GDR 07, Bordeaux, 23/11/2007 Page 1

Prof. Guy Vandenbosch, Prof. R. Gillard

K.U. Leuven, Belgium, IETR Rennes, France

Computational Electromagneticsin Europe:

Competition versus cooperation

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Contents

The situationThe problemThe ASI questionsThe partnersThe ACE answersThe future

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The situation the commercial software vendors: competition in-house developed codes by (larger) companies

– Thales (France), France Telecom (France), Saab Ericsson Space AB (Sweden), …

– in many cases mainly for internal use

– very interested in standardisation a rich wealth of in-house made codes at

universities and research institutes– sometimes very specialized– in many cases outperforming the commercial codes …– order of magnitude: a few 100 research groups in Europe– enormous investment of time and money

– very interested in cooperation

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The problem

the return on this huge investment of time and money is low

–example of Green’s functions–example of matrix solvers

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The questions

– What do we have ?»inventory

–What is the quality ?»benchmarking

–How can we make it better ?»software standardization and integration

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The partners

–universities: 14»KUL (B), CNRS-LEAT (F), IETR (F), SAPIENZA

(I), POLITO (I), UNIFI (I), UNISI (I), UPC (E), UPM (E), UPV (E), CHALMERS (S), EPFL (CH), UOB (UK), ENST (F)

– industry: 7» IDS (I), TICRA (DK), FT(F), TAS (F), IMST

(D), FOI (S), SATIMO (F)

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The ACE answers:

Inventory

description of the software of the partners

agreed formatopen to anyone at the VCE

(www.antennasvce.org)

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The ACE answers:

Benchmarking

well-defined agreed democratic protocols

implemented through SOFTLAB, a web based application within the VCE

open to anyone, after registration within the ACE community

www.antennasvce.org

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The ACE answers:

Benchmarking

first run– elements, open– 14 partners, 18 tools, 36 simulations

second run– finite arrays, blind– 8 structures, 14 partners + 2 vendors, 17

tools, 28 simulations

third run (still going on)– environment– 5 structures

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Benchmarking

spherical conformal array large reflect array

printed array with tight coupling dipole with lossy cylinder

array with waveguide feed

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Where do we stand … Benchmarking

Rangestar UltimaWorld GSM antenna

38 mm x 12 mm

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The ACE answers:

Integrationstandardization: cooperation with ESA-

ESTEC– 6 Data Dictionaries: GFs, currents and meshes,

near fields, modes, S-parameters, far fields– EDI routines for currents and meshes, near fields,

and far fields» fortran, C, matlab

– adopted as standard by TICRA, SATIMO, THALES + ESA-ESTEC, SAAB-ERICSSON

software library:– implementation of EDI routines in software of 15

partners– ca. 10 integration projects

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The ACE answers:

Integrationexamples of integration projects:

– “Integration of UPC-UAB fast solvers into the antenna simulation software of UNEX-UPM, KUL, UPV, and EPFL ACE partners”

– “Fast analysis of large finite arrays with a combined multiresolution – fast MoM based techniques”

– “Applications of the DG-FDTD method”

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Integration activity betweenKUL (Belgium) and POLITO (Italy) (2)

Zno MR6.6870e+5

ZMR 17.3030

condition number ofcoupling matrix

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EurAAP

Deliverable of ACE

European Association on Antennas and Propagation

Newly formed non-profit organization, based in Brussels

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Proposal for a Softwaredepartment within EuRAAP

WG 1 on standardization WG 2 on benchmarking WG 3 on European Software Library

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WG 1: Standardization

an already committed group– (KUL, IDS, SATIMO, THALES, TICRA) + (ERICSSON +

ESA-ESTEC + IT-Link)

–open for other partners concrete plan with goals, time schedule,

actions required, … organized around 4 topics– short term evolution: TICRA– standardization: SATIMO– user community: KUL– long-term management: IDS

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WG 1: Standardization

“survival” budget: 11 KEuro– my personal opinion based on 4 years ACE experience– maintainance of and help desk for EDI routines:

» in case VCE is up and running» absolute minimum 1-2 pm / year (11 - 22 kEuro)

– further extension of EDI:» upgrade of existing and selection of other DDs

this is a matter of group discussion in the right forum my proposal: specific session at EuCAP budget: 0 KEuro

» implementation of EDI routines for these DDs order of magnitude: 1 – 2 pm per DD (11 – 22 KEuro)

potential income: yes– licensing, support fee, …

academic output: not really

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WG 2: Benchmarking

a protocol on a periodic (yearly) benchmark cycle has been approved within the ASI community– organized around EuCAP– democratic selection process of structures to consider– SOFTLAB is being extended with the necessary features

“survival” budget: 0 KEuro– further extension of SOFTLAB ?– the organization around EuCAP (and COST ASSIST ?)

eliminates most of the possible costs– can be completely organized based on commitment, based

on the ACE experience, this is very well feasible

potential income: not really academic output: yes

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WG 3: Antenna Software Library

within ASI up to now only the direct way has been followed in all integration projects

integratedsoftware

isolatedsoftware

EDI in softwaretriangle of

effort

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WG 3: Antenna Software Library distributed library

– This is why we do it …this produces the scientific, innovating papers» established, large academic interest

integration projects of ACE: “natural drive” of the partners

» already several papers at EuCAP 2006 and 2007

“survival” budget: 0 KEuro– bilateral or multilateral– can be connected with WG 5 of COST ASSIST: no real

cost– difference with situation before ACE: integration is

much easier with the EDI

potential income: not really academic output: huge possibilities

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WG 3: Antenna Software Library

“downloadable” library– Advantages

» reduced development time for new Ph.D. students, research groups

» reduced dependency of research on commercial tools– More difficult issues

» competition for commercial solvers» what do we do for researchers outside Europe

“survival” budget: ???– start with “current and field viewer”, “mesher”, …

potential income: absolutely– licensing, support fee, …

academic output: huge possibilities

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Bad antenna joke …

Two antennas met on the roof and felt they were “matched” to each other. So they decided to get married. The wedding ceremony was ok, but the reception was excellent …