Possibilities for intelligent sensor network assistance of product definition

Engineering for the development, application, and recycling of products is recently supported by fully integrated model of product. Prototyping is moving to virtual by the application of sophisticated product models for complex simulations. Simulations rely upon knowledge representing experience, expertise and intelligence of engineers in knowledge wares. Increasing proportion of this knowledge is placed in the product model in the form of active rules, checks, and reactions. In case of any change of these knowledge representations, relevant product model entities are modified accordingly. This knowledge must be verified by practice. Consequently, interaction of virtual and physical worlds is anticipated as a main area for future research in product model based virtual engineering systems. The authors developed and published a novel knowledge based method for the definition of product objects during the recent years. In this paper, they conceptualize a possible integration of intelligent sensor networks with active knowledge in product models. They propose introduction of physical information space in order to receive engineering object related information from preprocessed sensor data. The proposed novel method is based on intelligent capabilities both in sensor and product modeling.