Progress in computational electromagnetic modeling for EM courseware: a personal perspective at Penn State

Summary form only given. Recent advances in computational electromagnetic modeling make it possible to provide students with interactive, color visualization of complex 3-D phenomena on personal workstations in real time at reasonable cost. The advances are: the computational engines available, where the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) techniques have been found to be the most advantageous; the availability of powerful workstations with extensive color graphics support, operating in the multi-megaflop regime; and an emerging environment of courseware development support from a host of groups and agencies, including CAEME (computer applications in electromagnetics education) and ECSEL, which permits development of student friendly interfaces or shells. The interface provides multiple problem types with a hierarchical level of problem sophistication ranging from demonstrations to tutorials to independent student design efforts. The student selects the problem type and the level of difficulty or interactivity suitable to his or her experience, inputs the required variables, and then watches as the system responds in time to the selected stimulus in the form of real-time graphical display of the fields and interaction object.<>