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USING A SEGMENTED DESIGN NETWORK
FOR COLLABORATIVE MODELLING OF COMPLEX DESIGN TASKS
Dipl-Ing Peter Lambeck,
Dr-Ing Petra Marx,
Dr-Ing Jürgen Kopsch,
Prof Dr-Ing Gisbert Lechner,
University of Stuttgart
Pfaffenwaldring 9
70569 Stuttgart, Germany
Phone: +49 711 685 8040
Fax: +49 711 685 6319
lambeck@ima.uni-stuttgart.de
Modern design tasks cannot be completed by a single designer due to the enormous complexity and the number of components of the finished goods. Often the designers do not work in the same office, sometimes not even in the same company. This paper presents a CAD tool representing a segmented design network which allows for several designers to carry out their design tasks collaboratively on different locations. This tool, the „Active Semantic Design Network“ (ASK), supports the designers by various means from the first rough idea to the finished CAD- and rating model. All the information in the system is shared between the designers, enabling them to work on their actual design tasks, thereby always keeping in touch with the entire project. By using one System only, the loss of information which usually occurs when switching from one tool to the other is drastically reduced.
The Structure of the ASK is based on a Client-Server-Structure. Each Designer uses a client which is connected to a common server that supplies the database holding all design information as well as the information shared between the clients. The server co-ordinates the requests by the clients and the communication amongst them.
Prior to starting the segmented work, the designers decide who works on which part of the entire task. Each designer then obtains the rights for „his“ items and the interfaces and connections amongst them. Changes affecting the interfaces between the parts are detected by the system and can be discussed by the designers.
This offers a means to complete complex design tasks in a significantly shorter time and with much less interface problems than usual design processes.