K. Sabet and A.I. Stefan, “Single-field radial point interpolation method (RPIM) for long-range propagation modeling”, IEEE Antennas Propagat. Symp. Digest, July 2021.
EM.CUBE
modular electromagnetic, RF, analog, digital and mixed-signal circuit and system simulation suite for modeling DC to light
A 3D EM simulation environment that grows with your modeling needs
EM.Cube® is an industry-recognized simulation suite for electromagnetic (EM) modeling of RF system engineering problems. It features six distinct EM simulation engines that can solve a wide range of modeling problems including electromagnetic radiation, scattering, wave propagation in various media, coupling and interference, communication and radar links in realistic physics-based scenes, signal integrity, field interactions with biological systems, and so on. Using EM.Cube, you can solve problems of different sizes and length scales, varying from miniaturized lumped circuits occupying a few square microns on a radio-frequency integrated circuit (RFIC) chip to communication links spreading over several square miles in large urban propagation scenes.
EM.Cube consists of a core foundation called CubeCAD and six computational modules: EM.Tempo (FDTD Module), EM.Terrano (Propagation Module), EM.Ferma (Static Module), EM.Picasso (Planar Module), EM.Libera (MoM3D Module) and EM.Illumina (Physical Optics Module). These modules offer a mix of full-wave, static, quasi-static and asymptotic numerical solvers in both time and frequency domains. Each module revolves around a specific numerical technique that is optimized for a certain class of problems or applications. EM.Cube is complemented by RF.Spice A/D, a powerful visual simulation environment for analysis and design of analog, digital, RF and mixed-signal circuits and systems. RF.Spice A/D can be accessed from within EM.Cube or launched as a standalone application.
Simplifying circuit and system analysis
RF.Spice A/D comprises several integrated utilities that make circuit simulation a simple and easy task. It features an intuitive mouse-based, point-and-click schematic editor backed by an expandable parts database with more than 25,000 preloaded analog, digital and RF devices. It offers a powerful device manager with an integrated symbol editor that allows you to import external text-based model files or build Netlist-based parameterized subcircuit models from the ground up. The expanded simulation engine of RF.Spice A/D combines the Berkeley SPICE 3F5 and XSPICE solvers and offers event-driven digital simulation and RF network analysis capabilities. Its versatile graphing utilities include live simulation data update on virtual instruments, interactive cross-probing and live digital timing diagrams.
The extensive parts library of RF.Spice A/D includes most commonly used RF devices, S-parameter-based multiport networks and a large variety of generic and physical transmission line types and discontinuity models. It also provides a large collection of functional and behavioral macormodels for waveform generation, analog and digital signal processing, frequency generation and conversion and various modulation schemes. You can use these so-called black-box virtual blocks to perform effective system-level simulations without having to deal with the internal details of individual subsystems. With RF.Spice A/D, creating, modifying and simulating electronic and RF circuits and systems is a quick, easy, even enjoyable, process.
Simulate everything from DC to light
CubeCAD
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.
Tutorial
EM.Tempo
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.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.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.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.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.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.
RF.Spice A/D
RF.Spice A/D
RF.Spice A/D is an analog, digital, RF and mixed-signal circuit and system simulator featuring an integrated schematic editor and an expandable parts database with user-defined macromodel generation capability.
Shared CubeCAD foundation
EM.Cube has a highly integrated modular architecture. At its core foundation is 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 CAD operations, simulation processes, data processing or designing reusable components and structures.
An unusually short learning curve
EM.Cube’s integrated simulation environment features the latest advances in computational electromagnetics (CEM). Yet, its visual user interface is so intuitive that a freshman college student can set up and run simple projects in just a few minutes. Hundreds of wizards help you get started quickly with the simulation of basic and popular RF structures and EM problems. A large collection of tutorial lessons walk you through all aspects of a simulation process from scene generation to data visualization. EM.Cube’s 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. All of the wizards have accessible Python scripts that can be used as templates to develop sophisticated reusable components and substructures.
Running multi-scale multi-engine EM simulations
EM.Cube’s unified modeling framework is an ideal environment for hybrid simulation of multi-scale electromagnetic structures. CubeCAD provides a shared visual user interface among all of EM.Cube’s simulation engines. Once you learn the basics of CubeCAD, you will find enormous computational power at your fingertips. EM.Cube’s six computational modules can be used independently as stand-alone simulation tools or interactively and collectively to solve a large variety of complex electromagnetic modeling and RF design problems. Many material types, source types, and observable types have identical definitions across all the computational modules. All the output simulation data files have standard ASCII formats. EM.Cube allows you to plan and execute complex, system-level simulations of multi-scale electromagnetic problems. The CubeCAD foundation 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.
