In the electronics and computer hardware industry, optimizing the design of high-speed interconnects in printed circuit boards (PCBs) is a significant challenge. As electronic devices become smaller, the size and spacing of package interconnects must be scaled down, making computational design optimization more time-consuming. Higher frequency interconnects consume more power, and the geometry and materials of these interconnects need to be redesigned to minimize power consumption and prevent signal loss. This is particularly crucial for PCBs, which are used in a wide range of electronic devices. Full-wave electromagnetic simulation is necessary to model signal propagation in these interconnects, but solving the complete set of Maxwell’s equations without simplifying assumptions is computationally intensive. This complexity is compounded by the need to account for non-negligible electromagnetic couplings and impedance mismatch in complex 3D structures, which can cause crosstalk and reflection, compromising signal integrity.

The challenge for Brüel & Kjær is to design industrial and measurement-grade microphones and transducers with a known and consistent error range, even over extended periods. The company must meet diverse industry sound and vibration challenges, from traffic and airport noise to car engine vibration, wind turbine noise, and production quality control. This requires designing microphones and accelerometers that adhere to various measurement standards. The goal is to achieve high precision and accuracy in their devices, which is critical for their customers, including major companies like Airbus, Boeing, Ferrari, Bosch, and NASA.

Dynamic, textural, and symbolic; whether they ambitiously defy gravity or grow organically from the landscape, iconic buildings frequently involve complex façades. Designed not only to protect, they also regulate variables such as thermal and visual comfort. From solar studies that allow optimization of the shading design in order to reduce cooling loads and maximize visual comfort, to the way in which fixing brackets for rainscreen cladding affect the integrity of the insulation, there are numerous challenges that can be resolved with the help of simulation.

Close metabolic control through glucose monitoring is essential for persons with diabetes to maintain good health and avoid medical complications. However, the chemical reactions on the sensing strips used in glucose monitors are sensitive to environmental conditions and chemical interferences. Sensors are shipped worldwide, stored under uncertain conditions, and used by individuals with varying levels of knowledge and experience. Robust design is crucial for enabling sensors to survive these environments, deliver accurate results, and detect conditions that would cause errors. Multiphysics simulation is now used alongside experiments and calculations, enabling scientists to understand the chemical, electrical, and biological phenomena interacting in these systems so they can optimize their design and measurement methods.

Cypress Semiconductor faced the challenge of ensuring that their touchscreen technologies perform flawlessly under a variety of conditions and applications. This includes smartphones, laptops, automotive environments, industrial applications, and home appliances. Each application requires a different design, and the touchscreens must track finger or stylus positions with high accuracy. The capacitive touchscreens need to determine the touch object's size, location, duration, and movement direction. The engineers needed to create multiple electrostatic simulations for various device geometries and parameters, referred to as a 'design box'.

Corrosion is a significant issue costing billions annually, particularly affecting the transportation industry, including sea, air, and ground transport. The Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) is addressing this problem through fundamental research in corrosion science. The challenge lies in understanding the complex multiphysics problem of corrosion, especially pitting corrosion, which occurs due to electrochemical reactions and mass transport in an electrolyte solution. The irregular growth of corrosion pits due to the metal microstructure has not been adequately addressed in previous research. The goal is to develop new corrosion-resistant materials by understanding the microstructure-corrosion correlations.

In terms of energy consumption, ovens have the most room for improvement of any appliance in the kitchen, with only 10 to 12 percent of the total energy expended used to heat the food being prepared. This is one of the reasons why Whirlpool Corporation, the world’s largest home appliance manufacturer, is exploring new solutions for enhancing the resource efficiency of their domestic ovens. Using a combination of experimental testing and finite element analysis (FEA), Whirlpool engineers are seeking solutions to improve energy efficiency by exploring new options for materials, manufacturing, and thermal element design. In partnership with the GREENKITCHEN® project, a European initiative that supports the development of energy-efficient home appliances with reduced environmental impact, researchers at Whirlpool R&D (Italy) are studying the energy consumption of their ovens by exploring the heat transfer processes of convection, conduction, and radiation. “Multiphysics analysis allows us to better understand the heat transfer process that occurs within a domestic oven, as well as test innovative strategies for increasing energy efficiency,” says Nelson Garcia-Polanco, Research and Thermal Engineer at Whirlpool R&D working on the GREENKITCHEN® project. “Our goal is to reduce the energy consumption of Whirlpool’s ovens by 20 percent.”

