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© Copyright 1998 INCOMPRO IMS CONSORTIUM
Task 2.1 : KBS architecture
development and platform
implementation
Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche
Istituto di Tecnologie Industriali e Automazione
GRAP
Gruppo Robotica Applicata
INTB
Leuven, 18th may
© Copyright 1998 INCOMPRO IMS CONSORTIUM
Methodology for KBS
development




It comprises 5 phases, each one characterized by precise goals to be
achieved and clear relationships with the other phases.
Each phase is subdivided into a number of specific tasks, each one
devoted to achieve a precise subgoal.
Tasks can be performed by executing specific activities, which define at
grater level of detail what to do and how.
The five phase are:
•
•
•
•
•
Phase 1 – Plausibility study
Phase 2 – Construction of the demonstrator
Phase 3 – Development of the prototype
Phase 4 – Implementation and installation of the target system
Phase 5 – Maintenance
INTB
Leuven, 18th may
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© Copyright 1998 INCOMPRO IMS CONSORTIUM
Phases and main products
Plausibility study
Construction of the
demonstrator
plausibility study report
demonstrator
demonstrator report
prototype
Development of the
prototype
development support system
Implementation and
installation of
the target system
target system
Maintenance
INTB
Leuven, 18th may
prototype report
maintenance support system
target system report
possible interventions
© Copyright 1998 INCOMPRO IMS CONSORTIUM
Phase 1: Plausibility study
The plausibility study encompasses the following main goals:
 analyzing the application domain (material design and production process
design);
 analyzing the requirements and the project goals;
 identifying the main functional, operational, and technical specifications of
the KBS, and the acceptance criteria;
 developing a draft architectural design and a draft external (DoD/FEA)
connections design.
 The product of the plausibility study is the
 plausibility study report.
 It is a technical document which illustrates the activities done and the results
obtained.
INTB
Leuven, 18th may
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© Copyright 1998 INCOMPRO IMS CONSORTIUM
Phase 1: Plausibility study
The concept of plausibility includes the following aspects:
 technical feasibility of the KBS application based on domain
characteristics;
 state of the art of the available technologies;
 introduction of the KBS in its operational place and environment;
 economic suitability issues.
INTB
Leuven, 18th may
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© Copyright 1998 INCOMPRO IMS CONSORTIUM
Phase 2: Construction of the
demonstrator
The main goal of the construction of the demonstrator is to
develop and demonstrate a first, limited version of the KBS
in order to meet the following issues:

obtaining a concrete insight in the complexity of the problem considered,
and validating, refining, and, if necessary, revising technical decision
outlined in the plausibility report;

collecting useful feedback from the users, and refining the identification of
requirements and definition of KBS specification stated in phase 1.
INTB
Leuven, 18th may
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© Copyright 1998 INCOMPRO IMS CONSORTIUM
Phase 2: Construction of the
demonstrator
The products of this phase are:
 a running KBS functionality demonstrator, which anticipates the
system performance on a limited and meaningful part of the
considered problem;
 the demonstrator report, which contains a synthesis of the
activities carried out and a detailed illustration of the results
achieved.
INTB
Leuven, 18th may
7
© Copyright 1998 INCOMPRO IMS CONSORTIUM
Phase 3: Development of the
prototype
The main objective of this phase is to find the most suitable technical solutions
for the application considered, and to implement them in a running system.
The products of this phase are:
 a full KBS, called prototype, which can adequately meet all
functional specifications stated;
 a set of software tools which supports the construction of the
knowledge base of the prototype;
 the prototype report, which contains a synthesis of the activities
carried out and a detailed illustration of the results achieved.
INTB
Leuven, 18th may
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© Copyright 1998 INCOMPRO IMS CONSORTIUM
Phase 3: Development of the
prototype
The prototype, although satisfying the functional specifications stated, is not
the final output of the production process, since:
 it is not installed in the real operational environment, but it is running only
in the development environment (if necessary, connections with DoD/FEA
are simulated);
 it has only been tested with sample data prepared by the system designer
with the support of experts and users.
INTB
Leuven, 18th may
9
© Copyright 1998 INCOMPRO IMS CONSORTIUM
Phase 4: Implementation and
installation of the target system
The goal of this phase is to develop a complete KBS. It must have the same
behavior of the prototype, but in addition it must be:
 installed in the real operational environment (VEE);
 filed tested with a selection of real data;
 eventually delivered to the end-users for routine operation.
INTB
Leuven, 18th may
10
© Copyright 1998 INCOMPRO IMS CONSORTIUM
Phase 4: Implementation and
installation of the target system
The products of this phase are:
 the target system, that is, the final output of the whole KBS production
process;
 the maintenance support system, that is the specific system devoted to
support effective and efficient maintenance;
 the target system report, which contains a synthesis of the activities
carried out and a detailed illustration of the results achieved.
INTB
Leuven, 18th may
11
© Copyright 1998 INCOMPRO IMS CONSORTIUM
Phase 5: Maintenance

