A Distributed Decision-Support System for Virtual Prototyping

Virtual Prototyping (VP) is a data-driven design process that promotes both knowledge reuse and innovation. High-profile applications in the automotive and aerospace industries have demonstrated its potential to significantly reduce prototype cycles, time to market, and total product cost. This paper addresses VP as a specialized application of Decision-Support Systems, and discusses common requirements for engineering design tools, as well as requirements specific to the design of electronic products, such as mobile phones. Motorola Labs' test bed for VP is introduced in terms of its open, agent-based architecture utilizing Java CORBA. One of the key principles of the VP System is the reuse of expert knowledge across multiple engineering domains. This is highlighted via several use cases, showing that the system can function not only as an Intranet-accessible repository of model services but also as an integral part of decision-making within the native CAD environment.