In today’s fast-paced engineering landscape, ensuring the accuracy and reliability of system requirements is critical to project success. But how can teams validate complex requirements efficiently and reduce costly errors early in the development cycle?
In this exclusive interview, Fabien GAUCHER, CATIA STIMULUS CO-INVENTOR, share insights into a real-world case study where a customer leveraged CATIA STIMULUS to transform their project workflow. Arshita PALIWAL, a CATIA SYSTEM ENGINEER, will give her expertise on this incredible solution. Discover the key challenges they faced, the strategies implemented, and the tangible value achieved through this cutting-edge solution. Learn how requirements simulation is reshaping engineering, accelerating development, and ensuring project success.
What kind of company typically benefits from deploying CATIA STIMULUS?
Any company working with functional requirements for embedded systems, especially in safety- or mission-critical environments, will benefit. Key industries include Aerospace & Defense, Transportation & Mobility, Energy & Materials, Marine & Offshore, Industrial Equipment, and High-Tech. CATIA STIMULUS is particularly effective when working under compliance standards like DO178 or ISO26262, and for organizations using Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE).
What challenges did this specific customer face?
The customer acknowledged poor-quality requirements during the initial Value Assessment phase. Their main challenges included:
- Increasing engineering robustness to prevent late changes
- Improving technical risk management
- Boosting product reusability to accelerate time-to-market
- Enabling authors to produce high-quality requirements more efficiently
They also noted that poor requirements often result in miscommunication, leading to cost overruns and project delays.
Why did they introduce requirements simulation with CATIA STIMULUS?
Because most system errors originate during the requirement authoring phase, and traditional tools don’t detect them early. CATIA STIMULUS simulates requirements as they are written, revealing missing, ambiguous, incorrect, or conflicting elements.
This early validation leads to:
- Reduced costs
- Faster development cycles
- More robust systems
- Greater reusability
- Improved stakeholder communication
Which features made CATIA STIMULUS particularly effective for the project?
Three features stood out:
- Textual Requirements Simulation: Visualizes behavior like executable code
- Observers: Monitor contradictions and ensure compliance, crucial for safety-critical systems
- Testing Capabilities: Automatically generate and validate test scenarios, saving time and effort
How does CATIA STIMULUS compare to other tools considered by the customer?
There is no direct competitor. STIMULUS uniquely simulates textual requirements and complements, rather than replaces, existing MBSE or MBD tools. Thanks to its Functional Mock-up Interface (FMI), it integrates seamlessly with most engineering platforms. The customer’s investment in this approach delivered measurable benefits.
What impact did CATIA simulation have on the project’s outcome?
Several key benefits were observed:
- A more robust and reliable end product
- Lower development costs
- Shorter time-to-market
- Better communication across teams
- A smaller and more manageable requirements database
- Clearer, unambiguous specifications
How did CATIA STIMULUS improve project planning and execution?
STIMULUS allowed for more accurate time and cost estimates, improving profitability and competitiveness. It also reduced legal risk and maintenance efforts by removing ambiguity in requirements, which often form part of contractual obligations.
How was success measured in the customer’s project with the help of CATIA STIMULUS?
The customer defined and achieved key value indicators:
- Improved efficiency
- Higher percentage of early error detection
- Shorter cycles between error detection and resolution
- Lower development costs
- Reduced time-to-market
- Smaller, more focused requirements set
What challenges might arise during CATIA’s implementation, and how can they be addressed?
The primary challenge is learning the tool. To support adoption, we provide a comprehensive three-day training course, available on-site or in classrooms worldwide. It can be customized to the customer’s current project to ensure immediate, practical value.
What are the key takeaways on the impact of requirements simulation?
From the user perspective:
- System Engineers validate requirements for completeness and consistency
- Design Engineers get precise inputs for robust design models
- Software Engineers code against reliable, trusted requirements
- Test Engineers automate test case generation and validation
- Safety Engineers verify compliance with safety goals
- Project Managers detect errors early, reducing cost and project duration
From the project perspective:
- Faster project completion
- Reduced cost and rework
- Greater system robustness
- Smaller, clearer requirement sets
- Better stakeholder communication
- Trusted requirements for reuse
Are there case studies showing how CATIA STIMULUS improved outcomes?
Yes. A T&M OEM reduced their specification from 1,000 to 50 requirements after using STIMULUS, saving approximately €1.9 million per year. This required just three weeks of modeling and simulation.
Another customer detected several “red” category requirement errors, those with the highest risk of propagating into the final product—thus avoiding costly recalls.
General industry insights:
- Requirement set reductions of 5–10x
- Over 50% of errors introduced during specification phase
- 30% of engineering time spent debugging legacy requirements
- 50% of test engineering time spent maintaining test cases
What feedback have you received from other customers?
Here’s what they’re saying:
“It’s the missing link between textual requirements and Model-Based Systems Engineering.”
“I’m not easily impressed, but this is really impressive!”
“We typically write a third fewer requirements using CATIA STIMULUS.”
“I’ve stopped modeling my ideas in my design tool, I just write and simulate them in STIMULUS. It saves me so much time.”
How can a company get started with CATIA STIMULUS?
There are multiple easy ways to begin:
- Request a free evaluation copy
- Organize a free proof of concept using current or legacy requirements
- Rent or purchase licenses for immediate use
- Schedule a dedicated training course
- Partner with STIMULUS experts through tailored consulting services
FAQ
What are the different types of models used in simulation?
In requirements simulation, models can include:
- Textual Requirements Models: Formalized natural-language requirements that can be executed and tested.
- Behavioral Models: Represent expected system responses to inputs, often simulating logic and timing.
- Observer Models: Monitor compliance with safety or functional rules.
- Test Scenario Models: Automatically generated to validate requirements through various use cases.
What are the main stages of a simulation process?
- Model Definition: Structure requirements and system behavior.
- Simulation Setup: Define test scenarios and simulation parameters.
- Execution: Run the simulation to validate requirements dynamically.
- Analysis: Identify missing, conflicting, or ambiguous requirements.
- Iteration: Refine models and requirements based on results.
These stages help detect errors early and ensure robust, compliant systems.