UNIT III CAD STANDARDS 9

Standards for computer graphics - Graphical Kernal System (GKS) - Standards for exchange
images - Open Graphics Library (Open GL) - Data exchange standards - IGES, STEP, CALS, etc
- Communication standards.

INTRODUCTION
The heart of any CAD model is the component database.
It includes the graphics entities like points, lines, arcs, circles etc. and the co-
ordinate points, which define the location of these entities.
In designing a data structure for CAD database the following factors are to
be considered:
o The data must be neutral
o The data structure must be user-friendly
o The data must be portable.
In order to achieve the above requirements, some type of standardization
has to be followed by the CAD software designers.
The basic elements associated with a CAD system are:
o Operator (user)
o Graphics support system
o Other user interface support system
o Application functions
o Database
The reasons for evolving a
graphic standard thus
include:
• Need for exchanging
graphic data between
different computer systems.
• Need for a clear distinction
between modeling and
reviewing aspects.

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 Fundamental incompatibilities among entity representations greatly
complicate exchanging modeling data among CAD/CAM systems.
Even simple geometric entities such as circular arcs are represented by
incompatible forms in many systems.
Some systems use NURBS (Non-uniform rational Basis spline) to represent
them, while others use the usual parametric representation.
The transfer of data between dissimilar CAD/CAM systems must embrace
the complete description of a product stored in its database.
Four types of modeling data make up this description.
o shape,
o non-shape,
o design, and
o manufacturing data.
Shape data consists of both geometrical and topological information.
Non-shape data includes shaded images and measuring units of the
database.
Design data includes FEM/FEA. Manufacturing data includes tolerancing and
bill of materials.
When similar CAD/CAM systems are operated by both parties, no difficulty
of exchange exists because the files that store modeling data are compatible.
However many dissimilar CAD/CAM systems are in existence and thus data
communication problems arise.
Translators
The two methods of exchanging the data among the different CAD/CAM
systems:
Direct Translators
Direct translators convert data directly in one step.
The direct translator entails translating the modeling data directly from one
CAD/CAM system format to another usually in one step.

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 This solution converts the data (database) format from one native format to
another.
It requires knowledge of both the native formats.
Direct translators provide a satisfactory solution when only a small number
of systems are involved, but as this number increases the number of
translator programs that need to be written becomes prohibitive.

Indirect translators
It adopts the philosophy of creating a neutral database structure (also called
a neutral file) which is independent of any existing or future CAD/CAM
system.
This structure acts as an intermediary and a focal point of communication
among the dissimilar database structures of CAD/CAM systems.
This solution converts native formats to a neutral format that all CAD/CAM
systems can interpret and understand.

Indirect translators utilize some neutral file format, which reflects the neutral
database structure, with each system having its own pair of processor to
transfer data to and from this neutral format.

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Comparison between direct and indirect translators
For ‘direct’ translators, eight additional translators (shown dashed) are
needed to accommodate the addition of System 5.
Direct translators run more quickly than the indirect ones, and the data files
they produce are smaller than the neutral files created by indirect translators.
As for indirect translators, they do not suffer from the increasing number of
programs that have to be written as in the case of direct ones.
Moreover, indirect translator philosophy provides stable communication
between CAD/CAM systems, protects against system obsolescence, and
eliminates dependence on 1 single system supplier.
A side benefit of neutral files is that they can potentially be archived.
Some companies in the aerospace industry for example need to keep
CAD/CAM databases for 20 to 50 years.
Indirect translators based on a standard neutral file format are now the
common practice, while direct translators are seldom used.

Timeline
Various attempts to develop a graphics standard resulted in the following
developments.
A Graphic Standards Planning Committee (GSPC) was formed in 1974 by
ACM-SIGGRAPH (Association of Computing Machinery’s Special Interest
Group on Graphics and Interactive Techniques).
A committee for the development of computer graphics standard was formed
by DIN in 1975.
IFIP organized a workshop on Methodology in Computer Graphics in 1976.
A significant development in CAD standards is the publication of Graphical
Kernel System (GKS) in 1982.

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Graphical Kernel System (GKS)
GKS (Graphical Kernel System) is an ANSI and ISO standard.
GKS standardizes two dimensional graphics functionality at a relatively low
level.
The primary purposes of the standard are:
o To provide for portability of graphics application programs.
o To aid in the understanding of graphics method by application
programmers.
o To provide guidelines for manufacturers in describing useful
graphics capabilities.
The GKS (ANSI X3.124-1985) consists of three basic parts:
i. An informal exposition of contents of the standard, which includes such
things as positioning of text, filling of polygons etc.
ii. A formalization of the expository material outlined in (i) by way of
abstracting the ideas into functional descriptions (input/output
parameters, effect of each function etc.
iii. Language bindings, which are the implementations of the abstract
functions, described in (ii) in a specific computer language like
FORTRAN, Ada or C.

