This paper describes a proposed architecture and application protocol for the deployment of distributed engineering design tools using emerging WEB-based standards and development tools. The architecture is built around the web services standards and relies on web services orchestration for process execution and control. Various open source software are used and integrated to build the system. The application protocol is obtained using a combination of XML, XML schema and RDF/RDFS languages to define standard data exchange mechanisms between applications. The proposed XML schema and RDFS ontology allow the description of MDA and MDO processes involved in aerospace system design. An example is provided to illustrate the concept.

This paper presents the overall architecture of the VADOR application framework. The purpose of the VADOR framework is to enable the seamless integration of commercial and in-house analysis applications in a heterogeneous, distributed computing environment, and to allow the management and sharing of the data in order to provide support to MDO. A multi-tiered client-server architecture has been devised, which comprises a client GUI for interactive data definition and execution launching, separate data and execution servers, and autonomous remotely executable application wrappers. © 2002 by the authors.

This paper presents the overall architecture of the VADOR application framework. The purpose of the VADOR framework is to enable the seamless integration of commercial and in-house analysis applications in a heterogeneous, distributed computing environment, and to allow the deployment of automatic design optimization algorithms based on the framework. A multi-tiered client-server architecture has been devised, which comprises a client GUI for interactive data definition and execution launching, separate data and execution servers, and autonomous remotely executable application wrappers.

The present paper describes a software framework which addresses an important part of the requirements for a collaborative MDO environment, namely the automation of problem execution and data transfer. The framework is fully written using the JAVA computer language and uses RMI methods in order to be applicable in a heterogeneous and multi-platform environment in a simple and uniform way. This also allows one to use JAVA applets in an internet environment to control processes. Examples are presented in which engineering analysis and design processes are integrated into the framework. Strengths and weaknesses of the present architecture are discussed in relation to the full requirements of an effective MDO environment. © 2000 by the authors.