Cobham has announced that Chelton Ltd has acquired Vector Fields Ltd (Vector Fields). The acquisition was completed on 14 June 2005.

Vector Fields develops and supplies commercial software products for the design of equipment which involves electromagnetic fields. It has two principal product ranges: OPERA - a suite of programmes for the design of electric and magnetic systems, and CONCERTO - a software environment for designing RF, microwave and optical components and systems. The company’s products are used for a wide range of applications including antennas, microwave filters, couplers, magnetic resonance imaging, disk recording heads, electric motors and generators.

Vector Fields has customers in Asia, Europe and the USA. The company operates from its head office in Kidlington, Oxfordshire, UK, and through a subsidiary company, Vector Fields Inc, based in Illinois, USA.

Within the Antennas and Electromagnetics segment of Chelton it is planned to merge the electromagnetics division of Culham Electromagnetics and Lightning Ltd (Culham Electromagnetics) with Vector Fields. This division has expertise in high frequency electromagnetics. It developed CLASP, an electromagnetic solver which is already a component within CONCERTO. The skills available within Culham Electromagnetics are complementary to those within Vector Fields and combining the two groups will strengthen Vector Field’s overall ability to serve customers in its three principal markets – design software for electric and magnetic systems (OPERA), design software for RF, microwave and optical components (CONCERTO), and consultancy engineering. The combined group will continue to trade as Vector Fields Ltd.

Kevin Ward, Managing Director of the enlarged business, said “Vector Field’s range of electromagnetic design software is first class. The newly released CONCERTO version 5 has been independently benchmarked as the best package for usability and reliability. It leads its class by offering both FDTD and Method of Moment solvers to achieve better accuracy and extended simulation capability. OPERA is a comprehensive software suite with a proven record for the complete design and simulation of magnetic and electrical systems. I am very pleased that Vector Fields has joined the Chelton group. The addition of Culham Electromagnetics will equip us with expertise in high frequency electromagnetics that will be used to achieve our ongoing objectives of supplying the most capable software in computational electromagnetics, and of providing the highest standards in customer support.”