title: Parallel FD-TD simulation of radiobase antennae.
abstract: The rigorous characterisation of the behaviour of a radiobase antenna for wireless communication systems is a hot topic both for antenna or communication system design and for radioprotection-hazard reasons. Such a characterisation deserves a numerical solution, and the use of a finite-difference time-domain (FD-TD) approach is an attractive candidate. Unfortunately, it has strong memory and CPU-time requirements. Numerical complexity can be successfully afforded by using parallel computing. The parallel implementation of the FD-TD code, individuating the theoretical lower bound for its parallel execution time are discussed and the findings achieved on the APE/Quadrics massively parallel systems are presented. Results obtained from the simulation of actual radiobase antennae, clearly demonstrate that massively parallel processing is a viable approach to solving electromagnetic problems, allowing the simulation of radiating devices which could not be modelled through conventional computing systems. The tests showed a sustained computational speed equal to 17% of the theoretical maximum.
authors.affiliation: ENEA, HPCN Project, C. R. Casaccia, S. Maria di Galeria, Roma, Italy.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Catarinucci
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Palazzari
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Tarricone
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D003198:Computer Simulation; D003205:Computing Methodologies; D004781:Environmental Exposure / Q000032:analysis; D011845:Radio; D011846:Radio Waves