Engineous Software Releases iSIGHT-FD 3.0 and FIPER 3.0, 2 in a Series

By DE Editors

A Pareto plot is one that displays design points so those that are similarly “good” are grouped together. These groups of points are often referred to as a Pareto front. The goal is to provide visual feedback that helps a user quickly pick out the most desirable design alternatives.

Engineous Software (Cary, NC) recently launched version 3.0 of its process integration and design optimization software for automation and collaboration: iSIGHT-FD 3.0 and FIPER 3.0 offer performance upgrades, a richer runtime visual environment, optimizer updates, WebTop enhancements, and new quality components — Six Sigma and Taguchi Robust Design. With iSIGHT-FD alone or in combination with FIPER,  engineers and product development teams gain a design framework that can take into account data from several resources and enhance collaboration.

Using iSIGHT-FD,  engineers can integrate complex computer models and design processes, automate execution, and optimize designs using techniques like design of experiment (DOE) and Design for Six Sigma (DFSS). FIPER, a system engineering framework,  lets organizations deploy these integrated applications to more users, run them on a powerful computing framework, manage them in a version-controlled library,  and distribute them wherever they need to go in the engineering firm.

“With iSIGHT-FD and FIPER, customers have a truly scalable solution,” explains J.P. Evans, vice president of marketing and product development at Engineous Software. “They are two products, but built on the same architecture. Users can begin building and executing models on the desktop quickly and easily. Then, if the company wants to make these applications available to others as best practices, they can be stored in FIPER for reuse throughout the engineering enterprise.”

Starting with iSIGHT-FD

iSIGHT-FD lets users create, explore, and produce innovative new designs. It enables workflow creation through drag-and-drop components, offering visual interfaces that let users “surf” through the design space. It contains intelligent design driver technology, according to the company literature, and it also offers publishing and sharing of best practices.

iSIGHT-FD’s suite of visual tools let users set up an automated plan to thoroughly explore the design space and find optimum and product solutions. By offering interactive postprocessing tools that let users see the design space from multiple points of view, iSIGHT-FD can lead users to the best design decisions.

Some of the features include process integration where the iSIGHT-FD’s drag-and-drop interface lets users create integrated engineering workflows, which have the ability to couple simulation programs regardless of discipline, programming language, or format.

The company says optimal designs are possible using iSIGHT-FD’s expanded library of design drivers, including optimizers (simulated annealing, NLPQL, MOGA, etc.); design of experiments (Optimal Latin Hypercube, orthogonal arrays, data file, etc.);  Monte Carlo Simulations (new SDI component supports stochastic design improvements methods from MSC Robust Design); and approximations (response surface models, radial basis functions, error analysis, range sampling, etc.).

It is possible to visualize design results in real-time using iSIGHT-FD analysis and visualization capabilities like Data Mining, which helps users understand design trade-offs by viewing the design space from multiple points of view. A Correlation Map can graph the correlations between parameter sets and with the Visual Design Driver users can visualize approximations by interactively surfing the design space.

Moving from iSIGHT-FD to FIPER

While iSIGHT-FD is offered as a standalone desktop product, any workflow created with iSIGHT-FD can be seamlessly integrated into an enterprise-wide design environment by connecting with Engineous’ FIPER solution, a collaborative development environment for sharing, managing, and publishing valuable engineering processes.

The FIPER application control system (ACS) establishes a design infrastructure through a federated product development environment that provides access to companies’ globally dispersed resources, tools, data, applications, and design teams. FIPER v3.0, most recently announced, offers capture and sharing of best practices, enables and accelerates secure design collaboration with partners, and takes advantage of hardware and software investments through use of legacy systems and job distribution in a grid environment.

The new version of FIPER is based on customer feedback. “Most of the new features in version 3.0 are a direct result of user feedback from hands-on usability testing conducted in 2007,” says Evans. “This effort was part of our continuing objective to put powerful engineering tools into the hands of more users,  providing a solution that scales seamlessly from the desktop to the engineering enterprise.”

The FIPER WebTop lets model developers create design applications that can be deployed to engineering groups. WebTop enables practitioners who need only basic runtime capabilities to access and execute models from simple Web browser interfaces.

Continually Updated Components

When you visit Engineous’ website, you will see that components are being updated on a regular basis: CATIA, Pro/E, and Unigraphics in May; MSC.Nastran, NXNastran,  and NEiNastran followed by Data Matching component in April; LS-DYNA in March;  ANSYS Workbench in February; Abaqus last November, and so on.

Toward this end, Engineous welcomes users to its iSIGHT-FD Component Central, which gives access to components developed for Engineous’ iSIGHT-FD and FIPER software. From this site, users worldwide can access the latest version of solution components such as Data Matching and MSC.Nastran as well as components that ship with iSIGHT — such as Simcode and Excel. The site also provides easy access to demonstration videos, requirement specifications, example models, and documentation.

Plus,  right from its homepage, Engineous has created direct component links with commercial and in-house applications including Excel, Word, MATLAB, Adams,  ANSYS, and Patran.

With customers that include Global 500 companies such as Canon, Honeywell, Lockheed Martin, and Toshiba, to name a few, as well as automobile manufacturers, it appears that Engineous is well on its way to achieving its objective — delivering to the engineering community the tools it needs to make workflow seamless from start to finish.

Please visit Engineous Software, Inc.  to gain access to links to the pdfs of details and/or highlights for these two products.

Read why DE editors chose this as a Pick of the Week.

Visit the Engineous iSIGHT-FD Component Central.

Link to the white paper: “The Payoff of Early Optimization and Design Exploration,” (March 2008)

Don’t miss seeing Engineous’ demonstration videos.