Adding an S-Parameter Configuration

Define an S-parameter configuration and add it to the model.

  1. Add an S-parameter configuration using one of the following workflows:
    • On the Request tab, in the Configurations group, click the  S-parameter Configuration icon.
    • In the configuration list, click the icon. Select S-parameter Configuration from the menu .


    Figure 1. The Create S-Parameters dialog.
  2. In the Power group select one of the following:
    • Select Specify transmit power to specify the transmit power for all the ports when calculating the requests associated with the S-parameter request.
    • Select Use unit magnitude convention to use the unit magnitude convention to calculate the requests associated with the S-parameter request.
      Note: The S-parameter matrix result is not affected when selecting the power option, only the fields or current requests associated with the S-parameter request is altered based on the power information.
  3. [Optional] In the Options group, select the Export S-parameters to Touchstone file check box to export the S-parameters to a .snp file.
    For each S-parameter configuration, a separate Touchstone file is created. The file name is in the form <FEKO_base_filename>_<requestname>(k).snp where:
    FEKO_base_filename
    file name of the model
    requestname
    request name
    n
    number of ports
    k
    a counter (integer) to distinguish between the results of multiple requests with the same name and the same number of ports.
    Note:

    Feko does not normalise the S-parameter values to a global reference impedance when exporting the S-parameters to a Touchstone file. The values are referenced to the impedance specified on each port.

    CAUTION:
    Some industry tools that use the Touchstone format often assume that all values are referenced to a common impedance. When exporting S-parameters for use in an industry tool that supports only a single reference impedance, specify the reference impedance for each port to ensure the correct interpretation.
  4. [Optional] In the Options group, select the Restore loads after calculation check box to remove the loads once the S-parameter calculation is complete.
  5. In the Port column, from the drop-down list, select the port.
  6. In the Properties column, specify the following:
    • For waveguide ports, specify the type (TE1 / TM2/ TEM3), indices and rotation of the mode.
    • For ports other than waveguide and FEM modal ports, specify the reference impedance. If no impedance is specified, a default reference impedance of 50 Ohm is used.
  7. In the Active column, select the check box to use the port as a “source” (else the port is only a “receiving” or “sink” port).
    Note: For example, if a Port1 and Port2 is defined, but only Port1 is active, only S11 and S21 are calculated.

During the calculation of S-parameters, the specified reference impedances are added as loads to the ports. These loads remain in place after the S-parameter calculation. If the loads are removed once the S-parameter calculation is complete and there are subsequent output requests, such as near fields, the full matrix computation and LU decomposition steps will be repeated for the MoM solution method. This is typically the most time-consuming step in the analysis. It must be noted that should near fields be requested, and the loads remain, the near fields will be lower in magnitude due to the losses in the loads.

  1. In the Label field, add a unique label for the request.
  2. Click Create to request the S-parameter results and to close the dialog.
The port numbers in an S-parameter solution are indexed based on the order of appearance in the port list on the Create S-parameters dialog, and not according to the label of the selected port.
1 transverse electric (TE)
2 transverse magnetic (TM)
3 transverse electric and magnetic (TEM)