Updates and Results Talks and Posters Advice Ideas Important Figures Write-Ups Outreach How-To Funding Opportunities GENETIS
  GENETIS  ELOG logo
Message ID: 243     Entry time: Mon Jun 2 14:10:59 2025
Author: Jacob Weiler 
Subject: Building Status 06/02/2025 

We are almost to where we can start the physical building of the antenna! 

I've attached all the information I currently have regarding the building project. Some of it is messy work notes and some is well-structured.

I’ve attached the following files for the GENETIS building project:

  • Building Dump.txt 
    • My working notes that I used while trying to simulate the antenna in XFdtd (very messy) 
  • Building Dump of Useful Materials.txt
    • List of materials that I found regarding the building project like slides, elogs, etc.
  • Simulating Building Model.txt
    • A writeup I made describing my process for simulating the antenna in XFdtd 
  • Done with change materials.zip
    • Solidworks model of antenna

I also made a slide deck that contains the directory locations + has graphs HERE.

Attachment 1: Building_Dump_of_Useful_Materials.txt  2 kB  Uploaded Mon Jun 2 15:12:45 2025  | Show | Hide all | Show all
Attachment 2: Simulating_Building_Model.txt  7 kB  Uploaded Mon Jun 2 15:12:55 2025  | Show | Hide all | Show all
Attachment 3: Building_Dump.txt  7 kB  Uploaded Mon Jun 2 15:13:01 2025  | Hide | Hide all | Show all
Building Dump: 
Debugging Issues with Antenna model simulation:

Graphs to get (compared to Curved_Sides Antenna Run):
- Gain Plots 
	- Look at frequencies where dips. Could be due to: dielectric loss, mismatched impedance or structural changes
- Impedance Over Frequency Plots
	- Want impedance to be around 50 Ohm for resistive components and 0 for reactance at operational frequencies
- S11 Plots (Return Loss VS Frequency)
	- Look for where the S11 dips to determine where the antenna is resonant
- Total Efficiency Vs Frequencies
	- Drops at certain frequencies indicates problems! 
- VSWR vs Frequency
	- Lower VSWR means better matching 


in 03_13_2025_manual.xf:
Run1 = wrong material defs (deleted)
Run2 = glitched it 
Run3 = wrong material def again slightly changed tho
Run4 = wrong material, with conductor gone
Run5 = wrong material, with full wire gone
Run6 = right material, full wire gone
Run7 = right material, conductor gone
Run8 = right material, everything there feed shifted to side
Run9 = right material, feed in middle of conductor
Run10 = right material, wire gone feed offset reduced (putting closer to center). this failed because the top of the feed was disconnected
Run11 = right material, feed with correct max feed offset allowed, coax gone
Run12 = trying the same thing but with the coax gone with building the feed
Run13 = with coax cable back, feed shifted closer to middle (apparently forgot to save and it's just the same thing.. as run12) 
Run14 = adding pads and putting feed in the middle of the antenna, leave dielectric and jacket turned on
Run16 = pads, feed in middle, removing dielectric and jacket (-300 thing again.. not sure why) 
Run17 = same thing but ABS material changed and adjusted pucks a little
Run18 = same ABS material change but with only inner conductor removed (I am testing why I am getting -300..)
Run19 = removed supports, still  with pucks + only inner conductor removed  
Run20 = removing pucks, with conductor removed and new ABS material (no more -300 but very low again...) 
run21 = removed pucks, conductors(PLURAL) with new ABS Material 
run23 = back to just supports, offset feed new ABS Material
run24 = coax gone, og ABS material, with the offset feed closer to the middle
run25 = everything back to normal coax gone (something wrong)  
run26 = trying to fix the issue I'm seeing (FIXED) you have to uncheck that materials are included in meshing :/
run27 = actually removing the outer and inner conductors (yields worse gains!) 
run28 = moving to feed center w/ copper plates and with the jacket + dielectric

Seems like the wire in the middle should be plastic (or non-conducting)? based off document wangjie sent me
"If we 3D print the metal, Chi-Chih thought that we could keep them together through a plasic rod running
through the middle" (It's not!) 

maybe not, named LMR600 in solidworks which have the following material properties:
https://www.awcwire.com/lmr-cable/lmr-75-ohm-cable/lmr-600-75

screws connecting halves needed to be plastic

all other screws needed to be non-magnetic stainless steel

everything else is copper (?) 

Trying to change materials of the wire and supports (03_13_2025_building_sim_2.xf): still bad 
Trying again with same materials and putting feed down center of coax cable(03_13_2025_building_sim_3.xf): everything is -300 dBi :(
removing the copper middle part (03_13_2025_building_sim_4.xf): still bad
manually adding materials into XFdtd (03_13_2025_manual.xf): still bad, but different bad actually numbers-wise worse
	- Passivated 18-8 Stainless Steel
	- PEEK Plastic
	- Dielectric: Foam Polyethylene (FPE)
	- Inner Conductor: Solid Bare Copper Covered Aluminum
	- Outer Conductor: Aluminum Tape
	- Outer Braid: Tinned Copper
	- Jacket: Polyethylene
	- ABS Plastic
	- Copper foil

I believe the feed replaces the coax cable in the middle so I am removing the inner conductor and assuming that it will be the same as the feed. 

