Impact of different voltage source models on antenna current and input impedance within the boundary element method formalism

This paper investigates the differences in dipole current and input impedance due to different source models in the framework of boundary element formalism. The half-wavelength and full-wavelength dipole antennas are placed in free space and above a lossy medium. Antenna current and input impedance are obtained by numerically solving the Pocklington’s integro-differential equation via Galerkin-Bubnov Indirect Boundary Element Method (GB-IBEM). Two different feeding structures are used as excitation sources, a delta gap source model usually used under GB-IBEM formalism and a magnetic frill source model. Different segment numbers are also used. The results indicate that the current magnitude in case of half-wavelength dipole antenna varies to a relatively great extent depending on the applied voltage generator model. Input impedance does not vary due to different source models, however, its value changes greatly with segment number.