Interactive engineering systems design: A study for artificial intelligence applications

Abstract To develop KBSs as designer's assistants requires a detailed understanding of the process of design. We describe engineering systems design as a feedback process that suffers from several sources of uncertainty and complexity. Because of the broad range of design methodologies available, the need to classify design approaches, based on the amount of analytical information available to the designer, is argued. Three classes of design technique: analytical, procedural and experimental are identified and characterized. A detailed model of the procedural design process is developed and the importance of redesign is emphasized. Procedural design is a symbiotic process, the designer working closely with a computer. To establish which parts of the design should be performed by the designer and which by the machine, their respective information processing capabilities are examined. The designer works in terms of a conceptual framework and performs calculations using the machine's manipulative framework. He receives design assistance from a machine resident knowledge framework.

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