design knowledge
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There is a large
body of knowledge A body of knowledge (BOK or BoK) is the complete set of concepts, terms and activities that make up a professional domain, as defined by the relevant learned society or professional association.Oliver, G.R. (2012). ''Foundations of the Assumed Bus ...
that
designer A designer is a person who plans the form or structure of something before it is made, by preparing drawings or plans. In practice, anyone who creates tangible or intangible objects, products, processes, laws, games, graphics, services, or exper ...
s call upon and use during the
design process A design is the concept or proposal for an object, process, or system. The word ''design'' refers to something that is or has been intentionally created by a thinking agent, and is sometimes used to refer to the inherent nature of something ...
to match the ever-increasing complexity of design problems. Design knowledge can be classified into two categories: product knowledge and design process knowledge.


Product Knowledge

Product knowledge has been fairly studied and a number of modeling techniques have been developed. Most of them are tailored to specific products or specific aspects of the design activities. For example,
geometric modeling __NOTOC__ Geometric modeling is a branch of applied mathematics and computational geometry that studies methods and algorithms for the mathematical description of shapes. The shapes studied in geometric modeling are mostly two- or three-dimensi ...
is used mainly for supporting detailed design, while
knowledge modeling Knowledge modeling is a process of creating a computer interpretable model of knowledge or standard specifications about a kind of process and/or about a kind of facility or product. The resulting knowledge model can only be computer interpretable ...
is working for supporting conceptual designs. Based on these techniques, a design repository project at
NIST The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is an agency of the United States Department of Commerce whose mission is to promote American innovation and industrial competitiveness. NIST's activities are organized into physical s ...
attempts to model three fundamental facets of an artifact representation: the physical layout of the artifact (form), an indication of the overall effect that the artifact creates (function), and a causal account of the operation of the artifact (behavior). The recent NIST research effort towards the development of the basic foundations of the next generation of CAD systems suggested a core representation for design information called the NIST core product model (CPM) and a set of derived models defined as extensions of the CPM (e.g.). The NIST core product model has been developed to unify and integrate product or assembly information. The CPM provides a base-level product model that is: not tied to any vendor software; open; non-proprietary; expandable; independent of any one product development process; capable of capturing the engineering context that is most commonly shared in product development activities. The core model focuses on artifact representation including function, form, behavior, material, physical and functional decompositions, and relationships among these concepts. The entity-relationship data model influences the model heavily; accordingly, it consists of two sets of classes, called object and relationship, equivalent to the UML class and association class, respectively.


Design Process Knowledge

Design process knowledge can be described in two levels: design activities and design rationale. The importance of representation for design rationale has been recognized but it is a more complex issue that extends beyond artifact function. The
design structure matrix The design structure matrix (DSM; also referred to as dependency structure matrix, dependency structure method, dependency source matrix, problem solving matrix, incidence matrix, ''N2'' matrix, interaction matrix, dependency map or design precede ...
(DSM) has been used for modeling design process (activities) and some related research efforts have been conducted. For example, a web-based prototype system for modeling the product development process using a multi-tiered DSM is developed at MIT. However, few research endeavors have been found on design rationale.


Representation Scenarios

In terms of representation scenarios, design knowledge can also be categorized into off-line and on-line knowledge. Design process knowledge can be categorized into ontologies.


Off-line Knowledge

Offline Knowledge refers to existing
knowledge representation Knowledge representation (KR) aims to model information in a structured manner to formally represent it as knowledge in knowledge-based systems whereas knowledge representation and reasoning (KRR, KR&R, or KR²) also aims to understand, reason, and ...
, including design knowledge in handbook and design ‘‘
know-how Procedural knowledge (also known as know-how, knowing-how, and sometimes referred to as practical knowledge, imperative knowledge, or performative knowledge) is the knowledge exercised in the performance of some task. Unlike descriptive knowledge ...
’’, etc.; the latter refers to the new design knowledge created in the course of design activities by designers themselves. For the off-line knowledge, there are two representation approaches. One is to highly abstract and categorize existing knowledge including experiences into a series of design principles, rationales and constraints.
TRIZ TRIZ (; ) is a methodology that combines an organized, systematic method of problem-solving with analysis and forecasting techniques derived from the study of patterns of invention in global patent literature. The development and improvement of ...
is a good instance of this approach. The other is to represent a collection of design knowledge into a certain case for description. Case-based design is an example of this approach. The key issue is on the computerization of the design knowledge representation. For instance, researchers at the Engineering Design Centre at Lancaster University, UK established a unique knowledge representation methodology and knowledge base vocabulary based on the theory of domains, design principles and
computer modeling Computer simulation is the running of a mathematical model on a computer, the model being designed to represent the behaviour of, or the outcome of, a real-world or physical system. The reliability of some mathematical models can be determin ...
. They developed a software tool for engineering knowledge management. The tool provides an engineering system designer with the capability to search a knowledge base of past solutions, and other known technologies to explored viable alternatives for product design.


On-line Knowledge

On-line knowledge representation is capturing the dynamic design knowledge in a certain format for design re-use and archive. A few research efforts have been found in this area. Blessing proposes the process-based support system (PROSUS) based on a model of the design process rather than the product. It uses a
design matrix In statistics and in particular in regression analysis, a design matrix, also known as model matrix or regressor matrix and often denoted by X, is a matrix of values of explanatory variables of a set of objects. Each row represents an individual o ...
to represent the design process as a structured set of issues and activities. Together with the common product data model (CPDM), PROSUS supports the capture of all outputs of the design activity.


Ontologies

Ontologies In information science, an ontology encompasses a representation, formal naming, and definitions of the categories, properties, and relations between the concepts, data, or entities that pertain to one, many, or all domains of discourse. More ...
are being used for product representation (e.g.). Research suggests that there is a need to provide computer support that will supply clear and complete design knowledge and also facilitate designer intervention and customization during the decision-making activities in the design process. For example, WebCADET P.A. Rodgers, A.P. Huxor, N.H.M. Caldwell, Design support using distributed web-based AI tools, Research in Engineering Design 11 (1999) 31–44. is a design support system that uses distributed Web-based AI tools. It uses the AI as text approach, where
knowledge-based systems A knowledge-based system (KBS) is a computer program that reasons and uses a knowledge base to solve complex problems. Knowledge-based systems were the focus of early artificial intelligence researchers in the 1980s. The term can refer to a b ...
(KBSs) can be seen as a medium to facilitate the communication of design knowledge between designers. The system can provide support for designers when searching for design knowledge.


References

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