Lambda Research Corporation

CASE STUDY: Lambda Research Corporation
MARKET: Optical Design Product
PRODUCT: 3D ACIS Modeler

COMPANY
Lambda Research Corporation (Lambda) provides innovative optics software and services to government and industry customers worldwide. The company’s fl agship product, TracePro®, is a powerful ray tracing program for illumination analysis, stray light analysis, and optical systems analysis. Used by engineers in manufacturing, optics, aerospace, and academia, TracePro is a powerful tool for modeling items such as headlights, camera lenses, and telescopes.

Introduced in 1996, TracePro was the fi rst optics program to offer compatibility with mechanical CAD programs and to bring ACIS-based 3D geometric modeling capabilities to optical designers. Key to these pioneering differentiators was Spatial’s 3D ACIS® Modeler (ACIS).

CHALLENGE
TracePro was originally developed under the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program. The SBIR program funds innovative research that stimulates technological innovation in the private sector and strengthens the role of small business concerns in meeting federal research and commercial application needs.

Under the terms of NASA SBIR, Lambda was challenged to develop TracePro as next-generation stray light analysis software that enables effi cient and accurate optical analysis. To accomplish these goals, TracePro had to be capable of the following functions: Handle complex geometry to defi ne and trace millions of rays; Visualize, manipulate, and provide a database for 3D solid models; and import and export popular CAD and lens design program formats.

SOLUTION
Lambda opted to use ACIS for TracePro’s vast array of capabilities, positioning it as an emerging technology for stray light analysis. Reasons for choosing ACIS include the component’s unique ability to enable high-precision modeling, data compatibility, databasing, visualization, and interactive analysis.

Optical modeling requires nanometer, or 10-6 mm precision, which only ACIS delivers. “During our investigation of modelers, ACIS was the best choice, for it had the highest precision of any modeler,” states G. Groot Gregory, vice president, Lambda Research Corporation.

TracePro capitalizes on particular ACIS function sets when creating optical solids, so that objects diffi cult to model in last-generation optical design programs, like prisms, are easily created. Rich Hassler, Manager of Engineering Services, Lambda Research, explains, “ACIS enables TracePro to defi ne primitive solid shapes, including spheres, elliptical and circular cylinders and cones, blocks, and tori. ACIS Boolean Operators are used to combine shapes to intersect, subtract, and unite. ACIS extruding and ACIS sweeping offer the extruding and sweeping of 2D primitive sheets to create a wide variety of unusual 3D geometry.”

A crucial differentiator for TracePro is its ability to import mechanical CAD models into lens designs and to export optical components into mechanical designs. With ACIS, TracePro can share solid model data with all other software based on ACIS, and exchange data with most other CAD and analysis programs LAMBDA RESEARCH CORP. MARKET: OPTICAL DESIGN PRODUCT: 3D ACIS MODELER via Spatial’s ACIS InterOp Components.

As Mr. Gregory describes it, “When we were looking for modelers, the interchange from CAD programs was vital to us. With ACIS, we are able to bring data into TracePro from AutoCAD and hundreds of other ACIS-based systems.”

ACIS also allows TracePro to read optical system data, which is surface data, from popular lens design programs, such as ACCOS V, Code V, OSLO, and ZEMAX.

TracePro uses ACIS for the visualization and databasing of solid models, so users can defi ne models as optical components. Models can be created using a CAD-like interface and libraries of optical components. An extensible database of properties ensures that objects have the correct properties, including materials and surface properties. TracePro also includes a Scheme Interface, which is available with ACIS. All capabilities of ACIS’s Scheme Toolkit are made accessible to TracePro users for interactive and multiple configuration analysis.

ADVANTAGES
The precision and high functionality of ACIS enabled Lambda to create a world-class product in a minimum of time with carefully managed resources.

Lambda added optical processing and simulation on top of ACIS to create a new generation of optical software in a matter of 18- 20 months. To put this in perspective, it took several years for TracePro’s only U.S. competitor to produce its software. And, even after their competitor’s considerable time investment, Lambda is convinced it has a superior application. “Our ACIS modeling code is far superior. Our competitor is a company of 45, we are a company of fi ve, and we launched our product in under two years,” states Mr. Gregory.

Spatial provides an excellent opportunity for innovative, small companies to integrate mature components into their emerging 3D modeling applications. As part of the OEM Partner Program, partners like Lambda get component products and engineering resources specifi cally designed to speed technology integration and reduce time to market. Through the program, customers receive a developer’s license for any of Spatial’s 3Dcomponent products, without paying up-front license fees. Only when the software licensee is ready to ship the product will they be asked to share their success by paying annual and variable partner fees.

“Spatial’s pricing strategy opens the door for all software developers, small and large, to have access to world-class 3D technologies. In addition, it demonstrates Spatial’s commitment to customer success by allowing small business’, like Lambda, to concentrate their fi nancial resources on software development and positively impacting their product’s time-to-market.” –Dr. Edward Freniere, President and CEO, Lambda Research Corporation