Transmission Line Modeling of Scattering From a Linear Conductor Near the Surface of the Ground

Applied modeling of electromagnetic interactions with linear conductors is essential to advance near-earth sensing devices and integrated signal processing algorithms. This paper describes the development of a novel analytical transmission line (TL) model and its subsequent comparison with a method of moments simulation. The TL model predicts electromagnetic scattering by a linear conductor of finite length that is near lossy ground, here assumed to be a homogeneous conducting half-space. Our model uniquely combines the following: the effect of surface waves on the fields, the proximity of the air-ground interface on wave propagation along the conductor, orthogonal electric dipole exciter polarizations, and the role of an insulating layer on the conductor. It is shown that the TL approach is accurate and offers advantages such as fast computation time, physical insight into the scattering process, and potential for embedded signal processing.