CST MICROWAVE STUDIO

Workflow &
Solver Overview

CST STUDIO SUITE 2016

Copyright
CST 20052016
CST Computer Simulation Technology AG
All rights reserved.

Information in this document is subject to change

without notice. The software described in this document
is furnished under a license agreement or non-disclosure
agreement. The software may be used only in accordance
with the terms of those agreements.

No part of this documentation may be reproduced,

stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any
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than the purchasers personal use without the written
permission of CST.

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CST, CST STUDIO SUITE, CST MICROWAVE STUDIO,
CST EM STUDIO, CST PARTICLE STUDIO, CST CABLE
STUDIO, CST PCB STUDIO, CST MPHYSICS STUDIO, CST
MICROSTRIPES, CST DESIGN STUDIO, CST BOARDCHECK,
PERFECT BOUNDARY APPROXIMATION (PBA), and the
CST logo are trademarks or registered trademarks
of CST in North America, the European Union, and
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trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective
holders and should be noted as such.

CST Computer Simulation Technology AG

www.cst.com
CST MICROWAVE STUDIO 2016 Workflow and Solver Overview

Contents
CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................... 3
Welcome......................................................................................................................................3
How to Get Started Quickly .................................................................................................... 3
What is CST MICROWAVE STUDIO?.................................................................................... 3
Who Uses CST MICROWAVE STUDIO? ............................................................................... 5
CST MICROWAVE STUDIO Key Features .................................................................................6
General ................................................................................................................................... 6
Structure Modeling ................................................................................................................. 6
Transient Solver ..................................................................................................................... 7
TLM Solver ............................................................................................................................. 8
Frequency Domain Solver ...................................................................................................... 9
Integral Equation Solver ....................................................................................................... 11
Multilayer Solver ................................................................................................................... 12
Asymptotic Solver ................................................................................................................. 12
Eigenmode Solver ................................................................................................................ 13
CST DESIGN STUDIO View ................................................................................................ 13
SAM (System and Assembly Modeling)................................................................................ 14
Visualization and Secondary Result Calculation................................................................... 14
Result Export ........................................................................................................................ 14
Automation ........................................................................................................................... 15
About This Manual ..................................................................................................................... 15
Document Conventions ........................................................................................................ 15
Your Feedback ..................................................................................................................... 15

CHAPTER 2 SIMULATION WORKFLOW ..............................................................................................16

Setup the Simulation Model ....................................................................................................... 16
The Structure ........................................................................................................................ 16
Create a New Project............................................................................................................ 17
Open the QuickStart Guide................................................................................................... 19
Define the Units .................................................................................................................... 19
Define the Background Material ........................................................................................... 19
Model the Structure .............................................................................................................. 20
Define the Frequency Range ................................................................................................ 27
Define Ports .......................................................................................................................... 28
Define Boundary and Symmetry Conditions ......................................................................... 30
Visualize the Mesh ............................................................................................................... 32
Start the Simulation ................................................................................................................... 34
Analyze the Port Modes........................................................................................................ 37
Analyze the S-Parameters .................................................................................................... 38
Adaptive Mesh Refinement................................................................................................... 41
Analyze the Electromagnetic Field at Various Frequencies .................................................. 43
Parameterization of the Model .............................................................................................. 47
Parameter Sweeps and Processing of Parametric Result Data ............................................ 52
Automatic Optimization of the Structure ............................................................................... 57
Comparison of Time and Frequency Domain Solver Results ............................................... 62
Summary ................................................................................................................................... 67

CHAPTER 3 SOLVER OVERVIEW .......................................................................................................69

Which Solver to Use .................................................................................................................. 69
Time Domain Solver .................................................................................................................. 72
Transient Solver ................................................................................................................... 72
TLM Solver ........................................................................................................................... 72
Frequency Domain Solver ......................................................................................................... 77
2 CST MICROWAVE STUDIO 2016 Workflow and Solver Overview

Integral Equation Solver ............................................................................................................ 89

Multilayer Solver ........................................................................................................................ 92
Asymptotic Solver ...................................................................................................................... 95
Eigenmode Solver ..................................................................................................................... 99
Choosing the Right Port Type.................................................................................................. 107
Antenna Computations ............................................................................................................ 108
Simplifying Antenna Farfield Calculations........................................................................... 112
Sensitivity Analysis .................................................................................................................. 114
Digital-Signal Calculations ....................................................................................................... 116
Coupled Simulations ................................................................................................................ 119
Adding Circuit Elements to External Ports .......................................................................... 119
Coupled Simulations within CST MICROWAVE STUDIO................................................... 120
Coupled Simulations with CST MPHYSICS STUDIO ......................................................... 120
Coupled Simulations with CST CABLE STUDIO ................................................................ 121
Acceleration Features .............................................................................................................. 121

CHAPTER 4 FINDING FURTHER INFORMATION .............................................................................122

The QuickStart Guide .............................................................................................................. 122
Online Documentation ............................................................................................................. 123
Tutorials and Examples ........................................................................................................... 123
Technical Support.................................................................................................................... 123
Macro Language Documentation............................................................................................. 124
History of Changes .................................................................................................................. 124
CST MICROWAVE STUDIO 2016 Workflow and Solver Overview 3

Chapter 1 Introduction
Welcome
Welcome to CST MICROWAVE STUDIO, the powerful and easy-to-use electro-
magnetic field simulation software. This program combines a user-friendly interface with
unsurpassed simulation performance.

CST MICROWAVE STUDIO is part of the CST STUDIO SUITE. Please refer to the
CST STUDIO SUITE - Getting Started manual first. The following explanations assume
that you have already installed the software and familiarized yourself with the basic
concepts of the user interface.

How to Get Started Quickly

We recommend that you proceed as follows:

1. Read the CST STUDIO SUITE - Getting Started manual.

2. Work through this document carefully. It provides all the basic information
necessary to understand the advanced documentation.
3. Work through the online help systems tutorials by choosing the example which
best suits your needs.
4. Look at the examples folder in the installation directory. The different
application types will give you a good impression of what has already been
done with the software. Please note that these examples are designed to give
you a basic insight into a particular application domain. Real-world applications
are typically much more complex and harder to understand if you are not
familiar with the basic concepts.
5. Start with your own first example. Choose a reasonably simple example which
will allow you to quickly become familiar with the software.
6. After you have worked through your first example, contact technical support for
hints on possible improvements to achieve even more efficient usage of CST
MICROWAVE STUDIO.

What is CST MICROWAVE STUDIO?

CST MICROWAVE STUDIO is a fully featured software package for electromagnetic

analysis and design in the high frequency range. It simplifies the process of creating the
structure by providing a powerful graphical solid modeling front end which is based on
the ACIS modeling kernel. After the model has been constructed, a fully automatic
meshing procedure is applied before a simulation engine is started. An advanced
visualization engine and flexible post-processing allow you to analyze and improve your
design in a relevant and efficient way.

A key feature of CST MICROWAVE STUDIO is the Complete Technology approach

which gives the choice of simulator or mesh type that is best suited to a particular
problem, seamlessly integrated into one user interface.
4 CST MICROWAVE STUDIO 2016 Workflow and Solver Overview

Since no one method works equally well for all applications, the software contains
several different simulation techniques (time domain solvers, frequency domain solvers,
integral equation solver, multilayer solver, asymptotic solver, and eigenmode solver) to
best suit various applications.

Each method in turn supports meshing types best suited for its simulation technique.
Hexahedral meshes are available in combination either with the PERFECT BOUNDARY
APPROXIMATION (PBA) feature, and for some solvers additionally with the THIN
SHEET TECHNIQUE (TST) extension, or with a powerful subgrid or octreebased
meshing algorithm which efficiently reduces the overall cell count. Applying these
advanced techniques usually increases the accuracy of the simulation substantially in
comparison to simulation techniques which employ a conventional hexahedral mesh.

In addition to the hexahedral mesh the frequency domain and eigenmode solvers also
support linear and curved tetrahedral meshes. Furthermore, linear and curved surface
and multilayer meshes are available for the integral equation and multilayer solver,
respectively.

The largest simulation flexibility is offered by the time domain solvers, which can obtain
the entire broadband frequency behavior of the simulated device from a single
calculation run. These solvers are remarkably efficient for many high frequency
applications such as connectors, transmission lines, waveguide components, and
antennas, amongst others.
Two time domain solvers are available, both using a hexahedral mesh, either based on
the Finite Integration Technique (FIT) or on the TransmissionLine Matrix (TLM) method.
The latter is especially well suited to EMC/EMI/E3 applications.

The time domain solvers are less efficient for structures that are electrically much
smaller than the shortest wavelength of interest. In such cases it may be advantageous
to solve the problem by using the frequency domain solver. The frequency domain
solver may also be the method of choice for narrow band problems such as filters, or
when the use of an unstructured tetrahedral mesh is advantageous to resolve very small
geometric details. Besides the general purpose broadband frequency sweep, the
frequency domain solver also contains alternatives using fast reduced order model
techniques to efficiently generate broadband results. The frequency domain solver
supports hexahedral as well as tetrahedral meshes.

For electrically large structures, volumetric discretization methods generally suffer from
dispersion effects and thus require a very fine mesh. CST MICROWAVE STUDIO
therefore contains an integral equation based solver which is particularly suited to
solving this kind of problem. The integral equation solver uses a curved triangular and
quadrilateral surface mesh which becomes very efficient for electrically large structures.
The Multilevel Fast Multipole Method (MLFMM) solver technology ensures an excellent
scaling of solver time and memory requirements with increasing frequency. For lower
frequencies where the MLFMM is not as efficient, direct and iterative Method of
Moments solvers are available.
The systematic design of antennas of different shapes can be greatly facilitated by
means of a characteristic mode analysis (CMA) by providing physical insight into the
behavior of a conducting surface. The CMA-tool, which is built into the integral equation
solver and the multilayer solver, automates the process of calculating and analyzing
such characteristic modes.

Despite its excellent scalability, even the MLFMM solver may become inefficient for
electrically extremely large structures. Such very high frequency problems are best
CST MICROWAVE STUDIO 2016 Workflow and Solver Overview 5

solved in CST MICROWAVE STUDIO by using the asymptotic solver which is based
on the so-called ray-tracing technique.

For structures which are mainly planar, such as microstrip filters or printed circuit
boards, this particular property can be exploited in order to gain efficiency. The
multilayer solver, based on the Method of Moments, does not require discretization of
the transversally infinite dielectric and metal stackup. Therefore the solver can be more
efficient than general purpose 3D solvers for this specific type of application. Moreover,
the solver is also capable of performing CMA.

Efficient filter design often requires the direct calculation of the operating modes in the
filter rather than an S-parameter simulation. For these applications, CST MICROWAVE
STUDIO also features an eigenmode solver, available either on hexahedral or
tetrahedral meshes, which efficiently calculates a finite number of modes in closed
electromagnetic devices.

If you are unsure which solver best suits your needs, please contact your local sales
office for further assistance.

Each solvers simulation results can be visualized with a variety of different options. A
strongly interactive interface will help you to quickly achieve the desired insight into your
device.

The last but certainly not least of the outstanding features is the full parameterization
of the structure modeler, which enables the use of variables in the definition of all
geometric and material properties of your component. In combination with the built-in
optimizer and parameter sweep tools, CST MICROWAVE STUDIO is capable of both
the analysis and design of electromagnetic devices.

Who Uses CST MICROWAVE STUDIO?

Anyone who has to deal with electromagnetic problems in the high frequency range
should use CST MICROWAVE STUDIO. The program is especially suited to the fast,
efficient analysis and design of components like single and multi-element antennas
(including phased arrays), filters, transmission lines, couplers, connectors (single and
multiple pin), printed circuit boards, resonators, optical devices, and many more. Due to
the various independent solver strategies CST MICROWAVE STUDIO can solve
virtually any high frequency field problem.
6 CST MICROWAVE STUDIO 2016 Workflow and Solver Overview

CST MICROWAVE STUDIO Key Features

The following list gives you an overview of the main features of CST MICROWAVE
STUDIO. Note that not all of these features may be available to you because of license
restrictions. Please contact a sales office for more information.

General

Native graphical user interface based on Windows 7, Windows 2008 Server R2,
Windows 8, Windows 2012 Server, Windows 8.1, Windows 2012 Server R2 or
Windows 10
The structure can be viewed either as a 3D model or as a schematic. The latter
allows for easy coupling of EM simulation with circuit simulation.
Various independent solver strategies (based on hexahedral as well as tetrahedral
meshes) allow accurate results with a high performance for all kinds of high
frequency applications
For specific solvers, highly advanced numerical techniques offer features like
PERFECT BOUNDARY APPROXIMATION (PBA), THIN SHEET TECHNIQUE
(TST) or subgrid and octreebased meshing for hexahedral grids and curved and
higher order elements for tetrahedral meshes

Structure Modeling
1
Advanced ACIS -based, parametric solid modeling front end with excellent
structure visualization
Feature-based hybrid modeler allows quick structural changes
Import of 3D CAD data from ACIS SAT (e.g. AutoCAD), ACIS SAB, Autodesk
Inventor, IGES, VDA-FS, STEP, Pro/ENGINEER, CATIA 4, CATIA 5,
Siemens NX, Parasolid, Solid Edge, SolidWorks, CoventorWare, Mecadtron,
NASTRAN, STL or OBJ files
Import of 2D CAD data from DXF, GDSII and Gerber RS274X, RS274D files
Import of EDA data from design flows including Cadence Allegro / APD / SiP,
Mentor Graphics Expedition, Mentor Graphics PADS, Mentor Graphics
HyperLynx, Zuken CR-5000 / CR-8000, IPC-2581 and ODB++ (e.g. Altium
Designer, Mentor Graphics Boardstation, CADSTAR, Visula)
Import of PCB designs originating from CST PCB STUDIO
Import of 2D and 3D sub models
Import of Agilent ADS layouts
Import of Sonnet EM models
Import of a visible human model dataset or other voxel datasets
Export of CAD data to ACIS SAT, ACIS SAB, IGES, STEP, NASTRAN, STL,
DXF, GDSII, Gerber or POV files
Parameterization for imported CAD files
Material database
Structure templates for simplified problem setup

1
Portions of this software are owned by Spatial Corp. 1986 2015. All Rights Reserved.
CST MICROWAVE STUDIO 2016 Workflow and Solver Overview 7

Transient Solver
Fast and memory efficient Finite Integration Technique (FIT)
Efficient calculation for loss-free and lossy structures
Direct timedomain analysis and broadband calculation of S-parameters from one
single calculation run by applying DFTs to time signals
Calculation of field distributions as a function of time or at multiple selected
frequencies from one simulation run
Adaptive mesh refinement in 3D using S-Parameter or 0D results as stop criteria
Shared memory parallelization of the transient solver run and of the matrix
calculator
MPI Cluster parallelization via domain decomposition
Support of hardware acceleration (NVIDIA GPU or Intel Xeon Phi) with up to
eight acceleration cards
Combined simulation with MPI and hardware acceleration
Support of Linux batch mode and batch queuing systems (e.g. OGE, LSF)
Support of more than 2 billion mesh cells (with MPI)

Isotropic and anisotropic material properties

Frequency dependent material properties with arbitrary order for permittivity and
permeability as well as a material parameter fitting functionality
Gyrotropic materials (magnetized ferrites) as well as field-dependent microwave
plasma
Non-linear material models (Kerr, Raman)
Spatially varying material models (general or with specialized radial dependency)
Surface impedance models (tabulated surface impedance, Ohmic sheet, lossy
metal, corrugated wall, material coating, metal surface roughness)
Frequency dependent thin panel materials defined based on a multilayered
stackup or an S-Matrix table (isotropic and symmetric)
Special perforation materials like wire mesh and air ventilation panels (isotropic)
Time dependent conductive materials (volumetric or lossy metal type)
Temperature dependent materials with coupling to CST MPHYSICS STUDIO

Port mode calculation by a 2D eigenmode solver in the frequency domain

Selective calculation of higher order port modes
Automatic waveguide port mesh adaptation
Multipin and single-ended ports for (Q)TEM mode ports with multiple conductors
Broadband treatment of inhomogeneous ports
Multiport and multimode excitation (sequentially or simultaneously)
PEC or PMC shielding functionality for waveguide ports
Plane wave excitation (linear and broadband circular or elliptical polarization)
Excitation by external nearfield sources imported from CST MICROWAVE
STUDIO or Sigrity
Excitation by a current distribution imported from CST CABLE STUDIO
Online TDR analysis with Gaussian or rectangular shape excitation function
User defined excitation signals and signal database
Simultaneous port excitation with different excitation signals for each port and
broadband phase shift
Single port excitation with user definable amplitude and phase setting
Transient EM/circuit co-simulation with CST DESIGN STUDIO network elements
AC radiation or irradiation co-simulation with CST CABLE STUDIO
Transient radiation, irradiation or bi-directional co-simulation with CST CABLE
STUDIO
8 CST MICROWAVE STUDIO 2016 Workflow and Solver Overview

S-parameter symmetry option to decrease solve time for many structures

Auto-regressive filtering for efficient treatment of strongly resonating structures
Re-normalization of S-parameters for specified port impedances
Phase de-embedding of S-parameters
Inhomogeneous port accuracy enhancement for highly accurate S-parameter
results, considering also low loss dielectrics
Single-ended S-parameter calculation
S-parameter sensitivity and yield analysis
Combined linear and logarithmic sampling of 1D spectral results

High performance radiating/absorbing boundary conditions

Conducting wall boundary conditions
Periodic boundary conditions without phase shift

Calculation of various electromagnetic quantities such as electric fields, magnetic

fields, surface currents, power flows, current densities, power loss densities,
electric energy densities, magnetic energy densities, voltages or currents in time
and frequency domain
1D power loss results (time and frequency domain) per material or solid
Calculation of time averaged power loss volume monitors
Antenna farfield calculation (including gain, beam direction, side lobe suppression,
etc.) with and without farfield approximation at multiple selected frequencies
Broadband farfield monitors and farfield probes to determine broadband farfield
information over a wide angular range or at certain angles
Antenna array farfield calculation
Radar Cross Section (RCS) calculation
Calculation of Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) distributions
Export of field source monitors, which then may be used as excitation for other
CST MICROWAVE STUDIO solvers

Discrete edge and face elements (lumped resistors) as ports

Ideal voltage and current sources for EMC problems
Discrete edge and face R, L, C, and (nonlinear) diode elements at any location in
the structure

Automatic parameter studies using built-in parameter sweep tool

Automatic structure optimization for arbitrary goals using built-in optimizer
Network distributed computing for optimizations, parameter sweeps and multiple
port/mode excitations
Coupled simulations with the Thermal Solver from CST MPHYSICS STUDIO

TLM Solver

Time domain TransmissionLine Matrix (TLM) method with octree-based meshing

Efficient calculation for loss-free and lossy structures
Direct timedomain analysis and broadband calculation of S-parameters from one
single calculation run by applying DFTs to time signals
Applicable to EMC/EMI applications such as radiated and conducted emissions
and immunity, EMP and lightning, electrostatic discharge (ESD), high speed
interference and shielding analysis
Support of GPU acceleration

Isotropic and anisotropic material properties

CST MICROWAVE STUDIO 2016 Workflow and Solver Overview 9

Frequency dependent material properties with arbitrary order for permittivity and
permeability as well as a material parameter fitting functionality
Frequency dependent thin panel materials defined based on a multilayered
stackup or an S-Matrix table
Special perforation materials like wire mesh and air ventilation panels

User defined excitation signals and signal database

Simultaneous port excitation with different excitation signals for each port and
broadband phase shift
Transient EM/circuit co-simulation with CST DESIGN STUDIO network elements
AC radiation or irradiation co-simulation with CST CABLE STUDIO
Transient radiation, irradiation or bi-directional co-simulation with CST CABLE
STUDIO

