Antenna Magus

Release notes: Version 2.2.0
Release date: 21 July 2010

6 new antennas added to the database

• Self-complimentary 4-arm Archimedes spiral
• Scrimp horn
• Sleeve monopole antenna
• Yagi-Uda Monopole Array fed against ground plane with Folded-Feed
• Wire biconical antenna
• End loaded dipole

Updated export models available to CST MICROWAVE STUDIO
(In addition to models for new antennas)

• Wire Helix antenna
• Dual-band planar PIFA with a U-slot antenna
• Strip dipole antenna
• Rounded bowtie antenna
• Cassegrain reflector antenna
• Planar elliptical monopole antenna

Antenna and array synthesis tool improvements and changes

• When synthesizing a cylindrical array, the number of elements in the array may have been incorrectly calculated, resulting in an incorrect layout and synthesized pattern display.
• For some cases, the performance estimation algorithm for the elliptical base strip monopole may have given unexpected error - these errors have been addressed.
• For specific combinations of array layouts and element patterns, a crash may have occurred while rendering the synthesized pattern. This has been corrected.
• With certain display cards and settings, rendering during animation of the thumbnail images of antennas may have been poor. This has been improved.
• When designing the rectangular Dielectric Resonator antenna or Quadrifilar antennas for certain objective sets, unexpected errors may have been encountered. These errors have been addressed.
• Additional derived parameters have been added to antennas in the Normal mode helix and biconical antenna classes.
• Some tags have been added and updated to improve the accuracy and flexibility of the find mode.
• Warning and error messages have been improved.
• Small improvements and additions to information in the Information documents of specific antennas.

Feature extensions and improvements

• On a system with multiple users, a windows installer error may have been encountered when running Antenna Magus by double-clicking on a desktop or start menu shortcut while logged in as a user that did not perform the initial Antenna Magus installation. This problem has been corrected in the installer.
• When viewing a chart, the format tab on the ribbon may have become inaccessible. This has now been corrected.
• An exception may have occurred when all design and tweaks of an antenna were deleted leaving only one design in the designs and tweaks list. This has been fixed.
• Under certain circumstances when exporting a *.pdf file of an article or Antenna Information document, the export could have failed without giving an error or warning.
• The Antenna Magus license server has been improved and updated to ensure better responsiveness when using automatic license updating.
• Memory usage and general performance has been improved.

Release notes: Version 2.1.0
Release date: 1 June 2010

6 new antennas added to the database

• Microstrip-fed Vivaldi slot antenna
• Rectangular Capacitive-disc-fed Patch antenna
• Waveguide-fed Pyramidal Corrugated Horn antenna
• Top-loaded monopole antenna
• Pin-fed Circular Waveguide antenna (Cantenna)
• Yagi-Uda Dipole Array with Folded Dipole driven-element

New export models available to CST MICROWAVE STUDIO
(In addition to models for new antennas)

• Wire monopole antenna
• Dual pin-fed circularly polarised patch antenna

Antenna design and model improvements

• A new design objective has been added for the Log-periodic dipole array to allow designs for less stringent impedance performance if required.
• The Log-periodic dipole array may now be designed for a frequency only if this is required (default values used for all other performance objectives).
• The "Base element spacing" parameter has been removed from the Log-periodic dipole array parameter list, as it does not influence the model directly (This value is still available in exported models).
• The maximum value for substrate relative permittivity when designing the Rectangular dual-edge-fed patch was reduced to 5.5.
• When directly exporting a model for the Orthogonal Log-periodic dipole array antenna, the default values were not sensible and may have resulted in an error when opening the model. This has been fixed.
• In certain cases, the 3D preview of the open-ended Quadrifilar helix antenna may have shown the helical rotation in the wrong direction. This has been corrected.
• For certain high-frequency designs, the internal analysis of the quad-ridged dual-polarised pyramidal horn antenna may have resulted in an error. This has been corrected.

Added product features and improvements

• All Versions (Evaluation, Professional and Classroom) of Antenna Magus may now be installed through Remote Desktop.
• Array Synthesis tool performance improvements
• Angular resolution for array patterns no longer has to be manually specified. All exported 3D patterns (*.tsv, *.ffe or *.ffs) are exported with a 1-degree angular resolution.
• Fixed progress bar errors which occurred when performing multiple estimations.
• When importing an Array Distribution Matrix into the Evaluation version, some elements were not imported. This has been fixed.
• Information document Pdf export style handling has been improved.

