The Role of Ontology in Collaborative Virtual Prototyping

摘要

Today's virtual prototyping systems for assembly provide a single instance of simulation and analysis solutionsrnfrom models that are often generated from scratch. The virtual assembly model (VAM) generated in these systems isrnnot fully integrated with other design activities and design intent is not propagated throughout product development.rnTo address these issues, an assembly design (AsD) ontology can capture assembly and joining intents and allowrnassembly data to be efficiently reused in collaborative assembly development activities. This paper presents an AsDrnontology that formally defines the concepts related to assembly design in the context of virtual prototyping. Such arnformal definition will enable knowledge to be machine-interpretable, letting computers assist in the reasoning ofrnAsD data. In the presented AsD ontology, assembly knowledge is systemized in product, feature, manufacturing,rnjoining, and analysis classes. Additionally, the ontology captures design rationale including the intent of joints andrnspatial relationships. Finally, this paper discusses the role of AsD ontology in collaborative virtual prototyping andrnan AsD browser application that can query assembly knowledge selectively and transparently.