Like many other CAE software, OPTIS can help automotive engineers meet the high demands from customers, regulations and car magazines while fostering innovation and reducing the development cycle. (Image courtesy of OPTIS.)
Engineers relying on rules of thumb to solve their automotive lighting needs might as well be making a shot in the dark.
Optical simulation technologies, like OPTIS’ SPEOS, are well-known and can help engineers digitally simulate how their products interact with light. With computer-aided engineering (CAE) technology, engineers can assess their car designs before they hit manufacturing lines, guiding them through the tunnel that is product development.
OPTIS CAE Software Portfolio for Automotive Engineers
OPTIS reported that, when HYUNDAI used SPEOS software to design a low beam system, the car company slashed the development time by 40 percent. (Image courtesy of OPTIS.)
With this tool, for instance, they can optimize a headlight system or the sensor performance of an advanced driver assistance system (ADAS), saving thousands of individuals from walking into the great light before their time.
“When designing headlights, you will need to check the sensor vison and human vision,” said Cédric Bellanger, marketing and communication coordinator at OPTIS. “This is the same technology you just have to understand the incoming light, which we do.”
But the tool can do much more than optimize headlamps and sensors. Engineers can optimize their human machine interfaces (HMIs), heads up displays (HUDs), mirrors and display screens so that they send vital information to drivers in any lighting condition, be it rain, shine or tacky aviator glasses.
Let’s face it, trying to see a washed out display screen is the start to a dark, sad day.
“OPTIS is involved where light is involved and light is everywhere,” joked Bellanger. “When you design you need to experience the light in a real-to-life lighting experience. We are mainly focused in automotive exterior lighting. That’s where the optical system will have the most advanced technology.”
However, OPTIS doesn’t have a monopoly on optical simulations. Some other optical simulation tools lighting up the sky include:
- Breault Research
- Zemax
- Synopsys
- LAMBDA
- Photopia
As for ADAS, OPTIS estimated that validating one of these systems reqires about a million miles and five million dollars. Expand that into autonomous driving and you will see that a company has a better chance of being struck by lightning than having a budget to validate a self-driving car with physical prototypes alone.
OPTIS has other technology up its sleeve including:
- Theia RT for color and material testing under light
- HIM for human ergonomics and plant safety assessments
- GENESIS for acoustics to eliminate automotive sounds or optimize an engine purr
- AESTHETICA for perceived product quality, defects and tolerance analysis
SPEOS Optical Simulations Capabilities
Some of the physics-based optical simulation features offered by SPEOS. (Image courtesy of OPTIS.)
The optical simulation technology is compatible with CATIA V5, SOLIDWORKS, NX and Creo.
In fact, OPTIS recently announced that the complete abilities of this flagship program can now be accessed through SOLIDWORKS.
Originally, SOLIDWORKS users were limited to a stripped-down version of software via OptisWorks. However, users can now access the full SPEOS program using a subscription license.
“We are not simply rebranding OptisWorks into SPEOS for SOLIDWORKS; this SPEOS is a complete breakthrough if we compare it with OptisWorks,” explained Nicolas Orand, Product Development Director at OPTIS.
“The first thing for us was to facilitate the use of the software for non-expert users,” he continued. “An intelligent and intuitive interface allows all the players in the field of lighting to take advantage of the power and reliability of SPEOS without wasting their time with overly complex parameters. Our objective was to work on the interface to obtain an easy-to-use and aesthetically pleasing software.”
As SPEOS helps engineers experience their designs early in development, it isn’t shocking to learn that the latest release, SPEOS 2017 is VR- and AR-ready. Currently, the software is compatible with 3D goggles, helmets, driving simulators and CAVEs.
Engineers can even move within the 3D environment to get a better sense of the design.
The SPEOS Workflow for Optical Simulations
Closed loop simulations in various lighting conditions performed to optimized ADAS performance. (Image courtesy of OPTIS.)
“The vehicle is connected to vehicle dynamics, immersed in an accurate 3D environment, while OPTIS simulates what the sensor is capturing in terms of raw data,” said Giles Gallée, solutions director for autonomous driving and simulators at OPTIS.
First you need to optimize the position of the sensor, then validate the position with an open loop simulation. Finally, you need to test and validate the ADAA system with a closed loop simulation.
Too fast? Not a photon? Let’s break it down.
First, the engineer needs to import automotive CAD geometry for their design and the environment the design operates in. Next, the user needs to set up material definitions and their optical properties. These properties will need to be included for the car, road environment and target the sensor is trying to detect.
Fortunately, the OPTIS library includes the optical properties of many materials. However, if you are working with a custom material, then you can also create material properties based on any data you collect in real life.
Next, the user needs to define the sensor, in this case, let’s say, a camera. The camera’s characteristics must also be included to get a clear picture from the simulation. Everything from the camera’s location, orientation, pixel count, white balance, sensitivity, capture radius and lens distortions need to be collected.
The user then needs to generate a pixel grid to determine how the camera performs. This gives engineers the ability to detect mechanical interference and the camera’s performance.
Additionally, engineers will want to assess how various light sources can affect the camera. Sun positioning, driving conditions, road objects, vision obstructions, street lights and head lamps can all be included in the assessment of the camera. This rigorousness of this test can be variable going from preliminary testing early in the development cycle to intensive quality testing to validate and certify the final design.
From this point, static images and videos can be collected from the simulations which show the engineer what the cameras have captured.
Finally, a closed loop simulation can be created to test out how the camera performs based on the logic of the ADAS. This will help ensure that, when the vehicle is on the road, it will not be crashing into anything during poor visibility conditions.
“OPTIS provides an ADAS simulation testing platform that includes physics-based sensor models as a solution to support major automotive players,” said Gallée. “The first solution product is SPEOS DVS, which is CAD integrated with the objective to quickly and efficiently evaluate the vision performance of sensors and generate open-looped simulation for lighting. The second stage is to bring these models into VRX-AD which is integrated into the system development with the objective to evaluate the sensors with the systems of the self-driving car. So, it’s well integrated into MIL/SIL/HIL closed-loop simulation for testing and validating the systems of the vehicle.”
To learn more about OPTIS and SPEOS, check out the company’s website here.