Compact models which avoid excessively fine meshes for:

slots, seams and gaskets
multiconductor wires
shielded cables
frequency dependent thin panels
conductive coatings and absorbers
Broadband compact antenna radiation sources based on the Equivalence Principle

Calculation of various electromagnetic quantities such as electric fields, magnetic

fields, surface currents, power flows, current densities, power loss densities,
electric energy densities, magnetic energy densities, voltages or currents in time
and frequency domain
Antenna farfield calculation (including gain, beam direction, etc.)
Cylinder scan for emissions analysis yielding peak radiated fields vs. frequency

Simulation of coupling into shielded cables for transient protection analysis

Discrete edge or face elements (lumped resistors) as ports
Ideal voltage and current sources for EMC problems
Lumped R, L, C elements at any location in the structure

Frequency Domain Solver

Efficient calculation for loss-free and lossy structures

Support of hexahedral meshes as well as linear and curved tetrahedral meshes
Adaptive mesh refinement in 3D using S-parameters at multiple frequency points,
broadband S-parameters, as well as 0D and 1D result templates as stopping
criteria
Special mesh refinement for singular edges
True Geometry Adaptation
Option to maintain the tetrahedral mesh during optimization and parameter sweep
with small geometric changes
Fast broadband adaptive frequency sweep for S-parameters
Equidistant, logarithmic and user defined frequency sweeps and evaluation for 1D
results
Continuation of the solver run with additional frequency samples
Low frequency stabilization
Direct and iterative matrix solvers with convergence acceleration techniques
Higher order representation of the fields, with either constant or variable order
(with tetrahedral mesh)
Support of Linux batch mode and batch queuing systems (e.g. OGE, LSF)
10 CST MICROWAVE STUDIO 2016 Workflow and Solver Overview

Isotropic and anisotropic material properties

Arbitrary frequency dependent material properties (general purpose sweep with
tetrahedral mesh)
Surface impedance model for good conductors, Ohmic sheets and corrugated
walls, as well as frequency-dependent, tabulated surface impedance data and
coated materials (with tetrahedral mesh)
Inhomogeneously biased ferrites with a static biasing field (general purpose sweep
with tetrahedral mesh)

Port mode calculation by a 2D eigenmode solver in the frequency domain

Automatic waveguide port mesh adaptation (with tetrahedral mesh)
Multipin ports for TEM modes in ports with multiple conductors
PEC or PMC shielding functionality for waveguide ports
Plane wave excitation with linear, circular or elliptical polarization, as well as plane
waves in layered dielectrics (general purpose sweep with tetrahedral mesh)
Discrete edge and face elements (lumped resistors) as ports (face elements: with
tetrahedral mesh)
Ideal current source for EMC problems (general purpose sweep with tetrahedral
mesh)
Nearfield source imprint on open boundaries, lossy metal, and Ohmic sheets
(general purpose sweep with tetrahedral mesh)
Lumped R, L, C elements at any location in the structure

Re-normalization of S-parameters for specified port impedances

Phase de-embedding of S-parameters
Single-ended S-parameter calculation, with native single-ended field monitors for
tetrahedral mesh
S-parameter sensitivity and yield analysis (with tetrahedral mesh)

High performance radiating/absorbing boundary conditions

Conducting wall boundary conditions (with tetrahedral mesh)
Periodic boundary conditions including phase shift or scan angle
Unit cell feature to simplify the simulation of periodic antenna arrays or of
frequency selective surfaces (general purpose sweep)
Convenient generation of the unit cell calculation domain from arbitrary structures
(with tetrahedral mesh)
Floquet mode ports (periodic waveguide ports)
Fast farfield calculation based on the Floquet port aperture fields (general purpose
sweep with tetrahedral mesh)

Calculation of various electromagnetic quantities such as electric fields, magnetic

fields, surface currents, power flows, current densities, surface and volumetric
power loss densities, electric energy densities, magnetic energy densities
Antenna farfield and farfield probe calculation (including gain, beam direction, side
lobe suppression, etc.) with and without farfield approximation
Antenna array farfield calculation
RCS calculation (with tetrahedral mesh)
Calculation of SAR distributions (with hexahedral mesh)
Export of field source monitors (with tetrahedral mesh), which then may be used
as excitation for other CST MICROWAVE STUDIO solvers
Export of fields for corona discharge and multipactor analysis with Spark3D
(general purpose sweep with tetrahedral mesh only)

Automatic parameter studies using built-in parameter sweep tool

Automatic structure optimization for arbitrary goals using built-in optimizer
Network distributed computing for optimizations and parameter sweeps
CST MICROWAVE STUDIO 2016 Workflow and Solver Overview 11

Network distributed computing for frequency samples and remote calculation

Coupled simulations with the Thermal Solver and the Stress Solver from CST
MPHYSICS STUDIO

Besides the general purpose frequency sweep, a fast reduced order model
technique, specifically designed for the efficient calculation of broadband results
such as S-parameters, field probes and far-field probes, is available.

Integral Equation Solver

Calculation of various electromagnetic quantities such as electric fields, magnetic

fields, surface currents
Antenna farfield calculation (including gain, beam direction, side lobe suppression,
etc.)
RCS calculation
Fast monostatic RCS sweep
Characteristic Mode Analysis

Waveguide port excitation

Plane wave excitation
Nearfield excitation
Farfield excitation
Farfield excitation with multipole coefficient calculation
Receiving farfield excitation
Current distribution
Discrete edge and face port excitation
Face lumped R, L, C elements

Symmetries are supported for discrete ports, waveguide ports, plane wave and
farfield excitations.
MPI parallelization for MLFMM and direct solver
Support of GPU acceleration for MLFMM direct solver
Support of combined MPI & GPU acceleration for MLFMM
Support of Linux batch mode and batch queuing systems (e.g. OGE, LSF)
Infinite electric and magnetic ground planes
Infinite Real Ground option
Multithread parallelization
Efficient calculation of loss-free and lossy structures including lossy waveguide
ports
Surface mesh discretization (triangles and quadrilaterals)
Wire mesh discretization
Support of Curved Mesh (quadrilateral and triangular surface mesh elements)
Handling of layered media which enables simulation of windshield antennas etc.
Isotropic material properties
Coated materials
Arbitrary frequency dependent material properties
Automatic fast broadband adaptive frequency sweep
User defined frequency sweeps
Low frequency stabilization
Direct and iterative matrix solvers with convergence acceleration techniques
Higher order representation of the fields including mixed order
Single and double precision floating-point representation

Port mode calculation by a 2D eigenmode solver in the frequency domain

Re-normalization of S-parameters for specified port impedances
12 CST MICROWAVE STUDIO 2016 Workflow and Solver Overview

Phase de-embedding of S-parameters

Automatic parameter studies using built-in parameter sweep tool
Automatic structure optimization for arbitrary goals using built-in optimizer
Network distributed computing for optimizations and parameter sweeps
Network distributed computing for frequency sweeps

Multilayer Solver

Calculation of S-parameters and surface currents

Waveguide (multipin) port excitation
Discrete face port excitation
Characteristic Mode Analysis
Face lumped R, L, C elements

Multithread parallelization
MPI parallelization for the direct solver
Efficient calculation of loss-free and lossy structures
Surface mesh discretization (curved triangles and quadrilaterals)
Support of Curved Mesh (quadrilateral and triangular surface mesh elements)
Automatic edge mesh refinement is available for finite-thickness and infinitely thin
conductors
Isotropic material properties
Arbitrary frequency dependent material properties
Automatic fast broadband adaptive frequency sweep
User defined frequency sweeps

Re-normalization of S-parameters for specified port impedances

Phase de-embedding of S-parameters

Automatic parameter studies using built-in parameter sweep tool

Automatic structure optimization for arbitrary goals using built-in optimizer
Network distributed computing for optimizations and parameter sweeps
Network distributed computing for frequency sweeps

Asymptotic Solver

Specialized tool for fast monostatic and bistatic RCS sweeps and antenna farfield
calculations
Calculation of electric and magnetic fields (as field probes)

Multiple plane wave excitations with different polarization types

Farfield and nearfield source excitations

Robust surface mesh discretization including curved meshes

PEC and vacuum material properties
Complex surface impedance materials
Coated materials (incl. frequency dependent and angle dependent properties)
Thin dielectrics (incl. frequency dependent and angle dependent properties)

User defined frequency sweeps and angular sweeps

Fast ray tracing technique including multiple reflections and edge diffraction (SBR)
by using either independent rays or ray-tubes
Visualization of rays including multiple reflections
Visualization of points where the rays initially hit the structure
CST MICROWAVE STUDIO 2016 Workflow and Solver Overview 13

Computation of range profiles and sinograms

Computation of scattering hotspots
Computation of RCS maps
Tabulated export of raw solver data

Multithread parallelization
Support of GPU acceleration for field sources and bistatic calculations
Automatic parameter studies using built-in parameter sweep tool
Automatic structure optimization for arbitrary goals using built-in optimizer
Network distributed computing for optimizations and parameter sweeps
Network distributed computing for excitation angles

Eigenmode Solver

Calculation of modal field distributions in closed loss-free or lossy structures

Support of hexahedral meshes as well as linear and curved tetrahedral meshes
Isotropic and anisotropic materials
Multithread parallelization
Adaptive mesh refinement in 3D, with True Geometry Adaptation

Periodic boundary conditions including phase shift

Calculation of losses and internal / external Q-factors for each mode (directly or
using perturbation method)
Discrete L,C elements at any location in the structure
Target frequency can be set (calculation within the frequency interval)
Calculation of all eigenmodes in a given frequency interval
Sensitivity analysis with respect to materials and geometric deformations defined
by face constraints (with tetrahedral mesh)

Automatic parameter studies using built-in parameter sweep tool

Automatic structure optimization for arbitrary goals using built-in optimizer
Network distributed computing for optimizations and parameter sweeps
Export of fields for corona discharge and multipactor analysis with Spark3D
Coupled simulations with the Thermal Solver and the Stress Solver from CST
MPHYSICS STUDIO

CST DESIGN STUDIO View

Schematic view that shows the circuit level description of the current CST
MICROWAVE STUDIO project
Allows additional wiring, including active and passive circuit elements as well as
more complex circuit models coming from measured data (e.g. Touchstone or IBIS
files), analytical or semi analytical descriptions (e.g. microstrip or stripline models)
or from simulated results (e.g. CST MICROWAVE STUDIO, CST CABLE STUDIO
or CST PCB STUDIO projects)
Offers many different circuit simulation methods, including transient EM/circuit co-
simulations
All schematic elements as well as all defined parameters of the connected CST
MICROWAVE STUDIO project can be parameterized and are ready for
optimization runs
Geometry creation by assembling the components on the schematic in 3D
Flexible and powerful hierarchical task concept offering nested parameter sweep /
optimizer setups
14 CST MICROWAVE STUDIO 2016 Workflow and Solver Overview

Recombination of fields in CST MICROWAVE STUDIO for stimulations calculated

in CST DESIGN STUDIO

SAM (System and Assembly Modeling)

3D representations for individual components

Automatic project creation by assembling the schematics elements into a full 3D
representation
Manage project variations derived from one common 3D geometry setup
Coupled Multiphysics simulations by using different combinations of coupled
circuit/EM/Thermal/Stress projects
Antenna Array Wizard

Visualization and Secondary Result Calculation

Multiple 1D result view support

Displays S-parameters in xy-plots (linear or logarithmic scale)
Displays S-parameters in Smith charts and polar charts
Online visualization of intermediate results during simulation
Import and visualization of external xy-data
Copy / paste of xy-datasets
Fast access to parametric data via interactive tuning sliders
Automatic parametric 1D result storage

Displays port modes (with propagation constant, impedance, etc.)

Various field visualization options in 2D and 3D for electric fields, magnetic fields,
power flows, surface currents, etc.
Animation of field distributions
Calculation and display of farfields (fields, gain, directivity, RCS) in xy-plots, polar
plots, scattering maps, radiation plots (3D)
Nearfield cylinder scan visualization
Calculation of Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) including averaging over specified
mass
Calculation of surface losses by perturbation method and of the Q factor

Display and integration of 2D and 3D fields along arbitrary curves

Integration of 3D fields across arbitrary faces

Automatic extraction of SPICE network models for arbitrary topologies ensuring

the passivity of the extracted circuits

Combination of results from different port excitations

Hierarchical result templates for automated extraction and visualization of arbitrary

results from various simulation runs. These data can also be used for the definition
of optimization goals.

Result Export

Export of S-parameter data as TOUCHSTONE files

Export of result data such as fields, curves, etc. as ASCII files
Export screen shots of field plots
Export of farfield data as excitation for integral equation or asymptotic solver
CST MICROWAVE STUDIO 2016 Workflow and Solver Overview 15

Export of frequency domain nearfield data from transient or frequency domain

solver, for use as excitation in transient solver

Automation

Powerful VBA (Visual Basic for Applications) compatible macro language including
editor and macro debugger
OLE automation for seamless integration into the Windows environment (Microsoft
Office, MATLAB, AutoCAD, MathCAD, Windows Scripting Host, etc.)

About This Manual

This manual is primarily designed to enable you to get a quick start with CST
MICROWAVE STUDIO. It is not intended to be a complete reference guide for all the
available features but will give you an overview of key concepts. Understanding these
concepts will allow you to learn how to use the software efficiently with the help of the
online documentation.

The main part of the manual is the Simulation Workflow (Chapter 2) which will guide you
through the most important features of CST MICROWAVE STUDIO. We strongly
encourage you to study this chapter carefully.

Document Conventions

Buttons that should be pressed within dialog boxes are always written in italics, e.g.
OK.

Key combinations are always joined with a plus (+) sign. Ctrl+S means that you
should hold down the Ctrl key while pressing the S key.

The programs features can be accessed through a Ribbon command bar at the top
of the main window. The commands are organized in a series of tabs within the
Ribbon. In this document a command is printed as follows: Tab name: Group name
Button name Command name. This means that you should activate the
proper tab first and then press the button Command name, which belongs to the
group Group name. If a keyboard shortcut exists it is shown in brackets after the
command.
Example: View: Change View Reset View (Space)

The project data is accessible through the navigation tree on the left side of the
applications main window. An item of the navigation tree is referenced in the
following way: NT: Tree folder Sub folder Tree item.
Example: NT: 1D Results Port Signals i1

Your Feedback

We are constantly striving to improve the quality of our software documentation. If you
have any comments regarding the documentation, please send them to your local
support center. If you dont know how to contact the support center near you, send an
email to [email protected].
16 CST MICROWAVE STUDIO 2016 Workflow and Solver Overview

Chapter 2 Simulation Workflow

The following example shows a fairly simple S-parameter calculation of a coaxial
connector. Studying this example carefully will help you become familiar with many
standard operations that are important when performing a simulation with CST
MICROWAVE STUDIO.

Go through the following explanations carefully, even if you are not planning to use the
software for S-parameter computations. Only a small portion of the example is specific
to this particular application type while most of the considerations are general to all
solvers and applications.

In subsequent sections you will find some remarks concerning how typical procedures
may differ for other kinds of simulations.

Setup the Simulation Model

The following explanations describe the long way to open a particular dialog box or to
launch a particular command. Whenever available, the corresponding Ribbon item will
be displayed next to the command description. Because of the limited space in this
manual, the shortest way to activate a particular command (i.e. by activating the
command from the context menu) is omitted. You should regularly open the context
menu by clicking the right mouse button, to check available commands for the currently
active mode.

The Structure

In this example you will model a simple coaxial bend with a tuning stub. You will then
calculate the broadband S-parameter matrix for this structure before looking at the
electromagnetic fields inside this structure at various frequencies. The picture below
shows the current structure of interest (it has been sliced open to aid visualization), and
was produced using the POV export option.

Before you start modeling the structure, lets spend a few moments discussing how to
construct this structure efficiently. Due to the outer conductor of the coaxial cable, the
CST MICROWAVE STUDIO 2016 Workflow and Solver Overview 17

structures interior is sealed as if it were embedded in a perfect electric conducting block

(apart, of course, from the ports). For simplification, you can thus model the problem
without the outer conductor and instead embed just the dielectric and inner conductor in
a perfectly conducting block.
In order to simplify this procedure, CST MICROWAVE STUDIO allows you to define the
properties of the background material. Any part of the simulation volume that you do not
specifically fill with some material will automatically be filled with the background
material. For this structure it is sufficient to model the dielectric parts and define the
background material as a perfect electric conductor.

The method of constructing the structure should therefore be as follows:

1. Model the dielectric (air) cylinders.

2. Model the inner conductor inside the dielectric part.

Create a New Project

After launching the CST STUDIO SUITE you will enter the start screen showing you a
list of recently opened projects and allowing you to specify the application type which
best suits your requirements. The easiest way to get started is to configure a project
template which defines the basic settings that are meaningful for your typical application.
Therefore click on the Create Project button in the New Project section.

Next you should choose the application area, which is MW & RF & Optical for the
example in this tutorial, and then select the workflow by double-clicking on the
corresponding entry.

For the coaxial structure, please select Circuit & Components Coaxial (TEM)
Connectors Time Domain .

Now you are requested to select the units which best fit your application. For this
example, please select the units as follows:
18 CST MICROWAVE STUDIO 2016 Workflow and Solver Overview

Dimensions: mm
Frequency: GHz
Time: ns

On the next page it is possible to already define a frequency range as well as typical 3D
field monitor specifications for your template, in case these settings are reusable for
several of your models. However, we will define these settings later on during the model
setup, so we can continue by again clicking the Next button. Now you can give the
project template a name and review a summary of your initial settings:

Finally click the Finish button to save the project template and to create a new project
with appropriate settings. CST MICROWAVE STUDIO will be launched automatically
due to the choice of the application area MW & RF & Optical.

Please note: When you click again on File: New and Recent you will see that the
recently defined template appears in the Project Templates section. For further projects
in the same application area you can simply click on this template entry to launch CST
MICROWAVE STUDIO with useful basic settings. It is not necessary to define a new
template each time. You are now able to start the software with reasonable initial
settings quickly with just one click on the corresponding template.

Please note: All settings made for a project template can be modified later on during the
construction of your model. For example, the units can be modified in the units dialog
box (Home: Settings Units ) and the solver type can be selected in the Home:
Simulation Setup Solver dropdown list.
CST MICROWAVE STUDIO 2016 Workflow and Solver Overview 19

Open the QuickStart Guide

An interesting feature of the online help system is the QuickStart Guide, an electronic
assistant that will guide you through your simulation. If it does not show up
automatically, you can open this assistant by selecting QuickStart Guide from the
dropdown menu next to the Help button in the upper right corner.

The following dialog box should then be visible at the upper right corner of the main
view:

As the project template has already set the solver type, units and background material,
the Time Domain Analysis is preselected and some entries are marked as done. The red
arrow always indicates the next step necessary for your problem definition. You do not
have to follow the steps in this order, but we recommend you follow this guide at the
beginning to ensure that all necessary steps have been completed.

Look at the dialog box as you follow the various steps in this example. You may close
the assistant at any time. Even if you re-open the window later, it will always indicate the
next required step.

If you are unsure of how to access a certain operation, click on the corresponding line.
The QuickStart Guide will then either run an animation showing the location of the
related menu entry or open the corresponding help page.

Define the Units

The coaxial connector template has already made some settings for you. The defaults
for this structure type are geometrical units in mm and frequencies in GHz. You can
change these settings by entering the desired values in the units dialog box (Home:
Settings Units ), but for this example you should just leave the settings as specified
by the template.

