Femix Virtual Propagation Package

This chapter discusses how the groundwave propagation problem over a non‐smooth spherical Earth with an impedance BC and a radially dependent atmosphere, excited by a vertical electric dipole located near the Earth's surface, requires the solution of a 3D EM wave equation in spherical coordinate. A novel FEMPE‐based software tool (FEMIX) is introduced for the analysis and visualization of surface‐wave propagation over the irregular Earth's surface through a homogeneous and an inhomogeneous atmosphere. The FEMIX propagator uses the FEM‐based standard PE, with the accuracy of the numerical computations depending on the discretization. Several parameters, such as the frequency, source beam‐ width, source tilt, source height, terrain profile, refractivity variations, need to be considered. The LOAD and SAVE buttons are used to load and record the irregular terrain data. New irregular terrain data are defined for each path on the bottom figure of the right part by using the number of points, range, and height values by pressing the Locate Points button.