Stellenbosch, South Africa - 28 July, 2008 - EMSS and ESI Group are pleased to announce that they have joined forces in order to provide a solution for the analysis of complex cable bundles in their operating environment.

The introduction of more electronic systems on vehicles (e.g. automobiles, trains and aircraft) is putting increasing demands on the integration of such systems from an interference (electromagnetic compatibility, EMC) point of view. One such aspect is the coupling of signals from one system into the cables, or cable bundles, connected to an adjacent system. For example, signals or unwanted electromagnetic noise emitted from the engine area of an automobile can interfere with the communication, navigation or entertainment systems. An even worse case would be interference with critical systems such as safety airbags, breaking systems etc. Although measurements are normally used during the design process, simulations can offer an insight into the interference mechanisms, with significant time and cost savings.

The analysis of complex cable bundles, their connections, and their surrounding environment (e.g. the chassis of an automobile), is one of the most challenging aspects of electromagnetic field analysis. No single full 3D EM solver is currently capable of a complete integrated solution and a combination, or hybrid, of solver techniques is required. With this cooperation and specifically through the interface between their respective solvers CRIPTE and FEKO, ESI Group and EMSS will provide their customers with a better solution to such challenging problems of electronic system compatibility.

CRIPTE uses 2D analysis at various positions along the cable bundles to calculate the multiconductor transmission line characteristics while FEKO, a full 3D EM solver, is used to analyse the structures surrounding the cable bundles.

The cooperation will extend beyond a simple interface between these two technologies, as both companies will also be using their respective sales and support networks to promote their respective products.

About ESI Group

ESI Group is a world-leading supplier and pioneer of digital simulation software for prototyping and manufacturing processes that take into account the physics of materials. ESI Group has developed an extensive suite of coherent, industry-oriented applications to realistically simulate a product’s behavior during testing, to fine-tune manufacturing processes in accordance with desired product performance, and to evaluate the environment’s impact on product performance. ESI Group’s offer represents a unique collaborative solution with an open virtual engineering environment known as the Virtual Try-Out Space, enabling virtual prototypes to be improved in a continuous and collaborative manner while eliminating the need for physical prototypes during product development. The company employs over 700 high-level specialists worldwide covering more than 30 countries. ESI Group is listed in compartment C of Euronext Paris. For further information, visit www.esi-group.com.

ESI Group - Press Contact:             
Amy de Rouvray
Tel.: +33(0)1 41 73 59 01

About FEKO

FEKO (www.feko.info) is a comprehensive computational electromagnetics code (CEM code) used widely in the telecommunications-, automobile- , space- and defence-industry. FEKO offers several solution techniques (MoM, MLFMM, PO, UTD and FEM) enabling the solution of a very broad spectrum of EM problems e.g. 3D antenna design, antenna placement on electrically large structures, microstrip-antennas, microstrip-circuits, EMC, biomedical and scattering. About EM Software & Systems –SA (Pty) Ltd EMSS was started in 1994 as an engineering company consulting in general electromagnetic problems. EMSS (USA) Inc. and EMSS GmbH serve customers in North America (US, Canada and Mexico) and Europe respectively.

EM Software & Systems-SA (Pty)
Ltd PO Box 1354, Stellenbosch, 7599, South Africa
Tel: +27 (21) 880 1880 Fax: +27 (21) 880 1936
Email: info@emss.co.za URL: www.emss.co.za