Engineering Design Environment Research Articles

Scene Semantic Recognition Based on Modified Fuzzy C-Mean and Maximum Entropy Using Object-to-Object Relations

With advances in machine vision systems (e.g., artificial eye, unmanned aerial vehicles, surveillance monitoring) scene semantic recognition (SSR) technology has attracted much attention due to its related applications such as autonomous driving, tourist navigation, intelligent traffic and remote aerial sensing. Although tremendous progress has been made in visual interpretation, several challenges remain (i.e., dynamic backgrounds, occlusion, lack of labeled data, changes in illumination, direction, and size). Therefore, we have proposed a novel SSR framework that intelligently segments the locations of objects, generates a novel Bag of Features, and recognizes scenes via Maximum Entropy. First, denoising and smoothing are applied on scene data. Second, modified Fuzzy C-Means integrates with super-pixels and Random Forest for the segmentation of objects. Third, these segmented objects are used to extract a novel Bag of Features that concatenate different blobs, multiple orientations, Fourier transform and geometrical points over the objects. An Artificial Neural Network recognizes the multiple objects using the different patterns of objects. Finally, labels are estimated via Maximum Entropy model. During experimental evaluation, our proposed system illustrated a remarkable mean accuracy rate of 90.07% over the MSRC dataset and 89.26% over the Caltech 101 for object recognition, and 93.53% over the Pascal-VOC12 dataset for scene recognition, respectively. The proposed system should be applicable to various emerging technologies, such as augmented reality, to represent the real-world environment for military training and engineering design, as well as for entertainment, artificial eyes for visually impaired people and traffic monitoring to avoid congestion or road accidents.

Modelling of Privalul Tinoasa channel, in irrigation system Borcea 2 - Danube Romania

The study case is situated in Calarasi County, Romania, near Danube river. The sprinkler irrigation arrangement serves the area of 1018.67 ha, useful, net irrigated area. The sprinkler irrigation arrangement comprises fixed irrigation equipment consisting of 16 central irrigation pivots equipped with nozzle ramps for water spray, the pivots are supplied with water through a network of underground pipes, pumping station, water source the Privalul Tinoasa channel fed from the Danube River The Privalul Tinoasa channel will be cleared and re-profiled, having the role of water accumulation basin that will ensure the aspiration for the designed pumping station. Numerical modelling was performed using the program MIKE11. MIKE 11 is a user-friendly, fully dynamic, one-dimensional modelling tool for the detailed analysis, design, management and operation of both simple and complex river and channel systems. With its exceptional flexibility, speed and user-friendly environment, MIKE 11 provides a complete and effective design environment for engineering, water resources, water quality management and planning applications. The Hydrodynamic (HD) module is the nucleus of the MIKE 11 modelling system and forms the basis for most modules including Flood Forecasting, Advection-Dispersion, Water Quality and Non-cohesive sediment transport modules. The MIKE 11 HD module solves the vertically integrated equations for the conservation of mass and momentum, i.e. the Saint-Venant equations. The input data are: area plan with location of cross sections; cross sections topographical data and roughness of river bed; flood discharge hydrograph. Advanced computational modules are included for a description of flow over hydraulic structures, including possibilities to describe the structure operation.

A proposal to improve the competence of students within the unnecessarily complex mechanical engineering design environment

It is well accepted that many mechanical engineering (ME) design processes are complex. We believe that many ME design approaches include unnecessary complexity, intended to assist the teaching of engineering knowledge. This technical complexity has contributed to many critical issues in ME education, including decreased enrolments in many countries; diminished pre-existing skills amongst University entrants and increasing numbers of students abandoning courses. This has resulted in fewer fully competent graduate engineers, amongst whom a reduced understanding of essential knowledge leads to a consequent reduction in their capability. Unnecessarily complicated theoretical knowledge is taught to students of mechanical engineering design. Empirical evidence is provided to demonstrate this, along with the difficulty experienced by students when they attempt to apply their theoretical knowledge to gear design exercises. A proposed remedy for this issue has been thoroughly evaluated for the ME design and machine design project courses taught in Turkey. The findings indicate that most of the students cannot cope with excessively complex design approaches, and are reluctant to use them. This paper proposes an alternative solution, a generic method for the reductive, simplified problem-solving of typical design problems, without materially sacrificing accuracy. The basic implementation of the method is provided as a road map to show its application. If academics continue the efforts to extend the implementation of the method, in particular for machine components, this would reduce the issue of reduced numbers of capable graduate engineers. The method can also improve the self-confidence of students, as opposed to limiting their professional capacity.

