Database driven 3D Compartment Arrangements

InfoTech Enterprises, Inc. (InfoTech), proposes to study the feasibility of a submarine compartment arrangement tool in which NAVSEA developed databases will determine the application of 3D CAD graphic design rules within a networked environment. The underlying technique will implement a generalization of K.S. Ful's pattern grammar concept which results in generalized 3D CAD graphic rewrite rules. Such rules are evaluated by specially modified forward and backward inferencing processes, which also support conventional symbolic inferencing, thereby introducing control by the NAVSEA databases. This class of inferencing mechanism does not restrict constructions to a predefined set of graphic objects, and is therefore more general thana put object based approaches. However objects can be introduced into through rule evaluation, which incorporates the advantages of an object oriented CAD system. The proposed approaches to be less computationally expensive than simultaneous equation solution based geometric constraint solution methods due to the effect of rule compilation in which a determinate order of graphic object instantiation is established prior to use of the rule during forward chaining. However, the proposed technique is less general than those techniques with respect to the geometric conditions that can be constructed. Part of the feasibility study will consider generalization of the approach in the context of, maintaining the potential speed advantages. The geometric situations which are handled by this technique are characteristic of the submarine compartmentalization problem, but also characterize major aspects of the building plan generation problem. A solution to either problem is directly applicable to the other knowledge domain.