[HN Gopher] Numerical Electromagnics Code (NEM)
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       Numerical Electromagnics Code (NEM)
        
       Author : hyperific
       Score  : 20 points
       Date   : 2025-07-03 05:38 UTC (2 days ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.nec2.org)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.nec2.org)
        
       | richk449 wrote:
       | What's the latest on open/free solvers to replace HFSS/CST?
        
         | CamperBob2 wrote:
         | OpenEMS has a lot of mindshare in that area. Not sure how
         | effective it is at replacing proprietary packages like HFSS,
         | though.
        
           | zoomablemind wrote:
           | Does HFSS visualize the field in real-time or a user needs to
           | set the geometry/parameters then precalculate the field and
           | only then be able to explore the visualization?
           | 
           | Say, if I wanted to see immediate effects of changing an
           | incidence angle, could I just "scroll" the incidence
           | parameter?
        
             | richk449 wrote:
             | HFSS does a typical FEM matrix solve then displays the
             | results. It is often used for very complex or large
             | problems, so as far as I know it isn't set up for instant
             | display of results. That would be a neat feature for small
             | problems.
        
         | gjrq wrote:
         | Best one I know of as a direct replacement is AWS PALACE:
         | https://awslabs.github.io/palace/stable/
         | 
         | Of course, you have to interact with the solver through JSON
         | files and provide your own initial mesh. They recently added
         | adaptive refinement but I don't know how well it works. Given
         | what Ansys charges for an HFSS seat though can't complain!
        
           | amelius wrote:
           | Wow, is there a Kicad script for generating input for this
           | tool based on a pcb layout? That would be awesome!
        
         | mNovak wrote:
         | Relatedly, is there a good open replacement for ADS/Microwave
         | Office? I've seen QUCS/QUCS studio but don't know if there's
         | others out there? Last I looked, the more general SPICE solvers
         | don't support S-param blocks and transmission lines, which are
         | pretty critical.
        
         | physicsguy wrote:
         | Depends what you're doing and how maths-y you are since you
         | need to tell it the equations you want to solve, but FEniCs is
         | a very good general purpose FEM code, and you can couple it to
         | Bempp for BEM stuff.
        
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       (page generated 2025-07-05 23:02 UTC)