A representation formalism for feature-based design

Feature-based design is regarded as a promising approach for design. However, it lacks a formal methodology for system development and operation. One repercussion of this is that feature-based design is, at present, implemented in a relatively ad hoc manner. This paper aims to address this deficiency by establishing a domain-independent representation formalism for feature-based design. The proposed representation formalism consists of a feature algebra, a design algorithm and a system architecture/development methodology. The proposed representation formalism aims to make it possible to develop a feature-based design system for a specific design domain in a structured way. In addition, by using the representation formalism as a research framework, other issues of feature-based design can be addressed. The research in this paper contributes to several aspects of design research, especially to the area of integrating concurrent engineering and feature-based design.