Simulation of Patch Array Antennas through the Implementation of Finite-Difference Time-Domain (FD-TD) Algorithm on Distributed Memory Massively Parallel Systems

The Finite Difference-Time Domain (FD-TD) method is widely used to simulate propagative electromagnetic processes. In this paper we describe the parallel implementation of this method on the massively SIMD parallel processor APE100/Quadrics, discussing the choice of such kind of architecture. The algorithm we implemented is tailored to simulate patch array antennas, giving as result the temporal and spatial evolution of the electromagnetic field generated by the simulated antenna as well as its radiation pattern. The measured results on a test case evidence an efficiency in the utilization of the computational power η=10%, giving a sustained computation rate of 2.5 Gflops. A comparison with experimental data on a specific test case is shown to validate the implemented parallel code.