Release Notes: Altair Feko 2018

Altair Feko 2018 is available with a long list of new features, corrections and improvements. Altair Feko 2018 is a major release. It can be installed alongside other instances of Altair Feko.

Altair® Feko® is a comprehensive computational electromagnetics (CEM) software used widely in the telecommunications, automobile, aerospace and defence industries.

Feko offers several frequency and time domain electromagnetic (EM) solvers under a single license. Hybridisation of these methods enables the efficient solution of a broad spectrum of EM problems including analyses of antennas, microstrip circuits, RF components and biomedical systems, placement of antennas on electrically large structures, calculating scattering effects and performing electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) studies.

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 time.

Highlights of the 2018 release

The most notable extensions to Feko and WinProp in the 2018 release.

Features

  • WinProp is included as part of the Feko HyperWorks installation. WinProp is a leading software for wireless propagation modelling and radio network planning. It interfaces with Feko through the import of Feko .ffe far field patterns. The legacy licensed Feko installation does not include WinProp and a legacy licensed WinProp installation is available.
  • A new Feko + WinProp Launcher utility reduces the number of icons added to the Windows start menu. This utility contains options to launch the various Feko and WinProp components. It also provides easy access to the Feko documentation and the Altair licence utility.


    Figure 1. The Feko + WinProp Launcher utility
  • Characterised surfaces for the ray launching geometrical optics (RL-GO) solver greatly speeds up RL-GO analysis of complex multilayer structures.


    Figure 2. Antenna operating at 10 GHz with FSS radome modelled with a characterised surface. The radome simulation completes within a few minutes.
  • The hybrid FEM/MoM supports dielectric objects solved with the surface equivalence principle (SEP) in combination with dielectric objects treated with the finite element method (FEM), provided the regions do not touch. This can reduce the simulation requirements significantly for some applications. The ferrite circulator example below completed in half the runtime, using seven times less RAM than the FEM-only solution.


    Figure 3. Ferrite circulator (FEM) with horn antenna and dielectric lens (SEP).
  • Various cable modelling extensions, including:
    • A reference direction can be defined for a cable path. This provides precise control over cable orientations, instead of letting the solver search for the closest ground to the cable path.


      Figure 4. A reference direction can be defined to specify the orientation of a cable.
    • Error handling is improved for cables requiring a ground plane.
    • A newly developed cable cross section mesh library results in improved cable meshes, especially for cables close to geometry and for closely spaced cable conductors.


      Figure 5. An example of a cable cross section mesh used by the solver.
    • N-port Touchstone files can be used as interconnections or terminations of cables.
    • HyperSpice is supported as a SPICE solution method for cable and network simulations. This SPICE solver provides a great speedup compared to the NGSPICE solver that is also available in Feko.
  • Numerous meshing improvements, including:
    • Automatic meshing (Standard, Fine and Coarse) now yield different meshes for models where the mesh size is governed by the geometry curvature rather than the electromagnetic properties like frequency.
    • Automatic meshing rules for metal faces between dielectric regions are relaxed to be more in line with practical requirements.
    • Many performance enhancements and improvements to the meshes generated by the mesh engine introduced in Feko 2017.
    • A comprehensive check is added to detect overlapping or intersecting triangles when the solver is run.
  • Improved DC estimation for time analysis.
  • Graphs and displays are updated as adaptive frequency sampling results (results calculated over a continuous frequency range) become available.


    Figure 6. A Cartesian graph with the reflection coefficient of a helix antenna shows the completed continuous frequency result and the discrete result as it gets displayed during simulation.
  • Untracked characteristic modes can be displayed in POSTFEKO.


    Figure 7. Modal significance plots from a characteristic mode analysis performed on a PEC plate showing tracked modes on the left and untracked results on the right.
  • A phase reference point can be set for a plane wave source (before the reference was assumed to be the global origin).
  • WinProp extensions include:
    • Full polarimetric analysis through the import of Tx and Rx antenna patterns from Feko. Polarisation can be taken into account in WinProp.
    • Support for the import of OpenStreetMap data (.osm XML files).
    • In Virtual Drive Test, a velocity profile can be defined along the trajectories. The results will include the Doppler shift.
    • WinProp radio channel data can be exported to the ASCII format supported by Keysight PROPSIM.
    • Increased user-friendliness through the use of relative paths when archiving antenna patterns and databases. Properties of antenna, sites, transmitters and cells can also be imported from existing WinProp projects, simplifying the setup of similar projects.
  • The documentation is reworked with many improvements and changes, including the following:
    • The Feko manuals are incorporated into the HyperWorks help format.
    • The Feko documentation is improved to be more task driven.
    • The Feko User Manual includes more information, for example, a new section lists common errors and warnings that may be encountered.
    • Improved syntax highlighting of code snippets.
    • The location of the help folder is updated to: c:\Program Files\Altair\2018\help.

