"Long term evolution" redirects here. For the biological concept, see Evolution and E.

coli long-term
evolution experiment.

Adoption of LTE technology as of February 15, 2014.

Countries with commercial LTE service
Countries with commercial LTE network deployment on-going or planned
Countries with LTE trial systems (pre-commitment)

LTE, an acronym for Long Term Evolution, commonly marketed as 4G LTE, is a standard
for wireless communication of high-speed data for mobile phones and data terminals. It is based on
the GSM/EDGE and UMTS/HSPA network technologies, increasing the capacity and speed using a
[1][2]
different radio interface together with core network improvements.
The standard is developed by
the 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project) and is specified in its Release 8 document series, with
minor enhancements described in Release 9.
The world's first publicly available LTE service was launched by TeliaSonera inStockholm and Oslo on
[3]
December 14, 2009. LTE is the natural upgrade path for carriers with both GSM/UMTS networks
and CDMA2000 networks such asVerizon Wireless, which launched the first large-scale LTE network in
[4][5]
North America in 2010,
and au by KDDI in Japan have announced they will migrate to LTE. Airtel
[6]
launched the LTE service in India in April 2012. LTE is, therefore, anticipated to become the first truly
global mobile phone standard, although the different LTE frequencies and bands used in different
countries will mean that only multi-band phones will be able to use LTE in all countries where it is
supported.
Although marketed as a 4G wireless service, LTE (as specified in the 3GPP Release 8 and 9 document
series) does not satisfy the technical requirements the 3GPP consortium has adopted for its new
standard generation, and which were originally set forth by theITU-R organization in its IMTAdvanced specification. However, due to marketing pressures and the significant advancements
thatWIMAX, HSPA+ and LTE bring to the original 3G technologies, ITU later decided that LTE together
[7]
with the aforementioned technologies can be called 4G technologies. The LTE Advanced standard
[8]
formally satisfies the ITU-R requirements to be consideredIMT-Advanced. And to differentiate LTE
[9][10]
Advanced and WiMAX-Advanced from current 4G technologies, ITU has defined them as "True 4G".

Contents
[hide]

1 Overview

2 Features

3 Voice calls

3.1 Enhanced voice quality

4 Frequency bands

5 Patents

6 See also

7 References

8 Further reading

9 External links

9.1 White papers and other technical information

Overview[edit]
See also: LTE timeline and List of LTE networks

Telia-branded Samsung LTE modem

HTC ThunderBolt, the second commercially available LTE smartphone

LTE is a standard for wireless data communications technology and an evolution of the GSM/UMTS
standards. The goal of LTE was to increase the capacity and speed of wireless data networks using
new DSP (digital signal processing) techniques and modulations that were developed around the turn of
the millennium. A further goal was the redesign and simplification of the network architecture to an IPbased system with significantly reduced transfer latency compared to the 3G architecture. The LTE
wireless interface is incompatible with 2G and 3G networks, so that it must be operated on a
separate wireless spectrum.
LTE was first proposed by NTT DoCoMo of Japan in 2004, and studies on the new standard officially
[11]
commenced in 2005. In May 2007, the LTE/SAE Trial Initiative (LSTI) alliance was founded as a global
collaboration between vendors and operators with the goal of verifying and promoting the new standard in
[12][13]
order to ensure the global introduction of the technology as quickly as possible.
The LTE standard
was finalized in December 2008, and the first publicly available LTE service was launched
by TeliaSonera in Oslo andStockholm on December 14, 2009 as a data connection with a USB modem.
The LTE services were launched by major North American carriers as well, with the Samsung SCH-r900
[14][15]
being the worlds first LTE Mobile phone starting on September 21, 2010
and Samsung Galaxy
[16][17]
Indulge being the worlds first LTE smartphone starting on February 10, 2011
both offered
by MetroPCS and HTC ThunderBolt offered by Verizon starting on March 17 being the second LTE
[18][19]
smartphone to be sold commercially.
In Canada,Rogers Wireless was the first to launch LTE network
on July 7, 2011 offering the Sierra Wireless AirCard 313U USB mobile broadband modem, known as
the "LTE Rocket stick" then followed closely by mobile devices from both HTC and
[20]
Samsung. Initially, CDMA operators planned to upgrade to rival standards called UMB and WiMAX, but
all the major CDMA operators (such as Verizon, Sprint and MetroPCS in the United
States, Belland Telus in Canada, au by KDDI in Japan, SK Telecom in South Korea and China
Telecom/China Unicom in China) have announced that they intend to migrate to LTE after all. The
[21]
evolution of LTE is LTE Advanced, which was standardized in March 2011. Services are expected to
[22]
commence in 2013.

