Material matrix generation for FDTD simulations using OpenGL

This paper presents a new technique of the material matrix generation for the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method. In the developed simulation tool, the preprocessing stage of every FDTD simulation is implemented within the OpenGL engine of the graphical user interface (GUI). Therefore, it was possible to compute the material matrix on a graphics processing unit (GPU) using graphical parameters of objects in a simulation scenario. The GPU computations are supported by a multicore central processing unit to achieve a higher efficiency. The developed technique was implemented using OpenGL library and integrated with GUI using modern IT technologies: C++, C++/CLI and C#.NET.