CDI Type II: Building a Virtual Micro/Nanosystems Design Community

该项目提供了一个网络门户，旨在通过免费访问的基于网络的门户来教育用户有关工程微/纳米系统的知识，其中共享用户生成的模型、示例模拟和设计方法。微和纳米系统(MEMS和NEMS或N/MEMS)启发儿童的方式与过去桥梁、火车、汽车和收音机所做的方式相同。例如，任天堂Wii通过MEMS加速计将现实世界和数字世界联系起来。N/MEMS行业的年收入超过50亿美元，是公认的成长型行业。然而，新手用户和专家用户、预测和实验以及时间长度和时间尺度之间的关键差距减缓了技术进步。该项目团队利用这种新发现的对技术的兴趣，建立了一个虚拟社区，介绍了N/MEMS的工作原理，并促进了新手和专家的新设计。为了实现该项目的目标，一个多学科团队提供了一套教程、指南和工具箱/模拟器，可用于创建、测试和模拟纳米系统的设计。目标受众包括K12学生、本科生、研究生和学者。其目的是让新手用户接触到纳米系统中固有的模型和结构，使用一个3-D界面，用户可以直接使用该界面将模型组件操作成可视表示。该系统承诺为新手用户提供使用易于使用和直观的图形用户界面来询问和应用复杂物理模型的机会。预计该系统将使该领域的专家能够扩展或增加新的纳米系统模型，从而对他们有用。这个项目涉及卡内基梅隆大学、伊利诺伊大学和普渡大学的计算机科学家、机械科学家和电气工程师之间的合作。这个新的框架在网上实施，预计将由用户自我维持。也就是说，用户贡献给Wiki驱动的模型和解决方案库，以及教程和模板。3D图形用户界面加速了系统设计，并激励了许多教育水平的新手参与其中。

This project offers a web gateway designed to educate users about engineering micro/nanosystems through a freely accessible web-based gateway where user-generated models, example simulations, and design methodologies are shared.Micro and nanosystems (MEMS and NEMS or N/MEMS) inspire children in the same way as bridges, trains, cars, and radios did in the past. For example, Nintendo Wii links the physical and digital worlds through a MEMS accelerometer. The N/MEMS industry exceeds $5B in annual revenue and is well recognized as a growth business. However, critical gaps between novice and expert users, prediction and experiment, and length and time scales slow technological advances. This project team exploits this new-found interest in technology by building a virtual community which introduces how N/MEMS work and facilitates new designs by novices and experts. To achieve the goals of this project, a multidisciplinary team offers a system of tutorials, guidelines, and a toolbox/simulator that can be used for creating, testing, and modeling designs for nanosystems. The target audience includes K12 students, undergraduates, graduate students, and scholars. The objective is to expose novice users to models and structures inherent in nanosystems using a 3-D interface that can be used directly by users to manipulate model components into visual representations. This system promises to offer novice users the opportunity to interrogate and apply complex physics models using an easy to use and intuitive graphical user interface. The system is expected to be useful to experts in this domain by enabling them to extend or add new nanosystems models. This project involves collaboration between computer scientists, mechanical scientists, and electrical engineers, at Carnegie Mellon University, University of Illinois, and Purdue University.This novel framework, implemented online, is expected to be self-sustaining - piloted by its users. That is, users contribute to the Wiki-driven model and solution libraries, and to tutorials and templates. The 3D graphical user interface expedites system design and motivates novices at many educational levels to participate.