Feko 2018 Release Notes

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

CADFEKO

Features

  • The CEM validate check for dielectrics in the same model is updated to support FEM together with SEP, provided that the regions do not touch. (2018)
  • The plane wave source is extended to support calculating two orthogonal plane wave source polarisations without the requirement to create multiple configurations. (2018)
  • Characterised surfaces can be defined and applied to RL-GO faces. (2018)
  • Support is added to export transmission / reflection coefficients to .tr file. The request is activated on the transmission / reflection request dialog. (2018)
  • The option to specify the return path for ribbon cables is removed. The setting is no longer used and the return path is calculated automatically (either via the ground or via the cable conductors). (2018)
  • The orientation of cables can be defined. This provides precise control over the cable orientation instead of letting the solver search for the closest ground to the cable path. (2018)
  • Mesh imports are extended to recreate, when possible, the parts and associated faces during the import process. Faces are grouped into parts as they were at the time of export. Imported meshes without labels will be grouped into an "UnknownMeshParts" part. The feature can be disabled to obtain the previous import behaviour yielding parts labelled "MeshImport". (2018)
  • Automatic meshing (fine, standard and coarse) now influence the advanced mesh settings for curved geometry approximation (refinement factor and minimum element size). This ensures that the three automatic mesh size options yield different meshes for models where the mesh size is governed by the geometry rather than the electromagnetic properties (like frequency). (2018)
  • The meshing library is upgraded to the latest version. (2018)
  • The automatic meshing rules for metal faces between two dielectric regions are relaxed. The theoretical meshing requirements are too stringent for most practical simulations. A compromise between the theoretical required meshing and required resources that still provides good simulation accuracy is implemented. (2018)
  • The CADFEKO API is extended to return a list of parts that are imported. This change breaks backwards compatibility and may require users to update their scripts that use the return value. (2018)
  • The CAD import library is upgraded to provide access to the latest CAD formats and to benefit from the latest bug fixes and performance improvements. (2018)