This phase starts after the delivery of the target system to the user for the
operational use.

In this phase the developer collects feedback from the end-users in order to
schedule possible maintenance interventions.
INTB
Leuven, 18th may
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© Copyright 1998 INCOMPRO IMS CONSORTIUM
Draft of Architecture KBS
Design
 System Overview
 Technical Details
 Platform Scheme
INTB
Leuven, 18th may
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© Copyright 1998 INCOMPRO IMS CONSORTIUM
System Overview
 Structure
 Our KBS integrates the conventional KB with a OODBMS.
 Motivations
 Integration of KB e DBMS exploits intelligence of KB and
OODBMS efficiency in management complex structured data.
 K.B provides data-driven computation and expressive power in
D.B interrogation
 Semantic Data Model :
 EER+OO The semantic data model encapsulates in Extended
Relational Model the multi-level abstraction paradigm of OO
INTB
Leuven, 18th may
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© Copyright 1998 INCOMPRO IMS CONSORTIUM
Technical Details
 KBS-Shell
 integrates Rule-based and OO programming paradigms in Java
environment
 DBMS
 is an OODBMS with OO-query language which may interfaced with
C++ and SQL
 KBS/ DBMS Interface
 Java/CORBA with Object Persistence
 External interface
 Interface with STEP/EXPRESS data format from CAD/CAE is
performed by a OO-translator
INTB
Leuven, 18th may
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Platform Scheme
JAVA Environment
OPSJ-Shell
OPSJ-Shell
OPSJ-Shell
CORBA- IDL
ObjectStore
INTB
Leuven, 18th may
STEP-file
ST-ObjectStore
CAD/CAE
© Copyright 1998 INCOMPRO IMS CONSORTIUM
Sw Tools for System
development
 Expert System Shells
 OPSJ is an OPS5 + OO which may be embedded in a Java
package
 OODBMS
 Objectstore: is an OODBMS with a C++/Java interface
 Internal Interface
 Java/CORBA Development Tools
 Integration CAD/CAE <-> DBMS
 ST-Objectstore is an OO-translator based on ROSE class library
INTB
Leuven, 18th may
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© Copyright 1998 INCOMPRO IMS CONSORTIUM
OPSJ
 Motivations:
 Meets the requirement of rule-based + OO integration
 Can be embedded in Java applications
 Technical Features
 OPSJ engine is written completely in Java
 OPSJ is designed to add rules to Java
 OPSJ, rules are grouped into units called "Knowledge Sources."
 Forward Chaining (Inductive paradigm)
 RETE-II Match Algorithm more efficient than CLIPS
 OO Pattern Matching of Java/CORBA Class in LHS
INTB
Leuven, 18th may
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© Copyright 1998 INCOMPRO IMS CONSORTIUM
ObjectStore
 Motivations:
 is an OODBMS
 Provides an Integrate Development Environment
 Provides a rich set of toolbox for integration with C++/Java
applications
 May be easily interfaced with STEP/EXPRESS data format by the
ST-Objectstore Tool.
 Technical Features
 Query Language