Initial Validation of a Technical Writing Rubric for Engineering Design

Engineering design serves as the capstone experience of most undergraduate engineering programs. One of the key elements of the engineering design process is the compilation of results obtained into a technical report that can be shared and distributed to interested stakeholders including industry, faculty members and other relevant parties. In an effort to expand the tools available for assessment of engineering design technical reports, this study performed an initial validation of a previously developed Technical Writing rubric. The rubric was evaluated for its reliability to measure the intended construct, inter-rater reliability and external validity in comparison to an existing generalized written communication rubric. It was found that the rubric was reliable with Cronbach’s alpha for all dimensions between 0.817 and 0.976. The inter-rater reliability for the overall instrument was also found to be excellent at 0.85. Finally, it was observed that there were no statistically significant differences observed between the measurements obtained on the Technical Writing rubric in comparison to the more generalized Written Communication Value rubric. This demonstrates that although specific to engineering design environments the Technical Writing rubric was able to measure key constructs associated with written communication practice. This rubric can now serve as one additional tool for assessment of communication skills within engineering capstone design experiences.

Modelling of Sediment Transport of the Mehadica River, Caras Severin County, Romania

Study case is situated in Caras-Severin County. Every sediment transport model application is different both in terms of time and space scale, study objectives, required accuracy, allocated resources, background of the study team etc. For sediment transport modelling, it is necessary to know the characteristics of the sediment in the river bed. Therefore, it is recommended to collect a number of bed sediment grap samples. These samples should be analysing in terms of grain size distribution. To solve theoretical problems of movement of water in the river Mehadica, it requires modelling of water flow in this case. Numerical modelling was performed using the program MIKE11. MIKE 11 is a user-friendly, fully dynamic, one-dimensional modelling tool for the detailed analysis, design, management and operation of both simple and complex river and channel systems. With its exceptional flexibility, speed and user friendly environment, MIKE 11 provides a complete and effective design environment for engineering, water resources, water quality management and planning applications. The Hydrodynamic (HD) module is the nucleus of the MIKE 11 modelling system and forms the basis for most modules including Flood Forecasting, Advection- Dispersion, Water Quality and Non-cohesive sediment transport modules. The MIKE 11 HD module solves the vertically integrated equations for the conservation of mass and momentum, i.e. the Saint-Venant equations. The input data are: area plan with location of cross sections; cross sections topographical data and roughness of river bed; flood discharge hydrograph. Advanced computational modules are included for description of flow over hydraulic structures, including possibilities to describe structure operation.

Understanding Communication and Collaboration in Social Product Development Through Social Network Analysis

Social media have recently been introduced into the arena of collaborative design as a new means for seamlessly gathering, processing, and sharing product design-related information. As engineering design processes are becoming increasingly distributed and collaborative, it is crucial to understand the communication and collaboration mechanism of engineers participating in such dispersed engineering processes. In particular, mapping initially disconnected design individuals and teams into an explicit social network is challenging. The objective of this paper is to propose a generic framework for investigating communication and collaboration mechanisms in social media-supported engineering design environments. Specifically, we propose an approach for measuring tie strengths in the context of distributed and collaborative design. We transform an implicit design network into an explicit and formal social network based on specific indices of tie strengths. We visualize the process of transforming customer needs to functional requirements, to design parameters, and to process variables using social network analysis (SNA). Specifically, by utilizing a specific index for tie strengths, we can quantitatively measure tie strengths in a design network. Based on the tie strengths, we can map an implicit design network into an explicit social network. Further, using the typical measures (e.g., centrality and cluster coefficient) in SNA, we can analyze the social network at both actor and systems levels and detect design communities with common design interests. We demonstrate the applicability of the framework by means of two examples. The contribution in this paper is a systematic and formal approach that helps gain new insights into communication and collaboration mechanisms in distributed and collaborative design.

