Computational Electromagnetics (CEM)

The presented article proposes a theory for the optimization of multiple-input-multiple-output antenna performance by assessing feeding coefficients. Antenna clusters with multiple feeding ports are utilized, which brings additional degrees of freedom and improves the performance. This work considers fixed shape and matching networks. The method is based on quadratic programming and maximizes total efficiency constrained by channel correlation and channel power distribution. The formulation provided in the article enables establishing trade-offs between all mentioned metrics. Evaluating the performance in this manner provides comprehensive information about the chosen geometry and port placement. Selected examples demonstrate how efficiency and channel correlation can be both in agreement but also in significant conflict. The effect of frequency dispersion on feeding is also investigated.

Performance limitations for implanted antennas, taking radiation efficiency as the metric, are presented. The performance limitations use a convex optimization procedure with the current density inside the implant acting as its degree of freedom. The knowledge of the limitations provides useful information in design procedures and physical insights. Ohmic losses in the antenna and surrounding tissue are considered and quantitatively compared. The interaction of all parts of the system is taken into account in a full-wave manner via the hybrid computation method. The optimization framework is thoroughly tested on a realistic implanted antenna design that is treated both experimentally and as a model in a commercial electromagnetic (EM) solver. Good agreement is reported. To demonstrate the feasibility of developed performance limitations, they are compared to the performance of a loop and a dipole antenna showing the importance of various loss mechanisms during the design process. The tradeoff between tissue loss and antenna ohmic loss indicates critical points at which the optimal solution drastically changes and the chosen topology for a specific design should be changed.

The upper bound on antenna gain is expressed as a sum of lossy characteristic modes, specifically, as a sum of characteristic far fields squared. The procedure combines the favorable properties of Harrington’s classical approach to maximum directivity and current-density-based approaches. The upper bound is valid for any antenna or array designed in a given design region for which optimal performance is determined. The decomposition into modes makes it possible to study the degrees of freedom of an obstacle, classify its radiation into normal or super-directive currents, and determine their compatibility with a given excitation. The bound considers an arbitrary shape of the design region and specific material distribution. The cost in Q -factor and radiation efficiency is studied. The extra constraint of a self-resonance current is imposed for an electrically small antenna. The examples verify the developed theory, demonstrate the procedure’s utility, and provide helpful insight to antenna designers. The feasibility of the optimal gain is studied in detail on an example of endfire arrays using the aforementioned decomposition of optimal current density into lossy characteristic modes.

Optimal performance of antennas used in MIMO systems is addressed in this paper with optimality being expressed in terms of the power radiated which is subject to realistic, yet unknown, excitation and fixed, however arbitrarily complicated, matching. It is shown that if excitation is not specified, the optimality of a MIMO radiating system has to be understood differently as compared to the case of a specified excitation. Consequently, two important figures of merits – transducer and radiation efficiency figures – are adopted to measure the quality of the MIMO radiating systems. The communication is accompanied by examples illustrating the theoretical concepts.

Upper bounds on the focusing efficiency of aperture fields and lens systems are formulated using integral equation representations of Maxwell’s equations and Lagrangian duality. Two forms of focusing efficiency are considered based on lens exit plane fields and optimal polarization currents within lens design regions of prescribed shape and available materials. Bounds are compared against the performance of classical prescriptions of ideal lens aperture fields, hyperbolic lens designs, and lenses produced by inverse design. Results demonstrate that, without regularization, focusing efficiency based solely on lens exit plane fields is unbounded, similar to the problem of unbounded antenna directivity. Additionally, results considering extruded two-dimensional dielectric geometries driven by out-of-plane electric fields for the calculation of bounds and inverse design demonstrate that aperture fields based on time-reversal do not necessarily yield optimal lens focusing efficiency, particularly in the case of near-field (high numerical aperture) focusing.

