CADNexus proposes to develop an Integrated Variable Fidelity Conceptual Design tool. The application will enable design and analysis of unconventional and advanced concepts in the conceptual design phase. The application will be integrated not only in the conceptual design phase but throughout the entire design process from conceptual design, to preliminary design, to detailed design. The integration across design stages is accomplished by development of a component library that will store detailed aircraft shapes and components as well as rich metadata about the components, their attributes, and any other pertinent data. The library will enable designers to generate candidate design concepts given a set of mission requirements or other characteristics. In addition to performance analysis of a conceptual design the tool will also provide and evaluation of risk by projecting the probability that the design may not satisfy its mission requirements.
More »