WASP-NET®: Recent advances in fast full 3D EM CAD of waveguide feeds and aperture antennas

WASP-NET's unique hybrid CAD approach comprising mode-matching (MM) / finite-element (FE) / method-of-moment (MoM) / finite-difference (FD) techniques fully exploits the specific efficiency and flexibility advantages of the involved main EM methods. Divergence-conforming higher-order vector basis functions increase the performance of MoM algorithms; dielectric materials are effectively taken into account by the Poggio-Miller-Chang-Harrington-Wu-Tsai (PMCHWT) formulation; large antenna arrays are effectively handled by the adaptive integral (AIM) or multi-level fast multi-pole (MLFMM) methods. Recent extensions include an efficient hybrid finite-element / boundary integral (FE-BI) solver for general 3D structures, and a MoM / PTD solver for large reflector antennas. The high efficiency of the CAD software will be demonstrated at some typical examples relevant for the antenna design engineer, such as compact filters, polarizer ortho-mode transducers (OMTs), lens horn antennas, reflector antennas with shaped sub-reflectors, large reflector antennas, and slot arrays.