Communication of computerised information

Dr. Norman Swindells CEng, FIMMMFerroday LimitedDEPUIS WorkshopENEA, 2008-04-14

Digital manufacturing

Engineeringproperties

Design FEA

Processplan

Cuttingtools

NC-machine

codes

An engineering problem The integration of different computer

systems and operations causes problems of communication

Different programs organise the same data in different ways – everyone makes their own nuts and bolts

The content of a data file is not directly usable by another program

Examples of human communication problems Does the time of ‘half-nine’ mean:

30 minutes after 09 00 (U.K.)? 30 minutes before 09 00 (Germany)?

Does a date of ‘3/5/2002’ mean: Third day of May 2002 (U.K.)? 5th day of March 2002 (U.S.A.)?

We need more than data items to achieve communication of information without ambiguity or uncertainty

Information specifications : an engineering solution To communicate information we always need:

the data items that represent the information a specification to define the data structure – e.g.

a sentence in a natural language a dictionary to define the meanings of the data

items Everyone in a communication process must use the

same specification and the same dictionary A specification for information is called an information

model

Types of information models Two main ways of specifying information

about objects in a complex world: Classification models (used in biology,

zoology, etc) Object-relationship models (used in

model based software engineering) For computer–computer communications

the information models and their dictionaries also have to be computer-processable

Information model Specifies the structure for the location of the data

items that convey the information for a real world situation the syntax of the information:

Specifies the meaning of the information the semantics of the information

Result is a complete information representation A representation can have several presentations

If the representation is written in a computer sensible language then the model is computer-processable

ISO TC184/SC4 ISO TC184/SC4 is the power house that has

developed the engineering solutions for information communication by R&D More than 25 countries participating Most global manufacturing sectors Hundreds of engineers and software specialists 25 years of effort ISO Lawrence D Eicher Award 2007

Result is product data technology Application is information engineering

Information engineering An engineering solution to an IT problem

Specifies engineering information by using computer-processable information models

The information models are: International standards developed by global

collaboration Determined by industrial needs Independent from any computer system Computer-understandable within an engineering

domain

ISO Standards for information engineering ISO 10303 Product data

representation and exchange (STEP) Information models for all aspects of an

individual product and for all stages of the life-cycle

ISO 13584 Parts libraries (Plib) Information model for collections of products

(catalogues, parts lists) and data dictionaries ISO 15926 Data reference library for

chemical plant, oil & gas

Structure of ISO 10303 (STEP)

ProductPart 41

RepresentationPart 43

ProcessPart 49

GeometryPart 42

MaterialsPart 45

Generic Resources -for any product

Application protocols –Specialisation of generic resources for an engineering need

STEP data file

Part 21

Engineering software

Engineering software

Standards for digital manufacturing

Engineeringproperties

3D-Design

FEA

Processplanning

Cuttingtools

NC-codes

ISO 10303-235

ISO 10303-203 ISO 10303-209

ISO 13399

ISO 10303-224

ISO 10303-238

Why is this important The costs of system integration and

information exchange can be very high Equal to gross profits for one small UK

company Estimate of $1bn p.a. for U.S. auto

supply chain Cost of correcting problems is 15

times the cost of avoiding them

How do these costs arise?

Advantages of SC4 Standards Regain control of information from

proprietary software vendors Reduce inter-operability costs Increase:

flexibility of collaboration and integration choice of partners reliability and longevity of information combination of data from different

sources

Modern cutting tools

ISO 13399 Cutting tool data representation and exchange

Part 1 Information model for any tool assembly-based on ISO 10303-214

Parts 2-5, 50, 60 Dictionaries of parts of tool and their properties-using ISO 13584

Part 100 Specification for developing and maintaining dictionaries

Part 150 Usage guide

Conclude

Product data technology using SC4 standards is a global success for manufacturing Reducing costs, increasing data

reliability, supporting supply chains DEPUIS project is showing how to use

the SC4 standards for life-cycle management