  Based on a coordinate transformation approach, Pendry {\it et al.} have
reported electromagnetically anisotropic and inhomogeneous shells that, in
theory, completely shield an interior structure of arbitrary size from
electromagnetic fields without perturbing the external fields. We report
full-wave simulations of the cylindrical version of this cloaking structure
using ideal and nonideal (but physically realizable) electromagnetic parameters
in an effort to understand the challenges of realizing such a structure in
practice. The simulations indicate that the performance of the electromagnetic
cloaking structure is not especially sensitive to modest permittivity and
permeability variations. This is in contrast to other applications of
engineered electromagnetic materials, such as subwavelength focusing using
negative refractive index materials. The cloaking performance degrades smoothly
with increasing loss, and effective low-reflection shielding can be achieved
with a cylindrical shell composed of an eight (homogeneous) layer approximation
of the ideal continuous medium.