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The features of GKS include:
i. Device independence: The standard does not assume that the input or
output devices have any particular features or restrictions.
ii. Text/Annotations: All text or annotations are in a natural language like
English.
iii. Display management: A complete suite of display management functions,
cursor control and other features are provided.
iv. Graphics Functions: Graphics functions are defined in 2D or 3D.
The drivers in GKS also include metafile drivers.
Metafiles are devices with no graphic capability like a disc unit.
The GKS always works in a rectangular window or world coordinate system.
The window also defines a scaling factor used to map the created picture into
the internal co-ordinate system of GKS called normalized device
co-ordinates.
Windows and view ports can then work in this co-ordinate system.
GKS offers two routines to define the user created pictures.
o Primitive functions and attribute functions.
Examples of primitive functions are:
• POLYLINE to draw a set of connected straight-line vectors
• POLYMARKER to draw a set of markers or shapes
• FILL AREA to draw a
closed polygon with
interior fill
• TEXT to create
characters
• GDP (Generalized
Drawing Primitive) to
specify the standard
drawing entities like
circle, ellipse etc.
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The attribute functions define the appearance of the image e.g. color, line-
type etc. Current level of GKS is GKS-3D, which is an extension to GKS that
allows the creation of 3-D objects.

Graphical Kernal System' draws graphical elements into a window defined

using a real-valued user coordinate system and transformed into a viewport
defined rising Normalized device coordinates (NDCs) in which coordinates
values are defined to lie within the range 0_<x_<1 and 0_<y_<1.
Display characteristics for primitives, such as line-style and thickness, colour,
text font and text angle, are defined by attributes, the values of which are set
using the SET command.
GKS also allows attributes to be bundled, that is grouped together and
modified as a single entity.
The other features of the GKS standard include the handling of user
interaction and a wide range of levels of operation for input and output.
The other graphics standard system which was widely used in Europe is
Graphics Kernal System (GKS).
Graphics Kernal System implementations have been made by many hardware
manufacturers, for many languages.
On the other side, GKS is not satisfactory for dynamic graphics, nor as a tool
for programming large graphics applications, and hence a variety of
alternative approaches have been developed.

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 The alternative approach for GKS is Programmer's Hierarchial Interactive
Graphics System (PHIGS).
The PHIGS standard itself has evolved from GKS and CORE, and has the
features that are derived from each of the earlier standards.
(Metafile - a piece of graphical information stored in a format that can be
exchanged between different systems or software.)
OTHER STANDARDS FOR COMPUTER GRAPHICS
To achieve the portability on a wide scale an industry graphics standard was
required.
So, the graphics standard planning committee of the Siggraph of the
association for computing machinery (CACM) in 1977 introduced the CORE
(core graphics system), and modified it in 1979.
CORE provided a standardized set of commands to control the construction
and display of graphics images and was independent of hardware or of
language.
So a program written using CORE could be run on any system that had
implemented the standard.
In earlier version, CORE provided for line drawing both two-dimensional and
three-dimensional graphics, but the later version includes raster operation
such as area fill.
Standards for Computer Graphics vs Images
The purpose of GKS and other similar standards is to allow graphics to be
drawn on a display device by an application program.
For example, a CAD system might generate graphics primitives from the CAD
model, and display them on the screen using GKS procedure calls.
The CAD model itself comprises geometric, annotation and other entities
stored in the CAD system data structure.
This model is converted by the CAD system into a series of graphics
primitives, and these are then displayed on the screen using the graphics
procedures, typically by setting the values of the pixels in a rectangular raster
array.
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The raster array is represented by a region of computer memory known as a
bitmap.
Images stored at the level of the graphics primitives are stored in graphics
metafiles, which store graphical data containing device - independent description
of pictures.
Images stored at the level of bitmap are stored by making a structured, persistent
representation of the bitmap.
A graphics metafile is a formatted computer file containing graphics commands and
data. It may be either a trail of the graphics commands used to generate a picture
of the elements that make up the picture.
A key feature of a metafile is that it is resolution independent, and can therefore be
displayed at different sizes and scales and on devices of different resolution.

STANDARDS FOR EXCHANGING IMAGES

There are set of important graphics standards concerning the storage and
exchange of images produced using computer graphics.
These standards may be divided into those concerned with images that are a
collection of graphics primitives.
Those images are concerned and stored as bitmaps.
The former includes the Computer Graphics Metafile (CGM), which
establishes a format for device independent definition, capture, storage and
transfer of vector graphics, images and the companion Computer Graphics
Interface (CGI) provides a interface for the CGM primitives.

