New method for exact self-adjoint sensitivity analysis of metallic shapes

A new sensitivity analysis method is proposed to compute the S-parameter Jacobian for metallic shapes. The method is exact in the sense that it uses an analytical formulation, which is independent of the method of numerical full-wave analysis and the respective system matrix. It uses only the field solution on the surface of the metallic objects. The field solution can be provided by any valid electromagnetic analysis. The computation is a post-process and its overhead is negligible in comparison with the simulation time. The method is validated with examples using a commercial finite-element-method simulator, which can provide not only the S-parameters but also their sensitivities. The method can potentially provide breakthrough capability for electromagnetic solvers, which currently lack sensitivity analysis, e.g., solvers based on the method of moments or the finite-difference time-domain method.