Some strategies used in the computer simulation of wave phenomena by means of finite differences in time-domain (FDTD) method are reviewed and discussed here. It is shown that the wave equation in its discretized form possesses different properties in comparison with the true differential formulation. In this part the issues of stability and numerical dispersion are thoroughly investigated for the one-dimensional case represented here by waves on transmission lines and transversal electromagnetic plane wave.
In the circuit theory the concept of the impulse response of a linear system due to its excitation by the Dirac delta function ƍ(t) together with the convolution principle is widely used and accepted. The rigorous theory of symbolic functions, sometimes called distributions, where also the delta function belongs, is rather abstract and requires subtle mathematical tools [1], [2], [3], [4]. Nevertheless, the most people intuitively well understand the delta function as a derivative of the (Heaviside) unit step function 1(t) without too much mathematical rigor. The concept of the impulse response of linear systems is here approached in a unified manner and generalized to the time-space phenomena in one dimension (transmission lines), as well as in a subsequent paper [5] to the phenomena in more dimensions (static and dynamic electromagnetic fields).
Propagation of a two-dimensional spatio-temporal electromagnetic beam wave is analysed. In parabolic (paraxial) approximation the exact analytical results for a spatio-temporal Gaussian impulse can be obtained. For solution of the full wave equation the numerical simulation has to be used. The various facets of this simulation are discussed here.
In the circuit theory the concept of the impulse response of a linear system due to its excitation by the Dirac delta function δ(t) together with the convolution principle is widely used and accepted. The rigorous theory of symbolic functions, sometimes called distributions, where also the delta function belongs, is rather abstract and requires subtle mathematical tools [1-4]. Nevertheless, the most people intuitively well understand the delta function as a derivative of the (Heaviside) unit step function 1(t) without too much mathematical rigor. In the previous part [5] the concept of the impulse response of linear systems was approached in a unified manner and generalized to the time-space phenomena in one dimension (transmission lines). Here the phenomena in more dimensions (static and dynamic electromagnetic fields) are treated. It is shown that many formulas in the field theory, which are often postulated in an inductive way as results of the experiments, and therefore appear as “deux ex machina” effects, can be mathematically deduced from a few starting equations.
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