articles+ search results

Computer aided design, interactive software, man-machine interaction, software prototyping, modeling, Electronic computers. Computer science, and QA75.5-76.95

Computer aided design (CAD) systems, or more generally interactive software, are today being developed for various application areas like VLSI-design, mechanical structure design, avionics design, cartographic design, architectual design, office automation, publishing, etc. Such tools are becoming more and more important in order to be productive and to be able to design quality products. One important part of CAD-software development is the man-machine interface (MMI) design.

Man-machine systems, human factors, underseas systems, prototyping, system analysis, guidance systems, Electronic computers. Computer science, and QA75.5-76.95

Important man-machine interface (MMI) issues concerning a submarine command and weapon control system (CWCS) such as crew organization, automation level and decision support are discussed in this paper. Generic submarine CWCS functions and operating conditions are outlined. Detailed, dynamic and real-time prototypes were used to support the MMI design. The prototypes are described and experience with detailed prototyping is discussed. Some of the main interaction principles are summarized and a restricted example of the resulting design is given. Our design experience and current work have been used to outline future perspectives of MMI design in naval CWCSs. The need for both formal and experimental approaches is emphasized.

evolutionary prototyping, Information technology, T58.5-58.64, Electronic computers. Computer science, and QA75.5-76.95

The failure of many Information Systems (IS) designed for use by managers may be due to the fact that traditional IS methodologies were used in their development. In this paper we describe an organisation's efforts, over a period of four years, to develop an IS for use by senior management and show how traditional methodologies have impeded the involvement of the intended users of the system from the development process resulting in poor specification of user requirements and inflexible systems. From this experience we verify the superiority of an evolutionary prototyping methodology for the development of these types of systems.

Computer software and QA76.75-76.765

To naturally and conveniently express numerical algorithms, considerable expressive power is needed in the languages in which they are implemented. The language Matlab is widely used by numerical analysts for this reason. Expressiveness or ease-of-use can also result in a loss of efficiency, as is the case with Matlab. In particular, because numerical analysts are highly interested in the performance of their algorithms, prototypes are still often implemented in languages such as Fortran. In this article we describe a language design that is intended to both provide expressiveness for numerical computation, and at the same time provide performance guarantees. In our language, EQ, we attempt to include both syntactic and semantic features that correspond closely to the programmer's model of the problem, including unordered equations, large-granularity state transitions, and matrix notation. The resulting language does not fit into standard language categories such as functional or imperative but has features of both paradigms. We also introduce the notion of language dependability, which is the idea that a language should guarantee that certain program transformations are performed by all implementations. We first describe the interesting features of EQ, and then present three examples of algorithms written using it. We also provide encouraging performance results from an initial implementation of our language.

Concurrent Engineering, Integrated Product Development, Prototyping, Quality Function Deployment, Design for Manufacturing, Case histories and web-based tutorial, Manufactures, and TS1-2301

This paper provides a comprehensive insight into current trends and developments in Concurrent Engineering for integrated development of products and processes with the goal of completing the entire cycle in a shorter time, at lower overall cost and with fewer engineering design changes after product release. The evolution and definition of Concurrent Engineering are addressed first, followed by a concise review of the following elements of the concurrent engineering approach to product development: Concept Development: The Front-End Process, identifying Customer Needs and Quality Function Deployment, Establishing Product Specifications, Concept Selection, Product Architecture, Design for Manufacturing, Effective Rapid Prototyping, and The Economics of Product Development. An outline of a computer-based tutorial developed by the authors and other graduate students funded by NASA ( accessible via the world-wide-web ). is provided in this paper. A brief discussion of teamwork for successful concurrent engineering is included, t'ase histories of concurrent engineering implementation at North American and European companies are outlined with references to textbooks authored by Professor Menon and other writers. A comprehensive bibliography on concurrent engineering is included in the paper.

realidade virtual, simulação, manufatura virtual, prototipação virtual, virtual reality, simulation, virtual manufacturing, virtual prototyping, Industrial engineering. Management engineering, and T55.4-60.8

