FDTD analysis of symmetric TEM cell

Traditional measurements of the electric field distribution inside a symmetric square TEM cell can be tedious, difficult and subject to errors. In this paper we evaluate a numerical FDTD method for prediction of spatial electric field distribution within an empty TEM cell. FDTD results compare favorably with measured data, hence providing an excellent tool to replace measurement methods and avoid errors. Emphasis is laid on the basic idea of field perturbation introduced by external field probes and objects, thus promoting FDTD computational techniques as an alternative but accurate, valid and a suitable tool.