A Unified View of Computational Electromagnetics

This article presents a unified description of numerical methods for solving electromagnetic field problems. Traditionally, these methods are considered to be independent and alternative ways of solving Maxwell’s equations or equations derived therefrom. However, they all are projective approximations of the unknown solution by known expansion or basis functions with unknown amplitude coefficients that are determined using the so- called method of weighted residuals (MWR). This common feature forms the proposed unifying framework that may serve both as a systematic introduction to computational electromagnetics and as a way to provide insight into the nature, strengths, and limitations of the various algorithms used by present and future field solvers. For convenience, the fundamental equations and concepts of electromagnetics are summarized in order to facilitate the demonstration of the unified approach. Our aim is to provide students, designers, and researchers with a framework for developing new numerical algorithms, to guide users in the selection and application of electromagnetic design tools, and to foster informed engineering judgment. This article also serves as a review and summary of earlier theoretical works reported in different places and at different times.