Knowledge of the fundamental limitations on a magnetic trap for neutral particles is of paramount interest to designers as it allows for the rapid assessment of the feasibility of specific trap requirements or the quality of a given design. In this paper, performance limitations are defined for convexity of magnetic trapping potential and bias field using a local approximation in the trapping center. As an example, the fundamental bounds are computed for current supporting regions in the form of a spherical shell, a cylindrical region, and a box. A Pareto-optimal set considering both objectives is found and compared with known designs of the baseball trap and Ioffe-Pritchard trap. The comparison reveals a significant gap in the performance of classical trap designs from fundamental limitations. This indicates a possibility of improved trap designs and modern techniques of shape synthesis are applied in order to prove their existence. The topologically optimized traps perform almost two times better as compared to conventional designs. Last, but not least, the developed framework might serve as a prototype for the formulation of fundamental limitations on plasma confinement in a wider sense.

Fundamental bounds on the performance of monochromatic scattering-cancellation and fieldzeroing cloaks made of prescribed linear passive materials occupying a predefined design region are formulated by projecting field quantities onto a sub-sectional basis and applying quadratically constrained quadratic programming. Formulations are numerically tested revealing key physical trends as well as advantages and disadvantages between the two classes of cloaks. Results show that the use of low-loss materials with high dielectric contrast affords the highest potential for effective cloaking.

A problem of the erroneous duality gap caused by the presence of symmetries is solved in this paper utilizing point group theory. The optimization problems are first divided into two classes based on their predisposition to suffer from this deficiency. Then, the classical problem of Q-factor minimization is shown in an example where the erroneous duality gap is eliminated by combining solutions from orthogonal subspaces. Validity of this treatment is demonstrated in a series of subsequent examples of increasing complexity spanning the wide variety of optimization problems, namely minimum Qfactor, maximum antenna gain, minimum total active reflection coefficient, or maximum radiation efficiency with self-resonant constraint. They involve problems with algebraic and geometric multiplicities of the eigenmodes, and are completed by an example introducing the selective modification of modal currents falling into one of the symmetry conformal sub-spaces. The entire treatment is accompanied with a discussion of finite numerical precision, and mesh grid imperfections and their influence on the results. Finally, the robust and unified algorithm is proposed and discussed, including advanced topics such as the uniqueness of the optimal solutions, dependence on the number of constraints, or an interpretation of the qualitative difference between the two classes of the optimization problems.

The optimal spectral efficiency of MIMO antennas in an ideal line-of-sight channel is investigated when bandwidth requirements are placed on the antenna. By posing the problem as a convex optimization problem restricted by the input port Q-factor a semi-analytical expression is formed for its solution. It is shown that this solution is solely dependent on energy modes of the antenna. These modes are compared to the characteristic modes and the ability to induce them through sub-regions of a plate is investigated. The position of these regions is also investigated when they are raised above the ground plane. Their performance is illustrated through spectral efficiency over Q, a quantity that is connected to the true capacity. It is demonstrated that the spatial diversity of the controlled regions correlates with the number of significant energy modes.

Trade-offs between feasible absorption and scattering cross sections of obstacles confined to an arbitrarily shaped volume are formulated as a multi-objective optimization problem solvable by Lagrangian-dual methods. Solutions to this optimization problem yield a Pareto-optimal set, the shape of which reveals the feasibility of achieving simultaneously extremal absorption and scattering. Two forms of the trade-off problems are considered involving both loss and reactive material parameters. Numerical comparisons between the derived multi-objective bounds and several classes of realized structures are made. Additionally, low-frequency (electrically small, long wavelength) limits are examined for certain special cases.

A numerically effective description of the total active reflection coefficient and realized gain are studied for multi-port antennas. Material losses are fully considered. The description is based on operators represented in an entire-domain port-mode basis, i.e., on matrices with favorably small dimensions. Optimal performance is investigated and conditions on optimal excitation and matching are derived. The solution to the combinatorial problem of optimal ports' placement and optimal feeding synthesis is also accomplished. Four examples of various complexity are numerically studied, demonstrating the advantages of the proposed method. The final formulas can easily be implemented in existing electromagnetic simulators using integral equation solver.

