2017 11th European Conference on Antennas and Propagation (EUCAP)

A Stable Marching-on-in-Time Algorithm Capable

of Handling Multiple Excitations - Application to
Wire Junction Problems
Sadasiva M. Rao,
Radar Division. Naval Research Laboratory, Washington DC, USA, sadasiva.rao@nrl.navy.mil

Abstract—In this work, a stable marching-on-in-time method N+1

is presented to obtain scattering response from arbitrary wire n+1
’
structures illuminated by a Gaussian plane wave directly in r-r n
the time domain. Contrary to all the available time domain r
algorithms till now, the present procedure is also capable of 2a n-1 r
r’ O r n+1
handling multiple excitations in a trivial manner. The new 1 n
procedure is based on the conventional method of moments 0 r
n-1
and utilizes standard pulse functions for expansion of space
and time variables. The testing procedure is accomplished by O
collocation procedure. The numerical results obtained using the
new procedure are validated by comparing with data obtained Fig. 1. Arbitrary wire divided into subdomains
from frequency domain solution and performing inverse discrete
Fourier transform.
Index Terms—time domain, method of moments, marching- where the magnetic vector potential and the electric scalar
on-in-time, scattering. potentials are given by
∫ ′
I. I NTRODUCTION as I(t − R/c, r ′ ) ′
A(t, r) = µ dℓ (2)
ℓ 4πR
The solution of time domain integral equation to estimate
the induced current on a scattering body due to an incident and
pulse waveform is usually obtained either using marching- ∫
1 qℓ (t − R/c, r ′ ) ′
on-in-time (MOT) procedure [1] or the recently developed Φ(t, r) = dℓ . (3)
ϵ ℓ 4πR
marching-on-in-degree (MOD) method [2], [3]. Unfortunately, √
the MOT procedure is prone to late-time instabilities and there In Eqs. (2) and (3), R = |r − r ′ |2 + a2 , µ and ϵ denote
have been several proposed remedies to overcome this problem the permeability and permittivity of the surrounding medium,
[1], [4]. However, none of the available methods are capable respectively, r and r ′ are the locations of the observation and
of processing multiple excitations in an economical manner. source points on the wire, a is the radius, and c is the velocity
In this work, we present a new algorithm, based on con- of the electromagnetic wave. Also, ℓ represents the parameter
ventional method of moments (MOM) solution procedure, along the length of the wire. The linear charge density qℓ is
ideally suited to handle a large number of excitations in a related to the induced current I by
trivial manner. Further, this new algorithm remain stable for a
∂qℓ ∂I
very long solution time. In the following sections, we present = − . (4)
detailed mathematical steps, numerical solution procedure, and ∂t ∂ℓ
numerical results comparing with other available data. Differentiating Eq. (1) with respect to time and using Eq. (4),
we obtain the following expression for the time derivative of
II. M ATHEMATICAL F ORMULATION the scalar potential as
∫
Let S denote an open or closed perfectly conducting ∆ ∂Φ −1 ∂I(t − R/c, r ′ )/∂ℓ ′
arbitrarily-oriented wire modeled by a series of straight wire Ψ= = dℓ . (5)
∂t ϵ ℓ 4πR
segments, as shown in Figure 1.
An electric field E i (t, r), defined in the absence of the The integro-differential equation for I can be derived using
scatterer, is incident on and induces a surface current I(t, r) on the boundary condition (E i + E s )tan = 0 on S as
S. Using basic mathematical steps outlined in [1], the scattered [ ]
∂A
electric field E s (t, r) computed from the surface current is + ∇Φ = E itan . (6)
∂t tan
given by
∂A(t, r) The charge density appearing in the scalar potential of Eq. (6)
E s (t, r) = − − ∇Φ(t, r), (1) may be eliminated by differentiating Eq. (6) with respect to
∂t

