CAE moves to the fore
Hardware advances like multi-core processors are changing the way engineering teams work, moving highly specialized simulation and CAE analysis work up earlier in the design process. Bursts of improvements in clock speeds and graphics capabilities have long upped the ante for better performing CAD and CAE tools. But a new generation of multi-core processors and on-board graphics engines is setting the stage for a change in how engineers create, iterate and test product designs.
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Fuzzy neural control systems, explained
While engineers in the controls community have been busy migrating from traditional electromechanical and analog electronic control technologies to digital mechatronic control systems incorporating computerized analysis and decision-making algorithms, novel computer technologies have appeared on the horizon that may change things even more. Neural networks and fuzzy logic are already being applied, and may soon revolutionize how machine control systems are designed and programmed.
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HMI Software: Steady growth ahead
Applications expand and add security, connectivity is more common, and Web browsers are being added with increasing frequency—but users still shun wireless capabilities. The role of human-machine interfaces in automation and control grows more prominent day by day. HMIs are key elements to the success of industrial manufacturing and production, which depends on these systems to do more and more to monitor and control processes, do it faster, and do it more accurately and precisely.
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