ANSYS helps aerospace industry innovate, find best solutions
The simulation driven designs and techniques of the US-based ANSYS Software help the aerospace and defence product development companies to accomplish their target initiatives. The automation software solutions help to minimise coding and they are used across industries.
Compliance with safety-related standards enables developers of safety-critical applications to demonstrate that they use consistent, auditable processes for designing safety-related systems. There are a number of these standards that apply to different industry segments, for example DO-178C for aeronautics and ISO 26262 for automotive.
With the ‘’ANSYS SCADE’’ products, engineers have access to all of the functionalities that are needed to develop embedded software for safety-critical software that controls many of today’s most complex products, including autonomous vehicles. SCADE’s automatic code generator takes the guesswork out of how to automatically produce code that complies with a wide range of industry standards. With SCADE’s automatic code generator, one can substantially reduce the embedded software development time and cost.
The code generator is offered as part of a complete endto-end model-based systems engineering (MBSE) solution for the development of safety-related systems that has been proven through its use in the development of many safety-critical systems. Hence the quality and safety are not at all compromised. In fact, this whole process increases the chances that the product and its components are high in quality and performance.
“SCADE Test is part of the ANSYS SCADE embedded software family of products designed to accelerate systems and software engineering. The solutions are part of an overall Model-Based Engineering solution from ANSYS, in which modeling and simulation are used throughout the product development life cycle and as the authoritative definition and verification of a product design. This tool enables engineers to accelerate development schedules and reduce late-stage integration failures by enabling engineering teams to systemically decompose product requirements into architectural designs and eventually detailed designs across all engineering disciplines. Ultimately, SCADE Test helps to detect and eliminate embedded code errors early in the design process, when the cost of fixing them is minimal. This tool is used effectively in aerospace industry. Also this tool is suitable for developing ISO 26262 compliant applications up to ASIL D- the highest safety requirement for automotive applications,” Rafiq Somani, Country Manager India, ASEAN & ANZ, ANSYS, told Auto Components India.
As more and more components get added to the system, challenges for safety within the interconnected systems do increase. Guaranteeing the safety of components has been well under control due to compliance to aerospace standards. Still, there are challenges in cost and lead time along with the internal standards of the product. Full demonstrations are costly, which is why companies wouldn’t want to spend money on it 10 times to get it right, as the evolution of components, both hardware and software often evolves with design iterations, and fast iteration loops are needed. Using simulation and its ANSYS’ Multiphysics platform, maximum safety and reliability is vouched by fine-tuning the design even in very late stages of development, including flight test stage.
Innovation
Innovation must be achieved in an evolving, highly regulated safety framework whilst controlling development costs. For instance, to certify the braking systems for safety in an aircraft, software developers must test for each possible input to the brake control software, as well as for a broad range of operating events. The Internet of Things (IoT) and the abundance of smart applications have significantly increased the need for the safety critical embedded software that controls these devices. The aerospace industry has witnessed a 500% increase in source lines of code over the past decade.
“We aim to do everything possible with our simulation. Our ‘workbench platform’ unifies the broad portfolio of ANSYS simulation technologies and allows simulation experts across domains to work more seamlessly together and also enables expert and non-expert users to apply simulation coherently from concept to detailed design. In fact, high-fidelity simulations through our high performance computing enable engineering teams to innovate with a high degree of confidence that their products will meet customer expectations. Their extremely accurate simulations predict the actual performance of the product under real-world conditions across multiple physics platforms. Whether a simulation includes electromagnetics, thermal, structures, or fluids or the combinations, all aspects of simulation workflow are included in our single-window design, which allows product engineers to predict complete product performance with results you can trust and there we stand-out,” Somani said. As a simulation software company, the company has solutions for players across industries from aerospace & defence, automotive, energy to IoT, HPC and healthcare. The evolving trends in the aerospace industry, the simulation provider said, are evolving regulations, physical constraints, geopolitics and warfare revolution.
Lightweight
Lightweight is one of the most important trends in the aerospace industry today, as jet manufacturers and their suppliers work to reduce the overall weight of planes and improve their fuel efficiency. “Our clients have weighed heavily on engineering simulation to understand and manage diverse physical stresses in order to not only deliver the best product durability over time, but also drop cost by almost 18%,” he said.
Despite the stringent regulations that exist in the industries, the company has ground-breaking forays into providing necessary support for aerospace industry. “The solution is quite unique, our product, our people and our culture driven. We create complete virtual prototypes of complex products and systems, including mechanical, electronics and embedded software components by simulating physical environmental parameters that interface with the products. By simulating thousands of scenarios in the time it takes to build one prototype, we help businesses innovate and explore the most optimal solution. Our solutions also give customers the peace of mind that their products will perform well in real life, saving time and money,” added Somani.
The aerospace industry in India is witnessing a growing commercial aviation market combined with large defence investments in the world. Major global aerospace companies have already made their presence here for their R&D activities. Domestic government organisations have under their belt, a number of prospective projects to help meet the country’s aerospace demands. The number of aeronautics projects running in India, have outnumbered other aerospace projects across the globe.
Several of the Indian consumers in the aerospace and defence markets are already innovating and gaining unparalleled competitive advantage by turning to simulation early. Implementation of engineering simulation in the initial stages of product development increases scope of error detection, recognizes product limitations, and optimises system performance. “We have development centers in USA, India and a couple of other locations around the globe. The center in Pune works across our range of products and platforms,” Somani said.