An application of temporal logic for representation and reasoning about design

Abstract

This paper presents an approach to the application of temporal logic in order to represent and manipulate knowledge about physical systems in the design task. Focusing on the functional aspect of devices, we view the design task as achieving a desired behaviour of a device and its environment. Devices and environmental knowledge such as laws of physics are described in terms of causal rules, which are used to construct a model of the most likely behaviour of the system. Instead of giving a structural specification for design, a behavioural specification, which consists of the desired sequence of events, is provided, and it is compared with the predicted behaviour of the system for evaluation. The modification of the causal rule set is performed analogously to the design modification. Although computationally complex, this method sheds light on the formal treatment of temporal constraints and knowledge in design.

The author is funded by The Murata Overseas Scholarship Foundation and the Overseas Research Students Awards Scheme (Ref. ORS/9214048).