Verification of knowledge shared across design and manufacture using a foundation ontology

Seamless computer-based knowledge sharing between departments of a manufacturing enterprise is useful in preventing unnecessary design revisions. A lack of interoperability between independently developed knowledge bases, however, is a major impediment in the development of a seamless knowledge-sharing system. Interoperability, being an ability to overcome semantic and syntactic differences during computer-based knowledge sharing, can be enhanced through the use of foundation ontologies. Foundation or core ontologies can be used to overcome differences existing in more specialised ontologies and to ensure seamless knowledge sharing. This is because these ontologies provide a common grounding for domain ontologies to be used by different functions or departments. This common base can be used by mediation and knowledge verification systems to authenticate the meaning of knowledge understood across different domains. For this reason, this research proposes a knowledge verification framework for developing a system capable of verifying knowledge between those domain ontologies which are developed out of a common core or foundation ontology. This framework makes use of ontology logic to standardise the way concepts from a foundation and core concepts ontology are used in domain ontologies and then, by using the same principles, the knowledge being shared is verified.     

The role of product feature relations in a knowledge based methodology to manage design modifications for product measurability

During product development, the verification process should already be considered at the design phase to ensure that the characteristics of the product are measured effectively and reliably. Moreover, the verification process may prove more effective if the inspector is aware of the specific designer's intents. The development of the new ISO GPS (Geometrical Product Specifications) standards is mainly founded on these considerations. In accordance with the ISO GPS concepts, previous work developed a knowledge based system named Design GuideLines (DGLs). This system provides the designer with the knowledge concerning the manufacturing and verification procedures/tools and better links the manufacturing and verification processes to the designer's activities/needs. Further research then exploited the DGLs to discover the relations among product features determined by a particular manufacturing process.

This work again uses the DGLs to prove that further relations among product features may also be determined by the verification process. This knowledge helps designers in understanding the consequences of the modifications applied to the product features required to improve the measurability of the product. Moreover, inspectors can better manage the verification procedure knowing these relations among the product features.     

Managing distributed manufacturing knowledge through multi-perspective modelling for semantic web applications

The development and maintenance of semantic web (SW) means that collaborative manufacturing systems are faced with increasing challenges caused by the growing difficulty in managing distributed manufacturing knowledge. This paper presents a multi-perspective modelling approach to systematically manage distributed manufacturing knowledge on the SW. Considering knowledge engineering as a cyclic and constructive modelling process, a multi-perspective knowledge modelling process is proposed to evolve along knowledge elicitation, engineering modelling, UML-based object modelling, OWL-based ontology modelling, knowledge formalisation and OWL-QL assisted knowledge verification activities. The proposed approach is viewed as a promising knowledge management method that facilitates the implementation of computer supported cooperative work (CSCW) in distributed manufacturing for SW applications by integrating the industrial, UML enabled software engineering techniques into recent ontology-based knowledge engineering process. The feasibility of knowledge management through multi-perspective modelling is manifested using the manufacturing ontology for manufacturing electronic connectors.     

A framework for developing engineering design ontologies within the aerospace industry

This paper presents a framework for developing engineering design ontologies within the aerospace industry. The aim of this approach is to strengthen the modularity and reuse of engineering design ontologies to support knowledge management initiatives within the aerospace industry. Successful development and effective utilisation of engineering ontologies strongly depends on the method/framework used to develop them. Ensuring modularity in ontology design is essential for engineering design activities due to the complexity of knowledge that is required to be brought together to support the product design decision-making process. The proposed approach adopts best practices from previous ontology development methods, but focuses on encouraging modular architectural ontology design. The framework is comprised of three phases namely: (1) Ontology design and development; (2) Ontology validation and (3) Implementation of ontology structure. A qualitative research methodology is employed which is composed of four phases. The first phase defines the capture of knowledge required for the framework development, followed by the ontology framework development, iterative refinement of engineering ontologies and ontology validation through case studies and experts’ opinion. The ontology-based framework is applied in the combustor and casing aerospace engineering domain. The modular ontologies developed as a result of applying the framework and are used in a case study to restructure and improve the accessibility of information on a product design information-sharing platform. Additionally, domain experts within the aerospace industry validated the strengths, benefits and limitations of the framework. Due to the modular nature of the developed ontologies, they were also employed to support other project initiatives within the case study company such as role-based computing (RBC), IT modernisation activity and knowledge management implementation across the sponsoring organisation. The major benefit of this approach is in the reduction of man-hours required for maintaining engineering design ontologies. Furthermore, this approach strengthens reuse of ontology knowledge and encourages modularity in the design and development of engineering ontologies.     

