An exploratory architecture using data and knowledge to close the loop between design and Maintenance from a product quality perspective

Products for personalization require frequent dynamic interactions at all stages of the entire lifecycle. Based on this, the researchers have been studying closed-loop product lifecycle management. However, most of them often focus on the strategic and conceptual levels and ignore the technical details of implementation. From a product quality perspective, a three-tier architecture using data and knowledge to close the loop between design, operation, and maintenance (O&M) is proposed to deal with this problem. FMECA automation enabled by industrial knowledge graph and construction of Bayesian network for failure propagation is introduced in detail to enhance efficient integration of design and maintenance phases. A proof-of-concept simulation based on an electromechanical actuator validates the applicability and efficiency of the proposed method, showing a closed-loop optimization of design and O&M services. This article potentially enables manufacturers to implement the linkage of design and O&M service business.     

Designing and Rightsizing the Information System Architecture

Information system design and sizing constitute a complex, top-down process that tailors the technology architecture to application requirements. Practitioners usually tackle this top-down process by focusing on individual design aspects, such as data or specific applications, and by relying on their previous experiences to compare alternative architectural solutions. Acquisition costs are usually accounted for, but related operating and maintenance costs are often neglected or underestimated. The complexity of optimizing individual design problems leads researchers to avoid a global optimization perspective and, thus, the IS architecture is usually a result of the juxtaposition of multiple local optima.This paper takes an overall perspective on the cost minimization problem of information system design to achieve a better trade-off between cost and performance over the whole expected life of the technology architecture. A comprehensive design methodology is discussed as an integrating framework that accounts for all categories of costs, including design, implementation, maintenance, and operation, to achieve a globally cost-minimizing solution.     

Design recovery for maintenance and reuse

Software maintenance and harvesting reusable components from software both require that an analyst reconstruct the software's design. Design recovery recreates design abstractions from a combination of code, existing design documentation (if available), personal experience and general knowledge about problem and application domains. The author shows how to extend the automated assistance available to the software engineer for this process. He explains the concept of design recovery, proposes an architecture to implement the concept, illustrates how the architecture operates, describes progress toward implementing it, and compares this work with other similar work such as reverse engineering and program understanding. Much of the discussion is based on a model-based design recovery system called Desire     

An economic design for optimum maintenance float policy

This paper introduces a cost model to solve for optimum maintenance float policy. The model is based on an iterative solution developed for closed queuing maintenance networks. The use of this approach makes it possible to solve and obtain closed form solutions to maintenance float problems when all the centers in the network are exponentially distributed. A computer program is developed for the cost model. The program searches through a three-dimensional cost surface for the optimum solution. On reaching the optimum, the optimum policy as well as the maintenance float performance measures are generated. The computer program offers a decision support mechanism for the maintenance manager by making maintenance float information readily available, providing a more expedient alternative to simulation.     

基于中间件的航电系统接口仿真通用软件设计

提出了一种基于”仿真软件＋中间件”的接15／仿真系统通用软件架构。开发了Interface_RTI中间件,使用XML文件作为系统配置文件,无需重新编译Interface_RTI中间件程序就可以支持在不同系统上的仿真运行,降低了软件维护成本。对仿真软件进行了合理的任务划分和优先级设置,减少了任务调度开销,保证了软件实时性。该软件能满足某型UAV航电系统的接口仿真功能、性能、通用性、可靠性及灵活性要求。     

基于本体的工作流知识管理系统设计

针对工作流系统应用在企业知识管理时面临着流程数据整合不易、文件内容词汇关系不明确与存取控制不便等问题,提出一种基于本体的工作流知识管理系统架构。该系统采用XML作为流程文件交换与存储格式,利用本体论的方法将不同知识领域包含的概念及关联特性整合进工作流程中,设计基于角色继承的授权管理机制进行精确的文件存取控制。介绍工作流系统的体系架构,并分析工作流引擎的设计及实现机制。该系统架构为工作流程中的知识管理提供一种新的管理及控制模式,利用该架构开发的工程设计检验系统运作良好。     

