Point Contacts in Modeling Conducting 2D Planar Structures

TL;DR

This paper investigates how point crossing connections in 2D planar antenna structures influence electromagnetic performance, highlighting solver discrepancies and proposing methods to optimize design and reduce simulation time.

Contribution

It demonstrates the impact of point crossing on antenna properties and introduces a practical approach to improve modeling accuracy and efficiency across different electromagnetic solvers.

Findings

Solver discrepancies in modeling point crossings.

Minor junction changes significantly affect performance.

Proposed bridging and chamfering improve optimization.

Abstract

Use of an optimization algorithm to improve performance of antennas and electromagnetic structures usually ends up in planar unusual shapes. Using rectangular conducting elements the proposed structures sometimes have connections with only one single point in common between two neighboring areas. The single point connections (point crossing) can affect the electromagnetic performance of the structure. In this letter, we illustrate the influence of point crossing on dipole and loop antennas using MoM, FDTD, and FEM solvers. Current distribution, radiation pattern, and impedance properties for different junctions are different. These solvers do not agree in the modeling of the point crossing junctions which is a warning about uncertainty in using such junctions. However, solvers agree that a negligible change in the junction would significantly change the antenna performance. We propose that one should consider both bridging and chamfering of the conflicting cells to find optimized structures. This reduces the simulation time by 40% using FDTD modeling, however no significant reduction is obtained using the MoM and FEM methods.