Engineers at ETREMA Products, Inc. face the challenge of designing devices using magnetostrictive materials, which change shape when exposed to a magnetic field. These materials are crucial for the production of transducers, sensors, and other high-powered electrical devices. The unique properties of magnetostrictive materials, such as their ability to mechanically respond to magnetic fields and their characteristic nonlinearity, make designing these devices complex. The challenge is to accurately represent the material properties and complex physics interactions within such devices to facilitate the production of the next generation of smart products.

Observing and analyzing regions in outer space where new stars and planets are born requires extremely sensitive detectors. Radiation and overheating can cause these detectors to fail. Using multiphysics simulation, a team at SRON is developing a calibration source for an imaging spectrometer that can operate with such vulnerable equipment. Heat management takes on a unique role in outer space, especially for cryogenic systems that demand extremely low temperatures in order to detect thermal radiation. This was a challenge faced by the engineering team at SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research when designing the SpicA Far-InfraRed Instrument (SAFARI), an infrared camera that measures the complete far-infrared spectrum for each image pixel. SAFARI will fly aboard the Japanese Space Infrared Telescope for Cosmology and Astrophysics (SPICA). SPICA will look deeper into space than any space telescope has before. Because SAFARI has ultrasensitive detectors, cooled to slightly above absolute zero, it can pick up weaker far-infrared radiation than previous space cameras. Precise on-ground and in-space calibration is crucial to the accuracy of the sensors and the success of the mission. To design and optimize these calibration systems, the team at SRON turned to a COMSOL Multiphysics® simulation as their guide.

The desire to eliminate batteries and power lines is motivating a wide range of research. In the quest for systems that are energy autonomous, the concept of energy harvesting is attracting a great deal of attention. For researchers at Siemens Corporate Technology in Munich, exploring the potential of an energy-harvesting microelectromechanical system (MEMS) generator holds strong appeal. The researchers chose to design a microgenerator for an innovative tire pressure monitoring system (TPMS) driven by motion. Yet locating the device within the tire requires that the assembly be extremely robust and able to withstand gravitational accelerations up to 2500 g. Moreover, to avoid tire imbalance it would have to be very light, and in terms of operational life it would need to match that of a tire—a minimum of eight years.

Treating arteries in the heart that have been blocked by plaque is a common challenge for medical professionals. Known as stenosis, this condition restricts blood flow to the heart, resulting in symptoms such as shortness of breath and chest pain. It is sometimes resolved using stents, which are small, mesh-like tubular structures designed to treat blocked arteries. They are usually placed in the coronary artery and expanded with a balloon catheter to keep the artery open. While stents are successful at holding arteries open, an artery can re-narrow because of excessive tissue growth over the stent. This is called restenosis and is the body’s natural healing response, but it can actually impede recovery. Thus, drug-eluting stents were developed to deliver medicine — which acts to reduce cell proliferation and prevent the unwanted growth — into the artery tissue. These contain a coating composed of medicine and a polymer matrix designed to provide a controlled delivery; each strand of the stent mesh is surrounded by this coating. Stent designs have improved dramatically in recent years in an effort to reduce restenosis rates, but much remains unknown regarding the release process.

Laboratory tests, such as hematology analysis, influence up to 70 percent of critical decisions including hospital admittance, discharge, and treatment. The accuracy of these tests is crucial for patient outcomes. HORIBA Medical, a global supplier of medical diagnostic equipment, faced challenges in optimizing their hematology analysis equipment using physical prototypes alone. The complexity of the physical processes involved, such as high fluid velocity, pressure drop, heat transfer, and intense electric fields, made it difficult to achieve accurate measurements. Additionally, factors like particle trajectory and orientation through the micro-aperture system further complicated the accuracy of the impedance measurement system.

Nordson had successfully established a global market presence—but lacked the structure and tools to ensure brand cohesion. Given the decentralized nature of their organization, each division had their own approach to translating and localizing content for their market. As a result, the content intended to represent their brand with a singular voice and style was being interpreted by several different vendors. Not surprisingly, Nordson noticed inconsistencies with how their company’s message was being communicated and with the quality of the translations. Nordson’s mission to provide reliable, top-tier services to their customers drove them to reevaluate this initial digital globalization strategy. They needed flexible, accurate website translation support that could be implemented quickly and at scale. Lionbridge had the tools and expertise to meet that need.