Simulating large-scale CEM problems on HPC platforms
Modern high-performance computing (HPC) resources such as Linux clusters and Amazon AWS allow us to solve very large-scale computational electromagnetics (CEM) problems that require outsize memory capacities beyond conventional computers. Some examples of such problems include full-wave analysis of large antenna arrays, installed antennas on large complex vehicular platforms, wireless propagation in dense urban environments when the wavelength is larger than buildings’ structural details, wave penetration and interaction in highly inhomogeneous environments such as human body and biological tissues, radar cross section (RCS) of aircraft and large naval vessels, to name a few. EM.Cube’s FDTD Module, also knowns as EM.Tempo, provides several computational engines. One of these engines is a GPU-accelerated FDTD solver parallelized on Nvidia’s CUDA platform. The other is a Linux-based parallelized FDTD solver that combines MPI and OpenMP paradigms on HPC platforms with hybrid distributed and shared memory architectures. The MPI parallelism enables effective domain decomposition of the problem and opens the door to treat much larger computational domains. The OpenMP parallelism speeds up the processing of the time marching loop and reduces the computation time considerably. Through projects funded by the U.S. Army Research Laboratory (ARL), EMAG used the HPC FDTD solver to simulate large CEM problems on its in-house Linux cluster, which has 4 TB RAM, 300 nodes and a 10G back end. For example, one scenario simulated HF-band wave propagation at 40 MHz in a 250 m × 250 m area of downtown Los Angeles. The building structural details in this case were as small as 5 cm, leading to a mesh grid containing a total of 18.8 billion cells. Another example simulated the interaction of a patch antenna tuned at 2.4 GHz with a full-scale 6-foot-tall human body model involving accurate organ representations and 22 different tissue types. The mesh grid of this problem contained a total of 9.3 billion cells.
An expandable circuit and system design environment
RF.Spice A/D provides an expandable parts database with more than 25,000 preloaded analog, digital and RF devices. You can copy and modify these models using a powerful device manager with an integrated symbol editor. External text-based model files containing Netlist descriptions or S-parameter data can easily be imported as new devices. RF.Spice A/D allows you to create a part from any circuit and package it as a reusable part with a dedicated symbol and pin/port definitions. You can insert multiple instances of your new device in any circuit. One of RF.Spice’s most powerful features is the ability to create Netlist-based parameterized subcircuit models from the ground up. These models can have an arbitrary number of user-defined parameters.
Can I use EM.Cube and RF.Spice A/D together?
EM.Cube is cross-linked with RF.Spice A/D in several ways. Three of EM.Cube modules, EM.Tempo, EM.Picasso and EM.Libera, generate S-parameter data files that are fully compatible with RF.Spice A/D. You can build new RF devices using these ASCII files and add them to your parts database with generic symbols or your own custom symbols. Probably the most important multi-scale feature of EM.Cube is that the SPICE simulation engine of RF.Spice A/D has been integrated within EM.Tempo’s FDTD simulation engine. This allows you to run global electromagnetic and circuit co-simulations in a self-consistent manner. The integrated simulator solves Maxwell’s equations and Kirchhoff’s linear and nonlinear circuit equations simultaneously at each time step of the forward-marching temporal loop and updates all the electric and magnetic field values across the entire mesh along with all the nodal voltages and currents in the lumped-circuit portions of the computational domain. You can now design, analyze and verify several one-port and/or two-port circuits in RF.Spice A/D and then import their Netlist descriptions to EM.Tempo for EM-circuit co-simulation.
What can I solve using EM.Cube or RF.Spice A/D?
