FDTDLIME-- Finite-Difference Time-Domain Large scale sImulations of MEtamaterials in complex systems

This project will investigate the electromagnetic propagation in complex scenarios such as indoor and outdoor environments including metamaterials. Those scenarios are easily reproduced by means of the reverberation chamber (RC).

The project focuses on the simulation of metamaterials that recently have emerged as a promising solution to be integrated into future wireless systems. Metamaterials are called reconfigurable intelligent surface(s) (RISs) in the RISE-6G project. RISs are able to increase the signal to the desired receiver or lower the received signal to unintended target. Application of RISs is a multidisciplinary topic.

In fact, this project brings together researchers in electromagnetic, telecommunications and stochastic computational techniques. Most researchers of the team are also involved in the European Horizon 2020 project RISE-6G, that began in January 2021. Support for instruments, traveling and new positions are provided by this H2020 project.Usually, the geometry is large and may have highly complexity in field pattern. Moreover, these chaotic structures, i.e. the RC, can be investigated and the results can be obtained only as an ensemble average of simulations by changing boundary conditions such as sources or geometries. Three dimension simulations of complex sources in complex environments require Tier-0 machines.

All the participants have a background in the parallel computation. The group of Ancona developed a Finite-Difference Time-Domain (FDTD) code for the simulation of reverberation chamber(s), whereas the group of Granada developed the University of Granada Finite-Difference Time-Domain (UGRFDTD), a general purpose (EMC-oriented) state-of-the-art FDTD solver.

The project will use the same computer code for the previous projects:- "CSSRC", approved during the PRACE 7th Regular Call for the year 2013; - "ASOLRC" approved during the PRACE 9th Regular Call for the year 2014; - "SREDIT" approved during the PRACE 13th Regular Call for the year 2016; - "ESECELS" approved during the PRACE 17th Regular Call for the year 2018;- “ESiLaCS”, approved during the PRACE 20th Regular Call for the year 2020;- "FDTDMeta" approved during the PRACE 23rd Regular Call for the year 2021;- "FDTDMeCE", approved during the EuroHPC Benchmark Access Call for the year 2022.Our codes are capable to simulate the propagation in a stochastic environment such as the passenger hall of an airport or rail-station, that can be reproduced in our laboratory by a reverberation chamber by considering different geometries as set of stirrer angles.

The code of Ancona was optimized for the FERMI, Marconi-KNL and JOLIOT CURIE - KNL architectures during previous PRACE projects. The code of Granada was optimized for Marconi-KNL and JOLIOT CURIE - KNL architectures during previous PRACE projects.The code has already been tested in VEGA CPU architecture during the EuroHPC Benchmark Access Call.All the codes include both MPI and OpenMP. They will give results in short time, avoiding long measurement campaigns when we need to map the electromagnetic fields in many probed points.