Page 1
© 2009 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 1 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary© 2009 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 1 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary
HFSS 12.0Tips and Techniques
for HFSS project setup and solve
HFSS 12.0Tips and Techniques
for HFSS project setup and solve
Page 2
© 2009 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 2 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary
Agenda
Ansoft HFSS v12
– Enhancements: GUI, Mesh, & Solver
– New Features: GUI, Mesh, & Solver
– Platform Support
Page 3
© 2009 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 3 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary
Ansoft HFSSCore Technologies
GUIGUI
MeshMesh SolverSolver
HFSS v12 released on September 10th, 2009
Page 4
© 2009 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 4 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary
Enhancements Summary
Mesh
64-bit Volumetric MeshCurvilinear elementsInitial Mesh Settings
Increased Speed
Mesh
64-bit Volumetric MeshCurvilinear elementsInitial Mesh Settings
Increased Speed
Solver
Mixed Element OrderDomain Decomposition Method
Dependent SolvePort Solver with DC Extrapolation
Solver
Mixed Element OrderDomain Decomposition Method
Dependent SolvePort Solver with DC Extrapolation
Graphical User Interface
Near and Far Field OverlayAdjoint Derivatives
Imprint and Select by AreaClip Plane and Polyline cross section
Graphical User Interface
Near and Far Field OverlayAdjoint Derivatives
Imprint and Select by AreaClip Plane and Polyline cross section
Page 5
© 2009 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 5 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary
Enhancements
Graphical User Interface
Near and Far Field OverlayAdjoint Derivatives
Imprint and Select by AreaClip Plane and Polyline cross section
Graphical User Interface
Near and Far Field OverlayAdjoint Derivatives
Imprint and Select by AreaClip Plane and Polyline cross section
Page 6
© 2009 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 6 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary
Overlay Near and Far Field Plots on Geometry
• Visualize far-field and near-field radiation patterns on model geometry• Control transparency and/or size of pattern overlay
Page 7
© 2009 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 7 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary
Edit Sources with Port Post-Processing
• Option for port post-processing to affect sources for field plots
Page 8
© 2009 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 8 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary
Edit Sources with Port Post-Processing
• Fields correspond with deembedding
Original geometry for ring hybrid model
Modified geometry with new port location disrupts
field behavior Operation restored by de-embedding
Page 9
© 2009 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 9 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary
Streamline Plot
• New plot type for field quantities– Pick source face, choose Poynting Vector and Streamline option
Page 10
© 2009 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 10 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary
Post-Processing Variables
• Can be modified without re-simulating the model
• Can optimize complex weights of antenna elements in phased array
Optimization of Phased Array Excitations
Synthesized Far-field Pattern Specify Desired Scan Angle and Maximum Sidelobe Level
Page 11
© 2009 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 11 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary
Adjoint Derivatives
• Derivatives of S-Parameters with respect to Design Variables– Identify which parameters influence output most– Plot both S-parameters and its derivatives– Focus on sensitive design parameters– Enhanced optimization
Page 12
© 2009 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 12 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary
Plotting with Derivative Offsets
Dipole ModelLengthRadius
“Tune” the delta for a given variable…
• Tune reports and explore effects of small design changes– Real-time tuning shows impact on performance
– Tune offsets for variables included in derivative setup
Page 13
© 2009 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 13 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary
Expression Cache
• Evaluate and save any expression versus adaptive pass– Includes scalar and radiated field data– Enables multiple convergence criteria– Use Quick Report to generate Convergence Plot
0.00 2.00 4.00 6.00 8.00 10.00 12.00 14.00 16.00 18.00 20.00Pass
1.00
10.00
100.00
1000.00
Y1
Ansoft LLC HFSSModel1Expression ConvergeCurve Info
ExprPctDelta(L1)Setup1 : AdaptivePassFreq='12GHz'
ExprPctDelta(Q1)Setup1 : AdaptivePassFreq='12GHz'
ExprPctGoal(L1)Setup1 : AdaptivePassFreq='12GHz'
ExprPctGoal(Q1)Setup1 : AdaptivePassFreq='12GHz'
Page 14
© 2009 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 14 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary
Imprint
• Imprint– Imprint the geometry of one object upon another
Face created from imprint
Page 15
© 2009 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 15 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary
Imprint Projection
• Imprint Projection– Patch Antenna Array Imprinted on a Nosecone
• Results in Faces of original object imprinted• Make sure that the distance selected is greater than the
distance between the antenna and nosecone
Page 16
© 2009 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 16 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary
Enhanced Usability
• Select By Area– Click and drag to rubber-band select
• Right-to-left selects all objects passing through window• Left-to-right selects all objects inside window
• Select By Variable– Helps find objects tied to variables
• Select By Area– By default, only items with external surfaces are
selected
• Material filters– Enable the Include and Exclude radio buttons
• Object name filters– Enable the Exclude and Include check boxes
• Object type filters – Enable the check boxes for including Solids,
Sheets, and/or Lines
• Hide unfiltered objects – Makes unfiltered objects transparent after selection
Page 17
© 2009 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 17 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary
Enhanced Usability
• Multiple lumped port assignments– Multi port selection– Assign ports and reference
• Useful for SI problems with multiple lumped ports
Page 18
© 2009 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 18 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary
Enhanced Usability
• Clip plane– Interactively slice through arbitrary plane– Can view model geometry, mesh plots, field plots, etc.