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 2017 11th European Conference on Antennas and Propagation (EUCAP)

time and using Eq. (5). Thus, the electric field integral equation Using finite difference approximation for time and space
for an arbitrary wire in time domain is given by derivatives, we may re-write Eq. (11) as
[ 2 ] [ ] Ψm,n+ 12 − Ψm,n− 12
∂ A ∂E i Am+1,n − 2Am,n + Am−1,n
+ ∇Ψ = (7) +
∂t2 tan ∂t tan ∆t2 |ℓn+ 21 − ℓn− 12 |
= Fn,m (15)
which needs to be solved for the unknown current I(t, r).
where Am,n = An (tm ), Ψm,n = Ψn (tm ), and Fm,n =
III. M ETHOD OF M OMENTS S OLUTION P ROCEDURE Fn (tm ).

For numerical purposes, the wire is divided into N +1 linear B. Expansion Procedure
segments. The position vector r n , n = 0, 1, . . . , N +1, defined Using Eq. (10), Am,n , as defined in Eq. (12), may be written
with respect to the global coordinate origin ⃝, represent the as
beginning point of each linear segment along the wire axis. ∑
M ∑
N
Rn,j
Notice that, we can assign different radii for each segment Am,n = µ Ii,j fi (tm − ) [an · aj ]κn,j (16)
which allows us to model wire structures with non-uniform i=1 j=1
c
radius. Further, we divide the time axis into uniform time inter-
where
vals given by ∆t and denote tm = m∆t for m = 0, 1, 2, ....∞. ∫
Next, we discuss the numerical solution procedure to solve dℓ′
κn,j = , (17)
Eq. (7) using the method of moments. As a first step, define ℓj 4π Rn
a set of basis functions for time variable t and space variable
Rn = |r n − r ′ |, Rn,j = |r n − r j | and aj is the unit tangential
ℓ, given by
vector at ℓ = ℓj .
{ (t−tm−1 )(tm+1 −t)
tm−1 ≤ t ≤ tm+1 Next, let us consider the evaluation of Ψn,m . Considering
fm (t) ≡ ∆t2 (8) Eq. (5), replacing the derivative operation with finite difference
0 otherwise.
approximation, and substituting Eq. (10), we have
and {
−1 ∑ ∑
M N
1 ℓn− 12 ≤ ℓ ≤ ℓn+ 12 1
gn (ℓ) ≡ (9) Ψm,n = Ii,j
0 otherwise. ϵ i=1 j=1 |ℓj+ 12 − ℓj− 12 |
[ ]
where ℓn± 21 = ℓn ± ∆ℓ Rn,j+ 12 Rn,j− 12
2 . Using Eqs. (8) and (9), the induced × fi (tm − ) κn,j+ 12 − fi (tm − ) κn,j− 12 (18)
current I(t, ℓ) for the first M time steps is approximated as c c

∑
M ∑
N where
∫
I(t, ℓ) ≈ Im,n fm (t) gn (ℓ) (10) dℓ′
m=1 n=1 κn,j± 21 = , (19)
ℓj ± 12 4π Rn
where Im,n represents the unknown coefficients to be deter-
and Rn,j± 12 = |r n − r j± 21 |.
mined by the MOM procedure. Note that there are P = M ×N
Using the expansion and testing procedures described so
number of unknowns in this scheme and M denotes the
far, it is trivial to generate a matrix equation ZX = Y of
minimum number of time steps required for the wave to
dimension P = M ×N . The elements of Z-matrix are formed
propagate from one end of the wire to the other end.
by assembling Am,n and Ψm,n . Note that this matrix is not
A. Testing Procedure a dense matrix since the time function is approximated with
pulse functions and hence involves only one non-zero term in
For the testing purposes, we use delta functions for time the summation. The right hand side Y involves the incident
and space variables. Thus, we can write Eq. (7) after testing field terms which is trivial to calculate once the incident wave
as form is described. By solving the matrix equation, using any of
∂ 2 An (tm ) ∂Ψn (tm ) the standard matrix equation solving methods such as Gaussian
+ = Fn (tm ) (11) elimination or LU-decomposition, it is simple to obtain the
∂t2 ∂ℓ
induced current at all locations for the first M time steps. It
for m = 1, 2, · · · M and n = 1, 2, · · · N , where is obvious, at this stage, to note that multiple incident fields
An (tm ) = an · A(tm , ℓn ) (12) can be processed in a trivial manner with this procedure.
∂Ψn (tm ) In order to generate the response for next M time steps,
= an · ∇Ψ(tm , ℓn ) (13) we note that only the right hand side of the matrix equation
∂ℓ
needs to be modified. We note that for this case, the right
∂E in (tm )
Fn (tm ) = an · (14) hand side would be Y − ZX pre where X pre represents the
∂t coefficients already calculated for zero to M -steps. Hence,
and an is the unit tangential vector at ℓ = ℓn . obtaining induced current for M + 1, · · · , 2M is a trivial task.

