Knowledge based engineering: Between AI and CAD. Review of a language based technology to support engineering design

Knowledge based engineering (KBE) is a relatively young technology with an enormous potential for engineering design applications. Unfortunately the amount of dedicated literature available to date is quite low and dispersed. This has not promoted the diffusion of KBE in the world of industry and academia, neither has it contributed to enhancing the level of understanding of its technological fundamentals. The scope of this paper is to offer a broad technological review of KBE in the attempt to fill the current information gap. The artificial intelligence roots of KBE are briefly discussed and the main differences and similarities with respect to classical knowledge based systems and modern general purpose CAD systems highlighted. The programming approach, which is a distinctive aspect of state-of-the-art KBE systems, is discussed in detail, to illustrate its effectiveness in capturing and re-using engineering knowledge to automate large portions of the design process. The evolution and trends of KBE systems are investigated and, to conclude, a list of recommendations and expectations for the KBE systems of the future is provided.