Adapting Engineering Design Tools to Include Human Factors

OCCUPATIONAL APPLICATIONS In a longitudinal collaboration with engineers and human factors specialists at an electronics manufacturer, five engineering design tools were adapted to include human factors. The tools, many with required human factors targets, were integrated at each stage of assembly design to increase the proactive application of human factors. This article describes the process of adapting the five tools within the collaborating organization. Findings suggest 12 key features of human factors tools, most importantly that they “fit” with engineering processes, language, and tools; directly address business goals and influence key metrics; and are quantifiable and can demonstrate change. To be effective in an engineering design environment, it is suggested that human factors specialists increase their understanding of their organization's design process, learn which tools are commonly used in engineering, focus on important metrics for the business goals, and incorporate human factors into engineering-based tools and work-system design practices in their organizations.TECHNICAL ABSTRACT Rationale: Design engineers use diverse tools in design, but few incorporate human factors, even though optimizing human performance can further improve operational performance. There is a need for practical tools to help engineers integrate human factors into production design processes. Purpose: This article demonstrates how five engineering design tools were adapted to include human factors and were integrated into design processes within the case study organization. It also provides features of an effective human factors tool and recommendations for practitioners. Method: A longitudinal collaboration with engineers and human factors specialists in a large electronics manufacturing organization allowed in vivo adaptation and testing of various tools in an action research methodology. Qualitative data were recorded from multiple sources, then transcribed and analyzed over a 3-year period. Results: The adapted tools integrated into each stage of the design process included the human factors process failure mode effects analysis, human factors design for assembly, human factors design for fixtures, workstation efficiency evaluator, and human factors kaizens. Each tool had a unique participatory development process; 12 features are recommended for effective human factors tools based on the findings herein. Most importantly, tools should “fit” with existing engineering processes, language, and tools; directly address business goals and influence key metrics; and be quantifiable and demonstrate change. Conclusions: Engineers and management responded positively to the five tools adapted for human factors because they were designed to help improve assembly design and achieve their business goals. Several of the human factors tools became required targets within the design process, ensuring that human factors considerations are built into all future design processes. Adapting engineering tools, rather than using human factors tools, required a shift for human factors specialists, who needed to expand their knowledge of engineering processes, tools, techniques, language, metrics, and goals.

Study on Practice Learning Environment for Environmental Art Engineering Design

The training of the personnel in environmental art engineering design will be complete ultimately relying on the innovative course system of this program, and also the training model and teaching system have to meet the needs of modern social development, science and technology development, and employment market. However, environmental art design program based on science and technology features very strong practicality. In this paper, through analyzing the characteristics of environmental art design program and combining the concept of modern design education, a feasible model of practice teaching and the operation methods of professional project teaching oriented at studio are proposed, for the purpose of creating a practice environment in which design art personnel with subject characteristics can be trained.

Facilitating the learning process in design-based learning practices: an investigation of teachers’ actions in supervising students

Background: In research on design-based learning (DBL), inadequate attention is paid to the role the teacher plays in supervising students in gathering and applying knowledge to design artifacts, systems, and innovative solutions in higher education.Purpose: In this study, we examine whether teacher actions we previously identified in the DBL literature as important in facilitating learning processes and student supervision are present in current DBL engineering practices.Sample: The sample (N=16) consisted of teachers and supervisors in two engineering study programs at a university of technology: mechanical and electrical engineering. We selected randomly teachers from freshman and second-year bachelor DBL projects responsible for student supervision and assessment.Design and method: Interviews with teachers, and interviews and observations of supervisors were used to examine how supervision and facilitation actions are applied according to the DBL framework.Results: Major findings indicate that formulating questions is the most common practice seen in facilitating learning in open-ended engineering design environments. Furthermore, other DBL actions we expected to see based upon the literature were seldom observed in the coaching practices within these two programs.Conclusions: Professionalization of teachers in supervising students need to include methods to scaffold learning by supporting students in reflecting and in providing formative feedback.