The LTE specification provides downlink peak rates of 300 Mbit/s, uplink peak rates of 75 Mbit/s
and QoS provisions permitting a transfer latency of less than 5 ms in the radio access network. LTE has
the ability to manage fast-moving mobiles and supports multi-cast and broadcast streams. LTE supports
scalable carrier bandwidths, from 1.4 MHz to 20 MHz and supports both frequency division
duplexing (FDD) and time-division duplexing (TDD). The IP-based network architecture, called
the Evolved Packet Core (EPC) and designed to replace the GPRS Core Network, supports seamless
handovers for both voice and data to cell towers with older network technology such
[23]
as GSM, UMTS and CDMA2000. The simpler architecture results in lower operating costs (for
example, each E-UTRA cell will support up to four times the data and voice capacity supported by
[24]
HSPA ).

Features[edit]
See also: E-UTRA
Much of the LTE standard addresses the upgrading of 3G UMTS to what will eventually be 4G mobile
communications technology. A large amount of the work is aimed at simplifying the architecture of the
system, as it transits from the existing UMTS circuit + packet switching combined network, to an all-IP flat
architecture system. E-UTRA is the air interface of LTE. Its main features are:

Peak download rates up to 299.6 Mbit/s and upload rates up to 75.4 Mbit/s depending on the user
equipment category (with 44 antennas using 20 MHz of spectrum). Five different terminal classes
have been defined from a voice centric class up to a high end terminal that supports the peak data
rates. All terminals will be able to process 20 MHz bandwidth.

Low data transfer latencies (sub-5 ms latency for small IP packets in optimal conditions), lower
latencies for handover and connection setup time than with previous radio access technologies.

Improved support for mobility, exemplified by support for terminals moving at up to 350 km/h
[25]
(220 mph) or 500 km/h (310 mph) depending on the frequency band.

OFDMA for the downlink, SC-FDMA for the uplink to conserve power

Support for both FDD and TDD communication systems as well as half-duplex FDD with the same
radio access technology

Support for all frequency bands currently used by IMT systems by ITU-R.

Increased spectrum flexibility: 1.4 MHz, 3 MHz, 5 MHz, 10 MHz, 15 MHz and 20 MHz wide cells are
standardized. (W-CDMA has no option for other than 5 MHz slices, leading to some problems rollingout in countries where 5 MHz is a commonly allocated width of spectrum so would frequently already
be in use with legacy standards such as 2G GSM and cdmaOne.)

Support for cell sizes from tens of metres radius (femto and picocells) up to 100 km (62 miles)
radius macrocells. In the lower frequency bands to be used in rural areas, 5 km (3.1 miles) is the
optimal cell size, 30 km (19 miles) having reasonable performance, and up to 100 km cell sizes
supported with acceptable performance. In city and urban areas, higher frequency bands (such as
2.6 GHz in EU) are used to support high speed mobile broadband. In this case, cell sizes may be
1 km (0.62 miles) or even less.

Supports at least 200 active data clients in every 5 MHz cell.

Simplified architecture: The network side of E-UTRAN is composed only of eNode Bs

[26]

Support for inter-operation and co-existence with legacy standards

(e.g., GSM/EDGE, UMTS and CDMA2000). Users can start a call or transfer of data in an area using
an LTE standard, and, should coverage be unavailable, continue the operation without any action on
their part using GSM/GPRS or W-CDMA-based UMTS or even 3GPP2 networks such
as cdmaOne or CDMA2000)

Packet switched radio interface.

Support for MBSFN (Multicast-Broadcast Single Frequency Network). This feature can deliver
services such as Mobile TV using the LTE infrastructure, and is a competitor for DVB-H-based TV
broadcast.

Voice calls[edit]

cs domLTE CSFB to GSM/UMTS network interconnects

The LTE standard supports only packet switching with its all-IP network. Voice calls in GSM, UMTS and
CDMA2000 arecircuit switched, so with the adoption of LTE, carriers will have to re-engineer their voice
[27]
call network. Three different approaches sprang up:
Voice over LTE (VoLTE)
This approach is based on the IP Multimedia Subsystem(IMS) network, with specific profiles for
control and media planes of voice service on LTE defined by GSMA in PRD IR.92. This approach
results in the voice service (control and media planes) being delivered as data flows within the
LTE data bearer. This means that there is no dependency on (or ultimately, requirement for) the
legacy Circuit Switch voice network to be maintained.
Circuit-switched fallback (CSFB)
In this approach, LTE just provides data services, and when a voice call is to be initiated or
received, it will fall back to the circuit switched domain. When using this solution, operators just
need to upgrade the MSC instead of deploying the IMS, and therefore, can provide services
quickly. However, the disadvantage is longer call setup delay.
Simultaneous voice and LTE (SVLTE)
In this approach, the handset works simultaneously in the LTE and circuit switched modes, with
the LTE mode providing data services and the circuit switched mode providing the voice service.
This is a solution solely based on the handset, which does not have special requirements on the

