A Distributed Object Component-Based Approach to Large-Scale Engineering Systems and an Example Component Using Motion Planning Techniques for Disabled Access Usability Analysis

This paper introduces a large-scale engineering systems distributed object framework that serves as the connecting infrastructure between individual engineering tools and analysis components. The framework can incorporate software services as well as hardware solutions. Implemented software services include motion planning simulations and animation visualizations. Hardware solutions include the ability to incorporate devices to manipulate either remote software or hardware services. The success on such a framework relies on two levels of knowledge: understanding the underlying concepts that facilitate the component-to-component communication and the domain-specific knowledge to implement a particular service. As an example of a domain-specific service, the paper describes a motionplanning-based disabled access usability service that attempts to find accessible routes in a facility. Introduction Currently, Architecture/Engineering/Construction (AEC) information technology (IT) firms are developing specialized information-exchange solutions for domainspecific problems, and standardization enables users ubiquitous access to these tools. Indeed, these solutions use at least one level of Internet-based standard protocols: all firms are leveraging World Wide Web technology, and some firms are beginning to 1 Graduate Student, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, csh@galerkin.stanford.edu 2 Senior Research Associate, Center for Integrated Facility Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, kunz@cive.stanford.edu 3 Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, law@cive.stanford.edu 1 Han, Kunz, Law leverage standard distributed object paradigms. However, the implementation of large-scale and interoperable engineering systems will require the development and adherence to a third layer of standard protocols built on top of the distributed object technology. A distributed object environment provides the underlying application-toapplication communication protocol allowing an application to access the services of other applications as if these services were part of the original application, a feature known as object location transparency. This paradigm provides the facility for development of computing environments across heterogeneous platforms. Benefits include the optimization of services on specific computing platforms and taking advantage of unused or under-utilized computing resources. Most importantly, distributed object applications now act as individual but inter-communicating components that can be aggregated to form the multiple and coordinated layers of large-scale systems. This protocol must be general enough to accommodate and anticipate future engineering-specific needs to build large-scale systems on a component-by-component basis but robust enough to be truly useful for engineeringspecific services. This paper introduces a distributed object framework that serves as the connecting infrastructure between individual engineering tools and analysis components. The framework can incorporate software services as well as hardware solutions. Implemented software services include motion planning simulations and animation visualizations. Hardware solutions include the ability to incorporate devices to manipulate either remote software or hardware services. The distributed object paradigm does not distinguish between local and remote access of components that can either be software applications or hardware devices. As an example component service that integrates into the large-scale framework, the paper describes a disabled access usability analysis service. This development of this component represents a domain-specific problem that is dependent on the developer’s knowledge of the domain. Specifically, the paper describes the application of motion-planning techniques used to determine accessible routes in a facility. The Engineering Analysis Component-based Distributed Object Framework This research uses the concepts developed in (Han99) and reifies notion of a service. To fully-leverage the power of the Internet, engineering and design services should be able to interact in a formal yet flexible manner. Services should be able to combine existing services to provide added functionality. The distributed object environment provides object transparency—an application accesses a Service object using the same protocol regardless of the object’s location, either local or remote, and independent of the computer system platform assuming the platform supports the Service object interface.