Page 19
© 2009 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 19 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary
Definable Polyline Cross Section
• Create 2D or 3D objects from polylines– Choose Cross Section Type and Size– Section is automatically swept along the polyline
• Very useful for creating parameterized geometry– Ports, traces, bends,…
Page 20
© 2009 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 20 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary
2D Chamfers and Fillets
• Create Chamfers and Fillets on 2D Objects– Select a vertex graphically and choose the menu item:
• Fillet or Chamfer
Chamfer - 45 degree cut
Fillet- Rounded edge
Page 21
© 2009 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 21 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary
Additional GUI Enhancements
• Duplicate Mesh Operations with objects• Wrap Sheet command• Draw Region command• Create parametric setup from file• Enable/Disable History editing information
– Recreates the history for polylines, circles, or ellipses • Save Sweep settings as defaults• Model Validation settings
– Strict, Warning, Basic• Warning message about object intersect
– RMC on message takes you to region of intersect
Page 22
© 2009 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 22 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary
New Plot Types
• Rectangular Stacked Plot– Plot all variations in stacked format
1.00 1.50 2.00 2.50 3.00 3.50Freq [GHz]
-25.00
-15.00
-5.00
-12.00
-7.00
-2.00
-22.50
-12.50
-2.50
-30.00
-20.00
-10.00
0.00
-0.50
-0.30
-0.10
-25.00
-15.00
-5.00
Curve Info
dB(St(coax_pin_T1,coax_pin_T1))Setup1 : Sweep1feed_xpos='-0.5cm' feed_ypos='-0.5cm'
dB(St(coax_pin_T1,coax_pin_T1))Setup1 : Sweep1feed_xpos='0cm' feed_ypos='-0.5cm'
dB(St(coax_pin_T1,coax_pin_T1))Setup1 : Sweep1feed_xpos='0.5cm' feed_ypos='-0.5cm'
dB(St(coax_pin_T1,coax_pin_T1))Setup1 : Sweep1feed_xpos='-0.5cm' feed_ypos='0cm'
dB(St(coax_pin_T1,coax_pin_T1))Setup1 : Sweep1feed_xpos='0cm' feed_ypos='0cm'
dB(St(coax_pin_T1,coax_pin_T1))Setup1 : Sweep1feed_xpos='0.5cm' feed_ypos='0cm'
Ansoft LLC HFSSDesign1XY Stacked Plot 1
Page 23
© 2009 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 23 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary
User Defined Shortcuts
• User Definable Keyboard Shortcuts– Define, load or save shortcut keys to common commands
Page 24
© 2009 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 24 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary
Enhancements
Mesh
64bit Volumetric MesherCurvilinear elementsInitial Mesh Settings
Increased Speed
Mesh
64bit Volumetric MesherCurvilinear elementsInitial Mesh Settings
Increased Speed
Page 25
© 2009 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 25 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary
Mesh Generation
– Updated Geometry Kernel (ACIS R19 SP2)
– New Meshing Technology:• Curvilinear elements
– True surface representation• New Ansoft TAU Mesher introduced
– Strict and Tolerant mode depending on model geometry
– Adaptive meshing improvements:• Higher Quality Mesh
– Faster and more efficient simulations• Reduced CPU time - Faster
Page 26
© 2009 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 26 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary
Curvilinear Elements
• Right-click on Mesh Operations -> Initial Mesh Settings– Curvilinear Elements Off by Default
• Apply curvilinear elements
Curvilinear mesh element
HFSS 12 can use either mesh element
Coarse mesh Fine mesh
Page 27
© 2009 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 27 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary
Initial Mesh Settings
• Right-click on Mesh Operations– Auto is the default setting– Ansoft TAU Mesh
• Strict and Tolerant– Ansoft Classic Mesh
Page 28
© 2009 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 28 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary
New default mesh generator
HFSS 11
HFSS 12 meshes it cleanly.
