Are you Learning CATIA or SOLIDWORKS or UNIGRAPHICS or any Another Tool?

Remember this fact every time that they are just tools. Tools in the hands of an able engineer. As Saif Ali Khan puts it in his latest movie RACE: “It’s not the car that matters, it the driver who wins the race”


So is very true in regards to your engineering’s career. It’s not the tools that will get you ahead but it’s your application and knowledge that will shine you.

Software like CATIA, ANSYS, and NASTRAN etc. are just tools. What really matters is your application and the understanding of these tools. So when ever you are using this tools have this thing in mind. To succeed in your career while working on the projects do have the clear big picture in your mind.

It very easy to get lost in the intricate details of the design and meshing but what really matter is the big picture.

Related: They are just tools?

Catia,Solidworks, NASTRAN, ANSYS they are just tools...

Recently i read bishnujee's email which struck a chord when he mentioned the value of hand calculations. Here in NAL i've seen people loose focus on this very important point in their attempt to get to know the tools like catia or nastran! They neglect the theory, their core domain in pursuit of getting a great mesh or perfect assembly!

One must remember all this computing power and the engineering software packages are just tools, and tools have meaning only in the hands of masters! Having the best analysis tool won't make you the best analyst but the engineering insight that you get from your theory will!

The tools certainly makes an engineers job easy but they are not the be all end all. So my advice to all the folks pursuing training here in Bangalore and elsewhere is along with your tools, do upgrade your core knowledge. You are an engineer and this is a profession you need to be constantly in touch with the core area that has earned you the title of engineer!

The tools increase your market but in the long run the base that you have studied is the one that will propel you to new heights. Perhaps in ouraesi we should discuss ways of upgrading our core knowledge.

As bishnujee suggested reading books of our course is one way to begin. Please do chip in with your ideas on this or any other topic that you might have.
Comments are always welcome.

Skills and tools for Avionics stream students of AeSI

I am not an avionics guy, and anybody knowing me would not contest on the fact that I like avionics in any remote way. Well to me it was stream many of my friends and acquaintance in AeSI choose, while I harped on to propulsion.

Here I write a simple list of skill sets that are required in avionics stream. If your chosen stream is avionics. Make sure you have exposer to these skill sets. To me most of them are Greek!!

I have gathered them from the emails I have received about job offers (which sometime trangely included avionics)! Please don't loose heart if you don't know all the skills. But be prepared and use internet to browse and learn about this skills and tools.

As my Mathematics teacher in standard ten always said "Having knowledge is always useful", so I present this info to just arm you, rest is for you to explore.

* Excellent skills in understanding and implementation of processes mapping to RTCA/DO-178 B Objectives

* Working level domain knowledge of Avionics systems such as Engine Control, Displays, Landing Gear, etc

* For Senior positions - experience in evolving Processes & Standards for safety critical SDLC will be an added advantage in selection

* Ability to analyze Systems & Interface Requirements, partitioning details and evolve the methodology for follow on SDLC phases

* Hands on experience in development SRD, SDD & ICD using Design tools. Knowledge of at least one Design methodology and associated tool will be essential

* Coding experience adhering to Safety standards.

* Experience in Unit, SW & HW Integration Testing, and use of associated Tools, IDEs, Target Processors, Rigs and Development high quality Test Plans, Test Descriptions & Test Cases.

* Avionics tools – SCADE, Teamwork, Matlab, DOORS, PVCS, Clearcase, Cantata, Ada Test, LDRA, RTRT, VectorCast or equivalent

* Experience in performing Reviews of Safety Critical Software will be an added advantage.

* Exposure to Protocols design and testing – AFDX, ARINC, CAN, MIL 1553 B BSP, devise drivers, Ethernet, TCP/IP desirable

Avionics is domain that relies very much in electronics and computers, so hone your computer skills. C is the language of the choice for all you avionics fellow. If avionics is your domain, then learn that language early in your student life. It will make a huge difference.

And Honeywell should be your target company!!

Best of luck guys and gals!!! Be sure to mention the skills and tools that I might have missed in comments.

Related stories that you may like

3 suggestions from an avionics engineer for AeSI students
Be prepared Concurrent technologies will look for avionics engineers!
Ebooks for aerospace
How to eliminate Worries and confusions during training

What if you don't have access to any CAE softwares?

If you are long term reader of this blog, you know how much I emphasis
on learning a tool. Software are tools and if you want to be an
accomplished engineer, you have to master one.

But what if you don't have access to high end CAD and analysis
softwares. What if catia is unavailable, no access to ansys or any
other tool. What then should you do?

Well learn excel. Yes Microsoft excel. You don't realize now, how much
of your work you might be doing in this all pervasive tool.

From sorting out coordinates, checking values from a program to lots
and lot of daily work, excel will stand with you.

So master it.

If you don't have access to world class, state of the art, CAE tools,
turn your attention to the humble yet powerful tools that's idling in
your hard drive. Excel being one of them!!

Search all software related tools post by clicking the following link.

http://my-aesi.blogspot.com/search?q=tools

Coolest Carpenter Around

Someone rightly said you can't do much carpentry with bare hands!! You need tools. To be good at carpentry you need the right tools. To produce something good, your bare hands aren't just enough.

Same way, as you walk your way to be an engineer, just knowledge isn't enough. Only knowing how the aerofoil generates lifts or solving bending moment problem isn't enough. To be effective as and engineer, You need tools.

