A TLM algorithm simulator for the visualization of time discrete electromagnetic processes

Describes a transmission line matrix (TLM) algorithm simulator which has been specifically designed as an educational computer tool for visualizing the numerical TLM process of electromagnetic field propagation. Unlike traditional time domain electromagnetic field simulators which compute and display the overall (macroscopic) field in space and time, this simulator visualizes the scattering and spreading of the individual (microscopic) voltage impulses in the TLM mesh, thus allowing the student to observe all the scattering events simultaneously in time, and in parallel in space, as well as to integrate the elementary scattering processes into a global electromagnetic field function. In addition, the algorithm simulator provides insight into the numerical dispersion, anisotropy of propagation constant, and spurious modes in discrete field models