. The ANSYS Password — The ANSYS password is a generic, hard-coded execute-only
password shared across all ANSYS tools. Any ANSYS tool may read any applicable file
encrypted in any other ANSYS tool using the ANSYS password. The ANSYS password is
the easiest way to share encrypted libraries among ANSYS applications when they are not
expected to be viewed or edited.
3. A password that is already known to the current session — you can assign an encrypted
library to use a password that is already known to the current session so you can

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synchronize passwords across multiple libraries

NOTES

1. For security reasons, passwords are not saved between sessions and must be re-entered
each time Electronics Desktop is started. Passwords are available after a given project is
closed and another is opened.
2. ANSYS Electronics Desktop and Nexxim use the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) to
encrypt libraries and models. ANSYS Electronics Desktop and Nexxim use a 128 bit block
cipher with a 256 bit key.
3. You can encrypt selected parts of a file by enclosing them within a protected “block”, as in the
following. You can set up multiple .protect/.unprotect blocks in the same file, but you cannot
nest them.

.protect

This block will be encrypted.

.unprotect

Setting Up Passwords and Encrypted Libraries

Because an encrypted library requires a password, encryption is done through the Password
Manager dialog box. The Password Manager lets you create a password or password set as a
"password protected resource", which is simply a group of encrypted files which use the same
password. Once the resource and its password type is defined, you can select it as the password
for one or more newly encrypted libraries.

To Generate a New Password Protected Resource

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1. In the Tools > Password Manager dialog box, click New. You are prompted for a
Resource Name.
2. Type a name and click OK. The Enter Passwords dialog box appears.
3. Select a password type and, if user-defined, supply the different passwords for All Access
and Executable Only. Both are required. Click OK. The new resource is added to the
Password Manager list.

Note You can assign an optional “expiration date” for the encrypted library. If an expiration date
is assigned to a library during encryption, the library cannot be used after this date.

To Generate a New Encrypted Library

When you encrypt a library, you have the choice of overwriting the existing target library with the
encrypted one, or saving the encrypted library to a new filename or location. The encryption
process can respect .prot[ect] statements. During encryption you are prompted whether to encrypt
all, or to respect the statements. The steps are as follows:

1. In the Tools > Password Manager dialog box, select a “password protected resource.”
The Encrypt File button activates.

(If no resources exist, create a new one by clicking “New” and providing a name. You are
prompted to supply a password type for the resource. Once the resource is established, any
number of libraries may be assigned to it.

2. Click Encrypt File and browse to the library that you want to encrypt. Only filenames of .lib
type are valid.

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3. Select the .lib file and click Open in the browser. You are prompted to “encrypt the entire file,
ignoring any .prot[ect] statements?” Yes and No will both encrypt the file. Yes encrypts all,
No will recognize the protect statements. Click Yes or No.
4. A second browser opens, letting you rename or relocate the encrypted file if you wish to.

Caution: If you do not rename or relocate the encrypted file, the existing file is overwritten
permanently as an encrypted file.

5. Click Save in the browser to create the encrypted library.

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15 - HFSS 3D Layout
ANSYS HFSS 3D Layout is suitable for aiding in the design of the following multi-layer structures:

l Millimeter-wave integrated circuits

l Micro-wave integrated circuits
l Printed circuit boards
l Planar antennas

The following sections describe how to use HFSS 3D Layout to design and simulate multi-layer
structures for various materials, models, and excitations.

Related Topics

HFSS 3D Layout in the ANSYS Electronics Desktop

Circuit Ports and Circuit Elements in HFSS

HFSS 3D Layout Options

Setting Up an HFSS 3D Layout Project

Inserting an HFSS 3D Layout Design

Create Components with 3D Placement

Stackup Definitions for EM Models

Editing Distributed Machine Configurations

Using the Estimate Module

Setting Up Excitations in HFSS 3D Layout

Port Setup in HFSS 3D Layout

Adding a Solution Setup for HFSS 3D Layout

Getting Started with HFSS 3D Layout

Add SIwave Solution Setup

HFSS 3D Layout as Solver On Demand

Meshing in HFSS 3D Layout

Planar EM Solution Setup

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HFSS 3D Layout in the ANSYS Electronics Desktop

The ANSYS Electronics Desktop can simulate layout geometry (package, board, IC) using either
HFSS 3D Layout or HFSS. Utilizing “Layout Links” and Cadence APD actions, you can now also
take advantage of a closer integration between Layout and external data sources.

Related Topics

Layout Links

Cadence APD Links

SPB License For Direct Import

Layout Links
Layout Links is a framework that allows for closer integration between Layout and external data
sources. It permits HFSS to host source-specific translation features and allows for plug-ins that
behave as “quasi-native” primitives, but can also use external data semantics.

Ensure APDLinks is activated by doing the following:

1. Select Tools > Layout Links

2. Click the Config tab
3. If necessary, click AddLink and then select <installdir>/apdlinks.dll to activate APDLinks.
l Activation of a Link is only required once. On subsequent ANSYS Desktop sessions, the
link will be available and the enabled state will be remembered. Once a link is loaded, it will
be listed in the AvailableLinks column of the Layout Links tab.
l The Cadence APD/Allegro Link provides Action for Server configuration, Options
setup, and Bondwire management.

Cadence APD Links

The following items describe Cadence APD link actions with regard to servers, options, and
bondwires.

Configure Ports for Dynamic Interaction with the Cadence Data Source

l HFSS can interact dynamically with an active Cadence session using IPC. Multiple clients
can be configured and ports specified from this dialog

Configure Import Options

l Purge conflicting net geometry: upon import, if the target layout already contains
geometry on a given net, delete it.
l Import diestacks: create and adjust layers and geometry using the SiP diestack
information.

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l Configure discrete components by configuring ports and creating local references for
surface mount devices (SMDs).
l Post-import callback by configuring a script to execute after design import.
l Implement naming conventions by specifying how to name imported pins.

Configure and View Active Bondwire Definitions

l Cadence bondwire profiles can be loaded and used within HFSS Layout. Definitions
found in the HFSS <syslib> and at $CDSROOT/share/pcb/text/tech are automatically
loaded.
l Profiles are defined and parsed using the Cadence XML wirebond Document Type
Definition.

SPB License For Direct Import

There are several modes of operations regarding direct import, some require an SPB license and
some do not.

Direct Import of brd/mcm/sip Files

This requires that extracta.exe is executable on the local machine. Extracta is an unlicensed utility
provided by Cadence. Typically, however, a minimal Cadence installation is required to execute
this application. For this method, extracta.exe must be locally executable.

Export/Import

This is similar to the ANF data-transfer model. You can export an *.anx file from a different machine
as a stand-alone file and import it to leverage all the Layout Links features.

Client/Server Interaction

For this, you need to be working in the APD environment, so a Cadence installation and license are
required. This also requires Layout Links integration be installed and configured for the SPB
environment. Currently, this must be downloaded and manually configured.

Circuit Ports and Circuit Elements in HFSS

A circuit port consists of an impressed current source along with a user defined parallel impedance
load. This type of port is more flexible to setup compared with traditional ports in HFSS while still
providing S-parameters. The only geometry that must be specified within the HFSS UI is the
locations of two terminals. Each terminal can either be defined as a selected edge, or as a point
touching a metallic object. In addition to being simple to assign, a design which only contains circuit
ports can be solved at much lower frequencies compared with using standard ports.

Circuit elements provide a simple and flexible approach to include the effects of lumped circuit
elements, or more generally, to include black box representations as S-parameters directly in the
HFSS solution. One benefit of this is to reduce the number of excitations required compared with

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making circuit connections outside of HFSS in a circuit simulator. Reducing the number of
excitations will typically reduce the simulation time.

A circuit element connection is modeled as if there is actual geometry carrying a conduction

current, but without the explicit need to define the geometry. This is important to keep in mind since
there is an actual connection between two terminals being enforced at the discretized FEM system
matrix, and that connection is being solved. Which is similar to the solution if there existed explicit
geometry to model that connection. Similar to circuit ports, the only geometry that must be specified
is the locations of the terminals defining the circuit connections where each terminal is defined as a
selected edge of a metallic object.

Restrictions and Workarounds

The only restriction on the placement of circuit elements and ports is that there may not be any gap
or wave ports located directly between the terminals of the circuit element/port. While adding a
circuit element/port to a design does not explicitly add any conductive material between the
terminals, it does add a current path which interferes with any gap or wave ports in between. Such
intersections are usually an unintended consequence of using a highly conductive circuit element to
add a current return path to a design and can usually be avoided by one of four methods:

l The intersecting wave ports or gap ports can be switched to circuit ports.
l The circuit element can be re-routed by moving the terminals.
l Two separate circuit elements can be used to connect the terminals to a common ground
plane or an explicit return path in a separate signal layer.
l If the intersecting ports are horizontal gap ports in a signal layer with non-zero thickness,
they can be switched to align with the upper surface of the layer.

HFSS SoD

HFSS SoD supports simulation of two-port models, as well as Parallel and Series RLC ideal
components. Additionally, HFSS 3D Layout can simulate N-port models. The HFSS solver models
two terminal circuit elements by assuming a constant impressed current between the two
terminals. HFSS 3D Layout also assumes this current has no radiative coupling to the structure.
These assumptions are valid when the separation between the two terminals is electrically short,
which is typically the case for such devices as surface mount resistors and capacitors. To add one
of these components, right-click on 'Circuit Elements' and select 'Add Nport Model', 'Add Series
RLC' or 'Add Parallel RLC'.

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You can also choose to “Import Component Mapping File” or “Import Component File”.

l Import Component Mapping File opens a dialog to select a *.dat partmap file. HFSS
will read the partmap file and create (or re-assign) and orient circuit-elements for given
components.
l Import Component File opens a dialog to select a *.cmp file. HFSS will read this cmp
file and create (or re-assign) circuit-elements.

Once circuit elements have been added to an HFSS 3D Layout they appear under the Circuit
Elements tree item.

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Properties of the RLC components can be edited in the properties window and R, L and C can be
disabled.

Note Components that do not have footprint geometry are initially rendered on the Symbol layer.
When the component is first wired to an object on a physical layer, it will then render on that
physical layer. For more information see Components with a Symbol Footprint.

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HFSS 3D Layout Options

The following options are set in the HFSS 3D Layout panel of the Tools>Options>General
Options dialog. The Options dialog is used to make the following global changes to HFSS 3D
Layout options.

l You can choose to save solution files in binary mode for new projects.
l Enable Schematic controls whether new HFSS 3D Layouts, and designs imported from
ANF files, have Schematic enabled or disabled. By default EnableSchematic is checked
(enabled).

— When an HFSS 3D Layout has Schematic disabled, all Schematic Editor

menu/toolbar options are disabled.

— If you disable the Schematic for a specific design, it cannot be re-enabled, and you
will receive a warning that you will lose all Schematic information and be unable to
enable Schematic again for that design.

l If Save before solving is set, and a major edit has been made, then the project is saved if
a solve is started. Also, if we create a new project and start a solve, then the Save As
dialog is popped up and the user is prompted to save the project before he can continue
with the solve. If this option is unchecked, the project won't be saved before a solve.

Note If the user does not have permissions to write to the project folder, or if one of the
files in the project folder is read-only, then choosing Save or Analyze will display a
user prompt to save the project to another location first. Canceling the SaveAs will
cancel the Analysis.

The specified dialog settings will be used for all projects, unless explicitly overridden in a design.

It is possible to have a project in which some designs have schematics enabled and other designs
have schematics disabled; in this case:

— Objects cannot be copied from designs without schematics into designs with schematics.

— Objects can be copied in the opposite direction: from designs with schematics into designs
without schematics. But the copy operation does not contain schematic-specific information, and
the paste option is disabled.

HFSS 3D Layout Design Settings

In the Project Tree, right click on a design and select Design Settings to open the settings dialog.

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Lossy Dielectrics Tab

l Automatically use causal materials which will cause some objects to be treated as
frequency dependent.
l Selecting Save as default and saving the dialog will save the causal material setting to
the registry.

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HFSS Meshing Method Tab

l Phi mesh is a layout-based meshing technology, available in the HFSS 3D Layout

interface. This advanced meshing technology is capable of rapidly generating an initial
mesh ensuring faster simulations that can be further accelerated and enhanced by using
high performance computing.
l Classic mesh uses a Bowyer algorithm to create compact meshes for the model with
very large length scales. It represents the model very accurately.
l Selecting Save as default and saving the dialog will save the causal material setting to
the registry.

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Nexxim Options Tab

The Nexxim Options tab allows you to configure options for Nexxim setups.

l Use circuit S-parameter definition — Controls the definition for port impedances. For
HFSS 3D Layout, this option should typically be unselected (check box unchecked). The
definition of a “matched port” depends on the application. In applications that deal mostly
with circuit quantities (including the Nexxim simulator), a “matched port” has a
characteristic impedance that maximizes the power transfer. This is also called a
“conjugate match.” In applications that deal mostly with electromagnetic quantities
(including HFSS and Planar EM), a “matched port” has a characteristic impedance that
maximizes the transfer of the voltage wave. The two definitions differ only by the
conjugate of the characteristic impedance of the port. For real port impedances, there is
no difference.
l To transform from time to spectral domain use — Allows you to select the method
used to transform from the time domain to the spectral domain for all projects.

— Fourier Integration is very accurate but may be time-consuming for large data
sets. The Fourier Integration method computes the projection of the signal on each of
the requested harmonics via integration of the inner-product integral.

—FFT (Fast Fourier Transform, the default) achieves faster conversion with a slight
reduction in accuracy. The FFT method samples the signal at 2*(maximum harmonic
number) points, and outputs the FFT of the sampled signal. The FFT method may not

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be robust enough to avoid aliasing while converting some time-domain signals to

the frequency domain.

Selecting Save as default and saving the dialog will save the causal material setting to the
registry.

Export S Parameters Tab

The Export S Parameters tab lets you Set/View Export Preferences and specify whether to
Export Touchstone file after completing frequency sweep.

Clicking the Set/View Export Preferences button opens the SYZ Data Export Options dialog.
The dialog contains a range of choices for Output format, including advanced options.

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The SYZ Data Export supports 2 types of export: touchstone export and broadband export.

If you choose the touchstone export option, at the end of a simulation raw s-parameter data is
exported either in Touchstone 1.0 or Touchstone 2.0 as selected by the user.

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If you choose the broadband option, at the end of a simulation the s-parameter goes through a
fitting based on the export options selected and data is exported either in Touchstone 1.0 or
Touchstone 2.0 as selected by the user.

Selecting Save as default and saving the dialog will save the export settings to the registry.

Setting Up an HFSS 3D Layout Project

To set up an HFSS 3D Layout project, follow this general procedure:

1. Insert an HFSS 3D Layout design.

2. Create the metal and dielectric layers of the design.
3. Assign a thickness, roughness, elevation, and material to each layer.
4. Draw the geometry of the signal layers.
5. If applicable, create a cavity between two infinite negative signal planes.

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6. Define the ports or incident waves in the model.

7. If applicable, insert an external device, an N-port, with known S-parameters into your
design.
8. Specify how HFSS 3D Layout will compute the solution by adding a solution setup.
9. Begin the analysis. HFSS 3D Layout will compute the current inside the structure.
10. After computing a solution, view information about the solution and analyze it.

Note Some of these tasks may not be applicable to your designs. Not all designs require cavities
or N-ports.

Inserting an HFSS 3D Layout Design

To insert an HFSS 3D Layout design:

1. On the Project menu, click Insert HFSS 3D Layout Design.

The Choose Layout Technology window appears.

If the check box “Show this dialog on new design” is checked, the dialog will always show when
a new design is inserted. If the check box is unchecked, the next time a new design is inserted
the dialog will not be displayed and a design will be inserted using the chosen technology from
the last insertion.

2. Select an existing EM technology from the list or click None if you want to manually add the
model’s metal and dielectric layers.

A new project is added to the project tree. The project includes a new design named
HFSS3DLayoutn by default, where n is the order of the design in a potential series of designs.
Sublevels named Data, Excitations, Analysis, Optimetrics, and Results are automatically
added below the design name in the project tree, storing data about the current project.

The Layout view window also appears. You may now create or edit the design layers. To edit
the design layers, use The Edit Layers Dialog.

Edit Layers Dialog

Use one of the following to open the Edit Layers dialog:

l Layout > Layers

l Right-click > Edit Layers (on the Layout window Layers tree)
l Click the Edit Layers icon on the Layout tool bar or Footprint tool bar

A stackup in laminate mode shows each layer stacked on top of the one below.

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l The lower and upper elevation columns are not visible by default but can be turned on by the
user. The thickness of layers may be edited but not the lower elevation. Layers may be
reordered by dragging a layer to a new position in the grid control.
l The Dielectric Fill column specifies the material to use to fill in around geometry on the layer.
The dielectric material can be chosen in the same way that layer material is chosen.
Laminate mode stackups have dielectric fill specified for signal layers.

For more information, see The Edit Layers Dialog.

Inserting an EM Technology File

HFSS provides default stackups, or technology files, for common structures. You can create and
save your own stackup as a technology file so that it is available to every project.

Each technology file you create includes the layers’ material property, units, thickness, elevation,
and roughness data. This information is stored in an .asty file in the \userlib folder.

To insert an EM technology file:

1. On the Project menu, click Insert HFSS 3D Layout Design.

The Choose Layout Technology window appears.

2. Select a structure from the list.

l Alternatively, click Browse to search for an existing .asty technology file.

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3. Click Open.

The technology file you selected is listed in the project tree as EMn by default, where n is the
order of the design in a potential series of designs. Sublevels named Data, Excitations,
Analysis, and Results are automatically created below the design name in the project tree,
storing data about the current project.

The Layout view window also appears. You may now create or edit the design layers.

Physical Definition for EM Models

To verify that a component possesses a physical definition, access the Edit Component dialog.
This can be accomplished one of two ways, depending upon whether the component is user
defined or is part of the HFSS library.

User-Defined Components

If the component is contained in a loaded project:

1. In the project tree, expand the Definitions folder and the Components subfolder for the
project that contains the component you want to examine.

2. Double-click the component entry, or right-click the component entry and select Edit
Component to open the Edit Component dialog.

Library Components

If the component is contained in a library known to HFSS:

1. Select Tools > Edit Libraries > Components to open the Edit Libraries dialog, then select
the component you want to edit.

2. Click Edit Component, or double-click the selected entry, to open the Edit Component
dialog.

When the EditComponent dialog opens, it displays the definition of the selected component.

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The physical definition of a component can be verified using the information displayed by the
dialog. In particular, information related to the footprint of a component is displayed in the dialog.

Create Components with 3D Placement

3D placement can be used on an HFSS dynamic link or on a component with an independent layer
stack up. When the created component is selected in the layout, a property named "3D Placement"
will be displayed in the Properties window. When the "3D Placement" check box is selected, a 3D
Coordinate Manipulator will appear for the component in the layout.

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The following properties control the 3D transformation matrix:

l Local Origin — The origin of the 3D Coordinate Manipulator in the component's global
coordinate system.
l Rotation Axis — The axis around which the rotation is applied. The rotation axis can be X,
Y or Z.
l Rotation Axis Direction — The direction of the rotation axis in the layout's coordinate
system.
l Rotation Angle — The rotation angle around the rotation axis.

As an example, these properties will result in the following component transformation:

1. The component is rotated to align the local Rotation Axis (Z) with the Rotation Axis Direction
vector (0, 0, 1).

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2. A Rotation Angle of 90 degrees is applied to the component about the local Rotation Axis
(Z).

Stackup Definitions for EM Models

The Stackup field on the Define Co-simulation dialog for an EM model is set to one of the
following three values, in order to indicate which stackup definition will be used to model a
component when it is simulated by one of the EM solvers: Substrate Stackup, Layout Stackup,
Footprint Stackup.

Related Topics

Substrate Stackup

Layout Stackup

Footprint Stackup

HFSS Etch Factor

Model Signal As Ground Plane

Subcircuits with Independent Stackups

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Substrate Stackup
By default, when a component is placed, AEDT automatically associates a substrate definition with
the CompInstance. Not all components need substrate definitions. If it is present, the Substrate
definition will be shown in the Substrate property in the CompInstance tab.

The Substrate property menu shows all defined substrates for this Circuit Design. The menu may
also have the choice <none> to allow changing to a component that doesn’t use a substrate
definition (see Using Component Groups). The menu contains the New command which will open
the Substrate Definition dialog.

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In this dialog, you have the option of either manually entering data describing the substrate or you
can specify that the data be taken from layers defined for the layout stackup (see Layout Stackup).

l To manually edit the Dielectric, click the Edit button.

l To pull data from a dielectric layer, click the Select button.
l To manually edit the metalization, click the Edit button.
l To pull data from a metalized layer, change the Trace Metalization dropdown menu to
Specify by Layer and then choose the layer by clicking the Layer button

Substrate Definitions are all listed in the Project Tree under the Data folder for the Circuit Design.

Double clicking one of these icons will open the Substrate Definition dialog (see above) so that the
definition can be edited.

HFSS Etch Factor

Substrate manufacturing does not create exact geometry. The actual geometry of substrate
manufacturing often results in different thicknesses in the dimensions of each geometry within a
layer — and that difference is represented by an “etch” or “etch factor”. HFSS geometry allows for
the presence of an etch factor in the design and modeling of different substrate layers. The specific
etch factor that applies to a particular layer is usually available from the manufacturer. But in
general, the etch factor is calculated by taking the ratio of the etch depth to the undercut, where the
undercut is defined as being the portion of the wafer that is etched away under the photoresist:
etch_factor = layer_thickness / (bottom_dimension - top_dimension) /
2

l When the bottom dimension of the stackup is larger than the top, the etch factor is positive.
l When the top dimension is larger than the bottom, the etch factor is negative.

For example, with a positive etch factor, a transmission line with a 2mm nominal width will be 2mm
wide on the bottom and narrower at the top. While the same transmission line with a negative etch
factor will be 2mm wide on the top and narrower at the bottom. An etch factor of 0 means no etch,
and the top and bottom dimensions are the same. Also, very large etch factors — both positive and
negative — result in little or no etch.

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In HFSS, only signal layers can have an etch factor, dielectric and negative signal layers do not.
HFSS supports an etch ratio that is referred to as the HFSS Etch Factor, and this etch is used
when the mesh is created for an HFSS simulation. Note, however, that the etch is not applied to
geometry drawings in the 3D layout view.

For more information see the Edit Layers Dialog.

Layout Stackup
To access the stackup definition while working in the Layout Editor, select Layout > Layers. If you
are working in the Schematic Editor, select Schematic > LayoutStackup. This opens the Edit
Layers Dialog.

You can now use the Edit Layers Dialog controls to insert or remove layers and configure the
various layer attributes and to configure stackup layers.

Footprint Stackup
To access the footprint stackup, after the component has been placed in the Layout Editor, right-
click the component and select Edit Footprint from the pop-up menu. This opens the Footprint
Editor. Then, from the Footprint pull-down menu, select Edit Layers, which opens the Edit
Layers Dialog.

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You can now use the Edit Layers Dialog controls to insert or remove layers and configure the
various layer attributes and to configure stackup layers.

Model Signal As Ground Plane

HFSS allows you to model a signal as ground plane. First, access the stackup definition of a
component that has been placed in the Layout Editor by selecting Layout Stackup from the
Schematic pull-down menu. This opens the Edit Layers Dialog.

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When the Treat as infinite ground option of the Solver Options dialog is selected, that allows
you to model a signal as ground plane. The following diagrams illustrate the difference when a
signal is modeled as a ground plane.

Note It is important to note that when a signal is modeled as a ground plane, only the holes are
modeled.

Modeled as a Signal Layer

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Modeled as a Ground Plane

Subcircuits with Independent Stackups

Subcircuits can be pasted into an HFSS 3D Layout design as an instance of the original, i.e. with
an independent stackup. The vertical placement of the sub-design is determined by the placement
layer of the cell instance:

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1. Select the sub-design in the layout editor (without pushing down into it).
2. Set the placement layer use the “PlacementLayer” attribute.
l The HFSS 3D Layout ignores sub-designs with independent stackups during analysis; a
warning is issued.
l For HFSS, a consistent mesh that includes all sub-designs is constructed. If negative
signal layers intersect, the mesh will fail to generate.
l HFSS 3D Layout attributes within the black-boxes are ignored (e.g. boundary conditions).
l Ports must be added at the analysis level; ports internal to any sub-design are ignored.
l Ports can be referenced to negative signals or metal on a signal layer within the sub-
design containing the physical port location or any parent design.

Note The stackup cannot be inverted; the lower elevation of the black-box stackup is always
aligned with the top of the placement layer.
Note The entire combined geometry is simulated by HFSS; any existing results for the
independent sub-design are not re-used.

Editing Distributed Machine Configurations

You can create a new distributed machine configuration, or edit an existing machine configuration,
for SIWave, HFSS or Planar EM.

Related Topics

Distributed Machine Configurations for SIWave

Distributed Machine Configurations for HFSS and Planar EM

Distributed Machine Configurations for SIWave

To create a new distributed machine configuration, or edit an existing machine configuration.

1. Click Tools>Edit Active Analysis Configuration to open the Analysis Configuration

dialog directly or click the Analysis settings icon on the Toolbar.

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Job Distribution Tab

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When Level 2 is enabled for SIWave parametric setups, the first level distributes variations and the
second level (SIWave solver) distributes frequencies.

Distributed Machine Configurations for HFSS and Planar EM

To create a new distributed machine configuration, or edit an existing machine configuration, for
HFSS and Planar EM, see High Performance Computing: Distributed Analysis: Editing Distributed
Machine Configurations.

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Using the Estimate Module

To access the Estimate module, click Estimate on the HFSS 3D Layout menu. Use the Estimate
module to estimate parameters related to the following:

l Microstrip line
l Quarter-wave transformer
l Tuning stub
l Rectangular patch
l Circularly polarized (CP) patch

The menus in the Estimate module have the following functions:

T-Line Estimates transmission-line quantities such as the characteristic impedance of a

line, the line width corresponding to a characteristic impedance, the guided
wavelength and the effective relative permittivity of a microstrip line or stripline, and
the losses associated with a line.
Impedance Estimates the dimensions of a quarter-wave section to match a load impedance to
Match an input impedance. Also estimates the location and dimension of a tuning stub for
matching an input impedance to a complex load impedance.
Printed Estimates the dimensions of patch antennas.
Antennas
Microwave Converts between the mismatch loss, the reflection coefficient, the return loss, and
Calculator the voltage standing wave ratio (VSWR). Also converts between dB and the ratio for
both power and voltage values.
Units Sets the current working units.

Related Topics

Estimating Transmission Line Quantities

Estimating Matches Between Impedances

Estimating Dimensions of Printed Antennas

Using the Microwave Calculator

Estimating Transmission Line Quantities

Use the Estimate module’s T-Line commands to estimate transmission line quantities.

The following commands are available:

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Impedance Estimates the characteristic impedance corresponding to a particular line

width.
Width Estimates the microstrip line width corresponding to a particular
characteristic impedance.
Guided Wave Estimates the guided wavelength and the effective relative permittivity of a
Length microstrip line.
Line Loss Estimates the metallic loss and dielectric loss of a microstrip line at a given
frequency.

Estimating Characteristic Impedance

Use this command to estimate the characteristic impedance of a microstrip or stripline from the
width you specify.

To estimate the characteristic impedance:

1. Select the signal layer on which the microstrip line lies from the list.

If the selected layer is an infinite negative signal layer, a CPW line is assumed.

2. Click T-Line>Impedance.

Parameter input boxes appear in the right portion of the Estimate module’s window.

3. For trace layers, enter the width of the microstrip line in the Width box. The units for the line
width are the same as the current working units.
4. For infinite negative signal layers, do the following:
a. Type the width of the first line in the Width1 box.

The units for the line width are the same as the current working units.

b. Type the width of the second line in the Width2 box.

c. Type the gap between the two lines in the Gap box.
d. Type the frequency at which to estimate the impedance in the Frequency box.
5. Click Calculate to display the impedance below the data you entered.

The characteristic impedance corresponds to the line width you specified. The units for
impedance is ohms.

Estimating Width

Use this command to estimate the width of a microstrip or stripline from the characteristic
impedance you specify. This command is not applicable for a CPW line.

To estimate the width:

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1. Select the trace layer on which the microstrip line lies.

2. Click T-Line>Width.

Estimate parameters and results boxes appear in the right portion of the Estimate window.

3. Type the characteristic impedance, in ohms, of the microstrip line in the Impedance box.
4. Click Calculate to display the estimated width.

The line width corresponds to the specified impedance. The units for the width are the same as
the current working units.

Estimating Guided Wavelength and Effective Relative Permittivity

You can estimate the guided wavelength and the effective relative permittivity of a stripline or
microstrip line from a given width and frequency.

To estimate the guided wavelength and effective relative permittivity:

1. Select the signal layer on which the microstrip line lies.

If the selected layer is an infinite negative signal layer, a CPW line is assumed.

2. Click T-Line>Guided Wavelength.

Parameter input boxes appear on the right side of the Estimate module’s window.

3. For trace layers, type the width of the microstrip line in the Width box in the current working
units.
4. For infinite negative signal layers, do the following:
a. Type the width of the first line in the Width1 box.

The units for the line width are the same as the current working units.

b. Type the width of the second line in the Width2 box.

c. Type the gap between the two lines in the Gap box.
5. Type the frequency in the Frequency box, in GHz.

This frequency is independent of the maximum frequency entered in the solution setup.

6. Click Calculate to perform the estimate.

The estimated information appears in the following boxes:

Guided Wavelength Displays the guided wavelength in the current working units.
Effective Relative Displays the effective relative permittivity.
Permittivity

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The estimated guided wavelength and effective relative permittivity correspond to the line width
and frequency you specified.

Estimating Line Loss

Use this command to estimate the line loss of a microstrip line from the width and frequency you
specify. This command is not available for trace layers between two infinite negative signal layers.

To estimate the line loss:

1. Select the trace layer on which the microstrip line lies.

2. Click T-Line>Line Loss.

A window appears on the right side of the Estimate module’s window.

3. Type the width of the microstrip line in the Width box.

The units for the width are the same as the current working units.

4. Type the frequency in the Frequency box, in GHz.

This frequency is independent of the maximum frequency entered in the solution setup.

5. Click Calculate to perform the estimate.

The estimated information appears in the following boxes:

Conductor Displays the estimated loss due to finite conductivity and thickness of the
Loss metal.
Dielectric Loss Displays the estimated line loss due to imperfect dielectric materials.
Total Loss Displays the sum of the conductor loss and the dielectric loss of the line.

Estimating Matches Between Impedances

Use the Impedance Match menu to estimate matches between an input impedance and a load
impedance. The following commands are available:

Quarter- Estimates the dimensions of a quarter-wave section to match a load impedance to an

Wave input impedance.
Tuning Estimates the location and the dimension of a tuning stub for matching an input
Stub impedance to a complex load impedance.

The Quarter-Wave transformer and the Tuning Stub commands offer two different ways of
matching an input impedance to a load impedance. While quarter-wave transformers are more

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commonly used, tuning stubs may occupy less physical space. Tuning stubs can also be used to
match a real input impedance to a complex load impedance, whereas quarter-wave transformers
are used only with real input and load impedances.

Note The Impedance Match commands are only available for trace layers.

Estimating Quarter-Wave Transformer Dimensions

Use the Impedance Match>Quarter-Wave command to estimate the dimensions of a quarter-

wave section to match a load impedance to an input impedance.

Before using this command, keep the following in mind:

l The numbers computed by this command are for the selected layer and are rough estimates
only. Depending on the substrate parameters, the dimensions of the quarter-wave
transformer most likely will be different for metals on different layers; therefore, it is important
that you select the desired signal layer first.
l The values estimated by this command may not agree exactly with the values computed by
the simulation engine. This command is meant to help you obtain a first iteration design. If
you are designing a quarter-wave transformer, you can use the rough dimensions provided
as a starting point. Once you have these, you can draw and simulate the structure, then fine-
tune the design.

To estimate a quarter-wave transformer:

1. Select the trace layer on which the quarter-wave transformer lies.

2. Click Impedance Match>Quarter-Wave. Estimate parameters appear in the right portion
of the Estimate window.
3. Type the desired load impedance in the Load Impedance box, in ohms. The number you
enter must be real and greater than 0.
4. Type the input impedance in the Input Impedance box. The number you enter must be real
and greater than 0. The unit for impedance is ohms.
5. Type the frequency in the Frequency box, in GHz. This frequency is independent of the
maximum frequency entered in the solution setup.
6. Click Calculate to perform the estimate. The estimated information appears in the following
boxes:

Impedance Displays the impedance required to match the input impedance to the load
impedance. The unit for impedance is ohms.
Width Displays the line width of the quarter-wave section in the current working
units.
Length Displays the line length of the quarter-wave section in the current working
units.

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Estimating Tuning Stub Parameters

Use the Impedance Match>Tuning Stub command to obtain an estimate of the location and the
dimension of a tuning stub for matching an input impedance to a complex load impedance. The
tuning stub is assumed to be an open-ended stub. If you have a microstrip line terminated in a
complex load impedance, you can also use this command to estimate the location along the
microstrip line where the input impedance, looking toward the load, is purely resistive.

Before using this command, keep the following things in mind:

l The numbers computed by this command are rough estimates only. Depending on the
substrate parameters, the patch parameters may be different for patches on different layers;
therefore, it is important that you select the desired signal layer before accessing this
command.
l The estimated values may not agree exactly with the values computed by the simulation
program. This command is meant to help you obtain a first iteration design. If you are
designing a tuning stub, you can use the rough dimensions provided as a starting point.
Once you have these, you can draw and simulate the structure, then fine-tune the design.

To estimate the location and the dimensions of a tuning stub:

1. Select the trace layer on which the tuning stub lies.

2. Click Impedance Match>Tuning Stub. Estimate parameters appear on the right side of
the Estimate window.
3. Type the frequency in the Frequency box, in GHz. This frequency is independent of the
maximum frequency entered in the solution setup.
4. Type the line width of the microstrip line connected to the load impedance in the Line Width
box. The units for the width are the same as the current working units. The width of the
tuning stub is assumed to be the same as the width of the line connected to the load.
5. Type the real part of the complex load impedance in the Real box. The number you enter
must be real and greater than 0. The units for impedance are ohms.
6. Type the imaginary part of the complex load impedance in the Imaginary box.
7. Click Calculate to perform the estimate. The estimated information appears in the following
boxes:

Location, Displays the estimated location for the tuning stub in the current working units.
D This is the distance measured from the load impedance along the microstrip
line.
Length, L Displays the estimated line length for the open-ended stub in the current
working units. The width of the stub is assumed to be the same as width of the
microstrip line specified in the input area.
Distance Displays the location along the microstrip line where the input impedance,
Away looking toward the load, is purely real. The estimated location is the distance

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measured from the load along the microstrip line. The unit for the distance is
the same as the current working units.
Real Displays the impedance value at the location along the microstrip line where
Impedance the input impedance, looking toward the load, is purely real.

The following figure displays the location and line length for an open-ended stub. The width of the
stub is assumed to be the same as the width of the microstrip line specified in the input area:

The following figure displays the location along a microstrip line where the input impedance is
purely real:

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Estimating Dimensions of Printed Antennas

Use the Printed Antennas menu to estimate the dimensions of two different types of singly fed,
circularly polarized (CP) patches and the resonating length of a rectangular patch. This command
is not available for infinite negative signal layers or trace layers between two infinite negative signal
layers.

The following commands are available:

CP Corners Estimates the dimensions of a corners-truncated CP element.

Truncated
CP Nearly Estimates the dimensions of a nearly square CP element.
Square
Rectangular Estimates the resonating length of a rectangular patch. This command also
Patch estimates the bandwidth and the radiation efficiency of the patch as well as the
location on the patch corresponding to an impedance value.

Use the CP Corners Truncated and CP Nearly Square commands to obtain estimates on the
dimensions of two different types of singly fed CP patches. To generate circular polarization on a
patch using a single feed, you must excite two orthogonal modes on the patch. To obtain two
orthogonal modes on a patch, you generally start with a square patch and perturb the element. You
can perturb the element by cutting away two opposite corners of the patch or by extending one of
the sides slightly. The following figure demonstrates the two types of singly fed CP patches:

Estimating Corners-Truncated CP Element Parameters

Use this command to estimate the dimensions of a corners-truncated, circularly polarized (CP)
element. The feed points for these patches are not arbitrary. For a corners-truncated patch, you

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need to feed the patch along the center line of the patch in order to excite the two orthogonal
modes.

Before using this command, keep the following in mind:

l The values estimated by this command are for the current active layer only. Depending on
the substrate parameters, the patch parameters may be different for patches on different
layers; therefore, it is important that you select the desired signal layer before accessing this
command.
l This command is disabled if your structure does not contain negative signal planes or if it
contains two negative signal planes and you have selected a signal layer between them.
l The method used to estimate the patch parameters is an approximate method based on the
cavity model; therefore, the values given are only rough estimates.

To estimate a CP corners-truncated patch:

1. Select the trace layer on which the patch lies.

2. Click Printed Antennas>CP Corners Truncated. Estimate parameters appear on the
right side of the Estimate module’s window.
3. Enter the frequency in the Frequency box, in GHz. This frequency is independent of the
maximum frequency entered in the solution setup.
4. Click Calculate to perform the estimate. The estimated information appears in the following
boxes:

Square Displays the estimated dimension of the unperturbed square patch in the current
working units.
Length
Corner Displays the estimated dimension of the corner to be cut away from the
unperturbed square patch in the current working units. The shape of the cut-away
Length corner is a right angle triangle having two equal sides along the edges of the
patch.

Estimating Nearly Square CP Element Parameters

Use this command to estimate the dimensions of a nearly square, circularly polarized (CP)
element. The feed points for these patches are not arbitrary. For a nearly square patch, you need
to feed the patch at the corner of the patch.

Before using this command, keep the following things in mind:

l The values estimated by this command are for the current active layer only. Depending on
the substrate parameters, the patch parameters may be different for patches on different
layers; therefore, it is important that you are on the desired signal layer before accessing this

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command.
l This command is disabled if your structure does not contain negative signal planes or if it
contains two negative signal planes and you have selected a signal layer between them.
l The method used to estimate the patch parameters is an approximate method based on the
cavity model; therefore, the values given are only rough estimates.

To estimate a CP nearly square patch:

1. Select the trace layer on which the patch lies.

2. Click Printed Antennas>CP Nearly Square. Estimate parameters appear on the right
side of the Estimate module’s window.
3. Enter the frequency in the Frequency box, in GHz. This frequency is independent of the
maximum frequency entered in the solution setup.
4. Click Calculate to perform the estimate. The estimated information appears in the following
boxes:

Horizontal Displays the dimension of the perturbed patch in the horizontal or x direction
Length in the current working units.
Vertical Displays the dimension of the perturbed patch in the vertical or y direction in
Length the current working units.

Estimating Rectangular Patch Parameters

Use this command to obtain a rough estimate of the resonating length of a rectangular patch. This
command also estimates the bandwidth and the radiation efficiency of the patch as well as the
location on the patch that corresponds to a user-specified impedance value.

Before using this command, keep the following in mind:

l The method used is an approximate method based on the cavity model. The numbers
estimated by this command are only rough estimates. Depending on the layer parameters,
the patch parameters may be different for patches on different layers; therefore, it is
important that you select the desired trace layer before using this command.
l The estimated values may not agree exactly with the values computed by the simulation
engine. The purpose of this command is to help you obtain a first iteration design. If you are
designing a patch, you can use the rough dimensions as a starting point. With these, you can
draw and simulate the structure, then fine-tune the design.
l This command is disabled if your structure does not contain negative signal planes or if it
contains two negative signal planes and you have selected a signal layer between them.

To estimate a rectangular patch:

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1. Select the trace layer on which the patch lies.

2. Click Printed Antennas>Rectangular Patch. Estimate parameters appear on the right
side of the Estimate module’s window.
3. Select Square Patch to enable the square patch option. For square patches, you do not
need to specify the non-resonating length of the patch, which would be entered in the
Vertical Length, W box.
4. Enter the frequency in the Frequency box, in GHz. This frequency is independent of the
maximum frequency entered in the solution setup.
5. Enter the dimension for the non-resonating edge of the rectangular patch in the Vertical
Length, W box. The number must be greater than 0. The units are the same as the current
working units.

For a rectangular patch, the resonating edge of the patch is along the horizontal, or x, direction
and the non-resonating edge is along the vertical, or y, direction. This box is disabled if the
Square Patch option is selected.

6. Enter the desired voltage standing wave ratio (VSWR) in the VSWR box. The number
entered must be greater than or equal to 1. This value is used to estimate the bandwidth of
the patch.
7. Enter the desired input impedance in the Input Impedance box, in ohms. The number you
specify must be greater than 0. This option is useful for finding an optimal location for feeding
or loading the patch. When the estimate is calculated, HFSS will estimate a location on the
patch where the input impedance is close to the value you specified.
8. Click Calculate to perform the estimate. The estimated information appears in the following
boxes:

Horizontal Displays the estimated length for the resonating edge of the patch antenna.
Length, L The units are the same as the current working units.
Bandwidth Displays the estimated bandwidth (in percent) at the VSWR setting you
(%) specified for the patch antenna.
Radiation Displays the estimated radiation efficiency (in percent) for the patch antenna.
Efficiency
(%)
Impedance Displays the approximate location on the patch where the input impedance is
Location close to the impedance you specified. This location is specified by a horizontal
offset and a vertical offset. The Horizontal Offset and Vertical Offset boxes
display these offset values. The horizontal offset value is the distance along
the x direction relative to the lower-left node of the patch. The vertical offset
value is the distance in the y direction relative to the lower-left node of the
patch. The unit for these boxes is the same as the current working unit.

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Using the Microwave Calculator

Use the Microwave Calculator menu to convert between common values. The following
commands are available:

Microwave Convert between mismatch loss in dB, reflection coefficient, return loss in dB,
Parameters and voltage standing wave ratio (VSWR).
dB/Ratio Convert between dB and ratio for both power and voltage values.
Exchange

Converting Between Microwave Parameters

Use this command to convert between the following common values:

l Mismatch loss in dB
l Reflection coefficient
l Return loss in dB
l Voltage standing wave ratio (VSWR)

To convert between the common microwave parameter values listed above:

1. Select the microwave parameter you want to convert - Mismatch Loss (dB), Return Loss
(dB), Reflection Coefficient, or Standing Wave Ratio. Mismatch Loss (dB) is selected
by default.

A value input box appears to the right, corresponding to the selected parameter.

2. Enter a value for the selected parameter in the value input box.
3. Click Calculate to calculate the equivalent values for the other three parameters.

The following equations are used when converting:

where

l RL is the return loss.

l RLdB is the return loss in dB.

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The equivalent values for the other three parameters appear below in the Estimate Results
area of the Estimate module.

Converting Between dB and Ratio

Use this command to convert dB and ratio for both power and voltage values.

To convert between dB and its ratio:

1. Select the parameter to convert from — either dB or Ratio. A value input box appears to the
right, corresponding to the selected parameter.
2. Enter a value for the parameter selected.
3. Click Calculate.
4. The calculated dB or ratio value appears below in the Estimate Results area of the Estimate
module.
5. Select the type of unit measurement, Power or Voltage, for the calculated value.:

Power Uses the power value, such as gain, for calculating dB:

Voltage Uses the voltage value, such as fields, for calculating dB:

The calculated results for the selected unit are shown above in the Estimate Results area of the
Estimate module.

Setting Up Excitations in HFSS 3D Layout

When you specify an excitation for a HFSS 3D Layout structure, HFSS uses the principle of linear
superposition to calculate the solution. The signal on each port and mode is solved for separately.
HFSS sets the signals on all non-zero modes and generates a solution. This procedure is repeated
with each port until a solution is generated for each.

Related Topics

Creating a Circuit Port

Creating a Pad Port

Creating a Probe Port

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Creating an Edge Port

Creating a Plane Wave

Creating Coupled Ports From Existing Edge Ports

Push Excitations to 3D Layout

Push Excitations to Dynamic Links

Push Excitations to Sub-Designs

Push Excitations with Thevenin Equivalent

Creating a Circuit Element

Edit Port Excitations

Changing the Reference Surface

Renormalizing S-Matrices

De-embedding S-Matrices

Reference to Nearest Negative Signal

Varying the Port Excitation

Differential Pairs

Creating a Circuit Port

To create a circuit port automatically referenced to the closest ground plane, select an edge of a
conductor, right-click and select Port > Create Circuit Ports from the floating menu.

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A circuit port will be created with the selected edge as its positive terminal and the nearest ground
plane as its negative terminal.

To create a circuit port between two edges, select a pair of edges from different conductors, right-
click and select Port > Create Circuit Ports from the floating menu.

The first selected edge defines the positive terminal and the second selected edge defines the
negative terminal of the port.

Circuit ports can also be introduced in a point-to-point manner. With no edges selected, right-click
and select Port > Create Circuit Ports from the floating menu.

Left-click on a conductor to select the positive terminal.

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Left-click on a second conductor to select the negative terminal.

A dialog box will appear that allows the selection of a layer for each terminal.

The edge port is listed under Excitations in the project tree. To edit the port’s properties, double-
click the edge port in the project tree. The Edge Port Definition dialog box appears.

You can perform the following functions:

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l Change the name of the port.

l Vary the current excitation.
l Renormalize the port to a specific port impedance.
l De-embed the port.

A port can be split across multiple signal layers. It can be made of up to three different line
segments on three different primitive objects. Ports located over apertures in negative signal
planes can generate incorrect results. HFSS will automatically display a warning message if
referencing a gap source to the nearest negative signal would produce such an error.

Note Renormalization is ignored if it is set to zero, but de-embedding is still honored. The
following warning message is produced for all ports with a zero post-processing
renormalization impedance: Zero impedance on port '<arg1>' is ignored; renormalization
will by skipped for this port.

Creating a Pad Port

1. Select the signal layer on which the pad port lies.
2. On the Edit menu, click Select Edges.
3. Click the edges of the model on which the port lies.

The edges do not need to be collinear.

4. On the Draw menu, click Port > Create.

The new pad port is listed under Excitations in the project tree.

HFSS will calculate a characteristic impedance of 50 ohms for the pad port. The propagation
constant is set to the propagation constant in Teflon, in order to agree with the propagation
constant of coaxial probe ports.

To edit the pad port’s properties, double-click the pad port in the project tree. The Edge Port
Definition dialog box appears, in which you can perform the following functions:

l Change the name of the pad port.

l Vary the current excitation.
l Renormalize the port to a specific port impedance.

Note The desktop automatically defines all ports that connect N-ports to primitive objects as pad
ports.

Creating a Probe Port

Warning In a stripline environment, the additional vertical current that results from using the
Reference option to the nearest negative signal may excite the parallel plate mode —
which could create inaccurate results.

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To create a probe port, you follow much the same procedure for drawing a via, but select
coaxialexcitation as the Excitation/load type.

1. Select a signal or negative signal layer to draw upon.

2. On the Draw menu, click Via.
3. Select the via’s center point using the mouse or the keyboard.
4. With a via selected, click Draw > HFSS 3D Layout Properties, or right-click the via and
choose HFSS 3D Layout Properties.
5. Select Coax Probe to convert the via to a coaxial probe.

Select Add HFSS 3D Layout Via to open the ViaProperties dialog:

The following controls are available.

Upper Layer Properties

6. Click the Upper Layer tab and do the following:

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a. Specify the top layer — a signal or negative signal layer — at which the via terminates.
b. Select a load type from the Excitation/load type pulldown menu. If the top layer
contains the load, select coaxial excitation as the load type. You may only define a load
at one end of the probe. The load on the other end is then set to zero.
c. If coaxialexcitation is not listed, check whether the coaxial excitation is defined at the
other end of the via. If coaxial excitation is not listed at either end of the via then the via
needs to be converted to a coaxial probe.
d. If you selected complex, type the real portion of the complex load in ohms in the Real
text box. Then type the imaginary portion of the complex load in ohms in the Complex
text box.
e. If you selected any RLC combination, do the following:
l Type the resistance value in ohms in the R text box. It must be a positive or zero
value.
l Type the inductance value in the L text box. It must be a positive or zero value.
l Type the capacitance in picofarads in the C text box. It must be a positive value.
f. Type the desired current in amps in the Magnitude text box.

Generally, use the default value of 1 mA. This specifies that the solution’s current is scaled in such a
way that the excitation current delivers 1 milliamp. To view the solution at another current, enter a
positive value. Only modes with non-zero magnitudes are used in post processing.

g. Type the phase in degrees.

h. Type the characteristic impedance in ohms.

Lower Layer Properties

1. Click the Lower Layer tab and do the following:

a. Specify the bottom layer — a signal or negative signal layer — at which the via
terminates
b. Select a load type from the Excitation/load type pulldown menu. If the bottom layer
contains the load, select coaxial excitation as the load type.
c. If you selected complex, type the real portion of the complex load in ohms in the Real
text box. Then type the imaginary portion of the complex load in ohms in the Complex
text box.
d. If you selected any RLC combination, do the following:
l Type the resistance value in ohms in the R text box. It must be a positive or zero
value.
l Type the inductance value in the L text box. It must be a positive or zero value.
l Type the capacitance in picofarads in the C text box. It must be a positive value.
e. Type the desired current in amps in the Magnitude text box.

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Generally, use the default value of 1 mA. This specifies that the solution’s current is scaled in such a
way that the excitation current delivers 1 milliamp. To view the solution at another current, enter a
positive value. Only modes with non-zero magnitudes are used in post processing.

f. Type the phase in degrees.

g. Type the characteristic impedance in ohms.

Physical Layer Properties

1. Click the Physical Properties tab and do the following:

a. Model using a wirebond — Vias are modeled as a wirebond; a single wire element
connecting the start and end of the via and intersecting all layers in between. This
modeling method is recommended when the diameter of the via is electrically small since
it is highly accurate and efficient. Vias used in designs that contain 3D objects will
automatically be modeled as two dimensional ribbons.
b. Mesh as a 3D Via — Vias are modeled as a ribbon (sides < 3) or a true three-
dimensional solid, depending on the number of sides specified. This modeling method
(with sides > 2) can be used for vias of any diameter, but may be inefficient if the via
diameter is small.

        — Number of sides: Defines the n-sided prism to use when meshing the via.

c. Via field — For a large number of vias filling a region, the Via field option simplifies the
field by thinning the vias within each via cluster on a layer. A cluster is defined as a group
of vias with roughly the same inter-via spacing. Thinning does not alter connectivity; all
geometry connected by a via remains connected.

        — Relative min. via spacing: Thinning is based on the minimum average via
             spacing across all layers. For a regularly spaced array of vias, this value is
             simply the via spacing. A value of ‘10’ in this field is interpreted as ’10 via
             spacings’, i.e. for a row of vias, only 1 in 10 vias will be used; for an area
             filled with vias, approximately 1 in 100 vias will be used. Since vias are
             thinned by cluster, and connectivity must be retained, the final pattern of
             vias may be denser than the requested value.

d. Click the Via material button at right. The material browser appears. Follow the
procedure for assigning a material.
2. Click OK. The probe port is listed under Excitations in the project tree. Double-click the entry
in the project tree to edit the probe port’s excitation properties. Additional properties are
available in the Properties window.

Individual settings for a via take precedence over the more general settings described above. The
meshing properties of an individual via are set through HFSS 3D Layout Properties. The HFSS 3D
Layout via properties may be removed from a via without removing the via. Older projects may
have existing HFSS 3D Layout via properties for all vias. By default, vias no longer automatically
receive HFSS 3D Layout via properties.When working with a Probe, you can select Draw >

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Toggle Between Pin and Via to convert the Pin to a Via and then reconfigure the Via settings
using the options described in Drawing a Via in the Layout Editor.

Warning If a probe port has been defined, all other ports in the model must be gap source ports.
You may not combine traditional edge ports, which have de-embedding arms, with
probe ports.

Creating an Edge Port

1. Select the signal layer on which the port lies.
2. On the Edit menu, click Select Edges.
3. Click the edges of the model on which the port lies.
4. On the Draw menu, click Port > Create.

The edge port is listed under Excitations in the project tree.

Creating a Plane Wave

(HFSS 3D Layout only)

A plane wave propagates in one direction, and is uniform in the directions perpendicular to its
propagation direction. The angle at which the plane wave impacts the device is known as the angle
of incidence.

To create a plane wave and specify its angle of incidence:

1. On the Draw menu, click Plane Wave Excitation.

The new plane wave is listed under Excitations in the project tree.

2. Specify the incident angle:

a. Double-click Plane Wave in the project tree to open the Setup Plane Wave Excitation
dialog box.
b. Enter the theta angle in radians in the Theta from z-axis text box; the theta angle must
be in the range of 0 to less-than pi-radians.
c. Enter the phi angle in radians in the Phi from x-axis text box; the phi angle must be in
the range of 0 to 2x pi-radians. (Note that units default to radians. However, degrees
may be used if ‘deg’ is appended as a suffix, e.g., 120deg.)
d. Click OK.

The plane wave is listed under Excitations in the project tree. The currents on the structure are
saved at every frequency. Large data files can be created for large structures. Double-click the
plane wave entry in the project tree to edit its excitation properties. The following controls are
available:

l Theta: angle in radians from the z-axis; must be in the range of 0 to less-than pi-radians.
l Phi: angle in radians from x-axis text box; must be in the range of 0 to 2x pi-radians.

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l PlaneWave:H Mag: magnitude of the excitation for the horizontal (TM) polarization.
l PlaneWave:H Phase: phase of the excitation for the horizontal (TM) polarization.
l PlaneWave:V Mag: magnitude of the excitation for the vertical (TE) polarization.
l PlaneWave:V Phase: phase of the excitation for the vertical (TE) polarization.

Note that angles default to radians; degrees may be used if 'deg' is appended as a suffix, e.g.,
120deg.

Related Topics

Incident Waves Theory

Creating Coupled Ports From Existing Edge Ports

To create coupled port from an existing Edge Port:

1. Create two or more Edge Ports using the procedure described in Creating an Edge Port.
2. Use the Select elements tool to select the Edge Ports that you want to include in the layout
editor. (Do not use the SelectEdges tool.) The ports must lie in the same plane, be collinear
and cannot touch.
3. Right-click Excitations in the project tree (or open the Draw menu) and select
CoupleEdgePorts. The coupled ports now share the same port name, but have different
terminal names: <PortName>:<TerminalName>.

To decouple ports, click one or more of the coupled ports and right-click Excitations in the project
tree (or open the Draw menu) and select Decouple Edge Ports. Alternately, you can also
decouple by selecting a port beneath Excitations in the project tree and selecting Decouple
Edge Port. You can also decouple by deleting one or more of the coupled ports.

Related Topics

Coupled Ports

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Push Excitations to 3D Layout Ports from Nexxim Solution

Excitations are calculated at the 3D Layout ports and are pushed within the same design.

The user can select “Push Excitations” from the right-click menu of a Nexxim solution. This opens
the Push Excitations Information dialog.

For pushing excitations to 3D Layout, there is a control for “Target Solution”. Its pulldown list shows
adaptive and discrete solutions that have the “save fields” option selected by default.

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The “Port Excitations” option in the right-click menu that is accessed from the Excitations folder
also allows users to edit excitations at 3D Layout ports.

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Voltages are extracted and a target solution is used to calculate the port excitations.

Data sets are created using these port excitations.

The excitation calculated for each port is also available from the “Port Excitations” dialog and from
Port Properties. Far Field plots and Field Overlays are updated with the new excitations.

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Push Excitations to Dynamic Links

Select a dynamic link in the Layout Editor. Then right-click to see the “Push Excitations” option; this
is only available if there are Nexxim solutions to be pushed.

Excitations that are pushed can be viewed in HFSS design.

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Push Excitations to Sub-Designs

Select a sub-design in Layout Editor. Right click to see the “Push Excitations” option; this is only
available if there are Nexxim solutions available to push.

Excitations that are pushed can be viewed by going to the sub-design and updating or plotting Far
Field and New Field plots or plots with currents. The Excitations panel in the sub-design will also
provide feedback if excitations have been pushed.

Push Excitations with Thevenin Equivalent

A Thevenin Equivalent is the efficiency and realized gain of an antenna in a circuit. The Thevenin
Equivalent calculation is supported only with a LNA solution. To capture the loss of any
intermediate circuitry, such as a matching circuit, the design needs to push incident power at the
Circuit ports and push the Thevenin Equivalent at the HFSS ports. These values can be computed
by HFSS.

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A push excitation with a Thevenin Equivalent is configured through a dynamic link, with the
complex impedance defined in the Circuit Tool and with the antenna defined as an HFSS dynamic-
link sub-circuit.

l In the Push Excitation Information dialog, the Calculate Thevenin Impedance

checkbox is “off” by default.

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l Thevenin impedance values are calculated per pin and are pushed to HFSS when the
check-box is selected. The impedance is 0 ohms for shorted pins and is inf ohms for open
pins. These values are functions of frequency.
l For an HFSS discrete sweep, the push excitations, available power, and Thevenin
impedances are at HFSS sweep frequencies. For all other cases, pushed data corresponds
to frequency points from the Nexxim solution.
l The pushed renormalized port-impedances can be examined at the port properties. Pushed
source-settings can be viewed in the Edit Post Process Sources dialog.
l For pushing excitations to 3D Layout, there is a control for Target Solution. Its pulldown list
shows adaptive and discrete solutions that have the Save Fields option selected by default.

Error Handling

l If errors are encountered while calculating the impedances, a message will be posted and
excitations will not be pushed.

l If invalid excitation values are pushed to HFSS, error messages will be posted and the
pushed values will not be applied. Examples of invalid excitation values include: 

-inf impedance values

<=0 system power

Creating a Circuit Element

To add an RLC circuit element to a design, right-click on Circuit Elements in the Project Manager
and select “Add Series RLC” or “Add Parallel RLC” as desired.

Then left-click to place the circuit element within the layout.

At any time, the properties of the circuit element can be modified by selecting it in the layout and
changing the values in the Properties window or by double-clicking the circuit element and
modifying the values in the Properties dialog box.

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To complete the definition of the circuit element each port must now be connected to an edge of a

conductor. To define this connection, select the icon and left-click on a port of the circuit
element to select it.

Now select the icon and left-click on an edge of a conductor to select it.

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Finally click the icon to create the connection.

If the connection is not visible, make sure visibility is selected for “Rats” in the Layout Window.
Repeat the same procedure to define a connection for the second terminal.

Related Topics

Auto Scale of Circuit Elements

Nport Circuit Elements

Auto Scale of Circuit Elements

When Auto Scale is enabled for a circuit element and two or more of the circuit element's pins are
connected, the circuit element is automatically scaled to fit the smaller of the dimensions of the
bounding box of the connections.

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Following is a circuit element with one connection.

The Auto Scale property is checked, so when the second connection is made, the circuit element is
automatically scaled to fit. The circuit element is not moved, so some manual adjustment in location
may be needed to match the pins to the connected location.

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There is a Layout option that specifies the default setting of the Auto Scale property for circuit
elements added to a layout. This option is found on the Object tab of the Layout Options dialog. The
option defaults to on.

Nport Circuit Elements

To add an Nport model to a design, right-click on Circuit Elements in the Project Manager window
and select “Add Nport Model”.

The Create Model Component dialog box will appear in which the component Model can be
created or edited, and an additional option controls the reference used to determine port voltages.

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To create a new Model, click the “Create new” button and the N-port data dialog box will appear.

From this dialog the component can either be defined by importing or linking to an existing definition
in a touchstone file, or by manually entering the S, Y, or Z Matrix entries into a spreadsheet.

Once the model has been created the component can be placed into a design and the ports
connected to edges of conductors as was the case for series and parallel RLC elements. There are
three cases to consider, based on the type of Reference Port selected in the Create Model
Component dialog. For “Implied reference to ground” each of N port connections must be defined.

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For “Show common reference port” an additional connection must be defined representing a
common reference for the definition of port voltages.

In this case the common reference is an edge in the ground plane. For “Add individual reference
pin per port” and additional N connections must be defined allowing for a different reference for
each port.

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In this case each port is referenced to a nearby edge in the ground plane.

Edit Port Excitations

Many of the excitation features described in the following sections can be accessed by right-clicking
the Excitations folder in the Project Manager.

Or can be accessed via the right-click menu for Excitations items and Boundaries items.

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Select Port Excitations to open the Edit Port Excitations dialog:

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You can use this dialog to modify port excitations, including post processing and renormalization
settings. Click Edit Options to open the Push Excitation Information dialog.

Note Renormalization is ignored if it is set to zero, but de-embedding is still honored. The
following warning message is produced for all ports with a zero post-processing
renormalization impedance: Zero impedance on port '<arg1>' is ignored; renormalization
will by skipped for this port.

Changing the Reference Surface

HFSS 3D Layout ports have traditionally been single-terminal excitations, in which the negative
polarity reference for a port defaults to an infinite negative signal layer or, in the absence of an
infinite negative signal layer, to a point infinitely far away from the port.

If your model has a two-terminal excitation, you can override this default behavior by designating
the voltage reference for the port. Typical applications include referencing one signal line to
another (a differential pair,) or referencing a trace to a finite negative signal, either in-plane (a
CPW) or out of plane (a finite negative signal antenna.)

To change a port’s voltage reference:

1. Select the edge on a signal layer that you want to be the reference surface.
2. Right-click the excitation in the project tree and select Add Reference.

The reference is changed to the edge you selected.

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Renormalizing S-Matrices
To renormalize an S-matrix to a specific port impedance:

1. Double-click the port in the project tree that you want to renormalize.

The Edge Port Definition dialog box appears.

2. Ensure that Post Process Port is selected (default).

3. The default impedance for re-normalization of each port is 50 ohms. Type the new
impedance in the Renormalize text box.
l If the impedance is a complex quantity, type the real part of the impedance to the left of a
plus sign (+) and the imaginary part of the impedance followed by i to the right of the plus
sign. For example, type 50 + 10i.
4. Click OK to renormalize the port to the new impedance.

You do not need to re-run a simulation in order to renormalize a port. The 2D Reporter
automatically updates its reports to reflect the renormalized S-matrix.

Note Renormalization is ignored if it is set to zero, but de-embedding is still honored. The
following warning message is produced for all ports with a zero post-processing
renormalization impedance: Zero impedance on port '<arg1>' is ignored; renormalization
will by skipped for this port.

Related Topics

Renormalized S-Matrices

De-embedding S-Matrices
To compute a de-embedded or phase-rotated S-matrix:

1. Double-click the port in the project tree that you want to de-embed.

The Edge Port Definition dialog box appears.

2. Select Post Process Port.

3. Enter the length of the transmission line to be added in the Deembed field.
4. Click OK to assign that length to the selected port.

The 2D Reporter automatically updates its reports to reflect the de-embedded S-matrix.

Note Renormalization is ignored if it is set to zero, but de-embedding is still honored. The
following warning message is produced for all ports with a zero post-processing
renormalization impedance: Zero impedance on port '<arg1>' is ignored; renormalization
will by skipped for this port.

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Related Topics

De-embedded S-Matrices

Using the Calibration Wizard

Reference to Nearest Negative Signal

When you setup excitations using the Edge Port Definition dialog, you can choose to select the
Reference option and specify the nearest negative signal. This option explicitly forces the
reference of a port to be located on the nearest negative signal plane, directly below (or above) the
port. A vertical trace connecting the port to its reference is added to the structure.

The Reference to a nearest negative signal option should be used when the port is over one-tenth
of a wavelength from the negative signal plane. If the port is closer than one-tenth of a wavelength,
referencing to the nearest negative signal is unnecessary.

Warning In a stripline environment, the additional vertical current that results from using the
Reference option to the nearest negative signal may excite the parallel plate mode —
which could create inaccurate results.

Varying the Port Excitation

You can vary the voltage applied to a model by scaling its magnitude and modifying its phase in the
Edge Port Definition dialog box. A schematic of an excitation is shown below. The voltage
source model is in series with an impedance that is equal to the characteristic impedance of the
port. Hence, renormalizing the port impedance will change the port excitation model.

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To vary the applied voltage at a port:

1. Double-click the edge port in the project tree. The Edge Port Definition dialog box
appears.

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2. For the ignore reference option:

l If not selected, the port and the reference plane are physically connected. For most cases,
this has better high frequency performance.
l If selected, the port and the reference plane are not connected. This is typically the better
option for a stripline environment since a vertical current between two infinite ground
planes can excite a parallel plate mode.
3. For the port solver option:
l If selected, the Z0 and gamma are calculated and the port is calibrated.
l If not selected, Z0 is user defined (default is 50) and the port is not calibrated.
4. In the Magnitude text box, enter the magnitude of the voltage applied at the port.

In general, you may use the default value of 1 volt. This specifies that the solution's current is
scaled so that the excitation source is 1 volt. To view the solution at a different excitation level,
enter a different positive value for Magnitude. Only modes with non-zero magnitudes are used
in post processing.

5. In the Phase text box, enter a phase of the voltage applied at the port.
6. Click OK.

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Differential Pairs
A differential pair signal resides on two conducting traces in the presence of a ground plane. To
form the differential pair, the transmitter launches a wave that carries equal but opposite voltages
on the two traces. For example, one trace is +1 volt and the other -1 volt. When two traces are
routed in close proximity to each other, the waves traveling on those traces will exhibit similar
amounts of system noise. A differential pair is an effective way to remove noise from a signal
because when a receiver processes a differential signal it simply subtracts the voltages from the
two traces. This can dramatically reduce the amount of noise in the differential signal compared to if
the traces were driven individually (single-ended signals).

In HFSS, a differential pair can be defined for two terminals residing in the same wave port or for
terminals that reside in two different wave ports or lumped ports. In the case of wave ports,
matched differential pairs can be defined by not renormalizing the wave ports involved in the
differential pair definitions.

Related Topics

Technical Notes: Computing Differential Pairs

Port Setup in HFSS 3D Layout

HFSS ports are created the same way as edge-ports, pad-ports, and pins in HFSS 3D Layout, and
the HFSS attributes and sizing information are all available as properties. The same considerations
for a successful port setup in HFSS-3D are required for HFSS. This includes port sizes,
appropriate return paths, and verifying port types as being appropriate for the particular application
that is being designed and simulated.

HFSS automates the following processes to ensure the successful setup of HFSS ports:

l Automatic reference location (with override option)

l Automatic port-geometry generation (with sizing override option)
l Automatic terminal identification
l Numerous pre-solve validation checks, with messaging to alert you when something is
wrong

The following sections describe the setup and usage of the various HFSS ports available in HFSS.

Related Topics

HFSS Port Types

Ports for Transmission Lines

Ports for Imported Package and PCB Structures

Interface Ports and Sources in 3D Layout

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Creating Pin-Based Ports

Configuring Port-Instance Ports

Gap (coax) Ports

Horizontal Lumped Ports

CPW and Slotline Ports

Configuring Multiple Ports

Validating Connectivity and Return Paths

Exposing Horizontal Lumped Ports in Hierarchy

HFSS Port Types

The HFSS port types available in HFSS support configurations that are common for the excitation
of most layered designs.

l Wave ports are available to excite common transmission-line cross sections.

l Lumped ports are available to excite internal structures or transmission lines, and can be
vertical, horizontal, or “coaxial”.
l A “parallel” excitation exists for the HFSS 3D Layout so that two solvers are available for
one design setup.

The following HFSS port types are available in HFSS:

l Ports for Transmission Lines

l Ports for Imported Package and PCB Structures
l Creating Pin-Based Ports
l Configuring Port-Instance Ports
l Gap(coax) Ports
l Horizontal Lumped Ports
l CPW and Slotline Ports

Ports for Transmission Lines

HFSS ports for transmission lines can be set up as single-line or multi-line edge ports by selecting:

1. Click Edit > Select Edges

2. Select Draw > Port > Create

The port geometry is vertically oriented.

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The port reference is specified in the Properties Window and choices are validated dynamically
against layout geometry.

If the port reference is not previously set, it defaults to the closest negative signal layer.

Related Topics

Single-Line Transmission Line Ports

Multi-Line Transmission Line Ports

Single-Line Transmission Line Ports

When configuring HFSS ports as single-line transmission ports, the edge selections must be a
continuous, co-linear set of segments.

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To convert between a lumped-gap and a wave port, toggle the HFSS Type Attribute in the HFSS
3D Layout Properties. The 3D view will be updated automatically. Additional properties that can be
set include:

— General properties: —

l Reference -choose geometry/layer for vertical constraint

l Impedance -if Z0 cannot be determined from port solution
l Post-processor –renomalization and deembedding

— Gap —

l Orientation (read only)

— Wave —

l Orientation (read only)

l Horizontal Extent Factor –if applicable, sizing parameter for vertical wave ports
l PEC Launch Width –dimension for port-geometry thickness

The following pre-simulation validation checks apply:

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l Port geometry may not intersect other port geometry

l Port geometry may not intersect layout geometry
l Wave ports may not contain “floating” terminal geometry

Multi-Line Transmission Line Ports

When configuring HFSS ports as multi-line transmission ports, wave ports are created by default,
but can be “decoupled” to create a collection of lumped-gap ports. To decouple a multi-line coupled
port:

1. Select the port graphically, or click Layout > List and then select the port
2. Click Draw > Decouple Edge Ports

Similarly, ports may also be coupled using Draw > Couple Edge Ports. Edge selection must be
co-linear, but can span multiple planes.

The following pre-simulation validation checks apply:

l Geometry intersections
l Floating terminals

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Solution will always be terminal, but differential-pairs may be configured separately using the
Differential Pairs dialog.

Ports for Imported Package and PCB Structures

From a geometrical perspective, a pin is nothing more than a via. However, pins must also provide
a logical interface (i.e. a port) to the design in the schematic view. This means that all pins must
publish an external port and the associated geometry for HFSS analysis.

Pins are crucial in HFSS because they are a fundamental element in most layout data models, so
any translated designs will likely include them. While it is possible to interactively assign ports
based on edges and primitive geometry, this approach scales poorly, particularly when pins
already exist. Also, in HFSS, pins can be toggled to create internal PEC or RLC boundary
conditions just like HFSS-3D.

Interface Ports and Sources in 3D Layout

Interface ports and sources (interface and ground) can be added to a 3D Layout design. This
applies to any Nexxim solution in 3D Layout (Transient or LNA). Creating interface ports and
sources is necessary to drive Nexxim simulation from 3D Layout.

To place an interface port, click on the toolbar icon or use the right-click menu and select from the
Interface Ports submenu.

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Interface and ground ports can be connected to 3D Layout ports.

l Add Interface Ports at Unconnected Pins: Automatically create interface ports on

unconnected port instances for the selected component(s).
l Add Grounds at Unconnected Pins: Automatically create circuit grounds on
unconnected port instances for the selected component(s).

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Interface Ports

Once interface ports are placed in layout, an Interface Ports item appears in the project tree.

l Properties: Invokes the Interface Port dialog; the user can add interface sources from this
dialog.

Interface Sources

When interface sources have been added to ports, they appear under this project tree item.

Netlisting for Interface Ports and Grounds

To see how ports and grounds are netlists, RMC on the LNA or Transient setup to browse the
netlist. Netlisting for ports, sources, and grounds is similar to that of a Circuit Design.

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Creating Pin-Based Ports

To create a new pin:

1. Click Draw > Pin and place the pin at the desired location in the Layout Editor.
2. Set the PadstackDefinition or Usage in the Footprint Properties. Clicking Padstack
Definition will open the padstack definition library where you can select a different pre-
defined padstack. Clicking the Padstack Usage button will open the Padstack Editor where
you can modify the padstack used by this pin.
3. Select the terminal Location by setting the Pad port layer. The Pad port layer selection
will not be displayed if the padstack has no pads. Click the Padstack Usage button to adjust
the padstack if desired.

Configuring Pin-Based Ports

The following settings apply to pin-based ports.

— HFSS 3D Layout Properties —

l Pad port layer: Sets the terminal location and pad-geometry used for derivation of the HFSS
port.
l Reference: If applicable, choose the geometry or layer for vertical constraint.
l HFSS Type: Either Gap or Gap(coax).
l Gap:

— Orientation (read only)

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— Layer Alignment: If applicable, choose layer surface for port-geometry.

l Gap(coax)

— Orientation (read only)

— Layer Alignment: If applicable, choose layer surface for port-geometry.

— Radial Extent Factor: Sizing parameter for port-geometry radius.

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Configuring Port-Instance Ports

Using the following right-click menu port commands, you can configure Port-Instance Ports in
Layout.

Create a Port-Instance Port on a Port Instance

1. Select a port instance with no nets associated.

2. Select Right-click > Port > Create.

A Port-Instance Port is created and selected; the property window displays the properties of the
port.

Remove a Port-Instance Port from a Port Instance

1. Select a port instance or a port-instance port.

2. Select Right-click > Port > Remove

The port is removed.

Create Port-Instance Ports on a Component

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1. Select component(s).
2. Select Right-click > Port > Create Ports on Component

Creates ports on all the unconnected port instances of the selected component(s).

Remove Port Instance Ports from a Component

1. Select a component.
2. Select Right-click > Port > Remove Ports From Component

Removes all Port-Instance Ports from the component.

Gap(coax) Ports
The Gap(coax) lumped port is commonly used to excite terminals at package interfaces. Common
applications include excitation of vias, bondwires, and solderballs. Ports create circular geometry,
the 2D cross-section for which should resemble a coaxial conductor.

The following pre-simulation validation checks apply:

l Port geometry does not intersect other port geometry

l Circumference is wholly contained by conductor

Note that, unlike other port types, terminal identification is performed post-mesh by the solver.

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Terminal Assignments in Gap(coax) Ports

Because the terminal geometry of Gap(coax) ports often originates from unrelated and/or 3D
structures, their identification and most validation checks are deferred to post-mesh. The port-
solver searches for a valid terminal that is interior to the port-face in order to generate an
appropriate field distribution. Various checks are included, and accurate messaging is provided. If
applicable, pay particular attention to the LayerAlignment property, since the port face must
contain the terminal geometry.

Horizontal Lumped Ports

It is possible to configure an HFSS port to be a horizontal lumped port. Any existing edge port or pin
may be assigned a reference segment:

1. Select the port you want to assign a reference to, either graphically or by clicking Layout >
List
2. Select the reference edge
3. Click Draw > Port > Assign Reference

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Reference assignment for an edge-port requires a coplanar and parallel edge to realize valid port-
geometry. Reference assignment to a pin can tolerate some geometry overlap.

CPW and Slotline Ports

CPW and Slotline Ports are allowed and can be configured in light of the following.

l On a Negative Signal layer, edge selections must be co-linear and co-planar.

l The CPW mode can also be solved on a Signal layer by selecting only the single conductor
and sizing the port appropriately.
l Various configurations using lumped-gap ports are possible.

Configuring Multiple Ports

It is possible to configure many HFSS ports at once. All port attributes exist as HFSS 3D Layout
properties. The displayed property tab is a union of properties for the active selection set. To edit

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many ports at once, multi-select and change the properties all at once.

Finer control for selection is available by:

l Editing layer selectability using the Layout tab or Layers dialog.

l Using the List dialog

Validating Connectivity and Return Paths

To validate connectivity and return paths:

1. Select any geometry of interest on the net.

2. Click Layout > Nets > Select Physically Connected

Selection, net highlighting, transparency, Z-scaling, and cross-sectioning in the 3D view are also
very useful for examining complex geometry.

Note Not all geometry types work with the Select Physically Connected command.
Connections through bondwires, solderballs, and 3D-extrusions cannot be tracked.

Exposing Horizontal Lumped Ports in Hierarchy

l If a top-level port exposes a port in hierarchy, and that port has an explicit horizontal
reference, then the Use Hierarchy Reference property will appear. If this option is
selected, then the original reference geometry within hierarchy (i.e. within the sub-circuit)
is used.

Note Enabling the reference in hierarchy will result in the removal of the properties: Reference,
PortSolver, Ignore Reference, and Pad port layer.

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Adding a Solution Setup for HFSS 3D Layout

After you draw a model and define its excitations, you need to specify how HFSS 3D Layout will
compute the solution. You can define more than one set of solution parameters to solve. Each
solution set appears as one setup in the project tree. You can choose multiple types of analysis
setup for an HFSS 3D Layout depending on the solver you wish to use. Time Domain
Reflectometer (TDR) plots are available for LNA and imported solutions in HFSS 3D Layout.

To Add a Solution Setup to a Design

Each set of solution parameters to be solved by HFSS 3D Layout is listed as a setup under
Analysis in the Project Tree. To add a new solution setup to a project using initial meshing tools:

l On the HFSS 3D Layout menu, point to Solution Setup and click one of the following,
Or right-click Analysis in the Project Tree and click one of the following,
Or click the toolbar icon for one of the following:

     Add HFSS Solution Setup

     Add Planar EM Solution Setup
     Add SIwave Solution Setup
     Add LNA Solution Setup

A Solution Setup dialog box opens.

The easiest way to set up a solution is to accept the Fixed Mesh and Frequency defaults that
appear in the HFSS 3D Layout or HFSS setup dialog box and then click OK , which automatically
opens the Sweep dialog. Simply click OK to accept the sweep with the suggested defaults.
Alternately, you can change the default values or add more setups by referring to one or more of
the following sections.

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Related Topics

HFSS Solution Setup

SIwave Solution Setup

Planar EM Solution Setup

LNA Solution Setup

Transient Analysis Setup

AMI Analysis Setup

Eye Sources and Probes

QuickEye and VerifEye Setup in HFSS 3D Layout

Simulation Setup Context Menus

Sanitize Layout

Disabling an Analysis Setup

Adding a Frequency Sweep

Disabling a Frequency Sweep

Clean Up Solutions

Subcircuit Optimization in HFSS 3D Layout and Nexxim

HFSS Solution Setup

To add a new solution setup to a project, use one of the following:

l Click HFSS 3D Layout > Solution Setup > Add HFSS Solution Setup
l In the Project Tree, Right-ClickAnalysis > Add HFSS Solution Setup
l Click the toolbar icon for Add HFSS Solution Setup

The HFSS setup dialog box appears.

Related Topics

HFSS Setup: General Tab

HFSS Setup: Options Tab

HFSS Setup: Advanced Tab

HFSS Setup: Advanced Meshing Tab

HFSS Setup: Solver Tab

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HFSS Setup: Defaults Tab

Meshing in HFSS 3D Layout

HFSS Model Extents

Adaptive Pass Solution

HFSS Setup: General Tab

Click the General tab of the Add HFSS 3D Layout Solution Setup dialog to access the following
settings.

The layout of the dialog changes depending on whether the Advanced button is selected. Some of
the options described below are shared by both the Advanced and Basic dialogs. The following
options are available.

— Basic HFSS Setup —

l SetupName: name of the setup; must be unique.

l Enabled: if not enabled, this setup cannot be analyzed and will be not included in a general
“Analyze” of all setups.
l Solution Frequency: specify the frequency and units at which to generate the solution. If a
frequency sweep is solved, an adaptive analysis is performed only at the solution frequency.
l Maximum Number of Passes: the maximum number of mesh refinement cycles that you
would like HFSS to perform. This value is a stopping criterion for the adaptive solution; if the
maximum number of passes has been completed, the adaptive analysis stops. If the
maximum number of passes has not been completed, the adaptive analysis will continue
unless the convergence criteria are reached.
l Maximum Magnitude Delta S: the magnitude of the change of the S-parameters between
two consecutive adaptive passes. The Maximum Delta S is a stopping criterion for the
adaptive solution. If the magnitude of the change of all S-parameters are less than this value
from one iteration to the next, the adaptive analysis stops. Otherwise, it continues until the
requested number of passes is completed.
l Save currents for last adaptive pass: Allows plotting of currents data in the reporter for
the last adaptive simulation. Note: If this option is not selected, the adaptive refined meshes
will not be available for display.
l Use Defaults: the Target defaults depend on the Order of Basis function selections. For
example, for Driven solutions and a First Order basis function, the default target is 0.3333;
HFSS will refine the mesh until most element lengths are approximately one-third
wavelength.

— Advanced HFSS Setup —

Clicking the Advanced button will change the layout of the dialog to show the following options.

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l Frequency: The adaptive frequency for refinement

l Max Passes:The maximum number of mesh refinement cycles that you would like HFSS to
perform. This value is a stopping criterion for the adaptive solution; if the maximum number
of passes has been completed, the adaptive analysis stops. If the maximum number of
passes has not been completed, the adaptive analysis will continue until the convergence
criteria are reached.
l Output Var.: A button containing 'Add...' to add output variables to the refinement criteria
for that frequency or 'Edit...' to edit the output variables for that refinement criteria. Selecting
this option will bring up the Advanced Mesh Convergence dialog or will display the error
message 'You must have at least one output variable defined' if you have no output variables
defined in your design. You may also receive the error 'You must have at least one output
variable defined that returns a single real value (as opposed to complex, etc)'.

— Output Variable: Displays the name of the output Variable

— Include: Displays a check box indicating whether or not to include the value of this
output variable in the mesh convergence calculations.

— Max Delta: The maximum amount of change desired in the output variable
between adaptive passes. It is a stopping criterion for the adaptive solution. If the
output variable changes from one iteration to the next by an amount that is less than
Max Delta, the adaptive solution

l AddFrequency: To add a new frequency to the table click the AddFrequency button
under the table
l RemoveFrequency: To remove a selected frequency from the table, click the
RemoveFrequency button under the table.

HFSS Setup: Advanced Tab

Click the Advanced tab of the Add HFSS 3D Layout Solution Setup dialog to access the following
settings.

l Form polygon unions before meshing: specifies whether all objects are combined or
“unioned” before meshing takes place. This can simplify the mesh; it can, however, also
remove internal boundaries that may be desirable. “Unioning” is a complex operation and
sensitive to almost coincident edges; it some instances, a union may produce undesirable
results. Inspecting the mesh is a simple way to verify the operation.
l Use polygon defeaturing: removes very close points, points that don't contribute to the
geometry of an edge (e.g. collinear), and very thin intrusions. When used with “unioning”, it
can be helpful in healing geometry that isn't snapped together.
l Tolerance as a ratio of the data exent: tolerance value specified as a ratio of the
overall data extent; this value must necessarily be very small.
l Absolute distance: tolerance specified as an absolute value, e.g. 0.0001mm

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l Vias: vias may be modeled as a simple 'wirebond' or as a 3D ribbon or solid. Note: the
values specified in the analysis setup only apply to vias that do not have specific property
overrides; all properties explicitly specified for a via take precedence over these values.
l Mesh as a 3D via: vias are modeled using rectangles to form a 3D ribbon or solid.

— Number of sides: number of sides to use when creating the 3D representation; if

less than 3, the via is modeled as a flat ribbon.

l Via field: it may be possible to reduce the density of via fields and model them using
wirebonds without significant loss in accuracy.

— Relative min. via spacing: defines a radius around a via; any via that falls within
that radius is eliminated. The value specified is a multiple of the average via spacing
(the algorithm considers the averages for all via clusters and uses the minimum
average spacing). If all vias are spaced equally, then a value of 1 would knock out
every other via; a value of 2 would filter out 2 vias between each via.

l Via material default: when a material hasn't been specified in the padstack definition
and there is no override in the properties for a via, then this will be the material associated
with the via mesh.

HFSS Setup: Options Tab

Click the Options tab of the Add HFSS 3D Layout Solution Setup dialog to access the following
settings.

l Initial Mesh Options: options that define the initial mesh (before adaption).
l Do Lambda Refinement: Lambda refinement is the process of refining the initial mesh
based on the material-dependent wavelength.
l Lambda Target: the fraction of the wavelength that determines the refined tetrahedra
edge length, e.g. if the value is '0.1' then a edge length of 0.1* is used as the refinement
target.
l Use Defaults: the Target defaults depend on the Order of Basis function selections. For
example, for Driven solutions and a First Order basis function, the default target is 0.3333;
HFSS will refine the mesh until most element lengths are approximately one-third
wavelength.

Adaptive Options:

l Maximum Refinement Per Pass: determines how many tetrahedra are added at each
iteration of the adaptive refinement process. The tetrahedra with the highest error will be
refined. The value is a percentage.
l Maximum Refinement: the maximum number of tetrahedra that can be added during an
adaptive pass. By default, this unchecked, to that there is no maximum. If you enable the
Maximum Refinement, the initial value is 1000000.

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l Minimum Number of Passes: the maximum number of mesh refinement cycles that you
would like HFSS to perform. This value is a stopping criterion for the adaptive solution; if
the maximum number of passes has been completed, the adaptive analysis stops. If the
maximum number of passes has not been completed, the adaptive analysis will continue
unless the convergence criteria are reached.
l Minimum Converged Passes: an adaptive analysis will not stop unless the minimum
number of converged passes has been completed. The convergence criteria must be met
for at least this number of passes before the adaptive analysis will stop

HFSS Setup: Advanced Meshing Tab

Click the Advanced Meshing tab of the Add HFSS 3D Layout Solution Setup dialog to access the
following settings.

l Circle and arc approximation: circles and arcs must be replaced with straight edge
approximations before meshing. There is no attempt to match areas; points are simply
introduced on the original arc at the locations specified by the following parameters.
l Arc setup size: the angular interval below which mesh points are added.
l Starting azimuth for circles: specifies the location of the first mesh point or circles.
l Maximum number of arc points: the maximum number of mesh points on a given arc
segment.
l Use arc to chord error approximation technique for arc: the resulting straight edge
approximation will not deviate from the original arc by more than the specified error.

— Maximum arc to chord error: maximum distance permissible between a

straight edge approximation (the chord) and the original arc.

l Mesh Display Attributes: controls the mesh overlay in Layout.

l Color: the mesh is drawn in the specified color; in Layout3D the layer color is used for the
mesh.

HFSS Setup: Solver Tab

Click the Solver tab of the Add HFSS 3D Layout Solution Setup dialog to access the following
settings.

Port Options

l Maximum Delta Zo: change to Zo specified as a target percentage. The default is 2%.
l Use Radiation Boundary On Ports: If the design includes wave ports, the Use
Radiation Boundary is enabled.

— If you select this setting, edges which are assigned to ABC and touch a port have a
radiation boundary condition applied during the port solution.

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— If you do not select the setting, a perfect conducting boundary condition is used
during the port calculations.

— In most cases this setting has a limited effect on the overall fields or post
processed quantities.

l Set Triangles for Wave Port: controls the number of triangles used for a wave port. For
designs with lumped ports, this option is not active. Higher numbers of triangles would not
benefit a solution setup in this case.

— Min: minimum number of triangles on the wave port face.

— Max: maximum number of triangles on the wave port face.

Modeling Options

l Signal layers thinner than <value> are modeled as zero thickness: negative signal
layers in the design which are thinner than the given value are modeled as being infinitely
thin in order to reduce simulation time.
l Dielectrics thinner than <value> are merged with an adjacent: dielectric layers in
the design which are thinner than the given value are merged into an adjacent dielectric;
material properties are accumulated using a weighted average.

Solution Options

l Order of Basis Functions: the order of the basis functions HFSS uses to interpolate
field values from nodal values. The Zero order option is useful when a model requires a
mesh that produces more than 100,000 tetrahedra, but the model size is small compared
to wavelength. The higher order options solve progressively more unknowns for each
tetrahedra. Mixed order uses higher order where more accuracy is required, and lower
order where fields are weaker.
l Enable Iterative Solver: the iterative solver provides an alternative to the multi-frontal
solver when a matrix is well-conditioned for an iterative solution. The iterative solver
significantly reduces memory usage, and it can also provide a savings in the solution time
for large simulations. When this option is enabled, HFSS automatically invokes the
iterative solver when it decides that the matrix is conditioned well enough to take
advantage of the iterative approach. HFSS uses the multi-frontal solver if the matrix does
not meet this requirement.

— Relative Residual: The residual measures the convergence of the iterative

solver. The default value is 1E-4.

HPC Licensing Options

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l If you are solving an HFSS Transient problem, the solver will not checkout hfss_solve
(regular solve license). We will only checkout a hfss_transient_solve license. For HFSS
Transient problems and HFSS array problems, we will always use HPC licenses for
multiprocessing (even if you have NOT chosen the Use HPC licenses for
multiprocessing and distributed frequency points option).
l For HFSS-IE problems an hfssie_solve license is required. For HFSS problems with
radiation boundaries and Use IE Formulation checked, a hfssie_solve license is required
in addition to the hfss_solve.
l Number of Machines => the number of machines listed in the Distributed Machine
Configuration in the General Options.
l For multiprocessing and frequency sweeps, check Use HPC licenses for
multiprocessing and distributed frequency points. This option also enables an
additional check box, Enable distributed Optimetrics using DSO license.
l If you have a DSO license, checking Enable distributed Optimetrics using DSO
License will distribute at the highest level (i.e. distribute the variations), which is most
efficient.
l If you have HPC and no DSO, clear the Enable distributed Optimetrics using DSO
License option so that HPC can be used to distribute frequency sweeps in an Optimetrics
solution.

HFSS Setup: Defaults Tab

Click the Defaults tab of the Add HFSS 3D Layout Solution Setup dialog to access the following
settings.

Use the Defaults tab of the HFSS Setup dialog to:

l Save Defaults: Save user-defined defaults based on the data for this setup (for all tabs).
l Revert to Standard Defaults: Clear any existing user-defined defaults (for all tabs).

Meshing in HFSS 3D Layout

Automatic adaptive meshing in HFSS is an essential and integral part of the simulation process. An
appropriate mesh that supports electromagnetic FEM calculations is essential for obtaining
accurate results. In HFSS, meshes are produced automatically, ensuring efficient simulations in
generating highly accurate results. During the simulation process, HFSS creates the initial mesh
and then starts the adaptive refinement process in which Maxwell’s Equations are solved and the
mesh is intelligently refined. This adaptive refinement process continues until the solution is
converged and accurate.

Related Topics

Single Mesh with 3D Placement

HFSS 3D Layout Mesh Seeding

Revert to Initial Mesh

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Create Mesh Plot

HFSS Mesh Errors

Single Mesh with 3D Placement

Sub-designs with 3D placement must typically be solved independently. If, however, the 3D
orientation does not rotate the sub-design out of the X-Y plane, then it will be meshed and included
in the analysis of the parent. The user may override this by selecting the "SolveIndependent"
property for the sub-design. A design will remain in the X-Y plane if there are no rotations about the
X or Y axes, or if those rotations are 180 degrees, i.e. the design is flipped about X or Y.

HFSS 3D Layout Mesh Seeding

Each HFSS Setup can be assigned a sequence of mesh operations. Within HFSS 3D Layout,
Length Based Mesh Refinement is supported. Due to the manner in which HFSS 3D Layout pre-
processes geometry and assembles mesh entities, mesh operations are assigned to net-layer
pairs.

To assign a mesh operation to an existing HFSS Setup:

1. In the Layout editor, pick any selectable(s) on the net-layer pair(s) for assignment. This is
optional. The selection will be used to initialize the assignment dialog.

2. Right-mouse click on the HFSS Setup and choose Mesh Operations > Assign >
On/Inside Selection > Length Based

3. Select the desired net-layer pairs and assign the seeding attributes.

a. On Selection

i. To restrict the length of tetrahedra edges touching the faces:

1. Select Restrict Length of Elements.

2. Type the maximum length of the tetrahedral edges touching the faces in
the Maximum Length of Elements text box.

HFSS will refine the element edges touching the selected faces until their
lengths are equal to or less than this value.

ii. To restrict the number of elements added during refinement of faces:

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1. Select Restrict the Number of Elements.

2. Enter the Maximum Number of Elements to be added.

When the mesh is generated, the refinement criteria specified is used. If

the maximum number of elements is reached, some elements may
exceed the requested maximum element length.

b. Inside Selection

i. To restrict the length of the tetrahedral element edges inside the object:

1. Select Restrict Length of Elements.

2. Type the maximum length of the edges inside the selection in Maximum
Length of Elements text box.

ii. To restrict the number of elements added during the refinement inside the
object:

1. Select Restrict the Number of Elements.

2. Enter the Maximum Number of Elements to be added.

Related Topics

Plotting the Mesh

Technical Notes: Length-Based Mesh Refinement

Technical Notes: Seeding the Mesh

Technical Notes: Guidelines for Seeding the Mesh

Technical Notes: The Mesh Generation Process

Revert to Initial Mesh

For HFSS setups, if you do not want to use the existing current mesh, you can revert to the initial
mesh before starting a solve.

Reverting to the initial mesh deletes all solution data for a solve setup and all of its sweeps. Only the
initial mesh information is saved. The next time a solve is started, it starts from the lambda mesh
refinement.

Note This feature is the same as the initial mesh feature in HFSS, except that it is not available
for all setups at once. You can revert to initial mesh for HFSS setups one at a time.

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Create Mesh Plot

To create a mesh plot, right click Field Overlays in the Project Tree and select Plot Mesh to
open the Create Mesh Plot dialog.

The dialog is used to specify choices for the mesh plot: name, related solution, and which nets on
layers to plot.

l Show nets selected for plot always keeps columns for nets that are selected on any
layer visible — even if they would normally not be shown because of the current net filter.
l Net filter involves enhanced wild card filtering is used to choose which nets are shown in
the dialog by using wild cards and characters; the two wild cards supported are * and ?.
For more information, see Regular Expressions for Nets below.

There is a right click menu in the dialog that gives options for selecting the nets for various layers.
There is also a menu item for changing the column size so that net names are fully visible. This is
useful if there are so many nets choices that when they are all shown in the dialog, the net names
are not fully visible. After creating the mesh plot, there is a new Mesh item in the project tree.

The right click menu for the Mesh item is the parent to all of the existing mesh plots.

l Delete — Deletes all of the mesh plot items.

l Plot Mesh — Opens the Create Mesh Plot dialog.
l Modify Attributes — Open the Modify Attributes dialog (see below).
l Update Plots — This will refresh the mesh if it is invalid.

The right click menu on a mesh plot project tree item:

l Plot Visibility — Turns on/off the mesh plot drawing in the layout.
l Plot Mesh — Opens the Create Mesh Plot dialog.
l Modify Attributes — Open the Modify Attributes dialog.
HFSS Mesh Errors

For a given HFSS Setup, in the event of a failure or a difficult mesh, errors, warnings and
information may be generated. When available, this feedback can be accessed in the Project Tree
by right-mouse-clicking on the HFSS Setup and choosing Browse Mesh Errors. This invokes the
Mesh Error Browser dialog:

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For each Mesh Error, a brief description is provided. When a given error is selected in the dialog,
details and dimensional attributes for the contributing bodies will be displayed. When one or more
Type entities are selected, a graphical overlay will be displayed in the Layout view to better
visualize the feedback.

l Auto zoom to selection: Enable this setting to dynamically zoom the Layout view based
on the error that is selected in the dialog.

HFSS Model Extents

The HFSS 3D Layout type can be simulated directly using HFSS. To achieve this, the bounding
computational region (extents) for HFSS must be defined. To access the setup dialog for HFSS
Model Extents, select HFSS 3D Layout > HFSS Extents when an HFSS 3D Layout is active.
Alternatively, HFSS Extents can be accessed from the Project Manager tree by right-clicking on
the HFSS 3D Layout and selecting HFSS Extents. This opens the Set HFSS Model Extents
dialog.

The following controls are available:

Type: Specifies the method used to derive the base-polygon for the extents region.

l Bounding Box: The base-polygon is calculated as the bounding box of all active layout
geometry across all layers.

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l Conformal: The base-polygon is calculated as the union of all active layout geometry
across all layers.
l Convex Hull: The base-polygon is calculated as the convex hull of all active layout
geometry across all layers.
l Polygon: The base-polygon can be selected from all polygons present on user layer
types.

Polygon: The user polygon to be used.

Note Dynamic updates of conformal HFSS extents can adversely affect Layout performance.
Performance may be improved by setting Type to BoundingBox or by disabling dynamic
extent rendering via Layout > Draw HFSS Air Box.

Dielectric: Defines how the polygon for dielectric and negative signal layers will be generated
relative to the base-polygon.

l Horizontal Padding: An expansion factor (unitless fraction) or absolute offset (e.g. 1mm,
20um) to be applied to the base-polygon in constructing HFSS geometry for dielectric
layers.
l Honor primitives on dielectric layers: If checked and layout geometry is present on a
dielectric layer, that geometry will be created for the HFSS simulation. If not checked, the
geometry will be ignored and an expanded base-polygon will be created.

Airbox: Defines how the airbox will be generated relative to the base-polygon.

l Truncate model at negative signal layers: If checked and negative signal layers are
present such that regions above or below are electromagnetically isolated from all
sources, cap the simulation volume at these elevations. Any horizontal padding on the
airbox will be ignored.
l Horizontal Padding: An expansion factor or absolute offset to be applied to the
dielectric-polygon in constructing the HFSS geometry for the airbox.
l Vertical: Expansion factors for the Z-dimension.

— Positive Padding: Expansion factor or absolute offset for the +Z dimension of the
airbox. When applying as an expansion factor, the base dimension is the maximum of either
length or width of the dielectric-polygon.

— Negative Padding: Expansion factor or absolute offset for the -Z dimension of the
airbox.

— Sync: Synchronize Positive and Negative Padding settings.

Use Defaults: Populate the Extents settings from the user's saved defaults.

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Click the Defaults tab to display the following.

Use the Defaults tab of the Set HFSS Model Extents dialog to:

• Save Defaults: Save user-defined defaults based on the data for this setup (for all tabs).

• Revert to Standard Defaults: Clear any existing user-defined defaults (for all tabs).

Adaptive Pass Solution

For HFSS setups, there is an extra solution “Adaptive Pass” where you can plot S-parameter data
for all adaptive solutions. The primary sweep is “pass” which can be swept from 1 to the number of
adaptive passes in the setup.

SIwave Solution Setup

The SIwave SYZ solver provides fast and accurate full-wave 2.5D extraction of frequency-
dependent parameters. SIwave SYZ calculates frequency-dependent scattering S-parameters for
signal integrity and EMI investigations, as well as board-level power supply impedance modeling.
The SYZ solver uses sources defined in SIwave or via push excitations from ANSYS Electronics
Desktop.

The SIwave field solver employs meshing algorithms to solve both planar objects and 3D objects
such as vias and solder balls. SIwave solver is the primary solver for signal integrity analyses of
packages, PCBs, and PCB systems.

The SIwave SYZ extractor is a high-speed hybrid solver for medium and large-scale analysis of
PCBs and packages.

To compute the S-,Y-, and Z-parameters:

1. Right-click on Analysis in the Project Manager and select Add SIwave Solution Setup.
The SIwave Solution Setup dialog box appears, with the General tab selected:

General Tab

1. Select either SI simulation or the PI simulation, and move the corresponding slider if you
want to increase speed or accuracy.

For SI simulations:

l Optimum speed means only trace coupling will be selected.

l Balanced means trace, coplane, split-plane and Cavity field coupling will also be
selected.
l Optimum accuracy means trace return current distribution will also be selected.

For PI simulations:

l Optimum speed means no coupling options will be selected.

l Balanced means Cavity field coupling will be selected.

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l Optimum accuracy means trace, coplane, and split-plane coupling will also be selected.

The HPC and Analysis Options button will bring up the dialog to add or edit the HPC options.

Advanced Tab

1. Optionally, click Custom to configure the advanced solver settings in the SI/PI Advanced
tab. Some options are always available, and certain other options can be selected only if this
Custom check box has been selected.
2. Specify the SI/PI advanced options in the Advanced tab.

DC Tab

3. In the DC tab:
a. Move the slider to increase either speed or accuracy.
l Optimum speed means all options in the DC Advanced tab are turned off.
l Balanced means the Mesh Bondwires and Mesh Vias options will be selected along
with adaptive Mesh Refinement.
l Optimum accuracy means the mesh will be refined on bondwire & vias and more
aggressive refinement parameters will be specified.
b. Optionally, click Custom to configure the advanced solver settings.
c. Enter a value in the Circuit element contact radius box. Equal potential is enforced
within the contact radius, and no mesh refinement is done inside the contact region.

DC Advanced Tab

1. Specify the DC advanced options in the DC Advanced tab. All options are available only if
you have selected the Custom check box in the DC tab.
2. Click OK.

The Edit Frequency Sweep dialog box appears.

Sweep Dialog

1. Select Compute exact DC point to combine the DC results with the frequency-swept AC
results. This provides improved accuracy over the entire simulation bandwidth.
2. Select SIwave with 3D DDM to utilize the Q3D solvers for 3D-type regions such as
unreferenced traces, complex via transitions and pad coupling.
3. Select the type of sweep you want from the Sweep Type dropdown. You can select either:
l Discrete, or
l Interpolating. If you select this option, you will have to specify the Error tolerance. An
interpolating sweep estimates a frequency response for an entire frequency range by
solving at a relatively small number of frequency points within that range.

Between the actual solution frequencies, the frequency response is obtained by rational
interpolation. SIwave adaptively chooses the frequency points at which it computes the field

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solution. After a new frequency point is solved, a new interpolating fit is generated. This is
compared to the interpolant from the previous step, and the maximum difference between the two
is determined. If the difference exceeds the requested tolerance, then a new frequency point is
chosen for a solution. The interpolating sweep is complete when the difference between
successive interpolants is less than the error tolerance criterion.

1. In the Frequency Sweep grid, select the method for distributing points from the
Distribution option. You can select either:
l Linear Count — The difference between the start frequency and the stop frequency is
calculated and is divided by the number of solution points.
l Linear Step — The start frequency is incremented using the step size till the stop
frequency to calculate the number of points.
l Single Point
l Log Scale
2. Enter the value for the minimum frequency to sweep in the Start field.
3. Enter the value for a sweep maximum frequency in the Stop Frequency field.
4. Specify the Points, Stepsize or Samples depending on the Distribution option chosen.
5. Optionally, modify the frequency points: click Add Above, Add Below, or Delete
Selection.
6. To preview all the frequency points, click the Preview button. The Frequency List Preview
window appears showing all the points.
7. Select Time Domain Calculation if you want to export the full-wave SPICE subcircuit. The
Start Frequency value changes to 0 Hz.

Note If you have an existing S-parameter solution, you can run a FWS simulation without
needing a 0Hz or 1Hz point.

Related Topics

Port Setup in HFSS 3D Layout

Assigning Materials

Operations on Components

Creating and Editing Components

Configuring a Stackup

Setting the Layer Surface Roughness

Setting the Etch Factor

Setting HPC and Analysis Options

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RSM Integration with Job Management UI

Planar EM Solution Setup

To add a new HFSS 3D Layout solution setup to a project, use one of the following:

l Click HFSS 3D Layout > Solution Setup > Add Planar EM Solution Setup
l In the Project Tree, Right-ClickAnalysis > Add Planar EM Solution Setup
l Click the toolbar icon for Add HFSS 3D Layout Solution Setup

The HFSS 3D Layout setup dialog box appears.

Related Topics

Planar Setup: General Tab

Planar Setup: Options Tab

Planar Setup: Advanced Tab

Planar Setup: Advanced Meshing Tab

Planar Setup: Solver Tab

Planar Setup: Defaults Tab

Mesh Continuity

Planar EM Setup: General Tab

Click the General tab of the Add HFSS 3D Layout Solution Setup dialog to access the following
settings.

The layout of the dialog changes depending on what Mesh Selection is chosen: Fixed Mesh,
Standard Adaptive, or Advanced Adaptive. Some of the options described below are shared
by more than one Mesh Selection. The following options are available.

— Fixed Mesh —

l SetupName: name of the setup; must be unique.

l Enabled: if not enabled, this setup cannot be analyzed and will not be included in a general
“Analyze” of all setups.
l Solution Frequency: the wavelength is used to control the mesh refinement; typically the
mesh size should be conformable to the wavelength.
l Fixed Mesh: a single mesh is created using the solution frequency and refinement
parameters; no attempt is made to adapt the mesh based on the field solution.

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— Use edge mesh: narrow rectangles are inserted along the edges of the model. The
edge mesh efficiently captures electromagnetic effects close to the model edges, resulting in
faster solution times and/or higher accuracy.

— Edge mesh length ratio:The ratio of the length to the width of the rectangles. After
refinement, the width of the rectangles will be nominally equal to this ratio x length. The ratio
value should be between 0.02 and 0.2 to prevent extremely narrow rectangles and
extremely wide triangles.

— Absolute edge length:The absolute width of the edge rectangles.

l Use Defaults: the Target defaults depend on the Order of Basis function selections. For
example, for Driven solutions and a First Order basis function, the default target is 0.3333;
HFSS will refine the mesh until most element lengths are approximately one-third
wavelength.

— Standard Adaptive —

l Maximum Number of Passes:The maximum number of passes to adapt at that frequency.

l Maximum Magnitude Delta S:The maximum amount of change desired in the S

parameters between adaptive passes. It is a stopping criterion for the adaptive solution. If
the entries of the S matrix change from one iteration to the next by an amount that is less
than Max Delta S, the adaptive solution evaluates output variables and may move on to the
next frequency. Otherwise, the solution process continues until the convergence criteria are
reached. For example, if you specify 0.01 as the Max Delta S, HFSS continues to refine the
mesh until the number of requested passes is completed or until the S parameters change
by less than 0.01 from one iteration to the next.
l Save currents for last adaptive pass: Allows plotting of currents data in the reporter for
the last adaptive simulation.

— Advanced Adaptive —

l Frequency: The adaptive frequency for refinement

l Max Passes:The maximum number of mesh refinement cycles that you would like HFSS to
perform. This value is a stopping criterion for the adaptive solution; if the maximum number
of passes has been completed, the adaptive analysis stops. If the maximum number of
passes has not been completed, the adaptive analysis will continue until the convergence
criteria are reached.
l Output Var.: A button containing 'Add...' to add output variables to the refinement criteria
for that frequency or 'Edit...' to edit the output variables for that refinement criteria. Selecting
this option will bring up the Advanced Mesh Convergence dialog or will display the error
message 'You must have at least one output variable defined' if you have no output variables
defined in your design. You may also receive the error 'You must have at least one output
variable defined that returns a single real value (as opposed to complex, etc)'.

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— Output Variable: Displays the name of the output Variable

— Include: Displays a check box indicating whether or not to include the value of this
output variable in the mesh convergence calculations.

— Max Delta: The maximum amount of change desired in the output variable
between adaptive passes. It is a stopping criterion for the adaptive solution. If the
output variable changes from one iteration to the next by an amount that is less than
Max Delta, the adaptive solution

l AddFrequency: To add a new frequency to the table click the AddFrequency button
under the table
l RemoveFrequency: To remove a selected frequency from the table, click the
RemoveFrequency button under the table.

Planar EM Setup: Options Tab

Click the Options tab of the Add HFSS 3D Layout Solution Setup dialog to access the following
settings.

l Initial Mesh Options: options that define the initial mesh (before adaption).
l Do Lambda Refinement: mesh edges are reduced to a length equal to the wavelength
scaled by the Lambda Target.
l Lambda Target: the fraction of the wavelength that determines the refined triangle edge
length, e.g. if the value is '0.1' then an edge length of 0.1* is used as the refinement target.
l Use Default Value: if checked, a default lambda target value is used otherwise the user
may enter any value greater than zero. Typically the value is a fraction less than 1.
l Quality Refinement Options: refine for triangle quality - e.g. no sharp angles, uniform size.
l Refine for quality: adjust triangles until there are no angles less than the minimum; this
may require the insertion of many triangles in the neighborhood of a sharp angle.

— Minimum angle: adjust triangles until no angle is less than this minimum.

l Refine for uniformity: adds additional points to the mesh in order to limit long edges if
the ratio between the average and maximum edge lengths exceeds the desired ratio.

— Max/mean edge length ratio: the maximum permissible ratio between the
maximum triangle edge length and the mean edge length.

l Include edges from layers closer than: geometry edges from layers closer (in
elevation) that this distance is pulled into the layer currently being meshed (providing they
don't fall on an existing edge). Simulation accuracy typically benefits from this operation.
l Adaptive Options:allows you to specify the following adaption option settings.
l Maximum Refinement Per Pass: determines how many tetrahedra are added at each
iteration of the adaptive refinement process. The tetrahedra with the highest error will be
refined. The value is a percentage.

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l Minimum Number of Passes: the maximum number of mesh refinement cycles that you
would like the solver to perform. This value is a stopping criterion for the adaptive solution;
if the maximum number of passes has been completed, the adaptive analysis stops. If the
maximum number of passes has not been completed, the adaptive analysis will continue
unless the convergence criteria are reached.
l Minimum Converged Passes: an adaptive analysis will not stop unless the minimum
number of converged passes has been completed. The convergence criteria must be met
for at least this number of passes before the adaptive analysis will stop.

Planar EM Setup: Advanced Tab

Click the Advanced tab of the Add HFSS 3D Layout Solution Setup dialog to access the following
settings.

l Defeaturing:
l Form polygon unions before meshing: specifies whether all objects are combined or
“unioned” before meshing takes place. This can simplify the mesh; it can, however, also
remove internal boundaries that may be desirable. “Unioning” is a complex operation and
sensitive to almost coincident edges; it some instances, a union may produce undesirable
results. Inspecting the mesh is a simple way to verify the operation.
l Use polygon defeaturing: removes very close points, points that don't contribute to the
geometry of an edge (e.g. collinear), and very thin intrusions. When used with “unioning”,
it can be helpful in healing geometry that isn't snapped together.

— Tolerance as a ratio of the data exent: tolerance value specified as a ratio of

the overall data extent; this value must necessarily be very small.

— Absolute distance: tolerance specified as an absolute value, e.g. 0.0001mm

l Vias: vias may be modeled as a simple 'wirebond' or as a 3D ribbon or solid. Note: the
values specified in the analysis setup only apply to vias that do not have specific property
overrides; all properties explicitly specified for a via take precedence over these values.
l Model using a wirebond: vias will be modeled with a line segment.
l Mesh as a 3D via: vias are modeled using rectangles to form a 3D ribbon or solid.

— Number of sides: number of sides to use when creating the 3D representation; if

less than 3, the via is modeled as a flat ribbon.

l Via field: it may be possible to reduce the density of via fields and model them using
wirebonds without significant loss in accuracy. A via field is defined by those vias that
connect two signal layers (without intervening geometry) and attach to connected
geometry at their upper and lower points. Vias that span multiple layers are broken up
vertically at all intersection points; and each segment is treated independently. Two vias
may be adjacent and close, but they will not be thinned if they connect to electrically
separate geometry either at their upper or lower connection points — for to do so would
break an electrical connection.

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— Relative min. via spacing: defines a radius around a via; any via that falls within
that radius is eliminated. The value specified is a multiple of the average via spacing
(the algorithm considers the averages for all via clusters and uses the minimum
average spacing). If all vias are spaced equally, then a value of 1 would knock out
every other via; a value of 2 would filter out 2 vias between each via.

l Via material default: when a material hasn't been specified in the padstack definition
and there is no override in the properties for a via, then this will be the material associated
with the via mesh.

Planar EM Setup: Advanced Meshing Tab

Click the Advanced Meshing tab of the Add HFSS 3D Layout Solution Setup dialog to access the
following settings.

l Circle and arc approximation: circles and arcs must be replaced with straight edge
approximations before meshing. There is no attempt to match areas; points are simply
introduced on the original arc at the locations specified by the following parameters.
l Arc setup size: the angular interval below which mesh points are added.
l Starting azimuth for circles: specifies the location of the first mesh point or circles.
l Maximum number of arc points: the maximum number of mesh points on a given arc
segment.
l Use arc to chord error approximation technique for arc: the resulting straight edge
approximation will not deviate from the original arc by more than the specified error.

— Maximum arc to chord error: maximum distance permissible between a

straight edge approximation (the chord) and the original arc.

l Mesh Display Attributes: controls the mesh overlay in Layout.

l Color: the mesh is drawn in the specified color; in Layout3D the layer color is used for the
mesh.
l Mesh post-processing:
l Attempt to replace non-horizontal triangles with rectangles: the HFSS 3D Layout
solver operates more efficiently when there are no non-horizontal triangles. With this
option set, the mesher will attempt to resolve all non-horizontal triangles that form a
perfect rectangle into rectangular mesh elements.

Planar EM Setup: Solver Tab

Click the Solver tab of the Add HFSS 3D Layout Solution Setup dialog to access the following
settings.

General Options

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l Use loop tree: the Moment Method basis functions are re-organized to provide low
frequency solution accuracy and stability.
l Accuracy level: determines the level of precision of various computations in the
simulation procedure. The default solution accuracy level is level 2, the usual
recommended level. For very large solutions, accuracy level 1 is recommended. For more
information see Setting the Solution Accuracy Level.
l Specialized design type:

— Generic: no special treatment by the engine.

— Spiral Inductor: the engine treats the currents on zero thickness signal layers as
a volume current; the current on the vias simply transfers from one end to the other
without consideration to the wire.

Modeling Options

l Signal layers thinner than <value> are modeled as zero thickness: negative signal
layers in the design which are thinner than the given value are modeled as being infinitely
thin in order to reduce simulation time.
l Dielectrics thinner than <value> are merged with an adjacent: dielectric layers in
the design which are thinner than the given value are merged into an adjacent dielectric;
material properties are accumulated using a weighted average.

Solver Type Selection

l Determines what matrix solver is used, based on the number of unknowns.

l Direct solver: use the direct matrix solver.
l ANSYS MoM Fast Solver™: the ANSYS “method of moments” technology that is used
to solve especially large matrix equations.

HPC Licensing Options

l If you are solving a HFSS 3D Layout Transient problem, the solver will not checkout
ensemble_solve (regular solve license). We will only checkout a ensemble_transient_
solve license. For HFSS 3D Layout Transient problems and HFSS 3D Layout array
problems, we will always use HPC licenses for multiprocessing (even if you have NOT
chosen the Use HPC licenses for multiprocessing and distributed frequency
points option).
l For HFSS-IE problems, an ensembleie_solve license is required. For HFSS 3D Layout
problems with radiation boundaries and Use HFSS 3D Layout Formulation checked, an
ensembleie_solve license is required in addition to the ensemble_solve.

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l Number of Machines => the number of machines listed in the Distributed Machine
Configuration in the General Options.
l For multiprocessing and frequency sweeps, check Use HPC licenses for
multiprocessing and distributed frequency points. This option also enables an
additional check box, Enable distributed Optimetrics using DSO license.
l If you have a DSO license, checking Enable distributed Optimetrics using DSO
License will distribute at the highest level (i.e. distribute the variations), which is most
efficient.
l If you have HPC and no DSO, clear the Enable distributed Optimetrics using DSO
License option so that HPC can be used to distribute frequency sweeps in an Optimetrics
solution.

Planar EM Setup: Defaults Tab

Click the Defaults tab of the Add HFSS 3D Layout Solution Setup dialog to access the following
settings.

