MetaWrap Computer-Aided Tool for Wrapping Periodic Elements onto Doubly-Curved Surfaces

MetaWrap is a general-purpose software tool that uses CAD-compatible solid models as inputs and outputs, and that can wrap any planar periodic structure over any surface while visualizing and optimizing the electromagnetic performance of the unit cells in real-time. This technology is critical for next-generation airborne platforms that make extensive use of planar periodic lattice structures to manipulate electromagnetic interactions with the vehicles’ surfaces. Using naďve methods, wrapping inevitably alters a metamaterial lattice’s electromagnetic properties in an undesirable way. In MetaWrap, this effect is minimized or eliminated with specialized algorithms that vary the lattice geometry in response to its new conformation. Furthermore, the resulting lattice models are compatible with manufacturing software and hardware needed for fabrication. MetaWrap ensures that the final lattice is interoperable with current manufacturing and simulation software. MetaWrap has a modern user interface to manipulate 3D geometry, 2D metamaterial lattices, and electromagnetic illumination properties, with a feasible pathway to largescale parallelization for computationally intensive jobs and operation in secure DoD cloud environments as the technology matures.