MAIN WINDOW

2 MAIN WINDOW

The main window includes the main menubar, a status area, an action area, and the block editing areas. The edit area is divided into a part which contains values which are common to all blocks, and a part which is specific to the current block type.

2.1 MAIN MENU

2.1.1 File - File reading and writing functions.

New	Clear to create a new model.
Open...	Open a model file.
Save	Save model to the input file.
Save As...	Save model to a new file.
Model Info...	Print model information.
Wizard...	Analyze the model for possible errors.
Quit	Quit LC.

2.1.2 Select - Select blocks to edit.

All	Select all blocks in the model.
Unselected	Select unselected blocks.
By Name	Select blocks matching the name pattern.
By Material	Select blocks with matching material.
By Color	Select blocks with matching color.
Visible	Select all visible blocks.
Invisible	Select all invisible blocks.
Enabled	Select all enabled blocks.
Disabled	Select all disabled blocks.
By Region...	Specify a bounding box by coordinates.

2.1.3 Edit - Modify the model.

Undo	Undo the effect of the last modification.
Cut	Delete selections and put into the paste buffer.
Copy	Copy selections into the paste buffer.
Paste	Place contents of paste buffer into the model.
Move	Move selections.
Visible	Make selected blocks visible.
Invisible	Make selected blocks invisible.
Raise	Raise selected blocks to the top of the stack.
Lower	Lower selected blocks to the bottom of the stack.
Update	Update selected blocks with edit changes.
Name...	Edit block names.
Transform...	Rotate, translate, and scale.

2.1.4 View - Change viewing parameters.

Blocks...	View a list of blocks.
Cut/Paste...	View the Cut/Paste list.
Model...	Open a new viewport.
Pointer Mode...	View and set the pointer mode.
Probe Value...	View the pointer probe value.
Undo...	View the editing undo stack.
Show Extent	Show a wire frame around the model.
Show Grid	Show nodes in the model grid as dots.
Show Limits	Show viewport limits for orthogonal views.
Show Ruler	Annotate coordinate axes.
Show Origin	Show coordinate system origin axes.
Perspective View	Draw model with depth.
Box Drag	Drag operation feedback is a box.

2.1.5 Define - Define model parameters.

Calculations...	Define probe calculations.
Colors...	Define color map.
Materials...	Define materials.
Model...	Define model parameters.
Multiport Loads...	Define multiport loads.
Pulses...	Define pulses from probe outputs.

2.1.6 Tools - Model manipulation and conversion.

Read NC Drill File...	Read drills as model via blocks.
Read DXF File...	Read AutoCAD DXF format file.
Read Gerber File...	Read Gerber artwork file.
Write ACAD FDTD...	Write model as an ACAD FDTD mesh.
Convert To Mesh	Convert model to FDTD mesh of cells.
Write Movie.BYU...	Write model as a Movie.BYU file.
Write OBJ Geo File...	Write model as Wavefront OBJ Geo.
Write VRML File...	Write model as VRML file.
X-Y Plot...	Display an X-Y Plot file.

2.1.7 Run - Control the FDTD simulation.

Simulation...	Display the simulation control dialog.
Start	Start a simulation.
Stop	Interrupt a running simulation.
Reset	Reset to start of simulation.
Terminate	Terminate a simulation.
Checkpoint...	Save a running simulation.
Restart...	Restart a checkpointed simulation.

2.1.8 Analysis - Calculate and display the results.

Calculator...	Evaluate plot expressions.
Plot Probes...	Plot probe values.
Plot Pulses...	Plot pulse values.
S Parameters...	Plot S-Parameters.
Step Pulses...	View pulse values in steps.

2.1.9 Model - Select current model to edit.

This menu contains the names of the models that are loaded and ready to be edited. Selecting a model from this menu switches it to be the current model.

2.1.10 SGI Logo - Refresh Model Viewports.

2.1.11 Help - Display help information.

User's Guide...	Display the LC User's Guide.
LC Version...	Information about this program version.

2.2 Status Area

The status area is just below the menubar. The result of each operation is displayed here, along with status messages.

2.3 Action Area

The action area contains a row of buttons which browse the selection list and update the active block.

