Song Ze-wei, Chen Zong-ji, Hu Jia-lun
Department of Automatic Control, Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronatics,
Beijing 100083, China
Real time network communication is very important in the realization of concurrent engineering design process. TeamWork system realizes the network communication platform which supports concurrent engineering, it not only can be compatible with various design applications designed for single user, but also permit users to realize the real time transmission of voice and application window graphics, therefore, it is the communication envirinment basis for users to conduct high efficient concurrent engineering design.
Keywords: Concurrent Engineering, Design, Local Area Network, Communication
As the increase of complexity of the product design and manufacture, the product design environment becomes more and more important. Moreover, because of the keen market competition, the design period and quality of products have been the key to the question determining the success of the products. Therefore, we are interested in establishing such a product development process, which can provide users the high ratio of performance to cost and reliability on the basis of minimizing the completion time, minimizing the project cost including utilization, and maximizing the information and communication structure. Nowadays, the CIMS technique has been being perfected, the concept of concurrent engineering design on the basis of CIMS technique is provided in order to increase the company's market competition and development ability.
Concurrent engineering is a systematic approach to the integrated, concurrent design of products and their related processes, including manufacture and support. This approach is intended to cause the developers, from the outset, to consider all elements of the product life cycle from conception through disposal, including quality, cost, schedule, and user requirements.
Up to now, there have been many practical concurrent engineering design applications, such as the EDA design system provided by Mentor Graphics Corp. and engineering design software by Cadence Corp. Although claiming that they can conduct product concurrent engineering design, these software seems powerless on supporting concurrent engineering multi-functions design team work. They can not support the concurrent engineering multi-functions design team work directly, user must use the network support function provided by the operating system itself. For example, the Mentor Graphics' EDA system can only share design files through operating system.
Besides, the above concurrent engineering support systems are all aimed at some special design processes, such as electronic product design, but a whole concurrent engineering process involves many related designers and process, including not only the market investigation, concept design, but also the product sale service and upgrade, etc., which is impossible to be realized by any particular design support system.
TeamWork provides network communication ability for concurrent engineering. Using TeamWork system??user could realize multi-type real-time or non real time network communication. This paper descript basic requisition of TeamWork and the system structure design.
The research and develop of this system is supported by 863 China high scientific and technical foundation.
The environment which can support concurrent engineering design should have the following characteristics and functions:
. Integration
Integrating a variety of functional software of the different processes including design, analysis, manufacture and test in an integrated environment. This integration, which integrates the concurrent activities of multi-subjects and multi-functional team work, should be the integration of functions, data, communication and activities.
. Concurrence
Supporting the multi-subjects and multi-functional team work to conduct development activities. Because the integrated software can be used concurrently, the speed of design should be fast.
. Identity
Ensuring multi-subjects and multi-functional team work having the identical interface in the concurrent design. Identical database and version management are the important conditions to assure the correctness of concurrent engineering design.
. Opening
Having the functions of using new design and analysis software, as well as the user's integration software.
. Directive
Having the functions of design management, project implement, schedule control, and resource allocation, in order to assure the whole development process engaged by multi-subjects and multi-functional team work to carry out sequentially, reasonably, and optimally.
Therefore, under the concurrent engineering design environment, the critical technique is concurrent engineering design support environment, which should integrate all the experimental data, design data, design tools, design processes, system models, technological parameters, manufacture models, and other tools and resources needed in the product design process. So under this concurrent engineering design environment, the designers of different special fields can use their familiar tools, design resources, and data conveniently, in order to coordinate design schedule, evaluate the product's performance repeatedly, regulate and control design process according to requirements.
A practical oriented concurrent engineering support environment must satisfy the following basic system requirements:
. Opening
The system must have the opening structure, not only permitting user's most used application running on the system conveniently, but also permitting users to select and arrange freely, especially for the popular high level languages, databases, operating systems, and networks, etc.. So it can protect user's software and hardware maximally.
. Extension
The system should permit users to extend the necessary functions for their own systems, which can make the whole system to fit in with the user's working environment.
. Compatibility
The system must use friendly user's interface, provide identical using habits, and establish the convenient and plentiful on-line help for users.
For the concurrent engineering support environment involving multi-subjects, multi-design periods and multi-management levels, the types of users are various. Because of the difference of using manners, the specific requirements for the concurrent engineering support environment are also different.