Define the Background Material

As discussed above, the structure will be described within the perfectly conducting
background material which the coaxial connector template has set for you. In order to
change it you may enter the corresponding dialog box (Modeling: Materials
Background ). For this example however you dont need to change anything.
20 CST MICROWAVE STUDIO 2016 Workflow and Solver Overview

Model the Structure

The first step is to create a circular cylinder along the z-axis of the coordinate system:

1. Open the cylinder creation dialog by selecting Modeling: Shapes Cylinder .

2. Press the Shift+Tab keys and enter the center point (0,0) in the xy-plane before
pressing the Return key to store this setting.
3. Press the Tab key again, enter the radius 2 and press the Return key.
4. Press the Tab key, enter the height 12 and press the Return key.
5. Press Esc to create a solid cylinder (skipping the definition of the inner radius).
6. In the shape dialog box, enter long cylinder in the Name field.
7. You could simply select the predefined material Vacuum (which is very similar to
air) from the list in the Material field. Here we are going to create a new material
air to show how the layer creation procedure works, so select the [New Material]
entry in the Material dropdown list.
8. In the material creation dialog box, enter the Material name air," select Normal
dielectric properties (Type) and check the material properties Epsilon = 1.0 and Mue
= 1.0. Then select a color and close the dialog box by clicking OK.
9. In the cylinder creation dialog box, your settings should now look as follows

Click OK to create the cylinder.

The result of these operations should look like the picture below. You can press the
Space bar to zoom in to a full screen view.
CST MICROWAVE STUDIO 2016 Workflow and Solver Overview 21

The next step is to create a second cylinder perpendicular to the first. The center of the
new cylinders base should be aligned with the center of the first cylinder.

Follow these steps to define the second cylinder:

1. Select View: Visibility Wire Frame (Ctrl+W) to activate the wire frame draw
mode.
2. Activate the circle center pick tool: Modeling: Picks Pick Points Pick Circle
Center (C) .
3. Double-click on one of the cylinders circular edges so that a point is added in the
center of the circle.
4. Perform steps 2 and 3 for the cylinders other circular edge.

Now the construction should look like this:

22 CST MICROWAVE STUDIO 2016 Workflow and Solver Overview

Next replace the two selected points by a point half way between the two by selecting
Modeling: Picks Pick Points Mean Last Two Points (Ctrl + Shift + M).

You can now move the origin of the local working coordinate system (WCS) to this point
by choosing Modeling: WCS Align WCS Align WCS with Selected Point or WCS
Align WCS (W) . The screen should look like this:

Now align the w-axis of the WCS with the proposed axis of the second cylinder.

1. Select Modeling: WCS Transform WCS .

2. Select Rotate as Transform type.
3. Select U as rotation axis and enter a rotation Angle of 90 degrees.
4. Click the OK button.

Alternatively you could press Shift+U to rotate the WCS by 90 degrees around its u-axis.
Thus pressing Shift+U three times has the same effect as the rotation by using the
dialog box described above.
Furthermore, you can also perform the transformation interactively with the mouse after
selecting Modeling: WCS Transform WCS .
CST MICROWAVE STUDIO 2016 Workflow and Solver Overview 23

Now the structure should look like this:

The next step is to create the second cylinder perpendicular to the first one:

1. Open the cylinder creation dialog by selecting Modeling: Shapes Cylinder .

2. Press the Shift+Tab key and enter the center point (0,0) in the uv-plane.
3. Press the Tab key again and enter the radius 2.
4. Press the Tab key and enter the height 6.
5. Press Esc to create a solid cylinder.
6. In the shape dialog box, enter short cylinder in the Name field.
7. Select the material air from the material list and click OK.

Now the program will automatically detect the intersection between these two cylinders.
24 CST MICROWAVE STUDIO 2016 Workflow and Solver Overview

In the Shape Intersection dialog box, choose the option Add both shapes and click OK.
Finally the structure should look like this:

The creation of the dielectric air parts is complete. The following operations will now
create the inner conductor inside the air.
CST MICROWAVE STUDIO 2016 Workflow and Solver Overview 25

Since the coordinate system is already aligned with the center of the second cylinder,
you can go ahead and start to create the first part of the conductor:

1. Open the cylinder creation dialog by selecting Modeling: Shapes Cylinder .

2. Press the Shift+Tab key and enter the center point (0,0) in the uv-plane.
3. Press the Tab key again and enter the radius 0.86.
4. Press the Tab key and enter the height 6.
5. Press Esc to create a solid cylinder.
6. In the shape dialog box, enter short conductor in the Name field.
7. Select the predefined Material PEC (perfect electric conductor) from the list of
available materials and click OK to create the cylinder.

At this point we should briefly discuss the intersections between shapes. In general,
each point in space should be identified with one particular material. However, perfect
electric conductors can be seen as a special kind of material. It is allowable for a perfect
conductor to be present at the same point as a dielectric material. In such cases, the
perfect conductor is always the dominant material. The situation is also clear for two
overlapping perfectly conducting materials, since in this case the overlapping regions will
also be perfect conductors. Therefore the intersection dialog box will not be shown
automatically in the case of a perfect conductor overlapping with a dielectric material or
with another perfect conductor. On the other hand, two different dielectric shapes may
not overlap.

Background information: Some structures contain extremely complex conducting parts

embedded within dielectric materials. In such cases, the overall complexity of the model
can be significantly reduced by NOT intersecting these two materials. This is the reason
why CST MICROWAVE STUDIO allows this exception. However, you should make use
of this feature whenever possible, even in such simple structures as this example.

The following picture shows the structure as it should currently appear:

26 CST MICROWAVE STUDIO 2016 Workflow and Solver Overview

Now you should add the second conductor. First align the local working coordinate
system with the upper z-circle of the first dielectric cylinder by selecting Modeling: WCS
Align WCS and double-click on the first cylinders upper z-plane:

The w-axis of the local coordinate system is aligned with the first cylinders axis, so you
can now create the second part of the conductor:

1. Open the cylinder creation dialog by selecting Modeling: Shapes Cylinder .

2. Press the Shift+Tab key and enter the center point (0,0) in the uv-plane.
3. Press the Tab key again and enter the radius 0.86.
4. Press the Tab key and enter the height 11.
5. Press Esc to create a solid cylinder.
6. In the cylinder creation dialog box enter long conductor in the Name field.
7. Select the Material PEC from the list and click OK.

The newly created cylinder intersects with the dielectric part as well as with the
previously created PEC cylinder. Even if there are two intersections (dielectric / PEC and
PEC / PEC), the Shape intersection dialog box will not be shown here since both types
of overlaps are well defined. In both cases the common volume will be filled with PEC.

Congratulations! You have just created your first structure within CST MICROWAVE
STUDIO. The view should now look like this:
CST MICROWAVE STUDIO 2016 Workflow and Solver Overview 27

The following gallery shows some views of the structure available using different
visualization options:

Shaded view Shaded view Shaded view with

(deactivated working plane, (long conductor cutplane
View: Visibility Working selected) (View: Sectional View
Plane (Alt+W) ) Cutting Plane (Shift+C) ,
Appearance of part above
cutplane = transparent)

Define the Frequency Range

The next important setting for the simulation is the frequency range of interest. If not
already specified by your template settings, you can specify the frequency by choosing
Simulation: Settings Frequency :
28 CST MICROWAVE STUDIO 2016 Workflow and Solver Overview

In this example you should specify a frequency range between 0 and 18 GHz. Since you
have already set the frequency unit to GHz, you need to define only the absolute
numbers 0 and 18 (the status bar always displays the current unit settings).

Define Ports

The following calculation of S-parameters requires the definition of ports through which
energy enters and leaves the structure. You can do this by simply selecting the
corresponding faces before entering the ports dialog box.

For the definition of the first port, perform the following steps:

1. Select Simulation: Picks Picks (S) .

2. Double-click on the upper w-plane aligned face of the dielectric part. The selected
face will be highlighted:

3. Open the ports dialog by selecting Simulation: Sources and Loads Waveguide
Port :
CST MICROWAVE STUDIO 2016 Workflow and Solver Overview 29

Everything is already set up correctly for the coaxial cable simulation, so you can
simply click OK in this dialog box.

Once the first port has been defined, the structure should look like this:
30 CST MICROWAVE STUDIO 2016 Workflow and Solver Overview

You can now define the second port in exactly the same way. The picture below shows
the structure after the definition of both ports:

The correct definition of ports is very important for obtaining accurate S-parameters.
Please refer to the Choosing the Right Port section later in this manual for more
information about the correct placement of ports for various types of structures.

Define Boundary and Symmetry Conditions

The simulation of this structure will only be performed within the bounding box of the
structure. You must specify a boundary condition for each plane (Xmin/Xmax/
Ymin/Ymax/Zmin/Zmax) of the bounding box.

The boundary conditions are specified in a dialog box you can open by choosing
Simulation: Settings Boundaries :
CST MICROWAVE STUDIO 2016 Workflow and Solver Overview 31

While the boundary dialog box is open, the boundary conditions will be visualized in the
structure view as in the picture above.

In this simple case, the structure is completely embedded in perfect conducting material,
so all the boundary planes may be specified as electric planes (which is the default).

In addition to these boundary planes, you can also specify symmetry planes". The
specification of each symmetry plane will reduce the simulation time by a factor of two.

In our example, the structure is symmetric in the yz-plane (perpendicular to the x-axis) in
the center of the structure. The excitation of the fields will be performed by the
fundamental mode of the coaxial cable for which the magnetic field is shown below:

Plane of structures symmetry (yz-plane)

The magnetic field has no component tangential to the plane of the structures symmetry
(the field is always oriented perpendicular to this plane). If you specify this plane as a
magnetic symmetry plane, you can direct CST MICROWAVE STUDIO to limit the
simulation to one half of the actual structure while taking the symmetry conditions into
account.

In order to specify the symmetry condition, you first need to click on the Symmetry
Planes tab in the boundary conditions dialog box.
32 CST MICROWAVE STUDIO 2016 Workflow and Solver Overview

For the yz-plane symmetry, you can choose magnetic (Ht=0) in one of two ways. Either
select the appropriate option in the dialog box, or double-click on the corresponding
symmetry plane visualization in the view and select the proper choice from the context
menu. Once you have done so, your screen will appear as follows:

Finally click OK in the dialog box to store the settings. The boundary visualization will
then disappear.

Visualize the Mesh

In this first simulation we will run the transient solver based on a hexahedral mesh.
Since this is the default mesh type, we dont need to change anything here. In a later
step we will show how to apply a tetrahedral mesh to this structure, run the frequency
domain solver, and compare the results. However, let us focus on the hexahedral mesh
generation options first.

The hexahedral mesh generation for the structure analysis will be performed
automatically based on an expert system. However, in some situations it may be helpful
to inspect the mesh in order to improve the simulation speed by changing the
parameters for the mesh generation.

The mesh can be visualized by entering the mesh mode (Simulation: Mesh Mesh
View ). For this structure, the mesh information will be displayed as follows:
CST MICROWAVE STUDIO 2016 Workflow and Solver Overview 33

You can modify the orientation of the mesh plane by adjusting the selection in the Mesh:
Sectional View Normal dropdown list or just by pressing the X/Y/Z keys. Move the
plane along its normal direction using the Up/Down cursor keys. The current position of
the plane will be shown in the Mesh: Sectional View Position field.
Because of the symmetry setting, the mesh plane extends across only one half of the
structure, what can be seen by e.g. changing the plane normal to the z-direction:

In this view also the PBA representation of the curved structure is seen in the mesh cells
that are partly filled with PEC and partly with air.

There are some thick mesh lines shown in the mesh view. These mesh lines represent
important planes (so-called snapping planes) at which the expert system finds it
necessary to place mesh lines. You can control these snapping planes in the Special
Mesh Properties dialog by selecting Mesh: Mesh Control / Simulation: Mesh Global
Properties Specials Snapping.

In most cases the automatic mesh generation will produce a reasonable initial mesh, but
we recommend that you later spend some time reviewing the mesh generation
procedures in the online documentation when you feel familiar with the standard
simulation procedure. You should now leave the mesh inspection mode by toggling
Mesh: Close Close Mesh View or just by pressing the ESC key.
34 CST MICROWAVE STUDIO 2016 Workflow and Solver Overview

Start the Simulation

After defining all necessary parameters, you are ready to start your first simulation from
the transient solver control dialog box by selecting Simulation: Solver Setup Solver
:

In this dialog box, you can specify which column of the S-matrix should be calculated.
Therefore select the Source type port for which the couplings to all other ports will then
be calculated during a single simulation run. In our example, by setting the Source type
to Port 1, the S-parameters S11 and S21 will be calculated. Setting the Source Type to
Port 2 will calculate S22 and S12.

If the full S-matrix is needed, you may also set the Source Type to All Ports. In this case
a calculation run will be performed for each port. However, for loss free two port
structures (like the structure investigated here), the second calculation run will not be
performed since all S-parameters can be calculated from one run using analytic
properties of the S-matrix.

In this example you should compute the full S-matrix and leave All Ports as your Source
type setting.

The calculated S-parameters will always be normalized to the port impedance (which will
be calculated automatically) by default. For this model, the port impedance will be
approximately
2
138 log( ) 50.58 Ohms
0.86
for the coaxial lines with the specified dimensions and dielectric constants. However,
sometimes you may need the S-parameters for a fixed normalization impedance (e.g. 50
Ohms), so in such a case you should check the Normalize to fixed impedance button
and specify the desired normalization impedance in the entry field below. In this example
CST MICROWAVE STUDIO 2016 Workflow and Solver Overview 35

we assume that you want to calculate the S-parameters for a reference impedance of 50
Ohms. Note that the re-normalization of the S-parameters is possible only when all S-
parameters have been calculated (Source Type = All Ports).

While the solution accuracy mainly depends on the discretization of the structure and
can be improved by refining the mesh, the truncation error introduces a second error
source in transient simulations.

In order to obtain the S-parameters, the transformation of the time signals into the
frequency domain requires the signals to have sufficiently decayed to zero. Otherwise a
truncation error will occur, causing ripples on the S-parameter curves.

CST MICROWAVE STUDIO features an automatic solver control that stops the transient
analysis when the energy inside the device, and thus the time signals at the ports, have
decayed sufficiently close to zero. The ratio between the maximum energy inside the
structure at any time and the limit at which the simulation will be stopped is specified in
the Accuracy field (in dB).

The chosen coaxial connector template already set the solver Accuracy to 40 dB to
limit the maximum truncation error to 1% for this example.

The solver will excite the structure with a Gaussian pulse in the time domain. However,
all frequency domain and field data obtained during the simulation will be normalized to
a frequency-independent input power of 1 W peak.

After setting all these parameters, the dialog box should look like this:

In order to also achieve accurate results for the line impedance values of (Q)TEM
modes, an adaptive mesh refinement in the port regions is performed as a pre-
processing step before the transient simulation itself is started. This procedure refines
the port mesh until a defined accuracy value or a maximum number of passes has been
36 CST MICROWAVE STUDIO 2016 Workflow and Solver Overview

reached. These settings can be adjusted in the following dialog box Simulation: Solver
Setup Solver Specials Waveguide:

Since we want to simulate a coaxial structure with static port modes, we keep the
adaptation enabled with its default settings. You can now close the Specials dialog box
without any changes and then start the simulation by clicking the Start button.

A progress bar will appear in the progress window which will update you on the solvers
progress. You can activate this window by selecting View: Window Windows
Progress Window. Information text regarding the simulation will appear above the
progress bar. The most important stages are listed below:

1. Analyzing port domains: During this first step, the port regions are analyzed for
the port mesh adaptation to follow.
2. Port mode calculation: Here, the port modes are calculated during the port mesh
adaptation. This step is performed several times for each port until a defined
accuracy value or a maximum number of passes has been reached.
3. Calculating matrices: Processing CAD model: During this step, your input model
is checked and processed.
4. Calculating matrices: Computing coefficients: During this step, the system of
equations which will subsequently be solved is set up.
5. Data rearrangement: Merging results: For larger models the matrices are
calculated in parallel and the results are merged at the end.
6. Transient analysis: Calculating port modes: In this step, the solver calculates the
port mode field distributions and propagation characteristics as well as the port
impedances if they have not been previously calculated. This information will be
used later in the time domain analysis of the structure.
7. Transient analysis: Processing excitation: During this stage, an input signal is
fed into the stimulation port. The solver then calculates the resulting field distribution
inside the structure as well as the mode amplitudes at all other ports. From this
CST MICROWAVE STUDIO 2016 Workflow and Solver Overview 37

information, the frequency dependent S-parameters are calculated in a second step

using a Fourier transformation.
8. Transient analysis: Transient field analysis: After the excitation pulse has
vanished, there is still electromagnetic field energy inside the structure. The solver
continues to calculate the field distribution and the S-parameters until the energy
inside the structure and the port signals has decayed below a certain limit (specified
by the Accuracy setting in the solver dialog box).

For this simple structure the entire analysis takes only a few seconds to complete.

Analyze the Port Modes

After the solver has completed the port mode calculation you can view the results (even
while the transient analysis is still running).

In order to visualize a particular port mode, you must choose the solution from the
navigation tree. You can find the mode at port 1 from NT (navigation tree): 2D/3D
Results Port Modes Port1. If you open this subfolder, you may select the electric or
the magnetic mode field. Selecting the folder for the electric field of the first mode e1 will
display the port mode and its relevant parameters in the main view:

Besides information on the type of mode (in this case TEM), you will also find the
propagation constant (beta) at the center frequency. Additionally, the port impedance is
calculated automatically (line impedance).

You will find that the calculated result for the port impedance of 50.69 Ohms agrees well
with the analytical solution of 50.58 Ohms after the port mesh adaptation has run. The
small difference is caused by the discretization of the structure. The agreement between
simulation and theoretical value can be improved by defining a smaller value for the
Accuracy limit of the port mesh adaption or by increasing the overall initial mesh density.
However, the automatic mesh generation always tries to choose a mesh that provides a
good trade-off between accuracy and simulation speed.
38 CST MICROWAVE STUDIO 2016 Workflow and Solver Overview

You can adjust the number and size of arrows in the dialog box which can be opened by
choosing 2D/3D Plot: Plot Properties Properties (or Plot Properties in the context
menu).
You may visualize the scalar fields by opening the e1 folder and selecting one of its field
components (e.g. X). The selected field component will be visualized as a contour plot
by default:

You may again change the type of the scalar visualization by selecting a different
visualization option in the corresponding dialog box: 2D/3D Plot: Plot Properties
Properties (or Plot Properties in the context menu).

Please experiment with the various settings in this dialog to become familiar with the
different visualization options before you proceed with the next step.

Analyze the S-Parameters

After a simulation has finished, you should always look at the time signals of the port
modes. You can visualize these signals by choosing NT: 1D Results Port signals.
After selecting this folder, the following plot should appear:
CST MICROWAVE STUDIO 2016 Workflow and Solver Overview 39

The input signals are named with reference to their corresponding ports: i1 (for port 1),
i2 and so on. The output signals are similarly named o1,1, o2,1, etc., where the
number following the comma indicates the corresponding excitation port.

To obtain a sufficiently smooth frequency spectrum of the S-parameters, it is important

that all time signals decay to zero before the simulation stops. The simulation will stop
automatically when the solver Accuracy criterion is met.

The results in which we are most interested in this case are the S-parameters
themselves. You may obtain a visualization of these parameters in linear scale by
choosing NT: 1D Results S-Parameters and selecting 1D Plot: Plot Type Linear :

You can change the axis scaling by selecting 1D Plot: Plot Properties Properties
(or Plot Properties in the context menu). In addition, you can display and hide an axis
marker by toggling 1D Plot: Markers Axis Marker . The marker can be moved either
with the cursor keys (Left or Right) or by dragging it with the mouse.
40 CST MICROWAVE STUDIO 2016 Workflow and Solver Overview

The marker can also be adjusted automatically to determine the minimum of the
transmission (S1,2 or S2,1) at about 12.9 GHz by selecting 1D Plot: Markers Axis
Marker Move Marker to Minimum. You can restrict the view to specific curves only
by multi-selection in the navigation tree or by choosing Select curves via the context
menu to show an unambiguous minimum value.

