ATA Engineering

ATA Engineering, Inc. (ATA) is an engineering services firm headquartered in San Diego that provides test- and analysis-driven design for mechanical and aerospace systems. The company focuses on the engineering needs of manufacturers, helping them address cost, quality, and time-to-market challenges by combining testing and analysis with computer-aided engineering and mechanical engineering software. This approach reflects a common practice in high-consequence industries, where simulation results are checked against measured test data before hardware is finalized.

The company's services span design, from concept through prototype development or independent assessment; multidisciplinary analysis of structural, mechanical, fluid, and aerospace systems; and testing for demanding environments and load conditions. ATA is an independent provider of modal and dynamic testing for aerospace structures, work that identifies a structure's natural frequencies, mode shapes, and damping and measures its response to vibration and other dynamic loads. On the software side, it is a value-added reseller of Siemens Digital Industries Software CAD and CAE tools, develops its own ATA|Suite programs, and offers training on tools such as Simcenter Nastran.

The company serves the aerospace, defense, entertainment, industrial, biomedical, and consumer products industries, supporting programs that include spacecraft, launch vehicles, satellites, aircraft, UAVs, missiles, helicopters, and theme park attractions. Beyond San Diego, it has offices in Albuquerque, New Mexico; Berkeley and Los Angeles, California; Boston, Massachusetts; Denver, Colorado; Huntsville, Alabama; Madison, Wisconsin; and Washington, DC.

ATA was formed in April 2000 following the purchase of all assets and contractual obligations of the Advanced Test and Analysis Division of Structural Dynamics Research Corporation. It is 100% employee-owned and a nontraditional defense contractor, a type of firm whose significant participation can allow U.S. defense prototype projects to use flexible other transaction agreements instead of standard contracts.