KNOWLEDGE BASED SYSTEMS TECHNOLOGIES FOR AEROSPACE APPLICATION

AN INCREASINGLY IMPORTANT THRUST OF AI TECHNOLOGY IS THE DEVELOPMENT OF ASSOCIATE SYSTEMS. THIS PROPOSED EFFORT IS DIRECTED TOWARD THE DEVELOPMENT OF AN ASSOCIATE STRUCTURE FOR THE ORGANIZATION AND SPECIFICATION OF KNOWLEDGE RELATED TO PROGRAM MANAGEMENT DECISION SUPPORT. ISX HAS HAD EXTENSIVE EXPERIENCE WITH ASSOCIATE SYSTEMS TECHNOLOGY AND ITS CURRENT PROBLEMS AND BELIEVES THEIR SOLUTIONS REQUIRE RESEARCH IN THE AREAS OF SOFTWARE ARCHITECTURE, REPRESENTATIONAL COMPONENTS, AND DEVELOPMENT METHODOLOGY. IN THE PAST, APPLICATIONS HAVE BEEN BUILT USING "AI SHELL" TOOLS WHICH PROVIDE COLLECTIONS OF VERY LOW LEVEL KNOWLEDGE REPRESENTATION AND INFERENCE CAPABILITIES, INCLUDING RULES, FRAMES, ETC. THE INNOVATIONS TO BE DEVELOPED AND TESTED IN THIS RESEARCH INCLUDE SPECIFICATION AND DEVELOPMENT OF A SET OF HIGH LEVEL, YET DOMAIN-INDEPENDENT KNOWLEDGE REPRESENTATION CONSTRUCTS AND APPLICATION MECHANISMS, AND THE APPLICATION OF THIS GENERAL CAPABILITY TO THE SPECIFIC PROBLEMS OF SPACE SYSTEMSPROCESS MODELLING AND MANAGEMENT FOR A MANAGER'S ASSOCIATE (MAX). WE ARE UNIQUELY SUITED TO ACCOMPLISH THE SPECIFICATION OF SUCH A SET OF ASSOCIATE SYSTEMS COMPONENTS, FROM OUR WORK IN THE DARPA/USAF PILOT'S ASSOCIATE PROGRAM AND OTHER RELATED EFFORTS. THE APPLICATION AREA WITH WHICH WE WILL DRIVE OUR DEVELOPMENT IS ONE WITH BOTH HIGH PAYOFF POTENTIAL TO NASA AND ONE FOR WHICH WE HAVE INNOVATIVE USER INTERFACE AND SYSTEMS MODELING EXPERIENCE FROM OUR USAF ARTIFICIALLY INTELLIGENT MODEL (AIM) PROGRAM AND NASA/USAF ADVANCED LAUNCH SYSTEM MODEL (ALSYM). THIS PHASE I PROGRAM TARGETS THE DEVELOPMENTOF A CORE OF ADVANCED KNOWLEDGE REPRESENTATION AND KNOWLEDGE APPLICATION CAPABILITY. A PHASE II FOLLOW-ON PROGRAM WOULD FOCUS ON EXTENSION OF THE CORE CAPABILITIES, AND GENERALIZATION OF AN ASSOCIATE SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT METHODOLOGY TO AID IN TRANSLATING DOMAIN KNOWLEDGE INTO THIS TARGET ENVIRONMENT.