A Multicriteria Decision Making Environment for Engineering Design and Production Decision-Making

environment for optimization, analytics and decision support in general engineering design problems is introduced. The utilized methodology is based on reactive search optimization (RSO) procedure and its recently implemented visualization software packages. The new set of powerful integrated data mining, modeling, visualiztion and learning tools via a handy procedure stretches beyond a decision- making task and attempts to discover new optimal designs relating to decision variables and objectives, so that a deeper understanding of the underlying problem can be obtained. In an optimal engineering design environment as such solving the multicriteria decision-making (MCDM) problem is considered as a combined task of optimization and decision- making. Yet in solving real-life MCDM problems often most of attention has been on finding the complete Pareto-optimal set of the associated multiobjective optimization (MOO) problem and less on decision-making. In this paper, along with presenting two case studies, the proposed interactive procedure which involves the decision-maker (DM) in the process addresses this issue effectively. Moreover the methodology delivers the capablity of handling the big data often associated with production decision-making as well as materials selection tasks in engineering design problems.

Study on the Layout of Water-Filled Raft WEC in Wave Farm

Wave energy is recognized as an important pollution-free source of power generation in the world. So in last decades wide variety of wave energy converters (WEC) has been developed, meanwhile, more economical and reliable technologies were also under process. It is very vital to decide about the location of the WECs in a wave farm, which can increase the electricity generation [1]. To get the optimum power output, it is necessary to evaluate the layout of WECs by computer simulations, such as SWAN, MIKE21, SWASH, etc [2]. Among them, MIKE21 is a professional modeling and simulation engineering software, and is well known as a tool that provides a design environment for engineering, coastal management and planning applications. So, in this paper, MIKE21 BW was introduced briefly and applied to simulate and calculate the wave parameters of the Chengshantou wave farm, then, the layout of a new-type (Water-filled raft) WECs in the Chengshantou wave farm which can generate higher possible power output was investigated and the optimum scheme was achieved finally.

ENGINEERING DESIGN COACHES: FACULTY OR GRAD STUDENTS?

The Boyer Commission Report on Undergraduate Education of 1998 calls for universities to make a greater commitment to the training and involvement of graduate students as teachers. Should this apply to the Engineering Design environment? Are there issues of responsibility, technical expertise and professional experience that exclude graduate students from the role of design coach? At the University of Calgary, in eight years of involvement with both faculty and graduate students as design coaches, we have come out strongly in favour of our graduate students. In fact, in most cases, graduate students get as good or better results from the undergraduate students than the faculty members. This paper explores the reasoning behind this result and the environment that produces the result. The focus is on the nature of the design environment as one of participatory inquiry. Perhaps the most significant feature of participatory inquiry is the creation of an environment in which all members (students and design coaches) are simultaneously student and teacher. In fact, the coaches regularly remark that they learn more about design by being a coach than through any other experience they have had. The faculty members, however, are often handicapped by their expertise. This is partly due of the narrow focus of their research area and partly due to the assumption by the students that the knowledge of the faculty member is more important than their own. In a participatory environment, the properly trained and supported graduate student is better able to develop a relationship with the student design teams that fosters the types of thinking and activity necessary for effective design work. This includes responding appropriately to vague, poorly defined problems that characterize design work, developing and defending independent solutions to open-ended problems, and communicating effectively on several levels. The coaches are not required to become experts on each of the projects they coach and in fact, are encouraged to stand back and allow the students become the experts for their projects. Further, the mandate of the coaches is to allow students to uncover the answers regarding design process even if it means they may flail somewhat. The students begin to take ownership of their knowledge and authentic design work results.

Development of a Web-based MDO Framework for Design and Analysis Integration

The rapid progress of the Internet and network is affecting the engineering design environment as well as business that use Web technologies to enhance their competitive edge. In product development, experts and organization who take part in the design process are often geographically dispersed. Furthermore, different divisions and business often have heterogeneous CAD/CAE systems and methods for expressing product data, and addressing this heterogeneity creates additional costs and increases development time. Managing distributed CAD, CAE and other related systems in an organic and holistic manner from the initial stages of product development is imperative to ensure successful collaboration in the design process. Therefore, this study suggests a Web-based MDO framework to support interfacing and collective use of design and analysis tools.

