Digital Engineering Archives

对于许多行业，工程设计和制造数据需要保存50到75年的寿命。传统的数字数据管理技术通常依赖于商业软件系统的专有格式，无法保证数据的长期可读性和实用性。因此，尽管三维CAD建模已经变得不可或缺，但工程零件图纸(即2D图纸)仍然是设计知识存档的主要方法。3D CAD中关于特征、制造过程和人工制品行为的丰富知识在翻译中完全丢失了。研究小组建议开发一种表示和算法技术来归档3D CAD对象。该方法是用工程语义的形式化模型和领域驱动的分割算法来增强基于形状的表示。其基本原理是，低级形状信息在国际上是直截了当的，很容易保存；而本地CAD/CAM格式是专有的，即使在递增的产品版本中也很难保存。工程语义将基于新兴的W3C、语义网、ISO和NIST标准形式化，需要对其进行扩展以处理特定于复杂工程构件的新数据类型。这些将是用国际标准的非专有语法描述的数学逻辑，因此也比专有表示法更容易保存。最后，来自数据库的技术将被扩展到从现有的设计工具和工程文档中提取和填充这些表示。这种方法形成了工程数字档案工具包(DATE)的基础，这是一套将与政府/工业合作伙伴霍尼韦尔FM&AMT合作开发和测试的工具。PI将与来自美国能源部的数据合作，与全机构的高级设计和生产技术倡议(ADAPT)团队合作，将本研究中开发的技术应用于堪萨斯城工厂(KCP)使用的工程数据的索引和存储。其目的是提取数据以创建数字工程档案，使对三维工程知识档案的有意义的工程查询能够得到答案，并支持工程知识的长期保存。正是这些关系必须在数字工程档案中被捕捉到。虽然这些问题的范围很大，但通过将重点放在离散部件制造的关键领域。除了原型系统之外，拟议的项目有望产生理论结果、新技术。拟议项目的总产出包括在表示和检索算法方面的进步，以及在基础计算机科学和工程设计与制造方面的贡献。研究范围包括模式识别、知识表示、数据库语义以及CAD/CAM/CAPP/PDM/PLM。更广泛的影响本研究通过开发一种动态的、自我描述的和信息丰富的替代零件打印来创建数字工程档案来弥合打印信息鸿沟。这种格式的提供将使设计团队能够创建存档、检索和重复使用工程知识和活动的系统，这些设计团队在整个产品生命周期中运作，可能是10年、25年、50年或更长时间。拟议的日期系统将对工业创建数据档案的能力产生直接影响。最后，该团队与工业界和政府合作伙伴的合作表明，该项目将对新兴的NIST、W3C和ISO标准以及商业CAD/CAM/PDM/PLM软件系统产生显著的积极影响。教育影响该项目旨在为其研究生和本科生以及来自工业、政府和学术界的研究人员创造一种新的体验。利用Drexel的合作教育项目(研究生和本科生)，调查人员计划与美国能源部、NIST和其他机构进行广泛的人员交流。最后，该小组将开发教育和教程材料，向工程界演示如何应用计算机和信息科学创建和维护数字工程档案。

For many industries, engineering design and manufacturing data needs to be preserved over 50-to-75 year lifespans. Traditional digital data management techniques are usually dependent on the proprietary formats of commercial software systems and cannot guarantee the readability and utility of data over long periods. Hence, while 3D CAD modeling has become indispensable, the engineering part print (i.e., the 2D drawing) still remains a principal method of design knowledge archival. The rich knowledge in 3D CAD about features, manufacturing processes and artifact behavior are simply lost in translation. The research team proposes to develop a representation and algorithmic techniques to archive 3D CAD objects. The approach is to augment shape-based representations with formal models of engineering semantics and domain-driven segmentation algorithms. The rationale is that low-level shape information is repres ntationally straightforward, and easily preserved; whereas native CAD/CAM formats are proprietary and notoriously hard to preserve, even across incremental product versions. Engineering semantics will be based on emerging W3C, Semantic Web, ISO and NIST standards formalisms that will need to be extended to handle new datatypes specific to complex engineering artifacts. These will be mathematical logics described in the non-proprietary syntax of international standards, and thus also easier to preserve than proprietary representations. Lastly, techniques from databases will be extended to extract and populate these representations from existing design tools and engineering documentation.This approach form the basis of a Digital Archive Toolkit for Engineering (DATE), a set of tools to be developed and tested in collaboration with the government/industrial partner Honeywell FM&T. Working with data from the United States Department of Energy, the PIs will work with the agency-wide Advanced Design and Production Technologies Initiative (ADAPT) team to apply techniques developed in this research to indexing and storage of engineering data used at the Kansas City Plant (KCP). The objective is to extract data to create Digital Engineering Archives, enable answers to meaningful engineering queries on archives of 3D engineering knowledge, and support long-term engineering knowledge preservation.Intellectual MeritsThe relationships among shape and form, structure and function, and behavior and semantics are among the most fundamental questions studied by science and engineering. It is precisely these relationships that must be captured in Digital Engineering Archives. While these problems are large in scope, by focusing on the vital domain of discrete part manufacturing., the proposed project is poised to produce theoretical results, novel techniques, in addition to prototype systems. The aggregate output of the proposed project includes advancements in representation and retrieval algorithms, as well as contributions in basic computer science and engineering design and manufacturing. The scope of the research spans pattern recognition, knowledge representation, database semantics, as well as CAD/CAM/CAPP/PDM/PLM. Broader ImpactsThis research bridges the print information gap by developing a dynamic, self-describing and information-rich alternative to the part print to create Digital Engineering Archives. The availability of such a format will enable the creation of systems for archival, retrieval and reuse of engineering knowledge and activities for design teams operating throughout the product life cycle, which may be 10, 25, or 50 or more years. The proposed DATE system will have an immediate impact on the ability of industry to create data archives. Lastly, the team's collaboration with industrial and government partners position this project to have a significant positive effect on emerging NIST, W3C and ISO standards, and on commercial CAD/CAM/PDM/PLM software systems.Educational Impact The project aims to create a novel experience for its graduate and undergraduate students, as well as for the investigators from industry, government and academia. Leveraging Drexel's cooperative education programs (both graduate and undergraduate), the investigators plan extensive personnel exchanges with DOE, NIST and other agencies. Lastly, the team will develop educational and tutorial materials to demonstrate to the engineering community how to apply computer and information science to create and maintain Digital Engineering Archives.