Francesco P. Andriulli

Simon B. Adrian, Francesco P. Andriulli, Thomas F. Eibert

We present a Calderón preconditioner for the electric field integral equation (EFIE), which does not require a barycentric refinement of the mesh and which yields a Hermitian, positive definite (HPD) system matrix allowing for the usage of the conjugate gradient (CG) solver. The resulting discrete equation system is immune to the low-frequency and the dense-discretization breakdown and, in contrast to existing Calderón preconditioners, no second discretization of the EFIE operator with Buffa-Christiansen (BC) functions is necessary. This preconditioner is obtained by leveraging on spectral equivalences between (scalar) integral operators, namely the single layer and the hypersingular operator known from electrostatics, on the one hand, and the Laplace-Beltrami operator on the other hand. Since our approach incorporates Helmholtz projectors, there is no search for global loops necessary and thus our method remains stable on multiply connected geometries. The numerical results demonstrate the effectiveness of this approach for both canonical and realistic (multi-scale) problems.

Angelo Faccia, Ermanno Citraro, Francesco P. Andriulli

Accurate modeling of electric potential and current distribution in head tissues is crucial for the design and evaluation of neuro-sensing and neuro-stimulation systems operating in the sub megahertz frequency range. Numerical methods are widely employed in electromagnetic simulations, however their computational cost can limit their applicability to rapid prototyping, real-time simulations, and circuit-level integration. In this work, we introduce a lumped RC equivalent circuit model that reproduces the electrical behavior of a canonical three-layer spherical head geometry over a frequency range up to 50 kHz. The model accounts for frequency-dependent tissue conductivity and permittivity to capture dispersive effects, employing complex conductivity in the electro-quasi-static (EQS) regime. The circuit topology uses a minimal set of impedance elements in order to represent the essential mechanisms of electric signal propagation. Validation was performed using a dipolar brain source configuration for scalp voltage peak estimation, showing close agreement with semi-analytical solutions across different skull thicknesses and dipole eccentricities. In addition, the impact of tissue dispersion and displacement current inclusion on the model accuracy was quantitatively assessed, highlighting their contribution to the overall fidelity of the proposed approach.

Angelo Faccia, Ermanno Citraro, Francesco P. Andriulli

In this work, we present a compact surrogate circuit for electro-quasi-static (EQS) head modeling. A three-shell geometry (brain, skull, scalp) is considered, and each layer is modeled through radial and tangential pathways, implemented as RC branches. Frequency-dependent tissue conductivity and permittivity are mapped into dispersive resistive and capacitive elements. The model is validated against a semi-analytical spherical-harmonics reference solution over multiple geometrical configurations and operating frequencies, demonstrating good agreement. Neglecting dispersion and capacitive pathways can lead to an overestimation of scalp potentials over the considered frequency range, highlighting the need for dispersive RC circuit modeling.

Simon B. Adrian, Francesco P. Andriulli, Thomas F. Eibert

This paper analyzes how hierarchical bases preconditioners constructed for the Electric Field Integral Equation (EFIE) can be effectively applied to the Combined Field Integral Equation (CFIE). For the case where no hierarchical solenoidal basis is available (e.g., on unstructured meshes), a new scheme is proposed: the CFIE is implicitly preconditioned on the solenoidal Helmholtz subspace by using a Helmholtz projector, while a hierarchical non-solenoidal basis is used for the non-solenoidal Helmholtz subspace. This results in a well-conditioned system. Numerical results corroborate the presented theory.