PHIDAS—a database management system for CAD/CAM application software

PHIDAS is an application-independent database management system used together with a device-independent software package for graphic I/O within the integrated CAD/CAM system PHILIKON, which covers the detailing of sheet metal parts, of tool design and NC programming. All modules are linked together via the database which acts as the centre of a growing system. The architecture of PHIDAS is in accordance with the ANSI-3 schema-concept having a conceptual schema and an external subschema based on the network model of CODASYL, and an internal schema for the physical tuning which is particularly suited for engineering databases. The system is explained as it is used in PHILIKON.