Numerical simulation is an important tool in understanding the electromagnetic field and how it interacts with the environment. Different topics for time-domain finite-difference (FDTD) and finite-element (FETD) methods for Maxwell's equations are treated in this thesis. Subcell models are of vital importance for the efficient modeling of small objects that are not resolved by the grid. A novel model for thin sheets using shell elements is proposed. This approach has the advantage of taking into account discontinuities in the normal component of the electric field, unlike previous models based on impedance boundary conditions (IBCs). Several results are presented to illustrate the capabilities of the shell element approach. Waveguides are of fundamental importance in many microwave applications, for example in antenna feeds. The key issues of excitation and truncation of waveguides are addressed. A complex frequency shifted form of the uniaxial perfectly matched layer (UPML) absorbing boundary condition (ABC) in FETD is developed. Prism elements are used to promote automatic grid generation and enhance the performance. Results are presented where reflection errors below -70dB are obtained for different types of waveguides, including inhomogeneous cases. Excitation and analysis via the scattering parameters are achieved using waveguide modes computed by a general frequency-domain mode solver for the vector Helmholtz equation. Huygens surfaces are used in both FDTD and FETD for excitation in waveguide ports. Inverse problems have received an increased interest due to the availability of powerful computers. An important application is non-destructive evaluation of material. A time-domain, minimization approach is presented where exact gradients are computed using the adjoint problem. The approach is applied to a general form of Maxwell's equations including dispersive media and UPML. Successful reconstruction examples are presented both using synthetic and experimental measurement data. Parameter reduction of complex geometries using simplified models is an interesting topic that leads to an inverse problem. Gradients for subcell parameters are derived and a successful reconstruction example is presented for a combined dielectric sheet and slot geometry.

Radio propagation in the presence of fire is known to be problematic to communications. In this thesis we use both experimental and theoretical approaches to examine and understand radio propagation in fire environments. Propagation is examined for three small scale fires with broadband equipment operating from 50MHz to 1GHz. Results for line of sight propagation show a strong interaction of fire with electromagnetic propagation. The next section develops electromagnetic modelling of the fire environment. A model of the combustion induced plasma is developed, as well as a refractive index model of the surrounding atmosphere of a fire. Simple propagation calculations are undertaken, using the developed fire models, to provide an intial understanding of propagation in fire environments. The next portion of the thesis considers propagation using a more rigorous electromagnetic simulation technique. A modified Finite Difference Time Domain method is presented and is utilised to examine three dimensional propagation in the small scale fire experiments. The outcome is a more solid understanding of propagation and the contributing factors. The last portion of the thesis is the application of the above electromagnetic modelling and simulation methods to bushfire scenarios. Various scenarios that are problematic to radio communication are examined. Discussion and recommendations are made concerning radio communication frequency selection and considerations for propagation in fire environments. / http://proxy.library.adelaide.edu.au/login?url= http://library.adelaide.edu.au/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?BBID=1457560 / Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, 2009

Radio propagation in the presence of fire is known to be problematic to communications. In this thesis we use both experimental and theoretical approaches to examine and understand radio propagation in fire environments. Propagation is examined for three small scale fires with broadband equipment operating from 50MHz to 1GHz. Results for line of sight propagation show a strong interaction of fire with electromagnetic propagation. The next section develops electromagnetic modelling of the fire environment. A model of the combustion induced plasma is developed, as well as a refractive index model of the surrounding atmosphere of a fire. Simple propagation calculations are undertaken, using the developed fire models, to provide an intial understanding of propagation in fire environments. The next portion of the thesis considers propagation using a more rigorous electromagnetic simulation technique. A modified Finite Difference Time Domain method is presented and is utilised to examine three dimensional propagation in the small scale fire experiments. The outcome is a more solid understanding of propagation and the contributing factors. The last portion of the thesis is the application of the above electromagnetic modelling and simulation methods to bushfire scenarios. Various scenarios that are problematic to radio communication are examined. Discussion and recommendations are made concerning radio communication frequency selection and considerations for propagation in fire environments. / http://proxy.library.adelaide.edu.au/login?url= http://library.adelaide.edu.au/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?BBID=1457560 / Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, 2009

