CHANG AND HARRINGTON: CHARACTERISTIC MODES OF MATERIAL BODIES

789

A Surface Formulation for Characteristic Modes of Material Bodies

Abstrucr-A theory of characteristic modes for material bodies is developed using equivalent surface currents. This is in contrast to the alternative approach using induced volume currents. The mode currents form a weighted orthogonal set over the material body surface, and the mode fields form an orthogonal set over the sphere at infinity. The characteristic modes of material bodies have most of the properties of those for perfectly conducting bodies. Formulas for the use of these modes in electromagnetic scattering problems are given. A procedure for computing the characteristic modes is developed, and applied to two-dimensional bodies. Illustrativeexamples of thecomputation of characteristic currents and scattering cross sections are given for cylinders of different material constants.

Fig. 1. General material body.

E ,H
0

I. BACKGROUND HARACTERISTIC modes have long been used in the analysis of radiation andscattering bydielectric and/or magnetic bodies whose surfaces coincide with coordinate surfaces in coordinate systems for which the Helmholtz equation is separable. Fromconsideration: of thescatteringmatrix, Garbacz [ 11 has shown that similar modes must exist for any material body. An extensive theory for perfectly conducting bodies was given in [l] , but the dielectric and magnetic body case was not developed. An alternative treatment the of characteristic modes for perfectly conducting bodies, starting from the impedance operator for the conducting surface, has been given by Harrington and Mautz [2]. The computation of such modes has also beenconsidered by Harrington and Mautz [3]. A theoryof characteristic modesfor dielectric bodies,magneticbodies, andfor bodies both dielectric and magnetic, has been developed by Harrington, Mautz, and Chang [4]. In this work, a theory of characteristic modes for material bodies is developed using equivalent surface currents. This is in contrast to the approach used in [4] ,which used the induced volume currents. The modes are defined by a weighted eigenvalue equation in such a way that both the generalized network matrix [5] andthe scattering matrix [l] , [2] forthebody are diagonalized. The presentation given in this work leads to explicit formulas for determining the mode currents andfields of twodimensional objects. The formulas remain the same for dielectric bodies, magnetic bodies, and for bodies both dielectric and magnetic. In particular, the scattering problem of a two-dimensional material cylinder will be presented. This
Manuscript received September 18,1975;revised August 22,1976. Y . Chang is with the Departmentof Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Union College, Schenectady, NY 12308. R. F. Harrington is with the Departmentof Electrical and Computer Engineering, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY 13210.

Case (TI)

Fig. 2.

Decomposition of original problem.

formulation of the problem is applicable to any general material body. Details are worked out only for two-dimensional problems.

11. THE FUNDAMENTAL OPERATOR EQUATION

Let the material body be represented as in Fig. 1.

Hi, E' E, H E,, &,

incident fields, inside fields, outside fields.

The problem of Fig. 1 can be viewed as a linear superposition of twocases (I) zero field inside, (11) zero field outside. These two cases are illustrated in Fig. 2. In case (I), let po, E, be the material constants in all of space, and similarly in case (11), let p, E be the material constants in all of space. Having done so, radiation formulas [6] forunbounded space can be employed.The J and M are equivalent surface currents [6]. Since there are no actual surface currents, the following conditions should be satisfied by the equivalent currents
J'

+ J" = 0 M' + M" = 0.

(1)

(2)

790

IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION, VOL. A P - 2 5 , NO. 6, NOVEMBER 1977

Equations (1) and (2) come the that from fact tangential where components of fields are continuous across the interfacein the original problem. Note that

L,=L,+L,~

J=J

(4)

and the subscript tan has been dropped for brevity. Equation (1 2) is simply the familiar operatorequation expressed below:

(5)

L ( f ) = 2.

(13)

L is a tangential operator on thesurface of the material body.

(6)
where 111. CHARACTERISTIC EQUATION AND MODAL REPRESENTATION With volumeintegralsreplaced by surfaceintegrals, the theoretical development in [4] is still valid. The reduction of operator equations to matrix equations can be effected in the usual manner by the methodof moments. Let

A F

vector potentialdue to electric current, vector potential due to magnetic current, @e scalar potential due t o electric charge, @ scalar potential due t o magnetic charge, , Primed quantities refer to case (I) doubly primed quantitiesrefer t o case (11).

In terms ofgeneral operator notations, thefollowing equations

are obtained

f, =
where

Z(Iifj, vjfi), +
i

[-E:
[-;:I

-Lm

-c

substituting After the (14) into the modes [4] where the definitions of the operators are obvious when comparing (7) and (8) with (3) to (6). Note that the tangential T2(f,) = X,T,(f,) fields are continuous at the boundary surface, i.e., the following is obtained it X (E E - E) = 0 (9)

-Lm

1[;:I [3 -:.I [;I 63,

= =

(7)
fie =

[w:]

fim =

Wjm

1.

