The recent ANSYS acquisition of Delcross Technologies is a very exciting addition to our electronics product portfolio! The Internet of Things (IoT), aerospace and defense electronics, including unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), automotive radar and autonomous vehicles all have increasing use of multiple antennas and wireless services.
ANSYS HFSS delivers capabilities that enable antennas to be placed on complex structures followed by efficient simulation using component library models with encryption, assembly modeling with mesh assembly, and advances in our hybrid solver technology. The next logical step in HFSS development is to perform even larger platform-level simulations. To solve larger problems requires leveraging asymptotic methods of which one of the most powerful and effective method is the Shooting and Bouncing Ray (SBR) technique. The Delcross implementation of the SBR technique and its integration with high-level system analysis is the most advanced in the world and is now a part of the ANSYS product portfolio! ANSYS has fast-forwarded its development plan and will now offer our customers the ability to solve massively large antenna simulations; installed antenna performance and system RF co-site problems.
Internet of Things
IoT requires antennas to be placed on equipment, within buildings and even upon the human body (wearables). ANSYS HFSS is ideal for designing and integrating the antennas on IoT devices and for placing those devices in or near equipment or persons. Communication among devices or between devices and a central access point is a much larger and more complex problem. Consider, for example, an oil refinery with multiple IoT sensors throughout. The complex electromagnetic environment of pipes, platforms, steel girders, etc. creates a challenge for simulation.
The Delcross Savant solution with its SBR technology is perfectly suited to solve this large, complex environment by shooting rays in and among the pipes and girders, computing the manner in which they scatter about the refinery and ultimately determining how antennas will couple in this complex environment. ANSYS HFSS is used for the antenna and immediate surroundings and Delcross Savant is used for the environment. The combination is a new and efficient solution to an otherwise very challenging problem.
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles and Other Aero/Defense Platforms
UAVs requires multiple antennas co-located on a complex aircraft. Multiple radio services must coexist and cannot interfere with one another. Nonlinearities in the radio transmitters and receiver components create situations where communication systems may interfere even though they are designed to operate in separate radio bands. While electromagnetic tools like ANSYS HFSS can calculate the coupling between the radio antennas, it takes a specialized system tool to compute the interaction among radio front-end devices with radio transmitters, radio frequency filters, low-noise amplifiers, mixers and the like. Delcross EMIT is that system tool that predicts all interactions. On the UAV there may be a command and control radio, GPS receiver, radar, identification friend or foe (IFF) radio, radar warning receiver, and other systems. ANSYS HFSS with Delcross Savant can be used to compute the coupling between antennas on the UAV. The coupling data is then fed as an input to Delcross EMIT which then analyzes the entire system and identifies potential linear and non-linear signal interactions causing co-site interference.
Autonomous Vehicles
In the near future, we will be handing over more driving tasks to computers. Safety is the number one requirement wherein vehicle to vehicle communications and radar systems will be leveraged. In autonomous vehicle systems, guidance is provided by a combination of stereo cameras, radar, proximity sensors, signal processors and network communications. Automatic pedestrian detection capabilities are being developed using sensing technologies including microwave radar, laser scanners and computer vision.
Using simulation tools is critical before performing real-world testing and evaluation. ANSYS HFSS can simulate performance of on-board radar antennas and RF proximity sensors. Delcross Savant can take results from ANSYS HFSS simulations and then compute the performance when installed on the automobile. It is possible to perform radar studies to understand the interaction with persons, buildings, and other vehicles.
Like UAVs, autonomous vehicles will have many electronic systems that must not interfere with one another. Additionally, passengers will bring their own, potentially interfering, mobile devices into the cabin. ANSYS has modeled electromagnetic interference due to a GSM smartphone in an automobile using ANSYS HFSS. Results from that analysis can be coupled to Delcross EMIT to investigate issues related to electromagnetic interference and coupling among electronics.
These are just a few of the applications that ANSYS can help you solve. We are looking forward to hearing about your wireless engineering challenges and demonstrating the combined power of HFSS, Savant and EMIT and the rest of the ANSYS portfolio as we continue to deliver the ANSYS vision of simulation driven product development.
I would like to call your attention to a web seminar SIMULATION OF RADIO FREQUENCY INTERFERENCE (RFI) IN OUR WIRELESS WORLD. It is a great opportunity to learn about this new simulation software for RF co-site interference between multiple transmitters and receivers.
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