M. Mehrotra et C. Wild, ANALYZING KNOWLEDGE-BASED SYSTEMS WITH MULTIVIEWPOINT CLUSTERING ANALYSIS, The Journal of systems and software, 29(3), 1995, pp. 235-249
Citations number
21
Categorie Soggetti
System Science","Computer Science Theory & Methods","Computer Science Software Graphycs Programming
Knowledge-based systems have wide commercial applicability. However, a
credible validation methodology for knowledge-based systems is curren
tly lacking. Better knowledge acquisition techniques as well as better
management, understanding, and enhancement of the knowledge base is c
ritical to the success of any verification or validation activities. O
ur research addresses the feasibility of partitioning rule-based syste
ms into a number of meaningful units to enhance the comprehensibility,
maintainability, and reliability of expert systems software. Prelimin
ary results have shown that no single structuring principle or abstrac
tion hierarchy is sufficient to understand complex knowledge bases. We
therefore propose the multiviewpoint clustering analysis (MVP-CA) met
hodology to provide multiple views of the same expert system. MVP-CA p
rovides an ability to discover significant structures within the rule
base by providing a mechanism to structure both hierarchically (from d
etail to abstract) and orthogonally (from different perspectives). Her
e we describe our approach to understanding large knowledge bases via
MVP-CA. We demonstrate the need for MVP-CA by use of a couple of small
classic rule bases, as well as a deployed knowledge-based system that
navigates the space shuttle's reentry. We also discuss the impact of
this approach on verification and validation of knowledge-based system
s. MVP-CA provides art essential first step toward building an integra
ted environment for verification and validation of knowledge-based app
lications. It allows one to build reliable knowledge-based systems by
suitably abstracting, structuring, and otherwise clustering the knowle
dge in a manner that facilitates its understanding, manipulation, test
ing, and utilization.