Simulation of Electromagnetic Fields:

The Finite-Difference Time-Domain (FDTD)

Method and Its Applications

Veysel Demir, Ph.D.

demir@ceet.niu.edu

Department of Electrical Engineering, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, IL 60115

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Veysel Demir
Bachelor of Science, Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Middle East Technical
University, Ankara, Turkey, 1997.

System Analyst and Programmer, Pamukbank, Software Development Department,

Istanbul, Turkey, July 1997 – August 2000.

Master of Science, Electrical Engineering, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY, 2002.

Doctor of Philosophy, Electrical Engineering, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY, 2004.

Research Assistant, Sonnet Software, Inc. Liverpool, NY, August 2000 – July 2004.

Visiting research scholar, University of Mississippi, Electrical Engineering Department,

University, MS, July 2004 – Present.

Assistant Professor, Department of Electrical Engineering, Northern Illinois

University, DeKalb,IL, August 2007 – present

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Computational Electromagnetics

 Maxwell’s equations can be given in differential or integral form

Finite-difference Transmission line

time-domain matrix (TLM)
(FDTD)

Finite element
method (FEM) Method of Moments
(MoM)

Finite-difference Fast multipole

frequency-domain method (FMM)
(FDFD)
Integral equation
Differential equation methods methods

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Computational Electromagnetics

 Maxwell’s equations can be given in time domain or frequency domain

Time-domain methods

Finite-difference Transmission line

time-domain matrix (TLM)
(FDTD)

Finite element
method (FEM) Method of Moments
(MoM)

Finite-difference Fast multipole

frequency-domain method (FMM)
(FDFD)

Frequency domain methods

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Commercial software packages

 Commercial software packages

Finite element method (FEM) Method of Moments (MoM)

ADS Momentum

HFSS

Transmission line matrix (TLM) Finite-difference time-domain (FDTD)

CST Microstripes

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The Finite-Difference Time-Domain Method

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FDTD Books

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 Yearly FDTD Publications

 The most popular method in computational electromagnetics

Source: Allen Taflove, “A Perspective on the 40-Year History of FDTD Computational Electrodynamics,”
Applied Computational Electromagnetics Society (ACES) Conference, Miami, Florida, March 15, 2006.
Can be found at http://www.ece.northwestern.edu/ecefaculty/Allen1.html 8/34
 Maxwell’s Equations

 The basic set of equations describing the electromagnetic world

 Shows that light is an electromagnetic wave.

Gauss’s law ∇ ⋅D= ρv

Gauss’s law for magnetism ∇ ⋅B= 0
∂B
Faraday’s law ∇ × E= −
∂t
∂D
Ampere’s law ∇ × H= J+
∂t

Constitutive relations D = ε E ,and B = µ H

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FDTD Overview – Finite Differences

 Represent the derivatives in Maxwell’s curl equations by finite differences

 We use the second-order accurate central difference formula

df ( x) f ( x + ∆ x) − f ( x − ∆ x)
= f ′ ( x) ≅
dx 2∆ x
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FDTD Overview – Cells

 A three-dimensional problem space is composed of cells

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 FDTD Overview – The Yee Cell

 The FDTD (Finite Difference Time Domain) algorithm was first established
by Yee as a three dimensional solution of Maxwell's curl equations.

K. Yee, IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, May 1966.

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FDTD Overview – Material grid

 A three-dimensional problem space is composed of cells

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FDTD Overview – Updating Equations

 Three scalar equations can be obtained from one vector curl equation.

∂ Ex ∂ H z ∂ Hy
εx = −
∂t ∂y ∂z
∂E ∂ Ey ∂ H x ∂ Hz
ε = ∇ ×H εy = −
∂t ∂t ∂z ∂x
∂ Ez ∂ H y ∂ Hx
εz = −
∂ H x ∂ Ey ∂ Ez ∂t ∂x ∂y
µx = −
∂t ∂z ∂y
∂ H y ∂ Ez ∂ Ex ∂H
µy = − µ = −∇ × E
∂t ∂x ∂z ∂t
∂ H z ∂ Ex ∂ Ey
µz = −
∂t ∂y ∂x
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FDTD Overview – Updating Equations

 Represent derivatives by finite-differences

∂ Ex ∂ H z ∂ H y
εx = −
∂t ∂y ∂z

Exn + 1 (i, j , k ) − Exn (i, j , k )

ε x (i, j , k ) =
∆t
n + 0.5 n + 0.5
H zn + 0.5 (i, j , k ) − H zn + 0.5 (i, j − 1, k ) H y (i, j , k ) − H y (i, j, k − 1)
−
∆y ∆z

