CERC Technical Report Series

Technical Memoranda

CERC-TR-TM-91-012
REPRESENTING AND MANAGING CONSTRAINT DATA
IN A COMPUTER-BASED COOPERATIVE PRODUCT
DEVELOPMENT SCENARIO*

By
Kerrin Smith

May 1991

*THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES OF WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITY IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF SCIENCE

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT: This effort has been sponsored by Defense Advance Research Projects Agency (DARPA), under contract No. MDA972-88-C-0047 for DARPA Initiative in Concurrent Engineering(DICE).

Concurrent Engineering Research Center
West Virginia University
Drawer 2000, Morgantown WV 26506

ii

LIST OF FIGURES..................................................................................iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ........................................................................... v CHAPTER 1 -- CONCURRENT ENGINEERING AND COOPERATIVE

PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT ...................................................................... 1
1.1 FACILITATING COORDINATION IN A COOPERATIVE PRODUCT

DEVELOPMENT ENVIRONMENT............................................. 1
1.1.1 Life-Cycle Considerations in the Product Development Process..... 2

1.1.2 Conflict in the Product Development Process .......................... 4
1.2 OVERVIEW OF THE DICE PROJECT ......................................... 5
1.2.1 Goal of the DICE Project ................................................. 5
1.2.2 Components of the DICE Architecture .................................. 6
1.3 CONSTRAINT MANAGEMENT SYSTEM ................................... 8
1.3.1 Purpose ..................................................................... 8
1.3.2 Requirements............................................................... 9
1.4 THESIS GOALS ...................................................................11
1.5 THESIS ORGANIZATION.......................................................13
CHAPTER 2 -- CONSTRAINT-BASED REASONING FOR CONSTRAINT

MANAGEMENT .....................................................................................15
2.1 REVIEW OF CONSTRAINT-BASED REASONING APPROACHES ....15 2.2 CONSTRAINT MANAGEMENT IN PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT .......17