Les électrodes transparentes sont intégrées dans de nombreux dispositifs optoélectroniques tels que (les OLED, les cellules photovoltaïques, les écrans tactiles...). De nos jours, l’électrode transparente la plus utilisée est l’oxyde d’indium dopé étain (ITO : Indium Tin Oxide) qui présente une transparence élevée et une faible résistance carrée. Malgré ces propriétés optoélectroniques exceptionnelles, l’ITO présente des inconvénients tels que la rareté de l’indium et sa fragilité qui est incompatible avec les substrats flexibles. Les nanofils d’argent (AgNWs) sont considérés comme une alternative potentielle pour remplacer l’ITO en vue de leur excellentes propriétés optoélectroniques et leur flexibilité. Néanmoins, les AgNWs souffrent de certains inconvénients (adhérence au substrat, rugosité). Dans ce travail nous proposons une structure de type Oxyde/Métal/Oxyde (OMO) en insérant une couche d’AgNWs comme couche métallique entre deux couches de nanoparticules d’oxydes (ZnO, AZO, WO3) pour fabriquer des électrodes tricouches de type ZAZ, AAA et WAW. Ces dernières ont montré transmission élevée combinée à une faible résistance carrée, ce qui leur permet d’être considérées comme des électrodes alternatives à l’ITO. De plus, les électrodes ZAZ et AAA ont été intégrées avec succès dans des cellules solaires organiques. En outre, un outil numérique potentiel utilisant la méthode FDTD (Finite Difference Time Domain) nous permis de confirmer les résultats expérimentaux pour les électrodes ZAZ. Ainsi, l’amélioration de l’absorption au sein de la couche active via l’effet plasmonique des AgNWs a été démontrée également. Finalement, nous avons pu modéliser un réseau semi-aléatoire des AgNWs inséré entre deux couches de ZnO tout en démontrant la différence en transmission entre une couche dense et une en nanoparticules de ZnO. / Transparent Electrodes (TEs) are crucial components of wide variety of optoelectronic devices as (OLEDs, photovoltaic cells, touch screen…). Nowadays, the transparent electrode widely used is Indium Tin Oxide (ITO), due to its good optoelectronic properties. However, it presents some drawbacks such as the indium scarcity and its brittleness which is not compatible with flexible substrates. Silver nanowires (AgNWs) were considered as potential alternative to replace ITO because of their good optical and electrical properties. Although promising, the AgNWs presents some drawbacks, including the poor adhesion to substrate and the surface roughness. In this work, we propose a sandwich structure Oxide/Metal/Oxide (OMO), where the metallic layer is based on AgNWs. We embedded AgNWs between two nanoparticles oxide layers of (ZnO, AZO, WO3) in order to fabricate trilayer electrodes which are ZAZ, AAA, WAW. These trilayer electrodes show a high transmittance and a low sheet resistance, which lead to consider them on of the alternative to the ITO. In addition, the ZAZ and AAA electrodes were successfully integrated in organic solar cells with good photovoltaic performance. Moreover, using the potential numerical method FDTD (Finite Difference Time Domain) we demonstrated a good agreement between the experimental and numerical results for the ZAZ electrodes. Therefore, the enhancement of absorption inside active layer due to the plasmonic effect of AgNWs was also demonstrated. Finally, we can model a randomly network of AgNWs embedded between two layers of ZnO, with investigating the difference between a dense and nanoparticles layer of ZnO.

Neste trabalho é realizada a otimização de antena de microfita banda larga usando o método de Diferenças Finitas no Domínio do Tempo (FDTD) e software comercial de onda completa. Inicialmente é feita uma introdução sobre o assunto, abordando aspectos de comunicações e de antenas de microfita, além de se fazer uma revisão bibliográfica e resumir o estado da arte sobre o tema do trabalho. A seguir, discorre-se sobre a teoria eletromagnética aplicada a antenas planares. O tópico de base é concluído com síntese dos métodos de simulação usados na análise de antenas de microfita, enfatizando o de FDTD. O próximo item revisa fundamentos teóricos e técnicas aplicadas na obtenção de banda larga em antenas de microfita. O trabalho prossegue com simulações numéricas e medidas da largura de banda, do ganho e da eficiência da antena E e de geometria inovadora aplicando técnica de alimentação capacitiva à antena E. A seguir, o algoritmo genético é apresentado e utilizado na otimização do plano de terra de antena de microfita com alimentação por sonda coaxial e também com alimentação capacitiva, para aplicações em banda larga. Resultados simulados e medidos são apresentados e boa concordância entre eles é obtida. Obteve-se 88% de largura de banda para PIFA com alimentação capacitiva e plano de terra otimizado. A tese é concluída com observações sobre os resultados apresentados e sugestões para prosseguimento e aperfeiçoamento das investigações realizadas. / In the present work, the optimization of broadband microstrip antenna employing the Finite Difference Time Domain (FDTD) and full wave commercial software are presented. First, an introduction on the subject considering main issues in communications and microstrip antennas are described, also a bibliographical review and the state of the art are presented. A review of electromagnetic theory applied to microstrip antenna is presented at the following topic, with emphasis on the FDTD method. The next step is a review of theory and techniques on bandwidth optimization of microstrip antennas. The work follows with numeric simulations and measurements on bandwidth, gain, efficiency of E shapped antenna and with a novel design procedure employing capacitive feeding on the E shapped antenna. The work follows with genetic algorithm being presented and utilized to the optimization of ground plane shape microstrip antenna with coaxial feeding and also with capacitive feeding, aiming to broadband applications. Simulated and measured results are presented. Good agreement is observed. Relative bandwidth of 88% was found for PIFA with capacitive feeding and optimized ground plane. The thesis is concluded with some comments and observations on the results obtained and suggestions for the continuation of the work.

