Specifying the Principle Solution in Mechatronic Development Enterprises

The development of mechatronic systems starts with conceptual design, followed by design concretization and ends with system integration. The result of the conceptual design phase is the principle solution. It describes the main physical and logical operating characteristics of the system in a domain-spanning way. On the basis of this jointly developed principle solution, further design concretizations will take place in parallel within the domains involved. Finally, during the system integration phase, the outcomes from the individual domains are integrated to form an overall system. We developed a set of semiformal specification techniques to describe the principle solution of mechatronic systems. In collaboration with UNITY AG, we extended the usefulness of the specification technique for the management of development processes and development organization in enterprises.