The electric field integral equation (EFIE) is used with the moment method to develop a simple and efficient numerical procedure for treating problems of scattering by arbitrarily shaped objects. For numerical purposes, the objects are modeled using planar triangular surfaces patches. Because the EFIE formulation is used, the procedure is applicable to both open and closed surfaces. Crucial to the numerical formulation is the development of a set of special subdomain-type basis functions which are defined on pairs of adjacent triangular patches and yield a current representation free of line or point charges at subdomain boundaries. The method is applied to the scattering problems of a plane wave illuminated flat square plate, bent square plate, circular disk, and sphere. Excellent correspondence between the surface current computed via the present method and that obtained via earlier approaches or exact formulations is demonstrated in each case.

Electromagnetic scattering by surfaces of arbitrary shape

A survey of microstrip antenna elements is presented, with emphasis on theoretical and practical design techniques. Available substrate materials are reviewed along with the relation between dielectric constant tolerance and resonant frequency of microstrip patches. Several theoretical analysis techniques are summarized, including transmission-line and modal-expansion (cavity) techniques as well as numerical methods such as the method of moments and finite-element techniques. Practical procedures are given for both standard rectangular and circular patches, as well as variations on those designs including circularly polarized microstrip patches. The quality, bandwidth, and efficiency factors of typical patch designs are discussed. Microstrip dipole and conformal antennas are summarized. Finally, critical needs for further research and development for this antenna are identified.

Microstrip antenna technology

This paper presents a novel single-patch wide-band microstrip antenna: the E-shaped patch antenna. Two parallel slots are incorporated into the patch of a microstrip antenna to expand it bandwidth. The wide-band mechanism is explored by investigating the behavior of the currents on the patch. The slot length, width, and position are optimized to achieve a wide bandwidth. The validity of the design concept is demonstrated by two examples with 21.2% and 32.3% bandwidths. Finally, a 30.3% E-shaped patch antenna, resonating at wireless communication frequencies of 1.9 and 2.4 GHz, is designed, fabricated and measured. The radiation pattern and directivity are also presented.

Wide-band E-shaped patch antennas for wireless communications

A method for calculating the electromagnetic scattering from and internal field distribution of arbitrarily shaped, inhomogeneous, dielectric bodies is presented. A volume integral equation is formulated and solved by using the method of moments. Tetrahedral volume elements are used to model a scattering body in which the electrical parameters are assumed constant in each tetrahedron. Special basis functions are defined within the tetrahedral volume elements to insure that the normal electric field satisfies the correct jump condition at interfaces between different dielectric media. An approximate Galerkin testing procedure is used, with special care taken to correctly treat the derivatives in the scalar potential term. Calculated internal field distributions and scattering cross sections of dielectric spheres and rods are compared to and found in agreement with other calculations. The accuracy of the fields calculated by using the tetrahedral cell method is found to be comparable to that of cubical cell methods presently used for modeling arbitrarily shaped bodies, while the modeling flexibility is considerably greater.

A tetrahedral modeling method for electromagnetic scattering by arbitrarily shaped inhomogeneous dielectric bodies

Two methods for measuring antenna efficiency are described. The two methods, referred to as the Wheeler method and the Q method, are used to find the efficiency of electrically small multiturn loop antennas. The principal advantage of both methods is that they can be quickly and easily applied. Further, both methods relate the antenna efficiency to the input impedance rather than a far-field pattern integration. Thus, the methods are applicable at VHF and frequencies below where the design of an antenna range or anechoic chamber becomes increasingly difficult and expensive.

Two methods for the measurement of antenna efficiency

A solution to the problem of plane wave scattering by a rectangular microstrip patch on a grounded dielectric substrate is presented. The model does not include the microstrip feed, and thus does not include the so-called "antenna mode" component of the scattering. The solution begins by formulating an electric field integral equation for the surface current density on the microstrip patch. The integral equation is solved using the method of moments. Computed data for the patch radar cross section (RCS) is found to be in close agreement with measurements over a broad frequency range. The microstrip RCS versus frequency consists of a number of large peaks which are identified as impedance or pattern factor resonance peaks.

Scattering from a microstrip patch

A moment method solution to the problem of radiation or scattering from geometries consisting of open or closed surfaces, wires, and wire/surface junctions is presented. The method is based on the sinusoidal reaction formulation. Several examples of input impedance calculations illustrate the versatility, accuracy, and computational efficiency of the method.

Electromagnetic modeling of composite wire and surface geometries

The method of moments (MM) requires computation of the impedance matrix at each frequency. Since the computation can be a very time-consuming process, its performance over a wide frequency range can require a prohibitive amount of CPU time. A method is described whereby the impedance matrix is computed at relatively large frequency intervals and then interpolated to approximate its values at intermediate frequencies. Basically, the method trades reduced computer CPU time for increased storage. >

Generation of wide-band data from the method of moments by interpolating the impedance matrix (EM problems)

The method of moments is used to analyze microstrip antennas of rectangular and nonrectangular shape. Surface currents are used to model the microstrip patch and volume polarization currents for the dielectric slab. The method requires unusually precise computation of the impedance matrix but is capable of accurately predicting currents, impedance, and resonant frequency of the antenna.

E.H. Newman

Papers

Two methods for the measurement of antenna efficiency

Scattering from a microstrip patch

Electromagnetic modeling of composite wire and surface geometries

Generation of wide-band data from the method of moments by interpolating the impedance matrix (EM problems)

Analysis of microstrip antennas using moment methods