Complete IT Lifecycle Solutions
Better. Faster. Cheaper. Can it really be done? Yes – and we at NovaStar Solutions want to show you how.
We are conducting a webinar on how NX from Siemens PLM Software can help you improve productivity while being more innovative. Will you let us show you how to make your productivity skyrocket?
Register for this Electronic Products Design Webinar today!
Over July 20-23, 2015, the Automated Vehicles Symposium was held in Ann Arbor, Michigan, organized by the USA Transportation Research Board and the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI). The symposium focused on design challenges and opportunities related to the growing automated vehicle industry – also known as driverless, autonomous, or connected vehicles.
The deployment of the first prototypes of these vehicles is expected to affect all areas of the transportation industry: personal, mass transit, and commercial shipping. With its new M-City driverless car center meant to test prototypes and large research university, Ann Arbor is a hotbed of innovation and ideal location for the event.
NovaStar Calibration Manager Jeff Hunt represented NovaStar while attending the symposium. He observed overall concerns of the industry as well as three main areas of interest to attendees. Researchers from government and academia, as well as manufacturers and suppliers involved in the design, testing, and manufacturing of automated vehicles discussed next courses of actions required to advance the development of the new technology.
A primary concern with autonomous vehicles is safety and security. A wireless hack to the vehicle’s navigation system while transporting people would be a huge threat. This was recently demonstrated on a Jeep Cherokee by Wired Magazine where the brakes and engine ignition could be remotely hijacked. With that said, large strides are being to ensure the security of connected vehicles.
Another concern is whether automated vehicles and ones driven by humans can co-exist. However, Google’s fleet of 23 Lexus RX450h SUVs only experienced 12 minor accidents over their combined 1.8 million miles – all of which were the fault of another human hitting the car.
City buses have consistent set routes. Verifying that an automated bus is able to safely complete its loop is fairly straightforward. As automated vehicles make fewer mistakes than humans, safety improves for all commuters using the system. Adding significantly more automated mass transit should help to reduce the total number of cars on the road and their resulting carbon footprint.
Google has spearheaded the personal automated vehicle industry by developing and testing its fleet for millions of logged miles. Their automated vehicle combined with their extensive map database resulted in significantly fewer accidents than human drivers. It’s clear that Google intends to be a player in the industry and having the world leader in map technology makes the widespread adoption more simple.
However, issues remain to be addressed as for how to handle construction zones when they haven’t been reported and mapped. Google’s initial phase requires a person to assist the automated driving mechanism, ready to take control in the case of an unanticipated incident.
Commercial shipping trucks have highly specified routes, and subsequently significantly fewer possible road combinations compared to personal vehicles. Unlike human drivers, automated trucks do not need sleep – they do not have restrictions on hours. Atomated routes could effectively double the 11-hour restriction the department of transportation limits drivers to each day.
This would significantly increase productivity and lower shipping costs. While the benefits are clear, some questions remain. How will an automated truck negotiate a shipping dock if there is no driver, and what about gas?
NovaStar is strategically located near Ann Arbor and can offer local instrument calibration services to government and university researchers and companies involved in the emerging prototyping and design stages of automated vehicles. The symposium allowed many interested parties to come together to address many challenges that lie ahead in the automated vehicle industry, as it seeks to revolutionize the transportation industry.
Watch this video to see how the NovaStar Calibration Customer Portal enhances the ability to track your assets as they go through the calibration process.
Novastar’s booth at the Cobo Center for The Big M Conference 2015. HP representative Niel Riley demonstrates the HP Sprout All-in-one to a group of college students.
Novastar Solutions exhibited at the Society of Manufacturing Engineers’ (SME) Big M Convergence in Detroit’s Cobo Center the first week of June. The conference showcases manufacturing technologies and processes in the Great Lakes region. This geographical area represents the world’s fourth largest economy, with a combined $4.7 trillion GDP. Interesting technologies such as various additive manufacturing processes were demonstrated in various booths.
Novastar’s guest, HP Great Lakes Region workstation specialist Neil Riley (pictured above), demonstrated HP’s Sprout all-in-one dual touchscreen computer/scanner/projector. The Sprout has a future in 3D product design when integrated with Computer Aided Design and Engineering (CAD/CAE) software.
Also featured was the HP Z34c 34-inch Ultra Wide Curved Display. Its profile eliminates the need for a multi-monitor array in favor of a streamlined single piece silhouette – coveted by booth visitors. Novastar also displayed the flagship of the HP workstation line, the Z840. Upgradeable to 36 Xeon cores, 2 TB of memory, and 10 internal drive bays, the Z840 can be configured for maximum processing capacity in the CAD/CAE workspace.
Novastar Solutions offers manufacturers engineering design solutions combining HP Z workstations and Dassault Systeme’s CATIA (CAD) and SIMULIA (CAE) or Siemens PLM NX CAD/CAE. This allows the value added benefit of having necessary design software pre-installed out of the box.