(1 5)

(8)

eigenvalue equation defining

AX(HS+Hi-H)=O.

(lo)

I cIiT2fie + Z 5 T 2 f i m I
i
r-

Define operators all the tangential to be operators; the following equation is obtained by substituting(7) and (8) into (9)and (10)

Li

_I
1

= X LxIjTlfje , i

+
i

QTlfjm

Perform inner product with electric testing function Wf

tan tan

The [ -1 tan means the tangential components of the bracketed quantity on the boundary surface. It is convenient to rearrange (1 1)the form into

z l j ( W i e , Tzfie) +

b ( W j e ,T2fim)
i

Tlfje) +

x
i

1
(18)

VjCWie,Tlfjm)]

(I2)

and with magnetictesting function Wim

CHANG AND HARRINGTON:

CHARACTERISTIC MODES OF MATERIAL BODIES

79 1

IV. LINEAR MEASUREMENT

Any scalar p linearly related to the generalized current, i.e., alinear functional of the equivalentelectric and magnetic currents, will be called alinearmeasurement ofthecurrent. Any linear functional off can be expressed as
P = ( g m , D,

Tiff) +
i

Q(wim,

T l f i m ) . (19)

Equations (1 8) and (19) can equation. matrix oneput be into

[[&I

[xl

P21

p]]

,I:[

F [[f1l

[NlI

1 ] [:In.

(28)

where g"vector is a function which consists of an electric field and magnetic a field. By (25) and (26), the linear measurement off can be stated as

The definitions of [ X ] , [ N z ] , [ B ] , [ R , [ N l ] , [GI, [ I ] ,and [ v] are obvious by comparing (20) with (1 8) and (1 9). Equation (20) is the eigenvalue equation which will be used in the actual computation of the modes. In abbreviated form, it becomes

where

and define the following Now, with the understanding that X andf, can be found, the , modal solution forf can be expressed as

Knm = ( g m , f,)

modal measurement coefficient modal excitation coefficient.

(31) (32)

f = Xa,f,.
n

K,' = (2, f,)

Recall that [4]

Tf = 2.

(23)

Equation (29) is a symmetric. bilinear functional of g' (the impressed field) andof gm (the measured field). Thesymmetry of (29) is a consequence of the symmetry of the original operator T. Equation (29) can be expressed as

Aftersubstituting (22) into (23) and performing theinner product with fm ,the following equation results Similarly, in terms ofK n i , (25) becomes

(33)

Apply the orthogonality relationships given in [4]. It follows that

K,' a,=-, 1 + jXn

and (22) will take the form

(34)

Explicitly,

V. CHARACTERISTIC FIELDS AND SCATTERING CROSS SECTION

The m a t e equivalents of the orthogonality relationships for the characteristic currents are also of interest. For example, that for TI is
N

The characteristic fields are linearly related to the charactersitic currents f, and hence can also be expressed in modal form

(fm.

Tlfn)=

[fml

[ T I ][ f n l = 6 r n n ,

(27)
When K' and f are known, the field pattern can be obtained , , by employing (36). A convenient way is to evaluate the modal

where and T.

denotes transpose. Similar derivations hold for T2

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IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION, VOL. AP-25, NO. 6, NOVEMBER 1977

A commonly used parameter in plane wave scattering problems is the echo area. In two-dimenstional problems the quantity echo width corresponds to the echo area of the three-dimensional problems.The echo width defined as in [6] is
u = lim 2np,
?-m

1 H * i12. ,

(44)

Fig. 3.

Coordinate system for modal measurement coefficient.

By (43) the following expression for the scattering cross section is obtained

measurement coefficient first. In the two-dimenstional case, consider. a magnetic current fdament, M = Mi, at (p, @) on S, . See Fig. 3. By reciprocity, it is readily seen that
-Hn

(r=41721TxI
.

k I

KniKnm l2

(45)

