The Method of Moments

Consider the inhomogeneous equation

where is a linear operator, is known, and is to be determined. Let
be expanded in a series of known functions , , ,...in the domain
of , as
where the are unknown constants to be determined. We shall call the
expansion functions or basis functions. For exact solutions, the
summation is infinite and the form a complete set of basis functions.
For approximate solutions, finite summation is employed. Since is
linear, we have
.
It is assume that a suitable inner product has been defined. Now
definte a set of weighting functions, or testing functions, , , ,...
in the range of , and take the inner product of the above equation with
each . The result is
,
The set of equations can be written in matrix form as
where
, ,
If the matrix is nonsingular, its inverse exists. The are
1
then given by
.
The solution may be exact or approximate, depending upon the choice
of and . The particular choice is known as Galerkins
method.
Example 1.
Exact solution :
Let
Choose
and .
Then,
We have
.
Then, .
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For ,
.
For ,
.
For ,
3
,
which is the exact solution.
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Example 2:
Pulse function:
Triangle function:
Let , , then
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HW#3: follow example 1, solve
by letting
Plot the result with the exact solution .
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Antenna Problems
In free space,
Therefore, there exist a dyadic satisfies
is called Greens function. In general, in any structure, Greens
functions exist for computing the electric fields generated by a given
source.
Procedures:
1. Specify excitation .
2. Identify PEC.
3. Identify the induced surface
current on the PEC due to
and let
4. Satisfy B. C. On the PEC.
5.
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where
For , we have
Similarly for slots on PEC, complementary formulation for magnetic
currents exist. Let
.
If two regions are separated by PEC with slots on it, then the slots can
be closed by putting equivalent magnetic currents on them. Let the
regions be named and . Let be the normal vector pointing from
to . Let the electric field on the slots be . Let the magnetic current in
region and be and respectively. Then,
At the slots, the magnetic field must be the same calculating from region
and . We have
Let
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.
Then,
where
For , we have
Example: Slot-coupled microstripline-fed patch antennas
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Pocklingtons Integral Equation for a dipole
Let the length and the radius of the dipole be and , where such
that we can ignore the circumferential current, therefore and
. Assume the conductivity of the dipole is vary large that is a
surface current exist on the surface of the dipole. Since , we can
also assume doesnt vary circumferentially. That is is only a
function of . Then
where
The approximation in the above equation is under the assumption that
the surface current can be approximated by a line source at the center
since .
If only consider the field at surface of the dipole, .
If an incident wave , the field will induce a current distribution on
the dipole surface. The induce current will produce scattered field .
The boundary condition requires that on the surface of the dipole
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Integral Equations
The equation derived in previous section is called Integral Equation.
The right hand side is the known incident field , while the left hand
side is the unknown current distribution to be solved.
Approximate by a series of known expansion functions such that
where are coefficients of the expansion functions and are unknown.
For instance, choose impulse functions as defined below
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Point Matching
For conveniences, rewrite the integral equation as

Let be the mid-point of each segment, then
Rewriting in matrix form, we have
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where
For , we have
Source Modeling
1. Delta gap: or for .
2. Frill Generator:
where
3. Plane wave:
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The input impedance becomes if the applied voltage is
located at -th section.
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Weighted Residuals and the Method of Moments
Let weighting functions be a set of known functions.
Instead of point-matching, the integration equation is integrated with the
weighting function as follow:
The matrix formulation will be the same except
.
Obviously, if , the result is the same as point-matching.
This general formulation is called the Method of Moments. If the
weighting functions are chosen to be the same as the expansion
function, i.e., , its called Galerkins method. In most
cases, Galerkins method gives better result than point-matching.
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Other Expansion and Weighting Functions
1. Triangle functions (piecewise linear)
2. Piecewise sinusoidal:
3. Sinusoidal interpolation:
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Adding Lumped Loads
If an ideal lumped load is inserted into a
wire antenna at coordinate having
current , the electric field across can
be considered as a delta function having
amplitude . The original integral
equation becomes
Therefore, the new impedance matrix is related to the unloaded one
by
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Method of Moment in Electrostatic Applications
Example: Stripline Capacitance
For a line charge , the voltage generated by this charge is
The potential produced by a distribution of charge is
If the distribution of the charge is discretized to sections as in the figure,
let the charge density be constant in a cell and be denoted as . Let
and be the coordinate and potential at the center of section . Let
be the length of section . We have
where
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As shown in the figure, let the plates be divided to 36 sections with the
same section length . Eight sections are on the central strip and 28
sections are on the top and bottom strips. Also let and .
Therefore,
By solving the above equation, the capacitance can be found by
dividing the total charge with voltage .
HW# 4 Let , find the capacitance. Compared with the formula
in Pozars Microwave Engineering, pp 154157.
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