Simulation based process design: Modeling and applications

Business process management has been a hot topic for both management and enterprise modeling communities. Conventional training based approaches expect managers capable of apply their knowledge and experience when they make decisions in designing their business processes. The technology advancement in the past decades has made it possible to provide technological decision-support for both executives and in the trench managers. How one can create technologies that are both generally applicable to a wide range of domains and still powerful enough to provide specific solutions for specific problems has been a challenge for the research community. In our research, we take a simulation based approach to business design and management. In this paper, an enterprise simulation model, called PMT (Process Management Tool), is introduced and a case study of design and management of automotive engineering design processes using PMT was presented. The PMT based case study demonstrated the effectiveness of our simulation based approach and the PMT model by clearly identifying the fragility of product based design processes and the tolerance of function based design processes to overload situations.     

Design of flexible static program analyzers with PQL

Static program analyzers (SPA) are interactive tools that enhance program understanding during maintenance by answering queries about programs. Depending on the maintenance task in hand, SPAs must process different source programs and answer different types of program queries. Flexibility is, therefore, a desirable property of SPAs. The author describes a program query language, called PQL, that facilitates the design of flexible SPAs. PQL is a conceptual level, source language-independent notation to specify program queries and program views. In PQL, one can query global program design as well as search for detail code patterns. PQL queries are answered automatically by a query evaluation mechanism built into an SPA. Program design models and POL form the core of an SPA conceptual model. He based the SPA's architecture on this conceptual model. By separating the conceptual model from the implementation decisions, one can design SPAs that are customizable to the needs of the maintenance project at hand. Depending on criteria such as efficiency of query evaluation or simplicity of the SPA design, one can implement the same functional specifications of an SPA on a variety of program representations to meet the required criteria. Apart from its role in the design of SPAs, the conceptual model also allows one to rigorously study SPA functionality in the context of the underlying maintenance process and programmer behavior models, in isolation from tool implementation details     

A collaborative platform for complex product design with an extended HLA integration architecture

How to integrate the heterogeneous, autonomous models in a distributed environment, running on Internet, integration based on multilayer federation architecture and simulation resources dynamic reuse are the major difficulties for complex product collaborative design and simulation. An extended HLA-based collaborative simulation platform for multidisciplinary collaborative design is proposed. The architecture of platform is first given. The idea and realization of four key technologies, the dynamic creation of simulation federation based on resource management federation (RMF), HLA enabled template, collaborative simulation algorithm based on stage-data synchronization and TH_RTI, an extensible HLA runtime infrastructure (RTI), which is a web enabled RTI and can be used at Internet, are emphasized. Finally, an industry case is given. The demonstration of these prototype systems shows that extended HLA integration architecture is effective infrastructure for multidisciplinary collaborative modeling and simulation (M&S).     

Symbolic performance modeling of parallel systems

Performance prediction is an important engineering tool that provides valuable feedback on design choices in program synthesis and machine architecture development. We present an analytic performance modeling approach aimed to minimize prediction cost, while providing a prediction accuracy that is sufficient to enable major code and data mapping decisions. Our approach is based on a performance simulation language called PAMELA. Apart from simulation, PAMELA features a symbolic analysis technique that enables PAMELA models to be compiled into symbolic performance models that trade prediction accuracy for the lowest possible solution cost. We demonstrate our approach through a large number of theoretical and practical modeling case studies, including six parallel programs and two distributed-memory machines. The average prediction error of our approach is less than 10 percent, while the average worst-case error is limited to 50 percent. It is shown that this accuracy is sufficient to correctly select the best coding or partitioning strategy. For programs expressed in a high-level, structured programming model, such as data-parallel programs, symbolic performance modeling can be entirely automated. We report on experiments with a PAMELA model generator built within a dataparallel compiler for distributed-memory machines. Our results show that with negligible program annotation, symbolic performance models are automatically compiled in seconds, while their solution cost is in the order of milliseconds.     