A realidade virtual é um ambiente gerado pelo computador em que o usuário tem disponibilidade de controles tridimensionais de maneira altamente interativa, podendo manipular e explorar dados em tempo real. A realidade virtual pode ser aplicada em diversos setores da indústria, desde o planejamento de fábricas, simulação da produção, auxílio na divulgação de produtos, treinamento de funcionários, validação de protótipos. Este artigo visa mostrar a flexibilidade da utilização da realidade virtual dentro das indústrias e dos centros de pesquisas, focando principalmente as áreas relacionadas a manufatura, desenvolvimento de produto e treinamento.Virtual reality is a computer-generated environment with highly interactive three-dimensional controls which allow the user to manipulate and examine data in real time. Virtual reality can be applied in a number of industry sectors, including factory planning, product simulation, product popularization, employee training and prototype validation. This article aims to show the flexibility of virtual reality in industry and in research centers, focussing mainly on areas related to manufacturing, product development and training.

Chemistry and QD1-999

This review presents some recent developments in the field of electroanalytical sensors. We first explain the working principle of electrochemistry at the interface between two immiscible electrolyte solutions (ITIES), illustrated by the example of copper transferring through a water/1,2-dichloroethane interface when the ionophore 1,4,7,10-tetrathiacyclododecane is present in the organic phase. The obtained results show that assisted ion-transfer reactions take place with both CUI and CUII, but that the interfacial process is complicated by the fact that CUI disproportionates in water and that CUII can be reduced in the organic phase.Based on the same experimental methodology, a new type of amperometric detector for non-redox ions has been developed using a composite polymer membrane supporting a gelified organic phase that can incorporate an ionophore such as valinomycin. We report here the use of a (o-nitrophenyloctylether)-(poy(vinyl chloride) (NPOE-PVC) gel micro-interface as a detector for cations and anions in ion-exchange chromatography. The main advantage of this approach is that selectivity and sensitivity can be tailored by the choice of the ionophore and by the polarisation potential.This ion detector has also been incorporated in a miniaturised total-analysis system (?-TAS) fabricated in a polymer sheet by UV-laser photoablation. This microfabrication technique is used for the prototyping of a disposable capillary-electrophoresis microsystem comprising on-chip injector, separation column and electrochemical detector. This system is further used with built-in carbon-ink electrodes for the detection of electroactive species. These microsystems are now under development for immuno-sensor applications.

Chemistry and QD1-999

The H. Weidmann AG has set up a unique injection-moulding tool for replication of optical and nonoptical microstructures down to a sub-?m scale. Our approach simplifies the initial tooling and, thus, substantially lowers the cost threshold for feasibility studies and testing of injection-moulded microstructures. Two case studies, with micro-pipettes and a micro-spectrometer, respectively, show the usefulness of this new process technology. The service for polymer-sample prototyping is available on a commercial basis at reasonable costs and turn-around times.

prototyping, serial productions, Economic growth, development, planning, HD72-88, Economics as a science, and HB71-74

The paper deals with the problem of the prototyping of repetitive production. The problem results from the customer demand and competition on modern markets. The approach proposed in this paper consists in defining sufficient conditions to filter all solutions and providing a set of admissible solutions for both the customer and the producer. The methodology is the basis for creating a computer program called the “System of Order Validation”. An example illustrating this approach is presented.

Data modelling, Software engineering, Prototyping, Object-Orientation, Database systems, Veri modelleme, Yazılım mühendisliği, Prototip, Nesne-yönelim, Veri tabanı sistemleri, Engineering (General). Civil engineering (General), and TA1-2040

İlişkisel veri tabanları bilgiişlem uygulamalarında standart olmaya başlamasına rağmen, karmaşık veri modellemesinin gereklerini yerine getirmek için nesne yönelimli sistemler geliştirilmektedir. Bu makalede, hızlı program geliştirmek için kullanılabilecek, nesne-tabanlı bir sistem, xPROT tanıtılmaktadır. Sistem bazı önceden tanımlanmış metod ve Menu, Report, View, Table gibi sınıfları içermektedir. xPROT'da veri şeması olduğu kadar, veri işleme de aynı komut bazlı dil ile ifade edilmektedir. Sistemin ifade yeterliliği, kolaylığı ve esnekliği, veri modelleme gücü açısından incelenmektedir.

