Looking for an All-in-One Electromagnetic Simulation Tool? EM.Cube is the Solution
Modular 3D Electromagnetic Modeling Suite that Grows with Your Needs
EM.Cube® is an industry-recognized simulation suite for electromagnetic modeling of RF system engineering problems. It features several distinct simulation engines that can solve a wide range of modeling problems such as electromagnetic radiation, scattering, wave propagation in various media, coupling, interference, signal integrity, field interactions with biological systems, etc. Using EM.Cube, you can solve problems of different sizes and length scales, varying from a few microns in MEMS devices to several miles in large urban propagation scenes.
EM.Cube has a highly integrated modular architecture. At its core foundation you work with CubeCAD, a general-purpose parametric CAD modeling environment. CubeCAD’s intuitive, mouse-driven, point-and-click tools let you quickly build sophisticated geometrical constructions either from the ground up or by combining imported external structures with native objects. CubeCAD also features a versatile data management utility for analyzing, plotting and post-processing your simulation data. Both the CAD modeler and data manager are tightly integrated with a powerful Python scripting environment. Python allows you to create convenient wizards for automating simulation processes or designing reusable components.
CubeCAD is shared among several EM simulation engines targeted at different types of applications. All of these simulators are driven from the same streamlined, easy-to-use visual interface. EM.Cube’s six computational modules offer a mix of full-wave, static and asymptotic numerical solvers in both time and frequency domains. Once you learn the basics of the CubeCAD application, you will find enormous computational power at your fingertips. EM.Cube allows you to plan and execute complex, system-level simulations of multi-scale electromagnetic problems.
Simulating Everything from DC to Light
The modular EM.Cube suite is made up of the CubeCAD foundation and six individual computational modules. Each module revolves around a specific numerical solver that is optimized for a certain class of problems or applications. CubeCAD and the six modules can be used independently or collectively to solve a large variety of electromagnetic modeling and RF design problems.
CubeCAD |
EM.Cube’s CAD foundation module provides a powerful parametric modeler for construction and import/export of 3D objects, structures and scenes, as well as mesh generation and data visualization. |
EM.Tempo |
EM.Cube’s FDTD Module is a full-wave time domain EM simulator for transient or wideband modeling of 3D structures, circuits, antennas, metamaterials and other complex material media. |
EM.Terrano |
EM.Cube’s Propagation Module features an asymptotic ray tracing simulator for physics-based, site specific modeling of radio wave propagation in urban, natural and indoor environments. |
EM.Ferma |
EM.Cube’s Static Module features finite difference solvers for electrostatic and magnetostatic analysis of structures with metal and dielectric parts as well as quasi-static analysis of 2D transmission lines and a finite difference solver for steady-state thermal analysis. |
EM.Picasso |
EM.Cube’s Planar Module is a full-wave frequency domain layered structure simulator for modeling and design of printed antennas, microwave circuits and periodic planar structures. |
EM.Libera |
EM.Cube’s MoM3D Module features two distinct frequency domain Method of Moments (MoM) solvers for full-wave EM simulation of 3D free-space structures: a Wire MoM solver and a Surface MoM solver. |
EM.Illumina |
EM.Cube’s Physical Optics Module is an asymptotic EM simulator with integrated Huygens sources for modeling scattering from complex targets and interaction of antennas with large platforms. |
Click on each module to learn more about its feature set, computational capabilities and the types of problems it can solve.
Bringing State-of-the-Art Computational Electromagnetics to Your Desktop
EM.Cube’s integrated simulation environment features some of the latest advances in computational electromagnetics (CEM). EMAG Technologies has been expanding both the simulation capabilities and productivity features of EM.Cube at a fast pace with every release of the software. Some of the recent additions include an ultra-fast parallelized 3D polarimetric SBR ray tracer based on k-d tree algorithms, global self-consistent EM-circuit co-simulation using an integrated FDTD-SPICE solver, and full Python scripting of almost everything.
Yet, EM.Cube’s visual user interface is so intuitive that a freshman college student can set up simple projects in just a few minutes. Hundreds of wizards help a new user get started quickly with the simulation of basic and popular RF structures and EM problems. All of the wizards have Python scripts that can be used as templates to develop sophisticated reusable components and substructures. Our greatest challenge has always been to strike the right balance between user friendliness and computational power.
Here are what you can expect from EM.Cube:
- EM.Cube has been designed and built as an integrated multi-engine simulation environment from the ground up. It is not a bundle of several dissimilar products marketed as a complete solution.
