AMTRI spearheads PhysVis project to develop advanced and low-cost software for visualising and simulating complex systems

A joint project featuring technology transferred from the serious computer games industry aims to develop a low-cost, high-performance physics-based software product for the visualisation and simulation of complex manufacturing systems in a range of industries.

Called PhysVis the joint project will be led by AMTRI, one of the United Kingdom's leading production engineering specialists. The company's partners in the project are Advanced Composites Group, a world leading British manufacturer of high performance composite materials for many industries, including the aerospace sector; and Innoval Technology, an independent materials and process technology consultancy based in Banbury, UK.

A total of £400,000 is being invested in the project, made up of contributions from the partners and a grant of £199,736 from the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI). The nineteen-month project started in October 2006 and qualified for funding under the DTI-led Technology Programme.

The PhysVis initiative promises to unlock the door to more innovation and new business for manufacturers in rapidly developing sectors such as the aerospace industry. The proposed visualisation and simulation system will offer at far lower cost the high levels of performance and capability only likely to be found in the application modules of far more expensive CAD suites from major vendors.

The relevance to SMEs

The project headed by AMTRI aims to bring a new and valuable resource to the British manufacturing industry, particularly to small to medium-size enterprise (SME) manufacturers.

Phil Sholl, managing director of AMTRI, explained: "The high performance and low cost of PhysVis will represent a profound opportunity for a range of specialist companies in fast-growing, high-technology sectors like the production of carbon fibre-based composite components."

"These specialist manufacturers will be able to design 'right-first-time' production systems and assess investment and operational risks before they commit to procurement and implementation. This can only be done now with the resources available to larger companies".

"PhysVis will enable more innovation and new business to be achieved in areas that would otherwise be too risky, technically and financially, for SMEs to consider. It will allow them to compete more effectively in a global market," he said.

PhysVis will address the challenges posed by the handling and visualisation of large data sets associated with complex systems. It will provide a low cost, highly graphic virtual environment with innovative software and hardware solutions based around proven technology.

AMTRI will develop the new product based on extensive work with the so-called 'serious computer games' technology developed by US company AGEIA and its new PhysyX Accelerator, and a low cost but sophisticated PC-based digital factory simulation system from Finnish company Visual Components.

AGEIA, the pioneer of hardware-accelerated physics for PC games, has developed the world's first dedicated physics processor. The AGEIA PhysX processor powers massive and pervasive real-time interactive worlds that for the first time obey the laws of classical physics.

Practical application

The important role of Advanced Composites Group in the project is that of end user, or the first customer for PhysVis. ACG will provide the application domain, that of aerospace composite manufacture.

Innoval's role is to categorise the material (carbon fibre) using their unique fabric modelling approach. The simulations start with an individual fibre and model the fabric weave in all its detail to create an accurate mechanical representation of the woven carbon fibre material. The output of the simulations is a constitutive material model that represents a 'unit patch' of the material.

AMTRI will then map the unit patch to AGEIA's PhysX Accelerator and simulate both the material and the robotic manufacturing system to achieve accurate process and product interactions so that the best manufacturing techniques may be determined.

"In addition, AMTRI are mapping into the system characteristics of spraying resin and paint particles to show that the same PhysX-based technology can be used to visualise different complex manufacturing processes. To date there is no commercial system that can do this in a way that faithfully follows the rules of physics," said Bob Lloyd, the company's simulation manager and head of the PhysVis development team.

Welcoming the new partnership, the Government's Science and Innovation Minister, Malcolm Wicks said:

"The UK has a proud history of innovation in science and technology. We believe that we must work with industry to develop the marketable products and services of tomorrow, so that we can maintain our position as a leading global economy.

"That's why we're supporting this project. It provides a great opportunity to harness the UK's world-class expertise and use it to boost our economy and our quality of life.

"This partnership should help establish British industry as the world leader in this area and be an attractive proposition for investors."

NOTE TO EDITOR:

PICTURES AVAILABLE FROM AMTRI OR PATTISON MITCHELL, PLEASE SEE BELOW FOR DETAILS.

Information on AMTRI

Based in Macclesfield, Cheshire, AMTRI supplies technical consultancy services to the manufacturing sector in the UK and clients around the world. Its aim is to help clients improve productivity and efficiency and therefore save time and costs by providing technical solutions to production engineering problems across all sectors, mostly in aerospace, automotive, metals and food processing industries.

Most of AMTRI's work comprises conceiving, planning, designing, developing, building, commissioning and installing cost-effective, and often highly innovative, bespoke, special purpose machinery and automation systems. These may be turnkey systems for production, inspection or test, technology demonstrators or prototypes.

Its income is either fee-based or through collaborative research assistance from respectively, private sector clients or UK government departments and the European Commission. AMTRI is also a value-added reseller (VAR), working with IT suppliers of digital factory simulation and other systems. For more information please visit: http://www.amtri.co.uk

About the DTI Technology Programme

The Technology Programme provides funding using two of the DTI's business support products: Collaborative Research & Development and Knowledge Transfer Networks. Over the period 2005-2008, £370 million in grants is available to businesses to support research and development in technology areas identified by the Technology Strategy Board. The programme is investing directly in new and emerging technologies and has been designed to help businesses work collaboratively with each other or with academic partners to develop technologies that will underpin products and services of the future.

The Technology Programme has allocated over £430m to Collaborative R&D competitions, awarding grants ranging from £30,000 to £11 million. Around 600 projects have been funded across 40 technology areas worth about £900m. Twenty-two Knowledge Transfer Networks have also been established with funding of around £40m over 3 years. Further information may be found at: http://www.dti.gov.uk/innovation/technologystrategy.

More information from:

Bob Lloyd
Simulation Manager
AMTRI Limited
Hulley Road
Macclesfield
Cheshire
SK10 2NE
United Kingdom

Telephone: +44(0)1625 425 421
Facsimile: +44(0)1625 412 540
Website: http://www.amtri.co.uk
Email: rlloyd@amtri.co.uk

PhysVis website:
http://www.physvis.co.uk

Innoval Technology website:
http://www.innovaltec.com

Advanced Composites Group website:
http://www.advanced-composites.com

Issued by:

Mark Mitchell
Pattison Mitchell & Associates
Telephone: +44 (0) 20 7924 7700
E-mail: ptml@btinternet.com