NASA EPSCoR: Efficient linear solution libraries for Gemini

The Electromagnetics Group at the University of Kentucky has recently developed a library of sparse direct and iterative solution tools for general electromagnetic simulation applications. The library is referred to as MFDlib (Modular, Fast, Direct library), and is based on the LOGOS framework for sparse direct solutions of time harmonic formulation of Maxwell’s equations. To date, the simulation tools within MFDlib have been combined with other electromagnetic simulation software developed at the University of Kentucky to solve various high and low frequency electromagnetic simulation problems. These applications range from electromagnetic signature modeling of discrete targets in air, under water field modeling around ships, and high speed electronic circuit modeling. Within this effort, we propose to integrate the MFDlib solver tools with the Gemini electromagnetic modeling tool developed by NASA’s Johnson Space Center. While Gemini is a general purpose electromagnetic simulation framework, it is primarily used by NASA as a frequency domain, method of moments modeling tool to predict antenna performance on and between electrically large vehicles. The proposed integration of these tools is expected to allow NASA to solve important problems that are currently beyond the reach of the Gemini tool on NASA’s computers. This expectation is reasonable because MFDlib is currently being used with time-harmonic, integral-equation based electromagnetic simulation tools developed by UK’s Electromagnetics Group to solve problems significantly larger than Gemini is currently able to handle. Furthermore, MFDlib has been developed in order to minimize the effort required to interface it with other electromagnetic modeling tools. The successful integration of MFDlib with Gemini will significantly improve NASA’s electromagnetic simulation capacity. It is anticipated that such a development will open the door to additional collaborations in the future between NASA and UK to incorporate additional, more advanced simulation capabilities provided by MFDlib into the Gemini code.