So as you are walking towards the path of getting your degree, and if you are in your penultimate semester, start getting those tools.

Tools along with the knowledge that you are acquiring during this phase of AeSI will make you the coolest carpenter around when you graduate!!

The Impact Comes From The Craftsman,

Just like every powerful tool, the impact comes from the craftsman, not the tool. -Seth Godin

Just read  this blog entry from marketing guru Seth Godin and loved this line. and its very true. True for all the things that I advocate in this blog. Catia, Solidworks, Ansys, Nastran, Unigraphics, Hypermesh, Fluent, ICEM, Isight, Gambit,Patran etc are powerful tools but that power doesn't come by itself, it comes from the users who uses it.

Its not the tools that create great things, its the application by the "craftsman" who makes wonders with them.

Always remember this when you are playing and handling your tools. You are the driver and where the vehicle will go is always in your hand and how skilful you are in it.

Same can be said for the slumdog film, there was nothing spectacular in the script, simple characters, simple scenes but the directors use of scene, screen play and  treatment made all the difference.... The camera, the technicians and the locations were all same that you will find in any Ram Gopal Verma's film, only thing that made slumdog great was its application.

So whenever you are looking at your tools, go forward with this attitude. You will surely win your Oscar!!!

related:

• Building a better Aerospace Engineer
• How I learnt ANSYS, NASTRAN or Solidworks?
• 6 things you should begin doing in your last semester of AeSI.

Tutorials

If you are planning to learn CATIA ANSYS or any other technical software then getting tutorials for them is the first thing that comes to mind.

Without tutorials things seems lost. Best way as I have stated here is to see a real person doing it but since this isn't always possible because of various reasons, so we tend to gravitate towards tutorials.

There are lots of tutorials that I have found and have linked them here in this blog. Some are related to CATIA, some to ansys, some to solidworks etc. All are the stuff that I saw in my exploration phase of tinkering with each of this tools.

In this post I'm linking all those in this one page. Hope this will help you get the best of this blog.

• Catia video turorial links
• Best Way to Learn Catia and Solidworks
• 5 techniques to accelerate your self learning of CAD/CAE tools
• Magic of Solidworks
• Solidworks Video Tutorials
• Cool tool to find tutorials
• Learn Catia With this Catia Book
• What CAD tools aeronautical engineers should learn
• Some useful tutorial links
• 3 super practical tips for improving your learning of CAD/CAE tools
• Solidworks Beginners Tutorials
• My ten Hours with Ansys
• They are just tools
• Why Learn programming
• List of catia training center in India
• Learn ways to do the same thing differently
• 3 things that Dr Ramamurthy Taught
• Free Tutorial of Solidworks
• Useful Tip that accelerated my CAE tool learning
• How I learnt ANSYS, NASTRAN and other CAD softwares

 

By no means this list is complete, please add your suggestions and links here. I would love to have your feedback.

Questions On AeSI training

A few days back I wrote about 11 questions one should ask if he desires to go for training after AeSI. And I promised that I will post my answers to the questions that I had, so here we go. Hope this will give you some insight and direction in your quest for training after AeSI.

What is my goal for doing the training?

Well when I was at the training stage of AeSI, my most important criteria was to get into a environment which gave me the opportunity to learn and apply my skills. I already had the programming knack and I enjoyed thermodynamic and the propulsion subjects so I wanted to learn something that was based on these two skills. Catia or any CAE software were not in my mind. I was ready to accept learning catia or any other CAD but I wanted to test the waters for my programming skills and the stream I was graduating from.

Is there an alternate way I can fulfill this goal?

Since I had one subject (that is VMD ) left to clear and had the time so I initiated my training to make fruitful use of the time I had and my goal was to learn whatever I can and then give exams while doing this.

What skills I will develop with this training?

For me CAD and CAE skills were not the primary goal. When I joined NAL, my primary focus was what I knew and how I can apply it to the benefit of the mentor who took me as a trainee. So as I sat for the small interview with Dr Ramamurthy sir, my focus was on the c and small vb skills that I had. In fact those were the highlights of my resume at that time.

Are the skills congruent with my specialization?

In those days performance job was the only thing propulsion stream guys did. It was the in thing and for this excel and knowledge of one programming language was the most important so while I joined NAL, I was prepared to focus on these tool and skills. They were as I knew then congruent with my desire of working in an aerospace organization on software development and tools development

How much time I'll spend on the tools?

At the time of joining I made a goal that I will put at least 1 hours of my time in the tools that I want to learn and explore. In my last semester of AeSI, I employed a similar technique and put in a daily goal in which I wrote one c program daily. So I can decided to carry on the same here in my training and made a daily target to put in one hour minimum of my time in learning the tools that are available at my disposal in NAL. I set this minimum one hour limit and vowed not to miss it any day.

Does the skills I will learn congruent with my job goals?

As fate has been, I knew C but when I joined NAL and began working, my mentor handed me FORTRAN programs which I was supposed to run, and debug. This changed my course and without considering a bit I began learning FORTRAN putting the needed hours into it. Then as I began picking it, I was entrusted VB which I began learning in earnest and so as things progressed I picked up the skills that I am now using in my present and last work. So I would say at that time I just wanted to learn something and the best thing that I did then was I didn't block anything that came my way. I just accepted the opportunity that the work brought and carried on and I am thankful that I did so.

