EM-FDTD - Long estimated time to completion

[Cosimo]

In EM-FDTD, when a simulation is running, the estimated time to completion is shown in the Task Manager, directly in the job progress bar and also inside the "Information" tab.
Given the frequency and the grid minimum step, the background math needed for the Courant-Friedrich-Levy stability criterion leads to the simulation time step, and from there it also comes the total number of iterations needed to cover the simulation time specified (as number of periods, or seconds).
Now, assuming the grid minimum step is meaningful for a given simulation/application, a long estimated time to completion does not necessarily mean that the solver will take the whole estimated time to converge. This will happen only if "Global Auto Termination" is set to "None". If "Global Auto Termination" is active, convergence will be checked while the simulation is running and when the specified convergence level is reached, this will cause the solver to automatically stop. Of course, this can happen earlier than the total estimated time to completion shown in the progress bar.

Further information about auto termination can be found in section "2.5.3.2.1 Auto Termination" of the Sim4Life Manual.