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 Erik
K. Antonsson B.S., Cornell University, 1976; M.S., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1978; Ph.D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1982 1200 East California Boulevard
Research Research conducted in Professor Antonsson's Engineering Design Research Laboratory is concerned with developing a fundamental understanding of engineering design. The two major projects are related to (a) the development of formal methods for representing and manipulating imprecision in design, and (b) structured methods for micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS) design. The primary goal of his design imprecision research is to provide representational methodologies to aid engineering designers, particularly for choosing between alternative solutions during the preliminary design phase. His approach has been to aid design decisions with methods developed for efficient set-based computations on imprecise information. Among other attributes, this approach permits the designer to formally specify a design trade-off strategy to develop a multi-criteria objective function. Caltech's structured methods for MEMS design work is based on simulation of fabrication methods, coupled with an iterative stochastic optimization. Using this approach, one can specify a desired 3D shape and automatically synthesize a mask-layout and fabrication process that will produce the desired shape. Integrating this approach with a simulation of function will mean that MEMS designers can concentrate on the desired behavior of a device, rather than on the details of its shape or fabrication. Professor Antonsson and his colleagues are applying their MEMS design research results in a project which is developing micro-propulsion devices for micro-spacecraft. These devices consist of arrays of small one-shot thrusters, fabricated with MEMS techniques.
Selected Publications Trade-Off Strategies in Engineering Design (with K. N. Otto), Research in Engineering Design 3, 2, pp. 87-104, 1991 Emergent Faces in Crystal Etching (with T. J. Hubbard), Journal of Microelectromechanical Systems 3, 1, pp. 19-28, 1994 Imprecision in Engineering Design (with K. N. Otto), ASME Journal of Mechanical Design, 117(B), pp. 25-32, 1995 Aggregation Functions for Engineering Design Trade-Offs (with M. J. Scott), Fuzzy Sets and Systems 99, 3, pp. 253-264, 1998 A Fuzzy Sets Application to Preliminary Passenger Vehicle Structure Design (with M. J. Scott and W. S. Law), Handbook of Fuzzy Computation, E. Ruspini, P. Bonissone, and W. Pedrycz, eds., Oxford University Press, 1998 Evolutionary Techniques in MEMS Synthesis (with H. Li), 25th Biennial Mechanism Conference, Atlanta, Georgia, September 1998 Preliminary Vehicle Structure Design: An Industrial Application of Imprecision in Engineering Design (with M. J. Scott), 10th International Conference on Design Theory and Methodology, September 1998 Digital Micropropulsion (with D. H. Lewis, Jr. and S. W. Janson), Twelfth IEEE International Micro Electro Mechanical Systems Conference, Orlando, Florida, January 1999 |
