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Ansys ModelCenter
Connecting system requirements to engineering analysis

Empower engineers to create and automate multi-tool workflows, optimize product designs, and enable Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) by connecting requirements to engineering.

UNLOCK THE PROMISE OF MBSE

Automate any Engineering Analysis Tool to a Digital Thread

Automate the execution of any software tool, such as Ansys LS-Dyna, MathWorks MATLAB®, Microsoft Excel®, MSC Nastran®, PTC Creo®, and many more. Integrate these tools to create automated engineering workflows and build a workflow library. Leverage high-performance computing to ask “what-if” questions to perform trade studies. Connect all of it to a systems architecture model to enable Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE).

  • Reduce Development Costs
    Reduce Development Costs
  • Design more competitive products
    Design More Competitive Products
  • Verify Requirements Using Any Engineering Analysis
    Verify Requirements Using Any Engineering Analysis
  • Connect Any Analysis to the Digital Thread
    Connect Any Analysis to the Digital Thread

Quick Specs

ModelCenter simplifies engineering workloads by automating repeatable tasks and creating direct links between engineering tools and requirements. Users have gone from a few simulations per day to hundreds. Organizations can now shift resources left, reducing developmental costs while accelerating the time-to-market.

  • Early Concept Design Exploration
  • Open Architecture
  • Automatically Execute Workflows
  • Identify Problems Early
  • Integrate MBSE to Analysis & Simulation
  • Behavioral Simulation
  • Make Better Decisions
  • Increase Collaboration
  • Automate Any Tool
  • Easy-to-create Engineering Workflows
  • Explore Trade-Offs
  • Model as a Service

Integrating Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) to Simulate the Mission Trajectory of the OSIRIS-REx Spacecraft

Leveraging MBSE to improve the continuous verification of requirements and mission design parameters

Integrating Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) to Simulate the Mission Trajectory of the OSIRIS-REx Spacecraft

“Automating and integrating the simulation into this system model then allows the team to rapidly identify potential issues with changes to mission requirements, as well as perform continuous verification of requirements and mission design parameters throughout the lifecycle of the spacecraft... The overall improvement versus the original process was about a 7x speedup in turnaround time.”

—Phathom Athena Donald, Systems Engineer, Lockheed Martin Space

On September 5, 2016 an Atlas V rocketed from Cape Canaveral carrying the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft on a mission to discover the origin of our solar system by exploring the asteroid Bennu. Bennu may help us find answers to the questions central to the human experience: Where did we come from? What is our destiny?

The specific mission had the following objectives:

  • Return and analyze a sample of Bennu’s surface
  • Map the asteroid
  • Document the sample site
  • Measure the orbit deviation caused by non-gravitational forces (the Yarkovsky effect)
  • Compare observations at the asteroid to ground-based observations

In October 2020, OSIRIS-REx conducted a “touch-and-go” maneuver to collect at least 60 grams, a far larger sample size than any other previous sample retrieval mission. On May 10, 2021, OSIRIS-REx fired its thrusters and heads on a 2.5-year course back to Earth.

The OSIRIS-REx mission was complex and daunting. Preparing for it required months of testing, modeling, and analyzing each step. This case study explores how Lockheed Martin planned for the mission using ModelCenter® and ModelCenter MBSE to enable Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) for the success of the mission.  

JANUARY 2024

What's New

The latest release of ModelCenter now connects with the new Ansys SAM, introduces PyModelCenter, and continues supporting the latest versions of third-party plugins.

2024 R1 ModelCenter
Connectivity to Ansys System Architecture Modeler

The connection to the new Ansys SAM allows users to enable MBSE. It allows more customers to implement MBSE using SysMLv2 language on a web-based platform with real-time collaboration.

2024 R1 Py ModelCenter
PyModelCenter

PyModelCenter expands ModelCenter’s interoperability capabilities through Python’s open-source library. Customers can now interact with ModelCenter through Python.