Ontological map of service oriented architecture for shared services management

Service oriented architecture (SOA) and shared services (SS) have been widely studied in the information technology literature. However, there is a lack of tools for shared services management (SSM) to apply SOA. This paper proposes an ontological map for SSM to apply SOA. This mapping approach, based on the well-known Zachman framework of information architecture, specifies the ontological perspective of SOA for SSM. The ontological map semantically links all aspects of SOA for SSM. Through a case study, a design artifact of computerized ontological map of SOA demonstrates the usability of the artifact for SSM.     

基于微服务的深度学习模型服务系统

Tensorflow Serving是Google开源的一个服务系统,针对Tensorflow Serving单体应用吞吐量低、服务调用烦琐、模型生命周期管理不完善等问题,本文设计了一种基于Tensorflow Serving的微服务软件架构方案,在部署Tensorflow Serving的Docker(开源的应用容器引擎)容器里添加本文研发的监控程序,该监控程序根据各个实例模型加载情况,将可用模型服务主动注册到微服务架构中的注册中心以实现对模型的编排管理。实验结果表明:采用本文的微服务架构方案,有效提升了Tensorflow Serving服务的吞吐量,降低了服务响应时间,简化了模型调用流程,从而满足Tensorflow Serving在生产环境中部署和运维的实际需求。     

基于知识图谱的设备缺陷闭环管理

本文针对传统的火力发电企业设备缺陷管理方法存在的诸多问题,如处理效率低、准确性差、历史经验及数据未得到有效利用等提出一种基于知识图谱技术的系统化解决方案。通过构建一种基于知识图谱的设备全寿命周期管理系统,可以在设备缺陷闭环管理中,有效实现设备维修辅助决策,通过设备维修历史、缺陷记录的自动分析,为运维人员提供优化的检修策略。本文首先简单介绍了整体技术方案及背景,接着对系统的整体设计及架构和功能进行了阐述,然后对系统的整体实现进行了详细说明,最后总结本文的工作,并讨论了存在的问题及未来的优化方向。希望本文能为国内火电企业建设类似系统提供一定的参考借鉴。     

基于Proteus的单片机仿真实验系统设计与应用

在数字控制类专业课程教学中,单片机的实验室建设多采用硬件仿真器与实验板相配合的方式,这种方式,不仅需采购大量的硬件设备,使用过程中设备维护工作量也很大,更新费用较高,导致有些学校的单片机实验室还是基于8031的,像如今应用普遍的AVR、PIC、ARM等不能及时补充,造成了学生知识的欠缺。文章提出一种基于软件仿真的单片机实验室建设方案。该方案只需配置有限的硬件设备,就能很好地解决上述资金缺口、设备更新、使用维护等问题。经过几年的运行,取得了良好的教学效果,是目前具有较高推广利用价值的实验室建设方案。     

EXPERT-MM: A knowledge-based system for maintenance management

This paper presents an approach to the design and development of knowledge-based systems in general and their application in the field of maintenance management in particular. Our approach is based on the idea that different kinds of knowledge in a given domain, namely declarative, procedural and heuristic are supported by corresponding methods and software tools. A prototype knowledge-based system, called EXPERT-MM, for the maintenance activities in the Siam Gipsum Industry (Bangkok, Thailand) has been worked out as a case study and is described in the paper. EXPERT-MM supports three main functions: maintenance policy suggestions, machine diagnosis and maintenance scheduling. The maintenance policy deals with the three types of preventive maintenance. For each component of the equipment it analyses the historical failure data and recommends an appropriate policy with optimal preventive maintenance intervals. This is based on the experts' knowledge stored in a knowledge base. A rotary screw type air compressor is selected for a diagnosis. The knowledge representation scheme is rule-based and the inference strategy mechanism is backward chaining. The knowledge-acquisition process has been organized and realised using a decision tree diagram. The knowledge base contains 154 rules for the diagnosis and 54 rules for the maintenance model selection. the maintenance scheduling module is procedure based. EXPERT-MM development is based on the software tools dBase III Plus, TURBO PASCAL version 6.0 and expert system shell EXSYS, all integrated into a single software system with a user-friendly interface.     

