Design tool

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

DENIM: an informal web site design tool inspired by observations of practice

Abstract: Through a study of Web site design practice, we observed that designers employ multiple representations of Web sites as they progress through the design process and that these representations allow them to focus on different aspects of the design. In particular, we observed that Web site designers focus their design efforts at 3 different levels of granularity--site map, storyboard, and individual page--and that designers sketch at all levels during the early stages of design. Sketching on paper is especially important during the early phases of a project, when designers wish to explore many design possibilities quickly without focusing on low-level details. Existing Web design tools do not support such exploration tasks well, nor do they adequately integrate multiple site representations. Informed by these observations we developed DENIM: an informal Web site design tool that supports early phase information and navigation design of Web sites. It supports sketching input, allows design at different levels of granularity, and unifies the levels through zooming. Designers are able to interact with their sketched designs as if in a Web browser, thus allowing rapid creation and exploration of interactive prototypes. Based on an evaluation with professional designers as well as usage feedback from users who have downloaded DENIM from the Internet, we have made numerous improvements to the system and have received many positive reactions from designers who would like to use a system like DENIM in their work.

Method and system for assembling and utilizing components in component object systems

Abstract: A design tool for assembling component objects to form an object-based computer system application includes a declarative user input interface mechanism and a design engine. The declarative user input interface mechanism provides an input structure for the input of user declarations specifying operative interactions between component objects. The design engine automatically generates, in response to input user declarations, an application design definition modelling an application infrastructure for managing component object interactions. An application design definition can reference a number of application view definitions, each having a number of fields, each field having associated therewith an application view field definition. An operation usage definition defines an effect a component object operation has on one or more of the application view definitions in response to user input declarations. An event definition defines an operation usage triggered by an application view definition event in response to input user declarations. The design engine automatically generates, in response to input user declarations, a match between an application view field definition and a parameter of an associated component object operation. A runtime tool includes an application engine which is responsive to an application design definition and is operative at runtime automatically to create application view instances from respective application view definitions for managing runtime component object interactions for the application.

Improving digital human modelling for proactive ergonomics in design.

Abstract: This paper presents the need to improve existing digital human models (DHMs) so they are better able to serve as effective ergonomics analysis and design tools. Existing DHMs are meant to be used by a designer early in a product development process when attempting to improve the physical design of vehicle interiors and manufacturing workplaces. The emphasis in this paper is placed on developing future DHMs that include valid posture and motion prediction models for various populations. It is argued that existing posture and motion prediction models now used in DHMs must be changed to become based on real motion data to assure validity for complex dynamic task simulations. It is further speculated that if valid human posture and motion prediction models are developed and used, these can be combined with psychophysical and biomechanical models to provide a much greater understanding of dynamic human performance and population specific limitations and that these new DHM models will ultimately provide a powerful ergonomics design tool.

CoilDesigner: a general-purpose simulation and design tool for air-to-refrigerant heat exchangers

Abstract: A simulation and design tool to improve effectiveness and efficiency in design, and analysis of air to refrigerant heat exchangers, CoilDesigner, is introduced. A network viewpoint was adopted to establish the general-purpose solver and allow for analysis of arbitrary tube circuitry and mal-distribution of fluid flow inside the tube circuits. A segment-by-segment approach within each tube was implemented, to account for two-dimensional non-uniformity of air distribution across the heat exchanger, and heterogeneous refrigerant flow patterns through a tube. Coupled heat exchangers with multiple fluids inside different subsets of tubes can be modeled and analyzed simultaneously. A further sub-dividing-segment model was developed in order to address the significant change of properties and heat transfer coefficients in the single-phase and two-phase regime when a segment experiences flow regime change. Object-oriented programming techniques were applied in developing the program to facilitate a modular, highly flexible and customizable design platform and in building a graphic user-friendly interface. A wide variety of working fluids and correlations of heat transfer and pressure drop are available at the user's choice. The model prediction with CoilDesigner was verified against experimentally determined data collected from a number of sources.

Cooperative Control Design: A Systematic, Passivity-Based Approach

Abstract: 1 Introduction.- 2 Passivity As a Design Tool for Cooperative Control.- 3 Adaptive Design for Reference Velocity Recovery: Internal Model Approach.- 4 Adaptive Design for Reference Velocity Recovery: Parameterization Approach.- 5 Attitude CoordinationWithout Inertial Frame Information.- 6 The Agreement of Euler-Lagrange Systems.- 7 Synchronized Path Following.- 8 Cooperative Load Transport.- 9 Caveats for Robustness.