Modifications to the licencing mechanism for the Antenna Magus (Classroom) version

• Licences for the Classroom version of Antenna Magus are no longer node-locked.
• A new 'CD key' type protection has been introduced to better support the needs of large student computer-centres and training short-courses.
• Operation through Remote Desktop is possible using the Classroom version.

Release notes: Version 2.0
Release date: 14 April 2010

6 new antennas added to the database

• Traveling-wave slotted guide array
• Axial corrugated horn antenna
• Orthogonal LPDA antenna
• Microstrip Franklin array
• Printed Dual-Band Double-T Monopole
• Notched trapezoidal monopole

New array synthesis tool

• Linear, planar, circular and cylindrical array layouts can be designed (46 objective combinations).
• Import of Distribution Matrix layouts defined outside of Antenna Magus in general tab-separated text format.
• Various element pattern options available (3 ideal patterns; 8 'real' patterns).
• Synthesised 3D radiation pattern data can be exported from the Array synthesis tool to FEKO (*.ffe), CST MICROWAVE STUDIO (*.ffs) or tab-separated-value formats.
• Array distribution matrices can be exported to tab-separated-value files.

Data and report exporting

• Generation of a comprehensive antenna design and analysis report in MS PowerPoint format.
• Exporting of graph data to tab-separated-value files.
• Generate pdf file of Antenna information documents and articles.

Overhaul of substrate library and substrate usage mechanism

• Properties of the substrate to be used for an antenna design may be directly specified in the design pallet (without first specifying the required substrate in the substrate library).
• A 'Recently used substrates' list has been added that can be accessed from the design palette.
• A short-cut to the Substrate library is available in the design palette where any substrate is used.
• Substrates added in the design pallet can be added to the substrate library shortlist directly from the design palette.
• When the substrate library is launched from the design palette, a substrate can be selected and used in the design using the 'Use substrate' button.
• A display filter based on values of substrate properties has been added to aid searching for specific substrates. A tolerance is included for all values.

Information Browser extension and improvement

• A special side-by-side comparison option has been added to allow 2 antenna information documents to be viewed in a side-by-side layout. The corresponding sections of the information document are aligned to aid comparison.
• Antenna Magus Help files and articles on antenna-related topics can be accessed from the Info Browser Home page.
• The scrollbar position of each active document or comparison in the Info Browser is remembered and maintained when switching between items.
• A Quick-access home page has been added to the Info Browser.
• Title-bars added to documents that are being viewed in the Info Browser.
• The list of documents shown in the Info Browser is decoupled from the Antenna Magus collection content. Documents can be added to the Info Browser from the Home page, by clicking on the 'Info' button on an antenna thumbnail in the Find mode or using the 'Add to Info Browser' button in the Ribbon.
• The 'Info' button on antenna thumbnails in the Find mode only adds the information document to the Info Browser, but does not launch Info Browser window.

Antenna improvements and changes

• Internal analysis speed improved for the Elliptical pin fed circular polarised patch.
• Solid Bicone design for "optimal size" larger than design for "optimal performance". This design has been improved.
• For some cases, performance estimation for the Dual microstrip-edge-fed patch and Folded dipole antenna may have been incorrectly disabled.
• Some error messages for the rectangular edge-fed patch and circular EM-coupled patch designs have been corrected.
• When designing a rectangular stacked patch antenna, S11 was always plotted in a 50 Ohm system, even when the design was for 75 Ohm. The correct impedance is now used.
• The model notes in biquad antenna export models now discuss the use of symmetry.
• When exporting a Wire discone model, the upper limits on the parameter values was not correctly applied. This may have resulted in incorrect models.
• When estimating the performance of the Horn-fed Cassegrain antenna an error may have occurred for certain parameter sets. This has now been addressed.
• When designing a printed LPDA antenna, the objective ranges were not correctly applied.

