Toronto STEP Meeting – Oct. 6-11, 1996 Canadian STEP Workshop Dr. Patrice POYET Head of the Computer Integrated Division C.S.T.B., Sophia-Antipolis, France SDAI based modelling tools & platforms Integration of Knowledge base systems STEP in a distributed computing environment

Implementing STEP: Major Concepts STEP : ISO TC 184/SC4/ 10303 STandard for the Exchange of Product data Goal : Enable product data to be exchanged / shared between partners and during the whole life cycle of the product. Instances file STEP Physical Format ISO 10303-21 Meta-model and API Standard Data Access Interface (SDAI) - ISO 10303-22 Modeling Language EXPRESS ISO 10303-11 Modeling Language to define the entities Exchange of the instances (objects) of the entities defined in EXPRESS Data structures and functions to deal with entities and instances

SDAI based Modelling Tools & Platforms The SDAI offers a means for the representation & manipulation of data defined in EXPRESS (the dictionary schema is a natural option for the late bound representation of EXPRESS schemas and data instances) - Shared STEP data repository. XP-EXPRESS-G based on a late bound SDAI platform (Lisp, Talk, C) and front-end compiler plus back-end EXPRESS generator Easily supports twin-track approach : EXPRESS -> EXPRESS-G (reuse of models) EXPRESS-G -> EXPRESS (creation ex-nihilo of models) Served as a benchmark of part of our late bound SDAI implementations XP-SDAI is a late lisp & C binding of the SDAI specification

SDAI supported Knowledge Bases & CBRs SDAI based repository structure SDAI based operations on data models Extended Computing capabilities such as: KBS development platforms Rule language compiled into SDAI operations Control structure and unification mechanisms Backtracking and hypothetical reasoning Case based reasoning Partitioning the data (classification) Defining a distance between cases A library of archival and retrieval functions (API)

Extending STEP computing capabilities ? Knowledge base and case base systems must be part of an integrated infostructure: Cases are records of engineering knowledge, of parts & technical solutions Rules are knowledge cells of interest for a variety of paradigms such as diagnosis, code compliance, quality checking, assisted design, Conf. Mgmt. & maintenance, etc. Experts systems Knowledge based project models converters Compatibility of long term storage and high value-added applications Interoperability between AI-based and conventional applications

Knowledge based management of model resources & enterprise repositories Resource Models are often layered and show dependency relationships making of KBS powerful software tools Generalisation / specialisation Semantic mapping etc. LSE PtM Building PtM Process P. VtM Archi. VtM Struct. AtM SpeedI. CADS

KBs at work including project model mapping ! VtM ARCHITECTURE VtM ACOUSTICS BUILDING CODE COMPLIANCE CHECKER CUSTOMIZED AUTOCAD RULE-BASED VIEW MAPPERS SEMANTICS SUPPLEMENTER CBR

Mapping is reasoning RULE archi_enclosingwall->acou_separator : LET archi_wall A Wall IN MODEL VtM_Archi [...] IF THE wall_type of archi_wall IS EQUAL TO "enclosing" THEN CREATE acou_separator A Facade IN MODEL VtM_Acou

From data exchange to distributed computing and cooperative engineering STEP - SPFF Exchange Mapping Process Chains Data Sharing Simultaneous Engineering STEP DB - SDAI Distributed Data Sharing Workflow Co-operative Engineering STEP DB - CORBA

New R&D projects and new product line A number of european projects supporting our activities in the area of distributed computing RISESTEP (automotive & aerospace) - integration of distributed computing in manufacturing processes VEGA (LSE) - virtual enterprises & groupware GENIAL - the engineering office of the future LTR / PERDIS New software product line for deployment of PDT in the LSE sector C++ late binding on PC platforms KBS modules CORBA modules (X->IDL for client stubs, implementation class inheriting from both SDAI C++ early bound class & skeletons