Collaborative design among different fields in mobile-agent environments

Today's product design problems are increasingly large-scaled due to the di versification of engineering technologies as well as consumer needs. Design ers must meet these needs rapidly, evaluate wide-ranging engineering requir ements at the product design stage, and develop designs that distinguish th eir product from others in the marketplace. This type of work often involve s multidisciplinary large-scaled optimization problems. When more than one discipline is involved in product design decision making, technical experts in different fields or divisions can benefit from sharing specific knowled ge as they cooperatively and concurrently work to solve such problems. In t his study, methodologies are constructed that feature mobile-agent systems capable of supporting collaborative product design activities.