Troy’s Altair Updates its Electronic System Design Capabilities

Altair, a Troy-based global technology company that provides software and cloud solutions for simulation, high-performance computing, and artificial intelligence, has updated its technologies and user experiences with the release of its 2021 simulation software.
672
image from Altair's 2021 simulation software
An Altair co-simulation of fluids and discrete elements in a water pump. // Image courtesy of Altair

Altair, a Troy-based global technology company that provides software and cloud solutions for simulation, high-performance computing, and artificial intelligence, has updated its technologies and user experiences with the release of its 2021 simulation software.

“In addition to accelerated simulation of real-world product performance and expanded simulation-driven design for manufacturing functionality, this release brings a robust end-to-end electronic system design toolset to our customers,” says James Scapa, founder and CEO of Altair. “The latest updates to our simulation solutions enable customers to develop complex products more profitably by simulating 5G connectivity, electronic board level performance, modern manufacturing processes, and more.”

Altair says its new electronic system design toolset enables engineers developing smart, connected devices to collaborate on all aspects of physical, logical, thermal, electrical, and mechanical design. This, the company says, accelerates a variety of applications, from more efficient printed circuit board design review, verification, analysis, and manufacture to the design of motors, sensors, and actuators with simulation.

Other updates include:

  • Improved simulation and optimization of wireless connectivity, including 5G and electromagnetic compatibility.
  • Visual firmware development now supports more widely used microcontroller families.
  • More capabilities for PCB fabrication, assembly, and end-of-line testing.
  • Expanded workflows simplify and automate analysis of structural stress, vibration, thermal, and drop-test performance for non-experts.
  • Improved simulation of real-world product performance.

According to Altair, the software improves problem solving while delivering improved performance on graphics processing unit and central processing unit hardware on desktops, private, public, and hybrid-cloud environments.

The updates include:

  • Expanded modeling and visualization user experience includes workflows that support the entire topology modeling and meshing process, cutting task time from hours to minutes. Modeling fidelity in complex models is improved with more sophisticated and realistic representations of connectors.
  • Advanced physics models that require the co-simulation of fluids and discrete elements, such as simulating particles in an air flow are now possible.
  • Aeroelastic effects of aircraft wings can be analyzed to solve for flutter and other potential design issues.
  • Altair’s SimSolid simulation technology for designers, engineers, and analysts is 10 times faster than its original release.
  • All simulation products are supported by the new Altair Material Data Center, which includes the largest number of plastic materials and properties available on the market.
  • Expanded simulation-driven design for manufacturing (SDfM).

Altair pioneered SDfM, bringing manufacturing simulation into the earliest stages of concept design. The expanding functionality of Altair’s SDfM offering now spans casting, stamping, molding, extrusion, additive, and foaming. Additionally, Altair simulation solutions are increasingly used in process manufacturing during research, development, and process improvement in industries that produce bulk quantities of goods, including pharmaceuticals, food, cosmetics, and chemicals.

The updates are designed to help customers across a broad range of industries — from automotive and aerospace to energy, health care, and high tech — solve complex problems as they advance the development of their smart, connected products by leveraging 5G, electromagnetics, and the Internet of Things.

All products are available through Altair Units, which gives customers access to Altair’s entire portfolio of software solutions. Additionally, the Altair Community contains a library of all the new features, workflows, and enhancements included in the release. For more information, visit here.