Use the Defaults tab of the HFSS 3D Layout Setup dialog to:

l Save Defaults: Save user-defined defaults based on the data for this setup (for all tabs).
l Revert to Standard Defaults: Clear any existing user-defined defaults (for all tabs).

Mesh Continuity

The mesh for a Frequency Selective Surface or Infinite Array element is continuous across
patches. For example, in the following figure, the actual generated mesh (black), when manually
tiled to simulate the Infinite Array (red), will appear continuous across mesh boundaries; that is, no
vertex meets a triangle on an edge.

Add LNA Solution Setup

A Nexxim Linear network analysis combines the separate analyses in an ECAD-MCAD
cosimulation. Each component in the assembly is solved independently using its designated field
solver (HFSS, Q3D, or SIwave) and the LNA then ties all of the separate subcircuit models
together to compute the end-to-end response of the assembled system. Time Domain
Reflectometer (TDR) plots are available for LNA and imported solutions in HFSS 3D Layout.

Nexxim Linear network analysis performs a frequency-domain analysis of the circuit that is
linearized around the DC operating point. In addition to the basic linear analysis, you can also run a
DC noise analysis or run a group delay analysis.

Linear analysis can be used with all passive circuits and with active circuits that operate under
small-signal conditions. In linear analysis the signal level and termination values do not cancel the
small-signal conditions, so the superposition principle holds.

After a successful linear-circuit analysis, the results reflect the electrical characteristics of the circuit
under small-signal conditions. The results of the analysis are linear network parameters such as

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scattering (S), admittance (Y), hybrid (H), and impedance (Z), gain parameters, stability
parameters, and noise parameters. For details, see Linear Network Analysis in the Circuit help
topics.

To add a Nexxim Linear Network Analysis to an HFSS 3D Layout project, right-click on Analysis
in the Project Manager and select Add LNA Setup. The LNA Solution Setup dialog box
appears.

You can add solution options by clicking on “Select” in the "Solution Option” section of the dialog.
For more information, see Transient Analysis Setup.

Browse the LNA Setup Netlist

The LNA setup is passed to the Nexxim solver via a netlist. To view the Nexxim netlist in the Netlist
editor, right-click the LNA setup and select Browse Netlist from the menu. For details, see LNA
Netlist Syntax in the Circuit help topics.

Set Co-Simulation Options

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The Linear Network Analysis runs in co-simulation with a fieldsolver setup in the HFSS 3D Layout
project. To select the HFSS Setup for the co-simulation:

1. Click HFSS 3D Layout>Solution Setup>Co-Simulation Options. The Co-Simulation

Options dialog opens.
2. On the Solution selection override panel:
l Check the Setup override box. Select a solution setup from the list on the pull down in the
Setup override field.
l Check the Sweep override box. Select a sweep from the list on the pull down in the Sweep
override field.
3. Click OK to close the Co-Simulation Options dialog.

Run the Linear Network Analysis

Right-click the LNA Setup and select Analyze from the menu.

Viewing the Results of the LNA

After the co-simulation has run to completion, you can plot the results of the Linear Network
Analysis.

1. Right-click on the Reports icon and select Create Standard Report>Rectangular Plot
from the menu.
2. Select your LNA setup as the Solution. The Domain is set to Sweep. The Categories
panel lists the outputs available from the Linear Network Analysis. Click on a category to
view the available Quantities. Valid categories are:
l S-parameters
l Y-parameters
l Z-parameters
l ABCD parameters
l H-parameters
l G-parameters
l Gain parameters
l Stability parameters
l Others

For details, see LNA Results in the Circuit help.

1. Click New Report to plot the selected quantities.

View the LNA Solution in the Network Data Explorer

After LNA has completed, you can view the solution in the Network Data Explorer. Right-click on
the LNA setup and select Network Data Explorer from the menu. For details, see Network Data
Explorer.

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Setting Up a Transient Analysis in HFSS 3D Layout

A Nexxim transient analysis can be set up in HFSS 3D Layout by right-clicking in the Project Tree
on Analysis > Add Nexxim Solution Setup > Transient Analysis.

This opens the Transient Analysis dialog box.

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Transient setup options can be added by clicking on “Edit” in the “Solution Option” section of the
Transient Analysis dialog.

You can also add solution options by right-clicking in the Project Tree on Analysis > Add Nexxim
Solution Options. This opens the Solution Options dialog.

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After the Transient Analysis is set up, it appears in the Project Tree within Analysis.

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l To netlist the Transient Setup, in the Project Tree right-click the setup and select Browse
netlist.
l To start a Nexxim Transient simulation, in the Project Tree right-click the setup and select
Analyze.

For details about the Transient Analysis setup dialog and solution options, see Running Transient
Analysis from the Schematic Editor.

AMI Analysis in HFSS 3D Layout

From the Schematic Editor, perform the following steps to set up, run, and view the results of an
AMI analysis in HFSS 3D Layout. For additional information, see AMI Analysis.

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1. Right-click on the Analysis menu in the Project window to open a menu.

2. Select Add Nexxim Solution Setup from the menu, then slide the cursor to select AMI
Analysis from the subordinate menu.
3. The AMI Analysis dialog box appears.

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4. Leave the Enabled box selected (the default setting).

6. AMI simulation uses a fixed time step for sampling the impulse response and any processed
waveforms. Use the radio buttons to choose Time or Samples for defining the interval at
which the impulse response and waveforms are sampled.
l Samples allows you to specify the number of samples per bit (UI). The default is 32 samples
per bit. Most AMI models and simulations are set up using Samples per bit rather than the
absolute Time step.
l Time allows you to set the time step in seconds. The time step must be greater than 0, and
must be a fraction of the unit interval (UI). The default time step is 5e-10 seconds.
7. The Block Size field sets the number of bits per AMI data block. Default is 10,000 bits per
block.
8. Optionally, use the fields in the Solution Option panel to add AMI options.

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l Click the Select button on the Name field to open the Select Solution Options dialog.
l Click New to create a new option set. The Solution Options dialog box appears.

l Use the Name field to name the new option set.

l Use the AMI Options tab fields and check boxes to set any desired options.

Nexxim Solution Options for AMI

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You can add solution options by right-clicking in the Project Tree on Analysis > Add Nexxim
Solution Options. This opens the Solution Options dialog.

Option Default Description

Value
ami.ampl_bins 500 Number of
histogram bins
to use for
generating the
3D and contour

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data.
ami.delay 1 Delay before
computing
impulse
response.
ami.eye_start_time 0 Start time for
recording eye
data.
ami.resp_tmax 1e-6 Maximum time
for the transient
impulse
response
calculation.
ami.skip_tran_result 0 0=Save
transient data
for AMI

1=Skip transient
result
generation for
AMI (useful for
long runs of data
that need not be
saved).
ami.ui_bins 500 Number of
histogram bins
to use for
generating the
3D and contour
data.
ami.use_clock_times 1 1=Turn on
sampling of the
eye diagram
based on the
clock time
values produced
by the AMI
receiver model.

0=Do not use

clock times from
the AMI
receiver. The

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eye diagram will

be sampled at
even UI
intervals.

The results of
clock time
sampling can be
observed only in
the Statistical
Eye Plot for the
"EyeAfterProbe"
quantity.

Related Topics

Run the AMI Analysis

AMI Analysis Outputs

Eye Sources and Probes in HFSS 3D Layout

Eye probe and eye source components can be used in 3D Layout. Their usage is described in the
following help topics.

Related Topics

Add a QuickEye Source to a Schematic

Add an Eye Probe for QuickEye

Add an External Step Response to a QuickEye Analysis

Pairing an Eye Source and an Eye Probe in the Schematic Editor

QuickEye and VerifEye Setup in HFSS 3D Layout

The eye diagram is a convenient way to analyze the performance of a serial communications
channel. In a traditional eye diagram, copies of the waveform generated by transient analysis are
overlaid at a spacing of one unit interval (UI). The width of the eye is affected by timing variations
such as jitter and by variations in setup and hold times.

For additional information, see the following topics in Circuit Time Domain Analyses: 

VerifEye And QuickEye Analyses

VerifEye and QuickEye Analysis Options

Running VerifEye Analysis from the Schematic Editor

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Running QuickEye Analysis from the Schematic Editor

Amplitude Resolutions of Eye Diagrams

QuickEye and VerifEye Technical Notes

QuickEye and VerifEye References

Related Topics

Adding QuickEye Setup in HFSS 3D Layout

Adding VerifEye Setup in HFSS 3DLayout

Adding QuickEye Setup in HFSS 3D Layout

1. Right-click on the Analysis menu in the Project window to open a menu.

2. Select Add Nexxim Solution Setup from the menu, then slide the cursor to select
QuickEye Analysis from the subordinate menu. The Quick Eye Analysis dialog box
appears.

3. Type a Name (or accept the default name, for example “QuickEye Setup 1”).

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4. Leave the Enabled box selected (the default setting).

5. Set the Delay parameter to control the delay in applying the step response.

6. Run missing step response allows simulation to proceed when an External Step
Response component is present in the design but no step response data file can be found.

7. Click the Use peak distortion analysis results in source check box to enable the worst-
case bit pattern to be output from the source. Set the Repeat Bit Pattern field to the desired
number of repeats. When the Use peak distortion check box is checked, the worst-case
bits from Peak Distortion Analysis will be output from all Eye Sources. Any bit patterns set in
the sources are ignored. See Peak Distortion Analysis for details.

l Specify the number of times to repeat the worst-case bit pattern

l Select the Eye Probe that is to be the target for all Eye Sources.

Optionally, use the fields in the Solution Option panel to add VerifEye/QuickEye options.

l Click the Select button on the Name field to open the Select Solution Options dialog.

l Click New to create a new option set. The Solution Options dialog box appears.

l Use the Name field to name the new option set.

l Use the Eye Options panel fields and check boxes to set any desired options.

Related Topics

Nexxim Solution Options for QuickEye

QuickEye Analysis Outputs

Run the QuickEye Analysis and Display Results

Nexxim Solution Options for QuickEye

1. Right-click on the Analysis menu in the Project window to open a menu.

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2. Select Add Nexxim Solution Options from the menu. The Solution Options dialog box
appears. Select the Eye Options tab.

l Number of UI bins sets the number of UI histogram bins to use for generating the 3D and
contour data. The default is 100. Option: eye.ui_bins.

l Number of amplitude bins sets the number of amplitude histogram bins to use for
generating the 3D and contour data. The default is 200. Option: eye.ampl_bins.

l Number of UI sets the number of unit intervals (UI) over which the initial transient step
response should run after any channel or source delay. The default is 100. Option:

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eye.num_initial_ui.

l Maximum time sets the maximum stop time for the transient step response calculation. The
default is 1ms. Option: eye.resp_tmax.

NOTE: QuickEye uses the minimum of (num_initial_ui x UI) and (resp_tmax) to set the
transient final time for the step response calculation.

l Normalize FFE weights sets the solver to normalize FFE weights (sum of absolute values
of all weights equals one). This option applies only to weights supplied by the user. The
Circuit solver always normalizes the taps weights that it calculates. The default for user-
supplied weights is no normalization. Option: eye.normalize_ffe_weights.

l Skip transient result turns off QuickEye storage of the eye diagram and the transient-like
result. By default, QuickEye stores the eye diagram and the transient-like result. Option:
eye.qe_only_cmf.

l Assume symmetric step responses sets QE/VE to use the rise time as the fall time. The
default is to use different rise and fall times. Option: eye.sym_step_resp.

l Auto extend step responses extends the step response beyond the simulation time. By
default, the step response is extended only to the end of simulation time. Option: eye.auto_
extend_step_resp.

For more information, see Circuit Time Domain Analyses: VerifEye and QuickEye Analysis
Options.

QuickEye Analysis Outputs

For information about QuickEye analysis outputs in HFSS 3D Layout, please see Circuit Time
Domain Analyses: Display Quick Eye Analysis Outputs.

Run the QuickEye Analysis and Display Results

For information about running the QuickEye analysis in HFSS 3D Layout, please see Circuit Time
Domain Analyses: Run the QuickEye Analysis and Display Results.

Adding VerifEye Setup in HFSS 3D Layout

1. Right-click on the Analysis menu in the Project window to open a menu.

2. Select Add Nexxim Solution Setup from the menu, then slide the cursor to select
VerifEye Analysis from the subordinate menu. The VerifEye Analysis dialog box
appears.

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3. Type an Analysis Name (or accept the default name, for example “VerifEye Setup 1”).

4. Leave the Enabled box selected (the default setting).

5. Specify the Delay to be applied before the step response is applied (default is 0 seconds).

6. Run missing step response allows simulation to proceed when an External Step
Response component is present in the design but no step response data file can be found.

Related Topics

Nexxim Solution Options for VerifEye

VerifEye Analysis Outputs

Run the VerifEye Analysis and Display Results

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Nexxim Solution Options for VerifEye

1. Right-click on the Analysis menu in the Project window to open a menu.

2. Select Add Nexxim Solution Options from the menu. The Solution Options dialog box
appears. Select the Eye Options tab.

l Skip transient result turns off QuickEye storage of the eye diagram and the transient-like
result. By default, QuickEye stores the eye diagram and the transient-like result. Option:
eye.qe_only_cmf.

l Assume symmetric step responses sets QE/VE to use the rise time as the fall time. The

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default is to use different rise and fall times. Option: eye.sym_step_resp.

l Auto extend step responses extends the step response beyond the simulation time. By
default, the step response is extended only to the end of simulation time. Option: eye.auto_
extend_step_resp.

For more information, see Circuit Time Domain Analyses: VerifEye and QuickEye Analysis
Options.

VerifEye Analysis Outputs

For information about VerifEye analysis outputs in HFSS 3D Layout, please see Circuit Time
Domain Analysis: Display VerifEye Analysis Outputs.

Run the VerifEye Analysis and Display Results

For information about running the VerifEye analysis in HFSS 3D Layout, please see Circuit Time
Domain Analyses: Run the VerifEye Analysis and Display Results.

Simulation Setup Context Menus 

Simulation setup menus for HFSS 3D Layout are context sensitive and the commands
listed/enabled are determined by the designs that are loaded. To open a simulation menu, right
click on a setup in the Project Tree. The following setup menus are available.

HFSS 3D

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HFSS (Layout)

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Planar EM

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SIwave

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Linear Network Analysis

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Transient Analysis

Sanitize Layout
Sanitize Layout is an operation for cleaning power and ground nets in a project in order to fix
certain alignment problems as well as complexities that may slow down simulation. It works by
uniting the planes and traces for each net to be cleaned. Once the united planes are formed,
portions which display trace like properties are converted into traces. Under certain conditions,
these traces may be extended in order to improve the connection with vias, pads, and the
remaining planes. Lattices which were originally formed of many traces become planes with
cutouts after the sanitization process.

To sanitize the layout in the active project:

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1. Click Tools>Sanitize Layout.

The Sanitize Layout dialog box opens, with all the power and ground nets selected.

2. To use wildcards or regular expressions, enter the name of the nets you want to select in the
Reg Ex field. Click Select Matching Nets.
3. To deselect matching nets selected using reg ex, click Uncheck Matching Nets.
4. Click Check All Nets to select all nets except dummy nets, or click Uncheck All Nets to
deselect all nets.
5. Click Check Pwr/Gnd Nets to select all the power and ground nets.
6. Click Sanitize to run the sanitize layout on the selected nets.

7. Click OK.

Related Topics

Converting Traces to Planes

Converting Planes to Traces

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Disabling an Analysis Setup

You can enable or disable a setup definition. Disabled setups will have a “greyed-out” setup icon,
and will not allow analysis of any sweeps until enabled. To disable an analysis setup definition
without deleting it:

1. Expand the tree hierarchy under the Analysis icon in the project tree.
2. Right-click on the icon for the setup definition.
3. In the shortcut menu that appears, select Disable Setup. (To reactivate the sweep, open
the shortcut menu again and select Enable Setup.)

Adding a Frequency Sweep (HFSS 3D Layout)

For Driven solution types.

To generate a solution across a range of frequencies, add a frequency sweep to the solution setup.
HFSS 3D Layout performs the sweep after the adaptive solution. If an adaptive solution is not
requested, the sweep is the only solution generated. You can also disable a sweep, so that you can
run only the adaptive solution (or a ports-only solution) without the sweep, then later reactivate the
sweep definition. Many HFSS 3D Layout settings are the same as those for HFSS/HFSS-IE;
details are described in the subsections linked to in the following.

To add a frequency sweep:

1. Right click on the analysis in the Project Manager and then select Add Frequency Sweep.
The Edit Frequency Sweep dialog box appears.
2. Specify the following sweep parameters:
l Sweep Name.
l Enabled check box.
l Use Q3D to solve DC Point check box.
l Sweep type - Discrete or Interpolating (the default). HFSS 3D Layout supports only
Interpolating and Discrete sweeps, and does not support the following:

— Minimum Solutions

— Minimum Number of Sub Ranges

— For Driven modal, Network Analysis 3D Solution Interpolating sweeps

— For Driven modal, Network Analysis ports-only, interpolating

— For Driven terminal, Network Analysis ports-only, interpolating

— Derivatives

— The Set Defaults option for Error Tolerance and Max Solutions

— Mode Selection for Interpolation Basis Convergence

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l Frequency Sweeps. You specify sweeps in terms of Distribution type, which can be
Single Point, Linear Step, Linear Count, or Log Scale. The Add Above, and Add Below
buttons permit you to add additional sweeps, including mixed sweep types. This feature
provides flexibility. For example, you can define sweeps with log scale at lower
frequencies, and linear step at higher frequencies.

If you have added more sweeps, you can Delete a selected distribution.

The Preview button displays the sweep(s) as currently defined.

3. Click OK.

Once you have created a sweep, an icon for the sweep appears in the Project tree under the
associated setup. Selecting the sweep icon causes the docked properties dialog to show the
name and the Enabled check box.

Edit, Copy and Paste Existing Sweeps.

You can select an existing sweep, use the Edit commands to Copy it, and then and Paste the
sweep into the Project tree. (By default, the copy is named Sweepn, where n increments with each
new sweep.) You can edit the new copies of the sweep to make desired changes. For example,
you can change a specific parameter, or for a distributed solve, you could assign different start and
end points for each copy of the setup.

The Paste command for sweeps is design sensitive (that is, you cannot paste between Driven and
Eigenmode designs) and context sensitive (for example, a sweeps can only be pasted in a setup.)
Dependent setups are pasted along with the copied setup. You are warned if the dependent setup
is already in the design and setup is not pasted again.

Disabling a Frequency Sweep

You can enable or disable a sweep definition. Disabled sweeps will have an “empty graph” icon,
and will not be analyzed until enabled. To disable a sweep definition without deleting it:

1. Expand the tree hierarchy under the Analysis icon in the project tree.
2. Expand the tree hierarchy under the icon for the analysis setup that includes the sweep.
3. Right-click on the icon for the sweep definition. In the shortcut menu that appears, select
Disable Sweep Analysis. (To reactivate the sweep, open the shortcut menu again and
select Enable Sweep Analysis.)

You can also disable a sweep by selecting Properties from the shortcut menu to open the Edit
Properties window. In the upper-right corner of the Edit Properties window, uncheck the
Enabled box. Then click OK to apply the change. (To reactivate the sweep, simply re-open the
Edit Properties window and check the Enabled box. Then click OK.)

Clean Up Solutions
To clean up solutions, right click on the Analysis folder and select Clean up Solutions.

This opens the Clean Up Solutions dialog.

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Using this dialog, you can selectively delete solutions or remove all solutions from the results of
selected variations.

Solutions

In the Solutions pane, select whether you want to delete only Fields data, Fields and Mesh
data, or the data for All Solutions. Deleting all solution data erases all mesh, matrix, and fields
data for all adaptive passes and frequency sweeps for the selections in the Variations pane.

Variations

In the Variations pane, select which solution data you want to delete:

l Select All Except Current Variation to delete all solution data that do not correspond to
the current project and design variable values for the current design.
l Select All Variations to delete all solution data for the current design.
l Click Select to specify the variations you wish to delete, then click Variations to select the
variations for deletion.

When you have finished making your selections and wish to delete, click Do Deletions. The
solution data you selected are deleted. Any post processing reports or field overlays you created
that included data you deleted will be marked with an X in the project tree; they will be invalid until
new solution data is generated.

Subcircuit Optimization in HFSS 3D Layout and Nexxim

HFSS 3D Layout and Nexxim both support matrix quantities in optimetrics (Optimization,
Parametic Analysis, etc). In the Setup Optimization dialog, the user can choose matrix quantities
like S-Matrix, Y-Matrix, and Z-Matrix as calculations, and can then specify as a goal an equivalent
matrix or an imported solution of the same matrix size.

ANSYS Electronics Desktop provides all of the S-Matrix, Y-Matrix and Z-Matrix data for
optimization. If you choose an imported solution as the goal, the S-Matrix data from the imported
solution is read in and sent to the optimization routines. For more information, see Setting up an
Optimization Analysis.

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16 - Specifying Solution Settings

Specify how ANSYS Electronics Desktop will compute a solution by adding a solution setup to
the design. You can define more than one solution setup per design.

Each solution setup includes the following information:

l General data about the solution's generation.

l Adaptive mesh refinement parameters, if you want the mesh to be refined iteratively in areas
of highest error.
l If you want to solve of a range of frequencies, you can add a frequency sweep.

What do you want to do?

l Add a Solution Setup to an HFSS Design

l Add a Solution Setup to an HFSS-IE Design
l Add a Solution Setup to an HFSS Transient Design

For large problems, depending the whether the solution involves a parameter sweep and your
resources of shared machine memory, networked cores and cores per computing node, you can
configure for different high performance computing solutions:

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Additionally, a command line Large Scale DSO is used for 'large scale parallel' jobs, which either
fail or scale poorly as Regular DSO jobs. A Large Scale DSO job does not support the output of full
parametric results, but produces 'reduced' datasets corresponding to predefined Rectangular
plots.

Related Topics

Defining Mesh Operations

Configure Distributed Memory Solutions for HFSS

Adding a Solution Setup to an HFSS Design

To add a new solution setup to a design:

1. Select a design in the project tree.

2. Click HFSS>Analysis Setup>Add Solution Setup .

l Alternatively, right click Analysis in the project tree, and then click Add Solution Setup
on the shortcut menu.
l If you have an existing setup, you can Copy and Paste it, and then edit parameters.
l If you have already created a solution and you want to use an existing mesh, you can click
Add Dependent Solve Setup.

The Solution Setup dialog box appears. It is divided among the following tabs:

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General Includes general solution settings. For Characteristic Modes solution types, these
include Characteristic Modes Convergence parameters for Number of Modes and
Minimum Modal Significance.
Options Includes settings for lambda refinement, adaptive analysis and solution options, the
Order of Basis setting, and whether to enable the use of solver domains, if available
for the solution type.
Advanced Includes settings for mesh linking, absorbing boundaries on ports, wave port adapt
options, and whether to Save Fields and/or radiated fields only
Hybrid Includes IE IE Solver options for designs that use FE-BI boundaries and/or IE
Regions, and, if SBR+ Regions are present, allows you to set SBR+ Solver
Options.
Expression Includes a list of expressions (including post processing variables) that you can use
Cache for convergence for adaptive analysis.
Derivatives If your design contains variables, they are listed here. HFSS can calculate
derivatives for your variables.
Defaults Enables you to save the current settings as the defaults for future solution setups or
revert the current settings to HFSS's standard settings.

3. Click the General tab.

4. The Enabled check box on General tab permits to you to disable a setup so that it does not
run when you select Analyze All.
5. For Driven solution types, do the following:
a. Select whether you want to solve for Single frequency, Multi-Frequency, or Broadbad,
and enter the appropriate Solution Frequency data and select the frequency units from
the pull down list.
b. Optionally, select Solve Ports Only.

For Eigenmode solution types, do the following:

a. Enter the Minimum Frequency and the frequency units.

b. Enter the Number of Modes. The number must be greater than 0 and less than 20.

For Characteristic Modes solution types, do the following:

a. Solution Frequency
b. Maximum Number of Passes
c. Maximum Delta E
d. Maximum Number of Modes
e. Minimum Modal Significance
6. If you are performing an adaptive analysis, enter 2 or more passes in the Maximum
Number of Passes box, and then specify the remaining adaptive analysis parameters for

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HFSS.

For Eigenmode solutions, if you are not performing an adaptive analysis, entering 0 will enable
you to bypass the adaptive analysis process and just perform a frequency sweep. For driven
problems HFSS always requires at least one adaptive pass. Entering 1 will also bypass
adaptive analysis, generating a solution only at the solution frequency you specified.

7. The lower right corner also contains a button for HPC and Analysis options. Here you can
select or create an analysis configuration.
8. Click OK.
9. Optionally, add a frequency sweep to the solution setup.

Related Topics

Add Dependent Solve Setup

Setting Adaptive Analysis Parameters for HFSS

Technical Notes: The HFSS Solution Process

Copying a Solution Setup

Renaming a Solution Setup

Selecting the Solution Type

Add Dependent Solve Setup

For driven setups (not Eigenmode), to apply all settings from an existing setup to a child setup:

1. Select an existing setup in the project tree.

2. Right click on the setup in the project tree, and then click Add Dependent Solve Setup on
the shortcut menu.

A dependent setup icon appears, which has an altered graphic to distinguish it from the parent
setup icon. The child setup name is "parent_setup name_1." All of the settings from the parent
setup are copied to the child setup. The dependent setup uses the mesh from the parent setup.
This is shown under the Advanced tab of the Solution Setup dialog, Specifying a Source
for the initial mesh. You can add a dependent setup to another dependent setup, and form of
the name shows the hierarchical dependence by appending "_1" to show further dependence.

If you intend to change any of the settings, you do this just as you would for a new setup.

The Enabled check box on General tab permits to you to disable a setup so that it does not run
when you select Analyze All. If a solve is disabled, the Analyze command on the shortcut menu for
the Project tree is disabled and the Enable Setup command is available.

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Related Topics

Specifying Solution Settings

Renaming a Solution Setup

Do the following to rename a solution setup:

1. In the project tree, under Analysis, right-click the setup you want to rename.
A shortcut menu appears.
2. Select Rename from the shortcut menu.
The setup name text is highlighted in the project tree.
3. Type the new name for the setup, and press Enter.

You can also rename the solution setup by changing the text in the Name text box of the
appropriate Solve Setup dialog box.

Related Topics

Copying a Solution Setup

Copying a Solution Setup

Solution setups may be copied and pasted within a design or across designs of the same type. This
is beneficial for setups having a large number of parameters to specify, or where minor changes to
a setup are being evaluated.

Do the following to copy a solution setup:

1. In the project tree, under Analysis, right-click the setup you want to copy.

A shortcut menu appears.

2. Select Copy from the shortcut menu.

The setup parameters are copied to the clipboard.

3. In the project tree, right-click on the Analysis folder to receive the copied setup.

A shortcut menu appears.

4. Select Paste from the shortcut menu.

The setup parameters are copied to the Analysis folder as a new setup.

Related Topics

Renaming a Solution Setup

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Deleting a Solution Setup

To delete an existing solution setup, select it in the Project tree, right-click to display the shortcut
menu and select Delete.

Related Topics

Adding a Solution Setup

Setting the Solution Frequency

For Driven solution types.

For every Driven solution setup, specify whether to solve a Single Frequency, Multi-Frequency,
or Broadband, and provide the frequency information and units at which to generate the solution.
Each method changes the fields shown in the dialog to those needed for the selection. If you
enable HPC, multiple frequencies will be distributed.

If a single frequency sweep is solved, an adaptive analysis is performed only at the solution
frequency. If you want to solve over a range of frequencies, define a frequency sweep or a Mult-
Frequency or Broadband solve.

In multiple frequencies solve, port adapt is at the highest frequency and lambda refine is based on
an algorithm that uses the highest and lowest user frequencies to allow maximum reuse of solved
data. The lambda refinement frequency is the "nominal frequency". The mesh at each pass is
solved at multiple frequencies and energy error from all frequencies points are used to drive the
mesh refinement for the next pass. The adaptive solution is converged when the simulation
reaches the maximum number of passes or when all frequency points reach the targeted maximum
delta S. The minimum converged passes and minimum number of passed parameters apply as the
total requested passes.

Single Frequency

If you select Single for solution frequency, you specify a value and units with a maximum delta S (or
Matrix Convergence), plus the maximum number of passes.

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l Enter a value for Solution Frequency and select the frequency units from the pull down list.

l Specify the Maximum Number of Passes and Maximum Delta Energy.

Note For Fast sweeps, HFSS uses the solution frequency as the center
frequency if it is within the frequency range (greater than the start
frequency and less than the stop frequency.) Otherwise the middle of the
frequency range is used as the center frequency.

Multi-Frequency

If you select Multi-Frequency, you can use the Add button to add additional frequencies, and edit
the value, units, and Max. Delta for each frequency.

You can use the Add button to specify one frequency at a time or click the Add Frequencies…
button to use the Setup Multi-Frequencies dialog to populate a range of frequencies. The
frequencies added by the Setup Multi-Frequencies matches the first batch of frequencies solved in
an interpolating sweep

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When you OK the dialog, news for the frequencies across the number of points appear in the
Solution Setup dialog.

You can use the Remove button to remove any selected items in the table.

Broadband

If you select Broadband, you define the frequency band by providing the low and high frequency,
with a maximum delta S (that is applied to all solved frequencies), plus the maximum number of
passes. The meshing frequencies include the Low and High with the remaining points determined
automatically by HFSS. When the user requests DC as the low frequency, the lowest frequency
solved by the adaptive meshing process is determined by an algorithm that looks at the range of
frequencies you entered.

When you OK the Solution Setup for Broadband, you are automatically presented with a dialog for
specifying an Interpolating sweep.

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Simulation and Convergence

In multiple frequencies modes, when frequency point p convergences prior to frequency point q,
keep adapting at p until q and all other points achieve convergence.

The convergence data in the solution data dialog for single frequency mode is calculated in the
same way as before. In multiple frequencies mode, the convergence plotted on the convergence
display item corresponds to the global maximum delta S. Convergence data such as “Max. Delta
S” appear in the reporter as standard solution quantity so that you can easily plot the maximum
delta S for each frequency point vs. pass.

Solution Reporting

For multiple frequencies adapted solutions, the S-Matrix solution display let you to view matrix data
across different frequencies of its AdaptivePass and LastAdaptive solutions.

In “Broadband” mode, the nominal frequency is solved and its results are available for all post
processing, Optimetrics and expression cache setup. In this mode, results of other solved
frequencies will be shown in the S-Matrix solution display but will not be available in reporter,
Optimetrics and expression cache setup. In “Muti-Frequencies” mode, all post postings of the
AdaptivePass and LastAdaptive will be extended to support results at all user-specified
frequencies. Creating a report with solution across multiple frequencies will be the same as
creating such report with a sweep solution.

Related Topics

Adding a Solution Setup to an HFSS Design

Setting Adaptive Analysis Parameters for HFSS

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Solving for Ports Only

For Driven solution types with ports.

To quickly compute only the 2D excitation field patterns, impedances, and propagation constants at
each port:

l Under the General tab of the Solution Setup dialog box, select Solve Ports Only.

This disables the remaining settings for Maximum number of passes and Convergence per
pass.

HFSS calculates the natural field patterns (or modes) that can exist inside a transmission structure
with the same cross-section as the port. These 2D field patterns serve as boundary conditions for
the full 3D problem.

Related Topics

Port Field Display

Technical Notes:Port Solutions

Setting Adaptive Analysis Parameters for HFSS

Setting the Minimum Frequency

For Eigenmode solution types.

For every Eigenmode solution setup, specify the minimum frequency at which to search for
eigenmodes. HFSS searches for the user-specified number of modes with a higher resonant
frequency than the Minimum Frequency value.

l Under the General tab of the Solution Setup dialog box, type a Minimum Frequency and
the frequency units.
l You can set the Minimum frequency as a variable by typing a name in the field and pressing
Enter. This displays the Add Variable dialog for you to enter the value and units. Click OK to
close the dialog. The variable is listed in the Setup and in the Design Properties.

Warning Because the minimum frequency is used to normalize some matrices, if the
frequency is set too low, HFSS tries to solve a nearly-singular matrix, which may
erode the accuracy of the calculations. As a general rule, do not enter a
frequency less than 0.01 times the suggested, or default, value for Minimum
Frequency.

Related Topics

Setting Adaptive Analysis Parameters for HFSS

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Setting the Number of Modes

For Eigenmode solution types.

For every Eigenmode solution setup, specify the number of eigenmode solutions that the solver
finds. If you enter 5, the solver calculates the first 5 eigenmode solutions above the minimum
frequency.

The Eigenmode solver can find up to 20 eigenmode solutions.

l Under the General tab of the Solution Setup dialog box, enter a value for Number of
Modes.

Related Topics

Setting Adaptive Analysis Parameters for HFSS

Adaptive Meshing Methods In HFSS

The adaptive mesh refinement feature in HFSS automatically generates accurate and reliable
solutions and lets you focus on setting up your design efficiently instead of spending time in
determining and creating the best mesh. The Solution Frequency setup offers the flexibility of
adapting the mesh at various frequencies for your design. HFSS offers three Solution Frequency
setups for generating adapted meshes:

l Single
l Broadband
l Multi-Frequencies.

Note: The Single Solution Frequency setup is applicable for all solution types. Broadband and
Multi-Frequencies are applicable for modal and terminal solutions only.

Based on the solution frequency setup and the convergence criteria HFSS automatically creates a
suitable mesh for your design and generates accurate solutions. Once the final mesh is generated,
HFSS also creates a solution across a frequency range of interest provided you defined a
frequency sweep.

Single Solution Frequency

If you define the Single frequency setup HFSS performs adaptive mesh refinement at that
frequency for your design until the convergence criterion is satisfied. The most common
convergence criterion is determined by the difference in the S-parameter value between two
consecutive solves known as Maximum Delta S, which should be less than the specified
magnitude. Once the solution converges, the final mesh is used to evaluate the electromagnetic
characteristics of the design. If you define a frequency sweep, solution data is generated across
this range of frequencies.

To specify the Single Solution Frequency setup, perform these steps:

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1. Right-click Analysis in the project tree and select Add Solution Setup.
2. Select Single as the Solution Frequency.
3. Specify the Maximum Number of Passes and the Maximum Delta S.

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Broadband Frequency
For most problems, specifying the Single solution frequency setup is adequate to obtain accurate
results. If you desire increased reliability for broadband devices and more accurate solutions, you
can specify the Broadband option for the Solution Frequency setup. The Broadband setup
enables HFSS to intelligently determine the appropriate frequencies at which to adapt the mesh.
The virtue of automatic broadband adaptive meshing lies in eliminating uncertainty in choosing the
best frequency for adapting the mesh. You need only specify the highest and lowest frequencies of
the range and HFSS determines the frequencies at which to adapt the mesh. The mesh is always
adapted for a minimum of three frequencies within the specified frequency range. Adaptive
meshing at additional frequencies require enabling the high performance computing (HPC) feature
and availability of sufficient computational resources.

The adaptive mesh refinement process occurs at various frequencies within the specified
frequency range until the convergence criterion is met. In this case, the values of Maximum Delta
S between consecutive solves are calculated for each frequency. The weighted average of
Maximum Delta S across all frequencies must be below the specified magnitude of Maximum
Delta S for the simulation to converge. You also have the option to set Maximum Number of
Passes as the stopping criterion.

For Broadband adapt, HFSS prompts you with an interpolation sweep predefined by a range of
frequencies identical to the Broadband frequency range. In addition, the algorithm chooses the
adapt frequencies in a way that they can also be reused in the frequency sweep. This increases the
efficiency of the solution process.

Note: Broadband frequency setup does not allow viewing the fields for the adapted frequencies.
You can define a discrete sweep including the adapt frequencies and solution data will be provided
without re-solving.

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To specify the broadband frequency option, perform these steps:

1. Right-click Analysis in the project tree and select Add Solution Setup.
2. Select Broadband as the Solution Frequency.
3. Specify values for Low Frequency and High Frequency.

4. Specify the convergence criteria that include Maximum Number of Passes and the

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Maximum Delta S and click OK.

The Edit Frequency Sweep window appears automatically. The interpolating sweep is
automatically populated with Start and End values, which are identical to the low and high
frequency values of the broadband frequency range specified in the solution setup window.

Multi-Frequencies
If you know apriori the frequencies at which to adapt the mesh for your design, you can specify the
Multi-Frequencies setup. You can specify a number of individual frequencies in this setup and
adaptive meshing occurs at all the frequencies.

You have the option to set different values of Maximum Delta S for the specified frequencies. For
each frequency the individual target Delta S value must be reached in order for the entire solution
to converge. For instance, if you define 4 frequencies for adapting the mesh, the target value of
Maximum Delta S for each of the 4 frequencies must be satisfied for the solution to reach
convergence.

To specify individual frequencies in the Multi-Frequencies setup, perform these steps:

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1. Right-click Analysis in the project tree and select Add Solution Setup.
2. Select Multi-Frequencies.
3. Edit the existing frequency field to a value of your choosing.

To enter additional frequency points, use the Add button and edit the corresponding value in the
Frequency column.

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Setting Adaptive Analysis Parameters for HFSS

When you set up an adaptive analysis, define the following parameters under the General tab of
the Solution Setup dialog box:

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l Enter the Solution Frequency and select the frequency units from the pull down list.
l Optionally, select Solve Ports Only.
l Maximum Number of Passes
l Maximum Delta S or Use Matrix convergence (for designs with ports). Here you can set
matrix values for convergence, including maximum delta for Mag S and Phase S.
l Maximum Delta Energy for convergence per pass (for designs with voltage sources, current
sources, incident waves, or magnetic bias, or for Characteristic Modes solution types).
l For Eigenmode solutions, specify Maximum Delta Frequency Per Pass and, if desired,
Converge on Real Frequency Only.
l For Characteristic Modes solutions, Maximum Number of Modes and Minimum Modal
significance.

Under the Options tab of the Solution Setup dialog box, you can edit the following settings:

l Lambda Refinement
l Maximum Refinement Per Pass
l Maximum Refinement
l Minimum Number of Passes
l Minimum Number of Converged Passes
l Order of Basis functions
l Enable the Direct Solver for frequency domain solve.
l Enable Iterative Solver and associated Relative Residual Setting.
l Enable Domain Decomposition

Under the Advanced tab of the Solution Setup, depending on the solution type, you can edit the
following settings.

l Initial Mesh Options for mesh linking

l Port options (Maximum Delta Zo, whether to Use Radiation Boundary on Ports and Min/Max
Port Triangle settings)
l Whether to Save fields, and/or whether to save radiated fields only. To view a port field
display, you must save fields. Save fields options also occur for Discrete and Fast Sweeps.

Under the Hybrid tab of the of the Solution Setup, you can set solve parameters for any Hybrid
Regions you have assigned in the design.

Under the Expression Cache tab of the Solution Setup, you can create and manage
expressions to use for adaptive convergence.

Under the Derivatives tab of the Solution Setup, you can:

l Specify which variables to use for calculating derivatives.

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Related Topics

HFSS-IE Feature

Setting Hybrid Region Parameters for HFSS

When you set up an adaptive analysis, define the following parameters under the Hybrid tab of the
Solution Setup dialog box:

l IE Solver Options. You can specify the IE Solver type as ACA (the traditional method) or
as MLFMM, which is superior than ACA for models with large FE-BI surfaces, and also
works for HFSS-IE designs, and IE regions. The default choice is Auto, in which the choice
is made based on the characteristics of the design.

Both IE solvers support distributed memory using MPI. The MLFMM solver option provides a
more efficient solution to certain classes of scattering problems. The MLFMM solver is typically
more efficient (in memory and speed) than the ACA solver for problems having electrically
large, mostly smooth, scattering surfaces which are comparable in all three dimensions. For a
more detailed discussion, see MLFMM Usage Guidelines.

l Lambda Target for IE Solvers. This refers to the background material. For these fields to
be active, the Do Lambda Refinement option on the Options tab must be enabled. If the
Use Default Value check box is checked, the text box is disabled, and the 0.15 Lambda
target value is used. If you uncheck Use Default Value, you can specify a target value for the
background material for IE regions. This can be useful for designs that include curvilinear
elements.
l Whether to Save fields, and/or whether to save radiated fields only. To view a port field
display, you must save fields. Save fields options also occur for Discrete and Fast Sweeps.
l If you have assigned an SBR+ Region, you can specify the SBR+ Solver Options for Ray
Density (Per Wavelength) and Max Number of Bounces. This lets you balance solution
speed and desired accuracy. If needed, you can create an infinite sphere setup by clicking
Create ... or edit an existing Infinite Sphere setup.

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SBR+ supports assigning an Incident Plane wave for calculating RCS. If you have assigned
an Incident Plane wave, the options include the RCS Type as Monostatic or Bistatic. If you
select Monostatic, you do not need to create an infinite sphere.

If you select have assigned both SBR+ region and an Incident Plane wave, and select
Bistatic as the RCS Type, the dialog appears as follows, allowing you to create an infinite
sphere by selecting Create by clicking the drop-down menu:

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If you have creates one or more infinite spheres, these are listed on the dropdown.

l You can also choose to Skip SBR+ Solve During Adaptive Passes. SBR+ regions are not
being mesh adapted and SBR+ solutions have no impact on field solutions on FEM or IE
regions. However, SBR+ does impact stopping criteria in some cases such as coupling
between two separate source antennas. Therefore, to speed up mesh adaption, you can
choose to not solve SBR+ regions until source regions have converged in isolation.
However, SBR+ does impact stopping criteria in some cases in the form of cache
expression such as coupling between two separate source antennas or far field pattern. In
such cases, SBR+ solve could not be skipped. Moreover, SBR+ solve will always be
launched when maximum number of passes is reached regardless of source region
convergence.

l The PTD/UTD Simulation Settings allow for the inclusion of additional wedge diffraction
phenomenology that can improve the accuracy of SBR+ simulations. You can opt out of
using the PTD/UTD settings, or select PTD Correction or PTD Correction + UTD Rays.

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Selecting one of the PTD Correction options enables a field for specifying PTD Edge
Density. See the discussion under Assigning SBR+ Hybrid Regions, steps 4 and 5.

Related Topics

HFSS-IE Feature

MLFMM Usage Guidelines

The MLFMM solver option in HFSS enables the use of the Multi-Level Fast Multipole Algorithm to
increase the efficiency of the iterative solution of IE problems in HFSS-IE, FE-BI and IE-Region
problems. This document provides a brief description of the solver and guidelines for its use.

l The MLFMM Solver

l Further Details of the MLFMM Algorithm
l Guidelines for Choosing Between ACA and MLFMM IE Solver Options

The MLFMM Solver

The MLFMM solver is based on a hierarchical algorithm that relies on the underlying physics of
electromagnetic interactions to provide a more efficient scheme to compute the matrix vector
product that is at the heart of every iterative IE solver. The algorithm views a matrix vector product
as the computation of E and H fields and it computes these fields using a multi-level multi-pole
expansion.

The algorithm can be conceptually broken down in to the following 6 steps.

1. Hierarchical decomposition of the geometry into a set of nested boxes (Figure 1) and
identification of near and far interactions for each box (Figure 2).

The reason for the separation of near and far interactions is to be able to efficiently compute far
interactions using multi-poles. See additional explanations in Further Details of MLFMM
Algorithm.

2. Computation of multi-poles at the center of each box at the lowest level due to the currents
contained in the boxes (Basis functions projected on to multipoles)

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In HFSS, the multi-poles are plane waves sampled on the surface of a sphere of diameter equal
to the diagonal of the box and centered at its center.

3. Hierarchical computations of multi-poles at the center of each "higher" level box due to multi-
poles at the centers of its children (Up-tree traversal).

Since the multi-poles are effectively plane-waves, this step is equivalent to resampling plane
waves on a larger sphere using spherical interpolation.

4. Construction of fields at each box center at the "highest" level due to all multi-poles at this
level (Translation).

The fields at the receiving box can be again computed on a per-multi-pole (per-plane-wave)
basis using the addition theorem for the Green's function. The fields at the receiving box center
are, thus, again represented using plane-waves.

5. Hierarchical computation of fields at the center of each "child" box due to the "received" fields
at its parents (Down-tree traversal)

Due to the plane-wave nature of the multi-poles, this step is equivalent to a "down-sampling"
from a sphere at the parent level to one at the child level.

6. Computation of fields at the observer locations inside each lowest level box (local fields
projected to testing function)

This is done using integration (summation) over all the plane-waves to compute the field,
followed by testing using appropriate testing functions.

The first step, the computation of the absolute "near-field" and all RHS-independent pre-
computations possible for steps 2 - 6 are performed during the "Matrix Assembly" stage and the
remaining computations for steps 2 - 6 are performed during the "Iterative Solution" stage (Figure
3).

Due to the way the algorithm is constructed the MLFMM solver will take significantly less amount of
time than ACA for "Matrix Assembly". It is, however, possible that the MLFMM solver may take a
larger amount of time than ACA per iteration for "Matrix Solution". Further, due to its construction,
MLFMM algorithm tends to use significantly less memory than the ACA solver for large problems.

Related Topics

Further Details of the MLFMM Algorithm

Guidelines for Choosing Between ACA and MLFMM IE Solver Options

Further Details of the MLFMM Algorithm

Near-field interactions for a given reference box are defined to be between itself and the boxes that
it touches at the same level. Far-field interactions for a given reference box are computed explicitly

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for all boxes it does not touch which reside in its parent's near field. The hierarchical nature of the
algorithm automatically provides the near-field interactions at level n+1 when computing the
various interactions at level n. This can be inferred by studying Figure 1 and 2. An outcome of this
fact is that only the lowest level contains explicit near-field interactions which are done using
standard MoM. Further, note that the far-field interactions between a reference box and boxes
which are further away than the near-field of its parent are accounted for by the far-field
interactions of its parent (and higher level parents if they exist).

Figure 1: shows a cross-section of "hierarchically nested" boxes overlaid on the mesh of an

arbitrarily shaped sheet.

Figure 2: shows the decomposition of boxes into "near" and "far" fields at levels 1, 2, and 3. In each
case, a reference box is shown in green and its immediate parent is shown with a red border. The
orange color indicates boxes in the near-field of the reference box and the blue color indicate boxes
in the far-field at each level. Note that the "near field" exists only at level 1.

Figure 3: illustrates steps 2-6 in the MLFMM algorithm above. The black arrows indicate the
multipole creation from basis functions and construction of the tested field from multipole

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expansions (steps 2 and 6). Orange arrows indicate the up-tree and down-tree traversals (steps 3,
5), and the red arrow indicates the translation of multipoles to its far field (step 4).

Related Topics

The MLFMM Solver

Guidelines for Choosing Between ACA and MLFMM IE Solver Options

Guidelines for Choosing Between ACA and MLFMM IE Solver Options

The following guidelines have been arrived at by analyzing the features of the MLFMM algorithm
and comparing its performance to ACA for several test problems.

1. Problem size

In general, the ACA solver will be more efficient than the MLFMM solver in terms of both
memory and solution time for problems whose scattering surface(s) has (have) less than
100,000 surface unknowns (~100,000 triangles).

2. Aspect Ratio (largest dimension : smallest dimension):

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In general, the ACA solver will be more efficient in memory and speed than MLFMM for
problems whose geometry has a bounding box with a highly skewed aspect ratio (on the
order of 100:1 or higher).

3. Design Type

HFSS-IE

Number of Excitations:

For problems having very few excitations (<10), the MLFMM solver will be more efficient
than ACA in both speed and memory for problems that satisfy items 1 and 2 above. Since the
time required for matrix multiplication is higher in MLFMM, as the number of excitations
increases (e.g. mono-static RCS problems, for example), the # of unknowns in the problem
needed to realize the increase in speed provided by MLFMM (vs. ACA) will increase (with
respect to the limits provided in 1, above). However, the memory savings provided by
MLFMM will remain consistent even while the number of excitations increases.

HFSS - FE-BI

For FE-BI surfaces involving few excitations the MLFMM solver will provide similar or
slightly better performances in solution time and better performance in memory for
problems that satisfy items 1 and 2 above.

For FE-BI surfaces involving a large number of excitations (e.g. several ports, or mono-
static RCS problems), the MLFMM solver's solution time may be larger than that for
ACA but the memory savings will remain.

IE Regions

For IE region problems the ACA solver will nearly always be faster than the MLFMM
solver. However, the MLFMM solver will provide memory savings for problems satisfying
criteria 1 & 2 above.

Decision Flowchart for Deciding on the IE Solver Options

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Related Topics

The MLFMM Solver

Further Details of the MLFMM Algorithm

Setting the Maximum Number of Passes

The Maximum Number of Passes value is the maximum number of mesh refinement cycles that
you would like HFSS to perform. This value is a stopping criterion for the adaptive solution; if the
maximum number of passes has been completed, the adaptive analysis stops. If the maximum
number of passes has not been completed, the adaptive analysis will continue unless the
convergence criteria are reached.

To set the maximum number of passes for an adaptive analysis:

l Under the General tab of the Solution Setup dialog box, enter a value for Maximum
Number of Passes.

For driven problems HFSS always requiring at least one adaptive pass. Entering 1 will bypass
adaptive analysis, generating a solution only at the solution frequency you specified.

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Note The size of the finite element mesh — and the amount of memory required to generate a
solution — increases with each adaptive refinement of the mesh. Setting the maximum
number of passes too high can result in HFSS requesting more memory than is available or
taking excessive time to compute solutions.

Related Topics

Adding a Solution Setup to an HFSS Design

Adding an Solution Setup to an HFSS-IE Design

Setting the Maximum Delta S Per Pass

For designs with ports or Transient Solutions for Device Characterization.

The delta S is the magnitude of the change of the S-parameters between two consecutive passes.
The solver reports the worst case violation. The value you set for Maximum Delta S is a stopping
criterion for the adaptive solution. If the magnitude of the change of all S-parameters are less than
this value from one iteration to the next, the adaptive analysis stops. Otherwise, it continues until
the requested number of passes is completed. The default value is reasonable for most cases.
Setting the Maximum Delta S too small wastes computer resources and time. Setting it too large
jeopardizes accuracy. Always set the Delta S with your error tolerance in mind.

Consider the worst case scenarios when setting the Maximum Delta S.

l Determine the worst case magnitude error by assuming the S-parameter magnitude is the
only source of error (phase is perfectly accurate).
l Most likely the actual solution is much closer since the error will be split between the
magnitude and the phase solve value.

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To set the maximum delta S per adaptive pass:

l Under the General tab of the Solution Setup dialog box, enter a value for Maximum Delta
S.

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Delta S data is available only after HFSS completes two iterations of the adaptive analysis process.

Note Delta S is computed on the appropriate S-parameters - modal or terminal - after the S-
parameters have been de-embedded and renormalized.

Related Topics

Adding a Solution Setup to an HFSS Design

Adding an Solution Setup to an HFSS-IE Design

Viewing the Maximum Magnitude of Delta S Between Passes

Technical Notes: Maximum Delta S

Setting the Maximum Delta Energy Per Pass

For designs with voltage sources, current sources, incident waves or magnetic bias or Transient
Solutions for Field Visualization.
Not applicable to designs with ports.

The delta Energy is the difference in the relative energy error from one adaptive solution to the
next. The value you set for Maximum Delta Energy is a stopping criterion for the adaptive
solution. If the delta Energy falls below this value, the adaptive analysis stops. Otherwise, it
continues until the convergence criteria are reached.

To set the maximum delta Energy per adaptive pass:

l Under the General tab of the Solution Setup dialog box, enter a value for Maximum Delta
Energy.

Delta Energy data is available only after HFSS completes two iterations of the adaptive analysis
process.

Related Topics

Viewing the Delta Magnitude Energy

Technical Notes: Maximum Delta Energy

Setting the Maximum Delta Frequency Per Pass

For Eigenmode solution types

The delta Frequency is the percentage difference between calculated eigenmode frequencies from
one adaptive pass to the next. The value you set for Maximum Delta Frequency Per Pass is a
stopping criterion for the adaptive solution. If the eigenmode frequencies change by a relative
amount less than this value from one pass to the next, the adaptive analysis stops. Otherwise, it
continues until the maximum number of passes is completed.

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Maximum Frequency Delta Per Pass = max | F_current - F_previous|/|F_previous|

To set the Maximum Delta Frequency Per Pass:

l Under the General tab of the Solution Setup dialog, enter a value for Maximum Delta
Frequency Per Pass.

Delta Frequency data is available only after HFSS completes two iterations of the adaptive
analysis.

Related Topics

Specifying Convergence on Real Frequency Only

Specifying Convergence on Real Frequency Only

For Eigenmode solution types.

Selecting Converge on Real Frequency Only causes the percent difference calculation among
a set of frequencies to be based only on the real parts of the frequencies; the imaginary parts of the
frequencies are ignored.

l Under the General tab of the Solution Setup dialog box, select Converge on Real
Frequency Only.

Specifying Expressions for Adaptive Convergence

You can specify additional convergence criteria through the use of expressions and output
variables. The Max Delta or the Max Percent Delta defined for expression convergence
represents the difference in values of the expressions between consecutive adaptive passes. If the
difference in the value of the expression between consecutive passes is less than the Max Delta or
the Max Percent Delta value this part of the convergence criteria is satisfied.

l For driven solutions, if the Maximum Delta S, Maximum Delta E, or alternate matrix
convergence criteria are achieved in addition to any specified expression convergence
criteria, the adaptive analysis stops. Otherwise, the solution continues until the requested
number of passes is completed.
l For eigenmode solutions, if the Maximum Delta Frequency Per Pass criteria is
achieved in addition to any specified expression convergence criteria, the adaptive analysis
stops. Otherwise, the solution continues until the requested number of passes is completed.

To set expressions as Convergence criteria:

1. Double-click on the setup icon in the Project tree to open the Solution Setup dialog.
2. Click the Expression Cache tab in the Solution Setup and click the Add... button to open
the Add to Expression Cache dialog.

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3. Specify the context for the expression you define. For Modal Solution Data, you do not need
context other than the Solution. Other selections require more context:
l Emission Test also requires a digital signal.
l Far Field field also requires a geometry such as an infinite sphere.
l Fields or Near Fields also require a geometry such as a polyline.
4. Under the Trace tab, select from the Category, Quantity and Function lists to create
expressions.

Selecting a listed category lists the Quantities and Functions available for each category. If you
have defined one or more output variables, you can see them listed as Quantities by selecting
the Output Variables Category. The Output Variables button opens a dialog that lets you
define additional output variables.

When you have created an expression, it appears in the Expression field of the Trace tab. If
desired, you can use the Range Function button to select range functions to apply to the
expression.

Under the Calculation Range tab, you can view the values of available sweep variables.
Clicking the ellipsis [...] button in the Edit column opens a list of values.

5. When you have created an expression that you want to add to the cache, click the Add
Calculation button.

This adds the selected expression and the associated context to a table in the Expression
Cache tab. You can select any additional expressions with contexts and add them in the same
way.

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6. When you have added the expressions you want, click Done to close the Add to
Expression Cache dialog.

The Expression Cache tab of the Solution Setup lists the expressions you have added as a
table.

l The Title field is editable, by default showing the name as built from the expression, but
removing underscores.
l The Expression field shows the full expression. If necessary, you can resize the Solution
Setup dialog. You can also resize each column in the table.
l The Context column shows None for Modal solutions, or the appropriate geometry for
Fields calculations.
l The Intrinsics column shows a clickable button that opens an Edit Calculation Range
dialog. If the column button shows None you cannot edit the value. If the button shows
variables, click the ellipsis [...] in the Edit column to display a list of the variable values that
you can select. Click OK to close the Edit Calculation Range dialog and apply your
selections to the Expression Cache.
l The Convergence column contains a check box that lets you designate post processing
variables, such as for renormalization or deembedding. You can also use this feature to
assign variables to non-model objects (for example, the properties of a solid, sheet or lines
used for field calculations). You can also assign a PP Variable to a coordinate system
(CS) that is not associated with model objects.

To excite particular sources for particular output variables, you can assign a post process
variable to the magnitude of sources you might want to edit, and assign the expression value
in the Expression Cache. With PP Variables, you can control convergence based on several
combinations of active sources.

7. To designate one or more expressions for convergence, click the field for the Convergence
column for each expression.

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This opens an Adaptive Convergence dialog.

Check Use this expression for convergence to enable the radio buttons. You can then
specify the Max Delta between passes or the Max Percent Delta criteria. The Max Delta
solves a potential issue if your expression is essentially zero and the numeric noise from pass to
pass causes the maximum percentage delta to remain high. In that case adaptive refinement
continues until you get to the maximum number of passes.

8. Click OK to close the Solution Setup dialog.

Related Topics

Viewing Convergence Data

Viewing the Output Variable Convergence

Specifying Output Variables

Specifying a Source for the Initial Mesh

You may choose to specify a source for the initial mesh from either the current design or another
design. The source mesh should represent a geometrically equivalent model.

Note For more information see Mesh Linking and Mesh Link Requirements.

To specify a source for the initial mesh:

1. Under the Advanced tab of the Solution Setup dialog box, click the check box for Import
Mesh.

This displays the Setup Link dialog box. By default, the Source Project check boxes for Use
This Project and the Source Design check box for Use This Design are selected.

Note that when you setup a link to an external source, the Lamda refinement option is
deselected under the Options tab to avoid over-refinement of the linked mesh.

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If you uncheck Use This Project, you enable fields for selecting a different project and radio
buttons to specify whether to save the source path relative to The project directory of the
selected project or This project.

2. To specify a Source Project file click the ellipsis [...] button to open a file browser window.

When you selected the project, click the Open button to accept the project file for the setup. You
can use the check box to Open as read only.

Use the radio buttons to specify whether to save the source path relative to The project
directory of the selected project or This project.

When you select a Project File, the Design field and the Solution field are filled in with default
values, and the drop down menus contain any available Projects and solutions.

The "Default" solution is the product dependent solution of the first Setup. That is the setup
listed first in the source design's project tree (alphanumerical order). A product specific solution
of this setup becomes the default solution. In most products, it is LastAdaptive. In a Transient
solution type, it is "Transient."

Note The solution in the source design must provide data for the target design's adaptive
frequency as well as its sweeps. That is, the adaptive frequency for the target design must
be included in the sweep in the source design.

If necessary, you can open the source design and add an appropriate frequency point to an
existing sweep.

3. For the Source Design, if you leave Use This Project checked, you can uncheck Use This
Design to enable the a dropdown menu for to select from other available designs.
4. For the Source Solution field, you can use the dropdown menu to select from other
possible solutions.
5. Use the check box specify whether to Simulate the source design as needed to produce
the mesh.
6. Use the check box to specify whether to preserve the source design solution. Note that
in the Extractor mode, the source project will be saved upon exit. Extractor mode means
that the software is opened during the link solely for the purpose of solving.
7. The second tab, Variable Mapping, lets you view any variables contained in the Project you
select.

When there are variables in the source design, you can choose to "map" these variables to
constant values, expressions or variables in the target designs. Variable mapping becomes
more important when the datalink type requires source and target design to be geometrically

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identical and source design is geometrically parameterized.

When a variable in the target design has the same name of a source design variable but the 2
variables are not mapped, the Parameter tab will become the active tab with the following
message box popped.

You can exit the Setup Link dialog directly by selecting "Accept Setup and Exit Dialog" or
reexamine the parameter mapping by selecting "Return to Setup Dialog".

In the Setup Link dialog box, for linked designs with variables of the same name, you can click
Map Variables by Name to automatically map same named variables. A variable that does not
have a same named counterpart, and retains its value in the source design.

Click OK to proceed without the variable mapping.

8. You can select the Additional mesh refinements tab to specify the following:
l For Mesh Operations, you can select radio buttons to either Apply mesh operation in
target design on the imported mesh, or Ignore mesh operations in target design
(default).
l For Port Adapt, you can check Perform port adapt in target solve setup.
9. Click OK to accept the setup and close the Setup dialog box.

Related Topics

Clearing Linked Data

Setting Lambda Refinement

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Clearing Linked Data

Linked data can be mesh, field or some other post-processing data that the source design
generated. The target design for the link caches these data internally to minimize the need to
activate the source design.

If you have previously setup links to a design, the HFSS>Analysis Setup menu contains an option
to Clear Linked Data. This removes the linked data for all links in a design, therefore invalidating
the solutions. You can also clear linked data through HFSS>Results>Clean Up Solutions,
which displays a dialog that includes options that let you selectively delete linked data only, or as
part of other deletions.

Clearing linked data for some link types requires HFSS to revert to the initial mesh. Thus in some
cases, this command removes the current mesh of the target design.

Related Topics

Deleting Solution Data

Mesh Linking

You can obtain a broadband mesh by linking between designs as follows:

l Link a mesh from an Eigenmode solution to a Driven Modal or a Driven Terminal design.
l Use a cascade of mesh links within the same design where each link adapts the mesh at a
different frequency.

Related Topics

Mesh Link Requirements

Specifying a Source for the Initial Mesh.

Mesh Link Requirements

If you want to reuse a mesh from an existing source design, make sure that the geometries in the
target and source are identical. This is a requirement for a mesh link. There are two ways to
generate geometrically equivalent models.

l Copy the entire source design and paste it in the Project Manager window to create the
target design.
l Use Import from Clipboard as follows:
1. In the model window of the source design, press CTRL+A to select all the objects.
2. Right-click on the Modeler field and select Edit>Copy from the short-cut menu.
3. On the target design, go to Modeler>Import from Clipboard to paste in the design.

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After you paste using one of the above methods, create a solution setup in the target, select Import
Mesh on the Options tab, and link the mesh from the Setup Link dialog box.

Note For more information about linking the mesh, see Specifying a Source for the Initial Mesh.

Setting Lambda Refinement

Lambda refinement is the process of refining the initial mesh based on the material-dependent
wavelength. It is recommended and selected by default.

HFSS performs solution adaptive mesh refinement to produce accurate results. Lambda
Refinement is necessary to avoid false convergence and achieve accuracy to the field data
especially for electrically (approximately greater than 2*lambda) large problems. The Lambda
refinement process helps to start with the optimal balance between element count and element
size. For efficient convergence, the initial mesh should meet some element electrical size
requirements as determined by lambda refinement. Typically, a few elements per wavelength are
needed for accurate results and since wavelength depends upon the material, the element length
target differs for each material. You can specify the size of the element target by which HFSS
refines the mesh in the Lambda Target field or select the recommended Use Default Value. The
default value in the Lambda Target field also depends upon the Order of the Basis Functions. For
example, if the lambda target is 0.3333, the initial mesh is refined such that on each solid the length
of the elements are approximately smaller than 0.333*wavelength.

If you use the Advanced tab to link to a mesh from another design or project, Do Lamda
Refinement is unchanged.

To specify the size of target value by which HFSS will refine the mesh:

1. Under the Options tab of the Solution Setup dialog box, select DoLambda Refinement.

This enables the Target field and the Use free space lambda check box. It also enables
Lamda refinement for the background material for the IE Solver. (See the IE Solver Options
area on the Advanced tab.)

2. Enter a value for the wavelength in the Target field or accept the defaults.

The Target defaults depend on the Order of Basis function selections. For example, for Driven
solutions and a First Order basis function, the default target is 0.3333, which means that HFSS
will refine the mesh until most element lengths are approximately one-third wavelength.

For eigenmode solutions and a First Order basis function, the default target is 0.2

If you change the Order of Basis functions in the Solution Setup dialog, the default changes
automatically. Setting the Order of Basis affects the default value of the Lambda Refinement in
the Solution setups as follows.

Zero order: driven 0.1, eigenmode 0.1

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First order: driven 0.3333, eigenmode 0.2 (as is)

Second order: driven 0.6667, eigenmode 0.4
Mixed order driven 0.6667 eigenmode 0.6667

3. If you want the initial mesh to be refined based on the wavelength in free space, select Use
free space lambda. Material-dependent lambda refinement will be deactivated.

Note Changing the Lambda refinement target invalidates any solutions that were
performed with the previous lambda refinement.

If an object is highly conductive, very little energy will penetrate into it, so it does not
need a dense mesh. In such cases, free space mesh is applied.

Related Topics

Setting the Max Order of Solution Basis

Specifying a Source for the Initial Mesh

Setting the Percent Maximum Refinement Per Pass

The value you set for percent Maximum Refinement Per Pass determines how many tetrahedra
are added at each iteration of the adaptive refinement process. The tetrahedra with the highest
error will be refined. The default value is 30%.

To set the percent refinement per adaptive pass:

l Under the Options tab of the Solution Setup dialog box, enter a value for percent
Maximum Refinement Per Pass.

Related Topics

Technical Notes: Percent of Tetrahedra Refined Per Pass

Adding a Solution Setup to an HFSS Design

Adding an Solution Setup to an HFSS-IE Design

Setting the Maximum Refinement

This specifies the maximum number of tetrahedra that can be added during an adaptive pass. By
default, this unchecked, to that there is no maximum. If you enable the Maximum Refinement, the
initial value is 1000000.

To set a new value for the Maximum Refinement:

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1. Under the Options tab of the Solution Setup dialog box, click the Maximum Refinement
check box to enable the text field.
2. Enter the number of tetrahedra for Maximum Refinement.

You can also control these values in the docked properties window that displays when you
select the setup with the View>Properties enabled. With the properties window displayed. you
can click the check box for Use Max Refinement to apply the value in the Max Refinement text
field.

Related Topics

Adding a Solution Setup to an HFSS Design

Adding an Solution Setup to an HFSS-IE Design

Setting the Minimum Number of Passes

An adaptive analysis will not stop unless the minimum number of passes you specify has been
completed, even if convergence criteria have been met.

l Under the Options tab of the Solution Setup dialog box, enter a value for Minimum
Number of Passes.

Note For a solve setup with zero passes, no sweeps, and that is not ports only, validation
produces a warning message.

Related Topics

Adding a Solution Setup to an HFSS Design

Adding an Solution Setup to an HFSS-IE Design

Setting the Minimum Number of Converged Passes

An adaptive analysis will not stop unless the minimum number of converged passes you specify
has been completed.

l Under the Options tab of the Solution Setup dialog box, enter a value for Minimum
Converged Passes.

The convergence criteria must be met for at least this number of passes before the adaptive
analysis will stop.

Related Topics

Adding a Solution Setup to an HFSS Design

Setting Matrix Convergence Criteria

For designs with ports.

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You can specify different stopping criteria for specific entries in the S-matrix. This is done in the
Matrix Convergence dialog box. The adaptive analysis will continue until the magnitude and
phase of the entries change by an amount less than the specified criteria from one pass to the next,
or until the number of requested passes is completed.

To set the matrix convergence:

1. Under the General tab of the Solution Setup dialog box, select Use Matrix
Convergence.
2. Click Set Magnitude and Phase.

The Matrix Convergence dialog box appears.

3. Select one of the following from the Entry Selections pull-down list:

All Sets all of the matrix entries at once. (The default).

Diagonal/Off- Sets all of the diagonal matrix entries at once, all off-diagonal matrix entries
Diagonal at once, or both diagonal and off diagonal entries at once.
Selected Sets individual matrix entries that you will select.
Entries

For the selection All, enter the convergence criteria for the Maximum Delta (Mag S) and the
Maximum Delta (Phase S) in the fields to the right.

For the selection Diagonal/Off-Diagonal, first check Diagonal Entries, Off-Diagonal

Entries, or both, to enable the convergence criteria field or fields. Then enter the convergence
criteria for the Maximum Delta (Mag S) and the Maximum Delta (Phase S) in the fields to the
right.

For both of these Entry Selections, you can set the Ignore Phase when Mag is less than
value. See the note on technical issues under step 4 c.

4. If you chose Selected Entries, the Matrix Convergence dialog displays some new fields:
l a table showing columns for Matrix Entry 1, Matrix Entry 2, and the Delta Mag and Delta
Phase.
l Entry 1 and Entry 2 fields which contain drop down lists of ports and associated modes
(or terminals).
l an Insert button with which to move selections from the port list selections to the table

To select the desired ports and mode (or terminal) pairs, do the following:

a. Select Entry 1 and Entry 2 from their drop down lists.

b. In the Magnitude box, enter the maximum change in magnitude from pass to pass from
the Entry 1 to Entry 2.

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c. In the Phase box, enter the maximum change in phase, in degrees, from pass to pass
from Entry 1 to Entry 2.

Note: When the Mag S becomes small (near to zero) its phase becomes indefinite and
insignificant due to mathematical issues. In HFSS 10 and 11 there was a 0.05 magnitude
threshold that caused that Phase Margin to be discarded. However, some users may want
to continue running additional passes to stabilize phase margins even when the S-
parameter magnitude is below this threshold. For this reason, the magnitude threshold has
been removed. This calls for caution if you want to see a good phase convergence for S12
which is near to 1. If you set a small delta_phi with small delta_s, after a couple of passes,
S12 will converge, but S11 never, since S11 ~0 and its phase changes with the mesh noise
because the phase is indefinite. In other words, under these conditions the adaptive process
never stops, so you should abort it.

d. Click Insert.

The entries appear in the table above. If you have selected multiple entries, all combinations
of matrix entry1 and matrix entry2 populate the table.

Selecting a Row in the table enables the Delete button, if you need to remove a row from the
table.

Clicking in the Delta Mag and Delta Row fields of the selected row enables editing in those
fields.

5. Click OK to close apply the values and close the dialog.

Related Topics

Viewing the Magnitude Margin

Viewing the Phase Margin

Viewing Delta (Mag S)

Viewing Delta (Phase S)

Setting the Order of Basis Functions

You can change the basis functions HFSS uses to interpolate field values from nodal values.

l Under the Options tab of the Solution Setup dialog box, select Order ofBasis.

This can be First Order (the default), Zero Order, Second Order, or Mixed order.

Setting the Order of Basis functions affects the default value of the Lambda Refinement in the
Solution setups as follows.

Zero order: driven 0.1, eigenmode 0.1

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First order: driven 0.3333, eigenmode 0.2 (as is)

Second order: driven 0.6667, eigenmode 0.4
Mixed order driven 0.6667 eigenmode 0.6667

The Zero order option is useful when a model requires a mesh that produces more than 100,000
tetrahedra, but the model size is small compared to wavelength. The higher order options solve
progressively more unknowns for each tetrahedron. Mixed order uses higher order where more
accuracy is required, and lower order where fields are weaker.

Warning If you select Zero Order Solution Basis, all tetrahedra in the model must have edge
lengths less than 1/20th wavelength. Thus, this option is usually selected in
combination with a specific lambda refinement setting.

Related Topics

Technical Notes: Basis Functions

Setting Lambda Refinement

Enable Iterative Solver

Enable Direct Solver

The Direct solver provides a multi-frontal (MF) approach when a matrix is not well-conditioned for
an iterative solution. The iterative solver significantly reduces memory usage, and it can also
provide a savings in the solution time for large simulations.

When you select the Enable Direct Solver option, HFSS automatically invokes the multi-frontal
solver. If you select the Iterative Solver and HFSS decides that the matrix is not conditioned well
enough to take advantage of the iterative approach HFSS still uses the multi-frontal solver.

To enable the Direct solver:

1. On the Solution Setup dialog, Options tab, select the Direct Solver radio button.

Note The Iterative Solver is not available for zero order basis solutions.

Related Topics

Setting HPC and Analysis Options

Technical Notes: Direct Matrix Solver

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Enable Iterative Solver

The iterative solver provides an alternative to the multi-frontal solver when a matrix is well-
conditioned for an iterative solution. The iterative solver significantly reduces memory usage, and it
can also provide a savings in the solution time for large simulations.

When you select the Enable Iterative Solver option, HFSS automatically invokes the iterative
solver when it decides that the matrix is conditioned well enough to take advantage of the iterative
approach. HFSS uses the multi-frontal solver if the matrix does not meet this requirement.

For more detail, see the technical notes for Iterative Matrix Solver.

To enable the Iterative solver:

1. On the Solution Setup dialog, Options tab, select the Iterative Solver radio button.

This enables the Relative Residual check box.

2. Enter a value for the Relative Residual. The residual measures the convergence of the
iterative solver. The default value is 1E-6.

Note The Iterative Solver is not available for zero order basis solutions.

Related Topics

Technical Notes: Iterative Matrix Solver

Enable Domain Decomposition

If a problem is too large to solve on one machine HFSS can automatically partition a design into
domains that can be solved by separate processes. Before enabling solver domains, you must
have the HPC license option, and you must have allocated at least three distributed machines to
the solve pool. The number of domains that the solver creates will not exceed N-1, where N is the
number of machines listed in the pool (The first machine in the pool acts as the head node and is
responsible for domain assembly, mesh refinement, and solution management). If more machines
are present in the solve pool than are needed, HFSS creates the number of domains that leads to
increased overall solver efficiency. Consequently, some machines remain idle if the problem size
does not justify their use. See the Technical Note on domain decomposition for further details.

Note You can use the Domain Decomposition method and setup HPC to solve a large problem
such as a helical antenna. HFSS automatically apportions the helical antenna design into
domains and solves them by separate processes. See the discussion associated with the
helical antenna example project that can be accessed with File > Open Examples >
Antenna.

Domain use can be invoked for a solve when

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l The Domain Decomposition radio button under the Solution Setup Options tab is
checked.
l You have the HPC License.
l You have provided at least three distributed machines in the pool.
l The solver determines that the problem is large enough (the mesh has enough tets) to
bother with domains.
l The design includes IE Regions and/or FE-BI Radiation Boundaries.

If you have configured your installations properly, the Domain solve can use Distributed Memory
solutions. Memory used by the MPI-enabled HFSS solver is therefore limited by the set of
machines that are available rather than the shared memory available on any single machine. This
allows you to simulate larger structures than before and to optimally reconfigure the cluster of
machines for the problem at hand. If an HFSS problem involves solver domains or a finite array,
then frequency sweeps will not be done using DSO. Also, DSO for Optimetrics will not be allowed.

Restrictions on solver domains are that the design and analysis setup cannot include:

l The design cannot contain master and slave boundaries.

l Eigenmode solution type.
l Fast frequency sweeps.

If any condition is not met, the problem is solved with the non-domain solver defined under the
solution options. When these conditions are met:

l The solver chooses the number of domains to use, based on the machines available. The
number of domains chosen will likely be close to the maximum. The maximum is one less
than the total because the first machine in the pool is used to control domain iterations.
l The solver creates the domain meshes of roughly the same size
l Domain meshes are created every time the global mesh changes (before each adaptive
pass)

Note l You provide resources for the distributed solve by adding machines to the distributed
machine pool. A machine can appear in the pool more than once. You should use
this capability to maintain a balanced load.
l Because the domains should be roughly the same size, you should provide balanced
resources.

Related Topics

Distributed Right-Hand-Side Solver in Domain Decomposition

Balancing Resources for Solver Domains

Technical Notes: Domain Decomposition Method

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Distributed Right-Hand-Side Solver in Domain Decomposition

For versions prior to HFSS16 in the domain decomposition solver, domains are distributed across
separate machines and each right hand side (RHS) or excitation is solved one at a time. For
designs with several excitations, this process can take much time. In HFSS16 a distributed right
hand side (RHS) solver can use extra machines (if available) and speed up simulation.

Suppose a design with 10 excitations requires 5 domains. To simulate such a design you must
enter at least 6 machines in the distributed list. If you enter less than 12 machines, Distributed RHS
launches 6hf3ds and the simulation process is identical to that in the previous versions. These 6
hf3d solvers are treated as one group. If you enter 12 machines, you will notice 12 hf3ds (two
groups) in the Task Manager and each group simultaneously solves 5 distinct excitations. If each
machine is distinct, the simulation is faster compared to the single group simulation. More groups
are automatically created when more machines are entered.

The distributed RHS solver is triggered when there are at least 4 excitations and adequate number
of machines available. The minimum number of excitations per group is 2. For finite array domains,
distributed RHS is enabled when there are adequate number of machines such that each engine
solves at most 2 parents. For regular rectangular arrays, number of engines per group is 11. Thus
you can enter at least 22 machines to enable this new feature. For optimal performance, we
recommend using distinct machines in each group.

Related Topics

Configuring Distributed Analysis

Selecting an Optimal Configuration for Distributed Analysis

Balancing Resources for Solver Domains

Technical Notes: Domain Decomposition Method

Balancing Resources for Domains

The Domain Decomposition option for large models requires that you provide resources for the
distributed solve by adding machines to the distributed machine pool.

Because the domains should be roughly the same size, you should provide balanced resources. As
an example of balancing the load, suppose that machine called Patriot has 256 GB and another
called Cutlass has 64 GB. If you want up to five domains, it makes sense to enter Patriot in the pool
four times and Cutlass once.

Under Analysis Configuration Options, you should set the RAM Limit % to the memory desired for
each individual domain.

In the example above, a good choice for Mem_Limit_Soft would be 64 GB.

Remember:

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l A machine can appear in the pool more than once. The user should use this capability to
maintain a balanced load.
l The first machine in the pool is used to control domain iterations.
l Under the Analysis Configuration Machine tab, the Number of Cores is also set per
domain.

In the example above, a machine named Patriot has 16 processors and a machine named Cutlass
has 8 processors. Four domains will go on Patriot, so Number of Processors should be set to 4.
Four processors on Cutlass will be unused.

Recommendation: it is more important to use memory efficiently than to use all the processors.

Related Topics

Configuring Distributed Analysis

Selecting an Optimal Configuration for Distributed Analysis

Distributed Right-Hand-Side Solver in Domain Decomposition

Technical Notes: Domain Decomposition Method

Domains with FE-BI Radiation Boundaries or IE Regions

The solve uses domain solvers if there is a FE-BI radiation boundary and/or at least one IE Region.

l Solve sequentially using domains if solver domains are not enabled

l Solve distributed using domains if solver domains are enabled, even if mesh not big enough
to split into solver domains

Number of domains

l One or more for FEM region (depending on whether using solver defined domains)
l One or more for FE-BI surfaces and dielectric cavity, depending on size and connectivity
l One or more for metallic IE Regions, depending on size and connectivity
l With solver defined domains, determines number of machines

Related Topics

Enable Use of Solver Domains

Assign IE Regions

Assigning Radiation Boundaries

Technical Notes: Radiation Boundaries

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Use Radiation Boundary on Ports

If the design includes wave ports, the Use Radiation Boundary on Ports option is enabled
under the Advanced options tab of the Solution Setup dialog box.

l If you select this setting, edges which are assigned to ABC and touch a port have an
radiation boundary condition applied during the port solution.
l If you do not select the setting, a perfect conducting boundary condition is used during the
port calculations.

In most cases this setting has a limited effect on the overall fields or post processed quantities.

Port Options
If the design includes wave ports, the Port Options options appear under the Advanced options
tab of the Solution Setup dialog box. These options include:

l Maximum Delta Zo - change to Zo specified as a target percentage. The default is 2%.

l Use Radiation Boundaries on Ports
l Set Triangles for Wave Port - unchecked by default.

If you check Set Triangles for Wave Port, the Minimum and Maximum fields are enabled.
You can edit the default values of 100 for the minimum and 500 for the maximum.

For designs with lumped ports, this option is not active. Higher numbers of triangles would not
benefit a solution setup in this case.

Produce Derivatives for Selected Variables

The Derivatives feature produces derivatives of S-parameters and related matrix quantities such
as Y or Z. The solver also outputs partial derivatives of E and H over the radiation surfaces. The
Reporter can then calculate the partial derivative of the far fields using of E and H over the radiation
surfaces based on the same formulation as the far fields. Thus the tuned far fields are derived from
the nominal field fields, and the partial derivative of the far fields. Far field tuning supports:

l Incident Wave
l Linked Field
l Voltage Source
l Current Source
l Magnetic Bias : Note: Sensitivity analysis of a design variable associated with the magnetic
bias region assumes that the magnetic bias field does not change. In some cases this
assumption may not be appropriate and requires user discretion to ensure its applicability
especially for non-uniform ferrite models.

You can select design properties and project variables as variables of differentiation. If your design
has appropriate candidate variables, the Derivatives tab of the Solution setup lists them. You
enable the derivative calculation by checking the appropriate boxes.

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To have HFSS calculate derivatives for design or project variables:

1. Open the Derivatives tab of the Solution Setup

2. For the desired variable, click the check box in the Use column.

You can view the computed derivatives in the Reporter. You can also use them through the Tune
Reports command for interactive exploration of small variations in the design, without the need to
solve again.

This feature has the following limits on use:

l HFSS Transient projects do not support derivatives.

l HFSS Eigenmode projects do not support derivatives.
l Derivatives are not computed in a ports-only solution.
l Derivatives are supported in projects with non-port excitations including incident waves,
linked fields, voltage or current sources.
l Parameters of differentiation may not affect Floquet ports.
l Parameters of differentiation many not affect deembedded Lumped ports.
l Derivatives are not supported for any solution employing Domain Decomposition Method
(DDM), which includes FE-BI radiation boundaries, IE Regions, Finite Arrays.

Related Topics

Setting Adaptive Analysis Parameters

Derivative Tuning for Reports

Examples: Tune a Coax Fed Patch

Technical Notes: Overview of the Technical Approach for Derivatives in HFSS

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Adding a Frequency Sweep (HFSS)

For Driven solution types.

To generate a solution across a range of frequencies, add a frequency sweep to the solution setup.
HFSS or HFSS-IE performs the sweep after the adaptive solution. If an adaptive solution is not
requested, the sweep is the only solution generated. You can also disable a sweep, so that you can
run only the adaptive solution (or a ports-only solution) without the sweep, then later reactivate the
sweep definition.

To add a frequency sweep:

1. Click HFSS>Analysis Setup>Add Frequency Sweep .

A dialog appears which lists the solution setups.

2. Select the solution setup to which the sweep applies and click OK. To bypass this dialog
right-click on the desired setup in the Project tree and select Add Sweep from the shortcut
menu.

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The Edit Frequency Sweep dialog box appears.

3. Specify the following sweep parameters:

l Sweep Name.
l Enabled check box.
l Sweep type - Discrete, Fast, or Interpolating (the default). Each selection affects the tabs
and options available. If a port is not assigned, Interpolating selection does not appear.
l Frequency Sweeps. You specify sweeps in terms of Distribution type, which can be
Linear Step, Linear Count, Log Scale, or Single Point. The Add Above, and Add Below
buttons permit you to add additional sweeps, including mixed sweep types. This feature
provides flexibility. For example, you can define sweeps with log scale at lower

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frequencies, and linear step at higher frequencies.

If you have added more sweeps, you can Delete a selected distribution.

The Preview button displays the sweep(s) as currently defined.

4. If you plan to perform a Full-Wave SPICE analysis, click Time Domain Calculation tool to
obtain assistance determining a suitable frequency sweep range for the solutions. Also see
the Requirements for Full-Wave SPICE.
5. If you expect to use the same settings often, you can got to the Defaults tab and click the Set
Defaults button. To use previously saved settings, click the Use Defaults button.
6. Click OK.

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Once you have created a sweep, an icon for the sweep appears in the Project tree under the
associated setup. Selecting the sweep icon causes the docked properties dialog to show the
name, start, stop, step size, and sweep type. It also includes an Enabled check box.

Edit, Copy and Paste Existing Sweeps.

You can select an existing sweep, use the Edit commands to Copy it, and then and Paste the
sweep into the Project tree. (By default, the copy is named Sweepn, where n increments with each
new sweep.) You can edit the new copies of the sweep to make desired changes. For example,
you can change a specific parameter, or for a distributed solve, you could assign different start and
end points for each copy of the setup.

The Paste command for sweeps is design sensitive (that is, you cannot paste between Driven and
Eigenmode designs) and context sensitive (for example, a sweeps can only be pasted in a setup.)
Dependent setups are pasted along with the copied setup. You are warned if the dependent setup
is already in the design and setup is not pasted again.

Note For a solve setup with zero passes, no sweeps, and that is not ports only, validation
produces a warning message.

Related Topics

Disabling a Frequency Sweep

Technical Notes: Frequency Sweeps

Selecting the Sweep Type

For Driven solution types.

Specify the type of sweep you want to perform in the Edit Sweep dialog box. Choose one of the
following sweep types:

Fast Sweep Generates a unique full-field solution for each division within a frequency range.
Options Best for models that will abruptly resonate or change operation in the frequency
band. A Fast sweep will obtain an accurate representation of the behavior near
the resonance. Fast sweeps are disabled if an anisotropic boundary condition is
present.
Discrete Generates field solutions at specific frequency points in a frequency range. Best
Sweep when only a few frequency points are necessary to accurately represent the
Options results in a frequency range.
Interpolating Estimates a solution for an entire frequency range. Best when the frequency
Sweep range is wide and the frequency response is smooth, or if the memory
Options requirements of a Fast sweep exceed your resources.

(default) All discrete basis solutions are solved prior to interpolating sweeps because it is

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possible that an interpolating sweep can re-use already solved frequencies from a
discrete sweep.

For Time Domain Reflectometry plots (TDR), you must use an interpolating
sweep.

When you select Interpolating sweeps in the Edit Sweep dialog, the
Interpolation options tab is activated. This lets you specify a maximum number
of solutions, and other interpolation values.

If you expect to use the same option settings often, you can click the Set Defaults button. To use
previously saved settings, click the Use Defaults button.

Related Topics

Adding a Frequency Sweep

Technical Notes: Frequency Sweeps

Options for Discrete Sweeps

For Discrete sweeps, the Edit Sweep dialog options you can set include

l Sweep Name
l Frequency Setup
l Whether to Save Fields (for all Frequencies). By default, all frequencies are saved. (This
field is disabled under a Solve Ports Only setup. You can view port fields for the discrete
frequencies under the port field display in the project tree.)
l For Discreet sweeps, you can specify whether you want to save the 3D fields.

If you expect to use the same settings often, you can click the Set Defaults button. To use
previously saved settings, click the Use Defaults button.

Related Topics

Adding a Frequency Sweep

Options for Fast Sweeps

For Fast sweeps, the Edit Sweep dialog options you can set include:

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l Sweep Name
l Frequency Setup
l For Fast Sweeps, you can select Save Fields, and whether to Generate fields at solve time
(All frequencies).

By default, all fields are saved. (This field is disabled under a Solve Ports Only setup. You can
view port fields for the discrete frequencies under the port field display in the project tree.)

Selecting Save Fields enables the check box for Generate Fields for all frequencies while
solving. By default, fields are not generated. If you have more than 100 frequencies, checking
the box generates a warning that disk space use may be excessive.

If you select this option, HFSS solves the fast sweep and then computes the fields at each freq
in the sweep, and saves them. This has two effects: (a) the simulation takes longer due to
saving the fields, (b) Post processing is much faster.

Since this option is exercised at solve time, it doesn't apply to existing solutions. Enabling this
option for a previously solved sweep and re-solving will access the previously solved data and
generate the requested fields.

l DC Extrapolation options (appearing depending on the Design Settings for DC

Extrapolation)

If you expect to use the same settings often, you can click the Set Defaults button. To use
previously saved settings, click the Use Defaults button.

Related Topics

Adding a Frequency Sweep

Options for Interpolating Sweeps

For Interpolating sweeps, the Edit Sweep dialog options you can set include:

General tab

l Sweep Name
l Enabled check box.
l Frequency Setup

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Interpolation tab

l Max Solutions
l Error Tolerance
l Click the Advanced Options... button to open the Interpolating Sweep Advanced Options
dialog.

DC Extrapolation tab (appearing depending on the Design Settings for DC Extrapolation)

l DC Extrapolation option

If you expect to use the same settings often, you can click the Set Defaults button on the Defaults
tab. To use previously saved settings, click the Use Defaults button.

Related Topics

Adding a Frequency Sweep

DC Extrapolation options

If the Design Setting for DC Extrapolation is set to Advanced, the DC Extrapolation tab appears
for Fast and Interpolating sweeps. Otherwise, an effective DC value is calculated.

1. Setting the Initial Frequency to 0 enables DC extrapolation for a sweep.

2. Enter a value for the Minimum Solved Frequency. This value represents the smallest
frequency in the sweep for which a full solution is generated. The default is 100 Mhz.

Note The Minimum Solved Frequency that you enter is solved independently of the step
size.

If you expect to use the same settings often, you can click the Set Defaults button. To use
previously saved settings, click the Use Defaults button.

Related Topics

Options for Interpolating Sweeps

Options for Fast Sweeps

Setup Interpolating Sweep Advanced Options

For HFSS and HFSS-IE Interpolating sweeps, the Setup Interpolating Sweep Advanced
Options dialog lets you specify the following settings for a sweep:

l The Minimum Solutions value is the minimum number of converged solutions that will be
solved for the frequency range with respect to the interpolation basis. For example, if this
value is three, and the basis element is 1, then once the sweep reaches convergence it
simulates at two extra frequencies. If the sweep used a higher basis element setting, that is

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taken into account. This resembles the minimum number of converged adaptive passes in a
regular simulation. Setting a minimum number of solutions can eliminate non-physical S-
parameter spikes and oscillations. For interpolating sweeps the default is 0. To change the
value: type a new value in the Minimum Solutions box.

l Specify a Minimum Number of Sub Ranges. This number acts as an initial condition on
the sweep to force initial even breakup of the null range into sub ranges. The end points and
middle of each subrange will be solved. This controls the points at which the interpolating
sweep is broken up and prevents redundant effort caused by neighboring interpolating
sweeps solving the same point. For example, the 1GHz to 4GHz and the 4GHz to 9 GHz
sweeps do not both solve the 4 GHz data point.

l Whether to use all or selected entries in the matrix of data types for the convergence. To
choose, click the Select Entries button to display the Interpolation Basis Convergence
dialog.
l The Data Types for Convergence. The defaults selections differ depending on the solution
setup.

For Driven modal, Network Analysis 3D Solution Interpolating sweeps:

l S-Matrix - checked
l Port Impedance - unchecked.
l Propagation constants - checked.

For Driven terminal, Network Analysis 3D Solution Interpolating sweeps:

l S-Matrix - checked
l Port Impedance - checked.
l Propagation constants - checked.

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For Driven modal, Network Analysis ports-only, interpolating

l S-Matrix - unchecked
l Port impedance - checked
l Propagation constants - checked

For Driven terminal, Network Analysis ports-only, interpolating

l S-Matrix - unchecked
l Port impedance - checked
l Propagation constants - checked

If the design contains them, you can select Derivatives. If you select Derivatives, you can also set
the Error Tolerance, overriding the tolerance specified in the Edit Sweep dialog..

Note If a driven setup's ports-only setup changes and then the problem type switches between
driven modal and driven terminal, HFSS resets the interpolation basis data types for the
interpolating sweep.

Enforce Passivity -- This applies to driven modal and Terminal solutions. Select this check box to
enable passivity enforcement of an interpolating sweep at the requested sampling frequencies with
the specified error tolerance. For instance, tolerance of .001 means simulation should attempt to
reduce passivity to less than 1.001 at all sampling frequencies. You can view passivity using the
reporter. Passivity is enforced on 50 ohm renormalized single ended terminals for terminal projects
and 50 ohm renormalized modes for modal projects.

When using passivity, you may want to increase the Max Solutions value.

During an interpolating sweep, HFSS first adds basis points (solution frequencies) until the
convergence goal is reached, and then tests the sampling frequencies using the converged sweep
for whether they meet the specified passivity requirement. The sampling frequency having the
worst passivity violation is selected for solving. After solving for a passivity violation frequency, the
solver adds the newly solved data to the interpolation basis.

If necessary, the solver returns to solving for convergence, limited by the maximum number of
solutions for the sweep and resumes passivity checking after reestablishing convergence.
Messages in the Solution Profile indicate when the interpolated solver is working towards
convergence or working to resolve passivity. If any of the bases violates the passivity, the current
sweep terminates with a warning message.

Enforce Causality(DC Point Required) -- This applies to Terminal solutions. Causality means
that an output signal cannot start to change before the input signal changes. Causality can be

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enforced only when there is a DC point in the sweep. A design should follow "Best Practices for
Accurate and Causal Broad Band Frequency Sweeps." In addition, you can select "Enforce
Causality" so the sweep fits (rather than interpolates) the s-parameter results to a set of causal
basis functions, thereby ensuring the extraction of a causal model..

Note You should follow recommended guidelines whenever setting up a numerical model in
HFSS (provide correct material definitions, including information about frequency
dependent behavior, and defining appropriate boundary conditions). Also when extracting
s-parameter models for signal integrity designs, where providing passive and causal results
is important, besides using this option, see "Best Practices for Accurate and Causal Broad
Band Frequency Sweeps".

Note If you start and stop an interpolated sweep and change the convergence value and/or
passivity tolerance, you may generate a non-repeatable sequence of frequencies in the
basis. Both regular and passivity frequencies are used when re-evaluate convergence.

If you change sampling frequency delta subsequent passivity behavior may be totally
different, since it is evaluated at new sampling frequencies.

Related Topics

Adding a Frequency Sweep

Options for Interpolating Sweeps

Best Practices for Accurate and Causal Broad Band Frequency Sweeps

Setting the Error Tolerance

For Interpolating sweeps.

The Error Tolerance value is the maximum relative difference allowed between two successive
interpolation solutions. The default0.5 percent for interpolating sweeps is usually satisfactory.
However, if the Interpolated sweep Advanced Options include Enforce Causality and Enforce
Passivity, you may need to specify a lower tolerance (for example, 0.1). This is because of the
sensitivity of Enforce Causality and Passivity.

To set the error tolerance for an Interpolating sweep:

1. Open the Edit Sweep dialog box (by either viewing the properties of an existing Sweep or
by Adding a Frequency sweep to an existing Setup).
2. Type a value in the Error Tolerance box.

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If you expect to use the same settings often, you can click the Set Defaults button. To use
previously saved settings, click the Use Defaults button.

Related Topics

Options for Interpolating Sweeps

Setting the Maximum Number of Solutions

For Interpolating sweeps.

The Max Solutions value is the maximum number of solutions that will be solved for the frequency
range. For fast sweeps and for interpolating sweeps the default is 250. The value must be greater
than 3. To change the value:

1. Open the Edit Sweep dialog box (by either viewing the properties of an existing Sweep or
by Adding a Frequency sweep to an existing Setup).
2. Type a value in the Max Solutions box and click OK.

If you expect to use the same settings often, you can click the Set Defaults button. To use
previously saved settings, click the Use Defaults button.

Note HFSS automatically subdivides the interpolating sweep range so that no single subrange
gets too many basis elements. The effect is that you can now (if appropriate) request
hundreds of basis elements in the Max Solutions box for interpolating sweep setup, without
incurring any basis seeding performance penalty.

Related Topics

Options for Interpolating Sweeps

Interpolation Basis Convergence

From the Setup Interpolations Basis dialog, select the Use Selected Entries radio button to
enable the Select Entries button. Select this to display the Interpolation Basis Convergence
dialog. This dialog permits you to specify the convergence basis.

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1. Select one of the following from the Entry Selections pull-down list:

All Selects all of the matrix entries at once. (The default).

Diagonal Selects all of the diagonal matrix entries at once.
Off-Diagonal Selects all of the off-diagonal matrix entries at once.

2. If you chose All, Diagonal, or Off-Diagonal, you may fine-tune the matrix entry selection
process by selecting one of the following options from the Mode Selection pull-down list:

All Selects all of the mode matrix entries. Select in conjunction with All,
Diagonal, or Off-Diagonal entry selections.
Dominant Selects only the dominant mode matrix entries. Select in conjunction with All,
Only Diagonal, or Off-Diagonal entry selections.
Higher Selects only the higher-order mode matrix entries. Select in conjunction with
Order Only All, Diagonal, or Off-Diagonal entry selections.

As you select the wave ports for convergence, you use the Set, Clear, and Clear All buttons in
connection with the Entry Selection and Mode Selection settings. These buttons are enabled
when the wave port matrix state and selection settings permit them do something. For example,
The Clear button is not enabled until there are entries in the wave port matrix to clear and those
selections are permitted by the entry selection. The Set button is not enabled unless the
available mode selections permit entries to be set.

You can also select individual entries in the wave port matrix by clicking on grid cells. This action
displays a dropdown menu that lets you select ON or "-".

3. Specify EntrySelections and Mode Selections as desired and click SET, or click individual
wave port cells and select ON.

In the table location corresponding to the selection, the dash in the display is replaced by ON.
For example, selecting the first element in the row list and the fourth element in the column list,
and then Set Selection places an ON in the first row, fourth column. You can select one entry
at a time via the dropdown in the matrix cell, or clear the entire table with the Clear All button.
You can also Clear only the entries specified by the Entry and Mode selection settings (such as
off-diagonal, higher order).

4. Click OK to close apply the selections and close the dialog.

Related Topics

Setup Interpolations Basis

Options for Interpolating Sweeps

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Specifying the Frequency Points to Solve

You can specify the following types of frequency points to solve within a frequency sweep:

Linear A linear range of frequency points in which you specify a constant step size.
Step
Linear A linear range of frequency points in which you specify the number, or count, of
Count points within the frequency range.
LogScale A logarithmic range of frequency points in which you specify a frequency range and a
samples number.
Single Individual frequency points. For Discrete sweeps.
Points

Select the type of frequency point entry from the Type pull-down list.

The Edit Sweep dialog contains a Time Domain Calculation tool that you can use to help calculate
frequency step sizes and maximum frequencies, particularly if you intend to perform Full-Wave
Spice analysis.

For Discrete sweeps, HFSS always solves the frequencies from highest to lowest.

Related Topics

Change the Value of an Existing Frequency Point

Specifying Single Frequency Points

Deleting Frequency Points

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Insert Frequency Points

Specifying Frequency Points with a Linear Step Size

1. In the Edit Sweep dialog box, click Linear Step in the Type pull-down list.

2. In the Start text box, type the starting frequency of the frequency sweep.

For Fast and Interpolating sweeps, setting the initial value to 0 enables the DC Extrapolation
option.

3. In the End text box, type the ending frequency of the frequency sweep.
4. In the Step Sizebox, type the difference between frequency points.

HFSS will solve the frequency point at each step in the specified frequency range, including the
start and stop frequencies. For Discrete sweeps, HFSS always solves the frequencies from
highest to lowest.

For example, specifying 10 for the start frequency, 20 for the stop frequency, and 2.5 for the
step sizefor a Discrete sweep instructs HFSS to compute a solution for frequencies of 10,
12.5, 15, 17.5, and 20.

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To view a table of the frequencies and count, click the Preview button.

If the list of frequencies is longer than the visible display, you can use a scroll bar to view the list
to the end of the count.

1. For Fast sweeps, select Save Fields if you want to save the calculated 3D field solutions
associated with all port modes at the chosen frequencies.

For Discrete sweeps, select Save Fields (All Frequencies) if you want to save the calculated
3D field solutions associated with all port modes at the chosen frequencies.

If want to save the fields for just one or a few Discrete sweep frequencies, create a single point
sweep for that frequency.

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This single point sweep has a Save Fields column with a check box for each single point
frequency you define. You can select the Save Fields check box for the desired frequency, or
click the Save Fields (All Frequencies) check box to check or uncheck all frequencies.

Related Topics

Specifying Frequency Points to Solve

Specifying Single Frequency Points

Deleting Frequency Points

Insert Frequency Points

Change the Value of an Existing Frequency Point

Specifying Frequency Points to Solve

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Specifying a Linear Count of Frequency Points

1. In the Edit Sweep dialog box, click Linear Count in the Type pull-down list.

2. In the Start text box, type the starting frequency of the frequency sweep.

For Fast and Interpolating sweeps, setting the initial value to 0 enables the DC Extrapolation
option.

3. In the Endtext box, type the ending frequency of the frequency sweep.
4. In the Points text box, type the number of points in the sweep. The count value includes the
Start and End values.

HFSS will divide the frequency range into the count you specify and solve each frequency point
in the count.

To view a table of the frequencies and count, click the Display button. If the list of frequencies is
longer than the visible display, you can use a scroll bar to view the list to the end of the count.

5. For Fast sweeps, select Save Fields if you want to save the calculated 3D field solutions
associated with all port modes at the chosen frequencies.

For Discrete sweeps, select Save Fields (All Frequencies) if you want to save the calculated
3D field solutions associated with all port modes at the chosen frequencies.

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If want to save the fields for just one or a few Discrete sweep frequencies, define a Single Point
sweep for those frequencies and check the Save Fields box for that point.

For Discrete sweeps, HFSS always solves the frequencies from highest to lowest.

Related Topics

Specifying Frequency Points to Solve

Specifying Single Frequency Points

Deleting Frequency Points

Insert Frequency Points

Change the Value of an Existing Frequency Point

Specifying Frequency Points to Solve

Specifying a Logarithmic Spaced Frequency Sweep

For Discrete sweeps.

1. In the Edit Sweep dialog box, click LogScale in the Type pull-down list.

2. In the Start text box, type the starting frequency of the frequency sweep.

For Fast and Interpolating sweeps, setting the initial value to 0 enables the DC Extrapolation
option.

3. In the End text box, type the ending frequency of the frequency sweep.
4. In the Samples text box, specify the number of frequency points to sample.

HFSS assigns the sampled points using intervals based on a logarithmic scale.

To view a table of the frequencies and count, click the Display button. If the list of frequencies is
longer than the visible display, you can use a scroll bar to view the list to the end of the count.

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5. Select Save Fields (All Frequencies) if you want to save the calculated 3D field solutions
associated with all port modes at the chosen frequencies.

For Discrete sweeps, HFSS always solves the frequencies from highest to lowest.

Related Topics

Specifying Frequency Points to Solve

Specifying Single Frequency Points

Deleting Frequency Points

Insert Frequency Points

Change the Value of an Existing Frequency Point

Specifying Frequency Points to Solve

Specifying Single Frequency Points

For Discrete sweeps.

To specify Single Frequency points:

1. In the Edit Sweep dialog box, click Single Points in the Type pull-down list.

2. In the Single text box, type a desired frequency point, and then select the frequency units.

A check mark in the Save Fields column indicates that the fields for the point will be saved.
Optionally, click the check box in the Save Fields column.

3. Create additional Single point sweeps for each frequency point you want to solve.

For Discrete sweeps, HFSS always solves the frequencies from highest to lowest.

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Related Topics

Change the Value of an Existing Frequency Point

Deleting Frequency Points

Insert Frequency Points

Specifying Frequency Points to Solve

Change the Value of an Existing Frequency Point

To change the value of an existing frequency point in a discrete sweep in the Edit Sweep dialog:

1. In the Edit Sweep dialog either select the text field in the Frequency column and edit an
existing value field directly:

2. You could also create a new single point sweep.

3. Select Save Fields if you want to save the calculated 3D field solutions associated with all
port modes at that frequency.
4. Repeat for changing additional points.

Related Topics

Specifying Single Frequency Points

Deleting Frequency Points

Insert Frequency Points

Specifying Frequency Points to Solve

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Deleting Frequency Points

1. To delete a single frequency point from a sweep, select the row containing the frequency you
do not want to solve.

2. Click Delete.

Related Topics

Specifying Single Frequency Points

Inserting Frequency Points

Change the Value of an Existing Frequency Point

Specifying Frequency Points to Solve

Inserting Frequency Points

For Discrete sweeps, you can insert, change, or delete specific frequency points that you want to
solve in the frequency range. They can be inserted individually to a new display, or to an existing
display of uniform frequency points.

1. To pre-specify an initial uniform range of frequency points, use the Frequency setup of the
Edit Sweep dialog to define the linear step, linear count, or log scale range you want.
2. Select an existing sweep and click Add Above or Add Below to insert the new sweep
definition.
3. Select Single Point from the Distribution pull-down list.

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4. In the Start text box, type a desired frequency point in the frequency units.

5. Select the Save Fields if you want to save the calculated 3D field solutions associated with
all port modes at that frequency. You can also select, or deselect the check box to specify
individual frequencies.
6. Add or edit additional Single Point frequency sweeps, and then click OK to save the current
definitions.

For Discrete sweeps, HFSS always solves the frequencies from highest to lowest.

Related Topics

Specifying Single Frequency Points

Deleting Frequency Points

Change the Value of an Existing Frequency Point

Specifying Frequency Points to Solve

Choosing Frequencies for Full-Wave SPICE

If you plan to perform a full-wave SPICE analysis, use the Time Domain Calculation dialog box
to help determine a suitable frequency sweep range for the solution.

To perform the calculation of suitable frequencies to solve:

1. In the Edit Sweep dialog box, click Time DomainCalculation.

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The Time Domain Calculation dialog box appears.

2. Type a minimum rise time value in the Signal Rise Time box.

This value represents the time scale that will characterize the rate of change of the input time
signal, which will be applied in the circuit simulator.

3. Type a value in the Time Steps Per Rise Time box.

The time sampling increment for the entire signal is calculated using

(1)

where

l ∆t is the time sampling increment.

l τis the signal rise time.
l Nτis the number of time steps per signal rise time.
4. Type a value in the Number of Time Points box.

Note that the input time signal duration is determined using , where N is the number of
time points.

5. Click Calculate.
l HFSS now determines the Maximum Frequency using

(2)

l where Fmax is the maximum frequency.

HFSS determines the Frequency Step Size using .

6. Click OK to transfer the data to the frequency sweep fields in the Edit Sweep dialog box.

Related Topics

Guidelines for Calculating Frequencies for Full-Wave SPICE

Requirements for Full-Wave SPICE

Guidelines for Calculating Frequencies for Full-Wave SPICE

Keep the following guidelines in mind when you set up the calculation for the suggested frequency
step size and maximum frequency:

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l The maximum frequency should be at least five times the inverse of the rise and fall times.
If the specified frequency band is too wide, an HFSS frequency sweep may have
convergence problems. If this happens, try to decrease the maximum frequency until the
solution converges.
l It is recommended, though not required, that the minimum frequency be less than the
maximum frequency divided by the number of frequency steps. It is usually recommended
to have at least 500 frequency steps. A higher number will slightly improve the full-wave
SPICE solution accuracy, but will also increase CPU and memory requirements to solve
the problem. For most cases, using 1000 frequency steps provides a good trade-off
between the accuracy and computational requirements.

Warning Occasionally, HFSS can fail to solve for the minimum frequency during a
Discrete or Interpolating frequency sweep due to a failure of the port solver to
converge. If this happens, try to increase the minimum frequency until the
solution process completes successfully. However, the minimum frequency
should be as low as possible because the low-frequency response
determines the steady-state time response.

l The suggested frequency sweep ranges are estimates. You may have a pulse with a
wider frequency content and HFSS's recommended frequency sweep range may miss
some of the high frequencies.

Requirements for Full-Wave SPICE

The Full-Wave Spice requirements are as follows:

1. The design problem type in which the solution data panel is opened must be driven terminal.
2. In the Matrix Data panel, for non-imported data, the view type for the solution data must be
"Terminal Data" (not "Modal Data").
3. The data must be interpolating, or it must be discrete.
4. If the data is discrete:
a. It must either be native terminal data, or it must be inferred as terminal. For instance, in a
Touchstone file, the comment line "! Terminal data exported" will cause HFSS to
interpret the data as terminal, while the comment line "! Modal data exported" will cause
HFSS to interpret the data as modal. If HFSS finds neither comment line, it assumes that
the data is terminal.
b. At least 20 frequency points must be provided.
c. HFSS must be able to generate an interpolation basis that converged with <= 0.5% error
using no more than 100 basis elements.

Disabling or Enabling a Frequency Sweep

To disable a sweep definition without deleting it:

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1. Expand the tree hierarchy under the Analysis icon in the project tree.
2. Expand the tree hierarchy under the icon for the analysis setup that includes the sweep.
3. Right-click on the icon for the sweep definition. In the shortcut menu that appears, select
Disable Sweep.

You can also disable a sweep by selecting Properties from the shortcut menu to open the Edit
Properties window. In the upper right corner of the Edit Properties window, uncheck the
Enabled box. Then click OK

To reactivate the sweep, open the shortcut menu again and select Enable Sweep.

You can also reactivate the sweep by selecting Properties from the shortcut menu for the sweep
to open the Edit Properties window. Check the Enabled box in the upper right corner, and click
OK to apply the change and close the window.

Disabling and Enabling an Analysis Setup

To disable an Analysis setup definition without deleting it:

1. Expand the tree hierarchy under the Analysis icon in the project tree.
2. Right-click on the icon for the setup definition. In the shortcut menu that appears, click
Disable Setup.

You can also disable an analysis setup by selecting Properties from the shortcut menu to open
the Edit Properties window. In the upper right corner of the Edit Properties window, uncheck
the Enabled box. Then click OK

To reactivate the analysis setup, open the shortcut menu again and select Enable Setup.

You can also reactivate the analysis setup by selecting Properties from the shortcut menu for the
sweep to open the Edit Properties window. Check the Enabled box in the upper right corner, and
click OK to apply the change and close the window.

Specifying the Number of Processors

If you want to use more than one processor, see HPC and Analysis Options,.

Specifying the RAM Limit Percentage

The RAM Limit (%) setting requests a restriction on the amount of memory the default solver used
by the ANSYS Electronics Desktop may allocate before it must stop solving on-core—solving
processes entirely in memory—and start solving off-core. In off-core mode, the solver creates
temporary solution files to which it spills, or shifts, data from memory, instead of relying on the
operating system to start disk swapping. The default solver is finely tuned at handling its own
memory, and can optimize loading only those blocks of memory required for its immediate needs.

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Using this option may help to keep the entire solver from being swapped out in the normal course of
process management on your computer. This kind of control may be especially important when
multiple solvers are running on the same machine. Of course, if the total memory requirement of all
processes grows large enough, the operating system will be forced into disk swapping.

Note The Iterative solver doesn't go off-core for efficiency reasons. Once the limit is exceeded,
iterative solver will issue an "Out of memory" error message.

Regardless of this setting, processes are limited to 4TB of address space on 64 bit operating
systems - no matter how much physical memory is installed.

Note Regardless of the RAM Limit setting, if allocation fails, the solvers will automatically switch
to off-core mode.

In case you receive an error message regarding insufficient memory on a 64-bit operating system,
you may have reached a point where the sum of physical RAM plus available swap space exceeds
the minimum amount of RAM needed by the off-core solver. Even for the off-core solver, the RAM
usage cannot be made arbitrarily small. In that case you can consider increasing the swap space
(the virtual memory) in the settings of your system.

For Linux schedulers, where the environment may be non-uniform/heterogeneous, you have the
option of using a batchoption to specify a RAMLimitPerCoreInGB. See the discussion under
Distribution Command Line Options.

To specify the RAM Limit (%) of the machine on which ANSYS Electronics Desktop s installed:

1. Click Tools>Options>Setting HPC and Analysis Options.

2. This opens the HPC and Analysis Options dialog.
3. Specify the Design Type for which you want to set a RAM limit. Make the Local machine
Active.
4. In the HPC and Analysis Options dialog click the Edit button.

This opens the Analysis Configuration dialog.

5. Select the Machines tab. specify a RAM Limit (%) in the text field for the active machine
list.

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6. This setting affects all projects for the current configuration for the user and machine..

Note ANSYS recommends that you use the RAM Limit setting if you wish to limit the
RAM that the MPS (default) solver may allocate. However, the Iterative solver
doesn't go off-core for efficiency reasons. Once the limit is exceeded, iterative solver
will issue an "Out of memory" error message.

Note Allocation of greater than 2 GB of RAM on 32-bit hardware platforms is only possible with
the appropriate operating system and boot settings, even if more than 2 GB are physically
installed.

Distributed Memory Solutions with HFSS

When properly configured, and with Domain Decomposition selected as a Setup option, the HFSS
solver uses the industry standard Message Passing Interface ("MPI") and can perform solutions
that distribute memory use across machines in a cluster or network. Memory used by the MPI-
enabled HFSS solver is therefore limited by the set of machines that are available rather than the
shared memory available on any single machine. This allows you to simulate larger structures than
before and to optimally reconfigure the cluster of machines for the problem at hand.

To use the distributed memory solution in HFSS you will need to install HFSS and MPI software
from one of the supported third party vendors on all the machines you intend to use. You may need
to set passwords depending on the MPI vendor for authentication on the machines. Settings within
HFSS are used to turn on distributed memory solutions and define the list of machines you intend
to use. If an HFSS problem involves solver domains or a finite array, then frequency sweeps will
not be done using DSO. Also, DSO for Optimetrics will not be allowed.

Detailed instructions about how to get distributed memory HFSS solutions up and running are
outlined in the following sections.

l Installation Requirements for Distributed Memory Solutions with HFSS

l Setting up HFSS and Running Distributed Memory Solutions
l Select the MPI Vendor for HFSS
l Running HFSS Distributed Memory Solutions from the Command line
l Discussion of HFSS Distributed Memory Solution
l Interconnects for HFSS Distributed Memory Simulation
l Authentication on Linux (RSH & SSH) for HFSS
l Troubleshooting for HFSS Distributed Memory Solutions

Installation Requirements for Distributed Memory Solutions with HFSS

You must install HFSS on all the machines you intend to use during the HFSS distributed memory
solution process. The installation locations for HFSS must be identical and the machines must be
uniform: all 64 bit, all Windows or all Linux. The machines must all use the same interconnect.

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In addition, on Windows, you must install one of the supported versions of MPI from either Platform
Computing (default) or Intel. Be sure to install the same version of MPI on all machines in your
cluster. (Solving on a single Windows machine does not require MPI installation. Users running on
Linux do not need to install MPI manually).

Platform MPI Software

Linux Intel & AMD Spectrum MPI 9.1.4.2

Intel MPI 4.1.3

Windows Vista, Windows 7 Spectrum MPI 9.1.4.2

(64 bit) Intel MPI 4.1.3

You will need to set the password you want to use for your MPI runs on all the machines in the
cluster. You can either use the batch command provided by ANSYS to set your password or refer
to the MPI vendor's documentation.

InfiniBand Support for Windows

By default, the MPI vendors use the fastest interconnect by default (typically InfiniBand is faster
than Ethernet). If you want to override the default behavior and force the use of Ethernet, you can
set the ANSOFT_MPI_INTERCONNECT environment variable to “eth” for the job.

Tight Integration of Platform MPI with Windows HPC for MPI Based Solves

Jobs running on a Windows HPC Cluster and using "Platform Computing" as the MPC Vendor,
ANSYS Electromagnetics software now works with Platform MPI to use the Windows HPC cluster
to launch remote processes. (Linux is not affected by this change. For Windows, the change does
not apply if the Windows MPI vendor selection is "Intel.")

Although registration of user passwords with Platform MPI is no longer required in this situation, if a
user's password is registered with Platform MPI, the registered password will be used. This may
result in job failure if the user's password is changed from the registered password. For this reason,
we recommend that user passwords be unregistered from Platform MPI on Windows HPC cluster
hosts.

If the analysis does not run as a Windows HPC job, the same requirements as for the previous
release apply. That is, that Platform MPI must be installed on each cluster node, including the
Platform MPI Remote Launch service, which must be running on each cluster node. The user
password must be registered on each node.

