Link with XFdtd
XFdtd®’s link with Optenni Lab benefits the matching network design. The full wave solver in XF is used to calculate the S-Parameters and efficiency of an unmatched device. Those results are then fed into Optenni Lab where a circuit solver is used to determine the optimal matching network topology and associated component values.
The following video demonstrates the use of the link:
Optenni Lab Licensing
Optenni Lab is available as node-locked and floating network license options. The licenses are available for annual lease, or as perpetual seats with yearly (optional) maintenance. Please contact us at info (at) optenni.com to get further information.
Free evaluation license is available upon request.
Optenni Lab — Tunable matching circuits
One of the most advanced applications for Optenni Lab is the design of tunable antennas, frequently encountered in mobile phones and similar applications that dynamically utilize and switch between several frequency bands. The design challenge comes from several factors:
- There are typically fixed parts in the matching circuits that must contribute to good performance at very different frequency ranges. This means that all served frequency band configurations must be optimized simultaneously.
- The radiation efficiency is a strong function of aperture component impedance, and this must be taken into account while optimizing the total efficiency of the system.
- Carrier aggregation modes are commonly used, posing additional complexity in the setup.
Optenni Lab is uniquely engineered to support this design mode with minimal amount of setup required by the user. The active component may be a switch or a variable capacitor, and multi-throw switch states are also supported. The switch or variable capacitor model is conveniently created with the state S-parameters using our free MDIF file creator utility.
For aperture tuner applications, to properly capture the termination-dependent radiation efficiency, it is enough to perform a full EM simulation of the antenna with the aperture port(s) capturing the portwise radiation patterns, and transfer the design data over to Optenni Lab using the appropriate EM simulator link. Optenni Lab uses the radiation pattern data along with S-parameters of the system to dynamically re-calculate the radiation efficiency when the aperture termination(s) change.
For impedance tuner, Optenni Lab can optimize for fixed components, switch states and variable capacitor values at the input of the antenna, corresponding to the different frequency band combinations required by the system. A hybrid architecture is also supported, combining aperture and impedance tuning technologies.
Aperture tuner example for 4-state Carrier Aggregation
Electromagnetic Simulator Links Supported by Optenni Lab
Currently Optenni Lab supports links with the following electromagnetic simulators:
In a typical workflow the antenna geometry is designed and the radiation properties are characterized in the EM tool, and Optenni Lab is linked to the EM tool to provide the matched performance corresponding to the state of the design.
Optenni Lab can use radiation patterns from the EM tools to directly calculate the radiation efficiency as a function of port terminations. This enables optimization of the total efficiency also in highly coupled antenna systems and aperture tuner designs, where the radiation efficiency is strongly dependent upon the choice of the aperture component.
Moreover, Optenni Lab’s Antenna Array module uses the individual EM-simulated port radiation patterns in the beamforming and calculation of the total system efficiency.
Optenni Lab — Connection to network analyzers
Optenni Lab can easily be interfaced with network analyzers to read measured impedance data and to optimize matching circuits in real time based on the measurement data. If the impedance environment is changed, e.g. the antenna is placed near to a phantom head, the simulated matched antenna performance gets updated accordingly. Network analyzers from the following manufacturers are supported:
Optenni Lab supports LAN, USB, GPIB and COM interface connections to network analyzers, depending upon the model.
The following video demonstrates the use of Optenni Lab VNA link in matching circuit synthesis.