CAT/TransCable0 pages

CAT/TransCable Interface
Advanced Design Automation for Cable and Wire Harness Design

CAT/TransCableTM provides a tightly integrated bi-directional interface
between TransCableTM, Mentor Graphic's Design Capture environment, and
Dassault Systemes' CATIA Electrical Design Solutions (CATIA V4) environment.
Together, these tools create a design environment that enables concurrent
engineering between electrical and mechanical design teams.

Target Market
The content of electrical subsystems is
exploding in system markets such as
transportation (automobiles, trucks, trains),
aerospace (planes, satellites), telecom
(PBXs, routers), semiconductor equipment,
and industrial machinery. The physical
interconnection of these subsystems has
become a critical design factor that affects
system performance, time to market and
life cycle costs.
Design Scenario
After a system has been partitioned, detailed
electrical, mechanical, and software design
may progress. Three-dimensional (3D)
geometric models for electromechanical
equipment are created in Dassault Systemes'
Electrical Device and Support Modeling
tool. These models are placed within the
system structure for proper assembly of wire
harness using Dassault Systemes' Electrical
Wire Bundle Installation product.
TransCable is an intelligent schematic capture
tool used to create system, logical, and wiring
schematics at different levels of hierarchy.
Electrical connectivity is consistently
managed throughout the design.
Electromechanical schematic symbols for
wires, splices, cables, fuses, terminal strips,
and connectors are correctly created both
electrically and physically. Attributes uniquely
define parts and enable downstream processes
such as analysis and design rules checks.
Electromechanical Solutions
Together, Mentor Graphics and Dassault
Systemes develop electromechanical
solutions that bridge the gap between

www.mentor.com/harness

electrical and mechanical design domains.
The integration between the products
reduces manual errors, enables virtual
prototyping of electromechanical systems,
and helps identify potential design problems
early in the design process.

Seamless Integration between CATIA V4
Electrical Design Solutions and TransCable
CAT/TransCable provides a direct interface
that enables dynamic updating of design
changes between TransCable and CATIA.
CATIA Electrical Design Solutions maps
component references defined in TransCable
with 3D models created in CATIA. Physical
bundles may be automatically or interactively
routed. Design constraints passed from
TransCable to CATIA may be checked such
as minimum bend radius. Wires, cables and
splices are automatically assigned to routed
bundles. Wire, cable, and bundle dimensions
are automatically calculated in CATIA.
Wire and cable lengths may be exported
from CATIA for dynamic updating within
TransCable.