Fractal Element Antenna

Genetic Optimization Using a

PC Cluster

ACES Proceedings
March 21, 2002
Monterey, CA
 Fractal Development

 Boston University:
– Nuno Alves
– William Crespo
– Felipe Fernandes
– Fabio Santana
 Fractal Antenna Systems, INC.
– Dr. Nathan Cohen and Dr. Robert Hohlfeld

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 Our Goal

Decrease time of antenna design

Using:
- Fractal Antennas GA
- Several inexpensive computers

03/21/2002 ACES Conference Proceeding

 Antenna Design Algorithms
 Genetic Algorithm (G.A.)

Fitness Evaluation Crossover (Mating)

Random Population Select Parents

Elite Population New Population

 Numerical Electromagnetic Computation (N.E.C.)

• EMAG calculation
• Bottleneck of system

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 Antenna Optimization

 Problem:
– Computationally Intensive
– Time Consuming

 Genetic Algorithms
– Intrinsic Parallelism

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 Current Solutions…
Cost of each:
Use of :
– $2000~ Up
– High End PC
• OR
• OR
– $250,000~Up
– Supercomputer

03/21/2002 ACES Conference Proceeding

 Approaching the Problem
 PC cluster
implementation:
– Hardware:
• 1 central node
• <100 slave nodes
– Software:
• Linux (open source and
free distribution)
• GA, NEC and FOM
• Error checking software

03/21/2002 ACES Conference Proceeding

 Project Diagram:
P r e lim in a r y D ia g r a m

S e r v e r /H o s t N o d e 0
D u a l P ro c e s s o r
( 2 ) - P III 1 G h z
256M B R AM & 30G B HD IP : 1 0 .0 .0 .1 0

AR K SO HO
1 0 /1 0 0 M B /s e c
E t h e r n e t S w itc h
1 6 P o r ts

Node 1 Node 2 Node 3 Node 4 Node 5

1 .2 G h z 1 .2 G h z 1 .2 G h z 1 .2 G h z 1 .2 G h z
128M B R AM 128M B R AM 128M B R AM 128M B R AM 128M B R AM
20G B HD 20G B HD 20G B HD 20G B HD 20G B HD
1 0 .0 .0 . 4 0 1 0 .0 .0 . 6 0
1 0 .0 .0 .2 0 1 0 .0 . 0 . 3 0 1 0 .0 .0 . 5 0

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 Results
NEC RUN TIME

9000.00
8000.00
7000.00
6000.00
Time(S)

5000.00
4000.00
3000.00
2000.00
1000.00
0.00
1 2 3 4 5 6
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 Results
Speed Up Factor

6
5
4
Factor

3
2
1
0
1 2 3 4 5 6
# of Nodes

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 Conclusion

 The use of PC Clusters is a viable and

inexpensive alternative for Antenna
Simulations

03/21/2002 ACES Conference Proceeding