Related Topics

Distributed Memory Solutions with HFSS

Setting up HFSS and Running Distributed Memory Solutions

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Select the MPI Vendor for HFSS

Running HFSS Distributed Memory Solutions from the Command line

Discussion of HFSS Distributed Memory Solution

Interconnects for HFSS Distributed Memory Simulation

Authentication on Linux (RSH & SSH) for HFSS

Troubleshooting for HFSS Distributed Memory Solutions

Setting up HFSS and Running Distributed Memory Solutions

After setting up your HFSS project normally you will need to set the list of machines used for the
distributed memory solution process and configure the distributed memory interface.

The distributed machine list is selected under Tools>Options>HPC and Analysis Options, and
created under the Analysis Configuration dialog.

Distributed memory solutions are turned using the Domain Decomposition radio button under
the Solution Setup Options tab.

If an HFSS problem involves solver domains or a finite array, then frequency sweeps will not be
done using DSO. Also, DSO for Optimetrics will not be allowed. Distributed frequency solutions are
also known as "DSO" solutions.

Related Topics

Distributed Memory Solutions with HFSS

Installation Requirements for Distributed Memory Solutions with HFSS

Select the MPI Vendor for HFSS

Running HFSS Distributed Memory Solutions from the Command line

Discussion of HFSS Distributed Memory Solution

Interconnects for HFSS Distributed Memory Simulation

Authentication on Linux (RSH & SSH) for HFSS

Troubleshooting for HFSS Distributed Memory Solutions

Select the MPI Vendor for HFSS

After installing MPI on your machine from a particular vendor such as Platform Computing or Intel
you need to set which type of MPI you are using in HFSS. Go to the Options tab of the HPC and
Analysis Options dialog, and select the design type to set the MPI Vendor type.

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Related Topics

Distributed Memory Solutions with HFSS

Installation Requirements for Distributed Memory Solutions with HFSS

Setting up HFSS and Running Distributed Memory Solutions

Running HFSS Distributed Memory Solutions from the Command line

Discussion of HFSS Distributed Memory Solution

Interconnects for HFSS Distributed Memory Simulation

Authentication on Linux (RSH & SSH) for HFSS

Troubleshooting for HFSS Distributed Memory Solutions

Running Distributed Memory Solutions from the Command line for

HFSS
You can run distributed memory HFSS solutions from the command line using the -BatchSolve
option. Set the distributed memory solve setup option before running the simulation and use the
"BatchSolve" flag with the "Distributed" and MachineList" options. For example:
ansysedt -BatchSolve -Distributed -MachineList list="machine1,
machine2" TheProject.aedt

This simulates "TheProject.aedt" as a distributed memory solution on machines "machine1" and

"machine2."

Note the distributed memory solve setup option can be turned on via scripting if desired.

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Related Topics

Distributed Memory Solutions with HFSS

Installation Requirements for Distributed Memory Solutions with HFSS

Setting up HFSS and Running Distributed Memory Solutions

Select the MPI Vendor for HFSS

Discussion of HFSS Distributed Memory Solution

Interconnects for HFSS Distributed Memory Simulation

Authentication on Linux (RSH & SSH) for HFSS

Troubleshooting for HFSS Distributed Memory Solutions

Discussion of HFSS Distributed Memory Solutions

Each machine or "compute node" is connected to the other nodes via a "communication
interconnect" and relies on the message passing library (MPI) to exchange data and synchronize
computational tasks. Ethernet, Myrinet and Infiniband are common communication interconnects.
Each node is identified by a unique integer ID or rank number. The local machine is known as the
"Rank-0 node" and is the master. The Rank-0 machine has many tasks including:

l Management of all communication with the HFSS user interface. None of the distributed
machines communicate directly with the user interface but pass all information through the
Rank-0 machine.
l Mesh generation. The mesh is generated only on the Rank-0 machine.
l Disk access. None of the distributed machines access their local discs. The simulation mesh,
intermediate and solution data are passed to and from the distributed machines using MPI.
l Distribution and control of computational tasks on the distributed machines. The simulation
process is dynamic and the Rank-0 machine will determine which of the distributed
machines has memory available to distribute tasks accordingly.

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l Post-processing of the HFSS Distributed Memory Solution

The algorithms used in the distributed memory version of the HFSS solver engine resemble those
used in the non-distributed memory version. The matrix solution algorithms in the distributed
memory version of HFSS have been adjusted to use slightly more memory so that larger problems
can be simulated in less time.

The MPI enabled HFSS solver engine is not multi threaded. (The regular HFSS engine is multi
threaded.) If a particular machine has multiple cores and enough memory you can define this
machine several times in the distributed machine list ("doubling up") to take advantage of the extra
cores. Certain portions of the MPI enabled HFSS solver will be multi threaded in the future.

During the "Matrix Assembly" and "Matrix Solve" steps of the solution process the HFSS engine
attempts to distribute memory use evenly. At various points in the matrix solution process the
software will poll the machines in the cluster and determine which machine has the most memory
available and then reserve a block of memory on that machine. If a particular machine does not
have a large block of memory available the memory use on that machine will grow only slowly. If
none of the machines in the cluster have sufficient memory the solution process will terminate and
an error message will be posted to the HFSS message window.

Many factors affect solution time. In general, the solution time will decrease as the number of
compute nodes increases. However, parallel efficiency decreases as the ratio of communication to
computation increases so to some extent you need to match the size of the problem to the size of
parallel machine. Simulating small structures on a large cluster will not be efficient and may take
longer and use significantly more memory than if the structure was simulated on a single machine.

Network interconnect speed and topology can affect performance significantly in homogeneous
clusters. Performance can degrade if machines are "doubled up" to the point of causing memory

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bus contention or if the cluster is significantly inhomogeneous and certain faster machines need to
wait for slower machines to catch up to synchronization points in the solution process.

Related Topics

Distributed Memory Solutions with HFSS

Installation Requirements for Distributed Memory Solutions with HFSS

Setting up HFSS and Running Distributed Memory Solutions

Select the MPI Vendor for HFSS

Running HFSS Distributed Memory Solutions from the Command line

Interconnects for HFSS Distributed Memory Simulation

Authentication on Linux (RSH & SSH) for HFSS

Troubleshooting for HFSS Distributed Memory Solutions

Interconnects for HFSS Distributed Memory Simulation

To obtain the best possible performance we recommend the use of a network interconnect that
supports communication speeds greater than 1000MB/sec or higher. Some high performance
interconnects plug into a PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect), PCI-X (extended), or PCIe
(PCI Express) slot on the system.

HFSS-IE 15 supports the following network interconnects:

Platform Interconnects
Win32 Ethernet/GiGE
Win64 Ethernet/GiGE (default), Myrinet, Infiniband
Linux Ethernet/GiGE (default), Myrinet, Infiniband

Ethernet/GiGE is the default interconnect on all platforms. You can choose one of the alternate
interconnects by setting the ANSOFT_MPI_INTERCONNECT environment variable to "myri" for
Myrinet and "ib" for Infiniband.

Interconnect variants are supported on Linux. Set the ANSOFT_MPI_INTERCONNECT_

VARIANT to the desired interconnect variant. For example, set "ANSOFT_MPI_
INTERCONNECT_VARIANT=silverstorm" to use the silverstorm variant.

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Related Topics

Distributed Memory Solutions with HFSS

Installation Requirements for Distributed Memory Solutions with HFSS

Setting up HFSS and Running Distributed Memory Solutions

Select the MPI Vendor for HFSS

Running HFSS Distributed Memory Solutions from the Command line

Discussion of HFSS Distributed Memory Solution

Authentication on Linux (RSH & SSH) for HFSS

Troubleshooting for HFSS Distributed Memory Solutions

Authentication on Linux (RSH & SSH) for HFSS

An important step in using a high performance cluster is setting up authentication across machines
in such a way that the machines can be accessed without a password. By default HFSS uses SSH
authentication on Linux to spawn commands on the remote machines but also supports RSH. The
selection of which to use is made on the Options tab of the Tools/Options/HPC and Analysis
Options dialog.

Related Topics

Distributed Memory Solutions with HFSS

Installation Requirements for Distributed Memory Solutions with HFSS

Setting up HFSS and Running Distributed Memory Solutions

Select the MPI Vendor for HFSS

Running HFSS Distributed Memory Solutions from the Command line

Discussion of HFSS Distributed Memory Solution

Interconnects for HFSS Distributed Memory Simulation

Troubleshooting for HFSS Distributed Memory Solutions

Troubleshooting for HFSS Distributed Memory Simulations

A number of things can prevent distributed memory solutions from completing successfully. This
section provides suggestions to debug problems.

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It is often a good idea to set up and run a small simulation with two processes on a single machine
before moving to a large cluster. Using a single machine will allow you to verify that HFSS and MPI
are installed correctly while eliminating problems arising from remote installation, authentication
and firewall settings.

Many problems occur because the MPI software cannot start and run due to authentication and
firewall issues. Please check with your MPI vendor and their end user documentation for
information about how to verify that authentication and firewall settings are correct.

If you are using MPI on Windows from Platform Computing you can test whether MPI will run by
using the "mpidiag" utility:

l From a command prompt browse to the Platform Computing binaries located at

<HFSS_Installation_Directory>\common\fluent_mpi\multiport\mpi\_win64
(win32)\pcmpi\bin

l Enter "mpidiag -s <name_of_machine> -at" to run an authentication test.

l Run the authentication tests in both directions, i.e. both to and from all target machines. This
will verify that MPI passwords and firewall settings are correct.

The tests need to be run in both directions because firewalls may allow communication in one
direction but not the other.

Platform Computing's implementation of MPI on Windows requires that you enter a password on
each machine in the cluster to run MPI solutions.

l From a command prompt browse to the Platform Computing binaries located at

<HFSS_Installation_Directory>\common\fluent_mpi\multiport\mpi\_win64
(win32)\pcmpi\bin

l To set the password run "mpidiag -s <name_of_machine> -cache -at" and enter the
password at the prompt.

Recall that HFSS must be installed in the same directory on all machines in the cluster and that the
cluster must be uniform (i.e. all Linux machines, all 64 bit Windows machines).

Verify that the version of the third party MPI software is identical on all the machines and that it is
listed in the table of supported versions above.

Verify that the machine names are correct and that all the machines can be reached on the
network.

Tight Integration of Platform MPI with Windows HPC for MPI Based Solves

Jobs running on a Windows HPC Cluster and using "Platform Computing" as the MPC Vendor,
ANSYS Electromagnetics software now works with Platform MPI to use the Windows HPC cluster

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to launch remote processes. (Linux and is not affected by this change. For Windows, the change
does not apply if the Windows MPI vendor selection is "Intel.")

Although registration of user passwords with Platform MPI is no longer required in this situation, if a
user's password is registered with Platform MPI, the registered password will be used. This may
result in job failure if the user's password is changed from the registered password. For this reason,
we recommend that user passwords be unregistered from Platform MPI on Windows HPC cluster
hosts.

If the analysis does not run as a Windows HPC job, the same requirements as for the previous
release apply. That is, that Platform MPI must be installed on each cluster node, including the
Platform MPI Remote Launch service, which must be running on each cluster node. The user
password must be registered on each node.

Related Topics

Distributed Memory Solutions with HFSS

Installation Requirements for Distributed Memory Solutions with HFSS

Setting up HFSS and Running Distributed Memory Solutions

Select the MPI Vendor for HFSS

Running HFSS Distributed Memory Solutions from the Command line

Discussion of HFSS Distributed Memory Solution

Interconnects for HFSS Distributed Memory Simulation

Authentication on Linux (RSH & SSH) for HFSS

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17 - Assigning Boundaries in HFSS and

HFSS-IE
Boundary conditions specify the field behavior at the edges of the problem region and object
interfaces. HFSS and HFSS-IE designs have different menu options for boundaries.

Within the context of HFSS and HFSS-IE, boundaries exist for two main purposes:

1. to create either an open or a closed electromagnetic model or,

2. to simplify the electromagnetic or geometric complexity of the electromagnetic model.

Click here for HFSS-IE boundaries.

In an open problem, an air volume encompassing the outer radiating surfaces is modeled by a
surrounding object. Radiation boundary conditions (ABC, PML or FEBI) are assigned to the outer
radiating surfaces (i.e. faces of the region) to absorb all outgoing waves. HFSS users can choose
one of the three workflows to analyze an "open" design.

1. Auto-open region mode using the Solution type setting.

This workflow eliminates as much as possible the required interactions from a user and allows a
designer to get to a robust solution quickly. It is intended for users who do not want to be aware
of the region and the exterior radiation boundaries.

The open problem is enforced by the software automatically creates/maintains the region object
and the ABC boundaries. HFSS applies the most appropriate out-of-the-box settings based on
the geometries and the operating frequency. You do not need to (and cannot) edit these
settings directly.

This mode restricts the design to a single solve setup. Users cannot manually create the region
object, radiation boundaries or PML in this mode. Infinite ground plane, metallic IE region,
master/slave and symmetry boundaries are also not allowed.

2. Automation in setting up an open region problem using the Create Open Region command
and Update Open Region Padding commands.

This workflow provides automations that assist a user to quickly setup an open problem. As a
single user-customizable command, the software creates the region and the radiation
boundaries based on user's selections on the region padding type, radiation boundary type, etc.

If necessary, you can further customize the design by editing these design objects directly.

3. Advance mode

This is the original workflow where you manually setup the open design by assigning radiation
boundary conditions.

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You may assign the following types of boundaries to an HFSS design:

Anisotropic Represents a boundary condition used to replace a surface a planar screen or grid
Impedance with periodic geometry.
Aperture Represents a hole in a metallic sheet assigned as an IE Region.
Finite Represents an imperfect conductor.
Conductivity
Half Space Represents a background comprising a dielectric half space. For antenna and
scattering problems in HFSS in which all objects are assigned as Hybrid IE Region.
Impedance Represents a resistive surface.
Layered Represents a structure with multiple layers as one impedance surface.
Impedance
Linked Represents a data link to an isotropic or anisotropic impedance boundary in another
Impedance design. These can include infinite ground planes and shell elements.
Lumped Represents any combination of lumped resistor, inductor, and/or capacitor in
RLC parallel on a surface.
Master Represents a surface on which the E-field at each point is matched to another
surface (the slave boundary) to within a phase difference.
Perfect E Represents a perfectly conducting surface.
Perfect H Represents a surface on which the tangential component of the H-field is the same
on both sides.
PML Represents an open boundary condition using several layers of specialized
materials that absorb outgoing waves.
Radiation Represents an open boundary by means of an absorbing boundary condition
(ABC) that absorbs outgoing waves.
Slave Represents a surface on which the E-field at each point has been forced to match
the E-field of another surface (the master boundary) to within a phase difference.
Symmetry Represents a perfect E or perfect H plane of symmetry.

You may also choose to designate a perfect E, finite conductivity, or impedance boundary as an
infinite ground plane if you want the surface to represent an electrically large ground plane when
the radiated fields are calculated during post processing.

Note Hiding boundaries also turns off a check for boundary overlaps during boundary
assignment. In the case of very large models with many boundaries, hiding boundaries can
prevent delays during boundary assignment. Full model validation will subsequently check
for boundary overlaps.

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For convenience, you can access the Edit Global Materials command from the Boundaries
menu.

Note By default, the history tree in the 3D modeler window groups sheet objects according to
boundary assignment. To change this, select the Sheets icon and right-click to display the
Group Sheets by Assignment check box.

Related Topics

Automation in Setting up an Open Problem

Technical Notes: Boundaries

Zoom to Selected Boundary

Setting Default Boundary Base Names

Designating Infinite Ground Planes

Modifying Boundaries

Deleting Boundaries

Reassigning Boundaries

Reprioritizing Boundaries

Assigning Hybrid Regions

Edit Global Materials Environment

Duplicating Boundaries and Excitations with Geometry

Showing and Hiding Boundaries and Excitations

Reviewing Boundaries and Excitations in the Solver View

Setting Default Values for Boundaries and Excitations

Assigning HFSS-IE Boundaries

Boundaries for Open or Closed Models

In HFSS a closed model simply represents a structure, or a solution volume, where no energy can
escape except through an applied port. For an Eigenmode simulation, this could be a cavity
resonator. For a driven modal or terminal solution, this could be a waveguide or some other fully
enclosed structure.

An open model represents an electromagnetic model that allows electromagnetic energy to

emanate or radiate away. Common examples would be an antenna, a PCB, or any structure that is

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not enclosed within a closed cavity. While most HFSS simulations deal with models that are open,
by default, HFSS initially assumes that any given model is closed. HFSS assumes all outer
surfaces of the solution space are covered, or coated, by a perfect electric conductor boundary. In
order to create an open model, you specify a boundary on the outer surfaces that will overwrite the
default perfect electric conductor boundary.

Related Topics

Automation in Setting up an Open Problem

Assigning Boundaries

Getting Started Guides

Example Projects

Boundaries for Simplifying Models

Boundaries can be used within HFSS to decrease the geometric/electromagnetic complexity of a
given structure or model. These boundaries should only be used internally to a model or possibly
on a symmetry plane (as in the Dielectric Resonator Antenna example or the Coax Bend Transient
example). They should be applied to specifically created 2D sheet objects or to specific surfaces of

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3D objects. While boundaries can be very useful, a user should exercise caution when using them
as they can create unintended results if applied incorrectly.

Not every HFSS model, however, will use simplifying boundaries. When using boundaries to
create simpler models, users should take care to not create a model that has unreasonable or
inappropriate boundaries applied.

Related Topics

Assigning Boundaries

Getting Started Guides

Example Projects

Zoom to Selected Boundary

To zoom to a selected boundary, right-click on a boundary name in the Project and select the
Zoom to command on the popup menu. This zooms the view in the Modeler window in or out to
show the selected boundary. The current orientation does not change. This can be very useful
checking the assigned geometry.

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Related Topics

Showing and Hiding Boundaries and Excitations

Modifying Boundaries

Deleting Boundaries

Setting Default Boundary/Excitation Base Names

To change the default boundary, hybrid region, or excitation base names, so that subsequent
names increment from the base of your choosing:

1. Click Boundary>Set Default Base Name or Excitation >Set Default Base Name.

This displays the Set Default Boundary/Excitation Base dialog. This contains a list of all
boundary, hybrid region, and excitation types, and the base names for each. The base names
for each type have editable text fields. The base names for boundaries and excitations are
incremented from the base names here.

2. Edit the text fields to your preferred naming conventions. Names must be less than sixty
characters and cannot include spaces. Letters, numbers, and special characters are
permitted. Illegal names are not accepted and generate a warning message.
3. Click OK to accept the changes or Cancel to close the dialog without accepting changes.

If you want to revert all or selected names to defaults, use the Revert All or Revert Selected
buttons.

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Related Topics

Showing and Hiding Boundaries and Excitations

Modifying Boundaries

Deleting Boundaries

Automation in Setting up an Open Problem

In an open problem, an air volume encompassing the outer radiating surfaces is modeled by a
surrounding object. Radiation boundary conditions (ABC, PML or FEBI) are assigned to the outer
radiating surfaces (i.e. faces of the region) to absorb all outgoing waves. HFSS users can use the
Create Open Region command and Update Open Region Padding command to automate the
setup of an open region problem. If you have specified the Auto Open Region check box in the
Solution type, you will receive an error message. You must leave that check box unchecked to use
this approach to automating an open problem.

You can access the Create Open Region command in three different ways:

l Right-click in the modeler window and select Create Open Region... from the context
menu.
l Click HFSS>Model>Create Open Region...
l Right-click on Model in the Project tree and select Create Open Region...

This displays the Create Open Region wizard.

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Your selections here guide the software in setting up the region and boundaries that are required to
model the device as an open problem.

l Operating Frequency: This value is used to determine the region padding and CANNOT be
parameterized. The default factory value is 1 GHz when there is no solve setup in the
design.

If you can created two or more solution setups, a pull-down provides you the ability to select the
adaptive frequency. The default is to use the value from the first solve setup (in alphabetical
order).

By option you can manually type in a value.

l Infinite ground plane can be specified at one of the 6 directions by checking Apply infinite
ground and selecting from the drop-down menu.

Default is at the Neg Z direction.

l Boundary can be one of:

Radiation, an absorbing boundary condition (ABC) that absorbs outgoing waves..

FEBI, finite element-boundary integral (FEBI) method. Unlike ABC and PML, the IE hybrid
region can be of arbitrary shape, both concave and convex thus in some cases allowing the size
of the finite element solution domain to be significantly reduced.

PML, perfectly matched layer, uses several layers of specialized materials that absorb outgoing
waves.

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Default region padding = min(L/2, Lambda/<Boundary Type Specific>) where L is the diagonal
of device's bounding box and Lambda is the wavelength of the operating frequency. This is the
same formulation used in the "auto-open" design mode. The padding for ABC = min(L/2,
Lambda/3). The padding for FEBI is min(l/2, Lambda/8). The padding for PML = min(L/2,
Lambda/4).

When you have made your selections, and OK the dialog, region is created and displayed as a
wireframe with the boundary highlighted as selected.

Clicking outside the boundary de-selects the boundary. The boundary appears in the Project tree
under boundaries (for Radiation and PML) or Hybrid regions (for FEBI) and under radiating
surface in the history tree.

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In the case of a PML, the Project manager window and history tree show the PML objects. The
visibility of these objects are defaulted to off.

You can edit the properties of the created region objects in the history tree. You can also edit the
properties of radiation and FEBI boundaries in the Project tree. More direct control of PML settings
can be had by creating the PML boundaries via the PML wizard.

The region’s size is automatically updated if you change the size of your modeled device, but the
region padding is not updated automatically.

Recalculate the Padding for Regions

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The Update Open Region Padding command is enabled whenever there is a region object in a
design. To Recalculate the Padding for Regions, select Update Open Region Padding.

l Right-click in the modeler window and select Update Open Region Padding... from the
context menu.
l Click HFSS>Model>Update Open Region Padding...
l Right-click on Model in the Project tree and select Update Open Region Padding...

This opens the Update Open Region dialog.

The function resembles that in the Create Open Region dialog, where you can specify the
operating frequency by selecting an already created setup or manually typed a value.

On OK, the region padding is updated based on the out-of-the box formulation min(L/2, Lambda/4)
where L is the diagonal of the device's bounding box and Lambda is the wavelength of the adaptive
frequency of the solve setup. The region is automatically resized when users edit the solve setup's
adaptive frequency. Initial meshes and solutions are invalidated when the region is resized.

For example, suppose you began with a device diagonal size as 10 mm. You then launched the
wizard and specified an operation frequency of 10 GHz. This ends with the region padding set to 5
mm. You then increase the device diagonal to 20 mm. The region is resized to encompass all
geometries but padding remains at 5 mm. You then launch Update Open Region Padding and
specify an operation frequency of 10 GHz On OK, the region padding is updated to 7.5 mm.

Assigning Perfect E Boundaries

A perfect E boundary is used to represent a perfectly conducting surface in a structure.

To create a Perfect E boundary

1. Select a surface on which to assign the boundary and click HFSS or HFSS-
IE>Boundaries>Assign>Pefect E to bring up the Perfect E Boundary dialog box.

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2. For HFSS projects, you can select Infinite Ground Plane if you want the surface to
represent an electrically large ground plane when the radiated fields are calculated during
post processing. For PEC boundaries only, multiple infinite ground planes are supported.

Related Topics

Technical Notes: Perfect E Boundaries

Setting Default Boundary/Excitation Base Names.

Getting Started Guides: A Dielectric Resonator Antenna

Getting Started Guides: Patch Antenna

Assigning Perfect H Boundaries

A perfect H boundary represents a surface on which the tangential component of the H-field is the
same on both sides. For internal surfaces, this results in a natural boundary through which the field
propagates. For surfaces on the outer surface of the model, this results in a boundary that
simulates a perfect magnetic conductor in which the tangential component of the H-field is zero.

To Assign a Perfect H Boundary:

1. Select a surface on which to assign the boundary and click

HFSS>Boundaries>Assign>Pefect H to bring up the Perfect H Boundary dialog box.

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2. No parameters need be set..

Related Topics

Assigning Boundaries

Technical Notes: Boundaries

Zoom to Selected Boundary

Setting Default Boundary Base Names

Getting Started Guides: A Dielectric Resonator Antenna

Assign Impedance Boundaries

An impedance boundary (IB) represents a resistive surface. The behavior of the field at the surface
and the losses generated by the currents flowing inside the resistor are computed using analytical
formulae. ANSYS Electronics Desktop does not simulate any fields inside the resistor.

1. Select a surface on which to assign the boundary, right-click Assign

Boundary>Impedance to bring up the Impedance Boundary dialog box.

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2. Enter the Resistance and Reactance for the boundary.

The default Resistance and Reactance are 50 Ohms per square.

If you want to create a boundary that demonstrates spatial dependence, you must first assign
that boundary to a sheet object. Then to define a spatial dependence for the boundary, you can
create an expression for resistance or reactance using x, y, or z. For example, 50+y.

3. Select Infinite Ground Plane if you want the surface to represent an electrically large
ground plane when the radiated fields are calculated during post processing. .

Note If you select Infinite Ground Plane, the effect of the impedance boundary will be
incorporated into the field solution in the usual manner, but the radiated fields will be
computed as if the lossy ground plane is perfectly conducting. Only one infinite
ground plane is permitted in designs with impedance boundaries

Note You can assign a variable as the resistance and reactance values. Eigenmode
designs cannot contain design parameters that depend on frequency, for example, a
frequency-dependent impedance boundary condition.

Related Topics

Zoom to Selected Boundary

Setting Default Boundary Base Names

Technical Notes: Impedance Boundaries

Assign Impedance Boundaries for HFSS-IE

The impedance boundaries for HFSS-IE are derived assuming the fields decay to zero inside the
object on which the boundary is assigned.

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Note For HFSS-IE impedance boundaries assume the interior E-field decays to 0 and thus can
not be used as an approximation for a transmission condition through a thin dielectric sheet.

1. Select a surface on which to assign the boundary, right-click Assign

Boundary>Impedance to bring up the Impedance Boundary dialog box.
2. Set the fields in the dialog box and click OK.

The default Resistance and Reactance are 50 Ohms per square.

If you want to create a boundary that demonstrates spatial dependence, you must first assign
that boundary to a sheet object. Then to define a spatial dependence for the boundary, you can
create an expression for resistance or reactance using x, y, or z. For example, 50+y.

Note HFSS-IE does not support infinite ground plane for impedance boundaries.

Related Topics

Zoom to Selected Boundary

Setting Default Boundary Base Names

Technical Notes: Impedance Boundaries

Assigning Radiation Boundaries

For Eigenmode, Driven Modal or Driven Terminal Designs

A radiation boundary is used to simulate an open problem that allows waves to radiate infinitely far
into space, such as antenna designs. ANSYS Electronics Desktop absorbs the wave at the
radiation boundary, essentially ballooning the boundary infinitely far away from the structure. In
HFSS, these are sometimes described as Absorbing Boundary Condition, or ABC.

A radiation surface does not have to be spherical, but it must be exposed to the background,
convex with regard to the radiation source, and located at least a quarter wavelength from the

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radiating source. In some cases the radiation boundary may be located closer than one-quarter
wavelength, such as portions of the radiation boundary where little radiated energy is expected.

Note Whenever additions/changes are made to radiation boundaries that affect fields, it
invalidates those solutions that can possibly have fields. Meshes are not invalidated.

To assign a radiation boundary:

1. Select a surface on which to assign the boundary and click

HFSS>Boundaries>Assign>Radiation to bring up the Radiation Boundary dialog box.

Note Do not define a surface that cuts through an object to be a radiation boundary.

In general, do not define the interface of two internal objects to be a radiation boundary.
The only exception is when one object is a perfectly matched layer boundary (PML) and the
other is the PML base object.

Related Topics

Zoom to Selected Boundary

Set as Frequency Selective Surface Reference

Setting Default Boundary Base Names

Assigning PML Boundaries

Assigning Hybrid Regions

Technical Notes: Radiation Boundaries

Getting Started Guides: A Dielectric Resonator Antenna

Getting Started Guides: UHF Probe

Getting Started Guides: Patch Antenna

Set as Frequency Selective Surface Reference

You can set one reference of a Frequency Selective Surface. To setup Frequency Selective
Surface, users right click on a radiation boundary and click the menu Set As FSS Reference. A

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check indicates that the boundary is selected as reference. This menu is always enabled.
Inappropriate setups are handled by design validation checks.

This surface become the input surface for calculations of the reflection/transmission coefficients.
The other radiating surface automatically becomes output. Only one FSS can be defined in a given
model. Using the option is advantageous for highly reflective and resonant structures.
Reflection/Transmission coefficients for FSS designs can be viewed in the solution data panel as
S-parameters or you can create an S-parameter report.

The requirements are:

l At most one reference is permitted

l Can only be set on a single face
l When a radiation boundary is selected as reference, there must be exactly one plane
propagating incident wave that is without geometry assignment or assigned to the face of
the radiation boundary
l Require at least one Master/Slave boundary pair
l Incompatible with ports (design cannot have ports)

Related Topics

Assigning Radiation Boundaries

Assigning PML Boundaries

A perfectly matched layer (PML) boundary is used to simulate materials that absorb outgoing
waves. Setting up a PML boundary is similar to setting up a radiation boundary. You start by
drawing a virtual object around the radiating structure. However, instead of placing a radiation
boundary on its surfaces, you add PMLs to fully absorb the electromagnetic field. You can also
assign PMLs to Region objects. PML objects on a region are updated when the region is updated

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by changing a region property or variable value. If you do assign PML objects to a region, you
cannot perform geometry operations or copy and paste operations on that region. Region-
dependent CS cannot be set as current CS.

ANSYS Electronics Desktop can create PMLs automatically, or you can create them manually.
Create PMLs automatically if the base object touching the PML is planar and its material is
homogeneous. HFSS creates a separate PML object for each covered face. The PML boundaries
are grouped in the Project tree under the Boundaries icon. Within these groupings, you can edit
the radiation parameters (for example, as Incident Wave Port) in order to set up the right total field
excitation based on the physical optics approach. PML radiation boundaries are not generated in
Eigenmode projects.

In creating PMLs, you can select non rectangular sheet objects as long as they do not touch any
other selected face. The underlying object does not have to be a box. If there are faces that touch,
the touching faces must be locally box-like. You can assign variables to the dimension properties of
the base object. Changing the variable values also changes the associated PMLs.

PML Compared to Radiation Boundaries

Compared to Radiation boundaries, which create absorbing boundary conditions (ABC), PMLs in
general make it more difficult for the iterative solver to reach convergence compared to the same
model with using ABCs. PMLs also require significantly more RAM. The advantages for PMLs are
that they absorb a much wider range of waves in terms of frequency and direction. As a result, you
can put PMLs much closer to the discontinuities. This gives a smaller model. ABCs efficiently
absorb normal incident waves. You have to put ABCs far away enough from the discontinuities.

What do you want to do?

Create PMLs automatically.

Create PMLs manually.

Guidelines for Assigning PML Boundaries

Related Topics

Assigning Boundaries

Automation in Setting up an Open Problem

Technical Notes: Boundaries

Zoom to Selected Boundary

Setting Default Boundary Base Names

Getting Started Guides: Radar Cross Section (RCS)

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Creating PMLs Automatically

1. Draw a PML base object at the radiation surface.
2. Depending on the design you may select either faces of the object or the entire object.

When you create a PML that completely covers an object, for example, an airbox around an
antenna, you may find it convenient to select the object and have a boundary applied to all faces
of the object.

You can select the faces of the PML base object to turn into PMLs. In these cases, select only
external, planar faces and exclude faces defined as symmetry boundaries.

3. Click HFSS > Boundaries>PML Setup Wizard.

The PML Setup wizard appears.

4. If you have selected a non-planar object for a PML or one that completely covers another
object, you can select Use Selected Object objectName as PML Cover. If you have
selected object faces, select Create PML Cover Objects on Selected Faces.
5. Type the thickness of each layer in the Uniform Layer Thickness text box. You can assign
a variable as the thickness value.

Note The layer thickness cannot be modified directly after PML objects have been
created. If you want to be able to modify the thickness, assign a variable as the
thickness value.

If you do not assign a value, you can select Use Default Formula to have HFSS calculate a
value for you based on geometrical analysis.

6. If the selected faces are on a box object. you can see the option to select Create joining
corner and edge objects.

Edge and corner PML objects will be created to join adjacent PML surfaces together, ensuring
complete coverage.

7. Under Base Face Radiation Properties, click a radio button to specify one of the
following:
l Radiating Only - the radiation surface (default).
l Incident Field - the incident field source patterns are projected on these surfaces and are
backed by ABC or PML. This is like a generalized space port. HFSS knows the incident
field pattern, applies it to the port and expects a reflected field pattern which radiates back.
In other words, it behaves as if you excited the project by a Norton or Thevenin generator
using an impedance which is the free space wave impedance.

For Radiating Only or Incident Field, you can also specify whether the surface is used as
Reference for FSS, that is, as a Frequency Selective Surface - this surface becomes the
input surface for calculations of the reflection/transmission coefficients. The other radiating

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surface automatically becomes output. Only one FSS can be defined in a given model. Using
the Incident Field option together with Reference for FSS is advantageous for highly
reflective and resonant structures. Reflection/Transmission coefficients for FSS designs can
be viewed in the solution data panel as S-parameters or you can create an S-parameter
report.

If you check Reference for FSS, the PML objects will stay visible.

8. Click Next.

ANSYS Electronics Desktop creates PMLs from the faces you selected. Names are
automatically given to the layers. that start with PML, which is necessary for ANSYS Electronics
Desktop to recognize them as PMLs.

9. Specify how the PMLs terminate by selecting one of the following:

a. PML Objects Accept Free Radiation if the PMLs terminate in free space.
l Then enter the lowest frequency in the frequency range you are solving for in the Min
Frequency text box.
b. PML Objects Continue Guided Waves if the PMLs terminate in a transmission line.
l Then specify the propagation constant at the minimum frequency.
10. Specify the minimum distance between the PMLs and any of the radiating bodies in the
Minimum Radiating Distance text box. You may choose to have HFSS calculate the value
by clicking Use Default Formula. The default distance is based on the extent of base object
geometry.

The PML material characteristics depend on the cumulative effect of their near fields at the
location of the PML surfaces.

11. Click Next.

ANSYS Electronics Desktop calculates the appropriate PML materials based on the settings
you specified and the material of the base object, and assigns these materials to the objects in
the PML group.

A summary dialog box appears, enabling you to modify the settings you specified.

12. Click Finish.

Related Topics

Automation in Setting up an Open Problem

Creating PML Boundaries Manually

Modifying PML Boundaries

Guidelines for Assigning PML Boundaries

Technical Notes: PML Boundaries

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Assigning Radiation Boundaries

Creating PML Boundaries Manually

See Guidelines for Assigning PML Boundaries.

1. Draw the PML object at the radiation surface, and then select it.
2. In the Properties window, give the object a name with the prefix PML.

Object names that start with PML are necessary for ANSYS Electronics Desktop to recognize
them as PMLs.

3. Click HFSS>Boundaries>PML Setup Wizard.

The PML Setup wizard appears.

4. Select Use Selected Object as PML Cover.

5. Select the Corresponding Base Object, the object touching the PML, from the pull-down
list.
6. Type the thickness of each layer in the Uniform Layer Thickness text box. You can assign
a variable as the thickness value.

If you do not assign a value, you can select Use Default Formula to have HFSS calculate a
value for you based on geometrical analysis.

7. Select the orientation of the PML object, the direction of outward propagation, in the relative,
or local, coordinate system.
8. Under Base Face Radiation Properties, click a radio button to specify one of the
following:
l Radiating Only - the radiation surface (default).
l Incident Field - the incident field source patterns are projected on these surfaces and are
backed by ABC or PML. This is like a generalized space port. HFSS knows the incident
field pattern, applies it to the port and expects a reflected field pattern which radiates back.
In other words, it behaves as if you excited the project by a Norton or Thevenin generator
using an impedance which is the free space wave impedance.

For Radiating Only or Incident Field, you can also specify whether the surface is used as
Reference for FSS, that is, as a Frequency Selective Surface - this surface becomes the
input surface for calculations of the reflection/transmission coefficients. The other radiating
surface automatically becomes output. Only one FSS can be defined in a given model. Using
the Incident Field option together with Reference for FSS is advantageous for highly
reflective and resonant structures. Reflection/Transmission coefficients for FSS designs can
be viewed in the solution data panel as S-parameters or you can create an S-parameter
report.

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If you check Reference for Frequency Selective Surface (FSS), the PML objects will
stay visible.

9. Click Next.
10. Specify how the PML terminates by selecting one of the following:
a. PML Objects Accept Free Radiation if the PML terminates in free space.
l Enter the lowest frequency in the frequency range you are solving for in the Min
Frequency text box.
b. PML Objects Continue Guided Waves if the PML terminates in a transmission line.
l Specify the propagation constant at the minimum frequency.
11. Specify the minimum distance between the PML and the radiating body in the Minimum
Radiating Distance text box. You may choose to let HFSS calculate the value by clicking
Use Default Formula. The default distance is based on the extent of base object geometry.

The PML material characteristics depend on the cumulative effect of their near fields at the
location of the PML surfaces.

12. Click Next.

ANSYS Electronics Desktop calculates the appropriate PML material based on the settings you
specified and the material of the base object, and assigns this material to the PML.

A summary dialog box appears, enabling you to modify the settings you specified.

13. Click Finish.

Related Topics

Guidelines for Assigning PML Boundaries

Modifying PML Boundaries

Technical Notes: PML Boundaries

Assigning Radiation Boundaries

Zoom to Selected Boundary

Setting Default Boundary Base Names

Guidelines for Assigning PML Boundaries

Keep the following guidelines in mind when assigning PML boundaries:

l When automatically creating PMLs, ANSYS Electronics Desktop creates a new relative
coordinate system for each PML object. This results in the z direction of the PML object

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coinciding with the normal direction of the base object's face.

l ANSYS Electronics Desktop treats PMLs uniformly with regard to thickness. If the PMLs in
your design vary in thickness, create a separate PML group for each thickness.

You should manually create a PML in the following situations:

l The base object is curved.

ANSYS Electronics Desktop calculates the PML material properties using the normal vector at
the center of the base object's face. If the face is curved, the normal vector changes with
position. The PML materials will only be good approximations if the normal vector at each point
on the face is close to the normal vector at the face center.

It is a good idea to segment the curved surface of the base object for greater accuracy. Create
separate PMLs for each segment. Note that each segment's thickness is treated uniformly. The
view angle of the segments should be no wider than 45 degrees. The smaller the angle of each
segment, the greater the accuracy of the corresponding PML.

l The material of the corresponding base object touching the PML is not homogenous. An
example is a metal-shielded microstrip line with a substrate. One PML could be drawn to
terminate the microstrip and another could correspond to the substrate.

Create as many PML objects as there are subsections of material properties in the base object.

Related Topics

Creating PML Boundaries Manually

Technical Notes: PML Boundaries

Assigning Radiation Boundaries

Modifying PML Boundaries

You can modify parameters of PML boundaries through the PML Setup Summary dialog. You
can also modify the dimensions of PML boundaries by editing the History tree properties for the
original object for which you assigned the PML boundaries.

To modify dimension properties for the original PML object:

1. Go to the History tree and open the hierarchy under the original PML base object.
2. Select the CreateBox command for each part of the geometry you want to modify.
3. In the Properties dialog for that geometry command, edit the properties for XSize, YSize, or
ZSize as required.

The changes to the CreateBox parameters apply to the associated PML objects. Note that you
can create variables to parameterize these properties.

To modify PML parameters:

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1. Make sure that nothing is selected in the 3D Modeler window.

2. Click HFSS>Boundaries>PML Setup Wizard.

The Summary dialog box of the PML Setup wizard appears. By default the Show Objects in
groups box is not checked. A table shows each PML Group, its thickness, and material status.
Checking the box causes the table list the objects under each group.

3. If more than one group of PMLs were defined, select the PML group you want to modify from
the table.
4. Modify the PML parameters.

A Radio button lets you select either the Free Radiation minimum frequency and units, or the
Guided Wave propagation constant at a minimum frequency.

You can also specify a Minimum Radiating distance and units.

5. If you make changes, click Update.

This performs the update and enables the Recalculate Materials button.

6. Click RecalculateMaterials to apply the updates.

ANSYS Electronics Desktop automatically recalculates and assigns the appropriate PML
materials to the objects in the PML group.

7. Click Finish.

Note If objects are modified after PMLs are created, the PML materials will be invalid and
must be recalculated in the PML Setup Wizard. For example, if the material of the
PML base object is modified, the associated PML materials must be recalculated in
the PML Setup Wizard.

Related Topics

Assigning PML Boundaries

Assigning Radiation Boundaries

Zoom to Selected Boundary

Setting Default Boundary Base Names

Assigning Finite Conductivity Boundaries

A finite conductivity boundary the behavior of the field at the object surface. The finite conductivity
boundary is valid only if the conductor being modeled is a good conductor, that is, if the conductor's
thickness is much larger than the skin depth in the given frequency range.

To assign a Finite Conductivity boundary:

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1. Select a surface on which to assign the boundary and click

HFSS>Boundaries>Assign>Finite Conductivity to bring up the Finite Conductivity
Boundary dialog box.

2. Do one of the following:

l Enter the conductivity in inverse ohm-meters, and then enter the permeability.

To assign Finite Conductivity so that the boundary is spatially dependent (that is, in which the
material properties change over the length), use the method described via this link.

l Select Use Material, click the default material name button , and then choose a material
from the material editor. The conductivity and permeability values of the material you
select will be used for the boundary. Note that selecting a perfectly conducting material for
a finite conductivity boundary triggers a validation error.
3. Select Infinite Ground Plane if you want the surface to represent an electrically large
ground plane when the radiated fields are calculated during post processing.

Note that if you select Infinite Ground Plane, the effect of the finite conductivity boundary will
be incorporated into the field solution in the usual manner, but the radiated fields will be
computed as if the lossy ground plane is perfectly conducting.

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4. To select the Surface Roughness Model used for surfaces such as the interface between the
conductor and the substrate for a microstrip line, select either Groisse or Huray.

For the Groisse model, you specify a Surface Roughness parameter (traditional case) as a
value (or variable) and units. The default is 0 um. Legacy projects use the Groisse model by
default.

For the Huray Model, you specify the Nodule radius value (or a variable), which describes the
radius of copper spheres that model the surface roughness. The default is 0.5 um. Also for the
Huray model, you specify the Hall-Huray Surface Ratio, a unitless quantity. The default is 2.9.
The Huray model is causal.

(Using surface roughness with the Finite Conductivity boundary may be more intuitive than using a
layered impedance boundary to model the effects.)

5. You can select either Set DC Thickness or Use classic infinite thickness model.

To Set DC thickness, click the radio to enable the Layer Thickness field, and enter a value and
select units You can also specify whether the object is on outer boundary.

If you select Two sided, you can also specify whether to treat the boundary as a Shell Element.
Shell elements maintain two sets of unknown coefficients for the top and bottom surface

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Meshing thin layers such as signal traces or thin substrates of PCBs can be difficult and cause
very inefficient simulation performance. Instead of meshing these thin layers, they can be
replaced with sheets along with appropriately assigned boundary conditions. The appropriate
boundaries are 2-sided layered impedance or finite conductivity boundaries where the latter is
only applicable for a single layer of metallic material such as a signal trace made of copper.

You can consider using shell elements on the sheet for enhanced accuracy at high frequencies
where the currents on the two sides of the sheet will be allowed to be different and therefore
better model the non-uniform current distribution of a thin structure at high frequencies. Some
examples for this application would be studying shielding effects of a car chassis by modeling
the chassis with sheets or replacing an antenna radome model with a thin sheet. Note that the
shell element option is applicable for all frequencies and can therefore be used for broadband
simulations without the need to modify boundary options depending on the simulation
frequency. Further, a sheet in the above discussion can also be a face of a solve inside object.

The following features are not currently supported when using shell elements:

l Fast sweep
l Scattered field formulation
l Eigen solver
l IE solver

Selecting Use classic infinite model disables the fields for Set DC Thickness and the outer
boundary check box.

Note You can assign a variable as the conductivity or permeability values or roughness model
parameters.

Related Topics

Zoom to Selected Boundary

Setting Default Boundary Base Names

Technical Notes: Finite Conductivity Boundaries

Technical Notes: Shell Elements Theory

Spatially Dependent Boundaries in HFSS and HFSS-IE

HFSS and HFSS-IE supports spatially dependent materials, that is, materials whose properties
change over their length. Consider a long rectangular sheet object that lies on the XY plane along
the Y axis.

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To assign Finite Conductivity such that the boundaries are spatially dependent follow these
steps:

1. Select the line as shown in the figure below.

1. Right-click anywhere in the modeler and select Assign Boundary > Finite Conductivity
as shown below.

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This causes the Finite Conductivity Boundary dialog box to appear as shown below.

1. Type the expression in the Conductivity field to include the spatially dependent material
properties of the sheets. For example, in this design, the Conductivity field has the
following expression: $sigma0*(1.0 + $beta*abs(y)), where $sigma and $beta are the
predefined project variables and y specifies the local y co-ordinate associated with the sheet.

Note: Whatever model units you define, specify the expression in the Conductivity field in SI
units. To verify the Coordinate System associated with the sheet, double-click the Create
Rectangle command associated with the object from the History Tree to open the Attribute
window as shown below.

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Note The spatial dependency can only be expressed in Cartesian coordinates

Related Topics

Spatially Dependent Materials in HFSS

Assigning Finite Conductivity Boundaries in HFSS-IE

A finite conductivity boundary approximates the behavior of the field at the object surface.

The finite conductivity boundary is valid only if the conductor being modeled is a good conductor,
that is, if the conductor's thickness is much larger than the skin depth in the given frequency range.

To assign a Finite Conductivity boundary:

1. Select a surface on which to assign the boundary and click HFSS-

IE>Boundaries>Assign>Finite Conductivity to bring up the Finite Conductivity
Boundary dialog box.

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2. Do one of the following:

l Enter the Conductivity and the Relative Permeability.

To assign Finite Conductivity so that the boundary is spatially dependent (that is, in which the
material properties change over the length), use the method described via this link.

l Select Use Material, click the material name button, and then choose a material from the
material editor. The conductivity and permeability values of the material you select will be
used for the boundary. Note that selecting a perfectly conducting material for a finite
conductivity boundary triggers a validation error.
3. To specify the roughness of surfaces such as the interface between the conductor and the
substrate for a microstrip line, enter a value for Surface Roughness and select the units
(default, microns) from the pull down menu.

(This may be more intuitive than using a layered impedance boundary to model the effects.)

4. You can select either Set DC Thickness or Use classic infinite thickness model.

To Set DC thickness, click the radio to enable the Layer Thickness field, and enter a value and
select units You can also specify whether the object is on outer boundary.

Selecting User classic infinite model disables the field for Set DC Thickness.

Note You can assign a variable as the conductivity or permeability values.

Related Topics

Zoom to Selected Boundary

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Setting Default Boundary Base Names

Technical Notes: Finite Conductivity Boundaries

Getting Started Guides: A 20 GHz Waveguide Combiner

Assigning Symmetry Boundaries

For Driven Modal or Eigenmode Designs

A symmetry boundary represents a perfect E or perfect H plane of symmetry. Symmetry

boundaries enable you to model only part of a structure, which reduces the size or complexity of
your design.

To assign a Finite Conductivity boundary:

1. Select a surface on which to assign the boundary and click

HFSS>Boundaries>Assign>Symmetry to bring up the Symmetry Boundary dialog
box.

2. Select the type of symmetry plane the boundary represents: Perfect E or Perfect H.
3. Click Impedance Multiplier.

If the design includes a port, you must adjust the impedance multiplier or the computed
impedances will not be for the full structure.

The Port Impedance Multiplier dialog box appears.

4. Type a value in the Impedance Multiplier box, and then click OK.

Related Topics

Technical Notes: Symmetry Boundaries

Setting the Impedance Multiplier

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Technical Notes: Impedance Multipliers

Getting Started Guides: A Dielectric Resonator Antenna

Getting Started Guides: A 20 GHz Waveguide Combiner

Assigning Master Boundaries

Master and slave boundaries enable you to model planes of periodicity where the E-field at every
point on the slave boundary surface is forced to match the E-field of every corresponding point on
the master boundary surface to within a phase difference. The transformation used to map the E-
field from the master to the slave is determined by specifying a coordinate system on both the
master and slave boundaries.

To assign a Master boundary:

1. Select a surface on which to assign the boundary and click

HFSS>Boundaries>Assign>Master to bring up the Master Boundary dialog box.

2. You must specify the coordinate system in the plane on which the boundary exists. First
draw the U vector of the coordinate system. HFSS uses the U vector that you draw and the
normal vector of the boundary face to calculate the Vvector. If necessary, you can reverse
the direction of the V vector.
a. Select New Vector from the U Vector pull-down list.

The Master Boundary dialog box disappears while you draw the U vector.

b. Select the U vector's origin, which must be on the boundary's surface, either by:

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l Clicking the point for the vector origin.

l Typing the point's coordinates in the X, Y, and Z boxes.
c. Select a point on the u-axis to indicate the U vector direction.

The Master Boundary dialog box reappears and the model display shows the U vector
and V vector as red and blue arrows respectively.

d. If you need to reverse the direction of the V vector, select Reverse Direction.

ANSYS Electronics Desktop will compute the E-field on this boundary and map it to the slave
boundary using the transformation defined by the master and slave coordinate systems.

Related Topics

Technical Notes: Master and Slave Boundaries

Assigning Slave Boundaries

Getting Started Guides: Floquet Ports

Assigning Slave Boundaries

Master and slave boundaries enable you to model planes of periodicity where the E-field at every
point on the slave boundary surface is forced to match the E-field at every corresponding point on
the master boundary surface to within a phase difference. The transformation used to map the E-
field from the master to the slave is determined by specifying a coordinate system on both the
master and slave boundaries.

To assign a Slave boundary:

1. Select a surface on which to assign the boundary and click

HFSS>Boundaries>Assign>Slave to bring up the Slave Boundary dialog box.

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2. Select the corresponding master boundary from the Master Boundary pull-down list.

If a master boundary has not yet been defined, return to make this selection when it has been
defined.

3. You must specify the coordinate system in the plane on which the boundary exists. First
draw the U vector of the coordinate system. HFSS uses the U vector that you draw and the
normal vector of the boundary face to calculate the V vector. If necessary, you can reverse
the direction of the V vector.
a. Select New Vector from the U Vector pull-down list.

The Slave Boundary dialog box disappears while you draw the U vector.

b. Select the U vector's origin, which must be on the boundary's surface, in one of the
following ways:
l Click the point for the vector origin.
l Type the point's coordinates in the X, Y, and Z boxes.
c. Select a point on the u-axis to indicate the U vector direction.

The Slave Boundary dialog box reappears and the model display shows the U vector
and V vector as red and blue arrows respectively.

d. If you need to reverse the direction of the V vector, select Reverse Direction.
4. Click Next.
5. You have the option to relate the slave boundary's E-fields to the master boundary's E-fields
in one of the following ways:
l For driven designs, select Use Scan Angles to Calculate Phase Delay to enable the
Scan Angle fields. Then enter Phi and Theta scan angles. These apply to whole model,

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in the global coordinate system. The phase delay is calculated from the scan angles;
however, if you know the phase delay, you may enter it directly in the Phase Delay box
below.

Note For Eigenmode problems, the Use Scan Angles to Calculate Phase Delay
fields are disabled.

l Select Field Radiation, and then enter the phase difference, or phase delay, between
the boundaries' E-fields in the Phase Delay box. The phase delay applies only to this
boundary.

Note You can assign a variable as the phi, theta, or phase delay values.

ANSYS Electronics Desktop will compute the E-field on the master boundary and map it to this
boundary using the transformation defined by the master and slave coordinate systems.

Related Topics

Technical Notes: Master and Slave Boundaries

Assigning Master Boundaries

Getting Started Guides: Floquet Ports

Assigning Lumped RLC Boundaries

A lumped RLC boundary represents a parallel combination of lumped resistor, inductor, and/or
capacitor applied to a surface. Multiple RLC boundaries can be used to model other circuit
configurations. For example, a lumped RLC serial circuit connection can be modeled with three
connected RLC surfaces: one with only resistance, one with only inductance, and one with only
capacitance.

To create a lumped RLC boundary:

1. Select a surface on which to assign the boundary and click HFSS or HFSS-
IE>Boundaries>Assign>Lumped RLC to bring up the Lumped RLC Boundary dialog
box.

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2. Select Resistance, Inductance, and Capacitance as needed and specify values and units
for each selected element. Optionally, you can assign a variable to any of these values.
3. To specify where on the surface the current and voltage will be controlled, define a Current
Flow Line. The selection field initially appears as Undefined. Select New Line to define a
vector line on the boundary surface.

Note HFSS and HFSS-IE assume the lumped RLC is assigned to a rectangular face. If
you assign a non-rectangular face, HFSS and HFSS-IE issue a warning, but
proceed with the solution. Using a non-rectangular face can result in less accurate
representation of the lumped RLC. See the technical notes on RLC boundaries for
more information.

Related Topics

Define a Vector Line

Technical Notes: Lumped RLC Boundaries

Setting Default Boundary/Excitation Base Names.

Vector Line
To draw a vector line to indicate the current flow:

1. Select New Line from the Lumped RLC Boundary dialog's pull-down list.

The dialog box disappears while you draw the vector line.

2. Select the start point in one of the following ways:

l Click the point.
l Type the point's coordinates in the in the X, Y, and Z boxes on the status bar.

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3. Select the endpoint using the mouse or the keyboard.

4. Once the line has been defined, you can edit it as follows:

Select Swap End Points from the dialog pull-down list to switch the start and endpoints of the
line, reversing the line's direction.

Related Topics

Assigning Lumped RLC Boundaries

Assigning Anisotropic Impedance Boundaries

Planar screens or grids of large extent with periodic geometry can be replaced by an Anisotropic
impedance boundary. The boundary applies a homogeneous characteristic impedance to the
surface in an effort to create an equivalent electrical representation of the geometric grid pattern.
For legacy designs, this boundary replaces the Screening Impedance boundary.

To assign an Anisotropic Impedance boundary

1. Select a surface on which to assign the boundary and click

HFSS>Boundaries>Assign>Anisotropic Impedance to bring up the Anisotropic
Impedance Boundary dialog.

2. The Coordinate System drop-down menu lists the Global Coordinate system and any
relative coordinate systems if you have defined them in the design. Select the Coordinate

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System that defines the anisotropic characteristic of the impedance boundary. (See
Creating a Relative Coordinate System.)

Note An anisotropic boundary must not touch ports in a design.

3. Select Infinite Ground Plane if you want the surface to represent an electrically large
ground plane when the radiated fields are calculated during post processing.
4. In the Impedance Relative to the Coordinate System area, you set the Resistance and
Reactance. If Anisotropic Impedance is checked, the wizard shows Resistance and
Reactance fields for X Axis alignment and Y axis alignment. These values can be numeric or
can reference variables, including spatial variables x, y, and z. Isotropy will be inferred if Zxy
and Zyx are left as zero.

Related Topics

Setting Default Boundary/Excitation Base Names.

Assigning Material Property Types

Change the Orientation of an object

Creating a Relative Coordinate System

Creating a Face Coordinate System

Setting the Working Coordinate System

Modifying the Coordinate System Axes View

Technical Notes: Anisotropic Impedance

Assigning Anisotropic Impedance Boundaries in HFSS-IE

Planar screens or grids of large extent with periodic geometry can be replaced by an Anisotropic
impedance boundary. The boundary applies a homogeneous characteristic impedance to the
surface in an effort to create an equivalent electrical representation of the geometric grid pattern.
For legacy designs, this boundary replaces the Screening Impedance boundary.

To assign an Anisotropic Impedance boundary

1. Select a surface on which to assign the boundary and click HFSS-

IE>Boundaries>Assign>Anisotropic Impedance to bring up the Anisotropic
Impedance Boundary dialog.

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2. The Coordinate System drop-down menu lists the Global Coordinate system and any
relative coordinate systems if you have defined them in the design. Select the Coordinate
System that defines the anisotropic characteristic of the impedance boundary. (See
Creating a Relative Coordinate System.)

Note An anisotropic boundary must not touch ports in a design.

3. To set the Impedance Relative to Coordinate System, select either Get Impedance From
External Design or Use explicit impedance.
l Get Impedance from External Design enable the Setup Link button. If you defining an
anisotropic impedance, there will be two buttons: Setup X Direction Link and Setup Y
Direction Link.
l For Use explicit impedance, the Resistance and Reactance fields are enabled.

In these fields, you set the Resistance and Reactance. If Anisotropic Impedance is
checked, the wizard shows Resistance and Reactance fields for X Axis alignment and Y axis
alignment. These values can be numeric or can reference variables. Isotropy will be inferred
if Zxy and Zyx are left as zero.

Related Topics

Setting Default Boundary/Excitation Base Names.

Assigning Material Property Types

Change the Orientation of an object

Creating a Relative Coordinate System

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Creating a Face Coordinate System

Setting the Working Coordinate System

Modifying the Coordinate System Axes View

Technical Notes: Anisotropic Impedance

Assigning Layered Impedance Boundaries

A layered impedance boundary is used to model multiple thin layers in a structure as one
impedance surface. The effect is the same as an impedance boundary condition, except that
ANSYS Electronics Desktop calculates the impedance of the surface based on data you enter for
the layered structure. Surface roughness is also taken into account. Materials with thermal
modifiers are permitted have to layered impedance boundaries assigned. The layered impedance
boundary is supported for single-frequency solutions and for Discrete and Interpolating frequency
sweeps.

If the layered structure is within the 3D model, meshing thin layers and solving inside is inefficient,
you can replace the highly conductive thin layer by a shell element. The Shell Element option only
applies to HFSS Driven solution types and does not apply to HFSS Eigenmode and Transient
solution types or to HFSS-IE designs. Examples uses include simulation of an antenna inside a car
chassis when the chassis is modeled using sheets or an antenna inside a dielectric radome when
the radome is modeled using sheets. Shell elements maintain two sets of unknown coefficients for
the top and bottom surface.

If you specify that a two-sided sheet is to be modeled as a Shell Element, the following HSS
features are disabled:

l Scattered field formulation: this HFSS disables this when all boundaries are radiating
boundaries AND when the design has an Incident Wave excitation.
l IE solver

To assign a Layered Impedance boundary

1. Select a surface on which to assign the boundary and click

HFSS>Boundaries>Assign>Layered Impedance to bring up the Layered Impedance
Boundary dialog box.

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2. Enter the Surface Roughness for the layered structure.

If the layered structure is internal to the design, enter the average surface roughness of the two
outermost sides. You can assign a variable as this value.

3. Select Infinite Ground Plane if you want the surface to represent an electrically large
ground plane when the radiated fields are calculated during post processing.

For designs with layered impedance boundaries, only one infinite ground plane can exist in the
design.

4. Click Next or the Layers tab, depending on the general option setting.

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5. If the layered structure is external to the design, do the following:

l By default, ANSYS Electronics Desktop assumes the layered structure is One sided,
external to the design; the outermost layer of the structure is listed. Select whether this
layer is an Infinite, Perfect E, or Perfect H layer from the Thickness/Type list.

If the layered structure is within the 3D model, do the following:

a. Select the Two sided option.

b. Enter a thickness for the first layer in the Thickness/Type column. You can assign a
variable as this value.

If it is a Two sided BC, the limitation on the thickness of layers is lambda/10 for dielectric
objects. For thin conductors, if the skin depth is much smaller than the layer thickness, you
can't replace it by an internal sheet.

6. To change the first layer's material, click vacuum and follow the procedure for assigning a
material.
7. The Shell Element check box is for HFSS Driven situations where the layered structure is
within the 3D model and you want to use sheets to model thin but finite thickness objects.

8. To add a new layer to the structure:

a. Click New Layer.

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The new layer is added at the end of the list.

b. Enter a thickness for the layer in the Thickness/Type column. You can assign a variable
as this value.
c. To change the layer's material, click vacuum and follow the procedure for assigning a
material.
9. Optionally, to reorder layers, click the first row square and drag the row to the desired
position.
10. Optionally, to view the impedance values that will be calculated based on the data provided,
do the following:
a. Enter the frequency at which the solution is being solved in the Test Frequency text
box.
b. Click Calculate.

The real and imaginary components of the ANSYS Electronics Desktop-calculated

layered impedance value appear.

Note If a fast sweep is defined in a design that contains a layered impedance boundary, the
impedance may only be accurate for the center frequency.

Related Topics

Technical Notes: Layered Impedance Boundaries

Technical Notes: Shell Elements Theory

Assigning Linked Impedance Boundaries

A linked Impedance boundary can be an isotropic or anisotropic impedance boundary in another
design. Planar screens or grids of large extent with periodic geometry can be replaced by an
Anisotropic impedance boundary. The boundary applies a homogeneous characteristic impedance
to the surface in an effort to create an equivalent electrical representation of the geometric grid
pattern. The link boundary can use an infinite ground plane and shell elements.

To assign a Linked Impedance boundary

1. Select a surface on which to assign the boundary and click

HFSS>Boundaries>Assign>Linked Impedance to bring up the Linked Impedance
Boundary dialog.

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2. If you select Anisotropic Impedance, the dialog includes buttons to Setup X Direction Link,
Setup Y Direction Link and a selection list for the Coordinate System.

If the linked projects have wave ports, x and y directed projects are different and have to
have one mode per port.
If the linked projects have Floquet ports, x and y directed projects should be identical and
have to have 2 modes per port (TE and TM modes). In that case, the field of mode 1 serves
as x directed field, while the field of mode 2 serves as y directed field. It is also a valid setup to
assign two different projects with Floquet ports, but with one mode per port.

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3. The Coordinate System drop-down menu lists the Global Coordinate system and any
relative coordinate systems if you have defined them in the design. Select the Coordinate
System that defines the anisotropic characteristic of the impedance boundary. (See
Creating a Relative Coordinate System.)

Note An anisotropic boundary must not touch ports in a design.

4. Select Infinite Ground Plane if you want the surface to represent an electrically large
ground plane when the radiated fields are calculated during post processing.
5. Select Shell Elements if you want to the boundary modeled as a shell element.

Related Topics

Setting Default Boundary/Excitation Base Names.

Assigning Material Property Types

Change the Orientation of an object

Creating a Relative Coordinate System

Creating a Face Coordinate System

Setting the Working Coordinate System

Modifying the Coordinate System Axes View

Technical Notes: Anisotropic Impedance

Get Impedance from External Design

To get impedance from an external design for a Linked Impedance Boundary for an isotropic
design:

1. Click the Setup Link button to display the Setup Link dialog.

For Linked anisotropic impedance cases, select Setup X Direction Link button to chose a
design which will define the impedance in the X direction. Then select Setup Y Direction Link
button to chose a design which will define the impedance in the Y direction.

The Setup Link dialog has three fields under the General tab: Project File, Design, and
Solution.

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2. Specify the Project file for the design that is the source. A browse button [...] lets you look
through your file system. If you do not specify a project file, but select the current model, the
current Project File is automatically filled in.
3. Specify the Design for the source. If the source is in the current design, you can select this
from a drop down menu. If you select the current model, the Project File is automatically filled
in.
4. Use the radio button to specify whether to save the source path relative to The project
directory of the source project or This project.
5. Specify the Solution to use. A drop down list lets you select from the available solutions.

The "Default" solution is the product dependent solution of the first Setup.

That is the setup listed first in the source design's project tree (alphanumerical order). A product
specific solution of this setup becomes the default solution. In most products, it is LastAdaptive.
In a Transient solution type, it is "Transient."

Note The solution in the source design must provide data for the target design's adaptive
frequency as well as its sweeps. That is, the adaptive frequency for the target design must
be included in the sweep in the source design.

If necessary, you can open the source design and add an appropriate frequency point to an
existing sweep.

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6. Use the check box specify whether to Simulate source design as needed.
7. Use the check box to specify whether to preserve the source design solution. Note that
in Extractor mode, the source project will be saved upon exit. Extractor mode means that
the software is opened during the link solely for the purpose of solving.
8. Under the Variable Mapping tab, you can set the desired variable values in the source
design. If the source and target designs contain same named variables, you can choose to
Map Variable By Name. In this case, same named variables are mapped automatically.
9. Click OK to close the Setup Link dialog and return to the Linked Impedance Boundary
dialog.

Related Topics

Assigning Linked Impedance Boundaries

Assigning Anisotropic Impedance Boundaries in HFSS-IE

Assigning Half Space Boundaries in HFSS

The Half Space boundary is designed for solving antenna and scattering problems with a
background comprising a dielectric half space. The Half Space boundary splits the background
material along a z=constant plane. The antenna or scatterer can be located in the top medium (for
example, air) or the bottom medium (for example, sea water) or embedded in both. Half space
boundary is only available to an HFSS design when all the geometry objects are IE region. An
HFSS design can only have one half space boundary. You do not select an object to assign a Half
Space boundary.

Right click Boundaries>Assign>Half Space to display the Half Space Boundary dialog.

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l Specify a Name in the text field.

l Specify a Z Location, Z and select units from the menu.
l Specify the lower-half space material. The "lower half-space" material defines the material in
the lower half-space, and the upper half-space is defined using the global background
material.

The Boundary appears in the Project tree. If you select the boundary in the Project tree, a rectangle
representing the boundary shows in the Modeler window, and the docked properties shows the
properties.

Related Topics

Showing and Hiding Boundaries and Excitations

Modifying Boundaries

Deleting Boundaries

Assigning Half Space Boundaries in HFSS-IE

The Half Space boundary design for solving antenna and scattering problems with a background
comprising a dielectric half space. The Half Space boundary splits the background material along a
z=constant plane. The antenna or scatterer can be located in the top medium (for example, air) or
the bottom medium (for example, sea water) or embedded in both.

Right click Boundaries>Assign>Half Space to display the Half Space Boundary dialog.

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l Specify a Name in the text field.

l Specify a Z Location, Z and select units from the menu.
l Specify the lower-half space material. The "lower half-space" material defines the material in
the lower half-space, and the upper half-space is defined using the global background
material.

The Boundary appears in the Project tree. If you select the boundary in the Project tree, a rectangle
representing the boundary shows in the Modeler window, and the docked properties shows the
properties.

Related Topics

Showing and Hiding Boundaries and Excitations

Modifying Boundaries

Deleting Boundaries

HFSS-IE Feature

Assigning Aperture Boundaries in HFSS

An aperture boundary represents a hole in a metallic sheet.

l An aperture boundary can only be assigned on a 2D sheet object assigned as IE Region.

These objects will be meshed as part of the solution process.

To create an aperture boundary in HFSS:

1. Create a 2D sheet object on the XY plane at the elevation of ground plane.

2. Select the object and right-click on Assign Hybrid>IE Region.
2. Select the object and right-click on Boundaries>Assign>Aperature to display the
Aperature dialog.

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3. Type the boundary's name in the Name text box or accept the default name. (To change the
default base name to one of your choosing, see Setting Default Boundary/Excitation Base
Names.)

Related Topics

Showing and Hiding Boundaries and Excitations

Modifying Boundaries

Deleting Boundaries

Assigning Aperture Boundaries in HFSS-IE

An aperture boundary represents a hole in the infinite ground plane or a metallic sheet.

l An aperture boundary can only be assigned on sheet objects. These objects will be meshed
as part of the solution process.
l The sheet to which an aperture is assigned must lie on the infinite ground plane, or on a
metallic sheet object. Note that apertures should not be placed on 3D objects, as in this case
they will have no effect on the solution.

To create an aperture in the infinite ground plane:

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1. Create a 2D sheet object on the XY plane at the elevation of ground plane.

2. Select the object and right-click on Boundaries>Assign>Aperature to display the
Aperature dialog.

3. Type the boundary's name in the Name text box or accept the default name. (To change the
default base name to one of your choosing, see Setting Default Boundary/Excitation Base
Names.)

Related Topics

Showing and Hiding Boundaries and Excitations

Modifying Boundaries

Deleting Boundaries

HFSS-IE Feature

Assigning Infinite Ground Plane Boundaries in HFSS-IE

An HFSS-IE design can contain an Infinite Ground Plane boundary aligned with the global XY
plane. The Infinite Ground Plane will not be assigned to any geometry, since it will often exist in a
location that does not have an appropriate face or sheet for assignment.

To assign an infinite ground plane geometry in HFSS-IE:

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1. With no objects selected, right-click on Boundaries in the Project tree, and select
Assign>Infinite Ground Plane to display the Infinite Ground Plane dialog.

2. You can accept the default name, or specify one.

3. Specify the Z location and the units.
4. Set the surface roughness and units.

Related Topics

Showing and Hiding Boundaries and Excitations

Modifying Boundaries

Deleting Boundaries

HFSS-IE Feature

Assigning Layered Impedance Boundaries in HFSS-IE

A layered impedance boundary is used to model multiple thin layers in a structure as one
impedance surface. The effect is the same as an impedance boundary condition, except that
ANSYS Electronics Desktop calculates the impedance of the surface based on data you enter for
the layered structure. Surface roughness is also taken into account. The layered impedance
boundary is supported for single-frequency solutions and for Discrete and Interpolating frequency
sweeps. Eigenmode designs cannot contain design parameters that depend on frequency, for
example, a frequency-dependent impedance boundary condition.

To assign a Layered Impedance boundary

1. Select a surface on which to assign the boundary and click HFSS-

IE>Boundaries>Assign>Layered Impedance to bring up the Layered Impedance
Boundary dialog box.

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2. Enter the Surface Roughness for the layered structure.

If the layered structure is internal to the design, enter the average surface roughness of the two
outermost sides. You can assign a variable as this value.

3. Click Next or the Layers tab, depending on the general option setting.

4. If the layered structure is external to the design, do the following:

l By default, ANSYS Electronics Desktop assumes the layered structure is One sided,
external to the design; the outermost layer of the structure is listed. Select whether this
layer is an Infinite, Perfect E, or Perfect H layer from the Thickness/Type list.

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If the layered structure is within the 3D model, do the following:

a. Select the Two sided option.

b. Enter a thickness for the first layer in the Thickness/Type column. You can assign a
variable as this value.

If it is a Two sided BC, the limitation on the thickness of layers is lambda/10 for dielectric
objects. For thin conductors, if the skin depth is much smaller than the layer thickness, you
can't replace it by an internal sheet.

5. To change the first layer's material, click the material button for the row and follow the
procedure for assigning a material.
6. To add a new layer to the structure:
a. Click New Layer.

The new layer is added at the end of the list.

b. Enter a thickness for the layer in the Thickness/Type column. You can assign a variable
as this value.
c. To change the layer's material, click the material button for that row and follow the
procedure for assigning a material.
7. Optionally, to reorder layers, click the first row square and drag the row to the desired
position.
8. Optionally, to view the impedance values that will be calculated based on the data provided,
do the following:
a. Enter the frequency at which the solution is being solved in the Test Frequency text
box.
b. Click Calculate.

The real and imaginary components of the ANSYS Electronics Desktop-calculated

layered impedance value appear.

Related Topics

Technical Notes: Layered Impedance Boundaries

Showing and Hiding Boundaries and Excitations

Modifying Boundaries

Deleting Boundaries

Assigning Materials

HFSS-IE Feature

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Designating Infinite Ground Planes

To simulate the effects of an infinite ground plane in an HFSS design:

l Select the Infinite ground plane check box when setting up a perfect E, finite conductivity,
or impedance boundary condition. For Impedance, Layered Impedance, and Finite
Conductivity Boundary conditions, HFSS supports only one infinite boundary condition per
design. For PEC, multiple antenna ground planes are supported.

This selection only affects the calculation of near- and far-field radiation during post processing.
ANSYS Electronics Desktop models the boundary as a finite portion of an infinite, perfectly
conducting plane. If the infinite ground plane does not touch a radiation boundary, you will receive a
warning. A finite sheet, which does not touch the radiation boundary condition cannot be an infinite
ground plane.

Related Topics

Technical Notes: Infinite Ground Planes

Modifying Boundaries
To change the properties of a boundary, do one of the following:

l Double-click the boundary's icon in the project tree.

The boundary's dialog box appears, in which you can edit its properties.

l Right-click the boundary in the project tree, and then click Properties on the shortcut menu.

The boundary's dialog box appears, in which you can edit its properties.

l Click HFSS>List.

The Design List dialog box appears, in which you can modify the properties of one or more
boundaries.

Related Topics

Showing and Hiding Boundaries and Excitations

Deleting Boundaries

Deleting Boundaries
To delete one boundary:

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1. Select the boundary you want to delete by selecting its icon in the project tree.

2. On the Edit menu, click Delete .

To delete all boundaries:

l Click HFSS>Boundaries>Delete All.

You can also delete one or more boundaries in the Design List dialog box:

1. Click HFSS menu, click List.

The Design List dialog box appears.

2. Under the Boundaries tab, click the row of the boundary you want to delete.
3. Click Delete.

Related Topics

Showing and Hiding Boundaries and Excitations

Modifying Boundaries

ReassigningBoundaries
You can reassign a boundary to another surface. This is useful when you have modified objects
with assigned boundaries, invalidating the boundaries. For example, if you unite two objects with
assigned boundaries, the second object's boundary will become invalid because united objects
maintain the characteristics of the first object selected. In this case, you would need to reassign the
boundary or delete it

1. Select the object or object face to which you want to assign an existing boundary.
2. Click HFSS>Boundaries>Reassign.

The Reassign Boundary window appears.

3. Select an existing boundary from the list, and then click OK.

The boundary is reassigned to the object or object face.

Note When reassigning a boundary that includes vectors in its definition, ANSYS Electronics
Desktop attempts to preserve the vectors with the new assignment, but this is not always
possible.

Alternatively, select the object or object face to which you want to assign an existing boundary.
Right-click the existing boundary in the project tree, and then click Reassign on the shortcut menu.

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Related Topics

Showing and Hiding Boundaries and Excitations

Modifying Boundaries

Deleting Boundaries

Reprioritizing Boundaries
Each boundary you assign overwrites any existing boundary which it overlaps. You can change the
priority of a previously assigned boundary to be greater than a more recently assigned boundary.

The order of boundaries is important because, for any given triangle of the mesh, only one
boundary or excitation can be visible to the solvers. When two boundary definitions overlap, the
one with the higher priority is visible to the solvers.

1. Click HFSS>Boundaries>Reprioritize to reprioritize boundaries.

The Reprioritize Boundaries window appears. The order the boundaries and excitations
appear in the list indicates the order in which they were defined. The lowest priority assignment
appears at the top of the list.

Ports are automatically placed at the bottom (highest priority) of the list; you cannot move a
boundary to a higher priority than a port. Magnetic Bias Excitations (if any) have the lowest
priority. Other boundaries and excitations appear between these two extremes.

2. Drag the boundary you want to change to the desired order of priority.

Note The order of boundaries and excitations in the project tree is alphabetical. The order
does not correspond to the order of boundaries and excitations visible to the solvers.

Related Topics

Reviewing Boundaries and Excitations in the Solver View

Editing The Global Material Environment

For both HFSS and HFSS-IE, the Boundaries>Edit Global Material Environment command
displays the GlobalMaterial Environment dialog. You can access the command via both the
Tools menu and via right-click on Boundaries in the Project window for the shortcut menu.

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By clicking the Material button, you can access the Select Definition dialog. This lets you work with
the materials library.

This setting tells HFSS and HFSS-IE what material properties to use when calculating far fields.
The default setting is vacuum. If you simulate an antenna underwater, for example, you should set
the GlobalMaterial Environment to water.

Selecting anisotropic material is disabled because the solver doesn't support that.

For HFSS-IE, a validation checks if the selected material is dielectric. If the selected material is
conducting, then an error message (the selected material is not dielectric. Please select a Dielectric
Material) will be displayed.

See additional discussion of the effect this setting has on calculations in Global Material
Environment.

Related Topics

Viewing and Editing Material Attributes

Far Field Wave

Duplicating Boundaries and Excitations with Geometry

To duplicate a boundary or excitation when its geometry is pasted or duplicated:

1. Click Tools>Options>GeneralOptions to open the Options dialog.

2. Under HFSS>Boundaries, select Duplicate boundaries with geometry.

All boundaries and excitations will be duplicated with their associated geometries until you
choose to clear this option.

Hint Use this option to copy and paste boundaries. For example:

1. Select the face to which you want to assign the boundary.

2. Click Modeler>Surface>Create Object From Face.

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3. Assign the boundary to the new face object.

4. Copy and paste the new face object to copy and paste the
boundary.

Related Topics

Copying and Pasting Objects

Showing andHiding Boundaries and Excitations

You can choose to show or hide a boundary or excitation's geometry, name, or vectors, in the
active view window or in all view windows.

What do you want to do?

Show or hide a boundary or excitation in the active view window.

Show or hide a boundary or excitation in every view window.

Showing and Hiding Boundaries and Excitations in the Active View

Window

1. On the View menu, click Active ViewVisibility or select the Active View Visibility
icon in the toolbar.

The Active View Visibility dialog box appears.

2. Select the tab for the objects you want to show or hide. The dialog contains tabs for 3D
Modeler objects, Color Key objects, Boundaries, Excitations, and Fields Reporter objects.
3. Under the tab you need, select the Visibility option for the objects you want to show in the
active view window.
4. Click the Boundaries tab if you want to show or hide boundaries.

Note Hiding boundaries also turns off a check for boundary overlaps during boundary
assignment. In the case of very large models with many boundaries, hiding
boundaries can prevent delays during boundary assignment. Full model validation
will subsequently check for boundary overlaps.

Click the Excitations tab if you want to show or hide excitations.

l For designs with large numbers of objects, you can resize the dialog for easier selection.
l By default, objects are listed in alphabetical order. You can invert the order by clicking the
Name bar above the Name fields. A triangle in the bar indicates the direction of the listing.
l You can also use the Name field to type in an object name and apply the visibility via the
Show and Hide buttons.

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The objects you select and designate as Visible (by selecting the property or using Show)
appear.

5. Clear the Visibility selection of boundaries or excitations that you want to hide from view.

The boundary or excitation will only be visible in the active view window if it is selected.

6. Select the Visibility option for boundaries or excitations that you want to show in the active
view window.

The boundary or excitation will be visible in the active view window when it is selected or when it
is not selected.

You can also use the toolbar icons to Show/Hide selected objects in all views and
Show/Hide selected objects in active views.

Showing and Hiding Boundaries and Excitations in Every View Window

1. Click HFSS>Boundaries>Visualization if you want to show or hide boundaries.

Click HFSS>Excitations>Visualization if you want to show or hide excitations.

2. Clear the View Geometry, View Name, or View Vector selection of boundaries and
excitations that you want to hide from view. Select the options you want to show.

The options affect all view windows.

Note Hiding boundaries also turns off a check for boundary overlaps during boundary
assignment. In the case of very large models with many boundaries, hiding boundaries can
prevent delays during boundary assignment. Full model validation will subsequently check
for boundary overlaps.

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Reviewing Boundaries and Excitations in the Solver

View
After you have assigned all the necessary boundaries and excitations to a model, you should
review their order of priority according to the ANSYS Electronics Desktop solver. Reviewing the
solver's view of the model's boundaries and excitations enables you to verify that their order during
the solution process will be as you intended.

To check the solver's view of boundaries and excitations:

1. On the HFSS menu, click Boundary Display (Solver View).

ANSYS Electronics Desktop generates an initial mesh and determines the locations of the
boundaries and excitations on the model.

The Solver View of Boundaries window appears, which lists all the boundaries and
excitations for the active model in the order specified in the Reprioritize Boundaries and
Excitations dialog box.

2. Select the Visibility option for the boundary or excitation you want to review.

The selected boundary or excitation will appear in the 3D Modeler window in the color it has
been assigned.

l Visible to Solver will appear in the Solver Visibility column for each boundary or
excitation that is valid.
l Overridden will appear in the Solver Visibility column for each boundary or excitation
that will be ignored by the solver as a result of it overlapping an existing boundary or
excitation with a higher priority.
3. Verify that the boundaries or excitations you assigned to the model are being displayed as
you intended for solving purposes.
4. If the order of priority is not as you intended, reprioritize the boundaries and excitations.

Related Topics

Technical Notes: Default Boundary Assignments

Setting Default Values for Boundaries and Excitations

When assigning a boundary or excitation, many of the fields in the boundary and excitation dialog
boxes have default values associated with them. These default values are initially set by ANSYS
Electronics Desktop, but can be overridden.

To modify the default values associated with a specific boundary or excitation type:

1. Assign a boundary or excitation.

2. Modify any default values.

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3. Close the boundary or excitation's dialog box.

4. Re-open the new boundary or excitation's dialog box. It now includes a Defaults tab.
5. Under the Defaults tab, click Save Defaults.

The values assigned to this boundary are saved as the default values and will be assigned when
new boundaries of this type are created.

6. Optionally, click Revert to Standard Defaults.

The default values you set for this boundary type will be cleared and will revert to the default
values set by ANSYS Electronics Desktop.

Note For PML boundaries, the defaults are set via a formula, rather than a value.

Related Topics

Showing and Hiding Boundaries and Excitations

Modifying Boundaries

Deleting Boundaries

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18 - Assigning Hybrid Regions in HFSS

Hybrid regions can include:

l FE-BI, only Radiating and Incident Field types are supported.

l IE Region, using the Integral Equation solver
l PO Region, using a Physical Optics solver, which can provide a fast approximation for a
class of problems.
l SBR+ Region, using the Savant shooting and bouncing ray technology to calculate the far
field from the current sources and defined geometry of the platform.
l Dielectric Cavity

The Project tree contains a folder for Hybrid regions.

You assign Hybrid regions by selecting an object in the 3D Modeler window, or an object in the
History tree, right-click for the shortcut menu, click Assign Hybrid and selecting from the enabled
options. You can use HFSS>Hybrid>Assign Hybrid> for the options to be enabled. The
selection must meet the conditions for that assignment.

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You can also right-click on the Hybrid Regions icon in the Project tree to access a shortcut menu
there:

The Toolbar menu and Project tree right-click menus for Hybrid regions display commands for
managing Hybrid regions.

l Set Default Base Name: opens a dialog for setting default names for new boundaries,
excitations, and hybrid regions.
l List ...: opens the Design list dialog to the Hybrid Regions tab.
l Delete All: deletes all hybrid regions.
l Visualization...: opens a Visualization Options dialog that lets you show or hide regions and
other design objects.
l Set Coupling: for designs without SBR+ regions assigned, this command appears and
opens a menu that lets you specify whether regions are all one-way coupled or two-way
coupled. In one-way coupling, one design acts as as the field source, and the other as a
target. This feature improves the efficiency of the solver. If an SBR+ region is assigned, the
design becomes one-way coupled and the Set SBR+ Source Regions command replaces
Set Coupling on the short-cut menu. The Advanced command on the Set Coupling
menu opens a dialog that lets you group region objects, other than SBR+ Region objects.
Grouped objects become two-way coupled when the design is otherwise one-way linked.
See Set Coupling for Hybrid Regions for details.
l Set SBR+ Source Regions: for designs with SBR+ assigned, the Hybrid Regions right-
click menu provides this command for you to group source regions for SBR+ regions in the
design. If a source region contains multiple FEBI or IE regions, you can decide if the regions
are 1-way or 2-way coupled. All source regions interact as one-way links to SBR+ and
coupling between the source regions are handled by SBR+ using reciprocity theory. The
dialog excludes all SBR+ regions as those are targets of the sources defined in the interface.

To view existing Hybrid Regions assignments, you can expand the list under the Hybrid Regions
icon in the Project tree. Selecting an assigned region in the list also highlights that region in the
Modeler window.

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You can also select the Hybrid Regions icon in the Project Tree and right click for menu and
select List. This shows the Design List dialog with the Hybrid Regions tab selected.

Click Delete to remove the assignment from the selected object(s).

Related Topics

l Assigning FE-BI Hybrid Region

l Assigning IE Region Hybrid Region
l Assigning PO Region Hybrid Region
l Assigning an SBR+ Hybrid Region
l Assigning a Dielectric Cavity
l Set Coupling for Hybrid Regions

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Assigning FE-BI Hybrid Region

FE-BI- this uses integral equation formulation, which is an exact transparent condition. By taking
advantage of conformal radiation volumes to reduce the overall finite element solution domain,
using the FE-BI hybrid region will result in more efficient simulation for electrically large open
boundary problems. It can be close to or on the structures, but for performance, 0.05 wavelength is
recommended. If it is on a surface, you must turn off curvilinear elements. The FE-BI hybrid region
should enclose the entire structure by itself, or with an Infinite ground plane. (Compare Assigning
IE Regions). If you model a radiation boundary as a FE-BI hybrid region, the solution setup cannot
include calculations of derivatives on those regions.

To assign a FE-BI Hybrid Region:

1. Select the object you want to assign as FE-BE, and use one of the following menus:

HFSS>Assign Hybrid>Assign>FE-BI

Right click in the Modeler window and select Assign Hybrid>FE-BI.

Right click in the Modeler window and select Assign Hybrid>FE-BI.

Select the Hybrid Regions icon in the Project tree, right click, and click Assign>FE-BI.

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The Radiation Boundary dialog opens, showing the default name and FE-BI assignment.

2. When you OK the dialog, the assignment appears under the Hybrid Region icon in the
Project tree.

Assigning IE Regions
For driven modal and driven terminal solutions you can assign objects or sheets as IE Regions to
be solved with the IE Solver. This permits a hybrid simulation approach, using the advantages of
the FEM and IE solvers.

l 3D objects must be dielectric or conducting based on bulk material conductivity. Some

boundary conditions can also be assigned on the surfaces of 3D objects. These boundaries
are: PEC, Finite Conductivity, Impedance, Layered Impedance, Lumped RLC, and
Anisotropic Impedance.
l Sheet objects can also be allowed only if they have supported boundaries assigned. These
boundaries are: PEC, Finite Conductivity, Impedance, Layered Impedance, Lumped RLC,
or Anisotropic Impedance boundaries. They cannot be dielectric.
l Dielectric Cavity must either
l be contained within a FEM solve inside object
l have its surface covered by FEM solve inside objects
l A free standing dielectric IE/PO region must not:
l touch other free standing IE/PO regions.
l have a conducting boundary assignment on free standing dielectric IE/PO region

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l have an IE/PO region to be assigned to both dielectric objects and metallic objects. One
IE/PO region can only be metallic or dielectric
l Metallic IE Region must either
l (Interior) Be contained within a Dielectric Cavity
l (Exterior) Be outside entire FEM region.
l Faces of two IE Regions may not touch
l Dielectric Cavity may contain implicitly subtracted FEM objects (and imply solver handling
like FEBI on their interface)
l Metallic IE Region may touch FEBI surface

Note For designs like antennas mounted on a platform such as an aircraft or battleship, it is
beneficial both in terms of memory and solution time to model antennas using the finite
element method, while modeling remaining metallic structures as metallic IE regions. In
these cases, a metallic IE region is actually in contact with a FEBI hybrid region where
appropriate boundary conditions are enforced at the interface between the two solvers.

In cases where an IE region is in contact with a FEBI hybrid region, it is recommended that
the FEBI hybrid region be placed at least a third wavelength away so that the FEM domain
can have sufficient space to perform its adaptive mesh refinement more accurately.

IE Region Ports
You can assign ports on an IE Region. This is helpful, for example, when an antenna is attached to
a large metal body. One-way coupling between regions allows for an easier setup in HFSS design,
where you can switch between one way link and full solution in a single setup. The following cases
are allowed:

l IE region ports in the presence of one or more non-port FEBI, IE, PO and SBR+ regions.
l One-way coupled for the above case.
l Can allow an IE component with port but skips port refinement for an IE component with
port.

The following restrictions will still apply:

l IE region port cannot mix FEM ports with IE ports.

l IE region port is not allowed to contact both PO region and SBR+ region.

l IE region port cannot coexist with incident waves and FEM ports

l IE region port does not support composite excitation.

To Assign an IE Region
You must select an appropriate object or face in order to enable the menu.

1. Select the object you want to assign as an IE Region, and use one of the following menus:

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HFSS>Hybrid>Assign Hybrid>IE Region

Right click in the Modeler window and select Assign Hybrid>IE Region.

Select the Hybrid Regions icon in the Project tree, right click, and click Assign>IE Region.

The dialog for Hybrid Region opens, showing the default name and type selection as IE
Region. Because you may decide to change an assignment for IE Regions, and PO Regions,
the dialog shows these types as radio button selections.

2. When you OK the dialog, the assignment appears in the Project Tree under Hybrid Regions.

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Assigning PO Region Hybrid Region

While IE Region provides an efficient and accurate alternative to FEM solver for metallic and finite
conducting structures, for very electrically large structures it is time consuming and memory
demanding. For smooth and locally flat geometries like a dish reflector, physical optics (PO) can
provide an accurate approximation with a significantly reduced computational resource
requirement. In light of this, PO Region provides a fast alternative to IE region. However, because
PO is not a full wave solver, we stress that inappropriate use of PO Region may lead to an incorrect
solution. PO Region is optimal when the following conditions are satisfied:

1. Structure is flat or locally flat such as dish reflector;

2. Frequency is sufficiently large such that the structure is more than 10 wavelengths in
dimension and the structure is sufficiently far away (more than 10 wavelengths) from the
radiating source.

When both conditions are met, a large portion of the structure is visible to the radiating source. This
region is called a lit region. The remaining region is termed a shadow region. Figure 1 shows
visualization of such a concept.

Figure 1 Shadow region of PO solver

In PO approximation, the currents on shadow regions are identically zero. This approximation is
acceptable only when frequency is large. In the situation where condition 1) is not met but 2) is
satisfied, PO region could still provide reasonable results.

While the accuracy of PO depends on an accurate identification of shadow region, this region is
determined based on source location as can be seen from Figure 1. Therefore for the situation
where there are multiple sources, shadow regions due to each source could be vastly different. In
this situation PO region solver does not provide reliable results. Consequently PO region will only
allow a single incident wave direction. Furthermore if there are multiple disjoint FEBI boundaries,
the solver will report error message when it detects that a shadow region due to each FEBI box
does not mostly overlap.

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1. Select the object you want to assign as an PO Region, and use one of the following menus:

HFSS>Hybrid>Assign Hybrid>PO Region

Right click in the Modeler window and select Assign Hybrid>PO Region.

Select the Hybrid Regions icon in the Project tree, right click, and click Assign>PO Region.

The dialog for Hybrid Region opens, showing the default name and type selection as PO
Region. Because you may decide to change an assignment for IE Regions, and PO Regions,
the dialog shows these types as radio button selections.

Fig. 2 Hybrid Region dialog for PO region

2. When you OK the dialog, the assignment appears under the Hybrid Regions icon in the
Project tree.

A free standing dielectric IE/PO region cannot touch other free standing IE/PO regions.

The following guidelines summarize the use of PO region.

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l Use PO Region when you want a faster solution with sacrifice of accuracy.
l Use PO Region for smooth flat and locally flat structures at the operating frequency.

Assigning SBR+ Hybrid Regions

HFSS can use Savant shooting and bouncing ray (SBR) technology to calculate the far field from
current sources and defined geometry via a one-way coupling. This allows you to efficiently
calculate the far field of an electrically large problem without launching the Savant toolkit. For
SBR+ simulations, the Physical Theory of Diffraction (PTD) and Uniform Theory of Diffraction
(UTD) features can account for additional phenomenology not well predicted by plain SBR due to
truncation of Physical Optics (PO) currents at sharp angular discontinuities (“wedges”) on metallic
surfaces. PTD is a numeric correction to the results, while UTD is a method to generate additional
rays that represent diffraction within the Keller cone off the edge to generate rays in the shadow
region.

The PTD and UTD wedge features are only computationally valid for metallic (all PEC) wedges
within first-bounce, line-of-sight visibility from the source location. If either adjacent surface of the
wedge is non-PEC, or if the entire edge segment is not visible to the source, the wedge is not valid
and will be ignored in the SBR+ or VRT simulation.

Note the same SBR+ mesh used for both SBR+ simulation and VRT is also used in extracting
wedges according to the user-specified criteria. This is done so that the wedge locations extracted
are very near the physical edges of the SBR+ geometry model in the simulation, preserving
accuracy of the line-of-sight visibility check for wedges.

l An SBR+ Region can only be assigned to no-solve inside object (metal).

l When an object is assigned as an SBR+ region, Boundary conditions (BCs) may be
assigned to the geometry inside the SBR+ region(s), but there are some limitations in what
boundary conditions are supported. HFSS currently supports assignment of Perfect E,
Perfect H, Impedance, Finite Conductivity, and Layered Impedance boundaries to geometry
in the SBR+ region. Other boundaries are not yet supported for SBR+, and produce an
error. Infinite Ground Planes are not supported with SBR+. Note also that surface
roughness must be set to “0” for all BCs assigned to SBR+ region geometry.
l An SBR+ Region cannot be contained by a dielectric cavity.
l Incident plane waves are allowed. If you include an incident plane wave in the design, the
Hybrid tab for the Driven Solution Setup dialog includes options for RCS type as Monostatic
or Bistatic.
l If an SBR+ Region is assigned, the design becomes one way coupled. (See Assigning
Hybrid Regions.) You can use the Set SBR+ Source Regions command to group source
regions for SBR+ for two-way couplings between the grouped regions.
l Terminal ports with multiple terminals are supported if a an SBR+ region is present.
l Designs with SBR+ regions provide options to view total, scattered, or incident fields.

You must select an appropriate object in order to enable the menu.

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To assign an SBR+ Hybrid Region:

1. Select the object you want to assign as an SBR+ Region, and use one of the following
menus:

HFSS>Hybrid>Assign Hybrid>SBR+ Region

Right click in the Modeler window and select Assign Hybrid>SBR+ Region.

Select the Hybrid Regions icon in the Project tree, right click, and click Assign>SBR+ Region.

The dialog for Hybrid Region opens, showing the default name and type selection as IE
Region. Because you may decide to change an assignment for IE Regions, and PO Regions,
the dialog shows these types as radio button selections.

2. When you OK the dialog, the assignment appears in the Project Tree under Hybrid Regions.

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3. SBR+ Solver Options are enabled in Solve setups for HFSS when an SBR+ Region is
present.

You can set Ray Density Per Wavelength and Maximum Number of Bounces, and if you
have not done so, create or edit an infinite sphere setup for Far Field Observation. See
Setting Hybrid Region Parameters for HFSS. You can also choose to Skip SBR+ Solve
During Adaptive Passes. SBR+ regions are not being mesh adapted and SBR+ solutions
have no impact on field solutions on FEM or IE regions. However, SBR+ does impact
stopping criteria in some cases such as coupling between two separate source antennas.
Therefore, to speed up mesh adaption, you can choose to not solve SBR+ regions until
source regions have converged in isolation. However, SBR+ does impact stopping criteria in
some cases in the form of cache expression such as coupling between two separate source

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antennas or far field pattern. In such cases, SBR+ solve could not be skipped. Moreover,
SBR+ solve is always launched when the maximum number of passes is reached
regardless of source region convergence.

If you created an Incident Plane Wave for the design, the Hybrid tab lets you make an RCS
Type selection for Monostatic or Bistatic.

If you select Monostatic, the infinite sphere setup is disabled. In this case, the solver
computes the scattered field in the direction of the plane wave. The Reporter will not require
a geometry selection, and offers a range of Monostatic quantities for Monostatic RCS traces.
See Generating Reports for Monostatic RCS.
4. The PTD/UTD Simulation Settings allow for the inclusion of additional wedge diffraction
phenomenology that can improve the accuracy of SBR+ simulations. You can opt out of
using the PTD/UTD settings, or select PTD Correction or PTD Correction + UTD Rays.
Selecting one of the PTD Correction options enables a field for specifying PTD Edge
Density.

5. Wedge settings for the SBR+ simulation with PTD/UTD are only accessible for an SBR+
design. Wedges are based on the user-specified wedge settings and the initial mesh. The
initial mesh is automatically generated on launch of the SBR+ Wedge Settings dialog, if
needed. The dialog will not launch if an initial mesh is not available and cannot be generated.
The SBR+ Wedges submenu can be accessed through a right-click on the Hybrid Regions

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icon in the Project tree.

The submenu contains the option for opening the SBR+ Wedge>Settings dialog and a
checkable option for enabling or disabling Wedge Visibility. If visible, wedges are shown as
thick red lines in 3D model window. Visualization is turned off when there is design edits that
invalidate the initial mesh.

The SBR+ Wedge Settings dialog contains the Wedge Generation parameters.

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The Wedge Generation parameters are used to determine the candidate set of wedges to
be included, with optional filters that can restrict their location on the geometry. The final set
of wedges to be used in the SBR+ simulation is the intersection of all the wedge generation
criteria.

Maximum Wedge Angle:

An angular criteria can be specified for the maximum wedge angle to help filter the desired
set of wedges - default value is 135 deg. This wedge angle ranges from minimum 0 deg to
maximum 180 deg. All wedges are included that are less than or equal to the specified
maximum angle. An angle equal to 0 deg would be created by a “collapsed” wedge (like a
closed hinge), while an angle equal to 180 deg would be created by a completely “open”
wedge (like a fully open hinge). You can assign a design variable to Maximum Wedge angle,
but you cannot create a design variable within the dialog.

Include Sheet Edges:

You can choose to include or exclude the edges from sheets (non-connected edges, also
known as “knife edges”). The default value is true which includes these edges. Sheet edges
are triangle edges with no adjacent/connected triangle along that edge. In the physical object
we are modeling these may represent extremely thin surfaces such as metal “fins”, etc.

Optional parameters:

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Apply Source Distance filter:

A “source distance filter” is just a way to specify we want to include wedges within a finite 3D
distance from a point (the “source”).

You can choose model Points from drop down as source location, or specify the absolute X,
Y, Z in model units. X, Y, Z can be specified in global coords or relative to a custom CS.
When you select a geometry Point, its coordinate system and X, Y, Z are displayed.

The Distance default is 1 <model unit>. You can assign an existing design variable to the
Distance. Default value is false (no Source Distance Filter).

Apply Box Filter:

You can select any non-model box that is aligned with the Global Coordinate System axes
via a drop-down list, within which wedges will be included. Default value is false (no Box
Filter).

Assigning a Dielectric Cavity

To assign a region as a Dielectric Cavity, the object must have a dielectric material assignment.
The Lambda refinement setting in the Solution Setup is ignored in a dielectric cavity.

1. Select the object you want to assign as an Dielectric Cavity, and use one of the following
menus:

HFSS>Assign Hybrid>Assign>Dielectric Cavity

Right click in the Modeler window and select Assign Hybrid>Dielectric Cavity.

Select the Hybrid Regions icon in the Project tree, right click, and click Assign>Dielectric
Cavity.

The Hybrid Region dialog opens.

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2. When you OK the dialog, the assignment appears in under Hybrid Regions icon in the
Project tree.

Set Coupling for Hybrid Regions

The Set Coupling Command for Hybrid Regions opens a menu that lets you specify one-way,
two-way or advanced region coupling. Two-way coupling is the default for all HFSS designs, and
fully models the field interaction between regions. One-way coupling includes propagation from
source to target regions, and a single bounce of interaction between all regions. This is more
efficient than two-way coupling, but also more accurate than traditional one-way links. The
Advanced command on the Set Coupling menu lets you place regions in two-way coupled groups
in a design that is otherwise one-way coupled..

In some cases the coupling between regions is restricted:

l Two-way coupling is always used for:

l Regions of the same mesh type that are in contact:
l Contact between FE-BI / Dielectric Cavity regions
l Contact between IE/PO Regions
l Physically separated objects that are part of the same region assignment, for
example, two boxes that don’t touch, but are in one FE-BI region
l One-way coupling is always used between:
l Linked regions and all other regions
l Designs containing SBR+ regions will always be set to All One-Way and the Set Coupling
menu will be replaced by the Set SBR+ Source Regions command. Non-SBR+ regions
will serve as sources, and interact with each other through the SBR+ regions.

These restrictions are either enforced by design validation or implicitly handled by the solver.

The Set Coupling menu appears in the right click menu of the Hybrid folder at the project tree and
at the HFSS>Hybrid menu.

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Selecting Set Coupling>Advanced opens a Setup Coupling dialog setup that lists the coupling
settings of all the hybrid regions in the design. Any Selected regions in this dialog are highlighted in
the view window. You can edit groupings (as shown below) but remember that editing groups
invalidates existing solutions.

You can add a Two Way coupling group by first selecting the regions to be coupled and then click
Group and Ok.

You can un-group a Two Way Coupled group by selecting it and clicking Ungroup and clicking Ok.

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You can also edit grouping by dragging and dropping from one group to another. On Ok, any empty
Two Way groups are automatically removed. You will be asked to fix the coupling if you have a Two
Way group with only one region.

Set SBR+ Source Regions

The Set SBR+ Source Regions Command for Hybrid Regions opens a dialog that lets you group
source regions for SBR+. Designs containing SBR+ regions will always be set to All One-Way and
the Set Coupling menu is replaced by the Set SBR+ Source Regions command. Non-SBR+
regions will serve as sources, and interact with each other through the SBR+ regions. All source
regions interact as one-way links to SBR+ and coupling between the source regions are handled
by SBR+ using reciprocity theory.

Note: The result using far field source option for SBR+ region is sensitive to the phase reference
defined when the excitation is close to the SBR+ Region. Phase reference needs to be carefully
adjusted to obtain reasonable result.

The Set SBR+ Source Regions command appears in the right click menu of the Hybrid folder at
the project tree and at the HFSS>Hybrid menu if an SBR+ Region is assigned.

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Selecting Set SBR+ Source Regions opens a Set SBR+ Source Regions dialog that lists the
SBR+ Regions and the SBR+ Sources in the design. If the design includes an Incident Wave
excitation, you see a message that such designs do not support advanced coupling. However,
designs with Current Sources and Far Field Sources will be listed in the dialog.

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Any Selected regions in this dialog are highlighted in the view window. You can edit groupings (as
shown below) but remember that editing groups invalidates existing solutions.

Selecting one or more sources enables the Group button provides a means to designate two-way
couplings within a group. The regions so grouped are assigned Two way coupling. The Ungroup
button lets you remove two-way coupling groupings.

If the design includes Current Sources or Far Fields, these are listed.

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19 - Assigning Excitations for HFSS, HFSS-

IE or HFSS-Transient

Excitations are sources of electromagnetic fields in the design. HFSS has various options to
generate incident fields that interact with a structure to produce the total fields. Some of these
excitations are local sources residing within the structure such as wave ports and voltage sources,
while other excitations such as plane waves are created from local sources away from the
structure.The available excitations depend upon the product. They are as follows:

l HFSS Excitations
l HFSS-IE Excitations
l HFSS Transient Excitations

HFSS Excitations
You can assign the following excitations to an HFSS design:

Wave Represents the external surface through which a signal enters or exits the geometry. It
Port is effectively a semi-infinite waveguide attached to the model. This waveguide has the
same cross-section and material properties as the port. Wave ports are placed on this
interface to provide a means to link the model device to the external world.
Lumped Represents an internal surface through which a signal enters or exits the device. It is

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Port effectively a lumped element for exciting the device and measuring S-parameters.
Terminal A terminal is defined by one or more conductors in contact with the port. HFSS treats
microwave structures as a black box that may have one or more terminals, each of
which has a voltage/current pair. Terminals are assigned automatically.
Floquet Floquet Ports are used exclusively with periodic structures defined by Master-Slave
Port boundaries. They contain plane waves whose frequency, phasing, and the geometry of
the periodic structure determine the propagation direction. Chief examples are planar
phased arrays and frequency selective surfaces when these may be idealized as
infinitely large and analyzed using a unit cell.
Incident Represents a propagating wave impacting the geometry.
Wave
Linked Represents a Far Field Wave or Near Field Wave or Cable Network.
Field
Voltage Represents a constant electric field across feed points.
Source
Current Represents a constant electric current across feed points.
Source
Magnetic Used to define the net internal field that biases a saturated ferrite object.
Bias

HFSS-IE Excitations
You can assign the following types of excitation on an HFSS-IE design:

Lumped Represents an internal surface through which a signal enters or exits the device. It is
Port effectively a lumped element for exciting the device and measuring S-parameters.
Terminal A terminal is defined by one or more conductors in contact with the port. HFSS-IE
treats microwave structures as a black box that may have one or more terminals, each
of which contains a voltage/current pair. Terminals are assigned automatically.
Plane Represents a wave that propagates in one direction and is uniform in the directions
Incident perpendicular to that of its propagation.
Wave
Far Field A Far field wave is sufficiently far (usually more than a wavelength distance) from an
Wave antenna to approximate as a plane wave.
Near A Near Field wave is close enough to the antenna source for near field effects to occur,
Field typically within a wavelength.

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Wave

Related Topics

See Assigning IE Regions for IE Region Ports

HFSS Transient Excitations

You can assign the following types of excitation. For HFSS Transient designs, the properties for
each excitation include a Transient tab, enabling you to designate each excitation as Active or
Passive.

Wave Represents the external surface through which a signal enters or exits the geometry. It
Port is effectively a semi-infinite waveguide attached to the model. This waveguide has the
same cross-section and material properties as the port. Wave ports are placed on this
interface to provide a means to link the model device to the external world.
Lumped Represents an internal surface through which a signal enters or exits the device. It is
Port effectively a lumped element for exciting the device and measuring the S-parameters.
Terminal A terminal is defined by one or more conductors in contact with the port. HFSS treats
microwave structures as a black box that may have one or more terminals, each of
which contains a voltage/current pair. Terminals are assigned either manually or
automatically.
Plane Represents a wave that propagates in one direction and is uniform in the directions
Wave perpendicular to that of its propagation.
Voltage Represents a constant electric field across feed points.
Source
Current Represents a constant electric current across feed points.
Source

Related Topics

Technical Notes:Excitations in the Time Domain

Wave Ports
The objective of this section is to provide a thorough description of wave ports. You must know
what a wave port represents in HFSS to understand its capability. To illustrate we will use an
HFSS model of a coaxial bend as an example where the wave port is assigned on the outer face.

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HFSS treats this wave port as though a waveguide or a transmission line of the exact same cross-
section (in this case the cross-section of the coaxial bend) and material properties, comes from
infinity and ends at the port as shown in the figure below.

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The properties and the cross section of the waveguide or the transmission line determine the
natural field patterns called modes that excite the model and the HFSS port solver determines the
propagating modes that the waveguide or transmission line will carry.

Note: A wave port can be placed internal to a model as long as it is backed by a PEC object.

Related Topics

Wave Port Placement

Wave Port Size

Wave ports are used for exciting transmission lines and waveguide structures. Wave ports that are
assigned on waveguide structures are naturally defined by the cross-section of the waveguides.
However, for transmission lines (i.e. microstrip, CPW, slotline etc.) ports should be defined
carefully. Sometimes transmission lines are part of a large PCB structure which makes it your
responsibility to define the port size properly. This section provides guidelines for the appropriate
port sizes for transmission lines. Examples of different waveguide and transmission line structures
are as follows:

Circular Waveguide

An HFSS model of a cylindrical waveguide of uniform circular cross-section along its length excited
with a wave port p1 is shown below. You do not need to define the port size because it is naturally
defined by the cross-section.

Coaxial Cable

The figure below represents a coaxial cable. You do not need to define the port size as it is naturally
determined by the inner and outer radii of the shield.

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Microstrip Transmission Line

The figures below show an HFSS model of a microstrip transmission line and guidelines for setting
the wave port dimensions.

See the HFSS model at scale in the figure below. The bottom of the port touches the ground plane
of the microstrip.

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The port width affects the port impedance and the propagating modes. If the defined port is too
narrow more fields will couple to the side walls. The height of the port is affected by the permittivity
of the substrate. If the permittivity is too high less fields will propagate in the air, so the wave port
can be made shorter.

Coplanar Transmission Line

The figure below shows an HFSS model of a coplanar transmission line. The left and right edges of
each port must touch the left and right ground planes. We recommend that you make the port size
8h x 10w where "w" represents the width of the trace and "h" represents the height of the substrate.

Wave Port Placement

HFSS treats each port that you define to be connected to a semi-infinitely long waveguide or
transmission line that has the same cross-section and properties as the wave port. The placement

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of the wave port is critical because it can affect the accuracy of the solutions. If the wave port is
close to a discontinuity due to change in shape, dimension, or material of a structure the resulting
3D field can be a superposition of propagating and non-propagating modes.

Hence, the first discontinuity should be at an appropriate distance away from the port surface. This
allows any energy reflected into an evanescent mode of the port to decay before reaching the port.
Without this separation the resulting accuracy of the S-parameters will be compromised. To
precisely determine a distance you can solve the 'port only' with one additional mode (for a correct
port definition this mode will be evanescent) and extract the decay length of this mode from its
complex gamma. Then, as a rule of thumb, place the first discontinuity at least three times this
decay length. Such rigor is not usually necessary and experience over time will give you a solid
understanding of typical spacings for their port geometries and frequencies of analysis.

Number of Modes

The electrical size of a port at the highest frequency of interest determines the number of modes to
be included in the port definitions. If the guidelines on discontinuity discussed above are followed,
the number of modes equals the number of propagating modes at the highest frequency; if they are
not followed then, the port as a boundary condition will not be accurate. Regardless of whether
they are propagating or not, the solver will solve these modes for calculating the S-parameters.

Wave Port Dialog for Modal Solutions

A Wave Port dialog box with its default settings is shown below. On this dialog box you can set the
number of modes, their alignment, mode polarity, the choice of characteristic impedance etc.

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Note: The option Use Wizards for data input when creating new boundaries under Tools >
Options > HFSS Options >Boundary Assignment is unchecked; so the dialog box appears in
the tabbed format. For more information about the appearance of the Wave Port dialog box, see
HFSS Options.

The different tabs and their sub-panels are described in the following subsections.

l General Tab
l Post Processing
l Defaults

General Tab: Wave Ports

This panel contains a field where you can enter the name of the wave port, as well as the number of
modes, set integration lines, and define mode alignment, polarity, and characteristic impedance.
Subsequent sections describe all these options and the effect they have on the port field.

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Modes with Default Settings

The figure below shows a wave port assigned on the face of a rectangular waveguide. The default
settings in the General tab of the Wave Port dialog box are used and the port is named p1. No
integration line has been defined. From the Project Tree if you select the option Mode1 under
Port Field Display you can see the electric field patterns for that mode. The direction of mode
propagation for the corresponding wave port is shown below. Notice that the intensity is highest in
the middle (indicated by the red arrows) and tapers to zero on the sides for the TE01 mode for the
rectangular waveguide. Since no integration line has been defined, the polarity is arbitrarily up or
down.

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Set Mode Polarity Using Integration Line

By drawing integration lines you can set mode polarity. The settings in the General tab of the
Wave Port dialog box for a single mode and the integration line drawn for a WR-90 rectangular
waveguide are shown below.

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The mode alignment can also be set using the integration lines. In this case the direction is flipped
upward as set by the direction of the integration line.

See the settings for another WR-90 waveguide with the integration lines 1 and 2 defined for two
modes.

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The corresponding port field display are as follows:

Note: The voltage along integration line 1 is positive for Mode 1 and the voltage along the
integration line 2 is positive for Mode 2.

Align Modes Analytically Using Coordinate System

This option is used to align modes for standard waveguides such as square waveguides,
rectangular waveguides, coaxial waveguides etc. (For a complete list, see the section Analytic Port
Types). On the General tab of the Wave Port dialog box, select the last radio button and New
Vector from the drop-down menu. Draw the U-V axes to determine the mode alignment. The U

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axis must lie on the center of the port plane and split the port into equal haves. Otherwise an error
message will pop up.

The figures below show the cross section of a square wave guide for which the U-V axes are set
and no integration lines defined for 3 modes. The U-axis must lie along the port plane and split the
port into two equal halves. After you define the Solution Setup and run the simulation, the Port
Field Display for the 3 modes are also shown in the figures below.

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Align Modes Using Integration Lines

This option is for advanced users working with non-standard waveguides which may have
degenerate modes. First we will investigate the fields for a wave port assigned on the surface of a
symmetric cross-waveguide (shown below) using the default settings on the General tab of the
Wave Port dialog box. (Set mode polarity using integration lines) for 2 modes. No integration
line is defined.

The solver arbitrarily assigns the polarity for the modes 1 and 2.

Any combination of degenerate modes results in just another combination of degenerate modes.
There is no uniqueness in the orientation of the modes. To get a unique orientation advanced users
can select this option Align modes using integration lines and define the integration lines

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appropriately. Prior knowledge of the mode pattern is necessary before you define the Integration
Lines for mode alignment. You cannot draw the integration lines randomly. They are extremely
important to get the mode alignment that you want. See the integration lines 1 and 2 defined on a
port face shown below and the settings in the Modes sub-panel.

Alignment Groups

This column appears only when you select the option Align modes using integration lines. The
modes that have the same Alignment Group number are degenerate. To help the solver choose
which modes are degenerate you must assign the Alignment Groups. When you set the
alignment group numbers the solver accumulates the modes of a specific group number and
causes each mode within that group to have a positive voltage along its own integration line and
zero voltage along all other integration lines. For example, defining integration lines 1 and 2 at right

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angles to each other for the port face (shown above) will cause the modes to be aligned as
illustrated in the following figures.

Suppose you want the modes to be aligned along the integration lines 1 and 2 defined diagonally
as shown in the figure below.

According to this definition of the integration lines, the solver aligns the modes within a given group
(1 in this case) such that Mode n has a positive voltage along integration line n and zero voltage
along all other integration lines.

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Note: For more information, see Mode Alignment.

Characteristic Impedance Column

The Characteristic Impedance Column (Zo) lists four options (Zpi, Zpv, Zvi, and Zwave) in
its drop down menu. The options Zpvand Zvi will appear only if you provide a voltage through
defining an integration line for a specific mode such that a unique voltage for that mode can be
computed. These quantities Zpi, Zpv, and Zvi need not be equal to each other. Other than
TEM modes, these three quantities will give different results since the voltage is not unique and
the result depends on the path used to compute the voltage. Zwave is strictly only applicable for
homogeneous waveguides but we use this equation for any ports which should be OK for
weakly inhomogeneous waveguides as well.

In case you do not define an integration line only Zpi is shown.

Note: For more information, see calculate the characteristic impedance.

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Electromagnetic power P = E x H (with magnitude of P i.e. the Poynting vector as 1 watt) is

injected into the 3D model to calculate the fields, voltages, and currents. The basic equations for
characteristic impedance are as follows:

The expressions for characteristic impedance in terms of power vary as follows:

When using Zpi:

When using Zpv:

For Zvi the following expression holds

For Zwave:

Note For more information about how HFSS defines these values, see Calculating the ZPI
Impedance, and Calculating the ZPV Impedance.