Is the mentor I will be working under well known or known to be good?

Yes this was best for me. Even before joining NAL, my friends told that if you want a good training then Dr Ramamurthy was the best for a propulsion stream guy. So He was the first person I approached and by luck I got through. He liked my resume and I got selected. I am glad and will forever be indebted to have him as my first boss later when I joined NAL as a contract engineer.

What are my 3 specific targets from this training?

My 3 specific goals during the training were.

• To apply what I knew to the benefit of my mentors work, be it in programming, designing or analysis.
• To be market ready and learn whatever is presented in my way
• To gather skills and experience that will help me get a job after the training

How long I am willing to put in the time in what I do?

Since I still had one subject to clear, so  I knew 6 months was “pakka” for me to stay and I decided that  I will stay 6 months more before I head for any job. I even promised Dr Ramamurthy about this and in reality I stayed more than that duration and it was all worth it.

Do I really believe all the answers I have written?

When I did this training and decided to join, I knew what I am good at. So I wanted to test the water and wanted to see what I can learn and what I love the most. Even though my thoughts were not so clear about what I liked more (programming or designing or analysis), but I knew I wanted to explore my possibilities and areas of interest and training in NAL did fulfill all my wishes and helped me know what I enjoyed the most and wanted to work.

How will you quantify your success at the training?

This was one thing that I did in two ways one was to log the hours on each software that I worked on. So every night I came home and noted the hours that I put in each software. This helped me learn incrementally. Sometime even when there was no work I just explored that software and tinkering with it, always taught me a thing or two.

Another way I quantified my success was by crafting my resume, all that work that I did there increased my work experience and taught me new software tools every month, so I made a resume every 2 month with the updated new skills and work and posted it in naukri.com. This updating showed me that I was learning and the posting of resume in naukri brought in the new offers in my email that showed me what kind of profile I was building with the skills I was acquiring.

So that’s it,It has become a longer post that usual but I hope it helps AeSI students who are looking for training to clarify their thoughts and helps make them better choices.

Want to receive this and similar posts in your email then subscribe here or you can check the achieve here.

Building a better Aerospace Engineer

In the latest issue of aerospace America, Thomas S. Momiyama, a U.S. Senior Executive Service has this to say in the editorial on building a better engineer

Information technology is not a magic bullet. Computers may have replaced slide rules, but nothing will replace providing tomorrow’s aerospace engineers with the opportunity to hone their skills in
basic technologies and to learn from others with true hands-on experience.

This resonates with my view. Importance of these view has already been noted here in this blog when i emphasized that computer software’s are just tools, means to the goal, cars for the journey to the destination.

Hand calculations, internal understanding and having the knowledge to relate small things to the big picture are the abilities that AeSI or any  engineer should have and cultivate

Presently i am assigned a FEM software tool, so what is the most important thing for me in it. The most important thing from it is not how best i can mesh or nor is how best i can represent the physical model to the fem counterpart. But the most important part is how i understand and interpret the results it gives. That where my expertise, experience and knowledge will be useful. Yes well formed mesh and good representation of the model are necessary and are vital for accurate results but its the understanding and the interpretation of the results that’s far more valuable.

So as you learn the tools, whatever it might be catia, solidworks, ansys, nastran, gambit, hypermesh or UG etc. Just remember that those are just tools in the hands of an engineer, they aid you and not the other way round.

What are your views on this please do replay in comments, what you think of this tools and what tool are you working on for this year?

Read the ANSYS Advantage magazine for free

In my last post titled tools for aerospace industry' i listed tools that are used by an aerospace engineer. One of the tools that i mentioned was ANSYS. I had some experience with ANSYS in NAL and at IISC while doing the FEM course. Read my experience with ANSYS in the post titled my 10 hours with ANSYS.



Well this post is about ansys, but is also related to one of the previous post regarding reading aerospace magazine online. Here's one resource where you can do the same with ansys. This is a great resource for anyone interested in simulation and analysis with ANSYS. Its an online magazine published by ANSYS itself and i think its great fro all budding aerospace engineers from aesi.

Wish i had known about this in my aesi day, then i would have gravitated towards analysis side of my career rather than the software side.

Anyway the magazine is titled ANSYS Advantage and can be read online here and if you want to read it offline then here's the link to download the full version as PDF.

Unlike aerospace America, Ansys Advantage is quarterly magazine and has only 4 issues per year but definitely worth a read for anyone interested in analysis field and simulation.

The latest issue of ANSYS Advantage features articles on how Speedo’s new full-body swimsuit was designed using simulation technology in pursuit of gold medals and world records, how simulation tools help to increase megayacht sailing performance, and how a toilet discharge valve is optimized to reduce household water consumption and maintain performance. A special spotlight section explains the five key principles that guide the development of simulation products and technology at ANSYS.

So you see aerospace is not the only domain ansys is being use, perhaps in the upcoming 2008 Beijing Olympics someone might be using a swim suited that was designed after analysis in ANSYS. who knows.

Talking about Beijing Olympics reminds me about one of another tool of aerospace that is used to build the Olympics stadium in china.

If you know of other online reading resources then do tell me in comments. Happy reading folks.

Industry usage of the CAD tools in india

I was wondering which of the CAD (CATIA or Solidworks) software is mostly used in INIDA?




Now i could have done a survey and asked all the industry people i know but then that wouldn't have given me instant results and the sample size as my statistician friends would have pointed out, would have been inadequate.

