Expert Planning Systems: A Study on the Use of Expert Planning Systems for Space Related Planning Applications

摘要

The potential of knowledge based planning systems in relation to ESA operations; a mock-up of a system for evaluation by the potential user group; and an engineering approach to develop expert systems for ESA are discussed. Planning of missions for Earth observation satellites was chosen as the potentially most useful case study. It is concluded that knowledge based approaches to planning are useful, but the operational characteristics of the system should be sufficiently fast so as not to hinder the planning personnel. This cannot be achieved within the knowledge engineering environment used for the mock-up construction; however, rewriting functions in LISP should alleviate the time performance inadequacies. For the engineering approach, the formalization of the development, accompanied by the creation of deliverable documents, creates a substantial overhead in contrast to the more conventional, and experimental manner of building expert systems.