. Designer
As the basis of concurrent engineering staff, the responsibility of designer is to carry out product design in his or her own fields. For the designers, the concurrent engineering design environment should integrate their existing design software, help them to obtain the correct data from the great varieties of design data and stable version, integrate the necessary software tools of concurrent engineering, communicate with other designers verify and transmit data. It should be pointed out that all the above work should be carried out on the designer's work stations.
. Design manager
The concurrent engineering support environment should provide the ways of organizing and coordinating of design process, including examine the design schedule, communicating with design staff, regulating the software and hardware resources, and evaluating the design stage achievements.
. Project manager
The responsibilities of project manager is to formulate the design schedule, organize and coordinate design process, and control the product design period, cost, and market sale.
. Design system manager
Design system manager is responsible for the technique maintenance, on the basis of coordination with Design manager, he or she can allocate the design support environment's software and hardware resources, control, and manage every user's access rights.
The function of TeamWork is to satisfy the concurrent engineering design staff's requirements of information integrated system on the basis of network, to provide the public information sharing platform. So the TeamWork software should have the functions as follows:
Supporting the on-line and off-line modes:
. E-mail mode: Connectless communication service, information and design data transmitted by E-mail.
. Interactive communication mode: Connect oriented and real time communication service, providing user a virtual concurrent engineering workshop.
Supporting various network protocol:
.NetBIOS: The standard network interface of PC, which supported by almost all the LAN system.
.IPX/SPX: Network communication protocol of Novell Netware, PC-LAN industrial standard.
.NetBEUI: Windows for Workgroups network protocol, compatible with NetBIOS.
.NWLink: Windows NT Network protocol, compatible with IPX/SPX.
.TCP/IP: Internet network architecture and protocol, network industrial standard.
Supporting various operating system platform:
.Windows/Windows for Workgroups: PC compatible computer's single user, multi-task, and graphic user interface operating environment.
.Windows 95: PC compatible computer's single user, multi-task, graphic user interface operating environment, and network operating system.
.Windows NT: Multi-platform, multi-task, graphic user interface operating environment and network operating system.
Supporting the transmission of information, design data, audio and graphics:
. Message: Simple formless network communication content based on character string.
. Design data: Formatted network communication content based on files.
. Audio: Digital real time audio information.
. Graphic: Digital real time graphic information.
Permitting on-line mode to observe and operate the other side's system software interactively .
. Interactive observation: Permitted by the other side, user can observe the whole or the part of contents of the other side's real time display on user's own work station.
. Interactive operation: Permitted by the other side, user can use the running software of other side's work station on user's own work station.
Permitting to share design resources.
. Sharing design tools: Providing interactive observation and operation share structure.
. Sharing design data: Sharing design data by network communication.
. Sharing I/O device: Sharing the system device by network.
. Sharing computing capability: Sharing computing capability by Client/Server work station.
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Fig. 4-1 TeamWork Virtual Design Workshop
Interactive share of network application resources is the main function of TeamWork system. In order to realize the virtual concurrent engineering workshop, it must be permitted for users to observe and operate other applications running on other network node.
Because the applications are all displayed by the graphic mode under the graphic operating system interface environment, the network transmission protocol named InterVision could transmit the network real time window graphic. Moreover, this Protocol must be able to conduct the real time transmission of input device operating information, consequently the user can use local computer's I/O device to realize the interactive observation and operation of network applications.
According to the OSI network level model formulated by ISO, InterVision protocol exists on the session and transmission levels.
InterVision satisfied with the following basic design requirements:
. Irrelevancy with the low level network protocol.
. Irrelevancy with the system hardware structure.
. Transmission the real time graphic information.
. Transmission the real time Input device information.
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Fig. 5-1 InterVision Architecture
MediaCommunication could transmit the multi-media communication information . Supported by proper hardware system of multi-media, MediaCommunication can realize real time collection and transmission without the affection of the system's normal operation.
. Audio: mainly the voice information of middle and low quality.
. Video: non-full screen moving pictures of middle and low quality.
MediaCommunication permits two or above two network users to conduct multi-media communication, as well as the communication management and control, including:
.Communication requirement and hanging up control.
.Dynamic modification of MediaCommunication system configuration.
Real time network communication is very important in the realization of concurrent engineering design process. TeamWork system realizes the network communication platform which supports concurrent engineering, it not only can be compatible with various design applications designed for single user, but also permit users to realize the real time transmission of voice and application window graphics, therefore, it is the communication environment basis for users to conduct high efficient concurrent engineering design.
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