CAVA
Vehicle Compliance Software
Ensure vehicle designs meet global compliance standards efficiently
What is CAVA?
Vehicle compliance is a compulsory part of automotive and aircraft design. CAVA (CATIA automotive extensions vehicle architecture) is a specialized software solution designed to validate vehicle designs against international standards and regulations. It integrates seamlessly with CATIA V5 or 3DEXPERIENCE platforms, offering a comprehensive suite of tools for analyzing crucial vehicular data such as impact zones, driver visibility, passenger positions, windscreen wiper areas, and safety of occupants and pedestrians.
CAVA empowers OEMs and suppliers worldwide with a reliable, efficient method for ensuring legal compliance in vehicle design and architecture.
What can you do with CAVA?
CAVA offers a range of features and capabilities designed to streamline the vehicle design and compliance process.
Impact zone analysis
For evaluating vehicle designs against safety standards for impact zones to ensure occupant protection.
Driver visibility optimization
For analyzing and optimizing the driver’s field of vision to meet regulatory requirements.
Passenger comfort and safety
For assessing passenger positions and safety features to enhance comfort and compliance.
Windscreen wiper coverage
For ensuring windscreen wipers cover the necessary field of view for safe driving conditions.
Overall vehicle packaging
For managing vehicle parameters, such as dimensions and seat positions.
Why use CAVA?
CAVA offers numerous benefits to organizations aiming to integrate compliance checks into their vehicle design process seamlessly.
CAVA simplifies the compliance verification process, allowing designers to select relevant standards and validate their designs without leaving the platform. This integration reduces operational time and costs by eliminating the need for physical prototypes.
By keeping key design parameters and analysis features integrated throughout the development cycle, CAVA ensures a standardized approach to vehicle design and compliance, enhancing efficiency and reliability.
CAVA supports virtual homologation, providing your teams with reliable and validated data from product development and ensuring the compliance of legal provisions throughout the entire process.
CAVA is integrated into CATIA as a separate V5 workbench or 3DEXPERIENCE App, meaning CAVA features are stored directly with the CAD data. It allows engineers to validate design compliance with international regulations (e.g., pedestrian safety, visibility, clearance) while working inside CATIA, and CAVA automates compliance checks within CATIA’s parametric modeling system, reducing manual work.
CAVA OVA for overall vehicle packaging
CAVA OVA enables seamless design and verification of overall vehicle package plans, ensuring accurate component placement from the early concept phase. Streamline the design process and reduce costly revisions by evaluating if component locations are within designated design limits, from lamps to number plates and seat belts.
CAVA OVA supports the entire vehicle design process from concept to homologation, reducing the reliance on physical prototypes and lowering costs with the validation of digital models. Its standardized methodology ensures key design parameters and analysis features remain integrated throughout development, providing a consistent and efficient workflow. CAVA OVA assists with precise component placement, ensuring compliance with regulations and industry standards for a reliable and optimized design process.
Organize relevant parameters in a central location. Define vehicle size, wheel size, driver and occupant placement. Define different ground reference planes to accommodate loading configurations.
Analyze static and dynamic curbstone clearances. Measure ramp, approach and departure angles. Create the overall ground clearance surface.
Get guidance and verification about lamp types and their required absolute and relative positions. Verify size, location and lighting of number plates. Check placement of seat belt fixings and child restraint systems. Check wheel covering by the fender. Measure pedal clearances.
Create crash barriers and low-speed pendulum shapes. Calculate first contact points of barriers to the loaded vehicle. Available for front, side and rear impact.
CAVA Manikin for passenger comfort and safety
The SAE Standards define a two-dimensional test dummy for determining occupant seating positions. CAVA Manikin enables precise positioning based on geometric guidelines or specific joint angles. By utilizing head position contours, handreach envelopes, and eye viewpoints, it allows verification of key SAE parameters such as headroom, handreach, and legroom, ensuring compliance with industry standards.