In the same way as above, the S-parameters can be visualized in logarithmic scale (dB)
by choosing NT: 1D Results S-Parameters and 1D Plot: Plot Type dB in the
context menu. The phase, the real or imaginary part of the selected result can also be
visualized.

Furthermore, the S-parameters can be presented in a Z or Y Smith Chart plot (1D Plot:
Plot Type Z Smith Chart or 1D Plot: Plot Type Y Smith Chart , respectively).

In all 1D plots multiple curve markers can be added by selecting 1D Plot: Markers
Curve Markers Add Curve Marker (M) as shown for example in the Smith Chart
view above. The individual markers can be moved along the curve by picking and
CST MICROWAVE STUDIO 2016 Workflow and Solver Overview 41

dragging them with the mouse. You may activate or deactivate the visualization of all
markers by choosing 1D Plot: Markers Curve Markers Show Curve Markers or
delete them all with the option 1D Plot: Markers Curve Markers Remove All
Curve Markers.

Adaptive Mesh Refinement

As mentioned above, the mesh resolution influences the results. The expert system-
based mesh generator analyzes the geometry and tries to identify the parts that are
critical to the electromagnetic behavior of the device. The mesh will then automatically
be refined in these regions. However, due to the complexity of electromagnetic
problems, this approach may not be able to determine all critical domains in the
structure. To circumvent this problem, CST MICROWAVE STUDIO features an adaptive
mesh refinement which uses the results of a previous solver run in order to improve the
expert systems settings.

Activate the adaptive mesh refinement by checking the corresponding option in the
solver control dialog box.

Click the Start button. The solver will now perform several mesh refinement passes until
the S-parameters no longer change significantly between two subsequent passes. The
S-Parameter based stop criterion is activated by default, but it is also possible to use
any kind of 0D result template instead, or the two approaches in combination. Please
refer to the online help for more detailed information.

After two passes have been completed, the following dialog box will appear:
42 CST MICROWAVE STUDIO 2016 Workflow and Solver Overview

Since the automatic mesh adaptation procedure has successfully adjusted the expert
systems settings in order to meet the given accuracy level (2% by default), you may
now switch off the adaptive refinement procedure for subsequent calculations. The
expert system will apply the determined rules to the structure even if it is modified
afterwards. This powerful approach allows you to run the mesh adaptation procedure
just once and then perform parametric studies or optimizations on the structure without
the need for further mesh refinement passes.

You should now confirm deactivation of the mesh adaptation by clicking the Yes button.

When the analysis has finished, the S-parameters and fields show the converged result.
The progress of the mesh refinement can be checked by looking at the NT: 1D Results
Adaptive Meshing folder. This folder contains a curve which displays the maximum
difference between two S-parameter results belonging to subsequent passes. This curve
can be shown by selecting NT: 1D Results Adaptive Meshing Delta S.

Since the mesh adaptation required only two passes for this example, the Delta S curve
consists of a single data point only. The result shows that the maximum difference
between the S-parameters from both runs is below 1% over the whole frequency range.
The mesh adaptation stops automatically when the difference is below 2%. This limit can
be changed in the mesh refinement Adaptive Properties (accessible from within the
solver dialog box).

Additionally, the convergence of the S-parameter results can be visualized by selecting

NT: 1D Results Adaptive Meshing S-Parameters S1,1 or NT: 1D Results
CST MICROWAVE STUDIO 2016 Workflow and Solver Overview 43

Adaptive Meshing S-Parameters S2,1, respectively, and activating 1D Plot: Plot

Type Linear :

You can see that the expert system based mesher provided a good initial mesh for this
structure. The convergence of the S-parameters shows only small variations from the
results obtained using the expert system generated initial mesh to the converged
solution.

In practice it often proves wise to activate the adaptive mesh refinement to ensure
convergence of the results. (This might not be necessary for structures with which you
are already familiar when you can use your experience to refine the automatic mesh.)

Analyze the Electromagnetic Field at Various Frequencies

To understand the behavior of an electromagnetic device, it is often useful to get an

insight into the electromagnetic field distribution. In this example it may be interesting to
see the difference between the fields at frequencies where the transmission is large or
small.
44 CST MICROWAVE STUDIO 2016 Workflow and Solver Overview

The fields can be recorded at arbitrary frequencies during a simulation. However, it is

not possible to store the field patterns at all available frequencies as this would require a
tremendous amount of memory. You should therefore define some frequency points at
which the solver will record the fields during a subsequent analysis. These field
samplers are called monitors.

Monitors can be defined in the dialog box that opens upon choosing Simulation:
Monitors Field Monitor . You may need to switch back to the modeler mode by
selecting the Components folder in the navigation tree before the monitor definition is
activated.

After selecting the proper Type for the monitor, you may specify its frequency in the
Frequency field. Clicking Apply stores the monitor while leaving the dialog box open. All
frequencies are specified in the frequency unit previously set to GHz.

For this analysis you should add the following monitors:

Field type Frequency / GHz

E-Field 3
E-Field 12.9
H-Field and Surface current 3
H-Field and Surface current 12.9

All defined monitors are listed in the NT: Field Monitors folder. Within this folder you may
select a particular monitor to reveal its parameters in the main view.
CST MICROWAVE STUDIO 2016 Workflow and Solver Overview 45

You should now run the simulation again. Without the need to change further solver
settings you can press Home: Simulation Start Simulation to directly start the
solver run without opening the dialog box. When the simulation finishes, you can
visualize the recorded fields by choosing the corresponding item from the navigation
tree. The monitor results can be found in the NT: 2D/3D Results folder. The results are
ordered according to their physical type (E-Field/H-Field/Surface Current).

Note: Since you have specified a full S-matrix calculation, two simulation runs would
generally be required. For each of these runs, the field would be recorded as
specified in the monitors, and the results would be presented in the navigation
tree, giving the corresponding stimulation port in square brackets. However, in
this loss-free example the second run is not necessary, so you will find that the
monitor data for the second run is not available. You can instruct the solver to
perform both simulation runs even if they are not necessary for the S-parameter
calculation by deselecting the option Consider two-port reciprocity under the
General tab in the solvers Specials dialog box.

You can investigate the 3D electric field distribution by selecting NT: 2D/3D Results
E-Field e-field(f=3)[1]. The plot should look similar to the picture below:

If you select the electric field at 12.9 GHz (NT: 2D/3D Results E-Field e-field
(f=12.9)[1]) you obtain the following plot:
46 CST MICROWAVE STUDIO 2016 Workflow and Solver Overview

Please experiment with the various field visualization options for the 3D vector plot
(2D/3D Plot: Plot Properties Properties or Plot Properties from the context menu).

The surface currents can be visualized by selecting NT: 2D/3D Results Surface
Current surface current (f=3)[1]. You should obtain a plot similar to the following
picture:

You may change the plot options in the plot dialog box by selecting 2D/3D Plot: Plot
Properties Properties . You can obtain a field animation by clicking 2D/3D Plot: Plot
Properties Animate Fields . Here the phase of the field will be automatically varied
between 0 and 360 degrees. You can stop the animation by clicking the button again or
just pressing the Esc key. After clicking in the main view with the left mouse button, you
can also change the phase gradually by using the Left and Right cursor keys.

At the frequency of 3 GHz you can see how the current flows through the structure. If
you perform the same steps with the other magnetic field monitor at 12.9 GHz, you will
see that almost no current passes the 90-degree bend of the coaxial cable.
CST MICROWAVE STUDIO 2016 Workflow and Solver Overview 47

After obtaining a rough overview of the 3D electromagnetic field distribution, you can
inspect the fields in more detail by analyzing some cross sectional cuts through the
structure. In order to do this, choose an electric or magnetic field (no surface currents)
for display and select 2D/3D Plot: Sectional View 3D Fields on 2D Plane . The
same plot options are available in the 2D plot mode that you have already used for the
port mode visualization. Since the data is derived from a 3D result, you may additionally
specify the location of the plane at which the fields will be visualized. This can be done
by defining 2D/3D Plot: Sectional View Cutting Plane Normal and Position or just by
toggling the arrow controls shown in the main view.

Due to the limited space, not all plotting options can be explained here. Please refer to
the online help for more detailed information and examples.

Parameterization of the Model

The steps above demonstrated how to enter and analyze a simple structure. However,
structures will usually be modified in order to improve their performance. This procedure
may be called design in contrast to the analysis done before.

CST MICROWAVE STUDIO offers a lot of options to parametrically describe the

structure in order to easily change its parameters. In general all relevant structural
modifications are recorded in the so-called history list, which can be opened by choosing
Modeling: Edit History List . Please refer to the CST STUDIO SUITE - Getting
Started document for further information on this general option.
However, for simple parameter changes an easier solution is available. Lets assume
that you want to change the stub length of the coaxial cables inner conductor. The
easiest way to do this is to enter the modeler mode by selecting the NT: Components
folder.

Select all ports by clicking on the NT: Ports folder. Then press the right mouse button to
choose Hide All Ports from the context menu. The structure plot should look like this (the
local working coordinate system can be deactivated by selecting Modeling: WCS
Local WCS ):
48 CST MICROWAVE STUDIO 2016 Workflow and Solver Overview

Now select the long conductor by double-clicking on it with the left mouse button:

You can now choose Modeling: Edit Properties (or Properties from the context
menu) which will open a list showing the history of the shapes creation:

Select the Define cylinder operation in the tree folder component1:long conductor
from the History Tree (see above). The corresponding shape will be highlighted in the
main window.

After clicking the Edit button in the History Tree dialog, the cylinder creation dialog box
will appear showing the parameters of this shape:
CST MICROWAVE STUDIO 2016 Workflow and Solver Overview 49

In this dialog box you will find the length of the cylinder (Wmin= 11) as it was previously
specified during the shape creation. Change this parameter to a value of 9 and click
OK. Since you are going to change the structure, the previously calculated results will no
longer match the modified structure, so the following dialog box will appear:

Here you may specify whether to store the old model with its results in a cache or as a
new file, or just to go ahead and delete the current results. In this case you should
simply accept the default choice and click OK.

After a few seconds the structure plot will change showing the new structure with the
different stub length.
50 CST MICROWAVE STUDIO 2016 Workflow and Solver Overview

You may now dismiss the History Tree dialog box by clicking the Close button.

Generally, you can change all geometric parameters of any shape by selecting the
shape and editing its properties. This fully parametric structural modeling is one of the
most outstanding features of CST MICROWAVE STUDIO.

The parametric structure definition also works if some objects have been constructed
relative to each other by using local working coordinate systems. In this case, the
program will try to identify all the picked faces according to their topological order rather
than their absolute position in space.

Changes in parameters occasionally alter the topology of the structure so severely that
the structure update may fail. In this case, the History List function offers powerful
options to circumvent these problems. Please refer to the online documentation or
contact technical support for more information.

In addition to directly changing the parameters you may also assign variables to the
structures parameters. The easiest way to do this is to enter a variable name in an
expression field rather than a numerical value. Open the cylinder dialog box again as
described above, and then enter the string length in the Wmin field.

The dialog box should look as follows:

CST MICROWAVE STUDIO 2016 Workflow and Solver Overview 51

Since the parameter length is still undefined, a new dialog box will open after you click
OK in the cylinder dialog box:

You can now assign a value to the new parameter by entering 11 in the Value field. You
may also enter some text in the Description field so that you can later remember the
meaning of the parameter. Click OK to create the parameter and update the model.
Finally, dismiss the History Tree dialog box by clicking the Close button.

All defined parameters will be listed in the Parameter List window, which can be
activated by selecting View: Window Windows Parameter List:

You can change the value of this parameter in the Value field. Afterwards, a message in
the main view informs you to press Home: Edit Parametric Update (F7) :
52 CST MICROWAVE STUDIO 2016 Workflow and Solver Overview

You can also select Update Parametric Changes from the context menu which appears
when you press the right mouse button in the Parameter List window.

When performing this update operation, the structure will be regenerated according to
the current parameter value. You can verify that parameter values between 7 and 11.5
yield a sensible geometry. The function Home: Edit Parameters Animate Para-
meter is also useful in this regard.

Parameter Sweeps and Processing of Parametric Result Data

Since you have now successfully parameterized your structure it might be interesting to
see how the S-parameters change when the length of the conductor is modified. The
easiest way to obtain this result variation is to use the Parameter Sweep tool by
selecting Simulation: Solver Par. Sweep (or from within the time domain solver
control dialog box by clicking on the Par. Sweep button):
CST MICROWAVE STUDIO 2016 Workflow and Solver Overview 53

In this dialog box you can specify calculation Sequences which will consist of various
parameter combinations. To add such a sequence, click the New Seq. button now. Then
click the New Par. button to add a parameter variation to the sequence:

In the resulting dialog box you can select the name of the parameter to vary in the Name
field. Then you can specify different sweep types to define the sampling of the
parameter space (Linear sweep, Logarithmic sweep, Arbitrary points). Depending on this
selection the sampling can be defined further, e.g. the linear sweep option allows us to
define the lower (From) and upper (To) bounds for the parameter variation as well as the
definition of either the number of samples or the step width.

In this example, you should perform a linear sweep from 10 to 11.5 with 5 samples. After
you click the OK button, the parameter sweep dialog box should look as follows:

Note that you can define an arbitrary number of sequences which each can contain an
unlimited number of different parameter combinations.

In the next step you have to specify which results you are interested in. With the help of
the automated Parametric Result Storage it is possible to store any one dimensional
result curve parametrically during parameter sweep sequences. A special parametric
plot option allows the convenient display of this data. Please refer to the online
documentation and the CST STUDIO SUITE Getting Started manual for more
information about this convenient functionality.
54 CST MICROWAVE STUDIO 2016 Workflow and Solver Overview

Besides this general option it is also possible to setup specific Result Templates, which
allow in addition the definition of various secondary results. Pressing the corresponding
button the global Template Based Post Processing dialog box opens, in which you can
define various post processing steps which will be automatically computed after each
simulation run. Please note that this dialog can also be accessed directly by choosing
Post Processing: Result Templates Template Based Post Processing :

Now we want to investigate how the location of the transmission minimum changes as a
function of length. This information can be defined as a single data point result (or so-
called 0D result).

Select the General 1D template list and choose 0D or 1D Result from 1D Result
(Rescale, Derivation, etc) to open a dialog box in which you can specify details about
the post processing step:
CST MICROWAVE STUDIO 2016 Workflow and Solver Overview 55

Since you want to know the location of the curves (y-) global minimum, after selecting
0D in the Specify Action frame you should choose x at Global y-Minimum as the desired
result. You can now choose the desired result by selecting the MagdB part of the S-
parameter result S-Parameters\S2,1. Clicking OK will complete the definition of the
specific post processing step in this example.

The new result template was added to the list:

All defined post processing operations are automatically carried out after every solver
run, and the result of each of these steps is stored in a table.
56 CST MICROWAVE STUDIO 2016 Workflow and Solver Overview

Please now accept the settings by pressing the Close button and start the parameter
sweep by clicking Start.

Note that the parameter sweep uses the previously specified solver settings. If you want
to change the solver settings (e.g. to activate the adaptive mesh refinement), make sure
that the modified settings are stored by clicking Apply in the solver control dialog box.

After the solver has finished, close the dialog box by clicking the Close button. The
navigation tree will contain a new folder called Tables where you will find the results of
the defined pots processing steps.
But first we can have a look at the basic parametric results of the parameter sweep.
Please select the S-parameter result NT: 1D Results S-Parameters S1,1 and 1D
Plot: Plot Type dB to obtain the following view:

Similarly, you can also plot the magnitude of the transmission coefficient by selecting
NT: 1D Results S-Parameters S2,1 and 1D Plot: Plot Type dB :
CST MICROWAVE STUDIO 2016 Workflow and Solver Overview 57

As you see, all available results as well as the last or current result are shown together
in one plot. With help of the Result Navigator window it is now possible to easily select
any result combination of the previously calculated parameter values. If the window is
not visible it can be activated by selecting View: Window Windows Result
Navigator:

Please refer to the online documentation and the CST STUDIO SUITE Getting Started
manual for more information about the possibilities to plot parametric result data.

Finally, the result of the previously defined 0D result template can be accessed from the
NT: Tables 0D Results S2,1_0D_xAtGlobalYMin folder:

This curve clearly illustrates how the location (= frequency) of the transmission minimum
changes as a function of the geometrical parameter.

Because of the limited scope of this manual, we have only given a very brief introduction
to the many options of storing and displaying parametric data, for example by filtering for
parameter range or Table result value, so please refer to the online documentation and
the CST STUDIO SUITE Getting Started manual for more information.

Automatic Optimization of the Structure

Lets now assume that you wish to modify the structure so that the minimum of the
transmission S21 is at 13 GHz (which can be achieved somewhere within the parameter
range of 10.5 to 11.5 according to the curve above). By measuring the curve (activate
the axis marker tool by choosing 1D Plot: Markers Axis Marker ), you can check
58 CST MICROWAVE STUDIO 2016 Workflow and Solver Overview

that the desired parameter value is between 10.9 and 11. However, determining the
exact parameter value may be a lengthy task which can be performed equally well
automatically.

CST MICROWAVE STUDIO offers a powerful built-in optimizer feature for this kind of
parametric optimization.

Before you start optimizing this structure, set the length parameter to a value within the
valid parameter range (e.g. 11) and update the structure. You must enter the modeler
mode (e.g. by clicking on the Components folder in the navigation tree) before you can
modify the parameters.

To use the optimizer, please select Simulation: Solver Optimizer to open the
optimizer control dialog box (or from within the time domain solver control dialog box by
clicking on the Optimizer button):

First check the desired parameter(s) for the optimization in the Settings tab of the
optimization dialog box (the length parameter should be checked). Now specify the
minimum and maximum values to be allowed for this parameter during the optimization.
Enter a parameter range between 10.5 and 11.5.

The default Trust Region Framework method will be used for the optimization run. The
optimizer settings can be accessed by pressing the Properties button:
CST MICROWAVE STUDIO 2016 Workflow and Solver Overview 59

In our example it is sufficient to keep all default settings, so we can directly close the
dialog by pressing OK. Please refer to the online documentation for more information on
these settings and about the different available optimization techniques.

The next step is to specify the optimization goal(s) by clicking on the Goals tab.

Goals are based either on previously calculated results or on defined result templates. In
this example the target is to move the minimum of the S-parameter S21 to a given
frequency. By clicking on the Add New Goal button, the following dialog box should
appear, where you can select the desired complex S-parameter S2,1 as Mag.(dB):
60 CST MICROWAVE STUDIO 2016 Workflow and Solver Overview

Now specify the goal for the previously specified S-parameter data. Since you want to
move the minimum of S21 dB in this example, you should select the move min operator
in the Conditions frame. Afterwards, set the Target frequency to which the minimum
should be moved to 13 GHz. If more than one minimum exists in the S-parameter data,
you can limit the frequency range in which the minimum will be searched for in the
Range frame. In this example, you can just skip these settings and accept the defaults.
After you click OK, the optimizer dialog box should look as follows:
CST MICROWAVE STUDIO 2016 Workflow and Solver Overview 61

Since you have now specified optimization parameters and goals, the next step is to
start the optimization by clicking the Start button. The optimizer will show the progress of
the optimization in an output window in the Info tab which will be activated automatically.

When the optimization has finished, you should confirm that the new parameter settings
have been saved. The optimizer output window will show the best parameter settings
with respect to the given goal.

Note that due to the sophisticated optimization technology only five transient solver runs
were required to find the optimal solution with high accuracy.

You can now visualize the S-parameters for the optimal parameter setting (length =
10.9611) and should obtain the following picture (you can activate the axis marker tool
by choosing 1D Plot: Markers Axis Marker to verify that the location of the peak is
at 13 GHz).
62 CST MICROWAVE STUDIO 2016 Workflow and Solver Overview

Instead of defining a move min goal for the optimization, you could also have chosen to
optimize the value of the previously defined 0D result template S2,1_0D_xAtGlobalYMin
to be equal to the desired resonance frequency of 13 GHz.