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 Large number of bitmap storage formats including the Graphics Interchange
Format (GIF), Tag image file format (TIFF or TIF), the windows Bitmap format
(BMP) and many others.
Bitmaps
At the lowest level in the computer graphics hierarchy is the pixel raster
displayed on a graphics device.
One bit per pixel allows only 'black-and-white' images.
Colour bitmaps commonly assign 4, 8 or 24 bits/pixel to give 16 or 256
colours or 256 levels of each of the red, green and blue colour guns
respectively.
The simplest way of storing a bitmap is simply to write the numbers that the
pixels represent to the file, together with a header giving information about
the file.
A large number of bitmap storage formats have been developed over the years
for a variety of purposes.
OPEN GRAPHICS LIBRARY (OpenGL)
Windows X offers a powerful, device independent means of generating
graphical systems and user interfaces, but its device independence and
distributed nature means that it can impose a high load on hardware.
(The X Window System (X11, or shortened to simply X, and sometimes informally X-Windows) is
a windowing system for bitmap displays, common on UNIX-like computer operating systems.)

For this reason, Silicon Graphics Inc. (SGI) developed the OpenGL application-
programming interface (API) for the development of 2D and 3D graphics
applications.
Although it is possible for the API to be implemented entirely in software, it is
designed to be implemented mostly or entirely in hardware.
Open GL comprises a set of several hundred procedures and functions that
allow a programmer to specify the objects and operations involved in the
production of colour graphical images of three dimensional objects (SGI
1997). It is a low-level vendor-neutral software interface.
It is often referred to as the assembler language of computer graphics.

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It provides enormous flexibility and functionality. It is used on a variety of
platforms.
OpenGL is a low-level graphics library specification. OpenGL makes available
to the programmer a small set of geometric primitives - points, lines,
polygons, images, and bitmaps.
OpenGL provides a set of commands that allow the specification of geometric
objects in two or three dimensions, using the provided primitives, together
with commands that control how these objects are rendered into the frame
buffer.
It provides a means of drawing and rendering geometric objects like points,
line segments, polygons for which specifying how they should be coloured,
and how they should be mapped from the model space to the screen.
Open GL does not require high performance display hardware to be present,
but it does require a frame buffer - memory that stores the raster display
bitmap.
Open GL draws directly into the frame buffer but also allows the use of
multiple buffers where, for example one buffer is displayed while second is
being updated.
Open GL integrates with X and may use the X server to execute commands,
but if the program is running on the same machine as high-performance
graphics hardware, the X server can be bypassed to obtain the highest
performance.
One of the restrictions of IrisGL (Earlier version of openGL) was that it only
provided access to features supported by the underlying hardware. If the
graphics hardware did not support a feature, then the application could not
use it.
OpenGL overcame this problem by providing support in software for features
unsupported by hardware, allowing applications to use advanced graphics on
relatively low-powered systems.

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History
In 1992, SGI led the creation of the OpenGL Architecture Review Board (OpenGL ARB),
the group of companies that would maintain and expand the OpenGL specification in the
future.
In 1994, SGI played with the idea of releasing something called "OpenGL++" which
included elements such as a scene-graph API (presumably based on their Performer
technology). The specification was circulated among a few interested parties – but never
turned into a product.
Microsoft released Direct3D in 1995, which eventually became the main competitor of
OpenGL.
On 1997, Microsoft and SGI initiated the Fahrenheit project, which was a joint effort with
the goal of unifying the OpenGL and Direct3D interfaces (and adding a scene- graph API
too).
In 1998, Hewlett-Packard joined the project. It initially showed some promise of
bringing order to the world of interactive 3D computer graphics APIs, but on account of
financial constraints at SGI, strategic reasons at Microsoft, and general lack of industry
support, it was abandoned in 1999.
The latest version is OpenGL 4.5.

DATA EXCHANGE STANDARDS

The increase in CAD applications in many parts of the engineering industry
has been accomplished by growth in product variety and broadening of the
range of companies involved in the design of a particular product.
The easiest way for two companies to exchange data is to use the same CAD
software, operating at the same revision level.
The transfer of data between the systems has been made possible by the
neutral format of data exchange.

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The neutral files will have standard formats and software packages can have
pre-processors to convert drawing data to neutral file and postprocessors to
convert neutral file data to drawing file.

