Changelog and fixed issues

This page lists the new features and fixed issues of the TMC Suite package that are visible to the user. The developer's technical log is in the ISSUES.md file at the project root.

Documentation

Reference of the .tpl input language (2026-07-15)

• The guide "The .tpl task file — how to create it" has been added. Previously the documentation described only individual parameters using a ready-made file as an example; there is now a methodology for composing a task from scratch (drawing → the "box" → decomposition into blocks → choosing the grid step) and a complete reference of the input language: every keyword, every graphical primitive with figures, the preprocessor (#define, #include, expressions), the frequency sweep, and typical mistakes. Reconstructed from the author's manual "TAMIC-Rt H, version 2.0p" (2000) and verified against the code.

• Errors in the kernel manuals have been fixed. Following the verification against the code:

• the output file extensions. A non-existent .f was given for the field distribution; the kernel actually writes .ex, .ey, .hz, .em, .ef. The .tf extension is historical (version 2.0p); the current code does not create it;
• INPUT_X/INPUT_Y. These were described as "an input along the X/Y axis". In fact INPUT_X is an input along the Y axis (on the left or right boundary, its extent given along Y), and INPUT_Y is the opposite;
• the first parameter of an input. It was described as "the excitation U(y)". In fact it is the mode (MAGNETIC — a plane wave; METAL or empty — the H₁₀ wave); the amplitude and phase are set by the optional parameters 6 and 7;
• the MAGNETIC material (an open-circuit wall) was missing from the list of materials;

• the #OUTPUT section — SMATRIX, FIELDS and TOPOLOGY were not described.

• The .eps file format (the ε distribution) has been clarified in the API documentation: the exact layout of the header and the binary array, and the compatibility of single- and double-precision files.

New features

Plasma and magnetization (X-mode)

• Plasma computation in the tmc_rtx kernel (PlanarRT_X). The following .tpl task blocks are supported:
• RECT_STAT_N — electron concentration N (m⁻³, SI) → plasma frequency ω_p;
• RECT_STAT_B — external magnetizing field B (T) → cyclotron frequency Ω;
• RECT_STAT_Y — plasma losses Y.

The B and Y values act together with an overlapping RECT_STAT_N block (magnetizing/adding losses only makes sense where there is plasma).

• FieldView: plasma visualization. A displayed-quantity mode has been added to FieldView (menu View → Eps → Type and 4 new toolbar buttons EPS · N · B · Y): you can view the permittivity ε, the concentration N, the magnetic field B, or the losses Y. The N/B/Y buttons are active only if the open field contains the corresponding plasma (see the "FieldView" section, item 5.3.2.1).

Other

• Radiation pattern from X-mode. The tmc_rtx kernel now creates radiation- pattern files (.AMP, .FAZ, .DAT) — previously only the H-mode produced them. The X-mode pattern matches the H-mode one in the unmagnetized case.
• Documentation link in the "About" window. In all programs of the package, a hyperlink to the local documentation has been added to the About window.

Fixed issues

Partial / in progress

• Checking ε > 0 on input. When loading a .tpl, a check was added: if an invalid permittivity (ε ≤ 0) is set at an input port, an error is shown in the status bar and the computation does not start (this prevents NaN from appearing). Checking the port impedance and the ε of computational dielectric blocks is under the author's review.
• The ABSORBER block in the X-mode (nan on some tasks) — localized; the final formula for the absorbing boundary is being agreed with the author.

Full technical details of each issue (cause, files, verification method) are in the ISSUES.md file. Comments and suggestions — via the project website tamic.ru.