network and does not require the deployment of IMS either. The disadvantage of this solution is
that the phone can become expensive with high power consumption.
One additional approach which is not initiated by operators is the usage of over-the-top
content services, using applications like Skype and Google Talk to provide LTE voice
service. However, now and in the foreseeable future, the voice call service is, and will still
be, the main revenue source for the mobile operators. So handing the LTE voice service
over completely to the OTT actors is thus something which is not expected to receive much
[28]
support in the telecom industry.
Most major backers of LTE preferred and promoted VoLTE from the beginning. The lack of
software support in initial LTE devices as well as core network devices however led to a
number of carriers promoting VoLGA (Voice over LTE Generic Access) as an interim
[29]
solution. The idea was to use the same principles as GAN (Generic Access Network, also
known as UMA or Unlicensed Mobile Access), which defines the protocols through which a
mobile handset can perform voice calls over a customer's private Internet connection,
usually over wireless LAN. VoLGA however never gained much support, because VoLTE
(IMS) promises much more flexible services, albeit at the cost of having to upgrade the
entire voice call infrastructure. VoLTE will also require Single Radio Voice Call Continuity
(SRVCC) in order to be able to smoothly perform a handover to a 3G network in case of
[30]
poor LTE signal quality.
While the industry has seemingly standardized on VoLTE for the future, the demand for
voice calls today has led LTE carriers to introduce CSFB as a stopgap measure. When
placing or receiving a voice call, LTE handsets will fall back to old 2G or 3G networks for the
duration of the call.

Enhanced voice quality[edit]

To ensure compatibility, 3GPP demands at least AMR-NB codec (narrow band), but the
recommended speech codec for VoLTE isAdaptive Multi-Rate Wideband, also known as HD
[31]
Voice. This codec is mandated in 3GPP networks that support 16 kHz sampling.
Fraunhofer IIS has proposed and demonstrated Full-HD Voice, an implementation of
the AAC-ELD (Advanced Audio Coding Enhanced Low Delay) codec for LTE
[32]
handsets. Where previous cell phone voice codecs only supported frequencies up to
3.5 kHz and upcoming wideband audio services branded as HD Voice up to 7 kHz, Full-HD
Voice supports the entire bandwidth range from 20 Hz to 20 kHz. For end-to-end Full-HD
Voice calls to succeed however, both the caller and recipient's handsets as well as networks
[33]
have to support the feature.

Frequency bands[edit]
See also: E-UTRA#Frequency bands and channel bandwidths
The LTE standard covers a range of many different bands, each of which is designated by
both a frequency and a band number. In North America, 700, 850, 1900, 1700/2100 (AWS)
and 2600 MHz (Rogers Communications, Bell Canada) are used (bands 4, 7, 12, 13, 17, 25,
26, 41); 2500 MHz in South America; 800, 900, 1800, 2600 MHz in Europe(bands 3, 7,

[34][35]

[36]

20);
1800 and 2600 MHz in Asia (bands 1, 3, 5, 7, 8, 11, 13, 40); and 1800 MHz in
[37][38]
[39]
Australia
and New Zealand (bands 3, 40). As a result, phones from one country may
not work in other countries. Users will need a multi-band capable phone for roaming
internationally.

Patents[edit]
According to the European Telecommunications Standards Institute's (ETSI) intellectual
property rights (IPR) database, about 50 companies have declared, as of March 2012,
[40]
holding essential patents covering the LTE standard. The ETSI has made no investigation
[40]
on the correctness of the declarations however, so that "any analysis of essential LTE
[41]
patents should take into account more than ETSI declarations."

A wireless wide area network (WWAN), is a form of wireless network. The larger size of a wide area
network compared to a local area network requires differences in technology. Wireless networks of all
sizes deliver data in the form of telephone calls, web pages, and streaming video.
A WWAN often differs from wireless local area network (WLAN) by using mobile
telecommunication cellular network technologies such as LTE, WiMAX (often called a
wireless metropolitan area network or WMAN), UMTS, CDMA2000, GSM, cellular digital packet
data(CDPD) and Mobitex to transfer data. It can also use Local Multipoint Distribution Service (LMDS)
or Wi-Fi to provide Internet access. These technologies are offered regionally, nationwide, or even
globally and are provided by a wireless service provider. WWAN connectivity allows a user with a laptop
and a WWAN card to surf the web, check email, or connect to a virtual private network (VPN) from
anywhere within the regional boundaries of cellular service. Various computers can have integrated
WWAN capabilities.
Since radio communications systems do not provide a physically secure connection path, WWANs
typically incorporate encryption andauthentication methods to make them more secure. Unfortunately
some of the early GSM encryption techniques were flawed, and security experts have issued warnings
[1]
that cellular communication, including WWAN, is no longer secure. UMTS (3G) encryption was
developed later and has yet to be broken.

