#18: How is MODSIM Transforming Innovation in High-Tech?

Monika Balk: Thanks, Neno. Indeed, in high-tech, speed is key to encouraging and accelerating innovation. Let's imagine a device, for example, a USB connector, which is a critical connection to transmit high-speed data. It needs to be designed for optimal connectivity. So, the first thing you could do with simulation is to make sure that your electromagnetic signal properties are optimized. You must make sure that your transmissions and reflections are optimum until very high frequencies because, due to high data rate requirements, you need to go up to very high frequencies. But then, if we think about how we use it as a consumer, such a device, we're actually abusing it. We're plugging it in and out multiple times. And therefore, a designer, upfront, has to make sure that during the use of that, the displacement doesn't get too big or stresses induced in the device will not be too large, such that it breaks.

Then, such a connector does not exist in isolation. It will be placed on a printed circuit board for further signal processing. And with simulation, you can also make sure that electronic cooling measures applied to your printed circuit boards still hold even when you place the connector. Additionally, simulation helps you avoid electromagnetic interference and, therefore, ensures regulatory compliance and helps get your devices through regulations much earlier in the design cycle. In the end, simulation uncovers potential problems early in the design stage and also helps minimize the number of physical prototypes and, therefore, shorten development time and cost.

Neno Horvat: That's very interesting, Monika. I imagine such simulations are not singular but need to be done many times along the design and engineering stages.

Monika Balk: Absolutely. From the early design until manufacturing handoff, many engineering and business functions need to collaborate efficiently. Therefore, it is important that you have a data-driven approach. For example, the simulation expert performing the structural simulation is working on the same data as the electromagnetic expert. Therefore, you can make sure that nobody is working on outdated models, and you reduce the friction between, say, collaboration. And this is especially helpful when teams don't share the same room, which is actually standard today.

Then, let's think about this: With simulation, you have generated a lot of candidates that could be possible for your device. Then, it would also be helpful if you could directly connect your corporate requirements to make sure that you only look for the candidates that fulfill them, so that you can have traceability from requirements to the results of your simulation.

Monika Balk: This aspect is really important because simulation expertise for high-tech is very diverse, and collaboration is crucial. But, of course, collaboration is much more than sharing data. For example, it’s really helpful if you can review your results on a cloud in a dashboard for decision making. That means you can discuss your results with required stakeholders who might not be simulation experts and who don't need to have the simulation software installed. Then, collaboration, of course, also includes project management. And here, it is helpful if you – besides the typical product management – have the ability to directly hand over the data model, the CAD data. As we've discussed earlier, it's important to really work on the data model that is needed and not on outdated data. Also, you could hand over additional information like the requirements or additional measurements, anything that you would like.

Last but not least, collaboration is something human. If you can enable closer collaboration by, for example, sharing your ideas directly in a web-based environment such as a web-based dashboard, then it leads to more direct interaction and, in the end, more fun.

Monika Balk: Yes, indeed. For high-tech companies, first-time-right engineering is a must. So, back to our connector example — it’s really key to embed it into an end-to-end process, from the requirements up to the test strategy. Therefore, it is important to, first of all, have requirements defined. So, this, in principle, should be the beginning of every engineering process. You can define your requirements on a very high level just by describing what you would like to achieve. But you can also specify up to very detailed levels by really defining the parameters that you would like to achieve with your device. And considering that 40 to 50% of development costs are used for design, verification and validation, it's important to have a sound testing strategy. Therefore, if you can directly connect, for example, your test cases to your corporate requirements, which you have defined earlier, and then, in addition, if you have an overview that tells you, for example, if some requirements are untested, or maybe some requirements are tested twice, this helps make sure that you exactly test as much as you need, but not more than that.

And then, in addition, if you do not only perform your tests, you can also report back, for example, your results, whether a simulation or measurement, and you report this in a traceable way back to the context, and this is very helpful to understand where you might have to perform some changes.

Monika Balk: This is indeed a key aspect. Let's assume the result of our test cycle is that a change is needed. Due to the close connection between modeling and simulation, it is much easier to involve downstream functions early in the design stage, and to also directly connect the engineering changes to your CAD model. And then, you can also communicate your changes in a transparent and traceable way to your stakeholders. Of course, if you call your colleague and agree with him on some changes, it's a valid approach. But very shortly after, nobody will remember why that change happened, and all the learning leading to that change is lost.

And then, if we also think about how that change will result in a variant of your model. In addition, we also already have many variants in high-tech, due to, for example, customer specifications or geographical specifications. An additional aspect is that you are able to manage this exploding amount of data — you can specify if you are allowed to work on data or if it’s already released or frozen to make sure that everyone has the right access to the data to be working on.

