Method of moments scattering computations using high-order basis functions

It is shown that using high-order basis functions in Galerkin method of moments calculations permits a significant reduction in the number of unknowns needed to achieve a given accuracy in modeling a scatterer or antenna. For instance, to model scattering from an infinite circular cylinder, six times as many unknowns are required to achieve 10/sup -6/ accuracy by using pulse basis functions than using higher-order basis functions on larger patches. Decreasing the size of the patches on the surface reduces the error by a power of the patch size. Increasing the number of basis functions makes the error exponentially smaller.<>