FPGA Implementation of the 3-D FDTD Algorithm

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FPGA Implementation of the 3-D FDTD Algorithm
This work was supported in part by CenSSIS, the
Center for Subsurface Sensing and Imaging
Systems, under the Engineering Research Centers
Program of the National Science Foundation (Award
Number EEC-9986821).
Wang Chen , Dr. Miriam Leeser , Dr. Carey
Rappaport wchen_at_ece.neu.edu
mel_at_ece.neu.edu
rappaport_at_ece.neu.edu
Hardware Implementation
Implementing the FDTD Algorithm in hardware will
greatly increase its computational speed and
widen its usage in many other areas.
Work in Progress
2D FDTD Model Hardware Structure

• Simplified and Quantized the 2D FDTD model as
  first step.
• Designed, simulated and synthesized modules for
  Electrical field update, Magnetic field update,
  Memory interface Boundary condition and Full
  datapath.

The Quantized Fix-point Simulation

• Complete the 2D FDTD TE Wave model in hardware.
• Working on TM Wave model, with different
  structure shown below.

Reconfigurable Hardware
Hardware design

• Figures above are the hardware structure of the
  2D FDTD Free space model. The basic structure has
  three parallel pipelines. Two pipelines are used
  to update Electric Field, the other one is used
  to update Magnetic Field.
• We have 5 on-board memories and we use all of
  them. Four memories are used for memory updating
  and the last one is used to store the source
  field value.
• The detailed structure of electric field
  pipeline module Exs is shown in the figure on the
  right side.

Future Work
Reference

• Adding Different Soil and buried object
  conditions to the 2D Model.
• Testing and comparing the speed of 2D FDTD
  hardware and software design.
• Expanding the 2D FDTD model to 3D FDTD model.

1 Ryan N. Schneider, Laurence E. Turner, Michal
M.Okoniewski, Application of FPGA Technology to
Accelerate the Finite-Difference Time-Domain
(FDTD) Method, FPGA 2002. 2 Karl S. Kunz,
Raymond J. Luebbers, The Finite Difference Time
Domain Method for Electromagnetics, CRC Press,
1993."