A High-Order Ultra-Weak Variational Formulation for Electromagnetic Waves Utilizing Curved Elements

The Ultra Weak Variational Formulation (UWVF) is a special Trefftz discontinuous Galerkin method, here applied to the time-harmonic Maxwell's equations. The method uses superpositions of plane waves to represent solutions element by element on a finite element mesh. We discuss the use of our parallel UWVF implementation called ParMax, and concentrate on methods for obtaining high order solutions in the presence of scatterers with piecewise smooth boundaries. In particular, we show how curved surface triangles can be incorporated in the UWVF. This requires quadrature to assemble the system matrices. We also show how to implement a total field and scattered field approach, together with the transmission conditions across an interface to handle resistive sheets. We note also that a wide variety of element shapes can be used, that the elements can be large compared to the wavelength of the radiation, and that a matrix free version is easy to implement (although computationally costly). Our contributions are illustrated by several numerical examples showing that curved elements can improve the efficiency of the UWVF, and that the method accurately handles resistive screens as well as PEC and penetrable scatterers. Using large curved elements and the matrix free approach, we are able to simulate scattering from an aircraft at X-band frequencies. The innovations here demonstrate the applicability of the UWVF for industrial examples

UTD analysis of electromagnetic scattering by flat structures

The different scattering mechanisms that contribute to the radar cross of finite flat plates were identified and analyzed. The geometrical theory of diffraction, the equivalent current and the corner diffraction are used for this study. A study of the cross polarized field for a monopole mounted on a plate is presented, using novel edge wave mechanism in the analysis. The results are compared with moment method solutions as well as measured data

Accelerated stationary iterative methods for the numerical solution of electromagnetic wave scattering problems

The main focus of this work is to contribute to the development of iterative solvers applied to the method of moments solution of electromagnetic wave scattering problems. In recent years there has been much focus on current marching iterative methods, such as Gauss-Seidel and others. These methods attempt to march a solution for the unknown basis function amplitudes in a manner that mimics the physical processes which create the current. In particular the forward backward method has been shown to produce solutions that, for some twodimensional scattering problems, converge more rapidly than non-current marching Krylov methods. The buffered block forward backward method extends these techniques in order to solve three-dimensional scattering problems. The convergence properties of the forward backward and buffered block forward backward methods are analysed extensively in this thesis. In conjunction, several means of accelerating these current marching methods are investigated and implemented. The main contributions of this thesis can be summarised as follows: ² An explicit convergence criterion for the buffered block forward backward method is specified. A rigorous numerical comparison of the convergence rate of the buffered block forward backward method, against that of a range of Krylov solvers, is performed for a range of scattering problems. ² The acceleration of the buffered block forward backward method is investigated using relaxation. ² The efficient application of the buffered block forward backward method to problems involving multiple source locations is examined. ² An optimally sized correction step is introduced designed to accelerate the convergence of current marching methods. This step is applied to the forward backward and buffered block forward backward methods, and applied to two and three-dimensional problems respectively. Numerical results demonstrate the significantly improved convergence of the forward backward and buffered block forward backward methods using this step

Electromagnetic on-aircraft antenna radiation in the presence of composite plates

The UTD-based NEWAIR3 code is modified such that it can model modern aircraft by composite plates. One good model of conductor-backed composites is the impedance boundary condition where the composites are replaced by surfaces with complex impedances. This impedance-plate model is then used to model the composite plates in the NEWAIR3 code. In most applications, the aircraft distorts the desired radiation pattern of the antenna. However, test examples conducted in this report have shown that the undesired scattered fields are minimized if the right impedance values are chosen for the surface impedance plates

