Prototyp - Prominent
CIB - Dresden, CAB - München. One aim of the COMBI
project has been to establish a flexible environment for design
tool integration, a prerequisite for network-based distributed
work. Taking into account that building design is a complex
multi-discipline process, which demands a high degree of
coordination and cooperation between separate teams, each
having its own specific knowledge and its own set of specific
design tools, a concept for a non-proprietary open system
integration of heterogeneous software tools has been developed.
It provides means for inter-application sharing of building
design information on the basis of a product data technology
conforming to ISO 10303 (STEP).
The prototype system PROMINENT demonstrates the combined use of
different basic software tools (knowledge engineering shell,
general CAD system, Network browser) for the realisation of the
developed concept.
PROMINENT is running on a UNIX workstation. It consists of a
generic product modelling framework and a set of active
integration tools.
The product modelling framework is hierarchically structured in
three levels. The lowest level contains a set of
application-specific models which serve for the concrete data
exchange with the respective application tools. The second
level contains a set of partial aspect models, which serve as
reference specifications for the modelling objects of each
considered design domain (e.g. architectural, structural,
geotechnical etc.). The highest level is comprised by a neutral
domain-independent model, which serves as a "bridge" between
the separate modelling representations.
Example mapping specification
The developed integration tools provide means for: process
control, consistency maintenance of the product data base, STEP
file processing, object management, geometry visualisation,
browsing and inspecting of the product data structure, model
mapping (i.e. transformation of the data connected with one
application model to another), communication with remote
applications via the Internet.
The current integration environment consists of the four
engineering design tools developed in the COMBI project and a
general commercial CAD platform. The product model schemata
contain over 320 entities. They have been formally defined in
EXPRESS and are implemented by using the object-oriented
software technology.
PROMINENT can be used for a variety of tasks:
- End-users can directly exploit the provided integration environment for project management and coordination in the scope of the covered data models and design processes.
- Product model developers can implement the provided tools to add new aspect models, integrate new applications or expand the scope of supported design tasks.
- Application programmers can use the system as a testing platform for the conceptual development and the software realisation of STEP converters for data exchange based on ISO 10303 physical files.
The practical validation of the developed software has been
carried out for selected case studies taken from engineering
practice.