The high level design of electronic systems for mechatronic applications

The design of the electronic element in complex integrated systems is placing increasing demands on the designers of such systems with respect to factors such as performance, reliablity, cost, and design time. This is leading to a move by designers away from the more traditional and intuitive design methods towards the adoption of a more structured approach to the design process. It is becoming increasingly common for electronics to be used in conjunction with other disciplines in the operation of an overall system, to provide complex control functions more compactly and at lower cost than could be provided otherwise. This form of integration, with functionality transferred from the mechanical to the electronics and software domains, is often termed mechatronics. At Lancaster, the Engineering Design Centre is working to develop computer based tools to support the conceptual design of mechatronic systems. This paper is concerned with the provision of tools to support the electronics designer in the transition from the high level functional design to the stage of final prototyping