An expert system for aided design of ship systems automation

The paper presents a structure and functions of an expert system for aided design of ship systems automation. The system was developed on basis of a d etailed analysis of the design process of ship systems automation. The syst em includes: knowledge bases regarding methods and procedures of ship syste ms automation design, databases of automated objects, control devices and e lements, requirements of classification societies, and a subsystem for simu lation investigations co-operating with the Matlab Simulink package and a k nowledge base. In the creation of the system the shell expert system Exsys Developer was used. This system is characterised by a rule-oriented represe ntation of knowledge, backward and forward chaining inference methods, vari ous confidence modes to handle uncertain reasoning including fuzzy logic, a nd possibility of co-operation with other software and databases. The datab ases were made using the MS Access software. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.