An Integration of Feature-Based Design and Consistency Management in CAD Applications

Much of recent research on feature-based design has been concentrated on answering such fundamental questions as: What are features? How can they be semantically correct defined? What kind of system architecture is needed to satisfy functional requirements, such as conformability of tools to user requirements and to different applications? Unfortunately, current feature-based design systems do not answer all of those questions, particularly those that deal with the integration of design systems do not answer all of those questions, particularly those that deal with the integration of design, reliability and maintainability of constraints. This paper presents ongoing work dealing with design by features using the constraint satisfaction approach. Basic requirements for defining and administering constraints in feature-based models are presented and an architecture for consistency management in feature-based design is proposed. The two main modules of interest is the Feature-Based Design Module and the Consistency Management Module. The first module is intended to support the design of product parts by creating and manipulating feature primitives that possess design semantics. The second module provides functionality for definition, evaluation and satisfaction of constraints in feature-based models.