Different Levels of Centralized Engineering DatabaseStrategies for Integrated Development

摘要

The development of large and complex products is currently carried out in small,rnseparate teams of engineers trained in diverse disciplines. Mechanical and electrical engineersrnare involved in the development of high-tech and embedded systems as well as softwarerndesigners. This diversity of disciplines interferes with the efficiency of communication, which isrnusually carried out in (informal) discussions and by passing documents and models.rnWithin this paper, the passing of documents is explained and enhanced in several levels.rnSolutions, which are currently available (such as tool chains) are discussed as well as approachesrnthat rest upon a central, document- and object-oriented database. The most elaborate databasernstrategy presented uses similarity relations between documents to infer semantic meaning andrnfacilitate the access to meaningful and relevant development data. This paper concludes with therndescription of development processes that are introduced with the use of this database solution.