Software facilitates automotive safety testing.
Press Release Summary:
Safepass 201 and Safedesign Insight automate test setup, synchronize CAE models with test data, and capture setup and results data. Safepass 201 ensures new car designs meet interior head-impact safety requirements by automating target calculation, head-positioning, and correlation practices. Safedesign Insight overlays test results with CAE simulations, and allows engineers to calibrate video and CAE data while tracking motion in physical and virtual tests.
Original Press Release:
MTS Introduces Two Software Products for the Automotive Safety Engineering Market
Safepass 201 and Safedesign Insight improve product development productivity by automating test setup process and synchronizing CAE models with test data
Ford uses Safepass 201 to automate and eliminate days from the FMVSS201 certification process; Safedesign Insight revolutionizes how test and CAE models are calibrated and viewed
EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. -- Oct. 29, 2003 -- MTS Systems Corporation (Nasdaq: MTSC), a global supplier of testing products that help customers accelerate and improve their design, development and manufacturing processes, today introduced two automotive safety software products at Testing Expo 2003 North America, a gathering of the world's leading test equipment manufacturers and test service providers in Detroit.
Safepass 201 and Safedesign Insight from MTS help address challenges in productivity and design quality within the $4 billion safety engineering market. The products build on MTS' suite of proven testing software and reputation of providing high quality safety testing equipment, including the company's crash, head restraint and seat belt test systems. The new software solutions help customers significantly improve test productivity by automating the test setup process, synchronizing computer-aided-engineering (CAE) models and test data, and capturing setup and results data.
Safepass 201 eliminates days from the FMVSS201 certification process and helps vehicle makers ensure new car designs meet interior head-impact safety requirements by providing an easy-to-use tool set for standardizing, automating and increasing the accuracy of the entire process. The software automates target calculation, head-positioning and correlation practices, and can result in cost savings upwards of $100,000 per development program, while reducing costly surprises at vehicle certification.
FMVSS201 certification has historically been a time-consuming and expensive process. According to safety engineers at Ford, who have had the opportunity to recently use Safepass 201, the software has already proven to be an invaluable tool for increasing productivity and efficiency. Ford's engineers are now able to calculate head-impact targets - a process that used to take them a full week - in just 30 minutes using Safepass 201. Ford expects Safepass 201 will lead to significant time and cost-savings for its safety engineering program.
Safedesign Insight video analysis and validation software utilizes patented technology to overlay the results of safety tests (videos) with CAE simulations (models), vastly improving the side-by-side comparison process currently employed by engineers. The software is a true CAE post-processing environment and includes state-of-the-art machine vision and video processing technology that allows engineers to calibrate video data and CAE data while tracking motion in both the physical and virtual tests. With a typical occupant safety lab test costing $10,000 to $25,000 and requiring a full day of test preparation, Safedesign Insight can deliver significant cost savings to safety engineering programs by minimizing improper test setups and reducing the overall number of tests that need to be run.
"The introduction of these new products supports MTS' new vision for the role of physical testing in virtual product development," said Doug Marinaro, vice president of MTS Software and Consulting. "As the power of CAE continues to accelerate, it is only limited by the accuracy of the computer-generated models engineers create. This issue can be addressed by providing tools that make it easy to calibrate models with real-world tests. Our vision is to define and lead a new era in testing software by delivering solutions that increase the speed of testing, make test data ubiquitous and better calibrate CAE and test results. We believe the introduction of Safedesign Insight and Safepass 201 is an important step in realizing this vision, and a leap forward in creating an environment in which test and CAE are synchronous."
Testing Expo 2003
To see demonstrations and learn more about Safepass 201 and Safedesign Insight, visit MTS' booth (#1042) at Testing Expo, Oct. 29 - 31 in Detroit or visit mts.com/software on the worldwide web
About MTS Systems Corporation
MTS Systems Corporation is a global supplier of testing products that help customers accelerate and improve their design, development, and manufacturing processes. MTS products are used for determining the mechanical behavior of materials, products and structures and include computer-based testing and simulation systems, modeling and testing software, and consulting services. The company also is a leading manufacturer of industrial position sensors. MTS had 1,900 employees and revenue from continuing operations of $327 million for the fiscal year ended September 28, 2002. Additional information on MTS can be found on the worldwide web at www.mts.com.