514
 2017 11th European Conference on Antennas and Propagation (EUCAP)
Fig. 2. A wire-mesh illuminated by a Gussian plane wave. The wire
radius=0.001 m
This process can be easily repeated for as many time steps as
needed.
Lastly, we note that the analysis presented so far applies to
a single arbitrarily oriented wire. However, it is a simple task
to extend this analysis to multiple wires and wire junctions
[1].
IV. N UMERICAL R ESULTS
In this section, we present numerical results for two example
problems illuminated by a Gaussian plane wave, given by
4 In this work, a stable time-domain marching-on-in-time
E i (t, r) = E o √ e−γ
2
(20)
T π
with
4
γ= (ct − cto − r · ak ), (21)
T
where ak is the unit vector in the direction of propagation
of the incident wave, T is the pulse width of the Gaussian
impulse, E o · ak = 0, r is a position vector relative to the
origin, c is the velocity of propagation in the external medium,
and to is a time delay which represents the time at which
the pulse peaks at the origin. The time delay is introduced to
ensure a smooth rise of the incident field from a zero value.
The pulse width T is defined such that for ct − cto − r ·
ak = ± T2 , the exponential has fallen to about 2% of its peak
value. For both example problems, we have E o = 120πax ,
cto = 6.0 LM, T = 4.0 LM, and k = −az . Note that 1 LM
= 3.333 nSecs.
Consider a wire-mesh, with wire radius of 0.001 m, ar-
ranged in the shape of a square plate of 0.5 × 0.5 m, located
in the XY -plane. The mesh is illuminated by a Gaussian plane
wave. The induced current at the center of the mesh is obtained
using the new procedure and compared with the frequency-
domain MOM solution. There are 67 basis functions in space
and 20 basis functions in time for the time domain solution.
The time step ∆t for this problem is 0.333 LM. Both solutions
compare very well, as shown in Figure 2, and remain stable
in the late time.
Next, we consider a spherical wire-cage, with wire radius of
0.001 m, located with the center of the wire cage coinciding
with the coordinate center. The mesh is illuminated by a
515
0.5m
Fig. 3. A spherical wire-cage illuminated by a Gussian plane wave. The wire
radius=0.001 m
Gaussian plane wave. The induced current at the specified
location, shown as a red dot in the Figure 3, is obtained using
the new procedure and compared with the frequency-domain
MOM solution. There are 119 basis functions in space and 20
basis functions in time for the time domain solution. The time
step ∆t for this problem is 0.333 LM. Both solutions again
compare very well, as shown in Figure 3, and remain stable
in the late time.
V. C ONCLUSION
procedure is presented. The novelty of the present solution
scheme is simple and capable of handling multiple incident
fields with ease. Note that the MOM matrix generated in this
procedure is real and sparse. However, it is a large matrix and
efforts are underway to efficiently solve such matrix problems.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This research was conducted under the Naval Research
Laboratory Base Program sponsored by the Office of Naval
Research.
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