FDTD mesh generation using computer graphics technology

Automatic generation of a discrete analysis mesh has been attempted using a variety of techniques. Many of these methods involve computationally burdensome ray tracing and post-processing. A new and innovative approach has been developed that utilizes the advanced technology in today\´s high-speed video cards. Modern gaming software has pushed graphics card manufacturers to increase rendering speed and video RAM, and to implement rendering standards in the hardware, rather than relying on the software running on the host machine. By exploiting hardware designed for complex scene displays, generalized 3D and 2D computer aided design (CAD) files can be converted to structured grid FDTD meshes almost instantaneously. Additionally, this method can be used to generate meshes for other types of analysis. Powerful depth extraction methods coupled with face "filtering" tools have allowed us to extract the particular information that is needed to construct a mesh. The new method is not limited to cubical, or even rectangular, meshes, and it has been used to generate balloon meshes. Work is currently under way to apply this same method to conformal mesh elements.