ACCESS - ACCelerator for Electromagnetic Scattering Simulations Navy SBIR FY2009.1 Sol No.: Navy SBIR FY2009.1 Topic No.: N091-023 Topic Title: ACCESS - ACCelerator for Electromagnetic Scattering Simulations Proposal No.: N091-023-0850 Firm: Tech-X Corporation 5621 Arapahoe Ave, Suite A Boulder, Colorado 80303-1379 Contact: Peter Messmer Phone: (303) 473-9286 Web Site: www.txcorp.com Abstract: Determining the scattering properties of small boats on a rough sea surface is a problem of high importance to the Navy. The resulting simulations require large amounts of compute time and mechanisms are sought to accelerate them. The demand for highly realistic graphics has pushed graphics processing units (GPU) on video cards to the point where they easily outperform general purpose processors for floating-point operations. The goal of this project is to develop a GPU-based system to accelerate widely used electromagnetic modeling tools. During the Phase I, we will accelerate an out-of-core solver for linear equations on GPUs. We will test this implementation by comparing the results to a trusted simulation code. In addition, we will perform parallel scaling studies, develop a performance model and design a hardware configuration that will enable simulations of interest to the Navy within reasonable time. During the Phase I Option period, we will tune these prototypes and accelerate a parallel iterative solver on GPUs. The goal of the Phase II project is then to tune these algorithms and incorporate them into commercial electromagnetic simulation codes. We will also implement solvers with higher precision in order to accelerate simulations with demand for high accuracy. Benefits: This project will result in a hardware accelerator for electromagnetic scattering simulations based on off-the-shelf components and a customized high-performance software layer. The targeted performance goal is to enable simulations that took months within days. The accelerator will offer an open interface that enables vendors of electromagnetic scattering codes to take advantage of this device. Electromagnetic scattering simulations or antenna simulations are widely used within the Navy, other branches of DOD and other government agencies, as well as in industry. The resulting accelerator is therefore expected to be of interest to a broad customer base. Return