A knowledge-level model for concurrent design.

The concurrent approach to engineering design, concurrent design, implies that expert knowledge regarding a number of different downstream life-cycle perspectives (such as assembly, manufacture, maintainability etc) should all be considered at the design stage of a product's life-cycle. Extensive and valuable work has been done in developing computer aids to both the design and concurrent design processes. However, a criticism of such tools is that their development has been driven by computational considerations and that the tools are not based on a generally accepted model of the design process. Different models of design have been developed that fall into a number of paradigms, including cognitive and knowledge-level models. However, while there is no generally accepted cognitive model describing the way designers and design teams think, the concept of the knowledge-level has enabled a more pragmatic approach to be taken to the development of models of problem-solving activity.Different researchers have developed knowledge-level models for the design process, particularly as part of the CommonKADS methodology (one of the principal knowledge-based system development methodologies currently in use). These design models have significantly extended design thinking in this area. However, the models do not explicitly support the concurrent design process. I have developed top-down knowledge-level models of the concurrent design process by analysis of published research and discussions with academics. However some researchers have criticised models for design that are not based on analysis of 'real-life' design. Hence I wished to validate my top-down models by analysing how concurrent design actually occurs in a real-life industrial setting.Analysing concurrent design activity is a complex process and there are no definitive methodological guidelines as to the 'right way' to do it. Therefore I have developed and utilised a novel method of knowledge elicitation and analysis to develop 'bottom-up' models for concurrent design. This is based on a number of different approaches and was done in collaboration with a number of different design teams and organisations who are engaged in the concurrent design of mechanically based products.My resulting knowledge-level models are an original contribution to knowledge. They suggest that the concurrent design process consists of a number of discrete sub-tasks of propose, critique and negotiate. These models have been instantiated as generic model templates, using the modelling formalisms specified by CommonYADS. These models have been implemented on a software tool, the CommonKADS workbench, in order to provide support for developers of computer-based systems for concurrent design

Technological roadmap on AI planning and scheduling

At the beginning of the new century, Information Technologies had become basic and indispensable constituents of the production and preparation processes for all kinds of goods and services and with that are largely influencing both the working and private life of nearly every citizen. This development will continue and even further grow with the continually increasing use of the Internet in production, business, science, education, and everyday societal and private undertaking. Recent years have shown, however, that a dramatic enhancement of software capabilities is required, when aiming to continuously provide advanced and competitive products and services in all these fast developing sectors. It includes the development of intelligent systems – systems that are more autonomous, flexible, and robust than today’s conventional software. Intelligent Planning and Scheduling is a key enabling technology for intelligent systems. It has been developed and matured over the last three decades and has successfully been employed for a variety of applications in commerce, industry, education, medicine, public transport, defense, and government. This document reviews the state-of-the-art in key application and technical areas of Intelligent Planning and Scheduling. It identifies the most important research, development, and technology transfer efforts required in the coming 3 to 10 years and shows the way forward to meet these challenges in the short-, medium- and longer-term future. The roadmap has been developed under the regime of PLANET – the European Network of Excellence in AI Planning. This network, established by the European Commission in 1998, is the co-ordinating framework for research, development, and technology transfer in the field of Intelligent Planning and Scheduling in Europe. A large number of people have contributed to this document including the members of PLANET non- European international experts, and a number of independent expert peer reviewers. All of them are acknowledged in a separate section of this document. Intelligent Planning and Scheduling is a far-reaching technology. Accepting the challenges and progressing along the directions pointed out in this roadmap will enable a new generation of intelligent application systems in a wide variety of industrial, commercial, public, and private sectors

Assessment of applications for the house renovations grants system : an IT support framework

This thesis describes the development of a knowledge-based framework for supportinghuman experts from the Department of Environmental and Consumer Services of theSalford City Council in assessing applications for the current house renovation grant system(HRGS).The resulting system implements an architecture which integrates case-based reasoningprocesses with other problem solving methods. In addition, the system's architectureintegrates different types of knowledge which are required by the problem solving methods.Some of the main features of the system's architecture are its modularity and itsindependence from the implementation shell. The system was implemented using Kappa-PC which is a shell designed for implementing knowledge-based systems.The implementation followed the Client Centred Approach method. A number of lessonswere learned from the implementation process. The implementation was carried outtogether with the verification and validation of the system. The verification and validationmethods employed allowed the author to focus the evaluation on different features andcomponents of the system. A number of test cases were employed during the validation.Client's experts and other independent experts were involved in the validation of thesystem. Each validation step was followed by refinement of the main system's components.This research has demonstrated that various problem solving methods are required forperforming the different tasks of the assessment of applications for the HRGS. Theimplemented system has been reasonably successful in demonstrating that a singleframework which integrates various methods can be used for supporting human experts inassessing applications for the FIRGS. Therefore, the system has proved to perform asaccurately as human experts do for all of the tasks. The system has been described as verypromising by the Client's experts