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A general framework for determining fundamental bounds in nanophotonics is introduced in this paper. The theory is based on convex optimization of dual problems constructed from operators generated by electromagnetic integral equations. The optimized variable is a contrast current defined within a prescribed region of a given material constitutive relations. Two power conservation constraints analogous to optical theorem are utilized to tighten the bounds and to prescribe either losses or material properties. Thanks to the utilization of matrix rank-1 updates, modal decompositions, and model order reduction techniques, the optimization procedure is computationally efficient even for complicated scenarios. No dual gaps are observed. The method is well-suited to accommodate material anisotropy and inhomogeneity. To demonstrate the validity of the method, bounds on scattering, absorption, and extinction cross sections are derived first and evaluated for several canonical regions. The tightness of the bounds is verified by comparison to optimized spherical nanoparticles and shells. The next metric investigated is bi-directional scattering studied closely on a particular example of an electrically thin slab. Finally, the bounds are established for Purcell's factor and local field enhancement where a dimer is used as a practical example.

Fundamental bounds on antenna gain are found via convex optimization of the current density in a prescribed region. Various constraints are considered, including self-resonance and only partial control of the current distribution. Derived formulas are valid for arbitrarily shaped radiators of a given conductivity. All the optimization tasks are reduced to eigenvalue problems, which are solved efficiently. The second part of the paper deals with superdirectivity and its associated minimal costs in efficiency and Q-factor. The paper is accompanied by a series of examples practically demonstrating the relevance of the theoretical framework and entirely spanning a wide range of material parameters and electrical sizes used in antenna technology. Presented results are analyzed from the perspective of effectively radiating modes. In contrast to a common approach utilizing modes, the radiating modes of a given body are directly evaluated and analyzed here. All crucial mathematical steps are reviewed in the appendices, including a series of important subroutines to be considered making it possible to reduce the computational burden associated with the evaluation of electrically large structures and structures of high conductivity.

Published version available online at IEEEXplore.
Final manuscript available online at arXiv.

The tradeoff between radiation efficiency and antenna bandwidth, expressed in terms of Q-factor for small antennas, is formulated as a multiobjective optimization problem in current distributions of predefined support. Variants on the problem are constructed to demonstrate the consequences of requiring a self-resonant current as opposed to the one tuned by an external reactance. The tradeoffs are evaluated for sample problems and the resulting Pareto-optimal sets reveal the relative cost of valuing low radiation Q-factor over high efficiency, the cost in efficiency to require a self-resonant current, the effects of lossy parasitic loading, and other insights. Observations are drawn from the sample problems selected, though the tradeoff evaluation method is valid for studying arbitrary antenna geometries. In the examples considered here, we observe that small increases in Q-factor away from its lower bound allow for dramatic increases in efficiency toward its upper bound.

Published version available online at IEEEXplore.
Final manuscript available online at arXiv.

Existing optimization methods are used to calculate the upper bounds on radiation efficiency with and without the constraint on self-resonance. These bounds are used for the design and assessment of small electric-dipole-type antennas. We demonstrate that the assumption of lossless, lumped, and external tuning skews the true nature of radiation efficiency bounds when practical material characteristics are used in the tuning network. A major result is that, when realistic (e.g., finite conductivity) materials are used, small antenna systems exhibit dissipation factors which scale as (ka)^-4 , rather than (ka)^-2 as previously predicted under the assumption of lossless external tuning.

Published version available online at IEEEXplore.
Final manuscript available online at arXiv.

Radiation efficiencies of modal current densities distributed on a spherical shell are evaluated in terms of dissipation factor. The presented approach is rigorous, yet simple and straightforward, leading to closed-form expressions. The same approach is utilized for a two-layered shell and the results are compared with other models existing in the literature. Discrepancies in this comparison are reported and reasons are analyzed. Finally, it is demonstrated that radiation efficiency potentially benefits from the use of internal volume, which contrasts with the case of the radiation Q-factor.

