TECHNICAL COMPUTING CAMP 2023
The tenth jubilee meeting of supporters of technical calculations and simulations, Technical Computing Camp, took place again this year at the Rakovec Hotel on the Brno Reservoir.
The meeting was accompanied by beautiful and constant summer weather, which certainly contributed to a good atmosphere. This time we used the capacity of the Rakovec hotel to the maximum, there were over 160 of us in total.
The format of the meeting was preserved, during two days the participants completed the following program:
- News in MATLAB, COMSOL Multiphysics and dSPACE systems.
- Lectures of invited users.
- Workshop – modelling physics problems in COMSOL Multiphysics
- Competition for the best user project.
- Showcase – practical demonstrations of the use of our tools in the form of a mini-exhibition
- Creative workshop – an opportunity for teamwork on simple tasks
Most of the presented materials and examples can be found on other tabs of this archive page.
At the beginning of the program, Michal Blaho introduced us to the news that the year 2023 brought in the MATLAB / Simulink system. Then Mr. Marco Rossi introduced us to the vision of MathWorks in the field of using artificial intelligence methods in solving engineering tasks and how schools, research institutions and industrial enterprises can cooperate in this area. Other lectures by colleagues Anna Tocháčková, Jaroslav Jirkovský and Michal Blah covered topics related to current developments in the field of electrification in the automotive industry, new possibilities in 3D data processing and tools that MATLAB offers in the design of advanced control systems. Martin Foltin provided a brief overview of MATLAB licensing options throughout an engineer's career, from high school to college, working at startups, to standard licenses used by industrial enterprises, companies, and government organizations. In addition to the software itself, the related services that help the effective use of our tools are gaining importance – a sophisticated system of online and face-to-face courses, consultations and cloud services.
Martin Kožíšek once again presented an overview of the possibilities of the COMSOL Multiphysics program; on the occasion of the event's tenth anniversary, he recalled the tasks and applications that demonstrated the breadth of use of this program in previous years, but of course he also showed a new task – the magnetohydrodynamic drive, which we also demonstrated to the participants in the form of a physical model on Friday.
This year, Tomáš Fridrich devoted himself to the use of dSPACE tools for the simulation of power electronics in real time. The field of power electronics is experiencing rapid development, especially in connection with electrification in automotive technology. Simulation tools make it possible to speed up and make the development cycle of electric cars and related infrastructure cheaper.
At this year's meeting, the following users shared their experiences using our tools:
- Mr. Radek Papoušek and Jakub Zábojník from the Continental company together with our colleague Lubor Zhánal presented the first results of our companies' consulting cooperation on updating and improving business applications created using the MATLAB App Designer tool. These applications are developed in the Czech Republic and used by other test facilities around the world.
- Mr. Petr Semotam from Siemens introduced us to the Siemens Predictive Maintenance web application, developed on the MATLAB platform. It is a complex application that evaluates a large amount of operational data of various types (numerical and textual) from monitored devices. Using machine learning methods and other advanced algorithms, it enables users to identify non-standard conditions and optimize the maintenance process. The application also uses the MATLAB Web App Server.
- Mr. Ivan Masár from TTTEch presented a platform for implementing distributed real-time systems using deterministic communication based on TTEthernet. These systems find application especially in space projects and other applications requiring high reliability. MATLAB and Simulink tools are used for generating the network configuration and for automatically generating the code of applications running on individual network nodes.
- Mr. Martin Hrnčár from the company R-SYS presented the development of a system for advanced processing of radar data used to detect so-called non-cooperative targets on the operational areas of large airports. Machine learning and artificial intelligence methods are also applied in the detection and tracking of targets.
- Messrs. Ondrej Vacek and Radovan Gracovský from the Technical University and the National Forestry Center in Zvolen described a new workplace for scanning wood using the computed tomography method. This workplace is unique in terms of research purpose and in the fact that it is the only one in the world intended primarily for processing the wood of deciduous trees. It was necessary to adapt the operating software and develop new methods for identifying anomalies and classifying wood defects. Even for these applications, the standard MATLAB Volume Viewer and Image Labeler applications can be advantageously used.
As an accompaniment to the evening reception, we organized a panel discussion where our colleagues answered the participants' questions. We then spent Thursday evening discussing good food and drinks on the hotel terrace and playing bowling.
We started Friday morning with a quiz with questions that tested the knowledge and readiness of the audience, but also gave an insight into the lives of the community of users of our tools.
Tomáš Vrbata then, in the form of a hands-on workshop „My first simulation“, guided the interested party through the solution of an interesting problem that, at first glance, is not related to the finite element method – solving a maze with the help of entering a problem for laminar flow in COMSOL Multiphysics.
A record 11 contestants took part in the competition for the best user project this year, we are glad that in addition to participants from schools, users from companies are also taking part in the competition. The jury led by Prof. This time, Petra Dostála had to recount the votes – there was a tie in three places in the ranking. Miss Darya Zhurauliova (VUT Brno) and Mr. Jakub Tureček (ZČU Plzeň) shared the victory in the competition.
The list of projects, their description and the complete results of the competition can be found here >>
In parallel with the competition, Humusoft's application engineers also prepared a non-competitive exhibition of their own projects, their description can be found here >>
Today we invite you, who work with our tools, to participate in the next year of the competition! The competition is open to all users of MATLAB, COMSOL Multiphysics or dSPACE systems, whether they use them in the corporate sphere, in the studio or for home use.
At the end of the camp, after lunch, we again included a Creative Workshop, where you could sit down at the computers and try solving several prepared tasks. There was also time for further discussions and consultations with our colleagues.
We thank the speakers, competitors and all other participants for their contribution to the successful course of the event. We look forward to meeting you again!
Please put the date of the next year's Technical Computing Camp in your calendars: 5.-6. September 2024!