How Ansys and AWS are Transforming the Electronics Industry
Today’s electronics industry is fueled by two things: speed and innovation. Electronics engineers are scrambling to meet an ever-evolving consumer appetite for new tech as they rapidly cycle through complex designs on tight production schedules and limited budgets. In the current development climate, solutions tied to traditional simulation tools limited within the confines of localized hardware render engineers powerless to iterate with the speed and efficiency they need to keep up in this competitive landscape.
Luckily, cloud-based simulation tools like Ansys Gateway powered by AWS enable engineers to tackle electronic design and productivity challenges to innovate faster.
Physical prototypes are an important part of product development for electronics engineers, both for validating a product’s design and functionality and optimizing its performance. However, physical prototyping is extremely costly, as it involves the design and fabrication of custom components to test and iterate throughout a development cycle. Manufacturers must factor in the need for specialized equipment, skilled labor, and the added material costs associated with testing. Any challenges and revisions that extend the prototyping phase can also drive-up expenditures.
This activity often involves the use of multiple, or even hundreds, of prototypes during development, which can be expensive and time consuming. Still, electronics engineers who look to reduce prototyping as a viable cost-cutting activity run the risk of sacrificing product quality and creating issues post-release that could lead to expensive corrections and bad customer experiences. It’s a risk compounded by failure to meet stringent certification requirements and potentially a very costly mistake, as certification per prototype can add up to thousands of dollars.
Of course, simulation is traditionally the baseline go-to for all these challenges, but the intent of the user can be impacted by hardware performance. Specifically, what happens if, as an electronics engineer, you are limited by a very low number of cores, a small number of iterations, or the modeling activity you need to stay competitive?
Lower Hardware Barriers to Success
Success in this deadline-driven world hinges on unfettered access to an open ecosystem platform of computer-aided design and engineering (CAD/CAE) tools with the ability to quickly onboard and scale up and down. Using cloud-based simulation tools, electronics engineers can soar above any and all hardware barriers to virtually unlimited computational resources, enabling them to easily take on complex simulations and analyses in a more robust, HPC-based environment.
The scalability of cloud-based solutions enables users to run multiple simulations in parallel to achieve results faster, and it facilitates seamless collaboration on a single platform from wherever they are. It also eliminates the need for costly, upfront hardware investments, reducing costs and delivering effortless, real-time access to the latest Ansys software versions and updates. Unlike on-premises solutions, users receive the most up-to-date, perpetually refreshed hardware available.
Fortunately, Ansys has partnered with AWS to release Ansys Gateway powered by AWS, available in the AWS Marketplace. Customers can easily access, subscribe, configure, and enjoy the accelerated performance of AWS-enhanced Ansys cloud-based simulation tools and applications from a single location.
Iterate, Optimize, and Innovate Faster
Despite the challenges, one thing’s for certain: Cloud-based simulation platforms like Ansys Gateway powered by AWS enable electronics engineers to dramatically sharpen their development game. They’re realizing huge productivity gains during the design phase thanks to the scalability, collaboration, and cost savings by running simulation on the cloud. More importantly, they’re able to stretch beyond traditional limitations to the cloud and accelerate innovation.
Here is what Avisekh Banerjee, Ph.D., director of Simulation and Analysis at Turntide Technologies, shared in a recent case study: “Ansys Gateway powered by AWS unleashes the computing resources we need to quickly solve electromagnetics-related challenges in our Smart Motor System™ designs. We get tremendous acceleration during development with the added computational power, going from weeks to days to come up with answers to our most pressing technological challenges which otherwise would not have been possible.”
Turntide Technologies, a sustainable technology company bursts through the cloud to optimize Smart Motor System™ designs 7X faster using Ansys Gateway powered by AWS and Ansys Maxwell to accelerate its Smart Motor System™ development. This is one example of where electronic design is headed, and that’s to the cloud — to infuse greater capability, efficiency, and a sense of competition into the electronics industry that leads to product innovation.