Remapping the world of design

You can now design a machine in all its aspects, model it, simulate it, design the test rig and then map the test results onto the original model to compare predictions with reality. How? By combining the world’s leading instrumentation design and test software with some of the world’s leading 3D modelling and simulation software. NI LabView and SolidWorks have been combined into a pre-release tool kit that allows the mechanical, electrical and control software to be designed at the same time together to achieve a desired outcome. And LabView test data can be mapped onto SolidWorks’ geometry to compare them with CosmosWorks predictions, using NI Insight. While the tools are still at an early stage in development, they are far enough advanced to be used to accelerate and improve product development enormously. More details on this technology appear in the March issue of Eureka.