Benchmarking a derivative-free minimax optimizer for EM design
Leszek J. Opalski · Proceedings of SPIE, the International Society for Optical Engineering/Proceedings of SPIE · 2012
The paper presents a model-based derivative-free minimax optimizer and a benchmarking methodology. The optimizer is dedicated to such simulation-based design scenarios, when a single simulation is time-consuming and not very accurate, and so when fast improvement of design is expected rather then high accuracy optimization. A benchmarking methodology is formulated to compare efficiency of optimizers in such scenarios. A set of electromagnetic (EM) designs, for which a design simulation involves solution of very large partial differential equations, is used to exemplify the methodology. Presented results demonstrate how accuracy requirements and computational budget change ranking of optimizers. The proposed optimizer is shown to provide competetively rapid and reliable initial design improvement for modest 5-10% tolerance, but for higher accuracy demands and larger computational budget other solvers become more competitive.