Optical Laser Disk Storage for Technical Information Control and Distribution

Abstract

Engineering drawings and their associated change notices, standards, procedures and specifications are the most valuable documents created and used by engineering and technological organizations. These drawings represent the result of many thousands of hours of effort and are a precise means of communication to users for engineering, manufacturing, maintenance and procurement activities.

Organizations have historically incurred substantial direct and indirect costs to index, maintain and distribute drawings and other engineering records. Typically, the storage media have been hard copy files, aperture cards and microfiche. Considerable effort has been expended to reduce the physical size of the storage space required and to improve document handling through the use of micrographic techniques.

Until now distribution and use of engineering file information has been restricted to blueline reproduction or projection copying of documents with limited TV viewing. By utilizing digital scanners, optical storage and digital transmission of file information, a new spectrum is opened in the processing and handling of large data base files. The ability to rapidly convert existing documents for digital storage coupled with the capability to integrate CAD and Word Processing data represent a unique challenge for configuration control. This challenge will require that the technical records manager understand not only those techniques applied to data processing but also the elements of image processing, data compression and broad band communications.