State-of-the-art in antenna software benchmarking: "are we there yet ?" [euraap corner]

Last year, within the yearly benchmarking cycle of the EurAAP Working Group on Software, a follow-up study was performed of the "World GSM Antenna", a very challenging topology for antenna software tools. The results were considerably better than in 2009, when the first study on this antenna was published, but still not fully satisfying. This year, in an effort "to boldly go where no one has gone before," two structures were benchmarked. The "World GSM Antenna" was analyzed for the third time, focusing again on the S parameters. A new structure, a wideband diamond antenna mounted on a large dihedral metal platform, was benchmarked, focusing on the radiation patterns. As far as the Software WG can see, antenna software benchmarking has never been brought to such a level. The results were presented at the special session of the EurAAP Software Working Group at EuCAP 2014, and are summarized in this article.