Transient scattering by conductor bodies: A comparison of Time-Domain computational methods

Abstract. Presented in this paper is a comparison of the three popular time domain numerical techniques, viz., the Time-Domain Integral Equation (TDIE) method, the Finite Difference Time Domain method (FDTD) and the Transmission Line Modeling (TLM) method when applied for transient electromagnetic scattering problems. These three popular techniques are useful for signature analysis of direct scattering problem in time domain i.e., finding the scattered field when the incident waveform and the target geometry are given. Even though all of them are time domain techniques, their modeling philosophy is quite different. The TDIE method is based on well known method of moments and in FDTD Maxwell’s equations are solved using a differencing scheme. The TLM uses a scattering approach akin to Huygens principle, implemented by replacing the space medium with a system of interconnected transmission-lines. The comparison is made via conductor bodies of standard canonical shapes like a square plate, a pie-plate, a cube, and a sphere, to address the factors affecting accuracy, efficiency, and the required computer resources