Most commonly used types of neutral files:

i. Drawing exchange files (DXF)
ii. IGES files
iii. STEP files
iv. CALS

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INITIAL GRAPHICS EXCHANGE SPECIFICATION (IGES)
The IGES committee was established in the year 1979. The CAD/CAM Integrated
Information Network (CIIN) of Boeing served as the preliminary basis of IGES. IGES
version 1.0 was released in 1980.
IGES continues to undergo revisions. IGES is a popular data exchange standard
today. There are eight vertices (marked as PNT 0 - PNT 8), 12 edges and two circles
that form the entities of the model.
IGES (Initial Graphics Exchange Specification) is the first standard exchange
format developed to address the concept of communicating product data
among dissimilar CAD/CAM systems.
IGES has gone through various revisions since its inception. Currently it
supports solid modeling, including both B-rep and CSG schemes.
IGES has three data types: geometric, annotation, and structure. The latter
two are non geometric data types.
Geometric entities define the product shape and include curves, surfaces, and
solids.
Non geometric entities provide views and drawings of the model to enrich its
representation and include annotation and structure entities.
Annotation entities include various types of dimensions (linear, angular, and
ordinate), centerlines, notes, general labels, symbols, and cross-hatching.
Structure entities include views, drawings, attributes (such as line and text fonts,
colors, and layers), properties (e.g. mass properties),sub figures and external cross
reference entities (for surfaces and assemblies), symbols (e.g.. mechanical and
electrical symbols), and macros (to define parametric parts).
IGES files can also be generated for:
i. Surfaces
ii. Datum curves and points
IGES File structure
o An IGES file consists of six and the identification character, is also
called the section code.

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Flag Section
The flag section is used only with compressed ASCII and binary format.

Start section
This section is setup manually by the person initiating the IGES file.
This contains the information that may help the user at the destination, such
as the features of the originating system.
Global section
This section provides the 24 field parameters necessary to translate the file
It includes the delimiter characters (1 and 2), sender's identifier (3), file
name (4), ID of the software which generate file (5), version of IGES
processor (6), precision of integer (7 to 11), receiver's identifier (12), model
space (13), units (14), name of the units (15), maximum number of line
thickness (16, 17), time file generated (18), smallest distance (19), largest
coordinate value (20), person and organization creating file (21 and 22), IGES
version (23), drafting standards (24).
Directory section (DE)
This section is generated by IGES pre-processor.
This section also contains the entry for each entity in the file comprising a
code representing the entity type and subtype.
Two lines comprising 18 fields of eight characters are used for each entry.
Parameter data section (PD)
This section contains the entity-specific data such as coordinate values,
annotation text, number of spline data points and etc.
The Parameter Data (PD) section contains the data that defines the entity.

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 For example, if the entity is a circular arc, the center, start, and end points,
unit normal, and etc… is required to define it. The Parameter Data section is
identified by a "P" in column 73.
The Directory section organizes and gives structure to the information in the
Parameter Data section.
There can be only one directory entry for each Parameter Data section entity.
Directory section entries may reference other Directory section entries. This
happens when we specify a transformation matrix and when we represent
structures.
The supported parameter data is the data being communicated.
Termination section
This section marks the end of the data file.
This section contains subtotals of records for data transmission check
purposes.
The Terminate section consists of one physical card image record.

Geometric Entities
IGES uses two distinct but related Cartesian coordinate systems to represent
geometric entity types. These are the MCS and WCS.
IGES refers to the WCS as the definition space. The WCS plays a simplifying
role in representing planar entities. In such a case, the XY plane of the WCS is
taken as the entity plane, and therefore only x and y coordinates relative to
the WCS are needed to represent the entity.
To complete the representation, a transformation matrix is assigned (via a
pointer) to the entity as one of its parameters to map its description from WCS
to MCS.
This matrix itself is defined in IGES as entity type 124. Each geometric entity
type in IGES has such a matrix.
If an entity is directly described relative to the MCS, then no transformation
is required.

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This is achieved in IGES by setting the value of the matrix pointer to zero to
prevent unnecessary processing.
As a general rule, all geometric entity types in IGES are defined in terms of a
WCS and a transformation matrix.
The case when MCS and WCS are identical is triggered by a zero value of the
matrix pointer.
IGES reserves entity numbers 100 to 199 inclusive for its geometric entities.
Sample entity type numbers used by IGES are shown in below table.
Specifications and descriptions or entities, including geometric entities, in
IGES follow one pattern.
Each entity has two main types of data: directory data and parameter data.
The former is the entity type number, and the latter are the parameters
required uniquely and completely define the entity. In addition, IGES
specifies other parameters related to entity attributes and to IGES tile
structure.

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Annotation Entities
Drafting data are represented in IGES via its annotation entities.
Many IGES annotation entities are constructed by using other basic entities
that IGES defines, such as copious data (centerline, section, and witness line),
leader (arrow), and a general note.
An annotation entity may be defined in the modeling space (WCS) or in the
drawing space (a given drawing).
If a dimension is inserted by the user in model mode, then it requires a
transformation matrix pointer when it is translated into IGES.

