An investigation into the use of ''expert systems'' for system-wide diagnostics

Conference · Sun Feb 01 04:00:00 EST 1987 · IEEE Trans. Nucl. Sci.; (United States)

OSTI ID:6689151

Booth, A W; Carroll, J T

This paper has explained how expert systems function and how they might be used to provide a FASTBUS system-wide diagnostic program. The authors propose that the system be used to diagnose the FASTBUS system at FERMILAB's CDF experiment. There are many important areas which have not been addressed in great detail in this paper (such as the roles of the knowledge engineer and the expert during the knowledge acquisition phase), but the central idea of the embodiment of an expert skill in a computer is clear. Development of a system-wide diagnostic program requires building knowledge from all our system experts, into the system. To expand the expert system beyond its network diagnostic ability, to include finding faulty modules would be worthwhile. Having an ''intelligent'' assistant who is on shift 24 hours each day would relieve the ''real'' experts from laborious, time-consuming and sometimes repetitive tasks undertaken during the debugging process. The system could also provide a testbed for evaluation and comparison when considering future expert-system applications such as ''run-control'' and ''data analysis''. In the context of a system-wide diagnostic program, an ''expert system'' is not intended to replace human experts but simply to help them. It is envisaged that there will always be important interaction between the human expert and the ''expert system''. The incremental development of the ''expert system'' should ensure that it is useful in the short term (by debugging to the S.I./segment level for example), and even more useful in the medium to longer term as it acquires more and more knowledge and the ability to debug to the module level. Expert systems exist and are working successfully in many problem domains. See the bibliography for examples of ''expert systems'' built in the high energy physics environment.

• Research Organization: Fermi National Accelerator Lab., MS 223, P.O. Box 500, Batavia, IL 60510
• OSTI ID: 6689151
• Report Number(s): CONF-861007-
• Conference Information: Journal Name: IEEE Trans. Nucl. Sci.; (United States) Journal Volume: NS-34:1
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS
990210* -- Supercomputers-- (1987-1989)
COMPUTER CODES
DATA ACQUISITION SYSTEMS
DECISION MAKING
DESIGN
DIAGNOSTIC TECHNIQUES
ERRORS
EXPERT SYSTEMS
FASTBUS SYSTEM
RESEARCH PROGRAMS