Synopsys partners with Airbus to develop new Saber RT simulation tool for aircraft systems

Citation

(2003), "Synopsys partners with Airbus to develop new Saber RT simulation tool for aircraft systems", Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology, Vol. 75 No. 5. https://doi.org/10.1108/aeat.2003.12775eab.005

Synopsys partners with Airbus to develop new Saber RT simulation tool for aircraft systems

Synopsys partners with Airbus to develop new Saber RT simulation tool for aircraft systems

Keywords: Aircraft, Simulation, Tooling

Synopsys Inc. has announced that in partnership with Airbus it is to develop a new tool, Saber RT, for the simulation of systems in the Airbus A380, the world's largest passenger aeroplane. By leveraging Saber RT to perform interactive simulation of many systems including hydraulic components, Airbus has been able to save significant prototype costs and speed time-to- production.

"Airbus evaluated multiple system-level simulation tools and decided to use the Synopsys Saber tool for designing the Airbus A380's hydraulic and other systems" said Didier Katzenmayer, Manager of CAD Support, Electronics Department at Airbus.

"However, we also need to be able to perform "interactive" simulation, a function that Saber did not yet provide. Through our close working relationship with Synopsys, we were able to guide their development of an even more sophisticated simulation tool – SaberRT – that does everything we need. Saber RT offers the unique ability to simulate complex designs with physical components, speeding our entire design process and reducing the number of prototypes we have to build."

Traditionally, multiple hardware prototypes costing more than $10 million are needed to simulate thousands of functions required for large systems. For example, an aeroplane prototype must test everything from an overhead light to the landing gear and thousands of other functions. The hydraulic system alone can contain many components that require testing. Saber RT performs "interactive" simulation, which behaves identically to an actual hardware component. This eliminates the need to build multiple components, and functions as a bridge from simulation to production, saving the time and expense associated with building prototypes.

"Airbus needed to see the real-time behaviour of the A380's many on-board systems working together before building numerous system prototypes – something they had never been done before" said Antun Domic, Senior Vice President and General Manager for Synopsys' NAT business unit. "This posed a unique challenge that required a creative solution. Working closely with Airbus, the Synopsys team created a product that is capable of simulating the behaviour of such complex hardware systems. The co-operation between Synopsys and Airbus exemplifies Synopsys' strength in partnering with customers to work on solutions that target their specific needs."

Details available from: Synopsys, Inc. Tel: +1 650 584 4194; E-mail: golde@synopsys.com