An exact line integral representation of the physical optics scattered field: the case of a perfectly conducting polyhedral structure illuminated by electric Hertzian dipoles

An exact line integral representation of the electric physical optics scattered field is presented. This representation applies to scattering configurations with perfectly electrically conducting polyhedral structures illuminated by a finite number of electric Hertzian dipoles. The positions of the source and observation points can be almost arbitrary. The line integral representation yields the exact same result as the conventional surface radiation integral; however, it is potentially less time consuming and particularly useful when the physical optics field can be augmented by a fringe wave contribution as calculated from physical theory of diffraction equivalent edge currents. The final expression for the line integral representation is lengthy but involves only simple functions and is thus suited for numerical calculation. To illustrate the exactness of the line integral representation, comparisons of numerical results obtained from the surface and the line integral representations are performed