Neste trabalho é apresentada uma análise da antena planar F-invertido (PIFA) com o objetivo de identificar os parâmetros geométricos que influenciam nas características de desempenho: frequência de ressonância, perda de retorno e largura de banda. Para realizar este estudo é desenvolvido um algoritmo em linguagem C baseado no método das Diferenças Finitas no Domínio do Tempo (FDTD). Duas PIFAs de geometria distintas foram investigadas. O primeiro modelo trata da geometria tradicional de elemento irradiador e plano de terra, ambos retangulares. Já o segundo modelo apresenta a fenda em formato de L no elemento irradiador, para operação em frequência dupla, e o plano de terra em formato de T, visando a aumentar a largura de banda. Os resultados da simulação do algoritmo identificam os parâmetros que influenciam no aumento nas duas larguras de banda, e são aplicados na prototipação de uma PIFA GSM-900 e GSM-1800. As medidas de laboratório do protótipo evidenciam os resultados previstos pelo algoritmo. / A Planar Inverted-F Antenna (PIFA) analysis is presented in this work, aiming to identify the geometric parameters that influence the antenna performance, such as resonant frequency, return loss and bandwidth. To accomplish this goal, an algorithm in C language based on the Finite-Difference Time-Domain (FDTD) method is developed. Two PIFAs with distinct geometries are investigated. The first one corresponds to a typicall rectangular patch and ground plane, The second model presents an L-shaped slot for dual frequency band operation, combined with a T-shaped ground plane, in order to increase the bandwidth. The simulated results obtained by algorithm identify the parameters that respond for both bandwidths enhancement, and are applied in a PIFA GSM-900/GSM-1800 practical project. The prototype’s measurements confirm the simulated results.

abstract: Current organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs) suffer from the low light extraction efficiency. In this thesis, novel OLED structures including photonic crystal, Fabry-Perot resonance cavity and hyperbolic metamaterials were numerically simulated and theoretically investigated. Finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method was employed to numerically simulate the light extraction efficiency of various 3D OLED structures. With photonic crystal structures, a maximum of 30% extraction efficiency is achieved. A higher external quantum efficiency of 35% is derived after applying Fabry-Perot resonance cavity into OLEDs. Furthermore, different factors such as material properties, layer thicknesses and dipole polarizations and locations have been studied. Moreover, an upper limit for the light extraction efficiency of 80% is reached theoretically with perfect reflector and single dipole polarization and location. To elucidate the physical mechanism, transfer matrix method is introduced to calculate the spectral-hemispherical reflectance of the multilayer OLED structures. In addition, an attempt of using hyperbolic metamaterial in OLED has been made and resulted in 27% external quantum efficiency, due to the similar mechanism of wave interference as Fabry-Perot structure. The simulation and optimization methods and findings would facilitate the design of next generation, high-efficiency OLED devices. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Mechanical Engineering 2016

Neste trabalho é realizada a otimização de antena de microfita banda larga usando o método de Diferenças Finitas no Domínio do Tempo (FDTD) e software comercial de onda completa. Inicialmente é feita uma introdução sobre o assunto, abordando aspectos de comunicações e de antenas de microfita, além de se fazer uma revisão bibliográfica e resumir o estado da arte sobre o tema do trabalho. A seguir, discorre-se sobre a teoria eletromagnética aplicada a antenas planares. O tópico de base é concluído com síntese dos métodos de simulação usados na análise de antenas de microfita, enfatizando o de FDTD. O próximo item revisa fundamentos teóricos e técnicas aplicadas na obtenção de banda larga em antenas de microfita. O trabalho prossegue com simulações numéricas e medidas da largura de banda, do ganho e da eficiência da antena E e de geometria inovadora aplicando técnica de alimentação capacitiva à antena E. A seguir, o algoritmo genético é apresentado e utilizado na otimização do plano de terra de antena de microfita com alimentação por sonda coaxial e também com alimentação capacitiva, para aplicações em banda larga. Resultados simulados e medidos são apresentados e boa concordância entre eles é obtida. Obteve-se 88% de largura de banda para PIFA com alimentação capacitiva e plano de terra otimizado. A tese é concluída com observações sobre os resultados apresentados e sugestões para prosseguimento e aperfeiçoamento das investigações realizadas. / In the present work, the optimization of broadband microstrip antenna employing the Finite Difference Time Domain (FDTD) and full wave commercial software are presented. First, an introduction on the subject considering main issues in communications and microstrip antennas are described, also a bibliographical review and the state of the art are presented. A review of electromagnetic theory applied to microstrip antenna is presented at the following topic, with emphasis on the FDTD method. The next step is a review of theory and techniques on bandwidth optimization of microstrip antennas. The work follows with numeric simulations and measurements on bandwidth, gain, efficiency of E shapped antenna and with a novel design procedure employing capacitive feeding on the E shapped antenna. The work follows with genetic algorithm being presented and utilized to the optimization of ground plane shape microstrip antenna with coaxial feeding and also with capacitive feeding, aiming to broadband applications. Simulated and measured results are presented. Good agreement is observed. Relative bandwidth of 88% was found for PIFA with capacitive feeding and optimized ground plane. The thesis is concluded with some comments and observations on the results obtained and suggestions for the continuation of the work.