- Each of EM.Cube’s computational modules has been optimized to address a certain class of electromagnetic structures based on a particular numerical technique. You can use each module individually as a stand-alone product.
- With a common visual interface shared among all modules, a shorter learning curve takes you a much farther distance. All the modules share the same parametric CAD modeler, data visualization tools, model generation utilities, optimization algorithms, etc.
- EM.Cube’s framework corroborates total separation of the visual software interface and simulation engines. The numerical solvers communicate with the EM.Cube application solely through ASCII input and output files. This makes it possible to utilize the same user interface effectively to drive different simulation engines.
- You may use different numerical techniques to solve the same physical problem and verify, validate or benchmark your solutions against one another.
- EM.Cube’s unified modeling framework is an ideal environment for hybrid simulation of multi-scale electromagnetic structures. It allows you to easily move various parts of your structures back and forth among different modules and analyze each part using the most effective solver. Seamless, cross-module interfaces help you integrate the simulation results from different modules.
- EM.Cube’s powerful and versatile Python scripting environment opens the door to boundless possibilities. Most operations from CAD constructions to simulation flow and post-processing of output data have respective Python commands that can be combined with standard Python scripts and an extensive, ever-growing host of Python modules and libraries.
EM.Cube Features at a Glance
Geometric Features & Parametric Modeling
- Native solid, surface and curve objects, polymesh solids and surfaces (generalized polyhedra), polyline, polystrip, NURBS strip and NURBS curve, equation-based parametric surfaces, equation-based Cartesian, polar and parametric curves, fractal trees with random pruning
- Easy mouse-based object creation, real-time editing and object transformations including translate, rotate, scale, mirror, Boolean operations, 3D arrays of objects with dynamic editing and access to parent objects’ properties, extrude, loft or revolve faces/surfaces and edges/curves and edit the parent objects dynamically, roughen surfaces and solids with specified statistics
- Arbitrary work planes for sketching
- Define variables to relate and control geometrical and physical object properties and constrain variables with arbitrary mathematical expressions including random variables and Python functions
- Object links with arbitrary local offsets and rotation angles
- STEP, IGES, STL, DXF and CUBIT Facet file import/export, DEM and Shape file import
- Python scripting for CAD modeling, whole or partial geometry import/export using Python scripts
Physical Structure/Scene Construction
- PEC, PMC and dielectric materials and thin wires
- PEC, PMC and convolutional perfectly match layer (CPML) boundary conditions
- (EM.Tempo) Uniaxial and fully anisotropic materials with four complete constitutive tensors
- (EM.Tempo) Dispersive materials of Debye, Drude and Lorentz types with arbitrary number of poles, generalized uniaxial and doubly negative refractive index metamaterials with arbitrary numbers of both electric and magnetic poles
- (EM.Tempo) Gyrotropic materials such as biased ferrites and magnetoplasmas
- (EM.Tempo & EM.Picasso) Doubly periodic structures
- (EM.Picasso) Multilayer stack-up with unlimited number of substrate layers and trace planes with PEC and conductive sheet traces for modeling ideal and non-ideal metallic layouts, PMC traces for modeling slot layouts and vertical metal interconnects and embedded dielectric objects
- (EM.Ferma) Fixed-potential PEC for maintaining equi-potential metal objects, volume charges, volume currents, wire currents and permanent magnets with user defined magnetization
- (EM.Terrano) Buildings/blocks with arbitrary geometries and material properties, impenetrable or penetrable surfaces using thin wall approximation, penetrable volume blocks, multi-layer walls for indoor propagation scenes, terrain surfaces with arbitrary geometries and material properties and random rough surface profiles
- (EM.Terrano) Standard half-wave dipole transmitters and receivers oriented along the principal axes, radiator sets with imported polarimetric 3D antenna patterns and full three-axis rotation of imported antenna patterns
- (EM.Terrano) Point scatterer sets with imported polarimetric scattering matrix data files to be used as targets in radar simulations
- Python-based wizards for generation of a wide variety of parameterized structures and scene types
Sources, Loads, Ports & Devices
- Lumped voltage sources with internal resistance on line objects
- Gap sources on wires and long, narrow metal strips
- Multi-port and coupled port definitions
- Passive RLC lumped loads and nonlinear diode device
- Plane wave excitation with linear and circular polarizations
- Multi-ray excitation capability (ray data imported from Terrano or external files)
- Source arrays with weight distribution & phase progression, periodic sources with user defined beam scan angles
- Short Hertzian dipole sources and import of previously generated wire mesh solutions as collection of short dipoles
- Huygens sources imported from FDTD or other modules with arbitrary rotation and array configuration
