Heterogeneity and Loosely Coupled Systems in Electromagnetic Device Analysis

We present a system architecture and a set of control techniques that allow heterogeneous software analysis tools to collaborate intelligently and automatically. One of its distinguishing features is its ability to perform concurrent processing. Systems based on this architecture are able to effectively solve large electromagnetic (EM) analysis problems, particularly those that involve loose coupling between several areas of physics. The architecture can accept any existing software analysis tool, without requiring any modification or customization of the tool. This characteristic is produced in part by our use of a neutral virtual representation for storing problem data, including geometry and material definitions. We construct a system based on this architecture, using several circuit and finite-element analysis tools, and use it to perform EM analyses of several different devices. Our results show that our architecture and techniques allow practical problems to be solved effectively by heterogeneous tools.