Engineering IoT Using Simulation

Irvine, March 17,2016 — 

Larry Williams, director of product Management at ANSYS Inc, was the featured guest at an IoT-themed event held Wednesday at Calit2. Williams’ presentation titled, “Engineering the “Internet of Things Using Simulation," focused on the role of product design and simulation.

“We live in a connected world, and with the Internet of Things, products and systems come alive by communicating with us and with each other. Increasingly sophisticated electronics in cars, homes, hotels and offices keep us secure and comfortable, connected medical devices and technologies enable our health, and connected factories increase clean industrial productivity. All of the new IoT sensors, devices, and systems are designed by engineers, Williams said. “Imagine if engineers could experience a newly designed product before building it,“ he added.

ADVANCED PHYSICS-BASED SIMULATION

Williams explained how products are designed by engineers using advanced physics-based simulation, and how that technology has allowed individuals and companies to create disruptive products.

He provided a variety of examples of product simulation, such as how a custom app was developed to help eye surgeons plan the most effective procedure, how an oil refinery connects and adopts the GE Predix industrial internet platform to enhance reliability, and how companies like Cisco use simulation to design the high speed networking equipment that supports all of the network traffic coming with IoT.

Williams is responsible for the strategic direction of the company’s electrical and electronics products, including the High Frequency Structure Simulator (HFSS) electromagnetic field simulator. He had held various senior engineering positions in the Engineering Division of Hughes Aircraft Company, Radar Systems Group, where he was responsible for hardware design and development of advanced active phased array radar antennas, array element and aperture design, associated microwave subsystems, and antenna metrology.

Franco de Flaviis, UC Irvine professor of electrical engineering and computer science, also provided a brief overview of how the university has adopted the campus-wide availability of ANSYS simulation tools for teaching and research.