Synopsys Launches Electronics Digital Twin Platform, Accelerating AI and Automotive System Development

Synopsys has introduced a new Electronics Digital Twin (eDT) Platform designed to streamline the development process for electronic systems, particularly in the automotive and AI sectors. The platform aims to enable significant software validation—potentially up to 90%—before physical hardware is available, reducing development cycles and costs.

What is an Electronics Digital Twin?

An Electronics Digital Twin (eDT) is a virtual representation of an electronic system. According to Synopsys, the eDT Platform is an open, cloud-based ecosystem for creating, deploying, managing, and utilizing these digital twins. It combines solutions from Synopsys and its partners, offering users tailored environments called eDT Labs that integrate software tools, virtual models, and scalable compute resources. Learn more about Electronics Digital Twin from Synopsys

Key Features and Benefits

The Synopsys eDT Platform offers several key benefits, especially for the automotive industry:

• Early Software Development: Allows software development to commence well before hardware is available, “shifting left” test and validation.
• Accelerated Validation: Enables up to 90% of software validation to be completed before hardware is available.
• Reduced Costs: By identifying and resolving issues earlier in the development cycle, the platform helps reduce overall development costs.
• Improved Software Quality: Early validation and testing contribute to higher software quality and reliability.
• Enhanced Collaboration: Facilitates seamless collaboration between customer teams, suppliers, and tool vendors.

Cloud-Based eDT Labs

The platform supports cloud-based eDT Labs for virtual Electronic Control Units (ECUs), enabling early software development and system validation. These labs provide pre-integrated assets, including Synopsys technologies, open-ecosystem tools, models, software, and scalable compute resources. Read more about the platform on Engineering.com

Industry Adoption

Volvo Cars is among the early adopters of the Synopsys eDT Platform. Johannes Foufas of Volvo Cars stated, “With virtualized ECUs, our teams can ‘shift left’ test and validation before hardware exists, enabling us to reduce development cost, increase software quality, and accelerate innovation throughout the lifecycle of our vehicles.”

Recent Partnerships and Developments

In related news, ABB Robotics has partnered with Nvidia to integrate Nvidia Omniverse libraries into its RobotStudio software suite, facilitating the deployment of physical AI. Learn more about the ABB and Nvidia partnership.

Looking Ahead

The Synopsys Electronics Digital Twin Platform represents a significant step towards transforming engineering with an end-to-end digital twin foundation. As the demand for increasingly complex electronic systems grows, particularly in the automotive and AI industries, platforms like this will be crucial for accelerating development, reducing costs, and improving quality.