Towards Adaptable Architecture

Abstract

There is a need for products that can automatically adapt to various environmental and working conditions. Since a standard theoretical framework for designing such adaptable products is not yet established, only few rules, generalized methods, software tools, and guidelines for design for adaptability can be found in literature. The goal of this paper is to address issues associated with designing adaptable product architecture and to propose a first step to develop methods and tools to deal with these issues. The paper first gives various definitions and an overview of product adaptability. Then it discusses adaptable product architectures, external conditions, and customer needs that are crucial aspects in designing adaptable products. The research proposes a scheme of an adaptable product that can constitute part of a formalized design method for adaptability. Finally, it illustrates the design choices that should be made to arrive at an adaptable product architecture.