Development of International Collaborative CAD / CAM

This paper describes a project to develop international collaborative CAD/CAM at the Centre for Advanced Manufacturing Research (CAMR), University of South Australia, Australia. The strategy of using the current computer and communication technologies to provide a computer supported cooperative working (CSCW) environment for the national and international CAD/CAM link from collaborative design to remote machining is described. Multimedia, desktop conferencing and telecommunications are adopted as the communication tools. UNIX X window application sharing tools used in this project are also explained. A connection-oriented client-server program under Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) is developed for starting realtime interaction. Some functions are added to the existing CAD/CAM technology to enable dynamic collaboration. The available and feasible configurations are then suggested as means of enhancing the CAD/CAM application.