PCBReader

Create a default PCB stackup definition object.

S = stackUp;

Set the thickness of the air dielectric layers 1 and 5 of the stackUp object to 0.1 mm.

S.Layer1.Thickness = 0.1e-3;
S.Layer5.Thickness = 0.1e-3;

Import a top layer Gerber file to layer 2.

S.Layer2 = "antenna_design_file.gtl";

Import a bottom layer Gerber file to layer 4.

S.Layer4 = "antenna_design_file.gbl";

Create a PCBReader object using the stackUp object.

B = PCBReader(StackUp=S);

Visualize the individual layers.

sh = shapes(B);
figure
show(sh(1))
title("Top Layer")

figure
show(sh(2))
title("Bottom Layer")

Create a default PCB stackup definition object.

s = stackUp;

Import a top layer Gerber file to layer 2.

s.Layer2 = "patchMicrostripCircular_design_file.gtl";

Import a bottom layer Gerber file to layer 4.

s.Layer4 = "patchMicrostripCircular_design_file.gbl";

Create a PCBReader object using the stackUp object.

p = PCBReader(StackUp=s);

To update the Gerber file, convert the PCBReader object to a pcbStack object.

p3 = pcbStack(p);

View the pcbStack object.

figure
show(p3)
title("Circular Patch Antenna")

Update the feed locations and feed diameter.

p3.FeedLocations = [5e-3 0 2 4];
p3.FeedDiameter = 0.005;

View the updated pcbStack object.

figure
show(p3)
title("Circular Patch Antenna with Reduced Feed Diameter")

Plot the current distribution on the antenna at 2.4 GHz.

figure
current(p3,2.4e9)

Create a PCBReader object.

B = PCBReader;

Import a two-layer design.

st = B.StackUp;
st.Layer2 = "UWBVivaldi.gtl";
st.Layer4 = "UWBVivaldi.gbl";
B.StackUp = st;

Extract shapes from the metal layers.

S = shapes(B);

View the top-layer Gerber file.

figure
show(S(1))

View the bottom-layer Gerber file.

figure
show(S(2))

Create a PCB stackup object and import a rectangular patch to layer 2 and a dielectric to layer 3.

S = stackUp;
S.Layer2 = "PatchRectangular.gtl";
S.Layer3 = dielectric("Teflon");

Use a PCBReader object to read the PCB layout defined in the stackUp object. Visualize the shape of the PCB.

p1 = PCBReader(StackUp=S);
figure 
show(p1.shapes)

Translate the shape with center (0,0) using the centroid function from MATLAB.

s = p1.shapes

s = 
  Polygon with properties:

        Name: 'mypolygon'
    Vertices: [4×3 double]

polygon = s;
[x,y] = centroid(polygon);
translate(polygon,[-x, -y, 0]);

Create a PCB stackup object and import a rectangular patch to layer 2 and a dielectric to layer 3.

S = stackUp;
S.Layer2 = "RightAngleBend.gtl";
S.Layer3 = dielectric("Teflon");

Use a PCBReader object to read the PCB layout defined in the stackUp object. Visualize the shape of the PCB.

p1 = PCBReader(StackUp=S);
figure 
show(p1.shapes)

Translate the shape's bottom left corner to (0,0). Use the polyshape function to convert the shape to a polygon. Then, use the boundingbox function to compute the upper and lower bounds of the shape.

s = p1.shapes

s = 
  Polygon with properties:

        Name: 'mypolygon'
    Vertices: [6×3 double]

ver = s.Vertices(:,1:2);
polygon = polyshape(ver);
[xlim, ylim] = boundingbox(polygon);
translate(s,[-xlim(1), -ylim(1), 0]);

Create a stackUp object with three metal layers. Assign Gerber files to the metal layers.

s = stackUp(NumMetalLayers=3);
s.Layer2='TopLayer.gtl';
s.Layer4='InnerCopperLayer.g2l';
s.Layer6='BottomLayer.gbl'

s = 
  stackUp with properties:

    NumMetalLayers: 3
         NumLayers: 7
            Layer1: [1×1 dielectric]
            Layer2: 'TopLayer.gtl'
            Layer3: [1×1 dielectric]
            Layer4: 'InnerCopperLayer.g2l'
            Layer5: [1×1 dielectric]
            Layer6: 'BottomLayer.gbl'
            Layer7: [1×1 dielectric]

Use the PCBReader object to import the PCB layout defined in the stackUp object. Specify the drill file and layer connectivity.

p = PCBReader(StackUp=s);
p.DrillLayerPairs = [1,3];
p.DrillFile = {'drillFile.txt'};

Convert the design into a PCB antenna using the pcbStack object. Define the feed properties.

pcbAnt = pcbStack(p);
pcbAnt.FeedDiameter = 0.5e-3;
pcbAnt.FeedLocations = [-5e-3 5e-3 2]

pcbAnt = 
  pcbStack with properties:

              Name: 'TopLayer'
          Revision: 'v1.0'
        BoardShape: [1×1 antenna.Rectangle]
    BoardThickness: 0.0121
            Layers: {[1×1 dielectric]  [1×1 antenna.Polygon]  [1×1 dielectric]  [1×1 antenna.Polygon]  [1×1 dielectric]  [1×1 antenna.Polygon]  [1×1 dielectric]}
        FeedFormat: 'FeedLocations'
     FeedLocations: [-0.0050 0.0050 2]
      FeedDiameter: 5.0000e-04
      ViaLocations: [-0.0060 0.0071 2 6]
       ViaDiameter: 1.0000e-03
      FeedViaModel: 'square'
       FeedVoltage: 1
         FeedPhase: 0
         Conductor: [1×1 metal]
              Tilt: 0
          TiltAxis: [1 0 0]
              Load: [1×1 lumpedElement]
        SolverType: 'MoM'

Visualize the PCB antenna.

figure
show(pcbAnt)
title("PCB Antenna")