Integrity validation in semantic engineering design environment

A collaborative engineering design environment has been devised based on semantic Web technologies. The Semantic Engineering Design Environment (SEDE) consists of Engineering Ontology, Design Rules, Design Database, and Design Data Web Service. The Design Data Web Service provides users APIs (Application Programming Interface) so that distributed Design Participants interface each other. The domain knowledge of design objects can be logically expressed by OWL (Web Ontology Language). Design rules regarding change management are encoded in XQuery and stored as database triggers. Once design data changes, associated design rules will be validated by database systems. In this paper we introduce the overall architecture of the collaborative engineering design environment and present working scenarios with examples.

A grid-enabled problem solving environment for parallel computational engineering design

This paper describes the development and application of a piece of engineering software that provides a problem solving environment (PSE) capable of launching, and interfacing with, computational jobs executing on remote resources on a computational grid. In particular it is demonstrated how a complex, serial, engineering optimisation code may be efficiently parallelised, grid-enabled and embedded within a PSE. The environment is highly flexible, allowing remote users from different sites to collaborate, and permitting computational tasks to be executed in parallel across multiple grid resources, each of which may be a parallel architecture. A full working prototype has been built and successfully applied to a computationally demanding engineering optimisation problem. This particular problem stems from elastohydrodynamic lubrication and involves optimising the computational model for a lubricant based on the match between simulation results and experimentally observed data.

9.2.2 Design for Six Sigma (DFSS) Integrated with Systems Engineering Toolsets …Systems Engineering Quality Into Products

AbstractThis paper describes an approach to merging statistical design techniques with allocation relationships in a systems engineering design environment; actually associating statistical distributions and transfer functions with those relationships. This allows users to apply Design for Six Sigma (DFSS) techniques early in product development where systems engineers can develop conceptual designs that are “robust” or insensitive to change/variation—effectively systems engineering quality into products.

Data mining in an engineering design environment: OR applications from graph matching

Abstract Data mining has been making inroads into the engineering design environment—an area that generates large amounts of heterogeneous data for which suitable mining methods are not readily available. For instance, an unsupervised data mining task (clustering) requires an accurate measure of distance or similarity. This paper focuses on the development of an accurate similarity measure for bills of materials (BOM) that can be used to cluster BOMs into product families and subfamilies. The paper presents a new problem called tree bundle matching (TBM) that is identified as a result of the research, gives a non-polynomial formulation, a proof that the problem is NP-hard, and suggests possible heuristic approaches. In a typical life cycle of an engineering project or product, enormous amounts of diverse engineering data are generated. Some of these include BOM, product design models in CAD, engineering drawings, manufacturing process plans, quality and test data, and warranty records. Such data contain information crucial for efficient and timely development of new products and variants; however, this information is often not available to designers. Our research employs data mining methods to extract this design information and improve its accessibility to design engineers. This paper focuses on one aspect of the overall research agenda, clustering BOMs into families and subfamilies. It extends previous work on a graph-based similarity measure for BOMs (a class of unordered trees) by presenting a new TBM problem, and proves the problem to be NP-hard. The overall contribution of this work is to demonstrate the OR applications from graph matching, stochastic methods, optimization, and others to data mining in the engineering design environment.

