Evaluating antenna and scattering characteristics solely by means of contrast currents flowing in a region occupied by the radiator opens a new paradigm called “source concept”, which also involves diverse methods of calculation, decomposition, and electric and magnetic currents modification. Within the method of moments, the source concept typically leads to observables, the current-quadratic forms of which provide the performance metrics and allows for their efficient analysis or for setting up their fundamental bounds. Automated search for sub-optimal designs via topology optimization is the latest application of the source concept.
A precise and efficient numerical implementation of the source concept is an inevitable part of its practically-oriented development. With respect to this, the MATLAB toolbox AToM is currently being developed at CTU in Prague.
