Feature Model Visualization

Feature modelling is now the predominant way of modelling products. Feature visualization is an important aspect here that can still be considerably improved. In this paper, an integrated way of visualizing feature models is presented, using new techniques for both the geometry and the structure of models. For the geometry of feature models, techniques are presented to visualize a selected subset of form features in a way that clearly distinguishes them from the rest of the model, as well as functional information such as closure faces of subtractive form features. For the structure of features models, techniques are presented to visualize several types of graphs. The different visualization techniques are used in an integrated way. Implementation of some of the techniques requires a non‐manifold representation of the geometry of the feature model. This representation, and some other implementation aspects, are briefly described. Throughout the paper, numerous examples of images of feature models are given which show that the new visualization techniques can indeed improve the effectiveness of feature modelling. ACM CSS: I.3.7 Three‐Dimensional Graphics and Realism—visible line/surface algorithms, J.6 Computer‐AidedEngineering—feature modelling     

On the modelling of actuator dynamics and the computation of prescribed trajectories

The dynamics of actuator mechanisms is presented using a multibody modelling approach to concisely express the structure of the system equations. The Lagrange equations are used to obtain the Newton–Euler equations to which constraint equations are augmented to form a system of differential algebraic equations. The differential algebraic equations are cast as ordinary differential equations and computed using the numerical integrator LSODAR of Petzold and Hindmarsh. Constraint compliance is investigated to ensure the accuracy of the results. Animation of an excavator and wheel loader system is presented and graphs of constraint forces show the nature of the actuator dynamics involved in maintaining specified bucket trajectories. The model is general in nature and caters for arbitrary mechanism connectivity and physical properties.     

Investigations on the dynamic coupling in AUV-manipulator system and the manipulator trajectory errors using bond graph method

This article presents the modelling and simulation of the dynamic coupling in an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV)-manipulator system, used for subsea intervention tasks. Bond graph, a powerful tool in multi-domain dynamic system modelling, is used for the first time to model the coupled dynamics of the AUV-manipulator system. This method enables the development of the system model in a modular form by creating sub-system models and connecting these models together at energy interactions ports, thus overcoming many of the computational difficulties encountered in conventional modelling methods. The effects of gravity, buoyancy, added mass and fluid drag on the dynamics of a 3 degrees of freedom (DoF) manipulator mounted on a 6 DoF AUV are analysed. The manipulator trajectory errors due to the interaction forces and moments between the vehicle and the manipulator have also been investigated and the results are presented. The dynamic model predicts the reaction forces on the vehicle under various operating conditions of the manipulator and their influence on the manipulator trajectory. The percentage errors of manipulator tip trajectory for different initial configurations and operating conditions are analysed. The estimation of resulting errors in the manipulator path due to dynamic coupling effect on the manipulator trajectory helps in the design of suitable trajectory controller for the system. Cartesian space transpose Jacobian controller for trajectory control of manipulator has been implemented and results are presented.     

A mathematical model of a 200 MW boiler†

A mathematical model is developed for a 200 MW coal-fired, drum-type natural circulation boiler with reheat. The complete unit is divided, for the convenience of the analysis, into several sections, viz. the economizer, the drum, the downcomer, etc. The dynamic behaviour of each section is described in mathematical terms. The equations are linearized and manipulated into state space form for solution in a digital computer. Results for the more important system variables are presented end discussed. Difficulties found in the modelling are emphasized.     

医院管理系统仿真模型的建立与实现

介绍了如何运用计算机仿真技术去实现一个辅助医院管理的仿真工具。通过对系统（医院）的分析,描述了仿真模型的建立和处理它的表示法,最后给出了仿真工具的实现,此工具可被运用于医院做决策过程的支持。     

Fuzzy modelling control for aircraft automatic landing system

Aircraft landing control based on fuzzy modelling networks is presented. The proposed scheme uses a fuzzy controller combined with a linearized inverse aircraft model. A multi-layered fuzzy neural network is used as the controller, providing the control signals at each stage of the aircraft-landing phase. The algorithm used to train the network is the Backpropagation Through Time. The linearized inverse aircraft model provides the error signals that will be used to back-propagate through the controller at each stage. The objective of this study is to improve the performance of conventional automatic landing systems. The simulation results are described for the automatic landing system of a commercial aeroplane. Tracking performance and robustness are demonstrated through software simulations. Simulation results show that the fuzzy controller can successfully expand the safety envelope to include more hostile environments such as severe turbulence.     

