Application of Massively Parallel Computation to Integral Equation Models of Electromagnetic Scattering

Tom Cwik
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
California Institute of Technology
Pasadena, CA 91109
Robert A. van de Geijn
Department of Computer Sciences
University of Texas
Austin, TX 78712
Jean Patterson
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
California Institute of Technology
Pasadena, CA 91109

Abstract

Integral equation methods are widely used in the analysis and the design of electromagnetic systems. Traditionally, the limiting parts of the simulation have been the memory required for storing the dense matrix and the computational time required for solving the matrix equations. We report on the extension of integral equation solutions to new wavelenght regimes and on completion of the solution in an amount of time that is practical for engineering applicatons. The numerical solution of the intergral equation is computed on scalable, distributed-memory parallel computers. Essential to the numerical solution was the development of a complex-valued, highly optimized, dense-matrix equation solution algorithm for scalable machines. A portion of the research outlined is the development of this production-level library routine for the solution of linear equations on prallel computers. A convenient interface, useful for integral equation solutions, among others, was specifically developed in this study. This algorithm has the conveniences offered by the sequential libraries, can be easily ported between parallel platforms, and has been placed in the public domain.

Tom Cwik, Robert van de Geijn, and Jean Patterson, ``The Application of Parallel Computation to Integral Equation Models of Electromagnetic Scattering,'' Journal of the Optical Society of America A , Vol. 11, No. 4, pp. 1538-1545, April 1994.

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