Estimating the Potential of State of the Art Design Automation - Tasks, Methods, and Benefits

Industrial application of design automation is rare due to a lack of understanding about what type of tasks can be automated, what methods are available and what potential benefits can be expected. It is often difficult up-front to predict the potential savings and improvements that design automation can yield in comparison to the investment cost of its implementation. To improve this situation, this paper introduces an approach that allows mapping of design tasks characterized by spatial aspects to design automation methods and an implicit mapping of automation methods to potential benefits.