Problems when simulating antenna efficiency
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Hi, I am using sim4life to estimate the efficiency (the ratio between the EM radiated power and the electrical power delivered to the antenna) of a communication antenna for an implantable device. What would be the best way to do it?
So far my approach has been the following:
- Perform an FDTD simulation.
- Extract the "Overall Field" sensor.
- Choose "Power balance".
However, I get a radiated power nearly ten times less than the input power (even at ideal conditions, without any losses).
I have also tried integrating the Poynting vector over a surface to get the radiated power and extracting the input power sensor, however, I get nearly the same results.
How can I simulate the efficiency of an antenna using sim4life?
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Hi, you can get additional information by enabling the "Far Field" sensor and then choosing the "Radiation Report" evaluator (see for example the Phased Array Patch Antenna tutorial).
It will not solve your problem, but might help you get a clearer picture. From what you describe, it's possible you have a very low mismatch efficiency (most of the energy is reflected).
This could be addressed by improving the way you are modeling your source, or by just ignoring it if it is not important (i.e. if you are not actually simulating the real feed and are only interested in the antenna itself). You would do that by considering the Radiation Efficiency (ratio of Radiated Power to Accepted Power) instead.
