HPC for Radio Frequency Subsystems
Organizations involved
RF Microtech is an Italian SME developing advanced antennas, filters and communication subsystems for space, satellite communications and aerospace markets. As contractor in European Space Agency and Horizon Europe programmes, its technologies support next-generation satellite missions.
Open Engineering is a Belgian software company specialising in multiphysics simulation and computer-aided engineering. It develops OOFELIE, a simulation platform that helps organisations accelerate product innovation through advanced virtual testing.
The challenge
RF Microtech designs high-performance radio frequency filters, antennas and subsystems for demanding space and aerospace applications. As products become smaller, lighter and more complex, RF Microtech’s engineers must accurately predict how they will perform under extreme operating conditions before any hardware is manufactured.
Conventional engineering workstations lacked the computing power to analyse the largest and most detailed designs, forcing compromises between model accuracy, optimisation depth and project delivery. This increased development risk, limited design innovation and increased engineering effort. The challenge is common across the aerospace, telecommunications and defence sectors, where customers require reliable, high-performance communication equipment that must meet strict cost, weight and delivery criteria.
HPC was essential for processing the detailed simulations needed to evaluate multiple design options, optimise performance and reduce dependencies on expensive physical prototyping. The project's innovation lies in combining advanced virtual testing with scalable HPC resources to enable faster and more informed engineering decisions.
The solution
The HoRuS experiment created an HPC-enabled digital design workflow for radio frequency components and subsystems. Open Engineering integrated its OOFELIE simulation platform with electromagnetic analysis tools and adapted both environments to run on the Leonardo supercomputer. This allowed RF Microtech’s engineers to perform large-scale virtual testing of component behaviour (including thermal, mechanical and communication performance) within a single workflow.
By distributing workloads across multiple GPUs, the solution enabled much larger models to be analysed. The result is a scalable design environment that delivers more detailed simulations, faster optimisation cycles and stronger confidence in engineering decisions before physical prototypes are produced.
Business Impact
The project strengthens RF Microtech's competitive position in the European space and aerospace market by enabling faster, more accurate and cost-effective product development. HPC driven simulations allowed the company to evaluate a wider range of potential designs, reduce technical risk and bring innovations to market more quickly.
This capability supports the development of increasingly sophisticated communication subsystems, while opening further opportunities in the aerospace, telecommunications and defence markets. Customers benefit from faster product delivery, improved reliability, lower product weight and enhanced performance - critical for next-generation communication systems.
The increased use of virtual testing also reduces the number of prototypes required, lowering material consumption, manufacturing effort and waste. More broadly, the project contributes to strengthening European technological sovereignty in a sector traditionally dominated by non-European suppliers.
Business benefits
- 50% reduction in design time for advanced space communication filters requiring integrated optimisation.
- 50% reduction in engineering design costs for low-volume, high-value aerospace developments.
- 25% reduction in overall costs, supporting an estimated 25% increase in profit margin.
- Large-scale HPC simulations enabled analysis of designs previously beyond existing capabilities.
- New multi-GPU simulation capability created future opportunities for HPC-enabled engineering services.