Page 29
© 2009 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 29 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary
Enhancements
Solver
Mixed Element OrderDomain Decomposition Method
Dependent SolvePort Solver with DC Extrapolation
Remote Solve Manager
Solver
Mixed Element OrderDomain Decomposition Method
Dependent SolvePort Solver with DC Extrapolation
Remote Solve Manager
Page 30
© 2009 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 30 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary
Solver Technology Overview
• Solution Options– Direct
• Default technique• Solves matrix equation Ax=b
– Multi-frontal Sparse Matrix Solver to find the inverse of A– Solves for all excitations(b) simultaneously
– Iterative• Added in V11• Solves matrix equation MAx=Mb
– M is a preconditioner– Major computation is the matrix-vector multiplication: (MA)x– Iterates for each excitation – Simultaneously solve using SMP (MP/HPC License)
• Iterative Solver is more sensitive to mesh quality– Benefits from TAU Meshing
Page 31
© 2009 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 31 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary
Solver Technology Overview
• Order of Basis Functions– Hierarchical basis functions
• Introduced in V11• Zero or First or Second order basis functions• Higher-order elements have increased accuracy• One order per mesh allowed
– Mixed Order New
• hp-FEM Method– Refines element order(p) and element size(h)
• Automatically distributes element order based on element size
• Generates optimum combination of hierarchical basis functions (Zero and First and Second)– Efficient use of computing resources
Page 32
© 2009 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 32 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary
Mixed Element Order Example #1
• Two waveguide horn antennas• Compared element order of
basis functions– Iterative matrix solver– Mixed order reduces solver time by
100% and RAM usage by 40%
Element Order
Iterative Solver Real Time
(Adaptive Pass)
RAM Usage
Mesh Elements
First 7 min 4.5 GB 336k
Mixed 3 min 2.8 GB 58k
Probe-fed Pyramidal Horns
Page 33
© 2009 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 33 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary
Mixed Element Order Example #2
Element Order
Direct Solver Real Time
(Adaptive Pass) RAM Usage
First 1hr 20min 13.8 GB
Second 4hr 45min 16.6 GB
Mixed 56 min 13.7 GB
• Finite array of helix elements• Direct matrix solver
– Mixed order reduces solver time by 30%
Finite Phased Array
Page 34
© 2009 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 34 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary
Ports Precision
• HFSS v12 Port Solver• 50 ohm coax adapter with Teflon
support slug• In v11 solve down to 50 kHz
– Fails if frequency is lower• How much lower and more
accurate can v12 solve
Page 35
© 2009 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 35 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary
Ports Precision Results
Page 36
© 2009 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 36 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary
Port Precision Results, cont.
• Reliable results in v11 to 630 kHz• In v12 ~ 2.5 kHz (4e-3 lower)• Lower “noise floor”.
– V11 = -110 dB– V12 = -120 dB
• Can expect a 2-3 order in magnitude lower “solvable” frequency– Improves DC Extrapolation
• Important for SI designs.
Page 37
© 2009 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 37 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary
Domain Decomposition for HFSS
• New feature in HFSS v12• Distributes mesh sub-
domains to network of processors
• Distributed memory parallel technique
• Significantly increases simulation capacity– 64-bit meshing
• Highly scalable to large numbers of processors
• Multi-processor nodes can be utilized
HPC distributes mesh subdomainsto networked processors and memory
Page 38
© 2009 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 38 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary
Review DDM Technique
• DDM subdivides a mesh into smaller mesh “sub-domains” that are solved in parallel.– A “master” node iteratively solves for total solution– Subdivision into domains is automated
• Easy to use!!!• The user defines a set of N available compute nodes to
be used for a DDM solution– n=1 is the “master” node, single core– n=2 to N are the sub-domain nodes solved with direct
solver
Page 39
© 2009 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 39 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary
DDM Setup Interface
• Tools -> Options -> General Options -> Analysis Option• Tools -> Options -> HFSS Option -> Solver• HFSS -> Analysis Setup -> Add Solution -> Setup Options
Master node
Domain nodes
Page 40
© 2009 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 40 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary
Observing a DDM solution
1. Six sub-domains solvinga. 7th master node
or core at top2. Four sub-domains
finished, two running
3. Sub-domains finished; Master core iteratively reconstructing solution
4. Post-processing data
5. Transferring files
Page 41
© 2009 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 41 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary
Hardware Suggestions
• Suggested: 4GB minimum per core• Master node:
– Should have a “decent” amount of shared memory.– 4-16 for large problems – >16 for the largest (100+ cores)
– For very large simulations with many domain nodes the iterative process on the master node will be the most computationally expensive
• It is more important to use memory efficiently than to use all the processors.