The action area functions are:

Previous	Display the previous block from the selection list. If this is the top of the list, then a wrap- around is performed and the last block on the selection list is shown.
Next	The next block from the selection list is displayed. If this is the bottom of the list, then a wrap-around is performed and the first block on the selection list is shown.
Deselect	The block shown in the edit area is removed from the selection list. The next block on the list is then displayed. If the list is empty, then no block is shown.
Clear	The selection list is cleared. All blocks are deselected.
Replace	The values given in the edit area are saved to the active block.
Add	The values given in the edit area are used to add a new block to the model. The new block becomes the only item in the selection list, and is the active block.
Delete	The currently displayed block is deleted from the model.
Reset	The values in the edit area are reset to the saved values of the edit block. This allows temporary changes to be undone before they are saved with Replace or Add.

2.4 Edit Area

The edit area displays the active block from the selection list. If no blocks are selected, then this area is empty. Changes made in the edit area are temporary. The changes can be saved by the Replace and Add functions in the action area.

The edit area is divided into two sections:

Selections which are common to all blocks.
Selections which are specific to one block type.

2.4.1 Common Block Area

Name	A identifier given to a block. All block names must be unique within the model. If this field is left blank, then a new name is automatically assigned. If the name specified is not unique, then any trailing digits are removed from the name and a unique number is appended to the end.
Block Type	This is a selection of one of the general block types:
	Geometry	Defines material properties for a region.
	Load	Defines a single port circuit element.
	Port	Defines a port of a multiport load.
	Probe	Defines an output value to be calculated, saved, or displayed.
	Source	Defines an input excitation region.
	Submesh	Redefines the simulation cell size within the region.
Visible	This toggle defines whether the block is displayed. This toggle can be used to reduce visual clutter while editing a model, and to see through blocks that obscure details. Invisible blocks are not displayed, but they are still part of the model and are used during the simulation. Invisible blocks cannot be selected with the Select viewport pointer operation, but can be selected with the select menu or from the View Blocks dialog.
Color	This selection defines the color of the block when it is displayed. Selecting this item pops up a color palette from which to choose. A default color is defined for block type, and for each material of a geometry block.
Fill	This selection defines the fill pattern of the block when it is displayed. Selecting this item pops up a fill pattern menu from which to choose. The default is solid (opaque) color. Other selections provide levels of transparency for the block.
Center Size Min Max	These numeric values define the (X,Y,Z) center, size, minimum, and maximum bouding box of the block. The values are linked such that a change to one values will be automatically reflected in the others. Thus a change to the center coordinates will also change the minimum and maximum coordinates.

2.4.2 Geometry Block Area

Material	The name of the material of the block. The name must match one of the materials from the Define Materials dialog. A selection list of the currently defined material names may be displayed by pressing the arrow button.
Shape	The shape of the block, either Cube or Cylinder. Cubes are actually
	Cube	A rectangular block aligned with the coordinate axes.
	Cylinder	A cylinder aligned along a given axis. The largest round cylinder that fits inside of the block bounding box.
	Sphere	The largest sphere that fits inside of the block bounding box.
Orientation	The cylinder alignment axis. A cylinder aligned with the X-axis will have a circular cross-section in the X-plane.
Plane Rotation	The angle of rotation of the block in degrees. A block can be rotated in the X-, Y-, and Z- planes, resulting in an arbitrary rotation in space. A rotated block is no longer aligned with the simulation grid, and is thus approximated by staircasing.

2.4.3 Load Block Area

Load Type	The type of circuit interface used.
	FDTD	Simulate a resistive load within the FDTD simulation. The advantage of this type of resistive load is that it is implemented within FDTD, so there is no need to call SPICE to evaluate the load.
	Spice Norton	A Norton-equivalent circuit composed of a current source and a parallel capacitor. This is the default port type.
	Spice Thevenin	A Thevenin-equivalent circuit composed of a voltage source and a series inductor. This port type is not yet functional.
Direction	The orientation of the port in space. This defines which surfaces are the connection points of the probe. For example, a +X orientation would define the +X face of the probe to be the positive end of the port, and the -X face to be the negative end.
Multiport Name	The name of the associated multiport load for this port. Every port must reference exactly one multiport load.
Positive Node	The SPICE circuit node name for this port. This will be the node to which the positive end of the port is attached.
Negative Node	The SPICE circuit voltage reference node name for this port. This will be the node to which the negative end of the port is attached. The default if not specified is node 0 (ground).
Input File	For SPICE loads, the SPICE circuit file for the load.
Resistance	For FDTD loads, the resistance of the load.

