ESTECO is proud to announce the release of v4.0 of the multi-objective optimization and design environment software, modeFRONTIER™. This state-of-the-art PIDO tool, written to allow easy coupling to almost any computer-aided-engineering (CAE) tool, is now even more powerful and user-friendly than previous versions.

KEY FEATURES
modeFRONTIER™ v4.0 can handle data sets containing up to 1 million design configurations, giving rise to the need for enhanced post-processing capabilities:

• Statistical Analysis tools embedded in the system
• Data Mining tools to extract design features
• Wizard to make creation of meta-models easier
• New Look and Feel to enhance navigation between different tools

In addition, modeFRONTIER™ v4.0 contains a wide range of data-mining tools to help understand complex data.

STATISTICAL TOOLS
modeFRONTIER™ features an enhanced set of statistical tools to analyze and exchange data. A Statistic Summary, ANOVA, Significance Analysis, and Distribution Fitting have been added to the extensive list of state-of-the-art tools already in the current version of modeFRONTIER™.

NEW WIZARD MAKES CREATION OF META-MODELS EASIER!
The creation of meta-models (including response surfaces and neural networks) can be a complex and laborious task, especially in situations where high accuracy is required. modeFRONTIER™ v4.0 features a comprehensive wizard which enables the user to create multiple meta-models quickly and automatically. The meta-models are checked for accuracy, allowing the user to select and screen the optimal model.

DATA MINING TOOLS
Analyzing complex data-sets has become easier with the new clustering tools available in modeFRONTIER™ v4.0. Clustering tools, based on Hierarchical and K-Means methods, allow the user to identify, within a data-set, groups of points with similar design features. Self Organizing Maps (SOM) have been introduced to allow the user to analyze and organize data sets by highlighting the most important relationships between inputs and outputs.

DESIGN OPTIMIZATION ALGORITHMS
Other new features have been added to the modeFRONTIER™ framework to make life easier for users when looking for optimal solutions. These include:

• Optimization Wizard, to assist in the selection of the best optimization strategy
• New Multi-Objective Optimizers, including Multi-Objective Particle Swarm (MOPSO)
• Reliability Methods for Robust Design and DFSS
• New automatic work-flow creation: modeFRONTIER™ now features even more seamless integration to third-party CAD/CAE tools.
• Matrix, Vector, and String Variables, to deal with systems of complex data
• New Calculator Node allows advanced post-processing, using built-in functions, to be performed directly in the workflow.