Analysis of a Cylindrical Microstrip Antenna by

the Nonorthogonal FDTD Method and Parallel

Processing

Ronaldo O. dos Santos1 , Rodrigo M.S. de Oliveira2 , Fabricio Jose B. Barros2 ,

and Carlos Leonidas da S.S. Sobrinho2
1
Instituto de Estudos Superiores da Amazonia (IESAM)
Av. Governador Jose Malcher, 1175 - Belem, Para, Brazil
ronaldo@ufpa.br
2
Federal University of Para (UFPA)
P.O.Box 8619, 66075-900 Belem, Para, Brazil
rodrigo@deec.ufpa.br
fabricio@cetuc.puc-rio.br
leonidas@ufpa.br

Abstract. A computational code has been developed for analyzing 3-D

radiation problems in curved geometries. To accomplish this, a suitable
formulation is developed considering Maxwell equations in a general coor-
dinate system and numerically solved by the use of a parallel curvilinear
finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method. In order to validate the
computational code, the method analyzes a microstrip antenna mounted
on a curved surface. The results obtained by the developed code are then
compared to those generated by the conventional (orthogonal) FDTD
method and by experimental measurements.

1 Introduction

Along with the new generation of wireless communication systems, precise analy-
sis of new radiating elements (antennas) of diversified geometries becomes neces-
sary to certify (and improve) the performance of these systems. An uncountable
number of techniques of analysis and synthesis are employed in order to analyze
several types of antennas with complex geometries [1]-[2]. General consensus,
what is aimed to be achieved with these geometries, somewhat complex, is to
allow that the radiator has its dimensions reduced, being able to operate in two
or more bands of frequency (multi-band antennas), and to have its radiation
characteristics (directivity, gain, efficiency, etc . . . ) optimized. The techniques
used to analyze such structures usually are limited by the Cartesian coordinate
system.
This way, the idea of developing a code able to analyze wide-bands for these
types of radiators in curved surfaces or with its spatial orientations not coincident
to the coordinates of the orthogonal system has motivated us to research the
FDTD method in general coordinates.
 The nonorthogonal grid incorporation in the FDTD method was initially
proposed by Holland [3], who used a nonorthogonal FDTD model based on a
system of global curvilinear coordinates. This technique is named nonorthogo-
nal FDTD or GN-FDTD. In this method, Stratton’s formulation [4] was used to
solve the differential Maxwell’s equations numerically. However, the GN-FDTD
technique has limited applications because it is necessary to have a system of co-
ordinates that is analytically described by a global base [5]. Subsequently, Fusco
in [6] developed discrete Maxwell’s equations for a system of local nonorthogonal
curvilinear coordinates. This method is more versatile than the GN-FDTD, but
it requires a grid-generation software to discretize the analysis region. Lee, et
al. [7], expanded Fusco’s work to three dimensions and demonstrated the stabil-
ity criterion for the method. This method (LN-FDTD),truncated by the UPML
formulation proposed by Roden [5], was employed to analyze the antennas con-
sidered here.
The disadvantages associated with the LN-FDTD method, especially for the
analysis of 3-D structures, are: the large memory and the long CPU time required
for the calculations. A solution for these problems would be more powerful com-
puters. Another one, financially more accessible, would be the PCs clustering
technique [8]. Here, LAM/MPI library has been used along with the LN-FDTD
method to make a more precise analysis of the antennas and also to show the
efficiency of the parallel processing in face to the sequential one.

2 Parallel implementation of the nonorthogonal FDTD

code

The main idea behind the parallel implementation of the LN-FDTD algorithm
is the division of the analysis domain into sub-domains. This technique is known
as Data Decomposition or Domain Decomposition. Data are portioned among
the processors and processed simultaneously by each processor, which execute
essentially the same code, but on different boundary conditions. This is a typical
implementation of the SPMD model (Single Program Multiple Data) [9]. The
distribution and sharing of data is manually made in such way that continu-
ity is ensured. The library chosen to exchange the messages is LAM-MPI[10].
Fig.1 shows how the field components are exchanged at the interfaces between
sub-domains for both LN-FDTD and FDTD. Thus, different processors work
simultaneously executing a part of the program, but about several data, i.e., the
processor calculates all the components of the fields of its domain, passing on
only those located at the interfaces.
For the microstrip antennas analyzed with a cluster with twelve machines
[11], the domain of analysis was divided in equal sub-domains resulting in ar-
rays with equal dimensions, as shown by Fig.2. Each processor calculates the
electric and magnetic components corresponding to the its assigned region (sub-
domains).
Fig. 1. Comparison between field passing schemes: (a) LN-FDTD - components located
at an interface between two regions on the surface u3 ; (b) FDTD - components located
at an interface parallel to the y-z plane.

Fig. 2. Division of the numerical domain into sub-domains: (a) Numerical domain
under analysis; (b) Numerical domain divided into two sub-domains; (c) Numerical
domain divided into four sub-domains; (d) Numerical domain divided into six sub-
domains.

