The Premium Optimization Package of ModelCenter provides an easy-to-use interface with the Dakota (Design Analysis Kit for Optimization and Terascale Applications) toolkit, an open-source software framework that is downloadable from http://endo.sandia.gov/DAKOTA.Designers use Dakota to develop virtual prototypes of products, which can be modified to minimize weight, cost, or defects. Users can, for example, limit critical temperature, stress, vibration, or other responses and maximize performance, reliability, agility, and robustness.

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