OO embedded Query Language which can be interfaced with SQL
 Object Management

Persistent Object Exportable toward Java Environment (Objectstore
PE)
INTB
Leuven, 18th may
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© Copyright 1998 INCOMPRO IMS CONSORTIUM
ST-Objectstore
 Motivations
 Make easy the interfacing with CAD/CAE Systems,allowing
Import/Export of STEP files from OODBMS
 Technical features
 ST-Objectstore is a special ROSE class library
 ST-Objectstore uses C++ class
 ST-Objectstore provides Object Persistence
INTB
Leuven, 18th may
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© Copyright 1998 INCOMPRO IMS CONSORTIUM
Knowledge Base
Knowledge Based System:
the Demonstrator
task 2.1
INTB
Leuven, 18th may
© Copyright 1998 INCOMPRO IMS CONSORTIUM
Motivations and goals
 Develop a running system:
 anticipate a sub-set of the functions;
 draft architectural design;
 domain experts and users concretely involved and
committed.
 Two main goals:
 developing a better understanding of user requirements;
 identifying more detailed and precise specifications of
the KBS.
INTB
Leuven, 18th may
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© Copyright 1998 INCOMPRO IMS CONSORTIUM
Component
Component type
Selection criteria
Thickness
FEM
Process tool
Exclusion
KB
KBS
Selection
Material design
Computation
Verification
DB
Materials
&
Processes
Processes
Computation
Verification
Geometry
Computation
Verification
INTB
Leuven, 18th may
Constraints
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© Copyright 1998 INCOMPRO IMS CONSORTIUM
Openness and separation of concerns
 Openness. May vary:
 the number of clusters and modules;
 the relation between them;
 the external connections, without
structure of the system.
changing
the
 Separation of concerns:
 every cluster and module has its own task,
 the modifications of the behaviour of one of them do
not affect the behaviour of the others.
INTB
Leuven, 18th may
25
© Copyright 1998 INCOMPRO IMS CONSORTIUM
Computation/Verification modules
Historical data
(domain specific)
Input
Action
Computation
Verification
External tools
INTB
Leuven, 18th may
Output
KB
KBS
Materials
Processes
Constraints
...
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Example: the blade
Component
blade
Exclusion
Component type
INTB
Leuven, 18th may
water
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© Copyright 1998 INCOMPRO IMS CONSORTIUM
Exclusion
DB
Exclusion
Chemical
Mechanical
Fiber %
Eliminates all materials that
do not respond to the
characteristics required by
the specific component and
by its type.
INTB
Leuven, 18th may
Thickness
Cost
…….
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Selection
• After the exclusion, a subset of materials remains.
• The demonstrator shows the list of the candidate
materials, among which the user can choose one or
more.
• The present demonstrator lets the user choose only
one.
Selection criteria
Epoxy-Kevlar
INTB
Leuven, 18th may
Selection
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Composite design
Thickness
12 mm
Material design
Computation
Verification
• The thickness of the component when
made of traditional material; this
information can be retrieved from an
external DB.
• Retrieving characteristics from the
KBS database for the preparation of
the first design of the composite.
INTB
Leuven, 18th may
DB
Chemical
Mechanical
Fiber %
Thickness
Cost
…….
30
© Copyright 1998 INCOMPRO IMS CONSORTIUM
Verification of the composite
Material design
Computation
FEM
Verification
• Connection with a external tool, testing
the composite properties.
• The control can loop to the previous
cluster to compute another candidate
solution or discard the material.
INTB
Leuven, 18th may
31
© Copyright 1998 INCOMPRO IMS CONSORTIUM
Process tools
Process tool
Yes
Processes
Computation
Processes
Verification
• The system indicates the best available process
tool.
• Actually, the demonstrator considers only one
possible process that can modify the laminate.
INTB
Leuven, 18th may
32
© Copyright 1998 INCOMPRO IMS CONSORTIUM
Geometry
Geometry
Computation
Verification
• This is
module.
just
a
verifying
• The demonstrator verifies
whether the thickness of
the laminate is within a
given range.
INTB
Leuven, 18th may
Constraints
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© Copyright 1998 INCOMPRO IMS CONSORTIUM
Output
KBS
Composite
specifications
DoD
INTB
Leuven, 18th may
• The thickness of the
laminate
• The composite
material
• The number of plies
• The sequence model
• An indication of the
final cost.