The generalized forward-backward method for analyzing the scattering from targets on ocean-like rough surfaces

Abstract

In Holliday et al. (1995, 1996), the iterative forward-backward (FB) method has been proposed to solve the magnetic field integral equation (MFIE) for smooth one-dimensional (1-D) rough surfaces. This method has proved to be very efficient, converging in a very small number of iterations. Nevertheless, this solution becomes unstable when some obstacle, like a ship or a large breaking wave, is included in the original problem. In this paper, we propose a new method: the generalized forward-backward (GFB) method to solve such kinds of complex problems. The approach is formulated for the electric field integral equation (EFIE), which is solved using a hybrid combination of the conventional FB method and the method of moments (MoM), the latter of which is only applied over a small region around the obstacle. The GFB method is shown to provide accurate results while maintaining the efficiency and fast convergence of the conventional FB method. Some numerical results demonstrate the efficiency and accuracy of the new method even for low-grazing angle scattering problems.