- (EM.Tempo) Standard excitation waveforms (Gaussian pulse, modulated Gaussian and sinusoidal) for optimal frequency domain computations and arbitrary user-defined temporal excitation waveforms using mathematical expressions and Python functions
- (EM.Tempo) Distributed sources with uniform, sinusoidal and edge-singular profiles, microstrip, coplanar waveguide (CPW) and coaxial ports, waveguide ports with the dominant TE10 modal profile, and Gaussian beam excitation
- (EM.Tempo) Active and passive, lumped or distributed one-port and two-port networks with arbitrary Netlist definitions
- (EM.Picasso) De-embedded scattering port sources on lines for S-parameter calculations and coaxial probe sources on vias
Mesh Generation
- Surface triangular mesh with control over tessellation parameters
- (EM.Picasso) Optimized hybrid mesh with rectangular and triangular cells
- (EM.Tempo) Fast generation of Yee grid mesh of solids, surfaces and curves, geometry-aware and material-aware adaptive mesh generator with gradual grid transitions, manual control of mesh parameters and fixed grid points, mesh view with three principal grid profilers
- (EM.Tempo & EM.Ferma) Fixed-cell uniform mesh generator with three unequal cell dimensions
Simulation Engines
- (EM.Tempo) Wideband full-wave FDTD simulation of 3D structures, transient analysis with arbitrary user defined excitation waveforms, multi-frequency computation of frequency domain quantities in a single FDTD simulation run
- (EM.Tempo) OpenMP-parallelized multi-core and multi-thread FDTD simulation engine as well as GPU-accelerated FDTD simulation engine based on NVIDIA CUDA platforms
- (EM.Tempo) Total-field-scattered-field analysis of plane wave and Gaussian beam excitation
- (EM.Tempo) Full-wave analysis of periodic structures with arbitrary plane wave incidence angles using the Direct Spectral FDTD method
- (EM.Tempo) “Fast Ports” capability for accelerated computation of S-parameters of resonant structures based on Prony’s method of exponential interpolation/extrapolation
- (EM.Tempo) Infinite material half-space Green’s functions for calculation of far fields in presence of a lossy ground
- (EM.Terrano) Fully 3D polarimetric and coherent Shoot-and-Bounce-Rays (SBR) simulation engine with ray reflection and ray transmission through multilayer walls and material volumes and GTD/UTD diffraction models for diffraction from building edges and terrain
- (EM.Terrano) Super-fast geometrical/optical ray tracing using advanced k-d tree algorithms
- (EM.Terrano) Intelligent ray tracing with user defined angular extents and resolution, statistical analysis and incredibly fast frequency sweeps of the entire propagation scene in a single SBR simulation run
- (EM.Terrano) Polarimetric channel characterization for MIMO analysis using orthogonally polarized isotropic radiators
- (EM.Terrano) Almost real-time Polarimatrix solver using an existing ray database
- (EM.Terrano) Ray-tracing-based radar simulator handling both bistatic and monostatic radar system configurations
- (EM.Ferma) 3D Finite difference solution of Laplace and Poisson equations for the electric scalar potential and magnetic vector potential with Dirichlet and Neumann domain boundary conditions
- (EM.Ferma) 3D Finite difference solution of steady-state heat equation with conduction and convection boundary conditions
- (EM.Ferma) 2D Finite difference solution of cross section of transmission line structures
- (EM.Picasso) 2.5-D mixed potential integral equation (MPIE) formulation of planar layered structures
- (EM.Picasso) 2.5-D spectral domain integral equation formulation of periodic layered structures
- (EM.Picasso) Accurate scattering parameter extraction and de-embedding using Prony’s method
- (EM.Libera) 3D Pocklington integral equation formulation of wire structures
- (EM.Libera) 3D electric field integral equation (EFIE), magnetic field integral equation (MFIE) and combined field integral equation (CFIE) formulation of PEC structures, PMCHWT formulation of homogeneous dielectric objects
- (EM.Libera) Fully parallelized Surface MoM solver using MPI with adaptive integral method (AIM) acceleration
- (EM.Illumina) Conventional Geometrical Optics – Physical Optics (GOPO) and novel solver iterative PO solution of metal scatterers and impedance surfaces taking into account multiple shadowing effects and multi-bounce reflections
- A variety of matrix solvers including LU, BiCG and GMRES
- Uniform and fast adaptive frequency sweep
- Parametric sweeps of variable object properties or source parameters
- Multi-variable and multi-goal optimization of structures
- Automated generation of compact reduced order surrogate models from full-wave simulation data
Data Generation & Visualization
- Extensive graphing capability (Cartesian, polar, Smith chart, bar chart, polar stem chart, etc.) with dynamic editing
- Spreadsheet view of data with statistical analysis, differentiation, integration, discrete Fourier transform and linear regression of data
- Import/export of data into standard Python arrays with hundreds of standard and user defined Python functions and scripts
- Custom output parameters defined as mathematical expressions or Python functions of standard outputs
- Spatial data generator utility for creation of 3D Cartesian data
- Intensity and vector plots of electric and magnetic fields and potentials on planes overlaid on the physical structure as well as near-field intensity (colorgrid), contour and surface plots (amplitude & phase)
- Far-field radiation patterns: 3D pattern visualization and 2D polar and Cartesian graphs
- Far-field characteristics such as directivity, beam width, axial ratio, side lobe levels and null parameters, etc.
