HARDWARE SELF-DIAGNOSES USING ON-COMPONENT LINKS TO EXPERT SYSTEMS

HUMAN-BASED EXPERTISE TO DIAGNOSE AND REPAIR ELECTRO-MECHANICAL HARDWARE SYSTEMS IS GAINED ONLY THROUGH LENGTHY EXPERIENCE, BUT THIS EXPERTISE VANISHES WITH THE INDIVIDUAL. THIS RESEARCH EXPLORES METHODS TO CAPTURE AND EMBED THIS EXPERTISE TO PROVIDE HARDWARE SELF-DIAGNOSTICS THROUGH THE USE OF ALTERABLE ON-COMPONENT MICRO-DATA BASES STORED ON AN ADD-ON "DATA TEMPLATE". THIS DATA TEMPLATE CONTAINS ELECTRONICALLY ADDRESSABLE (READ/WRITE) DATA ON THEMALFUNCTION HISTORY IMPLANTED DIRECTLY ONTO THE PHYSICAL COMPONENT -- ANALOGOUS TO A PATIENT'S MEDICAL RECORDS. THESE ON-COMPONENT DATA ARE USEABLE BY HUMAN DIAGNOSTICIANS,BUT ARE INTENDED AS A KNOWLEDGE-BASE FOR AN EMBEDDED EXPERT SYSTEM TO PROVIDE DECISION METRICS FOR HARDWARE SELF-DIAGNOSTICS. SEVERAL TECHNOLOGIES EXIST TO IMPLEMENT THIS CONCEPT, RANGING FROM BAR CODING TO ADD-ON OR EMBEDDED MICROSENSOR CIRCUITS. THE DATA TEMPLATE HAS SIGNIFICANT POTENTIAL FOR FAULT ISOLATION; DIAGNOSTIC TRAINING; DOCUMENTATION, INVENTORY CONTROL, RELIABILITY ASSESSMENT ANDPARTS ANTI-COUNTERFEITING. PHASE I RESEARCH WILL ESTABLISH FEASIBILITY OF THE DATA TEMPLATE CONCEPT, ON WHICH A BASELINE MODEL AND SPECIFICATIONS FOR AN EXPERT SELF-DIAGNOSTIC SYSTEM WILL BE EVOLVED. PHASE II WILL DEVELOP A PROTOTYPE OF THE DATA TEMPLATE FOR LINKS TO THE EXPERT SYSTEM DEFINED IN PHASE I.