The design requirement is a description of the desired solution to a problem. In engineering design, as in all other, a clear expression of a well-formulated design goal is vital for successful and efficient completion of the design task. The nature of the design requirement and the processes by which it is achieved have been the subject of a wide variety of research. The purpose of the paper is twofold. Firstly, it sets out to collate and discuss representative research in this area in order to give an overview of the current scope of the work. Secondly, it seeks to draw a comparison with the task of developing the design requirement for software and information systems and to initiate a discussion that considers to what extent the substantial body of research in software requirements engineering might help to give an understanding of the design requirement for the engineering design domain. A tentative characterization of the differences between the tasks in the two domains is presented, and representative papers from requirements engineering are used to suggest areas of overlap as a starting point for further investigation.
WoottonA. B.CooperR.BruceM.Requirements capture: Where the front end begins? In Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on Engineering Design (ICED ′97) (Ed. RiitahuhtaA.), Tampere, Finland, 1997, Vol. 1, pp. 75–80.
2.
DarlingtonM. J.PotterS.Engineering design requirement formalization. Internal Report 41/98, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Bath, 1998.
3.
van LamsweerdeA.Requirements engineering in the year 2000; a research perspective. In Proceedings of the 22nd International Conference on Software Engineering, Limerick, Ireland, 2000, pp. 5–19 (ACM Press, New York).
4.
SommervilleI.SawyerP.Requirements Engineering: A Good Practice Guide, 1997 (John Wiley, Chichester, West Sussex).
5.
HerleaD. E.JonkerC. M.TreurJ.WijngaardsN. J. E.Integration of behavioural requirements specification within a knowledge engineering methodology. In Knowledge, Acquisition, Modelling and Management Proceedings of the 11th European Workshop (EKAW ′99), Dagstuhl Castle, Germany, 1999, pp. 173–190.
6.
NaurP.RandellB.Software engineering. Report on a Conference sponsored by the NATO Science Committee, Garmisch, Germany, 7–11 October 1968, January 1969 (Scientific Affairs Division, NATOBrussels).
KotonyaG.SomervilleI.Requirements Engineering: Processes and Techniques, 1998 (John Wiley, Chichester, West Sussex).
9.
CrossN.Engineering Design Methods: Strategies for Product Design, 2nd edition, 1994 (John Wiley, Chichester, West Sussex).
10.
UllmanD.Toward the ideal mechanical engineering design support system. Presented at Conference on The Future of Engineering Software (COFES '2000), Scottsdale, Arizona, May 2000, discussion paper. URL: http://www.engr.orst.edu/-ullman/resear.htm
11.
ZaveP.Classification of research efforts in requirements engineering. ACM Computing Surv., 1997, 39(4), 315–321.
12.
ShawA.AitchisonD. R.RaineJ. K.WhybrewK.Rapid product development for world class manufacturing. Technical Report 58, University of Canterbury, New Zealand, 2001.
UllmanD.The Mechanical Design Process, 1997 (McGraw-Hill, New York).
17.
BS 7373: 1998Guide to the Preparation of Specifications (British Standards Institution, London).
18.
VDI 2221 Systematic Approach to the Design of Technical Systems and Products, 1986 (VDI Society for Product Development, Design and Marketing).
19.
ClausingD.Total Quality Development, 4th edition, 1998 (American Society of Mechanical Engineers, New York).
20.
FungR. Y. K.PopplewellK.The analysis of customer requirements for effective rationalization of product attributes in manufacturing. In Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Manufacturing Technology, Hong Kong, 1995, pp. 287–296.
21.
HardingJ. A.PopplewellK.FungR. Y. K.OmarA. R.An intelligent information framework relating customer requirements and product characteristics. Computers in Industry, 2001, 44, 51–65.
22.
GershensonJ. K.StaufferL. A.Assessing the usefulness of a taxonomy for design requirements for manufacturing. J. Concurrent Engng Res. Applic., June 1999, 7(2), 147–158.
23.
GershensonJ. K.StaufferL. A.A taxonomy for design requirements from corporate customers. J. Res. Engng Des., 1999, 11(2), 103–115.
24.
GershensonJ. K.StaufferL.The creation of a taxonomy for manufacturability design requirements. In Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Design Theory and Methodology, Boston, Massachusetts, 1995 (American Society of Mechanical Engineers, New York).
25.
LeeD. J.ThorntonA. C.The identification and use of key characteristics in the product development process. In Proceedings of the 1996 ASME Design Engineering Technical Conferences and Computers in Engineering Conference, Irvine, California, 1996 (American Society of Mechanical Engineers, New York).
26.
FothergillA. P.Van NestP.CartmellM.ForsterJ.Design brief expansion tool. In Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Application of Artificial Intelligence in Engineering (Ed. RzevsikG.AdeyR. A.), 1991, pp. 95–110 (Computational Mechanics Publications-Elsevier Applied Science).
27.
CartmellM. P.FothergillA. P.ForsterJ. K. W.Theoretical foundations for a design brief expansion system. J. Engng Des., 1993, 4(3), 221–248.
28.
KurukawaK.NakakojiK.KiriyamaT.A requirement-centered design support system for the environmentally conscious product. In Proceedings of the 2000 ASME Design Engineering Technical Conference (DETC′00), Baltimore, Maryland, 2000, paper DETC2000/CIE14616 (American Society of Mechanical Engineers, New York).
29.
MendisM. V.CalderN.SivaloganathanS.AndrewsP. T. J.An investigation on specifications—component, source information areas, and contents. In Design for Excellence, Proceedings of the Engineering Design Conference (Ed. SivaloganathanS.AndrewsP. T. J.), 2000, pp. 533–544.