Electromagnetic compatibility issues in mobile computing

ELECTROMAGNETIC compatibility (EMC) is the engineering of electronic components and systems to ensure the overall functioning in a complex electromagnetic environment. Historically, this has included many aspects of the design, such as compliance with electromagnetic interference (EMI) regulatory standards, and insuring immunity of electronics to the electrical noise, i.e., interference generated by a neighboring system or external source. Electrostatic discharge (ESD) is one aspect of electronic immunity that can lead to failure at the IC, module, or system level that is again becoming a major concern in electronic design. EMC has traditionally also included wave-shaping and ensuring signal fidelity, as well as design of an adequately low-noise power distribution network to minimize EMI, and not compromise signal fidelity. Historically, EMC has been characterized as a “copper-tape-and-ferrites,” trial-and-error discipline that reflects a postdesign approach to EMC. As design cycles have decreased, this approach to EMC has changed dramatically over the course of the past five to seven years. Within the commercial electronics community, the need and demand for EMC computer-aided design tools grew as rapidly as the design cycles decreased, and the complexity and data rates of designs increased. However, suitable tools had not been developed and, inmany cases, the underlying noise coupling and immunity physics were not well understood. In large part, this state of affairs resulted from a lack of funding for more basic research and CAD tool development, and the complexity of the problem. The immediate demand for sophisticated EMC design tools that were undeveloped gave rise to focused research in EMC to understand the coupling physics and develop design methodologies and tools in industry and academia alike. Many individual companies have made significant investments in in-house EMC research, as well as funding of university research. The demand for a basic understanding of interference coupling physics, as well as design approaches and tools led to the development of focused EMC research within the UMR EMCConsortium at the University of Missouri-Rolla, as well as a significant research emphasis in other electronics and packaging centers such as the Packaging Research Center at Georgia Tech and the CALCE Electronic Products and Research Center at the University of Maryland. The field of EMC has grown into a number of specialty areas, in particular, in the past five years, which reflects the present challenges associated with electronic design. This has resulted in part from increasing data rates and clock frequencies, decreasing logic levels resulting from increased power requirements, decreasing design densities, mixedsignal analog/digital designs within the same package, and higher frequency switching power supplies, among a host of other issues. There is still a significant need for a basic understanding of EMC in many aspects of high-speed digital and mixed-signal design including EMI (including radio-frequency interference (RFI)), immunity (including ESD), signal integrity (SI), and power integrity, in particular, at the IC, and IC substrate and packaging level. In addition, the need for modeling approaches and CAD tools in all areas of electromagnetic compatibility is acute. In an engineering design environment, the models and tools must be suitable for rapid computation and be within the expertise of a component or system designer to use. In practice, this reduces to circuit and transmission-line modeling, i.e., the typical SPICE-type environment. The performance of first-pass engineering design validation hardware is often plagued by undesirable parasitics that compromise the signal fidelity and/or level, and dominate the coupling in the case of EMI and immunity. The coupling is through the electric field (capacitive coupling), magnetic field (inductive coupling), or through a common current return path, intended or unintended. In short, EMC is “about the things that are not on the circuit schematic,” i.e., parasitic effects. There is a critical need for design methodologies and CAD tools that are based on well-understood parasitic effects and coupling physics, and can anticipate or extract suitable parasitic lumped circuit element models from a layout geometry. Presently, there are no such mature CAD tools. There are well-developed tools for the numerical solution of Maxwell’s equations, RF circuit design tools, and circuit simulation tools. However, tools for anticipating parasitic effects are predominantly still at a beginning stage of development. To use a literature analogy, the complexity of the problem demands a solution with the sophistication of Tolstoy, but the available tools are at a grade-school primer stage of development. Among the most challenging of electronics designs for EMC are those associated with mobile computing. These designs are typically battery powered with no real-time generation, and are low-power. In addition, the designs IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MOBILE COMPUTING, VOL. 2, NO. 4, OCTOBER-DECEMBER 2003 273

The emerging self‐directed learning methods for design engineers

For learning opportunities to exist in an organisation, adequate learning methods need to be available in the organisation. This paper looks at the various learning methods for engineers in the design environment adopted by two automotive organisations. With greater work demands placed on the engineer and less time to learn, a more self‐directed learning approach is emerging. Emphasis is on the engineering design environment because of the continuous need for design engineers to keep updated with current engineering information, knowledge and techniques. By having the right learning climate and methods available in the organisation, the individual can engage in self‐directed learning; the effects of which are beneficial to organisational learning and the design engineer’s self‐development.

Approaches to locating expertise using corporate knowledge

AbstractIn many organizations people need to locate colleagues with knowledge and information to resolve a problem. Computer‐based systems that assist users with finding such expertise are increasingly important to industrial organizations. In this paper we discuss the development of Expertise Finders suitable for use within the engineering design environment, as illustrated through the use of a scenario. A key feature of this work is that the Expertise Finder returns both recommended contacts and supporting documentation. The Expertise Finder bases its results on information held within the organization, e.g. on‐line publications repositories, human resource records, and not on individually compiled Curriculum Vitaes or other forms of user‐maintained records. The recommendations are presented to the user with due regard to the social context, and are supported by the documents used to make the recommendation. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.