Parallel process diagnosis based on qualitative models

This paper presents a method for process diagnosis based on a relational process model. To overcome the exponential complexity of the modelling and diagnostic tasks, three main results are described. First, the modelling complexity is reduced by building the overall system model from subsystem models in a component-oriented way. Second, a solution of the diagnostic problem based on relational algebra is presented and successively improved by exploiting the inherent structure of the diagnostic problem. The third idea is to decompose the diagnostic problem and to solve the resulting subproblems in parallel on a multicomputer system. A communication scheme which ensures the correct solution of the diagnostic problem is given. The theoretical results are illustrated by a diagnostic problem occurring in a power station.     

Depth Averaged Modelling of Turbulent Shallow Water Flow with Wet-Dry Fronts

Depth averaged models are widely used in engineering practice in order to model environmental flows in river and coastal regions, as well as shallow flows in hydraulic structures. This paper deals with depth averaged turbulence modelling. The most important and widely used depth averaged turbulence models are reviewed and discussed, and a depth averaged algebraic stress model is presented. A finite volume model for solving the depth averaged shallow water equations coupled with several turbulence models is described with special attention to the modelling of wet-dry fronts. In order to asses the performance of the model, several flows are modelled and the numerical results are compared with experimental data.     

Adaptive features of a CAL system based on information retrieval

A CAL system named STUDIO is presented. The system is under development and is being implemented on a Burroughs B1700 computer using the DMSII data management system.STUDIO is an information retrieval system provided with a teaching strategy. The instructional material to be presented is divided into frames, which are regarded as retrievable documents. The frames are classified with weighted index terms describing the contents of the frame. The index terms used within a course form a course thesaurus. The thesaurus is used when designing the structure of the course and in each individual run-time instructional decision in the course.After giving a general presentation of some methods of information retrieval, this paper shows how these methods are utilised in the STUDIO system, especially in the individualisation of instruction. Some aspects of student modelling are also discussed.     

3D Icons and Architectural CAD

3D computer input has been a recurring challenge to engineers developing effective CAD systems. The approach adopted in this paper attempts to address a specific type of 3D input which is applicable to architecture and some engineering design tasks. In these processes, the object being designed is often an assembly of defined components. In a conventional graphics based CAD system these components are usually represented by graphical Icons which are displayed on the graphics screen and are arranged by the user. The system described here consists of 3D modelling elements which the user physically assembles to form his design. Each modelling element contains an element processor consisting of a machine readable label, data paths and control logic. The CAD system interrogates the elements. The logic within the element processors and the data paths are then used to interrogate other adjacent elements in the model. This system can therefore be considered as a "user generated""machine readable" modelling system. In an architectural application this provides the user with a system of 3D Icons with which to model and evaluate the built environment.     

Safe controllers design for industrial automation systems

The design of safe industrial controllers is one of the most important domains related to Automation Systems research. To support it, synthesis and analysis techniques are available. Among the analysis techniques, two of the most important are Simulation and Formal Verification. In this paper these two techniques are used together in a complementary way. Understanding plant behaviour is essential for obtaining safe industrial systems controllers; hence, plant modelling is crucial to the success of these techniques. A two step approach is presented: first, the use of Simulation and, second, the use of Formal Verification of Industrial Systems Specifications. The specification and plant models used for each technique are described. Simulation and Formal Verification results are presented and discussed. The approach presented in the paper can be applied to real industrial systems, and obtain safe controllers for hybrid plants. The Modelica modelling language and Dymola simulation environment are used for Simulation purposes, and Timed Automata formalism and the UPPAAL real-time model-checker are used for Formal Verification purposes.     

