Hi,
I am new to Pcbmodelgen and trying to figure out how to run kicad layout rf simulation in pcbmodelgen.

I followed the following instructions properly:

sudo apt-get install libtinyxml2-dev libtclap-dev
mkdir build
cd build
cmake ../
make
sudo make install

and then, put

addpath('/usr/share/octave/packages/openems-0.0.35/')
addpath('/usr/local/share/CSXCAD/matlab/')

in the octaverc file.

After I try to run pcbmodelgen -p pcb.kicad_pcb -c pcbmodelgen.json for the branchline_coupler_example, I can see the 3d view of it and after i close the image, following error occurs:

Segmentation fault (core dumped)
error: load: unable to find file ./tmp/port_ut1
error: called from
ReadUI at line 64 column 9
simulation_script at line 150 column 3

Could you please guide me as to why am I getting this error. Also, I don't see any ports defined in the example. How would pcbmodelgen find out where the ports are? The error also asks about a port file in the temp folder.

Can you please clear my doubts here? Thanks.

OS: OpenSUSE Tumbleweed
Octave 5.1.0
openEMS 0.0.35
openEMS FDTD startup Using Octave script files error: 'physical_constants' undefined near line 24 column 1 error: called from simulation_script at line 24 column 1 octave:1>

The kicad_pcb created with Kicad-5.1.6 and the Kicad-5.99 (used on the examples) differs in the definitions.

Kicad-5.99, set layer names with quotation marks while the current version 5.1.6 doen't.

To validate this, I opened the text_pcb example on my Kicad. Then saved the board, then after diffing it, I saw these changes.

I was able to fix the board (by adding these quotation marks on the layer names) as needed for pcbmodelgen since it was fixed using Kicad-5.99 as the reference.

#!/bin/bash

board=$1

# Kicad-5.1.6
# - Layers do not have quotation marks
# - This fix "update" the board after saving it with Kicad-5.1.6

sed -i 's/F.Cu/"F.Cu"/g' $board
sed -i 's/B.Cu/"B.Cu"/g' $board
sed -i 's/F.Adhes/"F.Adhes"/g' $board
sed -i 's/F.Paste/"F.Paste"/g' $board
sed -i 's/F.SilkS/"F.SilkS"/g' $board
sed -i 's/B.Mask/"B.Mask"/g' $board
sed -i 's/F.Mask/"F.Mask"/g' $board
sed -i 's/Dwgs.User/"Dwgs.User"/g' $board
sed -i 's/Cmts.User/"Cmts.User"/g' $board
sed -i 's/Eco1.User/"Eco1.User"/g' $board
sed -i 's/Eco2.User/"Eco2.User"/g' $board
sed -i 's/Edge.Cuts/"Edge.Cuts"/g' $board
sed -i 's/Margin/"s/Margin"/g' $board
sed -i 's/B.CrtYd/"B.CrtYd"/g' $board
sed -i 's/F.CrtYd/"F.CrtYd"/g' $board
sed -i 's/F.Fab/"F.Fab"/g' $board
sed -i 's/Margin/"Margin"/g' board.kicad_pcb

# Extra (maybe not needed but it is also different between versions)
sed -i 's/A4/"A4"/g' board.kicad_pcb
sed -i 's/net_class Default/net_class "Default"/g' board.kicad_pcb

First of all, thanks for pcbmodelgen!
On Kicad v7.07, pcbmodelgen v0.2.0 correctly recognizes primitive rectangular boards (Egde.Cuts), but it doesn't recognize neither primitive circles nor polygons.

Below, we see the three geometries on the KiCad file. But the rectangle is the only one that pcbmodelgen passes ahead to OpenEMS. Am I missing something obvious? The native recognition of circular boards would be very beneficial, as OpenEMS stands out among other solvers for being able to work with polar coordinates. Thanks!

[SOLVED]
I found a simple solution for that. If you have a circular PCB in KiCad, first convert the primitive circle to a Polygon (Right click > Create from selection > Create Polygon from selection). Then convert the polygon to Lines (Right click > Create from selection > Create Lines from selection). Done. Now pcbmodelgen will recognize any Egde.Cuts.

Hello, I am testing your tool with Ubuntu 20.04.

I managed to install it and all required dependencies.
Maybe I can document this if you are interested in that.

I also had to add 2 paths on the .octaverc so the tools could find the OpenEMS and CSXCAD files as you said in another issue.

Right now I am running this for the first time using the test_pcb

I hope to be able to run this for my board.

Hi Janis,

I have tried to convert .kicad to .json and see the below error.

$ pcbmodelgen -p Meander_2_4G.kicad_pcb -c Meander_2_4G.json
Error from reader: * Line 1, Column 1
Syntax error: value, object or array expected.
terminate called after throwing an instance of 'Json::RuntimeError'
what(): * Line 1, Column 1
Syntax error: value, object or array expected.

Aborted (core dumped)
$

Tools versions:
Kicad - 5.1.9
Ubuntu - 20.04.1 LTS

Thanks,
Mohan

When using a pcb file from kicad v7.0.0, some copper infills are not generated correctly due to some points being stored as "NaN" in the files generated by pcbmodelgen.