Antenna
An antenna (or aerial) is an electrical device which converts electric power into radio waves, and vice
[1]
versa. It is usually used with a radio transmitter or radio receiver. Intransmission, a radio transmitter
supplies an electric current oscillating at radio frequency(i.e. high frequency AC) to the antenna's

terminals, and the antenna radiates the energy from the current as electromagnetic waves (radio waves).
In reception, an antenna intercepts some of the power of an electromagnetic wave in order to produce a
tiny voltage at its terminals, that is applied to a receiver to be amplified.
Antennas are essential components of all equipment that uses radio. They are used in systems such
as radio broadcasting, broadcast television, two-way radio, communications receivers, radar, cell phones,
and satellite communications, as well as other devices such as garage door openers, wireless
microphones, bluetooth enabled devices, wireless computer networks, baby monitors, and RFID tags on
merchandise.
Typically an antenna consists of an arrangement of metallic conductors (elements), electrically connected
(often through a transmission line) to the receiver or transmitter. An oscillating current of electrons forced
through the antenna by a transmitter will create an oscillating magnetic field around the antenna
elements, while the charge of the electrons also creates an oscillating electric field along the elements.
These time-varying fields radiate away from the antenna into space as a moving transverse
electromagnetic field wave. Conversely, during reception, the oscillating electric and magnetic fields of an
incoming radio wave exert force on the electrons in the antenna elements, causing them to move back
and forth, creating oscillating currents in the antenna.
Antennas may also include reflective or directive elements or surfaces not connected to the transmitter or
receiver, such as parasitic elements, parabolic reflectors or horns, which serve to direct the radio waves
into a beam or other desired radiation pattern. Antennas can be designed to transmit or receive radio
waves in all directions equally (omnidirectional antennas), or transmit them in a beam in a particular
direction, and receive from that one direction only (directional or high gain antennas).
The first antennas were built in 1888 by German physicist Heinrich Hertz in his pioneering experiments to
prove the existence of electromagnetic waves predicted by the theory of James Clerk Maxwell. Hertz
placed dipole antennas at the focal point of parabolic reflectors for both transmitting and receiving. He
published his work in Annalen der Physik und Chemie (vol. 36, 1889).

Planar Antenna
In telecommunications and radar, a planar array is an antenna in which all of the elements,
both active and parasitic, are in one plane. A planar array provides a large aperture and may be used for
directional beam control by varying the relative phase of each element. A planar array may be used with a
[1]
reflecting screen behind the active plane.
A planar array with a reflecting screen is related to a radar absorber. Both are supposed not to reflect
incoming radiation of the desired wavelength. Radar absorbers have the advantage that they can use
magnetic materials to avoid reflections at the interface to air at least for some frequencies. For antennas
to be broadband, the transition from air (vacuum) to the metal of the screen has to be a gradual one.
Radar absorbers have the advantage that they do not have to collect the received energy. The antenna
needs a 3D tree of twin-leads andchokes to connect a single cable to a large number of micro antennas.
Micro dipole antennas are only resonant at a single high frequency, to be broadband the arms of
adjoining antennas have to be connected.

Microstrip Antenna
In telecommunication, there are several types of microstrip antennas (also known as printed antennas)
the most common of which is the microstrip patch antenna or patch antenna.
Contents
[hide]

1 Patch antenna

2 Advantages

3 Rectangular patch

4 Specifications

5 Other types

6 References

7 External links

Patch antenna[edit]
A patch antenna is a narrowband, wide-beam antenna fabricated by etching the antenna element pattern
in metal trace bonded to an insulating dielectric substrate, such as a printed circuit board, with a
continuous metal layer bonded to the opposite side of the substrate which forms a ground plane.
Common microstrip antenna shapes are square, rectangular, circular and elliptical, but any continuous
shape is possible. Some patch antennas do not use a dielectric substrate and instead made of a metal
patch mounted above a ground plane using dielectric spacers; the resulting structure is less rugged but
has a wider bandwidth. Because such antennas have a very low profile, are mechanically rugged and can
be shaped to conform to the curving skin of a vehicle, they are often mounted on the exterior of aircraft
and spacecraft, or are incorporated into mobile radio communications devices.

Advantages[edit]
Microstrip antennas are relatively inexpensive to manufacture and design because of the simple 2dimensional physical geometry. They are usually employed at UHF and higher frequencies because the
size of the antenna is directly tied to the wavelength at the resonant frequency. A single patch antenna
provides a maximum directive gain of around 6-9 dBi. It is relatively easy to print an array of patches on a
single (large) substrate using lithographic techniques. Patch arrays can provide much higher gains than a
single patch at little additional cost; matching and phase adjustment can be performed with printed
microstrip feed structures, again in the same operations that form the radiating patches. The ability to
create high gain arrays in a low-profile antenna is one reason that patch arrays are common on airplanes
and in other military applications.
Such an array of patch antennas is an easy way to make a phased array of antennas with dynamic
[1]
beamforming ability.
An advantage inherent to patch antennas is the ability to have polarization diversity. Patch antennas can
easily be designed to have vertical, horizontal, right hand circular (RHCP) or left hand circular (LHCP)
[2]
polarizations, using multiple feed points, or a single feedpoint with asymmetric patch structures. This

unique property allows patch antennas to be used in many types of communications links that may have
varied requirements.

