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ANSYS HFSS TUTORIAL EEC 133

Fall 2014

OVERVIEW
What is HFSS?
EM simulation tool
2Real life behavior in real world environment
Use for RF and microwave passive and antenna design

System modeling

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HFSS installation?
5See set up instruction

DESIGN FLOW

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Geometry: need to know the geometry, dimensions and
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coordinate entries of the objects. These are design parameters
and you need to find the initial values by calculation
Material: conductor and dielectric material
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Boundary: boundary conditions of your system (ground plane,
radiation area)
Excitation:
RF ports
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Solve
6 setup: tell HFSS how to simulate your structure

GETTING STARTED

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HFSS DESKTOP

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PROJECT MANAGER WINDOW

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DIPOLE ANTENNA STEP BY STEP DESIGN

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Create new project and name it Dipole or Dipole_antenna

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SET UP UNITS

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Choose Modeler/Units and set the default unit is mm

DESIGN VARIABLES
What dimensions you need to know about a dipole:
o Length of each pole=lambda/4-gap/2
o 2Radius=lambda/200
o Gap=0.125mm

Other parameter:
o Lambda: calculate from frequency =10mm (f=30GHz)

o Radiation radius (usually bigger than the structure lambda/4)

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Radiation height (a little bigger than the structure) (+lambda/10)

SETUP DESIGN VARIABLES

HFSS/ Design Properties:

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DRAW OBJECTS
Draw a cylinder: put it in random place and random dimension

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OBJECT SET UP

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SET UP MATERIAL

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OBJECT SET UP

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Create the second pole by duplicating the first
pole since they are identical

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EXCITATION
Create rectangular in the gap

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ASSIGN EXCITATION

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Right6click on the rectangular and assign it as lumped port

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LUMPED PORT EXCITATION

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RADIATION BOX

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Create a new cylinder which covers the dipole. Assign the material as air
Choose
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SIMULATION SET UP

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Right click on Analysis/Add Solution Set up

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FREQUENCY SWEEP AND SIMULATION

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Right6click on Dipole_sim/Add frequency sweep

Everything is ready => save project and click on Anlyze

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RESULT DISPLAY
Right click on result/ Create Modal Solution Data Report/ Rectangular Plot

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RESULT DISPLAY
Display the S-parameter

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OVERVIEW

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Result
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Right click and add marker to read the exact number
You5can see the impedance by looking at other parameters: Z, Y

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FAR-FIELD SIMULATION

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Right click on Radiation/ Insert Far Field Setup/ Infinite Sphere

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OVERVIEW
o Right click on Infinite
Sphere/Computer Antenna
Parameters
o All the antenna results are shown

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OVERVIEW
Right click on Result/ Create Far Field Report
Can plot any kind of result: Rectangular (3D), Polar (3D), Radiation pattern

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PARAMETER TUNING
If the result is not as expected => go back to the design properties
and change the value of the parameters (length, width, gap, etc)
and run the simulation again

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If you
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Optimetrics/add/Parametric
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PARAMETER TUNING
o You must know which parameters affect which results
o You must know the range that you are tuning
o Just run the parameter optimization when you come closed to the
desired result

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