Integrated Design and Modeling of Mechatronic Systems
Design of mechatronic systems is a complex process. The systems themselves are becoming complex due to an increase in functionality and behavior intelligence. On the other hand, the overall design problem is partitioned into domain-specific problems. In a model based design process, this partitioning leads to a situation where product properties influence each other, resulting in dependencies between design models. For model management, management of dependencies is vital, especially in avoiding inconsistencies, which can lead towards failures and substantial losses. A mechatronic design methodology that addresses management of dependencies is lacking. Hence, there is a strong need to provide better support through methods and tools, not only to manage the dependencies, but also to address the design integration and model interoperability issues, primary aims of this research project. Supporting the conceptual phase of mechatronic design through a common system-level modeling language is also an important topic of this research. The main aim is to make better decisions, which should provide better design solutions.
Project Goals
- Provide support for management of dependencies between domain-specific design activities during mechatronic design
- Provide support for representation and utilization of information gained through product synthesis phase into model-based development process
- Support for representation of design concepts through a common modeling language
- Support for assessing alternative design concepts
- Support for optimizing a design concept
Research Approach
The Design Research Methodology (DRM) [Blessing & Chakrabarti, 2009] is followed in devising the overall research plan, which consists of the following studies:
- Descriptive study 1 to understand the mechatronic challenges, and the level of tool support
- Prescriptive study 1 (proposing integrated design infrastructure) to provide support for key mechatronic challenges under the scope of this thesis
- Descriptive study 2 to evaluate the developed support in a realistic mechatronic design setting in lab environment
A visualization of the overall research approach is provided in the following figure: