Release Notes: Altair Feko 2020.0.1

Altair Feko 2020.0.1 is available with new features, corrections and improvements. This version (2020.0.1) is a patch release that should be applied to an existing 2020 installation.

Feko is a powerful and comprehensive 3D simulation package intended for the analysis of a wide range of electromagnetic radiation and scattering problems. Applications include antenna design, antenna placement, microstrip antennas and circuits, dielectric media, scattering analysis, electromagnetic compatibility studies including cable harness modelling and many more.

WinProp is the most complete suite of tools in the domain of wireless propagation and radio network planning. With applications ranging from satellite to terrestrial, from rural via urban to indoor radio links, WinProp’s innovative wave propagation models combine accuracy with short computation times.

Feko 2020.0.1 Release Notes

The most notable extensions and improvements to Feko are listed by component.

POSTFEKO

Features

  • Improved the performance of the API GetDataSet method for non-radiating networks and certain load types (cable loads and loads on FEM and edge ports). The improvement is especially prominent in models with many looped plane wave directions.
  • Reduced the time it takes to import far field, near field, Touchstone and custom data files.

Resolved Issues

  • Resolved an issue where importing large near field, far field or custom data files (roughly 1 GByte in size) caused an assertion to fail in versions of Feko 2019. The import of much larger .efe, .hfe and .ffe files (several GBytes in size) is now supported than before Feko 2019.
    • In the Feko 2019.3.3 update (released after Feko 2020) the fix for near field and far field data was released.
    • In this update (Feko 2020.0.1), the fix is extended to include large custom data files.
  • Fixed the normalisation of Cartesian boundary near field results plotted on the 3D view.
  • Resolved a defect where data for edge loads were not updated for finite antenna array elements. All edge loads in an array shared the data from the first load.
  • Fixed a problem where POSTFEKO failed to get the dataset (via the API) from a load if there were multiple models in the session.

Solver

Features

  • The maximum allowable non-tissue volume fraction for 1 g/10 g SAR averaging over a cube was changed from 20% to 10% in accordance with the IEC/IEEE 62704-1:2017 standard.
  • Improved the multilayer planar Green's function setup for parallel simulations leading to faster solutions.

Resolved Issues

  • Fixed a bug that increased the simulation time when using the parallel RL-GO for models that trigger the field matrices to be stored in shared memory.
  • A note regarding the accuracy of results is now issued when a receiving antenna is placed too close to geometry or sources.
  • Fixed a bug that prevented results in the first configuration from being computed in a model with a load defined by a SPICE netlist.
  • Added a mechanism to disable the use of geometric symmetry in a model containing non-radiating networks. This bug previously led to inaccurate results as the use of symmetry with non-radiating networks is not supported.
  • Fixed a bug that led to inaccuracies in surface currents computed with MLFMM on a model consisting of a windscreen with a thin metallic coating.
  • Fixed a bug that led to incorrect results when PCB sources are defined per configuration, as opposed to the case where they are defined globally for use in all configurations.
  • Fixed a bug related to source power calculations in multi-configuration examples where power scaling is enabled in the first configuration and disabled in subsequent configurations.
  • Fixed a numerical tolerance bug that resulted in errors when identifying the surrounding medium of mesh elements.
  • Fixed a bug that caused spikes in the computed gain when the fast method for far field calculations is enabled for some models.
  • Fixed a bug that caused a segmentation violation during the matrix fill stage of an ACA solution for some large models.

Shared Interface Changes

Resolved Issue

  • Fixed a problem with the distribution of rendering plugins on Linux.

Support Components

Feature

  • Labels from blocks 2435, 2467 and 2477 are now used by PREFEKO for segment and triangle labels when importing UNV files.

Resolved Issue

  • Resolved a bug on Linux systems using GNOME Terminal that prevented the Feko terminal to be opened from the Launcher application.

WinProp 2020.0.1 Release Notes

The most notable extensions and improvements to WinProp are listed by component.

ProMan

Features

  • Simulation progress tabs for each transmitter are now left open if the option to leave the progress window open is selected. In addition, time stamps associated with each stage of the simulation are now printed to the log file.
  • Vector topography data can be included in indoor databases by setting the type of relevant objects to Topography Triangles.
  • Accelerated the wedge determination phase of database preprocessing or SRT simulation without a preprocessed database by at least one order of magnitude, with faster wedge determination being observed for large databases with many objects.
  • Added support for predictions with the ITU P.1411 propagation model in urban scenarios. Support is currently limited to over the roof top predictions for receiver locations that are not in the line of sight of the transmitter.
  • Accelerated simulations using ray tracing models in indoor scenarios for projects with databases having no more than 20000 polygons. Large speed-up factors are typically obtained when at least two interactions are used, with orders of magnitude reductions in total simulation time being achieved in some cases.
  • Polarization-dependent power results (computed during propagation modelling of fully polarimetric projects) are now available for display in the result tree.

Resolved Issues

  • Improved support for Monte-Carlo Analysis in a network planning project with MIMO sites.
  • Fixed a bug when accounting for the effects of diffraction wedges during computation of an indoor project consisting of a database that was preprocessed for SRT.
  • Fixed a bug that resulted in inaccurate diffraction effects being obtained for some rays in some projects solved with SRT.
  • Fixed a bug that resulted in a crash when a very large database is simulated with the IRT.
  • Revised parallelisation of the SRT method to only use the specified number of concurrent threads. In a previous version, more threads than requested were used when the specified number of concurrent threads is greater than or equal to the number of transmitters in the project.
  • Fixed a bug that resulted in an error when modifying mobile station receiver antenna settings in a project that was created with a 2019 version of WinProp.
  • Fixed a bug that resulted in the inclusion of rays which do not meet the dynamic range criteria in regions of a database with low field strength.

WallMan

Features

  • Vector topography data can be included in indoor databases by setting the type of relevant objects to Topography Triangles.
  • Accelerated the wedge determination phase of database preprocessing or SRT simulation without a preprocessed database by at least one order of magnitude, with faster wedge determination being observed for large databases with many objects.

Resolved Issue

  • Fixed a bug that resulted in a termination of the WallMan GUI after preprocessing a database for SRT.

Application Programming Interface

Feature

  • Added support for indoor database preprocessing for SRT using the WinProp API.