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Optimal currents on arbitrarily shaped radiators with respect to the minimum quality factor are found using a simple and efficient procedure. The solution starts with a reformulation of the problem of minimizing quality factor Q as an alternative, so-called dual, problem. Taking advantage of modal decomposition and group theory, it is shown that the dual problem can easily be solved and always results in minimal quality factor Q. Moreover, the optimization procedure is generalized to minimize quality factor Q for embedded antennas, with respect to the arbitrarily weighted radiation patterns, or with prescribed magnitude of the electric and magnetic near fields. The obtained numerical results are compatible with previous results based on the composition of modal currents, convex optimization, and quasi-static approximations; however, using the methodology in this paper, the class of solvable problems is significantly extended.

Published version available online at IEEEXplore.
Final manuscript available online at arXiv.

An optimization problem has been formulated to find a resonant current extremizing various antenna parameters. The method is presented on, but not limited to, particular cases of gain G, quality factor Q, gain to quality factor ratio G/Q, and radiation efficiency η of canonical shapes with conduction losses explicitly included. The Rao-Wilton-Glisson basis representation is used to simplify the underlying algebra while still allowing surface current regions of arbitrary shape to be treated. By switching to another basis generated by a specific eigenvalue problem, it is finally shown that the optimal current can, in principle, be found as a combination of a few eigenmodes. The presented method constitutes a general framework in which the antenna parameters, expressed as bilinear forms, can automatically be extremized.

Published version available online at IEEEXplore.
Final manuscript available online at arXiv.

Classical gradient-based density topology optimization is adapted for method-of-moments numerical modeling to design a conductor-based system attaining the minimal antenna Q-factor evaluated via an energy stored operator. Standard topology optimization features are discussed, e.g., the interpolation scheme and density and projection filtering. The performance of the proposed technique is demonstrated in a few examples in terms of the realized Q-factor values and necessary computational time to obtain a design. The optimized designs are compared to the fundamental bound and well-known empirical structures. The presented framework can provide a completely novel design, as presented in the second example.

Optimal inverse design, including topology optimization and evaluation of fundamental bounds on performance, which was introduced in Part~1, is applied to various antenna design problems. A memetic scheme for topology optimization combines local and global techniques to accelerate convergence and maintain robustness. Method-of-moments matrices are used to evaluate objective functions and allow to determine fundamental bounds on performance. By applying the Shermann-Morrison-Woodbury identity, the repetitively performed structural update is inversion-free yet full-wave. The technique can easily be combined with additional features often required in practice, \eg{}, only a part of the structure is controllable, or evaluation of an objective function is required in a subdomain only. The memetic framework supports multi-frequency and multi-port optimization and offers many other advantages, such as an actual shape being known at every moment of the optimization. The performance of the method is assessed, including its convergence and computational cost.

A memetic framework for optimal inverse design is proposed by combining a local gradient-based procedure and a robust global scheme. The procedure is based on method-of-moments matrices and does not demand full inversion of a system matrix. Fundamental bounds are evaluated for all optimized metrics in the same manner, providing natural stopping criteria and quality measures for realized devices. Compared to density-based topology optimization, the proposed routine does not require filtering or thresholding. Compared to commonly used heuristics, the technique is significantly faster, still preserving a high level of versatility and robustness. This is a two-part paper in which the first part is devoted to the theoretical background and properties, and the second part applies the method to examples of varying complexity.

A single‐ and multi‐objective optimization package is presented and described in detail. It contains an ensemble of local and global optimization routines. Procedures controlling variable number of dimensions are implemented as well, which is a rare feature among optimization oriented packages. The package is provided as a MATLAB toolbox. It excels in versatility and extensibility, which is demonstrated on a series of examples covering classical electromagnetism and antenna design. It is taken for granted that defining parameters of the optimization method can be set prior to the simulation run. However, its effective performance can be changed during the optimization run thanks to the full control feature. Moreover, it opens new possibilities in merging various algorithms into hybrids, performing complex dynamic programming tasks, or exploiting third party software. These advantages render the package as a perfect tool to deal with nowadays challenging engineering tasks.

A recently introduced technique of topology sensitivity in method of moments is extended by the possibility of adding degrees of freedom (reconstruct) into the underlying structure. The algebraic formulation is inversion-free, suitable for parallelization, and scales favorably with the number of unknowns. The reconstruction completes the nearest neighbors procedure for an evaluation of the smallest shape perturbation. The performance of the method is studied with a greedy search over a Hamming graph representing the structure in which initial positions are chosen from a random set. The method is shown to be an effective data mining tool for machine learning-related applications.