Port Post Processing Tab: Modal Solutions

De-embedding and renormalization are the two post processing options available in HFSS. De-
embedding changes the reference plane where the port is placed rather than literally defining a
new port on a different reference plane. Reference plane is the location where the S-parameters
are calculated. De-embedding helps to calculate the S-parameters near or on the plane of a
discontinuity or when a long transmission line is attached to the port plane instead of explicitly
modeling it in HFSS.

Renormalization changes the load impedance of the port.

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Both renormalization and deembedding affect the network parameters. They will also affect the
fields if the Include Port Post Processing Effects option is selected in the Edit Sources dialog
box.

We will now explain the concept of De-embedding and Renormalization.

Deembed Settings

First we will not employ deembedding as shown under Deembed Settings of the wave port post
processing dialog box.

In this situation, by default the reference plane will be along the port surface as shown below.

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We will now employ deembedding.

HFSS shifts the reference plane when you deembed.

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Note

Renormalization

This option lets you vary the value of Z0ref. When you do not renormalize Z0ref is Z0 . When you
renormalize as shown in the figure below, Z0ref will no longer be Z0 but it will be assigned the value
that you enter in the Full Port Impedance field. The settings in the figure below makes Z0ref =
75 ohm.

If you want to enter a complex impedance, enter it in the form <re> + <im>j., for example 50ohm +
(-5ohm) * 1i . You can assign a variable to these values, (for example " resistance + (reactance) *
1i"). This variable can be dependent on the frequency, which allows use of a dataset for frequency
dependent impedance, (for example, pwl(ds1,freq) + (pwl(ds2,freq)) * 1i).

Note: You do not need to re-run a simulation in order to renormalize a port. Post-processing
reports are automatically updated to reflect the renormalized S-matrix.

Assign Wave Ports for Modal Solutions

This section outlines the steps for defining excitations for modal solutions.

1. Select coplanar face(s) that you want to excite.

2. Click HFSS>Excitations>Assign>Wave Port

The Wave Port dialog menu appears with the General tab selected.

3. Enter the name of the wave port.

4. Specify the number of modes for a port.
5. If necessary define the integration lines for each mode, set the characteristic impedance,
and specify whether to filter modes for the reporter.

Note For more information about the Integration Lines, see Defining an integration line.

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See Define Mode Alignment and Polarity.

Define Mode Alignment and Polarity

This section discusses the options under Modes alignment and Polarity that appears on the Wave
Port dialog box. First bring up the Wave Port dialog box as follows:

1. Select the face that you want to excite, right click, and select Assign Excitations>Wave
Port.
2. Name the port.

The three options under Mode Alignment and Polarity are described below.

Use Set mode polarity using integration lines

This is the default. Use this option as follows.

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1. Bring up the Wave Port dialog box, access the Modes panel.
2. Enter the number of modes, select the radio button Set mode polarity using integration
lines to control the polarity.

Note: HFSS will arbitrarily align the E fields of the modes.

Note: For more information, seeModes with Default Settings and Set Mode Polarity Using
Integration Lines.

Use Align modes analytically using coordinate system

Use this option if the port corresponds to an analytic port type.

1. Bring up the Wave Port dialog box and select this option.

2. Select New Vector from the U Axis drop-down menu.

3. Draw the U axis to split the port symmetrically.

The V direction is computed automatically and can be flipped using the Reverse V Direction
check box. The solver polarizes the fields by aligning them with analytic mode patterns that are
generated on the U-V coordinate system.

Note: For legacy projects, when reading in a port, if alignment is requested but only one mode
exists, HFSS turns alignment OFF. This prevents an error in validation, and preserves the
behavior of having the fields polarized but not aligned.

If desired, you can check the Filter Modes for Reporter check box on the lower left (see
below).

This adds a new column to the Mode table, which lets you use a check box to designate a mode
For Reporter. For designs with multiple modes, this function will simplify your selections when
you create traces for reports.

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For more information, see Align Modes Analytically Using Coordinate System.

Use Align modes using integration lines

This option meant for advanced users causes polarization for non-analytic ports. There is no
restriction on the port geometry, materials, or integration lines.

1. Bring up the Wave Port dialog box.

2. Specify more than one mode.
3. Select Align modes using integration lines.

A column Alignment Groups is added in the Modes table.

4. Select Alignment Groups from the corresponding drop down menu.

5. Define the Integration Lines on the port surface as needed.

For more information about this option and the effect of Integration Lines, see Align Modes Using
Integration Lines.

Post Processing: Wave Ports

The Post Processing sub-panel has options to renormalize the port to 50 ohms (or any other
desired value) or just accept the default option Do Not Renormalize and also the Distance field
to de-embed a port into or out of the model as needed.

A Wave Port: Post Processing panel is shown below.

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The Port Renormalization choices include:

l Do Not Renormalize: This is the default.

l Renormalize All Modes: Enables the Full Port Impedance text box. The default
impedance for re-normalization of each mode is 50 ohms.

Complex impedance should be entered in the form: <re> + <im>j or <re> + <im>i. Either j or
i entered into the field is displayed as i in the field and in a recorded script. See figure below.

l For multiple modes, the Renormalize Specific Modes is enabled, causing the Edit
Mode Impedances button to be active. Click this button to renormalize the impedance of

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desired modes.

1. Enter the Deembed distance in the field or draw a line on the model to represent the
distance and get it graphically. You can also assign a variable in the Distance field.

Important: The orientation of the Deembed arrows in the modeler is determined by the
modeler direction of the normal of the face where the port is defined. From the standpoint of the
S-parameters what is correct is the sign of the deembed distance.

Note: A positive distance value will deembed the port into the structure. A negative distance
value will deembed the port out of the structure.

Note: Make sure you are not creating a non physical situation when you deembed cutoff
modes. For example, when you enter a positive distance to deembed a port with a cutoff mode
into the model the resulting field values for that mode can be very large.

Related Topics

Port Post Processing Tab: Modal Solutions

Applications for Deembedding

Post Processing and Edit Sources

The settings in the Post Processing dialog box affect S-Parameters. However, on the Edit
post process sources dialog box if you check the option Include Port Post Processing
Effects, then the post processing operations i.e. renormalization and/or deembedding will also
affect the Spectral Fields.

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Note: For more information, see Scaling a Source Magnitude and Phase.

Related Topics

Port Post Processing Tab: Modal Solutions

Applications for Deembedding

Technical Notes: Deembedding

Post Processing: Wave Ports

The Post Processing sub-panel has options to renormalize the port to 50 ohms (or any other
desired value) or just accept the default option Do Not Renormalize and also the Distance field
to de-embed a port into or out of the model as needed.

A Wave Port: Post Processing panel is shown below.

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The Port Renormalization choices include:

l Do Not Renormalize: This is the default.

l Renormalize All Modes: Enables the Full Port Impedance text box. The default
impedance for re-normalization of each mode is 50 ohms.

Complex impedance should be entered in the form: <re> + <im>j or <re> + <im>i. Either j or
i entered into the field is displayed as i in the field and in a recorded script. See figure below.

l For multiple modes, the Renormalize Specific Modes is enabled, causing the Edit
Mode Impedances button to be active. Click this button to renormalize the impedance of

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desired modes.

1. Enter the Deembed distance in the field or draw a line on the model to represent the
distance and get it graphically. You can also assign a variable in the Distance field.

Important: The orientation of the Deembed arrows in the modeler is determined by the
modeler direction of the normal of the face where the port is defined. From the standpoint of the
S-parameters what is correct is the sign of the deembed distance.

Note: A positive distance value will deembed the port into the structure. A negative distance
value will deembed the port out of the structure.

Note: Make sure you are not creating a non physical situation when you deembed cutoff
modes. For example, when you enter a positive distance to deembed a port with a cutoff mode
into the model the resulting field values for that mode can be very large.

Related Topics

Port Post Processing Tab: Modal Solutions

Applications for Deembedding

Post Processing and Edit Sources

The settings in the Post Processing dialog box affect S-Parameters. However, on the Edit
post process sources dialog box if you check the option Include Port Post Processing
Effects, then the post processing operations i.e. renormalization and/or deembedding will also
affect the Spectral Fields.

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Note: For more information, see Scaling a Source Magnitude and Phase.

Related Topics

Port Post Processing Tab: Modal Solutions

Applications for Deembedding

Technical Notes: Deembedding

Wave Ports for Terminal Solutions

HFSS treats a wave port as a semi-infinitely long waveguide or transmission line. For terminal
solutions, we deal with transmission lines only. Terminals are the ends of signal traces that
intersect the plane of a port.

To fit circuit theory HFSS has options for assigning terminals and expressing the relationship
between currents and voltages. Terminals are especially useful when you are dealing with circuit
simulators since the S-parameters obtained in terms of currents and voltages are in a format that is
compatible with most circuit simulators.

Terminals and Modes

Example of Terminals

Reference Conductors

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Related Topics

Assign Wave Ports for Terminal Solutions

Terminals and Modes

A terminal is assigned on a conductor in contact with the port. A port with n+1 distinct conductors
that do not touch each other, will support n terminals where the remaining conductor is the local
reference ground. The solver generates an error if the number of terminals exceeds n conductors.

The solver uses as many modes as terminals. These modes are not eigen modes and sometimes
referred to as terminal modes. The solver computes terminal modes where all the terminal modes
are a superposition of eigen modes such that the S-parameters computed by the solver constitute
the corresponding terminal S-Matrix instead of the eigen S-Matrix.

For terminal projects we will deal only with transmission lines and assume that the currents and
voltages correspond to quasi-TEM modes. The number of terminal modes is dictated by the
number of conductors on the port in the project. Proper port definitions should ensure that no
higher order propagating modes exist in the transmission lines.

Example of Terminals
A terminal is essentially an insertion point for voltage and current on a multi-trace transmission line.

An HFSS model of a coupled microstrip transmission line is shown below.

The terminals are defined at the ends of the signal traces where they intersect with the surface of
the port as shown below.

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Reference Conductors
The Reference Conductorsdialog box contains a table that lists all the conducting objects used in
a model. In this dialog box you will choose the conductor(s) that will act as reference. You can
name terminals based on the name of their conductors or their associated ports.

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We will depict a couple of scenarios that you may encounter while assigning terminals to
conductors in your model. For both scenarios we will consider the same microstrip line with
modifications to the model.

Scenario 1: Explicit Reference Conductor

The figure below shows a microstrip line enclosed by an air box. The model has an explicit ground
plane that is orange in color.

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The ground is an explicit object and so it will appear as a conductor in the Reference Conductors
for Terminals dialog box when assigning terminals to the trace.

Select Ground as reference so that the terminal appears only on the Trace and not on the Ground.

Scenario 2: Implicit Reference Conductor

The figure below illustrates the same microstrip line enclosed by an air box without the radiation
boundary. This model does not have the explicit ground plane.

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The solver treats the boundary of the air box as PEC because no other explicit boundary condition
is applied to it. The air box acts as a reference conductor but will be treated as an implicit conductor
that does not appear in thedialog box. In this case do not define the reference conductor as it is
already assumed by the solver.

Assign Wave Ports for Terminal Solutions

A terminal is a geometry intersection of a conducting object with a port face. The intersection can
be a face or an edge in a conducting geometry. The edge can even extend outside the port and
though it can be defined as a terminal in the user interface, only the portion of the edge that
overlaps with the port is used to define the terminal edge for the solver.

In this section we will assign wave ports on a differential pair via model shown below.

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We will assign a microstrip port and a stripline port. The guidelines for defining port size introduced
in the Microstrip Waveguide section are also applicable for the differential pair model. The
microstrip port size is defined as (10w+s + 2w) x 8h where w = microstrip trace width, s =
separation between the traces, and h = height of the substrate.

The stripline port is defined as (10b + c + b) x d where b = stripline trace width, c = separation
between the traces and d = the distance between the upper and the lower ground plane.

Perform the following steps for terminal assignment.

1. Right-click the rectangle for the microstrip port and select Assign Excitations>Wave Port.

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The Reference Conductors dialog box appears.

2. Select the gnd conductor as reference and click OK.

Note: Number of terminals = Number of conductors - 1 = 3-1 = 2.

The port gets assigned and the terminals appear automatically on the microstrip.

3. Similarly assign a wave port on the stripline rectangle.

The port gets assigned and the terminals appear automatically on the stripline.

Note: In rare cases when automatic terminal assignment fails, you can manually assign a
terminal by selecting the face of the conductor.

Note: Identification of conductors depends on a threshold conductivity value. The threshold is

based on the material assignment or the boundary assignment if a conducting boundary is
assigned to the object.

Note: The project manager window gets populated as shown in the figure below.

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Note: Terminal naming conventions are based by default on the first geometry in the assignment
selection for the terminal. You can change the names from the Set Default Boundary/Excitation
Base Name dialog box. For auto assign terminals, you can also specify whether naming uses the
conductor or the port object name.

Multi-Select Ports and Terminals

To view all of the assigned excitations at the same time, perform the following steps:

1. Double-click Excitations from the Project Manager window.

This brings up the Design List dialog box.

2. Press Ctrl and select the excitations that you want to see in the model.

The selected excitations get highlighted in the model.

3. Click Done to close the dialog box.

For example, the figure below shows all the excitations on the differential pair.

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Associating Terminals and Ports

HFSS can automatically associate terminals with the ports whether you assign the ports first and
then define the terminals or vice versa. You can define terminals from the Excitations level (in the
Project tree) when the ports already exist. Regardless of the order in which they are assigned, a
terminal is associated with the port containing the signal and reference conductors that define the
terminal.

Note: At either the port level or for all excitations, you can set the renormalizing impedance for all
terminals.

Check the Auto-assign terminals on ports option on the Tools>Options>HFSS Options dialog
on the General tab or use the Auto Assign Terminals command.

Auto Assign Terminals

Right-click Excitations from the project tree to bring up the shortcut menu that contains the Auto
Assign Terminals option.

This option assigns terminals automatically. When you change the Solution Type of a model from
Driven Modal to Driven Terminal, you can use this option to define the terminals for the
conductors on the existing ports.

In exceptional cases with complicated arrangement of conductors or geometry with slight

coordinate misalignments, auto assign may create either too few or too many terminals on a port.
In such cases, you can manually assign the terminals.

Related Topics

Active and Passive Excitation in HFSS Transient

Show Nets for DC Continuity for 3D Conductors

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Post Processing Operations

As a post processing operation you can renormalize the impedance of the individual terminals that
you assigned. This is done as follows.

1. Double-click the terminal from the Project Tree.

The Terminal dialog box appears.

2. Enter the value in the Resistance and set the units from the drop-down menu and click OK.

Set Renormalizing Impedance for Terminals

The setup panel for each terminal includes its post processing renormalizing impedance. You can
set this value either for all excitations, or for a specific port. If a design includes at least one wave
port, the setup panel also includes the radio buttons Do Not Renormalize Any Terminals, or
Renormalize All Terminals' Spectral Domain Data.

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To set the renormalizing impedance for all excitations:

1. Right click Excitations in the Project tree and select Set Terminal Renormalizing
Impedances.

The Set Renormalizing Impedance for Terminals dialog box appears.

2. In the field for Impedance, set the value, and select the units from the pull down.

The format is "<real_part> + <complex_part>*i ohm", for example 50ohm + (-5ohm) * 1i

Note: The reference impedance is meant to represent the component modeled by the lumped
port. You can assign a variable to these values, (for example " resistance + (reactance) * 1i").
This variable can be dependent on the frequency, which allows use of a dataset for frequency
dependent impedance, (for example, pwl(ds1,freq) + (pwl(ds2,freq)) * 1i).

3. Click the Apply button to close the dialog and apply the change.

To Set the Reference for All terminals on a Port:

1. Right click the port icon in the Project tree and click Set Terminal Renormalizing
Impedances.

The Set Renormalizing Impedance for Terminals dialog appears. It differs from the related
command for all excitations by specifying that the Renormalizing Impedance is for terminals
on the selected port.

2. In the field for Impedance, set the value, and select the units from the pull down.

This value can be a variable. This variable can be dependent on the frequency, which allows
use of a dataset for frequency dependent impedance.

3. Click the Apply button to assign the impedance value.

Note: For more information, see Scaling a Source Magnitude and Phase.

You can also set the Terminal Reference Impedance on a port by selecting the port and editing the
value in the Properties dialog.

In designs with at least one wave port, where you want to view un-renormalized Zo impedance
and/or the corresponding S parameters in either the Matrix data or in a report, you can select the
Do Not Renormalize Any Terminals radio button.

Renormalize Terminals from the Port Level

1. Double click the wave port in the Project tree to display the Properties window for the
wave port and select the Post Processing tab.

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Values here affect S-Parameters only. Port Renormalization choices include:

l Do Not Renormalize (the default). Selecting this disables the Impedance fields for the
port and terminals.
l Renormalize All Terminals. The default impedance for re-normalization of each port is
50 ohms. To specify a different impedance, you must open the Properties for the terminal
and specify a value in the Terminal Renormalizing Impedance field.

If you want to enter a complex impedance, enter it in the following form: <re> + <im>j, for
example 50ohm + (-5ohm) * 1i . You can assign a variable to these values, (for example "
resistance + (reactance) * 1i"). This variable can be dependent on the frequency, which
allows use of a dataset for frequency dependent impedance, (for example, pwl(ds1,freq) +
(pwl(ds2,freq)) * 1i).

l If there are multiple modes, Renormalizing Impedance for Specific Terminals is

enabled. Click this to enable the Edit Terminal Impedances button. This opens an
editable table with the impedances for each terminal.
2. Enter the Deembed distance in the Distance field or draw a line on the model to represent
the distance and get it graphically. You can also assign a variable in the Distance field.

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Important: After you enter the value, a blue arrow depicts the deembedding distance in the
graphics window when the port is selected. When a wave port has been defined on a sheet, the
inward or the outward normal will dictate the direction of the arrows. The orientation of the
deembedding arrows in the modeler is determined by the direction of the normal of the face
where the port is defined upon. From the standpoint of the S-parameters what is correct is the
sign of the deembed distance.

Note: A positive distance value will de-embed the port into the model. A negative distance
value will de-embed the port out of the model.

Note: Make sure you are not creating a non physical situation when you deembed cutoff
modes. For example, when you enter a positive distance to deembed a port with a cutoff mode
into the model the resulting field values for that mode can be very large.

3. For HFSS Transient solutions, you can designate a port as Active or Passive.

Related Topics

Set Renormalizing Impedance for Terminals

Technical Notes: Port Solution Theory

Technical Notes: Deembedding

Set Differential Pairs

A differential pair represents two circuits, one positive and one negative routed close together so
they will pick up nearly the same amount of noise. The two signals are subtracted from each other
by a receiver, yielding a near "noise-free" version of the signal.

You can define one or more differential pairs from terminal excitations assigned on existing wave
ports. Differential pairs can span ports, use lumped ports, and be enabled or disabled. To allow
automated calculation of differential S-parameters from lumped ports, you can select terminals
from two arbitrary ports, whether wave ports or lumped ports, for use in a differential pair.

Because differential pairs can span ports or occur within a port, the Differential Pairs command is
accessible at corresponding levels in the Project tree via the right click menu both at the
Excitations level, and at the port name level. If a differential pair involves terminals from two
different ports, the Differential Pairs command for those ports can only be accessed at the
Excitations level. If an individual wave port has multiple terminals defined, the Differential Pairs
command is enabled when you select that port and right click to display the shortcut menu. In order
to combine differential pairs across ports, both ports must have the same renormalization setting;
that is, either ports have Do not Renormalize on, or both have it off. For Transient Network
solutions, differential pairs cannot include passive terminals. We will use a differential pair via
model to assign the differential pairs. See Figure below.

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Differential Pairs Dialog can be opened from multiple places: 

l Network Data Explorer: Edit > Define Differential Pairs

l Ports Folder in a Nexxim Design: Right Click Ports > Differential Pairs
l Excitations Folder in a 3D Layout Design: Right Click Excitations > Differential Pairs

Differential Pairs can be defined for both design layout and LNA setups if both are available. Both
pairs will be available in two tabs of the same dialog as shown below.

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To set up a differential pair:

1. All terminals that are not already in pairs are shown in columns Positive and Negative of the
Terminals list (on left):
l Clicking on a cell, selects that cell; Multiple selection is allowed using Ctrl-Click and Shift-
Click; if one cell in each column is selected, Add Pairs button is enabled; clicking that button
will add the pair to the bottom of the Pairs list (on right)
l Clicking on a row button in Terminals list selects that row; user can select multiple rows
using Ctrl-click and Shift-click; when one or more rows are selected, Add Pairs button is
enabled; clicking that button will add the pairs to the bottom of the Pairs list
l If anything is selected in Terminals list, accelerator Ctrl-A will select all rows
l Click-dragging a cell in Terminals list to different position in same column or to any position in
the other column will move that terminal to the drop position
l Entering text into the first cell in each column will be used to filter which pins are shown in the
column; * wildcard character is supported. See the Layout List dialog for an example of this.
3. Display Terminals group:
l Clicking Odd and Even will move odd position terminals to Positive column and even position
terminals to Negative column; the filters will still be applied
l Clicking Half and Half will move terminals in the first half of the original list to the Positive
column and terminals in the second half to the Negative column; filters will still be applied
4. Pairs list shows all terminal pairs that have been defined:
l Clicking Enabled or Matched header will toggle the check boxes in those columns; if
Matched check box is checked, remove text from both Z Ref cells and disable those cells; if
check box is subsequently unchecked restore Z Ref cells to previous values
l Clicking Positive, Negative, or Name column headers will toggle sorting the pairs
alphanumerically on that column

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l Clicking the Ref Z column headers will select the column

l Clicking on a row button in Pairs list selects that row; user can select multiple rows using
Ctrl-click and Shift-click; when one or more rows are selected, Remove Pairs button is
enabled; clicking that button will remove the pairs and add the corresponding Terminals
back into the Terminals list
l If anything is selected in Pairs list, accelerator Ctrl-A will select all rows; if Del key is clicked, it
will remove the selected pairs
l Clicking in a cell for Name or Ref Z will allow user to edit that value directly; names must
satisfy pin name restrictions; Ref Z must be positive number with optional resistance units
(typing “k” is acceptable for kohm)
5. Set impedance group:
l Entering a positive number with option units into the edit box will enable the Set impedance
button
l If a Ref Z column is selected in the Pairs dialog, clicking the Set impedance button will
change all values in that column to the value in the edit box
6. Pair Definition file group:
l Clicking Save To File button will open Save File dialog with library location buttons; entering
a name and clicking Save will save the Pair configuration to that file in csv format; this button
is not enabled if there are no pairs defined
l Clicking Load from File button will open Open File dialog with library location buttons;
choosing a .txt file will load the previously saved Pair configuration; this will show an error
and NOT load if the file syntax is incorrect. Note that the file may contain pair definitions that
do not reference pins that exist in the circuit; those definitions won’t be applied. Only
definitions where both terminals actually exist will be applied.
l Saving a file and then subsequently loading a file should happen without extra clicks (i.e.
load file should open a dialog already showing the last file saved or loaded).
7. Load Pairs from Layout button:
l This button will only be shown when the pairs dialog is launched from HFSS 3D Layout;
clicking it will load pairs corresponding to Differential Pair net assignments

Note: Scripting for loading/saving differential pairs from/to a file will not be recorded as part of the
scripting in the dialog. The user can hardcode the scripting as follows:

l LoadDiffPairsFromFile(filename)
l SaveDiffPairsToFile(filename)

After a solution has been generated, view the common and differential quantities of the differential
pair under the Matrix tab of the Solution Data window as shown below.

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When the design has differential pairs (link), the reporter can display quantities for the defined pairs
or for the single-ended terminals upon which they are based. A pull-down menu will appear in the
Context area of the Report creation dialog which allows the user to select which quantities will be
displayed.

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You can freely mix differential and single-ended terminal quantities. However, single ended
quantities are computed as if no differential pairs existed. So, in the unlikely case of several
terminals where only a subset are combined into pairs, the results may not be as expected.

Related Topics

Creating a New Report

Context Section for Reports.

Differential Pairs in HFSS Transient Network

Technical Notes:Computing Differential Pairs

Lumped Ports
Lumped ports support single mode excitations when S-parameters have to be extracted at internal
locations of a model. It can also be used to represent a terminal of a passive component to be
subsequently optimized in a circuit simulator using S-matrix description of the model.

For lumped ports all edges that do not touch metal are treated as perfect H boundaries. From this
definition the resulting field distribution on the lumped port geometry is solved with the wave port
solver. For a rectangular lumped port this results in electric fields orientated parallel to these perfect
H sides. See figures below. The physical geometry of the rectangular lumped port carries current
with the corresponding H fields resulting in parasitic inductance. For these same rectangular
lumped ports the parasitic inductance can be calibrated out of the s-parameter response with the
deembedding option for lumped ports.

Examples of Lumped Port

Lumped ports can be used in a variety of ways as shown below.

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They vary as follows:

l For 1: The 2D port rectangle touches the signal trace with one edge while the opposite
edge touches the ground plane.
l For 2: The 2D port rectangle touches the signal trace with one edge while the opposite
edge touches the PEC objects (drawn in grey).
l For 3: the port is an annular ring around the BGA ball where the resulting field patterns
closely resemble those for a coaxial TEM mode.

Note: Use lumped ports only for those surfaces that are internal to the model and wave ports to
model exterior surfaces through which a signal enters or exits the geometry.

Related Topics

Assigning Lumped Ports for Modal Solutions

Technical Notes: Lumped Ports

Technical Notes: Calculating Characteristic Impedance

Assign Lumped Ports for Modal Solutions

While assigning lumped ports for modal solutions, you will be prompted to set the complex full port
impedance which must be non-zero, set the non-negative resistance, and finally define the
integration line for the single mode. The steps are as follows:

1. Select a surface to which you want to assign the port and click HFSS or HFSS-
IE>Excitations>Assign>Lumped Port to bring up the Lumped Port: General dialog

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box.

2. Define the complex Full Port Impedance in the text field. The format is "<real_part> +
<complex_part>*i ohm", for example 50ohm + (-5ohm) * 1i

Note: The reference impedance is meant to represent the component modeled by the lumped
port. You can assign a variable to these values, (for example " resistance + (reactance) * 1i").
This variable can be dependent on the frequency, which allows use of a dataset for frequency
dependent impedance, (for example, pwl(ds1,freq) + (pwl(ds2,freq)) * 1i).

3. Click Next to display the Lumped Port: Modes dialog box.

Note: The field Number of Modes is not editable because only one mode is allowed.

3. Integration line must be drawn for a lumped port.

The Characteristic Impedance (Zo) column shows the Zpi method usually used to calculate
the characteristic impedance. If Zpi is zero, HFSS uses Zpv.

For definitions of how HFSS defines these values, see Calculating the Zpi , and Calculating the
Zpv.

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Lumped Port: Post Processing

The parasitic inductance can be calibrated out of the s-parameter response with the deembed
option for lumped ports. Click Next on the Lumped Port: Modes dialog box, to bring up the
Lumped Port: Post Processing dialog.

Values here affect S-Parameters. They will also affect the spectral fields if you selected the
Include Post Processing Effects on the Edit post process sources dialog box. By default,
lumped ports are renormalized to a 50 Ohm full port impedance. You can override the default by
entering a value of your choice in the Full Port Impedance field. If you want to enter a complex
impedance, enter it in the form <re> + <im>j., for example 50ohm + (-5ohm) * 1i . You can assign a
variable to these values, (for example " resistance + (reactance) * 1i"). This variable can be
dependent on the frequency, which allows use of a dataset for frequency dependent impedance,
(for example, pwl(ds1,freq) + (pwl(ds2,freq)) * 1i).

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Lump port de-embedding is only available on lump ports assigned to rectangular geometries. This
capability de-embeds from the resulting s-parameters the parasitic inductance associated with the
port's geometry

Note: For more information about the port calibration technique, see the topic When HFSS Needs
Port Calibration (Deembedding).

The Deembed option can be turned on or off as a post processing operation without invalidating
solutions. If multiple lumped ports are selected in the Excitations List panel, changes to the
common Deembed property change the setting for all lumped ports at once, but only for those that
support calibration.

If a port is selected for calibration but the validation checks fail for some variation (which could
happen with a parametric solve), then the matrix data will not load for that variation. Also, if the
fields are to include port post processing effects, then the fields do not load.

Related Topics

Technical Notes: Lumped Ports

Assign Lumped Ports for Terminal Solutions

As with lumped ports for modal solutions, while assigning lumped ports for terminal solutions, you
will be prompted to set the complex full port impedance. The real part (resistance) must be positive.
The imaginary part (reactance) must be non-zero if the resistance is zero. Finally define the
integration line for the single mode. The steps are as follows:

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1. Select the object face to which you want to assign the port.
2. Click HFSS> or HFSS-IE>Excitations>Assign>Lumped Port.
3. Define the complex Full Port Impedance of the port in the text box. The format is "<real_
part> + <complex_part>*i ohm", for example 50ohm + (-5ohm) * 1i . You can assign a
variable as these values, (for example " resistance + (reactance) * 1i"). This variable can be
dependent on the frequency, which allows use of a dataset for frequency dependent
impedance, (for example, pwl(ds1,freq) + (pwl(ds2,freq)) * 1i).

Related Topics

Technical Notes: Lumped Ports

Technical Notes: When HFSS Needs Port Calibration (Deembedding)

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HFSS-IE Lumped Ports

The lumped ports in HFSS-IE ports are different than those in HFSS. The HFSS-IE lumped ports
impress a one volt difference between the terminal and its reference while an HFSS lumped port
impresses an electric field between the terminal and its reference.

To ensure a valid port, the maximum distance from the terminal to the reference should be less
than a twentieth of a wavelength. If this condition is violated, a warning occurs.

For HFSS-IE:

l For auto assignment to work you must enable Auto-assign terminals on ports on the
HFSS-IE Options: General Options Tab.

Otherwise, for either HFSS or HFSS-IE:

l Manually assign a terminal. Select any connected edge(s) and/or face(s) of conductors that
touch the port.
l Select Excitations>Auto Assign Terminals.

This will bring up a dialog box for you to select the objects used for "reference conductors."

Floquet Ports
The Floquet port in HFSS is used exclusively with planar-periodic structures. Chief examples are
planar phased arrays and frequency selective surfaces when these may be idealized as infinitely
large. The analysis of the infinite structure is then accomplished by analyzing a unit cell. Linked
boundaries most often form the side walls of a unit cell, but in addition, a boundary condition is
required to account for the infinite space above. Floquet ports must be placed along the Z axis. The
Floquet port is closely related to a wave port in that a set of modes ("Floquet modes") represents
the fields on the port boundary. Fundamentally, Floquet modes are plane waves with propagation
direction set by the frequency, phasing, and the geometry of the periodic structure. Just like Wave
modes, Floquet modes too have propagation constants and experience cut-off at low frequency.
When a Floquet port is present, the HFSS solution includes a modal decomposition that gives
additional information on the performance of the radiating structure. As in the case of a wave port,
this information is cast in the form of an S-matrix interrelating the Floquet modes. In fact, if Floquet
ports and wave ports are simultaneously present, the S-matrix will interrelate all Wave modes and
all Floquet modes in the project.

l Example of Floquet Ports

l Assign Master and Slave Boundaries
l Direction of U-V Vectors
l Assign Floquet Ports
l Floquet Port Dialog

For further discussion click Help>Getting Started Guides>HFSS Floquet Ports.

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Example of Floquet Ports

As a simple example, consider an infinite array of radiating rectangular apertures in a ground
plane. The figure below depicts a simple HFSS model for the unit cell of the infinite array. The
model consists of two boxes. The lower box represents the feeding waveguide and the upper box
is the unit cell for the region above the plane. The dimensions and geometry of the unit cell reflect
the lattice vectors of the array. Linked boundaries are defined on the cell walls and a wave port
provides the array element excitation. Floquet ports must be placed along the Z axis, as shown in
this example.

l Assign Master and Slave Boundaries

l Direction of U-V Vectors
l Assign Floquet Ports
l Floquet Port Dialog

For further discussion click Help>Getting Started Guides>HFSS Floquet Ports.

Assign Master and Slave Boundaries

In this section we will illustrate a key requirement for setting up a unit cell--the perimeter of a
Floquet port must be covered by Master and Slave boundaries. You will assign the boundaries as
follows:

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1. Select the face of the box and click HFSS>Boundaries>Assign>Master.

2. Click the corner of the box and draw the U-V vectors as shown below.

The Master1 boundary gets assigned as shown in the figure below.

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3. Access the face opposite to Master1 and click HFSS>Boundaries>Assign>Slave.

4. Assign the slave boundary as shown in the figure below.

l Direction of U-V Vectors

l Assign Floquet Ports
l Floquet Port Dialog

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Direction of the U-V Vectors

HFSS uses the U-V vectors to set up a local co-ordinate system. A point on the Master boundary
must correspond to that on the Slave. A point on the Slave needs to be paired on the Master so that
a one-to-one correspondence can be established. Such a co-ordinate system should be
constructed and aligned properly in the same direction so that the mapping is accomplished
successfully. Therefore, when the V-vector is directed downwards (i.e. when it is below the U
vector), you must check the Reverse Direction option to keep it on the face of the box and not
pointing outside of it.

l Assign Master and Slave Boundaries

l Assign Floquet Ports
l Floquet Port Dialog

Assign Floquet Ports

This section describes how to assign Floquet Ports on the unit cell after you define the Master and
Slave boundaries. To assign the Floquet port perform the following steps.

1. Floquet ports must be placed along the Z axis, as shown. Select the top face of the unit cell,
right click, and select Assign>Excitation>Floquet Port from the shortcut menu.

2. Specify the A and B directions for the Lattice coordinate system. These define the periodicity
of the planar lattice. The vector arrows must start and end at points on the face of the Floquet

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port and must have a common initial point.

3. The Modes Setup window displays a field for the Number of Modes, a button for access to
the Modes Calculator, and a table.

4. On the post processing panel, if needed, the deembed distance can be specified.

Floquet Port Dialog Box

This section describes the settings on each of the tabs available on the Floquet Port dialog box.

Floquet Port: Mode Setup

Floquet Port: Post Processing

Floquet Port: 3D Refinement

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Floquet Ports: Lattice Coordinate System

Floquet Port: Modes Calculator

For further discussion click Help>Getting Started Guides>HFSS Floquet Ports.

Floquet Port: Mode Setup

In general Floquet modes are specified by two modal indices and a polarization setting. These
designations resemble the textbook notation for rectangular waveguide modes, such as ``TE10.''

The default mode table specifies a pair of Floquet modes. The default modes both have modal
indices equal to zero and are sometimes called "specular" modes, which are always an essential
part of the Floquet mode set. For general frequency and scan conditions, other higher-order
Floquet modes will be needed. A modes calculator, invoked by selecting the Modes Calculator
button, is available to set these up for the user.

The values under Attenuation represent the modal loss in amplitude along the direction normal to
the Floquet port plane. The numbers in this column are computed by the modes calculator that will
help you decide which modes to keep.

Attenuation for a mode is a function of both the frequency and the scan angle specified in the
modes calculator. When the latter includes more than one scan direction, the least amount of
attenuation experienced by the mode over all the specified scan directions.

Thus when the table gives a value of 0 dB, at one or more scan directions specified in the modes
calculator the particular mode propagates without attenuation. Similarly, when the table displays
say 60 dB, a 60 dB per unit length is the least amount of attenuation at all specified scan directions.
At any given direction, only the same or larger attenuations (for example, 70 dB per length) will
occur. To improve simulation efficiency and interpret the results easily eliminate any modes that are
not necessary. Do this by editing the Number of Nodes field in the Modes Setup tab.

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Note: The list is trimmed from the bottom.

To change the order of items in the final Modes list, drag each corresponding line by the square box
at the left of each row.

Related Topics

Floquet Ports: Modes Calculator

Floquet Port: Post Processing

This tab lets you specify a de-embedding distance. This optional post processing step is employed
when you are interested in the phase of the S parameter elements. The interface for deembedding
a Floquet port is the same as that for a wave port.

This panel contains settings that affect the fields once the field solution is complete.

This enables the distance and units field for the positive value to deembed the port into the mode,
and for a negative value to deembed the port out of the model.

Floquet Port: 3D Refinement

This panel contains the Affects Refinement check boxes which allows you to specify Floquet
modes in the 3D adaptive refinement process. Typically, you select no modes or only one or both
specular (TE00 or TM00) modes. Selecting more than this may affect the efficiency and accuracy
of the solution process.

In 3D adaptive refinement the generated mesh is a compromise which simultaneously represents

the 3D field patterns of every mode included in the adapt process. If the field patterns of certain
modes represent the fields of interest and others do not, excluding the latter from the adapt process
will result in a "targeted" mesh that better represents the excitation field pattern.

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For antenna array simulations in which the active impedance or embedded-element pattern is
sought, the Wave or Lumped ports modeling the feed structure provide the fields of interest. In this
case, no Floquet modes should be included in the adapt process. On the other hand, if the per-cell
RCS is of interest, one or both specular Floquet modes provide the fields of interest and should be
included in the 3D adapt process by checking the corresponding Affects Refinement boxes.
Similarly, for an FSS simulation with two Floquet ports, specular modes provide the fields of
interest and should be selected to participate in the 3D adapt process.

In certain simulations (for example, a frequency-selective surface) you will set up a second Floquet
port. Note that when you do this HFSS automatically copies the lattice vectors, modes table, and
3D refinement settings from the first Floquet port to the second.

Related Topics

Technical Notes: Master and Slave Boundaries

Technical Notes: Deembedding

Technical Notes: Floquet Ports

Floquet Ports: Modes Calculator

Floquet Ports: Lattice Coordinate System

In the Floquet Port dialog, General tab, for each Vector (A and B Direction):

1. Select the drop down menu and click New Vector.

This opens a Measure Data dialog and causes the cursor to drag a visual marker that drops a
dashed line to the reference plane, and shows a location indicator on the Floquet plane.

2. Drag the marker to select a location for the Direction vector. Click to set the origin point, and
drag and click to specify the position 2 point that defines the direction from that origin. The

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vector arrows must start and end at points on the face of the Floquet port and must have a
common initial point.
3. Clicking the second point closes the Measure Data dialog, and exits the New Vector mode.
The drop down menus for Position A and Position B now include an entry called "Defined"
along with "Undefined" and "New Vector."

Related Topics

Assigning Floquet Ports

Floquet Port: Modes Calculator

1. In the Floquet Port: Modes tab, if you select the Modes calculator button, the Mode
Table Calculator window displays.

Enter the following fields:

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l Number of modes - you can trim this value later, as you learn which modes are needed
and which are not.
l Frequency - if the problem setup contains one or more frequency sweeps, usually you
will set this value to the highest frequency.
l Scan Angles -enter the values and select units for Phi and Theta, including Start, Stop,
and Step size. The Mode Table Calculator calculates a set of Floquet modes on the
basis of all the angles defined.

These inputs constitute the information required to create a set of recommended modes for the
Floquet port. The inputs are used by the mode selection algorithm but do not affect the problem
setup.

1. Click OK to leave the Mode Table Calculator and to compute the recommended list of
modes.

The new modes table appears on the Modes Setup tab of the Floquet Port properties/setup
window. The attenuation associated with a listed mode represents the minimum (or worst case)
for that mode over the range of scan angles.

Related Topics

Assigning Floquet Ports

Floquet Ports: 3D Refinement

Incident Waves
An incident field is the electromagnetic field in the absence of any scatterers. We suppose that the
incident field is present everywhere and it comes from a source residing in some location. The
source can even be another HFSS project or an SIwave project.

Incident waves can be of the following types:

l Plane Wave
l Hertzian-Dipole Wave
l Cylindrical Wave
l Gaussian Beam
l Linear Antenna Wave

For incident analytical waves (plane waves through linear antenna waves) HFSS supports two
basic methods: scattered field formulation and total field formulation.

Etotal = Eincident + Escattered

The total field formulation is useful for viewing weak total fields while scattered field formulation is
useful for viewing weak scattered fields.

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For near field and far field waves we are merely specifying the fields on the radiation surfaces. So,
we cannot view only the total fields.

Related Topics

Radiation Boundary Panel

Global Material Environment

Radiation Boundary Panel

When assigning an incident wave either a radiation boundary, PML boundary, or Hybrid Region
Finite Element Boundary Integral (FE-BI) method must be defined at least on one section of the
surface of the model. The Radiation Boundary panel is shown below.

For more information see Assigning Radiation Boundaries

To assign a FE-BI, use Hybrid>Assign>FE-BI.

Global Material Environment

A plane wave is described by the following equation.

The k vector also depends on the material of the radiation boundary. More precisely it is the wave
number of the global background material.

You can set the global material environment which is otherwise vacuum by default. Right click
Boundaries and select Edit Global Material Environment to bring up the dialog box.

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The material specified in the Global Material Environment panel can impact an HFSS design in
the following three areas:

l All incident waves except evanescent plane waves and near and far field links are
assumed to have been generated in the global background material.
l All fields outside the computational domain are obtained using the global background
material.
l The currents on exterior HFSS-IE regions are computed assuming the global background
material.

Note The PML and simple ABC are constructed assuming the interior material touching the
radiation surface is the same as the exterior global background material. The actual material used
is the interior in this case in order to allow different materials to be in contact with the radiation
surface as is the case when truncating the substrate of a PCB design. To obtain consistent results
when viewing fields outside the computational domain, ensure that the interior material touching
the radiation surface is the same as the global background material.

Incident PlaneWave
A plane wave is a wave that propagates along a fixed direction where the electric and magnetic
fields are in the transverse plane and perpendicular to each other.

A plane wave is defined by the following equation:

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The term k represents the wave number of the global background material for regular/propagating
plane waves.

An HFSS model of a dielectric sphere is shown to illustrate the incident plane wave setup.

After a plane wave is defined, the propagation direction and the electric field direction can be
visualized as shown in the following figure.

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To define a plane wave, right-click anywhere in the Modeler and select Assign
Excitation>Incident Wave>Plane Wave.

The Incident Wave Source: General Data dialog box appears. You can select either Cartesian
or Spherical for the Vector Input Format.

Cartesian Vector Setup

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Enter the Cartesian co-ordinates on the Incident Wave Source: General Data dialog box to set
the zero phase location for propagating wave and click Next.

Note: For evanescent waves, Cartesian co-ordinates are defined for the Excitation location.

The following figure shows the Cartesian Vector Setup panel. Define the direction of Eo.
Regardless of the magnitude of the field vector Eo, HFSS normalizes it to 1. However, the
magnitude of Eo can be scaled to the desired value on the Edit post process sources panel.

Also, define the direction of the unit vector of propagation, . It is your responsibility to ensure that
the direction of propagation, of the plane wave is perpendicular to E0.L

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Click Next to specify the the type of plane wave on the Plane Wave Optionspanel.

Recall the equation that describes a plane wave:

where k is the wave number of the global background material for regular/propagating plane
waves. In most cases, the values defined for Eo and k are meant for regular/propagating plane
waves. For evanescent waves, since k = β + jα it overrides the magnitude of the complex
propagation constant.

Note: In HFSS, evanescent waves do not depend upon the global background material, however,
the post-processed near or far fields depend upon the global background material. For more
information see the section Global Material Environment.

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If you select the type of plane wave as Elliptically Polarized, specify the ratio of the large axis to
the small axis of the ellipse and the phase angle of the large axis. For more information, see the
section Elliptically Polarized Plane Wave.

Spherical Vector Input Format

This section demonstrates the same incident plane wave by defining the vector input format for a
Spherical setup.

1. On the Incident Wave Source: General Data dialog box, select the option Spherical.

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2. Click Next and edit the IWavePhi, IWaveTheta, and Eo Vector fields as shown in the
following figure.

This setup provides an alternate way of defining plane waves using spherical vector format. The
orthogonality of and Eo is automatically satisfied since is in the direction. Regardless of
the magnitude of Eo, HFSS normalizes it to 1. However, the magnitude of Eo can be scaled to
the desired value on the Edit post process sources panel.

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Note: If you enter values in the Step fields and click the View Point List button, you can see all
the phi or theta values.

For a spherical incident wave you can specify an expression to define an angle in the start field
only. If use an expression, the dialog disallows any stop/step values. In other words, we allow only
a single angle if you choose to parametrize the start angle.

You can visualize the propagation direction and the electric field direction for a plane wave defined
for spherical vector setup as shown in the following figure.

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The normalized bistatic RCS plot for theta scan at phi = 0 plane is shown below.

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The following figure shows the scattered E-field plot on the surface of a dielectric sphere (radius =
30mm, relative permittivity = 10, and solution frequency = 5 GHz.)

Note: The Spherical vector input format provides a convenient way of specifying multiple incident
angles.

Defining Multiple Plane Waves

This section describes how to define multiple plane waves using Spherical Vector Setup.

The following figure shows the Spherical Vector Setup panel. An incident wave sweep is defined
in the phi = 90 degrees plane for theta, with step size of 10 degrees.

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This setup defines eleven incident plane waves as source as shown in the following figure.

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The following figure shows the scattered E-field plot on the surface of the dielectric sphere (radius
= 30mm, relative permittivity = 10, and solution frequency = 5 GHz) at incident angle of theta = 40
degrees.

This E-field plot is defined for IWaveTheta = 50 deg and IWavePhi = 0 deg.

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Note: Although the incident field sweep defines multiple plane waves, only one scale factor is
applied on all the plane waves. This scale factor can be edited on the Edit post process sources
panel.

Both the overlay field panel and the Reporter provides you options to select the desired incident
plane wave.

Related Topics

Active and Passive Excitation in HFSS Transient

Technical Notes:Incident Waves

Technical Notes: Evanescent Plane Wave Equations

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Hertzian-Dipole Wave
An incident Hertzian-Dipole wave can be specified as either an Electric dipole or a Magnetic dipole.
The Electric dipole simulates the field of an elementary short dipole antenna placed at the origin.
The Magnetic dipole is useful for EMC/EMI applications. Specify a Hertzian dipole as follows:

Cartesian Coordinates

1. Click HFSS>Excitations>Assign>Incident Wave>Hertzian-Dipole Wave.

2. Select Cartesian and click Next, the subsequent dialog lets you define the dipole length.

3. Define the types of dipole and the radius in the Hertzian-Dipole Wave Options dialog box.
The radius of Surrounding Sphere should be small enough so that a Hertzian dipole is
placed into the computational domain when scattered field formulation is used. If you place a
Hertzian dipole out of the computational domain, the Surrounding sphere can have any

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radius.

Related Topics

For more information, see the following topics in Technical Notes.

Incident Waves

Spherical Wave (Electric Hertzian Dipole) Equations

Spherical Wave (Magnetic Hertzian Dipole) Equations

General Approach for Scattered and Total Field Decomposition

Incident Cylindrical Wave

An incident Cylindrical wave is a wave that simulates the far field of an infinite line current placed at
the origin.

1. Click HFSS>Excitations>Assign>Incident Wave>Cylindrical Wave.

2. Select the Vector Input Format as Cartesian coordinates.
3. Enter the X-, Y-, and Z-coordinates of the Excitation Location and/or Zero Phase
Position (the origin for the incident wave).
4. Click Next.
5. If you selected Cartesian, the Incident Wave Source: Cartesian Vector Setup page
appears. Enter the X-, Y-, and Z-components for the I Vector in the X, Y, and Z boxes. I is
the current amplitude (peak value). Units are Amps (A).

A single incident wave will be defined.

Note Only a single incident wave angle can be defined for periodic structures which are defined
with master and slave boundaries

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6. Click Next. the Incident Wave Source: Cylindrical Wave Options page appears.
7. Select the Radius of Surrounding Cylinder. Inside this cylinder, the field magnitude will
be made equal to the field magnitude calculated on the surface of the cylinder. To restore the
default (10 mm), click the Use Defaults button.
8. Click Finish.The incident wave you defined is added to the Excitations list in the Project.

Related Topics

Technical Notes: Incident Waves

Technical Notes: Cylindrical Wave Equations

Gaussian Beam Wave

An incident Gaussian Beam wave propagates in one direction and is of Gaussian distribution in the
directions perpendicular to its direction of propagation. The steps for assigning a Gaussian Beam
Wave are the same as those for assigning Plane Wave. The only difference is that in this case
Gaussian Beam Wave Options will appear as one of the tabs instead of Plane Wave Options
on the Incident Wave Source dialog box. For more information see Plane Wave.

Related Topics

See the following topics in the Technical Notes.

Incident Waves

Gaussian Beam Equations

Linear Antenna Wave

An incident linear antenna wave is a wave that simulates the far field of a linear antenna placed at
the origin. The steps for assigning a Linear Antenna Wave are the same as those for assigning a
Hertzian Dipole wave. The only difference is that in this case Linear Antenna Wave Options will
appear as one of the tabs instead of Hertzian Dipole Wave Options on the Incident Wave
Source dialog box. For more information see Hertzian Dipole Wave.

Related Topics

For more information, see the following topics in Technical Notes.

Incident Waves

Linear Antenna Equations

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Far Field Wave

A far field wave originates at a distance several wavelengths from the computational domain. Far
field values are defined on the surface of a unit sphere.

When you use a Far Field link, the origin of the global coordinate system of the source project
should be in the phase center of the antenna.

l Far Field Wave Options

l External Data File for Far Field Wave
l Setup Link for Far Field or Near Field Wave
l Example That Uses Far Field Links

Far Field Wave Options

This section describes the panel Far Field Wave Options. Bring up this panel on the Incident
Wave Source dialog box as follows.

First click HFSS>Excitations>Assign>Linked Field>Far Field Wave and then, click Next or
the Far Field Wave Options tab.

Note: If you are using HFSS-IE go to HFSS-IE>Excitations>Assign>Far Field Wave

Click the Setup Link button on the Incident Wave Source dialog to browse for a source project
for specifying the linked design.

Use a local coordinate system defined in the target design to represent the source origin and
rotation relative to target design. All the legacy origin and Euler angles will be translated into local
coordinate system.

Legacy Translation of Source Origin Relative to This Design

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For legacy projects if the coordinate system you are using in the source design is different from that
in the target design, you originally defined the relationship between those coordinate systems as a
translation and a rotation. The translation is the offset between the origins of the two coordinate
systems, and the rotation was defined through the use of Euler angles.

The X-, Y-, and Z-coordinates of the source location and/or Zero Phase Position (the origin for the
incident wave) represents the translation of the source design's origin with respect to the target
design's origin. For instance, if the source design's origin is located in the target design co-ordinate
system at (-2, -2, 1), then the translation between the two coordinate systems is (-2, -2, 1).

The Euler angles represent the angles through which you can rotate the target design to achieve
the desired rotation angles.

All the legacy origin and Euler angles will be translated into local coordinate systems.

Note: A figure that represents the angles and the rotation of a design is at the end of the section.

See Computing Antenna Parameters for a description of how to obtain antenna parameters during
post processing.

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Related Topics

Technical Notes: Incident Waves

Clearing Linked Data

Using Field Solutions from Other Simulators

External Data File for Far Field Wave

Setup Link for Far Field or Near Field Wave

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External Data File for Far Field Wave

You can define a Far Field Incident Wave Source as a plain text data file with a .ffd suffix. The
fields can be independent or dependent on the frequency.

Note: The far field data file must be a plain text file. Wordpad includes invisible characters that
HFSS does not support. The code tolerates white space separators anywhere (blank, tab,
newline, carriage return). Between double values in same logical grouping, it tolerates comma or
semicolon separators.

Examples of ffd format files

l Frequency Independent Far Fields

l Frequency Dependent Far Fields

Related Topics

Setup Link for a Far Field or Near Field Wave

Frequency Independent Far Fields

In this case, the file format is simple. No keywords are used. The first two lines contain doubles
representing start, stop, and num points for the sweeps of theta and phi. The angle units are
degrees. In order to have a unique coordinate system theta and phi should be in the range of 0 <
theta < 180 and 0 < phi < 360.
ThetaStart ThetaStop ThetaNumPoints

PhiStart PhiStop PhiNumPoints

Then, the subsequent lines give the complex components of electric field in the theta and phi
directions. The unit of E field is Volt. All of these are doubles. For these lines, theta will be held
constant while phi is swept through all values, then theta will increment to the next value, etc. So
the lines will correspond to (th1, ph1), (th1, ph2), (th1, ph3),…,(th1, phN), (th2, ph1), (th2, ph2),
etc… Note that this format enforces a strict uniform grid of theta and phi samples.
E_theta_real E_theta_imag E_phi_real E_phi_imag

E_theta_real E_theta_imag E_phi_real E_phi_imag

...

See the following example of a data file:

0,180,3

0,360,5

0.0,0.0,0.0,1.0

0.0,0.0,0.0,1.0

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0.0,0.0,0.0,1.0

0.0,0.0,0.0,1.0

0.0,0.0,0.0,1.0

0.0,0.0,0.0,1.0

0.0,0.0,0.0,1.0

0.0,0.0,0.0,1.0

0.0,0.0,0.0,1.0

0.0,0.0,0.0,1.0

0.0,0.0,0.0,1.0

0.0,0.0,0.0,1.0

0.0,0.0,0.0,1.0

0.0,0.0,0.0,1.0

0.0,0.0,0.0,1.0

Note: Instead of commas you can use double-space or semicolon separators.

Frequency Dependent Far Fields

For frequency-dependent far field links, the data is supplied in blocks. The syntax for a frequency
dependent far field uses the following format:
ThetaStart ThetaStop ThetaNumPoints

PhiStart PhiStop PhiNumPoints

Frequencies NumFrequencies

Frequency FrequencyValue

E_theta_real E_theta_imag E_phi_real E_phi_imag

E_theta_real E_theta_imag E_phi_real E_phi_imag

E_theta_real E_theta_imag E_phi_real E_phi_imag

… repeat for all theta and phi sweep points

Frequency FrequencyValue

E_theta_real E_theta_imag E_phi_real E_phi_imag

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E_theta_real E_theta_imag E_phi_real E_phi_imag

E_theta_real E_theta_imag E_phi_real E_phi_imag

… repeat for all theta and phi sweep points

… repeat for a total of NumFrequencies

Data File Example

See the sample data file below.

0,180,2

0,360,5

frequencies 3

frequency 3.0e9

0.0,0.0,0.0,1.0

0.0,0.0,0.0,1.0

0.0,0.0,0.0,1.0

0.0,0.0,0.0,1.0

0.0,0.0,0.0,1.0

0.0,0.0,0.0,1.0

0.0,0.0,0.0,1.0

0.0,0.0,0.0,1.0

0.0,0.0,0.0,1.0

0.0,0.0,0.0,1.0

frequency 6.0e9

0.0,0.0,0.0,2.0

0.0,0.0,0.0,2.0

0.0,0.0,0.0,2.0

0.0,0.0,0.0,2.0

0.0,0.0,0.0,2.0

0.0,0.0,0.0,2.0

0.0,0.0,0.0,2.0

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0.0,0.0,0.0,2.0

0.0,0.0,0.0,2.0

0.0,0.0,0.0,2.0

frequency 9.0e9

0.0,0.0,0.0,3.0

0.0,0.0,0.0,3.0

0.0,0.0,0.0,3.0

0.0,0.0,0.0,3.0

0.0,0.0,0.0,3.0

0.0,0.0,0.0,3.0

0.0,0.0,0.0,3.0

0.0,0.0,0.0,3.0

0.0,0.0,0.0,3.0

0.0,0.0,0.0,3.0

The syntax and their values are as follows:

l 0, 180, and 2 are the values of ThetaStart, ThetaStop, and ThetaNumPoints in the first
line.
l The values 0, 360, and 5 do the same thing for Phi.
l NumFrequencies represents the number of blocks defined in the data file. In this example,
3 frequency blocks are defined.
l FrequencyValue represents the value of frequency for which you supply the far field data.
In the Data File Example, FrequencyValue is as follows:
l 3.0e9 Hz for the first block;
l 6.0e9 Hz for the second block;
l 9.0e9 Hz for the third block.

HFSS supports only the discrete sweep type for Far Field (and Near Field) data links. The
frequencies defined in the sweep must be consistent with the frequencies specified in the data file.
If not, an error message will pop up. So make sure that all the frequencies that you supply in the
data file are consistent with those in the Frequency Setup section of the Edit Frequency Sweep
dialog box. For example, based on the Frequency Setup shown below in the target project HFSS
will expect to find data for 3GHz, 6 GHz, and 9 GHz in the data file. Also, the Solution Frequency
in the Solution Setup should match one of the frequencies in the data file and the sweep if the

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project type is HFSS or HFSS-IE in the target design. Also, the frequency blocks can appear in any
order in the data file.

The sample frequency dependent data file was used to apply far field on an open ended WR-90
waveguide. The frequency sweep shown was used to simulate it. The results for the E-field at 9
GHz are shown below.

Setup Link for Far Field or Near Field Wave

Setup Link for Far Field or Near Field Wave

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You can access the Setup Link dialog from the Far Field Wave options dialog or Near Field Wave
options.

1. Select the Edit Link radio button to activate the options in the panel.
2. Select the type of the source project e.g. HFSS, SIWave or Maxwell from the Product
drop-down menu.

Note: An HFSS-IE project can be used as target or source. Maxwell does not appear in the
drop down menu because it is not applicable for far fields.

3. Browse for the source project or check Use This Project. If you check the latter option, you
must select a source design from the current project.

Note: The origin of the global coordinate system of the source project should be in the phase
center of the antenna, when you use a Far Field link.

4. Specify the Source Solution. The first option in the Source Solution field is the default.

Note: The solution in the source design must provide data for the target design's adaptive
frequency as well as its sweeps. That is, the adaptive frequency for the target design must be

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included in the sweep in the source design. If necessary, you can open the source design
and add an appropriate frequency point to an existing sweep.

5. Use the last two check boxes at the bottom of the panel as needed.

Note:Extractor mode means that the software is opened during the link solely for the purpose
of solving.

6. Under the Variable Mapping tab, you can set the desired variable values in the source
design. If the source and target designs contain same named variables, you can choose to
Map Variable By Name. In this case, same named variables are mapped automatically.

Example That Uses Far Field Links

This section describes linking an HFSS project to an HFSS-IE project while using the common
feature of assigning Far Field Wave excitation.

The horn antenna enclosed in an air box in the figure below represents the source project designed
in HFSS.

The dish/reflector in the figure below is the target project designed in HFSS-IE.

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A perfect E-boundary is assigned on the reflector.

The Far Field Wave Options panel has the following settings.

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From the Setup Link option, the fields are set as shown in the figure to link the target to the source
project (the horn antenna).

A sample solution setup for this project is shown below:

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The resulting J Fields (magnetic fields) after solving the project are shown below.

Near Field Wave

A Near Field wave source is close enough to the design for near field effects to occur, typically
within one wave length. Objects in the near field wave source project should NOT be too close to

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the radiation surface where a Near Field Wave pings in. Near field waves tend to have both
evanescent and propagating content.

l Assign Near Field Wave

l Example that Uses Near Field Links
l Access Near Field External Data File
l ANSYS Near Field Data File
l Generate Near Field Data File
l Technical Notes: ANSYS Near Field Description Format Specification.

Assign Near Field Wave

This section describes the Near Field Wave Options panel on the Incident Wave Source dialog
box and how to assign near field waves. The following designs illustrate different ways of using
near field sourcing to run a range of analyses on a dish antenna fed by a circular horn antenna.

First we will bring up the Near Field Wave Options panel and then, assign Near Field Wave.

1. Click HFSS>Excitations>Assign>Linked Field>Near Field Wave.

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Note: If you are using HFSS-IE go to HFSS-IE>Excitations>Assign>Near Field Wave

The Incident Wave Source: General Data dialog box appears.

Fill in the Excitation name. The dialog supports the choices of E field only and H field only
external data.

2. Click Next to access the Near Field Wave Options panel.

Note: For array problems, the Active option includes the effects of the Near Field in the
simulation. To disable the effects, uncheck the Active option.

3. Determine whether you want to use a linked design or an external data file. If you are using a
linked design go to step 4. If you are using an external data file to use to Create External
Data Design..., go to Access Near Field External Data Fileand follow the instructions.

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4. Click the Setup Link button on the Incident Wave Source dialog to specify the linked
design.

Note: It is through the Setup Link dialog box that you will link the source design to your target
design.

5. On the Setup Link dialog box select the radio button Edit Link.

The fields in the dialog box become active and editable as shown below.

6. Select the product in which you created your source design from the Product drop down
list.

Note: Only HFSS, Maxwell, and SIWave appear in this list. An HFSS-IE project can be used as
target or source.

7. Specify the project that has the source design in one of the following ways:
a. Check Use This Project to pick a design from a current working project.
b. Click the ellipsis and browse your computer to pick the design.

Note The option The project directory of selected product points to the default project

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directory location relative to the product that you selected from the drop-down menu. This is
the same project directory that you set on the General Options dialog under Tools>
Options. This option is useful especially, when you link across different products. The
option This project points to the directory relative to where your current working project is
located.

8. Pick the source design from the Source Design drop-down menu which lists all the designs
in the specified project.
9. Pick the setup type from the Source Solution pull-down menu (e.g. Last Adaptive, or
Sweep, etc.).
10. Select the last two check boxes as needed and click OK.

Note Go to Simulate source design as needed, for more information about that option.

Preserve source design solution

This is the last option on the Setup Link dialog box. When the source design is closed or it is not
included in the project manager window containing the target design, the source design will not be
saved. However, if you select this option, which is useful when you are using Maxwell or SIWave

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the results of the source design is saved.

11. Close the Setup Link dialog, and if necessary, specify the Source Relative Coordinate
System on the Near Field Wave Options panel of the IncidentWave Source dialog box.

12. Click Finish to close the dialog. The Near Field wave source point and direction is
highlighted in the modeler window, and the wave appears in the Excitations list in the
Project.

Simulate source design as needed

Select this option if you modify the source design and you want an updated source design solution
to be linked to the target design. If you select this option, make sure that you invalidate the cached
link data in the target. To do this, right click Analysis and select the option Clear Linked Data
from the short-cut menu.

Example that Uses Near Field Links

The figure below shows a horn antenna that will be linked to a target disk where the source will be
included inside of the target.

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The Near Field Setup Link settings are as shown in the figure below.

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In the example of the horn antenna linking to a target dish, the co-ordinate systems of the source
and the target coincide.

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You can use the Source Relative Coordinate System menu to select the source co-ordinate
system. For instance if you want to move the source and its co-ordinate system closer to the dish by
15 mm you can edit the Relative CS properties for the origin.

The 3D polar plot with the values of directivity for the source project (the standalone horn antenna
without the dish) is shown below.

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Then, when we apply the fields to the Target project with the dish, we get the values of the
directivity shown in the figure below.

Note: The standalone horn antenna without the dish radiates in the negative Z direction while the
target project which includes the dish antenna, radiates in the positive Z-direction. The 3D polar
plot with the values of directivity after the application of the Near Field link is shown in the figure
below.

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Access Near Field External Data File

In this section we will show how to access a source of near field which is imposed on a target
design through a data file. Instead of using a Linked Design as a source for a near field you can
also use data files to impose the near field upon your target project.

Note For more information about Ansys Near Field Data File (*.and) format see the ANSYS Near
Field Data File section.

Presupposing that you have prepared the *.and file and associated near field data files:

1. Go to HFSS>Excitations>Assign>Linked Field>Near Field Wave.

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The Incident Wave Source: General Data dialog box appears.

It supports the choices of E field only and H field only external data.

2. Click Next to access the near field wave options.

3. Select the Create External Data Design button and browse your computer to access a
previously created *.and file, which describes the name and location of one or more the near
field data files (*.nfd).

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4. If necessary, specify the Source Relative Coordinate System on the Near Field Wave
Options panel of the IncidentWave Source dialog box.

Upon a successful source design generation, the datalink setup for the near field incident wave
source will be automatically set to the generated source design.

This auto-design generation is neither undo-able nor scriptable. This design becomes the source
design for external near field. This work flow allows you to view their external field data via HFSS.

Automatically generated design components include:

l Geometry

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The external data geometry and a region. The padding of the region is 1/5 of lambda. Lambda is
based on the highest frequency in the external data.

l Boundaries

By default, a radiation boundary is assigned on the region. However, you can replace this
boundary with a PML.

l Excitations

An External Near Field Data Excitation. This is an excitation type for user defined external near
field.

Accessing the External Near Field Data Excitation dialog can only be done through the Auto
Design under Excitations in Project tree. Other than the Name, no other properties this
Excitation are editable through this dialog. It exists to provide you with information about the
AND File that was used to create this Auto-Design.

l Analysis

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A default solve setup is created with the adaptive frequency set to the highest frequency in the
external data

A discrete frequency sweep is created if multiple frequencies are present in the External Data.

5. When you run the Analysis of your target design, it uses this newly created source design for
the Near Fields.

ANSYS Near Field Data File

The data file that you select when you click the Create External Design button of the Incident
Wave Source dialog box is in the *.and format. The *.and file describes the location and contents
of one or more Ansys Near Field Data Files which are in the *.nfd format. If no units are specified
for spherical or Cartesian coordinates, the *.ndf files use SI units of radians and meters
respectively. You can append units, such as mm or deg, as needed for each coordinate value.

An example of a *.and file is shown below, followed by examples of .nfd files with Cartesian and
Cylindrical coordinate systems. The File format specification is provided in Technical Notes:
ANSYS Near Field Description Format Specification.

Sample *.and File

$begin 'NearFieldHeader'

type = 'nfd'

geometry = 'sphere'

center = '0mm, 0mm, 0mm'

radius = '20mm'

fsweep='1GHz, 10GHz'

$end 'NearFieldHeader'

$begin 'NearFieldData'

FreqData("1GHz", "exportfields-1GHz.nfd")

FreqData("2GHz", "exportfields-2GHz.nfd")

FreqData("3GHz", "exportfields-3GHz.nfd")

FreqData("4GHz", "exportfields-4GHz.nfd")

FreqData("5GHz", "exportfields-5GHz.nfd")

FreqData("6GHz", "exportfields-6GHz.nfd")

FreqData("7GHz", "exportfields-7GHz.nfd")

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FreqData("8GHz", "exportfields-8GHz.nfd")

FreqData("9GHz", "exportfields-9GHz.nfd")

FreqData("10GHz", "exportfields-10GHz.nfd")

$end 'NearFieldData'

This example is a simple text file and saved with the .and extension. It is clear from the sample that
the near field data was generated on a sphere centered at the origin and radius = 20mm for
frequencies 1 GHz through 10 GHz. For the sample *.and file 10 *.nfd files are specified so 10 *.nfd
files were generated. Examples of such Ansys Near Field Data Files (exportfields-1GHz.nfd) are
shown below.

Users can also use external data in the field format of J and M, J only and M only.

Sample NFD File in Cartesian Coordinate System

The sample below shows the near field data that the *.nfd file contains. The file uniquely specifies
the position of several points (700 in this case) and the real and imaginary values of the E field and
H field vectors at these points along the x, y, and z axes in the Cartesian Coordinate system.
#Index, X, Y, Z, Ex(real, imag), Ey(real, imag), Ez(real, imag), Hx
(real, imag), Hy(real, imag), Hz(real, imag)

Frequencies 5

Frequency 1.000000e+009

1, 0, 0, 0.02, 0.0938, -0.1140, -0.0136, -0.0132, -0.6038,

-0.4006, 0.0004, -0.0004, -0.0006, -0.0008, -0.0037, 0.0038

....... ....... ....... ....... ....... .......

....... ....... ....... ....... ....... .......

700, 2.1e-018, -1.2e-018, -0.02, 0.0839, -0.1080, -0.0125,

-0.012, -0.0213, 0.1423, -0.0002, 0.0002, 0.0003, 0.0009,
-0.003, 0.0032

Frequency 5.000000e+009

....... ....... ....... ....... ....... .......

....... ....... ....... ....... ....... .......

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Sample NFD File in Spherical Coordinate System

The sample below shows the near field data that the *.nfd file contains. The file uniquely specifies
the position of several points (700 in this case) and the real and imaginary values of the E field and
H field vectors at these points along the r, theta, and phi directions in the Spherical Coordinate
system.
#Index, Theta, Phi, Er(real, imag), Etheta(real, imag), Ephi(real,
imag), Hr(real, imag), Htheta(real, imag), Hphi(real, imag)

Frequencies 5

Frequency 1.000000e+009

1, 0.000000e+000, 0.000000e+000, -1.835144e-001, -1.822055e-001, -

2.648018e-002, -2.096681e-001, -1.281892e-001, -5.361222e-002,
1.279651e-004, -1.016122e-004, 6.289402e-004, -6.598072e-004, -
1.281892e-001, -5.361222e-002

....... ....... ....... ....... ....... .......

....... ....... ....... ....... ....... .......

700, 3.141593e+000, 5.759587e+000, -1.282983e-001, -1.141968e-001, -

2.207641e-001, -9.119582e-002, -2.669357e-001, -1.063323e-001,
6.827586e-005, -9.142062e-005, 1.030250e-003, -1.406250e-003, -
2.669357e-001, -1.063323e-001

Frequency 5.000000e+009

....... ....... ....... ....... ....... .......

....... ....... ....... ....... ....... .......

....... ....... ....... ....... ....... .......

Related Topics

Technical Notes: Incident Waves

Technical Notes: ANSYS Near Field Description Format Specification

Clearing Linked Data

Using Field Solutions from Other Simulators

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Access Near Field External Data File

ANSYS Near Field Data File

The data file that you select when you click the Create External Design button of the Incident
Wave Source dialog box is in the *.and format. The *.and file describes the location and contents
of one or more Ansys Near Field Data Files which are in the *.nfd format. If no units are specified
for spherical or Cartesian coordinates, the *.ndf files use SI units of radians and meters
respectively. You can append units, such as mm or deg, as needed for each coordinate value.

An example of a *.and file is shown below, followed by examples of .nfd files with Cartesian and
Cylindrical coordinate systems. The File format specification is provided in Technical Notes:
ANSYS Near Field Description Format Specification.

Sample *.and File

$begin 'NearFieldHeader'

type = 'nfd'

geometry = 'sphere'

center = '0mm, 0mm, 0mm'

radius = '20mm'

fsweep='1GHz, 10GHz'

$end 'NearFieldHeader'

$begin 'NearFieldData'

FreqData("1GHz", "exportfields-1GHz.nfd")

FreqData("2GHz", "exportfields-2GHz.nfd")

FreqData("3GHz", "exportfields-3GHz.nfd")

FreqData("4GHz", "exportfields-4GHz.nfd")

FreqData("5GHz", "exportfields-5GHz.nfd")

FreqData("6GHz", "exportfields-6GHz.nfd")

FreqData("7GHz", "exportfields-7GHz.nfd")

FreqData("8GHz", "exportfields-8GHz.nfd")

FreqData("9GHz", "exportfields-9GHz.nfd")

FreqData("10GHz", "exportfields-10GHz.nfd")

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$end 'NearFieldData'

This example is a simple text file and saved with the .and extension. It is clear from the sample that
the near field data was generated on a sphere centered at the origin and radius = 20mm for
frequencies 1 GHz through 10 GHz. For the sample *.and file 10 *.nfd files are specified so 10 *.nfd
files were generated. Examples of such Ansys Near Field Data Files (exportfields-1GHz.nfd) are
shown below.

Users can also use external data in the field format of J and M, J only and M only.

Sample NFD File in Cartesian Coordinate System

The sample below shows the near field data that the *.nfd file contains. The file uniquely specifies
the position of several points (700 in this case) and the real and imaginary values of the E field and
H field vectors at these points along the x, y, and z axes in the Cartesian Coordinate system.
#Index, X, Y, Z, Ex(real, imag), Ey(real, imag), Ez(real, imag), Hx
(real, imag), Hy(real, imag), Hz(real, imag)

Frequencies 5

Frequency 1.000000e+009

1, 0, 0, 0.02, 0.0938, -0.1140, -0.0136, -0.0132, -0.6038,

-0.4006, 0.0004, -0.0004, -0.0006, -0.0008, -0.0037, 0.0038

....... ....... ....... ....... ....... .......

....... ....... ....... ....... ....... .......

700, 2.1e-018, -1.2e-018, -0.02, 0.0839, -0.1080, -0.0125,

-0.012, -0.0213, 0.1423, -0.0002, 0.0002, 0.0003, 0.0009,
-0.003, 0.0032

Frequency 5.000000e+009

....... ....... ....... ....... ....... .......

....... ....... ....... ....... ....... .......

Sample NFD File in Spherical Coordinate System

The sample below shows the near field data that the *.nfd file contains. The file uniquely specifies
the position of several points (700 in this case) and the real and imaginary values of the E field and
H field vectors at these points along the r, theta, and phi directions in the Spherical Coordinate
system.

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#Index, Theta, Phi, Er(real, imag), Etheta(real, imag), Ephi(real,

imag), Hr(real, imag), Htheta(real, imag), Hphi(real, imag)

Frequencies 5

Frequency 1.000000e+009

1, 0.000000e+000, 0.000000e+000, -1.835144e-001, -1.822055e-001, -

2.648018e-002, -2.096681e-001, -1.281892e-001, -5.361222e-002,
1.279651e-004, -1.016122e-004, 6.289402e-004, -6.598072e-004, -
1.281892e-001, -5.361222e-002

....... ....... ....... ....... ....... .......

....... ....... ....... ....... ....... .......

700, 3.141593e+000, 5.759587e+000, -1.282983e-001, -1.141968e-001, -

2.207641e-001, -9.119582e-002, -2.669357e-001, -1.063323e-001,
6.827586e-005, -9.142062e-005, 1.030250e-003, -1.406250e-003, -
2.669357e-001, -1.063323e-001

Frequency 5.000000e+009

....... ....... ....... ....... ....... .......

....... ....... ....... ....... ....... .......

....... ....... ....... ....... ....... .......

Related Topics

Technical Notes: Incident Waves

Technical Notes: ANSYS Near Field Description Format Specification

Clearing Linked Data

Using Field Solutions from Other Simulators

Access Near Field External Data File

ANSYS Near Field Data File

The data file that you select when you click the Create External Design button of the Incident
Wave Source dialog box is in the *.and format. The *.and file describes the location and contents
of one or more Ansys Near Field Data Files which are in the *.nfd format. If no units are specified

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for spherical or Cartesian coordinates, the *.ndf files use SI units of radians and meters
respectively. You can append units, such as mm or deg, as needed for each coordinate value.

An example of a *.and file is shown below, followed by examples of .nfd files with Cartesian and
Cylindrical coordinate systems. The File format specification is provided in Technical Notes:
ANSYS Near Field Description Format Specification.

Sample *.and File

$begin 'NearFieldHeader'

type = 'nfd'

geometry = 'sphere'

center = '0mm, 0mm, 0mm'

radius = '20mm'

fsweep='1GHz, 10GHz'

$end 'NearFieldHeader'

$begin 'NearFieldData'

FreqData("1GHz", "exportfields-1GHz.nfd")

FreqData("2GHz", "exportfields-2GHz.nfd")

FreqData("3GHz", "exportfields-3GHz.nfd")

FreqData("4GHz", "exportfields-4GHz.nfd")

FreqData("5GHz", "exportfields-5GHz.nfd")

FreqData("6GHz", "exportfields-6GHz.nfd")

FreqData("7GHz", "exportfields-7GHz.nfd")

FreqData("8GHz", "exportfields-8GHz.nfd")

FreqData("9GHz", "exportfields-9GHz.nfd")

FreqData("10GHz", "exportfields-10GHz.nfd")

$end 'NearFieldData'

This example is a simple text file and saved with the .and extension. It is clear from the sample that
the near field data was generated on a sphere centered at the origin and radius = 20mm for
frequencies 1 GHz through 10 GHz. For the sample *.and file 10 *.nfd files are specified so 10 *.nfd

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files were generated. Examples of such Ansys Near Field Data Files (exportfields-1GHz.nfd) are
shown below.

Users can also use external data in the field format of J and M, J only and M only.

Sample NFD File in Cartesian Coordinate System

The sample below shows the near field data that the *.nfd file contains. The file uniquely specifies
the position of several points (700 in this case) and the real and imaginary values of the E field and
H field vectors at these points along the x, y, and z axes in the Cartesian Coordinate system.
#Index, X, Y, Z, Ex(real, imag), Ey(real, imag), Ez(real, imag), Hx
(real, imag), Hy(real, imag), Hz(real, imag)

Frequencies 5

Frequency 1.000000e+009

1, 0, 0, 0.02, 0.0938, -0.1140, -0.0136, -0.0132, -0.6038,

-0.4006, 0.0004, -0.0004, -0.0006, -0.0008, -0.0037, 0.0038

....... ....... ....... ....... ....... .......

....... ....... ....... ....... ....... .......

700, 2.1e-018, -1.2e-018, -0.02, 0.0839, -0.1080, -0.0125,

-0.012, -0.0213, 0.1423, -0.0002, 0.0002, 0.0003, 0.0009,
-0.003, 0.0032

Frequency 5.000000e+009

....... ....... ....... ....... ....... .......

....... ....... ....... ....... ....... .......

Sample NFD File in Spherical Coordinate System

The sample below shows the near field data that the *.nfd file contains. The file uniquely specifies
the position of several points (700 in this case) and the real and imaginary values of the E field and
H field vectors at these points along the r, theta, and phi directions in the Spherical Coordinate
system.
#Index, Theta, Phi, Er(real, imag), Etheta(real, imag), Ephi(real,
imag), Hr(real, imag), Htheta(real, imag), Hphi(real, imag)

Frequencies 5

Frequency 1.000000e+009

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1, 0.000000e+000, 0.000000e+000, -1.835144e-001, -1.822055e-001, -

2.648018e-002, -2.096681e-001, -1.281892e-001, -5.361222e-002,
1.279651e-004, -1.016122e-004, 6.289402e-004, -6.598072e-004, -
1.281892e-001, -5.361222e-002

....... ....... ....... ....... ....... .......

....... ....... ....... ....... ....... .......

700, 3.141593e+000, 5.759587e+000, -1.282983e-001, -1.141968e-001, -

2.207641e-001, -9.119582e-002, -2.669357e-001, -1.063323e-001,
6.827586e-005, -9.142062e-005, 1.030250e-003, -1.406250e-003, -
2.669357e-001, -1.063323e-001

Frequency 5.000000e+009

....... ....... ....... ....... ....... .......

....... ....... ....... ....... ....... .......

....... ....... ....... ....... ....... .......

Related Topics

Technical Notes: Incident Waves

Technical Notes: ANSYS Near Field Description Format Specification

Clearing Linked Data

Using Field Solutions from Other Simulators

Access Near Field External Data File

ANSYS Near Field Data File

The data file that you select when you click the Create External Design button of the Incident
Wave Source dialog box is in the *.and format. The *.and file describes the location and contents
of one or more Ansys Near Field Data Files which are in the *.nfd format. If no units are specified
for spherical or Cartesian coordinates, the *.ndf files use SI units of radians and meters
respectively. You can append units, such as mm or deg, as needed for each coordinate value.

An example of a *.and file is shown below, followed by examples of .nfd files with Cartesian and
Cylindrical coordinate systems. The File format specification is provided in Technical Notes:
ANSYS Near Field Description Format Specification.

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Sample *.and File

$begin 'NearFieldHeader'

type = 'nfd'

geometry = 'sphere'

center = '0mm, 0mm, 0mm'

radius = '20mm'

fsweep='1GHz, 10GHz'

$end 'NearFieldHeader'

$begin 'NearFieldData'

FreqData("1GHz", "exportfields-1GHz.nfd")

FreqData("2GHz", "exportfields-2GHz.nfd")

FreqData("3GHz", "exportfields-3GHz.nfd")

FreqData("4GHz", "exportfields-4GHz.nfd")

FreqData("5GHz", "exportfields-5GHz.nfd")

FreqData("6GHz", "exportfields-6GHz.nfd")

FreqData("7GHz", "exportfields-7GHz.nfd")

FreqData("8GHz", "exportfields-8GHz.nfd")

FreqData("9GHz", "exportfields-9GHz.nfd")

FreqData("10GHz", "exportfields-10GHz.nfd")

$end 'NearFieldData'

This example is a simple text file and saved with the .and extension. It is clear from the sample that
the near field data was generated on a sphere centered at the origin and radius = 20mm for
frequencies 1 GHz through 10 GHz. For the sample *.and file 10 *.nfd files are specified so 10 *.nfd
files were generated. Examples of such Ansys Near Field Data Files (exportfields-1GHz.nfd) are
shown below.

Users can also use external data in the field format of J and M, J only and M only.

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Sample NFD File in Cartesian Coordinate System

The sample below shows the near field data that the *.nfd file contains. The file uniquely specifies
the position of several points (700 in this case) and the real and imaginary values of the E field and
H field vectors at these points along the x, y, and z axes in the Cartesian Coordinate system.
#Index, X, Y, Z, Ex(real, imag), Ey(real, imag), Ez(real, imag), Hx
(real, imag), Hy(real, imag), Hz(real, imag)

Frequencies 5

Frequency 1.000000e+009

1, 0, 0, 0.02, 0.0938, -0.1140, -0.0136, -0.0132, -0.6038,

-0.4006, 0.0004, -0.0004, -0.0006, -0.0008, -0.0037, 0.0038

....... ....... ....... ....... ....... .......

....... ....... ....... ....... ....... .......

700, 2.1e-018, -1.2e-018, -0.02, 0.0839, -0.1080, -0.0125,

-0.012, -0.0213, 0.1423, -0.0002, 0.0002, 0.0003, 0.0009,
-0.003, 0.0032

Frequency 5.000000e+009

....... ....... ....... ....... ....... .......

....... ....... ....... ....... ....... .......

Sample NFD File in Spherical Coordinate System

The sample below shows the near field data that the *.nfd file contains. The file uniquely specifies
the position of several points (700 in this case) and the real and imaginary values of the E field and
H field vectors at these points along the r, theta, and phi directions in the Spherical Coordinate
system.
#Index, Theta, Phi, Er(real, imag), Etheta(real, imag), Ephi(real,
imag), Hr(real, imag), Htheta(real, imag), Hphi(real, imag)

Frequencies 5

Frequency 1.000000e+009

1, 0.000000e+000, 0.000000e+000, -1.835144e-001, -1.822055e-001, -

2.648018e-002, -2.096681e-001, -1.281892e-001, -5.361222e-002,

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1.279651e-004, -1.016122e-004, 6.289402e-004, -6.598072e-004, -

1.281892e-001, -5.361222e-002

....... ....... ....... ....... ....... .......

....... ....... ....... ....... ....... .......

700, 3.141593e+000, 5.759587e+000, -1.282983e-001, -1.141968e-001, -

2.207641e-001, -9.119582e-002, -2.669357e-001, -1.063323e-001,
6.827586e-005, -9.142062e-005, 1.030250e-003, -1.406250e-003, -
2.669357e-001, -1.063323e-001

Frequency 5.000000e+009

....... ....... ....... ....... ....... .......

....... ....... ....... ....... ....... .......

....... ....... ....... ....... ....... .......

Related Topics

Technical Notes: Incident Waves

Technical Notes: ANSYS Near Field Description Format Specification

Clearing Linked Data

Using Field Solutions from Other Simulators

Access Near Field External Data File

Generate Near Field Data File

Generate the *.nfd file from your existing data or from solved HFSS design with near fields using
the following steps.

1. Right click the previously created near-field Sphere or Line1 under Radiation as shown
below.

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2. Select Compute Max Parameters.

3. The Max Field Data dialog box appears for the selected Line or Sphere as shown below.

4. Click Export Fields and save the file in the .nfd format.

You can use an *.and file to refer to one or more *.nfd files to describe near fields.

Related Topics

Technical Notes: Incident Waves

Technical Notes: ANSYS Near Field Description Format Specification

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Clearing Linked Data

Using Field Solutions from Other Simulators

Access Near Field External Data File

Cable Network
A Cable Network is linked field excitation used as part an overall cable solution implemented as
dynamic data links between HFSS, 2D Extractor, and Circuit.

l Each cable harness in HFSS is modeled as a single external field source based on quasi-
static simulation of each cable cross section in 2D Extractor and an analysis of the cable
network in Circuit. The magnitude and distribution of the fields along each cable section is
determined by the voltages and currents at the ends of each section, and then transmission
line model is applied to propagate these fields along the cable length.

This HFSS design is a target of a new “Cable Field” coupled field datalink. The source of the
datalink is the Circuit design that models the cable network. Each Cable Network will be
treated as a single source and can be scaled at Edit Sources.

To setup a Cable Network datalink, in the HFSS Modeler window, you select all 3D cable
cables that are part of a network. Then click HFSS>Excitations>Assign>Linked
Field>Cable Network... or right-click Excitations>Assign>Linked Field>Cable
Network... This opens the Cable Network Setup dialog:

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You have a field for the name, and selections for Incident Field, Enforced E Field, and
Enforced H Field.

l To specify the Circuit design, user can go to the second page and click the button “Setup
Link…”. This displays the Setup Link dialog.

l After specifying the source design, you switch to the Component Mapping tab to setup the

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mapping between each cable section in HFSS and a circuit component.

Click OK to exit the Setup Link dialog and complete the rest of the link setup in the Cable
Network Source dialog.

For each cable section, you need to specify:

1. The In-plane rotation of the HFSS 3D section to the 2D Extractor cross section by a
direction line (which will be the local X axis of the cable cross section face). The
default is zero in-plane rotation, which is represented by a direction line originated at
the starting point of the polyline and ended at the seam of the cable.

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You can create new line or reverse the Y axis of the start cable cross section face.

2. The X and Y axis on both start and end faces are shown, which is useful when you
want to align multiple cable orientations.

3. You map pins in Circuit to wires at ends of the cable in HFSS by specifying the starting
end of the cable as “In Terminals” or “Out Terminals”. By default, the starting end of
the cable is selected as the “In Terminals”. The “In” and “Out” faces are highlighted in
the View window.

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You can override the default selection by toggling the menu at the “Set Cable Start
Face As” column.

Floating Cable/Linked Region

A Floating cable is defined as a cable object floating outside of FEM solution region. In order to
define a floating cable, you need to define a linked region. A  Linked region is used only for one-way
link. We assume the source is inside the linked region, and the linked region only radiates to the
field but does not have field scattered back to the region.

You can assign near/far field as well as a cable network to a linked region.

The Assign Linked Region menu item is in Assign Hybrid.

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Linked region appears under “Hybrid Region” folder in project tree.

Cable Network Link Validation

1. The number of 2D Extractor components in circuit should be equal to number of HFSS cable
object
2. For each cable object, the 2D cross section center should match the center of the start face
in local coordinate system.
3. For each cable object, the 2D cross section perimeter should match the perimeter of the start
face.
4. The cross section should be perpendicular to the cable path in HFSS.

Using Field Solutions from Other Simulations

HFSS and HFSS-IE can use field solutions from other simulations as source designs. The source
designs can be done in HFSS, SIwave or Maxwell3D. Some examples are as follows

l A detailed and optimized design of a cell phone radiating in a larger environment (HFSS to
HFSS).
l A complicated printed circuit board causing EMC/EMI problems in and around its housing
(SIwave to HFSS).

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l An electromechanical component causing EMC/EMI problems in a vehicle (Maxwell3D to

HFSS).

In all cases, radiated fields from the source project are imposed as an incident wave in the target
project.

These radiated fields can both be far fields and near fields, depending on your judgment of what fits
a particular situation. In the target project, they are defined through Incident Wave / Far Field Wave
and Incident Wave / Near-Field Wave. There, the link to the source project can be established.

Note: The environment variable SIWAVE_INSTALL_DIR should be set before executing the
parent application like HFSS because SIwave is launched from HFSS and not separately.

Also, in the target project, radiation boundaries with Advanced Options must be defined in order to
specify where the fields from the source project enter the target project.

Note Avoid using identically sized and shaped surfaces in the target project as if was in the
source project. Use a surface that is little bit smaller or larger. This helps you avoid singular
far field integral calculations.

HFSS-IE Link

You can link HFSS and HFSS-IE projects. The link is controlled with a "Near Field" or "Far-Field"
Incident Wave source that is grouped with the Excitations.

l Far Field Wave

l Near Field Wave

Related Topics

HFSS-IE Feature

Assigning Voltage Sources

A voltage source in HFSS can be defined on a surface located anywhere in the 3D problem space.
Typically the source is placed on a surface between two conductors such that a user defined total
voltage is maintained between the conductors. Voltage source is used when the feed structure is
very small compared to the wavelength and a constant electric field may be assumed across the
feed points; in this case, HFSS assigns a constant electric field across the gap on which you
specified the voltage.

Note: For more information, see Voltage Source in Technical Notes.

1. Select the object face to which you want to assign the voltage source, and click
HFSS>Excitations>Assign>Voltage to display the Voltage Source dialog box.

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2. Specify the direction of the electric field by drawing a vector.

When the source is selected, an arrow indicates the direction and a letter v indicates the type of
source.

Note: For Transient Solution types, you also designate sources as Active and Passive.

Port sources are created and solved with unit magnitude and 0 degree phase. They can be scaled
within the Edit Sources dialog.

Note: The E-field direction can be reversed from the Voltage Source dialog box.

Related Topics

Scaling Magnitude and Phase Using the Edit Sources dialog.

Active and Passive Excitation in HFSS Transient

Modifying Voltage Sources

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Assigning Current Sources

Assign a current source when you want to define the direction of the current flow through a surface.
A current source is used when the feed structure is very small compared to the wavelength and the
electric current on the surface is assumed to be constant across the feed points.

Note: For more information, see Current Sources in Technical Notes.

1. Select the object face to which you want to assign the current source and click
HFSS>Excitations>Assign>Current to display the Current Source dialog box.

2. Specify the current flow direction by drawing a vector:

When the source is selected, an arrow indicates the direction and a letter i indicates the type of
source.

3. For Transient Solution types., you also designate sources as Active and Passive.

Port sources are created and solved with unit magnitude and 0 degree phase. They can be scaled
within the Edit Sources dialog.

Related Topics

Scaling Magnitude and Phase Using the Edit Sources dialog.

Active and Passive Excitation in HFSS Transient

Modifying Current Sources

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Modifying Voltage or Current Sources

To change the name, value, or electric field direction of an assigned voltage/current source:

1. Double-click the source's icon under Excitations in the project tree.

The Voltage Source/Current Source dialog box appears.

2. Edit the name or value of the source.

3. Select Swap Endpoints from the E-Field Direction/Current Flow Direction pull-down list
to reverse the direction of the e-field/current flow.

The start and endpoints of the E-field/current flow line are switched; the line's direction is
reversed.

Assigning Magnetic Bias Sources

When you create a ferrite material, define the net internal field that biases the ferrite by assigning a
magnetic bias source. The bias field aligns the magnetic dipoles in the ferrite, producing a non-zero
magnetic moment.

1. Select the 3D ferrite object to which you want to assign the magnetic bias source.
2. Click HFSS>Excitations>Assign>Magnetic Bias.
3. Specify whether the applied bias field is Uniform or Non-uniform.

If a design already contains a magnetic bias field, you cannot assign another of a different type.
If a single bias field exists in a design, you can edit the type.

4. If you selected the Uniform radio button, click Next and do the following:
a. In the Internal Bias field, type the value of the ferrite in amperes/meters. You can assign
a variable as this value.
b. Enter the rotation of the permeability tensor with respect to the xyz-coordinate system in
the X Angle, Y Angle, and Z Angle boxes. You can assign variables to these values.

If you selected Non-uniform, select the Setup Link... button to display the Setup Link dialog.
Under the General tab, do the following:

a. Select the radio button for Extractor Mode (the default) or Interactive Mode. Note that
in Extractor mode, the source project will be saved upon exit. Extractor mode means
that the software is opened during the link solely for the purpose of solving. Selecting
Interactive Mode launches Maxwell.

(If you open the Setup dialog for a pre-existing Magnetic Bias source, the General tab
shows radio buttons for View Only and Edit Link. With View Only selected (the
default), all of the link settings are grayed out. Selecting Edit Link enables the fields and
changes the radio buttons to Extractor Mode and Interactive Mode.)

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b. Type the name of a Maxwell 3D Field Simulator project in the Project File box, or click
the ellipsis [...] browse button display a file browser to select the project.

HFSS uses the Maxwell 3D project as the source of the non-uniform magnetostatic field
information during solution generation. Linking invokes a Maxwell 3D window to provide the
solution for the targeted HFSS project.

c. If there are multiple designs available for the project, you can select from the drop down
menu.
d. If there are multiple solutions available, you can select from the drop-down menu.

The "Default" solution is the product dependent solution of the first Setup.

That is the setup listed first in the source design's project tree (alphanumerical order). A
product specific solution of this setup becomes the default solution. In most products, it is
LastAdaptive. In a Transient solution type, it is "Transient."

e. Use the radio button to specify whether to save the source path relative to The project
directory of the source project or This project.
f. Use the check box specify whether to Simulate source design as needed.
g. Use the check box to specify whether to preserve the source design solution. Note
that in Extractor mode, the source project will be saved upon exit. Extractor mode
means that the software is opened during the link solely for the purpose of solving.

The Setup Link dialog also contains a Variable Mapping tab.

It lists variables available within the Maxwell 3D Field Simulator and the value can (and often
will) be a variable in the HFSS Setup. You can edit the Value fields by typing, and the Units
fields by selecting from a drop down list. You can choose to Map Variable By Name. In this
case, same named variables have their values mapped automatically. Different named
variables are unaffected.

To accept the settings and close the Setup Link dialog, click OK

5. Click Finish to close the Magnetic Bias wizard.

The magnetic bias source is assigned to the selected object. If you have set up a link, HFSS
invokes a Maxwell 3D window to provide the solution for the targeted HFSS project.

You can also access and edit the magnetic bias source information via the Properties dialog for
the source. Magnetic bias sources always have the lowest priority compared to boundaries and
other excitations in the solver view.

Related Topics

Reprioritizing Boundaries and Excitations.

For more information, see the following topics in Technical Notes.

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Magnetic Bias Sources

Uniform Applied Bias Fields

Non-uniform Applied Bias Fields

Magnetic Saturation

Applications for Deembedding

Deembedding helps to calculate the S-parameters near or on the plane of a discontinuity or when a
long transmission line is attached to the port plane instead of explicitly modeling it in HFSS. For
lossless ports, when you deembed them into or out of the model, there is change only in the phase
of the S-parameters but not in the magnitude. For lossy ports, aside of the change in the phase of
the S-parameters, there is only a slight change in the magnitude. Deembedding saves time and
significantly reduces the simulation efforts.

Extract Input Impedance: Use Deembedding

This section describes how to extract the input impedance in the microstrip fed patch antenna
model shown in the figure below. The port (highlighted in red ink) is placed at an appropriate
distance away from the discontinuity. We cannot place the port near the intersection of the trace
and the patch antenna i.e. at the discontinuity. However, if you want to measure the input
impedance at the discontinuity, you can deembed the port as shown by the blue arrow in the figure.

For lossless ports, deembedding will not change the magnitude of the S-parameters. It will only
change the phase.

Related Topics

Wave Port Placement.

Modeling Long Transmission Line: Use Deembedding and Port Solver

Suppose you want to model a 20 inch differential pair PCB microstrip transmission line as shown
below.

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Of course you can explicitly draw a 20 inch length of the microstrip model, define a port on either
end and extract a 4-terminal S-parameter matrix from the simulation.

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However, this model is 2D in the transverse plane since the distribution of the field occurs only in
the transverse plane and does not vary in magnitude along the transmission line where all that
changes is the relative phase of the fields. To extract S-parameters from such a long transmission
line, you only need to model a minimal length of the transmission line and then, deembed the ports -
thus leverage the information extracted from the 2D port solver and by deembedding generate all
the relevant 2D aspect of the transmission line structure in its entirety.

Although this is a 2D problem, HFSS being a 3D simulation tool requires creation of two ports each
with two terminals separated by a minimal physical distance. For this separation distance as a rule
of thumb use some dimension associated with the cross section of the transmission line such as the
thickness of the trace or the substrate. Such a rule of thumb will ensure a physically small model
needing fewer mesh elements than the explicitly long model as well as a mesh with high quality
characteristics. Solve the model of this minimal length and then deembed outwards from the ports,
using a negative sign in the deembed distance fields to effectively add the additional length to
generate a model. This deembedding operation will add the effect of phase delay and additional
dielectric and conduction losses to the resulting S-parameter from this model.

Note: We only use the propagation constant (referred to as gamma) to de-embed and
characteristic impedance is only needed if renorm takes place.

So, in the transmission line model shown in the figures below the explicit model length is 0.02"
corresponding to the thickness of the microstrip trace. To extract a 20" length model from such an

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analysis the ports can be dembedded outwards with a length DL = (20 - 0.02)"/2 = 9.99". This
model is 1000 times smaller and the simulation effort is reduced greatly.

The figures below shows the model of a 0.02" transmission line that can be used with
deembedding to model a 20" long transmission line.

The plot for S-parameters before and after deembedding from the explicitly short model
is shown below. The curve 1 (not deembedded) is a typical S(1,1) plot for a short
transmission line. Curve 2 (with deembedding) represents the behavior of a long
transmission line with many resonances in the frequency range.

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Extract Screening Impedance: Use Deembedding

This section shows how to extract the equivalent surface impedance of a screen by deembedding
the distance of the ports. A unit cell of a periodic screen is modeled as shown in the figure below.
The port is placed at a certain distance away from the scatterer. The screening impedance
replaces a scattering planar periodic structure by homogeneous anisotropic boundary conditions.

Note: For more information, see the section on Wave Port Placement.

A blue arrow depicts the dembedding distance while the port is selected, once you set the options
under Deembed Settings. For a unit cell modeling equivalent screening impedance, the
deembedding distances should point to the nearest surfaces of the substrate even if there is a
thickness between these surfaces.

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For port 1, the tip of the deembed arrow should touch the upper surface of the substrate. For port 2,
it should touch the lower surface of the substrate.

You do not need to re-run a simulation in order to de-embed the S-matrix. Post-processing reports
are automatically updated to reflect the deembedded S-matrix.

Related Topics

Exporting Matrix Data

Technical Notes: Renormalized S-Matrices

Technical Notes: De-embedded S-Matrices

Technical Notes: Deembedding

Setup Link Dialog

Linked data can be mesh, field or some other post-processing data that the source design
generated. The Setup link dialog permits you to link the current project to another for:

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l Magnetic Bias source

l Near Field Wave source
l Far Field Wave source
l Initial Mesh source
l Linked Impedance Boundaries in HFSS
l Linked Impedance Boundaries in HFSS-IE

You can link HFSS and HFSS-IE projects. This link is controlled with a "Near Field" or "Far-Field"
Incident Wave source that is grouped with the Excitations.

Related Topics

Clearing Linked Data

Modifying Excitations
To change the properties of an excitation, do one of the following:

l Double-click the excitation's icon under Excitations in the project tree.

The excitation's properties window appears, in which you can modify its properties.

l Right-click the excitation in the project tree, and then click Properties on the shortcut menu.

The excitation's dialog box appears, in which you can modify its properties.

l On the HFSS menu, click List.

The Design List dialog box appears. Under the Excitations tab, you can modify the properties
of one or more boundaries.

The following modifications to an excitation are possible:

l Change its properties.

l Delete it.
l Reassign it to another surface.
l Reprioritize it.
l Hide it from view.
l Show Nets for DC Continuity for 3D Conductors.
l Modify the impedance multiplier.
l Deembed the port.
l Set up Differential Pairs

For HFSS Transient solutions, render it Active or Passive.

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Note The most common source of errors in simulations are related to defining ports. Examine your
ports, their definitions, and inspect problem areas by using the Zoom to option. For more
information, see Zoom to Selection.

To show or Hide Excitations

See Setting Boundary and Excitation Visualization Options.

See Show Nets for DC Continuity for 3D Conductors.

Related Topics

Modifying the Model View

Zoom to Selected Excitation

Active and Passive Excitation in HFSS Transient

Show Nets for DC Continuity for 3D Conductors.

Deleting Excitations
To delete one excitation:

1. Select the excitation you want to delete by clicking its icon in the project tree.

2. Click Edit>Delete .

The excitation is removed from the design and the project tree.

For terminal solutions, if you delete a port with terminals associated with it, deleting the port also
removes the associated terminals.

To delete all excitations:

l Click HFSS>Excitations>Delete All.

You can also delete one or more excitations in the Design List dialog box:

1. Click HFSS>List.

The Design List dialog box appears.

2. Under the Excitations tab, click the row of the excitation you want to delete.
3. Click Delete.

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Reassigning Excitations
You can reassign an excitation to another surface. This is useful when you have modified objects
with assigned excitations, invalidating the excitations. For example, if you unite two objects with
assigned excitations, the second object's excitation will become invalid because united objects
maintain the characteristics of the first object selected. In this case, you would need to reassign the
excitation or delete it.

1. Select the object or object face to which you want to assign an existing excitation.
2. Click HFSS>Excitations>Reassign.

The Reassign Excitationwindow appears.

3. Select an existing excitation from the list, and then click OK.

The excitation is reassigned to the object or object face.

Note: When reassigning an excitation that includes vectors in its definition, HFSS attempts to
preserve the vectors with the new assignment, but this is not always possible.

Setting the Impedance Multiplier

For designs with ports.

If one or more symmetry planes have been defined or if only a wedge of a structure is modeled, you
must adjust the impedance multiplier or the computed impedances will not be for the full structure.

Note: Changing the impedance multiplier invalidates solutions in projects where lumped ports are
defined. In such projects, you need to re-solve the project after the change.

1. Click HFSS>Excitations>Edit Impedance Multiplier.

The Port Impedance Multiplier dialog box appears.

2. Type a value in the Impedance Multiplier box.

You can assign a variable as this value.

3. Click OK.

Related Topics

Technical Notes: Symmetry and Port Impedance

Technical Notes: Impedance Multipliers

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Show Nets for DC Continuity for 3D Conductors

For Terminal Solution types, you can use the Show Nets command to visualize DC continuity and
terminal associations for 3D conductors and terminals assigned to the edge/face of 2D objects
when the 2D object or its face is assigned as a "Port" (terminal is always assigned on a port) or the
port is touching the 3D conducting object.

The Show Nets command appears in the HFSS>Excitations menu and by right-clicking on
Excitations in the Project tree.

Selecting Show Nets... displays the Net Visualization dialog that lists the nets and associated
terminals. You can use the dialog to select any net or terminal. You can continue to work in the
Modeler window with the dialog open.

In the Net Visualization dialog, you can sort the nets in ascending or descending order, relative to
the number of terminals. This helps you locate GND nets, which have no terminals.

Text at the top of list box provides the total number 3D Conducting nets.

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The Select Assignment button lets you select and highlight the net associated with terminals.

You can expand or collapse the net tree. Clicking the Expand All button expands the tree, and the
button changes to Collapse All. For longer lists, a slider bar lets you navigate.

Naming of nets is automatic and follows the convention: "Net1 (0 Terminals)", "Net2 (1
Terminals)"…"Net<N> (<T> Terminals)",

Net Names are not editable.

To highlight a net or terminal in the Modeler window, select the net in the tree and click the Zoom
to button in the Net Visualization dialog.

The Select Net By fields let you select nets according to Terminal Name or Object Name. You
can enter wild card expressions to select a net. For example: in the Object Name field if you specify

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"Box*" object name, then click the Select button, HFSS selects all the nets that have the object
name "Box".

Related Topics

Assigning Wave Ports for Terminal Solutions

Modifying the Model View

Define an Integration Line

An integration line is a vector that can represent the following:

l A calibration line that specifies the direction of the excitation field pattern at a port. If you are
analyzing more than one mode at a port, define a separate integration line for each mode;
the orientation of the electric field differs from mode to mode.
l An line along which to integrate E.dl to compute a voltage for Zpv or Zvi impedance of a port.
In this case, select two points at which the voltage differential is expected to be at a
maximum. For example, on a microstrip port, place one point in the center of the microstrip,
and the other directly underneath it on the ground plane. In a rectangular waveguide, place
the two points in the center of the longer sides.

Note: For more information, see Wave Port Dialog For Modal Solutions. For definitions of how
HFSS defines these Zpv and Zvi values, see Calculating the PV Impedance, and Calculating the
VI Impedance.

To define an integration line:

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1. Double-click the port excitation from the project tree to bring up the Wave Port dialog box
and click the Modes tab.

2. From the Integration Line column, select New Line.

The port dialog box disappears. If the Show Measure dialog option on the Modeler Options:
Drawing tab is selected, the Measure Data dialog appears when you draw the vector.

3. Use the Measure Data dialog to locate the start and end points and draw the integration
line.

Note: The Measure Data dialog displays data for the face area, and the positions for the
reference point (start point) and end point (end point) as you define them.

Related Topics

Wave Port Dialog For Modal Solutions

Duplicating Integration Lines

Modifying an Integration Line

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Duplicating Integration Lines

You can duplicate an integration line along a vector multiple times and assign to additional modes
at the port. This section shows how to duplicate the integration line in the figure below.

1. In the Wave Port dialog box, click the Modes tab and draw the integration line 1 on the port.

2. Enter the number of modes and select Duplicate Previous Line from the Integration Line
column.

3. Click an arbitrary anchor point on the edge of the port face for position 1 and drag the cursor
along the edge to position 2 as shown in the figures below.

The Integration Line2 shifts from Integration Line 1 by a distance equal to that between
Position 1 and Position 2.

Note: Use the Measure Data dialog to set this distance.

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4. Enter the total number of lines, including the original and duplicates, to make in the
Duplicate Port Line.

If you type a value that is greater than the number of assigned modes, the extra duplicates will
appear as gray integration lines until they are assigned to a mode.

5. Optionally, select Assign to existing modes. The duplicates will be assigned to the modes
defined for the port, beginning with the mode after the one with the line that was duplicated.

Modifying Integration Lines

Modify an existing integration line under the Modes tab in the Wave Port or Lumped Port dialog
boxes.

To swap the coordinates of an integration line's start point and endpoints:

l Select Swap Endpoints from the mode's Integration Line list.

The line's direction will be reversed.

To copy a previously defined Wave Port integration line's points:

l Select Copy from Moden from the mode's Integration Line list.

The new integration line will have the same start and endpoints as the selected mode's
integration line.

To delete a defined integration line for a mode:

Select None from the mode's Integration Line list.

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20 - Assigning Arrays in HFSS

HFSS permits you to assign a virtual array based on a unit cell object. For driven Modal and
driven Terminal designs, you can then simulate the array model using distributed processing,
treating the instances as parent and child objects. This permits faster definition, display, and
simulation of array based designs, such as antenna arrays. You can plot and animate array fields
on cutplanes, lines or points. Post processing lets you view fields on any virtual instance.

The unit cells for an array can be rectangular, parallelogram, or hexagonal. You can define the
required master and slave boundaries so as to create offset arrays. You can only edit the settings in
the physical cell and these settings will be applied to the corresponding instances in the virtual cells.

Once you have defined an array, you can designate any cell in the array as active or passive, or as
padding. You can use the padding cell designation to define arbitrarily irregular arrays. Cells
designated as padding are treated as background material for fields calculations.

Most boundaries and excitations defined in the physical unit cell will have their corresponding
instances in each virtual cell. The exception is incident wave, which is applied across the whole
model and should include the 'expanded' model based on the array setup.

When the target design is a finite array, having both enforced E and enforced H options is not
allowed. For all analytic incident waves except plane wave such as Gaussian beam, scatter field

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formulation is not supported for finite array design. HFSS supports all Incident Wave and Linked
field sources to a target finite array DDM design.

The basic process flow for using Create Array is:

1. Draw the unit cell, containing all appropriate boundaries and source definitions.
2. Create the antenna array, including name, dimensions, master and slave boundaries where
needed for conformal meshing, and selection of row and column master/slave pairs for
implicit definition of lattice propagation vectors. Designate which cells are active, passive,
and padding.
3. Setup the distributed processor pool. Designs with arrays require HPC licenses.
4. Provide a memory statistic for the amount of RAM guaranteed on each DSO processor.

In the Setup, Enable Solver Domains is disabled because an array solve uses UI defined domains,
not solver defined domains. Given a valid configuration, an Array solve can use a distributed
memory solution.

The UI will provide the antenna array definition to the domain manager. This will cause the
following to occur:

1. Instantiation of domains to represent the cells of the antenna array plus surrounding air
padding cells.
2. Creation of internal domain manager data structures that are needed to support the solve
and post processing. This includes appropriate domain parent/child relationships,
transformations from the physical domain, interface information per pair of domains, and
support for locating a domain by row/column coordinates within the antenna array.

For linking to the Desktop, the network data from HFSS will include both physical and virtual cells.
This applies to both port locations and push excitations.

For Optimetrics solution quantities of both virtual and physical cells can be used for calculation.

For 2D Reports for models with Arrays, matrix solution quantities of virtual cells will be expanded
into a vector in the same fashion as without the array. The entries are listed according to their [row,
column] order in the corresponding "expanded" matrix.

For Port Field Display there is no GUI change. Only physical ports/terminals will be listed. There is
no need to support visualization of user-selected cell (like field overlay plot) because the field
patterns of the virtual modes are the same as those in the physical cells.

For designs with an Array, the Edit Sources dialog listing order will be as follows: Sources will be
listed according to their cell [row, column] order in the array. For each cell, port/terminals are listed
in creation/assignment order with mode in each port listed sequentially. Other type of sources, such
as incident waves and linked field sources, will be listed after ports/terminals.

There will be no change in the far/near field pattern setup and far/near fields will be computed from
radiation surfaces on all cells (both physical and virtual).

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Copy/Paste design will copy an array. Copy/Paste geometry will NOT copy an array.

Related Topics

Creating a Unit Cell for an Array

Create Array Command

Array Visualization

Setup and Run an Array Simulation

Post Processing Array Models

Creating a Unit Cell for an Array

You use the Modeler to create a unit cell for an array.

l The unit cell can be rectangular, parallelogram or hexagonal.

l You must define appropriate master and slave boundaries, as well as other boundaries
required for the model. Deleting a master or slave boundary that is referenced by an existing
array also deletes the array. Typically, you define master and slave boundaries as opposite
sides of a cell.

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In such cases, with master and slave boundaries on opposite sides, the array sides align.

However, you can arrange master and slave boundaries to create an offset array. In such
cases, you create both a master and a slave boundary for corresponding sections of a cell side,
and assign master and slave to create offset alignment.

With all boundaries defined in this manner, the array can be offset.

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l In making source definitions for unit cell for the unit cell, you cannot assign a Floquet port.
l Each driven Modal or driven Terminal design can contain a single array.

Editing the model object for an existing array invalidates any existing solutions.

Related Topics

Drawing a Model

Create Array Command

Array Visualization

Setup and Run an Array Simulation

Post Processing Array Models

Create Array Command

The Create Array command is enabled for Modal and Driven Terminal problems after you have
assigned master and slave boundaries to your unit cell model. You can access the command in
three ways: click HFSS>Model>Create Array, right-click on the Model icon in the Project tree and
select Create Array from the shortcut menu, or select the unit cell in the modeler window, and
select Create Array from the short-cut menu.

This displays the Regular Planar Array dialog where you specify parameters for Number of
Cells, Unit Cell Position and Lattice Vectors.

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l If you have Visible enabled, you can see any changes.

l To Define Lattice Vector directions for A and B Vectors, specify the master boundary.
l To define the array size, for the A and B vectors, specify the number of cells for each row
and column, respectively.
l For example, the following figure shows the results when the initial Lattice Vectors are
swapped.

To create an irregular array, select the Active Cells tab, select the radio button for Mouse makes
cell as Padding

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Once you have specified the parameters, the Array object appears in the Project tree under the
Model. Only one Array is permitted for a model. The Create Array command is disabled if an array
is defined.

By selecting the Array icon in the Project tree, you right-click for the short cut menu.

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l Selecting Delete removes the array from the Model.

l Selecting Properties displays the Regular Planar Array dialog.
l Selecting Visualize Array lets you toggle the array display. A check mark indicates that the
array is being displayed.

With the Array icon in the Project tree selected, if you have a docked Properties window displayed,
you can see and edit Array Properties. All edits are undoable and informational messages will be
posted to the Message window when design data is deleted.

Related Topics

Creating a Unit Cell for an Array

Array Visualization

Setup and Run an Array Simulation

Post Processing Array Models

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Array Visualization
You control the visualization of an array by selecting an existing Array in the Project tree and
toggling the Visualize Array command on the short-cut menu.

Virtual objects in an array display as wire frames. If the all virtual objects for an array do not appear
in the view modeler window, perform a View>Fit All operation. If you change the view, you can
also use Ctrl-D to fit the array into the current view.

You can disable the array visualization by clicking on the Visualize Array option again. A check
mark appears in front of Visualize Array if the option is already ON. This option will also be present
in general active view visibility options, View>Active View Visibility.

The visualize array option will be applied to the current active view. You can have multiple windows
in the modeler, each window will have its own Visualize Array setting. This allows you to use
different windows to look at unit cell display and whole array display at the same time.

If the Visualize Array option is set to true, the array will be visible when you open the project.

Related Topics

Creating a Unit Cell for an Array

Create Array Command

Setup and Run an Array Simulation

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Post Processing Array Models

Setup and Run an Array Simulation

There is no change in the GUI for setting up the adaptive simulation for designs with an array.
However, the solution quantities of the virtual cells will be available for convergence setup (In both
adaptive and interpolating sweep). There are no changes in the way convergence information is
presented on the Convergence tab of the Solution Display panel.

If your design contains a virtual array, the setup can have some differences.

l Enable Solver Domains should not be checked (these are UI defined domains, not solver
defined domains).
l Setup the distributed processor pool. Designs with arrays require HPC licenses.
l General Setup for Virtual Array Simulation for Matrix Convergence, if you choose Selected
Entries.
l Interpolating Sweep Advanced Options for Array Simulation
l Fast sweep is not supported.
l You can also setup the expression cache at solve setup. The expression cache interface for
accessing array elements is the same as those used in report setup.
l Use the Active Cells tab on the Regular Planar Array dialog to designate which cells are
active or passive for a simulation. You can make All Active, All Passive or select which cells
are active or passive. The more active cells there are for a simulation, the more processing
required. By default, clicking the corresponding array elements toggles the current selection,
You can also choose the Mouse makes cell setting to click for Active or Passive, whichever
is most convenient. Clicking on a row or column number applies the mouse click command
to all cells in that row or column. Dragging the cursor over cells performs the current
operation on them.

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It is important to understand the impact of passive ports on antenna parameters. For accepted
power calculations, passive ports are not included when computing the total power passing
through the union of all port surfaces. This means that the passive ports can be viewed as a loss
mechanism for the device and it is not equivalent to viewing the passive ports as active ports
with zero excitations.

l Report setup for Arrays.

The solution/matrix quantities are grouped by category. The entries in each category are listed
according to their [row, column] order in the corresponding matrix.

The entry in [row1, column1] will be listed first, followed by

[row1, column2], … [row1, columnN], [row2, column1], …

[row2, columnN], … [rowN, columnN]. Note that the [row, column] order of each entry in the
matrix is controlled by the 'Matrix' order as specified by user.

