November 5, 2009 -- Ansys, Inc., a developer of simulation software and technologies designed to optimize product development processes, has released its Ansoft Academic Product bundle, designed for teaching and academic research related specifically to radio frequency (RF) microwave, signal integrity (SI) and electromechanical systems engineering.
The company says its bundling concept offers full commercial versions of the Ansoft family of products including the industry-standard HFSS, Ansoft Designer and Maxwell software. Similar in structure to the globally available Ansys Academic Product portfolio, the Ansoft academic engineering simulation software provides feature-rich products and scalability for both universities and students alike.
“There’s no longer the need to choose different product capabilities from a vast list of offerings -- the academic software bundle has been uniquely configured to offer everything the college, department and students require, now, without the need to add other follow-on products later,” says Paul Lethbridge, academic product strategy and planning manager at Ansys, Inc. “In addition, students and researchers can explore beyond the limited scope of a single product capability. This alone encourages multiphysics, multi-scale thinking, leading to innovation -- giving students more real-world experience and, therefore, more value when they move into industry.” Lethbridge adds that the bundling concept has been designed to simplify logistics, including purchasing, licensing and deployment processes.
The Ansoft Academic Product offering is now available as two options: high-frequency (HF) and electromechanical (EM). The HF bundle, suitable for high-performance RF, microwave, millimeter-wave device simulation and signal integrity applications, includes the company's HFSS, Q3D Extractor, Ansoft Designer and Nexxim technologies. The EM bundle is intended for the design and simulation of motors, actuators, transformers, electromechanical devices, and multi-domain systems that couple thermal, electromechanical, electromagnetic and hydraulic devices; it includes Maxwell and Simplorer software. Both bundles include the company's Optimetrics technology, parallel processing, and import/connectivity to many common MCAD and ECAD tools. An option is available that specifically incorporates the HFSS high-performance computing capability, which allows handling extremely large simulations.
Ansys notes that its academic products are already used by thousands of universities and colleges in more than 60 countries, with hundreds of thousands of users. For example, Purdue University in Lafayette, Indiana applies the Ansoft Academic Product throughout its electromagnetic curriculum. “Having many licenses allows us to start from the basic undergraduate courses, where many students need to login to see visualizations, through to graduate courses, where more advanced problems can be solved in detail with combinations of full-wave analysis and planar/circuit tools,” maintains William Chappell, a representative for Purdue. “Our previous solution greatly constrained how well we could integrate the software into the curriculum.”
Similarly, the Institute of Microwaves and Photonics at the U.K.’s University of Leeds has successfully used Ansoft HFSS software in a variety of projects, including the design of microwave filters, antennas, THz transmission lines and waveguides. “The new high-frequency Ansoft Academic HF product bundle is proving invaluable for our research projects,” says Ian Hunter, a representative of the institute.
Earlier this year, the University of Florida also migrated to the new Ansoft Academic Research HF product bundle earlier this year. “We are very pleased with the scope of the capabilities bundled. For example, the inclusion of Ansoft Designer, Nexxim and SIwave with HFSS technologies allows our research group to combine high-fidelity finite element modeling with advanced circuit and signal integrity simulation. The generous bundling offers considerable value and allows us to work beyond our previous limited-simulation-quantity boundaries,” comments Jenshan Lin of University of Florida.
All of the Ansoft RF/SI or Ansoft EM technology is essentially packaged into a single product license. The floating LAN licenses are available in 1-, 5-, 25- and 50-user increments, and can also be factored into ANSYS campus-wide solutions for larger-scale deployment together with the other Ansys academic product offerings, which can be viewed at www.ansys.com/academic.
