Joachim Altmeyer, Stefan Ohnsorge, Bernd Schürmann
University of Kaiserslautern
D-67653 Kaiserslautern, Germany
Abstract
The reuse of well-tested and optimized design objects is
an important aspect for decreasing design times, increasing
design quality, and improving the predictability of
designs. Reuse spans from the selecting cells from a
library up to adapting already designed objects.
In this paper, we present a new model for reusing
design objects in CAD frameworks. Based on experiences
in other disciplines, mainly in software engineering and
case-based reasoning, we developed a feature-based
model to describe design objects and their similarities.
Our model considers generic modules as well as multi-
functional units. We discuss the relationships of the model
to the design process and to the configuration hierarchy of
complex design objects. We examined our model with the
prototype system RODEO.