Visual Design Steering as an Aid in Complex System Decision Making

本研究的目的是开发可在协同设计环境中有效使用的基于可视化的决策支持工具，以便在不确定的情况下进行多目标决策，并在快速虚拟样机的背景下实现快速权衡决策。将开发出对多维和多目标设计问题中涉及的不确定性进行建模和可视化表示的方法。由于许多协同设计问题都是由有限的资源驱动的，因此将开发有效的快速虚拟样机工具。将开发组件和系统级目标的耦合关系的定量和定性模型，以便更好地评估时间、金钱和质量等资源之间的权衡。数据挖掘技术将被用于有效地浓缩和过滤相关决策信息。最后，这些技术和工具将被实施在基于网络的决策指导工具中，以允许协作设计师同时可视化设计空间、产品和权衡信息。如果成功，这项研究的好处将包括在协同产品设计环境中使用科学可视化来做出权衡决策的基础。此外，好处还包括确定使用基于可视化的工具支持各种形式的决策(多属性、资源有限、协作或在不确定情况下)的有效性。这一基础和后续工具不仅有可能对工程部门产生影响，而且有可能对任何决策至关重要的科学领域产生影响。

The objective of this research is to develop visualization-based decision support tools that can be used effectively in collaborative design environments to make multiobjective decisions under uncertainty and to enable rapid trade-off decisions in the context of rapid virtual prototyping. Methods to model and visually represent the uncertainty involved with multidimensional and multiobjective design problems will be developed. Because many collaborative design problems are driven by limited resources, tools for effective rapid virtual prototyping will be developed. Quantitative and qualitative models of coupling relationships on component and system level objectives will be developed in order to better asses tradeoffs between resources such as time, money, and quality. Data mining techniques will be used to efficiently condense and filter relevant decision making information. Lastly, these techniques and tools will be implemented in web-based decision steering tools to allow collaborating designers to visualize design spaces, products, and tradeoff information simultaneously.If successful, the benefits of this research will include a foundation for the use of scientific visualization to make tradeoff decisions in collaborative product design environments. Further, the benefits will also include establishing the efficacy of using visualization-based tools to support various forms of decision making (multiattribute, with limited resources, collaborative, or under uncertainty). This foundation and subsequent tools have the potential to impact not only the engineering sector, but any scientific field where decision making is of paramount importance.