Optical systems are becoming increasingly important in aerospace and defense, supporting navigation, communications, tracking, and other mission-critical functions. These systems must maintain precision despite extreme temperature changes, mechanical stress, low-light conditions, and radiation. Ansys argues that traditional, sequential engineering workflows can make it difficult to predict how these environmental factors will affect optical performance.
Traditional development often begins with optical engineers using ray tracing to optimize image quality under ideal conditions. Mechanical and thermal effects are considered later, frequently through separate analyses, followed by physical testing such as vibration and thermal cycling. Because these disciplines remain disconnected, interactions among optical, structural, and thermal behavior may not become apparent until late in development, when design changes are more expensive.
Ansys proposes a multiphysics simulation workflow that evaluates these effects together before physical prototypes are built. Engineers first model optical performance, then simulate structural behavior and thermal effects. The analyses are coupled to assess opto-mechanical-thermal interactions, identify important sensitivities and design drivers, optimize system-level trade-offs, and perform virtual validation.
The workflow combines several Ansys tools. Zemax OpticStudio handles optical system design and analysis, Mechanical provides structural finite element analysis, Thermal Desktop supports thermal modeling, and HFSS addresses high-frequency electromagnetic behavior. Together, these tools help engineers examine system performance under operating conditions rather than evaluating each engineering discipline independently.
This integrated approach can also reduce unnecessary overengineering. Instead of adding mass or complexity to compensate for uncertainty, teams can evaluate trade-offs involving performance, size, weight, cost, and reliability earlier. Sensitivity analysis can reveal which variables have the greatest influence on performance, directing engineering effort toward the most important areas.
For aerospace applications such as eVTOL aircraft and low Earth orbit spacecraft, the approach could reduce dependence on physical prototypes while allowing engineers to explore more alternatives. Ansys positions multiphysics simulation as a way to identify problems earlier, shorten development cycles, and improve confidence that optical systems will perform reliably throughout demanding missions.