So I wanted something that will help me see the overall trend and you guessed it. I used Google trend and here are the results that Google presented me. Google Trends charts how often a particular search term is entered relative the total search volume across various regions of the world, and in various languages. This are results compiled from the search volumes done at google. Since pretty much everyone is using google so this will reflect the true industry usage of the CAD tools in india.


My first trial was with catia vs solidoworks, the softwares that i mostly used in NAL. But then i broadened the search to include two more CAD tools that i have heard we use in india. So the trial with Catia, solidwoks, unigraphics and pro/e was done.

As i already knew, CATIA was the hands on winner. With solidworks trailing as a distant second, followed by unigraphics and pro/e. As you can see from the picture pro/e is loosing the touch, there is no green line.

Pls note: The picture is drawn realtime. My analysis is based on what i am seeing now

One of the interesting things to note is even though CATIA is the most searched but solidworks beats catia at the news reference volumes. That is solidworks generated more news. This analysis was done only for the year 2008 and for indian region. The more news generaion of soliworks might be an indication how solidworks is gearing up to catch up. with catia in india.

In solidworks vs catia contest, Karnataka was the biggest user followed by Gujrat (yes even i had to think about it) and Tamil Nadu came third. Of all the subregions, Tamil Nadu has more solidworks volume, pointing that more solidworks job available in Tamil Nadu.

In terms of city, its not Bangalore which tops the chart, its Pune, yes its not surprising as so many automotive and now aerospace firms are using CATIA there. Second city was Bangalore followed by Surat.

So this simple survey showed me one more trend that i wasn't expecting. Apart from Bangalore, pune, Hyderabad, Surat gujrat is india another palce where CAD activity is buzzing. Talking about western part of india, mahape,maharastra is also coming up.. so guys this are the things that i have seen. So remember this when you are searching for jobs or getting any kind of training on the CAD tools.

Generate this trend again

Related topics:

What is catia?
Catia Video tutorials
Solidworks CAD video tutorials
Catia vs Solidworks
EDST launches catiaa and enovia training center
Where can i learn NASTRAN and CATIA
What is NASTRAN?

What can we learn from my collegue at work?

A collegue of mine is complaining me everyday that he is stuck, he is
doing uninspiring work? He is not learning anything new!

I don't know about him but I see an opportunity there. I see time that
he can utilize to learn whatever he wants to but all he does the same
repeatative job at the same slow pace.

He is using excel and is doing the same kind of work for a year now
but he is poor in excel, by now he would have been fluent in that tool
but since excel is everywhere he disregards it. Shuns it. Hates it.

He is ignorant of simple if formula and of simple techniques of excel.

If this is attitude he approaches his work he will remain in the same
rut till he quits.

Its not what you do that will teach you but how you do something?
Opportunities don't come to ideal work, it springs from the laps of
challenging work.

So this is what I suggested him.
1. Automate your repeatative work.
2. Do the work at a faster pace.
3. Utilize the remaining time doing small experiments in excel.
4. Read more about the tool you are using.
5. Aim to be an expert in it.
6. No tool is unimportant.
7. Your value is not it the number of tools you know but in the things
you can do with the tools you know.

I wish I could do some more for him. But I know he is the one who has
to walk. All we, as external person, can do is point him the right way.

As always I am curious what do you think?

Read more tips on learning tools like catia, nastran ansys etc. at http://my-aesi.blogspot.com/search?q=tools

Top Indian aerospace news last week.

Usually a company or some big news like that of PSLV or TATA joint venture with IAI makes the top news. But this week its aerospace tools that made the headlines at Indian aerospace news. IRISE and FeSafe were the tools that were launched for Indian aerospace industry.


Research and development firm ProSim, Bangalore and UK-based Safe Technology have introduced the popular durability estimation and fatigue life prediction tool FeSafe to India and iRise is a  collaborative software platform that enables businesses to quickly visualize and “test market” applications before a single line of code is written. Read more about this tools here

Tools news is fine.  There was a news of Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) signing a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with SEC Industries or manufacturing key components for the defence sector.

Other top news include

Japan's space development competitiveness is lower than China, India and Canada

Berlin air show to begin on may 27.

India Bharat Forge betting on power, aerospace

BIAL begins operation

For the 2008 show ILA is looking even further east, by signing India to replace Russia as the official partner country. "India sees the chance to get into the European market and I think it's the big first step," says Hosch. "They had the big chance to be a partner of ILA here in Berlin and they took it. They saw the success two years ago with Russian industry."

Israel Aerospace Industries and Tata Advanced Systems (TASL) are to form a joint venture company to develop, manufacture, market and support missiles, unmanned air vehicles, radars, electronic warfare systems and homeland security systems in India. TASL is a wholly owned subsidiary of India's Tata Industries, focused on providing integrated solutions for defence and aerospace.

French Thales and India's Samtel to create a joint venture company for avionics

 

Jobs at ATKINS

Tools of aerospace industry

This is a list of tools that i have seen in aerospace industry. See how many of them you know of?

CATIA
NASTRAN
ANSYS
SOLIDWORKS
ABACUS
pro/e
unigraphics
labview
matlab
excel
hypermesh
fluent
ICEM
ISIGHT

I know this is not complete yet, help me grow this list. Add the others tools that are used in aerospace industry. Add them in the comments.