Resolved Issues

  • The calculation of the size of the FDTD boundary box is corrected for the option to specify the size of the free space buffer in the X-direction (+X or -X). (2018)
  • A problem with periodic boundary condition meshing is resolved, where for some models, the geometry modeller encountered a problem and the mesher aborted abnormally. (2018)
  • The order of some cards in the .pre file was not written out consistently. This could lead to the solver detecting changes in the model, preventing the .str file to be used for subsequent calculations. This is corrected. (2018)
  • The dialog for exporting a model to Parasolid format is updated to allow exporting to the latest versions. (2018)
  • An assertion that failed with "Assertion failed: ((*it)->addToHistory())" is resolved. An error, "Scaled model contains faults" will now be triggered when a .cfx file is imported and the operation cannot complete due to problems with the required scaling during import. (2018)
  • An assertion that failed with "src\cf_ProjectAutomation.cpp (117): Assertion failed: 0" is fixed. This assertion failure could be encountered when importing .cfx models created by the Antenna Magus software. (2018)
  • Gerber imports could have resulted in imports where some parts were missing. These problems are corrected. (2018)
  • Improvements to the Gerber import process prevent some elements from being clipped (trimmed) during the import process. (2018)
  • Gerber and ODB++ import offers improved support for folders and files that use unicode characters. (2018)
  • The region settings on faces imported from Gerber files could have been set incorrectly during the import process. These region settings are now applied correctly. (2018)
  • A mismatch between the model extents and the extents of Gerber or ODB++ files could have resulted in an assert failing during the import process. (2018)
  • A correction to the Gerber unit directive resolves a problem that resulted in some entities not being imported into CADFEKO. (2018)
  • The Gerber and ODB++ library is upgraded with many improvements implemented with the upgrade. The upgrade includes various bug fixes and enhancements. (2018)
  • The problem that required some users to install Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 redistributables before they could import Gerber and ODB++ files is resolved. (2018)
  • Script recording is extended to support the import of Gerber, 3Di and ODB++ files. (2018)
  • The recorded script when importing a .fek file used an undefined "properties" table that resulted in an error when running the script. This is fixed. (2018)
  • Script recording is extended to support .dxf file import. (2018)
  • The algorithm for detecting intersecting triangles is improved. The problem that a different number of intersecting elements gets reported for a model mesh and the same mesh used as simulation mesh is resolved. (2018)
  • An error with mesh variable evaluation could have resulted in meshes using the previous mesh setting under very special circumstances. The evaluation bug is fixed. (2018)
  • Re-meshing of volume meshes (finite element method) did not correctly take into account embedded metal structures and resulted in non-matching triangle-tetrahedron boundaries. Meshes of model meshes now include the discretisations for internal metallic faces. (2018)
  • The meshing quality and the meshing performance for FEM models (volume meshing) are considerably improved. These performance improvements are easily seen when meshing large array structures. (2018)
  • Meshing of fine helical structures with curvilinear segments is improved. (2018)
  • Automatic meshing is revised to correctly mesh second order elements on FEM-FEM boundaries. First order elements are still created on FEM-MoM boundaries. Faces bounding FEM regions are corrected to use the meshing rules of the FEM region and not the MoM meshing rules. (2018)
  • The meshing performance for UTD plates is improved. For large models the resource requirements could have resulted in the meshing process failing. (2018)
  • Periodic boundary condition meshing is improved to take into account the effect of wires touching faces on the periodic boundaries. (2018)
  • A meshing issue with some problematic faces that could not be meshed is resolved. Warning messages, including the warning "A correct definition could not be recovered", were triggered during meshing. These faces are now meshed correctly. (2018)
  • Large volume meshes with fine detail could have resulted in large tetrahedra. The problem is corrected and the tetrahedral element sizes are now consistent. (2018)
  • The meshing of spherical geometries is improved. In the past it could happen that some faces of spherical structures were not meshed. This problem is resolved. (2018)
  • A wire with a segment and a vertex port in close proximity could have resulted in an assert failing. This case is now correctly taken into account, resulting in an error message or a successful mesh (when meshing is possible). (2018)
  • Corrections made to wire re-meshing ensure that the wire mesh settings are taken into account correctly. Some re-meshed wires could have resulted in much fewer segments in previous versions. (2018)
  • Small geometry feature suppression during meshing is corrected for models containing wire ports and symmetry planes. Small geometry features are now ignored for the specified percentage of the mesh size. (2018)
  • The mesher aborted abnormally when attempting to mesh some analytical curve geometry using curvilinear segments. The geometry now meshes successfully. (2018)
  • The meshing of sharply curved hyperbolic arcs are improved. (2018)
  • Sinusoidal curve geometries are approximated more accurately when meshing with straight elements. (2018)
  • The API is extended to allow the use of interpolation features in result scripts. (2018)
  • An assertion that failed with "src/operatorframework/mesh/modifiers/gaia_NonRestorableMeshModifier.cpp (6): Assertion failed: 0" is resolved. This problem could be encountered when attempting to delete parts of a locked model mesh. (2018)
  • A crash is resolved that could present when translating a mesh part imported from a .cfx file. This was due to the "Use model mesh" setting incorrectly being in an inconsistent state. (2018)
  • Many unions that failed in the past now union correctly due to improvements to the union operator. (2018)
  • Meshing of wire ports located at the centre of the wire has been corrected to create the wire segment port at the centre of the wire. In some cases the meshing could have resulted in the port being slightly offset. (2018)

EDITFEKO

Features

  • The A0 card (plane wave source) is extended to allow users to specify whether the orthogonal plane wave definition should be included in the simulations. (2018)
  • The DA card (data output) is extended to allow exporting .tr files (transmission / reflection data from infinite surface structures). (2018)
  • The DI card (dielectric and magnetic material definition) is extended to support characterised surface materials. (2018)
  • The SK card (skin effect and other surface properties) is extended to allow users to apply characterised surface properties on RL-GO faces. (2018)
  • The CS card (cable section) is extended to support cable orientations. The cable orientations are required when no ground plane is available to define the orientation or when the ground plane is electrically far from the cable path. (2018)
  • The CD card (cable cross section definition) option to specify the return path number for ribbon cables is removed. This setting is no longer used and the return path is determined automatically (either via the model ground or cable conductors). (2018)
  • The CI card (cable interconnect) is extended to support N-port Touchstone interconnections and terminations on cables. (2018)
  • Edge loads now take port polarity into account at the LE card. (2018)

