Knowledge-Based Schematics Drafting: Aesthetic Configuration as a Design Task

Abstract

Depicting an electrical circuit by a schematic is a tedious task that is a good candidate for automation. Programs that draft schematics with the usual algorithmic approach do not fully exploit knowledge of circuit function, relying mainly on the circuit topology. The extra-topological circuit characteristics are what an engineer uses to understand a schematic; human drafters take these characteristics into account when drawing a schematic. This document presents a knowledge base and an architecture for drafting arithmetic digital circuits having a single theme. The relevance and limitations of this architecture and knowledge base for other types of circuit are explored. It is argued that the task of schematics drafting is one of aesthetic design. The affect of aesthetic criteria on the program architecture is discussed. The circuit layout constraint language, the program's search regimen, and the backtracking scheme are highlighted and explained in detail.