Ray Tracing for Antenna Modelling: Balancing Accuracy and Speed
In recent times, we have become familiar with the use of commercial software for designing our antennas and microwave devices. This is very common since it is easy to find high-performance desktop computers at affordable prices in our daily lives. The use of general-purpose commercial software is widespread because it allows for the simulation of any arbitrary configuration. However, many of us have experienced, given the ease of using commercial software, trying to simulate electrically large electromagnetic devices which take days or, in some cases, cannot be completed at all. While it is true that we now have very powerful simulation tools, by making a few simple assumptions, we can significantly reduce computational time without sacrificing accuracy. In this talk, I will introduce a simple ray-tracing technique that can be used, in combination with physical optics, to calculate the radiation pattern of antennas, as well as directivity, gain, mutual coupling, and even early-time response in complex configurations. The results are not only faster than those produced by conventional commercial software, but also more accurate, as they avoid many of the numerical errors that typically arise when computing electrically large structures.