Methods for the capture of manufacture best practice in product lifecycle management

The capture of manufacturing best practice knowledge in product lifecycle management systems has significant potential to improve the quality of design decisions and minimise manufacturing problems during new product development. However, providing a reusable source of manufacturing best practice is difficult due to the complexity of the viewpoint relationships between products and the manufacturing processes and resources used to produce them. This paper discusses how best to organise manufacturing best practice knowledge, the relationships between elements of this knowledge plus their relationship to product information. The paper also explores the application of UML-2 as a system design tool which can model these relationships and hence support the reuse of system design models over time. The paper identifies a set of part family and feature libraries and, most significantly, the relationships between them, as a means of capturing best practice manufacturing knowledge and illustrates how these can be linked to manufacturing resource models and product information. Design for manufacture and machining best practice views are used in the paper to illustrate the concepts developed. An experimental knowledge based system has been developed and results generated using a power transmission shaft example.     

基于网络表示学习的本体语义挖掘与功能语义检索方法

为充分利用本体概念之间隐含的语义关系,以支持产品功能创新设计过程,提出了一种基于网络表示学习的本体语义挖掘与功能语义检索方法。首先,基于本体中确定的语义关系,利用网络表示学习挖掘隐含的语义关系;然后,基于语义类比的向量运算,建立本体概念之间潜在的功能语义关系,并对功能语义向量进行表达;最后,通过功能语义向量的相似度计算实现由用户功能需求向跨领域功能性设计资料的扩展,并建立相应的设计资料检索方法和流程。产品设计示例表明,所提出的本体语义挖掘与功能语义检索方法有利于从产品功能角度获取跨领域设计知识,可为设计人员提供更多的灵感。     

基于设计奖项获奖案例的设计知识建模研究

为实现设计奖项获奖案例中的优秀设计知识的有效重用,对获奖案例中的设计知识类别和表示方式进行研究。通过分析设计奖项获奖案例中的设计知识内涵;引入本体概念,根据本体的四元组模型构建获奖案例中设计知识的本体结构。以中国设计智造大奖(DIA)中智慧城市服务平台类获奖案例为例,通过语言逻辑学、语义研究等方法对获奖案例的设计知识进行概念、本体属性、概念关系的描述和定义,从而搭建设计奖项知识(DAK)模型,并借助OWL语言和知识图谱等方式实现智慧城市服务平台类获奖案例中设计知识的语义表示。提出一种基于本体的设计奖项获奖案例知识模型,为设计奖项中的优秀设计知识储存、管理、重用提供理论支持和实践参考。     

Reference ontologies for interoperability across multiple assembly systems

The role of information and communication technologies (ICTs) is crucial for future manufacturing organisations in order to support effective collaboration and information sharing. However, the contemporary ICT-based systems lack the required ability to adequately support interoperability across multiple domain systems. The capability of such ICT-based systems to interoperate is impeded by the semantic conflicts arising from loosely defined meanings and intents of the participating system concepts. The aim of this paper is to investigate the interoperability of assembly systems at multiple levels of concept specialisations using the concept of a formal reference ontology. Formal ontologies are providing a promising way to computationally capture the domain meanings which can subsequently provide a base to support interoperability across multiple systems and in our case multiple assembly systems. This paper takes the example of manufacturing bill of materials concept and three different domain-specific interpretations to explore and demonstrate the potential of formal reference ontologies to support interoperability.     

Interoperable manufacturing knowledge systems

For many years now, the importance of semantic technologies, that provide a formal, logic-based route to sharing meaning, has been recognised as offering the potential to support interoperability across multiple-related applications and hence, drive manufacturing competitiveness in the digital manufacturing age. However, progress in support of manufacturing enterprise interoperability has tended to be limited to fairly narrow domains of applicability. This paper presents a progression of research and understanding, culminating in the work undertaken in the recent EU FLEXINET project, to develop a comprehensive manufacturing reference ontology that can (a) support the clarification of understanding across domains, (b) support the ability to flexibly share information across interacting software systems and (c) provide the ability to readily configure company knowledge bases to support interoperable manufacturing systems.     

