Engineering conceptual design can be defined as that phase of the product development process during which the designer takes a specification for a product to be designed and generates many broad solutions for it. It is well recognized that few computational tools exist that are capable of supporting the designer work through the conceptual phase of design. This paper presents a prototype const...

This paper presents the conceptual framework behind the Design Computing Unit's knowledgebased design research. It commences with a brief overview before introducing the role of experience in design. The conceptual schema 'prototypes' is introduced and described within a framework of design as transforming required or expected functions to structure descriptions. Current projects related to thi...

Abstract CubeSats are a type of spacecraft which have become popular since the early 2000. They known for their quick development time and low cost, when comparing them to larger satellites. However, there is significant drawback has been recorded during these years operations, namely an high failure rate turns almost half into space debris. The reasons behind malfunctions often attributed flaw...

The early stages of engineering design are critical, as the decisions made at this point have the most impact on the final product. However, little software is available to support engineers during the initial, conceptual design phase. In addition, at this and all other stages of design, engineers are increasingly tasked with utilizing unwieldy collections of data such as databases of legacy de...

Interest in evaluating conceptual modelling techniques has recently experienced a revival, in part due to widespread adoption of the Unified Modelling Language (UML). In addition, the use of ontology as a framework for evaluating conceptual modelling techniques has gained acceptance. In this paper, we consider implications of applying one aspect of the ontology of Mario Bunge to conceptual mode...

We present a systematic evaluation of different modeling techniques for the design of Geographic Information Systems as we experienced them through theoretical research and real world applications. A set of exemplary problems for spatial systems on which the suitability of models can be tested is discussed. We analyze the use of a specific database design methodology including the phases of con...

In an increasingly complex world, university education should balance teaching students the skills and intricacies of their field while enabling them to discover their authenticity and place in the world. The questions are: “How can design education respond to this challenge?” and “Where in the curriculum?” This paper supports that the conceptual design phase can be the forum in which students ...

We introduce a UML-based model for conceptual design support in civil engineering. Therefore, we identify required extensions to standard UML. Class diagrams are used for elaborating building typespecific knowledge: Object diagrams, implicitly contained in the architect’s sketch, are validated against the defined knowledge. To enable the use of industrial, domain-specific tools, we provide an i...