MEAD II - An Improved CAD Environment for Controls Engineering

Recent and future efforts at GE to develop modern environments for Computer-Aided Control Engineering (CACE) are discussed. The basic elements of these systems are: *a User Interface which combines a "point-and-click" menu- and forms-driven interface with other access modes for the more experienced user, *a Data-Base Manager organized in terms of projects, models and corresponding results and other related data elements and including control, *an Expert System Shell, which performs routine higher-level CACE tasks, and *a data-driven Supervisor that integrates the above elements with existing CACE packages for linear and nonlinear simulation, analysis and design. As is usually the case, it has been learned that much more can be done to provide a fully supportive environment for controls engineering, and it has also become clear that certain things might better be done differently. This presentation will focus on such areas.