The configuration of design and manufacture knowledge models from a heavyweight ontological foundation

Problems related to knowledge sharing in design and manufacture, for supporting automated decision-making procedures, are associated with the inability to communicate the full meaning of concepts and their intent within and across system boundaries. To remedy these issues, it is important that the explicit structuring of semantics, i.e., meaning in computation form, is first performed and that these semantics become sharable across systems. This paper proposes an expressive (heavyweight) Common Logic-based ontological foundation as a basis for capturing the meaning of generic feature-oriented design and manufacture concepts. This ontological foundation serves as a semantic ground over which design and manufacture knowledge models can be configured in an integrity-driven way. The implications involved in the specification of the ontological foundation are discussed alongside the types of mechanisms that allow knowledge models to be configured. A test case scenario is then analysed in order to further support and verify the researched approach.     

A participatory systems design methodology for changeable manufacturing systems

The ability to adapt to changes in products, processes and technologies is a key competitive factor. Changeable manufacturing paradigms have emerged to address this need, but the industrial implementation remains challenging. In this paper, a participatory design methodology for changeable manufacturing systems is proposed, including requirements specification, selection of appropriate manufacturing paradigm and suitable physical and logical enablers. The methodology supports companies in determining the potential for and mechanisms of transitioning towards changeable manufacturing systems, based on knowledge of products, production, technologies and facilities. The developed methodology is applicable to both new and existing manufacturing systems. It is demonstrated in two industrial cases which highlight its applicability and differences in the appropriate recommended manufacturing systems transition towards changeability as a result of differences in manufacturing characteristics, change requirements and enablers.     

Developing manufacturing ontologies for knowledge reuse in distributed manufacturing environment

The use of ontologies for knowledge sharing and distributed collaboration has been widely recognised in the knowledge modelling community, but the lack of a systematic and constructive methodology for developing manufacturing ontologies has impeded their wide usage for knowledge reuse in distributed manufacturing environments. This paper presents a constructive, two-level knowledge modelling approach to systematically develop manufacturing ontologies using both software engineering and Semantic Web paradigms. The UML/OCL (Unified Modeling Language/Object Constraint Language)-based object modelling is used first to serve as a graphical and structured basis for conceptual communication between domain experts and knowledge engineers. The OWL/SWRL (Web Ontology Language/Semantic Web Rule Language)-based ontology modelling then extends the UML/OCL-based object models with added semantics using a progressive, semantics-oriented knowledge acquisition method. An illustrative example for manufacturing ontology development in the manufacturing industry for producing electronic connectors is used to demonstrate the practicality of the proposed approach.     

Virtual reality in requirement analysis for CIM system development suitable for SMEs

This paper presents a methodology, based on Virtual Reality (VR), for representing a manufacturing system in order to help with the requirement analysis (RA) in CIM system development, suitable for SMEs. The methodology can reduce the costs and the time involved at this stage by producing precise and accurate plans, specification requirements, and a design for CIM information systems. These are essentials for small and medium scale manufacturing enterprises. Virtual Reality is computer-based and has better visualization effects for representing manufacturing systems than any other graphical user interface, and this helps users to collect information and decision needs quickly and correctly. A VR-RA tool is designed and developed as a software system to realize the features outlined in each phase of the methodology. A set of rules and a knowledge base is appended to the methodology to remove any inconsistency that could arise between the material and the information flows during the requirement analysis. A novel environment for matching the physical and the information model domains is suggested to delineate the requirements.     

基于本体的包装设计辅助决策支持方法

目的针对目前包装设计决策知识组织和重用问题,研究一种基于本体的包装设计辅助决策支持方法。方法构建了包装设计知识的五元组模型,以设计案例、设计元素和设计资源等包装设计知识为基础,设计了包装设计语义本体模型,并构造了包装设计辅助决策Jena推理规则,使用SPAQRL查询潜在的语义包装设计知识。结果结合实例,从表示层和决策层等4个层次说明了辅助决策服务的实现。其结果表明,该决策支持方法真正从本体层面实现了包装设计知识的语义共享,能够达到包装设计辅助决策的目的。结论该决策支持方法为提高包装设计领域辅助决策的智能性提供了良好的方法与技术支持。     

Simultaneous topology and build orientation optimization for minimization of additive manufacturing cost and time

