THE CONCEPT OF SCALE-CHANGING NETWORK IN GLOBAL ELECTROMAGNETIC SIMULATION OF COMPLEX STRUCTURES

The concept of Scale-Changing Network is reported for the electromagnetic modeling of complex planar structures composed of a collection of metallic patterns printed on a dielectric surface and whose size covers a large range of scale. Examples of such multi-scale structures are provided by multi-band frequency-selective surfaces, flnite-size arrays of non-identical cells and fractal planar objects. Scale-Changing Networks model the electromagnetic coupling between various scale levels in the studied structure and are computed separately. The cascade of Scale-Changing Networks bridges the gap between the smallest and the highest scale levels and allows forming a monolithic (unique) electromagnetic formulation for the global electromagnetic simulation of complex planar structures. Derivation of these networks is presented and key advantages of the electromagnetic approach are reported.