Near Zone: Basic scattering code user's manual with space station applications

The Electromagnetic Code - Basic Scattering Code, Version 3, is a user oriented computer code to analyze near and far zone patterns of antennas in the presence of scattering structures, to provide coupling between antennas in a complex environment, and to determine radiation hazard calculations at UHF and above. The analysis is based on uniform asymptotic techniques formulated in terms of the Uniform Geometrical Theory of Diffraction (UTD). Complicated structures can be simulated by arbitrarily oriented flat plates and an infinite ground plane that can be perfectly conducting or dielectric. Also, perfectly conducting finite elliptic cylinder, elliptic cone frustum sections, and finite composite ellipsoids can be used to model the superstructure of a ship, the body of a truck, and airplane, a satellite, etc. This manual gives special consideration to space station modeling applications. This is a user manual designed to give an overall view of the operation of the computer code, to instruct a user in how to model structures, and to show the validity of the code by comparing various computed results against measured and alternative calculations such as method of moments whenever available

Quantum properties of atomic-sized conductors

Using remarkably simple experimental techniques it is possible to gently break a metallic contact and thus form conducting nanowires. During the last stages of the pulling a neck-shaped wire connects the two electrodes, the diameter of which is reduced to single atom upon further stretching. For some metals it is even possible to form a chain of individual atoms in this fashion. Although the atomic structure of contacts can be quite complicated, as soon as the weakest point is reduced to just a single atom the complexity is removed. The properties of the contact are then dominantly determined by the nature of this atom. This has allowed for quantitative comparison of theory and experiment for many properties, and atomic contacts have proven to form a rich test-bed for concepts from mesoscopic physics. Properties investigated include multiple Andreev reflection, shot noise, conductance quantization, conductance fluctuations, and dynamical Coulomb blockade. In addition, pronounced quantum effects show up in the mechanical properties of the contacts, as seen in the force and cohesion energy of the nanowires. We review this reseach, which has been performed mainly during the past decade, and we discuss the results in the context of related developments.Comment: Review, 120 pages, 98 figures. In view of the file size figures have been compressed. A higher-resolution version can be found at: http://lions1.leidenuniv.nl/wwwhome/ruitenbe/review/QPASC-hr-ps-v2.zip (5.6MB zip PostScript

Wideband mobile propagation channels: Modelling measurements and characterisation for microcellular environments

EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Characterization and Measurement of Passive and Active Metamaterial Devices

This document addresses two major obstacles facing metamaterial development: uncertainty in the characterization of electromagnetic field behavior in metamaterial structures and the relatively small operational bandwidth of metamaterial structures. To address the first obstacle, a new method to characterize electromagnetic field behavior in a metamaterial is presented. This new method is a bistatic radar cross section (RCS) measurement technique. RCS measurements are well-suited to measuring bulk metamaterial samples because they show frequency dependence of scattering angles and offer common postprocessing techniques that can be useful for visualizing results. To address the second obstacle, this document characterizes the effectiveness of an adaptive metamaterial design that incorporates a microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) variable capacitor. Applying voltages to the MEMS device changes the resonant frequency of the metamaterial. In this research, computational models show that the size of the adaptive metamaterial unit cell should be increased to improve the responsiveness of the resonant frequency to changes in the MEMS capacitor

Electromagnetic Scattering from a Cavity in a Ground Plane: Theory and Experiment

The electromagnetic scattering from an arbitrarily shaped open cavity embedded in a perfectly conducting, infinite ground plane is examined. The cavity is filled with a linear, isotropic, homogeneous material. The fields in the cavity interior and above the ground plane are expressed in terms of the tangential fields on the cavity surface and aperture. A coupled set of three integral equations is developed governing the tangential fields on the aperture and cavity surface. The support of the unknown tangential fields is finite. A moment-method based algorithm to approximate the solution to the integral equations for axisymmetric geometries is developed. The unknown tangential fields are expanded using piecewise-linear functions in the elevation plane and complex exponentials in the azimuth plane. Orthogonality is exploited to reduce the size of the matrix. The algorithm yields a well-conditioned numerical solution. The solution obeys the edge condition at the aperture rim. The integral equations are uniquely solvable at frequencies where other integral equation-based techniques admit spurious solutions. Radar cross section calculations are compared to experimental measurements of full-scale physical models. Results show that an open cavity can serve as an effective radar cross section enhancement device