Innovative improvements to High-Frequency Simulation Methods for Installed Antenna Performance Navy SBIR FY2010.3 Sol No.: Navy SBIR FY2010.3 Topic No.: N103-197 Topic Title: Innovative improvements to High-Frequency Simulation Methods for Installed Antenna Performance Proposal No.: N103-197-0006 Firm: Delcross Technologies, LLC 3015 Village Office Place Champaign, Illinois 61822 Contact: Robert Kipp Phone: (312) 873-1101 Web Site: www.delcross.com Abstract: Delcross proposes to systematically validate the Savant and Savant-Hybrid solvers for a wide variety of problems. When shortcomings in existing methods are identified, they will be investigated and revised as necessary to provide good comparison with benchmark solutions. Our approach will first consider canonical problems involving PEC structures that are well understood. We will use Savant and a full-wave solver to run the canonical test cases and then compare the results. We will then perform validations of the material models in Savant by comparing Savant and full-wave simulations for simple geometries involving single and multi-layer dielectric materials and eventually work up to complex radomes. We will also work with NAVAIR to compare Savant simulations with measured data for an antenna mounted on an aircraft. We will consider additional platforms for which measured data exist and potentially design test cases to be measured in an anechoic chamber or at an outdoor range. We plan to implement advanced physics models in Savant to improve the existing models. Validation of the advanced physics models would occur as part of the proposed effort. Finally, the Savant-Hybrid solver currently under development will be validated through comparisons to measurements and full-wave solutions. Benefits: While extensive validation of asymptotic methods for radar signature prediction has occurred, there has been substantially less publicly available validation data for asymptotic methods used for antenna applications. Developers and users of asymptotic antenna tools often resort to comparing their solutions with full-wave methods, which is a fundamentally sound approach but one that is limited in electrical size of the problem due to the memory and computational requirements of full-wave methods. Further, as previously undeveloped physics models are introduced for asymptotic antenna tools to more accurately predict installed antenna performance, there must be rigorous validation exercises to ensure that the new models are implemented correctly and to identify ways to further improve the physics models. For the past several years, Delcross Technologies has been developing the Savant software tool for predicting antenna performance as installed on electrically large platforms. Savant is based on the shooting-and-bouncing rays (SBR) method and is enhanced with a creeping wave model for realistic antennas installed on high-fidelity platforms. A commercial-grade GUI emphasizing 3-D visualization has been developed that allows users to setup, run and analyze the results of a Savant simulation. While Savant is currently a commercial product that is being successfully applied to a variety of installed antenna problems, it can still greatly benefit from improvements to its physics models (existing and planned) that result from a rigorous validation exercise. The resulting improvements will improve simulations performed by both military and commercial users. Return