A semantic feature language for concurrent engineering

In this paper, we present a semantic feature language for knowledge representation and reasoning across different domains in concurrent engineering (CE). The proposed language utilizes a feature model which is depicted in two levels. First a unified and formal framework is presented for semantic features in CE. The presented semantic features are general and a feature formal language is used to characterize the engineering data in multi-discipline domains at the most abstract level. At the details level, the general semantic features are realized in a hierarchical manner with the aids of object-oriented programming. A preliminary implementation of the proposed semantic feature model is also presented.