THIS PROJECT WILL APPLY AN EMERGING ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE TECHNIQUE, "EXPERT SYSTEMS," TO THE TASK OF CONFIGURING, DESIGNING AND EVALUATING SPACE POWER SYSTEMS.

THIS PROJECT WILL APPLY AN EMERGING ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE TECHNIQUE, "EXPERT SYSTEMS," TO THE TASK OF CONFIGURING, DESIGNING AND EVALUATING SPACE POWER SYSTEMS. THIS METHOD EMULATES THE PROCESSES EMPLOYED BY AN EXPERT PROFESSIONAL IN THE FIELD BUT CAN BE USED BY NONEXPERT ENGINEERS AS WELL. THE KNOWLEDGE BASE DEVELOPED FOR THE PROGRAM CAN BE MUCH LARGER AND MORE ACCURATE THAN THAT OF ANY SINGLE EXPERT AND READILY ACCESSED. PHASE I EVALUATES THE FEASIBILITY OF APPLYING THIS MTTHOD BY CREATING AND EXERCISING NOVICE, A PRIMITIVE EXPERT SYSTEM THAT CONTAINS THE ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS. IN ADDITION, IT INVESTIGATES NOVEL TECHNIQUES FOR IMPROVING PERFORMANCE BY AN INTERACTIVE COMPUTER/EXPERT MODE AND FOR INTRODUCING "INNOVATION GENERATORS" THAT STIMULATE THE HUMAN TO CREATE INNOVATIVE DESIGNS. PHASE II WOULD COVER THE DEVELOPMENT OF A TRUE EXPERT SYSTEM WITH A COMPLETE DATA BASE THAT WOULD BE USEFUL FOR CONCEPTUAL DESIGN OF SPACE POWER SYSTEMS. THE DESIGN APPROACH, THE DATA BASE AND THE NOVEL TECHNIQUES ALSO WOULD BE USEFUL IN THEMSELVES.