2.4.4 Port Block Area

Port Type	The type of circuit interface used.
	Spice Norton	A Norton-equivalent circuit composed of a current source and a parallel capacitor. This is the default port type.
	Spice Thevenin	A Thevenin-equivalent circuit composed of a voltage source and a series inductor. This port type is not yet functional.
Direction	The orientation of the port in space. This defines which surfaces are the connection points of the probe. For example, a +X orientation would define the +X face of the probe to be the positive end of the port, and the -X face to be the negative end.
Multiport Name	The name of the associated multiport load for this port. Every port must reference exactly one multiport load.
Positive Node	The SPICE circuit node name for this port. This will be the node to which the positive end of the port is attached.
Negative Node	The SPICE circuit voltage reference node name for this port. This will be the node to which the negative end of the port is attached. The default if not specified is node 0 (ground).
Bias Voltage	A voltage value which is subtracted from the SPICE circuit voltage before the result is applied to the port block. The default is 0.

2.4.5 Probe Block Area

Output	The output type of the probe. This defines the quantity to be calculated within the probe region. Some output types are vector fields, others are directional scalars, and some are simple scalar values.
Component	For vector field output types, such as electric field intensity, the field component to be calculated. Magnitude gives the magnitude of the vector field components.
Direction	For directional scalar output types, the direction of the calculation. For voltage, this is the potential direction across the probe. For current, it is the direction of current flow. For magnetic flux, it's the normal direction to the flux integration surface.
Form	The form of the probe: point, line, plane, or surface. A point probe computes one value for the probe per time step. A line probe computes an array of values along the line for each time step. A plane probe computes the values across the face of the plane for each value. A surface probe calculates the values on the surface of the geometry blocks enclosed within the probe.
Orientation	Line and plane probes are further defined by an orientation: the axis along which the line probe is aligned, or the plane in which the plane probe lies. Be careful not to have the orientation in conflict with the direction for directional scalar output types.
Value	How the probe value is determined: in the center of the region, or averaged across the region. This selections only has an effect if the probe has extra spatial dimensions. For example, if a point probe is measuring voltage in the X dimension, it can be averaged in the Y and Z dimensions. However, a line probe oriented in the X direction measuring voltage in the Z direction can only be averaged in Y. For a totally constrained probe, such as a voltage plane, this selection is ignored.
Magnitude	This toggle forces the absolute value for the probe values. This feature is useful when viewing a plane so the colors aren't split between positive and negative values, and also for point and line comparisons.
Plot	Display the probe values during the simulation. For point probes, an X-Y plot of simulation time versus the probe value is displayed. For line probes, an X-Y plot of the probe values along the line is displayed and updated as the simulation proceeds, giving an animated effect. Plane and surface probes depend upon the user to have a viewport open. The probe is displayed as a color-shaded image superimposed ontop of the model geometry.
Save	Save the probe values to a file during the simulation. This option must be selected if the analysis functions are to be used. If the probe is a point or a line, a single output file will be created in LCPlot format. A point plot file will contain the value of the probe for each time step saved. A line plot file will contain a plot of the probe values for each time step saved. Plane and surfaces are written to a sequence of files, one for each time step saved. The sequence is numbered from 0 for the first frame. If the filename contains asterisks (), then those positions in the filename are replaced with the sequence number. For example, "ex.out" corresponds to the sequence "ex000.out", "ex001.out", and so on. If no asterisks are present, then ".*" is appended onto the filename and the sequence number appears on the end of the file names. If GIF format output is selected for a plane probe, then an animated GIF file is written with all of the images.
Output File	The file in which the probe values are saved. If no file is defined, then the probe name is used as the base file name
Time Factor	The number of simulation time steps elapsed between probe samples. The default is to sample the probe at every time step (i.e., time factor equal to 1). The default time factor results in the file sequence number being equal to the time step for plane and surface probes. If a larger time factor is given, then the sequence number times the time factor equals the simulation time step.
Space Factor	The number of grid cells between each sampled point. This only effects line and plane probes. The default is to sample every grid cell (i.e., space factor equal to 1).
Format	The format of the saved probe data. Movie.BYU data contains the raw probe values, such as voltages and currents. The image formats, such as GIF, Sun rasterfile, and XWD, are prescaled onto a linear color palette ranging from blue (for the lowest value) to red (for the highest value).
Range Min Range Max Noise	These three values define the range of values to be displayed. For point and line probes, Min and Max define the Y-axis range of the graph. For plane probes, Min and Max define cutoff values for color shading. Noise defines a magnitude cutoff for background values. If no Min and Max are given, then the current minimum and maximum values of the probe are used. If no noise cutoff value is defined, then all values are displayed.
Image Scale	When saving a plane probe in an image format, such as GIF, LC can scale the image to make it larger and easier to see. By default (scale=1), one pixel is written to the image for each field value. Scaling is done in both plane dimensions, so a scale factor of 2 increases the image size by 4. The scaling is done by simply replicating a value; no interpolation is performed.
Visual Form	The visual form of a plane probe when it is displayed in a viewport.
	Colored	Each cell is displayed as a single color.
	Shaded	Colors are interpolated between grid points.
	Contour	Colored contour lines are interpolated and drawn.
Colors	The number of colors to use when displaying a plane probe. If displayed as a contour, also the number of contour lines. The default is 100 colors.