Philips Personal Health faced challenges with the creation, translation, and publication process of its Directions for Use (DFUs). The company struggled with variable quality, long turnaround times, and an inefficient review process. Philips aimed to make the DFU creation process 25% more efficient by reducing changes during the process, increasing standardization and reuse, reducing resources spent on reviews, gaining efficiency at publication, and improving the reliability and efficiency of the documentation system. Philips needed a language service provider (LSP) that could integrate seamlessly with Author-it to streamline the translation process and create efficiencies through increased automation and centralization. Their previous LSP could not integrate with Author-it, but Lionbridge could, making it an attractive option for Philips.

In 2013, Lionbridge was invited to review the company’s Manufacturing Engineering (ME) activities, which are supported by approximately 2000 Mechanical Engineers plus management resources. Post-review it became clear that approximately 15-20% of the designated engineering time was taken up by essential but non-engineering deliverables. This resulted in inflated costs, wasted high-skill, high-value engineering hours, and lost momentum on key programs.

Lionbridge faced the challenge of creating and managing technical publications and user support/product documentation across various media formats. The company needed to ensure compliance with industry standards, deploy content to global audiences, and leverage global locations for cost-effective production. Additionally, Lionbridge aimed to enhance content creation for ease of translation and effectively outsource entire projects or documentation requirements.

The increasing complexity, volume, and delivery expectations in translation and localization efforts can erode quality standards and safeguards, leading to costly inefficiencies and errors. Organizations face challenges in maintaining high-quality translations while managing costs and ensuring quick turnaround times. The need for a robust quality assurance system becomes critical to optimize global communication efforts for efficiency and quality.

Global medical device organizations face significant operational pressures that strain their content efficiencies. These pressures stem from the need to manage a wide array of content types, including product labeling, technical publications, regulatory documents, and marketing communications materials. The complexity is further compounded by the necessity to comply with stringent regulatory standards across multiple countries and languages. Additionally, the rapid pace of technological advancements and market demands require these organizations to continuously update and manage their content effectively. This situation creates a challenging environment where maintaining high-quality, accurate, and timely content is critical for success.

With an increasing number of international trials and an ever-changing global regulatory environment, the challenges associated with Investigational Medicinal Product (IMP) labeling grow every day. Lengthening production timelines, errors and inconsistencies, and a demanding process of managing different vendors across global trials are some of the key issues faced. These challenges can lead to delays of four, six, or even eight weeks for a single panel label. Additionally, multiple vendors across studies can result in outright translation and regulatory mistakes, making the process even more demanding for robust organizations.

A global aerospace and manufacturing leader sought to eliminate inefficiencies in its drafting change order process. Change orders processed through the existing model were time-consuming and irregular and required costly ad hoc efforts on the part of technical documentation professionals and engineers. With so much time spent administrating change orders, technical documentation professionals and engineers had little time to focus on their core responsibilities. With a clear picture of the problem, senior management set out to fix it. The decision was made to outsource the drafting change order process to a select group of 12 qualified vendors, and eventually narrow down to two. The expectation was that, through outsourcing, the company would reduce expenses by leveraging locally managed, globally operated labor resources, while freeing up domestic technical documentation professionals and engineers resources. To their surprise, many of the vendors were not able to deliver the promised cost and time savings, requiring endless training and extensive support. Of the 12, only Lionbridge remains, ranking highest in performance with impressive adaptability and earning an A+ through its unique RevSourceSM process.

There were several obstacles complicating the CRO’s path to optimized translation operations: A decentralized process, which had arisen from regional autonomy in both the initiation and management of translation projects. Multiple disparate systems housing the content and data required through the translation process. Varying methods of translation review being conducted in the regions. Translation hurdles that included inconsistencies, errors, slow turnaround times, capacity and language limits, along with highly inefficient communication. Hundreds of global team members across the Americas, Europe, and Asia with pressing translation project needs. The CRO needed a partner who tackle all its operational obstacles and help establish a model to prioritize its needs and enable a manageable scale-up and execution schedule.

Accelerate development of the first piloted hybrid airplane/airship that meets governmental safety requirements for commercial use to transport people and freight to remote locations.