Structure Entities
The previous two sections slow how geometric and drafting data can be
represented in IGES.
Product definition includes much more information. IGES permits a valuable
set of product data to be represented via its structure entities.
These entities include associativity, drawing, view, external reference,
property, subfigure, macro, and attribute entities. Attributes include line
fonts, text fonts, and color definition.

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Error handling
While importing an IGES file, Error handling is very important.
There are two major error sources when processing IGES file: Program errors
in the processor and misinterpretation of the IGES standard itself.
The way an IGES processor reports error is – the preprocessor should report
the entity type, number of unprocessed entries, reasons for unprocessing and
other relevant database information of these unprocessed entities.
IGES should also report any invalid or missing data encountered in reading
IGES files especially those that were edited.

STEP (Standard for the Exchange of Product Data)

The Standard for the Exchange of Product Data (STEP) is the enabler for such
seamless data exchange.
It provides a worldwide standard for storing, sharing and exchanging product
information among different CAD systems.
Although STEP itself is the basis for Product Data Management System (PDM),
it covers border functionalities.
It includes methods of representing all critical product specifications such as
shape information, materials, tolerances, finishes and product structure.
Whereas the Initial Graphics Exchange Specification (IGES) standard has
widespread use, it has its shortcomings. It does not convey the extensive
product information needed in the design and manufacturing cycle.
Often IGES translators are required to move design data from one CAD system
to another.
STEP is often viewed as a replacement for IGES, though IGES is still expected
to be in active use for some more time in the future.
Although the current focus of STEP is on mechanical parts, STEP is a data
exchange standard that would apply to a wide range of product areas,
including electronics, architectural, engineering and construction, apparel
and shipbuilding.

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STEP Architecture
STEP architecture has four main components:
EXPRESS modeling language
Data schemes including attributes such as geometry, topology, features and
tolerance.
Application interface called Standard Data Access Interface (SDAI), which is a
standard interface to enable applications to access and manipulate STEP data
STEP database, which has the following forms:
ASCII format file for data exchange
Working from file, usually in binary format, that can be shared by multiple
systems
Shared database, involving object oriented database management system or
relational database system
Knowledge base, with a database management system as a base coupled to
an expert shell.

STEP has a three layer architecture as shown in that enables multiple application
views and implementations.
The first layer comprises techniques for the implementation of STEP, in which
the models are related to the EXPRESS language, and through this physical
file.

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 The second layer provides context – independent information such as the
description of the geometry, topology or product structure. Resource models
are so called because they provide Resource to the 3rd layer.
The third layer contains information related to a particular application
domain such as draughting or electrical product modeling.
This layer describes constrained subsets of the STEP standard which should
ensure that the implementations by different vendors are very much more
compatible than IGES implementations.

This standard itself is so large that it is being developed incrementally as a

series of separate standards called parts.
The parts, themselves are divided into seven classes, as follows:
1. Introductory (parts 1-9)
Consists of overview and general principles
2. Description methods (parts 11-19)
Consist of parts related to the express language
3. Implementation method (parts 21-29)
Describes how EXPRESS is mapped to physical file and other storage
mechanisms.

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4. Conformance Testing Methodology and Frame work (parts 31-9)
This provides the methods for testing implementations and test suites to be
used during conformance testing.
5. Integrated Resource (parts 41-99, 101-99)
This part includes generic resources such as geometry and structure
representation.
6. Application protocols (parts 201-99)
This part describes implementations of STEP specific to particular industrial
applications.
7. Abstract test suites (parts 301-99)
This part provides test suites for each of the application protocols.
8. Application interpreted construct (parts 501)
This part describes various model entity constructs and specific modeling
approaches.
STEP Enabler for Concurrent Engineering
STEP was released in early 1993 as a Draft International Standard (DIS).
The initial release of STEP has four basic parts. These include:
• EXPRESS modeling language
• Two application protocols
• Drafting and Configuration Control Design for three-dimensional
product data.
• Six application resources.
Subsequent releases of STEP provided added functionality in terms of the
kinds of product supported and the extent of the product life cycle.
While STEP is advancing towards maturity, it had been investigated for the
feasibility of incorporation into framework system.
Both STEP and Concurrent Engineering share the common goal of influencing
the product cycle from design, assembly, etc. to the disposal stages which have
been realized in the CONSENS system under ESPRIT EP6896.