Rectangular patch[edit]
The most commonly employed microstrip antenna is a rectangular patch. The rectangular patch antenna
is approximately a one-half wavelength long section of rectangular microstrip transmission line. When air
is the antenna substrate, the length of the rectangular microstrip antenna is approximately one-half of a
free-space wavelength. As the antenna is loaded with a dielectric as its substrate, the length of the
antenna decreases as the relative dielectric constant of the substrate increases. The resonant length of
the antenna is slightly shorter because of the extended electric "fringing fields" which increase the
electrical length of the antenna slightly. An early model of the microstrip antenna is a section of microstrip
transmission line with equivalent loads on either end to represent the radiation loss.

Specifications[edit]
The dielectric loading of a microstrip antenna affects both its radiation pattern and impedance bandwidth.
As the dielectric constant of the substrate increases, the antenna bandwidth decreases which increases
the Q factor of the antenna and therefore decreases the impedance bandwidth. This relationship did not
immediately follow when using the transmission line model of the antenna, but is apparent when using the
[3]
cavity model which was introduced in the late 1970s by Lo et al. The radiation from a rectangular
microstrip antenna may be understood as a pair of equivalent slots. These slots act as an array and have
the highest directivity when the antenna has an air dielectric and decreases as the antenna is loaded by
material with increasing relative dielectric constant.
The half-wave rectangular microstrip antenna has a virtual shorting plane along its center. This may be
replaced with a physical shorting plane to create a quarter-wavelength microstrip antenna. This is
sometimes called a half-patch. The antenna only has a single radiation edge (equivalent slot) which
lowers the directivity/gain of the antenna. The impedance bandwidth is slightly lower than a halfwavelength full patch as the coupling between radiating edges has been eliminated.

Other types[edit]
Another type of patch antenna is the Planar Inverted-F Antenna (PIFA) common in cellular phones with
built-in antennas.(The Planar Inverted-F antenna (PIFA) is increasingly used in the mobile phone market.
The antenna is resonant at a quarter-wavelength (thus reducing the required space needed on the
phone), and also typically has good SAR properties. This antenna resembles an inverted F, which
explains the PIFA name. The Planar Inverted-F Antenna is popular because it has a low profile and an
[clarification needed] [4]
omnidirectional pattern. The PIFA is shown from a side view in Figure 4.
) These antennas
are derived from a quarter-wave half-patch antenna. The shorting plane of the half-patch is reduced in
[5]
length which decreases the resonance frequency. Often PIFA antennas have multiple branches to
resonate at the various cellular bands. On some phones, grounded parasitic elements are used to
enhance the radiation bandwidth characteristics.

CST
Computational electromagnetics, computational electrodynamics or electromagnetic modeling is
the process of modeling the interaction of electromagnetic fields with physical objects and the
environment.
It typically involves using computationally efficient approximations to Maxwell's equations and is used to
calculate antenna performance,electromagnetic compatibility, radar cross section and
electromagnetic wave propagation when not in free space.
A specific part of computational electromagnetics deals with electromagnetic radiation scattered and
absorbed by small particles.
Contents
[hide]

