Digitalizing and streamlining design and analysis processes to reduce engineering time by up to 50 percent

Shooting for the stars

Over half a century after the first moon landing, space is the place to be if you are a tech-savvy and talented engineer with the ambition to reach the stars. This is the case for OX Origin, a small startup located in the heart of Transylvania in Cluj-Napoca, Romania.

Alex Bugnar and Ilie Ciobanu co-founded their business, OX Origin, in 2019 following early aerospace careers in Oxford, United Kingdom, which inspired the company’s name. Specialized consultants who bring a completely digital way of working, OX Origin supports European space agencies and companies working on major missions.

Although day-to-day work at OX Origin tends to include typical expert contractor tasks like detailed modeling and simulation analysis, an important job aspect is helping customers meet deadlines and complete required industry-specific certification processes. This includes documenting components, subsystems and systems in preparation for steps like the preliminary design review (PDR) and the critical design review (CDR), as well as prep work for final environmental test campaigns for components, systems and satellite qualification.

“As a small, specialized consultancy, we tend to get the tough jobs to solve or the really tight deadlines to keep a project on schedule,” explains Ciobanu. “We know firsthand all about the technical and financial challenges that come with developing cutting-edge systems for space. We’ve seen how a lack of expertise, reliable data and standardized processes can throw a wrench in even the most promising projects.”

Becoming digital catalysts

As digital natives, OX Origin realized they could be a catalyst to shake up the status quo in the European space ecosystem, or at least give it a push in the right direction by using the right toolsets from the Siemens Xcelerator business platform of software, hardware and services.

"When we started our consultancy, we wanted to offer our aerospace customers that same seamlessness between NX and Simcenter that a lot of space specialists count on, as well as the ability to work with all the Siemens solvers and pre- or postprocessors, like Simcenter Nastran and Simcenter Femap,” says Ciobanu. “I knew that using Teamcenter Share offered, by far, more and better connectivity between the design and analysis processes. It was much more integrated compared to other tools.”

Leveraging extensive simulation experience

One of the keys to OX Origin’s success is having extensive simulation analysis experience for space systems, mechanical structures and mechanisms and optomechanical development.

“There are quite a few companies like ours on the market that offer space design services, but they don’t really know about the A-to-Z of space industry design, simulation analysis, production and qualification testing processes, or the supplier chain or industry-specific material issues that can arise,” says Ciobanu.

3D printed component.

Benefiting from Simcenter, NX and Teamcenter Share

However, covering the A-to-Z, especially in advanced engineering areas, required the right simulation tools, becoming a budgeting challenge for the young startup, which had already invested in two Simcenter™ 3D software licenses. Being a small team, OX Origin was surprised to discover that they could benefit from the Siemens Xcelerator for Startups package, Siemens Xcelerator Design for Startups. This features NX™ computer-aided design (CAD) software, the Simcenter solutions they needed and the Teamcenter® Share app, which are part of the Siemens Xcelerator business platform.

"Teamcenter Share was a nice surprise,” says Ciobanu. “It is a good, scalable solution for the space industry because you can easily add external partners and sync files with extra security and data integrity. I had an excellent hands-on experience with Teamcenter Share, and we tried it out right away with our major customer projects.

“As consultants, it is difficult to find time. Anything that helps save us time, like NX and Simcenter, is highly valuable. Having less administration hassle in our process frees up time for other customers and projects as well.”

The system wired for testing.

Digital nomad engineering

Since the company’s talent is spread around Europe, OX Origin appreciated the fact that the Siemens Xcelerator platform is securely in the cloud. This not only made life easier for customer collaboration and guaranteed vital security, but it also made working internally easy and efficient.

“We aren’t always in the same place or country as our major customers, and our subcontractors and customers work from all over the place,” explains Bugnar. “With Siemens tools, we can have two guys working on the project simultaneously from any location without affecting each other’s work or crossing wires. We can look at two problems or more at the same time.”

