Originally posted by AWS
Exosonic uses an HPC platform from AWS Partner Rescale to quickly and efficiently scale and run complex aircraft simulations
Exosonic, an aerospace trailblazer, is transforming the world of supersonic aviation. While supersonic aircraft are renowned for their thunderous roars, Exosonic is rewriting this narrative. Presently, the company is engaged in the construction of supersonic passenger planes that glide with a hushed sonic boom, in addition to military aircraft optimized for enhanced training capabilities. Exosonic’s ambition lies in fashioning airliners faster than any in existence, aiming to shrink global travel times by half. “Our objective is to craft aircraft capable of traversing the globe in half the time,” attests Tim MacDonald, Exosonic’s Chief Technology Officer.
How Exosonic Uses Rescale for Testing
The architectural blueprint of Exosonic’s aircraft necessitates intricate and computationally intensive engineering simulations, which the company executes on a robust high-performance computing (HPC) platform housed within a data center. For instance, to replicate airflow patterns around the aircraft, engineers at Exosonic run various scenarios to exhibit the aircraft’s performance in specific scenarios. Keen to expedite aircraft production, the company sought an expedient and scalable solution for simulations. “Building our own HPC environment was not financially or technologically viable,” notes MacDonald. “As a startup, acquiring multiple computing clusters was a challenge, and their utilization would be sporadic given our scale.”
Recognizing the cloud’s potential for scalability and flexibility, Exosonic partnered with Rescale, an AWS Partner, to create a turnkey HPC platform on Amazon Web Services (AWS), offering an arsenal of over 1,000 commercial and open-source simulation applications for engineers and scientists. Powered by Intel Xeon Scalable processors, this Rescale platform runs on AWS services including Amazon EC2 C5 Instances. In a strategic harmony, Rescale also relies on Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3) buckets for data storage.
Exosonic’s foray into AWS cloud computing not only elevates its agility but also ensures compliance with the US International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), critical for defense-related product and service manufacturing, via AWS GovCloud (US). “Regulation-compliant computational work is paramount,” affirms MacDonald. “Rescale assists us in upholding regulations via optimized configurations on AWS GovCloud.”
Scaling Effortlessly for Intricate Aircraft Simulations
With Rescale on AWS backed by Intel technology, Exosonic scales its HPC environment nimbly to accommodate simulations employing over 300 cores. “Rescale on AWS streamlined our aircraft simulations unlike our on-premises infrastructure,” avows MacDonald. This allows engineers to simulate airflow angles around the aircraft, thereby determining its performance during takeoff, landing, and missions. The goal even extends to noise reduction, sculpting the aircraft’s shape to mitigate shockwave-related noise on supersonic flights.
Exosonic can access compute resources on-demand via Rescale’s user-friendly web-based interface, bypassing complex software and hardware configuration. “Rescale simplifies deployment, enabling engineers to accelerate designs through simulations on AWS without becoming cloud HPC experts,” notes Cangemi, Principal of Strategic Partnerships and Alliances at Rescale. By utilizing Rescale, Exosonic orchestrates more simulations in less time, expediting the aircraft design process. “Running simulations on Rescale accelerates our iterative cycles, aiding us in faster aircraft construction,” attests MacDonald.
Optimizing Operational Costs for Innovation
Leveraging AWS’s elasticity instead of constructing an in-house HPC infrastructure empowers Exosonic to regulate operational expenses prudently. “Constructing and managing our own HPC environment would be impractical,” highlights MacDonald. “Running standalone simulations on a large scale would also be costly. AWS, coupled with Intel technology, is cost-effective.”
Exosonic’s alliance with Rescale and AWS ensures scalability and computational prowess. “Rescale and AWS deliver the scalability and compute power essential for our innovation acceleration,” concludes MacDonald.