1 Background

2 Overview of methods

3 Choice of methods

4 Maxwell's equations in hyperbolic PDE form

5 Integral equation solvers

5.1 The discrete dipole approximation

5.2 Method of moments (MoM) or boundary element method (BEM)

5.3 Fast multipole method (FMM)

5.4 Partial element equivalent circuit (PEEC) method

6 Differential equation solvers

6.1 Finite-difference time-domain (FDTD)

6.2 Multiresolution time-domain (MRTD)

6.3 Finite element method (FEM)

6.4 Finite integration technique (FIT)

6.5 Pseudospectral time domain (PSTD)

6.6 Pseudo-spectral spatial domain (PSSD)

6.7 Transmission line matrix (TLM)

6.8 Locally-One-Dimensional FDTD (LOD-FDTD)

7 Other methods

7.1 EigenMode Expansion (EME)

7.2 Physical optics (PO)

7.3 Uniform theory of diffraction (UTD)

8 Validation

9 See also

10 References

11 Further reading

12 External links

12.1 Light scattering codes

12.2 Software

Background[edit]
Several real-world electromagnetic problems like electromagnetic scattering, electromagnetic radiation,
modeling of waveguides etc., are not analytically calculable, for the multitude of irregular geometries
found in actual devices. Computational numerical techniques can overcome the inability to derive closed
form solutions of Maxwell's equations under various constitutive relations of media, and boundary
conditions. This makes computational electromagnetics (CEM), important to the design, and modeling of
antenna, radar, satellite and other communication systems, nanophotonic devices and high
speed silicon electronics, medical imaging, cell-phone antenna design, among other applications.
CEM typically solves the problem of computing the E (Electric), and H (Magnetic) fields across the
problem domain (e.g., to calculate antenna radiation pattern for an arbitrarily shaped antenna structure).
Also calculating power flow direction (Poynting vector), a waveguide's normal modes, media-generated
wave dispersion, and scattering can be computed from the E and H fields. CEM models may or may not
assume symmetry, simplifying real world structures to idealized cylinders, spheres, and other regular
geometrical objects. CEM models extensively make use of symmetry, and solve for reduced
dimensionality from 3 spatial dimensions to 2D and even 1D.
An eigenvalue problem formulation of CEM allows us to calculate steady state normal modes in a
structure. Transient response and impulse field effects are more accurately modeled by CEM in time
domain, by FDTD. Curved geometrical objects are treated more accurately as finite elements FEM, or
non-orthogonal grids. Beam propagation method can solve for the power flow in waveguides. CEM is
application specific, even if different techniques converge to the same field and power distributions in the
modeled domain.

Overview of methods[edit]
One approach is to discretize the space in terms of grids (both orthogonal, and non-orthogonal) and
solving Maxwell's equations at each point in the grid. Discretization consumes computer memory, and
solving the equations takes significant time. Large scale CEM problems face memory and CPU
limitations. As of 2007, CEM problems require supercomputers, high performance clusters, vector
processors and/or parallel computer. Typical formulations involve either time-stepping through the
equations over the whole domain for each time instant; or through banded matrix inversion to calculate
the weights of basis functions, when modeled by finite element methods; or matrix products when using
transfer matrix methods; or calculating integrals when using method of moments (MoM); or using fast
fourier transforms, and time iterations when calculating by the split-step method or by BPM.

Choice of methods[edit]

Choosing the right technique for solving a problem is important, as choosing the wrong one can either
result in incorrect results, or results which take excessively long to compute. However, the name of a
technique does not always tell one how it is implemented, especially for commercial tools, which will often
have more than one solver.
[1]

Davidson gives two tables comparing the FEM, MoM and FDTD techniques in the way they are normally
implemented. One table is for both open region (radiation and scattering problems) and another table is
for guided wave problems.

Maxwell's equations in hyperbolic PDE form[edit]

Maxwell's equations can be formulated as a hyperbolic system of partial differential equations. This gives
access to powerful techniques for numerical solutions.
It is assumed that the waves propagate in the (x,y)-plane and restrict the direction of the magnetic field to
be parallel to the z-axis and thus the electric field to be parallel to the (x,y) plane. The wave is called a
transverse electric (TE) wave. In 2D and no polarization terms present, Maxwell's equations can then be
formulated as:

where u, A, B, and C are defined as

Integral equation solvers[edit]

The discrete dipole approximation[edit]
The discrete dipole approximation is a flexible technique for computing scattering
and absorption by targets of arbitrary geometry. The formulation is based on
integral form of Maxwell equations. The DDA is an approximation of the continuum
target by a finite array of polarizable points. The points acquire dipole moments in
response to the local electric field. The dipoles of course interact with one another

via their electric fields, so the DDA is also sometimes referred to as the
coupled dipole approximation. The resulting linear system of equations is commonly
solved using conjugate gradient iterations. The discretization matrix has symmetries
(the integral form of Maxwell equations has form of convolution) enabling Fast
Fourier Transform to multiply matrix times vector during conjugate gradient
iterations.

Method of moments (MoM) or boundary element method

(BEM)[edit]
[2]

The method of moments (MoM) or boundary element method (BEM) is a

numerical computational method of solving linear partial differential equations which
have been formulated as integral equations (i.e. in boundary integral form). It can be
applied in many areas of engineering and science including fluid
mechanics, acoustics, electromagnetics, fracture mechanics, and plasticity.
MoM has become more popular since the 1980s. Because it requires calculating
only boundary values, rather than values throughout the space, it is significantly
more efficient in terms of computational resources for problems with a small
surface/volume ratio. Conceptually, it works by constructing a "mesh" over the
modeled surface. However, for many problems, BEM are significantly less efficient
than volume-discretization methods (finite element method, finite difference
method, finite volume method). Boundary element formulations typically give rise to
fully populated matrices. This means that the storage requirements and
computational time will tend to grow according to the square of the problem size. By
contrast, finite element matrices are typically banded (elements are only locally
connected) and the storage requirements for the system matrices typically grow
linearly with the problem size. Compression techniques (e.g. multipole expansions
or adaptive cross approximation/hierarchical matrices) can be used to ameliorate
these problems, though at the cost of added complexity and with a success-rate
that depends heavily on the nature and geometry of the problem.
BEM is applicable to problems for which Green's functions can be calculated. These
usually involve fields in linear homogeneous media. This places considerable
restrictions on the range and generality of problems suitable for boundary elements.
Nonlinearities can be included in the formulation, although they generally introduce
volume integrals which require the volume to be discretized before solution,
removing an oft-cited advantage of BEM.

