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To demonstrate the flexibility and advantages of a non‐uniform pseudo‐spectral time domain (nu‐PSTD) method through studies of the wave propagation characteristics on photonic band‐gap (PBG) structures in stratified medium

A nu‐PSTD method is proposed in solving the Maxwell's equations numerically. It expands the temporal derivatives using the finite differences, while it adopts the Fourier transform (FT) properties to expand the spatial derivatives in Maxwell's equations. In addition, the method makes use of the chain‐rule property in calculus together with the transformed space technique in order to make the algorithm flexible in terms of non‐uniform spatial sampling.

Through the studies of the wave propagation characteristics on PBG structures in stratified medium, it has been found that the proposed method retains excellent accuracy in the occasions where the spatial distributions contain step of up to five times larger than the original size, while simultaneously the flexibility of non‐uniform sampling offers further savings on computational storage.

Research has been mainly limited to the simple one‐dimensional (1D) periodic and defective cases of PBG structures. Nevertheless, the findings reveal strong implications that flexibility of sampling and memory savings can be realized in multi‐dimensional structures.

The proposed method can be applied to various practical structures in electromagnetic and microwave applications once the Maxwell's equations are appropriately modeled.

The method validates its values and properties through extensive studies on regular and defective 1D PBG structures in stratified medium, and it can be further extended to solving more complicated structures.

To study the photonic band‐gap (PBG) characteristics constructed by periodic conducting vias on various guided transmission‐line structures.

The finite difference time domain (FDTD) method is adopted to analyze various PBG via structures. Conventionally, PBG characteristics on guided‐wave structures, such as microstrip lines or coplanar waveguides (CPW), are constructed through a series of perforations on the ground plane(s). PBG characteristics can, however, also be realized through periodic arrangements of conducting vias located on the respective ground planes.

Through studies of the scattering parameters, it has been found that all analyzed PBG via structures exhibit strong band‐gap characteristics in a particular frequency range. Different harmonic patterns are also observed when the dimensional sizes of the conducting vias vary with respect to the PBG period.

Research has been mainly limited to study solely the PBG via structures, guided‐wave transmission lines. More studies may be conducted in analyzing the overall performance when they are combined with other microwave components.

The proposed PBG via structures can be applied to various microwave areas, ranging from signal suppressions in microelectronics and mobile communications, to electro‐magnetic interference studies in other practical electronic circuit structures.

The ideas of applying conducting vias on the guided‐wave transmission lines and the proposed via patterns to induce the PBG characteristics are the research's claim to originality one.

The rope-climbing robot that can cling to a rope for locomotion has been a popular piece of equipment for some overhead applications due to its high flexibility. In view of problems left by existing rope-climbing robots, this paper aims to propose a new-style rope-climbing robot named Finger-wheeled mechanism robot (FWMR)-II to improve their performance.

FWMR-II adopts a modular and link-type mechanical structure. With the finger-wheeled mechanism (FWM) module, the robot can achieve smooth and quick locomotion and good capability of obstacle-crossing on the rope and with the link module based on a spatial parallel mechanism, the robot adaptability for rope environments is improved further. The kinematic models that can present configurations of the FWM module and link module of the robot are established and for typical states of the obstacle-crossing process, the geometric definitions and constraints that can present the robot position relative to the rope are established. The simulation is performed with the optimization calculating method to obtain the robot adaptability for rope environments and the experiment is also conducted with the developed prototype to verify the robot performance.

From the simulation results, the adaptability for rope environments of FWMR-II are obtained and the advantage of FWMR-II compared with FWMR-I is also proved. The experiment results give a further verification for the robot design and analysis work.

The robot proposed in this study can be used for inspection of power transmission lines, inspection and delivery in mine and some other overhead applications.

An ingenious modular link-type robot is proposed to improve existing rope-climbing robots and the method established in this study is worthy of reference for obstacle-crossing analysis of other rope-climbing robots.