About¶
Motivation¶
Measurements at microwave frequencies can require a significant amount post-processing and analysis, especially in research and prototyping environments. From our experience, none of the existing software products satisfy the needs of these environments, in which the abilities to understand, modify, and extend existing functionality are vital. In an attempt to provide this needed functionality, we have created scikit-rf, an open source, BSD-licensed package for microwave engineering implemented in the Python programming language. scikit-rf seeks to provides a modern, object-oriented library for network analysis and calibration aimed at being flexible and scalable.
Development History¶
scikit-rf was created in 2009 by Alex Arsenovic while he was a graduate student at the University of Virginia’s millimeter wave research lab in 2009. It was originally called mwavepy, but was re-branded as a scikit to emphasize its relationship to the scientific python community.
Since 2019, scikit-rf has been actively maintained by Julien Hillairet from the CEA/IRFM institute. scikit-rf is licensed under the BSD License and is currently being actively developed by a group of volunteers on Github . With more than 80 volunteers having contributed to the package, version 1.0.0 was released in 2024, indicating that the package is sufficiently stable and performant for a widespread adoption.
Acknowledging or Citing scikit-rf¶
In Publications¶
If you use scikit-rf for work/research presented in a publication (whether directly, or as a dependency to another package), we ask that you ackowledge it. Perhaps with something like:
This research made use of scikit-rf, an open-source Python package for RF and Microwave applications.
You can also include a link to www.scikit-rf.org (if the journal allows this) in addition to the above text.
For academic citations, please cite the IEEE Microwave Magazine article that some of the community members wrote. The IEEE-style citation for this paper is
Arsenovic et al., “scikit-rf: An Open Source Python Package for Microwave Network Creation, Analysis, and Calibration [Speaker’s Corner],” in IEEE Microwave Magazine, vol. 23, no. 1, pp. 98-105, Jan. 2022, doi: 10.1109/MMM.2021.3117139.
and in BibTex format
@ARTICLE{9632487,
author={Arsenovic, Alexander and Hillairet, Julien and Anderson, Jackson and Forstén, Henrik and Rieß, Vincent and Eller, Michael and Sauber, Noah and Weikle, Robert and Barnhart, William and Forstmayr, Franz},
journal={IEEE Microwave Magazine},
title={scikit-rf: An Open Source Python Package for Microwave Network Creation, Analysis, and Calibration [Speaker’s Corner]},
year={2022},
volume={23},
number={1},
pages={98-105},
doi={10.1109/MMM.2021.3117139}}
In Presentations or Apps¶
If you are giving a presentation featuring work/research that makes use of scikit-rf or creating an app that uses it under the hood, we provide this powered by image,
( PNG | SVG ).
Users¶
Below is a list of users of scikit-rf from industry and academia.
UVa Terahertz Lab¶
UVa Terahertz Lab’s mission is to create electronic devices capable of operating in the millimeter and sub-millimeter wave range. Our work includes high-frequency millimeter-wave power generation, low-noise receiver elements, integrated-circuit antennas and quasi-optical techniques.
3M Company¶
3M is a large manufacturing corporation. Although it is well known for consumer products such as Scotch™ Tape and Post-It™ Notes, 3M has over 30000 products for areas such as Health Care, Electronics, Industrial, etc. 3M Uses scikit-rf for the automation of data collection and and sophisticated analysis and calibration routines not available in the on-board analyzer software to perform a variety of material property characterizations.
Virginia Diodes, Inc¶
VDI manufactures state-of-the-art test and measurement equipment for mm-wave and THz applications. These products include Vector Network Analyzer, Spectrum Analyzer and Signal Generator Extension Modules that extend the capability of high performance microwave measurement tools to higher frequencies. VDI’s component products include detectors, mixers, frequency multipliers and custom systems for reliable operation at frequencies between 50 GHz and 2 THz. All VDI components include in-house fabricated GaAs Schottky diodes and microelectronic filter structures.
Dominion MicroProbes, Inc¶
DMPI designs, manufactures and sells millimeter and sub-millimeter wavelength on-wafer ground-signal-ground probes and associated components for electrical measurement of devices and materials. DMPI has developed a scalable approach for the manufacturing of phsyically robust micro machined probes with low-insertion loss coupling to the DUT and DC biasing of probed circuits.
Swissto12¶
SWISSto12 provides innovative passive components for mm-wave and THz applications. SWISSto12’s products include corrugated waveguide modules for low-loss signal transmission (available from 75 GHz up to 1 THz and beyond), 3D printed metal-coated plastic components and solutions for material characterisation, on-wafer probing and gas spectroscopy.
SweepMe!¶
SweepMe! is a multi-tool test & measurement software that allows to quickly combine instruments from different vendors using python programming language. The module ‘NetworkAnalyzer’ uses scikit-rf for exporting touchstone files. Starting from version 1.5.6, SweepMe! will be shipped with scikit-rf by default so that one can easily use the package in own python scripts that can be added to a measurement routine.
CEA¶
The French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission or CEA (French: Commissariat à l’énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives), is a French public government-funded research organisation in the areas of energy, defense and security, information technologies and health technologies. The CEA maintains a cross-disciplinary culture of engineers and researchers, building on the synergies between fundamental and technological research.
If your lab, company, or organization uses scikit-rf and would like to be listed please contact julien.hillairet at gmail.com