AbstractIn this paper, we present the design of a generic agent‐based framework for distributed parametric analysis of numerical modelling problems on a network of workstations and its application in computational electromagnetics (CEM). The entire infrastructure is based on a Master–Worker paradigm that utilizes mobile agents in order to gather information about the hosts of the network, transfer the native code there, handle its execution and collect the results. Such a framework enables scientists and engineers to perform simulations and parametric studies, in order to determine configurations and characteristics of the scenarios being modelled and, thereby, to greatly improve and shorten design processes. A case study in antenna modelling is presented, in order to test the efficiency of the developed framework. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.