- Email: [email protected]
Computer-aided breeding?
Computer- aided breeding? The University of Bath and the Wildfowl Trust are cooperating in an experiment which uses electronic 'eggs' to gather research information aimed at improving the hatching microenvironment. The egg contains transducers to supply information on temperature, humidity, light and attitude, together with a miniature radio to transmit the data. A Cristie data logger records the information digitally on magnetic cassette tape in ECMA 34 format and this is then fed directly into the ICL 4/50 university computer network in the South West. The computer checks the data and then produces graphs of the temperature of the egg during incubation, the activity of the birds, the movement of the egg and the humidity levels at a different part of the nest. Eggs ranging from chicken to swan size have been made and it is hoped that reproducing the conditions in incubators will provide greater success in the artificial hatching of the larger species of birds. (Cristie Electronics
Limited, P 0 Box 18, Stroud, Gloucestershire, UK. Telephone: 0452 812688,)
A researcher studies temperature profiles o f a nest and cutting parameters are taken straight from the drawing or specification and fed into the computer via the keyboard. This process is simplified by a menu of questions displayed on the video screen. As the computer is a standard version, other tasks such as payroll calculations, statistics and costings can be programmed using the 2200's BASIC language. (Wang Electronics Limited,
NC tape generation
Argyle House, Joel Streeh Northwood Hi/Is, Middlesex HA6 I LN, UK. Telephone: Northwood 28211)
Wang Electronics and Badalex have combined to produce a set of programs which can generate ISO or EIA coded tapes for NC (numerically controlled) machines. The programs are available on both cassette and diskette and will accept Imperial or metric data. They cover most common 2½ axis operations such as matrix, peck and repeat drilling, slot and kidney slot milling, drilling circles of holes, profiling and cam production. Other functions will be made available in due course. The system runs on the Wang 2200 computer and is available in several configurations. The basic system comprises a console/video-screen, 8 kbytes of user memory, tape cassette drive and a punch, and can handle up to eight NC machines. No specialized skill is needed to operate the system. Basic dimensions
CAD/CAM for moulds and dies
298
The DUCT suite of programs from the Wolfson Cambridge Industrial Unit has now been made available on the CDC Data Services KRONOS timesharing system. The software package consists of four programs which enable moulds and dies to be designed and NC tapes produced: DESIGN DUCT program enables cross-sections to be designed and modified on the screen, and gives areas of cross-sections; CREATE DUCT takes data for spine and crosssections and creates the duct from them; SEE DUCT gives isometric, axonometric, first or third angle and stereoscopic views, and further allows
rotation, crosshatching and other facilities; CUPROJ defines the intersections of a tube of general crosssection with a cylinder. The minimum hardware configuration needed for a working system is a Tektronix 4010 storage tube and a modem with a cost totalling around £5000. Hard copy here can be provided by use of a camera, orlmore sophisticated plotting equipment can be connected. An optimum terminal, one which the Wolfson Unit use themselves, is the PERA PADDS terminal costing around £17000. Other terminals are at present being investigated. Postprocessors have to date been written for four controllers. One problem the Industrial Unit see with present NC machines is that they take only paper tape input rather than magnetic cassette tape or floppy disc. As the length of a tape needed to produce even a simple design runs into hundreds of metres, discussions are taking place with manufacturers with the aim of producing a new generation of controllers that can handle large quantities of information economically by faster and m(~re accurate input. A Swiss firm has already taken a license to use the system. (Wolfson
Cambridge Industrial Unit, University of Cambridge, 20 Trumpington Street, Cambridge CB2 IQA. Telephone: Cambridge 64568)
computer-aided design
Limited, P 0 Box 18, Stroud, Gloucestershire, UK. Telephone: 0452 812688,)
A researcher studies temperature profiles o f a nest and cutting parameters are taken straight from the drawing or specification and fed into the computer via the keyboard. This process is simplified by a menu of questions displayed on the video screen. As the computer is a standard version, other tasks such as payroll calculations, statistics and costings can be programmed using the 2200's BASIC language. (Wang Electronics Limited,
NC tape generation
Argyle House, Joel Streeh Northwood Hi/Is, Middlesex HA6 I LN, UK. Telephone: Northwood 28211)
Wang Electronics and Badalex have combined to produce a set of programs which can generate ISO or EIA coded tapes for NC (numerically controlled) machines. The programs are available on both cassette and diskette and will accept Imperial or metric data. They cover most common 2½ axis operations such as matrix, peck and repeat drilling, slot and kidney slot milling, drilling circles of holes, profiling and cam production. Other functions will be made available in due course. The system runs on the Wang 2200 computer and is available in several configurations. The basic system comprises a console/video-screen, 8 kbytes of user memory, tape cassette drive and a punch, and can handle up to eight NC machines. No specialized skill is needed to operate the system. Basic dimensions
CAD/CAM for moulds and dies
298
The DUCT suite of programs from the Wolfson Cambridge Industrial Unit has now been made available on the CDC Data Services KRONOS timesharing system. The software package consists of four programs which enable moulds and dies to be designed and NC tapes produced: DESIGN DUCT program enables cross-sections to be designed and modified on the screen, and gives areas of cross-sections; CREATE DUCT takes data for spine and crosssections and creates the duct from them; SEE DUCT gives isometric, axonometric, first or third angle and stereoscopic views, and further allows
rotation, crosshatching and other facilities; CUPROJ defines the intersections of a tube of general crosssection with a cylinder. The minimum hardware configuration needed for a working system is a Tektronix 4010 storage tube and a modem with a cost totalling around £5000. Hard copy here can be provided by use of a camera, orlmore sophisticated plotting equipment can be connected. An optimum terminal, one which the Wolfson Unit use themselves, is the PERA PADDS terminal costing around £17000. Other terminals are at present being investigated. Postprocessors have to date been written for four controllers. One problem the Industrial Unit see with present NC machines is that they take only paper tape input rather than magnetic cassette tape or floppy disc. As the length of a tape needed to produce even a simple design runs into hundreds of metres, discussions are taking place with manufacturers with the aim of producing a new generation of controllers that can handle large quantities of information economically by faster and m(~re accurate input. A Swiss firm has already taken a license to use the system. (Wolfson
Cambridge Industrial Unit, University of Cambridge, 20 Trumpington Street, Cambridge CB2 IQA. Telephone: Cambridge 64568)
computer-aided design