Resolved Issues

  • Support for the old A4 and L4 cards has been discontinued. These cards have been removed from the interface. (2018)

POSTFEKO

Features

  • The adaptive frequency sampling algorithm is used to interpolate and extrapolate frequency responses for time analysis in POSTFEKO. The new algorithm greatly improves the direct current (DC) estimate and this results in better time domain results. The setting can be disabled on the Time domain tab in POSTFEKO. (2018)
  • Support is added in POSTFEKO to allow loading and displaying models where both orthogonal plane wave polarisations are requested. (2018)
  • Support for ray launching geometrical optics (RL-GO) characterised surfaces was added. The characterised surface can be defined and then applied to RL-GO faces. (2018)
  • Support is added for N-port Touchstone files to be used as terminations or interconnections for cables. (2018)
  • The display of untracked modes from characteristic mode analysis (CMA) simulations is supported. The mode number (for tracked data) or the mode number with "untracked" in parentheses (for untracked data) can be selected on views and plots showing CMA results. (2018)
  • Support for surface graph point annotations is added. Quickly add an annotation to a Cartesian surface graph by holding Ctrl+Shift and left mouse clicking on a plot, or specify the horizontal and vertical axes values at the point of interest. (2018)
  • The surface graph supports exporting results to a text file for further processing. The results can be exported to the clipboard using the Ctrl+X keyboard shortcut. (2018)
  • POSTFEKO monitors simulation results and updates the display and graphs as the results become available for discrete frequency results. This feature is now also available for adaptive frequency sampling results (continuous frequency). POSTFEKO will display the discrete results during the simulation and interpolate the results once the simulation has completed. (2018)
  • The OpenFile method in the API is changed to open models (.fek files) with many mesh elements by default (instead of not loading the mesh). (2018)
  • Phase unwrapping support is implemented for receiving antennas. (2018)
  • Support is added for changing the unit (V/m versus kV/mm) when displaying results in decibels. (2018)
  • The .fek file version is increased to 159 to accommodate new cable extensions. (2018)
  • The Feko far field file formats are extended to provide the polarisation angle in the block header. (2018)
  • Edge loads now take port polarity into account and this is correctly indicated in the 3D view and details tree. (2018)

Resolved Issues

  • Improved support was added for importing large data files (larger than 1 GByte). (2018)
  • Touchstone impedance and admittance files were incorrectly imported (incorrect normalisation was used) and has been fixed. (2018)
  • A display bug is fixed that could have resulted in a crash when setting the segment display radius to zero. (2018)
  • Scaling of text on images exported from 3D views are improved. The text size was much smaller on exported images than on the 3D view. The font sizes on images exported with the "Same as source" size setting are now the same as on the 3D view. (2018)
  • The display of far field lobes with transparency is corrected. In previous versions, the colours could have changed when using hardware rendering. Software rendering remains correct. (2018)
  • Support for an invalid (collapsed) axis definition is improved. Invalid axis definitions could have resulted in an assert failing, but they are now handled correctly in POSTFEKO. (2018)
  • The Cartesian surface graph display is extended to support invalid and infinite numbers. The invalid values are ignored, but previously could have resulted in an assert failing. (2018)
  • Cartesian surface graphs now support polarisation angle, plane wave theta and plane wave phi as possible independent axes when these are available. An empty combobox was displayed for near field results containing these values and polarisation angle could not be selected as independent axis for far field results. (2018)
  • The Cartesian surface graph right click context menu is corrected to be available from anywhere on the plot area. (2018)
  • All polar plot annotations with a horizontal position of greater than 180 degrees was shown at 180 degrees. This regression was introduced by changes in POSTFEKO 2017.2.5. It is corrected. (2018)
  • The option to change the time signal for a Cartesian graph time analysis trace is now available for S-parameter results, waveguide source data and modal source data. (2018)
  • Measurement cursors update correctly for negative horizontal axis values. The problem that was introduced in POSTFEKO 2017.2.5 is resolved. (2018)
  • The width of combo box widgets on the ribbon is increased to improve readability of items with longer text. (2018)
  • Validation on the API for exporting results was corrected to require a minimum of two points. It was incorrectly possible to export using a single point. (2018)
  • The DerivedResults module is corrected to support phi axis ranges. Using the module to calculate results from data with phi values could have resulted in an error. (2018)

