Editor’s Note: During the 2025 International CIGRE Symposium in Montreal, Ben Lanz, Executive Editorial Board member at APC Media caught up with Yasamin Mardani, Electrical Engineer and R&D professional at INTEGRATED Engineering Software. Blending academic rigor from the University of Manitoba with industry practice, Mardani represents the growing bridge between research and real-world application.

Ben Lanz: Yasamin, thank you for joining me. How did you get into this industry? 

Yasamin Mardani: It really came from my connection to both physics and engineering. I completed my bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering, and then I earned my master’s degree in physics. I’ve always been fascinated by emerging technologies, so throughout my studies I worked on interdisciplinary projects that combined physics, engineering, and programming. That curiosity and passion for innovation naturally led me into this industry. 

Ben: I love working with wonderful, passionate people, who also have a tremendous zeal to learn. Our industry really needs those folks who are willing to study technical fields, right? With the energy transition, it is a massive effort, and we need people with that background. So that is fantastic. When did you join Integrated? 

Yasamin: I joined about a year ago, and I’m currently working as an engineer focusing on automated software testing using Python scripts. We build and run models automatically to test various features of the software, including new and unique functionalities we’ve recently developed. I also work on automating various tasks, by connecting to the software from outside of the program, thorough interfaces like MATLAB, Python or other programming languages. 

We can connect to the program and run more complicated designs. We can also optimize our designs using this feature, because in optimization you usually need to analyze so many cases, by changing different parameters to find the best results. Doing these tasks manually can take too long, so we need something much faster. We use Python scripts to run all these automatically. If you have a script, you can just define inputs and outputs, and run the script, so the entire process is done efficiently. 

Ben: So, you are involved in the automation of this software. Let us take a step back and talk a little bit about how does your software help our industry? You are doing finite element analysis. You have different models, and these models are helping people design high voltage technology, right? Can you give me an example of what products your modeling can help build? What type of products are people building with your software? 

Yasamin: Our software can be used for a wide range of products in the electrical and power industry. It is most commonly used for designing high voltage insulators, transmission towers and transformers. We also provide magnetic design software to study the magnetic fields in motors, transformers, coils, and other electromagnetic devices. These are some of the applications for which our customers use the software. 

Ben: There is a tremendous need for this technology to help us build more of these components more efficiently. Tell me a little bit about your software design. It sounds like it has this ability to not only have a 2D print, but you also can go to 3D modeling for a field effect analysis and so forth. What does that look like? 

Yasamin: It really depends on the type of design. For example, if your product is rotational or planar symmetric, you can model it as 2D instead of 3D. You don’t need to create a full 3D simulation in that case. That is why we provide a 2D simulation program. It’s much faster and more useful for symmetric designs, offering accurate results with less computational effort. 

Ben: That is interesting. You are catering to the industry because there is a need for simple designs, and your software can handle that, but you can also go to more complex three-dimensional designs, right? 

Yasamin: We support both 2D and 3D designs. The main challenge in electric and magnetic field simulations is the computation time. Since it takes a long time to solve some kinds of problems. Solving these problems needs extremely complicated numerical methods. Time is a big challenge when you want to solve these models. And when you can solve it in a shorter time, it is exceptionally better for our customers. We provide 2D programs for designs which are symmetric so our users can study their model in only two dimensions, in a shorter time. Also, we provide 3D software for the users who need to implement their designs as a three-dimensional model, if their model is not symmetric or they cannot use a 2D simulation software for any reason. However, for handling the complexity and time problem, we provide a BEM solver, which is a boundary element method solver. It actually solves the problem in two dimensions. In the other words, when you have a three dimensional model, you must apply mesh on the whole area. This meshing divides your model into many small elements, and the software must do the computation for each element. BEM solver does the meshing process on the surface of the 3D model, that’s why I’m saying it’s actually two dimensional. However, FEM applies the mesh elements into the whole volume and around it. The simplicity of BEM solver leads to both time efficiency and higher precision in results. 

