Higher order hybrid method of moments-physical optics modeling technique for radiation and scattering from large perfectly conducting surfaces

An efficient and accurate higher order, large-domain hybrid computational technique based on the method of moments (MoM) and physical optics (PO) is proposed for analysis of large antennas and scatterers composed of perfectly conducting surfaces of arbitrary shapes. The technique utilizes large generalized curvilinear quadrilaterals of arbitrary geometrical orders in both the MoM and PO regions. It employs higher order divergence-conforming hierarchical polynomial basis functions in the context of the Galerkin method in the MoM region and higher order divergence-conforming interpolatory Chebyshev-type polynomial basis functions in conjunction with a point-matching method in the PO region. The results obtained by the higher order MoM-PO are validated against the results of the full MoM analysis in three characteristic realistic examples. The truly higher order and large-domain nature of the technique in both MoM and PO regions enables a very substantial reduction in the number of unknowns and increase in accuracy and efficiency when compared to the low-order, small-domain MoM-PO solutions. The PO part of the proposed technique, on the other hand, allows for a dramatic reduction in the computation time and memory with respect to the pure MoM higher order technique, which greatly extends the practicality of the higher order MoM with a smooth transition between low- and high-frequency applications.