Discrete Environment-Driven Ray Launching

A system and method for ray launching in electromagnetic wave propagation modeling. A data-processing system receives a dataset that is representative of one or more structures within an environment, including a first structure that is defined in the dataset as having at least a first surface. The data-processing system partitions at least the first surface into a first plurality of tiles. The data-processing system then projects a first set of ray tubes from a predetermined first point within the environment, to the tiles in the first plurality. Each ray tube in the first set is defined by the vertices of a corresponding tile in the first plurality. The data-processing system evaluates the incidence of bounced ray tubes at a predetermined receive point within the environment and presents a propagation result that is based on the evaluated incidence of the bounced ray tubes.