Thisbookaddressesnumericalfull-wavemethodsfortheanalysisanddesignof antennas and microwave structures. In the last decades these numerical me- ods that are used to calculate approximate solutions of Maxwell’s equations have evolved from pure academic disciplines to powerful and user-friendly - gineering software tools. Meanwhile numerous commercial software packages exist that are widely used in the RF engineering community. Developments in thesoftwareaccompaniedbyprogressincomputertechnologyallownowadays many practical problems to be solved on standard PC systems. The text is written with di?erent groups of readers in mind. First it - dresses RF engineers who embark on numerical modeling using commercial ?eld solvers. Second it addresses graduate students taking practical courses in electromagnetic ?eld simulation. Both groups need a basic understanding of the mathematical background and both groups need a practical introduction tocommercialEMmodelingsoftwaretomaketheir?rstsimulationexperience a success. There are numerous books on the market that deal with mathematical details of di?erent numerical methods for the calculation of electromagnetic ?elds. For engineers who want to know what these methods can do for them and how to use the software tools, these theoretical books are too far away from daily work. On the other hand, there are tutorials and manuals that provide information on how to use speci?c software packages. These tutorials focusonthehandlingandspecialfeaturesofthesoftwareandmethodsapplied therein. However, the theoretical background and broader scope is generally neglected.
The book focuses on the practical aspects of computational electrodynamics. A short review of electromagnetic field theory and an illustrative introduction to basic concepts of numerical methods provide the mathematical and physical background. The main part the book guides the reader step-by-step through the modelling process: from the initial "what question shall the model answer?", through the setting up of a computer model by creating geometry, boundary conditions, sources, …, to post processing, validation, and optimization. A number of antenna and filter examples demonstrate the advantages and disadvantages of different numerical methods. So the book provides a realistic view on the capabilities and limits of state-of-the-art 3D-field simulators and on how to apply this knowledge efficiently to EM analysis and designing of RF applications in modern communication systems.
