A layout design system based on constraint-directed reasoning. 1st Report: The fundamental approach.
Shinsuke Akagi, Kikuo FUJITA · TRANSACTIONS OF THE JAPAN SOCIETY OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERS Series C · 1990
A layout design of a system such as a power plant is a time-consuming and expertise-based task and needs to satisfy the spatial constraints among the elements composed of a design object. In this paper we propose a new general approach with two concepts; the constraint-directed reasoning based on the domain concept to operate the preliminary stage of layout design, and the generate and test procedure to deal with various kinds of layout specifications. From the above concepts, the layout specifications are generalized and classified into the four groups of constraints. The domain means here candidates for layout of a element, and the layout procedure is executed in the process of the generation, test and selection of the candidates considering each group of constraints. Moreover, we propose the concept of layout potential in order to reflect the global layout situation for the optimum of the layout result and the smooth layout operation. The proposed approach is composed of the general procedures and the individual specifications which can be represented with declarative form, and have the generality and the applicability to various kinds of layout design.