Comparison of Time and Frequency Domain Solver Results

Thus far all explanations have focused on the transient solver. In the next steps you will
compare the results of this time domain solver based on a hexahedral mesh with the
frequency domain solver using a curved tetrahedral mesh. Since these two simulation
methods are based on different techniques, this comparison allows you to judge the
accuracy of the results. Although the time domain solver is much faster for this and
many other examples, the frequency domain solver may be the better choice for lower
frequency problems or resonant devices such as filters. In such cases the primary
simulation and optimization should be performed using the frequency domain solver
whereas the final verification can then be done using the time domain solver. The
seamless combination of these different techniques in a homogeneous environment is
another outstanding feature of CST MICROWAVE STUDIO.

Please note that the frequency domain solver may not be available to you due to license
restrictions. Please contact your sales office for more information.

Before you recalculate the S-parameters using the frequency domain solver, you should
first copy the results from the time domain solver into a new folder for easier comparison
afterwards.

Select the 1D Results folder in the navigation tree, and choose New Tree Folder from
the context menu. You can then assign a name (e.g. Comparison) to the newly created
navigation tree item. After creating the new folder, you can select the NT: 1D Results
S-Parameters folder and choose Home: Clipboard Copy . Finally, select the newly
created NT: 1D Results Comparison folder and choose Home: Clipboard Paste .
Note that the copied result curves will neither be deleted nor changed when parameters
are changed or S-parameters are recalculated. For organizational purposes you should
now click on each of the new curve entries in the NT: 1D Results Comparison folder,
choose Rename from the context menu (or just press the F2 key) and add an appendix
TD to the curve name in order to indicate that this is a result from the time domain
solver. The navigation tree should finally look as follows:
CST MICROWAVE STUDIO 2016 Workflow and Solver Overview 63

Once you have saved the time domain solver results for later comparison, you can
switch the currently active solver by selecting Home: Simulation Setup Solver
Frequency Domain Solver . Now you can simply open the frequency domain solver
dialog box by clicking on the solver icon: Home: Simulation Setup Solver :

By default the frequency domain solver uses a tetrahedral mesh, automatic mesh
adaptation, and full S-parameter matrix calculation, so you do not need to change
anything here. Please make sure that the Normalize to fixed impedance check button is
activated and that the corresponding value is set to 50 Ohms.

Most of the structure's surfaces are curved. It is therefore recommended to use the
curved tetrahedral mesh to obtain more accurate results, and this is the default for newly
created projects. Curved elements provide a better approximation of the geometry than
linear elements. (The latter are actually a special case of the former: linear elements are
"curved" with a curved element order of one.)

For the default "Second" order solver elements, a curved element order equal to two or
three is recommended. For higher solver order it is advisable to further increase the
64 CST MICROWAVE STUDIO 2016 Workflow and Solver Overview

curvature order. The curvature order of the elements is by default chosen automatically
so that it fits the solver order of the solver selected in Home: Simulation Setup Solver
, so in this case no change needs to be applied.

To verify that the curved element order is set to Automatic, the special tetrahedral mesh
properties dialog needs to be opened. This can generally be accessed by closing the
solver dialog and choosing Home: Mesh Global Properties Tetrahedral and the
Specials button therein. However, the solver specials dialog, accessed by the Specials
button in the frequency domain solver parameters dialog, provides a direct link to this
setting:

The settings for the solver order (first to third order, possibly variable) and a button
Curvature are available in the Solver order frame. Please follow the Curvature link to the
special mesh properties to verify that the choice for the Curved elements is Automatic:
CST MICROWAVE STUDIO 2016 Workflow and Solver Overview 65

Confirm the settings and close the special mesh properties and the solver special
dialogs by pressing OK to return to the frequency domain solver parameters dialog.

You can now perform the frequency domain simulation by clicking the Start button and
confirming the deletion of the non-frequency domain solver results.

In order to see the tetrahedral mesh used for this simulation while the solver is running,
activate the mesh mode (Home: Mesh Mesh View ). By selecting View: Sectional
View Cutting Plane (Shift+C) a cut of the meshed structure is shown:

The ports can be made visible again by clicking on the NT: Ports folder and then
selecting Show All Ports from the context menu. The solver first performs a mesh
adaptation at the ports before the mesh inside the structure is adapted at the highest
frequency of interest in the second step.

The mesh adaptation frequency can be set to other values if necessary and more than
one mesh adaptation frequency sample can be defined. Please note that for the sake of
accuracy it is important to have a mesh adaptation sample at some frequency where
66 CST MICROWAVE STUDIO 2016 Workflow and Solver Overview

power is delivered into the structure, for instance in the pass band of a filter. If the mesh
adaptation frequency is defined at a frequency where most of the input power is
reflected, the error indicator will not "see" the possibly more important interior parts of
the structure, and the mesh refinement will focus on the terminals of the structure rather
than on the inner regions.

The solver may therefore stop the adaptive mesh refinement if the minimum input
reflection of all S-parameters at the present adaptation frequency seems to be too high.
It attempts to insert new adaptation frequencies with a trial-and-error approach that
covers the whole frequency range, starting with monitor frequency samples, if any. The
number of attempts to "move" the automatic adaptation frequency samples is limited. If
no suitable frequency is found, the adaptive mesh refinement will continue at the first
adaptation frequency again. In this case, please choose and define a suitable constant
adaptation frequency in the Frequency samples frame of the Frequency Domain Solver
Parameters dialog.

Now click on NT: Ports Port 1 in the navigation tree to view the port mesh:

Once the mesh adaptation has converged, the solver calculates the S-parameters as a
function of frequency by using its fast sweep capability.

When the solver has finished, you can view the results in logarithmic scale (dB) by
choosing NT: 1D Results S-Parameters and 1D Plot: Plot Type dB :
CST MICROWAVE STUDIO 2016 Workflow and Solver Overview 67

As you can see, the results are quite similar to the results previously obtained from the
time domain solver. A direct comparison can be made by copying and pasting the
frequency domain solver results to the NT: 1D Results Comparison folder as
described above. You can add an appendix FD to the curve names of the new
frequency domain solver results:

As you can see, the results from the time domain solver using a hexahedral mesh and
the frequency domain solver using a tetrahedral mesh are in very good agreement.

Summary
This example gave you an overview of the key concepts of CST MICROWAVE STUDIO.
You should now have a basic idea of how to do the following:

1. Model structures by using the solid modeler

2. Specify the solver parameters, check the mesh and start the simulation
3. Use the adaptive mesh refinement feature
4. Visualize the port modes
68 CST MICROWAVE STUDIO 2016 Workflow and Solver Overview

5. Visualize the time signals and S-parameters

6. Define field monitors at various frequencies
7. Visualize the electromagnetic field distributions
8. Define the structure using structure parameters
9. Use the parameter sweep tool and visualize parametric results
10. Use result templates for customized post processing
11. Perform automatic optimizations
12. Compare the results from the time domain solver and the frequency domain solver

If you are familiar with all these topics, you have a very good starting point for improving
your usage of CST MICROWAVE STUDIO.

For more information on a particular topic, we recommend that you browse through the
online help system which can be opened by selecting File: Help Help Contents Get
help using CST STUDIO SUITE . If you have any further questions or remarks, please
do not hesitate to contact your technical support team. We also strongly recommend that
you participate in one of our special training classes held regularly at a location near
you. Please ask your support center for details.
CST MICROWAVE STUDIO 2016 Workflow and Solver Overview 69

Chapter 3 Solver Overview

Which Solver to Use
Since in the previous example we have mainly focused on the transient solver, and to a
lesser extent on the general purpose frequency domain solver, it is time to clarify which
solver best fits which application. The transient solver is general and can solve the
widest range of electromagnetic field problems. However, for some applications
specialized solvers will show much better performance while maintaining the same high
level of accuracy.

The table below lists a few typical applications along with the solvers that are most
frequently used for solving that particular type of problem. Please note that because of
the very wide application spectrum, not all possible examples can be listed in the table.
Furthermore, depending on the particular structure, it may be that other solvers are more
efficient for a particular application than those shown in the table. Therefore this table
should be used as a guideline rather than a rule for which solver to use.

For further guidance CST STUDIO SUITE offers a configuration wizard, which suggests
the best suited solver types as well as automatically predefines simulation settings for
your specific application. As described in the Create a New Project chapter, these so-
called Project Templates can be defined by selecting File New and Recent New
Project Create Project . Please find more detailed information in the CST STUDIO
SUITE Getting Started manual.

Application Solver Type(s)

Connectors (coaxial, multi-pin) Transient

Strip lines (microstrip, coplanar lines) Transient, Frequency Domain,
Multilayer
Stripline circuits Transient, Frequency Domain,
Multilayer
Cross-talk calculations Transient
Printed circuit boards Transient, Multilayer
Digital circuit simulation Transient
Packaging problems Transient, Frequency Domain,
Multilayer
Network parameter (SPICE) extraction Transient, Frequency Domain
Nonlinear diode applications Transient

EMI problems Transient, TLM

Radiation problems Transient, Integral equation, TLM
Shielding (irradiation) problems Transient, TLM

Monopole, dipole and multipole antennas Transient

Patch antennas Transient, Frequency Domain
Conformal antennas Transient, Frequency Domain
Helical and spiral antennas Transient, Integral equation
Antenna arrays Transient
70 CST MICROWAVE STUDIO 2016 Workflow and Solver Overview

Application Solver Type(s)

Waveguides (hollow, dielectric, coaxial) Transient

Transmission line networks Transient

Optical wave guides Transient

Optical couplers Transient
Optical diplexers and filters Transient, Frequency Domain

Filters and diplexers Frequency Domain, Transient

Cavities, resonator design Eigenmode

Traveling wave structures Eigenmode

Periodic problems (frequency selective Frequency Domain, Eigenmode,

surfaces, periodic band gap structures) Transient
Periodic problem with nonzero phase shift Frequency Domain, Eigenmode
Periodic problems with non-rectangular Frequency Domain with Tetrahedral
lattice (unit cell) mesh
Antenna placement Integral equation, Transient
Antenna placement (electrically large) Integral equation, Asymptotic
RCS (electrically large) Integral equation, Asymptotic,
Transient
Electrically large antennas Integral equation, Transient

Please note that the application range of the transient analysis can be extended
significantly for more resonant devices by applying some advanced digital signal
processing techniques rather than simply using a Discrete Fourier Transform. CST
MICROWAVE STUDIO features an Auto Regressive (AR) Filter capable of predicting
the long-term response of a device from a short-term response.

The performance of the transient solver degrades for strongly resonant structures or if
the device operates at very low frequencies. In such cases the frequency domain solver
may be faster, especially since in most cases a few frequency samples are sufficient to
characterize the structures behavior by using the fast broadband frequency sweep tool,
in particular with the reduced order model sweep. On the other hand, the simulation time
of the frequency domain solver increases more rapidly with an increase in the number of
mesh cells than the simulation time of the transient solver.

Besides these general considerations, there are also some applications that require the
selection of a particular solver since the corresponding electromagnetic problem can be
solved only by using the corresponding method:

1. Structures containing nonlinear materials or diodes: The frequency domain

solver cannot handle nonlinearities. Therefore the transient solver must be used for
these applications.
2. Very large structures / high frequencies: The frequency domain solver requires
the solution of a matrix equation. This becomes very slow and memory intensive
when the number of mesh cells is large. Whenever the number of tetrahedrons for
the frequency domain solver is in the order of several million, the time domain
solvers or the integral equation solver should be used. For electrically very large
problems, using the integral equation solver or even the asymptotic solver may be
the best option.
CST MICROWAVE STUDIO 2016 Workflow and Solver Overview 71

3. Periodic structures with non-zero phase shift: The transient solver can handle
only periodic structures with zero phase shifts, so the frequency domain solver must
be used instead. The phase shift between adjacent boundary planes or the
geometrical angle of incidence has to be specified in the boundary condition dialog
box. Note that the electrical phase angle between the boundary planes and the
geometrical angle of incidence are not identical. The frequency domain solver in
combination with a tetrahedral mesh also offers a special Unit Cell feature which
allows the simulation of periodic structures with a non-rectangular lattice.
4. Planar structures: Predominantly planar structures such as microstrip filters and
printed circuit boards can be solved by general purpose 3D solvers (time or
frequency domain). However, in order to ideally exploit the planar property of the
structure the multilayer solver can be applied to these examples.

Summarizing these statements, the following diagrams provide a rough guideline for the
application ranges of the methods:

Time Domain
Time Domain
Analysis
Analysis
with AR-Filter

Frequency Domain Analysis

Quality factor (resonant devices)

Frequency Domain Time Domain Integral Asymptotic

Analysis Analysis Equation Solver

Frequency (weakly resonant devices)

You should now have an impression of the pros and cons of the various methods. If you
are not sure which solver would best suit your application, please contact your local
sales office for assistance.
Furthermore it should be mentioned, that the solvers can be combined with one another
to give hybrid solution capability for structures or systems which dont fit neatly into one
category, e.g. a small resonant antenna on a large structure such as a motor vehicle.
72 CST MICROWAVE STUDIO 2016 Workflow and Solver Overview

Time Domain Solver

In CST MICROWAVE STUDIO two time domain solvers are available, which both work
on hexahedral meshes. One is based on the Finite Integration Technique (FIT), just
called Transient solver, the second one is based on the Transmission-Line Method
(TLM) and is referred to as TLM solver. Both time domain solvers are launched via the
time domain solver dialog box Simulation: Solver Setup Solver Time Domain
Solver and can be distinguished in the Mesh type dropdown list by either specifying
Hexahedral to choose the transient FIT solver or Hexahedral TLM for the TLM solver.

Transient Solver

The Transient solver applies advanced numerical techniques like the PERFECT
BOUNDARY APPROXIMATION (PBA) in combination with the THIN SHEET
TECHNIQUE (TST) to allow accurate modeling of small and curved structures without
the need for an extreme refinement of the mesh at these locations. This allows a very
memory efficient computation together with a robust hexahedral meshing to successfully
simulate extremely complex structures.

Features like AR-Filtering or S-Parameter symmetries and reciprocity help to increase

the performance of this solver. Furthermore, the simulation becomes even more efficient
when applying hardware acceleration like GPU or MPI computing as described later on
in the general chapter Acceleration Features.

The usage of the Transient solver is explained in detail in Chapter 2 - Simulation

Workflow, showing the basic construction steps of a coaxial connector model as well as
the solver setup and some post processing steps. Therefore in the next section the TLM
solver will be discussed in more detail:

TLM Solver

The TLM solver has many of the features of the Transient solver and shares a similar
application range. This section describes the differences in model definition between
the TLM and the Transient solver:

Materials
Most of the materials which are supported by the Transient solver are also available for
the TLM solver.

The unavailable materials are:

Gyrotropic materials
Corrugated wall and frequency dependent Ohmic sheet
Temperature dependent and spatially varying material

In return the TLM solver is able to model special material types and compact models
which will be discussed on the following pages.

Thin panel and coated metal

The TLM solver is able to model thin sheets of Anisotropic or Normal material without
needing to add any mesh cells in the thickness of the sheet. This can lead to a
significant improvement in simulation time for devices containing such thin sheets, for
example radomes or carbon fiber composite surfaces on aircraft.
CST MICROWAVE STUDIO 2016 Workflow and Solver Overview 73

To take advantage of this feature in modeling penetrable thin objects, define a new
material of type Thin panel and attach to it any number of layers of Normal, Anisotropic
or Perforations material. Perforations material is used to define wire meshes that can be
embedded in carbon fiber composites for lightning protection, or air ventilation panels.

Alternatively, scattering parameters defining the reflection and transmission for a sheet
material can be imported directly into the Thin Panel material dialog.

This Thin Panel material can be attached to any sheet object. If the layers of the material
are asymmetrically defined, it is necessary to attach Local Solid Coordinates to each
object made of the Thin panel material (Local Solid Coordinates Attach Active WCS
from the context menu). The W direction of the Local Solid Coordinates is then used to
indicate the direction of layer stackup, and the U direction is used to indicate the x
direction of any anisotropic material in the stackup.

The TLM solver can model dielectric coating on metal, for example an absorbing panel
in an anechoic chamber. To use this feature, create a PEC material with an arbitrary
number of layers ("Coated material") and attach it to an object.

Shielded cables
The TLM solver can model integrated coaxial cables with a simple transfer impedance
representation of the braid. This feature is in addition to the capabilities provided by
interfacing to CST CABLE STUDIO, which can represent much more complicated cables
and harnesses.
74 CST MICROWAVE STUDIO 2016 Workflow and Solver Overview

To convert a simple wire to a shielded cable, create a Shielded cable material and
attach it to the wire.

The Resistance and Inductance per unit length of the shield are used to characterize the
transfer of currents on the outside of the coaxial shield to voltage sources on the inside.

If shielded cables are included in a model, the terminations of the inner conductor of the
cables are matched during the 3D simulation, and the solver will obtain the current at
these matched terminations. Using matched terminations during the 3D simulation
prevents the inner conductor from resonating, and minimizes required run time for the
3D simulation.

A post-processing tool, called Shielded cable solver, can be used to apply simple non
matched terminations to the inner conductor after the 3D simulation. To access the post
processing options, click on Specials in the solver dialog with the Mesh type set to
Hexahedral TLM.

Slots and seams

Slots and seams in thin metal sheets can be a significant source of electromagnetic
interference. The TLM solver can model these narrow apertures without having to add
mesh cells across the gap. This can lead to significantly faster simulations.
CST MICROWAVE STUDIO 2016 Workflow and Solver Overview 75

To add a slot to a thin metal sheet, first select the sheet object, and then choose
Modeling: Shapes Faces and Apertures Slot .

The Type can be set to Slot, Seam or Transfer impedance.

A Slot type should be used when there is a thin gap cut into the metal. The slot
dimensions are defined by the Depth and Gap values. There are limitations to the type
of slot that can be modeled. The slot gap should be less than approximately 40% of the
corresponding cell size that the slot passes through, and the slot depth should be less
than 5 times the cell size normal to the slot plane. Conductivity and Relative permittivity
can be defined to represent a gasket material in the gap.

A Seam type should be used when two sheets of metal overlap. It is defined using an
Overlap and a Gap. The number of Segments along the slot/seam can be specified to
represent electrical connections such as rivets along the length of the slot.

The Transfer impedance type is used to represent the frequency dependent penetration
of signals through more complex materials in the slot gap.

If a number of points or a curve are picked before the slot dialog is opened, then these
will be used to define the path of the slot. Otherwise you must define the path as a
series of xyz coordinates along the length. Note that these coordinates must lie on the
selected object.
76 CST MICROWAVE STUDIO 2016 Workflow and Solver Overview

Excitation types
Discrete ports, plane waves, and field sources are supported as TLM solver excitations.
Field sources generated by the TLM solver can be used as excitation sources for the
TLM solver only.

Most waveguide ports are supported by the TLM solver but only the fundamental mode
can be excited at each port. All waveguide ports in a model must be excited before the
TLM solver can generate scattering parameters.

Excitation signal
The TLM and Transient solvers use different default excitation signals. If the reference
excitation signal is set to default, then the TLM solver will apply an impulse excitation
which is filtered to the maximum model frequency. The excitation will then have a
uniform magnitude across the frequency range of interest.

Different excitation signals can be applied to the results after the 3D simulation has been
completed by the TLM solver, if the default signal was used. To do this, open the Solver
Specials dialog. On the Transient tab, a different excitation signal can be selected if one
has already been created in the Navigation tree. To update the results, click on Start
again in the time domain solver dialog.

Mesh definition
The TLM solver uses the same hexahedral mesh as the Transient solver, but has
different default values since the TLM solver sometimes needs a finer mesh to capture
the geometry accurately. To compensate for the increased mesh fineness the TLM
solver employs an octreebased meshing algorithm to reduce the overall cell count.
Small cells are lumped together into larger cells to create a mesh that gradually
becomes coarser with increasing distance from the geometry.

