Kiran Jude Fernandes

Cybersphere: the fully immersive spherical projection system

The computer generated virtual environments made possible by virtual reality (VR) may be moved through and manipulated by users in real time [1], but most display methods, including computer monitors, head-mounted displays, or projection screens, have an important limitation—they do not allow users to move around the virtual environment in a natural way. Efforts to remove this limitation include the development in the U.S. of a device similar to a stationary unicycle [3], which attempts to simulate the walking motion of a person sitting upon it. But this lessthan-ideal solution introduces its own restrictions on freedom of movement. By contrast, freedom of movement is not restricted with the fully immersive spherical projection system known as the Cybersphere, developed through joint research by VR Systems and the University of Warwick, both in the U.K. Users who enter this spherical system—which represents a new approach to VR visualization—can walk, run, jump, or crawl in any direction, while at the same time being able to observe an allencompassing virtual environment. In this article we describe where the Cybersphere fits in the world of virtual reality interfaces, and discuss ways it can be applied to a cross-sectional audience, ranging from simple component visualization to highly complex military simulations. Since the advent into VR in 1965, when Ivan Sutherland presented a paper describing the concepts of the Head Mounted Display (HMD), several systems have been developed to “perceive” physical objects. The Cybersphere, launched in October 2000, is the latest such system; others include the cathode ray tube (CRT), the head mounted display (HMD), the binocular omni-oriented monitor (BOOM), and a projection screen environment known as a CAVE. Following is a brief description of each.

Engineering a DSL for Software Traceability

The software artefacts at different levels of abstraction and at different stages of the development process are closely inter-related. For developers to stay in control of the development process, traceability information must be maintained. In this paper, we present the engineering of the Traceability Metamodelling Language (TML), a metamodelling language dedicated to defining traceability metamodels. We present the abstract syntax of the language and its semantics, which are defined using a translational approach. Finally, we provide a case study that demonstrates the construction of a traceability metamodel that captures traceability information between two metamodels using TML.

Dynamic process planning — The static phase

Abstract Dynamic process planning is concerned with the integration of process planning with scheduling. This paper presents the computer-aided process planning (CAPP) system, PARIS, that is meant to be integrated with a scheduling system. The approach to dynamic process planning implemented divides the planning tasks into the two phases: static and dynamic planning. This paper discusses the overall approach and focusing on the details of the implementation of the static phase. An example is used to illustrate the concepts presented.

“Bricks vs. Clicks”: The impact of manufacturer encroachment with a dealer leasing and selling of durable goods

In durable goods markets, many brand name manufacturers, including IBM, HP, Epson, and Lenovo, have adopted dual-channel supply chains to market their products. There is scant literature, however, addressing the product durability and its impact on players’ optimal strategies in a dual-channel supply chain. To fill this void, we consider a two-period dual-channel model in which a manufacturer sells a durable product directly through both a manufacturer-owned e-channel and an independent dealer who adopts a mix of selling and leasing to consumers. Our results show that the manufacturer begins encroaching into the market in Period 1, but the dealer starts withdrawing from the retail channel in Period 2. Moreover, as the direct selling cost decreases, the equilibrium quantities and wholesale prices become quite angular and often nonmonotonic. Among other results, we find that both the dealer and the supply chain may benefit from the manufacturer’s encroachment. Our results also indicate that both the market structure and the nature of competition have an important impact on the player’s (dealer’s) optimal choice of leasing and selling.

Rigorous identification and encoding of trace-links in model-driven engineering

Model-driven engineering (MDE) involves the construction and manipulation of many models of different kinds in an engineering process. In principle, models can be used in the product engineering lifecycle in an end-to-end manner for representing requirements, designs and implementations, and assisting in deployment and maintenance. The manipulations applied to models may be manual, but they can also be automated—for example, using model transformations, code generation, and validation. To enhance automated analysis, consistency and coherence of models used in an MDE process, it is useful to identify, establish and maintain trace-links between models. However, the breadth and scope of trace-links that can be used in MDE is substantial, and managing trace-link information can be very complex. In this paper, we contribute to managing the complexity of traceability information in MDE in two ways: firstly, we demonstrate how to identify the different kinds of trace-links that may appear in an end-to-end MDE process; secondly, we describe a rigorous approach to defining semantically rich trace-links between models, where the models themselves may be constructed using diverse modelling languages. The definition of rich trace-links allows us to use tools to maintain and analyse traceability relationships.