Neno Horvat: Well, that's very interesting. I think the complexity challenge around the variance is really a serious one, considering the many components that a high-tech company typically has to deal with, regardless of the size of the company. Thanks a lot, Monika.

Monika Balk: Indeed. Reuse of skills, knowledge and resources is crucial for any high-tech company. One aspect is the ability to leverage tools that users get comfortable with, like the E-CAD and M-CAD tools. So, coming back to our connector examples, where we have experience that we need to perform a change in our interior design. Actually, the designer can easily go back to the environment he's comfortable with, change some parameters and then, via shared environment, share this directly with the simulation expert. The simulation expert can then directly connect the simulation without having to perform any changes to the setup and use the updated CAD model from the designer. By doing so, this brings simulation closer to design, speeds up the development process and also helps in gaining mutual understanding and learning.

But it also enables concurrent engineering between electronics and mechanical departments. By expanding the digital continuity not only to the M-CAD tools from Siemens or PTC – next to our tools from CATIA and SOLIDWORKS – but also to best-in-class E-CAD tools from, for example, Cadence, Altium, Zuken or Mentor Graphics. By having this digital continuity, it reduces data translation errors and administrative overhead like searching for components.

Neno Horvat: I am sure that bringing all those different tools and the experts using them together to simulate will contribute to much better mutual understanding and learning.

Thanks a lot for this, Monika.

Kamel Terki: With pleasure! Let me start with the process automation aspect and how it helps improve R&D efficiency. As we said before, the simulation of high-tech devices is about multiphysics. When simulation experts can build automated simulation workflows, it really helps engineering teams move from a slow linear development process to a fast, iterative one. With such workflows, you can simulate, for instance, the thermal and material stress and the electromagnetic behavior. And you can run this automatic process based on various parameters like processor temperature, different enclosure materials or designs. The other aspect is knowledge transfer, and we like to call this the democratization of simulation, which is really to bring the power of simulation into the hands of non-experts or occasional users of simulation tools.

Templates are the right vehicle for this. Simulation experts can build those templates for electronics or product designers based on complex simulation processes. Those individuals can then use them in a simplified user interface that contains no more than the contextual information they need. After entering a minimum of variables like data or description, they can trigger certain simulations and see the results right away. This helps product designers and engineers reduce lengthy feedback loops and, at the same time, helps simulation experts minimize unnecessary requests and focus on more complex or critical simulations and process improvements. Last but not least, with a technique we call ‘Design of Experiment’, users can automatically explore various models within a defined ‘Design Space’ to rapidly find the best option in relation to the objectives defined.

Monika Balk: Indeed. There are several aspects to this from MODSIM. Let me start with the most commonly known enabler, which is the ability to use cloud computing resources. Depending on the size of your drop, you can send your simulation to compute resources on the cloud. You can flexibly choose what kind of size of computing power you need, and also the licensing of this is flexible. So, you can balance out peak times, but also for other times. Companies using these computing resources can be either large or small, but in any case, it makes them more efficient and competitive because companies don't need to invest in time, people and money to have such IT resources in-house.

Neno Horvat: I imagine this is a very important back-end support for the R&D of fast-growing companies.

Monika Balk: Indeed. It is possible to open the front-end of the simulation tools on the cloud and do your modeling, also on the cloud, in the web-based environment in principle, with any device you like. So, it can be your computer, your tablet or your phone. Therefore, you could, in principle, perform your work from anywhere at any time.

But then, there's another aspect of the cloud, which is the controlled and secured access to sensitive information, not only sensitive information, which is the CAD model, but also, for example, requirements. And last but not least, I would like to highlight an aspect, which is cloud data storage. This is implicitly always there, but we would like to mention that it's really helpful to increase efficiency. For example, I'm working with my colleague Brian, who's located on the West Coast in the United States, and I need a model from him. In principle, I would need to wait until he gets back to work. But if I have access to his project, I can directly take it from the cloud to perform my simulations. Then, when he gets back to work, we can already discuss the results. So, we're much faster and much more efficient than just working in isolated environments. This is especially important if you work around the globe in different time zones.

Neno Horvat: Sounds great. And we already reached the end of our discussion about MODSIM. Thanks a lot, Monika and Kamel.

I'm sure there's a lot of inspiration and insight that everyone with us today will take away. To follow up on the discussion, don't hesitate to contact your Dassault Systèmes partner or we'll make the connection. It's our mission to make your teams and tools as powerful as your vision.

Narrator: Disruptors Unleashed is produced by Dassault Systèmes. For more episodes, follow us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Deezer or your nearest streaming platforms. To learn more about Dassault Systèmes, visit us at 3ds.com.