Open architecture for product adaptability: challenges in design, evaluation and implementation

市场竞争和技术发展的快速进步导致了机床、汽车和手机等工业和消费产品的多样化和寿命缩短。设计一款能够在整个生命周期内不断满足用户需求变化的产品是一项挑战。与现有产品相比，适应性强的产品是指在产品寿命期内可以升级以满足用户需求的产品。本文的研究将开发使用开放式体系结构的方法，以提高产品的适应性。据建议，一个适应性强的产品将包括三种类型的功能模块：作为产品平台的通用模块，供用户在购买产品时选择的定制模块，以及允许用户在产品生命周期内升级功能的个性化模块。适应性产品将为用户提供开放的界面，以根据其不断变化的需求升级功能，而无需完全更换产品。这是一个创新的产品概念 *。本研究包括三个任务。1)开放接口的设计，方便产品升级。这个任务将开发接口表示，设计和分析的方法。将提出定性措施，以评价接口设计和业务效率。2)开发以人为本的决策方法，以捕捉用户需求。这项任务将在人类决策中应用基于代理的建模，通过模拟人与产品的交互来捕捉用户需求的变化。3)开发方便用户的工具，以增加用户对产品评价的参与。这项任务将整合设计评估和虚拟现实设施，以支持非专家用户。将开发一个自然的用户界面，可以接受多种类型的数据输入。用户参与将包括产品的选择、修改和操作。这些工具还将在产品升级过程中模拟用户操作，以验证设计解决方案。*使用开放式架构来提高产品的适应性是一个新兴的概念。短期研究目标是开发具有成本效益的方法，用于设计，评估和实施适应性产品，并在产品中测试方法，包括轮椅，电动汽车和工业喷漆机等，长期目标是继续开发和完善开放式架构作为新一代产品的结构。拟议的适应性产品将标志着产品开发的一个潜在突破，结合开放的接口，考虑不断变化的用户需求的能力，并直接用户参与产品的实施。研究解决方案将转化为硬件和软件工具，用于开发适应性强的产品。

Market competition and the rapid progress of technology development have led to wider diversity and shorter lifespans for industrial and consumer products such as machine tools, cars and cell phones. It is a challenge to design a product that can continuously meet changing user needs throughout its lifespan. In contrast to existing products, an adaptable product would be one that can be upgraded to meet user needs during the lifetime of the product. The research proposed here will develop methods using open architecture to improve product adaptability. It is proposed that an adaptable product would consist of three types of functional modules: common modules that serve as product platforms, customized modules for users to select when purchasing a product, and personalized modules that allow users to upgrade functions during the lifetime of the product. Adaptable products will provide open interfaces for users to upgrade functions in response to their changing needs without having to replace the product entirely. This represents an innovative concept in product implementation.***This research consists of three tasks. 1) The design of open interfaces to facilitate product upgrading. This task will develop methods in interface representation, design and analysis. Qualitative measures will be proposed to evaluate interface design and operational efficiency. 2) The development of human-centered decision-making methods to capture user requirements. This task will apply agent-based modeling in human decision making to capture changes in user needs through simulation of human-product interactions. 3) The development of a user-friendly tool to increase user involvement in product evaluation. This task will integrate design evaluation and virtual reality facilities to support non-expert users. A natural user interface will be developed that can accept multiple types of data inputs. User involvement will include selection, modification and manipulation of products. The tools will also simulate user operations during product upgrading to verify design solutions.****Using open architecture to improve product adaptability is an emerging concept. The short term research goals are to develop cost-effective methods for design, evaluation and implementation of adaptable products, and test the methods in products that will include wheelchairs, electrical vehicles, and industrial painting machines, etc. The long-term goal is to continue developing and perfecting open architecture as the structure for a new generation of products. The proposed adaptable products will mark a potential breakthrough in product development by combining open interfaces, the capacity to consider changing user needs, and direct user involvement in product implementation. The research solutions will be transferred into hardware and software tools for application in the development of adaptable products.******