Constructing definitive screening designs using conference matrices

Jones and Nachtsheim (2011) propose a new class of designs for definitive screening. These designs have very nice properties for practical use. Their construction approach requires a computerized search. This short note provides a theoretical basis for design construction, making use of conference matrices. The design construction is straightforward, and the resulting design is always a global optimum definitive screening design. The proposed method only works when the number of factors is even, however.