An Agent-Oriented Model of a Dynamic Engineering Design Process

Abstract

Abstract. One way to make engineering design effective and efficient is to make its processes flexible -i.e. self-adjusting, self-configuring, and selfoptimizing at run time. This chapter presents the descriptive part of the Dynamic Engineering Design Process (DEDP) modeling framework developed in the PSI 1 project. The project aims to build a software tool to assist managers to analyze and enhance the productivity of the DEDPs through process simulations. The framework incorporates the models of teams and actors, tasks and activities as well as design artifacts as the major interrelated parts. DEDPs are modeled as weakly defined flows of tasks and atomic activities which may only "become apparent" at run time because of several presented dynamic factors. The processes are self-formed through the mechanisms of collaboration in the dynamic team of actors. These mechanisms are based on contracting negotiations. DEDP productivity is assessed by the Units of Welfare collected by the multi-agent system which models the design team. The models of the framework are formalized in the family of PSI ontologies.

Modeling Actions in Dynamic Engineering Design Processes

“…Presented modeling framework and the PSI Suite of Ontologies are the follow-up of our results published in [14]. The DEDP modeling framework in its part of process modeling bases its approach on [15][16][17].…”

An Upper Level Ontological Model for Engineering Design Performance Domain

“…This model should be capable of facilitating agents reasoning about environments, events, and actions employed in decision taking procedures enacted at environmental states. These sorts of commonsense reasoning require ontological representations of time [3], environments, events and their subjective perceptions [4], processes, actions, actors, design artifacts, resources, tools [5][6][7]. The models of these domain aspects form the Core and the Extensions of PSI Suite of Ontologies v.2.1 [6] and v.2.2 [7].…”

Towards Industrial Strength Business Performance Management

“…In order to obtain a qualitative assessment of a design system performance by simulation [Go06], we use the acquired knowledge and data [So06] to represent a design process in a procedural way accounting for a high degree of process dynamics [Er06].…”

“…This outline of the performance ontology is grounded in the PSI Ontologies Suite [Er06] and relies on its formal definitions of the Domain o dynamic engineering design processes structured in Task-Activity, Actor, Resource, and Project ontologies.…”

“…Evidently, PM 3 and the prototype software tool require a domain model which is much more detailed than a traditional one. ontologies [Er06] play a central role in it. Fig.…”