3 Results

Fig.3(a) shows the microstrip antenna over a curved (cylindrical) substrate ana-
lyzed by this paper. It is basically the same regular microstrip antenna analyzed
by Sheen in [12], but its patch is curved over the y-z plane, which curvature
radius is 20mm. It should be noticed, however, that just the patch is located
at the curved region of the substrate, in such a way that the feeding plane is
identical to that of the regular antenna.

Fig. 3. (a) Rectangular microstrip antenna on a curved substrate; (b) mesh configura-
tion on y-z cross-section.
To analyze a microstrip antenna over a curved substrate by the orthogo-
nal FDTD method is a complicated task because the method employs regular
(orthogonal) cells to model the physical boundary of this curved antenna. This
way, the LN-FDTD method has been implemented and applied to perform such
analysis. A curved-linear grid has been projected in order to properly model the
device, as shown by Fig.3(b). This is a 61 × 99 × 36 grid (x̂, ŷ, ẑ) and the spatial
increments are, approximately ∆x = 0.389mm, ∆y = 0.4mm, ∆z = 0.265mm.
The boundary condition used to truncate the domain is the UPML imple-
mented in the curvilinear coordinate system 10 layers depth. The excitation
source is a Gaussian pulse described by
" #
2
(t − to )
Ez = exp − (1)
T2

where T = 15ps and to = 45ps. The time increment t used in this analysis is
0.488ps and the period necessary to reach the steady state is about 5000t.
The parallel LN-FDTD implementation is convenient as long as the LN-
FDTD method requires approximately three times the computational effort re-
quired by the FDTD method. In such way, the mesh illustrated by Fig.3(b) has
been analyzed by employing six, four,two processors and one processor as well.

Fig. 4. (a) Comparison between the ideal speedup with the obtained by the LN-FDTD
method and (b) Processing time required to analyze the microstrip antenna.

Fig.4(a) shows the speedup curve for the grid under analysis. In order to
have a comparison reference, the ideal linear speedup is included. Here, the used
definition of speedup is: S = TS /TN , where TS is the time for the sequential
processing and TN is the processing time required for N processors. It is no-
ticed that the speedup for the proposed algorithm, considering two processors,
is very close to the ideal (linear). From three processors on, the obtained speedup
still increases, but under the linear pattern. This behavior is basically due to the
network traffic saturation, as long as the LN-FDTD involves more interface com-
ponents that need to be sent and received among the domains. Fig.4(b) shows
the processing time versus processors. As it can be seen there is a considerable
time reduction when 6 machines are used.
The voltage obtained between the feeding line terminals for the planar an-
tenna and for the curved-substrate microstrip antenna is shown by Fig.5(a).
Fig.5(b) shows the return loss as a function of frequency considering the simu-
Fig. 5. (a) Voltage obtained between the terminals of the planar microstrip antenna
and between the terminals of the curved-substrate microstrip antenna (r = 20mm);
(b) Comparison between the reflection coefficients of the planar and curved substrate
microstrip antennas; (c) Comparison between the VSWR of the planar and cylindrical
microstrip antennas; (d) Comparison between the input impedances of the planar and
curved substrate microstrip antennas.

lated results for planar and curved microstrip antennas and the measured results
for planar microstrip antenna [12]. From the evaluation of the return loss, the
(voltage) stationary wave rate (VSWR ) can be obtained. Fig.5(c) compares the
calculated VSWR for the planar and cylindrical microstrip antennas versus fre-
quency. Fig.5(d) shows the variation of impedance with the frequency. In this
figure, the real part of the input impedance, for the curved microstrip antenna,
is approximately 50Ω at the resonance frequency.
It is important to emphasize that the obtained results for the microstrip
antenna by the LN-FDTD method are identical to those obtained in [13] where
the GN-FDTD method is applied.

4 Conclusions

A computational code has been developed to solve 3-D radiation problems.

This code has been implemented to run in the sequential and parallel com-
putational environments, because the LN-FDTD method requires approximately
three times the computational power required by the conventional FDTD method.
This way, the microstrip antenna mounted on a curved substrate has been ana-
lyzed by employing six, four, two and one processor. The methodology permits
the analysis of structures whose geometries are not coincident to the Cartesian
coordinate system and, in such way, the physical boundary condition can be
applied with no approximations.
The reflection coefficient, VSWR and input impedance comparisons, revels that
the curved microstrip antenna has a lower level of reflection at the neighborhood
of the resonant frequency. Thus, this device matches better than the planar one
to the feeding line. It should be noticed that the analyzed antenna’s feeding line
is not included on the curved surface, although it could be easily included on
that region with the patch.
Acknowledgement. The authors are very grate to Professor D. M. Sheen for
providing us his planar microstrip measured data. Thanks to CNPq, CAPES,
IESAM and to contract UFPA01 (Ericsson-UFPA-Amazonia Celular) for the
technical and financial supports thought these last years.

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