Many software packages are available for ray tracing (ray tracing is a technique that has been practiced for centuries). However, only in recent years has the numerical computing power of PCs made it possible to combine Monte Carlo integration techniques with ray-tracing geometry. Even though commercial off-the-shelf software may be available to solve this problem, it was decided that developing the capability from scratch would provide a better solution and one that could be customized to this specific problem.

The current version of the model and software assumes ideal parabolic surfaces and ideal reflectors. This limitation could be improved with more work. However, for the current application, this limitation is not considered a major disadvantage.