Computer architecture implications of the numerical solution for the electromagnetic field of an arbitrary current source

An algorithm has been specified for the hardware implementation of the numerical solution of the electromagnetic fields of an arbitrary current source. The algorithm solves for the magnetic (H) and electric (E) fields, as well as the vector potential (A) of a finite length arbitrary current source. A mid-point summation technique was employed and tested by simulation. The simulation was accomplished with a single -directed dipole, long, for the test antenna. Numerical solutions utilizing uniform and triangular envelope current distributions were compared with the far-field solution for the test antenna at ranges of 250 and . The number of sub-elements simulated in the mid-point summation were 50, 100, and 500. When 500 subelements were used the difference between the numerical and far-field solutions decreased to less than 1 percent for 95 percent of the observation points. The greatest differences between the numerical and far-field solutions occurred in the null regions of the radiation pattern. The algorithm is inherently symmetric with respect to the cartesian coordinate system and, as such, lends itself to highly parallel and concurrent computational techniques. This property of the algorithm makes it an excellent candidate for implementation by a Very High Speed Integrated Circuit (VHSIC) class processor. Investigation of a parallel, highly concurrent architectural implementation has yielded preliminary results that computational savings of 5 orders of magnitude is attainable.