Sponsors: ONR, NSF
In this research all major aspects of geometric and solid modeling
systems are
investigated; for example, how to choose suitable representations
of objects,
how to efficiently implement design operations, and how to drive
automatically
specific surface elements from very high-level specifications.
We are developing a high-level geometry representation that is
feature-based and
constraint-based. Ease of design and redesign are the main focus
of the work,
and we are developing a new architecture for CAD systems. In
particular, a
new architecture is under development in which the traditional CAD
system is
federated with downstream processing systems such as manufacturing
process
planners, geometric dimensioning and tolerancing analysis modules,
etc. Here,
the focus of the work is to organize the information flow into an object
oriented engineering data base, so that the individual clients can
collaborate
with minimal demands on their internal functionality, and the system
coordinates updates impacting a subset of the clients.