Ben: I remember doing some work in this area. It would take sometimes days to get one answer back. Then you would realize, oh, that parameter was not quite right. You would change the parameter an have to wait for a couple of days just to get the next answer, right? That iteration can take a long time. You have two different models, right? Explain that a little more. 

Yasamin: Yes, exactly. It finally depends on the meshing method. In Finite Element Method or FEM, your problem is solved by 3D meshing. You need to define a large surrounding boundary, at least five times larger than your actual model to properly simulate that. The entire volume inside that region must be divided into small elements, which makes the computation heavy and time consuming. But in BEM, the process is much faster because the meshing is done only on the surfaces of the model. Essentially, you’re solving the same problem using only boundary information, which greatly reduces the number of elements and the overall computation time. It’s almost like working with a 2D model, but you can still capture accurate 3D effects. 

Ben: I see. And that gives you that quick answer to a complex problem, right? Maybe it is hours instead of days? 

Yasamin: Absolutely! Because some problems are too large to solve with a FEM solver. For example, a transmission tower, it’s a massive structure with smaller components like insulators. You might want to analyze both tower and the smaller parts. In FEM, you need to apply meshing inside a large area. But in BEM, you just need to mesh on the surfaces which makes the process much faster and more efficient. 


Ben: That is fascinating. Can you talk a little bit about the role of optimizing and the optimization tools that address electric field concentration? We have a very high concentrated field, which is critical to high voltage design. Can you talk a little bit about that?

Yasamin: Yes, I have recently completed a project focused on that. In high voltage design, one of the main challenges is managing the electric field distribution. Sometimes the electric field is too concentrated in some areas of your design, and it can lead to breakdown in your device, and ultimately a failure in your system. That’s why we need to optimize our designs before manufacturing. We want to see the electric field distribution and adjust it in advance. Depending on what you want to design, there are different optimization approaches. For example, if you are designing high-voltage electrodes, you can vary parameters such as material, size, or the shape of the electrodes, and observe how changing these parameters can affect the field distribution. In one of my projects, I studied Rogowski Profile electrode Shapes, to find the shape that gives me the most uniform electric field. Through this process, we can determine the optimal geometry that minimizes high-field regions and improves the overall reliability of the design.

In high voltage design, one of the main challenges is managing the electric field distribution. Sometimes the electric field is too concentrated in some areas of your design, and it can lead to breakdown in your device, and ultimately a failure in your system.

Ben: That is especially important, right, being able to optimize the design? Also, you touched on it earlier, how are you working in the automation area, with this API that you are developing? Can you tell me about how the API can automate features and help with this, some of the complexity that you are working with? 

Yasamin: We have developed several API functions which make the whole process much more efficient. Traditionally, in a simulation software, you have to manually build the geometry, assign the physics, and then solve the model step by step. But using API, you can do all of that automatically from outside of the program. 

For example, you can write a Python script that connects directly to the program. Through the script, you can kind of communicate with the program to build the geometry, modify the physics, run the simulation, and get the results. You have all your design in one script. You can also process the results and data in that script. For example, extract the data from the program, save them into Excel, clean data, and perform further analysis. This kind of automation is useful for complex models including a lot of segments and designs that need to be implemented by repeated operations. It is especially helpful for teams that need to run multiple similar designs. Instead of manually rebuilding each model, they can just run the script, and everything is done automatically from setup to analysis. It’s also a great tool for new engineers, since they can use existing scripts as templates and focus on improving or customizing the design rather than creating from the beginning.

Ben: Fantastic! So, this is a tool that makes it easier to adjust those parameters and have it iterate on a design. It also helps for newer engineers that are not familiar with the code or the development of the model or the intricacies of the model. They can just work on parameters. Well, that is great. Is there anything else that you would like to share with our audience about your role and your software? 

Yasamin: I think we’ve covered most of it. As I mentioned, innovation has always been at the heart of our company. It started over 40 years ago with the introduction of the Boundary Element Method. This technology was truly ahead of its time. Now, we’re building on that foundation by integrating automation tools and modern computational methods, making our software more powerful, flexible, and efficient.

Ben: Yasamin, great to meet you. Thank you for coming by for the interview.