Manufacturers utilizing CAD/CAE ultimately create prototypes of their designed components. Prototypes are then tested in various conditions under a variety of stresses. Novastar Solutions offers manufacturers calibration services to keep the instruments used in prototype testing measuring accurately. Guy Howe, head of calibration at Novastar Solutions, demonstrated the customer portal at the booth. This web-based interface allows users to track and submit requests to calibrate their instruments, streamlining the process involved in calibration.
Several groups of high school and college students, the future of manufacturing employees, roamed the exhibit hall at the Big M conference. Novastar welcomed students into their booth and spent time explaining the IT Solutions and Calibration Services it offers to help manufacturers design and test new products.
Come see Novastar Solutions in booth # 410 at the SAE Noise & Vibration Exhibition at the DeVos Place 303 Monroe NW, Grand Rapids, MI 49503, June 22-24 – the premier technical event for mobility noise, vibration and harshness testing.
Register for a free expo pass here.
SAE 2015 Noise and Vibration Conference and Exhibition
THE BIG M is an extraordinary gathering of industry professionals, manufacturers and policymakers with the shared vision of applying our best thinking to our most complex manufacturing challenges. It’s not about starting a discussion – it’s about finding real-world solutions by harnessing the collective knowledge of manufacturers across industries. That’s why we need you, your boss, your colleagues and business partners to attend. What you’ll get is exclusive access to people and technology that are transforming manufacturing right now.
Novastar Solutions is proud to be a part of this groundbreaking conference. We are at the forefront of Detroit’s resurgence as an economic leader and industry trendsetter and an event of this magnitude is a clear sign that Detroit is a city primed for growth.
Detroit is manufacturing. Often referred to as the Renaissance City, there’s no place on earth more ideal for reimagining the future of manufacturing than Detroit. Breakthrough technologies and applications, rigorous customer demands, new industry and policy initiatives all offer unprecedented opportunities for forward-thinking companies.
Novastar Solutions has served Michigan business for the last 15 years and will proudly support the Detroit metropolitan area as the industry continues to evolve.
NovaStar is helping to build a viable revitalized Detroit and events such as THE BIG M conference are vital to showing outside customers and vendors what the area is capable of. With such a uniquely diverse talent pool the Detroit metropolitan area finds itself poised to be a success story in the coming years and Novastar will be there to supply critical hardware, software, and consulting services for all phases from planning to execution.
Our staff has the experience and industry specific insight to provide our customers the tools required to get the job done. We have carefully developed relationships with the leading suppliers in many industries that give us the edge in both pricing and delivery. THE BIG M, and similar events, play a key role in furthering these relationships and allow us to keep our finger on the pulse of business in the area.
JUNE 2-4 2015
COBO CENTER DETROIT
Check out some of the highlights from the Big M Convergence 2015.
Novastar Calibration’s A2LA accredited Calibration Services business will be exhibiting at the Automotive Testing Expo 2014 October 28, 29 and 30th at the Suburban Collection Showplace in Novi, Michigan Booth # 9049.
Known as America’s only automotive test, evaluation and quality engineering trade show, the Expo features 320 of the world’s leading automotive test equipment manufacturers and test service providers displaying the latest technologies. Along with its calibration services, Novastar will feature HP engineering workstations and Dassault SIMULIA simulation software as well as Microtech Gefell acoustic test microphones.
Novastar is now a CISCO channel partner. CISCO designs, manufacture, and sells Internet Protocol (IP) based networking and other products related to the communications and IT industry. CISCO offers a broad line of products designed to transform how people connect, communicate, and collaborate by transporting data, voice, and video within buildings, across campuses, and around the world. These include routers and switches, security and surveillance, voice and conferencing, wireless and
network storage systems. For more information see: http://www.cisco.com/.
Novastar Solutions has joined Automation Alley – Michigan’s largest technology business association connecting government, business and education to drive the growth of the region’s economy. Founded in 1999 Automation Alley’s nearly 1000 members hail from eight counties in southeast Michigan. Automation Alley attracts members by offering opportunities to
grow businesses through networking, use of meeting space, access to top talent , assistance expanding into overseas markets and much more. For more information visit Automationalley.com.
Novastar Solutions will exhibit at the Society of Manufacturing Engineer’s inaugural event shaping the future of manufacturing in the Great Lakes Region: The BIG M Manufacturing Convergence June 10, 11 & 12 at Cobo Hall in Detroit.
Novastar supports hundreds of manufacturers in automotive and other industries with IT lifecycle management, hardware and software for engineering design and simulation, and calibration services for test instruments.
Visit us at Booth # 602 where we will be displaying the best-in-class Hewlett Packard engineering workstations and Dassault Systemes Simulia CAE FEA software. Enter to win a new HP Zbook mobile engineering workstation.
