A BLACKBOARD ARCHITECTURE OF THE MICROWAVE GENERIC CONTROLLER FOR THEDSN ANTENNA SUBSYSTEM

This paper presents a Hayes-Roth blackboard architecture for the Micro wave Generic Controller (UGC) for the Antenna Microwave Subsystem in t he NASA Deep Space Network. A formal specification of the current UGC and the new blackboard architecture is also given using the Higher-Ord er Logic (HOL) Proof System. HOL makes it possible to provide a straig htforward, unambiguous and consistent specification of the UGC. The UG C is responsible for monitoring and controlling the switches and rain blowers for the Antenna Microwave Subsystem. The new blackboard archit ecture for the UGC introduces a collection of parallel processes calle d knowledge sources. Because of the parallel nature of the blackboard and the ability to retrieve the most current information quickly, ther e is a gain in efficiency. In addition, the blackboard architecture of the UGC is extensible, which is in keeping with the design philosophy of the UGC.