INNOVATIVE LIFE CYCLE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM FOR COMPOSITES

STRUCTURAL COMPOSITES FABRICATION IS CHARACTERIZED BY A VARIETY OF REACTIVE MATERIALS HAVING LIMITED SHELF LIVES. THE INTEGRITY OF A COMPOSITE STRUCTURE DEPENDS ON THE INTEGRITY OF MATERIALS AND PROCESSES USE TO PRODUCE IT. HENCE, MATERIAL IDENTITIES MUST BE ACCURATELY DOCUMENTED. BAR CODE SCANNING CAN FACILITATE DATA COLLECTION, REDUCE DATA-ENTRY ERRORS, ALLEVIATE THE BURDEN OF MANAGING QUALITY ASSURANCE DOCUMENTATION AND POTENTIALLY AVERT THE MISAPPLICATION OF MATERIALS. A SIGNIFICANT TECHNICAL CHALLENGE EXISTS IN DESIGNING AND IMPLEMENTATING AN INTERACTIVE BAR CODE DATABASE SYSTEM FOR COMPOSITES LIFE-CYCLE MANAGEMENT WHICH USERS CAN EASILY ADAPT TO ANY COMPOSITES FABRICATION ENVIRONMENTAL AND DATAGATHERING REQUIREMENT. THE PRINCIPAL TECHNICAL OBJECTIVE OF THIS PROPOSAL IS TO DELIVER, THROUGH THE APPLICATION OF AN OBJECT-ORIENTED PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE, INTERFACE AND METHODOLOGY, A WORKING PROTOTYPED. AT FIRST, THE PROTOTYPE WILL DEMONSTRATE BASIC USER INTERFACE AND MATERIAL TRACKING FUNCTIONS. THE INTERFACE AND FUNCTIONALITY WILL BE ENHANCED TO GAUGE THE EXTENT OF MATERIAL AND PROCESS COMPLEXITY THE SYSTEM WILL NEED TO INCORPORATE IN PHASE II. THE WORKING PROTOTYPE DELIVERED AT THE CONCLUSION OF PHASE I WILL 1) ESTABLISH THE VIABILITY OF THE PROPOSED SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT CONCEPTS, AND 2) DEFINE PHASE II TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS FOR EVOLUTIONARY REFINEMENT AND IMPLEMENTATION.