SBIR-STTR Award

This project will provide strong technical foundations for the development of software products and services that will enable collaborativedesign among development teams using disparate CAD and analysis packages. Issues to be addressed include: construction and maintenance of arobust central geometry representation comprising surface patches andtrimmed surfaces; export of geometric data in user-defined formats toa variety of analysis codes; export of geometric data to a variety ofCAD systems in editable form; reconstitution of edited data returned from client CAD systems to a form compatible with the central representation. We propose to utilize AeroHydro's patented Relational Geometry(RG) framework as the central representation. By capturing a broad variety of interobject relationships, RG provides fundamental benefits in editability and accuracy over conventional surface representations. The project will demonstrate capabilities to export editable CAD models from RG to a variety of CAD systems, using primarily DXF, IGES and STEP formats; to receive back edited data in these same formats; to compare returned and original data; to identify the elements that changed; to update the central RG model to reflect the changes. The project will build upon existing RG capabilities of AeroHydro's RGKernel, MultiSurf and Surface Works products.

Benefits:
Military: This technologywill serve as the essential GEM component of TACOM's Automotive Product Development Framework. Commercial: It will provide a collaborative design framework for manufacturing concerns of all sizes.

The efficiency and productivity of collaborative efforts among CAD designers who utilize specialized best-of-breed commercial software design and analysis tools is severely hampered by a host of daunting challenges, including incompatible geometries, data formats and representational mechanisms compounded by inconsistent (or absent) schemes for maintaining relationships between geometric entities during import/export operations. TACOM is developing the Automotive Product Development Framework (APDF), which will solve many of these issues by creating a novel common reference geometry in which all relevant model constraint boundaries can be stored. This geometry will enable key model data to be exchanged with a variety of commercial CAD software systems. During SBIR A98-080 Phase I, the feasibility was demonstrated of developing an enhanced version of AeroHydro's proven Relational Geometry surface modeling product for use as the core engine of the Geometry Exchange Manager (GEM), a key enabling component of the APDF. During Phase II a detailed plan will be constructed, including schedule and cost, for the development of a commercial software middleware product based on Relational Geometry that will enable the GEM to perform all functions necessary to successfully play its key role in the APDF. In addition, a product prototype will be developed to demonstrate key functions and capabilities.

Benefits:
The deliverables from this project phase will have direct application in a variety of DoD projects including the Army vehicle design programs. In the commercial sector, they will provide the core enabling technology of a collaborative design product that will revolutionize the $4B commercial 3-D CAD modeling software market. Conservative estimates of the market for this new product suggest an annual sales potential of $50M with annual growth in excess of 40%.