Published version available online at IEEEXplore.
Final manuscript available online at arXiv.

Considerable time is often spent optimizing antennas to meet specific design metrics. Rarely, however, are the resulting antenna designs compared to rigorous physical bounds on those metrics. Here, we study the performance of optimized planar meander line antennas with respect to such bounds. Results show that these simple structures meet the lower bound on the radiation quality factor (Q-factor) (maximizing single-resonance fractional bandwidth) but are far from reaching the associated physical bounds for efficiency. The relative performance of other canonical antenna designs is comparable in similar ways, and the quantitative results are connected to intuitions from small antenna design, physical bounds, and matching network design.

Published version available online at IEEEXplore.
Final manuscript available online at arXiv.

A method evaluating the sensitivity of a given parameter to topological changes is proposed within the method of moments paradigm. The basis functions are used as degrees of freedom which, when compared to the classical pixeling technique, provide important advantages, one of them being impedance matrix inversion free evaluation of the sensitivity. The devised procedure utilizes port modes and their superposition which, together with only a single evaluation of all matrix operators, leads to a computationally effective procedure. The proposed method is approximately 100 times faster than the contemporary approaches, which allows the investigation of the sensitivity and the modification of shapes in real time. The method is compared with the known approaches and its validity and effectiveness are verified using a series of examples. The procedure can be implemented in up-to-date electromagnetic (EM) simulators in a straightforward manner. It is shown that the iterative repetition of the topology sensitivity evaluation can be used for gradient-based topology synthesis. This technique can also be employed as a local step in global optimizers.

Published version available online at IEEEXplore.
Final manuscript available online at arXiv.

The scattering formulation of characteristic mode decomposition is utilized to extend modal analysis to lossless scatterers breaking time-reversal symmetry. This enables characteristic modes analysis on devices containing gyrotropic or moving media. The resulting nonreciprocity introduces features not observed in reciprocal scenarios, such as asymmetric phase progression in characteristic far fields. These new phenomena are carefully discussed using examples of varying complexity. Indicators of nonreciprocity based on modal data are also introduced.

Available online at arXiv.

The scattering formulation of characteristic mode decomposition is utilized to extend modal analysis to lossless scatterers breaking time-reversal symmetry. This enables characteristic modes analysis on devices containing gyrotropic or moving media. The resulting nonreciprocity introduces features not observed in reciprocal scenarios, such as asymmetric phase progression in characteristic far fields. These new phenomena are carefully discussed using examples of varying complexity. Indicators of nonreciprocity based on modal data are also introduced.

Available online at arXiv.

Characteristic modes of arbitrary 2-D periodic systems are analyzed using scattering parameter data. This approach bypasses the need for periodic integral equations and allows for characteristic modes to be computed from generic simulation or measurement data. Example calculations demonstrate the efficacy of the method through comparison against a periodic method of moments (MoM) formulation for a simple, single-layer conducting unit cell. The effect of vertical structure and electrical size on the number of modes is studied, and its discrete nature is verified with example calculations. A multiband polarization-selective surface and a beamsteering metasurface are presented as additional examples.

An iterative algorithm is adopted to construct approximate representations of matrices describing the scattering properties of arbitrary objects. The method is based on the implicit evaluation of scattering responses from iteratively generated excitations. The method does not require explicit knowledge of any system matrices (e.g., stiffness or impedance matrices) and is well suited for use with matrix-free and iterative full-wave solvers, such as finite-difference time-domain method, finite-element method, and multilevel fast multipole algorithm. The proposed method allows for significant speed-up compared to the direct construction of a full transition matrix or scattering dyadic. The method is applied to the characteristic mode decomposition of arbitrarily shaped obstacles of arbitrary material distribution. Examples demonstrating the speed-up and complexity of the algorithm are studied with several commercial software packages.