The existing "Filter" capability can help locate the desired quantity from the potentially very long
list.

Related Topics

Creating a Unit Cell for an Array

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Create Array Command

Array Visualization

Post Processing Array Models

General Setup for Virtual Array Simulation

For a project with an array the General Setup some differences appear in how you can specify
Matrix convergence.

If you select Matrix Convergence, and click Set Magnitude and Phase, you will see the Matrix
convergence dialog. In the Matrix Convergence dialog, if for Entry Selection you choose Selected
Entries, (rather than All or Diagonal/Off Diagonal), you will see scrollable drop down menus that let
you select from all Array elements to define pairs of Matrix entries.

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Related Topics

Creating a Unit Cell for an Array

Create Array Command

Array Visualization

Post Processing Array Models

Interpolating Sweep Advanced Options for Arrays

For an Interpolating Sweep Advanced Options, if you select Use Selected Entries,

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clicking the Select Entries button displays an Interpolation Basis Convergence dialog that lists the
Array elements.

Note that the matrix entries are listed according to the Matrix Sort Order as specified by user.

Entry Selection can be All, Diagonal, or Off-Diagonal.

Mode Selection can be All, Dominant Only, or Higher-Order Only.

Related Topics

Creating a Unit Cell for an Array

Create Array Command

Array Visualization

Post Processing Array Models

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Post Processing for Array Models

Solution quantities of both physical and virtual cells are available for post-processing.

Radiation fields (near and far) post processing is over the whole array. You can plot and animate
fields on non-model cut planes, vectors, and points, as well as on selected model object faces. Any
padding cells in or around the array are treated as background material.You can plot and animate
fields on cut planes, vectors, and points.

You can use the Fields calculator to define calculated expressions.

HFSS can also post process individual cells in an array one at a time. You can select an arbitrary
cell and do fields post processing on that cell. HFSS post processes on a single user selected cell in
the array.

For Port Field Display there is no GUI change. Only physical ports/terminals will be listed. There is
no need to support visualization of user-selected cell (like field overlay plot) because the field
patterns of the virtual modes are the same as those in the physical cells.

l Reports for Arrays

l Plotting Fields for Array Models
l Fields Calculator Applications for Geometries in Arrays
l Fields Post Processing for Selected Cells in Arrays

Related Topics

Creating a Unit Cell for an Array

Create Array Command

Array Visualization

Setup and Run an Array Simulation

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Reports for Arrays

There are some differences in the Report setup for Arrays.

1. The solution/matrix quantities are grouped by category. The entries in each category are
listed according to their [row, column] order in the corresponding matrix.

The entry in [row1, column1] will be listed first, followed by

[row1, column2], … [row1, columnN], [row2, column1], …

[row2, columnN], … [rowN, columnN]. Note that the [row, column] order of each entry in the
matrix is controlled by the 'Matrix' order as specified by user.

2. The existing "Filter" capability can help locate the desired quantity from the potentially very
long list.

Related Topics

Creating a Unit Cell for an Array

Create Array Command

Array Visualization

Setup and Run an Array Simulation

Field Plots for Arrays

You can generate field plots on object faces, as well as on non-model planes, lines, and points. The
plots display calculated fields where ever the selected geometry intersects the array cells based on
whether the cells are active, passive, or padding in the array properties. Locations designated as
padding are treated as background material in field calculations. The virtual cells do not need to be
visible to affect the generated field plots.

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You can also create animations of field plots. If the plotted geometry is controlled by a swept
variable (such as plane angle or a point location) the animation displays the correct values where
ever they intersect the array based on the designations as active cells, passive cells, or padding
cells.

Related Topics

Creating Animations

Fields Calculator Applications for Arrays

Geometries selected for Fields Calculator expressions can intersect any active, passive, or
padding cells defined for the array. You can generate animated field output in which each frame is
a snapshot of the fields on a different plane of the modeled volume. The Fields Calculator
cookbook describes an example of the technique. Any derived field quantity can be plotted in this
manner.

Related Topics

Using the Fields Calculator

Fields Post Processing on a Designated Array Cell

For post processing fields information for arrays, you can select an arbitrary cell and do fields post
processing on that cell.

The unit cell mesh from position (1,1) will be translated to the user selected cell and fields will be
plotted in the user selected cell.

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The procedure is:

1. Select objects in the unit cell

2. Use the Array dialog to specify the cell to post process for fields, either by clicking on a the
corresponding array position indicator in the Post Processing Cell tab in or by giving the A
and B direction indices (row and column respectively).

The Field plot will be visible in the user selected cell.

Radiation fields post processing will be over the whole array.

Jsurf is calculated inside the geometry of the cell but it will be equal to 0 along cell borders.

Related Topics

Creating a Unit Cell for an Array

Create Array Command

Array Visualization

Setup and Run an Array Simulation

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21 - Running Simulations
After you specify how ANSYS Electronics Desktop is to compute the solution, you need to begin
the solution process. In general, the Analyze command applies to the selected setup and
associated sweeps, if any, or to a select sweep. To use this command, right-click on a setup or
sweep in the Project tree, and click the command on the context menu. The Analyze All
command applies to all enabled setups, dependent setups, and sweeps at or below the level
invoked in the Project tree. To use this command, either click [solver]>Analyze All or right-click
on the Analysis icon in the Project tree and select Analyze All.

What do you want to do?

l Solve a single setup with or without sweeps

l Solve a specific sweep
l Enable a queue so that multiple simulations can run sequentially as resources become
available.
l Run more than one simulation, whether multiple setups, or multiple sweeps under a single
setup, or setups with dependencies.
l Monitor queued simulations
l Monitor the solution process
l Change a solution priority for system resources
l Abort an analysis
l Re-solve after modifying a design
l Re-solve after ANSYS Workbench Feedback

Related Topics

Running an Optimetrics Analysis

High Performance Computing (HPC) Integration

ANSYS Workbench Integration Overview

Running from a Command Line

Solving a Single Setup or Sweep

To run a single setup or sweep:

1. Select a solution setup or sweep in the project tree.

2. Right-click and select Analyze from the shortcut menu. The graphic shows a single sweep

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selected for analysis.

The 3D field solution is computed inside the structure for a solution. For a select sweep, it is
computed for the sweep variables.

If you right click on a Setup, rather than a Sweep, the right-click shortcut menu includes the
Submit Job... command.

For more information on the Submit Job... command see, Distributed Analysis and High
Performance Computing (HPC) Integration.

To run more than one analysis at a time, follow the same procedure while a simulation is running. If
you have enabled queuing, the next solution setup will be solved when the previous solution is
complete.

Note If a linked dependency in the setup is already simulating (for example, due to setup links to
the same external source for a near or far field wave, or a magnetic bias), ANSYS
Electronics Desktop will not allow another dependent simulation to start until the first use of
the source has completed.

Related Topics

Running an Optimetrics Analysis

Running More than One Simulation

To solve every enabled solution setup in a design:

1. In the project tree, under the design you want to solve, select Analysis.
2. Click [solver]>Analyze All.

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Each enabled solution setup is solved in the order it appears in the project tree.

The example here show an analysis invoked from the Project tree popup menu with three setups,
one disabled, two enabled. The first setup has one sweep enabled, and one disabled (grayed
icon). The second setup is disabled, and the third is enabled, with a disabled sweep.

Note The General tab for the Setup includes an Enabled check box. By default, this is checked.
Unchecking the Enabled check box excludes a setup from running

To solve two or more sweeps or two or more parametric analyses under a setup:

1. In the project tree, under the design you want to solve, right-click the setup icon that
includes the sweeps of interest.
2. Click Analyze on the shortcut menu.

Each solution sweep under that setup is solved in the order it appears in the project tree, using
the available machines. The example below shows a setup with two enabled sweeps.

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Related Topics

Technical Notes:The Solution Process

Technical Notes:Handling Complicated Models

Solving a Single Setup

HPC and Analysis Options

Remote Analysis

High Performance Computing (HPC) Integration

Monitoring the Solution Process

Aborting Analysis

Running an Optimetrics Analysis

Monitoring Queued Simulations

If you have multiple setups for a design, and have selected Analyze All, the simulations can be
queued until there is a machine available. You enable queuing in the HPC and Analysis Options:
Options tab. If queuing is enabled and you run multiple setups, they are solved in the order that they
appear in the project tree. You can prioritize setups by changing the order in the queue.

1. To view the solution queue, click Tools>Show Queued Simulations or click the Show
Queue icon on the toolbar.

This displays a dialog showing all the simulations and their current status. You select and
remove any simulation from the queue.

You can also select any setup and use the Move up and Move down buttons to prioritize
them.

2. To remove a simulation from the queue, select the simulation, and click Remove from
Queue.

This removes the selected simulation from the queue.

Monitoring the Solution Process

While a simulation is running, you can monitor the solution's progress in the Progress window.
Above the green progress bar, messages describe the setup and step. The progress bar shows
the relative progress of each step. Under the bar, messages note the part of the design being
solved, and give memory estimates during the factoring process.

You can also view the following solution data at any time during or after the solution:

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l The convergence data:

l The matrices computed for the S-parameters, impedances, and propagation constants.
l A profile of status of the adaptive analysis, including the number of valid passes completed.

To view the Solutions window:

1. Right-click the solution Setup in the project tree.

A shortcut menu appears.
2. Select Convergence, Matrix Data or Profilefrom the shortcut menu.

The Solutions window appears with the corresponding tab selected and the current data
displayed.

For "out of core" problems, quite different amounts of memory may be used for factorization and for
solution. So if the amount for factorization is displayed under the progress bar and the amount used
is calculated for the profile at the end of the solution, they may be quite different numbers.

To view the status of the adaptive analysis:

l Click HFSS or Q3D Extractor>Results>Browse Solutions.

The Solutions dialog box appears with the Browse tab selected. It displays data about the
number of valid passes completed. It contains a tree structure showing the solutions listed
according to Setup, Solution, and Variation. A table lists the Setup, the solution, the sweep
variable, and the state of the solution.
l You can use the Properties button to display a dialog that lets you change the way the
Setup, Solution, and Variation are listed in the tree structure of the Solutions dialog.
l The Statistics tab of the Solutions dialog displays path information, as well as format,
number of files, and size.
l You can delete one or more solutions by selecting from the table and clicking Delete. Click
on a solution to select it, and use Ctrl-click to select multiple solutions, or Shift-click to select
a range of solutions. You can also select all solutions using the Select All button.

Note If a license is lost, the software waits for the license to be regained, checking every 2
minutes or until you abort.

Related Topics

Aborting Analysis

Deleting Solution Data

Post Processing and Generating Reports

Creating Reports

Modifying Reports

Plotting the Mesh

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Plotting Field Overlays

Changing a Solution Priority for System Resources

You can modify the priority of ANSYS Electronics Desktop simulations so that system resources
are allocated to other computer processes before the solver. If you reduce the priority of ANSYS
Electronics Desktop simulations, your other software tools will respond as they normally would, but
ANSYS Electronics Desktop simulations may take longer.

Note The Windows Task Manager does not indicate a reduced priority for the ANSYS
Electronics Desktop solvers. It only lists the priority of the engine manager, which appears
normal, not the actual engine. The actual engine is in a separate thread, whose priority is
not visible in the Windows Task Manager.

To change the priority of simulations for the system's resources:

1. While a solution is running, right-click the Progress window, and click Change Priority on
the shortcut menu.
l To affect priority for future simulation runs, click the Tools>Options>HPC and Analysis
dialog box, and click the Options tab.
2. From the Change Priority menu (or the Default Process Priority pull-down menu),
select one of the following priorities:

Lowest Priority
Below Normal
Normal The default.
Above Normal
Highest

3. Click OK.

Aborting an Analysis
To end the solution process before it is complete:

l Right-click In the Progress window and click Abort.

The solver ends the analysis immediately.

The data for the currently solving pass or frequency point is deleted. All previously solved solutions
are retained. For example, if you abort between the third and fourth adaptive pass, the solutions for
the third pass will be available, and any solutions for the fourth pass are discarded.

To abort the solution process after the current adaptive pass or solved frequency point is complete:

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l Right-click the Progress window, and click CleanStop on the shortcut menu.

The solver ends the analysis after the next solved pass or frequency point.

If you request a clean stop during the third adaptive pass, the solution for the third pass will be
available once the third pass has finished solving, but the fourth pass will not run.

ANSYS EM Application as an LSF Job

If you have an ANSYS EM application running as an LSF job, you can use the command "bkill -s
SIGTERM jobid" to terminate that application. Here jobid is the LSF job id. The response will be
"Job <jobid> is being signaled". The response is the same whether the job is actually being
signaled or not.

In cases where the SIGTERM parameter is ignored, the command kills the LSF job, but does not
clean the lock files, and other files may not be in a consistent state. See http://www.vital-
it.ch/support/LSF/programmer/advanced.html for a detailed description under Signal Handling in
Windows.

Unix/Linux

For UNIX/Linux, you can use TERM commands. Sigterm handling for Unix is done in Desktop
library. You can abort a running batchsolve on Unix by sending a TERM signal to hfss.exe

Related Topics

Integration with Platform's Load Sharing Facility (LSF)

Re-solving after Modifying a Design

In some cases, if you modify a design after generating a solution, the solution in memory will no
longer match the design. In such cases you receive a warning message that "Solutions have been
invalidated. Undo to recover."

To generate a new solution after modifying a design, follow the procedure for running a simulation.

Also see Re-Solving with ANSYS Workbench Thermal Feedback.

Re-solving after ANSYS Workbench Thermal Feedback

With the Enable Feedback box in Setting the Temperature of Objects dialog box is checked, you
can manage analysis with feedback in ANSYS Workbench. After solving an HFSS or Q3D
Extractor or Maxwell design, after performing the corresponding linked thermal analysis in ANSYS
Workbench, you can receive a temperature distribution back from the thermal solution. ANSYS
Workbench will write the feedback files directly to the Project Solution directory.

After an analysis that includes thermal feedback from ANSYS Workbench, you can see
temperature changes expressed in Temperature field overlays (both visually in the overlay and in
the color key) as well as in the Solution data.

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In the Solution data Profile tab you will see a new entry for Maximum Delta T, for the change in
temperature from the previous simulation. The solver calculates delta in the first iteration by
comparing the temperature distribution output from thermal with the initial temperature setting in
HFSS/Maxwell/Q3D. Subsequent simulation iterations provide a number for the temperature
delta.

This simulation feedback loop from Ansoft to ANSYS Workbench and back can continue until you
decide that Temperature delta reported in the Solution Report low and stable for the designs.

Related Topics

Setting the Temperature of Objects

ANSYS Workbench Integration Overview

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22 - Post Processing and Generating

Reports
As ANSYS Electronic Desktop completes a solution, you can display and analyze the results:

l View solution data including the following: convergence information, computing resources
that were used during the solution process, mesh statistics, and matrices computed for the
S-parameters, impedances, and propagation constants during each adaptive, non-adaptive,
or sweep solution. For eigenmode solutions, you can view the real and imaginary parts of the
frequency and quality factor Q computed for each eigenmode. Solution data can also be
viewed while ANSYS Electronics Desktop is generating a solution.
l View analysis results for Optimetrics solutions.
l Plot field overlays - representations of basic or derived field quantities - on surfaces or
objects.

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l Overlay Field Plots on Models

l Create 2D or 3D reports of S-parameters, basic and derived field quantities, and radiated
field data.
l Plot the finite element mesh on surfaces or within 3D objects.
l Create animations of field quantities, the finite element mesh, and defined project variables.
l Scale an excitation's magnitude and modify its phase.
l Apply Derivative Tuning to Reports

Note Except in the case of non-model boxes drawn in the global coordinate system (CS), non-
model objects cannot be used for any fields post processing operation You can use non-
model boxes drawn in the global CS for post processing operations, including integration
and solution domaining.

Viewing Solution Data

While ANSYS Electronics Desktop is generating a solution, or when it is complete, you can view
the following information about the solution:

l Convergence information.
l Computing resources, or profile information, that were used during the solution process.
l Matrices computed for the S-parameters, impedances, and propagation constants during
each adaptive, non-adaptive, or sweep solution.
l Mesh statistics
l For eigenmode solutions, view the real and imaginary parts of the frequency and quality
factor Q computed for each eigenmode.
l For Characteristic Modes solutions, a CMA Data tab reports the the Number of Modes,
Characteristic Angle and current, Modal Significance and Quality Factor, and Voltage per
port based in edit sources weighting.
l The state of solved solutions.
l For transient solutions, Transient Data.

To access the Solution Data window, in which the information above can be accessed, do one of
the following:

l Click [solver]>Results>Solution Data .

l Right-click Results in the project tree, and then click Solution Data on the shortcut menu.

Related Topics

Viewing Solution Data for an Optimetrics Design Variation

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Viewing Convergence Data

To view an adaptive solution's convergence information, either during or after the solution process:

1. In the project tree, right-click the solution setup of interest, and then click Convergence on
the shortcut menu.

The Solution Data window appears. The Convergence tab is selected.

2. From the Simulation list, select the solution setup for which you want to view convergence
data.

By default, the most recently solved solution is selected.

3. Under the Convergence tab, depending on your design setup, you can review the following
convergence data:
l Whether the solution is converged or not converged.
l Number of adaptive passes completed and remaining.
l The Solved Elements at each adaptive pass, which includes solve inside tetrahedra, and,
for projects using IE Regions for metal objects, also includes the number of solved IE
surface triangles.
l Maximum magnitude of delta S between two passes.
l Maximum delta Energy between two passes.
l Magnitude margin between passes.
l Phase margin (deg) between passes.
l Maximum delta frequency between passes.

If for the Solution Setup, you elected to Use Matrix Convergence, and selected specific table
entries for the Magnitude and Phase, the Convergence tab also shows the following values with
the Magnitude Margin and Phase Margin:

l Max Delta (Mag S)

l Max Delta (Phase S)
1. Select Table to display the convergence data in table format or Plot to plot the convergence
data on a rectangular (X - Y) plot.
2. If you select Save As Defaults, the settings for Table vs. Plot, and for Plot, the X and Y axis
selections, those settings apply, based on the design-type, each time you open the desktop.
You can also select Clear Defaults to reset to the original settings.

Note If you receive a message that the eigenmodes have not converged, it may indicate
that the existing mesh is too coarse. You may need to refine the mesh.

Related Topics

Viewing Solution Data for an Optimetrics Design Variation

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Viewing the Number of Completed Passes

At any time during the solution process, you can view the number of adaptive passes (solve —
error analysis — refine cycles) that have been completed and that have yet to be completed. When
the solution is complete, you can view the number of adaptive passes that were performed. If the
solution converged within the specified stopping criteria, fewer passes than requested may have
been performed.

To view the number of passes:

l In the project tree, right-click the solution setup of interest, and then click Convergence on
the shortcut menu.

The Solution Data window appears. The Convergence tab is selected.

The number of completed and remaining passes is listed in the Number of Passes area.

Viewing the Max Magnitude of Delta S Between Passes

For solutions with ports.

At any time during or after the solution process, you can view the maximum change in the
magnitude of the S-parameters between two consecutive passes. This information is available
after two or more passes are completed.

To view the maximum magnitude of delta S between passes:

l In the project tree, right-click the solution setup of interest, and then click Convergence on
the shortcut menu.

The Solution Data window appears. The Convergence tab is selected.

The Max. Mag. Delta S column lists the maximum magnitude of delta S from one pass to the
next.

The Max. Mag. Delta S area lists the target change in magnitude of delta S and the change in
magnitude of delta S between the last two solved passes.

Note Delta S is computed on the appropriate S-parameters - modal or terminal - after the S-
parameters have been de-embedded and renormalized.

Note You can renormalize mathematically, without having to re-solve, by accessing the
postprocessing tab on the port definition panel and de-selecting the Deembed selection
box.

Related Topics

Setting the Maximum Delta S Per Pass

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Technical Notes: Maximum Delta S

Viewing the Output Variable Convergence

At any time during or after the solution process, you can view the real and imaginary values of the
output variable.

To view the output variable convergence, use the Reporter to create a plot that displays the output
variable values.

Related Topics

Specifying Expressions for Adaptive Convergence

Viewing the Delta Magnitude Energy

For designs with voltage sources, current sources, or incident waves. Not applicable to designs
with ports.

At any time during or after the solution process, you can view the difference in the relative energy
error from one adaptive pass to the next. The change in the magnitude of delta energy is available
after two or more passes are completed.

To view the delta magnitude E between passes:

l In the project tree, right-click the solution setup of interest, and then click Convergence on
the shortcut menu.

The Solution Data window appears. The Convergence tab is selected.

The Delta Mag. Energy column lists the delta energy from one pass to the next.

The Delta Mag. Energy area lists the target change in delta energy and the change in delta
Energy between the last two solved passes.

Related Topics

Setting the Maximum Delta Energy Per Pass

Technical Notes: Maximum Delta Energy

Viewing the Magnitude Margin

For solutions in which convergence criteria for specific S-matrix entries were specified.

At any time during or after the solution process, you can view the solution's proximity to the target
delta magnitude, which was specified in the Matrix Convergence dialog box. The magnitude
margin is available after two or more passes are completed.

To view the magnitude margin between passes:

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l In the project tree, right-click the solution setup of interest, and then click Convergence on
the shortcut menu.

The Solution Data window appears. The Convergence tab is selected.

The Magnitude Margin column lists the magnitude margin from one pass to the next.

Related Topics

Setting Matrix Convergence Criteria

Technical Notes: Magnitude Margin

Viewing the Phase Margin

For solutions in which convergence criteria for specific S-matrix entries were specified.

At any time during or after the solution process, you can view the solution's proximity to the target
delta phase, which was specified in the Matrix Convergence dialog box. The phase margin is
available after two or more passes are completed.

To view the phase margin between passes:

l In the project tree, right-click the solution setup of interest, and then click Convergence on
the shortcut menu.

The Solution Data window appears. The Convergence tab is selected.

The Phase Margin column lists the phase margin from one pass to the next.

Note When the Mag S becomes small (near to zero) its phase becomes indefinite and
insignificant due to mathematical issues so that Phase Margin will be discarded.

Related Topics

Setting Matrix Convergence Criteria

Technical Notes: Phase Margin

Viewing the Max Delta (Mag S)

For solutions in which convergence criteria for specific S-matrix entries were specified.

At any time during or after the solution process, you can view the maximum difference of the S
matrix magnitudes between two consecutive passes. The Max Delta (Mag S) is available after two
or more passes are completed.

To view the Mag S between passes:

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l In the project tree, right-click the solution setup of interest, and then click Convergence on
the shortcut menu.

The Solution Data window appears. The Convergence tab is selected.

The Max Delta (Mag S) column lists the Max Delta (Mag S) from one pass to the next.

Related Topics

Setting Matrix Convergence Criteria

Technical Notes: Max Delta (Mag S)

Viewing the Max Delta (Phase S)

For solutions in which convergence criteria for specific S-matrix entries were specified.

At any time during or after the solution process, you can view the maximum difference of the S
Matrix phase between two consecutive passes. The Max Delta (Phase S) is available after two or
more passes are completed.

To view the Max Delta (Phase S) between passes:

l In the project tree, right-click the solution setup of interest, and then click Convergence on
the shortcut menu.

The Solution Data window appears. The Convergence tab is selected.

The Max Delta (Phase S) column lists the Max Delta (Phase S) from one pass to the next.

Related Topics

Setting Matrix Convergence Criteria

Technical Notes: Max Delta (Phase S)

Viewing the Maximum Delta Frequency

For Eigenmode solutions.

At any time during the solution process, you can view the maximum delta frequency, the largest
percent difference in the resonant frequencies from one adaptive pass to the next. It is a measure
of the stability of the computed frequencies from pass to pass and is available after two or more
passes are completed.

To view the maximum delta frequency between passes:

l In the project tree, right-click the solution setup of interest, and then click Convergence on
the shortcut menu.

The Solution Data window appears. The Convergence tab is selected.

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The Max Delta Freq. % column lists the maximum delta frequency from one pass to the next.

The Max Delta Freq. % area lists the target maximum delta frequency and the maximum delta
frequency between the last two solved passes.

Related Topics

Technical Notes: Maximum Delta Frequency

Plotting Convergence Data

To display convergence data vs. pass on a rectangular (x - y) plot:

1. In the project tree, right-click the solution setup of interest, and then click Convergence on
the shortcut menu.

The Solution Data window appears. The Convergence tab is selected.

2. In the lower-left corner of the window, select Plot as the view type.
3. Select the data you want to plot on the x-axis from the X pull-down list.
4. Select the data type you want to plot on the y-axis from the Y pull-down list.

The x -y plot appears in the view window.

Viewing a Solution Profile

At any time during or after the solution process, you can examine the computing resources - or
profile data - that were used by the ANSYS Electronics Desktop solvers during the analysis. The
profile data is essentially a log of the tasks performed by ANSYS Electronics Desktop during the
solution. The log indicates the length of time each task took and how much physical memory/disk
memory was required.

In the project tree, right-click the solution setup of interest, and then click Profile on the shortcut
menu.

The Solutions dialog box appears. The Profile tab is selected. The displayed data depends on
the type of problem and solution setup. If one or more dependent setups exist, the profile
information for these can be selected from drop down menu in the Simulation text field at the top of
the dialog. In general, it includes the following information:

Task Lists the type of task that was performed. The Tasks lists included Start, various
Mesh tasks, Simulation Setup, Port Adaptation, Adaptive Pass tasks, including
simulation setup, Matrix Assembly, Solver tasks, and Field Recovery, Sweep
tasks, and Solution Process summary and Totals for time.
Real Time The difference in time between the start of the task and the end of the task (elapsed
time).

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CPU Time The amount of CPU time required to perform the task.
Memory The peak amount of physical memory (RAM) used by the individual executable
running the task. The memory is freed for other uses after each task is complete.
Information General information about the solution, for example, the number of tetrahedra used
in the mesh, disk use, solver information, sweep information, and totals.

The matrix solver writes specific information in some of these fields as outlined below:

Task The matrix solver task reports the type of solution performed by the solver, based
on the physics of the problem. It has the form "Solver pdsn" (e.g. Solver MRS2 or
Solver DCS4-L2), where

l p, the precision type is: M (mixed for direct solver) or D (double for iterative
solver).
l d, the matrix data type is: R (real) or C (complex)
l s, the symmetry type is: S (symmetric), A (asymmetric), or H (hermitian)
l n, the number of processors used. You specify the number of available
processors on the local machine in the solver options. If a solve does not
use all available processors (local or distributed), the number reported may
be less than the number available.

If a simulation uses the iterative solver, the Solver designation can include a level
indicator appended. to an Iterative solver designation (L2 in the example above).
The higher the Level number the lower the memory, you will never see L1 (this
would be equivalent to direct solver. And a first order solve will only display L2
since it only has one level of order to go down for preconditioning. A second or
mixed order solve may display L3 depending on the mesh quality.

If the solver switches from the Iterative Solver to the Matrix solver, you see a
Matrix solver warning: Switch from Iterative Solver to Direct Solver.
Information: The matrix solver information line includes, for example, Disk = 0 KBytes, matrix
size 11137 , matrix bandwidth 20.3 )

l Disk: The amount of hard disk space used during the calculation of the
matrix solution. If the disk usage for matrix solver is non-zero in profile, it
usually indicates off-core matrix solver. If the matrix solver must solve off-
core, smaller blocks of the data to be solved are created on disk, each block
is then solved in physical memory, and then the matrix solution is
reassembled. As a result of this additional processing, the time required to
calculate a solution is higher.
l matrix size: The size of the matrix that was solved (the number of
unknowns)

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l matrix bandwidth: An FEM matrix is a sparse matrix. The solver only stores
the non-zero entries. The matrix bandwidth is the average number of non-
zeros per row. It gives an idea of the sparsity of a FEM matrix.Storage for
the sparse matrix is proportional to the total number of nonzeros = #rows x
bandwidth. The higher the bases order, the larger the bandwidth.
l In the case of the Iterative Solver, # Iterations

To Export the Profile data:

1. Open the Solutions dialog with the Profile tab selected.

2. Click the Export Profile button.

This opens a file save dialog that lets you provide a file name and location.

3. Click Save.

The data is saved in a text file with a .prof extension.

Related Topics

Viewing an Optimetrics Solution's Profile Data

Viewing Matrix Data

To view matrices computed for the S-parameters, impedances, and propagation constants during
each adaptive, non-adaptive, or sweep solution:

1. In the project tree, right-click the solution setup of interest, and then click Matrix Data on the
shortcut menu.

The Solution Data dialog box appears. The Matrix Data tab is selected.

2. In the Design Variation text box, specify the design with the matrices you want to view.

Optionally, choose a design variation solved during an Optimetrics analysis from the Set
Design Variation dialog box. This lists all the solved variations in the design. This dialog box is
accessible from the Solution Data window by clicking the ellipsis button on the right of the
Design Variation field, and via the [solver]>Results>Apply Solved Variation command.

3. In the Simulation pull-down list, click the solution setup and solved pass - adaptive, single
frequency solution, or frequency sweep - for which you want to view matrices.
4. Select the type of matrix you want to view: S-matrix, Y-matrix, Z-matrix, Gamma, or Zo
(characteristic impedance.) The available types depend on the solution type.
5. Select the display format — Magnitude/ Phase (deg), Real/ Imaginary, dB/Phase (deg),
Magnitude, Phase (deg), Real, Imaginary, or dB — in which to display the matrix
information.
6. Select the solved frequencies to display:

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l To display the matrix entries for all solved frequencies, select Display All Freqs.

If Display All Freqs is enabled, the drop-down frequency select list is disabled.

l To show the matrix entries for a selected solved frequency, ensure that Display All
Freqs unchecked and use the dropdown list to select the solved frequency for which you
want to view matrix entries. You can use a scroll bar for selecting from long frequency
lists.

For adaptive passes, only the solution frequency specified in the Solution Setup dialog box
is available. For frequency sweeps, the entire frequency range is available.

l To insert or delete one or more displayed frequencies, click Edit Freqs.

Note: This command is only available if the sweep type is Fast or Interpolating.

Clicking Edit Freqs displays the Edit Sweep dialog. It contains Generate New Values fields
for specifying the Start Value, the End Value, and the Number of Values. The current values
are displayed in a table. When you specify a New value, click Update Values to refresh the
table.

Note: Changes to the Start Value and End Value cannot be outside of the initial range. No
message is issued: rather the range is implicitly restricted.

Use the Insert button to add a new frequency to the table above the currently selected
value. If no value, or the start value is selected, the new frequency repeats the current Start
value and increments the count in the Number of Values field. If you select any other value
for the insertion point, Insert adds a new value halfway between the selected value and the
previous value, and increments the Number of Values field.

Incrementing or decrementing the Number of Values fields, and the clicking Update
Values updates the table based in the current Start and End value fields (given the range
restriction within the initial range).

The Delete button enabled only if a value is selected. Delete removes the selected value
and decrements the Number of Values field.

Click OK to apply the changes to the Solutions dialog Matrix Data tab and close the Edit
Sweep dialog, or Cancel to close the dialog without applying the changes.

If you choose to export the matrix data for the Fast or Interpolating sweep after modifying the
frequencies in the Edit Sweep dialog box, only those frequencies displayed under the
Matrix Data tab will be exported.

The data is displayed in the table. By default, wave ports are listed in alphabetical, then
numerical order, just as they appear in the excitation tree. To change the port order, change
setting for Default Matrix sort order in the HFSS or HFSS-IE General options. You may also
want see how you can Reorder Matrix Data.

7. Optionally, Check Passivity.

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This passivity check tests whether the S-parameter data from HFSS is passive or not. If the S-
Matrix is not passive at one or more frequencies, this check displays a dialog that identifies the
worst frequency violation and identifies the passivity in that case. A uniform renormalization of
50 ohms is performed on the solution data for Passivity checking.

Related Topics

Selecting the Matrix Display Format

Viewing Solution Data for an Optimetrics Design Variation

Exporting Matrix Data

Renaming Matrix Data

Reordering Matrix Data

Exporting Equivalent Circuit Data

Technical Notes: Passivity

Selecting the Matrix Display Format

Use either the drop down menu under the formats, or you can also right-click on the column
headings to display a pop-up format menu. Selecting from this menu also adds the name of the
selected format to the column head, if the format is anything other than dB.

The available formats depend on the matrix type being displayed. When selected, dB formatting
only applies to S -matrix data, even if other matrix types are displayed. The column heads in the
display identify the format for the matrix type.You can display matrix data in the following formats.

Magnitude, Phase Displays the magnitude and phase (in degrees) of the matrix type.
(deg)
Real, Imaginary Displays the real and imaginary parts of the matrix type.
dB, Phase (deg) Displays the magnitude in decibels and phase in degrees of the matrix
type.
Magnitude Displays the magnitude of the matrix type.
Phase (deg) Displays the phase in degrees of the matrix type.
Real Displays the real parts of the matrix type.
Imaginary Displays the imaginary parts of the matrix type.
dB Displays the magnitude in decibels of the matrix type.

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Related Topics

Renaming Matrix Data

Reordering Matrix Data

Exporting Matrix Data

1. In the project tree, right-click the solution setup of interest, and then click Matrix Data on the
shortcut menu.

The Solution Data window appears. The Matrix Data tab is selected.

2. Select the type of matrix you want to view: S-matrix, Y-matrix, Z-matrix, Gamma, or Zo_
(characteristic impedance.)
3. Click Export Matrix Data.

A file browser appears.

4. Type the name of the file you are exporting to in the File name text box.
5. Select one of the following file formats from the Save as type pull-down list:

Format Type Description

(spreadsheet) data table A text file in which the elements of the S-matrix are
*.tab arranged in a series of columns that are tab-separated
and include a first row of headings. The file may be
imported into a spreadsheet or similar utility.
*.sNp Touchstone/Libra A Touchstone S-parameter file in which the number of
ports is indicated by n. For example, a Touchstone file
with one port would have the file extension .s1p. When
you export this format, you are presented with a dialog
where your can specify:

l Number of Digits Precision (Default 15)

l Override Solution Renormalization. This
refers to overriding the renormalization
impedances that may have been asked for in the
port setup.
l if so, the export renormalizing impedance
l Do Not Override Solution Renormalization.
This leaves any port setup renormalization
options in place, and grays out the Impedance
setting on the dialog.
l whether to include Gamma and Impedance
Comments

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If you want to export raw S-Parameter data for later

use, you may choose to not renormalize the solution.

If all ports and associated modes/terminals are

normalized to the same impedance and you choose Do
Not Override Solution Renormalization during
export, the Touchstone file header will indicate the
normalized impedance.

The comment header in the Touchstone file lists the

port and mode numbers to show which column
contains which port name (in case of confusion
between alphabetical and force repriority ordering of
ports and associated modes).
*.nmf Neutral file Neutral file format defined by the MAFET Consortium.
format When you save to this format, if the design includes
variables, you are presented with the NMF Parameters
dialog that lets you select which variables to select as
parameters in the NMF file. Non-selected variables will
be give the constant value shown.

You are then presented a dialog that lets you specify

the number of digits precision for the renormalizing
impedance.
*.m MATLAB The Mathworks' MATLAB file in which the elements of
the S-, Y-, or Z-matrix are arranged in a series of rows.
*.cit Citifile Common Instrumentation Transfer and Interchange file
format. It is an ASCII format defined by instrument and
CAE designers.

Note For Touchstone files, you no longer see a Combine Sweeps option on the Export
Network Data solution dialog. This is because the current Sweep setup allows you to
define multiple sweeps for a single simulation, meaning any needed combining is defined
with the sweep setup.

6. Click Save.

The data is exported to the file.

l By default, wave ports are listed in alphabetical, then numerical order, just as they appear
in the excitation tree. You can change this order to creation order and back without
invalidating the solution on the HFSS Options dialog.

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l If you select Touchstone format, you are first presented with a dialog in which you can
specify the Number of Digits precision, and Override the Solution Renormalization. If so,
you can specify the export renormalizing impedance (an integer value). Here you also can
specify and whether to include Gamma and Impedance Comments, and Number of
Digits Precision (Default 15).
l If you select Neutral File Format, you are presented with a Specify Export
Renormalizing Impedance dialog that lets you specify the Number of digits precision for
the save file.

Note If you modify the display of solved frequencies in an Interpolating or Fast sweep
under the Matrix Data tab (by clicking Edit Freqs and then modifying the values
in the Edit Sweep dialog box,) only those frequencies listed will be exported to the
file.

Renaming Matrix Data

In the project tree, you can right-click on a port excitation to rename it. When you rename a port
excitation, the associated data is reordered so that it can be presented in the same manner. The
reordering is done to match the tree-sort order presented for the ports (renamed matrix data is
reordered so that alphabetic values appear before numeric values).

Exports of the matrix data are ordered in the same manner. This reordering is conducted as part of
post processing and does not force a re-solve.

Related Topics

Reordering Matrix Data

Setting HFSS Options

Viewing Matrix Data

Reordering Matrix Data

HFSS lets you reorder the matrix data as a post-processing step.

1. To re-order the matrix data, either as the default ascending alphanumeric order, or a user
specified order, click HFSS>Excitations>Reorder Matrix, or right-click on Excitations in
the Project tree, and click Reorder Matrix on the shortcut menu.

This displays the Reorder Matrix dialog. It lists the ports for a modal solution, or the terminals
for a terminal solution. For Transient solutions, the dialog displays separate lists for Active and
Passive ports.

2. You can select the radio button for Sort in ascending alphanumeric order, or Sort in the
below order.

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If you select Sort in the below order, you can select any port or terminal to enable the up and
down arrow keys. Use the keys to move the ports into any desired order. In the case of
Transient, the arrow keys operate only within a partition, that is only within Active or Passive
lists.

You can also use CTRL-click to select multiple arbitrary ports, or hold Shift to select a range of
ports. Clicking outside the list deselects all selections.

Note If there are differential pairs, the sort order is still specified) in terms of the underlying
terminal names, but the entries that make up the pair should appear in the appropriate sort
location for the terminals that are used to define them.

3. Click OK to accept the order specified.

For Transient solutions, removing an active source will not affect the solve but might affect the
matrix order. Adding an active source will require a resolve if that source has not already been
solved.

Related Topics

Setting HFSS Options

Viewing Matrix Data

Renaming Matrix Data

Exporting Equivalent Circuit Data

You can export S-parameter data from a Driven Terminal solution to PSpice, HSPICE, Spectre or
Maxwell Spice format. Importing the new data file to PSpice, HSPICE, Spectre or Maxwell Spice
will enable you to include wave effects in the circuit simulations. You can also export a W-Element
model for a port.

Note You must have a frequency sweep solution and five or more frequency points to
successfully export an equivalent circuit data file. See the Choosing Frequencies for Full-
Wave SPICE topic of the online help for suggestions about the frequency range of the
sweep.

The GUI lets you export full-wave Spice for a model that contains differential pairs, but it will
silently export the data in its original single-ended form. The full-wave Spice model is a
"broadband" equivalent circuit (that is, its S-parameters match those of the solution across
the whole frequency sweep range.)

Certain discrete sweeps permit Full-Wave SPICE exports. It is allowed if the discrete data
is evenly spaced, includes DC, and has at least 500 frequency points.

1. In the project tree, right-click the solution setup of interest, and then click Matrix Data on the
shortcut menu.

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The Solution Data window appears. The Matrix Data tab is selected.

2. Click Equivalent Circuit Export.

The Equivalent Circuit Export Options dialog box appears.

3. Type the name or browse to the directory in which you want to store the data.

4. Click one of the following formats in the Format list:

PSpice (*.lib)
Nexxim State Spalce (.sss)
Simplorer (.sml)
Star HSpice (*.sp)
Spectre (*.cir)

Your format selection affects the options available under Full Wave Spice Export. When
Simplorer format is requested, both *.sml and *.png are created. The latter contains the image
in GIF format.

Note The Export to Simplorer here does not use the same settings as Nexxim or Network Data
Explorer. If you intend to export to Simplorer, you should use the NdExplorer.

5. If the Full-Wave Spice Export check box is enabled, you can select it. Checking the box
enables the text field for the file name, and depending on the format selection, other options
may be enabled.
6. Desired Fitting Error (percent) has a default value of 0.5. You can edit this.
7. Maximum Order has a default value of 10000.
8. HFSS supports Full Wave Spice Export from a driven modal design as long as all ports have
exactly one mode each. However, HFSS does not support definition of differential pairs in a
driven modal design.

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9. By default Use Common Ground is checked and produces circuit models with a "common"
(suppressed) ground terminal. Uncheck Use Command Ground to apply one negative
reference terminal per port.
10. Optionally, select Enforce Passivity. Selecting this enforces passivity in the output file.
Passive devices can only dissipate or temporarily store energy, but never generate it. (You
can also check passivity from the Matrix Data tab using the Check Passivity button.)

This option is useful in cases where the transient simulation fails due to passivity violations in the
circuit model. This circuit model is based on fitting a rational function to the S-parameter data
computed by the field solver. Small errors in the data fitting can result in non-passive behavior.
Selecting the Enforce Passivity option will take more CPU time, but ensures that the resulting
model will be passive. The Enforce Passivity check box uses "Iterated fitting of passivity
violations (IFPV)" method to do the passivity enforcement.

The passivity check tests whether the S-parameter data from HFSS is passive or not. For more
information see Passivity.

11. Optionally, select Lumped Element Export (Low Bandwidth) if you want to save the data
as a low-frequency circuit model using simple lumped elements (resistors, capacitors,
inductors, and dependent current sources). The low-bandwidth model is only going to be
accurate in a limited frequency range around the adaptive solution frequency

This option is not enabled for Spectre export.

12. Optionally, select Partial Fraction Expansion for Matlab if you want to specify a file that
expands the partial fractions for use in Matlab. The partial fractions involved describe the
frequency response of the low-bandwidth model from the previous step.
13. You can also select Combine Sweeps to select and combine available sweeps into a single
output file.

By option, for Nexxim State Space, Spectre, and Star-HSpice, you can Export W-Element
Data.

14. Click OK.

The S-matrices are written to the data file that you specified in the equivalent circuit data format.

Related Topics

Exporting W-Element Data

Exporting W-element Data

It is possible to extract a W-element model for a port. This W-element model can be used in a
SPICE model to represent a length of transmission line of the same cross section as the port. A W-
element model can be extracted for a port only solution and for a full 3D solution.

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1. In the project tree, right-click the solution setup of interest, and then click Matrix Data on the
shortcut menu.

The Solution Data window appears. The Matrix Data tab is selected.

2. Click Equivalent Circuit Export.

The Equivalent Circuit Export Options dialog box appears. If you select the format as
Nexxim State Space, Spectre, or Star-HSpice, at the bottom of the dialog you see the W-
element model check box enabled.

3. Click the W-element model check box to enable the W-element fields.
4. The W-element model name field has the project name by default. You can change this if
desired.
5. Choose the format as Tabular Format (the default) or RGLC format for W-element export.

Tabular Format: provides a unique RLGC model for each frequency in the solution.

RLGC Format: provides a RLGC fit over a frequency range based on Ro, Lo, Go, Co, Rs and
Gd parameters.

Note For the RLGC Format, if only a single frequency solution is selected (e.g. LastAdaptive)
then Rs and Gd parameters are ignored.

6. In the Model name field, provide a model name.

7. Either select the port from the Port Name pull down, or, to export a W-element model for all
ports, select the Export for All Ports radio button.
8. Click OK.

The W-element model is written to the data file that you specified.

Related Topics

Technical Notes: Calculating the W-Elements

Viewing Mesh Statistics

To view an adaptive solution's mesh information, either during or after the solution process:

1. In the Project tree, right-click the solution setup of interest, and then click Mesh Statistics
on the shortcut menu.

The Solutions dialog box appears with the Mesh Statistics tab selected.

For HFSS projects, the table lists the design elements and for each includes: Num Elements,
Min edge length, Max edge length, RMS edge length, min tet vol., max tet vol., mean tet vol. and
standard deviation.

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For projects with HFSS-IE regions, the Mesh data table is similar but includes min, max, and
mean element area information for triangles, as well as instead of tet volume information for
solve-inside portions of the project.

If mesh repairs have been performed, two additional columns appear in the table; Recovered
%, Repaired %. These columns indicate the fraction of an object that was successfully
recovered and the fraction that needed some repair.

To toggle the mesh statistics display from low to high values or visa versa:

1. Click on the column header.

This displays a shadowed triangle pointing down to indicate a list ordered from highest to
lowest, and a triangle pointing up to indicate a list ordered from lowest to highest. Clicking again
inverts the current order.

Click on blank cell above the object list to invert the order of objects, though in this case, the cell
does not display a directional triangle.

Related Topics

Technical Notes: The Finite Element Method

Technical Notes: The Mesh Generation Process

Viewing Eigenmode Solution Data

To view the real and imaginary parts of the frequency and quality factor Q computed for each
eigenmode:

1. In the project tree, right-click the solution setup of interest, and then click Eigenmode Data
on the shortcut menu.

The Solution Data window appears. The Eigenmode Data tab is selected.

2. In the Simulation pull-down list, select the solution setup and solved pass - adaptive or
single frequency solution - for which you want to view data.

The solved eigenmodes are listed in the table below.

The Frequency column lists the real and (for lossy materials) imaginary parts of the frequency
(or resonant frequency) for each solved eigenmode.The display uses the re + j im format.

For lossy Eigenmode solutions, a Q column appears, which lists the unloaded quality factor Q
computed for each eigenmode.

3. To export the Eigenmode solutions to a text file with an eig extension, click the Export
button.

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This displays Save As dialog. You can provide a file name, and if desired, change to a non-
default location. Click the Save button to save the text file and close the Save As dialog.

Related Topics

Technical Notes: Eigenmode Solutions

Technical Notes: Calculating the Resonant Frequency

Technical Notes: Calculating the Quality Factor

Technical Notes: Calculating the Free Space Wave Number

Deleting Solution Data

You can use Clean Up Solutions to selectively make deletions, or remove all solutions from the
results.

To use Clean Up Solutions:

1. Click HFSS>Results>Clean Up Solutions.

The Clean Up Solutions dialog box appears.

2. Under Solutions, select whether you want to delete only fields data, only fields and mesh
data, only linked data, or all solution data. Deleting all solution data erases all mesh, matrix,
and fields data for all adaptive passes and frequency sweeps for the selected Variations.

By option, you can include linked data in the deletions.

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Linked data can be mesh, field or some other post-processing data that the source design
generated. The target design for the link caches these data internally to minimize the need to
activate the source design.

3. Under Variations, select which solution data you want to delete:

l Select All Except Current Variation to delete all solution data that do not correspond to
the current project and design variable values for the current design.
l Select All Variations to delete all solution data for the current design.
l Select Select to specify the variations you wish to delete. Click Variations to select the
variations for deletion.
4. Click Do Deletions.

The solution data you selected are deleted. Any post processing reports or field overlays you
created that included data you deleted will be marked with an X in the project tree. They will be
invalid until new solution data are generated.

Related Topics

Monitoring the Solution Process

Deleting Reports

Deleting Reports
To use Delete All Reports:

1. Click HFSS>Results>Delete All Reports. You can also right-click on the Results folder in
the Project tree to display the shortcut menu, and click Delete All Reports.

All items under the Results folder in the Project tree are removed.

To use Delete for a selected report:

1. Select a report icon in the Project tree, and right-click to display the shortcut menu.
2. Click Delete on the shortcut menu or the "X" icon on the toolbar to delete the selected report.

Warning Solution data that have been deleted cannot be recovered!

Related Topics

Clearing Linked Data

Deleting Solution Data

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Scaling a Source's Magnitude and Phase

You can scale the magnitude and set the phase of ports, voltage and current sources,
Eigenmodes, Characteristic Modes, and incident waves in the Edit post process sources dialog
box. For HFSS modal projects, and HFSS-IE, you specify the total voltages. For HFSS terminal
projects, you can also select either Incident Voltage or Total Voltage. The incident voltage selection
includes magnitude, phase, and the impedance of a hypothetical external line. It is the user
specified voltage at an input. The Total Voltage is incident voltage plus reflected voltage, that is, VT
= Vi + Vr. For HFSS Transient Network projects, the Edit Sources dialog includes tabs that let
you specify scales for Spectral and Transient data separately. For HFSS Transient, Edit Sources
is disabled.

For Driven Modal and Terminal Analysis solution types that involve near or far fields, a Source
Contexts tab appears on the Edit post process sources dialog. This provides a means to select
the sources to use as context when creating a radiated field report. The tab lists the same sources
as the Spectral Fields tab. Sources are scaled by exciting a single source (the selected context in
the reporter dialog) while turning off all other sources.

You can also Save to File and Load from File, where the file is comma delimited data (.csv)
format or tab delimited data (.txt). This can help in defining source values for projects with a large
number of sources. An example of the .csv format for HFSS follows:
Name,Magnitude,Phase

Port1:1,1W,0deg

Port2:1,0W,0deg

Port3:1,0W,0deg

An example of the tab delimited format follows:

Name Magnitude Phase

Port1:1 1W 0deg

Port2:1 0W 0deg

Port3:1 0W 0deg

Scaling Sources for HFSS or HFSS-IE

Scaling Sources for HFSS Transient Network

Specifying Source Contexts for Creating Radiated Field Reports

Scaling Sources for HFSS or HFSS-IE

1. Click HFSS or HFSS-IE>Fields>Edit Sources.

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The Edit post process sources dialog box appears For modal projects, the Spectral fields tab
shows the following column headings.

If the project contains symmetry planes, the dialog includes a reminder that you may need to
adjust the scaling factor accordingly.

For HFSS Terminal solutions, you can select a Terminal Excitation Type as Incident Voltage or
Total Voltage.

Selecting Total Voltage adds more columns to the table.

Note that in the modal case a unit stimulation means 1 Watt of incident power at the port; in the
terminal case a unit stimulation means 1 volt of total voltage at the terminal. After converting
the voltage stimulation to the equivalent power stimulation the antenna results agree perfectly.
In particular, the "ratioed" antenna parameters such as gain, directivity, and efficiency agree
between the modal and terminal projects, while absolute antenna quantities such as incident

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power, accepted power may initially appear different. This is a direct result of the difference
in edit-sources stimulations in the two types of projects.

You can scale the sources individually through the source table in the Edit post processing
sources dialog, or you can Save to File or Load From File, using the .csv format or tab
delimited data (.txt) format. This feature can help for projects with many sources. The steps
below describe how to directly edit the source table.

2. Select the source whose magnitude and phase you want to scale.
3. In the Magnitude text box, enter the magnitude you want. Design variables can be used as
source scalings.

Note You may not enter a negative voltage. To obtain the equivalent of a negative
magnitude, add or subtract 180 degrees from the phase value.

If you use a design variable as a scaling factor note that solutions are invalidated if
the variable is changed.

If the model contains symmetry planes, the Edit Sources dialog alerts you that you
may need to adjust the scaling factor accordingly.

At least one source should be excited (non-zero). If you set all sources to zero, you
will receive a warning, but the values do go through.

4. In the Phase text box, enter the new phase for the source.

The phase of the source is changed by the value that you enter.

5. Optionally, if your solution type is driven terminal, you may specify a complex reference
impedance:
a. For the selected terminal, select Terminated.

This disables the values to the left of the check box, and enables the Resistance and
Reactance text boxes. Use the scroll bar to view them.

b. Enter the Resistance and the Reactance and select the units. Ohms is the default.
6. By option, you can click a check box to Include Post Processing Effects. Note that the
post processing effect has no impact on the impedance of a terminated port.

Checking this box also enables an Apply button.

7. For gain calculations, you can check whether to Specify System Power or Use Maximum
Available Power. Selecting Specify System Power enables a field for value for power and

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select units. Use Maximum Available Power provides a default. The system power typically
comes from an external circuit (e.g. Designer), and is used in computing System Realized
Gain in antenna parameters and System Gain in far field reports.

You can specify incident power for gain calculations as a function of frequency, for example,
pwl(ds1,freq).

8. For HFSS, if an incident wave is present, use the radio buttons at the bottom of the panel to
select one of the following field types to use:

Scattered The differential field formed by subtracting the incident field from the total
Fields field.
Total Fields The physically measurable field that exists with the model present and a
non-zero incident field.
Incident The plane-wave field that would exist in the absence of the model.
Fields

For HFSS with SBR+ designs that include ports, incident waves, or linked incident waves, the
Field Type options take this form:

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In the case of SBR+ with incident waves, the field type can only be Scattered from SBR+
Regions. For SBR+ designs with Port sources or linked incident waves, you can select from all
three types.

For HFSS-IE, these options do not appear in the Edit post processing sources dialog. The
Port Processing effects are always on, and the entered voltages in Edit post processing
sources are always in Total Voltage form.

For Eigenmode solutions, the Edit post process sources dialog displays a Spectral Fields
tab and radio buttons for selecting as the Eigenmode Excitation Type, either Peak Electric Field
or Stored Energy.

For Stored Energy, the table lists Magnitude and Unit as editable fields. For Peak Electric field,
the editable fields are Magnitude, Unit, Phase, and Unit.

9. The Source Contexts tab lets you select the sources to use as context when you create
radiated fields reports.

10. Click OK to apply the changes and close the dialog, or click Apply to view the
changes without closing the dialog.

The magnitude and phase are assigned to the selected excitation.

Note When you scale an excitation, keep in mind that the original value of the excitation remains
unchanged.

Related Topics

Guidelines for Scaling a Source's Magnitude and Phase

Guidelines for Scaling a Source's Magnitude and Phase

When specifying the magnitude of a source keep the following guidelines in mind:

For ports, l The excitation's magnitude specifies time-averaged incident power in

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driven watts.
modal case l If you are using a symmetry plane, remember to scale the input signal
appropriately. For example, if you have one symmetry plane, use an input
value of 0.5 watts to excite the full structure with 1 watt; if you have two
symmetry planes, use an input value of 0.25 watts to excite the full structure
with 1 watt, and so forth.
l Generally, use the default value of 1. This specifies that the solution's E-
and H-fields be scaled such that the excitation wave delivers 1 watt of
power. To view the solution at some other power, enter a positive value.
l Only port-mode combinations with non-zero magnitudes will be used.
For voltage l The source magnitude for voltage and current sources specifies peak value
and current volts and peak value amperes, respectively.
sources l If you have defined multiple voltage and current sources, you can "remove"
them by setting their magnitudes to 0. This enables you to easily observe
the effects that individual or specific groups of sources have on the problem.

For incident l Source magnitude specifies peak value E-field in volts per meter.
waves l When you scale the incident E-field, the scattered E-field and the total E-
field are scaled as well.
l This scaling factor affects all incident angles in the incident wave setup.
For ports, l The excitation's magnitude specifies peak value volts. This is the sum of the
driven incident and reflected waves at this terminal. See the equations here.
terminal
case
For l Source magnitude is unitless and represents a relative value.
Eigenmodes l When you enter a scaling factor for an eigenmode the relative source
magnitude is amplified by this value. Exactly one eigenmode must be
excited by setting its scaling factor to a non-zero positive number.
Ports of l See Ports and Edit Sources Behavior for Transient Network
Transient
Network
solutions

When specifying the new phase for ports, generally use zero. This zero-phase solution results from
excitations phased in such a way that, at ωt = 0, peak values occur at the port faces.
Scaling Sources and Setting Delays for HFSS Transient Network

For HFSS Transient Network solutions you can separately edit sources for Spectral Fields and
Transient Fields. The Transient tab on Edit Sources controls transient far fields and fields saved

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on the mesh. The Spectral Fields tab on Edit Sources controls Frequency domain far fields and
antenna parameters.

l Editing Sources for Spectral Fields for Transient Network

l Editing Sources for Transient Fields for Transient Network

When non-port sources exist, the port post processing effects are off. For both Spectral and
Transient fields, you can scale the sources individually through the source table in the Edit
Sources dialog, or you can Save to File or Load From File, using the .csv format or tab delimited
data (.txt) format. This feature can help for projects with many sources. The linked steps describe
how to directly edit the source table.

In Transient Network analysis each source is solved separately which allows arbitrary
superposition of the results from all sources controlled by Edit Sources settings. This feature
enables users great flexibility in studying a large set of excitation variations in an efficient and
convenient manner.

Note When superposing results it is assumed that the fields have decayed to zero at the end of
the simulation for each source. In practice, the user settings for Target Residual and time
duration can cause this assumption to be violated. In this case the displayed field quantities
may contain significant error.

For example, consider a design with two sources where the user has specified a large
Target Residual setting, and one source converges at 1ns while the other converges at
2ns. If the user had not specified any time shifts in Edit Sources, the displayed field
quantities will not be reliable in the range 1ns to 2ns because the fields from the first source
cannot be assumed to be zero.

Related Topics

Editing Sources for Spectral Fields for Transient Network

Editing Sources for Transient Fields for Transient Network

Editing Sources for Spectral Fields for Transient Network

For Spectral fields, you can optionally include port post-processing effects. The Spectral Fields
tab on Edit post process sources controls Frequency domain far fields and antenna
parameters. The voltage specifications are only for the incident voltage.

1. Click HFSS>Fields>Edit Sources.

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The Edit post process sources dialog box appears with the Spectral Fields tab selected.

For HFSS Transient Network, the Edit post process sources dialog displays information for
sources for Spectral Fields in table format. You can edit the Magnitude and Phase values
including the use of variables, and set the units for each. You can scale the sources individually
through the source table in the Edit Sources dialog, or you can Save to File or Load From
File, using the .csv format. This feature can help for projects with many sources. The steps
below describe how to directly edit the source table.

Note You may not enter a negative voltage. To obtain the equivalent of a negative magnitude,
add or subtract 180 degrees from the phase value.

If you use a design variable as a magnitude note that solutions are invalidated if the variable
is changed.

If the model contains symmetry planes, the Edit Sources dialog alerts you that you may
need to adjust the scaling factor accordingly.

At least one source should be excited (non-zero). If you set all sources to zero, you will
receive a warning, but the values do go through.

2. By option, you can click a check box to Include Post Processing Effects.

Checking this box also enables an Apply button.

3. For HFSS, if an incident wave is present, use the radio buttons at the bottom of the panel to
select one of the following field types to use:

Scattered The differential field formed by subtracting the incident field from the total
Fields field.

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Total Fields The physically measurable field that exists with the model present and a
non-zero incident field.
Incident The plane-wave field that would exist in the absence of the model.
Fields

Related Topics

Guidelines for Scaling a Source's Magnitude and Phase

Ports and Edit Sources Behavior for Transient Network

Scaling Sources for HFSS Transient Network

Editing Sources for Transient Fields for Transient Network

For Transient fields you can set magnitude and time delay for each source. The Transient tab on
Edit post process sources controls transient far fields and fields saved on the mesh. The
voltage specifications are only for the incident voltage.

1. Click HFSS>Fields>Edit Sources.

The Edit post process sources dialog box appears with the Spectral Fields tab selected.

2. Select the Transient Fields tab.

3. Edit the Magnitude and Time Delay values as desired, and select the Units for each.

You can scale the sources individually through the source table in the Edit Sources dialog, or
you can Save to File or Load From File, using the .csv format. This feature can help for
projects with many sources. An example of the format for HFSS Transient follows:
Name,Transient Magnitude,Delay

bw_tr_1_T1,1V,0ps

bw_tr_2_T1,0V,0ps

sb_tr_1_T1,0V,0ps

sb_tr_2_T1,0V,0ps

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The magnitude and delay are assigned to the selected excitation.

Note When you change the Magnitude of an excitation, keep in mind that the original value of the
excitation remains unchanged.

Related Topics

Guidelines for Scaling a Source's Magnitude and Phase

Ports and Edit Sources Behavior for Transient Network

Scaling Sources for HFSS Transient Network

Ports and Edit Sources Behavior for Transient Network

Transient Network solutions support the following port features:

l Just as in Driven Terminal we have two types of ports namely wave ports and lumped ports.
l Both port types are restricted to be single TEM terminal ports such as coax and gap ports.
l Wave ports are matched loaded.
l Lumped ports are loaded with the user defined "Full Port Impedance".
l Both ports support renormalization of the spectral quantities S-parameters and far fields
including antenna parameters.
l Neither port supports renormalization of transient quantities.

Edit Sources for Transient Network involves specifying the incident voltages at the terminals of the
ports not the total voltages. This means that all ports are terminated with the port settings and if the
edit source for a given port is set to zero it means that port is loaded with the port setting and it does
not imply a short. As mentioned above, transient fields are not affected by any renormalization but
the frequency domain far fields and antenna parameters are affected by renormalization.

In Transient Network analysis each source is solved separately which allows arbitrary
superposition of the results from all sources controlled by Edit Sources settings. This feature
enables users great flexibility in studying a large set of excitation variations in an efficient and
convenient manner.

Note When superposing results it is assumed that the fields have decayed to zero at the end of
the simulation for each source. In practice, the user settings for Target Residual and time
duration can cause this assumption to be violated. In this case the displayed field quantities
may contain significant error.

For example, consider a design with two sources where the user has specified a large
Target Residual setting, and one source converges at 1ns while the other converges at
2ns. If the user had not specified any time shifts in Edit Sources, the displayed field
quantities will not be reliable in the range 1ns to 2ns because the fields from the first source
cannot be assumed to be zero.

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For HFSS Transient, Edit Sources is disabled.

Related Topics

Editing Sources for Spectral Fields for Transient Network

Editing Sources for Transient Fields for Transient Network

Scaling Sources for HFSS Transient Network

Specifying Source Contexts for Creating Radiated Field Reports

For Driven Modal and Terminal Analysis solution types that involve near or far fields, a Source
Contexts tab appears on the Edit post process sources dialog. This provides a means to select
the sources to use as context when creating a radiated field report. The Source Contexts tab lists
the same sources as the Spectral Fields tab. Sources are scaled by exciting a single source (the
selected context in the reporter dialog) while turning off all other sources.

All types of sources can be enabled as Source context (ports, currents, incident waves). The
default for all sources is "disabled". This applies to newly created sources and sources in legacy
projects.

Each singly selected source is excited with factory default values. The phase will always be 0 deg
and the magnitude will be 1 Watt for modal design and 1 Volt (Total voltage) for terminal design.
These factory default values cannot be changed by users.

Design Edit post process sources settings such as "Include Port Post Processing Effects" are
applicable for these singly excited sources. Thus changing any setups on the first tab of the Edit
post processing sources dialog invalidates all traces that are defined with source context.

Enabling any source as context does not impact traces that are already defined

Disabling source as context invalidates an existing trace that uses that source as context.

This Edit post process sources selection applies to a Source selection in the Reporter that
allows you to excite a single source.

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The Reporter Context selection for "Sources" appears when there is at least one source selected
for "Source Contexts". The default selection of this combo box is "Use Edit Sources". When a
source is selected, the Edit Sources setup in the design will be ignored during trace population.
Instead, the trace will be calculated with the selected source excited while turning off all the other
sources in the design. The above figure illustrates the extended Create Near Field Report dialog.
Note that "1" and "2" are port names and each has 1 mode.

For an example use of these features, see the User Defined Solution for MIMO Calculations
example, that describes python scripts for the Toolkits and User Defined Solution features to
generate calculations and reports.

Edit Sources Panel for CMA

For characteristic mode analysis, the Edit Sources panel allows you to specify the modal weight for
each characteristic mode used to form the total field displayed. In addition, for designs where ports
are defined, you can specify the excitation values of the ports. In the case of port excitations, a
linear combination of the solved characteristic modes will be determined, which matches the
specified port values. The default value of Mode count in the Edit Sources panel is 10. The CMA
data panel in the Solution Data dialog displays the actual modes above the minimum modal
significance for any specific solution.

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Enter this value in the Mode count field. For example, if the matrix display shows 6 modes above
the specified value of minimum modal significance, enter 6 in the Mode count field. Excite the
magnitude and/or phase of the mode whose current pattern you wish to see in the design. For
example, if you want to see surface currents due for Mode 3, define the magnitude or phase for
CharacteristicMode_3 and set the other characteristic modes to 0. You can also define the
magnitude and/or phase of a combination of characteristic modes.

Related Topics

Generating Reports for Characteristic Mode Analysis

Theory of Characteristic Mode Analysis

Creating Animations
An animated plot is a series of frames that displays a field, mesh, virtual ray trace or geometry at
varying values. To create an animated plot, you specify the values of the plot that you want to

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include, just as an animator takes snapshots of individual drawings that make up a cartoon. Each
value is a frame in the animation. You specify how many frames to include in the animation.

Note Each animation frame requires memory for storage which depends upon the mesh size
and type of plot. Memory usage may become very large during plot animations. To reduce
memory usage, specify the minimum number of frames possible. See General Options for
more information.

Note Graphics System requirements for Optimal Performance

In order to obtain optimal performance improvements on fields overlay plot, a workstation-

class 3D-capable graphics card with at least 512 MB of memory that supports OpenGL
version 2.0 or higher is needed.

On Windows, the default OpenGL version support is v1.1, so you might need to update
graphics driver to the latest version;

If you access the application through Windows Remote Desktop which only supports
Generic GDI (functionally equivalent to OpenGL v1.0), the performance improvement will
also not be available;

To view OpenGL version/extensions supported by your card, the OpenGL Extension

Viewer tool is accessible via softpedia.com.

If animation is slow, especially for complex models, for some older graphics cards, you can
improve performance by setting NVIDIA Control Panel>3D Settings>Manage 3D
Settings Global Settings>Global Presets: Workstation App - Dynamic Streaming

You can export the animation to animated Graphics Interchange Format (GIF) or to Audio Video
Interleave (AVI) format.

Related Topics

General Options: Miscellaneous Options Tab

Creating Phase Animations

Creating Frequency Animations

Creating Geometry Animations

Controlling the Animations Display

Exporting Animations

Animating VRT Plots

Creating Phase Animations

To animate a plot with respect to the phase of the plotted field:

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1. Create a field overlay plot to animate.

2. Click HFSS>Fields>Animate .

If you already created an animation, the Select Animation dialog box appears. Selecting an
existing animation from that list starts it. To create a new animation, click New.

The Setup Animation dialog box appears.

3. Type a name for the animation in the Name text box or accept the default name.
4. Optionally, type a description of the animation in the Description text box.
5. Under the Swept Variable tab, select Phase from the Swept Variable list.
6. Specify the phase values you want to include in the animation:
a. Type the starting value of the phase in the Start text box.
b. Type the stopping value of the phase in the Stop text box.
c. Type the number of Steps to include in the animation.

For example, if the Start value is 10, the Stop value is 160, and the number of steps is
10, the animation will display the plot at 10 phase values between 10 and 160. The start
value will be the first frame displayed, resulting in a total of 11 frames in the animation.

d. If the design has multiple project or intrinsic variables, click the Design Point tab to set
the values of the non-animated variables.
1. Click the Design Point tab.
2. Deselect the Use defaults check box.

In the table, select the row corresponding to the variable setting of interest.

3. Click OK.

The animation begins in the view window. The play panel appears in the upper-left corner of the
desktop, enabling you to stop, restart, and control the speed and sequence of the frames.

Related Topics

Creating Animations

Controlling the Animation's Display

Creating Frequency Animations

1. Create a field overlay plot to animate.

In the Create Field Plot dialog box, make sure to select a sweep solution to plot from the
Solution pull-down list.

2. Click HFSS>Fields>Animate .

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If you already created an animation, the Select Animation dialog box appears. Selecting an
existing animation from that list starts it. To create a new animation, click New.

The Setup Animation dialog box appears.

3. Type a name for the animation in the Name text box or accept the default name.
4. Optionally, type a description of the animation in the Description text box.
5. Under the Swept Variable tab, select Frequency from the Swept Variable list.
6. Select the frequency values you want to include in the animation from the Select values list.

Use the Shift key to select a series of values, and the Ctrl key to select values that are not in
sequence.

7. If the design has multiple project or intrinsic variables, click the Design Point tab to set the
values of the non-animated variables.
a. Click the Design Point tab.
b. Deselect the Use defaults check box.

In the table, select the row corresponding to the variable setting of interest.

8. Click OK:

The animation begins in the view window. It will display one frame for each frequency value you
selected.

The play panel appears in the upper-left corner of the desktop, enabling you to stop, restart, and
control the speed and sequence of the frames.

Related Topics

Creating Animations

Controlling the Animation's Display

Creating Geometry Animations

Geometry animations may be created to evaluate the effect of varying geometry variables on the
model. You must define at least one variable associated with the geometry prior to creating a
geometry animation. Following is the general procedure for creating an animation that varies a part
of the model geometry.

1. Right-click in the view window, point to View, and then click Animate.

If multiple geometries can be varied in the design, the Select Drawing dialog box appears,
proceed to step 2. If only one geometry is variable, proceed to step 3.

2. In the Select Drawing dialog box:

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a. Select the geometry variable to vary in the animation.

b. Select the object you want to animate.

Note If previous animations have been created for this project, the Select Animation
dialog will appear. You may choose an animation setup from the list if one is
associated with the geometry variable of interest and the animation will start. If
no existing animation setup is acceptable, select New and continue at Step 3
below.

The Setup Animation dialog box appears.

3. In the Setup Animation dialog box:

a. Type a name for the animation in the Name text box or accept the default name.
b. Optionally, type a description of the animation in the Description text box.
c. Under the Swept Variable tab, the Swept Variable list includes all of the defined
geometric project and design variables. Select the geometry variable that you want to
animate from the Swept Variable list.
d. Specify the values of the variable that you want to include in the animation:
1. Type the starting value of the variable in the Start text box.
2. Type the stopping value of the variable in the Stop text box.
3. Type the number of Steps to include in the animation.
For example, if the Start value is 0.15in, the Stop value is 0.45in, and the number of steps
is 15, the animation will display the geometry at 15 values between 0.15 inches and 0.45
inches. The animation will also include the start value, which will be the first frame displayed,
resulting in a total of 16 frames in the animation.
a. If the design has multiple project or intrinsic variables, click the Design Point tab to set
the values of the non-animated variables.
1. Click the Design Point tab.
2. Deselect the Use defaults check box.
3. In the table, select the row corresponding to the variable setting of interest.
4. Click OK.

The animation begins in the view window. It will display one frame for each variable value.

The play panel appears in the upper-left corner of the desktop, enabling you to stop, restart, and
control the speed and sequence of the frames.

Related Topics

Creating Animations

Controlling the Animation's Display

Creating 2D Radiation Field Plot Overlay Animations

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Creating 2D Radiation Field Plot Overlay Animations

In order for a Radiation Pattern plot to be valid for overlay animation, either theta or phi must be set
to a single value, so that the pattern lies in a single plane in 3D space. Note that for animation, the
plot must contain at least two traces within this plane - for example traces for multiple frequencies
of a discrete sweep. You create the 2D Radiation Field plot as before, but must also prepare it to be
suitable for animation. See Overlaying 2D Radiation Field Plots on Models.

If an existing 2D Plot is a candidate for animation, you will see it listed when you click
View>Animation to open the Select Drawing dialog.

However, if the Radiation Pattern plot does not have at least two traces, when you try to setup the
animation, you will receive a notice that you need to Modify the plot or simulation setup appropriate
or create a new one.

Recall that the Context section on Modify Plot may let you select Setupn: Sweep, which will
permit you to select additional frequencies. Also the Trace tab and Families tab lets you specify a
single Phi and/or Theta and select multiple values for other available Variables such as frequency.

For plot with multiple traces, the animation proceeds through the existing traces.

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Animating VRT Plots

Visual Ray Trace (VRT) is a powerful feature available in HFSS for visualizing the ray geometry
and interactions for an SBR+ simulation. VRT plot animation provides a means to dynamically
explore how geometry changes or ray launch point changes affect ray generation. Compared to
regular field or mesh plot animation, VRT plot animations differ in that you do not need to solve or
generate a mesh before animating a VRT plot.

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1. To create a new VRT animation, either:

l Right-click on a VRT icon in the Project tree and select Animate... from the short-cut menu
and select New in the Select Animation dialog.
l Click HFSS>Fields>Animate... and select New... in the Select Animation dialog.

This opens the Setup Animation dialog:

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2. Select the Swept variable. If multiple swept variables are available, you can select from the
drop down list.
3. Specify the Start, Stop and Steps for the animation.
4. The Design Point tab has Use defaults checked. If you uncheck it, you can see a listing of
design points.
5. If desired, provide a name and description
6. Click OK to produce the animation.

You can click Show Progress to watch the progress bars. The arrow button on the right includes
an Abort command.

When the animation frames have been generated and the plots completed, the animation displays
in the Modeler window, and the Animation control dialog appears.

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To launch an existing VRT animation, either:

l Right-click on a VRT icon in the Project tree and select Animate... from the short-cut menu.
l Click HFSS>Fields>Animate... and select from any existing animations listed

Related Topics

Visual Ray Trace (VRT) for SBR+ Simulation

HFSS-Savant Datalink Toolkit

Controlling the Animation's Display

Exporting Animations

Controlling the Animation's Display

When an animation is displayed in the view window, the Animation window, also called the play
panel, appears in the upper-left corner of the desktop. It has buttons that enable you to control the

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speed and sequence of the frames, start and stop the animation and export the animation. Click an
area of the window below to learn its function.

Animation Each dot on the slider represents a frame in the animation. Drag the slider to the
slider right to display the next frame in the animated plot. Drag the slider to the left to
display the previous frame in the animation.
Plays the plot's animation sequence backwards.

Steps backward through the animated plot one frame at a time.

Stops the animation.

Steps forward through the animated plot one frame at a time.

Plays the plot's animation sequence forwards.

Drag the Speed slider to the top to increase the speed of the animation. Drag the
Speed slider to the bottom to decrease its speed.

Frame The current frame and phase at which the plot is being displayed is listed below the
control buttons.
information

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Enables you to export the animation to an animated Graphics Interchange Format

(GIF) or to Audio Video Interleave (AVI) format.
Closes the animation window.

Show label If you select the Show check box, a label showing the swept variable value appears
check box in the animation. You can select the label with the mouse and drag it to an location.

Background Click the background button to open a color pallet dialog that lets you set the
button. background for the swept variable label.

The font button opens a font selection dialog that you can use to set the Font, Font
Style, and Size for the label. The Default is Arial Narrow 14pt.

Related Topics

Creating Animations

Exporting Animations

1. Create the animation you want to export.

2. In the play panel, click Export.

The Save As dialog box appears.

3. Follow the procedure for saving a new file. Select Animated GIF File (.gif) or AVI File
(.avi) as the file type.

The Animation Options dialog box appears.

4. To replace colors in the file with 256 shades of gray, select Grayscale.

Grayscale animations tend to use less memory than full color animations.

5. For AVI format export, specify the Compression factor (the default is 85) and one of
the following Compression types:

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INTEL Indeo
Cinepak
Microsoft Video 1
None

6. For GIF format export, specify the number of loops. The default "0" denotes infinite loops.
7. Click OK to close the Animations Options dialog.

The animation is exported to the file format you specified.

Related Topics

Creating Animations

Creating Reports
After a solver generates a solution, you can analyze all the results for that solution. ANSYS
Electronics Desktop lets you create 2D or 3D plots. A 2D or 3D plot shows the relationship
between a design's values and the corresponding results of the analysis. You can create reports
using either the Create Quick Report option, or the Create <type> Report commands. The
Quick Report feature lets you select from a list of predefined categories (such as S-parameters)
from which to create a rectangular plot.

For each solution <type> (Eigenmode, Modal, Fields, Far Fields and Emission test, and Terminal),
the Results menus present a list of Create <type> Report commands based on the solution data
of direct interest for the design. For example, for the Eigenmode solution type, the Results menu
contains templates for Eigenmode Parameters and for Fields. These appear on the menus as
Create Eigenmode Parameters Report and Create Fields Report. For the Modal and
Terminal Solution types, several different types appear, appropriate to each solution type. Each of
these Create <type> Report menu items includes a further cascading menu that lists the Display
Types available for that report. For some reports you can modify the Display Type from the
Properties for that Report. For reports for Transient designs, see this discussion.

The Results tab for the Ribbon will show icons and drop down menus for available report types for
the active project.

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If you have created custom report templates (for example, including your company name or other
format changes), you can also create a report based on that template by selecting
[solver]>Results>Report Templates><templateName>. You can also access previously defined
2D templates using Report2D>Report Templates>Apply Settings.... You can save the
properties for a modified report to provide the custom default settings for all new reports.

You can also use the Report2D>Export or Report 3D Export feature and select ReportData File
(.rdat) format file which you can then select for Create Report from File.

Related Topics

Creating a Quick Report

Creating a New Report

Modifying Reports

Zooming and Fitting Reports

Modifying the Background Properties of a Report

Exporting Reports

Limit Lines in Cartesian Plots

Creating Custom Report Templates and Defaults

Plotting in the Time Domain

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Animated Reports

Report Setup Options

Creating a Quick Report

Following is the procedure for creating a quick report.

1. On the Project tree under "Analysis", select a setup or sweep icon, or the Results icon.
2. Right-click to display the shortcut menu and select Create Quick Report.

The Quick Report dialog appears.

The list of available reports differs depending on the Solution type. The figure shows reports for
a Modal solution. Eigen mode solutions and Terminal solutions provide different selections.

3. Select the one or more categories for the report from the list and click OK.

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A rectangular plot for each selected category displays. The new plot or plots appear in the
Project tree under the Results icon. The default Report Name that appears derives from the
report type specified in the Quick Report dialog.

Related Topics

Creating Reports

Modifying Reports

Creating Custom Report Templates

Creating a New Report

Following is the general procedure for creating a new report:

1. On the HFSS or HFSS-IE menu or the Project tree, point to Results, and then select
Create <type>Report and from the menu select the Display Type for that template.There
are more templates of Report Types available for terminal solutions (terminal, modal,
fields, near fields, and far fields) and for modal solutions (modal and fields). For Eigenmode
solutions, the <templates> of Report Types are for Eigenmode Parameters and for Fields.
Characteristic Modes solution reports include quantities for Significance, Value, and Angle.

The Results tab for the Ribbon will show icons and drop down menus for available report types
for the active project.

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If you have created custom report templates (for example, including your company name or
other format changes), you can also create a report based on that template by selecting HFSS
or HFSS-IEResults>Report Templates>PersonalLib><templateName>. You can also
make such changes the default for new reports by right-clicking a modified report and selecting
Report Templates>Save Settings as default.

When you have selected the <type> and display type from the Results menu, the Report
dialog box appears, with the Trace tab selected by default.

2. In the Context section you make selections depending on the design and solution type.
3. In the Y Component section of the dialog make selections for the following:
a. Categories - those depend on the Solution type and the design. For example,
Eigenmode quantities include Eigenmodes, variables, output variables, and the design.
Driven solutions include such categories as S parameters. Report categories for
Transient designs include Spectral and Transient. For a Transient Network design with
differential pairs defined, the Reporter interface allows selection of single-ended or
differential signals just as for driven terminal. Characteristic Mode Data Reports include
Characteristic Mode quantities for Significance, Value, and Angle. Report categories for
SBR+ designs that include an Incident Plane wave and an RCS selection as Monostatic
do not require a geometry selection and include a range of Monostatic Quantities when
select Monostatic RCS as the Report Category. For SBR+ designs and RCS
Monostatic you can choose between Freq, IWaveTheta and IWavePhi variables for
specifying sweeps. The selected Category provides the default plot name. You can edit
the plot names in the project tree and the plot header text in the report synchronizes.
b. Quantities for Y are relative to the selected category.

Note The Quantity text field can be used to filter the Quantity list by typing in text, or by
using the four predefined selections. This is useful if the Category selected
produces a lengthy Quantities list. See Filtering Quantity Selections for the
Reporter.

When the matrix is very large, the number of quantities can be correspondingly
huge. Therefore, the Quantities field can optionally use a tree structure to divide
matrix quantities into groups by their first element name. The initial display shows
groups, without initially listing group members. See Report Setup Options.

c. Function list to apply to the Y quantities.

d. Value field displays the currently specified Quantity and Function. You can edit this field
directly.

Note Color shows valid expression.

e. Range Function button -- opens the Set Range Function dialog box. This applies to
the currently specified Quantity and Function.
4. In the X (Primary Sweep) section, make selections for the following:

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a. Select the Primary value(s) from the drop down menu.

To select an X component that is different than the Primary Sweep, uncheck the Default
field to enable the X field and browse [...] button. Click the browse [...] button to display
the Select X Component dialog.

This lets you specify the X component as you do the Y; that is, in terms of Categories
which define the selectable Quantities, and Functions to apply. After making selections,
OK the dialog to assign the X component.

b. If sweeps are available, you can select the browse [...] button to display a panel that lets
you select Use all values, or selected sweep or sweeps, or access an Edit Sweep dialog.
with further editing options. Post-Processing variables are Post-Processing
sweeps/editable sweeps, so you can use the Edit Sweep dialog to create your own
sweep.
c. The Families tab provides a way to select from valid solutions for sweeps where a
simulation has multiple variables defined (for example, for a parametric sweep). If so, the
variables other than the one chosen as the X (Primary sweep), are listed under the
Families tab with columns for the variable, the value, and an Edit column with an ellipsis
[...] button. See Using Families tab for Reports.
5. Update Report setting
l Real Time checked -- enable real time updates for all reports while the reports are being
edited.
l Real Time unchecked -- enables drop down menu to Update All Reports or Update
Report. Reports will only be updated with one of these user selectable update options or
upon exiting the report dialog. This can be useful if you expect a trace to take time to
display. You can then add additional traces without having to wait.

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6. The Report dialog command buttons permit you create a new report with the settings you
provide, or to modify an existing report.
l Output Variables - opens the Output Variables dialog.
l Add Trace - this is enabled when you have created or selected a report. Add one or more
traces to include in the report.
l Update Trace - updates the selected traces in a report based on further processing or
changes.
l New Report. Adds a report to the Project tree under the Results icon. The new Report is
displayed in the Project window.
l Options - opens the Report Setup Options dialog. This contains a check box for using
the advanced mode for editing and viewing trace components. This mode is automatic if
the trace requires it. It also contains a field for setting the maximum number of significant
digits to display for numerical quantities.
l Close - closes the Report dialog.
7. Click New Report to create a new report in the Project tree.

The report appears in the view window. It will be listed in the project tree under Results, with the
default name based on the Report Category you selected, for example, S Parameter Plot n or
Output Variables Plot n. You can edit the plot names in the project tree and the plot header text
in the report synchronizes. Traces within the report also appear in the project tree.

Some plots may take time to complete. Performing a File>Save in such cases after the plot has
been created will permit you to review the plot later without having to repeat the calculation time
when you reopen the project later.

8. To speed redraw times for changed plots, perform a Save. This saves the data that
comprises expressions. For example if re(S11)*re(S22) is requested over multiple widths,
each of the S11 and S22 are stored when you save. If you do not do a save of a changed plot,
the changed version is not stored.

Note Remember that the evaluated value of an expression is always interpreted in SI units.
However, when an angle quantity is plotted in a report, you have the option to plot values in
units other than SI. If you want to plot the polar angle of a complex simulation result, S11
say, you can choose between ang_deg(S11) and ang_rad(S11). Both of these return the
exact same angle quantity but in degree and radian units respectively.

Note that when used in expressions, some surprising outcomes might result. For example,
the expression "1+ang_deg(S11)" represents an ‘angle’ and the number "1" is treated as "1
rad". i.e., the angle SI unit is attached to any unitless number that is added/subtracted from
an angle value. If you want to treat "1" as degrees, make it explicit and use "1deg + ang_
deg(S11)" instead.

If you are interested in unitless degree values, two additional functions exist: ang_deg_val
(S11) and cang_deg_val(S11). These return simple numbers and are treated as such by
any expression. If the complex S11 lies on the positive Y axis say, ang_deg_val(S11) would

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be 90 and "1 + ang_deg_val(S11)" will be 91.

Related Topics

Creating Reports

Modifying Reports

Zooming and Fitting Reports

Creating a Quick Report

Using Families tab for Reports

Context Section for Reports

Plotting in the Time Domain

Window Functions and Time Domain Plotting

Context Section for Reports

In the Context section make selections from the following field or fields, depending on the design
and solution type.

1. Solution field with a drop down selection list. This lists the available solutions, whether
sweeps or adaptive passes. The selections for HFSS Transient include Transient, and for
Transient Network includes Spectral.
2. Domain field with a drop down selection list. Whether this field appears, and the domains
listed depend on the Solution type and the <type> selected. For modal and terminal solution
data r reports, the domain can be Sweep or Time.

Before you can examine the time domain, you must perform an Interpolating sweep for a driven
solution (Modal or Terminal). If you select Time, the TDR Options button is enabled. Select it
and follow the directions for time-domain plotting.

For Near Field or Far Field report, for a Rectangular Contour Plot, the Domain can be Theta,
Phi, or Sine Space. Before you can create a Sine Space plot, you must create the appropriate
Radiation Setups.

3. Geometry field with a drop down selection list. For field and radiated field reports, this applies
the quantity to a geometry or radiated field setup. For SBR+ designs with an Incident Plane
Wave and Monostatic RCS selected, the Geometry field is unavailable. In this case, the
solver computs the scattered field in the direction of the plane wave.
4. Show field with a drop down selection list for Differential pairs or Terminals. This field
appears for designs using terminal solutions that have differential pairs defined. It lets you
plot either differential pair data, or single-ended terminal data, or both in the same plot
without having to disable or enable differential pairs under the Excitations heading in the
Project tree. Note that single-ended quantities are computed as if no differential pairs

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existed. So in the unlikely case of several terminals where only a subset is combined into
pairs, the results may not be as expected.

5. Derivative field with a drop drown selection list of none, all, and specific variables for which
you specified Use on the Derivatives tab of the solution setup. You can use derivatives in
some Optimetrics situations, Far Field reports, non-Port excitations including incident wave,
linked field, voltage source, current source, and magnetic bias with the Derivative Tuning
feature in the Reporter.
6. A Sources combo box appears in the Reporter when you have specified at least one source
in the Edit Sources dialog. See Specifying Source Contexts for Creating Radiated Field
Reports. For an example use, see User Defined Solution for MIMO Calculations.

Related Topics

Creating Reports

Modifying Reports

Using Families tab for Reports

Selecting the Report Type in HFSS Transient

Using Families Tab for Reports

The Families tab of the Report dialog provides a way to select from valid solutions for sweeps
where a simulation has multiple variables defined and solutions exist for multiple variable values
(for example, for a parametric sweep or re-running an analysis with a different variable value). If no
variables are defined, or none have solutions for different values, 0 families will be available. If so,
the variables other than the X (Primary sweep), are listed under the Families tab with columns
for the variable, the solution value (which may be All, Nominal, or a Specific value), and an Edit
column with an ellipsis [...] button. Families gives the number available. If an existing variable is

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specified as Nominal, only that value is currently available. You can set any solved variables as
Nominal, All, or select from values provided for Available solutions.

When you select a variable with multiple solved values, a trace for each solved value appears in the
Report, with the variable value appended to the trace name in the Report legend.

When families are available, you can make selections for the following:

1. Select the Sweeps radio button (the default) to list the swept variables you can select or the
Available variations button to list and select variation values for which solutions exist.
2. With the Sweeps radio button selected, click the ellipsis [...] button to display a list of variable
values for a particular variable. If many variables exist, you can use a scroll bar to navigate
the list.

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l To select all values, click the check box for Use all values. This writes "All" in the value
field for that variable. You can also select individual values by clicking on them.
l To select a range of values, hold down the shift key, and click again.
l To select intermittent additional values, hold the CTRL key and click additional. The
values you select are highlighted in the list, and are also listed in the Values column for
that variable.
l To select all, use the Select All button. This highlights the complete list, as well as listing
all values for the variable in the Value field.

l To clear the selections, use the Clear All button.

.Select the Available variations radio button to list the choices that derive from variable
combination.

a. To select individual variations, check the select box.

b. To check or clear all variations at once, click the Select button at the top of the column.

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c. To invert the list order, click the triangle beside the variable name.

The Families Display tab has three radio button selections.

a. All Families
b. Statistics which lists a table statistical functions that you can select to apply to the plot.
The functions include Min, Max, Avg, Mean, Variance, Std Dev, and Sum. You can use
the Select check boxes or the Select All and Clear All button.

c. Histogram which lets you select the number of bins to use for a histogram plot, and the
sampling frequency to use.

Related Topics

Creating Reports

Modifying Reports

Modifying the Background Properties of a Report

Modifying the Legend in a Report

Creating Custom Report Templates

Working with Traces

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Editing the Display Properties of Traces

Discarding Report Values Below a Specified Threshold

Adding Characteristics to a Trace

Adding Data Markers to Traces

Filtering Quantity Selections for the Reporter

When a two port quantity Category is selected, four predefined filters are added to the combo box.
"Port1" is the first matrix element name found in the quantity list.

l Only Self Terms -- Only display quantities when the first and second port are same.
l Only Mutual Terms -- Only display quantities when the first and second port are different.
l (*,Port1) -- Only display quantities when the second element name is "Port1". You can edit
the element name to display quantities for other elements.
l (Port1,*) - Only display quantities when the first element name is "Port1". You can edit the
element name to display quantities for other element.

Related Topics

Report Setup Options

Modifying Reports

To modify the data that is plotted in a report:

1. In the project tree, click the report you want to modify.

2. Right-click Modify Report.

The Report dialog appears.

3. The Report dialog command buttons permit you create a new report with the settings you
provide, or to modify an existing report.
l Output Variables - opens the Output Variables dialog.
l Add Trace - this is enabled when you have created or selected a report. Add one or more
traces to include in the report.

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l Update Trace - updates the selected traces in a report based on further processing or
changes.
l New Report - adds a report to the Project tree under the Results icon. The new Report is
displayed in the main window.
l Options - opens the Report Setup Options dialog. This contains a check box for using
the advanced mode for editing and viewing trace components. This mode is automatic if
the trace requires it. It also contains a field for setting the maximum number of significant
digits to display for numerical quantities.
l Close - closes the Report dialog.

The updated report appears in the view window.

4. Update Report setting

l Real Time checked -- enable real time updates for all reports while the reports are being
edited.
l Real Time unchecked -- enables drop down menu to Update All Reports or Update
Report. Reports will only be updated with one of these user selectable update options or
upon exiting the report dialog. This can be useful if you expect a trace to take time to
display. You can then add additional traces without having to wait.
5. In the Context section you make selections depending on the design and solution type.
6. The Families tab provides a way to select from valid solutions for sweeps where a simulation
has multiple variables defined (for example, for a parametric sweep). If so, the variables
other than the one chosen as the X (Primary sweep), are listed under the Families tab with
columns for the variable, the value, and an Edit column with an ellipsis [...] button. See Using
Families tab for Reports.
7. In the Y Component section of the dialog make selections for the following:
a. Categories - those depend on the Solution type and the design. For example,
Eigenmode quantities include Eigenmodes, variables, output variables, and the design.
Driven solutions include such categories as S parameters. Report categories for
Transient designs include Spectral and Transient. For a Transient Network design with
differential pairs defined, the Reporter interface allows selection of single-ended or
differential signals just as for driven terminal. Report categories for SBR+ designs that
include an Incident Plane wave and an RCS selection as Monostatic do not require a
geometry selection and include a range of Monostatic Quantities when select Monostatic
RCS as the Report Category. For SBR+ designs and RCS Monostatic you can choose
between Freq, IWaveTheta and IWavePhi variables for specifying sweeps. The selected
category provides the default name of the plot, for instance S Parameter Plot n. You can
edit the plot names in the project tree and the plot header text in the report synchronizes.
b. Quantities for Y are relative to the selected category.

Note The Quantity text field can be used to filter the Quantity list by typing in text, or by
using the four predefined selections. This is useful if the Category selected
produces a lengthy Quantities list. See Filtering Quantity Selections for the

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Reporter.

When the matrix is very large, the number of quantities can be correspondingly
huge. Therefore, the Quantities field can optionally use a tree structure to divide
matrix quantities into groups by their first element name. The initial display shows
groups, without initially listing group members. See Report Setup Options.

c. Function list to apply to the Y quantities.

d. Value field displays the currently specified Quantity and Function. You can edit this field
directly.

Note Color shows valid expression.

e. Range Function button -- opens the Set Range Function dialog. This applies
currently specified Quantity and Function.
8. In the X (Primary Sweep) section, make selections for the following:
a. Select the Primary value(s) from the drop down menu.

To select an X component that is different than the Primary Sweep, uncheck the Default
field to enable the X field and browse [...] button. Click the browse [...] button to display
the Select X Component dialog.

This lets you specify the X component as you do the Y; that is, in terms of Categories
which define the selectable Quantities, and Functions to apply. After making selections,
OK the dialog to assign the X component.

b. If sweeps are available, you can select the browse [...] button to display a panel that lets
you select Use all values, or selected sweep or sweeps, or access an Edit Sweep dialog.

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with further editing options. Post-Processing variables are Post-Processing

sweeps/editable sweeps, so you can use the Edit Sweep dialog to create your own
sweep.
c. The Families tab provides a way to select from valid solutions for sweeps where a
simulation has multiple variables defined (for example, for a parametric sweep). If so, the
variables other than the one chosen as the X (Primary sweep), are listed under the
Families tab with columns for the variable, the value, and an Edit column with an ellipsis
[...] button. See Using Families tab for Reports.

You can also view and edit the properties of Reports and their traces via their Properties
windows. See Modifying the Background Properties of a Report.

You can also modify the display type of an existing plot from the Properties dialog for that plot.
Select the Report icon in the Project tree to display the Properties dialog. Selecting the Display
Type field displays a menu with selections available for that plot.

Once you make a selection, the plot display updates for the current selection.

Note Remember that for many excitations of interest for plotting, you can control the default base
names through the dialog described here: Setting Default Boundary/Excitation Base
Names.

This may save you the need to edit individual names in the plots.

Related Topics

Selecting the Report Type in HFSS Transient

Zooming and Fitting Reports

Modifying the Background Properties of a Report

Limit Lines in Cartesian Plots

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Modifying the Legend in a Report

Creating Custom Report Templates

Report Setup Options

Working with Traces

Editing the Display Properties of Traces

Setting Default Boundary/Excitation Base Names

Discarding Report Values Below a Specified Threshold

Adding Characteristics to a Trace

Adding Data Markers to Traces

Perform FFT on a Report

Modify Report: Selecting Use all values or Making Selection

Clicking the browse button on Primary Sweep line shows the default selection of Use all values.
Select Select values to display the sweeps and enable editing, including the Select All and Clear
All buttons.

With Select values selected, you can select one or more by clicking an individual value, dragging
to select multiple values, or using Alt-Click to select specific values.

You select either the Sweep radio button for Default or Edited selection.

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You can also select the browse [...] button here to display the Edit Sweep dialog for Modify
Reports, which includes additional editing features.

Related Topics

Creating Reports

Modifying Reports

Modify Report: Using the Edit Sweep Dialog

Clicking the browse [...] button at the lower right corner of the Use all values pane opens the Edit
Sweep dialog for Modify Report. The lets you edit the current Primary sweep variable values,
including radio button selections for Single value, Linear step or count, and Decade, Octave, or
Exponential Counts.

You can specify start, stop and step values and units, and add specific values to the list of current
sweep values. The Add>> and Update>> buttons let you edit the value list.

You can use the mouse click, drag, and Alt-Click to select values. You can also edit individual
values.

Related Topics

Creating Reports

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Modifying Reports

Generating Reports For Characteristic Mode Analysis

This section describes how to use the characteristic mode analysis feature in HFSS when
designing an antenna and generating characteristic mode analysis reports. The section also covers
post processing capabilities available in HFSS when using CMA. To illustrate post processing for
characteristic mode analysis, we will use a dipole antenna example. The two conducting arms of
the dipole antenna are excited by a lumped port. From the menu item HFSS > Solution Type,
define Characteristic Mode as the solution type.

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Define the adapt frequency and characteristic mode parameters on the CMA Solution Setup dialog
box. The default for Minimum Modal Significance is 0.02. All the modes that are above this value
0.02 are calculated. For this design the adapt frequency is set to 1.6 GHz. It’s recommended that
you define the adapt frequency to be the highest frequency in the discrete sweep. After the
simulation of the dipole antenna is complete, you can view the number of modes above the
minimum modal significance, their characteristic angles, and characteristic values at every
frequency in the Solution Data dialog box. To bring up this dialog, right-click Results in the project
tree and select Solution Data from the shortcut menu.

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The characteristic mode quantities are displayed in the CMA Data panel.

From the Frequency drop-down menu, select the desired frequency view all the quantities for the
characteristic modes. As an example, at the adapt frequency of 1.6 GHz, there are two modes in
this dipole antenna above the specified minimum modal significance.

For these two modes:

l Modal Significance MS1= 0.442401 and MS2 = 0.134946 at 1.6 GHz

l Characteristic angles α1= 116.257 degrees and α2= 262.244 degrees.
l Characteristic values λ1=+2.02716 and λ2= -7.34257.

From these values, you can infer that mode 1 is inductive and mode 2 is capacitive.

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As you choose lower frequencies, significance of mode 2 reduces and MS2 approaches a value
less than 0.02. At 1.17 GHz, only mode 1 is significant and above 0.02.

Characteristic Mode Data Report

The process for generating Characteristic Mode Plots for each of these quantities is as follows--

1. Check the maximum number of modes for a design from the CMA Data panel at the highest
frequency.

2. Right-click Results > Create Characteristic Mode Data Report > Rectangular Plot to
open the Report dialog.

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3. In the Context panel the number 10 in the Modes field is the default. You can either leave this
value as is or change it to the maximum number of modes that are above the minimum
modal significance. For this dipole antenna, the Modes field is set to 2 since there are only
two modes at the adapt frequency as displayed in the CMA Data panel.

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4. Ensure Characteristic Mode is selected in the Category and then select the Quantity of
interest (Significances, Values, and Angles of the desired modes) and leave the Function
as none.

The plots with their corresponding quantities of the characteristic mode are displayed here.

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Modal Significance vs Frequency

For this antenna, mode 1 radiates the most at 0.99 GHz and its Significance is 0.9998. Mode 2
radiates most efficiently at 1.6 GHz and its its maximum modal significance 0.1349.

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Characteristic Value vs Frequency

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Characteristic Angle vs Frequency

The character angle for Mode 1 is 180 degrees, when it becomes resonant as shown in the above
plot.

Related Topics

Theory of Characteristic Mode Analysis

Edit Sources Panel for Characteristic Mode Analysis

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Generating Reports For Monstatic RCS

If you create a design contains both SBR+ Regions and Incident Plane wave you can then create
reports for Monostatic RCS. The example projects for HFSS includes an example RCS project
that demonstrates this.

In the case of non-SBR+ projects:

l The new Monostatic report type works with non-SBR+ cases as well.
l For old version projects with Monostatic RCS report already defined it will still work but
cannot be modified. The modify dialog will have far fields but not Monostatic RCS in the
category column.

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The RCS example design includes an SBR+ Hybrid Region as well as an incident plane wave:

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Designs with these elements include a selection for RCS Type as Monostatic or Bistatic.

Selecting Monostatic permits you to create Monostatic Reports. In this case, the Infinite Sphere
setup is disabled because the solver uses the direction of the Incident Plane wave to calculate the
solution.
Monostatic RCS Reports

The process for generating Monostatic RCS Plots is as follows--

1. Solve a design containing SBR+ Hybrid Regions and an Incident Plane wave with no other
excitations.

2. Right-click Results > Create Characteristic Mode Data Report > Rectangular Plot to
open the Report dialog.

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3. In the Context panel you can select the solution, but you do not need to select a geometry
when using SBR+ and Monostatic RCS. Select the Category as Monostatic RCS to see a
Quantity list for Monostatic traces you can create.

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4. You can choose between Freq, IWaveTheta and IWavePhi variables for specifying sweeps.

Related Topics

Assigning SBR+ Hybrid Regions

Getting Started Guides: Radar Cross Section Model (RCS)

Creating a Report from an Ansoft Report Data File

If you have previously saved an Ansoft Report Data Format (using Report2D>Export), you can
create a report from that rdat file. This provides a way to reuse the data and/or the format of a
previously created report.

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1. Right-click on the Results icon in the Project tree to display the short cut menu and select
Create Report From File, or click HFSS or HFSS-IE>Results>Create Report From
File.

A file browser displays.

2. Select an .rdat format file, and click Open.

The report is created. If it contains data, it displays the report with traces. If not, the report uses
the format exported to the .rdat file.

Related Topics

Creating Custom Report Templates

Exporting Ansoft Report Data Format Files

Report File Formats

Zooming and Fitting Reports

The standard Zoom and Fit commands operate on reports. After clicking in an open report, you can
also use a mouse wheel, to zoom in and out.

Related Topics

Modifying the Background Properties of a Report

Modifying the Background Properties of a Report

To modify the appearance of a report, or to modify the display properties any object in a report,
including traces, axis labels, grids, colors, fonts, legends, color maps, contour color and , and so
forth:

1. Open the report you want to modify.

2. You must select an editable object in the report to be able to edit its properties. Click on an
object to select it and to view its Properties in the docked properties window. To open a
floating Properties window, either double click on the selected object, or click
Edit>Properties on the toolbar.

The Properties tabs and options displayed for editable plot objects varies depending on the
report type (for example, whether 2D rectangular, 2D polar, Smith, Stacked, or 3D), but can
include the following:

l Cartesian -- this lets you edit the scroll bar and thumb properties for 2D rectangular plots.
l Header -- this lets you edit the Properties for the text displayed at the top of the report,
including the Title font, Company Name, Show Design Name, Subtitle Font. The plot title
is tied to the report's name and is not a Header property. If you change the report name in
the Project tree, plot title synchronizes. The Company Name and the Show Design Name

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check box are grouped in the Properties dialog as Subtitle. Edits to the Subtitle Font
Property affects both of them.
l General -- this dialog (or General tab for other Report properties windows) lets you edit
the background color (the perimeter around the trace display) for the plot, the contrast
color (the trace display background), the Field width, the Precision, and whether to use
scientific notation for marker and delta marker displays. (X and Y notation display is set
separately, in the Axis property tabs.)
l Legend -- this lets you edit the Properties for whether to Show Trace Name, Solution
Name, and Variation Key. At least one of these three must be selected. You can also
specify the File Name Display as Full Path, File Name without Path, or as an Array Index.
You can also edit the Font, the background color of the Legend box, the Border Color, the
Border Width, Grid Color (for the lines between Trace descriptions), and the Grid line
width. Also see Modifying the Legend in a Report.
l Color Key -- for 3D plots, to control the appearance of the color key (colors,
transparency, border appearance, fonts, number format, field width and precision.
l Contour -- for 3D plots, to control the appearance of the color map, including map type,
ramp color, spectrum, IsoValType, levels, number of contours, and values shown.
l Radiation Pattern -- for 2D polar plots, whether to show the circular grid and angle lines.
l Stacked -- for stacked plots, properties for X scrollbar, thumb properties, and stack
layout, auto fit, and stack height.
l Smith -- for Smith charts, whether to show grids for Imp., Adm., Cir, and angle lines.
l Traces -- you can select traces either in the Legend or on the plot. The properties for
traces include: Color, Line Style, Line Width, Trace Type, whether to Show a symbol,
Symbol Frequency, Symbol style, whether to Fill symbol, symbol color, and whether to
Show arrows. See Editing the Display Properties of Traces.
l Axis for X, Y or Z, or for Phi, Theta or Rho, and circular -- the defaults for most of these
values (applying to 2D and 3D both) are set in the Report 2D Options Axis tab.
l Display name -- check box for whether to display the axis name.
l Specify name -- check box for specifying the Axis name.
l Name -- this describes the axis to which the following properties/options refer. These are
selected in the Report dialog.
l Axis Color -- set the color by double clicking to display the Set color dialog. Select a
default or custom color and click OK.
l Axis Font -- click the cell to display the Edit Text Font dialog. The dialog lets you select
from a list of available fonts, styles, sizes, effects, colors, and script. The dialog also
contains a preview field. OK the selections to apply the font edits and to close the dialog.
l Show Units -- this specifies whether to display units.
l Window (section)
l Window Mode-- can be Axis range, Continuous moving window, or Step moving
window.

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l Window Width (in) -- provide an integer value for the previous selection.
l Manual Format (section)
l Number format -- select from the drop down menu, Auto, Decimal, or Scientific
notation.
l Field Width -- enter a real value.
l Field Precision -- enter a real value.
l X or Y or Z Scaling Tab -- These properties provide control over scaling.
l Axis Scaling -- use the drop down menu to select scaling as Linear or Log. For the Y axis,
all zero or negative values are discarded before log scaling is applied. For 3D plots,
scaling is on the Axis tabs
l Specify Min -- check box
l Min -- text entry in same units as axis units. Saved as SI internally.
l Specify Max -- check box
l Max -- text entry in same units as axis units. Saved as SI internally.
l Specify Spacing -- check box
l Spacing -- text entry in same units as axis units. Saved as SI internally
l Manual Units (section)
l Auto Units -- use the check box compute the correct units for the axis.
l Units -- click on the cell to select from a menu of available units if you have not checked
Auto Units.
l Infinity Visualization (section)
l Map Infinity Mode -- check box.
Each axis can be set to treat infinity values in a user defined way. When you check the
Map Infinity Mode, any infinity values in the input data get the infinityMap value (negative
infinity get the value*-1 and positive infinity the positive value specified). This can be
useful if there are zeros, or very small values that HFSS treats as zero, in the data, for
example, dB Gain.
l Map Infinity To -- enter a real value for the Map Infinity Mode.
l Grid -- properties for grid labels and grid style, appearance, line styles, color, major and
minor lines, major and minor circles on polar grids, and scaling. For the 3D rectangular
plots, there are separate tabs for the XY, YZ and ZX axes, and for 3D Polar plots, tabs for
phi-rho, or theta-rho grids.
3. Edit the properties, and OK the dialog to apply the changes.

Related Topics

Modifying Reports

Zooming and Fitting Reports

Working with Traces

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Limit Lines in Cartesian Plots

Discarding Report Values Below a Specified Threshold

Modifying the Legend in a Report

Editing the Display Properties of Traces

Creating Custom Report Templates and Defaults

Exporting Ansoft Report Data Format Files

Exporting Reports

Setting Report2D Options

Zoom In or Out

Fit Contents in the View Window

Modifying the Legend in a Report

The legend in a report is a list of the curves being plotted. For each curve, the legend gives the
name, shows the line color, and lists the setup and the adaptive pass used to generate the curve.

To show or hide a legend in a report:

1. Make the report the active view.

2. Use View>Active View Visibility or the Show/Hide icons on the toolbar to display or hide
the report.

Either command displays the Active View dialog.

3. Select the Legend tab.

This lists the legend (or legends) in the report.

4. Check the visibility check box, and OK the dialog to close it and apply the change.

To edit the display properties of a legend:

1. Select the legend in a report by double-clicking on the Curve Info panel to display a docked
properties window, or right-click on the legend and select Edit>Properties to display the
floating properties window.

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This lets you edit the Properties for whether to Show Trace Name, Solution Name, and
Variation Key. At least one of these three must be selected.

You can also specify the File Name Display as Full path, File Name without path, or as Array
index.

For example, this legend shows the Trace Name, Solution Name, Variation Key, and Full path
information for the traces:

This example shows the Trace Name, Variation Key, and File Name without a path:

This example shows the Variation Key and Array Index:

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You can also edit the Font by clicking the Font cell to display the Edit Text Font dialog. The
dialog lets you select from a list of available fonts, styles, sizes, effects, colors, and script. The
dialog also contains a preview field. OK the selections to apply the font edits and to close the
dialog

You can also edit the background color of the Legend box, the Border Color, the Border Width,
Grid Color (for the lines between Trace descriptions), and the Grid line width.

2. Click OK to close the Properties window and apply the selections.

To change the display name for traces, see Editing Trace Properties.

To move a legend in a report:

1. Click and hold and the legend.

The cursor changes to crossed lines with arrow tips.

2. Still holding, drag the legend to a new location and release.

The legend is released and the crossed lines change back to a mouse pointer.

To resize a legend in a report:

1. Position the mouse tip over the edge you want to resize.

The mouse pointer changes to a horizontal or vertical line with arrow tips.

2. Click and drag the horizontal or vertical edge to the desire size.
3. Release.

Related Topics

Editing Trace Properties

Showing Objects

Hiding Objects

Modifying Reports

Creating Custom Report Templates

Discarding Report Values Below a Specified Threshold

Setting Report2D options

Editing the Display Properties of Traces

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Exporting Ansoft Report Data Format Files

Ansoft Report Data format files provide a way to export reports or report formats, which you can
then import using Reports>Create Report From File. This can save repeated editing of properties
(for example, the company name, or color schemes) when you create other reports. You must
have an existing plot open to see the Report2D menu.

1. Click Report2D>Export... or Report 3D> Export....

The Export Report dialog box appears.

2. If you check, Export Uniform Points, the rdat file will contain the points for the given start,
stop, and step at the given frequencies. If you do not, the file contains only the current file
format, including any modifications you have applied.
3. Use the file browser to find the directory where you want to save the file.
4. Type the name of the file in the File box.
5. Select the Ansoft Report Data (.rdat) file formats from the Save as type pull-down list:

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6. Click Save. The file is exported to the specified location as an Ansoft Report Data file.

The file will then be available for import using Create Report from file. If you

Related Topics

Creating a Report from an Ansoft Report Data File

Exporting Reports as Graphics

Creating Custom Report Templates

Report File Formats

Exporting Reports as Graphics

You can export reports as figures in several formats. You must have an existing plot open to see
the Report2D or Report 3D menu.

1. With a report open, click Report2D>Export... or Report3D> Export...

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The Export Report dialog box appears.

2. Click the Browse... button to open the Export Report browser window.
3. Specify the file location and name, and select a graphics format from the dropdown list.

Extension Contents
.bmp Bitmap files.
.gif Graphics Interchange Format files.
.jpeg Joint Photographics Experts Group files.
.tiff Tagged Image File Format files.
.wrl Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML) files.

4. Click Save to close the browser window, and then OK to close the Export window.

Related Topics

Exporting Graphics Files from the Layout 3D Editor

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Report File Formats

Report File Formats

The following table provides information about the file formats that can be imported into plot data
reports:

File
Information
Extension
csv l Uses a comma (,) as the separation character.
l The x-axis value is in the first column. Each curve’s Y-values make up one
column, and the curves are in the same order as in the plot legend.
l The first row is the X-axis name [unit] and the information for each curve,
which is the same as the plot curve legend.
l Other rows are the X-axis value and the Y-value for each curve.
tab l Uses the tab character as the separation character.
l The x-axis value is in the first column. Each curve’s Y-values make up one
column, and the curves are in the same order as in the plot legend.
l The first row is the X-axis name [unit] and the information for each curve,
which is the same as the plot curve legend.
l Other rows are the X-axis value and the Y-value for each curve.
txt l The txt file must begin with a header that contains the following:

• A first line made of 92 equal signs (=)

• A second line that begins with the company name and ends with the date in
MM/DD/YY format

• A third line that begins with a plot name and ends with the time in hh:mm:ss format

• A fourth line, which is empty

• A fifth line made of 92 hyphens (-)

Note: Each header line must be 92 characters in length, except the empty line.

l Each column has a fixed width, separated by white space.

l The x-axis value is in the first column. Each curve’s Y-values make up one
column, and the curves are in the same order as in the plot legend.
l The first row is the X-axis name [unit] and the trace name [unit] for each curve,
which is the same as the plot curve legend.
l The second row is an empty column and the variable values for each curve,
which is the same as the plot curve legend.
l Other rows are the X-axis value and the Y-value for each curve.

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File
Information
Extension
dat DAT is an ANSYS-specific format. ANSYS recommends that you do not generate
files using this format. Files imported with these formats should be exported only from
ANSYS products.
rdat RDAT is an ANSYS-specific format. ANSYS recommends that you do not generate
files using this format. Files imported with these formats should be exported only from
ANSYS products.

Creating Custom Report Templates and Defaults

You can edit properties from any report type and save it as a template or as the default. This can
save repeated editing of properties (for example, the company name, or color schemes and plot
attribute settings) when you create other reports. You can prepare a template by Copy/pasting
plots settings from one plot to another of the same display type. Once you create templates, you
can access them from the Results>Report Templates> menu and the Report2D> Report
Templates>Apply Settings menu.

See Modifying the Background Properties of a Report for a discussion of format changes you can
make to any report.

To save an edited report as a template:

1. In the Project Tree, right-click on the report name of interest to display the shortcut menu and
click Report Templates>Save.... You can also click Report2D>Report
templates>Save... or Report3D>Save As Template...

This displays the Save As Report Template file browser. By default, the directory is your
AnsysEM\<productName>\userlib\ReportTemplates directory. You can also save to the SysLib
directory.

2. Typically, you accept the directory.

3. You must provide a file name, which will be given an *.rpt extension.

It is good practice to give the template a descriptive name, showing both the kind of format you
begin with (such as XY Plot or 3D Plot) and apt description of the distinguishing edits (such as
for company name, or color scheme). Once, saved, this name will appear on the PersonalLib
menu.

The Save As Type field currently supports the Ansoft Report Format (*rpt) format.

4. Click Save to save the template to the PersonalLib menu.

All *.rpt templates in the userLib directory appear on the Results>Report

Templates>PersonalLib menu. Selecting a report from the PersonalLib menu opens a report

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that you can then Modify to add traces or perform other edits. Templates in the SysLib directory
appear on the Report Templates menu.

To save an edited report as a default:

1. In the Project Tree, right-click on the report name of interest to display the shortcut menu and
click Report Templates>Save Settings as default. You can also click
Report2D>Report templates>Save Settings as default or Report3D>Save Settings
as default.

Related Topics

Modifying Reports

Setting Report2D Options

Exporting Ansoft Report Data Format Files

Zoom In or Out

Fit Contents in the View Window

Modifying the Background Properties of a Report

Modifying the Legend in a Report

Working with Traces

Editing the Display Properties of Traces

Discarding Report Values Below a Specified Threshold

Selecting the Report Type

The Report Types available for creating a report depends on the simulation setup. The Report
Category provides the default report name for the project tree and the text displayed in the report
header. For example, S Parameters as the Category type causes the default report name to be S
Parameter Plot n. Depending on the setup, you can make a selection from the following report
types:

Modal S-, Y-, and Z-parameter data will be available to plot, as well as propagation
Solution constant, characteristic port impedance, reflection/transmission coefficients for
Data FSS designs, and voltage standing wave ratio (VSWR) data.

Note: For FSS calculations, phase is currently assigned zero value.

Terminal This solution type results in a terminal-based description in terms of voltages and
Solution currents. Some modal data is also available. The terminal-based S-, Y-, and Z
Data parameters, voltage standing wave (VSWR), Port Zo, and Active S-, Y-, Z, and
VSWR parameters are available to plot.

