COMPUTER-AIDED LIFE CYCLE ENGINEERING WORKSTATION: A DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEM FOR COMPUTER-AIDED LIFE CYCLE ENGINEERING

THE PRIMARY OBJECTIVE OF THIS PROJECT IS TO DEVELOP A PROTOTYPE OF A UNIQUE APPROACH TO UNIFIED LIFE CYCLE ENGINEERING (ULCE), CALLED THE RAMSEARCH COMPUTER-AIDED LIFE CYCLE ENGINEERING (CALCE) WORKSTATION IN PREPARATION FOR IMPLEMENTATION IN THE SBIR PHASE II. THE CALCE WORKSTATION SOFTWARE SYSTEM IS AN INTELLIGENT SHELL STRUCTURE FOR A DESIGN ENGINEERING DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEM WHICH CAN BE ADAPTED BY EACH USING ORGANIZATION TO ITS OWN PARTICULAR SUPPORTABILITY DESIGN NEEDS. CALCE WILL EMPLOY BOTH EXPERT SYSTEM AND NATURAL LANGUAGE INTERFACE TECHNIQUES. THIS WILL INCLUDE A MECHANISM FOR CREATING, UPDATING, AND USING A DESIGN RULE DATABASE WHICH CAN BE ADAPTED TO DEFENSE CONTRACTOR'S NEEDS. CALCE WILL BE USEFUL TO DESIGNERS IN ANY DISCIPLINE WHO WISH TO ADOPT THE LIFE CYCLE VIEW OF DESIGN. CALCE IS AIMED AT INCREASING THE INTERACTION BETWEEN VARIOUS DESIGN DISCIPLINES AND PROVIDING THE ABILITY TO OPTIMIZE AMONG COMPETING DESIGN GOALS SO THAT SUPPORTABILITY CONSIDERATIONS CAN BE AN EFFECTIVE ELEMENT OF THE DESIGN PROCESS.