High Frequency (> 2 GHz) Inter-Aperture Direct Coupling and Radiation

Rigorous modeling of topside ship apertures and finite arrays involving many thousands of array elements is a formidable computational task. The problem is further exacerbated by the presence of several such apertures and their interactions in the presenceother ship structures and scattering effects. The concurrent need to model broadband elements, frequency selective surfaces, absorber treatments around the array and the nearby tower surfaces, all add to major modeling challenges. Moreover, rigorous orsufficiently accurate techniques must be used to compute the low level coupling necessary for the design of these topside ship apertures. In this proposal, we bring together methods that have been demonstrated for large complex finite arrays and employ aset of innovative fast techniques to reduce memory and CPU so that evaluations of arrays with many thousands of elements. Another important aspect of this proposal is the introduction of a very unique approach which casts the aperture fields into aminimal set of rays. During Phase I, we will demonstrate the proposed integration of high frequency methods and carry out initial validation. In Phase II, we will fully develop and validate the methods and associated codes for realistic treated structuresand develop a graphical interface. Computational tools developed will be applicable to both for antenna performance predictions and also for radar signature calculations. This tool can also be used in commercial aviation, transportation and the securityindustry. The commercial world will benefit directly from this software module in solving EMI/Coupling problems, e.g., companies in the communication business. Growing applications are also found in medical imaging area.