Page 42
© 2009 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 42 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary
Example #1: F-35 - JSF
•F-35 Joint Strike Fighter: UHF blade antenna @ 350 MHz•Problem size = 1400λ3
Page 43
© 2009 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 43 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary
• Consistent results between domain decomposition and direct solver
Results and Accuracy
Page 44
© 2009 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 44 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary
Faster Solutions
• Solution timeNumber of Domains Time (secs)
Speed-up
1 23252 1.00
2 8928 2.60
3 6056 3.84
4 4479 5.19
5 3476 6.69
6 2784 8.35
7 2649 8.78
8 2180 10.67
9 2032 11.44
10 1760 13.21
11 1859 12.51
12 1804 12.89
13 1527 15.23
14 1649 14.10
15 1313 17.71
Iterative 1 4815 4.83
Time (secs)
0
5000
10000
15000
20000
25000
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
Time (secs)
Speed-up
123456789
101112131415161718
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
Speed-up
Page 45
© 2009 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 45 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary
Memory Savings
Number of Domains
total memory
average memory
1 33.30 33.30
2 28.43 14.22
3 27.46 9.15
4 24.89 6.22
5 24.88 4.98
6 23.94 3.99
7 23.53 3.36
8 23.25 2.91
9 22.15 2.46
10 21.06 2.11
11 21.97 2.00
12 20.64 1.72
13 20.96 1.61
14 20.49 1.46
15 20.18 1.35
total memory
0.00
5.00
10.00
15.00
20.00
25.00
30.00
35.00
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16
total memory
Page 46
© 2009 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 46 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary
Example #2: Asymmetric Dish Antenna
Total cores Elapsed Time (S) Memory (GB) Speed-up Linear8 22049 153.7 1.00 1.0012 12948 133.5 1.70 1.5016 9540 123.6 2.31 2.0020 7345 114.6 3.00 2.5024 5649 110 3.90 3.0028 4829 107.7 4.57 3.5032 4560 103.7 4.84 4.0036 4102 101.2 5.38 4.5040 3912 96.4 5.64 5.00
~17,500 λ3
9-16 saves 12509 s =(22049-9540)17-24 saves 3891 s Diminishing absolute returns
Not an image of actually model simulated
Page 47
© 2009 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 47 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary
• Exhibits better than linear speed-up wrt number of cores– 8 to 32 = 4.8X speed-up.
• 67% memory savings from 8 to 40 cores• How does it compare to a single processor
direct solve?– Answer: Could not be accomplished on a single
machine. “Solving the previously unsolvable.”
Example #2: Summary
Page 48
© 2009 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 48 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary
Remote Simulation Manager
• New for Distributed Analysis and Remote Simulations– Easy to setup and use
• Enables DDM, DSO and remote solve capabilities– Supports mixed operating system environments– Supports LSF and Windows HPC
Page 49
© 2009 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 49 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary
Platform Support
• Windows (32/64)– XP Professional– Vista– HPC Server 2008– Server 2003
• Linux– Red Hat Enterprise 4/5– Suse v10 and v11
Page 50
© 2009 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 50 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary
Summary
Mesh
64-bit Volumetric MeshCurvilinear elementsInitial Mesh Settings
Increased Speed
Mesh
64-bit Volumetric MeshCurvilinear elementsInitial Mesh Settings
Increased Speed
Solver
Mixed Element OrderDomain Decomposition Method
Dependent SolvePort Solver with DC Extrapolation
Remote Solver Manager
Solver
Mixed Element OrderDomain Decomposition Method
Dependent SolvePort Solver with DC Extrapolation
Remote Solver Manager
Graphical User Interface
Near and Far Field OverlayAdjoint Derivatives
Imprint and Select by AreaClip Plane and Polyline cross section
Graphical User Interface
Near and Far Field OverlayAdjoint Derivatives
Imprint and Select by AreaClip Plane and Polyline cross section