A Hybrid PEEC–SPICE Method for Time-Domain Simulation of Mixed Nonlinear Circuits and Electromagnetic Problems

The simulation of mixed circuit and electromagnetic (EM) structures is of major interest in most EM applications. Many of the developed methods involve modifying a SPICE-like solver to incorporate an EM numerical method, or to extend the EM numerical method to handle the circuit components (e.g., diodes, transistors, etc.) by reimplementing their model definitions. A novel technique has been developed to simulate combined linear/nonlinear circuit and EM problems in time domain. This technique utilizes the partial element equivalent circuit method as the EM solver and employs OrCAD as the circuit solver. The link between the two solvers is established by defining the circuits connected to the EM structure as ports and approximating each port´s current-voltage relations at each time point by a system of linear equations. To demonstrate the capability of the developed method, four structures are examined. Good agreement of the results shows the feasibility of the developed method to solve this type of mixed problems. Since OrCAD is used for the circuit simulations, the need to modify a SPICE-like solver or to reimplement the definitions of the circuit devices has been removed. On the other hand, by manipulating the system of equations and proper optimization techniques, an optimal solver can be achieved.