Characteristic modes are formulated using the scattering dyadic, which maps incident plane waves to scattered far fields generated by an object of arbitrary material composition. Numerical construction of the scattering dyadic using arbitrary full-wave electromagnetic solvers is demonstrated in examples involving a variety of dielectric and magnetic materials. Wrapper functions for computing characteristic modes in method-ofmoments, finite-difference time domain, and finite element solvers are provided as supplementary material.

This is the second component of a two-part paper dealing with a unification of characteristic mode decomposition. This second part addresses modal tracking and losses and presents several numerical examples for both surface- and volume-based method-of-moment formulations. A new tracking algorithm based on algebraic properties of the transition matrix is developed, achieving excellent precision and requiring a very low number of frequency samples as compared to procedures previously reported in the literature. The transition matrix is further utilized to show that characteristic mode decomposition of lossy objects fails to deliver orthogonal far fields and to demonstrate how characteristic modes can be evaluated using the finite element method.

A unification of characteristic mode decomposition for all method-of-moment formulations of field integral equations describing free-space scattering is derived. The work is based on an algebraic link between impedance and transition matrices, the latter of which was used in early definitions of characteristic modes and is uniquely defined for all scattering scenarios. This also makes it possible to extend the known application domain of characteristic mode decomposition to any other frequency-domain solver capable of generating transition matrices, such as finite difference or finite element methods. The formulation of characteristic modes using a transition matrix allows for the decomposition of induced currents and scattered fields from arbitrarily shaped objects, providing high numerical dynamics and increased stability, removing the issue of spurious modes, and offering good control of convergence. This first part of a two-part paper introduces the entire theory, extensively discusses its properties and offers its basic numerical validation.

Nearly all practical applications of the theory of characteristic modes (CMs) involve the use of computational tools. Here in Paper 2 of this Series on CMs, we review the general transformations that move CMs from a continuous theoretical framework to a discrete representation compatible with numerical methods. We also review several key topics related to computational CMs, including modal tracking, dynamic range, code validation, electrically large problems, and non-PEC techniques.

Over the past decade, characteristic mode analysis (CMA) research has grown from a niche topic to a mainstream topic, warranting a tutorial-style special issue to survey the significant progress that has been made in this field. In this introductory article (PAPER 1), the focus is on providing the big picture. We start with a simple description of characteristic modes. Next, we examine the trends in this field, followed by providing further insights into CMA’s historical development. We will also address common myths surrounding the subject. Then, leaving the detailed coverage of major topics to the following papers, we summarize recent applications of CMA in scattering and other emerging topics. Finally, we conclude with some future perspectives on this field.

A technique for designing antenna excitation realizing orthogonal states is presented. It is shown that a symmetric antenna geometry is required in order to achieve orthogonality with respect to all physical quantities. A maximal number of achievable orthogonal states and a minimal number of ports required to excite them are rigorously determined from the knowledge of an antenna's symmetries. The number of states and the number of ports are summarized for commonly used point groups (a rectangle, a square, and so on). The theory is applied to an example of a rectangular rim where the positions of ports providing the best total active reflection coefficient, an important metric in multiport systems, are determined. The described technique can easily be implemented in existing solvers based on integral equations.

Issues in modal tracking in the presence of crossings and crossing avoidances between eigenvalue traces are solved via the theory of point groups. The von Neumann-Wigner theorem is used as a key factor in predictively determining mode behavior over arbitrary frequency ranges. The implementation and capabilities of the proposed procedure are demonstrated using characteristic mode decomposition as a motivating example. The procedure is, nevertheless, general and can be applied to an arbitrarily parametrized eigenvalue problem. A treatment of modal degeneracies is included and several examples are presented to illustrate modal tracking improvements and the immediate consequences of improper modal tracking. An approach leveraging a symmetry-adapted basis to accelerate computation is also discussed. A relationship between geometrical and physical symmetries is demonstrated on a practical example.

Published version available online at IEEEXplore.
Final manuscript available online at arXiv.

