Computer-Aided Design has progressed from being concerned initially with analysis and evaluation through graphic representation and geometric modelling, to a concern with the design tasks themselves. The role of Expert Systems in performing complex design tasks is examined in this book. Here, expert systems have been defined rather broadly: any system which embodies expert knowledge explicitly and utilises reasoning processes as its computational process. The topics covered include system architectures, representation tools, applications, and specific design concerns. The papers demonstrate the wide variety of knowledge engineering tools needed in computer-aided design.

Expert Systems for Engineering Design presents the application of expert system methods to a variety of engineering design problems. This book provides the technical details on how the methods are used to solve specific design problems in chemical engineering, civil engineering, and several others. Organized into 12 chapters, this book begins with an overview of the synthesis, the creation, and development of alternative designs. This text then examines the nature of design expertise and the types of computer tools that can enhance the expert's decision-making. Other chapters consider the integration of tools into intelligent, cooperative frameworks. This book discusses as well the use of graphic interfaces with built-in knowledge about the designs being configured. The final chapter deals with the development of software tools for automatic design synthesis and evaluation within the integrated framework of a computer-aided mechanical design system known as CASE, which stands for computer-aided simultaneous engineering. This book is a valuable resource for engineers and architects.

The importance of CAD to electronics technology Computer-aided design (CAD) is one way of coping with the problem of how to design and build very complex systems. This problem is particularly acute in electronics technology. Designs are now (1984) said to be design-limited, rather than technology-limited. It can take months to generate a design for a chip, so that it might be obsolete before it can be manufactured. Manual design of large-scale integration (LSI) chips (circa 10,000 gates) is almost impossible. However, using current technology it is possible to produce chips having 250,000 gates. It is understandable, therefore, that there is great interest in improving existing CAD systems. Designers of CAD systems are concerned with formalizing and automating as much of the design task as possible. Automating design of any kind has long been acknowledged as a project fraught with intractable problems. A human designer has to have an understanding of the nature of the materials used in manufacture, a knowledge of common problems and well-tried solutions, and above all, creativity in producing new designs. Understanding, knowledge and creativity are three properties even the most artificially intelligent of computer programs have been entirely lacking in until very recently. Some people would deny computers these qualities entirely, on philosophical grounds (eg Dreyfus 1979; Searle 1981). There are few theories in cognitive psychology which can help.