Designing at the Functional Level of Abstraction

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In the early stages of a design project, it is especially important to be able to represent, at a high level of abstraction, the functional requirements of the system being designed. This makes it possible for the design team to arrange and rearrange the essential functional components rapidly. This also offers a means to explore the feasibility of different system configurations and to pose and answer "what-if" questions before the design is frozen. Similarly, if one is able to model processes associated with manufacture, then in a like manner, the feasibility of different manufacturing systems can be explored. It is well known that design for manufacture tools are implementable and useful once the design of a component is known. But what if it is necessary to address the issue of design for manufacture very early, for example, when only the function is known? At present, this remains an open question. If the tools for modeling function and manufacturing processes at the function level of abstraction are developed then it should be possible to pose and answer "what-if" questions that occur at the function-manufacture interface. The development of the means to include manufacturing considerations in design when only the functional requirements are known is the focus of this research.