Below are a few examples of electromagnetic modeling problems you can solve with one or more EM.Cube modules, followed by a few examples of analog, digital, RF, mixed-signal circuit and system problems you can solve with RF.Spice A/D:
Physical Communications Link Analysis
Analyze point-to-point communication links in high multipath urban environments
Suitable modules:
Example Projects:
Antenna Array Modeling
Model large finite-sized or infinite periodic antenna arrays on the transmitter and receiver ends of a physical communications link
Suitable modules:
Example Projects:
Installed Antenna Analysis
Evaluate platform and feed mechanism effects on the radiation characteristics of antenna systems
Suitable modules:
Example Projects:
Planar Circuit Design
Design multilayer planar RF, microwave and millimeter wave circuits
Suitable modules:
Example Projects:
Waveguide & Resonator Modeling
Analyze metallic and dielectric waveguide and resonator structures for microwave and millimeter wave applications
Suitable modules:
Example Projects:
Mixed Passive & Active Device and Structure Modeling
Embed passive and active devices and circuits into your electromagnetic analysis
Suitable modules:
Example Projects:
Multiport Network Structure Analysis
Model frequency response of multiport structures and generate S-parameter data for equivalent circuit models (for export to RF.Spice A/D)
Suitable modules:
Example Projects:
Transient Analysis of Waveform Propagation
Model transient propagation of arbitrary waveforms and temporal signals in your circuits
Suitable modules:
Example Projects:
Analysis of Propagation of Fields and Waves in Complex Media
Investigate the interaction of incident plane waves and focused Gaussian beams with complex geometries, biological environments or dispersive materials
Suitable modules:
Example Projects:
Periodic Structure Analysis
Study reflection and transmission properties of periodic surfaces and metamaterial structures
Suitable modules:
Example Projects:
Low-Frequency Analysis of Lumped Circuit Devices
Compute low-frequency electric and magnetic fields, capacitance and inductance of lumped circuit devices
Suitable modules:
Example Projects:
2D Transmission Line Analysis
Compute quasi-static characteristic impedance and effective permittivity of physical transmission lines
Suitable modules:
Example Projects:
Complex Geometric Model Construction
Build complex structures using native standard geometric objects or custom expression-based curves & surface and import/export external CAD models
Suitable modules:
Example Projects:
Radar Signature Analysis
Compute radar cross section (RCS) of complex targets
Suitable modules:
Example Projects:
Parametric Study of Physical Problems
Run parametric and random sweeps of design variables with complex interdependencies defined through mathematical functions and/or Python scripts
Suitable modules:
Example Projects:
EM Design Optimization
Optimize your design variables using classical and statistical methods including multi-objective Pareto genetic algorithms.
Suitable modules:
Example Projects:
EM Simulation on High Performance Computing (HPC) Platforms
Run lightning fast large-scale EM simulations on multicore CPU/GPU and High
Performance Computing (HPC) Linux platforms using a variety of hardware and
software accelerators
Suitable modules:
Example Projects:
Analog Circuit Analysis
Analyze passive and active analog circuits involving RLC elements, diodes, transistors, operational amplifiers, integrated circuits, power devices, transformers, etc. either in real time or in frequency domain
Suitable modules:
Example Projects:
Digital Circuit Analysis
Analyze digital circuits made of logic gates, sequential circuits, complex digital devices, etc. and probe them using live timing diagrams
Suitable modules:
Example Projects:
RF Circuit Analysis
Simulate RF circuits consisting of transmission line components, S-parameter-based multiport devices, distributed passive circuits, etc., and perform a network analysis on the Smith chart
Suitable modules:
Example Projects:
Mixed-Signal Circuit Analysis
Combine analog, digital and RF devices in mixed-signal circuits and perform mixed-mode simulations using A/D and D/A bridges
Suitable modules:
Example Projects:
Virtual-Block System-Level Analysis
Build complex systems using a large collection of black-box virtual blocks and perform system-level simulations
Suitable modules:
Example Projects:
User-Defined Device Generation
Develop behavioral macromodels of devices, circuits and subsystems, create your own new symbols for them and turn them into new custom parts or blocks and add them to your parts database or share them with others
Suitable modules:
Example Projects:
Physical Communication Link Analysis
Analyze point-to-point communication links in high multipath urban environments
Suitable modules:
Example Projects:
Antenna Array Modeling
Model large finite-sized or infinite periodic antenna arrays on the transmitter and receiver ends of a physical communications link
Suitable modules:
Example Projects:
Installed Antenna Analysis
Evaluate platform and feed mechanism effects on the radiation characteristics of antenna systems
Suitable modules:
Example Projects:
Planar Circuit Design
