Evaluation of multiple diffraction integrals: computational speed and accuracy considerations

The paper examines the computational efficiency of three methods of evaluating multiple diffraction integrals commonly encountered in electromagnetic problems. The solution based on the repeated integrals of the error function originally derived by Vogler (1981) is elegant, relatively easy to program, computationally inefficient, but accurate. For practical applications, the computational technique used must be amenable to rapid evaluation and yield an acceptable degree of accuracy. Following the analysis of Saunders and Bonar (see IEEE Trans., AP-42, p.137-44, 1994) for propagation over multiple knife-edge models of building rows of irregular height and spacing, the Monte-Carlo integration technique is extended to consider knife-edge and plateau diffraction