Fundamentals of Ray Tracing

For problems such as the prediction of received signal strength in a large mall, due to a Wi-Fi network, full-wave analysis techniques require excessive computational resources, along with high-resolution geometry specification (e.g. building geometry and materials) that is often unavailable. Ray-tracing has emerged as an approximate, relatively efficient and popular alternative for this class of problems. This presentation will provide the fundamentals of ray-tracing and the basic algorithms underpinning its most common flavors in commercial software. We will discuss the challenges of connecting ray-tracing with full-wave solvers. Practical applications in indoor and outdoor environments will be demonstrated.