基于DNA的分布式物流管理信息系统

物流系统现代化是企业获得利润的“第三源泉”。文章首先分析了传统的两层客户机/服务器结构在物流管理信息系统设计中的缺点,然后结合对雪莲公司物流系统的分析,介绍了基于WindowsDNA结构的物流管理信息系统的系统开发及其优点。     

Participatory knowledge-management design: A semiotic approach

The aim of this paper is to present a design strategy for collaborative knowledge-management systems based on a semiotic approach. The contents and structure of experts' knowledge is highly dependent on professional or individual practice. Knowledge-management systems that support cooperation between experts from different (sub-)fields need to be situated and tailored to provide effective support even if the common aspects of the data need to be described by ontologies that are generic in respect to the sub-disciplines involved. To understand and approach this design problem, we apply a semiotic perspective to computer application and human–computer interaction. From a semiotic perspective, the computer application is both a message from the designer to the user about the structure of the problem domain, as well as about interaction with it, and a structured channel for the user's communication with herself, himself or other users of the software. Tailoring or “end-user development” – i.e. adapting the knowledge-management system to a specific (sub-)discipline, task or context – then refines both the message and adapts the structure of the interaction to the situated requirements.The essential idea of this paper is to define a new perspective for designing and developing interactive systems to support collaborative knowledge management. The key concept is to involve domain experts in participatory knowledge design for mapping and translating their professional models into the proper vocabularies, notations, and suitable visual structures for navigating among interface elements. To this end, the paper describes how our semiotic approach supports processes for representing, storing, accessing, and transferring knowledge through which the information architecture of an interactive system can be defined. Finally, the results of applying our approach to a real-world case in an archaeological context are presented.     

基于竞标机制的网格资源管理模型的模拟

由节点主动参与的、基于竞标机制的网格资源匹配和任务调度的常用方法是基于降低网格管理开销和提高网格绝对性能的目的。网格规模的扩大、集中式方法管理开销的增加，严重抵消了由规模扩大所带来的网格性能的提高，该网格资源管理模型主要解决此类问题，并进行了仿真程序的设计和性能模拟。     

Layered simulation architecture: A practical approach

This article presents a practical approach to the design of federate architectures for the simulation developers by applying a well-known architectural style, layered architecture, from a developer’s perspective. Adopting layered architecture for an HLA-based simulation (i.e. a federate) provides a clear separation to the following concerns; the user interface (where the user can be a human or an external system such as a GIS server), the simulation logic, and the HLA-specific communication. Thus, layered simulation architecture allows the simulation developers to focus on each concern separately and gives them the freedom to implement each layer in a different programming language, and to encapsulate the repetitive and low-level implementation details of the HLA federate interface specification. Moreover, the article introduces a wrapper for the current HLA runtime infrastructure, and gives an account of the suggested implementation practices through a case study.     

On the architecture of a human-centered CAD agent system

With an increasing role of computers in the design process, a strong foundation of the basic principles for building CAD systems is extremely necessary. This work describes the architecture of a CAD system from the perspective of the capabilities required to build a human centered CAD system. These capabilities have been reported as task-sharing, communication, transparency, design rationale and cognition. Existing systems for engineering design have been analyzed from the perspective of these capabilities and an agent-based system previously reported in literature has been extended to a new architecture to support three of the aforementioned capabilities. The proposed architecture is an amalgamation of multi-agent systems, the ACT-R cognitive architecture and fuzzy rule based Petri nets. The salient advantage of this architecture is that it focuses on the capabilities of design rationale, transparency and cognition together—something which has been missing from all the current works in literature and is unique to the domain of application of the software system, which in this case is engineering design. The other capabilities namely task sharing and communication can be incorporated from lessons learnt from human–computer interaction research. The effectiveness of the proposed architecture is demonstrated by a hypothetical design case along with its implementation.