Release Notes on openEMS v0.0.30

[thorsten]

Another three month and a new openEMS version v0.0.30!

As the main new features for this version we have some improvements in mesh generation and smoothing, handling and analysing ports and most importantly openEMS can now import CAD models using the STL or PLY file format for 3D volumes. Have a look at the Matlab function "ImportSTL" and "ImportPLY" for more details.
To create such files, FreeCad may be one of the tools to e.g. create complex 3D volumes: http://sourceforge.net/apps/mediawiki/free-cad

Furthermore we have a new package created by Koen De Vleeschauwer called "hyp2mat" to import PCB board layouts e.g. created by Eagle. I think Koen will introduce it in more details himself. Many thanks from my side for his efforts to improve openEMS and this great package.

Additionally, if you check our list of publications you will find that our journal paper on openEMS has been published online. Have a look if you want to learn more about the details of EC-FDTD in Cartesian and cylindrical coordinates. I highly recommend it, especially if you intend to use the cylindrical mesh for your simulations.

Here is a short summary of all major changes:

• meshing improved with new detect edges and new smoothing capabilities
• new calcPort function for simplified port analysis
• CAD import: STL/PLY surface solids supported (matlab: ImportSTL / ImportPLY)
• CAD export: STL/PLY export (using AppCSXCAD)
• CAD import: HyperLynx pcb import with hyp2mat
• cylindrical mesh improvement by considering 360° rotation symmetry
• support for harminv on all platforms
• update to auto-regressive model for voltage/current probes
• new SAR calculation options, incl. 1g/10g averaging
• support for a new primitive: polyhedron
• lots of minor fixes and updates

As always I would welcome your feedback.

regards
Thorsten

[kdv]

Hi. I'm koen, and I'd like to introduce hyp2mat, a package to import printed circuit boards in openEMS.

When you're designing a printed circuit board, there are moments when you want to simulate the board itself. Not the components; the board.
Moments when you want to know: if I put a clean signal at this end of the trace, what comes out at the other end? And if I make this bluetooth antenna a bit longer, what will the radiation pattern look like? And the input impedance?
At moments like that you want to export your board design from your CAD system to openEMS for simulation.
This is where hyp2mat can help you. If your CAD system supports exporting to Hyperlynx format you can now import the board in openEMS.

Why Hyperlynx? Hyperlynx is the file format used by some popular commercial EM solvers; so if you want a second opinion, that's fine too.

To help you get started, there's a tutorial which shows you step-by-step how to use hyp2mat. There are ready-to-run examples. And if you're curious how it's all done, you can browse the sources on github.
Together, tutorial and examples ought to give you a feeling for what is possible right now.

If you want hints of what is to come: I'd like to move on to simulating more complex boards. I'll will be using github for both stable and development source trees, so you can participate if you want.

Last but not least I'd like to thank Thorsten and Sebastian for openEMS. Having an open source EM solver is a breath of fresh air. Their help was invaluable in getting everything working together.

Happy Holidays!

koen

[sebastian]

Linux binary packages have been updated.
Ubuntu 12.10 (Quantal) is now supported. Support for Ubuntu 11.04 (Natty) was dropped due to tinyxml being too old.

OpenEMS no longer collides with paraview installed from system packages (we abadoned the c++ interface to hdf5 to achive this).
Hyp2mat is available from the same repo as openEMS.

Sebastian