Veri modelleme, Yazılım mühendisliği, Prototip, Nesne-yönelim, Veri tabanı sistemleri, Engineering (General). Civil engineering (General), and TA1-2040

Even relational database management systems have now become the standard for data processing applications; object oriented database systems are being developed to meet the complex data modeling requirements. In this paper an object-based system, xPROT, is introduced which could be used for rapid program development. System includes some pre-defined methods and classes as Menu, Report, View, Table. In xPROT the schema as well as the data manipulation is expressed by the same command-based language. Expressiveness, easiness and flexibility in terms of data modeling power is investigated.

no keywords, Transportation and communications, HE1-9990, Science, Transportation engineering, and TA1001-1280

In the paper the problems of collective designing of modern industrial systems in the "Lean Production" concept are considered. The definition of compact manufacturing system (CMS) is given, and the original principles of industrial compactness maintenance have resulted. On the basis of these principles the author offers the technique of designing CMS, formalized up to an integrated algorithm. The result of industrial and operating cycle semiotic modeling was fixed in a basis of the author's version of simultaneous designing, which is realized at the CAD Centre at Vitebsk state technological university. Both the configuration of the Centre computer network and a model of the design data are discussed. At the end of the paper the examples projected and created CMS are resulted: the compact shop of the machine-building enterprise; the CMS of Reverse Engineering; the CMS of the Rapid Prototyping on the basis of automated laser cutting; the manufacture preparation CMS (Rapid Prototyping & Tooling); the CAD Centre.

Nursing and RT1-120

A prototyping approach was used to determine the essential system requirements of a computerised patient record information system for a typical township primary health care clinic. A pilot clinic was identified and the existing manual system and business processes in this clinic was studied intensively before the first prototype was implemented. Interviews with users, incidental observations and analysis of actual data entered were used as primary techniques to refine the prototype system iteratively until a system with an acceptable data set and adequate functionalities were in place. Several non-functional and user-related requirements were also discovered during the prototyping period.

rapid prototyping process, multi-DSP-FPGA architecture, CAD environment, image processing applications, Telecommunication, TK5101-6720, Electronics, and TK7800-8360

We present AVSynDEx (concatenation of AVS SynDEx), a rapid prototyping process aiming to the implementation of digital signal processing applications on mixed architectures (multi-DSP FPGA). This process is based on the use of widely available and efficient CAD tools established along the design process so that most of the implementation tasks become automatic. These tools and architectures are judiciously selected and integrated during the implementation process to help a signal processing specialist without relevant hardware experience. We have automated the translation between the different levels of the process to increase and secure it. One main advantage is that only a signal processing designer is needed, all the other specialized manual tasks being transparent in this prototyping methodology, hereby reducing the implementation time.

Testing Criteria, Testing Tool Prototyping, Prolog, Transformational Paradigm, Pascal, Electronic computers. Computer science, and QA75.5-76.95

Structured testing criteria are usually used to assess the adequacy of test case sets, defining coverage measures. Control and data flow based criteria employ information about the program graph as well as definition and usage of variables to establish the testing requirements. In this paper, we present an approach to prototype supporting tools for control and data flow based criteria. In the proposed approach, we use TXL — a language based in the transformational paradigm — to analyze and instrument the program under test. The instrumentation aims at making it possible to process the data by a Prolog program which allows the tester to assess the test case set adequacy. A simple example is used to illustrate the main ideas of our approach.

