Collaborative Proposal: Visual Interfaces for Engineering Innovation

电子设计中心提案#1127609提案#1127664该提案寻求为马萨诸塞大学、弗吉尼亚理工学院和州立大学的电子设计中心网站提供资金。基础研究的资金申请由NSF批准的请愿书授权，NSF 10-601。征集邀请研究所/大学合作研究中心提交支持行业定义的基础研究的建议。设计过程通常需要产生许多设计备选方案，然后通过应用不同的标准减少这些备选方案。目前正在应用计算工具，为电子设计创建一个完全电子化的流程，但这可能会使这一流程与许多替代方案饱和。这项拟议的工作旨在将创新心理学理论、计算机科学和人机交互的研究人员聚集在一起，将创新的设计过程从临时的设计过程转变为通过特征空间进行更系统的搜索。这项工作旨在利用视觉感知、认知和人机界面的概念，在语义框架中实施所产生的策略，使设计者能够可视化每个特定设计案例中最有希望的功能。拟议的研究有可能使电子设计工具能够克服当前的限制，改进设计过程和结果，同时提供对人类创新过程的洞察。如果成功，两者都可以显著提高设计效率，从而节省成本和缩短上市时间。这项工作得到了该中心个别行业成员的支持，并有可能通过整合认知原则在电子设计工具方面的重大创新来扩大该中心的投资组合。无论是在中心内外，对设计教育和执行的影响都有可能在工程界产生广泛的影响。

Center for e-Design Proposal #1127609Proposal #1127664This proposal seeks funding for the Center for e-Design sites at the University of Massachusetts and the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. Funding Requests for Fundamental Research are authorized by an NSF approved solicitation, NSF 10-601. The solicitation invites I/UCRCs to submit proposals for support of industry-defined fundamental research. The design process typically entails generation of numerous design alternatives followed by reduction of these by virtue of application of different criteria. Ongoing application of computing tools to create an entirely electronic process for e-design have been enabling but can have the effect of saturating the process with numerous alternatives. The proposed work seeks to bring together researchers in the psychological theory of innovation, computer science and human computer interaction to transform the innovative process of design from one which is ad hoc to a more systematic search through the space of features. The effort aims to implement the resulting strategies in a semantic framework leveraging the concepts from visual perception, cognition and human computer interfaces that will allow visualization on the part of the designer of the most promising features for each specific design case.The proposed research has the potential to enable e-design tools to overcome current limitations and improve the process and outcomes of design while at the same time providing insights into the process of human innovation. Both, if successful, could significantly improve design efficiency resulting in cost savings and reduction of time to market. The work is supported by individual industry members of the center and has the potential to extend the portfolio of the center by virtue of the major innovation in e-design tools enabled by integration of cognitive principles. Both inside and outside the center, the impact on design education and execution has the potential for broad impact in the engineering community.