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Eigenmode The Eigen Modes and Eigen Q data are available to plot.
Parameters
Fields Basic or derived field quantities calculated on lines or integrated over surfaces or
objects will be available to plot.
IE Surface For an HFSS design that uses IE Regions the solver produces J and Q surface
Fields fields for the metallic parts (but not the dielectric parts) of these regions. The Fields
Calculator provides access to the IE surface fields quantities.
Far Fields Radiated fields computed in the far-field region. The following quantities will be
available to plot: rE, gain, realized gain, beam area, directivity, axial ratio,
polarization ratio, antenna parameters, and normalized antenna calculated by
HFSS. You can do Contour Plots with a Domain of either Theta, Phi, or Sine
Space.

Note: You must have defined an infinite sphere geometry and at least one radiation
or PML boundary to create a far-fields report.
Near Fields Radiated fields computed in the near-field region. These include: variables, output
variables, near E, max near field parameters, and near normalized antenna. You
can do Contour Plots with a Domain of either Theta, Phi, or Sine Space

Note: You must have defined a near-field line or near-field sphere and at least one
radiation or PML boundary to create a near-fields report.
Antenna Whereas far field reports are computed a points around an infinite sphere, antenna
Parameters parameters provide one value per quantity for the entire sphere.

Note: You must have defined an infinite sphere geometry and at least one radiation
or PML boundary to create an antenna parameters report.
Emission You can conduct an emission test under the same conditions as for a near field
Test report except that.an emission test cannot be conducted for a ports-only solution.
You must have defined a near-field line or near-field sphere and at least one
radiation or PML boundary.

When you left click Product > Results (or right-click Results in the Project tree), one or more of
the following report types and display are available, depending upon the nature of your installation
and the projects which are loaded.

Report Type Display Type

Create Standard A “Standard” report can be depicted in any of the following display types:
Report
• Rectangular Plot

• Data Table

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• Polar Plot

• Smith Chart

• Rectangular Stacked Plot

• 3D Rectangular Plot

• 3D Polar Plot

• Rectangular Contour Plot

• Smith Contour Plot

Create Eye An “Eye Diagram” report can be depicted in any of the following display types:
Diagram Report
• Rectangular Plot

• Data Table

• Statistical Eye Plot

Create A “Constellation” report can be depicted in any of the following display types:
Constellation
• Rectangular Plot
Report
• Data Table
Create Statistical A “Statistical Eye” report can be depicted in any of the following display types:
Eye Report
• Rectangular Plot

• Data Table
Create Report A “Data File” report can be created in any of the available display types using
From File a previous report that has been saved to a file..

Note Depending on the nature of your installation and the projects loaded, at times only a subset
of the types listed above may appear in the display-types submenu.

Selecting the Display Type

The information in a report can be displayed in several formats. For the initial plot, you can select
from the following Display Type formats in the Create <type> Report submenu:

Rectangular A 2D rectangular (x-y) graph.

Plot
Rectangular This choice puts each trace into its own 2D rectangular plot, and stacks each
Stacked Plot plot, rather than overlaying the traces on the same plot.
3D A 3D rectangular (x-y-z) graph.

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Rectangular
Plot
Rectangular A rectangular (x-y-z) graph. Contour plots are useful to visualize surfaces (for
Contour Plot e.g. Directivity as a function of phi/theta).
Polar Plot A 2D circular chart divided by spherical coordinates.
3D Polar Plot A 3D circular plot divided by spherical coordinates.
Smith Chart A 2D polar chart of S-parameters upon which a normalized impedance grid
has been superimposed.
Smith Contour A polar chart. Contour plots are useful to visualize surfaces.
Plot
Data Table A grid with rows and columns that displays, in numeric form, selected quantities
against a swept variable or another quantity.
Radiation A 2D polar plot of radiated fields.
Pattern

You can also modify the display type of an existing plot from the Properties dialog for that plot.
Select the Report icon in the Project tree to display the Properties dialog. Selecting the Display
Type field displays a menu with selections available for that plot.

Once you make a selection, the plot display updates for the current selection.

Related Topics

Selecting the Report Type

Creating Reports

Modifying Reports

Creating Custom Report Templates

Creating 2D Rectangular Plots

A rectangular plot is a 2D, x-y graph of results.

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1. On the Results menu (HFSS or HFSS-IE menu or right-click on Results on the Project
tree), click Create <type> Report, and select Rectangular Plot.

The Report dialog appears.

2. In the Context section make selections from the following field or fields, depending on the
design and solution type.
a. Solution field with a drop down selection list. This lists the available solutions, whether
sweeps or adaptive passes.
b. Domain field with a drop down selection list. Whether this field appears, and the domains
listed depend on the Solution type and the <type> selected. For modal and terminal
solution data reports, the domain can be Sweep or Time.

Before you can examine the time domain, you must perform an Interpolating sweep for a
driven solution (Modal or Terminal). If you select Time, the TDR Options button is
enabled. Select it and follow the directions for time-domain plotting.

c. Geometry field with a drop down selection list. For field and radiated field reports, this
applies the quantity to a geometry or radiated field setup.
3. Under the Trace tab, Y component section, specify the information to plot along the y-axis:
a. In the Category list, click the type of information to plot. The category selected provides
the default plot name.
b. In the Quantity list, click the value to plot.
c. In the Function list, click the mathematical function of the quantity to plot.
d. Value field displays the currently specified Quantity and Function. You can edit this field
directly.

Note Color shows valid expression.

e. Range Function button -- opens the Set Range Function dialog. This applies
currently specified Quantity and Function.
4. On the Trace tab, X (Primary sweep) line, specify the quantity to plot along the x-axis in one
of the following ways:.
l Select the sweep variable to use from the drop down list.
l If sweeps are available, you can select the browse button to display a dialog that lets you
select particular sweep or sweeps, or all sweeps. The quantity will be plotted against the
primary sweep variable listed.
5. On the Families tab, confirm or modify the sweep variables that will be plotted.
6. Click New Report.

This creates a new report in Project tree, displays the report with the defined trace, and enables
the Add Trace button on the Report dialog.

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The function of the selected quantity will be plotted against the swept variable values or
quantities you specified on an x-y graph. The plot is listed under Results in the project tree and
the traces are listed under the plot. The default name is based on the Report Category you
selected, (for example, S Parameter Plot n or rE Plott n). You can edit the plot names in the
project tree and the plot header text in the report synchronizes. When you select the traces or
plots, their properties are displayed in the Properties window. These properties can be edited
directly to modify the plot.

7. Optionally, add another trace to the plot by following the procedure above, using Add Trace
rather than New Report.

You can also modify the display type of an existing plot from the Properties dialog for that plot.
Select the Report icon in the Project tree to display the Properties dialog. Selecting the Display
Type field displays a menu with selections available for that plot.

Once you make a selection, the plot display updates for the current selection.

Related Topics

Sweeping a Variable

Working with Traces

Adding Characteristics to a Trace

Delta Markers in 2DPlots

Modifying Background Properties of a Report

Discarding Report Values Below a Specified Threshold

Setting Report2D options

Creating 2D Rectangular Stacked Plots

A rectangular stacked plot is a 2D, x-y graph of results, with each trace displayed on a separate
plot, or with multiple curves grouped in a single stack. The following figure shows one curve per

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stack.

The Stacked property tab in the property window shows the Curve Grouping Strategy property,
as shown in the image below:

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The curves (curve names) and their stack associations (stack names) are shown under Curve
Grouping Strategy property in the Stacked tab. The Curve Grouping Strategy has a drop-down
menu with three options:

l Single: All curves are ungrouped and each curve is in its own stack
l By Trace: All curves are grouped by their trace
l By Units: All curves are grouped by their unit type

The same options are available on plot’s right click context menu. A Curve Grouping menu is
available on the context menu as shown in images below:

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Creating a Rectangular Stacked Plot

1. On the Results menu (HFSS or HFSS-IE menu or right-click on Results on the Project
tree), click Create <type> Report, and select Rectangular Stacked Plot.

The Report dialog appears.

2. In the Context section make selections from the following field or fields, depending on the
design and solution type.
a. Solution field with a drop down selection list. This lists the available solutions, whether
sweeps or adaptive passes.
b. Domain field with a drop down selection list. Whether this field appears, and the domains
listed depend on the Solution type and the <type> selected. For modal and terminal
solution data reports, the domain can be Sweep or Time.

Before you can examine the time domain, you must perform an Interpolating sweep for a
driven solution (Modal or Terminal). If you select Time, the TDR Options button is
enabled. Select it and follow the directions for time-domain plotting.

c. Geometry field with a drop down selection list. For field and radiated field reports, this
applies the quantity to a geometry or radiated field setup.
3. Under the Trace tab, Y component section, specify the information to plot along the y-axis:
a. In the Category list, click the type of information to plot. The category you select
provides the default plot name.
b. In the Quantity list, click the value to plot.
c. In the Function list, click the mathematical function of the quantity to plot.
d. Value field displays the currently specified Quantity and Function. You can edit this field
directly.

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Note Color shows valid expression.

e. Range Function button -- opens the Set Range Function dialog. This applies
currently specified Quantity and Function.
4. On the Trace tab, X (Primary sweep) line, specify the quantity to plot along the x-axis in one
of the following ways:
l Select the sweep variable to use from the drop down list.
l If sweeps are available, you can select the browse button to display a dialog that lets you
select particular sweep or sweeps, or all sweeps. The quantity will be plotted against the
primary sweep variable listed.
5. On the Families tab, confirm or modify the sweep variables that will be plotted.
6. Click New Report.

This creates a new report in Project tree, displays the report with the defined trace, and enables
the Add Trace button on the Report dialog. The default name is based on the Report Category
you selected, (for example, S Parameter Plot n or rE Plot n). You can edit the plot names in the
project tree and the plot header text in the report synchronizes.

The function of the selected quantity will be plotted against the swept variable values or
quantities you specified on an x-y graph. The plot is listed under Results in the project tree and
the traces are listed under the plot. When you select the traces or plots, their properties are
displayed in the Properties window. These properties can be edited directly to modify the plot.

7. Optionally, add another trace to the plot by following the procedure above, using Add Trace
rather than New Report.

You can also modify the display type of an existing plot from the Properties dialog for that plot.
Select the Report icon in the Project tree to display the Properties dialog. Selecting the Display
Type field displays a menu with selections available for that plot.

Once you make a selection, the plot display updates for the current selection.
Multiple Curves in a Stack in Cartesian Stacked Plots

Now multiple curves can be grouped together in a single stack. There are two ways in which
grouping of curves can be achieved:

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l Automatic Grouping
l Manual Grouping
Automatic Grouping

The automatic grouping feature for Stacked Plots groups the curves generated by a report into
stacks based on a similarity metric: Trace Name or Units. This is controlled by the Curve
Grouping Strategy property which can also be used to turn grouping off when the ‘Single’
strategy is selected. New curves respect the selected grouping.

The following image shows the same stacked plot with curves grouped By Units, that is, current
and voltage curves are grouped together in their own stacks:

Manual Grouping

Manual grouping of curves allows arbitrary grouping of curves. When you manually group curves,
the Curve Grouping Strategy property automatically becomes Custom. Each new curve goes
into a new stack.

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The following image shows an example of manual grouping, where two voltage curves are
grouped together while current curves are in their own stacks:

You can perform Manual grouping in two ways:

l Through the Stacked tab of the Property window.

l Through the right click context menu.

Performing manual grouping sets the Curve Grouping Strategy property in Stacked tab in
property window as Custom as shown below:

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Manual Grouping through the Stacked Property Tab

To perform manual grouping though property window follow these steps:

1. Perform a left mouse button click in an empty area on the plot.

2. In the Property window, select theStacked property tab.

The Stacked tab shows Curve Name and its Stack <number> association, as shown
in following image:

Each Stack <number> field has a drop-down menu as shown in following image:

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3. To change the stack of a curve, choose a different stack in this drop down menu.

Note:

l The New Stack option is only available when there are multiple curves in the stack, which is
the current stack of the curve.
l When you choose New Stack, the curve moves to a new stack. This allows you to ungroup
curves in a stack.
Manual Grouping Through the Context Menu

To manually move curve(s) from a stack(s) to another stack:

1. Select the curve(s).

2. Right click within target stack.
3. Choose Curve Grouping > Selected Curves > Move to current stack as shown below:

To manually move curve(s) from stack(s) to a new stack:

1. Select the curve(s).

2. Right click within the plot.

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3. Choose Curve Grouping >Selected Curves > Move to new stack as shown below:

To ungroup all curves in a stack:

1. Eight click within the stack.

2. Choose Curve Grouping > Ungroup Curves In > Current Stack’ as shown below.

Legend Optimizations

The legend gets additional layout changes to optimize space usage. When there is single curve per
stack, legend shows curve name in column and trace characteristics in rows to optimize use of
available vertical space.

On the other hand if there are multiple curves in any stack, then curve names are shown in rows
and trace characteristics are shown in columns. Since automatic grouping tends to increase the
number of curves rapidly for the same selected trace characteristics, this keeps the plot area
maximized under such growth scenarios.
Y Markers

If there is a Y-Marker in a stack which has curves, then:

l If all those curves move together to a new stack, then Y-Marker is migrated as well.
l If only a subset of the curves move to a new stack, then Y-Marker remains in the stack with
the remaining curves.
l If all the curves move to different stacks then Y Marker is dropped

Related Topics

Sweeping a Variable

Working with Traces

Adding a Characteristic to a Trace

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Delta Markers in 2DPlots

Modifying Background Properties of a Report

Discarding Report Values Below a Specified Threshold

Setting Report2D options

Y Markers in stacked XY plots

Creating 3D Rectangular Plots

This is a 3D, x-y-z graph of results.

Working with a 3D Rectangular Plot

You can Rotate, Zoom and Pan a plot. When you rotate, the Cartesian grid responds so that the
curve always remains in front and the grids behind.

Clicking on a plot entity selects it, highlighting the selected entity in bold.

Double-clicking anywhere in the plot brings up the Properties dialog. The properties are grouped
appropriately under various tabs, which correspond to plot entities:

l General: For general plot properties such as Visual Detail level and background color
l Header: Properties related to plot Header/Title.
l Axis [X|Y|Z]: Properties related to the 3 axes

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l Grid [XY|YZ|ZX]: Properties related to the 3 grids

l ColorKey: Properties related to ColorKey, including borders, background, Min and Max, as
well as number format and precision.
l Contour: Properties related to contouring of all curves/surfaces
l Surface: Properties related to the curve

Selecting a property also displays its properties in the Property window. You can edit the properties
to customize the appearance of the plot. See "Controlling Visual Detail in a 3D Plot" on the facing
page.

Creating a 3D Rectangular Plot

1. On the Results menu (HFSS or HFSS-IE menu or right-click on Results on the Project
tree), click Create <type> Report, and select 3D Rectangular plot from the report type
menu.

The Report dialog appears.

2. In the Context section make selections from the following field or fields, depending on the
design and solution type.
a. Solution field with a drop down selection list. This lists the available solutions, whether
sweeps or adaptive passes.
b. Geometry field with a drop down selection list. For field and radiated field reports, this
applies the quantity to a geometry or radiated field setup.
3. Under the Trace tab Z Component area, specify the information to plot along the z-axis:
a. In the Category list, click the type of information to plot. The category you select
provides the default plot name.
b. In the Quantity list, click the value to plot.
c. In the Function list, click the mathematical function of the quantity to plot.
d. The Value field displays the currently specified Quantity and Function. You can edit this
field directly.

Note Color shows valid expression.

e. Range Function button -- opens the Set Range Function dialog. This applies
currently specified Quantity and Function.
4. On the Trace tab Y (Secondary sweep) lines, specify the information to plot along the y-axis
in one of the following ways:
l Select the sweep variable to use from the drop down list.
l If sweeps are available, you can select the browse button to display a dialog that lets you
select particular values. The quantity will be plotted against the primary sweep variable
listed.

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5. On the Trace tab X (Primary sweep) lines, specify the information to plot along the x-axis in
one of the following ways:
l Select the sweep variable to use from the drop down list.
l If sweeps are available, you can select the browse button to display a dialog that lets you
select particular values. The quantity will be plotted against the primary sweep variable
listed.
6. Click New Report.

This creates a new report in Project tree, displays the report with the defined trace, and enables
the Add Trace button on the Report dialog. The default name is based on the Report Category
you selected, (for example, S Parameter Plot n or rE Plot n). You can edit the plot names in the
project tree and the plot header text in the report synchronizes.

The function of the selected quantity or quantities will be plotted against the values you specified
on an x-y-z graph. The plot is listed under Results in the project tree. When you select the
traces or plots, axis or grid labels, plot header, color key, or variable labels, their properties are
displayed in the Properties window. The properties for each plot element can be edited directly
to modify the plot content and appearance. See Modifying the Background Properties of a
Report.

7. Optionally, add another trace to the plot by following the procedure above, using Add Trace
rather than New Report.

Controlling Visual Detail in a 3D Plot

If a particular plot seems busy with information, you can edit plot properties, such as Axis and Grid
Attributes for discrete levels of visual detail to improve readability. Double-click anywhere on a plot
to display the Properties dialog. The Visual Detail property on the General tab also provides control
suited to different screen and plot sizes.

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The Visual Detail menu has four options: Low, Medium (the default), High, and Custom. If you
select any Visual Detail, the 3D plot is rendered according to the selected Visual Detail level and
the properties reflect the values chosen for the selected visual detail level. From this predefined
visual detail level, if you modify any properties, Visual Detail is automatically set to Custom (or to
another predefined visual detail level if the edits happen to match the settings for that level).

You can also manually set Visual Detail to Custom. In such a case, Custom will inherit property
values corresponding to the previous level. This ensures that you can customize settings starting
from a baseline provided by the preconfigured Low, Medium or High Visual Detail levels.

3D Rectangular Plot with Medium Visual Detail

On creation, a 3D Rectangular Plot has Visual Detail set to Medium and looks and feels as shown
above. Specifically, under Medium Visual Detail level, a 3D Rectangular Plot has 3 ticks per axis
(X, Y, Z axis) which will show min, max and middle value. This setting also shows axes labels.

3D Rectangular Plot with Low Visual Detail

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With Visual Detail set to Low, a 3D Rectangular Plot shows axes with 2 ticks corresponding to min
and max values. It also shows axes labels and grid borders.

3D Rectangular Plot with High Visual Detail

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With Visual Detail set to High, a 3D Rectangular Plot shows all Cartesian axes and grids together
with all ticks and axes labels.

Axis Properties: Ticks Specification and Num. Ticks

Ticks Specification is available on Axis properties, as shown below:

Ticks Specification is a menu with possible values as Auto, Spacing, and Num. Ticks, with Auto
being the default value. If Ticks Specification is Auto, then a spacing value is automatically
calculated and used to calculate and display the tick labels. Spacing shows the calculated value,
and Num. Ticks shows the number of ticks based on this spacing value, as shown below:

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You can edit the Spacing field when Ticks Specification is set to Spacing; otherwise, it is read only.

You can edit the Num. Ticks field when Ticks Specification is Num. Ticks; otherwise, it is read
only.

Valid Num. Ticks are between 0 and 100, including 0 and 100. If you enter an invalid value, an error
message is shown. If you enter a spacing value that results in number of ticks greater than 100,
then an appropriate value is shown.

l If Num. Ticks is 0, then no ticks are shown on the axis.

l If Num. Ticks is 1, then only the max value tick is shown on the axis.
l If Num. Ticks is 2, then only the min and max value ticks are shown on the axis.
l If Num. Ticks is greater than 2, then evenly spaced ticks (including min and max) are shown
on the axis.

Note With the addition of the Ticks Specification property to Axis properties, the Specify
Spacing property was removed as an Axis property.

l If an R18.0 or R18.1 project is opened with Specify Spacing as Unchecked, Ticks

Specification is set to Auto.

l If an R18.0 or R18.1 project is opened with Specify Spacing as Checked, Ticks

Specification is set to Spacing.

Related Topics

Sweeping a Variable

Working with Traces

Adding Characteristics to a Trace

Creating Rectangular Contour Plots

This is an x-y-z graph of results. Any data that you can current plot in 3D (as 3D Cartesian or 3D
polar) is a candidate for a contour plot.

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1. On the Results menu (HFSS or HFSS-IE menu or right-click on Results on the Project
tree), click Create <type> Report, and select Rectangular Contour plot from the report
type menu.

The Report dialog appears.

2. In the Context section make selections from the following field or fields, depending on the
design and solution type.
a. Solution field with a drop down selection list. This lists the available solutions, whether
sweeps or adaptive passes.
b. Geometry field with a drop down selection list. For field and radiated field reports, this
applies the quantity to a geometry or radiated field setup.
c. Domain field with a drop down selection list. For Near and Far Field reports, if you have
defined the respective Radiation Setups, a Domain field lists Theta, Phi, and Sine
Space.

For details, see Creating Sine Space plots.

3. Under the Trace tab Z Component area, specify the information to plot as contours:
a. In the Category list, click the type of information to plot. The selected Category provides
the default plot name.
b. In the Quantity list, click the value to plot.
c. In the Function list, click the mathematical function of the quantity to plot.
d. The Value field displays the currently specified Quantity and Function. You can edit this
field directly.

Note Color shows valid expression.

e. Range Function button -- opens the Set Range Function dialog. This applies
currently specified Quantity and Function.
4. On the Trace tab Y (Secondary sweep) lines, specify the information to plot along the y-axis
in one of the following ways:
l Select the sweep variable to use from the drop down list.
l If sweeps are available, you can select the browse button to display a dialog that lets you
select particular values. The quantity will be plotted against the primary sweep variable
listed.
5. On the Trace tab X (Primary sweep) lines, specify the information to plot along the x-axis in
one of the following ways:
l Select the sweep variable to use from the drop down list.
l If sweeps are available, you can select the browse button to display a dialog that lets you
select particular values. The quantity will be plotted against the primary sweep variable
listed.
6. Click New Report.

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This creates a new report in Project tree, displays the report with the defined trace, and enables
the Add Trace button on the Report dialog. The default name is based on the Report Category
you selected, for example, S Parameter Plot n or Output Variables Plot n). You can edit the plot
names in the project tree and the plot header text in the report synchronizes.

The function of the selected quantity or quantities will be plotted against the values you specified
on an x-y-z graph. The plot is listed under Results in the project tree. When you select the
traces or plots, their properties are displayed in the Properties window. These properties can be
edited directly to modify the plot.

The Trace Properties for Cartesian plots include tabs for:

l Attributes tab, including Name, Line Style, Line Width, and Color.
l Contour tab, including Colormap Type, Color, Spectrum, IsoValType, whether to Overlay
Contour Lines (on Fringe or Tone plots), Scaling parameters, and Number of contours
and spacing.

Colormap Type can be Spectrum, Ramp, or Uniform.

Spectrum can be Rainbow, Temperature, Magenta or Gray

IsoValType can be Line, Fringe, or Tone.

General tab, including Back Color, Plot Area Color, Enable Y Axis Stripes, Field Width,
Prevision, and whether to Use Scientific Notation.

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You can also access these properties by double clicking on the Contour plot and viewing the
Contour tab.

7. Optionally, add another trace to the plot by following the procedure above, using Add Trace
rather than New Report.

Related Topics

Sweeping a Variable

Working with Traces

Adding Characteristics to a Trace

Creating Sine Space Plots

Sine Space plots provide an alternate way to view radiated field quantities. The transformation
from theta, phi space to u, v sine space is defined as follows:

u = sin(theta)*cos(phi)

v = sin(theta)*sin(phi)

Note that this is similar to a polar coordinate system, where the radius is given by sin(theta) and the
angle is given by phi. Another way to think about this: Given theta and phi that define a unit sphere,
then these u,v coordinates are like viewing the unit sphere from above or below the XY plane. So, a
sine space plot is a 2D plot that lies on a unit circle in the u,v space, that shows the values of
radiated field quantities projected onto the upper or lower half of a full 3D sphere.

Radiated Fields in HFSS

In HFSS, you create Radiated field setups to specify how radiated fields will be calculated. For a
sphere, you provides ranges and step size for theta and phi, and can also specify a reference
coordinate system and custom radiation surface. The radiated fields are calculated based on these
settings, using algorithms that are designed for uniform sampling in theta and phi.

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Once radiated field setups have been defined, it possible to create various radiated fields plots in
Reporter.

Sine Space Plots

Sine Space plots are implemented as a new Context in Reporter. They will leverage the existing
radiated field setups and calculations.

To create a Sine Space plot, after you have specified radiated field Setups.

1. Click Results>Create Far Fields Report>Rectangular Contour Plot or Data Table

Results>Create Near Fields Report>Rectangular Contour Plot or Data Table

The Report dialog displays and shows choices for Domain in the Context field.

"Theta, Phi" is selected by default, and gives the existing functionality.

Notice that the Context shown above already includes selection of a Geometry, which
corresponds to a Radiation setup.

This radiation setup is used to calculate the fields for the Sine Space plot. Internally, this
computes the values of the complex E vector based on the theta, phi sampling in the radiation
setup. When data is requested for a sine space plot, it will correspond to some arbitrary theta,
phi, and the fields will be interpolated to this location on the sphere. Note that this interpolation
will occur on the complex E vector, and can be more detailed than a simple linear interpolation
between sample points.

In order to support sine space plots, the radiation setup must have appropriate sampling in theta
and phi. By default, a sphere is defined with phi from 0 to 360 (angle of rotation about Z), and
theta from 0 to 180 (angle of rotation away from Z). These settings support a full unit circle
representing the upper (theta from 0 to 90) or lower (theta from 90 to 180) half space. If the

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range of theta is reduced to 0 to 90, it would be possible to support upper half space only. Other
ranges of theta and phi will likely create odd sine space plots, such as a partial circle, and these
are not allowed.

2. Select Sine Space as the Domain. This also enables the Sine Space options button.

Selecting "Sine Space" changes the Primary Sweep to U, and the Secondary Sweep to V.

The Sine Space Options provide additional settings, including the sampling interval for the u,v
coordinates (default of .05 would provide 40 samples over each axis, -1 to 1) and selection of
upper or lower half space (default to upper).

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Once you have set up the domain, you define the Sine Space plot, selecting Category, Quantity
and Function settings as appropriate. The Report Category you select provides the default
report name, for example, S Parameter Plot n or Output Variables Plot n. Given that the u,v
sampling is set in the Sine Space Options, it should not be necessary to modify the sweeps in
the Trace area of the dialog.

Here is an example Sine Space plot of Far Field rETotal.

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And here is an example Sine Space plot of Near field E Total.

You can use the Contour tab of the Properties dialog to modify the appearance of the plot. See
Creating Rectangular Contour Plots for discussion and examples.

Creating 2D Polar Plots

In HFSS, a polar plot is a 2D circular chart divided by the spherical coordinates R and theta, where
R is the radius, or distance from the origin, and theta is the angle from the x-axis. Following is the
general procedure for drawing a polar graph of results:

1. On the Results menu ( HFSS menu or right-click on Results on the Project tree), click
Create <type> Report, and select Polar plot from the report type menu.

The Report dialog appears.

2. In the Context section make selections from the following field or fields, depending on the
design and solution type.
a. Solution field with a drop down selection list. This lists the available solutions, whether
sweeps or adaptive passes.
b. Domain field with a drop down selection list. Whether this field appears, and the domains
listed depend on the Solution type and the <type> selected. For modal and terminal
solution data reports, the domain can be Sweep or Time.

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Before you can examine the time domain, you must perform an Interpolating sweep for a
driven solution (Modal or Terminal). If you select Time, the TDR Options button is
enabled. Select it and follow the directions for time-domain plotting.

c. Geometry field with a drop down selection list. For field and radiated field reports, this
applies the quantity to a geometry or radiated field setup.
3. In the Trace tab PolarComponent area, specify the information to plot:
a. On the Category drop down list, click the type of information to plot.
b. On the Quantity list, click the values to plot. Use CTRL-click to make multiple selections.
c. In the Function list, click the mathematical function to apply to the quantity for the plot.
d. The Value field displays the currently specified Quantity and Function. You can edit this
field directly.

Note Color shows valid expression.

e. Range Function button -- opens the Set Range Function dialog. This applies
currently specified Quantity and Function.
4. Click New Report.

This creates a new report in Project tree, displays the report with the defined trace, and enables
the Add Trace button on the Report dialog. The default name is based on the Report Category
you selected, (for example, S Parameter Plot n or rE Plot n). You can edit the plot names in the
project tree and the plot header text in the report synchronizes.

The function of the selected quantity will be plotted against the swept variable values or
quantities you specified on an x-y graph. The plot is listed under Results in the project tree and
the traces are listed under the plot. When you select the traces or plots, their properties are
displayed in the Properties window. These properties can be edited directly to modify the plot.

5. Optionally, add another trace to the plot by following the procedure above, using Add Trace
rather than New Report.

Related Topics

Reviewing 2D Polar Plots

Sweeping a Variable

Working with Traces

Adding Characteristics to a Trace

Reviewing 2D Polar Plots

For a polar plot of S-parameters, HFSS displays in the lower-left corner the following derived
information about the cursor's location:

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MP The magnitude and phase of the point.

RX The normalized resistance (R) and reactance (X).
GB An alternate view of the normalized resistance and reactance in the form of

where

l G = conductance
l B = susceptance
Q The quality factor.
VSWR The voltage standing wave ratio, calculated from the equation

A scale below the plot displays the scale of points along the R-axis.

Related Topics

Creating 2D Polar Plots

Creating 3D Polar Plots

A 3D polar plot is a 3D circular chart divided by the spherical coordinates R, theta, and phi, where
R is the radius, or distance from the origin, theta is the angle from the x-axis, and phi is the angle

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from the origin in the z direction.

Once created, you can also overlay the 3D polar plot on the model window by using the
HFSS>Fields>Plot Fields>Radiation command, or by right-clicking on Field Overlays in the
Project tree and selecting Plot Fields>Radiation Field.

Interacting with 3D Polar Plots

You can Rotate, Zoom and Pan a plot. When you rotate, the Cartesian grid responds so that the
curve always remains in front and the grids behind.

Clicking on a plot entity selects it, highlighting the selected entity in bold.

Double-clicking anywhere in the plot brings up the Properties dialog. The properties are grouped
appropriately under various tabs, which correspond to plot entities:

l General: For general plot properties such as Visual Detail level and background color
l Header: Properties related to plot Header/Title
l Axis Phi: Properties related to the circular axis which is in XY plane
l Axis Theta: Properties related to the circular axis which is in YZ plane
l Axis Rho: Properties related to the radial axis
l Grid phi-rho-theta(0): Properties related to phi-rho grid at theta = 0 (XY plane)
l Grid theta-rho-phi(90): Properties related to theta-rho grid at phi = 90 (YZ plane)
l Color Key: Properties related to the color key, including borders, background, Min and Max,
as well as number format and precision.

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l Contour: Properties related to contouring of all curves/surfaces

l Surface: Properties related to the curve

Selecting a property also displays its properties in the Property window. You can edit the properties
to customize the appearance of the plot. See "Controlling Visual Detail in a 3D Polar Plot" on the
facing page.

Creating 3D Polar Plots

Following is the general procedure for drawing a 3D polar plot of results:

1. On the Results menu ( HFSS menu or right-click on Results on the Project tree), click
Create <type> Report, and select 3D Polar plot from the report type menu.

The Report dialog appears.

2. In the Context section make selections from the following field or fields, depending on the
design and solution type.
a. Solution field with a drop down selection list. This lists the available solutions, whether
sweeps or adaptive passes.
b. Geometry field with a drop down selection list. For field and radiated field reports, this
applies the quantity to a geometry or radiated field setup.
3. In the Trace tab Mag area, specify the information to plot along the R-axis, or the axis
measuring magnitude:
a. On the Category drop down list, click the type of information to plot. The category you
select provides the default plot name.
b. On the Quantity list, click the values to plot. Use CTRL-click to make multiple selections.
c. In the Function list, click the mathematical function to apply to the quantity for the plot.
d. The Value field displays the currently specified Quantity and Function. You can edit this
field directly.

Note Color shows valid expression.

e. Range Function button -- opens the Set Range Function dialog. This applies
currently specified Quantity and Function.
4. On the Trace tab Theta(Secondary Sweep) line, select the sweep variable from the drop
down list and specify all values or select values to plot along the theta-axis:
5. On the Trace tab Phi(Primary Sweep) line, select the sweep variable from the drop down
list, and specify all values or select values to plot along the phi-axis:
6. Click New Report.

This creates a new report in Project tree, displays the report with the defined trace, and enables
the Add Trace button on the Report dialog. The default name is based on the Report Category
you selected, (for example, S Parameter Plot n or rE Plot n). You can edit the plot names in the
project tree and the plot header text in the report synchronizes.

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The function of the selected quantity or quantities will be plotted against the R-, phi-, and theta-
axes on a 3D polar graph. The plot is listed under Results in the project tree. When you select
the traces or plots, axis or grid labels, plot header, color key, or variable labels, their properties
are displayed in the Properties window. The properties for each plot element can be edited
directly to modify the plot content and appearance. See Modifying the Background Properties of
a Report.

7. Optionally, add another trace to the plot by following the procedure above, using Add Trace
rather than New Report.

Controlling Visual Detail in a 3D Polar Plot

If a particular plot seems busy with information, you can edit plot properties, such as Axis and Grid
Attributes for discrete levels of visual detail to improve readability. Double-click anywhere on a plot
to display the Properties dialog. The Visual Detail property on the General tab also provides control
suited to different screen and plot sizes.

The Visual Detail menu has four options: Low, Medium (the default), High, and Custom. If you
select any Visual Detail, the 3D plot is rendered according to the selected Visual Detail level and
the properties reflect the values chosen for the selected visual detail level. From this predefined
visual detail level, if you modify any properties, Visual Detail is automatically set to Custom (or to
another predefined visual detail level if the edits happen to match the settings for that level).

You can also manually set Visual Detail to Custom. In such a case, Custom will inherit property
values corresponding to the previous level. This ensures that you can customize settings starting
from a baseline provided by the preconfigured Low, Medium or High Visual Detail levels.

3D Polar Plot with Medium Visual Detail

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On creation, a 3D Polar Plot has Visual Detail set to Medium and looks and feels as shown above.
Specifically, under the Medium Visual Detail level, 3D Polar Plot has 3 ticks per axis (phi, theta and
rho axis) which show min, max and middle value. This setting also shows axes labels.

3D Polar Plot with Low Visual Detail

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With Visual Detail set to Low, 3D Polar Plot does not show polar grids or grid lines. It only shows
axes with 2 ticks corresponding to min and max values. This setting also renders axis labels.

3D Polar Plot with High Visual Detail

With Visual Detail set to High, a 3D Polar Plot shows all polar axes and grids together with all nice
ticks and axes labels. This is ideal for large plot sizes.

Axis Properties: Ticks Specification and Num. Ticks

Ticks Specification is available on Axis properties, as shown below:

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Ticks Specification is a menu with possible values as Auto, Spacing, and Num. Ticks, with Auto
being the default value. If Ticks Specification is Auto, then a spacing value is automatically
calculated and used to calculate and display the tick labels. Spacing shows the calculated value,
and Num. Ticks shows the number of ticks based on this spacing value, as shown below:

You can edit the Spacing field when Ticks Specification is set to Spacing; otherwise, it is read only.

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You can edit the Num. Ticks field when Ticks Specification is Num. Ticks; otherwise, it is read
only.

Valid Num. Ticks are between 0 and 100, including 0 and 100. If you enter an invalid value, an error
message is shown. If you enter a spacing value that results in number of ticks greater than 100,
then an appropriate value is shown.

l If Num. Ticks is 0, then no ticks are shown on the axis.

l If Num. Ticks is 1, then only the max value tick is shown on the axis.
l If Num. Ticks is 2, then only the min and max value ticks are shown on the axis.
l If Num. Ticks is greater than 2, then evenly spaced ticks (including min and max) are shown
on the axis.

Note With the addition of the Ticks Specification property to Axis properties, the Specify
Spacing property was removed as an Axis property.

l If an R18.0 or R18.1 project is opened with Specify Spacing as Unchecked, Ticks

Specification is set to Auto.

l If an R18.0 or R18.1 project is opened with Specify Spacing as Checked, Ticks

Specification is set to Spacing.

Related Topics

Sweeping a Variable

Working with Traces

Adding Characteristics to a Trace

Creating Smith Charts

A Smith chart is a 2D polar plot of S-parameters upon which a normalized impedance grid has
been superimposed. Following is the general procedure for creating a Smith chart of results:

1. On the Results menu ( HFSS menu or right-click on Results on the Project tree), click
Create <type> Report, and select Smith Chart from the report type menu.

The Report dialog appears.

2. In the Trace tab PolarComponent area, specify the information to plot:

a. On the Category drop down list, click the type of information to plot. The category
selected provides the default plot name.
b. On the Quantity list, click the values to plot. Use CTRL-click to make multiple selections.
c. In the Function list, click the mathematical function to apply to the quantity for the plot.
d. The Value field displays the currently specified Quantity and Function. You can edit this
field directly.

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Note Color shows valid expression.

e. Range Function button -- opens the Set Range Function dialog. This applies
currently specified Quantity and Function.
3. Click New Report.

This creates a new report in Project tree, displays the report with the defined trace, and enables
the Add Trace button on the Report dialog. The default name is based on the Report Category
you selected, (for example, S Parameter Plot n or rE Plot n). You can edit the plot names in the
project tree and the plot header text in the report synchronizes.

The function of the selected quantity will be plotted against the values you specified on a polar
plot. In addition, each circle on the plot is labeled with values of R, measuring normalized
resistance, and each line is labeled with values of X, measuring normalized reactance. The plot
is listed under Results in the project tree and the traces are listed under the plot. When you
select the traces or plots, their properties are displayed in the Properties window. These
properties can be edited directly to modify the plot.

4. Optionally, add another trace to the plot by following the procedure above, using Add Trace
rather than New Report.

Related Topics

Reviewing 2D Polar Plots

Sweeping a Variable

Working with Traces

Adding Characteristics to a Trace

Creating Smith Contour Charts

A Smith contour chart is a polar plot of S-parameters upon which a normalized impedance grid has
been superimposed. Following is the general procedure for creating a Smith chart of results:

1. On the Results menu (HFSS menu or right-click on Results on the Project tree), click
Create <type> Report, and select Smith Chart from the report type menu.

The Report dialog appears.

2. In the Trace tab Mag area, specify the information to plot:

a. On the Category drop down list, click the type of information to plot. The Category
selection provides the default plot name.
b. On the Quantity list, click the values to plot. Use CTRL-click to make multiple selections.
c. In the Function list, click the mathematical function to apply to the quantity for the plot.

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d. The Value field displays the currently specified Quantity and Function. You can edit this
field directly.

Note Color shows valid expression.

e. Range Function button -- opens the Set Range Function dialog. This applies
currently specified Quantity and Function.
3. On the Trace tab (Secondary Sweep) line,select the sweep variable from the drop down
list and specify all values or select values to plot along the theta-axis:

To select an Secondary sweep component that is different than the default, uncheck the Default
field to enable the X field and browse [...] button. Click the browse [...] button to display the
Select X Component dialog. This lets you specify the X component as you do the Y; that is, in
terms of Categories which define the selectable Quantities, and Functions to apply. After
making selections, OK the dialog to assign the X component.

a. If sweeps are available, you can select the browse [...] button to display a dialog that lets
you select particular sweep or sweeps, or all sweeps.
b. The Families tab provides a way to select from valid solutions for sweeps where a
simulation has multiple variables defined (for example, for a parametric sweep). If so, the
variables other than the one chosen as the X (Primary sweep), are listed under the
Families tab with columns for the variable, the value, and an Edit column with an ellipsis
[...] button. See Using Families tab for Reports.
4. On the Trace tab (Primary Sweep) line,select the sweep variable from the drop down list,
and specify all values or select values to plot along the phi-axis:

To select an X component that is different than the default, uncheck the Default field to enable
the X field and browse [...] button. Click the browse [...] button to display the Select X
Component dialog. This lets you specify the X component as you do the Y; that is, in terms of
Categories which define the selectable Quantities, and Functions to apply. After making
selections, OK the dialog to assign the X component.

a. If sweeps are available, you can select the browse [...] button to display a dialog that lets
you select particular sweep or sweeps, or all sweeps.
b. The Families tab provides a way to select from valid solutions for sweeps where a
simulation has multiple variables defined (for example, for a parametric sweep). If so, the
variables other than the one chosen as the X (Primary sweep), are listed under the
Families tab with columns for the variable, the value, and an Edit column with an ellipsis
[...] button. See Using Families tab for Reports.
5. Click New Report.

This creates a new report in Project tree, displays the report with the defined trace, and enables
the Add Trace button on the Report dialog. The default name is based on the Report Category
you selected, (for example, S Parameter Plot n or rE Plot n). You can edit the plot names in the
project tree and the plot header text in the report synchronizes.

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The function of the selected quantity will be plotted against the values you specified on a polar
plot. In addition, each circle on the plot is labeled with values of R, measuring normalized
resistance, and each line is labeled with values of X, measuring normalized reactance. The plot
is listed under Results in the project tree and the traces are listed under the plot. When you
select the traces or plots, their properties are displayed in the Properties window. These
properties can be edited directly to modify the plot.

6. Optionally, add another trace to the plot by following the procedure above, using Add Trace
rather than New Report.

Related Topics

Reviewing 2D Polar Plots

Sweeping a Variable

Working with Traces

Adding Characteristics to a Trace

Creating Data Tables

A data table is a grid with rows and columns that displays, in numeric form, selected quantities
against a swept variable or other quantities.

1. Click HFSS>Results>Create <type> Report, or right click on the Results icon in the
Project tree and click Create <type> Report.
2. In the display type menu, click Data Table.

The Report dialog box appears.

3. In the Context section make selections from the following field or fields, depending on the
design and solution type.
a. Solution field with a drop down selection list. This lists the available solutions, whether
sweeps or adaptive passes.
b. Domain field with a drop down selection list. Whether this field appears, and the domains
listed depend on the Solution type and the <type> selected. For modal and terminal
solution data reports, the domain can be Sweep or Time.

Before you can examine the time domain, you must perform an Interpolating sweep for a
driven solution (Modal or Terminal). If you select Time, the TDR Options button is
enabled. Select it and follow the directions for time-domain plotting.

c. Geometry field with a drop down selection list. For field and radiated field reports, this
applies the quantity to a geometry or radiated field setup.
4. Under the Trace tab Y component section, select the quantity you are interested in and its
associated function:

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a. On the Category drop down list, click the type of information to plot. The category
selected provides the default name for the plot.
b. On the Quantity list, click the values to plot. Use CTRL-click to make multiple selections.
c. In the Function list, click the mathematical function to apply to the quantity for the plot.
d. The Value field displays the currently specified Quantity and Function. You can edit this
field directly.

Note Color shows valid expression.

e. Range Function button -- opens the Set Range Function dialog. This applies
currently specified Quantity and Function.
5. On the Trace tab X (Primary sweep) line, select the sweep variable from the drop down
list, and specify all values or select values.
6. Click New Report.

This creates a new report in Project tree, displays the report with the defined trace, and enables
the Add Trace button on the Report dialog. The default name is based on the Report Category
you selected, for example, S Parameter Plot n or Output Variables Plot n. You can edit the plot
names in the project tree and the plot header text in the report synchronizes.

The Y quantity will be listed at each variable value or additional quantity value you specified. The
data table is listed under Results in the project tree. The plot is listed under Results in the
project tree and the traces are listed under the plot. When you select the traces or plots, their
properties are displayed in the Properties window. These properties can be edited directly to
modify the plot.

7. Optionally, add another trace to the plot by following the procedure above, using Add Trace
rather than New Report.

You can also modify the display type of an existing plot from the Properties dialog for that plot.
Select the Report icon in the Project tree to display the Properties dialog. Selecting the Display
Type field displays a menu with selections available for that plot.

Once you make a selection, the plot display updates for the current selection.

If you choose to print a data table:

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l Selecting print "All" prints the whole table for current data page (if there are more than one
data page)
l Selecting print "Pages" prints user specified pages
l If the table is bigger than the screen view (that is, it has scroll bar), printing first scrolls right,
prints until no more scrolling and then scroll down.
l The Page number appears at the bottom of the page, aligned at center
l The table layout of each page follows the screen, but with no scroll bar will be printed, and no
data page bar as on screen.

Related Topics

Sweeping a Variable

Working with Traces

Adding Characteristics to a Trace

Creating Radiation Patterns

A radiation pattern is a 2D polar plot displaying the intensity of near- or far-field radiation patterns. It
is divided by the spherical coordinates R and theta, where R is the radius, or distance from the
origin, and theta is the angle from the x-axis. Following is the general procedure for drawing a
radiation pattern of results:

1. Click HFSS>Results>Create <type> Report, or right click on the Results icon in the
Project tree and click Create <type> Report.
2. In the display type menu, click Radiation Pattern.

The Report dialog box appears, and a Radiation Pattern Plots icon appears under Results in
the Project tree.

3. In the Context section make selections from the following field or fields, depending on the
design and solution type.
a. Solution field with a drop down selection list. This lists the available solutions, whether
sweeps or adaptive passes.
4. In the Trace tab MagComponent area, specify the information to plot along the R-axis, or
the axis measuring magnitude:
a. On the Category drop down list, click the type of information to plot. The selected
category also provides the default plot name.
b. On the Quantity list, click the values to plot. Use CTRL-click to make multiple selections.
c. In the Function list, click the mathematical function to apply to the quantity for the plot.
d. The Value field displays the currently specified Quantity and Function. You can edit this
field directly.

Note Color shows valid expression.

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e. Range Function button -- opens the Set Range Function dialog. This applies
currently specified Quantity and Function.
5. In the Trace tab Ang(Primary sweep) line, specify the sweep variable from the drop down
list, and specify all values or select values.
6. Click New Report.

This creates a new report in Project tree, displays the report with the defined trace, and enables
the Add Trace button on the Report dialog. The default name is based on the Report Category
you selected, for example, System Gain Plot n or Directivity Plot n. You can edit the plot names
in the project tree and the plot header text in the report synchronizes.

The function of the selected quantity or quantities will be plotted against the values you specified
on a 2D polar plot. The plot is listed under Results in the project tree and the traces are listed
under the plot. When you select the traces or plots, their properties are displayed in the
Properties window. These properties can be edited directly to modify the plot.

7. Optionally, add another trace to the plot by following the procedure above, using Add Trace
rather than New Report.

You can also modify the display type of an existing plot from the Properties dialog for that plot.
Select the Report icon in the Project tree to display the Properties dialog. Selecting the Display
Type field displays a menu with selections available for that plot.

Once you make a selection, the plot display updates for the current selection.

Related Topics

Sweeping a Variable in a Report

Working with Traces

Adding Characteristics to a Trace

Delta Markers in 2D Reports

To view the difference between any two marker points in a report:

1. Set the first marker by left-clicking and holding the mouse button.
2. Move the mouse without releasing left button to another position, and then release the left
button to create second marker.

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In the marker text window, you see the difference between the two markers instead of the X, Y
value of marker.

Related Topics

Setting Report2D options

Working with Traces

Editing the Display Properties of Traces

Adding Data Markers to Traces

Plotting in the Time Domain

The idea behind Time-Domain Reflectometry (TDR) is to excite a structure with a step function,
and inspect the reflections as a function of time. Before you can examine the time domain, you
must perform an Interpolating sweep for a driven solution (Modal or Terminal or Transient). You
can then select Time from the Domain list in the Report dialog. You also need to specify the input
signal, whether step or impulse.

With Time selected as the domain, you can select from several Categories and associated
Quantities to plot, for example mag(S11). When you plot in the Time domain, every frequency
domain quantity is first converted to the time-domain before the formula is evaluated. For example,
if you type in

S11 / ( 1 - S11 )

and plot it in the time domain the reporter will plot

IFFT(S11 * input) / ( 1 - IFFT(S11 * input) )

It will NOT plot

IFFT( S11/ ( 1 - S11) * input )

The two expressions are not equivalent.

If you select Time Domain Impedance as the Category, you can select the TDRZ quantity. This is
defined as

TDRZ(t) = Zref * ( 1 + IFFT(S11 * input) ) / ( 1 - IFFT(S11 * input) )

where "input" denotes the Fourier transform of the input signal (step or impulse) and "IFFT(.)"
denotes the inverse FFT.

This equation is the instantaneous ratio of the time-domain voltage v(t) to the time-domain current i
(t). That is because voltage and current are defined (in the frequency domain) in terms of the
incident and reflected waves a and b, respectively, as

V = sqrt(Zo) * (a + b) = sqrt(Zo) * ( 1 + Sii ) * a

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I = 1/sqrt(Zo) * (a - b) = 1/sqrt(Zo) * ( 1 - Sii ) * a

This lets the incident wave be the input step signal, and so when we take the inverse FFT of V and
I, we get v(t) and i(t) in the time domain. Taking their ratio as a function of time then yields TDRZ(t).
By default, Zo is equal to 50 Ohm.

For HFSS or HFSS 3D Layout, to create a plot in the Time Domain:

1. For a design with an existing sweep setup, follow steps 1 - 4 for creating a report for design.
2. In the Report dialog box, in the Domain list, click Time.

This enables the TDR Options button and for terminal solution data reports includes the
Terminal TDR Impedance in the Category list.

3. Click the TDR Options button.

The TDR Options dialog box appears.

4. Select the input signal type, Step or Impulse.

A Step describes a sustained change in the signal, whereas the Impulse is a brief excitation.
Impulse is a very narrow rectangular pulse, with zero rise and fall time, width of 1 time step, and
height of 1/(time step).

Selecting Step enables the Rise Time field, and Impulse disables it.

5. If you selected Step, enter the rise time of the pulse in the Rise Time text box.

The rise time should be appropriate for the frequency context.

With a band width from DC to fmax, the best time resolution that can be achieved is 1/(2fmax).

A rise time of 1/(2fmax) is the shortest rise time that can be resolved. However, a rise time of 0 s
gives equally valuable information, so 0 is the default in this panel. See the example plot.

6. Enter the total time on the plot in the Maximum Plot Time text box.

The default maximum plot time in the TDR Options dialog is related to the delta frequency df in
the frequency sweep: it is 1/2df, since that is the extent of time for which the IFFT gives
information. This is often very long relative to the time delay that corresponds to the length of
your device under test, so you may want to reduce this value. Alternatively, you can adjust the
time axis of your TDR plot after it has been created.

7. Set the number of time points to plot in the Delta Time text box. By default, this is set to the
number of points in the frequency sweep.

The delta time is based on the bandwidth of the sweep: with a frequency sweep from DC to
fmax, the smallest time resolution you can obtain is given by 1/(2fmax). The IFFT algorithm
provides data points as a spacing of 1/(2fmax), but you can smoothly interpolate between points
by setting a finer resolution, e.g. to 1/(10fmax), at the expense of extra computation time.

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8. Optionally, under TDR Window, modify the window type and width.
9. You can use the Save as Default to set the current values as a default, and the Use
Defaults button to use previously saved options. Note that when you select a trace, the
initial displayed values are those of the selected trace.
10. Click OK.

Optionally, to plot Terminal TDR impedance (that is, rather than calculate the S-parameter for
waveport1 versus frequency, instead calculate the delay versus time at a particular impedance),
do the following:

a. In the Category list, click Terminal TDR Impedance.

b. In the Quantity list, click a quantity to plot.

The default impedance (Zo) for the TDRZ quantity is 50 Ohms, unless you specified
differently when you Set Renormalizing Impedance for Terminals when you created the
terminals in the model. If you need a different impedance value, you can either edit the value
in the Report dialog (as shown below), or you can create an Output Variable representing
Zo × (1+Sii)/(1-Sii) with the Zo of your choice. To edit the Zo value in the Report dialog:

1. For the Category, select Terminal TDR Impedance, and the Port and Function of interest.

2. Edit the value by placing the cursor in the Value field.

In this example, the value for Zo is changed from the default to 75 Ohms by typing
',Zo=75ohm' in the Y-column field.

c. In the Function list, click the mathematical function of the quantity to plot.
3. Click Done.

The report appears in the view window. It will be listed in the project tree.

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If S11 = 0 at DC, the time-domain step response will settle to zero and the TDRZ step response
settles to Zref. If S11 is nonzero at DC, the time-domain step response will settle to a nonzero
value and TDRZ will settle to a value different from Zref. The time-domain impulse response will
always settle to zero, since it can be seen as the derivative of the step response. The TDRZ
impulse response will always settle to Zref.

The plot below shows the difference between a short nonzero rise time and zero rise time for a
transmission line segment of 94 Ohm. Note that the trace with zero rise time starts at the correct
line impedance while the other starts at the renormalizing impedance. Other than that, one
trace is a shifted version of the other. The reason the plot with finite rise time starts at 50 ohms is
that the time-domain voltage and current are still at their steady state values, so v = Zref * i. As
the pulse arrives, the TDRZ response changes from the steady-state behavior because there's
a reflection from the transmission line back to the exciting source, which has a different
renormalizing impedance from the characteristic impedance of the transmission line.

Some things to keep in mind with TDR:

(1)

where c is the speed of light in the medium and B is the bandwidth of the signal. Since TDR is
usually based on a frequency band that starts at DC, the spatial resolution becomes

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(2)

where Fmax is the highest frequency in the frequency sweep. For example, if Fmax = 15 GHz
and the medium has εr=4, the spatial resolution will be (1.5E8 m/s)/(3E10 /s) = 5 mm.
A spatial resolution of c/(2Fmax) corresponds to a resolution in time

(3)

Let N be the number of points in the IFFT. N equals the number of time samples, and it also
equals twice the number of frequency samples. The density of frequency samples in the
frequency sweep influences the total time T as follows:

(4)

So increasing the density of the frequency samples leads to an increase in total time T. In practical
case, this often leads to a long tail in the TDR plot with little useful information. Therefore, the TDR
Options interface lets you set the maximum plot time to a smaller value.

The TDR Options interface also lets you choose a smaller ∆t than given by equation (3) above.
When you choose a smaller ∆t, you increase Fmax by "zero padding", i.e. adding zero values for
S11 beyond the calculated frequency sweep. Whether this is justified depends on your judgment. It
leads in practice to a smoother TDR signal.

HFSS also lets you set the rise time of your input signal. The rise time should be at least 1/(2Fmax).
Even this rise time is a bit short for comfort, as it equals the duration of only one time sample. An
input signal with a longer rise time has a smaller high-frequency content and will lead to reduced
"ringing" in the TDR response.

A Hamming or Hann filter will also reduce the high-frequency content and tends to lead to a
smoother TDR response. With these filters, one can select a width. A width of 100% is often a good
choice.

Related Topics

Interpolating sweep for a driven solution (Modal or Terminal or Transient).

Creating a report for design

TDR Windowing Functions

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Window Functions and Time Domain Plotting

Perform TDR on Report

TDR Windowing Functions

Windowing functions cause the FFT of the signal to have non-zero values away from ω. Each
window function trades off the ability to resolve comparable signals and frequencies versus the
ability to resolve signals of different strengths and frequencies. The window type list includes:

Window
Preferred Use
Function
Rectangular A low dynamic range function offering good resolution for signals of comparable
strength. Poor when signals have very different amplitudes. w(n)=1.

Bartlett A high dynamic range function, with lower resolution, designed for wide band
applications.

where a0=0.62; a1=0.48; a2=0.38

Blackman A high dynamic range function, with lower resolution, designed for wide band
applications.

where a0 =(1-α)/2; α1=1/2; α2=α/2

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Window
Preferred Use
Function

Hamming A moderate dynamic range function, designed for narrow band applications. It
minimizes the maximum sidelobe.

Hanning A moderate dynamic range function, designed for narrow band applications.
(default)

Kaiser Selecting the Kaiser plot also enables a field to specify an associated Kaiser
parameter. The larger the Kaiser parameter, the wider the window. The parameter
controls the trade off between width of the central lobe and the area of the side
lobes.

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Window
Preferred Use
Function

Welch This approach applies a parabola-shaped window to the frequency domain data. It
is based on the Bartlett method but splits the signal into overlapping segments,
which are then windowed. The intent is to balance the influence of data in the center
of the function.

You can use the Save as Default to set the current values as a default, and the Use Defaults

Working with Traces

A trace in a 2D or 3D report defines one or more curves on a graph. A trace in a data table defines
part of the displayed matrix of text values.

The values used for a plot's axes (which may be X, Y, Z, phi, theta, or R depending on the display
type) can be variables in the design, such as frequency, or functions and expressions based on the
design's solutions. If you have solved one or more variables at several values, you can "sweep"
over some or all of those values, resulting in a curve in 2D or 3D space.

A report can include any number of traces and, for rectangular graphs, up to 20 independent y-
axes. Traces appear in the Project tree under their report. They can be selected, copied and
pasted.

When you move a cursor over a trace in a report, the cursor changes to show that you can make a
selection:

l For PC systems, the cursor changes to the color of the selectable trace.
l For Unix systems, the cursor changes to a solid black arrow, rather than the default black
outline.

In general, to add a trace to a report:

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1. Select a report in the Project window and right-click and select Modify Report.
2. In the Report dialog specify the Y component information.
a. Specify the Category of information you want to plot from the drop down menu.

The Category drop down menu lists the available categories for the Solution type and
the current design. Selecting a category changes the Quantity and Function lists to
represent what is available for that category.

b. Specify the Quantity you want to plot by selecting from the Quantity list.

The selected quantity appears in the Value field, operated on any selected function.

c. Select the Function to apply to the specified quantity.

d. The Value field shows the trace being readied for plotting on the Y-axis. This field is
editable when the text cursor is present. You can modify the information to be plotted by
typing the name of the quantity or sweep variable to plot along an axis directly in the text
boxes.

Note Color shows valid expression.

e. Range Function button -- opens the Set Range Function dialog. This applies
currently specified Quantity and Function.
3. In the Report dialog specify the X axis information (for example Primary Sweep).
4. Click Add Trace.

A trace is added to the traces list under its report icon in the Project tree. The trace represents
the function of the quantity you selected and will be plotted against other quantities or swept
variable values. Selecting a Trace in the Project tree displays the Properties window for that
Trace. Selecting a trace in the report or legend displays the display Properties window for that
trace.

Trace icons can be selected, copied, and pasted for their definitions or their data. They can be
selected and deleted from the Project tree.

By the default, the Trace name is the definition (the category, quantity and function). The trace
will be visible in the report when you click Add Trace.

Trace properties can be edited directly in the respective Properties windows or edited in the
Report dialog. To change the name or definition of a trace, see Editing Trace Properties. To
edit other display properties of a trace, see Editing the Display Properties of Traces

Related Topics

Removing Traces

Editing Trace Properties

Editing the Display Properties of Traces

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Discarding Report Values Below a Specified Threshold

Adding Characteristics to a Trace

Adding Data Markers to Traces

Setting Report2D options

Copy and Paste of Report and Trace Definitions

Copy and Paste of Report and Trace Data

Delta Markers in 2D Reports

Editing Trace Properties

To edit trace properties such as the name, Y Axis association, the component definition, the
context, or the variables select the trace in the Project tree.

To edit a trace name:

1. Select the trace in the Project tree.

This displays a docked Properties window for the Trace.

2. Check the Specify Name box.

This enables editing of either the Name field in the docked properties dialog, or the Trace label
text in the Project tree. Editing this name changes the display in the Legend and in the Project
tree, but not the underlying Y-component definition.

Note To control the display of the Solution Name and Variation Key in the Legend, see Report
2D: Legend Tab.

To edit the Y Axis associated with the trace (2D Rectangular and Rectangular Contour plots):

1. Select the trace in the Project tree.

2. In the docked properties window for the trace, select the Y Axis to be associated with the
trace from the drop-down menu. Up to 20 independent Y axis can be added to a plot.

To edit a trace component definition:

1. Select the trace in the Project tree.

2. In the docked Properties window for the trace, select the component field of interest, and
select Edit... from the drop down menu.

This displays the an edit Component field window from which you can edit the category,
quantity and function.

3. Click OK to apply the changes and close the dialog.

To edit a trace Context:

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1. Select the trace in the Project tree to display the docked properties window.
2. In properties window, click the Solution field or the Domain field. If other selections are
possible, they can be selected from the drop down menu.

To edit a variable for a trace:

1. Select the trace in the Project tree to display the docked properties window.
2. Under the -Variables category, on the Families line, click the Edit button to display the Edit
families dialog.

From this dialog, you can select the Sweeps or Variations radio buttons. Each selection
changes the

If other nominal values are available you can click the ellipsis button to select from a list.

Related Topics

Removing Traces

Editing the Display Properties of Traces

Discarding Report Values Below a Specified Threshold

Adding Characteristics to a Trace

Adding Data Markers to Traces

Setting Report2D options

Copy and Paste of Report and Trace Definitions

Copy and Paste of Report and Trace Data

Delta Markers in 2D Reports

Editing the Display Properties of Traces

Editing the display properties of traces differs for 2D and 3D reports. To edit the display properties
of a trace for a 2D report:

1. Select a trace in an open Report window.

2. Click once on the trace to view a Docked Properties window, or double click to open
Properties window.

The display properties window for a 2D trace includes a General tab and an Attributes tab.

The General tab properties apply to the general appearance of the plot. They include the
Background color, Contrast color, Field width, and Whether to use Scientific notation for marker
and delta marker displays. (X and Y notation display is set separately, in the Axis property
tabs.)

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The Attributes tab properties apply specifically to the trace. The defaults are set in the
Report2D options. They include:

l Name -- not editable by selecting the trace from the Report. It shows the characteristics of
the trace as defined in the Report dialog.

To edit a trace name, see Editing Trace Properties.

l Color -- shows the Trace color. Double click to open a Color dialog. You can select from
Basic colors, or custom colors. You can define up to 16 custom colors by selecting or by
editing the values for Hue, Saturation, Luminescence, and the Red, Green, and Blue.

l Line style -- a drop down menu lets you select Solid, Dot, Dash, or Dot-dash.
l Line width -- a text field lets you edit the numeric value.
l Trace type -- the drop down menu contains entries for Continuous, Discrete, Bar-Zero,
Bar Infinity, Stick Zero, Stick Infinity, Histogram, Step, and Stair.

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Notice the difference between Stair and Digital is that each Stair centers on a data point with
transitions halfway between points, and Digital transitions from each data point to the next
value.

The next four properties work together to define whether to show a symbol on data points, the
symbol frequency, the symbol style, and whether to display the symbol as solid or hollow.

l Show Symbol -- whether to show a symbol at the data points on the line.
l Symbol Frequency -- how often to show symbols on the trace, based on the number of
data points per symbol used. For example, specify 1 for one symbol per data point.
Specify 10 for one symbol for every 10 data points.
l Symbol Style -- use a drop down menu to select from box, circle, vertical ellipse, horizontal
ellipse, vertical up triangle, vertical down triangle, horizontal left triangle, horizontal right
triangle.
l Fill Symbol -- use the check box to set the symbol display as a solid or as hollow.
l Symbol Arrows -- use the check box to use arrows on the curve ends.

Note So that curves with single points always appear, Box is the default symbol.

3. Edit the properties, if needed. Click OK to apply the changes and close the window.

To edit the display properties of a trace in a 3D report,

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1. Click on the trace. This opens a Properties dialog for the plot with a tab named for the trace
selected.
2. The editable properties include Point size, Point Style, whether to show points, whether to
show line, line width, and line style.

Related Topics

Setting Report2D options

Working with Traces

Editing Trace Properties

Adding Characteristics to a Trace

Adding Data Markers to Traces

Removing Traces

Discarding Report Values Below a Specified Threshold

Copy and Paste of Report and Trace Definitions

Adding Data Markers to Traces

The Reporter includes Report 2D>Marker> menu commands and toolbar icons

that let you add markers to traces. A marker appears as "mN" at the marked point, where N
increments from 1 as you place additional markers. Each marker can be selected and has editable
properties including name, font, background and color. As you place markers, one or more marker
legends may be displayed, depending on the View>Active View Visibility settings for the
legends. The main marker legend appears in the upper left of the plot, and lists the marker names
and their X and Y values in a table. You can control the number format for the table values via the

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properties window, general tab. Under Marker/Other Number format, you can specify field width,
precision, and whether to use scientific notation. This value is independent of the Axis tab number
properties. A separate marker legend appears for Delta Markers, as described for the Delta
Marker command.

When you enter Marker mode, the cursor arrow is accompanied by an "m" while a circle on the
selected trace shows the current position for a potential marker.

To end Marker mode, right-click to display the shortcut menu, and select End Marker Mode.

The available Marker mode commands and associated icons are the following:

l Marker -- this command lets you place a marker at an arbitrary point on a selected trace.
l X Marker -- this command adds up to 10 movable markers at the origin of the plot with a
vertical line rising from the X axis. Each added marker has its own color and editable
properties. To move an X marker, click on the X label and drag it to the desired location. The
label at the bottom of the line gives the X coordinate, and flag on the vertical line identifies the
Y coordinate on the trace. A trace property lets you lock the drag feature to leave the marker
in place. The X markers are cleared by the Clear All command.
l Bring X Marker into view -- this command is enabled if an X Marker is not visible in the
plot. It allows you to select from a list of existing X Markers to bring into view.
l Y Marker -- this commands adds up to 10 Y Markers with a horizontal line extending from
the Y axis. For more detail on Y Markers and their use, see Y Markers in stacked XY plots.
l Bring Y Marker into view -- this command is enabled if a Y Marker is not visible in the plot.
It allows you to select from a list of existing Y Markers to bring into view.

l Maximum -- places a marker at the Maximum value on the selected trace.

l Minimum -- places a marker at the Minimum value on the selected trace.

l Delta Marker enters delta marker mode, placing a circle on the selected trace. Clicking
on the trace sets an initial point and subsequent clicks on arbitrary points on the trace place
additional markers until you leave marker mode. These markers have their own legend,
which includes the following information for each pair of markers specified:

l Next Peak -- moves a selected marker on the next peak on a trace. You must exit
marker mode and select a marker to enable this command.

l Next Minimum -- moves a selected marker to the next minimum on a selected trace.
You must exit marker mode and select a marker to enable this command.

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l Previous Peak -- moves a selected marker on the previous peak on a selected trace.
You must exit marker mode and select a marker to enable this command.

l Previous Minimum -- places a marker on the previous minimum on a selected trace.

You must exit marker mode and select a marker to enable this command.
l Go to Start (Right arrow) -- moves a selected trace marker to the first data point. Enabled
by leaving marker mode and selecting a marker.
l Go to Previous (Left arrow) -- moves a selected trace marker to the previous data point.
l Go to Next -- moves a selected trace marker to the next data point.
l Go to End -- moves a selected trace marker to the last data point.
l Next Curve -- selects the next curve in the report, based on the order in the trace legend.
l Previous Curve -- selects the previous curve in the report, based on the order in the trace
legend.
l Clear All -- clears all markers on a report.

Related Topics

Setting Report2D options

Working with Traces

Adding Characteristics to a Trace

Removing Traces

Discarding Report Values Below a Specified Threshold

Modifying the Legend in a Report

Editing the Display Properties of Traces

Zoom In or Out

Fit Contents in the View Window

Showing Objects

Hiding Objects

Delta Markers in 2D Reports

Y Markers in stacked XY plots

Y Markers in stacked XY plots

Y Markers allows for easy analysis and comparison of curves at a particular y-coordinate. Y
Markers can be used to compare stacked curves.

Creating Y Markers in Stacked Plots

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There are two ways to create Y Markers in Stacked Plots. You can create a Y Marker for a
particular stack or for all stacks. Right clicking on any stack shows following context menu:

Add Y Marker > Current Stack creates a Y marker for the stack on which user performed right
mouse button click. The following figure shows that a Y Marker was added to second stack only:

Add Y Marker >All Stacks creates one Y marker in each stack with same value. Initially this
value is the minimum Y value of the Y ranges in all the stacks. This is shown is figure below:

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Notice that the Y Marker for All Stacks has a different appearance than the Y Marker for a
particular stack, that is, it has double parallel lines above and below the Y Marker textbox.

Synchronized Y Markers

All the "same" Y markers for all stacks are synchronized, that is to say that if one Y marker is
dragged or it's value is changed, all the "same" Y markers in all the stacks will change their position
too. The figure below shows that when Y marker in bottom stack was dragged, Y marker in top
stacks moved as well:

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Also if a property of any one Y Marker is changed, all the "same" Y Markers show the change in
property as well. For example the figure below shows that when the line color of a Y Marker in the
top stack was changed to red color, a Y Marker in bottom stack show the same line color as well:

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Automatic Y Markers for the new stack

When a new curve is added to the plot, it gets all the Y Markers for all stacks in other stacks,
excluding the Y Marker for particular stacks.The figure below shows that when the new curve "dB
(S(Port3, Port1)" was added, a Y Marker was added to it with value -3.14 and it has all the same
properties as other "same" Y Markers in other stacks:

Y Marker Delta Annotations

When two more Y Markers are present in a Stacked Eye Diagram then delta annotations are
shown between a pair of adjacent Y Markers in all the stacks, as shown in figure below:

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Deleting a Y Marker

To delete a Y Marker, select a Y Marker in any stack and press the Delete key. This action will also
delete all the corresponding Y Markers in all the stacks. For example, when the Y Marker with
value -3.13 (red Y Marker) was deleted from the bottom most stack, all of the corresponding Y
Markers were also deleted:

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Note that on deleting a stack, Y Markers in other stacks are not affected.

Converting Rectangular XY Plot to Rectangular Stacked XY Plot

The following figure shows a Rectangular XY Plot with two curves and a Y Marker with value -3.15
(blue Y Marker):

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If you change the Display Type property of this plot to Rectangular Stacked Plot then a
Rectangular Stacked XY Plot is created with each curve in its own stack and a Y Marker is shown
in each stack with value -3.15 (blue Y Marker):

Similarly when you change a Rectangular Stacked XY Plot to a Rectangular XY Plot then all the
"same" Y Markers in all the stacks are shown as a single Y Marker in Rectangular XY Plot as
shown in following figures:

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The Rectangular Stacked XY Plot in the previous figure, when converted to Rectangular XY Plot,
looks like the figure below:

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Related Topics

Adding Data Markers to Traces

Rectangular Stacked Plot

Discarding Report Values Below a Specified Threshold

To prevent real small numbers from skewing a plot, you can discard small values (below a
specifiable threshold).

1. Double-click on the X or Y axis of interest on an open plot display.

This opens the Properties window for the Axis

2. Under the Axis tab, use the scroll bar to find the Specify Discard Values property.
3. Click the check box to enable the property.
4. Enter a value in the Discard Below field. Units specified elsewhere in the Axis property are
applied to this value. The Discard Below text box is inactive if the Specify Discard Values
check box is not enabled.
5. Click OK to apply the Discard Values to the report.

Related Topics

Working with Traces

Removing Traces

Editing the Display Properties of Traces

Modifying Background Properties of a Report

Modifying Reports

Adding Characteristics to a Trace

Adding Characteristics to a Trace

There are several options for adding characteristics to a trace. When you click Report 2D>Trace
Characteristics, or right-click a selected trace, the short cut menu is displayed. The following
example shows the menu with expanded Recent selections.

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The following shows the short cut menu for Eye Measurements, which includes the Add All Eye
Measurements option. You can use this option to add all eye measurements at once.

Adding a Recently Used Trace Characteristic

Adding a Trace Characteristic from Favorites

Adding Trace Characteristics to your Favorites

Adding Characteristics using the Add Trace Characteristics Dialog

Removing All Trace Characteristics

Adding a Recently Used Trace Characteristic

If you recently used a characteristic, you can add it to a selected trace by selecting from a list of
recently used characteristics. A maximum of 10 is displayed in the menu, and they are sorted
alphabetically.

To add a recently used characteristic to a selected trace:

1. Select a trace in a report plot or legend.

2. Click Report 2D>Trace Characteristics, or right-click on the selected trace to display the
short cut menu.
3. Select Recent, and then select the function you want. The specified characteristic is added
to the trace.

Related Topics

Adding a Characteristic to a Trace

Adding a Trace Characteristic from Favorites

Adding Trace Characteristics to your Favorites

Adding Characteristics using the Add Trace Characteristics Dialog

Removing All Trace Characteristics

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Adding a Trace Characteristic from Favorites

You can add a trace characteristic to a selected trace by selecting from a list of favorites. A
maximum of 10 is displayed in the menu, and they are sorted alphabetically.

To add a favorite characteristic to a selected trace:

1. Select a trace in a report plot or legend.

2. Click Report 2D>Trace Characteristics, or right-click on the selected trace to display the
short cut menu.
3. Select Favorites, and then select the function you want. The specified characteristic is
added to the trace.

Related Topics

Adding a Characteristic to a Trace

Adding Trace Characteristics to your Favorites

Adding Characteristics using the Add Trace Characteristics Dialog

Removing All Trace Characteristics

Adding a Recently Used Trace Characteristic

Adding Trace Characteristics to your Favorites

You can add trace characteristics to your list of favorites.

To add characteristics to your list of favorites:

1. Select a trace in a report plot or legend.

2. Click Report 2D>Trace Characteristics, or right-click on the selected trace to display the
short cut menu.

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3. Select All. This displays the Add Trace Characteristics dialog box.

4. Click the Favorite check box in front of any function you want to add to Favorites. You can
define as many favorites as you need, but no more than 10 are displayed in the menu, and
they are displayed in alphabetical order.
5. Click Close. You can view the current favorites by selecting Favorites in the Category drop-
down list

Note You can remove favorites by clearing the Favorite check box for one or more
functions, and clicking Close.

Related Topics

Adding a Characteristic to a Trace

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Adding Characteristics using the Add Trace Characteristics Dialog

Removing All Trace Characteristics

Adding a Recently Used Trace Characteristic

Adding a Trace Characteristic from Favorites

Adding Characteristics using the Add Trace Characteristics Dialog

You can add characteristics to a selected trace by selecting from the Add Trace Characteristics
dialog box.

To add additional characteristics to a selected trace:

1. Select a trace in a report plot or legend.

2. Click Report 2D>Trace Characteristics, or right-click on the selected trace to display the
short cut menu.
3. Select All. This displays the Add Trace Characteristics dialog box.

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4. Select the Category. The available categories depend on the plot, and the selecting of a
category displays its associated functions.

Category Functions
Recent Displays the most recent functions used, sorted by the time they were
added.
Favorites Displays all favorites. The defaults are avg, max, min, and pk2pk.
All Displays all available functions.
Math avg, avgabs, integ, integabs, max, mean, min, pk2pk, pkavg, ripple, rms,
rmsAC, stddev, sum, variance, XatYMax, XatYMin, XatYVal,
XWidthAtYVal, YatXMax, YatXMin, YatXVal
PulseWidth pulsefall9010, pulsefront1090, pulsefront3090, pulsemax, pulsemaxtime,
pulsemin, pulsemintime, pulsetail50, pulsewidth5050, pw_minus, pw_
minus_avg, pw_minus_max, pw_minus_min, pw_minus_rms, pw_plus,
pw_plus_avg, pw_plus_max, pw_plus_min, pw_plus_rms
Overshoot/ overshoot, overshootAbs, undershoot, undershootAbs
Undershoot
TR & DC crestfactor, deadtime, delaytime, distortion, formfactor, fundamentalmag,
risetime, settlingtime
Error iae, ise, itae, itse
Period per, pmax, pmin, prms
AC gainmargin, phasemargin, gaincrossover, phasecrossover, lowercutoff,
uppercutoff, bandwidth, peakgain, peakgainfreq
Radiation lSidelobeY, rSidelobeY, lSidelobeX, rSidelobeX, xdb10Beamwidth,
xdb20Beamwidth
Eye EyeLevelZero, EyeLevelOne, EyeAmplitude, EyeHeight,
Measurements EyeSignalToNoise, EyeOpeningFactor, EyeWidth, EyeJitterP2P,
EyeJitterRMS, EyeRiseTime, EyeFallTime, MinEyeWidth, MinEyeHeight
TDR Shunt_C_in_pF, Series_L_in_nH

For a selected function, the Add Trace Characteristics dialog displays the function’s purpose
in a text field. For a list of functions and their definitions, see the table in Defining Traces Using
Range Functions.

5. Some categories and functions call for you to specify one or two additional values in a table.
You can save these values using the Save as Default button. The Default column shows a
Y if there is a saved default value for the function.
6. Select the Current sticky range overrides saved default check box if you do not want
the range value in the table to be changed when the function selection is changed: the

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current range value becomes the “sticky range.” If the check box is not checked, the range
value is updated from the saved default values and becomes a new sticky range.
7. Click the AddTrace Characteristic button to add the specified characteristics to the trace.
8. Click Close.

Related Topics

Adding a Characteristic to a Trace

Adding Trace Characteristics to your Favorites

Removing All Trace Characteristics

Adding a Recently Used Trace Characteristic

Adding a Trace Characteristic from Favorites

Removing All Trace Characteristics

1. Select a trace in a report plot or legend.

2. Click Report 2D>Trace Characteristics, or right-click on the selected trace to display the
short cut menu.
3. Select Trace Characteristics>Clear All.

Trace characteristics are cleared from the selected trace.

Related Topics

Adding a Characteristic to a Trace

Adding Trace Characteristics to your Favorites

Adding Characteristics using the Add Trace Characteristics Dialog

Adding a Recently Used Trace Characteristic

Adding a Trace Characteristic from Favorites

Removing Traces

You can remove traces from the traces list in the following ways:

To remove one trace from the report:

l Select the trace you want to remove from the Project tree, and then click Delete.

To remove all traces from the report:

l Select all the traces and click Delete.

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Related Topics

Working with Traces

Editing the Display Properties of Traces

Copy and Paste of Report and Trace Definitions

You can copy and paste report and individual trace definitions within a single design or across
designs. The report or trace definition will be evaluated within the context of the target design or
report.

Note If the report or trace definition contains properties that do not exist in the target design (for
example, a port name) an error will be posted that indicates a solution does not exist for
this trace
Note You must copy and paste trace definitions between the same report types. For example,
you cannot copy a trace from a Modal Solution Data report and paste it in a Far Fields
report.

To copy a Report Definition:

Right click on the report name in the project tree and select Copy Definition from the shortcut
menu.

To paste the Report Definition:

Right click on Results in the project tree of the target design and select Paste.

A new report is created and it contains the copied definitions.

To copy an individual Trace Definition(s):

Right click on the trace or traces under a report name in the project tree and select Copy
Definition.

To paste the Trace Definition(s):

Right click on the report in the target design to which you would like to copy the trace or traces and
select Paste.

A new trace(s) is added to the report and it contains the copied trace definition(s).

Note If you copy and paste a report or trace definition to a design which contains a definition with
the same name, then an incremented number is appended to the pasted report or trace
name.

Related Topics

Copying to the Clipboard as Images

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Copy and Paste of Report and Trace Data

Copy and Paste of Report and Trace Data

You can copy and paste report and individual trace data within a single design or across designs.
The report and trace definitions and all underlying data within the report or trace are copied and
pasted to the target design or report.

To copy all data from a report:

Right click on the report name in the project tree and select Copy Data, or use the menu bar
Edit>Copy Data, or right click within a plot to display a shortcut menu with Copy Data.

To paste copied report data:

Right click on Results in the project tree of the target design and select Paste.

To copy data from an individual trace(s) in a report:

Right click on the trace or traces under a report name in the project tree and select Copy Data.

To paste copied trace data:

Right click on the report in the target design to which you would like to copy the trace data and
select Paste.

Note If you copy and paste report or trace data which contains the same name definition as a
report or trace in the target design then an incremented number will be appended to the
pasted name.

Related Topics

Copying to the Clipboard as Images

Copy and Paste of Report and Trace Definitions

Limit Lines in Cartesian Plots

Limit lines are simple graphical representation of constraints on XY plots. These are modeled as a
sequence of XY point pairs, or as offsets from a selected curve. You can designate a single limit
line to delineate an upper limit, or two lines to delineate upper and lower limits, or upper and lower
offset lines simultaneously.

You can control the display properties of the line including color and hatch width in pixels. These
lines are available only on XY plots (and not on the XY-like plots: bode, stacked etc)

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Note Limit lines are available only on Rectangular (XY) plots, not on XY-like plots such as Bode
or Rectangular Stacked. On 2D Plots, the axes extents are based on the extents of the
curves.

To create a limit line:

1. Click Report2D>Add Limit Line or right-click on an XY plot and select Add Limit Line...
from the Context menu. You then select whether to Specify Points, or From a Selected
Curve, or Specify Equation.

Select Specify Points to open an Edit Dataset dialog so that you can specify points.

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Select From Selected Curve to open the Limit Line From Curve dialog.

Select Specify Equation to open the Limit Line from Equation dialog.

2. You can use the Edit Dataset dialog to:

l Enter the EY values directly
l Import XY values from a .tab file
l Export Dataset to a file.

If you require additional data points, you can use the buttons to Append Rows to the
Coordinates table. If you select a row in the Coordinates table, you can then use the buttons to
Add Row Above, Add Row Below the selected rows, or Delete Rows.

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You can use Shift-Click to select multiple adjacent rows, or Ctrl-Click to select any rows for
deletion.

Note Each limit line is associated with a particular Y axis (because it has to be scaled the same
way as all the curves associated with the axis, follow its log/linear scale and so on). This Y
axis association defaults to the first available Y axis when the limit line is created. However,
if the plot contains multiple Y axes, it can be associated with a different Y axis later via its
properties tab.

3. You can use the Limit Line From Curve dialog to create a limit line with a:
l Range using the Entire Curve, or a specified Start and Stop.

If you uncheck “Entire Curve,” the Start and Stop fields are enabled and initialized based on
the zoom level.

l Shift and Offset relative to the Y, either as a Y Offset value or as a Y Shift %.

l Create Mode as Above Curve, Below Curve, or Above and Below Curve.
4. You can use the Limit Line from Equation dialog to create a limit line based on an
equation in the form Y = f(x).
l Only x variable is allowed
l x value is linearly sampled and f(x) is evaluated to get y. By default, the entire range for
plot is covered. You can uncheck Entire Range to specify Start, Stop. You can always edit
Step and unit values for x.
l If y results in NaN an error is indicated and now limit line is shown.
l If y results in Inf value then it maps to the MapInfValue specified on its associated y axis.
l Selecting the limit line added in such a way should show: Start, Stop, Step, and Equation
in limit line property window. You can edit these values either in property window.
5. Once you Click OK, the limit line(s) you define is added to the plot. The line divides the plot
into two regions within the context of its length. By default, the upper region is hatched to
designate constraint violation.

6. You can select the limit line in the plot to edit its properties via the Limit Line tab of the plot
properties.

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l Line properties: Color, Style and Width

l Y axis association
l Hatch properties
l Hatch width in pixels
l Hatch direction (hatch above or below the Limit line)
l The point definition of the limit line itself.

For a limit line specified as an Equation, the Properties also include

l Start, Stop, Step, and Equation values.

7. If you add a second limit line, you can designate it as hatch below by unchecking Hatch
Above to produce a tunnel marking upper and lower constraints.

The following example shows the a limit line from curve plot, where the Hatch Above property for
the lower limit line has been unchecked.

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Limit Line Violations

You can use a plotting feature to help you discern whether a curve violates a limit line or not.
Consider following plot which shows two curves:

Suppose that the response cannot be below -30 dB till 1.5 GHz and below -50 dB above 1.5 GHz.
You add a limit line for this requirement in the plot using 'Add a Limit Line' functionality. The plot
automatically calculates whether a curve violates this requirement, that is, the limit line and show it
in the legends window, as shown in following figure:

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If a curve is selected, then the plot shows the region of the curve that violates the limit line (shaded
with slanted red lines), as shown in following figures:

Note:

If no curve violates a limit line then limit line hatching is limited to 10 pixels; otherwise to infinity as
shown in following figure. This is done to retain focus on the curves instead of the limit lines.

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Error Handling

If plot encounters an error while calculating Limit Line Violations the legend window shows 'NaN
(Limit Line name)' in front of the curve under 'Limit Line Violations' column. This ensure that you do
not get misleading information about no-violations when the issue is actually a limitation in our
code.

Related Topics

Modifying the Background Properties of a Report

Sweeping a Variable in a Report

In HFSS, a swept variable is a variable that typically has more than one value. You can plot any
calculated or derived quantity against one or more of the swept variable's values.

For large projects or projects with many variables, you may obtain faster post processing before
generating a solution by selecting which variables function as Sweep variables. Only the variables
with Sweep enabled are indexed for post processing. See Adding a Design Variable and Adding a
Project variable.

To specify the swept variable values to plot a selected quantity against:

1. In the Report dialog, select the variable from the X (Primary Sweep) pulldown menu.
2. To modify the values that will be plotted for a variable:
a. Click the ellipsis [...] button on the X (Primary Sweep) line of the Report dialog to
displays a popup list of the possible values.
b. Select All Values or click the Edited button to display a dialog that lets you
specify the sweeps to use.

All of the selected variable's values will be plotted.

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Related Topics

Sweeping Values Across a Distance

Sweeping Values Across a Sphere

Sweeping Values Across a Distance

1. If you are plotting a field quantity along a line, define a polyline object in the problem region.

If you are plotting a near-field quantity along a line, set up a near-field line.

2. In the Report dialog box, click the line geometry of interest in the Geometry list.
3. Specify the quantities you want to plot along the axes.
4. For the X (Primary Sweep), select the Distance variable.

The values at which the selected quantity or quantities will be plotted are listed to the right. By
default, a post-processing polyline object is divided into 100 equally spaced points.

5. For Near field, to plot the selected quantity or quantities at every point on the line, select All
Values.

For Near field, to plot the selected quantity or quantities at specific points on the line, clear the
All Values option, and then select the point values on which you want to plot.

Note All maximum near-field data calculated by HFSS is at their maximum over the selected line
object; if you plot the parameter over a sweep of values, the parameter will have the same
value at each point on the plot.

Related Topics

Sweeping a Variable in a Report

Sweeping Values Across a Sphere

1. Set up a near-field sphere or a far-field infinite sphere.

2. In the Report dialog box, click the sphere geometry of interest in the Geometry list.
3. For the Sweeps variable corresponding to phi, select the ellipsis [...] button.

This displays a small dialog.

4. Clear the Use all values check box to enable selection and editing of the sweep values.

All of the possible values for the phi variable are listed in the dialog. The values are the result of
the range of phi you specified during the infinite sphere's setup. To modify the values of phi to be
plotted across the sphere, do the following:

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a. Click Edit Sweep.

b. Specify the following information:

Step or Whether to sweep by steps, or by linear count, decade count, octave

Count count, or exponential count.
Start The point where the rotation of phi begins.
Value
End Value The point where the rotation of phi ends.
Step or The number of values between the start value and the end value.
Count

c. Click Update Values, and then click OK.

The values listed are updated to reflect the new number of points.

5. To plot the selected quantity or quantities at every value of phi, select All Values.

To plot the selected quantity or quantities at specific values of phi, clear the All Values option,
and then select the phi values at which you want to plot.

6. For the Sweeps variable corresponding to theta, follow steps 4 and 5 for modifying the
values of theta, if necessary, and specifying the theta values at which to plot the selected
quantity or quantities.

Note All antenna parameters and maximum far-field data calculated by HFSS is at their
maximum over the selected object; if you plot the parameter over a sweep of values,
the parameter will have the same value at each point on the plot.

Selecting a Function for a Plot

The value of a quantity being plotted depends upon its mathematical function, which you select
from the Trace tab Function list in the Report dialog box. The available, valid functions depend
on the type of quantity (real or complex) that is being plotted. The function is applied to the quantity
which is implicitly defined by all the swept and current variables. For example, "S(11)" is the value
of the S-parameter for every swept combination of variables (e.g., "height", "frequency" and so
forth). (A smaller set of functions appears for the Function list in the Output Variables dialog.)

These functions can also be applied to previously specified Quantities and Functions as Range
Functions when using the Set Range Function dialog.

Some of these functions can operate along an entire curve. These are: deriv, min, max, integ, avg,
rms, pk2pk, cang_deg and cang_rad. These functions have syntax as follows:

l deriv(quantity) implicitly implies derivative over the primary sweep

l deriv(quantity, SweepVariable) explicitly means derivative over the sweep variable specified
in the second argument (such as "Freq").

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You can select from the following functions in the Trace tab Function list or type them directly into
the Yor X field, if necessary.

abs Absolute value of the simulation quantity which results in a number that is
always positive.
acos Arc cosine i.e. the inverse function of a cosine.
acosh Inverse hyperbolic arc cosine.
ang Magnitude of an angle.
ang_deg Angle (phase) of a complex number, cut at +/-180.
ang_deg_val Angle (phase of a complex number in unitless degree values. Returns
simple numbers.
ang_rad Angle in radians.
arg Argument of a complex number. It is the angle the complex number makes
with the positive x axis. Same as ang_deg.
asin Arc sine i.e. inverse function of sine.
asinh Inverse hyperbolic sine.
atan Arc tangent i.e. the inverse function of a tan.
atanh Inverse hyperbolic tan.
atan2 Two argument function. For non-0 x,y, the function returns the angle
between the + x-axis and the given x,y coordinates.
avg Returns the average of the values of the selected quantity.

avg = (Area between the curve and the X-axis) / ( X length of the curve)
avgabs Returns the mean of the absolute value of the selected quantity.
bandwidth Returns the 3dB bandwidth of the selected simulation quantity. For
bandwidth, the calculation is based on 3dB below the maximum peak.
cang_deg Cumulative angle (phase) of the first parameter (a complex number) in
degrees, along the second parameter (typically sweep variable). Returns a
double precision value cut at +/-180.
cang_deg_val Cumulative angle (phase) of the first parameter of the selected simulation
quantity in unitless degree values. Returns simple numbers.
cang_rad Cumulative angle of the first parameter in radians along a second
parameter (typically a sweep variable). Returns a double precision value.
cmplx(re, im)
A complex number, where re is the real part and im is the imaginary part.
conjg Conjugate of the complex number.

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cos Cosine.
cosh Hyperbolic cosine.
crestfactor Returns the crest factor (peak/RMS) for the selected quantity.
cum_integ The cumulative integral function returns a set of values that have the same
length as the original set of points (the first element will always be zero).
Element I of the set returned by cum_integ is the integral of elements 1
through I of the original data set.
cum_sum The cumulative sum function returns a data set that has the same length as
the original set of points. Element I of the set returned by cum_sum is the
sum of elements 1 through I of the original data set.
dB(x) 20*log10(|x|) to base 10.
dBc Decibels relative to the carrier. It is the power ratio of the signal to a carrier
signal. Gives the relative signal strength.
dBm(x) 10*log10(|x|) +30.
dBW(x) 10*log10(|x|).
dB10 10*log(|x|) to base 10.
dB10normalize 10*log [normalize(mag(x))].
dB20 20*log(x) to base 10.
dB20normalize 20*log [normalize(mag(x))].
deadtime Obtains the latest time when the qtyl is within a tolerance of zero.
delaytime Obtains the time from zero to 50% of the target point.
degel Conversion from degrees electrical to seconds with respect to Hz.
deriv Derivative of first parameter with respect to second parameter.
distortion Returns the total distortion for the selected simulation quantity and an
additional argument frequency, which is the frequency in Hz at which to
calculate the fundamental RMS of the simulation quantity.
even Returns 1 if integer part of the number is even; returns 0 otherwise.
exp Exponential function (the natural anti-logarithm) of the simulation quantity.
formfactor Returns the form factor (RMS/Mean Absolute Value) for the selected
quantity.
fundamentalmag Returns the RMS value of the fundamental frequency for the selected
quantity, and an additional argument, Frequency, which specifies the
fundamental frequency.
gaincrossover Returns the gain crossover frequency (where the gain is 0 dB) of the
selected simulation quantity in Hz.
gainmargin Returns the gain margin in dB at the phase crossover frequency of the

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selected simulation quantity. It also requires a reference simulation quantity

to which the measured quantity is compared and the AC magnitude and
phase angle of the reference quantity. These are entered as the arguments
Reference Channel, Base Source Magnitude, and Base Source Angle.
iae Returns the integral of the absolute deviation of the selected quantity from a
target value that is entered via the additional argument.
if if(cond_exp,true_exp, false_exp).
im Imaginary part of the complex number.
int Truncated integer function.
integ Integral of the selected quantity. Uses trapezoidal area.
integabs Absolute value of integral.
ise Returns the integral of the squared deviation of the selected quantity from a
target value that is entered via an additional argument.
itae Returns the time-weighted squared deviation of the selected quantity from
a target value that is entered via an additional argument.
itse Returns the time-weighted squared deviation of the selected quantity from
a target value that is entered via an additional argument. To use this
function, you need to open the Add Trace Characteristics dialog and select
the Error category.
j0 Bessel function of the first kind (0th order).
j1 Bessel function of the first kind (1st order).
jn Bessel function of the first kind (nth order).
ln Natural logarithm.
log Natural logarithm (same as ln).
log10 Logarithm base 10.
lowercutoff Returns the lower 3dB frequency of the selected simulation channel in
Hertz.
lsidelobeX The 'x' value for the left side lobe: the next highest value to the left of the
max value.
lsidelobeY The 'y' value for the left side lobe: the next highest value to the left of the
max value.
mag Magnitude of the complex number.
max Returns maximum value of the simulation quantity.
max_swp Returns maximum value of a sweep.
max2 Maximum value of the two simulation quantities. For example, max2(a,b)
will plot maximum of a and b for a particular instance.
mean Returns the average in the set of quantities selected.

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mean = sum( all y-value) / (number of y-values)

min Returns the minimum value of the simulation quantity.
min_swp Returns the minimum value of a sweep.
min2 Minimum value of the two simulation quantities. For example, min2(a,b)
will plot minimum of a and b for a particular instance.
mod Returns the modulus or absolute value of the simulation quantity.
nint Nearest integer.
none Returns null value.
normalize Divides each value within a trace by the maximum value of the trace. ex.
normalize(mag(x)).
odd Returns 1 if integer part of the number is odd; returns 0 otherwise.
overshoot Calculates peak overshoot given a threshold value and number of evenly
spaced points over entire time range.
peakgain Returns the peak value of gain of the selected simulation quantity in dB.
peakgainfreq Returns the frequency in Hz at which the peak gain of the selected
simulation quantity occurs.
polar Coverts the complex number in rectangular co-ordinates to polar co-
ordinates.
per Returns the period of a simulation quantity.
phasecrossover Returns the phase crossover frequency, at which the phase is -180
degrees, in Hz for the selected simulation quantity.
phasemargin Returns the phase angle in degrees at the gain crossover frequency of the
selected simulation quantity.
pk2pk Peak to peak. Difference between max and min of the first parameter over
the second parameter. Returns the peak-to-peak value for the selected
simulation quantity.
pkavg Returns the ratio of the peak to peak-to-average for the selected quantity.
pmax Maximum period of the selected simulation quantity.
pmin Minimum period of the selected simulation quantity.
pow Raises x to the power of y; pow(x,y).
prms Period Root Mean Square.
pulsefall9010 Returns the pulse fall time of the selected quantity according to the 90%-
10% estimate.
pulsefront1090 Returns the pulse front time of the selected quantity according to the 10%-
90% estimate.
pulsefront3090 Returns the pulse front time of the selected quantity according to the 30%-

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90% estimate.
pulsemax Returns the pulse maximum from the front and tail estimates for the
selected quantity.
pulsemaxtime Returns the time at which the maximum pulse value of the selected quantity
is reached.
pulsemin Returns the pulse minimum from the front and tail estimates for the selected
quantity.
pulsemintime Returns the time at which the minimum pulse value of the selected quantity
is reached.
pulsetail50 Returns the pulse tail time of the selected quantity from the virtual peak to
50%.
pulsewidth5050 Returns the pulse width of the selected quantity as measured from the 50%
points on the pulse front and pulse tail.
pwl Piecewise Linear.
pwl_periodic Piecewise Linear for periodic extrapolation on x.
pwlx Piecewise Linear x with linear extrapolation on x.
pw_minus Pulse width of the first negative pulse.
pw_minus_avg Returns the average of the negative pulse width input stream.
pw_minus_max Returns the maximum pulse width of the negative pulse of input stream.
pw_minus_min Returns the minimum pulse width of the negative pulse of input stream.
pw_minus_rms RMS of the negative pulse width input stream.
pw_plus Pulse width of the first positive pulse.
pw_plus_avg Average of the positive pulse width input stream.
pw_plus_max Max. Pulse width of the positive pulse of input stream.
pw_plus_min Min. Pulse width of the positive pulse of input stream.
pw_plus_rms RMS of the positive pulse width input stream.
re Real part of the complex number.
rect Converts the complex number in polar to rectangular co-ordinates.
rem Fractional part of the selected simulation quantity i.e. remainder.
ripple Returns the ripple factor (AC RMS/Mean) for the selected quantity.
risetime Obtains the time taken to go from 10% to 90% of target point.
rms Returnns the root mean square value of the selected quantity.
rmsAC Returns the AC RMS for the selected quantity.
root nth root function.
rSidelobeX Returns the X value of right side-lobe occurrence.

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rSidelobeY Returns the Y value of right side-lobe occurrence.

settlingtime Returns the latest time at which the value of the selected simulation quantity
fell outside its tolerance band. The target value of the quantity and the +/-
bandwidth of the tolerance band are the additional args.
sgn Sign extraction.
sin Sine.
sinh Hyperbolic sine.
slidingmean Returns the moving average value of the selected simulation quantity
(specified by the first argument). The average is calculated over a period
(specified by the second argument).
slidingrms Returns the moving RMS value of the selected simulation quantity
(specified by the first argument). The RMS value is calculated over a period
(specified by the second argument).
sqr Square of the selected simulation quantity.
sqrt Square root of the selected simulation quantity.
stddev Returns the standard deviation of given values.
sum Returns the sum of the given values.
tan Tangent.
tanh Hyperbolic tangent.
undershoot Calculates peak undershoot given a threshold value and number of evenly
spaced points over entire time range.
uppercutoff Returns the upper 3dB frequency of the selected simulation channel in Hz.
variance Calculates the variance of the given values.
XAtYMax Threshold crossing time: report first time (x value) at which an output
quantity crosses YMax.
XAtYMin Threshold crossing time: report first time (x value) at which an output
quantity crosses a user definable threshold.
XAtYVal Returns the X value at the first occurrence of Y value.
XWidthAtYVal Returns the X width between the first 2 occurrence of Y value.
xdb10beamdwidth Width between left and right occurrences of values 'x' db10 from max.
Takes 'x' as argument (3.0 default). To use this function, you need to open
the Add Trace Characteristics dialog and select the Radiation category.
xdb20beamwidth Width between left and right occurrences of values 'x' db20 from max.
Takes 'x' as argument (3.0 default). To use this function, you need to open
the Add Trace Characteristics dialog and select the Radiation category.
YAtXMax Returns the X value at maximum value of Y.

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YAtXMin Returns the Y value at minimum value of X.

YAtXVal Returns the Y value at the first occurrence of X value.
y0 Bessel function of the second kind (0th order).
y1 Bessel function of the second kind (1st order).
yn Bessel function of the second kind (nth order).

Related Topics

Adding Characteristics to a Trace

Set Range Function

Selecting Solution Quantities to Plot

When you create a report of Modal or Terminal solution data, each trace in the report includes a
quantity that is plotted along an axis. The quantity being plotted can be a value that was calculated
by HFSS or HFSS 3D Layout, such as S11, a value from a calculated expression, or an intrinsic
(inherent) variable value such as frequency or theta. The valid categories available depend on the
type of quantity (real or complex) that is being plotted, the setup, the solution type, and the plot
domain.

To select an S-parameter quantity to plot:

1. In the Report dialog box, Trace tab, select one of the following categories. The selected
category provides the default name for the plot, such as S Parameter Plot n. You can edit the
plot names in the project tree and the plot header text in the report synchronizes.

Variables Intrinsic variables, such as frequency or theta, or user-defined project

variables, such as the length of a quarter-wave transformer.
Output User defined expressions applied to derive quantities from the original field
Variables solution.
S-parameter S-parameters from the S-matrix. For designs which include a Frequency
Selective Surface (FSS)-referenced radiation boundary, S11 and S21
represent the extracted reflection and transmission coefficients,
respectively.
Y-Parameter Admittance matrix parameters computed from the S-parameters and port
impedances.
Z-Parameter Impedance matrix parameters computed from the S-parameters and port
impedances.
VSWR Voltage standing wave ratio, calculated from the equation.

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Gamma Propagation constants for the S-parameters.

Port Zo Characteristic port impedances.
Lambda Guided wavelength.
Epsilon Effective permittivity.
Group Delay Quantity calculated as rate of change of the total phase shift with respect to
angular frequency,

TDR TDR (Time-Domain Reflectometry)impedance for non-terminal problems.

Impedance The idea behind TDR is to excite a structure with a step function, and
inspect the reflections as a function of time. If you select the Time Domain
for the plot, the Category list includes the TDR Impedance and the TDR
options button is enabled.

Selecting the TDR Impedance category displays the (TDRZ) of every

terminal or mode in the ports. The list of available Functions includes those
that can operate on the TDRZ values.
Active S- Active S, Y, Z, VSWR is supported only for driven modal projects.
parameter
Given a driven model project with a total of Nport modes, let ak denote the
complex excitation for the k-th mode specified in the Edit Sources dialog.
Also let S denote the computed N x Nscattering matrix. If define
active-Sm, m = 1..., N by

If S is renormalized or deembedded, the interpretation is that the

stimulations are applied to the renormalized external transmission lines at
the plane of deembedding.

The other relative active quantities are simply transformations on the active
Sm.
Active Y- Y0(M) is the port admittance of the m-th mode.
parameter

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Active Z- Z0(m) is the impedance of the m-th mode.

parameter

Active VSWR Active Voltage standing wave ratio is supported only for driven modal
projects.

Passivity A scalar quantity based on the matrix Q = I - conjugate(transpose(S)) * S

For every frequency, the value must be no larger than 1. A uniform
renormalization of 50 ohms is performed on the solution data for Passivity
checking.
Design Enables you to plot or tabulate properties of objects, such as their volumes.
Expression The values of expressions listed in the Expression cache of the Solution
Cache setup can be plotted, for example, as a function of adaptive pass to monitor
their convergence.
Expression This is intended to plot convergence, as a function of adaptive pass, of
Convergence expressions in the Expression cache of the Solution setup. In defining the
report, for "Context", select Solution: SetupN:Adaptive Pass. ExprDelta
will show the change in the value of the expression as a function of
adaptive pass, while ExprGoal will show, for comparison, the convergence
goal for this expression, as defined in the Analysis Setup under the panel
Expression Cache.

2. Select a quantity to plot from the Quantity list. The available quantities will depend upon the
selected category and the setup of the design.

Selecting a Field Quantity to Plot

When plotting field quantities, the quantity can be a value that was automatically calculated by
HFSS such as the magnitude of S11, a value from a calculated expression, or an intrinsic (inherent)
variable value such as frequency or phase.

To select a field quantity to plot:

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1. When you create the report, specify the Report Type as "Fields" and the plot type (for
example, radiation pattern.)
2. In the Report dialog, select Geometry for the Context, unless you are plotting scalar (for
example, integration). For example, to plot near-field values across a sphere, you select the
sphere object from the Geometry list in the Traces dialog box when you create a report.
3. In the Report dialog, select one of the following categories. The selected category provides
the default plot name. You can edit the plot names in the project tree and the plot header text
in the report synchronizes.

Variables Intrinsic variables, such as frequency or phase, or user-defined project

variables, such as the length of a quarter-wave transformer.
Output User defined expressions applied to derive quantities from the original field
Variables solution.
Calculator Includes scalar and vector field quantities automatically calculated by
Expressions HFSS, as well as derived field quantities that are defined by calculated
expressions you set up in the Fields Calculator.

4. Select a quantity to plot from the Quantity list. The available quantities will depend upon the
selected category and the setup of the design. See Field Quantities list for definitions.

Selecting a Far-Field Quantity to Plot

When plotting far-field quantities, the quantity can be a value that was calculated by HFSS such as
antenna gain, a value from a calculated expression, or an intrinsic (inherent) variable value such as
frequency or theta.

To select a far-field quantity to plot:

1. When you create the report, specify the Report Type as "Far Fields."
2. In the Report dialog box, select one of the following Categories for the field setup:

Variables Intrinsic variables, such as frequency or theta, or user-

defined project variables, such as the length of a quarter-
wave transformer.
Output User defined expressions applied to derive quantities from
Variables the original field solution.
System Gain System gain appears in the Quantity list if you have used
Edit Sources to Specify system power for gain
calculations. System gain is four pi times the ratio of an
antenna's radiation intensity in a given direction to the
user-specified power.
rE The selected component of the radiated electric field,
which is multiplied by the radial distance, r.

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Gain Gain is four pi times the ratio of an antenna's radiation

intensity in a given direction to the total power accepted by
the antenna.
Directivity Directivity of the antenna.
Realized Gain Realized gain is four pi times the ratio of an antenna's
radiation intensity in a given direction to the total power
incident upon the antenna port(s).
Axial Ratio Axial ratio of the electric field.
Polarization Polarization ratio of the electric field.
Ratio
Antenna HFSS-calculated quantities that include peak directivity,
Params peak gain, peak realized gain, beam area*, radiated
power, accepted power, radiation efficiency including the
total and component values at Phi and Theta, max U, and
array factors. For far-field setups, the decay factor for
lossy materials is calculated as a constant for all far fields.

*Beam area is the calculated as the beam solid angle. In

its simplest form it is = 4*pi/D; where D is the max
directivity.
Normalized For designs with plane incident waves. RCS is not
Bistatic RCS supported for other types of incident waves.

The normalized radar cross section.

where λ0is the wavelength of free space.

Radar Cross- For designs with Plane Incident Waves. (RCS is not
Section supported for other types of incident waves).
(Bistatic RCS)
The radar cross-section (RCS) or echo area, σ, is
measured in meters squared and represented for a
bistatic arrangement (that is, when the transmitter and
receiver are in different locations as shown in the linked
figure). This is represented by

where

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l Escat is the scattered E-field.

l Einc is the incident E-field.
Complex For designs with Plane Incident Waves. (RCS is not
(Bistatic) RCS supported for other types of incident waves)

The equation for complex (bistatic) RCS is calculated as:

where

l Escat is the scattered E-field.

l Einc is the incident E-field.

This form retains the phase information.

Monostatic For designs with Plane Incident waves. (RCS is not
RCS supported for other types of incident waves) A proper
incident angle sweep should exist at the incident wave
source setup before HFSS can plot Monostatic RCS.

The radar cross-section (RCS) or echo area when the

transmitter and receiver are at the same location.

For Monostatic RCS, you need not be concerned with the

Theta and Phi values defined in the radiation sphere. Only
the incident wave Theta and incident wave Phi are used in
calculating a Monostatic RCS plot.

The following diagram shows the bistatic RCS concept, with separate transmitting and receiving
antennas.

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Each Category item that you select causes the Quantity list to offer quantities appropriate to
selected category. Category selection for a Variable of an Output Variable lists those available
in each case. Selecting Antenna Parameters as Category causes the Quantity list to show
Antenna parameters. The selected Category provides the default report name, such as rE Plot
n.

1. Select the Quantity to apply to the selected Category.

If the Category item you select is rE, Gain, Directivity, or Realized Gain, you will need to specify
the polarization of the electric field by selecting from the Quantity list. This ability to plot the gain
of certain vector components (polarizations) of the electric field allows you to evaluate how well
your antenna radiates in desired polarizations.

Total The combined magnitude of the electric field components.

Phi The phi component.
Theta The theta component.
X The x-component.
Y The y-component.
Z The z-component.
LHCP The dominant component for a left-hand, circularly polarized field.
RHCP The dominant component for a right-hand, circularly polarized field.
CircularLHCP The polarization ratio for a predominantly left-hand, circularly polarized
antenna.
CircularRHCP The polarization ratio for a predominantly right-hand, circularly polarized
antenna.
SphericalPhi The polarization ratio for a predominantly φ-polarized antenna.
SphericalTheta The polarization ratio for a predominantly θ-polarized antenna.
L3X The dominant component for an x-polarized aperture using Ludwig's third
definition of cross polarization.
L3Y The dominant component for a y-polarized aperture using Ludwig's third
definition of cross polarization.

The plot's Y axis field shows the combined selections.

For example, if you select Gain as the Category, and RHCP as the Quantity, HFSS evaluates
the equation as follows:

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2. You can also select a function to apply to the your selections for the Category and Quantity
(for example, mag).

As you make selections in the Report dialog for Category, Quantity, and Function, the Y field
shows the combined calculation they describe.

3. Click New Report to create the Report.

The new report based on your selections is displayed.

Related Topics

Selecting a Function

Setting a Range Function

Working with Traces

Creating Reports

Modifying Reports

Technical Notes: Antenna Parameters

Technical Notes:Polarization of the Electric Field

Technical Notes: Spherical Cross-Sections

Plotting Vertical Cross-Sections of Far Fields

When plotting far fields, a vertical cross-section plot results from holding phi fixed and sweeping
theta through a range of values.

1. Open the Report dialog box.

2. Click the ellipsis [...] button for the sweep variable corresponding to phi.

This displays a dialog listing all values for the phi variable. The values are the result of the range
of phi you specified during the infinite sphere's setup.

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3. Select the fixed value that phi should take in the plot.

HFSS will display values for the vertical cross-section at selected phi cuts of the problem region
at a set of theta rotations.

The figure shown below demonstrates the orientation of the vertical cross-section when φ is the
fixed variable:

Plotting Horizontal Cross-Sections of Far Fields

When plotting far fields, a horizontal cross-section results from holding theta fixed and sweeping
phi through a range of values.

1. Click the ellipsis [...] button for the sweep variable corresponding to theta.

To the right, all of the possible values for the theta variable are listed. The values are the result
of the range of theta you specified during the infinite sphere's setup.

2. Select the fixed value that theta should take in the plot.

HFSS will display values for the horizontal cross-section at selected theta cuts of the problem
region at a set of phi rotations.

The figure shown below demonstrates the orientation of the sphere on which the field is computed
when θ is the fixed variable:

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Selecting a Near-Field Quantity to Plot

When plotting near-field quantities, the quantity can be a value that was calculated by HFSS, a
value from a calculated expression, or an intrinsic (inherent) variable value such as frequency or
theta.

To select a near-field quantity to plot:

1. When you create the report, specify the Report Type as "Near Fields."
2. In the Report dialog box, select one of the following categories. The selected category
provides the default name of the report.

Variables Intrinsic variables, such as frequency or theta, or user-defined project

variables, such as the length of a quarter-wave transformer.
Output User defined expressions applied to derive quantities from the original
Variables field solution.
Near E The radiated electric field in the near region.
Max Near The maximum radiated electric field in the near region.
Field Params
Near The resultant plot is: field quantity / (maximum field quantity value over the
Normalized entire infinite sphere).
Antenna

3. If you selected the Near E category, specify the polarization of the electric field by selecting
one of the following types of quantities from the Quantity list:

NearETotal The combined magnitude of the electric field components.

NearEPhi The phi component of the electric field.

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NearETheta The theta component of the electric field.

NearEX The x-component of the electric field.
NearEY The y-component of the electric field.
NearEZ The z-component of the electric field.
NearELHCP The dominant component for a left-hand, circularly polarized
electric field.
NearERHCP The dominant component for a right-hand, circularly polarized
electric field.
NearECircularLHCP The polarization ratio for a predominantly left-hand, circularly
polarized antenna.
NearECircularRHCP The polarization ratio for a predominantly right-hand, circularly
polarized antenna.
NearEL3X The dominant component for an x-polarized aperture using
Ludwig's third definition of cross polarization.
NearEL3Y The dominant component for a y-polarized aperture using Ludwig's
third definition of cross polarization.

If a Near-field plot takes a long time to plot, be sure to perform File>Save when the plot is
displayed. This saves the calculated data and permits fast display on subsequent viewings of the
plot.

Related Topics

Technical Notes:Polarization of the Electric Field

Selecting Antenna Parameters to Plot

1. When you create the report, select Antenna Parameters. The format can be Data Table,
Rectanglar Plot, or Rectangular Stacked Plot, but because each trace includes a single
quantity, you may prefer Data Table as the most appropriate display.

2. In the Report dialog box, select Antenna Params as the Category and apply an appropriate
Quantity from the list:

PeakDirectivity DecayFactor MaxrEZComp MaxrELHCPCompAtThet

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a
PeakGain FrontToBackRatio MaxrEZCompAtPhi MaxrERHCPComp
PeakRealizedG
MaxrETotal MaxrEZCompAtTheta MaxrERHCPCompAtPhi
ain
PeakSystemGai MaxrERHCPCompAtThet
MaxrETotalAtPhi MaxrEThetaComp
n a
MaxrETotalAtThet MaxrEThetaCompAtP
BeamArea MaxrELudwig3XComp
a hi
MaxrEThetaCompAtT MaxrELudwig3XCompAtP
RadiatedPower MaxrEXComp
heta hi
MaxrEXCompAtPh MaxrELudwig3XCompAtT
AcceptedPower MaxrEPhiComp
i heta
MaxrEXCompAtTh
IncidentPower MaxrEPhiCompAtPhi MaxrELudwig3YComp
eta
RadiationEfficie MaxrEPhiCompAtThet MaxrELudwig3YCompAtP
MaxrEYComp
ncy a hi
MaxrEYCompAtPh MaxrELudwig3YCompAtT
MaxU MaxrELHCPComp
i heta
MaxrEYCompAtTh MaxrELHCPCompAtP
ArrayFactor
eta hi

3. If desired you may select a Function for the quantity from the function list.
4. Select New Report to create the Report.
4. You can select additional Quantities and Add Trace. Each additional trace appears in the
report and in the Project tree:

5. OK the specified values or Cancel, Use Defaults, or Save As Default as appropriate.

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Related Topics

Technical Notes: Antenna Parameters

Selecting an Emission Test Quantity to Plot

1. When you create the report, select Emission Test.

2. In the Report dialog box, select one of the following categories and apply an appropriate
Quantity. The selected category provides the default name for the report.

Variables Intrinsic variables, such as frequency or theta, or user-defined project variables,

such as the length of a quarter-wave transformer.
Output User defined expressions applied to derive quantities from the original field
Variables solution.
Sphere A sphere of 1, 3, 10, or 30 meters, or of the same dimensions and RBS Simple
or RBS exact (where RBS is random binary [bit] sequence).
Cylinder A cylinder of 3 or 10 meters, or of the same dimensions and PRBS Simple or
PRBS exact.

3. Select a Function for the quantity from the function list.

4. For Emission Test, the Report dialog also contains a button for specifying the digital signal
options. The default values are a rise time of 0 seconds, and a hold time of 1 second. To
specify other values, click Digital Signal....

This displays the Digital Signal Options dialog. It contains fields for the rise time and hold
time.

