Updates to Altair’s simulation software also focuses on electronic system design (ESD).
The latest release of Altair’s simulation solutions focuses on offering engineers a comprehensive computational fluid dynamics (CFD) experience, extended electronics system design (ESD) features, AI and simulation-based product design and improved cloud access.
This announcement comes fresh off the heels of Altair One, a cloud-based offering of tools from Altair and its Partner Alliance under a unified platform.
Srikanth (Sam) Mahalingam, CTO of Altair said, “all Altair CFD solutions are available via Altair One, which is a single portal that makes Altair’s products accessible anywhere via standard workstations, PCs, laptops and mobile devices. With Altair One, users can launch simulation applications in the cloud from a single interface with easy access to resources that are on-premises, in the cloud or a hybrid.”
Clearly, improved accessibility and unified user experiences are a running theme in this recent release.
Altair CFD Unifies Its Fluid Solutions into one License
Altair CFD offers engineers an affordable alternative to sourcing multiple fluid solutions from various vendors. The aim is to get engineers to access the technology they need, as they need it, to reduce modeling and development time. The tools offered by this platform include:
- Navier-Stokes (NS) computations for general purpose fluid dynamics and thermal simulations based on Altair AcuSolve technology
- Smoothed-particle hydrodynamics (SPH) for oiling, sloshing and mixing simulations based on Altair nanoFluidX technology
- Lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) for external aerodynamics simulations based on Altair ultraFluidX technology
- Discrete element modeling (DEM) for particle fluid simulations based on Altair EDEM technology
- System modeling technology for the modeling of complex integrated thermo-fluid systems
Of these tools, the SPH and LBM were reworked from the ground up to utilize graphics processing unit (GPU) codes to speed up simulations, optimization and performance.
Uwe Schramm, CTO of Altair, said “Altair CFD ensures engineering teams always have the most appropriate technology available for each application, reducing modeling and product development times. Thanks to Altair’s unique licensing system and flexible approach to cloud and HPC, companies can reduce software expenditure while delivering accurate results faster. It allows a tighter coupling between the three solvers and the other CFD solutions offered by Altair, which is essential to solving complex multiphysics problems.”
Altair Improves Electronics System Design Capabilities
The electronics system design (ESD) tools offered by Altair have also seen significant feature boosts in this latest release. For instance, engineers now have access to a new thermal management workflow that is tailored to the design of electronic devices. This feature is in addition to the existing Altair workflows to assess electronically:
- Structural stress
- Vibration
- Drop-test performance
By combining all of this functionality with simulations that help prevent overheating, engineers can better predict PCB reliability and prevent redesigns late in development.
Schramm noted, “Altair has all of the key technologies to help product teams deliver on timing, performance, reliability and compliance targets required across all aspects of the development. At the board level, Altair PollEx offers tools for schematic design review, PCB design review, verification, analysis and design for manufacture.”
He added, “electromagnetic simulation with Feko enables the optimization of wireless connectivity and ensures electromagnetic compatibility. SimLab automates structural stress, vibration and drop test performance simulations. The new thermal analysis functionality in SimLab doesn’t require advanced CFD knowledge to prevent board and system-level overheating, product reliability issues or expensive late-stage redesigns. For mechatronic devices, Flux accelerates the design of motors, sensors and actuators with simulation.”
Altair PollEx has gained new abilities to address the increasing trends of high-speed memory in smart connected devices. The software has new signal integrity automation for double-data-rate (DDR) memory interfaces. These tools will help the optimization of DDRx:
- Timing
- Transmission lines
- Topology
- Terminations
AI and Simulation-Based Optimization Available in Altair One Through DesignAI
This Altair release fits well into the company’s trend towards democratizing engineering tools and unifying its portfolio with the portfolio of its partners. One example of this democratization theme is the addition of Altair DesignAI.
Mahalingam said, “Altair DesignAI is a cloud-native application that combines physics-based simulation-driven design and machine learning-based AI-powered design to create high-potential designs earlier in development cycles.”
Engineers input their data sets into the tool using a drag and drop interface. From there, the software uses the data to train machine learning models that can be used to predict future designs.
“DesignAI automatically extracts the inputs and outputs allowing the user to change input ranges and outputs they wish to predict. The number of CAE simulations required to train an ML model to predict the response is calculated,” added Mahalingam. “DesignAI runs the analysis in the cloud and uses the results to train multiple ML models. The ML model can then be used to carry out ‘what if’ studies with results in real-time including visual representations of 3D result models.”
How to Access All of These Tools?
An engineer can access DesignAI, and all the other tools mentioned, on Altair One using Altair Units. This subscription-based licensing model ensures that organizations only pay for the tools and computational resources they need. The system doesn’t require new capital expenditures or IT expenses; it a turnkey solution that scales immediately and is compatible with:
- Amazon AWS
- Microsoft Azure
- Oracle Cloud Infrastructure
- Google Cloud Platform
Mahalingam said, “Altair One can scale immediately in response to peaks in workload and it empowers users to provision turnkey, scalable appliance clusters across all major cloud providers including Amazon AWS, Microsoft Azure, Oracle Cloud Infrastructure and Google Cloud Platform.”
To learn more about Altair One, read the article: Altair One Offers Engineers Complete Design Workflows on the Cloud.
