This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project addresses the outdated methods by which companies use material and process specifications. Specifications are a fact of life for any organization involved in complex manufacturing (e.g., aerospace, automotive, materials). Specifications are comprehensive and voluminous documents, covering hundreds of different key characteristics. The constant reading, checking, and analyzing of specifications is extremely labor-intensive, quality-impacting, and time-consuming. During Phase I research, the feasibility of the concept was successfully determined, and a conceptual design solution for tools was created which provides computer-assistance in the interpretation of specification requirements. The conceptual solution is based on the theories of Information Extraction and the analysis of specification content within the context of a meta-specification created as a result of prior NSF-sponsored research. This meta-specification provides an ontology for capturing the semantic knowledge contained in the text of specifications. The Phase II objectives are to build a working prototype of the solution as the foundation for potential full-scale commercialization. The tools created as a result of this prototype will be used to convert existing text-based specifications into the computer-sensible ontology. The Phase II solution is not attempting to totally automate the interpretation process. Instead, the focus is on innovative approaches for providing computer assistance in the semantic analysis of a limited domain of documents.
The organizations which have their processing, inspecting, and testing controlled by specifications are extremely interested in using tools that access specifications in an intelligent, computerized format. These organizations include the United States Government as well as suppliers and prime contractors in American industry. This effort could 'jump-start' an entire industry related to providing tools for the computer-assisted analysis of specification requirements.