5. OK the specified values or Cancel, Use Defaults, or Save As Default as appropriate.

Related Topics

Technical Notes: Emission Test

Plotting Imported Solution Data

1. In the Solution pull-down list in the Report dialog box, click the imported data you want to
plot.
2. Follow the procedure for creating a report.

Setting a Range Function

To apply a range function to the Y, Z, or Mag component of a trace:

1. Click the Range Function button in the Reports dialog.

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This opens the Set Range Function dialog. The functions available are the same as described
in the Selecting a Function section, with the exception of those for the Eye Measurements
category.

2. To enable Range function selection, click the Specified radio button.

Selecting the None radio button disables the Range Function fields.

3. Select the Category, and then an associated Function to apply. The available categories
depend on the plot, and Category enables the display of associated functions.

Given a selected Function, and Category, the Set Range Function dialog displays a text field
that explains the Purpose of the function. See figure above.

Selecting a function causes the display of a description in the Purpose field. If the function
requires a value (such as the XatYVal Math function or the pw_minus_max Pulse Width
function), the table below the function field displays the name, editable value field, unit, and
description.

4. Use the Over Sweep drop down menu to select from available sweeps.
5. To select from available Sweeps, or to edit them, use the ellipsis [...] button and uncheck
Use All Sweeps.

This enables a list of the sweeps. The sweep(s) you select is displayed on the Over Sweep line.
You can use the buttons to Clear All Selections or Select All sweeps.

6. Select the Sweeps Default or Edited radio buttons to specify whether to accept the default
or edited sweeps.
7. To edit the sweeps further, select the ellipsis button to display an Edit Sweep dialog.

For frequency variables, this lets you specify a single value, linear step, linear count, decade
count, octave count, or exponential count. You can Add legal values to the list of sweep values,
Update the list for changes, or Delete selected entries.

8. Click OK to apply the range function.

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Related Topics

Range Functions

Selecting a Function

Eye Measurement Range Function Parameters

Range Functions

The following table shows the Functions according to their Categories. The most commonly
used range categories are Math and Radiation. Other functions could be used if needed. Use the
category links to navigate to tables with definitions of functions.

Category Functions
Math max, min, pk2pk, rms, sum, mean, variance, stddev, integabs, avgabs, rmsAC,
ripple, pkavg, XatYMin, XatYMax, YAtXMin, YAtXMax, XAtYVal, YAtXVal,
XWidthAtYVal
PulseWidth pulsemin, pulsemax, pulsemintime, pulsemaxtime, pulsefall9010,
pulsefront1090, pulsefront3090, pulsetail50, pulsewidth5050, pw_plus, pw_
minus, pw_plus_avg, pw_minus_avg, pw_plus_max, pw_minus_max, pw_
plus_min, pw_minus_min, pw_plus_rms, pw_minus_rms
Overshoot, overshoot, undershoot.
Undershoot
TR & DC crestfactor, formfactor, distortion, fundamentalmag, delaytime, risetime,
deadtime, settlingtime
Error iae, ise, itae, itse
Period per, pmax, pmin, prms
AC gainmargin, phasemargin, gaincrossover, phasecrossover, lowercutoff,
uppercutoff, bandwidth, peakgain, peakgainfreq.
Radiation xdb10bandwidth, xdb20bandwidth, lSidelobeX, lSidelobeY, rSidelobeX,
rSidelobeY
Eye EyeLevelZero, EyeLevelOne, EyeAmplitude, EyeHeight, EyeSignalToNoise,
Measurements EyeOpeningFactor, EyeWidth, EyeJitterP2P, EyeJitterRMS, EyeRiseTime,
EyeFallTime, MinEyeWidth, MinEyeHeight

Note: Refer to the SI Wave or Nexxim online help for more information. The
Purpose field offers brief descriptions of each.

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Math Functions
*avg Returns the average of the values of the selected quantity.

avg = (Area between the curve and the X-axis) / ( X length of the curve)
avgabs Returns the mean of the absolute value of the selected quantity.
integabs Absolute value of integral.
max Returns maximum value of the simulation quantity.
mean Returns the average in the set of quantities selected.

mean = sum( all y-value) / (number of y-values)

min Returns the minimum value of the simulation quantity.
rms Returns the root mean square value of the selected quantity.
rmsAC Returns the AC RMS for the selected quantity.
ripple Returns the ripple factor (AC RMS/Mean) for the selected quantity.
pkavg Returns the ratio of the peak to peak-to-average for the selected quantity.
pkp2pk Peak to peak. Difference between max and min of the first parameter over the
second parameter. Returns the peak-to-peak value for the selected simulation
quantity.
sum Returns the sum of the given values.
stddev Returns the standard deviation of given values.
variance Calculates the variance of the given values.
XAtYMax Threshold crossing time: report first time (x value) at which an output quantity
crosses YMax.
XAtYMin Threshold crossing time: report first time (x value) at which an output quantity
crosses a user definable threshold.
XAtYVal Returns the X value at the first occurrence of Y value.
XWidthAtYVal Returns the X width between the first 2 occurrences of Y value.
YAtXMax Returns the X value at maximum value of Y.
YAtXMin Returns the Y value at minimum value of X.
YAtXVal Returns the Y value at the first occurrence of X value.

Radiation Functions
lsidelobeX The 'x' value for the left side lobe: the next highest value to the left of the
max value.
lsidelobeY The 'y' value for the left side lobe: the next highest value to the left of the

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max value.
rSidelobeX Returns the X value of right side-lobe occurrence.
rSidelobeY Returns the Y value of right side-lobe occurrence.
xdb10beamdwidth Width between left and right occurrences of values 'x' db10 from max.
Takes 'x' as argument (3.0 default). To use this function, you need to open
the Add Trace Characteristics dialog and select the Radiation category.
xdb20beamwidth Width between left and right occurrences of values 'x' db20 from max.
Takes 'x' as argument (3.0 default) To use this function, you need to open
the Add Trace Characteristics dialog and select the Radiation category.

Pulse Width Functions

Note: In this table, the functions with the asterisk (*) do not appear on the Range Function drop
down menu. They can still be used via text entry.
pulsefall9010 Returns the pulse fall time of the selected quantity
according to the 90%-10% estimate.
pulsefront1090 Returns the pulse front time of the selected quantity
according to the 10%-90% estimate.
pulsefront3090 Returns the pulse front time of the selected quantity
according to the 30%-90% estimate.
pulsemax Returns the pulse maximum from the front and tail
estimates for the selected quantity.
pulsemaxtime Returns the time at which the maximum pulse value of the
selected quantity is reached.
pulsemin Returns the pulse minimum from the front and tail
estimates for the selected quantity.
pulsemintime Returns the time at which the minimum pulse value of the
selected quantity is reached.
pulsetail50 Returns the pulse tail time of the selected quantity from the
virtual peak to 50%.
pulsewidth5050 Returns the pulse width of the selected quantity as
measured from the 50% points on the pulse front and pulse
tail.
*pwl Piecewise Linear.
*pwl_periodic Piecewise Linear for periodic extrapolation on x.
*pwlx Piecewise Linear x with linear extrapolation on x.

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pw_minus Pulse width of the first negative pulse.

pw_minus_avg Returns the average of the negative pulse width input
stream.
pw_minus_max Returns the maximum pulse width of the negative pulse of
input stream.
pw_minus_min Returns the minimum pulse width of the negative pulse of
input stream.
pw_minus_rms Returns the rms of the negative pulse width input stream.
pw_plus Returns the pulse width of the first postive pulse.
pw_plus_avg Returns the average of the positive pulse width input
stream.
pw_plus_max Returns the maximum pulse width of the positive pulse of
input stream.
pw_plus_min Returns the minimum pulse width of the positive pulse of
input stream.
pw_plus_rms Returns the rms of the positive pulse width input stream.

Overshoot/Undershoot
Overshoot Calculates peak overshoot given a threshold value and number of evenly spaced
points over entire time range.
Undershoot Calculates peak undershoot given a threshold value and number of evenly spaced
points over entire time range.

TR & DC Functions
crestfactor Returns the crest factor (peak/RMS) for the selected simulation quantity.
formfactor Returns the form factor (RMS/Mean Absolute Value) for the selected
quantity.
distortion Returns the total distortion for the selected simulation quantity and an
additional argument frequency, which is the frequency in Hz at which to
calculate the fundamental RMS of the simulation quantity.
fundamentalmag Returns the RMS value of the fundamental frequency for the selected
quantity, and an additional argument, Frequency, which specifies the
fundamental frequency.
delaytime Obtains the time from zero to 50% of the target point.

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risetime Obtains the time taken to go from 10% to 90% of target point.
deadtime Obtains the latest time when the qtyl is within a tolerance of zero.
settlingtime Returns the latest time at which the value of the selected simulation quantity
fell outside its tolerance band. The target value of the quantity and the +/-
bandwidth of the tolerance band are the additional arguments.

Error Functions
iae Returns the integral of the absolute deviation of the selected quantity from a target value
that is entered via the additional argument.
ise Returns the integral of the squared deviation of the selected quantity from a target value
that is entered via an additional argument.
itae Returns the time-weighted squared deviation of the selected quantity from a target value
that is entered via an additional argument.
itse Returns the time-weighted squared deviation of the selected quantity from a target value
that is entered via an additional argument. To use this function, you need to open the Add
Trace Characteristics dialog and select the Error category.

Periodic Functions
per Returns the period of a simulation quantity.
pmax Max period of the selected simulation quantity.
pmin Minimum period of the selected simulation quantity.
prms Period Root Mean Square.

AC Functions
gainmargin Returns the gain margin in dB at the phase crossover frequency of the
selected simulation quantity. It also requires a reference simulation quantity to
which the measured quantity is compared and the AC magnitude and phase
angle of the reference quantity. These are entered as the arguments
Reference Channel, Base Source Magnitude, and Base Source Angle.
gaincrossover Returns the gain crossover frequency (where the gain is 0 dB) of the selected
simulation quantity in Hz.
phasecrossover Returns the phase crossover frequency, at which the phase is -180 degrees,
in Hz for the selected simulation quantity.

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phasemargin Returns the phase angle in degrees at the gain crossover frequency of the
selected simulation quantity.
lowercutoff Returns the lower 3dB frequency of the selected simulation channel in Hz..
uppercutoff Returns the upper 3dB frequency of the selected simulation channel in Hz.
bandwidth Returns the 3dB bandwidth of the selected simulation quantity. For
bandwidth, the calculation is based on 3dB below the maximum peak.
peakgain Returns the peak value of gain of the selected simulation quantity in dB.
peakgainfreq Returns the frequency in Hz at which the peak gain of the selected simulation
quantity occurs.

Related Topics

Selecting a Function

Range Functions

Eye Measurement Range Function Parameters

Perform FFT on a Report

You can perform FFT on an existing 2D plot by using the Results>Perform FFT command. You
can perform TDR on an existing 3D plot by using the HFSS 3D Layout>Results>Perform FFT
command. This opens the Perform FFT on Traces in Reports dialog.

1. Select the report you want from the list in the dialog.
2. Select the FFT Window type from a drop down list.

Select the window type to apply. Windowing functions cause the FFT of the signal to have non-
zero values away from ω. Each window function trades off the ability to resolve comparable

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signals and frequencies versus the ability to resolve signals of different strengths and
frequencies.

3. Select the function to apply to complex data.

The new report displays and appears in the Project tree. The new report name prefixes FFT to the
name of the original report. Trace names are also prefixed with FFT.

Related Topics

FFT Window Functions

Apply FFT to Report Functions

Perform TDR on a Report

FFT Window Functions

The window type list for Perform FFT on Report includes:

Window
Preferred Use
Function
Rectangular A low dynamic range function offering good resolution for signals of comparable
strength. Poor when signals have very different amplitudes. w(n)=1

Tri A Bartlett window with the endpoints valued at zero.

Van Hann A moderate dynamic range function, designed for narrow band applications.

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Window
Preferred Use
Function

Blackman A high dynamic range function, with lower resolution, designed for wide band
applications.

where a0 =(1-α)/2; α1=1/2; α2=α/2

Hamming A moderate dynamic range function, designed for narrow band applications. It
minimizes the maximum sidelobe.

Lanczos The Lanczos window offers a windowed form of the infinite sinc filter, providing the
central lobe of a horizontally-stretched sinc, sinc(x/a) for -a £ x £ a.

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Window
Preferred Use
Function

Weber
Welch This approach applies a parabola-shaped window to the frequency domain data. It
is based on the Bartlett method but splits the signal into overlapping segments,
which are then windowed. The intent is to balance the influence of data in the center
of the function.

Related Topics

Perform FFT on a Report

FFT Window Functions

Apply FFT to Report Functions

Perform TDR on a Report

Apply FFT to Report Functions

The choices in the Perform FFT on Traces in Reports dialog include:

ang_deg Angle (phase) of a complex number, cut at +/-

180
ang_deg_val Angle (phase of a complex number in unitless
degree values. Returns simple numbers.
ang_rad Angle in radians
arg
cang_deg Cumulative angle (phase) of the first parameter
(a complex number) in degrees, along the
second parameter (typically sweep variable).
Returns a double precision value cut at +/-180.
cang_deg_val Cumulative angle (phase) of the first parameter

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of the selected simulation quantity in unitless

degree values. Returns simple numbers.
cang_rad Cumulative angle of the first parameter in
radians along a second parameter (typically a
sweep variable) Returns a double precision
value.
dB(x) 20*log10(|x|)
dB 10normalize 10*log [normalize(mag(x))]
dB 20normalize 20*log [normalize(mag(x))]
dBc
GetGroupDelay
im Imaginary part of the complex number
mag Magnitude of the complex number
normalize Divides each value within a trace by the
maximum value of the trace. ex. normalize(mag
(x))
re Real part of the complex number

Note Remember that the evaluated value of an expression is always interpreted in SI units.
However, when an angle quantity is plotted in a report, you have the option to plot values in
units other than SI. If you want to plot the polar angle of a complex simulation result, S11
say, you can choose between ang_deg(S11) and ang_rad(S11). Both of these return the
exact same angle quantity but in degree and radian units respectively.

Note that when used in expressions, some surprising outcomes might result. For example,
the expression "1+ang_deg(S11)" represents an ‘angle’ and the number "1" is treated as "1
rad". i.e., the angle SI unit is attached to any unitless number that is added/subtracted from
an angle value. If you want to treat "1" as degrees, make it explicit and use "1deg + ang_
deg(S11)" instead.

If you are interested in unitless degree values, two additional functions exist: ang_deg_val
(S11) and cang_deg_val(S11). These return simple numbers and are treated as such by
any expression. If the complex S11 lies on the positive Y axis say, ang_deg_val(S11) would
be 90 and "1 + ang_deg_val(S11)" will be 91.

Related Topics

FFT Window Functions

Perform FFT on a Report

Perform TDR on a Report

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Perform TDR on Report

You can perform TDR on an existing 2D plot by using the Results>Perform TDR on Report
command. You can perform TDR on an existing 3D plot by using the HFSS 3D
Layout>Results>Perform TDR on Report command. This opens a Perform TDR on Traces
in reports dialog.

1. Select the report you want from the list in the dialog.
2. Specify the input signal as Step or Impulse and give the rise time.
3. Select the TDR Window type from a drop down list.

Select the window type to apply. Windowing functions cause the FFT of the signal to have non-
zero values away from ω. Each window function trades off the ability to resolve comparable
signals and frequencies versus the ability to resolve signals of different strengths and
frequencies.

You may choose to specify a window width as a percentage.

If you select the Kaiser function, you can specify a Kaiser number.

The new report displays and appears in the Project tree. The new report name prefixes TDR to the
name of the original report. Trace names are also prefixed with TDR.

Related Topics

Perform FFT on a Report

Plotting in the Time Domain

Window Functions and Time Domain Plotting

HFSS and SIwave allow for time-domain plotting of S-parameters. Often, this feature is used to
calculate a step response or time-domain reflectometry (TDR) plot of the structure being
simulated. Fourier analysis provides the mathematical mechanism for transforming frequency
sweep data to a time-domain plot, but two approximations are involved. First, the transform is
between two sets of discrete data points, as opposed to continuous waveforms. Second, the
frequency sweep data cannot have infinite bandwidth, but must truncate at some upper limit. This
section discusses the implications of these approximations, and provide information for successful
time-domain plotting.

Note: Frequency sweep data consists only of positive frequencies, but the negative frequencies
are simply the complex conjugate of the positive: S (-f) = S*(f)

This is true for any frequency-domain function when the corresponding time-domain waveform is
real-valued.

Transforming Frequency- To Time-Domain

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It is easier to make generalizations about the effect of finite bandwidth if we have continuous
functions. Consequently, we will initially assume our frequency- and time- domain data is
continuous, and defer discussion of the effects of discretization until later. With a continuous-time
sweep over an infinite bandwidth, we could – at least in principle – calculate a time-domain
response by multiplying our sweep data S(f) with the spectrum of a time-domain excitation function
and evaluating the inverse Fourier integral:

In practice, however, sweep data does not extend to infinite frequencies and is restricted to a
bandwidth b. If we simply assume that the spectrum is zero-valued outside of the bandwidth, we
can interpret the data as an infinite sweep that has been multiplied by a rectangular “window”
function W(f) , with a value of 1 within the bandwidth and a value of 0 otherwise.

This process is illustrated in Fig. 1, assuming that S(f) E(f) corresponds to an ideal unit step
function in the time domain. In Fig 1.a, the frequency spectrum is truncated beyond a certain upper
limit. Since multiplication in the frequency domain corresponds to convolution in the time domain,
this has the effect of convolving the time-domain step with a sinc function – the inverse Fourier
transform of the rectangle (Fig 1.b). The final result is an edge with a finite rise time and some
oscillation.

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Figure 1. Multiplying the spectrum of a step function with a rectangular window produces a finite
edge in the time domain

If the sweep is extended to higher frequencies – making the window function wider – the
corresponding sinc pulse more closely approaches an impulse, and the time-domain edge
becomes sharper. However, the oscillation never disappears for any finite sweep. Fig. 2 shows a
step response for increasingly wider bandwidths.

Figure 2. Increasing the width of the rectangular window makes the time-domain edge sharper,
but does not eliminate the oscillation

Some distortion of the true time-domain waveform is unavoidable if the frequency sweep does not
include the entire bandwidth of the signal, but there are other window functions besides the
rectangle which distort the time waveform in ways which may be more desirable. In particular, it

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would be nice to reduce the spurious oscillation. The next sections will describe the window
functions available and discuss their effects.

Window Functions

The window functions available are plotted in Figs. 3 and 4, and their expressions are given in the
Appendix. All the window functions have a spectral width w and are zero-valued for If I > w/2. In
addition to truncating the data outside of the bandwidth, the non-rectangular windows filter the
spectrum inside. The windows differ from each other in how strongly they attenuate the spectrum
as the frequency approaches the upper limit. The Kaiser window has a parameter, which controls
how sharply it decays. For α = 0, the Kaiser window is equivalent to the rectangular window; for α =
5.4414, it is equivalent to the Hamming window; and for α = 8.885, the Blackman window.
Although the TDR Options dialog allows for windows that are narrower than the bandwidth of the
simulation, it is generally best to set the window width to 100% and take full advantage of the
available bandwidth.

Figure 3. Window functions with a width of w=2

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Figure 4. The Kaiser window for a width of w=2 and varying values

Because the spectral width w includes both positive and negative frequencies, it is twice the
bandwidth of the sweep, b, which is equal to the (positive) upper frequency limit.

Ideal Step Response

It is immaterial whether we think of the window as multiplying the frequency sweep data, with the
spectrum of the time-domain excitation having infinite bandwidth, or if we instead imagine we have
infinite sweep data and a windowed excitation spectrum. With the latter interpretation, we can
examine the effects of different windows on an ideal step without concern for what the sweep data
looks like.

We will apply different windows to an ideal step function, which is approximated in HFSS and
SIwave by choosing an edge and setting the rise time to 0. We continue to assume that we have a
continuous spectrum, and will defer a discussion of the effects of discretization until later. The effect
of the Welch window is shown in Fig. 5.

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Figure 5. The effect of Welch windows of three different widths on an ideal step

Fig. 5 shows that the Welch window has substantially decreased the signal oscillation that was
seen with the rectangular window. As Fig. 6 below demonstrates, the Blackman window results in
almost no oscillation.

Figure 6. The effect of Blackman windows of three different widths on an ideal step.

When the effects of the rectangular, Welch, and Blackman windows are plotted together, each with
the same bandwidth, it is clear that there is a tradeoff between edge rate and oscillation control
(Fig. 7). Windows with strong attenuation toward the frequency limits, such as the Blackman, result
in minimal oscillation but slower edges. Windows with weak attenuation, such as rectangular, yield
more oscillation but faster edges.

Figure 7. Step response for three different windows, each with the same bandwidth.

The effects of the Hamming, Hanning, and Bartlett windows are shown in Fig. 8 below.

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Figure 8. Hamming, Hanning, and Bartlett windows of equal bandwidth

As Fig. 8 suggests, the difference between Hamming and Hanning windows is usually quite small.
The Bartlett window is generally not recommended, as it distorts the signal in the vicinity of the
edge without providing any advantage over the Hamming and Hanning windows. The Kaiser
window gives edges that are slower and less oscillatory with increasing α.
The rectangular, Welch, Hanning, and Blackman windows are sufficient to provide a good
sampling of the edge-rate vs. oscillation tradeoff. Table 1 quantifies the characteristics of these
windows on an ideal step. With the exception of the Blackman window, it is possible to derive
reasonably simple expressions for the step response. In Table 1, b is the bandwidth or upper
frequency limit of the sweep and Si(χ) refers to the sine integral function:

Table 1. Characteristics of selected window functions for continuous time.

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Note that in the expressions for the step response, the time variable is always multiplied by the
bandwidth. Changing the bandwidth scales the time response, but does not affect the shape of the
edge.

Finite Edge Response

Finite edges can be simulated by providing a nonzero value for the rise time. For finite edges, the
same edge rate vs. oscillation tradeoff applies. However, the spectrum of a finite edge declines
with frequency at a faster rate than an ideal step. As a result, modest amounts of overshoot can be
achieved even with a rectangular window. The continuous time finite edge response of a
rectangular window is given by

The value of the edge response at t = 0 is given by

Along with the overshoot, fe (O) is a useful metric for describing how closely the finite edge
response approximates the ideal case, for which fe (O) = O. The degree to which the windowed

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edge approximates an ideal finite edge depends only on br, the dimensionless product of the
bandwidth and the rise time (Fig. 9).

Figure 9. The effect of rectangular windows on edges with rise time r. The y-intercept and
overshoot decline with increasing bandwidth b.

Table 2 below quantifies these relationships.

Table 2. Finite edge response for rectangular windows for continuous time

As Fig. 9 and Table 2 show, a fairly good finite edge can be achieved with a br of 1, but a br of
around 5 is needed to give a very close approximation to the ideal finite edge.

Impulse Response

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The principles behind the step and edge responses also apply to the calculation of impulse
responses. Rectangular windows produce the sharpest impulses, but with the greatest amount of
oscillation. Hanning and Blackman windows produce impulses that are more spread out, but with
less oscillation (Fig. 10).

Figure 10. The impulse response for selected windows with a spectral width of 1

Discrete Time Domain Plotting

The preceding discussion treated frequency spectra as continuous functions, but in practice both
the frequency and corresponding time data will be discrete. HFSS uses a discrete Fourier
transform (DFT) to approximate a continuous time transform, with the frequency step size and
upper limit determining the corresponding quantities in the time domain. The default time step and
maximum time are given by

Time resolution is controlled by the upper frequency in the sweep. The maximum time is controlled
by the frequency resolution of the sweep. While tmax is fixed by the choice of frequency step and
cannot be increased after the simulation, tstep, or the time delta, can be reduced from the default
value within the TDR Options dialog. Decreasing the time delta does not increase the bandwidth
of the frequency data, but it does more closely approximate the band-limited continuous time
spectra we have so far discussed. Although decreasing the time delta will increase the time
required to perform the DFT, the time required is rarely significant. Additionally, a smaller time delta
has a significant benefit, as demonstrated in Fig. 11 below.

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Fig. 11 shows the step response of a matched lossless transmission line for which the length is
controlled by de-embedding the driving waveport, using rectangular window functions. The plots
on the left are for a short transmission line length and those on the right correspond to a longer
length. Fig. 11a shows the time response using the default values for tstep. There is some
oscillation in the response, which is expected for a rectangular window, but the amplitude of the
oscillation is different for the two length cases. This is problematic; since the line is matched and
lossless, we expect that a length change will only affect the time delay of the response, not affect
the shape or quality of the rising edge. The variation in the response is an undesirable artifact of the
coarse time sampling. We can increase resolution by increasing the bandwidth of the sweep, but
this requires additional simulation. Fig. 11b shows the same two cases, but with the time delta
reduced using the TDR Options Dialog. The results in Fig. 11b agree with our intuition: the edge
shape is the same for both line lengths and the only difference is the location of the edge. Setting
the time delta to around 1/5 of the default value is generally sufficient, but finer time steps are
needed for precise correlation to Tables 1 and 2.

Figure 11. The time domain response of an ideal delay of two different lengths shows that a finer
time sampling yields more intuitive results.

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The frequency step size governs the length of the time range generated. Although a coarse
frequency sampling is often sufficient to generate enough time data for a TDR plot, it is important
not to set fstep too high in the frequency sweep. Discrete frequency spectra necessarily correspond
to periodic time-domain functions, so the calculated step is actually more like a repeating series of
long pulses. Fig. 12 shows the how the oscillation decays after the rising edge up to a point, but
then begins increasing in anticipation of a falling edge.

Figure 12. The oscillation caused by a rectangular window eventually starts increasing, due to the
periodicity of the waveform

Setting fstep to a small value increases the length of the pulse, and minimizes the influence of the
future falling edge. Additionally, a smaller fstep ensures that resonances and other sharp features in
the frequency data are adequately captured. As tstep and fstep approach zero, the calculated
results will converge on the continuous time descriptions given earlier.

Applications

When simulating a TDR plot, we want the fastest edge possible for the bandwidth of our
simulation, subject to our preference for oscillation control. Therefore an edge with a rise time of
zero is a good choice. Fig. 13 shows TDR plots of a transmission line with several impedance
discontinuities. The results for a rectangular and Hanning window with a 20GHz bandwidth are
compared with those for a Hanning window with a 50GHz bandwidth, which will necessarily be
more accurate due to the higher bandwidth, and can be used as a reference. In all cases, the time
step was set substantially lower than the default.

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Figure 13. TDR plots for a transmission line with several impedance discontinuities

Fig. 13 shows that the rectangular window effectively captures the sharp impedance transitions,
but also displays spurious oscillation. The 20GHz Hanning window does not suffer any oscillation,
but gives less resolution on the sharp edges. These results are consistent with the step response
characteristics of the different windows we have previously shown.

We can also use time-domain plotting to approximate how a structure would behave in a Nexxim
transient simulation. When comparing the results to a transient simulation that uses a pulse or
piecewise linear source, it makes sense to use a finite edge with a rectangular window. Fig. 14
compares HFSS and Nexxim results for the transmission line, using a rise time of 50ps and a
rectangular window with a 20GHz bandwidth (br = 1).

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As Fig. 14 shows, very good agreement between Nexxim and HFSS is possible when appropriate
settings are used for time domain plotting.

References

Haykin, S., and M. Moher. Introduction to Analog and Digital Communications, 2nd ed., Wiley,
Hoboken,N.J., 2007.

Kammler, D.W. A First Course in Fourier Analysis. Prentice-Hall, Upper Saddle River, N.J., 2000.

Lathi, B.P. Linear Systems and Signals, 2nd ed. Oxford University Press, New York, 2005.

Appendix: Window Function Formulas

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Related Topics

Perform FFT on a Report

Plotting in the Time Domain

Animated Reports

The following sections describe how you can postprocess field overlay displays to create and then
view various animated reports. Any of the field overlay displays can be animated by cycling the
overlays as a series of frames. Refer to the following topics for details on creating the field overlays:

l Overlaying Surface Currents on a 3D View

l Overlaying Far Fields on a 3D View
l Overlaying Near Fields on a 3D View

There are two modes of animation: frequency-based and phase-based. Frequency-based

animation creates a series of frames by calculating the field overlay at each of the swept
frequencies. Phase-based animation creates a series of frames by calculating the field overlay at a
fixed set of phase deviations around a selected frequency. The animation controls can also change
the simulation design point.

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Related Topics

Frequency Animation

Phase Animation

Changing the Design Point

Overlaying Surface Currents on a 3D View

Surface currents calculated as the results of a Planar EM simulation can be displayed as overlays
on the 3D viewer.

1. To ensure that the surface current information is generated, the sweep setup must specify a
Discrete frequency sweep, and the Generate Surface Current option must be enabled
(checked):

2. Run the Planar EM analysis with the sweep.

3. To display the surface current as an overlay, expand the Analysis icon in the Project
window, and select Setupm > Sweepn > Results > Display Currents (m and n identify
the particular solution setup and sweep setup, respectively). You can also select from a list of
corresponding Setup/Sweep overlay choices which are displayed when you right-click on
Field Overlays in the Project tree. The 3D viewer window appears with the current values
overlaid on the geometry:

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4. To change the display properties of the surface current overlay, expand the Results icon in
the Project window, and select Setupm:Sweepn:Currentsk > Properties (m, n, and k
identify the particular solution setup, sweep setup, and surface current setup, respectively).
The Currents dialog opens:

In the Plot Type panel, select Magnitude to enable the Magnitude panel options or select
Vector to enable the Vector panel options.

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In the Scale panel, select Auto Scale (the default), or deselect Auto Scale and enter custom
Minimum and Maximum scaling values. Select Linear or Logarithmic scaling (the default is
Linear), and toggle Display Grid on or off (the default is off).

In the Color Map panel, select the Ramp type (Rainbow is the default; other options are
HueScale, Magenta, and Temperature), set the number of Levels (the default is 10 levels),
and toggle the color key (Show Key) on and off (the default is off).

Click Apply to apply any changes to the display without closing the dialog. Click OK to apply
any changes and close the dialog. Click Cancel to close the dialog without changing any
options.

5. To select the frequency for the current overlay, expand the Results icon in the Project
window, and select Setupm:Sweepn:Currentsk > Frequency (m, n, and k identify the
particular solution setup, sweep setup, and surface current setup, respectively). The
Frequencies dialog opens:

The list displays the frequencies that were swept in the analysis. When you select a frequency
from the list, the overlay displays the surface current values calculated at that frequency. Click
OK to leave the overlay at the selected frequency, or click Cancel to close the dialog without
applying any frequency changes to the overlay.

6. To dismiss the overlay, expand the Results icon in the Project window, right-click
Setupm:Sweepn:Currentsk, and select Delete from the pulldown s (m, n, and k identify
the particular solution setup, sweep setup, and surface current setup, respectively).

Overlaying Far Fields on a 3D View

Far fields calculated as the results of a Planar EM simulation can be displayed as overlays on the
3D viewer.

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1. To ensure that the far field information can be generated, the sweep setup must specify a
Discrete frequency sweep, and the Generate Surface Current option must be enabled
(checked):

2. Run the Planar EM analysis with the sweep.

3. To display the far field as an overlay, expand the Analysis icon in the Project window, and
select Setupm > Sweepn > Results > Far Field (m and n identify the particular solution
setup and sweep setup, respectively). You can also select from a list of corresponding
Setup/Sweep overlay choices which are displayed when you right-click on Field Overlays
in the Project tree. The 3D viewer window appears with the far field values overlaid on the
geometry:

The display properties of the Far Field overlay cannot be changed. The Ramp type is Rainbow,
and the number of levels is 20.

4. To select the frequency for the far field overlay, expand the Results icon in the Project
window, and select Setupm:Sweepn:Far Fieldk > Frequency. The Frequencies dialog

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opens:

The list displays the frequencies that were swept in the analysis. When you select a frequency
from the list, the overlay displays the far field values calculated at that frequency. Click OK to
leave the overlay at the selected frequency, or click Cancel to close the dialog without applying
any frequency changes to the overlay.

5. To dismiss the overlay, expand the Results icon in the Project window, right-click
Setupm:Sweepn:Far Fieldk, and select Delete from the pulldown (m, n, and k identify the
particular solution setup, sweep setup, and far field setup, respectively).

Overlaying Near Fields on a 3D View

Near fields calculated as the results of a Planar EM simulation can be displayed as overlays on the
3D viewer.

1. To ensure that the near field information can be generated, the sweep setup must specify a
Discrete frequency sweep, and the Generate Surface Current option must be enabled
(checked):

2. Run the Planar EM analysis with the sweep.

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3. To display the near field overlay, expand the Analysis icon in the Project window, and select
Setupm > Sweepn > Results > Near Field (m and n identify the particular solution setup
and sweep setup, respectively). You can also select from a list of corresponding
Setup/Sweep overlay choices which are displayed when you right-click on Field Overlays
in the Project tree.
4. The Near Field dialog opens. The dialog has three tabs, described below. At the bottom of
each tab are three buttons:
l The Apply button is activated whenever you change a value. Click Apply to start the
display, and then to see the effect of each change. The dialog stays open.
l When no values were changed on any tab, the OK button starts the display. When one or
more values have been changed, OK applies the changes. In either case, OK closes the
dialog and adds an icon for the overlay under the Results icon in the Project window.
l The Cancel button is active as long as no changes have been applied. The Cancel button
closes the dialog without changing any values. If the overlay is already displayed, it does not
change. If Cancel is pressed before any overlay is displayed, the overlay is canceled.
5. The Near Field dialog opens with the Geometry tab displayed:

Use the options in the Geometry tab to select (or define) one or more planes for the calculation,
including the dimensions to be used, and a scale factor if desired.

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Use the Quantities tab to select the near field quantity to be calculated:

When more than one surface is involved, select a surface from the Surfaces list.

Select a frequency from the Frequencies list. The frequencies are the ones swept in the
analysis.

Select a field type from the Quantities list. E is the electronic field, H is the magnetic field, and
the Poynting Vector is the (E×H*) field, where H* is the complex conjugate of the H matrix.
Select a vector component from the Components field.

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Use the Options tab to specify the display options for the near field overlay:

In the Plot Type panel, select Magnitude to enable the Magnitude panel options or select
Vector to enable the Vector panel options.

In the Scale panel, select Auto Scale (the default), or deselect Auto Scale and enter custom
Minimum and Maximum scaling values. Select Linear or Logarithmic scaling (the default is
Linear), and toggle Display Grid on or off (the default is off).

In the Color Map panel, select the Ramp type (Rainbow is the default; other options are
HueScale, Magenta, and Temperature), set the number of Levels (the default is 10 levels),
and toggle the color key (Show Key) on and off (the default is off).

6. When you click Apply or OK in any of the Near Field dialog tabs, the 3D viewer window
appears with the near field values overlaid on the geometry:

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7. To dismiss the overlay, expand the Results icon in the Project window, right-click
Setupm:Sweepn:Near Fieldk, and select Delete from the pulldown.

Frequency Animation

1. To initiate the animation of the overlay that is currently displayed, do one of the following:
l Select Animate from the View menu.
l Expand the Results icon in the Project window, right-click the overlay entry, and select
Animate from the menu.

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2. If no animations have been defined previously, the Setup Animation dialog opens:

l Specify a name in the Name field (or accept the default, Animationn, where n is a
numeral). Optionally, enter a description.
l For a frequency animation, select F as the Swept Variable.
l By default, all the frequencies are selected (highlighted). Hold down the CTRL key to select
multiple individual frequencies, or hold down the SHIFT key to select a contiguous range of
frequencies. [These selection modes are illustrated in the dialog example above].
l Click OK.

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If one or more animations have been defined, selecting Animate from one of the menus
opens the Select Animation dialog:

The Select Animation dialog provides the following operations:

l Left-click to select one of the animations and click OK to start that animation.
l Click the New button to open the Setup Animation dialog described above, and close the
Select Animation dialog.
l Select an animation and click Delete to delete the definition.
3. The frame data is automatically calculated. If the Progress window is displayed, you can
monitor the progress of the calculation. When the frames have been calculated, the
animation begins and the Animation control panel opens:

l Use the “VCR” buttons to play the animation. From left to right, the buttons are Reverse,
FastReverse, Stop, Fast Forward, and Forward. The indicator at the top of the dialog
shows the progress of the animation. Use the Speed slider to control the speed of the
animation.

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l To export the frame data to a file, click Export. The Export File dialog opens:

Specify the directory and file name. Use the Save as type menu to select the file format
(Animated GIF or AVI). Click Save to save the data and close the dialog.

l Click Close on the Animation control panel to stop the animation and close the panel.

Phase Animation

1. To prepare for phase animation, you must select the base frequency.
l For surface current and far field overlays, expand the Results icon in the Project window,
right-click on the overlay, and select Frequency from the menu. The Frequencies dialog

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opens:

The list displays the frequencies that were swept in the analysis. Select a frequency from the
list; the overlay displays the field values calculated at that frequency. Click OK to leave the
overlay at the selected frequency.

l For near field overlays, expand the Results icon in the Project window, right-click on the
overlay, and select Properties from the menu. Use the Quantities tab to select a reference
frequency for the phase animation:

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Click OK to apply the frequency and close the dialog.

2. To initiate the animation of the overlay that is currently displayed, do one of the following:
l Select Animate from the View menu.
l Expand the Results icon in the Project window, right-click the overlay entry, and select
Animate from the menu.
3. If no animations have been defined previously, the Setup Animation dialog opens:

l Specify a name in the Name field (or accept the default, Animationn, where n is a
numeral). Optionally, enter a description.
l For a frequency animation, select Phase as the Swept Variable.
l Select the Start and Stop phases in degrees.
l Click OK.

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If one or more animations have been defined, selecting Animate from one of the menus
opens the Select Animation dialog:

The Select Animation dialog provides the following operations:

l Left-click to select one of the animations and click OK to start that animation.
l Click the New button to open the Setup Animation dialog described above, and close the
Select Animation dialog.
l Select an animation and click Delete to delete the definition.
4. The frame data is calculated automatically. If the Progress window is displayed, you can
monitor the progress of the calculation. When the frames have been calculated, the
animation begins and the Animation control panel opens:

l Use the “VCR” buttons to play the animation. From left to right, the buttons are Reverse,
FastReverse, Stop, Fast Forward, and Forward. The indicator at the top of the dialog
shows the progress of the animation. Use the Speed slider to control the speed of the
animation.

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l To export the frame data to a file, click Export. The Export File dialog opens:

Specify the directory and file name. Use the Save as type menu to select the file format
(Animated GIF or AVI). Click Save to save the data and close the dialog.

l Click Close on the Animation control panel to stop the animation and close the panel.

Changing the Design Point

Calculating frames for an animation is equivalent to re-simulating the planar design. You can
specify design point parameters for the animation calculations that are different from the ones used
in the original simulation. On the Animation Setup dialog, select the Design Point tab and
deselect the Use defaults option. The following fields are displayed:

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Make any desired changes, and then click OK to apply the changes and close the dialog. Clicking
Cancel closes the dialog without making any changes.

Specifying Output Variables

You can define output variables to use calculated expressions of results as adaptive convergence
goals and for reports. You can use output variables in the Expression Cache tab of the Solution
Setup dialog and select them as Categories in the Reports dialog, as well as the Output
Variables window. You can access the Output Variables window in several ways.

l Click HFSS or HFSS-IE>Results>Output Variables.

l In the Project tree, right-click on Results and select Output Variables from the short-cut
menu.
l In the Solution Setup dialog, select the Expression Cache tab, click the Add... button to
display the Add to expression cache dialog, and click the Output Variables button.
l Click the Output Variables button the Reports dialog.

The Output Variables window contains four sections:

l Output Variables section, where you can specify the name and expression for a new
output variable. Existing variables appear in the list at the top of the window. Clicking the

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triangle in the Name bar inverts the sort order.

At top of the Output Variables window, you can use a check box to Validate output variable
for selected context.

l Context section, where you specify the Report type, the Solution, and for appropriate
report types, the Domain. Changing the Report type to Near Fields, or Far Fields causes a
Geometry menu to appear. Selecting Emission tests require a digital signal. All selections
affect the Functions listed.

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l Expressionsection, where you can insert quantities into the Expression area of the
Output Variables section.

l Function section, where you can insert completed expressions into the Expression area of
the Output Variables section.

Related Topics

Adding a New Output Variable

Building an Output Expression Using Existing Quantities

Viewing the Output Variable Convergence

Getting Started Guides: HFSS Transient: A Ball Grid Array

Adding a New Output Variable

The Output Varibles window can be accessed in several ways. To add an output variable:

l Click HFSS or HFSS-IE>Results>Output Variables.

l In the Project tree, right-click on Results and select Output Variables from the short-cut
menu.
l In the Solution Setup dialog, select the Expression Cache tab, click the Add... button to
display the Add to expression cache dialog, and click the Output Variables button.
l Click the Output Variables button the Reports dialog.

Existing variables appear in the list at the top of the window.

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1. In the Output Variables section, enter a name for the new variable in the Name box.
2. To enter an expression, do one or both of the following:
a. Type part or all of the expression directly in the Expression area. Valid functions appear
in blue. Invalid functions appear in red, which usually means that you need to provide
quantities for a function.
b. Insert part or all of the expression using the options in the Calculation and Function
sections.
3. Click Add to add the new variable to the list.
4. Repeat to add additional variables.
5. When you are finished adding output variables, click Done to close the Output Variables
window.

Related Topics

Deleting Output Variables

Building an Output Variable Expression Using Existing Quantities

Viewing the Output Variable Convergence

Building an Output Variable Expression Using Existing Quantities

When you are entering an expression for a new output variable, you can insert part or all of the
expression using the options in the Calculation and Function sections of the Output Variables
window.

The Output Variables window can be accessed in several ways. To open the window:

l Click HFSS or HFSS-IE>Results>Output Variables.

l In the Project tree, right-click on Results and select Output Variables from the short-cut
menu.
l In the Solution Setup dialog, select the Expression Cache tab, click the Add... button to
display the Add to expression cache dialog, and click the Output Variables button.
l Click the Output Variables button the Reports dialog.

The Output Variables window appears. Existing variables appear in the list at the top of the
window.

To add an input variable by inserting part or all of the expression:

1. In the Output Variables section, enter a name for the new variable in the Name box.
2. Specify the Context
a. From the Report Type pull-down list, select the type of report from which you want to
select the quantity. The Report types listed can vary with the design, but can include
Emission Test, Fields, Far Fields, Modal Solution Data, or Terminal Solution Data.

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b. From the Solution pull-down list, select the solution from which you want to select the
quantity. In the case of Transient, you may also select Spectral or Transient.
c. In some cases the Report Type selection enables additional selections. For example, a
Fields Category calls for for Geometry and possibly Points. A Transient project may offer
selections of Domain as Sweep or Time. A Emission Test Report enables a Digital
Signal button.
3. Specify Quantities and optionally apply functions.
d. From the Category list, select the type of quantity you want to enter. The Report type
selections cause the list to provide applicable categories.
e. From the Quantity list, select the quantity, variable, or the geometry, as applicable
f. From the Function list, select a ready-made function to apply to the select quantity.
g. Click Insert Into Expression.

The selected quantity is entered into the Expression area of the Output Variables
section.

4. To insert a function that does not depend on a Quantity selection into the Expression area.

a. In the Function section, select a ready-made function from the pull-down list.
b. Click Insert Function into Expression.

The function appears in the Expression area of the Output Variables section.

5. When you are finished defining the variable in the Expression area, click Add to add the
new variable to the list.

Legal expressions display in blue. Incomplete expressions, that require additional input, display
in red.

6. Repeat to add additional variables.

7. Click Done to close the Output Variables window.

Note Remember that the evaluated value of an expression is always interpreted in SI

units. However, when an angle quantity is plotted in a report, you have the option to
plot values in units other than SI. If you want to plot the polar angle of a complex
simulation result, S11 say, you can choose between ang_deg(S11) and ang_rad
(S11). Both of these return the exact same angle quantity but in degree and radian
units respectively.

Note that when used in expressions, some surprising outcomes might result. For
example, the expression "1+ang_deg(S11)" represents an ‘angle’ and the number

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"1" is treated as "1 rad". i.e., the angle SI unit is attached to any unitless number that
is added/subtracted from an angle value. If you want to treat "1" as degrees, make it
explicit and use "1deg + ang_deg(S11)" instead.

If you are interested in unitless degree values, two additional functions exist: ang_
deg_val(S11) and cang_deg_val(S11). These return simple numbers and are treated
as such by any expression. If the complex S11 lies on the positive Y axis say, ang_
deg_val(S11) would be 90 and "1 + ang_deg_val(S11)" will be 91.

Related Topics

Adding a New Output Variable

Building an Expression Using Existing Quantities

Function List for Output Variables

Function List for Output Variables

The Output Variables dialog includes a second function list containing functions to enter directly
into the Expression field. These functions can also be applied to previously specified Quantities and
Functions.

Some of these functions can operate along an entire curve. These are: deriv, min, max, integ, avg,
rms, pk2pk, cang_deg and cang_rad. These functions have syntax as follows:

l deriv(quantity) implicitly implies derivative over the primary sweep

l deriv(quantity, SweepVariable) explicitly means derivative over the sweep variable specified
in the second argument (such as "Freq").

You can select from the functions in the Output Variables dialog Function list or type them
directly into the Expression field, if necessary: The functions in the Output Variables dialog list and
the ones in the Function list on the Report dialog box are defined in Table

Related Topics

Adding Characteristics to a Trace

Set Range Function

Deleting Output Variables

To delete output variables:

1. Remove all references to the output variable in the project.

2. Save the project to erase the command history.
3. Click HFSS>Results>Output Variables or, in the Project Tree, right-click on Results and
select Output Variables from the short-cut menu.

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This opens the Output Variables dialog.

4. Select the variable and click the Delete button.

5. Click OK to close the dialog.

Related Topics

Adding a New Output Variable

Derivative Tuning for Reports

The Derivative Tuning feature available in the results menu is based on the derivatives that you can
request for selected variables in the solution setup. It is limited to quantities like S-parameters and
Far Fields where far-field tuning supports the following:

l Incident Wave
l Linked Field
l Voltage Source
l Current Source
l Magnetic Bias : Note: Sensitivity analysis of a design variable associated with the magnetic
bias region assumes that the magnetic bias field does not change. In some cases this
assumption may not be appropriate and requires user discretion to ensure its applicability
especially for non-uniform ferrite models.

Tuning far field quantities determines the derivatives of the response of electromagnetic devices
with respect to variations in geometric or material properties. Designs can include port excitations
or non-port excitations (that is, incident waves, linked field, voltage source and current source.

Frequencies, and local quantities cannot be tuned. If you have defined variables in the solution
setup, the Context area of the Reporter displays the Derivative field, from which you can select the
variable(s) for a tunable report.

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A common way to use this feature is to produce, for an output quantity of interest, two curves in one
plot. One curve is produced with the Report dialog selection for the Context Derivative as <none>.
The other has the All or specific variable selection.

When you select All or a variable, notice that the Context field of the Report dialog shows the
names of various parameters prefixed with Tune. Some of the Quantities associated with the
category also show a Tune prefix. This labeling makes it easier to distinguish the Tuned traces from
the reference traces.

In the case of a Far Fields plot, the Tune prefix appears in only in the Quantity field.

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This gives you a plot with initially two identical curves, one on top of the other. The curve info table
shows the trace names. This example shows the curve info for a plot with a normal S-parameter
trace with a TuneS trace that can be tuned using the value of the $radius variable.

This example shows the curve info for a plot with a normal rETotal trace with a Tune_rETotal trace
that can be tuned using the value of the $radius variable.

You can then right-click on Results in the Project tree and select Tune Reports. The Report
Tuning window appears. You can use the slider to tune the Tune curve interactively while the
reference curve stays to provide a reference. This way you can see interactively how small
changes in variables affect the result. You can then apply those offsets to the original variable
values and re-solve the design.

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The overall procedure for Report Tuning follows.

1. Generate a solution with one or more variables for which you select Use on the Derivatives
tab of the solution setup.
2. Use the Reporter to create one curve with Derivative selection in the Context panel of the
report dialog set to None.
3. Then create another curve, but in the Context pane. select for Derivatives, All or the variable
of interest. Select to build your new trace from the Categories and Tune Quantities listed.

This gives you two identical curves, one top of the other. Notice that you are not limited in the
number of traces that you define. You may choose to limit the number of traces for more ease in
observing the results of tuning.

4. Click the HFSS>Results>Tune Reports or right-click on Results in the Project tree and
click Tune Reports from the short cut menu. The menu item is disabled if no variables have
been selected in the Derivatives tab of the solution setup.

This displays a Report Tuning dialog which lists the variables available for tuning. The
example above shows a Report Tuning dialog for a design with only one variable but it can
show more.

5. You can use the slider to adjust the value of each available Tune variable. When you move a
slider, the Apply offsets to nominal design button and the Save all offsets buttons are
enabled. The Report shows the change to all Tune traces, relative to any reference traces
you define.

The Tune dialog displays the change to the variable selected. For example, if the variable is
$length with a value of 1mm, and the slider shows 0.1mm, then the effective value of $length for
the purpose of derivatives is 1.1mm. If you exit the dialog by applying the offset or offsets (click

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Apply offsets to nominal design), $length is assigned a value of 1.1mm. You can then re-
solve, and get results based on the derivative's prediction.

6. The Close button lets you close the dialog.

Related Topics

Produce Derivatives for Selected Variables

Examples: Tune a Coax Fed Patch Antenna

Port Field Display

The Port Field Display feature lets you see a visualization of the electric field patterns belonging to
the modes of the 2D port solution. To have an available solution," Save Fields" must be checked for
the Solution setup Advanced tab, or for a fast or discrete sweep. If you select a port mode listed in
the Project tree, the Modeler window displays the a visualization of the selected mode for the
port field.

If an HFSS design has ports, they are listed Port Field Display icon in the Project tree. The modes
for each port appear under the port name.

Select a port name to display a Properties dialog with the properties for that port, or for individual
Modes listed under that port. These are used as subsequent plot defaults for the port field display.
Your control of port field displays is purely through the docked Property window. You can edit the

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Scale Factor field, which governs the sizes of the arrows. If multiple solutions or frequencies are
available, you can select from a dropdown menu.

If no 2D solutions exist for the selected port or mode, the Status line of the Properties dialog will
say "No solutions available."

Depending on the view you begin with, and the location and size of the mode in the design, you
may want to right click on the selected mode to display a Zoom to Region command.

The difference between the Port Field Display and the Field Overlay is that the Port Field Display
gives the pure 2D port solution. A Field Overlay provides a the 3D field solution on the port, which is
the sum of the excitation in the port and the reflections by the 3D structure. The Port Field display
lets you examine the field patterns with which the 3D structure is excited.

Related Topics

Plotting Field Overlays

Plotting Field Overlays

Field overlays are representations of basic or derived field quantities on surfaces or objects for the
current design variation. The Electronics Desktop allows for the display of existing field overlays in
the Layout Editor view. You can also create plots in Layout view for specified layers and/or nets.

Set the design variation via the Set Design Variation dialog. This dialog box is accessible from
the Solution Data window via by clicking the ellipsis button on the right of the Design Variation
field, and via the [solver]>Results>Apply Solved Variation command.

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You can overlay existing 3D Polar Plots of near or far fields on the model window by using the
HFSS 3D Layout, Q3D Extractor, HFSS or HFSS-IE>Fields>Plot Fields>[field] command, or
by right-clicking on Field Overlays in the Project tree and selecting Plot Fields>[Field]. You can
also create animations of field plots.

You can also overlay 2D Radiation plots and tables of selected antenna parameters.

Radiation plots that are available for overlay can be viewed by clicking

Graphics System requirements for Optimal Performance

In order to obtain optimal performance improvements on fields overlay plot, a workstation-class

3D-capable graphics card with at least 512 MB of memory that supports OpenGL version 2.0 or
higher is needed.

On Windows, the default OpenGL version support is v1.1, so you might need to update graphics
driver to the latest version;

If you access the application through Windows Remote Desktop which only supports Generic GDI
(functionally equivalent to OpenGL v1.0), the performance improvement will also not be available;

To view OpenGL version/extensions supported by your card, the OpenGL Extension Viewer tool is
accessible via softpedia.com.

To Plot Fields

To plot a basic field quantity:

1. Select a point, line, surface, cutplane, or object to create the plot on or within.
2. Click [solver]>Fields>Plot Fields., or right-click on Field Overlay icon in the Project tree
and select Plot Fields, or right click in the modeler window, and select Plot Fields from the
context menu.
3. On the Plot Fields menu, click the field quantity you want to plot.

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The available selections depend on the solved solution. For definitions of the usual quantities,
see the list under Quantity command.

If you select a scalar field quantity, a scalar surface or volume plot will be created. If you select a
vector field quantity, a vector surface or volume plot will be created. If you select a vector
quantity, you will be able to specify a Streamline plot. If the quantity you want to plot is not listed,
see Named Expression Library.

For projects with Temperature dependent materials, the HFSS 3D Layout, HFSS or HFSS-
IE>Fields>Plot Fields>Other... menus selections include Temperature. For Transient
projects, the menu selections show "_t" to show that they represent time dependent quantities,
such as E_t, H_t, J_t, and so forth.

After you select the field quantity to plot, the Create Field Plot dialog box appears.

The Specify Name field shows a name based on the field quantity you selected, and the
Quantity list shows the field quantity selected.

4. To specify a name for the plot other than the default, select SpecifyName, and then type a
new name in the Name text box.
5. Select the solution to plot from the Solution pull-down list.
6. To specify a folder other than the default in which to store the plot, select Specify Folder,
and then click a folder in the Plot Folder pull-down list, or type the name you wish to use.
Plot folders are listed under Field Overlays in the project tree. Plot folders let you group
plots with the same quantity together. All field plots under the same folder share the same
color key.
7. Under Intrinsic Variables, select the frequency and phase angle at which the field quantity
is evaluated.
8. If desired, you can select a different field quantity to plot from the Quantity list.
9. Select the volume (region) in which the field will be plotted from the In Volume list.

This selection enables you to limit plots to the intersection of a volume with the selected object or
objects. You can select and deselect any items in the In Volume list. You can mix model objects
with non-model boxes. For example you might want to see a plot from part of two model objects
by restricting the region to a non-model box overlapping those parts.

Note Multiple selection should be used when there is a discontinuous field on a surface. If not,
the field on both sides of the surface is plotted and each interferes with the other.

10. If you selected a vector quantity, you can use the check box to select Streamline plot.
Streamlines are often used to indicate magnetic flux lines, etc. in plots.

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Notes for creating Streamline plots:

a. Before creating the plot, select both starting and ending edges (in 2D) or surfaces (in
3D).
b. In the Creating Field Plot menu, select "In Volume: Region" which is the volume in which
the streamlines will appear and is outside of the sources.
c. After the plot is created, on the Attributes/Plot tab you can reduce "Seeds density" to
show more streamlines. If no streamlines appear, reduce this by a factor of 10 (or 100)
because the default seeding was too large.

See Setting Field Plot Attributes for adjusting the streamline display and Setting Fields Reporter
Options for setting Streamline defaults.

You can export a Streamline plot in .fldplt format by right-clicking on the plot in the Project tree,
and selecting Export Plot...

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This opens a dialog for you to specify a plot name and location.

11. Click Done.

The field quantity is plotted on the surfaces or within the objects you selected. The plot uses the
attributes specified in the Plot Attributes dialog box.

The new plot appears in the view window. It is listed in the specified plot folder in the project
tree. If you have created a field plot on a simulation in progress, the field plot is updated after the

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last adaptive solution. Each category of plots (such as Temperature) are listed separately in the
Project Tree.

If you want to update the field overlay before then, to view progress in the solution, select the
Field icon in the Project tree that contains the field plot of interest, right-click to display the short
cut menu, and select Update Plots.

To turn off the display of the plot, right click on the plot and select Plot Visibility from the short-
cut menu. Unchecking Plot Visibility turns off the plot display.

Related Topics

Plotting Derived Field Quantities

Overlaying 3D Polar Plots of Near or Far Fields on Models

Overlaying 2D Radiation Field Plots on Models

Creating Animations

Select Objects

Select Faces

Creating an Object List

Selecting the Face or Object Behind

Using the Fields Calculator

Port Field Display

Setting a Plot's Visibility

Example Projects

Working with Scalar Field Plot Markers

Technical Notes: Field Overlay Plots

Technical Notes: Field Quantities

Technical Notes: Specifying the Phase Angle

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Overlaying 3D Polar Plots of Near or Far Fields on Models

You can overlay existing 3D Polar Plots of near or far fields on the 3D model window by using the
[solver]>Fields>Plot Fields>Radiation Field command, or by right-clicking on Field Overlays in
the Project tree and selecting Field Overlays>Radiation Field. You can edit the visibility,
transparency and scale of the polar plot by using a dialog.

1. Create one or more 3D Polar Plots of near or far fields for your model.

This enables the Radiation Field... command on the Plot Fields submenu.

2. Click the [solver]>Fields>Plot Fields>[field] command, or by right-clicking on Field

Overlays in the Project tree and selecting Plot Fields>Radiation Field...

This displays a dialog listing any existing 3D polar plots of near or far fields.

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3. Check the Visible box and click Apply to cause that plot to appear in the model window.

You can also edit the Transparency and Scale in the dialog. Other properties of the 3D plot are
controlled in its properties window

If you have Saved Antenna Parameters for Overlay, you also use this dialog to control whether to
display a table of antenna parameters. See Antenna Parameter: Save for Overlay.

Related Topics

Plotting Field Overlays

Overlaying 2D Radiation Field Plots on Models

Creating 3D Polar Plots

Example Projects: Helical Antenna

Example Projects: Pyramidal Horn

Overlaying 2D Radiation Field Plots on Models

There are two cases of eligible radiation pattern plots for overlay:

1. Primary sweep on "Theta" and with one value for "Phi" in "Families" of curves.
2. Primary sweep on "Phi" and with one value for "Theta" in "Families" of curves and "Theta" is
either 90deg or -90deg.

Note that the plot can contain multiple traces within this plane - for example traces for multiple
frequencies of a discrete sweep. The Radiation Pattern plot will overlay on the 3D view, in the
appropriate rotated plane of the far field CS, and include all traces and the axes/grid. There is no
need to show the title or legend.

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Radiation Pattern plots are added to the overlay dialog.

There are several cases mentioned above where an overlay will not be valid for display. This
includes any radiation plot that has multiple planes. The Overlay radiation field dialog always lists
all possibly overlays for selection, whether they are valid or not. However, if you check the Visibility
column an overlay that is not valid, and then click Apply, the text field in the dialog gives a warning
describing why the overlay is not valid, and then unchecks that overlay. Similarly, if a valid overlay is
already being shown, and then you edit the plot settings or antenna parameters such that the
overlay becomes invalid, the visibility column becomes unchecked and the overlay stops
displaying.

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You can then use Modify Report to change the plot based on the warning to make it valid for
display.

When the plot is valid, Apply then shows the plot in the modeler window..

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If you have Saved Antenna Parameters for Overlay, you also use this dialog to control whether to
display a table of antenna parameters. See Antenna Parameter: Save for Overlay.

Also see Creating 2D Radiation Field Plot Overlay Animations

Overlay Visibility
This section describes how to plot radiation fields like Gain or Directivity right there on the geometry
in the HFSS 3D Modeler window. Just right-click the plots under Results in the project tree and
select the Overlay Visibility option from the short-cut menu to display the plots on the geometry.

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To illustrate this feature, consider a basic dipole antenna design shown in the figure below. The
antenna is excited with a lumped port between the two nodes of the dipole.

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The antenna is simulated at 1 GHz. The generated Cut plane Gain and 3D far field plots can be
displayed in their individual report windows. These are shown in the figures below.

Note: You can also change the background color of these plot windows.

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You can overlay these far field radiation patterns on the dipole antenna in the 3D modeler window
by using a simple short-cut command. This overlay visibility feature can be very useful if you want to
understand the orientation of the far field pattern relative to the structure of the antenna. You can
directly apply the cut plane plots or the 3d polar plots right there on the antenna design as follows:

l Right-click the plot under Results in the project tree and select the option Overlay Visibility
as shown below.

This command overlays the plot on the antenna design.

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The same one-step process also overlays a 2D radiation pattern as shown below.

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Plotting Derived Field Quantities

Derived field quantities are field quantity representations that have been deduced from the original
field solution using the Fields Calculator.

1. Select a point, line, surface, or object to create the plot on or within.

2. On the HFSS or HFSS-IE menu, or right-click on the Field Overlays icon in the Project

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tree, and point to Fields>NamedExpression.

3. Select the derived quantity you want to plot, and then click OK.

The Create Field Plot dialog box appears.

4. To specify a name for the plot other than the default, select SpecifyName, and then type a
new name in the Name text box.
5. Select the solution to plot from the Solution pull-down list.
6. To specify a folder other than the default in which to store the plot, select Specify Folder,
and then click a folder in the Plot Folder pull-down list, or type the name you wish to use.
Plot folders are listed under Field Overlays in the project tree.
7. Under Intrinsic Variables, select the frequency and phase angle at which the field quantity
is evaluated.
8. Select the derived field quantity to plot from the Quantity list.
9. Select the volume, or region, in which the field will be plotted from the In Volume list.

This selection enables you to limit plots to the intersection of a volume and the selected object.

10. Click Done.

The derived field quantity you created in the Fields Calculator is plotted on the surfaces or
objects you selected. The new plot is listed in the project tree under Field Overlays.

Related Topics

Using the Fields Calculator

Technical Notes: Field Quantities

Technical Notes: Specifying the Phase Angle

Add Trace Characteristics

Creating 2D Reports from Named Expressions

You can create a 2D report from named expressions that evaluate as a single scalar value or that
evaluate along polylines.

To create a report from a named expression evaluating as a single scalar value:

1. Click Q3D Extractor or 2D Extractor, and then click Results>Create Report.

The Create Report dialog box appears.

2. In the Target Design pull-down list, click the design containing the solution data you want to
plot.
3. Select Fields from the Report Type pull-down list.

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4. In the Display Type pull-down list, select the type of report you want to create.
5. Click OK.

The Traces dialog box appears.

6. In the Solution pull-down list, click the solution containing the data you want to plot.
7. Add one or more traces to include in the report.

Note If you select a point for the Geometry and a Category that is a named expression
based on the point (or other scalar, non-3D value), then the Quantity list only lists
expressions that returns a single scalar value. If you have added named expressions
that take the magnitude of the ScalarX(), ScalarY(), or ScalarZ() of a vector point
value, then you can create output variables for those expressions only in this case.

8. Click Done.

The report appears in the view window and is listed in the project tree. Once you have created a
report, additional options become available on the Results submenu.

To create a report from a named expression evaluating along a polyline:

1. Click Q3D Extractor or 2D Extractor, and then click Results>Create Report.

The Create Report dialog box appears.

2. In the Target Design pull-down list, click the design containing the solution data you want to
plot.
3. Select Fields from the Report Type pull-down list.
4. In the Display Type pull-down list, select the type of report you want to create.
5. Click OK.

The Traces dialog box appears.

6. In the Solution pull-down list, click the solution containing the data you want to plot.
7. Select the geometry you want to plot from the Geometry pull-down list.
8. Add one or more traces to include in the report.

Note If you select a polyline for the Geometry and a Category that is a named expression
based on the line, then the Quantity list only lists corresponding expressions (i.e.,
will not list scalar values when a line is selected as the geometry).

9. Click Done.

The report appears in the view window and is listed in the project tree. The default name is
based on the Report Category you selected, (for example, S Parameter Plot n or rE Plot n).
You can edit the plot names in the project tree and the plot header text in the report

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synchronizes. Once you have created a report, additional options become available on the
Results submenu.

Creating Scalar Field Plots

A scalar plot uses shaded colors or contoured lines to illustrate the magnitude of field quantities on
surfaces or volumes.

1. Do one of the following:

a. To create a scalar surface plot, select the faces on which you want to plot the fields.
b. To create a scalar volume plot, select the objects within which you want to plot the fields.
2. Click HFSS or HFSS-IE>Fields>Plot Fields.
3. On the Plot Fields menu, click the scalar field quantity you want to plot.

The Create Field Plot dialog box appears.

4. Follow the procedure for plotting field overlays.

The plot uses the attributes specified in the Plot Attributes dialog box.

The new plot will be listed in the specified plot folder in the project tree.

Related Topics

Modifying Field Plot Attributes

Modifying SAR Settings

HFSS uses default specific absorption rate (SAR) settings when creating a local SAR or average
SAR field overlay plot. It does use mass density for each material if defined for each material.
Otherwise (that is, if the mass density for that library material is 0), the density in the Specific
Absorbtion Rate Setting dialog will be used. To change the default settings:

1. Click HFSS>Fields>SAR Setting.

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The Specific Absorption Rate Setting dialog box appears.

2. To select the Average SAR Method, select the radio buttons for IEEE Standard P 1528.4 or
Gridless, which is the legacy Average SAR algorithm. Selecting Gridless disables the Voxel
Size and Tissue Object list fields.
3. In the Material Density text box, enter the mass density of the dielectric material in g/cm3.
This provides a default mass density if not specified in the material definition.
4. In the Mass of Tissue text box, enter the mass of the material in grams that surrounds each
mesh point. The standard values are 1 and 10, corresponding to US or European standards;
however, for research purposes you can enter values outside this range.
5. In the Voxel Size field, specify a size. The units are millimeters.

The voxelization process takes all elements as rectilinear. So it is better to solve projects with
curvilinear off. See Specifying Initial Mesh Settings.

Since the number of voxels depends on the size of the model and the size of the voxel you can
expect that computational complexity increases in O(n3) or more as the model size increases
and the voxel size decreases. Below are a few suggestion:

l For large models you can set up an average SAR plot before you solve so that the data
from the first phase could be generated at solve time. With the tissue setting you can also
perform SAR calculation over partial model.
l Set the solver order to 1 for best performance.
l The algorithm takes full advantage of multi-cores. Set the number of processors to use in
the desktop performance tab in General Options. If your machine is hyper threaded, you
should only use half the number of cores.
6. If the Tissue Object List is empty, all conductors are treated as tissues. It is recommended
that you create an object list explicitly to be used as tissue objects. This is to ensure that you

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have considered which objects should be included in the SAR calculation. You can create
object lists for the menu by selecting objects and clicking, Modeler>List>Create>Object
List. (See Creating an Object List.) After saving the Project, you can then select from
available object lists. When you select a list, all objects in the list are treated as tissues.
7. Click OK.

Related Topics

Viewing and Modifying Material Attributes

Technical Notes: Calculating the SAR

Working with Scalar Field Plot Markers

The field overlay plot marker feature enables you to create a marker at selected points in the scalar
field overlay plot geometry, and to obtain the field value at that point. The fields Marker sub-menu
enables you to:

l Add Marker
l Delete Marker
l Export Marker Table
l Clear All markers
l Edit Marker

Adding a Field Plot Marker

To add one or more field plot markers to a scalar field:

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1. On the main menu click HFSS or HFSS-IE and then select

Fields>Fields>Marker>AddMarker. Alternatively you can right-click anywhere in the
modeler window, or on the Field Overlays folder icon in the Project Manager, and select
Fields>Marker>AddMarker.

The Measure Data dialog box opens and a round dot appears at the tip of the cursor.

2. Drag the dot over the spot on the field overlay plot where you want to add a marker. The
Measure Data dialog shows detailed information for the spot currently under the dot.

3. Click the desired point in the field overlay plot to add the marker at that location. Alternatively
you can select the position of the marker by entering the values manually in the edit fields at
the bottom of the window as shown below.

A table showing the marker coordinates and associated field value is also created and added to
the modeler window.

4. Repeat as desired to add additional markers.

5. Press the Esc key when finished adding markers.

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Deleting a Field Plot Marker

To delete a field plot marker:

1. Click on the marker you want to delete to select it. The row corresponding to the selected
marker will be highlighted in the marker table.

Press and hold the Ctrl key and click to select multiple markers.

2. On the main menu click HFSS or HFSS-IE and then select

Fields>Fields>Marker>Delete Marker to delete the selected marker(s).

- Alternatively you can right-click anywhere in the modeler window, or on the Field Overlays
folder icon in the Project Manager, and select Fields>Marker>Delete Marker.

- You can also simply press the Delete key to delete the selected marker(s).

Exporting a Field Plot Marker Table

You can export a field plot marker table to either a comma- or tab-delimited file as follows:

1. On the main menu click HFSS or HFSS-IE and then select

Fields>Fields>Marker>Export Marker Table.

Alternatively you can right-click anywhere in the modeler window, or on the Field Overlays
folder icon in the Project Manager, and select Fields>Marker>Export Marker Table.

2. In the Export As dialog box, choose the export format, either .csv or .tab, and save the file
in the desired location.

The exported file can then be imported into another application such as a spreadsheet.

Clearing All Field Plot Markers

To clear all field plot markers in the active modeler window do one of the following:

l On the main menu click HFSS or HFSS-IE and then select

Fields>Fields>Marker>Delete All.
l Alternatively you can right-click anywhere in the modeler window, or on the Field Overlays
folder icon in the Project Manager, and select Fields>Marker>Delete All.

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Deleting all the markers also removes the marker table.

Editing Field Plot Markers

To edit field plot markers:

1. On the main menu click HFSS or HFSS-IE and then select Fields>Fields>Marker>Edit
Marker.

Alternatively you can right-click anywhere in the modeler window, or on the Field Overlays
folder icon in the Project Manager, and select Fields>Marker>Edit Marker.

2. Click on the marker you wish to edit. The row corresponding to the selected marker is
highlighted in the marker table. The properties of the marker are displayed in the Properties
window.
3. You can change Position of the selected marker by editing its coordinate values. The
marker table changes to reflect the new value. You can also click the Color value bar to
select a new color for the marker.
4. Optionally, press the Delete key to delete the marker and its corresponding entry in the
marker table.
5. When finished editing markers, press Esc to exit the marker editing function.

Creating Vector Field Plots

A vector plot uses arrows to illustrate the magnitudes of the x-, y-, and z-components of field
quantities. Vector plots can be created on surfaces or volumes.

1. Do one of the following:

a. To create a vector surface plot, select the faces on which you want to plot the fields.
b. To create a vector volume plot, select the objects within which you want to plot the fields.
2. Click HFSS or HFSS-IE>Fields>Plot Fields.
3. On the Plot Fields menu, click the vector field quantity you want to plot.
4. Follow the procedure for plotting field overlays.

If you select a vector quantity, you can also check Streamline for the plot.

Notes for creating Streamline plots:

1. Before creating the plot, select both starting and ending edges (in 2D) or surfaces (in 3D).
2. In the Creating Field Plot menu, select "In Volume: Region" which is the volume in which the
streamlines will appear and is outside of the sources.
3. After the plot is created, on the Attributes/Plot tab reduce "Seeds density" to show more
streamlines. If no streamlines appear, reduce this by a factor of 10 (or 100) because the
default seeding was too large.

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Related Topics

Modifying Field Plot Attributes

Plotting Field Overlays

Modifying Field Plots

1. Click HFSS or HFSS-IE>Fields>Modify Plots , or in the Project tree, select the Field
Overlays icon, right-click, and select Modify Plots or use the "m" hotkey.

The Select Field Plot(s) dialog box appears.

Optionally, you can right-click on an existing plot listed under the Field Overlays in the Project
tree, bypass the Select Field Plot dialog and go to step 3

2. Select the plot you want to modify in the Select column, and then click OK.

The Modify Field Plot dialog opens.

l Optionally, click the Specify Name check box to enable the name field.
l Optionally, click the Specify Folder field enable the Plot Folder drop down.
l Optionally, select a different Solution from the dropdown menu.
l Optionally, select a different field type, if available.
3. Under Intrinsic Variables, specify the frequency and phase at which the field quantity will
be evaluated.
4. Optionally, select a different field quantity to plot from the Quantity list.
l To choose a calculated expression, select Calculator from the Category pull-down list. If
you choose Calculator, click the Fields Calculator button to display the calculator.
l To choose a predefined field quantity, select Standard from the Category pull-down list.
Select from the Quantity list.
5. Select the volume, or region, in which the field will be plotted from the In Volume list.

This selection enables you to limit plots to the intersection of a volume and the selected object.

6. Click Apply to make the changes and leave the dialog open, or click Done to apply the
changes and close the dialog.

The field quantity is plotted on the surfaces or within the objects you selected. The modified plot
is listed in the specified plot folder in the project tree.

The plot uses the attributes specified in the Plot Attributes dialog box.

Related Topics

Setting a Plot's Visibility

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Technical Notes: Specifying the Phase Angle

Add Trace Characteristics

Setting Field Plot Attributes

Setting Field Plot Attributes

After creating a mesh or field overlay on a surface or volume, you can modify its appearance by
changing the settings in the Plot Attributes dialog box. You will modify the settings for a plot folder
and all plots in that folder will use the same attributes.

1. Click HFSS or HFSS-IE>Fields>Modify Plot Attributes , or in the Project Manager

window, select the Field Overlays icon, and select Modify Attributes or use the "a"
hotkey.

The Select Plot Folder window appears.

2. In the Select Plot Folder window, select the plot you want to modify, and then click OK.
(You can also select the specific plot in the Project tree, and select Modify Attributes from the
right click menu.

A dialog box with attribute settings for the selected plot (whether for an E Field plot or a Mesh
Overlay plot) appears.

3. For an E Field Plot, under the following tabs in the dialog box, you can control the following
plot attributes: For Mesh plot attributes, see below.

Color map The number of colors used and how they are displayed. The field data
must be available for the color key to appear.
Scale tab The scale of field quantities, including the number of divisions in the scale,
whether to use dB as the units, whether to use a linear or log scale, auto
schall options, and plot number format.
Marker/Arrow l The appearance of points (for scalar point plots).
l The appearance of arrows (for vector plots).
l Magnitude filtering (for vector plots). That is, you uncheck Map size,
and specify a Min and Max Magnitude, or use a slider to set the Min
threshold.
Deformation l This is for use plots that include with Stress feedback from ANSYS
Scale Workbench Integration. See Modify Plot Attributes Dialog for Stress
Feedback Projects.
Plots (if not l The plot selected.
streamline) l To display or hide the mesh on the plot's surface or volume.
l The type of isovalue display (for scalar plots.)

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l The transparency based on solution value.

l Whether to add a grid (that is, a mesh overlay), and to set the grid
color.
l Specify the plot resolution as Coarse, Normal, Fine, or Very Fine.

This affects the use of memory for animating plots. For large plots with
more frames to animate, use Coarse or Normal to reduce memory
requirements and improve performance. For smaller plots with few
frames, if higher resolution is required, use Fine or Very Fine.

l The spacing of arrows (for vector plots).

Plots (if l The plot selected
streamline is l The linestyle as solid or cylinder from dropdown menu.
checked)
l Line width, specified using a slider.
l Whether to show marker on streamline.
l Seeds density spacing. This affects the number of stream lines used
to represent the quantity in the plot. Moving the slider to the left
decreases the spacing and increases the number of stream lines.
Moving the slider to the right increases the spacing and decreases
the number of lines used to represent the quantity.
l Min. and Max. values represented.

a. Under each tab, click Save as default if you want the tab's settings to apply to field
overlay plots created after this point.
b. Select Real time mode if you want the changes to take effect immediately in the view
window.
c. If this option is cleared, click Apply when you want to see the changes.

Related Topics

Setting a Plot's Visibility

Plotting the Mesh

Plotting Field Overlays

Modifying Field Plot Colors

1. Click HFSS or HFSS-IE>Fields>Modify Plot Attributes , or in the Project tree, right

click on the Field Overlays icon and select Modify Plots from the short-cut menu, or use the
"m" hotkey.

The Select Plot Folder window appears.

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2. Select the plot folder you want to modify, and then click OK.

All plots in the selected folder will be modified.

A dialog box with attribute settings for the selected folder appears.

3. Click the Color Map tab.

4. Select one of the following color types:

Uniform Field quantities are plotted in a single color. Choose the plot color from the
Color palette.
Ramp Field quantities are plotted in shades of a single color. Choose the plot color
from the Color palette. The shade of the color corresponds to its field value.
Spectrum Field quantities are plotted in multiple colors. Choose a color spectrum from the
pull-down list. The values are Rainbow, Temperature, Magenta, and Grey.
Each field value is assigned a color from the selected spectrum.

You can choose Save as Default, if you want to use the current settings.

Select Real time mode if you want these, or subsequent changes to take effect immediately in
the view window.

If this option is cleared, click Apply when you want to see the changes.

5. Click the Scale Tab.

6. In the Num. Divisions field, enter the number of colors to use in the plot.

You can choose Save as Default, if you want to use the current settings.

Select Real time mode if you want the changes to take effect immediately in the view window.

If this option is cleared, click Apply when you want to see the changes.

7. Click Close to dismiss the dialog box.

Related Topics

Setting a Plot's Visibility

Setting the Color Key Visibility

Moving the Color Key

Keyboard Shortcuts for General Purposes

Custom Keyboard Shortcuts

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Setting the Color Key Visibility

The color key (shown below) displays the range of plotted field values for a field overlay plot. It
displays the colors that correspond to the range of field values on the plot. In the case of no field
data, the color key does not appear.

1. Click View>Active ViewVisibility .

The Active View Visibility dialog box appears.

2. Click the Color Keys tab.

3. In the Visibility column, select the field overlay or mesh plots in which you want to display
the color key. Clear the plots in which you want to hide the color key from view.
4. Click Done to dismiss the dialog box.

Alternatively, to hide the color key, right-click on the color key in the view window, and then click
Hide from the shortcut menu.

Only the color keys in the selected plots will be visible.

Related Topics

Modifying Field Plot Colors

Moving the Color Key

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Moving the Color Key

Click on the active field overlay plot's color key and drag it to a new location.

Related Topics

Setting the Color Key Visibility

Modifying the Field Plot Scale

To change how field quantities are scaled on the field overlay plot:

1. Click [solverName]>Fields>Modify Plot Attributes or in the Project tree, right click

on the Field Overlays icon and select Modify Plots from the short-cut menu, or use the "m"
hotkey.

The Select Plot Folder window appears.

2. Select the plot folder you want to modify, and then click OK.

All plots in the selected folder will be modified.

A dialog box with attribute settings for the selected folder appears.

3. Click the Scale tab.

4. Optionally, to change the number of divisions in the field plot scale, set the Num. Division
field to a new value. You can click Save as Default, if desired.
5. Select one of the following scale options:

Auto The full range of field values will be plotted on the selected surface or
volume. Selecting Auto enables the Auto Scale Options and
disables the Min and Max fields. By default, precision is not limited
and auto-min is the actual computed min on the plotted geometry.
Use Only the field values between the minimum and maximum values will
Limits be plotted. Field values below or above these values will be plotted in
the colors assigned to the minimum or maximum limits, respectively.
Selecting Use Limits enables the Min and Max fields and disables
the Auto Scale Options.

Field values have a precision of at most 6 decimal places (field

solution files are saved in floating precision), so Min/Max numbers
are displayed to this precision.
Specify This enables a Scale Values button.
Values

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Optionally, when dB is checked, dB scale is used for the plot. It disables the Units field, Linear
and Log and have "Linear" selected.

6. Optionally, use the Units drop down menu to select the default unit of measure for the plot.

The units specified here appear on the Color map for the fields plot, and for the properties dialog
for the field quantities.

7. If you selected Use Limits, enter the lowest field value to be plotted in the Min. text box and
the highest field value to be plotted in the Max. text box.

If you selected Auto or Use Limits without having dB checked, the Auto Scale Options are
enabled. You should only changed for cases where auto-min is a small number. Use the 'Limits
Max/Min precision to' check box to enable setting the drop down menu for the precision limit.

The auto-min is the greater of the following:

l Actual computed Min

l Max/pow(10, num digits of field precision)

If you selected Specify Values, you can click the Scale Values button. This opens a dialog with
an editable, scrollable list of the current scale values. To apply the changes you make, click the
OK button. To close the dialog without make changes, click Cancel.

8. If you selected Auto or use Limits or dB, you can select one of the following options:

Linear Field values are plotted on a linear scale.

Log Field values are plotted on a logarithmic scale. If field plots have negative and
positive values and when auto-scale is selected, the log-scale choice automatically
sets the Min value as the Max/Min Ratio. (If field plots have all negative values, Log
is not allowed.)

9. Specify the Number Format for the plot as Auto, Scientific Notation, or Decimal. You can
also specify Width and Precision for the plot.
10. Select Real time mode if you want the changes to take effect immediately in the view
window.

If this option is cleared, click Apply when you want to see the changes.

11. Optionally, you can use the Save As Default button to save the following to registry:
l Whether to limit field precision,
l The number of digits of field precision,
l Whether to use log/linear scale.
l Whether to use dB.

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Auto scale is the default for new plots. For scalar-in-volume plots, iso-surface (rather than
cloud) is the default display

12. Click Close to dismiss the window.

Modifying Vector Field Plot Arrows

To change the appearance of a vector field plot's arrows:

1. Click HFSS or HFSS-IE>Fields>Modify Plot Attributes .

The Select Plot Folder window appears.

2. Select the plot folder you want to modify, and then click OK.

All plots in the selected folder will be modified.

A dialog box with attribute settings for the selected folder appears.

3. Click the Marker/Arrow tab.

4. Under Arrow Options, select one of the following arrow types:

Line The arrows are displayed as 2D/flat.

Cylinder The arrow tails are displayed as cylinders. The arrowheads are displayed as
3D/round.
Umbrella The arrow tails are displayed as 1D lines. The arrowheads are displayed as
3D/round.

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5. Use the Size slider to increase (move to the right) or decrease (move to the left) the length
and dimensions of the arrows. The arrows are resized relative to the size of the model
geometry.
6. Select Arrow tail to include tails on all arrows.
7. Check Map size to scale the size of the arrows to the magnitude of the field quantity being
plotted.

If you uncheck Map size, the Magnitude filtering is enabled. You can specify the Min and Max
magnitude filtering, or use a Threshold slider to set a threshold for plotting vectors. Vectors
under the threshold or below the Min are not plotted.

The Reset Min/Max button lets you reset min/max to the current intrinsic values.

8. Click the Plots tab.

9. HFSS plots arrows on a grid that is superimposed on the surface or object you selected for
the plot. Under Vector plot, use the Spacing slider to increase (move to the right) or
decrease (move to the left) the distance between arrows (grid points.)
l Select Uniform if you want the arrows to be spaced equally.
10. Select Real time mode if you want the changes to take effect immediately in the view
window.

If this option is cleared, click Apply when you want to see the changes.

11. Click Close to dismiss the window.

Setting the Mesh Visibility on Field Plots

To display or hide the mesh on field plots, or change the mesh's color:

1. Click HFSS or HFSS-IE>Fields>Modify Plot Attributes .

The Select Plot Folder window appears.

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2. Select the plot folder you want to modify, and then click OK.

All plots in the selected folder will be modified.

A dialog box with attribute settings for the selected folder appears.

3. Click the Plots tab.

4. Select Add Grid to display the mesh.
5. Optionally, select a color for the mesh from the Color palette.
6. Select Real time mode if you want the changes to take effect immediately in the view
window.

If this option is cleared, click Apply when you want to see the changes.

7. Click Close to dismiss the window.

Related Topics

Plotting the Mesh

Setting a Plot's Visibility

Modifying Scalar Field Plot Isovalues

1. Click HFSS or HFSS-IE>Fields>Modify Plot Attributes .

The Select Plot Folder window appears.

2. Select the plot folder you want to modify, and then click OK.

All plots in the selected folder will be modified.

A dialog box with attribute settings for the selected folder appears.

3. Click the Plots tab.

4. If the plot is a scalar surface plot, do the following:
a. Select one of the following isosurface display types in the IsoValType pull-down list:

Line Lines are drawn along the isovalues.

Fringe Color is constant between isovalues.
Tone Color varies continuously between isovalues.
Gourard Color varies continuously across the plot.

b. Optionally, if you selected Fringe or Tone, select Outline to add a border line between
isovalues.
5. If the plot is a scalar volume plot, do the following:

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a. Select one of the following display types:

IsoValSurface Color is drawn on the isovalues.

Cloud Field values are represented by points that illustrate the spatial
distribution of the solution. The higher the solution value, the greater
the cloud density.

b. Optionally, if you select Cloud, use the Cloud density slider to increase or decrease the
number of points that represent the density on the volume.
c. Optionally, if you select Cloud, enter a point size for the clouds in the Point size text box
6. Select Real time mode if you want the changes to take effect immediately in the view
window.

If this option is cleared, click Apply when you want to see the changes.

7. Click Close to dismiss the window.

Mapping Scalar Field Plot Transparency to Field Values

1. Click HFSS or HFSS-IE>Fields>Modify Plot Attributes .

The Select Plot Folder window appears.

2. Select the plot folder you want to modify, and then click OK.

All plots in the selected folder will be modified.

A dialog box with attribute settings for the selected folder appears.

3. Click the Plots tab.

4. Use the Map transp. slider to increase (move to the right) or decrease (move to the left) the
transparency of the plot.
l If you select Map transp., the transparency of field values increases as the solution
values decrease.
5. Select Real time mode if you want the changes to take effect immediately in the view
window.

If this option is cleared, click Apply when you want to see the changes.

6. Click Close to dismiss the window.

Modifying Markers on Point Plots

For scalar point plots, a marker is used to represent a field quantity at a selected point. (For vector
point plots, arrows are used.) Modify the shape and size of markers in the plot attributes window.

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1. Click HFSS or HFSS-IE>Fields>Modify Plot Attributes .

The Select Plot Folder window appears.

2. Select the plot folder you want to modify, and then click OK.

All plots in the selected folder will be modified.

A dialog box with attribute settings for the selected folder appears.

3. Click the Marker/Arrow tab in the plot attributes window.

4. Under Marker options, select one of the marker types to represent the field quantity at the
point:
l Sphere
l Box
l Tetrahedron
l Octahedron
5. Use the Size slider to increase (move to the right) or decrease (move to the left) the size of
the marker.
6. Select Map size to scale the size of the marker to the magnitude of the quantity being
plotted.
7. Select Real time mode if you want the changes to take effect immediately in the view
window.

If this option is cleared, click Apply when you want to see the changes.

8. Click Close to dismiss the window.

Related Topics

Drawing a Point

Modifying Line Plots

Field quantities can be plotted directly on a line object. Scalar quantities are plotted as 3D color-
shaded lines. Vector quantities are plotted as arrows that are based on the line.

To modify the appearance of line plots:

1. Click HFSS or HFSS-IE>Fields>Modify Plot Attributes .

The Select Plot Folder window appears.

2. Select the plot folder you want to modify, and then click OK.

All plots in the selected folder will be modified.

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A dialog box with attribute settings for the selected folder appears.

3. Click the Plots tab.

4. Select one of the following isosurface display types in the IsoValType pull-down list:

Fringe Color is constant between isovalues.

Tone Color varies continuously between isovalues.
Gourard Color varies continuously across the plot.

5. Select one of the following styles for the line object in the Line style pull-down list:

Cylinder The line object is shaped like a cylinder.

Solid The line object is a 3D solid.
Dash- The line object is represented by dashed black line segments.
Dash
Dot-Dot The line object is represented by a series of dots.
Dash- The line object is represented by a a series of alternating dashed black line
Dot segments and dots.

6. Use the Line width slider to increase (move to the right) or decrease (move to the left) the
thickness of the line.
7. By default, a polyline object is divided into 100 equally spaced points for post processing. To
modify the number of points on the line, type a new value in the Number of points text box.
8. Select Real time mode if you want the changes to take effect immediately in the view
window.

If this option is cleared, click Apply when you want to see the changes.

9. Click Close to dismiss the window.

Related Topics

Drawing a Polyline

Setting a Plot's Visibility

To turn off the display of the plot, right click on the plot and select Plot Visibility from the short-cut
menu. Unchecking Plot Visibility turns off the plot display.

To display or hide a field overlay or mesh plot from view in the 3D Modeler window:

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1. Click View>Active View Visibility . Alternatively, you can select the Active View
Visibility icon from the toolbar.

The Active View Visibility dialog box appears.

2. Click the FieldsReporter tab.

3. In the Visibility column, select the field overlay or mesh plots you want to display. Clear the
plots you want to hide from view.

Only the selected plots will be visible.

Related Topics

Plotting the Mesh

Setting a Plot's Visibility

Saving a Field Overlay Plot

Field overlay and mesh plots are saved in the project file; however, you can save a plot to HFSS
Field Plot File format (.dsp) and then open it in HFSS.

To save field overlay or mesh plot data to a .dsp file:

1. In the project tree, click the plot you want to export.

2. Click [solver]>Fields>Save as .

The Select Field Plot(s) dialog box appears.

3. Select the plots you want to export by checking the Select box, and then click OK.

The file browser appears. Field Plot Files (.dsp) is the selected file type.

4. Specify the name of the .dsp file and the location in which to save it.
5. Click Save.

The plot is exported to the specified .dsp file.

To open the file you created, click [solver]>Fields>Open.

Related Topics

Exporting Animations

Opening a Field Overlay Plot

To open a field overlay or mesh plot that you have saved to Field Plot File format (.dsp):

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1. Click [solver]>Fields>Open .
2. The file browser appears. Field Plot Files (.dsp) is the selected file type.
3. Browse to the location of the .dsp file you want to open, and then click the file name.
4. Click Open.

The plot appears in the view window. It is listed under Field Overlays in the project tree.

Deleting a Field Overlay Plot

1. Click HFSS or HFSS-IE>Fields>Delete Plot .

The Delete Plots dialog box appears.

2. Select the plots you want to delete by checking the Delete check box.
3. Click OK.

The selected plots are deleted.

Alternatively, click the plot in the project tree that you want to delete, and then press Delete .

Setting Field Plot Defaults

Each new field plot uses the default plot settings specified in the Set Plot Defaults dialog box.

To modify the default plot settings:

1. If a plot folder has not been created, click Field Overlays in the project tree.

2. Click HFSS or HFSS-IE>Fields>Set Plot Defaults .

The Set Plot Defaults dialog box appears.

3. Select the solution to plot from the Solution pull-down list.

4. Select the plot folder in which new plots will be stored from the Quantity type pull-down list.
Choose one of the following options:

New Each new plot will be stored in a separate folder in the project tree.
Folder
Automatic Each new plot will be stored in a folder determined by HFSS as the most
appropriate based on the plotted field quantity. For example, all surface
magnitude E plots will be stored in the same folder.
An existing Select the existing folder in which you want to store new plots.
folder

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Note Plots stored in the same folder will use the same color key. The Auto scale setting
will be based on the maximum field solution value present in a plot.

5. Under Intrinsic Variables, specify the frequency and phase angle at which the field
quantity is evaluated.
6. Click OK.

Related Topics

Technical Notes: Specifying the Phase Angle

Using the Fields Calculator

The Fields calculator enables you to perform computations using basic field quantities. The
calculator will compute derived quantities from the general electric field solution; write field
quantities to files, locate maximum and minimum field values, and perform other operations on the
field solution.

The calculator does not perform the computations until a value is needed or is forced for a result.
This makes it more efficient, saving computing resources and time; you can do all the calculations
without regard to data storage of all the calculated points of the field. It is generally easier to do all
the calculations first, then plot the results.

A online help Fields Calculator Cookbook provides examples of the following:

l Calculating Numerical Quantities

l Calculating Quantities for 2D (Line) Plot Outputs
l Calculating Quantities for 3D (Surface or Vector) Plot Outputs
l Calculating Quantities for 3D (Volume) Plot Outputs
l Calculating Quantities for Animated Outputs
l Creating User Defined Named Expressions Library

With an HFSS project inserted into the ANSYS Electronics Desktop, click Help>HFSS Getting
Started Guides and select Fields Calculator Cookbook from the list. To access the PDF, click
Help>HFSS PDFs>HFSS Getting Started Guides and select Fields Calculator Cookbook
from the list of PDFs.

Related Topics

Opening the Fields Calculator

Context Area

Calculator Stack

Registers

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The Stack Commands

Input Commands

General Commands

Scalar Commands

Vector Commands

Output Commands

Calculating Derived Output Quantities

Named Expression Library

Opening the Fields Calculator

To open the Fields Calculator, do one of the following:

l Click HFSS or HFSS-IE>Fields>Calculator

or

l Right-click Field Overlays in the project tree, and then click Calculator on the shortcut
menu.

The Fields Calculator window appears.

To view information on a command or screen area, click over the button or screen area on the
illustration below.

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Context Area
The panel at the upper right of the window identifies the context to be used for the calculations. The
top line identifies the design. Depending on the design, text entry boxes allow you to select a
Solution, Field Type, Freq, Phase, IWavePhi and IWaveTheta. The IWavePhi and
IWaveTheta are available only for incident wave projects in which the wave is defined with
spherical coordinates.

The Field Type here is not related to the edit sources. This is a general term among ANSYS EM
products (HFSS, Maxwell, and Q3D). Some products have more than one field type for different
solution types. If only one Field Type is available the box is grayed out. For Hybrid design in HFSS
R18, even if the design contains an IE Region, you can select J and Q input quantities. You no
longer need to select between Fields and IE Surface Fields.

The Change Variable Values button opens a Set Variable Values dialog. By default it has Use
Nominal Design checked. Unchecking the box lets you select another variable value. OK the dialog
to accept the selection.

Related Topics

Opening the Fields Calculator

With an HFSS project inserted into the ANSYS Electronics Desktop, click Help>HFSS Getting
Started Guides and select Fields Calculator Cookbook from the list. To access the PDF, click
Help>HFSS PDFs>HFSS Getting Started Guides and select Fields Calculator Cookbook
from the list of PDFs.

The Calculator Stack

The calculator is made up of a stack of registers. Registers are displayed in the register display
area at the center of the calculator window. Each register can hold:

l Field quantities such as the H-field or E-field.

l Functional or constant scalars and vectors.
l Geometries — points, lines, surfaces, or volumes — on which a field quantity is to be
evaluated.

To perform a computation on the field solution, you must first load a basic field quantity into a
register on the stack. Once a quantity is loaded into a register, it can be:

l Manipulated using mathematical operations such as curls, gradients, cross products,

divergences, and dot products.
l Integrated over lines, surfaces, or subvolumes of the solution region — either predefined
surfaces, volumes, and lists, or lines, surfaces, and volumes that were defined using the
Draw commands.
l Exported to a file, allowing you to superimpose saved solutions.

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Related Topics

Registers

Using the Fields Calculator

With an HFSS project inserted into the ANSYS Electronics Desktop, click Help>HFSS Getting
Started Guides and select Fields Calculator Cookbook from the list. To access the PDF, click
Help>HFSS PDFs>HFSS Getting Started Guides and select Fields Calculator Cookbook
from the list of PDFs.

Registers
Calculator registers hold field quantities, numbers, vectors, and geometries. No registers are
created until you load something into the calculator; therefore, this part of the window is initially
blank. As items are loaded into the calculator, it creates new registers to hold them.

Each register is labeled with its contents as follows:

Vec Vector quantities, which have both direction and magnitude at each point in space. The
x-, y-, and z-components of these quantities are stored in the register.
Scl Scalar quantities, which have a magnitude only.
Cvc Complex vector quantities.
Csc Complex scalar quantities.
Pnt Points.
Lin Lines.
Srf Surfaces.
Vol Volumes.
SclLin Scalar value on a line.
VecLine Vector value on a line.
SclSrf Scalar value on a surface.
VecSrf Vector value on a surface.

When examining calculator registers, keep the following in mind:

l To move or delete calculator registers, use the stack commands.

l To save a register to a disk file, use the Write command.

Related Topics

Enlarging the Register Display Area

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Units of Measure

With an HFSS project inserted into the ANSYS Electronics Desktop, click Help>HFSS Getting
Started Guides and select Fields Calculator Cookbook from the list. To access the PDF, click
Help>HFSS PDFs>HFSS Getting Started Guides and select Fields Calculator Cookbook
from the list of PDFs.

Enlarging the Register Display Area

If there are too many registers to fit into the display area, do one of the following:

l Use the scroll bars to view the hidden registers.

l Enlarge the calculator window using the window's borders.

Related Topics

Registers

With an HFSS project inserted into the ANSYS Electronics Desktop, click Help>HFSS Getting
Started Guides and select Fields Calculator Cookbook from the list. To access the PDF, click
Help>HFSS PDFs>HFSS Getting Started Guides and select Fields Calculator Cookbook
from the list of PDFs.

Units of Measure

Unless you are prompted specifically for the unit of measure, all measurements should be
assumed to be in SI base units, not model units.

Related Topics

Registers

With an HFSS project inserted into the ANSYS Electronics Desktop, click Help>HFSS Getting
Started Guides and select Fields Calculator Cookbook from the list. To access the PDF, click
Help>HFSS PDFs>HFSS Getting Started Guides and select Fields Calculator Cookbook
from the list of PDFs.

Stack Commands
Use these commands to manipulate the registers in the calculator stack.

Push

Reloads the quantity in the top register onto the top of the stack, creating a new register. The
contents of the top two registers are identical.

Pop

Deletes the top register from the stack.

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RlUp

Rolls the top register to the bottom of the stack, moving the other registers up the stack.

RlDn

Rolls the bottom register to the top of the stack, moving the other registers down the stack.

Exch

Exchanges the top two registers in the stack.

Clear

Clears the contents of the stack.

Undo

Use this command to undo the effect of the last operation you performed on the contents of the top
register. Successive Undo commands act on any previous operations.

Note You cannot undo a simple operation such as loading a field quantity, constant, function, or
geometry into the calculator. Instead, use the Pop or Clear commands to delete these
items from the calculator stack.

Related Topics

With an HFSS project inserted into the ANSYS Electronics Desktop, click Help>HFSS Getting
Started Guides and select Fields Calculator Cookbook from the list. To access the PDF, click
Help>HFSS PDFs>HFSS Getting Started Guides and select Fields Calculator Cookbook
from the list of PDFs.

Input Commands
Use the following commands to load data onto the top of the calculator stack:

Quantity Basic field quantities, such as E and H, and simple derived quantities such as volume
current. For designs with IE Region, you can select J and Q.
Geometry Geometries such as planes, points, polylines, face lists, and volumes
Constant Predefined constants such as π, ε0, and conversion factors between various units of
measurement.
Number Vector and scalar constants, including complex numbers.
Function User-defined or intrinsic variables
Geom Number of equally spaced points used to integrate fields and other quantities on a
Settings line.

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Read Previously-saved calculator registers containing field quantities.

Output This button appears only for eigenmode problems. Freq is the only value there.
Vars Evaluation for Freq returns a complex value.

These quantities can be manipulated using the Stack commands, General commands, Scalar
commands, and Vector commands. The results of these calculations can then be examined using
the Output commands.

Related Topics

Using the Fields Calculator

With an HFSS project inserted into the ANSYS Electronics Desktop, click Help>HFSS Getting
Started Guides and select Fields Calculator Cookbook from the list. To access the PDF, click
Help>HFSS PDFs>HFSS Getting Started Guides and select Fields Calculator Cookbook
from the list of PDFs.

Quantity Command

The Input command loads a field quantity into the top register of the calculator. Phasors in the
calculator are peak phasors. The Poynting command in the calculator therefore implements the
Poynting vector for peak phasors. Calculations which compute either average or instantaneous
time domain quantities must adhere to the peak phasor conventions. Transient solution types
display the transient quantities (with "_t" appended).

The available quantities are:

E The electric field, E

E_t Transient electric field, E.
H The magnetic field, H
H_t Transient magnetic field, H.
Jvol The volume current density, Jvol
Jsurf The surface current density, Jsurf
Jsurf_t Transient surface current density.
Poynting The Poynting vector, defined as 0.5E x H*
Poynting_t Transient Poynting vector.
LocalSAR The local Specific Absorption Rate
AverageSAR The average Specific Absorption Rate
Certification SAR IEEE standard Specific Absorption Rate certification
number.

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To calculate certification SAR on a specific object (rather

than the whole model) proceed as follows:

1. In the Calculator Input area, click the Quantity button

and select Certification SAR.

Certification SAR is displayed in the calculator stack.

2. In the Calculator, click the Geometry button to display

the Geometry dialog.

The Geometry dialog displays with the Volume radio button

selected, and the available geometries listed.

3. Select the Geometry of interest.

This enables the OK button.

4. Click the OK button.

5. This adds the selected Volume geometry to the
calculator stack.
6. In the Calculator Output area, press the Value button

This prepares the calculation for the selected quantity and

volume.

7. Press the Eval button to evaluate.

Both the value and location will be shown on the calculator

stack.
SurfaceLossDensity This contains the surface impedance (if any) loss at every
node in every triangle. This is calculated as:

where psis the surface impedance loss density, S is the

Poynting vector on the boundary, and n is the out unit
normal of the boundary.

To export a REG file containing the surface loss density,

place the SurfaceLossDensity in the top register and use
the Write... command, selecting Reg format.
VolumeLossDensity The volume loss density p is calculated as:

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where E is the electric field, is the conjugate of the

volumentric current density, B is the magnetic flux density,
and is the conjugate of the magnetic field.

To export a Reg file containing the volume loss density,

place the VolumeLossDensity into the top register, and use
the Write....command, selecting the Reg format.
VolumeLossDensity_t Transient volume loss density.
SurfaceForceDensity Surface Forces exist when one side is conductor, but the
other is not, or finite conductivity and layered impedance
boundary. This is mainly for the purpose of mapping
surface force density in HFSS to Workbench Mechanical.
For details on the calculations, see the technical notes.
Temp Temperature.
Displacement This is value is for use with Workbench when exploring
stress feedback.

Related Topics

Using the Fields Calculator

Input Commands

With an HFSS project inserted into the ANSYS Electronics Desktop, click Help>HFSS Getting
Started Guides and select Fields Calculator Cookbook from the list. To access the PDF, click
Help>HFSS PDFs>HFSS Getting Started Guides and select Fields Calculator Cookbook
from the list of PDFs.

Geometry Command

The Fields Calculator Geometry command opens a dialog that lets you select a geometry to load
into the top register of the calculator. Do this to:

l Find the value of derived field quantities on any point, line, surface, or volume.
l Plot quantities directly from the calculator.
l Display a previously defined isosurface, maximum or minimum field point using the Draw
command.

The following types of geometries are available:

Point - See drawing a point object. Points you draw are listed in the history tree, and in the
Calculator Geometry dialog when you select Point.

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Line- See drawing a line object. Lines you draw are listed in the history tree, and in the Calculator
Geometry dialog when you select Line. To set the number of points on a line, see Geom Settings
.
Surface - Sheet objects and face lists which you can make, (for example of radiation
boundaries) are listed under surface in the history tree and in the Calculator Geometry dialog
when you select Surface.

Due to the ambiguity of the normal vector of a sheet, the result may require a multiplication by ( 1 )
or ( -1 ).
Volume - 3D objects, Regions, and object lists of 3D objects including AllObjects are available in
the Calculator Geometry dialog when you select Volume.
Coord -Coordinate systems are available in the Calculator Geometry dialog when you select
Coord.

To load a geometry into the calculator:

1. In the Fields Calculator, click Geometry.

The Geometry dialog box appears.

2. Select a geometry type.

A list of all applicable geometries appears.

3. Click the geometry.

4. Click OK to load the geometry.

Note Consider a box (Box2) that is completely enclosed in a bigger box (Box1), so that no faces
of Box2 are touching any faces of Box1.

Box2 is actually implicitly subtracted from Box1 as is done in our solvers. So Box1 is used
as if Box2 were already subtracted from Box1. Volume(Box1) is Box1 excluding Box2, and
Surface(Box1) contains faces from both Box1 and Box2.

Related Topics

Using the Fields Calculator

Input Commands

Domain command

Export Command

Geom Settings

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With an HFSS project inserted into the ANSYS Electronics Desktop, click Help>HFSS Getting
Started Guides and select Fields Calculator Cookbook from the list. To access the PDF, click
Help>HFSS PDFs>HFSS Getting Started Guides and select Fields Calculator Cookbook
from the list of PDFs.

Constant Command

The Constant command loads one of these four predefined constants, or conversion constant into
the top register of the calculator:

Pi π
Epsi0 The permittivity of free space, ε0 = 8.85418782 x 10-12 C2/Nm2
Mu0 The permeability of free space, µ0 = 4π x 10-7 Wb/Am
c The speed of light in vacuum, c = 2.99792458 x 108 m/s
conversion Displays the Enter Units Conversion Factor dialog. This lists a range of
constant Quantities (such as frequency, resistance, and others) along with a list of Units (Hz
to Thz, and rps) to convert From and To. The ratio of the Units From to the Units to
is displayed for the selected values as Conversion Factor.

Related Topics

Using the Fields Calculator

Input Commands

With an HFSS project inserted into the ANSYS Electronics Desktop, click Help>HFSS Getting
Started Guides and select Fields Calculator Cookbook from the list. To access the PDF, click
Help>HFSS PDFs>HFSS Getting Started Guides and select Fields Calculator Cookbook
from the list of PDFs.

Number Command

The Number command enters one of the following into the top register of the calculator:

Scalar A scalar constant. To enter a constant scalar number:

1. Click Number.

The Input Number dialog box appears.

2. Select Scalar.
3. Type the scalar value in the Value text box.
4. Click OK to load the number into the top register.

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Vector A vector constant.

To enter a constant vector:

1. Click Number.

The Input Number dialog box appears.

2. Select Vector.
3. Enter the x-, y-, and z-components of the vector.
4. Click OK to load the vector into the top register.
Complex
A complex constant. Complex constants are entered in the form C=A+jB, where A

represents the real part of the constant and B represents the imaginary part.

1. Click Number.

The Input Number dialog box appears.

2. Select Scalar or Vector.

3. Select Complex.
4. Enter the real and imaginary components of the number.
5. Click OK to load the number into the top register.

Related Topics

Using the Fields Calculator

Input Commands

With an HFSS project inserted into the ANSYS Electronics Desktop, click Help>HFSS Getting
Started Guides and select Fields Calculator Cookbook from the list. To access the PDF, click
Help>HFSS PDFs>HFSS Getting Started Guides and select Fields Calculator Cookbook
from the list of PDFs.

Function Command

Any functions you use must be defined prior to using this operation.

Enters one of the following into the top register of the calculator:

Scalar A scalar function.

To enter a function:

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1. Click Function.

The Function dialog box appears.

2. Select Scalar.
3. Select the function from the list.
4. Click OK to load the functional scalar into the top register.
Vector A vector function, in which the values of the vector's x-, y-, and z-components are given
by functions.

To enter a functional vector:

1. Click Function.

The Function dialog box appears.

2. Select Vector.
3. Select the function from the list.
4. For each component of the vector, click SetX, SetY, and SetZ.
5. Click OK to load the functional vector into the top register.

Note The predefined variables X, Y, Z, RHO, THETA, R, and PHI and any functions that you
created can be used to define functional scalar and vector quantities.

Use of the Global Coordinate System is assumed. Local coordinate systems are not used.

Related Topics

Using the Fields Calculator

Input Commands

With a HFSS project inserted into the ANSYS Electronics Desktop, click Help>HFSS Getting
Started Guides and select Fields Calculator Cookbook from the list. To access the PDF, click
Help> HFSS PDFs> Getting Started Guides and select Fields Calculator Cookbook from
the list of PDFs.

Geom Settings Command

Clicking the Geom Settings button opens the Geometric Settings dialog box. The dialog box
allows you to specify the line discretization, the number of equally-spaced points used to integrate
fields and other quantities on a line. The default is 1000 points.

To set the line spacing for geometry settings:

1. In the Fields Calculator, click Geom Settings.

The Geometry Settings dialog box appears.

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HFSS Online Help

2. Enter a value in the Line Discretization box, and click OK.

Related Topics

Using the Fields Calculator

Input Commands

With an HFSS project inserted into the ANSYS Electronics Desktop, click Help>HFSS Getting
Started Guides and select Fields Calculator Cookbook from the list. To access the PDF, click
Help>HFSS PDFs>HFSS Getting Started Guides and select Fields Calculator Cookbook
from the list of PDFs.

Read Command

This command copies the contents of a disk file into the top register. The register must be one that
has been saved using the Write output command.

To read in a register:

1. Click Read.
2. Use the file browser to specify the register's file name and directory path. A .reg extension is
automatically assumed for register files.
3. Click OK.

The contents of the file are copied to the top register in the stack.

Related Topics

Using the Fields Calculator

Input Commands

With an HFSS project inserted into the ANSYS Electronics Desktop, click Help>HFSS Getting
Started Guides and select Fields Calculator Cookbook from the list. To access the PDF, click
Help>HFSS PDFs>HFSS Getting Started Guides and select Fields Calculator Cookbook
from the list of PDFs.

Output Vars [Input for Eigenmode problems]

This button appears in the Inputs column of the Fields calculator only for Eigenmode problems.
Freq is the only value listed. After you push Freq to the stack, you can click Eval to return a
complex value.

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Related Topics

Setting the Solution Type

Using the Fields Calculator

Input Commands

With an HFSS project inserted into the ANSYS Electronics Desktop, click Help>HFSS Getting
Started Guides and select Fields Calculator Cookbook from the list. To access the PDF, click
Help>HFSS PDFs>HFSS Getting Started Guides and select Fields Calculator Cookbook
from the list of PDFs.

General Commands
Use these Fields Calculator commands to perform operations on both vector and scalar quantities.

+ (Add) / (Divide) Smooth

-- (Substract) Neg Complex
* (Multiply) Abs Domain

+ (Add)

Adds the quantities in the top two registers of the calculator.

- (Subtract)

Subtracts the quantity in the top register from the quantity in the second register. The two registers
must hold the same type of quantity (both scalar or both vector). You cannot subtract a scalar from
a vector (or vice versa).

* (Multiply)

Multiplies the quantity in the top register by the quantity in the second register. One of the two
registers must contain a scalar value; the other register can be either a scalar or a vector.

/ (Divide)

Divides the quantity in the second register by the quantity in the top register. The second register
must contain a scalar value; the top register can be either a scalar or a vector.

Neg

Changes the sign of the quantity in the top register.

Abs

Takes the absolute value of the quantity in the top register.

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Smooth

Smooths the quantity in the top register. Because of the numerical solution technique used, field
values are not always continuous across the boundaries of the individual elements that make up
the finite-element mesh. Smoothing makes the values continuous by taking a weighted average
from all of a node's neighboring elements. The weights are based on angles, so elements with
larger angles provide larger contributions. In general, use smoothing before plotting a quantity.

Complex

These commands perform operations on a complex quantity in the top register. Complex quantities
are indicated by a C at the beginning of the register label. They can be represented in terms of real
and imaginary components, or in terms of magnitude and phase:

where:

l A is the real part of the complex number.

l B is the imaginary part of the complex number.

l M is its magnitude, which is equal to .

l φ is its phase, which is equal to .

The Complex commands let you do the following:

Real Takes the real part of the complex quantity (A).

Imag Takes the imaginary part of the complex quantity (B).
CmplxMag Takes the magnitude of the complex quantity (M). Due to interpolation issues, the
sequence of calculations may cause a loss of accuracy. It is best to define the
points , separately obtain the value of the real part, then the imaginary part, and
use those values to calculate the magnitude and and phase. For the sequence for
using the Fields Calculator to obtain the real and imaginary parts, see the
procedure here.
CmplxPhase Takes the phase of the complex quantity (φ).
Conj Takes the complex conjugate of the quantity in the top register. If a complex
number is given by C = A + jB, its complex conjugate is given by C* = A - jB.
AtPhase Lets you specify the phase angle, θ, at which an field quantity is evaluated. These
quantities can be represented in the form

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 HFSS Online Help

where

l ω is the angular frequency at which the quantities are oscillating, specified

during the solution.
l θ(x,y,z) is the phase angle (the offset from a cosine wave that peaks at t=0).

Entering the phase angle lets you compute the real part of the field's magnitude at
different points in its cycle.
CmplxReal Converts the real scalar of the top register to the real part of a complex number.
CmplxImag Converts the real scalar of the top register to the imaginary part of a complex
number.
CmplxPeak Calculates the peak value of a given complex vector. Intuitively, this calculates the
maximum magnitude of the equivalent real vector in a waveform.

Domain

This limits a calculation to the volume you specify. The domain filter works for scalars, vectors,
complex scalars and complex vectors. This operation requires the top two entries of the stack to be
a volume geometry and a numeric field quantity. To do this:

1. Load the field quantity into the top register, and perform any necessary operations on it.
2. Load the volume using the Geometry command.
3. Click Domain.

The Domain command is often used to limit a calculation or plot to the intersection of a surface and
an object or group of objects. If you export a domain filtered numeric, points that are filtered out by
the domain will not be written out.

Related Topics

Using the Fields Calculator

Export Command

Steps for Calculating the Complex Vector Electric Field

With an HFSS project inserted into the ANSYS Electronics Desktop, click Help>HFSS Getting
Started Guides and select Fields Calculator Cookbook from the list. To access the PDF, click
Help>HFSS PDFs>HFSS Getting Started Guides and select Fields Calculator Cookbook
from the list of PDFs.

Steps for Calculating the Complex Vector Electric Field

These are the field calculator steps to obtain the real part, the imaginary part, and the magnitude of
the x-directed, y-directed, and z-directed components of the phasor electric field. For each of these

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vector components, the magnitude should be equal to sqrt(real^2+imag^2), but the need to
interpolate values and the calculation sequence means that HFSS does not give this value unless
the specified location is directly on a mesh element node.

1. Calculate real part of complex vector electric field (in x, y, and z directions):
a. Qty > E
b. Complex > Real
c. Geometry > Point > fieldcalc_point
d. Value
e. Eval
2. Calculate imaginary part of complex vector electric field (in x, y, and z directions):
a. Qty > E
b. Complex > Imag
c. Geometry > Point > fieldcalc_point
d. Value
e. Eval

Use the real and imaginary components to manually calculate the magnitude as the sqrt
(Real^2+imag^2).

Related Topics

Using the Fields Calculator

With an HFSS project inserted into the ANSYS Electronics Desktop, click Help>HFSS Getting
Started Guides and select Fields Calculator Cookbook from the list. To access the PDF, click
Help>HFSS PDFs>HFSS Getting Started Guides and select Fields Calculator Cookbook
from the list of PDFs.

Scalar Commands
Use these commands to perform operations on scalar quantities.

Vec? Makes the scalar quantity in the top register a vector component.
1/x Takes the inverse of the scalar quantity in the top register.
Pow Raises a scalar quantity to the power you specify.
( Square Takes the square root of the quantity in the top register.
Root)
Trig Takes a selected trigonometric value of the value in the top register of the
calculator stack

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d/d? Takes the partial derivative of the quantity in the top register.
Takes the integral of a scalar quantity over a volume, surface, or line.
(Integral)
Min Computes the minimum of a scalar field quantity on a line, surface, or volume.
Max Computes the maximum of a scalar field quantity on a line, surface, or volume.
∇ (Gradient) Takes the gradient of the scalar quantity in the top register.
ln Takes the natural logarithm (base e) of the scalar quantity in the top register.
log Takes the logarithm (base 10) of the scalar quantity in the top register.
Mean Takes the mean of the quantity in the top register.
Std Takes the standard deviation of the quantity in the top register.