Additional, general features and improvements

• When viewing 3D antenna images, 3D patterns and 3D pattern layout, interactive 3D rotation of the display using the mouse is possible (this replaces the pre-defined animations in the 3D view).
• An 'Export and Open' Model button has been added in the Export Mode, to save and launch a model in CST MICROWAVE STUDIO or FEKO directly.
• The reference impedance used to calculate VSWR or Reflection coefficient can be modified independently for each design or tweak in the indicator graph of the zoomed view or impedance vs frequency charts.
• Antenna Magus periodically creates automatic backups to avoid loss of information in the event of a system failure or power loss. When the system is restored and Antenna Magus reopened, the last state of all work will be restored.
• A information pop-up on collection items indicates when an internal analysis for that item has been completed.
• Antennas and array items in the collection may be reordered.
• If an item is removed from the collection, Antenna Magus asks for confirmation before deleting the item if the item contains computed design or estimation information.
• When closing Antenna Magus, any currently running tasks are listed, allowing the user to cancel the close, wait until all tasks are completed or force Antenna Magus to abort the tasks before closing Antenna Magus.
• Various additional models made available for CST MICROWAVE STUDIO and FEKO.
• When in find mode, pressing 'enter' adds the selected antenna to the collection and switches to design mode.
• Double-clicking on a 3D chart, 3D pattern view or 3D array layout view in tiled view switched to Single View mode. When in Single view mode, double clicking switches the view back to tiled mode.
• Sliders do not use nudge increments, but jump to the clicked position on the slider.
• The layout and navigation in the keyword list in the find mode has been improved. Up/Down arrows are supported.
• A 'Reset zoom' button has been added when zoomed to a section of a chart in Single-view, to revert to the default zoom level.
• The licensing and installation mechanism has been improved and made more robust.
• The management of antennas, designs and tweaks for long user-assigned names has been improved.
• The name of each design and tweak is shown in the header of the chart indicator tables along with the color block indicators.
• Line-style legends have been added to charts to aid in differentiation where multiple traces are shown for one design (e.g. where E-plane and H-plane pattern cuts are shown on the same chart).
• Antenna Information document and keyword consistency has been improved (specifically with a view to simplifying document comparison and tag-based searching).
• The 'Handedness' of coil or helix structures is more correctly handled in relevant antennas.
• The tab ordering has been improved in many places.
• The general performance of Antenna Magus has been improved. Of particular importance is performance at startup and when updating search results in the find mode.
• Busy indicators have been added during some tasks that typically may take a few minutes.
• When in Design mode, the Designs and Tweaks list is always visible.
• Color blocks assigned to specific designs and tweaks are not shown until a performance estimation has been completed.
• Derived quantities show complete descriptions in tooltips when hovering over them with the mouse pointer.
• When in Find mode, the search results list may be navigated using up/down arrows, page up/down or by scrolling with the mouse scroll wheel (previously scrolling was not possible when the mouse cursor was located over the antenna thumbnails list).
• The choice of Cartesian/Polar display for quantities plotted against angle is applied to all representations in the selected chart (previously each representation view had to be switched separately.
• Under certain circumstances, charts may have been out of sync with visibility and format settings. This has been improved.

Release notes: Version 1.6.0
Release date: 13 January 2010

6 new antennas added to the database

• Dielectric resonator antenna (cubic)
• 4-arm Sinuous antenna
• Waveguide-fed short backfire
• CPW-fed trapezoidal monopole
• Diagonal horn antenna
• Classical monocone antenna

Improvements to the analysis algorithms for various antennas
(faster analysis while maintaining acceptable accuracy within Antenna Magus design ranges)

• Circular EM-Coupled Patch
• Circular stacked pin-fed Patch
• Dualband PIFA with L-shaped cutout
• Dualband PIFA with U-shaped cutout
• Patch Elliptical Edge-fed Circular-polarised Patch
• PIFA
• Planar Bowtie
• Planar Coax-fed Slot Antenna
• Planar CPW-fed bowtie slot
• Planar CPW-fed Trapezoid monopole
• Planar Elliptical monopole
• Planar elliptical-rectangular monopole
• Planar Rounded Bowtie
• Planar Trapezoid monopole
• Pyramidal Pin-fed Horn
• Rectangular dual-band slot-loaded Patch
• Rectangular Dual-pin-fed Circular-Polarised Patch
• Rectangular EM-Coupled Patch
• Rectangular Stacked Pin-Fed Patch
• Square Truncated Edge-fed Circular-polarised patch
• Square Truncated Pin-fed Circular-polarised Patch

New export models available to FEKO
(In addition to models for new antennas)

• Linearly tapered slot (Secondary model)
• Stacked microstrip patch array (Secondary model)
• Notched patch (Secondary models)

Release notes: Version 1.5.0
Release date: 7 December 2009

6 new antennas added to the database

• Probe-fed cheese antenna
• Stacked patch array
• Conical helix antenna
• Wire Biquad antenna
• Horn-fed Cassegrain reflector antenna
• Circular edge-fed patch antenna with sectoral slot

