INTRODUCTION
Welcome to the Center for Information Centric Engineering (CICE). Our state of the art Center is unique for its research, education and outreach activities which emphasize an information centric perspective across various fields of engineering.
We have pioneered information centric research and educational activities in traditional and emerging areas of engineering. Our center’s unique information centric perspective and expertise revolves around Information Technology and related principles with process contexts in a range of domains. If you are interested in joining our research group as a student, faculty or industry collaborator, please contact Dr. J. Cecil (j.cecil@okstate.edu).
CICE is involved with research, education and outreach activities dealing with the subject of Information Centric Engineering (ICE) and Information Based Manufacturing (INBM) across a variety of established and emerging process domains.
A new domain of engineering has emerged which can be termed as 'Information Centric Engineering' (ICE). Earlier, in 2002, we coined the term 'Information Based Manufacturing' to highlight the emergence of information centric approaches for manufacturing domains which spans several fields including manufacturing engineering, mechanical engineering and computer science. ICE is an expansion of information centric perspectives to other areas of engineering.
ICE broadly refers to the study and use of information technology based principles, modeling approaches and computing frameworks in process design activities. INBM recognizes the substantial impact that information (and its seamless exchange) has on the accomplishment of manufacturing activities (especially in a Virtual Enterprise oriented context). Today, the role of information in an engineering enterprise has changed dramatically: information is recognized as a powerful entity, which drives the accomplishment of manufacturing activities and integrates various life-cycle activities.
The 3 core facets of ICE and INBM (across various process domains) are:
ICE refers to the study of concepts, principles and approaches related to 3 key facets:
modeling, simulation / visualization, and exchange of information in process design contexts.
Modeling refers to the information modeling techniques used to design and automate various process engineering tasks (and includes the study and use of modeling languages and the process underlying the creation of information intensive process models across various domains).
Simulation / visualization focuses on the adoption of 3D engineering or physics based virtual prototyping techniques incorporating virtual reality technology and includes study of representation issues as well as the processes involved in creating such virtual prototypes for process design and analysis. Simulation / Visualization encompasses creation of digital prototypes, design of high fidelity simulation environments interfacing with Virtual Reality technology, visualization of target objects in process design environments (ranging from mechanical objects to representation of tissue and cellular membranes).
Exchange refers to techniques which can support seamless information exchanges (which can be achieved through the design of computer frameworks and methods) to enable distributed engineering activities. The figure below captures the essence of ICE’s 3 main facets.
The 3 Core Facets of Information Centric Engineering (ICE)
Information Based Manufacturing (INBM) broadly refers to the study and use of information technology based principles, modeling approaches and computing frameworks in process design activities. INBM recognizes the substantial impact that information (and its seamless exchange) has on the accomplishment of manufacturing activities (especially in a Virtual Enterprise oriented context). Today, the role of information in a manufacturing enterprise has changed dramatically: information is recognized as a powerful entity, which drives the accomplishment of manufacturing activities and integrates various life-cycle activities.
The 3 core facets of interest are: modeling of information, simulation / visualization of information and exchange of information (for process design activities). Simulation / Visualization encompasses creation of digital prototypes, design of high fidelity simulation environments interfacing with Virtual Reality technology, visualization of target objects in process design environments (ranging from metallic objects to representation of tissue and cellular membranes).
Current and Future Research Directions
Our Center has undertaken exploratory research activities in two areas:
(i) Creation of Virtual Surgical Environments to train surgeons.
(ii) Design of Simulation Environments for Homeland Security contexts.
We have continuing interests in the above two areas. Please contact Dr. Cecil (j.cecil@okstate.edu) for inquiries and for more information.