A framework for intelligent agents within effective concurrent design

One feature of concurrent engineering is the notion of distributed design, and the ability to communicate changes to all participating disciplines. However, successful engineering design is constrained by the complexities of the design activity. The differences in system architectures or methodologies, the diverse knowledge and information generated by these distributed disciplines, all compounded by the problems of coordinating the communication process, reduce the reflectiveness of distributed design. Current thinking indicates that multi-agent systems (MASs) could alleviate this complex and large engineering design problem. A drawback of these approaches is the failure to recognise the significance of agent autonomy and proactiveness. In this paper, it is suggested that agent attributes such as proactiveness and autonomy are ideally suited to resolving these problems. They provide a more flexible and dynamic approach to multiple disciplines situated within distributed design environments, which can reduce the number of redundant design activities and thereby reduce the coordination management required and the number of design versions. It is proposed that an agent-based framework incorporating CORBA technology should be used to maximise the proactive nature of autonomous design agents