Failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA) and other design analysis techniques 
need to be performed iteratively throughout the design process for maximum 
benefit. Ideally, the initial FMEA for a design would be performed as soon as 
the first design is available, and should be updated whenever a change is made 
to the design, or when more detailed information becomes available. The same 
principle is true for sneak circuit analysis, design verification, and other 
design analysis techniques. This ideal is unattainable without computer help.

This paper describes innovative software integrated with Design Architect for 
automating design analysis for electrical system designs. It provides a great 
improvement in time savings and consistent results over performing the analysis 
'by hand', and gives feedback to the engineer by showing the results of the 
analysis by coloring circuit activity within Design Architect. The software 
automates FMEA report production, sneak circuit analysis, and virtual 
yellowboarding. In all of these areas, automated design analysis has produced 
valuable results. The main benefit of the automated design analysis is that it 
automatically produces results which identify gross problems early in the design 
process, when design changes can more easily and cheaply be made. Examples are 
given of the work involved in setting up an automated design analysis, and the 
kinds of benefits that can be derived by doing so. Finally, the paper describes 
the impact of this twofold automated design analysis on electrical systems 
design at an automotive manufacturer.

Bio:

Mr  Nigel Hughes is Managing Director of the FirstEarth Ltd. Mr Hughes
graduated  from the University of Wales Aberystwyth (UWA) with a first class
honours  degree in Computer Science. Mr Hughes then spent three years 
researching and  developing intelligent control architectures for autonomous 
mobile robots at UWA. He subsequently worked on the GENMech research project, 
where he developed an  automated FMEA generation tool for mechanical designs. In 
1999 Mr Hughes moved  to FirstEarth where his initial work involved extending 
the existing design  analysis tools to use third-party numerical simulators.