Synopsys acquires Brandenburg for automotive lighting software portfolio

Mountain View, CA--Photonics software, electronic design automation (EDA), and semiconductor intellectual property company Synopsyshas acquired Brandenburg (Paderborn, Germany), maker of the LucidShape line of CAD software for the design of automotive forward, rear and signal lighting and reflectors, as well as for general lighting. In addition to design software, Brandenburg offers LucidDrive for night-driving simulation that generates almost photorealistic lighting scenes in real time. Designers use it to quickly and accurately evaluate beam patterns of vehicle headlamps prior to expensive fabrication and testing. Synopsys says that most top-tier car companies and their lighting OEMs use Brandenburg products.

With the acquisition of Optical Research Associates (ORA) in 2010, Synopsys made its first move into the optics industry. With the CODE V and LightTools software products, Synopsys says it is continuing ORA's long history as an innovator in the development of optical design and analysis software. In 2012, Synopsys acquired RSoft Design Group, expanding the company's portfolio of optical design and analysis software products. With the RSoft products, Synopsys has augmented the CODE V and LightTools product lines to provide a full spectrum of photonic and optical design solutions.

The Brandenburg acquisition strengthens Synopsys' existing lighting design tools portfolio, which includes imaging,illumination, and telecommunications optics design, optimization, and simulation solutions. With the LucidShape products, Synopsys says it can offer a more complete set of optical tools for automotive customers as well as support new technologies, applications, and markets as they emerge. Plus, the addition of the Brandenburg staff brings a world-class team of experts into Synopsys.

Expanding into the optical market makes absolute sense, says Synopsys, when you look closely at the problems semiconductor and optical designers are facing. Accelerating the design, simulation, analysis and optimization of optical systems involves the same level of algorithmic and software engineering expertise Synopsys provides.

SOURCE: Synopsys; http://www.synopsys.com/Company/PressRoom/Pages/brandenburg-acquisition-synopsys-optical-solutions.aspx