2.4.6 Source Block Area

Waveform	The source excitation waveform, which is a time-domain or frequency-domain definition of the source shape.
Direction	The direction of the excitation. This is either the direction of the potential (for a voltage source) or direction of the current flow (for a current source).
Excitation	The choices are voltage source or current source. A voltage source forces an electric field potential across the excitation direction of the source region. A current source forces a magnetic field loop around the source region to induce a current in the direction of excitation.
Train	If this toggle is set, then any pulse waveforms will repeat as a pulse train.
Peak Value	The peak value for the source. The default is 1. The units are volts for a voltage source, and amps for a current source. If a negative value is specified, it reverses the direction of the source (e.g., +X becomes -X).
Start Time	If this value is set, then the source is delayed until the time given. This feature can be used to set a phase difference between multiple sources. If a pulse train is given a start time, then the time applies to the start of each pulse in the train. The value is specified in seconds.
Resistance	By default, the sources are ideal, with zero resistance. A voltage source can be given a resistance value, but resistive current sources are not implemented.
Hard	When this toggle is set, then the source is a hard source. This means that the fields existing in the source region are overwritten while the source is active. If the toggle is not set, then the source is a soft source. A soft source is a superposition of the source waveform with the fields existing in the source region. Soft sources let propagating signals naturally pass through the source region. Hard sources can cause reflections from the source region.
Rise Time	The 10% to 90% rise time of the pulse, in seconds.
Duration	The duration of the pulse, in seconds. The default is zero (the pulse begin to fall immediately after it reaches its peak value).
Fall Time	The 90% to 10% fall time of the pulse, in seconds. The fall time equals the rise time if no fall time is specified.
Center Frequency	Sinusoidal modulation frequency of a modulated gaussian pulse. Note that a zero frequency makes the pulse degenerate, rather than centered at DC.
High Frequency	The frequency at which the pulse has dropped off to 1/e(37%) of its peak value, and defines the bandwidth of the modulated gaussian pulse source.
Frequency	Frequency of the continuous sinusoidal waveform.
File Name	Input file containing the user-defined waveform values. The input file is in XYPlot format, which is the same format written by the probes. Thus, a probe output can be used as a user- defined waveform source in a subsequent run.

2.4.7 Submesh Block Area

By default, the simulation grid is composed of uniformly-sized cubic or rectangular cells. With submesh blocks, the grid can be refined or coarsened. Any number of submesh blocks can be used to obtain a grid with the desired discretization. If submesh blocks overlap, then the normal stacking order rules of precedence applies so later blocks overwrite earlier ones.

Orientation

The orientation defines the axis along which the cell size is being redefined. The dimensions of the block along the other two axes are ignored, but the placement of the block along the orientation axis defines the affected region.

Cell Size

The cell size defines the size of the cell dimension along the orientation axis. The size of the cells along the other two axes is unaffected. In the current implementation, this value should be an integral multiple of the default grid cell size to coarsen the grid, or else the default grid cell size should be an integral multiple of this value to refine the grid. An exception would be if several adjacent regions are defined which sum to an integral number of default grid cells.