Software vs software part iii

I'm not against learning this tools, but what i'm against is giving them more importance, which can retard one's creative growth. Tools enhances a carpenter's job, but what completes it His knowledge, his judgement and his creativity. His tools just helps him in the process!

Why should I learn programming language 'C' ?

A : Hey, What are you doing in Bangalore ?
B : I’m working as a Software Engineer.
A :  Is it so ?
B :  Yes, I’m working in ABC Group.
A :  But, You’ve only learned basics of embedded. Isn’t it?
B : Yes, I’ve worked on AVR platform and on Atmel’s Atmega 16 micro controller.
A : Have you made any project as well ?
B : Yes, I’ve made projects like line following robot, traffic light and to display various patterns on LCD.
A : Don’t make me fool, You’ve made a project of traffic lights so How can you work on any aircraft related project? How will you relate traffic lights and aircraft?
B : Wait, Let me explain !
A : Sure, & also explain me that why should I learn programming language ‘C’ ?

Here are the answers/explanation of the questions asked by A.

1. Have you observed a green and red color light at the tip of the wing and which keeps on blinking?
2. Have you observed the green and red color light on the belly of helicopter?
3. Have you noticed that once pilot achieves decision height so landing light automatically turns on?

Let me tell you that these lights are used as an indication and warning light and play a vital role in  landing at zero visibility. They also help in decision making like it helps a pilot to understand the direction of another aircraft. Click on the below mentioned links to understand the importance of such external lights. Approximately 99% of such lights are controlled using an embedded system.

Click Here 

Click Here

Basics will always remain the basics irrespective of the fact that whether we are working on a F1 car or a F16 fighter aircraft. Have a look on major electronic device like a calculator,  microwave, washing machines, digital camera, display unit on AC buses, ATM machines and so on… They all are getting smarter day by day. This smartness comes from a microprocessor, an operating system and a program embedded in these devices. You’ll be surprised to know that these programs are written in programming language ‘C’.

Even though now a days we have automated tools to do programming and to help programmers to make an error free & high quality program so that it can be certified at the most rigorous levels yet if you don’t know the basics of programming so you can’t work on automatic tools as well. Developers of sophisticated applications such as those utilized in avionics, high-speed trains, nuclear reactors, automobiles and medical devices use such automated tools for automatic software development and to pinpoint programming errors.

Take any example starting from the automation of aircraft gate to critical navigation & auto pilot system. Everywhere we are using embedded system and thus it’s very necessary for an Avionics student to be familiar with programming concepts.

An open advice to all avionics students.
- Learn C, C++, Matlab
- Work on at least one embedded platform if not ARM or PIC so at least AVR.     

Catia and solidwork

These are two cad software that i have extensivled covered in this
blog. I became aware of them only when I was in my last semester of
aesi and only saw solidworks for the first time when I joined NAL and
actually used catia 6 months latter.

I have worked with solidworks to design and cad model India's first
mixed flow compresor!

At present, I don't use any of this software. And I am doing fine in
life, in my career. So what the point in all this

The point is do whatever software that comes your way, because
ultimately many more software will flow in to your life. It doesn't
matter what software you get in training or what project you work on.
The point of software is they are just tools to an end. They are good
to have but they only work when you can apply them.

So whatever you are doing don't be bothered about these tools, there
are many and you don't have to learn all of them. Just carry on the
ones you enjoy and work on.

In the end it's your knowledge, wisdom and judgement that will matter
not the tools.

My fav method of learning and how it can help you?

Total immersion. Once I know I need to learn something, I let it flow
over me. I bath in it. I let it engulf me.

In NAL, by a chance work that I got from my mentor and boss, I saw the  power of VBA in practical use. This ignited my desire to learn it.

So that day I stayed longer in clocter, my lab in NAL, and browsed through the net in search of the stuff. I collected all pages that I could found. I devoured all the materials, understood very little of the things but I carried on.

Then at home, I fired excel and went to the vba mode and began ploughing through the help sections. I learnt a tiny bit of what I read but this process of overwhelming myself with so much materials, so much potentials softened my soil.

This process didn't teach me beyond how to get started in vba, but it showed and opened my eye to the potential that it had. This bath and total immersion in VBA material helped soften the soil and made my mind receptive to the lessons that I was to learn in the days to come.

So my advice to everyone of you is, if you are planning to learn a new tool, new language, new technique or language then take the plunge whole heartily and in the initial days bath in that tool, techniques, and process.

Don't worry about how much you learn just carry on and soften the soil that will eventually yield the desired crop!!

Well that was my method of learning, you let us know what's yours.

Read more about learning different tools and techniques of skill building by clicking this link

Http://my-aesi.blogspot.com/search?q=tools

Read more

• Tools of aerospace industry
• What should an aeronautical engineer learn? Catia or ?

 

Grab "After-AeSI Career guide to AeSI" ebook free

Riding bike and learning catia what's the connection?

Until you ride bikes on real road, you won't learn it. It's 100% true
for learning to drive a motorbike. And more so for all the software
tools.

Until and unless you are working on a real project you won't learn the
tool. You may know how to use it but driving on the highway, with real
traffic is the place which will hone your skills as a driver and in
the same way on a tool.

But tutorials is what I have, I hear you say. Well then create some
mini challenges. Challenges to produce something worth sharing. Here's
few idea for anyone learning a cad (catia, solidworks, unigraphics
etc) program.

