Design Knowledge Representation with Technology Semantic Network

TL;DR

This paper introduces a network mapping method using Technology Semantic Network (TechNet) to improve the representation and understanding of complex technical design descriptions for engineers, leveraging large-scale technology data.

Contribution

It presents a novel network mapping approach with TechNet, demonstrating its advantages over common-sense knowledge bases for design knowledge representation.

Findings

TechNet outperforms WordNet and ConceptNet in representing design knowledge.

The method enables clearer visualization of design entities and relations.

Case study validates TechNet's effectiveness in engineering design comprehension.

Abstract

Engineers often need to discover and learn designs from unfamiliar domains for inspiration or other particular uses. However, the complexity of the technical design descriptions and the unfamiliarity to the domain make it hard for engineers to comprehend the function, behavior, and structure of a design. To help engineers quickly understand a complex technical design description new to them, one approach is to represent it as a network graph of the design-related entities and their relations as an abstract summary of the design. While graph or network visualizations are widely adopted in the engineering design literature, the challenge remains in retrieving the design entities and deriving their relations. In this paper, we propose a network mapping method that is powered by Technology Semantic Network (TechNet). Through a case study, we showcase how TechNet's unique characteristic of being trained on a large technology-related data source advantages itself over common-sense knowledge bases, such as WordNet and ConceptNet, for design knowledge representation.