PBA is turned off by default for the TLM solver. To enable it choose Home: Global Mesh
Properties Hexahedral TLM. Then select Specials and on the Discretizer tab tick
the relevant checkboxes to turn PBA on for metal and/or dielectric objects

Launch the TLM solver and view results

The TLM solver can be launched by choosing Home: Simulation Setup Solver
Time Domain Solver :
CST MICROWAVE STUDIO 2016 Workflow and Solver Overview 77

The Mesh type should be set to Hexahedral TLM to launch the TLM solver.

Frequency Domain Solver

The basic procedure of running the frequency domain solver is demonstrated in the
previous section Comparison of Time and Frequency Domain Solver Results. The
following explanations provide some more detailed information about the settings in the
frequency domain solver dialog box which you can open by choosing Home: Simulation
Setup Solver Frequency Domain Solver :

A special feature of the frequency domain solver is the support of both hexahedral and
tetrahedral meshes. In most cases, you will compare the results from the tetrahedral
frequency domain solver and the hexahedral transient solver, since this allows you to
compare results from two completely independent simulation techniques.

An important difference between the transient solver and the frequency domain solver is
the number of frequency samples that are calculated. Whereas in the time domain the
number of frequency samples has almost no influence on the solver time, a classical
frequency domain calculation has to carry out the simulation frequency point by
frequency point. Every frequency point requires a complete solver run.

The frequency domain solver does however use special broadband frequency sweep
techniques in order to derive the full broadband spectrum from a relatively small number
of frequency samples.
78 CST MICROWAVE STUDIO 2016 Workflow and Solver Overview

The Method field in the solver dialog allows choosing the mesh type and the technique
to generate results for the whole frequency range:

The frequency domain solver with General purpose broadband frequency sweep can be
seen as the counterpart of the transient solver.

As an alternative to the General purpose sweep, a Fast reduced order model sweep is
available, which efficiently generates broadband results from very few equation system
solver runs.

If you are only interested in results at a few specific frequencies, the Discrete samples
only option may be used.

For CPU acceleration and distributed computing options choose Home: Simulation
Setup Solver Acceleration. Please refer to the chapter Acceleration Features or to
the online help for more detailed information about the different acceleration features.

Solver Result Settings

To record the fields at particular frequencies, monitors can be defined in advance as
described previously for the transient solver. S-parameters and fields can be accessed
as usual from the entries in the navigation tree.

In order to obtain the complete S-matrix and fields, All Ports are by default selected as
an excitation, which includes both waveguide port modes and discrete ports. If you
consider some ports as output terminals only, for instance in a device with higher order
waveguide port modes, the amount of result data as well as the simulation time can be
reduced by limiting the excitation to some sources only.

Some post processing steps however may require the full S-matrix and thus All Ports
and All Modes. An example thereof is the normalization of S-parameters which has been
enabled for the coaxial connector example:
CST MICROWAVE STUDIO 2016 Workflow and Solver Overview 79

With Calculate port modes only enabled the solver run stops after the waveguide port
modes have been calculated without generating any further results. This allows you to
quickly check the port modes as described in the chapter Analyze the Port Modes.

Store result data in cache creates full backups of the project after parametric changes,
for instance in the course of a parameter sweep.

Information about how many monitor samples are defined is displayed in the Frequency
samples frame in a row labelled Monitors, provided in case that some monitors have
been defined. You can exclude the monitor samples from being calculated by removing
the Active flag in this row. In the same way any other sampling row can be ignored by
removing the Active flag.

By default, frequency samples are added automatically until the S-parameters in the
given frequency range are known accurately enough also between the calculated
frequency samples. For the General purpose sweep, this is indicated by the third
sampling row shown above: it has no limit for the number of samples, and blank entries
to let From and To match the global frequency range, in this example from zero up to
18 GHz.

Please note that the frequency domain solver cannot calculate the fields at a frequency
of zero. Therefore a frequency of zero will automatically be shifted to a reasonably small
value, and S-parameters will be extrapolated to 0 Hz if the global frequency range starts
at zero.

Only sample definitions for the adaptive mesh refinement are considered when the Fast
reduced order model sweep is selected, since this technique always generates
broadband results during the frequency sweep:

For the General purpose sweep, it is possible to let the solver record electric and
magnetic fields and fluxes for all of the frequency samples without an explicitly defined
field monitor (option Save field results at samples in the Specials dialog.)
80 CST MICROWAVE STUDIO 2016 Workflow and Solver Overview

A convenient feature of the General purpose sweep with tetrahedral mesh is the ability
to continue a solver run to calculate or even just quickly evaluate additional monitors.

With either sweep method, you can even invoke a single calculation of the fields at a
frequency marked in the S-parameter plot. This is described later.

Usually there is no need to change the default settings in the list of Frequency samples.
However, sometimes it might be helpful to specify additional samples (see also
Frequency Domain Solver Overview in the online help). One example for such a case
is given below.

Adaptive Tetrahedral Mesh Refinement

The tetrahedral mesh generation normally yields a relatively coarse initial mesh.
Therefore we strongly recommend using the Adaptive tetrahedral mesh refinement
option in order to ensure accurate simulation results.

By default, curved elements are used for newly generated projects. In order to enable
curved elements for projects created with earlier versions, first select Home: Mesh
Global Properties Tetrahedral. Then push the Specials button and choose
Automatic if this is not yet set.

The mesh adaptation strategies of the transient and frequency domain solvers are
fundamentally different. The transient solver runs the entire broadband simulation for
every mesh adaptation pass and evaluates the worst-case deviation of two subsequent
S-parameter results (broadband.) The mesh refinement is then done based on
information from the broadband result data. In contrast, the frequency domain solver
usually runs the mesh adaptation only for a single frequency point at a time. Once the
adaptation is complete, the broadband results are computed by keeping the adapted
mesh fixed (however, mesh adaptation on broadband results like in the transient solver
is available as an option as well, as mentioned below.)

Since by default the frequency domain solver mesh adaptation runs only for a single
frequency point at a time, the location of this point within the frequency spectrum is very
important. For weakly resonant devices, it is usually a good policy to select the highest
frequency of interest for the mesh adaptation. This corresponds with the default setting
and will ensure that even the fields with the shortest wavelength in the frequency sweep
are sampled properly.

The situation is different for strongly resonant devices as shown in the following picture
(e.g. Low Pass Filter (3 Stubs) example):
CST MICROWAVE STUDIO 2016 Workflow and Solver Overview 81

This low pass type filter has very low transmission at the highest frequency of interest.
Running the mesh adaptation at this frequency will not provide sufficient information
about the actual filter characteristics. The adaptation will keep refining the mesh around
the input port since all the energy is stored there and too little information is available
about the behavior of the fields inside the structure.
In cases like this, it is very important to specify the adaptation frequency such that it is
located in the pass band of the filter. Please note that the solver tries to detect those
situations by looking at the minimum input reflection of all S-parameter ports (information
or a warning will be displayed in the message window.) If necessary, the adaptation at
this frequency sample is stopped and continued at a different frequency:

However, you can save some time by manually setting the adaptation frequency to a
constant value. This can be done by first selecting Single from the Type dropdown box
of the adaptive mesh refinement line (which has Adapt. checked) in the frequency list.
Then specify for instance 10 GHz as an adaptation frequency in the From column of the
list:

It is possible to define multiple adaptation frequency points, for instance equidistantly

distributed or even with logarithmic spacing, by using the corresponding drop down list
as shown for the highlighted line in the following figure:
82 CST MICROWAVE STUDIO 2016 Workflow and Solver Overview

The adaptive mesh refinement will then be sequentially performed at those discrete
mesh adaptation frequency samples (two in the example above) before the broadband
sweep is started with the adaptively refined mesh.

All settings for the adaptive mesh refinement are displayed if you press on the
corresponding Properties button:

The adaptive tetrahedral mesh refinement dialog by default allows three to eight mesh
refinement passes. If multiple adaptation frequencies are defined as shown above,
these limits hold for each mesh adaptation sample individually.

Stopping or convergence criteria are very important for the accuracy of the results. They
are defined in the Convergence criteria frame:

Convergence criteria can be checked after each discrete adaptive mesh refinement
sample or after the broadband results are available. Each criterion has a threshold
associated with it, and a number of checks. This number defines how often the criterion
must fall below the threshold in consecutive mesh adaptation passes until the
convergence criterion is considered as being met.
CST MICROWAVE STUDIO 2016 Workflow and Solver Overview 83

In the case of S-parameters, the criterion (Delta S) is determined as the maximum

deviation of the absolute value of the complex difference of the S-parameters between
two subsequent passes. All S-parameters are taken into account. The criterion may be
calculated in two ways:

Checking the convergence criterion at discrete adaptation samples means that

some mesh adaptation frequencies are calculated in a sequential fashion, and
Delta S is used as a criterion for the adaptive mesh refinement loop at those
mesh adaptation samples. It refers to the S-parameters at those particular
frequencies. For each adaptation frequency, the mesh is refined several times.
The broadband frequency sweep is calculated afterwards.

In order to take the S-parameters in a specified frequency range into account,

the broadband frequency sweep must be applied before calculating Delta S as
the maximum difference of all S-parameters in the frequency range.

In addition to the S-parameters, any Result Template may be employed as convergence

criterion. In particular for models without S-parameter ports this is a convenient way to
ensure the convergence of the mesh adaption process. An arbitrary number of 0D and
1D Result Templates can be defined and selected in the Check after broadband
calculation list in the Result Template drop down menu:

New Result Templates may be defined choosing [New Result Template] in the drop
down menu or by Post Processing: Result Templates Template Based Post
Processing , enabling user defined specifications of application-tailored convergence
criteria. Please refer to the online documentation and the CST STUDIO SUITE Getting
Started manual for more information about this versatile functionality.

The convergence criterion Portmode kz/k0 applies to the adaptive mesh refinement
during the port mode calculation for waveguide ports. It is the maximum magnitude of
the difference of the port modes' complex propagation constant kz divided by the free
space propagation constant k0 between two port mesh refinement passes.

During the adaptive mesh refinement, newly created nodes in the tetrahedral mesh will
be projected onto the original geometry in order to improve the approximation of the
geometry (True Geometry Adaptation.)

If you expand the Details in the Adaptive Tetrahedral Mesh Refinement properties dialog
by pressing the corresponding button, you can access some special refinement settings
and the refinement percentage:
84 CST MICROWAVE STUDIO 2016 Workflow and Solver Overview

The settings in the Refinement percentage frame determine how much the mesh may
grow between two consecutive adaptive mesh refinement passes. The default values
are a compromise between accuracy and computational resources. A larger mesh
growth per pass might lead to more accurate results in less passes at the cost of higher
memory requirements and possibly a longer simulation time. However, a very high mesh
growth percentage might lead to mesh refinement also far away from regions of interest.
In this case it may be more efficient to perform more mesh adaptation passes with
moderate mesh growth for each single pass.

The performance of the adaptive mesh refinement can be further accelerated by an

appropriate refinement of mesh edges on conductors. Because of the potentially highly
varying field strength and distribution, a special treatment for these areas during the
adaptive mesh refinement passes often leads to faster overall convergence and is
recommended especially for planar structures as the low pass filter example shown
above. Different levels of this strategy are selectable within the Singular edge refinement
frame.

Please close the adaptive tetrahedral mesh refinement dialog to return to the frequency
domain solver parameters dialog.

Note that with the Hexahedral mesh chosen as the Mesh type, the adaptive refinement
is performed in a broadband fashion as described for the time domain solver in
Adaptive Mesh Refinement on page 41. Adaptive mesh refinement frequency samples
are therefore ignored for the hexahedral mesh based methods.

Adaptive mesh refinement is one ingredient for reaching a certain level of accuracy. The
default settings satisfy the accuracy needs for many applications, with reasonable
computational effort. However, if the thresholds of the mesh refinement stop criteria are
tightened, it is recommended to change other settings correspondingly.

Solver Order and Curved Elements

Special settings which influence the accuracy of the results as well as the performance
of the simulation comprise the Accuracy in the Equation system solver frame (smaller
values represent higher accuracy) and the solver order. In the frequency domain solver
dialog, choose the Specials... button to open the corresponding dialog:
CST MICROWAVE STUDIO 2016 Workflow and Solver Overview 85

By default, the tetrahedral frequency domain solver uses second order elements to get
an excellent sampling of the fields at high frequencies. This also allows the use of
relatively few elements per wavelength by comparison with the first order elements used
by the solvers based on hexahedral grids.

A higher solver order allows you to achieve accurate results with less mesh cells and
potentially less memory consumption than a lower order if the structure contains
electrically large regions free of geometric details. For a given mesh resolution, a higher
order will provide more accurate results. However, some structures may need a
relatively fine mesh if their geometry is much finer than required to properly sample the
wave phenomena. Typical application examples for this are printed circuit boards or
integrated circuit packages. In such cases, using first order elements rather than the
standard second order elements can reduce simulation time and memory requirement
significantly.

To use first order elements, select 1st (low memory) in the Solver order field in the
Specials dialog box:

Whenever the solver order is changed, for instance from second to first order, the
resolution of the initial mesh and some parameters in the adaptive mesh refinement
dialog should be adjusted accordingly.

For new projects, these settings are applied automatically in a way that ensures a
suitable resolution of the wavelength in media (for projects generated with earlier
versions of CST MICROWAVE STUDIO, please choose Home: Mesh Global
86 CST MICROWAVE STUDIO 2016 Workflow and Solver Overview

Properties Tetrahedral and select Automatic from the drop down menu in the
Maximum cell frame). A higher solver order may result in a smaller number of mesh
cells.

A third order field approximation scheme is available, and can be selected in the drop
down box:

Another reason for choosing higher order is to increase the accuracy of the solver
results. With third order, for instance, select Home: Mesh Global Properties
Tetrahedral, and specify at least four Cells per wavelength as the Maximum cell size:

The initial tetrahedral mesh then will be sufficiently dense for second order, but as third
has been chosen, the results are even more accurate for the given mesh.

If the option for Variable order is activated, the frequency domain solver with tetrahedral
mesh is allowed to use a different solver order for each tetrahedron, rather than constant
order throughout the calculation domain.

The solver order's upper limit is then given by the order selected in the drop down
combo box left to the Variable check box (for instance first to third order, for the
selection shown above.)
CST MICROWAVE STUDIO 2016 Workflow and Solver Overview 87

Enable the Variable option if the structure contains electrically small details as well as
large voids. The solver will then assign an initial distribution of the solver order to the
tetrahedrons, and this distribution may potentially be changed automatically in the
course of the adaptive mesh refinement.

Dispersive Materials
Another important difference between the frequency domain solver and the transient
solver is the way both simulators handle dispersive materials.

For a given list of material parameters at various frequencies, the transient solver always
needs to fit a certain dispersion model of general order to the data. During the
simulation, the broadband material behavior will then be taken from the model rather
than using the originally specified data.

Since the frequency domain solver computes the broadband sweep by a sequence of
individual frequency point calculations, the solver can simply linearly interpolate the
given list of frequency points directly. As a result, the frequency domain solver can use
user-specified material property tables more directly than the transient solver can.

When comparing the results of these two solvers it may be advantageous to configure
the frequency domain solver to use the same material model with fitted data as the
transient solver. This can be done by checking the Fit as in Time Domain box in the
Materials frame of the solver Specials dialog box.

Continued solver runs

You may continue the solver's frequency sweep with additional fixed or automatically
chosen samples, newly added field monitors, and additional adaptive mesh refinement
after one solver run has finished.

If additional results for already calculated frequencies are requested, for instance by
defining new monitors or by using Calculate Fields at Axis Marker, the solvers with
tetrahedral mesh will attempt to reload the solution to quickly perform additional post
processing steps without the need to solve the equation system again.

A very interesting feature of this solver is that some intermediate information concerning
the fields is stored even if no field monitors are specified. Once a simulation is
completed and the S-parameters are visualized, it is relatively fast and straightforward to
obtain the fields at certain frequencies.

To demonstrate this feature, let us assume that you have run a simulation for a filter
structure using either the general purpose or the fast reduced order model sweep
method and are now inspecting the S-parameters:
88 CST MICROWAVE STUDIO 2016 Workflow and Solver Overview

You may now be particularly interested in the fields at the resonance peak. The easiest
way to obtain this information is to place the axis marker at the location of the resonance
(1D Plot: Markers Axis Marker Move Marker to Minimum):

Then click on the plot and choose Calculate Fields at Axis Marker from the context menu
to obtain the fields at this particular frequency. The field computation itself will be
relatively quick since a lot of intermediate data have already been stored during the
initial S-parameter calculation.

Workflow Summary
The following summarizes the input necessary for frequency domain analysis:

1. Select an appropriate project template (optional).

2. Set units (optional).
3. Set background material (optional).
4. Define the structure.
5. Set the frequency range.
6. Set the boundary conditions (optional).
7. Define the excitation ports.
8. Set the monitors (optional).
CST MICROWAVE STUDIO 2016 Workflow and Solver Overview 89

9. Select sweep method (optional).

10. Start the frequency domain solver.
11. Analyze the results (S-parameters, field patterns, result templates, etc.).
12. Continue to generate additional results (optional).

Integral Equation Solver

An integral equation computation is an analysis in the frequency domain based on a
surface mesh. The model setup is very similar to a general purpose frequency domain
computation. The following explanations provide some more information about the
specific settings in the integral equation solver dialog box.

Integral Equation Solver Parameters

You can open the dialog by choosing Home: Simulation Setup Solver Integral
Equation Solver . As with the general purpose frequency domain computation, an
integral equation calculation has to carry out the simulation frequency by frequency.
Every frequency point requires a complete solver run.

A special broadband frequency sweep technique can be used in order to derive the full
broadband spectrum from a relatively small number of frequency samples. In order to
make use of this technique, you should allow an automatic sampling of frequency points
by selecting the type Automatic in the table and then activating the Use broadband
frequency sweep option. The solver will then automatically adapt the selection of
frequency points so that the broadband curve can be obtained by calculating a minimum
number of samples.
90 CST MICROWAVE STUDIO 2016 Workflow and Solver Overview

To store the fields at particular frequencies, monitors need to be defined in advance as

described previously for the transient solver. These monitor frequencies are then added
to the frequency list.

The integral equation solver cannot calculate the fields at a frequency of zero. Therefore
a zero frequency will automatically be shifted to a reasonably small value.

The S-parameters and fields can be accessed as usual from the navigation tree.

Acceleration
For CPU and GPU acceleration, distributed computing options and MPI computing
settings choose Simulation: Solver Setup Solver Acceleration. Please refer to
the chapter Acceleration Features or to the online help for more detailed information
about the different acceleration features.

Accuracy Settings
The solver accuracy can be controlled by selecting one of the predefined values (Low,
Medium or High) in the Accuracy field. Alternatively, selecting the option Custom will
activate a Settings button to open a dialog box for more detailed solver control. Please
refer to the online documentation for more information about the available settings within
this dialog box.

Special settings
The special settings dialog can be opened by choosing Simulation: Solver Setup
Solver Specials. It is possible to enable real ground or infinite PEC or PMC ground
and to choose a preconditioner for the linear equation system solver in this dialog. The
integral equation solver can make use of user-specified material property tables more
directly than the transient solver can. For the sake of comparing these two solvers
results, it may be advantageous to advise the integral equation solver to use the same
material model fitted data as the transient solver does by checking the Constant fit and
dispersion fit as in Time Domain box in the solver Specials dialog box.

