XML File Format for Importing Media

View the .xml file format that describes the medium properties of a dielectric, metal or impedance sheet.

Overview

Define the medium using the following workflow:

Define the frequency independent (static) properties for the medium using keywords.
Define the frequency dependent properties for the medium using keywords.

When the file is read, the internal XML parser populates the missing values for the frequency dependent data points using the static data points.

Keywords for the .xml file

Use the following keywords to define the medium:

Dielectric: freq, permittivity, diel_loss_tangent, mag_loss_tangent, conductivity, permeability.
Metal: freq, conductivity, permeability, mag_loss_tangent.
Impedance sheet: freq, surf_imp_re, sur_imp_im

Example of an .xml file

The following is an example of an .xml file that describes a medium with frequency independent (static) values as well as measured frequency independent values.

Note: For demonstrative purposes, the keywords val_A, val_B and val_C are used as the same format is applicable for defining a dielectric, metallic or impedance sheet.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<materialDB creator="Altair Feko" date="2017-06-29" version="1.0">
<material name="mediumA" val_B="7.0" val_C="9.0" >
<dataPoint freq="2.0" val_A="2.0" val_B="6.0" />
<dataPoint freq="3.0" val_A="3.0" />
<dataPoint freq="4.0" val_A="1.0" />
<dataPoint freq="5.0" val_B="5.0" />
<dataPoint freq="6.0" val_A="1.0" />
<dataPoint freq="8.0" val_B="6.0" />
<dataPoint freq="9.0" val_A="4.0" />
</material>
</materialDB

In line 3: Define the frequency independent (static) properties for mediumA.

<material name="mediumA" val_B="7.0" val_C="9.0" >

In line 4 to 10: Define the frequency dependent properties for mediumA.

<dataPoint freq="2.0" val_A="2.0" val_B="6.0" />

The internal XML parser then populates the missing values. The above example is parsed internally as if you specified the following file:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<materialDB creator="Altair Feko" date="2017-06-29" version="1.0">
<material name="mediumA" >
<dataPoint freq="2.0" val_A="2.0" val_B="6.0" val_C="9.0" />
<dataPoint freq="3.0" val_A="3.0" val_B="7.0" val_C="9.0" />
<dataPoint freq="4.0" val_A="1.0" val_B="7.0" val_C="9.0" />
<dataPoint freq="5.0" val_B="5.0" val_C="9.0" />
<dataPoint freq="6.0" val_A="1.0" val_B="7.0" val_C="9.0" />
<dataPoint freq="8.0" val_B="6.0" val_C="9.0" />
<dataPoint freq="9.0" val_A="4.0" val_B="7.0" val_C="9.0" />
</material>
</materialDB>

Figure 1. An illustration showing the result of the parsed XML file.