1. Select a place in your house, let's say the bathroom and create all
the bathroom assessories that you see in it in your chosen cad
program. Design from start to finish and present 2d drawing just ready
to be manufactured. Design with an intention of sharing all your model
and cad drawing sheets with the world. Post them online. Let that be
the real project you are working for.

2. Design a bicycle from scratch. Measure one and assemble a whole
unit in your chosen cad program. Make drawing sheets which enables
someone with the drawing to built the bicycle from ground up.

Well I can go on but I will stop here and let you decide how you want
to create your own challenge.

The key thing in this whole exercise is your commitment to share your
results. When you design and cad model with that intention, you will
be in the very state of mind that actual designers are. It's just like
riding on a real road.

In my next post, I will discuss why this method works and things to
remember while doing this kind of exercises.

Read more tools related stuff by clicking the below link

http://my-aesi.blogspot.com/search?q=tools

Enjoy my-aesi in rss or email by clicking on this link

http://feeds.feedburner.com/myaesi

Take up a Tool early on in your AeSI days

As I began after AeSI I had certain advantages and one advantage that set me up against all was my programming skills. This skills has helped me from the training days of NAL to till now. I am glad I was introduced to computers earlier on and this sparked my life long love with computers.

I guess the immediate responsive nature of computers have attracted me. From the time I have worked on, every year  I picked up some new skills in it an that in tern fueled the extra passion.When I entered NAL I was proficient in c due to my policy of writing one c program daily in my last semester, from there onward during the NAL days I got a hang on vbscript and VBA, and vb. As I gathered each skills and learnt new tools, this programming bug grew bigger. My majority of the task was on computers in NAL, even when I didn’t have any access to any tools because of license being occupied or system busy, I sat on a computer that had excel and tinkered with it.

This tinkering nature is the one which I will attribute all my learning success. Its this enquiring attitude that has made my life easy now as I accomplish things that might take days but now happen in couple of hours. Learning excel had brought so many benefits.

So take up a tool early on in your AeSI days, if you don’t have access to the big tools like catia, ansys, nastran etc. Don’t worry begin with excel.  You will be thanking yourself in the long run. Even you have no PC at hand utilize the cyber cafe pc or any PC that you can but make sure you learn and get a hang of the tool. Use the resource of internet. The excuse how do I do it is no longer valid. Every how is available on the net search. Why do you think I analyzed the results of AeSI  since 2002, yes analyzing it was part of my exercise to learn excel. That exercise taught me excel graphs!!! So take up a tool and begin tinkering. Proficiency in a tool is just a matter of hours that you will put in it. So put in some specified amount of time everyday. Be consistent and you will kiss the stars.

But it's not necessary for my happiness.

As Einstein and his second wife were visiting US, Elza Einstein was
asked by reporters if she understood theory of relativity?

Elza Einstein always replied "of course not, but knowing relativity is
not necessary for my happiness"

This is the essense of happiness in life. Knowing what makes you happy
and what doesn't!

In your job, training and AeSI days there will be numerous things that
will come your way. Understanding what to choose and which to let go
is the skill you need.

Everything is not equally important. Know which is more important for
you.

In my AeSI days, I realised that programming was important for me. I
found I like the mix of solving an engineering problem with
programming, so as this thought took seed I began to seek
opportunities where these skills were needed.

I actively shunned CFD fluent, designing in catia because solving
problems through developing new software tools was the area that I
enjoyed the most.

I don't know catia and fluent, but then they were and are not necessay
for my happiness.

So choose which things are not necessary for your happiness

More on tools via this links http://my-aesi.blogspot.com/search?q=tools

Software,Training and AeSI graduates

Someone from Hyderabad AeSI had the following queries

hello sir ,

I have just completed my AESI, IN HYDERABAD I came to know about this site and registered myself today. I have not received my final marks list  yet. I have seen that you have done many programming languages . I haven't done nothing other than the course. I don't have any proper guidance here in Hyderabad. so please tell me should I learn any soft wares ?.and  some of my friends told that we would get an apprentice training letter after completing the course,is it true.And do companies take AeSI fresher? are their jobs for AeSI graduates. I have so many doubts,please give me guidance. hoping that you will send a reply soon

Instead of replying to his question in an individual email I thought its better if I answer them here so others too can join in the discussion.

Please tell me should I learn any softwares ?

By all means learn software, they are the tools of the trade so one shouldn’t be shy in learning them. So what are the software that AeSI graduate should learn. I have already mentioned software tools used by aeronautical engineers list, you can start with these. For computer language please do go ahead and at least have one language under your belt. Here in the post titled SUCHANDSUCH where I elaborated why you should learn a programming language.

If you don’t have access to any of the software tools mentioned and are apprehensive of any programming language then by all means take up excel as this is the most used tool in the engineering domain. This is one of the software that will be very much be a part of your work life so learn it, excel in it.

 

Some of my friends told that we would get an apprentice training letter after completing the course,is it true

Yes its true, You might want to see the notification on AeSI’s website at aerosocietyindia.com for information in this regards. Moreover having certificates and training before getting a job is always a good thing, They are some of the things that a new graduate of AeSI can highlight in his or her resume apart from the educations. This is also an opportunity when you acquire skills required for the industry.

 

And do companies take AeSI fresher's?

