LINKOgrapher: AN ANALYSIS TOOL TO STUDY DESIGN PROTOCOLS BASED ON FBS CODING SCHEME

This paper presents LINKOgrapher, a software tool that carries out analyses on coded design protocols. LINKOgrapher is implemented building on an ontologically-based coding scheme utilising the Function-Behaviour-Structure (FBS) ontology. It aims at enabling cross-comparisons of different protocol studies through utilising a re-usable coding scheme and standardizing the analysis methods. Current measurements include tabular statistics, dynamic modeling of design issues and design processes, Markov models, first passage models and entropy models. The calculation and visualization of the results on the screen is near real-time, saving time and effort needed to analyse long design protocols. The results are exportable as graphic models as well as textual outputs. The measurement procedures and features of LINKOgrapher are discussed along with exemplary results.