Solver

Features

  • Improve the scaling and robustness of the MoM phase of the coupled FEM/MoM solution method. (2018)
  • FEM/MoM problems are supported with SEP dielectric regions, provided that the SEP dielectrics do not touch the FEM/MoM interface. (2018)
  • CUDA is upgraded to version 8.0, providing access to the latest enhancements in GPU computing. (2018)
  • Higher order waveguide triangle basis functions are pre-calculated, resulting in large performance improvements for waveguide models utilising higher order basis functions. Pre-calculation was already supported for the RWG basis functions. (2018)
  • Shared memory is expanded to further phases, resulting in more memory savings for the MLFMM. (2018)
  • The number formatting for MLFMM memory usage reports is improved. (2018)
  • Exporting near and far field data for orthogonal plane wave sources is supported. (2018)
  • Characterised surface definitions can be exported to .tr files. (2018)
  • Characterised surfaces can be used to speed up RL-GO calculations for surfaces where transmission and reflection coefficients are a function of frequency and direction of source incidence. (2018)
  • Support is added to set the plane wave source reference point. The phase reference was always assumed to be the global origin, but now it can be set by the user. (2018)
  • Support is added for the phase reference for plane wave sources in the FDTD. (2018)
  • N-port Touchstone files can be used as interconnections or terminations of cables. (2018, 2018)
  • The error handling for cables requiring a ground plane is improved. The cable height above the ground is tested at the highest frequency. An error is given if the cable is too high above the ground. This error was present in the past, but would often be triggered only after many frequencies have been simulated. (2018)
  • A newly developed cable cross section meshing library results in improved cable meshes, especially for cables close to geometry and for closely spaced cable conductors. (2018)
  • An environment variable, FEKO_WHICH_CABLE_MESHER, is added to enable the selection of the mesher to be used for cable solutions. (2018)
  • HyperSpice is supported as a SPICE solution method for cable and network simulations. Low-frequency cable performance is improved with the addition of this SPICE solver. (2018)
  • Edge loads are supported for finite antenna array analysis. (2018)
  • The Intel Math Kernel Library (MKL) is upgraded to version 2018.1. The new version shows performance improvements on newer hardware (being able to utilise the latest hardware advancements). (2018)
  • Feko is compiled using the latest Intel compilers, allowing it to optimally utilise the latest hardware for the best possible performance. (2018)
  • The Windows compilers are upgraded to Microsoft Visual Studio 2015 (service pack 3). (2018)
  • The Linux GNU Compiler Collection (GCC) is upgraded to version 4.9.4, requiring libstdc++ version 6.0.20 or later. (2018)
  • The latest Intel Message Passing Interface (MPI), version 2018 update 1, is used for process communication. The upgrade includes the removal of SMPD / MPD and the I_MPI_PROCESS_MANAGER environment variable since these are deprecated in the latest version. (2018)
  • Edge loads now take port polarity into account. (2018, 2018)
  • A new option is added to wait for available HyperWorks Units (HWUs) if there are not enough units available to start a solver job. Set the environment variable ALM_QUEUE_TIMEOUT to the desired waiting time (in seconds). (2018)
  • The str2ascii tool is extended to support the latest .str file format (12). (2018)
  • A check for overlapping triangles in simulation meshes is added. (2018)
  • The MoM meshing requirements for metal faces on dielectric boundaries are relaxed. (2018)