Yes they do. Just as any other engineering graduate you have a chance to be a in any company. In all aerospace companies that are in India, you will at least find one AeSI engineer. So take heart and go ahead. All you need to get a job after AeSI graduation is confidence+skills. Here’s a list of companies that I have in this blog where I mentioned some of the companies AeSI graduates are working in. Its bit old and need updating, but I am sure it will give you and idea about the spread of AeSI graduates in the Indian and world aerospace industry.

 

Are there jobs for AeSI graduates?

By all means, jobs are available for AeSI Graduates. You do have the best knowledge, you just need to add on the other skills to get off to a great start. I will recommend reading this series that I had a while back to set yourself to a great start in your career. As I have already sated ideally landing in a job just after your graduations depends on what you do in the your last semester. So read it here.

Well this were some of the answers that  I knew answers too, I have barely scratched the surface, I am sure many of senior AeSI graduates will have there own inputs so sing them here in the comments. What do you think? How is the industry receiving AeSI graduates?

 

• What should you do about gaps in your resume?

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Solidworks vs catia

Won't be able to cut extrude this two popular solid modelling tools but will like to give my usage experience on working on this two tools.

Catia is vast but then is restrictive, solidworks is relatively compact and very intutive. Solidwork as i saw it works around you where as catia user interface i found was around catia.

And in terms of intelligence i found solidworks more knowing of what i want than catia. Giving relations, constraints is much easier and as i said earlier is much human way in solidworks.

Anyway this are just my personal views after being with both the softwares. Anyway i'm just beginning my journey with catia. I hope as i grow using it i'll find it as appealing as i find solidworks now.

Anyway folks do write me about your experiences with these tools. Would love to know what you feel.

Related links
What is NASTRAN?
What is catia?
Solidworks CAD video tutorials
EDST launches catiaa and enovia training center
Where can i learn NASTRAN and CATIA

MATLAB

Hi folks

Last friday while tweaking with c program, i made this
filecataloger program. This program basically catalogs all the files
in my system and as i learned after using it, there were lots of gem
files that i had in my computer but long forgotten.

One of this file was and information on What MATLAB can do? I
don't know the exact source of the article from where i have saved
this, but then its an usefull info for anyone to know, so i am
posting it in this blog.

Why MATLAB?
Technical professionals worldwide rely on MATLAB to accelerate their
research, compact the time invested in analysis and development,
reduce project costs, and produce effective solutions. The MATLAB
environment encourages creativity and enables you to quickly test and
compare multiple alternatives. As a result, you produce better
solutions.

Users have found that the combination of the intuitive MATLAB
interface, language, and the built-in math and graphics functions make
MATLAB the preferred platform for technical computing compared to C,
Fortran, and other languages and applications.

MATLAB includes tools for:
Data acquisition
Data analysis and exploration
Visualization and image processing
Algorithm prototyping and development
Modeling and simulation
Programming and application development
Overview
MATLAB handles a range of computing tasks in engineering and science,
from data acquisition and analysis to application development. The
MATLAB environment integrates mathematical computing, visualization,
and a powerful technical language. Built-in interfaces let you quickly
access and import data from instruments, files, and external databases
and programs. In addition, MATLAB lets you integrate external routines
written in C, C++, Fortran, and Java with your MATLAB applications.

With a user community more than 500,000 strong spread throughout
industry, government, and academia, MATLAB is the recognized standard
worldwide for technical computing. MATLAB is used in a variety of
application areas, including signal and image processing, control
system design, earth and life sciences, finance and economics, and
instrumentation. The open architecture makes it easy to use MATLAB and
companion products to explore data and create custom tools that
provide early insights and competitive advantages.

Key Features

Numeric computing for quick and accurate results
Graphics to visualize and analyze your data
Interactive language and programming environment
Tools for building custom GUIs
Integrate with external applications comprised of C, C++, Fortran,
Java, COM components and Excel
Support for importing data from files and external devices and for
using low-level file I/O (plus access to databases and additional
hardware via add-on products)
Conversion of MATLAB applications to C and C++ with the Compiler
This broad set of capabilities makes MATLAB an ideal home base for
developing solutions to technical problems.
Trusted Mathematics and Numeric Computing Functions
With more than 600 mathematical, statistical, and engineering
functions, MATLAB gives you immediate access to high-performance
numeric computing. The numerical routines are fast, accurate, and
reliable. These algorithms, developed by experts in mathematics, are
the foundation of the MATLAB language. The core math engines
incorporate the well-respected LAPACK and BLAS linear algebra
subroutine libraries and FFTW signal processing library, embedding the
state-of-the-art in mathematical computation directly into MATLAB.

The math is optimized for matrix and vector operations, so you can use
it in place of low-level languages like C and C++, with equal
performance but less programming. With an extensive collection of
optimized math routines built right in, MATLAB frees engineers and
scientists to focus on their real work, avoiding the time-consuming
tasks of looking for, developing, debugging, and maintaining homegrown
codes.

