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Plotting 3D Far Field Patterns

The far-field can be visualized as a 3D plot by selecting Results > Plot Far-Field Pattern > 3D Plot in the main menu. This command will open the AN-3D Pattern application, where the radiation pattern is displayed in a 3D view, showing the radiation lobes.

In addition, you can plot the Power Density, Directivity, Gain, total E-field, linearly polarized field components E-theta (vertical) and E-phi (horizontal), as well as circularly polarized components E-right and E-left, by selecting the corresponding commands under the Plot menu in the AN-3D Pattern application (see Fig. 1). If the simulation involves plane wave excitation, the Radar Cross Section (RCS) can be plotted.

You can also plot the Axial Ratio pattern (both dimensionless and in decibels), which is defined as the ratio of the minor to major axis of the polarization ellipse (it equals 0 for a linearly polarized field and 1 for a circularly polarized field).

Fig. 1: 3D far-field patterns plotted by AN-3D Pattern.

The 3D graph can be rotated and moved by dragging the mouse with the left button pressed. Move the mouse wheel to zoom the graph. The main menu of AN-3D Pattern has options for changing the units of the magnitudes, showing a color bar, and exporting data.

Note

  • If discrete sources were used as the excitation of the structure, the plotted far-field is the total field.
  • If an incident plane wave was used as the excitation, the plotted far-field is the scattered field.

To access the Preferences dialog box in the AN-3D Pattern main menu, click on Edit > Preferences (refer to Fig. 2). In this dialog box, you can choose various options for the colored surface and mesh of the radiation lobes (see Fig. 3). Additionally, you can superimpose the wire structure onto the radiation pattern by selecting the Wires option in the ‘Show’ box. You also have control over the graph’s scale and can display the main axes.

Furthermore, to tabulate the far-field pattern for a specific frequency, you can go to Results > List Far-Field Pattern in the AN-SOF main menu.

Fig. 2: Preferences dialog box of the AN-3D Pattern application.
Fig. 3: Different options available for plotting radiation lobes.
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