Frequency sweeps are often performed to study the frequency response of a planar structure. In particular, the variation of scattering parameters like S<sub>11</sub> (return loss) and S<sub>21</sub> (insertion loss) with frequency are of utmost interest. When analyzing resonant structures like patch antennas or planar filters over large frequency ranges, you may have to sweep a large number of frequency samples to capture their behavior with adequate details. The resonant peaks or notches are often missed due to the lack of enough resolution. EM.Cube's [[Planar Module]] offers a powerful adaptive frequency sweep option for this purpose. It is based on the fact that the frequency response of a physical, causal, multiport network can be represented mathematically using a rational function approximation. In other words, the S parameters of a circuit exhibit a finite number of poles and zeros over a given frequency range. EM.Cube first starts with very few frequency samples and tries to fit rational functions of low orders to the scattering parameters. Then, it increases the number of samples gradually by inserting intermediate frequency samples in a progressive manner. At each iteration cycle, all the possible rational functions of higher orders are tried out. The process continues until adding new intermediate frequency samples does not improve the resolution of the "S<sub>ij</sub>" curves over the given frequency range. In that case, the curves are considered as having converged.
'''Note that to run an adaptive frequency sweep, you You must have defined one or more ports for your planar structurerun an adaptive frequency sweep.''' Open the Frequency Settings dialog from the Simulation Run dialog and select the '''Adaptive''' option of '''Frequency Sweep Type'''. You have to set values for '''Minimum Number of Samples''' and '''Maximum Number of Samples'''. Their default values are 3 and 9, respectively. You also set a value for the '''Convergence Criterion''', which has a default value of 0.1. At each iteration cycle, all the S parameters are calculated at the newly inserted frequency samples, and their average deviation from the curves of the last cycle is measured as an error. When this error falls below the specified convergence criterion, the iteration is ended. If EM.Cube reaches the specified maximum number of iterations and the convergence criterion has not yet been met, the program will ask you whether to continue the process or exit it and stop. '''Â {{Note|For large frequency ranges, you may have to increase both the minimum and maximum number of samples. Moreover, remeshing the planar structure at each frequency may prove more practical than fixing the mesh at the highest frequency.'''}}
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