Integration of a flat holonic form in an HLA environment

Managers need to create and sustain internal systems and controls to ensure that their customer focused strategies are being implemented. Companies are currently in a spiral of permanent optimization. Accordingly, many companies turn to their core activity. In this framework, one notices the development of the concept of “industrial partnership”. In this context and to control the customer–supplier relationships (CSR), we proposed a self-organized control model in which all partner entities (customers/suppliers) negotiate to guarantee good quality connections between customers and suppliers. This means meeting customer expectations as closely as possible and respecting supplier capacities. In this proposal, self-organized control is characterized more precisely by an organizational architecture of the flat holonic form type. This flat holonic form is based on the concept of autonomous control entity (ACE). The holonic architecture, the behaviour of an ACE, the interaction mechanisms between ACEs and the self-evaluation supplier process are presented, and then the modelling of ACEs using discrete event system specification (DEVS) is described. An implementation of the simulation of such a system was done via a distributed simulation environment high level architecture (HLA). A case study illustrating the proposed approach is presented.     

Multiple-view feature modelling for integral product development

To allow a designer to focus on the information that is relevant for a particular product development phase, is an important aspect of integral product development. Unlike current modelling systems, multiple-view feature modelling can adequately support this, by providing an own view on a product for each phase. Each view contains a feature model of the product specific for the corresponding phase. An approach to multiple-view feature modelling is presented that supports conceptual design, assembly design, part detail design and part manufacturing planning. It does not only provide views with form features to model single parts, as previous approaches to multiple-view feature modelling did, but also a view with conceptual features, to model the product configuration with functional components and interfaces between these components, and a view with assembly features, to model the connections between components. The general concept of this multiple-view feature modelling approach, the functionality of the four views, and the way the views are kept consistent, are described.     

Order reduction of complex systems described by TSK fuzzy models based on singular perturbations method

This article deals with the concept of order reduction of linear complex systems described by TSK fuzzy models. The use of singular perturbations technique for process modelling and the choice of Benrejeb arrow form characteristic matrix provide the decoupling of dynamics of linear systems in the continuous and discrete case. An original contribution is to apply nonconventional TSK fuzzy approach on a direct current motor in order, on one hand, to highlight the order reduction of this system presented locally in the form of linear models and, on the other hand, to show the efficiency of the proposed approaches.     

Friction Models and Stress Recovery Methods in Vehicle Dynamics Modelling

This paper presents two examples of calculations for vehicles with flexible bodies by using mixed multibody and finite element methods. The first example deals with dynamics computations for a bimodal train with a flexible cistern, whereas the second example concerns the dynamics calculations for the PW-6 glider. In the first example, the influence of the chosen friction model on the train dynamics calculations results was discussed. The second example presents several methods of stress calculations and a comparison of results. The achieved conclusions may be used as suggestions towards a modelling method choice for a given problem.Both issues being discussed are of great importance in dynamics of flexible multibody systems modelling practice and durability assessment. In both examples, the kinematics of the system was presented in absolute coordinates, the motion equations in the DAE form, and the reduction of the number of degrees of freedom was achieved by means of the Craig–Bampton (CB) method.     

MPP系统模型化的广义随机Petri网技术

本文提出一种模型化海量并行处理（ＭＰＰ）系统的广义随机Ｐｅｔｒｉ网技术ＧＳＰＮ。首先，通过外延优先权标记Ｐｅｔｒｉ网，提出了ＧＳＰＮ的定义、时序规范、变迁激光规则和计算公式。然后，讨论使用ＧＳＰＮ模型化ＭＰＰ系统的技术途径和实现方案，分别阐述了ＧＳＰＮ形式化描述共享存储器方式和信息传递方式ＭＰＰ系统的有效怀，并给出了实例。此外，我们还分析和提出了ＣＳＰ（通信顺序进程）理论中主要进程与Ｐｅｔｒｉ网之     