VI. RESULTS
The results of farfieldscatteringcalculations for some material cylinders are presented in this section. Computational procedures used are given in [ 3 ] . Fig. 4 shows the normalizedscattering cross section of a circular cylinder with e, = 9.5, p, = 1.0, and KA = 0.7 for perpendicular polarization transverse electric (TE). The computed scattering section cross is in good agreement with harmonic series solution [7]. The maximum deviation is 0.65 dB. Fig. 5 gives the normalized scattering cross section of a circular cylinder with e, = 20.0, p, = 1.0, and KA = 0.7, for perpendicular polarization. The maximum deviation from s exact harmonic series solution i 0.076 dB. Fig. 6 shows the normalized scattering cross section of a circular cylinder with E , = 50.0, p r = 1.0, and KA = 0.7, for perpendicular polarization. Maximum deviation fromexactsolution is 0.458 dB. Better agreement can be reached, if more expansion functions are used. The scattering cross section given in Fig. 7 is for a circular cylinder with e, = 9.0, p r = 1.O, and KA = 1.0, for perpendicular polarization. The agreement with exact solution is excellent. Maximum deviation is 0.013 dB. Fig. 8 shows the normalized scattering cross section of a circular cylinder with e, = 9.0, p, = 100.0, and KA = 0.7, for perpendicular polarization. Agreement with exact solution is very good,. Maximum deviation is 0.01 dB. Fig. 9 gives the normalizedscattering cross section of a circular cylinder with E , = 2.56, p,. = 1.0, and KA = 0.7, for perpendicular polarization. Maximum deviation is 0.6 dB. The normalizedscattering cross section of a circular cylinder with e, = 2.56, p, = 1.0, and KA = 0.7, for parallel polarization is shown in Fig. 10. Maximum deviation fromexactsolution is 0.5 dB. Fig. 11shows the computed scattering cross section of a circular cylinder with E, = 50.0, p, = 1.O, and KA = 0.7, for parallel polarization. The computed solution is in excellent agreement with exact harmonic solution. Maximum deviation is 0.05 dB. Fig. 12 shows the computed scattering cross section of a circular cylinder with E , = 9.5, p, = 1.O, and KA = 0.7, for parallel polarization. The computed solution is inexcellentagreement with the exact solution. Maximum deviation is 0.01 dB. Fig. 13 shows the computed scattering cross section of a squarecylinder with e, = 9.0, pr = 1.0, and KB = 1.4, for perpendicular polarization. Fig. 14 shows the computed scattering cross section of a square cylinder with E , = 100.0, p,. = 1.0, and KB = 1.4, for parallel polarization.

= j j ( E,~-M, ~

~,)ds,

(37)

where H, is the characteristic field components produced by themodecurrent f, *E, and H, are the fields due to the magnetic current filament M. To simplify the analysis, the magnitude of the magnetic current M is adjusted to produce a plane wave on the material body, i.e.,

H, = hme--ikrn rrn
Em = V H m X b m >

(38)

(39)

where q is the wave impedance and Gkm is the unit vector in the direction of propagation. The right side of (37), in matrix form, is the modalmeasurement coefficient. Hence,

Knm

= !(J,

E, - M,

- H,)

dl.

Explicitly, the electric field and the magnetic field can be extracted from(36) as

E=Fl+jh,
En

K,

Since the magnetic field is currently under consideration, only (42) will be used. The component of the magneticfield on iis ,

(43 ) Note that K n i is of the same functional form as Knm

CHANG AND HARRINGTON: CHARACTERISTIC MODES OF MATERIAL BODIES

793

-I"

It
I

t
I
I I I

,
18E

t
I

,
1%

a0

50

so

l z

wo

4 IPE6fiE:SI
Fig. 4.
E,.

= 9.5, p, = 1.0, KA = 0.7, perpendicular polarization

Normalized scattering cross section of circular cylinder with (TE).

Fig. 7. Normalized scattering cross section of circular cylinder with E,. = 9.0, p . = 1.0, I A = 1.O, perpendicular polarization (TE). , (

0-(4) T A
DB
10

---

!,X,
-HIS " i T H K .

15

EX>>FIC? 6LM,:,,3

w 3% 0.3qPr

------__

_ _ _ _ _ ---

20

Q l
IPtXEt5i

: i l l

1 ; D

1: 4

1W

20

?L1

62

qJ

so

lan

X ! #

im

IxlPtES:

Fig. 5. Normalized scattering cross section of circular cylinder with E,. = 20.0, p . = 1.0, KA = 0.7, perpendicular polarization (TE). ,
tXtiT

Fig. 8. Normalized scattering cross section of circular cylinder with e p = 9.0, fir = 100.0, KA = 0.7, perpendicualr polarization (TE).

-.(IS F r G .

E fmsmF L K T ! ~

-__
RA

irlc.

TklS Nclffi:.

EiAKlSI

Fl*r,Im

w I. ?

O.~scE

DB
3 -

I
> : a m
@ 1 t 7 l x
1 L O

132

22

63

% ?

D I:

1zI

3:

1 s

9 'Ci:? '>.
Fig. 6. Normalized scattering cross section of circular cylinder with 7 = 50.0, pr = 1.0, KA = 0.7, perpendicular polarization (TE).

~10E6EtES)

Fig. 9. Normalized scattering cross section of circular cylinder with = 2.56, p r = 1.0, KA = 0.7, perpendicular polarization (TE).

794

IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION, VOL. AP-25, NO. 6 , NOVEMBER 1977

Fig. 10. Normalized scattering cross section of circular cylinder with . E,. = 2.56, p,. = 1.O, KA = 0.7,parallel polarization (TM).

