An overview of the ASU engineering database project: interoperability in engineering design

The paper presents a work-in-progress report on work addressing interoperability in engineering design environments. The work is being conducted as a joint research effort between computer science and mechanical engineering researchers for the purpose of (1) creating a more productive environment for relating and accessing data in the engineering design process and (2) advancing database technology to adequately support interoperability issues in engineering design. The first six months of the project have primarily served as an organizational period, surveying database issues, learning about engineering design, and examining current efforts in engineering data exchange standards. The paper presents an overview of the research directions