Incorporated tool selection system using object technology

Abstract Tool selection is perhaps one of the most important functions in a process planning system because the selection of a tool affects the selection of machining parameters, jig and fixture selection, production rate, cost of the product, and the resulting accuracy. Therefore computer-aided tool selection (CATS) is an essential element within a computer-aided process planning (CAPP) system (C. Koulamas, Tool requirements in multi-level machining systems, International Journal of Production Research, 29 (2) (1991) 417–437.), and in turn in a Computer Integrated Manufacturing (CIM) environment. This paper proposes an object–oriented methodology for selecting the tooling parameters for parts in a CIM environment. As this system can be incorporated into both static and dynamic process planning systems, it is termed as Incorporated Tool Selection Systems (ITSS). The steps of the methodology are discussed in detail, together with an example.

A hybrid model of component sharing and platform modularity for optimal product family design

Todays industry faces new challenges such as diverse customer demands, shorter product development cycles and cost pressure, which compel manufacturing firms to change their production paradigm from one-size-fits-all mass production toward mass customisation. Over the past decades, modular design has received great attention as a key enabler for mass customisation, and component sharing and platform modularity have been quite popular strategies for modular design. While modular design approaches and their strategies offer a number of advantages such as late product differentiation and changeability, there are unfortunately negative aspects, for example, sales loss due to reduced performance compared to integral design approaches, which have received little attention. Therefore, we propose a hybrid model of the two strategies in order to develop the most profitable product family. A detailed numerical analysis provides empirical support for the feasibility and effectiveness of the hybrid model.

An object-oriented application of tool selection in dynamic process planning

Tool selection is a vital function within any process planning system. This paper presents an approach to computer-aided tool selection that has the ability to generate and rank all alternative tool sets for a process plan. This approach has been used to develop the OATS (Object-oriented Application of Tool Selection) system. OATS is designed for use as a module within a dynamic process planning system and has been tested as a part of the dynamic planning system, PARIS (Process planning Architecture for Integration with Scheduling) (Usher and Fernandes 1996a, b). The necessary input data for this system are taken from a product model based on the ISO STEP application protocol, AP224. Two alternative plans for a single part are used as examples to illustrate the approach and demonstrate the ability of the system to generate and rank all the viable alternative tool sets.

A real time clustering and SVM based price-volatility prediction for optimal trading strategy

Financial return on investments and movement of market indicators are fraught with uncertainties and a highly volatile environment that exists in the global market. Equity markets are heavily affected by market unpredictability and maintaining a healthy diversified portfolio with minimum risk is undoubtedly crucial for any investment made in such assets. Effective price and volatility prediction can highly influence the course of the investment strategy with regard to such a portfolio of equity instruments. In this paper a novel SOM based hybrid clustering technique is integrated with support vector regression for portfolio selection and accurate price and volatility predictions which becomes the basis for the particular trading strategy adopted for the portfolio. The research considers the top 102 stocks of the NSE stock market (India) to identify set of best portfolios that an investor can maintain for risk reduction and high profitability. Short term stock trading strategy and performance indicators are developed to assess the validity of the predictions with regard to actual scenarios.

A two-phased approach to dynamic process planning

Abstract This paper presents an architecture for a computer-aided process planning system that is meant to be integrated with a scheduling system. Our approach to the dynamic process planning chore is to divide the planning tasks into the two phases: static and dynamic planning. This paper discusses the overall approach and provides additional details of the implementation of the static phase. An example is used to illustrate the concepts presented.