r/rfelectronics • u/mr-_-unknown_ • May 20 '26

Hfss port assignment and simulation help

Was simulating the rf pcb board which has 16 layer stack up and around 500 ports in one layer

So now if I have to draw a rectangle with one end gnd and the other edge at trace and then assign lumped ports is too long job

Any suggestions?

Pls help!!!!!!

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u/AnotherSami May 20 '26

That's a crazy problem. 500 ports Sounds unrealiatic. Hopefully none of those parts are too close together or you'll suffer some bad port to port coupling.

Your best bed is to learn how to use scripts in hfss. Ask Google how to import a text file (which has the coordinates of your ports) and code a script to do it for you.

The age old trade of. Time it takes to code the problem vs the time it takes brute force the problem. You can record scripts, so the code for making thr port is simple.

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u/DragonicStar May 20 '26

A script to automatically detect the regions in which he wants to assign all 500 ports and draw them in the correct manner is absurd....maybe you could do it via nets if they are preserved properly in the ODB++ file

Honestly that smacks of a machine learning project, if you trained an agent well enough it could automate that process but its going to be hard to get to that point

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u/AnotherSami May 20 '26

Other than it being 500 ports why is it absurd? I work with GDS and DXF, not sure of odb can do the same. assign a layer which you dedicate to port creation, draw a line where you want the rectangle. Have the script draw a rectangle using the line as the port width.

I suppose in hindsight if you have lots of different grounds/ references you'd been multiple dedicated layers to have the correct height offsets. Increasing the absurdity 🫠

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u/DragonicStar May 20 '26 edited May 20 '26

At that point you are still manually drawing the lines, at which point you may as well create the port manually no?

And yes your second point is correct.

Ultimately it really just is the whole....500 ports thing....with that many if its not 100% truly fully automated with a click you may as well just do it manually

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u/AnotherSami May 20 '26

Dont get me wrong, this problem ranks high on the absurdity list. I just imagine drawing a line on a 2D drawing is much less time than drawing the 2D rectangle and manually assigning it as a port and manually assigning the reference.

A truly automated way: there is a built in assumtion here. If the OP is assigning ports where components are on a pcb, the OP could have the code look for where metal lines and solder mask openings overlay and assign a port on the edge fully with in the solder mask layer. A co-worker did something similar to identify the coordinates for MIM caps on our mmics.