I tracked down the issue to a float issue in the function Zone::getVectAngle. I have made a quick fix and will issue a pull request soon.

Bad output

Good output

Full kicad version info

Application: KiCad PCB Editor x64 on x64
Version: (7.0.0), release build
Libraries:
wxWidgets 3.2.1
FreeType 2.12.1
HarfBuzz 5.0.1
FontConfig 2.14.1
libcurl/7.83.1-DEV Schannel zlib/1.2.13
Platform: Windows 11 (build 22621), 64-bit edition, 64 bit, Little endian, wxMSW
Build Info:
Date: Feb 12 2023 01:35:19
wxWidgets: 3.2.1 (wchar_t,wx containers)
Boost: 1.80.0
OCC: 7.6.2
Curl: 7.83.1-DEV
ngspice: 39
Compiler: Visual C++ 1934 without C++ ABI
Build settings:
KICAD_SPICE=ON

Hi, I am playing with the pcbmodelgen for the first time. Now I am running the generate_model.sh line by line.

I am seeing these 2 issues.

Warning: kicad_pcb file version not 4. May experience some errorsERROR: mesh gap size too large. Configured max size 1.000000, but actual size 1.322618

Maybe this is ok to ignore since the example uses Kicad 5.99, but I would like to understand what I can do to improve this. I saw that the last commit was trying to improve the tool for the Kicad 5.x with this message, upgraded sw PCB format to work with Kicad 5.x. So I am not sure if it is working for 5.x

ERROR: mesh gap size too large. Configured max size 1.000000, but actual size 1.200192

What I can do fix the error?
Where this GAP is configured?

I don't know where this config is placed. Is this something related to the config.json or the with test_pcb.kicad_pcb board itself?

Tried to convert a 2-Layer pcb with 1.6mm thickness and set
"pcb_metal_thickness" : 0.1,
"pcb_metal_zero_thick" : false,
Result: All the pads of the bottom layer are floating below the PCB. While the bottom layer itself is on Position 0 in Z-direction, the position of the Pads is exactly -1.7mm.

I am not sure what is this hole_fill do you have any idea what I have to look to fix/understand this property?
I just downloaded one board, that was built with Kicad 4.0 from Kicad demos.
And I am trying to run the simulation using configs (pcbmodelgen.json, simulation_script.m) from the test_pcb example.

Just a little bit of info about my background. I have zero experience with openEMS. I am just planning to play with it to learn something new. And I found that the pcbmodelgen would be a nice starting point.

Check generated mesh file for detailed warning information
octave --silent --persist simulation_script.m
openEMS FDTD startup
Using Octave script files
error: the type for the property "hole_fill" cannot be found
error: called from
    Add2Property at line 12 column 5
    AddLinPoly at line 41 column 5
    kicad_pcb_model at line 5953 column 5
    simulation_script at line 64 column 5
octave:1> 

Attempting to compile freshly cloned source according to the procedure given in the README fails when using GCC 11. See:
.

This is expected, re: Porting to GCC 11. Adding #include <limits> to ems.cpp allows compilation to succeed.

I was bored, and wanted an excuse to learn more about Git. So I forked the repo, added the incredibly simple fix above, and will submit a pull request shortly.

Hi there, this looks like a very interesting project! 🙂

Just wanted to clarify: is the main purpose of the work to automatically convert KiCAD PCBs to Octave models? My understanding is that this can already be done using the STL import offered by OpenEMS, by e.g. transforming a STEP model of the PCB into STLs for each object.

Or is the tricky part that this repository tackles the meshing itself? I've seen OpenEMS struggle with (manual) mesh generation a bit, so it'd be nice to hear that this project can help in that regard a bit.

Cheers,
Apostolos

When I add a keepout zone, I can set it to Top and Botom layer at the same time.
In that case the line for that zone becomes;
"(zone (net 0) (net_name "") (layers F&B.Cu) (tstamp 0)"
but the parser is looking for the string "layer" and misses the "layer–s–" string and throws an exception
what(): GetZone: no 'layer' field

preliminary workaround make two seperate keepout zones, one for each layer.
but a more permanent solution (in the parser) would be much better :-)

thanks for your work
kind regards
huegene

Thanks for writing this program!

I'm making some modifications to support kicad 5. I personally use clang-format and was wondering if you'd be open to accepting a pr with formatting changes from a clang-format script. I'll try to make it as similar to the existing style as possible (e.g. 4 spaces indent, etc.). Additionally, are you interested in the kicad 5 pr's when I get those working?

I tried the example test_pcb.kicad_pcb and everything pretty much worked.

But when I tried it on my pcb, I got a warning, no errors, and no output:

  pcbmodelgen -p meander.kicad_pcb -c pcbmodelgen.json

Warning: kicad_pcb file version 4.x, may experience some issues
kicad_pcb version (generator pcbnew)

Happy to send the Kicad pcb file, but I can't attach that file type.