Related Topics

Using the Fields Calculator

With an HFSS project inserted into the ANSYS Electronics Desktop, click Help>HFSS Getting
Started Guides and select Fields Calculator Cookbook from the list. To access the PDF, click
Help>HFSS PDFs>HFSS Getting Started Guides and select Fields Calculator Cookbook
from the list of PDFs.

Vec? Command

Makes the scalar quantity in the top register a vector component. Choose from the following:

VecX The x-component of a vector.

VecY The y-component of a vector.
VecZ The z-component of a vector.

Related Topics

Using the Fields Calculator

Scalar Commands

With an HFSS project inserted into the ANSYS Electronics Desktop, click Help>HFSS Getting
Started Guides and select Fields Calculator Cookbook from the list. To access the PDF, click
Help>HFSS PDFs>HFSS Getting Started Guides and select Fields Calculator Cookbook
from the list of PDFs.

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1/x (Inverse) Command

Takes the inverse of the scalar quantity in the top register.

Related Topics

Using the Fields Calculator

Scalar Commands

With an HFSS project inserted into the ANSYS Electronics Desktop, click Help>HFSS Getting
Started Guides and select Fields Calculator Cookbook from the list. To access the PDF, click
Help>HFSS PDFs>HFSS Getting Started Guides and select Fields Calculator Cookbook
from the list of PDFs.

Pow Command

Raises a scalar quantity to the power you specify.

To raise a scalar quantity to a power:

1. Enter the quantity into the calculator.

2. Enter the exponent to which it is to be raised into the calculator.
3. Click Pow.

The results are displayed in the top register.

Related Topics

Using the Fields Calculator

Scalar Commands

With an HFSS project inserted into the ANSYS Electronics Desktop, click Help>HFSS Getting
Started Guides and select Fields Calculator Cookbook from the list. To access the PDF, click
Help>HFSS PDFs>HFSS Getting Started Guides and select Fields Calculator Cookbook
from the list of PDFs.

(Square Root) Command

Takes the square root of the quantity in the top register.

Related Topics

Using the Fields Calculator

Scalar Commands

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With an HFSS project inserted into the ANSYS Electronics Desktop, click Help>HFSS Getting
Started Guides and select Fields Calculator Cookbook from the list. To access the PDF, click
Help>HFSS PDFs>HFSS Getting Started Guides and select Fields Calculator Cookbook
from the list of PDFs.

Trig

Takes one of the following trigonometric values of the value in the top register of the calculator
stack:

Sin Sine.
Cos Cosine.
Tan Tangent.
Asin Arcsine.
Acos Arccosine.
Atan Arctangent.
Atan2 A two-argument version of the At.an function. Takes the y and x coordinates of the
tangent point (in the top two stack registers)

Related Topics

Using the Fields Calculator

Scalar Commands

You can access HFSS Fields Calculator Cookbook in a pdf version. With an HFSS project
inserted into ANSYS Electronics Desktop, click Help > HFSS PDFs > HFSS Getting Started
Guides > Fields Calculator Cookbook.

d/d? (Partial Derivative) Command

Takes the partial derivative of the quantity in the top register:

d/dx Takes the partial derivative of the quantity with respect to x.

d/dy Takes the partial derivative of the quantity with respect to y.
d/dz Takes the partial derivative of the quantity with respect to z.

Related Topics

Using the Fields Calculator

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Scalar Commands

You can access HFSS Fields Calculator Cookbook in a pdf version. With an HFSS project
inserted into ANSYS Electronics Desktop, click Help > Getting Started Guides > Fields
Calculator Cookbook.

(Integral) Command

Takes the integral of a scalar quantity over a volume, surface, or line. The top register must contain
a geometry and the second register must contain the scalar quantity to be integrated.

To perform an integration:

1. Load a quantity into the top register of the calculator, and perform any required operations
on it.
2. Use one of the Geometry commands to load the line, surface, or volume over which the
quantity is to be integrated.

Note If you computed the tangent or normal of the quantity to be integrated, you do not
have to load a geometry onto the calculator stack. HFSS integrates the tangential or
normal component of the quantity over the line on which you computed its tangent, or
the surface on which you computed its normal.

3. Choose the command to integrate the scalar quantity over the geometry.

To find the numerical results of an integration, use the Eval command.

Related Topics

Using the Fields Calculator

Scalar Commands

With an HFSS project inserted into the ANSYS Electronics Desktop, click Help>HFSS Getting
Started Guides and select Fields Calculator Cookbook from the list. To access the PDF, click
Help>HFSS PDFs>HFSS Getting Started Guides and select Fields Calculator Cookbook
from the list of PDFs.

Min Command

Computes the minimum of a scalar field quantity on a line, surface, or volume. Two options are
available:

Value Finds the magnitude of the minimum value of the field.

Position Finds the point where the minimum field value occurs. You can then:

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l Plot the minimum field value at the point.

l Plot basic field quantities at the point.
l Load the point into the calculator.
l Change the point's location.

These commands operate in the same way as the Max commands. Use the Eval command to
display the actual minimum field value or the coordinates of the point where it occurs.

Related Topics

Using the Fields Calculator

Scalar Commands

With an HFSS project inserted into the ANSYS Electronics Desktop, click Help>HFSS Getting
Started Guides and select Fields Calculator Cookbook from the list. To access the PDF, click
Help>HFSS PDFs>HFSS Getting Started Guides and select Fields Calculator Cookbook
from the list of PDFs.

Max Command

Computes the maximum of a scalar field quantity on a line, surface, or volume. Two options are
available:

Value Finds the magnitude of the maximum value of the field.

Position Finds the point where the maximum field value occurs. You can then:

l Plot the maximum field at the point.

l Plot field quantities at the point.
l Load the point into the calculator.
l Change the point's location.

To compute the maximum field value:

1. Load a field quantity into the calculator, and perform any necessary operations on it. Keep
the following in mind:
l You cannot find the maximum value of a vector quantity. Therefore, make sure that the
result is a scalar.
l Before computing the maximum value of a complex quantity, you must find the real part of
the quantity using the Cmplx/Real or Cmplx/AtPhase commands.
2. Load a point, line, or volume into the calculator using one of the Geometry commands.
3. Do one of the following:

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l Choose Max/Value to compute the maximum field value on the geometry.

l Choose Max/Position to identify the point at which this value occurs.

Use the Eval command to display the actual maximum field value or the coordinates of the point
where it occurs.

Related Topics

Using the Fields Calculator

Scalar Commands

With an HFSS project inserted into the ANSYS Electronics Desktop, click Help>HFSS Getting
Started Guides and select Fields Calculator Cookbook from the list. To access the PDF, click
Help>HFSS PDFs>HFSS Getting Started Guides and select Fields Calculator Cookbook
from the list of PDFs.

∇ (Gradient) Command
Takes the gradient of the scalar quantity in the top register.

Related Topics

Using the Fields Calculator

Scalar Commands

With an HFSS project inserted into the ANSYS Electronics Desktop, click Help>HFSS Getting
Started Guides and select Fields Calculator Cookbook from the list. To access the PDF, click
Help>HFSS PDFs>HFSS Getting Started Guides and select Fields Calculator Cookbook
from the list of PDFs.

Ln Command

Takes the natural logarithm (base e) of the scalar quantity in the top register.

Related Topics

Using the Fields Calculator

Scalar Commands

You can access HFSS Fields Calculator Cookbook in a pdf version. With an HFSS project
inserted into ANSYS Electronics Desktop, click Help > Getting Started Guides > Fields
Calculator Cookbook.

Log Command

Takes the logarithm (base 10) of the scalar quantity in the top register.

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 HFSS Online Help

Related Topics

Using the Fields Calculator

Scalar Commands

With an HFSS project inserted into the ANSYS Electronics Desktop, click Help>HFSS Getting
Started Guides and select Fields Calculator Cookbook from the list. To access the PDF, click
Help>HFSS PDFs>HFSS Getting Started Guides and select Fields Calculator Cookbook
from the list of PDFs.

Mean Command

Takes the mean of the quantity in the top register.

Related Topics

Using the Fields Calculator

Scalar Commands

With an HFSS project inserted into the ANSYS Electronics Desktop, click Help>HFSS Getting
Started Guides and select Fields Calculator Cookbook from the list. To access the PDF, click
Help>HFSS PDFs>HFSS Getting Started Guides and select Fields Calculator Cookbook
from the list of PDFs.

Std Command
Takes the standard deviation of the quantity in the top register.

Related Topics

Using the Fields Calculator

Scalar Commands

With an HFSS project inserted into the ANSYS Electronics Desktop, click Help>HFSS Getting
Started Guides and select Fields Calculator Cookbook from the list. To access the PDF, click
Help>HFSS PDFs>HFSS Getting Started Guides and select Fields Calculator Cookbook
from the list of PDFs.

Vector Commands
Use these commands to perform operations on vector quantities.

Scal? Replaces the vector in the top register with a scalar quantity whose value is a
component of the vector.
Matl Multiplies or divides the vector field quantity in the top register by a material property, or

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if you select MassDensity as the material property, produces a scalar that operates like
a named variable.
Mag Takes the magnitude of the vector quantity in the top register. The magnitude of a
complex vector is defined to be the length of the real vector resulting from taking the
modulus of each component of the original complex vector.
Dot Takes the dot product of the vector quantities in the top two registers.
Cross Takes the cross product of the vector quantities in the top two registers.
Divg Takes the divergence of the vector quantity in the top register.
Curl Takes the curl of the vector quantity in the top register.
Tangent Computes the tangential component of a vector quantity along a line
Normal Computes the normal component of a vector quantity on a surface such as a cutplane
or object surface.
Unit Computes the normal or tangent unit vector. The unit vector is a "wild card" entry. The
Vec context is specified at the time of plotting, integrating, or report generation.

Related Topics

Using the Fields Calculator

Scalar Commands

With an HFSS project inserted into the ANSYS Electronics Desktop, click Help>HFSS Getting
Started Guides and select Fields Calculator Cookbook from the list. To access the PDF, click
Help>HFSS PDFs>HFSS Getting Started Guides and select Fields Calculator Cookbook
from the list of PDFs.

Scal? Command

Replaces the vector in the top register with a scalar quantity whose value is a component of the
vector. Choose from the following:

ScalarX Returns the x-component of the vector.

ScalarY Returns the y-component of the vector.
ScalarZ Returns the z-component of the vector.

Related Topics

Using the Fields Calculator

Vector Commands

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With an HFSS project inserted into the ANSYS Electronics Desktop, click Help>HFSS Getting
Started Guides and select Fields Calculator Cookbook from the list. To access the PDF, click
Help>HFSS PDFs>HFSS Getting Started Guides and select Fields Calculator Cookbook
from the list of PDFs.

Matl Command

Operates on the vector field quantity in the top register of the Fields Calculator based on a material
property. At each tetrahedron, the field quantity is operated on by the value of the selected material
property — taking the different material attributes of each object into account.

To operate on a vector quantity by a material property:

1. Click Matl.

The Material Operation window appears.

2. Select a material property. Available properties are:

Permittivity The permittivity, εr.

(epsi)
Permeability The permeability, µr.
(mu)
Conductivity The conductivity, σ.
Omega (w) The angular frequency, ω. The angular frequency is equal to 2πf, where f is
the frequency at which the solution was generated.
MassDensity This is based on the value of the Mass Density material property.
MassDensity is treated like a named expression. Selecting MassDensity
disables the Operation radio buttons for Multiply or Divide in the Material
Operations dialog.

3. For Permittivity, Permeability, Conductivity or Omega, select an operation — Multiply or

Divide. Selecting MassDensity disables these operations. The MassDensity scalar can be
used like any other named expression.
4. Choose OK to operate on the field quantity by a material property or Cancel to stop the
operation. If you selected MassDensity and click OK, a scalar named expression
MassDensity is pushed onto the stack.

Related Topics

Using the Fields Calculator

Vector Commands

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With an HFSS project inserted into the ANSYS Electronics Desktop, click Help>HFSS Getting
Started Guides and select Fields Calculator Cookbook from the list. To access the PDF, click
Help>HFSS PDFs>HFSS Getting Started Guides and select Fields Calculator Cookbook
from the list of PDFs.

Mag Command

Takes the magnitude of the vector quantity in the top register. The magnitude of a complex vector is
defined to be the length of the real vector resulting from taking the modulus of each component of
the original complex vector.

With a complex vector on the calculator stack, the Mag button returns a nonnegative scalar. In
previous software versions, this command returned a complex scalar.

Related Topics

Using the Fields Calculator

Vector Commands

With an HFSS project inserted into the ANSYS Electronics Desktop, click Help>HFSS Getting
Started Guides and select Fields Calculator Cookbook from the list. To access the PDF, click
Help>HFSS PDFs>HFSS Getting Started Guides and select Fields Calculator Cookbook
from the list of PDFs.

Dot Command

Takes the dot product of the vector quantities in the top two registers.

Related Topics

Using the Fields Calculator

Vector Commands

You can access HFSS Fields Calculator Cookbook in a pdf version. With an HFSS project
inserted into ANSYS Electronics Desktop, click Help > Getting Started Guides > Fields
Calculator Cookbook.

Cross Command

Takes the cross product of the vector quantities in the top two registers.

Related Topics

Using the Fields Calculator

Vector Commands

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 HFSS Online Help

You can access HFSS Fields Calculator Cookbook in a pdf version. With an HFSS project
inserted into ANSYS Electronics Desktop, click Help > Getting Started Guides > Fields
Calculator Cookbook.

Divg Command

Takes the divergence of the vector quantity in the top register.

Related Topics

Using the Fields Calculator

Vector Commands

With an HFSS project inserted into the ANSYS Electronics Desktop, click Help>HFSS Getting
Started Guides and select Fields Calculator Cookbook from the list. To access the PDF, click
Help>HFSS PDFs>HFSS Getting Started Guides and select Fields Calculator Cookbook
from the list of PDFs.

Curl Command

Takes the curl of the vector quantity in the top register.

Related Topics

Using the Fields Calculator

Vector Commands

With an HFSS project inserted into the ANSYS Electronics Desktop, click Help>HFSS Getting
Started Guides and select Fields Calculator Cookbook from the list. To access the PDF, click
Help>HFSS PDFs>HFSS Getting Started Guides and select Fields Calculator Cookbook
from the list of PDFs.

Tangent Command

To take the tangent of a vector:

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1. Load a vector quantity into the top register.

2. Load a line into the top register using the Geometry/Line command.
3. Click Tangent.

Related Topics

Using the Fields Calculator

Vector Commands

With an HFSS project inserted into the ANSYS Electronics Desktop, click Help>HFSS Getting
Started Guides and select Fields Calculator Cookbook from the list. To access the PDF, click
Help>HFSS PDFs>HFSS Getting Started Guides and select Fields Calculator Cookbook
from the list of PDFs.

Normal Command

Computes the normal component of a vector quantity on a surface such as a cutplane or object
surface. This is the equivalent of taking the dot product of the quantity with the surface's unit normal
vector:

To take the normal of a vector:

1. Load a vector quantity into the top register.

2. Load a surface into the top register using the Geometry/Surface command.
3. Click Normal.

Note Because surface normals of sheets are not well defined the fields calculator can produce
incorrect results if an expression is evaluated on a sheet. To enforce the correct direction of
the surface normal of a sheet, a faceted 3D object (such as a box) can be defined such that

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one of its planar faces is coincident with the sheet. Because surface normals of a valid
object are always defined in an outward direction in HFSS, the fields calculator uses the
surface normal of the face of the 3D object that is coincident with the sheet.

Related Topics

Using the Fields Calculator

Vector Commands

With an HFSS project inserted into the ANSYS Electronics Desktop, click Help>HFSS Getting
Started Guides and select Fields Calculator Cookbook from the list. To access the PDF, click
Help>HFSS PDFs>HFSS Getting Started Guides and select Fields Calculator Cookbook
from the list of PDFs.

Unit Vec Command

Computes the normal or tangent unit vector. The unit vector is a "wild card" entry. The context is
specified at the time of plotting, integrating, or report generation.

Select from the following:

Tangent Computes the unit vector tangent to the line specified at the time of plotting,
integrating, or report generation based on the context.
Normal Computes the unit vector normal to the surface specified at the time of plotting,
integrating, or report generation based on the context.
CoordSys Computes the unit vector in the X-dimension of the relative coordinate system in the
(X) top register of the calculator stack. Add the relative CS as a geometric object using
the Geometry/Coord command.
CoordSys Computes the unit vector in the Y-dimension of the relative coordinate system in the
(Y) top register of the calculator stack. Add the relative CS as a geometric object using
the Geometry/Coord command.
CoordSys Computes the unit vector in the Z-dimension of the relative coordinate system in the
(Z) top register of the calculator stack. Add the relative CS as a geometric object using
the Geometry/Coord command.

Related Topics

Using the Fields Calculator

Vector Commands

With an HFSS project inserted into the ANSYS Electronics Desktop, click Help>HFSS Getting
Started Guides and select Fields Calculator Cookbook from the list. To access the PDF, click

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Help>HFSS PDFs>HFSS Getting Started Guides and select Fields Calculator Cookbook
from the list of PDFs.

X Form

Computes the offset based on your selection of Cylindrical or Spherical coordinates and your input
of X, Y, and Z offsets for the origin of the new coordinate system. Selecting X Form displays a
selection menu for the coordinate system (ToCyclindrical or To Spherical), after which the Offsets
dialog displays.

Pressing OK will apply the respective coordinate transformation onto the (complex) vector quantity
on the calculator stack. The new expression will be pushed onto the stack. It will be something like
CVc : ToCylindrical(<Ex,Ey,Ez>,offset<0mil,0mil,0mil>) or CVc : ToSpherical
(<Ex,Ey,Ez>,offset<0mil,0mil,0mil>) respectively.

Related Topics

Using the Fields Calculator

Vector Commands

With an HFSS project inserted into the ANSYS Electronics Desktop, click Help>HFSS Getting
Started Guides and select Fields Calculator Cookbook from the list. To access the PDF, click
Help>HFSS PDFs>HFSS Getting Started Guides and select Fields Calculator Cookbook
from the list of PDFs.

Output Commands
Use these commands to compute or evaluate expressions and to output the data in the calculator.

Value Computes the value of a field quantity at a point.

command
Eval Numerically evaluates and displays the results of calculator operations.

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command
Write Saves the contents of the top register to a disk file.
command
Export Saves field quantities in a format that can be read by other modeling or post-
command processing software packages.

Related Topics

Using the Fields Calculator

With an HFSS project inserted into the ANSYS Electronics Desktop, click Help>HFSS Getting
Started Guides and select Fields Calculator Cookbook from the list. To access the PDF, click
Help>HFSS PDFs>HFSS Getting Started Guides and select Fields Calculator Cookbook
from the list of PDFs.

Value Command

This computes the value of a field quantity at a point. Use it to find:

l The magnitude of a scalar field quantity at that point.

l The x-, y-, and z-components of a vector field quantity at that point.

To find the value of a field quantity at a point:

1. Load the field quantity into the top register, and perform any needed operations on it.
2. Load the appropriate point into the calculator using the Geometry/Point command.
3. Click Value.

To view the numerical results of this operation, use the Eval command.

You can also use the Value command to access the intermediate SurfaceValue function.

For example, after inputting an expression for a quantity, such as an E field, and then selecting a
surface geometry, the calculator stack displays something like this.

Clicking the Value command changes the display to the following, showing the intermediate
SurfaceValue function.

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In this case SurfaceValue provides the x, y, z, coordinates of the FEM mesh and Lagrangian points
so you can use Write to generate an .fld file containing an evaluated scalar quantity at those points.
Two of the examples in Using the Fields Calculator pdf also show the intermediate SurfaceValue
function in practical use.

In general for Value:

1. Enter any quantity onto the stack.

2. Enter a volume / surface / line / point onto the stack.
3. Press the Value button and you will get an appropriate geometry value on the stack.

Now you can perform suitable operations such as Write, Integrate, etc. For PointValue you can
also do Eval.

Related Topics

Using the Fields Calculator

With an HFSS project inserted into the ANSYS Electronics Desktop, click Help>HFSS Getting
Started Guides and select Fields Calculator Cookbook from the list. To access the PDF, click
Help>HFSS PDFs>HFSS Getting Started Guides and select Fields Calculator Cookbook
from the list of PDFs.

Eval Command

This command numerically evaluates and displays the results of calculator operations such as
integrations, maximum or minimum field computations, field values at points, and so forth. The
quantity to be evaluated must be in the top register. The Eval command computes the numerical
results of the operation, which replace the contents of the register.

For instance, to find the current around a loop, you must numerically evaluate the following integral

for that loop: .

Since H and I are complex quantities, you will need to evaluate the real part of H to obtain the real
part of I, then evaluate the imaginary part of H to obtain the imaginary part of I. To do this:

1. Load H into the calculator using the Qty command.

2. Take the real part of H using the Cmplx/Real command.
3. Load the rectangular loop using the Geom/Line command. Create the loop, a closed
polyline, to integrate over.
4. Click Tangent to get the component of H along the line.

5. Take the integral around the loop using the command.

6. Click Eval to evaluate the integral. The real part of I appears in the top register.

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7. Repeat this process using the imaginary part of H (found with the Cmplx/Imag command) to
obtain the imaginary part of I.

Related Topics

Using the Fields Calculator

With an HFSS project inserted into the ANSYS Electronics Desktop, click Help>HFSS Getting
Started Guides and select Fields Calculator Cookbook from the list. To access the PDF, click
Help>HFSS PDFs>HFSS Getting Started Guides and select Fields Calculator Cookbook
from the list of PDFs.

Write Command

This command saves the contents of the top register to a disk file. Use this command to:

l Save registers for use during a later post-processing session.

l Save a field quantity for use when post processing a different model.

Note Use of the Global Coordinate System is assumed. Local coordinate systems are not
used.

To save a register:

1. Click Write.
2. If the register includes numeric with a constrained quantity (such as jsurf), you see a dialog
that gives a choice of constraining geometries. For example:

3. Select the geometry of interest, and select OK.

This displays a file browser.

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4. Use the file browser to specify the register's file name and directory path. A .reg extension is
automatically assigned to register files and a .fld extension is assigned to field files. You can
choose to save both .reg and .fld files, or either one.
5. Click OK.

The contents of the register are saved to the file you specified.

Related Topics

Using the Fields Calculator

With an HFSS project inserted into the ANSYS Electronics Desktop, click Help>HFSS Getting
Started Guides and select Fields Calculator Cookbook from the list. To access the PDF, click
Help>HFSS PDFs>HFSS Getting Started Guides and select Fields Calculator Cookbook
from the list of PDFs.

Export Command

This command opens the Export Solution dialog, from which you can export the field quantity in
the top register to a file, mapping it to a grid of points. Use this command to save field quantities in a
format that can be read by other modeling or post-processing software packages. Two options are
available for defining the grid points on which to export:

Input Maps the field quantity to a customized grid of points. Before using this command, you
grid must create a file containing the points and units.
points
from file
Calculate Maps the field quantity to a three-dimensional cartesian grid. You specify the
grid dimensions and spacing of the grid in the cartesian, cylindrical, or spherical
points coordinates, with units that you specify. The initial units are taken from the model.

Note Use of the Global Coordinate System is assumed. Local coordinate systems are not used.

To export a field quantity to a customized grid:

1. Load the quantity into the top register for the fields calculator, and perform any operations on
it.
2. If desired, load a volume using the Geometry command.

You can use the Domain command to limit the calculation to the volume you specify. If you
export a Domain filtered numeric, points that are filtered out by the domain will not be written
out.

3. Click the Export button in the Fields Calculator.

This opens the Export Solution dialog.

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4. Type or select the name of the file in which the field quantity is to be saved in the Output
FileName text box. You can use the file icon to open the file browser to specify the file name
and directory path. A .reg extension is automatically assigned to this file.
5. Click either the Input grid points from file radio button if you have a created a .pts
file containing the grid points, or click the Calculate grid points radio button.
l If you select Input grid points from file, either type the name and directory of the file
containing the points on which the field is to be mapped, or, click on the file icon and use
the file browser to locate the point file (.pts extension).

Note The .pts file should contain the units to use for the export as shown in this file stub:

Unit=mm

-5.5 -5.5 -5.21475

-5.5 -5.5 -5.14425

-5.5 -5.5 -5.07375

-5.5 -5.5 -5.021

l If you select Calculate grid points button, you can specify the coordinate system as
Cartesian, Cylindrical, or Spherical.

Cartesian: for each grid dimension on X, Y, and Z, enter the Minimum, Maximum, and grid
point spacing.

Cylindrical: for each dimension Rho, Phi, and Z, enter the Minimum, Maximum, and grid
point Spacing. You can also specify an origin of Offset.

Spherical: for each dimension R, Theta, and Phi, enter the Minimum, Maximum, and grid
point Spacing. You can also specify an origin of Offset.

Note When you export fields on a 1D or 2D line/surface from the field calculator, the start and
stop values must be the same for one or two of the coordinate system start/stop ranges. If
you specify a zero spacing for a dimension, the export uses only the minimum value.

The default coordinate system will be Cartesian. The default offset will be all zeroes. The
length units will default to model unit and default angle unit will be degree. At the start the
minimum/maximum/Spacing entries are blank. The user entered values are not
remembered when the dialog is closed.

6. For larger files, you may want to uncheck the Include points in output file box. If you
uncheck the box, the file header will include minimum, maximum and spacing information
from which you can recalculate the grid points.
7. Click OK to export the file.

The field quantity is mapped to the grid and saved to the file you specified (.reg extension.).

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Related Topics

Using the Fields Calculator

Input Commands

Domain command

With an HFSS project inserted into the ANSYS Electronics Desktop, click Help>HFSS Getting
Started Guides and select Fields Calculator Cookbook from the list. To access the PDF, click
Help>HFSS PDFs>HFSS Getting Started Guides and select Fields Calculator Cookbook
from the list of PDFs.

Calculating Derived Field Quantities

The Named Expressions panel displays expressions that can be included in register definitions
by name. You can add additional expressions to the Named expression list by creating the
expression in the register display area, and the clicking the Add button. This lets you add to the
Named expression library.

Click on a named expression to select it. When a named expression has been selected, the Copy
to Stack button is activated. Click Copy to Stack to push the expression on the top of the stack.

When an HFSS design is open and a Solution Setup has been performed, the following predefined
named expressions are available. Transient solution types display transient expressions (with _t).

Expression
Expression Definition
Name
Mag_E Mag(AtPhase(Smooth(<Ex,Ey,Ez>),Phase))
Mag_E_t Mag(Smooth(<E_tx,E_ty,Etz>)). Used with Transient projects.
Mag_H Mag(AtPhase(Smooth(<Hx,Hy,Hz>),Phase))
Mag_H_t Mag(Smooth(<Hx,Hy,Hz>). Used with Transient projects.
Mag_Jvol Mag(AtPhase(Smooth(<JVx,JVy,JVz>),Phase))
Mag_Jsurf Mag(AtPhase(Smooth(<Jsurfx,Jsurfy,Jsurfz>),Phase))
Mag_Jsurf_t Mag(<Jsurf_tx,Jsurf_ty,Jsruf_tz>). Used with Transient projects.
ComplexMag_ Mag(CmplxMag(Smooth(<Ex,Ey,Ez>))
E
ComplexMag_ Mag(CmplxMag(Smooth(<Hx,Hy,Hz>))
H
ComplexMag_ Mag(CmplxMag(Smooth(<JVx,JVy,JVz>))
Jvol
ComplexMag_ Mag(CmplxMag(Smooth(<Jsurfx,Jsurfy,Jsurfz>))

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Jsurf
Vector_E AtPhase(Smooth(<Ex,Ey,Ez>),Phase)
VectorE_t (Smooth(<E_tx,E_ty,E_tz>). Used in Transient projects.
Vector_H AtPhase(Smooth(<Hx,Hy,Hz>),Phase)
Vector_H_t (Smooth(<Hx,Hy,Hz>
Vector_Jvol AtPhase(Smooth(<JVx,JVy,JVz>),Phase)
Vector_Jsurf AtPhase(Smooth(<Jsurf_tx,Jsurf_ty,Jsurf_tz>). Used in Transient projects.
Vector_Jsurf_t (Smooth(<Jsurfx,Jsurfy,Jsurfz>)
Vector_ Real(Poynting)
RealPoynting
VectorReal_ Poynting_t. Used in Transient projects.
Poynting_t
Local_SAR LocalSAR
Average_SAR AverageSAR
Surface_ SurfaceLossDensity. See further discussion here.
Loss_Density
Volume_Loss_ VolumeLossDensity. See further discussion here.
Density
Volume_Loss_ VolumeLossDensity_t. Used in Transient projects.
Density_t
Surface Forces exist when one side is conductor, but the other is not, or finite
Surface_ conductivity and layered impedance boundary. This is mainly for the purpose of
Force_Density mapping surface force density in HFSS to Workbench Mechanical. For details
on the calculations, see the technical notes.
Mag_ Mag(Smooth(<Ux,Uy,Uz>)). Magnitude of displacement, used with Workbench
Displacement in projects exploring stress feedback.
Displacement_ Smooth(<Ux,Uy,Uz>). Used with Workbench in projects exploring stress
Vector feedback.

Related Topics

Named Expression Library

Using the Fields Calculator

With an HFSS project inserted into the ANSYS Electronics Desktop, click Help>HFSS Getting
Started Guides and select Fields Calculator Cookbook from the list. To access the PDF, click

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Help>HFSS PDFs>HFSS Getting Started Guides and select Fields Calculator Cookbook
from the list of PDFs.

Named Expression Library

The named expression library in the Fields Calculator provides a way to conveniently calculate
frequently used quantities. The library comes with several predefined expressions. You can
combine calculator Input commands in any legal fashion, including complex quantities, to produce
new named expressions.

l Adding named expressions to the Fields Calculator expression library

l Copying named expressions to the Calculator Stack
l Saving named expressions to a Personal Library
l Loading named expressions
l Deleting named expressions that you added

To add a named expression of your own to the Fields Calculator list:

1. In the register display area, create the expression by using the calculator Input commands.

You can combine input commands in any legal fashion, including the use of complex quantities.
If you select an input command that is not legal for a current operation, you receive an error
message.

2. When you finish creating the expression, click Add in the Named Expressions panel.

The Named Expression dialog box appears.

3. Type a name for the expression in the Name text box.

The new expression is added to the list of named expressions.

To copy a named expressions to the Calculator Stack

l You can scroll through the list, select any desired named expression, and click Copy to
Stack to move it to the calculator stack, where you can use it to generate calculated outputs.

To delete named expressions that you added:

When the Named Expression list contains one or more user-defined expressions, the Delete and
Clear All buttons are active (you cannot delete or clear the predefined named expressions.)

l To delete the selected user-defined named expression, click Delete. To delete all user-
defined named expressions, click Clear All.

To save one or more named expressions for the Fields Calculator to a personal Library:

1. Click the Save To button on the Fields Calculator.

The Select Expressions for Saving dialog displays.

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2. If any new named expressions exist, you can select one or more to save to a file.
3. Give a file name, and click OK to save the file.

To load named expressions for the Fields Calculator from a personal library:

1. From the Fields Calculator, click Load From.

This displays a file browser that you can use to search for existing .clc files.

2. Select the library to load and click OK.

This loads the expression file you have selected.

Related Topics

Calculating Derived Field Quantities

Using the Fields Calculator

You can access HFSS Fields Calculator Cookbook in a pdf version. With an HFSS project
inserted into ANSYS Electronics Desktop, click Help > Getting Started Guides > Fields
Calculator Cookbook.

Exiting the Fields Calculator

Click Done to exit the Fields Calculator.

Related Topics

Using the Fields Calculator

With an HFSS project inserted into the ANSYS Electronics Desktop, click Help>HFSS Getting
Started Guides and select Fields Calculator Cookbook from the list. To access the PDF, click
Help>HFSS PDFs>HFSS Getting Started Guides and select Fields Calculator Cookbook
from the list of PDFs.

Radiated Fields Post Processing

To analyze the radiated fields associated with a design, define a radiation surface over which the
fields will be calculated. Such a surface can be a boundary radiation surface, or a custom radiation
surface which you define as a face list. The values of the fields over this surface are used to
compute the fields in the space surrounding the device. This space is typically split into two regions
— the near-field region and the far-field region. The near-field region exists at less than a wave
length from an energy source. The far field is where radiation occurs. See Radiated Fields for the
specific equations used in HFSS for calculating the near and far field regions.

You can define a spherical surface over which to analyze the near or far fields by specifying a range
and step size for phi and theta. This defines the spherical direction in which radiated fields will be
evaluated. You can also draw a line along which to calculate the near fields.

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You also may need to edit the Global Material Environment in consideration of the far fields
calcuclation.

Optionally, after defining the radiation surface, HFSS can compute antenna array radiation
patterns and antenna parameters for designs that have analyzed a single array element. HFSS
models the array radiation pattern by applying an "array factor" to the single element's pattern
when far fields are calculated. You set up the array factor information by defining either a finite, 2D
array geometry of uniformly spaced, equal-amplitude elements (a regular array) or an arbitrary
array of identical elements distributed in 3D space with individual complex weights (a custom
array.)

HFSS can also compute antenna parameters, such as the maximum intensity, peak directivity,
peak gain, and radiation efficiency. For near-field analysis, HFSS can also compute maximum
parameters, such as the maximum of the total E-field and the maximum E-field in the x-direction.

Note When computing near and far fields, keep in mind that you must have defined at least one
radiation or PML boundary in the design. At any time you may change the radiation
surfaces that HFSS uses when calculating the radiated fields without needing to re-solve
the problem, but the radiation-type boundary is still required.

Related Topics

Setting Up a Near-Field Sphere

Setting Up a Near-Field Line

Drawing Non-Model Objects

Computing Maximum Near Field Parameters

Setting up a Far-Field Infinite Sphere

Defining Antenna Arrays

Computing Antenna Parameters

Technical Notes:Radiated Fields

Setting up a Near-Field Sphere 

To evaluate near fields on a spherical surface, set up a near-field sphere. Near fields are evaluated
at a fixed finite distance from the radiating device. You can use the near-field sphere setup to
create near-field reports.

1. To create a near-field sphere setup, click HFSS> or HFSS-IE>Radiation>Insert Near

Field Setup>Sphere to bring up the Near Field Radiation Sphere Setup dialog.

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2. Use the Sphere tab define the Name, Radius, and sampling of Phi and Theta for the near-
field sphere. The radius is measured from the origin of the sphere's coordinate system,
which you specify under the Coordinate System tab. You can assign a variable to the
radius, and a post-processing variable will often make sense in this context.

Specify the sphere's sampling in terms of Start, Stop, and Step Size angles given in radians or
degrees. To verify your settings, use the View Sweep Points button to display a list of the theta
and phi sweep points. See Spherical Cross-Sections in the Technical Notes for guidelines for
setting phi and theta.

You can use Save as Defaults to set the current values as the default for new near-field
sphere setups.

3. Use the Coordinate Systems tab to specify the orientation of the sphere.

Use global coordinate system is selected by default, but in some cases the orientation of the
antenna requires the use of a local coordinate system. In this case, select Use local
coordinate system, and choose a local coordinate system that you created previously in the
modeler.

4. Use the Radiation Surface tab to select the solved surface from which to calculate radiated
fields.

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Use Boundary Radiation Surfaces is selected by default, indicating that the radiated fields
will be calculated using the assigned radiation or PML surface. For some models you may find it
it more efficient and/or accurate to use an interior surface. In this case, select Use Custom
Radiation Surface, and choose a face list that you previously created in the modeler.

Notes

You must have defined at least one radiation or PML boundary in the design for HFSS to compute
near-field quantities, regardless of which radiation surfaces you instruct HFSS to use when
calculating the near fields. You do not need to re-solve the problem if you modify radiation surfaces
in the Near Field Radiation Sphere Setup dialog.

Related Topics

Selecting Faces

Creating a Face List

Radiated Fields Post Processing

Assigning PML Boundaries

Assigning Radiation Boundaries

Technical Notes: Spherical Cross-Sections

Setting up a Near-Field Line

To evaluate the near field along a line, set up a near-field line. The near-field line can be a polyline
with one or more segments. To plot near-field values along the line, you will select the line object
from the Geometry list in the Traces dialog box when you create a report.

1. Draw a polyline in post-processing mode.

2. Click HFSS or HFSS-IE>Radiation>Insert Near Field Setup>Line.

The Near Field Line Setup dialog box appears.

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3. Under the Near Field Line Setup tab, type a name for the line in the Name text box.
4. Select the polyline along which you want to evaluate the near fields from the Choose Line
list.
5. Specify the Number of points in the line.

This is the total number of equally spaced points on the line. Specifying points on the line will
enable you to plot the near-field values across a normalized distance, that is, to create a value
versus distance plot of a near-field quantity on the line.

You can click the View Sweep Points button to view a dialog that lists the points.

6. Click the Radiation Surface tab.

By default, the Use Boundary Radiation Surfaces radio button is selected.

To specify a surface other than an assigned radiation or PML boundary over which to integrate
the radiated fields, you must first create a face list. To create a facelist see Creating a Face List.
The face list cannot include a face that lies on a PML object.

If you have created one or more face lists, the Use Custom Radiation Surface radio button is
enabled.

a. Select Use Custom Radiation Surface.

This enables the Choose from existing face list field.

b. Select a defined face list from drop down menu.

HFSS will use the surfaces in the face list as the radiating surfaces when calculating the near
fields.

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7. Click OK.

You must have defined at least one radiation or PML boundary in the design for HFSS to compute
near-field quantities, regardless of which radiation surfaces you instruct HFSS to use when
calculating the near fields. You do not need to re-solve the problem if you modify radiation surfaces
in the Near Field Line Setup window.

Note For parts of the near-field line lying outside of the model region, near-field approximation is
calculated. However, if parts of the line lie inside the model region, the model fields are
used to compute interpolated values. A section of the near-field line is considered to
overlap the model if it lies in the enlarged model region after accounting for symmetry
planes.

Related Topics

Assigning PML Boundaries

Assigning Radiation Boundaries

Radiated Fields Post Processing

Computing Maximum Near-Field Parameters

You must have defined at least one radiation or PML boundary in the design for HFSS to compute
maximum field data for the near-field region.

1. Right-click the Sphere or Line icon in the project tree, and then click Compute Max
Parameters on the shortcut menu.

The Select Solution dialog box appears.

2. Under the Solutions tab, select the solution for which you want HFSS to compute the near-
field parameters.
3. Under the Intrinsic Variables tab, select the solved frequency point at which you want
HFSS to compute the near-field parameters.

The Max Field Data window appears, listing the following information:

Total
X
Y
Z
Phi
Theta
LHCP

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RHCP
Ludwig 3/X dominant
Ludwig 3/Y dominant

Note When calculating the maximum far-field values, the distance r is factored out of the E-field.
Therefore, the units for the maximum field data values are given in volts.

Related Topics

Radiated Fields Post Processing

Assigning PML Boundaries

Assigning Radiation Boundaries

Technical Notes: Maximum Near-Field Data

Setting up a Far-Field Infinite Sphere 

To evaluate radiated fields in the far-field region, you must set up an infinite sphere that surrounds
the radiating object. To plot far-field values across the sphere, you will select the sphere object from
the Geometry list in the Traces dialog box when you create a report. To evaluate RCS using a
design with an incident plane wave and an SBR+ region, you can also setup an infinite sphere.

1. Click HFSS or HFSS-IE>Radiation>Insert Far Field Setup>Infinite Sphere or for use

with SBR+ Solver options, click the Create... button under on the SBR+ Solver options
on Hybrid tab of the Solution setup

The Far Field Radiation Sphere Setup window appears.

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2. Use the Sphere tab define the Name, Radius, and sampling of Phi and Theta for the near-
field sphere. The radius is measured from the origin of the sphere's coordinate system,
which you specify under the Coordinate System tab. You can assign a variable to the
radius, and a post-processing variable will often make sense in this context.

Specify the sphere's sampling in terms of Start, Stop, and Step Size angles given in radians or
degrees. To verify your settings, use the View Sweep Points button to display a list of the theta
and phi sweep points. See Spherical Cross-Sections in the Technical Notes for guidelines for
setting phi and theta.

You can use Save as Defaults to set the current values as the default for new near-field
sphere setups.

3. Use the Coordinate Systems tab to specify the orientation of the sphere.

Use global coordinate system is selected by default, but in some cases the orientation of the
antenna requires the use of a local coordinate system. In this case, select Use local
coordinate system, and choose a local coordinate system that you created previously in the
modeler.

4. Use the Radiation Surface tab to select the solved surface from which to calculate radiated
fields.

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Use Boundary Radiation Surfaces is selected by default, indicating that the radiated fields
will be calculated using the assigned radiation or PML surface. For some models you may find it
it more efficient and/or accurate to use an interior surface. In this case, select Use Custom
Radiation Surface, and choose a face list that you previously created in the modeler.

Note Do not use a sheet-object based face list as the radiation computation surface.

You can use the Save as Default to set the current values as a default, and the Use Defaults
button to use previously saved options.

Note You must have defined at least one radiation or PML boundary in the design for HFSS to
compute far-field quantities, regardless of which radiation surfaces you instruct HFSS to
use when calculating the far fields. You do not need to re-solve the problem if you modify
radiation surfaces in the Far Field Radiation Sphere Setup window.

Related Topics

Radiated Fields Post Processing

Setting Hybrid Parameters for HFSS

Global Material Environment

Assigning PML Boundaries

Assigning Radiation Boundaries

Technical Notes: Spherical Cross-Sections

Creating a Face List

Defining Antenna Arrays

Define a regular or custom antenna array when you want HFSS to compute antenna array
radiation patterns and antenna parameters for designs that have only a single array element.
HFSS models the array radiation pattern by applying an "array factor" to the single element's
pattern when far fields are calculated.

The "regular uniform array" geometry defines a finite 2D array of uniformly spaced, equal-
amplitude elements. This is a natural specification after phased array applications. The "custom
array" geometry defines an arbitrary array of identical elements distributed in 3D space with
individual user-specified complex weights.

If you define an antenna array, the antenna setup icon in Project tree changes from a single
antenna an array icon.

Related Topics

Radiated Fields Post Processing

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Defining a Regular Antenna Array

Defining a Custom Antenna Array

Defining a Regular Antenna Array

A regular antenna array is a finite 2D array geometry of uniformly spaced, equal-amplitude cells
with a linear phase shift.

1. Click HFSS or HFSS-IE>Radiation>Antenna Array Setup.

The Antenna Array Setup window appears.

2. Under the Array Type tab, select Regular Array Setup.

3. Click the Regular Array tab.
4. Under First Cell Position, enter the xyz-coordinates where the first cell is placed.
5. Under Directions, define the lattice vectors:
a. To the right of U Vector, enter the vector coordinates in the X, Y, and Z text boxes along
which the cells in the U-direction are placed.
b. To the right of V Vector, enter the vector coordinates in the X, Y, and Z text boxes along
which the cells in the V-direction are placed.
6. Under Distance Between Cells, enter the distance between cells in the U-direction and the
distance between cells in the V-direction in the design units.
7. Under Number of Cells, enter the number of unit cells in the U-direction and the number of
unit cells in the V-direction.
8. Under Scan Definition, specify the scan direction in one of the following ways:
l Select Use settings from slave boundary. If the design includes a master/slave set,
you can select this to use that scan angle.
l Select Use Custom Scan Angles to directly enter the scan angles in degrees, in the
radiation coordinate system in the Theta and Phi text boxes.
l Select Use Differential Phase Shift to enter the phase difference in degrees, between
adjacent elements, in the In U direction and In V direction text boxes.
9. Click OK.

The array factor will be applied, using the information you specified, when far fields are
calculated.

Related Topics

Radiated Fields Post Processing

Technical Notes:Array Factor Calculation

Technical Notes:Regular Uniform Arrays

Technical Notes:Scan Specification for Regular Uniform Arrays

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Defining a Custom Antenna Array

A custom antenna array is a an arbitrary array of identical elements distributed in 3D space with
individual user-specified complex weights. The array is defined in a text file that includes the
element positions, voltage amplitude weights, and phases. See Custom Arrays in the Technical
Notes for examples of custom array geometry text files.

Note For custom antenna arrays, phases should be specified in radians.

1. Click HFSS or HFSS-IE>Radiation>Antenna Array Setup.

The Antenna Array Setup window appears.

2. Under the Array Type tab, select Custom Array Setup.

3. Click the Custom Array tab.
4. Click Import Definition.

The Open dialog box appears.

5. Follow the procedure for opening a file. Select .txt as the file type. When you are finished,
click Open.
6. Optionally, review the definition in the text file by clicking View Definition under the Custom
Array Setup tab.
7. Click OK.

The array factor will be applied, using the information specified in the text file, when far fields are
calculated.

Related Topics

Radiated Fields Post Processing

Technical Notes:Custom Arrays

Technical Notes:Array Factor Calculation

Computing Antenna Parameters 

You must have defined at least one radiation or PML boundary in the design for HFSS to compute
antenna parameters and maximum field data for the far-field region. You can Export the calculated
antenna parameters and maximum field data to a file. You can also Export Fields for a selected
setup in the .csv format or .ffd format. This can be useful for situations when want to share the fields
without sharing the model geometry. You can also save for use on an Overlay.

1. To select the radiation setup from the Project tree, right-click the Infinite Sphere icon in the
project tree under Radiation, and then click Compute Antenna Parameters on the

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shortcut menu.

Or, to select the radiation setup from a dialog, click HFSS or HFSS-IE>Radiation>Compute
Antenna Max/Params.

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The Antenna Parameters dialog box appears.

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2. Select the Radiation Setup Name.

3. For the Solution, select the solution for which you want HFSS to compute antenna
parameters.
4. If there is an array, select the setup to use.
5. For the Intrinsic Variation, select the solved frequency point at which you want HFSS to
compute antenna parameters.
6. If there is more than one Design Variation available, you can select from the drop down
menu.
7. The Antenna Parameters table lets you view computed parameters. If the design includes
ports, the following antenna parameters are listed:

Maximum intensity (Max U)

Peak directivity
Peak gain
Peak realized gain
Radiated power
Accepted power
Incident power
Radiation efficiency
Front to Back Ratio
Decay Factor

Warning The computed values of max U and peak directivity depend on the user-
determined set of aspect angles chosen for the computation of the radiated
fields. If this set does not encompass the actual peak intensity of the radiated
pattern, the displayed results for these three parameters will be inaccurate.

Note Accepted Power is computed from the raw S-parameter data. Post-processing
operations are excluded from the calculation, for example, renormalized S-
parameters.

Note It is important to understand the impact of passive ports (for Transient Network
designs or models containing an Array with passive ports) on antenna parameters.
For accepted power calculations, passive ports are not included when computing the
total power passing through the union of all port surfaces. This means that the
passive ports can be viewed as a loss mechanism for the device and it is not
equivalent to viewing the passive ports as active ports with zero excitations.

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Gain and realized gain are very close to each other when the antenna is matched. However, for
designs with a multi-port antenna, gain and realized gain can be different if incident and
accepted power are different. There can be a small reflection at the ports and accepted power
may still be small if energy injected in one port exits the model through a different port. A review
of the S-matrix can show this to be the case. This does not happen in a single port antenna,
which is what most users base their expectations on.

When global material environment is a lossy material, antenna parameters such as gain and
radiated power are no longer unique because the radiated power depends on the location of the
radiation surface since power is lost as the wave travels in the background material.

If the design does not have ports, the following antenna parameters are listed:

Maximum intensity (Max U)

Peak directivity
Radiated power

8. You can view the following maximum far-field data:

Total
X
Y
Z
Phi
Theta
LHCP
RHCP
Ludwig 3/X dominant
Ludwig 3/Y dominant

Note When calculating the maximum far-field values, the distance r is factored out of the
E-field. Therefore, the units for the maximum field data values are given in volts.

Related Topics

Radiated Fields Post Processing

Exporting Antenna Parameters and Maximum Field Data

Antenna Parameters: Save for Overlay

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Creating Antenna Parameter Overlays

Technical Notes: Antenna Parameters

Technical Notes:Maximum Far-Field Data

Add Trace Characteristics

Exporting Antenna Parameters and Maximum Field Data

The Antenna Parameters dialog displays the calculated antenna parameters and Maximum Field
data for a setup. The dialog also includes a buttons to Export antenna parameters and to Export
Fields. The fields can be exported in ffd or .csv format and imported into reporter as a table. You
can specify the Setup Name, the Solution, Array Setup (if any), Intrinsic Variation, and Design
Variation.

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The Setup Name corresponds to the Radiation Setups you create, or that are created by the
Antenna Design Kit, for example:

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To open the Antenna Parameters dialog, right-click on the Radiation setup for which you want to
export parameters or fields, and select Compute Antenna Parameters from the menu

To export the antenna parameters to a text file:

1. Click the Export button on the Antenna Parameters dialog.

This displays a file browser.

2. Specify the file name and location (or accept the defaults).
3. Click Save.

This saves the text file and closes the browser.

Parameter Format: The parameters are exported to a text file in the following format:

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To export the maximum field data to a comma separated format file:

1. Click the Export Fields button on the Antenna Parameters dialog

This displays a file browser

2. Specify the file name and location (or accept the defaults)
3. Select Save as type as Far Field Data (*.ffd) or Comma Separated (*.csv).
3. Click Save.

This saves a text file for the selected Radiation setup in the specified type and closes the
browser.

Depending on the kind of Radiation Setup you define, and your Save as type specification, and the
coordinate system of the design, the formats will differ. For example for an Infinite Sphere
Radiation Setup, the Phi and Theta appear as follows:

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The first lines of the exported .ffd file show the Theta start and stop, then number of steps and then
the Phi start and stop values, then number of steps, followed on the next line by the Frequencies
number, then on the next line, the first frequency value, followed by field values for that frequency.

As another example, consider the following radiation Setup.

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The first lines of the exported .ffd file show the Theta start and stop, then the number of steps and
then the Phi start and stop values, then the number of steps, followed on the next line by the
Frequencies number, then on the next line, the first frequency value, followed by field values for
that frequency.

The following Radiation Setup, combined with the .csv format, produces a different set of first lines,
and a differently formatted file.

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In this .csv file, the first line specifies that the following row includes variation index inclosed in
double quotes, then phi value, theta value, then rEPhi (mag ang), rEtheta (mag ang).

Far fields format:

Index, Phi(rad), Theta(rad), rEPhi(mag ang), rETheta(mag ang)

Near fields format in Cartesian Coordinate System:

Index, X, Y, Z, Ex(real, imag), Ey(real, imag), Ez(real, imag), Hx
(real, imag), Hy(real, imag), Hz(real, imag)

Near fields format in Spherical Coordinates System:

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Index, Theta, Phi, Er(real, imag), Etheta(real, imag), Ephi(real,

imag), Hr(real, imag), Htheta(real, imag), Hphi(real, imag)

Related Topics

Radiated Fields Post Processing

Computing Antenna Parameters

Technical Notes: Antenna Parameters

Technical Notes: Maximum Far-Field Data

Antenna Parameters: Save for Overlay 

To save antenna parameters for overlay, you can either use the Save for Overlay button in the
Antenna Parameters dialog, or go through the HFSS>Radiation>Insert Far Fields
Setup>Antenna Parameters Overlay command, or right click on the Radiation icon for the
shortcut menu and select Insert Far Field Setup>Antenna Parameters Overlay.

These methods display the Overlay dialog.

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Here you can specify the Name, the Setup to use, an Array, if any, and which design variation to
use. You can then check which antenna parameters to save for use in an overlay.

You can specify multiple intrinsic variations (for example, parameters at several frequencies), just
as in the Compute Antenna Parameters dialog. Click the ellipsis button [...] to select from
available variations.

When you OK the dialog, the Antenna icon appears under the Radiation icon in the Project tree.

You can rename, delete, undo, or redo just as for any other item in the Project tree.

Once you have created an overlay, you can also edit the name, setup, solution, variation, and so
forth, and have the changes immediately reflected in the display. To display the saved Overlay, see
Creating and Displaying Antenna Parameter Overlays.

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Creating and Displaying Antenna Parameter Overlays

An Antenna Parameter Overlay is a table of antenna parameters that you can overlay on the 3D
Modeler window for Far Field radiation plots an animations.

1. To create and display an overlay, you can either use the Save for Overlay button in the
Antenna Parameters dialog, or go through the HFSS>Radiation>Insert Far Fields
Setup>Antenna Parameters Overlay command, or right click on the Radiation icon for the
shortcut menu and select Insert Far Field Setup>Antenna Parameters Overlay.

These methods display the Overlay dialog.

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Here you can specify the Name, the Setup to use, an Array, if any, and which design variation to
use. You can then check which antenna parameters to save for use in an overlay.

You can specify multiple intrinsic variations (for example, parameters at several frequencies),
just as in the Compute Antenna Parameters dialog. Click the ellipsis button [...] to select from
available variations.

2. When you OK the dialog, the Antenna icon appears under the Radiation icon in the Project
tree.

You can rename, delete, undo, or redo just as for any other item in the Project tree.

3. To display the Antenna Parameter an overlay, you either click HFSS>Fields>Plot

Fields>Radiation Fields or right click on Field Overlays in the Project tree and select Plot
Fields>Radiation Field from the short cut menu.

The Antenna parameters appear as a selection on the Overlay radiation field dialog.

4. Check the Visible check box and click Apply to cause the parameters to display as an
overlay on the lower left of the 3D Modeler window.

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Once you have created an overlay, you can also edit the name, setup, solution, variation, and so
forth, and have the changes immediately reflected in the display.te and display an antenna
parameters overlay:

Visual Ray Trace (VRT) for SBR+ Simulation

Visual Ray Trace (VRT) is a powerful feature available in HFSS for visualizing the ray geometry
and interactions for an SBR+ simulation. Since SBR+ relies on “painting” physical optics (PO)
currents on the geometry, VRT can provide valuable insight for analyzing these PO contributions
from the direct illumination first-bounce rays and the multi-bounce rays we propagate using
geometric optics (GO). The “hit point” locations for each ray bounce may be visualized, the ray
paths between each bounce may be visualized, and the “footprints” that are used to integrate the
PO currents at each bounce may be visualized. The VRT feature includes a number of other
rendering controls and options to filter whole ray tracks or individual ray bounces, visualize ray
scattering directions, and color ray point/lines/footprints according to different criteria.

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Using Visual Ray Trace (VRT) Minimal Physics in ANSYS Electronics

Desktop
To use the VRT feature, you must create one or more SBR+ hybrid regions within an HFSS
design. Boundary conditions (BCs) may be assigned to the geometry inside the SBR+ region(s),
but there are some limitations in what boundary conditions are supported. HFSS currently
supports assignment of Perfect E, Perfect H, Impedance, Finite Conductivity, and Layered
Impedance boundaries to geometry in the SBR+ region. Other boundaries are not yet supported
for SBR+ and VRT, and produce an error if you attempted to use them with VRT. Note also that
surface roughness must be set to “0” for all BCs assigned to SBR+ region geometry.

Once you have an appropriate HFSS design, there are three different ways in the user interface to
create a new Visual Ray Trace Plot:

l Right-click on the Field Overlays icon in the Project Tree and select Plot VRT... from the
short cut menu.
l Right-click on the 3D Modeler window and select Plot VRT... from the popup menu.
l Click HFSS>Fields>Plot VRT...

After you use one of these approaches, the Create VRT Plot dialog displays:

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To Specify Name check the box to enable the text field. To Specify Folder, check the box to
enable the selection menu.

Ray Launch Parameters

“Max Frequency” and “Ray Density” parameters control the density of rays that will be launched
from the source for the Visual Ray Trace

“Launch from” parameters configure the source launch point for the VRT rays. You can use an
existing Point object, or specify a custom XYZ coordinate. By default, the rays launch from the
origin of the global coordinate system.

“Shoot Filter” can limit the number of rays generated. You can select from these to diagnose model
issues or to explore sub-regions of a very large or dense mesh:

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l All Rays (normal, default behavior)

l Rays by index: ray indices may be used to limit the rays to a specified range/interval by
Start/Stop, or can skip rays by changing the Step value from 1
l Rays in box: a non-model Box can be created and used to specify a subset of the SBR+
region geometry in which to generate rays. The box must be created where you want the
plot and does not support operations such as Move or Rotate and so forth.
l Single Ray: specify a theta/phi angle relative to the launch point for a single ray to be
generated

Accepting the parameters and clicking Done to dismiss the dialog runs the VRT generation to
produce SBR+ ray data. Only the geometries contained in the SBR+ regions are used for the
VRT ray generation.

A new “Visual Ray Trace SBR” plot folder is created under Field Overlays, which contains one or
more “VRT_Plot” items.

If you run Plot VRT... again, that creates an additional VRT plot item under the “Visual Ray Trace
SBR” folder, or a different folder name if you specify one in the Create VRT Plot dialog.

VRT Plot Properties

The Properties of each VRT_Plotn item are the same as those created in the Create VRT Plot
dialog.

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Each Visual Ray Trace SBR plot has an additional read-only tabbed property page that displays
Ray Statistics output from the ray generation process.

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Modifying VRT Plots

You can modify VRT Plot node properties directly in the Properties window to cause immediate
updates to the plot data. You can also right-click on the plot item and select Modify Plot… to again
bring up the Create VRT Plot dialog to make multiple changes and then commit them to the same,
or a differently named plot.

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Design Edits that Invalidate the Mesh Invalidate VRT Plots

Any design edits that invalidate the mesh (object/surface delete, modify, change in BC assignment)
will also invalidate VRT plots. HFSS does not automatically regenerate the VRT plot after a design
edit. You can update plots update by right-clicking on the Visual Ray Trace SBR folder and
selecting Update Plots.

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Visual Ray Trace SBR Folder Properties

All the render and filter parameters appear as Properties of the parent Visual Ray Trace SBR
folder. Each “Visual Ray Trace SBR” plot folder provides a grouping of render/filter attributes.
Much like setting specific plot attributes like 2D plot extents, scaling, colormaps, etc., the render
and filter parameters for all VRT plots are performed at this folder level. The different categories of
render and filter operations are kept as separate tabs for: Rendering, Filters, and Rx Filters.

All render and filter property changes are immediate and will automatically refresh the 3D modeler
window
Rendering Properties Tab

The Rendering tab properties control which items are drawn for each ray track:

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l Draw as Lines: show the “rays” connecting the launch point, each intersection point, and the
exit point.
l Draw as Points: show the point for each ray bounce where we intersect the geometry.
l Draw Ray Footprints: show the ray tube projection for each ray bounce.
l Draw Exit Rays: show the final ray of a ray track if/when it exits the geometry and is
scattered away (note: ray tracks that reach “Max Bounce” may not have an exit ray).

Ray Coloring controls:

l “Color by: Number of Reflections”: the full ray track branch (from creation to exit) is colored
according to the number of reflection bounces occurring for that ray track segment.
l “Color by: Number of Transmissions”: the full ray track branch (from creation to exit) is
colored according to the number of transmission bounces occurring for that ray track
segment.

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l “Color by: Bounce Number”: each ray bounce of the ray track branch is colored a different
color, according to the bounce number of that ray
Filter Properties Tab

The Filter properties tab controls which ray tracks and/or bounces are shown in the 3D modeler
window.

l Filter Full Ray Tracks: Number of Reflections: use the Minimum and Maximum Reflections
values to show only those ray tracks within the specified range of
l reflected bounces (filters out whole ray tracks).
l Filter Full Ray Tracks: Number of Transmissions: use the Minimum and Maximum
Transmissions values to show only those ray tracks within the specified range of transmitted
bounces (filters out whole ray tracks).
l Filter Individual Ray Bounces: Number of Bounces: use the Minimum and Maximum values
to show specific bounce numbers from all ray tracks (filters out individual bounces).

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Note these Filters can be used in combination to show only the specified ray bounces from a
filtered set of ray tracks (e.g. - show only the 2nd and higher bounces for ray tracks that have no
transmitted rays).
Rx Filter Properties Tab

Use an “Rx Filter” to show only ray tracks that satisfy a specified scatter direction (far-field) or
spatial filter (near-field).

l Receiver Type: Near-field: use a spatial probe type of filter to only show ray tracks that go
near a specified point/location, within some tolerance
l Receiver Type: Far-field: use a far-field directional filter to only show ray tracks whose exit
ray direction (i.e. - scattering direction) is the specified theta/phi angle, within some tolerance

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Related Topics

HFSS-Savant Datalink Toolkit

Animating VRT Plots

Plotting the Mesh

Before or after the solution is complete, you can plot the finite element mesh on surfaces or within
3D objects.

1. Select a surface or object to create the mesh plot on or within.

If it does not exist, create it.

2. Click HFSS >Fields>Plot Mesh.

The Create Mesh Plot dialog appears.

3. Select field type for mesh plot.

4. Select the solution to use from the drop down list and click Done.

The mesh appears on the surface or object you selected. An icon for the mesh also appears in
the Project tree under Field Overlays - Mesh Plots.

If a solution is ongoing, you can select the Mesh Plots icon in the in the Project tree, right-click to
display the shortcut menu, and click Update Plots. This updates the mesh plot to latest data
available. After the last adaptive pass, the Mesh plot is automatically updated.

If a mesh includes seeding, these effects appear at the start of the adaptive passes. Any mesh
adaptation at the start of a sub sequent pass is not plotted until after that pass is completed. This
delay ensures that mesh plots and actual solutions remain consistent with each other.

You can modify an existing plot by selecting the plot and changing the properties.

If you modify the geometry of an object, the solution is invalidated, and the mesh plot is
removed.

Related Topics

Setting Mesh Plot Attributes

Setting Mesh Plot Attributes 

1. Select the Mesh Plots icon under Field Overlays in the Project tree, right-click, and select
Modify Attributes to display the Mesh Plots dialog.

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You can also click HFSS or HFSS-IE>Field Overlays>Modify Plot Attributes , after
which the Select Folder window appears. Select the folder containing the mesh plot you want
to modify, and then click OK to display the Mesh Plots dialog.

For Mesh plots, the following attributes can be modified:

Plot A drop down list of available plots.

Scale Factor The size at which the tets are displayed. Scaling may let you analyze particular
situations better. For example, a scale factor of 80% draws the tetrahedra at 80%
of their original size.

Use the Scale factor slider to increase (move to the right) or decrease (move to
the left) the percentage of the tetrahedra size.
Transparency The degree of transparency for the tets. This is useful for viewing objects or plots
behind the current plot.

Use the Transparency slider to increase (move to the right) or decrease (move
to the left) the transparency of the plot.
Mesh type Whether to display the tets as wire frame or shaded, and whether to Add Grid.
Mesh Color The color for the tet edge lines and fill. Clicking the button for each displays a
for Line and color selection dialog.
Fill
Surface Only Whether to plot the surface only, or all tets inside selected objects.
Real Time Whether to show changes to a mesh in real time. If this option is cleared, click
Apply when you want to see the changes

2. By default the Plot Quality selection is Normal. You can use the drop down menu to select
Coarse, Normal, Fine, or Very Fine. The higher the resolution, the more memory used.

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Higher quality selections permit visualization of curvilinear mesh elements. With the Coarse
setting, facets do not snap to the midpoint edge.

Normal setting displays snapping to the midpoint edge.

Fine setting displays more of the curvilinear tets.

Very fine gives the most accurate display, though using the most memory.

3. Click the Save as default button if you want the tab's settings to apply to mesh plots created
after this point.
4. Click Close to dismiss the dialog box.

Related Topics

Setting a Plot's Visibility

Plotting the Mesh

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Plotting Field Overlays

User Defined Outputs  (UDOs)

User defined outputs (UDOs) allow users to define calculations through IronPython scripts or any
.NET language (and used by the IronPython script). The UDO scripts need to be in the
UserDefinedOutputs directory under either syslib,userlib or Personallib with any directory
structure needed for organization (the Lib directory name is special and its purpose will be
explained later on in the document)

The UDO scripts that are placed in syslib/UserDefinedOutputs, userlib/UserDefinedOutputs or

Personallib/UserDefinedOutputs become available to the user to create "User Defined Solutions"
through the Results>Create User Defined Solution menu.

Use Results>Create User Defined Solution>Update Menu to refresh the menu to include the
new UDO scripts that might have been copied to syslib, userlib or Personallib, or exclude them if
they have been deleted, after the launch of desktop. Once the user-defined-solution is created, the
solution and the calculations defined by UDO become available in Reporter as any other quantities
in a new "User Defined" report type.

Related Topics

User Defined Outputs: Python Script API

User Defined Outputs: Script Organization

Named Probes and Properties in User Defined Outputs

Computation of Traces Based UDO Calculations

Dimensions Reduction by UDO Calculations

Dynamic Probes

See the HFSSScripting Guide for information about User Defined Outputs in Python Scripts.

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Named Probes and Properties in User Defined Outputs

UDOs allow processing data across traces, solutions and report types. A UDO specifies the named
probes and properties for which user selects/enters the values at the time of creation of user
defined solution. Probes are very similar to traces except that the user selects the values of only
intrinsic variables for probes. The values of design/project variables are selected when a trace is
created based upon the user defined solution in reporter.

For example, you could create a user defined solution called EyeTiming_1.

You can then access this solution in the Reporter.

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Related Topics

User Defined Outputs: An Introduction

Computation of Traces Based UDO Calculations

Dimensions Reduction by UDO Calculations

Dynamic Probes

Computation of Traces Based UDO Calculations

When traces that are based upon UDO outputs are computed, the data for probes is computed and
passed to the UDO script for each design variation. Along with the probe data, the values of
properties entered by user are also passed. The information about the UDO calculations that need
to be computed is also made available. The UDO then performs the computation and passes the
results to reporter. Note that UDOs can compute and pass back more calculations than have been
requested at that point of time. This allows UDOs to compute a set of calculations that take almost
same amount of computational resources as any one calculation in that set and cache that with

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reporter. When those calculations are subsequently plotted by user, reporter will use the cached
results instead of invoking the computation on UDO.

Related Topics

User Defined Outputs: An Introduction

Named Probes and Properties in User Defined Outputs

Dimensions Reduction by UDO Calculations

Dynamic Probes

Dimensions Reduction by UDO Calculations

The probes in a UDO can have heterogeneous dimensions of data, for example, one probe in a
UDO can have data that is a function of n intrinsic variable, while another probe in same UDO can
have data that is function of m intrinsic variables, with n and m potentially being different. UDOs
allow reducing any number of these intrinsic variables, for example in the above example UDO
calculations can be function of any number of intrinsic variables including not being function of any
intrinsic variable at all. UDO calculations can also be a function of an intrinsic variable that none of
the probes is function of. The only restriction is that Freq cannot be reduced if any of the
probes are on a Fields report type.

Related Topics

User Defined Outputs: An Introduction

Named Probes and Properties in User Defined Outputs

Computation of Traces Based UDO Calculations

Dynamic Probes

Dynamic Probes
In addition to named probes and properties, UDOs can specify named dynamic probes. The
difference between probes and dynamic probes is that while the end user of UDO specifies the
complete trace definition for probe, the expression for dynamic probe is specified by UDO code
itself and not by end user. This allows UDOs to access the data for probes without requiring the
end user to enter each individual probe. For example a UDO can access data for a huge S matrix
for 100 port design without having the end user enter the probe information for each of those
10,000 quantities. Each dynamic probe is associated with a named probe that is entered by user,
and information about solution, context and intrinsic variables is used from selected probes;
however multiple dynamic probes can be associated with the same user selected probe. The
dynamic probes are enquired from UDOs at the time of trace computation and not at the time of
creation of user defined solution.

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This means that you select solution, context, values of intrinsic variables just once, and the same
information is used (in this case) for all clock and data signals. The expression for those signals
comes from the UDO code.

Related Topics

User Defined Outputs: An Introduction

Named Probes and Properties in User Defined Outputs

Computation of Traces Based UDO Calculations

Dimensions Reduction by UDO Calculations

Dynamic Probes

User Defined Outputs: Python Script API

A User Defined Output (UDO) extension is implemented as an IronPython script that defines a
class with a specific name: UDOExtension which derives from a specific base class
IUDOPluginExtension and implements its abstract methods.

UDO Extension IMPLEMENTATION

Optional Functions in IDO Extension Abstract Class

Data Types Used in Python Script

Working With Properties for UDO

Other Application Specific Classes Used in Python Scripts

User Defined Outputs: Messaging Methods

Using .NET Collection Classes and Interfaces in Python Scripts

Related Topics

User Defined Outputs: An Introduction

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User Defined Outputs: Script Organization

UDO Extension IMPLEMENTATION

The purpose, argument list and expected return types for each of the IUDOPluginExtension
abstract methods, which the UDO author is expected to implement are described below.

Import Statements

UDOExtension Class

IUDOPluginExtension Abstract Class

Related Topics

User Defined Outputs: Python Script API

Import Statements

The base class to be used and the types it uses in turn are contained in .NET assemblies. The use
of these requires that the assemblies be imported into the UDO script: the following import
statements should be added to the top of the python script:

from Ansys.Ansoft.ModulePluginDotNet.Common.API import *

from Ansys.Ansoft.ModulePluginDotNet.Common.API.Interfaces import *

from Ansys.Ansoft.ModulePluginDotNet.UDO.API.Interfaces import *

from Ansys.Ansoft.ModulePluginDotNet.UDO.API.Data import *

Related Topics

UDO Extension IMPLEMENTATION

UDOExtension Class

The UDO itself should be implemented as an IronPython class called UDOExtension which must
derive from the IUDOPluginExtension abstract base class (from the
Ansys.Ansoft.ModulePluginDotNet.UDO.API.Interfaces namespace).

Note that power users could derive a class hierarchy tuned toward a specific type of UDOs and that
they can derive from their own base classes. The only requirement is that directly or indirectly, the
UDO class must derive from IUDOPluginExtension.

Example:

def BaseClassUDO ((IUDOPluginExtension):

#base class implementation

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def UDOExtension ((BaseClassUDO):

#UDO class implementation

Related Topics

UDO Extension IMPLEMENTATION

IUDOPluginExtension Abstract Class

The implementation of the IUDOPluginExtension class will be described in this section using a
simple UDO example that expects a single probe and reduces its dimension returning as its
outputs, the max, min and average of its input probe data. The script in its entirety will also be listed
later on.

Required functions:

The IUDOPluginExtension abstract class declares the following abstract methods that must be
implemented in the UDOExtension class or one of its base classes. Not implementing any of these
methods will result in a run-time error and a non functioning UDO. The UDS refers to user Defined
Solution parameters.

GetUDSName()

GetUDSDescription()

GetUDSSweepNames()

GetCategoryNames()

GetQuantityNames(string categoryName)

GetQuantityInfo(string quantityName)

GetInputUDSParams(List<UDSProbeParams> udsParams,

GetDynamicProbes(List<UDSDynamicProbes> dynamicProbes);

Compute(IUDSInputData inData,

Related Topics

UDO Extension IMPLEMENTATION

GetUDSName()

l Purpose: Return a string that is used as a prefix for all solution instances created using this
UDO.
l Returns: string.

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Example:

def GetUDSName(self):

return "MinMaxAvg

Related Topics

IUDOPluginExtension Abstract Class

GetUDSDescription()

l Purpose: Returns a description for the UDO, its purpose etc. This is used in multiple UDO
related dialogs in the application to describe the UDO.
l Returns: string.

Example:

def GetUDSDescription(self):

return "Sample UDO for dimension reducing quantities

Related Topics

IUDOPluginExtension Abstract Class

GetUDSSweepNames()

l Purpose: Returns a list of sweep names to be used for the solution generated by the UDO.
These will appear in the sweeps list displayed in the standard reporter dialog when used to
create reports from the solution generated by the UDO.
l Returns: list of strings. If the UDO outputs have no sweeps, return the empty list [].

Example:

# Returns list of sweeps names

# We have no sweeps as we reduce them.

def GetUDSSweepNames(self):

return []

Related Topics

IUDOPluginExtension Abstract Class

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GetCategoryNames()

l Purpose: The outputs that the UDO solution provides/generates can be classified into
multiple categories (like how the application does as displayed in the report creation dialog).
These will be listed in the categories box in the dialog when creating reports from the UDO
generated solution data.
l Returns: list of strings.

Example:

def GetCategoryNames(self):

return ["UDOOutputs"]

Related Topics

IUDOPluginExtension Abstract Class

GetQuantityNames(string categoryName)

l Purpose: For each of the category names returned from the GetCategoryNames method,
this function is called to return a list of quantities to be organized under that category name.
Note that the quantity names must be unique across the categories: that is, no two
categories can have quantities with the same name.
l Parameters:
l categoryName (input python string) - category name.
l Returns: python list of strings.

Example:

# returns a list of quantity names for the supplied category name

def GetQuantityNames(self, catName):

if catName == "UDOOutputs":

return ["min_val", "max_val", "avg_val"]

else:

return []

Related Topics

IUDOPluginExtension Abstract Class

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GetQuantityInfo(string quantityName)

l Purpose: For each quantity that the UDO creates, it must also describe the quantity (unit
and other details). This method is called for each quantity name (across all categories) as
returned from an earlier call of the GetQuantityNames method.
l Parameters:
l quantityName (input string) - quantity name.
l Returns: Object of type QuantityInfo.

Example:

# Returns an instance of QuantityInfo for the qtyName supplied or None if such a

# quantity could not be found

def GetQuantityInfo(self, qtyName):

# All the quantities we have are simple doubles

# we can leave them unitless

return QuantityInfo(Constants.kDoubleParamStr)

Related Topics

IUDOPluginExtension Abstract Class

GetInputUDSParams(List<UDSProbeParams> udsParams,

IPropertyList propList,

List<UDSProbeParams> userSelectionForDynamicProbes)

l Purpose: This is the main definition part of the UDO. The supplied arguments are used to
populate details of the parameters to which the UDO user will specify value, specify the
probe names and their types as well as the dynamic probe selections.
l Parameters:
l udsParams - .NET list of UDSProbeParams objects: The UDO script is expected to add
one instance of UDSProbeParams for each probe definition it wants displayed. The UDO
user will, when creating the UDO solution assign a matching quantity to each such probe.
l propList - IPropertyList object: The propList object is used to add properties that should be
displayed to the user for data collection. These properties with the user supplied values
will be returned to the UDO script in the Compute methods.
l userSelectionForDynamicProbes - .NET list of UDSProbeParam objects.
l Returns: boolean: True on success, False on failure.

Example:

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# Returns list of UDSParams and list of dynamic properties

# Adds setup time properties to the propList

def GetInputUDSParams(self, udsParams, propList, userSelectedDynamicProbes):

# Add the probes. We need only one double quantity

param1 = UDSProbeParams("probe1",

"double quantity probe",

Constants.kDoubleParamStr,

"", "")

udsParams.Add(param1)

# Add the properties we want the user to supply

# In this case, we will ask for a start/end range for

# X parameters. Since we cannot reasonably provide defaults

# as we have no idea what the sweep limits will be, we will

# also ask if the limits are to be activated.

prop = propList.AddNumberProperty("X Min", "0")

prop.Description = "Start X value to consider"

prop = propList.AddNumberProperty("X Max", "1")

prop.Description = "End X value to consider"

# For menus, the first option is the default.

prop = propList.AddMenuProperty("Activate X Limits", ["No", "Yes"])

prop.Description = "Activate X range"

return True

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The above function results in the following dialog when you click Reports>Create User Defined
Solution. The mapping from the UDSParams and the properties to the GUI elements should be
unambiguous. The name and description of the UDS are also displayed in this dialog.

When a report is created from the UDO dialog, the category/quantity names specified by the UDO
are used (as shown below).

Related Topics

IUDOPluginExtension Abstract Class

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GetDynamicProbes(List<UDSDynamicProbes> dynamicProbes);

l Parameters: dynamicProbes - .Net list of UDSDynamicProbes objects. Output parameter.

l Returns: True on success, False on failure.

Example:

# Returns list of UDSParams and list of dynamic properties

# output UDSDynamicProbeCollection probes

def GetDynamicProbes(self, probes):

pass

Related Topics

IUDOPluginExtension Abstract Class

Compute(IUDSInputData inData,

IUDSOutputData outData,

IPropertyList propList,

IProgressMonitor progressMonitor)

l Purpose: This is the main computation method which generates the data for the quantities
that make up the UDO solution.
l Parameters:
l inData - UDSInputData object: Used to get the input probe data.
l outData - UDSOutputData object: Used to set the UDO solution quantity and sweep
data.
l propList - IPropertyList object: Used to get the user entered values for each of the
properties defined during the GetInputUDSParams call.
l progressMonitor - IProgressMonitor object. This can be used to set progress for long
running calculations, check for user initiated abort etc.
l Returns: True on success, False on failure.

The data is received from UI using IUDSInputData API. It is processed and the result data is sent
to UI using IUDSOutputData API.

Example:

# IUserDefinedSolutionHandle API implementation.

# Calculates output values and sets them using IUDSInputData/IUDSOutputData API.

def Compute(self, inData, outData, propList, progMon):

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# Get the sweeps associated with the probe and validate

# use the probe name that we had defined earlier

sweeps = inData.GetSweepNamesForProbe("probe1")

if( sweeps == None or sweeps.Count > 1):

AddErrorMessage(self.GetName() + "Unexpected sweep count 0 or > 1 in Compute")

return False

# Get the data associated with our probe

probeData = inData.GetDoubleProbeData("probe1")

sweepData = inData.GetSweepsDataForProbe("probe1", sweeps[0])

# Get the user specified properties.

# Note that ideally, these "X Min" etc names should be written as

# constant membets and referred to in both the GetInputUDSParams

# and in Compute to reduce the change of typos.

useXRangeProp = propList.GetMenuProperty("Activate X Limits").SelectedMenuChoice

xRangeStart = propList.GetNumberProperty("X Min").ValueSI

xRangeEnd = propList.GetNumberProperty("X Max").ValueSI

# At this stage, one can look at the RequestedQuantities and create

# a dictionary to later check against. However, I am simply computing

# all the quantities.

minVal = 0

maxVal = 0

avgVal = 0

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# Check if we need to perform range computation

if useXRangeProp == "Yes":

seenAny = False

avgSum = 0

count = 0

# zip is used since we also need to pull in sweep data

# an index and the array notation could also have been used

for probeVal, sweepVal in zip(probeData, sweepData):

if sweepVal < xRangeStart or sweepVal > xRangeEnd:

pass

# Note that in a better written script, this code would be

# refactored into it's own function to avoid code

# duplication

if not seenAny:

minVal = probeVal

maxVal = probeVal

avgSum = probeVal

seenAny = True

count = 1

else:

if probeVal < minVal:

minVal = probeVal

if probeVal > maxVal:

maxVal = probeVal

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avgSum += probeVal

count += 1

if seenAny:

avgVal = avgSum/count

else:

seenAny = False

avgSum = 0

for probeVal in probeData:

if not seenAny:

minVal = probeVal

maxVal = probeVal

avgSum = probeVal

seenAny = True

else:

if probeVal < minVal:

minVal = probeVal

if probeVal > maxVal:

maxVal = probeVal

avgSum += probeVal

if seenAny:

avgVal = avgSum/probeData.Count

# Finally set the output values. Note that these are always set as

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# lists even if we have just one item.

outData.SetDoubleQuantityData("min_val", [minVal])

outData.SetDoubleQuantityData("max_val", [maxVal])

outData.SetDoubleQuantityData("avg_val", [avgVal])

# And we are done.

return True

Related Topics

IUDOPluginExtension Abstract Class

Optional Functions in IDO Extension Abstract Class

The following functions, while a part of the IUDOExtension abstract class, have meaningful default
implementations and are therefore optional. However, they can be overridden to take advantage of
advanced functionality.

Validate(List<string> errorStringList,

Related Topics

User Defined Outputs: Python Script API

Validate(List<string> errorStringList,

List<UDSProbeParams> udsProbParams,

IPropertyList propList,

List<UDSProbeParams> userSelectionForDynamicProbes)

l Purpose: This method is used to validate the user choices. The values of the properties
entered, the probes etc. can be checked for suitability.
l Parameters:
l udsProbParams - C# list of UDSProbeParams objects.
l propList - IPropertyList object.
l userSelectionForDynamicProbes - C# list of UDSProbeParams objects.
l errorStringList - C# list of python strings. Output parameter. Should be set only if
validation failed; ignored if validation is successful. One error string should be set per each
validation error.
l Returns: True on validation success, False on failure.
l Default implementation: always returns true.

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Example:

def Validate(self, errorStringList,probeList,propList, dynamicProbes):

if probeList == None or probeList.Count == 0:

errorStringList.Add("Empty probe list")

return False

return True

Related Topics

Optional Functions in IDO Extension Abstract Class

Data Types Used in Python Script

There are several types that you must use while authoring the python script. Some of them are
used to pass data from UI to python script and to provide interface for working with this data. Some
are used to pass data from python script to UI.

To pass data from python script to UI the objects of the C# class must be created in python script
using their C# constructors. Then they can be set as functions return values or set to the output
parameters using their API.

Constants class

kTraceTypeStr : string constant used to specify an input of trace type

kSolutionTypeStr : string constant used to specify an input of solution type

kNumberTypeStr : string constant used to specify an input of number type

kTextTypeStr : string constant used to specify an input of text type

kBoolTypeStr : string constant used to specify an input of boolean type

kStandardReportStr : string constant to specify a standard report

kEyeDiagramReportStr : string constant to specify an eye diagram report

kUserDefinedReportStr : string constant to specify a user defined report

kSweepDomainStr : string constant to specify the sweep domain

kTimeDomainStr : string constant to specify the time domain

UDDInputParams class

The objects of this class must be created in python script in the GetUDDInputParams() function
and the SetUDDInputParams() function.

Attributes :

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Input Name (string)

Input Description (string)

Input Type ( Can be Boolean, Number, Text, Trace or Solution) (string)

BoolData (boolean)

DoubleData (double)

TextData (string)

ReportType (string)

SolutionName (string)

DomainName (string)

Constructors:

UDDInputParams(string name, string description, string type)

UDDInputParams(string name, string description, string type, bool data)

UDDInputParams(string name, string description, string type, double data)

UDDInputParams(string name, string description, string type, string data)

UDDInputParams(string name, string description, string type, string reportType, string

solutionName, string domainName)

Property Accessors :

Name : Get/Set the name of an input

Description : Get/Set the desccription of an input

Type : Get/Set the type of an input

BoolData : Get/Set the data of a boolean input

DoubleData : Get/Set the data of a number input

TextData : Get/Set the data of a text input

ReportType : Get/Set the report type

SolutionName : Get/Set the name of the solution

DomainName : Get/Set the name of the domain

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IProgressMonitor Abstract Class

The object of this class is a progress monitor. It is used to display calculations progress in UI and
check is the user has requested an abort of the computation.

When displayed in the application, each progress message has four items:

A task name

A sub-task name

The progress amount

A button to abort the task in progress.

All of this functionality and abort interaction is achieved using the following functions.

SetTaskName (string taskName):

SetSubTaskName (string subTaskName)

BeginTask (string name)

SetTaskProgressPercentage(int progressPercent)

CheckForAbort(): If the quantities being generated are computationally expensive, the UDO
author can periodically call this method and then call EndTask with Fail and return False.

EndTask (bool passFail)

Example:
progMon.BeginTask("Process DQS")

progMon.SetSubTaskName("Compute UI segments")

progMon.SetTaskProgressPercentage(33)

progMon.SetSubTaskName("Compute the rest")

progMon.SetTaskProgressPercentage(100)

progMon.EndTask(True)

IUDSInputData

The purpose of this class is to get data (probe and sweep) from Desktop.

Examples in this section are just to show proper syntax of the function calls. For actual usage of the
class see Compute function example.

GetDoubleProbeData(probeName)

GetSweepsDataForProbe(probeName, sweepName)

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GetComplexProbeData(probeName)

GetSweepNamesForProbe(probeName)

GetRequiredQuantities()

GetVariableValues()

GetInterpolationOrdersData(probeName);

Related Topics

Data Types Used in Python Script

GetDoubleProbeData(probeName)

l Purpose: This is the primary mechanism by which the UDO script obtains the probe data
(as double precision values) for its compute process.
l Parameters:
l probeName: string representing the probe name for which data is requested. This has to
be one of the many probes supplied during a call to the UDO's GetInputUDSParams
method.
l Returns: .NET double Array of data for the specified probe if the probe exists or null if the
probe is unknown.

Example:

# doubleData is a list of floats

doubleData = inData.GetDoubleProbeData("probe1")

Related Topics

Data Types Used in Python Script

GetSweepsDataForProbe(probeName, sweepName)

l Purpose: All probe data that is supplied is associated with one ore more sweep (an intrinsic
quantity like Time, Frequency, Theta, Phi etc that is swept) quantities.
l Parameters:
l probeName - probe name for which which want the sweep data
l sweepName - sweep name
l Returns: .NET double Array of data for the specified probe and sweep.

Example:

# sweepData is C# Array of doubles (floats in python)

sweepData = inData.GetSweepsDataForProbe("FarFieldsProbe","Freq"])

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Related Topics

Data Types Used in Python Script

GetComplexProbeData(probeName)

l Purpose: The primary mechanism by which the UDO retrieves data for its input probes (if it
expects complex data for the probe).
l Parameters:
l probeName - probe name for which complex data is requested
l Returns: .NET double Array (float in python) of data for the specified probe. Each pair of
floats represent one complex number: first value is for real part, second value for imaginary
part. For instance, array [10.0, 0, 5.1, 2.1] represents 2 complex numbers: (10.0, 0) and (5.1,
2.1).

Example:

# complexDataAsDouble is C# Array of doubles (floats in python)

# each pair of floats represents one complex number

complexDataAsDouble = inData.GetComplexProbeData("FarFieldsProbe")

# creating a list of complex numbers from complexDataAsDouble array

complexData = []

if complexDataAsDouble != None:

for i in xrange(0,complexDataAsDouble.Count , 2):

complexData.append(complex(complexDataAsDouble[i],complexDataAsDouble[i+1]))

Related Topics

Data Types Used in Python Script

GetSweepNamesForProbe(probeName)

l Purpose: To obtain the list of sweep quantity names associated with a given probe. This
also indicates the dimensionality of the data. One name implies that the probe-data is 2D
(probe-quantity vs Sweep Quantity) and two names implies 3D data ( probe-quantity vs
Sweep 1 X Sweep 2).
l Parameters:
l probeName - probe name.
l Returns: .NET IList<string> - list of sweep names for the current probe name.

Example:

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# sweepNames is C# Array of strings

sweepNames = inData.GetSweepNamesForProbe("FarFieldsProbe")

Related Topics

Data Types Used in Python Script

GetRequiredQuantities()

l Purpose: A given UDO can specify that it provides one of more computed quantities. The
user might choose to create a report from only a few among the various available UDO
outputs. This function, returns that list of the UDO output quantities that the user has
requested. Only these need be computed in the UDO's compute method.
l Returns: .NET IList<string> - list of required quantities names.

Example:

# quantities is C# Array of strings

quantities= inData.GetRequiredQuantities()

Related Topics

Data Types Used in Python Script

GetVariableValues()

l Purpose: This allows the UDO to obtain the names and values of all the design variables for
which the UDO quantities are being requested.
l Returns: .NET IDictionary<string,string> of key-value pairs for variables. Both key and
value are strings.

Example:

# theDict is C# Dictionary<string, string>

theDict = inData.GetVariableValues()

if theDict != None:

#varPair is of .Net KeyValuePair type

for varPair in theDict:

varName = varPair.Key #string

varValue = varPair.Value #string

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Related Topics

Data Types Used in Python Script

GetInterpolationOrdersData(probeName);

l Purpose: Returns the interpolation orders that are associated with the probe-data. The
probe data is specified at each value of the various sweeps. Any value in between the sweep
data points, can use the interpolation data to get a possibly more accurate (compared to
linear interpolation) inter-sweep value.
l Parameters:
l probeName (input python string) - probe name.
l Returns: NET byte Array of interpolation order for the specified probe. These are to be
treated as 8bit signed integers, that is, their values range from 0-127.

Example:

# interData is C# Array of bytes (integers in python)

interData = inData.GetInterpolationOrdersData(kProbeNames[0])

for interValue in theDict:

order = interValue # interValue and order are integers

Related Topics

Data Types Used in Python Script

IUDSOutputData

This type is a twin of the IUDSInputData in that it is used to store the values computed by the
UDO's compute method.

Examples in this section are just to show proper syntaxis function calls. For actual usage of the
class see the Compute function example.

SetSweepsData(sweepName, sweepData)

SetDoubleQuantityData(qtyName,qtyData)

SetComplexQuantityData(qtyName, qtyData)

Related Topics

Data Types Used in Python Script

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SetSweepsData(sweepName, sweepData)

l Purpose: Each quantity that is computed by the UDO can be associated with a sweep. If it
is, the values that make up the sweep's data points must be specified using this call.
l Parameters:
l sweepName (string) - sweep name.
l sweepData (python list of floats) - sweep data for the specified sweep.
l Returns: True on success, False on failure.

Example:

sweepList = [12.3, 14.5, 16.7]

outData.SetSweepsData("Freq", sweepList)

Related Topics

Data Types Used in Python Script

SetDoubleQuantityData(qtyName,qtyData)

l Purpose: This method is used to record the computed quantity data for each output that is
computed. Please note that unless all the sweeps are reduced, this should be used in
conjunction with SetSweepsData
l Parameters:
l qtyName (string) - quantity name.
l qtyData (python list of floats) - quantity data for the specified quantity.
l Returns: True on success, False on failure.

Example:

doubleList = [12.3, 14.5, 16.7]

outData.SetDoubleQuantityData("V1PlusV2", doubleList)

Related Topics

Data Types Used in Python Script

SetComplexQuantityData(qtyName, qtyData)

l Purpose: If the quantity computed is a complex quantity, use this method to set the quantity
values. Any sweep values must be set separately via the SetSweepsData method.
l Parameters:
l qtyName (string) - quantity name.

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l qtyData (python list of floats) - quantity data for the specified quantity. Complex numbers
are passed as pairs of floats
l Returns: True on success, False on failure.

Example:

doubleFromComplexList=[]

complexList = [(1+1j), (2+4j), (9.1+3.2j)]

for aComplex in complexList:

doubleFromComplexList.append(aComplex.imag)

doubleFromComplexList.append(aComplex.real)

outData. SetComplexQuantityData ("V1PlusV2", doubleFromComplexList)

Related Topics

Data Types Used in Python Script

Working With Properties for UDO

A property is the unit for collecting and using input from the user that is used to influence the UDO's
Compute. These are initially set up when the UDOs GetInputUDSParams method is called and
are retrieved in the UDO's Compute method.

There are 3 supported property types that could be used in the UDO script:

l INumberProperty to specify number properties (with unit support).

l IMenuProperty to allow the user to select from a list of options.
l ITextProperty to allow the user to enter text.

The IPropertyList type implements a collection for these properties.

IPropertyList Abstract class

IProperty Abstract class

INumberProperty Abstract class

ITextProperty Abstract class

IMenuProperty Abstract class

Related Topics

User Defined Outputs: Python Script API

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IPropertyList Abstract class

Attributes:

l AllProperties (IEnumerable<IProperty> - see IProperty)

l NumProperties (int)

Functions:

l GetProperty(string propName): Returns a named property as an IProperty.

l GetMenuProperty (string propName): Returns the named property as an IMenuProperty.
l GetTextProperty (string propName): Returns the named property as an ITextProperty
l GetNumberProperty (string propName): Returns the named property as an
INumberProperty
l DeleteProperty (string propName): Deletes an already added named property
l AddNumberProperty(string name, string numberWithUnits): Adds a new number property.
If a property with the same name already exists, it is overwritten.
l AddTextProperty(string name, string textValue): Adds a new named text property with the
supplied value. Any existing property with the same name is overwritten.
l AddMenuProperty(string name, IList<string> menuChoices): Creates a new named menu
property with the supplied list of choices. The default selection is set to item 0 (the first item).
Any property with the same name is overwritten.

IProperty Abstract class

Attributes:

l Name (string)
l Description (string)
l PropType (read-only EPropType - see Constants)

Constructor:

l IProperty(string name, EPropType type)

The class is used as base class for INumberProperty, IMenuProperty, and ITextProperty.

INumberProperty Abstract class

Base class:

l abstract class IProperty

Attributes:

l ValueSI (read-only double)

l ValueInUnits (read-only double)

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l Units (read-only string)

l HasUnits (read-only bool)

Constructor:

l INumberProperty(string name)

Functions:

l Set(string numberWithUnits)
l SetDouble(double number, string unitString)

ITextProperty Abstract class

Base class:

l abstract class IProperty

Attributes:

l Text (string)

Constructor:

l ITextProperty(string name)

IMenuProperty Abstract class

Base class:

l abstract class IProperty

Attributes:

l MenuSelection (int): This represents the index into the MenuChoices list.
l SelectedMenuChoice (string): This is the item in the MenuChoices list corresponding to the
MenuSelection index
l MenuChoices (IList<string>)

Constructor:

l IMenuProperty (string name)

Example:

# adding data to IPropertyList propList; used in Compute function

prop = propList.AddNumberProperty('Offset 1', '0')

prop.Description = 'Trace 1 Offset'

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prop = propList.AddNumberProperty("TRATE", "800 MHz")

prop.Description = "Frequency"

prop = propList.AddTextProperty("Text", "The Text")

prop.Description = "Text Property"

prop = propList.AddMenuProperty('Operation', ['Add', 'Subtract', 'Max' ,'Min','Mean'])

prop.Description = 'Operation menu'

# reading data from IPropertyList propList; used in Validate function

numOfNumberProperties = 0

if propList != None and propList.AllProperties != None:

for prop in propList.AllProperties:

if prop.PropType == Constants.EPropType.PT_NUMBER:

numOfNumberProperties ++

Other Application Specific Classes Used in Python Scripts

This section describes other classes used in Python scripts:

Constants Class

UDSProbeParams Class

UDSDynamicProbes Class

QuantityInfo Class

IProgressMonitor Abstract Class

Related Topics

User Defined Outputs: Python Script API

Constants Class

The constants used in python script are defined in the Constants class.

Attributes:

l kDoubleParamStr : string constant used to specify double as the type of a quantity

l kComplexParamStr: string constant used to specify complex as the type of a quantity

Enum EPropType: (used to set property type)

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EPropType.PT_NUMBER
EPropType.PT_TEXT
EPropType.PT_MENU

Example:

paramType = Constants.kDoubleParamStr

propType = Constants.EPropType.PT_NUMBER

Related Topics

Other Application Specific Classes Used in Python Scripts

UDSProbeParams Class

The objects of this class must be created in python script in GetInputUDSParams function. They
are supplied to the Validate function if implemented.

Attributes:

l ProbeName (read-only string)

l ProbeDescription (read-only string)
l ParamType (read-only string)
l ReportTypeName (read-only string)
l ComponentExpression (read-only string)

Constructor: UDSProbeParams(string probeName, string probeDescription, string paramType,

string reportTypeName, string componentExpression);

l probeName - required.
l probeDescription - optional (can be empty string).
l paramType - required; can be one of the Constants
l kDoubleParamStr
l kComplexParamStr
l reportTypeName - optional (can be empty string)
l ComponentExpression - optional (can be empty string)

Example:

udsProbParam = UDSProbeParams("probe1","", Constants.kDoubleParamStr, "", "",)

Related Topics

Other Application Specific Classes Used in Python Scripts

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UDSDynamicProbes Class

Attributes:

l UDSParam (read-only UDSProbeParams)

l UserSelectedProbeName (read-only string)

Constructor: UDSDynamicProbes (UDSProbeParams udsParam, string

userSelectedProbeName.

l udsParam - required
l userSelectedProbeName - required

Example:

udsProbParam = UDSProbeParams("probe1","", Constants.kDoubleParamStr, "", "",)

selectedName = "probe1"

udsDynamicProbParam = UDSDynamicProbes(udsProbParam , selectedName )

Related Topics

Other Application Specific Classes Used in Python Scripts

QuantityInfo Class

Attributes:

l ParamType (read-only string)

l FullUnitType (read-only string)

Constructors:

l QuantityInfo(string paramType)
l QuantityInfo(string paramType, string fullUnitType)
l Parameters:
l paramType can be one of the Constants

kDoubleParamStr

kComplexParamStr

l fullUnitType is a case insensitive string representing full unit type. It is not defined in
Constants. Instead you can use any of the units in string representation - for example, "mm"
or"ghz".

Example:

quantityInfo1 = QuantityInfo(Constants.kDoubleParamStr)

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quantityInfo2 = QuantityInfo(Constants.kDoubleParamStr,"ghz")

Related Topics

Other Application Specific Classes Used in Python Scripts

IProgressMonitor Abstract Class

The object of this class is a progress monitor. It is used to display calculations progress in UI and
check is the user has requested an abort of the computation.

When displayed in the application, each progress message has four items:

l A task name
l A sub-task name
l The progress amount
l A button to abort the task in progress.

All of this functionality and abort interaction is achieved using the following functions.

l SetTaskName (string taskName):

l SetSubTaskName (string subTaskName)
l BeginTask (string name)
l SetTaskProgressPercentage(int progressPercent)
l CheckForAbort(): If the quantities being generated are computationally expensive, the UDO
author can periodically call this method and then call EndTask with Fail and return False.
l EndTask (bool passFail)

Example:

progMon.BeginTask("Process DQS")

progMon.SetSubTaskName("Compute UI segments")

progMon.SetTaskProgressPercentage(33)

progMon.SetSubTaskName("Compute the rest")

progMon.SetTaskProgressPercentage(100)

progMon.EndTask(True)

Related Topics

Other Application Specific Classes Used in Python Scripts

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Using .NET Collection Classes and Interfaces in Python Scripts

Some of the API functions specified above use .Net collection classes and interfaces, that is, Array
class, IList interface, IEnumerable interface, and IDictionary interface. The following section
describes how to work with the .Net collection objects in Python scripts.

.NET Array, IEnumerable, and IList objects can be indexed and iterated over as if they were
Python lists. You can also check for membership using 'in'. To get .Net Array and IList sizes you
can use python's 'len' or .Net 'Count'.

Example:

Getting size:

arraySize = doubleDataArray.Count

arraySize = len(doubleDataArray)

listSize = sweepsNamesList.Count

listSize = len(sweepsNamesList)

Iterating:

for sweep in sweepsNamesList:

print sweep

for in in xrange(listSize)

print sweepsNamesList[i]

Checking for membership:

if 'Time' in sweepsNamesList:

doThis()

else:

doThat()

For .NET IDictionary, the same as for Array and IList, you can get size with 'len' or 'Count' and
check for membership of the keys using 'in'. Getting values for the keys also works the same way
as in python 'dict'.

Example

Getting size:

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varValuesSize = varValues.Count

varValuesSize = len(varValues)

Checking for membership:

if 'offset' in varValues:

print varValues['offset']

Getting value:

if 'offset' in varValues:

offsetValue = varValues['offset']

As for iteration .NET Dictionary is different from python dict. While iterating, python dict will return
keys, .Net Dictionary will return .Net KeyValuePair.

Example:

Iterating:

for .Net IDictionary:

for varPair in varValues: #varPair is of .Net KeyValuePair type

varName = varPair.Key

varValue = varPair.Value

for python dict:

for varName in varValues:

varValue = varValues[varName]

You can use python types instead of .Net types if you prefer. For this you need to cast .Net Array
and .Net iList to python list type and .Net Dictionary to python dict type.

Casting should not be used for data arrays - it can be extremely costly for the memory usage as
well as time consuming.

Example:

aPythonList = list(dotNetArray)

aPythonList = list(dotNetList)

aPythonDict = dict(dotNetDictionary)

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Related Topics

User Defined Outputs: Python Script API

User Defined Outputs: Messaging Methods

Messaging methods are provided to convey additional information to the user from any of the
UDOs methods. The Compute function is the one typically location where such use is anticipated.
Any message sent via these functions are displayed in the application's message window using the
appropriate icon.

These functions can also be used for debugging purposes.

l AddErrorMessage(string): Call this method to convey an error condition to the user.

l AddWarningMessage(string): Call this method to convey a warning message: typically
used for conditions that are not ideal but can be tolerated by the script.
l AddInfoMessage(string): Call this method to convey an informational message to the
user. This is the call to use when outputting messages for debugging purposes.

##############################################################

# Imports

##############################################################

from Ansys.Ansoft.ModulePluginDotNet.Common.API import *

from Ansys.Ansoft.ModulePluginDotNet.Common.API.Interfaces import *

from Ansys.Ansoft.ModulePluginDotNet.UDO.API.Interfaces import *

from Ansys.Ansoft.ModulePluginDotNet.UDO.API.Data import *

class UDOExtension(IUDOPluginExtension):

def __init__(self):

pass

#--- IDA IUDOPluginExtension ------------------------

def GetUDSName(self):

return "MinMaxAvg"

#--- ISA IUDOPluginExtension ------------------------

def GetUDSDescription(self):

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return "Sample UDO for dimension reducing quantities"

#--- ISA IUDOPluginExtension ------------------------

# Returns list of category names

def GetCategoryNames(self):

return ["UDOOutputs"]

#--- ISA IUDOPluginExtension ------------------------

# returns a list of quantity names for the supplied category name

def GetQuantityNames(self, catName):

if catName == "UDOOutputs":

return ["min_val", "max_val", "avg_val"]

else:

return []

#--- ISA IUDOPluginExtension ------------------------

# Returns an instance of QuantityInfo for the qtyName supplied or None if such a

# quantity could not be found

def GetQuantityInfo(self, qtyName):

# All the quantities we have are simple doubles

# we can leave them unitless

return QuantityInfo(Constants.kDoubleParamStr)

#--- ISA IUDOPluginExtension ------------------------

# Returns list of UDSParams and list of dynamic properties

# Adds setup time properties to the propList

def GetInputUDSParams(self, udsParams, propList, userSelectedDynamicProbes):

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# Add the probes. We need only one double quantity

param1 = UDSProbeParams("probe1",

"double quantity probe",

Constants.kDoubleParamStr,

"", "")

udsParams.Add(param1)

# Add the properties we want the user to supply

# In this case, we will ask for a start/end range for

# X parameters. Since we cannot reasonably provide defaults

# as we have no idea what the sweep limits will be, we will

# also ask if the limits are to be activated.

prop = propList.AddNumberProperty("X Min", "0")

prop.Description = "Start X value to consider"

prop = propList.AddNumberProperty("X Max", "1")

prop.Description = "End X value to consider"

# For menus, the first option is the default.

prop = propList.AddMenuProperty("Activate X Limits", ["No", "Yes"])

prop.Description = "Activate X range"

return True

#--- ISA IUDOPluginExtension ------------------------

# Returns list of UDSParams and list of dynamic properties

# output UDSDynamicProbeCollection probes

def GetDynamicProbes(self, probes):

pass

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#--- ISA IUDOPluginExtension ------------------------

# Returns list of sweeps names

# We have no sweeps as we reduce them.

def GetUDSSweepNames(self):

return []

#---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

# IUserDefinedSolutionHandle API implementation.

# Calculates output values and sets them using IUDSInputData/IUDSOutputData API.

def Compute(self, inData, outData, propList, progMon):

# Get the sweeps associated with the probe and validate

# use the probe name that we had defined earlier

sweeps = inData.GetSweepNamesForProbe("probe1")

if( sweeps == None or sweeps.Count > 1):

AddErrorMessage(self.GetName() + "Unexpected sweep count 0 or > 1 in

Compute")

return False

# Get the data associated with our probe

probeData = inData.GetDoubleProbeData("probe1")

sweepData = inData.GetSweepsDataForProbe("probe1", sweeps[0])

# Get the user specified properties.

# Note that ideally, these "X Min" etc names should be written as

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# constant members and referred to in both the GetInputUDSParams

# and in Compute to reduce the change of typos.

useXRangeProp = propList.GetMenuProperty("Activate X Limits").SelectedMenuChoice

xRangeStart = propList.GetNumberProperty("X Min").ValueSI

xRangeEnd = propList.GetNumberProperty("X Max").ValueSI

# At this stage, one can look at the RequestedQuantities and create

# a dictionary to later check against. However, I am simply computing

# all the quantities.

minVal = 0

maxVal = 0

avgVal = 0

# Check if we need to perform range computation

if useXRangeProp == "Yes":

seenAny = False

avgSum = 0

count = 0

# zip is used since we also need to pull in sweep data

# an index and the array notation could also have been used

for probeVal, sweepVal in zip(probeData, sweepData):

if sweepVal < xRangeStart or sweepVal > xRangeEnd:

pass

# Note that in a better written script, this code would be

# refactored into its own function to avoid code

# duplication

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if not seenAny:

minVal = probeVal

maxVal = probeVal

avgSum = probeVal

seenAny = True

count = 1

else:

if probeVal < minVal:

minVal = probeVal

if probeVal > maxVal:

maxVal = probeVal

avgSum += probeVal

count += 1

if seenAny:

avgVal = avgSum/count

else:

seenAny = False

avgSum = 0

for probeVal in probeData:

if not seenAny:

minVal = probeVal

maxVal = probeVal

avgSum = probeVal

seenAny = True

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else:

if probeVal < minVal:

minVal = probeVal

if probeVal > maxVal:

maxVal = probeVal

avgSum += probeVal

if seenAny:

avgVal = avgSum/probeData.Count

# Finally set the output values. Note that these are always set as

# lists even if we have just one item.

outData.SetDoubleQuantityData("min_val", [minVal])

outData.SetDoubleQuantityData("max_val", [maxVal])

outData.SetDoubleQuantityData("avg_val", [avgVal])

# And we are done.

return True

Related Topics

User Defined Outputs: Python Script API

User Defined Outputs: Script Organization

As described in the Introduction section, the UDO scripts should all reside under the
UserDefinedOutputs folder under either of the three library locations (system, user or personal).

Using Script Libraries

Additional .NET Assemblies

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Related Topics

User Defined Outputs: An Introduction

User Defined Outputs: Python Script API

Using Script Libraries

If you decide that you need base classes, additional data files, and etc., to organize your UDOs
better, you can do so. This type of library organization allows code reuse between similar UDOs
and can be very helpful. There is special support provided for this type of script-library organization:

l All script-library and other support files need to be in a Lib sub-directory under
the UserDefinedOutputs directory. Any .py files found in such Lib directories are ignored
and not displayed in the GUI as a valid UDO choice.
l For a UDO script at any given directory depth, all Lib directories in its parent directories will
be automatically added to the system include path (and so, any support script files from any
Lib directory till the top level UserDefinedOutputs directory can be imported)

Related Topics

User Defined Outputs: Script Organization

Additional .NET Assemblies

Using additional .NET assemblies

Because the UDO functionality uses IronPython, we have access to the full .NET eco system. If
needed, any subset of the UDO functionality can be implemented in any .NET language and used
by the UDO script. There are simple rules to follow to achieve this.

1. Build your .NET assembly for .NET 2.0 runtime.

2. Drop the built assembly in any Lib directory upstream of the UDO script location: that is, if
you have your UDO script in C:\Users\x\PersonalLib\UserDefinedOutputs\a\b\c\myudo.py
and have a .NET assembly called com.Acme.UDOLib You can keep the .NET assembly
under
l UserDefinedOutputs\Lib,
l UserDefinedOutputs \a\Lib,
l UserDefinedOutputs \a\b\Lib
l UserDefinedOutputs\a\b\c\Lib
3. Add the following line to your python script
l Import clr
l clr.AddReference("com.Acme.UDOLib")
l import com.Acme.UDOLib -or-- from com.Acme.UDOLib import * etc

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If for some reason you cannot place the .NET assemblies into a Lib directory under
UserDefinedOutputs, you need to do a couple more steps before step 3 listed above.

Import sys

sys.path.append("full path to your .NET assembly location")

Related Topics

User Defined Outputs: Script Organization

Using Script Libraries

Toolkit
The Toolkit command in the HFSS menu provides access to a design type specific IronPython
script, such as the Hearing Aid Compliance Test, MIMO calculation or a module specific task, such
as for Boundary, Excitation, or Solve Setup. The Hearing Aid Compliance Test toolkit example
involves multiple modules. The MIMO example includes a Toolkit script and a User Defined
Solution Script. The Cable modeling toolkits serve automotive cable applications and oil and gas
applications.

The python script provides default but customizable UI and canned automations. The UDD format
can be adjusted/extended as needed. The default UI is a modal dialog.

This allows us to support changing standards, or multiple standards, without necessarily being tied
to the product release cycle. Similarly, you can create new UDD to customize the test report.

UDD are saved in project result directory. This type of reports can be created prior to simulation,
but will only be populated when there is solution.

Undo/Redo/Scripting is supported. If a script includes multiple commands, it takes multiple undo(s)

to revert all the changes made by the python script. Also, the script playback might not work if the
baseline of the design has changed.

A directory called "Toolkits" appears in the syslib, userlib and personallib of HFSS installation.
Menu items for files found in <installation>/syslib will be inserted at the first level of the menu.

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There are product specific directories in "Toolkits" and each directory contains toolkits (scripts) that
are specific for that product. The following snapshot illustrates the file structure on disk that
provides access to the "HearingAidCompliance" toolkit at the design level menu.

Related Topics

Hearing Aid Compliance Test

User Defined Solution for MIMO Calculations

Cable Modeling - Automotive Toolkit

Cable Modeling - Oil and Gas Toolkit

User DefinedDocuments (UDDs) 

User defined documents (UDDs) are custom reports that you define through IronPython scripts.
Once placed in a Lib directory, you can access the scripts via the Create Document command.
The scripts describe a Create User Defined Document dialog that lets you specify trace and
solution inputs. After you confirm your input selections, an xml, html and pdf document is
generated. A web browser window opens to display the generated html file. The created document
appears in the Project tree, under Results in the Documents folder.

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The general UDD process flow is as follows.

The UDD python scripts must be placed in the UserDefinedDocuments directory under either of
syslib, userlib or Personallib with any subdirectory structure needed. The Lib directory can
contain python scripts that have common code that other scripts can use.

Use Results>Create Document>Update Menu to refresh the menu to include the new UDD
scripts that have been copied to syslib, userlib or Personallib, or to exclude them if they have been
deleted, after the launch of desktop.

The UDD scripts that are in syslib/UserDefinedDocuments, userlib/UserDefinedDocuments or

Personallib/UserDefinedDocuments become available through the Results >Create Document
menu.

Create User Defined Document Dialog Inputs

User defined documents allow data from traces, solutions and report types as inputs. A UDD can
specify the named inputs for which you select or enter the values in the Create User Defined
Document dialog that displays when you run Results>Create Document><scriptName>.

Input Types can be of Boolean, number, text, trace or solution type. The boolean, number and text
type can be given a default value that you can interactively override when the document is created

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or modified. For example, you can select a trace when you create or modify a UDD document. The
trace data is available to the user and can be accessed from the python script.

At the time of selection you can choose from the Reporter dialog, the report type (Standard, Eye
Diagram, User Defined), solution name, context and the quantity for which you want the trace data.

Input Type can also be Solution. You can select an entire solution when the document is created or
modified. The solution data in its entirety, is now available to the user and can be accessed from the
python script.

At the time of selection you can choose from the reporter dialog, the report type (Standard, Eye
Diagram, User Defined), solution name and context. A specific quantity cannot be selected since
data for all quantities in the solution are available.

(Note: The category/Quantity/Function portion of the dialog is disabled for user input)

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UDD Document Creation and Display

After all the input selections for a UDD are confirmed, based on the script, an xml, html and pdf
document is generated based on the inputs provided by the user. (The xml, html and pdf
generation is based on specific calls in the python script, which are explain in a following section). A
web browser window also opens to display the generated html file.

The created document will be placed under a new folder named "Documents" under the "Results"
folder. All documents that are created by the user for the design will be placed under this folder.

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Related Topics

Managing Documents Listed in the Project Window Under Results

Viewing UDDs with an Html Web Browser

UDD Script Libraries

User Defined Documents: Python Script API

Managing Documents Listed in the Project Window Under Results

Right click on a user defined document displayed in the Project Manager tree to bring up a menu
where you can rename, delete the document. Open document opens the web browser with the
html document. Modify document opens the setup dialog where you can change the selections

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for the input. To view the xml and the pdf document simply choose the appropriate menu items.
There is also a menu item to save the document in a different location.

Documents folder right click menu

Right click on the documents folder has the menu options to Update All Documents or Delete All
Documents. It also provides the option of creating a document from here.

Document folder Property window

When the documents folder is selected, the Property window shows the following properties

l XML Schema File - File path to the XML schema file.

l XSLT StyleSheet (Html) - File path to the XSLT stylesheet file used for Html generation.
l XSLT StyleSheet (Fo) - File path to the XSLT stylesheet file used for Pdf generation.
l Fop Executable (Pdf) - File path the Fop executable used for Pdf generation.

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l Clear Cache - Clears the cached XSL transform object and forces creation of a new one.
(The caching is done to save time during document generation, so subsequent generation or
update of the document can use the cached transform object. But sometimes you may want
to force a recompile of the document if you change the stylesheet).

The XML, HTML and PDF generation require the XML schema file and XSLT stylesheets to
generate proper output. In addition, the PDF generation requires a FOP executable. You can use
the defaults provided in the installation or provide the file paths of your own preferred stylesheets
and fop executable installed in his machine.

Viewing UDDs with an Html Web Browser

The XML and HTML documents can be viewed in a web browser with some basic functionality like
printing the document, searching the document for a phrase or sentence and saving the document.

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UDD Script Libraries

Base classes and data files shared between similar UDDs can be organized to reuse the code in a
better way. All script-library and other support files need to be in a Lib sub-directory under the
UserDefinedDefinitions directory. Any .py files found in such Lib directories are ignored and not
displayed in the GUI as a valid UDD choice. For a UDD script at any given directory depth, all Lib
directories in its parent directories will be automatically added to the system include path (and so,
any support script files from any Lib directory till the top level UserDefinedDefintions directory can
be imported)

The UDD functionality uses IronPython so we have access to all the .NET assembles. If needed,
any subset of the UDD functionality can be implemented in any .NET language and used by the
UDD script. There are simple rules to follow to achieve this.

1. Build your .NET assembly for .NET 2.0 runtime.

2. Drop the built assembly in any Lib directory upstream of the UDD script location: that is, if
you have your UDD script in

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C:\Users\x\PersonalLib\UserDefinedDefintions\a\b\c\myudd.py and have a .NET assembly

called com.Acme.UDDLib You can keep the .NET assembly under
l UserDefinedDefintions\Lib,
l UserDefinedDefintions\a\L