A new method to improve the accuracy and efficiency of characteristic mode (CM) decomposition for perfectly conducting bodies is presented. The method uses the expansion of the Green dyadic in spherical vector waves. This expansion is utilized in the method-of-moment (MoM) solution of the electric-field integral equation to factorize the real part of the impedance matrix. The factorization is then employed in the computation of CMs, which improves the accuracy as well as the computational speed. An additional benefit is a rapid computation of far fields. The method can easily be integrated into existing MoM solvers. Several structures are investigated, illustrating the improved accuracy and performance of the new method.

Published version available online at IEEEXplore.
Final manuscript available online at arXiv.

Characteristic modes (CMs) of a spherical shell are found analytically as spherical harmonics normalized to radiate unitary power and to fulfill specific boundary conditions. The presented closed-form formulas lead to a proposal of precise synthetic benchmarks that can be utilized to validate the method-of-moments matrix or performance of CM decomposition. Dependence on the mesh size, electrical size, and other parameters can systematically be studied, including the performance of various mode tracking algorithms. A notable advantage is the independence on feeding models. Both theoretical and numerical aspects of CM decomposition are discussed and illustrated by examples. The performance of state-of-the-art commercial simulators and academic packages having been investigated, we can conclude that all contemporary implementations are capable of identifying the first dominant modes while having severe difficulties with higher order modes. Surprisingly poor performance of the tracking routines is observed notwithstanding the recent ambitious development.

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Final manuscript available online at arXiv.

Aspects of the theory of characteristic modes (CMs), based on their variational formulation, are presented and an explicit form of a related functional, involving only currents in a spatial domain, is derived. The new formulation leads to deeper insight into the modal behavior of radiating structures as demonstrated by a detailed analysis of three canonical structures: a dipole, an array of two dipoles and a loop, cylinder, and a sphere. It is demonstrated that knowledge of the analytical functional can be utilized to solve important problems related to the theory of CM decomposition such as the resonance of inductive modes or the benchmarking of method of moments code.

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Final manuscript available online at arXiv.

This paper describes a powerful, yet simple, procedure how to acquire a current approaching the lower bound of quality factor Q. This optimal current can be determined for an arbitrarily shaped electrically small radiator made of a perfect conductor. Quality factor Q is evaluated by Vandenbosch's relations yielding stored electromagnetic energy as a function of the source current density. All calculations are based on a matrix representation of the integro-differential operators. This approach simplifies the entire development and results in a straightforward numerical evaluation. The optimal current is represented in a basis of modal currents suitable for solving the optimization problem so that the minimum is approached by either one mode tuned to the resonance, or, by two properly combined modes. An overview of which modes should be selected and how they should be combined is provided and results concerning rectangular plate, spherical shell, capped dipole antenna, and fractal shapes of varying geometrical complexity are presented. The reduction of quality factor Q and the G/ Q ratio are studied and, thanks to the modal decomposition, the physical interpretation of the results is discussed in conjunction with the limitations of the proposed procedure.

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Final manuscript available online at arXiv.

Three contradictory but state-of-the-art concepts for defining and evaluating stored electromagnetic energy are treated in this communication, and are collated with the widely accepted definition of stored energy, which is the total energy minus the radiated energy. All three concepts are compared, and the results are discussed on an example of a dominant spherical mode, which is known to yield dissimilar results for the concepts dealt with here. It is shown that various definitions of stored energy density immanently imply diverse meanings of the term "radiation".

Available online at arXiv.

Ambiguities in the definition of stored energy within distributed or radiating electromagnetic systems motivate the discussion of the well-defined concept of recoverable energy. This concept is commonly overlooked by the community and the purpose of this communication is to recall its existence and to discuss its relationship to fractional bandwidth. Using a rational function approximation of a system's input impedance, the recoverable energy of lumped and radiating systems is calculated in closed form and is related to stored energy and fractional bandwidth. Lumped circuits are also used to demonstrate the relationship between recoverable energy and the energy stored within equivalent circuits produced by the minimum phase-shift Darlington's synthesis procedure.

Available online at arXiv.

