**3. Knowledge-based engineering**

Knowledge-based engineering (KBE) refers to the concept of a knowledge database applied in engineering that can be regarded as an intelligent system in a specific engineering field in which experts modularize product information and design processes to assist in product design. The design process is then stored for knowledge management. KBE is also combined widely with CAD/CAE/Computer-Aided Manufacturing (CAM) software for design, analysis, and manufacturing, respectively.

The KBE system is composed of a database and reasoning engine; the database stores related knowledge and assists in design via the reasoning engine.

Retrieval and case representation of knowledge are two crucial elements of a knowledge database. First, KBE engineers retrieve related knowledge from books, experts, and other resources, and record this knowledge using an appropriate knowledge representation. A representation should be able to store related knowledge in that field to enable a system to read and show that knowledge such that the knowledge can be provided to the reasoning engine.
