Optimizing Processing Time of Radio-Astronomy Antenna Simulations Using FEKO

Authors

  • Rowanne Steiner 1 International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research, Curtin University, Perth, Australia 2 Eindhoven University of Technology, Department of Electrical Engineering, Eindhoven, The Netherlands
  • Daniel C. X. Ung International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research, Curtin University, Perth, Australia
  • Anouk Hubrechsen Eindhoven University of Technology, Department of Electrical Engineering, Eindhoven, The Netherlands
  • Robert D. Jones Colorado School of Mines, Department of Electrical Engineering, Golden, United States of America
  • Randall B. Wayth International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research, Curtin University, Perth, Australia
  • Mark J. Bentum Eindhoven University of Technology, Department of Electrical Engineering, Eindhoven, The Netherlands
  • A. Bart Smolders Eindhoven University of Technology, Department of Electrical Engineering, Eindhoven, The Netherlands

Keywords:

Antenna, FEKO, optimization techniques, radio astronomy, square-kilometer array

Abstract

The far-field pattern of a geometrically large and complex antenna used in low-frequency radio astronomy is computationally expensive to simulate on electromagnetic simulators, such as FEKO. For example, one station of the Square Kilometer Array, which consists of 256 log-periodic antenna elements, will take years to simulate using the full CAD model for the full operational frequency band. This paper focuses on reducing the simulation time for a single antenna element by simplifying the simulation model, thus decreasing the number of unknowns that have to be solved in a simulation. An iterative process for optimizing the simplification of such an element is described, while keeping the reflection coefficient within 1 dB absolute mean deviation of the measured data. After four iterations, the amount of unknowns to be solved, which includes the number of triangles and segments, was reduced from 29,307 to 11,991. This decreased the computation time by 86.5%, making array simulations feasible. Using the techniques described in the paper, other antenna constructions can benefit from it and be simulated more efficiently.

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Author Biographies

Rowanne Steiner, 1 International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research, Curtin University, Perth, Australia 2 Eindhoven University of Technology, Department of Electrical Engineering, Eindhoven, The Netherlands

Rowanne Steiner received her Bachelor degree in Biomedical Sciences from Radboud University Nijmegen in 2016. After this she completed an Electrical Engineering pre-master in 2017 at Technical University Eindhoven, where she also pursued her master’s degree, with the main focus antenna design and electromagnetics. She spend four months doing an internship in ICRAR, Curtin Univeristy at Perth, Australia, and graduated in cooperation with Philips Eindhoven.

Daniel C. X. Ung, International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research, Curtin University, Perth, Australia

Daniel C. X. Ung received the B.Eng. degree in E.C. and M.Phil. degree from Curtin University, Perth, WA, Australia in 2015, and 2020 respectively. He has been a Support Engineer with the International Centre for Radio Astronomy, Curtin University, Bentley, WA, Australia, since 2015. Ung received first place in the FEKO Student Competition hosted by Altair Engineering in 2016. His winning entry, “Embedded Element Pattern Beam Model for Murchison Widefield Array”, enabled an accurate and accessible beam pattern of the Murchison STEINER, UNG, HUBRECHSEN, JONES, WAYTH, BENTUM, SMOLDERS: TIME OF RADIO-ASTRONOMY ANTENNA SIMULATIONS 1159 Widefield Array for astronomers. He received a summer studentship at the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research in 2014.

Anouk Hubrechsen, Eindhoven University of Technology, Department of Electrical Engineering, Eindhoven, The Netherlands

Anouk Hubrechsen received a B.Sc. and M.Sc. degree in Electrical Engineering at the Eindhoven University at Technology in 2017 and 2019, respectively. She was a Foreign Guest Researcher in 2019 at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), where she worked on reverberation-chamber metrology. She is currently working as a Ph.D. Researcher on the AMICABLE project, researching interference effects in cable bundles. In 2019 she received the regional and district Zonta Women in Technology awards. She is currently vice-chair of Women in Engineering IEEE Benelux.

