Generative Engineering: Automation for Electrical Distribution Systems

Today’s products come in a dizzying array of options. And their variants may differ dramatically from one another. In fact, the different functional requirements of each E/E system mean that wiring harnesses can be rarely reused in variants of the same products.

Manually designing a new E/E system for each configuration, which is the traditional approach, is a monumental task. You have to create a new system for each variant, which comes with its own set of design requirements.

Engineers can certainly do this, but it is exceedingly difficult and practically impossible to reach an optimal solution: It could take hours or even days to design the right harness for each use case. This might be acceptable for simple systems, but it is extremely inefficient and unproductive for complex platforms.

Take a car as an example. The engineering team can manually explore many E/E architectures for a single variant pretty easily. But if there are 300 variants to consider, this adds up to a ridiculous amount of work.

Yet, companies have been operating this way because they had no other option.

Enter generative engineering.

The core idea of generative engineering is this: Let the software automatically create feasible architectures and designs of an E/E system based on the specific set of design requirements you’ve provided. This extends further into wiring harnesses, manufacturing drawings, and service documentation.

First, you describe the constraints of each design variant. Then, you let the algorithm generate a configuration of electronics, electrical distribution, and software that meets these constraints. Finally, you review the results. If there is more than one feasible solution, select the best option.

The role of the engineer shifts dramatically in the generative engineering process. In the traditional approach, the engineer had to come up with new possible solutions. In the novel approach, the engineer is freed from that task. He can focus on clearly defining the problem and reviewing, verifying, and selecting the best solution.

This is the promise of generative engineering.

This new approach has a big impact on the way we develop new products. It lets engineers prioritize core design work over manual design tasks. And by incorporating automation, speeds up the development process. Your engineers can go through 10 design iterations in the time it used to take to complete one. And now, engineering teams can develop tailor-made solutions for each use case and meet their deadlines.

• To address user demands, companies are integrating smart features into their platforms. On-board processing units, sensors, and antennas are becoming more and more common in consumer and industrial products. As a result, E/E systems are getting more complicated.
• This trend introduces new complexities to the product development process. Engineers have to add yet another design consideration to the already long list of design requirements—some of which conflict. It’s obvious that the manual design processes of the past are too time-consuming and expensive for modern production.
• Generative engineering is an alternative to the traditional approach to E/E system design. Using algorithms, engineering teams can leverage design automation to generate system architectures, wiring harnesses, manufacturing drawings, and service documentation that meet the unique requirement of each application. This allows them to go through 10 times more design iterations in the same amount of time and create products with higher performance.