Changes

[[EM.Cube]]'s Planar Modules also allows you to run an adaptive frequency sweep of periodic surfaces excited by a plane wave source. In this case, the planar MoM engine calculates the reflection and transmission coefficients of the periodic surface. Note that you can conceptually consider a periodic surface as a two-port network, where Port 1 is the top half-space and Port 2 is the bottom half-space. In that case, the reflection coefficient R is equivalent to S₁₁ parameter, while the transmission coefficient T is equivalent to S₂₁ parameter. This is, of course, the case when the periodic surface is illuminated by the plane wave source from the top half-space, corresponding to 90°< θ = 180°. You can also illuminate the periodic surface by the plane wave source from the bottom half-space, corresponding to 0° = θ < 90°. In this case, the reflection coefficient R and transmission coefficient T are equivalent to S₂₂ and S₁₂ [[parameters]], respectively. Having these interpretations in mind, [[EM.Cube]] enables the "'''Adaptive Frequency Sweep'''" option of the '''Frequency Settings Dialog''' when your planar structure has a periodic domain together with a plane wave source.

The straightforward approach to the modeling of finite-sized antenna arrays is to use the full-wave method of moments (MoM). This requires building an array of radiating elements using [[EM.Cube]]'s '''Array Tool''' and feeding the individual array elements using some type of excitation. For example, if the antenna elements are excited using a gap source or a probe source, you can assign a certain array weight distribution among the elements as well as phase progression among the elements along the X and Y directions. [[EM.Cube]] currently offers uniform, binomial, Chebyshev and (arbitrary) data file-based weight distribution types. The full-wave MoM approach is very accurate and takes into account all the inter-element coupling effects. At the end of a planar MoM simulation of the array structure, you can plot the radiation patterns and other far field characteristics of the antenna array just like any other planar structure.