The radome serves as a dielectric enclosure that protects the antenna from harsh environmental conditions, ensuring its longevity and reliability. However, this protective layer can also impact the antenna’s electrical performance, such as altering the radiation pattern, increasing power transmission loss, and introducing aiming errors. As ANSYS HFSS has become widely adopted in the design of antenna systems, the simulation-driven design process for antennas and their feed networks has matured significantly. These advanced techniques have enabled the development of RF modules with higher performance and greater integration. With the continuous improvement of antenna specifications, the electromagnetic design of radomes—particularly their integrated design and co-simulation with antennas or antenna arrays—has become a critical challenge.
Radomes are essential components in complex antenna systems, and their electromagnetic design is inherently challenging. Many radomes consist of large structures made from complex materials. Additionally, when the internal structure is a waveguide slot antenna array, the rotation angle of the antenna must be considered, which introduces high demands on calculation accuracy due to aiming errors and their slopes. To address these challenges, full-wave simulation technology is necessary to perform an accurate overall simulation of the antenna array and radome. Such large-scale simulations require advanced algorithms and parallel computing techniques to handle the computational load effectively.
**1. New 3D Component Function Enables Faster Integrated Modeling of Radome and Antenna Array**
In traditional R&D workflows, radomes and antennas are often designed by separate teams. When studying the electrical performance of the radome, it's crucial to integrate the antenna or antenna array with the radome to achieve more precise and reliable results. This integration allows for the consideration of complex near-field effects. Therefore, the secure transfer of simulation models becomes a critical issue in the development process.
The enhanced 3D Component function in HFSS now allows users to save an entire HFSS simulation model as a 3D Component. This component includes all necessary settings and information for future simulations, such as 3D geometry, material properties, ports, boundary conditions, meshing, modes, and hybrid algorithm configurations. In the latest version of HFSS 2016, a new encryption feature was added. Not only does it protect the model with password security, but it also hides the internal structural details, making the 3D Component appear as a black box to users. Despite this, the complete model performance can still be accurately obtained through simulation, ensuring secure model delivery and protecting intellectual property.
In this test case, all internal structural details of the waveguide slot array were hidden, leaving only the outermost air box visible. In the new project, we inserted the 3D Components of the radome and waveguide slot array and adjusted their relative positions. Only a few simple steps were needed to complete the integrated model of the radome and the antenna array. There was no need to reconfigure material properties, ports, or boundary conditions, as these had already been included in the 3D Component.
**Basic Model Information:**
- **Radome:** Single-layer dielectric cover, height 650 mm, bottom diameter 320 mm, thickness approximately 2.5 mm.
- **Waveguide Slot Array:** Round aperture, diameter 185 mm, four-port feed.
- **Operating Frequency Band:** 15 GHz.
The internal details of the antenna array are completely hidden in the assembled model, ensuring both efficiency and security.
**2. FEM-IE Hybrid Algorithm Reduces Solution Space**
For large-scale radome simulations, the FEM-IE hybrid algorithm in HFSS is the optimal choice. High-frequency methods like PO and UTD are effective only for purely metallic structures and cannot handle dielectric radomes, where multiple reflections complicate the electromagnetic path. Traditional ray-based high-frequency algorithms struggle with such scenarios, while the method of moments faces challenges in generating Green’s functions for multi-layer dielectric structures or solving cavity problems in arbitrary 3D surfaces and waveguide slot arrays.
On the other hand, the FEM (Finite Element Method) is highly effective for 3D structures and antenna arrays, but its computational complexity can lead to long simulation times. The FE-BI (Finite Element - Boundary Integral) technique used in HFSS offers a solution by reducing the solution space. It uses the finite element method within the boundary and the integral equation method on the boundary surface. This approach allows a large portion of the air region between the radome and antenna to be excluded from the finite element domain, resulting in significant computational savings.
**Figure: FE-BI boundary (left) can significantly reduce the solution space compared to the finite element radiation boundary (right).**
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