Synthesis of distributed design problems

Integrating autonomous disciplines into a complex system design problem amenable to solution presents a major challenge in realistic multidisciplinary design. We propose a linguistic approach to problem description, formulation, and solution we call reconfigurable multidisciplinary synthesis (REMS). REMS comprises an abstract language and a collection of processes that provide a means for dynamic reasoning about complex design problems in a range of contexts, spanning tasks from error checking and derivative computation to formulation and reformulation of multidisciplinary design problem statements.