CLIPS-VBASE FEASIBILITY STUDY

THIS PROJECT FOCUSES ON APPLYING EXPERT SYSTEM TECHNOLOGY TO SOFTWARE SYSTEMS FOR MISSION PLANNING AND FLIGHT CONTROL. THE OBJECTIVE OF THIS THREE-PHASE PROJECT IS TO DELIVER A SOFTWARE SYSTEM WHICH CAN BE MADE AVAILABLE TO A NUMBER OF NASA APPLICATIONS. WE EXPECT TO ACHIEVE THIS GOALTHROUGH A COMBINATION OF TWO STATE-OF-THE-ART APPROACHES: ANOBJECT-ORIENTED DATABASE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM, AND AN EXPERT SYSTEM INFERENCE ENGINE. BOTH COMPONENTS WILL BE IMPLEMENTED IN THE C PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE, WITH SPECIFIC EMPHASIS ON PORTABILITY AND PERFORMANCE. PHASE I WILL STUDY THE FEASIBILITY OF INTEGRATING TWO SPECIFIC SYSTEMS: THE VBASE OBJECT-ORIENTED DATABASE, AND THE CLIPS C LANGUAGE PRODUCTION SYSTEM. PHASEII WILL PRODUCE A WORKING PROTOTYPE OF THE COMBINED SYSTEM. PHASE III WILL DEVELOP THE FINAL PRODUCT. VBASE IS A COMMERCIAL PRODUCT PRODUCED BY ONTOLOGIC SPECIFICALLY TO ADDRESS THE COMPLEX MODELING AND HIGH PERFORMANCE NEEDS OF THE CAD/CAM/CAE MARKET. VBASE COMBINES PORTABILITY (UNIX AND VMS OPERATING SYSTEMS), HIGH PERFORMANCE, AND OBJECT-ORIENTED FLEXIBILITY. CLIPS IS AN EXPERT SYSTEM TOOL DEVELOPED AT NASA/JSC'S ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE SECTION SPECIFICALLY DESIGNED TO PROVIDE HIGH PORTABILITY, LOW COST, AND EASY INTEGRATION WITH EXTERNAL SYSTEMS.