CAVA Manikin streamlines the process of determining correct seating positions, saving time and improving accuracy. It enables quick creation of standard eyepoints and eye ellipses for vision analysis, efficient measurement of headroom clearance, and validation of headrest safety compliance, ensuring a reliable and standardized approach to occupant positioning.
This function creates the 2D Manikin template in different percentage sizes. Provide practical positioning methods for specific purposes as described in SAE J826 standard. Define the seating reference point based on heel, floor and pedal reference point and/or recommended joint angles. Define pedal geometry and heel point based on seating reference points, floor geometry and joint angles. Measure legroom in the rear seats (long-coupled and short coupled situation). Check for clash with geometry (front seat, dashboard, etc.). Provide SRP location curves SAE J4004 as reference.
Calculate the headroom clearance to the roof in vertical and diagonal directions according to SAE J1052.
Calculates the backset and height as measured with the headrest measurement device (HMD) according To FMVSS 202 and NCAP. Checks if the required width, height and roof clearance of a headrest is achieved.
Creates the standard eyepoints according to UNECE-R 125 for different purposes in vision and mirror analysis. Creates the ellipses according to SAE J941 as required for FMVSS vision checks. Supports different definitions based on standard year and purpose.
This function helps to determine the Drivers Hand Reach Zone as defined in SAE J827. Calculates General Package Factor from the Base Data Seat parameters. Considers seat belt restraint type and population mix. Hand envelope calculated for full hand grasp, 3 finger grasp, extended finger grasp.
CAVA Vision for driver visibility optimization
CAVA Vision helps vehicle designers assess legal requirements and ergonomic considerations related to the driver’s direct and indirect vision. It enables the analysis of critical aspects such as road visibility, traffic light visibility from a given distance, and dashboard obstructions caused by the steering wheel. By integrating these functionalities, CAVA Vision ensures compliance with regulations while optimizing driver comfort and visibility.
CAVA Vision assesses direct and indirect vision through mirrors or camera-monitor devices. It also facilitates virtual homologation of rearview mirrors, with results often accepted by EU certification authorities, reducing the need for physical testing. Additionally, CAVA Vision enhances ergonomic design by optimizing driver visibility and assisted driving support, ensuring a safer and more efficient driving experience. It supports legal requirements across multiple regions, including UNECE, US FMVSS, GSO, AIS, and ADR.
Calculate the ‘Fields of View’ in the windshield (UNECE-R 43, FMVSS 104 , ..). Calculate A- Pillar obstructions (UNECE-R 125). Calculate reference points and vision planes (UNECE-R 125 supp.3). Analyze optical properties like double angle and optical distortion (UNECE R-43).
Create the required vision field on the road or on a wall/screen behind the car for the major standards like UNECE-R 46, FMVSS 111. Automatically create the eyepoints or eyellipses required by the standard. Analyze outside and inside mirrors. Define the mirror parametrically or with help of a mirror surface. Calculate the required coverage and obstruction values with clear indication if the standard is fulfilled. Supports mirrors for commercial vehicles: UNECE class II,IV,V,VI and VII.
Direct View 3D: Create the obstructed areas on the road or on a wall around a car from the drivers viewpoints. Analyze and detect obstructions from the steering wheel on the dashboard.
Close Range Vision: Detect visibility of cylindrical objects around the car and identify and evaluate blind areas (MLIT 619/2002 Att.81, FMVSS 111, UNECE-R 125). Supports combined direct vision, mirror vision and camera vision.
Camera Fields of View: Calculates the vision cone for a camera and visualizes the visible areas on the road, wall or other objects. Supports user defined vision cones: conical, pyramidal, custom by section or surface. Calculates the combined view of a set of cameras ( like for artificial “surround view”). Applicable for optical cameras but also for similar sensors with a defined vision cone, like ultrasound and thermal imaging and radar as used in aerospace applications.
CAVA Safety for impact zone analysis
CAVA Safety helps verify safety requirements for both pedestrians and occupants. The tool enables the calculation and analysis of markup lines and impact zones for mandatory physical impact testing on a vehicle’s exterior. It also identifies minimum radius violations on both exterior and interior components such as bumpers, grilles, mirror housings, dashboards, and doors, ensuring compliance with safety regulations.