Neste trabalho é apresentada uma análise da antena planar F-invertido (PIFA) com o objetivo de identificar os parâmetros geométricos que influenciam nas características de desempenho: frequência de ressonância, perda de retorno e largura de banda. Para realizar este estudo é desenvolvido um algoritmo em linguagem C baseado no método das Diferenças Finitas no Domínio do Tempo (FDTD). Duas PIFAs de geometria distintas foram investigadas. O primeiro modelo trata da geometria tradicional de elemento irradiador e plano de terra, ambos retangulares. Já o segundo modelo apresenta a fenda em formato de L no elemento irradiador, para operação em frequência dupla, e o plano de terra em formato de T, visando a aumentar a largura de banda. Os resultados da simulação do algoritmo identificam os parâmetros que influenciam no aumento nas duas larguras de banda, e são aplicados na prototipação de uma PIFA GSM-900 e GSM-1800. As medidas de laboratório do protótipo evidenciam os resultados previstos pelo algoritmo. / A Planar Inverted-F Antenna (PIFA) analysis is presented in this work, aiming to identify the geometric parameters that influence the antenna performance, such as resonant frequency, return loss and bandwidth. To accomplish this goal, an algorithm in C language based on the Finite-Difference Time-Domain (FDTD) method is developed. Two PIFAs with distinct geometries are investigated. The first one corresponds to a typicall rectangular patch and ground plane, The second model presents an L-shaped slot for dual frequency band operation, combined with a T-shaped ground plane, in order to increase the bandwidth. The simulated results obtained by algorithm identify the parameters that respond for both bandwidths enhancement, and are applied in a PIFA GSM-900/GSM-1800 practical project. The prototype’s measurements confirm the simulated results.

abstract: A domain decomposition method for analyzing very large FDTD domains, hundreds of thousands of wavelengths long, is demonstrated by application to the problem of radar scattering in the maritime environment. Success depends on the elimination of artificial scattering from the “sky” boundary and is ensured by an ultra-high-performance absorbing termination which eliminates this reflection at angles of incidence as shallow as 0.03 degrees off grazing. The two-dimensional (2D) problem is used to detail the features of the method. The results are cross-validated by comparison to a parabolic equation (PE) method and surface integral equation method on a 1.7km sea surface problem, and to a PE method on propagation through an inhomogeneous atmosphere in a 4km-long space, both at X-band. Additional comparisons are made against boundary integral equation and PE methods from the literature in a 3.6km space containing an inhomogeneous atmosphere above a flat sea at S-band. The applicability of the method to the three-dimensional (3D) problem is shown via comparison of a 2D solution to the 3D solution of a corridor of sea. As a technical proof of the scalability of the problem with computational power, a 5m-wide, 2m-tall, 1050m-long 3D corridor containing 321.8 billion FDTD cells has been simulated at X-band. A plane wave spectrum analysis of the (X-band) scattered fields produced by a 5m-wide, 225m-long realistic 3D sea surface, and the 2D analog surface obtained by extruding a 2D sea along the width of the corridor, reveals the existence of out-of-plane 3D phenomena missed by the traditional 2D analysis. The realistic sea introduces random strong flashes and nulls in addition to a significant amount of cross-polarized field. Spatial integration using a dispersion-corrected Green function is used to reconstruct the scattered fields outside of the computational FDTD space which would impinge on a 3D target at the end of the corridor. The proposed final approach is a hybrid method where 2D FDTD carries the signal for the first tens of kilometers and the last kilometer is analyzed in 3D. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Electrical Engineering 2018