Robert D. Jones, Colorado School of Mines, Department of Electrical Engineering, Golden, United States of America

Robert D. Jones received dual B.S. degrees in Electrical and Mechanical Engineering from the Colorado School of Mines in 2019, where he is currently pursuing his master’s degree. Since 2017, he has been a student Researcher at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), conducting experiments with loaded reverberation chambers. His current research interests are in computational electromagnetics, antenna design, and loaded reverberation chamber metrology

Randall B. Wayth, International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research, Curtin University, Perth, Australia

Randall Wayth is a Radio Astronomer focused on the design, commissioning and science output of the MWA and SKA-Low radio telescopes. He heads the Astronomical Instrumentation programme within ICRAR.

Mark J. Bentum, Eindhoven University of Technology, Department of Electrical Engineering, Eindhoven, The Netherlands

Mark J. Bentum received his M.Sc. degree in Electrical Engineering (with honors) from the University of Twente, Enschede, The Netherlands, in August 1991. In December 1995 he received the Ph.D. degree for his thesis “Interactive Visualization of Volume Data” also from the University of Twente. From December 1995 to June 1996 he was a Research Assistant at the University of Twente in the field of signal processing for mobile telecommunications and medical data processing. In June 1996 he joined the Netherlands Foundation for Research in Astronomy (ASTRON). He was in various positions at ASTRON. In 2005 he was involved in the eSMA project in Hawaii to correlate the Dutch JCMT mm-telescope with the Submillimeter Array (SMA) of Harvard University. From 2005 to 2008 he was responsible for the construction of the first software radio telescope in the world, LOFAR (Low Frequency Array). In 2008 he became an Associate Professor in the Telecommunication Engineering Group at the University of Twente. From December 2013 till September 2017 he was also the program director of Electrical Engineering at the University of Twente. In 2017 he became a Full Professor in Radio Science at Eindhoven University of Technology. He is now involved with research and education in radio science. His current research interests are radio astronomy, short-range radio communications, novel receiver technologies (for instance in the field of radio astronomy), channel modeling, interference mitigation, sensor networks and aerospace. He is also Head of the Radio Group at ASTRON. Bentum is the Chair of the IEEE Benelux section, Senior Member of the IEEE and of URSI, initiator and Chair of the IEEE Benelux AES/GRSS chapter, and has acted as a reviewer for various conferences and journals.

A. Bart Smolders, Eindhoven University of Technology, Department of Electrical Engineering, Eindhoven, The Netherlands

Bart Smolders was born in Hilvarenbeek, the Netherlands in 1965. He received his M.Sc. and Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering from the Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) in 1989 and 1994, respectively. From 1989 to 1991, he worked as an IC Designer at FEL-TNO, The Hague. From 1994 to 1997, he was a Radar System Designer with Thales, the Netherlands. From 1997 to 2000, he was project leader of the Square Kilometer Array (SKA) with the Netherlands Foundation for Research in Astronomy (ASTRON). From 2000 to 2010, he has been with NXP (formerly Philips) Semiconductors, The Netherlands, responsible for the innovation in the RF business line. Since 2010, he is a Full-time Professor at the TU/e in the Electromagnetics Group with special interest in antenna systems and applications. He currently leads several research projects in the area of integrated antenna systems operating at frequencies up to 120 GHz for several application domains, including 5G/6G wireless communication, radar sensors and radio-astronomy. He is Junior-past Chairman of the IEEE Benelux section and Past-Chair of the NERG (Nederlands Radio- en Elektronica Genootschap). He is Board member of the SWAN (Stichting Wetenschappelijke Activiteiten van het Nederlands URSI Committee) and member of the Advisory Board of ASTRON. Next to his research activities, he is the Dean of the Electrical Engineering Department of the TU/e. He has published more than 150 papers.

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Published

2020-10-01

How to Cite

[1]
Rowanne Steiner, “Optimizing Processing Time of Radio-Astronomy Antenna Simulations Using FEKO”, ACES Journal, vol. 35, no. 10, pp. 1153–1160, Oct. 2020.

Issue

2020: Vol 35 Iss 10

Section

Articles