Modeling of Coupled Tasks in Product Design Process Based on Information Relevancy

In product design process, in order to simplify the coupling relationship between design tasks, it is necessary to model the coupled tasks of product design process. This paper presents a method of coupled tasks modeling based on information relevancy, in which the quantification of tasks coupling strength is made through calculating the information relevancy between tasks. In order to define the coupled tasks model in the design process, the information relevancy relation between tasks is analyzed and a weighted directed graph based on the information relevancy is established. Then the weighted directed graph model is transformed into the design structure matrix model by two-way comparison scheme, and the value of information relevancy between coupled tasks is obtained based on the design structure matrix. The method illustrates the correspondence between the weighted directed graph model and the numerical design structure matrix model of the coupled tasks, and solves the problem of weight assignment of the weighted directed graph of the coupled tasks in the product design process. Finally, an example of coupled tasks modeling in design process of radar's phased array antenna is given to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.