A combined-source solution for radiation and scattering from a perfectly conducting body

A combined-source solution is developed for electromagnetic radiation and scattering from a perfectly conducting body. In this solution a combination of electric and magnetic currents, called the combined source, is placed on the surface
S
of the conducting body. The combined-source operator equation is obtained from the
E
-field boundary-value equation. It is shown that the solution to this operator equation is unique at all frequencies. The combined-field operator equation also has a unique solution, but it is not directly applicable to the aperture radiation problem. The
H
-field and
E
-field operator equations fail to give unique solutions at frequencies corresponding to the resonant frequencies of a cavity formed by a hollow conductor of the same shape. The combined-source operator equation is solved by the method of moments. The solution, valid for a three-dimensional closed surface
S
, is then applied to a surface of revolution. Examples of numerical computations are given for a sphere, a cone-sphere, and a finite circular cylinder.