Читать книгу Computer Aided Design and Manufacturing - Zhuming Bi - Страница 25

A computer aided system runs on computers and consists of a set of functional components at different layers of information, from the layer for hardware interfaces to the layers of operating systems, networking, database, sophisticated computer aided tools, and finally to the system layer of applications. Figure 1.16 shows the architecture of a computer aided software system. The functional components in the system are generally encapsulated and used independently. These functional components are classified into four groups: (i) software for hardware operation interacting with computers, printers, plotters, and so on, (ii) system software associated with operating systems and networking, (iii) support software consisting of database systems and CAD software, and (iv) application software as comprehensive computer aided systems.

Figure 1.16 Computer aided software system architecture.

The architecture of a computer aided software system is modularized; it allows the developers to customize the selections of functional components and integration of the selected components to meet the design needs at different domains and levels of manufacturing systems. It seems obvious that the capabilities of computer aided systems will be continuously expended due to the rapid development of information systems in computing systems, networking systems, and databases. In the next section, the impact of networking and cloud technologies on computer aided systems is briefly discussed.