Loading Events

« All Events

  • This event has passed.

Prof Matthys Botha

Inaugural lecture:

October 28, 2019 @ 17:3018:00

Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering

Computational electromagnetics for high-frequency engineering

Electromagnetic (EM) field theory describes the physical phenomena upon which the design of all electrical and electronic engineering technologies rests, such as electrical machines, integrated circuits and antennas, to name but a few. Designs often employ EM field solutions obtained under simplifying assumptions, such as circuit theory. However, in many and ever-increasing instances, such assumptions do not hold and the actual EM fields must be rigorously determined as part of the design process. Computational electromagnetics (CEM) entails the study of numerical methods for EM field analysis. The objective is to solve Maxwell’s equations efficiently, i.e. as accurately and at the lowest computational cost possible. Higher accuracy generally comes at a higher cost and trade-offs always exist.

My research career has been focused on frequency-domain CEM developments, and mainly in the context of high-frequency applications, where structures are on the order of a wavelength or larger in size, with substantial radiative effects. After discussing basic principles and the main CEM methods, this paper presents an overview of research milestones in my career, covering the periods of 2000–2008 and 2011–2019, spanning all the main categories of CEM methods for high-frequency engineering applications. Work has naturally progressed and expanded from partial differential equation (PDE) and hybrid PDE-integral equation (IE) methods to purely IE and IE-inspired asymptotic methods. The work includes new field solver formulations in all of these categories as well as developments and investigations of underlying numerical techniques and value-adding features to solver formulations.

WATCH THE INAUGURAL LECTURE HERE

Short biography

Matthys M. Botha received the Bachelor degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering and the PhD degree in the field of computational electromagnetics (CEM) from Stellenbosch University (SU) in 1998 and 2002, respectively. In 2003, he joined the Center for Computational Electromagnetics and Electromagnetics Laboratory at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in the USA as a postdoctoral research associate. At the end of 2004, he returned to South Africa, where he worked as a research fellow at SU and later joined EM Software and Systems – S.A. (Pty) Ltd, developers of FEKO. In 2011, he was appointed in the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, SU, where he currently holds the position of professor. His main research interest is CEM.

Dr Botha was the technical programme chair for the 8th International Workshop on Finite Elements for Microwave Engineering in 2006. He was vice-chair of the local organising committee for the International Conference on Electromagnetics in Advanced Applications (ICEAA) in 2012. He was the general chair for the 2016 and 2018 editions of the biennial South African IEEE Joint AP/MTT/EMC Chapter Conference. He is the regional delegate of the European Association on Antennas and Propagation for Africa and the Middle East, a permanent member of the ICEAA conference series’ Scientific Committee and an associate editor of the IEEE Antennas and Propagation Magazine. He regularly acts as a reviewer for many international journals and conferences and regularly organises and chairs international conference sessions.

Details

Date:
October 28, 2019
Time:
17:3018:00

Organizer (event)

Marilie Oberholzer
Phone:
021 808 9320
Email:
marilie@sun.ac.za

Venue

Room E202 – Electrical and Electronic Engineering building, Faculty of Engineering
22 Joubert Street
Stellenbosch, Western Cape 7600
+ Google Map
Website:
Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering
English