An investigation into the integration of neural networks with the structured genetic algorithm to aid conceptual design

Genetic Algorithms (GAs) and structured Genetic Algorithms (sGAs) are powerful tools for modelling some of the activities related to the conceptual stage of the design process. Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) are Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools which can learn and generalise from examples and experience to produce meaningful solutions to problems even when input data is fuzzy, discontinuous or is incomplete. Human creativity, intuition and expertise can be combined and incorporated when training ANNs. Research has shown that the ANN can be a powerful tool for modelling some of the activities of the conceptual stage of the design process. The current paper investigates possibilities of integrating the sGA and the ANN in the context of a decision support tool to assist designers.