Validation of an electromagnetic solver used for inverse scattering applications

This report is intended to validate a numerical code proposed in previous works and employed to solve the direct problem in inverse scattering applications. In particular, it addresses the reliability of the solver in two different cases: when data are obtained in the ideal case of a plane wave impinging upon an infinite medium and when data are collected from measurements in a real-world environment. In the former case, we have compared the results of our solver with those of widely used commercial softwares (Ansoft HFSS and Designer) while for the latter case we have set up a measurement system by using a Vector Network Analyzer and an horn antenna. The solver proved to be reliable in the ideal case, giving results in very good agreement with the ones produced by commercial codes. The limits of the ideal hypotheses arise in the comparison with real data, underlining some limitations in the procedure.