Physical Modeling Consortium Founded by Maplesoft Brings Together Automotive Giants at a Common Forum
Group to Share Ideas and Evolve New Processes in Automotive Design
WATERLOO, Ontario--(Business Wire)--Maplesoft(TM) today announced the founding of the Physical
Modeling Consortium, a forum in which organizations can share ideas
and advance the development of Rapid Plant Modeling methodology based
on symbolic computation. As the founder and organizer, Maplesoft
brings together leading companies in the automotive sector to discuss
and explore shared challenges and new ideas.
The inaugural meeting of the consortium was held in California in
conjunction with the International Federation of Automatic Control
(IFAC) Symposium on Advances in Automotive Control. At this meeting,
Toyota presented its vision for the future development in Rapid Plant
Modeling methodology based on symbolic computation, and Maplesoft
presented research and development in support of this vision.
Attendees at this initial consortium meeting included
representatives from major players in the auto industry, including
OEMs, Tier 1 suppliers, consultancies, and academic researchers. Over
25 organizations participated in the initial meeting, and several
others have expressed interest in future meetings.
Subsequent meetings of the Physical Modeling Consortium will take
place in February 2008 in Berlin, Germany, and in July 2008 in Seoul,
Korea.
Over the past 15 years, the automotive industry has succeeded in
addressing the need for fast and effective design, simulation, and
development of control systems through "off-the-shelf" software tools.
Companies such as Toyota have led the adoption of such tools and the
concept of Model-Based Design. However, today, automotive industry
leaders recognize the need for a new set of software tools and methods
to address the parallel problem of physical modeling (or "plant"
modeling).
"Symbolic computation techniques offer a natural paradigm for
physical modeling, and provide model simplification
capabilities that deliver the fastest possible execution speed and are
critical for today's complex systems," said Laurent Bernardin, Chief
Scientist and Vice President of Research and Development, Maplesoft.
"Using mathematical solving tools such as Maple(TM), engineers can
arrive at concise and computationally efficient models. These tools
can substantially ease the modeling process of automotive systems. We
see companies increasingly using these tools to address their most
challenging problems."
Maplesoft is a recognized leader in mathematical software. Maple,
its flagship product, is the world's most sophisticated and
widely-used symbolic mathematics system, and includes a
fully-integrated set of industry-standard numeric solvers. The
Maplesoft product line integrates tightly with existing customer tool
chains, which include tools from The MathWorks(R), 3-D CAD systems,
real-time hardware systems, and spreadsheets.
Maplesoft's range of engineering modeling tools offers solutions
to high-fidelity modeling problems, such as those involving the
implementation of vehicle dynamics in real-time simulators for
hardware-in-the-loop testing.
About Maplesoft
Maplesoft is the leading provider of high-performance software
tools for engineering, science, and mathematics. Its product suite
reflects the philosophy that given great tools, people can do great
things. Maplesoft has transformed the way engineers, scientists, and
mathematicians use math, enabling them to work better, faster, and
smarter.
Organizations around the world have applied Maplesoft solutions in
nearly every technical field including engineering design, operations
research, scientific research, and financial analysis. Maplesoft's
commercial customers include Allied Signal, BMW, Boeing, Bosch, Canon,
Chrysler, DENSO, Ford, General Electric, Hewlett Packard, Lockheed
Martin, Lucent Technologies, Motorola, NASA, Raytheon, Sun
Microsystems, Toyota, and many more.
Maplesoft offers powerful and easy-to-use tools that improve
designs, save time and reduce errors.
-- Maple solves complex mathematical problems and creates rich
technical documents.
-- Maple Toolbox for MATLAB(R) seamlessly integrates Maple into
an existing MATLAB environment.
-- BlockBuilder(TM) for Simulink(R) is a First Principles
environment that integrates Maple into an existing Simulink
environment by automatically producing Simulink blocks.
-- BlockImporter for Simulink is a Maple add-on tool that allows
you to import a Simulink model into Maple and convert it to a
set of mathematical equations.
-- MapleNet(TM) allows users to publish live Maple documents on
the Web.
-- The Professional Toolbox Series(TM) provides domain-specific
tools that focus the core Maplesoft products on
discipline-specific applications.
Visit www.maplesoft.com to learn more.
Maplesoft
Tina George, +1 519-747-2373 ext 352
tgeorge@maplesoft.com
Copyright Business Wire 2008
