On the Use of FDTD and Ray-Tracing Schemes in the Nanonetwork Environment

In this letter, the finite difference time-domain (FDTD) method and the ray-tracing (RT) technique are systematically revisited and compared as potential tools that can reliably characterize new protocols for emerging nanonetwork applications. To this aim, a set of efficient simulation schemes for the precise prediction of the reception quality in various communication scenarios is presented. In particular, each algorithm involves a similar configuration with a realistic transmitter/receiver model and multiple obstacles sized up to some micrometers. The proposed analysis reveals that, unlike conventional assessments, the RT approach can be successfully employed at nanoscale dimensions, with increasing accuracy at higher frequencies, as a tool for fast received-energy estimations, since its results are in acceptable agreement with the respective FDTD data. These significant deductions are, finally, substantiated by a theoretical formulation equivalent to that of frequency selective surfaces.