Dimensions of Curved Antenna (model based off this): (in cm for relevant parts) 
	- r1 = 3.20675
	- height1 = 39.3683
	- a1 = -0.0123505
	- b1 = 0.418171
	- r2 = 3.6116
	- height2 = 18.605
	- a2 = -0.0233028
	- b2 = 0.369081
	- Total height = 60.9733
Dimensions of Model in XF: (ignoring a's and b's as that's harder to measure..) (again in cm) (rough measurements in XF)
	- r1 = 3.7
	- h1 = 33.7441
	- r2 = 3.4
	- h2 = 18.71
	- total height = 55.45 (no cable) 60.6459 (including cable)

Reference run XF settings: 

- Removed the wire in the middle that was connecting the two sides: no difference (need to redo with it actually deleted + having the top plates copper) (03_11_2025_building_sim_1.xf)
- Removed middle wire AGAIN (03_13_2025_building_sim_0.xf): no difference, same issue
- Removed Supports and simulated(03_12_2025_building_sim_0.xf): This seems to have fixed the issue I'm seeing, so either the supports or the wire are shorting the antenna (or both!)
- Removed Supports ONLY(03_13_2025_building_sim_1.xf): still happening, though less extreme

For Initial Building Run: 
Generation 13, individual 84 seems to be result being used (this assumption is based on the fact that when trying to straighten the sides for building they used this individual)
	/fs/ess/PAS1960/BiconeEvolutionOSC/BiconeEvolution/current_antenna_evo_build/XF_Loop/Evolutionary_Loop/Run_Outputs/2022_12_29
 
Elog Links for first building runs:
	- Run Details: https://radiorm.physics.ohio-state.edu/elog/GENETIS/188
	- Run Results + Gain Patterns: https://radiorm.physics.ohio-state.edu/elog/GENETIS/189
	- Matching Circuit PCB: https://radiorm.physics.ohio-state.edu/elog/GENETIS/193
	- Matching Circuit Parts: https://radiorm.physics.ohio-state.edu/elog/GENETIS/191
	- Matching Circuit Schematic: https://radiorm.physics.ohio-state.edu/elog/GENETIS/230
	- Matching Circuit Initial Design: https://radiorm.physics.ohio-state.edu/elog/GENETIS/183
	- PoR Plots 1: https://radiorm.physics.ohio-state.edu/elog/GENETIS/194
	- PoR Plots 2: https://radiorm.physics.ohio-state.edu/elog/GENETIS/196
	- Straightened Sides 1: https://radiorm.physics.ohio-state.edu/elog/GENETIS/229
	- Straightened Sides 2: https://radiorm.physics.ohio-state.edu/elog/GENETIS/236
	

At some point, another run seems to have been created for building with the crazy sides run here with REALIZED GAIN: 
/fs/ess/PAS1960/BiconeEvolutionOSC/BiconeEvolution/current_antenna_evo_build/XF_Loop/Evolutionary_Loop/Run_Outputs/2023_09_05_realized_curved_run

- Run is using the same freq of interest as what we currently use!!

Top 5 vEffective Scores of Realized Gain run:
Value: 5.09897, Generation: 41, Individual: 44 (Seems to be this one, modified) 
Value: 5.07746, Generation: 37, Individual: 16
Value: 5.05508, Generation: 37, Individual: 5
Value: 5.04558, Generation: 38, Individual: 12
Value: 5.04026, Generation: 48, Individual: 5


GENETIS Useful Links: 
	- GENETIS Google Drive: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1iDamk46R2_oOLHtvsOg4jNy05mCiB7Sn?dmr=1&ec=wgc-drive-hero-goto
	- Onboarding Materials: https://radiorm.physics.ohio-state.edu/elog/GENETIS/41
	- Julie's Dissertation: https://radiorm.physics.ohio-state.edu/elog/Write-Ups/220404_161525/Julie_Rolla_Dissertation.pdf
	- Julie's Candidacy: https://as-phy-radiorm.asc.ohio-state.edu/elog/Write-Ups/44
	- ICRC Proceedings: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2112.00197
	- Phys Rev D Paper: https://journals.aps.org/prd/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevD.108.102002
	- ARA Loop GitHub: https://github.com/osu-particle-astrophysics/GENETIS-ARA
	- PUEO Loop GitHub: https://github.com/osu-particle-astrophysics/GENETIS_PUEO
	- Shared Code GitHub: https://github.com/osu-particle-astrophysics/Shared-Code
	- AraSim GitHub: https://github.com/ara-software/AraSim/tree/master
	- pueoSim GitHub: https://github.com/PUEOCollaboration/pueoSim
Attachment 4: done_with_change_materials.zip  4.621 MB  Uploaded Mon Jun 2 15:13:09 2025
ELOG V3.1.5-fc6679b