Siemens Capital software integration with IBM will link IBM Engineering System Design Rhapsody for systems engineering with solutions from the Siemens Xcelerator portfolio of software and services, which includes Siemens’ Teamcenter® software for Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) and CapitalTM software for electrical/electronic (E/E) systems development and software implementation.
Announcing the Development of Capital Software Integration With IBM for E/E Systems and Software Development
IBM and Siemens recently announced a collaboration to develop a single software solution that incorporates their respective systems engineering, service lifecycle management, and asset management technologies. This new technique is projected to improve traceability and long-term product development in disciplines such as mechanical, electronics, electrical, and software engineering.
This is merely the most recent example of IBM and Siemens’ decades-long collaboration to develop solutions that integrate their respective offerings. In the beginning, the companies are collaborating to connect IBM Engineering System Design Rhapsody for systems engineering with solutions from the Siemens Xcelerator portfolio of software and services, such as Siemens’ Teamcenter software for PLM and Capital software for E/E systems development and software implementation. The firms have also linked the IBM Maximo Asset Management Application Suite with Siemens’ Teamcenter software to offer an integrated digital thread between service engineering, asset management, and service execution.
This is merely the most recent example of IBM and Siemens’ decades-long collaboration to develop solutions that integrate their respective offerings. In the beginning, the companies are collaborating to connect IBM Engineering System Design Rhapsody for systems engineering with solutions from the Siemens Xcelerator portfolio of software and services, such as Siemens’ Teamcenter software for PLM and Capital software for E/E systems development and software implementation. The firms have also linked the IBM Maximo Asset Management Application Suite with Siemens’ Teamcenter software to offer an integrated digital thread between service engineering, asset management, and service execution.
In this post, I will explore:
- Multi-domain system architecture design within the new system
- Software architecture definition
- Software implementation
While I will primarily focus on the automotive solution, this concept is applicable to other sectors. Rhapsody systems and software solutions for automotive can be expanded from E/E system design deployments, network deployments, and embedded deployments. It can grow from E/E systems and network installations in the aerospace, defense, and other industries.
fig. 1 The automotive industry is transforming, rapidly emerging into software-driven innovations.
The demands of the automotive marketplace continue to be drivers of innovation. They include:
- Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) and Autonomous Driving
- Sustainability
- Electrification
- Feature or Function Subscription models, enabling the in-vehicle features to be upgraded after sales, by over-the-air updates
Connectivity from within and to the vehicle, with own mobile devices or by features made available by the vehicle itself
All these challenges not only lead to an increase of software within a vehicle but also increase the functional complexity that the software needs to handle.
fig. 2 Software architecture progression
Going from left to right in , architecture appears to simplify, with grey boxes denoting ECUs and a shift over time from traditional to zonal architecture, however this is misleading. When condensing more functionality on fewer controllers, things get more complicated in terms of software.
Maintaining performance, timing needs and staying within network bandwidth budgets get more difficult for the software defined vehicle (SDV), where more software content gets added after car delivery to customer over the whole vehicle lifecycle.
To mitigate the risks that may be encountered in modern engineering processes, an actionable digital thread linking all engineering disciplines is required. One of the major issues is the separation of engineering processes across design layers and lifecycle stages.
For software, this pertains to gaps between text requirements, system and E/E architecture, software architecture, and software component implementation. Horizontally, it’s all about connecting design to testing and left-shifting virtual integration. As mentioned, in the new solution, all layers are connected across design domains and hierarchies and across engineering lifecycle phases.
Rhapsody Software Developer for Capital – SysML
Using SysML models, multidomain system architecture design with Rhapsody Software Developer for Capital generates proper and full stakeholder needs. The new comprehensive suite of integrated engineering software is SysML v1 standards-based and uses reusable functional models to guide software and E/E platform design. SysML can be used to specify, analyze, create, and validate a wide range of systems and systems-of-systems.
We’re also working together to create a SysML v2-based solution with a migration path for customers to convert to next-generation Systems Engineering solutions. This is intended to make it easier to reuse system models and associated data with standards-based solutions in an open ecosystem, allowing customers to produce new products faster, at a cheaper cost, with less risk, and more sustainably.
Customers should also benefit from a generative and reproducible entry into the area of software engineering. In the generating step, SysML is converted into a first AUTOSAR software architecture. As new and existing automotive businesses develop next-generation vehicle platforms, generative design will be a critical enabler. The ability to automatically develop electrical system architectures enables teams to manage complexity and conduct early design exploration and optimization. Furthermore, generative design generates a single source of data, which encourages consistency across domains, design reuse, and improves the analysis of change impact.
Rhapsody Software Developer for Capital – AUTOSAR Architecture
Rhapsody Software Developer for Capital enables design across various standards, including AUTOSAR Classic, AUTOSAR Adaptive, and proprietary platforms. Customers can construct reusable models from generated AUTOSAR architecture and embellish port, interfaces, data types and mappings, and internal behavior to increase accuracy. By creating proper by construction AUTOSAR models, ARXML representations, and code APIs, the system can eliminate rework and ensure standard compliance by generating AUTOSAR models immediately from the architecture. By automating the generation of code contracts, you can reduce time to market.
Rhapsody Software Developer for Capital – Flexible Implementation
The new method is adaptable and enables for the implementation of AUTOSAR and non-AUTOSAR software components using the Unified Modeling Language (UML). Engineers can rapidly build proper and integration-ready C, C++, and Java code from UML models using the code-generation framework. The resulting code can be inspected and edited immediately within the tool, saving time by removing the need to transition to another integrated development environment.