Improvements to the analysis algorithms for various antennas
(faster analysis while maintaining acceptable accuracy within Antenna Magus design ranges)

• 2x2 rectangular patch array
• 2x2 sequentially rotated patch array
• Circular edge-fed patch
• Circular inset-fed patch
• Circular pin-fed patch
• Circular pin-fed patch circular polarized (notched)
• Corner fed dipole reflector
• Elliptical ring pin-fed patch
• Linear tapered slot antenna
• L-probe SPA
• Printed LPDA
• Rectangular dual-edge-fed patch
• Rectangular edge-fed patch
• Rectangular inset-fed patch
• Rectangular pin-fed patch
• SPA antenna
• Square ring patch
• Triangular pin-fed patch
• Vivaldi exponentially tapered slot antenna
• Wire Yagi-Uda array

New export models available to CST MWS
(In addition to models for new antennas)

• Horn-fed parabolic reflector antenna

New export models available to FEKO
(In addition to models for new antennas)

• Notched circular patch (secondary models)
• slot-loaded cross patch (secondary model)

Added features and improvements

• Various corrections and improvements to antennas.
• Possible crashes when designing Conical Log spiral or Rectangular edge-fed patch antennas have been resolved.
• Installation and licensing has been remarkably improved and reworked.

Release notes: Version 1.4.0
Release date: 21 October 2009

6 new antennas added to the database

• Planar microstrip-fed slot antenna.
• Printed inverted-F Antenna.
• Linearly tapered slot antenna.
• Rectangular cavity-backed spiral.
• T bar cavity-backed slot antenna.
• Quarter-wave balun fed dipole antenna.

New export models available to CST MWS
(In addition to models for new antennas)

• Printed log-periodic dipole array (LPDA) now fully validated.
• Sequentially rotated 2 by 2 array of pin-fed notched circular patches fully validated.
• Aperture-matched waveguide-fed pyramidal horn.
• Square truncated edge-fed circularly polarised patch.
• Models optimised for specific solvers for the coaxial-cavity horn.
• Models optimised for specific solvers for the rectangular inset-fed microstrip patch.

New export models available to FEKO
(In addition to models for new antennas)

• Circular inset-fed linearly polarised patch (secondary model).
• Dualband pin-fed circular-polarised slotted cross patch (secondary model).

Added features and improvements

• Export to CHAMP for conical corrugated horn antenna is now possible.
• Various corrections and improvements to antennas.
• When restoring a backup or saved state, Antenna Magus may have removed antennas from the collection if multiple antennas of the same type were present. This is now correctly handled.
• The wire grid array antenna can now be designed for discrete gain objectives.

Release notes: Version 1.3.0
Release date: 9 September 2009

6 new antennas added to the database

• Linear resonant waveguide slot array with longitudinal broad-wall slots.
• Coaxial-cavity horn.
• Cavity-backed log spiral.
• Cavity-backed self-complimentary Archimedes spiral
• Wire grid.
• Vivaldi.

Release notes: Version 1.2.1
Release date: 26 August 2009

New export models available to CST MWS

• Rectangular stacked pin-fed patch model is now available (validated for F and T solver).
• Circular stacked pin-fed patch model is now available (validated for F and T solver).
• Vertical ground plane model is now available (validated for F and T solver).

Added features and improvements

• Various export models for both FEKO and CST MICROWAVE STUDIO have been improved and updated.
• Suspect items in the FEKO infinite ground plane export model of the rectangular edge-fed patch antenna have been removed.
• The design of the L-slot PIFA antenna has been repaired.
• The calculation of 3dB bandwidth on Gain vs. Frequency charts has been fixed.
• Keywords were improved for some antennas.

Release notes: Version 1.2.0
Release date: 29 July 2009

5 new antennas added to the database

• Circular inset-fed patch
• 2-by-2 Sequentially rotated array of notched patches
• Dual-band normal mode helix
• Pin-fed elliptical patch
• CPW-fed bowtie slot

Added features and improvements

• The export view now indicates version-compatibility of export models, as well as the preferred solver for FEKO and MICROWAVE STUDIO models.
• A reference impedance indication is now displayed for each port in an S-parameter chart.
• General user interaction improvements were made to the info browser, graph views, tables and usability.
• The licensing was made more robust to avoid specific installation errors.
• Improvements to the design and performance estimation processes of various antennas.
• Version compatibility issues with backup files were resolved.