Massively Parallel Computation for Mechanical Manufacturing and Design

实体建模是机械CAD/CAM的关键使能技术，因为它提供了零件和产品的几何完整表示，并使重要的制造过程能够被建模。今天的工业系统的运行远远低于该技术的潜力，因为实体建模需要巨大的计算资源，并且因为当前的算法和表示不能处理几个重要的应用。该项目正在为机械CAD中使用的实体模型设计新的光线投射表示实现，并将模型扩展到新的应用程序。正在开发光线投射引擎的新实现，使用在大规模并行计算机上运行的定制硬件和软件。使用新的硬件，射线表示的新应用正在被探索，包括边值问题的解决，中轴变换的计算，机械公差的表示方法，以及实体对象的表示。

Solid modeling is a critical enabling technology for mechanical CAD/CAM because it provides geometrically complete representations of parts and products, and enables important manufacturing processes to be modeled. Today's industrial systems operate far below the technology's potential because solid modeling requires enormous computing resources, and because current algorithms and representations cannot handle several important applications. This project is designing new implementations of ray-casting representations for the solid models used in mechanical CAD, and extending the models to new applications. New implementations for ray-casting engines are being developed, using both custom hardware and software running on massively parallel machines. Using the new hardware, new applications of ray representations are being explored, including the solution of boundary-value problems, computation of medial axis transforms, methods for representing mechanical tolerances, and representation of solid objects.