2024 R1 ModelCenter
Up to Date Connectivity

ModelCenter now supports the latest version of third-party plugins, leading to better connectivity. The plugins support SolidWorks (2022, 2023), Creo (9, 10), and MATLAB 2023a​.

Model-Based Engineering processes require an intuitive, flexible and open framework

ModelCenter implements Model-Based Engineering processes flexibly. With ModelCenter, engineers can create and maintain a library of modeling and simulation tools and engineering workflows. You'll automatically execute the workflows, leverage high-performance computing resources to perform trade studies, and ask "what-if" questions. Best of all, these workflows connect to a systems architecture model to perform Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE).

Model-based engineering processes require an intuitive, flexible and open framework

 

Key Features

Drive innovation and improve product quality by enabling users to thoroughly explore and understand design alternatives, make better decisions, and find optimal solutions.

ModelCenter provides a graphical user interface for executing the connected ModelCenter workflow. Analysis results can be used to check requirements conformance, with unsatisfied requirements automatically highlighted. Trade studies can evaluate different design configurations and optimize the system design. New design configurations can update the systems model.

ModelCenter permits engineers to connect any analysis to behavioral diagrams created using NoMagic MagicDraw/Cameo or PTC Windchill Modeler. The integrated model (behavioral diagram plus analysis) results in a high-fidelity system simulation allowing engineers to accurately VERIFY system behavior and performance early in the design cycle, reducing costs and designing better products.

ModelCenter provides users with tools and methods that allow them to automate the execution of any modeling tool. Examples include user-created tools and scripts, legacy FORTRAN/C++ programs, spreadsheets, mathematical models, databases, and Computer-Aided Design (CAD) and Computer-Aided Engineering (CAE) models.

Once a few software tools are automated, ModelCenter's drag-and-drop graphical user interface can be used to assemble these tools into a complete engineering workflow. An engineering workflow specifies the order and conditions of how and when to automate the tools. Like flowcharts, workflows can contain branches, if-then statements, loops, etc. Execute the workflow – automatically.

ModelCenter's Link Editor allows you to specify the data transferred from one tool to the next when the workflow executes. Your workflow may contain tools that run on any number of different computers and operating systems.

Analysis and trade-study results can be used to significant trends and trade-offs. Once a repeatable engineering analysis process is created, engineers can repeatedly execute the process (using parallel computing resources if available). Each execution corresponds to a different set of inputs. Engineers can explore and quantify the performance, cost, reliability, and risk of many various design alternatives in a relatively short time.

MODELCENTER RESOURCES & EVENTS

Resources & Events

On-Demand Webinar
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Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) Expert Panel

Listen and learn about Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) from the experts at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, SAIC, Vitech, Northrop Grumman Corp., and Ford Motor Company. 

On-Demand Webinar
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Digital Mission Engineering (DME) Expert Panel

Listen and learn about Digital Mission Engineering (DME) from the experts at the Office of Secretary of Defense – Research and Engineering, Parsons, SAIC, Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, and Space Systems Command – US Space Force.

On-Demand Webinar
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Multidisciplinary Design, Analysis, and Optimization (MDAO) Expert Panel

Listen and learn about Multidisciplinary Design, Analysis, and Optimization (MDAO) from the experts at Air Force Research Laboratory, Northrop Grumman Aeronautics Systems, ManTech, The Boeing Company, and Lockheed Martin Aeronautics. 


Blogs

model-based systems

Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) Explained

See how organizations are using model-based solutions that enable them to manage complexity, collaborate and communicate, reduce costs, and get products to market more quickly.

how mbse is used

How MBSE is Used in Aerospace Engineering

Learn how MBSE helps engineers manage the complexity of aerospace systems by extending modeling to every phase of the design process.

designing complex system

How to Design a Complex System With Model-Based Systems Engineering

Learn how to use MBSE to capture, organize and share processes, models, input data, and the results and conclusions generated during the engineering design and analysis process.

model-based design for embedded software

All Systems Go with Model-Based Design for Embedded Software

Ansys SCADE Suite, a model-based development environment for reliable embedded software, provides an end-to-end solution via an all-in-one platform.

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