Developing a STEP-Compliant Multiagent on an Interoperable and Integrated CAD/CAM Platform

Abstract

Practical implementation of a STEP-based architecture to provide a fully integrated and interoperable platform of data exchange has always been an intriguing issue. A variety of CAD/CAM environments are struggling to embed and support STEP standard and its protocols in order to seamlessly operate within global data exchange. However, apparent paucity of efficient and reliable structure for data communication, manipulation, and restoration has remarkably hindered the desired progress. In this paper, taking these shortcomings into account, a practical architecture is introduced and STEP-based agents are implemented and installed on the platform. Moreover, feature recognition, interaction, and machining precedence as crucial issues of CAD/CAM research have been considered in developing the interoperable platform. Seamless integration and interaction of CAD/CAM modules are provided in the proposed system. The prototype is finally verified and discussed through a case study.

A STEP-compliant Intelligent Process Planning System for Milling

“…The system can read the STEP-NC file and then calculate the tool path automatically [9]. Many researchers presented the prototype systems to support data interoperability between various CAx systems based on ISO standard 14649 [10][11][12].…”