A 3-D hybrid finite element/boundary element method for the unified radiation and scattering analysis of general infinite periodic arrays

We present a rigorous frequency domain variational 3-D electromagnetic formulation for the general nonself-adjoint infinite periodic array problem. The hybrid method described combines the vector finite element and Floquet boundary element techniques. It is general in the sense that it is applicable to infinite periodic arrays of the open or aperture-types. It is thus effective for modeling both the scattering and radiation performance of diverse FSS, absorber, and phased-array structures. The technique accurately handles arbitrarily complicated 3-D geometries, lossy inhomogeneous media and internal as well as external excitations. These analyses can be applied to general skewed grids under arbitrary scan and polarization conditions