MLFMM
In its standard implementation, the integral method generates a full matrix containing
information about the coupling between each pair of surface mesh elements. The
MultiLevel Fast Multipole Method (MLFMM) is a fast method to reduce the simulation
complexity. It uses boxes (clusters of surface mesh elements) to combine the couplings,
together with a recursive scheme to increase the efficiency (please see schematic
below). The MLFMM speeds up the matrix vector multiplication for an iterative solver
and also enhances the memory efficiency. It scales very well for large problems
(geometry >> wavelength) with a complexity of O(N log N).
CST MICROWAVE STUDIO 2016 Workflow and Solver Overview 91

FMM MLFMM
Characteristic Mode Analysis (CMA)
A dedicated tool for the efficient analysis of characteristic modes of PEC structures is
integrated into the integral equation solver. It is activated by selecting CMA in the
excitation settings frame of the solver dialog.

The specified Number of modes with the highest modal significance is calculated at the
user-defined Frequency for mode sorting. These selected modes are tracked over the
whole simulation frequency range. Add field monitors and select the option Calculate
monitors to visualize the eigencurrents and related quantities.

The following summarizes the input necessary for a frequency domain analysis using
the integral equation solver:

1. Select an appropriate project template (optional).

2. Set units (optional).
3. Set background material (optional).
92 CST MICROWAVE STUDIO 2016 Workflow and Solver Overview

4. Define the structure.

5. Set the frequency range.
6. Set the boundary conditions (optional).
7. Define the excitation.
8. Set the monitors (optional).
9. Start the integral equation solver.
10. Analyze the results (S-parameters, field patterns, result templates, etc.).

Multilayer Solver
For structures which are mainly planar, such as microstrip filters, patch antennas, etc.,
the multilayer solver might be the best choice. The multilayer solver, based on the
method of moments, does not require discretization of the transversally infinite dielectric
and metal stackup. Therefore this solver can be more efficient than general purpose 3D
solvers for this specific type of application.

To create an appropriate mesh for the multilayer solver the mesh type Multilayer has to
be selected (Simulation: Mesh Global Properties Multilayer).

A simulation model consists of two parts:

The metallic structure modelling the conductors and ports
The layer stackup
The layer stackup will be created automatically if the layers are defined by normal
material bricks. The layer stackup can also be defined by using the background dialog
(Modeling: Materials Background ).

Generating the layer stackup from the geometric model

When the stackup is defined in the geometric model by means of several metal/dielectric
layers, the mesh generation will automatically exclude the bricks used for layer
definition. Metal sheets which define a decoupling plane will be added to the layer stack
automatically. Holes in the metal sheets will be considered as apertures in the
simulation.
Whether a solid or sheet will be considered for the layer stackup or not can be modified
by the local mesh properties dialog.

Generating the layer stackup by using the background dialog

The second way of defining the layer stackup is by means of the background properties.
In this case, the background dialog has to be expanded by enabling the check box
Multiple layers first.
CST MICROWAVE STUDIO 2016 Workflow and Solver Overview 93

An arbitrary number of dielectric and metal layers can then be defined in the Multiple
layers frame.

Multilayer Solver Parameters

You can open the multilayer solver dialog by choosing Home: Simulation Setup
Solver Multilayer Solver . A multilayer calculation has to carry out the simulation
frequency by frequency, and every frequency point requires a complete solver run.

A special broadband frequency sweep technique can be used in order to derive the full
broadband spectrum from a relatively small number of frequency samples. In order to
make use of this technique, you should allow an automatic sampling of frequency points
by selecting the type Automatic in the table and then activating the Use broadband
frequency sweep option. The solver will then automatically adapt the selection of
frequency points so that the broadband curve can be obtained by calculating a minimum
number of samples.
94 CST MICROWAVE STUDIO 2016 Workflow and Solver Overview

To store the fields at particular frequencies, monitors need to be defined in advance as

described previously for the transient solver. These monitor frequencies are then added
to the list of calculated frequencies.

For CPU acceleration, distributed computing options and MPI computing settings,
choose Simulation: Solver Setup Solver Acceleration. Please refer to the
chapter Acceleration Features or to the online help for more detailed information about
the different acceleration features.

The multilayer solver cannot calculate the fields at a frequency of zero. Therefore a zero
frequency will automatically be shifted to a reasonably small value. For very low
frequencies the multilayer solver supports a low frequency stabilization.

The S-parameter and field results can be accessed as usual from the entries in the
navigation tree.

Advanced settings are available in the special multilayer solver settings. This can be
opened by choosing Simulation: Solver Setup Solver Specials:

General
The Deembedding option activates the automatic internal deembedding of waveguide
and multipin ports to ensure most accurate S-Parameter results. In addition the S-
Parameters are then normalized to the calculated port impedances.
The multilayer solver uses an open boundary formulation in x- and y-direction and will
ignore electric boundary conditions in x- and y- direction by default. This can be
changed by deactivating the option Open BC (x,y).

Materials
The multilayer solver can make use of user-specified material property tables more
directly than the transient solver can. For the sake of comparing the results of these two
solvers it may be advantageous to advise the multilayer solver to use the same material
model fitted data as the transient solver does by checking the Constant fit and
dispersion fit as in Time Domain.

Characteristic Mode Analysis (CMA)

A dedicated tool for the efficient analysis of characteristic modes is integrated into the
multilayer solver. It is activated by selecting CMA in the excitation settings frame of the
solver dialog. Please refer to the relevant paragraph in section Integral Equation
Computations for an explanation of specific settings for CMA.

The following summarizes the input necessary for frequency domain analysis
calculations using the multilayer solver:
CST MICROWAVE STUDIO 2016 Workflow and Solver Overview 95

1. Select an appropriate project template (optional).

2. Set units (optional).
3. Set background material and layer stackup (optional).
4. Define the structure.
5. Set the frequency range.
6. Set the boundary conditions (optional).
7. Define the excitation.
8. Set the monitors (optional).
9. Start the multilayer solver.
10. Analyze the results (S-parameters, field patterns, result templates, etc.).

Asymptotic Solver
An asymptotic computation is an analysis in the frequency domain based on a so-called
ray-tracing (shooting and bouncing rays) technique. In this approach, the scattered fields
are determined by performing a local surface integration of the ray-fields at the ray-
object intersections. The solver is typically used for scattering or antenna placement
computations of electrically very large objects which are difficult to handle by other EM
solution methods.

Due to its limited range of applications, the asymptotic solver's setup is a little different
from that of the other more general solvers. The following explanations provide some
basic information about the asymptotic analysis workflow. Please refer to the online
documentation for more detailed information.

Asymptotic Solver Parameters

The dialog box can be opened by choosing Home: Simulation Setup Solver
Asymptotic Solver :
96 CST MICROWAVE STUDIO 2016 Workflow and Solver Overview

The actual layout of this dialog box will change depending on the selection in the Mode
field.

For Monostatic scattering calculations, the Sweep parameters frame will contain two
lists. One list specifies the Frequency sweeps and the other one describes the
Observation angle sweeps.

For Bistatic scattering calculations excitation directions and observation directions are
not identical as in the case of monostatic calculations. Therefore the Sweep parameters
frame will contain an additional Excitation angle sweeps list:
CST MICROWAVE STUDIO 2016 Workflow and Solver Overview 97

The electric field strength and the polarization of the incident plane wave can be set in
the Incident field polarization settings frame by adding plane wave definitions to the list.
After pressing the Add button, the following dialog box will appear:

This dialog box allows you to select a particular type of polarization such as Horizontal,
Vertical, Left hand circular polarized or Right hand circular polarized. In addition a
Custom option can be selected where the complex amplitudes for the incident plane
wave's theta and phi components can be specified.
98 CST MICROWAVE STUDIO 2016 Workflow and Solver Overview

Sweep Definitions
Each of the sweep definition lists can contain a number of individual sweep descriptions.
A particular sweep can be added by pressing the Add button. For frequency sweeps the
following dialog box allows the specification of lower and upper frequency bounds as
well as a step width:

A single frequency point can be specified by setting the lower and upper bounds to the
same value.

For angular sweeps, the following dialog box will appear:

Here, you can select a particular type of sweep:

Single Point: Single theta / phi direction rather than a sweep

Theta / Phi: Sweep for both theta and phi angles
Theta: Sweep for theta while keeping phi to a fixed value
Phi: Sweep for phi while keeping theta to a fixed value

For varying angles theta or phi, upper and lower bounds as well as the corresponding
step width are specified in degrees.

In addition, the Store rays for each excitation direction option can be checked in which
case the solver will store information for a certain number of representative rays. These
rays can be visualized by selecting the corresponding result entry in the navigation tree.
Please note that for Bistatic scattering mode, the Store rays option needs to be checked
for both the excitation angle sweep as well as the observation angle sweep in order to
store the rays for the respective incident / observation angle pairs.
CST MICROWAVE STUDIO 2016 Workflow and Solver Overview 99

The Calculate hotspots for each excitation direction option is only displayed in
Monostatic scattering mode. Turning this option on for a particular observation angle
sweep will calculate hotspot images for each of its excitation / observation directions. A
hotspot result can then be visualized by selecting its corresponding result entry in the
navigation tree.

Accuracy Settings
The solver accuracy can be controlled by selecting one of the predefined values (Low,
Medium or High) in the Accuracy field. Alternatively, selecting the option Custom will
activate a Settings button to open a dialog box for more detailed solver control. Please
refer to the online documentation for more information about the available settings within
this dialog box.

Another important parameter is specified in the Maximum number of reflections field.

This setting limits the maximum number of reflections for each particular ray as it is
bouncing back and forth inside the simulation domain. Typical settings for this parameter
are in the range of two to five. The solver will display some statistics about the actual
number of multiple reflections, and also will provide some feedback as to whether this
parameter may need to be increased further.

For CPU and GPU acceleration as well as distributed computing options choose
Simulation: Solver Setup Solver Acceleration. Please refer to the chapter
Acceleration Features or to the online help for more detailed information about the
different acceleration features.

In addition to the monostatic and bistatic scattering modes described above, the solver
also features a Field sources mode which allows scattering computations with farfield
(point) or nearfield (box) sources rather than plane waves. Finally, a Range profiles
mode is offered to efficiently calculate range profiles and sinograms of radar targets.
Please refer to the online documentation for more information about these particular
modes of operation.

Workflow Summary
The following list summarizes the input necessary for asymptotic analysis:

1. Select an appropriate project template (optional).

2. Set units (optional).
3. Set background material to vacuum.
4. Define the structure.
5. Set the frequency range.
6. Set all boundary conditions to open.
7. Start the asymptotic solver.
8. Analyze the farfield or RCS results.

Eigenmode Solver
The eigenmode solver calculates a finite number of modal field distributions in a closed
device. Linear and curved tetrahedral meshes as well as hexahedral meshes are
supported.

Since the eigenmode analysis does not require the definition of excitation ports, this step
can often be omitted. The definition of field monitors is also not necessary because the
modes themselves contain all available information about the device. Thus, after setting
up the model, you can immediately proceed to the eigenmode solver dialog box (Home:
Simulation Setup Solver Eigenmode Solver ), which looks as follows:
100 CST MICROWAVE STUDIO 2016 Workflow and Solver Overview

The eigenmode solver by default uses the tetrahedral mesh which is therefore described
first.

Tetrahedral Mesh
For the eigenmode solver with tetrahedral mesh, no choice of the method is required.

The simulation time increases with the number of modes. Thus, only as many modes as
required should be specified in the corresponding field. A strict lower limit to the modes'
frequencies can be defined in Frequencies above.

The external Q-factor can be calculated for structures with waveguide ports attached to
the device.

By default, losses are ignored for the eigenmode calculation itself. This is justified for
many applications and results in a better performance of the eigenmode solver. With
some level of approximation, losses can be considered by post processing after the
eigenmode solver run.
If the option Consider losses in postprocessing only is disabled, lossy and dispersive
materials are evaluated at a fixed frequency and the materials complex permeability and
permittivity are then applied to the whole frequency range. This Evaluation frequency for
the material parameters is defined in the Specials dialog and defaults to the center
frequency. It can be modified if Consider losses in postprocessing only were disabled
before:
CST MICROWAVE STUDIO 2016 Workflow and Solver Overview 101

Due to the fact that many applications which require an eigenmode solver have curved
surfaces, it is advisable to activate the curved elements for the tetrahedral mesh, since
they provide a better approximation of the geometry than linear elements. The latter are
a special case of the former: linear elements are "curved" with a curved element order of
one. Curved elements are activated automatically for newly created projects.

The curvature order of the elements is usually chosen automatically so that it fits with
the solver order of the solver selected in Home: Simulation Setup Solver .

For projects created with earlier versions, the curved element order can be changed in
the special tetrahedral mesh properties. This would require closing the solver dialogs
and choosing Home: Mesh Global Properties Tetrahedral and the Specials
therein. However a link in the solver specials provides direct access to this setting:

The settings for the solver order (first to third order) and a button Curvature are available
in the Solver order frame. Please follow the Curvature link to the special mesh
properties. Verify that the choice for the Curved elements is Automatic or change the
selection accordingly:
102 CST MICROWAVE STUDIO 2016 Workflow and Solver Overview

You may confirm the settings and close the special mesh properties dialog and the
solver specials dialog by pressing OK to return to the eigenmode solver dialog.

Please enable the option Consider losses in postprocessing only again if necessary:

The adaptive tetrahedral mesh refinement is activated by default for new projects to
ensure that the results are converged to a certain level of accuracy:

For projects generated with earlier versions, please consider enabling the adaptive
tetrahedral mesh refinement.

Click on Properties to open the Mesh Adaptation Properties dialog. The stopping
criterion for the adaptive mesh refinement of the eigenmode solver is the Maximum
frequency variation. For each eigenmode, the magnitude of the difference of the
eigenmode's frequency between two subsequent passes is calculated. This value is
then divided by the corresponding eigenmode frequency at the first of the two
subsequent passes. The maximum of these values for all modes up to the Number of
modes to check finally yields the Maximum frequency variation.
CST MICROWAVE STUDIO 2016 Workflow and Solver Overview 103

You can now perform the eigenmode simulation by clicking the Start button.

In order to see the tetrahedral mesh used for this simulation while the solver is running,
activate the mesh mode (Home: Mesh Mesh View ).

Results are stored in a common location in the navigation tree for both the tetrahedral
and the hexahedral mesh.

Hexahedral Mesh
First change the Mesh type to Hexahedral in the eigenmode solver dialog box (Home:
Simulation Setup Solver Eigenmode Solver ):

Two different eigenmode solvers are available for the hexahedral mesh: AKS (Advanced
Krylov Subspace) and JDM (Jacobi Davidson Method.)
104 CST MICROWAVE STUDIO 2016 Workflow and Solver Overview

These methods work on completely different mathematical foundations. The JDM solver
can be considered as a more robust solver technology, but the AKS solver may be faster
if many modes are to be calculated. Therefore we recommend the JDM solver especially
if a small number of modes (for instance one to five modes) has to be calculated.
Otherwise the AKS solver should be used.

The solution of lossy eigenmode problems is a challenging task and the proper
consideration of losses will significantly slow down the simulation. Even if the JDM
solver is able to directly solve the lossy eigenmode problem, it may sometimes be
advisable (especially for very small losses) to first calculate the loss-free eigenmode
problem and then obtain losses and Q-factors of the device using a perturbation method
in the post processing.

The perturbation method requires material losses to be defined before the eigenmode
simulation is started. Running the AKS solver will always calculate the loss free problem
by simply ignoring the loss definition. The JDM solver by default also ignores the losses
when Consider losses in postprocessing only is enabled as shown below:

In the eigenmode solver control dialog box with hexahedral mesh selected, the most
important controls are the Method (as discussed above) and the number of Modes.

The typical simulation procedure with a hexahedral mesh is as follows:

1. Depending on the number of modes, choose the proper solver method:

For loss free problems with a small number of modes (for instance one to
five modes) choose JDM.
For loss free problems with many modes (for instance more than five
modes) choose AKS.
For the direct solution of lossy problems choose JDM and disable
Consider losses in postprocessing only.
CST MICROWAVE STUDIO 2016 Workflow and Solver Overview 105

If only higher order modes are required with eigenfrequencies above a

certain threshold, choose the JDM solver and enter a value for
Frequencies above, which is slightly lower than the threshold.

2. Enter the desired number of Modes (N). The solver will then compute the first N
modes of the device. For the AKS solver it is often advantageous to specify more
modes to be calculated than you actually need, e.g. enter 20 modes to be
calculated if you actually need 15. In most cases it is a good choice to calculate at
least the first ten modes of the device.

3. Click the Start button.

The following description applies to the AKS method with ten modes. After the solver
has finished, a summary of the calculated modes will appear in the message window:

When using the AKS solver, sometimes a few of the higher modes will not be calculated
with sufficient accuracy and thus be marked with *. However, this does not affect the
accuracy of the lower modes and is the reason you should specify a higher number of
modes than you actually need.

The AKS eigenmode solver internally needs an estimate for the frequency of the highest
mode of interest. Usually this frequency is estimated automatically and improved by
refinement passes if necessary.

Performing estimation refinement passes reduces the performance of the AKS

eigenmode calculation. To speed up the AKS eigenmode calculation in such a case, you
can manually enter a guess for the frequency of the highest mode you are looking for.
The AKS eigenmode solver automatically derives such a guess from previously
calculated results and displays this value in the message window:

You can set this guess in the special settings dialog box, which can be opened by
clicking the Specials button in the solver control dialog box. In the Guess field you
should enter the proposed guess as 18.3438 GHz in this example:
106 CST MICROWAVE STUDIO 2016 Workflow and Solver Overview

If you are unsure about this setting you should specify zero for automatic estimation.
Note that this setting is used only by the AKS method. This guess will now affect all
subsequent calculations and should speed up the AKS solver significantly.

Results
You can access the eigenmode solver results for the Nth mode from the navigation tree:

Navigation tree Type of result

2D/3D Results Modes Mode N e Electric field
2D/3D Results Modes Mode N h Magnetic field
2D/3D Results Modes Mode N Surface Current Surface current field
2D/3D Results Modes Mode N Energy Density Energy density

Please refer to the Resonator Tutorial for more information on post processing the
results.

For CPU acceleration and distributed computing options choose Simulation: Solver
Setup Solver Acceleration. Please refer to the chapter Acceleration Features or
to the online help for more detailed information about the different acceleration features.

Workflow Summary
The following summarizes the input necessary for eigenmode calculations:

1. Select an appropriate project template (optional).

2. Set units (optional).
3. Set background material (optional).
4. Define structure.
5. Set frequency range.
6. Set closed boundary conditions (optional).
7. Start eigenmode solver.
8. Analyze results (field patterns, frequencies, losses/Q-factors, result
templates, etc.).
CST MICROWAVE STUDIO 2016 Workflow and Solver Overview 107

Choosing the Right Port Type

The proper definition of ports is essential for accurate S-parameter computations. In
measurement set-ups, the device under test needs to be connected to the network
analyzer by using low reflection probes or applying proper de-embedding techniques.
Care must be taken with the probe connection because the measured S-parameters will
otherwise become inaccurate.

In general the same problems exist for EM field simulations. The port connection needs
to be loss-free and have very low levels of reflection. The basic problem here is to
launch and extract the fields as seamlessly as possible at the ports. Fringing effects
should be kept to a minimum.

In general, three types of ports need to be distinguished:

1. Discrete edge ports

2. Discrete face ports
3. Waveguide ports

Discrete edge ports can be seen as lumped circuit elements with an internal resistor
and a current source in parallel. Depending on the solver type, these ports consist of a
single lumped element in the middle and two perfectly electrically conducting wires
connecting the port to the structure or a distributed lumped element along the complete
edge. A certain voltage / current relation is then introduced across the lumped element,
and the S-parameters are calculated based on the elements currents and voltages. Any
discrete port can also be defined as a current or voltage source.

Discrete face ports are very similar to the discrete edge ports described above. The
major difference is that this lumped element is represented by a face rather than an
edge. Again, depending on the solver type, these ports consist of a single lumped
element in the middle and two perfectly electrically conducting faces connecting the port
to the structure or a distributed lumped element over the complete face area. The
advantage of this type of connection is that the port has a lower self-inductance.

