Feature Based Associative Memory for Design Retrieval System

这笔赠款为工程设计检索的基于特征的联想记忆的研究提供资金。工程设计通常存储为计算机辅助设计(CAD)文件。这类文件的数据库可能包含数千种设计。在数据库中搜索相似的设计而不是相同的设计是一个具有挑战性的问题。本研究将寻求一种设计描述，通过一组加工形式特征，如沉孔、凹槽或槽，以及一组影响加工过程的关键技术属性，如尺寸、公差、表面粗糙度、精加工和材料，来表示设计的几何形状。搜索可能使用模糊逻辑技术来检索相似的设计。这项研究将包括发现个体形状特征之间相似关系的算法的开发和实验，体现技术属性的方法，结合设计属性的排序权重的方法，表示空间关系作为检索标准的可能性，以及在查询输入中整合模糊语言表达式和区间值的过程。如果成功，本研究将有助于工业部件的概念设计阶段。通过使设计人员能够找到类似的CAD文件，他们可以使用这些文件将现有设计的新设计剪切并粘贴在一起，从而极大地减少了为新部件创建CAD文件所需的工作量。

This grant provides funding for research on a feature-based associative memory for engineering design retrieval. Engineering designs are typically stored as computer-aided design (CAD) files. A database of such files may contain many thousands of designs. Searching the database for similar designs instead of identical designs poses a challenging problem. This research will seek a design description that represents the geometric shape of a design by a set of machining form features such as counter-hole, pocket or slot and by a set of crucial technological attributes that affect machining processes such as dimension, tolerance, surface roughness and finish and material. Searches may use a fuzzy logic techniques to retrieve similar designs. The research will include development and experimentation with algorithms to find similar relationships among individual form features, methods to embody technological attributes, approaches to incorporate the ranking weights for design attributes, possibilities to represent spatial relationship as a retrieval criterion, and processes to integrate fuzzy linguistic expressions and interval values in query inputs.If successful, this research will contribute to the conceptual design stage of industrial components. By enabling designers to locate similar CAD files, they can use these to "cut and paste" new designs together from existing designs, greatly reducing the effort needed to create CAD files for new components.