What Else is New in the Suite of FEKO Tools?

Recently, we shared a video discussing some of the new and exciting features of Altair FEKO 2026. However, it’s impossible to cover all the great updates and enhancements to this superior high-frequency electromagnetic simulation tool in one brief video. Therefore, let’s take another look at what else has been added and improved across the broader range of tools offered in the Altair FEKO suite.

Fig 1. Tools available in the Altair FEKO suite.

Quality of Life Improvements

The solver speed within WinProp has been greatly improved, much like FEKO’s core solver. Altair WinProp allows users to simulate their antenna designs in real-world urban or rural environments, analyzing the effects of a wide variety of structural, geographic, and local factors.

Fig 2. Example of solver time reductions in Altair WinProp v2026.

The table in Figure 1 above shows a few of the impressive improvements over last year’s release of the software. For electrically small or low mesh density problems, a speed-up of approximately 5 times can be noted. However, this reduction in solver time, when compared to the previous version, does not depend on the number of polygons in the simulation, as an even larger speedup can be noted for the test case with over 20k polygons.

Increased Compatibility

WinProp’s upgrades don’t stop at speed improvements, though; there are also additional file formats that are now compatible with the software. For instance, if you are creating an urban environment in Altair WallMan, you can now convert CityGML databases with a Level-Of-Detail of 2 (LoD  = 2) into urban building databases. This means that you can import a wider variety of geographies and environments from external sources, and you can increase the level of accuracy in your simulation, decreasing the need for complex setup while also driving up the value of the simulation results.

Fig 3. Urban/Outdoor database imported into Altair WinProp: WallMan.

Additionally, AMan, the tool to import and generate antenna patterns, broadened its range. This tool is very valuable for engineers who have measured or simulated antenna output data, but not the antenna geometry or finer simulation details. With the 2026 release, users are now able to more efficiently import two- and three-dimension  Huber + Suhner antenna patterns.

New Features

So far, we have touched on a few of the “behind-the-scenes” improvements but now let’s take a look at specific new features available to users of the Altair FEKO suite. One often-requested addition is the ability to create multi-layered dielectric materials on the surfaces of closed perfect electric conductor (PEC) surfaces. Figure 4 demonstrates this new tool below. Previously, only single layer dielectrics were possible in this configuration, so this will allow engineers to more accurately simulate their custom devices with more complex designs in FEKO.

Fig 4. Multi-layered dielectric materials in Altair FEKO.

Last, but certainly not least, WinProp now supports Pulse Radar, which allows users to simulate brief repeated radio-frequency pulses to locate and track moving targets. With this new tool, the simulations allow for rectangular, frequency-modulated, and phase-modulated pulses, meaning you can identify the best for your potential application. With its matched filtering and improved signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), the new Pulse Radar capability detects objects with high levels of sensitivity and accuracy. As Figure 5 below shows, this feature generates a Range-Doppler heat map, which can then be used to find the location and velocity of the target.

Fig 5. Pulse Radar example in Altair WinProp: ProMan.

As mentioned at the start of this post, there are so many updates to Altair FEKO 2026 that we can’t cover them all in one video or blog; this is still just the tip of the iceberg! If you would like to learn more about any of the other upgrades and new features, or if you have any questions about what’s been discussed so far, please do not hesitate to reach out to us. As always, be sure to check back often and subscribe to our YouTube channel for more information and content like this.