Electric Current Basis Functions for Curved Surfaces

ABSTRACT Differential geometry is used to construct basis functions for representing currents on curved surfaces. These basis functions are appropriate for method of moments solution of boundary integral equations derived from Maxwell's equations. They maintain the essential properties of the basis functions of Rao, Wilton, and Glisson, while allowing higher order basis functions (more variables per patch). The use of these functions is expected to result in a large reduction in the computational resources required to solve a given problem to a fixed level of accuracy.