Computational electromagnetics for design optimisation: the state of the art and conjectures for the future

The paper reviews the state of the art in modern field simulation techniques available to assist in the design and performance prediction of electromechanical and electromagnetic devices. Commercial software packages, usually exploiting finite element and/or related techniques, provide advanced and reliable tools for every-day use in the design office. At the same time Computational Electromagnetics continues to be a thriving area of research with emerging new techniques and methods, in particular for multi-physics applications and in the area of multi-objective optimisation.