Declaring “the dream that drives all our operations is to extend the boundaries of simulation,” Fieldscale says its mission is to “build software simulation tools that work out-of-the-box and deliver exceptionally powerful technology integrated in a clear, singular user environment, and ultimately to make this technology accessible to every engineer.”
The ideas behind Fieldscale took root some years ago when its co-founders, CEO Yiorgos Bontzios and CTO George Bouzianas, were experiencing the “pains of simulation,” as they put it. They faced often day-long simulation runs to obtain results with the required accuracy—and more than once, the solver algorithms proved incapable of producing results at all. And all this “while suffering through terribly complicated user interfaces.”
Fed up, the two decided it was time to fix these problems. “Ever since day one,” the company says, “our plan is to build simulation software tools that perform substantially better in each and every category, and will enable the next generation of products created by a broader audience of engineers.”
Fieldscale Sense “changes the feel of simulation”
Sense is a cloud-based engineering modeling and simulation app that Fieldscale calls “the fastest touch sensor design tool in the world.”
“We live in a touchscreen world,” the company observes. “Capacitive touchscreens are a vital part of most portable devices such as smartphones, tablets and handheld game consoles, as well as TV screens and computer monitors. Touchscreens have also entered several automotive, industrial, medical, even military applications, where special features are demanded.”
The key business driver for touchscreen manufacturers is to create innovative and robust products as rapidly as possible. Core functional requirements for touchscreens are to be compatible with the device’s controller, reliable in recognizing finger touch or proximity, and immune to noise. Further, the touch sensor industry is generally based on proprietary patterns and customized products, so there is continual, ongoing requirement to design and test new designs that come with unique, specialized features.
Validating touchscreen design performance
Traditionally, engineering performance of a touchscreen design is done either by hand calculations—which, being based on approximations, are thus of no use when product optimization is required—or by expending prodigious cost, time and labor on fabricating and testing physical prototypes. Although touchscreen manufacturers have clear design guidelines laid out by the various IC manufacturers, design validation remains a time- and labor-intensive process, as it requires many iterations between the touchscreen manufacturer and the IC provider for the end product under development.
In recent years, Fieldscale observes, touchscreen design has moved into a third phase of evolution: digital prototyping. “What will help companies benefit from simulation and lead to a real revolution in product development,” Fieldscale believes, is “for digital prototyping to become simple and intuitive to use.” Enabling such intuitive and fast digital prototyping is the objective of Fieldscale Sense, a specialized simulation software tool that helps capacitive touchscreen designers virtually test and optimize their products before manufacture.
“Why is Sense the ideal tool for this work?” Fieldscale asks. “The answer is in the simplicity of its workflow: Apart from its incomparable speed and guaranteed results thanks to cutting-edge, fully parallelized algorithms built on top of the Boundary Element Method, Sense offers a simple, clear, intuitive user interface that renders manuals and tutorials pretty much pointless.”
Fieldscale Charge: State-of-the-art electric field analysis
Charge is a state-of-the-art tool for electric field analysis designed to help engineers detect dielectric breakdowns and partial discharges, identify vulnerable spots, and design safer products and facilities.
Fieldscale’s goal with Charge was to “build the most powerful solver engine from the ground up. To do that, we built our solutions on top of the concrete foundation of the Boundary Element Method (BEM). This ensures and enhances simulation reliability. But we didn’t stay there. Our solving engine utilizes a range of best-in-class parallelization processing techniques. The result is top performance plus engineering time reduced down to 10X.”
Charge computes electric fields and voltage with what the company calls “astonishing accuracy. This is true even for the most complex designs. No more compromises or unrealistic design simplifications. Our parallelized algorithms transform a previously overnight process to one of minutes. And without sacrificing accuracy.”
Five steps to a great design
Fieldscale’s philosophy is that “a great simulation engine must exist within the simplest-to-use environment. Improved user experience leads to increased productivity and efficiency. So we brought the whole design process down to just five simple, intuitive steps. All unnecessary options have been eliminated,” the company says. For more demanding users, Charge’s GUI offers additional advanced functions.
Instant access to cloud power
Charge provides one-click access to hundreds of computers through the cloud without interrupting the user’s workflow. “You just hit solve, and Charge does all the dirty job in the background. Solve the most complex simulations within minutes.” Having the ability to readily and effortlessly analyze every detail with high accuracy lets engineers “stop over-designing, and start creating optimal, cost-effective products.”
Charge highlights
- Intuitive 3D CAD reduces engineering time.
- Powerful meshing engine lets engineers readily analyze the finest details.
- Highly parallelized solving algorithms deliver accurate results faster than ever.
- Expanded visualization capabilities help engineers better understand their product designs.
People
Yiorgos Bontzios, co-founder and CEO, sets vision and long-term targets and direction for the company. He supervises all operations and is “responsible for keeping the engine moving inside and outside the company.” He holds an MSc and a PhD in electrical and computer engineering from the Aristotle University of Greece, is principal inventor of one patent, and has published four books and more than 20 papers. He has developed numerous software tools in various corporate positions and as an independent developer.
George Bouzianas, co-founder and CTO, implements novel numerical techniques that form the kernel of Fieldscale’s technology. An expert in computational electromagnetics and programing of numerical techniques including FDTD (finite-difference time-domain), FEM (finite element modeling) and BEM (boundary element method), he holds an MSc in electrical and computer engineering and a PhD in computational electromagnetics from Aristotle University of Greece. During his studies he won four scholarships for excellence, published more than ten scientific papers, and developed a time-domain numerical model for simulating electromagnetic effects in graphene structures.
Backers include Openfund and the PJ Tech Catalyst Fund.
Fieldscale
fieldscale.com
