The finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method is an elegant way to calculate various electromagnetic phenomena due to its strengths of easy implementation and low computational quantity [1-4]. However, the standard FDTD method (the Yee scheme [5]) has a relatively large number of numerical dispersion errors when compared to other numerical analysis methods, such as the moment method and the finite element method. Many researchers have studied low dispersion algorithms in an attempt to reduce the numerical errors of the standard FDTD method [6-13].
The higher order (2, 4) FDTD scheme (H(2, 4) scheme) is one of the low dispersion FDTD algorithms. Its weakness is that it requires a small time increment to produce accurate results, and even when a small time increment is used, its accuracy is lower than that of other low dispersion FDTD algorithms that use larger time increments at the operating frequency [11,12]. We previously presented an optimization method for the conventional H(2, 4) scheme [14]. We obtained a high level of accuracy by using the complementary dispersion properties of Yee and the H(2, 4) scheme with propagation angles, which resolved the small time increment problem of the H(2, 4) scheme. This paper expands that solution to a homogeneous, isotropic, and lossy material that has a constant conductivity for frequencies.
As in our previous study [14], this study uses a weighting factor for isotropic dispersion and two scaling factors in order to achieve an extremely small number of numerical errors. However, unlike the case in the previous study [14], we use a closed-form solution in the present study to find the weighting factor. This study found a weighting factor and two scaling factors under a square grid. Fig. 1 shows the procedure of the proposed scheme. Section Ⅱ presents the formulation of the numerical dispersion relations and the calculation of a new weighting factor by a closed-form solution. The scaling factors are calculated and the scheme’s performance is analyzed in Section Ⅲ. The numerical results of the proposed scheme and the H(2, 4) scheme are compared in Section Ⅳ.
In this section, nearly isotropic numerical phase constants for the propagation angles were obtained using a weighting factor. We assumed a square grid and found the weighting factor by using update equations and a numerical dispersion relation. The Maxwell equations used in the FDTD method are as follows:
where
is the magnetic field intensity. In addition,
where
is the difference operator defined as:
Eq. (8) is the numerical dispersion relation of the proposed scheme.
where
We determined the weighting factor (
Δ
Fig. 3 shows the weighting factor versus cells per wavelength (CPW). As shown in Fig. 3, the Courant number (S) has little effect on the weighting factor. As the CPW become larger, the weighting factor approaches a value of one. Fig. 4 shows the
where max(X) and min(X) stand for the maximum and minimum value of X, respectively. As shown in Fig. 4, the proposed scheme clearly has the best performance among the three schemes. Its
In this section, the numerical errors are removed at a single frequency. This is followed by analysis of the wide band properties. Fig. 5 shows the relative permittivity and conductivity for the propagation angles. The estimated material constants of the proposed scheme (uncorrected) are much flatter than those of the H(2, 4) scheme. However, the difference is greater between the analytic solution and these constants than between those of the H(2, 4) scheme. These numerical errors were reduced by multiplying two scaling factors, m1 and m2, by the relative permittivity and conductivity, respectively. These create a new relative permittivity and conductivity, defined as
These new material constants change the numerical dispersion relation. Eq. (15) represents the new numerical dispersion relation.
The numerical wavenumber
of Eq. (15) is changed into the exact wavenumber (
Re[X] and Im[X] represent the real and imaginary part of X. The corrected case in Fig. 5 then represents the final performance of the proposed scheme at the operating frequency. The estimated material constants (relative permittivity and conductivity) are almost the same as the analytic values.
The wideband properties of the proposed scheme are analyzed by defining
where
are the estimated relative permittivity and conductivity, respectively. Fig. 6 the proposed scheme has a much better performance than the H(2, 4) scheme for the wide CPW region. As expected,sed scheme has an extremely small error in the selected CPW. In addition,sed scheme has similar accuracy for the different Courant numbers in the selected CPW.
The validity of the proposed scheme for lossy material was verified by calculating a scattering problem of the lossy circular dielectric. The radius of the dielectric is 15
In this study, we expanded the optimized H(2, 4) scheme to a lossy material and assumed a square grid. A weighting factor calculated by a closed-form solution was used to obtain isotropic dispersion in the proposed scheme. Two scaling factors were applied to the relative permittivity and conductivity and removed the numerical errors in the optimized CPW. The proposed scheme has better performance than the H(2, 4) scheme with the optimized CPW. The proposed scheme can be used effectively in electrically large problems, and can easily be expanded to 3D.