EXPERT SYSTEM FOR TEST PROGRAM SET FAULT CANDIDATE SELECTION

THIS PROPOSAL DESCRIBES AN APPROACH FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF AN EXPERT SYSTEM TO ASSIST IN MINIMIZING THE QUANTITY OF UUT FAULT INSERTIONS DURING VERIFICATION AND VALIDATION OF TEST PROGRAM SETS. THE PROJECT OBJECTIVES ARE: EVALUATE AND CATALOGUE RULES APPLICABLE TO THE SELECTION OF LRU AND SRU FAULTS, CONSIDERING BOTH UUT AND TIPS REQUIREMENTS; EVALUATE AND CATALOGUE EXAMPLES OF CAUSE AND EFFECT RELATIONSHIPS OF FAULT INSERTION IN ELECTRONIC CIRCUITS; TO EVALUATE COMMERCIALLY AVAILABLE SOFTWARE TOOLS, INFERENCE ENGINES, TEST EDITORS AND GRAPHICS GENERATORS, AND DEBUGGING TOOLS USED FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF EXPERT SYSTEMS AND SELECT THOSE APPROPRIATE FOR USE WITH THIS APPLICATION; AND TO DEVELOP AND IMPLEMENT A PROTOTYPE RULEBASED AND/OR EXAMPLE-BASED EXPERT SYSTEM UTILIZING THE KNOWLEDGE BASE DEVELOPED AND ENGINEERING AIDS OBTAINED. THIS EFFORT WILL BE ACCOMPLISHED THROUGH THE CONSTRUCTION OF A KNOWLEDGE BASE BY DEFINING THE BASIC CONCEPTS INVOLVED IN LRU/SRU FAULT SELECTION, EXTRACTING THE RULES THEREOF, AND MODIFYING THE PROCEDURES USED BY HUMAN EXPERTS FOR APPLICATION IN KNOWLEDGE BASE. THESE CONCEPTS WILL THEN BE FORMALIZED INTO PARAMETERS ACCEPTABLE TO THE EXPERT TOOLS RESULTING IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE DATA STRUCTURES, DEFINITION OF DATA, CONTROL AND INFORMATION FLOW AND DEVELOPMENT OF AN EXECUTABLE PROGRAM REPRESENTATIVE OF THE BASIC MODEL OF THE EXPERT SYSTEM.