- Radiation pattern of arbitrary array configurations of the FDTD structure or periodic unit cell
- Bistatic and monostatic radar cross section
- Huygens surface data generation for use in other Cube modules
- Periodic reflection/transmission coefficients and k-β diagrams
- Port characteristics: S/Y/Z parameters, VSWR and Smith chart, Touchstone-style S-parameter text files for direct export to Spice A/D
- (EM.Tempo) Near-field probes for monitoring field components in both time & frequency domains
- (EM.Tempo) Time and frequency domain port voltages, currents and powers, internal node voltages and currents of Netlist-based one-port and two-port networks
- (EM.Tempo) Animation of temporal evolution of fields
- (EM.Tempo & EM.Ferma) Computation of electric and magnetic energy densities, Ohmic losses, complex Poynting vector and SAR
- (EM.Tempo & EM.Ferma) Volumetric field sensors with computation of total stored energy, dissipated power and SAR
- (EM.Ferma) Computation of temperature distribution, heat flux and thermal energy density
- (EM.Terrano) Graphical visualization of propagating rays in the physical scene and incoming ray data analysis at each receiver
- (EM. Terrano) Received power coverage maps and link connectivity maps based on minimum required SNR
- (EM.Tempo) Power delay profile and angles of arrival and departure charts
System Requirements
- Intel I5 or later processor
- 16GB RAM minimum
- Microsoft Windows 10 or higher operating system
- CUDA-enabled NVIDIA GPU card (for using EM.Tempo’s GPU FDTD solver only)
What can I solve with EM.Cube?
EM.Cube Application Notes
- Application Note 1: Modeling Radar Signature Of Real-Sized Aircraft Using EM.Tempo
- Application Note 2: Modeling Polarimetric Wave Propagation In The Lower Manhattan Scene Using EM.Terrano
- Application Note 3: Designing A Slot-Coupled Patch Antenna Array With A Corporate Feed Network Using EM.Picasso
- Application Note 4: Modeling Large Parabolic Reflectors Illuminated By Pyramidal Horn Antennas Using EM.Cube
- Application Note 5: Simulating The Performance Of Installed Antennas On Vehicular Platforms Using EM.Tempo
EM.Cube Verification & Validation Articles
- V&V Article 1: Modeling Complex Frequency Selective Surfaces Using EM.Cube
- V&V Article 2: Computing Radar Cross Section Of Metallic Targets Using EM.Cube
- V&V Article 3: Modeling Broadband And Circularly Polarized Patch Antennas Using EM.Picasso
- V&V Article 4: Designing Wideband Dielectric Resonator Antennas Using EM.Tempo
- V&V Article 5: Modeling Dispersive Materials Using EM.Tempo
A Brief History of EM.Cube
More than twenty years in the making, EM.Cube was first introduced as an integrated simulation suite in 2008. Some of its computational modules like EM.Picasso and EM.Terrano had been offered to the commercial market as stand-alone products since 2002. EM.Cube is the industry’s first truly multi-scale, multi-engine electromagnetic modeling environment. Most of EM.Cube’s advanced computational features were originally developed through a large number of R&D projects funded by the US Department of Defense. In particular, the integrated modular foundation of EM.Cube was conceived under a program funded by the US Army Research Office (ARO) in 2004-2007.
Related Articles & Publications
- M. Amjadi, M. Hoque and K. Sarabandi, “An iterative array signal segregation algorithm,” IEEE Antennas Propagat. Magazine, vol. 59, No. 2, pp. 16-32, April 2017.
- T. Dagefu, G. Verma, C. Rao, P. Yu, B. Sadler, K. Sarabandi, “Short-Range Low-VHF Channel Characterization in Cluttered Environments”, IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, vol. 63, no. 6, pp. 2719-2727, June 2015.
