Summary
International Symposium on Antennas and Propagation
2010
Session Number:1SC05
Session:
Number:1SC05-1
A Historical Perspective of the Method of Moments
Kenneth K. Mei,
pp.-
Publication Date:2010/11/23
Online ISSN:2188-5079
Summary:
The method of moments (MoM) is now a well established numerical method of solving field problems. It is versatile and used in commercial softwares for general applications. The speaker is one of those having taken part in the development of the method at its very beginning. It was 1960, when he was a graduate student. This short course traces back to the time when the high speed digital computers just entered into the university campuses. It tells the story of who did what in the infant stage of the MoM, the mistakes that were made and the controversial question of who should be credited for the invention of the method. Associated with the method are the various integral equations, which make up the foundation of the MoM and many controversial fine points in their derivations. Numerous conflicting view points between famous electromagnetic scientists will be discussed. The speaker shall attempt to make unbiased comments of those old differences. The course shall venture in to a discussion on the present status of the MoM and offer the speakers personal view on the possible new directions for research on field computations.