Representation for integration of computer aided fixture design systems

There has been a continuous effort to develop different techniques, approaches, and methods for computer aided fixture design (CAFD), focusing on the phases of problem definition (PD), fixture synthesis (FS), and fixture analysis (FA). The first phase, problem definition, includes understanding the fixture problem and defining the design variables, constraints, and criteria. Fixture synthesis determines the values of the design variables for a fixture configuration, while fixture analysis then verifies the proposed fixture solution with respect to the problem definition. Most current CAFD systems do not emphasize these three phases equally, even if all are performed. Thus, establishing integration through these three phases will improve the utilization of the disparate work done in the CAFD field by incorporating distinct research methods to support more powerful fixture design systems. This integration will help designers explore the design space more efficiently and effectively. The challenge inherent in this task is the incompatibility of the inputs required and the outputs yielded by the different design tools developed for each phase. To overcome this challenge, a mechanism for information transfer across these phases, such as a common fixture representation model, is needed. This representation should be developed to capture and structure the requisite information for all these three phases of CAFD.; In this study, the information support requirements for the integration of these phases are identified through a survey. In addition, a new agent-based system architecture is proposed with an understanding of how different system tools may work together. Finally, the central representation unit is developed using an ontology based approach.