Surface currents excited by an integrated L-band antenna computed with CREATE-RF SENTRi on a V-22 Osprey

CREATE-RF (Radio Frequency)

As integral components of almost all DoD weapon systems, antennas and radars perform critical communication, identification, and navigation functions necessary for warfighter effectiveness and survivability. Computational Electromagnetics (CEM) tools have matured in recent years and are widely used for antenna concept exploration and design by the DoD and its contractors. Our software suite includes: SENTRi Generation 1 (G1), SENTRi Generation 2 (G2), FLO-K, and Aurora.

SENTRi is CREATE-RF's flagship product. It is a full wave computational electromagnetic (CEM) code utilizing the hybrid finite element boundary integral method (FEBI), making it suitable for solving a wide variety of electromagnetic problems including antennas, antennas on platforms, passive microwave circuits, and EMI/EMC. SENTRi is available for both MS Windows and Linux operating systems. It can be run on engineering workstations and utilizes MPI technology allowing it to take full advantage of the HPCMP DSRC supercomputing systems. SENTRi comes in two versions. SENTRi Generation 1 (G1) is a highly optimized solver for monolithic meshes with several advanced capabilities. SENTRi Generation 2 (G2) was developed due to technical limitations inherent in the Generation 1 code. Additional features in SENTRi G2 include a richer BI solver, the domain decomposition method (DDM), hierarchical basis functions, symmetry, and a powerful Python scripting interface.

Frequency Domain

SENTRi is a frequency domain code — which means one frequency at a time is solved; frequency sweeps are handled by running a series of solutions as defined by the user. SENTRi was designed as a frequency domain code to provide a higher degree of accuracy. In addition, frequency domain methods provide faster solutions for far field sweeps, calculation of S-parameter matrices for multi-port microwave circuits, and scanning of phased array antennas.

Material Modeling

SENTRi is designed for the modeling of complex structures including highly, heterogeneous material structures with multi-scaled features. SENTRi's material modeling includes dielectric, magnetic, impedance boundary conditions, and complex valued resistive sheets. Volume materials can have combined dielectric and magnetic properties, and can be isotropic or anisotropic. Volume materials can also have continuously varying properties with definitions provided by user-authored Python scripts. Similarly, Python scripts are used for defining the frequency varying properties of dispersive materials and for position varying resistive sheets.

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Hybridized with SENTRi G1 and available from the CREATE-RF program, Aurora is an asymptotic approximate EM solver, employing the physical-optics shooting-and-bouncing-rays (PO-SBR) technique for computing installed antenna patterns and plane wave scattering from electrically large platforms. Helping fulfill CREATE-RF's antenna-on-platform integration analysis objective, Aurora has modeled antenna patterns from parabolic reflectors up to aircraft carriers. It supports Windows and Linux and executes efficiently on HPC systems.

Hybrid SENTRi/Aurora In-Situ Antenna Analysis

SENTRi accurately predicts antenna patterns. As frequency rises, modeling platform interaction grows to be intractable. The SENTRi/Aurora hybrid accelerates and makes tractable platform integration analysis on otherwise unreachable problems. Reduced solve times also aid engineers in quickly understanding the impact of features such as propellers on the CV-22 Osprey at 2.4 GHz in less than an hour on a laptop.

Large Scale Problem Capable

Using 8,192 cores on the Excalibur system at the ARL DSRC, Aurora simulated a 2.4-GHz horizontal dipole antenna on a Nimitz class carrier with 13 FA-18 Hornets in 7 minutes.

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FLO-K is CREATE-RF's rapid design code for periodic structures such as frequency selective surfaces, phased-array antennas, band-gap structures, etc. FLO-K utilizes a finite element method coupled to a floquet modal expansion. Full three-dimensional structures with dielectric, magnetic, and impedance sheets can be modeled with FLO-K. Both rectangular and triangle lattices can be constructed, Structures can be modeled as screens (transmitted/reflected) or backed by impenetrable surface (reflected only).

Requesting Access

To request access to any of the above software, please visit our Contact page.