The application of multi-agent systems in STEP-NC compliant process planning of prismatic components

摘要

Manufacturing firms are seeking more efficient ways of manufacturing components with CNC machines. The emerging standards ISO 14649 and ISO 10303-AP238 present a novel approach to the method these machines are programmed. These standards better known as STEP-NC provide the capability to replace the traditional tool movement description languages with complex hierarchical object oriented data structures that define the part geometry together with the operations required to manufacture the part. This paper examines the application of distributed artificial intelligence methods, namely multi-agent systems in designing an object-oriented process planning system for prismatic components in a STEP-NC compliant environment. A prototype system, Multi-Agent System for Computer Aided Process Planning (MASCAPP) has been developed using commercially available software and database management tools to further illustrate the implications of employing intelligent agents for process planning. A number of test components have been used to ascertain the performance, reliability and capabilities of the system. The final part of the paper identifies the advantages and disadvantages of the system and potential future development paths are identified.