Microfabrication, Microreactors, Process intensification, Unit operation modules, Chemistry, and QD1-999

Microreaction technology is a powerful tool for the evaluation of new reaction pathways, process intensification in chemical engineering and combinatorial material development. Because of the small characteristic dimensions of microreaction devices, mass and heat transfer processes are enhanced and, in addition, initial and boundary conditions can be precisely adjusted for optimizing yield and selectivity. A number of microfabrication methods exist to cover prototyping and manufacturing of a few items as well as cost-effective mass production of modular and integrated microdevices for unit operations, reactions and control. Detailed analyses of methods like LIGA technology, wet and dry micro-etching, mechanical micromachining and laser processing show that a wide variety of materials is applicable to meet most requirements of chemical processes.

Windmills, simulator, real time system, digital signal processor, AC servomotor, Electrical engineering. Electronics. Nuclear engineering, TK1-9971, Electronic computers. Computer science, and QA75.5-76.95

This paper is a contribution to the development of a real time wind turbine simulator. The simulator is designed to generate wind power on its shaft, and provide the static and dynamic characteristics of a given turbine. The general structure of the simulator is composed of two subsystems: a “soft simulator” which realizes the real time simulation of the wind turbine, on the basis of the mathematical model, an electromechanical tracking system which receives the reference signal from the softsimulator, and provides a measurable output variable transmitted as response variable to the soft-simulator. The work concerns a wind turbine simulator using a tracking system realized on the basis on a frequency controlled AC servo-motor. This servo-motor is mechanically coupled with a pendulum machine, which realises the shaft torque of the electrical generator. The experimental system is built around the DS1103 PPC Controlled Board (dSPACE), which offers a rapid control prototyping, by Matlab-Simulink software tools. Experimental results from the real time WTS are presented.

rapid prototyping, FPGA, hardware emulation, low power, design flow, Telecommunication, TK5101-6720, Electronics, and TK7800-8360

This paper describes the design of a large-scale emulation engine and an application example from the field of low-power wireless devices. The primary goal of the emulator is to support design space exploration of real-time algorithms. The emulator is customized for dataflow dominant architectures, especially focusing on telecommunication-related applications. Due to its novel routing architecture and application-specific nature, the emulator is capable of real-time execution of a class of algorithms in its application space. Moreover, the dataflow structure facilitates the development of a highly abstracted design flow for the emulator. Simulations and practical measurements on commercial development boards are used to verify that real-time emulation of a low-power TDMA receiver is feasible at a clock speed of 25 MHz.

FPGA, DSP, rapid prototyping, design methodology, CAD tools, integration, Telecommunication, TK5101-6720, Electronics, and TK7800-8360

We introduce the Logic Foundry, a system for the rapid creation and integration of FPGA-based digital signal processing systems. Recognizing that some of the greatest challenges in creating FPGA-based systems occur in the integration of the various components, we have proposed a system that targets the following four areas of integration: design flow integration, component integration, platform integration, and software integration. Using the Logic Foundry, a system can be easily specified, and then automatically constructed and integrated with system level software.

placement, mapping, FIR filter, PCLS, bit serial, JBits, Telecommunication, TK5101-6720, Electronics, and TK7800-8360

Area-efficient peak-constrained least-squares (PCLS) bit-serial finite impulse response (FIR) filter implementations can be rapidly prototyped in field programmable gate arrays (FPGA) with the methodology presented in this paper. Faster generation of the FPGA configuration bitstream is possible with a new application-specific mapping and placement method that uses JBits to avoid conventional general-purpose mapping and placement tools. JBits is a set of Java classes that provide an interface into the Xilinx Virtex FPGA configuration bitstream, allowing the user to generate new configuration bitstreams. PCLS coefficient generation allows passband-to-stopband energy ratio (PSR) performance to be traded for a reduction in the filter's hardware cost without altering the minimum stopband attenuation. Fixed-point coefficients that meet the frequency response and hardware cost specifications can be generated with the PCLS method. It is not possible to meet these specifications solely by the quantization of floating-point coefficients generated in other methods.