On the integration of model-based feature information in Product Lifecycle Management systems

As CAD models continue to become more critical information sources in the product's lifecycle, it is necessary to develop efficient mechanisms to store, retrieve, and manage larger volumes of increasingly complex data. Because of their unique characteristics, 3D annotations can be used to embed design and manufacturing information directly into a CAD model, which makes models effective vehicles to describe aspects of the geometry or provide additional information that can be connected to a particular geometric element. However, access to this information is often limited, difficult, and even unavailable to external applications. As model complexity and volume of information continue to increase, new and more powerful methods to interrogate these annotations are needed. In this paper, we demonstrate how 3D annotations can be effectively structured and integrated into a Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) system to provide a cohesive view of product-related information in a design environment. We present a strategy to organize and manage annotation information which is stored internally in a CAD model, and make it fully available through the PLM. Our method involves a dual representation of 3D annotations with enhanced data structures that provides shared and easy access to the information. We describe the architecture of a system which includes a software component for the CAD environment and a module that integrates with the PLM server. We validate our approach through a software prototype that uses a parametric modeling application and two commercial PLM packages with distinct data models.