With CAVA Safety, designers can efficiently prepare head and leg impactor tests on digital models in accordance with legal standards like UNECE R-127 and consumer protection guidelines such as NCAP. The tool reduces reliance on physical prototypes, saving time and costs while streamlining the identification of minimum radius violations for regulatory compliance. Additionally, it provides certification documentation required by regulatory agencies.
The pedestrian protection feature calculates the reference curves, impact points, and areas for head and leg impactors on the vehicle front, according to ECE-R 127 and Euro NCAP regulations.
The safety radius feature checks the exterior vehicle geometry if the minimum required radius is violated. It considers the reachability with the test sphere and the specific radii for bumper zone, lamp and grill elements.
The minimum radius feature checks the interior vehicle geometry to see if the minimum required radius is violated. It calculates the head impact and exclusion zones, considers the reachability with the test pendulum and the specific radius requirements for each zone.
The projection measurement feature calculates the height of projecting elements in sections using the two touching circle method according to UNECE-R 21 and UNECE-R 26. It enables you to produce section drawings as required by certification agencies.
Verify vehicle requirements for the safety of pedestrians and occupants
CAVA Wiper for windscreen wiper coverage
CAVA Wiper allows users to simulate the geometry of a wiper system to determine the wiped area on the windshield. When combined with the Field of View feature in CAVA Vision, it is possible to check the percentage of wiped area within the driver’s field of view. The tool also calculates and visualizes key parameters that impact the quality of the wiping operation, ensuring an optimal design.
With CAVA Wiper, users can define wiper systems with up to three wipers for both front and rear windshields while supporting commonly used wiper kinematics. It ensures compliance with legal requirements, allowing easy adaptation to regional standards like UNECE and FMVSS. Additionally, it provides visualization tools, such as color maps and 2D graphs, to assess wiping quality, enabling quick design optimizations. A flexible reporting mechanism allows for easy export of calculated parameters into Excel or text reports.
Define a wiper system with up to 3 wipers. Supports three wiper types: Standard, Parallel and trapezoid. Use any wiper arrangement: bottom/top mounted, clockwise/anti-clockwise rotation, butterfly, front and rear. Calculate the wiped area on the windshield. Use the CAVA Vision ‘fields of view’ feature to check fulfillment of legal requirements acc. UNECE-R 43 or FMVSS 104 on the wiped area. Auto-detect valid rotation angle range for a given blade size.
Assess key quality parameters of the result of the wiping operation, including curvature radius of the blade on the windshield, normal deviation between blade and windshield (attack angle), folding angle and folding distance (rise and fall), and sag value (bending of the blade). Display calculated values as color map or vector feedback on the windshield. Display as curve diagram for values along the blade for given angle.
Simulate the geometry of a wiper system to determine the wiped area on the windshield
CAVA Tools for additional CAVA functions
CAVA Tools is a collection of CAVA functions available in the ‘CAVA All’ bundle or as a standalone product, making CAVA technology available to non-automotive customers.
The Silhouette function offers the possibility to project the silhouette outlines of a complete vehicle with one click. This helps to create homologation drawings including measurements of key parameters like length, width and height.
How to choose your vehicle compliance software
There are a lot of questions to answer when selecting software that ensures your vehicle’s compliance with international standards and regulations.
The most important thing to consider at the outset is how this software will fit into your existing design and development workflow. Consider its compatibility with your current tools, the specific compliance standards it supports, and how its features address your vehicle design challenges.
Additionally, the availability of support, updates, and a community of users may turn out to be crucial factors in your decision-making process.
How to buy CAVA
Looking to purchase CAVA licenses? Want to see a demo to understand what CAVA can do? Or do you need to speak to an expert before you can make your decision?
CAVA comes in all shapes and sizes. We’re here to make sure that you’re getting the right software package for your team.
Need help with CAVA?
Arnd Feye and team have spent the last 20 years working together with clients to develop solutions that perfectly compliment the Dassault Systèmes portfolio. Reach out for a free consultation today.
