Configuring Rather than Programming

Complex data evaluations at the press end of a button and without any programming skills: that is the promise IAV Mara gives. It comes with a complete tool box of mathematical analysis methods that are easily combined to create firmly defined workflows. IAV Mara has proven its worth in automotive development, but is also suitable for all applications involving the analysis of time-based measurement data – for example in the mobility sector, in industry, in the energy sector and in pharmaceuticals.

Today, many different sectors of industry produce gigantic data volumes that can only be evaluated and used with the aid of highly developed tools. The starting point for developing IAV Mara was engine calibration where simulations, test benches and test drives deliver vast quantities of data engineers need to filter to retrieve relevant information, such as specific results, patterns or statistical parameters. “Most other sectors face exactly the same challenge”, explains Leon Kusnezow, Product Manager at IAV. “They need analysis tools that are both powerful and user-friendly.”

This is precisely what IAV Mara is. The tool processes data from different sources that can be filtered and synchronized on the basis of set criteria. Users themselves can define which input is relevant for them. They can either transfer selected files to the Mara server manually or use definable file filters that allow them to be imported automatically. Integrated measurement data indication ensures that each data record can be retrieved in the shortest time possible – also meta data, such as who created the file and when, or file size as well as the project it belongs to.

Evaluating the data selected is easy: IAV Mara provides the user with numerous analysis methods which can be combined in any way at a mouse click and without any programming skills: combination of several data sets, synchronization/offset, statistical evaluations, comparisons and logic connections. Added to this is an extensive range of options for data visualization, such as point clouds, bar or 3-D diagrams. On request, IAV Mara will automatically generate reports in PDF or PPT file format. “This is a very easy way of creating entire workflows for analyses that the user can adapt and re-use in any way”, Kusnezow says.

“This is a clear USP for IAV Mara which can be put in a nutshell: configuring rather than programming.” And anyone wishing to perform extended analyses can use interfaces to standard tools, like UniPlot, MS Excel or Matlab/Simulink. The user can apply IAV Mara’s infrastructure to activate an external program code and incorporate any existing analysis elements into the evaluation – such as methods from the field of artificial intelligence. This additionally boosts IAV Mara’s flexibility, which is high from the outset.

The IAV Mara server can run side by side on several evaluation computers, optimizing the distribution of the workload across available hardware (such as in a cloud). Hence, users can respond to a growing volume of measurement data and freely extend the system. In this way, IAV Mara’s performance scales very easily with user needs. Integrated full automation provides maximum efficiency: IAV Mara can work around the clock. The user can define automation processes – such as for selecting the data filing location or evaluation configurations – with just a few mouse clicks, letting IAV Mara automatically identify and analyze relevant data.

IAV Mara has already shown its value in numerous IAV projects, particularly in analyzing measurement data from vehicles. However, the analysis methods are also suitable for many other sectors – for example for evaluating data from production lines in industry, from medical equipment in hospitals, from the pharmaceutical industry, from power grids and wind turbines as well as from the field of mobility (e.g. connected vehicles, aircraft and trucks).

“IAV Mara can be used wherever measurement points arise from a time stamp and a data value”, says Kusnezow, summing up. “The tool can be matched to the specific needs of its users – for instance, we can import further data formats using parsers and converters.” In dialog with its clients, IAV’s experts analyze the benefits and also provide advice on configuring the hardware as well as on getting started with IAV Mara. Trainings just as e-mail and telephone support are also available.