A new method for mutual coupling between antennas associating FDTD with time domain integral expression of electromagnetic fields

In many applications, it is necessary to know the mutual coupling between antennas, particularly in antenna array design. The FDTD method is very useful to model real printed antennas. In this case the region near the antennas is too large to be studied. Computing electromagnetic fields directly by the FDTD method requires too much computer time and excessive memory space. To preserve the advantages and the accuracy of the FDTD method, we have to choose a rigorous complementary method, in order to compute the electromagnetic fields in the region between the two antennas: the time domain electromagnetic field integral form computing. The association of these two time domain methods is called the hybrid method and is discussed.