Design Optimization with HEEDS Professional

Engineers are regularly presented with a set of conflicting targets (e.g., for mass, cost, manufacturability and performance) and asked to find the best parameter values, or design attributes, to satisfy all of the design criteria. But, the usual solution approaches are no longer effective.

Increased pressure to compete is driving more ambitious design goals and shorter design cycles, while increased design complexity is making these targets more difficult to satisfy. The expensive and time-consuming trial-and-error process is no longer a viable option.

Within HEEDS^® Professional, you can easily define design parameters and multidisciplinary design goals, and choose analysis tools to judge a design’s performance. Then, HEEDS performs design iterations automatically while searching for design parameter values that simultaneously meet all targets and criteria. Using advanced, proprietary optimization algorithms and intelligent strategies, HEEDS Professional effectively searches even the most complicated design spaces, helping you to discover better designs, faster.

HEEDS' Parameter Optimization Methods
Parameter optimization methods are the mathematical search algorithms used in a parameter optimization study. The default search al­go­rithm in HEEDS is a proprietary method called SHERPA. SHERPA adaptively combines strategies from several different search methods and uses them simultaneously. Because SHERPA performs both global and local search at the same time, it is a good choice for almost any engineering design optimization problem.

Of course, HEEDS allows you to choose from a variety of other algorithms, as well, including:

• Multi-objective SHERPA (MO-SHERPA)
• Genetic algorithm
• Quadratic programming
• Simulated annealing
• Response surface
• Multi-start local search

Leverage the Power of HEEDS’ Exclusive Optimization Methods
HEEDS Professional’s proprietary optimization methods, SHERPA and MO-SHERPA, are the most efficient and robust available, shortening your design time from weeks to days. Shorter design time translates into reduced product development costs. At the same time, HEEDS Professional provides a more thorough search with the potential to yield truly innovative design alternatives that satisfy multiple, even conflicting, criteria. ►Learn more

How HEEDS Optimization Works
HEEDS Professional works the way you do. It captures and automates your current design workflow, based on the design and analysis tools you prefer to use. Then, it automatically explores the design space to quickly identify solutions that meet all of your performance and cost goals. ►Learn more