Resolved Issues

  • An internal error that could have resulted for FDTD models where the resistance, capacitance and inductance are set to zero is corrected. (2018)
  • The FDTD minimum time interval was ignored if the automatically calculated maximum time interval was shorter than the specified minimum time interval. This is fixed. (2018)
  • Incorrect results were calculated for PBC problems that are long relative to the periodic cell surface area. This is fixed. (2018)
  • The robustness and speed of intersection tests for RL-GO models are improved. (2018)
  • The automatic parameters for small RL-GO models (where RL-GO is not really applicable) are improved to produce more accurate results. (2018)
  • A bug is fixed that prevented the proper detection of degenerate triangles in the mesh RL-GO and windscreen elements. (2018)
  • The RL-GO warnings are improved to provide a summary of the number of rays with angular increments that are too coarse. The number of rays being affected are listed instead of issuing a warning for each ray. (2018)
  • RL-GO is extended to provide more details regarding rays that are discarded during the simulation. The ray origin, direction and decay are included in the .out file. (2018)
  • The performance of RL-GO is improved by not computing the magnetic dipole moment when a ray hits a PEC surface. (2018)
  • A bug is fixed that caused an error while writing rays to the .ray file for UTD cylindrical geometry. (2018)
  • SPICE models that contain special characters, such as a circumflex, in the file name no longer result in an error when using the SPICE solver. (2018)
  • MoM matrix fill times are improved. (2018)
  • Unused quantities are removed from the geometry and basis function sections of the OUT-file. (2018)
  • The calculation of transmission/reflection coefficients for electrically small unit cells with high aspect ratios is corrected. (2018)
  • A bug that caused an internal error for triangles with features smaller than the model tolerances is fixed. (2018)
  • Add the environment variable FEKO_MPI_ROOT_FORCE to force the MPI implementation used. (2018)
  • LD_BIND_NOW is not enabled for Feko runs on Linux systems. This is no longer required to avoid floating point exceptions. (2018)
  • A correction is made to the test for the application of losses to conducting surfaces. Warning 32412 may not have been triggered when it should have for some low conductivity or high permeability examples. (2018)
  • Support for the microstrip coaxial feed approximation is removed as more modern alternatives are available. (2018)

Shared Interface Changes

Features

  • The API Launcher object is extended to allow users to access the command used to launch other Feko components. Each function returns a command string that takes the current settings into account. This extension makes it easier to integrate third party applications into the interface. (2018)
  • Collections in the API are extended with a UniqueName method that will use the contents of the collection to find a unique name (with no duplicate) for a given base name. This removes the burden of defining a unique name from the user. (2018)
  • The 3D CAD modeller used in CADFEKO is upgraded to version 30, providing access to the Parasolid formats, bug fixes and performance enhancements. (2018)
  • The rendering engine is upgraded to the latest version to access the latest bug fixes and performance enhancements. (2018)

Resolved Issue

  • The options --remove-use-mpi and --remote-host could have been included when remote execution was not activated. A machines file could also have been generated and used for local runs. These errors are corrected. (2018)

Support Components

Features

  • The Feko updater is greatly improved in terms of speed and its ability to efficiently handle a large number of small files in an update. (2018)
  • The optimisation engine is improved to make it less sensitive to extremely large or extremely small values. (2018)
  • A Feko + WinProp Launcher utility allows quick and easy access to all the Feko and WinProp components, documentation and licensing utilities. The launcher eliminates clutter by greatly reducing the number of icons added to the Windows start menu. (2018)
  • The installers are upgraded to use the latest version of the installation software. This version has improved support for ultra high definition (UHD) screens. (2018)
  • The WinProp example models are included in the installation. In previous releases, these examples had to be downloaded from the website. (2018)
  • The mat2ascii and str2ascii utilities are included in the Feko installation. In the past, these utilities had to be downloaded from the Feko website. (2018)
  • The scripting examples and related PDF document are removed from the Feko installation. Any users requiring the old models and document should contact the Feko Support team. (2018)
  • Third party resources, such as the NGSPICE manual, are now located in the shared/pdf folder in the Feko installation directory. (2018)
  • The documentation (all Feko content) has been re-created making it easier to find content, follow steps to complete tasks. The HTML version of the documentation uses the system web browser. (2018)
  • The Linux build environment is upgraded to support the new compilers and the latest library upgrades. The build environment is CentOS 6.9 with Development Toolkit 3.1. Linux systems require a GLIBC version of 2.12 or later in order to run Feko. (2018)

Resolved Issues

  • Empty lines before the Touchstone specification line are supported. (2018)
  • The Feko updater no longer requires a valid licence file in order for system administrators to update Feko to the latest version before installing a valid licence. (2018)
  • A bug that prevented the import of materials from XML databases on Linux systems is fixed. (2018)
  • The OPTFEKO help text for parallel farming runs is clarified. (2018)

