Application of lattice gas automata to electromagnetic scattering and transmission line modelling

Abstract

Lattice gas automata consist of particles within a lattice that interact with their nearest neighbours according to simple deterministic rules. Essential parts of the algorithm can be implemented in a few lines of code, while stability is maintained by the exact conservation of mass and momentum within the system, with no round-off errors. This thesis deals with the application of lattice gas automata for use in modelling two-dimensional homogeneous electromagnetic phenomena. The behaviour of the HPP lattice gas automaton has been shown to model conditions described by the two-dimensional linear wave equation. The application of the HPP-LGA algorithm to scattering experiments and transmission line modelling was explored in this thesis. The TLM method was used to assess the performance of the LGA data, as the implementation of the two algorithms in a computer environment is similar. Furthermore, as an established computational technique, simulation results obtained using the TLM method represented an "exact"solution with which to evaluate the data obtained by the LGA algorithm. Properties inherent to two-dimensional HPP-LGA are detailed through simple two-dimensional lattice gas experiments. These include the implementation of boundary conditions, system dissipation, and macroscopic averaging, as well as ensemble averaging of simulated data.