Fast multipole method (FMM)[edit]

The fast multipole method (FMM) is an alternative to MoM or Ewald summation. It
is an accurate simulation technique and requires less memory and processor power
[3][4]
than MoM. The FMM was first introduced by Greengard and Rokhlin
and is
based on themultipole expansion technique. The first application of the FMM in
[5]
computational electromagnetics was by Engheta et al.(1992). FMM can also be
used to accelerate MoM.

Partial element equivalent circuit (PEEC) method[edit]

The partial element equivalent circuit (PEEC) is a 3D full-wave modeling method

suitable for combined electromagnetic and circuitanalysis. Unlike MoM, PEEC is a
full spectrum method valid from dc to the maximum frequency determined by the
meshing. In the PEEC method, the integral equation is interpreted as Kirchhoff's
voltage law applied to a basic PEEC cell which results in a complete circuit solution
for 3D geometries. The equivalent circuit formulation allows for
additional SPICE type circuit elements to be easily included. Further, the models
and the analysis apply to both the time and the frequency domains. The circuit
equations resulting from the PEEC model are easily constructed using a
modified loop analysis (MLA) or modified nodal analysis (MNA) formulation. Besides
providing a direct current solution, it has several other advantages over a MoM
analysis for this class of problems since any type of circuit element can be included
in a straightforward way with appropriate matrix stamps. The PEEC method has
[6]
recently been extended to include nonorthogonal geometries. This model
extension, which is consistent with the classical orthogonal formulation, includes the
Manhattan representation of the geometries in addition to the more
general quadrilateral and hexahedral elements. This helps in keeping the number of
unknowns at a minimum and thus reduces computational time for nonorthogonal
[7]
geometries.

Differential equation solvers[edit]

Finite-difference time-domain (FDTD)[edit]
Finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) is a popular CEM technique. It is easy to
understand. It has an exceptionally simple implementation for a full wave solver. It is
at least an order of magnitude less work to implement a basic FDTD solver than
either an FEM or MoM solver. FDTD is the only technique where one person can
realistically implement oneself in a reasonable time frame, but even then, this will be
[1]
for a quite specific problem. Since it is a time-domain method, solutions can cover
a wide frequency range with a single simulation run, provided the time step is small
enough to satisfy the NyquistShannon sampling theorem for the desired highest
frequency.
FDTD belongs in the general class of grid-based differential time-domain numerical
modeling methods. Maxwell's equations (in partial differential form) are modified to
central-difference equations, discretized, and implemented in software. The
equations are solved in a cyclic manner: the electric field is solved at a given instant
in time, then the magnetic field is solved at the next instant in time, and the process
is repeated over and over again.
The basic FDTD algorithm traces back to a seminal 1966 paper by Kane Yee
in IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation. Allen Taflove originated the
descriptor "Finite-difference time-domain" and its corresponding "FDTD" acronym in
a 1980 paper in IEEE Transactions on Electromagnetic Compatibility. Since about
1990, FDTD techniques have emerged as the primary means to model many
scientific and engineering problems addressing electromagnetic wave interactions

with material structures. An effective technique based on a time-domain finitevolume discretization procedure was introduced by Mohammadian et al. in
[8]
1991. Current FDTD modeling applications range from near-DC (ultralowfrequency geophysics involving the entire Earth-ionosphere waveguide)
throughmicrowaves (radar signature technology, antennas, wireless
communications devices, digital interconnects, biomedical imaging/treatment) to
visible light (photonic crystals, nanoplasmonics, solitons, and biophotonics).
Approximately 30 commercial and university-developed software suites are
available.

Multiresolution time-domain (MRTD)[edit]

MRTD is an adaptive alternative to the finite difference time domain method (FDTD)
based on wavelet analysis.

Finite element method (FEM)[edit]

The finite element method (FEM) is used to find approximate solution of partial
differential equations (PDE) and integral equations. The solution approach is based
either on eliminating the time derivatives completely (steady state problems), or
rendering the PDE into an equivalent ordinary differential equation, which is then
solved using standard techniques such as finite differences, etc.
In solving partial differential equations, the primary challenge is to create an
equation which approximates the equation to be studied, but which is numerically
stable, meaning that errors in the input data and intermediate calculations do not
accumulate and destroy the meaning of the resulting output. There are many ways
of doing this, with various advantages and disadvantages. The Finite Element
Method is a good choice for solving partial differential equations over complex
domains or when the desired precision varies over the entire domain.

Finite integration technique (FIT)[edit]

The finite integration technique (FIT) is a spatial discretization scheme to
numerically solve electromagnetic field problems in time and frequency domain. It
preserves basic topological properties of the continuous equations such as
conservation of charge and energy. FIT was proposed in 1977 by Thomas
[9]
Weiland and has been enhanced continually over the years. This method covers
the full range of electromagnetics (from static up to high frequency) and optic
[10][not in citation given][11][not in
applications and is the basis for commercial simulation tools.
citation given]

The basic idea of this approach is to apply the Maxwell equations in integral form to
a set of staggered grids. This method stands out due to high flexibility in geometric
modeling and boundary handling as well as incorporation of arbitrary material
distributions and material properties such as anisotropy, non-linearity and
dispersion. Furthermore, the use of a consistent dual orthogonal grid (e.g.Cartesian
grid) in conjunction with an explicit time integration scheme (e.g. leap-frog-scheme)

leads to compute and memory-efficient algorithms, which are especially adapted for
transient field analysis in radio frequency (RF) applications.

