Survey on the Generation of Equivalent Circuit Cable Models for Transient Simulation

Especially in automotive and aerospace applications very long and complex cable harnesses are part of virtually all electronic systems. To precisely predict their electromagnetic behavior by simulation, accurate models of cables and harnesses are essential. In this work a semi-automatic workflow to derive a lumped circuit transmission line (LCTL) model from the 2D cross section of an arbitrary cable harness is presented. In contrast to conventional measurement based behavioral models (e.g. S-parameters) this approach provides flexibility to depict different harness compositions without the need for repeating measurements. The model generation process and involved limitations are discussed in detail. For validation, the simulation results obtained with the LCTL model are compared to measurements, 3D finite element method (FEM) and 3D hybrid multi transmission line (MTL) simulation in frequency and time domain. The considered frequency range is up to 1GHz.