- T. Dagefu, J Oh, J. Choi, K. Sarabandi, “Measurement and physics-based analysis of co-located antenna pattern diversity system,” IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, vol. 61, no. 11, pp. 5724-5734, Nov. 2013.
- Aryanfar, K. Saraband, M.D. Casciato and K. Sabet, “Wave propagation characterization in complex urban areas using EM.Terrano,” IEEE APS Symp. Digest, June 2004.
- A. Hiranandani, A.B. Yakovlev and A.A. Kishk, “Artificial magnetic conductors realised by frequency-selective surfaces on a grounded dielectric slab for antenna applications,” IEE Proceedings – Microwaves Antennas and Propagation, vol. 53, No. 5, pp.487-493, Oct. 2006.
- Chin-Lung Yang, “Localization and angular diversity using adaptable physical layer interfaces for wireless sensor networks”, Ph.D. Dissertation, Purdue University, May 2007.
- W.O. Coburn, S.D. Keller, C.E. Patterson and R. Harris, “An aperture-coupled patch antenna design for improved impedance bandwidth,” US Army Research Laboratory Report, Nov. 2006.
- S. Weiss, K. Coburn and O. Kilic, “FEKO simulation of a wedge mounted four element array antenna,” ACES J., Vol. 24, No. 6, Dec. 2009.
- D. Chen and K.F. Sabet, “Full-wave moment method simulation of large-scale antenna arrays on high performance computing platforms,” IEEE APS Symp. Digest, Jul. 2003.
- W. Thiel, K.F. Sabet, and L.P.B. Katehi, “A Hybrid MoM/FDTD technique for the modeling of multi-antenna systems on vehicular platforms for wireless communication systems,” ACES Symp., Mar. 2003.
- T.W. Colegrove, “AMSAA MOUT RF propagation model,” US Army AMSAA Presentation/Report, May 2003.
- W.m Rasmussen, C. Welch, J. McDonald and T.W. Colegrove, “Measuring urban communications,” US Army AMSAA Report, Dec. 2005.
- A. Bacon, G.E. Ponchak, J. Papapolymerou, N. Bushyager and M. Tentzeris, “Folded coplanar waveguide slot antenna on silicon substrates with a polyimide interface layer,” IEEE APS Symp. Digest, Jul. 2002.
Affordable Electromagnetic Simulation Software for Everyone!
EM.Cube is offered as a modular suite comprising the CubeCAD foundation and six individual computational modules. These modules collectively provide the ultimate solution to all of your electromagnetic modeling needs. Some modules are offered in two editions, Lite and Pro, to accommodate your budget. Whether you want to design a simple patch antenna, or quantify the effects of electromagnetic radiation on biological tissues, or analyze a sophisticated, multi-scale propagation scene involving large networks of unattended sensors, EM.Cube’s modules can meet your modeling needs without emptying your pocket. Thanks to the modular structure of the EM.Cube suite, you can start with a basic product configuration and expand it over time as your modeling needs grow. You can easily upgrade your current package to the next level or to EM.Cube Pro at any time.
EMAG Technologies offers special academic discounts for educational use of its products as well as affordable annual subscription programs. Please contact us for more information about these programs.
Our Price Assurance Pledge
In today’s crowded market, a large number of simulation software products are offered from amateur freeware to overpriced packages that cost a fortune. EMAG Technologies Inc. prides itself in offering the best price-performance combination. Our products feature the latest advances in computational electromagnetics and state-of-the-art simulation capabilities. Yet, they are so affordable that anyone can access and use them, whether a large commercial enterprise, or a startup business or a small technical college. We pledge to offer the best value for your budget. EMAG Technologies Inc. guarantees to beat any competitive offer! So you can use EM.Cube with absolute confidence in your investment.
How does EM.Cube fare against the competition?
As the demand for electromagnetic analysis of complex structures and multi-scale problems continues to grow, the industry has recognized the fact that there is no “Jack-of-all-trades” numerical technique that could solve all such problems accurately and efficiently. In the last few years, EM simulation software vendors have started bundling their original products with tools acquired from other companies to offer rather complete solutions.
With so many product offerings in the market, why then should you use EM.Cube?
Because EM.Cube has been designed and built as an integrated multi-engine simulation environment from the ground up. It is not a bundle of several dissimilar products marketed as a complete solution. Not only does EM.Cube offer some of the most advanced computational electromagnetics (CEM) features and capabilities, but it is also by far the most affordable EM simulation software product in the market. This is 100% backed by our ironclad price guarantee.