1,053 research outputs found
Weak scalability analysis of the distributed-memory parallel MLFMA
Distributed-memory parallelization of the multilevel fast multipole algorithm (MLFMA) relies on the partitioning of the internal data structures of the MLFMA among the local memories of networked machines. For three existing data partitioning schemes (spatial, hybrid and hierarchical partitioning), the weak scalability, i.e., the asymptotic behavior for proportionally increasing problem size and number of parallel processes, is analyzed. It is demonstrated that none of these schemes are weakly scalable. A nontrivial change to the hierarchical scheme is proposed, yielding a parallel MLFMA that does exhibit weak scalability. It is shown that, even for modest problem sizes and a modest number of parallel processes, the memory requirements of the proposed scheme are already significantly lower, compared to existing schemes. Additionally, the proposed scheme is used to perform full-wave simulations of a canonical example, where the number of unknowns and CPU cores are proportionally increased up to more than 200 millions of unknowns and 1024 CPU cores. The time per matrix-vector multiplication for an increasing number of unknowns and CPU cores corresponds very well to the theoretical time complexity
Accurate and efficient algorithms for boundary element methods in electromagnetic scattering: a tribute to the work of F. Olyslager
Boundary element methods (BEMs) are an increasingly popular approach to model electromagnetic scattering both by perfect conductors and dielectric objects. Several mathematical, numerical, and computational techniques pullulated from the research into BEMs, enhancing its efficiency and applicability. In designing a viable implementation of the BEM, both theoretical and practical aspects need to be taken into account. Theoretical aspects include the choice of an integral equation for the sought after current densities on the geometry's boundaries and the choice of a discretization strategy (i.e. a finite element space) for this equation. Practical aspects include efficient algorithms to execute the multiplication of the system matrix by a test vector (such as a fast multipole method) and the parallelization of this multiplication algorithm that allows the distribution of the computation and communication requirements between multiple computational nodes. In honor of our former colleague and mentor, F. Olyslager, an overview of the BEMs for large and complex EM problems developed within the Electromagnetics Group at Ghent University is presented. Recent results that ramified from F. Olyslager's scientific endeavors are included in the survey
Performing large full-wave simulations by means of a parallel MLFMA implementation
In this paper large full-wave simulations are performed using a parallel Multilevel Fast Multipole Algorithm (MLFMA) implementation. The data structures of the MLFMA-tree are partitioned according to the so-called hierarchical partitioning scheme, while the radiation patterns are partitioned in a blockwise way. To test the implementation of the algorithm, a full-wave simulation of a canonical example with more than 50 millions of unknowns has been performed
Computation of Electromagnetic Fields Scattered From Objects With Uncertain Shapes Using Multilevel Monte Carlo Method
Computational tools for characterizing electromagnetic scattering from
objects with uncertain shapes are needed in various applications ranging from
remote sensing at microwave frequencies to Raman spectroscopy at optical
frequencies. Often, such computational tools use the Monte Carlo (MC) method to
sample a parametric space describing geometric uncertainties. For each sample,
which corresponds to a realization of the geometry, a deterministic
electromagnetic solver computes the scattered fields. However, for an accurate
statistical characterization the number of MC samples has to be large. In this
work, to address this challenge, the continuation multilevel Monte Carlo
(CMLMC) method is used together with a surface integral equation solver. The
CMLMC method optimally balances statistical errors due to sampling of the
parametric space, and numerical errors due to the discretization of the
geometry using a hierarchy of discretizations, from coarse to fine. The number
of realizations of finer discretizations can be kept low, with most samples
computed on coarser discretizations to minimize computational cost.
Consequently, the total execution time is significantly reduced, in comparison
to the standard MC scheme.Comment: 25 pages, 10 Figure
Full-wave simulations of electromagnetic scattering problems with billions of unknowns
Algorithmic improvements to the parallel, distributed-memory multilevel fast multipole algorithm (MLFMA) have resulted in implementations with favorable weak scaling properties. This allows for the simulation of increasingly larger electromagnetic problems, provided that sufficient computational resources are available. This is demonstrated by presenting the full-wave simulations of extremely large perfectly electrically conducting (PEC) sphere and Thunderbird geometries. Both problems are formulated using the combined field integral equation (CFIE) and discretized in over respectively 3 and 2.5 billion unknowns. They are solved using 4096 CPU cores and 25 TByte of memory. To the best of our knowledge, this is the largest number of unknowns and the highest amount of parallel processes reported to date, for this type of simulation. Additionally, it is demonstrated that the implementation attains a high parallel speedup and efficiency
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