Re-imagining electrical systems design

Electrical system complexity is growing rapidly in the automotive, aerospace and heavy equipment industries. Supporting the full breadth of sophisticated features and functions demanded on next-generation products requires multiple networks, thousands of sensors and actuators, miles of wiring and tens of thousands of discrete components. Achieving the engineering efficiency, excellence and speed needed to bring these innovative products to market requires a methodology that promotes collaboration, automates processes and features robust traceability.

Generative design: The heart of a model-based approach

Electrical system complexity is reaching a tipping point across industries, from modern passenger vehicles to sophisticated industrial machines that can now contain nearly 5,000 wiring harnesses. The electrical systems of these machines contain multiple networks, thousands of sensors and actuators, miles of wiring and tens of thousands of discrete components. Designing these complex systems is a significant challenge itself, but there also needs to be an understanding of how system requirements move into manufacturing and maintenance processes.

Producing the next generation of products will require updated methodologies that support complete traceability, employ automation and blur the boundaries between electrical domains. This paper examines how a model-based approach, implemented with an advanced portfolio of engineering software, can provide these capabilities to empower the creation of tomorrow's products.