D0

Fig. 13. Normalized scattehg cross section of square cylinder with E,. = 9 .O,fir = 1-0, KB = 1.4, perpendicular polarization (TE).

20

80

120

lrr3

DB

4 lOtG?~lSl
Fig. 11. Normalized scattering cross section of circular cylinder with E,. 7 50.0, p,. = 1.O, KA = 0.7, parallel polarization chi).

--DB

m
E171S101i F h W L CI

TYIS h O T . m 20 i At

061

0.N

03.

-10

tI
20 60

m
#!OIiVESl

1o c

lrr,

LFD

Fig. 14. Normalized scattering cross section of square cylinder with E,. = 100.0, p,. = 1.0, KB = 1.4, parallel polarization (TM).

20

10

80

103

120

1WlQ

$ I IOTGPTES)

Fig. 12.

Normalized scattering cross section of circular cylinder with E,. = 95, = 1.O (TM). p,.

CHANG AND HARRINGTON: CHARACTERISTIC MODES OF MATERIAL BODIES

79 5

VII. DISCUSSION A surface formulation is developed for solving two-dimensional electromagnetic scattering problems. A basic theory for characteristic modes of dielectric and magnetic bodies based on the surface formulation is derived. The method of computing characteristic modes can be used forhomogeneous material bodies of arbitrary shape provided the body is not electrically large. The characteristic modes of material bodies have most of the properties of those for perfectly conducting bodies, and should find similar uses. Thetheory presented here is in contrast to that for thevolume formulation [4] . The basic difference is that the current in the material body has been treated as equivalent surface currents instead of a volume distribution.The characteristic currents are real.andtheir corresponding eigenvalues are also real. The eigenvectors corresponding to low eigenvalues are usually very efficient radiators. Characteristic currents associated with large eigenvalues generally indicate higher modes which donot radiate very much. As in the conducting body case, the characteristic mode method should prove to be of value, both theoretically and computationallyforscatteringand radiationproblems. The versatility of characteristic has modes been adequately demonstrated in analysis and synthesis problems dealing with conducting bodies. The approach is based on a surface formulation, and that requires the material bodyto be homogeneous since the unknowns are surface currents. For inhomogeneousbodies the surface formulation is not appropriate, and a volume current distribution must be used with requires sample points inside the scattering body. The purpose of this work is to show the feasibility that a surface formulation for the theory of characteristic modes can be applied to the solution of scattering from material objects. For large cylinders, more expansion functions are needed. No attempt has been made to treatlarge objects. It is expected

that this is oneoftheimportant areas forfuture research. Many questions are still left unanswered in the interpretation and application of characteristic modes to material objects. It is hopedthat this work will be of some value tofuture researchers in their effort to gain a complete understanding of the theory ofcharacteristic modes. REFERENCES
R. J. Garbacz, A generalized expansion for radiated and scattered fields, Ph.D. Dissertation, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, 1968. R. F. Harrington andJ.R. Mautz, Theory of characteristic modes for conducting bodies, ZEEE Trans. Antennas Propagat., vol. AP-19, no. 5, Sept. 1971. -, Computation of characteristic modes for conducting bodies, IEEE Trans. Antennas Propagat., vol. AP-19, no. 5, Sept. 1971. R. F. Harrington, J. R. Mautz, and Y. Chang, Characteristic modes for dielectric and magnetic bodies, IEEE Trans. Antennas Propagat., vol. AP-20, no. 2, Mar. 1972. R. F. Harrington, Field Computation Moment by Methods. New York: Macmillan, 1968. -, Time-Harmonic Electromagnetic Fields. New York: hlcGraw-Hill, 1961. G. T. Ruck, D. E. Barrick, W. D. Stuart, and C. K. Krichbaum, Radar Cross Section-Handbook, vol. 1. New York: Plenum, 1970. J. R. Mautz and R. F. Harrington,Radiation and scattering from bodies of revolution,Appl. Sei. Res., vol. 20, June 1969. R. F. Harrington andJ. R. Mautz, Radiationand scattering from loaded bodies of revolution,Appl. Sci. Res., vol. 26,1971. -, Control of radarscattering by reactive loading, ZEEE Trans. AntennasPropagat., vol. AP-20, no. 4, July 1972. -, Modal analysis of loaded N-port scatterers, Scientific Report No. 16 on Contract No. F1962868C-0180 between Syracuse University and Air Force Cambridge Research Laboratories, AFCRL-72-0179, March 1972. -, Synthesis of loaded N-port scatterers, Scientific Report No. 17 on Contract No. F1962848C-0180 betweenSyracuse University and Air Force Cambridge Research Laboratories, AFCRL-72-0665, October 1972. R. F. Wallenberg and R. F. Harrington, Radiation from apertures in conducting cylinders of arbitrary cross section, IEEE Trans. AntennasPropagat., vol. AP-17, no. 1, Jan. 1969.