Design tool

About: Design tool is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 3864 publications have been published within this topic receiving 46401 citations.

Bit-serial pipeline synthesis for multi-FPGA systems with C++ design capture

Abstract: Developing applications for a large-scale configurable system composed of state-of-the-art FPGA technology is a grand challenge. FPGAs are inherently resource limited devices in terms of logic, routing, and IO. Without a careful circuit implementation strategy, one would waste a large portion of the potential capacity of the configurable hardware. Also, high-level design entry support is essential for such large-scale hardware. A C++ design tool has been implemented which maps the computational algorithms onto bit-serial pipeline networks which exhibit high performance and maximize the device utilization of each FPGA. With this tool, the designer is able to develop applications in a very short time, and also is able to try out different algorithm implementations easily to see the trade-offs in terms of performance and hardware size instantaneously. Based on this C++ design tool, a number of DSP applications such as 1D and 2D filters, adaptive filters, Inverse Discrete Cosine Transform, and digital neural networks were designed.

Incorporation of Reliability into Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design

Abstract: Pavement thickness design traditionally has been based on empiricism. However, mechanistic-empirical (M-E) design procedures are becoming more prevalent, and there is a current effort by AASHTO to establish a nationwide M-E standard design practice. Concurrently, an M-E design procedure for flexible pavements tailored to conditions within Minnesota has been developed and is being implemented. Regardless of the design procedure type, inherent variability associated with the design input parameters will produce variable pavement performance predictions. Consequently, for a complete design procedure, the input variability must be addressed. To account for input variability, reliability analysis was incorporated into the M-E design procedure for Minnesota. Monte Carlo simulation was chosen for reliability analysis and was incorporated into the computer pavement design tool, ROADENT. A sensitivity analysis was conducted by using ROADENT in conjunction with data collected from the Minnesota Road Research Project and the literature. The analysis demonstrated the interactions between the input parameters and showed that traffic weight variability exerts the largest influence on predicted performance variability. The sensitivity analysis also established a minimum number of Monte Carlo cycles for design (5,000) and characterized the predicted pavement performance distribution by an extreme value Type I function. Finally, design comparisons made between ROADENT, the 1993 AASHTO pavement design guide, and the existing Minnesota design methods showed that ROADENT produced comparable designs for rutting performance but was somewhat conservative for fatigue cracking.

Human experience and product usability : principles to assist the design of user-product interactions

Abstract: This paper introduces research that investigates how human experience influences people's understandings of product usability. It describes an experiment that employs visual representation of concepts to elicit participants' ideas of a product's use. Results from the experiment lead to the identification of relationships between human experience, knowledge, and context-of-use – relationships that influence designers' and users' concepts of product usability. These relationships are translated into design principles that inform the design activity with respect to the aspects of experience that trigger people's understanding of a product's use. A design tool (ECEDT) is devised to aid designers in the application of these principles. This tool is then trialled in the context of a design task in order to verify applicability of the findings.

Automated product concept design: unifying aesthetics and engineering

Abstract: An experimental computer-aided design tool that actively assists in conceptual industrial design of consumer electronics products with injection-molded housings is discussed. This concept phase design tool uses manufacturing, ergonomic, aesthetic, and styling considerations to improve the entire product development process. The model's organization level performs spatial partitioning of components. The surfacing level generates an enclosure for product design. The third level adds style-specific details, and the fourth level applies graphical elements such as color or decals. Examples are presented to show that the system can create designs both meaningful to humans and distinctive in style over a range of products. >

Simple Model for Design of Framed‐Tube Structures

Abstract: A very simple model for the analysis and design of framed‐tube structures subjected to lateral loads is presented here. The structure is modeled as a series of stringers and shear panels. The elegance of the method lies not only in the simplicity and the accuracy of the method but also in the fact that all the necessary parameters are kept in the model so that design sensitivities can be generated, parametric studies can be carried out, and reasonable first estimates for the member sizes can be made. The model is viewed as an efficient design tool. The analytical expressions for the stresses and displacements are, for preliminary design, accurate and very easy to handle, so that the designer can attain the desired results. The model can be used directly for the analysis of structures that incorporate different materials and different properties along the height of the structure. A transfer matrix formulation has been developed and is presented for this purpose.