For example, using Siemens Xcelerator solutions, engineers with different specializations can work on many of product’s component or subcomponent simultaneously.

“Since using Siemens solutions lets us work simultaneously, in a way, it’s like a 2-for-1 engineering coupon for our customers,” says Bugnar. “Not only does this save 50 percent of our time, but money as well.”

An assembly study in Simcenter 3D.

Aiming for perfection

A recent project where using Siemens Xcelerator solutions like Simcenter and NX tools proved beneficial was OX Origin’s work on an imaging sensor for a next-generation observation telescope. As part of a consortium of space contractors, OX Origin used NX CAD and Simcenter 3D software for developing and analyzing the high-precision imaging sensor, just one of the many components that need to be 100 percent precise when it comes to high tech optical payloads on next-generation observation telescopes.

“Even the smallest misstep in the design phase can put the whole mission at risk,” says Ciobanu. “One mistake, and you might have a solar array that doesn’t open or a telescope that doesn’t focus. You can imagine my responsibilities on a project like this. We work on designing and developing the perfect digital twin of the unit. It is not only the structural system but the optomechanical system as well.”

As a critical member of a major space mission team, Ciobanu is used to working with other specialists regularly. This includes thermal, optical and other specialized engineers working on the digital twin across various domains, partners and contractors.

“In the space industry, from concept to qualification, you have to be correct,” says Ciobanu. “It is our job to get the digital twin perfect for the critical design review leading to final qualification.”

Sharing the NX files in Teamcenter Share.

Focusing on results

OX Origin does not bombard their customers with every step in a complex finite element method (FEM) or multibody system analysis.

“Our end customer is not interested in every single step or file,” says Ciobanu. “They want results – results that are readable upstream, like slides, reports and numbers. They don’t want to see the actual model in action or every single design iteration that we do. That would
just stress them out.

“We don’t want to swamp them in data and results and make them install complex tools where they would need to invest time and money. In general, we try to make their lives very easy and keep the process moving quickly.”

In-depth study of the component in Simcenter 3D.

In most cases, it takes about 30 minutes for the customer to review the results on a slide and give the go-ahead for the next step in the design process. In the past, this may have meant days or even weeks of complicated documentation exchanges with nonspecialists trying to decipher customized spreadsheets or open noncompatible files containing detailed models that might not make sense to upper management.

“Our customers want to know it will work,” says Ciobanu. “They want a guarantee that the system requirements that they specified will be met. We help validate the requirements and give them the reporting data and documentation they need to okay the design and go to the next step.”

Looking towards the future

Digital technology and especially advanced simulation tools are changing quickly, and Bugnar and Ciobanu know how important it is that companies stay ahead of the curve.

“By providing top-notch engineering consulting and cutting-edge software solutions and helping our customers digitalize and streamline their design processes, we’re helping our clients save precious time and investment capital,” says Bugnar. “At OX Origin, we’re all about
efficiency, innovation and making the impossible possible.”

From a technical point of view, Ciobanu is excited about his next area of expertise for OX Origin and Siemens: dynamic environment testing hardware and software from the Simcenter testing solutions portfolio. This includes leveraging industry-leading Simcenter Testlab™ software and Simcenter SCADAS™ hardware, which are typically found in environmental and aerospace testing centers around the world.

"As simulation experts, it is important to connect with the testing side of the space mission,” says Ciobanu. “There is already good symmetry between the Simcenter simulation and testing tools. Using Simcenter testing tools for space-related designs is useful. I’ve used them myself, so a future avenue for OX Origin would be to integrate more of the Simcenter model correlation aspects of space qualification into our service portfolio. A testing campaign for a space project is time-intensive, easily two weeks, and using Simcenter testing tools, just like the Simcenter simulation tools and other Siemens Xcelerator tools, will make every new-generation space engineer’s life easier in the future.”

Original CAD design in NX.