DESIGN PRODUCIBILITY ASSESSMENT

THE OBJECTIVE OF THIS EFFORT IS TO DEVELOP AN EXPERT KNOWLEDGE BASED, INTERACTIVE MODEL FOR DESIGN PRODUCIBILITY ASSESSMENT. THE CONCEPT FOR DEVELOPING THE INTERACTIVE MODEL IS TO TIE AN ESTABLISHED EXPERT SYSTEM SOFTWARE SHELL TO AN EXISTING DATA BASE SHELL THAT WILL ACCOMMODATE INTERACTIVE PROCESSING WITH OTHER ALGORITHM MODULES. THE APPROACH TO PRODUCIBILITY ASSESSMENT WILL BE BASED ON THE ANALYTICAL HIERARCHY PROCESS WHEREBY DESIGN PRODUCIBILITY CRITERIA WILL BE ARRANGED IN A HIERARCHICAL STRUCTURE AND WEIGHTED BASED ON EXPERT OPINION OF THEIR RELATIVE IMPORTANCE. DESIGN ALTERNATIVES CAN THEN BE RATED VERSUS THE WEIGHTED CRITERIA AND THE RESULTS SYNTHESIZED INTO AN OVERALL FIGURE OF MERIT FOR THE PRODUCIBILITY OF A GIVEN DESIGN. PHASE I WILL ENTAIL A SIMPLE STRUCTURING OF THE EXPERT SYSTEM AND DATA BASE SHELLS, AS WELL AS DEVELOPMENT OF A RUDIMENTARY ALGORITHM TO MODEL THE DESIGN PRODUCIBILITY ASSESSMENT PROCESS. THE RESULT OF PHASE I WILL BE PROOF OF CONCEPT. PHASE II WILL ENTAIL DEVELOPMENT OF A NATURE INTERACTIVE DESIGN PRODUCIBILITY ASSESSMENT MODEL WITH ENOUGH BREADTH IN THE RELATIONAL ALGORITHM MODULES AND DEPTH IN THE EXPERT SYSTEM TO ENABLE THOROUGH AND EFFECTIVE PRODUCIBILITY ASSESSMENTS ON ANY TYPE OF HARDWARE DESIGN.