Web Enabled Agile Manufacturing
S. V. Iyer,
Beckman Institute and the National Center for Supercomputing Applications,
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
iyer@ceg.uiuc.edu
T. Singh,
Beckman Institute and the National Center for Supercomputing Applications,
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
singh@ceg.uiuc.edu
U. Ravaioli,
Beckman Institute and the National Center for Supercomputing Applications,
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
ravaioli@ceg.uiuc.edu
R. E. DeVor,
NSF/ARPA Machine Tool Agile Manufacturing Research Insitute,
Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering,
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
devor@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu
S. G. Kapoor,
NSF/ARPA Machine Tool Agile Manufacturing Research Insitute,
Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering,
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
kapoor@uxh.cso.uiuc.edu
G. Veknatasubramian,
NSF/ARPA Machine Tool Agile Manufacturing Research Insitute,
Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering,
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
venkat@misled2.me.uiuc.edu
- Abstract:
The World-Wide-Web is an extremely efficient environment for
fostering agility in manufacturing and for real-time information
flow among the global research and manufacturing enterprises.
This paper describes two prototypes that
incorporate computer aided design (CAD) and
manufacturing (CAM) packages, and
a standard visualization package (AVS),
under the web.
The prototypes are
currently under evaluation through field deployment. The results
obtained from the field deployment will be discussed during the presentation.
- Keywords:
Agile Manufacturing, CAD under the Web, AVS under the Web.
Introduction
The World-Wide-Web envioronment can serve as a
skeleton of information-infrastructure for promoting agile manufacturing
across a broad range of industries. To demonstrate the feasibility
of such applications
we have developed two prototype examples:
first is based on a highly sophisticated environment of semiconductor
and integrated
circuit industry; and second is based on a moderately
sophisticated environment of
machine tool industry. Most of the industries can be encountered somewhere
in between the two extremes, becoming hence, potential candidates for
adopting models derivative of the proposed prototype.
The web-based prototype brings under spotlight the integration of
custom developed computer aided design (CAD) and manufacturing (CAM)
package with an off-the-shelf
visualization package (AVS). This interaction enables small businesses
(with limited computational resources and with low-end
personal computers) to utilize design-aid and analysis tools resident
on remote and high-performance computational systems.
A Brief Description of the Prototypes
The National Center for Computational Electronics (NCCE)is a national research
facility dedicated to the advancement of computational resources
(i.e., physical models, algorithms and simulators related to the
design, manufacturing, and utilization of semiconductors and semiconductor
devices).
One of the reasearch projects at NCCE-ready for exploitation by the
semiconductor industry-is the calculation of the full band-strucutre of
Silicon.
The band structure of a semiconductor is a very fundamental physical property
used in the determination of the flow of charged particles
and subsequently, the conduction of electricity in a semiconductor crystal.
Carriers in present day sub-micron electronic devices
are subjected to very large electric fields. Electrons and holes exhibit novel
behavior under such high electric fields. To gain a deep understanding of such
a complex phenomena, and to obtain an accurate description of carrier motion,
a complete description of the band structure is necessary. Without such an
understanding, circuits and systems built by integrating these devices will
not function properly or reliably.
The second prototype demonstrates the concept of web-based software testbed,
developed at the Machine Tool Agile Manufacturing Research Institute
(MT-AMRI), that allows researchers to communicate
and cooperate directly with end-manufactures.
EMSIM is a CAM package developed at the MT-AMRI that simulates the operations of
end milling process. This model is being developed for a number of
important application areas including fixture design, chatter and
vibration control, and optimal selection of maching conditions for
improved precision and accuracy, including flatness, cylindricity,
and dimensional stability in general.
CAD/CAM Under the Web
The prototypes incroporate extensive multimedia tutorials, background
information, and case-study examples related to the CAD/CAM under the web.
Thus the system servers as a self-paced learning tool by providing the user with a
description of the theoretical models behind the simulators,
a summary of the user supplied inputs parameters, and an explanation of
results generated by the CAD/CAM packages.
The tutorial can guide new users with no prior knowledge about the simulator
through the capabilities of the
CAD and CAM packages and their potential applications.
The results of the process simulation or band structure calculations are
visualized in various representations, such as
x-y plots,
contours plots, volume rendering, and several others.
The time-dependent data can be made into short movies, which can
be viewed through a user-interface with forward, backward, and freeze type of
buttons. Various AVS parameters which
control the graphics output, such as threshold, colormaps, lights,
and cameras, are made available to the user through
the forms based front-end.
The raw data and the graphic output
can be downloaded by the user for future reference.
The postscript output of graphics is also supported by the prototype.
Security
At present, simple password protection is used to control access
to the simulators. We plan to introduce encrypted transmission of sensitive
design data files and outputs between industrial sites and the university based
host. The system can currently support upto ten different users. Each user is
provided with his/her own protected directory structure and can save files from
ten different runs.
Initially each user is prompted for his/her company affiliation.
Based on the information supplied by the user (and subsequent authentication
by the system), the working directory is identified. Through the use of rcp
and rsh commands of the UNIX system, additional modules on computing systems
not running the http host are accessed and executed. We have also developed
the framework for distributing the load to a cluster of workstations through
the Data Transfer Mechanism (DTM), a Berkeley sockets based message passing
library developed at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications.
Conclusion
Since the industrial users can access the research software during its development
phase, they become an inherent part of the research and development process.
This interaction facilitates direct and timely feedback to the researchers,
enabling the research efforts to be more responsive to the needs of the
industrial users.
This process also enables industrial-user to access a comprehensive tool
that contains not only the
research proof-of-concept software but also relevant tutorials, demos,
case study examples,
forums for information exchange, and much more.
High performane computers are rarely accessible to small companies. The prototype demonstrated here opens the channels for
small and medium sized companies to access
complex CAD/CAM packages resident on high performance computers through simple
personal computers, and hence, improving their
manufacuring capabilities.
Acknowledgements
The band-structure simulator research reported here
was supported by a Curriculum Development in
Computational Science and Engineering grant from the National Science
Foundation (NSF grant EEC 93-15536) and by the
National Center for Computational Electronics (NSF ECS 91-22768).
The MT-AMRI work was supported by the National Science Foundation and the
Department of Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (NSF Award
DMI 9320944).
References
The prototypes may be accessed through the URLs:
http://viz1.ceg.uiuc.edu (band structure simulator) and
href="http://misled2.me.uiuc.edu/ (EMSIM software testbed)
The above mentioned URLs contain additional references and background material
related the simulators described here.