An FFT-Accelerated Time-Domain Multiconductor Transmission Line Simulator

A fast time-domain multiconductor transmission line (MTL) simulator for analyzing general MTL networks is presented. The simulator models the networks as homogeneous MTLs that are excited by external fields and driven/terminated/connected by potentially nonlinear lumped circuitry. It hybridizes an MTL solver derived from time-domain integral equations (TDIEs) in unknown wave coefficients for each MTL with a circuit solver rooted in modified nodal analysis equations in unknown node voltages and voltage-source currents for each circuit. These two solvers are rigorously interfaced at MTL and circuit terminals, and the resulting coupled system of equations is solved simultaneously for all MTL and circuit unknowns at each time step. The proposed simulator is amenable to hybridization, is fast Fourier transform (FFT)-accelerated, and is highly accurate: 1) It can easily be hybridized with TDIE-based field solvers (in a fully rigorous mathematical framework) for performing electromagnetic interference and compatibility analysis on electrically large and complex structures loaded with MTL networks. 2) It is accelerated by an FFT algorithm that calculates temporal convolutions of time-domain MTL Green functions in only $O({N_{\rm t} \log ^2 N_{\rm t} })$ rather than $O(N_{\rm t}^2)$ operations, where $N_{\rm t} $ is the number of time steps of simulation. Moreover, the algorithm, which operates on temporal samples of MTL Green functions, is indifferent to the method used to obtain them. 3) It approximates MTL voltages, currents, and wave coefficients, using high-order temporal basis functions. Various numerical examples, including the crosstalk analysis of a (twisted) unshielded twisted-pair (UTP)-CAT5 cable and the analysis of field coupling into UTP-CAT5 and RG-58 cables located on an airplane, are presented to demonstrate the accuracy, efficiency, and versatility of the proposed simulator.