30.
ClarksonJ.BlessingL.ShefelbineS.EasonS.Requirements capture. In Proceedings of the Spring Medical Device Technology Conference, London, 1999, Vol. 1, pp. 57–64.
31.
FoxJ.Quality through Design, 1993 (McGraw-Hill, London).
32.
AnderssonF.NilssonP.JohannessonH.Computer based requirements and concept modelling—information gathering and classification. In Proceedings of the ASME Design Engineering Technical Conference (DETC′00), Baltimore, Maryland, 2000, paper DETC2000/DTM-14561 (American Society of Mechanical Engineers, New York).
33.
SuwaM.GeroJ.PurcellT.Unexpected discoveries and S-invention of design requirements: Important vehicles for a design process. Des. Stud., 2000, 21, 539–567.
34.
SuhN. P.The Principles of Design, 1990 (Oxford University Press, Oxford).
35.
WoottonA. B.CooperR.BruceM.A Generic Guide to Requirements Capture, 1998 (University of Salford, Salford).
36.
ZengY.GuP.A science-based approach to product design theory. Part II: Formulation of design requirements and products. Robotics Computer Integrated Mfg, 1999, 15, 341–352.
37.
JohanssonC.BurnsA.EvansS.BarrettR.Delighting the customer across cultural settings. In Design for Excellence, Proceedings of the Engineering Design Conference (Ed. SivaloganathanS.AndrewsP. T. J.), 2000, pp. 517–532.
38.
KarlssonC.NelloreR.SoderquistK.Black box engineering: Redefining the role of product specifications. J. Product Innovative Managmt, 1998, 15, 534–549.
van SomerenM. W.BarnardY. F.SandbergJ. A. C.The Think Aloud Method: A Practical Guide to Modelling Cognitive Processes, 1994 (Academic Press, London).
41.
NidamarthiS.ChakrabartiA.BlighT. P.The significance of co-evolving requirements and solutions in the design process. In Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on Engineering Design (ICED ′97), (Ed. RiitahuhtaA.), Tampere, Finland, 1997, Vol. 1, pp. 227–231.
42.
GlobersonS.Discrepancies between customer expectations and product configuration. Int. J. Project Managmt, 1997, 15(4), 199–203.
43.
PotterS.Representing knowledge: A discussion of knowledge types and representations and a scheme for its distribution in a design system. Internal Report 50/98, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Bath, 1998.
44.
DzborM.Explication of the design requirements through reflection on solutions. In Proceedings of the 4th IEEE Conference on Knowledge-based Intelligent Engineering Systems and Allied Technologies, Brighton, 2000 (IEEE, New York).
45.
GomesP.BentoC.A case-based approach for elaboration of design requirements. In Proceedings of the International Conference on Case-Based Reasoning (ICCBR′97), 1997, pp. 33–42 (Springer-Verlag, Berlin).
BylanderT.ChandrasekaranB.Understanding behavior using consolidation. In Proceedings of the 9th International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence, 1985, pp. 450–454.
48.
TsengM. M.JiaoJ.A variant approach to product definition by recognizing functional requirement patterns. In Proceedings of the 20th International Conference on Computers and Industrial Engineering, Kyongju, Korea, October 1996, Vol. 1, pp. 313–316.
49.
TsengM. M.JiaoJ.Computer-aided requirement management for product definition: A methodology and implementation. Concurrent Engng: Res. Applic., 1998, 6(2), 145–160.
50.
ButterfieldJ.CoopriderJ. G.RathnamS.Resolving cognitive conflict in requirements definition: A blackboard-based model and system architecture. In Proceedings of the Association for Computing Machinery, Special Interest Group in Computer Personnel Research (ACM SIGCPR) Conference, 1994, pp. 105–115.
51.
BoltonD.JonesS.TillD.FurberD.GreenS.Knowledge-based support for requirements engineering. Int. J. Software Engng Knowledge Engng, 1992, 2(2), 293–319.
52.
DarlingtonM. J.CulleyS. J.PotterS.Using domain knowledge to support design requirements elicitation. In Proceedings of the International Conference on Engineering Design (ICED ′01), Glasgow, 2001, pp. 83–90.
53.
LecoeucheR.MellishC.RoberstonD.A framework for requirements elicitation through mixed-initiative dialogue. In Proceedings of the International Conference on Requirements Engineering (ICRE ′98), Colorado Springs, Colorado, 1998.
54.
KottA.PeasantJ. L.Representation and management of requirements: The RAPID-WS. Concurrent Engng—Res. Applic., 1995, 3(2), 93–106.
55.
BoydN.Using natural language in software development. J. Object-Oriented Programming: Rep. Object Analysis Des., 2000, 11(9), 45–55.
56.
BurgJ. R. M.van de RietR. P.A natural language and scenario-based approach to requirements engineering. In Proceedings of the Workshop on Natuerlichsprachlicher Entwurf von Informationssystemen (NEI ′96), Tutzing, Germany, 1996.
57.
BurgJ. R. M.van de RietR. P.Analysing informal requirements specifications: A first step towards conceptual modeling. In Proceedings of the 2nd International Workshop on Applications of Natural Language to Information Systems, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 1996, pp. 15–17 (IOS Press, Amsterdam).
58.
FuchsN. E.SchwitterR.Attempto controlled english (ACE). In Proceedings of the 1st International Workshop on Controlled Language Applications (CLAW′96), University of Leuven, Belgium, March 1996.
59.
WhiteS.Requirements capture and analysis prior to modelling. In Proceedings of the International Symposium and Workshop on Engineering of Computer Based Systems, 1997, pp. 10–17.
