Collaborative Proposal: Visual Interfaces for Engineering Innovation

电子设计中心提案#1127609提案#1127664该提案旨在为马萨诸塞州大学、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批准的招标（NSF 10-601）授权。 征集邀请I/UCRC提交支持行业定义的基础研究的提案。设计过程通常需要产生大量的设计方案，然后通过应用不同的标准来减少这些方案。 正在进行的计算工具的应用，以创建一个完全电子化的过程中，电子设计已经启用，但可以有饱和的过程与众多的替代品的效果。 拟议的工作旨在汇集研究人员在创新的心理理论，计算机科学和人机交互，从一个临时的设计创新过程中，通过功能的空间转换到一个更系统的搜索。 这项工作的目的是在一个语义框架中实现由此产生的策略，认知和人机界面，将允许可视化的设计师的一部分，最有前途的功能，为每个特定的设计情况。拟议的研究有可能使电子-设计工具，以克服目前的局限性，改善设计的过程和结果，同时提供对人类创新过程的见解。 如果成功的话，两者都可以显著提高设计效率，从而节省成本并缩短上市时间。这项工作得到了该中心各个行业成员的支持，并有可能通过整合认知原则实现的电子设计工具的重大创新来扩展该中心的产品组合。在中心内外，对设计教育和执行的影响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.