WinProp 2018 Release Notes

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

General

Features

  • Feko far field results (antenna patterns) can be imported in .ffe format. These files contain full polarimetric information, such as antenna patterns for theta polarization and for phi polarization, to increase the breadth of suitable WinProp applications. (2018)
  • WinProp (using HyperWorks units) is included in the Feko installation and gets installed to the same location. The Feko bin directory and other folder structures are shared. The legacy licensed WinProp still requires a separate installation. (2018)
  • Multiple concurrent WinProp installations are now possible. (2018)
  • As part of the merger of WinProp and Feko installers (for installations with HyperWorks licensing), administrative privileges are no longer required. (2018)
  • Similar to other Altair HyperWorks tools, WinProp now also supports a Student Edition. (2018)

Resolved Issue

  • Fixed a bug in which modified RunMS settings were sometimes not respected by the solver. (2018)

ProMan

Features

  • For rigorous analysis, the full angle-dependent polarization of both the transmitting and the receiving antennas are now taken into account in indoor and urban scenarios with ray-tracing methods SRT and IRT (provided also the option Fresnel/UTD is selected). (2018)
  • Transmit power is limited to 120 dBm (1 GW) to avoid unintended consequences if an unrealistic value is entered by mistake. (2018)
  • Projects can be exported along with antenna patterns and geometry databases into an archive without absolute path information. This facilitates the exchange of complete projects between different machines and users. (2018)
  • For simulations with empirical methods, in addition to defining a polarization for the transmitter, the user can define a cross-polarization level. (2018)
  • In addition to indoor scenarios, polarization of transmitters can now also be defined in urban and rural scenarios. (2018)
  • A translator is added to convert data exported from OpenStreetMap (as .osm XML) into WinProp readable format. (2018)
  • WinProp radio channel data can be exported to the ASCII format supported by Keysight PROPSIM. (2018)
  • It is now possible to export and import the properties of sites, antennas and cells. These properties can be read directly from a saved project file into another project. This saves time when setting up new projects that are similar to existing ones, and reduces the chance of errors. (2018)
  • For RunMS postprocessing, multiple trajectories can now be handled. (2018)
  • A velocity profile can now be included along receiver trajectories in the Virtual Drive Test (RunMS), so Doppler shift is added to the results. (2018)

Resolved Issues

  • Fixed a problem that caused, in some cases, the range of the legend to be missing for a result plot. (2018)
  • Fixed a problem that caused ProMan to crash while computing the propagation results for modified antennas. (2018)
  • Fixed a situation where ProMan was looking for RunMS results in a folder with the default name while the user had specified a custom name. (2018)
  • Fixed a situation in ProMan where the button for displaying results for selected rays was not available. (2018)
  • Fixed a rare crash in an urban scenario with vegetation. (2018)
  • Fixed a crash in ProMan that occurred when a user attempted to combine topographical databases with different resolutions. (2018)
  • Fixed a bug that prevented the completion of a RunMS simulation for models with multiple trajectories. (2018)
  • Fixed a bug that impeded receiver antenna postprocessing in area mode. (2018)
  • Fixed a problem that prevented the computation of Channel Capacity in the RunMS feature. (2018)
  • Fixed a situation in which an imported bitmap could no longer be displayed. (2018)
  • Fixed an incorrect legend display for results in which all pixels had the same value. (2018)
  • Fixed a case in ProMan where an omnidirectional antenna would continue to be displayed as a sector antenna. (2018)
  • Fixed a situation in ProMan where, with certain settings, the transmitting antenna could not be moved anymore. (2018)

WallMan

Feature

  • WallMan offers new shortcuts for the conversion of vector databases. (2018)

Resolved Issues

  • Fixed a crash in WallMan that occurred when a furniture object overlapped with certain existing wall objects. (2018)
  • Fixed a WallMan problem where changing the resolution in a database conversion could lead to an incorrect database. (2018)

AMan

Features

  • Two antenna patterns, one for theta polarization and one for phi polarization, can be converted into one pattern in .ffe format with full polarization information. The original antenna patterns can be in several formats, such as .msi, .apb and .apa. (2018)
  • A superposition of antenna patterns at one site can be created into one antenna pattern at that site. This avoids having to run a simulation more than once. (2018)

Application Programming Interface

Features

  • A sample project developed in Visual C# shows how the WinProp API can be called or implemented in C#. (2018)
  • The WinProp API can now be used under HyperWorks Units (HWU) licensing. (2018)