The use of a commercial computer-aided-design (CAD) package, SDRC Z-DEAS, as a pre-and post-processor for the numerical-electromagnetics code ( N E 0 is discussed. The features and benefits of this approach are described. Examples of using this approach for antenna design and analysis are given.
Introductionumerical-electromagnetic (EM) simulators have become an N invaluable tool for the design and analysis of EM phenomena.Numerous packages have been developed towards the advancement of the pre-and post-processors which support EM simulators. However, these graphical packages generally lack versatility, robustness, and functionality, when compared to the simulators they are attempting to aid.Although advances have been made over the years, the design aids of the past fail to encompass the etitire engineering-design process. In addition, the maintenance and upgrades required for the state-of-the-art in visualization (software and hardware) ultimately lead to their demise. To address these and other problems associated with current design tools, a commercial computer-aidedengineering (CAE) package, Z-DEAS [ 11, has been implemented as a pre-and post-processor for NECZ (Numerical Electromagnetics Code) [ 2 ] . The resulting system provides a concurrent-engineering platform which has been unavailable to the EM community. Other CAE programs, such as AiitoCAD and Unigmphics, were considered. Z-DEAS was chosen because it is felt to be the most fullfeatured design and analysis software package, and therefore has several crucial advantages. For example, AirloCAD is primarily a design tool, with very limited analysis capability. It has a protected database, and there is no easy way to move numerical data in and out of the software. Z-DEAS, on the other hand, allows the user access to the data, and can be programmed to write the necessary data out in a format specified by the user. The post-processing and the mesh-generation capabilities make I-DEAS an excellent choice for this type of analysis.To demonstrate the power and versatility of this system, Z-DEAS is used as a common, "user friendly" graphical interface, to generate input files and post-process the results from NECZ. One of the advantages inherent to this system is that computationalelectromagnetic analysis is now achievable in the engineering curriculum. Without a visualization aid such as I-DEAS, too much classroom time is spent on topics such as formatted data files, rendering of results, etc. The vast amount of data required for and generated from even a simple analysis does not lend itself to meaningM comprehension of electromagnetic phenomena, without the aid of visualization software From the examples and model validations presented in this paper, it is evident that CAE software is essential to the advancement of computational EM, concurrent engineering, and effective educational implementation.
The computer-aided engineering advantageThe idea of sharing design information from or with other disciplines is often considered "untraditional," especiall...
