SandKASt (Sandia Knowledge Acquisition System): An automated knowledge acquisition system

Conference · Mon Feb 09 04:00:00 EST 1987

OSTI ID:6394994

Hill, F N; Ward, J D; Yates, A L

SandKASt (Sandia Knowledge Acquisition System) is a knowledge acquisition system that allows the expert to directly build a knowledge base. It is based on a graph formalism that delineates the problem structure and dependencies of the heuristics and highlights in consistencies or omissions in the knowledge base. The graph formalism evolved through our experience in developing a rule-based system for fault diagnosis of electronic components in a large system. In SandKASt, the knowledge base is displayed as a directed acyclic graph. In this graph, a node represents a state of the troubleshooting session, or context, with an associated set of possible faults. An arc represents a test to be applied in the context of the source node. The graph can be expanded depth-first, breadth-first or by adding a single node. Graph pruning and information retrieval can be performed at any time during the knowledge acquisition session. With the development of SandKASt, we sought to involve the expert directly in the system development and maintenance. We find that SandKASt allows more efficient and productive knowledge acquisition sessions. The graph structure provides a formalism for viewing the knowledge acquisition process and allows efficient storage of the diagnostic heuristics without redundancy.

• Research Organization: Sandia National Labs., Albuquerque, NM (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: AC04-76DP00789
• OSTI ID: 6394994
• Report Number(s): SAND-87-0364C; CONF-870734-1; ON: DE87006127
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS
990200* -- Mathematics & Computers
KNOWLEDGE BASE
ON-LINE SYSTEMS