MODELLING AND SIMULATION g
by the customer (and well communicated to them) and with clear limitations.’ A key feature of ESI Group’s CEM
One solution is its ability to manage integrated sensors within their operating environment. ‘Those devices can be first characterised through various options and then embedded within their full 3D operating environment with limited effort. The sensor location and orientation can be easily changed, no need for tedious and time consuming remeshing work, emitting devices can be combined within the same model,’ Kedzia added. The next logical progression for the
automotive sector is self-driving cars, which will be heavily instrumented with sensors, sensor processing and fusion, embedded controls, and links to the network. Kedzia said: ‘When it comes to driverless
cars, one extra feature should be added related to connected drive in the city with its huge diversity, namely an urban environment with all those scenarios that may occur in real life.’ Kedzia added: ‘Standard 3D simulation does not fit (in real time) and dedicated platforms are thus needed. Within ESI Group, the answer relies on the Pro-SiVIC platform featuring RADAR sensors (short and long range) but also cameras, LIDAR devices and other ultrasonic equipment.’
Impending 5G Similar to 4G and the 3G network before it, 5G is the next-generation wireless network, which is widely predicted to unleash a deluge of new innovations thanks its huge network capacity and ultra-low latency. The 5G network aims to be 100 times
faster than the 4G LTE communications standard and increase broadband connection speeds by up to 10 times. However, the challenges of 5G are ‘huge’,
according to Williams, who added: ‘Today, companies like Skyworks use multiple radios simultaneously to achieve some 5G functionality on existing 4G networks using carrier aggregation. Multiple radios operating simultaneously generate more heat. As a result, thermal analysis coupled with the electromagnetics becomes very important. Of course, higher frequencies (millimetre-wave) are also a huge new challenge [with 5G networks].’ In the case of 5G, a COMSOL customer
has used the company’s simulation and modelling tools to design specialised connectors for high speed RF applications. Munn said: ‘The opportunity here is to use simulation to optimise the RF connectors that will transmit the data to appear electrically invisible. Because COMSOL is inherently multiphysics in this situation,
32 Scientific Computing World April/May 2018
This COMSOL app simulates a single slot-coupled microstrip patch antenna fabricated on a multilayered low temperature co-fired ceramic (LTCC) substrate. Users may control inputs such as properties of a single antenna and array geometry. Results show the far-field radiation pattern of the antenna array and its directivity.
you are able to model the complexity that occurs in developing products for the next generation of communication.’ Munn added: ‘Our customers working on EM simulation are exploring next generation RF, microwave, and millimetre wave applications such as 5G, IoT, and high- speed interconnects. When researchers want to closely examine products that will bring 5G to life beyond the electromagnetic spectrum of microwaves and optics, they often need to incorporate for example, heat transfer and structural mechanics.’
“When it comes to EM simulation, everything is relative to the wavelength and that defines the size of problem”
The resulting expansion of
electromagnetic devices into a broader range of products and devices means, in turn, that a broader range of individuals now need to understand and work with electromagnetic simulation and modelling techniques to effectively design these components and systems. Consequently, simulation and modelling
vendors must put an increased emphasis on the accessibility and user-friendliness of their EM tools. This theme is prevalent across the board. Williams said: ‘ANSYS has also built much greater automation and simplified assembly modelling into the process. Design organisations now can build out customised design flows that leverage the physics without the engineer
needing to become an EM or thermal expert.’
Williams added: ‘We have built out a
platform that integrates semiconductors, IC packaging, printed circuit boards into the analysis to predict full product behaviour comprehensively.’ Additionally, COMSOL’s Application Builder provides simulation experts with the tools needed to turn their detailed physics and mathematical models into easy-to-use simulation apps for use by everyone in their organisation and beyond. However, building these complex models for systems with an increasingly larger EM footprint can also cause issues for simulation experts. Kedzia said: ‘An obvious extra challenge is the human effort (workload) required to access the results. No matter what the CPU time is (provided this value remains acceptable), the key point is the time spent by the operator to prepare the model, to access input data, to gather mandatory information, to clean the CAD model, etc.’ In some cases, the required information
is so difficult and uneasy to access that experimental measurements are preferred: a typical example is the equivalent scheme of onboard electronic equipment, but the same comment also applies to basic parameters characterising plastic coating of wires. Kedzia added: ‘This is not a big deal when dealing with a simple twisted pair, but quite relevant when hundreds of wires are gathered within the same bundle.’ ‘For a successful deployment, numerical simulation should allow easy to get measured data to be inputted instead of very complicated (and quite uneasy to determine) models,’ Kedzia concluded.
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