ParFlow++: a C++ Parallel Application for Wave Propagation Simulation

The ParFlow method permits to simulate outdoor wave propagation in urban environment. It compares with the so-called Lattice Boltzman Model (LBM), which describes a physical system in terms of the motion of fictitious microscopic particles over a lattice. One of the objectives of the European project STORMS1 (Software Tools for the Optimization of Resources in Mobile Systems) is to develop a software tool to be used for design and planning of the UMTS network2. This paper gives an overview of the ParFlow method, and reports the design and the implementation of ParFlow++, a parallel object-oriented software for outdoor wave propagation prediction in urban environment. ParFlow++ is being developed in C++, and the resulting code is primarily targeted at MIMD-DM platforms. Although the development of ParFlow++ is still in progress in the STORMS project, a prototype version is available, that compiles and runs on a network of Unix workstations, as well as on the Cray T3D. Experiments achieved with this prototype software lead to promising results, which are discussed in this paper.