Book excerpt: Essentials of Computational Electromagnetics provides anin-depth introduction of the three main full-wave numerical methodsin computational electromagnetics (CEM); namely, the method ofmoment (MoM), the finite element method (FEM), and thefinite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method. Numerous monographscan be found addressing one of the above three methods. However,few give a broad general overview of essentials embodied in thesemethods, or were published too early to include recent advances.Furthermore, many existing monographs only present the finalnumerical results without specifying practical issues, such as howto convert discretized formulations into computer programs, and thenumerical characteristics of the computer programs. In this book,the authors elaborate the above three methods in CEM usingpractical case studies, explaining their own research experiencesalong with a review of current literature. A full analysis isprovided for typical cases, including characteristics of numericalmethods, helping beginners to develop a quick and deepunderstanding of the essentials of CEM. Outlines practical issues, such as how to convert discretizedformulations into computer programs Gives typical computer programs and their numericalcharacteristics along with line by line explanations ofprograms Uses practical examples from the authors' own work as well asin the current literature Includes exercise problems to give readers a betterunderstanding of the material Introduces the available commercial software and theirlimitations This book is intended for graduate-level students in antennasand propagation, microwaves, microelectronics, andelectromagnetics. This text can also be used by researchers inelectrical and electronic engineering, and software developersinterested in writing their own code or understanding the detailedworkings of code. Companion website for the book: ahref="http://www.wiley.com/go/sheng/cem"www.wiley.com/go/sheng/cem/a