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FDTD Overview – Updating Equations

 Represent derivatives by finite-differences

∂ H x ∂ E y ∂ Ez
µx = −
∂t ∂z ∂y

H xn + 0.5 (i, j , k ) − H xn − 0.5 (i, j, k )

µ x (i, j , k ) =
∆t
E yn (i, j , k + 1) − E yn + 0.5 (i, j , k ) Ezn (i, j + 1, k ) − Ezn (i, j , k )
−
∆z ∆y

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FDTD Overview – Updating Equations

 Express the future components in terms of the past components

 H zn + 0.5 (i, j , k ) − H zn + 0.5 (i, j − 1, k ) 

 
∆ t  ∆ y 
Exn + 1 (i, j , k ) = Exn (i, j , k ) −
ε x (i, j , k )  H yn + 0.5 (i, j , k ) − H yn + 0.5 (i, j , k − 1) 
− 
 ∆z 

 E yn (i, j , k + 1) − E yn + 0.5 (i, j, k ) 

 
∆ t  ∆ z 
H xn + 0.5 (i, j , k ) = H xn − 0.5 (i, j , k ) +
µ x (i, j , k )  Ez (i, j + 1, k ) − Ez (i, j , k ) 
n n

− 
 ∆y 

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FDTD Overview – Leap-frog Algorithm

Exercise 1D
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Absorbing Boundary Conditions

 The three-dimensional problem space is truncated by absorbing

boundaries
 Most popular absorbing boundary is Perfectly Matched layers (PML)

Exercise 2D PML
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Active and Passive Lumped Elements

 Active and passive lumped elements can be modeled in FDTD

∂E
∇×H= ε + σ E+ J
∂t

Voltage source Current source

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Active and Passive Lumped Elements

Resistor Capacitor Inductor Diode

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Active and Passive Lumped Elements

A diode circuit

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 Transformation from Time-Domain to Frequency-Domain

 Results can be obtained for frequency domain using Fourier Transform

A low-pass filter

S11

S22

Exercise 2D object
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Near-Field to Far-field Transformations

An inverted-F antenna

24
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Modeling fine geometries

 It is possible to model fine structures using appropriate formulations

A wire loop antenna

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Incident plane wave

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Scattering Problems

∂ ∂
∇ × ( H inc + H scat ) = ε ( Einc + Escat ) ∇ × H inc = ε 0 Einc
∂t ∂t

A dielectric sphere
Exercise 3D PML
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Scattering from a Dielectric Sphere

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 Earth / Ionosphere Models in Geophysics

 Snapshots of FDTD-Computed Global Propagation of ELF

Electromagnetic Pulse Generated by Vertical Lightning Strike off South
America Coast

Source: Allen Taflove, “A Perspective on the 40-Year History of FDTD Computational Electrodynamics,”
Applied Computational Electromagnetics Society (ACES) Conference, Miami, Florida, March 15, 2006.
Can be found at http://www.ece.northwestern.edu/ecefaculty/Allen1.html 29/34
 Wireless Personal Communications Devices

Source: Allen Taflove, “A Perspective on the 40-Year History of FDTD Computational Electrodynamics,”
Applied Computational Electromagnetics Society (ACES) Conference, Miami, Florida, March 15, 2006.
Can be found at http://www.ece.northwestern.edu/ecefaculty/Allen1.html 30/34
 Phantom Head Validation at 1.8 GHz

Source: Allen Taflove, “A Perspective on the 40-Year History of FDTD Computational Electrodynamics,”
Applied Computational Electromagnetics Society (ACES) Conference, Miami, Florida, March 15, 2006.
Can be found at http://www.ece.northwestern.edu/ecefaculty/Allen1.html 31/34
 Ultrawideband Microwave Detection of Early-Stage Breast Cancer

Source: Allen Taflove, “A Perspective on the 40-Year History of FDTD Computational Electrodynamics,”
Applied Computational Electromagnetics Society (ACES) Conference, Miami, Florida, March 15, 2006.
Can be found at http://www.ece.northwestern.edu/ecefaculty/Allen1.html 32/34
 Focusing Plasmonic Lens

Source: Allen Taflove, “A Perspective on the 40-Year History of FDTD Computational Electrodynamics,”
Applied Computational Electromagnetics Society (ACES) Conference, Miami, Florida, March 15, 2006.
Can be found at http://www.ece.northwestern.edu/ecefaculty/Allen1.html 33/34
Thank You

Exercise 2D PEC
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