Scade One: Ushering in a New Era of Model-based Software Development

Ansys SCADE is the industry standard for developing critical embedded software via a model-based environment. With its new solution, Scade One, Ansys is set to not just lead the industry, but revolutionize it.  

For decades, Ansys SCADE has helped the world’s automakers, aerospace and defense manufacturers, and other companies develop the critical embedded software that drives their complex product systems. By providing a model-based development environment — and a disciplined workflow that focuses on meeting functional and safety requirements and complying with regulatory standards — SCADE has helped ensure that generations of products work flawlessly under real-world scenarios. Billions of lines of software code supporting today’s trains, cars, aircraft, power plants, and other safety-critical product systems have been generated and verified via SCADE.

However, the world has changed dramatically since SCADE was first launched. Today’s complex product systems feature more electronic components, sensor systems, and autonomous functionality than the original developers of SCADE could have imagined. The rapid growth of these autonomous and electric product systems has created more stringent safety and security protocols. Today’s engineers are leveraging new technology resources, including cloud and high-performance computing (HPC), that demand new ways of working. And, spoiled by our smartphones, all of us are looking for intuitive, highly visual user interfaces that are more “consumer-like.”

To meet the emerging needs of today’s embedded software development teams, Ansys is launching an innovative new solution, Scade One, with its upcoming general software release in January 2024. You can be one of the first adopters of this new solution that’s set to revolutionize the industry, just as the orginal SCADE kicked off a design revolution more than 20 years ago.

Scade One: Purpose Built for Today’s Software Development Needs

For the past few years, Ansys has been gathering feedback from users to understand how their software development needs have evolved over time. That input has been incorporated into our new solution, Scade One, to ensure that it delivers the greatest possible value for our customers.

While Scade One continues the legacy of reliability and accuracy established by SCADE, it’s built for the larger and more complex problems software engineers are tackling today, including an increased number of features and functions to implement, late design changes, and increased testing complexity. Scade One is designed to integrate seamlessly with cloud computing models and the many advanced technology systems engineers are using today. And it features a state-of-the-art, intuitive graphical user interface that delivers an engaging user experience so it’s both easy to learn and easy to use.

Those customers who have been happily using SCADE for years shouldn’t worry — the robust functionality they’ve come to rely on remains. Scade One still begins with system and software requirements, then enables engineers to build a reliable architecture and implementation design in a model-based environment. Scade One automatically generates code, and all verifications are performed at the model level. Manual coding can be minimized or eliminated, and models support fast design changes. Scade One further improves productivity and minimizes time and costs without compromising safety and reliability for critical software applications. All models and test cases developed with SCADE can be automatically imported and reused in Scade One.

But Scade One features an entirely new look and feel, as well as broader capabilities designed for today’s transformed world. Here’s a look at some of the innovative, value-added features Ansys customers will experience as they transition to Scade One:

• A wider range of applications. With its new programming language, Swan, Scade One accommodates a wider range of target applications, including navigation and mission software, land- and air-based autonomous systems, and advanced driver- assistance systems (ADAS). Scade One can address a wide range of emerging product applications that feature electronics, software, autonomous controls, and stringent safety requirements — from wind turbines to trucks, cranes, and industrial equipment.
• A more visual coding experience. The Scade One user interface is designed to mimic the easy use, graphical nature, smart services, and real-time analysis capabilities of today’s consumer devices. Not only does this make the model-based environment easier to access and use, but it minimizes learning curves and training requirements for new employees. As engineering talent shortages create a more diverse product development workforce, Scade One accommodates new users with a more visual, intuitive experience.
• An open ecosystem. Modern system and software development teams are operating in a varied technology landscape that may include cloud computing sources, multiple software applications, and application programming interfaces (APIs), including simulation tools and requirements databases. Working seamlessly and efficiently across this varied landscape demands an open development platform and easy integration. The developers of Scade One have a firm understanding of these needs, and they’ve designed Python APIs and batch tools for interoperability and seamless integration.
• Greater support for collaboration. This open ecosystem creates a more collaborative environment in which multiple software engineers, in multiple locations, can collaborate effectively on shared projects. Scade One allows effective collaboration and supports Agile workflows, thanks to modularity, that is the ability to split a program into smaller independent units called libraries, that can be composed and reused. Scade One provides the ability to share these libraries with versioning. Scade One supports and facilitates continuous integration/continuous deployment (CI/CD) approaches, that is, integrating contributions of a team of developers early and often to a shared repository. This approach accelerates deliveries and minimizes the cost of rework and late modifications.

Looking Beyond Safety to Consider Operating Performance and Costs

SCADE was designed for a single, highly important purpose: to ensure that embedded software works safely and reliably in critical applications. This is an essential capability that has made the world’s planes, cars, power plants, and other product systems safer and more reliable for more than two decades.

But the modern job of an engineering team has become more multifaceted. Of course, product safety will always be paramount, particularly in the automotive, aerospace, and defense industries. In addition, today’s engineers must also consider how well their products perform in terms of energy efficiency, output, long-term durability and reliability, operating costs, and other metrics.