THE DESIGN OF A RAPID, INTELLIGENT PROTOTYPING LANQUAGE (RIPL)

DESIGN OF EFFECTIVE MAN-MACHINE INTERFACES (MMI) IS CRITICAL TO THE OPERATIONAL EFECTIVENESS OF INTERACTIVE COMPUTER SYSTEMS. UNFORTUNATELY, MMI DESIGN FLAWS USUALLY ARE NOT UNCOVERED UNTIL LATE IN THE IMPLEMENTATION PHASE WHEN THEIR CORRECTION IS VERY EXPENSIVE OR IMPOSSIBLE. RAPID PROTOTYPING TOOLS HAVE BEEN USE TO ALLEVIATE THESE PROBLEMS BY ALLOWING MMI DESIGNS TO BECOME VISIBLE AND MODIFIABLE EARLY IN THE SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT PROCESS. CTA PROPOSES TO ADVANCE THE STATE OF THE ART IN RAPID PROTOTYPING TECHNOLOGY BY EXTENDING IT IN FOR DISTRICT AREAS: 1) EXPERT SYSTEM OR MMI DESIGN; 2) AUTHENTIC INSTRUMENTATION OF THE PROTOTYPE TO MEASURE HUMAN PERFORMANCE; 3) RECONFIGURABLE TO HANDLE A BROAD RANGE OF MMI APPLICATIONS; AND 4) AUTOMATIC GENERATION OF MMI DISPALY MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE. CTA WILL DESIGN A RAPID, INTELLIGENT PROTOTYPING LANGUAGE (RIPL) THAT INCLUDES ALL OF THESE NEW CAPABILITIES. THE EXPERT SYSTEM FOR MMI DESIGN IS THE MOST SIGNIFICANT AND UNIQUE FEFATURE OF RIPL. IT WILL PROVIDE ONLINE EXPERT ASSISTANCE TO THE MMI DESIGNER. DESIGN RECOMMENDATIONS WILL BE MADE BY THIS EXPECT SYSTEM BASED ON RELEVANT DESIGN OPTIONS FROM THE SUPPORTING KNOWLEDGE BASE. THIS SYSTEM IS BADLY NEEDED BECAUSE TYPICAL MMI DESIGNERS ARE UNFAMILIAR WITH HUMAN FACTOR METHODS AND RESEARCH RESULTS.