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 The object-oriented database for CONSENS has a schema with STEP
definitions alongside company specific definitions.
A module called Product Information Archive (PIA) provides functionality
for STEP data access via SDAI.
It is generic to be adopted for different domains.
For example it is used for product information by the Aircraft Company,
Deutshces Aerospace and electronics manufacturing company, AEG.
STEP data export in a CAD modeling package has the following options:
(i) wire frame edges
(ii) Surfaces
(iii) Solids
(iv) Shells
(v) Datum curves and points
Difference between IGES and STEP
IGES was not developed using formal specification language, it was not based
on information modelling methodology.
It does not clearly distinguish between the logical specification of the
standard, the application requirements and physical specification for the
storage data in exchange files.
IGES does not provide sufficient conformance clauses or test sets for testing
the implementations from different CAD vendors.
STEP improves on this in a number of respects.

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 CALS
CALS (Continuous Acquisition and Life-cycle Support) is a United States
Department of Defense (DoD) initiative for electronically capturing military
documentation and linking related information.
In the past, technical data such as engineering drawings, illustrations, and textual
data for a weapon system was delivered to the Government in paper form.
This made it necessary for DoD activities involved in managing the acquisition of a
weapon system to orient their processes around handling paper-based
documentation.
These processes, however, were slow, error-prone and manpower intensive.
In the mid 1980's the DoD sought to capitalize on advances in computer hardware
and in the areas of computer-aided design, computer-aided engineering, and
concurrent engineering.
DoD structured a series of military specifications and standards that facilitated the
handling of weapon system technical data in open, digital formats.
This initiative grew into a joint DoD-industry Continuous Acquisition and Life- cycle
Support (CALS) initiative and led to acquisition processes between defense
contractors and DoD acquisition managers being conducted with technical data in
digital formats.
With this change, there came a need for data management systems that could
receive, store, and manipulate technical data in its various formats.
Additionally, many of the acquisition management processes required
"reengineering" using concepts such as Business Process Reengineering in order to
truly reap the benefits of receiving, handling, and managing technical data in digital
formats.
This CALS initiative has developed a number of standard specifications (protocols)
for the exchange of electronic data with commercial suppliers.
It was thought that the CALS initiative could help the DoD reduce its costs for
acquiring technical documentation while making it more accurate, current and
timely.
In its beginnings, CALS primarily dealt with the logistics of support documentation.
It was originally called Computer-Aided Logistics Support.

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As the benefits of the CALS initiative became better known, DoD acquisition
managers sought to incorporate CALS concepts into weapon systems
procurements.
In 1988, CALS was renamed the Computer-aided Acquisition and Logistics
Support initiative.
This better reflected its use in managing the technical information associated with
weapon system acquisition.
Close integration among buyers and vendors or the different units of an enterprise,
created and sustained through application of standard technologies (such as
electronic data interchange or EDI), streamlining of business processes (business
process engineering), and effective use of business and technical information.
Developments in the field of Concurrent Engineering (CE) eventually led the CALS
initiative to encompass all aspects of weapon system acquisition: design,
production and logistics support processes.
Similarly, advances in telecommunications such as enterprise networking and
digital information exchange protocols led to more technical documentation to be
exchanged between businesses.
Terms such as electronic commerce and electronic data interchange soon became
associated with CALS.
Now renamed Continuous Acquisition and Life-cycle Support, the CALS
initiative has been expanded from its roots in technical documentation and logistics
support to CE and integrated business processes.
These standards are often referred to as simply "CALS". CALS standards have been
adopted by several other allied nations.
It has gained acceptance outside the DoD and defense industries to become a joint
DoD-industry managed initiative.
The CALS initiative has also been accepted and implemented within international
defense departments in Canada, Europe, Asia, and Australia.
This data exchange standard was produced with an aim of applying computer
technology to the process of specifying, ordering, operating, supporting and
maintaining the weapons systems used by the US armed forces, although it can be
adopted by any industry, not just defence industry.

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The CALS initiative has endorsed IGES and STEP as formats for digital data.
CALS includes standards for electronic data interchange, electronic technical
documentation, and guidelines for process improvement.
The Vision is for all or part of a single enterprise (e.g., an original equipment
manufacturer and its suppliers, or a consortium of public and private groups and
academia), to be able to work from a common digital data base, in real time, on the
design, development, manufacturing, distribution and servicing of products.
The direct benefits would come through substantial reductions in product-to-
market time and costs, along with significant enhancements in quality and
performance.
CALS has developed a further standard which defines subsets of IGES to be used for
specific applications including technical illustrations, engineering drawings,
electronic engineering data, and geometry for manufacture by numerical control
machines.
It is expected that CALS will use the STEP standards for product data, and will also
extend into such areas as electronic hardware description and office document
exchange.
The Spacecraft Industries CALS is to introduce a exchanging of interface data, which
are applied in the collaborative manufacturing of spacecraft by the space industry.

