# \[ANN\] TicraUtilities.jl - Tools for working with Ticra-compatible files and data objects

**URL:** <https://discourse.julialang.org/t/ann-ticrautilities-jl-tools-for-working-with-ticra-compatible-files-and-data-objects/121113>\
**Category:** Package Announcements\
**Created:** [October 9, 2024, 4:32pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/ann-ticrautilities-jl-tools-for-working-with-ticra-compatible-files-and-data-objects/121113 "2024-10-09T16:32:11Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![PeterSimon](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/petersimon/32/25193_2.png) [@PeterSimon](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/PeterSimon)\
**Post date:** [October 9, 2024, 4:32pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/ann-ticrautilities-jl-tools-for-working-with-ticra-compatible-files-and-data-objects/121113/1 "2024-10-09T16:32:11Z")

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[`TicraUtilities`](https://github.com/simonp0420/TicraUtilities.jl) is a package to facilitate working with Ticra-compatible files and data objects in the Julia language. [TICRA](https://www.ticra.com) is a Danish company specializing in antenna analysis and synthesis software. Their products for analysis and design of reflector antennas (and associated feed structures) are widely regarded as standards in the antenna community. As a result, the file formats defined and used by TICRA software have also become de facto industry standards.

This package provides utilities in the Julia programming language for

- Reading, writing, and plotting Ticra-compatible cut (.cut) files.
- Reading, parsing, and writing Ticra Object Repository (.tor) files.
- Converting cut files to and from spherical wave expansion (.sph) files.
- Reading and writing so-called “station” (.stn) files.
- Reading and writing array excitation (.exi) files.
- Reading and writing “surface” (.sfc) files.
- And more…

Obviously, [`TicraUtilities`](https://github.com/simonp0420/TicraUtilities.jl) will be of interest primarily to antenna engineers such as myself. Most of the antenna community uses Matlab or Python for their daily computing tasks, but I hope that this package, along with other anticipated efforts to come, will help to encourage more of my colleagues to take a serious look at Julia as their computing language of choice.

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**Author:** ![wc4wc4wc4](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/wc4wc4wc4/32/23038_2.png) [@wc4wc4wc4](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/wc4wc4wc4)\
**Post date:** [October 11, 2024, 8:35am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/ann-ticrautilities-jl-tools-for-working-with-ticra-compatible-files-and-data-objects/121113/3 "2024-10-11T08:35:22Z")

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Hey @PeterSimon, I just wanted to say that this is a really cool package!

I joined TICRA recently and I’ve allowed myself to share this internally and people are really excited about your package, so please feel free to reach out at any time in the future if you have any inputs or questions.  
I’m personally on the (Scientific) Machine Learning side of things, but I’ll forward more antenna related questions to the right people if that’s the case.

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**Author:** ![PeterSimon](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/petersimon/32/25193_2.png) [@PeterSimon](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/PeterSimon)\
**Post date:** [October 11, 2024, 1:59pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/ann-ticrautilities-jl-tools-for-working-with-ticra-compatible-files-and-data-objects/121113/4 "2024-10-11T13:59:30Z")

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Thanks for the kind words and encouragement! I’ll watch with interest to see what you guys come up with for applying machine learning to antenna problems.

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**Author:** ![PeterSimon](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/petersimon/32/25193_2.png) [@PeterSimon](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/PeterSimon)\
**Post date:** [October 20, 2024, 8:26pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/ann-ticrautilities-jl-tools-for-working-with-ticra-compatible-files-and-data-objects/121113/5 "2024-10-20T20:26:38Z")

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I’ve created a [tutorial video](https://youtu.be/rhinZ-MO9Q4?si=KIcV1PuckyBmtOEG) to demonstrate some of the functionality of [TicraUtilities.jl](https://github.com/simonp0420/TicraUtilities.jl).

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**Author:** ![PeterSimon](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/petersimon/32/25193_2.png) [@PeterSimon](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/PeterSimon)\
**Post date:** [November 24, 2024, 2:54am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/ann-ticrautilities-jl-tools-for-working-with-ticra-compatible-files-and-data-objects/121113/6 "2024-11-24T02:54:42Z")

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# [TicraUtilities.jl](https://github.com/simonp0420/TicraUtilities.jl) Version 1.1

Added functions to read and write TEP (tabulated electrical properties) files, and convert between old (scattering surface, introduced in GRASP8) and new (periodic unit cell, introduced in QUPES) TEP file formats.

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**Author:** ![PeterSimon](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/petersimon/32/25193_2.png) [@PeterSimon](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/PeterSimon)\
**Post date:** [April 7, 2026, 9:26pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/ann-ticrautilities-jl-tools-for-working-with-ticra-compatible-files-and-data-objects/121113/7 "2026-04-07T21:26:55Z")

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# TicraUtilities.jl Version 1.4 is released

News since version 1.1:

- Version 1.2: Added functions `issym` and `symsqueeze`. Several bug fixes.
- Version 1.3: Added function `discard_pol3`. `cut2sph` now accepts symmetric cuts and cuts with 3 polarization slots.
- Version 1.4 Added support for reading and writing [HFSS](https://www.ansys.com/products/electronics/ansys-hfss)-compatible FFD and SWEF files, and conversion between these two and corresponding Ticra-compatible files.