Hardware Accelerated Code for Hybrid Computational Electromagnetics

ABSTRACT: TechFlow Scientific, a division of TechFlow Inc., is pleased to propose a hardware-accelerated computational electromagnetic software program in response to the Air Force"s SBIR topic AF112-025. Recognizing the need for an accurate, quick running software program for calculating electromagnetic fields and potential hazards to humans, we present our approach to developing a hybrid electromagnetic code, capable of running on graphical processing units (GPUs). The hybrid model combines the government owned Finite Difference Time Domain (FDTD) code TMAX and the 3-D ray-tracing code JREM. Our approach provides a high-fidelity model for the calculation of the electromagnetic field environment, the ability to calculate hazard zones based on permissible exposure limit (PEL) and the specific absorption rate (SAR) within human anatomical models. The TMAX code is well suited for a variety of EM calculations including antennas mounted on vehicles and interaction with human anatomical models. The JREM code is used for calculations of EM fields within small urban environments, penetration into buildings, and provides calculations for PEL. Critical to suitable implementation will be our development of a prototype GUI and underlying code for implementing the hybrid approach. Finally, we outline our approach for developing hardware acceleration of the hybrid software using GPUs. BENEFIT: Anticipated Benefits The interaction of electromagnetic wave interaction with humans is an important topic for both DoD and industrial sectors. The DoD uses EM waves for a variety of applications, including communications, RADAR, electronic warfare, high power microwaves, and high power millimeter waves for active denial. Industrial uses include cell phone and other communications, and law enforcement and air port security screening systems. Each of these applications may involve high powers and/or energies which have the potential to adversely affect humans. Each of these applications could benefit from the ability of a software program for modeling the placement of the antenna on a platform and modeling the surrounding environment. The complexities and large scales of the computation domains could benefit from a hybrid code that is able to calculate details using a high-fidelity computation EM code, such as the FDTD code TMAX, in addition to propagation codes, such as the ray-tracing code JREM, each being applied to a particular region of the problem space. Additionally, having these codes implemented using GPU acceleration will reduce the computation time. Under the proposed effort, the government owned JREM and TMAX codes will have the GPU acceleration added to the baseline codes in addition to the existing MPI parallelization capabilities. AFRL/RDHE will additionally benefit from having the JREM and TMAX codes able to solve larger, more complex simulations in a shorter amount of time. Potential Commercial Applications Initial customers will likely include other DoD agencies which require quick and accurate simulations of antennas and propagation calculations. These areas include communications, electronic warfare, RADAR and high power microwaves. TechFlow will work to identify specific areas and requirements for each of these applications, and modify the software to support these applications. One example is to provide support for the Joint Counter Radio Controlled Improved Explosive Devices Electronic Warfare (JCREW) program. This program could benefit from the ability to rapidly model antenna placement on a wide variety of military vehicles, the propagation of the signals within urban environments and the effectiveness against IEDs threats. Additionally, in the area of high power microwaves (HPM), there is a need to model the antenna on a platform, propagation of signals, penetration into buildings and coupling into enclosures to model effects on specific electronic targets. In the industrial sector, this type of code has several potential customers in the area of cellular phone, and other communications, where it is necessary to show compliance with national and international standards.