It is well known that reciprocal antenna systems have a symmetric impedance matrix. What is less well understood is how the system reciprocity manifests in the bidirectionally transferred powers with a beamformed system such as a massive multiple input multiple output (MIMO) array. To answer this question, we connect four disparate ideas, Lorentz reciprocity, the Friis transmission formula, noise-based active antenna parameters, and the active antenna available power. This results in an unnamed power gain that is connected with available gain and transducer gain but is unmentioned in the theory of two-port amplifiers. This quantity is symmetric under link direction reversal in the near field, as well as the far field, and generalizes the Friis transmission formula to beamformed multiport antenna systems in an arbitrary reciprocal propagation environment.

Available online at arXiv.

Hybrid computational schemes combining the advantages of a method of moments formulation of a field integral equation and T-matrix method are developed in this paper. The hybrid methods are particularly efficient when describing the interaction of electrically small complex objects and electrically large objects of canonical shapes such as, spherical multi-layered bodies where the T-matrix method is reduced to the Mie series making the method an interesting alternative in the design of implantable antennas or exposure evaluations. Method performance is tested on a spherical multi-layer model of the human head. Along with the hybrid method, an evaluation of the transition matrix of an arbitrarily shaped object is presented and the characteristic mode decomposition is performed, exhibiting fourfold numerical precision as compared to conventional approaches.

Though commonly used to calculate Q-factor and fractional bandwidth, the energy stored by radiating systems (antennas) is a subtle and challenging concept that has perplexed researchers for over half a century. Here, the obstacles in defining and calculating stored energy in general electromagnetic systems are presented from first principles as well as using demonstrative examples from electrostatics, circuits, and radiating systems. Along the way, the concept of unobservable energy is introduced to formalize such challenges. Existing methods of defining stored energy in radiating systems are then reviewed in a framework based on technical commonalities rather than chronological order. Equivalences between some methods under common assumptions are highlighted, along with the strengths, weaknesses, and unique applications of certain techniques. Numerical examples are provided to compare the relative margin between methods on several radiating structures.

Published version available online at IEEEXplore.
Final manuscript available online at arXiv.

A full-wave numerical scheme of polarisability (polarisability) tensors evaluation is presented. The method accepts highly conducting bodies of arbitrary shape and explicitly accounts for the radiation as well as ohmic losses. The method is verified on canonical bodies with known polarisability tensors, such as a sphere and a cube, as well as on realistic scatterers. The theoretical developments are followed by a freely available code whose sole user input is the triangular mesh covering the surface of the body under consideration.

Published version available online at IEEEXplore.
Final manuscript available online at arXiv.

This paper discusses the methods for evaluating the stored electromagnetic energies and the radiation Q for an arbitrary lossless antenna. New expressions for the stored electromagnetic energies are derived by using the Poynting theorem in the complex frequency domain, and they are compared with previous theory and are validated by numerical examples. The minimization of radiation Q for small antenna is also investigated. There exists an optimal current distribution that minimizes the radiation Q for specified small antenna geometry. The optimized Q and the optimal current distribution for small antenna may be determined by solving a generalized eigenvalue equation obtained from the Rayleigh quotient for the radiation Q.

Published version available online at IEEEXplore.
Final manuscript available online at arXiv.

This paper deals with the old yet unsolved problem of defining and evaluating the stored electromagnetic energy—a quantity essential for calculating the quality factor, which reflects the intrinsic bandwidth of the considered electromagnetic system. A novel paradigm is proposed to determine the stored energy in the time domain leading to the method, which exhibits positive semi-definiteness and coordinate independence, i.e. two key properties actually not met by the contemporary approaches. The proposed technique is compared with an up-to-date frequency domain method that is extensively used in practice. Both concepts are discussed and compared on the basis of examples of varying complexity.

Published version available online at Proceedings of Royal Society A.
Final manuscript available online at arXiv.

Antenna parameters particularly relevant to electrically small antenna design are reviewed in this paper. Source current definitions are accentuated leading to the introduction of the source concept which advantageously utilize only spatially bounded quantities. The framework of the source concept incorporates powerful techniques such as structural and modal decomposition, operator’s inversion and current optimization, thus opening new, challenging possibilities for antenna design, analysis and synthesis.

Published version available online at Radioengineering.