Conformal cooling channels, which uniformly cool injection molds and the plastic parts inside, have long represented the ultimate productivity goal in injection-molding manufacturing. Cooling channels that conform exactly to the geometry of the injection-molded part would make quick, uniform cooling of the molded plastic possible, resulting in better quality parts, faster cycle times, decreased part waste, and reduced energy consumption. To date, conformal cooling channels have remained just a research idea because the traditional techniques used to machine molds, such as milling and drilling, are incapable of producing all of the geometric shapes required. However, a team of researchers from Portland State University (PSU) and RapidMade, a 3D printing, manufacturing, and engineering company based in Portland, Oregon, have secured a federal grant to conduct research and development aimed at determining how to bring conformal cooling channels to the injection-molding industry.

Establish and grow a competitive solar car racing team at Cambridge University to compete for the top award at the World Solar Challenge and demonstrate the incredible potential of solar-powered electric vehicles.

Max Conwell, founder of Naked Eye Lighting, faced the challenge of evolving lighting technology and the need to create innovative and adaptable designs for high-profile clients in the music industry. As lighting technology advanced, Conwell needed to integrate new tools and techniques, such as video projection and 3D pixel mapping, into his designs. Additionally, the wide range of venues and international tours presented logistical challenges, requiring adaptable and versatile lighting solutions that could be easily modified to meet different requirements.

Forest Dickey, founder of Varian Designs, faced the challenge of transforming his passion for furniture design into a viable business. Initially, he struggled with the high costs and uneven quality of reclaimed materials, which led him to source certified, sustainable wood. Additionally, Dickey needed to find a way to balance his artistic vision with the practicalities of running a business, including managing production, marketing, and client relations. The competitive nature of the furniture design industry also posed a challenge, requiring Dickey to continuously innovate and maintain high standards of craftsmanship.

Newhall, California, once a bustling trading center and popular backdrop for western films, experienced a dramatic decline as the suburbs of Los Angeles expanded. This led to struggling businesses and high vacancy rates. The City Council aimed to revitalize the area by re-envisioning the central corridor of Main Street. They diverted traffic to a nearby roadway and added a roundabout to improve traffic flow. However, local businesses were concerned that ongoing construction would hurt their already-sinking bottom lines, and commuters were worried about potential delays caused by the roundabout.

The Design Büro faced the challenge of transitioning to Building Information Modeling (BIM) to meet the UK government's mandate for all government buildings to be delivered using BIM by 2016. The firm needed to upgrade its software and adopt a BIM workflow to continue working on government-funded projects. The transition was crucial as The Design Büro specializes in creating health and social care facilities, and they needed to ensure their designs met the clinical goals of their clients while maintaining sustainability, practicality, and budget constraints. The firm tested Vectorworks Architect software with a traditional 2D process on The Tamarind Centre project before fully committing to BIM.

Over the last several decades, French law has imposed strict height limits to keep the historic and iconic skyline of Paris purposefully low. However, with the rising population, there was a need to amend these laws to allow for taller buildings. In November 2011, the Paris City Council amended the urban planning laws for the Massena-Bruneseau area, raising the height limitation on housing blocks from 37 to 50 meters. This change was seen as a historic move that would forever alter the landscape of Paris. HAMONIC + MASSON & Associés, an architectural firm, was one of the first to capitalize on this change, partnering with Comte Vollenweider Architects to design the ZAC Masséna Paris Rive Gauche high-rise. The project aimed to create a remarkable building that combined offices, private housing, social housing, and parking, while also offering beautiful architecture.

The Philadelphia International Festival of the Arts (PIFA) 2013 presented a unique challenge for lighting designer Joshua L. Schulman and his team. They were tasked with creating an interactive time machine exhibit that would serve as the festival's hub. The concept, conceived by the Kimmel Center's artistic director Jay Wahl, was nebulous and required extensive brainstorming to define the user experience. The design team explored various ideas, from H.G. Wells' science fiction to the time-traveling DeLorean from 'Back to the Future,' before settling on a spiraling exhibit inspired by a double helix of DNA. The challenge was to make the exhibit interactive and engaging for the estimated 100,000 visitors. Additionally, the Kimmel Center's architecture, with its glass roof and varying sunlight conditions, posed significant challenges for lighting and video projection.