It is important to note that there may be fringing effects at the transition between the
structure and the discrete port (of either type). This will always be the case when the
geometry of the structures transmission lines is different from the geometry of the
discrete ports, that is, in most cases. Please note that discrete face ports typically
introduce smaller discontinuities than discrete edge ports when connected to stripline or
microstrip type structures.

Despite these shortcomings, discrete ports provide a convenient and flexible way to
attach ports to a given structure. The accuracy of the simulation is normally sufficient
when the size of the discrete port is a tenth of a wavelength or less.

The most accurate results can be obtained by using waveguide ports. These ports
normally provide very low levels of reflection and distortion and therefore are the best
choice whenever very high accuracy is required.

CST MICROWAVE STUDIO uses a 2D eigenmode solver to calculate the relevant mode
patterns in the port plane. Consequently, the definition of waveguide ports requires
enclosing the entire field filled domain in the cross section of the port area. This general
approach allows the accurate modeling of arbitrary port types, like empty or coaxial
waveguides, microstrip or coplanar lines and even more complex setups like multi-
108 CST MICROWAVE STUDIO 2016 Workflow and Solver Overview

conductor, single-ended or periodic waveguide structures. The calculated modes are

automatically classified and characteristic properties like wave or line impedance are
presented. Please refer to the online documentation for more detailed information.

Note that CST DESIGN STUDIO is capable of de-embedding the port influence from the
S-matrix by removing the effect of the port to structure transmission matrix from each of
the ports. Please refer to the CST DESIGN STUDIO Workflow manual for more
information.

Please refer to the port overview page in the online help system for more information
about all port types.

Antenna Computations
As presented before in the Which Solver to Use section, different antenna applications
can be optimally solved with appropriate solvers recommended by the configuration
wizard. However, some general principles of antenna computations are common,
regardless of which solver type is used and will be discussed in the following.

The main difference between an antenna calculation and the S-parameter calculation
described earlier in this document lies in the definition of the boundary conditions. Since
the antenna radiates into free space, open (or absorbing) boundary conditions must be
used. Therefore simply select open boundaries in the Simulation: Settings
Boundaries dialog box:

When simulating antennas, open boundary conditions require some space between the
device and the boundary planes for optimum performance and accurate farfield
calculations. Since the open boundary conditions are very accurate, only a small
distance is necessary. However, if you are not sure about the amount of space needed,
simply choose open (add space) from the boundary options. In this case, the
necessary space is estimated automatically. The settings for the amount of space to be
added can be adjusted in the dialog accessed by the Open Boundary button.

For the calculation of the antenna farfield gain or directivity patterns (farfield distribution
in spherical or Ludwig coordinate systems, left and right hand polarization, axial ratio),
farfield monitors need to be defined before the simulation starts. Similar to the
definition of the other field monitors, an arbitrary number of these monitors can be
defined for various frequencies. This means that you can compute the antenna farfield
for multiple frequency points from a single transient analysis. Each farfield monitor
CST MICROWAVE STUDIO 2016 Workflow and Solver Overview 109

records the farfield over the sphere in all directions. They can be specified in the
Simulation: Monitors Field Monitor dialog box:

After the simulation is complete you can access your farfield results from the NT:
Farfields folder. Typical antenna characteristics such as main beam direction, gain,
efficiency, side lobe suppression, etc. are automatically calculated and displayed.
Please refer to the online help tutorial Patch Antenna for more information.

As mentioned above it is possible to define farfield monitors at selected frequencies.

However, if you are using the transient solver and are interested in the farfield behavior
over a wide frequency range you have the options of either defining a broadband farfield
monitor or to use farfield probes. Similar to the frequency farfield monitors, the
broadband monitor calculates the farfield data for the full angular range (theta, phi) and
is activated by checking the corresponding option in the monitor dialog box:
110 CST MICROWAVE STUDIO 2016 Workflow and Solver Overview

Some applications require the farfield information only at a few (theta, phi) locations. In
such cases it may be advantageous to use farfield probes: Simulation: Monitors Field
Probe , Field = E-field (Farfield) or H-field (Farfield):
CST MICROWAVE STUDIO 2016 Workflow and Solver Overview 111

In this dialog box, you can specify the type of farfield, the location and the orientation of
the desired probe in Cartesian, spherical or Ludwig coordinate systems. Please refer to
the online documentation for more information about this feature.

Another very interesting functionality is the use of result templates in combination with
farfield calculations. The basic functionality of result templates has already been
demonstrated in the previous example. There are also some automated farfield
templates available when selecting Farfield and Antenna Properties from the Select
Template Group dropdown list (Post Processing: Result Templates Template Based
Post Processing ). Choosing the Farfield Result template from the Add new post
processing step dropdown list will open the following dialog box:

Here you can select one of the pre-configured farfield results. However, if needed the
corresponding settings can be adjusted in detail by pressing the All Settings button:
112 CST MICROWAVE STUDIO 2016 Workflow and Solver Overview

You can now select which one of the previously defined farfield monitors should be
processed with an already performed excitation (e.g. [1] corresponds to excitation at port
1, and [pw] corresponds to a plane wave excitation). You can change several farfield
settings such as the farfield component, the polarization, the coordinate system or even
an antenna array setup. Finally the modified settings can be stored as a new
configuration by selecting Store Setup button.

The result of this farfield processing template is either a single result curve or a 0D value
which can then be further processed by other result templates or simulation steps. As an
example, you could extract the location of a certain farfield maximum by using a 0D
result template and then use this value for an optimization of the main lobe direction to a
certain angular location or magnitude. Please refer to the online help system for more
information.

The following summarizes the input necessary for antenna calculations:

1. Select an antenna project template (optional).

2. Set units (optional).
3. Set background material (optional).
4. Define structure.
5. Set frequency range.
6. Set (open) boundary conditions (optional).
7. Define excitation ports.
8. Set (farfield) monitors and/or probes.
9. Specify farfield result processing templates (optional).
10. Start appropriate solver.
11. Analyze results (input impedance, farfields, etc.).

Simplifying Antenna Farfield Calculations

In many cases where only the antenna farfield pattern is of interest, rather than the
feeding point impedance, it is not necessary to model the actual geometry of the feeding
CST MICROWAVE STUDIO 2016 Workflow and Solver Overview 113

point. However, when you want very accurate results of the antennas input reflection, it
is essential to model the feeding point exactly as it is.

In cases where you are able to use a simplified model, you can use discrete ports rather
than waveguide ports (please refer to the Choosing the Right Port Type section earlier
in this chapter).

If you start the analysis of a new antenna it is usually a good approach to begin with a
discrete port. Since the model is easier to build, you will obtain initial S-parameter and
farfield pattern results quickly. This will allow you to assess the principles of operation of
the antenna before optionally increasing the accuracy by constructing a detailed model
of the feeding point geometry.

The following pictures show feeding point models of a simple patch antenna as an
example.

a) Simplified model of the feeding point with a discrete edge port

b) Detailed model of the feeding point using a waveguide port

In picture a) the antenna is fed by a discrete edge port which represents a current
source with an internal resistance. This approach delivers accurate farfield results but
may yield S-parameters which are not directly comparable to the measurements.

In picture b) the antenna is fed by a coaxial line (as in the real-world structure) which
gives accurate farfield patterns and S-parameters.
114 CST MICROWAVE STUDIO 2016 Workflow and Solver Overview

Sensitivity Analysis
Derivatives of S-parameters and of other network characteristics such as Y- and Z-
parameters with respect to geometric and/or (simple) material parameters can be
calculated via the so-called "sensitivity analysis". This functionality is available with
different feature sets for the tetrahedral frequency domain solver as well as for the
hexahedral transient solver. The eigenmode solver with tetrahedral mesh can calculate
derivatives of the modes frequencies in the course of the sensitivity analysis.

Referring to the coaxial connector example of chapter 2, you can define a face
constraint by first selecting the corresponding end face of the inner conductor stub, then
defining a geometric face constraint (Modeling: Tools Modify Locally Define Face
Constraints ):

Keep the default selection of Set distance to plane to define the new face constraint as
the distance of the face to the local coordinate system in w-direction. Before closing the
dialog, please click on the Parameterize button to define a new correspondent
parameter with the initial values as shown below:

In the following the sensitivity analysis is performed with the tetrahedral frequency
domain solver. In order to consider sensitivity results during the simulation, the Use
sensitivity analysis box at the bottom of the solver dialog has to be activated:
CST MICROWAVE STUDIO 2016 Workflow and Solver Overview 115

Press the Properties button to see the list of parameters that are currently available for
the sensitivity analysis. In this case geometric parameter length is not available for the
sensitivity analysis since it was not defined as a face constraint.

With knowledge of the nominal value and of the first derivative, the sensitivity (i.e. the
variation of a network parameter with respect to a design parameter) can be calculated
in a small neighborhood of the nominal value. The results will be displayed in the
navigation tree NT: 1D Results S-Parameter Sensitivity in separate folders for each
design parameter.

As a postprocessing step, a yield analysis can be performed using the sensitivity data
calculated in the solver run. Select Post Processing: Signal Post Processing Yield
Analysis and find the results again in the navigation tree NT: 1D Results S-
Parameter Yield:
116 CST MICROWAVE STUDIO 2016 Workflow and Solver Overview

Please consult the online help for further details about the sensitivity and yield analysis.

Digital-Signal Calculations
A digital-signal calculation is typically performed using the transient solver. Thus the
overall simulation procedure is similar to the procedure described earlier in this
document.

The main difference between a digital calculation and a typical S-parameter calculation
is the definition of the excitation signal.

For S-parameter calculations the excitation signal for the transient analysis is typically
defined by a Gaussian pulse for which the Fourier spectrum is also given by a Gaussian
pulse covering the entire frequency band of interest. Therefore the time signal is
determined mainly by the frequency band.

By contrast, the excitation signal for a digital simulation is described in the time domain
by specifying rise-, hold- and fall-times of a rectangular pulse. You can define a new
excitation signal by clicking Simulation: Sources and Loads Signal New
Excitation Signal to open the following dialog box:
CST MICROWAVE STUDIO 2016 Workflow and Solver Overview 117

In the example studied above (with the time unit set to ps) the settings define a
rectangular shape with a rise-time of 100 ps, a hold-time of 200 ps and a fall-time of 100
ps. The rise- and fall-times of 100 ps correspond to a bandwidth of approximately 10
GHz. The maximum simulation time is given in the Ttotal field and is set to 1000 ps in
this example. For manually defined excitation signals, the solver automatically stops
after simulating the given total time range. The parameters of the rectangular excitation
function are specified in the currently selected time units.

Once the rectangular excitation signal has been defined, it can be viewed by selecting it
from the navigation tree NT: Excitation Signals:

You can now define the rectangular signal signal1 as the reference signal by selecting
Use as Reference from the context menu:
118 CST MICROWAVE STUDIO 2016 Workflow and Solver Overview

The new reference signal is now used for all subsequent transient simulations. However,
you can also specify additional excitation signals in order to excite different ports with
individual excitation signals. Please refer to the online documentation for more
information about this feature.

In our example, the coaxial bend shows the following response to the digital excitation:

The excitation signal i1 shows the given rise-, hold- and fall-times. The output signal
o2,1 has a distinctly distorted pulse shape (due to the dispersion of the coaxial bend)
and a time delay because of the finite length of the transmission line.

In addition to this simplified description of the excitation signal, it is also possible to set a
user defined pulse shape. Please refer to the online documentation for details.

The following summarizes the input necessary for digital calculations:

1. Select an appropriate project template (optional).

2. Set units (optional).
3. Set background material (optional).
4. Define the structure.
5. Set the frequency range (covering all desired harmonics).
6. Set the boundary conditions (optional).
7. Define the excitation ports.
8. Set the monitors and/or probes (optional).
CST MICROWAVE STUDIO 2016 Workflow and Solver Overview 119

9. Define the excitation signal parameters.

10. Start the transient solver.
11. Analyze the results (usually the time signals).

There are some post-processing macros available which are especially dedicated to
digital simulations such as eye diagram computations (Home: Macros Results
Eye Diagram, TDR, etc. Eye Diagram) or the exchange of excitation signals after the
simulation (Home: Macros Results Eye Diagram, TDR, etc. Exchange
Excitation).

Coupled Simulations
The integration of CST MICROWAVE STUDIO with other modules of CST STUDIO
SUITE allows for a straightforward coupling of 3D EM simulation with other simulation
methods.

Adding Circuit Elements to External Ports

For each CST MICROWAVE STUDIO structure two fundamentally different views of the
model exist. The standard view is the 3D model representation which is visible by
default. However, in addition, a schematic view can be activated by selecting the
corresponding tab under the main view:

Once this view is activated, a schematic canvas is shown where the 3D structure is
represented by a single block (MWS block) with terminals:
120 CST MICROWAVE STUDIO 2016 Workflow and Solver Overview

Block Selection Tree

MWS block

The terminals have a one-to-one correspondence with the 3D structures waveguide or

discrete ports. The schematic view now allows for easy addition of external circuit
elements to the terminals of the 3D structure. The connection of these arbitrary networks
to CST MICROWAVE STUDIO can either be realized as a standard or a transient
EM/circuit co-simulation.

Please refer to the online help system and the CST DESIGN STUDIO Workflow manual
for more information about this topic.

Coupled Simulations within CST MICROWAVE STUDIO

Near- or far-field data from CST MICROWAVE STUDIO can be reused as field sources
in other 3D EM field solvers from CST MICROWAVE STUDIO. This can be useful for
antenna placement or EMC radiated emission simulations or to exchange component
information without exchanging the model itself.
Please refer to the Field Source Overview page in the online help description for more
detailed information about this topic.

Coupled Simulations with CST MPHYSICS STUDIO

Field monitor results from a transient, eigenmode or frequency domain solver of CST
MICROWAVE STUDIO can be used for thermal simulations in CST MPHYSICS
STUDIO. Based on these results, a continuative stress simulation can be performed.
The feedback effect of the stress simulation on the EM simulation can then be
considered when performing a sensitivity analysis with the frequency domain or
eigenmode solver with a tetrahedral mesh.
Please refer to the CST MPHYSICS STUDIO - Workflow and Solver Overview document
for more detailed information about this multi-physics workflow.

Furthermore, thermal results from CST MPHYSICS STUDIO can be used to simulate
the effect of temperature dependent material parameters in the transient hexahedral
solver in CST MICROWAVE STUDIO.
CST MICROWAVE STUDIO 2016 Workflow and Solver Overview 121

Please refer to the Material Overview page in the online help description for more
detailed information about this topic.

Coupled Simulations with CST CABLE STUDIO

Hybrid simulations considering radiation from and irradiation into a cable can be
performed using the transient 3D field solvers together with the cable modeling tools in
CST CABLE STUDIO. Unidirectional coupling is either done in the frequency or in the
time domain, while bi-directional coupling is available when doing a transient simulation.
Please refer to the CST CABLE STUDIO - Workflow and Solver Overview document for
more detailed information about this simulation type.

Acceleration Features
In addition to optimization and parameter sweep techniques, CST MICROWAVE
STUDIO offers other more hardware related possibilities to accelerate the simulation. In
the case of the transient solver choose Simulation: Solver Setup Solver
Acceleration in order to specify the control for CPU and hardware acceleration (NVIDIA
GPU or Intel Xeon Phi), distributed computing options, as well as MPI computing
settings.

Similar options are available for the other solvers in CST MICROWAVE STUDIO. Please
refer to the online help (section Acceleration) for more detailed information about the
different acceleration features.
122 CST MICROWAVE STUDIO 2016 Workflow and Solver Overview

Chapter 4 Finding Further

Information
After carefully reading this manual, you will already have some idea of how to use CST
MICROWAVE STUDIO efficiently for your own problems. However, when you are
creating your own first models, a lot of questions will arise. In this chapter we give you a
short overview of the available documentation.

The QuickStart Guide

The main task of the QuickStart Guide is to remind you to complete all necessary steps
in order to perform a simulation successfully. Especially for new users or for those
rarely using the software it may be helpful to have some assistance.

The QuickStart Guide is opened automatically on each project start if the checkbox File:
Options Preferences Open QuickStart Guide is checked. Alternatively, you may
start this assistant at any time by selecting QuickStart Guide from the Help button in
the upper right corner.

When the QuickStart Guide is launched, a dialog box opens showing a list of tasks,
where each item represents a step in the model definition and simulation process.
Usually, a project template will already set the problem type and initialize some basic
settings like units and background properties. Otherwise, the QuickStart Guide will first
open a dialog box in which you can specify the type of calculation you wish to analyze
and proceed with the Next button:

As soon as you have successfully completed a step, the corresponding item will be
checked and the next necessary step will be highlighted. You may, however, change
any of your previous settings throughout the procedure.

In order to access information about the QuickStart Guide itself, click the Help button. To
obtain more information about a particular operation, click on the appropriate item in the
QuickStart Guide.
CST MICROWAVE STUDIO 2016 Workflow and Solver Overview 123

Online Documentation
The online help system is your primary source of information. You can access the help
systems overview page at any time by choosing File: Help Help . The online help
system includes a powerful full text search engine.

In each of the dialog boxes, there is a specific Help button which directly opens the
corresponding manual page. Additionally the F1 key gives some context sensitive help
when a particular mode is active. For instance, by pressing the F1 key while a block is
selected, you will obtain some information about the blocks properties.

When no specific information is available, pressing the F1 key will open an overview
page from which you may navigate through the help system.

Please refer to the CST STUDIO SUITE - Getting Started manual to find some more
detailed explanations about the usage of the CST STUDIO SUITE Online Documen-
tation.

Tutorials and Examples

The online help tutorials will generally be your best source of information when trying to
solve a particular problem. You can select an overview page of all available projects by
following the Tutorials and Examples Overview link on the online help systems start
page. We recommend that you browse through the list of all available tutorials and
choose the one closest to your application.

In addition to these tutorials the examples subdirectory located in the installation

directory of CST STUDIO SUITE contains many typical application examples. A quick
overview of the existing examples can also be obtained by following the Tutorials and
Examples Overview link on the online help systems start page.

Each of these examples also contains a Readme item in the navigation tree. By
double-clicking on these items, you can obtain some information about the particular
example regarding structure modeling and simulation procedure. Although these
examples are not explained in as much detail as the tutorials, they may nevertheless
contain helpful hints which can be transferred to your particular application.

Technical Support
The support area on our homepage (www.cst.com) contains additional helpful and
frequently updated material.

You need to set up a support account before you can access the support areas content.
The procedure to create an account is simple and can be performed online in the
support section of our homepage (www.cst.com Support).

You can also create and maintain your support account from within our software by
selecting File: Help Support Account Settings . Once the support account is
properly configured, the support area can be easily accessed by selecting File: Help
Online Support Area .

Please note that the online help systems search function may optionally also include the
support area contents in its search.
124 CST MICROWAVE STUDIO 2016 Workflow and Solver Overview

Macro Language Documentation

More information concerning the built-in macro language for a particular module can be
accessed from within the online help systems VBA book: Visual Basic (VBA) Language.
The macro languages documentation consists of four parts:

An overview and a general description of the macro language.

A description of all specific macro language extensions.
A syntax reference of the Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) compatible macro
language.
Some documented macro examples.

History of Changes
An overview of important changes in the latest version of the software can be obtained
by following the Whats New in this Version link on the help systems main page or
from the File: Help backstage page. Since there are many new features in each new
version, you should browse through these lists even if you are already familiar with one
of the previous releases.

The more detailed Comprehensive List of Improvements can be also accessed through
the Whats New in this Version page. This page offers a link to the Changes in the
Service Packs page that provides information to changes, released during intermediate
service packs.
 CST 2016 | CST Computer Simulation Technology AG | www.cst.com