The ever-present demand for increased performance in mechanical systems, and reduced cost and manufacturing time, has led to the adoption of computational design tools and innovative manufacturing methods. One such tool is topology optimization (TO), which often produces designs that are impracticable to manufacture. However, recent developments in additive manufacturing (AM) have made production of such complex designs feasible. Therefore, integration of these technologies has the potential to innovate the design and manufacture of mechanical components. This work presents a novel mathematical methodology for multiobjective minimization of structural compliance and AM cost and time, in simultaneous build orientation and density-based TO. Component surface area and support volume were implemented in this method as the physical factors influencing AM cost and time. A new methodology was produced to approximate support volume throughout TO with variable build orientation, enabling direct minimization of support volume in the proposed optimization. The methodology allows derivation of sensitivity expressions, thereby permitting the use of efficient gradient-based optimization solvers. Three numerical examples demonstrated that the proposed methodology can efficiently produce optimum build orientations and topologies, which significantly reduce structural compliance and AM cost and time.     

Feature-driven,process-based approach to the integration of CAD /CAM in wireframe models

This paper presents a structure for an integrated CAD/CAM system in wireframe models than can be simultaneously used for product design and manufacture of prismatic components. A feature-driven, process-based design methodology, which derives its basis from traditional geometry-based design, feature-based design, deterministic and expert heuristic manufacturing knowledge, is proposed. This methodology provides an integrated modelling environment for automation of downstream manufacturing applications such as process planning and NC code generation. Representation of features in the design database is not limited to geometry alone but includes material, tooling and machine specifications and is based on a process-to-geometry mapping. Research shows that informational completeness of a CAD database depends on application; and for manufacturing tasks, the vocabulary of the process describing the means of making a part should be mapped directly to the feature-based geometry. This effort answers key issues in integrating CAD and CAM in the most widely used wireframe modelling systems.     

The Internet as a tool with application to agile manufacturing: A web-based engineering approach and its implementation issues

This paper presents a novel approach to implementing agile design and manufacturing concepts by using Internet-based technology. The underlying philosophy of the approach is to use web-based design and manufacturing support systems as smart tools from which design and manufacturing customers can rapidly and responsively access the system's built-in design and manufacturing expertise. The approach is described in detail with application examples. The major issues in implementing the approach are discussed with particular reference to using Java programming, client-server technology and open computing of design and manufacturing requirements. The paper concludes with a discussion on the potential of the proposed approach.     

基于本体的产品色彩意象知识表达

目的针对产品意象认知研究中色彩要素的重要性,基于本体论并结合感性工学的技术方法,构建了产品色彩意象本体,实现色彩意象知识的表达。方法通过对产品色彩意象本体概念的解析,使用语意差异法和KJ法挖掘用户的色彩感性需求,完成产品色彩意象概念的提取;应用混合聚类算法探索各色彩意象之间的层次关系,依据色度学原理分析产品的色彩特征,并获取设计要素及其类目;结合用户色彩意象感性评价值,运用数量化I类计算各色彩意象与设计要素、类目间的关联。结果根据研究结果构建产品色彩意象本体模型,用以高效指导产品色彩意象设计。结论以三厢轿车的色彩意象研究为例展开研究,可较好地实现汽车色彩意象知识的提取、表达与重用,为汽车色彩设计的知识获取开拓新思路。     

An engineering design knowledge reuse methodology using process modelling

This paper describes an approach for reusing engineering design knowledge. Many previous design knowledge reuse systems focus exclusively on geometrical data, which is often not applicable in early design stages. The proposed methodology provides an integrated design knowledge reuse framework, bringing together elements of best practice reuse, design rationale capture and knowledge-based support in a single coherent framework. Best practices are reused through the process model. Rationale is supported by product information, which is retrieved through links to design process tasks. Knowledge-based methods are supported by a common design data model, which serves as a single source of design data to support the design process. By using the design process as the basis for knowledge structuring and retrieval, it serves the dual purpose of design process capture and knowledge reuse: capturing and formalising the rationale that underpins the design process, and providing a framework through which design knowledge can be stored, retrieved and applied. The methodology has been tested with an industrial sponsor producing high vacuum pumps for the semiconductor industry.     

Visual interactive simulation and artificial intelligence in design of flexible manufacturing systems

The design of flexible manufacturing systems is a complex decision-making process that typically involves the evaluation of a number of different design alternatives. The evaluation is often performed using modelling and simulation techniques. The role of visual interactive modelling and simulation in design of flexible manufacturing systems is discussed. The application of artificial intelligence techniques to implement a set of knowledge sources, used for accomplishment of various design activities, is described. An object-orientated implementation is used to illustrate the underlying concepts.