A statistically based design system that promotes design reuse

In a recent SBIR solicitation DARPA identified a need for Engineering Decision Support (EDS) tools for multi-disciplinary design teams involved in the specification, design and development of complex electro-mechanical products. AET Inc., with help from Florida Institute of Technology, developed a prototype architecture specification for such a tool during a Phase I contract. The specification encapsulates AET's STADIUM methodology for implementation of statistical simulation capabilities. The tool facilitates design of experiments based tradeoff studies and design rationale identification, capture and communication for multi-disciplinary design teams. This EDS tool also contains a customizable query engine which interfaces with existing user product databases and promotes design reuse. This paper describes the EDS tool architecture and provides an example of its use in the design of a product using prototype user interface software.