Pseudospectral time domain (PSTD)[edit]

This class of marching-in-time computational techniques for Maxwell's equations
uses either discrete Fourier or Chebyshev transformsto calculate the spatial
derivatives of the electric and magnetic field vector components that are arranged in
either a 2-D grid or 3-D lattice of unit cells. PSTD causes negligible numerical phase
velocity anisotropy errors relative to FDTD, and therefore allows problems of much
[12]
greater electrical size to be modeled.

Pseudo-spectral spatial domain (PSSD)[edit]

PSSD solves Maxwell's equations by propagating them forward in a chosen spatial
direction. The fields are therefore held as a function of time, and (possibly) any
transverse spatial dimensions. The method is pseudo-spectral because temporal
derivatives are calculated in the frequency domain with the aid of FFTs. Because
the fields are held as functions of time, this enables arbitrary dispersion in the
propagation medium to be rapidly and accurately modelled with minimal
[13]
effort. However, the choice to propagate forward in space (rather than in time)
[14]
brings with it some subtleties, particularly if reflections are important.

Transmission line matrix (TLM)[edit]

Transmission line matrix (TLM) can be formulated in several means as a direct set
of lumped elements solvable directly by a circuit solver (ala SPICE, HSPICE, et al.),
as a custom network of elements or via a scattering matrix approach. TLM is a very
flexible analysis strategy akin to FDTD in capabilities, though more codes tend to be
available with FDTD engines.

Locally-One-Dimensional FDTD (LOD-FDTD)[edit]

This is an implicit method. In this method, in two-dimensional case, Maxwell
equations are computed in two steps, whereas in three-dimensional case Maxwell
equations are divided into three spatial coordinate directions. Stability and
dispersion analysis of the three-dimensional LOD-FDTD method have been
[15][16]
discussed in detail.;;

Other methods[edit]
EigenMode Expansion (EME)[edit]
Eigenmode expansion (EME) is a rigorous bi-directional technique to simulate
electromagnetic propagation which relies on the decomposition of the
electromagnetic fields into a basis set of local eigenmodes. The eigenmodes are
found by solving Maxwell's equations in each local cross-section. Eigenmode
expansion can solve Maxwell's equations in 2D and 3D and can provide a fully
vectorial solution provided that the mode solvers are vectorial. It offers very strong
benefits compared with the FDTD method for the modelling of optical waveguides,
and it is a popular tool for the modelling of fiber optics and silicon photonics devices.

Physical optics (PO)[edit]

Physical optics (PO) is the name of a high frequency approximation (shortwavelength approximation) commonly used in optics,electrical
engineering and applied physics. It is an intermediate method between geometric
optics, which ignores wave effects, and full wave electromagnetism, which is a
precise theory. The word "physical" means that it is more physical than geometrical
optics and not that it is an exact physical theory.
The approximation consists of using ray optics to estimate the field on a surface and
then integrating that field over the surface to calculate the transmitted or scattered
field. This resembles the Born approximation, in that the details of the problem are
treated as aperturbation.

Uniform theory of diffraction (UTD)[edit]

The uniform theory of diffraction (UTD) is a high frequency method for
solving electromagnetic scattering problems from electrically small discontinuities or
discontinuities in more than one dimension at the same point.
The uniform theory of diffraction approximates near field electromagnetic fields as
quasi optical and uses ray diffraction to determine diffraction coefficients for each
diffracting object-source combination. These coefficients are then used to calculate
the field strength andphase for each direction away from the diffracting point. These
fields are then added to the incident fields and reflected fields to obtain a total
solution.

Validation[edit]
Validation is one of the key issues facing electromagnetic simulation users. The
user must understand and master the validity domain of its simulation. The measure
is, "how far from the reality are the results?"
Answering this question involves three steps:

Comparison between simulation results and analytical formulationFor

example, assessing the value of the radar cross section of a plate with the
analytical formula:

where A is the surface of the plate and

is the wavelength. The next curve presenting the RCS

of a plate computed at 35 GHz can be used as reference example.

Cross-comparison between codesOne example is the cross

comparison of results from method of moments and asymptotic
[17]
methods in their validity domains.

Comparison of simulation results with measurementThe final

validation step is made by comparison between measurements and
[18]
simulation. For example, the RCS calculation and the
[19]
measurement of a complex metallic object at 35 GHz. The
computation implements GO, PO and PTD for the edges.

Validation processes can clearly reveal that some differences can be

explained by the differences between the experimental setup and its
[20]
reproduction in the simulation environment.