A grey-based clustering algorithm and its application on fuzzy system design

A grey-based clustering method was proposed and applied on fuzzy system design. A new grey-clustering algorithm using grey relational analysis as the similarity measure was developed for data clustering. It was more effective and accurate than C-Means like algorithms when dealing with data clustering issue, when the compact and complete separate data were considered. Some data clustering examples are presented to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed clustering algorithm. Next, an application of the proposed method on fuzzy system design is presented. The procedure of fuzzy system design can be separated into two parts. In the first procedure, the grey-clustering algorithm was employed to form a rough fuzzy system only from gathered input-output data. Then, the gradient descent method was used to determine a suitable parameter set of the formed fuzzy system. A nonlinear system modelling and an inverted pendulum control problem were then used to illustrate the validity of the proposed fuzzy system design procedure.     

Prediction of cutting forces in 3-axes milling of sculptured surfaces directly from CAM tool path

In the present work a new approach for the modelling of milling is described. The cutting forces are calculated for milling operations directly from the tool path provided by a Computer Assisted Manufacturing program. The main idea consists in using tool position points coming from CAM data in order to calculate the local inclination angle of the generated surface and then the tool engagement in the machined material. A good approximation for global and local cutting forces can be obtained when an analytical model able to predict the cutting forces for 3-axes milling is used. Two approaches are proposed to calculate the local cutting forces to show the versatility of the method. The first method uses a thermomechanical approach using a Johnson & Cook constitutive law while the second is based on classical cutting coefficients. Some results are presented for wavelike form and free form machining tests and are compared with experimental data obtained in roughing and finishing of 42CrMo4 steel. Results are satisfactory and the capability of the method to predict the resultant surface roughness is shown.     

Action graphs and user performance analysis

A user operating an interactive system performs actions such as “pressing a button” and these actions cause state transitions in the system. However to perform an action, a user has to do what amounts to a state transition themselves, from the state of having completed the previous action to the state of starting to perform the next action; this user transition is out of step with the system's transition. This paper introduces action graphs, an elegant way of making user transitions explicit in the arcs of a graph derived from the system specification. Essentially, a conventional transition system has arcs labeled in the form “user performs action A” whereas an action graph has arcs labelled in the form “having performed action P, the user performs Q.” Action graphs support many modelling techniques (such as GOMS, KLM or shortest paths) that could have been applied to the user's actions or to the system graph, but because it combines both, the modelling techniques can be used more powerfully.Action graphs can be used to directly apply user performance metrics and hence perform formal evaluations of interactive systems. The Fitts Law is one of the simplest and most robust of such user modelling techniques, and is used as an illustration of the value of action graphs in this paper. Action graphs can help analyze particular tasks, any sample of tasks, or all possible tasks a device supports—which would be impractical for empirical evaluations. This is an important result for analyzing safety critical interactive systems, where it is important to cover all possible tasks in testing even when doing so is not feasible using human participants because of the complexity of the system.An algorithm is presented for the construction of action graphs. Action graphs are then used to study devices (a consumer device, a digital multimeter, an infusion pump) and results suggest that: optimal time is correlated with keystroke count, and that keyboard layout has little impact on optimal times. Many other applications of action graphs are suggested.     

Enhanced predictive modelling process of broadband services adoption based on time series data

In this paper, the importance of the predictive modelling process of broadband services adoption is described. A detailed overview of different analytical models used for prediction, i.e., fitting and forecasting processes of broadband services adoption are presented. Furthermore, a comparison of several analytical models commonly used for prediction of broadband adoption is conducted. In order to more accurately fit to the existing broadband adoption time series data, and to forecast the future broadband services adoption paths, the features of the most accurate common predictive models have been identified for different phases of broadband services adoption. Considering the given results, usage of additional models in the predictive modelling process is analyzed. The objective of these analyses is set to improve the accuracy of the existing predictive modelling process. The accuracy of the predictive modelling process using additional models is tested and compared in different phases of broadband adoption. The model which gives the most accurate results is identified. Finally, in order to enable the usage of this model within a whole broadband service life cycle, as well as to include a greater number of explanatory parameters in predictive modelling process, an enhanced predictive modelling process is proposed.