Design multilayer planar RF, microwave and millimeter wave circuits
Suitable modules:
Example Projects:
Waveguide & Resonator Modeling
Analyze metallic and dielectric waveguide and resonator structures for microwave and millimeter wave applications
Suitable modules:
Example Projects:
Mixed Passive & Active Device Modeling
Embed passive and active devices and circuits into your electromagnetic analysis
Suitable modules:
Example Projects:
Multiport Network Structure Analysis
Model frequency response of multiport structures and generate S-parameter data for equivalent circuit models (for export to RF.Spice A/D)
Suitable modules:
Example Projects:
Transient Analysis of Waveform Propagation
Model transient propagation of arbitrary waveforms and temporal signals in your circuits
Suitable modules:
Example Projects:
Analysis of Wave Propagation in Complex Media
Investigate the interaction of incident plane waves and focused Gaussian beams with complex geometries, biological environments or dispersive materials
Suitable modules:
Example Projects:
Periodic Structure Analysis
Study reflection and transmission properties of periodic surfaces and metamaterial structures
Suitable modules:
Example Projects:
Low-Frequency Analysis of Lumped Circuits
Compute low-frequency electric and magnetic fields, capacitance and inductance of lumped circuit devices
Suitable modules:
Example Projects:
2D Transmission Line Analysis
Compute quasi-static characteristic impedance and effective permittivity of physical transmission lines
Suitable modules:
Example Projects:
Complex Geometric Model Construction
Build complex structures using native standard geometric objects or custom expression-based curves & surface and import/export external CAD models
Suitable modules:
Example Projects:
Radar Signature Analysis
Compute radar cross section (RCS) of complex targets
Suitable modules:
Example Projects:
Parametric Study of Physical Problems
Run parametric and random sweeps of design variables with complex interdependencies defined through mathematical functions and/or Python scripts
Suitable modules:
Example Projects:
EM Design Optimization
Optimize your design variables using classical and statistical methods including multi-objective Pareto genetic algorithms.
Suitable modules:
Example Projects:
EM Simulation on HPC Platforms
Run lightning fast large-scale EM simulations on multicore CPU/GPU and High
Performance Computing (HPC) Linux platforms using a variety of hardware and
software accelerators
Suitable modules:
Example Projects:
Analog Circuit Analysis
Analyze passive and active analog circuits involving RLC elements, diodes, transistors, operational amplifiers, integrated circuits, power devices, transformers, etc. either in real time or in frequency domain
Suitable modules:
Example Projects:
Digital Circuit Analysis
Analyze digital circuits made of logic gates, sequential circuits, complex digital devices, etc. and probe them using live timing diagrams
Suitable modules:
Example Projects:
RF Circuit Analysis
Simulate RF circuits consisting of transmission line components, S-parameter-based multiport devices, distributed passive circuits, etc., and perform a network analysis on the Smith chart
Suitable modules:
Example Projects:
Mixed-Signal Circuit Analysis
Combine analog, digital and RF devices in mixed-signal circuits and perform mixed-mode simulations using A/D and D/A bridges
Suitable modules:
Example Projects:
Virtual-Block System-Level Analysis
Build complex systems using a large collection of black-box virtual blocks and perform system-level simulations
Suitable modules:
Example Projects:
User-Defined Device Generation
Develop behavioral macromodels of devices, circuits and subsystems, create your own new symbols for them and turn them into new custom parts or blocks and add them to your parts database or share them with others
Suitable modules:
Example Projects:
A selection of technical publications featuring EM.Cube
K. Sarabandi, F. Dagefu and B.M. Sadler, “Highly parallelized hybrid FDTD solver for simulating electromagnetic wave propagation in dense urban environments,” IEEE Antennas Propagat. Symp. Digest, July 2021.
K. Sabet, A. Sabet, J. Kral and C. Woischwill, “Hybrid computer simulation of automotive radar systems in high multipath environments”, IEEE Antennas Propagat. Symp. Digest, July 2020.
K. Sabet and A.I. Stefan, “Acceleration and extension of radial point interpolation method (RPIM) to complex electromagnetic structures”, IEEE Internat. Microwave Symp. Digest, June 2020.
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.
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.
Aryanfar, K. Saraband, M.D. Casciato and K. Sabet, “Wave propagation characterization in complex urban areas using EM.Terrano,” IEEE Antennas Propagat. Symp. Digest, June 2004.
Try out full-scale software hassle-free at no cost
Contact us today to request a free evaluation license for full-scale versions of EM.Cube and RF.Spice A/D. Our collection of online tutorials walks you through the learning curve step by step. We will accommodate your pace and schedule with no sales representative shadowing you.
- 1.800.996.3624
- collaborate@emagtech.com
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