DEVELOPMENT OF AN EXPERT SYSTEM TO TROUBLESHOOT DATA MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

EXPERT SYSTEMS ARE BEING INCREASINGLY USED TO CONTROL COMPLEX PHYSICAL SYSTEMS CONTAINING LARGE NUMBERS OF SENSOR INPUTS - BOTH DIGITAL AND ANALOG. TECHNOLOGY DERIVED FROM THESE APPLICATIONS COULD BE APPLIED TO ASSIST COMPUTER SPECIALISTS TO TROUBLESHOOT DATA MANAGEMENT NETWORKS ON BOARD SPACECRAFT. AN EXPERT SYSTEM OF THIS TYPE IS NEEDED SINCE NASA'S DATA MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS ARE RAPIDLY GROWING IN COMPLEXITY; NO SINGLE PERSON HAS THE EXPETISE TO TROUBLESHOOT ALL OF THE COMPONENTS IN THE SYSTEM. THE OBJECTIVE OF THIS PROPOSAL IS TO DEVELOP AN ON-BOARD EXPERT SYSTEM FOR DATA MANAGEMENT: ESDM. THE ESDM WILL RESIDE IN THE ON-BOARD SYSTEM AND IT WILL BE USED BY GROUND-BASED COMPUTER SPECIALISTS TO OBTAIN INFORMATION ON DATA MANAGEMENT SYSTEM PROBLEMS AND ERRORS. THE ESDM WILL USE AN ADVANCED KNOWLEDGE BASE TO CONTAIN THE EXPERTISE OF THE INDIVIDUALS WHO CURRENTLY TROUBLESHOOT NASA'S SYSTEMS. IMPLEMENTATION OF ESDM WILL RESULT IN INCREASED DATA MANAGEMENT SYSTEM AVAILABILITY AND SUBSTANTIALLY REDUCED COSTS.