The first issue of the ANSYS Advantage magazine for 2013 is now available for your reading pleasure… and it focuses on the aerospace industry. Our subject is especially timely, since the aerospace industry is poised to kick off another record year: OEMs (including Boeing and Airbus) as well as the supply chain (such as GE Aviation and Pratt & Whitney)  have record backlogs of orders. I’m proud to be involved in putting this magazine together. The publication involves a huge effort from our customers and our staff, so I congratulate and thank them for an excellent job.

Next-generation technology in aerospace

One of the reasons I enjoy this work so much is that I gain insight into a breadth of applications. All too often, we get focused on a specific discipline, such as aerodynamics, composites, electronic systems or software (among others), causing us to lose sight of the bigger picture. In aerospace, the view from 20,000 feet shows us that the industry designs and manufactures some of the most complex man-made systems on earth.

Seeing it from this perspective really makes me realize the important role that the modeling and simulation community plays in aerospace product development. While we continually strive for incremental improvements in each discipline, we cannot lose sight of  coupling all these disciplines as a system — and not just hardware, but software and embedded systems. Furthermore, we must also focus on the future —  so the industry can continue to grow and contribute to developing revolutionary next-generation technology. All of these factors make the aerospace industry so exciting today! Continue reading →