REVIEW:
What is the intellectual merit of the proposed activity?
The general thrust of this proposal is to improve (upgrade
capabilities) an older, well established electrical circuit solving
program (SPICE), currently in widespread use. The need for larger
scale, accurate computation of various systems is apparent in many
areas (such as electrical circuit development, discussed here) is
widely recognized. In some cases older commercial software is well
tested and popular but slow and cumbersome when attacking larger scale
problems. It is suggested in this proposal that previously
undiscovered and innovative techniques for numerical solutions might be
found by examining the work in fundamental physics (in some cases
predating modern computational efforts). Thus, it would
appear that the proposal is concerned with developing entirely new
algorithms for application. It is mention several times
that SPICE (as currently constituted) is accurate and stable.
While this may be so, a significant shift in the underlying
computational methods (to some method yet to be discovered) may well
introduce new and unanticipated numerical problems. The
narrative seems to imply that stability should be preserved by some
inherent characteristic of SPICE, a leap that is hard to accept.
Given that no specific algorithm has been found or proposed for
this application, the total effort proposed here may be inconsistent
with the time frame available.
What are the broader impacts of the proposed activity?
Certainly an updated, efficient and expanded version of SPICE would
have considerable commercial appeal. It is also likely that
if improvements in this type of code could be made, then spill-over to
parallel applications might well take place. Aside from the need
to attack large scale problems, at least part of the improvements in
any code of this type center on the requirements to model complex
elements that are not easily represented by tractable equations.
Any generalization to broader markets will need to address this
issue.
Summary Statement
Funding for this proposal at Phase I level cannot be recommended,
primarily because of the lack of focus on a work plan needed to move a
concept towards commercialization. What is proposed is
research intended to find new methods.