The data is exchanged by way of CALS standard such as Word, Excel, PDF, TIFF
and 3D-CAD etc. through the network.

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 Generally, several companies conduct manufacturing of spacecraft simultaneously,
for which control documents named ICD (Interface Control Documentation and
Drawing) with 3D-CAD are utilized to provide information on interface work.
Two "flagship" CALS systems:
o Joint Computer-aided Acquisition and Logistics Support (JCALS) and the
o Joint Engineering Data Management Information and Control System (JEDMICS).
Joint Computer-aided Acquisition and Logistics Support
o JCALS concept originated from the US Army's Technical Information Management System (TIMS)
JCALS is an information management system that will support acquisition, logistics
support, engineering, manufacturing, configuration control and materiel
management processes throughout the life-cycle of a weapon system.
It uses multi weapon system IWSDBs and Global Data Dictionary and Directory
(GDD/D) Services that are connected by a wide area computer network.
The interface for users is the JCALS Workbench that provides an environment to
access all of JCAL's functionality transparently to the user.

DXF
DXF (Data exchange Format) is a de facto standard due to its popularity.
DXF is an AutoCAD format. Auto Desk Inc., the maker of AutoCAD, publishes,
supports, and maintains it.
DXF 3D is a format that translates CAD models (part files), while DXF/DWG
is a format that translates drawing files.
DXF/DWG does not and cannot translate part files.
DXF files come in two formats: ASCII and binary.
The ASCII version is the most widely used in industry.
The DXF format is a tagged data representation of all the information
contained in an AutoCAD drawing file. Tagged data means that each data
element in the file is preceded by an integer number that is called a group code.
A group code's value indicates what type of data element follows. This value
also indicates the meaning of a data element for a given object (or record) type.
Important sections of DXF file: Header, Tables, Blocks, and Entities.

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 AutoCAD DXF (Drawing Interchange Format or Drawing Exchange Format) is a CAD
data file format developed by Autodesk for enabling data interoperability between
AutoCAD and other programs.
DXF was originally introduced in December 1982 as part of AutoCAD 1.0, and was
intended to provide an exact representation of the data in the AutoCAD native file
format, DWG (Drawing), for which Autodesk for many years did not publish
specifications.
Because of this, correct imports of DXF files have been difficult.
Autodesk now publishes the DXF specifications as a PDF on its website.
Versions of AutoCAD from Release 10 (October 1988) and up support both ASCII
and binary forms of DXF. Earlier versions support only ASCII.
As AutoCAD has become more powerful, supporting more complex object types,
DXF has become less useful. Certain object types, including ACIS solids and regions,
are not documented.
Other object types, including AutoCAD 2006's dynamic blocks, and all of the objects
specific to the vertical market versions of AutoCAD, are partially documented, but
not well enough to allow other developers to support them. For these reasons many
CAD applications use the DWG format which can be licensed from Autodesk or non-
natively from the Open Design Alliance.
DXF coordinates are always without dimensions so that the reader or user needs to
know the drawing unit or has to extract it from the textual comments in the sheets.
HEADER section: Contains General information about the drawing.
The HEADER section of a DXF file contains the settings of variables associated
with the drawing.
System settings such as dimension style and layers.
Each variable is specified by a 9 group code giving the variable's name, followed
by groups that supply the variable's value.
CLASSES section
Holds the information for application-defined classes whose instances appear in
the BLOCKS, ENTITIES, and OBJECTS sections of the database.
Generally does not provide sufficient information to allow interoperability with
other programs.

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 It is assumed that a class definition is permanently fixed in the class hierarchy.
TABLES section - contains definitions of named items.
The TABLES section contains several tables, each of which can contain a variable
number of entries.
These codes are also used by AutoLISP and ObjectARX applications in entity
definition lists.
It includes line styles and user- coordinate systems.
More tables:
o Dimension Style (DIMSTYPE) table
o Layer (LAYER) table
o Linetype (LTYPE) table
o Text style (STYLE) table
o User Coordinate System (UCS) table
o View (VIEW) table
BLOCKS section
This section contains an entry for each block reference in the drawing.
The BLOCKS section of the DXF file contains all the block definitions, including
anonymous blocks generated by the HATCH command and by associative
dimensioning.
Each block definition contains the entities that make up that block as it is used in
the drawing.
The format of the entities in this section is identical to those in the ENTITIES
section.
ENTITIES section
This section presents the group codes that apply to graphical objects.
It includes entity definition and data.
Example: Dimension entity definitions consist of group codes that are common to
all dimension types, followed by codes specific to the type.
More Ex.: Circle, Ellipse, Leader, Light
OBJECTS section
This section presents the group codes that apply to nongraphical objects.
Also used by AutoLISP and ObjectARX applications.

