FAQ's About VibraTools Suite™
What are the key features of using MATLAB for NVH analysis?
So, I should use MATLAB and VibraTools because that automates my analysis procedures - that’s it?
I am already using MATLAB for my NVH tasks. Why would I buy VibraTools then?
You do not seem to have any functionality that I have not already developed myself
I understand MATLAB is a programming language. So I need to be a programmer to use VibraTools?
We have had problems certifying our commercial systems. Does VibraTools make it easier?
So, if I understand it correctly, VibraTools is an entirely command driven environment?
What are the key advantages of using MATLAB for NVH analysis?
Since the MATLAB environment is basically an interpreting programming language (like BASIC; you enter commands at a command prompt, or stack those commands in a script file), working with it means you write down your commands in a script file in the order you want to execute them. Then you execute the file (i.e. all commands in it). This means that you automatically have a documentation of the analysis. In a menu driven system, which is the alternative - after you have created a result in a plot; how do you know that you pushed all the right buttons to get that result? "Are you sure you remembered to divide the data by 2"?
Also, MATLAB is totally flexible. If you were ever frustrated trying to make your menu based system allow you to do a particular thing, in MATLAB it is usually straight forward. Of course, you need to know how to do it – but that is where the VibraTools Suite come in – browse through the examples provided with our toolboxes, or even better; open up our scripts (they are all open scripts!) and see how we do things. And there are plenty examples in standard MATLAB as well, just dig in and learn!
So, I should use MATLAB and VibraTools because that automates my analysis procedures - that’s it?
Another reason we advocate using MATLAB, is because from our teaching experience we know that using an all-menu based system, it is easy to become a "button pusher". When using a menu driven system, you can do cool things which the programmer intended you to do, but you are not really encouraged to go into the theory behind. The risk with that is that you may not become proficient enough to actually interpret the results correctly. You are not encouraged to understand the limitations and regions of validity of your results, because you do not have to understand the procedures involved to push a menu button. In almost all universities today, for example, MATLAB is used for teaching for this very reason, and because MATLAB is a great way to understand math. And we thus advocate continuing to use MATLAB when you come out in the industry, to better understand vibration analysis etc. We call using the Vibratools Suite™ “a learning experience”.
So I have to write lots of difficult signal analysis procedures if I want to use the VibraTools Suite?
Well, not really. You need to make scripts to automate the analysis procedures you use in your work. But having done that once, every time you want to repeat the same procedure, you just use the same script, perhaps with new file names. Our experience (and that of our users!) is that the vast majority of all analysis tasks are in fact standard procedures repeated on different data sets. The VibraTools Suite makes that a much faster process than having to run through menus every time!
The idea with the VibraTools Suite, is to provide the typical analysis functionality you need for your vibration and acoustic analysis tasks, as high-level commands that are easy to use. But at the same time, having to select input and output parameters of the commands helps you to understand the analysis procedures. Also, we are shipping a large “library” of examples from all kinds of useful analysis procedures to make it easy to get started with the VibraTools Suite. When you write your analysis scripts, you can cut lots of standard things from those example files.
I am already using MATLAB for my NVH tasks. Why would I buy VibraTools then?
When you purchase MATLAB you get an "empty" math package. There is a toolbox called "Signal Processing Toolbox", which you require to run VibraTools. However, as its name implies, the SP toolbox was not written to be a vibration analysis toolbox, but was written for signal analysis specialists (and it is truly a great toolbox for those!). But it does not immediately allow you to do any analysis of rotating machines (order tracking, synchronous sampling...). VibraTools gives you all those capabilities, using a handful of commands for each task you may want to do! So - VibraTools and the other toolboxes from us give you immediate productivity!
If you are a mechanical engineer (which is likely if you work with NVH), you might not be an expert on all methods of signal processing etc. necessary for noise and vibration analysis. That is why you need the VibraTools Suite! In our toolboxes you get state-of-the-art high-level commands that perform the things you need to solve your vibration problems. And when you start using our toolboxes, you will eventually open up the scripts, read what is done, figure out why - and you are in a learning experience! You can start doing what you really want to do – solving vibration problems!
You do not seem to have any functionality that I have not already developed myself
You are a tough one! Sure enough, if you look through the specification of the VibraTools Suite™ and find that you already have all that functionality (scripts, documentation etc.) in your own developed scripts, there are not many arguments from our side. But there is one; with our many users, our toolboxes are likely to be better quality assured, and better structured. That alone has encouraged some of our users to purchase the VibraTools Suite despite the fact they already had most of the functionality of VibraTools (no, we have not found anyone who had all yet!).
I understand MATLAB is a programming language. So I need to be a programmer to use VibraTools?
No! MATLAB is much different from a regular programming language. First of all, it is a much higher level language than for example C or Fortran. MATLAB together with the VibraTools Suite is more like an old menu driven FFT analyzer. But with the advantage that it is probably much better documented, and that you can indeed make you own menus if you would like to. If you take a quick look at the examples we provide on the web site, you will see how easy it is to set up tasks like spectrum computation etc.
Secondly, MATLAB has the features of a programming language, that is, you have variables, structured loops, etc. But you do not need to define variables, for example, which is often tedious in C and other languages. And you do not compile the code, you simply execute your script files. And finally, you do not need any compile libraries; you simply add your own commands as you work with MATLAB (and VibraTools).
We have had problems certifying our commercial systems. Does VibraTools make that easier?
Yes! In, for example, aerospace applications, traceability and verification procedures for the analysis are very important. In those industries, you are almost always required to run some kind of program or automatic analysis procedure. Also, it is necessary in some industries to be able to prove the algorithms used. The open environment of the VibraTools Suite, where all (yes, 100%!) of the commands are completely open code, the certification is no problem at all. Many commercial companies are reluctant to give away that information, which often makes it impossible to certify the software.
So, if I understand it correctly, VibraTools is an entirely command driven environment?
Not quite! You should be aware that you can actually build your own menu systems with VibraTools! MATLAB contains tools for designing graphical user interfaces (GUIs). And in VibraTools, there are some very easy-to-use commands that help designing menus with a particular "feel". And we provide an example where we have made a 1-channel FFT analyzer for narrow band spectrum analysis to demonstrate how to use the menu commands in VibraTools!
Who buys VibraTools?
Our customers are found in universities, aerospace, automotive, military, and other industries. Our customers belong to various experience levels, some have large measurement systems and complement that environment with the VibraTools Suite™ to perform analysis procedures they find are difficult to implement in their other systems. Others have a relatively simple data acquisition platform (for example a DAT recorder) and use the VibraTools Suite™ for all their analysis.
A particular category of our customers, are those who have a "smaller" PC based FFT system (OROS, DACTRON, Data Physics, SONY or TEAC DATs...). After a couple of years, they have felt the need to complement those systems to be able to go further in the analysis process. With VibraTools Suite you can do more advanced things like Operating shapes (ODS) and modal analysis. Even relatively simple things like averaging two spectra together may be difficult in a standard system, but is extremely easy in the VibraTools Suite™.
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