FDTD-based Numerical Solver for Electrodynamic Analysis of Microwave devices and Antennas

DOI: 10.21293/1818-0442-2026-29-1-68-74

Download article in PDF format

JATS xml

Abstract: Relevance. In recent years, technological restrictions have made the development of trusted domestic numerical solvers and software tools for electromagnetic analysis of antennas and microwave devices particularly urgent. Purpose. This paper describes the progress achieved by TUSUR researchers in developing such a solver based on the Finite-Difference Time-Domain (FDTD) method. Methods. The developed solver is implemented as a C++ software library using modern parallel computation tools. Novelty. The solver integrates several original custom-developed mathematical models, including formulations for excitation sources and lumped loads. Results. The paper describes the main features and capabilities of the solver. Information on the current development status and future roadmap is provided. Simulation results for several benchmark problems, obtained using the implemented FDTD method and the Finite Integration Technique, show good agreement, confirming the solver's satisfactory accuracy. Practical significance. The developed software library can be successfully applied in the design and optimization of advanced antennas and microwave devices.

Keywords: microwave devices, antennas computational electromagnetics, computer simulation, digital twins, finite-difference method

Funding: The study was supported by the Russian Science Foundation grant No. 23-79-10165, https://rscf.ru/project/23-79-10165/.

For citation:
Ivanov A. A. FDTD-based Numerical Solver for Electrodynamic Analysis of Microwave devices and Antennas. Doklady Tomskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta sistem upravleniya i radioelektroniki, 2026, vol. 29, no. 1, pp. 68–74. DOI: 10.21293/1818-0442-2026-29-1-68-74

Authors and copyright holders:

  • Ivanov A. A. , Tomsk State University of Control Systems and Radioelectronics (Tomsk, Russia)

  • 1. Grigoriev A.D. Metody vychislitel'noj jelektrodinamiki [Methods of computational electromagnetics]. Moscow, Fizmatlit, 2012, 432 p. (in Russ.).
  • 2. Volakis J.L., Chatterjee A., Kempel L.C. Finite element method for electromagnetics. Piscataway, NJ, USA, IEEE Press, 1998, 344 p.
  • 3. Jin J.M. The finite element method in electromagnetics, Third edition. Hoboken, NJ, USA, John Wiley & Sons, 2014, 876 p.
  • 4. Gibson W.C. Method of moments in electromagnetics. New York, NY, USA, Chapman and Hall & CRC Press, 2008, 272 p.
  • 5. Alhaj Hasan A., Kvasnikov A.A., Klyukin D.V. et al. On modeling antennas using MoM-based algorithms: wire-grid versus surface triangulation. Algorithms, 2023, vol. 16, no. 4, pp. 1–60.
  • 6. Teixeira F.L., Sarris C., Zhang Y. et al. Finite-difference time-domain methods. Nature reviews methods primers, 2023, vol. 3, pp. 1–19.
  • 7. Elsherbeni A.Z., Demir V. The finite-difference time-domain method for electromagnetics with MatLab simulations, Second edition. Edison, NJ, USA, SciTech Publishing, 2015, 560 p.
  • 8. Yu W., Yang X., Liu Y., Mittra R., Muto A. Advanced FDTD methods: parallelization, acceleration and engineering applications. Norwood, MA, USA, Artech House, 2011. 267 p.
  • 9. Makinen R.M., De Gersem H., Weiland T., Kivikoski M.A. Modeling of lossy curved surfaces in 3-D FIT/FDTD Techniques. IEEE Transactions on antennas and propagation, 2006, vol. 54, no. 11, pp. 3490–3498.
  • 10. Berens M.K., Flintoft I.D., Dawson J.F. Structured mesh generation: open-source automatic nonuniform mesh generation for FDTD simulation. IEEE Antennas and propagation magazine, 2016, vol. 58, no. 3, pp. 45–55.
  • 11. Benkler S., Chavannes N., Kuster N. Mastering conformal meshing for complex CAD-based C-FDTD simulations. IEEE antennas and propagation magazine, 2008, vol. 50, no. 2, pp. 45–57.
  • 12. Huang Z., Jiang F., Chen Z. et al. A 3-D total-field / scattered-field plane-wave source for the unconditionally stable associated hermite FDTD method. IEEE Antennas and wireless propagation letters, 2024, vol. 23, no. 2, pp. 628–632.
  • 13. Piket-May M., Taflove A., Baron J. FD-TD modeling of digital signal propagation in 3-D circuits with passive and active loads. IEEE Transactions on microwave theory and techniques, 1994, vol. 42, no. 8, pp. 1514–1523.
  • 14. Bural B., Yazarel E., Çakır K., Sevgi L. Fast and efficient near to far field transformation for FDTD. Proceedings of 2023 7th International electromagnetic compatibility conference. Istanbul, Turkiye, 2023, pp. 1–3.
  • 15. Wang K., Zuo S., Wu Q. el al. A novel compact conformal 2-D FDFD method for modeling waveports in 3-D FDTD. IEEE Antennas and wireless propagation letters, 2024, vol. 24, no. 7, pp. 2091–2095.
  • 16. Benkler S., Chavannes N., Kuster N. Novel FDTD Huygens source enables highly complex simulation scenarios on ordinary PCs. Proceedings of 2009 IEEE Antennas and propagation society international symposium. North Charleston, USA, IEEE, 2009, pp. 1–4.
  • 17. Wang K., Wu Q., Yu F. et al. Conformal anisotropic periodic boundary condition for FDTD method. IEEE Antennas and wireless propagation letters, 2025, vol. 24, no. 1, pp. 122–126.
  • 18. Zhang L., Chen J., Fan K. et al. Unconditional stability of the ADE-LCDI-FDTD method for dispersive media. IEEE Antennas and wireless propagation letters, 2026, vol. 25, no. 5, pp. 2280–2284.
  • 19. Li L., Wang Y.E. FDTD modeling dynamically biased ferrite based antennas. Proceedings of 2025 IEEE International symposium on antennas and propagation and North American radio science meeting. Ottawa, Canada, IEEE, 2025, pp. 908–911.
  • 20. Wang C., Wang Y., Li Y. et al. An improved ray tracing acceleration algorithm based on bounding volume hierarchies. Proceedings of 2022 IEEE 96th Vehicular technology conference, London, United Kingdom, IEEE, 2022, pp. 1–6.
  • 21. Chen Y., Xie G., Hou H. et al. An 3-D unconditionally stable CDI-FDTD method based on the conformal technique for simulating complex curved PEC objects. IEEE Transactions on antennas and propagation, 2025, vol. 72, no. 11, pp. 9333–9344.
  • 22. Wang K., Wu Q., Yu F. et al. A Conformal FDTD Method with Non-uniform Mesh for Anisotropic Media. Proceedings of 2025 International conference on microwave and millimeter wave technology, Xian, China, IEEE, 2025, pp. 1–3.
Editorial office address

Executive Secretary of the Editor’s Office

 Editor’s Office: 40 Lenina Prospect, Tomsk, 634050, Russia

  Phone / Fax: + 7 (3822) 701-582

  journal@tusur.ru

 

Viktor N. Maslennikov

Executive Secretary of the Editor’s Office

 Editor’s Office: 40 Lenina Prospect, Tomsk, 634050, Russia

  Phone / Fax: + 7 (3822) 51-21-21 / 51-43-02

Subscription for updates