Balanced Asymmetrical Nearly Orthogonal Designs for first and second order effect estimation

A method for constructing asymmetrical (mixed-level) designs, satisfying the balancing and interaction estimability requirements with a number of runs as small as possible, is proposed in this paper. The method, based on a heuristic procedure, uses a new optimality criterion formulated here. The proposed method demonstrates efficiency in terms of searching time and optimality of the attained designs. A complete collection of such asymmetrical designs with two- and three-level factors is available. A technological application is also presented.