MATLAB provides many functions for performing mathematical operations
and analyzing data, including functions for working with:
Matrices and linear algebra -matrix arithmetic, linear equations,
eigenvalues, singular values, and matrix factorizations
Polynomials and interpolation -- standard polynomial operations such
as polynomial roots, evaluation, differentiation, curve fitting and
partial fraction expansion Signal processing - digital filters, fast
Fourier transforms (FFTs), and convolution Data analysis and
statistics - descriptive statistics, data pre-processing, regression,
curve fitting, data filtering Function functions -- MATLAB functions
that work with mathematical functions instead of numeric arrays,
including plotting, optimization, zero finding, and numerical
integration (quadrature)
Differential equations - solving differential equation problems
including: initial value problems for ordinary differential equations
(ODEs) and differential-algebraic equations (DAEs), delay differential
equations, boundary value problems for ODEs, and initial-boundary
value problems for systems of parabolic and elliptic partial
differential equations (PDEs)
Sparse matrices - covering both specialized and general mathematical
operations, including iterative methods for sparse linear equations
Add-on toolboxes maximize the mathematical power of MATLAB
Add-on toolboxes - collections of MATLAB functions and interfaces -
allow you to apply even more mathematical computing power to your
technical problems. Available toolboxes address applications requiring
signal processing, optimization, statistics, symbolic math, partial
differential equation solving, curve fitting, and more.

Static Analysis | Dynamic Analysis | Unit Testing | Code Analysis Discussion

Since I've joined LDRA Technologies Pvt. Ltd as Technical Marketing Assistant hence I recieved few queries like :
What LDRA does ? and what its focus is ?
What is the role of LDRA tool suite ?
How these tools can help you in achieving zero defect software ?
and so on ....
Henceforth the answer is here ....

Whenever a company develops any software application on which people’s lives depend than it becomes very necessary for the developers to achieve zero-defect software. In order to achieve it, we use static analysis, dynamic analysis, unit testing etc.

Readers of this post might be interested in knowing what do I mean by static analysis, dynamic analysis and related terminologies. I'm sure by reading below linked articles you'll be able to understand the meaning of such terminologies.

@ AeSI Students : Even if you look at Job Description of recent recruitments, so you'll find few terms like basic knowledge of DO-178B including Level A, knowledge/experience on LDRA tools etc. Henceforth I strongly recommend below mentioned articles to be read by all Avionics students and recent graduates.

http://electronicdesign.com/content/topic/code-analysis-discussion-with-ldra/catpath/embedded

http://vita-technologies.com/articles/do-178c-arrive-drive-safety-critical-software/

http://www.ldra.com/index.php/en/solutions/by-industry/aerospace

http://digital.mil-embedded.com/mar2012/mar2012/11/0#&pageSet=11

If you would like more information concerning the LDRA tool suite else if you want to know how such tools can perform static and dynamic analysis or unit testing than please take a moment to complete the following form. (Click Here)

All the best !

Career Advice

Read this J. D Long's career advice and here's the complete list of
JD's career advice without commentary.

You will see many of the advice is what myaesi blog always stands for.

Future posts will discuss some of this points again in details.

Be a profit center, not a cost center.

Use tools you don't have to ask permission to install (i.e. open
source).

Dependence on tools that are closed license and un-scriptable will
limit the scope of problems you can solve. (i.e. Excel) Use them, but
build your core skills on more portable & scalable technologies.

Learn basic database tools.

Learn a programming language.

Your internal job description may say, "Analyst" but get something
else on your business cards. Analyst is so vague as to be meaningless.
My external title is currently "Sr. Risk Economist." I like the
term "Data Scientist" for now. I expect that term will be
meaningless in 5 years.

Large organizations do not properly appreciate agile and smart
analytic types. Time at large firms should be seen as subsidized
learning. Learn lots, but get out.

Ensure you can explain any of your projects to your wife or non-
technical friends. It's good practice for board meetings later in
your career.

Be sure you know the handful of things that you can do better than
most anyone else. Add something to that list every year. Make sure you
can explain these things to non techies.

Be a profit center, not a cost center. At least be as close to the
profit center as possible. The chief analyst for the sales SVP is
closer to the profit center than an IT analyst supporting billing
operations.

Get really good at asking questions so you understand problems before
you start solving them.

Yes, that bit about being a profit center not a cost center is in
there twice. It should probably be in there 5 times.

A useful tip that accelerated my design and analysis software learning

In this post I will tell you about one simple useful technique that i have successfully used in learning 3 CAD software's, two analysis software and many other computer languages. The technique that has enabled me to accelerate my learning of design and analysis software at NAL. This is the same technique that I use now as I play with Photoshop.

The concept is simple. Cranking. Cranking means just getting in the software and get started and getting the brain to produce something. you don’t need to have a clear goal or product to build but all you are doing is trying out the tools and just making your fingers move.

Now when I was in NAL after the initial euphoria about the software I was learning, it always happened that I lost the spark and no matter what I do. I was stuck. I felt dis-interested in the software.

so this is is an effective technique if you are learning any CAD or analysis program,m. Its a technique that you can apply to get started and to create that you want. Not only will you learn a thing or two new but also enjoy and see how your brain is producing results when you just cranked it up..

This is like the warning of the jet engine that happens when its still on the runway.. It doesn't do anything useful but allows the pilot to check all the system and at the signal of the air traffic controller  ... and the throttled is pushed... the engine roars to its power and pushes everyone up..

Same way this techniques of just sitting and opening up catia, or nastran and begin drawing designing or meshing anything that takes your fancy will help you learn more than 100 tutorials that you might have done..

As you progress. Think what is going on but keep the mouse moving, explore, try this menu, that menu, this option that option and see the tasks that you have never done. All this will not a waste as you will discover some gems in the quest and even if the final thing that you came out isn't what you waned but then your mind will be more ready to produce a thing that you want...

try it!!!