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THUMBNAILIMAGE section
Contains the preview image for the DXF file.
This section exists only if a preview image has been saved with the DXF file.
Virtually all user-specified information in a drawing file can be represented in DXF
format.
Advantages
The DXF file format is the most compatible vector file type
DXF files are used to exchange data between different CAD programs
The DXF file format is easy to parse
The DXF file specification is publicly available
Limitations
DXF does not support application specific CAD elements
Complex DXF files can become large in size
Some applications can not deal with line widths in DXF Files

COMMUNICATION STANDARDS
Data exchange depends not only on the compatibility of the applications data
formats between the communicating systems, but also on compatibility of the
physical means of communication Computers are arranged to communicate
with each other.
Local connections are known as local area networks (LANs) and involves the
connection of digital devices over distance from a few meters up to a few
kilometers.
Wide Area Networks (WANs) are used to connect the computers or machines
of a number of university campuses, even if these sites are in different
countries.
Local Area Networks
A Local Area Network (LAN) is a network that is restricted to smaller physical areas
e.g. a local office, school, or house. Approximately all current LANs whether wired
or wireless are based on Ethernet. On a ‘Local Area Network’ data transfer speeds
are higher than WAN and MAN that can extend to a 10.0 Mbps (Ethernet network)
and 1.0 Gbps (Gigabit Ethernet).
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Computers and servers (provides services to other computers like printing, file
storage and sharing) can connect to each other via cables or wirelessly in a same
LAN.
Wireless access in conjunction with wired network is made possible by Wireless
Access Point (WAP).
A WAP is able to connect hundreds or even more of wireless users to a network.
Servers in a LAN are mostly connected by a wire since it is still the fastest
medium for network communication.
But for workstations (Desktop, laptops, etc.) wireless medium is a more suitable
choice, since at some point it is difficult and expensive to add new workstations into
an existing system already having complex network wiring.
The most obvious area of difference between a WAN and a LAN is in the
topology of network itself.
LAN topology is generally rather simpler than the mesh arrangement.
The method of controlling access to the network is also achieved in a number of
different ways, of which perhaps the most important is the use of a control token,
and carrier sense multiple access with collision detection (CSMA/CD).
A wireless LAN or WLAN is a wireless Local Area Network, which is the linking of
two or more computers without using wires.
It uses radio communication
to accomplish the same
functionality that a wired
LAN has. WLAN utilizes
spread-spectrum
technology based on radio
waves to enable
communication between
devices in a limited area,
also known as the basic
service set.
This gives users the mobility
to move around within a broad coverage area and still be connected to the
network.
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Wide Area Networks
Wide Area Network is a computer network that covers relatively larger
geographical area such as a state, province or country.
Contrast with personal area networks (PAN’s), local area networks (LAN’s) or
metropolitan area networks (MAN’s) that are usually limited to a room, building or
campus.
WAN’s are used to connect local area networks (LAN’s) together, so that users and
computers in one location can communicate with users and computers in other
locations.
It provides a solution to companies or organizations operating from distant
geographical locations who want to communicate with each other for sharing
and managing central data or for general communication.
WAN is made up of two or more Local Area Networks (LANs) or Metropolitan
Area Networks (MANs) that are interconnected with each other, thus users
and computers in one location can communicate with users and computers in
other locations.
In ‘Wide Area Network’, Computers are connected through public networks,
such as the telephone systems, fiber-optic cables, and satellite links or leased
lines.
The largest and most well-known example of a WAN is the Internet.
WANs are mostly private and are building for a particular organization by ‘Internet
Service Providers (ISPs)’ which connects the LAN of the organization to the
internet.
WANs are frequently built using
expensive leased lines where
with each end of the leased line a
router is connected to extend the
network capability across sites.
For low cost solutions, WAP is
also built using a ‘circuit
switching’ or ‘packet switching’
methods.

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 The data carrying networks operated by the public utilities are known as public
switched data networks.
When digital transmission is extended to subscriber equipment then at high-bit-
rate switched transmission path will be available at each subscriber outlet, and
network will be capable of supporting both digitized voice and data transmission
without modems, as an integrated services digital network (ISDN).
In addition, WAN’s also refer to Mobile Data Communications, such as GSM, GPRS
and 3G.
Fiber optic links
It is an alternative to copper connecting wires in LANs.
Optical communication offers the advantage of large transmission bandwidth
and relatively immunity from electromagnetic interference or corrosion
problems which make them ideal for industrial environments.
Network based specifically on fiber optics new standard is fibre distributed
data interference.
As the bandwidth capabilities of fibre optics are further developed
significantly higher rates are possible.

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