FRONTIER is an ESPRIT IV project on Design Optimization. It addresses problems which are both multidisciplinary and multi-objective. As industrial optimization moves from being applied to particular systems or structures towards addressing the total scope of a design, there is a need for capability to express and deal with trade-offs of conflicting objectives which measure a design's merit in a number of business senses. This leads to a need for:
-a structured set of business metrics;
-an organization which is adapted to addressing shared responsibilities for design choices across disciplines and companies where necessary;
-design evaluation tools to address all, not just some, of these metrics;
-supporting technology to provide
- system integration in a wide area-distributed environment,
- user-oriented design analysis facilities,
- appropriate optimization tools,
- decision support tools to assist in understanding the compromises involved.
Each design organization has to address the first three of these needs in ways which suit its business situation. FRONTIER has produced tools to address the fourth of these requirements.
Project URL : http://frontier.ii.uib.no/